Ten Million Miles

(Louvelle’s Apartment, Glebe (Sydney), Australia)

The second full day in Sydney was pretty great. Lots of walking (15 km’s by our guesstimate), which I’m still not completely used to, but my new sandals are holding up well. I got up at 4:30am, talked with Mike and Susan online, and then tried to get back to bed. Managed to get up at 8 or so, and after a quick breakfast at Louvelle’s, we walked down to the Sydney Fish Market. It wasn’t quite as hustle and bustle as I expected, but the fish looked fantastic.

From there we headed toward Darling Harbour, crossing over Pyrmont bridge. We stopped at the Lindt cafe for some tea and hot chocolate (made with melted chocolate, and fantastic). We visited the Chinese Gardens after. Very zen, and definitely worth seeing. Paddy’s Market was next on the agenda, a giant flea market, with tons of wares. I’m still on the hunt for a bag (the zipper on my daybag is starting to go), but didn’t find anything that met my needs.

We walked through China Town next, where a cigarette fell from the sky, narrowly missing me. I’m curious to see what will fall from the sky tomorrow, and am hoping it’s money. Bills only, of course. We hit up a bunch of shops on Kent Street – which were all outdoorsy shops – again, searching mostly for a daypack. After that, we walked through the QVB (Queen Victoria Building), an old mall with an awesome Christmas tree setup, and had lunch in the food court of another building.

After lunch we walked throuh Hyde Park, marvelling at the awesome fig trees. From there we headed up Art Gallery Rd., passing the art gallery and visiting the Domain and Royal Botanical Gardens. Flying Foxes, which are large bats, inhabit the gardens, hanging off the trees. I took a bunch of pictures, so hopefully some of them will turn out. The gardens lead to the Sydney Opera House which looks pretty great. Didn’t take a tour of it, but the outside is quite nice. The area we were in is called Circular Quay, which also houses the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We queried about some boat tours, possibly for tomorrow afternoon (weather depending), then headed to the Rocks, which is the oldest neighbourhood in Sydney. Finally we headed to Observatory Hill, for a look out at the harbour, before heading back to Louvelle’s.

At Louvelle’s we discussed dinner, and settled on some Kangaroo Fillets. Borrowing one of Louvelle’s roommate’s bikes, Louvelle and I headed to the grocery store. It was quite an experience driving on the left side of the road. I’m still not entirely used to the whole left side driving – I struggle knowing which way to look on the street, so I look both. Thankfully, where the sidewalk meets the street, many pedestrian crosswalks are marked LOOK LEFT or LOOK RIGHT, depending on the situation. We made it to the grocery store safely, and made it back home without incident as well.

Louvelle’s roommate taught Louvelle the art of cooking ‘Roo, and he definitely knows what he is doing. It was quite tasty, and not really comparable to anything I can think of. Some people say it tastes like vennison, but I haven’t had any in such a long time, that I can’t really remember. It’s after dinner now, and there’s not much going on. I’ve stayed awake past 10, which is an achievement in itself (I think I’ve kicked the jet lag pretty quickly, but it may be too early to tell).

Louvelle just lead me to one of her roommate’s rooms. He’s got an amazing view of Sydney’s CBD (Central Business District – they shorten everything here, it seems). I’ll have to take my camera up soon, and take some pictures. It’s raining now, and getting reasonably late, so I’m going to retire to bed. We’re meeting a friend of Louvelle’s from Singapore in the morning.