The long incredibly steep walk with backpack in tow wasn't exactly what i wanted to do first thing on Sunday morning, the blazing sunshine left me pretty much covered in sweat on arrival which is never great for first impressions. On arrival there was quite a queue of multiple nationalities at reception and it soon became apparent that this was a fairly massive place to what i'd been used to and much more corporately ran. Check-in didn't go exactly smoothly to say the least which ain't what i wanted the state i was in, firstly they didn't have my reservation, took an age to get that sorted. My card wouldn't work in the chip and pin machine for some unknown reason so a slight panic occurred but thankfully I could withdraw cash, after i went wandering the streets looking for an ATM of course. She decided at this point to tell me she required a 20 dollar deposit for the room key too so i had to go back out for more cashola, as you can imagine i was pretty happy when i got in my room and could dump my bags.
My home for the next week was to be a shared 8 bed dorm and it wasn't too shabby at all really but at the same time hardly value for money. The only person in was a French guy called Pierre how was just arriving then too, his English was rather non existent so all i could get out of him was that he came from Nice, he hated Parisians and had zero clue what beds where free so was just picking any. I picked up a definite "this guy is not all there" vibe instantly. Got a shower and then headed out for the day, The sun was absolutely blazing so i just sat in Hyde Park mostly, reading listening to some tunes and soaking up the sun. One odd thing was that i got stopped by an oddly healthy looking tramp to ask for some cash and i've noticed that a lot here, the homeless are remarkably well kept and even overweight in some cases, the Aussies must be an unusually charitable bunch.
On my return to the dorm there was two Irish girls but it quickly became apparent that they were the inclusive travelers who don't really talk to others, even when i cracked my head off the bed which i thought would be a suitable ice breaker brought very limited commentary. The dorm was almost making me ill from the dullness so i went to the common area downstairs and that was another surreal experience. There was plenty of people about but the most reaction i got from anyone when saying hello was a raise of the eyebrows, this certainly wasn't like the Thailand places and freaked me out a bit to say the least. In hindsight Base is just a corporate yuppie hostel full of pretty boys and wag wannabees, you can't drink or do anything remotely fun and they just want you to waste all your money in the affiliated bar next door; the internet is a rip off too so i really wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I checked out the tv room but it was more of the same with everyone shooting you looks like you'd just done something terrible, evidently i didn't hang round long and went back to the room to find a couple of swedes there but i assumed they were German for some reason. That happens alot really, indistinguishably foreign equals German in my brain. Pierre came in pissed on the night in a manner only describable as goose stepping, i tried telling him he's taken one of the girls beds but it was useless. "Girls? they are girls here?" He then proceeded to pat down every bed and look in dark corners as if they were hiding, it was pretty fucked up to say the least. The penny finally dropped for what i meant and he just replied "Well maybe girl comes home, she comes in bed and she likes me" haha, needless to say that didn't happen. "The Cheeky fucking bastard" was the response on returning home.
I went to Darling Harbour the next day for a wander and to book tickets for Avatar at the iMax since it's the biggest one in the world. It didn't look that impressive from the outside but the harbour certainly was. It includes a collection of the most fantastic, boats, bars, museums,aquariums and the harbour itself is partly a floating museum of old early 20th century ships, battleships and various other boats from through the century. I checked out the maritime museum with it being in my price range (free) and inside was relatively underwhelming. Australia is pretty much an infant in terms of what we know about it so most of it's immediate history seems to be associated with dealings with other countries. The majority of the place was taking up by an American donation of various artifacts, in the early 20th century Roosevelt in an effort to flex the military muscle of the states sent his fleet on a world wide trip and it's entry into Sydney is apparently a big part of their maritime history it seems. I guess if you have none of your own you're gonna have to steal others but it's hardly suprising given the remoteness of the country and like i said it's relative infancy.
On the evening we got interrupted by some "reps" for the bar trying to swindle us into going there all night as it was going to be cRaZy, they were basically the same as any student entertainments officer or holiday rep i've ever encountered so the only way you can deal with these people is being blunt, thankfully they took the hint rather quickly. The swedes (Mattias and Johann) and i were rather bored though so decided we may as well get drunk and use the drink vouchers for the bar downstairs. I'll sum the bar up this way, it's 5 dollars for a drink with the drinks voucher and what you get in return is a half a pint; yes we clearly moved on elsewhere with great haste. We quickly came up with a plan of action being to go to a bottle shop (the only place you can get booze outside of a bar) and then go old school and drink in the park like a right bunch of tearaways. We then headed up to a club called the Gaff where Mattias' bullshitting skills were rather amazing, within an instant of being told we had to pay ten dollars each he said "yeah we're on a pub crawl with the backpackers" and we all got stamped instantly, not bad work at all, we even bumped into Pierre who was as insane as ever dancing "hip to hip" with anybody (un)fortunate to cross his path. I think him and Andre would have got on like a house on fire. Really good night though although frighteningly expensive, it's never nice to hand over 50 dollars for three jaegerbombs and then getting only coinage in return. The taxi ride home was incredibly disturbing though, we were pretty drunk and ended up getting separated so i just jumped in the taxi as it was only about a five minute ride back, half way there the taxi driver decide to comment how "sexy" i was and then tried to lift my top up! To say i freaked out was an understatement, i told him to shut up and drop me off round the corner which he thankfully managed to do. However as i exited the car the cheeky bastard then tried to stick his hand down the back of my pants and then drove off! Losing lot's of weight is always nice but it clearly has it's side effects when it leaves your pants hanging off you. I don't think I'd be offended if he was such a fat old tramp like, and it's not the first time its happened. I'll never forget putting some stock out at work and an elderly woman did it as well only to comment "i couldn't resist son". I was literally left speechless, mental.
