All In A Sydney Day…Manly Beach to Wicked! (November 19, 2009)

I really have to blow our own horn here, and say we’ve become extremely resourceful travelers. We have had many days called ‘The best day yet’ as our heads hit the pillows, completely exhausted from packing so much into only 1 day. Today was one of those days. We began by heading into the city from Stanwell Tops. After riding the train into Circular Quay, we hopped off, gazing at the gorgeous Sydney harbor and Opera house. Brittany was ecstatic, and we had to pinch her a few times to ensure her that she was awake in the moment. Her childhood dream of one day seeing the Opera house had finally come to fruition, and it was almost as fun watching her, as it was to take in the sights. The giddy smile never left her face. The harbor bridge was stunning, and we look forward to driving across it when we pick up our campervan in a few days!

We hopped onto the ferry over to Manly beach. Apparently history has it that this beach was named by Cpt. Cook & his men as they sailed into the harbor, and after seeing so many masculine Aboroginal men on shore, gave it the name ‘Manly Beach’. We were expecting a bit more ‘Muscle-beach’ (L.A. style) scenery/ people-watching…but it was full of your typical tourist mix. The beach was packed, the waves were big, and we just soaked up the heat and beach-bummed it for the afternoon. Manly wasn’t as great as Bondi, in our opinion, but we enjoyed the sun a lil’ tooooooooo much! We all walked away with brutal sunburns after using spray sunscreen. Haha, apparently you have to spray AND rub it in well. We looked like we had random rashes across our sides, chests, and posterior legs from all the spots we accidentally missed. Whoops! Lesson learned the painful way. The shopping on Manly was awesome, great atmosphere, music in the streets, and an entire Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop! Yes, really! Deadly, but we were good girls and only nabbed a few samples before finding some really great Thai food instead. Valena & Britt bought adorable dresses, and we’re finding it harder and harder to have self-control with all the incredible shopping in Aus! Ugh- it’s torture!

So here comes the efficiency of our group of 4. Not only did we change into our bikinis on the ferry over…we brought our theatre outfits along with us to the beach. So, on the way back to Sydney harbor, rocking back and forth on the wobbly ferry we did a quick wardrobe change. We walked in sunburned, salty, and scalawag…and out in evening dresses and freshly sprayed perfume. It was hilarious trying to balance in the ferry restroom, but a few ladies seemed to be amused by our ingenious clean-up saying “Oh to be young and going out again!” “Have fun girls!”. Jodie snapped a group photo- she’s the queen of taking shots and managing to get all of our heads in- and the background! It’s pure talent.

The highlight of Sydney for me was going to see the musical Wicked! I had been looking forward to this since leaving home, and tonight was the night! We were mesmerized, enchanted, and completely blown away by the unbelievable performance at the Capitol theatre! The theatre itself was beautiful- Britt especially enjoyed the fairy-tale style bathrooms. The stage was unreal- so detailed- and the voices of the performers, alongside the perfectly conducted orchestra, was magical! It was like stimuli-overload as you took in the beautiful show. We even visited with the double-bass player in the orchestra before the show as we took pictures near the ‘Stage Entrance’ after coffees & tea at Gloria Jean’s. A very delightful night to remember! We were all humming a little ‘Popular’ through the park as we walked back to the train.

Bondi to Coogee - Nov 18

The day started off with a every early bush walk at 6 am. We were all used to getting up early to catch the bus when we were in NZ, but 545 am sure came fast and was not welcomed by us girls. But we all managed to get up and out the door by 6 with Karen in tow and met up with their neighbor, Jim, for a short walk to a beautiful waterfall. He had tons of little stories to keep us entertained as we made our way through the bush. We received a quick lesson about the eucalyptus trees, the aboriginals and some other history about Oz. Before we knew it we were at a gorgeous waterfall with an amazing view of the Royal National Park. What a great way to start the day! We got back to the house, refueled with eggs and yogurt, and went off to the Miranda mall for a couple hours, where Danielle and Britt got their Australian phones and then headed off to Bondi beach for the afternoon, meeting up with Valena at the train station. We got to Bondi beach and as soon as we saw the beach full of surfers and beach bums, we fell in love. Between the turquoise waters, white sand and beautiful people to stare at, we could not find one reason why we would ever leave this place (except for family and friends of course). After strategically changing into our bikinis with the help of a beach towel, we scurried down to the beach to sink our sand in the feet and walk down the beach. We decided to walk from Bondi beach to Coogee beach, which takes about an hour and a half, following the coast line, passing by little beaches along the way and beautiful views of the ocean. With the sun shining down on us, we were in bright spirits and off we went. We all really enjoyed the walk for the first hour and ten minutes, but then hunger started to get the best of us and we started to drag our feet, complaining about our rumbling stomachs, how hot it was, our sore feet, and anything else we could think of. At one point I was even dragging my white purse on the ground, cursing myself for packing so much into one bag. Luckily it took no time at all to get to our final destination from there and we were on our search to find food. We totally lucked out and found $5 steak with chips and salad. We couldn't believe it! We quickly got into line and about 10 minutes later we were all sitting down just gazing at our delicious meals (well, they were gazing, I was already scarfing mine down). Our luck didn't end there. After supper I was craving something sweet, so we went into Subway to check out their cookies. Much to my delight they had a new kind, a double chocolate chunk with half of it covered with white chocolate and milk chocolate drizzle. Valena being the deal maker that she is asked if we could have a sample, and we ended up getting a whole cookie to try. Well that satisfied my craving for sweets and we left for our next stop. We made it to the bus stop without any other distractions until we saw McDonalds across the street. Their 50 cent cones are just too good to resist, but somehow that night we managed to and instead Dan stopped there for a coffee fix. The rest of us went for a short walk down the street and ended up getting a container full of two different kinds of salads that we wanted to sample. We were bubbling with joy when Dan met up with us, and she joined in after being given a free latte with her coffee. Seriously, how many free things could we get in one night? Four Canadian girls in Australia seems to be quite an advantage for us and we plan to keep using it to get "samples" and saving money that way. Who knows, maybe by the end we could manage to get free clothes! Wouldn't that be ideal?
Luv Jod

