Pass the Ketchup please...

A long time has come and gone since I last wrote. I am no longer residing in Sydney, but my new home for the next 5 months, NEW ZEALAND. I jumped islands last Thursday, the 31 of January and am residing for the moment in Auckland until my orientation starts on Tuesday, February 5. Before I get started on my new adventure I need to somehow make up and fill you in on my life thus far. It’s only appropriate.

Come December I said my goodbyes to my friends who I had been studying/ living with in Bondi Junction and said hello to summer in Potts Point. Potts Point and one night Dan and I discovered in a phone book that are given to everyone the easily mistaken nickname Potato Point. No Australian I know has ever heard of such a thing, but moving on! It was about two train stops up from where I used to live. I lived on the famous Victoria Street and lining the street were numerous cafes, backpacker inns, and Victorian town houses. There are two stairwells that lead down to the Woolloomooloo Wharf where the biggest navy base in Australia resides. It is a short distance to walk where you unexpectedly stumble upon the Royal Botanical Gardens and just around the bend is the most spectacular scene you can imagine, the Sydney Harbour’s famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The location is absolutely essential and I couldn’t imagine a better place to have lived for the summer.

I lived in a tiny studio with Dan, but it had everything you could want for a means to live. It had a little kitchen with gorgeous European tiles, hand made by the mum of the girl who I was subletting from. They are Spanish and her mum makes these exquisite tiles, which line the kitchen and bathroom sinks. Not much else needs to be said aside from the fact that my bedroom/ shower window allows me to wake up and go to sleep to the breathtaking skyline of Sydney. Oh and one of the sheer perks of living here was the fact that whenever there were fireworks in the city, in the Domain we had front row from our bedroom. I have so many pictures of it. After a while it was like oh you know another fireworks show in our backyard. I couldn’t have picked a more perfect space to live in or perhaps it picked me. It was certainly a quest to get a place so I would like to think that this was more than just happenstance.

What have I been up to for the past two months while residing in Sydney you may ask? Well, unfortunately finding a place to work for the holidays was much more harder than you can imagine. It had been quite a mission so I enjoyed the city as a resident rather than a tourist and basked in the “Gay Pool” down the stairs from my digs when the weather permitted. No worries. Unfortunate for me, but fortunate for Sydney we received heaps and heaps of rainfall. (The droughts in Australia have been very harsh!) Seemed more like rain season then their picturesque beach season that I had imagined when I thought of a summer here in Sydney. My hearts go out to those who are in the abrupt season of winter in New England. In the beginning of December I was able to partake in a festival in the Domain in Sydney. From the pictures you call there was a lot of color involved. Australians love their Fluoro aka fluorescent colors. There is a store dedicated to it called Supre and that’s where my room mate, Kimmy, and I shopped. Much of my time left in Sydney was spent working. I had a wonderful very casual job with an English woman named Anya. I came to her house about once a week and just looked after some house maintenance that usually goes unnoticed. I watered plants, cleaned the pool, cleared the cobwebs, swept, and ironed her little girls’ clothes. I know it sounds extremely exciting, but she has a lovely home and the cutest little daughter and it’s nice to kind of get into someone else’s world and see how families lived in Sydney. I also had the perk of hosting some of her parties like collecting coats and serving drinks but the best part about it was meeting more Australians. To be honest Australians are much more social than Americans. I think it may be hard to explain, but they are always going out even the older generations. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves and having a good time... together.

I was so fortunate to be in Sydney for Christmas as well as a spectator of the most spectacular fireworks show in the world. (I may be bias, but I think this rings true!) Anya was so nice to give a recommendation to one of her friends, Nik, who was looking for someone to house sit for while she ventured up to Malaysia with her partner over the holiday. Meaning Dan and I got a big ol house to ourselves just across the bridge in a town called Naremburn Christmas we moved into our new digs and went back into Bondi J to get our lovely Australian, Dan to join us for the holiday. We headed down to Bondi Beach to watch the Australians play cricket and romp around the beach. Unfortunately it was raining that day, but it didn’t put a damper on the festivities. Many people adorned with Christmas hats and gathering with their family. (Thank you for all the Christmas cards/ gifts... you really shouldn’t have. I hope you all received my card! ) Living in a house in North Sydney allowed us to take advantage of the city with access to a cute little red convertible. We ventured up to Palm Beach where the Australian celebrities like to play with the likes of Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Oh and I think the best part was having a dog all to ourselves! Her name was Nessie and she was as cute as can be. We had a grumpy old neighbor, but it was more entertaining than anything, but Dan may beg to differ. Oh and the fireworks were absolutely and utterly brilliant! I really can’t say much more than that. You really have to come and see for yourself or enjoy my pictures.

