Climbing Harbour Bridge!

Last week I got a call from one of my friends letting me know that they were coming to Sydney for the day and wanted to know if I wanted to climb the bridge with them.  Of course I said yes!  It's one of the typical touristy things to do in town and honestly I had given up on doing it.  It costs quite a bit of money and I didn't know of anyone that wanted to go along.  So I was excited when my friend called and asked.

As many of you know, I'm terrified of heights.  Although from reading this blog you'd probably never guess seeing as I've done bungy, skydiving, and bridge climbing all in the same month.  Anyway, bridge climbing was pretty scary at points.  Walking out on the first section where the floor is see through was NOT fun!  I did get used to it the longer we were out there.  After the first section heading out to the main arch we had to climb up ladders through the traffic on the bridge.  Going up was not fun but after getting to the arch and making it to the top it was totally worth it.  Going back down was a bit hard on my knee but really not as bad as I expected.  Going down the ladder though was absolutely terrifying.  The ladder we had to go down was right next to the train tracks and as the train went by the whole ladder would shake. That was the worst part. All in all though totally worth it. Check out the pictures below.

Brooke, Caitlin, Myself, Ashley, Ebony, and Christine

Sydney!

I know we look superimposed but we aren't I swear!

Checking out the Opera House

Made it to the top!

Week 12

This past week has been fantastic. I had no schoolwork to do and so I spent the week enjoying Sydney.  The weather was amazing everyday. It’s really starting to feel like summer here.  It’s about time too, we’ve got one week of classes left and then finals and the year is over!  I can’t believe that it’s gone by so fast. There are so many things that I wanted to do that I haven’t done. Thankfully I’ve got a month left so I should be able to fit a few things in.

I started to try to fit things in this past week.  Last weekend I had a few friends here to visit so we went out on the town Saturday night.  We were supposed to go to a place called Ivy.  It’s pretty swanky. Unfortunately we were to late to get the discount ($10 instead of $20) cover price.  So instead we just went to a bar close to my apartment. The next day we learned that Leonardo DiCaprio had been at Ivy that night! Ugh, so I missed out on a celebrity spotting. He’s here filming the remake of The Great Gatsby.  He’s actually been hanging out around my uni a lot too. I heard a few people in class talking about having seen him at Manning Bar one afternoon.  Crazy stuff.  He should be here for another month or so filming so maybe I’ll see him on campus. I’ll keep an eye out.

Anyway, after going out last Saturday my friends and I spent Sunday relaxing at Manly Beach.  It was a gorgeous day but a little cold so we never actually went in the water.  While hanging out we overheard a group of high school girls talking.  They were planning to call a girl they knew just to tell her that they were all hanging out and that she wasn’t welcome.  They were really mean to the girl and she ended up hanging up on them.  Sometimes I can’t believe how catty girls can be.  It was just shocking how mean they were. And they just laughed when it was all over.  Whatever, the beach is great I’ll just have to avoid idiot girls when I’m there next time.  And of course I’ll have to go again! I think I’ll take my parents there when they come.

So finally Monday rolled around and I went to class as usual.  Classes this past week were very strange. A lot of my tutes are over and many of my classes announced that it was the last lecture.  I’ve got a few assignments due next week but nothing due this week so I just enjoyed my free time.  I probably should have started some work but who cares!

So, while I wasn’t in class I was exploring the city. On Wednesday I felt like walking so I set out from campus and ventured into the CBD (downtown).  It’s quite a hike from where I live to the typical touristy places you would think of in Sydney so I set off in that direction but didn’t really plan on going that far.  I ventured down George St.  I had a lot of fun people watching and listening to my ipod.  I made it all the way to Martin place where Occupy Sydney is happening.  I hung out there for a while reading signs and listening to the string quartet that was playing (yes string quartet!).  Then I headed over to Hyde Park. There seemed to be a lot more people there than usual.  Then I realized that the international food festival is going on and Hyde Park was hosting the Night Noodle Markets.  I didn’t eat there that night but I did end up going back the next.

