On to Australia

After my first return to Oz in Darwin, I was somewhat leery about coming back. I had been searched twice in Darwin, once coming in and the second time going out. Of course, it could well have been that they were somewhat bored. I thought it might be somewhat easier coming into Sydney since it is the main port of entry into Australia. So it was with hope that I returned to Australia a second time, this time for about a month.

And it was much easier. No stops to ask about my previous visit. The e-visa that I applied for was still in force. My length of stay, at 35 days this time, seemed to pass muster and nobody questioned that. I even had no questions about when, where, and how I would be leaving the country. This was a good thing, as I don't have an onward ticket yet. I don't know exactly when my cousin will be returning to Australia and I didn't want to hem myself in for a particular length of stay until I am sure of when she arrives. So as of yet, I still don't have a ticket out of Australia. All in all, it was a painless arrival this time around into the country.

After arriving, on the advice of a friend who lives in Sydney, I purchased a one-week pass on the transit system. For a fairly small price (all things considered, given how expensive Australia is these days), the pass gives unlimited travel on buses, ferries, and a reasonable radius on the subway.

Then it was off to find a place to stay. On the internet, I found a hostel downtown that offers a weekly rate on a room that comes to 42 dollars a day. For downtown, I am not going to find anything cheaper than that, so I headed there and registered.

Then it was down to Circular Quay for a wander around. It's on Circular Quay where the Opera House is found, and good views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge can be had.

I spent some time in Australia once about fifteen years ago, and I spent some time in Sydney then as well. It was a time well before digital cameras were common. They were huge and very expensive. I suppose that I can have my photo negatives from that time digitized somehow, but there were many things that I didn't take photos of at the time because film was just so dear. One of those things was something called the Writer's Walk. All around Circular Quay, on the sidewalks, there are plaques that have quotes about Australia inscribed on them. On my last visit, I was only able to write a bunch of them down to retain them. But this time I was able to take photos of them to keep them. It's much easier. I don't know what I ever did before my digital camera. It makes things so much more convenient.

Here are a couple of my favourite quotes from the walk.

After walking around Circular Quay for a while, I found a tourist information booth. I talked to the man in the booth for a little while and got a lot of information about some nice walks around the Sydney Harbour area. Armed with my transit pass and these maps, I figured I would be able to have a good time in Sydney this time around. (My last visit was not overly memorable. I was still very new to travelling at the time, so I didn't really do Sydney properly.) And I headed back to the hostel. And as I did, I began to feel somewhat ill. And my leg started to hurt a bit. At the time, I figured that I was just coming down with a small cold or flu. I didn't think much of it, except that by that evening, I was feeling decidedly unwell. I couldn't even stand up very well because of dizziness. I was shivering from chills and I really just wanted to lie down. I had a hot shower to try to deal with the chills and headed to bed. Maybe it wasn't going to be such a great visit after all.