Stanwell Tops and the Wyghts: November 16, 2009

We arrived in Australia yesterday, and for as crushed as we were to leave N.Z., we are already in love with this amazing country... So, to all you people who said we would love Oz when we were whinging about leaving NZ, you can say "I told you so...". Plus, we were lucky enough, for the second time in a row, to have someone waiting for us when we touched down. My Uncle Doug, my dad's brother, was kind enough to make the hour drive to the airport to pick us up and he was smart enough to bring the station wagon to fit all of our ridiculous amount of luggage... I think we've all come to realize how much we massively over-packed when we saw we each have about double what everyone else we encounter has; the sad part is, I thought I had done good in regards to packing.

I can't begin to tell you how fantastic they all have been already. We are set up in a fantastic lil studio with our own lil bathroom. Their house, in Stanwell Tops, is gorgeous, with an ocean view from the living room window, and you need only walk ten steps and you have your choice of fantastic hikes or bike trails. Due to the distance between our families, I've only met my cousins: Byron 12 yrs, Cheyenne 9 yrs, and Annelise 4 yrs, a handful of times, the last being 2.5 years ago. I am so excited for all the time I'll have to spend time and get to know my family here in Oz. These kids are fantastically cute... Their lil oz accents put them over the top. My Aunt Karen, our appointed activities coordinator, and my Uncle Doug have been so great to us. My Unc Doug even made a list of all the hip bars/clubs to hit, including one that is called the dry cleaners because that's where you go if you want to pick up a 'suit'... haha... we didn't end up going to any but we loved how they were always looking for a good activity for us. We are so happy to be in a family environment again, our new home away from home, and are so excited to spend a whole week here. We are getting worried though. Every place we go, we fall in love with it and it's gonna be very tough to decide where to settle down in the end... Which leads us to our second worry; WHEN will we settle down and work? We keep adding on more places we want to see, and things we want to do, that we have no idea when we are actually gonna start working... But I figure, if you are gonna have worries in your life, these are the kind you want...

Cheers!

V

The best of NZ!!

In our three weeks of traveling the North Island we can say we have a pretty good idea what are amazing finds in NZ and we can’t help but share them all with you! These are not only are favorites but if you ever do come to NZ they are a necessary part in being a true KIWI!!

Best chocolate bar: Moro Gold…it is by far the most amazing chocolate bar we have ever tasted!

Best Song: Slice of Heaven by Dob Dobbyn… Download it. Listen to it. Love it. Repeat it.

Best city: Wellington of course but don’t let the wind deter you, there is so much to see in this city and the people are gems!

Best beach: Raglan hands down. The surf is incredible and you have to see the black sand.

Best Tourist activity: It would be a tie between going deep into the caves in Waitoma; abseiling and repelling in waterfalls 80 feet below the surface or skydiving in Taupo (the views are amazing)!!!

Best ice cream: Hokey Pokey

Best candy: the amazing red raspberry licorice that is soft and contains white chocolate in the middle…pure delicacy right there and only in NZ!

Best sports activity: Go to a Rugby game!!! You will live the energy and the pace of the game and you will leave a convert to the sport!

