Happy Australia Day!

What an incredible day! January 26 is Australia Day, the official national day of Australia. It is a public holiday, so no work (yay!) and they celebrate it in a big way here!

I spent the day on a harbour cruise with some friends from work and it is definitely one of the coolest things I have done in my time here! It was a hot hot summer day, but what better way to spend a hot day than out on the water watching the festivities! At about 11 am, the harbour kicked into high gear with a boat parade and then a ferry-thon, where some of the Sydney ferries race each other. All of the boats kind of line up behind the ferries and follow them as they race. There were literally just boats and people everywhere and everyone was in such good spirits and happy to be celebrating their national day! I will let the pictures do the talking now...

Here come the ferries...we were cheering for the one decorated with the whale tail and it won!

People lined up on the bridge to watch the festivities down below!

Me with my Luna Park and my apartment building (tall, white top, to the right of the ferris wheel) in the background...I love my location!

Yummy lunch buffet on the cruise...and yes, Mom and Dad, I did give the prawns with the heads another chance, ha ha!

We didn't want our harbour cruise to end, but we did finally get off and we spent some time walking around Darling Harbour and then took a ferry over to Circular Quay and The Rocks to see all the action down there. The Rocks had some of their markets open and there were about 6 different stages with live music. Again, just an awesome party atmosphere on a hot summer holiday! We all hung out for a little while, but then decided to head our separate ways because we were beat from the heat. As I was walking back across the bridge, I took one last picture of the action on the harbour...not as active, but still lots of boats out cruising around!

I am so happy that I got to be here for an Australia Day because it is definitely a day of celebration and was so much fun to be right in the middle of the action! This is truly just an unbelievable place and I still sometimes feel like I am living in a dream. Happy Australia Day...Australia, I will always remember you and your beauty every year on January 26th!

PS...As I sit out on my balcony writing this, I have seen 4 different fireworks displays...love this place!

PPS...Happy happy birthday to my dear friend Maggie Goss and my little Swiss girl Elizabeth Paulson! I miss celebrating with my birthday buddies, but I was thinking of you both today!

Aussie traditions

On Monday night, I headed out for a traditional Aussie dinner with some work friends. The Lord Nelson is a pub in The Rocks that is very well-known for their Australian Meat Pies and they have them at a special price on Monday nights...only $7 for the meat pie! The Lord Nelson is also a brewery, so they have awesome beer too! A pile of mashed potatos, meat pie, smashed peas, brown gravy, a Quayle Ale...and then a nice walk home across the bridge after all of that heavy food...not bad for a Monday night!

Dad, sorry that we didn't find this place when you were here...you would have loved it! And Matt, you would have been in heaven reading about all of the different beers!

And now, I have a confession to make...I think I like Vegemite?!?!?! The new HR Partner started in the office on Monday morning and we went out to get coffee shortly after she arrived in the office. She hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so she got some toast and vegemite with her coffee (she is a true Aussie). She got 4 big pieces, so offered me a piece and I don't know what came over me, but I tried it. And I liked it! The way they eat it here is much more appealing than the previous time I had tried it...a piece of hot toast, dripping in butter, with just a very thin layer of vegemite on top of the butter. Really not bad...like, I may even order it for myself sometime! What is happening to me...5 months in and I am starting to pick up some real Aussie things!!

Time is ticking...

Had another great week in Sydney this week, but the time is definitely starting to tick away. The new HR Partner that I hired has been in training for 2 weeks in KC and will start in the office with me on Monday, so this truly does kick off my official count-down...less than 5 weeks. I have some mixed emotions about that, so we won't discuss now...lots more fun to be had in my remaining time here!

My week started off great because they replayed the Golden Globe awards show here on Monday night. I love awards show season, so was happy to get to see the show in its entirety!

