On the road again...

After being in Sydney for 1 month we've packed up our stuff and hit the road to see what else Australia has to offer....

We spent the last week or so of our time in the Bondi house hanging out with roommates, going to the Sunday Markets at the public school, drinking at the pub in the nearby hotel and just living. I did actually get a job, though I never worked any shifts. It was for a promotions company and our interview (Sarah went too, as did 2 of our roommates) consisted of playing musical chairs to Lady Gaga and the interviewer telling us that if we are going to take/steal samples of what we are promoting to do it quietly. Well, that guy is "no longer with the company" and by the time they got someone to take over his job and get the new people straightened out we were moving. So yes I had a job, no I haven't made any money yet.

The day of our interview was Cinco de Mayo so we celebrated in the Mexican food place below our building, where the American alerted the not-so-Mexican staff of the holiday. We asked if they had specials because it was Cinco de Mayo but they did not. Our roommate from Oklahoma did wear a sombrero though.

Another day I gathered up a bunch of the housemates to do the coastal walk with me. Its a 5km walk that takes you on a path past 5 beaches: Bondi, Tamarama, Bronte, Clovelly and Coogee. The views are spectacular and the crazy Irish guys kept us entertained along the way. When we reached Coogee we jumped in the water with our snorkeling gear on and swam around for a bit. There were plenty of awesome fish to see and HUGE sea urchins, all just off the beach. We took a cab back to Bondi and bought $2 steaks at the store to throw on the barbie...err I mean barbecue...they don't actually saw barbie here, which is a tad disappointing.

I went surfing with some of the guys I live with one day at Bondi, I wanted to surf there before I left. Even though it had been about 3 weeks since surf camp I could still do it. Mind you I was a lot closer to shore than the good surfers.

One of the last big events before we moved out was Prom! The Irish guys came up with the idea then asked Sarah and I to work on the details so it was a proper American prom. Sarah, Lucy, Scott and myself made up the prom committee. We decided to draw dates at random to make it more fun. I was paired up with Matt from Oklahoma, we were Team America. Sarah got Luke from Ireland. On prom night all the girls got dressed up and waited on the roof for our dates. They all came up together with flowers and gifts for us! It was so cute! We had a blast dancing on the roof, someone sprayed champagne, and we even crowned a king and queen - crowns provided by Hungry Jack's aka Burger King! It was such a fun night and a good way to leave my housemates.

The family arrived on the 16th and we hit the ground running, first with a stop to the Rocks area to see the markets (Sydney has a ton of markets on the weekend, if you can't tell), then peak at the Opera House before taking a ferry across the harbour to have lunch at Doyle's Famous Fish N Chips on Watson's Bay. After resting a bit at their apartment we went to Darling Harbour for dinner where I had my first kangaroo steak, served rare!, then we watched Darling Harbour's awesome light show. The light show included 4 jet skis going around the harbour with fireworks on the back of them...didn't seem too safe but it sure looked neat!

The family came out to Bondi the next day to see my house, the beach, the markets, etc. They ended up staying out in that area all day and Brooks, Mark and Laura came back at night to go out with my housemates and I. The Irish guys were fascinated that Brooks was a pilot, and they couldn't get over how much Laura and I sound alike, and how big Mark is even though he's my little brother.

On the 3rd day of their visit we walked around Hyde Park, took a tour of the Opera House which was SO interesting, then we had dinner in Chinatown. I went home after dinner to spend some time on my last night with the housemates. I was SO sad to be leaving them, but I hope to visit them in all of their home countries in the future, it will give me an excuse to travel more!

On the 19th we left Sydney and flew to Hobart, Tasmania. I would have never thought in a million years I'd ever go to Tasmania, I mean it sounds like a made up place! We stayed at this adorable B&B called The Lodge on Elizabeth that was built in 1829. We got in late so we went to bed early. The next morning we took a tour of the oldest brewery in Australia, Cascade Brewery. Then we walked around the wharf and saw 2 bridges open for ships to come through.

The next day I finally tried Vegemite on my toast. Vegemite, for those who don't know and most of you probably don't, is a spread that Aussies and Kiwis love to put on toast. Its a yeast spread and you spread it very thin on buttered toast. It "just tastes salty" according to locals who have been eating it their whole life, but let me tell you. It does not "just taste salty" it tastes god-awful and I had to spit it out. Pleasant, I know. I hope none of the other B&B patrons saw me. And Aussies think peanut butter & jelly sandwiches are gross....

We drove to Port Arthur, site of a very historic prison. Australia was first inhabited by British criminals who were sent to the newly discovered, harsh continent to see what it was like, and to colonize it. And Port Arthur was set-up for the really really bad criminals who didn't even deserve a chance to die exploring the outback. The prison grounds were beautiful and the weather was perfect which made it a little hard to imagine how brutal it was. They had a cell that was totally pitch black where they put solitary confinement inmates. Mark thought it would be funny to go ahead of us and hide in there till we came to see it, but he ended up scaring this other couple who beat us to the dark cell. Haha! Oops!

The next day we drove a couple of hours to Freycinet National Park where we hiked to see magnificent views of Wineglass Bay. We saw wallabies in the parking lot too! And about 10 kangaroos, unfortunately all as roadkill though. That night we stayed in Bicheno and took a tour to see the tiny Blue Penguins come ashore for the night.

We left Tasmania this morning and now we are in Melbourne. Seems like a neat city so far. Tomorrow we will walk around town and see the sights, maybe so to an Australian Rules Football game. Then Monday and Tuesday we are renting a car and driving along Great Ocean Road for some spectacular views of this beautiful country!