Weekend with Family

A lot has happened since Chris arrived a week ago! On Thursday night we had some friends over. As two of them walked up to our door a dog followed them, prompting me to of course try to find out who she belonged to. She was a really friendly, old black lab. She had a collar so I knew she belonged to someone but only a little tag with "City of Stirling" and a phone number written on it that expired in 2006. I got in contact with the people on that phone number who said that unfortunately the numbers they had on file for her owners were disconnected so there's nothing they can do. They did tell us that she was about 10 and her name was Toomba. All of us (me, Chris, Regan, and our friends) fell in love with her right away as she just followed us around and loved when we rubbed her belly. Since everything was closed at that point there wasn't much we could do so (being a huge dog lover) I went up to the grocery store and got her some food and some treats and we let her stay with us for the night. On Friday morning I called our local city council and they sent over a ranger to pick her up. Honestly, I was really sad! She was such a sweet dog but I knew we couldn't keep her. I was just really hoping they would find her owners. I did get a call later in the day to say they had found her owners and she was lost. I was very happy that she got returned to the right place.

Regan left Friday morning so then it was just me and Chris. We went to work as normal on Friday (after Toomba got picked up) and then went out in the city Friday night with some friends. Chris just about managed to stay awake through the jet lag until we got home!

We spent the weekend with some of Chris' extended family that lives just outside Sydney. He had never met them before and obviously neither had I but they were some of the nicest people I've ever met! They came down on Saturday at about 4 pm to pick us up after we had just spent the morning lazing around watching tv and packing our bags for the weekend etc. The family owns a business and were having their company christmas party on Saturday night so we went along. It was at a really nice Italian restaurant and the food was delicious. The family is a huge italian family and they were all there for the dinner - it was so nice to feel like part of a family after living on my own for 6 weeks! We stayed overnight at the grandparents house who made sure we had everything we could ever need. On Sunday morning they were going down to one of their local beaches so we tagged along for that too. They drove us home Sunday afternoon and we needed to do groceries so we bussed to a grocery store, spent more money, and then lugged all the groceries home (that was a mission and a half). The only complaint I have about our apartment is that we have a tiny fridge. After doing all those groceries on Sunday it's like a game of Jenga in there. Finally we got home, made some pizza, and collapsed in bed early.

Monday we went to work again. After work I went to the gym and then Chris cooked dinner (chicken, pasta, salad and crusty bread - yum) and then I met up with my friend Joelle (who's here for school from England) for dessert at Max Brenner's chocolate bar which quickly became one of my favourite places in Sydney.

Last night was very uneventful - I haven't been feeling great lately (think I'm coming down with a cold or something) so I was really tired and just had a chill night at home.

Tonight is our work Christmas party which is at a beautiful location overlooking Bondi beach so that should be fun.

I can't believe it's only a week until Christmas now... Doesn't seem like it with the 30 degree temperatures! Heading to Melbourne on Sunday to spend Christmas with some old family friends. I'll update from there!

Chris has arrived!

So yesterday was a bit of a dramatic day. It went a little like this....

