the australian adventure begins!!!

I wasn’t sure that I was even going to make it to the airport. For those of you who don’t know, I don’t like to fly, and the idea of a 14 hour, 45 minute plane ride entirely across the Pacific Ocean did not appeal to me. In the weeks leading up to the trip, I alternated between calm (people fly to Australia all the time! Planes are safer than cars!) and uncertain if I could even get on the plane. Sarah-Mae threatened to knock me out and roll me onto the plane in a luggage cart, but fortunately, it didn’t have to come to that. Although I was not as cool, calm, and collected as I would like, there were no huge panics, no ridiculous scenes of me clawing my way off of the plane, and no luggage cart needed.


Almost as soon as we were in our fairly comfortable seats on the plane, the pilot gave us the good news that our flight was only 13 and a half hours (an entire hour less – hooray!), and that the flight attendants would be serving supper soon. Yes, even though the plane departed San Francisco Airport at 11:10pm, as far as Qantas was concerned, we were already on Sydney time. Fortunately, I am a night owl, so staying up late is pretty normal for me. I decided to adapt to Qantas’ strategy and immediately try to adjust to the time change. I stayed up for supper (pasta in red sauce, not too bad!), and even played a game of scrabble with Sarah-Mae. Despite being well-medicated (to help avoid a ridiculous scene in the airport), I still beat her. Yay! We started to watch a movie, and around 9pm Sydney time, I drifted off to sleep.

Miraculously, I was able to get almost a full night’s sleep (really, it was a miracle!). I woke up to find that we only had about 3 hours left of our flight! It felt so wonderful to almost be in Sydney! Sarah-Mae and I played Scrabble again (another victory for me!), and I watched the rest of the movie I had started earlier in the flight. We were served breakfast (yummy scrambled eggs and asparagus for me, fritata with bacon for Sarah-Mae), and before we knew it, it was time to turn off our electronic devices, store our carryons, and put our seats in their full and upright position – we were landing in Australia!

After landing, we took our time getting off of the plane, sailed through customs, and picked up our luggage (which was sitting at the baggage claim waiting for us, since we had taken our time). Although it was 7am after a long flight over the Pacific, we both felt pretty good! We changed clothes and cleaned up a bit, and felt even better. We loaded up our backpacks and headed to the train into downtown Sydney!

The train was fairly quick into town, and we stopped at Circular Quay, the main stop for all things quintessentially Sydney. We exited the train with our heavy packs, and were greeted by the Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. I finally felt like we made it to Australia!

sydney harbor!!! 

We took a nice stroll along the harbor and up to our hotel to drop off our bags. Since it was 9am, it was too early to check in, but we were able to leave our packs and enjoy the sights of Sydney without lugging around the extra weight. On our way back to the harbor, we strolled through an open market that takes place on the Rocks every weekend. There were crafts, snacks, clothes, I had to resist buying souveniers before I have even seen any of the sights depicted on them!

After browsing the vendor stalls, Sarah-Mae and I decided to swing by McDonalds and figure out our day’s plan – not because McD’s would remind us of home, but because they have free wifi, and we could quickly check out the tours and ferries we were considering. We came up with a game plan, but decided to get a bite to eat first. While looking around for a café, I looked across the harbor and saw that Luna Park was running their ferris wheel. I had really wanted to visit the free amusement park on the opposite side of the Harbor Bridge, but had thought (when we were planning our time in Sydney) that the park was going to be closed on the days that we were scheduled to be there. I have never been so happy to be wrong! We decided to hop on a ferry, visit Luna Park, and see if they had any delicious fare (i.e., CORNDOGS!).

Luna Park was surprisingly small – at least, I was surprised. I love that it was free to enter and wander through, so we could enjoy the sights and sounds. The entrance is a bit creepy, though… you enter through a giant smiling mouth of a clown (mouth of a clown!). inside the park there were the typical amusement park rides: a ferris wheel, bumper cars, rides that spin around in circles until someone pukes, etc. We decided not to ride any rides, though, because it was $10 for a single ride! Of course there were discounts if you bought more tickets, but even $40 for an “all day pass” was more than either of us wanted to spend. But we had a great time walking through the park, and definitely enjoyed our corndogs and chips (aka fries). All in all, we had a really great time! I will just skip over the part where a seagull pooped on me. No one wants to hear about that.

luna park... 

 

 creepy clown entrance

We ferried back to Circular Quay, and walked over towards the Opera House. It was exactly the way I expected it! Complex, angular, yet rounded, beautiful, and stark against the contrast of the harbor and the downtown skyline. Gorgeous!

 

the harbor bridge and the opera house

 

From the Opera House, we walked through the neighboring Royal Botanical Gardens. The gardens reminded me a lot of Central Park in NY – a green and flourishing space right next to downtown, where families could picnic, play games, or stroll through the gardens. We walked through the heart of the gardens, past St. Mary’s Cathedral, and over to Hyde Park, where Sarah-Mae especially wanted to visit the Archibald Fountain and the Anzac Memorial. Both were very beautiful and moving.

a view of the harbor bridge from the royal botanical gardens

We decided to take a break from walking, and grab a beverage (and free wifi) from Starbucks. Don’t blame me – it’s not my fault that international chains are the ones that boast free wireless internet! It acutally turned out to be a great place for Sarah-Mae because apparently in Australia they still serve almond syrup (and the US has discontinued that particular syrup for some time). So she enjoyed her almond iced latte while I looked up directions to the restaurant we wanted to visit for dinner.


To understand our dinner restaurant choice, I have to back up 10 years. Yes, 10 years. When I was studying abroad in England, sarah-mae came to visit me (and Oxford, London, and Paris). That was the first of our international adventures. When we were in London, we visited a brand new noodle bar called Wagamama’s. it was DELICIOUS. And although they had a few locations in the UK, there were none in the US.  the next year, while sarah-mae was studying abroad in australia, she learned that Wagamama’s was opening a new restaurant in Sydney… but it was going to open until 2 weeks after she returned to the states. So, we endeavored to visit Wagamama’s to rekindle our first visit 10 years before on a completely different continent. Although it wasn’t quite as magical as I had remembered, it was still delicious, and we had a great time sharing a meal and a memory!

After dinner we headed back to our hotel to call it a night. (we had been up since 4am, you know!) the little bed & breakfast was rated extremely well on a number of vacation websites, and our room was very quaint (although I would have loved to have a tv!). I was definitely ready for a good night’s sleep! Up tomorrow: the Blue Mountains!