Reflections on an Australian Adventure…A Little at a Time

For me, summer vacation is long over and my travels and visits with family and friends are now just memories.  Regardless, it is still important for me to go back and reflect on them--to put the memories into writing so I will have something to look back on and to share a little bit of my global life with others who couldn't be there with me.  My Facebook friend Melissa has been documenting the trip she took to Japan over Chuseok in small chunks on her blog and she has inspired me to finally get started on my own writings about Australia.  As I think about my life and the choices I make, I do so with a different mindset than I had just a few years ago.  In the wake of the anniversary of September 11th, I was watching a video and a man who rescued people from Manhattan with his boat said, "I have one theory in life.  I never want to say the words, 'I should have.'"  Knowing that life can be beautifully long or tragically short has motivated me to adopt a similar perspective.  This is what led me to book a group tour to Switzerland a year ago where I met so many lovely Australian folks who helped nudge me forward in the planning of this passed summer's grand Australian Adventure!  So, over the next few days, or weeks…or months, I'll write a post for each of the cities I visited highlighting the amazing things I saw and did with a collection of pictures from my experiences; a best-of if you will.

Let's begin with Sydney, the first stop on my trip!  I was able to schedule six days in this harbor city and before I even landed I had a picture in my mind's eye of the Opera House sitting at the entrance to Sydney Harbor.  I couldn't wait for the end of school and the start of this trip.  I arrived in Sydney on a Monday morning, bleary eyed after taking an overnight flight from Seoul.  As my plane landed, I peered out the window into the darkness not knowing what to expect once I left the confines of the aircraft.  The last several years I had ventured to Europe, which in my mind is always a "safe" choice because of its familiarity.  Even though Switzerland was a new country for me last year, I had been to France and Italy, which border Switzerland, and so I figured I could make due.  I had a few travel mishaps here and there, but I did manage fairly well for the one and a half days I had on my own before meeting my tour.  Getting off the plane that Monday in Sydney meant I was venturing into entirely unknown territory and a completely new continent (that makes four out of seven).  It was incredibly early when we touched down--before 6 am and the first glow of morning just started to peek through while we taxied to the gate.

I stayed in a part of Sydney called the CBD--the Central Business District.  It was bustling with people, shopping, fast food (there was a McDonald's on nearly every corner-gross!), and the like.  Starbucks has made its mark in Australia and I quickly located a store across the street from the hotel.  My hotel was also quite centrally located to many of the key sights in the city so I did much of my exploring on foot, rather than using public transportation.  The weather was absolutely glorious, so this was pretty easy to do.  It was winter in Australia and I'm nearly convinced that I need to relocate after five years of Spokane winters and four years in Seoul.  Winter in Sydney meant it was cool in the morning, and warm and sunny in the afternoon.   

I succeeded in getting a new SIM card for my phone so I had a local phone number and cellular data.  This may sound a bit ridiculous, but hotel wifi was incredibly expensive and I needed a way to stay connected to life back home.  My second stop was the grocery store.  It was really comforting to walk into a supermarket and see products I recognized, especially the fruits, vegetables, and Chobani greek yogurt (yes, I get excited about the little things).  Living in Asia makes you appreciate those sorts of things, along with having twenty choices of breakfast cereal.  With some time to spare before meeting my local host from the tour company, I couldn't miss the opportunity to walk down to the harbor.   

Ten minutes walk from the hotel and you ran into Sydney Cove and Circular Quay (pronounced "key") where you could catch a ferry to a number of exciting destinations.  I located the start of the next day's photography tour and sat down on a pylon to just watch the action.  Ferries came in and out often and it was a seamless dance--no commotion really.  I sat for probably twenty minutes gazing across at the Opera House.  The silhouette of the white sails against the clear blue sky was simply picture perfect.  I have seen hundreds of photos of this exact image, so it was almost unbelievable that I was sitting on the harbor and that it was real.  Insert deep sigh of contentment here.

The famous Sydney Opera House

Circular Quay, the ferry terminal

A curious bird

Trying out the power of my new camera lens looking across at the Opera House sails

That first day I also met with my local host, a charming woman called Pam who went through my entire itinerary with me down to the last detail!  After meeting with her I could hardly contain my excitement--I knew this was going to be an absolutely fabulous vacation!