we made it to New Zealand!!

Well- we've been putting off writing about New Zealand because we've been so busy taking in the scenery. It's one of those places where you don't want to put your camera down- by then again you just want to put your camera down and breath all the amazingness in. So we've been busy doing a lot of those 2 things, hiking, reading, smiling, talking, and wondering how there is a place this magical in earth. We were kind of worried that this place would be over hyped- everyone says its "unbelievable". Well- they were right. It is literally the most magestic (cheesy but the only way I can describe it) place we've ever seen. It's like wandering through an untouched, prehistoric, billion dollar movie sets everywhere we look- from glaciers to mountains to rivers to the ocean- it's truly amazing. But let's start from the beginning. We barely made it here.

We've been trying to be good and get to the airport somewhat early (early for me, on time for col)- and we had such a great flight from cairns to brisbane... Yummy snacks, lots of happiness to be leaving the bugs, reminiscing about AU and all the things we loved about it. Then we made it to our layover in brisbane have 3 hours to kill so we did a little workout in the corner, then headed to the bar for some beers and research time. We thought we could be boarding soon, but never heard an announcement. Long story short- i found myself poking my head into the guys bathroom to yell for Colin as all of a sudden they were closing the gates... Col couldn't have been in there for more than 1 minute as we decided to get into warm clothes for our flight- and that flight was now leaving without us. After a few strange looks from the guys leaving the bathroom, col and I ran to the gate and barely got on that flight - thank The Lord. That flight we almost missed turned out to be amazing as well- we were just in a back of the bus coach seat when we were served free drinks, a warm and yummy dinner, chocolate and hot tea, then ice cream for dessert- ummm... We love you Quantas. We got to Auckland, went to our crappy layover hotel- stole all the extra tea bags we could find then headed out for our quick flight to christchurch the next morning.

Christchurch- wow, such a quaint, lovely, sad and devastated town. It was so beautiful on the way in from the airport, everyone was so friendly and we drove along the beautiful river with sweeping trees to get to our b&b, The Pomeroys Inn @ The old Brewery. We got to our lovely Home for the night and were shown to our adorable room with a bed warmer, towel heaters, all the snacks coffee and tea you could want and we decided to explore the town for some food. We soon realized that this would be a short walk- we only turned one corner and saw the devastation- buildings that looked like they had just falling down yesterday all over the place, deserted offices, empty restaurants, signs asking for help- it was heart breaking. Everyone we met was so warm and lovely- but you could almost hear the sadness in their voice. We stumbled upon an ale house and met a lovely bartender who felt the same way about 'netball' as we did. its like girls basketball but even more boring to watch (sorry to all my lady bball players out there). we quickly turned on the rugby game and planned out how we could attend one on our way back. we dined on some yummy food, walked back to our place and showered up to meet our new favorite people nik and liz.

one of our best friends in SF, stem, was kind enough to introduce us to her cousins who live out here in christchurch. ive heard about these two for years now - nik & liz... living the dream, amazing couple, hilarious, loving, welcoming... pretty much killer peeps. well they lived up to their reputation and we had an awesome night with them. nik is from so cal, and came over to NZ to be with his lovely wife liz. they both have a heart of gold, and are inspiring in what they do. nik is busy helping re-build the city, literally with his own two hands - while liz has found a passion and opportunity in the market place to open up her own company called "dear ones" which is a wedding/event photo booth station. they like to work at the events together, and help people capture loving and hilarious memories. we laughed together a lot, or i guess they laughed at us a lot trying to pronounce all the towns we were visiting - and we talked about getting together again as soon as possible. can't wait for those guys to come to the states next - and i'd expect nothing less than awesomeness from people related to our stemmers. she's pretty killer herself.

col and i stayed a bit later, and i ended up with whiskey for an after dinner drink... hmmm - needless to say the next morning col was sweet enough to go grab our campervan while i showered up and slowly got our stuff together. then mr murphy came popping into the room all smiles, ready to show off our home for the next week. we rented our van from a company called juicy - best vans and prices - hideous looking vehichles... its a giant green and purple eyesore. but we loved it - every single thing about it. even the colors after a while. its like a mini van - but the whole back lays out flat for a bed, or can be set up as 2 benches and a table. it has a sink, all utensils, fridge, and stove burner in the back/trunk area, plus a DVD player and great stereo system. it was awesome. so we were off! well almost. we did spend the next 4 hours, and it was a solid 4 hours, outfitting our van like crazy. we got an inverter to plug things into, a couple dvd's, an aux cord for our iphones, tons of food, extra thermals socks and undies, a pair of hiking boots... and im sure much much more. we went full on magill style, and were going to make this the best trip ever. and then... we were off! in the pouring rain, wondering what we were getting ourselves into, happier than ever.

