I made it to Oz!

Hi Everyone!
I've made it Down Under!  I left LAX Sunday night and arrived in Sydney Tuesday morning. Looong flight. Checked into Eva's Backpackers Hostel for $30/night.  Stayed in women's dorm with 5 roomies, all under 25 years old.  Most of the hostellers are young, just a very few random oldies like me. Australia allows under 30s to work for money and most of the kids here are either looking for work or in short term jobs. I haven't met an fellow American yet. Lots of Germans, French and British.  More girls than boys. Mostly single and travelling alone. British English (with accents!!!) is the universal language.

Hostel life
At Eva's, you are issued clean sheets and assigned to a room.  You pick your bed if you're lucky and you aren't the last one.  First 2 nights I was on top bunk in 3 women room (overflow, three beds is usually a private room not a dorm).  Then I was moved into a girls dorm (with bathroom ensuite!) where the only bed available was a bottom bunk. Yeay!!  You can keep to yourself or you can make friends.  You know me, I tried to make friends. A little tough as I am a maternal figure but the girls (4/5) chattered and actually included me sometimes.  One of the girls had been there for 3 weeks and she (her belongings) was spread out like she'd been.

Some people cook together which is nice cuz you can buy regular amounts and not worry about spoilage.  I ate by myself; no one invited me.  : (  The common room/kitchen is large (seats about 30) and bright and posted with signs to clean up after yourself.  Benches and oilcloth covered tables. Large fridges that are cleaned out on Wednesdays. TV room/library with a couch (seats 4). 2 computers for public use.  Free wifi (one of the reasons I chose Eva's).  Only negative was that they were painting and it stank!!!!
Hostels can be as cheap as $19/night or as much as $49+ for private.  Some offer free brekkies (breakfast), free wifi, weekly/monthly rates.  Others have bed bugs and cockroaches.  You have to read the reviews and choose carefully.

 Everyone seems very considerate but there is partying.  Pubs/clubs are expensive. Beers start at $5 so a lot of partying is done at the hostels. If you're near the common room on Thurs, Fri, or Sat night, you might not be able to sleep from the babble/laughter. Apparently some people got "lucky", I don't know where! I heard in a dorm but what about the roomies?!

Sightseeing
I'm in the Kings Cross/Potts Point area, a residential area within walking distance to CBD: Central Business District, where all the sights are. So there are lots of hostels in this area.  Around the corner is the red light district.

First day here, I went to the Royal Botanical Gardens (of course!)  Most fascinating (?) thing there to me was not the plants.  Surprise!  It was the fruit bats!  Hundreds of them! Hanging upside down from the trees.  Yikes! Chattering/screeching, fluffing, flying.  Hundreds of them!  Loose! Free! Able to swoop

down and get in your hair! Okay, Cyn.  Get past the bats.  Gardens are very extensive, sort of boring. Too manicured. Mostly older plantings. Large sections of lawns. Very minimal annuals.  I guess they are trying to conserve water since they're in 9th year of drought.  But how about those lawns?! Nice herb garden. Educational plaques, signage adequate. Didn't see a natives section. Did see veggie gardens!  They're big on grow-your-own. The Gardens are on the harbor so I got great views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

I have walked miles! I mean kilometres!! Public transpo is fairly convenient but not cheap.  Extensive train service. Regular bus and ferry service.  Free shuttle in CBD! To get anywhere specific, you pretty much have to transfer, usually from train to bus or ferry. Went to "Chinatown".  Expected more but it was interesting to hear Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and other dialects spoken just like anywhere.   Shops are the same.  Cramped, crowded, and messy.  Ducks, BBQ pork hanging in the windows.  Chicken feet and duck wings. No cheap eats though. Even Pho is $9-10.

Paddy's Market, open Wed-Sun, is like a permanent farmers/flea market.  Produce is much less expensive than in grocery stores.  Cheap/knockoff clothes, shoes, souvenirs, etc. available.  I'm not buying anything cuz I gots to carry it for a year.  Tourism is supposed to be very big in Sydney but it doesn't seem that touristy to me. Circular Quay is SF's Fisherman's Wharf on a much smaller scale. But because of it's size, very convenient.  All the huge cruiseships, tourboats, and ferries dock here.

Sydney is expensive, everyone sez so. Stores are small by US standards.  Woolworths and Coles are 2 main grocery stores.  They are 1/5 - 1/4 the size of the average grocery store in California.  We're not talking WalMart; we're talking Albertsons. I don't understand store layout.  The meat, bread, and produce sections are clear.  Refridged dairy, pasta, ready to eat stuff are not grouped by category. Nor are canned/packaged goods.  You see a section of cheese, then pasta, then milk, then Indian food, then butter and yogurt.  Two other cases of cheese elsewhere in the store. Eggs are not refridged! I don't get it; it must make sense somehow. $3/kilo for bananas. Figure it out.  2.2 lbs/kilo. That's almost $1.40/lb. $5/kilo for apples. Can of Campbell's Chunky Soup $4. Pkg of 6 large tortillas $5. Bread from $2.50 (must buy 2) - $7 loaf There are convenience stores everywhere; at least one per block. There are lots of small bakeries and takeaway food stores.  You can't get a small meal for less than $8. One scoop ice cream $3.50+.

I haven't gotten to the beach yet. Planned to go today, Sunday, but Host hasn't emailed me re pick up and I don't want to go too far from the hostel. Not too happy about that. But it did give me time to compose this!!!
See you soon!
Cyn