This might be a long post. Sorry for that!
Anyway. So I decided to go to Australia a few weeks ago. Totally irresponsible and pretty random, but I figured "Why not?" It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I took it [even though I'm now super stressed about money].
I left on July 24 from Rochester and landed in Sydney on July 26. The flights weren't too bad. It was the first time I'd flown alone, but nothing bad happened, really. However, the airline messed up my meals, so I didn't get to eat breakfast, which kinda sucked. But whatever. I got to see John, like, right away when I landed, which was the greatest thing ever. I missed that kid so damn much. I about exploded when I saw him. It was that amazing. We got in contact with Andrew who's the guy from Couchsurfing we were staying with. After some confusion, we took the train to Museum Station and got lost. Then Andrew called and met up with us to give us the key to his apartment. Andrew went off to work while John and I walked to his apartment [where there was more confusion]. Finally, we got there, rested for a little bit, and then went to explore Sydney!
Sydney is amaaaaazing. Like, for reals, I wanna live there forever. We mostly just wandered around town, taking in as much as we could [which, in hindsight, probs wasn't a good idea. We should've invested in a bus/train/tram pass. Oh well.]. From this point on, there is no guarantee this is in orer. I'm just gonna ramble on about Sydney. There was an awesome park near Andrew's called Hyde Park. It was beautiful. Nearby there was a beautiful church, and in the park, there was a museum. A little ways away, there's a harbor. So we went there and saw boats and an IMAX and a bunch of other stuff, including a cool clock and heron fountain. We ended up seeing a movie at IMAX ["Born to Be Wild" about monkeys and elephants. It was awesome].
Uhhh, what else. Andrew mostly worked, so he couldn't show us around too much, but he took us to this swanky bar and introduced us to a friend of his. It was kinda awkward. Errybody in Sydney [and Canberra and Melbourne] dresses really nice. And John and I rocked, like, jeans, hoodies, and t-shirts. Oh well. Andrew also introduced us to a few of his other friends another night, Ian and Roberto. Ian's from Alaska and super cute. He reminded me of my friend Kent. Like, for reals. They could be twins. And Roberto is from Mexico. He was HILARIOUS. However, when we all left Andrew's to go to Newtown to some bar, he got us separated. John and I took a taxi with him while Ian and Andrew took another, so we didn't make it to Landsdowne. Instead, Roberto took us to a random bar and he and John had another drink. I should mention that by this point, John had had five beers, so he didn't really need another. I got bored, so John and I wandered over to where Andrew was. We didn't find him though [Later, we found out that he and Ian were in the upstairs of this bar.]. John and I then wandered [well, I wandered. He stumbled] around for a little bit before managing to find our way back to Andrew's. It was kinda irritating for me, but John seemed to enjoy it.
John and I went to some museums too, like this maritime one to see boats. And to the war memorial in Hyde Park and to an art museum and a church. It was tons o' fun. We walked to the Sydney Opera House and explored the inside a little bit. We saw the bridge from there, too. We didn't cross it, though. And we had a bunch of delicious food. Australia is srsly heaven for vegans. They're so accommodating. On our last day in Sydney, we saw three protests and a wedding. It was awesome.
Also on our last day, John and I were walking to the CBD and we walked past this hotel where cops and ambulances were arriving. We didn't know what had happened, but later we found out that a woman was pushed off of her balcony by her lover. It was crazy!
After Sydney, we took a bus to Canberra, where I met Alice and Harry [yay!]. Alice made me a vegemite sandwich once we got to their house and it is the most terrible thing I've ever tasted. John loves it, but it's disgusting. Never eat it. Anyways. Canberra wasn't as exciting as Sydney, but I tried to make the best of it. We stayed with Alice and Harry, which was completely different than staying with Andrew. At Andrew's, we had a pull-out bed and pretty much our own room. At Harry and Alice's, we slept on this makeshift bed of foam mattresses in the middle of their, like, living room. And it was freeeeezing. So. John showed me around Canberra our first night in, and it was fun. There was this cool vegan restaurant. We went there for dinner one night and it was terrible. The food was great, but the service was shit. However, I felt bad because the guy, like, tripped and poured hot water all over himself and the floor. Still, service sucked. We tried going to the zoo on our own, but the buses only go there during school holidays [super dumb], but Alice took us one day and it was awesome. We went to the war museum that day too. I was sad about the zoo because the red pandas were sleeping high up in trees, but it was still amazing. I got to pet a dingo and a kangaroo.
While in Canberra, we went with Alice and Harry to Coomba [which is where Alice's parents live] for the weekend. Her dad was firing some clay, so we hung out while he did that. It wasn't as awesome as I had hoped, but it was cool. We stayed in this barn that was made into, like, a mini-house. It had a kitchen in the bottom, and the loft was a big bedroom. The first night was a little rough, but it was fun otherwise. Oh, fun fact. I got a UTI while in Sydney, so I was kinda miserable for, like, two weeks, and staying in this loft was troublesome. The bathroom was an outhouse [which wasn't a big deal, since I've used an outhouse before and this one was way nicer], but when you constantly have to pee really bad, climbing down a ladder and making your way in the dark to an outhouse is a bitch. Thankfully I didn't piss myself. Anyway. We went paintballing on Saturday for one of Alice's friend's birthdays. That was a lotta fun. I got chosen to be on the opposite team from Alice, Harry and John [which meant that I got to take each one of them out]. I shot John in the back once, Harry in the chest once and Alice in the arm and leg. Our team only lost one of the challenges. We're awesome. However, after one round, the whistle was prematurely blown, and John and Harry tried to assassinate me. Harry barely missed getting me in the head. I only got shot once at the end, and it was in the leg. Not a fan of being shot with a paintball gun. After that, we went to another of Alice's friend's, and I got to see Alice, Harry and their friends fire twirl and fire breath. It was pretty neat. Oh, and I got to see John's mad hula skillz. It was a good time. We left on Sunday, and I got to see a bilby, which is apparently really rare. It was cool.
