Busy week

Uh oh...not good to get behind in blogging because then it is hard to catch up. Luckily, I only have last week, plus these next 2 weeks left in Australia and then it is back to my boring life with nothing to blog about!

Things are going really well in the office with my replacement, Lili. We are busy busy trying to transition everything, but we have a great time together and just laugh and laugh. We will certainly miss each other when we are no longer sharing our small office together!

The week of February 7th, we had 2 very special visitors come to the office from our headquarters in KC. One of the company's top few executives, our Chief People Officer and Sr VP of HR, came to visit, along with the VP of Recruiting. It has been about 5 years since anyone from the top exec leadership team in KC has been to visit the Australia offices, so it was a big deal to have them here. And an even bigger deal for me because they were my executives and the agenda was all HR topics while they were here! So, I was very busy preparing for their visit, very busy while they were here and very busy playing catch up the rest of the week!

The work stuff is pretty boring and no one cares to hear about that (but it did all go very well!), but we did have lots of fun while they were here too! They arrived in Sydney on Saturday, the 5th...which ended up being one of the hottest days in Sydney history! I know that most of you reading this have been bombarded by snow and are sick to death of the cold temps, but extremes in either direction aren't very fun. That week literally ended up breaking records here and went down as the hottest week in Sydney history...ever. Awesome, so happy I got to be a part of history, ha ha! It was about 108 on that Saturday and felt like about 115 out in the sun. Oh yeah, and humid. Yuck. I tried not to do too much during the day, but did get out for a fun dinner. My two execs had offered to take me out to a nice dinner on Saturday night to thank me for making this commitment to come down to Sydney for 6 months. We had a few drinks at their beautiful hotel first and then headed to a wonderful seafood restaurant right across from the Opera House. Although a bit warm, we had a wonderful evening catching up and enjoyed our lovely meal.

On Sunday, we met up around noon and did a few things in The Rocks and Circular Quay areas before hopping on the ferry out to Manly. The hot spell broke finally and the temperature literally changed about 3 seasons...all while we were on the ferry! We were all in tank tops and shorts or capris and we had to go inside in the ferry because it got so chilly, windy and rainy. Our visitors even bought sweatshirts when we got to Manly! We still had a great time walking around and shopping though and met up with a few others from the office for a fabulous dinner at the Manly Grill, right across from the beach.

Lots of work meetings on Monday and then I had organized a nice dinner out for the local leadership team with our 2 visitors. We went to one of my favorite spots, Ripples, right down in my area, and across the harbour from the Opera House. Everyone had a great time and we all just sat around mingling and finishing our drinks and desserts for hours!

Tuesday, I got spoiled by my execs yet again. We put in some good time at work, but then me and one of the execs headed out of the office at about 3. We went down to The Rocks where she let me know that they wanted to purchase this beautiful Aboriginal painting (that I had previously seen and fallen in love with) for me. It was so incredibly nice of them and I can't wait to find the perfect spot for it back in my PV home!

Then, the most exciting part of all...I got to go do something that I had set my heart on doing before I left Sydney. We did the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb!!!!! When I first got here and saw people doing it, I said...no way, I will never do that. But, the more I saw people doing it and the more I heard about it, I knew that I had to conquer my doubts and fears and just do it! I am not horribly afraid of heights, but I don't love them, so I was a little nervous. However, I had very little reason to be nervous, as it was so wonderfully run and organized and it felt completely safe the whole time. You have to wear a special jumper suit and you are connected to a cable the entire time. We had a small group on our climb...it was only me and the 1 exec, and then a father and son pair from China. I am not sure they spoke much, if any, Englist, so it was basically like me and Angie had a private climb with our guide...who was adorable, by the way!!

We headed out along the underneath part and got to learn a lot about the history of the bridge. I was already having so much fun and was almost giddy with excitement at this point. We were also very lucky in that we got to see a HUGE cruise ship leaving from Circular Quay, so it was fun to watch as they prepared and finally took off. Once we got to the big pylons and the actual start of the bridge, we did have to climb up about 6 or 7 flights of 'stairs' that were straight up and down. It was more like a ladder. I did great on that part again though and was truly enjoying every minute of the experience. Once up there, we started up on the actual top arch. Again, it was basically like following stairs all the way up. I can't even describe how stunning the views were from way up there. It was sunny to one side and party cloudy to the other side. We could see all the way out to the ocean on one side and up to the Blue Mountains on the other. It was just breathtaking to stop along the way and look at all of the sights. I really took it all in and remembered again how lucky I am that I have had this great opportunity. The way down was a tiny bit scary, as it was pretty steep at times, but I still did great. I just kept my eyes on the next step when we were walking and enjoyed the views when we would stop. All in all, it was about 1,360 stairs and took 3 hours. I am so incredibly happy that I finally went for it and did the Bridge Climb before I left! It was totally worth it and it was about the coolest thing I have ever done...well, at least up until this past weekend...stay tuned for my next post!