what we got ourselves into was the most beautiful drive either of us had ever seen - it was raining, then just eerily foggy, then sunny and clear, then raining - and so on and so on. we drove through arthurs pass, stopping along the way to see the million sheep, amazing rivers and lakes, and all kinds of giant mountains. the pics dont even do it justice - but they'll give you an idea. then after 3 hours of driving we found this awesome little park on the lake that we camped in for free (well it was really 6 bucks - but we didnt figure that one out till after we left). we made some yummy sandos and snuggled up in our van to read and chat after a long, unbelievable drive. we talked about how happy we were that we were doing this, sprayed eachother down with some bug spray (no scary bugs here like in cairns - but lots of sandflys), and fell asleep quite quickly.

the next morning we woke up to the sound of bell birds all over. now these things are crazy - can you youtube them? not sure - but you should try. they sound like amazing bells ringing from the forest of the hunger games. they were just lovely. we went for a run to swimmers beach - saw super scary funnel spiders and their webs, and ran very very quickly back to our little van. hopped in the bathroom where there was only toilets and sinks and washed our shaking cold bodies off with a little tub and rag - we were roughing it, and it was hilarious. we then headed into hokitika, and along the way saw the coast for the first time. it was then that we realized we had just drove "cross country". we looked at eachother, smiled, shook our heads in disbelief and said "wow, we're doing it"... and i think we started to realize, finally, that we really are living the dream.

Bug bites, crocs, and rain

well we made it to cairns!! yay!!! paradise, on the Great Barrier Reef! wait a minute... thats not where we are. we are in a pouring down rain jungle, with no food in sight, too tired to think, wondering... who told us to come here??

no, no - its not that bad... now. the last two days were actually lovely. but day number 1 had us second guessing ourselves. we land from a LONG flight from melbourne, both in surprisingly good moods. we grab a taxi who does not overcharge us (yay) and get to our airbnb house, which looks adorable and is a typical queenslander home. the only problem is the rain has not stopped since the flight, we are starving, have no car, and the house is about 30 minutes from town. so tweedle dee and tweedle dumb decide we are going to grab our rain gear (we bought waterproof suits for NZ hiking), we grab these giant umbrellas we found at the house and we start walking to town. if anyone could have video taped this you would have died. the wind was blowing me in every direction, colin was officially soaked, we were wandering on the streets with no sidewalks (not the place the tourists are supposed to walk) and finally we come upon a bar called "Cock N Bull" which has a sign out front that says "45 Pokies! Come on in!" Seriously? Where are we? But we could not have been happier to find food, shelter, and beer. We ordered some schnitzel and curry a couple beers and scarfed what ended up being a quite tasty meal. Our food comas set in and we hiked all the way back, enjoying this hilarious moment ony to get home and reward ourselves with a well deserved nap. We kept it easy that night and prepped for rainy day number 2 tomorrow.

The next day we woke up to find out we needed to take care of a few things back in the states and get some paperwork notarized. Colin did a bunch of research and found this guy on the US Consulates website who could officially notarize things. We started walking to bus the stop to get to this guys house and wouldnt you know it - our brains started working. We quickly hired a car and made our way across town. We walked into a delightful old mans house, who should be in the AU version of hoarders to get what one could only assume was a fake sticker that said "yup - i notarized this for some yanks"... we paid the man way too much money and got in the car and chalked that one up for "an experience", booking an appointment at the official american consulate for 2 weeks later. on a positive note we stumbled upon this adorable cafe called osmosis and had some yummy breaky and coffee. upon finding this place, the clouds started to part and we drove down to the esplanade to "walk the walk" of cairns. it is such a fun boardwalk area and has a ton of ice cream shops and bars to check out. they have a giant pool right on the boardwalk for the public and we dipped our toes in it and then headed to the happening bar down the road. we grabbed a pitcher and enjoyed a few hours or talking. colin tried to explain some more history to me, and i tried to figure out how his brain is such a sponge... i mean seriously - i want one! we went back to the house cooked up a yummy grilled chicken salad - "tasted" our hosts home brewed beer which colin decided was the best he has had in AU yet, and played a few hands of yaniv and cuddled up to a late night episode of mad men. the one where the big plane crash happens from LA>NY in 1962. It rang a bit familiar with me, so I did some google searching and I am pretty sure that is the crash my grandpa died in. maybe my mama, or aunt sharon can validate that - but it was pretty crazy to see how much it affected everyone - especially those who knew someone in the crash. i can only imagine how that must have been for my mom, aunts, and grandma - such strong women. i'm so proud to be part of their family.

