Wednesday, April 26, 2006
I'm in Australia! (Day 1)
Arrived in Australia early yesterday morning -- VERY early yesterday morning, about 2 hours earlier than I thought I would arrive. Why? because of the time change the difference between SF and Sydney is no longer 19 hours, but 17! I made it through customs (though almost had my Corn Nuts taken away because of the quarantine), picked up a local SIM card, and grabbed a taxi into the city.
I was greeted by my friend, Craig, and then met up with Rosa and Tom. We spent the morning and early afternoon around Bondi Beach, which had the most beautiful water I've ever seen:
We grabbed breakfast/lunch (during which it was sunny, and then it rained, and then it was sunny, and then it rained... you get the idea, Sydney weather is weird) and then in the afternoon we headed back to city to climb the Harbor Bridge. It was AWESOME.
After the climb, we joined in the Anzac Day festivities by grabbing drinks at Lord Nelson's, Sydney's oldest hotel. I was initally confused by the masses of people hanging around in front of hotels with beers, but eventually I learned that not all the time, but a LOT of the time, hotel is Australian for pub. :) (fyi - just to be confusing, a Park Hyatt is also a hotel.) We wrapped things up with dinner at a little Italian place, where jetlag finally got the best of me and I mistook salt for parmesan cheese... let's just say it didn't complement the pizza very well. That was pretty much it for my first day, more stories to come soon. Really, I mean it this time!
I was greeted by my friend, Craig, and then met up with Rosa and Tom. We spent the morning and early afternoon around Bondi Beach, which had the most beautiful water I've ever seen:
We grabbed breakfast/lunch (during which it was sunny, and then it rained, and then it was sunny, and then it rained... you get the idea, Sydney weather is weird) and then in the afternoon we headed back to city to climb the Harbor Bridge. It was AWESOME.
After the climb, we joined in the Anzac Day festivities by grabbing drinks at Lord Nelson's, Sydney's oldest hotel. I was initally confused by the masses of people hanging around in front of hotels with beers, but eventually I learned that not all the time, but a LOT of the time, hotel is Australian for pub. :) (fyi - just to be confusing, a Park Hyatt is also a hotel.) We wrapped things up with dinner at a little Italian place, where jetlag finally got the best of me and I mistook salt for parmesan cheese... let's just say it didn't complement the pizza very well. That was pretty much it for my first day, more stories to come soon. Really, I mean it this time!
