After some much needed family time in Texas, I went to Sydney, Australia to celebrate the new year with a friend. My bag decided the trip was a bit far so it stayed in Los Angeles for an entire week, but at least I had myself and my phone in the right place.
This particular friend (hi Andrew!) was someone I had met when I hosted couchsurfers in Dallas. In fact, most of the people involved in this trip have a couchsurfing connection, with the exception of the very last people I stayed with. It's weird, because now I generally pay to stay places when I travel (hello, airbnb), probably because I'm 30. But 24 year old Amanda was all about hosting and traveling without any money exchanged, and present Amanda is definitely reaping the benefits from that period. So I stayed with a Sydney local and had the most amazing time!
Andrew picked me up at the airport and immediately started what would become the trip-long chore of getting me to sit on the correct side of the car, since they do EVERYthing on the opposite side down under. You'd think it would be limited to driving on the other side of the road, but no: steering wheels, sidewalk and escalator etiquette, even bathroom door locks require major mental acrobatics to get right. "Just do the opposite of what you think, Amanda," you say. "There are only two options, after all." Get out. You know that sort of logic is not welcome on this blog.
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| I finally got used to this... the day I came back to the states. |
Andrew works for a major alcohol distributor, and we mostly hung out with his coworkers and their friends. This meant that almost every gathering featured rare and luxurious champagne that you've probably never heard of because you're not a millionaire. I knew it was going to be a swanky visit when we went to dinner at his friend/coworker's penthouse apartment which overlooked Sydney harbor. The view was stunning, and I took it in from my perch for the night: a multi-thousand dollar massage chair. I'm not kidding.
When I finally extricated myself from the loving embrace of this incredible chair, it was to have champagne with the boys on the balcony. I know what you're thinking: "They probably opened the champagne by cutting off the entire top part of the bottle with a huge knife, leaving the cork in it and just leaving a perfectly smooth glass opening, right?" Why, yes. Yes they did. Apparently this is called "sabrage" and people who are cooler than you and me do it all the time.
Here's that happening: https://www.instagram.com/p/BOj9CYbgIah/?taken-by=manda_goes
Andrew showed me all the beaches which, let's be honest, was my main focus since I was the color of receipt paper (white yet translucent). When I told him I wanted to go to Bon-dee beach, he looked at me quizzically. "You know, the famous one," I added. "Oooooooh," he said. "Bon-die." Hence began what would be another shameful chore I foisted upon my hosts: correcting my pronunciation of very simple words.
The beaches are of course, stunning. There is a great walk (or in our case, jog) to be had by going from Coogee beach to Bondi along the water. It's about 8 km (I hope you weren't trying to use imperial down here!) and makes for some gorgeous pics.
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| Along the Coogee to Bondi beach trail. |
On December 31, we made our way next to the Opera House to set up shop and watch the 9pm and midnight fireworks over the bridge. I still had no bag, so had to throw together a hasty NYE outfit at a shop that is the Australian equivalent of Hot Topic. I tried to go to other shops first. I told Andrew what I was after and he patiently texted his female friends and helped me ask shopgirls where I might find such an outfit, since all the shops seemed to favor very prim formal wear.
Australian girls must either never dress up (most likely) or only dress up for work, because the dresses were mostly loose and long. I went from trying to sugar coat things: "Do you have anything a bit shorter?", "Do you have anything a little more fitted?" to eventually just leveling with people: "Do you have any skanky dresses, please?". More than once I was directed to what can only be described as a dominatrix lingerie shop. IS THERE NO MIDDLE GROUND, AUSSIES?
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| That "I'm about to have New Years in Sydney" smirk |
Fireworks over the harbor in Sydney.  |
| This fence kept out the thousands of other people trying to get at this view. |
The night was gorgeous and super fun, even though the DJs were the type that play only their own stuff so you don't recognize any songs at all but the DJs have the time of their lives.
Side notes: the Sydney subway system is clean, efficient, and QUIET. This Boston girl was very impressed. Also, I had lunch at an amazing place called "Urban Orchard" which had tons of vegan/vegetarian options and which I definitely recommend.
This restaurant is located in "Circular Quay" and that Quay is pronounced "Kee" because nothing I do will ever be right.
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| http://www.gatewaysydney.com.au/retailer/urban-orchard/v |
Sydney and my host treated me so well! As they began getting back to work, I had one last Aussie adventure in Newcastle, which will be the next entry.
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| Got both the bridge and the opera house in the handstand pic! |
Book for this part of trip: The Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman, Why not me? by Mindy Kaling, Lies my teacher told me by James Loewen, by far the best one!
