So my last post was the day we left Port Douglas, flew to Sydney and then took a train down to Wollongong. Wollongong is… well… for any Ontarians out there, an awful lot like Hamilton. Not exactly a place you would fly half-way across the world to visit. For a better picture, the Hotel we stayed at had a gorgeous view of the local Steel mill. We went out for a walk along the beach for a sweeping view of the coal and other-such-like plants. City itself was, well, relatively grungy. Definitely a bit of a shock coming from sunny, warm and gorgeous to grungy, rainy and mid-fall temperatures.
Wollongong was just a short stop for us. I’m not sure if I mentioned this previously, but this is actually my sisters second exchange in Auz. Her first one she stayed in a small city-esk/subburb area called Warilla, which is just outside of Wollongong. So the reason we were partying it up in “the Gong” was to visit her old host family and meet some of her old friends. The people were great even if the city could use some work.
After Wollongong the real fun started (re-started?). We once again took the train, this time heading towards an area called Hunter Valley (a 6-ish hour journey costing only $27 for 4 people. I still don’t think my dad believes it.) Hunter Valley is beautiful, sweeping hills and surrounded by mountains. Even though it was kind of rainy and grey for the majority of the weekend I liked it much better than Port Dougy. Hunter Valley is Australia’s wine country, although I didn’t really take advantage of that since I can’t drink. The real reason we were in Hunter Valley was that once again it was running time. This time around my dad was running the Half Marathon and I was running the 6km Run/Walk.
The day ended up being perfect for running. Slightly cool (again, mid-fall/spring temperatures) but not too cool and sun just peeking out of the clouds, which means we wouldn’t be running in direct sunlight the whole time. Dad ran first at like 7am (we may possibly not have gotten up to see him off… but we showed up at the finish line in our shirts again so it was all good). He loved it. The country side was beautiful and most of the run was uphill. I know, he’s nuts rights? But he says he likes the uphill because it takes more effort and you have to think about it more.
My race started at 11am and was brutal. Not because of anything to do with running or the track or the distance. No, that was the day my body thought it would be fun to wake up with one of the first colds I’ve had in almost a year. Of course. Actually, TECHINCALLY I got it the day before. It was just worse on race day. But because I am an idiot or a masochist or just too proud and stubborn, I was not going to let that stop me. So I ran the damn thing – well, mostly. It kills me a little to say this, but I had to walk about 500m of it. Stupid cold. And yes, my route was also mostly uphill which is something I dont have much training on. I can see what dad means about thinking about it and having that be a kind of distraction. I was just dying by the time I was done tho – spent the rest of the day on the couch reading and sniffling. (I ended up reading all of the first Hunger Games and then immediately downloaded the next two and have since finished them as well. SO GOOD!)
[So like right about here is where I’d put up a picture of me in my running gear looking like I’m about to die from my cold, but they’re on my sisters computer so I guess that isn’t going to happen right now…]
Oh! Also a couple days before I had gone out for a run (you know, training and all). It was my first night in the Hunter Valley. I was just kind of running along behind my hotel, turned a corner and ran straight into a troup (or court or mob) of about a half-dozen Kangaroos and their joeys! It was so fricken cool! I just kind of stopped and started at them and then ran back to the hotel and ran into my dad and sister and told them to come out and take a look. Then I went off, ran 6k, came home, slept and woke up sick the next morning. Go figure. Not that the two events are connected, mostly I was just filling in the timeline
.After Hunter Valley we went back to Sydney. Mom and Dad had only 2 days left in Auz by this point, and the majority of the the one was spent traveling. Their hotel was pretty sweet because they were right on the Harbour and out their window was a veiw of the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.
