The Veronicas Concert

Wednesday, February 16th Rob and I headed to Enmore (a suburb of Sydney) to see The Veronicas in concert. The Veronicas are twin sisters (Jessica and Lisa Origliasso) from Brisbane, Australia who are kind of an electro based pop-rock band. They've gained quite a bit of popularity here and in the States with their songs "Hook Me Up", "Take Me on the Floor", and "Untouched"

The Veronicas

February Nights

A few random nights in February:

Watching some more of the Australia Open in front of the Customs House in Sydney

Watching "the tennis"

Out with friends: Jeff and Dawn

Out with friends: Kwun Ye and Dawn

Out and about

Rob HAD to have a chili dog from Harry's on Wheels at 2 in the morning

Harry's on Wheels

Shap from Springdale, Arkansas comes back through Sydney! We offered him a place to crash on our tiny couch before he headed back to the States.
Rob's Encounter with Tony Ferguson: Creator of the Tony Ferguson Weight Loss Program

Valentine's Date: View from the restaurant on Level 36 of the Shangri La Hotel

View from our Studio Apartment on Bridge Street

Jervis Bay

Our trusty Australian Guide Arthur Frommer convinced us that Jervis Bay was a "must see" in New South Whales. The book boasts that Hyams Beach has the whitest sands in the world and that Booderee National Park is filled with wildlife. Rob and I decided to take a weekend trip to see what all the fuss was about and we were far from disappointed. The coastline was BEAUTIFUL, the wildlife was abundant, the beaches were white as snow and the sunset was spectacular.

We left Saturday in Rob's company car and began our trip with a trail walk through Booderee National Park:

Whiting Beach

Kitty's Point

Kitty's Point

Monkeying around-Obviously not saving my energy for the remaining 4k of the hike (sans water!)

All smiles before becoming weak and dehydrated!

After the 5k trail walk in the heat of the Australian sun we replenished ourselves with some water and then drove to another beach in the National Park and found this rock formation called Hole in the Wall:

Hole in the Wall (with Hailey in the hole)

Rob in the Hole in the Wall

The water and sand blowing across this pier was PAINFUL!!!

Sunset at Summer Cloud Bay

Vino at sunset

Summer Cloud Bay

One of MANY kangaroos that we saw

Rob playing with the kangaroos

We woke up EARLY to watch the sunrise at Green Patch Beach

Exactly how I felt about waking up so early

Hyams Beach

Cape Lookout Lighthouse ruins

Cape Lookout

Whitewater Rafting in Penrith

The weekend after our Melbourne trip we decided we needed an adrenaline rush so we headed to Penrith (a suburb of Sydney) for some Whitewater Rafting! The course we rafted was designed for the 2000 Olympics and it was so fun! Other than falling out of the raft that is...

After our rafting trip we were heading back to Sydney on the train and Rob convinced me to stop off at Paramatta where one of the only 3 Hooters Restaurants in Australia is.


I was actually in heaven at Hooters. I hadn't eaten American food in SO LONG! Hello, Buffalo Chicken sandwich!!!

Here's Rob with the Hooters girls.

Australia Day Weekend: Melbourne, Victoria

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY! January 26th was Australia Day and a 3-day weekend so Rob and I took a weekend trip to Melbourne to visit Nathalie and celebrate the holiday.

We left Sydney EARLY in the morning on Saturday and landed in Melbourne at around 7:30am and Nathalie picked us up from the airport exhibiting true Australian hospitality.

She first drove us around Geelong which is where she grew up and we had breakfast and toured the town for a little while.

Breakfast at Sailors' Rest

Some of our mates in Geelong

Geelong

After that we headed out to do the famous Great Ocean Road drive. It is normally recommended to take 2 days to do the entire drive, but we knocked it out in about 12 hours. Again, Nathalie was great and drove us around like a champ. Rob and I were so grateful and kept saying to each other, "I don't know if I would do something this nice for anyone!"

Great Ocean Road

Photo Ops along the way

Light House

Erskine Falls

Gorgeous

We had to pull off the road because we spotted some KOALAS in the trees overhead! Can you see him curled up in the middle?

Windblown

The 12 Apostles

12 Apostles

12 Apostles

12 Apostles

12 Apostles





We finished the Great Ocean Road Drive and finally headed into the city. Nathalie dropped us off at our hostel: The Elephant Backpacker Hostel
Classy. This place offered the BARE MINIMUM! But that's all we really needed, I guess.

We were pretty exhausted after the long day and the long drive, but we met up for dinner in Chinatown and drinks that night. Here we are at Rooftop Bar with Nathalie and her cousin Olga...

And Marc.

The next day we got out and toured Melbourne on our own a little bit. Here is Flinders Train Station

Docklands

Eureka Tower. The Skydeck at the top is the highest public vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere
The Skydeck
The Skydeck
At some outdoor market on the water

Federation Square where people were gathering to watch the Australian Open


St. Kildas Beach

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

Geeks in matching shirts

Transport Public Bar watching the parade

Some Aussies doing beer-drinking push ups

Section 8 Bar

In the lobby of the Eureka Tower. It is not only the home of the Skydeck, but it's also a residential building so we met up with some friends of Nathalie's for some wine and then watched the Australia Day fireworks from there.

We finally made it to the Australian Open! We watched Venus and Serena play doubles and win.

Serena

Venus

My overall assessment of Melbourne is that it's a nice city, but you could probably see it all in a day or 2. If the Australian Open and Australia Day weren't on while we were there then we might have been bored. But I wouldn't dare tell that to a Melbourne local! I can liken Melbourne-ites take on Sydney to Candians take on America. They are kind of the little brother so they are constantly telling you how much better they are than Sydney (USA) but Sydney kind of knows it's better so they don't retaliate. It was a great weekend though and Nathalie was terrific for showing us around. I'm definitely glad I got to see it!