Park Adventure

Some people say that their life motto is: you have to try everything once. I find this quite ambitious, but admirable all the same, and have tried to make this my own goal as well for quite some time now. The way I look at it, goals fill the gap between future and dreams, so striving to accomplish your goals will bring your future closer to your dreams. Here ends today's lesson, haha.

But, in fairness, there are things you should strive to NOT do, NOT undergo, and NOT experience. I had one of those on my last day in Sydney. No one has ever attempted to strangle me, but now someone has. Not exactly part of my 'goal'. Let me explain. (I'm totally fine, before someone worries too much)

The first three-or-so days in Sydney, I was being a tourist, big time! Saw all the (great) sites, went to many of the beaches, and walked a LOT! And though I loved seeing all those postcard-perfect places, I was getting quite tired, physically. So, the last two days, I didn't play tourist anymore, or at least, I played a very different kind of tourist. Sleeping a lot, going to the beach, strolling around only occasionally, sitting down for good long meals, and going out for drinks with many of the fun and interesting other people that were staying at my hostel. I was rooming with three very fun guys (one from the Netherlands, one from Germany, one from Denmark), and with them and a large group of mostly Dutch girls, we went out to the bars on our block. Good times! Sure, it meant that I didn't get to go to the Blue Mountains as I had hoped, for some "bushwalking", but I think in the grand scheme of things, I had a better time doing what I did.

My last night in Sydney we went out again with a bunch of us to the Side Bar (around the corner from the hostel, and a favorite of backpackers!). After a while, a couple of us decided to go to the park not too far from the hostel and just hang out there for a while. Martine, Marloes and I had a great time until... some insane (and very drunk) old guy comes walking through the park, with his younger buddy (I think perhaps his son), and starts talking to us, quite angrily. As he is talking to us (and we try to ignore them) he gets himself angrier and angrier. As the younger guy is asking our names, and more or less politely introduces himself, the older guy starts yelling at me, because I as a "white dog" have raped his wife and "his people" and killed his children. "Do you acknowledge that?", he asked me. Me, unsure of what to do at this point, quietly utter "not personally, no." At that point, the guy lunges forward and puts both his hands around my neck while saying "enough of this bullshit". Luckily I was somewhat prepared and managed to knock his one hand away fairly quickly, and even more luckily, the younger guy was 'on our side' and pulled back the guy's other arm. Of course, at that point we got up and walked away, home to the safety of our hostel.

I've lived close to Detroit for many years, and worked in a bar for many years as well, but still I did not know what to do in a situation like this one. The guy was clearly deranged and disturbed, not to mention very drunk. As soon as he walked up to us I thought to myself, OK, I can 'take' the old guy, but not if the younger one joins in. So, it was my (our) luck that the younger guy had a slightly more sane mind. Not sure what would have happened if he hadn't acted, or acted differently. And, not sure that I want to dwell on that thought much longer.

But, all in all, my time in Sydney was great, and in a way, I was sad to leave. OK, I was certainly done being a tourist, and looking forward to moving on, but still... Oh well, I made some new friends at least! I got up early Sunday morning to catch the bus to Canberra. Of course, the bus didn't show up on time, because the beloved American Vice President Cheney was leaving Sydney that morning, so the whole city got shut down for an hour. Probably not a bad idea...

In any case, I got to Canberra in a mere 3.5 hours. Originally I was not planning to go here, but because I stayed longer in Sydney than I had expected, I abandoned my plan to travel towards Albury along the coast (the long way around), and instead take a more direct route. But, for me as a lover of political history, I couldn't pass over the opportunity to stop in Australia's Capital city, young though it may be (the city is less than 100 years old!).

Once in Canberra, I dropped off my bags and started walking again. The Lonely Planet listed a perfect 12km walk along many of the major sites, and because I only have one day here, that worked out pretty much perfectly. The new parliament building is impressive (in use since 1988), especially the rooftop garden with the giant flag on it, but I personally prefer the old parliament building. Sadly, they had outgrown it, but I felt it just carried a lot more character. One thing that was really special, I thought, was that there was a copy of the Magna Carta on display at the parliament building, one of only 4 original copies from the 13th Century. Strange how a piece of parchment can exude a certain power, but it really did. In a strange way, it enhanced my feeling of being on vacation (you know, liberty and all that).

Towards the end of my stroll I walked up the 'memorials'-road. OK, that's not what it's officially called, but it's a long lane with all sorts of different memorials on it, some quite beautiful, some quite ugly, but interesting all the same. At that point I was exhausted, ending up at the end of the walk at my hostel again. I had seen a hot tub (they call it a "spa pool") by the pool in the hostel, so that seemed extremely appealing. Sadly, once I was in it, I found out that the water in it wasn't exactly hot, but the same (cold) temperature as the pool itself. So, after enjoying the bubbles just a little bit too long, I took a long hot shower to overcome my near-hypothermia.

Now it's Sunday night, and I'll be hopping on the bus tomorrow to go to Albury-Wodonga to hang out with Nadine (and Anthony) there, and I'm of course very excited about seeing her again, for the first time in far too many years! It'll be nice to stay in a "home-y" place again (although they've only just moved in a few weeks ago themselves) and unwind a little bit, before going on to Melbourne and even more tropical destinations after that.