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Woweee, my first few days down unda have been quite a blurr - literally.
I arrived in Sydney on Thursday morning after a long series of flights that took me through Bangkok (to pick up my suitcase), then Kuala Lumpur. I arrived feeling pretty good given the lack of sleep leading up to the trip.
Thursday I met with Laura at UTS and got a tour and some introductions to the staff and students there. They are housed in the school of business and their offices are in a phenomenally cool building (see photo) that looks like a crinkled paper bag. Afterwards Laura and I walked down through the city to an area called the rocks and had a beer at the Oldest Pub in Sydney, called the Fortune of War. That area is where the bridge and the opera house are so I got to see the important sights right off the bat.
Later that evening I caught up with Dan, a friend from Western who has been living in Syndey since he finished. It was a great day of reunions!
Friday morning I took care of some of the real life things I had been neglecting. I got my phone set up for my stay and cleared about 100 messages from my email inbox. After catching up with Laura and her kids for lunch, I headed down to the city centre and met some new friends for lunch and then a tour through the botanical gardens and then back to circular quay and the opera house. The city is super green and there are a ton of awesome sights.
Friday night we hit the town to do some exploring. It's Mardi Gras time in the city (pride festival) and it is one of the biggest parties out there. We toured Oxford street (the gaybourhood) for some food and drinks and found a couple pubs and then the Arq which is a pretty well known club. It was a late night, but a really good one. Also made friends with some super cool locals!
Saturday was all about the party. Didn't get up to much during the day except making preparations for the evening. After getting dressed up in our neons we headed to meet our new local friends for some drinks before the parade. The one guy lives in a wicked apartment downtown with a nice balcony so we hung out there for a few hours and then headed out for the parade.
We tried to get a good view on a few side streets but the crowds were massive. Didn't end up staying too long before we bounced out to get food. Saw just enough of the parade to say we did it, but our one new friend uses a chair so it was pretty tough to get any kind of viewing space.
After refuelling and meeting up with some other friends, we reconvened at the cool apartment. Next up we hit the strip to check out the party. Following the parade the streets are pretty wild. Then the cops push everyone off so that an amazingly efficient street cleaning team can work their magic. It was pretty cool to watch it all unfold.
Half our group had tickets to the official post-parade festival after party, so we split up and went our separate ways for the rest of the night. All in, it was a great day and a lot of fun. Loved making some local friends and getting the insiders info on what is good/fun in the city.
The next few days will be about trying to see as much of the cool things as I can, including a beach or two.
Get tanned, and stay weird.
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