Erik Skye Travel Blog

31 Dec 2011

Here’s the map: Google Maps – Wizard of Oz

Car’s trip odometer: 1450 clicks (km)

“While she stood looking eagerly at the strange and beautiful sights, she noticed coming towards her a group of the queerest people she had ever seen… and all were oddly dressed.”^11 That’s Dorothy’s first impression of the munchkins, and it mirrors mine as I watched them coming towards me for the first time in downtown Sydney.

Kelsey is an acquaintance from back home and is a 22 year-old au pair living in Melbourne. She’s the one I referred to Day 1 who told me that all the cool kids call Melbourne “Melbs”. I’m not so cool anymore, nor a kid. So I have to rely on munchkins like Kelsey to keep me in the loop. Kelsey was accompanied by three more munchkin au pairs – Jessica (18) from California, Kristi (20) from Scotland, and Lara (20) from Germany. They all live in Melbourne currently.

We had an interesting New Year’s Eve here in Sydney. I was basically the chauffer/designated driver with my munchkins acting like gremlins (or perhaps like flying monkeys to keep with the theme). I felt like a fly on the wall much of the time, either that or they’re totally transparent (the latter is probably most correct). I was privy to much information that I needn’t know, such as: two munchkins making a deal over who would get a coveted boy; one munchkin crying excessively over a boy she thought didn’t like her anymore (just before throwing up and demanding to go home to her bed); munchkins picking fights with disrespectful Aussie boys asking them to ‘show us your boobs’; constant requests to stop the car to go pee and the follow-on/immediate squatting that ensued. Let’s just say my rental car doesn’t smell so good anymore, and although I didn’t drink a drop, it was one of those experiences that left me saying ‘I’ll never drink again’. By the way, the legal drinking age here is 18, and they call a “liquor store” a “bottle shop”.

In Return to Oz – Day 1 (last year), I mentioned that I had meet a German man here who sounded like a leprechaun. Well, Lara does too. It’s uncanny, and leaves my wondering if all English-speaking Germans exposed to Australian English sound like leprechauns.

Earlier in the day I visited beautiful Bondi Beach and took a run along the coastal path that exits to the south. The ocean has worn away at the bases of the Limestone cliffs leaving massive overhanging shelves. Smaller golden beaches with happy swimmers and all-too brown sun bathers are found around most bends, and a fine mist slowly rises up from the crashing surf below. Clean air and a brilliant sun top it off. This is the yellow brick road I’d been looking for.

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Footnotes:

11. L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1903) pp. 8 & 9.