Everybody do the Tim Tam Slam

So far my experience in Australia has been fantastic. I'm meeting loads of people and can speak their language! Granted I have to get used to them not understanding what a "sack" is (a bag) and I'm still not proficient with my Celsius, but it's a lot easier than Thailand for sure.

After my 9 hour flight from Thailand, plus the fact that I lost 3 hours, I was 12 hours ahead and exhausted. I'm still terrible about sleeping on planes. I then went through passport control I was sent through Australia's rigorous customs. In order to save some time and possibly money, I failed to inform the customs officers that I had been in Africa recently. You also aren't allowed to bring any aquatic or camping equipment into the country that could have soil or water residue that could change Australia's unique environment. They even looked at the bottom of my shoes for dirt.

I then bought an Australian Sim card for my phone because the one I used in Thailand turned out to be a good deal. I ended up paying more than I would have liked for the Sim card and service, and there is no way I will be able to use up all the minutes I purchased.

I then took a $14 subway ride to the Museum station and walked around Hyde Park to the share house where I had arranged to stay for free. I'm not certain if I've explained this to everybody yet, but way back in December 2007 I wrote letters to different Lutheran churches throughout the world asking for host families. That is how I arranged to stay at the church in France, this location in Sydney, and I have a host family lined up for New Zealand.

I met Tomomi, a girl from Japan who has been working as a nurse in Sydney for the past couple of years. She gave me the key to the apartment and showed me my room (with a real bed) and I passed out for a very enjoyable nap. When I woke up I brushed my teeth, changed my contacts (Happy July) and embarked on a trip to the Opera House.

It is winter in Australia right now, but like Kenya their winters are very fair. People are wearing coats and hats and gloves and scarfs and I'm wearing just a t-shirt and carrying my light jacket with me. I'm used to digging my car out of the ice to head to work, so this "winter" feels absolutely fantastic.

I wandered around the city and eventually ended up at Lady Macquarie's Chair - a landmark nearby the Opera House. It was a great place to snap some photos of the Opera House so I took full advantage of my vantage. I then walked around the coast and avoided the millions of joggers. It was a early Tuesday afternoon and there were boatloads of people jogging around the park. I couldn't understand if they were unemployed or on a very late lunch break, but they moved in herds like animals from Kenya. In Sydney you will always see people jogging. Morning, day, and night and nearly everywhere you can find someone jogging. You will also find lots of boys skateboarding. I walked around the coast and reached the Opera House. It is very cool looking, but there is something very 1970s about it. I think it is the wood paneling on the inside. I walked around and dodged the tourists and joggers and snapped some photos of it and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. My budget didn't allow me to book a show in the Opera House, and I decided that a tour of the Opera House would probably bore me, so I decided that the mere fact of seeing it and touching it was enough satisfaction for me.

I wandered around the city some more and ended up at King's Cross. King's Cross is a hip backpacker area filled with hostels and traveling information for people like me. At night it is known for its drunk people and prostitutes. I arranged a day trip to the Blue Mountains for Thursday.

I then walked back to the apartment and met Azelia, Steve, Darryl, Milton, Asher and Denning. Denning lives in the apartment too and is a part time student and works. The other folks were there for a Bible study. I grabbed some spaghetti from a nearby restaurant and joined the study, rather than being anti-social in my room. I then slammed a Tim Tam. I know what you're wondering - what in heaven's name is a Tim Tam and what does slamming it entail. I'll just say it involves a cup of coffee or hot cocoa, a popular type of Australian cookie/biscuit called a Tim Tam, and gobbling a very delicious melty cookie down really fast. What you do is bite off two opposite corners of the Tim Tam, drinking the coffee through the cookie, and shoving it in your mouth before it completely melts and falls in your mouth.

Everybody left me alone in the apartment. Soon after Denning got home and had two friends with him. We played Wii for a while and I headed off to bed.

When I woke up it was Wednesday and I had planned to head to Bondi beach. I took the subway to Bondi Junction and asked the person at the information desk why it was only $3 to go to Bondi beach but $14 to go to the airport. The airport station is owned by the airport rather than the city, so they charge a fee for everyone using it. Jerks.