I headed out to dinner in a new area with my friends, Lisa and Luke, on Tuesday night. We went to a great water-front restaurant at Balmoral Beach. Balmoral was a really cute area with some gorgeous homes leading down these windy roads to a quiet and small beach area. I got there a few minutes before Lisa and Luke, so took a few pictures of the beach (and the rather attractive Aussies playing rugby on the beach!)...

This beach was almost directly across from the big opening in the harbour out to the great wide ocean...here you can see 2 of the Manly ferries passing the opening in the distance...

Our restaurant was called Bather's Pavilion and was right on the water...every table has a water view. One side is a very fancy restaurant and one side is what they called a cafe...what I called just a little less fancy! Very worth it though...we had a great meal, great wine and great conversation!

The rest of the week was pretty nornal...filled with lots of good coffee runs and lunches with friends in the office and nice walks and jogs outside at night.

On Saturday, I had a markets day with my work friends, Sarah and Jeremy. We headed to the markets at an area that none of us had been to yet...Balmain. I headed over there on the ferry (had to literally run at full speed to catch the ferry, ha!) and then took a nice 15 minute walk up from the ferry through Balmain to the markets. What a cute area! Lots of great architecture and adorable homes in Balmain. The market was a little smaller than we were expecting, but we had fun walking around their main street and going in and out of stores along there. We also had to stop at a very famous patisserie. They are well-known for their little cakes and this place gets lines out the door. We went there early and they suggested that we pick something out and pay for it then and come back to pick it up later when we were done shopping. I was so overwhelmed at the selection, but felt a little rushed to pick something out. I went with something much more chocolate-y than I typically get...

It was like a double shot-glass size and was filled with different chocolate mousses and chocolate pieces and the middle layer was even liquid! All of it was made with milo, a chocolate that the guy in the store says they don't have much of in the US, but is something that all kids here grew up with! I enjoyed it after dinner on Saturday night and umm, yum!!

After Balmain, we headed back to my part of town because Sarah and Jeremy had never been to the markets right by me. We had a great time looking around there and stopped for a bite of lunch. Was a lovely Saturday at the markets!

I had a relaxing Sunday today in preparation for what will be a wild week here. Lots of fun plans, so lots of fun blog posts to come!

This is the life...

Had a great week in Sydney this week, despite it being my first full week back at work since the holidays. I am really taking this opportunity to heart and trying to live up every minute of the remainder of my time here! Part of living it up includes all of the wonderful food that Sydney has to offer. And because I want to be able to enjoy the food, I also need to remain very active for my last weeks here. This week, I alternated each weeknight and took a lovely walk/jog either around Lavendar Bay or across the Harbour Bridge. Both are about equal distance and equal challenge...oh yeah, and amazing scenery! Somehow, these just aren't quite the same as my walks in PV at home...especially in some of the parts right around my house, in PPPV, as my brother-in-law calls it! So, I think I will continue to enjoy my endless options of gorgeous places to exercise outside here while I can!

Friday was a fun day at work. Not only did we end with Beer Friday, but we also had a Morning Tea (everyone brought in treats) in the office to help raise funds for the Queensland Flood Relief Efforts. The damage in Queensland is just devastating and we do have some associates that live in areas that have been impacted. So, the office in Sydney and the office in Melbourne decided to all chip in and donate some money to the Red Cross-like organization here. We had a great time with wonderful food that everyone brought in and we ended up with $2500 to donate!

I hadn't been to Beer Friday in a while because of the holidays, so it was fun to be back with everyone again. A group of about 12 of us headed across the bridge and to The Rocks after Beer Friday. We were going to walk around The Rocks Night Markets, but stopped in a bar shortly after getting there...and then didn't leave the bar until the end of the night. Was a good time with fun friends!

Saturday was cloudy and a bit dreary, so I just ran a few errands and had a relaxing day around here.

