So, things in Kiama are going pretty well - this family is so easygoing. They want me to feel very at home and have a really strong household. The kids are adoreable (Ashley - 4, Danielle - 2, and Hamish - 11 monthes) Australian accents on little kids is one of the cutest things ever :) I've enjoyed some beautiful runs along the bluffs and beaches...the kids wake up at 6 so the whole house does but I'm not really needed until 8 when Drew (the dad) goes to work so they are beautiful sunrise runs :)
I've enjoyed taking the kids on walks around town and then spent A LOT of time with their train track, inside the pink castle tent and singing Old MacDonald and Incy Wincy Spider to their singalong CD/Book - seriously, they can sing that thing a dozen times in a row.
The parents, Justine and Drew, and I have been learning a lot from each other - ex, last night I was telling a story and said during my sophomore year and Drew stopped me and said he always hears this expressions on movies and such but doesn't know what it means! Or I've learned a bit about the government, a lot about real estate (which is really low here too) since they are trying to sell the house and move into an apartment in Sydney in December.
All in all it's great for right now and it's really nice to be sleeping in a comfy bed, getting some good food and experience life with a family but I'm struggling a bit as a 22 (almost 23!) babysitter and that the adventure part of the trip has kind of stopped, but we are headed to Watson's Bay tomorrow to stay with her sister for a long weekend (this weekend is like their labor day) and there's been talk of going to the zoo or something since Watson's Bay is only about a half hour outside of Sydney. Once again, I'm just enjoying this experience one day at a time and thinking about all of you every day and wishing you were here!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The Great Barrier Reef!
The venture to the reef was an experience in itself! A quick flight and an 18-hour bus ride and we were finally at Airlie Beach! The beachtown was fun and quaint but had some great harbor views and pretty much served as a port for people to get out on the WhitSunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef!
Our ship was a sailboat with 18 passengers and 3 crew – it was an experience and a blast! We were asked to help hoist sails or pull on lines or whatever was needed. The group was a hodge podge of backpackers , Adam and I were the only Americans and then we had some Scots, Irish, Hollanders, Germans, French and Belgium. It was pretty fun to talk to everyone about what kind of work and/or travel they are doing.
We spent the days in the water, hiking an island and sailing the seas! The nights were beautiful under an incredible blanket of southern hemisphere stars and we all sat on deck drinking goon (boxed wine) and chatting about our very differnet cultures and lives!
The reef was AMAZING! I had my first scuba dive! It was so cool and I can’t wait to do it again! There were four of us doing our first dive and I must say the other three were guys and just about backed out when they had the heavy tank and all the gear on – I jumped right in and couldn’t believe how fast time under the water went! It felt like I was in an aquarium with hundreds of fish of all colors and sizes all over! There were a few fish just slightly shorter than me! The reef is such a neat array of color and texture and it was so neat to be swimming around it and seeing it from all angles. We also spent a lot of time snorkeling which is great fun too!
Besides the dolphins that occasionally swam next to our boat I didn’t see any excpetionally cool sealife (ie no sharks or turtles)But it was still neat to see ocean fish that I haven’t seen before and to see them in the reef!
The reef wraps in an out of the WhitSunday Islands, they are a chain of 74 Islands (5 are habitated). One of them has the Hayman Resort on it – a place that costs $3000 a night! The Islands are lush green and look like rolling hills with perfect sand and the most incredible bluish-turquoise water, it looks just like any pictures you’ve ever seen! It was fun to sail around all of this beauty – however, on our sail back into port we had winds of 25 knots! We were all sitting on the deck, rolling about and wearing ducky rain suits because the waves were splashing up on deck – it was pretty cool! It was quite interesting to live as sailor for a few days – the small kitchen, bathroom, all the bunkbeds rocking you to sleep!
Anyways, I’m so glad I was able to get to the reef! Right now I’m on a train headed to Kiama and to start work as an Au Pair!! I’m filled with mixed emotions about this – I’m excited to have a bedroom and place to put my things and not live out of a backpack for a bit but the town is a little farther than I thought, 2.5 hours by train – however, it has been a beautiful ride thus far. We will see, the family seems really nice and it sounds like I will have some neat experiences with them and I will be spending less money and making a few bucks so that’s good! But the beauty of backpacking is nothing is in stone and I get to decide what I want to do it! Right now my new idea is looking into getting to Pacific Asia for a bit! Everyone raves about it and it isn’t far from where I am now so we’ll see! Alright, this entry got a little long! But it had been a week :) Hope everyone is well, I miss you all so much!
Our ship was a sailboat with 18 passengers and 3 crew – it was an experience and a blast! We were asked to help hoist sails or pull on lines or whatever was needed. The group was a hodge podge of backpackers , Adam and I were the only Americans and then we had some Scots, Irish, Hollanders, Germans, French and Belgium. It was pretty fun to talk to everyone about what kind of work and/or travel they are doing.
