Last Update from Sydney?

Jeez folks, sorry about the novels lately.
This will probably be my last blog post from Sydney, though there may be another in between Surf Camp and flying off to Tassie. Anyways, tick off another 4 months of living abroad. I think I’m done, at least for now; certainly not in the future. I’d like to come back to New Zealand at some point (we get an entire year!). I have two days of work left, and I can see the light (2 months of holiday) at the end of the tunnel. Hmm, that metaphor doesn’t really fit for my work experience down here, which has been really good. I’m not quite sure how exactly I ended up here (through an agency of course), but the inner workings of client-agency-candidate relationships continue to mystify me. The light at the end of the tunnel metaphor would be more appropriate for the last few weeks of the living situation. Getting out of the bug infested house where food goes missing, the sex is loud and the dishes are never done will be a mostly liberating experience. Mostly, in the sense that I am very glad to have met Pat and Ethan and continue my friendship with them in a different hemisphere. Mostly, in the sense that Newtown is a pretty cool place to live. Completely, in the sense that I will be going back to my old backpacking/aimless wandering ways where my biggest responsibility is figuring out which bus or train goes to the airport and what time breakfast closes at the hostels. How I do love it.

I’ve explained my travel plans over the next two months to so many people that I’m sure you’ve heard about it by word of mouth, but I don’t mind laying them out one more time (in a bit more detail than previous posts) for you, Dear Reader, if you have not yet heard the word. The last week of February going into March I am heading to the south coast of New South Wales to take surfing lessons, live next to the beach and BBQ every night. A frantic weekend in Sydney and then I am flying off to Launceston, Tasmania to gear up for the Overland Track. After spending the week trekking 80 kms across Tassie I’ll arrive in Hobart for a few days. It’s off to Freycinet to have a look and hike around Wineglass Bay. Before you know it I’ll be in Adelaide for a short couple of days to tour about the Barossa Valley and drink copious amounts of wine (and Guinness, hint hint on the dates). A long northbound train ride through the desert will dump me in the middle of the continent. I’ll spend the next 3 days driving through the middle of nowhere to look at some rocks (really, really fucking big rocks) and hopefully some roos! After the red centre, it’s back to the urban realm of Melbourne to figure out what Aussie Rules Football is all about. I’ll be there for a while with no idea what I’m doing, but I’m sure I’ll figure out something. Melbs will be the end of my big Australian cities as I fly up to the tropical north – Cairns. I’m going to work on an organic farm and hope to learn about, well, organic farming! A few tours into the Daintree rainforest and it’ll be time to start the long drive down the east coast back to Sydney, hopefully with some friends in their car, though I may end up having to take the greyhound, which takes about 4 days. A quick goodbye to my mates still hanging around in Sin City and it’s off to LAX and I can complete this chapter of my life. If shit hits the fan somewhere along the way I’ll make my way back to Sydney and be a dosser for a while.

Last Friday was the going away party for my boss and I’m happy to report I wasn’t thrown out of a single bar, had 0 scuffles with glass doors and was pissed beyond my wildest dreams. To give you an idea, the following txt message was sent from my phone:

Hey not sayin I’ll be walk Fucking trashed, but Shit mate…yeah. See ya in a while!

What the hell does that even mean?! The brain and fingers were not moving in concerto that night. The Malaysian food I had for lunch was also among the best ever. On the other hand there was no pinching the bums of local sports heroes. Another member of our party was not so lucky: at one point there were no fewer than 4 coppers and 3 bouncers surrounding him at the entrance refusing him entry, his pink shirt flailing wildly.

Aside from that, life has been rather laissez-faire. Go to the beach, go to BBQ, go to the bar. Aussie life is pretty good. I was asked the other night what I would tell people about Sydney when I go back to Minneapolis, and I think it’s this- beach culture, drinking culture and for being the busiest of Aussie cities, it is pretty relaxed. Also, even though it is however many thousands of miles away in a different hemisphere, it’s very Western, but a blend of Europe and North America. There are cities in the States older than Sydney. It’s a city that lacks a long history, not that it makes it bad, but history gives rise to great culture and I appreciate that. It’s beaches were what kept me happy and satisfied while I lived here. Even though I did not live out there, I think I had a bit of a life out there. Just last night I went to Bondi to cook dinner, take a walk around the neighborhood and watched skaters tear up the pool to the background music of the ocean – all in a typical Tuesday night. I’ll miss swimming and surfing in the ocean, lounging on the beach and picnicking in the parks on the days of big festivals. I’ll miss having to decide what sort of ethnic food to eat, literally just a few steps from my doorstep. I’ll miss walking everywhere. A 45 minute walk somewhere doesn’t faze me in the slightest. I’ll miss the views of the opera house and Harbor Bridge as it is quite simply spectacular. I’ll miss getting thrown out of bars with Pat, or watching as Pat gets thrown out of bars. I’ll miss Istanbul on King – the local kebab and pizza shop. Those 4 months went by in a blur, so if the old adage is correct, apparently I did have fun down here.

Check youtube for this: I went to Tropfest on Sunday. It is the world’s largest short film festival, with about 50,000 of us hanging out in the Domain all day and watching 16 short films at night. It was broadcast all around Australia so everyone sort of sat in the park and watched them together. A film called “An Imaginary Life” took top honors and, along with being quite funny and creative, probably had the lowest budget of the lot. Another good one was about the Cronulla riots. An Anglo and a Lebanese show up and are the first ones on the beach, but they don’t quite know what the pre-riot etiquette is. Hilarity ensues; titled “Between the Flags.” Completely unrelated, I met people from Malta and Nepal that day. Two small countries (the former has a pop. of 400K or so) from which I wouldn’t expect to meet people.

One last note before I finish up: Watch out North America, Pat is coming!