G'day from the future!
It's tomorrow where I am so that's trippy and weird to think about....but also kind of cool. As luck would have it, Sydney is just as wonderful as I remember it to be. The city is beautiful, the beaches are fantastic and the people are footloose and fancy free. The one glaring difference between now and my last stay here some 7 odd years ago is that the US dollar is not nearly as valuable anymore. It's freakin expensive here. Right now the US dollar and Australian dollar are pretty much equal to one another, which is bad news for me considering a pack of gum is $2.99 and a bottle of knock off Vitamin Water put me back $4.50. What the crap is that? I saw regular Vitamin Water and then some generic looking one and figured I was being frugal and smart. Apparently I was way off. Oh well. That just means that I have been in super bargain mode lately. So I've been walking everywhere I need to go, finding deals on regular groceries in Chinatown, finding deals on fresh produce at farmer's markets and finding free fun at every stop along the way.
Before I continue my OZ travelogue, let me share a few pictures from my last couple days in Hawaii. On Saturday, I took a little road trip to Wailua Falls. You pull off the main highway, drive a few miles and come to a little overlook and tiny parking area. As with most scenic overlooks in Hawaii, there were a good deal of fanny pack clad tourists snapping pictures and buffing their white tennis shoes. Haha, that last part isn't true but it is weird how everyone seemed to have brand new tennies. But I digress. It was an impressive sight from above, but I was hoping to get a more up close and personal view of things so I sought out a couple of locals who were in the parking area selling handwoven baskets and things of that nature. The husband looked like the Hawaiian version of Eddie Van Halen and the wife looked like a wife. I saw a little dirt path and asked them if it led anywhere fun and exciting. They said it only led to a little area where they take pee breaks. Not really what I had in mind. Luckily, they told me that I could access a path down to the waterfall if I "went past the two 'Danger: Do Not Enter' signs, hopped over the fence, held onto the rope and climbed down the trail." Done and done! So I told them to send for help if I wasn't back in 2 hours and then made my way down. The trail was steep and I did have to fjord a stream at one point, but it wasn't too bad of a journey. When I got down to the bottom of the trail, I felt the cool mist of the waterfall and was beckoned by the freshwater pool to take a little dip. So I put my bag down, climbed over some rocks and logs and made a less than graceful entry into the invigorating water (the rocks were covered in moss or something...dumb). It was only slightly embarrassing as I was protected from the eyes of the people above by a rocky overhang and there was no one else around. So I swam around for a bit, explored a little cave, and got as close to the base of the falls as I could before peeing my pants (or bathing suit in this case). It was another tremendous experience in which I was humbled by how much of a bad ass Mother Nature is. You go, girl.
I don't really remember what I did after that but I'm pretty sure I said goodbye to my tour guides, had some poke for dinner (Sidenote: I was slightly obsessed with poke while I was in Hawaii. It's basically bite sized chunks of really fresh raw fish mixed with herbs and spices and a variety of different sauces. It was delicious and nutritious and cheap and I loved it. The end.), and went to see "The King's Speech" at the local cinema. Excellent acting performances and very inspiring story. Check it out if you get a chance.
Sunday was reserved for Super Bowl festivities. I donned the Bradshaw jersey that the bartender in Oahu gave me, pulled out my Terrible Towel and entered the day with nervous anticipation. We watched the first half at some weirdly awesome steakhouse about a mile from Kevin's place. It was filled with old locals and it was great. There were a decent amount of Steeler fans (including a guy from Sharpsburg!) so I felt good about things initially. Then Christina Aguilera effed up the National Anthem and the game started and any optimism I had went out the window. As so often happens when I watch the Steelers, I drank beer to calm my nerves. Good idea. For the second half, we went to a little house party nearby where I positioned myself right next to the TV and tried desperately to find anyone who actually cared about what was going on. They were trying to be supportive of my cause, but that manifested itself into feeding me more beer instead of rooting for the Steelers. So I got drunk and the Steelers lost. Totally lame. The only thing I have to say is that if Willie Gay is on the opening day roster next year, I'm going to have to seriously reconsider my fandom. Just kidding, of course...but that guy is definitely one of the worst football players in the history of the league. Ok I'm done now.
