The first couple days of the week weren't especially exciting since I had class and had to work a study abroad fair at uni, but Craig got nice weather so he was able to do a good amount of hanging out at the beach. He got along really well with all of my roommates, so that was wonderful for when I had to be gone at class. On Monday, we tried a thai restaurant right by where I live and I got delicious pad thai. I definitely want to go back there again. Craig and I went for a long walk on Tuesday out to the lighthouse and did some illegal fence hopping and wandering around by the base of it.. I definitely recommend it. After we got back from our walk, basically everyone from Campus East went to a pub that has weekly steak nights on Tuesdays for St. Patrick's Day, and it was fun seeing everyone out and wearing lots of green.
On Wednesday, Craig and I took a day trip out to Kiama, where there is this really cool blow hole that shoots up water. It was a calm day when we went, so the blow hole wasn't especially powerful, but it was really beautiful out there and fun to see. We spent the rest of the day hiking up and down rocks around the blow hole, wandering around the cute town of Kiama, sitting at the beach, and Craig enjoyed feeding millions of seagulls. Thursday was another exciting day because Jaci got in! I was very excited to see her, and since we've both been away from home for over a month now, it was good timing. We got a group of people together to go to this nice seafood restaurant on the ocean at night and it turned out to be very, very delicious. We just hung out and talked that night because we had a weekend in Sydney awaiting us.
We got to spend the entire weekend in Sydney, and I feel like I'm getting to know it much better already. I still only know a few roads, but I feel pretty comfortable there and am able to get around without any trouble. The three of us spent Friday touring around the city and going to all the main touristy locations to see them and get pictures. We ended up eating dinner in Chinatown and spent the night hanging out in the hostel. Unfortunately Craig had to leave us on Saturday since his spring break was coming to an end. He will definitely be missed by all of my friends at Campus East... someone even asked him if it was his room that we were hanging out in one day haha.
After Craig left, Jaci and I started on our adventure of a day. In my one guide book I found this really cool sounding hike in Bouddi National Park which is close to Sydney, so we decided we should do it. Apparently Killcare (the town that the hike starts in) is incredibly inaccessible, and they really don't want people having an easy time getting out there unless they have a car. The way there was fine as we just took a train and then a bus, but there was only one bus back for the day, so we needed to find another way to get home. We had planned on getting lunch to eat when we got there, but after getting off the bus, there were no stores or really any people in sight, so we didn't really have a choice.
We decided to go ahead and do the hike (after not eating since 9:30) and figured that we would be fine since we each had a bottle of water. The hike was beautiful and we spent over 4 hours hiking through neat forests, going to beautiful overhangs that looked out to the ocean, and walking on some remarkably clear beaches. It was definitely the coolest hike that I have been on so far, and I don't know why they wouldn't make the national park easier to get to since it is so gorgeous. Some parts of the hike were super steep so we decided that the rules of the day would be 1. no tripping, 2. no falling, and 3. no eating. We did quite well. Since the hike was an out and back, we ended up power walking the way back since we were getting really hungry... 4 hours of hiking and lots of sun will do that to you!
After getting out of the park, we decided that we needed to find food fast. The one road went in two directions, and we figured the street going up the hill would be the right way since it would be away from the beach and therefore into town. After 15 minutes of walking uphill, we came to a dead end. Figures. We eventually made our way into town and we had the best cajun chicken burgers I could imagine having. They were massive and had beets and pineapple on them which I had never tried before, but was really delicious!! It was definitely quite rewarding to have it after a long day. We had to catch a cab back to the Woy Woy train station, and since the bus driver told us it would probably be $40-50, we were very excited when it ended up only costing us $27. Though strenuous and tiring, this is definitely one of the best days that I have had so far.
Sunday was much less entertaining, but the two of us went running over by the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in the morning and saw some beautiful sights.. I wish that I would have brought my camera with. I think I just need to start taking it everywhere that I go. That afternoon we went to Bondi Beach, which is the most popular and well known beach in the Sydney area. The beach was really nice, but super crowded. We had a nice, 80 degree day, so it was perfect for the beach. We spent the afternoon hanging out on the beach and playing in the waves. I got a really delicious smoothie and a piece of pear and raspberry bread which was quite amazing. We got back to the heart of Sydney early evening and I was sad to have to say goodbye to Jaci. I had a great week/weekend and am so glad that I got to see my friends. Even though saying bye is never fun, I'll see Jaci two weekends in a row starting in 4.5 weeks, so that should be a good time. Anyways, this next weekend begins my psycho traveling weeks with the Outback. I'll be gone Friday-Tuesday, and it should be a really great experience! Talk to you all soon!
Random Notes:
1. They listen to all of the same music/watch all of the same movies here
2. Apparently some Australians really, really love American accents (some guy that was working at a convenience store that Jaci and I went to gushed about it for 5 minutes)
3. Speedos are much more popular, and people are not all that shy about going topless
4. It is a lot cleaner here with less trash around, but there is a good amount of vandalism
5. Kids take public transportation (buses and trains) to school instead of having specified school buses
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