I Come From a Land Down Under!

2008-09-08T15:40:00.004-06:00

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Today we woke up at 6:30 am to see the sunrise at Bronte Beach which was quite the effort seeing as we didn’t actually make it to bed until 4:30am (yes....only 2 hours earlier). We got our a little later than we had hoped, so an not to miss all the sunrise, we ran to the beach. When we got there it was gorgeous! The kind of thing that makes you very grateful you are in a position that you get to experience it. Really, I am so lucky to get to be here, even if it is costing a fortune!

Wen we made it back we were all exhausted and fell back asleep till 12, which was definitely not planned because we had quite the day planned before we went to the airport. To no surprise, we were barely able to fit any of it into our day. We did make French Toast and then we just packed and made our way to the airport, stopping along the way to try some gozleme at Kings Cross. (Gozleme is a turkish crepe-like things with cheese and spinach that we had heard all about and hadn’t gotten a chance to try until now).

We took the train to the airport and when we got off and swiped through our passes we discovered that the airport link is privately owned, so although our passes worked to get on the train, as long as you got off on one of the airport stops, you were required to have an additional $10 ticket. This put a damper on things because had we known we would’ve taken a bus that would’ve been free with our tickets.

It was pretty crazy going though security here in Australia because it is a lot more lax than what we were expecting. We had paid for a discount ticket that didn’t allow for any checked luggage, which made things interesting as we had to pack for a 10 day adventure in two places, one with a warmer climate, and the other colder. So we decided to split the cost and share an extra duffle bag to check.

When we went to check it, it ended up costing more than they had quoted on the phone, and because it wasn’t very large the attendant told us to just nonchalantly carry it through and we should have no problem. I don’t think she realized that we all had big carry-ons and big purses as well so, adding an extra bag was quite the stretch. While we were in the security line we realized that we had all of our liquid beauty products that we’d probably have to throw out because we didn’t check a bag, but to our surprise we were never even questioned about it. No one even ever tried to check our ID’s to see if we were the correct person boarding the plane. So there we were with our discount travel tickets, and like 6 pretty good sized bags, really it was pretty humorous.

We made it on the plane with only a slight glance from one of the attendants acknowledging she noticed all of our hand luggage, and the flight was only a little under 2 hours, so not bad for sure. Things would have run smoothly from there, except about 20 minutes before we landed my ears started killing me. It was literally so painful, one point I really thought something was seriously wrong, luckily we landed and my ears were still attached, and I just spent the night with very limited hearing. We picked up our rental car and were slightly nervous to embark on the challenge of driving on the wrong side of the road. Don’t worry though, Jayne took charge and performed valiantly.

Our first car! We were so happy to have a car and not have to deal with public transport for a while!

We, after only getting off course a few times, found the house thanks to our mad map reading skills. It was a very beautiful house owned by Gary and Pauline Scallan, who were related to Jayne’s soccer coach from high school and they were great! We didn’t do much that night, just introduced ourselves and tried to pln out our next days adventures, and then made our way to bed.

2008-08-27T18:59:00.001-06:00

Thursday, July10, 2008- Friday, July 11, 2008

Today Jayne and Wendy met me for lunch and then after I got off work I met up with them to check out New Town. Thursdays are the days shops stay open later than the usual 5 or 6 so we were just going to check out the stores. Everything was really expensive, so we had a quick look around and then went home so Michel could come over and visit. Michel is the guy we are renting the apartment from that was super helpful in getting us over here and settled. That was pretty much our night, and we ended it with our favorite, so you think you can dance, via youtube.

Friday I came home from work and we decided to go out to a dinner and try to catch a movie at the theater. We went to Guzman y Gomez, one of the only Mexican chains in Australia. It was okay, but nothing compared to Mexican in the states. All of us ordered really spicy burritos so our mouths were on fire for a bit after dinner.

We then went to the Bondi Junction movie theater and went to Hancock, the movie with Will Smith, which I thought was a let down. We ended the night by staying up literally all night so we could figure out all the money we had been swapping before going on our three week adventure and pack for the trip.

2008-08-27T18:53:00.003-06:00

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 -Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Jayne and Wendy met me at Cook and Archies, my favorite little café by my work where I got the Pumpkin Chicken Wrap that is literally amazing. I am trying to figure out how I could it, I am sure I’ll have to experiment a bit, but I am gonna get it eventually. That night we just did the norm, made dinner and ended the night with a wee bit of blogging.

The next day was way great. I met up with Jayne, Wendy, and Jess as soon as I got off work and we went to this awesome Malaysian restaurant called Chinta Ria at Darling Harbour. We got the banquet that was like $32/person but was literally the most food I have ever eaten. The food just didn’t stop coming out, but it was really great!

Don’t worry, that isn’t where it ends. Jess took us to this amazing chocolate café. Yes, I wrote that right, a chocolate café, called Max Brenner, Chocolate by the bald man. It was a super cute café. Everything was like a gourmet chocolate dish, it was amazing, and pretty pricey in terms of just desserts. Jayne and I ordered a belgian waffle that came with bananas, strawberries, ice cream and a cup of chocolate that was literally divine!

Jess is so cute! She is just so willing to drive us around everywhere, we are definitely going to miss her when we go back to the states. (Jess Goes Up!)

2008-08-14T17:48:00.003-06:00

Just a note to anyone that does read this. I can't believe it, but my internship is pretty much over. I come home on Wednesday, and as you can see I am more than a month behind on my blog which I still plan on updating for my own sake when I get home, so if you are still interested in seeing what went down while I was in Australia and New Zealand, you are welcome to continue visiting my blog. When I got back from my 3 week adventure I planned on blogging my life away, which I started to do, but then was informed that we had practically used up our internet so my plans had to change. (Yes, internet here is "unlimited" which means that you are only allowed so many gigs which they claim you will never exceed, I guess they didn't plan on some American chickas to come and blog there lives away).

Anywho...See you soon, I know you thought the day would never come, but I am coming back!

2008-08-11T07:22:00.005-06:00

Monday, July 7, 2008

Blue Mountains

Today I was still feeling sick enough to not want to be at work, but apparently healthy enough to go on a day trip with my amigas. The following is a long story about my near death experience in the Blue Mountains. Sorry if the story seems all over the place, there was so much to write that it was difficult to put it into words on paper. The moral of this story is that if anyone thinks that there isn’t someone watching over them, they are indeed wrong, and there is evidence of that here!

(The aboriginal people must've been watching over us in the story that is about to take place)

(This is the emu sausage Jayne made us try before starting on our adventure. Jayne said that we were finally getting revenge from our experience at Featherdale Zoo)

So, if you haven’t heard of the blue mountains then they are the major mountains in Australia, and there are always all these stories about people going hiking there and getting lost for days, and then their bodies are found later because the bush is so thick. So.... we decided to head there on monday morning.

(Drinking water straight from the mountain.)

(We couldn't fingure out why they were called the Blue Mountains because everything was green. This particular area smelled fowl.)

It is like a 2 hour train out, and we caught a trolley to this place called Scenic World where they have the steepest train ride in the world and this really cool Sky Cable Car that takes you over the huge mountain valley on a cable, kind of like a zip line, on a large scale. So we planned on staying at Scenic World for a few hours and then moving on to another part of the mountains. Scenic World has 3 trails, a 10 minute, 30, and 50 minute, so we decided to take the 30. We got on what we thought was the trail and were goofing off taking pics, and going off the trail, but we always got back on the main trail and would continue on our hike. We were enjoying ourselves like normal, not knowing what our day had in store.

(This is the Sky Cable Car that goes over the valley, it has a glass bottom so it feels like you are floating over the trees below.)

(Here is the famous three sisters. I didn't know yet but I'd be seeing plenty more of these!)

About an hour in we were thinking, this is weird that it still doesn't seem like we are getting close, and we hadn't seen anyone all day, but we still for some reason kept moving forward. Like an hour later we see a sign that says 1.3 km to Scenic Railway, (we later realized this had said 13 km) which is where we needed to go so we kept trucking on. So another hour later we see another sign that says Scenic Railway 2 hours and then all these other trails pointing in the opposite direction.

(We hadn't realized yet what we had got ourselves into. This is where Jayne was playing our Australian tour guide, explaining that she had cleared the trail for the "advanced climbers." If only she knew that she wasn't kidding!)

