Five Days in Sydney 2008
It was in 2008 that AlteCocker's love affair with Australia and New Zealand began. It began with an inquiry through Homelink.org from a couple who lived in Kawana Waters in Queensland, Australia, north of Brisbane. It ended in the first of AlteCocker's 3 trips down under in the space of 6 years--ridiculous, no? Because AlteCocker will soon qualify as an AlteAlteCocker, she though she had best get a move on if she were to see this part of the world. After all, it is only a matter of time before her life devolves into trips to the doctors and complaining endlessly, to people who don't want to hear it, about nonworking body parks.
In 2008 AlteCocker did a 9 week trip that included 3 home exchanges. The exchanges were in Kawana Waters on the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane in the city itself and in Kamo, North Island, New Zealand. On the way to the first exchange, she stopped in Fiji & Sydney. Five nights were spent in Sydney. In an excess of very bad travel planning, AlteCocker arrived in Sydney the same day as the Pope (Benedict, not Francis) and the commencement of the Roman Catholic festival known as World Youth Day. Heck, what does AlteCocker know from the Pope. Everyone in Sydney fled and she was there coping with popemania. Basically, the way to deal with this is the way to deal with any mega event. You go where the rest of them are not. Unfortunately, some of the Catholic kids had the same idea having tired of the endless number of masses and got in her way. Nevertheless she coped because she is, after all, AlteCocker.
These photos are of that first trip to Sydney in 2008. AlteCocker covered some of the main tourist sites and succeeded in falling asleep at the opera ("Don Giovanni") because she was too jet lagged. Afterward she was informed that she was snoring! Not AlteCocker's finest moment. At 5 days into the haj, she thought she would have recovered enough, but, obviously not.
The 2008 Sydney visit included a day trip to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains by train. AlteCocker would return in 2012 to explore the area more thoroughly during home exchange in the Blue Mountains and Sydney but that is another bubba misa (old lady tale).
In 2008 AlteCocker did a 9 week trip that included 3 home exchanges. The exchanges were in Kawana Waters on the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane in the city itself and in Kamo, North Island, New Zealand. On the way to the first exchange, she stopped in Fiji & Sydney. Five nights were spent in Sydney. In an excess of very bad travel planning, AlteCocker arrived in Sydney the same day as the Pope (Benedict, not Francis) and the commencement of the Roman Catholic festival known as World Youth Day. Heck, what does AlteCocker know from the Pope. Everyone in Sydney fled and she was there coping with popemania. Basically, the way to deal with this is the way to deal with any mega event. You go where the rest of them are not. Unfortunately, some of the Catholic kids had the same idea having tired of the endless number of masses and got in her way. Nevertheless she coped because she is, after all, AlteCocker.
These photos are of that first trip to Sydney in 2008. AlteCocker covered some of the main tourist sites and succeeded in falling asleep at the opera ("Don Giovanni") because she was too jet lagged. Afterward she was informed that she was snoring! Not AlteCocker's finest moment. At 5 days into the haj, she thought she would have recovered enough, but, obviously not.
The 2008 Sydney visit included a day trip to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains by train. AlteCocker would return in 2012 to explore the area more thoroughly during home exchange in the Blue Mountains and Sydney but that is another bubba misa (old lady tale).