I went to Australia for two weeks- the last week of Sept 2016 and the first week of October 2016.

Momentous events:

  • Two days before we left, I got food poisoning or something, probably from our large Brazilian steakhouse dinner. I became so dehydrated that I passed out. When I passed out, I hit my head and my partner and I took an uber to the emergency room and they did an EKG and put two bags of fluid in me and watched me for a while and then let me go home. I paid at the desk on the way out and it was about $203 USD. It was $8 USD for each Uber ride. they beat the hell out of american healthare. The docs and nurses were pleasant and professional. I didn’t enjoy it but it was about as perfect as an ER experience can be. (St Vincent’s Hospital)
  • Took an official hour long tour of the Sydney Opera House and saw the insides of the theaters
  • Went to Taronga Zoo (the good zoo near Sydney) and took the skylift (air gondola) over the park on the way in. Took the special koalas tour and got a pretty picture of my partner and I next to koalas.
  • Went to a lot of amazing coffee shops- the ones that stand out are Haven (kimchee waffle!), Ampersand (it’s also a bookstore! But mostly a coffee shop), Two Good Eggs, Cherry Beans Cafe, Steampunk Cafe, Cafe 70, Cat Cafe
  • Lots of just hanging out reading books with my partner
  • Watched the entirety of season one of Luke Cage on Netflix and enjoyed the hell out of it
  • Took a Hop On Hop Off trip all around Sydney and enjoyed it immensely
  • Took a lot of photographs with my DSLR, which I will eventually review and post the good ones
  • Took the sydney trains from the airport to the city and all around town. Double decker train, lots of seats, very nice! 15 min from the airport to downtown Sydney, no transfers. Getting an Opal card (transit rfid chip card) at the airport was a really good idea. If you’re staying for at least a week, the $50 required fill on a new card will be great. Their mobile app for refils is good too, Android and iOS.
  • Took the ferries to Manly (tourist beach area, bike tours, lots of shopping, nice used bookstore, niiiiice library) and to Taronga (for the zoo)
  • All the (3) libraries that we visited had a large Zines section! This seems fantastic to me.
  • The flight in was not bad; I slept a lot. I enjoyed the flight back to the USA less even though it was shorter.
  • Cat Cafe right near central station!
  • Amazing games store that I loved and we went to a board games day there! Games Den

Some thoughts-

  • Toilets were all the same type, all very efficient, all two levels of flush- half and whole- all made of plastic- all clean, even the public/train stop / zoo / library ones.
  • There are fire extinguishers veryyywhere in public buildings/areas (library, zoo, train stops, restaurant) much more so than I am used to in the states.
  • There are a lot lot lot of cafes per block in Sydney
  • Sydney is very big and there is a lot more to see! I loved just wandering around and seeing everything
  • Cruise clubs are legal and publicly advertised and not as sketchy as I would expect
  • The water in the harbor is so clear that I could see the kelp
  • The city is hillier than I expected and also in general less good for biking although I did see some decent bike lanes (at least near Central/downtown)
  • Jet lag going to Sydney made me wake up at 1am every night for the first 4 or 5 days, and 6am thereafter; on the way back to the USA, I took a long afternoon nap after we landed at SFO at 10am, then slept a normal night and was back on track without problems.
  • It took me at least a week to get in sync with australian body language- before that I was constantly being awkward and almost running into people. It was something about the left vs right (Australians drive on the left side of the road, walk on the left side of the path, etc) and hesitate differently for unconscious crowd avoidance maneuvers.