the next morning we woke up and made some breaky with our roomies. had tea, saw some big and beautiful aussie birds, tried to get some yoga in - then headed out for the day. we stopped by the esplanade to book a Great Barrier Reef Dive & Snorkle (which we are both admidteddly a bit scared about considering all the crazy wildlife we have seen). Then we headed North to Port Douglas, blared the music, laughed and took in some of the most beautiful coastline we have seen yet. Its a combo of Costa Rica & Hawaii... but with kangaroo crossing signs. We stopped at a deserted cove, marveled at amazingness then kept on going to Port Douglas. Port Douglas seems to be the fancy-pants town, and was beautiful and adorable. We walked up and down the main street, then stopped by a cute church called St. Marys to sit and eat our picninc of cheese, crackers, and fruit for the day. We talked about our favorite things so far, how excited we were for New Zeland next - and told eachother how lucky we felt to have such an awesome travel partner. Knock on wood we feel that way after 2 weeks in a campervan together:) We then decided to head back - but not without stopping at the Crocodile Farm we saw on the side of the road - whattt??? We got so excited and then pulled up to find out it was closed. We drove around the parking lot slowly, hoping to catch a glimpse of a crocodile only to be scared to death by one of the workers knocking on our window to say in not so many words, "stupid americans... the crocodiles are in their cages". our trip home was almost over when we drove by a horse farm to see such an amazing site... a giant brown horse, back legs straight and spread out so he could turn his whole head around to scratch his butt & tail with his big old teeth. it was so amazing and somehow we both caught it out of the corner of our eye and could not stop laughing. knowing we had a big day ahead of us - we made a quick dinner, and then did some reading & bed... gearing ourselves up for jellies & sharks the next morning.

jellies we did see on the Great Barrier Reef - lots of them, and we actually held one... the not so poisonous kind. the GBR was amazing. we took an awesome boat ride out there (takes an hour and a half to get there), then hopped in the water for snorkeling. now... if you must know - this girl does not like the water. at all. i love finding nemo, i just prefer to watch it from my couch, not be in it. so after being terrified for the first 20 minutes in the water, i headed back in because "my mask was leaking". only to watch my husband who had turned into this fish who loves the water exploring the whole reef - who is this guy? he came back on the boat and said that it was pretty amazing - so i got brave and went back in and he was right. one second you are swimming in deep blue water and then you turn to the right and you are in the middle on a whole world of sea life. it was amazing. we saw starfish, sea cucumbers, nemos, and it was beautiful. then we were supposed to do a scuba dive and we were all set to go and they said col couldnt go b/c of some medication he was on (which was such a bummer b/c it was totally fine) and then theys started putting the weights on me and i was like woooahhh, if he isnt going im not going - im only here for him. they some how convinced me to suit up and get in the water with this giant tank on my head and a million weights weighing me down. so i went under for a few minutes... and then i was done. i scubbad! yes, only for a few minutes but hey, thats good enough for me. it was terrifying, and i will never ever do it again. but yay for being brave, huh! we spent the rest of the day laying on the boat and snorkeling some more at a new location in the reef - it was an awesome day that was topped off with a yummy burger and early nights sleep.

tomorrow - New Zealand!! we cant wait!!

Go Magpies!!

Sorry for the delay in posts, we had some issues with the $99 computer we bought for traveling, go figure.

