Cue the rain, I've left for Sydney

I gave back the keys to my apartment, stored my remaining stuff in my car, and parked it underground in the dark. I locked my bike next to it to keep it company. An unnamed pilot took a plane full of people, including me, to San Francisco where I visited my sister, her dog and cat for a couple days.

Mussel Rock / The Dump in San Francisco

Parawaiting at The Dump: obligatory shot
including my boot as proof I was there.

On the day of my flight to Sydney, I spent the morning in cafes plugged into the internet, too lazy to lug all my luggage to Mussel Rock / The Dump, a coastal ridge soaring site near SFO airport since conditions did not look perfect. Luckily internet overload occurred, so I left around noon to the flying site where I met a bunch of pilots just warming up to para-wait. Most were very optimistic which is usually a bad sign (if we think it will work hard enough, it will). I succeeded in spending the afternoon there, but instead of flying I practiced my para-waiting and para-chatting which was rather pleasant.

Got a ride to the airport from a pilot who was similarly worn out by para-waiting. The early arrival at the airport led to me rediscovering the incredible expense of airport bar beer... a rant on unfettered free-market madness has been partly suppressed here (where does all that profit go? eventually to the metal detectors that can't even detect the metal in my leg?). This was my last known beer. From here on in, it's Australian. And so, that evening I folded myself, my wing, and at least one pair of extra underwear into a 747 and headed to Sydney, Australia, where I arrived at 6am after an uneventful 14 hour flight. I suppose that Australia is unique enough, as the flora and fauna have been isolated from the rest of the continents for a long time, that the customs procedures should be and are rather strict. No food, no wood, and no dirt on your shoes.

Subway train

The Morlocks.  Sub the subway.
I couldn't stay down there too long.

Three days and I've used the subways, buses, and ferries to procure a mobile phone, a laptop holding backpack (try walking for hours a day with a shoulder bag!), and a very small car.  The trains are double height: you can get on a subway train and then walk downward below platform level into the sub-subway seating area.

Big Bunny at Hyde Park

Even the chessboards are big. I can't
wait until I meet the spiders!

I also watched people playing chess with knee-high pieces and saw a large rabbit made of plastic bottles.

Obligatory coathanger picture, from
the Manly ferry.

I'm right now drinking a flat white (a local name for a small latte made properly with ultra small bubbles) in a suburb called Glebe which is walking distance from the center of Sydney: every several square kilometers gets its own name! My continued survival here depends on my GPS which enables me to go to pubs in random parts of the city to sample new (to me) Australian beers without worrying about getting lost on the way back. I like Sydney so far: it's a big city (4.5 million) divided into small livable sections with very good transit. You can escape to the water and natural beauty if you want with just a short walk. Too bad I don't surf.