World ExploraSean: I Am Ausome

My flight to Sydney was once again on Air New Zealand, so I was treated to some movie options... Obviously I selected Fast and Furious 6. I also had the pleasure of sitting next to the most annoying little Asian kid in the world who kept yelling questions to the various flight attendants. He literally asked them if he could use the restroom 8 times in a 5 minute period and I literally thought about killing myself each of the 8 times he spake.

As I got into the airport I managed to utilize some sort of speed line where you electronically scan your passport and ended up getting through security without a passport stamp. I’m not sure my entry was exactly street legal, but I was already past the gates, so I just went with it. Hopefully I get stamped on the way out, as I like to have them as a memento. My next task was to get into town somehow. I was debating taking the train, but then I read online you could get a shuttle for $12. I did end up getting on a shuttle to Central Station, but I didn't actually pay to get on, so I may have had a questionable first hour in Oz from a legality standpoint.

These needle trash cans are in tons of public bathrooms...they're perfect for disposing my hep infused heroin needles

Once I got into town, I meandered to my destination, Nomads Westend. Upon checking in, I was informed that the elevator didn’t work and that my room was on the 6th floor. My bags, weighing a combined 50 lbs (25 kgs), are basically like nothing to me because I’m so fucking strong, so it wasn’t an issue. After wringing the sweat from my shirt, I wandered through town with my mustache on full display, setting the vibe, and familiarizing myself with the city.

On day two I realized the mustache was both creepy and repulsive, so I drew the sink full of hot water and went to work. Despite the magnitude and sheer volume of hair that grows on my face, I was able to remove it all with three swift swipes of my razor. Deflated, I roamed to the Peterpans store to set up my greyhound schedule and lock in some dates for various activities I had pre-purchased.

Hyde Park

Kind of a weird statue, I don't really want to understand it

Fountain

Eventually, I found my way to the Syndey Opera House and Harbour Bridge. I decided to hang around until it turned dark to get some nighttime shots, which was well worth the wait. It’s the first time on my travels I have felt like I was in a proper big city. When I finally arrived back to the hostel I tried to make dinner, but the kitchen had 6 burners, one toaster, and 13 floors of people...Suffice it to say, there was not room to cook. Nothing like the $5 six inch subway and bottle of water combo to fuel your adventures.

Early evening skyline...

The Harbour Bridge

The city looks amazing at night

The famous Sydney Opera House

I spent the next day wandering around The Domain, which is a huge public park housing Royal Rose Gardens, the New South Wales museum, a pond, various lookout spots, and pathways over to the Opera House/Circular Quay. I took advantage of the views by creating a few more time lapses. The Domain is insanely large, you could spend an entire day walking through it. It also displayed that Sydney houses a pretty active/healthy lifestyle as there were literally hundreds of people running through the park. However, my lazy ass was not one of them ;).

Someday I'm going to get a good bird in flight shot, slowly getting better

Pond in The Domain

I also ended up taking a ferry up to Manly beach upon the advice of Claire. Look at Facebook pulling through by allowing me to get some solid advice from the people I’ve met on my adventures! The ferry is less than $15 round trip and you get awesome views along the water. The way Manly is set up reminded me of California, with the ultra cheap shops, $10 sunglasses, and beaches full of people swimming, surfing, and playing volleyball. There was also a great walk around some cove areas, where you could climb down on the rocks that jut out of the water.

View from the ferry

Surfers wiping out

Insanely clear waters

First lizard I spotted in Australia, tiny little guy

Australia rocks!

For my final full day I ended up going to Bondi Beach, which is probably the most well known beach surrounding Sydney. In my attempt to get a tan, I laid out for 2.5 hours with no sunscreen, but my body rejects sunlight like Jennifer Aniston’s body rejects aging. I have no muscular definition left, I’m pastier than the Pillsbury Dough Boy, and my face is more acne than actual face. I’m falling apart!