By then it was like 3:20 and it for sure is dark by 5:00 here and we had little water left, no food, and no flashlights so we kind of got nervous, but we figured if we moved at a faster pace we could get back before dark. We all just were trying to act like it was going to be okay, So we literally started running at a pretty fast pace in the same direction we had been heading, for another 30 minutes, when we came to another sign that said Mt Solitary one way, and then the Scenic Railway 3 hours back in the direction we had come from.

(Part of the trail we walked on for what seemed like hours....Wait, it was hours!)

So you can imagine our horror. We had just ran for 30 minutes in the wrong direction, And it was getting later and later, and we had seen nobody all day, So we said a prayer as we all were realizing the seriousness of our circumstance and really didn't know what we were going to do. We decided that we obviously had to run at a pretty fast pace so we just started running back the way we had come from because we didn't know what else to do.

About 20 minutes into our run, we heard voices, and low and behold we see 3 boys walking towards us. These boys looked to be about Tyler’s age, and were all geared up for some camping or something. We were so happy to see real life humans and asked them if they knew what we should do. They said there was no way that we would be able to get back to Scenic world, and couldn't even believe we had come from that far, but that there would be a sign that said the Golden Staircase that was a harder hike, but that it could get us out of the mountains before dark. They said it would take us to a road, and if we kept right on it the whole time, eventually we would get to the town. They honestly didn't know how long this would take, but that it would be a much safer bet. We thanked them and went on our way. Obviously knowing that we were being watched over and blessed because there was no way we could have known any of this without their help. (Just on a side note they we hiking to Mt Solitary to camp for the night which was another 10 km)

We said another prayer because it still was getting later and later, and knew that we still had quite the journey ahead of us. Because we knew we had a hard hike we tried to pace ourselves a little bit so we walked a very fast pace to the sign that was roughly 20 minutes away. When we got to the sign we started up on the Golden Stairs. Remember that we had literally been hiking all day, running even for part of it, so we were extremely tired. Because we felt an urgency to get out of the mountains as soon as possible we kept trucking forward.

(This is the only picture I took in all the chaos. It was a beautiful view, but we pretty much ended up seeing the three sisters from every view possible. At this point we were on the completely opposite side of where we had started.)

(This is close to where we started out.... notice how close the three sisters are compared to the picture above.)

We started up and soon realized why it was called the golden staircase. It was a straight hike up and it literally almost killed all 3 of us. The sign at the bottom said 1 hour to the top and we knew we didn't have an hour. We really were dying, had to say another prayer so we would have energy to do it. I wanted to give up so many times, but obviously knew I couldn't, and somehow made it in like 40 minutes, right as darkness really started to cover the mountains. I honestly don’t know how we did it in 40 because we all started out exhausted, and it seemed like we weren’t going as fast as we would need to be to even make it in the hour the sign had stated. Miracles do happen!

(A sign that we saw on the dirt road...notice the Enjoy your stay, we definitely felt like that was an over statement)

When we made it to the road, it wasn't like a civilized road, it was just a dirt road in the mountains, and we couldn't see any houses so we still were nervous as to how we were gonna get out before it got super cold. The boys had told us what to do, so we weren't nervous how to get to town, just how long it would take. We all really were so dead tired, but had no choice but to keep walking. We walked for like 20 minutes when a car drove by, and Jayne tried to get it to pull over, but it wouldn't. So we walked, and walked, and walked. For about 20 minutes more until we came to a road that was paved and saw some houses. The boys had told us to keep right so we turned right down a road that eventually had some people on it, so we decided to ask them to make sure we were going in the right direction.

We asked a man and he told us we could stay on that road but that it would take much longer, and he said he would walk us to a better route. As we walked we told him our story, and he couldn't believe it, minus he said they get horror stories of people going into the bushes and never coming out. He pointed out where we needed to go, and by now it was completely dark. He said it would be at least 30 more minutes but we were happy to hear an end was almost in sight. We kept walking and I was really in a lot of pain in my legs, but we were by a road with people so I felt a lot better about our position so I kept moving forward.

Eventually we made it into town and found somewhere to eat. Right as we got into town, it started raining, another instance showing how blessed we were, having been outside for like 6 hours lost in the rain forest, and no rain! So we were able to catch a train home and had the 2 hour trip home to think about what had just happened.

(We were exhausted so as soon as we could accept that we were safe and sound on the train, we took some zzzz's before getting to Sydney)

I really did think I would have to spend the night in the bush, I was so scared! This is when we realized why they are called the blue mountains rather than green, because as it gets dark the mountains turn a very convincing color of....you guessed it, BLUE! There was so many things that should've set us off, like there being nobody on the trail, but somehow we overlooked them. I just feel so blessed to be alive, and I really do know that I am being watched over!

2008-08-11T07:00:00.003-06:00

Saturday, July 5, 2008

(Waiting for the doctor, don't usually let people see me in my glasses, but the eye infection wouldn't allow for contacts! Traumatic, I know)

Today I decided I had to get to the doctor to get some medicine that would hopefully help me in some way. My eyes were still super infected and I couldn’t get rid of this nasty cold. The doctor wasn’t much help, but I was written a prescription that I hoped would help. Between me, Jayne, and Wendy we decided we had spent way to much on health care in the last few weeks; 2 doctors, plenty prescriptions, and heaps of over the counter drugs. Ugh....

After my doctors appointment we went to Paddy’s Market in China Town to see if we could get anymore souvenir shopping taken care of. I was able to find a few things for my nieces and a cool statue for me, oh and I can’t forget our Australia T-shirts. After that I went home and rested for a bit, then showered to get ready to meet some of our friends at The House Club.

(Don't we look ready to hit the clubs?)

We didn’t end up making it out until like 11:30pm and so we didn’t get in the club till like 12:15. It was a very different atmosphere than what you’d find in the states for sure. The club had girls walking around on stilts wearing floro clothing. (In case you are wondering, floro is what the Aussies use for florescent). We stayed at the club till late, because by the time we walked the 30 minute walk to the bus, waited, took it home, got a taxi, and got home it was probably almost 5 am. Not the smartest idea for someone that had been sick all week.

2008-08-11T06:31:00.002-06:00

Friday, July 4, 2008

Today I went to work because I had to meet with a client with Greg, and had to suffer while I sat there trying to see if I could sniff enough to keep my nose from becoming a dripping disaster but not too much to disgust the client and anyone else that happened to be sitting in the room with me. I only made it a little over a half day, then I came home to rest for a bit. I wanted to feel better so I could celebrate Independence Day with Jayne and Wendy but all I felt like was dying. When Jayne and Wendy came home from the store with cute little gifts to celebrate the 4th from home, I tried to make my best of it, but was only able to celebrate for a bit and then run back to bed.

They had bought red and blue food coloring to make patriotic shakes, and sparklers, and gold medals because Jayne found out today that one of her best friends qualified to run the steeple chase in the Beijing Olympics. They went all out, and I tried my best to stay out of the pictures, but unfortunately ruined a few before managing to get to bed.

2008-08-11T06:06:00.003-06:00

Thursday, July 3, 2008

No sick day today! Yay! Not that I wasn’t sick, but I still managed to get to work. Except I looked awful and was constantly running to the bathroom to blow my nose so it wasn’t exactly what I would call pleasant. Wendy and Jayne met me for lunch and then I made it to the end of the day and then home where I took a turn for the worst!

(This is a picture of my eyes. they were bright red, I felt as good as this picture makes me look. Really, that bad)

I don’t remember feeling so miserable in a very long time! Even shedding a few tears, which is so not acceptable in the book of Brighton (I just don’t cry, so this was even a shocker to myself). It probably just made it worse to that I was far from home, and feeling like I was never gonna get better. Ugh, I am just so happy writing this because I realize how much better I can feel than I did this night. Luckily I have great friends who got me dinner and made sure I was comfortable and then let me go to sleep early.

2008-08-05T08:42:00.004-06:00

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Well...the not so good news is I am still sick. Sick Day #3. I am starting to feel like I may just be on my death bed. Three sick days in a row. The only thing that is keeping me sane is that I managed to go to work for half a day yesterday.

(Jayne was nice enough to piggy-back me out to the ocean because I looked like I didn't have the energy to get there myself.)

(Can you imagine living in one of these houses along the beach?)

