Sydney is a spectacular city - incredibly landscaped, full of young people (hmm lots of trendily-dressed business execs, too), tons of cultural activities and restaurants, stellar shopping, and a real cosmopolitan feel - all without being over-crowded or too rushed. I skipped out on Sydney during my first trip to Oz back in January 2001 because I wrote it off as "any big city." I'm so glad I gave it a chance this time because if you take the time to explore it, it's really UNLIKE many other major cities around the world.

Australians don't rush. They stroll. Lunchtime in the central business and shopping district finds the streets riddled with masses of young, smartly-attired people sitting in the sun, wandering around shops and running errands. The electricity of New York City just isn't there, but in its place has a fresh, relaxed, easygoing karma that actually appeals to me more.

I wandered around Darling Harbor, sitting in the 70F sun (it's WINTER!!!), writing in my journal and people-watching. Some roadside cleaner had a little chat with me about his life and felt the need to share that he is a stripper at night and dances for women. Why strangers feel the need to share information like this with me is still a mystery. In order to escape, I decided to catch an IMAX film and then ended up falling alseep during the film entitled "Adrenaline Rush." A classic waste of money, I'll say.

Not to worry, further exploration of Sydney proved to be much more rewarding and less expensive. I probably walked about ten miles one day, all around the Sydney Harbour, up the Harbour Bridge, into the Opera House, through the Botanical Gardens...this is what I love about Australia (Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane are like this, too) - there is so much open space and greenery everywhere. Australians completely utilize the outdoors. The parks and beaches don't go empty...oh no! They're filled with surfers, bikers, joggers, roller-bladers, hikers. I took a train to the infamous Bondi Beach and watched the sun set over some crazy Japanese surfers.

Even better, one of the guys who I met in Portugal - Big Gay Matt! - was in Sydney on business (he lives in Canberra), so I met up with him one night and he introduced me to his two lovely friends, Lisha and Rich. We all went out to the Fox Studios comedy club for a brilliant night of laughter. It was so good to see him, he's such a great person! (see the journal entry "What Makes Traveling Worthwhile" for more info on Matt).

Yesterday I went with some backpackers on a tour of the Blue Mountains, a sandstone plateau about an 130km (yess I'm metric now) inland from Sydney. It was fantastic. Our tour guide, Rob, was the funniest, most down-to-earth person I've met in a long time and his humor on the trip made all the difference. He's a photographer who does the tours on the side, and a truly wonderful guy. He took us bushwalking and hiking for hours around the steep plateaus, while we enjoyed the breathtaking shale and sandstone formations and waterfalls. I also had the chance to meet a bunch of really fab people: Markus from Sweden, a pharmacy student, Geeske (pronounced Hays-ka) from Holland, a pharm bio PhD student, and Polly and Adele from Belfast, both occupational therapy students with infectious laughter.

We all ate dinner together and then went out to the World Bar in Kings Cross - only to find ourselves being accosted by disgusting Aussie men. No tact. Completely uncouth. One fellow actually pointed to his friend and said to us, "Hey ladies, this is Kevin, he's hard up, I'm just being honest. I'm mean, when you have an itch, you gotta scratch it." Adele, Polly and myself were thoroughly disgusted - I don't think Markus quite understood what was going on.

At any rate, I left Sydney this morning to come to Alice Springs - in the middle of the outback - to start a 4-day camping trip. I can't wait! It should be really peaceful.

Wandering around Alice Springs this afternoon has a left a bad taste in my mouth, however. The poor Aborignals. It's appalling. I feel physically sick watching them wander the desert while the "Aussies" run tours and backpackers come through. See, in the States we've done something really NICE - we've put all the native Americans neatly into reservations. Out of sight, out of mind. Ha. I don't know which is worse - indigenous people who were robbed of their land and their souls who you can actually SEE, like here, or the gutting knowledge that they're sectioned off and practically jailed with a life on a reservation.

~Hope