On Monday, I bid Kauai a fond farewell and made my way back to Honolulu. I arrived in Honolulu around 8pm and my flight for Sydney departed the next morning at 8am. Instead of getting a hotel room, I decided to spend the night in the comfortable confines of the International terminal at the Honolulu Airport. I know it sounds incredibly fun, but it wasn't really. After wandering around for a couple hours, I found a nice little area near one of the baggage claim areas that was quiet and reasonably comfortable so I put my stuff down and made a little bed out of my towel and some t-shirts. Just as I was about to enter the REM cycle, some short little Asian security man came over and started going on about how I wasn't allowed to be there. So much for that. So I packed up my crap and made my way back upstairs where there were a decent lot of poor saps just like me. The flourescent lighting up there was harsh and the loud Hawaiian music blaring over the PA was more irritating than soothing, so I decided to put up shop on one of the concrete benches in the breezeway outside. It was so comfortable that I've decided to replace my mattress at home with a concrete block. Sarcasm is fun. So after another few sleepless hours and 20 or so crossword puzzles, it was time to check in. Woohoo! Got my bag checked in, headed for the gate and made a few business calls before departing. I put a call into Verizon to try to set up my international data plan, only to learn that they had just done away with the unlimited option two weeks ago. So that's horribly stupid and if I continued my current data usage while overseas, my monthly bill would be approximately $3000 a month. So to make a long story short, I have suspended my Verizon account indefinitely. I'm still figuring out the best way to communicate while I'm out of the country, so until I do I'm just relying on the internet and international phone cards. Guess I should have done some more research before I left. Damn you, procrastination!
Ok so I feel as though this might be getting boring so let me try to tell you cool stuff. The flight to Sydney was approximately 10 hours. It wasn't a full flight so I lucked out and got two seats to myself. That was pretty awesome and way better than my last flight to Australia when I was in the window seat and trapped by two sleeping row partners which then led to to 18 hours of kidney killing, no bathroom break agony. I went to the bathroom a grand total of 4 times on this flight so that was a big improvement. I also watched 3 movies (Unstoppable, Red, and You Again...listed in order of best to worst) and ate 2 granola bars. And then before I knew it, we were in Australia. Made it through customs, got my bag, hopped on a bus, transferred to a train, and then walked about a mile to my hostel. It's called Kangaroo Backpack (I think) and it's located in an area called Surry Hills, which is a cool little neighborhood with lots of pubs and cafes and some of the best restaurants in town. Very cool vibe. After I checked in and got a shower, I got a doner kebab for dinner (for old time's sake), and went to a corner pub for a pint of Victoria Bitter and a conversation with a rather creepy English bartender. At that point I thought I might die of exhaustion so I went back to the hostel and passed out til about 8 the next morning. Jetlag be damned!
Thursday I walked around and went to Chinatown, the Paddy Markets, and Darling Harbour. I turned down a random corner and came across Scruffy Murphy's, which was one of my favorite haunts back in the day for their Wednesday night Drag Queen Karaoke night. Oh memories. Thursday night consisted of a pasta dinner and a showing of Superbad with a variety of other hostel guests. Lots of British folks here as well as a decent amount of Americans. In my room there are two Brits, two Irish and two Yanks (as the locals call us). A varitable United Nations. On Friday I made my much anticipated return to Coogee Beach to make a wonderful trip down memory lane. It's so strange to be in a place that you used to know so well and to feel you're seeing it again for the first time. I swam the bay, caught some rays, checked out the old homefront, visited the women's bath, and reconstructed the most legendary night of my life. A very solid day. As I was waiting for my bus back to Surry Hills, I noticed a commotion behind me and soon learned that a shark had been spotted and everyone had been evacuated from the water. I watched for awhile but didn't see any fins surfacing. Oh well, hopefully no one got eaten. Here are a few choice scenes from my time so far:
I was going to try to hit up the Rocks Market and the quintessential Sydney sights (Opera House, Harbor Bridge, etc.) today but it's windy and rainy right now so not sure how well that's going to work out. I'll definitely be in Sydney til Wednesday, but the plan after that is rather wide open. Hoping to make it down to Melbourne and perhaps over into Adelaide before making the trek to Indonesia to start the Asian portion of the trip. Adventuring, like pimpin, ain't easy!
