Kiwi Kruisin'

10/17/11 – Sea Princess

The comedy show rolled into town, as we lugged our luggage up and down the sidewalks from our hotel to the ship, 15 blocks away…  Of course we were not going to take a taxi when we could walk for FREE, so as I chased after my roller bag speeding down the hill in front of me, I am sure people stopped to watch and laugh at the site passing by them.  Today we boarded the Sea Princess, a Princess Cruise Line ship taking us round trip out of Sydney all around New Zealand.  We were not supposed to board until 4pm, but we showed up at 1pm so we could take advantage of having lunch on the ship.  After checking in we were given a number and told it would be an hour or two until our number was called.  We were starving and did not want to pay for lunch, so I put together a little plan, worked my magic, and 2 minutes later we were embarking…  I’ll just leave it at that and say that I am a great person to have around! 

Unfortunately we were not upgraded to an outside room, so we remained stuck in our inside cupboard, and when I say cupboard I literally mean the size of a closet, but it was not all that bad.  Even though we had about three steps to walk before crawling onto our bed, stepping up into the bathroom, or running into the wall, our location was great.

Our room is on the 11th floor at the very back of the ship, and the 11th floor happens to be the only floor with a entire back deck with lounge chairs to layout on, and as an extra bonus, just one quick flight of stairs up leads to a secret Jacuzzi area!  So all in all the room is horrible, but the location makes it manageable. 

The ship is unlike any ship I have sailed on before, with a huge movie screen out by the pool that plays music videos and movies all day, but the older crowd sailing with us Tommy and I are very much used to!  Sailing out of Sydney was incredible, especially gliding right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge on such a huge ship, and we toasted to a great New Zealand Cruise!

Sailing right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge! 

Life Boat Drill...Inside?At least Tommy was ready!

10/18/11 – At Sea

We hate our room!  Who knew it was so hard to have a room with no windows!  We did not wake up until 11am this morning because we could not tell what time it was with no natural light streaming in.  We are definitely going to have to start setting an alarm.  The sea as pretty darn rough, which is typical for the Tasman Sea, but we were really rocking and rolling our way to New Zealand.  Surprisingly we went to an art auction on board, of course only because they were serving complimentary champagne, and all of the paintings tipped over, knocking down like a set of dominos because of the huge swells.  We actually participated in a lot the ship had to offer today, one being the opportunity to win $1,000 worth of prizes after turning in a fully stamped card received from stopping by many locations around the ship.  I already had warned Tommy that I never win anything, so I let him go turn in our slips to avoid my bad luck, but who would have guessed that I would be the one to win something!  It was probably the only prize I was not interested in winning, but what the heck, I won something!  I won two half-day passes to the Sanctuary.  The Sanctuary is on the very top deck of the ship (Deck 15) all the way forward, and is a very luxurious outdoor adult pool, spa, relaxation area that passengers can pay for to use the area for the day.  Well, it looks like Tommy and I will be enjoying a day of luxury in the near future thanks to me!  The funniest part of the day was when we stopped in to watch one of the activities offered on the ship, a spin off from Glee.  About 20 passengers showed up to form an onboard Glee club and learned songs and dances to go with different numbers, which Tommy and I got to sit and enjoy/LAUGH at the scene.  It was pretty hilarious.  The first day onboard ended on a good note when we received more FREE champagne at the Captain’s Welcome party!!!  Cheers to some bubbly! 

The Sanctuary (I won the 2 half-day passes that were never used because we had no sun!)

10/19/11 – At Sea

Happy Birthday Molly from the Tasman Sea!!! 

Today was an extremely rough day at sea.  Huge waves, jolting and rattling the vessel, hit the ship at all angles leading to some very unfortunate news.  We do not get to go to Fiordland National Park tomorrow because it is too rough and too windy to make it there.  In order to even make it to our port on Friday we have to head there now going against the strong wind.  Such a bummer! 

10/20/11 – At Sea (booo!)

