Missed the bus

Darn stupid technology. I love it and I hate it. I thought I had set my cellphone alarm last night to "5:40am" so I would be on time for my early morning ozexperience bus departure today. I suddently awoke this morning and quickly realized that something was terribly wrong. Checked my phone and i'll be darned if it wasn't 6:44am. The bus up to Byron Bay, that I had prebooked last week....had left 15 minutes ago. There goes my plan for the day. Turns out my cellphone alarm was set to the wrong day or something, idk I can barely work technology.

The silver lining in this situation became almost immediately apparent. One of the reasons why I'm traveling in a foreign country alone is to work on some aspects of my personality. One of those aspects is always needing a plan and being unable to cope to my meticulously groomed plans fall through. Well guess what Holly, your plans fell through, sweetheart. whatcha gonna do now, huh huh? I'll tell you what I did. I thanked God for helping me out with my personal mission, rolled over...and fell back asleep until now. Even though I got up at 9:30am I was still the first one up and out of bed in my 8-bed hostel dorm room! These people can sleep! Then again, these people also travel with multiple suitcases, cologne, hair straighteners, and computers...and their favorite tourist activity consists of getting sloshed at the local pubs. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just don't feel comfortable drinking expensive and shitty beer (haven't found ANY IPA's pale ales, stouts, or porters! A case of MGD in the grocery store is almost fifty bucks!) in a foreign place with carnal strangers. My preferred mode of opperation is to buy a ten dollar box of shiraz, kick back with Fred and his roomies, cook dinner and then pass out, only to realize the next morning that the little box held 2 liters of wine which was consumed entirely by Fred and I. I'm slowly getting used to the metric system but thats the equivalent of about a bottle of wine apiece. oops. go Alaskans. runs in the McCune genes I guess :)

So anyways... i'm up now and had to check out of the hostel. I've got a huge pack that I would like to dump somewhere while I explore the city. I've now got people to stay with in Manley(north sydney)for the night and i'm heading to Darling Harbour to see what that's all about.

Oh I almost forgot to mention a great thing! Last night i took a courtesy shuttle bus from Sydney central to Hillsong Church. As I was deboarding, I noticed a young woman with a tattoo on her ankle, which upon further inspection turned out to be the big dipper constellation. Now my curiousity was piqued. Why on earth would anyone from any place other than Alaska have a big dipper tattoo. So I did what I usually do when I'm curious--I tapped her shoulder and asked, "Hey, are you from Alaska?"
I'll be darned if she wasn't from Palmer and only 2 years older than me! She had been travelling around New Zealand and Australia for a year on and off and her little sister goes to Changepoint. I actually felt tears well up as I conversed with this stranger, who had more in common with me than anyone I had met so far. She actually had a jesus fish tattoo on her other ankle, kinda similar to mine. And there God placed her, right at the entrance to my first night at church, a little reminder that the world is simply not as big as it seems on nights when you are tired and sick and checking into lively and intimidating hostels. As my journey progresses, he keeps putting people right where I need them. The message that night could even be applied to my trip. The pastor spoke on Jesus' encounter with the samaritan woman at the well (John 4) and how Jesus could have just walked right by but he was never too busy for people. He phrased it like this: In Jesus' walk upon this earth, "It was the stops and distractions along the way that caused lives to changed forever." May I never underestimate the value to my random stops and distractions and...well...missed busses too.

hollyout!