Day 2 in Sydney

Today I was woken by Annie and Riley at 9 o’clock, wondering why I wasn’t up yet. They had already explored part of town, gotten a cup of coffee and checked their email, and were waiting on me to join in. I was quick to shower and soon we were out on the city’s streets embarking on, what turned out to be, another long day’s hike all around town. We started off by finding a travel agent’s office to hear more information about the WWOOF (Working Worldwide On Organic Farms) organization that I had heard friends at home talk about. Maybe it was Jesse’s initial idea to me that I should join.

The young British man we talked to behind the desk about WWOOF was quick to make fun of our accent and expressions we used before we even had a chance to ask questions. He thought it was hilarious to make us say things like “December” and “Albuquerque,” which he got a good laugh from and couldn’t believe how nasally we sounded in our words. We did, eventually, receive good information about WWOOF and all joined for $45 each (about the price of two nights stay in a really cheap hostel). We’re hoping that we can find a family to stay with somewhere soon outside of Sydney doing work like gardening, household chores, or farm labor to get more of an authentic experience here in Australia. For only a few hours of work required a day, we’d earn ourselves free meals, a great place to stay in a family home, and we’d see/experience a lot more of the country outside major cities. So far we’ve just highlighted a couple hosts as possible places to stay, but tomorrow we’re going to try to contact them and arrange a stay.

Later in the day Annie and I left Riley alone to tour Australia’s museum on the harbor for a couple of hours because we were not ready to spend $20 just to walk around a bit and see old ships. Riley, though, was fascinated with it all.

We also stopped at an old pizzeria that Annie remembered visiting when she was here last with her family at age 14 and called it dinner at 4 o’clock.