(Sunset on the beach)

Somehow in my head I figured that some fresh air would be a good idea, so I took a stroll to the beach with Jayne and Wendy. I fell asleep for a bit, and then we decided to stick around to watch the sunset! So beautiful! I really just can’t believe it. Really things like this make me so grateful I get to experience this. (not the sickness, Australia)

(Even though I was sick I was able to save Jayne's life as she almost skidded into the end of her mortal state)

(Seems like there was a common theme for the night, here is Wendy saving my life, we make great friends don't we)

2008-08-05T08:36:00.003-06:00

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Today I managed to get to work, but felt brutally awful, so only managed a little over a half day. I went home and rested for a bit and then went out with Wendy and Jayne to get some food at the Flaming Rooster, a cute restaurant by the bus stop I take to work everyday. I didn’t feel great, but was sure that I was getting better. That night we managed to have peach cobbler again, (can I say obsessed!) and watched our favorite show So you think you can dance before going to bed.

(Wendy and Jayne took a shot by the store they have given the most financial support to while being here in Sydney Yes, I mean the Pharmacy. You should see the bag of medicine we have between the three of us!)

2008-08-05T08:35:00.000-06:00

Monday, June 30, 2008

Today I woke up and had the far-from-subtle realization that I was not able to avoid the sickness that was getting past around my apartment because I was sick! So sick that I had to call into work and not go, which is pretty drastic for me because I don’t even remember taking a sick day ever the 2 years I was at Wells Fargo, and the two years I was at Washington Mutual I only took one, and that wasn’t even in actuality because I was sick, it was more for the high school championship game that I was going to miss (Don’t worry, I have grown up and don’t lie to get out of work anymore). :)

I am pretty sure that being sick is not my favorite thing in the world, imagine that!

2008-08-05T08:32:00.002-06:00

Sunday, July 29, 2008

So Wendy is still sick and somehow found the energy to drag herself to church, where we went to Sacrament, and then asked a few people where the nearest pharmacy was that would be open because by the end of that hour Wendy looked awfully sick. She got a blessing from the Elders and then our friend Ravenska got her boyfriend to drive us to the nearest pharmacy where we checked in and waited to be helped.

Wendy was able to get prescriptions so we are crossing our fingers that she will fill better. We are just so grateful that we had so many people willing to help us.

2008-08-04T08:52:00.003-06:00

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Okay...I know you were rooting for us to actually make it to the Blue Mountains this time, but surprise, surprise, We didn't. Wendy was still super sick, and no sleep is not good for hiking around the rain forest. We decided to go to Paddy's Market in China Town (this is where all the cheap souveneirs are and cheap clothes and it also has a great Fruit and Veggie market), because it is only on the weekends and we never have been able to make it because we always have plans for the weekends.

We finally got some fruit and veggies, and although I had gone with the intention of getting little gifts for my family, I came out with a shirt and a jacket for myself. Selfish I know, but they were cute!

Some of the things they sell to tourists make me nervous?

That night Wendy was feeling too sick to go out, so Jayne and I stayed with her till 11pm and then went out to go to the Pump House at Darling Harbour. We heard about this club (the Pump House, that was really great and played Hip hop music and so decided to go there. After we had paid to get in we realized that it was maybe not as great as we had heard. It was really small and didn’t really have the A class guys we were looking for in it. Just a lot of smelly ones. Luckily, with time, it got better and we found a group of people that were fun.

We look pretty gangsta' don't we! Ready for a night hittin' up the clubs?

One thing that was interesting to me is that the people dance cleaner in the clubs here. I don’t know what it is, but in general people don’t dirty dance. I would assume it would be worse, but most of the clubs I have gone to have been cleaner in that sense.

We didn’t leave till like 3:00 am and decided to stop at Mackers (Australian word for McDonalds) for an ice cream cone before making the long journey home. While waiting in line we met some Australian/Turkish boys that were pretty cool. Except for the fact that they were convinced that America had made up the September 11th attacks to get money for something that I can’t remember because I tuned out. We got the digits after telling them they could not come home with us, even if they would pay for our cab, and started walking to the bus stop that was like a 20 minute walk.

The frustrating thing in Sydney is after midnight the trains stop running, and only a limited

number of buses run, and the ones that do come very rarely. This is why we had to walk to a bus stop that was very far away, wait like 30 minutes, and then it was like a 40 minute bus ride, then a taxi home. Kind of ridiculous, but that was the cheapest way to do it. We didn’t end up getting home till almost 5 am. Crazy, I know!

2008-08-04T08:44:00.003-06:00

Friday, June 27, 2008

Friday, wonderful Friday. Tonight we hung out with Jess, this super amazing, really cool girl from our ward. We started the night with Enrichment night at church where Jess taught about food storage, and then the best part for sure was when the couple missionaries taught us how to make a bunch of different foods and had the finished product for us to just eat! It was great, home made bread, chilli, cinnamon rolls, chicken wraps, homemade granola, the works really.

Then Jess drove us to all these sweet views of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour bridge and we ended the night hanging out with her boyfriend and his friends from New Zealand. We spent the night reading eachothers fortunes, interpretating the way we ate our oranges, (long story really), but it really was just all the fun in the world, put into one night. Okay, maybe not all the fun, but a lot. We were pretty dumb though cause we didn't leave till like 4:00 am and were still planning on going to the Blue Mountains the next morning, bet you can guess if we actually made it or not!

This may not seem significant to you, but we were so excited to get to drive with Jess in her car because we have been completely relient on public transport, which can definitely get old.

2008-08-04T08:30:00.005-06:00

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Tonight Jayne and Wendy met me at the end of work and we went to Circular Quay originally to try to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but never actually made it across. We first walked over to the Sydney Opera House and it was the first time I had gotten really close and personal with it. It is crazy something like that, that is an icon for the city, and then realizing that you are actually there. A security guard walked up to us and started chatting and asked us where we were from. We said Utah, expecting him to say he had never heard of it, but he replied with something like, "oh, I'm going to Provo in a few months."

You can imagine our surprise that one, he knew where Utah was, and two, even more surprising, Provo. We eventually got out of him that he was LDS and was going on a mission. It's a small world isn't it!

Then we did what Jayne and I love to do, and just wandered in the direction of where we thought the start of the bridge should be. Our wandering almost always adds time to our journey, but at the same time it adds a hint of adventure as well. Wendy would much rather just ask somebody where to go, so we don't waist time, but I guess to all there own. I feel bad because she is such a planner and I am sure Jayne and I drive her crazy!

Jayne was mesmerized when we walked by a soccer game, we almost couldn't get her to go home with us.

This was the view of Sydney when we got to the street on the bridge.

Just one of the random places we took pictures at while we were on our adventure.

We ended up just exploring around the rocks and then were so hungry so we made our way home and ate at a burger joint called Flamez that was delicious and that was it for the night. Poor little Wendy is still sooo sick! Cold, Ear Ache, pretty much the works.

2008-08-04T08:27:00.002-06:00

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Today Wendy and Jayne met me at work and then stayed at the park near my work and played for a bit before going home. Not too long after I had been back from lunch Jayne and Wendy walked into my work nervously and asked if we had a garbage bag they could use.
Apparently a dog had come up to Wendy while she was reading in the park and just in time, before the crime happened, she jumped out of the way, but wasn't able to save her bag. Now if you are wondering what the actual crime was, I'll give you a clue, it envolves something yellow that doesn't smell very pleasant. Yes, A dog peed on her purse.

That night we called our friend Matt, but Wendy wasn't feeling well so she went to bed.
meet at work, peed on by dog (Wendy) P.S. I don't think I have mentioned this yet, but Jayne got sick last week, like hard core cold and cough. She is just barely getting over this week long thing and passed it on to Wendy, who is now miserable. Sad :( It is only time before I get it I am sure. We are all just crammed into a tiny room, so even if we don't want to we end up sharing everything.

2008-08-04T06:48:00.002-06:00

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Today our flatmate Jorge was going to visit home in Ecuador for a few weeks so it was Jayne's last time seeing him so we decided to take him and Ely to dinner to thank them for all they have done in putting up with living with three crazy (and probably at some times annoying), college age girls for this last little bit.

We took them to the Thai restaurant that we had gone to close to our house and after we went home and made them peach cobbler, cause yet again, it was our new favorite dish and they had never heard of it. This time I must say that it was perfected a bit more, and tasted divine!

2008-08-04T06:47:00.000-06:00

Monday, June 23, 2008

Today Wendy and Jayne met me for lunch and i tried my first kebab. We learned while we were here that there are two different kinds of kebabs, greek and turkish. A greek kebab is on a stick, but a turkish kebab is actually almost like a wrab. I was impressed, I'll be honest, but still not my favorite thing to eat in the world.
That night we went to Family Home Evening taught by the missionaries. It was fun and Jayne developed a little crush on one of the missionaries from Spain. It was quite hilarious.

