Brighter Than Sunshine

I really can’t describe to you in this post how much I LOVE the city of Sydney. I had somewhat forgot how great it was from my first weekend, or just credited it to the fact that it was the first place I’d been in AUS, so naturally I would have loved it. But seriously, it is a fantastic place and my weekend there was SO fun.

I left everyone in Toowoomba and started my travels down there. There were some bumps along the way; such as the fact that I lost my boarding pass in the airport. But luckily, security in domestic flights here is nothing like over in the States. I’m pretty sure that was the only time I ever had to show my ID all weekend. So I arrived in the Sydney airport and caught a train (how convenient that a public transportation system would run past 5 PM) to Macquarie University where some of my friends are studying abroad at. I stayed at my friend Rachel’s apartment and we went to this party her friends were having. It was so cool because their whole apartment complex was filled with Americans that were in the exact same boat that we were, so it was all really fun. The next morning, she had an internship to go to downtown, so we both caught the train down there, where she left for work and I left to check into my hostel and explore the city. I didn’t do anything too eventful that day but I remember feeling slightly overwhelmed at all the places I wanted to go and all the restaurants I wanted to eat in and that I only had slightly less than 2 days to do it all in.

If you can recall all the way back to my first AUS post, the group I studied abroad with was CIS. There were about 8 of us students, our leader, Kym, and her son Scott and we all stayed in Sydney our first weekend. Kym was down for the weekend guiding another group, and Scott and his friend Andrew came down as well. One of the CIS guys who studies in Melbourne came up too, with some of his friends who were visiting him from Boston, so it was a mix of totally random strangers that made up for a really fun reunion. So anyways, Rachel and I wanted to see Kym while she was in town, so we went with Scott and Andrew and met up with Kym for dinner. After that, we went and had drinks with some of Rachel’s friends from the night before at Darling Harbour, but because it was so rainy and cold, the night ended short.

This probably worked out for the best, seeing as how I wanted to get up early to see all of Sydney. Now, I hate being touristy, but I pretty much did every tourist thing you could do in Sydney. I started the day walking through Hyde Park (after eating breakfast at this awesome French bakery) and made my way through the Botanical Gardens to the Opera House. The views of the bridge from the Opera House were awesome and so I walked along Circular Quay to get the starting point of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The weather forecast for the weekend was rainy, but it held off for most of the day and would only drizzle off and on, which made my walk along the bridge much more enjoyable. I didn’t actually walk up over top of the bridge (that costs major bucks and time, neither of which I had) but walking across it as a pedestrian was still SO cool. On the other side at Milson Point, there isn’t much to do, but I did get to see Luna Park (which couldn’t help remind me of ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’) and just as I was waiting for the ferry, a rainbow appeared right over the Opera House. Awesome.

After taking the ferry boat back (McDreamy?), I walked through Circular Quay to get to the Rocks, which is this cool district near the bridge with all these little shops and a weekend market with awesome stuff for souvenirs. I took a detour on the way back to the hostel, so that I was able to see Darling Harbour in the daylight without the pouring rain. After basically walking for 6 hours, I was tired and wet so I chilled out at the hostel until I was supposed to meet up with everyone for dinner.

Eight of us ended up going out to dinner at this Irish pub which was really close to both Scott and my hostels, before finishing the night at Scubar. It was awesome because Scubar (this funky little bar in Sydney if you ever get to go) was where we all hung out our first weekend there, so it was only natural that our Sydney reunion would end there as well. It was sad to leave everyone that night knowing I probably wouldn’t see most of them again, but unfortunately, I had to go back to Toowoomba.

The next day brought Sunday and a bunch of people had told me that while I’m in Australia, I should check out Hillsong church. So I got up the next morning and took the free shuttle over there. Definitely not a decision I regret. It kind of reminded me of EPIC at Northridge and was a good way to end my whirlwind trip of Sydney. After taking the train back to Sydney (public transportation running on Sunday was also a new concept compared to Toowoomba), I caught my flight back up to Brisbane to take the TT coaches back. And who should I meet at the shuttle station besides Michelle and Casey, some friends from Student Village! I guess I should’ve known… we all try and get out of Toowoomba on the weekends as much as possible… so we rode TT coaches back and arrived here at last.