One of the most exciting things to occur was my lovely sister; Jen came to visit me in mid-January. She was only here for a week so it was a short time for someone to get everything in while dealing with jet lag and such, but we certainly made the best of it. Like I said before it was a bit rainy, but it didn’t hold us back. We got out there and I think some of the best times we had were spent romping around the city in torrential rain pour. I showed her my old stomping grounds as well as my new ones. We had the special opportunity to see the Australian Premiere of Juno in the Sydney Harbour. It was an outdoor cinema so the backdrop of the movie screen was the entire skyline of Sydney. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. We checked out my school, the fish markets and so many other things. I took her over to Manly beach where after a long day of running around in the rain enjoyed some beer at the Bavarian Bier Cafe. Then came back into the city to meet up with Australian Dan for a drink or two at EGO. (I swear it was Ecro... Dan. ;-) On other days I took Jen around to all the markets and we went to Taronga Zoo. I have seen Steve Irwin’s zoo and in comparison, my opinion anyhow was that Targonas overall presentation was much better than Steve’s but god rest his soul it was still a sight to see and much more as well. We covered a lot more, but many of the things were sights that I had already seen. It was sad seeing her go, but in a matter of months we will be seeing one another. As well it had never felt as if we had left one another. A lot has changed amongst us, but nothing has changed between us, which was nice. It was also something that I needed very much without knowing it and vice versa. You get so caught up in being away from one another that you just get used to the idea because there’s no other way to look at it. All that needs to be said is it was much needed. :-)

After Jen left I had about 10 days to go before I would be leaving Sydney myself. Dan and I had our last days at work for Anya. She was so sweet to give us a little bonus of Kiwi money, which certainly came into use once I got here... cab fare from the airport! Dan and I were so lucky to experience Australia Day, which is the equivalent of Independence Day for us back into the states. We had a ball. Australian Dan was by our side the entire day. American Dan and I started it off with a little Australian beer... Lucky beer. My favorite by far (I only just started drinking beer since my trip in the Outback) because its in a bottle that’s the shape of a Buddha. I love it. I enjoyed a few of those on Boxing day and ever since have loved drinking and rubbing the belly of the Buddha as I feel luckier and luckier with every sip.... Then we headed down to the Sydney harbour where we watched the Sydneysiders picnic with their families and enjoy the festivities of the day. Ferry races, boats celebrating and decked out in Australia memorabilia as well as the people themselves. When Dan joined us we walked over to The Rocks to find ourselves a pub for the day. There were markets and concerts in the streets. I honestly haven’t seen so many people walking in Sydney. A lot of the roads were shut down to allow the residents to take over the town. A bit of a walk from the center we found ourselves in Sydney’s oldest pub, Lord Nelson’s. Thanks to a recommendation by Rosa who is the mother of Elena in which we are subletting from we had a fabulous day there. You wouldn’t believe that we also ran into a couple that was on our trip in the Outback in the very same pub in all of Sydney. It’s mad how small the world gets once you start traveling. We about spent the entire day there and then headed back once the sun started going down back to Potts Point. Australian Dan’s navy base is right down the street from us so we decided on our walk back that he ought to give us a tour. It was really interesting to see how they live at sea. It’s certainly something I would do by choice, but the bonuses of being in the navy would probably make it worthwhile! We had some dinner at this great little pizza joint down a couple meters from mi casa and soon after called it a night. We also ventured up to the Blue Mountains to see the infamous Three Sisters. Dan and I walked the trails, dabbled around in the waterfalls, and did all the exciting little things like the sky gondola, the sky view where the floor is made out of glass and you can peer down to the gorgeous greenery behind you and the steepest railroad track in the world. It only takes you about 10 mins to get down, but its quite heart racing as you are at about a 90º angle and if you look out in front of you are just miles and miles of green open space. Its quite spectacular, but at the same time a bit nerve wrecking. So that was fun. I know this made Leslie, Dan’s mom, happy to have us get out there and it was definitely a place to be seen. Also the Australian Open was going on in Melbourne so there was a bit of a buzz going on in Sydney and Dan got me absolutely addicted to it. For the men’s finals we went down to the Casino and watched it in a sports bar on this movie screen. It was a lot of fun and we had Australian Dan join us as well. On my last night in Sydney Dan and I found a neat Bier cafe in Kings Cross, a street over from where we live is the red light district. NO WORRIES. This is not America, it is safe and never felt threatened a day in my life. So don’t worry. Just a bit of entertainment in these quarters. :-) haha to say the least. Then Australian Dan met us before we headed out to the Shangri La bar, Blu Horizon which is a bar noted to have the best views of Sydney Harbour. It is on the 36th floor and has a panoramic view of the city. I must say was the best way to see the city out on my last night. So many great memories, many lovely people I have met along the way. I will certainly miss the city and carry a piece of it for the rest of my life.

