Last Sunday, I hopped the Indian Pacific train departing Perth for a Wednesday morning arrival in Sydney. There is lots of nothing in the center of this country! The trip was fairly relaxing as I hoped, but the average age of the other riders skewed a bit high. At dinner one night, the woman across the table said, "After World War II, my husband and I moved to.......".
One of the few folks under 70 on the trip was Josh, a 16-year old high school drop-out from Perth, who was traveling across with his father who he only referred to as, "Dave".
Fairly certain this kid either wanted me to adopt him or become his big brother. Not sure which. He was quite interested in finding out if it was true that he could walk straight into a Walmart in the United States and by himself a gun. On the bright side, he liked basketball.....
Upon arrival in Sydney, I checked into my hotel in Darling Harbor. Quickly remembered how much I loved this city the first time around in 2000. Right now I'd rank it number one on my "Favorite City" list.
The first thing I did in Sydney was to hop over to the Brazilian consulate and turn in my paperwork to apply for a travel visa. Cost for an American: $150. Cost for any other nationality? Either free or $30.
So the nice (not really) Brazilian staffer has possession of my passport until this coming Wednesday when I'll hopefully pick it back up. One big side-issue related to this visa application is that they insisted on my showing them proof of an outbound flight. Since Brazil is the last place I intend to visit on this trip, I had to book my flight back to the United States. Therefore, on February 25 at 10:25pm, I'll be on a United flight headed back to Washington D.C....the same city I left from on December 7. Hopefully my car will be there waiting....and in one piece.
The next day in Sydney I re-did some of the touristy stuff I did eight years ago...Opera House, Circle Quay, Botanical Gardens, Harbour Bridge. Also did a 30-minute jetboat ride in the Harbour which was wet, but fun, fun, fun. And, naturally, I checked out a movie...."Body of Lies". (I thought it was quite good)
On Friday, I flew north to Hervey Bay to visit my friend, Megan from the Trans-Siberian Railway tour. Megan was kind enough to:
-take a half-day off work on Friday to pick me up at the airport
-put me up in her (Mom's) house
-give up her bedroom with the brilliant MAC computer in it for me to sleep in
-let me tag along for dinner and drinks with lots of her friends on Friday
-plan and join me for a 2-day trip to nearby Fraser Island which was fantastic (the "world's largest sand island", don't ya know...)
-Take off the morning from work tomorrow to take me to the airport
-Oh...and split a bottle of vodka to bring back memories of that wretched Russian train! :-)
All in all, pretty darn nice of her.
Tomorrow I head back to Sydney, where I'll remain until Friday when I fly to New Zealand.
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