“Bits And Bobs”
Monday, December 7th, 2009
After my 15 hour flight I landed at Sydney International. Air Canada has done a lot of things to improve their planes for the Olympics. Each seat appears to be equipped with a touch screen multimedia center in the headrest in front of you. From these screens you can choose Television, Music and even Movies. I listened to some Imogen Heap and watched Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince and a movie about highschoolers and a battle of the bands. (The name escapes me currently) Going through customs was painless and in face a good chance to stretch my stiff legs. I assembled my back and converted my travelbag from shoulder to backpack. I decided as I had been up for over 24 hours that I would simply stand outside in the beautiful sun for a while and relax. It did me well and it served to clear my head. During that time I spoke with an elderly Australian man who regaled me about his troubles in visiting the U.S. and Cuba. He was very friendly however and had a lot of interesting information. Mostly on what parts of Sydney to avoid for safety’s sake. (I’ll probably visit said places later today, haha!)
I found my hostel with little trouble. Though I took a very roundabout root locating it as my legs were still recovering from the travel. It is a friendly hostel with an interesting dorm setup. Converted tram cars to sleeping quarters. My window even looks out onto Central Station!
The first thing I did was grab a shower and went for a walk. Sydney is a very busy city. There is quite a bit of traffic and some of the craziest pedestrians I’ve ever seen. It seems that as long as the road is clear droves of people will cross even the most well used intersections. The reason why I mention this is because in many places on the center divider they have included a button for the crosswalk… even though there is not really any significant place to stand there.
My walk took me through a sprawling “China Town”. It took me nearly an hour to locate a coffee shop. One of the nice things I’ve noticed is, unlike even smaller cities back home, I can’t throw a rock without hitting a Starbucks and I like it! My coffee was surprisingly delicious. An interesting Mocha that was the right combination of bitter and sweet. I was very impressed… it helped clear my palette of the coffee I had on my flight which has now be dubbed “The Worst Coffee Ever!”
Most of the rest of the day was filled with me trying to stay awake until a decent time for me to sleep. At the end of the day I had been up for 35ish hours but I knew when I hit bed I wouldn’t be up until morning. Thankfully with a morning coffee I am almost back to normal.
I don’t have any real plans for today, mostly some sightseeing and finding somewhere to buy a towel. Tomorrow I head to Katoomba to meet up with Dan and begin our adventures. For now though I’ma grab a coffee and plan my day.
Please note: I have only chosen select pictures for the post, please visit Photo Gallery in the top lefthand corner of the page to view more. (Edited location ’cause my ‘cuz Krista is a smart aleck d: )
”In distance I found strength. Katoomba gave me peace of mind.”