"It's Been a Hard Day's Night"

And I *have* been sleeping like a log. Jaysus. You know you're tired when you sleep from 6 pm to 3 am, and feel like you could still do with quite a bit more shuteye.

Anyhow, I left Dulles about a day ago for an Australian odyssey. Why Australia?

1) I've always wanted to come here

2) It was half as much to go here as Europe.

Easy decision!

Now what they don't tell you about coming here from the US (...well, until you Google it) is that you surprisingly need a visa. And more surprisingly still, unlike other countries, say China, who require visas from the US, it doesn't stay with your old passport.

What did this mean for ol' Sammy Claus? None of the 3 passports I was carrying with me at the airport let me check in for my flight. Wtf, right? Ended up applying and receiving 2 more electronic visas at $20 a pop before they would let me check in. Needless to say, I was thrilled with this.

After that fiasco, all I had ahead of me was a 5 hour flight to LAX and a 15 hour flight to Sydney. The cross-country flight, no problem, I've done this... well, actually probably dozens of times. The 15 hour one with no upgrade was... challenging. You'd really think that with the status I had on United, and the 30 open seats in business class (no big surprise, since it's $5k each way for it) that I might get one of those... you'd be wrong though. Got poor man's business class though, as no one sat next to me in the middle seat. Some sleep, no food, watched a whole season of the Newsroom. Yes, yes, I like Sorkin.

Do you know what the coolest part about the Sydney airport is? That arriving at your gate, going through electronic customs, and getting your bag and getting out can get done *really* quick. I was almost so impressed I forgot the earlier visa fiasco. No wait, scratch that.

Anyhow, Sydney. I decided to sign up for a tour of "The Rocks" neighborhood, and long story short, the only way I could do it was today. You know, literally 3 hours after I landed. But I'm only here a short while! Time to make the most of it.

What rocks? (inside joke)

I'll spoil the surprise for you-- it's called the rocks just because prisoners used to mine the quarry here, best preserved in the stone wall seen above behind that neon sign. What is it really? Your standard gentrified spot that used to be the shittiest neighborhood in Sydney, but now has a vibrant pub life. In this case, a guy called Jack Mundey is responsible for this neighborhood being preserved, by going on strike every time they were about to demolish this place and make room for high rises 30 or 40 years ago. And eventually they gave up.

You know, I sense it's typical that an Aussie hero like Jack is praised for doing nothing.

Linda, a middle aged Aussie, was our tour guide for an annoying honeymoon couple from Chicago and two silent german ladies. You know what made the Chicago people annoying? Constantly feeling the need to update everyone how this is just like Chicago. I've been to Chicago, and I know Chicago, and you know what? This is not anything like it. Did I just shut my tired mouth and inhale beers? Yep.

One example of beer inhaled.

Much like many places I've visited, there are several, if not dozens, of "oldest pubs" in Sydney. This one, "Fortune of War", dates back to before the colony's legalization of pubs serving alcohol. Why is it a sham? Because the building itself didn't survive, and only makes it back to 1920 or so.

After this, we went to the oldest irish pub in Sydney. The claim to fame here is that U2 recently played a small private concert here. This place, due to me swatting fruit flies and conversing, bears no pictures.

Another "oldest" pub

Why was this "oldest" pub a sham? Well, I hate to tell you, but 1843 is 15 years after the first place. And while the stone was nice and survived, there apparently is a building a block away that's 6 months older.

Quick note: All the stone buildings were hand made by convicts. In fact, it appears most things surviving this long were started by convicts. Probably the best part of this tour is hearing about the exploits of these convicts, and the gleeful way our guide would describe their execution for say, stealing a pair of silk stockings to impress a lady (a high crime and misdemeanor!). The lady was apparently in that case as impressed as a lady would be today with that behavior... in other words, not at all.

Anyhow, after a shot of Bundy (Bunderberg rum) above, our tour was over. I had been advised a good way to try kangaroo meat was on pizza, and a good place for this was the Australian Hotel. So had me a delicious emu and kangaroo pizza after the pub crawl!

You know what? The kangaroo was way better than the emu.

You know, after a hearty down under pizza, you have to walk things up. And as it happened, I was right by the bridge stairs for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. FYI, you can actually climb up all the way to the top of the bridge, but apparently that costs $200 USD. So, no, I didn't do that. But I did walk across the lovely bridge and saw a nice view of the Opera House.

That cruise ship tho...

After that, I went back to my airbnb and just passed out. That's how tired I was. And slept from 6 pm to 3 am.

Random Things:

Glad to know Movember is as popular here as it ought to be.

Apparently, sometimes, they just stick ginormous trees in the middle of downtown Sydney.

So... originally there was an alley called the "sewer canal", which was filthy and filled with trash and sewage. How do you rename it in a gentrified neighborhood? See the above.

Moment of Zen

You know what? My moment of Zen was falling asleep for 9 hours before the sun set.