Where to begin…. Our loyal followers, this epic adventure has come to a close, but now without a bang. We had no internet at our hostel in Sydney, so this is due to be one massive blog detailing the adventures that were had over the last 4 days.
It all started Sunday night after one heck of a jam-packed day with the boys, Tony and Ryan. That night we actually got back to the Tylers’ place fairly early, but that won’t stop us American gals from staying up ridiculously late! Mrs. Tyler was gracious enough to let us do our laundry at her home, and even offered to wash them herself! Whoa, we just couldn’t make her succumb to the stench of our clothes from the crazy days we have had, especially after they had just been stuffed into our suitcases. As the Tylers’ slept, Sab and I took over the living room with our laundry, blogging, packing and talking. Somewhere around 2:00am we got settled into the bedroom, but not before the biggest shock of the night. Literally! Sabrina was trying to plug her phone charger into the wall, but first had to remove the lamp plug from the outlet. The plastic part of the plug came apart though, and when she reached for the shambles of it still in the wall, electric current jolted her (and her scream jolted me!). I have no idea how the Tylers’ didn’t wake up, but constant time with we crazy Americans must have worn them out. Naturally, after that it was about 3:00 when we finally dozed off, only to wake up half past 6 in order to catch our morning flight to Sydney. In a sleepy haze, we said goodbye to the wonderfully hospitable Tylers, with whom we enjoyed so many conversations (and coffees!), and off we were.
The flight to Sydney was largely uneventful. Tony read while Sab and I napped. Late nights and early mornings is really the only way to do it when you are travelling. Sleep can wait, or is there when it is convenient, but I don’t want to miss anything when I’m exploring a new land! But after a few weeks of this, that first day in Sydney was really low-key. We got out of the airport, hopped a train up to Circular Quay, and then took a ferry over to where we were staying. Ready for this one? MANLY. That’s where we were staying. It’s awesome for 2 reasons: 1) It’s a surfing hot spot. 2) The name, Manly! There was so much fun had with that name. The three of us in some ways have not aged past the age of 7 though, because when a dump truck drove by with the words “Manly Waste” on the side, giggles and pictures ensued. It was pretty stinkin funny!
That really was the day. We just ambled around the streets, exploring the Manly sights (I can’t help it!) and taking it all in. Umm, we’re in Sydney. SYDNEY! All I could think was let’s go hang out with Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban and Hugh Jackman. That night we ended up at this local microbrewery right by Manly Wharf and enjoyed some special beer and appetizers as we overlooked Sydney Harbo(u)r. Cheers to that! Hard to believe everything that has happened has actually happened…
Our sweet hostel, Boardrider, had the primo location. After a dinner of kebabs (pronounced ka-BABs), we headed back for a low key bum movie night of “Love Actually” in our room. Those are the best nights when you can just veg out in your sweats with friends and one Chinese roommate to enjoy a chick flick.
We got a bit of a later start the next day than we had intended, but eh, no worries: I’m on vayCAYtion! After enjoying a flat white and Sabrina’s white mocha on the ferry, we were off to the happenin Taronga Zoo. This place is absolutely baffling in its awesomeness. It’s a sprawling place located right on the Sydney Harbor. We got such a sweet view from our gondola (or skyrail) as we rode up to the zoo entrance. It was an absolutely amazing view of the water, Opera House, Harbor Bridge and the city itself. The craziness began as soon as we entered the park: right at the entrance was a visitors’ center with 3 amazing things in it. The first, was a map of the place. Here I learned even more what a mapman Tony is! He had us in stitches throughout the day with his attachment to that thing, but it did come in handy when we later wanted to make a quick run to Seal and Penguin world! The second awesome thing was these monkey hats they had for kids. We took this as kids at heart, because those were on our heads so incredibly fast! It played perfectly into the third awesome thing here: a picture challenge! Some contest where you take the best picture located somewhere in the zoo and enter to win. I’ll keep you posted on how that one goes! Challenge accepted.
The entire rest of the day we just took over that zoo, enjoying all of the animals! Lions, tigers, bears, seals, penguins, kangaroos, red pandas, mountain goats, wallabies, giraffes, zebras, snakes, gorillas, peacocks. Elephants, Tonys, Sabrinas, and Kristins! The diversity in that zoo is what makes it so fabulous, because there are so many animals to see! Of course, the fact that behind every elephant is a view of the harbor doesn’t hurt either! That day was incredible, but my favorite was the stray peacocks that cruise around the grounds…with Sabrina and Tony chasing after it. Those two jetted off into the grass after this one peacock, that quickly wisened up to the crazies that we are and hid in the trees.