Best hike: Tangoriro Crossing (for those who want to see some amazing emerald and blue lakes) and the mini-hike in Wellington to Mt Victoria

Best purchase: V- blow dryer with diffuser

B- a new flip to replace the last one & my designer dress

D- bow headband & skydiving dvd

J- Black Nike pullover

Best date spot: it’s in Wellington it would on the hike to Mt Victoria overlooking the city while you are surrounded by forest. It is in the scene for LOTR and it is a place where a girl could get swept off her feet easily without the guy having to do much!

Best place to go out: Courtney Place in Wellington

Best burgers: Supremo!!!! They are massive and cheap too!!

Best pies to try: don’t waste your money there are better things to eat!

Best place to stay: The attic or living room in Jaime Dunn’s house.

Best saying to pickup: Oh dear!

Best beer: Rattler

Best vacation spot: Hahai by far. It’s complete relaxation!

Best stray bus driver: Ricky…he always went the extra mile to book activities for us and even let us be the dj’s for a bit!

Best time of your life…go to NZ!

WHITE LIGHTNING’S HATAITAI HIT-OUT! (Saturday, November 14, 2009)

85 Moxham Avenue was the location for our incredible good-bye/housewarming/beer pong/All White’s soccer game party! It was unreal. The Wellingtonian guys went over-the-top with planning this party, making posters, name-tags (and nicknames for us all), buying food (total man-grub with all the sausage rolls, wieners, chips, & meat pies), and educating us on the best beer & wine choices while in New Zealand. And to top it all off, they all showed up in their best fashion- dress coats, shoes, and even a few ties were busted out! We were completely impressed, and not to be outdone, our plan of Canadian style jeans & T’s quickly turned into an emergency change of wardrobe. I think we pulled it off quite well, which is convenient when you can get ready at the same place the party’s at. We were staying in Jamie’s attic, which was the perfect set-up for us to glam-up with our flash-packer gear. I think we may have even showered that day, in appreciation for all the effort put into planning this awesome party.

The most anticipated event of the night was definitely the guys’ performance of their own Huka. They did not disappoint! They were strategic about getting it right, which was demonstrated by the in-sync rhythm of the chanting, moves & fierce looking faces. Shirts-off huka was the best one yet, even beating out the downtown version from a couple weeks earlier. We can’t seem to get enough of watching these boys in full warrior mode. We also watched the All-Blacks do their Huka before playing Italy @ 4am in the morning when the party started quieting down. Britt was relieved to beat out Ged in a game of ‘Toss the ball into the bowl’…avoiding having to snort a line of Paprika. Phew! We loved the company (a house full of great kiwis!), the music (danced the night away), the food (although we have had our fill of meat-pies for now) and loved celebrating the All-White’s first World-Cup qualifying victory since 1982! Valena ended up sitting next to the assistant coach of the team on our flight to Sydney the next day! He nearly laughed when she asked if he thought Canada would have a chance at making the World Cup ;-(. Our nick-names for the night were: Dan= E.C (for being mistaken for Elisha Cuthbert…and unfortunately sounded much too similar to EZ…yeah.). Valena= Danica Patrick (for her mad driving tactics around Wellington…Jamie always had to remind her the speed limit was only 50 km/hr through the Mt. Victoria tunnel cuz she would go 100km/hr). Britto=Darling Bridget (Spitz kept calling her Bridget on our last visit, and it just stuck with Britt’s classy demeanor). Jodie=Mrs.______(I won’t be posting this, but we all loved her name). A few of us enjoyed a lovely dinner on the floor of the sunroom the next day…after cleaning up the heaping post-party mess. The girls enjoyed their last Supremo burger, which will be dearly messed as we head to Aus. We were sad to leave Wellington, but have full hopes of returning next February for the 7’s at the cake-tin! Don’t forget our bet Matt- we return for the 7’s…and you owe us an obligatory visit to Canada! And Jamie, I think you need to join us in exploring the South Island next year! D.

Return to Wellington!!!! November 12, 2009

Today was our final Stray bus ride and the time was well enjoyed thanks to two games. One: kissing the lollipop man. Basically, whenever the bus saw a lollipop man, they'd stop and the first person who ran out of the bus and kissed him on the cheek without any explanation would win an ice cream or a beer. When we first heard this being announced, my first thought was this kindly old man was on the side of the road selling suckers. Turns out, flag crew on road construction are called lollipop men/women... One lollipop guy in particular was less than pleased when a girl from our bus kissed him... We got quite the stink-eye... The second game was no-one was allowed to say "mine" for any reason. If you did, and you were caught, the punishment was 10 push-ups... It's harder than it sounds but on the bright-side, all of us, except Jodie, got in some exercise while on the bus...

