Sydney travelogue (4): The dream ends

As I was getting ready on the morning of 20th September I couldn't believe that already a week had gone by and it was going to be my last real day in Sydney. The countdown for the return had arrived much faster than I had wanted. Putting these thoughts behind lest they spoil my mood, I set out to enjoy our Bondi Beach excursion.

Rahul and I took a train for Bondi Junction from the Town Hall station. It was a short 4-stop 15 minutes ride. Just outside the Bondi Junction we caught a bus to the Bondi Beach. What I saw in front of me on getting down the bus was a large stretch of sand, beautiful clear water and hundreds of people. There were kids with parents, groups of young boys and girls, some loners and many couples, all having fun in their own ways. The experienced were surfing or swimming. The novices were just wading through water. Those in groups were playing ball. Many were just getting sun tanned. I had nice long walks along the beach and got myself soaked "properly" a few times. Tired I decided to sit down just close enough to the water, exactly the way I had on Manly beach. And just as it had happened there, here too big waves came gushing splashing all over me! "Very funny!" was all I could say back to the waves.

The reason I had been able to walk so freely on the beach was because I had given Rahul, who was simply strolling along the adjacent pavement, my bag containing my passport, purse, cell phone and camera to hold. At about 12 noon my stomach started growling telling me it was time to search for Rahul. I walked some 4 times along the whole length of the beach but to my astonishment my labmate was nowhere to find. For the first time during my entire trip I got a big scare. With no identification and no money I was one damsel in distress for a good 45 minutes when I finally was able to find him sitting on a bench. What a relief it was! We gave a fitting end to this (mis)adventure by having a lunch comprising of our now favourite fish and chips and fish burger.

We returned from our trip to relax in our respective hotels by 3 pm. In the evening we met up for coffee and had a short walk on my insistence over the Sydney Central Station. Unfortunately for Rahul my enthusiasm was just not dimming. We then walked to Darling Harbour stopping on the way to browse through the Chinese Market.

At Darling Harbour we were joined by my friend Ishan around 7 pm. He took us to an Indian restaurant called Vrindavan. It felt so good to be able to hear Hindi film songs being played in the background. Our talk but naturally meandered to Shahrukh Khan's abs, Hrithik's looks and my madness for Aamir Khan. While discussing food, Ishan told us about Zaffran, a really classy Indian restaurant on Darling Harbour and expecting us to complain about not taking us there he added "Not that you are not classy." and immediately repented saying it.


With our appetites satiated by a good tasty dinner we came back to Darling Harbour while walking through the glamorous Star City Casino. At the Harbour thanks to my insistence I had the guys join me for a ride on the Light Metro Rail. This way I got to tick off another item from my list of things to do in Sydney. Not that it was a major achievement but I was all smiles on stepping into the rail's cabin. I had to get a photo clicked of me feeling like a queen.

I made us get off at the Darling Harbour Station instead of the one close to George Street once again shocking the guys at my desire of paying another visit to the place I had been anyway seeing everyday. I guess that even though I had been repeatedly talking about coming to Sydney again, I knew deep inside that I had no idea how sooner or later that would really happen.

Parting ways with my friend in front of the Chinese Garden for going to different destinations made me realize that my dream had finally come to an end. Within a short span on eight days I had come to love the lazy walk-like pace of Sydney and its ever romantic atmosphere. No wonder I was in no mood to go back. Besides there was still so much that I hadn't done like seeing a live performance in the Sydney Opera House, taking a trip to the Blue Mountains and the Jenolan Caves, cruising on the Hawkesbury river, going to the Sydney Olympic Park and exploring Watsons bay on a ferry. But I guess no dream lasts forever.

Time had come to get back to the real world.

Time had come to move on and dream new dreams.

Goodbye Sydney! Catch you later!