Sydney

2nd March 11'

Yesterday I experienced my first Earth quake, or rather an aftershock. I was playing guitar on top of a 5 story parking garage, when my podium I was seated upon started rocking back and forth like a bad massage chair. I looked up and all the light posts were swaying very rapidly as well. 30 seconds later it was all over. Must have been small because nobody else around noticed.

After hell at Sydney airport I finally arrived at my hostel with what seems like 110% humidity and 45 degree weather. Pretentious I know, but I hate English units I really do...The Hostel...The Hostel I am at is similar to a projects apartment complex, but less likely to stand in an earthquake. The "Dining" area is the aluminum roof at a 15 degree angle. There are two bunk beds in my room which would normally hold one person in any other situation. Weird people too asking me questions about whether or not they should pee on the police building, or shaking my hand with no force...If you are going to shake my hand; squeeze.

A tour of the city after I moved in found me up in Hyde park. A lot of firsts there last night. I saw bats with a 3 foot wingspan flighting in the air above my head in the trees, Cockroaches the size of cuban cigars, and rats....I have only seen one rat in my life and I multiplied that number by more than enough. Then there are these weird kangaroo ratlike creatures that might be wallabees? But they are smaller than what I googled. They are creepy critters. I miss NZ where you can camp anywhere and have ZERO fear of anything trying to kill you. There are no bears, snakes, spiders, wolverines, or people. Here there are 6 of the 10 most deadly snakes, spiders, kangaroos, and people. I made it to the Opera house though and it was even better than in every movie I have seen since the Rescuers Down Under. Hopefully Andrew can explain why there are so many Bowls, or what goes on in there.

The nightlife is akward as well. While trying to get my bearings, the roads are very confusing, and if it weren't for a girl a while back telling me to look "Right" for cars, I would definitely have been hit twice last night. The district the people at the hostel told me to go was full of kids all trying to get into a PACKED bar. Bars are Bars are Bars. I do not understand why some people want to wait in line to wait in another line to wait in another line. I left immediately. A 5 minute walk found me in a very flashy neighborhood full of sex shops, strip clubs and bars. These bars however were slightly different. At first I knew something was different, but couldn't point it out. Then after noticing that there were no more girls in this part of town, and all the men dressed absolutely fantastic while holding hands I realized I was in the gay neighborhood. I guess my ignorance has never found me in a place like this and it was very different from what I am used to. Usually it is just a bunch of Chads trying to hook up with Tiffany's (Same story different place all around the world) but here was different. There were no lies, just dudes in bathtubs in the bar windows...I left to get a pizza and go to sleep.

I may leave tomorrow to the Western side of Australia and get out of the city and into the desert which calls my name. I watched 127 hours yesterday on the plane and frankly this was one of the best movies I have ever seen. One of those that makes you want to run away to the desert solataire. Cheers.