Rounding out Sydney

When I left off last, Luke and I were heading up into the Blue Mountain National Park. He grew up in the mountains, and his mum and dad still live up there. Naturally we drop in for a cup o' tea with his mum.

After about an hour drive out of Sydney we get to his house which is more "bush" than neighborhood. His folks' house sits on about 5 acres of land, with all sorts of creepy crawlers surrounding you waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Can you tell I'm paranoid of spiders and snakes?

So anyways I meet his mum, chat for a bit, then head outside onto the patio.

She had put bird-seed out about 30 minutes prior in an attempt to attract the local avian neighbors, and that she did. There must have been 30-40 cockatoos, cuckaberras, roselles(sp?), and who knows what other types of colorful parrot-looking birds in an absolute feeding frenzy. Looked like the caddyshack when someone brings donuts.

We continued on, and went to a few different vantage points overlooking the mountains. The crazy thing is, the reflection of the light bouncing off the oils of the gum trees actually make them look a hazy blue. This pleased me immensily. If for no other reason than the name being spot on. Especially since places are always using colorful descriptions in their nomenclature, e.g. "the yellow river," and the river isn't actually yellow. These mountains are fuckin blue! From a distance anyway. Up close they just look like a normal green tree.

Saw the "Three Sisters"(above), and headed back towards Sydney after a quick detour to Lukes favorite meat-pie shop. Beef, onion, and tomato chased with a beef, bacon, and cheese. A couple of pies later, we were back on our way toward the city.

Went out that night in some area called Newtown.

The next day we head to luke's friend Dan's apartment in Bondi Junction. Another awesome apartment, this one overlooking the pacific. Beers, BBQ, and conversation for a good portion of the afternoon were spot-on. After a quick 10 minute walk towards the ocean, the iconic Bondi Beach ladies and gentlemen! We went kind of late in the afternoon so it def wasn't as hot or as packed as it usually is.

Water was great.

The next day, Luke and I went to the Sydney Fishmarket. Probably my favorite place on Sydney. Tons of fresh seafood, everything looking weirder than the next. We walked around looking for a bit, and finally settled on Whole Barramondi for the barbie. And a dozen oysters.

That afternoon we hung out on the porch havin beers and oysters while our Barramondi were cooking. First time having oysters! Damn good..

A little pepper, sea salt, lemon and lime juice, olive oil, and a few spices were absolutely perfect on the fish. Damn it was good!

My time in Sydney will be best remembered by the friendliness and hospitality my friend Luke and his roommates showed me.

Don't let that statement fool you, though. I loved seeing the city, it's just that they went above and beyond to welcome me and made sure I left with a good impression.

On to Melbourne.

St. Kilda Reunions

Got to Melbourne on Monday night the 29th. Checked into the hostel, then met up with ange and brett.

Was great to see them. They're already getting job interviews and offers, so that gives me a little hope..

On Tuesday they went into the city central with me to apply for my tax file number and open an Aussie bank account. Feels good to get that out of the way.

Around dinner time, my buddy Carey called me up and told me Dan was on his way to pick me up. We all met up at the Brown Cow, had a beer, and caught up. After a beer, we all went to Careys for dinner. Really nice family.

Unfortunately I am getting kicked out of the hostel I'm staying in right now, because I only booked until Thursday but the hostel is full this weekend. Apparently all the hostels are because U2 is coming to town. Even more reason to hate that shitty band!!

I told my Aussie buds, and they told me not to stress it, stay with them for the weekend. Apparently they all live with their parents. They also said we would go down to Sorrento this weekend to see how I like it.

To tell you the truth I'm not that impressed with Melbourne. Granted I have only been here for 36 hours and haven't seen a whole lot, I feel I've seen enough. Typical big city, with really brown water at the beach. Huge tanker water vessels in the distance, and the beach surrounded by cement.

I asked myself the question yesterday, what are you looking for? The answer was easy. Crystal clear water, white sand beach, small pub on the water where I could work, and not a whole lot more. Since I'm not blown away here, I figure it's probably best to keep on moving until I find that spot.

Is that too much to ask for?

First few days in Sydney

I knew I was officially in Australia when Luke picked me up from the airport and wasn't wearing any shoes. I guess why would he be wearing shoes? Love it.

We went straight to his apartment, which is located in the western suburb of Petersham. About a 15 minute train ride to the "loop."

When we walked into his place, I was shocked. Hardwood floors, huge kitchen, 3 bedrooms, enormous balcony, and everything else, and then some.

Their apt is on the 3rd (top) floor, located on the top of a hill, and is the tallest building in the vicinity. Their unit is a corner unit, with a porch wrapping itself the entire way around. This is really hard to describe in a fashion that will do it justice, but basically the view is amazing. We have the Sydney skyline to the east, and the blue mountains to the west.

His neighborhood looks kind of spanish/Portuguese. Gorgeous. Ma, you'd love it.

