Where Was I?

With 20 nights booked in Sydney, this would be my longest stop in any one city during the year of travel.

There were a few reasons why I chose to plan it this way.  

Ironically, while this would be my longest stay anywhere during this year of travel, it was not the longest time I had ever spent in Sydney.  Almost 10 years to the day before I landed in Sydney in 2019, I arrived at Sydney Airport as a 20-year old college kid ready to begin a four-month semester abroad. 

Part of the reason I wanted to spend a good chunk of time in Sydney was because I lived in this city in 2009 and I knew a fair amount about what it would be like to live there again.  I loved my time there a decade ago and I was really excited to be able to do it again; 10 years later.  

The Best Thing I Saw in Sydney

One of the most iconic shots I could capture in Australia. Sailing out on Sydney Harbour with a look at the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, and the city skyline.  

I booked an Airbnb experience for an evening sailing trip out on the water which worked out well.  The owner of the boat took a small group of us around Sydney Harbour for about two hours.  We were able to watch the sunset, drink wine, and take in some really breathtaking views of one of my favorite cities in the world.   

Other Highlights

Type 1 Flight 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Flying high with my T1Ds. Yep – everyone in this plane has Type 1 Diabetes, including our awesome pilot Jeremy (@type_1_pilot) who safely took myself, Dani and another Jeremy (!) on a scenic sunrise flight around Sydney this morning. I can’t even put into words how incredible this experience was and to share it with other diabetics was the best part. I never imagined that anything good or positive would come from my diagnosis all those years ago and I’m so grateful that this community continues to prove me otherwise. Together between the 4 of us we are 50 years of managing a life full of adventure with diabetes in tow – and now not even the sky is the limit 💙” — @type1travels sharing her amazing experience soaring around with some Type 1 diabuddies! #type1diabetes #airplanes #beyondtype1 #t1dbuddies #livebeyond #t1dstrong

A post shared by Beyond Type 1 Daily (@beyondtype1daily) on Feb 27, 2019 at 6:55pm PST

On one of my last days in Sydney, I had what was not only the most rewarding Type 1 experience of the trip, but of my 10 years of living with Type 1 diabetes.   

Through my Type 1 Instagram page, I was able to connect with Type 1 diabetics around the world.  While in Sydney, I was able to connect with this Type 1 group and was invited by the pilot, a fellow Type 1 diabetic also named Jeremy, to fly in his small plane with two other Type 1’s.  

Pilot Jeremy picked up our small group of Type 1’s in the city early one morning before the sun was up.   He drove us out to the airfield and after about an hour or so of setup we were up into the Sydney sky.  

It was not often I would get to take part in anything with fellow Type 1 diabetics, so it was fun to get to share stories and experiences with people who knew exactly what my day-to-day life was like dealing with this disease. 

Being able to fly with this group was something I’ll never forget.  

 

 

 

Blue Mountains 

I took a day trip with a group out to the Blue Mountains,  which was about an hour drive from Sydney.   

The trip consisted of hiking, waterfalls, wildlife, and BBQ.  We were able to get a taste of kangaroo, which wasn’t bad on the grill.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon. 

 

 

 

Coastal Walks

 

One of my favorite things about Sydney were the coastal walks.  I did a few of these back when I lived in Sydney in 2009, but I could do these almost every day without it ever getting old.  

The first longer one I went on was from Coogee to Bondi.  I had a medical appointment in Coogee (which I’ll discuss in the Type 1 portion at the bottom) so I figured after my appointment I would walk back to where I was staying near Bondi Beach.

The walk took a few hours, but there were beaches and lookouts along the way, which was one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon.  

 

 

 

 

A great way to wrap up the walk at the Bondi Icebergs Pool. 

 

The other long coastal walk I took was from Manly Beach to the Spit Bridge.  This one was a little bit longer (little over 6 miles, 10km) and took about four hours with some stops for pictures and relaxing.  I had never done this one before and I wanted to cross it off my coastal walk list.  

I took the ferry out from Watsons Bay to Manly Beach, had a nice lunch in Manly and loaded up on sugars, and then went for a walk.  

 

 

 

 

The end of the walk, the Spit Bridge.  

 

Sunset Near Apartment 

Sunset in Sydney

 

I can’t remember if I read about this spot or if I just stumbled upon this small park near where I was staying just north of Bondi, but people would gather here each evening and watch the sun set.  It was a nice way to end the day and either go home and relax or head into the city for Sydney at night. 

