Australia: First Impressions

After seeing it in so many movies, I finally got to see the Sydney
Opera House for myself. 

So, this morning I arrived in Australia for trial rehearsals for a production I may be working with later this year called Erth. The job came my way via my fireburn instructor from stunt school. He had worked with them before on many occasions, and as they had recently begun to do a summer tour in Japan, he suggested that they get in touch with me as not just a performer, (I'm slated to operate a giant triceratops rig), but also somewhat of a local liaison.

Long story short, this opportunity has finally given me the chance to get to the only continent I have never been to- Australia, so I am super happy to be here, and it's really interesting for a myriad of reasons.

As a city, it reminds me of Seattle a lot. Lots of water, rolling hills, and lushy green- but more tropical and "jungley" instead of deciduous...and apparently you can buy boomerangs everywhere, lol.  As any Aussie will tell you, the people are incredibly laid-back. More so than pretty much any big city people I have ever met. As an example, after my host picked me up from the airport, he pretty much threw me a key to his house, and said "Right. I've got some meetings. Take today to do whatever you like." and left me to do my own thing. This is in stark contract with the Asian sense of hospitality I'm used to where people will bend over backwards to show you around, take you out and be the best hosts you can imagine. But it was really nice.

All the trains are double-deckers. 

As I spent almost a decade wandering all over Asia by myself, I welcomed the freedom, and set about to make it out to the Sydney Opera House. As something I had seen in a million Hollywood movies, seeing it up close was a must; and looking at the map, it was only a few stations away.

 The train system took a minute to wrap my head around, (but literally just a minute) and then after that, getting around was cheap and easy. As aforementioned, people are super easy-going, so asking directions from strangers was no issue at all. My only complaint was free wifi was harder to find than I expected it to be. And I still haven't seen a single starbucks. It's fall here, (and cool) so a hot coffee would have been really nice. Another interesting thing is that yesterday when I left Japan, I was in the spring. Today, when I arrived in Australia, I am in the fall.  It's really weird sometimes to see just how different of a world you can go to on a single flight.

It was spring when I left Japan a few hours ago; but it is fall here. 

My first Aussie meal- A double patty, double cheeese, double-maple
bacon burger with a bun that was an enormous glazed donut. EPIC. 

Syndey looks shockingly similar to Seattle; but more tropical. 

And there are boomerangs for sale everywhere, lol.