Leaving the land down under

As I type this, I am actually already home here in Cincinnati. However, Men at Work’s “Down Under’ just came on the radio, so I thought it an appropriate time to right up the summary blog for our voyage across the continent/state of Australia.

After we left Adelaide by bus, we spent one night on the bus going through South Australia, eventually getting to Melbourne. We were only in Melbourne for an hour, however, before we were once again on the bus for Sydney and the last legs of our journey. That last bus trip felt, by far, the longest, as it was our first day bus ride. Holly read all the way through “The Kite Runner’, and I made it all the way through “The River of Doubt”, an account of Teddy Roosevelt’s voyage through an undiscovered river in the Amazon. Needless to say, we were both getting pretty antsy once we actually made it to Sydney.

In Sydney, we quickly checked into Westend Backpackers, and then set off to see the city. Taking advantage of the time we had on our hands, we decided to use the day to go to Bondi Beach. Here, possibly one of the strangest experiences of the trip occurred. We had spent some time soaking up some rays, and had decided to take a walk along the coast.

As we walked along the coastal boardwalk, we stopped for a group of 20-somethings who were taking a picture using a timer. After the picture took, we started to walk again. It was at this point that I locked eyes with one of the guys in the group. It was instantly one of those “we know each other” types of staredowns. helping the matter was that I was wearing a shirt paying homage to my alma mater, the University of Montevallo. Soon, the stranger put his hand out and said, “Andy, right? Matt. Matt White.” Here, on one of the world’s most famous beaches, Bondi Beach in New South Wales, Australia, I had run into Matt White, a guy who went to Montevallo and was an ATO back when I was in undergrad. We exchanged pleasantries. He’s in Australia doing work with Campus Outreach International. How weird, of all the places in the world, to come across someone who went with you to one of the smallest public schools in the country.

We didn’t do much that night, and on Saturday, we spent our time at a public market in The Rocks. Needless to say, Holly was in heaven. She managed to pick up a handmade jacket from one of the booths. We had a blast. We also decided that, on our last night in Australia, we’d treat ourselves. We stayed at the Sydney Harbour Bed & Breakfast our last night in Australia. Every other night, we’d slept in a tent/hostel/bus seat. To say Holly was delighted with this singular night treat would be an understatement. I, as well, was fairly happy to have one night where I wasn’t worried about the condition of the bed/shower.

That Saturday night, we went to dinner and then a show at the Sydney Opera House. We say Mahler’s Song of the Earth, a classical piece performed in the Sydney Opera House’s Main Concert Hall. It was a beautiful musical experience, and we both felt privileged to have heard one of the world’s best symphonic orchestras.

Alas, all good things must eventually come to an end, and yesterday morning we boarded a plane to LA, eventually bringing us back to Cincinnati. I type this now, alone in the house, as Holly decided to use the extra holiday weekend days to go visit her parents, since her summer will get fairly packed after this.

All in all, we had a blast. Australia was everything we hoped it could have been and more. I’m loading pictures now into Facebook albums, but I’m making them public, so you won’t need an account to view them. Hopefully the picture will do justice to the eminence joy and excitement this wonderful country brought us both . . . but I doubt they will.

Good on ya, Mates!

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~ by aandhheaton on May 31, 2010.