Arrived safe and sound! We succeeded in scaring the shit out of the two people who were the lucky ones picked to room with us. Our flight had been slightly delayed on take off, so we arrived around 1am New Zealand time. Trying to be quiet, I've found, is incredibly hard when you are lugging around a large backpack.
Luckily, both of the people we roomed with last night were very sweet and non-grumpy about stupid americans interrupting their sleep.
This hostel is lovely :) Ponsonby Backpackers of Auckland, lovely people and clean bathrooms! Whoop!
Currently wrapped in my kick ass sweat pants and enjoying some lovely music on my phone while I type this out. I want to sing! Being constantly in public with little actual privacy, I have been sorely missing the ability to exercise my vocal chords to something loud and beautiful (Mumford? Florence? Justin Timberlake - SIDEBAR: I am SO excited about his new album coming out in March). Singing has always been a therapeutic and barometric type activity for me. I sing the most when I am happy, and in all honesty its a tick that I use to determine how well I'm handling stress. Like a canary in a mine, when shit gets nasty I stop singing.
Its roughly 9:30am here (3:32pm yesterday at home - rocking time travel) and I have officially had a half nights decent sleep and a lovely shower. There is some sort of insect chirping outside that sounds very much like the cicadas we have in the summer at home. And I am so damn excited that I can hardly stand it :)
"The part where you let go" by Hem
Friday, February 22, 2013
It's time to begin, isn't it?
There's a time for talking, there's a time for eating, there's a time for reading and sometimes those things overlap, but right now it's ok if they don't.
- KFarm
With the airplane cabin dark around me and some excellent music finally playing on my iPhone, I'm trying to take a few brief moments to collect my thoughts on the darling city of Sydney. It was lovely over all, especially Hyde Park and the Bondi to Coogee trek, but I can't put into words how excited I am to be free of the city and finally on our way to New Zealand.
Over the last few days my need to move and explore was beginning to reach stifling levels. Every time we slung our packs on it was with a resolute sigh. Traipsing all over town from hostel to hostel had started to develop a slightly sour taste in my mouth. Frankly, it reminded me quite a bit of a slice of watermelon on a hot summer night. Those first few bites are sweet enough to bring on a diabetic coma, but the closer you get to the rind, a different taste takes hold. It tastes sweet still, but with an increasing aftertaste of sour oldness. We were getting to a point where we had had too many bites of Sydney.
With great relief we hopped a train to the airport around lunch time, roughly 6 hours before our flight was due out haha. We slipped off the train and immediately broke our gear down into plane mode (which, for me, consists of removing my day pack from the top of my ever increasingly awesome pack and stuffing the remaining frame into a collapsible duffle bag). KFarm and I then proceeded to hole ourselves up in a coffee shop to zombify our brains on some tantalizingly free WiFi until our flight was ready to boogey.
Book of the Day (literally): Fifty Shades of Grey. (Yes, I broke down and bought it. And damn it all, its a crazy read. Started and finished in 24 hours haha)
- KFarm
With the airplane cabin dark around me and some excellent music finally playing on my iPhone, I'm trying to take a few brief moments to collect my thoughts on the darling city of Sydney. It was lovely over all, especially Hyde Park and the Bondi to Coogee trek, but I can't put into words how excited I am to be free of the city and finally on our way to New Zealand.
Over the last few days my need to move and explore was beginning to reach stifling levels. Every time we slung our packs on it was with a resolute sigh. Traipsing all over town from hostel to hostel had started to develop a slightly sour taste in my mouth. Frankly, it reminded me quite a bit of a slice of watermelon on a hot summer night. Those first few bites are sweet enough to bring on a diabetic coma, but the closer you get to the rind, a different taste takes hold. It tastes sweet still, but with an increasing aftertaste of sour oldness. We were getting to a point where we had had too many bites of Sydney.
With great relief we hopped a train to the airport around lunch time, roughly 6 hours before our flight was due out haha. We slipped off the train and immediately broke our gear down into plane mode (which, for me, consists of removing my day pack from the top of my ever increasingly awesome pack and stuffing the remaining frame into a collapsible duffle bag). KFarm and I then proceeded to hole ourselves up in a coffee shop to zombify our brains on some tantalizingly free WiFi until our flight was ready to boogey.
Book of the Day (literally): Fifty Shades of Grey. (Yes, I broke down and bought it. And damn it all, its a crazy read. Started and finished in 24 hours haha)
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Outstanding.
Days Four, Five and Six
I HAVE CLEAN SWEAT PANTS! Best day ever.
As I sit here and rack my brain trying to think of what in the hell we've done in the last three days, I am amazed at how fast the time has really flown by. With our tour of Sydney coming to a close, it really doesn't feel like we've been here for almost an entire week already.
Tuesday, KFarm and I went to the Sydney Aquarium, which I was overall unimpressed with. We did, however, succeed in finding Nemo.
