Sydney trip "day "Two

Sunday morning I woke nice and early like I normally do . all I wanted was a nice cup of coffee so at eight I headed down to see if  they have a decent brew , I haven't had filter coffee in years and I still remember how much I loved it when it had aged and acquired that peppery flavour. So I greeted the morning with several peppery coffees and cigarettes . I had two such trips while I waited for sleeping beauty to stop snoring and wake up. gosh she likes to sleep. But the thing I didn't notice or even think about until some of the other girls came down from their rooms , was my level of comfort being able to go down into the dining area and order and mingle without having to spend two hours perfecting my dress and make-up. some of them had obviously gone to the nines  just to order breakfast .I remember I would do the same and try to make sure I looked as perfect as possible , while a genetic girl would be comfortable just being fresh and clean . but I digress


Finally after much prodding and threats of ice water I managed to rouse Andrea from her deep slumber. And now at last we can go and explore the Sydney Chinatown and wharf district.  Andrea and myself caught up with Jade who I have also never met before  ,even though I consider them both as two of my closest friends
  . So of we go to Chinatown as one of the things I really wanted to try here was Yum Cha ,as I had never experienced it before and a great friend of mine really wanted me to try chickens feet . It was so much fun watching all these trolleys come out with unpronounceable names. so Andrea ordered for us all and steamers full of delicious food proceeded to be offered up to us , deep fried chili prawns and whole range of dumplings .  I reminded her about the  the chickens feet or Ji jiao  and she made sure to order a serve just for me

Of course me loving Facebook so much I couldn't resist posting a picture of it . by the time I had finished the first foot ,I get a message from an eager friend wanting to know if I liked it , Thing I actually loved them to the point of wanting more and telling my friend next time we meet i will have to try the Ox intestine. which she held me to my promise .After what seemed like and endless procession of servings. We finished our lovely meal with Two plates of my favourite dessert



traditional Chinese egg tart made with lard not butter in the pastry
it makes the pastry super rich and flakey

I had first tried these after building the first breadtop store in South Australia the only thing that would have finished the meal perfectly would be a nice green tea bubble tea


their is a really good movie where two bakeries one on each side of the road rival each other. and it gets quite heated, and ever since then I have loved the chines egg tart , which is to me far better than the english version they were adapted from




next stop was just a short waddle away

The magnificent Chinese Gardens of Friendship.. I could not think of a better place for us three friends to spend our fist real meeting together

Its so beautiful and tranquil that you really do forget where you are . as we strolled around from sitting area where we would just stop soak in the peace and chat . then we would slowly make our way to the next sitting area

the sites and sounds in that garden would leave me breathless and amazed at how such a relatively tiny area could contain so much variation and secluded areas for us to sit and chat in person for the fist time




Sorry boring slide show

I have no idea how it happened
but it reminds me of an oil or water painting
on canvas 

couldn't leave without at least one Buddha




By the time we found the way out of the gardens we had little precious time left so we

raced pass the Ferris wheel which I had been looking forward to and headed down to the harbour to see the maritime boats but unfortunately they were closed up for the day ,but we got to have a good look at them from the wharf the quite sizable Orion class submarine looks like a toy next to the destroyer. It almost looks like a bath toy 

on our way back to the car we found this nice pancake restaurant 

and we somehow managed to fit in even more food 

Me and Andrea shared  a delicious savoury crepe , before we started of on the decadent pancake that sat before us 

the much smarter Jade delicately consumed her strawberry and cream pancake . yummy. While me and Andrea with our belly's full complained that we couldn't finish the deliciously sinfully rich treat 

All that remained was to get me back to the airport so I could head of home 

Even with all the delays caused by Jetstar , I had easily one of the best weekends 

I realised I'm emotionally stronger than  I ever thought I could be 

if I can sort out and arrange tickets for myself and others surely I should be able to achieve anything 

Thankyou too my two lovely and dear friends, for such a wonderful weekend 

I love you both 

Sydney trip "day One "

  Finally after . Two years of phone calls and emails between  my friend and mentor and myself  . who I strongly believe with her love and support I would never have made it this far let alone begun my journey in the first place
I'm getting on a plane to Sydney to meet her

Check in at Tullamarine airport . I get there nice and early so I can get my bags checked and get my ticket then relax before I'm due to fly out .
No sooner than I get in the queue than the garbled voice over the intercom announces that my flight has been re-routed to Avalon Airport due to fog .So much for the statement at least I live nice and close if I need to catch a plane
  So I dutifully move over to the other queue along with 300 other disgruntled passengers  , where it seems time has stopped ,or is just that my feet haven't moved for 15 minutes . out with my trusty I-Phone . whereby my neighbour in the queue tells me not to waste my time ,you wont get through . Two minutes later im giving him a sweet smile as i calmly let the lady on the other end of the line know that no leaving the next day will not suit me as I have booked a room that I'm going to be billed for even if I don't check in that night
  This conversation proceeded to be repeated as I moved up the hierarchical ranks of JetStar  till I finally got to the can do kind of assistant , whereupon I not only arrange tickets for my self but three groups that were in the immediate area . .
 After all the conversations I suddenly realised that around a 100 or so onlookers had been intently watching this once shy transgirl with the slightly deep voice,actually take charge in a calm and sweetly smooth way as I  manoeuvred my way into getting what I wanted from the assistant . I never knew I could be that take charge , an even me and Andrea had been chatting about how I can be a bit meek at times instead of standing up for what I need . Well not today and I did it with nothing more than a little bit of honey in my voice , and determination that I would see my friend that night

