Odds and Ends at the End of our Sydney Stay

We’re doing the laundry and packing up after a week in one place. It has been such a luxury to sit in a single place for a week. We worked out at the Gold’s gym every other day, ate microwaved oatmeal every morning in our kitchenette and spread out our clothes instead of keeping everything packed during our stay. We learned the public transportation system and the groceries (which thankfully are much easier to find than in Europe).

We have found Australians to be warm and friendly. Every time we thank someone, we get the very pleasant response of, “no worries”. They are open to conversations about where we are from and curious about our visit. The Australian news is covering the Los Angeles fires as top coverage. Right now I am watching Charlie Wrangel on the news. Can you imagine watching an Australian politician on our news? It seems that more Australians have visited the US than vice versa. As I working out today the woman next to me told me she spent four weeks in LA and New Jersey this summer and was watching the fire news as anxiously as I was. When we say we are from Seattle, they always respond with some knowledge of the area such as, “home of Microsoft and Boeing”, or “are you Supersonics fans?” The US is like a big brother to Australia. They watch our politics and our news with interest.

The owner of the Golds gym told us that with overtime, the guys working the front desk make $30 AUD an hour on Sundays. Assuming that is time and a half or double time pay for working Sundays (can you imagine getting paid more for working on a Sunday?) they make $15-20 an hour the rest of the time. Each of our trips out to dinner cost between $60-100 for the two of us, so the prices here reflect the higher compensation. Our dollar has been falling all over the world, and in our week here has gone from one our dollars to 88 cents Australian to today’s one to 90.5.

One of their local business heroes died a few days ago, just a day after we watched a special on him. 42 years old, this local man from an immigrant Middle Eastern background made millions by founding a cell phone store empire. He was a philanthropist and all around good guy, who dropped dead of a heart attack while taking a walk, and today there is a huge Muslim funeral. The news coverage is similar to what the passing of Bill Gates or Warren Buffet might be like. Most of our business people don’t get this type of news coverage.

It is a rainy, storming day today with lightening and other-non-vacation-happy weather. We are spending our last day relaxing. Last night we had our best dinner here at a small Japanese restaurant around the corner- the Uchi Lounge. Wonderful. We will probably go back again tonight.

Love, Deanne