I ended up making my flight to meet Humme in Sydney but just barely. I definitely had luck on my side that morning. After waking up at 6AM, I went to the Balaclava train station which is the closest one to St. Kilda where I was staying. For some reason, you can only purchase train tickets with coins (they have $1 and $2 coins in Australia and actually the $5 is the smallest bill), and I did not have enough. Even though I knew there would be a fee if I used my debit card, I was scared with my last close call on the tram, so I tried buying a ticket with my debit card. Of course it rejected my debit card (but not because I didn’t have money!) and I thought I was out of options. Before I could beg someone nearby for some change, I found a $2 coin on the ground magically and could afford a ticket! Just then a train came and I jumped on without even checking where it was going - I was still half sleepwalking - but luckily it was the one I needed to get to the Southern Cross Train Station.
That was only the beginning... From the Southern Cross Station, I had to take a Skybus to the airport, but I managed to do that without any problems. When I got to the airport, I printed my boarding pass and went through security. I did not even have to check any bags because I was only going to be in Sydney for 3 1/2 days. When I looked up at the departures screen to see which gate my flight was leaving from, it was not listed. Strange I thought, but I just went to the gate of the next Sydney flight. After waiting for nearly an hour, the flight began to board and when it was my turn to show my boarding pass, the flight attendant said this was not my flight! At that same moment, my name was announced over the loudspeaker as a passenger who had checked in but had not yet boarded their flight. It was then that I realized my flight was leaving from Gate 22 and I was standing in front of Gate 7 which meant I had to run to the opposite side of the Melbourne Airport!
With all of my bags (ok, maybe I didn’t pack as light as I thought) I ran as fast as I could to Gate 22, but when I got there, the door was already closed and the flight attendant was walking away. I yelled for her to stop, and she just said, “You are lucky!” as she opened the door and let me on. Breathless, I found my seat and immediately fell asleep for the remainder of the flight.
One thing that I do not think I have mentioned yet is how much domestic travel in Australia reminds me of flying in America about 10 years ago. At some airports you can still meet people at the gate, and no one checks boarding passes or identification before you go through security. Probably the best part is that you do not have to remove your shoes and you can even bring through your bottle of water (just no aerosol cans!).
Anyway, I made it safely to the Sydney airport. From there, I only had to take the train from the airport to Humme’s hotel. We could not check-in until 2PM, so after leaving our bags with the front desk, we decided to go straight to Taronga Zoo. I am a big fan of zoos, but I can honestly say that Taronga Zoo is one of the best. From our hotel, we walked to Circular Quay and then took a ferry across the harbour. Once we arrived, we took a sky tram (similar to a ski lift) to the entrance of the zoo which is at the top of the hill. From the sky tram, we saw an aerial view of many of the animals including the famous baby elephant that was born a few months ago on-site. It really is an amazing story - there was no detection of a heartbeat for 6 days and they thought the baby elephant was dead, but then it miraculously came back to life!
Once you are at the entrance of the zoo, you walk downhill through the different exhibits. All this time, you have a beautiful view of Sydney’s Harbour and the Opera House. Of course, my favorite exhibit was the giraffes, but we also saw koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, snakes, little penguins, a platypus, an echidna, and a Komodo dragon among others. There was even a petting zoo set up like a farm, but we quickly left this area with its crazy, screaming children.
From the zoo, we took the ferry back to Circular Quay, walked up the steps to the Opera House, and then explored the Botanical Gardens. I pointed out the sleeping flying foxes to Humme, and we were fascinated with how many there actually were hanging in the trees. There were literally thousands! I had never before been to the Botanical Gardens at dusk, so we were in for a surprise when they all awoke and began flying in search of food. It was one of the craziest things we have ever seen!
For dinner, we ate fresh seafood at one of the restaurants on Darling Harbour. Darling Harbour is beautiful at night with the lights from the skyline reflecting over the water. We were both exhausted from our hectic first day, so we went to bed early. The next day we were climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, so we wanted to conserve our energy.
The next morning, we walked around the Rocks which is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Sydney. It even has a ghost tour that tourists can do, but we did not have the time. We ate breakfast to prepare for the bridge climb and then decided to walk across the bridge on the pedestrian footpath while we waited for our 1:35PM climb time.
When we got to the Bridgeclimb center, we looked at all of the pictures of celebrities who had done it before us. We were now going to become part of a select group that had climbed the bridge, including but not limited to Al Gore, Prince Harry, the cast from Glee, Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Will Smith, and Ryan Reynolds. At exactly 1:35PM, we were led into a room to fill out disclaimer forms and were given breathalyzer tests. Apparently, you cannot complete the climb if you blow above a 0.05, but we both passed. Next, they issue each person special suits for the climb and everything you bring with you is attached to the suit. As part of the climb, you go over the Bradfield Highway which is the busiest in Sydney, so they do not want you to drop anything on the traffic below. For this reason, you are not even allowed to bring cameras! However, they do let you take a handkerchief (in case you get emotional), sunglasses, a beanie or hat, headphones and a radio (so we could hear our guide, Craig) and everyone brings a fleece which is attached to your safety belt (in case it gets cold).
