Wait.....are all the trains seriously closed?

*sigh* Today has been RIDONKULOUS. So after having the super-random breakfast which included Vegemite (crazy Australian spread consisting of salty yeast extract leftover from the beermaking process which is occasionally spread on bread), molasses for pancakes, and ambiguous cereals, we were herded into this random room to listen to 2+ hours of talks, giving us information we already knew, or could have been emailed, thus sparing us a random waste of time/money in Sydney for orientation. DAMN.

They then shuttled us out the door for a lovely harbor cruise...in the rain....great. So we got to listen to random over-accented Australian commentary on various facts. We tried to escape the cruise at the aquarium, but by the time we made it downstairs, they had already unroped the boat. I VERY seriously considered a dive-roll off the boat to freedom, but I didn't want to strand my friends. Curses.

So we finally took our awkward group photo in front of the opera house...again. Luckily by this point it had stopped raining, so we gathered a group and set off on a hunt for a good bottle of wine and a location. We ended up after WAY too much wandering, settling in at a decent Chinese restaurant in Chinatown (which is way more authentic than the one in SF, given that....it's a bit closer to China...) After dinner, we wandered to Darling Harbour, which feels like home to me now, the neighborhood is so cool and familiar, and sat down on the steps of the harbour drinking good wine and chit-chatting. It was an awesome time. Then, however, it began to rain. AGAIN.

So we began to walk back into downtown, looking for a train station, only to discover, that at 10 p.m. on a Saturday night in Sydney Australia....ALL the train stations are closed. Excuse me? NOT OK. So we had to walk all the way from Darling Harbour to King's Cross, which is a LONG walk, especially in the rain. But apparently according to the random Scottish guys who were cat-calling us in the park, we look like native Australian girls, so I guess that's progress...?

Our walk through Hyde Park was nice though, it's really pretty at nice. I could really settle into Sydney as a living option. It's a great city and would never really get old. It's just such a cool place to be, and has so much to see. *sigh*

Now I must figure out how to occupy myself for another awkward day of orientation/random downtime? Oh well, I'm sure it will involve another ridiculous adventure. More posts to come, ideally with pictures assuming my next hostel has wireless? Comment please! I need a dose of home :)