Nothing

April 9, 2002

The ride from Canberra to Sydney was BORING! As we crossed back over the Great Dividing Range, we passed innumerable eucalyptus trees. Somehow, no matter what variety of the several hundred gums that exist, they never look intact. The bark is shedding, the leaves look dry, they’ve lost or are in the process of losing limbs, they’re scorched by recent or past fires, or they are bare skeletons awaiting a drenching rain & rebirth. Much like their burgeoning native land, they seem to be works in progress. In a nutshell, I think I’m over being a tourist here.

Just as I was getting sullen from the tedium, we passed a farm that advertised “free range eggs” for sale. I’m admittedly ignorant about chickens. I pictured the free-range chooks laying eggs hither & yon, wherever their little chicken feet took them. I wondered aloud how that worked. Was it a daily Easter egg hunt for the farmers & their kids? Perhaps the chicken feed was spiked with dye so the eggs would be more visible & contrast with the green of the grass & the brown of the soil. Brown eggs are the rule in Australia, so that could be a problem right off. After brainstorming for a while, we decided there must be a roost area set up in an revolving door chicken coop. Nesting material could be provided to entice the chickens in so they’d lay their eggs in a central location.

Since the ride was long, I had plenty of time to think & you lucky people get to know my thoughts. I’m anticipating that being in India will give me a sense of being closer to home. I’ll be physically closer than I’ve been in seven months. South Africa will take me farther away again, but when we get to Amsterdam it will seem as if I’m practically within spitting distance. It will feel like I’m back in the known world.

Driving into Sydney went more smoothly than it should have. Returning the car took longer. The Budget Car Rental paperwork had the wrong address on it. It wasn’t very far off, but it meant going around several blocks until we could line ourselves up on the correct side of one-way streets. We found ourselves in King’s Cross, which is an artsy/gay neighborhood. We grabbed a pizza at a place that was full of Italian speakers & walked back to our hotel.

We’re staying at the York Aparatment Hotel on York St. in the city center. We booked it on wotif.com.au. It’s a completely refurbished building & our apartment is even bigger than the one we’d been living in for seven months. There’s a washer/dryer in the apartment that will make my last minute laundering a breeze. Our balcony overlooks St. Phillips Anglican Church, but the best of it is that if we stand in the far corner, we can see the top of the Harbor Bridge. David will be able to stand there tomorrow &, using our binoculars, watch me climb.

There, I did it. I just wrote a page about a day during which nothing happened.

Toby