I want to kind of back track a bit of where I have missed and just try to take you all the way back and then bring you to where I am right now. I’m prepared to do this with no interruptions and lots of caffeine so here goes nothing!

Now I am going way back. To the first days I had in Australia to continue from what I did on my orientation. The day after our reef trip we went a couple hours out of Cairns to an Alligator park. I know not that exciting, but it was an experience to say the least. You got in this boat that took you around this lagoon that hundreds of them live in. They can jump as high as the boat so they ask you to keep all hands and arms inside at all times... I don’t know who would be tempted, but whatever that’s beyond me. You also had the opportunity to venture outside the gates of the gators to a Koala sanctuary. That was my first encounter with the cute little creatures. Then the night consisted of dinner in town and just enjoying the beautiful surroundings within Queensland’s Cairns. The next day was the adventure of a lifetime. As I had written before there were many options for adventure, but my choice was to Sky Dive. Sam and I both agreed we wanted to do something that would mark this trip as stepping out of our safe zone and just going for it. As Abi Strirling would say, Balls to the walls. (I have a DVD to prove it! ) Anyways we left early in the morning and got to the sky diving company, signed our lives away and got suited up. To be honest I wasn’t nervous one bit. Out of all the things in my life I have gotten worked up about, jumping out of a plane was not one of them! I was smiling the entire way up and the entire way down. You just know once you get up there in the air that the only way to come down is jumping out. I was the last to go which once again think would be nerve wrecking watching each person drop over and over out of the plane, but so be it I was ready to kick it. I thought to myself before I dropped... this is to a life extraordinary! Away I went. :-) It was the most fascinating feeling. I highly recommend it. :-) The rest of the day consisted of lying by the pool and just relaxing as we waited for others to get back from their adventurous day. Kimmy nearly almost died from her white water rafting experience with a picture to prove it. Imagine everyone in the raft and her foot sticking out of the water. Its classic. I wish I got that one to keep! She’s all safe and sound, no worries! That night was the last night out in Cairns so we had a celebratory dinner on Friday the 13th so the bar that Pete our tour guide worked at had it all decked out in spider webs to get the feel for the occasion. It was a great night out with everyone before we all headed to our destinations across Australia.

So I arrived in Sydney and let me tell you that our apartments in Bondi Junction were out of this world luxury. Floor to ceiling windows of Sydney’s most spectacular skyline. It was unbelievable. I had my own room and I shared the apartment with four other girls. (Whom I love and miss dearly!) The next week entailed of getting to know our neighborhood a bit better and settling in. We did go out quite a bit but in moderation. Classes were to start a week later so we had a lot of free time on our hands. Sam’s boyfriend from Oklahoma, Matt, came to visit us for two weeks in the beginning so it felt as if we had another room mate which honestly was great.

The next major trip that I haven’t talked about and briefly touched up before leaving was my spring break. Dan and I rented a Wicked Van and drove from Sydney to Noosa, back down to Brisbane, took a bus from Brisbane to Hervey Bay and toured Frasier Island. There is so much to tell, but I will try and cover as much as I can without making this entry entirely too long, but I think its already succumbed to that. My apologies but this blog needed immediate attention.

