THE END IS HERE

Just like that, it is over. The last two months of my life have been unbelievable. I have gotten to do things I never even imagined and made friends that will hopefully last a lifetime. Along the way, I have learned a lot about my culture, other cultures and grown as a person. It's been fascinating - every single aspect of it. Enough of that, on to the good stuff.

Friday:

Sorry I have not been able to update sooner. I have been trying to squeeze everything in to the last couple of days here in Sydney and I have not had much internet access. Anyway, this past weekend kicked off on Friday after we checked out. I know I have talked a lot about how nice the Aussies are but the story I'm about to share might be the best example in the history of the world (or at least my blog). So myself, Nick and Bo wanted to go to La Perouse. This was an old military fort right on the ocean in the middle of a port. Honestly, there isn't a whole lot to do there but take in the gorgeous views. The main draw for us though was that one of the most memorable scenes in Mission Impossible 2 was filmed there. You might remember Tom Cruise running across the bridge, saving the world, jumping up and down on a couch, etc. etc. Well in order to get there, we had to take a bus (fascinating, right?). The issue was A) I hadn't purchased a pass yet for the weekend and was going to have to pay for it out of my hard earned and even harder spent money and B) We weren't real sure where exactly we were going. We hopped on our first bus and were in for quite a treat.

We were greeted by a young friendly bus driver - not out of the norm here in Oz. However, he (Lee) wouldn't let me pay him for a bus ticket to where we needed to get to. Instead, he wanted to trade me my Oakley sunglasses and call it even, jokingly of course. I let him try them on and he got a kick out them. He could tell immediately that we were American and started giving us a hard time about being tourist and yankees and blah blah blah. It was all pretty funny and he still was persistent on not allowing me to pay. Whatever, I wasn't complaining. He even faked a phone call to the bus office about the helpless Americans on the bus. Eventually, after much razzing from him, we made it to where we needed to get on the next bus. He jokingly said he was going to get off the bus and show us around. At least, we thought he was joking. He actually got off the bus. Well as it ends up, he was apparently scheduled to get off the bus there. Then, he took the bus he was supposed to drive back to the offices for his break and turned it into a free private charter to La Perouse. He took the entire bus and drove us three right to La Perouse. Along the way, he shared some of his own entertaining stories, mocked people trying to get him to stop (my personal favorite) and took an absurd amount of joy in driving through puddles - nothing like a 12-year old boy stuck in a man's body driving a bus. Needless to say, it was an entertaining commute - not to mention the entire trip was free.

The reward at the end of the commute wasn't too shabby either. The views were spectacular and I could imagine Tom just sprinting across the bridge - so dreamy. That's a joke. In all reality, the views were worth any sort of trip. We walked down and around the base snapped some photos and were even treated to a beautiful rainbow. It was a spectacular site and a spectacular start to a spectacular day. Spectacular.

After La Perouse, we went to grab lunch at the Markets in The Rocks. The Rocks is one of the suburbs of Sydney and might be my personal favorite. It is the old part of town with cobblestone roads and limestone (okay that might or might not be historically accurate - just pick a stone you like, I could have said coal and you would have been forced to believe me) buildings. It is pretty neat. Especially for someone who likes history as much as I do. I got a tremendous Meatball wrap for only 8 bucks. A steal here in Sydney. My day was already memorable and I hadn't even made it to the main event yet.

"James Morrison and 11 Other Trumpet Superstars in...Fun and Brass" at the Sydney Opera House. I had been wanting to go to a show at the Opera House for my entire trip but hadn't found the time or the right show yet. Patience is a virtue and I was treated to a tremendous jazz show featuring the history of trumpet and jazz. My sister is drooling right now. I grew up listening to the shreaking of her weapon of brass destruction. Okay, actually she was pretty good but we all know I was the best musician in the family as well as the most attractive, most loved, most athletic and smartest (or none of the above). With a little bit of an understanding of the trumpet and jazz there could not have been a better show for me to see and that is just talking about the show. The facility is absolutely awe-inspiring. It's beautiful, magnificent. It should have its very own superlative because I can't think of one to properly describe it. I wish I could have/would have gone to more shows. If anyone goes to Sydney, go to a show. Don't ask questions. In related news, I might or might not have recorded the second half of the show on my phone and might or might not be able to send it to you if you're interested. Hypothetically, of course.

