September 23rd
This is the worst part about arriving in a new city and traveling solo, not knowing a single person and feeling a bit lonely. Walked pretty aimlessly like I usually do. Went to the Powerhouse Museum just to feel productive for the day, nothing all that amusing (Science & Design Museum). Darling Harbor is pretty nice. At night just grabbed a few drinks and watched movies indoors.
September 24th
Since I’m writing this entry late, I don’t really remember what I did during the day. Could be because the night time is taking up most of my memory. For dinner I had a Kangaroo burger which I got to admit, it’s pretty tasty. Doesn’t really compare to any other any meat and it’s a bit chewy. The only country in the world that eats it’s own national animal.
I haven’t done any social activities the hostel had yet. Felt a bit lazy yet I wanted to get to know more people. Traveling to me is just as much about meeting people then anything else. The laziness could be because I’m getting a bit tired of traveling so quick and missing the feeling of comfortableness and knowing friends longer.
Tonight I decided to make an effort of actually going out and so I attended a hostel gather at Shark Hotel for Karaoke night. Since I don’t know anyone yet, I pretty much just sat at a table and observed. At the table next to me, I’m asked if I’ll be going up to sing. We got to talking pretty randomly. Her name’s Lizzie and she‘s from Wales. Easy to talk to and we continued the night hanging out. At the table next to us we met Jenn from Ireland. Another random member of our madness. Shots, drinks, etc. We nearly went up to sing but we gave in our submission too late (don’t think we really wanted to do it anyway lol). Jenn had to leave for an early flight to NZ. Lizzie and I still going at it went on a mission to find another bar since Shark Hotel was ending. Got to a bar called Three Monkeys. Decent looking place playing shit music. Don’t think either of us really cared much about the music anyway at this point. Another random encounter was with Ashleigh and Scott. They lived just an hour away partying away in the city. Cool people. Left the club with them and went to Hungry Jacks (Burger King). While there I witnessed someone threw a full cup of soda to a women. It all happen so fast and originally I thought she may have knew them but noticing she wasn’t moving after that I asked her if she knew them and she said she didn’t. I quickly grabbed some paper napkins to help her clean up and asked her if she was ok. Lizzie came around as well and we both got to talking to her. Whoever threw the cup was a fucking twat. Wish I reacted a bit quicker and put my foot through his ass. We tried to convince her to go home but she refused to as she was in the mood to go out for drinks after what happened. Lizzie and I were just concerned for her and preferred her to go home. Eventually we gave up and we were just way too tired. Went to bed after all that.
Best night I’ve had in Sydney by far. Made an amazing friend today.
September 25th
Lizzie invited me to tag along with her to Manly Beach. Weather was a bit chilly but the sun came down enough to sit on the beach and relax. We took the ferry over to Manly Beach and the ferry ride alone was well worth the trip to the beach. Both trips to and from Manly put me in a trance. Not giving a damn about anything and just enjoying the view of the Opera house, water, beach, and the bridge. There’s something about a boat that can really relax me. Manly beach was nice. The beach itself wasn’t anything crazy but the ferry itself and hanging out with my new friend here made it all perfect. Lizzie gave me a whole speech how amazing Nando’s food is so I just had to try it. It’s like a fast food joint but not really because the food is fantastic and certainly not as dirty. So the hype is true, Nando’s grilled chicken fulfilled my expectations. Delicious food for sure. The sauce is out of this world.
Lizzie had to go to an Opera show so we made plans to meet up again later that night. In the mean time for dinner I made my 5-star meal of pasta, beef, cheese, and tomato sauce. Hostel had another activity going on within the hostel. Played a drinking game called Ring of Fire (Dangerous game! Lol). Met plenty of people at the hostel through the game. Later that night met back up with Lizzie at the Opera house. First time at the harbor area at night and I got to admit, it’s stunning! Very lively area and the bridge lit up quite nice. We made a nice easy stroll back to the hostel through George St just taking in the scenery and chatting away.
Can’t be any happier…
September 26th
I hate good byes. Really do. Some of the people I meet along the road I know I may never see again, others I do see when I thought I’d never see again, and some made such an impact on me that I HAVE to see them again. Lizzie I HAVE to see again. She’s off to New Zealand now. She’ll be in Buenos Aires in a few weeks so we’ll catch each other there hopefully.
