The best experience of my life so far
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So I guess I haven’t really jotted down my general thoughts of my experience in Australia – so here we go. A bit of a warning though, this might turn into some deep stuff.
I’ve been here almost two months now and I can’t seriously remember the last time I felt so happy and excited about life. Doing this journey and traveling by myself is hands down the best learning experience I’ve had in my life so far.
What I’ve realized is that by traveling by yourself you’re automatically forced to be outgoing, sociable and keen on meeting new people. Since I came here I’ve become a lot more social and a lot more confident compared to what I used to be.
Basically, this little journey has forced me to take care of a lot of shit I didn’t like about myself, stuff I needed to improve upon in order to become a better person.
For those thinking about going by themselves somewhere, just do it. It’s the best possible way to learn a new language (or improve an existing one), get to experience a new culture and meet a lot of awesome people. And yeah, you’ll also be able to get to know yourself in a way you won’t normally be able to.
And regarding Sydney… all I can say is it’s abso-fucking-lutely fantastic. Yeah sure, you can see pictures of the place and get a hint of what it’s like but Sydney is as much about atmosphere as it’s about awesome scenery. There’s always something going on, always people on the go. One minute you can run around in the central business district and be surrounded by high rises and a few minutes later you can chill with the fruit bats (by the way, they’re kinda ugly) in the Botanical Gardens.
Well yeah, going from a town with a population of 40,000 to a city with a population of 4,5 million people can also be a part of why I’m so fascinated. But just slightly though :).
To all of those I’ve met here, thanks for making my stay here extremely awesome. I really appreciate it.
Manly
All right, time for another awesome update!
Yesterday it was time for some touristy stuff again. It all started out with taking the tourist bus around Sydney. Gotta say that the driver was awesome, it felt like he just got his license (alternatively: just stole the bus) and at times the tour was little bit like a roller coaster. But hey, I survived.
After that me and Karen headed over to Manly, which hands down, is abso-fucking-lutely awesome! Nice beach, a good vibe to it and eye catching nature surrounding it.
I took quite a few awesome photos there I must say. Check ‘em out!
The Australian Museum
All right, so today I wanted to do something touristy again. This time I headed to the Australian Museum to see what cool things they had to offer.
To be honest, it was okay, but that was it. The dinosaur skeletons and the regular skeletons probably were the coolest things they had to showcase.
Tomorrow I’ll probably do the most touristy thing one can do: hop on the tourist bus for a tour around Sydney. Awesome!
Sydney Aquarium
Yesterday was a pretty sweet day. It all started out with meeting Karen and her friends and then heading for Sydney Aquarium.
Sydney Aquarium was pretty awesome, and the sharks were especially breath taking to see. I’ll definitely have to go for a swim with sharks some day – well in a safe way that is :). If they’ll misbehave I’ve always got my special point-the-shark-in-the-eyes-ninja-move that I’ve been secretly working on. Too bad it isn’t field tested yet!
After the tour at the aquarium we headed for dinner at an Italian restaurant somewhat close to where Karen and her friends were staying. My dish (Ribeye steak something) was just friggin’ awesomelicious. Good food, good company, good conversation = awesomeness.
After the dinner we walked down to Circular Quay where we had a few glasses of wine and enjoyed the surrounding views with the Opera House and all.
Good stuff!
And oh, I have to remind myself to get a new camera since my current one sucks. Hard.
Chill Sunday
So yesterday was a pretty chill day.
It started out with some kajaking (my first time ever) in the National Park with a friend of the family I’m staying with. Kajaking was awesome when I finally got a hang of it.
After that I hit the gym and did some back and tummy exercises. After my tour at the gym I went home, made some pasta carbonara on kangaroo mince and then finished of the day with a little jog around the town I’m staying in.
This Tuesday I’ll meet up with Karen again and we’ll hit the Sydney Aquarium. That will be fun!
Bondi Beach
Yesterday I went to Bondi Beach for the first time. That beach is just awesome, and yeah, there are quite a few people running around there.
After the little tour around the beach Lois (another backpacker staying in Caringbah – now we’re officially 2!) and I met up with her friends, had a few drinks and just had a chill evening. Good Stuff!
Oh yeah, I updated the photo album with the pictures from Bondi as well.
Taronga Zoo
Yesterday I spent the entire day at Taronga Zoo with my German friend Karen. The weather could have been a bit better but I sure as hell had an awesome time. Next time though, I guess one should pay more attention to the map of the zoo – going by Mr. Turtle’s little enclosure 5 or 6 times in a consecutive row might, just might, be considered to be lost :).
During our time at the zoo we also attended two shows: the free flight bird show and the seal show.
