03.17.11

WE ARE IN SYDNEY!!!! Wow, it feels great to be back on the road. Our last week in Melbourne was bitter sweet. We slowly got all our things together and prepared ourselves for the last leg of our trip. The weekend before we left, we celebrated Justines 21st birthday party. That week was unusually sunny and nice, and John and spent a lot of time at Zia’s helping everyone clean up and prepare for the party. I would come by after work, and was especially elated on Friday… my last day : ) By the time Saturday rolled around, we were all ready for the party and to see everyone one last time. It was such a great turn out, and it was nice to see how well everything came together after everyones hard work with cleaning out the garage. There wasn’t a spot of rain the entire day, and everything else had gone off without a hitch.
The next day, all of us kids… with hangover’s the size of Texas, went back to Zia’s to help Jen clean up, though I got most of the garbage picked up on Saturday night once everyone had left, which was a lifesaver, cause gosh knows we were pretty much useless the next day. After, we made one last round to visit the cousins which was also quite hard to do. Everyone had said that we have been with them for so long that they forgot that we had to go home at some point. Our final stop was to visit Zia in respite. This was the hardest part. I couldn’t hold back the tears. Zia first had made a point to tell Justine that she needed to call Rosa or Mary to come pick her up because she was so bored! We all couldn’t help but chuckle at her adamancy to getting out of there… back can you blame her? You could just tell by looking at her eyes that she was contriving some plan of escape; some way that she could bust out of the joint unseen.
Once she turned her attention to John and I, she immediately realized that we were there to say good bye. You could practically hear her heartbreaking when we told her it was time we went back to America. Her eyes glazed over, her mouth was turned in the most devastating frown and she hung her head, almost as if she were a little kid that was being sent off to her room. She kept giving us hugs and kisses, and said “We don’t have to be sad, you can just stay here and be happy! Move to Australia!” It took both John and I a lot of effort to hold back the welting tears, but we said goodbye one last time… gave her one last kiss, and her final thought to us was “Thanks for visiting me before I die”. We gave her a warm smile, walked into the elevator and that’s when I lost it. Justine gave us both a big hug, and I just sobbed. What a pleasure it has been to meet everyone, and to have had the opportunity to spend such a good amount of time getting to know everyone. We so look forward to our return : )
The next morning we were up before the birds. 4am to be exact, and Len was ready as ever to get us to the airport. We said our final exhausted good byes to our family away from home, and with eager optimism, kept using Justine as an excuse to keep from crying, because of course, we will be seeing her in three months! With great success we made it through security, and before you know it, we landed in Sydney (Though for a moment we thought we were landing in water! The runway is literally a small peninsula into the ocean.) John had booked us a car rental prior to our landing, and we made our way to the rental agency right away. On our way there we passed a dingy place called Rent-A-Bomb, and situated in its tiny lot was an array of cars that looked like they had one foot in the scrap yard. Across the tiny shack that we assumed was the office, there was a sign that said ‘Car Rentals for $12 a day’. I snapped my head to John, and he just as quickly acknowledged that he saw the same place. Oh well, next time we will remember such a place.
Our original car rental we booked for $270 for 7 days. We were in Sydney for 10, but the other 3 days we would sleep in our tent somewhere, or hope that we got a response for couch surfing. We got to the agency, filled out the paperwork and the lady gave us our final total. With insurance (which we got the higher premium because we didn’t pay with a credit card), and taxes and a bunch of other crapola, the end result was $400, and that is not partially returned to us! We just put on our puss-face and told the lady there was no way we could do that, and we politely let her known how inconvenient this was for us, and that this was something that should have been made clear at the time of booking. We grabbed our bags and began walking towards Rent-A-Bomb. What a success it had been too! Granted, we got ourselves something that looked like it was owned by a bunch of pot heads in the 80’s but it was a trooper, this little car, and it ran us a whomping $170 for the full ten days! We couldn’t believe it. We had to put down a $300 dollar insurance deposit, but it will be returned to us if the car comes back unscathed. The man gave me a thick map book and had us on our way. Let the journey begin!
We just started driving. We really had no intention of going anywhere specific, just started to meander through the roads. We somehow found ourselves downtown Sydney and crossed the Harbor Bridge. We then decided we would make our way to Manly beach so that we could try to sleep for a bit. (Mind you, its only 8am at this point!) We accidentally found a gorgeous park that overlooked the water and across to downtown Sydney. When we finally found the beach, we decided to take our sleeping bag to the sand. It only lasted for about 2 hours before it started to rain, but we just as quickly fell asleep in the front two seats. We were woken a few hours later by a meter fairy who was checking everyone parking tickets. Of course, ours was long expired, so we quickly made our way.