I walked from the station to the beach which took about half an hour. By now I'm pretty good at walking. When I got the the beach I took of my shoes and waded in the ocean. It was quite cold, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity. There were people surfing so I watched them. It was a beautiful beach, but the photos do a better job explaining it than I do. I then boarded a bus back to the train station (it was uphill from the beach - and I'm on vacation). I guess my patchy beard makes me look like a vagrant since I get concerned looks from parents and other people. I don't even really like it, but I made a promise to myself to not shave and I don't want to back out in the 5th week out of 6.

I went souvenir shopping and took the train back to the Museum station. The apartment is a 2 minute walk from the museum, which is why I use the Museum station. It's a great location in this awesome city. I went to the grocery store to buy groceries and was slightly shocked at the prices. I'm not certain exactly why - the high minimum wage, the losing power of the USD, but food here is crazy expensive. Restaurants are comparably priced, but it is impossible to get a decent meal for about $5, which is my favorite price range. For example, a decent price for a can of soda from a machine is $1.20. I couldn't believe it. I am eating PB&J because I am cheap, but it works out as well because the local flavor is very similar to food in the US: a hodgepodge of food from around the world.

On Thursday morning I woke up early and headed to the pickup spot for my tour. When he picked me up I sat in the window seat and because the tour was fully booked a woman from New Zealand sat next to me. During the tour we talked and it was funny to discover that she is a member of SERVAS and hosts travelers quite often.

The tour started by taking up over the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We drove to a place called Featherdale's where we could see the animals of Australia. I got to pet a koala, kangaroo, wombat, and many other types of animals. Most were not shy and would walk right up to you. It was very cool to see these animals up close. Check the photo album for pictures. From here we headed to a lunch buffet which was included with the tour fees and you can believe I ate as much as I could.

After lunch we went to a park and the bus driver gave us a boomerang throwing demonstration and tried to sell us some boomerangs. We then drove to the Blue Mountains and saw the rock formation called the Three Sisters, from a point called Echo Point. I tried, and it didn't echo very well. Maybe I was doing it wrong. We then trucked on to a cable car ride where some people took a cable car across a waterfall canyon that was beautiful. I later saw that same waterfall for free though. There were three rides at the park, a cable car ride across the canyon, a steep train ride to the bottom of the mountains, and a cable car ride from the bottom to the top. I am cheap, adventurous, and good at walking so I opted to walk 1000+ steps down to the bottom of the mountains and ride the cable car back up. It was not as difficult as I thought it'd be, and it was a decent experience. I climbed down with a guy from UK who had been trapped in the Sydney Tower elevator for 4 hours the night before. (He told this story to everyone with ears). At the bottom of the mountains was a rain forest and you could observe the Lyre birds and nature. To tell you the truth the real beautiful view was from the top of the mountains, but it was neat (and chilly) and the bottom. I took the cable car up and boarded the bus.

We then drove to a rock formation called the Boar's head. I thought it would be boaring but it was a swine view of some really pig rocks. (Sorry.)

From there we drove to a quaint town called Leura where the food was still expensive. It wasn't terribly exciting, but I guess if you're from the city it could be seen as cute. We then drove some more and ended up at Olympic Park. It was cool to see where the 2000 Olympics were, even if it was pretty much a ghost town. We took a private ferry back to Sydney where I walked back to the apartment and crashed after a PB&J dinner.

When I woke up on Friday I made a list of things I wanted to eat in Australia so I wouldn't miss out on the items they are known for. I also remembered that it was the 4th of July. Nobody was making much ado about it, and I decided to not be the obnoxious American and make any fuss myself. I also figured I could make up for it when I get back to the states. It was raining quite hard so I was stuck inside for a while, but when it broke I headed to Sydney's Chinatown. The Chinatown was quite different than any other Chinatown that I had ever been to, and was surprisingly different from what I expected. It was clean and organized, and rather than shady little markets, it was all organized in the basement of a shopping mall. I explored and found some good souvenirs and walked around the city some more.

