Start of Australia Trip
It took so long to get here its ridiculous…and I didn’t even have any long layovers. When they call it the “land down under” I now know for sure why they call it that.
First of all, I shared two plane rides with the designer guy from Extreme Home Makeover. He just filmed a show in Geneva, NY. I didn’t get to meet him, but I know he likes to read celebrity gossip magazines.
I had a six hour layover in Nadi, Fiji. We arrived at 5:00 in the morning. Since I was so sick of being on planes and in airports, I decided to take a taxi into Nadi town. Before I could get out of the airport four taxi drivers swarmed around me and started asking where I was going, what hotel I was staying in, and if I wanted a ride. I was kind of surprised by this because usually the person who wants a taxi has to take the initiative, right? I said that I was going to be on the island for a few hours and wanted a ride into Nadi (which was pronounced Nan-dee but in the kind of way that a foreigner can never absolutely get it absolutely right). They told me that everything in town was closed, which I assume was correct, and that one of the drivers knew a beach that is great for watching the sunrise. He told me it would be $50. We settled on $40. I got into a cab that seemed to hold the totality of all the odors of a burning Indian village. I had never smelled anything quite like it before and at five in the morning with a little grogginess it was an unwelcome shock.
The cab driver introduced himself as Veejay and I told him my name. Everytime I asked him a question about Fijian life, he would end his answer with “Brandon”. It was completely black outside and I was disoriented from being on the left side of the car and the smell of his cab. Every once in a while a man would walk by holding a bucket, probably full of fish, or a woman would walk by and wave. The roads were absolutely terrible–huge potholes and uneven pavement. After about 20 minutes we arrived at a beach resort and Veejay told me to take my time and that he would be waiting in the parking lot. I got out and could immediately smell the tropical flowers being heated by the rising sun. I went out onto a point where they must do weddings, as it was raised and there were tropical grasses planted in a circle around it. I could see the other Fijian islands in the distance and they were very mountainous. I watched the sunrise but because I was on the west side of the island it was not spectacular. Still, it was really neat to hear all the birds starting to chirp. I decided to head back to the airport sooner rather than later, judging by the road conditions and the likelihood that we might hit an animal or person on the way. I got back to the taxi and the driver was sleeping in my seat. I knocked on the window twice and he sat up and his eyes were all red. We pulled out and started heading back to the airport and by now it was light so I could see how beautiful the island really is. There was TONS of sugar cane, which is the main source of income for the Fijians outside of tourism. They hack the stalks and then bundle them together and load them onto a small rail cart system that takes them to the processing plant. The rail system goes all through the island and it is always full. When the cane has been harvested, the farmers burn the field to prepare the soil for replanting. Since it is tropical, the planting and harvesting cycle never stops. We came upon a mountain range and the sun was just coming up behind it, lighting the lush greenery and mist that covered it. Veejay kept asking, “You want take pick-sha?”. We would drive by some villages with huts and he would again say, “You want take pick-sha?”. I felt like I would be offending him if I didn’t want to take pictures of the half-naked children playing some variety of football in the streets. We eventually got to the airport after numerous photo-ops. I handed him the money, not even wanting to know how much I just overpaid him, and said goodbye.
I arrived in Sydney at 11:40 am. I was surprised by the ease with which I went through customs. They asked me no questions and I told them no lies : P I wanted to get to the hostel as soon as possible because, I know its terrible, but I wanted to get out of the clothes that smelled like a burning Indian village and take a shower. Hey, I had been traveling for 29 hours, so I had that reason too. But mainly the smell.
I got to Kings Cross, which is like the backpacking district of Sydney. I checked in at Eva’s, which I could already tell was going to be a great place to stay. I went to my room and opened the door and saw two people sleeping in two of the bottom bunks. Out of instinct, I quickly shut the door, but the door was SO freaking loud–it creaked and squeeked–so I just decided that I might as well go in now. I got settled in and showered and then I decided to head out and see the classic sights. I went to the botanical gardens, which were amazing and very botanical indeed. There were HUMONGOUS fruit bats in some of the palm trees and they kept stretching out their wings and screeching at each other. I tried to take a picture, but they were too high up. I went to the opera house, which is just as impressive, if not more so, than they make it out to be. I walked the entire perimeter and took way too many pictures. I sat on the steps and looked out of the harbor then walked to a cafe that looked out on the bay and the harbor bridge. I drank a huge orange gatorade because I was so dehydrated from being on planes so long. I asked for a cup with ice in it and they looked at me funny. I found out later that, like Europe, Australians don’t really like to put drinks over ice. They just chill them. After that, I walked around Cirular Quay (which is pronounced “Kay”…weird) which is the main hub of transportation for ferrys and buses and trains into and out of Sydney. I almost got run over a couple of times because I forgot to look LEFT when crossing the street instead of right. It was funny (and I didn’t notice right away)…they had “<–Look Left” painted on the curb of every crossing because, apparently many more unlucky people like me had gone before and met their end. I got back to my hostel and went to bed quite early because I was a little jetlagged. The time change was not terrible AT ALL though because I basically went to sleep from LAX to Fiji and I had a whole row of seats to myself (since the plane was about half-empty). So, it was just like I went to bed and woke up in Australia.
I’m still adjusting to a lot of stuff like the fact that I still forget to look left when crossing the street or that peanut butter here does not equal peanut butter from home. And yes, I opted for peanut butter on my toast this morning instead of Vegemite. I’ll get around to that later I suppose!
Tags: Travel
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