After the day in the wild, it was time to hop the ferry and go off to get some dinner. Tony is an absolute genius for this one though, because in the midst of the surrounding thunderstorm, his craving for adventure and Indian food persevered. “Why not go to Mosman Beach tonight?” Exactly. Why not? Off we go on the ferry, and after a short power nap, we were ready to take on all that Mosman had to offer. Which unfortunately, by the ferry wharf was not too much! With the rain pouring down, we forego the bus and begin our hike up the hill into town. I’ll just guess it was just short of a mile that we walked, but it was so much fun! We were cracking up the entire time, just joking back and forth about Mosman vs. Manly. Rain will not stop us in our quest for Indian! We made our way to Military Rd., found a bus stop and on the advice of this woman we passed and asked in the street, headed off towards Neutral Bay.
Interjection: here is where another interesting fact about Tony was learned. A lot of men out there will not stop and ask for directions until the perils of not being fed become dire enough. Not Tony! This boy will stop anyone and everyone to find out the best local place, how to get there, best way to get there, best thing to order, best way to get back to the ferry and bus stop etc. etc. etc. This quest would not have been complete without this little addition from Tony, and the three of us had an absolute blast getting wherever we pleased to go. We could have never found Indian and been stuck with McDonalds and it wouldn’t have mattered- this was a top night. Eventually, on the advice of many, we found Mantra, this Indian place in Neutral Bay, and wow, are they amazing!! The place is a dazzling sea of Indian jewels and sashes of pinks, reds, oranges, and yellows. Like wet rats, we scampered in amidst a wave of laughs, and were seated at this table in the corner. Soon we had a sea of “Naner” bread, chick peas, green peas, spiced chicken, creamy lamb, sizzling beef at our table with a bottle of Barossa Valley shiraz wine. Or as Tony/Ricky Martin would say, “She-RAZ, she-RAZ!”
With the warm and vibrant ambiance of Mantra, the good times followed. This is one night I will always remember just because of the adventure and heartfelt conversation we three shared. It was a night that we just got to understand each other more, and connect with a variety of discussions. The waiter and waitress kept coming over to pamper Sabrina and I with all sorts of stick on jewels and bindys. It was fantastic! Maybe it was the wine or the adventurous quest through the rainy streets but that night was the highlight of Sydney in my book.
After a delicious dinner and photo shoot with the waiter and waitress, we jumped back on the bus and headed back to our uber-masculine hostel. It’s funny looking back, we were so amped up from the night, that our original plan of just heading to bed was quickly replaced with the genius idea of hanging out in the common room. This really tends to happen a lot! Decked in our comfy clothes, we head to the common room which consisted of 15 loveseats and couches arranged around a TV mounted on the wall. A few other people were hanging out, so we just joined them to watch a bit of TV. Tony’s roommates were all in the common room, which was funny because it all happened completely unintentional. Jimmy, the older Indian guy, and Marty and Paul, two Irish brothers became our buddies in Sydney. No appealing shows were on the TV menu, so we found Click and were determined to fix the DVD player to watch it. It really sounds like the beginning of a joke, “2 American girls, 1 Kiwi, 1 Indian and 2 Irishman were in a room…” How many nationalities does it take to fix a tv? Apparently, four. But it worked and Click it was.
The next day, was sadly the last full day in Sydney. Hard to believe, because up until Tuesday night I thought that it was Monday and we still had 2 days left! But we just became more determined to live the day to its fullest, and that we did! First came our exploration of the Opera House. This place in incredible in its architecture, and I think water just makes anything better. We had a photo shoot all around the House with the bay in the background, and then proceeded into the neighboring botanical gardens. Our bathroom, (or “toilet” if we want to be an Aussie),finding skills need some refining though, because after 20 minutes of walking in the park, there was none to be found! Thankfully later we came across nice people in the Coca Cola building that let us use theirs. No worries, we made it back to the gardens to hear Tony’s nutrition lecture. He is a nutrition nerd like I am, and so we were treated to a lecture that he had been asked to put together, under a tree in the botanical gardens of Sydney even. It was funny though, midway through the rain started to come, so we high tailed it off for shelter. Ironic, though, that the only place we could find was a McDonald’s. Oh Mackers, you and your Supersized nutrition lectures. It was a really thought out lecture though, he did a fantastic job! Kind of not fair though because I’m such a sucker for health info!
