Rainy Afternoon

Manly Beach after work on a rainy afternoon

Our hiding place under a rock awning

A little vino with our picnic dinner

Relaxing and listening to the rain fall

I had the ocean all to myself!

An Arkansan in Sydney!

A fellow Springdale High School Alum (Shap Bennet) was in Sydney for a few days so we met up for drinks.

It's always nice to have a little taste of home down under.

Sydney Festival 2009

After work one day in January we met up with Mike and Dawn and went to "Movies in the Overflow" which is an outdoor movie theater that was set up as part of the 2009 Sydney Festival. We packed a picnic and laid out our blankets to watch the chick flic "27 Dresses"



The Sydney Festival went on for about a week so on Friday night Rob and I took to the streets to see what it was all about.

The streets were packed!

These were some guys making music from fire

Waiting for the performance

Grace Jones

After the festival we went to Jackson's on George and met up with some of my Reed coworkers

Oldest Lighthouse in Australia

A couple days after New Years (when I'd had a chance to recuperate at least a little bit) and before we had to go back to work, Rob and I took a train to see the oldest lighthouse in Australia! It's beautiful.

New Years 2009

Well, New Years this year was an interesting one. It started out nice with a day in the sun up on our rooftop with some friends (see below)


We enjoyed the sun, barbecued some kebabs, and had a little wine. We originally planned on spending the evening on the rooftop and watching the world famous Harbour Bridge fireworks from our rooftop, but we ended up meeting a couple who live in our building (Adam and Jenny) who informed us that the view from our roof wasn't all that great. Adam told us that a friend of his was having a party a block or two away and that we should join them over there. We agreed and after getting all dressed and ready Adam and Jenny met in our apartment for a couple of drinks before we headed to the party.

About this time I started to feel a little woozy. My stomach was upset and I was feeling a little weak. We made our way to Adam's apartment so the guys could help him carry some stuff over the the party and then we were ready to go. Six of us piled into the elevator and started towards the lobby. In the elevator I could feel my body getting weaker and all of a sudden I knew I was going to throw up! We hit the ground floor and I tried to push my way out of the elevator and run outside but I didn't quite make it that far. I ended up throwing up all over the lobby (and myself....and a little bit on Jenny)! It was so embarrassing! We (well, the guys) got the mess cleaned up and Jenny and I went upstairs to get ourselves cleaned up and I had to tell everyone I was sorry but I wasn't going to be able to go to the party right now.

Rob stayed with me while I rested for awhile and we did end up rallying a couple of hours later and making our way to the party with the directions that Adam left us, but I felt AWFUL the whole time. We stayed just long enough to see the fireworks and then bolted. Here are the few pictures we were able to squeeze in:

This was outfit choice B. Outfit A was ruined.

Fireworks exploding from the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Me with my glass of water. And even that made me sick!

Adam-our neighbor

We had fun while we could and then I spent the next 5 days in bed with whatever virus that I had. Rob contracted it soon after. I don't know what it is about me and New Years, but I'm hoping this isn't a new tradition I'm starting! Last year after our family trip to Vegas I returned to Charleston with some sort of virus and was throwing up all through New Years (and Rob contracted it soon after). Ugh!

Christmas 2009 with Family

We had a unique Christmas 2009 with the family coming all the way to Australia. It was (probably) a once in a lifetime holiday experience and we crammed a LOT into 10 days and had a great time!

Upon arrival we went to The Rocks for breakfast at Pancakes on the Rocks

We walked through a street market and played a little dress up

We met up with some friends for a Christmas concert in the Botanical Gardens called Christmas at the Domain. The gardens were PACKED and we got to listen to Christmas carols all night

The next morning we did a mini tour of the city.

We saw the Opera House

The Customs House



In Australian spirit, I cooked up some Kangaroo steaks for dinner that night. Everyone wanted to help but our kitchen isn't really made for 5 people. More like one. As we ate dinner on the roof, Rob presented everyone with his Christmas present to all of us: front row tickets to the opera at the OPERA HOUSE!

The next morning Rob and Cami went to the Taronga Zoo while Mom, Hannah and I took a trip out to Manly Beach. It rained on us a little so we spent most of the day shopping.

That evening, we got dressed up and made our way to the opera to see the "Christmas at the House"

Opera

Cami actually got called up on stage to sing and dance! The kids sang "Six White Boomers" which is an Australian Christmas carol. Cami was the cutest of them all!

Some post-opera photos. After we were photoed-out we grabbed some (late) dinner in Circular Quay and went home to get some rest. We planned to open presents and have our Christmas on Christmas eve morning which was the following day.

We had Christmas Eve brunch on the rooftop of our apartment building.

We opened our presents and our Christmas crackers (an Australian tradition) which contained these crowns

Mom, Hannah and Cami got Australian jackets

Rob and I got each other wetsuits

Christmas eve we went to church

And then grabbed some dinner in Darling Harbour at Jordans.

Christmas morning Mom, Hannah and I woke up bright and early and flew out to Auckland, NZ. Upon arrival we did a self-tour of the city and stumbled onto the University of Auckland, the wharf, a rose garden, and lot of other buildings that I can't remember.

The Old Government House

The next day we rented a car and drove 3 hours south to Rotorua which is right on the lake and we spent a few hours in an outdoor spa soaking in hot mineral pools and got massages.

We returned to Auckland that evening and did some more city walking. Here is the "pride of Auckland" the skytower

The next day and our final day in New Zealand we ferried over to Waiheke Island to enjoy some beach time and tour the old island villages

Back to Auckland from Waiheke and out to an Italian dinner on the wharf

On our way back to the hotel we saw a sheep in the city! On a leash! Welcome to New Zealand! We made our way back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. The next morning we flew back to Sydney to meet back up with Rob and Cami

Back in Sydney we spent the evening out at Watson's Bay. Cami and I made this sand couch.

We climbed up to a high point so we could watch the sunset behind the city

Sunset at Watson's Bay

Back home Rob whipped us up a fabulous chicken dinner

The next day we boarded the train and headed out to Featherdale Wildlife Park to see some Kangaroos and Koalas!

Koala picture

We left the Wildlife Park and did a quick tour of Olympic Park and then ended up at Coogee Beach where we watched the sun go down and ate some kebabs for dinner

Our picnic spot and the best picture of the trip. Check out gay Rob. The next morning we had to say our goodbyes and the family headed back to the good ol' USA

I've had to summarize here. We fit much more in the 10 days than I could capture in one blog posting. Everyone had a great time and made it back home safely....exhausted, I'm sure!