While walking from Bondi Beach towards Coogee, I decided to stop and make a time lapse along the rocks. Whilst making my lapse, something amazing happened. Something that I’ve blogged about before, something that happened to me on a lake between Peru and Bolivia. As I worked on replacing the battery of my GoPro, I sensed something. My head snapped up, my neck crooning whilst the seagulls were cawing. I knew what had happened, and as I looked down to the rocks below, my convictions held true. I saw the calm ocean breeze was now carressing an exposed breast. Yes that’s right, a young girl, hopefully of consentual legal age, was now sunbathing topless. I will forever refer to this moment as the Bondi Beach Boobies Bonanza.

People lay out on the grass and the beach

My calves look terrific

There's so many cliffs that the beaches are segmented all over

So random there is a swimming pool right next to the ocean

The color distortion is pretty cool

As several of you know, despite my best efforts...alright I’m really lazy, so instead of efforts lets just go with hopes...I have hopes of looking cool. So here I am on this bus coming back from the beach when this little annoying shit comes up and starts swinging from the handle grips next to my seat, while his father pretends to be unrelated and ignores his child's misbehavior. This kid was all up in my bubble acting like a douche, so I stood up and moved away so I wouldn't have to deal with him. As I moved to an open standing area, I started scrolling through my iPod for which Spice Girls classic to play next, and BAM, the bus starts moving. With deformed cankles and terrible balance, there's no coming out of this scenario without making an ass of myself. As the bus lurched forward, inertia caused me to fall backwards and I had no choice but to flail my arms out in spastic fashion in hopes of finding something to grip. With miniscule luck and absolutely no grace, I managed to latch onto a pole before crashing to the ground on the packed double bus. Meanwhile the little shit that caused me to get up from my seat in the first place starts laughing, so entertained by my misfortune. I’m also pretty sure the universe hands out no negative karma towards those that wrong me, it probably rewards them. Universe infinity, Sean 0.

I own this place, if only the sign didn't have a typo and said since 1988...

Occasionally I will look at my life on the road and start to reflect on how I’m living and whether or not I’m learning anything. Wheras my previous life was filled with boredome, my new life is filled with poordome. It’s very humbling to look back on the things I took for granted as conveniences: Clean showers, cooking a huge dinner, storing leftovers, driving a car, having privacy, watching American football with your friends and family, free unlimited wifi, being able to buy/store whatever i wanted. I now realize those things were spoils, the gifts of a privileged life.

Now I eat baked beans on toast, tuna, spaghetti, 2 minute noodles, peanut butter sandwiches, and the cheapest fruits/vegetables the grocery has to offer. I watch cockroaches climb the shower walls of my hostel, stare down at sheets that are supposed to be washed, but are dirty as fuck. I contemplate how 8 people are supposed to share the single power outlet in the room. I feel the snot from a woman’s sneeze splatter and slide down my leg even though she’s two rows back on the public bus I ride. I watch the girl cooking next to me pick up a piece of toast off the unwashed floor and go through an internal struggle, before ultimately deciding that yes, she can dust it off and eat it. It's a challenging way of life, but it's also a lot of fun.

Just a friendly roach crawling the walls of the bathroom...he tasted delicious

Backpacking is it’s own culture, one that transgresses ethnicity and creed, by bringing people of all ages, means, and ambitions together. No one really cares where you are from or what you believe, just who you are as a person. People don’t just stay in hostels because it’s cheap, they do it to meet people, to learn more about the world around them, to understand others opinions. You learn so many new words and phrases that are unique to each group of people, while seeing the commonalities of humor, struggles, desires, wishes, weirdness, and kindness that are universal. Life is always interesting, you never know what each day is going to hold, who you will meet, or what risks lie ahead... But at the end of the day, you can either take a risk or you can live in doubt...and as I mentioned previously, I left all my doubts on an airplane.

For my next set of adventures I took a 13 hour overnight bus to Byron Bay. Would the bus ride be as terrible as those in South America? Would my disdain for life increase with each passing mile? That my friends, is a story for another blog...

Opera House/Harbour Bridge Overflow