Sydney and Beyond pt. 3

Feeling pretty sore after my big walking and running day, I got off to a little bit of a slow start. When I finally did make it out of the house, I took the bus to downtown Sydney, this time heading to the Barangaroo area and starting off with the Sydney Maritime Museum. They had some ancient artifacts from Pre-European seafaring cultures, showcasing the fishing and cultural practices of the area’s early inhabitants. They also exhibited early European attempts at mapping “the great southern continent”, which proved elusive (Papua New Guinea and Australia were even considered one landmass for some time). The museum had a more modern artifact, the donated original ship from Kay Cottee, an Australian famous for being the first female to sail, alone and nonstop, around the entire world. This ship contained holiday cards, cooking equipment, her giant teddy bear, and much more, painting a nuanced picture of life out at sea for months. There was a featured exhibit of numerous Lego ships and shipwrecks, as well as some interesting lessons on famous shipwrecks around the world and along the Australian coast. After the exhibits inside, I got to explore a number of preserved historic ships out in the harbor, including an Australian military submarine and some smaller and older wooden vessels. The maritime museum was really impressive and touched on an impressive amount of ways in which the land of Australia has been affected by the sea surrounding it over thousands of years.

After making my way through the maritime museum, I got a late lunch and wandered around the nearby downtown for a little while. Eventually I ended up stumbling upon the (a?) Chinatown market that opens in the evening every Friday. Already fairly full and planning to meet with my hosts later that day for dinner, I didn’t try much food there, but it was an intoxicating taste of the dense and bustling nightlife that I would soon be seeing in Southeast Asia. After taking in the atmosphere, I started walking over to our planned dinner spot. This took me right by the Sydney Observatory, which unfortunately had just closed, but still had plenty of beautiful views of the city surrounding it. When I arrived at the restaurant, I was quite impressed and excited to try just about everything on the menu. I ended up getting a botanical cocktail and crab dumplings, with appetizers of kangaroo skewers and Sichuan pepper octopus for the table. The meal was absolutely delicious and served as a fun way to close out my last full day in the wonderful country of Australia, and like so many things left me really appreciating my hosts!

My last morning was of course bittersweet, but with an 8:45 pm flight I was confident that I would still be able to fit in some fun for the day. It began with an early morning organized 5k in a nearby park, running alongside (at least at first) Sam and Tony. I definitely got tired towards the end, and found my sprinting abilities severely lacking, but I did manage to finish 59th with a time of 25 minutes. After taking a little time to recover, we made our way back to the car and I was treated to a beautiful view of two Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos. After recovering with some food and rest, Tony and Heidi agreed to take me to the famous Bondi Beach and do a walk between a few nearby beaches. Fairly packed but quite beautiful, Bondi was absolutely impressive. The views only got better as our path took us along worn sandstone cliffs and revealed more and more kilometers of beautiful coastline. Eventually, we got to Bronte Beach and enjoyed more views as we got a very pleasant last lunch together. We then walked back to Bondi, and I swam for a little bit in the really pleasant water. After about half an hour, I returned to my hosts and we walked back to the car and returned home for me to pack and get ready to leave that evening. That was fairly uneventful, and a little before 6 pm I left with Heidi bound for the airport. I arrived and went through security after saying goodbye. Excited but mostly unsure of what to expect in the coming days or weeks, I boarded my first flight and flew to Singapore.