I meandered around the place, enjoying the frantic nature of the place--people were scurrying everywhich direction, the shops were packed to the gills with all kinds of things (mostly touristy things, but still interesting). The place was crazy, but kind of fascinating. I found myself eyeballing shoes. See, I only brought my sandals and some Rockport sneakers to Australia. I've been having Converse withdrawal. So when I found my way to the second floor where it was much more like an American mall, I was quite sad that the store I first entered was way over-priced (the cheapest shoes I saw were $90!). But then, walking back towards the elevator and I looked up and saw a grand sight: one floor up, there before me was a Converse Outlet. I made my way up the escalator and entered the store. After much debate, I settled on a pair of Deep Lichen (read: forest green) high tops.
Rejoining the girls, I was amused when Rachel said, "Converse? I'd not have marked you as a Converse wearer!" See, my entire fashion sense here is completely different than at home. At home, dark jeans, mostly dark colored t-shirts or button up shirts, and casual shoes are my regular attire. Here, I'm almost always in shorts and bright colored t-shirts. And of course, before today, I only had two sets of shoes. Oh, and I wear my Busch Gardens hat here. A lot. It's kinda wonderful. But anywho, I now have some new Converse that are wonderful. And the day could have ended there and been a good, successful day, but it was only just beginning.
Wandering across the street into Chinatown, we soon found a small shop where we bought pastries and sat down to chat. We took silly pictures--most notably outside of a strange pink stuffed animal store. We found ourselves caught in one of the sudden rain spurts (fortunately, we had 3 umbrellas with us, so we were able to stay relatively dry). And we decided it was time to go take a ferry--having unlimited bus, train, and ferry passes is freakin' wonderful; most useful things in this city--just sayin'. Thus, to Circular Quay, we made our way. Throughout all of this, by the way, I was carrying my film camera. I took a handful of pictures, most of specific moments that I had to move quick to get shots and, in all likelihood, the photos won't come out. But there was an adventurous quality to shooting some film moment to moment, knowing the lighting was low, the rain was going to cause issues, and most of my targets were moving people. I took shots quickly and we shall see if they work out... in a few months.
We had just missed the ferry to Manly, which is where we were planning to go. Thus, we found ourselves looking at other potential destinations--after all, the journey's more important than the destination, right? Upon seeing the name "Kissing Point" as an option, we knew we'd found the place for us. I mean, where else would one guy and three girls go on a day out and about? (And of course, this was our running joke of the day). Thus, with no knowledge of the place aside from the name, we got onto a ferry. Mid-travel, I put my arm around Rachel and said, "Hey, Rachel. I know we're headed to Kissing Point, but we could bring it to us right now, if we wanted." I grinned big and cheesy and got some laughs.
And then the ferry was arriving at the little dock that marked Kissing Point. We got off the boat to see a woman sitting, smoking a hookah, minding her own business. We knew we were in a good place. We followed the dock to the shore, a small beach with lots of shells and seagulls. We took some pictures and enjoyed the peaceful land--it rained a bit again, but not hard enough to be obnoxious. A path swerved into Kissing Point Park, but we decided not to investigate today. Discussions were made about how perfect this little beach would be for a picnic. And then the ferry was coming back and we were heading back to Circular Quay once more.
Mid-travel, I put my arm around Rachel and said, "Hey, Rachel. I know we just left Kissing Point, but we could bring it back to us right now, if we wanted." I grinned big and cheesy and got some laughs again and some eye rolls. Docked once more, we headed to the Rocks in search of dinner. We finally ended up at a small hotel, eating good food. Then, Alessandra and I waved goodbye to Tess and Rachel and we caught a bus heading back to Drummoyne. The bus journey brought us back to discussion about my new Converse and I told the story of how I came to own my first Converse, which lead into a walk with a lengthy conversation about my life in the last few years and part of why I'm so glad I'm in Australia right now. Then, I returned home, having had a day full of Oz, that wonderful fantasy world I've discovered here, as well as having had a day that closed with conversation reminding me of the real world. It was a good day. My one regret is that I did not, at some point, blurt out, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is!"
In explanation, I leave you with this quote from Kurt Vonnegut:
"And now I want to tell you about my late Uncle Alex. He was my father’s kid brother, a childless graduate of Harvard who was an honest life insurance salesman in Indianapolis. He was well-read and wise. And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy. So when we were drinking lemonade under an apple tree in the summer, say, and talking lazily about this and that, almost buzzing like honeybees, Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is. So I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is."
Well, you know what? Better late than never. I'm in Australia with some wonderful people and if this isn't nice, I don't know what is. That's all I'm sayin'.
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