Flight to LA
9/22/00
I am reminded of what Bob told me one night at the zoo.
“Are you sure you’re going to come back? Those sorts of things happen, you know,” he
said while stroking his beard.
I may be on my way home, but I’m sure I left a piece of my heart on the ground in that Sunburnt Country.
They’re going to be serving dinner soon. It’s only 3:00! Or midnight, depending. It starts.
It was strange walking through the airport from Customs. I am once again on my own, having left Marc behind. We bid each other good luck. He will certainly need it. He either only realized today of finally admitted that I’ve been leading him around for the past week. Now he has no direction. I wonder what he’s doing now.
We made an early start in Katoomba today. Got up, checked out, patronized the hot bread and coffee shops one last time. We took a 9:00 train to Central. This time I wasn’t feeling quite so under the weather, so we talked most of the way. Nothing too deep this time. However, Marc was beginning to realize just what lay ahead for him. I was heading back to Virginia, he was going to be alone for two days, 9,000 miles from home.
Once we reached Central, it was a quick jump to the airport. I bought my last set of postcards, bought the Bruzina’s a last-minute gift, and succeeded in blowing the rest of my cash on booze and sandwiches.
Damn, was I good to Marc. I’ve lost count of how much beer and food I bought him (not to mention Olympic tickets). Afterwards I went through Customs, boarded the plane, and here I am, somewhere over the Tasman Sea.
3 Sisters in Blue Ridge Mountains
Yesterday I felt much better. After 20 hours of sleep, I guess I should have. I got up early, had some breakfast and a paper. I went back to the hostel & met up with Marc. I had just missed him the night before. He met up with a girl from Virginia and spent the evening with her. We headed down to Echo Point to see Three Sisters. Then we took a three hour hike down the Giant Staircase (900 steps), around the rock formation, and up the other ridge. We walked back into town for yet another late lunch. I also had yet another focaccia sandwich. And some tea, to help the cold, of course. From that point we hung out some, then went to Coles. I stocked up on my muesli bars. I had to. Then we went back and I packed that pack one last time for the long haul. From there we walked back to Echo Point for the sunset. It was less than spectacular, but good enough for my last Aussie sunset. To be honest, it was beautiful.
The tourists, however, were not. As I feared, an appreciable crowd of Olympic spectators had invaded Katoomba. I hate tourists.
Another trip back to the hostel, and we were sitting in front of the TV watching the Games. Met a girl from Boulder, CO (they’re everywhere!) who is here (or there, I guess) for 6 months. By going to NZ after 3 months, she was able to come back for another three. She sucks. After stirring up trouble with the Aussie and British fans, we headed to the pub for one last time. Tried Toohey’s Old and something else. Had some Bundaberg Rum, some beef jerky I nearly broke my teeth on, and plenty of burger rings and pepper steak chips. The latter were so good we went to Coles to stock up. So we went back to the TV room, scarfing down Burger Rings and Snicker bars. This was my last night in Oz.
KC