A few random events/observations/deep thoughts to close it out:
* For some reason, I am a magnet for middle aged men. No matter where I go or what I'm doing, that demographic seems to really enjoy talking to me. For example, I was in the local grocery store a couple days ago perusing the bread selection and trying to find something under $4 a loaf when a tall lanky fellow approached. He was wearing a cowboy type hat and had one of the most disgusting set of chompers I've ever seen in my entire life. He had all his teeth but there was this yellow grayish film that made it extremely difficult to differentiate where one snaggle tooth ended and the other began. Can you picture it? If so, you're probably throwing up in your mouth a little bit like I did. Anyways, he says something like "tough decision, yeah?" And I say laugh politely and say, "way too many options these days." I thought I had played it reasonably well and could have picked my bread and escaped, but unfortunately I failed to take into account the fact that my accent is a dead giveaway that I'm not from around here. "American, are you?" says Snaggle Tooth. "Guilty as charged," says I. So we exchange plesantries and I tell him that I'm traveling for awhile, trying to be as vague as humanly possible. He's kind of hard to shake so we end up chatting for about 5 minutes or so, during which time I learn several interesting tidbits about this man. First of all, he's hammered and breathing some serious fire. Secondly, he's from New Zealand but has been living in Sydney for the last 28 years. And last, but certainly not least, he is the self-proclaimed "greatest satirical playwright of all time." Well, I'll be! Had I known I was talking to such a legendary figure I might have been a bit more forthcoming. So I press for some details and ask him to name some of the plays he's penned. "Oh no no no, we're not going there," he says. "Just remember my name...Victor Sheehan. That's V-I-C-T-O-R for Victor. S-H-E-E-H-A-N for Sheehan." I nod and smile, tell him that I'll have to look into his work, blindly grab a loaf of bread and then start to make a hasty retreat towards the dairy aisle. "Oh, you're trying to get away from me now, right?" he stammers. "Lots of other shopping to do, Victor. Great to meet you." So I head for the hills and don't look back until I'm at the checkout line and realize that the bread I grabbed costs $5.80. Thanks for nothing, Vic.
* After my first day here, I took a nice hot shower and was feeling quite good about my current state of affairs. Then I turned the water off and attempted to slide open the shower door and towel off. Only issue was that the door wouldn't budge. I thought maybe it was because I was soaking wet and had a lousy grip so I gave it another go. I pulled from the top. Then I pulled from the bottom. Then I more or less broke off the handle trying to open this stupid thing. Around this time I thought about how ridiculous it would be if I were unable to escape this predicament. Stupid new American girl locked herself in the shower and had to be rescued in the nude on her first effin day. The type of situation that's hilarious if it isn't you, basically. So I had almost thrown in the towel and was more or less ready to start sending out smoke signals, when I leaned against the door an it magically swung open. It was an Australian miracle! Turns out it wasn't a sliding door after all. My bad.
* Hostel culture is quite interesting, especially as a solo traveler. There is always an international feel to it, which is fantastic and allows you to interact with people from all over the world on a daily basis. On the flip, there are also a lot of pre-established cliques that exist. The hostel staff are generally people who have been living/working there for an extended period of time and, as such, are a pretty tight knit group. Then there are those who are traveling in groups and tend to just hang with each other. So I've found that it's best to scope out the scene for a day or two, get the general vibe of the different groups and then proceed accordingly. It's always nice to come across other single adventurerers as well so you can form a two-man attack of sorts. Alcohol also always helps in these kinds of situations. People are friendly when they're tipsy. It's science. Actually I think a great book could be written about the ever changing dynamics inside a hostel. Someone remind me of this idea later when I'm penniless and unemployed and have writer's block.
