Travel Day – Sydney to Phnom Penh: Week 10 / Day 65 / March 16
Sydney, Australia: Today is a travel day for both Kelly and me. She is heading back to Indianapolis and school, while I am heading to Phnom Penh to continue my trip. As a bonus for me, Linda is rejoining me for the remainder of the trip.
We had to get up and out early as Kelly’s flight for LAX left at about 10:00 AM. In a continuing aspect of travel that will never cease to amuse me, because she is traveling across the international date line, Kelly will land in Los Angeles 4 hrs before her flight takes off from Sydney.
After dropping her off at the airport, I went back to clean up the apartment and relax a bit. I headed down to Bondi Beach after leaving the apartment. At one end of the beach is a large pool used by a local swim club. It is a saltwater pool built into a seawall right next to the ocean. Well, I think it is a saltwater pool, but, if it isn’t, it soon will be.
Nearby there were a multitude of surfers taking advantage of the day’s waves.
There was a wide variety of skill level amongst the surfers, but they were all fun to watch.
Nearby, there was also a skate park. This had a lot of people out as well.
After watching everyone for a while, I headed up to the area with restaurants to get something to eat.
After eating, I walked back to the car and headed off for the airport. Because it was still a while until my flight, I had a bit of time to kill. Between the tropical plants, being right next to the ocean, and having a lot time before a redeye flight, I felt like I was back working at Amgen and killing time on a Thursday night before the redeye back to Boston from LAX. I finally decided to nap next to a beach south of the airport in my car. After waking up from my alarm, I headed to the airport and my flight to Hong Kong where I will get my connection to Phnom Penh.
Overall, Australia (or at least Sydney) was excellent. I would love to come back here someday and see more of the country. One thing I did not mention yet, was trying Vegemite since I was down here. My one word summary is “don’t.” I love all things yeast / fermentation (bread, beer, cheese), but this was really unpalatable. In some ways the basic taste was ok, but the amount of salt really made it impossible. My review when Kelly asked was, “It tastes like someone scraped this out of Satan’s butthole.” My apologies to any Australians who love the stuff.
Finally, my last bit of Australian music. Again, from Midnight Oil, and this time based upon the contamination of Wittenoom in Western Australia by Australian Blue Asbestos Pty. Ltd.
