Sydney, Day 1
After an awesome flight on VAustralia (shout out to Gina and Jasmine, and our entire flight crew), we arrived in Sydney on Thursday morning. We were eagerly greeted by Wazzie - an off-his-rocker Aussie that liked to channel Crocodile Dundee. After the 4320 crew sent Wazzie on his way, we were handed our trusty Twitter communication devices (also known as “cell phones”).
We quickly boarded up a couple of motorcycles and went on an awesome road-tour of Sydney… the tweeting began promptly at 9 AM, though I wasn’t able to get any tweets in until later (as I was hanging on to a motorcycle). Our Harley road-trip ended at Manly Wharf, where we met the entirety of the 4320 crew and enjoyed some breakfast at Hugo’s Manly.
Bob was elected to experience the first “challenge” of the trip - swimming with sharks! Whisked away to SCUBA training, Bob left as Jade and I explored Manly Beach and the Surfection Surf Shop. The crew had us try on a bunch of “authentic” Sydney swimwear, which for some reason had me modeling women’s swimsuits… yeah. After a nice stroll along the beach, we headed to OceanWorld and watched as Bob jumped in the tank and swam with a bunch of sharks - he said afterwards that he wasn’t too scared, but the trainer told me that the water was definitely warmer around Bob, thus assuring that Bob experienced some fright-urination.
A lunch on the run had us then boarding a water taxi to the amazing Taronga Zoo. We were greeted with a private animal meet-and-greet, and had the chance to befriend kangaroos, koalas, pythons, crocodiles, echidnas, and other fun creatures up-close-and-personal (the python took quite a liking to my crotch for some reason). Finished up at the zoo with their fantastic bird show - which takes place in a really cool amphitheater overlooking the entirety of the city harbour… amazing.
The Blue Hotel was our next stop, only for about 15 minutes to drop our bags and take the fastest showers of our lives. Changing into swank wardrobe for the night’s activities, we didn’t have much time to enjoy the awesome Blue Hotel - which was formerly a wool factory, but is now a beautifully historic/ultra-modern hotel hybrid (oh, and Russell Crowe lives there, by the way). Next stop was Zeta Bar at the Sydney Hilton. We were the students in a really fun mixology class, giving us the opportunity to learn how to make the perfect martinis, gin-and-tonic sorbets, and of course liquid nitrogen cocktails. We had a quick drink-making contest to test our new skills, and Jade took home the prize with flying colors (also, we were slightly drunk).
Sydney mingling continued at Hemmesphere (a super cool ultra-lounge and private Sydney hot-spot), and then at BBQ King Restaurant in Chinatown for some duck pancakes and other delicacies. A trip to Chinatown wouldn’t be complete without massage and acupuncture, so Jade got a relaxing rubdown while I fell victim to the needles (wasn’t too bad actually, but what was supposed to be just facial acupuncture turned into full-body thanks to Bob’s urging).
Relaxed and refreshed, next stop was the Greenbox Plus karaoke lounge. Sang some songs, drank some drinks, and were then told that Bob successfully passed the “audition” - he would shortly be changing into women’s clothing and performing in a drag show. Now, I’ll let Bob go into more detail about his drag performance - but let’s just say that it was… well… interesting.
After the drag fun/fiasco, it was back to The Blue for some shut-eye. Bob and Jade stayed awake for awhile longer, thus keeping one of us awake at nearly all times. Oh, and did I mention that we were tweeting every minute, all day long? Yeah, it was a busy day. Wait till Day 2…
Sydney, Day 1
After an awesome flight on VAustralia (shout out to Gina and Jasmine, and our entire flight crew), we arrived in Sydney on Thursday morning. We were eagerly greeted by Wazzie - an off-his-rocker Aussie that liked to channel Crocodile Dundee. After the 4320 crew sent Wazzie on his way, we were handed our trusty Twitter communication devices (also known as “cell phones”).
We quickly boarded up a couple of motorcycles and went on an awesome road-tour of Sydney… the tweeting began promptly at 9 AM, though I wasn’t able to get any tweets in until later (as I was hanging on to a motorcycle). Our Harley road-trip ended at Manly Wharf, where we met the entirety of the 4320 crew and enjoyed some breakfast at Hugo’s Manly.
Bob was elected to experience the first “challenge” of the trip - swimming with sharks! Whisked away to SCUBA training, Bob left as Jade and I explored Manly Beach and the Surfection Surf Shop. The crew had us try on a bunch of “authentic” Sydney swimwear, which for some reason had me modeling women’s swimsuits… yeah. After a nice stroll along the beach, we headed to OceanWorld and watched as Bob jumped in the tank and swam with a bunch of sharks - he said afterwards that he wasn’t too scared, but the trainer told me that the water was definitely warmer around Bob, thus assuring that Bob experienced some fright-urination.
A lunch on the run had us then boarding a water taxi to the amazing Taronga Zoo. We were greeted with a private animal meet-and-greet, and had the chance to befriend kangaroos, koalas, pythons, crocodiles, echidnas, and other fun creatures up-close-and-personal (the python took quite a liking to my crotch for some reason). Finished up at the zoo with their fantastic bird show - which takes place in a really cool amphitheater overlooking the entirety of the city harbour… amazing.
The Blue Hotel was our next stop, only for about 15 minutes to drop our bags and take the fastest showers of our lives. Changing into swank wardrobe for the night’s activities, we didn’t have much time to enjoy the awesome Blue Hotel - which was formerly a wool factory, but is now a beautifully historic/ultra-modern hotel hybrid (oh, and Russell Crowe lives there, by the way). Next stop was Zeta Bar at the Sydney Hilton. We were the students in a really fun mixology class, giving us the opportunity to learn how to make the perfect martinis, gin-and-tonic sorbets, and of course liquid nitrogen cocktails. We had a quick drink-making contest to test our new skills, and Jade took home the prize with flying colors (also, we were slightly drunk).
Sydney mingling continued at Hemmesphere (a super cool ultra-lounge and private Sydney hot-spot), and then at BBQ King Restaurant in Chinatown for some duck pancakes and other delicacies. A trip to Chinatown wouldn’t be complete without massage and acupuncture, so Jade got a relaxing rubdown while I fell victim to the needles (wasn’t too bad actually, but what was supposed to be just facial acupuncture turned into full-body thanks to Bob’s urging).
Relaxed and refreshed, next stop was the Greenbox Plus karaoke lounge. Sang some songs, drank some drinks, and were then told that Bob successfully passed the “audition” - he would shortly be changing into women’s clothing and performing in a drag show. Now, I’ll let Bob go into more detail about his drag performance - but let’s just say that it was… well… interesting.
After the drag fun/fiasco, it was back to The Blue for some shut-eye. Bob and Jade stayed awake for awhile longer, thus keeping one of us awake at nearly all times. Oh, and did I mention that we were tweeting every minute, all day long? Yeah, it was a busy day. Wait till Day 2…
