Hello again. I’m pleased to say I’ve arrived safely in Sydney, Australia. The flight here was great, I was sat in the departure lounge before-hand chatting to a few of the flight crew, they asked me where I was sitting and told me they’d look after me, I was kind of hoping they’d upgrade me to first class but let’s say I wasn’t really looking the part. But still, 10 minutes in and they brought me a goody bag over which had in it a toblerone, chocolate cookie, pair of socks and a neat toiletries bag with a razor, toothbrush/paste, shaving foam, skin cream and all sorts in. And I don’t think my glass was empty of chardonnay the whole seven and a half hours it took to get here. Quantas in-flight entertainment is quality as well, watched a couple of films: March of the Penguins and Sin City, and had a go on a couple of the games. The time flew by, if you excuse the pun.
Like a pillock I booked the wrong day’s accommodation online before I left for Sydney, so I had to find somewhere else for one night before I could check in to where I’m staying now. Found a place near the Central train station and just crashed for the night, then took a 10 minute walk in the morning to Base Backpackers near to Hyde Park. On the way I stopped at the town hall where there was a crowd gathered, it was the welcome home ceremony for Australia’s Commonwealth Games athletes, so I watched that for a bit, think it was live on tv too.
Last night I went to a local boozer and had bangers and mash with a beer for $9, which is just less than four pounds. Had a few more beers watching the live music and I met a couple of lads, Joel who is in the Canadian army, on R&R from his post in Afghanistan, and Stephen from Bournemouth. It’s weird to meet another Stephen, especially one who also spells it with a ph. Turns out we’ve got a lot more in common than just the name though. We moved on to another bar, Irish I think, that one of their girl friends knew about and then another place, where the old memory starts to get a bit hazey. We had a great night out though, a good laugh and Sydney’s pretty rocking. I remember on the way home I decided to put some money in a phonebox and call a random number, and after about seven goes got through to someone’s answer machine, so we all left strange and drunken messages. God knows what whoever it was that woke up this morning and saw they had 1 missed call must’ve thought. We also got booted out of a taxi because Joel told the driver he couldn’t drive, and we inadvertently went in a gay bar. We left soon after one overly-camp man turned to Steve and said ‘Oh, you’re such hard work!’
Today, me and Steve took the ferry to Manly, a sweet little beach town about half an hour by boat away. The views of the harbour en route were excellent, got some nice photos to upload in a bit. When we got there we headed for the beach and hired a body board, went in and caught some waves, which was fun. The water’s noticably colder than Thailand but still nice when you get in as they say. Just chilling tonight I think. All’s well, weather’s nice (about 25-26 degrees) and where I’m staying is pretty cool, seems like lots to do and that. Me and Steve are hooking up again tomorrow but plans are yet to be made.
so jealous. not of your manly escapades though. the gay bars not the place.