Originally, my plan was to take a taxi to and from the airport on the morning Chris was supposed to arrive. But when I thought about it more (and googled some bus routes) I found out that there was actually a bus I could take from close to my apartment straight to the airport. It was going to take an hour instead of the 15 mins a taxi would take but since I already had paid for a bus pass it would save me about $35. On Tuesday night my plan was to get to bed pretty early so I could get a good sleep, since my bus was leaving at 7:15 on Wednesday morning to take me to the airport. But then, me and Regan got invited to go out for a late dinner with some friends (which was lovely - but late) so I wasn't in bed until about midnight. Fast forward to Wednesday (yesterday) morning and when my alarm went off at 6:15 am let's just say it was a roll out of bed kind of morning. Anyway, I got up and dressed, had some breakfast and set out for the bus. His flight was supposed to arrive into the airport at 8:10 (and the United Airlines website said it was on time) and the bus was running a bit late so I was worried! When the bus finally got to the airport at about 8:12 I ran in and tried to find his flight on the arrivals board to find out which gate to wait at. It wasn't on the board so of course I panicked thinking I was in the wrong place and I was going to miss him. So, I went and asked the information lady and was told it was delayed until 9:10. Bit of a pain but I thought "whatever it's just an hour" and luckily I had a book with me so I just read that for a while. At 9:05 the flight status changed to "arrived" on the arrivals board so I quickly got a place right by the railing and started watching everyone coming out to see if I could spot him. A few other people around me were also waiting for passengers from the same flight so we all stood together in hopes that our friends or family would come out at similar times. We waited there for about an hour after the flight had landed and were all getting frustrated at this point that it was taking so long. But, soon after, slowly all of them trickled away as they ran over to hug and kiss their loved ones coming through the gate. I was still waiting. After 2 hours of waiting at the railing (at this point it was 11:20) I was getting to the point where I thought that something must be wrong. Were they holding him in immigration? Did his bags have to get searched? I had no idea what was going on and was just hoping I hadn't missed him coming through. So, not knowing what to do, I went and asked the information desk if they could help me in any way and of course I got a "No miss, this happens 100 times a day, there's nothing we can do to help you." Great, super helpful. I walked around the whole airport arrivals area to try to find him and still no luck. I was getting texts and messages from my parents and his parents and Regan and I had no answers. I went to talk to a different desk hoping they would have more information and just as I was hearing the lady say to the United Airlines desk on the phone "Oh, they've all been processed? So they should have all been out a while ago... Hmm that IS a problem..." I heard a "Becky?" and I don't think I've been that happy to hear my name in a long time. I finally had Chris with me, complete with stories of lost luggage, customs interrogation, and flight delays. A quick call to his parents at home and the loudest "CHRISTOPHER? Is that you?" coming through the phone had everyone relieved that he was finally through the airport and on his way home. A lot of drama to start with, but ready for good times ahead!

After we got home and I showed him around our little apartment, we headed out to do banking, phone plans, and groceries. After all that was done we went home and he unpacked while I made dinner (pasta, chicken, and carrots). We watched some Friends on tv to finish a stressful day and then passed out early!

Today is his first partial day at work so Regan's showing him the ropes of what she does. Tonight we're hosting a little party with a few friends at our apartment as a Bye Regan/Hi Chris/Christmas get together thing. We'll order some pizza and have some drinks and it should be a good time!

A General Update

So since my last post which was about a week ago not too much has happened. Last week was more of a relaxing week than we've had most weeks so far. On Monday we went down to our local beach (Coogee beach) after work to enjoy some down time in the sun. Tuesday night we went to see Catching Fire at the movies which was soo good - very recommended! I don't think I did anything on Wednesday night... Nothing I can remember anyway, it all blurs together! Thursday we went shopping of course, but this time we went downtown. We spent most of our time looking at all the designer stores we can't afford but bought a few little bits and pieces, as well as a pair of shoes! Friday night we went out (as usual) and met up with a few friends. We started off at a big bar called Starbar, but it wasn't that good and drinks were really expensive so we decided to move on. We ended up back at a place we've been before called Scary Canary which is a small but very busy "backpackers" bar. It was cheap uni night (where anyone who's a university student can get $4 drinks) so everyone was taking full advantage of that! We danced all night and I can fully say that my feet hated me for it... Wearing heels and taking to the dance floor for 5 hours is never a fun thing for your feet the next day!






The weekend was pretty relaxed after that. On Saturday we went to a few little markets around Sydney and took a look around. The original plan was to go out on Saturday night too (since it's Regan's last weekend here) but we were both exhausted and had very sore feet so we just stayed in and watched some TV. Sunday morning Regan went out early to go to a cafe and the beach but I slept in. In the afternoon we hit up Bondi beach for some tanning in the sun. It was soo busy - probably somewhere between 3000 and 4000 people on one beach. It's always a source of entertainment to watch all the surfers getting smashed around by the massive waves, and sometimes you can even catch a few good ones actually manage to stand up and surf properly! Spent a couple hours at the beach and then headed home for some Sunday night lounging around.

Last night (Monday night) I got pizza for dinner from this place called Arthur's pizza which I swear has the best pizza I've ever had in my life. I lit a christmas scented candle and curled up on the couch with a blanket and some popcorn watching Love Actually - one of the best christmas movies ever in my opinion. It was a lovely and relaxing night!