We wish we could have been sailing through the fjords this morning, but instead we woke up to a grey, rainy and windy day at sea.  We bundled up and went out to the walking deck to combat the weather with some laps.  The fresh air felt great, but was very chilly!  After a good work out, we stepped up our intensity by braving the elements as we slid down into the Jacuzzi.  As our bodies melted into the bubbling water, our faces were pounded with wind and ice cold rain.  Brrrr!  

10/21/11 – Dunedin, New Zealand

Kiwi-a-go-go!  We finally saw New Zealand for the first time this morning, but that was through the pouring rain and heavy fog sitting on the water.  Visibility was about 100 feet, but we could still see some of the beautiful green rolling hills in the small inlet leading us to Port Chalmers.  Port Chalmers is about seven and a half miles from Dunedin, but the water is too shallow for the ship to take us all the way in.  We were really looking forward to taking the scenic train all along the coast, up to Locarch Castle, the only castle in New Zealand, but we could barely see the water from the bus with the thick fog hovering halfway down the mountains and the windows fogging over, so we realized we would not be able to see much out of the train windows.  Instead we put up our brellie (what Kiwi’s call umbrellas), and bared the elements as we wandered throughout the quaint city of Dunedin.  Dunedin is the 4th largest city in New Zealand, but to us was more of a large town with beautiful old churches and architecture.  Of course on a cold day what better way to warm up than the taste of chocolate melting in your mouth, sitting by the fire, drinking a beer, and eating some comfort food.  Of course we did all of the above!  

After stopping by the Cadbury chocolate factory and devouring some sweet treats, we headed to the local brewery for some beers accompanied by some bangers and mash.  DELICIOUS!  We met a nice Canadian couple in the brewpub that looked oddly familiar, and I figured it was because they must be on our ship.  Well turns out they were on our ship, but they also were on the LA to Sydney crossing on the Volendam!  Small world…  It was hard leaving our spot right in front of the fire, but we headed out to catch the shuttle back to Port Chalmers.  After exploring a beautiful old church with the loveliest elderly Kiwi’s waiting for any visitors to make the trek up in the rain, we rushed back to the ship for some hot tea and a Jacuzzi to warm us up!  We are praying for some sun tomorrow. 

Tonight at dinner we could not avoid buying some freshly made Limóncello that came with free shot glasses!  Not only was it delicious, but also our waiter Joseph snuck us two extra shots!  We had a fun night… 

10/22/11 – Akaroa, New Zealand

We were happy to see a little bit of sun shining through the clouds as we pulled into the harbor of Akaroa.  Today was a tender day, so our big ship sat in the middle of the brightest green rolling hills that made up the harbor.  We came through a small inlet and tendered into a small quaint little town.  We were supposed to go to Christchurch today, but it is still too devastated from the earthquake, so Akaroa (about 86 km away) was chosen as our alternative port.  Tommy and I walked as far as we could each way, wandering in and out of shops and through the outdoor markets on the way.   On our first exploration we accidentally wandered a bit too far onto someone’s private farm, which was easy to figure out when we realized we were off the path and surrounded by sheep.  After a long day of walking we topped it off with a great meal of their famous blue cod at a great spot on the harbor, and of course we cheered our good day with a beer at the local brewery. 

50 MPH Winds Hit as we pulled out of the port and into the open sea. 

10/23/11 – Wellington, New Zealand

Sailing into Wellington

At the top of our Lord of the Rings hike!

Unfortunately we were welcomed by another overcast day!  We have just been so unlucky with the weather.  Where we docked was inconveniently a mile and a half outside of the town center, and we did not feel much like paying for the shuttle, so we put on our walking shoes and spent the next 7 hours walking through the city.  We have found that the harbors in New Zealand are pretty spectacular.  After pulling through the small opening, the ship ends up surrounded in the middle of a huge circle of mountains.  It is quite an amazing site to see.  We explored the main part of town, wandering through parliament, and stopped in for a bit of a Sunday mass at the Queen’s church before Tommy dragged me away.  The town was completely dead, so we walked towards the harbor, and found a great farmer’s market to try all the samples and have a delicious lunch of venison, pizza, kebabs, and a damn good churro!  Honestly, we were pretty bored and bummed out about the weather.  If we had to walk through one more museum to pass the time we were going to just start crying on the spot! 