My favorite sign at Occupy Sydney

Curry Puff at Night Noodle Markets

Walking around the city this week had made me realize just how comfortable I am here. It’s really starting to feel like home.  I understand the transit system. I don’t get lost just walking around.  People even ask me for directions, which means I look like I know what I’m doing!  And of course this is all happening just in time for me to get ready to go home.  I’m trying to cram everything in at the last minute.  I’ve got about a month left in Sydney and I’m not even spending it all here.  I’ve got big travel plans. I’m going to the Gold Coast and Brisbane for a week and then I’m off to Bangkok for a long weekend, all before my first and only final on the 16^th.  It’s going to be a whirlwind adventure but I’ll be sure to keep you all posted.

P.S. Happy Birthday to my baby brother! He turns 19 today!

New Zealand - Part 2

So I'm too lazy to give you guys a real update as to how the rest of that week went but just know that it was amazing and that someday I'll have to go back. Here are some pictures from the rest of my adventure.

Jet boating in Queenstown Day 4

Rafting in Queenstown Day 4

Bungy Jumping Day 5

Heading up the Mountain Day 5

Skydiving Day 5

Milford Sound Day 7

Sheep Sheering at Morelea Farm Day 9

Watching the sunset over Christchurch Day 9

New Zealand - Part 1

So it’s been a while since I’ve updated but I swear I’ve had good reasons! My most recent reason being my adventures in New Zealand!

Last week was “Spring Break”! Although they don’t do that here, so they just call it semester break or study vacation.  I made plans to go to New Zealand on a tour of the south island with a company called Extreme Adventures.  So on Thursday September 22^nd my roommate and I got on a plane to Christchurch and our adventures began.

We arrived in Christchurch around 1am.  We happened to be on the same plane as some of our friends from uni so we went through customs with them.   We were hoping to get through quickly and head to our hostel to get some sleep but we weren’t so lucky.  One of our girls forgot that she was carrying apples in her backpack.  They found them and she was automatically fined $400.  It sucked. After figuring out when the fine needed to be paid by and officially throwing out the apples we hopped on a shuttle to our hostel, Point Break. It took us a whole hour to get there and I don’t think we officially checked in until almost 3am.  We had to get up early the next morning but I was still wired from the flight and too excited for the adventures to start, so I don’t think I slept much.

Day 1

7am came fast, so I packed up my stuff and headed down to the café for some breakfast and to meet all of my tour-mates.  Everyone was crowded into the café waiting in line for breakfast.  People were friendly, and introducing themselves.  As I got to the front of the line I found my first surprise of the day, bananas for only $1!  I was so excited. So I ordered a toasty, smoothie, and a banana.  Breakfast of champions!  Then I went to find Adhi.  Then came surprise number two for the morning, Adhi was sitting next to David, a guy we know from uni in Sydney.  I knew that David was going to NZ for break but hadn’t known he would be on our tour.  It was nice to add one more familiar face to the group though.

In total there were 34 of us.  As we piled on to the bus we learned that there were 28 girls, 3 guys, 1 tour guide, and 1 bus driver.  As we began our first day of adventures our tour guide, Chappy, started the introductions.  Most of our group was originally from the U.S., two of the guys were German, and several of the girls were from Mexico.  Our bus driver, Clinton, was the only Kiwi (New Zealander) and Chappy we learned was originally from Oz.  We had an entire day on the bus ahead of us, so off we went.

Our tour bus for the week

On our way out of Christchurch I was looking forward to seeing the city.  Because we came in so late the night before, we didn’t get to see anything until the morning.  The city is clearly still devastated.  The roads are horrible and there are construction cones everywhere and yet no reconstruction is going on.  They are still experiencing aftershock quakes that have made re-building very difficult.  The entire CBD (central business district, what we would call downtown) is still shut down, you can’t even drive through it.  It’s very sad, it reminds me of many of the places I’ve been to on mission trips.  Maybe I’ll go back someday on a service trip.

A few hours later we stopped in the mountains at Arthur’s Pass.  It was a perfect stop for some photos and to learn a little about the Southern Alps.  The Southern Alps run North and South, almost the entire length of the island.  There are only 3 places you can cross them.  Arthur’s Pass is one of them.  I also learned that Captain Cook named them and that Mount. Cook is the highest peak of the whole range.  Yay for name related trivia!

Arthur's Pass with Adhi, Dana, and Eileen

Later we stopped in Hokitika for lunch.  Adhi and I ate burgers with two girls from the tour and then ran errands around town.  I went to the grocery store and bought a few things that I had forgotten.  Then we headed to the beach to hang out before we had to hop back onto the bus.  It was freezing but I still took my shoes off and ran to the water.