The next day, KFarm, Linus and I hiked across town to the Sydney Bridge and proceeded to climb to the top of the bridge pylon for the best (and cheapest) view of the city.
Fun Fact Number 3: I love Gustav Holst's "Jupiter". Google that pronto.
Back at Backpacker's HQ, we added Mags and Dylan to our list of international friends gained thus far. KFarm and I convinced most of our room to stay in and play drinking games with us, mainly because we like to party in our PJ's.
Fun Fact Number 4: I'm not drinking ANYMORE on this excursion.
I had maybe 3 cups of the local boxed wine and it RUINED me. I have never in my life been so sick on wine of any sort. No bueno.
So today started off like a kick in the pants, I woke up feeling like a champion (literally. For some reason, my hangovers aren't normal, I always wake up ready to run a marathon or climb mountains.) We wolfed down a heaping pile of cereal and repacked out things to travel back across town for our last nights stay.
We checked in and I immediately started a load of laundry. I hadn't worn my sweat pants since the plane because they STUNK and all I wanted to do was take a long hot shower and climb into clean PJs.
Fast forward to now, I am currently parked on the top bunk indian style in my nice clean sweat pants with a tired smile slapped on my face.
Headed to New Zealand tomorrow!!! Let the adventures begin (again).
I HAVE CLEAN SWEAT PANTS! Best day ever.
As I sit here and rack my brain trying to think of what in the hell we've done in the last three days, I am amazed at how fast the time has really flown by. With our tour of Sydney coming to a close, it really doesn't feel like we've been here for almost an entire week already.
Tuesday, KFarm and I went to the Sydney Aquarium, which I was overall unimpressed with. We did, however, succeed in finding Nemo.
The next day, KFarm, Linus and I hiked across town to the Sydney Bridge and proceeded to climb to the top of the bridge pylon for the best (and cheapest) view of the city.
Fun Fact Number 3: I love Gustav Holst's "Jupiter". Google that pronto.
Back at Backpacker's HQ, we added Mags and Dylan to our list of international friends gained thus far. KFarm and I convinced most of our room to stay in and play drinking games with us, mainly because we like to party in our PJ's.
Fun Fact Number 4: I'm not drinking ANYMORE on this excursion.
I had maybe 3 cups of the local boxed wine and it RUINED me. I have never in my life been so sick on wine of any sort. No bueno.
So today started off like a kick in the pants, I woke up feeling like a champion (literally. For some reason, my hangovers aren't normal, I always wake up ready to run a marathon or climb mountains.) We wolfed down a heaping pile of cereal and repacked out things to travel back across town for our last nights stay.
We checked in and I immediately started a load of laundry. I hadn't worn my sweat pants since the plane because they STUNK and all I wanted to do was take a long hot shower and climb into clean PJs.
Fast forward to now, I am currently parked on the top bunk indian style in my nice clean sweat pants with a tired smile slapped on my face.
Headed to New Zealand tomorrow!!! Let the adventures begin (again).
Fit!
Holy crap! I actually had to tighten my hip belt straps on my pack this morning. We're going to pretend that's because I'm gracefully slimming down and not because the hip belt is stretching from actual use ;)
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
We play well with others!
Fun Fact: KFarm and I aren't as socially awkward as previously assumed!
We switched hostels yesterday to one across town called Backpackers HQ. It's rather nice to be on the other side of Sydney with a totally different feel and more fun things to explore :)
Our previous hostel had a kind of clubish feel to it, every time I got on the elevator I felt like I was waiting for strobe lights to come on. This one, however, is quite lovely. Its tucked away on a street lined by cute little boutique shops and cafes, gracefully shaded by trees that remind me of a hybrid mix between and maple and sycamore tree.
Our room is a tiny thing with 10 beds on the third floor (ha!). We met three swedish fellows (Linus, Gustav and Marcus) and the coolest Irish girl (Rachel) straight off the bat. We ended up eating pizza and drinking "goon" (Australia's version of Franzia) with Rachel trading phrases and awesome music. Swear to god it felt like I was REALLY back at Murray State. I keep waiting for my suite mate to come over.
I am so incredibly pleased with our ability to befriend strangers right now! Apparently we're hilarious Americans.
We had breakfast in the courtyard this morning Linus and have successfully achieved "Lets Do Nothing Today" status. Mumford Jam session with New Zealand planning (YAY free WiFI!!!) here I come :)
-L
We switched hostels yesterday to one across town called Backpackers HQ. It's rather nice to be on the other side of Sydney with a totally different feel and more fun things to explore :)
Our previous hostel had a kind of clubish feel to it, every time I got on the elevator I felt like I was waiting for strobe lights to come on. This one, however, is quite lovely. Its tucked away on a street lined by cute little boutique shops and cafes, gracefully shaded by trees that remind me of a hybrid mix between and maple and sycamore tree.