Last Sunday, I woke up early to try and learn the rules of Aussie Rules Football. I was expecting it to take a while, but there are honestly only a about 7 rules to the game, it's pretty much a professional version of “kill the pill” with some elements of soccer added to it. We met up with Brian and Vanessa at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG) to watch the Collingswood Magpies play the Carlton Blues (Aussie Rules is played on a cricket ground). The MCG is enormous, it seats over 100k people. There are about 18 teams in the AFL, 12 of them play out of Melbourne. AFL in Melbourne, is like High School Football in Texas, IT'S INSANE. Well, we walked into the stadium wearing our standard issue Magpie black and whites and were seated promptly behind the Carlton Cheering Squad. No, that is not the Carlton cheer leaders, it's basically the black hole at a raiders game for Carlton (the Magpie's cheering squad was at the other end). The only difference is less costumes and better insults made towards the other team. Like I said, this stadium will hold 100k people, but what is awesome about AFL is there are only 2 types of tickets. 1 is premium members, which puts you into your selected cheering section (with all the other crazies). They other is general admittance, and the earlier you buy the ticket, the better your seat is. Tickets always go on sale 2 Wednesdays before the game, so if you get up early and buy right away (like Brian did), you get awesome seats for the same price as people in the nose bleeds. It wouldn't be football with out a little rain, so of course the downpour happened half way through the first quarter. Like champs, Kelsey and Vanessa stuck it out and we watched the game (thankfully it let up by the second half). It was a great game, an awesome experience, and the good 'ol Magpies pulled out the win in the end. Thanks to Brian and Vanessa for putting this together for us.

On Monday, we decided to follow Vanessa's advice and take the train to Ferntree Gully, about an hour out of the city. We did a hike called 1000 steps kokoda walk, which is in the Dandenong Ranges National Park. The hike is pretty intense, but nothing too overwhelming. It's not quite 1000 stairs, but I believe it is somewhere around 770. When we needed a break, which was way more often than we'd like to admit, we just stepped to the side (let the grandma in the UCONN Basketball shirt blaze past us) and looked over the valley. If you are down here, it is definitely worth a trip. After a quick shower back in Melbourne, we decided to take advantage of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival that is happening right now. This is the 3^rd largest comedy festival in the world, which lasts 3 weeks (I know, awesome). They basically rent out literally any venue they can in the city center (from Civic Centers, to High Schools, to Restaraunts) and have dozens of acts happening at all times of the day (similar to sun dance festival), so for a guy like me that loves live comedy, there's a lot to look forward too. We saw a guy named Jack Druce, who is up and coming and pretty good (youtube Jazz Walrus and Speaking German), and also went to a late night show called Late O'Clock with Rob Hunter, where we saw a handful of comics back to back (keep on the lookout for Johnny English and his song Dancing God). Needless to say, it was a great time and fun way to cap off the night.

On Tue, we went for a run through the botanical garden and then on to Queen Victoria Markets (largest market in the southern hemisphere). The market is like a farmers market, meets a swap meet, meets the SF Ferry building. You can get anything from fresh produce from fruit stands, to used car mats from some guys rickety table (seriously), to gourmet cheese/meats at 120 year old permanent stone kiosks. It was a pretty cool experience. We topped off that afternoon with a steak sandwich at the top rated cafe in Melbourne and got ready for what turned out to be an amazing dinner (not that we ever doubted it would be). Vanessa's family, who lives about an hour train ride from Melbourne city center, invited us over for a home cooked meal. We had the privilege of meeting them a few months ago at V&B's engagement party in San Francisco. We met V&B at the train station and rode home with them, and then were welcomed in with literal open arms. Vanessa's parents emigrated from Macedonia in the 70's to Australia and have been there ever since. Vanessa's entire family was able to make it; both her parents, her older brother Peter and younger brother Alex. Vanessa's father welcomed us with some home made grappa, which was sweetened with home made pear flavoring, it was delicious. Vanessa's mother prepared an amazing spread of stuffed bell peppers, roasted sweet pepper, some sort of pastry bread (forgive me guys, I can't remember the name), spicy pepper relish, and breaded chicken. IT WAS AMAZING!!! Literally one of the best meals I've ever had. To top it off she made my favorite dessert of baklava (I missed out on it back at the engagement party in SF, but I heard about it from EVERYONE). I can tell you right now it was worth the wait. It was incredible getting to know the Milevski family, as if Vanessa wasn't enough reason, we now understand why Brian had no choice but to move down here. Congratulations to the soon to be parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle. Another congratulations to Brian and Vanessa on their upcoming wedding, we couldn't be happier for you. We want to say thank you from the bottom of our heart to not just Brian and Vanessa, but to the Milevski family for making us feel right at home and part of the family and for making our time in Melbourne one to remember forever. 

