September 21, 2016
I am currently on a plane that just ascended into the air. I've been awake since 2:30am and am running on about 3 hours of sleep. Yesterday, at about 1pm, I got on a 6 hour bus ride from Dunedin to Christchurch. Side note: don't skip the 6:15 flights because they're too early, everyone should experience a sunrise from above the clouds at least once in their lives. (Plus they're cheaper) This is so cool. Bonus points to anyone who has mountains poking out and about over the marshmallow fluff. Sorry mom, no picture could capture it like I wanted. Just something that everyone will have to experience themselves :) so I got to Christchurch at about 7, checked into my hostel and headed to the little Asian restaurant next door. Sweet and sour lamb with vegetables rice and a cider later, and I was ready for bed. A terrible night's sleep of constantly thinking I would miss my flight later, and here I am. (didn't miss the flight) this scenery is really amazing right now so I'll journal later when there's more exciting things happening.
*This would be so awesome to skydive from.* (probably not now that we're flying over the ocean)
*"There is a colonial woman on the wing. There is something they’re not telling us. She was out there churning butter. She was churning butter!"* (Bridesmaids reference for those of you unfortunates that have never seen the movie)
*Would it be rude to lean back my chair?* (Pretty sure he has 3 seats to himself, he'll be fine.)
Upon landing: *Brr that water would be cold if we crash landed...at least I'd get a new phone since this one would be in the ocean.* (If you survive back to shore.)
*"Sydney, Sydney, Sydney. You were right, Dory! We made it! Woohoooo. Thaaaaankkkk yooouuuu sirrr." ("Wow. I wish I could speak whale.") -if you don't know that movie, that's really too bad cuz I'm not explaining it.
I arrived at my hostel! I realized I was starving and walked up to the harbor bridge and am currently sitting at "Pancakes on the Rocks". I also realized that I've been awake since 12:30am Australian time, it's only 10:30, and it's probably going to be an early for this one.
*Aww kids are so cute. Maybe some day I'll have one. I can't wait for Kristine and Sean's child(ren) ;).*.....(3 minutes later and the child is crying. Rethink that point, Maddie)
*These pancakes look so good. Where are mine? Like how much longer do you think it'll be?*
I've never had so much joy watching a stack of buttermilk pancakes topped with strawberries, sauce, and ice cream (yes I said ice cream), a side of bacon, and a mimosa making its way towards my table.
Those were probably the best pancakes I've ever had in my life. Highly recommend.
To paint a picture in your mind: here's Maddie, walking through Sydney, running on no sleep, hair in a messy bun, glasses on, wearing the same clothes that I wore on the bus yesterday: black running pants, tennis shoes, and a flannel. I didn't really think about it until I hit the hubbub center of Sydney. Think of any high end clothing, makeup, perfume, purse, or shoe youve ever bought...the brand was there. Chanel, Dior, Prada, Louis Vuitton, literally everything. So I saw these stores, then I noticed that people were wearing it. I'm not kidding when I say Sydney collectively has the best dressed men I've even seen. I'd say roughly 60% of every guy I saw on my 15 mile walk today, had a suit on. 30% of the ones that weren't in suits, were still in polos and designer clothes. The other 10% were either homeless or were in casual clothes. Now the women were dressed well, too, but I didn't notice that as much. So naturally, when it started raining and I was in the shopping district, I went shopping. Ok ok most of it was window shopping but I got a thing or two from H&M and Forever21. No Coach or Chanel for me.
September 22, 2016
I'm tired. Sydney is awesome but I'm tired. I don't even remember where I left off writing yesterday. Anyway, it's Thursday. Woke up at 9:15, got on a train, got on a ferry, and got on a cable car/gondola up a hill of zoo animals. I was at the Taronga Sydney Zoo. I wondered around the Australian walk first. There was one part where you walk in a fenced door, and you're surrounded by kangaroos and wallabies. Like no fence between you and the animals.