* Australians have a good attitude when it comes to the work/life balance. I'll have to look into how much vacation time they get and all of that (only thing I do know is that minimum wage here is $13.75/hr...not too shabby!), but from what I can tell they work to live, not the other way around. Over lunch, the streets are swarmed with business professionals on their lunch breaks, throwing back a few beers and catching up with their mates for a couple hours. On the weekends, everyone seems to be out and about making the absolute most of their time. I was chatting with a guy from Canberra last night and he was telling me that he wants to start his own business and is considering setting up shop in a different country. I asked him if he would ever consider America. "Absolutely not. You guys only get 10 days of holiday a year. I dont' know how you even function living like that." Then I reminded him that I'm temporarily retired and therefore a genius.
Ok well if you've managed to make it through this post, then cheers to you! Your loyalty and dedication will be rewarded with a big hug when I return home.
Peace, love, and waltzing matildas,
Christy/Christine/Tina
P.S. A big congratulations to two of my nearest and dearest pals, Mary and Marie as they both delivered super cute baby girls this week. So happy for you idiots and can't wait to meet the little nuggets and teach them how to do cool stuff like how to throw a boomerang.
It's tomorrow where I am so that's trippy and weird to think about....but also kind of cool. As luck would have it, Sydney is just as wonderful as I remember it to be. The city is beautiful, the beaches are fantastic and the people are footloose and fancy free. The one glaring difference between now and my last stay here some 7 odd years ago is that the US dollar is not nearly as valuable anymore. It's freakin expensive here. Right now the US dollar and Australian dollar are pretty much equal to one another, which is bad news for me considering a pack of gum is $2.99 and a bottle of knock off Vitamin Water put me back $4.50. What the crap is that? I saw regular Vitamin Water and then some generic looking one and figured I was being frugal and smart. Apparently I was way off. Oh well. That just means that I have been in super bargain mode lately. So I've been walking everywhere I need to go, finding deals on regular groceries in Chinatown, finding deals on fresh produce at farmer's markets and finding free fun at every stop along the way.
Before I continue my OZ travelogue, let me share a few pictures from my last couple days in Hawaii. On Saturday, I took a little road trip to Wailua Falls. You pull off the main highway, drive a few miles and come to a little overlook and tiny parking area. As with most scenic overlooks in Hawaii, there were a good deal of fanny pack clad tourists snapping pictures and buffing their white tennis shoes. Haha, that last part isn't true but it is weird how everyone seemed to have brand new tennies. But I digress. It was an impressive sight from above, but I was hoping to get a more up close and personal view of things so I sought out a couple of locals who were in the parking area selling handwoven baskets and things of that nature. The husband looked like the Hawaiian version of Eddie Van Halen and the wife looked like a wife. I saw a little dirt path and asked them if it led anywhere fun and exciting. They said it only led to a little area where they take pee breaks. Not really what I had in mind. Luckily, they told me that I could access a path down to the waterfall if I "went past the two 'Danger: Do Not Enter' signs, hopped over the fence, held onto the rope and climbed down the trail." Done and done! So I told them to send for help if I wasn't back in 2 hours and then made my way down. The trail was steep and I did have to fjord a stream at one point, but it wasn't too bad of a journey. When I got down to the bottom of the trail, I felt the cool mist of the waterfall and was beckoned by the freshwater pool to take a little dip. So I put my bag down, climbed over some rocks and logs and made a less than graceful entry into the invigorating water (the rocks were covered in moss or something...dumb). It was only slightly embarrassing as I was protected from the eyes of the people above by a rocky overhang and there was no one else around. So I swam around for a bit, explored a little cave, and got as close to the base of the falls as I could before peeing my pants (or bathing suit in this case). It was another tremendous experience in which I was humbled by how much of a bad ass Mother Nature is. You go, girl.