2008-08-04T06:37:00.002-06:00

Boy am I behind! I am gonna do my best to get caught up, so this may be a lot at once! That is if I do what I need to! :)

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Today we went to a going away party for John, and American student that has been in Australia for the past year. He was my secret crush, but I didn't even know he was American till he spoke today at church! Unfortunately he is already taken, but he was super cool. We pretty much said hello and goodbye all in the same meeting. It was fun thought to mingle with our ward. Everyone brought food, and we played games, it was a good Sunday night activity. We hadn't known about the party till after church and had nothing to bring, so we combined everything we did have and came out with a peach cobbler that tasted great! We love experimenting, but this will definitely be a new favorite!

2008-07-22T12:08:00.003-06:00

Disclaimer: I had one day in Sydney between my travels and thought I would have more time to upload more blog entrys, but only got this one, so it will be another ten days before I can update more because I will be in New Zealand. That pretty much means I'm gonna do a whole lot all at once! Ooops...could've planned better!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Saturday we woke up a wee bit late, and decided not to go to the blue mountains cause it was quit the trip and wanted to be able to get out earlier. We narrowed down our options and decided on Featherdale Zoo. There is a bigger zoo located right in Sydney, but we heard that this other one was really cool so we decided to just risk it and go to the one less known.

We went to catch the train to Doonside, and rain up to the platform right as the train pulled away, so we spent a bit of time waisting time waiting for the next train. When it finally did come we took the train to Doonside and as soon as we got off the bus it felt as if we were in the middle of no where. There was a tiny convenience store, so we asked where we were to go to get to the zoo, and they gave us directions. The outside of the zoo was not what we expected, but that doesn't matter, cause as soon as we walked in it was awesome.

It definitely wasn't your everyday zoo. The animals were actually contained in the same area as the people. So you would just go around and feed or pet them as you wished. It was filled with animals native to Australia, so that made the experience even better! I definitely give two thumbs up to Featherdale.

They usually let you hold a koala, but it was sleeping when we were there so we just got to pet in. The area with the kangaroo was crazy. They were just hopping around with us, it took me a while to finally get them hopping around on camera, it seemed as if they were camera shy, cause everytime I would start recording they seemed fully content with not moving at all, but as soon as my camera went down, they would hop to their next location.

The most shocking animal we saw was the emu's. I don't know if you are familiar with what an emu is, but they are these huge bird-like creatures. One literally tried to attack Wendy and of course the three of us made quite the scene for the rest of the visitors to the zoo as we screamed and ran away. They really were nasty buggers. I was a bit surprised when we got to the big crocodile and they didn't let it walk around with all the people. Weird.

Along with those animals we saw some dingos, and snakes, (that Jayne and Wendy were terrified of, and wouldn't even look into the cages), a lot of really cool birds, some wombats, tasmanian devils, penguins, cassawari, and so much more! It was a great trip.

On the way back we were trying to get to Newtown because we had asked this cute Australian couple where good places to eat were, and they had told us about this African place and we thought we'd try it out. We ended up jumping on the wrong train and taking quite the detour out of the city. It was freezing that night as well, and the train stop was outside so we all bundled up together trying to force our body heat to generate some sort of heater for the three of us as we waited for the next train back.

Eventually we made it to the restaurant, and enjoyed some African cuisine. We tried cous cous, African flat bread, and I even tried lamb. We thought it was a little funny that we were at an African restaurant and all the waiters were Indian, dressed in African smocks. Don't worry, it was legit, because as we left a few of the waiters got off their shiffs and switched with some real life Africans. Good thing cause we thought that we were just getting conned into thinking it was authentic.

All in all, a great day!

2008-07-14T17:32:00.002-06:00

Just an update for anyone, if there is anyone, checking my blog, I am on a 3 week adventure and wont really have the ability to update at least for a week or so, so stay tuned...I am sure there are adventures to come!

Actually I promise it!

2008-07-07T07:18:00.003-06:00

Friday, June 20, 2008

Today Jayne and Wendy came to take me to lunch at work and we went to a bakery that Stewart had recommended. The thing with bakeries is that they are almost always great, just expensive. We each got a quiche and sat at a park to eat.

That night we were going to see a band at a bar. Jayne and Wendy had met the guitarist while I was at work. He worked at a candy store that is at Bondi Junction and Jayne is practically obsessed with it. He doesn’t really fit the profile of what you’d think a candy man would look like, but he is super nice and really cool!

The band is called Miz Ann Thropik, they were super screamo, and we definitely stood out in the crowd because I swear there were more goths collectively than I had ever seen in one room. And goths in Australia arent like the posers from the states, they are hard core! All I have to say is I was a wee bit scared, but it was pretty fun, and really interesting!

2008-07-07T06:44:00.003-06:00

Sunday, June 15, 2008- Thursday, June 19, 2008

Mine and Wendy’s talks went well and that was pretty much the most eventful thing till Tuesday. Tuesday night Jayne and Wendy came to meet me at lunch and then I ended up closing up the last hour or so by myself so they happened to still be close to my work so they came and "helped" me finish up! That night we wanted to do something exciting, so after deciding not to go to a movie, the next most exciting thing was....you guessed it, Tin Foil Dinners! We actually were so excited for them we went to Coles to get all the stuff and I’ll tell you what, they tasted great! Especially because we were finally getting some meat in our diet. We are definitely a bit too frugal.

(We just too this pic in memory of actually befriending Jack Black, aka Jung Fu Panda)

(One of our favorite things to do is check the deals on the bread isle at the local grocery store! Really, we love it!)

(Here is us about to enjoy our amazing tin foil dinners!)

Thursday we went to our first Thai restaurant which is the official food of Australia. We found one at Bondi Junction that was super good and cheap, so pretty much win-win! I am sure we will be back. Then we went home to watch Moulin Rouge together, which was made by and Australian director, so pretty much we just wanted to celebrate the fact that we were in Australia today!

(For some reason this picture makes it look like the plates are like falling off our table, but they all are sittin gon the same angle, so I am super confused! Don't worry, that is a common feeling in my head!)

2008-07-02T06:39:00.004-06:00

Saturday, June 14, 2008

We woke up a bit later than we hoped to, to no surprise, but the plan for the day was to go to Manly, which is like a 30 minute ferry ride from Circular Quay. Unfortunately the weather was looking pretty dreary, but we figured it would be an adventure either way. The ferry ride was great because we got to see the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge from a different viewpoint, but we had to stay inside because it was too cold to survive out. By the time we got to Manly it was like 2:00, and pretty rainy so we went to the information center to see what there was to do.

We discovered that there wasn’t much on a cold day, so we just went exploring. We went to the Manly Art Museum to get our art fix for the day. Then we walked along the beach and took a few pics. After we decided we needed to eat but couldn’t decide where to eat, which happened to be good cause we discovered that on the other side of manly was a super amazing beach. We found this cute little restaurant looking out along the beach and ate dinner. It was so awesome watching the surfers and a rainbow even came up cause there had just been a rainstorm. As we finished I went out towards the beach to get some pictures as the sunset, and as I stood there alone I felt something splash on my head and shirt. Don’t worry, I know what you might be thinking, but the answer to that is, "Yes, a bird did just crap on me."

(I couldn't believe the sunset, it was so pretty!)

Now, I felt super awkward cause I was standing by myself and didn’t really know how bad it was in my hair or on my back, so I made my way back to the restaurant and told Jayne and Wendy who thought it was pretty funny. We got some napkins from a waitress and she told us that apparently it is good luck when that happens. Honestly, I don’t see the good luck in it! Nothing amazing happened to me after the fact, so I am pretty sure that it is just a crappy situation, (if you know what I mean.)

(Just made sure to stop at my hotel before leaving Manly)

(Wendy and I didn't even realize till looking at this picture that we were awkwardly dressed the same. Please don't judge.)

Then we walked around the shops for a while, and went inside a sports bar for a bit because the New Zealand vs, England rugby game was on and we wanted to be part of the excitement. Eventually we made our way home, but all in all I had a really good time in Manly. It seems like it is a pretty happening place during the summer, but even in the winter it had a pretty great vibe!

(Harbour Bridge at night)

(I know this pic is cheesy, we took so many normal ones, but this is the only one that turned out!)