*I feel like this would never be allowed in the US.* (You're probably right. Like always 😜)
Up next was my koala encounter. Now I thought I was going to get to hold it, but I didn't. I just got to get up close and get a picture. And given how close you normally get to the koalas, I was still alright with it. She looked so peaceful sleeping anyway. I wondered up the farm side and saw more interesting animals...like chickens, pigs, goats, and sheep😱 crazy stuff. I actually only even went by the farm animals because the quokkas were up behind the farm animals. Now i don't know how well you know me, but I've always loved quokkas. However, I've never even thought of the possibility of seeing one in real life. It's the happiest animal in the world (or so they say) and I did get some smiles but no pictures. Most of the time it had its head in the ground. I guess I would too if people tried to stare and take pictures of me all day. Really that's the main reason I didn't become a model. Now in the past couple years, I've mostly stayed away from zoos. The thought of so many animals in enclosures and not being free, makes me sad. However, I think my views have somewhat changed. After a recent new purchase of elephant pants, I read about how many elephants have been killed in the last decade alone. On top of that, there's been murder of thousands of rangers that make it their duty to protect those elephants. It's disgusting. At the Sydney zoo, and I'm sure many other zoos, they have breeding programs to try to help increase the population. It'd be great if the poachers could instead be poached but that probably won't happen either. So, as much as I hate seeing animals being caged up, it's a necessary evil to ensure the animals don't go extinct. Some of the animals, such as the bongo, only have 100 of their kind left. It's a sad truth. Alright, enough animal rights talk. After the zoo, I took another ferry to Watson's Bay. I explored the National park, the gap, and down to the harbor. There was another splurge of rain so I stopped in the boutique hotel for some fish and chips.
*how many of these people are tourists do you think?* (well since I haven't even heard much English for awhile, I would say most of them)
Walking in downtown Sydney: *gosh these buildings make me feel small. Like think about how each of those rooms has something going on it it and then think about how many rooms you can see just from right here.* (huh, guess I never thought of it that way)
*Ive never seen so many suits in my life.* (Their shoes are so shiny, too.)
Also nobody drives a bad car. It's all range rovers, bmws, Mercedes.... Even the Hondas and Toyota are shiny and new. I'm getting the hint that not many poor people live in Sydney.
Made it back to the hostel. Relaxed for awhile and am now sitting outside Forrester's hotel eating a Mejico pizza. Delicious 👌🏼
Side note: don't forget to wash your hands before taking out contacts if you touch jalapeños and chili pepper. That is all. Goodnight from me ☺️
September 23
Started the day off at 5am. No it's not because my alarm went off, that was supposed to happen at 6:30. At 5, I was awoken by someone turning on their light and crawling down a bed. I thought that would be it, but then he got back into bed and starting praying in a different language, like out loud. I tried to sleep again but to no avail. I decided to get changed and go sit in a cafe until the bus came. We drove across the Sydney Harbour Bridge which I learned was opened in 1932. They haven't added anything since then, the original designers put 8 lanes of traffic over the bridge at a time when there were only 16 cars registered in Sydney. They were futuristic. The first stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park. I saw a bunch of Australian animals, more koalas, and pet some kangaroos and wallabies. Fun fact: a kangaroo is always pregnant. When the Joey finally is able to come out of the pouch, another is born within 24 hours. A kangaroo mother can have around 500 to 600 children in their lifetime. What a life. We stopped at a couple lookouts along the way through the blue mountains. The mountains aren't actually blue, their green, but they look blue because of the dense eucalyptus trees that have oil evaporating from them and the haze you see is the light refracting on these particles. Your eyes are just playing tricks. We ate lunch in the little boutique town of Leura. I had one of the best pies ever: chicken, potato, and leek. Up next was the main feature of Scenic World. We rode the skyway cable car with a view of The Three Sisters. The Three Sisters story is that the three daughters of the elder of a tribe were secretly participating in extracurricular activities with the three sons of a different tribe. This started a battle. The witch doctor turned the sisters into stone to protect them in the battle. However, the witch doctor was killed in battle and was never able to turn them human again. It is said that late at night, you can hear the screams of the Elder begging for his Three daughters to become human again. Anyway, we took another cable car to the bottom of a rain forest valley. After walking through the rain forest, we took the steepest railway back up to the top. Now we are back on the bus. I can only elaborate so much as my brain is only functioning at half speed at the moment. I did meet a guy that grew up in Fargo! He lives in Minneapolis now and is here on business for a week. First North Dakotan I've met since being in New Zealand. Anyone else I've met that's remotely close is maybe Colorado? Oregon? Alberta? Yeah apparently there aren't many of us here....we are headed back to Sydney now. To skip the peak traffic, we will be taking a ferry back to Circular Quay and then we are free to do what we want. (Hopefully sleep early) Tomorrow is a day full of markets and afternoon sailing!
