Sunday morning in a cafe next to a day spa

[pseydtonne]

Hello from Byron Bay, the easternmost point in Australia. I have wifi again and I'm happy to use it. I'm happy to be typing and reporting to you good folks from a long and enjoyable vacation.

I've done a bunch of writing, but nowhere near enough. I've been too busy experiencing life to tell you about it. I shall summarize for now and ask you to bid on what you'd like to hear more about by

1. I landed in Sydney and spent five days in the pouring, miserable rain. 'twas death of ennui. Sydney is overwhelming once you get beyond the tourist district but it lacks the expressway density commensurate to a city its size (4 million). Thus,
2. I drove only about 250 miles (400 km) when I was there and that was more than enough. You heard me: I got tired of driving. Yeah, a shock to me too. The lanes are narrow and you have to pay attention to the right lane seam instead of the left, which was taking more focus than a traditional drive. Parking is miserably expensive in Sydney: even a park and ride lot in the middle suburbs (Olympic Park) was aud15 per day. My parking zen had burned out by Monday, when I blew four hours trying to find a place to put this subcompact Hyundai Getz for the night. Thus I gave up and returned the car early, not even going to the strain of filling the tank.
3. I hopped a cheap flight to Melbourne. Qantas has a discount subsidiary, JetStar, which is the only part of the airline making money. I'll have more Qantas stories later.
4. I only spent two days in Melbourne. I decided I really like the place as a city to chill within. It's kitschy like Boston. It's got this open plaza called Confederation Square, downtown and across the street from the main train station (Flinders Street). It sits on a crook of the Yarra River, thus giving a gorgeous view down the river toward Phillips Bay. It's what Government Center dreamt it could be if it didn't suck so much. It has a day job too: it's home to SBS, one of the broadcast networks.
5. While I liked Melbourne and Melburnians a lot, I needed more warmth and sun than I was getting. Also my hostel (Nomad Industry on a'Beckett near Lincoln Merket) chunked from cold.
6. So I chased a friend to Byron Bay and found him. I wound up really enjoying the hostel I'm in now, the Arts Factory Village. They nickel and dime a bit but the foxes guard the chicken coops so it's verrrrrrry chill.
7. Chilling under the stars on hammock chairs over a creek is exactly what I needed. I am severely unwound and calm. I am prepared to tackle my job hunt, focus on my commitments to my community in Boston and understand my growing role as a mensch and support in Somerville's geek world.
8. I have once again built communities without trying. I just do the Dante thing and and it all works. Then again,
9. I have spent so much time around Eurokids and the unavoidable Britons that I've only vaguely figured out an Australian accent but I've now got an Edinburgh sound that even its natives buy.

I will be taking the bus to a town called Casino and then the night train back to Sydney on Monday evening slash Tuesday morning. From there I will head directly to the airport, as the train arrives in Central Station around 7 in the morning while my flight to LAX (shoot me, eh?) leaves Sydney at 13:45 Sydney time. I'll assume two hours of Amtrak-like failure due to some of the laid-back thinking I'm finding in the north (again, ask and I'll tell you) and still have enough time to lounge in the boarding area before rushing into a second Tuesday in America.

I can't wait to get home to see you all. Then again I am not hurrying because I do enough of that. I do hope the righteous hakamadare would still do me the honor of picking me up from the airport on Tuesday evening (United 164 arrives at Logan at 22:43 EDT so... 11 p.m. at terminal C please?) and that Rachel would find the time to meet me at my apartment upon my return.

I have pictures but have yet to upload them. Soon, I say! Also I am in need of a good massage when I get back, as I've had this weird tingling thing off and on in my right-side middle back for a few weeks. It didn't help that I walked right into a bollard (pylon to separate pedestrians from cars) and had to take a running pratfall to avoid real injury.

Oh, and I finally found bacon that I like but we'll not discuss this on the christian sabbath.

-if I can't get full release for free I'll take the deep tissue massage for golly gee how much, Ps/d

Comments

[hakamadare.livejournal.com]

yup, i’ve got it marked in my calendar. :)

i vote for options 7, 6, and 8 in that order!

-steve

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

Excellent, my good man! Such stories I shall write this afternoon (it's just shy of noon here) and I'll endeavor to have something by you Sunday morning your time.