Opals, opals, opals!

OH MY GOD, WHAT A DAY!!

Story time: Five years ago, during the summer of 2004, I traveled to Australia with People to People. We stopped by an Opal shop (a quite nice one, with very nice jewelry and quite reasonable prices), and I planned to buy a gift for a few relatives back home. This was the one day during the trip that Visa decided to have a problem with my debit card being used internationally so I was unable to buy the gifts that I was now relatively attached to. When I started booking this trip, I had absolutely no recollection of the name of this shop, the location, absolutely nothing. I remember what the showroom looked like, vaguely, but didn't even know where in Sydney we were at the time.

Now, since being in Australia, small things have started to come back to me. I'll be standing on street corners and realizing that something looks vaguely familiar. Well, yesterday we were taken from Surry Hills (home) to North Sydney across the harbor, and then we were set free to find our way back home. Of course we're not all just going to go straight home, so a group of travel mates and I decided to go on the quest for cell phones. We tried a few stores and had given up and decided to just head towards the Opera House to see some sites. Upon coming out of one of the train stations, we saw a cell phone company shop that we had been looking for. Surprisingly enough, we finally found what we were looking for and five of us bought the same phone and the same plan. I was the first to be activated, so I went and sat outside with two other girls while the rest were finishing up. Now, while sitting there, facing the building, I started to look at the other shops that were facing the street. I was looking at this shop, and something finally ticked that it looked familiar. IT WAS THE OPAL SHOP I WENT TO FIVE YEARS AGO! I decided to go upstairs and started talking to the people at the store and, wow, that was just amazing. The owner of the store, James Costello came out and gave me an "ambassador of the year" koala pin because I had returned to his store five years later! They are still having People to People groups travel through, and they're still giving their presentations about Opal mining. All of these things came back to me as soon as I walked into the store!

The owner was also nice enough to give me his card and is going to set us up with his daughter (who is our age) to show us the city. Oh the things that people will do for you…all because I sat on a bench!! And yes, my visa worked this time…unfortunately for my credit card bill!

We walked so much yesterday. To fill you in, the people I am traveling around the city with on this day were Alexi (NY - Roommate), Yazi (NY - Roommate), April (IL - Roommate), Brian (NY), Alexandra (NY), and Laura (NY). We took the bus/train to North Sydney, walked around North Sydney after an orientation at school (Billy Blue), then took the train back over the harbor bridge, walked all around Circular Quay, saw the Opera House, saw the Harbor Bridge, and then found our way back to Surry Hills. This doesn't sound like much walking, but it is…my feet would like to tell you all about it.

Today was all about opals. I am so, so happy that I was able to find that shop. :) Good day in Sydney today!