We made it! After a very turbulent, yet magnificent flight from LA (I highly recommend flying Virgin Airlines for your future endeavors), Corrie and I have been in Sydney since yesterday, but it feels like it’s been a lot longer, only because yesterday was the LONGEST DAY EVER. After landing at the Sydney International Airport at 6 am and gathering our belongings, we slid out of the exit on our greasy faces and hopped on a train to our hostel. We had a little bit of a scare when we got off at our stop and no one had heard of the street our hostel was supposedly located on. I was about to open up a can of whoop ass when we finally stumbled upon the street and found our home for the next week. It was about 7:30 am by this time and we were told we couldn’t check in until 1, so we showered and decided to explore the city for a bit. Neither of us had watches, so we never knew what time it was. When we would find out every hour or so, we were horrified to find out how little time had actually passed by. Sydney looks and feels just like New York City. Big buildings, lots o’ people, and many beautiful girls walking around waiting to be discovered by a modeling agency (or so we think…). We were quite productive for our first morning here. We got cell phones from our new friend, Alvin, who actually hated us for some reason, at the Vodafone down the street, and we met with a few banks to see which one would be best to open an account with. We had no idea what anyone at the banks was taking about, but we at least went, so it made us feel like we accomplished something. By noon (but what felt like it should’ve been 4 pm) we decided to just get lunch and wait it out. We came back to the hostel at 1 and settled in. Our room is a wonderful melting pot of people; English, German, Swiss, Argentine, and Israeli. And a questionable older gentleman in the corner bed who has yet to speak to anyone. As Corrie and I were about to nap, we were warned by other travelers not to do so. Apparently we’d sleep through the night and wake up at an ungodly hour the next morning and do it all over the next night. So we decided not to nap. We explored the city a little bit more and came back to the hostel at 6 pm, with every intention of getting dressed and going to watch the sunset at Darling Harbour followed by some pubs. Instead, we fell asleep a 7 and didn’t get up until the next morning at 10. Solid. So that was our exciting first day in Australia.
Today we spent the whole day at Manly Beach with a few people from the hostel. The ferry ride was about 25 minutes and gave us amazing views of the city and the Sydney Opera House. We pretty much just laid out and relaxed all day. The beach was super crowded but we found a nice spot right by the water. Upon returning back to the city, we nourished our bodies with a meal from Hungry Jack’s, Australia’s Burger King, and are now resting up in the hostel for a bit before heading out to paint the town red...white & blue.
-My main concern so far is finding a place that sells Skippy Superchunk Peanut Butter. However, we have come to find that Mangum Ice Cream Bars are readily available throughout the city, which is just fantastic.
-Quote of the day: “Oh my! That girl looked like an Avatar.”-Corrie
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
