Searching For P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney

It’s 7:45 am here in Sydney, Australia and if you know me, you know I am not a morning gal. I’m only up and awake because jet lag has gotten the absolute best of me – I went to bed at 7 pm the past two nights. But hey I survived the 17 hour plane ride !!!!! And it definitely felt as long as it actually was. We were encouraged to stay awake for the first half of the flight and take some NyQuil and sleep the second half of the flight. We had about every movie and TV show imaginable in front of us so surprisingly I wasn’t really bored but uncomfortable with no leg room and stuck behind a man whose chair was so reclined I think there was about 2 inches between my face and the screen on the back of his chair. We were served dinner about 90 minutes into the flight with the options of pasta tortellini, a salad with sesame chicken, or butter chicken with steamed vegetables aka not too shabby for some airplane food. We were given snacks and beverages throughout the flight, and served breakfast the last hour.

The "Gap"

Sydney Opera House & Harbour Bridge

Almost a whole season of Friends, a few movies and a total of about 4 hours of sleep later, we arrived to the ~Land Down Under~ and our adventure immediately begun. Our bus driver gave us a guided coach tour and took us to some of Sydney’s hot spots, including the famous Sydney Opera House, the “Gap”, and the Bondi Icebergs Swim Club. I found it amazing that within such a hustlin' and bustlin' city like Sydney, there are still places that are absolutely breathtaking. Our bus driver took us up winding roads where we saw the most beautiful and luxurious houses all of which overlooked the Sydney Harbour. These million dollar homes have a very modern architectural design to them. Once at the top, we got to explore the "Gap," a historical ocean cliff that has become a major destination for tourists because of it's beautiful ocean views. Away from all the city commotion, the Gap was so quiet all you could hear were the waves crashing onto the rocks. We learned that this is also a popular suicide spot -- the paths were covered with Lifeline messages to help those with suicidal thoughts. After we finished our guided tour, we went to the Bondi Icebergs Swim Club where we ate lunch and learned about the history of the Icebergs. It's a winter swimming club with its origins dating back to 1929.

Bondi Icebergs Swim Club

To be completely honest, Sydney hasn’t really felt like Australia yet. It has a big city feel to it filled with lots of tourists like ourselves so I haven’t really met many true Aussies quite yet. Here are some of the differences that I’ve already noticed between Australia and the United States:

• Aussies drive on the other (‘wrong’) side of the road. And not only that, they walk on the ‘wrong’ side of the street too.
• Australia doesn’t have ketchup, they have tomato sauce. And ranch is completely unheard of here – we literally had to explain to our waitress what ranch is. I had to eat my pizza without ranch and it was really sad.
• It’s called a ‘toilet’ not a restroom or bathroom. And the toilets have two flush buttons – one is for half flush and the other for full. Isn’t that weird?
• Australian money is translucent. In the states, my money is always folded or wadded up in my purse but here I feel guilty putting a crease in the bill because it looks so elegant. Oh, and there’s no $1 bills – instead it’s a $1 coin. And that’s not even the weirdest part – the 50 cent coin is bigger than the $1 coin and the $1 coin is bigger than the $2 coin.
• When you say “thank you”, Aussies respond with “no worries” or “it’s alright.”
•  Finding free wifi in Australia is like going on a treasure hunt. (Hint why this blog is a little overdue). But I have to admit it, it’s been quite refreshing.
• Australians abbreviate A LOT. Some Aussie lingo I’ve already caught onto includes; uni (university), sunnies (sunglasses), brekkie (breakfast), swimmers (swim suits).
• Minimum wage in Australia is around $17 an hour, making my $7.25 wage at Blue Marlin looking quite dinky. Because of this, tipping isn’t a big thing here. In the U.S., servers live off of tips so our restaurant service is much faster paced.