Went to the American Express office to pick up some mail that's been waiting for me. Stacy had sent me both a birthday and a Christmas card. She had sent some silly (outrageous?) photos from Fantasy Fest in Key West, plus some little toys, and a star chart for the Southern hemisphere. It was a beautiful sunny day and it was strange that sitting in the sun reading the cards and looking at the pictures and toys made me feel so much closer to home. Whereas just a few days ago just talking to someone at home made me feel so far away. I'm not sure if it's the weather (sunny), or the situation (just a day vs. New Years Eve), or just that someone thought ahead to send them - but it was a nice feeling.
Bought another paper to look at the cars available for sale. Nothing to exciting, but motivated me to go find out some details regarding legalities. Went looking for the automobile club, but of course they'd moved. While looking for them I found the RTA (Road and Transport Authority - equivalent to the DMV) and decided to wait in line to figure out what the particulars of buying a car as a foreigner are. While waiting for my number to come up I searched through the available pamphlets - found ones on importing a car, and on driving in Australia on a foreign license. Close, but not quite. When my turn came the woman looked at me strangely and said that anyone could buy a car - even a tourist, and that I should come back when I'd bought one. Ok, not so useful...
I relaxed in the sun a bit more then went on a quest for a phone adapter (so I can use my device's modem in Australia without the long cable that I'm borrowing from Sof and Chris). Afterwards while walking around Sydney I walked by several cinemas. It turned out that one of them had End of Days starting in fifteen minutes. So I grabbed a quick lunch and went to the movies. It was a bit of a surprise - sort of a "12 Monkeys" meets "e;True Lies". Dark and interesting - not great, but not bad.
I had a message from James (traveled with in Morocco in August '98), called him and tentatively arranged to have beers Friday evening. Walking home I decided to take a long cut through Darlinghurst and Kings Cross to check out the Car Market. This is a lot that only travelers (no locals) are allowed to sell from. The cars were predictably beat up, but it gave me an idea of prices and models - I suspect I'll be back a few times just to see what's made it. Walked back up to Paddington, stopping in the internet cafe. At the Internet cafe I set up a simple web page for the Windows CE software I've been writing (Here it is), checked email, and tried to look through the new photos some more. Spent a little longer than I'd planned, so opted to catch a bus back home. Of course being as confident and comfortable as I've become I caught the wrong bus - luckily realized quickly and got off a caught a correct one.
Joined Chris and Sofie for dinner with Pipper and Rob. Dinner was, as always fantastic - especially the meringue and fruit dessert! After all the expected toasts to the future parents, a great meal, and several very complicated philosophical conversations, Pipper left and Sofie went to bed. Chris, Rob, and I sat up enjoying the wine and conversation. When Rob left Chris and I sat up even later and Chris showed off his wine cellar (philosophically and physically) over glasses of musket. Chris then tried to enlighten me (and failed) to cognac.
