Hello faithful readers (aka Anthony, Jess, Elissa, and my family – if there are any others, message me and you shall be acknowledged next time lol),
So, last time I left you off at an epic cliffhanger: my trip to Bondi Beach. So mean, I know, but I was tired. Deal. As promised, I will now catch you up to the end of Sydney part 1 (ie: until Saturday night), and this will be followed by a separate post for Canberra. Legit? Here we go.
The metro system in Sydney is kinda like the one in Hong Kong, in that you pre-pay at a machine and depending on where you are going, the cost of your trip will be different. We were just going one stop, but the round trip still costs around $4. Then you have to bus to the beach, another $1.90 each way. It’s a really nice day, a bit windy, and we stop for lunch at some super hipster Paris café. Slash be forewarned: I will be using the term hipster throughout this post, as Sydney is hipster central. Eddie compares it to LA a lot and our closest comparison I guess would be Toronto (where Montreal is closer to Melbourne). The restaurant is packed so we wait a bit for a table and each order fairly large burgers which back home would cost around $8-10 but here costs $15. Because Aussie-land is expensive (I feel like I have complained about this before). After lunch we head for the beach for some tanning. Slash Eddie tanned. I napped with my sweater acting as a blanket because I was freezing! Like it’s super windy by the beach, and I dunno about you, but like 18C with the wind does not equal bikini weather for me. But apparently it does for the rest of Sydney. Slash topless tanning for others. And fluorescent speedos for old men. And quite a few surfers (success). After a couple of hours, it’s time for some beer, because hey, it’s happy hour. But happy hour in Bondi does not equal 2 for 1 beers, or anything close. It does equal $5.50 Stellas, though. Slightly confused: why are there only international beers on the happy hour menu, instead of local beers on tap? Don’t ask. Anyways. We finish our beers and head back home for a short rest before heading out again for dinner with Eddie’s friend Beth by the Quays, which, btw, has an amazing view of the Opera House and the bridge. So we have a quick dinner on the boardwalk (super tourist trap rip, but I survive), and then head to the movies for an Aussie-land clamation movie called Mary and Max. It’s quite a peculiar movie, with really funny parts, but then it gets super dark towards the end. It’s also got a bunch of Jewish jokes, because Max is an older mentally challenged Jewish man living alone in NYC. Considering there aren’t so many Jews in Australia, it’s interesting that they would make one of the main characters Jewish… I wonder if Aussieland people understand the jokes… After the movie we went for coffee/ hot chocolate on the boardwalk as we waited for Beth’s ferry to arrive, and then we went home again and called it a night. Oh! One thing I forgot about the bus ride to Bondi! Aussieland people are soooooo racist! Like seriously. And they are so obvious about it, too! There was an Asian man trying to get on our bus and he didn’t have correct change, so the bus driver told him to go to the machines inside and get a ticket there. The guy didn’t come back on the bus. But then two blond Australian girls get on without correct change, and the bus driver totally lets them on and gives them the right change!!! Fail! It’s rare to see black people here, though recently a lot have been coming from Africa, and people here seem so scared of them. Like they walk as far away from them as possible, and call them “blackies” and just look down on them. Such a fail. Canadian multiculturalism > Australian multiculturalism, I think.
