SYDNEY

I arrived in Sydney end of morning and was greeted by the sun and a very warm 30 degrees. I checked-in my hostel (the guy at the reception made a mistake that I would later realized -he checked me in all the beds of the dorms, without more charges) and then went for a walk around town. I had a few hours to stroll around before my climb of the harbour bridge. The city gave me some Mtl vibes at first, with the mix of new and old buildings and the amount of coffee shops everywhere. The view of the opera house was beautiful and all the food I ate was on point. Around 4h30 i made my way back to the bridge where I was briefed and strapped on some harnesses to begin my climb. I was the fourth person in a group of ten. The woman behind me was slowing the rest of the group because she was petrified of moving forward. I remembered that several years before, this was me. I had extreme fears of heights. It was so extreme that I got sick every time I took a flight and my heartbeat accelerated every time we were driving over a bridge. After reading a book by one of my favorite Astronauts (Chris Hadfield), i forced myself to do activities involving heights so I could rewire my brain and stop being so afraid. This came from a chapter in the book where Chris was explaining how astronauts prep for space walks and how he once lost is sight on one of them and had to remain calm to not worsen the situation. Basically, the chapter talks about fear and about how if you are afraid of something- you should do it over and over again until it feels so normal that there’s nothing frightening about it anymore. So, i did. I jumped off a plane, off a cliff, off a bridge and waterfalls. I did zipline and suspended bridges, climbed mountains and stayed near the edge once I reached the top. I sought every possible experiences involving heights and as I conquered each one of them, my fear became less and less of a thing. I was now at the top of the harbour bridge, smiling at the view and feeling free- not an once of fear or stress in me. I encouraged the woman behind me and told her my story -she smiled but I know she was too overwhelmed by her panic to think about anything else. She would later feel so proud she did the climb, that in the end she would prob continue to force herself into these situations, so one day she could overcome her fear too. I went for dinner after the climb and walked back to my hostel with a few shivers -the temperature had dropped to 20 degrees and my body was shutting down. I arrived to an empty dorm and was more than happy at the prospect of a great night of sleep.

The next morning I woke-up refreshed and ready for a day of adventure. I decided to take the ferry to Manly - a beach that do not honour it’s name, as I would later realized. Turns out that there is no more hot long-wavy-hair Australian surfers here. They have been replaced by the cast of Trailer Park Boys. Mullets and moustaches everywhere you look. I sat outside, on the ferry, and met a lovely lady with who I would converse for the whole ride. She was from Perth but had left for Melbourne to follow a group of musician friends, about 20 years ago. They then all moved to Sydney. She felt in love with the city and decided to call it home. She gave me lots of places to visit and then we part ways as the ferry arrived to Manly. I had to walk about 10 minutes to traverse the town and arrive at the beach. It was beautiful but nothing breathtaking so far. I stayed about an hour under the sun and then decided to walk along the coast - I could see there was a path that looked pretty awesome. I stopped at a little coffee place to grab a snack and more water (ended up paying a coffee to an old man fully tattooed who was so damn nice I couldn’t not do something for him in return). The path I was now on was named Shelly Beach to Barracks. It was longing the coast and the setting was absolutely beautiful. It was very fucking hot and the sun was frying me, but the nature around was so beautiful I just couldn’t stop moving forward. Everything was very dry looking, crooked trees and shrubberies growing out of the hot sand. I crossed path with multiple lizards and probably a ton of spiders and snakes that I ended up not seeing. The walk took me about 3 hours to complete, and I loved every minutes of it. When I finally arrived back at the ferry, it was about 2pm. I decided to take it back to Circular Quay from where I could take a bus to Bondi Beach. I heard that there was another coastal walk there that was very worth the time. The bus ride was enjoyable and I was dropped right in front of Bondi Beach. I loved the atmosphere instantly. There were small shops and restaurants on the main road, a skatepark overlooking the ocean, a boardwalk longing the beach and I could hear the helicopters patrolling above to make sure there was not sharks in sight. I started walking on the Bondi to Congee coastal walk and I have no word to describe how beautiful it was. I had plan to walk it all, but about half-way through my foot started to hurt very badly. I could feel a huge blister forming on it. I did walk none stop today, so I decided to walk back to the bus and come back another day to finish my hike. I ate in a small sushi place on the main road and then went to watch the skaters while waiting for the bus. I arrived back at my hostel about an hour and a half later. It was now about 21h30 and there was still no one in my dorm. I was exhausted but I could hear the music from the bar below as clear as if I was on the dance floor. I took a shower, changed and made my way down to the Scary Canary for one drink. I thought that if I stayed up for a few more hours I would get tired enough that the sound wouldn’t bother me anymore.

