Sydney; Screaming, Crying, and Literally throwing up

Geeking at the Sydney Opera House

YO we out here achieving our childhood dreams! Thirteen-year-old Hailey is crying, screaming, and geeking. What a privilege it is to see a dream through. Especially one you’ve had since you were a child. The Sydney Opera House is just as magical as I thought it would be. As I beheld its magnificence I shed a few tears of gratitude. Gratitude for being in Sydney, and gratitude for myself for accomplishing what my younger self thought was impossible. Let’s rewind a bit though and start at the beginning.

After our time in Gundy we drove to Bondi Beach and stayed in a hostel for a couple of nights. My favorite part of the hostel was that there were no stairs (sarcasm). Safe to say I made my presence known by literally DRAGGING my 50lb suitcase up three flights of stairs. Something that made up for it though was our cute roomie Emerald! She was so sweet and spent an entire day with us exploring Sydney! We hit the Tower eye, an art museum, cruised through the city streets, then rode a ferry to see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge close up.

One view from the Sydney Tower Eye

Riding a bus with Emerald after eating vomit-inducing fish’ n chips, yay!

Becoming one with the art

After a night in the city, we thought it would be fun to walk the coastline from Coogie back to Bondi beach. It was a beautiful walk despite some wind and cloudy skies. We saw seals, surfers, and some beautiful lookouts. When we were about a mile from the hostel the weather decided, “Yeaaa you guys wanna see some real rain? I gotchu” The wind picked up, and it downpoured. When I say I got drenched I’m talking hair dripping, water somehow in my buttcrack wet. The best part was that I was wearing jeans. I don’t know if you’ve ever walked a mile in soaked cotton but I really don’t suggest it.

We got back to the hostel but this was our last day so we had already checked out by this point. Our luggage was being held for us in a storage closet. I got the key and we went inside to change. Visualize this: Me. Peeling off my jeans and underwear to wring them out. Meanwhile, I am jumping and white girl twerking trying to air dry my ass. This is the real side of traveling people ha! And when they said in olden times that being out in the rain meant you’d “catch your death” they weren’t lying. Shae got sick for a couple days after.

Saying goodbye to our favorite staircase

Next up, Casula. This is a suburb outside of Sydney and where our next house sit was. We show up and oh boy it was a scene. We were let into the unit we were to stay in and let’s just say the scary movie sound from Psycho with the knife coming down started playing in my head. It was old. It was cold. It smelled like piss mold in the bathroom. We turned on the horror film flickering fluorescent kitchen light and low and behold! A scattering of at least two different species of cockroaches took to the shadows! It was the last straw, we looked at each other and had to calm each other down. If we didn’t laugh we were gonna have a mental breakdown.

Chanting things like, “it’s free, it’s free” “This is temporary” and “I am safe, just uncomfortable” helped. We saw the bright side of things. It was private, it was safe, and it provided us with what we needed. And now we can look back and laugh our asses off thinking about it. By the end of our stay in Casula we’d come back from a day out and say, “We’re home bugs!”

My face walking into the Casula apartment

Our space was less than five minutes away from the train station, which was great! This was our way back into Sydney and the surrounding suburbs. Our favorite suburb that we visited was Newtown! It was a college town with lots of young people and cool eclectic shops. This is where I went on my first date in Australia! Ironically with an American haha.

We cruised into Sydney enough to see the amazing vivid festival that was going on, walk some neat markets, go to a show at the Opera House, visit some amazing speakeasy-type bars, and have the adventure of whale watching! The two experiences that stand out the most out of these is first the Opera House.

Inside the concert hall

The picture above doesn’t capture the size and wonder of the concert hall. It was huge but also felt intimate at the same time. They had a full orchestra and a chorus which made each piece sound so full. I got chills many times throughout the performance. Mainly during the “Phantom Menace” theme. They performed multiple themes from Star Wars and I was geeking out hard. John Williams work is so beautiful, and intentional. The concert was well executed and remains one of my favorite memories of my time in Australia. I felt so much gratitude being there and deeply wished my fellow nerd Father who introduced me to these different universes I was traveling to and had always wanted to go to the Sydney Opera House was there with me. But I could feel his energy alongside mine and knew that he would be just as amazed as I was. I smiled through the tears, closed my eyes, and was back on my childhood couch watching “Phantom Menace” for the first time with my Dad next to me.

