I am still alive!

The good news: I'm safe and sound, still hanging out in Sydney. Nobody has kidnapped me, I haven't had any run ins with the police, and I'm having a great time.
The bad news: I got food poisoning from this really delicious garlic tzatziki I bought yesterday, so I'm kind of bumming around today because I don't feel that well. I feel better now than I did earlier today, so that's a good sign, but food poisoning is never exactly a positive experience.

I hit up the Botanic Gardens the other day, which was amazing. They have gorgeous views of the harbour, and some really cool plants. There's some pine tree that is actually older than the dinosaurs (what?!), and was only discovered by some random brush tramper ten years ago or so. I was there at twilight, and at that time all the fruit bats come out of palm trees and soar around. These are the biggest fruit bats in the world, and it was such a sight. Auditorially (is that a word?), it was not so pleasant--they make these weird squeaking noises, and these ugly white birds kept squawking back at them. I went with my Dutch friend Lisanna, and we got delish Italian food after by the harbour. It was quite excellent. We also visited The Government House (could there be a more vague name?) which is where some important government head has fuctions. We tried to sneak in, but this nice old round guy stopped us and told us that unless we were some important American guy, we couldn't go in. I had him convinced for a bit that I was his daughter, but he still wouldn't let us in. It has gorgeous architecture, though, and was cool to look at from the outside.

Yesterday, I took a ferry from the harbour to Manly Beach, and explored over there a bit. I hiked up to Kangaroo Rock which wasn't that exciting, and then swam in the ocean for a bit and then bummed around on the sand. The beach was picturesque, as are all the beaches here, and straight out of a movie. Ooooh, I forgot to mention that Palm Beach, the beach I went to yesterday, is the setting for the soap opera "Home and Away" which basically sounds like The O.C. of the U.K. Some famous girl was there the other day, but I didn't care since she's not famous to me. Still, lots of other people freaked out. Back to Manly, it was nice. It's named after the manly physique that all the surfers have--I'm not kidding. After I got over the tacky name, I liked it a lot.

After that, I partook in what will hopefully be the most expensive excursion of my trip: the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. It was worth every penny of it for the views of the harbour and the opera house. Plus, my climb only had two other people (two Brits that are getting married this Friday--they even invited me to their wedding!), so it was really personal. I did the Discovery Climb, which means I climbed in the innter workings of the bridge, then climbed to the top, and then back down the other side. We got to go out far over the water, which is kind of freaky since you can see it through the holes in the stairs, but you're clipped to the bridge, so you can't fall off even if you wanted to. We got to yell at the top, and we made a water-plane wave around its wings and the passengers on a cruise ship waved at us. Afterwards, Matt, the bridge leader, invited us to go out with him to a pub nearby, so we chatted it up over there. A bunch of the other bridge leaders joined us, and by the end they had all invited themselves to the Brits' wedding. Apparently, they only had seven other people coming (including Debbie's godmother's brother, who they've never met but is giving them free taxi rides around Sydney), so now the Bridge Climb guys will outnumber people they actually know. It was a fun Aussie experience, and we got a discount on our beers since we were with them. Sweet.

Today I went to Coogee Beach briefly, but then felt too tired and sick to stay so I took the bus back. It was nice, though, and there was some good snorkeling out there. I have a dreadful tan line from my swimsuit which I have worn three days in a row.

It's kind of nice traveling alone, since it means I can be more spontaneous and say sure, let's grab drinks after the climb, but it's also kind of lonely at times. Also, yesterday when I was at Manly Beach, this woman was totally laying on the sand topless and there was nobody to gasp with and to discuss how weird that was. Also also, at Palm Beach, there was a very old man with a very young babe and nobody was there to make Heather Mills/Paul McCartney references with me. Still, it meant that when I felt sick today, I didn't have to cancel any plans with anybody, and I can hang for extra time in this travel agency using their free internet. Also, nobody here makes fun of me for saying "yeh" with much more frequency than I would like to admit. It just kind of comes out naturally, and makes me sound slightly European. Somebody even thought I was British once!

Tomorrow I'm off to the Blue Mountains to see the Three Sisters and tram around and go spelunking in the Jenolan Caves. Sadly, I have to leave at 7:20 AM which is dreadful. Perhaps I can sleep on the bus?

Lots of love to everybody in the States--