Here we are on our way...goofing off in the airport, as is our wont. We look tired because we ARE tired. Our flight from LA to Sydney, due to depart late evening, was delayed because for whatever reason, the flight plan as originally conceived would have had us landing prior to 6 am Sydney time. They don’t let anyone land before 6 am, so the pilot did wheelies in the parking lot waiting til sufficient time had passed.
Ever been on a 14 hour or so long flight? Oh man. Time enough to have a full sleep AND watch two movies. Or watch six movies. Or slowly lose your mind. Your pick.
We arrived in Sydney at the stroke of six. All the usual stuff followed: find an ATM. Change money. Get the luggage. Go through immigration. Go through customs. Wonder how to get to the hotel. Buy a cheap phone for me, so that I would be able to contact Kevin (whose work phone has a plan that allows him to call anywhere, from anywhere, including but not limited to the moon). Get onto a super clean, super quiet, double-decker subway into the city. Bumble around looking for where to connect to another line to ride another few stops to the hotel. Eventually figure it out, while dealing with a shared roller duffle that feels like it contains several bodies. Admire folks on their way to work. Exit subway stop, knowing the hotel is within 1,000 feet but not entirely sure which way is up, down, or sideways. Luxuriate in WARM SUNSHINE. Find hotel. Collapse. No wait! No collapsing allowed! Check-in isn’t for hours! We dropped off our luggage and headed out into the city for a wander-around.
Oh, OK. I could like it here. Just an ordinary street tree, in Hyde Park.
We made our way to the harbor, to pay our respects to the local icons.
For all the years I’ve been aware of the Sydney Opera House, I never figured I’d see it from this angle.
Look closely: this one’s a selfie.
My first panoramic shot with my new phone. I’d looked into the possibility of climbing on the harbor bridge, but it’s nearly $200 and given my shoddy work ethic of late, I didn’t feel entitled to spend money on much other than Sydney’s super-freaking-expensive coffee. (Filter coffee, such as we drink here, is more-or-less unknown. It’s all espresso, cappucinos, and lattes. And they’re all crazy expensive.)
At this point, we were super tired, and definitely hungry. That part of town is a bit limited for lunch options, but we found a spot and collapsed. We had brekkie – breakfast – “brekkie” is how that’s called on all the signboards outside restaurants. How can you not love a culture that calls “breakfast”, “brekkie”? And that will serve it to you in the middle of the afternoon?
We discovered that Aussie money is made of plastic, AND it has bonus see-through bits. This makes for nice, clean, unrumpled money. OH! And no pennies! There are no pennies! Whooooaaaaaahhhh.
After a while we peeled ourselves out of our chairs and staggered back toward the hotel. There’s a fair amount of this vintage of building going on:
...but hey, let’s get back to the trees:
(oops, my hair’s in my face.)
We made it back to the hotel. We must have found something to eat for dinner – there was a great grocery store right across the street from our hotel, which was located in the Potts Point neighborhood: home to backpacker hostels, great eating, and mmmm, yum, ubiquitous sex venues.
We admired the sulphur-crested cockatoos perched at eye level in the trees outside our 4th floor room. One of them watched me watching them, and landed on our open windowsill, curious to see if we had anything good to eat. And so the evening passed.
Good night, Sydney!
Good morning, Sydney! That’s the full moon setting. Next up: a day on my own.
ooooooooh I love traveling with Sarah and Kevie!
ReplyDeletethanks for bringin us along. xog