How to attend a party in style

Friday night was a somewhat quiet night. A girl I met here invited me out to dinner with her and her girlfriends (that SO would not happen in NY) and we hung out at the bar for awhile before I went out to a housewarming party a few suburbs away. On my way home form the party, the smelliest man on planet earth planted himself next to me on the bus. Of couse he did. He was an Egyptian student here, and his English was very poor. Naturally, he thought I would be the perfect person upon whom to afflict both is broken English and his indescribable BO. He talked my ear off for the length of the bus ride, and before the trip was over, had asked me if I would like to marry him and take him back to the US. I was literally holding my nose as I gave him my answer- an unequivocal NO. That did not deter him. This guy needed a little work in the social cues dept. I felt like Borat himself was sitting next to me and that I must be the subject of some hidden camera joke. It was almost as ridiculous as the other day when I was sitting on the beach minding my own business, and the hairiest, flabbiest man on Bondi asked me if I’d like some company. Oh, please! Make yourself comfortable! Who needs a towel when one can simply sprawl out on that glorious carpet on your chest! Of all the beautiful men within spitting distance, these are the winners drawn to me like white on rice.

Anyway, enough of that. Saturday turned out to be one of the most random, awesome days I think I’ve ever had. The people in whose house I’m living were throwing a beach party during the day, but the weather was supposed to be atrocious so we figured we’d just take the party to the bar. Well, the sun came out and it turned into an incredibly beautiful day, so the barbecue went on as planned. In the afternoon, some other people arrived and one of the guys in the group asked us if we’d like to go out on his boat to a huge island party. Um…yes?!?! Weirdly enough, I was the only one of the ten of us that were there to accept the invite, the rest were just feeling lazy. So he picked me up at a wharf about 5 minutes away after having gathered a few more of his friends, and off we went to Shark Island, a cool little island in the middle of Sydney harbor. Our kayaking guide had told us that they have parties on that island, but I was not prepared for the ridiculousness that awaited us.





First of all, we arrived at the party on a private boat. Cha ching! Next, we avoided the $75 entrance fee by bypassing the front gate all together and swimming out to the party. Cha ching! Then, we got there and everyone was running around, dancing, swimming, drinking, wearing everything from 80’s clothes (it was a theme party, apparently) to virtually nothing. I was sold.
We partied at the island for a few hours, then when it was dying down, the guy we came out with got about 10 more people together and we swam out to his boat for a sunset cruise around Sydney harbor. What?? I couldn’t believe where I was. We all ended up back at his place for a massive pizza pig-out session in a hot tub the size of my old apt in NY. I somehow managed to go out for a bit afterwards, but I was too exhausted form the days activities... my stomach too leaden with pizza and wine to go on much longer.




So that was my Saturday. Today is rainy and gross again, but that’s ok…I think I put in my party time. In other fun news, I found someone willing to take me out on his ferry at 5:30 am this Wednesday to this abandoned, decrepit island in the harbor so I can take sunrise shots of the run-down weirdness there. This guy, Will, is really into the place and has been wanting to get someone out there to get good shots of it before they start to revitalize the area. He works on the ferry really early and can make a special trip for me before he starts his shift. The best part is that it’s not publicly accessible, so no one really even knows about it or can get out there. If I finally get my sunrise shots, especially at a place like that, I might never want for anything else in this world again.