The entire day was just awesome. It was the perfect way to kick off my last weekend in Sydney.

Saturday:

We had another busy day scheduled for Saturday. It started out by making a trip to hell, I mean Paddy's market. This is the big huge market that is mandatory for every big city to have where everyone goes, barters and buys cheap crap for cheap. I don't think anyone actually enjoys the experience bust its just something you have to do and we needed to buy cheap crap for all of you, hope you're happy :). We stayed a little longer than expected but it was okay, we still had plenty of time left to make it to Bondi Beach.

We had stopped by the world famous Bondi on our first day here but didn't spend enough time to actually accomplish anything. This time, we went, did some walking around, Nick and Bo did some swimming, did some eating and did some more walking around. Nick and Bo decided to even go swimming in the Ocean. Those silly Americans. They were the only people in the water 1) without a surfboard and 2) without wetsuits. The lifeguard quickly came over and made it aware that there was to be no swimming aka being American. It was pretty funny the way they stood out but hey, "when in rome, do as the surfers do".

After Bondi we came back and decided to go Lord Nelson's for the night. This is the oldest brewery in Sydney. I had stopped by there for one beer earlier in the week but we wanted to get the full experience this time. 6 pints of beer later, we had tried all the beer and gotten the "full experience". My personal favorites were the Old Admiral - a dark beer and the Quayle - a beer (I guess I should maybe figure out what it was so I know what I like, maybe next time?). We weren't done. We decide to go to 3 Wise Monkeys because what would a night out in Sydney be without a trip to the 3 Wise Monkeys. Um yeah, we came, we saw, we danced, we conquered, we stumbled back, we passed out.

Sunday:

So this entire trip I haven't been able to sleep past 9. Not that I really wanted to but my body physically was not capable. So you can imagine how surprised I was when I awoke at 11 on Sunday morning. I did some wandering around during the day, grabbed some lunch and then headed to the Sydney Fish Market. A fish market insinuates two things 1) it is a market and 2) there is good fish. Okay, so my review my be a bit harsh but it was only because my expectations were so high. It was basically just a couple of fish restaurants in one building right on the ocean. The fish was just okay, not near as good as the Fish and Chips I had at Port Stephens. Salivation. Afterwards, we came back to the room then headed right back out to go check out Luna Park.

Luna Park is a little amusement park right beneath the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It has a stupid light up clown face that I think you can see from the moon. The thing is friggin' massive. Anyway, we figured we should check it out before we go so we made the trek down there and it was definitely worth at trip. The park was closed so we didn't get to see much of it but being right there next to the bridge and beneath street level was wild. You don't realize how big it is until you're right next to it. It looked like it was straight out of a movie or like it should be sprawled across a poster. It was very very cool. On our way back, instead of taking the train, Bo and I elected to walk across the bridge. This gave us a great view of the harbor, the Opera House and most importantly, an appetite.

We had been planning a trip back to Harry's Cafe de Wheels since the first time we went during the first weekend. Harry's specializes in meat pies. And when I say specialize, I mean they're world famous meat pies. We made the walk to Harry's and let me say that my chicken and mushroom meat pie was delicious. The best part of the meat pies is the mushed peas. Why don't we have these in America? That's not a joke. I honestly, need someone to tell me why we don't. I am both concerned and upset. What's wrong with our country?

And you thought we were going to stop at 1 meat pie. Ha! We were planning either another meat pie each or some hot dogs. See Harry's also specializes in dogs. I am not a big hot dog eater but Harry's hot dogs are different. I figured, "When else will I get to try a hot dog with mashed potatoes, mushed peas, onions, chilli, cheese and hot sauce. The answer? Never. So I ordered the Hot Dog de Wheels. I think they call it the Hot Dog de Wheels because someone has to wheel you home afterwards. Or maybe, it's because it is part of their name but whatever. Both are true.