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| Wailua Falls from the top |
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| Flat Tina prefers the up close and personal view of Wailua Falls |
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| Just another beautiful view from a random scenic overlook. I think that's the Wailua River Valley. I also think it's bad ass. Aloha and Mahalo, Hawaii! |
I don't really remember what I did after that but I'm pretty sure I said goodbye to my tour guides, had some poke for dinner (Sidenote: I was slightly obsessed with poke while I was in Hawaii. It's basically bite sized chunks of really fresh raw fish mixed with herbs and spices and a variety of different sauces. It was delicious and nutritious and cheap and I loved it. The end.), and went to see "The King's Speech" at the local cinema. Excellent acting performances and very inspiring story. Check it out if you get a chance.
Sunday was reserved for Super Bowl festivities. I donned the Bradshaw jersey that the bartender in Oahu gave me, pulled out my Terrible Towel and entered the day with nervous anticipation. We watched the first half at some weirdly awesome steakhouse about a mile from Kevin's place. It was filled with old locals and it was great. There were a decent amount of Steeler fans (including a guy from Sharpsburg!) so I felt good about things initially. Then Christina Aguilera effed up the National Anthem and the game started and any optimism I had went out the window. As so often happens when I watch the Steelers, I drank beer to calm my nerves. Good idea. For the second half, we went to a little house party nearby where I positioned myself right next to the TV and tried desperately to find anyone who actually cared about what was going on. They were trying to be supportive of my cause, but that manifested itself into feeding me more beer instead of rooting for the Steelers. So I got drunk and the Steelers lost. Totally lame. The only thing I have to say is that if Willie Gay is on the opening day roster next year, I'm going to have to seriously reconsider my fandom. Just kidding, of course...but that guy is definitely one of the worst football players in the history of the league. Ok I'm done now.
On Monday, I bid Kauai a fond farewell and made my way back to Honolulu. I arrived in Honolulu around 8pm and my flight for Sydney departed the next morning at 8am. Instead of getting a hotel room, I decided to spend the night in the comfortable confines of the International terminal at the Honolulu Airport. I know it sounds incredibly fun, but it wasn't really. After wandering around for a couple hours, I found a nice little area near one of the baggage claim areas that was quiet and reasonably comfortable so I put my stuff down and made a little bed out of my towel and some t-shirts. Just as I was about to enter the REM cycle, some short little Asian security man came over and started going on about how I wasn't allowed to be there. So much for that. So I packed up my crap and made my way back upstairs where there were a decent lot of poor saps just like me. The flourescent lighting up there was harsh and the loud Hawaiian music blaring over the PA was more irritating than soothing, so I decided to put up shop on one of the concrete benches in the breezeway outside. It was so comfortable that I've decided to replace my mattress at home with a concrete block. Sarcasm is fun. So after another few sleepless hours and 20 or so crossword puzzles, it was time to check in. Woohoo! Got my bag checked in, headed for the gate and made a few business calls before departing. I put a call into Verizon to try to set up my international data plan, only to learn that they had just done away with the unlimited option two weeks ago. So that's horribly stupid and if I continued my current data usage while overseas, my monthly bill would be approximately $3000 a month. So to make a long story short, I have suspended my Verizon account indefinitely. I'm still figuring out the best way to communicate while I'm out of the country, so until I do I'm just relying on the internet and international phone cards. Guess I should have done some more research before I left. Damn you, procrastination!
Ok so I feel as though this might be getting boring so let me try to tell you cool stuff. The flight to Sydney was approximately 10 hours. It wasn't a full flight so I lucked out and got two seats to myself. That was pretty awesome and way better than my last flight to Australia when I was in the window seat and trapped by two sleeping row partners which then led to to 18 hours of kidney killing, no bathroom break agony. I went to the bathroom a grand total of 4 times on this flight so that was a big improvement. I also watched 3 movies (Unstoppable, Red, and You Again...listed in order of best to worst) and ate 2 granola bars. And then before I knew it, we were in Australia. Made it through customs, got my bag, hopped on a bus, transferred to a train, and then walked about a mile to my hostel. It's called Kangaroo Backpack (I think) and it's located in an area called Surry Hills, which is a cool little neighborhood with lots of pubs and cafes and some of the best restaurants in town. Very cool vibe. After I checked in and got a shower, I got a doner kebab for dinner (for old time's sake), and went to a corner pub for a pint of Victoria Bitter and a conversation with a rather creepy English bartender. At that point I thought I might die of exhaustion so I went back to the hostel and passed out til about 8 the next morning. Jetlag be damned!
