Unforgettable Day: Sydney Buses (continued)

An old type of bus. This one almost hit me though, as it passes swiftly so close to the kerb.

Alright guys, tenang.. tenang.. Just take it easy lah, everybody. I never knew that my last post would be this interesting huaha.

Okay, so i dropped my wallet on the bus. And i didn't realize that this had happened until i was standing in front of a sushi bar at Myer's food court ready to pay for a prawn roll i ordered. I got a dollar from my back pocket, i tried to look for one more dollar and 50 cents from my wallet. But wait... "where is my wallet? why'r my pockets all empty!?", i thought. The sushi bar waiter was still waiting for me to handle in the money to her.

Luckily, Agung came. I borrowed some money from him and immediately payed the cold prawn sushi roll.

Agung and I took a seat, and searched for my wallet in the bag i was carrying. Nope, it wasn't there. I was almost sure (about 90% sure) that the wallet is lost in the bus, not stolen by some thief or bad guy.

I quickly ran to the closest bus stop and took the first bus heading for Circular Quay. After i reached that place, i talked to the bus driver about my situation. And then he advised me to go to the other side of the block where all the Port Botany Depot buses would be in. "They might help," said the bus driver.

A bus with two humps. One is for natural gas storage, the other is for air-conditioning. The newest type of buses has only one hump though, they are diesel-powered instead.

So i went to the other side of the block, close to McDonalds, and soon asked almost all bus drivers there about my wallet. (you can see a picture of these buses at my last post before) None was actually driving the bus where i lost my wallet. A driver told me that i should contact their bus depot office in Port Botany. He gave me the phone number, and i immediately called the number... but no luck. They hadn't got my wallet.

I stayed there for almost an hour, and i approached almost every air-conditioned bus with a route number of three nine something (39x) to ask about my wallet, and none was the actual bus i was looking for.

During this, there was a nice bus driver who talked to me a lot. He started talking about my problem, and then about types of buses in Sydney, and about some people who got injured after being hit by his bus haha.

There was two interesting things that i got from one of the bus drivers i talked to. The first is that the long "bus gandeng" here are called "bendy-buses", because it can bend on turns. And the way it bends make it easier for the driver to turn. These buses are rear-wheel drived, and it only has one pair of wheels at the back stage of the bus.

The other interesting thing I learnt from the bus driver was that people injured from bus-relatd accidents are common. There are two main causes for those accidents: standing too close to the kerb, and crossing the road exaclty in front of a bus when a car runs beside the bus who couldn't see the person crossing and then "gubrak!".

Around 4.30 pm, i got tired and soon decided to get home. At home, i called the bus depot again to ask whether anyone had handed in a lost wallet to the office ... and alhamdulillah dear brothers and sisters... they've got my wallet :)

"Where are you now?", asked the person in the bus depot.

"Kensington.", i answered.

"Do you know how to get here? Take the 391 bus to Mattraville, and then take a 309 to Port Botany Bus Depot. The next 391 will arrive in 5 minutes!" asked the person on the phone again.

"Oh thank you, i must go now. Thank you, good bye"

So i ranned to the bus stop in front of Pondok Buyung, and in less than a minute the bus came. I got off at Mattraville, which is very close to Pak Tatok's house in Hillsdale. I've been there for only once, but that was enough to make me a bit familiar with the area. I waited for the 309 bus which should come at no time, according to the bus timetable at the bus stop. And yes, i am right, the bus came in a sudden and i waived my left hands to give a signal to the bus driver who appeared to be a woman :)

Whooshh, the bus kept running in full speed and did not stop for me. "Oh no" i thought. That was the last bus going to Port Botany bus depot that day. So, i've been given no other choice than to walk to the bus depot. Alhamdulillah, there was a bus route map on the bus stop, so .. yes... i know my way to get there.. hopefully..

It took me about 20 minutes to reach the bus depot. It's not too far actually, but it was already dark, quiet, and so windy on that evening. There are even no concrete sidewalks to walk on over there. It's all grass and dirt. The place was an industrial zone close to the docks of Port Botany.

I entered the huge bus depot and approached the security post at the gate. I met a nice security officer. I forgot her name though. She asked my name and then she gave me a name tag i should wear. She walked me to the office where i met two men. One was an irish, and a bit old (his hair was white). The other was a turk (which i found out the next day). They matched my face with the photo ID i had in my wallet. They also asked me about the value of the foreign currency they found in my wallet: a Rp50.000 and a Rp20.000 currency note. They seemed a bit surprised when i answered "Less than $10."

This name tag was given to me at Port Botany Bus Depot

The people in the bus depot were so friendly. The old man thinks i'm an irish. The other guy laughs and said i must be a chinese irish. He than say "assalamualaikum" to me, and i smiled and answered "waalaikumsalam" :) The nice security lady walked me back to the front gate and wished me "God bless you" after pointing to the bus stop i should wait at.

I waited around 15 minutes until the 309 bus came which took me all the way to Central Station. (i should've got down at Redfern station, but i didn't know that the bus passes it) I took a train to Sydenham and then i had to transfer to a Rail Bus which took me to Lakemba. There were railtrack works that day, that's why the train wouldn't go until Lakemba.

It was certainly an unforgettable day with sydney buses :)