Then we made our way home because Wendy and I had a long night ahead of us because we had been asked to give talks in Sacrament the next day, and surprise, surprise, I hadn’t even started!

(Oh ya, forgot to mention that I am like a pro surfer, just saw this shot in a magazine that someone must've taken while I was ripin' a curl, and thought I would share it with my friends and fam.)

2008-06-30T07:17:00.003-06:00

Friday, June 13, 2008

Friday the 13th, destined for bad luck. Work was going to be exciting because I got to go to the house of one of the clients I had been working on. Greg picked me up and we made our way across the city, He didn’t know where we needed to go so for some reason he trusted me with a map, even though I had never driven in the city. I looked up the address he gave me and directed Greg to the location. As we pulled into the street Greg said that something didn’t look right. He realized that I had taken him to the right street name but in the wrong suburb and we were already late. To make matters worse the builders, and seamstress, and glassier, were waiting for us at the clients house.

We finally figured out where we needed to go, and made our journey back to the right location. (We really had gone so far out of the way). Then I got to sit in on a client meeting with Stewart and Greg. It was one of the first meetings with this client, so it was fun to see the process that they go through. Then Stewart and I went to a few showrooms and then it was back to the office. Not too bad for a Friday the 13th at work, only a few minor set backs.

(Before we left Wendy found a cockroach in our sink, so Jayne and I had to find a way to get it out because it was too big to send down the drain. Honestly it creeped me out)

That night Wendy, Jayne, and I went to meet up with Sean, (Sean’s cousin is one of Jayne’s old coaches) at a bar by his work called Le Chifley. We had to take a taxi to get there and our taxi driver was 1, super stinky, and 2, super creepy. When I went to pay him he grabbed my hand and held it, and then did the same to Jayne when he handed her back the change. And to make matters worse, the spot where he dropped us off was super sketchy.

We called Sean’s number and it would just go straight to his answering machine so luckily we found the bar and awkwardly walked in. Now the problem was that we had no idea who we were looking for, but we went in and just didn’t know what to do because it wasn’t a normal bar, there was only a few people and we weren’t really going to drink, so what do 3 mormon girls do in a bar when they don’t know anyone and they don’t drink. I’ll tell you. They stand around awkwardly asking each other what they should do.

It wasn’t long till some guys walked up to us and wondered how three american girls found this bar in the middle of nowhere. These guys were old and creepy as well, so it made for a very interesting night. (And by old I mean like late 40's) We just didn’t know if we were supposed to keep waiting or if we should just go home. It was pretty hilarious telling these guys that we didn’t drink. Luckily, like 30 minutes later I got a call from Sean and apparently he had been there the whole time, somehow we just hadn’t seen him. We were glad we were freed from the creepy old men.

It turned out really fun! The group we were meeting were really nice, but still it was funny to try to convince them that we didn’t drink. They just couldn’t believe that it was even an option. It wasn’t until Jayne told them that we were recovering alcoholics that they stopped offering us drinks. Apparently that made more sense to them.

One of the girls there was obsessed with Jason Mraz and I found out she is going to the concert Wendy and I are going to. Apparently the last time he came to Australia she actually met him, got a picture and everything so we had a lot of fun talking about him. I was secretly really jealous that she has met him. And that was the end of my Friday the 13th, not too shabby.

2008-06-30T06:26:00.004-06:00

Wednesday June 11- Thursday June 12, 2008

(This is our flat mates, Jorge and Ely, I just haven't blogged pictures of both of them yet!)

Nothing really too exciting on Wednesday... wait let me take that back. Some of our most adventurous moments take place in the preparing and eating of our dinner meal. Really, we prepare huge meals together almost every night. It is almost cute, but then we realize it is somewhat pathetic.

We love shopping for bread deals at Coles, the grocery store we visit more than necessary every week. (And by every week, sometimes I even mean every day) We picked up a baguette and made a mean dish of pasta.

(I wish you could see how good this really was.)

Funny story: One time Jayne mentioned the fact that there were so many of these adult book stores all over Sydney and Wendy replied, "I know, I went in one and was in there for hours, but I usually only go when I am not with Brighton." It wasn't until Jayne looked at her worried that Wendy realized what she had said, apparently she had meant a regular book store, but we are still watching out for any bad signs.

(Us at the noodle house. When we go out to eat we order three different meals and then rotate them around until they are gone. Its like we have to share everything!)

Thursday I met up with Wendy and Jayne so we could go to China Town. On Thursdays everything stays open later, so we ate at an asian noodle shop, and then just went to see what china town was like. In one of the shops the boy at the counter knew all about the Utah Jazz because he was a major Yao Ming fan and unfortunately for him, the Jazz had defeated the Rockets in the playoffs the last two years. He seemed pretty let down but Wendy loved that he knew all about the Jazz.

2008-06-30T06:14:00.002-06:00

Tuesday June 10, 2008

Jayne arrived! Wendy and Jorge went to pick her up from the airport and then after Jayne had the chance to take a nap her and Wendy came to visit me at work. We went to lunch at a café by my work.

Just a side note, Australians love pumpkin in everything. Maybe that’s not weird but it really is like a staple food here. I ordered a pumpkin wrap thing that was fabulous, just a weird concept to me. I have just always thought of pumpkin as a thanksgiving food, but apparently I have been misinformed. Anywho...

It is way great that Jayne is here! Partay everyday now for sure! Minus the part where I still have to go to work.

2008-06-30T05:49:00.003-06:00

Monday, June 9, 2008

(This is as close as they will ever get to snow!)

I didn’t have to work today because Australia was celebrating the Queens Birthday so it was a national holiday. Wendy and I hadn’t been to Darling Harbour yet so although it was very rainy we decided to see what there was over there.

(Darling Harbour)

When we got there we found out that there was a jazz festival going on so there were a lot of people there. They had 4 different stages set up around the harbour that made the vibe really cool. We walked around for a while, and then went to some shops. I found some skinny jeans for $20 which is steal here. We also had heard there was good shopping at Pitt Street Mall, but by the time we got there a lot of the stores were shutting down. (Remember this was probably around 5, I still can’t get used to the fact that everything closes so early here).

(I love that there are palm trees everywhere.)

As we were walking through the mall we noticed a big group of people gathering for something that seemed important, equipped with TV cameras and the such. When we asked what was going on someone told us that it was the Australian premiere for Kung Fu Panda and that it was rumored Jack Black was going to show up. We were one of the first that started lining up along the opposite side of the road. They had a red carpet set up and everything. They even had some real kung fu artists put on a show, with drums and everything. Then came the big panda, and then no one other than Jack Black!

(Jack Black in the flesh)

Not too long after getting out of his car he crossed the street to the side with the fans and got close enough for me to touch his jacket. I know that seems minuscule, but I know that he felt something great as I graced his sparkling gold ensemble. It may have just been the connection that us americans feel when we meet in a foreign land, but there was an instant feeling of companionship that is only felt between old friends.

Quite an adventure, but we went home feeling like celebrities, (Or at least as if we had just met one), looking forward to the part where we got to tell everyone!

2008-06-28T01:23:00.004-06:00

Saturday, June 7, 2008

We of course slept in because we were exhausted from our night of travels, but we woke up to a very pleasant surprise because we had gotten a text that morning saying that Jess, one of the cute girls from our ward and her boyfriend John would drive us to Campbelltown for day number 2 of the conference. What a relief!

I don't think I mentioned before but we had been practicing for a while this little skit and dance routine for the convention. Every stake does one and then there is a little competition. So we arrived early to go over the dances and there was a boy there from our stake that was giving us advice and telling us what to improve on. He even mentioned in our dress rehearsal that everyone needed to dance like the american girls. (That fact will apply later in the story)

Prior to coming to this convention, we had learned that the boy that got 4th place in the Australian So you think you can dance was lds and was going to be at the convention. Wendy and I couldn’t be more excited. I haven’t mentioned it yet because it has been really hard to deal with, but I haven’t been able to watch the american so you think you can dance at all this season because our internet is limited and so we cant really watch things on you tube or download anything. This was something I had to learn to cope with before I even got out to Australia, it was a major factor in the con side of coming to Australia so you can imagine our excitement when anything somewhat related to our love for the show takes place in Australia. All we really knew was that this boys name was Graeme.

(This is us with Grame!)

When the skits started, we noticed our new friend that had given us advice was sitting at the judges table. It didn’t take long to realize that he was Graeme. We had been talking to him all along and even more, he had said the american girls were good dancers. We loved it!
The night was really good, and we made sure to get a picture with Graeme before we left. The ride home was a lot less adventurous than the night before, but I was more than grateful for that!

