Took a shower and got everything ready for me to check out at 10.
Went out for a coffee & banana muffin for breakfast.
Came back.
Took a deep breath in.
Skyped with Magnus and mum for a bit.
Figured out everything with Ward & Kim and where they live etc.
Talked to Delano briefly before he went to work.
Checked out.
Walked down to Southern Cross Station to pay for my ticket, eveything's sorted and paid for now.
Walked around for a while, bought a new septum ring. It's tiny and I've been wearing it tucked up all day. It's really weird to not have it, but I dunno.
I went to the vintage store I've been wanting to go to since I was here before, nothing really amazing. Bought a swallow necklace though. It's very classic tattoo flash art-eque.
Walked around some mall for a bit, just enjoying the air con.
Then as I was walking down Swanson Street I ran into Rachel & Matthew! Rachel's someone I stayed in Chill Backpackers with when I was there at the very beginning of my trip and I knew she was getting in to Melbourne today but had no hope of seeing her. We went out for coffee and chatted for ages. Matthew left to sleep and Rachel & I walked back to her hostel where we went our separate ways. I'm so happy I got to see her! And meet Matthew of course.
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| Rachel! |
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| Me & Matthew, taken by Rachel. |
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| <3 |
I wanted back to the hostel, where I'm now just relaxing in the lobby area for 20 minutes or so before I go to the train station.
I get in to Sydney at around 8 tomorrow morning, but since I'm not updating this tonight, I suppose I got in at 8 this morning. When you're reading this.
That's a tad confusing.
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Waiting at Southern Cross now.
Talked to some Irish guy for a bit while trying to figure out what to do with my bag. Eventually found Traveller's Aid and they explained that for this bus I don't need to check in before like I did in Adelaide, they just put it in the bottom of the bus when you get on.
I feel really unprepared though, I dunno. I just feel like we could all miss it somehow.
By all I mean me, the irish guy and the muslim woman and her two children.
Like I said, I feel really anxious and I don't know how to calm down.
I drank some delicious juice, but vkmscg;dmvlcg,fdcgmv.
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Well, it's fine. I'm on the bus. We've been on here since 6.30 and it's now 9.
At 10 we get into Albury where we switch to a train.
This old woman talked at me at the train station for like 45 minutes. I know all about her shoulder problems, her son-in-law's birthday, her friends trip to Alaska, her daughter's broken leg, exactly how long it takes her to get to Melbourne, her diabetes, how much weight she's lost in the past year, how astounding she finds timezones (very astounding), her grandson's height and a fuck ton of other stuff.
When I went to check in everyone was apologising since apparently she comes in 2 or three times a month, knows every bus driver by name and always picks a 'victim' as they refer to her targets as. Their advice was to be less friendly looking.
Thankfully we're on different busses.
But my favourite part of the whole story is when I was about to go hide by my terminal place she's like "oh what's your name?" and when I told her she goes "yes, I'm Mrs. Mconolley"
MRS??? Who even says that in that situation?
Anyway, I ate some chips and napped for an hour and a half and looked out the window for a bit and watched another episode of Psych.
Ah, now it's time to sleep for 45 minutes and then relax at a train station for an hour, then hopefully sleep the rest of the way to Sydney.
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| the bracelets in all their glory. |
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I made it to Sydney! I'm chilling in therein station for an hour and a bit so I don't get to War & Kim's house too early in the morning. Not that I know how to get there anyway. I mean, I know their address but you know, I don't know Sydney in the slightest. Oh well.
I actually managed to sleep a fair bit on the train, probably about 6 hours. So sweet.
I had these two woman in front of me who were drunk I think. And may have also been meth heads or something. They took heavy drugs often.
And then there was a couple behind me and he may have been mentally challenged. He spent like 45 minutes on the phone with his mother explaining what bag was in the 'hold all' and what was in said smaller bag and jesus christ I almost killed him.
Anyway, I'm sitting in the station in a sort of food court area eating a muffin and there are an alarming amount of pigeons about. Someone left some french fries on a table and they swarmed. Little terrifying because pigeons are scary animals.
I really want to check the internet but there's no wifi here, so I'm not sure what to do. There must be wifi or a public computer somewhere, there always is. Or perhaps I'll leave the station and go into the city proper? That would probably end badly since I don't even have a map.
My big pack is in luggage storage until 8 tonight if I want so we'll see. I think I'll just hang here for another hour and then try to figure out how to get to Rose Bay.
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Eventually made my way to their house. I took a train to Edgecliff then a bus to Rose Bay. But of course I didn't know where I was really going, got off early and had to walk for aaaages (like, more than 15 minutes ages) to find their apartment. Which, of course, has a bus stop literally outside it.
I took what may be the best shower of my life. I actually washed my hair! I'm sure none of you know this since I haven't mentioned it, but I've just been using soap to wash my hair since I got here so I didn't have to carry shampoo and conditioner around. But I used real hair care products! It's all very excited.
Kim & I went over to the shopping centre place so she could have some stitches out and I could wander about the mall area. Got myself one of those slightly lame pocket watch necklaces, because I was developing a watch tan line on my wrist. Which means I have gotten oh so slightly more tan since I was here, which is good.
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| Bondi Beach! |
Then we went to meet Ward for lunch at some lovely Italian place that overlooks Bondi Beach. I had the most delicious vegetarian pizza.
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| Ward. |
Then Kim & I went to 'The Gap' which is the opening to the Sydney Harbour or, to use it's real name, Port Jackson Harbour. It's also the most common place to commit suicide in the area. I thought it was really lovely, honestly.
I caught my first glimpse of the Harbour Bridge & The Opera House.
Speaking of that, on Friday Ward and I are going on the bridge climb. I am already nervous but terribly terribly excited.
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| The Gap. |
Popped back into wherever the shopping place was so Kim could have her stitches out, there was some delay before and she wanted to meet us for lunch. I went and bought a new alarm clock, which is full of features like a radio and such. But it's all I could find, so I took it.
Came back and relaxed for a few hours. Napped a little, messed around on the internet a little... all the good stuff.
Had some dinner and then this lady Jan came over. Apparently her husband died this evening, after years of being sort of ill he'd been very ill for two or three days.
She actually was happy, in a good way. He was no longer in an pain and it was quick and painless. So that was a little bizarre because she kind of wanted to hear about my trip and stuff. I think she was just happy to think about something else, you know? She was lovely either way and hopefully she'll be alright.
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Tomorrow Kim is looking after one of her grandson's, who's like four. So around lunch we're going to go into Sydney for real to have lunch and explore a little. Take the needed opera house photos etc.
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