Spring “holiday” started on Friday the 21st of September. We picked up our van and it took us forever and more to get out of Sydney. Somehow we kept ending up back in Sydney, but we finally made our way out. By that time it was late and we were famished not having any goods aside from trail mix bars to subside our hunger. We stopped in Newcastle just north of Sydney for some dinner and we landed upon the most famous Thai food in town and it was just what we were craving to kick back on the road for the next few hours. On our way out we once again managed to get back on the highway to Sydney, but Dan the great driver that he is managed to figure it out. As we slowly started to get tired we realized we were in the middle of nowhere. We found ourselves in this tiny town and parked behind some car in a hotel lot. It sounds decent, but quite the opposite. There were guard dogs barking all night long. Luckily Dan got some sleep.... I was waiting to hear a pounding on the window. It didn’t come that night, but it certainly did later on in the trip.
The next morning we got up quite early because we needed some facilities as well as some relief from hiding out behind a car all night. We made our way up to Port Macquarie where we had some breakfast and walked around a bit and then hopped back on the road. We headed up to Coffs Harbour where Sam and Kimmy had spent the night and were going to meet them up there as well as give them a lift to Byron Bay. On our way up to Byron we made our way to the Big Banana, which Coffs Harbour is famous for. Took some pictures and as soon as we finished our photo shoot it began to pour. We waited it out and Sam and Kimmy decided to deck themselves out in full banana garb. Trying to pass the time. Eventually we just decided to gun it to the van because we wanted to get to Byron Bay and there was no sense in letting rain stop us! Our first sighting of kangaroos on the side of the road, further in our journey. Once we arrived in Byron Bay there weren’t too many options for us to park our van so we ended up staying in the same hotel room as Kimmy and Sam because they didn’t book a hostel and at that point they were all full. So in exchange for driving we got to stay there which was nice to have a shower!!! Byron Bay was absolutely gorgeous. My favorite spot in Australia. Dan and I actually spent a couple days there because we loved it so much. One of the days we ventured out of town to Nimbin... really there’s nothing need to be said about this town other than it was a rollercoaster. You can do your own research if you wish. ;-) Enough said!
When your driving a wicked van you tend to stick out so you make friendships with others driving them. Dan and I met these great girls from England who were driving up from Melbourne. I can’t express how much fun it is to travel and meet new people. I don’t think it will ever get old. :-) Anyhow after a few days spent in Byron we made our way up the coast. We parted ways with Kimmy and Sam before we left Byron because they needed to make it to Brisbane before us to get to the Whitsunday Islands. Surfer’s Paradise was our next stop. As we were driving we could see it from a distance and as we got closer the more we lost our desire to go there. It resembled Miami. We looked at one another and decided to keep on driving. I had heard about this great little town North of Brisbane so we decided to keep on driving, pass Brisbane and go to Noosa. Why not since we weren’t stopping in Surfer’s Paradise we gained a day or two. On our way up we passed Brisbane, and went on this great little drive, which was actually named after Steve Irwin. We got to see the beautiful Glasshouse Mountains and further up was Steve Irwin’s Zoo, which we got to catch the Tiger show and quickly make our way around before it closed. After the Zoo we drove up to Noosa and tried hard to find a hostel because there was no place we could park. We finally found a really cheap hotel, which was absolutely lovely and right outside our window, was a koala in a tree! It was great. Noosa was a lovely little town. Also one of my favorites. A bit more upscale than Byron, but still gorgeous. The next morning we went to Noosa’s park and we saw Dolphins off the coast. Oh! In Byron Bay at the lighthouse a man was playing the didgeridoo and you could see a few whales breaching! It was seriously one of the highlights of my life! Anyways so we walked around a bit and then spent the day trying to find a place to ship Dan’s surfboard back to Sydney. By the grace of God there was actually someone in town who works for himself for a company called Surf Freight. He picked it up and all Dan had to do was well pay and then pick it up at his surf shop back in Manly. So perfect! After that we headed out towards Brisbane. The next morning we had to return our van. (Ours was painted with mushrooms and flowers and was called Papa Smurf.) We found a caravan park and parked ourselves there for the night.
The next morning way into Brisbane and for the life of us couldn’t find the wicked company’s building. Thank goodness we left early because within minutes before it had to be returned we stumbled upon it. Once we returned it, we made our way into town before we had to catch a bus. I felt like such a bum because we had a huge backpack that was so heavy and we just threw ourselves down in a park and relaxed for a few hours before our bus came. Our bus took a few hours, but eventually we arrived in Hervey Bay at about 11 at night.
There isn’t much to do in Hervey Bay its just the port where you catch a ferry to Fraser Island. The next day we ventured around town and just had a good ol time making our way around. Spent the majority of the day in the water and relaxing on the beach. ( FYI the sun is extremely intense on this side of the world so it’s absolutely necessary to wear 30 spf at all times or face the consequences!!) Eventually made our way back to the hostel and had dinner with this spunky New Zealand couple. We had a big day ahead of us so we soon called it a night.
The next morning we waited for our pick-up for our 4x4 rental but they never came so they eventually sent a cab out to get us. We got out there and watched a video on how to drive a 4 x 4 in the sand and so on and so forth. Fraser Island is made up of paths and paths of off roading. There aren’t any paved roads aside from the wharf to the hotel there but thats it. I woke up with a dreadful headache so the day ahead was a bit of a brain rattler because we had this little bitty car and I was being thrown about it the entire way. Dan was certainly a good sport. The island was gorgeous. Wish I had felt better, but overall it was nice once you got out to the beach there wasn’t much of a jostle. Oh and we saw so many more whales in the distance. It is the most amazing feeling to see them. It made my headache go away for those moments. :-) After our day exploring we had a nice big dinner at the hotel and soon made our way back over the ferry to Hervey Bay.
That in a nutshell was my spring break. There are so many more details about it, but if I went any further I don’t think I would hold your attention much longer. If you want to know anything more I would be more than happy to divulge. :-)

