Christelle in Australia

October 10, 2004

Ferry to Taronga Zoo Wharf and Walk in Sydney Harbour National Park

Today I went to the Sydney Harbour National Park. I left the house at 10h35 to go fax a document, but the shop was not opened. I got a phonecall from my mom on my mobile but could not talk as I was in a hurry to catch the 11h07 ferry from Darling Street, East Balmain wharf. I did make it on time. I got on board a new kind of ferry (not the nice green/yellow ones, but a "modern" looking one), the "Louise Sauvage". It went to McMahon's Point and Milson's Point wharves and then on to Circular Quay. I got off the ferry and saw the one leaving to Taronga Zoo would leave from the same wharf at 11h40. So, I was onboard the same ferry to Taronga. There, I walked along a track in the Sydney Harbour National Park. First through Bradley's Head and then through Clifton Gardens. I saw many plants, flowers, trees, etc. At one point I felt like I was deep in a forest, but I was not far away from civilization. It was nice because there was a little water running down to the sea, birds, the wind in the leaves, etc. At one point, I saw a big lizard on the foot path. It was about 50 cm long (or more...?)! I took a photo from him and then scared him off the foot path by throwing a leaf in his direction. A few meters later, there was a second lizard on the foot path!! I took a picture of that one too and then scared him off again! How funny! 2 lizards within 5 meters (photo can be seen in my album)! That was definitely one of the best things today. After, I arrived at Taylor's Bay/Clifton Gardens and saw the huge houses, expensive cars, big streets, etc. These people were definitely rich! I walked up to a main street and got the bus number 247 back to the Queen Victoria Building in the city. It was about 14h20 or so. I was really hungry! I went to buy a few candies and then took the bus number 442 back to Balmain. All the ferries and busses today were free once again, as my TravelPass was still valid! I definitely saved a lot of money by doing all that sightseeing with the pass because a single trip on the ferry costs 4,50$! Yesterday and today, I've used the ferry 7 times, that's 31,50$ "free"! I stopped at the shop to fax my timesheet to the temp agency (it was opened!) and then went on to buy my Homebake ticket at Fish Records. It is a major festival on December 4 at The Domain, near the Botanical Gardens in Sydney. The festival features many Australian singers/bands. Then I came home, had lunch, put my pictures on the computer and watched the Japan F1 Grand Prix.

October 11, 2004

Booking my Trip to Cairns

In the morning, my boyfriend called me. I wanted his opinion on some things for my trip up the coast to Cairns in December and Darwin/Alice Springs in November. Later, I went to Peterpans travel agency to book a few things for the Cairns trip. Upon arrival, the two travel agents were busy with other travellers, so I was offered top surf the net for free while waiting. The guy working there was really helpful. He sold me the vouchers and also called each place to book the specified date I needed. It took a while (like 1 hour? don't know exactly...). He booked: hostel in Coff's Harbour, hostel in Byron Bay, surf school lesson, Fraser Island tour, sailing in the Whitsundays (on a ship built in Holland in 1902!), tour of the Atherton Tablelands and Fitzroy Island tour. He also threw in for free a few drinks/meals vouchers, luggage storage for when I'll be sailing and 2 nights accommodation in a Cairns hostel! All of that came up to 800$. At home, I booked the plane trip, the bus pass and the rest of the accommodation. I'm getting excited!!! I still have to plan the trip to Darwin/Alice Springs, maybe tomorrow.

October 12, 2004

Waking Up Early to a Really Warm Day

This morning I woke up at about 6h! I could not sleep anymore, I was too excited about the trip I started to plan yesterday! I laid in bed thinking about it until 7h when I decided to just get up. I did a few things for my trip to Darwin/Alice Springs on the Internet: check the plane prices, get more information on the Ghan train, etc. I decided I would go to a travel agency later to book the planes and train because I could then pay cash and not use my credit card. At 13h, after watching some television, I left to go to Harvey World Travel. There a nice lady helped me book Sydney-Darwin plane, Darwin-Alice Springs train and Alice Springs-Sydney plane. I will do that trip from November 15 to November 22. It took about 45 minutes and I was done. I have to go back there on Friday to pick-up my vouchers/tickets. Back at the house, it was a bit crazy. They are putting in a new window in the dining room so it had to be all cleared up and plastic sheets had to be hung up to protect the other rooms from the dust (cutting brick to put the window in!). At 15h30, when they started the work, I had decided to go up in my room to escape the dust/noise but it was still too loud so I decided to just come to an Internet cafe, where I am now, and surf the net a little bit. It is not cheap, 12$ for 2 hours, but it is a card that you can use just the time you want and then re-log on the next time you come. I thought this way I could escape the noise and get a few more things ready in the trip planning! The temperature is 33 degrees Celcius now says an Australian website! It sure does feel warm too! Hopefully tomorrow I'll go to the beach to enjoy another day which they predict will be even warmer than today... It's Summer! Yay!

