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This isn't Australia. . .where are all the Roo's?
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Well we've arrived in the largest and most famous city in the country. After we wrote yesterday we hopped on the bus and began our 4 hour ride from Canberra to Sydney. We were sad to discover they were not giving us a movie. They had the equipment . . . but it just sat there, blank, mocking us. We discovered that even in buses neither of us can read, the carsickness kicks in. It's also too bumpy to draw so TJ was sad. So we looked out the window at the landscape searching for our first kangaroo. But we had no such luck, we also found that looking out the window doesn't help the carsickness, we're pathetic. But Jess is happy that TJ has to suffer now as well. Apparently she gets pleasure watching others struggle as well, or at least it makes her feel like less of a wimp. So we attempted to sleep off the nausea but it was early evening so we weren't very tired. But eventually we pulled into Sydney. We got off the bus at Central Station in downtown Sydney. It is also a train station which was nice and simple for us because we need to use the train to get anywhere we want to go. So we found the platform for King's Cross. Now you may have heard stories of this area, it is known for being a bit rough. King's Cross is where all of the partiers go and along with that comes "working girls", drunks and other folk of that sort. So we were a bit nervous since we pulled in at 8pm and it was getting dark. But it was fine, you could see that the place could get a little shady but we stuck to the main strip and found our hostel. This place was really sweet. It is called "The Funk House". They have the whole place painted up with random art. Every door had some sort of cartoon character or mural painted on it. Like Popeye and Olive Oil for the bathroom doors. Such a cool idea, TJ took pics of some of the rooms. The room had a FAN!!! and a TV and it was a decent size. We were on bunk beds again but we had our own room. They had a $3 burger and a beer deal set up on the rooftop where they have a seating area. So we were very pleased with our hostel in the shady part of town. We were a little worried about it being a party hostel like the Oslo in Melbourne, since it's right on the main strip in Kings cross. But they had a quiet by 10pm rule. So we got a good night's sleep. We only stayed in King's Cross because the cheaper place didn't have rooms until tonight. But we're glad we got to experience it. We decided to get brave and go for a walk to see what the fuss was about. We wanted to check out the night life that the brochure raved about. Even on a Wednesday night it was busy, everyone was friendly. It was lit up with all sorts of neon signs, we were given tickets for free drinks. It was pretty cool, but since it was a Wednesday we decided to go back and chill out.
We got up this morning and headed for our cheaper hostel which is also closer to the bus station. Less walking for us wooo!! It doesn't have the fancy art but they do have murals of tropical beaches on the walls. We'll make the trade for $20 less a night. We dropped off our gear and decided to take advantage of the sun and head for Bondi Beach. We took the train and then a bus transfer to get there but it was well worth it. We walked down the strip and checked out the cool shops, we found some souveniers for people and then searched out a surf board rental shop. Yes we finally got to attempt to surf today. We rented the boards for 2 hours. They were soft foam, probably so we couldn't hurt ourselves. TJ's was big and purple, so he named it Barney. He's kind of a dork. We put our stuff in the lockers so we wouldn't have to monitor it. We needed our focus purely on the task at hand. We decided to try without lessons. They cost money and we knew we'd suck anyway. So we paddled out and tried to copy the good surfers. They made it look so easy . . . we definitely did not. Some of them were probably our parents age and had no problem keeping up with the younger surfers. The beach was packed so we had troubles finding a place to learn on our own. Surfing is very very hard we've decided. We both got up to a squatting position a few times but couldn't seem to stand all the way up without falling. Timing the waves is an art in itself never mind getting up from your belly in one smooth motion. Even paddling takes some skill, you have to keep yourself balanced in the water so you use only your arms to paddle. We also couldn't figure out why all the good waves seemed to go to the good surfer's. They should share. We got quite a few good waves but they seemed to have the perfect spot lined up. It was a blast though, we're definitely going to be trying again when we can. It was so much fun watching them surf up close and then feebley trying to mimic them. Hopefully nobody was watching us. We plan to go again some time after the soreness has disappeared, it has already started to sink in. Tommorow is going to be rough, at least we don't have to carry our full pack around. Tonight we'll be relaxing and letting our bodies recoup. Talk to you tommorow!!!
Latest Comments (1)
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Roo's, Fish, Heat (reply)
Feb 22, 2007 14:28 EST by rwillms
Hi TJ and Jess,
Rob Willms here. I have been reading your travel blog with interest but didn't feel qualified to comment until you reached Australia. Nice to read you have been there a few days. You will enjoy most of it.
Roo's . . . sort of like deer here. They occupy the same ecological niche so where you think you would see deer you will probably see Roo's. If you are driving be da... show all
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| 31. | This isn't Australia. . .where are all the Roo's? - Sydney, Australia Feb 22, 2007 (  1 ) |
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