[ by Stian ]
Oh Sydney, oh Sydney! What awonderful world I live in, and damn what a lucky one I am to be apart of all of it:)
What, Border Control?
We arrived in Sydney on Sunday... ahyes i know thats like forever ago – but i have actually been way tobusy to be updating our blog at any time, so give me a break, so nowback to Sunday; We arrived at Sydney airport and expected a toughtreatment in the customs – I mean, we HAVE seen the «BorderControl» tv-program so we knew what to expect. We even had crossedout YES on the customs form for bringing in certain kind of stuff,like hiking shoes for example (which i had used in the muddyTangoriro national park, you remember?)... so you can imagine howsuprised we were when they just stamped all forms, x-rayed ourluggage and told us «Have Fun boys» - and that was it!!!! Lovelylovely. The only letdown must be that I unfortunately did not get thechance to experince beeing bodysearched (or whatever they do) by ahot Aussie, yet, and the «have fun boys»-guy was indeed a hottie..well well... at least we got in without any obstacles:) Hooray!!!!
Lovely Maya and Danielle
We found our way to the city centerthen jumped on the local train to the northside of the city where wethen were picked up by wonderful Maya, the one to become our hostwhile we were in Sydney, arranged by the sweetest of them all, namelyDANIELLE!!!! Oh i just love my friend Danielle which i met for thefirst time in Peru during the inka-trail back in March 2013. Such asweetheart she is:) It was all planned before arrival that we wouldbe haning out with Danielle while in Sydney, but because of certaincircumstances we were unable to stay at Danielles house – but thatwas not a problem. Maya, one of Danielles best friends, is used tothe couchsurfing-world and she and her family have had several peopleover many times before. They actually had Norwegians staying at theirhouse the previous week before our arrival. It also turned out thatanother of Danielles friend from her travels in South America hadjust arrived and also was to stay with us at Maya's – and it was noother than Mr.Darcy himself – the lovely Lee from somewhere aroundLondon. So Maya was housing two crazy Norwegians, a charmingstraightie from the british isles and Danielle of course. What agirl:)
A Barbie For the Foreigners:)
The first day we got to meet several ofDanielle and Maya's friends, and Maya had prepared a lovely barbie(that is BBQ) where we got to eat Kangaroo-sausages, yum yum, and awhole bunch of other great stuff of course. Their house is located ina very relazing area, right next to the bush – so we were warnedthat we do NOT walk in the garden without shoes on and we also ALWAYShave to check our shoes before putting them on. There ARE dangerousspiders and snakes here – so we had to beware. But at lunchtime anot so dangerous creature dropped by for a visit, namely the famousAustralian Kookaburra, which did not seem scared at all. Well iguess it helped we had food to offer – so i actually got to feedthe Kookaburra straight from my hands -and of course he let me take aphoto with him/her/it/whatever as well:) Oh it was jolly good. Onlybeen in Australia for a few hours and already mingeling with the wildlife :-D Thats life:-)
Drags in Briefs
Later that evening we had an excellentdinner at a Malaysian place before Danielle and all her friendsdecided that we should go to a drag-show in the suburb of Pattamata.This dragshow was a part of the Sydney Festival that was going onduring this week – and Maya's mother (whom is an artistic person)had already been to it and told us great things about it, so ofcourse we had to check it out for ourself – and it was a hot showwith hot gay guys doing loads of funny hot gay things – so we werepleased. Even the straight one was pleased:-) haha.
Actually, poor poor Lee. These nextcoming days would turn out to be very gay in all sorts of ways. I amsurprised he actually managed to pull through. But he was a strongone, didnt even get affected when I made the funny jokes and kindaintentionally tried to «convert» him – haha;) By the end of ourtrip he was actually the one making more sexually related jokes(eventhough he denies this) ;)
but ok, back to Sydney-experience now:)
Harbour Bridge and Sydney OperaHouse.
We, that is the 3 foreigners, weredropped off at the other side of the Harbour Bridge, that is oppositeto downtown, so that we could cross it – and take photos.Unfortunately it was a pretty cloudy day from the morning of – sothe photos was so so. We then checked out The Rocks before we met upwith Danielle and then went to check out the famous Sydney OperaHouse up close. When we got this far the sky had cleared all up andit became a really hot and beautiful day, and the photos turned outbetter as well;) thankfully;)
Later we stopped for a Mango/GrapefruitMojito at the Opera Bar which was a pretty expensive one, just as inNorway, but it really was a good Mojito:) Wiiii. Then we met up withthe relly handsome gay friend of Danielle, Mike, who turned out to bea real nice guy (of course, he knows Danielle so he has to be) andanother friend of Maya. We then went to this cool pop up place calledEl Loco for Coronas and Tacos. A pop up place is a place that justpops up and just stays for a very very short time – it was prettycozy but at the end of this month it will close again... well well.We then went to a very hidden bar called the Bulletin, which is runby some bartender were one of them had won the world championship inbartending or something. There was no sign telling where the bar was– you just had to know it was there (i love places like that), andwhen we got there we were the only ones there. So we had anotherpretty expensive drink – this time a Bull Mule as they called it –it had REAL ginger in it and is tasted amazing:) ... AND then we wentto another Irish-whatever pub that had a huge moose's head and otheranimals on display. They wanted to refuse me entry at first becauseyou obvisiouly HAVE to show your passport as id – and trying toexplain to the security that VISAs issued by the bank with both photoand birthdate is a valid id was useless. Eventhough he clearly couldsee the date and i could prove to him that it was real by paying withit.. but no. Luckily it turned out that I did have my passport withme anyways so i did get in. They though did accept Kenneths driverslicense from Norway, eventhough thats a much easier thing to fakethan a paycard from a bank... well well. I am fucking 30 years oldthis year – and i actually do find it offending that they cant seethe difference between a 17 year old or a 29 year old – it is justpretty LAME!!!! Anyways – we rounded off the night by heading to aGAY club, were we could dance.... they played ONLY really GAYmusic... and i felt that i have kinda outgrown this... but well itgot my feet moving so i cant complain;) It even got Lee's feet movingso i guess the evening was a total success;)