We spent the days in the water, hiking an island and sailing the seas! The nights were beautiful under an incredible blanket of southern hemisphere stars and we all sat on deck drinking goon (boxed wine) and chatting about our very differnet cultures and lives!
The reef was AMAZING! I had my first scuba dive! It was so cool and I can’t wait to do it again! There were four of us doing our first dive and I must say the other three were guys and just about backed out when they had the heavy tank and all the gear on – I jumped right in and couldn’t believe how fast time under the water went! It felt like I was in an aquarium with hundreds of fish of all colors and sizes all over! There were a few fish just slightly shorter than me! The reef is such a neat array of color and texture and it was so neat to be swimming around it and seeing it from all angles. We also spent a lot of time snorkeling which is great fun too!
Besides the dolphins that occasionally swam next to our boat I didn’t see any excpetionally cool sealife (ie no sharks or turtles)But it was still neat to see ocean fish that I haven’t seen before and to see them in the reef!
The reef wraps in an out of the WhitSunday Islands, they are a chain of 74 Islands (5 are habitated). One of them has the Hayman Resort on it – a place that costs $3000 a night! The Islands are lush green and look like rolling hills with perfect sand and the most incredible bluish-turquoise water, it looks just like any pictures you’ve ever seen! It was fun to sail around all of this beauty – however, on our sail back into port we had winds of 25 knots! We were all sitting on the deck, rolling about and wearing ducky rain suits because the waves were splashing up on deck – it was pretty cool! It was quite interesting to live as sailor for a few days – the small kitchen, bathroom, all the bunkbeds rocking you to sleep!
Anyways, I’m so glad I was able to get to the reef! Right now I’m on a train headed to Kiama and to start work as an Au Pair!! I’m filled with mixed emotions about this – I’m excited to have a bedroom and place to put my things and not live out of a backpack for a bit but the town is a little farther than I thought, 2.5 hours by train – however, it has been a beautiful ride thus far. We will see, the family seems really nice and it sounds like I will have some neat experiences with them and I will be spending less money and making a few bucks so that’s good! But the beauty of backpacking is nothing is in stone and I get to decide what I want to do it! Right now my new idea is looking into getting to Pacific Asia for a bit! Everyone raves about it and it isn’t far from where I am now so we’ll see! Alright, this entry got a little long! But it had been a week :) Hope everyone is well, I miss you all so much!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
My first weekend down under!
Saturday I went to Glebe Market! A little bit more hippie, laid back part of town! We then went to the fish market, once you got past the smell it was really cool! So many fish packed into display cases and tanks of water! We then went to Darling Harbour, my favorite harbour so far I think!
On a fluke the Maritime research vessel was parked there on its last of 7-days of free tours! Scientists apply for a grant to spend a month doing research on the ship! All of the tools they have for getting water and sand samples was pretty neat and to see the controls, labs, living quarters, etc.
I then met with the family I'm hopefully going to be nannying for! Just waiting on a few details to work out!
Otherwise I've been staying with a friend of a friend the last two nights (so far I haven't had to pay for any accommodations...granted, I spent a night on a hostel floor...) Ed and his dad have been so nice and hospitable! I went out with a bunch of his friends Saturday night to a birthday party at a club at a beach club! There was free food and drinks, I pretty much looked like American trash because I wore my nicest outfit (not saying much when you're backpacking) and inhaled all the food because it was free :) But, thery were all so nice and great to chat with!
The questions people ask is amazing...people are very concerned about the banks. They have heard it is just awful in the states, don't get me wrong I know things are bad but people here think we are starving left and right. They are also SO curious and anxious to talk about the elections! Who you are going to vote for, what americans think, what they think - they are very up to date with our elections! More so then a lot of Americans...
Anyways, after the bday party we went to a fun hole in the wall bar with some great karaoke! I've noticed Australians have a love for American 80's hits! But, I requested "Don't Stop Believin'" and they didn't have it :(
Sunday they took me out with for one of their surf-lifesaving trainings! They took me out on a rescue boat - it was so cool, like really intense tubing! They work as volunteers who patrol the beaches and then they also have competitions in everything from beach running to rowing to surfing! Their national competition is the second largest competition in the world in terms of number of competitors (behind the olympics)
They then took my to a view different incredible viewpoints that overlooked all the harbours, bays, city and the ocean. It is so beautiful here in so many different ways. They pointed out some neat history things - like a lot of different spots where in the 19th century the Aussies had made camp spots and were prepared for the US to raid them and take over the land. They also have a quarantine center where they used to migrants stay for 6-weeks when they first arrived. If they didn't break out they assumed they were okay - they tried very hard to keep this country free of imperfections.
