4 Jan 2014

First I need to stop calling Sydney “Australia” in my head. It’s like calling Chicago the “United States”.

I flew Emirates and was honestly unimpressed, despite the good things I always hear. The TV didn’t work half the time. The food was only so-so and it took them over an hour to get it to us because the flight attendants allowed themselves to be distracted constantly by a few rowdy passengers. I arrived an hour late despite the airline holding our flight for an hour because they though we were going to be an hour early. I think they were struggling with time zones. Apparently the Sydney airport has a strict 6a curfew so you can’t arrive before that.

Pro Tip: Get your tourist or working visa electronically for a easy time in Australian customs. Baggage was pretty efficient the only odd part being my vodka going to the oversized baggage area rather than getting picked up on the jet bridge. Customs was so easy, 20-minute line and they waved me right through since I had my visa.

My friend Scarlett picked me up at the airport and we headed to her house. It’s a super cute little house in Stanmore which is only a 15 minute train ride to downtown Sydney. We left pretty quickly to go on a tour of the docks, downtown Sydney, and the quays.

I took lots of pictures. The art museum was having an America exhibit so of course I had to pose obnoxiously with they huge America sign. I saw a lot of Australian ducks, which look nothing like ducks, but are prolific around wander areas like ducks and have very little fear if people. Pro Tip: Australian ducks may or may not be ibises. We also saw wild cockatoos, they make the most horrendous sounds, and some magpies.

We saw the obligatory stuff like the opera house and the bridge by it. Like most of Australia, you can pay extravagantly to walk over the top. Everything here is best viewed from a distance, it will cost you 25-150 bucks to actually get close.Pro Tip: A lot of the museums in sydney are free. We walked along the expensive yuppie docks and picked out which yacht we’d want. I have pictures of it. We mainly wanted it because if you positioned the camera just right it looked like the call letters were PORN.

After that we went to The Rocks market. The Rocks is the area of Sydney near the rocky harbour. The market was fairly hippie-dense. Mostly stuff I can’t buy because I’m traveling light. We did get delicious wraps. Mine was pumpkin spinach and pesto. Scarlett’s was meatballs and spinach. I also decided at this moment, that I’m trying to do the vegetarian, gluten free thing while traveling. The wrap was my last gluten-y hurrah.

We got all showered up ready to go out in Newtown, which is a five minute walk from the house. Time to start drinking again… I’m actually pretty excited to not drink for a while. I may not drink the whole time I’m in Cairns and Brisbane. Well, that’s what I say now.

So we drank some of my vodka and headed out for a wild night on the town. Only problem was we were both super exhausted. We went to a place called The Bank in Newtown which was a lovely bar with a beer garden upstairs and a Thai restaurant downstairs. Scarlett bought a round and we headed to the garden. It was an awesome night. Unfortunately neither of us could keep our eyes open so I asked if we could go home. We walked home and got back around midnight. That’s right Sydney, watch out!

Surround your pullquote like this {“ text to be quoted ”}

5 Jan 2014

The next day I was up bright and early at 830 am. I ate my first delicious australian mango. The. We went to meet up with Scarlett’s friend. We went for coffee and hot chocolate. Luckily for my ankle, the coffee place was only a short walk. I had hot chocolate, but didn’t get food since I can’t afford eating out.

After that we came back and got ready for the beach. Scarlett’s roomie, was nice enough to give me a swim suit top since I’d lost mine in Edinburgh. The beach was nice. We played in the huge ing tides waves. Then we laid on the beach but it was super windy and sand was blowing everywhere so we left after an hour or so.

6 Jan 2014

We headed out to the Powerhouse Museum to the video game exhibit, but first we made a stop at the post office so I could get my Australian tax ID. Like most things government I did not have the proper identification the first time around. In addition to my passport and credit card the wanted a Medicaid card, Australian ID card, or student ID. The first two were unreasonable. I’d left my student ID at home. Pro Tip: Always bring your student ID My USA driver’s license was also unacceptable. Thoroughly annoyed I left.

Then we headed to the museum. It was over a neat bridge walkway that apparently used to be a part of a now defunct light rail that ran around the city. Apparently it was a money pit and an eyesore so they took it down and preserved this little chunk.

The museum cost more than expected since the video game exhibit was a special one. Again I was annoyed at having left my student ID at home. Pro Tip: Seriously, ALWAYS bring your student ID But oh well, we were there so i decided it was ok.

The exhibit was pretty fun. Lots old and new games. It wasn’t super crowded like I imagine a similar exhibit in the USA would be. I played a decent percentage of them, but mainly focused on the arcade games. Scarlett and I both agreed they could have done with more arcade games and less of the newer ones. It was also interesting that they purposefully excluded bloody or excessively violent games.

I also kicked her ass at two of the super old school versus arcade games where you sit opposite each other and the screen is horizontal.

The rest if the museum was neat. Lots of hands on displays because it was basically a children’s museum. In the end, I’m not sure if the $22 was worth it to get in, or if $12 would be worth it without the games exhibit. But I did something in Sydney aside from window-touristing, and that’s a good thing.

The I headed for the airport. I decided to just take the train and it was really easy. The trains in Sydney are quick and clean. It took about 30 minutes which really isn’t much longer than it took to drive. My ankle was complaining a bit by the end by I made it with plenty of time to spare.

The flight was uneventful. I flew Virgin Australia. They give you a free checked bag, which is practically unheard of these days, and there was even free water, juice and tea/coffee.

When I was at the Sydney airport I was just double checking on the hostel location when I read the check in closed at nine. Pro Tip: Many hostels in Australia don’t have 24 hour reception. Be sure to double check and arrange for late check-in, if necessary. I panicked and quickly sent an email hoping they would get it and I wouldn’t be homeless. That was right before I got on the plane so I had no idea if they got it. I just hoped.