March

A few random days in March:

Our Melbourne friend Nathalie came to Sydney for work so we got to hang out with her for a few days. Dawn came out too. We started the day with lunch at the Australian Hotel and then walked across the Harbour Bridge

Can't miss an Opera House photo op

Once we were across the bridge we went to Luna Park! Dawn had never been and she was about to leave Sydney for good so she wanted to see it.

Rob and me dancing

Rob with two clowns (Rob is in the middle)

Enjoying sitting by the water in the beautiful weather

The next night we all went out for some after work drinks at Rooftop Bar (Dawn, Nathalie's work colleague, Nathalie, Rob, me)

Followed by dinner at Jackson's on George

And then a drink at the posh club Ivy

The Ladies Man

And the next night we all got together for Mike and Dawn's Going Away Party! :( They were heading back home to North Carolina (Kwun Ye, Dawn, Me, Nathalie)

The whole lot of us (Rob1-Colorado, Mike-N.Carolina, Rob2, Nathalie-Melbourne, Dawn-N. Carolina, Me, Kwun Ye-Canada)

Girls shot

Carolinians

Framing my face

At the end of the night we had to say our goodbyes to Mike and Dawn. We're hoping to plan a reunion once we're all back in the States!

St. Patty's Day 2009

St. Patrick's Day was pretty low key this year but we did end up going out to Bondi to a popular Irish Pub called Cock and Bull. We waited FOREVER to get in! We had a couple of drinks, bought a couple of t-shirts and then called it a night.

Cock & Bull

The line to get into the pub

Having a drink and enjoying the music

Too packed to move!

The band

And our favorite Mexican restaurant in Bondi!

Tasmania

We took a long weekend in March and flew down to Tasmania which is part of Australia just off of the southeast coast. We landed in Hobart and rented a car for the weekend. Last year at a backpacker's expo I won 2 free tickets on a tour boat called Wild Thing that was supposed to take us on a 90minute adventure ride. We made it a point to reserve seats on it and that was our first activity planned in Tasmania. Let me just say, I'm glad it was free because it was pouring down rain and the "adventure" was trying to keep your face from being pelted into oblivion when the boat sped across the water.

The Wild Thing boat. Everyone was given these full body rain suits

Before we got soaked!

The oldest working lighthouse in Australia and the only cool thing we saw on the Wild Thing tour

Later that day we hopped into the rental car and made our way down to Mt. Field National Park to see some of the natural beauty that Tasmania always boasts about. It was beautiful! We got there after dark and slept in the car at one of the designated camping areas. This was when the crazy lady and her husband opened our doors while we were sleeping and accused us of stealing things from their RV. Very strange... We woke up early the next morning to do some exploring through the park and try to avoid crazy campers.

Russell Falls in Mt. Field National park

Russell Falls

Russell Falls

One of many wallabies that we saw

Lady Baron Falls in Mt. Field National Park

The Tall Trees Walk

Horseshoe Falls

Tasman National Park Lookout

I don't remember the name of this beach...

Another lookout point: Devil's Kitchen

Trying to cover as much ground as possible, we then made our way to Port Arthur's Convict site to see some of the old jail houses and some of Australia's history

Port Arthur's Convict Site

Port Arthur's Convict Site

Port Arthur's Convict Site

Inside one of the cells

After Port Arthur's we stopped off at a few other scenic areas for some photo ops

Almost got splashed!

I wanted to make one more touristy/history stop at the Female Factory Historic Site. Cascades Female Factory operated between 1828 and 1856 where women were either serving a sentence, awaiting assignment/hiring or awaiting confinement.

Female Factory. Reading some of the tragic stories

Cascade Brewery

After a long day of touring and site-seeing, we camped out by a beach in hope of seeing some little penguins coming in to their burrows. I caught a glimpse of one, but it was too dark to see anything without a flashlight and we didn't get any pictures. We did, however, make friends with another couple who camped in their RV next to us by the beach. Dan and Bruny had a much cooler camper van than our rental car and they offered us some drinks and then cooked us a steak and mashed potato dinner! I love Aussies!!

The next morning we went back in the city of Hobart. This is part of their University that was right on the Harbour. I thought it was neat.

Restaurant where we stopped in and had a drink

Hobart

Oyster Cove Marina

The most beautiful rainbow I'd ever seen over Peppermint Bay. The pictures don't do it justice

Two Rainbows!

Later that evening our American friends Mike and Dawn landed in Hobart so we met up with them for some drinks

Lucky for us, they had an extra bunk bed in their hostel so we ended up crashing with them that night and then waking up early the next morning to catch our flight back to Sydney