Away again

Interesting. Strangely enough, I seem to have completely neglected awards night in my blag. Funny… I could’ve sworn I wrote about it! Maybe I’m thinking of the practice. Meh. Anyways, it was on Wednesday night, and it was surprisingly better than expected. I actually had fun! Well, up until it was Yr 12’s turn to go up anyway. It was good because I was sitting between Clare and Nick, and was just talking to them most of the time. We laughed at the Yr 7s and 8s. They are such complete nerds, but so cute! Hehe. But yeah, after we went up, and sat back down again, I was sitting next to neither Nick nor Clare, so that was rather disappointing. I didn’t even get to pick on Trotter with them! That said, I got my awards (for Visual Communication & Design and Information Systems), and that was what I really went there for (obviously) so I was pleased with that. Also I was a bit confused because in the practice, I got presented with my cheque from Neighbourhood Cable personally, but I didn’t even get it in my envelope on the night! It’s okay though, because it came today. I think Dad has it. Anyway yeah, Awards Night was surprisingly good. Nobody else seemed to enjoy it, though. Oh wellz, that is their problem!

On Thursday I played an out-of-time racquetball game. It was pretty unexciting. I won though. That was nice. Then on Friday we headed off to Hamilton! I drove the whole way there – it was probably good practice for schoolies. Most of the time there was relatively uneventful. We watched a fair bit of cricket I suppose. Only enough so that it wasn’t boring though. Saturday night was awesome. We had roast lamb for dinner, and it was absolutely delicious. I love roast lamb. Especially when Nanny (my grandmother) cooks it! Today was also a very good day. Mum and Nanny and my aunty went to some open garden thing (w00t!), while Jemma and I went to visit some friends just out of Hamilton. It was weird, because we always go with Mum, but it was just us two, so yeah. Different. Anyway, everyone was very nice, as usual. It was good to catch up. Georgie (my age) has also just finished year 12, so we caught up about that sort of stuff and what we’re gonna do next year. Jane (yr 10) was busy studying (who the hell studies for YEAR 10?!), so we didn’t get to see much of her. Will had a friend over, so didn’t see much of him either. And Bruce is awesome as always and good to chat to. So yeah, good times. Also I drove back to Ballarat, which was surprising. Usually I don’t. Oh well.

And now, it is now. There is nothing awfully exciting going on, but that suits me fine. The next few days shall be rather hectic as it is. I don’t need more! I suppose I will blag again before we head off to schoolies (Wednesday). We have a meeting tomorrow and some interesting stuff has happened, so there will probably be a fair bit of organising to do! Okay, that’s it from me for now! Hope everyone is super duper!

Love James

Communion Reflection

This is the Communion Reflection for Year 12 Graduation Mass. This is the final version, which is basically what I wrote, except Tony, Yvette and I edited it to make it easier to read and stuff.

Throughout our times at Damascus College, there have been many challenges. We have encountered many obstacles, worked together, found a way forward and grown stronger.

We have formed many friendships, with both students and staff. These friends have helped us see through the rough times in both our school and personal lives.

The learning environment that Damascus has provided for us has enabled us to embrace new challenges and difficult situations. Damascus College has helped to prepare us for our adult lives.

The Christ-centered traditions of Damascus College have given us the opportunity to learn invaluable life lessons that will continue to guide us for many years to come.

As the Year 12 class of 2006, we are ready to meet the challenges of adult life. We do so with the commitment and courage to make our world a better place.

In Christ Jesus,

Amen.

Graduation!!

I have finally officially graduated from high school!! Last night was the Damascus College Graduation Mass and Dinner, and it was a blast. The mass, which I helped organise (me organise a mass? weird yeah), was first up, and we had to listen to Gospel readings and all that, which wasn’t terribly exciting, but oh well. I just kinda tuned out. Then after Communion (in which I had to go and get one of those blessing things cos I’m not baptised blah), it was my turn to get up in front of the lectern and lead the Year 12’s in the Communion Reflection. I got the job because I wrote the reflection, not because of my wonderful reading skills . I’ll post it in another blag, actually – more for my sake so it’s there than anything. I was nervous as hell reading it out, and my leg was shaking uncontrollably when I was up there, but apparently I didn’t look or sound nervous, so I suppose that’s a good thing… *shrugs*. Anyway, we got our certificates and all that, everyone clapped and then we walked out of the church.

