18:04 Sun.
12 Nov, 2017

Last Days in Australia

Sydney , Australia
20 °C
Mostly Cloudy
5:46 am
7:35 pm

After arriving we found our way to hostel we booked in the city center. Since we wanted to go to the Sydney’s marathon the next day, which started early morning, we didn’t have time to stay at Veronika’s relatives in the suburbs. Since we arrived too early we left our backpacks at hostel and left to explore the city. We visited a market, where a lot of Asians were selling all kings of cheap stuff. We bought some souvenirs and gifts here, some were actually made in Australia and had certificate (if it wasn’t counterfeit).

For lunch we decided to visit famous Sydney’s fish market, which had really great reviews. The fish marked looked really good, there were tons of fresh food raw and cooked. Sadly everything was very expensive, in the end we decided to grab a 2 person’s plate with various sea fruits, which was about 50$. It was pretty disgusting, so I would say if you aren’t prepared to spend more than 200$ on lobster don’t go to the fish market.

After the lunch we walked around the city some more. I really liked the dead end streets with circular ending so you can turn your car around. We also saw some old building in the city center alongside high modern skyscrapers.

In the evening Veronika’s cousin brought us the rest of the suitcases that we have left at their place so we finally checked in at the hostel. After a short shower in the most disgusting bathroom I ever was in (the water was leaking from the ceiling)  we were ready to explore the city a bit more. We took another hike through the Royal botanical gardens, from where there is a great view of the opera and Harbour bridge. We sat there and watched the sunset, together with around 50 tourists.

Sydney Skyline
Sydney Skyline

After the sunset we had to go back to our hotel to get some much needed sleep. Next morning we had to wake up really early to get to the marathon. Veronika had decided to participate, so we took metro under the bridge to the other side  where the start was. There was great view of the opera from this side.

Before the marathon
Before the marathon

The rout went over the bridge and then around the city center. I walked over the bridge and took couple of more photos.

Veronika in Sydney's marathon.
Veronika in Sydney’s marathon.

After the run we took couple more photos and then sadly had to head back to our hotel to prepare for our departure in a couple of hours.

Veronika after the marathon.
Veronika after the marathon.

Sadly we lost almost 2 days of exploring the city with flight cancellation, still we had about 4 days of exploring the city which was enough to get the first impression. It is a nice city to visit, from all the cities however I preferred Melbourne but most of all I loved our trip in the Queensland, there is so much to see and so much to do there compared to the rest of the country.

Sadly this was the end of our great trip to Australia. I definitely loved every day of it and would love to return. I’m a bit sorry I didn’t know about working holiday before (now I’m almost too old for it), it would be an interesting experience living in New Zealand or Australia for a year. Anyway at 3 PM we boarded our plane and left Australia. After gruelling 23 hours we touched down in Venice.

01:06 Wed.
18 Dec, 2013

End is here

Day 132 , 15 remain
Lulea , Sweden
1 °C
Clear
9:51 am
1:03 pm

Haven’t written anything in a while, not because I don’t have anything to write about but because I’ve been incredibly busy last few days (weeks). I had a project presentation last Monday, seminar presentation this Monday and we are rushing as fast as we can to finish our last project as soon as possible. We were hoping we will finish it until today, when one of group mates is leaving Lulea, but sadly we missed this deadline.

As usually when you are in a hurry nothing works as it should and I’ve got yet another confirmation to avoid 3rd party APIs when it comes to programming. Not that we choose to use it, it was mandatory, but still the thing is less documented that the code I write, it only works on my computer, so instead of programming simultaneously with 3 people, only 1 is programming and the other two are looking at my screen giving suggestions and comments.

Anyway I’m so fed up with it that I just want to finish minimal requirements and get a pass on it, instead of working on those extra features to get better grade.

In other news as you may have guessed majority of people is leaving this week. So usually when you see people around they all look kind of sad, be it for leaving Lulea or leaving all newly acquired friends behind.

For me it’s something in between. My time has not yet came, though some of my friends will leave shortly. Unlike majority of others I have Veronika’s visit coming next week, which is really keeping my spirits up and adding views to blog’s statistics, since I’m checking every few hours how much is it still left on the timer that I’ve posted in one of the previous posts.

Lately we’ve had some really nasty weather here. It’s gotten surprisingly hot, around 0 or even 1 degree, so snow is starting to melt, on the other hand it has snowed really hard in previous few days so now we have ice and snow everywhere. Thankfully Swedes are putting gravel on the ice so it’s not that slipper and they are doing this almost in real time, I saw one truck sprinkling little rocks yesterday at 4 am in the morning (what I was doing up at that time is a story for another post).

Hm so this is becoming quite boring, wall of text with no pictures again. Today we had our last training of hockey so here is a picture from there.

Our hockey team - well most of it at least. Last picture on last training we had.
Our hockey team – well most of it at least. Last picture on last training we had.

One more thing before I forgot. Today I’ve sold my hockey equipment and bike to a friend, who is going to resell it in next semester. So from now on I’ll be walking a lot again.