Funny side-note
Funny thing about Australia is thatthey call what the rest of the world know as Burger King for HungryJacks. They had to change name when they established themselves herein Aussie-land cause obvisiouly there were another small burger placecalled Burger King and they refused to give up the name... well well.So as a nightsnack i got myself an Aussie burger at Hungry Jacks –and i have to say that the burgers at HJ are multiple times betterthan those at McDonalds :)
Bondi Beach-experience
3rd day in Sydney wassupposed to be cloudy in the morning and better in the afternoon soit would be a perfect day at BONDI BEACH – well we have by nowlearned that we should never trust the weatherforcast here downunderbecause it was an amazing morning and REALLY hot. It was literally 29degrees celsius in the SHADE!!! A bit too much for my taste, but wellwell. So we got off to the shops and then headed for the beach. Butby the time we had reached the beach we realised that the weathergods do not like us so much because it as all become cloudy andwindy. Well, to me the temperature was still perfect so i did go fora dip and just loved it, but the rest did not feel like swimming.Poor Danielle really was freezing as well – but i guess that theyare used to completely different temperatures here. I was in heaven.The thing is that here in Aussie-land as in New Zealand you can getREALLY tanned even when its cloudy cause they have a huge hole in theozonlayer here so that the UV-exposure is extreme!!!! Lee got toexperience that first hand the 2nd day – haha;) Poorbritish lad;)
We ended up staying at the beach onlyfor a short while since it startet to rain a bit and there wasthunder and lightening. We then headed for the really nice coastalwalk between Bondi Beach and Bronte Beach. And then we had lunchbefore we headed back home where we got a home cooked meal by Mayaand Danielle. Oh such lovely girls:) Just gotta love them:)
Emotional last visit
It would turn out that we had a bigproblem getting up at the right time while in Sydney, so we got thedays started off a bit too late – but well, what can you do – weare on holidays;) The 4th day we went shopping and afterthat was done I and Danielle dropped by the hospital to visit herfather. I met Danielle's father for the first time back on theinka-trail last year and he was an amazing guy. But almost rightafter he returned back home from the trip last year he becamecritically ill and still has not recovered, and unfortunately itturns out that he wont recover at all. So it was a very special visitfor me, knowing that i was to meet this man that helped bringwonderful memories into my life last year and that the next time Ireturn to Sydney he wont be here to share his wonderful spirit. So itwas indeed a touching visit. I wrote a card and tried to write himsome comforting words as appropiate as possible, and of course gothim some flowers. It seems like both Danielle and her mother was verytouched with the gesture – so hopefully I was able to bring somecomfort in Danielle's fathers life at the moment.
You Got Crabs?
After hooking up with the rest of thegroup again we then went to Balmain-area of Sydney with the ferry.There we hang out and then had a decent burgermeal at a pub, much toMayas great pleasure:) We aslo hooked up with Aurelio again, the cuteBrazilian we met during our Maori-experience in Rotorua, NZ. We thenwent to Glebe-area and got to this pub where we took part in acrabrace, which turned out to be a lot of fun. And you can justimagine how many crabs-jokes that went on that night, haha. Danielleunfortunately had to go home early as she had work the next morning.The rest of us then headed for a backpackers club where at least Iand Maya RAELLY got our feet moving:) Lee came in as a good third ;)I like that he at least tries:-D haha, just kidding – he isactually good at dancing so it was fun:) At the end of the evening werealised that even Aurelio was gay as well which I and Kenneth didntpick up at all!!! Our gaydars are dead for sure, but then again-there was nothing stereotypical about Aurelio that could have helpedus pick it up. But poor Lee – I told him before we met Aurelio thatat least another straight guy would join us now so that he wouldntfeel so lonely in this girls and gays party – but it turned out iwas to be wrong, haha.
Beautiful Last Day
Last day in Sydney, for my sake atleast, was supposed to be a cloudy day with lightening.. So no day atthe beach then which was too bad, cause i would have liked to havechecked out Manly Beach, which is supposed to be even better thanBondi Beach. So we didnt pack any beach wear... but we never learn;The weather was FANTASTIC and really hot! So we ended up doing amajor walking tour in the city centre together with Aurelio instead,so we got to see many many parts of Sydney central. Danielle had towork so we didnt get to see her before the evening. AND then i had toleave Sydney:(
Leaving Sydney :(
Leaving Sydney was a hard thing. Ijust really loved the city and i loved the people i met! Did Imention that i hate farewells? I am forever grateful to Danielleand Maya for making my stay in Sydney an unforgettable one. The planwas that Kenneth would come along to Melbourne at the same time asme, but less than an hour before we had to be at the trainstation hetold me that he was going to send me by myself to Melbourne and thathe would join his Norwegian friend in Sydney for a trip to the BlueMountains. Well well... so I ended up going bymyself to Melbourne.But at least i then got two seats by myself and eventhough thetrainride took 11 hours it really did not feel like 11 hours becausei got to sleep:) And i also got in touch with this really friendlyGerman girl on the train so i wasnt bored at all. So upon arrival toMelbourne I am ready for NEW adventures and of course meeting Joelagain:)
THERE WILL BE PHOTOS!!!!! :)
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