Next up was the dinner, which was in this rather massive room at Ballarat Lodge. The meal was quite nice indeed, although I can’t say there was a lot of it! Other than that, Andrew (drama teacher) was a fantastic M.C. and Pud and Ange (school captains) did a great job recalling some of the funnier times throughout our school years. Also, I was very happy about Clare getting ‘Collegian of the Year’ – she definitely deserved it! On a less positive note – Tony Duggan’s (principal, for some stupid reason…) speech completely and utterly SUCKED (both Mum and I completely tuned out for half of it, it was that bad). He should be a priest or something. Or a professional arsehole. Lol. Seriously though, he is more strictly Catholic than our Religious Education coordinator (Tony Haintz is actually pretty cool). He really needs to loosen up a bit, and give us some bloody credit! We’re not completely stupid and oblivious to what is going to happen over the next few years. For God’s sake man! Anyway, enough bitching about the principal – I don’t ever have to deal with him again .

After tea and speeches, there was a DJ and stuff so people got up and danced. I didn’t at first, but towards the end of the night I had a dance with Mum for quite a while, and I had a great time! Was movin’ and shakin’ and all that groovy stuff! . Actually I can’t dance very well at all (well, I did alright at the Deb Ball last year, but that was different dancing!), but I definitely did have a lot of fun. I was a bit sad because Jackie (my Physics teacher) left before I got a chance to chat to her, and Pete (Info Systems teacher) only went to the Mass. I did want to talk to both of them (and so did Mum) as they were my favourite teachers and lovely people, but Mum got to talk to Frances (my Lit teacher) so that was good. Frances is also lovely. Actually, I had a really great run with teachers this year. I got along really well with all of them. Yay!

Anyway, that pretty much sums up the night. Some (most?) people went out afterwards methinks, but I dunno… I’m just not interested in that yet. Maybe one day I’ll give clubbing/drinking/whatever a go, but for the moment I’m perfectly content without it! So I took Joe home and then went home myself! And now it’s the end of yet another blag! A bientot, mes amis!

A busy few days

So, I’m home from Sydney and in preparation for a few rather busy days ahead. It’s too hot to be busy though… I mean, I do like the hot weather under certain circumstances, but… I have to wear a suit tonight!!! It’s too hot to wear a suit!!! I get to that in a minute though. First up, the train ride home from Sydney. I think it must’ve been because we were on our way home and tired and all that, because we all got an okay amount of sleep on the train – a large contrast from the trip up, in which I got no sleep whatsoever . Still, there must’ve been some sort of lack of sleep or something, as none of us were in a terribly good mood in Melbourne. I ended up getting pretty annoyed and not saying much until we got back to Ballarat – just sat and listened to music.

What happened was that the Sydney train got into Melbourne at 7:35am, and we planned to catch the 8:08 train back home so we could have a shower and some breakfast before going to Awards Night practice, but the girls decided to go to the toilet (for >10 minutes…) at Spencer St station, so we didn’t have time to get our luggage sorted and stuff, so we ended up missing the train. Yeah, I wasn’t happy. So we just sat around at the Station for an hour until the next train came. In this time, I realised how incompetent Victorian railway systems are. Half the timetables at each platform showed the train departing in a couple of hours – completely missing the trains that departed before then. Also, in catching our train our platform got moved about 15 minutes before the train departed (and a couple of other trains got moved at the same time – for no apparent reason), and there was a train which was at the right platform after moving, so everyone got on it (the driver included!!), before being told that it was the wrong train (about 3 minutes before departure). It ended up that there were three trains on the same platform at the same time, and ours was at the opposite end (technically a different platform, but they don’t seem to care about that). Basically it was a total screw-up. But that said, we caught the train (albeit an hour later than we first wanted) and got home safely, so it wasn’t too bad in the end. I got over it!

