G’day! After asking myself about a thousand times if “this is real life” I have come to a conclusion: it is not. Today I woke up early to catch a train into Manly so I could go sailing in Sydney Harbour. Let me repeat: Sailing in Sydney Harbour! Nick, an Australian that we met here in Wollongong invited Liz and me up for the day to go sailing with his family on their sailboat. We woke up early to catch a train, and after realizing I read the timetables wrong, we thought we would miss our ferry into Manly and be late. Luckily, after sprinting through the train station, we stepped on the train as the doors were closing. After arriving at the wharf, we ran yet again to catch the ferry. We made it on time thanks to a delayed train! I was the only one that came out with a battle wound. Sketchy cut on my leg that happened at some point in the train station. Maybe tetanus will be a free souvenir?
The ferry ride over to Manly was beautiful. We got to see the Harbour filled with sailboats racing and yachts cruising around. Nick picked us up at the wharf and took us on a little tour of Manly. The town is beautiful with a fantastic beach with little shops all along. He then took us to his house where upon arrival I scraped my leg getting out of the car. We then packed up some lunch and headed for the boat. We got to ride down his chair lift first, however. Liz was a bit scared of the heights but he kept reassuring her that we wouldn’t fall down. The worst that could happen is we would slip and slide down and crash at the bottom. Comforting, ay? The large crew (Me, Liz, Nick, his two brothers, cousins, friends, uncle, and parents) loaded the boat and we were off! We sailed around for about two hours trying not to fall in when the boat would lean. There was one point when we were supposed to switch sides of the boat but I got stuck where I was sitting and thought I was going for a swim. Thank goodness I survived! I, yet again, came out with battle wounds. I now have scrapes on my thighs, knee and a cut on my arm. As amazing as today was it was definitely not a graceful one!
After anchoring in a little cove we had a fantastic lunch of chicken sandwiches, cheese and crackers and vegetables. It was also my first time trying Australian Cider. It’s a beer but has a much less bitter taste and is more carbonated. It may be my new favorite brew-YUM! We then headed back to Nick’s where we had tea and cake. His mom had made banana cake (tough competition with Zeta’s) for his dad as today was Father’s Day. Following our arvo (afternoon) tea, Liz and I headed back to the wharf to shop around and explore Manly on foot. We then caught a ferry back to Manly and once again had to run to catch the trains home.
Overall, today was an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience. We were able to see a little seal floating in the water and also some great landmarks along the way. These include a confinement area where they put sick immigrants and expected them to get better before they were allowed to enter Sydney and also the Prime Minister's house. We also saw the church Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman were married in. I am so grateful that Nick invited us to join him sailing and I appreciate all that he did. It was so nice being around a family! I’m not sure if it helped with the home-sickness or made it worse, but it was definitely nice. I think between now and my next adventure I need to become more graceful and practice reading train timetables. I still think that since these are the worst parts of my life right now I can’t really complain. I have been on such a life-high lately it’s unbelievable. I can’t sleep because I’m so excited for what adventure is coming next. I have almost every weekend planned from now until the end of session and I can’t wait to experience it all. Stay tuned! Until next time- G’day mate!
