Sydney Australia

Hmm...

So there we were flying to Taipei to catch our flight to Australia. Our flight was thirty minutes late and we were to arrive minutes before our next plane was leaving, but guess what???... we had our bags with us and so we were feeling ok!!

We took off rushing down empty airport halls, sitting on empty airport trams, being stopped at an additional airport security point, that was empty, that security would not turn on for a few minutes while we sat there..(take breath for run on sentence)..although we were the only people standing there in line..., possibly the only two people in the airport. (odd) The security check-man called our plane to let them know we were coming, and to hold the plane. I was the first through security and I sped out, down, and around the corner with my big bag to hold the plane. A woman ahead said, “hurry hurry”,..as if she could not see the wind beneath my feet. So I began to run faster, and still closing in behind me was Curtis. She got us to our plane (sigh of relief) and we boarded an almost empty HUGE plane, and could relax!! Man am I ever glad we made it and did not miss possibly the only flight leaving that airport!!! Seriously, No PEOPLE in the airport except ourselves. So odd!!!!

Well, we received our standard plane meal after of course just eating dinner on our last 1 hr. long flight.  I had the vegetarian...and poor Curtis got something gross, but on the last flight we had a tasty seafood dinner, so I can’t imagine he was that hungry.We listened to music and watched movies, and slept a bit, and we were there!!!!! HERE, Australia, where it's cool to say things like " I don't give a stuff" in place of I don't care. It's on billboards even. 

Few Fav Ozy phrases we’ve been picking up…


*Arvo? hmmm??? What's that short for? You guessed it, afternoon of course. Let's meet in the Arvo mate!

I mentioned how I did not understand how that is the shortened version of afternoon, and the man I was talking to said, “   Helygabathin Mate. Of course it does. We shorten evry thing ere. Arvo, Afternoon. It’s two syllables bub. It makes sense.” 
However, since his explanation was all Ozy to me I just laughed and agreed happily!

*Ambo. Ambo..? hm, can you use it in a sentence? No worries, that man needs an Ambo!.. Ambo......?  Oh, yes, duh..  
  Ambulance!

*Hiya-go...It sounds like hello, but different.  It means: How are you going? It is a greeting like hello.

*Good on ya! This means; good for you, your doing something good and you’re on your way, or have a nice one, or see you  
  later if you like the person.

*Chucka right, means take a right. You can Chucka anything here.

*GoodDay, No worries, Fair enough…Thanks mate.

It’s fun, and slowly I find myself saying things like yesterday,  “ No worries mate, we’re headed back towards Cans (Cairns), but-a justa Chucka left mate and you’ll find the tanks up front.”

It’s really not so much that you want to imitate, you just want to be understood, but when the person you’re speaking to is Canadian, it’s all Ozy (Australian or Aussie) to them too. We had a good laugh and I gave my normal American version of the instructions to him, and he was able to find the tanks.


Well, the first day of Australia we were so tired. There was another big time zone change, and I’m not sure we got much sleep on the plane. We had found cool songs that we were listening to on the plane, we also watched several movies, not to mention, were continuously being fed by the plane attendants. I think you need a green card (bring more food) or red card (stop the food, I’ve met my limit) on these planes. I’ll take it though. In other places I’m pretty sure it’s taboo to ask for a second packet of peanuts. So enjoy it while you can, right? Anyway, We took the train into Sydney, and arrived at Eva’s Backpackers. It’s a cute, clean place, with a really adorable house keeping lady.

Everything in Australia is pretty expensive. This hostel was $40 per person for a private room. You can find cheaper in the dorms, but even then it is pricey. You have to do your research. You can rent a place (condo) for 2 weeks or more for way less money, if you are planning to hang around that long. Eva’s is great because, its clean, you can use the kitchen and cook in, and you are right in Kings Cross area. It’s nice. Plus, they have the coolest House Keeper ever, that reminded me of a mother figure. I wanted to hug her every time I saw her, and tell her about my day. She is from South America, and we got along super well!

She helped us into our room. Did a final cleaning check for us, and then wished us well. We shut the doors, closed the blinds, and it was lights out from morning till 6pm or so when our grumbling stomachs woke us up.

Down the 3 flights of stairs……we were out the door to find food. As we were leaving we saw a kitchen where everyone was cooking!! It is quite expensive in Australia, and we are on a budget, so we decided let’s head for the store across the street.  Explosions of excitement filled the air as we walked through the grocery doors..babam,  pow, babboom, chicow…It’s a whole foods store!!!!!!! With CHEESE! With BREAD! With fruits and veggies galore! With sauces I know and love!! I grabbed a basket and just started shopping. I think I sang the Australian Anthem even though I’m sure I don’t know it, and said how America and Australia are like sister countries several times.  Curtis didn’t know what to do as he was half asleep and still in China, so he had bread in his hand and was looking for dried fruit, but I went full on gourmet salad!!
 