The 19th was Mom and Dad’s last night in Auz, do we decided it would be a good night to do something special. So we all got semi dressed up and went out to a show at the Sydney Opera house
. The show we went to was a modernised and slightly-rewritten (well at least with lines added to it) version of Shakespeare’s Foust. It was well done (unless you ask my sister whose exact words I believe were “it was shit”) although I’m not sure if I liked it. I’ve done my share of live theater (and wish I was still doing it, just absolutely love it) so I really appreciate the use of the stage and the minimalist way they used props and costumes. The acting was quite good and the writing was clever and there was definite scenes I quite enjoyed. But there was also a good chunk of it that I didn’t enjoy as much either. So I guess I was rate it as “alright.” It was also slightly disappointing because it was in some small side theater, not the main theater in the Opera House, but meh. We still went to a show in the Sydney Opera house, and that is just cool.It was also just a really nice last night with the family. After the show we went out for desert and just enjoyed each others company. Took the ferry back to Mom and Dad’s hotel (Im staying with my sister at her place, saving a bit of $$) were we talked a bit more and Mom gave us (well, especially Jen) a teary farewell (my dad on the other hand “ugh, do I have to give you a hug now?”
) . While we were waiting for the ferry from the Opera House to the hotel mom discovered some of the best graffiti in the bathroom and altho she isn’t a Doctor Who fan herself, she knows the rest of us are and ran excitedly out of the bathroom to show us…
My mom can be so cute some times lol.
So now it is just my sister and I, but we haven’t settled yet. That night we pack up again and head out bright and early the next morning and head out to the Snow. Well actually, we headed out to Canberra, capital of Australia, for a stop over and then went up to the snow the next morning. But stopping at Canberra is worth a mention because we had SO much fun there. ACTUALLY, even before that I think I should take time to mention our train ride from Jen’s house in Epping, Sydney to the Sydney Central Station were we caught the train to Canberra.
About two or three stops into the 45minute CityRail ride, a trio of Transit Cops got onto the train just a car down from us and spent a good amount of time talking to some people there. Jen was a little worried because she had bought a student ticket event though her student concession card had expired for their winter holidays. The cops then came into our car and proceeded – not to ask us for our tickets. Not only that, they just stayed and chatted with us for the rest of the trip. They were super nice. At one point in time a guy walked on to the train, saw them, turned around and the girl cop (Deb? I believe her name was) called after him “No ticket? Oh don’t worry about it – you’re fine for today anyway.” So the guy lucked out – altho he was still super worried about it until his stop and kept apologising and making excuses for why he didn’t have it. Anyway, once we got off they asked us where we were going and we told them we needed to find the country link. And they picked up our bags and escorted us straight to our train. It was awesome. Never had anything like that happen before.
So we arrived in Canberra. We spent a little while just kind of exploring the city, which was really fun cause we were both in kind of act-like-idiots types of moods. We discovered an outdoor ice skating rink (because yes, it was JUST cold enough for that. Still not that cold tho). We didn’t go on it however, it was tiny and jam packed and there was just no room to move. We also discovered a comic book shop with a ton of Doctor Who merchandise which I had a hard time pulling myself away from and kept having to remind myself that a full-sized Tardis cutout would NOT fit in my luggage. But the real fun was when we got back to our hostel and decided to go out and socialise. Honestly, its true what they say – when in a hostel, go out and meet people. The people were awesome and fun and nice. Met this one girl named Elyse who, personality wise anyway, could have been my Australian counter-part. Of course the kicker was that we had to get up at 430am the next morning to catch our bus but didnt end up going to bed until about 130am because we were having so much fun. Didn’t regret it in the morning however – totally worth it.
So yes, we arrived at a town called Jindabyne, which is just kind of at the base of the mountains where people ski, at about 8am just in time for Jen’s bf to be able to pick us up and drop us off back at his place before he went to work. Jen and I were so tired at this point that we spent the rest of the day sleeping and reading.