A night to remember

Next up whale watching. I’m permitting you now to laugh as you read this because Shae and I definitely are. The bit of back story here is that when you check into a Hostel you can join a group chat. People go on there and look for people to have fun with, eat with, etc. Well, I was still a part of the chat from our stay on Bondi Beach, and someone texted that they were looking for people to fill a few spots on a whale-watching tour! It would be a small intimate group, and it was discounted. I viewed these two things as ‘meant to be’ when I probably should’ve viewed them as ‘not a great combo nor idea’ but alas we went for it.

We kept hearing from our time in Bondi that it was peak whale season and that we were bound to see some humpbacks. We got to the boat and I immediately knew that I interpreted the word ‘intimate’ in the description incorrectly. I thought that it meant we’d have a normal-sized boat with just fewer people. Yeaaa nah. It meant an intimate-sized boat with about the same amount of people. We got on last and got stuck on the very front of the boat which is the worst place for seasickness (I think you know where this is going)

My old/sickly ass had already taken Dramamine 30 mins prior knowing I would need it. So I felt pretty good. We start to move out of the harbor and things are great! People are taking videos/pictures around the outside of the boat. Taking in the Harbour Bridge and Opera House up close. Picturesque. We get out of the Harbor and into the open ocean and BAM! The waves be waving. My stomach lifted like how it does on a rollercoaster every few seconds because of the waves and the size of the boat. People were flying trying to get a grip on something, people were screaming, and people were having full-blown anxiety attacks. All in a matter of 10 minutes. Meanwhile the Aussie captain is yelling, “All good mates! Totally normal conditions” and his co-captain is strapped onto the roof of the boat scouting for whales. The captain finally yells for her to come down and to tend to the “scaredies” She starts to calm down the woman having an anxiety attack, she tells the woman’s boyfriend they have no seasickness tablets on board when he asks for one, and people were unsettled. I saw where all of this was going and immediately grabbed two blue throw-up bags from upfront for Shae and me. And was prepping to ride the dragon.

I wish I could convey the pure comedy in this next bit and I will try but you really had to be there.

First, a quick check-in with the passengers. Blue bags are slowly being collected. Anxiety attack is laying down in the back and her seasick no tablets boyfriend is right next to her. The Asian dad I pegged as the first throw-upper was outside the boat against the railing with his head in between his legs blue bag open. Then you had me and a handful of others well enough to actually be looking for whales. My Dramamine was working HARD and I was very proud of it.

Fast forward a few minutes and Shae was not feeling well. She put on her brave face, got into warrior mode, and was sick. Hood on, in the corner, quiet as a mouse. I was impressed.

One by one a symphony of throw-up sounds filled the boat. It reminded me of the song below, replace the “da da, da da” at the end with throw-up sounds and that’s what I was thinking of. I was trying to look for whales taking in the beauty of the sunset and water while hearing violent throwing up in the background. It was hilarious. I felt awful for everyone that was sick especially Shae but I couldn’t help but find the whole thing humorous.

The best part was that we saw NO WHALES. Haha! Ah the universe is hilarious. The co-captain felt bad for everyone and offered another free trip to try and see whales and I swear I could collectively feel everyone think, “Yea FUCK THAT”

There were so many more micro-adventures in Sydney that I could talk about but I will leave it with these last thoughts.

Sydney is a magical place filled with people from all around the world. I was in awe constantly and felt immense gratitude and pride in being a human being. We can be prideful, destructive, hateful, jealous, greedy beings. But we can also be love, light, hopeful, creative, giving, innovators, artists, teachers, and healers. And I witnessed all of those amazing traits in Sydney. I will always look back on this time with fondness. Because even in the moments where I was uncomfortable, scared, and anxious there was always something to laugh about. Something to be grateful for. And someone to hold my hand.