When I entered the bar, I was a bit shocked at the crowd’s age range. It’s also very awkward for me who isn’t a fan of clubs to just go there alone. I went to the bar and grabbed a drink. Came back near the dance floor and just watched like an old creep. I finally made eye contact with a group of girls and started chatting to them. They were pretty nice and it occupied about 15 minutes of my time. “Hey, I’m Archie”. A guy that was with one of the girl just introduced himself. Tall, cute, with a big white smile, a hot accent and flirty eyes (and yes- the accent was from the uk). I remember thinking that he did look very young tho. I smiled, thinking to myself that’s not gonna happen buddy. I went back to the bar for my second/last drink. When I came back, Archie stopped the conversation he was having to come talk with me. He asked me where I was from, why I was here and for how long. “How old are you?”, I asked before answering any of his questions. He laughed- “how old do you think I am?” I answered early 20s. He said no, 26. I felt like that was a lie but when he tried to guess my age, I realized that we all looked younger than we are, in the end. I told him i’m 32. He was shocked, but he stayed. “Is 26 too young for you?” I remember thinking at least he is old enough that Leo wouldn’t date him. Also, he was for sure old enough to be in this bar -the bouncer was very damn intense with looking at ids. “It depends of the personality”, I answered. He smiled, I could see he was now pretty confident in his abilities to seal the deal. We talked, danced and flirted for a while and he actually had a pretty awesome personality, so I thought why the fuck not. Picking up girls in a bar was definitely not his first time but he was very gentleman about the whole thing (paid for my drinks, never left me alone on the dance floor, etc). Around midnight l, he asked if I would go back to his hotel with him. I asked if he had a private room and he laughed, “my friend is coming tomorrow so i’ll be doing hostels forever. I took a bougie room tonight.” Fair enough. We stopped in my room, next door, so i could get my charger and some clothes. We then walked for about 10 minutes before stopping in front of a very very bougie hotel. Oh. I thought he meant he had paid for a private room in an hostel. I made jokes about how extra he was while we went up to his room, a fucking suite with the most comfy bed I ever touched in Australia. The whole thing was a perfect one night stand. Archie was charming, funny and laid-back, we had such a good chemistry and laughed our asses off in-between kisses and sex. I definitely loved his personality and how he thought everything was funny and he was so confident regardless of the situation. (I mean this wasn’t the best sex at first -because we were drunk and add on top the use of condoms). We slept all close to each-others and woke-up on and off for more action -better every time, as the alcohol was fading out. I remember thinking this guy should write a book about how to be the perfect one night stand. He prob would be an awesome boyfriend too, go get him (younger) ladies!

I woke-up early the next morning, because I wanted to go for brunch before my tour a bit later- and also wanted to be an equally great one night stand and fuck off early to give the man some space. We kissed goodbye and thanked each-others for the fun night, wishing the best for the upcoming travels and adventures we would each experienced. This was legit the most fun and respectful one night I ever had. I left smiling, fucking exhausted but also kinda full of a new energy. I walked for an hour to a fancy instagrammable brunch place, had a delicious pancake and then walked back to the meeting point for my tour. The mini-van was almost full when i boarded it. We were missing one person that arrived a few minutes later and sat next to me. His name was Jordan. He was also from the UK (they are everywhere) and after about 15min talking with him I knew we would laugh a lot during this tour. I received a text from Archie saying I forgot my transparent kimono in his room. Fuck. I asked him if he could leave it at my hostel -but if it was too much trouble he could just trash it. He agreed to drop it at my hostel, like the gentlemen he was, and this would be the last conversation we would end up having (If you are reading this: i forgot the kimono at the hostel reception like a fucking retard haha). Anyway, back to the tour: we drove around several national parks and I was so hangover I kept falling asleep every time we popped back in the van. Luckily enough, Jordan was also pretty hangover so we bounded on how trash we both were and continued the adventure feeling less alone in our misery. The main event of the day was a bbq at a camping site that had been requisitioned by kangaroos and wombats. It was such a fun night to eat and walk amongst them, definitely something I will remember a long time. We then drove back to the city, i felt asleep for most of it. I arrived in my (still) empty dorm and passed out instantly.

I woke-up pretty late, took my time in the shower and then decided to go back to Bondi because I wanted to finish the walk up to Congee beach. I was as amazed by the sight of the coast and the sound of the waves breaking on the shore, as I was the first time. I stayed about an hour just sitting in one of the most beautiful spot i ever saw. I remember thinking how this place was just perfect and how a piece of my heart and mind would forever stayed there. For the first time so far, I felt home. After about four hours back and forth (with few stops), I was back to Bondi beach and about to take the bus back to Sydney. But i then saw that my friend Alex was actually literally in front of me (in a brewery the other side of the street). He was with a friend from Quebec -Brook. I joined them for a beer but had to leave about 40min later to catch the bus to not be late for the Opera. They asked if I would join them for a night out after, which I agreed too. It was so nice to see a familiar face and Brook was also very nice, so I knew we would have a great night. We temporarily said goodbye and I hopped on my bus to the city. I quickly showered and changed at my hostel and then make it to the Opera. The venue was way less impressive from the inside, and when the opera started I was shocked to hear how old -fashioned it still was. Very misogynistic and degrading towards different body types. At the entract, I decided it was enough and simply left. I texted back Alex to ask if they had eat and he told me they were waiting for me. I joined them at a pizzeria about an hour later. We ate like porks and then walked to the bar next to my hostel. (Yes, the bar where I met Archie). We drank like there was no tomorrow, danced and laughed and had such a great night that we ended up closing the venue. We then walked to PFK because Brook and I kept saying everyone told us it was better here than in the US, and even if Alex tried to discourage us from trying we peer-pressured him into it and he ended up giving in. We all went back to my hostel to eat the feast -I now had a private room for my last night. After the meal (Alex was right, it was as shit as in the US), the boys left and I felt asleep instantly knowing damn well that I had to wake up in 3 hours to go take my flight for Melbourne.

The alarm sound almost made my heart stopped when it rang, and when I sat in the bed I realized I was still very drunk. I had time to take a quick cold shower and then took the train to the airport. My ass was in the flight, an hour or so later, ready to pass out as the plane was quitting the runway.