Day 1-
Hey Mom and Dad!
Now we have finally arrived to Canberra airport after a long flight. Currently we´re sitting in a cab on our way to the hotel and I decided to write something for you guys.
First of all I want to tell you how hot it is here, It´s four pm here and 30°C, i´m already sweating and longing for a swim in the pool at our hotel.
It wasn´t funny sitting in a small chair with not too much leg space for almost 24 hours, but now that we´re here I´m going to make sure it was worth the effort.
First of all we´re going to the hotel to leave our bags and then we´re going out to get to know the city. Elin even wrote a list of what to do while we´re in Canberra. First thing is a restaurant that we have heard a lot of good things about and I´m really excited to go there.
We are very tired but are going to try our best to get into the time difference as fast as possible. That way we will get the most out of our trip, there´s no time to lose.
Now we have arrived to the hotel and it´s looking great. It´s located not too far away from the inner city and it only takes about 15 minutes to walk to the central station. The hotel room is very nice as well and I think we´re going to have a great time here even though we´re not staying for long.
Now it´s almost eight pm and we just got back from the pool. It was outside on the back of the hotel, and even though there was no sun it was pretty hot. It was a pretty big pool and we stayed in for about 30 minutes. We´re currently geting dressed for dinner and I decided to take a minute to tell you guys since I´m already done and Elin hasn´t even left the shower yet.
Day 2-
So, we just woke up, yesterday was great and even though we were very tired it went well and we got to see some cool things already. Maybe not crocodiles, but some cool birds and even a snake outside our hotel. The owner said it lived there and wasn´t one of the dangerous ones. But when we first saw it we didn´t know that and ran inside as fast as we could. When he told us, we laughed and told him our story and then he laughed as well. He didn´t think we were stupid because he encouraged everyone to be safe around all the animals just in case. He on the other hand knew almost every animal in the country and wether it was dangerous or not, he told us it was a good knowledge for those living in Australia. His father had taught him when he was younger and he really appreciated that now.
We also started to talk to some people from Italy while we were at a restaurant. Their names were Franco, Alessandro, Bianca and Julie. We took their numbers and decided to keep in touch with each other for the rest of our stay in Australia. The good part was that they didn´t have any further plans for their trip. They told us that they didn't want to decide what to before going and just take it all as it came, so they might just follow us on our journey. Elin questioned there reliability since they were still strangers, but I said it was all okay since I had gotten a great impression of them.
Now we just got home from a hectic day in Canberra. It´s almost 12 pm and we are very tired. I didn´t find any time to write today because we have been very busy, therefor I´m doing it now. The first thing we did was going to a beach which was beautiful. It took us a while to get there though, almost one hour by bus. But it was totally worth it and we had a great time. The waiter at the beach restaurant where we ate told us that they had tourists from all around the world there since it was one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. He had even learned a couple of words from different languages when he had spoken to guests and he told us in Swedish that he was 25 years and lived in a suburb of Canberra. He was very funny and we enjoyed talking to him, he seemed to enjoy it as well. But he probably does it all the time and it was most likely only a way to impress his customers and to get some tip, which we gave him.
Day 3-
Today we decided to have a big great breakfast in a restaurant. The first day we only had a small breakfast that we made ourselves. We´re doing everything possible to save money. But we felt like we deserved a luxury breakfast since we had eaten a boring breakfast the first day.
So we went to a restaurant close to our hotel and asked for the breakfast menu. There were a lot of delicious thing to order, but I decided I wanted some pancakes, some fruit, yoghurt and orange juice. Elin ordered pancakes as well, scrambled eggs, a sandwich and some apple juice.
After the brakfast we went to the National Museum of Australia which is located in Canberra, obviously. I actually thought it was mostly boring, and we skipped a lot of parts of the museum in lack of interest. But some things were interesting and we even asked the staff some questions about the aborigines. They had great answers and we talked to them for over 20 minutes. Now I feel almost fully educated about it. But I know there are a lot more to learn to be fully educated about it since they have an extremely long story with a lot of action.
The man we asked had a lot of Australian accent and we had a difficult time understanding some of the things he told us. When we asked him to repeat himself he said it in a much easier accent and told us that he was used to tourists not understanding him.
Our breakfast today was so big that we decided to skip lunch and we only had a small dinner. We met up with our Italian friends and they showed us an Italian restaurant. I ordered a pizza and Elin ordered Spaghetti Bolognese, our friends ordered pizza and pasta as well. They didn´t have much else but they had at least 30 different pizzas and 20 different pasta dishes. My food was delicious and the others said theirs was too. We sat in the restaurant until almost midnight and Elin and I realized we had to get back to the hotel to pack. We were going to Sydney the next day. We asked the Italians if they wanted to follow us and they said yes. We went to the station and helped them book the same tickets as us.
Day 4-
Today we went up at 4 am to pack our bags and go to the station in time for our train that left at 5. We got ready, walked there and bought a small breakfast before we got on. We also met up with our friends. They also brought a breakfast on the train. If we would have flown it would only have taken 1 hour, but with train it took almost 5 hours. But I didn´t mind since I got to sleep on the train and it was a lot cheaper. Good for both my wallet and my health, haha.
I wasn´t the only one who slept away the time, we all did. I only had 2 hours awake and I spent them talking to Elin, listening to music and reading a City guide book about Sydney to get some inspiration on what to do. But most of the activities were museums, restaurants or big shopping streets that I already knew about. But there were also some small cafés and stores that looked interesting.
When we arrived we went to the hotel to unpack our bags. Our hotel didn´t have any free rooms for the Italians, but luckily a hotel only 200 meters away had two dubbel rooms for them. So we don´t live in the same hotel, but it´s fine for all of us since it´s so close.
It took us about an hour to get ready, I spent half of it in the shower and then I did my makeup, hair and put some clothes on. When we were all ready we went to a restaurant and had some lunch. It was a very expensive restaurant and when we got the bill it didn´t seem right. But unfortunately it was.
We took a couple of hours to walk around the city and look at things and buildings, we also went to a couple of souvenir shops, but no big stores. We saw some really cool street art and I took a lot of pictures. We had to drink a lot of water since it was a very hot day and we were moving all the time.
A couple of hours later, around 7 pm we went to a new restaurant. It was another Italian restaurant and this time I had pizza aswell, I couldn´t resist. I ordered a big Hawaii pizza, which is and has always been my favorite.
Franco asked us if there were any Swedish restaurants, in other countries, like the Italian restaurant that are all over the world. I looked at Elin and we both laughed. Franco looked at us and he didn´t quite understand why we laughed. I told him there are no restaurants with Swedish food since it´s not very requested and people doesn´t really like it. He told me he wanted to try some Swedish dishes and I promised him I would cook meatballs for him sometime. He seemed happy about my respond.
Elin asked them if the food that is represented in Italian restaurants is the same as what they eat at home. Julie told us it was a part of it but that there was a lot more great food. After the dinner we ordered some drinks and they were really cool. My drink had layers in it and they were blue, yellow and red. Biancas drink was the coolest since it was burning for a while, but eventually it disappeared.
After the dinner we went to a club nearby. I had read that it was one of the clubs where the most nationalities where gathered and it seemed fun.
We met a lot of people there and had a great time. We met people from Brazil, Denmark, USA, France, South Africa, Russia and New Zealand. It was really fun to meet new people and hear a little bit about how they have it where they live. Some of them asked us how we have it where we lived and we told them a little bit about Sweden. Most of them were really surprised about how cold it was and seemed terrified to go there, but some of them said they wanted to visit Sweden someday.
Day 5-
It´s currently late at night but I totally forgot to write the diary during the day so I have to do it now. Yesterday we decided to wake up a little later and non of us set any alarm. It was very nice since we had not gotten a lot of sleep the day before.
Elin went out with Julie to buy us all some breakfast and then we met up with them in a park. The breakfast we had was some sandwiches, orange juice, fruits and berries. It was really good and not even close to the price it would be at an restaurant.
