Sydney in the Sun and Rain

Leaving the Great Ocean Road resulted in my nervous breakdown.  You may remember my post about being Homeless in Australia, while that post was written just before I left for Melbs and the GOR.  After the amazing trip that we had, I realized on the last day that I was going back to Sydney where I didn't have a place to live, I had about 5 papers left to write in about 10 days, no job, no money.  I was freaking out.

When I got back to Sydney the flaky landlord dude surprisingly came through and got me a bed in his international house in Bronte, a beach-side neighborhood of Sydney.  About equally as far out as my previous apartment but in a different direction.  My international house turned out to be a helluva lot better than I expected!  My roommates were awesome, I had a queen size bed in a huge room with an amazing ocean view :)  It was so great.

My beach, aka Bronte

I thought I was going to hate it there, being the oldest of the 21 other people living there.  I set it up so I'd only have to be there for 6 weeks just at the end of uni.  I was hardly ever there and all I wanted to do was  hang in the living room watching movies with my roommates. 

Those papers I had to write to finish that little Masters Degree I was doing took up most of my time and sanity.  A few times I had to turn a 3,000 word paper around from start to finish in one day.  That's intense.  I did allow myself to take a break and celebrate Halloween with my roommates and a box or two of goon :)

Alies from Holland, Elsa from France, and me

It was most of my roommates' first Halloween.  America has the stronghold on Halloween, which made some of their costumes entertaining to a Halloween veteran.  We had a great night and it was really special to be part of their first Halloween.

Shortly after Halloween, Ashley arrived!  (I like cramming as much in as possible).  I still had one paper to write, but it was forced to wait.  Ash and I had 4 days in Sydney and then headed up north to the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsundays.

The day Ashley arrived we dropped her bags and hit the beach!  There's a great walk from my beach, Bronte to the most famous beach in Australia, Bondi.  Its about a mile its 3kg long and beautiful!

We started with the Bronte to Bondi walk on a beautiful day 

 

I think my grandmother would love my style :)  I'm not being sarcastic and I still love this dress and this hat and both of them together.  Beverly Hills, FL be damned!

 

Bondi Icebergs seaside pool.  First life savers club of Australia turned shwanky country club. Supposedly they train with ice chunks in the water to simulate natural conditions, hence the name Icebergs.  Thinking about it now, seems a bit obnoxious when they could just train in, oh I don't know, the Ocean? 

View of Bronte from Bondi.  Our beautiful day only lasted long enough for us to get to Bondi...then it poured buckets on us.  With everyone on the beach trying to get home, buses were packed and we were forced to talk a mile up hill in pouring rain.  Welcome to Sydney!

Ashley is a formidable traveler.  After spending 24 hours flying across the world, spending a toursity day on the beach that ended with us soaking wet, she pulled it together and went out with a night on the town with some uni friends!

We enjoyed a giant flaming pina colada at a swanky cocktail bar...yum!

Jet lag affecting her decision making skills perhaps?

Hannah and I, after spending a week long vaca together and we didn't want to kill each other

Day two was a rainy day, so we decided to hop on a free Hunter Valley tour with my shady landlord and awesome roommates.  Hunter Valley is a famous wine region about two hours north of Sydney.  There are always tour groups going up for about $150, or you can rent a car for the cost of gas plus $50 a day.  We were lucky enough that shady landlord had two extra spaces :)

Alies, Ashley and I at a wine tasting.

The ride back to Sydney was also a lot of fun.  We had five people in our car from all around the world.  Everyone had a chance to play with the radio, but no one was able to pick music that everyone knew.  Until we came upon The Beatles.  Funny how the entire car was rocking out and knew all the words.

On day three we braved the cloudy skies to do the best sight seeing Australia has to offer.  Here is a map of Circular Quay (Key) in the Sydney Harbour.

 Unfortunate the clouds drown out the Opera House

Ashley has a thing for lamp posts.  I don't get it but this picture is pretty rad.

 Love my face.  We tried this pic about a bazillion times, but I couldn't handle the bright light without my sunglasses, lol.  I kept my eyes closed until Ashley said go, but this time she took too long. I like this end result better, lol.

 We were kinda lost looking for the pylon on the Harbour Bridge.  The Rocks, the neighborhood, is notoriously confusing.

We found the pylon!  Oprah famously climbed the Harbour Bridge.  For us, non-Oprahs it costs about $200!  Too rich for my blood.  Instead, some friends early on turned me onto the pylon.  On of the pillars of the bridge (which I learned are just aesthetic and don't hold any weight) is a museum. You pay $9 and can walk to the top of it, about 11 flights up.  Offers great views of the Harbour, and some unique history of Sydney and the building of the famous Harbour Bridge. 

 View of downtown Sydney and The Rocks

 Terrible clouds rolling in :(  But this is the side of the Harbour that most people never see.  That bridge is the Anzac Bridge (it looks a lot like the Zakim Bridge in Boston btw).  On the right hand side of that bridge is where my first apartment in Sydney was located.  Also, that cruise ship is ginormous!

The Botanical Gardens with Kings Cross and Wooloomooloo in the background.


And just for a point of reference (and to remind me of how much I've changed) on the pylon on day 3 in Australia:

On top of the pylon 9 months later:

After the pylon, it was time for lunch.  I was pumped to take Ashley to my favorite place in The Rocks/downtown area.  Introduced to me by a Chicago Dad I babysit for, Lachlan who was nice enough to smuggle things into the country for me twice! The reason I love The Australian Hotel is mostly just for the kangaroo pizza! 

 Mmmm kangraoo pizza and sunshine.  Doesn't get any better.

 Blood sugar levels up we walked around the Quay to the Botanical Gardens.

 I swear I have the most sensitive eyes in the world.

Just thought I'd throw in an out take, lol