We popped back over to Eva’s kitchen, and the cooking began. Dicing avocado, tomato, onion, etc, etc.. Incorporating Curtis’s dried fruit & nut mix, and bread, with freshly grated cheese, and creamy Italian dressing…WE FEASTED. Curtis was amazed when I brought him his bowl and took away his small chunk of bread he had been gnawing on. It didn’t stop there friends!! I was on a cooking frenzy. The next several nights I whipped up fruit salads, tasty omelets, cereal J, Smoothies, greek salads, Cobb salads, Julie’s Salads, Enchiladas, Tacos, Nachos, Tostadas, Burritos, Pastas, Soupsss, sandwiches,  etc.. YUmmmm


Sydney was filled with long walks around the beautiful city itself, late nights and lazy mornings. It was so pleasant. On the days I wasn’t cooking we splurged for Sushi…sooo good, and other fun meals. I’m pretty sure we hired people to roll us out of Sydney because of our food indulgences.

This trip is our first stop in Sydney. We will be coming back to Sydney at the end of our trip, and so a little of this trip was re-establishing ourselves. After you travel a bit you get into the groove of what YOU personally need to make things work. I try not to buy anything over two- ten dollars because it is quite the experiment of deciding if it will work or not. I have learned to really pack lightly so you can buy a few things. It’s incredibly hard to do because who wants to show up in a third world country and not have what you need. I had researched a lot and I’m really glad I packed the toiletries I did. There is a cool site for women  www.journeywoman.com  that has great advice for most countries. Even still my first bit of advice would be to ask someone who has been there and who lives there. I took Sydney to sort out the un-workables and replace them with some things that helped me out. You can read about it on “My One Bag Packing List”


Like I said China was a bit rough for me. I had a lot of fun, and did great things, but my hair was turning to grimy straw. I woke up the second day in Australia and walked to a super cute place to get my hair done. I’m so glad I did it too. I got my hair thinned, which felt sooo good. My hair is rich but heavy, and for these hot countries it’s been a full body incubator. Then I got my hair cleaned, stripped even. It was sooo nice. I did research a ton and have great advice for Hair Travel Tips on a separate blog-post. I went to a store and got a mini hair straightener for 10 dollars, and wanted to buy out the store on skin rejuvenation products but resisted. It was good I did because Australia is full of natural rejuvenators.

A few days we just lazed about and then walked around at night a little, and then lazed about again until we fell asleep. My one qualm with Eva’s was no AC, just fans. The question is not was it too hot, but I will answer it. No, it was great. The fan worked perfectly with the windows open.

Were there mosquitoes? No, no flies either it was marvelous. HOWEVER, Every now and then a flat bug that is identical to a cockroach would get in the window and we would have to squirm around to KILL it. Cockroaches to me are like snakes to Indiana Jones. I say their name in a whisper as a shudder crawls over my body. This alone was not enough of a laugh for the flat bugs. This two inch creeper one night, while I sat next to the window, crawled onto my knee and sat there for a second. I felt something, looked down, batted it off, and screamed in the middle of the night jumping up and down until Curtis found it.We shut the window that night!!! Even writing this makes me cringe and shutter. The fast way they scurry about. BLAH! Anyway, I’m over it, but only because the comic relief of Curtis chasing it, finally killing it, and then shutting us in soothed me!


Curtis Take: I don’t think I’ve ever seen Julie freak out so much. It was hilarious! She was leaping all over the room from the bed to the chairs and I knew if I didn’t make quick work of dispatching the bug and it got away that there would be no sleep for either of us that night…haha.

Julie: Did I mention Indiana Jones!

One day we took a trip to the Market (Mall) and they had GREAT Sales. I bought some cute skirts, and replaced my sandals, and switched out some things on Kent Street, which is a road designated to travel and camp wear. Curtis took home a few items of his-own, and it’s been smooth sailing. My advice is buy it in China, but if they don’t have something there then wait and spend and arm and a leg to get the right things!

Curtis Take: Yeah, making sure you have the right gear for a long trip like we are on is crucial, so take the time to find what you need and do it right, and realize you may not know exactly what you need until you are in it so ask around, and then don’t be upset if you have to change things out as you go.


We went to two movies. Which holy moly it is expensive to go out to movies in Australia. Two movies cost us $80.00. We saw the 2^nd to last Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn at midnight, When we were buying the tickets Curtis kept calling it Day Break. It was funny. The guys had no idea what he was talking about.

That night we were interviewed by an Australian news station.They caught me saying, who doesn’t want to be in love with a vampire, amongst other things, and then Curtis and the News man got real close and made jokes with each other about how he was just in it for me, and the happy ending after the movie ending. Little did the news guy know it, but Curtis was interested in the movie.

Although I have to say…meh. I liked the end. I hoped they ended it there, but most of the movie was trying to have a baby. So..there were cool parts, and I think the person who did the film did a good job.

