Our first day in Sydney

Everything ran very smoothly right from the start. None of our flights were delayed, no problems on any of them or getting from one place to another during layovers. Once off United airlines, which was our first flight, we had to go check in with New Zealand air for the next two. We went outside to a bus which took us to a terminal. In line for security, there was a large man who continued to bump David and I with his belly. The whole line, every time we moved so did he, and he walked one step too far. We had a 5 hour flight from BWI to LAX, a 12 hour flight from LAX to NZ and then a 4 hour flight from NZ to Sydney. We thought the 12 hour flight would be awful, but I ended up sleeping for the first 4 hours and then we watched movies. All together we watched Shrek the last one, Hot tub time machine, date night, some movie with queen latifa and common, and a New Zealand movie with Rose from Two and a Half men.

The whole plane ride plus all day I kept asking David if this was real. I have been here a day and adventured some of the city and still can’t believe that we are really living in Sydney, Australia.

The first song that we heard in Australia was none other than Footloose “Let’s hear it for the boy.” AH HA. They love footloose as much as I do. Sydney is going to be awesome!

We even picked up our bags without any problems and went to the taxi. Once the guy put our stuff in the trunk we thought he was going to open David’s door, being completely ignorant that moment to the fact he was just getting in the drivers side.. it just happened to be on the right. We totally forgot. It seems really crazy to drive with someone on the opposite side. And yes Donna, we look both ways before crossing the road because of this. We actually found out that at almost all crosswalks in Sydney it says “Look Right” because there are so many tourists in the city.

We got to Brado’s Backpackers and were immediately welcomed. Two different guys helped take my luggage up to our room (since mine is heavy and I’m so little I guess) and they were really helpful with everything we asked. Sometimes it is nice not going over with a ton of research and talking to the locals. We came to find out that the two dudes who run the place, Lawrence and Forrest are really nice, and since they used to be travel guides for years they really know their stuff.

We went up to a room with three bunk beds (they upgraded us from the 12 bedroom) and got settled. For being a hostel, it seems pretty clean and though we only have tiny locker sized lock boxes for our super valuables like computers and cameras, the room that we are in is also locked, and as of right now, we have no roommates.

After talking with Lawrence for an hour about different things David and I went on our way and went to look at mobile phones, but with no sleep we both were pretty overwhelmed, so we’re going back tomorrow. We decided to be tourists today. We walked around the Botanical Gardens, different parks and went to the Sydney Harbor Bridge and saw the Sydney Opera House. I wish that I could explain the feelings I felt seeing them both, but speechless I think helps describe it all. We continued to walk about and were both so tired. During our walk though we found out that cockatoos are almost like pigeons in Pennsylvania. There were so many bothersome cockatoos. And David loved them! I can say he’s probably got 6 pictures of the Sydney Opera House and 15 of some damn cockatoos in different areas. We also met one guy from England and one from Canada briefly for them to tell us that the pond we were by had big eels. We ended up seeing one, and the English dude kept trying to grab it. Ridiculous. We walked around and just enjoyed the scenic and touristy views. Seeing that everyone drives on the right side of the road, I noticed on our walk that everyone walks on the right side of the pathway. It makes sense, but it’s the little things like that you never really think of.

Kings Cross, where we are staying is supposed to be the seediest place in Sydney, but is nothing even close to the dirty places of say Philly or Baltimore. After our walk we were so tired, we got recommendations for dinner and were on our way. It was like 630, and we were gonna get dinner and go to bed. But right as we walked out the hostel doors someone asks us if we were the Americans, and it ends up being Forrest, the other hostel owner we had not met yet. He invited us out to dinner with him and some of the other people in the hostel, and though we were tired, how do you say no to making new friends? So we went to a place that serves $10 steaks. And they’re pretty big steaks, I’d say at least 10 oz. (Which reminds me, I need to figure out all of this conversion stuff because it is very confusing.) So we get into the place and learned that a lot of places make you order and pay first. Since they don’t have tipping it isn’t really a problem when you pay. Then, the most fantastic thing happens… we find out it is tranny bingo night! Wonderful looking trannys and very nice and witty. We bonded with the owner of the hostel and two other girls who are staying there and who are very nice. Now, although it is only like 10pm I am passing out because I cannot keep my eyes open any longer! Goodnight Mates!