Australia Day
Trip Start
Jan 20, 2004
1
86
88
Trip End
Feb 01, 2005
Sydney,
Australia
Friday, January 28, 2005
Back in Oz
I arrived in Sydney to Alyssa and Mark's warm welcome and a tropical downpour. Nice. The taxi driver was far more worried about his phone conversation than us standing on the kerb waiting for the back door of his van taxi to be opened.
It was about 8pm and after dumping my bags in the loungeroom of their apartment we were off to a Thai restaurant for tea. It was very strange to see prices in Australian dollars again, and as I was looking at the menu, I caught myself trying to convert the Aussie dollars on the menu into Aussie dollars. Force of habit really.
It was quite bizarre (but fantastic) to see Ford Falcons and proper utes on the road again. Dealing with money was also great because it is colourful and I can hand over the right change without having to inspect each individual coin.
My first day was all about catching up, doing chores and buying a mobile phone. That was quite scary as I walked away with a device that I can be in constant contact with and that will bug me no doubt when the stupid thing rings. Whilst it's extremely convenient, it also means that the real adventure and 'being away from it all' part is over.
Gotta Love Sydney
Whilst I was soaking up the Sydney sunshine (though not enough sunshine when I wanted to go to the beach) I also managed to pick up one of Alyssa and Mark's friends. Friends make some of the best pimps! I also caught up with Emily, my English travel buddy from Quito to Uyuni. We had plenty to reminisce about the 2 months we spent together, including some Australia Day drinks and watching the fireworks over the Harbour Bridge.
I also got out to see my aunt, uncle and little cousins. The only contact I had with small children was the occasional cute kid in South America, and this was a completely different experience to that with my attention demanding and clownish 4 and 8 year old cousins. South American children are so docile in comparison. I'm currently rethinking the "I'd like to have 4 kids" idealogy and replacing it with something more like "I'd like to have 4 round the world trips".
Sydney put out the charm and made it's way onto my list of considered relocations.
Things I Learned
* Men don't look you up and down in the street. I was on high alert looking out for it, but it's confirmed. We are extremely different to the latinos on that count.
* I'm sure that Sydney prices are much more inflated than Melbourne.
* I truly love fireworks.