It's so weird that it's almost christmas. Here in Sydney it's 30 degrees and sunny, nothing like the winter wonderland all the christmas songs talk about. There's a big christmas tree downtown and it's really strange walking by it and being warm!

Nothing much else to say for now... Chris gets in tomorrow morning so I'll be meeting him at the airport. Regan leaves on Friday morning and then it'll just be me and Chris for the next 5 and a half months! Should be fun - we have lots of adventurous things planned.

Post again soon!

Roadtrippin

This weekend was probably one of the busiest weekend's I've ever had. As I said in my last post, Friday night we went out. Saturday morning (with some tylenol in our system) we set out on a weekend road trip. The company that Regan works for has a company car that people can sign out, and they were kind enough to let us use it for the weekend. We had looked into good places to see that were drivable, so once we had an itinerary,  we set off for the day. On Saturday we decided to drive up to Blue Mountains National Park - which is supposed to have amazing views and lots of hiking trails etc. We were very open to seeing all the views... the hiking, not so much. It took us about 3 hours to get there in the end: we left at about 10:30 am and finally got to blue mountains at about 1:30 by the time we had stopped in a little town for lunch and to look around. Once we got there and parked we did a little half hour hike down to a lookout point where the view was spectacular.

We hadn't had a huge amount of sleep the night before... So we were exhausted by the time we hiked back up to the car. We headed home which took about 2 hours, so we were home by about 5:30 in the end. We had something to eat and headed to bed early - we knew there was another busy day ahead!

Sunday morning we tried to head out earlier... Although it didn't really happen by the time we were up and moving. The plan was to drive along the south coast - through the Royal National Park and on to a little well-known town called Kiama. We left home at about 10:30 again and started driving towards the national park. The weather was a bit overcast and rainy to start with, but that didn't get us down! We drove all the way through the national park which was beautiful and stopped at about 12:30 for lunch at a cute little cafe along the coast. After lunch we kept driving (stopping to take lots of pictures along the way) and finally ended up at Bombo beach (which is in Kiama). We stopped at Bombo for about an hour and a bit and just lay on the beach listening to the waves. We continued on to Kiama to see the Kiama blowhole and stopped there for dinner (fish and chips) at about 5:30. It had already been a long crazy day but we still had to drive home yet! We had to stop to get groceries (those stupid adult duties again) on the way home so finally ended up at home at 9:30 pm. It was a busy day to say the least!

Back at work today after a crazy weekend. But what's the point of travelling if you don't see as much as you can? Hopefully there will be many more busy weekends to come!

A Night Out in the City

So I did promise to write an update about what happened last night (Friday night). Since Friday has been set as our "going out night," we're constantly looking for cool and fun new places to try out. The first weekend we were here it was Oxford Art Factory (a basement bar with live music) in Surry Hills (a suburb of Sydney) followed by The Forresters, another crazy busy bar nearby.

The next weekend we went to the Rose Hotel (also in Surry Hills) and then on to the Beresford, which was a very big, very packed bar/club/venue also with live music. Up until then it was our favourite - everyone was really classy and the place was amazing.

Last weekend we tried out another bar called Scary Canary which is listed as one of the best backpacker bars in Sydney. It was nice but small. We then went on to another small bar called Stitch, and then on to a place called Frankie's pizza. I thought it was going to be a regular pizza place (honestly - I was excited to get pizza) but turns out it's actually another bar type setting with a dance floor etc.

This weekend we wanted to try more new places. So, yesterday we got home from work at 5, made ourselves some dinner (pasta with homemade cheese sauce and chicken - mmm) and then got ready to go out. We set out at about 8:30 and first went to another backpackers bar called Scubar. It wasn't very impressive although it's really cheap! At most bars a cocktail is about $15-20 (which is ridiculous) but at Scubar they were only $6. So, we had a few drinks there and then moved on and went back to the Beresford. We quickly left there as it was really crowded and the upstairs area where there is usually live music and dancing was closed for a private party. We had heard some people talking about another place called Ivy so we decided to try it out. It was amazing. When we first got there and realized that it was a $20 cover charge to get in we debated for a minute (you don't have to pay cover usually) but decided to go for it. It's a building with 7 or 8 floors with another building beside that's 6 floors. The one building had an open cutout in the roof all the way down the middle to the dance floor on the first floor below. It started raining at one point and it was so cool to watch everyone dancing in the rain having the time of their lives. The other building has a pool... No one was swimming last night cause it was kinda cold but apparently people do when it's warmer! Definitely need to keep that one in mind for future weekends.