After a long day on the bus we finally arrived in the tiny town of Fox Glacier.  We checked into our hostel, made some dinner, and headed out to the pub to watch the Wallabies crush the U.S. in the Rugby World Cup.  After all that I was exhausted and so I headed to bed early.

Day 2

Saturday was another early morning.  We checked in at Fox Glacier Guiding at 8am.  After getting all suited up with waterproof pants and jackets, socks, boots, gloves and hats we loaded onto the bus and drove out to Fox Glacier.  The weather was crappy, cold and raining, but we were all excited for the hike anyway, plus all the spiffy new gear helped keep us warm.

Yay we made it to the terminal face of Fox Glacier!

Hanging out in an ice cave 

The hike was amazing!  The views were so cool and we learned lots of cool stuff about the glacier itself.  Fox Glacier is one of only three glaciers that start in the mountains and end in the rainforest.  This is only possible because it rains 200 days out of the year.  This means that at the top of the glacier there is a steady supply of snow that gets compressed into ice.  Even still though the glacier is now receding due to global warming.

As some of you may know I sprained my patellar tendon a few weeks ago and so my knee was killing me after this hike! Anyway, we had all worked up an appetite so we walked to a nearby pub and ate lunch before hopping back on the bus to head to Wanaka for the night.

Five hours later we arrived in Wanaka and checked in at Base.  We had 8 share bedrooms at Base, which is the most we ever had to stuff into one room.  It was fun though.  After settling in at the Hostel we explored town a little bit before the sun went down.  Some of us ventured to the lake while others sat and got a drink.  Then we all headed back to the hostel for a bbq and to watch the All Blacks (New Zealand) play France.  It was a lot of fun but again I was exhausted and so I went to sleep early.  Don’t worry though, there were plenty of nights that I was out late. I wasn’t a loser the whole time.

Lake Wanaka

Day 3

The next morning we got to sleep in.  Wanaka is a very quiet town.  There isn’t much to do and so we walked out of town a ways to Puzzling World to entertain ourselves.  A big group of us went and it was actually really fun.  We started out by doing a maze!  Emily, Adhi, and I walked the maze together and were the first group to get through!  We didn’t quite beat our tour guide though, but he had done it before so he doesn’t count.  After the maze we explored the museum a little bit more.  It was full of optical illusions and puzzles.

Hanging around at Puzzling World

After Puzzling World we walked back into town and hung out at the lakefront and went to a café for breakfast.  Then we piled back onto the bus and headed out to Queenstown.  After 2 hours on the bus we arrived in Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand!

In Queenstown we checked in at Reaver’s Lodge and figured out our room assignments for the next few days.  We all had four shares and I was lucky enough to room with Eileen, Abby, and Kristyn.  They’re a fun group.  After settling in we decided to head down the mountain and explore town a little bit.  We stepped out of the hostel and to our surprise it was snowing!  Just flurries, but still really truly snowing.  It made me miss fall/winter at home.  I love the smell of snow.

The amazing view from Reaver's

We went into town and got some lunch and some souvenirs.  Later we had pizza for dinner at World Bar.  Then some teapots!  They were not normal teapots full of tea, they were full of mixed drinks.  It was fun. We shared a few between a group of us so that we could taste multiple flavors.  After World Bar, we went to a bar called Altitude.  It was crazy for a Sunday night.  The bar was packed and we ended up staying there until almost 3am.  After Altitude we went to Fergburger.  Fergburger is the best burger in NZ!  We were there until probably 4am.  Then we hiked back up the mountain, the steepest freaking hill ever, to Reaver’s.  My knee was killing me all week from dancing and hiking up this stupid hill.  All in all it was a great first night in Queenstown.


There's more to come so stay posted!

The Adventures of Sam and Scanlon

Some of you may actually be wondering who Scanlon is so I guess I’ll start with that. She is one of my friends from Northeastern that happens to also be studying in Australia this semester.  I just can’t seem to get rid of her.  We’re in the same major, same year of school, we play the same sport, and we chose the same country to study abroad in.  Anyway, her semester here started this week but before she decided to really settle in she first came to visit me and see this awesome city that I’m living in!  We had a great week full of adventures.