Our room is a tiny thing with 10 beds on the third floor (ha!). We met three swedish fellows (Linus, Gustav and Marcus) and the coolest Irish girl (Rachel) straight off the bat. We ended up eating pizza and drinking "goon" (Australia's version of Franzia) with Rachel trading phrases and awesome music. Swear to god it felt like I was REALLY back at Murray State. I keep waiting for my suite mate to come over.
I am so incredibly pleased with our ability to befriend strangers right now! Apparently we're hilarious Americans.
We had breakfast in the courtyard this morning Linus and have successfully achieved "Lets Do Nothing Today" status. Mumford Jam session with New Zealand planning (YAY free WiFI!!!) here I come :)
-L
Roll away your stone, I'll roll away mine
Day Three
I LOVE hiking. I firmly believe that it is the best way to center yourself body, mind and soul. Especially when you have beautiful vistas and a good solid line of hills or stairs to climb. There is something about getting your heart pumping and feeling that rush of blood through your veins that is simply medicinal on its own.
My last year has been full of roller coaster ups and downs, and my schedule just hasn't permitted a good long hike. KFarm and I walked a beautiful coastal trek from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach Monday. Every corner rounded led to another gorgeous view.
I'm not an ocean person by any means, but that doesn't mean that I cant appreciate the beauty a coastal cliff has to offer. I'm also not a terribly religious person either (I believe in kindness and honesty above belonging to a particular religion), but there was something truly spiritual about that walk. My entire soul clicked back into place after being disjointed for quite some time.
What a feeling that was. It was as though all of the shitty nonsense that had been bogging me down melted away. That was a feeling that previously I could only attain for short periods of time after a great weekend, or by eating 8 pounds of chocolate haha. There was something about that 2 hour up and down, sweat your ass off, constant applications of sunscreen hike that did it.
My legs are sore as hell, but my heart feels like a bird.
I LOVE hiking. I firmly believe that it is the best way to center yourself body, mind and soul. Especially when you have beautiful vistas and a good solid line of hills or stairs to climb. There is something about getting your heart pumping and feeling that rush of blood through your veins that is simply medicinal on its own.
My last year has been full of roller coaster ups and downs, and my schedule just hasn't permitted a good long hike. KFarm and I walked a beautiful coastal trek from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach Monday. Every corner rounded led to another gorgeous view.
I'm not an ocean person by any means, but that doesn't mean that I cant appreciate the beauty a coastal cliff has to offer. I'm also not a terribly religious person either (I believe in kindness and honesty above belonging to a particular religion), but there was something truly spiritual about that walk. My entire soul clicked back into place after being disjointed for quite some time.
What a feeling that was. It was as though all of the shitty nonsense that had been bogging me down melted away. That was a feeling that previously I could only attain for short periods of time after a great weekend, or by eating 8 pounds of chocolate haha. There was something about that 2 hour up and down, sweat your ass off, constant applications of sunscreen hike that did it.
My legs are sore as hell, but my heart feels like a bird.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Chinatown, Pink Hair and Rallying.
Day One and Two
Can I just say how much sleep really improves your point of view?
Fun fact about me: Hungry/Sleepy Lauren = Grumpy/Negative Lauren.
We got into Australia around 8:30 local time and check in wasn't until noon, so KFarm and I hauled our worn out asses to some crazy asian shopping mall and proceeded to wolf down chinese food like it was manna from heaven.
Now full, but exhausted, my mood only deteriorated more after that haha. We ended up walking through Sydney's Chinatown about 4 times total, and I was so irritated at seeing anything Asian that I about lost my mind. We swung through Darling Harbor near the end of our walking excursion, KFarm and I decided that it was basically the touristy parts of Florida condensed and collected into that part of Sydney.
We crawled back to our room around 5 or 6 with plans to research what to do the following day. Instead, we promptly passed out at 8ish feeling none-to-impressed with the city of Sydney and ever more excited for a return flight to New Zealand.
5:00am rolled around and my ass was AWAKE. I wiggled as quietly as possible from the squeaky top bunk and came down to the lobby to read some more Jack Kerouac (interesting read all in all, he writes the same way my brain processes things: lots of run on sentences and back stories haha. So its easy enough for me to follow :)
Favorite quote this far from On The Road:
"...because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace things, but burn burn burn like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..."
I loved it because it true! I adore people who have passion. Spontaneity and confidence together is such a dangerous and perfect mixture. So far, the people KFarm and I have befriended have been very much so of this caliber.
I spoke at length to a girl named Steph with bright pink hair at 5:00 am that day. She said "I love having pink hair, orange was better, but pink is great! People want to talk to you when you have pink hair, I cant even tell you how many friends I've made just because of it." It true, you do want to talk to her because her hair is pink, but more-so because she is so confidently friendly.