              

Dampening the Mood

So apparently when we came down here to so called "sunny" Australia, we brought the rain with us. I've now been here for 3 weeks and 2 days, and there has probably been about 6-7 days where it hasn't rained at all. Oh well, I can't really complain when getting messages from people at home saying it's -15 and snowing. It's still always in the positive temperatures here! It's hard to tell but it's raining in the picture - that's my view out my window at work!

Since my last post nothing too interesting has happened. Went for a long run down to the closest beach (Coogee beach) on Wednesday night (and took the picture below) which was lovely, not many people can say that they can run to the ocean!

Shopping times are really strange here, Monday-Wednesday and Fridays stores and banks are only open during regular "working" hours, aka 8-4 or 9-5. Most stores are open similar times on weekends, although banks are closed which is very odd. Thursday is the "late night shopping" night where everything is open till 9, so of course last night needed to be spent shopping. We went to a mall in Bondi Junction called the Westfield mall (it's a chain of malls - weird I don't really get it) which was absolutely massive - it has 7 floors and two sections on either side of a busy street. Most of our time was spent looking in stores at all the expensive things we could never afford ($3000 chanel purse anyone?) although we did get a few things that were reasonably priced. Everything is so expensive here it's crazy... Just as an example we found a revlon eye shadow palette (a small one) that was almost $30! At home it would be like $8. Also another random fact about shopping here - all the grocery stores are within malls. So you have to go to the mall to get groceries. It's weird.

Anyway, that's all to report for now. Going out tonight (haven't decided where to yet - probably a local bar/club of some sort) so hopefully will have something interesting to tell after that!

Delayed Creation

So, for some reason I've only just gotten around to creating a blog now. I know... I'm three weeks in, I should've done this a long time ago. I could've posted so many things about getting started with my new life here in Australia. But, it didn't happen, so just going to have to start now. Better late than never I guess. So I'll give a very short version of what I've been up to so far. Regan and I arrived here on November 6th, exactly three weeks ago today. The flight was a little rough on the way over, I was really sick in the first section to Vancouver and then the section from Vancouver to Sydney felt like the longest thing I've ever done. Anyway, we made it in the end.

The first week was pretty much just boring "adult" stuff like sorting out bank accounts, phone plans, grocery shopping, and shopping for a few apartment essentials (laundry bins, closet storage etc). We lucked out big time by coming over already having a job and an apartment set up for us. The jobs we have are at the University of New South Wales in the optometry building - my parents had my back there through knowing the right people. We work for two different departments within the same building and one of them owns multiple apartments and houses that they give out to employees or people who come to visit the company - so we also lucked out big time by getting one of those from when we arrived until April. We started work on Monday November 11th. It's good - great hours (9-5 Monday to Friday), a great location, and with really nice people.

In other non work related news, Friday night has been deemed as our "going out night." The drinking age is 18 here - so that creates many more opportunities to go out on weekends! We've found a few cool places to go so far, including some with live music, dancing, and of course many people drinking far too much alcohol. We've been trying to make some new friends while we're here which is harder than it sounds when most people already have a core group and aren't interested in adding two lonely girls to it. We did make a few friends though which has been nice - we met them while out one Friday night and have seen them a few more times since then, including going to the zoo with one of them! Our weekends are usually spent going out on Friday night, shopping or going to markets or the beach on Saturdays, and then Sunday is usually what we like to call an "adult" day - where we do all the boring things necessary when you live alone (clean, cook, grocery shop, laundry etc).

The biggest thing that has happened since we arrived is that Regan decided she's heading home at christmas time instead of staying until May with me like the original plan. This came as a shock to me as well as everyone at home I think but it's her choice so I can't really do anything about it. Luckily, I have another friend Chris from back home (we lifeguarded together in the summer) who's been planning to come to Australia but was weary to come without a job and living arrangements etc. So, he's going to come out to replace Regan in her job and the apartment starting mid December. It will be a change for sure - but hopefully it'll all be for the best in the end.

Anyway, I think that's basically it for now. I'll try to post again soon!