Australia: Part Five (Sydney)

Our flight from Brisbane to Sydney was via Rex Airlines...which Nadja, the frequent traveler who has lived in Australia for 12 years, had never heard of. This was not a promising sign. Some loose research let us know that they had been an off-and-on again operator that currently had 6 working planes leased for a couple of domestic routes. We thought that we had been scammed, but when we got to the airport we were happy to see that they were, in fact, real (and that we were able to check-in despite "Flight Closed" being displayed on the screen when we arrived). The flight even included some great snacks!

We touched down in Sydney and took the train to our hostel in the King's Cross neighborhood. We were able to find a great deal on a backpacker hostel with a private room with en-suite bathroom, free breakfast, free bike rentals, and even a few free dinners each week. However we did see in the coming days why the place might have been so cheap. The first night in there was a grill-out (Australians call it a barbeque - or barbie - no matter what is being made) so we had free burgers and hot-dogs (with chili), which was great for a couple of budget-minded travelers like us. The following morning, though, all of the mess from cooking the food was still out. In fact, we quickly saw that while our room was very tidy, the rest of the hostel was really grimy and gross. There was trash all over, dirt and grease all over the kitchen, and Nicole even saw a rat scurry out of the trashcan one morning while making breakfast. Oh yeah, we'll note here that we had to bring in our own breakfast stuff because while the booking stated "free breakfast," in actuality the free food depended on if the hungover staff was up early enough to set out some stale cereal or not (sometimes there was bread and jam too, but we could not depend on it).

In addition to the rough shape of the hostel, the staff was also pretty spacey. Nobody really knew when there would/would not be a group dinner, and the reception desk was sparsely staffed (although they were extremely friendly on the off chance that they were there). Finally, although this is completely not the hostel’s fault, there was a terrible fellow American traveler there. We try to, normally, give everyone a chance no matter what, especially as backpacker travel is full of some real characters from bizarrely different backgrounds. But this one was different. We’ll simply call him “Portland” here as that’s where he was from. Portland personified all of the terrible stereotypes of American travelers; stereotypes that we try hard not to bring along. He was loud, opinionated, and tried to dominate every conversation by putting American issues first. He claimed to know more about people’s countries than the people that were actually from them, and he was the first to insert politics and vulgar topics into completely unrelated discussions. He also was always around the hostel. While others there had full time jobs or were out sight seeing everyday, he hung out at the hostel and harassed whoever was there (he never sat down, he would walk from the shared kitchen, to the lounge area, to the Rec room all day long to talk to whoever was in each space). He didn’t have a job, and was actually bumming food and a free bed off of the place (he, unprovoked, showed us how he could break into the staff refrigerator). Needless to say, we avoided the hostel, especially the common spaces, as much as we could.

On our first evening in Sydney we wandered from our hostel in the King’s Cross neighborhood (it used to be one of the roughest areas in the country, but now is quite nice) down through the Finger Wharf and Botanical Gardens to Circular Quay. This area is right next to the famous Sydney Opera House, which is probably the most famous landmark in Australia. While there we picked up our race bibs for the Sydney Harbor 10k that we had signed up for. We then went back to where the hostel had a BBQ prepared. We wanted to socialize, but Portland was hanging out there (of course) so we quickly ate and when back to the room.

The next day was a Get Stuff Caught Up Day. We had planned on using the hostel common space, but after being bugged all morning by Portland, we decided to search out a library. Luckily, we found one right around the corner. After some blogging and planning we grabbed takeaway sushi for lunch. While sushi is typically an expensive, intimate dining experience for us back home, it’s a go-to cheap walking snack in places all over Australia. For $4.00 AUD ($3 USD) you can get one of a couple of dozen different roll types. After lunch, we headed over to a couple of famous Sydney markets. One was the Glebe Market, a vintage/boutique market held on the blacktop parking lot of the Glebe Public School building. There were actually some good deals on second hand clothing here, and an awesome array of food stands (we got some artisanal hot chocolate and chai tea). After that we headed to the Paddington market, which was a big underground space with souvenir stands, unique shops, and a large produce area. We picked up some souvenirs and groceries, and stopped for some meat at a store on the way home.

We had expected another BBQ at the hostel that night as it was listed on the daily calendar, but they had changed up the activity. Since we had just bought groceries we decided to cook instead. The meat we got from the store was actually Kangaroo meat! It’s sold in the “game” section of most grocers. It is very lean, pretty cheap (cheaper than beef and chicken) and when cooked right it is delicious. Since it was so lean, we decided to make kangaroo shish-kebabs and they turned out much better than expected. After dinner we were about to head to bed (because of the early race the next day)…but we were invited to try some of the “Goonstails,” a wine and fruit combination scooped out of a big pot that someone at the hostel had made. We had decided to have just one glass…then some drinking games started and next thing you know we were several glasses deep and wayyyy late to bed.

The next morning we were up early to catch the train to the start of the race, with just a slight hangover. The race itself was a route around the Sydney Harbor just as the sun was coming up. It was a beautiful morning, a fun course, and it finished near the Opera House. On top of that, it wasn’t nearly as crowded or chaotic as the one we ran in Venice. We ran good paces (Kyle ran 42:09, Nicolé ran 45:25) despite frequently burping up the goonstails from the night before. We finished up the race with a couple of customary Bloody Mary’s, and spent the rest of the day relaxing at the hostel (we found a random balcony nook that had yet to be discovered by Portland).

