For Australia Day I chose to stay in a different part of the city - Railway Square, near Central Station. I decided it was only appropriate if staying at Railway Square that I should stay in an old railway car at the YHA. They had a section of old, refurbished railway cars that were on the same platform as the trains at Central Station, but blocked off from the station with a glass wall/partition. It was kind of cool to be laying in bed in a railway car and get to hear the tone/chime of the screens on the platform showing train arrivals times and stops that I've become accustomed to and my brain immediately associates with trains. My railway car was luckily positioned right at the end of the section, closest to the door leading inside to the bathrooms. My hostelmates all spoke German and very very little English, so not much conversation took place between us but I wasn't there much honestly.
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| On the other side of that glass partition is the train platform |
Shortly after we headed towards our hostels, before we left the gardens, we came across some "free seats" for the outdoor cinema that is on the harbour. By "free seats" I mean a cement staircase on a hill, under street lights, behind a fence and some trees. We sat down on the stairs with the 10 or so other people that had the same idea and turns out we could actually see quite well and were fairly comfortable and could hear it just fine. After about 1 minute I realized that it was Pitch Perfect! I had been wanting to see this movie, but didn't want to pay the $20 for the movie ticket, but here I was now watching it for free on a beautiful night, outside, by the harbour, with a new friend. The movie finished, we walked back to our hostels, and made plans to meet up the following day - Australia Day!!
I woke up and got ready for what I knew was going to be a long, busy, fabulous, amazing day! I started off the day at 10am with a trip to the Paddington Markets where if I had a million dollars, or even several thousand for that matter, I could have brought home the COOLEST souvenirs. The Paddington Markets is a craft market so everything there is made by hand and is extremely high quality. Considering the quality and the time required, their prices weren't unreasonable, but they were surely out of my budget. I did however get 2 cute broaches to liven up my black winter peacoat. After the markets I headed to the Opera House to catch the end of the Ferrython and watch the Australia Defence Force fire a 21 gun salute at noon from the gardens.
Afterwards I heard live music coming from the Opera House Bar so I decided to head on over to the crowd. There was a girl about my age singing covers and boy was she good!! Her voice was flawless, smooth, and beautiful. Her personality was beautiful too! She waved to anyone and everyone while she was singing, she was always smiling, and she would talk to the audience during lulls in songs or between songs. We were standing above her and the people at the bar on like an overpass thing and she still made sure to wave to and talk to us. I wanted a CD even if it was just her singing other people's songs. My favorite one she sang was "Put Your Records On" by Corrine Bailey Rae. I was stuck, like seriously in a trance listening to her. After a few more covers she sang an original, which upped my hopes that there would be CDs. After a bit longer I headed down to find out if there were CDs. I asked a guy who seemed to be with the group and he said there were and that Elle May would love to meet me and give me one. When she finished the set I got to meet her, take a picture with her, and got her EP. Her personality wasn't just for her show - it's who she is in person too. =] I couldn't wait to get back to Gran's house to listen to the CD! (Turned out to be fabulous and I can't get enough of it! There are only 5 songs so I'm itching for more and they are all about boys/relationships - good and bad - so I'm hoping the next has a bit more variety. However, I still love her voice and her style!!)
Afterwards I headed to McDonald's again because I was going to undo what happened the night before. I ordered my usual + a vanilla cone and went to Circular Quay to eat and wait for the Royal Australian Air Force's Hawks. I erased my previous experience with McDonalds and came in with a fresh perspective and fresh taste buds... Didn't help. This stuff STILL tasted like revolting rubber! With every bite I took I kept thinking the next would be better or the next would hit that spot... but it never did. Have I really become one of those people?! Well, at least the vanilla cone was still good. Once the Hawks flew overhead I ferried across to Blue's Point where I would sit and wait for a concert.
I couldn't decide where to sit, because the logical place for the stage would be in the carved out dip in front of the sand, but the security guys (when I asked them) seem to imply that the area directly next to them would be the best viewing spot. I took the security guys' advice and sat there instead of what seemed like the logical spot. This is the point when I was supposed to meet my new friend, so I tried to sit somewhere I could see him should he walk up and somewhere where he could see me, but that I'd still have a good view of the stage. While sitting at Blue's Point I got to watch the end of the Tall Ships race, which was an unexpected surprise. Shortly after, way off in the distant, I could see the floating stage in the harbour making its way over from a concert done just before at another point along the harbour. The artist, Jessica Mauboy, is an indigenous Australian singer, songwriter, and actor. I was first introduced to her shortly after I got here when I went to the movie "Sapphires" with the girls from Compass. It took quite some time for the stage to get to where we all were and get anchored in, but once it did it was so worth it. As they were anchoring in the stage I was so paranoid about whether or not I was in the best location because the stage kept shifting towards that logical spot, but once it anchored in... I was dead center with a clear view. The bridge and Opera House to my left, sitting in the grass, beautiful blue skies, sparkling water in the harbour, and a stage on the water with Jessica Mauboy performing... I wasn't thinking about much else other than the here and now. I was beginning to wonder though if my friend was ever going to show though and because he didn't have a phone I couldn't contact him. He ended up showing up about half way through the concert. Turns out, rather than following his gut and my instructions, he did what someone else who didn't know what they were talking about told him to do, which took him way away from where the concert was. Anyways, Jessica Mauboy was great, especially given the awful heat. She was so energetic, very smiley, and always waving to the little girls playing in the water and sand dancing and singing along with her. Once the concert ended it was time to head to Darling Harbour for the day's main event - fireworks!!
