Rain Rain Go Away

Come again another day!

Sydney's draught has officially been declared over. While the reserves of water still remain low, the governement believes the conditions will improve and they won't run out of water here. Of course, it rained both days we were in Sydney and we weren't the happiest of campers.

We arrived to Sydney late on Wednesday evening. We found a hostel in Kings Cross and settled into a typical hostel -- Jolly Swaggers. We shared the room with 2 German girls who didn't talk much. Oh well. I was in a sour mood on Wednesday night. It was quite an adjustment to really be back in civilization. I certainly don't miss the rice served at every meal, the Asian toilets, or crappy beds. I do miss how cheap everything is there (boo to paying real prices) and the culture and feel of Asia.

Anyway, back to Sydney. We arose early enough to get our muslei breakfast included with our lodgings and headed out to a clear, crisp morning. (It's winter down here, so the temptures are in the 50s F.) We walked through the Royal Gardens and out to a point that is one of the "spots" to take a picture of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. After Mike and I got a few shots, I went to do the hour-long tour of the Opera House. It was great to learn all about it and to actually be inside the impressive concert hall. Then we headed to Pancakes on the Rocks for a delicious lunch. I had chocolate pancakes with strawberries. Yummy. After pan-a-cakes, we walked a bit around the area called the Rocks and decided to walk the Harbour Bridge. Too bad it started monsooning and neither one of us had any rain gear. We gave up on that idea and Mike and I decided to split up. I went to the Musuem of Contempary Art followed by the NSW Gallery of Art. I enjoyed the NSW Gallery, as its much larger, quite a bit. Both were free and it was nice to relax and see them, as well as warm up and dry off.

Luckily for us, Jolly Swaggers Backpackers cooks a fab dinner on Thursday evenings. For $3 AUD, we got a sausage on a roll, salad, and ice cream for dessert. Yummy. While eating we made friends with Fi, Lindsay, and Laura from Scotland. I love making new friends. We all went to the same bar with some other backpackers from the hostel called World Bar. It was a short walk which was key since it was yet again raining. Our first round was on the house, which was a pitcher of beer. Yeah. After that we danced and partied with the Scottish possy. I have to admit we didn't know most of the music but Fi, Laura, and Lindsay did. We stayed late and had a jolly good time of it all.

Friday I had all intentions of getting up early (I even set the alarm clock) and snoozed until almost 12. After I finally got up, showered, and ready Mike was getting up. Being a lucky backpacker, I was able to make a grilled cheese sammie off the remains of the free shelf. Bonus! :) We decided to go to Manly Beach for the afternoon, then we were going to trek over to Bondi Beach. As it was raining, we brought our gear this time and decided to tough it out. Manly Beach was beautiful and full of surfers despite the miserable weather. We had a delicious sandwhich at a little local deli for lunch ~ something that was certainly missing from our diets in Asia. We ventured around in search of a thrift store, it took us twice as long as it should have, and I bought long sleves as I'm serverly unprepared for this colder weather. We ditched the idea to go to Bondi, but enjoyed cruising back on the ferry from Manly. It was a lovely evening and the city lights were all up. Fantastic fun.

Friday evening back at the ranch ... my girls Fi, Lindsay, and Laura were chilling and drinking. They don't do drinking games back home, so I taught them a few tricks that I had up my sleve. Mike went to the convience store and we attempted to teach our friends flip cup. I never thought I'd say "They are too drunk for flip cup" but that's what happened. After the receptionist at the hostel asked our crew and the other crew of drinkers to quiet down a few times, I ended up going out with Fi and Laura. We went to the Old Fitzroys Hotel. Being super cool backpackers, they give you a little book when you check in at the hostel for 15 free drinks at different pubs all throughout the city. Old Fitzroys was the closest one to the hostel and since it was still monsooning but we wanted to go out, we went there. It ended up being a jolly good time. We made friends with the bartender and some how ended up staying past the close of the bar at 12:30 am. The afterparty was fun but not really necessary ... Mike woke me up at 4:40 am to leave for the airport. I got less than three hours of sleep. (Mike didn't go out since he's such a good boy and so he got a few more than I did ....)