Not much was achieved the next day due to being a bit rough but a couple of Germans moved in named Dennis and Daniel of all things and they were here solely to surf and buy anything billabong or quicksilver. They were rather disappointed to hear i wasn't doing the same but to be honest i couldn't really pay attention to anything they said i as so caught up with the fact one of them was the double of the weird ginger kid from The 'Burbs, it took all of my mental strength not to get him to offer me sardines but i think the reference would've just flown over his head anyhow. I manage to extract half a conversation out of Pierre regarding Henrys handball and the genius of Lorik Cana since he was a Marseilles fan. This was quite the achievement and nobody else came close to repeating.
I thought it would probably be worthwhile to e-mail a few hostels to see if there's any decent long term accommodation deals going and it was just as well i did. The first five places i contacted all told me they were fully booked up from December 22nd so mild panic set in and i decided to e mail pretty much everyone in the city. The majority on return were fully booked but all of them hiked there prices up to extortiante levels, i had zero clue that it was such a popular christmas and new year destination, one hostel even wanted 900 dollars just for the privelge of staying ther and then i would have to pay for the room on top every night. The rates everywhere shot up from 2o to at least 50 dollars per night too so i basically spent the next few days trying to find anywhere that did a reasonable deal and thankfully i managed to find a whole two that did. Balmain was a bit too far out for my tastes, the reviews were poor to so it left Bedlam as they only real choice and the guy who ran it Rich seemed sound. I managed to negotiate a pretty ok deal so that was a weight off the shoulders andthen i could continuie on with the job search.....or so i thought. For some unknown reason Halifax decided to put a block on my account again meaning i couldn't get any cash, view my accounts or do anythig really. Before i had the chance to even contact them the next day they sent me an e-mail stating i could now view my account and it had been unlocked, this was rather ood as if you're going to do that then surely they should wait till i contact them? Strange. At least i knew i could pay all my accommodation money up front so i wouldn't be spending cash i didn't have.
Thankfully it wasn't all just boring during this time and i did manage to visit the Harbour bridge, Sydney Opera house and royal botanical gardens. All of them are just fantastically beautiful places and even with high expectations none of them were at all slightly disappointing. The thing is with places like this is that it's almost impossible to describe what it's like being there, you just have to experience it yourself to appreciate it.
The dorm went through a bot of a change as the swedes unfortunately moved on but thankfully there replacements were two of the soundest people i've ever met in Jared and Dave the kiwis. Within in an hour of meeting them they had me, the Germans, Pierre all in the bar meeting another eight of their girl mates who were heo see Britney of all things and were quick to get the drinks in despite me having little cash. The theme for the night in the bar (there's always one, beach night, karaoke etc) was ladies night and Pierre came prepared for the free champagne as all of a sudden he produced a dress out of nowhere in hope it would get him some, i don't know if the guy was a genius or the stupidest person i've ever met. it really is such a fine line. One of the Germans despite being a midget one the "stripping" contest but that was basically due to he now knew the most people in the bar due to the kiwis, 50 dollars bar tab is no bad prize here though, even if it is hardly two rounds. A group of us managed to make it to Kings cross but the early start was too much for some and we were unfortunately back at around midnight,; thankfully i heard some one shouting my name and it randomly turned out to be the swedes! They clearly agreed it was too early to go home so we headed back to the cross at world bar and i found a really cool bar playing much more my kind of music. This made me rather happy as there is only so many times a saner man can hear David guetta and the black eyed peas so the sound of the strokes, YYY's, justice et al was rather grand. To quote Mark i soon got "tuned in" and had another really good night. However when i saw one of the irish girls the next day she was quick to enquire with "Bad head this morning?". Knowing i'd not seen her out this clearly meant "you woke me up when you came stumbling in last night ya bastard", it happens. I spent the next few days trying to avoid drinking and despite the great efforts of everyone else in the dorm i managed to show remarkable willpower till it came time to leave on Sunday morning. I was slightly fed up of the constant job/hotel search and since i didn't have a c.v. or phone i decided to break for a day and head to Bondi junction on the recommendation of the kiwis and germans. It's again a rather nice extravagant place and just like the metro centre but more condensed and a higher class of shops, the free diet coke was a delight though. I said my goodbyes on the evening and then headed onto bedlam where i shall be till January. It is definitely not Base......
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