We arrived back in Wellington and when we saw the coastline for the first time again, we couldn't contain our excitement. When we wheeled our luggage up the stairs to 85 Moxham Ave, it felt like coming home but it was bittersweet. We were so excited to be back at Jamie's and Matt's we knew that we would have to say good-bye to our Stray friends. It's amazing how 2 weeks earlier, we had no idea who Grant, Mark, Andrew, Danny or Tom were and now we were all choked to say good-bye and know that they would be continuing on down to the South Island and we would stay in Wellington. Our flip camera continues to cement it's value to us by allowing us to capture memories of the people and places we meet and go to.... Sometimes, in the case of Grant and Mark, our memories were captured against someone's will... Sorry boys, but it was worth it.

Jamie and Matt set us up in the Attic this time as the living room was needed to prepare for the amazing White Lightning Entertainment sponsored party saturday night. These guys are flirting with danger by being so fantastic to us, we have half a mind to ditch the rest of our travels and just set up permanent shop here in their attic. Especially, when they introduced us to Supremo Burgers; the best hamburgers with the biggest buns we have ever eaten. We were hooked; not gonna lie, we ate there 3 out of the 4 days we were there.. The burger guy was quite amused when we kept showing up. I think he partly thought/wished we were there for him. Another friend of Jamie's we met, Ged, was kind enough to take us out to Eastborne in Wellington on his day off and show us around. He had a great plan of taking us on a ferry across but unfortunately due to a delay, so Dan could get stop by a drop in clinic, and the weather turning we stuck with a tour from inside the car. But we had a blast making pointless videos and house gazing. Man, there are some wealthy people out there in the hills of Wellington on the coast. Case in point; Some houses are so high in the hills, surrounded by trees that the only way to get up into the house is to build a over-priced cable car system to get you from the street to the house. We tried sneaking on one but we were no match for their security unfortunately...

We are really lucky to have hospitality like Jamie and his friends have shown us. Our tickets to Sydney are on sunday. We'll see if we're on the plane...

Luv V

The 15, 000 ft. DREAM: Skydiving Taupo - November 8

We truly have packed the most epic outdoor activities into one short week on the North Island. After sea kayaking, surfing Raglan, caving/abseiling, white water rafting, and hiking....Danielle & I undertook one of the best experiences of our lives! We went skydiving in Lake Taupo @ 15,000 feet. When we booked our stop over in NZ, right away I said that the one thing that I was going to do while I was here was to skydive because it was cheaper than Australia and the views are just spectacular. Our whole trip I have been waiting for the day to come and when it finally did arrive, I was so ready to jump out of that plane. We left Rotorua around 12:30, almost not getting onto the bus because of a few errors in our online booking, but once we got that all figured out, we were on the bus and headed for Taupo for a few nights and to do some skydiving. Danielle and I were semi-excited on the bus, just thinking about it, but I don't think it really actually set in until we were in the limo that picked us up from the hostel to go skydiving. I don't know if the limo ride made people more nervous or excited for the jump. With nine people in a car, all heading to go skydiving, knowing that within the next hour we will all have to jump out of a plane, there were a lot of nerves and emotions there. Andrew, Danny, Tom and Mark all decided to go skydiving as well and we all kept doing the hand check to see who's hand was the most unsteady. We were all pretty good at concealing how we were feeling. The guys actually admitted being a bit nervous and even considered backing out for a split second. I'd say that Danielle and I were pretty calm until we had to choose what height we were going to jump from. Then Danielle started to break down a bit. Her nerves were increasing and she started to feel nauseous, which Andrew thought would be cured with chocolate. Believe it or not, this time chocolate would not solve it! After some deep breathing and calming words from her friends, Danielle relaxed a bit and was ready to go. Initially, trying to save money, we planned on only doing the 12,000 ft. jump...but Danielle was an easy target to be sucked into doing te big jump, AND getting the DVD of it all. Not to be outdone, I joined Dan up there at 15,000 feet in the little pink airplane. Of course we were the lucky ones that got to go first out of our group, so we got all decked out in our coveralls, harnesses and snazzy flying caps, practiced the flying banana and were ready to go. Up we went in the airplane to over 15,000 ft. and then our tandem partners and then it was time to jump. When I was told to put my feet out of the plane, I was thinking "are you kidding me?!", but nothing was stopping me. I can't even describe the feeling of the free-fall from the plane. It's something that can only be experienced to be understood. Oh my gosh! Seriously - one of the coolest things either of us have ever done. Absolutely incredible! Insane, but serene, as we sailed down in tandem-mode. And yes, our parachutes DID open (Thank you Lord)...and Dan may have thrown out a swear as we dove down...forgetting that it was all on DVD waiting to be seen by her mom & dad at home. Oh dear! No regrets. Once we made it safely to ground, we were both on a high, not able to wipe the smiles off our faces and eager to try it again. It's such an exhilarating and addictive thing to experience! Definitely was well worth the money and hopefully if you are lucky, Danielle will let you watch her DVD to give you a better idea of what we are talking about.

Jod & Dan