The Boys Are Back In Town

This trip back from the states was a bit unique, in the sense that I had a couple of extra passengers with me on the flight - my dad and my brother. My brother is actually going to stay with me in Sydney for a couple of months before making his way to Indonesia for another 6 months, and my dad was taking advantage of cheap flights to SYD and making a mileage run, only staying for a couple of days. My dad showed Brady around a little bit while I was working and helped him get settled a bit. Had a pretty good time with both of them here.

Brunch at Cafe XXII (naturally).

We took a walk around the CBD the first day.

Dad and Brady standing in front of Archibald

Fountain at Hyde Park.

If lore is to be believed, there is a pot of gold

and a drowning leprechaun on the left side

of the fountain.

Wandering through the Botanical Gardens, we

came across a couple of rainbow lorikeets in the

trees.

Thousands upon thousands of bats hang out in

the gardens during the day - chittering, sleeping,

flying occasionally. The trees are full of them.

A flock of cockatoos (flockatoo?).

They were pretty tame - this one let me get

close enough to put a tiny saddle on it.

Couldn't have asked for nicer weather.

Brady in search of sea critters in the rocks along

the park.

Dang - I thought we just had really good parking

karma. I guess there's a reason no one else

parked there.

Enjoying pints and pies at the Lord Nelson.

They brew their own beer, which is delicious.

Cockle Bay doesn't normally look like this -

apparently it was some annual boating expo

that week. Sucks to be the guy moored in the

back.

Fireworks

Last night as I lay in bed, I heard what initially sounded like gunfire. After a second or so, it became clear that it was not, in fact, a riot in the city streets below - the flashing colors through my curtains made that quite clear. I hopped out of bed, and ran out to my balcony. No more than a quarter of a mile away right down on Darling Harbor, they were having a fireworks show. Being on the 24th floor with a clear view of the harbor, I had the perfect seat.

The reason as to why they were having such a show is still unknown to me - I will ask around - however, my initial assumption is that it was to celebrate my landmark discovery of a tasty snack called Burger Rings. I will let you know if this is not the case.

At any rate, enjoy the show.

Arrival

Leaving was bittersweet - there is so much I'm going to miss from home.

My departure from the airport was uneventful. I shared some beers and some Chex Mix with my dad and brother before I passed through security on my own. Of all the people I am leaving behind in this move, none of it feels like 'goodbye;' it's all just 'see you soon.' That's a good feeling.

I climbed the stairs up to my Business class loft (really just a fancy term for a seat that fits someone my size properly) and safely stowed my carry-on. I had a window seat, which was great, as I could pass the flight starting at the NOTHING that we flew over during the 14-hour, all-night flight.

In hindsight, there were some distant lightning storms that flashed outside my window - that (and the fact that, up that high, you are able to see every single star) made it well worth it.

I won't go into the grizzly details of the in-flight entertainment - let's just say that Disney television is not what it used to be. Also, there are some frightfully terrible child actors out there. Painfully bad.

At any rate, the flight went by rather quickly, thanks to several meals, several glasses of wine, and what I can only call the longest sleep-that-wasn't-exactly-sleep ever recorded. Australia greeted us with a phenomenal sunrise of pinks and oranges as we landed.

I am going to say something about landings: landings are my basis of comparison for airlines. Having flown on a handful of them, you start to notice the subtle differences between the varying levels of finesse for each pilot. Some of them make you doubt as to whether or not you've actually touched the ground. Others have you wholly-convinced that you've torn into the tarmac with shards of what used to be the landing gear right before scraping off the bottom 36 inches of the hull of the plane. This experience was thankfully the former. The pilot set us down with what I would consider less jostling than some of the trembling that minor turbulence caused us in the air.

After exiting the plane at 6:30 am and walking through a very long, very empty airport, I encountered a tactic that I have only seen employed at such mega-corporation headquarters such as Disneyland: the gift shop ambush. This occurs when the only way out of a ride, location, etc is blocked by a marketing explosion. What was once a quiet stroll through a deserted airport quickly became a thrash through an obstacle course of duty-free goods and unwitting victims of this trap. I threw some elbows, shouldered some people into a display of Red Label, and finally made it down to baggage claim to - you guessed it - claim my baggage.

No complaints about customs or anything like that - kept the guilty sweating to a minimum and I breezed right through.

As the door opened I got my first (well, this trip) taste of Sydney. A chilling breeze bit at my face. And the knowledge that the temperature would not rise much during the remainder of the day made me smile. I hopped in a cab (after waiting in an incredibly long line, for whatever reason) and was on my way to my temporary housing.

Which was quite nice! I am on the 24th floor with a great view of the downtown area including the Sydney Tower (the equivalent of the Space Needle, decked out with multiple restaurants - I think every city is supposed to have something like this).

View from my balcony

By the time I showered (in a shower which, apparently, was built for someone half my height), and changed and kinda arranged some of my stuff, it was 9-ish and I figured I'd walk over to see where the office was.

It didn't take long.

The office is all of 2 blocks away on the 11th, 16th, and 18th floors of Darling Park. The folks there were incredibly accommodating considering I was showing up tired and unannounced (I had at least shaved). I was given the grand tour, got a loaner laptop, got to officially meet everyone on the team, discovered that their micro kitchens are stocked with Cadbury candy, and then sat down to let everyone know I had arrived safely.

Looking up at my office from the courtyard.

After checking in with loved ones, I gathered my things and wandered off to the Sydney Aquarium in a desperate attempt to stay awake. Needless to say, it worked.

The aquarium was incredibly fascinating. It started off a bit slow (unlike the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which reels you in right away with otters), but made up for it tenfold in the end. Case in point:


Ok, there is a large greyish-white surface above the head of the scuba diver (we were viewing this from underwater tubes). Is it the ground? Is he upside down? No! It's a stingray.

This was probably the largest ray I've seen in my life. A good 6'+ from tip to tip. Simply massive. It was swimming around in this viewing area with a couple of nurse sharks; massive beasts, but generally non-aggressive and harmless. I happened to catch them at feeding time which meant everyone in the water was a little more energetic - or on edge, considering the divers.

After wandering through the aquarium, I had purchased a two-pack and headed next door to a wildlife habitat, owned by the same people / conglomerate / mafia as the aquarium (hence the discount for purchasing tickets to both). It was pretty great - got to see a bunch of native Australian critters. They started off with insects - which was fine. I got to pet a 10" stick insect and see how big and furry a wolf spider is with 50 babies on her back. Then they got into the other spiders. There was a golden orb spider, a spindly monstrosity the likes of which I would never want to see outside of a 3" glass display. And they also had a pair of Sydney Funnel-Web spiders, one of the most poisonous spiders in the world. I had constant chills until I exited that area and moved on to the other beasts - I don't do spiders.

I also got to pet a snake and a bearded dragon.

There were other, more cuddly beasties there. They had the usual fare, with koalas, wallabies, and kangaroos. All in all it was very enjoyable.

Speaking of enjoyable, the weather has been gorgeous. Chilly, chance of rain, and not too much sun.

A view of Darling Harbor

I wandered around the city a bit before I was ready to collapse. I made a stop by the new Apple Store (which, consequently, is 3 stories tall). I also found a small Turkish deli serving doner kebabs. Ranked among the best I've had. I would have set up a bank account too, but August 4th is apparently a bank holiday. Official business will have to wait another day, I suppose.

There is just so much to see here - my coming days will most certainly be full.