While still inside, we did a test run of the ladder portion we would be faced with outside. It was quite simple compared to the real thing - when you actually climb the ladder sections on the bridge, your head is literally between lanes 5 and 6 on the Bradfield Highway! All in all, we climbed up (and down) 4 ladder sections and 1,300 odd steps and burned between 600-800 calories. The view from the top of the bridge was amazing, we could see all of Sydney’s natural harbours and the stunning Opera House. From the summit, we were 1 1/2 football fields above Sydney Harbour, and Craig let us know that we could hit water in a little over 5 seconds if we were wondering.
The bridge really is amazing - it was built over 8 years from 1923 before there were computers, calculators, or engineering software. Only 16 people died during the construction of the bridge even though they did not have advanced safety equipment, and only 3 actually died from falling. At this current time, the Sydney Harbour Bridge is the largest single arch span bridge in the world (in terms of height, width, and length), but apparently this will no longer be true in less than 2 weeks when a new one is completed in Dubai.
Ok, enough about the bridge. The last thing I will say though is they would never let you do something like this in America. All in all, the bridge climb seemed relatively safe and the only scary part for me was walking under the approach section (where the traffic approaches the actual bridge). We were attached to the bridge at all times by safety harnesses that seemed they would be able to hold us in case we fell. I would definitely recommend it but only if you are not afraid of heights!
Later that night, I taught Humme how to do a Tim Tam Slamma with hot chocolate, and he posted the video tutorial on Facebook. Basically, you buy a package of Tim Tams (Original), bite off the ends diagonally, suck some hot chocolate through the biscuit like a straw, and then throw the entire thing in your mouth. You have to eat the entire thing at once, because the hot liquid makes the chocolate inside melt (I may have left this part out when teaching, sorry Humme!)
On our last full day in Sydney, Humme took the ferry to Manly Beach in the morning while I hung out around the city preparing for a job interview I had that day. We planned to meet around lunchtime at Circular Quay to take the bus to Bondi Beach. It was a beautiful beach day, and we laid out for a bit before starting the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk right before sunset. I have attempted this walk 2 times in the past, but I had yet to make it all the way. It was a lot warmer on my earlier attempts, so I usually ended up stopping for a swim.
We did make it all the way to Coogee Beach, but it was a long walk! The stunning views of the coastline, especially at sunset, made it really picturesque. The moon even came out as we neared Coogee, and it was almost full. Once we arrived in Coogee, we were exhausted and decided to take a cab back to Bondi Beach for dinner.
The next morning, we flew on separate flights to Melbourne - this time with no problems! When we arrived at the airport, we decided to take a cab to Humme’s hotel in St. Kilda. Unlike Sydney, Melbourne does not have a train from the airport, but instead it is much more difficult to get to the city (especially St. Kilda). After meeting up with Erin, Humme’s friend from U of A who is studying abroad in Wollongong, I gave them a quick walking tour of St. Kilda. We walked down Fitzroy St towards the beach, past Luna Park, up Acland St. to the St. Kilda Botanical Garden which is small but still beautiful. There were even some older men playing giant chess which was fun to watch for a few minutes. It was getting close to dusk, so we walked out to St. Kilda pier to find some little penguins. We saw a couple and then headed back to Fitzroy St for dinner. After dinner, we met up with Renee and her friend Mitch (who she had met when she lived in London for a year) and we stayed up late grabbing some drinks and catching up at the Vineyard.
When we woke up the next morning, we decided to take a tram into the city to show them the tourist spots there. We went to the Queen Victoria Markets and ate warm jam donuts which were delicious before getting a little lost on our way to the Docklands. We watched a magic show in Federation Square that wasn’t very good before walking down Southbank to Crown Casino. We were all amazed to see that they only had one craps table (apparently it is not popular in Australia), but as soon as we began playing, people gathered to watch and learn. That night, we went to Lygon St. for dinner (Melbourne’s equivalent of North Beach in SF or Little Italy) and it was delicious. Earlier in the day, we had booked a rental car for the next morning and would be driving to see the Great Ocean Road.
The next morning, we woke up, picked up our rental car and drove to Prahran Market on Chapel St. to get some supplies for a picnic lunch. Afterward, we drove to the Great Ocean Road which is about a 2-hour drive to the entrance. We drove through Lorne, spotted some koalas in the wild!, and stopped to eat in Apollo Bay. We also stopped to look at the 12 Apostles, the London Bridge, the Grotto, and the Arch before driving back to Melbourne for the night.
For Humme’s final day in Melbourne, we were going to an AFL game. After eating brunch on DeGraves Street (a cute laneway), we were going to see Carlton vs. Collingwood who are rival teams, and we were cheering for the Carlton Blues to win! Our seats were awesome, and we even tried a meat pie (that’s the thing to do here). The match was very intense and interesting to watch - it is much different from American Football. We had a great time even though Collingwood ended up winning...
Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to Humme as he was flying back to the US the following morning. We had a great time seeing the sights together and catching up on each other’s lives. Seeing him helped me to be less homesick until we talked about his plans for Bay to Breakers in SF next weekend - so sad I am missing out! Now, I will just have to wait to see who visits me next!