Mum picked me up from the train station, but I didn’t get to go home or anything before Awards Night practice. Practice was actually surprisingly okay. I mean, it wasn’t the most exciting thing I’ve ever done in my life, but it wasn’t that bad either. We just sat and talked most of the time, even up on stage. I was in next to Nick, so yeah that was good. The teachers weren’t very organised, probably because of the new venue (now at Her Majesty’s), but I think they sorted it all out in the end. The main thing is, we got lollies. That was good. Oh and I found out that because I got the Academic Award for Information Systems, I get money from Neighbourhood Cable. Why, I don’t know. But yeah, that will be nice. I’m pretty broke from Sydney .

For some reason, Kale and I decided to play racquetball (and squash for me) last night. We were pretty buggered, and it was darned hot, but somehow I managed to come away with two wins. They were both very good games, too. I like close games, they are much more exciting and betterer, even if I lose. Romain and Tiana popped along for a while too, which was nice, although I must say – I can think of a lot of plenty more exciting things to do on a Monday night than come and watch racquetball and squash. Oh well.

So tonight is Graduation – hence my whining earlier about wearing a suit. I mean – it’s too hot for shorts and a t-shirt, let along a SUIT!!! Oh well, it should be a very fun night indeed, despite me having to read out the Communion Reflection at mass. I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone (both students and teachers) at dinner, after the mass. Also there is music and dancing and all that, so yeah – should be a fun night. Well, I suppose I had better go and get ready and all that – I have to look spiffy!! .

Wow, this was a long blag for such a short and (relatively) uninteresting period of time. Oh yeah, it was probably all that bitching about Victorian railways. Sydney is heaps better I reckon. Oh well, I don’t think I need to be having that debate at this time. Lol. Oh yeah, that’s right, I’m going. Talk to you soon!

Sydney, Day 7 & 8

So… last day in Sydney today. It’s pretty sad, cos I really really like it here. That said, I have no money left, so I really need to go home anyway . Like last time, this blag covers two days – if you bother to keep reading, you will soon enough find out why I did not write an entry last night . Yeah, rather interesting story, actually.

Anyway, yesterday was an uber busy day. I guess we were trying to fit in all the little things that we didn’t do during the week, either because we didn’t know they existed or because we only just decided to do them. Actually, come to think of it… what DID we do? I get confused with all the days and stuff. Oh yeah, well we got up pretty late, and said goodbye to Swindler, who flew home to go to Bronwyn’s party (lucky him….), and then headed into town. We went to the Opera House for the second time, because the first time it was pouring rain . The weather was a lot more forgiving this time – a lovely day in Sydney. We were taking photos and some lady walked up to us and got Tiana to take some pictures of her. Then she decided she wanted somebody else in the picture with her, so she chose me! The others were picking on me about it – apparently I’m going to be on the lady’s living room wall .

At first we thought that no pedestrians were allowed on the Sydney Harbour Bridge (don’t know where I heard that, but yeah), but in catching a couple of buses across, we noticed that there were people walking along a footpath on the side. So after the Opera House, we decided to walk across the bridge. There were some fantastic views, and it was well worth the effort. Although I must say, the view of the actual bridge were nowhere near as good as from further away – it really is just a whole heap of metal . Yeah, definitely worth it though.

Then we we decided to check out a sight that we had wanted to see for most of the week, although the weather wasn’t quite good enough – Bondi Beach. On the train to Bondi Junction, we passed through Kings Cross, and Kale kept talking about it. He so wanted to get off and check out the hookers . He didn’t though, thank god, so we got to Bondi safely and all that. It really is a rather nice beach. I can see why it is so popular. Although that said, places like Manly also have really nice beaches. We stayed there a couple of hours and just chilled out. I lay on the sand and read my book and listened to music, which was very nice and relaxing indeed.

When we got back to Circular Quay, we waited around until the time came to catch the ‘Sydney Lights’ ferry around the harbour. Kale really wanted to go on it, and I am very glad he did – it was absolutely spectacular! Sydney looks so cool at night, and the harbour provides some very nice viewing angles. Actually it was the first night we had spent in the city, strangely enough. Previously, we had always been back in Newtown a while before dark. So yeah, a very cool experience indeed.