(This is one of the boys that had gotten us to the bus the night before)

2008-06-25T09:14:00.006-06:00

K....I'm trying to catch up. All my posts wont be this long, promise!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Today was my first day that I got to go onsite to one of our clients places and do my first install. This may seem super cool, but all it really means is I take a taxi to the site and let suppliers in to deliver furniture, or install shelves, etc... and make sure that everything is okay with the delivery. It did make me feel important if nothing else. It was for an office building for a graphic design company and they were making the entry into the office into an art gallery, so it was an interesting space to see installed. It is cool just seeing all the work come together, even if I wasn’t there for this project. I was pretty much back and fourth 3 times throughout the day so that made the day go faster as well.

(This is the section that will be the art gallery)

That night Wendy and I and some other girls from our ward took a train up to Campbelltown to attend the first night of the big YSA convention in Sydney which happened to be a dance. We got to Campbelltown and it didn’t take long to realize we were gonna have to pay for a cab, and to make it worse, there were 5 girls and they wouldn’t let us squeeze into one, so we had to pay for two separate cabs.

(Waiting for the train, seemed like most of the night was spent either waiting or traveling on some sort of public transportation.)

As soon as we saw the church Wendy and I got so excited because it felt like we were back home. I really did just love it. It was like known territory. I felt safe and happy and excited all at the same time. We walked into the church and I was very surprised at how many people that were there. It was awesome to see the youth in our church all the way over in Australia.

Another noteworthy event was the food table at the dance. Wendy and I walked in, wide eyed and ready for a chow down, like a lion ready to pounce the item he selected to hunt. We literally acted like we had never seen real food, I think people were worried. We really are just so frugal with our money that it was probably hilarious if anyone caught onto our amazement. They had chicken wings of many flavors (ok, maybe just two), and we really were so excited to get some meat in our diet. (FYI: If I haven’t mentioned prior to this, meat here is so expensive. It is supposedly one of the most expensive countries for meat so we have a valid reason to be obstaining from purchasing it.)

(Some Aussie boys we got our groove on with)

It ended up being a lot of fun. We got to know our ward a bit more, and met some cool people. The dance got over at 12 and we had to make our way back to Sydney, which if it was going to be as easy as getting there would’ve been no problem. The issue was that the trains stop running late at night, and we had no way to even get to the bus station. Plus, a train had taken 1 ½ hours so this distance on a bus that would stop every 5 minutes would take ages!

(Some kool kats from our ward)

We ended up calling for a taxi which was sad because this trip was getting so pricey. When the parking lot was pretty much emptied and the leaders were trying to kick us out we started walking to see if the taxis were parked somewhere and some wonderful lady came up to us wondering if we had rides home. When she discovered we were waiting for taxis she would have none of that! She rounded up some of the guys from her ward and made them promise to get us to the bus station.

We split into two different cars and although no one really knew how to get to the bus we began our journey. Somehow the two cars got separated and the first car called saying they had found the bus but that it was leaving and they would try to make it stall. We rushed over only to catch it parked on a one way rode so the driver of our car switched into reverse and frantically got us to the door of the bus. When we frantically scrambled onto the bus the driver let all of us on without paying a toll. I still don’t know why, but was indeed grateful.

The adventures were not completely over. The ride home did indeed take a much longer time than the train had. By the time we got to Town Hall, which was just another stop on our journey it was like 3:30 am. Now, from there we had two options; take a taxi home, or walk to the bus stop that was like 10 minutes away and hope that the bus would come in a reasonable amount of time. We chose the latter, being the frugal gals we were and soon discovered that the bus didn’t come for another 20 minutes.

Now if you think, I’m so glad they finally got home, think again. That bus just dropped us at Bondi Junction where we had to catch a taxi anyway because we were too exhausted to walk the 20 minutes. In the end it was almost 5 am and I felt like I had just had the worst night of my life. I felt literally miserable and was dreading the fact that I had to make that same journey Saturday afternoon.

(This is how happy we were to see our flat, I honestly had started believing that being home would permanently be an object of my imagination)

2008-06-16T08:56:00.009-06:00

Warning: This is a long entry, don't feel obligated to read, I just upload my journal entry because it is easier that way, rather than writing two versions so please excuse the length.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

I went to work like normal and Wendy called me and said that Jorge said that his uni (that is what they call their university in the Aussie lingo) was throwing a big party because classes we’re over and finals were about to start. He made sure to warn us that it was at a bar, and that people would be drinking but that we were welcome to come. We obliged, and Wendy, Ely, and I met Jorge at his school. It was just at the uni bar that is in the center of campus. (Yes, I did mean to say that.) They have a bar in the center of their campus, I guess they figure students need a release from studying, so why not make it that much easier for them to let go?

It started off great when we walked in and met up with some of Jorge’s friends. Tobe was there from the night we went to the bar at Coogee. (It seems like there is starting to be a pattern of activity here, but you have to give us some credit, everything shuts down by 5, and the only thing left open is the bars, we are doing pretty good that this was only our second). Being at a bar, everyone had drinks and we were all walking over to the dance floor and a girl came charging through our group. In the rush of getting through the group, someone’s beer spilled on this girl so she turned around thinking it was Ely and called her some words that I don’t need to mention, and Ely is a very strong willed latin women that wasn’t going to take some girl getting up on her grill; so a girl fight began. It took many guys to hold back the two very angry girls, more alcohol was hurled, and eventually before anything major happened the girls were whisked away to opposite ends of the club.

So yes, if you asked, I would say that the night was young with great opportunities for exciting stories. Especially for a sheltered Utah girl. So we went out to the dance floor and it didn’t take long before the boys were flocking us. Okay, I made that part up, but one boy did come up to us and said we had to wait there until he got his friend. But we didn’t because we wanted to dance, but unfortunately we were found by who we now know to be Steven and Chris. Now from my side of the story, Chris came up to me and immediately grabbed my hands and said that he wanted me to take a chance with him and I was thinking oh no, what are me and Wendy going to do to get out of this predicament, little did I know that I was the only one in a predicament, Wendy and Steven were having a great conversation about sports.

There was another boy that kept looking at me while I was getting pursued by Chris and I was obviously giving him the signal of help me out here, but in the end Wendy helped me so that we could leave. Eventually the boy I had been signaling came over with his friend, (his name is Nick) and I obviously got mad at him for not helping me out. Nick said that he couldn’t interrupt that boy pursuing me because he was working his Aussie moves too strong to come in between. Luckily, these boys were super cool and we talked to them for a bit, and then kept walking around the bar some more eventually running into Chris and Steven again. This time Chris went straight to Wendy and Steven to me.

(This is me and Steven)

(This is Wendy and Chris)

I got into a really deep conversation with Steven about how I didn’t drink, which obviously got us into the topic about being LDS, which for some reason seemed funny trying to talk serious with someone that was at least partially drunk. He decided that we were going to get married and I was going to have his 6 children. He said I was too career oriented and that he would have to convince me to want to be a stay at home mother to raise our children while he went out everyday to earn the money. Apparently this whole time Chris was using all the same lines on Wendy that he had tried on me, so finally we had to say we needed to go home because I had work early the next morning. Chris did not want to take that, so he continued to run options by us about staying at his place that night, when that didn’t work he said we could just get coffee at his place then, and then go home. We just told him flat out that we wanted to just go home and he would just reply, I know you do, so do I, but lets just.....(and he would fill in the blank with some new great idea that he thought would persuade us to go to his place).

Well...with the help of Steven telling his friend to give it up, we got away and found Jorge to tell him we were going home. We went out to catch a bus home to find that the buses stop at midnight until 4:00 am, so we got the privilege of taking a taxi home, which gratefully was only $12. What an adventure for sure!

2008-06-16T07:03:00.004-06:00

Sunday, June 1, 2008-Wednesday, June 4, 2008

(The wind was blowing so hard!)

Church was good and the first part of the week went without there being anything really eventful to report on. On Wednesday we had a practice at our church for the skit our ward had to do for the YSA convention so I met Wendy at the bus station after work and we went to practice the dances. By the time the dance got out it was pouring down rain, and my poor little umbrella just couldn’t take the wind, it just kept flippin inside out, which left for a very funny, but wet walk home. To give us a break in between our walk we stopped to get ice cream cones (which seems weird in a rain storm, but the temperature stays pretty livable, it just rains a lot).

