Yay for Term Breaks

Sydney-Canberra-Sydney-Geelong. In that order.

I am physically exhausted, but mentally recharged. Oh well. Party when the sun shines, that's what I think. It was a packed holiday, because hopping on and off trains and buses and cars were such a huge part of it, but the times in between were awesome.

SYDNEY

After being in Sydney, I've definitely decided that Melbourne is a much nicer place to live. Sydney is busy. Hustling and bustling. The city is huge and sprawling, almost intimidating. It was noisy. It was everything I can live without. It was, however, definitely the tourist destination of the break. I can't believe how many people I ran into! I met up with some of the Americans from Ormond at Darling Harbour and had lunch with them. It's nice to be able to sit beside the bay and have lunch, while keeping an eye on those evil seagulls. Then we went to see Nemo! LOL. I mean, the aquarium.

After they left, Chris and I decided to do the whole tourist thing and see the Sydney Opera House. Or at least, I wanted to. Chris wanted to be original and be one of those people who would say they'd been to Sydney and never been to the Opera House. Strange. Well, I had my way. Sort of.

Chris, being the typical male he is, refused to ask for directions and vaguely waved his hands towards the general direction of the Opera House. We walked 45 minutes on some godforsaken road beside the shoreline, which I swear NO ONE ever uses, before we got our first glimpse of the Harbour Bridge.

My first reaction : "God, it's ugly."

Chris's response: Well, it's a bridge made of steel.

I did revise my opinion after seeing the whole thing. Quite impressive. The people walking up the bridge looked like little ants walking down in unison down the steel. The thought of being that high up just sends the blood rushing to my head. Wouldn't do it. Wouldn't even get halfway up. It was an impressive structure though.

Then we rounded the corner and came in sight of the structure that has to be on the majority of every single tourist postcard of Sydney. The Sydney Opera House. It didn't quite have the grandeur I associated with it. Sure, it was interesting. All those curves? Pretty cool. I dare say an architecture student, or a construction student might have found it a bit more impressive. It was just a nice building, and it looked cool lit up at night.

The best part of Sydney would have been the beaches. I met up with Brad at Bondi, and ran into some med kids there as well. It was quite strange. It's a small world after all. Brad and I spent most of the afternoon sunbathing. He maintains he got a bit of a tan. Heh. It was nice to nap in the sand and hear the waves breaking in the surf. The gentle lap of waves. Johanna, Jaime and Kathryn came later, and we hung out at Bondi until the good weather ran out.

Manly Beach was quite nice, but it reminded me more of one of those lonely, rugged beaches that one tends to walk up and down at. There were heaps of things washed up on the beach. One of the deadliest jellyfishes in the world. Dead puffer fishes. A washed up rotting fish, A squid without it's tentacles. I enjoyed the walk. The brisk wind against my face. The little nature excursion with friends who muck around. I love the silly photos we took of things washed up.

Anyone who heads to Sydney HAS to try Pancake on the Rocks. Oh my god. That place was awesome. The best pancakes I had in my life. I think I scared off the guys with the sounds of appreciation I kept making. Chris and I kept the conversation laden with sexual innuendoes, and I think poor, innocent Jee Jian missed the whole joke we had going on.

Just walking around Sydney with people whose company I enjoy was fun. The highlight was when I returned later that week and they drove me around in a newspaper van. (One of the seniors was working as a delivery boy for the Herald Sun). That was a first.

CANBERRA

Sam drove me down to Canberra later that week. I was totally exhausted I passed out for the whole drive down. At least he had Katie with him. I'm a good passenger. Sleeping in vehicles come easily to me. Slept over at Sam's that night we got to Canberra.

Coming so late, I couldn't appreciate his house until the morning. It was fantastic. Airy, with a patio where we could actually lounge around on. We went out for lunch into the city, and headed over to the national spring festival: Floriade. This was the second year I've been to Floriade and it's just as beautiful as I remember. The flowers stretched out for miles and miles. Walking down those paths made me realise how much I appreciate those simple things in life. Flowers make me so happy. God is amazing.

Met up with Hugh later, and was immediately sucked into his whole mad, crazy social whirl of his life. His friends. I met all of them. The whole crazy bunch. They're all mad... and I love them for it. It's like stepping into a sitcom. They're all witty, insane people. I slept over his house that night. His parents are awesome. They're lovely as well. It's always different hanging out with a good friend under familial conditions. It gives you more insight into their character.. And Hugh is a sweetheart at home. It makes me miss my own family.

Had lunch with the whole big group the next day and then Hugh took Tammy and I to Parliament. I've been there before, but I like walking around anyway. For some reason, I wasn't as trigger happy as I usually am. I was supposed to sleep over Tengku's the night after, so Hugh drove me over later. We made plans to party that night.

Got to Academy later, and immediately loved the interior. A huge TV screen spanned one wall, showing the videoclips of the songs playing, and I loved the funky lights. I was less smoky than most clubs and I met up with everyone else before Hugh got there, because he was attending a 21st. Anyway, Hugh and Justin were majorly shitfaced.. Everyone was hitting the dancefloor with an enthusiasm that amazed me. These guys dance like people on television do. As in, really well. Anyway, later that night, we got a bit of a scare cause we found out one of the crowd had taken E. Crazy dude. It turned out to be impure MDMAs, not enough to actually cause any sort of harmful effects, but it freaked me out slightly anyway. I do like Academy though. It's a nice place to hang out.

When I got back to the apartment, I was supposed to call to be let in. Total drama. My phone battery died, and I didn't have the number memorized. It was 3 in the morning, freezing cold, I had left my jacket in the club and my phone just died on me. Sigh. I was lucky enough... my phone managed to stay on for 15 seconds: just enough time for me to scribble down the number and make my way to a payphone. Good times.

Tengku took me to the art gallery the next day. It was nice catching up with him. I think he was dead bored walking around the gallery, but I love art, so I took ages poring over the pieces I really liked. I could've stayed longer, but I think he was getting antsy, so I took pity on him. It was nice enough of him to take me around.

Hung out with Faee, Shazlin and Azlin that night, and had some of that Goodberries ice cream Tengku keeps raving about. It was good. Not mouthwateringly, ohmygodIhavetohavesomemore good, but good nonetheless. It felt good, hanging out with the Malaysian crowd. It's such a different vibe from my Australian friends. I suppose a similar culture brings out different things, and it's easier to click. I just hung out at Faee's place for a while later, but it got late, and that part of my holiday ended.

GEELONG

I made good on my promise to Nat and FINALLY came down to Geelong. Flew in straight from Sydney and made my way to Deakin. It's a nice enough place, although the hallways reek of piss. That building has seen one too many drunken episodes. It was so fun catching up with Nat after so long though. Just hanging out with one of my oldest friends. The sense of comfort. I swear I'm getting old.

I love Geelong if only for the fact that it has this amazing waterfront. It's a sleepy seaside town, but that day there was some sort of fair going on the waterfront. I had to resist the temptation to have a pony ride. We had sushi beside the beach. I met up with Chris later, and his girlfriend, Lauren, gave Chris and I a lift back to Melbourne.

My holidays are over now, but I'm recharged. And refreshed.

I remember the flowers.

I remember the smiles of friends.

I remember cuddling up to Nat.

I remember the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.

I remember the sensation of the warm sun on my face.

And I appreciate all of them.