Luckily we kept walking and walking along the harbor quay, which eventually ran us into a sign advertising a hike up to Mount Victoria’s Peak.  Well in one of those darn museums we had been in, we read that parts of Lord of the Rings were filmed on Mount Victoria, so we were excited for a little adventure!  After hiking up most of the steep but well carved out hiking trail, we decided to spice it up a bit by scaling the mountain.  I am not sure how we walked straight up the side, but we were feeling the Lord of the Ring vibe, and pretended we were on the set…we are a bit weird.  At the top we got a spectacular 360-degree view of the entire, huge harbor (or as Tommy says, Gyna-Normous!).  Our moods were definitely turned around after our hike, and we celebrated with a beer in the Kiwi Pub before heading to the ship for a Jacuzzi sail away. 

The Rugby World Cup 2011 championship game was played tonight, New Zealand vs. France.  The World Cup was hosted by New Zealand this year, with the final game held in Auckland (where we wish we were today!!!).  Unfortunately we did not stay late at the port of Wellington, so we could not enjoy the game festivities in a local bar, but we did have three huge screens set up in the theatre where we could cheer on the All Blacks.  In a great battle that came down to the final minutes, the All Blacks defeated the French!  It was a great victory that we were happy to be a part of. 

10/24/11 – Napier, New Zealand

One word: SUN!  It finally is back in our lives after a very dreary New Zealand journey thus far.  Napier is an art deco town with great 1930s architecture on the majority of the buildings.  We actually lucked out coming to town today because it is Labor Day in New Zealand, which for us meant the presence of people taking a nice coastal drive in their old, beautiful cars with their top hats on and the windows down.  It really completed the overall atmosphere of this art deco town, making it feel like we had stepped through a porthole back in time.  It took us an hour to stroll through the entire town, so we decided to take a tour to Hawk’s Bay where the wineries were located.  

After passing by many great sites to see, we finished our tour at the Mission Estate Vineyard, the oldest winery in New Zealand.  This was an absolutely beautiful place that was most well known for their Syrah (red wine) and Chardonnay (white wine).  We ended up buying a bottle of the Chardonnay to enjoy back on the ship.  Unfortunately our time was cut short at this port with our departure time being at 2pm, but with the sun shining, we pulled out some nice lounge chairs on the back of our deck on the ship, popped open a bottle of wine we had bought in Wellington, and toasted to the rays of sun finally warming up our frozen bodies! 

10/25/11 – Tauranga, New Zealand

Today has been our favorite port of New Zealand.  Most docking places are in the middle of the cities industrial areas leaving us way outside of the main part of town with some ugly views.  Today the port was right in the middle of the beautiful town of Tauranga.  A small mountain enclosed us into the bay, and had a great hiking trail up to the peak.  One of the things we loved about this city was that every hill or mountain in the area had many different hiking trails, each one a different level of difficulty, making all the great scenic lookouts accessible to everyone.  We hiked up a very steep gravely incline, through herds of sheep that would occasionally cross the road in front of us, for a twenty minute challenging hike to the top.  But, on the other side it was an easier access to the top with a set of MANY stairs paving the way to the top.  The view from the top was sensational, highlighting the real beauty of this town.

Before leaving for New Zealand, we had heard about a cargo ship that had crashed into a coral reef somewhere along the Bay of Plenty, and had dropped some containers as well as leaked some oil into the water.  That ship happened to be just off the coast of Tauranga, and we could actually see it from the top of the mountain we hiked.  A helicopter zoomed back and forth removing containers from the ship, and as we hiked down the backside of the mountain to a gorgeous white-sand beach, we saw teams of volunteers in full body protection suits cleaning up the oil that had washed ashore.  This was a terrible site to see, but fascinating that we witnessed what we had watched on the news a week earlier.  On our tour later, our guide told us that the reef the captain crashed into was the only reef out there and only an 800-meter reef.  I now understood why the captain was thrown in jail and so hated by the people, because it is difficult to run into this reef, and he did so because no one was navigating the ship when it happened as all the crew on the ship was celebrating the captain’s birthday…what an irresponsible idiot!