 Brian and Vanessa

 

 First Aussie Rules game

Go Magpies! Yep that farmer's tan runs in the family

 View from our seats

About to take down a Meat Pie (kind of the hot dog of an Aussie Rules Game)

 A block away from where we stayed, it's like they knew we were coming

The whole family enjoying dinner, thanks again guys

Great Ocean Road, Coffee, and American Bartenders

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Ok, so we have been in Victoria for just under a week, but we've packed in quite a bit. As Kels mentioned, we stayed in Torqauy at the entrance of the Great Ocean Road. Were told that this is pretty much the mecca of Australian surf. From what we were told, both Quick Silver and Rip Curl have large offices directly in the area. Ripcurl holds their RipCurl Open (part of the World Championships) 5km's out of town on Belles Beach (For all you Point Break fans, that's the beach where Utah handcuffs Bodhi in the final scene). Unfortunately we missed the surf competition (and I like to think, Gary Busey and Keanu) by one day, but the beaches were still amazing. The Great Ocean Road is very similar to highway 1 back home... only with more animals that can kill you.

We stopped in a handful of towns on the way out, but when we came across Lorne, we decided that was the spot to stick around for a while. A lot of these little towns are similar to the central coast, but I would say Lorne was most similar to Carmel. It was extremely nice, with a small but impressive downtown. Their main street is right across from their local beach. The town and beach are surrounded by some sort of pine, eucalyptus, and cypress trees (like I said, similar to Carmel) . Just like every other Aussie, these people didn't have a care in the world. Side Note: Aussies are coffee snobs! But for good reason, they have the best coffee They have things called “Flat White” (coffee with milk), “Long Black” (double shot of espresso with water), and “short black” (single shot with water). If you don't tell the barista that you want sugar in your coffee when you order it, THAN TOO BAD, YOU'RE NOT GETTING IT! There is even a local joke that puts the coffee culture in perspective here: you know you're in Melbourne when people are more impressed by you being a Barista than a Barrister. Seriously though, I don't even like coffee, but it is amazing here and I look forward to it everyday. We stopped by at Eskine Falls, which at this time of year is more like “Erskine Water Trinkling Down Cliff,” but the scenery was beautiful. We decided to skip the 12 apostles (it was another 2.5 hours out, then it would be 5 hours back to Melbourne), and take our time heading back to Melbourne. We stopped back in Torquay and hit up some of the surf shops. Kelsey took over driving, and surprise surprise, she is far better than I am at driving out here.

We finally arrived in Melbourne proper around 7:30 that night, met our host at our 2^nd air-bnb, and were given the rundown on the area. We are staying on the Southbank in S. Yarra, right next to the domain and botanical gardens. Melbourne is known for it's food, in particular it's varieties of Asian cuisine. We stopped at a Japanese restaurant on Chapel street and were not disappointed. I wouldn't call it the best food we've had out here, but it was definitely satisfying. The vibe of Melbourne is similar to that of Boston, or New York on a very slow day. Metropolitan but not over whelming. We stopped into a “cocktail bar,” which from what I could gather is just a bar where it is acceptable for guys to drink girly drinks (Kyle, you'd LOVE this place). We had our drinks, then called it a night.

After spending about 9 hours traveling in the car the day before hand (it was a great 9 hours though), we were still pretty tired (it is surprisingly mentally exhausting driving on the other side of the road). We spent a lazy day in the botanical gardens reading and doing some over due trip planning. Then we got ready to meet with my cousin Brian, and his wonderful fiancée Vanessa. For those of you who don't know Brian, he grew up Burlingame then went to UCLA, met a lovely Aussie girl named Vanessa while studying abroad then moved half way around the world to be with her. He's been out here for 4 years working on his PhD in chemical engineering (he's probably the smartest guy I know) and Vanessa is a Melbourne native. Well, they took us out for a great dinner in one of the many lanes ways and then on for a night on the town. We saw the CBD, the Casino (and Kelsey was able to fight her gambling urges), and the rest of the South Bank. We even met a bartender who grew up in San Mateo, he bought us our beers (which is a very American thing to do apparently), God Bless America!

 Brian and Vanessa out in Melbourne

 Driving.... ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD!!!!

 View of the Great Ocean Road

 Lorne

 Lorne Beach

 Out with Brian and Vanessa

 Great Ocean Road

Erskine Trickle

Popcorn and Penguins

Popcorn, Hot chocolate, and Penguins? BEST DATE NITE EVER!

