DTB?

Alright so I really should be doing work right now, but I want to update on the past 5 days. So I left for the airport early Thursday morning and took the ferry and then train to the airport. I ended up seeing one of Charlene’s roommates (who was with her mom who was visiting) on the train—crazy—AND found out we were on the same flight. You also have to realize that planes go from Brisbane to Sydney at least every hour if not more. Anyway, checking and security for Australian domestic flights takes about 15 minutes, which was good because my ferry was late and then my train took forever or some reason. The flight was short—it’ only about 70 minutes—and when I landed I called Lindsay, hopped in a cab, and was at her house in about 20 minutes. Her apartment looks out onto the ocean and it’s about a 1 minute walk to the beach. Amazing. She had just gotten home from class, so we chilled for about half an hour and then went to the harbour so I could see the Harbour bridge, the opera house, etc. We walked all around and through the botanical gardens and just talked because we had quite a lot to catch up on. We ate a late lunch at a café on the water and then it started to rain so we ran back to the bus stop and headed back to Coogee beach (that’s where Lindsay as well as most of my NZ friends live). We got together some plans for the night, and just as I had promised, I bought 4 litres of goon for Lindsay and my other friends Taylor. So we got all showered and pretty and headed over to Taylor’s apartment. He lives on the other side of the beach in an apartment with only one other guy. When we get there the first thing I notice is that in their tv room there are 2 girls and I know one of them because she lives in union college with me! How ridiculous is that? It ends up that taylor doesn’t know her, but he knows her friend and they needed a place to stay for the weekend. So anyway, it’s a small world to say the least. We went to this karaoke bar and had so much fun and I got to meet a lot of Lindsay’s friends.

On Friday it was Anzac day, the reason why I had a 3-day weekend in the first place, so we went to the parade/other festivities downtown with several of her other friends. We watched the parade for a bit and then walked all around the city. We had lunch at this yummy take-away salad place. By the afternoon we were so tired and we walked past a movie theatre and decided we wanted to see a movie. Not everyone did, so we split up and Lindsay, me, and her friend Paul saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I hadn’t thought I’d see a movie while I was here, but it was nice. We got home around 7, and got ready for another night out. We went over to Taylor's place and chilled there and then headed back out to the city where we went to 2 of their favorite bars/clubs in the course of the night. Good night.

On Saturday we got up pretty early because we knew it was going to be really nice and sunny out and we walked from Coogee beach to Bondi beach on this path built for that purpose. It was gorgeous—the most amazing views of all of the beaches and huge cliffs etc. It took about an hour and a half so when we got there we were ready to pass out on the beach and we did. We had lunch later at this place that has really good chicken burgers—it was all Lindsay's friend mark talked about the entire walk over to bondi! We laid out after lunch and Taylor and his roommate went surfing—there were SO many surfers out, but the waves were huge and I thought I would get pummeled if I attempted to surf. It got chilly after a while because even though the sun was fully out, there was a very cool breeze off the ocean—too cool. (I’m so happy I’m in warm Brissie J) I walked around with Lindsay and some of her friends to look at the shops and then we took the bus home. We went home and showered and then went back out to get some food. We went to Lindsay’s favorite Indian take-away—it was SO SO SO good and we ate it while watching the Australian Biggest Loser tv show. Then we got ready and went over to my other friend matt’s house because I had yet to see him! He basically lives in a frat house which is so weird since frats don’t exist in this country. Anyway we hung out there for a while and I met some of his 13 roommates (yes, 13!). Then we went to Taylor’s and then were supposed to go to Darling Harbour to where some of the nice and classy-type clubs are—(Lindsay and I were all dressed up)—but instead we went to king’s cross which is, well, the exact opposite of classy. We had fun anyway and I’m glad I got to see so many different areas of Sydney nightlife.

On Sunday Lindsay and I both woke up so exhausted from so many long days—kind of like NZ all over again!—but we made the journey to Manly beach anyway because Lindsay knew I really wanted to go there. To get to Manly we had to take the bus to the harbour and then get the ferry to Manly. It takes about an hour total, but the ferry is so nice because you get to see the harbour bridge and the opera house from out on the water. Once we got there we just laid on the beach and did a lot of surfer-watching. I definitely could’ve surfed there and Lindsay said I could go rent a board but the water in Sydney is much cooler than farther north and I would’ve needed a full wetsuit. Plus I don’t think I had the energy to surf anyway after 3 nights of minimal sleep. We walked all around the shops there and had yummy salads for lunch—they have so many good salad places there!—and then headed home because Lindsay had a paper to write for Monday that she hadn’t started! We got back and I left her to do her paper and just chilled and watched tv in the other room with her two roommates. I went to bed early because I had to get up at 6:20 this morning to go to the airport. I had called a cab Sunday night to get me at 6:45, and it was on time and got me to the airport in 15 minutes. Then I checked-in at one the electronic check-ins and went through security in about 3 minutes because domestic security here is basically a joke. So I got to my gate around 7:20! My flight left at 8:30 so I had time to get some coffee and was able to call mike and use the rest of my minutes that expired later in the day. The flight was easy and I hopped on the train and then took a bus I’ve never taken before and got home fine. It was so warm here today—29! WONDERFUL. Unfortunately, I got back, had a quick lunch, checked my email, turned in my chemistry lab report, and had my practical from 2-5, so I couldn’t really enjoy the warmth that much. I actually finished my practical early and took a nap because I could not keep my eyes open for obvious reasons. Now it’s near 9:00 and I’ve got so much work to do. But yea overall, great weekend and Sydney is awesome.

But it does end up that I’m going on this Moreton Island trip this weekend on my own L. I just hope there are some people on the trip I can hang out with! I just have to remember that Moreton Island is a place I really want to go and that should be enough. Also, it look like Fraser Island the following weekend will also be just me. Maybe I’ll be able to convince someone if I really recruit, but it’s unlikely and I don’t really have the energy to make that kind of effort. Alright, time to work and then get to bed!