Day 16/17: Mardi Gras and the City

On Day 16, I went to the beach. My cousin (we’ll call her Dee) and I had planned to go to the beach the day before but we didn’t realize how cool the beach would be. Our parents went down to the beach for coffee and we were off to the beach. We gradually made our way into the water inch by inch. The water was so cold! Eventually, we made it waist deep and I got plummeted by a wave and we made the decision to ditch the beach.

After showering, we headed to the Warringah Mall to explore. We grabbed breakfast in the food course. For breakfast/lunch, we had some fried calamari, dumplings, and frozen cokes. Probably not the smartest idea. We found some fun sunglasses and a few fun jewelry. We also snacked on some bread at Breadtop. I had some with pork floss…delicious. Basically, we roamed around until it was time for dinner with the entire family the my oldest cousin is hosting. During that time, Dee decided that I should try Tinder and OKCupid here in Sydney. I’m not sure if it was a mistake or not, but it’s been interesting so far to say the least.

For dinner, we went to Simmer Huang in Chatswood. It’s kinda like hot pot. The whole family was there place my oldest cousin’s friend. It was awkward since it was a family thing but it was nice to have someone take a family photo. We had three pots. Basically, they make the food with this thick soup-based sauce. Once the majority of the shrimp/pork/beef/etc. is gone, they pour hot water and you get the soup. We also had this yummy plum-like (currant?) drink.

Once dinner was over, Dee, my oldest cousin, and his friend left so we could make the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade in the City. Two minutes into walking to the station (it wasn’t far), the friend ran somewhere and my cousin followed. Since Dee and I didn’t want to wait, we left to get on the train since it was there already. I then called my aunt to get my oldest cousin’s (let’s call him…Tone) mobile number. As I was talking to her, she was saying how could he have lost us already! Lol, it’s really funny because Tone is the oldest so he gets in trouble if something happens. We got in contact and said we would meet (but we never did!).

Dee and I hit a roadblock when we saw the sign that said that the parade was full! We kept walking to find a entrance and were frustrated with the fence that blocked the parade. Luckily since Dee is a local, we eventually found our way to an entrance and got a decent view of the parade. Later on, people would leave and we got a better view (since we’re very short people).

The parade was amazing! There were tons of glitter and rainbow flags. The choreography and music were on point, and so were the unexpected boobies lol. Both of our phones were quickly dying. We had our battery packs but not the cords so we had to conserve power and not take to many photos and videos. We had a fun time still and there were so many people: gay, straight, old, young. Lots of fun and a very memorable moment.

The parade ended around 10:40pm (since we were near the beginning of the parade..it lasted until 11pm). We headed to Hungry Jacks for some flavored frozen slushies: melon and mango. They were soooo good! We walked to the bus station and talked about the Easter Show that is coming up and what kind of show bags they will have. Once we reached our respective homes, Dee told me she had her cord the entire time when she found it while taking the key out! Aww man :(. It’s okay though!