We left Canberra on Wednesday the 16th of July, 2003 at approximately 4:10pm. Once we had managed to get all bags and bodies into the car we headed to McDonalds to grab a quick bite. After we had made this pilgrimage, we were on the road to Sydney.
The first hour was kinda quiet, but then Akshra had too many Columbines and was soon cracking some pretty humourous 'jokes'. Nithya was close to wetting herself, so we pulled over at a petrol station to put her out of her misery. Actually, I shouldn't just blame it on her--we all needed to relieve ourselves.
We reached Sydney some time after 7pm (I think!) and Akshra and Nithya were frantically putting on their make-up("yeah, mine's Mabeline Volume Express--wat's yours?") and we couldn't leave the Srathfield carpark until every eyelash had been covered. We walked to the station and went to buy our tickets. We had a few problems at the ticket gates("Aunty, it says it's invalid!"), but as you know 'where there's a fob there's a way'. We eventually got through the gates and then went to check which train to catch. As we stood there, talking very loudly, a very kind man informed us that our train had already arrived and would leave any moment. Well, then our brilliant athletics skills came in handy as we ran like hell to catch the train. I must say, Nithya did extremely well considreing she was carrying an extremely heavy McDonald's bag.
When we were finally seated on the train(yes we actually managed it!) Nithya made us all jealous be showing us her 'byfriend's' ring. Then I realised that Akshra had one too, and I was ready to cry! Wooahh, sorry my 'byfriend' didn't give me a ring!!
One of the train conductors was pretty keen to become friends with us. He asked whether we were from Madras or Calcutta and aunty Nandi kindly replied that we were from the bush. Nithya was so upset that she did not even realise that the man was trying to converse with us in Hindi.
We got off at Town Hall and walked to Darling Harbour. We ate dinner at Cockle Bay-- Nithya and Akshra didn't want any more fobbiness so they had Chinese, whilst Aunty Nandi and I kept the Indian pride alive by eating at 'Tandoori Connection'. I ate as though I'd never seen food in my life and by the end of it I could barely walk.
After dinner we embarked on the long journey to Star City. This was perhaps the most memorable moment of the trip--it was certainly discussed a lot afterwards! As we were walking along the bridge, these extremely hot English boys (tourists) asked us if we could take a photo for them. And good ol' Nithya (you're always thinking one step ahead) she wasted no time in pointing to aunty Nandi. It also appeared as though she opened her mouth and then got lockjaw and couldn't close it. I didn't know what Akshra was doing at the time, but I can imagine.
Well, after this great event Nithya and Akshra were so disgusted with themselves that they could talk of nothing else for the rest of the night. I thought it would be wiser to remain silent...
At Star City we had a look around and watched all those poor fools sitting anxiously at the poker machines. On the way back to station we bought some ice cream("yeah,it's 97% fat-free cause the three of us are SO obese!")and then boarded the train to go back to the car. We drove to Aunty's cousin's house, which was very beautiful, and spent a very comfortable night there.Nithya felt that a toothbrush took up too much space in her bag so she left it out. There was also a nice surprise waiting for us at aunty's house and he kindly offerred to turn the light off for us.
Day two. We got up pretty early and left for Cherrybrook to visit Aacha. After that we drove to Flemington, parked the car and walked to the train station. Surprisingly, this time we managed to arrive early at the station. Akshra was a little keen to board the train/bus(?)(she's still working out the difference)---she got very excited every time she saw a train coming near(this is it guys, this is it!!). Yeah, she finally got it right and we got onto the train/bus. The trip to Town Hall was uneventful except for the fact that Nithya tried to make us jealous with her ring-(again!)
Upon reaching Town Hall, we all got into shopping mode, ready to raid all the stores. Akshra found an awesome pair of shoes (DKNY!)that came with an awesome price and they were the only thing on her mind for most of the day. We spent a lot of time in Mooks before leaving empty-handed.Kinokuniya almost gave Akshra and I a heart attack, but Nithya bought a very informative book on war history.(errr, you ernest!) I refused to buy anything for the first half of the day, but Nithya and Akshra were determined to make me buy something. Lunch was eaten at a Thai restaurant(yummy!). And then Nithya's and Akshra's wish came true-- I spent some money!(I know, what is the world coming to?)I bought a top from one of 'my stores' (according to Nithi-poo) and then we went back to Akshra's shoe shop where she bought her beautiful shoes...her mother is still recovering from the shock. Nithya bought a jacket from Mooks and then everyone was satisfied.
The weary, but content, fob troop made one last train journey back to Flemington. Then it was time to head back to the Bush Capital(SOB!)
It was a great trip and i'm sure my fellow chapathis/ernests will agree with me when i say that we have to do that again--SOON!