Now in all fairness, parts of this crowd of spontaneity isn't quite my style. A majority of the people at this hostel are wee little babies of 20-22 who drink for months straight. They have have the funds to travel to Cambodia for 3 months and get sick on malaria pills, only to stop taking them because they preferred to be vomiting from alcohol instead of malaria pills (True DudeBro story 1). Like I said, not my style but the most interesting and fascinating people to speak with for their stories and to compare opinions (and your home country's favorite curse words/sayings) with.
BUT there are also some AMAZING people here. We are bunked with 6 other people in our room, two very nice girls from different parts of England here on work visas and two Australians (Melbourneians?) in particular are hilarious. There are several people here traveling alone, which makes you a very friendly chatty person because you HAVE to be. I'll have to try that next, it's be good for me to learn how to be less reserved straight off the bat.
Anywho, a rough summation of yesterday:
- Expensive breakfast
- Expensive everything
- Hyde Park is BEAUTIFUL.
- The Royal Botanical Gardens are AMAZING.
- Sydney is full of gorgeous, perfect, blonde, skinny people that make me feel like a frumpy American
- The Opera House is TILED on the outside. ::surprise face::
- Free WiFi is my new best friend (Thank you Sydney Opera House and Art Museum for offering such services to the public.)
- KFarm's team is sooooo much better than mine! She is a much better people watcher than I am haha!
Needless to say, my initial take on Sydney was a negative and depressing one, but the city rallied today! I wouldn't get anything done if I lived here, there are too many beautiful things to look at.
More to follow soon!
Can I just say how much sleep really improves your point of view?
Fun fact about me: Hungry/Sleepy Lauren = Grumpy/Negative Lauren.
We got into Australia around 8:30 local time and check in wasn't until noon, so KFarm and I hauled our worn out asses to some crazy asian shopping mall and proceeded to wolf down chinese food like it was manna from heaven.
Now full, but exhausted, my mood only deteriorated more after that haha. We ended up walking through Sydney's Chinatown about 4 times total, and I was so irritated at seeing anything Asian that I about lost my mind. We swung through Darling Harbor near the end of our walking excursion, KFarm and I decided that it was basically the touristy parts of Florida condensed and collected into that part of Sydney.
We crawled back to our room around 5 or 6 with plans to research what to do the following day. Instead, we promptly passed out at 8ish feeling none-to-impressed with the city of Sydney and ever more excited for a return flight to New Zealand.
5:00am rolled around and my ass was AWAKE. I wiggled as quietly as possible from the squeaky top bunk and came down to the lobby to read some more Jack Kerouac (interesting read all in all, he writes the same way my brain processes things: lots of run on sentences and back stories haha. So its easy enough for me to follow :)
Favorite quote this far from On The Road:
"...because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace things, but burn burn burn like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..."
I loved it because it true! I adore people who have passion. Spontaneity and confidence together is such a dangerous and perfect mixture. So far, the people KFarm and I have befriended have been very much so of this caliber.
I spoke at length to a girl named Steph with bright pink hair at 5:00 am that day. She said "I love having pink hair, orange was better, but pink is great! People want to talk to you when you have pink hair, I cant even tell you how many friends I've made just because of it." It true, you do want to talk to her because her hair is pink, but more-so because she is so confidently friendly.
Now in all fairness, parts of this crowd of spontaneity isn't quite my style. A majority of the people at this hostel are wee little babies of 20-22 who drink for months straight. They have have the funds to travel to Cambodia for 3 months and get sick on malaria pills, only to stop taking them because they preferred to be vomiting from alcohol instead of malaria pills (True DudeBro story 1). Like I said, not my style but the most interesting and fascinating people to speak with for their stories and to compare opinions (and your home country's favorite curse words/sayings) with.
BUT there are also some AMAZING people here. We are bunked with 6 other people in our room, two very nice girls from different parts of England here on work visas and two Australians (Melbourneians?) in particular are hilarious. There are several people here traveling alone, which makes you a very friendly chatty person because you HAVE to be. I'll have to try that next, it's be good for me to learn how to be less reserved straight off the bat.
Anywho, a rough summation of yesterday:
- Expensive breakfast
- Expensive everything
- Hyde Park is BEAUTIFUL.
- The Royal Botanical Gardens are AMAZING.
- Sydney is full of gorgeous, perfect, blonde, skinny people that make me feel like a frumpy American
- The Opera House is TILED on the outside. ::surprise face::
- Free WiFi is my new best friend (Thank you Sydney Opera House and Art Museum for offering such services to the public.)
- KFarm's team is sooooo much better than mine! She is a much better people watcher than I am haha!
Needless to say, my initial take on Sydney was a negative and depressing one, but the city rallied today! I wouldn't get anything done if I lived here, there are too many beautiful things to look at.
More to follow soon!
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