Friday morning I woke up to an absolute downpour! Felt like home. I stayed in and got my Aussie cell phone working. So exciting. I have numbers for six people. Woo-hoo.
That night I planned to catch the bus into North Sydney to meet Chris and Madellen (that's how she spells it, btw :) but it didn't arrive. To the Sydney bus system's credit, it was a Friday night and raining like crazy. SO, I was waiting for the bus and a driver of another route asked me if I needed help (that's just HOW they are here!), so I told him that I was waiting for a bus that was 30 minutes late. After chatting for a bit, he offered to give me a special escort on his off-duty bus since he was about to head into the city for an express route and didn't have any stops till he got there. Given that he was an older man who works for the City of Sydney Buses, I accepted the offer and got a private ride on a rickety old bus to the pub! I think water was dripping from the roof on the inside.
Anyhow, I met up with Chris and Madellen at an old haunt of his, The North Sydney Hotel (that's what they call some of the pubs, hotels. I don't get it either) Had some dinner there, then went up the street to the Anzac Club. New South Wales (the state Sydney is in) has these curious places called "Clubs", mostly run by veteran's rugby non-profit groups. Visitors can get in free, otherwise membership is really cheap, like $40 a year! They are kind-of like casinos (they have "pokies"), but they also have lots of community activities, dinners, drinks, etc. for really cheap. Interesting crowd- mostly older folks.
From there we went to the "Owl", similar to a hoighty-toighty Kirkland bar. Stayed there for about twenty minutes, then went to sing Karaoke at a place called the "Pickled Possom". The kind of place where they keep the beer bottles in a cooler filled with ice and use the same ice for the mixed drinks! It was so weird- every song was American! And they all knew the words to ever one! So fun! All in all it was a great night. One of the best parts about being out at night here is knowing that Australians DO NOT drive when they have been driking. Some places have a blood alcohol limit of .02! And there are random breathalizer tests. Smart.
