KatieTheKat

Hello all,

I'm surprised that you haven't given up on me altogether, given the lack of new updates lately. But I have good reason! I have been far too busy joining Claus in his whirlwind tour and late night antics to have time for blogging.

He arrived on thursday last week, whatever day that was, sometime in the afternoon. And sure enough, about half an hour before I wrapped up work for the day, he came a-knocking on the office door. We spent the evening down at Maroubra Beach eating some Australian sushi. Even though I'm not much of a sushi connoisseur, I could tell that Vancouver sushi is better despite the fact that I think I am now closer to Japan. The selection was certainly much more limited. Claus then braved the red bean, sticky rice, and green tea ice cream dessert ("you'll never know how tasty it is until you try it!"). Though I am a big bean fan, I can't say that the variety doused in sugar and interspersed with maggoty lumps of chewy rice was quite to my liking.

Friday we met up with some Germans, one of whom Claus had somehow found out about through a german lawyers' travel networking site or something like that. Her name was Kirsten and she was nice enough. The rest of the
group she was with apparently she mostly hadn't met before either. Some of them weren't especially friendly, it seemed, though it was hard for me to know what was going on because for one we met in this super-loud bar where you had to yell at each other to talk and for two they were mostly all speaking in German. Anyhow it was interesting to see what some people seem to consider a good night out. Afterwards Claus and I wandered down to the Opera House and watched some star-like birds circle illuminated as they circled around above the Harbour Bridge.

Saturday we would have gone off hiking, but the weather started wet and the forecast didn't look good, so we decided instead to head out later in the day and to do a boat cruise around Sydney Harbour. It turned out to be quite a nice day, as you will see whn I get some pictures online. That night we met up with a couple of the germans (the nice ones) for a performance at the Sydney Opera House (you can get last-minute tickets cheap an hour before the show). We sat behind the orchestra and had got to watch people banging on kettle drums through a piece by Stravinsky and one by Shostocovich. This was followed by a visit to the "Opera Bar" where our ears were assaulted with a chaos of chatter as we waited out a thunder storm.

Sunday, despite waking up to a grey and wet morning, Claus and I hopped a train out to the Blue Mountains. When we got to Katoomba, the rain was possibly the strongest I have ever seen rain (until Tuesday, but we will
come to that soon). We could see our breath in front of our faces. After hiding out from the downpour for a few minutes and getting a hold of my flatmate Kelly to tell her I had left my keys in my room and that we would need to be let in later in the evening, we headed down the road towards the Three Sisters. Correction. Noticing that we were paralleling the train tracks, we asked for directions, turned around, and then began walking down the correct road. Despite the blanketing cloud cover, there was a busload or two of Japanese tourists at the Three Sisters viewpoint.
You will see from the photos what lovely views there were to be had. We decided to walk down the "Giant Staircase" into the valley. Some time after passing the clearly marked "halfway point", we arrived at a bit of a waterfall. Actually quite impressive by Australian standards. Then I looked up through a small gap in the clouds - wow! A Huge waterfall by Australian standards. And quite spectacular altogether. And higher up the other side, we finally caught some glimpses of the sisters themselves and also espied some patches of sunshine across the vast valley below. Sun was rather rare in Claus' visit, so this is worth noting. That evening
another night out on the town for some dancing at Fret Fetish at the Roxbury. The band was a bit loud for my liking but Claus well, I think his cheering may well have been louder :).

Monday. Monday monday monday. As I write this, it is now a week later and I am having trouble recollecting and also I really sort of just want to go to sleep, but I feel like this blog entry has been put off far too long. Besides that, I did upload the pictures
earlier tonight, so I can delay no longer.

Where was I? Monday. After work, Claus and I met up with German Kirsten and headed for the Orbit bar which revolves around amongst the Sydney skyscrapers affording views around the city. Or so I am told. The problem was that when we arrived the hostess happened to take a look at my footwear. She didn't just happen to, actually - it is a part of her job. No thongs allowed. And no, that does not mean I have taken to wearing racy undergarments. Thongs are what they call flip flops here in Aussieland. That's what I called them as a kid in Oregon too. Apparently the kiwis call them jandals or jandles or something like that. Anyhow whatever you want to call them, they were unacceptable. We were asked to leave. So we decided just to head straight over to the North Shore for our dinner at the Oaks a little earlier than planned. That was fine with me since I was starved. Nevertheless, I was on the lookout for a discarded pair of sneakers all evening, hoping to find something to go back and try getting in with. I would have loved to have had a nice pair of pink fluffy bunny slippers or perhaps some bright red clown shoes.. I wonder how those would have gone over. And why is it that you always see shoes draped over telephone wires except when you're looking for them? Perhaps it is a good thing I didn't chance upon any other footwear that night. After much wandering, we finally found our way to "The Oaks". Claus picked out a dark red kangaroo steak but I just wasn't brave enough and besides my chicken kebab was half the price. We were served our raw lumps of meat, some potatoes wrapped in foil, and could help ourselves to a bowlful at the salad bar. Then it was out to the patio at the back where we grilled our own dinners up over flaming coals. I did try a nibble of Claus' kangaroo but well let's just say that it was not followed by a trip to the grocery store (or the side of the local highway) to load up on kangaroo steaks. The evening was concluded with a nighttime stroll back across the Harbour Bridge, numerous photo opportunities (too bad I was the only one without a camera), and expensive desserts at a harbourside cafe.

Tuesday. ah, tuesday. The night of my Thai Cooking class. I attended that while Claus took on the Orbit Bar again, this time without a thong-sporting bum. Hmm that could be interpreted in more than one way. Anyhow. He made it in. Meanwhile, on the other side of town.. cooking class was fun as usual. This time we made chicken satay with peanut sauce and fish cakes. As I strapped on my helmet, one of my classmates asked if I was looking forward to biking through the river. I was puzzled, since it wasn't raining. I made it about a fifth of the way home and then the skies opened up. Heavy drops crashed onto my face and bare arms. The roads, indeed, became rivers. The water streamed down my back between the pack and me. There was nowhere to hide. I left a large puddle in the entryway when 20 minutes later I arrived at home, somehow. Oh and on the way I shrieked at a couple of pedestrians who nearly placed themselves in a direct collision course with my unstoppable wheels. Why ever can't the weather be so exciting in Vancouver?

Wednesday was Claus' last day in Sydney - I saw him off at the bus stop then rode into the city for my second-to-last Wednesday of tech support.

And there I will stop for now. I need some rest to face my last ever Tuesday of tech support :).

Kat

# posted by thekat : 6:50 am