When we got back from Spring Holiday it was our roommates Caitlyn’s birthday so we all went out on a harbour cruise in Sydney. It was one of the most memorable experiences. It had been cold the past few days, but on that day it was absolutely gorgeous. The pictures turned out just lovely! You’ll have to see for yourself.

Another big trip was my trip with Sam to Melbourne. We spent a good long weekend there before Spring Carnival, which is when all the horse races go on. Unfortunately Sam and I couldn’t make it out to that because of finals, but Kimmy and Emily got to go and they had the time of their lives. Sam and I took a trip to the Great Ocean Road, which was absolutely spectacular. The pictures will give you a better perspective of the awesomeness. There was an art festival going on throughout the city as well so we saw a very interesting show called ‘Glow’ and went to a lot of free exhibits. All I can say is Melbourne is like Boston in the way that it’s very European in comparison to Sydney. Sydney on a much tamer and cleaner level is like New York. That’s my opinion anyhow. Another day we went down to St.Kilda and spent the day at the beach as well as exploring the markets. The trip was fantastic and Sam and I had an absolute blast.

While Emily and Kimmy were in Melbourne, Sam and I celebrated Halloween. I dressed up as Pebbles( from the Flinstones) and she was Rainbow brite. Caitlyn and I scored tickets to the Justin Timberlake concert (thanks to Australian Dan!!) so before we partook in Halloween festivities we got to dazzle in the glory of JT. Which was fantastic. Oh! Australians don’t celebrate Halloween, but there were some house parties celebrating them so after the concert I made my way down to Coogee beach to find Sam. Two days later was Sam’s birthday so we celebrated at World Bar. This bar serves all its drinks in Teapots. It’s such an experience. It was definitely a great night. Later that weekend Dan and I also did a coastal walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee, which featured all these different sculptures from around the world. Properly named, “Sculptures by the Sea.”

Shortly after Kimmy and Emily got back our playmate Caitlyn had left before that and our other one, Sam was on her way out. The day she left we celebrated Thanksgiving Australian Style or shall we say American style in America. We held it at our apartment and all our friends who were still in town came over. There were about 30 of us. We got our Australian friends to believe we dressed up as Indians for the holiday and rather than them being embarrassed we decided to have a dress code in which we all dressed up as Indians. It was honestly the best Thanksgiving I have ever had. It was potluck and everyone pitched in. Pictures to come I promise!

