Sydney Area - Sept. 9-10

Early Sunday morning, we caught an Uber to our flight, dropped off our bags, then hustled over to the lounge to spend ten minutes eating before heading to our flight to Sydney. A detour to the bathroom, and we were among the last group to board the plane. 

Mark was heading down to Wollongong for work when he got in, and his driver was waiting for him. I had gotten an address for a coworker’s place up in Manly, so I gave the wine bottles to Mark and we parted ways for a few days. I made my way (with a large suitcase) into Circular Quay (pronounced Key) and onto a ferry! Manly is north of the CBD (central business district) of Sydney, but we had to cruise past the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House on the way - already being a successful tourist!

Leah and her husband were hanging out, and I chatted for a bit, then took a walk with Leah. We wandered though the Saturday market (didn’t have the salad fixings we wanted for dinner), then watched her husband surf on Manly Beach before stopping by the grocery to pick me up a steak and cookies (and salad) for the evening’s meal.

It wasn’t time to cook yet, so I disappeared for a nap. When I woke up, Leah’s husband was just back, and the suvee was pretty much done with the first cooking of the steaks. The “barbie” (these were Americans, so I can’t vouch if they actually say that in Australia) was started and each steak got a nice sear. Asparagus, salad, and some cookies, popped in the oven to re-warm, and  I was super satisfied. 10pm, so, bedtime, right?

Monday I followed Leah to work the next day - she commuted on the fast ferry (smaller and 10 minutes faster than the one I took yesterday) and we got to the WeWork space where we’re renting for two more weeks until a move into a centralized Mastercard tech hub in North Sydney.

I claimed a desk which had a keyboard and monitors... but the keyboard didn’t have any labels on it! I don’t touchtype numbers well, so I spent 15 minutes trying to get my RSA token to work before realizing I was entering it incorrectly. 

Monday mornings are an office-wide meeting, so I sat in as they discussed clients and sales prospects and schedules and workloads for the next week. Then it was catching up on emails from the previous eight work days of holiday, and then a very acidic salad with pumpkin for lunch. (Pumpkin not just being a fall food in Australia - I approve.)

When Leah and her husband were talking about some of the good food they had made in Australia, lamb came up. As I was spending one more evening with them, I asked if I could request it - and, by 3pm, we had confirmation that lamb lollipops were bought and ready to suvee then sear. 

Man, that was a great dinner as well! More wine, a couscous salad, and minty yogurt. 

I slept for an hour before waking up for my midnight meeting (10am east coast) to greet my team as they started their day!