5/4/18 - Day 2 in Sydney

Considering I crashed so early from my first day, I had trouble staying asleep this morning.

 I’m gonna go ahead and say this now and get it out of the way. The Star Wars nerd in me is thinking it’s a must. May the 4th be with you. Alright back to my regularly scheduled blog post.

 Nothing says comfort like an 8 man bunk room in the kind of bed I can only describe as, something I would have slept on at sleep away summer camp. I guess I reached a point at around 5am this morning where I was tired of rolling over and possibly disturbing my bunk mates. I snuck out of the bunk room and  had the hostel common area to myself to read and just relax until breakfast around 7. This hostel offers free breakfast consisting of bread to toast with some toppings for spreading and some cereals. Considering it is a super reasonably priced hostel I wasn’t expecting anything extravagant, but it was nice and saved me the trouble of going out and trying to hunt down a cafe. Without any knowledge of my bag and whether it made it, I was still in no place to make any plans.  Around 8:30 I called the luggage department and my bag had arrived. The front desk attendant at the hostel told me to have it delivered because the cost of transit to the airport and back to get it would be silly to pay. So with that in mind, I was told that it would be delivered between 11-4 so I would just have to tough it out for another half day or so. Let me just say while I did have some clean(er) clothes than the previous day, it was still hot outside and my jeans are not the most comfortable thing to go walking around in. I left the hostel soon after with the optimism that I would show up around 2:30-3 and the bag would be there. 

I managed to find a map and set out. I knew I wanted to go explore the royal botanic garden so I strolled off in that direction. Ill try and post a map later so you can have some idea where I walked. Depending on where you are in Sydney, they city can feel immensely large and uninviting or very small and local. Heading towards the gardens is an interesting mixture of both. There are large streets with buzzing intersections that are nestled beneath large buildings with busy looking business people coming and going. And then as you get closer to the garden there is just a large urban park with open space and perfectly manicured grass. large trees and beautiful public walkways are sprinkled along the edges  giving the park a sort of framed border. 

As I walk through the park I see local citizens utilizing the space in all kinds of ways. What’s even better about the busy and calm sides to the city? between  both, its clean, and it looks like a significant amount of time and care went into making sure it looks that way. Between where I started and the garden is a famous cathedral that I stopped at to admire. But with a few tour buses out front and a mob of people around I didn’t stick around to check out the interior. 

The royal garden is fenced in with a higher wall on the side that I approached from, and from the outside can look very unassuming. Once I entered thought the scene immediately changed. The side I entered on was a beautifully cultivated rose garden. Roses of all different colors and sizes just as beautifully organized and manicured as the park I had walked through right before were showcased and perfectly spaced throughout this section of the garder. I wish I could what kinds of flowers I walked through after the rose garden, but there were far too many to identify and photograph. I sort of picked and chose as I went a long and just wandered toward the far end of the park where I knew there was a river walk. On the way there I came upon the strangest thing.. I have never in my life thought of cockatoos as a bird that would travel in a flock, but I walked up on a flock of something like 100 of them. The are hilarious to watch interact. They were all head down sifting through through the grass for food with their beaks. Also, Pet store birds have nothing on these wild ones as far as size goes. These guys guys were enormous. Having never seen a flock of cockatoos before, I will admit I spent a little bit longer than I should have watching just watching them interact. They would dig through the grass and then 2 or 3 would squabble over some problem invisible to the human eye. And all of the surrounding bird’s would raise the feathers on their heads and for 2-3 seconds chaos would ensue. Then it would just stop out of nowhere and they would go back to grazing. It was an interesting albeit hilarious hierarchy to watch. At some point I snapped back to reality and continued on my exploration of the park. 

Traveling away from the birds, I reached a river walk that ran the distance of the gardens on the outside from end to end as best I could tell. Traveling what I am fairly sure was east...... ok i took 2 minutes to look it up. I was walking along the edge of farm cove east toward Mrs. Macquarie’s chair. I didn’t have any reason to initially go there other than on the map it looked like a good vantage point. It did not at all disappoint. But before we get to that. That river walk was the most actively used path I have ever seen. With the cove to my left and the gardens on my right. I was continually passed by runners and bikers. while I saw a significant amount of people just using the park space to do yoga or some kind other exercise. It was immensely interesting to see so many different running groups with matching shirts or hardcore fitness persons all sharing this space with such polite enthusiasm and respect. When I think fitness, I think the weird demographics of a gym all meshed together within one space. But the active community in Sydney seems to have surpassed that and from what I can tell, people who didn’t even know each other in running meet ups or groups would positively influence and support anyone they came across. I just wanted to comment on that because that is a really cool aspect of the active community in Sydney. 

The riverwalk ended a little early because of some restorative construction, but at the end I saw another thing that I just have to branch off to talk about. As I approached the end of the walkable section, there was an older woman of Asian descent practicing what I can only describe as Tai chi but with a Jian. And yes I had to look this up too. A Jian, is a double edged long sword of Chinese descent that has been utilized for over 2,500 years and the first mention of it dates back to the 7th century BCE. Thank you Wikipedia... Now, this woman practicing this martial art was beautiful by itself. But, right behind her opposing the riverwalk is the Sydney opera house. I know nothing about what she was doing or what it took to master this art, but to be able to watch such dedication, with the backdrop being the opera house.. i almost feel spoiled. It was just too good. I asked permission to take pictures of her practicing and I cannot wait to see how they come out when I blow them up on a larger screen. Her practice was timed and set to music and I must have watched it 3 times through. Alright off to the chair.. 

From where I watched the woman practicing it is a short walk on paved pathway to the “chair”. I don’t remember seeing a “chair” when I was up there, but I do remember a breathtaking sight. From this small peninsula/point, the view of the opera house is amazing framed behind it by the incredibly massive harbor bridge. The point is cool and the view is great, but the photo op seems to attract a few too many tour buses for me. so after wading through the tour groups to get my obligatory picture in front of the opera house, I wasn’t really keen on sticking around. From the “chair” I was able to follow the small peninsula back around to a more Main Street and head back to the hostel. 

It is close to 3pm by the time I get back and my bag is supposed to be delivered by 4. The bag isn’t delivered by 4. Or by 5.. but leaning towards 6. It finally arrives. I cant say that I was overly mad since I didn’t really have any plans in the city. It would have been nice to get a shower and then be able to change into clean/more comfortable clothes though. 

Quick story about something that happened before my bag showed up though. After i got back from my walk I was in no mood to venture out again until my bag showed up. I washed my face and sat in my bunk and just read hoping to distract myself from the worry that my bag was never actually gonna show up.

Now I realize that irony is hilarious sometimes but in this instance I was less than amused. I’m sitting in the bunk room. It’s 5 pm and there is a knock at the door. “Oh boy I bet my bag has been dropped off!” Nope it’s a dude who’s sharing the bunk room... he cant use his key to get in.. why you ask? Because he is holding an armload of fresh laundry. Ha ha universe. You win this round.  oh how I would  my brain loves the idea of some fresh socks and underwear. I really didn’t wanna go back to the store for another pair.. 

After my bag is delivered.. to say I was happy is an understatement. I took an extra long shower. Scrubbed my nasty feet and dressed the with the intention to go out and explore. I made it as far as a delicious kebab place down the street and then still passed out before 10. Thank you jet lag.. 

So all in all a pretty awesome day.. minus the pair of jeans that may well have to be burned. Taking donations for the fees i will have to put toward having them decontaminated. Hazmat teams aren’t cheap ya know..