The Sunday following Thanksgiving Dan and I headed to Alice Springs. One of the best trips was Dan and Is trip to the Outback. I have to say that this was by far one of the best trips I had ever been on. If anyone ever tells you that Uluru is just a rock, they are highly mistaken. I highly recommend the company I went through and if you are heading to the Outback I’ll let you know what it is. The people on the trip, the tour guide... everything was just so perfect. The time of my life. I would love to elaborate, but let me know and I’ll tell you about it. You have to see the outback if you come to Australia. It’s a must. You’ll have to have a look once I post my pictures. Life changing.
Oh! Thanks to the people on the trip we had a celebratory dinner when we got back into town and had seriously one of the best nights out. Thanks Beej! (Tour Guide) So much fun!

I can’t begin to tell you what an experience this has been. I just summed this up, but there was so much more. I hope that with New Zealand I can elaborate a bit more and just keep you with me as I go. It’s hard because you get wrapped up in it all, but I like to keep you all updated on my life because it’s hard to email individually. I’ll certainly try my best. And then some!

Let me just take you to where I am right now and then I promise no more for quite some time! Or in about 10 days anyway when I get back into the swing of things or at least settled in Christchurch.

NEW ZEALAND:

I got here on Thursday the 31st at 2am. To be quite honest since I had arrived at the airport in Sydney it has been this wonderful experience. I met these two great Swedish girls, Sofia and Maria, and we just chatted, gave each other our best regards before boarding and we were off. Once I arrived at my hostel in Auckland they were staying there too! I had only booked one night here because the other one where I had previously booked wouldn’t allow me to check in past 10 pm. I know things happen for a reason so I just went with it. Well considering I had to be up so early and go through customs I was quite alert and couldn’t get to bed. I went online for some time and then decided to go up to the lounge near my room and just kind of relax and read a bit. Well this lovely Canadian girl, Elyse, came in and we just sat and talked till 7am. We decided to get some shuteye before we checked out in the morning. Unfortunately I didn’t get any sleep, but was out of bed in time to check out. I had some time before I could check into my next hostel so I did a few things in the city to settle things for my stay here. What do you know I bumped into the Swedish girls again and ever since have been exploring the city together? The first night at my hostel outside the city, in a suburb called Mt Eden, there is exactly that, Mt. Eden. The summit there is a dormant volcano and I went up there for sunset and it was absolutely breath taking. I am already in love with this country and I have only seen a little piece of it.

Sofia, Maria and myself just have been seeing all the sights and sounds that Auckland has to offer. We met up with Elyse on Friday night and she knows a really well known DJ here in Auckland and by knowing him she has met a lot of his friends so we were treated like VIP all night long. We got into clubs for free and free drinks all night long. It was certainly a night to go down into the books! These past two days I have seen Waiheke Island and Rangitoto Island. Rangitoto is a volcanic island and has a tour that goes through it on this little train/tractor. It was really neat and at the top offers excellent views of the city. Waiheke was really cool as well. No volcano, but gorgeous beaches and a very relaxed atmosphere. There are just so many natural wonders to see in this country I can’t even begin to wrap my head around it. All the girls at this point have made their way on their own trips and I am about to embark on my own starting tomorrow. I made my way to a church that is right around the corner from where I live. (Another reason why I am at this hostel or so I believe it was to be!) Its affiliated with the church in Sydney that I went to and it blew me away. So good! It was nice to get my mind back on track spiritually before the next chapter in my life. It’s about to happen all over again, but I couldn’t be more excited. I have a really great feeling about it all.

I hope that I haven’t trailed on too long, but I owed you a big one. Hope this can carry you on for quite some time now until I get back in 10 days. I’ll be here in Auckland for two more days then down to Rotoura for another two. On the 9th I’ll be heading on a South Island tour with my study abroad program and then landing finally in Christchurch on the 16th of February. So many things to update by then. Take care of yourselves until then. I send you lots and lots of love. All the best! X x x

P.S. I apologize if some of it doesn’t make sense I have been writing non stop for so long and I need to get to bed. :-) Thanks for understanding. Otherwise writing this all has been extremely therapeutic. Thank you for taking the time to read it and keep in touch with me. I love you oodles! Talk with you soon enough....