Scanlon arrived here last Wednesday.  Sadly I had class so she had to find her own way into the city but she made it here safe and sound.  First thing we did was go to get Thai food!  It is by far my favorite type of food and lucky me, it’s fantastic and cheap here especially at lunch.  So we spent a few hours catching up and swapping stories and then I had to leave for class again.  Stupid class is always getting in the way of doing cool stuff and hanging with cool people.  No worries because one hour later I was free and so we ventured off into the city.  I had showed her around campus earlier so we skipped that and went straight downtown.  We walked from Ultimo, where I live, to Darling Harbour and then along the harbour all the way to Circular Quay.  We had a pretty sweet view of the bridge at sunset and then the Opera House after dark.  It gets dark here really early so it was probably only 6:30 by the time we got back to my place but we had to hurry up and have dinner so that we could get ready for the foam party!  Neither of us had ever been to a foam party before so we weren’t sure what to expect.  I have to say it was really fun and also really gross at the same time.  Not sure I’ll do that again but it was definitely an experience worth having.

Darling Harbour

Harbour Bridge

Opera House

My favorite picture from the foam party

Thursday was a more typical day for me here in Sydney.  I had to go to class for a few hours so I suggested that Scanlon take the free tour of the city and we found a buddy for her to go with so I didn’t feel too bad leaving her for part of the day.  We met up for lunch and ate at Pancakes on the Rocks.  We talked about going out and doing something that night and somehow never ended up going out at all.  We sat for 6+ hours just hanging out.  It was great to have someone familiar around.  Staying in actually worked out well for us because we had to get up ridiculously early the next morning to go to the Hunter Valley for an all day wine tour.

This is where I live

So Friday morning we got up at about 630am to catch our tour bus to The Hunter Valley.  The Hunter Valley is the wine region near Sydney.  It’s about two and a half hours outside of the city, which is why we had to get up so early.  Our tour was full of other Americans and an older Australian couple.  There was also one Australian girl there with her boyfriend.  It was a really fun group.  So at just after 9am we rolled up to our first winery of the day.  Wine really isn’t my thing but I was determined to try everything and find something I liked.  Well after four different wineries and way too many sips of wine I now know which wines I really hate and which ones I sort of like.  I guess wine really is an acquired taste.  All in all it was a great day and a great tour.

9am at Savannah, our first winery

Buying some wine

Tulloch's, winery #2

It was another early night for us Friday because we had another tour lined up for Saturday morning.  Saturday we visited The Blue Mountains!  We learned on the tour that the mountains appear blue because of the oil from the eucalyptus trees.  This was probably the only fun fact our tour guide gave us.  He was a horrible tour guide but we still had a good time.  We got to see several different lookouts over the valley in the morning.  For lunch we stopped in Katoomba to check out the local shops and find some food.  Then we moved on to the site of the Three Sisters and Scenic World.  Scanlon and I had made some friend on our tour at this point and decided to hike with them to the Three Sisters and down into the valley.  The hike was a little ridiculous.  It was mostly stairs straight down the side of the mountain. As many of you know I’m terrified of heights.  This hike definitely had me scared.  My legs were shaking the whole way both from fear and from the incredible amount of work it was to get all the way down 900+ stairs.  Once we made it into the valley we got to walk along a very easy trail and by a waterfall.  Then back up the mountain we went to catch our bus and head home to Sydney.  On the way back our tour guide stopped at Olympic Park to show us around and Scanlon and I decided to leave the tour and take the ferry down the Parramatta River into Sydney Harbour.  It was the perfect ending to our tour.  That night we went out for Italian food in Glebe (the neighborhood next to mine) and then went to a chocolate bar for dessert.  It was a very low-key night but we had a good time.  Scanlon had to leave Sunday morning early to head to school for orientation and so our long weekend was over.

Hanging off the ledge at flat rock

The three sisters (rocks in the background) with our new friend Susi

Holding on for dear life

Amy, Me, Scanlon, and Susi at the waterfall

It was a whirlwind of a weekend and it was fantastic.  Thanks Scanlon for coming to visit! I hope your semester is awesome!  I’ll have to come check out the Gold Coast when you’re all settled in.  And now back to real life, as real as life gets in Australia.