  So With Three Groups of new friends in Tow. We left Tullamarine Air port . where the first couple I helped dropped me off home so I could freshen up and have a relaxing coffee on my front porch ,while they went window shopping at Airport West . One Hour later true to their word they picked me up and we all headed of to Avalon Airport Where they bought me a drink And chatted about what each of us were doing for the weekend It was Russell's birthday and He And Anita were going to have a dinner at a fancy restaurant in Sydney ,as a way of celebrating  . They were a lovely couple maybe a year of retiring and great company while we waited for our flight . which ended up being delayed due to fog , as you can clearly see in the photo below

I know its a little difficult to see the fog but it must have been there, somewhere

As an aside I had a great chat with one of the girls at the checkin line she actually wanted to come to the ball I was going to as she thought it would be such great fun , where by the bogan ( i know i can be so judgemental at times ) decide he would sneer at me in distaste and flash his decayed and rotting teeth which looked like they had opened one too many beer bottles , and then one the other end of the spectrum walking past the bikies they cared not that im trans I got a smile from one and that was it

So 6 hours after I was due to land in Sydney I'm finally boarding the plane . quite an uneventful trip as most all were a bit flustered from all the delays and chatting was not an option with the two I got bundled with
So finally I land find my way to the shuttle bus and with just one our before the ball is to begin I flop onto the bed in my hotel room exhausted and ready for sleep already

Andrea gets to meet my sweet but prickly Caramel 

thankfully Andrea rocked up just in time to save from that fate. We chatted for ages before we decided we had better go down before we miss out on the first course which was quite nice the rest of the evening progressed nicely as we slowly started to eat and drink our way through the courses .We both met some really lovely people and I can say I enjoyed the company of all at my table> we bumped into a few friends from out of town so that made the night special as we wouldn't get to see them otherwise
       
                                  and then the band decided to play

For the life of me I cannot remember who they were but they played a selection of old rock that would b more at home for a bunch of beer swilling middle aged men than at a Seahorse ball . They guitarist with his jangly rickenbacker  and the singer who honestly couldn't work out if he wanted to be sharp or flat , so he reasoned on giving us both spectrum's of his voice ,without once settling on the in tune phase . that coup[led with the terrible acoustics of the venue and the I don't really care attitude from the sound engineer , sent Andrea and myself calling it a night at 11:30 where we headed up to my room for a glass of wine a great long chat followed by a deep and restful sleep

Date Night

So I have been chatting with this fella on face book
He seemed to be really nice and easy to get along with and we would message each other back and forth
eventually after a few months he asked me to have dinner with him. seeing that he seemed to be local to the area I thought It could be fun to have my first ever date with a man
after eventually settling on the hotel restaurant ( I just want to make it clear I'm not that kind-off girl)
Seeing that his profile pic was of Hugh Jackman I figured I have no chance of recognising him
As I saunter it  to the restaurant lobby this European man enquires " Alice "in a voice quite enough for someone named "Alice" to hear but if you happened to be "Jane" you would have missed it in the background noise of the place
Once we were seated and Ordered a couple of drinks I had A coffee and a Lemon Lime & Bitter
we started chatting about all the usual pleasantries. The waitress came over to see if we were ready to order , when Matthew announces that he ate at the office and wasn't hungry but he would be happy to watch me eat.
I am most certainly not about to sit and eat while someone watches as I consume each forkful, despite the protestations of my now hungry stomach begging me to eat at least once this week
eventually the conversation takes the expected outcome and he starts posing questions about my trans gender  condition and how I cope and deal with day to day life as a woman. and then her it comes he starts telling me about a certain trans-woman who used her body and endowments for money , by all accounts she was not only attractive but also well endowed . And Matthew took great delight in telling me that he had been with her more than once
I had a feeling it might take that path so I politely in my most innocent voice advised him that I'm no longer capable of performing that function due to the effects of being on hormone therapy. Id like to say that shut him up about it but no he managed to bring the topic up yet again from A different angle

Your probably thinking about now that I had a terrible time that night. But once I managed to redirect him onto a topic that did not include my gender or sexual persuasion we actually did have a good night and I was more than surprised to realise that we had been chatting for over three hours
As I left I gave him a quick hug and thanked him for a good night and headed of to my car , wondering how much the hotel room he booked and wasn't going to make use of had cost him

Needless to say he never called to take me out again. but then again I never expected him to

I have to say I'm looking forward to dating some more and testing where my boundaries lie