Our public transport tickets expired at 4am in the morning, so we decided to be rebellish and use them up before that time . So we caught the train that goes out through the airports and eventually to Campbelltown. Soon after we got on the train, we decided that we had proved our point and wanted to go home and sleep (it was about 1am at this stage ). So we got off at the International Airport, and discovered that there were no more trains going back into the city that night! We had just missed the last one by a few minutes, I think. The security guys at the airport were like “wtf are you doing? where are you going? the airport it pretty much closed!”. We were hoping to get a bus or something from the airport, but there were none of those running either. So we walked around for a while, hoping to find a running bus service to somewhere (we knew there were bus services running at that time), but we were unsuccessful. Then some people wanted to catch a taxi, and some people didn’t, so an argument ensued about that. We ended up catching a taxi, and basically didn’t talk to each other until we got back to Billabong Gardens! But then we started talking about it, and we all got along again. It was fine. We joked about it and stuff, and now we are all getting along well. Yay! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention – that was only me, Kale and Tiana. Tess was out clubbing at Darling Harbour with her German friend, so she wasn’t with us. And so ends the tale of last night. It was very interesting – and challenging – but we are all alive, and we learned a lot from it, so all is good.

Today was a really uppy-downy day for me. I was really looking forward to it, as something special was planned, but after a heap of things going wrong, it didn’t happen. I won’t go into too much detail, but it involved me having no money, me having no phone credit, my parents not answering their phones, no banks being open on a Sunday and a few other things. As I said, I won’t go into details, but I got really upset, and basically went to the park and sat and cried for a while. Not something I would usually do, but yeah it was really getting to me. That said, after a few nice text messages and stuff, and a more positive thought train (and also finding a way to get phone credit, which I didn’t just want – I needed it to contact everyone so we could meet up and get home ), I felt a lot better. I spent a couple of hours in the Botanic Gardens just lying on a seat and listening to music, and that helped me to feel a lot better too. Then I went for a walk and randomly met up with Tiana, Tess and Kale at Darling Harbour and we watched one of those busking show thingys. It was pretty funny. Then The other three went somewhere into town (beats me where) and I walked back to Billabong Gardens, where I grabbed some food and got my laptop out to type this up. At this very moment, the other three were supposed to be back like 30 minutes ago, so I suppose I should get around to texting them at some stage. I’m not terribly worried though – our train doesn’t leave till after 8:30 some time, and I’m enjoying just sitting here anyway. Strangely, today turned out to be probably the worst day so far, yet also one of the best, depending on which way you look at it. I think I’ll look at it the good way – it makes me feel better .

Well that pretty much sums up the last two days. They were pretty exciting, along with the rest of the week! I really love Sydney, and now I just have to sit and hope that my ENTER score for Yr 12 is high enough to get into UTS (I need something in the mid-80s I think). But between now and then, I have to fit in awards night practice, graduation mass and dinner, awards night, an interview at UB, the school book sale, a schoolies meeting, schoolies, finding money for schoolies, and who knows what the hell else. This is all by December 11, mind you. It really shall be a very busy couple of weeks. Oh, I should also get a job, which would help me with the “finding money for schoolies” bit. Also it would help with the “paying people back for Sydney” one, which I forgot to mention . Ah well, it’ll work out, and it should be a very good few weeks. Well, that’s it for this entry! Take care everyone! I might see some of you when I get back from my 11 hour train journey *sigh*. A bientot!

Love James

Sydney, Day 5 & 6

Teh internets were down for most of last night, so I didn’t get a chance to right a blag for yesterday. Also I was… busy. So now you get to read about two whole days in only one blag! It could be a long one though, depending on how bothered I am. I’ll start of with yesterday, I suppose, considering it came first. Chronological order seems to work pretty well I find.

Yesterday… Well the other four went to the aquarium, but I have already been, and I didn’t feel like going again (also I tend to get headaches and stuff from looking at teh fishies in teh tanks). So yeah, I spent the day by myself, just hanging around. The weather was weird. Sometimes it was freezing and raining; other times it was warm and sunny. Weird. But it wasn’t too bad. Sydney gets better rain than Ballarat. Somehow. I don’t know why. It just does. Lol. So what did I do for the day? I pretty much just wandered around the CBD of Sydney… stuff like that. Also I had a look at the UTS (University of Technology, Sydney) student residences, just to check out the area they were in and stuff. They all looked pretty nice actually. I will apply for them soon I assume. Other than that, my day wasn’t terribly exciting. As I said, the internet wasn’t working last night, so I mostly read my book and stuff. Which I rather enjoyed. Also I did other stuff, which was exciting, but yeah I won’t go into that.

