Lecture Recess aka Spring Break (Part 2)

Wednesday cont.

We arrived in Sydney around 5pm. Alex and I were lucky to be on the left side of the plane which actually turned out to be the right choice. As our flight descended we had an amazing view of the Sydney Opera house from above. We took a half hour cab ride with the most atrociously mannered cab driver I have ever met (although I’ve never taken a cab in NYC) and arrived at our hostel the Blue Parrot. It was very hard to see, with only a 4 foot gateway and small sign hanging down. Our very rude cab driver growled at us to hurry up and get our stuff, and we left the cab with a sigh of relief. The street we were staying on was quite cute with a small park and fountain down the road, shops and cafes all along the street sides, and some fairly nice restaurants. We walked through the gate, down a long ally inbetween buildings and then through a door into the hostel. Once inside the place seemed much larger and although it was narrow, it was long and extended back fairly far. The hostel had a cozy feeling, with very kind workers who took the time to make sure they knew our faces and names. Out back was a relatively large patio with chairs and hammocks. We went upstairs to our four person room with two bunk beds. There were three bathrooms and probably about 6 rooms in total each holding 4-8 people. After settling in, we all changed for dinner and decided to take a walk through the city towards the harbour. Our friend Kenny was also in Sydney, so a few texts later and it was decided that we would meet up in the harbour to grab some dinner. After about a 45 minute walk, we finally made it and let me tell you, the view was absolutely stunning. Yachts lined the sides; lamps lit the bridge, harbor and opera house. I cannot even tell you which sight was more beautiful: the bridge or the opera house. Not 5 minutes later, Kenny showed up and after some pictures with one of the best backgrounds a tourist could hope for, we scoured the harbour side looking for a relatively cheap bite to eat. Cheap, however, was obviously an optimistic hope and we ended up walking quite a while out of our way, and far from the harbour, to hit a bar with a great burger deal. So with some great beer and tasty burgers we sat down and enjoyed a nice, relaxing meal. Some of our friends from JCU were currently in the area for Australia’s big college sport tournament. All types of sports are played throughout the week and teams come from all over the country. Our friends were on the JCU Ultimate Frisbee team, and I really wish we could have seen one of their games. After dinner we took another half hour trek to the Cockle Bay Wharf. We hit up a Lindt’s chocolate shop where I got a couple amazingly decadent truffles and everyone else got some other form of delicious chocolate. We then headed towards the club that our JCU friends were supposed to be at, but after waiting ages in line and getting in, we found our friends nowhere in sight. We went back outside and happened to see a large (6’8” tall), familiar friend, my housemate Drake. He was there with the Frisbee team, and we lucked out in finding them just by chance. Then ensued another long journey, hopping from bar to bar until we settled down at a fairly empty one, got some drinks and proceeded to have a great night talking and laughing and later dancing until it was time to catch a cab ride back to the hostel and say goodbye to our friends.

Thursday

Bondi beach! Home of the Bondi Rescue lifeguards and one of the top tourist destinations around Sydney. After a train ride and subsequent bus ride, we made it to the beautiful Bondi beach. Sitting in a cove with light soft sand and azure blue waves crashing in, Bondi is one of the most beautiful places I have been. Rocky cliffs line the cove with houses and walkways built into the sides. We spent the entire day laying out and swimming (only once or twice, the water is freezing and the waves unforgiving). I probably applied sunscreen 4 or 5 times to avoid sunburn from the hot Australia sun. A lot of our time was also spent attempting to get Alex a picture with the Bondi rescue squad, which was largely unsuccessful until the last hour we were there. A couple of lifeguards were driving by on their beach buggy and we ran over making camera motions with our hands. They pulled to the side and we snapped a few awesome pics of Alex with them (and the hugest grin on her face). After we tired of the beach, we went up and grabbed a delicious dinner at the only restaurant on the beach. Then we decided to go for a walk along the cliffside and caught a few more amazing pictures of the beach from the ocean side view. After our walk we caught a bus back to the train station, hopped on a train and headed home. That night we watched the Mary Kate and Ashley “Our Lips Are Sealed” movie where they go to Australia. It was perfect, because we had basically visited every place they had in the movie, although unfortunately for us, we didn’t have any Australian friends invite us to a yacht party like in the movie. After a day out in the sun, and a nice movie to wind down the night, we hit the hay.

Friday

The next morning we went on a breakfast journey. One of my good friends from home, Ellie, had sent me a buzzfeed post earlier in the semester with great places in Sydney to get breakfast. After scouring the list, I had found two places in walking distance and we set out determined to get a delicious Australian meal. We opted for the Café Giulia out of the two choices because it had a much more eggs and bacon kind of feel to it. After a delicious plate of eggs, wild mushrooms, roasted tomatoes and rye toast I was stuffed. My friends had the fetta omelettes and apparently they were amazing. A nice warm cappuccino rounded out my meal, and we all left walking a little more slowly than we had on arrival. On the way back to the hostel we hit the other breakfast joint on the list, but this one was a bakery. The smells were heavenly, so I ducked in and ordered a chocolate filled croissant to-go. Then we walked to the Sydney harbour once more, where my friends peeled off to catch the ferry to the Taronga zoo and I headed for the Sydney Bridge. I decided to try to save some money by skipping the zoo, and I actually had quite the awesome day walking around Sydney. I walked across the bridge and along the opposite side of the harbour to get the front view of the opera house. I sat for quite a while and ate my croissant while watching boats travel through the channel. After I tired of this, I walked through the shops in the area and settled down at a bar with a nice view of the harbour and had a couple of delicious ales. With my time almost up before my friends returned from the zoo, I walked back over the bridge, jamming to my iPod and getting a stunning view of the harbour from above. I got to the harbour just as Alex, Kate and Ji were arriving. We walked back to the hostel and changed for another night out meeting our JCU Frisbee friends. We caught dinner at the famous Harry’s Café de Wheels, where plenty of stars (Colonel Sanders included!) had visited and taken a photo to be hung on the side of the cart. After this we took a train into the city to meet our friends at their hostel. They were living up their last night in Sydney and not too long after we all headed to a nearby bar/club where we danced all night and had an epic time. Another cab ride home sent us straight to bed, knowing we’d have to be up and ready to catch our shuttle to the airport the next morning.

Saturday

We caught a quick breakfast (bagels this time! You’d understand my excitement if you hadn’t had bagels in months) and took a walk to a park with an amazing view of the Sydney harbour. We were told it was a must see, and if we had ever seen anyone with an Instagram picture of themselves with the opera house, this was where it was taken. It was very beautiful but we couldn’t stay long because we had to be back to catch the shuttle. After an amazing week in Melbourne and Sydney we were headed home. A quick flight to Brisbane, a seven hour layover, and another short flight and we were home from our vacation. It was absolutely amazing and I wished that I could have spent a few more days in each city, but I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to go and to spend it with my awesome friends Alex, Kate, and Ji. What an adventure!

I’d say we met all five goals: