Canberra (The Capital)

I survived New Years!

I have some great pics too but this computer isnt compatible or something. I just got the new Olympus Camera while in Sydney because my other camera was gonna cost too much to fix. It is water proof and shock proof so it can only be stolen or lost, and I trust myself enough not to steal from me so that only leaves it getting lost.

Sydney was great. I spent Christmas on Coogee Beach and New Years off Rushcutters Bay.

Coogee Beach involved a cheap grill bought at a local supermarket, some beer, about 12 people from my hostel, and everyone else from all of the their hostels. It was a great party but in my opinion not really a great Christmas. Ive never had to put on sunscreen for Christmas and I dont want to have to ever again. It is funny all of the Aussie Christmas decorations and displays involve snow even though there is zero chance of that happening.

It was fun though a lot of people were out and everyone still wore their Santa hats. People were playing cricket on the beach and just having fun. I think it was a safe assumptions that all of the people on the beach were tourists. Because I think if you were Australian youd probably have been at home with your family.

On Christmas, in Perth (the major city on the West Coast) a man was killed by a Great White Shark while swimming and another Great White was spotted on one of Sydney's beaches by some kayakers. Two days before I left Sydney, and I left Sydney two days ago, 2 Hammerheads were spotted off the Sydney coast as well. Crazy Place.

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New Years was a good time too. Again more people and booze, but this time it was a picnic and not a barbecue. We camped out at about 1 pm at Rushcutter's Bay on the Harbor to get a good view of the Harbor Bridge and were there until 1 am (12 hours of family fun). The best place to watch the fireworks from is the Botanical Gardens next to the Bridge or the Opera House itself. Getting into the Gardens involved a four hour wait and getting there around 9 am. And the Opera house involved about 4 hundred dollars. And you couldnt get alcohol into either so Rushcutter's proved the best choice.

The bay is lined by houses behind it. And one of the houses setup a DJ booth just before the fireworks so there was an impromptu rave in the middle of the street we were near. I like to think I showed Australia a thing or two. At one point, this mid 20s guys started doing this ridiculous dance routine and the crowd went crazy. Then out of the shadows came this 9 year old chunky kid who did the exact routine except he was stumpy and should have been asleep everyone went mad. It was a good new years, but it snuck up on me a bit. I had to make my resolutions once the new year already began.

The New Year and its fireworks are the main attractions here, so much so that almost every tourist in Australia tries to be there for them and every backpacker in the Southeast hemisphere tries to be in Australia for it. So Sydney is crowded. I couldnt even get a room the last 2 nights I was there and I had to crash on the hotel room floor of an American GI I met in town.

Being crowded is good for Sydney bad for trying to get a job. I gave up my search for work there and decided to leave. I figured if I was going to wait around for work I might as well do it in a new city.

Most people arrive in Sydney and then zig North along the North Coast to see the Byron Bay, Surfer's Paradise and Great Barrier Reef so I decided to zag South to Canberra and Melbourne in hopes of finding work. I hear that there is a big labor shortage in Western Australia. So I decided to hit the capital of Canberra along the way even though I was warned that there is nothing here to do, because there isnt, but I am glad I did. It has been a nice place to recover from King's Cross.

I forgot to mention Americas Sweetheart was in town for the New Years, Paris Hilton. It was all over the news. She hosted a party at a hotel that was maybe 100 m from my hostel front door. And just to put the rumors to rest, I am sure she didnt come just to see me . . . . . I am sure she did some shopping too.

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While in Sydney, I also got took a power boat around the harbor, saw the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra at the Opera House, saw the Australian movie next to the Opera house, touched a Kangaroo, touched a Wallaby, touched a Koala, and got called 'Mate' about 100 times. If I had stayed any longer I would have become Paul Hogan.