Man,  Mr Murphy sure out did himself here.  Not sure how he is going to out do this one back in the states.  He took me to see these little teeny tiny penguins (they are actually called Little Penguins) that come up on shore, and run to their burrows on land with their buddies... like all of their 735 buddies.  And they are all out in the wild... just doing their thing, letting us crazy people watch them.  They were so close I could reach down and touch them.  oooooo they were so cute waddling everywhere... i love a good waddle.  but there we were, sitting outside with some hot chocolate and popcorn just watching these little munchkins run everywhere.  i almost cried i was so excited.  it was such a cool thing to experience... we froze our batooties off, and really only were there for about 2 hours - but when you walk to your car and you see a sign that says "check under car for penguins before you leave"... your heart pretty much melts.  i will never forget it.

it was our travel day, and as if the gods were saying, "dont leave Sydney" the rain came down harder than nails for our ride to the airport earlier that morning.  the roads had flooded and we spent a good hour watching the meter climb dollar for dollar thinking - we are totally missing our flights.  by the grace of those same gods, we barely made that flight, took our teeny tiny seat and endured an early, rainy, cramped flight to Melbourne.  needless to say - we were needing a good night - thank you penguinos.  we then got our rental car and took on that adventure. Mr. Murphy thankfully offered up the first day of driving and took on all the learning curves for us as a family.  my job was simply not to get us lost, and to constantly say "left hand side of the road, left hand side of the road" in an australian accent.  well, i failed.  we were lost within minutes, and i also had a full on conversation with col convinced he should be on the right side of the road.  I even almost had him convinced.  stupid american.   but he did such a good job keeping us safe, and learning the ropes.  we passed some wild kangaroos in the road (yup, it was as cool as it sounds) - picked up some wine and snacks for dinner and kept a mellow night in after the penguins.

today we spent the morning driving to the sorrento/queenscliff ferry - and it seems that missing ferries is turning into a habit because we got to this town sorrento and just loved it.  we said no thanks to the ferry waiting and walked along the beach, and had some cheese and crackers and beer on the mini pier.  we then caught a ferry an hour later, watched a bunch of dolphins swim right up next to it and laid in the sun eating yummy sandwiches.  then we drove from queenscliff to the adorable town of Torquay - the entrance to the Great Ocean Road and drove along the cliffs to Bells Beach.  We hopped out of the car, watched some surfers do their thing -then headed on over to our place.  Our first AirBnB experience:)  We were greeted by our lovely host Lian, and she showed us to our room and told us to be ready for some yummy breakky in the morning (so far AirBnB rocks)!  Plus she has 3 adorable dogs we get to play with, and I think we were needing some dog love as we usually get back home (miss you indy, tula, daisy, and milo)!

Right now Cols on skype trying to get us a new kindle... one of us knuckle heads already broke our other one - and I am just sipping on some emergency gearing up for the night.  It's going to be a wild one folks, we're gonna head into town for some pizza, grab some ice cream to go, and snuggle up to watch a movie.  Driving here takes it out of us!!:)  We'll update you about Melbourne tomorrow!!

 Beers in Sorrento

 Ready for some Penguins!

 Sorrento!!

Beach kids in Sorrento

Last week in Sydney

Last week in Sydney

Well its taken us a while to write this posting since we did not spend a single second in Sydney not soaking up all of its awesomeness.  even just laying on the beach or hanging out watching a Mad Men episode with our new friends was logged down in the memory bank as a great time.  But here is a summed up version of our last (tear) week in sydney.

Toronga Zoo

As we've mentioned a few times, Toronga Zoo is just across the harbour and it's views while looking at the Giraffe encounter, or watching the Seal Show are spectacular.  And well... girl loves a zoo - so this one was awesome!  We had such a great day - we watched the Tigers playing and pouncing on each other, baby elephants washing themselves, and got up and close with an adorable Koala to take some pics and watch him eat and snuggle.  After eating our sandwiches on a little bench that overlooked the Opera House, checking out some terrifying snakes (that apparently just live around AU - yikes), and ignoring a great ton of exotic birds (birds just never do it for us) - we took the last ferry back into the Circular Quay.  We decided to find a beautiful bar on the harbor, have a couple drinks and plan more of this crazy adventure.  We pulled out our awesome AU & NZ guide books (thanks Court & May), and we sat on the water and read and laughed at all the things we wanted to to, and all the things we haven't even begun to plan for.  Everything has been a bit, fly by the seat of our pants:).  It started to pour down rain, and everyone outside got hit and had to run in except for Col & I... for some reason we were under the one umbrella that kept us dry... its as if the universe was yelling "plan your trip damn it!".  It was a great night, that ended with a mellow dinner back at our "home".

