2008 Woodie Awards
Australian Times: Week 9
Spring Break Begins in the Downunder!
Karina Mc Cabe
Issue date: 10/28/05 Section: Life & Times
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Fantastic though Sydney is, the only thing on my mind after booking a seventeen-day spring break trip was leaving the city. The calendar countdown began three weeks prior to the trip, but before the first week was up, I was so eager to finish marking off the days that I decided it was acceptable to cross off a day at 12:01a.m. I mean, technically the day had already begun, so I may as well mark it off, right? The fact that I had not yet even gone to sleep from the night before ceased to matter. Unfortunately, I vaguely recall being just as eager to finish my last midterm as well, with the notion of how finishing more quickly would make spring break arrive sooner…Hmm…
Anyway, as I mentioned in an earlier article about the "Urban Backpacker," I have never done anything remotely like backpacker traveling before, and have no idea how to pack for hostels, adventure trips, and camping for two weeks. My only experience camping thus far was a fabulous little house Barbie and I made in my living room with three chairs and a bed sheet. Therefore, by Thursday evening, preparing for the trip was beginning to look like a problem. Such a problem, actually, that I decided to go to sleep instead and face it in the morning.
This was not the best plan. At eight the next morning, I awoke to rush into the city for a field trip to the Sydney Aquarium. This trip ought to have taken only three hours; therefore, leaving me with seven hours to somehow get home, have lunch, pack, and make my way to the airport.
At the aquarium, I spent the next few hours walking through "shark tunnels" where the huge, big-toothed monsters swam around, butting the glass with their heads to remind me it might break at any time leaving me at their mercy. Following this, I was peering down into a crocodile pit where large signs with a pleasant picture of a cartoon croc snapping a man in his jaws warned, "Do not climb in! If the fall doesn't kill you, the crocodile will!" Then, I found Nemo!
Anyway, as I mentioned in an earlier article about the "Urban Backpacker," I have never done anything remotely like backpacker traveling before, and have no idea how to pack for hostels, adventure trips, and camping for two weeks. My only experience camping thus far was a fabulous little house Barbie and I made in my living room with three chairs and a bed sheet. Therefore, by Thursday evening, preparing for the trip was beginning to look like a problem. Such a problem, actually, that I decided to go to sleep instead and face it in the morning.
This was not the best plan. At eight the next morning, I awoke to rush into the city for a field trip to the Sydney Aquarium. This trip ought to have taken only three hours; therefore, leaving me with seven hours to somehow get home, have lunch, pack, and make my way to the airport.
At the aquarium, I spent the next few hours walking through "shark tunnels" where the huge, big-toothed monsters swam around, butting the glass with their heads to remind me it might break at any time leaving me at their mercy. Following this, I was peering down into a crocodile pit where large signs with a pleasant picture of a cartoon croc snapping a man in his jaws warned, "Do not climb in! If the fall doesn't kill you, the crocodile will!" Then, I found Nemo!