Next day was Jen’s bf (Jason or as I like to call him Jay-Jay)’s day off. Our original plan was to ski that day, but even before leaving we were less than inspired about this idea. By the time we got to the ski resort (Parisher) Jay-Jay had made the executive decision that we were going to wait until tomorrow for skiing. Because the weather was just crap. It was rainy/misty and the fog was much too thick for skiing in. JayJay kept wanting to show us gorgeous mountain scenery and instead we just saw a grey blanket of fog. So we went back down the mountain and back home to put on some warmer, dry clothes. However, we didn’t stay at home. He decided we were going to go drive to the other side of the mountain for some site-seeing and kangaroo spotting. And we were not disapointed. The drive was spectacular, down and around the side of the mountain, going from snow to weather that felt like spring. We even stopped at a steam and drank some yummy fresh (cold!) mountain run-off water. He drove us right into the valley, a spot called Tom Groggin, were we saw a troup of definitely no less than 50 kangaroos! There were so many!! Jason decided it would be fun to chase them with his car for a little while, and then we went out and took some pictures of them. They were really curious about us at first, one actually hopped right up to my sister and licked her finger! After that they left us alone however (not that it stopped Jen and I from trying to coax them into coming close again. They were so cute!) The weather was also sooo nice, completely different from the top of the mountain. It was warm (we stripped down our layers) and running and bright. Not going skiing at that point was definitely the right decision.
JayJays awesomeness in decision making was confirmed the next day when we did actually go skiing – and couldn’t have asked for a better day or better conditions! Not a cloud in the sky the entire day. I’ve never done proper mountain skiing like that before, but we went up to the very top – and could for MILES around us! Just absolutely amazing, picturesk views of the mountains. My camera does not come even close to doing it justice.
And I apparently I also missed getting picture of some of the more spectacular views.
The ski conditions themselves where much better than anticipated. Every Australian who we mentioned to that we were going skiing said something along the lines of why? It’s not worth it – its all ice and crap snow, you’ll spend more time in the line for the lift than you will actually skiing, its not worth the price (p.s. if I ever complain about the price of a Canadian lift ticket again, slap me
). However, we had something none of those people ever had – an employee! Oh, and damned good luck. No, the snow wasn’t fresh powder like we’re used to back home. However it also wasn’t sheer ice. Rather, more like ice pelts which really isn’t hard to ski over at all. The run got a bit more icey by the end of the day – possibly cause it was the end of the day. It happens. As for lift lines, the longest we had to stand in line for a lift was about 3 minutes. JayJay, having worked at Perisher for several years, knows the hill inside and out and took us to all the best and least-used runs. No lines, no crowds, just nice skiing. And the price – yes, Australian lift tickets are expensive (about $100AUD a head). And no, we weren’t able to get a deal on them. What we DID get was was completely free rentals. JayJay knows a girl who works in the Rental Shop (or “Hire” as they call it) and she got us rentals at no cost. No only rentals, but really nice ones – no the cheap 1980’s kind we’d get at home. There was really no possible way we could have asked for a better ski day. Ok, I guess except me – my giant feet don’t like ski boots, no matter what the quality and my knees kind of hated me after my 6k up-hill run last weekend and definitely made it known they were still angry with me by the end of the day yesterday. Ah well, I suppose life can’t always be perfect . Somehow I think the rest of the day made up for it however.
Also the weather for skiing was MUCH warmer than we are used to back home. We dressed in layers like we normally would for our –20 degrees Celsius skiing and ended up stripping layers down to our t-shirts (tank top for my sister) and very basic cover against the wind as the temperature was definitely above freezing. Honestly, we could not have asked for better ski conditions.
So yes, there we are. Got up early this morning and am currently on a 7-hour bus ride from Jindabyne to Sydney (altho by the time I post this I will probably be sitting back in Jen’s room in Sydney where there is internets availible). We were sad to leave the snow and Jen was sad to leave JayJay but it was time to go. I *tear* head back to Ottawa on the 27th (just 3 more days…). This trip has been amazing, it’s hard to fathom heading back. And I am DREADING that stupid plane flight.
So I guess I shall depart dear Internets. Next time you hear from me, I will probably be in Canada. I’ll try not to miss you too much until that time! Ta!
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