Movin' on in

On Thursday February 17th, Sarah and I moved into our new apartment.  It is located in Paddington and is just a 20 minute walk to the heart of downtown Sydney. The neighborhood is simply adorable.  We have two roommates from Ireland, Ruth and Laura. The best part of our apartment, which is located on the 3rd and top floor of our building, is the balcony. It has a beautiful view of one of Sydney's many harbors. Here are a few shots of the place:

  (the balcony. There's a nice patio set and grill on the other side.)

(our view. Simply splendid apart from the power lines of course. If you look closer, you can see the water.)

(an outside shot of our living/dining room.)
On Friday, having finally unpacked all our bags (it feels so good to no longer be living out of a suitcase!), we decided it was about time to go visit that little known building called the Sydney Opera House.  And here we are!

And here's me in front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. I was having such a grand time!

I took about 8 million pictures. Just a few more shots, I promise:

And here's the view of the city from the steps of the Opera House:

Next stop? Botanic Gardens. More on that in a bit.

And I'm back...

Miss me already? No worries, I'm back! Saturday Feb 12th, Sarah and I ventured out to Bondi Beach for a weekend in the sun. Bondi Beach is known for being very very very crowded. It's the beach that everyone in Sydney goes to. Well it wasn't crowded when we went. Why, you ask? Because it was a miserable weekend, that's why. Overcast all the time, raining most of the time. That type of deal. But that didn't stop us from venturing out! So we walked to the convenience store next door, picked up an $8 umbrella, and we were off. Instead of actually going down to the beach, we decided to take a walk along the coast. This is a bit of what we witnessed:

The views were absolutely worth the bit of rain we had to endure. After our pleasant cliff walk we took a stroll along the streets of Bondi and did a bit of window shopping. We wandered into a tapas restaurant that was way out of our price range, and I apparently didn't know how to read English. I thought I ordered white fish, gently fried. What I actually ordered was white bait not fried enough! When the waitress placed my plate in front of me I almost screamed. I had a huge pile of fried little fishies heads and all staring up at me in pain. I wanted to gag. Sarah had to chop the little head off of one for me to even try it. I did so reluctantly and desired no more. She was kind enough to trade tapas with me, so I ate her fried cheese instead. Thank goodness for our large pitcher of sangria. I think the apples on the bottom kept me going. I need to mention also, that Sarah had a lovely view from her seat in the restaurant:

I was told to remind you again that it was raining and that's why Sarah's hair is so frizzy. Just so you all know, it is NOT normally like this.  Also, doesn't the gentleman next to her have such a lovely belt on? And that was our weekend in Bondi.

On the 14th we returned to our Chinatown hostel. While walking around Circular Quay, we came across several different types of street entertainment, my favorite being the didgeridoo player seen below:

He played techno didgeridoo, which I never knew was possible. But let me tell you this, it is. On Tuesday Sarah and I finally made it to the beach. And boy, was it worth it. The morning was grim, but by the afternoon, the sun was shinin' and we were smilin'.

And here's me enjoying a delicious sundae (Sarah wishes she was so lucky):

What could make a beautiful day at the beach even better? If you know me well, you know the answer. That's right. A bit of karaoke. And that's exactly what we did. I believe this was Oasis:

I usually stick to Lauryn Hill at karaoke when I can, but at Scubar the selection was rather limited. For this reason I chose Destiny's Child, Say My Name. It turns out this is a very fast and very wordy song. But I gave it my all and sang my heart out. I like to think I did alright... And that was that and this is this. More to come in a bit.

Sydney at last!

Almost a year ago now my friend Sarah and I started talking about moving to a far away land together. Somewhere we could explore new things, meet new people and just experience something completely different. We wanted adventure (!) and we dreamed of Sydney. After many months, much deliberation and perhaps a slight lack of planning, we found ourselves once again reunited in the Los Angeles international airport, prepared to fly together into the great unknown. The flight over was way too long, but thankfully I was distracted by mounds of free food, movies and endless free wine! At 8 am on Tuesday February 8th, we arrived in Sydney, 17 hours ahead of CST. And off to the hostel we went. The Work n Holiday program that is helping us get settled was kind enough to pay for our first two nights in Sydney, and this hostel was extremely nice. Too nice really, we couldn't afford to stay. Here's a view of the city from the roof of our hostel:

During our first week in Sydney, Sarah and I walked EVERYWHERE. Never have I done so much consecutive walking in my life.  It was wonderful to see every part of the city, and not risk the chance of missing things by taking the bus for instance,  but my feet were not happy with me, at all. Ask Sarah. (I considered posting a picture of my blistered and bloody left foot (ok, slight exaggeration) but I thought I'd better not.) On one of our lovely walks we came across something we never knew existed: the University of Notre Dame Australia. It is of course different from our beloved Notre Dame, but has some slight affiliation. Being the domer I am, I had to get a picture (in other words, Sarah made me take a picture):

(That's me!) After two nights of staying in our lovely Chinatown hostel, we decided to shake things up a bit and head to Kings Cross, the crazier part of town. What greeted us when we entered the infamous strip of Victoria St made me very thirsty.

(That's Sarah.) YUM! Coca-Cola, my favorite. Most people reading this will know I have a slight addiction to the super sugary drink. I came out here with the intention of kickin my habit, so to speak, and that might be easier than I thought. Coca-Cola costs $3 a CAN! and I've seen worse (and I'm ashamed to say I coughed up the required dough. It hurt. A lot.) So, so long Coke. It's been a great run, but it's just not gonna work out. In the end, you required too much of me. You'll be hard to forget I'll confess, since I walk by this nice sized billboard with your label on it and think of you, more often than I'd like to admit. But enough about my former love...

After shedding a small tear, we walked away from the Coke sign and headed to our next hostel, The Original Backpackers (shown above). I loved the look of the place (from the outside) but our room left something to be desired. First and foremost, AC, which is apparently a lot less common here than one might think. We once again, walked around the neighborhood of Kings Cross, and I took a liking to it immediately. While staying at this lovely hostel (wish I had taken a picture of our room, but alas, I didn't) we met two lovely brits, who made Sarah and I feel extremely tall (I'm crouching down in this picture):

We spent a lovely evening at World Bar. Indie night, whoop! I actually knew who was singing! And that was that, and this is this. More to come in a bit!