Today (Sunday) started off really cloudy and misty again and I was pretty disappointed because this was not the weather that had been predicted. But no fear, it finally did clear off and, although a little later than initially planned, I headed to Bondi Beach to have a beach picnic with a few friends from work!! And it is now official...I LOVE the beach! We all put our towels together and had an awesome picnic right when we got there...dips and crackers, cheese, salami, olives, fruit, veggies, tim-tams and beer...YUM! And then we just alternated between laying on our towels and watching the action and going to actually be in the action! All of the clouds from the morning had disappeared, so it was a hot day and that meant quite a bit of time in the water to cool off. It was really cold at first, but we got used to it quickly. They were also filming some pieces for a show here called Bondi Rescue...was really fun to watch that action, but don't worry, I did try to stay far away from the cameras, ha! I am definitely going to try to get to the beach at some point each weekend that I have left here...it just doesn't get old!

I forgot to take a picture during our picnic, but here are the girls at the end of our beach afternoon!

Hope you are all enjoying Winter and staying warm! ;-)

Mom and Dad's trip - The Finale

Down to the last 2 days of Mom and Dad's trip!

I went to work again on Thursday morning and Mom and Dad just hung out and had a lazy morning. We went for the best fish-n-chips I have had here for lunch...just in a little cafe right by me in Kirribilli. Mom and Dad got a kick out of these signs that they have all over here, so we took a picture of them with one right by the cafe...Yield to the Aged, ha ha!















We then went to a few local shops in Kirribilli and then just spent some time walking along the harbour shore and enjoying the scenery.

I also finally found someone who wanted to do something that I have been wanting to do since I got here...my dad and I rode the big ferris wheel at Luna Park, the cute little amusement park right below my apartment! It was fun and was certainly a gorgeous view from up there!

That night, we went to a great Thai restaurant in Kirribilli for dinner. It was my parents' first experience with Thai and I think they really enjoyed it!

I took the whole day off on Friday, since it was their last full day here and we had a great day! We headed back over to The Rocks for our repeat visit to Pancakes at the Rocks...yum! And then our next destination was Bondi Beach! Bondi is such a beautiful beach and is certainly the most famous one here, but it is not quite as easy to get to. No lovely ferry ride to Bondi...instead we had to take 2 trains and 1 bus...but it was worth it! It was kind of a weird weather day...very sunny at times and raining at times. You can see the difference in the sky in some of these pictures. Anyway, we got some beach towels and actually hung out on the sandy beach at Bondi for quite a while. We got sun, watched surfers, got our feet (and legs and thighs) in the water, got rained on, got more sun. We then decided to do a bit of the coastal cliff walk that I had done previously, so that they could see some of the stunning views! I think they enjoyed it as much as I did the first time I did it! Never knew my parents to be such beach people, but I think they really enjoyed both of our beach experiences here!

(Side note: The Australian sun here is VERY strong. You all know that I embrace the sun and love a good tan. Well, I think I do have a bit of my dad in me because I do tend to burn some also. Even though it wasn't completely sunny on our Bondi Beach day, I still managed to get a pretty good burn. It was turning into a lovely tan (even my feet and hands are really tan!), but I think it is going to start peeling now. And, you will be happy to know that I have now purchased some sunscreen in preparation for the several more beach days that I plan to have before my time here ends!)

After some cool showers to cool and clean off from the beach, we headed down to The Rocks for our last dinner. We went to this awesome little Italian restaurant in the heart of The Rocks that has a beautiful mostly outdoor setting. During the summer months, they also have a smaller version of The Rocks Markets on Friday night, so Mom and Dad got to see some of my favorite market after all. We enjoyed sangria and bruschetta in our lovely outdoor setting...and then got rained on, ha! Oh well...they took us to a nice table inside, so we were still able to have a good time! We walked around a bit after dinner and then headed to Circular Quay to take our favorite transportation home...the ferry!

Mom and Dad, thank you so much for making this happen and for coming to experience my world here with me! It was truly one of the best weeks of my life and one that I will never forget!

