Adventures In Oz

Hello Everybody!!

Its Thursday, June 1 here in Sydney and the weekend is almost here. It is funny that I still get excited for the weekend because essentially everyday is the weekend for me. Today, being bored of sitting at home doing nothing I decided to go out on my own to see more of downtown. Yesterday I had great ideas about what I was going to do. Wake up early, go to the Botanical Gardens and see some birds...blah blah blah. I am naturally lazy so who was I kidding. I woke up at 12- sat on my ass surfing the net until 3 - Then finally, I decided I had to do something. I took the train to central station and started walking. There are lots of people on the sidewalks in Sydney and if your not careful you will get run over. Don't get me wrong, there are alot of people on the sidewalks in Toronto too- they are just all in a hurry and dodge you as you walk by. Here they will walk right into you. Being the polite person that I am I always say sorry even if its not my fault. In Canada the person will usually say something along the lines of no problem, Im sorry too, or thats okay. Here when you say sorry they say- yeah, or Your okay Mate. I don't know maybe it's just me, but I find the way they talk kind of rude. Maybe its the accent- or maybe they just are rude. I am not generalizing here- I have met lots of nice Australian people, but in general I think that Canadians have much better manners.

Anyways- after almost being run down by pedestrians I headed to the Queen Victoria Building (or known here as QVB) - which is the big mall downtown (which I think have written about before) I had more time to explore the whole mall this time and I must say that it is the nicest looking mall I have ever been in. I spent more time looking around at the architecture than I did looking in the stores. Howeve,r they do have some really nice stores there- Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Dior, Ralph Lauren.

Frustrated about not finding anything to buy at QVB I headed to Chinatown, where I would have the best chance of finding something cheap that would satisfy my shopping craving. Because it was Thursday the huge market was open and I finally got a chance to see what it was like in there. It is a huge market and I found myself walking in circles trying to figure out if I was going the right way. I finally had enough of getting lost and walking past the same shops over and over again. There really should be maps up or something. And I must add that there was a wierd smell and I don't know if I will be going back there. because of it. It was mostly crappy stuff that isn't worth the money and I could find it at Dollarama at home. Oh and no fake stuff which was really the main reason I didn't like it very much. I will have to go back to the Friday night market for that good stuff. So again I didn't buy anything. And my clothes still have the smell of the market on them.

I decided to walk ( yes, me walk) around to enjoy the beautiful sunset before heading back to Central Station to fight the masses and find my train. It really is a zoo there - I think that Union Station in Toronto is much easier to navigate. It took me 20 minutes to figure out where I was supposed to be to catch my train.

But all complaining aside I was glad that I got out of the house and did something. Next week I will definately be taking my map and going somewhere else. I like solo adventures. It makes you feel like you've accomplished something when you get home. And because I was so proud of myself I went to Oporto for dinner. Oporto is this great Chicken fastfood place and I am addicted to it. Fortunately ( and unfortunately ) there is one right by my house. I try to stay away but sometimes I just can't.

So thats all for today people. I am enjoying Sydney but I miss everybody ( and North America )
This weekend should be a good one though- I think Ryan and I are going to go to Darling Harbour one of the days and see that area.

So I hope everybody has a good one and I will probably post some pictures later on in the weekend!

Cheers!

Brandy

HI MOM AND DAD!!