Back in my room I have a new roommate. I’ve been solo in my room for awhile now. It’s a 2 bed dorm and I’m paying $25 a night for. It’s a steal because I got upgraded into this room for no reason and at a discounted rate, no one I met had it this low at Maze Hostel. Amy from Korea has been traveling around and working in Australia for awhile now and in a few days she’ll be off to Thailand for a month then coming back to Australia. We became friends pretty quickly and did a bit of roaming around Sydney. The Rocks area had a little marketplace going on we walked into. Then into a contemporary museum and headed back to the hostel. Memory is sucking right now and can’t remember what we did after. I have an awesome roommate. She’s been teaching me tons of Korean as well.
September 27th
During the day I did nothing at all but be my lazy self. At night though I came alive. Amy knew of a wonderful traditional Korean restaurant. I was one of the only white people in the whole place so it was pretty serious and fancy. The food was incredible. She ordered the perfect set of meals and knew exactly what to get. Perhaps cause she’s Korean? Wild guess there lol. To top it all off, we got Sojo which is a cheap Korean alcohol. Not only was I taught tons of words, foods, drinks, but even things like manners in eating, drinking, etc. I love this!! Could be why I enjoyed Asia so much, I love learning new cultures.
Amy invited me to go meet up with her friends at Kings Cross (Bar area) for a few drinks. Met a bunch people from Japan studying or working here in Australia. Cool group and had tons of fun. Amy is so much fun to hang out with and is beyond kind!
September 28th
I bought a $300USD camera today. My other camera is shot. Has black dots in every picture that won’t go away. The pictures nearly come alive now. I’m spending way too much money in Oz. Ugh.
September 29th
Amy and I decided to make the entire day a drinking day starting as soon as we woke up. To prepare for this eventful day, we had to get the proper foods and equipment. Stanley Boxed White Wine (Goon) 4Liters for $13, Timtam crackers, Sakata crackers, cheese, and fully charged laptops. Since we had no outlets in the room, we rotated between charging them at the front desk whenever one laptop died out. Basically just chilled in the room watching random movies and listened to music. I’ve copied thousands of tracks from Amy’s computer into my new WD Passport 500gig hard drive. Love new music. Then I also copied all my music into her external drive as well. We both had the exact same type of music tastes so we were having a ball going through each others music collection. Plus I got some Korean tracks I would never be able to get on my own. By 3pm we were already tipsy haha. We’ve been eating junk food since we woke up lol so we went over to a $3 buffet for diner at a hotel our hostel was promoting with a coupon. Slick deal if you ask me. We were pretty out of it by this point so you can imagine how difficult everything was for us lol. Good times. Very good times.
Now you tell me… Would a day like this ever occur if you stayed a hotel? Would you ever meet someone and within the same hour go out for drinks then become best friends that same night? Likely never.
September 30th
Are you serious? Another good bye? Fucking hell… Well Amy’s off to Thailand and chances of ever seeing her again would be in Korea. I do in fact have plans of working in Korea in my future but that will be probably years from now so who knows. I suppose Facebook will do for now… Good memories regardless.
Went over to Bondi Beach. I didn’t expect much out of the beach but when I got there I was surprised how beautiful it really was. Weather was decently warm but the wind made it a bit more chilly. Laid on the back for awhile reading a book and watching all the surfers rip the waves. Not too crowded either. Walked along the boardwalk for awhile taking heaps of pictures. Not too bad.
October 1st
Went out at night for Karaoke again. It’s not the same without Lizzie! Went with Darren and Jack. Real cool guys staying at Maze as well. Had a good time with these guys.
October 2nd
It’s quiz night at the hostel. Free wine there. I join in with Darren, Jack, Lara, and a few other folks in the group. The questions somehow we knew most of. There were two questions related to the United States that I actually knew so that was my big contribution. We ended up winning and I was handed a FREE tour trip to the Blue Mountains. Slick deal!!
Darren, Jack, and I went over to Sidebar for a complete mess of drinking once again. Were already a mess from drinking Goon at the hostel. Somehow I lost these guys at the bar and Kirsty kept me busy. She organizes all the events at Maze. High spirited fun girl who seems to always have a smile on. Later that night I went outside to just get some air then I was actually not allowed back in being told I had “too much to drink”. WTF. First time that ever happen. Australia is very strict on limited drinking. Now I’d understand if I was a complete fool but I’m usually pretty chilled out and I only get as annoying as talking too much. Ah whatever it’s getting late regardless so I went over to the hostel and continued drinking there in the movie room. Passed out and KO. Perhaps I did have too much?