John and I left for Melbourne at, like, midnight on Sunday. It was a pretty last minute trip, so we were busing all night with no real place to stay once we got there. We ended up going to a hostel [Oslo Hotel] and it was cool. It was suuuuuper nice having our own room and lots of privacy [plus a warm shower. Alice and Harry's shower wasn't very friendly in that respect. John and I had to get really wet, shut the water off, lather shampoo/soap/etc., turn the water back on and hope that we rinsed off before it got cold. So this was a beautiful thing. We went to the beach right away, which would've been even more awesome if it had been warm [it's winter in Australia so it was pretty chilly the whole time I was there with the exception of the few days in Sydney]. The beach was still beautiful. I loved it. We walked out on the dock later in the evening, and John was paranoid that I was gonna fall in. He's cute that way. In Melbourne, John and I got all access passes to the tram and train and bus, so that was nice. It made it a lot easier to get around, and it was a lot faster. For the most part, we just wandered around Melbourne's CBD. We went to a few museums and the casino, where John didn't win any money unfortunately. Our last night, we stayed at this really nice hotel [Atlantis]. It was great.
At this one park in Melbourne, there were a billion possums. I was scared because they were super brave and kept appearing everywhere. Like, John was trying to befriend one possum, and three more appeared behind us and two were in the trees. It freaked me out. There was also a really cool owl in one of the trees. I tried to get a picture but it was too dark. And we saw a bat. It was huuuuuuuuge. Thankfully it didn't try to attack us. One of the possums bit John's shoe. And another went into the trashcan and started wailing, which deterred me from going towards it but John was all, "It's coming from over here. Let's go look!" Crazy man. The possums were super cute though. I love 'em.
We left Melbourne on Friday night and got back to Canberra Saturday morning. The arrival back to Alice and Harry's was rough. Ellen had come down from Bega, so she was sleeping on one of the mattresses and Rod was staying for a few weeks so he was on one couch, and both of them were using John's blankets, and John's too nice to ask for his shiz back so we, like, attempted to sleep all weirdly on the couch. Well, John slept successfully but I was freeeeezing. Eventually, Rod woke up to use the bathroom or something and gave us the blanket he was sleeping on. That helped lots. John and I mostly hung out that day until we went with Alice and Harry to Cooma for an Australian adventure in the bush! We met up with their friend Nicole who showed us cool stuff. We saw this wedge-tailed eagle on the side of the road. It was huuuuuuuge and so beautiful. There were kangaroos in the woods, too. So cool. Then we continued on to this wombat-friendly forest. And that is where I almost got taken out by a wombat. There was a muddy puddle, so we were all trying to sidestep it, and as I was moving over, this wombat came running by. It was scary, and it srsly barely missed my leg. But it was awesome and so cute. We went platypi hunting next, which was a lot harder. We saw some wallabies on our journey, though, and our patience paid off. There was a platypus in the river and I got to see it twice. Soooo awesome!
John came with me to Sydney when I left the next morning at 4. It really sucked leaving him, especially since it's now gonna be ten months until I see him again. But it was really nice to have a few more hours with him. I almost missed my flight outta Sydney though. I barely made it. But it was good. I watched some movies and didn't sleep much at all. I slept more on the plane from LAX, but that was only a threeish-hour flight. I got home and got to see all my fam. It was great. However, I am now leaving in approximately eight and a half hours for eleven months and that's kinda shitty. I haven't finished packing or slept and it's 6:43 in the a.m. I don't know whether I'm jet lagged or just stressed about moving or both. Either way, it sucks.
So that's the sparknotes version on my trip to Australia. Random things: In Australia, they call fries chips, which is awesome, and they don't say "You're welcome." They say "No worries," which is awesome too. Their money is different than ours. Like, they have mostly coins, including $1 and $2 coins. Their bills are plastic, different colors and different sizes. And they drive/walk on the left side of the road/sidewalk. And they have tons of roundabouts. What else..OH! Melbourne is super cool because it has this fast food place called Lord of the Fries which is 100% vegetarian and vegan! So awesome. And there is a ton of graffiti. The cities, like, commission people to paint murals and they're srsly fantastic. Melbourne also has a bunch of brothels/strip clubs, which is relatively common in most cities, but John and I spotted them a lot in Melbourne. Oh, and everything is crazy expensive. Like, soda was, like, $4 for a bottle. Sometimes more.
I think that's mostly everything. It's really late, so I might be missing something. If so, I shall do another post later!
Until then. :)
