Australia Trip +1: Aftermath

One of my favorite parts of traveling is crossing time zones, mostly for the whole "lose a day, gain a day" thing. This time, I was gaining a day. I know it sounds stupid, but I like to think that I'm traveling back in time.

Anyways, my brother reluctantly picked me up from the airport that morning once I landed. In return I bought him and the rest of my siblings breakfast with the extra American cash I didn't exchange as well as distributed their souvenirs before taking a nap. Note to self, it's a bad idea to scarf down an entire breakfast plate as quickly as you can when you haven't eaten for almost 20 hours.

The next day, I got to work expecting the typical practical joke, as is tradition. I didn't expect this

I'm sure you've all already seen the video, but if you didn't watch it, here's a pictures to give you a visual

As you can see, my desk and file cabinet were wrapped in saran wrap, chair covered in post-it notes, and Bieber pictures hung from the ceiling. I did like the "G'day Mate" written on the white board just to keep an Australian theme. And luckily, it only took the next hour to rip off all the saran wrap as well as flip the file cabinet back around.

But, as I said, it was a good trip. It's too bad it'll be a while before I take another one. 2 reasons specifically. First, gotta save up that money. Secondly, with all the work my co-workers did to cover while I was gone, it's only fair that they get a chance to go on vacation before I take another one. Luckily, a couple of them already have taken or else have a vacation lined up soon that I could probably do something as early as next year. You know, as long as the first requirement is met.

Also, to answer Aurora's question, "what's one word to describe Australia?", I'm gonna go with the one word I learned over the trip, "Exposure". Because with all the stuff Australia was throwing in our faces from the moment we landed - all the food, activities, people - it was blinding. And I learned that if you don't limit what your seeing, (filter, if you will), you'll forget that the point is to have fun and enjoy and you'll miss out on that one, perfect picture.

And yes, it did take me two months to come up with that. But I do have an English degree and I'll be damned and my pride shattered if I'm beat by a word.

Australia Day 5: 3 Sisters, 2 Good-Byes, 1 Long Plane Ride

After shaking off the initial shock of seeing both Taryn and Aurora's beds empty (as well as the shampoo bottle missing), I remembered I was supposed to meet Ben and Ai at Central Station. Luckily, I packed up most of my stuff the night before so all I really needed to do was drop my sheets off at the lobby.

With Ben and Vanessa's directions, I managed to navigate my way from the station at Circular Quay to Central. A lot harder than it sounds as I was now dragging an unfamiliar suitcase along with me as I weaved in and out and between strangers. After a breakfast at Hungry Jack's (aka Burger King), and another train ride through what Ben described as "the ghetto", we ended up at Blue Mountains. Vanessa and Glen picked the three of us up and we drove up into the mountains to see Three Sisters.

Turns out the Three Sisters are a natural rock formation (get your minds out of the gutter)

Though I gotta say, it wouldn't be the worse foursome

 It was also super windy. Add that to being up there in elevation and this was now the coldest I'd ever been throughout the trip. I'm not joking. Not cold enough to see my breath, but cold enough to send a chill everytime the wind cut through my jacket.

A legitimate fear the wind would take me over the fence

You know that superpower that manifests in everyone when you travel to a foreign country? That one that allows you to stare at a crowd of strangers and pick out the one person who is actually from your country? Ai showed it off by grabbing a guy to take our picture only to have him be a Japanese tourist as well.

From Ai's camera

But the coolest part of the trip up the mountain was that I finally found it! My Holy Grail, if you will. It took me five days and dozens of toilets flushed, but I finally found one. The one flush delivering a counter-clockwise rotation

 

 My trip was complete

We went to lunch at a spot Vanessa and Glen had been before, a garage turned restaurant. Sorry, no pics, I was kinda hungry at this point. So hungry in fact, that I completely ignored Glen's warning that you couldn't eat the steak sandwich without a fork and knife. It all just fell apart in my hand, but it was so good.

We walked around the town (I guess that's what it was) visiting small specialty shops in the area. A chocolate shop, wood-crafting shop, and a toy store.

I still wish we had more time, but unfortunately, I still had a plane to catch. Vanessa and Glen took Ben, Ai, and I to the train station where we waited for the station manager as well as the unlocking of the bathroom door. The three of us rode the train back to Central. From there, we rushed to the next platform where the train to the airport was leaving from, possibly knocking over a few kids with Taryn's suitcase along the way (I don't know for sure, I didn't stop to look). I said goodbye to Ben and Ai and then I was on the train.

After getting checked in, I wandered around the airport looking for more last minute souvenirs to buy. Also, as I was going through the security checkpoint, I made a shocking discovery - only in American airports do you have to remove your shoes! I asked the security guard about removing my shoes and he gave me that "kid, are you stupid?" look (trust me, I've seen that look too many times). The American lady in front of me tried to explain to the guard what I meant as I cringed, hoping they wouldn't arrest me as well when she got to the words "shoe" and "bomb". I also got to watch some guy get his hands randomly swabbed for explosive chemicals.

It was a roughly ten hour flight and I forgot to pack food to snack on, though I did buy another notebook. Remember, I hadn't eaten since noon and my flight was at 6pm. Add those ten hours for the flight, another hour to get through customs once I got off the plane, and maybe an hour I was expecting it to take to get home from the airport and we are looking at almost 20 hours consuming nothing but airplane bathroom sink water. Luckily, all the walking combined with the hunger that was starting to set in allowed me to sleep most of the flight. Though I did come really close to just throwing what was left of my Australian dollars at the flight attendant for a bag of chips.