Last night Ed and his dad made me a great dinner - fresh, delicious prawns :) And it was really neat talking to them about Australia and the way their government works (parliment, with a queen and appointed general)...they get a lot of benefits after three years so a lot of times the government will call early elections in order to get to them sooner but for the most part they tend to be well liked by the people.
As an aussie, being in the mining industry is the most wealthy. The mines fun 24, 7...It costs so much to fire up most of the equipment and there are always trains and ships waiting to be filled and exported - the mines are all up north and minerals is definitely australia's biggest export.
I said it doesn't seem like their are any problems here and they told me that is a problem itself - they are can be a bit of apathy (although so far everyone I've met works darn close to 7 days a week with at least 4 of those being 10-12 hour days). The are also dealing with figuring out how to handle a lack of water and a booming population that no one was prepared for.
Well, this entry got long! Sorry! I need to sleep - headed to the reef tomorrow :)
On a fluke the Maritime research vessel was parked there on its last of 7-days of free tours! Scientists apply for a grant to spend a month doing research on the ship! All of the tools they have for getting water and sand samples was pretty neat and to see the controls, labs, living quarters, etc.
I then met with the family I'm hopefully going to be nannying for! Just waiting on a few details to work out!
Otherwise I've been staying with a friend of a friend the last two nights (so far I haven't had to pay for any accommodations...granted, I spent a night on a hostel floor...) Ed and his dad have been so nice and hospitable! I went out with a bunch of his friends Saturday night to a birthday party at a club at a beach club! There was free food and drinks, I pretty much looked like American trash because I wore my nicest outfit (not saying much when you're backpacking) and inhaled all the food because it was free :) But, thery were all so nice and great to chat with!
The questions people ask is amazing...people are very concerned about the banks. They have heard it is just awful in the states, don't get me wrong I know things are bad but people here think we are starving left and right. They are also SO curious and anxious to talk about the elections! Who you are going to vote for, what americans think, what they think - they are very up to date with our elections! More so then a lot of Americans...
Anyways, after the bday party we went to a fun hole in the wall bar with some great karaoke! I've noticed Australians have a love for American 80's hits! But, I requested "Don't Stop Believin'" and they didn't have it :(
Sunday they took me out with for one of their surf-lifesaving trainings! They took me out on a rescue boat - it was so cool, like really intense tubing! They work as volunteers who patrol the beaches and then they also have competitions in everything from beach running to rowing to surfing! Their national competition is the second largest competition in the world in terms of number of competitors (behind the olympics)
They then took my to a view different incredible viewpoints that overlooked all the harbours, bays, city and the ocean. It is so beautiful here in so many different ways. They pointed out some neat history things - like a lot of different spots where in the 19th century the Aussies had made camp spots and were prepared for the US to raid them and take over the land. They also have a quarantine center where they used to migrants stay for 6-weeks when they first arrived. If they didn't break out they assumed they were okay - they tried very hard to keep this country free of imperfections.
Last night Ed and his dad made me a great dinner - fresh, delicious prawns :) And it was really neat talking to them about Australia and the way their government works (parliment, with a queen and appointed general)...they get a lot of benefits after three years so a lot of times the government will call early elections in order to get to them sooner but for the most part they tend to be well liked by the people.
As an aussie, being in the mining industry is the most wealthy. The mines fun 24, 7...It costs so much to fire up most of the equipment and there are always trains and ships waiting to be filled and exported - the mines are all up north and minerals is definitely australia's biggest export.
I said it doesn't seem like their are any problems here and they told me that is a problem itself - they are can be a bit of apathy (although so far everyone I've met works darn close to 7 days a week with at least 4 of those being 10-12 hour days). The are also dealing with figuring out how to handle a lack of water and a booming population that no one was prepared for.
Well, this entry got long! Sorry! I need to sleep - headed to the reef tomorrow :)
Friday, September 19, 2008
Oh Australia
So, I spent my morning passing out some fliers for a gym (ironically by a Hungry Jack - there version of Burger King) for a few bucks, haha, but since I'm still not over jetlag and I'm waking up by 5 on my own it worked out well! However, it has been nice going on runs every morning and seeing so much of the city in a shorter amount of time - oh, the joys of being a runner :)
I took my first ferry trip today - Sydney is so beautiful from every angle - the architecture and diversity in everything is awesome! We went out to Olympic Park, about an hour by ferry - it was really cool! But felt a little funny, kind of like the ruins, there was hardly anyone there and so many huge, well-built stadiums!
Tonight I was out in the Harbor a bit at a packed bar, the Opera House, it sits next to the Opera House (clever name, right?). The nights are beautiful and I think my favorite - the harbor looks incredible! I've been out to The Rocks a couple times now too which is really neat! I love that all the restaurants and bars are so unique and pop up out of nowhere sometimes - like the end of a pier or back of an alley or underneath a grocery store - it's great!
