The Wayfaring Path

Yesterday the temperature got to 39 degrees celsius, which is about 17 degrees higher than my ideal operating temperature. I thought autumn would be mild but I was wrong! But today is much kinder to those of us who melt in high heat and I’m even able to sit outside and write this post.

I arrived on Monday night, worked Tue-Thu, and walked to the nearest town after work on Thursday. About halfway through my 3km walk I realised that my footwear, which is totally fine at home, was a disaster in the heat and decided I need to prioritise buying a decent pair of hiking sandals sooner rather than later. I’ll need them for the UK/Europe trip anyway, but now the situation was getting urgent! We aren’t going to have a car when we are away, so I need to be able to walk long distances without my tootsies getting torn up.

Friday was my first proper day out and about. I took the train to Sydney CBD and managed to time it beautifully with there being a massive signal failure, which ground the entire network to a crawl for the entire day and evening. I was fine, I’d given myself heaps of time before meeting my friend for lunch but I really felt for the people who were on their way to the airport, as it was pretty stressful for them.

I finally made it, and followed my train-mates off the train and into the station – Central station, which is huge and very intense! Sydney always makes me feel like such a bumpkin. As we were all filing into the station a chap near me bumped into a pillar and then started screaming abuse at it. At the pillar. Really quite angry, sweary, baffling abuse. He was an older gent, wearing a t-shirt with someone’s face on it – maybe a photo of a politician? Had that vibe anyway. He was pretty quickly surrounded by police officers and the rest of us all did an excellent job of pretending absolutely nothing was happening.

I then realised I’d managed to get myself back into the controlled part of the station, even though I’d tagged off when I got off the train. The only way out was through gates which required another tag, which would have screwed up my Opal card. I asked for help, feeling even more bumpkin in the face of the very ocker Aussie I was talking to. Anyway, I finally made it onto the main concourse, feeling like I’d already had a huge day and it was time for a nap!

I started walking towards the Gallery of NSW and my friend picked me up on the way – she’s a very confident Sydney driver and her driving impressed the heck out of me, frankly. We had a fab lunch outdoors near the gallery, and then I went and visited “my” Pre-Raphaelite paintings before heading over to meet another friend at her work.

She works in a beautiful heritage building and there is a library there with many interesting items, including this letter signed by MARIE CURIE. Amazing!

We headed to the station, and into a 3.5 hour signal-induced ordeal trying to get to my friend’s home on the central coast. Multiple trains, various stations, vending machine chippies, overwhelming heat, much-appreciated air-con, surprisingly tolerant people (with one notable exception), and a real sense of achievement when we finally made it! There was a very loud, drunk and obnoxious man on our carriage who made a difficult situation even worse, but my seat-neighbour was a very sweet old man who took pains to point out the “blood moon” to me as we travelled along, which I appreciated. I think he was pretty embarrassed by the other bloke, but it all worked out ok.

We had dinner with my friend’s friends, and I felt really welcomed in and part of a very real Aussie night, no sanitised tourist experiences here! Making our way back to the station the next day we stopped to admire some storks and got chatting with a lovely couple from out of town – I love talking with strangers, especially when I’m travelling, it makes me feel connected to all humanity and you often get good tips on activities or places to go.

Such a beautiful trip along the coast, and then the city started closing in again. My friend got off the train and I found myself in a carriage with a young woman who swore so ferociously and so comprehensively it was hard not to burst out laughing. But I didn’t dare, as she looked like she’d beat me up without a second thought. She was on the phone, and it was a fascinating one-sided snapshot of a chaotic and rather concerning life. I’m a swearer, and am not at all phased by “the c-word” but even I was taken aback. (My new favourite phrase: “I’m sweating my c*** off”!) As I got off the train I gave a raised-eyebrow smile to my seat-mate, an elderly woman who looked somewhere between horrified and scandalised, bless her.

Another HOT day, and I was debating whether to just head back to the Mountains, but I was pretty determined to get myself a pair of sandals, so once more into the fray I went. I had a successful shopping trip and then a lovely lunch with nice chats on my way back to the station. It’s amazing how many friends you can make in a big city if you’ve got time and a friendly face.

The trains were running normally again and I made it home without incident, and then spent all day Sunday on the couch. I was absolutely exhausted! I’m going to have to toughen up for our Big Trip 🙂