It's my birthday! (...yesterday...)

SO I'm going to try and update more often but in all likelihood it will happen about once. But anyways, I'll try.

I hung out in Canberra for about five days. On Thursday I went to the War memorial and the Museum which were pretty cool. But see the problem with Canberra is that once you do all the National museums and monuments and what not, there isn't much else to do. Nut anyways, that night Jules and Devin and I all met up and went for drinks and had a jolly old time. Devin's roommate Rhiannon was also kind enough to lend me her mountain bike and so for the rest of the time I was there I was able to use it. Canberra could be the flattest city in the world, so it was really easy to ride all around town. Friday I rode around town and generally just hung out, due to the aforementioned lack of things to do once you've done the big things. Jules and I met up at about 5 and went to Uni Bar, and then PJ O'Reilley's where they had 2 for 1 drinks and free peanuts. That was dinner! Then we hit up Muddle Bar and had a couple more drinks, and Devin met us later. So yeah the next day wasn't so fun...
Saturday Jules' sister Sarah flew in from Melbourne and we went to the National Library as well as Questacon. Questacon is this really cool science center that is over-run with little kids, but is actually really interesting for adults too. It refreshes the Physics you forgot from High School as well as really messing with your mind. That night we ended up watching a whole bunch of Grey's Anatomy from the second season which was pretty damn exciting! Oh well, sometimes it's nice to have normal nights!
Sunday was an alright day. Basically I just wandered around town again before going over to Devin's at night for a Barbecue. His roommate Rhiannon is in Med School and had a bunch of her Med School friends over so I talked a lot with them about what it was like in Australia. They were all really cool and really friendly, and encouraged me to apply in Australia. I think it is more expensive than Canada, but Aus is a pretty sweet country, so we'll have to see how things go.
On Monday I ended up hitching out of Canberra. While I was walking down the main street some random guy pulled over and offered me a lift, and so I was able to get about 15 km out of town. Unfortunately he dropped me off on the side of the highway where everyone was going 110 km/hr so it was a little hard to get a lift (probably because people were wondering why the hell I would be out in the middle of nowhere on a major highway) but eventually a nice old man pulled over and picked me up. He ended up driving me all the way to Sydney, and we also had some very interesting conversations. His main plan is to make 20 million dollars by the end of the year through shrewd stock investments, and explained his entire strategy out to me. It involves about four different oil companies, but he seemed to know all about their inner workings, so I guess only time will tell. I think one of them was named Cooper and is drilling in Indonesia...
He dropped me off on one side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but I decided to train back over and walk around the downtown area. Sydney is truly in a beautiful location, but their infrastructure isn't quite comparable to Melbourne's. They don't have any bus zones, and neither their trains, buses or ferries are consolidated, so you can end up spending quite a lot trying to get somewhere. Incidentally, I've been walking everywhere. That evening I explored the Botanical Gardens, had a look at the Opera House, and generally meandered around the place. Then Jules' friend's boyfriend returned my call, and we set up to meet at pretty much the other side of the city center, so I hustled across town and met up with him. He offered me a spot to stay at his house, and after meeting his roommates we went for some Thai food and hot chocolate before calling it a night. They are all really friendly and have basically offered me their place as their own, so that's why I've been able to make some updates without breaking the bank!
Tuesday was my birthday and after checking out the Rocks and Chinatown, I had a wonderful steak lunch and cold beer as a little treat. It ended up costing me only 15 dollars, due to some random deal they had on at the restaurant which nicely turned in my favour. After lunch I caught the very to Manly, which is at the entrance to Sydney Harbour, and so was able to basically have the Harbour tour which all the tourists pay 25 dollars for, for 20 dollars less. Manly is a pretty cool little beach town, and I also had some amazing Royal Copenhagen ice cream which was delicious! Then I caught the ferry back and walked back to the place, at which time it was already 7. Rebecca and I then went out to the bar across the street for their trivia night, and as we ended up winning, I was able to get free drinks all night. Pretty good deal for my birthday! I also met a couple of Rebecca's friends who were really nice and told me some great sea stories about sharks and half eaten fish and all the sort of stuff a traveler wants to hear. It ended up being a pretty sweet birthday, considering I didn't know anyone in Sydney only 24 hours before!
Today I went to Bondi Beach, which was probably nice about 2o years ago, but now it covered with fat ugly tourists and bright ugly houses. Europeans really seem to have an issue with personal space, as evident from the creepy Italian guy in a speedo deciding to put towel about 7 feet from me, when there was all sorts of open space all around. Aussies by the way have a certain relish for going topless, and it's pretty much considered the norm here. Some things are just a little different from back home. Oh well, at least it wasn't like Wreck Beach where half the population is naked 65 year old men...
The last thing of note today was waiting for 25 minutes on hold with Singapore Airlines, only for the network to decide to restart itself or cancel my call or whatever and cut me off just as I was confirming with the lady to switch my Indian departure place from Madras to Delhi. Deciding that I didn't want to wait another 25 minutes on hold (which probably took up like 10 dollars off my pre-pay account... cellphone rates here are ridiculous by the way) I've decided I will go in to the office tomorrow and deal with a real person. They're just so novel these days!
And that's today! Ellie and I had tacos which were really good for dinner, and then we've pretty much been hanging out for the evening. In other news, this computer connection here is so fast I was able to watch the Canucks highlights from beating Colorado and claiming a play-off spot! That's the first moving hockey I've seen in 5 months! Take care everyone!