Our next stop was to our first couch surfing host in Pyrmont. We were lucky to have gotten a positive response. He wouldn’t be ready to have us till 8pm, but we found the Stardust casino on the way and decided to stop and look around. We ate some deserts, walked through the depressing and less then impressive casino, and then went to great our host, Anthony.
He had a wonderful bed for us, a nice clean shower, and made us feel right at home! That night we went to bed early, and in the morning, took Anthonys advice and walked to the CBD (central business district, or ‘downtown’). We walked through Darling Harbour, through the main vein of downtown Sydney, and to the Circular Quay, the Harbour Bridge, the botanical gardens and the Opera House. You can only imagine the many photos we took.
As you may or may not know, Sydney and Melbourne are at constant battle for which one is the greater city. We are sorry to say to all our Melbournian friends and family that John and I must side with Sydney. We really liked how the city was built on a modge-podge of inlets, peninsulas and juts of land and water, making it such a nautical city. There was also much more greenery… more trees and grass. The houses arnt built up on top of one another and actually have yards. Though we loved the tram system in Melbourne, I greatly disliked all the trams electrical cords and wires that littered the sky like scars. It’s nothing personal Melbourne, we loved you all the same, its just that we are nature people by heart, and though cement and glass are wonderful to look at, John and I personally love the earthy surroundings that Sydney has to offer.
Our second night was spent at Anthony’s but would also be our last night. The next day we left in the morning to begin the 45 minute drive to the Blue Mountains which lay North West of Sydney. The drive was relaxing, and enjoyable. When stopped at an information center and they gave us a map of all the must-see stops for our one day tour of the mountains.
Let me just say that it was breathtaking. The hiking paths took us through winding paths that lead us to massive drops and lookout points as far as the eye could see. Nothing but a thick coat of trees lay for miles ahead, occasionally littered with jutting cliffs and waterfalls. We stopped at several lookout points, until our final destination which is the three sisters. Its what the Blue Mountains are known for; three large free standing rock structures, similar to the 12 Apostles, but not in water. Unfortunately, being in such high altitudes, the clouds had quickly taken their resting spot for the evening among the mountains, shrouding us in absolute white. At one of the first lookouts, we had seen the three sisters from across the way, but when we had gotten to the path that would lead us directly to them, the clouds were far to dense for us to see past the first one. Though slightly disappointed that the white masses obstructed our view, we were also quite mesmerized by the fact that we were quite literally inside a cloud! It something that few get to experience and it was beautiful in its own manner. As we made the hike back to the car, it started to thunder. Being that we were inside the cloud, you can only imagine how deep and intense the sound was. It was if we were in the belly of giant who was aching from hunger. We couldn’t help but stop and listen to the occasional rumbling and marveled as the ground shook from underneath us. As is its natural progression; it started to rain. I ran ahead, hoping to make it to shelter before it started to get heavy. It only seemed that the harder I ran, the harder it rained. Since we were inside the cloud, the rain had very little to fall, and was in thick globs as it hit you. It was cold and extremely wet! It just kept thundering and raining, and I just surrender and started to walk. I could help but be amazed by the sheer intensity of it all, and was laughing until John caught up with me. Drenched, all the same, he too was in complete awe. We were trapped in a cloud.
Once we got to the parking lot, the cold heavy rain had turned into marble size hail. Hail and snow is rains original form, and as it makes it way to the earth, the warm air melts it into rain. Seeing as though we were now in the clouds center, the rain was in its first form of hail, and MAN did it hurt! We laughed in pain as we ran to the car. Once we made our way down through the mountains, the sky was clear and the roads were dry. What a great day!
That night we were lucky enough to stay with our next couch surfing host… Art. He resides in the cutest town of West Pymble just 30 minutes out of the mountains. He gave us a beautiful room to sleep in, and was eager to have us relax and make ourselves at home.
Today, we drove back into Sydney and visited Kings Cross. It’s a famous area for its crime and back alley tough guys. During the day it seemed harmless, but at night, the neon signs light up inviting you to see the dancing girls, and indulge in the expensive liquors.
We also went to Bondi beach, where we were lucky enough to get a break from the clouds and enjoyed a few hours of sunshine. We splurged on some gelati… lemon and sugarless dark chocolate was my choice and John got Tiramisu and bubblegum. YUM. Best gelati EVER!
Its been a fantastic few days in Sydney, and it has been great to have a car. Cant wait to see what the rest of the week has in store for us!