The Land of Oz

I've been quite sick with a cold and bad chest cough for the past 2.5 weeks, which is why I haven't posted.  Preggers aren't allowed to take any of the drugs that make suffering with a cold easier to handle, so I've been a self-pitying-apartment-bound-shut-in for most of the illness... with the exception of 5 days in the wonderful land of Oz!

Tickets were already booked, so obviously a cold couldn't stop me from the chance to visit the land down under for the first time.  Foley goes to Australia frequently for short work trips, but it has never made sense to tag along because he generally flies 9 hours each way and is only in Sydney for about 20 hours total... truly whirlwind business trips.  I've always wanted to go, and the travel window for us is shrinking with upcoming life changes.  So although it's far, Australia is a whole lot closer from Hong Kong than it is from Canada, and the timing seemed right.  I flew there (almost 6 feet tall, 6.5 months pregnant, with nasty cold, in coach, red-eye flight from 9pm-7am... with two crying babies right near me, terrifying me for my own future) on a Wednesday night, arriving Thursday morning.

Thursday I travelled around on my own, taking in the surprisingly beautiful Sydney sites.  I walked around the city, stopped in a cafe for a bowl of soup, strolled around the harbour, gawked at the famous Opera house and Sydney Harbour bridge, all while waiting for my ears to pop from the flight (that took a couple of days).  Sydney has this gorgeous combination of old and new buildings, it's incredibly clean, and the air felt amazing after 10 months of Hong Kong smog and pollution.  I loved the city instantly.

Did you know that the iconic Sydney Opera House was budgeted to cost $7 million to build, but final costs came in at $102 million?  Wouldn't want to be in that budget meeting.  The Sydney Harbour bridge also came in at double it's budget, and although it was opened in 1932, the bridge wasn't fully paid off until 1988.

The Australian dollar is basically on par with the Canadian dollar, which was nice not to have to do conversions in my head (getting very good at my 8 times and division tables in HK).  The on-par currency made the prices that much more shocking.  Sydney is VERY expensive.  A 1.5L bottle of water in 7-Eleven cost over $5, breakfast in hotel was $42, wifi in my hotel room for 2 days was over $50, parking downtown was about $10 per half hour, (nice) hotels cost about $300-$400 per night... it was pricey.

Did you know that Australian bills are plastic?  This allows surfers to have money in their shorts and not destroy it.

Thursday evening I went out for drinks and dinner with my friend, Lisa Mains.  Lisa and I swam together on the same swim team for years, until we were about 13 years old... 20 years ago.  I have barely seen her since, but thanks to the wonders of facebook, I knew she was in Sydney and it was easy to get together.  It was like no time had passed as we chatted in a revolving lounge with 360 degree views of the city.  After 'drinks' (juice for me), we walked down to the harbour and had dinner beside the Opera house.  It was a stunning venue, wonderful company, and gorgeous night.

Friday I explored more of the city, stopping for more soup in a district called the Rocks.  It's a quaint neighbourhood with tons of museums, galleries, cafes and restaurants.  While walking around I bought a pair of Uggs, because one must do such a thing in Australia, although apparently Aussies use them as house slippers, not to be worn outside... I'm not so fashionable, so mine will be worn in Canada this winter.

Friday evening I got to meet up with dear friends Miki and Brad.  Miki and I went to university together, living on the same floor in first year, close friends ever since.  She and Brad moved to Sydney almost 2 years ago, and I was really hoping to get to visit them while we were both on this 'side' of the world.  The three of us went out for a delicious dinner by the water, then walked around the Rocks and the harbour afterwards.  Apparently street markets are very common in Sydney and there was one going on in the Rocks that Friday night.  There were food stalls, handicrafts, jewellery, and all sorts of things for sale.  Our favourite booth was the 'silent disco'.  We watched these crazy people busting a move with headphones on and had a good laugh at how ridiculous they looked... yet they didn't seem to care.  When a couple of people were leaving, and offered up the good times, we couldn't resist.  The great tunes were pumping through the headphones and you couldn't help but dance around... despite on-lookers mocking as we had just done.  I realized that I took it a step too far when I started singing along (a natural reaction when the music drowns you out in a night club)... when I remembered I was only wearing headphones I went beet red and Brad had a good laugh at my ridiculousness.




















On Saturday Miki and Brad picked me up and took me to a couple of their favourite beaches outside the city.  It was a beautiful day and I couldn't believe how empty and clean the beaches were (there are just so many to choose from I guess)!  The water was still very cold, because it's just their spring time, but laying on the sand was heavenly.  We took a short walk to a look out point in the afternoon, with sprawling views of the Oz coast.  Saturday night we went out for dinner, then Foley landed and we met up with him for after dinner drinks.

On Sunday, Foley and I took a ferry out to meet Miki and Brad, who then took us to their STUNNING home in Bondi beach.  We walked down to the beach (30+ degrees outside) and I saw a stark contrast to the 'empty' beaches the day before... Bondi was very busy and amazing for people watching.  We had lunch on the strip, played around in the water, treated ourselves to yummy gelato and napped on the beach.  A gorgeous day.

Monday meant Foley had to go off to work meetings, and I simply packed up and flew back to HK.  Although I was sick for the entire trip, Sydney well surpassed my expectations and I would go back in a heartbeat.  I was lucky to have such wonderful friends to visit with.