World class Sydney

After the beautiful city of Melbourne, I flew to Sydney where I was picked up by my friends, Paul and Amanda. They have been living in Sydney for over 3 years, hanging out in the posh Bondi Beach (33°52'41.75"S 151°16'14.33"E), where a house that looks to be worth $200k run well over a million dollars, and were kind enough to put me up and feed me! So nice they are! (Well, at least Amanda is nice)

If you like gorgeous beaches, beautiful people and a fantastic walkable city, Sydney is the place for you. I walked the breathtaking Eastern Coast Trail (33°53'32.65"S 151°16'35.32"E), past 4 of the best beaches you are going to see, took the ferry downtown, walked through the incredible RBG that sits right next to the downtown area and the Sydney Opera House (33°51'24.85"S 151°12'54.33"E) and climbed the Harbour bridge (33°51'17.64"S 151°12'33.37"E)(opting for the $9 view rather than the $160 guided, tied off tour!)

Paul and Amanda were awesome! They took time to take me to the Blue Mountains to the west, into the Jenolan caves (33°49'8.92"S 150° 1'25.95"E) and to the 3 Sisters National Monument. As well, they took me out for Steak and Brontosaurus Ribs (which I ate with a bib!) for my 16th birthday. They even let me take a crapload of cash from them in a couple of poker games we played while I was there. Now that is the mark of true friends.

In the end, it was time for me to get on my way, but not without adding Sydney to my list of Great world cities... The service still sucks though. Ha!

Australia at Last!!!

While I understand why I've been getting all the flack for the poor job of posting I've been doing, people gotta understand... I've been having too much fun! So here is my trip to Australia in a nutshell!

I started off in Melbourne (37°49'4.74"S 144°58'6.50"E) after nearly 24 hours of travel - 3.5 hours by train to Seoul, 2 9 hour flights to Singapore and finally Melbourne, 2 hours for the plane transfer and 2 hours to fix a "10 minute" mechanical issue. It really is funny, though, how amicable you are when you're on your way somewhere sunny. Vacations bring out the best in people... well, me anyways. One of my flights sat me next to the "disgruntled and this country" ex-ESL teacher, on his way home after 2 years abroad. While he looked a little like Russel Crowe, unbalanced in his own right, my new friend seriously believed that his staring out the window, directly at the wings, was somehow keeping the plane from plummeting to the ground. He left the job to me when he was forced to answer nature's call; an honour which I promptly scuttled by burying my head in a magazine and imagining dive bombing planes engulfed in flames. Take that Russel Crowe!

Melbourne is a sprawling city of 3.7 million people centered around the beautiful Yarra river. It boomed during the the gold rush of the late 1800's, and still maintains a awesome mix of old and new architecture that is well blended throughout the city - except for the new development in the Docklands to the west that is, which I don't much care for. The downtown hugs the Yarra with street cars dominating the roads and coffee shops with their own $10k cappuccino machines are slotted absolutely everywhere... making this a very walkable and compact downtown area.

Melbournes Botanical Gardens (37°49'44.53"S 144°58'50.52"E), War memorial and slew of nearly free museums were unbelievable. Federation Square is an great meeting spot at the core of the city. Unfortunately, the Aquarium was a stinker as was the entire restaurant experience; food, service and price... which really hurts because I was definitely indulging. Korea obviously doesn't offer the same eating options as you get back home, but the fact that servers give indifferent service for a high price and mediocre quality is pretty well documented.

Near the end of my stay in Melbourne, I took a tour along the Great Ocean Road to see an Australian rainforest and the 12 Apostles (38°38'56.17"S 143° 4'5.73"E) (there are only 9 left) on a day 20 degrees C colder than the day before (I froze my rear off). What an incredible place! On to Sydney!

Check out my pictures and movies.

Back to it!

After a short hiatus, including a couple of weeks in Australia, I am back in the swing of things! Lucky for us, we have one week of school before Steph and I head off to Shanghai and Beijing for a week.

Things I have learned from Australia:

It is possible for some people to not own a jacket of any kind - the weather is that nice. I have 4.

Service in Australia (waiters, shop keepers) is amazingly bad. I guess if you pay servers $17/hour and don't use tipping, you get indifferent workers, and angry 6'7" Canadians.

Food and drink are expensive (compared to Canada)

The weather is unbelievably nice almost all the time(unless you get caught there in the rainy season) but the Australians still only call it "fine".

There are over 1,000 creatures in Australia that can kill you. They can get you anywhere at any time. Don't swim, walk, eat, breathe or go to the bathroom without watching your back!

More to come!

And away I go!

As many of you know, I am heading to Australia for a couple of weeks during January. I'm really looking forward to it. I will be forced to celebrate my birthday (January 11th) down there too... rough life.

Plans are to fly into Melbourne, up to Sydney and visit my buddy Paul, who lives in Sydney, a short walk from Bondai Beach (yeah, me spoiled) and then meet up with my other friend, Brett (yes, I have two friends...) before heading up the coast.

Not sure how far we will make it, so stay tuned and you might find out. I can't wait!