We saw another movie…the Time Keepers. Yeah, so I really expected something different, but it was interesting. So I imagine it’s great if you are not expecting. Movies are such personal preferences. Don’t take my word. You might LOVE it.


Curtis Take: Honestly, the Twilight movie was really slow, pretty disappointing. Movies are way too expensive in Australia…not worth it. Just wait to see the movies you want to see somewhere else or on DVD, etc.

Julie: Curtis’s 2 movie tickets are equivalent to 39 American McDonald’s parfaits or 7 Australian, possibly two 3 popcorns at the theater....the possibilities are endless.

We walked down by the rocks, and over and around the Opera House. We moseyed through Hyde Park and circled the city, weaved in and out of the city maybe 10 times during our visit.

We ended up ferrying over to Manly beach. It was very beautiful. It is a small town with tourist shops along it offering gelato, and ice cream, pharmacy’s, there’s an Aldi… If you walk straight from the ferry you will come right to the beach. The shore line to the left is dressed with city house lights. It’s beautiful as the sun goes down. The board walk is very pleasant.

A lot of people wonder about the beaches involving dress. Changing on beaches happens. I was walking with Curtis and I looked left and was blindsided by a man that just stripped down right there to change. Mostly people on beaches try to be discreet about it. It doesn’t just happen at the beach though. Funny story that happened later on in our trip; we are camping at a camp resort. I am walking back from the Check-in House, and again on my left this time is an old man just stripping down to nothing to change into something else. The changing rooms are literally 10 feet in-front of him. My advice is don’t look left.


Also, as far as toplessness goes on the beaches..Australia is pretty family friendly. Unless it is a designated no clothes zone, which they have, it’s actually against the law. However, people still do it like they do in America, but may be a little more lax here. Law-breakers do not walk around or stand unless getting dressed because then they will for sure get caught. You also may be shocked by some backside views from women or men, but there are ways to avoid it.

Curtis Take: Regarding beach attire in Australia; there are laws prohibiting public indecency but people tend to be more lax at beaches here than in America. If you are not careful you may run into men or women changing in the open, people wearing revealing attire, or people sunbathing without much on, front and back.

Ways to avoid it:
One, know it’s happening and stay with your party or in the water.

Two, if you are worried about your partner falling for the naked guys to the left.., first strategy is bring someone you trust. Second is stay where the Flags are near a life guard. They will stop people for breaking the law if they see it, and I guess the third is to wear a speedo and other whatnots yourself. lol

Also, to answer questions…I would not be too worried about the beaches especially if you are following those tips. If you feel worried, there are lots of other things to do. If you are worried, avoid the ads coming back from the beach. They are worse than the beach sometimes.

If you just are going out of your mind insane with the idea…rent a beach house where your beach is private, Or go diving on a live aboard boat, or go to one of the many beaches that have no one on them (unless surfing). It’s not like Europe if you are wondering. It’s a little bit more lax than California in some areas and in some areas more conservative.

On one of our walks we took a stroll through the Sydney Botanical Gardens. We saw beautiful plants and animals. I was chased by cockatoos, and saw huge bats. Curtis needed to see it to believe it, but when he did he couldn’t stop talking about it, especially since they were there every night high in the sky. We found out they are called flying foxes, and saw them at FeatherDale Wildlife Park as well. I’d like to take a moment to talk about the time I saw a huge fox, and Curtis was sure it was not true. Just sayin.

Curtis Take: Yeah, this one time in Kansas City we were walking around a rose garden at night and a fox ran through the bushes near us and Julie nearly head a heart attack. We thought it was pretty cool to see a fox in the park. Julie always tells the story like it was a fox the size of a German Shepherd, and I think she really thinks it was that big, but it was just a normal fox. I think the fright it gave her made it seem a bit bigger.


Julie: This is good…clearing up the facts, and getting this out there. So the story goes; we were walking through a familiar rose garden in KC, and there is a creature the size of a dog. German Shepherd ..ok. It jets out of the bushes, and startles me like a roaming dog would, a German Shepherd even. I stepped back and it took off, and Curtis said it was a fox, and I said whoa…”That was a tall fox.” P.S Those bats were pretty big too, and I’ve also seen a completely white Peacock. I have proof. 


…back to Australia.

We met some fantastic people at Church, who gave us some good advice about where to visit in Australia. We started with a few Suggestions taking the train and then bus to FeatherDale Wildlife Park. We fed Kangaroos, and Koalas came after me. I got a Cockatoo to say Hello. It was really neat to see their wildlife. I wonder if people from other countries enjoy our petting zoos? After a great couple of days in Sydney we decided how to journey through Australia and chose to rent a Car. We headed to the Blue Mountains and then South-West down The Great Ocean Road.

Curtis Take: Featherdale Wildlife Park was really cool…Highly Recommended!