After our hike down, we walked across the beach to a sandbar that connected out to a small island and we were able to walk across and through to the tip.  Here we could see some of the oil shining on the rocks.  We walked through the main part of town, which had very cute shops and restaurants, giving the vibe of a fun beach town.  We had read about Tauranga having many natural hot springs and geysers, and really wanted to see some of these natural wonders, so we booked a 3-hour tour.  Our tour guide, Blaire, drove us 45 minutes out to do a long walk through the bush to see the Kairua tree, a large, strong tree that rivals the height and width of our California redwoods.  The tree we saw was 600 years old and was already huge; these trees live to be 2,000 years old!  The bush around us was very thick and dense with a trickling stream carving through the middle.  We next headed to go kayaking on a river with the legend of the Lady of the Lake that protected it.  The native people of New Zealand are called Maori people, and so before heading out on the river, Blaire told us some of the myths and stories of the Maori people that were quite interesting, and had a specific message to them.  Without even realizing it, Tommy and I kayaked for 3 miles, no wonder why my arms felt like they were going to fall off!!!  

Our last destination on our tour was the absolute best way to end our day!  After hiking the mountain in the morning and paddling our arms silly out in the kayak, what better way to sooth our bodies than slipping into a natural hot spring that was a bubbling 102 degrees.  It felt absolutely amazing, and was really neat to be sitting in the middle of the bush soaking in this natural phenomenon. 

 

10/26/11 – Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland was another great place to dock, because we walked off the ship right into the heart of the city. We explored the main part of the city by walking up Queen St., which is the main street with shops similar to Sydney’s George St.  We decided to take the ferry over to Waiheke Island, a 40-minute ride to the small beautiful island populated by 24 wineries.  Vineyards covered the rolling green hills and at every winery we could look out and see the ocean.  We tried the most delicious wines, great Chardonnays and Syrahs, at three different wineries.  When we got off the ferry, we decided to walk the trail along the coast to reach the wineries rather than taking the bus or a private tour.  This ended up being a tough hike through the bush, making it an hour and twenty minute walk in our nice clothes to reach the first winery, but it was absolutely beautiful and a great workout.  The beauty made it worth the hike, and it was really something viewing the vineyards off in the distance.  We turned up the trail inland and walked up a hill to the first vineyard that unfortunately was still being built so we had to turn right back around and walk back down the hill to the next vineyard.  Luckily, the next vineyard was right next to two other vineyards making it easy for us to hop from one to the next.  The three vineyards were called Jurassic Ridge, Mudbrick Vineyard, and Cable Bay.  The only one we did not much care for was Mudbrick because of the service from a snobby Northern California girl working in New Zealand as well as the overpriced wines and cheese board, but a beautiful estate.  After three tastings, we headed back towards the ferry with two bottles of wine in hand.  Before catching the 4pm ferry, we walked across the island to the opposite coast line where there was a beautiful beach and small town.  Luckily we caught the 4pm ferry because it was the last ferry we could take in order to make the ship!  Another couple was not as lucky and actually missed this ferry and were lucky to get back on the ship 20 minutes late, and the captain announced that we were just about to push off when they came running to the gangway.

The Sea Princess has a huge screen over the pool area in the middle of the ship that shows what is called Movies Under the Stars.  This is actually a really cool thing that they do, and Tommy and I went to the 9pm movie showing up the last Lord of the Rings movie (we watched the first and second the past two nights under the stars).  It was the perfect setting, laying on the lounge chairs bundled up in many blankets with our popcorn and tea in hand, cruising through the waters of New Zealand, the country where Lord of the Rings was filmed. 