Now, to my girlfriends and a certain sister...I know that my 6 month assignment here happened to be not very good timing with things that were going on in your lives...babies, school, moves to other countries, bad economy, etc...but someday, I am going to organize a girls trip for all of us to come here, so that we can all experience this amazing place together too!! :-)

Mom and Dad's Trip - Part 3

Don't worry...I will cover more than just one day in this post!

After our crazy long day in the Blue Mountains, we slept in a little on Monday and took our time getting ready. We  had planned to head out to Manly Beach, but the weather wasn't cooperating very well, so we spent the afternoon in Darling Harbour instead.

Darling Harbour was PACKED with people everywhere. There were lines around the buildings for the Aquarium and Wildlife World, so I was glad we weren't planning on going there. We went to lunch at what we thought looked like a great little place. We had a table that was up a level, so could look out at all the happenings of Darling Harbour. I think my parents enjoyed their meal, but I made the mistake of ordering the fresh prawns (not called shrimp here, called prawns). So, I got this bowl of whole prawns, head, eyes and all. I don't have a problem with peeling prawns, but when I tried to take the heads off, their guts would pop out on me. YUCK! My parents were dying laughing at me and Mom kept saying that she wished she took of a picture of me with these things. So, needless to say, I have been a little hesitant to order prawns since then...

We spent some time just walking around and looking at everything...the boats, shops, gardens, fountains, etc...and then we went to the National Maritime Museum. We had a great time looking at all of the exhibits in there, especially one about the US and Australia naval relations and one about sharks. It was pretty crowded in there too and we had quite a few laughs and repeated how this one little boy exclaimed about the sharks for the rest of the trip. I obviously can't do an accent on here, but it kind of sounded like he was saying 'shocks' with a bit of a nasal cold. Hilarious!

I don't have many pictures from Darling Harbour...I think we took some on Mom's camera that day. But, here are a few...

We headed home from Darling Harbour late that afternoon and went to dinner at a great little Italian restaurant in my area.

On Tuesday, I went to work in the morning while Mom and Dad went out to breakfast and goofed around some in Kirribilli. In the afternoon, we caught the Manly Ferry out to Manly Beach! The ferry ride in itself is wonderful and I think Mom and Dad now agree with me that ferry is by far the best way to travel around the city! The Manly Ferry is about 3 times the size of the other ferries and it is a 30 minute ride to get there. The best part is when you pass the opening out into the ocean and the waves get pretty big, so the ferry gets a bit rocky! Here are Mom and Dad on the ferry...

We stopped for a snack when we got there and spent lots of time down by the water. It wasn't really warm enough to be laying out, but there were still quite a few surfers and some people taking a sea kayaking class...that was fun and funny to watch! We walked around some of the shops and then went back to the beach for more toe-dipping and people watching! It has been a really long time since Mom and Dad have been to a beach anywhere and it was really fun to watch them having so much fun there! We ended with a fun fish-n-chips dinner and then caught the ferry back.

I worked all day on Wednesday (booo), but Mom and Dad had a great day without me! They took the train into the city and started out with some shopping at the beautiful Queen Victoria Building. The walked around quite a bit in the main city center and then made their way down to the Opera House where they did that one hour tour that I did when I first got here. I think they loved it as much as I did! I got home from work to find them doing one of their favorite things...sitting on my balcony and watching the rainbow lorikeets that always come by!

As a surprise Christmas gift, I had gotten us tickets to go to a true Aussie show that night...Tap Dogs! It is a tap dancing show that was started by 6 steel workers in Australia in the 90's. It has been made into a movie and has toured the world...and last Wednesday night was their opening night back in the Capital Theatre in Sydney! This show was 80 minutes of heart pumping, fast paced, loud tap dancing using all sorts of props...steel beams and platforms, basketballs, water to name a few! We had so much fun getting dressed up and seeing a show in the big city!

Only 2 more days left of their wonderful visit here, so one more blog post coming!