Later that evening Denning took me to a youth group he runs outside of Sydney. It was a good 30 minute drive. We played pool and ate self-made pizza. I was also quizzed by some teenagers about the states and they laughed at how I pronounced words. They didn't like when I told them they drive on the wrong side of the street, but I didn't like when they told me that I lived where they made the Wizard of Oz. When Denning and I got back from the youth group we went possum hunting in Hyde Park (which is right by the museum and the apartment). I took my camera to shoot the possums, so I consider it hunting. They were friendly looking, and I got some good photos. Some idiots were trying to pet them, but Denning and I figured they had diseases.

The next day was Saturday. When I woke up Denning had some Vegemite for me. Vegemite is terribly disgusting and tastes like salty mud. It is an excellent source of Vitamin B, but I didn't like it. It is an Australian food, so I had to try it.

During the day I walked to the Rocks, a hip shopping center by the Sydney Harbor Bridge. I walked through the outdoor market. I then walked across the Sydney Harbor Bridge and explored the north side of Sydney. When I was crossing the bridge on my way back a kid asked me if I had a smoke. I laughed at him and told him he was too young to smoke which he responded "But I'm 14!" I laughed again and told him that smoking kills. It reminded me when I saw the 7 or 8 year olds smoking in Cairo.

I walked back to the apartment and took a power nap. I then walked to Kings Cross to grab some dinner. It was about 6:30pm, but I guess that is early enough for the seedy people to come out. The sun sets early in Sydney, about 6, so it was dark out. On my way to the shop I was propositioned to by a prostitute for the first time in my life. She asked me if I was looking for fun, and I laughed again and told her that I hated fun. It is humerus that Sydney is the first city on this trip where I've encountered this stuff. But when I think about it I didn't go out too late in France, was with my SERVAS hosts in Kenya and Thailand.

I got some meat pies at a place called "Pie Face". I got a steak pie with mash and peas on top. (Mash is mashed potatoes). I walked a better lit path back to the apartment and devoured the food. After watching a movie with Denning I headed to bed.

I woke up and went to church on Sunday. Some of the Bible study people were there, and we talked afterwords. The service was nearly identical to those I'm used to, but they aren't Missouri Synod so some words are different, and they sung many songs that were composed by members of the church. They used a keyboard and drum instead of an organ as well.

After church I went to the Australian museum, the one that it 2 minutes from the apartment. I saw skeletons, a mineral display, the science of survival in Australia, and dinosaurs. I know this won't be a popular thing to say, but it has been my favorite museum so far on this trip. It was extremely interactive and well set up, and I didn't feel overwhelmed. It was also the smallest. At 2 o'clock there was an Aboriginal didgeridoo, dance, and story telling session. It was very cool because I got to hear him explain the certain noises of the didgeridoo.

After the museum I headed to the Rocks for the yearly Aroma Festival. The Aroma Festival is for lovers of coffee, tea, chocolate, and spice. Basically if you have a tongue or nose you'll love it. It was very cool because there were $1 tastings of coffee, but unfortunately it was all gourmet stuff so I couldn't afford to buy anything other than samples. Plus I'm not certain if I can get it through customs.

After that extremely good smelling experience I headed back to the church, which is right next door to the apartment, and helped with Eternity Cafe. Eternity Cafe is a weekly free coffee and games hangout for homeless people. They were all really nice when they asked for coffee, and one guy kept talking about The USS Missouri, where Japan surrendered during WWII. We also talked about politics (can't avoid it if you're from America right now) and war.

After the cafe, I headed home and attempted to cook some kangaroo meat that I had purchased from the store. I called my dear mother, and she gave me some advice, but I decided to just experiment and hope it would turn out alright. I pan seared it with a glaze that the packaging had told me to make and it wasn't too bad. It tasted like a regular non-kangaroo steak, and I didn't burn it or leave it too undercooked. I guess I can apply at Outback Steakhouse when I get back to the states. I also had baked potatoes, but it is pretty hard to mess that up. Denning and I played a little Wii and I headed to bed.

I woke up this morning and wanted to head to Manly beach. When I walked down to Circular Quay they refused to honor my Student Card for the student rate. I was upset so I refused to pay them money, so I spent the day walking around the Harbor, by the Opera House, and Kings Cross again. Tonight Tomomi, Denning, and I are going to do dinner, which should be nice.

Hopefully this post hasn't been as exhausting to read as it has been to write. More sad news is that I'll be home in one week. I do miss home, but I'm having such a good time I wouldn't mind staying longer.