10/27/11 – Bay of Islands, New Zealand

Russell (left), Tommy on the ferry to Russell (right)

Bay of Islands is the perfect place to anchor because its name is a perfect description leaving the ship surrounded by many small beautiful islands.  Our ship tendered into the main island with the biggest town where a shuttle bus awaited to drive us into the town center.  This was a very cute town with an artisan market set up on the lawn, and shops and bars all along a main street.  

We ended up taking a ferry across the way to Russell Bay, a wonderful quaint town filled with history.  On the ferry we pass right by many of the smaller islands, and along the coast of the town are old, beautiful homes and restaurants.  Some of the houses are in their original form from the 1800s.  Russell has the oldest church in New Zealand, Christchurch (not the city, but the church’s name!).  We hiked up a trail through the bush to the top of the highest point on the island, which was only about a 30 minute walk through dense trees and vines, marked as Kiwi territory (a kiwi is a type of bird in New Zealand that can’t fly).  At the top is a historic landmark called Flagstaff, and we had the most spectacular 360-degree view of the entire Bay of Islands area.  Yet another beautiful place, and the weather was very kind to us with the sun shining high, and our first time to wear our shorts! 

10/28/11 – At Sea

Our New Zealand adventure has come to an end leaving us with two days of crossing the Tasman Sea back to Sydney.  We had the most amazing trip and absolutely loved New Zealand, but we are anxious to get back to Sydney and move into our first apartment!  We are sick of living in the dark hole (what we refer to our room as), and made sure we spent our entire day outside away from the sleepy darkness.  As I talked about before, the Sea Princess has a huge screen above the main pool area that shows movies and concerts throughout the day, as well as one every night called Movies Under the Stars.  Well during the day it is more like Movies Under the Sun, but still a fun way to watch a movie while getting some good vitamin D.  We enjoyed a movie on deck, a nice workout, Jacuzzi time, and a wine toast to a great cruise before heading to our last formal diner with our great waiter Joseph.  There was a farewell party held in the middle of the ship with a big balloon drop, champagne flowing and a big dance party to celebrate the ending of a great cruise. 

10/29/11 – At Sea

Today is the dreaded packing day.  Somehow Tommy and I have managed to avoid doing laundry since leaving LA…thank gosh we have a laundry machine at our new apartment!  I mentioned earlier that I never win anything EVER, but somehow at the beginning of this cruise I won something in a raffle. Well, I also was randomly selected as a winner to get $30 off some spa treatments.  Of course I was so excited to finally be the recipient of a prize, until I realized that my prizes were useless to me.  The two half-day passes to a special area on the trip called the Sanctuary were pointless to use, why would I go up to the lounge area to freeze my booty off with the lack of sun, and my other prize was $30 off a $156 facial facelift… well not only is that still expensive but I am pretty sure I do not need a facelift yet?  Anyways, so much for winning anything! 

Luckily the seas are smooth on our way back across the Tasman Sea, we only hit one big swell yesterday that jolted the ship around for a bit before it calmed, so we have smooth sailing the rest of the way home (we can’t believe Sydney is our home!).  

Sailing into Sydney Harbour

Kangaroo Kait and Tasmanian Tommy Take Australia!

10/3/11 – Sydney, Australia

We are here!  AUSTRALIA!  We woke up nice and early to watch the entire sail in to where we docked at Circular Quay.  Although very grey, rainy and cold, it was still beautiful.  We were so excited to be in Sydney that a little rain could not damper our joyous moods.  As we walked down the gangplank, Tommy and I held hands and took our first step onto Australian land together with a bit of a squeal from me and whoop from Tommy.  The couples around us laughed at our excitement.  The sun broke through warming it up a bit, and we went in search of our hotel that we are moving into tomorrow for the next two weeks.  For some reason we were convinced our hotel was on Kent street, a few blocks down from where it was actually located, so we ended up winding up and down the streets in between Circular Quay and Darling Harbor.  Getting lost was a good way to explore the city!  Our hotel is in an AWESOME location, just a block away from George Street (a very popular street in Sydney), and half a block from Max Brenners.  It is very important that we are close to Max Brenners because it is the most phenomenal chocolate bar in the world, and I do not doubt that many trips will be made there for chocolate treats and yummy drinks. 

