Ok everyone, I am here to admit that I have been a complete slacker with the website for the last month or so…I really do appreciate the emails I have received from everyone wondering where I’ve been, and I am sorry for not providing updates. What can I say? After I finished cycling to Cairns, I was burned out from travelling and updating and planning and sharing, and I flew down to Sydney to stay with friends and figure out what I was going to do next. If anyone out there knows me personally then you will know how superstitious I am about discussing ideas and plans before decisions are made, so that is the main reason why I have had to go undercover.
I’ve been chilling out in Sydney for the last 2 months now, trying to decide if I want to stop and work here for a bit or continue travelling, and if I continue travelling, where to go. I have had some really interesting options, one to be a tour guide in Asia, and one to work at a whole food store in Bondi, and at times I found myself very tempted to stop and settle down for awhile.
But the drive in me is still there, and I still feel that I have more challenges to face and places to discover before I throw out the travel clothes and go real world again.
So I am off again. I have just bought a ticket to go back to Asia, at least for a little while. I have some things there that I really want to do and that require more time than money (such as a one-month meditation course), and I just feel that the time is right for me to do those things now. Asia is a place that continues to fascinate me, and especially after being in Australia for a few months now, I realize how much I miss the culture and diversity of Asia.
In one week I should be in Bangkok, and planning to travel onward from there. It will be nearly one year since I’ve been there, and it will be so interesting to me to see what has changed.
As for the website, I will be making regular updates again now that I feel I have things to say and not just ‘today I changed my mind again and I might stay in Sydney’ or ‘I still have no idea what I am doing next but I want to eat pizza again tonight.’ You should all be thanking me for sparing you from such boring details!
Early morning in the Blue Mountains
Clouds above and clouds below
Will to survive in the Blue Mountains
August 15th, 2003
Just a few more things that I’ve been up to in the last few weeks:
1. Travelling to Sydney from Cairns with the Happy Family and staying with them in a nice hotel for another five days. It was great seeing everyone again and getting to spend time catching up.
2. Checking out the Sydney aquarium with the family. The best part was the shark exhibit where you walk under the tank and the sharks and rays swim right over your head.
3. Going to the top of the Sydney Tower, at 250 meters high, it has an incredible view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House and all of Sydney below.
4. Doing the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb with my mom and sister Kristine! Very cool experience, walking along the arch of the bridge to the very top, enjoying amazing views of the city and harbour below.
5. Participating in the family memory lane day where we first visited the hospital where I was born in St. Leonards, then going to St. Cecilia’s elementary school where my sister was in school for 4 years, and to the church at St. Cecilia’s where I was baptized. Also checked out the old house on Glade Street where we lived while in Australia for 5 years.
6. Seeing my family off back to America. Just a quick 2-week holiday for them but still a really good time. When they left they dropped me off at a hostel on Glebe Point Road in Sydney. I spent another week in Sydney at the hostel on my own, and met some really good people there.
7. Going to a real Aussie rules AFL ‘footy’ game in Sydney with a family friend, Grant. Although I’m not much of a sports fan, I was excited to check out a real Aussie game and enjoy their national pasttime with them. Very, very different from American football. No helmets, no pads, no nets behind the goals (meaning the footy flies into the stands at every goal). Thanks to Grant I actually learned a bit about the rules too! I think it was the Sydney Swans vs. the Melbourne somethings.
8. Walking around Sydney for a few days, enjoying Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, and all the other nice spots in town. Truly a great city.
9. Walking from Coogi to Bondi Beach along the coast - about 4 km or 2 hours of walking. Five star scenery, and good company too, went with my friend Winston, one of the guys at the hostel.
10. Surviving a pub crawl sponsored by the hostel - a first for me, and even though I was a bit leery of the thought of doing an all-night bar hopping mad drinking mess, it actually turned out to be really cool and rather mellow. There were about 20 people or so who went and in the end we only’crawled’ to 3 different bars, one of which had live acoustic music which I really enjoyed.
11. Walking from the Spit Bridge to Manly along the coast with Winston again. A 10 km walk with views of North Head, South Head, Sydney, and Manly Took about 3 hours in total. Very very nice walk.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: Well that’s about it. Although I’ve been really bad with documenting my time in Cairns and Sydney, I am back on the ball with writing daily entries and promise to have more juicy details in the upcoming entries. By the way, I’ve finished adding all my pictures from Myanmar so feel free to go back in the journal list to check them out.
The Happy Family in Sydney - Jim, Kristine, Morgan, Jess, and Mom
Jennifer, Kristine, and Mom on the Harbour Bridge
Walking from Coogi to Bondi Beach
August 28th, 2002
