Non-Stop

Why did I leave such little time for the world-renowned city of Sydney? (Simple answer is I was loving Melbourne so much.) Since arriving and realizing how much there is to see and how short a time I'd allotted to see it in it has been a non-stop whirlwind tour. Luckily for me the sun and warmth has continuously been on my side for the first multi-day stretch of the trip (and only supposed to heat up from here).

Arriving bright and early I trucked it around (and by trucked it I mean hiked it) all over this fair city getting a full memory card worth of photographs of the iconic Opera House from every imaginable angle. Being welcomed by my gracious hosts after a full day of sight-seeing with a hearty dinner was more than I could have asked for.

Joined by Yian Yian the next day we walked the Harbour Bridge, ate at the market, toured museums, science centers (gotta go back still!), the observatory and more - and without a break met for drinks, dinner and more drinks in some of Australia's oldest pubs. The rooftop patio wasn't too shabby either.

Bright and early today was a hearty breakfast with another friend, Peita, from my brief frat house days in Vancouver before some fun in the sun. You'd think a day at the beach would be relaxing, but Dan doesn't like to sit still (and frankly neither do I) so the beach included snorkeling, body surfing, frisbee, and dinner+drinks at the Australian equivalent to the legion (overlooking the large crashing waves of the beach).

Alas this has turned into a 'What I did on Summer Vacation' post which I swore I wouldn't resort to. But there's no time to be creative and rewrite it - so this will have to also serve as an 'I'm alive and doing fine!' post too since I meet my two-week adventure tour an hour away from here tomorrow at seven in the morning (7 am) (0700h). Guess I can't complain.. just hope the kookaburra doesn't ruin my rest!

Sup, Beaches?

It was surprisingly quite easy for the normally can't-sit-still me to spend the entirety of today on the beach. Pulling up a yellow wooden lounge lounge chair under an equally yellow umbrella I settled in for countless hours with the salty water lapping at my toes. Also to do with my toes was the foot, or should I say lower-leg massage that stretched me from ticklish thigh down to the tip of my big toe. (I opted out of the pedi, while Larissa went for the whole shebang).

From there the afternoon was an intermingling of floating in the waves, drinking chilled beer, catching up on over a week's worth of journalling, and purchasing new sunglasses, while turning down most of the other beach hawkers with their various wares from breaded shrimp, to henna, banana boat rides, fresh fruit and jewelry. However with the late afternoon sun peaking under the edge of the umbrella I couldn't resist the cookies'n' ice cream frozen stick.

With the apparently hectic city of Bangkok becoming our temporary residence tomorrow I think it was for the best that we recharged today on the beach and are now ready to battle the traffic and smog.