Sunny Sydney

Wow, a whole week since my last post. (And sorry my pictures on this page are so out of date). I haven't blogged about Sydney because there hasn't been anything scintillating to report. Not that that has stopped me in the past, but I digress. Sydney was the site of my 2nd home exchange, so I've been staying on my own (it's amazing that everything I have with me will fit in a large backpack but can manage to be spread around a 2 bedroom apartment) and wandering the city, seeing the sites. The typical - Darling Harbour, the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, ferries to neighborhoods, a quick visit to Bondi Beach and one day spent sunning myself on Coogee Beach. The first day I was here was hot, so I was glad I hit Coogee then. After that it's been sunny but cooler, around upper 60s.

Getting here was an odd mix of luxury and discomfort. I left Wellington in nasty, nasty weather. The wind and rain were blowing so hard the airport could only use the gates on the south side of the airport, where they were sheltered. So that delayed everything. Didn't really matter to me, though, since I was flying to Auckland where I would be spending 8 hours overnight before my flight to Sydney. I spent the hours of 11pm to 4am reading on a padded bench, before checking in at the business class desk. Then I headed through security to the Qantas lounge where I had a full continental breakfast, read some magazines and made a few free phone calls. Then I had 2 seats to myself in business class with a hot breakfast frittata (really, really yummy, actually) and my own personal DVD player with choice of movies. It's so weird being half broke backpacker and half luxury traveler! Tomorrow I fly to Melbourne for a week. I'm looking forward to the live music scene there and I'm actually looking forward to staying at a hostel! I appreciate the space I get from staying here, but I can't wait to meet people!!!! The hostel also sounds interesting - it's called The Nunnery and is a refurbished convent. Also, I know a few people in Melbourne, so that will be a nice change of pace.

I imagine being around people more often will provide more interesting fodder for this blog, too. And I'm going to try to get more recent pictures online while I'm there.