Sydney Greatest Hits
Also: Pizza Part III, Power Rangers, and more cousins!
Top of mind
Some quick Aussie slang
“Too easy”: perfect, gotcha; sounds like a plan
“Must be done”: highly recommend; can’t be missed
Person A: I’d really like to check out some local bars that specialize in martinis.
Person B: Too easy! Gotta checkout Bar Planet, they specialize in that stuff. Must be done.
I wish there were work study abroad or exchange programs. I bet there’s some silly version of that, something complicated or tedious. I also wish jobs had semesters. Eh I guess they do and they’re called calibrations. I wish I got paid to travel, but only for a little while cuz I’d want to go home. I’m nearly at the end of Australia here, but I bet if I was flying to Melbourne tomorrow than in a few days I’d be back up at high energy.
Feeling pretty accomplished on this trip, for like spending money I guess? Seeing the world-ish, at the very least going nearly as far away as I could. Putting the trip together and executing on it. Traveling solo and having a blast even when it’s hard. Not being plugged into my phone other than google maps and pokemon go.
10/28
If you know me in NYC, you’d know that the ferry is one of my favorite places to be. So naturally I jumped at the opportunity to do so in Sydney as well and it was great. It was effing cold up top but this retired man from Oklahoma kept me company. He needed to brush his teeth but he was happy to be here, also traveling solo. He was obsessed with this Kazakh singer who is supposedly “the best singer in the world”. I gave them a listen and yeah he hit the Mariah note a few times, which made me laugh. I still have a few business cards left from Japan so I gave the guy one and he seemed really confused by it.
I’m normally not a big zoo person but I heard the Taronga Zoo is pretty unique, so I took a play from Sean (Blue Mountains guide) and got there at the rope drop (that’s Disney Adult speak for “I got there when they opened”), and bumped into the Glaswegians from a day prior as well. Beat all the schools and families to the zoo, that’ll show em. It was really nice though. I spent a great amount of time waking up with the Red Pandas and smelled the infmaous “popcorn aroma” of a Binturong lounging up in the trees. And I saw a medium sized tiger eating it’s breakfast, tearing apart a leg of some deceased creature, getting bits of fur stuck on it’s nose and trying to lick it away. Quite unsettling indeed.
I am still completely enamored by the Sydney Opera House. I can’t take my eyes off it. I short circuit. It’s such a freakishly large and alien looking object that eats up everything around it. After the zoo I did a walking tour of the opera house and it was simply marvelous. Must be done if you visit. I won’t spoil the details but it is an engineering marvel that surprisingly used the design process (ie. wrote a brief, phased the work for execution, demonstrated the design solutions using an orange peel). You can likely skip the gift shop though.
I joined the Discord server for Power Rangers Re-Animated and met up with one of the Admins (also the OG, the creator of the program?) in the afternoon and I proceeded to fanboy intensely over the project. I should’ve given him my business card, dammit! I paid for this sick risograph print for the animated film. Plus I got a sneak peak of what’s next for them.
One last haircut for the road, and a cheap one at that. For the next 5 days (aka until my hair grows out again) I’ll be rocking a fade akin to a middle aged european football player.
What I ate
I hit up A.P. Bakery, a local chain that supposedly makes impressionable pastries, but I didn’t know that at the time and ordered an egg and cheese sando which was fine.
Skipped lunch and I was hurting in the afternoon because I hit up an excellent vinyl record bar* and once again got accidentally toasted because I didn’t have enough food or water for the day. But the music was choice and the drinks were too.
Would you believe me if I told you I met up with another cousin? Intentional this time, I linked up (and met for the first time) a cousin from Ireland (yes, I am Irish) who’s been living in Sydney for 10+ years. We ate some solid pizza** and honestly I’m normally not a big Neopolitan pie person but these other countries have really figured it out. Not only that but the standout pie of the evening was a clam and chili oil pie. Must be done.
Afterwards we hit up a martini bar*** which was another recommendation from the friends at Cantina OK! Good vibes, yet another spot where the staff draw a rudimentary picture of the special drink of the month on the menu for you – can we please start doing this in the states please? It’s so cool.
At the train station they had gachapon machines and I got several, including a foldable e-bike and a “exit train” button that makes noises (“This stop is: Circular Quay”).
What’s next
It’s the last full day in Sydney here and the weather is being difficult. I’m slated to walk to the top (vertically) of the Harbour Bridge. And I’d like to return to the beach today, but we’ll see.
Appendix
*Deadwax
**Bella Brutta
***Bar Planet