My friend and I discussed who we wanted to get to Darling Harbour. He wanted to walk (due to lack of funds), but I wanted to ferry because it was just too hot and I was too tired. I offered to pay half of his ferry fare and after some time and back and forth he agreed. I told him though that I was pretty sure that we were actually going to get to ferry for free. This particular wharf never has anyone manning it and there isn't a ticket booth at it to even buy tickets so the 2 other times I'd used it I got to come and go for free (because the wharf I was leaving from and coming back to also didn't have anyone manning it). Our plan was just to tell the attendants on the other side at Darling Harbour and pay there. We got on and enjoyed the ride over. I could tell he was grateful that we didn't have to walk. When we got off it was a massive spill of people into Darling Harbour off the ferry. I told him to wait here and I was going to see if I could get through for free. I did and then waved him on and he got through for free as well. He couldn't believe it and was totally stoked.
We stopped and got some ice cream and an Icee/Slushy, had a short sit in the shade, then headed further down Darling Harbour. I took a picture with Leonardo DiCaprio. We took another, longer sit in the shade at the innermost point of the Darling Harbour (the wharf). Then I decided it was time to lay claim to seats for the fireworks, even though it was about 1.5 hours early. My friend came and sat with me for a bit, but having strawberry blonde hair, no shade, and wearing a long sleeve button down shirt and pants... He couldn't last long. He had told me earlier that he wasn't going to be able to stay to the end anyways because of plans with a friend. Once he left I asked the guys next to me to save my seat while I went and got Subway. Good news, I haven't lost my taste for Subway.
After some time of dancing back and forth trying to stay in the shade of the guy next to me the evenings festivities began (around 7p). It started off with the Royal Australian Navy Band playing a few pieces. Then the Governor of New South Wales (the state Sydney is in) came in on a boat and delivered an Australia Day address ending with the band playing and everyone singing Australia's national anthem - Advance Australia Fair. Another vessel came through with the Australians of the Year - Australian of the Year, Senior Australian of the Year, Young Australian of the Year, and Australia's Local Hero. A couple of them spoke as well and afterwards the main boat parade started, which was a parade of the Harbour Heroes - Police, Fire (my favorite), Rescue, etc. Also included in the Harbour Heroes were old, restored tug boats and other vessels important to Sydney and its history. The end of the boat parade was the tall ships, which pretty much look like pirate ships. I had seen them earlier before the concert, but they were pretty far away. It was cool to see them up close. Then what happened was what everyone was really waiting for...
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| Darling Harbour Crowd |
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| Fireworks Ready and Waiting |
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| Governor of NSW |
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| Fire Boat |
The fireworks were extraordinary!! They were the most beautiful display of fireworks I have ever seen. They were set off in the water and went off in time with music playing. There were also colored laser lights that shone and moved in time with the music. It was a 15 minute display of non-stop show. Waiting for 3.5 hours was totally worth it! And my seats were perfect for a good view!
Afterwards, the foot traffic was at a standstill. It helped that I was alone because then I could just squeeze and weave in and out wherever possible to get out. Due to all the people and the fact that I had never been at this particular location and the fact that it was dark I had completely lost all sense of bearings so I asked a security guy and he said he doesn't know the area and that he was brought in from somewhere else because of the crowd. I kept walking in the general direction everyone else was and finally found a street I recognized. Not too long of a walk (on this walk I saw a girl wearing American flag shorts which made NO sense to me since it was Australia Day) and I was back at my hostel and in my railway car bed.
The following morning (Sunday) I packed up, had a nice breakfast, and headed to Manly to meet my friend Kat (from school). Unfortunately we were given the worst of weather to be seeing Manly, but I had had beautiful weather for my entire trip so I knew it was bound to happen at some point. However, Kat and I managed to make the most of it. We caught up with a long chat, I got to pet the kitty!!!, I met her host family, and then we headed out to show me around. She took me to the main part of Manly and showed me the wharf, the shops, and the beach. Even with the cold and rain I could tell that this place had a cool culture. It was fairly laid back and everyone seemed connected and in good moods. She is very lucky to live so close to an ocean beach. Melbourne's bay beaches just don't cut it for me. She got some ice cream and I got some pizza, which we ate in the rain and then we rinsed our feet off in the fountains because the puddles had made our feet dirty, but also because the fountain water was warm. We headed back to her place and we chatted a bit more before I had to leave. It was cool and weird to have someone so close to home right here with me... It had been 6 months since I'd been in the physical presence of anyone from back home. But it was time to go back to my host family's grandparent's house for one last night in Sydney before leaving for Melbourne Monday morning.
I am so thankful that I got to spend ALL this time in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. I fit so much into just 3 weeks of time. Some things were left out due to time constraints, but rather than doing each thing half way and getting to see everything, I decided to do each thing I did do to its full extent even if that meant having to leave some things out. I also don't plan on this being my last ever time in NSW or ACT, so of course I needed to leave things to do when I go back. ;) Sydney is a beautiful city with so much history. There are some very cool places just with 3-4 hours of Sydney. My 12 year long dream came true in Sydney. Sydney made me cry happy tears twice. Sydney is absolutely amazing, but after visiting... it's obvious to me that I'm truly a Melbourne girl at heart. As everyone has said - Sydney is the city to visit and Melbourne is the city to live in. Everyone is most definitely right. I was so excited to be walking off the plane in Melbourne. The heat was gone, the humidity was gone, the go here and go there was done, the slow pace was back, and I was back in close proximity with my church and friends/family. I loved Sydney and all the adventures I had while there. My dreams may have come true in Sydney, but my heart is in Melbourne. =]
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