Back at the apartment we just relaxed and eventually fell asleep.

Monday:

After falling asleep at about 1:00 a.m., I was up at 5:30 a.m. to go meet Bo and Nick at the Fifa Fan Fest for the Championship game. It was a crazy atmosphere. There were a ton of people there supporting their respective teams. You probably know how the game went. It's soccer, so they did the same thing back and forth for like 8.5 hours, eventually someone did something stupid and the other team scored. If the story line sounds familiar its because you've watched a soccer game before and they're all the same. Honestly, I was hoping for the PK Shootout but FIFA didn't run the whole overtime idea by me. Soccer can now be irrelevant again.

After FIFA we went back and had a delicious breakfast at our hotel and started to pack up since we had to be out of the room by 11. I got packed up and then headed out for a day of exploring on my own. I went back to Circular Quay (Opera House and Bridge Area) one more time and then climbed to the top of one of the columns. This isn't the "bridge climb"everyone hears about but it's about $200 cheaper and offers a comparable view I would imagine. It was spectacular to actually look down on the Harbor. I was lucky too. It had been overcast for most of the day but finally cleared up while I was atop the Pylon.

After the climb, I made one more trip back to Surry Hills just for good times sake and then headed back to the hotel. This is where things get interesting. See, my roommates had left and I didn't want to pay for the hotel on my own for one night and I knew I would be leaving early in the morning so I went ahead and checked out with no plans for Monday night. Unfortunately, this also meant I would be without a shower for the 36 hours leading up to flight. Something, I was not too happy about. I talked to the people at our hotel and they let me into the fitness center to take a shower. I don't know if it was my good looks or charm that made this happen ;). After I was cleaned up, I knew exactly what my plans were.

I had about $75 left, total. In my bank. In all my accounts. So obviously, the only option was to go to the Casino. Duh! But really I was doing this for more than one reason. I knew that if I went around 8 and just took it pretty slow, I could at least make it late into the night at which point I would get a cab to the airport and spend the night or something. Well, that's exactly what I did. I showed up at 8 and just took it pretty slow. I was up some, down some, up some more, down some more. I was wandering around trying different dealers, trying different tables and then it happened.

I got hot. Real hot. Real, real friggin' hot. Not my temperature, my cards. I looked down at my chips and I was at $100, I looked down again and it was $200. I looked down again and I was at $400. I had to step away but I couldn't but I did. See there mom and dad, I don't have a problem. It was about 2 a.m. and I was starving. I went and got some Nachos. Nutritious, I know. I contemplated walking out with my $400+...for about half a second! I wanted to go big or go home. I had no plans, no where to go and I was on fire. So I went and sat back down with the intention of not allowing myself go below $300. I did some more up and downing and eventually when the table closed at 4 a.m. I was at about $540. Again, I thought, "Maybe I should just walk out". And then I thought "Maybe I should just ignore my manhood". Go Big. Or Go Home. I went to the $20 table that was still open. I could smell blood. I got even hotter. Eventually making it up to almost $900. At $1000 I was walking out no ifs, ands or butts. I never got there. Instead, I left at 6 a.m. with $703.50. See, I can stop. I kept the $3.50 as a souvenir. I think I have two new lucky coins! To clear this up though, I went from 5:30 Sunday morning to (I'm assuming the plane flight) without sleeping. That's almost 36 hours. I think my body is going to hate me. Oh well, it was worth it.

It was a crazy night and something I will be telling my grandkids years from now. But then again, this entire trip has been that way. And that's way I have blogged about most all of it. I want to be able to look back at this and remember the trip that changed my life and molded who I am. I don't know if I will continue blogging (my readers will probably have to let me know if they care about my life enough) but I do know this has been a ton of fun for me to recollect and recap our crazy stories from "The Land Down Under". I hope you have enjoyed it half as much as I have. Until next time (if there is one)...

Cheers!


View from top of the bridge.

The Opera House. Before the show.

La Perouse. Sight of Mission Impossible II

Again.

The end of my last night.