By the way, did you notice that once I was on my own, the pictures stopped? I am still horrible at remembering to take pictures. Hopefully I'll get better before whenever it is I take my next trip

Australia Day 4: So Many Stops, So Little Time

Thinking back, today was a major traveling day to try to pack as many last minute adventures into the last minute. First off was the ferry ride to Manly Beach, another popular tourist beach. The day was bright and sunny with a nice breeze. Perfect beach weather. But no, I was still not going in the water. We hung out on the wall and took a bunch of pictures. I once again thought about taking some sand, but I wasn't sure what the previous occupant of the extra ziploc bag in my backpack was... and why it had left black stains on the sides. Is it weird that in just four days in Australia, I've spent more time at the beach than I have in the past year back home? Anyways, here's Manly Beach

One day I'll develop a steadier hand so these videos aren't so shaky. Not that I'm promising more videos... it's just that I know how much you'd rather do something other than read. By the way, all that bright and sunny got me in trouble a lot with my picture taking as I had no idea my camera had an exposure feature (I think I'm saying that right). Simply meaning the difference between this

 and this

A lot better, right? (also, thanks for the camera lesson, Aurora... and I assume Jacob for teaching her)

I guess one day I'll learn how to fully use a camera I've had for four years already. From the beach, we went on to explore the rest of the Manly area, where almost every shop was "Manly". Manly Seafood. Manly Bookstore. Manly Nail Salon. Manly Bottle Shop. You get the picture. I picked up a notebook from one of the street vendors to add to my ever-growing collection of unused notebooks (though since this is my first leather-bound one it was completely worth it).

except that it stains everything blue

Having eaten nothing all morning except for some stolen oranges Taryn claimed were free, it was now time for food. We found the least crowded restaurant for lunch. Not an easy feat as it was nearly noon on a Sunday and every local and tourist had descended on Manly. They were marketing something as the "Aussie Burger" which I took to mean "Pick me, this is how Australians eat their burgers!" The only differences I could spot - it came with an egg and beets.

The egg was a nice touch as the yolk broke as I bit into it and it oozed on my hands and the plate. It was the beets, however. I don't really care for them, not because of the taste or consistency, but strangely enough because they ooze their purple juices everywhere, soggying everything it touches (that's a word right? soggying?). I'm not sure why I have a problem with that but not with the egg yolk. But I had to have it. It sounded too interesting to pass up.

I also couldn't resist taking a picture of this

When we got back to The Rocks, we made our way to the Sydney Bridge Pylon. Back when we, i.e. Aurora and Taryn, were planning the trip, we could've walked up to the top of the bridge for $200, at the cheapest (we'd have to climb at night). The night before, we found out we could instead climb the tallest pylon for the same view and at a fraction of the price (I forgot exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was under $10). And, luckily, the bridge to get to the pylon was right behind the hostel. Up on the pylon, we could see the entire harbor, caught an aerial view of the Opera House, and, if you look closely through the glass railings, you can see lines matching buildings in the distance to their names (which was the coolest part, I think).

its too bad not all the names would show up in the picture

We headed to an Art Museum next. I'm never sure on how to describe art museums, or art in general. So, I'll just say that I used this trip as a moment to steal ideas and inspirations I'll hopefully one day turn into stories. Side note: I haven't been writing for a while. I just bought Devil May Cry about a month ago, the new TV season just started, and I got to reading again. I'll try to make the time again.

From there, we said goodbye to Eileena as she got on a train back to the airport and we went last minute souvenir shopping, mostly for food stuff, like jerky and Timtams and candy. Oh, and cigarettes

I really wish America had adopted the new carton design, it makes me want to collect them all (I grew up with Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering, after all). But at $15 a pack, I'd probably quit.

Oddly enough, we still hadn't eaten what I'm almost certain is the national food of Australia, Meat Pies. The best were supposedly at Harry's Cafe de Wheels. Yeah, we could have easily just gone to one of the chain franchise shops, but the original is always the best. But first, we needed to get there. We once again resorted to vaguely following Google Maps from the hostel all the way to Harry's. It was a long walk and the hunger just made it worse. I still can't explain how we managed to get there, with all the twists and turns and the one elevator ride (no, I don't know how the three of us ended up on a rooftop). But we made it! and I gotta say, it was worth the walk.

Chili Pie with extra chili

As satisfying as that meal was, especially after the journey there, we took a cab back because, well, fuck walking anymore.

Then came the worst part of the day, packing. Since Taryn and Aurora were heading off to Cairns the next day and I was returning home, it was decided I would take one of their bags back with me. I had only brought a duffel bag and backpack so another piece of luggage wasn't too bad, especially since I paid to check-in 20kg (yeah, I thought I was buying 20lb forgetting the rest of the world uses the metric system and I was actually buying closer to 40lbs). So, after deciding on what they would leave with me, what I could move from my bags to Taryn's bag, and finishing a bottle of wine we bought earlier from a bottle shop, we headed to the roof lounge for one last view. And a smoke, which, if you've been paying attention, makes my first and only cigarette all trip! Then it was back to the room as I had one last day of adventure while the other two needed to be at the train to the airport at 3am (or some other god awful hour like that).

Oh, and in case you're wondering, John (the other roommate) was in the room the whole time while we argued about what to pack and swigged that wine bottle empty.