Seven Days Down

Goodbye Sydney, for now.

Sydney Central Train Station

I <3 Sydney

     It has been a full week since I left Los Angeles but only five full days of adventure. I am finally in Wollongong (Wool-long-gong), NSW. It took about 80 minutes on a train to get here. The weather is a mixture of sun one day and rains the next; you can't plan a day at the beach it just has to happen. My sunburn is almost healed. The city is beautiful sits along the eastern coast with soft sand beaches.

Stanwell Lookout Point of Wollongong

I feel like I am going to school in the rain forest.

      With the beauty comes the price. Australia is expensive. A good meal costs about $25.00 minus the beer. I usually start the morning with any piece of fruit I can get my hands on. The standard staple for lunch consists of a piece of white bread covered with either tomato or BBQ sauce and a chicken sausage link. The causal meat paired with salad and chips for dinner.  To wash this all down I grab a beer, I am really taking a liking to Coopers Brew Pale Ale.

       

Uni Campus 

       Aussies at my place are all friendly and very mature for a group of 18 year olds. See in Australia 18 is the legal drinking age so most of them started around 16-17. The first couple days the groups were segregated boy/girl but now that we been in close quarters it is starting to mix. For instance, we visit the North Gong Pub for an $8 steak (Note: Steak is cheap here), after we all mingle and chat like 25 year olds (Great scene, all we really needed was a fire but then its 75 degrees outside). 

We talk about:

1.Kangaroos

2. Guns and how screwed up the US is- "If we had America's gun laws, 20 of us would have walked into the bar tonight and only 5 of us would of walked out," says the mate Michael.

3.Rugby

4. Beer- If an Aussie male drinks cider, he is a "pussy".

5. The influx of Asians in Australia

6. All the towns everyone is from and what is NOT special about each

      We are all staying at Flinders Motel for a month. There is a consensus it will extend past.  I like the motel because it is only five minutes from the pubs, beach and mall.  Plus it has this ratchet kind of dodgy ("shady" in AUS) look all dark with common kitchen and laundry with no dryer. Spring Break 1978! Where we are suppose to go to in a month reminds me of the new lofts in Pasadena, Calif. My room is shared with a girl from Indonesia who is here to learn English. Yes, she knows very little and she chose Australia to learn English, not my first choice.

North Wollongong Beach 

       Australia does have the potential to be my first choice in the category of where I want to live for the next few years. Aussies have done amazing job with their country, they have found that balance between appreciating what they have and wanting to progress ahead. Their backyard is amazing, full of history and natural resources while a sustainable and efficient vehicle sits in the driveway. I read somewhere on pamphlet that Australia holds the records for most inventions, and I can definitely believe it.

Turtle Love