Rainy today and the blossoms are being dragged off the jacarandas, leaving the sidewalks strewn with purple. My last day here in Sydney is full of a soft rain, (a gentle rain, like an English rain, as the bard Geddy Lee wrote). The outside temperature the same as my skin, heavy gray air, so heavy it falls in drops. A moody day.  

   Here in Sydney, I have explored the neighborhoods of Potts Point, Kings Cross, Darlinghurst, Darling Harbour, Manly, Watson’s Bay, the Central Business District and The Rocks. I’ve strolled through the Royal Botanical Gardens (several times, in circles), toured the Sydney Opera House, and attended three events there. I’ve stayed in a hostel (first time) and had three male roommates, none of which I had sex with (also a first). I’ve eaten great Thai and a horrible fast food MSG-laced steak sandwich sold by a woman who spoke broken English with an Asian Australian accent. My laundry has dried on a clothesline for the first time since I was a child. I’ve eaten outstanding fish and chips, but have not yet found an equal to Ghirardelli 60% cocoa chocolate, or Skippy peanut butter, which, since they are staples of my diet,  suggests that I would have them shipped to me in bulk if I moved here.

   I am sitting here at my morning haunt, The Paper Cup, where Jack and Eloise greet me every day and have my order memorized (large flat white, decaf, one sugar) and always ask if I’d like a (very thick) slice of spelt banana bread, toasted, with butter. I always have the flat white, sometimes the banana bread. From this vantage point, I see all the Mums and assorted children around two tables that have been pushed together under the awning. I am glad that they are outside and that I am inside. The public school across the way looks dignified under the heavy sky.  The jets taking off are especially loud today. And although I feel as though I haven’t scratched the surface of all the things to do in Sydney, I also feel as though I have spent a lot of time just being in Sydney.

   That time being is probably more important than time doing, and more useful for the mission that I’m on right now. I have approached this trip with the intent to see if there is a place I might like to live in Australia, as well as a way to live there. And although I find Sydney dynamic, and beautiful , and full of culture and fabulous beaches – I have not felt for one minute like I want to live here. There is nothing that has spoken, Yessss! Sydney! This is it! I’m here! I’m staying! Sydney is rather two dimensional, like a very pretty picture.

   So I can fly to Melbourne at 6:45 tomorrow morning knowing that I’ve done what I need to and have gotten the information that I required.

   Onward.