 

Darling Harbour and The Rocks

 

If I did go into the city at night, I was usually around Darling Harbour or The Rocks.  It was my favorite area to walk around and it had some of the best bars in Sydney.  

I went on a beer tour in The Rocks and learned about the history of drinking beer in Australia, sampled the local beers, and saw some of the oldest pubs in the city. 

 

 

 

I did a few different bar, pub, and food tours around Sydney, which all gave me a better glimpse into the city and the people who lived there.  

 

 

Vietnamese Dinner 

 

Another one of my favorite Airbnb Experiences I booked while in Sydney was this dinner excursion with a Vietnamese family in Newtown.  The chef was the matriarch of the household, Angie, who had moved from Vietnam a few decades earlier and started a family in Sydney.  This was similar to the experience I had in Singapore where I was invited to a family home for a full course meal.  We had some amazing Vietnamese dishes and because I had just been in Vietnam a few months earlier, I could share some stories with the family.  

When living on your own in Airbnbs, hotels, hostels, and campsites, sometimes I would forget how good it was to have a home cooked meal.  

 

Chinese New Year 

 

The first few days I was in Sydney the city was all lit up for Chinese New Year.  Chinatown had some really decorative streets and food markets that were fun to stroll around.  It was the year of the pig, so I celebrated with some bacon, eggs, and pancakes at my favorite breakfast spot, Pancakes on the Rocks. 

 

 

Super Bowl in Sydney 

 

On one of my first few mornings in Sydney I had to arrange where I would be watching the Super Bowl.  Thankfully, there were many bars and pubs around the Bondi area showing the game and I made sure to reserve a seat at one of them. I watched the Pats beat the Rams 13-3 in a fairly uneventful game, but still a fun experience to watch the Super Bowl on a Monday morning.  

I was interested to see what the crowd would be like and how the locals and tourists would watch American football.  There were betting kiosks at the bar, something that would not be allowed in the states, and many of the guests were placing bets.  The majority of the crowd I was watching with were rooting for the Pats and although many of them did not understood all of the rules, they knew the basics of the game.  

 

Sydney Opera House

 

I went to see a show at the Opera House, something I was hoping to do while in Sydney for three weeks.  A two-man show where the performers were singing and performing works of John Lennon sounded great, but I came away a little disappointed, even if it was cool to watch it from inside the Sydney Opera House. 

 

UNSW 

 

This would’t have normally been something I would have visited, but this place had personal significance to me because this was my school and my campus for four months back in 2009 during my semester abroad.   

The University of New South Wales, one of the largest universities in Australia and just east of downtown Sydney.  

I walked around the campus for an afternoon, visited some of my old classrooms, tried to remember what buildings I had classes in, and walked around my old neighborhood in Randwick.  Unfortunately, the house I lived in had just recently been knocked over as it appeared that the University was putting in new academic buildings in place of the strip of homes where I had lived. 

But, it was really interesting to be back on campus a decade later and reminisce about that time in my life before I even had diabetes. 

 

Eminem at ANZ Stadium 

 

When I looked at my travel schedule and realized Eminem was playing ANZ Stadium in Sydney on my final night in the city, I knew there was no way I would miss out on going.  I scored a pair of tickets a week or so before the show and knew this would be the best way to finish my three week stop in Sydney.  

I had never seen Eminem live before, but I’d been a big fan since I was about 10 years old.  It was an amazing live show and for someone my age (30 at the time), Eminem had hits that ranged from my youth all the way to present day. 

It was also amazing to see how popular he was in Australia and how every teen and young adult knew every lyric to every song. 

 

 

  Such a great way to wrap my time in Sydney.  

 

The Sugars

Highest high: 265

Lowest low: 40

Avg Morning: 150

Avg Afternoon: 130

Avg Night: 184

Insulin Pods: 7

Avg Basal Rate: 1.10

Emergency sugar supply: Skittles, glucose tablets, energy drinks, M&Ms

 

 

I wrote at the beginning of this entry that there were a few reasons why I wanted to spend multiple weeks in Sydney.  Besides the fact that I knew I would be comfortable living in this city because I lived there earlier in my life, the decision was also made because I knew I could take care of a few Type 1 related things.  