Then we got back to the hotel to get ready real quick. Which everyone surprisingly managed to do, and we left the hotel only 20 minutes later. We walked to the big shopping street which was about one hour away. We had no idea it was that long and we decided that we would get a cab on the way back.
We went to a lot of stores and all 6 of us went shopaholic for a while. I spent way too much and got a bad conscience afterwards. I mostly bought summer clothes like tops, shorts, and a really cool pair of sunglasses. I put them on the minute i got out the store and got compliments from the others.
Franco bought a really expensive pair of shoes. They were made from real crocodile skin and he told me he had wanted that kind of shoes for a really long time.
Elin bought a cute dress and I got a little bit jealous of how good it looked. But she was probably jealous of my sunglasses, haha.
After almost 4 hours in stores we all got sick of the shopping, even though we had a lot of stores left to look in. We discussed coming back the day after but made no certain plans. We went to the harbor and ordered some soda at a very cozy bar. The view from the bar was beautiful and you got a great view of the water, all the boats in the harbor and the boats who went by. You could also see the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. They had music playing in the speakers and all of it combined equal to a great feeling and a great time.
After we had been sitting there for almost two hours we decided to get a cab home. There were not as many cabs as there is in NYC, but it wasn´t hard to get hold of one. They drove past once in a while and there were even some waiting by the station. Unfortunately we were too many to fit in one, so we had to split up.
By night time we went to a restaurant then we took a beach walk. It was a very hot night and we decided to take a night swim. We left our phones and money at the beach and ran into the water. We weren´t in for very long because after only a couple of minutes it got too cold. Anyways it was very funny, but the bad part was walking home with soaking wet clothes.
Day 6-
Today we woke up pretty early since Alessandro, Bianco and Franco had booked a tour at the opera house. Me, Elin and Julie didn´t want to go with them because neither of us is very interested in opera or similar things. I also didn´t want to spend more money on tours or museums since I only got disappointed the last time I did.
Instead we went to some smaller shopping streets. There were no big stores at all. Only cute cafes, small tourist shops and old restaurants. Most of the buildings were more than 200 years old and that was very obvious. It gave you a different feeling and impression of the city than you got from the big streets with loads of cars, lights and people. We all liked it and we stayed there for quite a while.
First we looked in some of the cute stores and I bought some scented candles, a scarf, a t-shirt and a soap that looked like the opera house. It felt like I had to bring a memory of the opera house since I chose not to go there.
Elin bought scented candles as well, red flip flops and a phone case with a dolphin on it.
Julie only bought some soaps with different scents.
When the Opera House tour was done Franco called us and we decided to meet up in the harbor. So we went there and took a closer look at the boats. Most of them were small fishing boats but some of them were bigger yacht looking boats.
After we had been looking for a while a man came walking on the bridge and he asked us which boat we owned. Alessandro said we didn´t own any boat and that we were just looking. The man then asked us if we wanted to join him for a boat ride and since we didn´t have any other plans we said yes.
We had no idea which boat he owned but I guessed it would be one of the small fishing boats since they outnumbered the bigger boats by a lot. I shouldn´t have jumped to any conclusions though because we followed the man further out on the bridge and after a while he pointed at his boat and it was not one of the fishing boats. It was one of the biggest boats in the harbor and it looked really expensive. Obviously my guess was wrong, and he wasn´t a owner of a small fishing boat, but a big, white, expensive boat.
We got on the boat and he told us to sit down in the white sofa at the back of the boat. There were enough room for all of us and even more people would fit. After a couple of minutes the man, who had gone away, came back. He had brought some glasses, but no drinks. He told us to stand up and lift the sofa up. We did as he said even though we didn´t understand why. It felt a little weird to just do as he said but I couldn´t disobey him after he had invited us onto his boat. Under the sofa was a fridge with a lot of different drinks such as soda, water, champagne, beer and wine. He told us to take whatever we felt like. I took a soda.
