Sydney/Sea Days

April 2-4
Sydney/At sea/At sea

After a night out at sea we were back in Sydney and I was ready to get back to the didge shop. I’d rounded up my friends the previous night and made plans for our excursion to the store 2 blocks from the ship. Involved was my friend Moody from Virginia (a sound engineer on the ship), and Marie from France (a dancer accompanied by her boyfriend). We hung out at the store for a while and to get straight to the point, I sold Moody my old didge, Marie bought a $350 AU didge, and I bought a $500 AU didge, the best one in the store.
Ok, Ok, settle down for just a second. I actually got it at 10% off, so $450, and will get another $70 back in taxes when I go to customs, bringing it down to $380. And convert that to US dollars and you’re looking at about $250, almost nothing when compared to the many saxes, flutes, clarinet, keyboards, what have you, that I’ve had to buy over the years. And this was not only an instrument but is a piece of the culture, made and painted by an Aborigine (Kym Willis), and an amazing sounding horn. I’m gonna be famous when I come home, just you wait and see!
After that big excitement, I left the shop with both my old didge and the new didge along with my backpack to use my computer again at the nearest free internet signal. This was followed by a quest to find a new pair of headphones and ear plugs and a stop at the Apple store. It wasn’t till about then that it hit me it was 3 something and I hadn’t eaten all day (the didge store just took all my food worries), where in I stopped at a crummy sushi place, got a cheap lunch assortment, and made my way back to the ship, still carrying 20 pounds of eucalyptus wood over my shoulder.
Nothing too exciting back at the ship, we just received our new group of passengers and left Sydney for New Caledonia.
The next two sea days are nothing worth mentioning. I’ve been practicing my didge, but only for 15 minutes out of fear for cracking it (like I did to my first one by playing it too much). Thanks for reading and keep checking back!