Sydney and the Blue Mountains! :)

It has been a few weeks, but on Wednesday the 19th of November, I got up ridiculously early (without ever having really been to sleep, actually, because I was staying at my grandparents' place in a rather uncomfortable and unfamiliar bed) and headed off to the Launceston Airport ($40 later in a taxi!). We left Launceston a few minutes late and arrived in Melbourne. The flight that was coming from Sydney was delayed, so, consequently, our flight TO Sydney (on the same plane) was going to be late. All up, I arrived in Sydney about an hour after I was supposed to, so that wasn't too bad.

I had Casey's 25 kilo suitcase that the left with me in Tassie (so that she wouldn't have to cart it all up and down the East Coast with her) and so I went to check it in to the Smart Carte baggage storage place. I was super nice to the guy at the desk and got half a day for free ;)

Anyway, I got on the train and met Casey at Central Station. What a lovely reunion! (After we figured out where to find each other and a pigeon flew into my face)

We spent Wednesday afternoon wandering around Sydney. We had a lovely (and cheap!) lunch in China town (where there are little Asians begging you to come and look at their menus!) and, although we weren't ENTIRELY sure that the 'Beef' in the 'Beef in Black Bean Sauce' was beef and not cat, it was quite a tasty lunch! :) It was so good to hang out with Casey after being apart for a whole month! :)

We wandered down to the rocks and found a place to get on the harbour ferry. It was a little overcast but nice and breezy and relaxing on the ferry. We took some good (and some bad) photos.







On Wednesday night, we went to the bar beneath the backpackers (Sydney Central YHA) and I won way too many drinks being a maverick at 'naming that tune'. I did not appreciate this talent the next day, I assure you.

Early the next morning, we packed up, and Seb (Casey's German friend who also spent the semester at AMC/UTas) and Casey went to get the hire car while I waited with all of our stuff.

We drove to the Blue Mountains (which isn't a bad drive at all but I was so surprised to see that the speed limit was only about 90 kmph the whole way up. Sebastian, who is used to driving on the AutoBahn, was not impressed! ;)

The Blue Mountains are beautiful! :) We stopped at a few look outs all the way up and took some photos.



We went to ScenicWorld, which has 4 different attractions to choose from to see the Blue Mountains from different views. It was very cool, and a really tourist friendly way to see some really rugged terrain. However, when we were going down the almost-vertical decline, I said to Casey and Seb "oh, wow, imagine how beautiful this place was before they put the massive train line right through the middle! ;)


Three Sisters

After seeing Scenic World, we got back into the car and drove further down the road. Casey and Seb found a lookout that they wanted to see, but I was DEAD (we did lots of walking at Scenic World, which was lovely, but the night before was catching up on me (yes, Anna, Devin, Lisa, I know you're so proud of me, NOT!) and I fell asleep in the car on the side of the road for about 30 minutes while the other two went and had a look.

Then, I received a phone call to schedule my interview for WA, and I stressed about that for a while, and Casey had to console me. She really has been my number 1 preparation person for the whole thing! :)

We drove around and around, looking at all sorts of things, and it poured with rain while we were driving! Aie aie aie.

We had some trouble finding our hostel, and it ended up being behind someone's house. It was only small, but very cosy, clean and cheap! :)

We eventually found a little town where we could have dinner. I can't remember the name of it. Spring somethingerother. I did see two Elders walking down the road with their pizzas, though! I suppose that in a tiny town like that, there wouldn't be too many church members to have them over for a home-cooked meal!

The place we ate was great. It was a little pub/bistro place and we had some delicious chicken schnitzels. Mmmmm.


Then, we started talking in the third person as a joke, and decided that it would make for a hilarious drinking game (to only speak in the third person, and drink when we made a mistake.) It was quite possibly one of the funniest nights of entire life.

We left the Blue Mountains early the next morning and drove back to Sydney. Of course, the whole way back, there would be songs on the radio that would make Casey cry (more than she already had been), like 'Khe Sahn' (you know the one, 'the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone!), The Final Countdown, The end of the world as we know it, etc. So funny.

We dropped the car off and went and had a drink (a milkshake! although I can see why you'd think it'd be something else. I'm a complete and utter disgrace, I know.)

After Casey went and got next-to-nothing in American dollars for her remaining Australian money, we went to the station, where she said goodbye to Sebastian. :(

We made our way to the domestic airport to pick up her bag I left on Wednesday, and then went to the international airport. We stood in line to get her all checked in, and then walked over to the last place I could be without a ticket.

It was super sad to say goodbye. Of course, my impossible emotional capacity meant that I had to make jokes most of the time (like Chandler from Friends) so that I didn't fall to pieces, but, we eventually went our separate ways, tearfully.

I wandered over to a help desk, where a few older gentlemen in helpful-looking yellow jackets were standing, waiting to help! I tearfully, behind sunglasses (like they even help!), sniffing, asked him where I could find a shuttle or bus back to the domestic airport because the train service, although reasonable from the city at 14 dollars, is TWENTY DOLLARS for ONE STOP to the domestic airport. He was very kind and understanding (I'm sure he sees sooks like me all the time) and pointed me in the right direction.

Standing at the stop was a lady with a sewn-on badge of Tasmania on her suitcase. I asked her if she was heading home to Tassie, and she said yes. We got to talking and I found out that she has been a teacher in Tasmania for 30 something years. We had coffee (well, hot chocolate for me) and chatted all afternoon! She helped me prepare for my interview and she bought me an icecream at Maccas for good luck! She was so nice! Unfortunately, she was heading to Hobart and I was heading home to Launceston so we weren't on the same flight but our flights were only 10 minutes apart. She was the perfect distraction from my depression! Of course, whenever she'd get up to go to the toilet or order a drink or whatever, I'd practically burst into tears. Loser.

It really was a lovely few days. Getting back to Launceston, it was raining, cold, and yuck. It took Jetstar about 20 minutes to get the doors open after we landed. I was getting impatient and was pretty bummed out. Of course, there is not much that will stop me from making a joke and I offered my fellow passengers a game of Monopoly while we waited for the doors to open. ;)

I had left my car at my grandparents. My grandfather tried to insist that I don't drive home in the bad weather, but, I really just wanted to get home.

I got home and ended up having some petty argument with mum, ran out to the barn and had a sook for about half an hour and then I was fairly over it.

I miss Casey a lot though, and I spent last weekend and a few days this week getting the most awesome Christmas presents ever ready for her.

I'm going to blog again tomorrow and tell you about the pirate birthday party I did today. :)