Thursday I walked around and went to Chinatown, the Paddy Markets, and Darling Harbour. I turned down a random corner and came across Scruffy Murphy's, which was one of my favorite haunts back in the day for their Wednesday night Drag Queen Karaoke night. Oh memories. Thursday night consisted of a pasta dinner and a showing of Superbad with a variety of other hostel guests. Lots of British folks here as well as a decent amount of Americans. In my room there are two Brits, two Irish and two Yanks (as the locals call us). A varitable United Nations. On Friday I made my much anticipated return to Coogee Beach to make a wonderful trip down memory lane. It's so strange to be in a place that you used to know so well and to feel you're seeing it again for the first time. I swam the bay, caught some rays, checked out the old homefront, visited the women's bath, and reconstructed the most legendary night of my life. A very solid day. As I was waiting for my bus back to Surry Hills, I noticed a commotion behind me and soon learned that a shark had been spotted and everyone had been evacuated from the water. I watched for awhile but didn't see any fins surfacing. Oh well, hopefully no one got eaten. Here are a few choice scenes from my time so far:
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| This bar is open 24 hours a day and has Drag Queen Karaoke every Wednesday night. So basically, its the greatest place on earth. Shane and Kristi, this one's for you! |
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| Coogee Beach Life Saving Club. I used to meet my 75 year old swimming partner guys right by that pool and then we would swim across the bay and back. I didn't recognize any faces this time around so hopefully they were just taking the day off and not dead. |
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| Coogee Beach in all its glory. Just as wonderful as I remember. |
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| The Beach Palace Hotel, where the most ridiculous night of my life began... |
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| The corner where I made friends with a man in a wheelchair who would reach inside that window and get free drinks. |
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| Comfy stretch of beach to take a little nap... |
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| Coogee Sands Apartments. Another nice place to take a little nap. |
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| So well behaved this time around.... |
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| 202 Oberon! The old homefront. Looks exactly the same. |
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| My old bedroom on the right. One time a crazy person threw a brick through the window on the left. Good times. |
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| The Women's Baths on the left, open to ladies and kids under the age of 13. Also home to lots and lots of topless sunbathing. |
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| This 1984 Volvo was on sale for $400. I really wanted to buy it but that makes no sense. |
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| Australia in a nutshell. |
I was going to try to hit up the Rocks Market and the quintessential Sydney sights (Opera House, Harbor Bridge, etc.) today but it's windy and rainy right now so not sure how well that's going to work out. I'll definitely be in Sydney til Wednesday, but the plan after that is rather wide open. Hoping to make it down to Melbourne and perhaps over into Adelaide before making the trek to Indonesia to start the Asian portion of the trip. Adventuring, like pimpin, ain't easy!
A few random events/observations/deep thoughts to close it out:
* For some reason, I am a magnet for middle aged men. No matter where I go or what I'm doing, that demographic seems to really enjoy talking to me. For example, I was in the local grocery store a couple days ago perusing the bread selection and trying to find something under $4 a loaf when a tall lanky fellow approached. He was wearing a cowboy type hat and had one of the most disgusting set of chompers I've ever seen in my entire life. He had all his teeth but there was this yellow grayish film that made it extremely difficult to differentiate where one snaggle tooth ended and the other began. Can you picture it? If so, you're probably throwing up in your mouth a little bit like I did. Anyways, he says something like "tough decision, yeah?" And I say laugh politely and say, "way too many options these days." I thought I had played it reasonably well and could have picked my bread and escaped, but unfortunately I failed to take into account the fact that my accent is a dead giveaway that I'm not from around here. "American, are you?" says Snaggle Tooth. "Guilty as charged," says I. So we exchange plesantries and I tell him that I'm traveling for awhile, trying to be as vague as humanly possible. He's kind of hard to shake so we end up chatting for about 5 minutes or so, during which time I learn several interesting tidbits about this man. First of all, he's hammered and breathing some serious fire. Secondly, he's from New Zealand but has been living in Sydney for the last 28 years. And last, but certainly not least, he is the self-proclaimed "greatest satirical playwright of all time." Well, I'll be! Had I known I was talking to such a legendary figure I might have been a bit more forthcoming. So I press for some details and ask him to name some of the plays he's penned. "Oh no no no, we're not going there," he says. "Just remember my name...Victor Sheehan. That's V-I-C-T-O-R for Victor. S-H-E-E-H-A-N for Sheehan." I nod and smile, tell him that I'll have to look into his work, blindly grab a loaf of bread and then start to make a hasty retreat towards the dairy aisle. "Oh, you're trying to get away from me now, right?" he stammers. "Lots of other shopping to do, Victor. Great to meet you." So I head for the hills and don't look back until I'm at the checkout line and realize that the bread I grabbed costs $5.80. Thanks for nothing, Vic.