Anyways, back to the story. So Friday is the official touring day, and it’s super warm out. As we walk to the botanical gardens, tons of shirtless Aussie men go jogging past us (success), and at the gardens themselves, there are even more Aussie men jogging/ tanning. I of course pay no attention to them at all because I have super sexy boyfriend at home, but they might have gotten in the way of some photos… The gardens are amazing, and they have a great view over downtown Sydney and the Bridge and Opera House. There are also super cool trees with really round trunks (view pic of Eddie hugging tree) and other cool areas. In the Asian section, we saw a mom trying to get her young daughter (maybe 5 or so) to pose sweetly for a pic. Just as her mom was taking the pic, the girl jumps out and holds up her index finger, and yells: “Number 1 girl!” Honestly, one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. As we walked through the gardens some more, I noticed a bunch of bushes in the distance that read SEX + DEATH. Perplexed, we walked towards the sign, which was inf ront of a large pyramid, and discovered an exhibition about plant seduction and death (apparently flowers can seduce other things). We walked by and decided to not go in and instead continue our trek towards China Town, crossing through the downtown area along the way. We finally find it, and head into a food court, where, of course, I order more Malaysian food (if only we had Malaysian food in food courts back home). We head back up and get some Japanese pancakes for dessert, and walk around some more, before heading into Paddy’s Market, this giant market where they sell everything and anything (including the sandals I bought to replace my broken pair). Slash yes. I forgot to mention something again. Tried to repair the sandals with some super glue at Eddie’s before heading out to meet Beth at the Quays, and instead end up with super glue all over my fingers. And fml it hurts at the beginning and it feels like it’s eating into your skin and you can’t get it off!!!! Slash it totally came off over night and didn’t notice anything the next day, but still! Debated on getting a kids Habs jersey at the market too (ya, they had them there), but the market was closing and we had a long walk back. After heading the wrong way at first, we finally get back on track and get back to Eddie’s, but not before walking through Kings Cross, with its bright lights and half-dressed prostitutes. They couldn’t be any more obvious. Once again, we get home and decide to stay in for the night. Next day: Surrey Hills Festival.
We leave in the afternoon and walk by a bunch of people dressed up super nicely, like full out suits and ties and sundresses and cute little hats with lace! It’s incredible. And I want to dress up sooooo bad. Turns out there were races that day, and it’s a big deal in Sydney and everyone dresses up and goes! New plan: before the Hippodrome closes (if it isn’t already), we all head there in super baller clothes and party like it’s the 20s). Anyways, back to Surrey Hills festival. Surrey Hills is kinda like the Plateau. Its got tons of vintage stores, only the clothing there was more expensive than the clothing I was wearing, and tons of hipsters. As we walked towards the festival, we went by tons of super trendy cafés, all packed with tons of hipsters, and finally settled on a place for brunch. After a “Canadian Breakfast” – French toast, bacon (Aussieland bacon is actually ham, not bacon, but wtvs), and maple syrup – we continue on our path towards the festival. We really weren’t expecting much, except maybe from this band Eddie read up on that was meant to be a mix of electronica and country (don’t ask). We get there and it’s CRAZY. There is a group of crazy people on God knows what dancing like crazy people to house at the gate we walk through, then some kids on ponies trot past us, then we see giant slides and some fair games, and a shit ton of booths with people selling anything from vintage clothing to original designs to artwork to food and beer to greyhound adoptions. Eddie and I both picked up a bunch of artwork from this Asian guy who did simple graphic style art with all these messages behind his work. Lots of basic colours and shapes, with really cool meanings. I will show you when I get back! We also saw that electro-country band, who was quite possibly the worst group I’ve ever seen. Like, the first question on Eddie’s mind was: “how old are these people?” as we stared at the backup singer’s arm flab jiggle around. It was a total disaster zone. We left the festival grounds and headed home for a quick nap, before getting on the metro to go meet Beth in her neighbourhood (on the other side of the bridge) for some Italian. A bottle of wine, 3 pizzas, and 3 cannolis later, we headed back to Beth’s for some Aussie TV, including something (I forget) & Kim, a comedy about these ditzy middle-class Australian women, and Summer Heights High (which I have made like all of you watch already). By the end, we’re all pretty tired and decide to call it a night, and Eddie and I head back to his place, where I finish laundry and pack up for Canberra (Aussie-land capital, for those of you who don’t know [and most people don’t]).
The next morning at 7:45am, I left Eddie’s and took the metro all by myself (success!) to Central to catch my bus to Canberra, about 3.5hrs away.
(The End)
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