The Storm

29 January 2016

Tired from the journey and all the new impressions, I slept like a baby during my first night. I did wake up at around 6 in the morning, but decided to stay in bed until around 9. When I finally got up, I discovered that I had the house all to myself. This was actually quite nice, since I got to explore the place a bit and get acquainted to the kitchen.

Belle was barking in the garden behind the house, probably because she heard me stumble around the place. I went outside to reassure her that it was just me and we played fetch for a while. While playing fetch with Belle, I started to take in everything around me; the sounds, the smells, the weather. I still remember the slightly sweet smell that was carried by a slight breeze and the sound of cockatoos and other Australian birds around me. It was a cloudy day, but the temperature was around 28 degrees Celsius.

After I unpacked my stuff and got settled in, I decided that it was time to head out into the big wide world. I walked to the station of Stanmore (also the name of the neighbourhood where I lived) and got on a train to the center of Sydney. My first destination was Darling Harbour, which was also the location of my upcoming workplace. I first visited the tourist information center to get myself an Oyster Card for public transport. Then I started to explore the area and visited the Harbourside Mall and the Chinese Garden of Friendship. The gardens were very peaceful and stunningly beautiful; an oasis of green in an otherwise busy city. Here I first encountered some Australian water dragons, a type of lizard which are apparently very common to find around parks and forests. I was in no hurry to leave the gardens, so I decided to order some lunch at their terrace. While eating my salmon sandwich and being stared at by a hungry dragon near my table, it suddenly started to storm. The wind had picked up a lot and the rain came pouring down, accompanied by thunder and lightning. It was quite intense. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

After the storm had cleared I headed back to Darling Harbour, where I visited my office. My internship wouldn’t start until next week, but I thought it would be nice to pay a quick visit and say hi. Afterwards I started heading back home. On my way back I passed by the Christ Church St. Laurence. It’s a pretty building from the 1800’s in the colonial gothic style. As I usually do during trips, I went to take a look inside. When I was about to exit the church, the church warden approached me and we had a small chat about what brought me to Australia. After a pleasant conversation he invited me to visit the High Mass the coming Sunday. I would definitely keep it in mind. It could be a nice way to meet some new people.

I came home just in time for dinner. Ana had made couscous and it tasted delicious. It turns out that my hosts used to run a type of restaurant/cantina together, so they both enjoyed cooking (and eating) a lot. I considered myself quite lucky! Ana still takes orders for finger food that she makes for parties. She usually makes more than the actual order, so we would enjoy whatever was leftover.

After dinner I went to meet Toby, someone I had met on the app I had installed the night before. He seemed like a nice and friendly guy and he was offering to show me around town. That night we drove to a deserted Bondi Beach. It had already gotten dark by the time we got there. After getting some ice cream we took off our shoes and started walking across the beach. It was dark, but the lights from the city casted enough light on the beach and the ocean to make everything visible. We sat down on some cliffs overlooking the ocean. In the far distance we could see a thunderstorm above the ocean, with regular flashes of lightning. There was no sound of thunder, only that of the waves crashing against the rocks below us. In a certain way it was very calming to look at. While sitting there we talked about our lives, interests and hobbies. After a while we left and Toby dropped me off back home. For my first day in Sydney, this wasn’t bad. Not bad at all.