October 3rd
Australia’s backpackers gives you no time to recover. I’m sleeping till 4pm and Jemma, Orla, and Dave want to meet up. Last time I saw Jemma was in Singapore and last I saw Orla and Dave was in Cambodia. I’ve never met someone so many times along the road but with Jemma. She’s a wonderful person and fun as fuck to hang out with. She’s got to know me pretty well by now. Wish I could have hung out with her more honestly. I’m feeling a bit ill from last night but the peer pressure gets me on to drinking once again. Jemma brings over a box of goon over to my hostel and we go at it. We catch up on our travels and all. Jemma, Orla, and Dave are living in Sydney working and settling themselves for a little while before continuing their journey. After being wrapped up in caution tape, we go out to a bar and dance away. Were pretty ridicules but having a hell of a time. I miss these guys. Knowing them since China brings back good memories.
We tried to continue our night at Kings Cross but it didn’t work out so we all went home and to meet up again tomorrow.
October 4th
In the morning I hung out with Darren and Jack. I’m really getting to know everyone at the hostel and it’s a shame I’m leaving so soon.
Met up with Jemma at Dee Why (suburb) to go to Orla and Dave’s new place. Jemma went all out and made us a wonderful roast chicken diner. She can certainly cook! The apartment Orla and Dave have is comfortable and only 300meters (2 blocks or so) away from a wonderful beach.
I’m leaving for Argentina soon and I’m going to miss these guys so much. It’ll be much more difficult to meet up with them again now. Good friends here.. I’m telling you… These are the kind of people you want to get to know forever for no matter the distance.
I left my new camera on the bus. Lost and gone. Normally I’d be kicking and screaming but traveling has relaxed me and nothing I can do about it. Orla gave me the suggestion to call the bus company and just find out if they have it. I had no hope for it to turn up but I decided to give it a shot and left Sydney Bus company a message to call me if a camera turns up. Oh well.
October 5th
Blue Mountains tour day! Went over to ANZ stadium first where the 2000 Olympics were held. Nothing special. Then over to the Blue Mountains. Not sure what to write about it. We had a great tour guide which is rare to find on these organized tours. He explained the history and stories behind the Blue Mountains and the surrounding areas. Scenery was nice though it was raining so it could have been better. Talked to this American dude that was also on the tour. Good tour, nothing crazy, nice views, cool waterfall. That’s about it I suppose. I’m sure there’s a whole lot more to the Blue Mountain if the weather was nicer and if I did a proper hiking trip for a few days.
I met Paul in Beijing. The first person I met and talked to on arrival nearly 5 months earlier from today in the beginning of my trip. First friend I made and a damn good one as well. He’s the guy that made The Great Wall of China memorable and hilarious. He lives here near Sydney. Paul was coming by after my Blue Mountain trip and the original plan was to stay at his place till I leave on the 7th. The thing is STA Travel didn’t tell me I had to actually pick up my airline ticket to fly from them. Since I got my ticket in Melbourne, I had them ship it to their Sydney office which I was going to pick up on Monday. What I didn’t know is today was Labor day so their office was closed. If I was able to get the ticket, I could leave with Paul but since I pick up my ticket to leave Wednesday morning, I couldn’t stay at his place unless he drove me back but his place is a bit far. I felt terrible because he had the days planned with me and I really wanted to hang out with him as well. Paul and I relived the Chinese Beijing ways and ate Chinese food in Chinatown. Caught up on all of our travel stories with that. Then went over to the hostel with our Goon and met up with Darren, Jack, and Lara. We hung out in my room for some Ring of Fire madness and had a few laughs. Paul is a great friend.
October 6th
Picked up my air ticket, sent a package home, and sorted out all my clothes. Tomorrow is Argentina… A different kind of travel. Australia has been great. I would have stayed till December like I was suppose to but it’s just too darn expensive. I had a hell of a time and made some wonderful friends and even met friends here I’ve known for awhile now. Though I didn’t get to see much, I had a hell of a time and now this just gives me a better excuse to come back. Unforgettable friends. Unforgettable memories. Unforgettable journey.
At 2:30 I get a voicemail on my phone. The message is from the Sydney Bus company! I call back and they actually have my camera!! I couldn’t believe it. A miracle. Jemma and Orla were right! The thing is the guy is leaving his office at 3 and that doesn’t give me enough time to actually get there. So instead I’m pulling an all nighter and getting there 7am to pick up my camera. I have no choice because the bus takes over an hour to get where the camera is. My plane is at 12:40pm so I need to make sure I’m at the airport about 2 hours before flight. So happy, you have no idea.
Well it’s my last night in Sydney. Didn’t want to drink much so I kept it easy. Went to another hostel gathering and hung around with some music at the bar. Hung out with some my the friends from the hostel. Simple night and very nice for my last night. Since I’m pulling an all nighter, I went over to a internet café to let my family know all my flight details and just checking everything before I left.
I’ll miss this place…