That evening we took a stroll across the Harbor Bridge for sweet views back across the city, and stopped at the Australian Hotel in The Rocks area for a beer. The Rocks is a neighborhood in Sydney that still boasts English-style brick warehouses and storefronts from the late 1800s. While most of the city around it had turned into modern high-rises, this area has been preserved and now is full of cool bars and restaurants. Our place even had some awesome live music. After the beer, we went to a pizza place called Frankie’s. This was about as hole-in-the-wall of a place as you’d ever find on a tourist map. It was a dark, grungy pizza place in the front that had death metal bands playing live music in the back room. The clientele was about as diverse as you could expect, with everything from girls dressed up for nice nights out on the town, to people wearing full leather masks. The pizza was great and they even had a drink made of freshly pressed apples and whiskey. It was one of our more random dinners in awhile.

On Monday we still had shaky legs, but we decided to give one of Sydney’s coastal walks a go. We chose to do the Coogee to Bondi walk. It was an amazing 8km trek that went from beaches, to coastal cliffs, and back to beaches again. There was even the most scenic cemetery in the world along the way! It finished at Bondi beach, one of the most famous in Sydney, where we relaxed away the afternoon. At one point we grabbed a coffee by a stand where they were shooting a movie (though we aren’t sure what the movie is yet). When we got back it was getting dark, so we wandered back to the Harbor to get some nice night pictures of the Opera House.

On Tuesday we were not yet done walking, so we headed up to the Blue Mountains for a trek. We took the 3 hour train/bus combo to the town of Blackheath, where we still had a 30 minute walk to the trail head. It was also COLD up here (in the 30s), which was not very welcomed. The start of our chosen trek (the Clifftop and Grand Canyon combined route) was a breathtaking view over the valley basin below. We then traced the cliff edge for several miles, before making the steep decent into the “Grand Canyon.” The canyon ended up being one of the best short treks of the trip. It was 3-4 miles though steep gorges, lush creek beds, and pounding waterfalls. There were many zig-zags crossing the creek, and beautiful features hidden around every corner. We had another steep ascent out of the canyon, then followed a “fire trail” back into the town, where we had to wait for our bus. We decided to duck out of the cold into the nearest pub (we get it, we’re predictable) where there were good beers and a warm fire. Finally, the bus picked us up and dropped us off at the train station, where we had a couple of hour train ride back.

We finished our time in Australia up the most boring way possible: with laundry and errands. Tuesday night consisted of a trip to the laundromat (where we also had a dinner of soup from the grocery store). Wednesday morning consisted of some more library time, a trip to the post office, and a little shopping (and more cheap sushi). The only event to note is that we had left our bags in the locker storage room at the hostel, and we almost missed the reception guy leaving for the day. Kyle had to run down his car to get the key, and we’re lucky that we caught him & made it to the airport in time.

Additional Aussie Notes:

Notes:

• There is a thing called Vegemite here and it's...an acquired taste. One we didn’t get used to. It's a vitamin-rich brown paste that tastes pretty much like if salt were made into a jelly. It usually served on top of heavily buttered toast, and even then it is only a whisper of a layer as it is so powerful.

• There was a big emphasis on aboriginal culture everywhere. Like the US's (relevantly) recent emphasis on Native American culture, the Australian government, local companies, and entertainers are really trying to recognize the plight of the aboriginal people and their lost lands and lives. It's really cool to see, but at the same time it's devastating to read about what happened in the past.

• Australia has extremely distinct states (6 of them). Each has its own set of taxing, laws, customs, etc, very much like the US. They also have very fierce state pride and rivalries!

• Australians pay a similar level of taxes as the US, but have so many more benefits that we do not in the US. Some of these include free child care and employer-provided 401k plans (no employee contribution necessary).

• The Australian $2 coin is smaller than the $1 coin, and many of the other coins. The 50 cent coin is the largest. It's confusing, but credit card is accepted pretty much anywhere.

• The wifi at cafes was terrible or non-existent. This was a big change-up from Vietnam, where places that didn't even have plumbing or any sanitary measures still had great, fast, and free wifi.

Unique Wildlife we saw:

• Magpies

• Brushtail possums

• Huntsman spider

• Cookuburra

• Doplhins

• Humback whales

• Tawny frogmouths

• Black cokatoos

• Wallabies

• Flying foxes (incredibly large bats, and they are EVERYWHERE)

• Leeches (Nicole had one on her on a day we didn't even get in any water)

Here are some of the words we heard in Australia:

• Aluminum: okay it's the same thing as the US, but they pronouince it "Ah-loo-minh-ee-yum"

• Bathers: swimsuit

• Bloke: a man

• Biff: a fight/brawl, especially used during sporting events ("Bring back the biff!!")

• Bottle Shop: Liquor store (and the only place where you can get alcohol, it is not sold in regular stores)

• CBD: no, it's not cannibus related. It actually refers to "Central Business District" which is the central hub in all towns and cities.

• Chips: fries OR potato chips, dpeneding on context

• Footy: another name for "footbal" which could mean: Australian-rules football, Australian-rules rugby, traditional rugby, or soccer

• G'day: hello

• How Ya Goin?: Also, hello

• Landslip: landslide

• Loo, the: the bathroom

• Mate: friend

• Petrol: gas (the football announcers even say things like "this team is really running low on petrol")

• Sleeper Logs: 2x4s

• Rubbish: Trash

• Ute: a pick-up truck

• Whipper-snipper: weed-wacker

• Whoop-whoop: out in a remote area or the middle of nowhere

Levi's shirt count: This trend has slowed down drastically, and we're back to cold weather (less T-shirt sightings): 537