Weekend in Sydney

On Thursday, I met up with an American friend, Brittany. She's living in Melbourne, and decided to take a short vacation and fly to Sydney for the weekend to meet up. The people with whom she was staying have a house in Sydney, that they were kind enough to let us borrow for the weekend. This change from having no privacy to speak of (after having slept in crowded dorms for over a week) to having my own room in suburban Sydney was a welcome change, and one for which I thank both her and her hosts.

The first day mostly included aimless wandering: We took a ferry across the Sydney Harbour, which offered very nice views of both the opera house and the harbour bridge. At dusk, we were in The Domain park, and got to see the bats swarm out of the Botanical Gardens for the night. Afterwards, we saw Stardust, which I still think is a wonderful movie.

Friday began with a walk along the harbour bridge, on a BridgeClimb tour. Ten years ago someone got the brilliant idea of letting people walk along the access routes on the harbour bridge, giving them a unique view of the city. It really is a spectacular view, though they don't let you bring anything dangly along, like cameras. Towards the end, as I happened to be climbing down the access ladder as it went below the bridge surface between the tracks, two trains rushed past me simultaneously, going in opposite directions. That was surprising, yet exciting!

Afterwards, we returned to the house, and I spent the afternoon submitting resumes. Within the previous few weeks, I had gotten it in my head that I could easily find a job in Australia, and that getting a job there was what I really wanted. The process of submitting resumes put me in a foul mood, having convinced me that I was both unemployable and without skill. This feeling would remain for several days, until introspection allowed me to formulate a new plan.

Sunday brought with it laundry day, which took entirely too long. Afterwards, Brittany and I parted ways, with her going to the airport (via bus -- apparently the train not running that day,) and I to my new hostel. As I was still new to the city, I ended up walking in exactly the wrong direction, and got very lost before calling for directions. Hooray for mobile phones. So it was that I had found my way to my new home for the next ten days.