Sydney Reunions & Sight-seeing (Feb. 7-15, 2011)

My next BIG adventure was off to join up with a friend from uni back home in Sydney and then spend some quality catch-up time with some more friends from camp!! I am so happy and lucky to have met so many wonderful and amazing friends from not only around America, but around the world, while at camp! So I was off to visit my friend Kain, Chris, Mel, Sammy D, and some of Kain's friends that I have met previously on a trip to Canada to visit him last January.

First thing we did was head to the famous Bondi Beach! The whitest of white sand and clear blue water, made it look like something out of a movie or post card. We took a bunch of photos and walked in the water for a good hour or so just soaking in the rays and chatting. It was a wonderful time for me to catch up and reconnect with all my friends that I hadn't seen in almost two years.

After our day at the beach, my friend from uni back home and I returned to where we were staying in Rose Bay. The next day we took a ferry ride from Rose Bay into Circular Quay and then final destination Manly Beach for the day. The views while on the ferry of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge were breathe taking and I think I ended up with maybe 50 photos of pretty much the same thing over and over! Just so so pretty! This was my first sighting of both the Opera House and the Bridge. We only stayed in the Quay for a few minutes, and while we were there, we watched some aboriginal street performers play which was quite good to listen to. Then it was off to Manly Beach. I had heard about Manly because of a tv show that is on called the Manly Surf School where they do profiles of the people who they teach to surf. Looked like a beautiful beach on the tele so it was a must to check out. The weather wasn't too cooperative that day but we made the best of it by ducking in to shop and eat a gyros for lunch when the afternoon rain fell. I ended up getting a really nice pair of jean shorts [on sale too]! And as a final treat and farewell, we Victoria and I treated ourselves to some delicious beach side ice cream!

I hope you are enjoying being caught up on my adventures!! Heaps more to come! Take care and Speak soon! xoxo

Phillip Island (Jan. 29-30, 2011) + Australian Open (Jan. 28, 2011)

Aussie Open:
The Australian Open was running from the 17-30 of January, which opened up the door to watch some amazing tennis. Almost every night either while out in the city, enjoying dinner somewhere, or at home, the matches were always on to watch. It was great to see the whole city of Melbourne come to life and in support of there hometown hero's and other favorite players. One day while in the city with Eddie's mum, we sat in Federation Square for a bit watching a match on one of the whole flat screen tv's they have set up. People could come and go as the please and know a match would always be on watch.

Sadly, by the time we are free to try and get tickets, they were getting down into the semifinals and prices were through the roof. But, we did spend a bit of time walking around the different arena's and grounds just for the experience and to feel the energy and excitement in the air! The night we visited, playing at the rod laver arena was Ferrer vs. Murray, where Murray went on the compete in the finals. Next time I am 100% for sure getting a ticket early on to go and watch some tennis!! Just another reason why I need to come back and visit! :)

Later that evening, Eddie and I went to his hometown, Bacchus Marsh, to have dinner, drinks and play some silly games with one of his long time mates and his girlfriend. It was a lot of fun! Tried my first 'Aussie' Pizza, which was basically a Hawaiian with egg. Very yummy!!

Phillip Island:
On Saturday, Eddie and I took a mini road-trip down to a place called Phillip Island, located about 2.5 hours south of Melbourne. The weather was to be hot hot hot all weekend and we had quite a few things planned. We stayed at a lovely place called the Silverwater Resort and was located right on the clifftop, with spectacular views of water everywhere you looked.

Our first stop on the Island was to the Grand Prix Circuit track, where Eddie had previously done a track day at (and crashed). So he was very excited to go back and see everything and I was happy because I was hoping to see some pretty cars. Just my luck, it seemed that a Porsche Club was having a track day!! We ended up spending most of the afternoon driving go-carts around their replica course. Very entertaining! I was constantly being distracted by the nice Porsche's that were driving by and the fact that both tracks were located right on the edge of a cliff. Ocean views for miles!