Today was (mostly) a superbly fantastic day. Swindler and I started off talking on MSN to people about funny stuff (yeah we really should use our time in Sydney more wisely, but it was fun nonetheless ). Tiana and Tess went to Paramatta or somewhere to visit a family friend of Tiana’s. Which would be fine, except it is Tess’ birthday, so it’s a bit.. yeah. I don’t think she minded though, so s’all good. And Kale headed off to Manly, cos he really liked it there the first time, so he decided to go there again, Sounds like he had a really nice time, so that is good! And Swindler wanted to go to Luna Park, so I dropped him off at Circular Quay on my way out. Apparently it didn’t look very good though, so he decided against going and headed out to find Kale in Manly. Or something.

Anyway, my day. I had an appointment at 2pm at UTS to have a tour and stuff, so I spent a bit of time wandering around Sydney before heading there. Then something came up (I won’t go into details) and I ended up having to ring the lady at UTS (yes, I had her phone number :S) to say I’d be a bit late. It was fine with her. Just lucky I had her number, or I would’ve felt really bad. It was soooo worth it though (being late). But yeah, back to UTS… It was awesome. I so want to go there next year now. They have done the whole building up, and it is seriously super. Cool computer labs and all that. I didn’t get to check out where the International Studies faculty is, but I assume it will be at least pretty good too. Besides, it will probably be more just lecture rooms than anything. So yeah, if I get in, I will definitely pick that over Monash. I just have to choose which country/language to major in for International Studies. I mean, my French is pretty good, so it would kind of make sense to do France or New Caledonia, but neither of those countries interest me all that much, to be honest. No offence to those countries, but yeah. I would really like to study Africa and South America (especially Africa), or some other non-first world country. UTS doesn’t offer any African countries, so I was thinking about Chile, which sounds pretty cool. That was the only South American country. That would mean I have to learn Spanish though. Although that wouldn’t be so bad. Hmm I do rather enjoy French though… See what happens, I guess! I’ve still got a while to choose.

After finishing at UTS, I decided to hang around in the CBD for a while, just for the sake of it. It was a rather lovely day, so I went to Hyde Park and sat in the sun for a while. It was nice, but then some random guy came and sat next to me and started talking to me. He seemed nice at first, but then he started asking a lot of questions. So I thought… Okay, this is weird. Maybe he just likes asking questions. But then the questions themselves started getting pretty darned weird. REALLY weird. I won’t go into the details, but yeah. Very weird indeed. I was very thankful when Swindler texting me saying that him and Kale were on the ferry back from Manly, and I jumped at the suggestion that I might meet them at Circular Quay. So yeah, that bit a slight dent in my awesome day, but not enough to dampen it too much.

Because it’s Tess’ birthday, we decided to get some balloons and stuff like that to surprise her. So we spent ages blowing up, um… 105 balloons between the three of us. It was hell of hard, but yeah, the floor is now covered (literally!) in balloons, so that’s pretty cool! Now we’re just sitting, discussing how good Sydney is compared to Melbourne and Ballarat. So now Swindler and Kale kind of want to come to Sydney to Uni too! But yeah, applications closed a while ago, so they would have to pay a fee. Anyway, yeah. We might go and have tea soon. See what happens… Maybe I’ll have another late-night phone call . Cyas!

Sydney, Day 4

Yet another day in good ol’ Sydney! We spent today north of the harbour, as we decided to go ice skating! And yeah, the closest ice skating rink that we could find that was not going to cost us an arm and a leg was in North Ryde, near Macquarie University, so yeah we ended up there. We were going to go to the 11:30 session, but we got there after 12, due to a lack of knowing properly knowing where we were going, and not realising how far it actually was, so yeah we waited around for the next session at 3pm.