(It was raining so hard! You can't really tell, but my whole black shirt is soaked through too. Great that we get to walk home in the rain almost everyday!)

2008-06-15T00:17:00.006-06:00

Saturday, May 31, 2008

(This is the beach minutes from our flat!)

Since I finally got a day off of work Wendy and I decided to take advantage of it and go to the beach. It is only about an 8 minute walk to Bronte Beach from our flat, which is great! It was warm, but definitely not hot, but we were still able to get in the water. I love the beach! It is always so pretty. It made me sad that I was going to miss my families river trip this year, but I guess Australia is a pretty good reason to miss it! I’ve now only been to two beaches in Australia, so I need to get to more before it gets even colder. It was so funny how many old men, with wrinkled leather skin, were there; and in little tiny speedos at no less. (I guess it is good there was no less).

(These birds just wanted to go running with Wendy)!

(This was the pool that is just built into the beach, I don't know why they think they need a pool when they have a whole ocean)!

(Huge trees by the beach)

Then we went home and got cleaned up so we could go out to dinner, which was quite the occasion for the two of us because we are so dang frugal that we hadn’t allowed each other to eat out really ever because it was too expensive. We went to a cute little pizza shop by our flat, and then to top off our great Saturday we did none other than go grocery shopping. Which has become one of our favourite, (I meant to spell it that way, the Aussie’s think that’s the right way), activities. Then it was to home for the night.

(Our fantastic saturday activity)

While we were waiting for the bus with all of our groceries, a man came up to us and got in our faces and said that we had to be weary of guys coming to talk to us. He made sure to repeat that we needed to be weary, but that he wasn’t going to charge us for is time. It wasn’t long before we realized that he was the weary men he was warning us of. When he wasn’t acting like he was going to leave, we thanked him for the advice and told him to have a good night. After warning us a few more times, and saying some more bogus things, he finally started to walk away, and luckily our bus came right after. And that was the night!

2008-06-10T07:16:00.005-06:00

Wednesday, May 28, 2008-Friday, May 30, 2008

Well... I was finally able to get some pictures of my office when I was settled in a bit more. My first week pretty much consisted of organizing the office, doing so many sample boards and getting all of the materials approved and coordinated with the client. I also worked a little bit with CADD, the computer program that I use to produce drawings (or drawrings, as they pronounce it here in Australia).

Some more about Greg...he really is a great designer. He is very demanding, always wanting me to do a hundred things at once, but I guess this pushes me to learn how an interior design firm is run. The firm is very busy right now, so at first I felt like I was getting all the crap work, but I really have been able to do all the things I wanted to do. Work can get tiring because I leave by 8:00 to get to work by 9:00, then put in a 9 hour day, and then its another hour home. So by the time I get home I am super tired. And it doesn’t help that in Australia it is completely dark by 5:00. Something that has been very hard to get used to. But remember it is the first of their winter.

(This is my desk!)

One other thing that has been surprisingly hard is getting used to the accents. Kind of silly that this is an issue, when we both are speaking English, but when I answer the phone I have the hardest time understanding what the person on the other side is saying. It can make for a very interesting phone call when I am needing the person to spell out every word of their message. Especially when it is designers and suppliers that I should know (that being if I had studied in Australia, but seeing as I didn’t I do have a valid excuse).

(This is the view of the office area. That stack of magazines is all the recent magazines that Greg has been published in that haven't been archived yet. He gets published quite a bit in Australia.)

Other than that the nights were spent really just getting used to our routine. Cooking dinner, emailing our friends and family, and trying to wear down some of the jet lag. Not the most exciting first week in the land down under, but we figured we had plenty of time to experience it that we could afford to take it slow.

(This is a custom rug that has the Greg Natale Design logo in it, pretty sweet)!

One of the funny things while I have been here is that it is winter, but winter here is literally like a utah fall. Usually temperature wise it is always pleasant, but it just gets rainy sometimes. (at least this is in my opinion). I must have an extra layer of insulation because I come home everyday and Wendy is freezing cold, and I feel like the temperature is perfect. One day it was really extreme and Wendy had on layers of clothing, socks and shoes (because the socks didn't keep the warmth in enough) including her winter coat and a blanket, and was still shivering. This was Wendy and me at the same time. She really was so miserable. (Notice me with short sleeves and no socks) :)

2008-06-10T06:39:00.006-06:00

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

My first day of work!!! Well...of course the day started out with picking out my outfit. (To be honest I did that the night before I just didn’t want to sound like a freak) I was super nervous, so Wendy came on the train ride all the way with me to see me off. (I think she was just too nervous that I was gonna wet my pants on the way because I couldn’t control my nerves. That would be embarrassing). What a great friend!

(This is the only picture I got at my work my first day because I was too nervous to take anymore. )

I even made Wendy come up the elevator with me. Pathetic I know. When I came to the door it was dark and locked so I was left waiting for someone to come to open up. I hid in the bathroom for a bit and then casually made my way to the now lit office. I rang and a man, that I now know as Stewart, opened up and welcomed me in. Stewart is my co-worker. I am sure I will mention later, but it is a blessing that he works there. I walked into a cute little office and was shown where I would sit. Greg, the main designer wasn’t supposed to be in for an hour, so Stewart introduced me to the office. When Greg came it was interesting to see him. My idea of what he was going to be like was completely off. Not necessarily in a bad way, just off.

That first day was spent organizing and cleaning the office, making sample boards for a client, and meeting with suppliers. It was definitely interesting to just be expected to know what I was doing in something I’ve never actually worked in. Also it made it a wee bit of a challenge because so many small things that I hadn’t thought about are different in Australia. ie: the size of their paper isn’t 8 ½ x 11, or they use the metric system rather than the imperial, even their vocabulary for things are different. The hardest thing to is that there are so many things that I have learned in school that just aren’t applicable in Australia. Little things like the standard size of a door or wall, things that I know by heart, but all of a sudden I am somewhere where all those numbers are irrelevant. Not only are they just converted from inches to meters, but they are completely different sizes as well. Hopefully I can start grasping this whole metric thing soon.
Other than that my first day was a bit overwhelming but good. I don’t really know what to expect for the rest of my internship, but it is weird to be preparing for something so long, then when the day actually comes you feel like, "oh...is that it?"

I’ll update more later. But honestly after my first day I really didn’t know what the next 3 months were going to be like. I could only hope that I would get the good experience I was hoping for. I came home and cute little Wendy had bought some nutella and bananas so we could make crepes. She knows the way to win my heart. If only some cute Aussie would. :)

2008-06-08T03:51:00.002-06:00

Monday, May 26, 2008

Before FHE that I talk about below, Wendy and I had some time, and we wanted a picture on this bench in Hyde Park, the only problem is, it is lame to get a picture on a bench by yourself, and there wasn't really anyone there to ask to take the picture so I got this great idea that I could just photoshop it afterwards so it looked like we actually got a picture sitting by each other. Kind of nerdy, I know!

(Brighton on a bench)

(Wendy on a bench)

(Brighton and Wendy on a bench!)

Well...let’s see. I am a little under two weeks late on this journal thing, so we’ll see what I can remember. Other than stressing about starting my job the next day, Wendy and I woke up and spent the morning calling some of our family and friends on skype. When we finally got out of the house we went to Commonwealth Bank to open a checking account so we could have our money wired here. We figured this would be the easiest way to pay rent since we had to pay on a weekly basis and it would be too much to keep getting out of the atm. We didn’t really know how we were going to do the whole account thing, but when we found out that all accounts here have a fee, we decided to open our first joint account in order to save money. Hopefully there wont ever be a second. :) (A little much seeing as people already think that we act like a married couple).

Then we went to Bondi Junction to look for a job for Wendy and do a little shopping. It didn’t take long to find out that Bondi Junction is a very high end shopping center, but I still managed to find a cute skirt for $16.

Then we went to Town Hall where our church is located to go to FHE. On the walk over we passed a gelato shop so I had to check to see if they had hazelnut, and once I saw they did I had to have one. They are expensive, but I had to do it at least once!

(I was so sad because the gelato was so good that I ate it all without thinking to get a picture with it!)

Our ward They were getting ready for a big YSA (youth single adult) conference that was in a few weeks so they were practicing up on their dance routine and we were conned into participating. Then we were fed by one of the old stake presidents and that was pretty much it for the night.