* After my first day here, I took a nice hot shower and was feeling quite good about my current state of affairs. Then I turned the water off and attempted to slide open the shower door and towel off. Only issue was that the door wouldn't budge. I thought maybe it was because I was soaking wet and had a lousy grip so I gave it another go. I pulled from the top. Then I pulled from the bottom. Then I more or less broke off the handle trying to open this stupid thing. Around this time I thought about how ridiculous it would be if I were unable to escape this predicament. Stupid new American girl locked herself in the shower and had to be rescued in the nude on her first effin day. The type of situation that's hilarious if it isn't you, basically. So I had almost thrown in the towel and was more or less ready to start sending out smoke signals, when I leaned against the door an it magically swung open. It was an Australian miracle! Turns out it wasn't a sliding door after all. My bad.
* Hostel culture is quite interesting, especially as a solo traveler. There is always an international feel to it, which is fantastic and allows you to interact with people from all over the world on a daily basis. On the flip, there are also a lot of pre-established cliques that exist. The hostel staff are generally people who have been living/working there for an extended period of time and, as such, are a pretty tight knit group. Then there are those who are traveling in groups and tend to just hang with each other. So I've found that it's best to scope out the scene for a day or two, get the general vibe of the different groups and then proceed accordingly. It's always nice to come across other single adventurerers as well so you can form a two-man attack of sorts. Alcohol also always helps in these kinds of situations. People are friendly when they're tipsy. It's science. Actually I think a great book could be written about the ever changing dynamics inside a hostel. Someone remind me of this idea later when I'm penniless and unemployed and have writer's block.
* Australians have a good attitude when it comes to the work/life balance. I'll have to look into how much vacation time they get and all of that (only thing I do know is that minimum wage here is $13.75/hr...not too shabby!), but from what I can tell they work to live, not the other way around. Over lunch, the streets are swarmed with business professionals on their lunch breaks, throwing back a few beers and catching up with their mates for a couple hours. On the weekends, everyone seems to be out and about making the absolute most of their time. I was chatting with a guy from Canberra last night and he was telling me that he wants to start his own business and is considering setting up shop in a different country. I asked him if he would ever consider America. "Absolutely not. You guys only get 10 days of holiday a year. I dont' know how you even function living like that." Then I reminded him that I'm temporarily retired and therefore a genius.
Ok well if you've managed to make it through this post, then cheers to you! Your loyalty and dedication will be rewarded with a big hug when I return home.
Peace, love, and waltzing matildas,
Christy/Christine/Tina
P.S. A big congratulations to two of my nearest and dearest pals, Mary and Marie as they both delivered super cute baby girls this week. So happy for you idiots and can't wait to meet the little nuggets and teach them how to do cool stuff like how to throw a boomerang.
You go girl! I love your wit and your stories. Keep them coming!
ReplyDeleteThJ....shoulda read this first... i was cracking up....thanks for the laughs!!!
ReplyDeleteChristy this blog is simply fantastic! Love hearing about hostel life and the random people you meet. Cheers to you!
ReplyDelete