Sydney was a blast and if I could come back and visit anywhere in Australia, it would be that magical city. The people are awesome, the views are amazing, and it’s just so iconic, that everywhere you go, it feels special. So now, I have 5 days of classes left and then 2 weeks of exams. It’s all pretty spread out, so I’m not feeling too overwhelmed (yet). Two of my friends, Daniel and Lauren are doing their nursing clinical in Mitchell (this small town about 5 hours west) so Trina and I are making plans to bake/watch movies while she does hers here at the Toowoomba hospital.

I’m still working (only 3 more weeks of it left though!) and counting down the 27 days until I get to arrive back in the good ole USA. I hope everyone is enjoying the summer weather (I’m super jealous) and awaiting my arrival… hahaha….

Here's to the Night (Melbourne Part One)

So I’m back from Melbourne and I already miss it. Melbourne is a beautiful city and I think that if I could live anywhere in Australia, that I would live there. The weather is great, the city is big without being overwhelming and it’s just so full of culture. But now, I’m starting to sound like a brochure, so I’ll just tell you what we did…

5 of us (Daniel, Lauren, Steffan, and Alex- who all happen to share an apartment) left Thursday afternoon, catching TT coaches to Brisbane, where we took a train from Brisbane down to the Gold Coast to catch our flight. Let’s just say it was not the most enjoyable plane ride I’ve ever had seeing as how I was seated next to the crying baby. Great. We landed in Melbourne that night and rode the bus into the city where we checked into our hostel.

The rate we had been told for the hostel was that we paid $26 one night and get the other 3 nights for one penny. I was skeptical at first, but we called to double check these prices and they were right so when we got there and they told us that it should have been $26 per night for all of us, we protested. Luckily, they let it slide and even didn’t charge us for the one night, which left each of us paying our $2.50 deposit for our 4 night stay. However, I will say that the hostel quality matched the price we paid. Let’s just say it wasn’t the cleanest place I’ve been, the bunk beds caved in enough so that I was scared for my life every time Steffan got into his top bunk and “free breakfast” means that the staff puts out white bread and jelly every morning. AWESOME. But it just meant that we were more motivated to get out and see the city.

Friday morning we got up and walked around downtown, seeing Federation Square and all the main streets that we were close to. Daniel even bought us flowers from the street in honor of May Day! (which is an unheard of holiday down here) We went to China town and had lunch before walking down to the Queen Victoria Market where they had crafts and fruits and veggies and pretty much anything you could ever want to buy. We bought a lot of cheap fruit and I got a lot of gifts for you all back home.

Melbourne (supposedly) has the biggest AFL (Australian Football League) stadium and we were able to get tickets for Friday night’s game for about ten bucks so we all went and sat in the nosebleeds watching Aussie Football, which to me looked like a mix between NFL and Rugby. I’m sure to anyone sports-inclined, they will say that it is completely different, but whatever. We had no idea who to cheer for (Melbourne Roos vs. the Collingwood Pies) but our team (we eventually decided on the Roos) ended up winning and that’s what matters anyway, right?

We left the game, making a quick stop at Mackers and went to this British pub where Daniel had his first legal (in the States) drink at midnight in honor of his birthday. After that, we headed up to the Fitzroy District where we had heard there were a lot of great bars and clubs. We stopped at a few, ending at one that heralded “90’s Night” where we danced the night away to Ace of Base, Counting Crows and B*Witched. Perfect. At the last place, I ran into James, who I had met while I was in Sydney the first weekend for CIS which was really exciting and we talked about how we’re both going down there soon during the same weekend so we will have another reunion. All in all, it was a fun night and I was already in love with Melbourne.