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!!

The City

My adventure began at Central Station- It was easy getting there- but trying to find out which train to take home was much harder- there are about 20 platforms- It only took me 20 minutes to figure it out.


Partial view of downtown


The view from Central Station


The end of Chinatown

 

Today's Sunset

After venturing out on my own for the first time I finished off the day watching an incredible sunset. I just had to post pics to show it off- although the pics dont' really do justice to how awesome it was. It started off pink, blue and purple...


And ended off being black, orange and yellow.

 

Queen Victoria Building

This is one of the entrances to the mall. You can't really tell, but there is no doors to the mall. It is an open walkway from one end to the other and from side to side. It is a gorgeous building and the architecture is amazing.


Here is some of the detail from one of the side entrances.


Really cool stain glass covers most of the windows


This is the nicest mall I have even been in. I barely even looked in stores- I was just so amazed how beautiful it was. All right I did go in a few stores- but I can hardly afford Dolce and Gabbana and Versace.

 

Mmm...Oporto...

Lol...one of my favorite places in Australia. Oporto is a fast food chicken chain. Not like crappy KFC chicken. Actual fresh not frozen chicken. Chicken breast on a bun is one of their best sellers- but I prefer the Chicken Strips and Chips. Pricy though- $10 a meal. It is definately worth it though when I treat myself. It is like my new Wendy's.


I Love Oporto! Leave it to me to have one of my favorite places be food related. We need an Oporto in Canada.

 

Wierd Things In OZ...

This I have found wierd since I got here. The toilets have two buttons on top to flush. The left side is for #1's and the right side is for #2's. I keep thinking that somewhere I go might have a normal toilet. Nope. This is what they have here. Sometimes the buttons are on the wall.




The plug it self is not much different then ours. What is different is the voltage- Here's what I've learned about voltage since I've beeen here. Australia and pretty much everywhere in the world (other than North America) operates on a 220 V- where we operate on a 110 V. It is alot different. Don't ever use your appliances here without a converter ( and unfortunately for me you can't use heating appliances with a converter ). Glad somebody told me that before I came here. My heating pad almost caught on fire and is now a mangled mess on the floor. In fear of ruining my most important possession (my hair dryer) I was forced to go by a new (Cheap) one.


Here is something that is wierd but mostly annoying. The washing machine is also the dryer. I'm not sure if they have these at home, but I don't like it at all. It takes SO long to do the whole load. And I hate doing laundry.

Wierd Things Continued

This is the mall near my house. It doesn't look like any other mall I've ever seen. Most of the malls here look similar to this. I like it, but its definatley different.



Our neighbours have an outdoor bathroom. Not as much wierd as it is GROSS. I couldn't imagine having to get out of bed and walk outside to pee. I know they did it in the olden days- but come on people, its 2006!


This may not look to wierd but it is actually raining all around me but not on our balcony. It rains in patches here. Interesting huh?

Gossip- Guess Who??

I found this today on www.Perezhilton.com -

What down in the doghouse wigga of a husband is so hard up for cash- now that mommy has practically cut him off- that he's been telling stories on his own and with the help of his family to the tabloids about him and the Mrs??


I have been thinking they are over for a few weeks now...







Maybe TPT Britney will gone forever.