Powered by Tofu » Sydney

Subterranean Homesick Blues

poweredbytofu — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:07:42 +0000

New Zealand is like home. I flew into Christchurch this afternoon. It’s raining, green, and smells like fresh air. There’s something really comforting about being somewhere that has the same kind of scenery and climate as Oregon.

Unfortunately, I forgot to check what hostel I booked at so after taking the shuttle in to town, I had to go check my email. Thankfully, I ended up being only a few blocks away. I’m staying at Base Backpackers, which is a huge 4 story hostel. I don’t typically like huge hostels, but this one is in a great location (it’s basically part of the Cathedral Square) so it’ll be fine for a few days. I spent the afternoon walking around the Cathedral Square area in the rain, got a Starbucks coffee (Don’t you judge me! It reminds me of home!), and doing laundry.

Oh and the biggest news of the day? I finally had Mexican food! Well, fresh mex, but it was actually good. Expensive for a burrito, but good. Oh and I’ve been laughing all day because Christchurch is so much like home. I love seeing all these fleece wearing, sandle and sock footed, granolas (except they call it muesli here)!

Air At The Sydney Opera House

poweredbytofu — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:24:48 +0000

How cool is it to be surfing in the morning and be back in Sydney for a concert at the Opera House that night? Very cool, indeed. This morning’s surfing was much better than yesterday. We were all glad to have Kyle back (he actually gets in the water), and the waves were alright, not great, but manageable. I caught a few that I was actually proud of! Yes! After today, I wished I was staying here longer. I need more time to surf! Now I definitely want to try surfing again later in my travels. After a quick shower, lunch, and packing up, the Byron Bay to Sydney bus arrived. I was sad to be leaving this group.

We made really good time on the way back to Sydney and hit Central Station by 7:30pm. I walked to the hostel with my pack, checked in, called about Air tickets, but there wasn’t an answer. I decided to just go for it and bought a metro ticket down to Circular Quay and jogged from there to the Opera House. It was 8:15 by the time I got there. They had shut the ticket window as I was coming up the stairs, but will call was still open. The lady at the window was so cool. She said that they had a few tickets still and that I’d just missed part of the opening band. And then she was like “I’m going to give you really good seats.” I ended up in the 8th row, front and center! Cool beans! Air came on about 30 minutes later. Definitely a $99.95 AUD well spent. Loved, loved, loved it. It was also the chillest show of all time, which is good for at the Opera House. And they were both wearing white, they’re so French, lol. The skinnier one (I don’t know their names) played guitar and used the distortion mic, while the other one looked smuggly out at the crowd, over his keyboard. They played most from Moon Safari and Talkie Walkie and then came back out for a 5 song encore. This was the perfect ending to Sydney and Australia. Absolutely perfect and surreal.

I did a search on YouTube for videos from the show. Here are a few:

See you in the land of the long white cloud (New Zealand).

No, I’m Not Too Old For Surf Camp

poweredbytofu — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:41:29 +0000

Surf camp! I checked out early this morning and walked down to Central Station to meet the surf van. It looks like there will be seven of us, three girls and four guys. The drive north, near Byron, took about six hours and we stopped along the way for lunch and the bottle shop. Kyle our surf instructor (and our driver) looks like a mid-30s washed up surfer dude. Time will tell if I’m correct, but I’d bet a Beez Neez that I’m right. After checking in, we still had 4 “surf hours” in the day, so we changed into swimsuits, picked out wetties (wetsuit, as previously mentioned, Aussies have a weakness for shortening words that don’t need to be shortened) and rash guards and climbed in the Rover. The weather was overcast, so we headed to the lake/river near the ocean. First task of surf camp, learn to paddle. We paddled all the way across on hard boards and then went out into the ocean to try and catch a few waves. I did pretty terrible. Hard boards are so much more difficult to grip because they need to be waxed. My Waikiki Beach surfing experience felt so much better than this. But this is real surfing, so I guess we need to toughen up. ;) After a bit of being thrashed by the waves, we paddled back across to the truck. To be honest, it was brutal. I was reminded that I have no upper body strength.

I’m glad I chose the “non-camping” surf camp. After being in the water, I just wanted a warm shower. Dinner was in the building outside, but there’s a roof, so it’s more of a pavilion. There was a vegetarian option and Rosco, the chef, is a decent cook. After dinner, we sat around the picnic tables and chatted with the other surf group who is leaving tomorrow (well two of the guys are joining our group). Ladies, please note: The male/female ratio at surf camp is about 2:1.

Sydney Highlights

poweredbytofu — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:31:37 +0000

I spent 3 days in Sydney before heading back up the coast for my surf trip. Here are my favorite things about Sydney:

Walking over the Harbour Bridge. Sydney is such a gorgeous port city. The view from the bridge was great. However, the Sydney Opera House looks bigger on TV. ;)
Circular Quay (pronounced ‘key’) and the harbour ferries.
The Sydney Opera House at night. The Opera House bar, which is right on the harbor, is open to the public and great for people watching and views of the harbour front.
Exploring The Rocks neighborhood at night and grabbing a drink (and a bite of kangaroo pizza!) at one the oldest cafes in Sydney.
Spontaneous fireworks over the Opera House (no one knew what the occasion was).
Sydney shopping. After traveling and wearing the same clothes for a month, it’s nice to feel girly again! I bought nail polish, splurged on Body Shop Honey Shampoo and Conditioner and bought a new tank top.
Darling Harbour restaurants and park.
Sydney Public Transport is so easy to use. I bought the Daytripper travel pass one day and used it for the bus, train and ferries.
The Toronga Zoo is quite possibly the coolest zoo ever. Finally, I get to see all the Aussie animals I haven’t seen in the wild. I saw dingos, kangaroo, and koalas.
I caught the ferry to Manly Beach, had lunch and found the perfect black Billabong bikini and boardies.
Trying to stifle the comment, “The dingo stole my baby!”

I was expecting Sydney to be much more expensive, but it’s actually not that hard to budget travel in Sydney. My hostel was $22, and if you stay in a more central location (like the CBD) you can walk everywhere, which cuts down on transportation costs.