Currently sitting on the rooftop of my hostel actually enjoying the 63 degree sun.
So let's backtrack: Saturday the 25...walked down and explored Darling Harbor. I found breakfast first...there was different Pancake on the Rocks so obviously I had to try it out again. This time I got the Bananarama pancakes which had grilled bananas and a homemade toffee syrup with ice cream in the middle. I can't decide which ones were better honestly. Spent time window shopping and getting a pedicure before boarding the sailing yacht. It was the perfect day for it. Warm but not too hot. Got on the boat with an Australian family of 5, a couple from Sydney, and the guy who actually knew what he was doing. The next couple hours were spent sailing the harbor and occasionally helping the sails keep sailing. So much fun! The hours of sailing in the sun had me tired so I walked back to the hostel. I found a Vietnamese place, Mum's Cafe,around the corner for a late dinner and then crashed in bed. Sunday morning I woke up and headed down to the popular beaches. I decided to do a coastal walk that connects most of the beaches. I got most of it done before hitting a hard wall of rain. I was drenched. I ran up to the cafes of Bronte to find a place for lunch that wasn't in the rain. I landed on La Plage by chance, and it was probably one of my favorite restaurants so far. I'll be honest in that I haven't had any bad food since I've been here. Like my dad said, I've been eating well. A hamburger and massive milkshake later, and I decided to head back to the hostel. Took a quick nap before getting talked into going out for the night. We ended up exploring two gay clubs of Sydney. It was actually pretty fun. Even saw a little drag queen show. I can't say I've ever had a night like that before. I just got breakfast at the cafe next door and am now planning to head down to the Botanical Gardens with a friend.
One of thee best things that I have ever been to. A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Sydney Opera House. My attention was thoroughly captivated for a solid 3 hours. It's not like I had low expectations for this, but all expectations were exceeded x10. I loved it. There were some modern takes thrown into the old Shakespeare play, and I think I laughed more than I have at any movie I've been to. It was great. And a quiet, peaceful night while coming back to the hostel. I had grabbed dinner at the Opera Kitchen before the play so I came straight back and am now ready for bed. I fly out tomorrow night! Crazy.
*I thought the whole Pyramus and Thisby actors were hilarious the entire time. Particularly Nick Bottom." (Or during the actual Pyramus and Thisby play when Pyramus (Bottom) dramatically stabs himself with a saw probably 13 times, all while getting sprayed by red paint in a paint sprayer. Then Thisby walks up to the body and says "Are you sleeping, Pyramus?")
*Or when the crew wants to know if it'll be a full moon but can't figure out how to know, so one of them pulls out his iPhone to ask Siri."
*Puck was probably the most fun to watch, but everyone was so into their parts it was incredible.* (We definitely should have come to this instead of watching the weird little video in Ms Nasset's senior English class.) *Yeah, a quick little field trip.*
*I thought it was crazy how captivating and fun it was to watch even thought it was literally all just white and black walls.* (Hardly any props were used but it was always clear what scene they were in.) *Do you think it'd be harder to follow if we didn't study the play in high school?* (I would say only if you have problems with the accents. They were going for English accents but their Australian accents came up too. Add that to Shakespearean language and it could become confusing for some.)
* 10/10
September 27, 2016
*Oh, wow, that was hot.* Referring to my hot chai tea latte that's in a glass. I'll never understand why they insist to put them in glasses rather than mugs. Some cafes do use mugs but City Extra on the Circular Quay Harbor in Sydney definitely puts it in glass. I will say that it's one of the best chais that I've ever had. And who knows if I'll ever leave this outside table that has so many people watching opportunities. I mean I don't HAVE to leave until about 4 to get to the airport. And I have my phone packed of classical music, Adele, twenty one pilots, and anything else imaginable so I'm set.
Got to the airport a bit early so I decided I could upload this now. Not actually back home yet but the rest of it would just be pointless conversations I'm having with myself so I figured you all could skip that. Sydney: I recommend it.
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