October 13, 2004

Bronte Beach, More Trip Bookings and Andy's August Birthday in October

This morning, I got up at around 8h. I had breakfast, showered and went to the Internet cafe to check my emails and stuff but althrough they said they opened at 9h, it was not opened at 9h20! Back home, Andy connected the Internet on the computer while it was still just sitting in the living room floor so that I could use it! At around 11h, we left to go to a beach, and once to the coast, we went to Bronte Beach. It was very nice, the sand was fine and white and the water had nice little waves. I went for a little swim, then Andy went and then I went again. I enjoyed the waves (near the beach they were bigger... further out they were not powerful at all). I did not get sunburnt which is good! At home, I left at around 3pm to go to the Internet cafe to escape the window/brick work. I booked a tour and a hostel as well as reading emails and news from back home. At the house, Andy booked the tickets for The Tea Party! We will get them in the mail soon. At around 7pm, Andy, his mother, brother and I went to dinner at Trojans, a restaurant up the hill on Darling Street. We went to celebrate Andy's brithday which was in August but he was not in Australia then. I had Lamb Souvlaki, which was very tasty! It was a nice evening out.

October 14, 2004

Work at a Crappy Child Care Centre

This morning around 7h45, I got called by the temp agency to go work as soon as I could to 14h at a childcare centre, cooking. I arrived there at 9h30. The director was not very friendly... She said: "The kitchen's there, make sandwiches." She did not explain the following things which I came accross through out the day: number of room, number of children, that 2 children had their own food I had to make, one other child could not eat margarine, etc.

October 14, 2004 Continued

So they kept giving me orders and seemed annoyed I did not know everything! What do you expect!! On top of that, the orders came in so there was a ton of food to put away... and no room for it (the freezer was so full!). I stubled upon a few insects in the pantry too while putting the food away: a cochroach in the oinions and a spider in the apples! I always thought a kitchen should be one of the cleanest place! Washing up sucked also because of their crappy dishwasher! It is the first time I felt like I really wanted to get out of there!!! At around 15h, I was back at the house. The builder and the bricklayer got busy putting the window in and bricking around it. It was nice to see the whole process! That evening, Andy and I went to the Sandringham Hotel in Newtown to see Jamie Hutchings. He was opening for Marty something from a band called "The Church". Before the show started, Marty came to our table to light the little tea candles and chatted a bit with us. Jamie came on and played a few songs on his own before being joined on stage by his sister, Sophie. She played the piano and he played the guitar. It was very nice and different than just Jamie on his own. We stayed for Marty after. He was a good performer. He read a lot of poetry too (one cool poem with all words starting by p!) and made a few jokes. Sophie Hutchings played piano on a few songs, as well as another Sophie playing the cello. I enjoyed the songs with the cello the best! That instrument sounds very nice. At 23h, we left because I had an early start the next morning and Andy also.

October 15, 2004

Work at the Same Child Care Centre

Today work at the same centre was not as bad... I got to cook a real meal (spagetti) and knew more about the special diets of a few children so I was able to prepare accordingly. I did find one more cochroach though, it was near the stove/oven! It was laying on its back, but still alive... It was moving its legs, trying to move I guess! Yuck! I got the courage of taking it away after 1h of it laying there...! Two dogs also visited me. There was a screen door in the kitchen and I guess they smelled the meat cooking and wanted some! They stayed around for 30 minutes... One was so big and cute! At 1h40, I left. I was done in the kitchen, so the last 20 minutes I got as my break time. At home, I looked into a possible trip to Canberra to see Something For Kate play at a festival but I think I won't go. By what I've seen/read, a car is a must in that city and I wouldn't have one to get around from my accommodation to the concert and around town. I went to bed at around 22h, I was very tired!

October 16, 2004

Sydney Tower & Skytour, Chinatown, Paddy's Market & Shopping

Today at first I did not want to anything... I called two companies about bookings for my december trip (one hostel, one tour) and got one thing settled at least! On I'm still waiting on... But after seeing how nice it was outside, I decided to go see some sights in the city. At about 12h, I took the bus number 442 and walked on Market Street pass the State Theater to the Sydney Tower at Centrepoint. I bought a ticket for the Observation Deck as well as the SkyTour. It cost 16,50$ (thankfully I had my student card... Otherwise it was like 5$ more expensive!) I did the SkyTour first. We went to sit in a little cinema room, they call them the Discovery Chambers. The platform with the seats turned 360 degrees, stopping for 4 different landscapes. There was hologram movies on fix backgrounds. One was in the city, the other was the outback, another was the coast line and lastly the rainforest. It was cute, but I did not learn much new stuff about Australia... After it was time for the Australian Expedition. It was a giant screen and seats that move to what is on the screen. It showed images of Uluru, footy, a sailing ship from the old times, etc. It was an alright movie, but sometimes I thought the seat was moving for nothing... Just to say it was. I then went up the tower at the Observation Deck. In the elevator there were two girls speaking Dutch but I did not say anything to them. I enjoyed seeing the city from high up a lot! I took many panorama pictures and tried to spot the different buildings/areas I knew or had seen before from the ground. After, I walked towards Dixon Street, where the Chinatown gates are as well as many Chinese restaurants. At the end was Paddy's Market. It was huge and very crowded. I walked around browsing through the incredible amount of things for sale. Near the market was a nice piece of art. It was a tree but had the "five Natural Elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth [...] incorporated in the design in order to encourage positive energy and good fortune." I thought it was very nice. Then I walked back towards Market Street on George Street. I bought a 20$ phone card to call back home and also went in a store that had a lot of discounts. I saw a lot of nice clothing! I bought a brown t-shirt with pink-white design on it (12$!) as well as a black skirt (10$!). I then went to find flip-flops but only found one brand at the General Pants store so I decided to wait. I went to the bus stop to go back home and arrived just as the bus number 442 was leaving! I knocked on the door and he opened it and let me in. I got the last seat (just behind the driver) and was back at the house at around 17h.