Good Friday

Was spent on the beach - soaking up the sun... pretty much living like a local.  We went out that night for a quick drink at Revisis & Hotel Bondi with Sarah & Rob, then called it an early night around 10pm (when the bars close on Good Friday), grabbed some delicious late night pizza and all settled down for an episode of Arrow (the most awful and entertaining American TV show... don't watch it).

Big Saturday

Saturday was lovely.  We woke up and went to the growers market again - which we love and just can get enough of.  We had yummy egg and bacon sandos with fresh apple, lime, and ginger juice.  We sat on the lawn and picked up a bunch of veggies for Easter dinner and then walked back slowly along the beach.  Later that night we snuggled a bit, then showered up and headed out to the Wooloohara Hotel to meet Sarah, Abby, and KC for drinks.  We also met up with a bunch of Robs friends and the night turned into an adventure. I've noticed that Aussie ladies around here are just a dream.  They are so welcoming, open, and kind - I have loved every one of them I have met.  The men out here are delightful as well, but man... they will not let anyone get halfway through a beer without order 2 more rounds (or shouts as they are called here) to have waiting for you.  Makes for quite the night.  We ended the night at a bar called "Mrs. Sippy" awesome:) - then had a late night dance party on our balcony, while Sarah yelled "I love America"!!  There was a battle between American pop vs American gangster jams - and some late night Maccas (McDonald's) was had.  It was so much fun - and a shout out to Rob & Sarah for taking us along on their wild night.  

Easter

We woke up the next morning to beautiful weather, a headache, some good laughs and the best homemade breakfast full of hot cross buns, bacon, eggs, olive bread, fresh orange juice, smoothies, and some much needed coffee. Rob took Colin snorkeling around at the north end of Bondi, some how he managed to survive it.  We sat around the table and enjoyed the company... and then we are not afraid to admit it.  We watched TV for a LONG TIME.  It was great - we laughed hysterically with Sarah as we could not understand a word each other was saying in our accents and slang, and we were finally comfortable enough to admit it.  Later that night I made some yummy chicken tacos for everyone, and we celebrated Easter with chocolate eggs and Tim Tams.

Hermitage Gap

The next day - after some yummy yogurt, berries, and museli (also our next favorite) we grabbed a coffee and headed out to do the Hermitage Gap walk.  I think that was our (or at least my) favorite walk so far.  Their were views for days - Opera House, Harbor Bridge, Northhead, Southhead, bay, ocean, The Gap, the lighthouse - we got to see it all.  And we on our way we stopped for a swim in Camp Cove, and had some fish and chips at Watson's Bay.  We ended our day back at the house, while we chatted, I whipped up some quesadillas, and Col & I planned our last day at Bondi.

Last Day

Knowing we wanted to soak up every last minute - we got up before the sun did, so that we could watch it Rise while being over by Icebergs on the south end of bondi.  We came back and walked along the town with Sarah, getting some yummy coffee and walking into book stores.  We then spent a few hours on the beach and then did our final run to Tamarama beach - walking back breathing in the ocean air - talking about how lucky we were.  We ended the night with some homemade soup with Rob & Sarah, and said our final goodbyes to our new friends, and this beautiful city.  We promised that we would keep the tradition going with our kids, and make sure that they became life long friends and sent their kids to come visit as well.

There is not much else to say other than - gosh we are so appreciative of this experince.  Leg one of our adventure could not have been better.  Spending time with such wonderful people and doing so many amazing things was such a treat.  Sydney will forever be a special place in our hearts. 

 Hermitage Gap - our favorite Aussies

Short & Pale on Bondi Beach

 Sunrise at Bondi

Fish & Chips @ Watsons

 
The Big Guy & Baskepants
 

 
The walk to our swim at Camp Cove

 Parsley Bay

 Thanks Court & Ry!

 Thanks May!

Bringing a little SF to Sydney

 Koalas @ Toronga Zoo

 View from the Zoo

 Baby Elephants!!

 I heart Giraffes

We actually caught that!

LOOKIN' GOOD!