It’s weird – for some reason everyone seems to expect me to know where we are going. Actually, Swindler is pretty good at figuring it out too, but yeah. Kale especially, I must say. Constantly I get questions such as “where are we going?”, “is this it?”, “are we there yet?” (in all seriousness!), “where are we going?”, “is this our bus?”, etc, etc. My usual reply is something along the lines of “why the hell should I know? I’ve never been here before! You’re guess is as good as mine!”. Well, not quite all that. That’s what’s in my head. Usually I just shrug or give a stupid answer. I wonder what would happen if I didn’t bother to find out how to get to places, look on Google Maps, etc… Who knows. I think Kale alone has asked me more than 10 times where Bondi beach is. Argh. Oh well, it can be amusing sometimes. Other times, not so amusing. Give some, take some. Meh.

Anyway, enough bitching. Actually I wasn’t really bitching. Kale is fine, I just was a bit stressed today and didn’t need such a large volume of questions which I didn’t have an answer to. But yeah… what was I saying? Oh yeah, we waited around in this massive shopping complex (The Macquarie Centre) for a couple of hours until the skating was on. Did I mention I hate shopping? Actually no that is not true. If it has a purpose, I can deal with it. Or if I’m by myself. And a couple of other exceptions. But hanging around with Swindler and Kale looking at shirts for Swindler was not fun at all. It also didn’t help that my ear was really getting to me (did I mention that? I am deaf in my right ear at the moment). But yeah, please don’t ask me to do that again. I would’ve been better off just wandering around by myself for the time. Much less stressful.

Ice skating was really fun though, and made me feel a lot better. We spent two hours just skating round in circles. It was very nice indeed. I was surprised how well I skated actually. I mean, I’m not good or anything – I’m not bragging! I just haven’t ever skated much and the last time I did was a couple of years ago. But I was ab;e to skate around in circles rather well, and only fell over once, so that was nice. Actually just about everyone skated very well indeed. It was good! The only exception was Kale, who has never skated or rollerbladed before (the rest of us have done both). He was… pretty bad, to be honest. But that said, I think I was probably that bad when I first skated, and to his credit he made a lot of progress by the end. Yay! I was rather sore and tired by the end, but it was so worth it!!

After skating, we decided to just head home as it was getting pretty late and stuff and we had to get tea on. Now, getting home seems a simple task, no? WRONG!! It took us probably half an hour to find the proper exit from the shopping centre. Darned thing! In the process we also lost Kale and Swinder (separately). It was rather hilarious, I must say! We got out eventually though. It was peak hour going back too so it took quite a while, and the bus was really full. I do really like Sydney’s public transport system though. There’s hardly ever much of a wait for a bis or whatever. It’s heaps better than Ballarat’s, that’s for sure!! Except for one thing. My weekly public transport ticket is faulty. It is not scratched or anything, but the machines keep saying it is faulty, and then I show it to the driver or train guard person and they look confused and then they tell me it’s okay and I can get on. So it’s not as if I am prevented from catching public transport, it’s just plain annoying!! We tried to get a replacement ticket, but the mean guy at Central Station (probably the same one that didn’t accept out student cards grr).

Anyway yeah.. Got back, had tea etc (pretty lazy, just a roast chicken and bit of salad), then I had to wash the dishes. Somehow there were dishes from two nights ago. I have no idea how that happened, but somebody apparently didn’t do their job very well! . Doesn’t matter though. I really don’t mind doing the dishes. Nice and peaceful, somehow. Time to think and shit. Anyway, that’s just about the extent of my day today. I am completely buggered, so I guess I shouldn’t stay out of bed too long. Anyway, cyas tomorrow for another blag!

Love James

Sydney, Day 3

Wow, our third day in Sydney! I didn’t do a heck of a lot today, as when I woke up this morning my ear was completely screwed and I cannot hear out of it at all. I went to get some stuff for it from the chemist, but so far it hasn’t had much effect. Ah well, I’m sure it will be fine.

So yeah, the others all went to Darling Harbour for the day, but I really didn’t feel like it, so I made my way to the Botanic Gardens and lay and read for a while, which was rather nice. From first impressions, I don’t think I like them as much as the Ballarat ones for some reason, but that could’ve been due to where I chose to stop. I just walked straight in and picked a spot without walking around much. But on my way out, I walked around a bit and there were some really nice spots, so maybe I just picked the wrong place. Meh.

On my way home, I walked past UTS (University of Technology Sydney, where I want to go to Uni) to get a bit of a better look, and it actually looked really nice! I’m really looking forward to Friday, when I get a proper tour!