We got goin on the piss (beer) at about midday (noon). First stop was the white cockatoo on the way to the train station. Lukes roommate Johnny joined us, really cool guy.

Few rounds later we headed into the city, walked through the city a bit towards the opera house. Had a few more pops at a restaurant right next to it, kept on goin.

Next stop was this Irish joint on top of this huge hill type deal just below the bridge. Great view of the opera house and the bridge from here..

Up until this point, I was doin great! Jetlag can kiss my ass!

Luke mentioned it was hockey night at his favorite spot in Darling Harbor. Sure! Why not?

What is hockey night you ask? Well, this brewpub called James Squires airs 3 taped NHL games every Wednesday, featuring unheard-of AU$5 pints.

We got there, I had a beer, and felt like I was going to go straight to sleep on the table we were sitting at. To tell you the truth, when I tried thinking how many hours I had been awake I almost self-destructed.

Anyways we got home at about 10pm, and I slept great.

That first day in Sydney was confusing. Don't get me wrong, everything was great, but my body clock was way off. To the point where I don't remember anything past 7pm, I was that exhausted.

The next day Luke and I took the ferry over to Manly Beach. Awesome. Really typical surf town apparently. Great waves and it felt so good to get back in the ocean. First time swimming in the pacific!! Wow, I just realized that..


The ferry took about 30 minutes, and was great. We got awesome views of the bridge, opera house, and the skyline.

Got back to Lukes crib at about 7, and started up the barby.

Lamb and Rosemary sausages, kangaroo marinated on lemon and herbs, burgers, and chicken kabobs highlighted the meal. Roasted potatoes with onions and garlic all washed down with Hahn Super Dry rounded it all out.

Today, blue mountains.

Oak-town recap, onward to OZ!!

After a brief 5 day stint in the Oakland/San Francisco bay area, I'm off to the Land Down Under! I can't believe it's finally here, after looking forward to it for so many months.

I'm trying to look back at the summer, and thinking about how many times I told people I was going to Australia. The count has to be in the thousands. I have this script engrained in my brain, the "I have a 12 month work visa blah blah" line. I'm just really glad I'm finally going to Australia, if for no other reason than I don't have to say that line ever again. At least I get to change tenses and say I was in Australia.

I'm aboard a Qantas 747, and the plane is about 1/4 full. When I checked in at SFO, the dude was nice enough to put me in a different window seat, this one with an open seat next to it.

Little did I know, the entire row of 3 seats is all mine! It's incredible how valuable sleep is on a 14 hour plane ride like this.

Individual TVs for every seat, complimentary booze, and a really good chicken dinner made me pass out like a little baby at about 1am PST. I got a good 8 hours of sleep, which is something i've never done on a plane before, with these giraffe legs of mine.

I'm looking at the flight path, and according to that, we have 3 hours until Sydney. We're over some south pacific islands called Noumea. Never heard of it.

Just finished watching a documentary about 2 guys about my age who took a kayak from Sydney to New Zealand.

The sun is beginning to peak over the horizon, and it's gorgeous. It's hard to believe it's the summer!

My buddy Luke from Sydney is meeting me at the airport. He was nice enough to take a day off work, even though I begged him not to, just so that he could scoop me up from the airport.

He told me I could stay at his place as long as I want, which is really cool. I definitely don't want to overstay my welcome, so i'm planning on just feeling it out once I get there.

I brought him a blackhawks shirt, and a bottle of Jim beam black for him and his roommate as a token of appreciation. I wanted to get them something American as hell, so what better object than some good Kentucky Bourbon!

I'll write a little more once I find Luke and we get to his place.

The Next Chapter

Herein lies the beginning the second chapter of my migration to the southern hemisphere. Coincidentally, it marks the beginning of my 4th summer in a row. Ok, more accurately, it marks the second time I've bailed out on a brutal Chicago winter. I've endured 22 winters in Chicago, and I think that's enough thank you very much!

This next chapter to Australia is a little bit different from the last to South America. A little older, a little more experienced, a little wiser. My intentions are work-oriented. I couldn't imagine myself being completely broke like I was after my first trip, therefore I will do my best to obtain temporary jobs to sustain my lifestyle while abroad.

While I enjoyed every minute of my trip to South America, and don't regret a single thing about it, I don't have the luxury to do the same type of excursion (all play and no work). Not only is it a lot more expensive in Australia, but I'm getting old and I gotta start acting like it (rrriiiighhhhtttt)...

Anyways, on Wednesday Nov. 17th, I depart from ORD and head to Oakland to visit my brother for 5 days. Then on Monday Nov. 22nd, I have a 14.5 hour flight to Sydney to look forward to! So pumped!

Oh, before I forget, here's a picture taken in Perth, Australia, that I saw a few years ago but has always stayed ingrained in my memory. If you look closely, the more obvious fireworks and lightning on opposite ends of the photo are split by a shooting star/meteor type object. Pretty sweet!