We got back on the ship for lunch to avoid using our money for one last day before setting off again to explore...it is okay if you are calling us cheap right now, we are proud of it!  Manly was our destination of choice after being told by an Aussie couple on board that a Jazz Festival was going on there for the day.  Today is actually a public holiday in Australia, their labor day, so it started to get pretty crowded with people coming in to visit for a long weekend.  We took the 30-minute ferry to Manly, and Tommy absolutely fell in love.  He had already fallen in love with Sydney, but after visiting Manly, he was determined for us to find an apartment there, and I definitely would not be opposed to that idea!  Manly is a relaxed beach town with volleyball nets lining the beach, and surfers taking over the water.  Of course we had to have our first taste of some of their local beer, so we found a great bar with a spot by the fire to warm us up.  We ended up meeting a very nice couple who lived in Manly, and the guy ended up buying Tommy a Coopers beer!  We are good at making the right friends! 

(Picture above: Tommy at Manly Beach)

(On the ferry to Manly)(Manly Wharf)

Tonight is our last night on this ship, which is a bit bitter sweet, but we are ready for the next part of our adventure.  Packing is NOT fun, and somehow my bag is already more stuffed than when I began, and I did not even buy anything along the way…not sure how that worked out, but I am going to need a car just for my bags at this point! 

Aboriginal Man Playing the Didgeridoo

10/4/11 – Sydney, Australia

Our new Aussie life starts today!!!  We disembarked with our trolley full of luggage, and arrived at the Menzies Hotel, our new home for the next 13 days.  After putting together a list of things to do, we headed out, and made it only 5 minutes before ducking into the McDonald’s to use their free WI-FI.  When in Australia, go to McDonalds?  We tried to get the majority of our errands started today, but ended up giving in the lure of the city and set off exploring.  We enjoyed a nice afternoon snack and two Aussie beers at a great spot right under the Sydney Opera House with the best view of the bridge and our ship.  As the sun set behind the bridge, the deep horn of the Volendam signified the end of one chapter of our journey, and the beginning of our new one in Sydney. 

(Ooops... we aren't staying here are we?)

(Ahh... this is our hotel!)

10/5/11 – Sydney, Australia

Today has been great, but unsuccessful of getting our “to-do” list done.  We originally planned to grab some breakfast and take a nice walk around the Botanical Gardens Park before starting our day.  Well 5 and a half hours later we are finally back to the hotel from our walk…  We ended up grabbing a great breakfast under the Wynyard Station before heading through Circular Quay to the park.  The park walk was gorgeous along the harbor coastline, taking us an hour to get up to Hyde Park.  We found a park bench to sit on and enjoy the atmosphere with a great guitar player strumming by the fountain.  We walked to the end of the rectangular Hyde Park, and found a war memorial exhibition to walk through called the ANZAC Memorial.  On our way back towards our hotel, we zigzagged up the different streets to get a taste of the different areas, and found ourselves in the middle of Chinatown, pretty easily distinguishable when we realized we could not read the names of the different stores anymore as it was all Chinese symbols and we were the only white people on the crowded streets.  We cut over to George St., which ran us into the Victoria Building.  The Queen Victoria Building is a great indoor 4-story building with shops and food, with a ceiling made out of glass to let the sunshine through making it feel like you are in an outdoor mall.  We found a great place to grab a delicious pizza for lunch before going back to the hotel.  On our way back to the hotel we passed by an Apple Store, and thought we would just go in for a few minutes to check our email on their demo computers, and ended up spending an hour there!  I think you know you are desperate when you use the Apple Stores computers to get your emails, Facebook and apartment hunting taken care of…  I used to always make fun of the people I would see in Apple Stores using the computers for their personal business, and here I was on the other side, one of those people! 

