Disclaimer: I had one day in Sydney between my travels and thought I would have more time to upload more blog entrys, but only got this one, so it will be another ten days before I can update more because I will be in New Zealand. That pretty much means I'm gonna do a whole lot all at once! Ooops...could've planned better!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Saturday we woke up a wee bit late, and decided not to go to the blue mountains cause it was quit the trip and wanted to be able to get out earlier. We narrowed down our options and decided on Featherdale Zoo. There is a bigger zoo located right in Sydney, but we heard that this other one was really cool so we decided to just risk it and go to the one less known.

We went to catch the train to Doonside, and rain up to the platform right as the train pulled away, so we spent a bit of time waisting time waiting for the next train. When it finally did come we took the train to Doonside and as soon as we got off the bus it felt as if we were in the middle of no where. There was a tiny convenience store, so we asked where we were to go to get to the zoo, and they gave us directions. The outside of the zoo was not what we expected, but that doesn't matter, cause as soon as we walked in it was awesome.

It definitely wasn't your everyday zoo. The animals were actually contained in the same area as the people. So you would just go around and feed or pet them as you wished. It was filled with animals native to Australia, so that made the experience even better! I definitely give two thumbs up to Featherdale.

They usually let you hold a koala, but it was sleeping when we were there so we just got to pet in. The area with the kangaroo was crazy. They were just hopping around with us, it took me a while to finally get them hopping around on camera, it seemed as if they were camera shy, cause everytime I would start recording they seemed fully content with not moving at all, but as soon as my camera went down, they would hop to their next location.

The most shocking animal we saw was the emu's. I don't know if you are familiar with what an emu is, but they are these huge bird-like creatures. One literally tried to attack Wendy and of course the three of us made quite the scene for the rest of the visitors to the zoo as we screamed and ran away. They really were nasty buggers. I was a bit surprised when we got to the big crocodile and they didn't let it walk around with all the people. Weird.

Along with those animals we saw some dingos, and snakes, (that Jayne and Wendy were terrified of, and wouldn't even look into the cages), a lot of really cool birds, some wombats, tasmanian devils, penguins, cassawari, and so much more! It was a great trip.

On the way back we were trying to get to Newtown because we had asked this cute Australian couple where good places to eat were, and they had told us about this African place and we thought we'd try it out. We ended up jumping on the wrong train and taking quite the detour out of the city. It was freezing that night as well, and the train stop was outside so we all bundled up together trying to force our body heat to generate some sort of heater for the three of us as we waited for the next train back.

Eventually we made it to the restaurant, and enjoyed some African cuisine. We tried cous cous, African flat bread, and I even tried lamb. We thought it was a little funny that we were at an African restaurant and all the waiters were Indian, dressed in African smocks. Don't worry, it was legit, because as we left a few of the waiters got off their shiffs and switched with some real life Africans. Good thing cause we thought that we were just getting conned into thinking it was authentic.

All in all, a great day!

Just an update for anyone, if there is anyone, checking my blog, I am on a 3 week adventure and wont really have the ability to update at least for a week or so, so stay tuned...I am sure there are adventures to come!

Actually I promise it!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Today Jayne and Wendy came to take me to lunch at work and we went to a bakery that Stewart had recommended. The thing with bakeries is that they are almost always great, just expensive. We each got a quiche and sat at a park to eat.

That night we were going to see a band at a bar. Jayne and Wendy had met the guitarist while I was at work. He worked at a candy store that is at Bondi Junction and Jayne is practically obsessed with it. He doesn’t really fit the profile of what you’d think a candy man would look like, but he is super nice and really cool!

The band is called Miz Ann Thropik, they were super screamo, and we definitely stood out in the crowd because I swear there were more goths collectively than I had ever seen in one room. And goths in Australia arent like the posers from the states, they are hard core! All I have to say is I was a wee bit scared, but it was pretty fun, and really interesting!

Sunday, June 15, 2008- Thursday, June 19, 2008

Mine and Wendy’s talks went well and that was pretty much the most eventful thing till Tuesday. Tuesday night Jayne and Wendy came to meet me at lunch and then I ended up closing up the last hour or so by myself so they happened to still be close to my work so they came and "helped" me finish up! That night we wanted to do something exciting, so after deciding not to go to a movie, the next most exciting thing was....you guessed it, Tin Foil Dinners! We actually were so excited for them we went to Coles to get all the stuff and I’ll tell you what, they tasted great! Especially because we were finally getting some meat in our diet. We are definitely a bit too frugal.

(We just too this pic in memory of actually befriending Jack Black, aka Jung Fu Panda)

(One of our favorite things to do is check the deals on the bread isle at the local grocery store! Really, we love it!)

(Here is us about to enjoy our amazing tin foil dinners!)

Thursday we went to our first Thai restaurant which is the official food of Australia. We found one at Bondi Junction that was super good and cheap, so pretty much win-win! I am sure we will be back. Then we went home to watch Moulin Rouge together, which was made by and Australian director, so pretty much we just wanted to celebrate the fact that we were in Australia today!

(For some reason this picture makes it look like the plates are like falling off our table, but they all are sittin gon the same angle, so I am super confused! Don't worry, that is a common feeling in my head!)

Saturday, June 14, 2008

We woke up a bit later than we hoped to, to no surprise, but the plan for the day was to go to Manly, which is like a 30 minute ferry ride from Circular Quay. Unfortunately the weather was looking pretty dreary, but we figured it would be an adventure either way. The ferry ride was great because we got to see the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge from a different viewpoint, but we had to stay inside because it was too cold to survive out. By the time we got to Manly it was like 2:00, and pretty rainy so we went to the information center to see what there was to do.


We discovered that there wasn’t much on a cold day, so we just went exploring. We went to the Manly Art Museum to get our art fix for the day. Then we walked along the beach and took a few pics. After we decided we needed to eat but couldn’t decide where to eat, which happened to be good cause we discovered that on the other side of manly was a super amazing beach. We found this cute little restaurant looking out along the beach and ate dinner. It was so awesome watching the surfers and a rainbow even came up cause there had just been a rainstorm. As we finished I went out towards the beach to get some pictures as the sunset, and as I stood there alone I felt something splash on my head and shirt. Don’t worry, I know what you might be thinking, but the answer to that is, "Yes, a bird did just crap on me."

(I couldn't believe the sunset, it was so pretty!)

Now, I felt super awkward cause I was standing by myself and didn’t really know how bad it was in my hair or on my back, so I made my way back to the restaurant and told Jayne and Wendy who thought it was pretty funny. We got some napkins from a waitress and she told us that apparently it is good luck when that happens. Honestly, I don’t see the good luck in it! Nothing amazing happened to me after the fact, so I am pretty sure that it is just a crappy situation, (if you know what I mean.)

(Just made sure to stop at my hotel before leaving Manly)

(Wendy and I didn't even realize till looking at this picture that we were awkwardly dressed the same. Please don't judge.)

Then we walked around the shops for a while, and went inside a sports bar for a bit because the New Zealand vs, England rugby game was on and we wanted to be part of the excitement. Eventually we made our way home, but all in all I had a really good time in Manly. It seems like it is a pretty happening place during the summer, but even in the winter it had a pretty great vibe!

(Harbour Bridge at night)

(I know this pic is cheesy, we took so many normal ones, but this is the only one that turned out!)

Then we made our way home because Wendy and I had a long night ahead of us because we had been asked to give talks in Sacrament the next day, and surprise, surprise, I hadn’t even started!

(Oh ya, forgot to mention that I am like a pro surfer, just saw this shot in a magazine that someone must've taken while I was ripin' a curl, and thought I would share it with my friends and fam.)