clifton the kiwi

clifton

back in sydney at the james’ benefit ball, i found myself scrounging for wine at the end of the night. i was good about pacing my alcohol consumption throughout the evening because i didn’t want to make a complete fool of myself being a lush. at this point i had been dancing, and it was nearing the end of the night, and there i was yearning for the drink. i was cruising each table looking for drops of wine, but to no avail. someone stopped me in the middle of my quest, and asked if i was doing the same thing as he. he introduced himself as clifton, and stated he was also looking for a drink. we both decided that there was nothing left, and ended up chatting the rest of the evening. there were unattended beer bottles and glasses of wine, but we both agreed we weren’t that mad to have a drink, and didn’t want to catch any odd viruses or diseases.

as we got into talking, i found out clifton was a native kiwi working in sydney. he was on the tail end of his stay in sydney, and was planning on moving back to new zealand to work, and also to be closer to family. he gave me tips on where go, what to check out in nz, and told me stories about his travels and many places his lived around the world. clifton asked me how my holiday had been going thus far, and i told him about the places i had been in australia. i shared my disgust of not seeing a kangaroo or koala, that i did not have time to go out to the bush, and was willing to pay to go to the zoo before i left for nz. clifton offered to take me out that sunday to see some native aussie animals. i willingly accepted, and we agreed to meet in bondi beach that sunday.

clifton proposed either the zoo or the koala sanctuary. when asked the difference, he explained that at the sanctuary you get to feed the kangaroos and hold koalas, albeit getting dirty. i opted for the sanctuary; the thought of being up close and personal with the creatures sounded fun.

we had a great time going around the place, and seeing all the different animals. clifton was pretty well versed on the different species, and was able to identify them without reading the signs near their homes. i got to feed heaps of kangaroos – they were too cute! we decided to leave after a couple hours as the rain was starting to come down.

clifton took me around the north shore, where he lived, and brought me to an old oil rig that had great views of the harbour bridge, to his local pub, and lastly we had coffee to warm ourselves from the cold climate.

clifton was headed to new zealand a couples days after myself, but unfortunately our schedules did not mesh as i was going to be in the south island when he was in town.
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clifton – good luck to you and your new job search, and relocation back home. thanks for a fun day in sydney, and i hope to see you one day in san francisco, or in nz! all the best!