The free flight bird show was soo amazing. Everything from small owls to giant condors participated in the show, and it was just mind blowing to see how well these animals could be trained. At the end of the show a lot of different birds came flying in and it was so beautiful. During this specific show there was a quite worrisome event taking place at the same time as the end of the show – there was a falcon flying around preying on the cockatoos. It all went well though and no birds got hurt. I guess my dad would’ve loved to see this show.
The next show, the seal show, was also extremely spectacular. I was just blown away by how intelligent these guys are and how well trained they can be. They responded to verbal cues in an instant and they pretty much knew the show by heart. It was also a bit of surprise to learn that they’re pretty damn fast (they can swim up to 40km/h under water) and that they’re pretty agile animals. I’ve always had a preconception about seals that they were supposed to be slow and lazy so I guess I learned something today as well.
And yeah, check out the Taronga Zoo photo album.
Food poisoning… or something
I’ve spent the last three days in the house recovering from food poisoning or some random bacterial virus. It all started after the night out last Friday (I didn’t drink much) and when I got home from the partying I just felt like I was burning up and after that I started shivering like crazy. I managed to go to sleep but woke up just a few hours later and had to rush to the toilet where I threw up. Let me tell you, cleaning up a bath room in the middle of the night while you’re feeling like shit isn’t something you should try at home kids.
When I woke up the next day (Saturday) everything was just spinning. I had a massive headache, a fever and I couldn’t get out of bed. I basically spent the entire Saturday in bed and all I ate that day was four apples. Sunday was better though and I managed to eat some toasted bread and pasta.
Right now (it’s Monday) I’m feeling a bit better, but my usual appetite is still missing. And the weird thing is that I’ve now got a sore throat as well. Sometimes life’s just a bitch.
I’ll probably recover tomorrow or Wednesday, so as soon as the body’s up for it I’ll hit Taronga Zoo. I’ll also try to get to Bondi Beach this week as well.
Darling Harbour
Yesterday I spent the entire day walking around in Darling Harbour and its surrounding areas. All I can say is whoa, Sydney just keeps blowing my mind away. It isn’t just that it’s so friggin’ beautiful here, it also seems that there’s always people on the run and things happening all the time. That’s a bit of a contrast compared to my home town in Sweden where basically nothing happens.
Walking around in Darling Harbour I also found this little gem called the Chinese Garden. It’s just like a little bit of China in the middle of the city. It was a very relaxing place and if I would’ve been living in Sydney permanently I would definitely go there to read a book or just chill. Oh yeah, I also met a funny little German girl named Karen that I’m going to hang out with.
After my little tour in the Chinese Garden I headed for China Town, which was actually a bit disappointing. I had high expectations that it would be a cool place (just the type of place you see in movies and stuff) but it was just regular buildings with Chinese signs slapped on.
After this I eventually found my way into Market City which is a huge building that sports loads and loads of concession stands of all shapes and sizes. Basically, the whole ‘Market City’-thingie was about Asian people trying to sell cheap knockoffs and other random shit to tourists and aussies. Oh, I also met a few Swedish blokes there, I might join ‘em for some beers some day. Awesome!
You should definitely check out the Photo Album – it has been updated with a lot of new photos.
And yeah, I’ll try to update the blog more often from now on.
Partying in King’s Cross
This Saturday I went out partying in King’s Cross in Sydney, an area that’s supposedly the equivalent of the Red Light District in Amsterdam. Apparently prostitution is legal here in Australia.
Whenever you tell anyone you’re heading to King’s Cross, people (or well, what I’ve experienced, people aged 30+) tend to tell you that it’s a neighborhood you really got to be alert and paying attention in. Usually they’ll also tell you a few stories about all the weird things that have happened there.
To my surprise King’s Cross wasn’t like what people have told me. I didn’t see any soliciting going on and the only peculiar thing I saw was that there were just a lot of homeless people hanging around. But I guess you shouldn’t take my words too seriously, I was seriously drunk while I was running around there between different clubs. What you can take my word for though, is that King’s Cross is a massive area to party in. Shitloads of people, shitloads of clubs. Awesomeness!
What wasn’t awesome was waking up Sunday morning partly hung-over and feeling bloated as hell. One of the things I was supposed to do in Australia was to lose some weight. Drinking every weekend surely doesn’t help one achieve that goal.
So I just had to do something about it. I put on my sneakers and ran down to the beach, took a swim for 1 hour or something and then ran back home. That’s some lovely exercise! Today (it’s Monday right now) I’ll be heading down to Miranda to get my gym membership sorted out – I really miss weight lifting.
Cheers!
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