Mom and Dad's trip - Part 2

On Sunday, we woke up bright and early to go on a tour of the Blue Mountains. We had a really great time overall and the tour company packed a ton into the day, but I was a little disappointed at the beginning because the tour was not quite as it had been advertised. It was advertised as a small van with no more than 20 people and they specifically mentioned being able to do things that the bigger tour buses couldn't do. Well, a small van picked us up and then took us into the city where we got onto a big tour bus...what?? Once on the tour bus and heading out of the city, they also told us about our first stop of the day at a place called Scenic World. We would be there for about an hour and a half and in order to see most of the sights there, we had to pay another $20 something dollars for the 'rides'. I was pretty annoyed at that and wished they would have just included that in the price up front. Anyway, we paid it and it was worth it in the end.

The Three Sisters is one of the famous rock formations at the Blue Mountains and that was up first at Scenic World.

We took a cable car (one of the 'rides' that we paid extra for) down into a valley where we got to walk through a temperate rainforest and learn all about the vegetation there, as well as some history of the Blue Mountains. Here we are on the cable car...

There were all of these really cool ferns growing out of the tops of different trees down in the valley. Mom loved them, so we got a picture of her with the ferns, Mom and Dad along the walk through the rainforest and then one of the Three Sisters in the distance framed by ferns...

Here is Mom and Dad by a little water trickling down the mountains and then me by another little water spot...

We then headed back up the mountain in our other 'ride' and I swear, I felt like I was on a ride at Disney World! It was a little train thing that pretty much went straigh up the mountain. When you got in, you almost felt like you were laying down and as it started going up, you sat more upright and kind of had to hold onto this cage thing in front of you to keep from feeling like you were falling out! It went pretty fast and went in between rock formations...it was really cool! Sorry that I didn't get a picture of that part...

The tour bus then headed into a little town called Leura for a lunch stop. We were a little bit rushed, there were lots of lunch options, but not a lot with many seating areas. We ended up in a little cafe and had shared some laughs over our random lunch there. Later in the trip, we voted it probably the worst meal of the trip, ha!

After lunch, we headed to the next viewing place. However, in order to view this sight, we had to walk down 238 stairs...and then back up after, of course. It was also a really really hot day, so Mom and Dad opted out of doing all the stairs. I hiked down with most of the rest of the group to see Wentworth Falls. It was gorgeous for sure. It kept going down and down and there were cool freshwater pools at the bottom. I was so hot after all the stairs that I wished I was in the pools!

Next, we headed to a spot called Flat Rock where we got to walk all over this huge flat rock and see all of the mountains and valleys down below. It was beautiful! By this time, the weather had totally changed, gotten much colder and it rained on us. Was a nice change from the heat, but we were starting to feel pretty yucky after having been sweaty and then soaked from the rain. Here are some pics from the Flat Rock...

We started heading down the mountain and stopped at a spot to see an aboriginal rock engraving. It was still raining and the engraving was not very exciting...we could have down without that stop, ha!

Still not quite sure why this part was on the Blue Mountains tour, but once we got back into the outskirts of Sydney, we stopped for 45 minutes to tour around Olympic Park, home of the 2000 Olympics. It was actually really cool to see everything there and we had a good time exploring. Here is a pic of me and Dad in front of the Olympic Cauldron, which they later made into a tribute to all of the medal winners...you can see the gold, silver and bronze strips down below that had all of the winners names...

After Olympic Park, we took a (long and pretty slow) ferry ride down the Parramatta River and back into the Sydney Harbour...again, part of the tour. We had made friends with some really nice girls from North Carolina and Maryland throughout the day and shared quite a few laughs with them, especially on that long ferry ride home. After a full 12 hours of the tour, we had had a great time, but were ready to be done. Mom, Dad and I just headed back to my apartment to have leftovers from our NYE party and change into comfy clothers...we were exhausted!

Sorry for the long post, but there was a lot packed into this one day...more adventures to come tomorrow!