2008-05-29T07:08:00.002-06:00

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Well...even though we had made the extra trip to find our church yesterday, we still managed to get lost and found ourselves 30 minutes late! And we even left an hour early. I wore these new heels, that apparently hadn’t been broken into because after we had walked all over town, by the time we got to church I had multiple blisters and very soar feet. The church we go to is a YSA ward (young single adult ward). Most of the ward is return missionaries, with very few australians, and quite a few asians. (Apparently the missionaries have a lot more success with the asians than they do the australians).

Church was good, and Wendy was able to get a few leads for a job, so we’ll cross our fingers! We went home and made dinner, then later that night our flat mates invited us to walk to Coogee Beach to meet up with some students from Jorge’s uni (that’s what they call a university here). Coogee Beach was like 25 minute walk, but the weather here is pleasant all day and night long, so walking aint too bad. (I’d still choose the alternative, but I guess its keeping me healthy).
We got to the beach and it was so pretty, unfortunately it was too dark to get a good picture, but I’m sure you could imagine. Then Jorge’s German friends Tobe and Yasmine met up with us. They were really the cutest couple. We followed them to a bar, and Wendy and I were curious as to how we would go about the whole we don’t drink alcohol thing. (I know it was Sunday, but we didn’t know going to the beach meant stopping at a bar, and it was too dark to walk home alone)!

We sat down and it didn’t take long till they were ordering drinks and we just said we didn’t drink. Tobe said that he wasn’t surprised cause we were from Utah. (It still amazes me that you can be completely around the world, and Utah still has that reputation. I think it is great!) Other than trying to convince our flatmates that we were fine just conversationalizing, (I made up that word) the bar wasn’t bad. At least until Jorge had some more friends come and one of them named Sobe from the Middle East took a special interest in Wendy and I. He thought that because he didn’t drink either, we should be instant best friends! It sounds like I’m being rude, but he really was kind of creepy, but I was coerced in playing him in a game of pool, and am happy to announce that I won. But really I was more happy that the game finally was over so we could leave. All in all in was a good night. One thing about Sydney, is that it is very much like London in that it has people from everywhere, it is literally a melting pot for so many different cultures and races. We got a taxi to drive us home, because it was late and between the four of us, it would be super cheap. Then our adventures for that day was over.

2008-05-28T06:29:00.006-06:00

Saturday, May 24, 2008

We woke up and got ready for a day of exploring Sydney on our own. Jorge was nice enough to give us a map and help us figure out how to decide what stops to get off on the rail. Then we were on our way. We decided to try to walk to Bondi Junction where we can get on the rail to see if it was close enough to walk to, cause using a bus just added more money into our daily travels.
So there we were off on our journey with our little map, I am sure we looked just like little tourists! We only managed to get lost a few times, but just used it as an excuse to get to know the city. We did finally find Bondi Junction but then couldn’t find the building that the train stop was at. When we finally did find it, we took a long time trying to figure out how to get a ticket to the place we needed to go to because we needed to stop at multiple stops. The guy at the ticket booth was very amused, and after our many questions, we finally were able to get on the right train.

(Above: Me trying to figure out where we are)

We went first to the Center exit which is the one I get off for my work. We found my work with a little help from some australians. I got so excited and nervous when I realized I was actually here in Sydney to do my internship! I guess seeing the actual building made it feel real or something.

(This is the outside of the building I'll work in!)

On the way to my work we had walked by a Subway, and it had made us so happy because it was American. (Kind of pathetic when you go to Australia to get excited when you see American things). We decided Subway would be the cheapest meal option for us so we got sandwiches and ate them in a nearby park.

Then we were off to figure out where our church would be the next day. When we were walking past a bar, a drunk guy walked over to Wendy and I and asked us what the score was of the game the night before, when we told him that we weren’t sure, he said of course you know, you’re australian. It took a bit to convince him that we were actually american (cause he was that drunk, oh and as a side note he was Irish), but he kept offering to buy us a beer, and I told him that we didn’t drink, and he wouldn’t believe that either. Finally we just walked away, but he made sure to tell us that we were pretty and to F-off (only using the real word, which we’ve found to be a very common phrase here).

That was just another great adventure figuring out how to get to church. It was in the Connaught Building, which was a huge business building, so we kind of just didn’t get where we were supposed to go. Luckily we saw the missionaries outside the building so they were able to direct us where to go the next day. Then we made our way to Circular Quay (pronounced key), probably the most recognized places in Sydney. This is where the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge are.

We got there in perfect timing because it was right as the sun went down so it was so pretty. That is when it really hit me that I was in Sydney! All of the pictures I’d seen before, I was actually there!

Then we went home and after making dinner I turned on the t.v, and Napoleon Dynamite was playing. Funny that we were in Australia, and the show made by a BYU student was playing on TV. After that we went to bed because we still hadn’t completely adjusted to this new time zone.

(P.S.This is a spider I walk by everyday on the way to work with massive webs, I'd show you but the camera doesn't really capture them great! This spider is like the size of my palm.)

We are actually in AUSTRALIA!

2008-05-24T07:17:00.004-06:00

Friday May 23, 2008

Yes...I did skip a day, that is because Thursday almost didn’t exist for us, at least only 8 hours of it did, and most of those were spent in uncomfortable sleep on the plane. Other than the ornery man we sat next to, the flight pretty much consisted of food, sleep, food, sleep, and then some more of food, and sleep! Literally! Oh... and my feet got so swollen that they were spilling over my shoes and this caused them to be very uncomfortable. After getting through customs, which was a breeze, we were supposed to find Michel, the guy we were renting our apartment from. When we found him he was with Jorge, our new flat-mate from Equador. When he saw the amount of our luggage I think he was a bit overwhelmed, and he had reason to be concerned because when we got to his car we quickly realized that there was no way that it was going to fit in a little convertible. We even tried putting the top down and stuffing everything on top of our laps. After realizing that wouldn’t work, Michel sent Jorge home in a cab with our luggage! We felt so bad, especially when we found out that gas had just hit $8 a gallon in Sydney.

I was standing outside the left side of the car and Michel told me to get in, I tried to make my way to what I thought was the passenger side until Michel quickly corrected me that I was in Australia honey, and there they drove on the right side of the road (I would call it more like the wrong side rather). My first embarrassing moment in Sydney! On the way home Michel drove us by the beach, which is literally minutes from our place, and it was amazing! Really! We eventually got to the apartment to find a cute little bedroom with bunk beds already made and Michel had even left us two cell phones we could load so we wouldn’t have to buy them. I don’t know why these people were treating us so good!

After Michel left Jorge kept making sure we were fine, and we began unpacking our luggage. Jorge left to go to school and we found a few spiders so we had to play terminator for a bit. Around 2 came home with food for us and told us he was going to give us a lesson on Sydney transportation so we were to go with him. We went to the place where is girlfriend Ely worked (Harvey Norman, a small version of Best Buy) to pick her up and then the two of them took us shopping for food at the grocery store at Bondi Junction, a shopping center near our flat. We got home around 5:30 and then honestly I can’t tell you much of what we did after that. Yes...I am sad to announce that jet lag did catch up with me. We were trying to do everything we could to stay awake, but it was so miserable that the minute we reached 9pm we got into bed and quickly fell asleep.
(we thought this was a big spider, but just you wait till you see some of the others we've seen)

(me playing terminator)

(we may look happy, but all we wanted to do was go to bed!)

Our Journey Begins!

2008-05-24T07:08:00.006-06:00

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

We started our adventure around 5 pm Wednesday, May 21, in Salt Lake, making our way toward the airport to start our very long journey to Sydney, Australia. It didn’t take long to realize we were in for a treat, when we some how managed to almost miss our flight in Salt Lake, even though we had come plenty early. After arriving in Los Angeles in time to watch the end of game 1 of the Lakers vs. Spurs with all the Lakers fans (unfortunately Lakers were able to come back from a 20 point deficit and pull off a win), we had a 2 hour lay over before we could board our next flight, a straight shot to Sydney.

(above: picture of view outide our window on the way to LA)

We had much to look forward to, for sure the top on the list was the 15 or so hour flight. Just reminding us that we were the intelligent gals that we are we missed when they called our numbers to board the flight, and ended up boarding late. This wasn’t that big of a deal, but when we boarded the man that was sharing our side with us seemed very disgruntled to have to let us in our seats, he was so unfriendly that he even made Wendy’s bladder only have to use the bathroom one time for the full flight. Miracles do happen!

2008-05-16T03:19:00.003-06:00

This is the beach just minutes from my apartment in Sydney!