I got back pretty early, and just did some more reading and listening to music, which was nice and relaxing. Then the others came home and shared their experiences for the day, and it sounded really nice. That said, I really enjoyed my day, so I don’t wish I went with them. Umm anyway I think that’s about it now. We didn’t have tea until really late because nobody wanted to cook it and then the kitchen was full. It was ice by the time we got it though! Uh yeah that really is all I can think of now. Cyas tomorrow!

Sydney, Day 2

Second day in Sydney is almost over!! It was a very interesting day, to say the least. We headed off to the city in the morning, and ended up basically straight at the Opera House. We were there about 30 seconds (honestly not exaggerating) and what does it do? Starts POURING down rain! I think in the short period after that, Sydney got more rain than Ballarat has for the whole darned year! But yeah, it was absolutely pouring, so we had to shelter under the Opera House for a while. Still got wet though! It was fun nonetheless, although Tiana slipped over in the wet and hurt her elbow a bit. All good though. So we jumped on the ferry to Manly, just for something to do I guess (and get out of the rain!). We didn’t get to walk around or anything, because we were on the Jetcat (not the normal slow ferry), but it was still pretty okay.

Anyway, by the time we got to Manly it was sunny again – a really lovely day – so we got some nice photos and stuff on the beach.Then we had some lunch in Manly (mmm… fish and chippies, and Kale and Swindler also had a Danish ice cream (Kale made me put that in)) and decided to go for a walk along the bay back towards the city. It took us ages to cover like 2 or 3km just because we kept stopping to take photos! So yeah, we didn’t make it very far (distance-wise) before we decided to just catch a bus back to the city. So the three of our five who haven’t been to Sydney before got their first trip over the harbour bridge. It was pretty cool, but I think it’s better just looking at it than being on it . So yeah, we had a bit of a wander around the city and then caught another bus back to our accommodation. We had to get some stuff for tea, so after a bit of discussion we ended up having enchiladas, which Kale and I cooked. It was an interesting time cooking it, but surprisingly enough it turned out rather delicious! Anyway, since then we’ve just been hanging around and stuff. You know… I think that’s about it!

Oh, and Kale keeps drinking green tea. Just thought I’d mention that. Yeah.

Cya tomorrow!

Sydney, Day 1

OMG I’M IN SYDNEY!!! And it is darned HOT!! We caught the overnight train from Melbourne last night. It was pretty fun, except it was rather long at 11 hours! I was hoping to get some sleep, but as usual I found it impossible to sleep whilst travelling. That said, nobody really got much sleep (except Swindler, who got a couple of hours maybe). We got into Central Station in Sydney at about 7am this morning, and went to buy our public transport tickets for the week. It was an OUTRAGE!!! The guy at the ticket counter wouldn’t accept our student cards (being Victorian) so we had to pay $45 freaking bucks! Got over that, but still think it was pretty unfair.

We had to hang around in Newtown for a few hours while they were cleaning out our room, but we discovered that we chanced upon the annual Newtown Festival, so that provided us with something to keep us amused. When we got into our room we basically just crashed for a while, as we were all screwed from last night. It was good as I got a few hours sleep this afternoon and felt much better afterwards. Other than that, we wandered around Newtown for quite some time, just checking everything out. It’s really nice here I think. The main street is absolutely packed with just about every type of food imaginable (except fish and chips!!), so we’ve got plenty of options for when we want to eat out. It was so busy though – 9am Sunday morning and late Sunday night in Ballarat are usually uber quiet, but here it’s absolutely packed still. Although that could be a side effect of the festival.

Kale, Swindler and Tess all have never been to Sydney before, so at least the next couple of days will probably be spent checking out the touristy sites such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Also we want to catch some ferries and stuff (I always enjoy the Manly Ferry, which Dad made us catch both times we’ve been to Sydney because of the song Reckless by Australian Crawl). Also we have to make the most use possible of our awfully expensive transport ticket .

Anyway, hope everyone is having fun wherever they are (probably mostly back in Ballarat ). I’ll blog again soon using my lovely free unlimited wireless internet on my laptop (:D) to keep track of what’s going on! Cya ’round!

Love James