Courtney and the 2 H's. Speaking of "H" Australians pronounce "H" like "HAY-CH". It might be the oddest thing about them. Saying it the way they do doesn't even make sense. I'll give them "Zed" cause that sort of makes sense.... Except, why must they change all the sounds of the letters? Honestly. Regardless.
Sydney was amazing. We stayed at a 4 star hotel right in the CBD, about a 10 minutes walk from the harbour. We were able to afford it because we said there were only 2 adults in the room, and we then snuck Holly in. We almost got caught a few times, but we were able to drunkenly sort that out, though I don't really remember how we were able to do that...
It was Hamish's first time on an airplane before, by the way. Crazy stuff! Anyway, the first full day was spent doing touristy things. We went up the Sydney Tower and got an awesome view of everything from the harbour to the airport and even the SCG (Sydney Cricket Grounds). Then we went down to the harbour and walked up to the Opera House and part way over the harbour bridge. It was beautiful and we were loving the gorgeous weather. Later in the day, we met up with Stephen at a bar in Coogee Beach where he lives, and saw him play his guitar at a pub. We also hung out at Bondi for the afternoon.
Holly and I at Bondi
It was so great cause I got to see both of my cousins, as well as 2 of my friends from High School who moved back out to Australia with their family after being in the US for 7 years. Also, made a few new friends through Stephen, and of course saw Joel. We spent a lot of time down at Darling Harbour, which was beautiful and my favourite spot in Sydney. We also did a harbour cruise, which gave us awesome views around the city, and climbed the pylons on the bridge, which was the cheaper alternative to climbing the bridge. Also took a few trips on the awesome monorail! We went to Oxford Street, the gay part of town, and partied there, and also went to a pub in the city, and utilized our awesome hotel for some pre-drinking awesomeness.
Stephen, Me, and Holly at Darling Harbour
We had a few hilarious experiences. Firstly, Anzac Day was amazing. Besides the fact that we woke up early thinking things would be open to shop and wasted a few hours walking around, it was one of the best days. After meeting up with Joel and Andrew, we all wandered around for a while trying to find a pub that wasn't overflowing. Anzac Day, for the Americans reading this, Anzac stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps. On this day, they celebrate the fallen, and celebrate by getting drunk and playing 2-up. 2-Up is apparently illegal on all other days except Anzac Day. So as one can expect, its a huge party day. We ended up at a pretty chill pub, and watched the Footy game (COLLINGWOOD VS. ESSENDON- YEAH MAGPIES!)... After a few drinks, we were all feeling pretty good and decided to head out. On the way out, we ran into group of people made up of a woman my mothers age, a man older than my father, and 3 young hot army guys. We figured they knew each other, but it turned out, the older man was a stranger to all of them, but like true Aussies, they bonded over beer. The woman and man were both drunk, and the 3 younger guys kept apologizing to us for their behaviour. We had a long conversation with them- the man is a pilot for Qantas and flies the A380! Stephen and I got excited and we thought he might have been our pilot on the day we flew here, but he checked his schedule and he wasn't flying that day. Oh well. Anyway, the woman's son was in Afghanistan, so she asked us, as awesome Americans, to say something to him on video. It was funny. Then, the best part.... The man opens his wallet up and hands me 5 bucks for a drink. The woman calls him cheap, and then the young army guy opens up his wallet and hands me 20 dollars. Feeling cheap, the old guy hands me another 5. We ended up with 30 dollars... and then the weird questions started coming about what ELSE we would do for money.... we promptly left before it got any weirder.
Pre-drinks at the hotel with Hamish, Steve, Holly & I.
P.S. Holly curled my hair <3
The second hilarious experience was Holly and I were sitting at the Opera house. Some Chinese tourist who spoke little english came up to me and said "picture". Assuming he wanted me to take a photo of him, I stood up and was promptly told to stand in place. Holly as well. Then his friend took his camera and snapped a photo of us 2 Americans and the Chinese guy. He didn't get that we weren't Australians... so I am now in some tourists photo album. Wonderful.
Sydney Harbour
Another last funny thing, was that I really wanted to use the word "Oi" in a text. Aussies says Oi all the time, and seem to use it in whatever context. So I decided to be Australian. And in a text message I wrote, "Oi, me too". Which in the context, made absolutely NO sense. And Hamish, my Australian friend, laughed at me for it. But it's fine, I was drunk. A perfect excuse for anything and everything.
All in all it was a great trip. Sydney's weather was gorgeous. I love Melbourne, though, and it was great to be back!
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