He then walked away again and after a minute we felt the engine starting and the boat floating out. It went pretty fast and in no time we were gone from the harbor and the city. It was a very sunny day and we all enjoyed sitting in the sun. When the man came back we asked him a bunch of questions like why he picked us up from the beginning, about his family, about the boat and his life in general. He answered the questions and asked us some aswell. He was very nice and funny and we all agreed on that. Although during the whole time I thought it was a little bit strange, but I didn´t worry anything about it, I was too busy enjoying my soda, the view and the beautiful weather.
Luckily we hadn´t made any plans for that afternoon or evening. If we had we would´ve had so say no to the nice guys offer.
When he offered us a free meal as well we had to stop him, but he insisted. He was so nice to us!
The dinner we would have would be at a local restaurant. He knew the owners and said he easily could get us in. He put his boat in the same place as it had been before and then we all went off the boat. The man began to walk and we followed him, once again. After about 15 minutes of fast walking we arrived to a big restaurant. The man stopped and pointed at the restaurant. Outside it was a guard with a black suit, there was a red carpet and it looked crowded inside. We all stopped outside the entry and looked in, but suddenly the man kept walking. Only a couple of meters away from the big restaurant he opened a door and went inside. We quickly followed. We weren´t going to the big restaurant, but a tiny one right besides it. He had made us think that we were going in there but it wasn´t the case.
Inside the restaurant were a bunch of people. It was down in the basement so there were no windows and the light either came from candles or old lamps. On the walls there were pictures of fishers, fishes and other people. I had no idea where he had taken us, but the place was very nice.
After a while of confusion he told us all about it. He said that the big restaurant had just opened and stolen a lot of customers, but that the owner still found ways to get the place full almost every night. And the owner was a guy that he had met while sailing a couple of years ago, they were now best friends. That´s why he was certain that he could get us free food.
We sat down and waited for our food, it only took 10 minutes to get it and it was delicious. I had fried shrimps with fried potato, Elin had some soup with crab, shrimp and fish. She thought it was delicious as well.
It was by far the best dinner we have had trough this whole trip and all thanks to the man. It wasn´t just the food, but the feeling you got in that place, the people around you and the nice man who showed us the place. Everything was just great!
After we had all eaten up every little crumb on our plates we asked the man why he was so nice to us and he only answered ”no special reason” with his Australian accent. I thought to myself that it would always be a mysterium and we would never know why the man treated us so well. He didn´t want a penny in return, only the company and the pleasure of meeting new people, he said. Such a nice man, I wish there were more people like him.
Day 7-
Today was our last day in Australia and we wanted to squeeze the last out of it. Franco, Bianca, Julie and Alessandro are staying longer since they enjoyed it so much and had no pre ordered tickets for the travel home which we unfortunately had. I mean it will be nice to come home, but this has been one of the best weeks of my life and I´d like to stay longer. But you can´t always get what you want. They made a promise to us that they would come visit us in Sweden but I told them I´d rather come visit them in Italy. We then agreed on doing both sometime in the future.
We woke up early to go for a long walk all of us together. We walked around the city for almost 1 hour and there was nothing bad about the walk. I´m so happy we decided to do it, because we saw a lot of great things that we hadn´t seen before.
After that we went to the hotel to pack our bags and clear the hotel room out. Then we said goodbye to our friends, which was almost harder than saying goodbye to the city, which was very hard for me. Once the cab came we could no longer talk to our friends and we had to leave them behind. It was a very sad moment for all of us. But the light in the darkness was the agreement we had made about visiting each other.
When arrived to the airport we checked our bags in and went to the security controls. Then we bought some lunch in a small cafe. I had some grilled sandwiches and Elin had a hamburger with fries. It was delicious but very expensive, as always in airports.
We took the plane and i slept away most of the time. I don´t know how that happened but I was obviously still very tire. It was an exhausting week with fun things happening at all times, we didn´t have a second to rest.
Now that I´m home I look back at this week and realize that it was one of the funniest and best experiences of my life and that I´d like to do it all over again. But unfortunately my bank account isn´t with me on that part.
Thanks for reading my Diary, best regards Wilma!
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