The first and most important thing I needed to do was find some insulin.  I had packed enough insulin that I thought would last me between six and seven months.  I knew I would be returning to the USA to reload in April, but at the time this was February and I knew I would be cutting it extremely close if I could not find some insulin in a city along the way.  

I did some research about which cities I might be able to find affordable insulin that would be available in vials.  Bangkok was my first option, but they didn’t seem to have vials of Humalog, just cartridges, and I would need the vials so I could refill my pods.  

I eventually decided that Sydney would be my best option to try and land some Humalog vials.  

I made an appointment with an Endocrinologist in Sydney weeks ahead of when I knew I would arrive.  I don’t know if this would be irony, but the doctor’s office happened to be about a two minute walk from where I used to live in Randwick and was a building I must have walked past 50 times back in 2009. 

The healthcare system in Australia was completely different than the United States and almost all of their medical costs were subsidized by the government for Australian citizens.  I knew as an American citizen I would have to pay out of pocket for what I needed, but I still thought this could be cost effective. 

I ended up meeting with the doctor and had a really great conversation with her.  I told her why I was there, what I was doing, and showed her my Omnipods, something they didn’t have in Australia.  She was equally as intrigued to talk to me as I was sharing information with her and she couldn’t have been more helpful. 

The doctor wrote me a prescription for Humalog and she explained to me that I would have to pay out of pocket for it at the pharmacy.  It was funny to hear her tell me how Australians would be raging if they were told they had to pay in full for any medication out of pocket.   I was a little worried about what this may cost me, but I didn’t have a lot of options.  

Thankfully, paying out of pocket in Australia was only about 10% of what this would have cost in the United States  without insurance, so I still felt like I was getting a great deal.  Even with the cost of the doctor appointment plus the five vials of insulin, I ended up paying less than $400 in total.  ONE vial of Humalog in the U.S.A costs $332 out of pocket.  That would last me about two weeks. 

After I took care of the appointment and the insulin I felt such a relief.  I now knew I had more than enough insulin to last me until April and I was thrilled that I could pull this off in a foreign country. 

 

Besides the insulin, I also needed more pods, the device that holds the insulin.  I needed to change a pod every 72 hours, so I packed enough to last me about five months.  I knew I would be in Sydney for a few weeks so this would be a good stop to have a family member ship over another few boxes which would last me until I would return to the states in April. 

Just like with the insulin, this also worked just as I had hoped. My family shipped out a few boxes and I was able to pick them up at my local post office in Bondi and was now supplied for another few months.    

 

Since I was on such a good roll with medical visits, I decided to book a dentist appointment in Sydney.  Dental hygiene was something I knew was important as a Type 1 diabetic and a teeth cleaning was something I knew I would try to do once during my first leg of the trip.  After calling a few different dentists, I finally found one that would take me in Bondi and while they were a bit surprised to see an American in their office, the staff were so friendly and accommodating.    This was another successful medical adventure.  

As for my sugar levels, they were a bit more erratic in Sydney and I had a few more lows than my previous few stops.  I was doing a ton of walking which likely contributed and the weather was warmer in Sydney, so a few times I adjusted my basal rate to 1.00 or 1.05.  

I carried extra sugar with me on my long coastal walks and it was a good thing I did because I had a few lows during the walks.  My sugar was at 63 when I started the Manly to Spit walk, which was why I sugar loaded at the start and then saw my sugar spike up over 200 during the walk.  

I also had a low before Eminem came on stage which must have been from the excitement to see Slim live and in person.  

On my day trip to the Blue Mountains I remember I skipped out on swimming under the waterfall.  As I’ve mentioned on a few previous blogs, my pod was waterproof, but there were still instances like this one where I would not want to risk having a pod malfunction while out in a place like the Blue Mountains.  It was also a hassle to worry about some of my other equipment getting wet or finding a safe place to leave such valuable things like my PDM and my sugar supply.  As much as I’d hate to lose my wallet or my passport, losing my PDM or my sugar supply could be life threatening, so I preferred to always have it on me or within reach.  Whenever there were water options I would have to think about these risks.  

 

Sydney was one of my favorite cities and I really do look forward to going back a third time. 

Once I wrapped up my time in Sydney, I had been in Australia for about seven weeks and it was time to move on to the next stop.

Next up would be three weeks in New Zealand on a group tour.   

Keep the sugar levels steady. 

Jeremy

 

 

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