Another reason we took the trip to Phillip Island was to see the wildlife attraction of warm water penguins who come out of the water at night fall to retreat into the hills for safety and nesting. The event is termed 'Penguin Parade' and I was very excited to go see this! Sadly, it wasn't as exciting as the website and everyone had made it out to be. The penguins were a good 50m away and very hard to see plus we weren't allowed to take any photos!!! Grrrrr (I tried and failed!) They also had told us to arrive an hour early, which meant around 7, and the penguins didn't start emerging till around 9:30! Overall, it was a great experience but would definitely do it differently next time.

Hope you enjoyed the long post!! There will be more long ones + photos to come!! Take care and speak soon! xoxo

It's been a long journey to Adelaide!

Feb. 25, 2011

Hello to everyone back home!

I greatly apologize for the lack of updates over the month. And will be going back and doing a re-cap of all my adventures. It has been very busy, with not much internet access for me to keep up with this. But I have heaps of good stories and photos to now share with everyone, now that my internet is finally up and working at uni.

I know you are all experiencing some lovely snowy weather while I am sweating heaps in 85F. I arrived in Adelaide on Saturday (02/19/11), after about an 8 hour car drive with Eddie. The road was very flat, lots of sand, some gumtrees lined the road, and no signs of civilization till we were maybe 20km outside the heart of Adelaide. Not much of a big city and booming metropolis! We weren't allowed to move into our on campus living arrangements till Sunday, so we stayed in a really nice hostel in Glenelg, right on the beach and about a 20 minute drive from the campus.

Sunday (02/20/11) was move-in day and the beginning of Orientation Week. I am living in a nice sized two-story townhouse, with a bathroom, kitchen and living room downstairs and three bedrooms and full bath upstairs. My room is a bit on the small sized compared to my other friends who live in the newer units, but I don't really have that much stuff for a lot of space. I so so so so so miss having my big bed from school back home. I swear even my feet are hanging off the edge of the bed. It has to be smaller than a normal twin!!! :( But, I will make do. On the plus side, I have acquired a really cute new pair of shoes, so that puts me at having 20 pairs with me on this trip! Has to be some sort of a record!

Classes don't begin until Monday (02/28/11) so I really should find out where all my classes are located oh and maybe books! But, I do have internet and I will be joining the gym next week too! So overall things are looking pretty good. Have met some fun girls to hang out with and go exploring with, so that has been a lot of fun. Each day is full of new things to discover and see where I end up.

Be looking out for a nice recap of the whole month and now I will stay up to date.
Things to look forward too: surfing lessons on Sunday with all the girls, Fringe Festival in downtown Adelaide on Saturday (possibly), and classes starting!

Take care and hope everyone is staying safe and warm with all the cold weather! Time for me to apply more Aloe to my sunburn!! :)

Ballarat Wildlife Park

January 26, 2011

What is more Australian, than on Australia Day, hang out feeding kangaroo's and koala's?!?! I was in heaven! There had to be almost 100 kangaroo's roaming happily around the grounds looking for food and petting attention. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day for roaming around and checking out all the animals unique to Australia. We missed the holding and picture taking time slot with the koala's by a matter of minutes, so it means we just have to go back!! We bought a bag of kangaroo food mix (next time getting 2) and we could feed them right out of our hand. I couldn't stop smiling! Some where laying down relaxing, some would hop over to us once they saw the brown bag of food, and my favorite part was when they would hold your hand while eating! So so so adorable! But, claws on their paws were sometimes sharp. At one point, I was feeding 4 kangaroo's out of my hand at once!! Everyone should have this opportunity and experience at some point! I don't even think my describing it can do it justice!

We did see other animals at the park such as koala's, Tasmanian devils, emu's, wombat, and echidna's. There was also a big reptile portion full of snakes and other scary things, so I didn't go in there! My favorite's were by far feeding the kangaroo's and seeing the koala's.

Later that night we enjoyed a lovely Aussie Day BBQ at Eddie's parents house in Bacchus Marsh. All and all, one of my top favorite days of my trip so far! We took a million photos, so I will put a select few up on here! Enjoy!!