I'm all booked to go the Barrier Reef next week and will be out on a 2-day, 2-night sailing, scuba, snorkel trip in addition to a day or two at the beach! And then I'm starting work as a nanny in Kiami! Which I'm getting pretty excited about!
Things have been going really well - I know I'm forgetting a lot of the stuff I often want to write about but that's alright. Okay, sleep for now!!
I took my first ferry trip today - Sydney is so beautiful from every angle - the architecture and diversity in everything is awesome! We went out to Olympic Park, about an hour by ferry - it was really cool! But felt a little funny, kind of like the ruins, there was hardly anyone there and so many huge, well-built stadiums!
Tonight I was out in the Harbor a bit at a packed bar, the Opera House, it sits next to the Opera House (clever name, right?). The nights are beautiful and I think my favorite - the harbor looks incredible! I've been out to The Rocks a couple times now too which is really neat! I love that all the restaurants and bars are so unique and pop up out of nowhere sometimes - like the end of a pier or back of an alley or underneath a grocery store - it's great!
I'm all booked to go the Barrier Reef next week and will be out on a 2-day, 2-night sailing, scuba, snorkel trip in addition to a day or two at the beach! And then I'm starting work as a nanny in Kiami! Which I'm getting pretty excited about!
Things have been going really well - I know I'm forgetting a lot of the stuff I often want to write about but that's alright. Okay, sleep for now!!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Friends and Jobs!!!
So, things are going great! Sydney is a blast and I've started meeting some awesome people! Yesterday I met Adam from California and we went to our orientation thing together and have hung out a lot since - it's really nice to have a friend from the states - Surprisingly there doesn't seem to be a lot of people here from the states.
Last night we had a social thing at a Sidebar - a really fun backpacked bar with live music and cheap aussie beer :) I met another gal from Atlanta named Claire, she's been here a month and lives close to the city - she's taking me out tomorrow night and I'm pretty pumped. Everyone at the social was fun and nice and it was great to be hanging out!
Our orientation was a little long and filled with awesome information and scary stuff - there is so many neat things to do like go to jillaroo school (sort of like a cowgirl) or volunteer on an organic farm in exchange for accomadation. There are quite a few jobs but tax is ridiculous, .30 on each dollar! And if you have two jobs you get taxed .48 per dollar on the second job. So, that makes being an au pair all that much more appealing!
So, I met with the director of the au pair jobs and she only has one position open right now and is trying to fill it ASAP. It's in Kaimi, a beautiful beachtown that is an hour by train away from Sydney. It sounds like an amazing suburb and the family seems neat - they go yachting and have family in Byron Bay and Watsons Bay so there would be traveling too. I'm just not sure how I feel about being that far from the city (it would be a $30 roundtrip each time I wanted to come in)...But, the city is expensive so maybe it would okay to be farther away from it! It is such a fun city though - Adam and I walked around the Botanical Gardens this morning and around the wharfs which was really great! There are so many people and everything is gorgeous (the flowers, the buildings, the weather)...
For right now I'm waiting to hear back if the family will wait a week and a half for me to start in which case I will take off for the reef and then work in Kaimi and see how it goes! Australia is huge and there is so much I want to see but time and budget just doesn't make it realistic to see everything. Most of the locals of Sydney haven't even been to places like the reef or Ayers rock. So, we'll see how much I can get to! Besides, I don't want to spend it all in one place - I still have New Zealand to go!!
Sorry this is a long babbly post - I'm trying to make decisions and we all know I suck at that soooo I'm using my blog as a source of venting right now. haha, anyways - miss you all SO MUCH!
Monday, September 15, 2008
I've Arrived!!!
Well, I'm here in Sydney!!! Traveling got long and had its fair share of hiccups - I had a vodka/OJ spilt in my crotch on my first flight so I looked like I peed my pants, a plane delay here, a dog sniffing through my bag at customs, getting in trouble at security - you know the usually dilemmas of flying. But, they did have Sex and the City the movie which made me pretty happy :) And met a lot of neat people do some awesome traveling - one gal was from London doing a year trip around the world, so cool!
After a few weeks of craziness with finishing work, getting ready to go and spending time with the amazing people in my life all of a sudden I was all alone traveling, feeling tired and it finally hit - for better and worse. But, then I just kept reminding myself that I wouldn't be feeling freezing cold for another year...
So, if you know me you know the first thing I did after I checked into my hostel - went out on a run. It was awesome - they rolling hills, my first view of the harbor bridge and opera house! People have been really friendly and so far I think Sydney is a bit of cultural/ethnic melting pot.
But, things are off to a great start and I'm excited to start figuring out housing and jobs in the next day or two! For now I'm trying to relearn the metric system (yikes!), scrambling to get all those items I forgot, and getting comfortable with my new, temporary home!
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