Hello from Sydney! I arrived in one of my favourite cities on Friday and it feels like I've never left the place. Sometimes it's just so nice to come to a place there's such a nice feeling of familiarity and I don't have to think about which new places I have to check out and going through the process of figuring out maps and transport systems.
Before Sydney, I was in Surfers Paradise, Evans Head and Brisbane. Surfers Paradise certainly lives up to its name - the weather was sunny and gorgeous, the ocean beautiful, the surfer dudes hunkalicious with their bronzed bodies. Woohoo!
I was staying in a two-bedroom apartment with four other teammates. Our apartment faced the beach and we girls were just totally in love with the apartment!
Our race went well. Even though we were second last, we were basically doing our own race. We managed to achieve what we set out to do, i.e. to finish the race below 4 hours and to make all our sea changes. There was a lot of encouragement and spirits were high. There was no negativity and it was just a fantastic feeling when we finished it. You would have thought we had won the race when we crossed the finish line as we all were beaming and cheering. The driver of the support boat we were in said he was very touched to see how our women's team never gave up and was so positive throughout the race. He has been doing involved as a support boat driver for the past seven years, but he said it was the first time he has seen a team that's so positive throughout the entire race. That was such a nice thing to say and it's so touching!
For a first race, I think the ladies did really well! Eight out of 10 of us were racing for the first time. And compared to the Australians, we are so tiny! Many of the other women paddlers look like men from the back! They were so muscular and tall compared to us. Even me, a big Chinese girl, am small in comparison. I like being in Western countries 'cos I can feel like I'm average-sized...maybe even slim! Anyway, I'm so proud of the ladies!
The days after the race were spent relaxing and having fun. Five other ladies and I went to MovieWorld for a day of fun and screaming on roller coasters! I had many doses of adrenalin rushes as I went screaming my head off on all the roller coasters. I screamed so much that I ended up with a sore throat which lasted several days. Haha.
From Gold Coast, we made our way to Evans Head, a small town in the north of New South Wales. One of my teammates is Australian and her sister lives not too far from there. She was visiting her sister so the rest of us followed her. It was a very nice change from the big city. At first we wondered what we were going to do in a small town where the main "shopping centre" is just two rows of shops. The town only has 8000 people and it was a complete change for us big city dwellers.
Like one of my teammates said, it was like being in a twilight zone to find ourselves there. Like being in a reality TV show...city girls being planted in a small town to see how they would survive! Surprisingly, we liked the change. We took everything slow, drinked wine slowly, slept in the afternoon when it was hot, went for a surfing lesson, went kayaking along the rivers, took leisurely lunches and dinners, chatted the day and night away etc. And surprisingly, time passed. It was nice to take things slow for awhile. But we all concluded that we can't stay here for long as it would drive us crazy after with the lack of things to do.
From Evans Head, we made our way back to Brisbane where we spent Thursday night. We drank a lot of wine on the last night together. We drank and chatted the night away. Definitely a good way to end the road trip. We had a lot of fun during the past few days together and it's a memory I'll always treasure for the rest of my life.
So while the rest made their way back to Singapore from Brisbane, I flew to Sydney. This past weekend was lovely. I didn't do much really. It was just a very relaxing weekend that's all.
Saturday i was out with a friend and she brought my sister and me to this island called Scotland Island. It's a small island in one of the bays in the north shore. There was nothing on the island except for private homes. The homes were really nice. We didn't know anyone on the island but we just went to have a walk around the island. It'd be lovely to own of these homes which overlooks the waterfront of the bay. But I'd still prefer a home which faces the beach. There's nothing like the sea and the sound of the waves lapping onto the shore!
It took only 40min to walk around the island. We then took the ferry back to Churh Point where we parked the car. We had lunch there and after that we drove to Narrabeen Beach, one of the northern beaches.
In the evening, my sister, aunt, two cousins and I went to Darling Harbour to have dinner. We went to a Moroccan restaurant called Sumac and the food was pretty good. The restaurant is by the harbour so we kind of sat along the waterfront.
I went to one of my favourite restaurants in Sydney's Chinatown to have dimsum today with a very close friend who lives in Sydney. Of course I was on cloud nine after leaving the restaurant! Good friends and good food - nothing can top that!
Today was also the 75th birthday of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the bridge was closed to traffic so that people could walk across the bridge from the north shore to the south. It was really crowded! I had to take the train across (my aunt's place is in the north shore) to the city so I saw all the crowds.
After having afternoon tea with my friend, i made my way back home. I was chatting online with a friend in Singapore just now and she asked me what programme i had on for the night. I said "nothing". It might seem weird, but I actually just enjoy being at the house with my aunt and cousins and just watching some TV and going on the Internet. I also enjoy playing with their dog, Biscuit, a very lovely and cute gold retriever. I miss Rex. After I got home, I got my cousins to go cycling with me! I'm the cousin who makes them go exercising all the time! Haha. So we went cycling along the road their house is on. It's a very long road and it made for a very good cycle. So yes, that's what I enjoy - some exercise in the evening, playing with the dog, followed by a homecooked meal, some dessert, watching some TV and then going to bed. I'd rather do this than go to a pub or disco.
Anyway, the week ahead will just be meeting up with friends and very soon I'll find myself back in Singapore.