Saturday, October 11
This morning I got up early (after working two 12 hr days prior) to go with Madellen to take Chris to the airport. He was headed to Seattle for holiday, with strict instructions to say hello to the place for me. He actually lived there for six years (I think?). These Australians, it’s crazy, get ALL KINDS of time off. One of my good friends, Carolyn (who I met at the Katoomba Falls a few weeks ago), her brother, James, has worked for the government as the equivalent of an insurance adjuster. He’s been there for almost ten years, which means, brace yourself, he will have to (and they send you a letter TELLING you) take a THREE month PAID holiday. We think American government workers have it good. Can you imagine???
Madellen needed me to go with her to drop Chris off because she has her “Learner’s Permit”. In order to get your driver’s license here, you first have to spend 120 hours, logged, practicing with a licensed driver in the car. SO, I went with her to be that person for the ride back from the airport. Driving is taken very seriously, as it should be. No messing around. People simply DON’T drive drunk. And there isn’t much road rage, speeding, or even distracted driving. You can’t talk on your mo-BILE either. There is a demerit system. You have 12 points, and you lose those for things like driving (or having passengers) with no seat belt, speeding, etc. If you are caught drunk driving, you can’t really drive anymore. No one will give you insurance. Bummer for you, but really, isn’t that how it SHOULD be??
After I got home from the airport, I got dolled up to meet Carolyn, Maheeta, and a bunch of other girls at the Victoria Room Tea House in Darlinghurst for “High Tea”. It was Loretta’s 30th birthday party, so we got a room downtown (actually a large apartment with a view- see photos J) The plan was for the girls to all go have tea, then meet at the room to get dressed up (in entirely different attire) to go out to the Cruise Bar that night to celebrate.
Something I’ve learned; don’t trust the instructions on your power converter. Thought I would use the outlets in the kitchen, where they are likely to be the highest wattage. Plugged in the converter, then put the plug adapter on my hairdryer. And we had sparks and a loud noise. With a smell. Whoops. Thankfully, the outlet was okay. My hairdryer, on the other hand… not so much.
Tea was great. We went to a place called the Victoria Room in Darlinghurst. It was a bit like tea at the Empress, only a little less formal. I'm tellin ya, the pastries and sandwiches in this great big country are incredible, and this was no exception. Us girls ended up having tea for three hours. I could get used to this tradition...
After tea (and a little champagne- which is all the rage here), we got all dressed up (with a room full of boys waiting patiently). Had an amazing evening at a fabulous club situated smack dab in between the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House, right on the water. And I found another true love; dim SIMS. SO good.
We headed back to the room, grabbed some Kebabs for a snack (no, they aren’t meat and veggies cooked on the Barbie; it’s like a pita bread, with yummy meat, salad, tomatoes, cheese, and sauce all rolled up and grilled on a sandwich press/grill), then nite nite time.
Hmmm... a day of eating a celebrating. I think I like it here... :)