After that came the Kristinizing part of the day. Hands down, the best way to explore a city is to forego the map and play Straight-Left-Right when you come to an intersection. Easy directions: come to an intersection, randomly choose a direction, and walk! Sabrina relinquished Tony from the confines of the city map and off we were. Sydney really has so much to offer! Beautiful city with a variety of architecture and history wrapped up in a sprawling setup. We came across the historic Mint house, Sydney tower, the convict museum, the Australian museum, Hyde Park and more- it was beautiful! But then, Tony’s relinquishment could only last so long. In the Mint house, he couldn’t help himself and the map and direction asking came back. It was hilarious, but incredibly helpful! The lady pointed us in the direction of Darling Harbor to enjoy the sights of the bay. It was such a beautiful place! I’m noticing a trend with this, but yes, right there on the water with all of the buildings made it just spectacular. We walked around, got some Subway and just took it all in. The Maritime museum is there too so we saw some huge anchors, submarines (not the sandwich!) and old navy ships. After a bit of souvenir shopping we settled in at this local place for a drink and more conversation. With the setting sun, pink lights of the bar and moonlight dancing across the water, it was another fantastic night of conversation and laughs. Perfect way to begin the last night in the city.
We enjoyed an array of pizza for dinner, and headed back to Manly for Karaoke night at this local place! That ferry ride over was something to behold, though. The night sky had settled over the city, and the colorful lights decorated the sky. Sabrina and I went to the balcony on the back of the ferry to watch the last bit of the city disappear. Words don’t really do it justice, but suffice to say, it was a moment of awe and disbelief. The view we had was the picture we had looked at before for so long, just enchanted by the fact that we were actually there. Yeah, you can get use to the culture and area, but never will I not be amazed that we did this trip together, and we were directly across the world from home. Amazing! That’s where our reminiscing was.
After our moment, we packed and the three of us headed to the place on the corner for some karaoke. I don’t even know what to say about this night, except it was the perfect capper to the trip. Tony’s roomies, Marty, Paul and Jimmy joined us and our little group hung out there late into the night! Tony put in to do Brown Eyed Girl and Sabrina and I chose the go-to woman anthem of Shania Twain, Man I Feel Like A Woman. Sadly, our numbers didn’t come up before karaoke closed, but we still enjoyed belting out others’ songs and enjoying some more conversation. Marty and Paul became our Irish buddies and entertained us with tales of potatoes, travels and of course, love. In the middle of our conversation, Jimmy completely threw me off when he sidled up to our table, waving a 50 dollar bill in my face. I had no idea what he was saying with the music, and that made for a hilarious moment to Tony! Hahaha, and the rest of us. Jimmy was a nice guy, wanting to buy us all a round of drinks to celebrate the last night there together. Tony the trooper took off to go get some sleep while Sabrina and I and our new friends hung out some more.
Jimmy made for a few hilarious moments now, come to think of it! Marty and Paul, the two Irish brothers were chatting with Sabrina and I about their many travels and various Irishisms when Jimmy interrupts, points at Paul and goes, “Harry Potter! Harry Potter!” We four shared a look and then burst into giggles at this! Marty then starts making finger glasses going, “Ooo-ahhh-oooo!” That night was incredible! But 3:30am rolled around and it was time to call it a night (of course not after Jimmy tried to coax us all out for kebabs!). So many laughs with our new friends, that night really capped off the trip well. Just…..amazing!
Hard to believe it, but the epic adventure came and went. We’re both so thankful to have the blog and 1,121 pictures to relive the good times. This trip just could not have been any better! Literally, Sabrina was the one and only travel partner I could have had to make this trip the caliber that it was. 3 weeks together of continual laughs, girl talks, and adventures. Our craziness combined was a whirlwind through Australia! Best buddies who aren’t afraid to be complete dorks everywhere we go, and take on whatever the city we’re in has to offer. The friends made along the way were such an experience, that I will be reliving over and over through pictures!!
I will be 90 years old, toothless in my rocking chair with my mumu billowing in the breeze, telling my great-grandkids about 2 friends, 1 country, countless people = one epic adventure!
Stay classy.
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