A day at the Beach

Ok as horribly dorky as this is going to sound, im sitting at the beach right now. The sitting ath the beach part is the really the dorky bit. I think it might be the fact that m sitting at the beach with my computer that is the dorky part. And the part that will probably make david flip. Yeah, ive got my laptop in the sand about 20 yards from the salt water… lovely idea isn’t is?

And Im sure you are probably thinking to yourself, “why in the world is she sitting on the beach playing on her computer?” a couple of reasons actually. Allow me to inform you why? First off, its way too flippin cold to go in that water. I put my feet in and it made me gasp. Its about the equivalent of Georgia water in april. You can only really tolerate the temperature if you are drunk. Which I currently am not. Its 345 people. Be realistic. The other reason im no partaking in the beautiful ocean water is that they just made an announcement about some kind of “blue something or other” that there happen to be a lot of in the water today. The blue something of others apparently give a very nasty sting that results in pretty bad pain for at least a half hour and there is not immediate relief. Seeing as how I have made it this far without any form of pain or injury, I really don’t want to test my luck. The shoe will fall but im not going to help it. Its actually kinda cool to just chill here at the beach and people watch anyway. And I hae to add tha tim good enough at typing right now that I cant type while I people watch. Im liking this.

So which beach am I sitting on you might be wondering? Well I think i might have mentioned yesterday that I was thinking of going down to bondi beach. Well on the advice of my tour guide book, I decided to skip the tourist trap that is bondi and head up to manly beach instead. Its still pretty touristy up here but not nearly as crowded. And honestly, the breeze still has a little bit of a nip to it so im not particularly inclined to get wet then sit in this. That and the fact that im not going to have time to shower off the sand and salt water until nearly 1030 or so tonight. More on that later.

I had a “leisurely” morning for myself to day. And I make it “leisurely” as opposed to leisurely because you know how intense I can be when I travel. Leisurely to me is sleeping in til 830 as opposed to being out the hotel door exploring at 730. im remarkably adjusted to the time change. The missing day is still throwing me. I cant really get a handle on it being Tuesday already for some reason.but as far as jetlag goes, I really don’t hae any. Il tell you what I do have though. I have some seriously sore feet and legs. I think ive walked more in the past day and a half than I did the whole time I was in London. I like walking though. Its more scenic. And ive been finding really cool stuff that way because I just turn off when I see something intriguing.

So I still have no roommate yet. Don’t know if I will or not at this point, oh well, ive pretty much taken over the whole room with my junk anyway im already accumulating stuff that I probably shouldn’t. but then in addition to being a junk food addict, im a shopaholic when I travel. I know I shouldn’t have bought it on the first day, but I did anyway. Yesterday I purchased a snow globe of the Sydney skyline that plays waltzing matilda (by banjo patterson if you didn’t know) to add to my colletion. So now I have to tote a music box to carry for the next three weeks never said I was the brightest crayon in the box.

So this morning much to my happinss it was a beautiful bight sunny day. A lovely day for a harbour cruise and a trip to the beach (but not to swim). Last night I walked all the way from the opera house to my hotel (which actually took longer than I expected – about 45 minutes at least). Since it was such a lovely day I thought I would walk back to the harbour only take a different route to see what I could find. I have to say im all about the eating and walking thing so when I pases and impromptu fruit stand I bought an apple for the hourney. I wasn’t even finished with the apple when I had to detour into this cute little shop for more food. It was this tiny little place called “cupcakes” and they had the prettiest decorated cupcakes ever. Seriously, they wereawesome looking. The which chocolate ones even had white chocolate coated strawberries which choclate strips on top of them. They had a deal where you could be a cupcake and a coffee for $5 (and let me rant about the prices here in a minute) so I ordered a coffee but then got distracted by what else? A muffin. To bad I had no idea what exactly constituted a “savory muffin” but I ordered one anyway. Turns out that my muffin had tomato, pumpkin and asparagus in it. Yeah. I know. At least I didn’t get the meat one. That would have just been way to strange. But I have fallend back into old habits… coffee and a muffin for breakfast anyone? I need to branch out I think. They this time I had a veggie muffin instead of a poppyseed one. There.

So I ate and walked on down to the harbour to take my cruise. When I was checking times, I was assisted by – I kid you not – captain cook himself. Actually it took me a while to realize it was captain cook. For a minute I just thought it was some guy running around dressed as a british soldier. Again with the being bright things.

The harbour cruise was nice. I ende dup getting off in watsons bay to walk around for a while. They have these cliffs that are really pretty there. So I checked them out and then hopped back on and rode around back to the circular quay. Immediately after getting off that ferriie I hopped the ferry out here to manly. It’s a cute little beach town. Reminds me of Sorrento but with a surf atmosphere. There ar e a ton of shops around too and naturally I have been indulging again.

The reason im doing the post now is because they happen to have an internet café with cheap wireless access so I can put up some picures and this post. Plus if I don’t do it now I wont be able to do it today. I am doing my bridge climb tonight. I have to be there to check in at 630 and then the training and stuff starts at 645. it should be really pretty climbing up at night with the opera house lit up. The climb isn’t supposed to be over until 1015 or so and then ill have to get myself bak to the hotel (probably wont be walking this time either). So I wont have time to do it later tonight. Look for that story in the post tomorrow hopefully. It should be an amazing experience.

Right well im off to go get some fish and chips before I head back to Sydney. I already feel all grimey and I haven’t even been I the water. But ihave been by the sea the whole time and you iknow how the salt builds up on you. My hair is disgustingly flat right now. As if you really care.


a couple quick thought still.

-saw my first 7-11 today. was definitely staffed by an indian. even here..,
-this city is ridiculously expensive even with the favorable currency exchange. last night i paid AU$8 for a 6 inch tuna sandwich from subway. just the sandwich. and yes i did go to subway. it was last, near the hotel and the only non shady place open
- burger kind here is not burger kind. its hungry jack. interesting.
Alright, im out. I still miss everyone..