  

                                              (Hyde Park)                                    (Anzac Memorial)



10/6/11 – Sydney, Australia

After hitting up some brekkie at the same spot, we already are considering ourselves regulars here (haha), we headed back to the McDonalds to take advantage of their testy but free Wi-Fi.  How much more desperate can we get!  We were met with A LOT of frustration when we were continuously logged out every 5 minutes, so we decided to come up with a better option.  One of my contacts over here had just emailed me mentioning a public library, so we located the State Library of New South Wales on our map us tourists carry around with us, and headed to the library only 6 blocks up from our hotel, bordering the Royal Botanical Gardens.   As much as we want to be exploring Sydney, we realize it is more important to find an apartment first so that we do not arrive back from our cruise and realize that we are homeless and must find a nice street bench to live on.  So, we spent 5 long hours in the library before our brains just about exploded and our eyes watered from staring at a screen for too darn long.  Unfortunately, after 30+ inquiries were sent out, the only responses we received were that the apartments were already leased.  Just our luck...  Finding an apartment is a bit harder than we expected, especially with summer rolling around the corner, and people moving to the beaches for the summer months, the beaches that we are trying to find an apartment in!  Wish us better luck for tomorrow. 

10/7/11 – Sydney, Australia

Another research day began this morning, but of course following our REGULAR brekkie routine.  Living in Sydney is extremely expensive, and food prices are incredibly high.  This is mainly because Australia’s minimum wage is a little over $15/hour, but since we are not currently bringing in any Australian money, this flat out sucks for us!  So as a result, we have become experts at scouting prices, and finding the best deals around the city.  This is why we have become breakfast regulars at our two breakfast spots, because of the great deals we have scored.  We have breakfast every morning under the Wynyard subway station in a food court type setting; I order my $5.90 breakfast smoothie, and Tommy orders his $7.80 breakfast sandwich/Cappuccino combo.   Although one of the cheapest breakfasts found in Sydney, I think they are both quite delicious! 

Today we were focused on at least one of us setting up an Australian phone.  After finding out that it was required to have an Australian bank account set up prior to activating a phone, we got some information and thought about our different options before spending another few hours researching apartments online.  When we finally felt we were deserving of a break, we walked to The Rocks for their Friday food market.  A small line of venders set up like a Farmer’s Market were lined up two blocks with delicious foods: ice cream, nuts, oils and vinegars, cupcakes, wraps, sushi, sausages, etc.  We split a great rosemary and lamb sausage roll with caramelized onions, but of course only after trying some cookies and cream cupcakes.  Dessert comes first right?  Delicious to say the least!  Tommy was already planning our future trips back, pointing out the bread, fruit and egg prices, and his idea to come every Friday to do our grocery shopping once we were living in an apartment, very cute.

After an hour in the bank, and an hour and a half in Vodafone, both closing while we were the last customers inside, Tommy had his bank account and phone set up, putting us one step closer to finding an apartment, and transforming us from tourists into locals!  As a celebration, we headed to Bovarian Bier Cafe, a German restaurant that is currently celebrating Oktoberfest.  When we first got off the ship in Sydney, Tommy immediately saw a sign on the back of one of the public buses advertizing Bovarian Bier Cafe, and of course decided we HAD to go there!  You think Tommy likes beer?  Well I have to say I am thrilled that he had his “beer goggles” on because the restaurant turned out to be awesome.  The capital for Oktoberfest is Bovaria, and we lucked out with having a waitress who was from Bovaria!  She helped us order the best German food and beers, allowing us to have a very delicious experience in this fun bar!  With our huge beer glasses in hand we raised them to a great night with the men in their lederhosen pounding out German notes on their instruments behind us.  It was a loud, fun and exciting environment, marking a great end to a busy day!

10/8/11 – Sydney, Australia

We soon found out that Australians like to take advantage of a late snooze on the weekend as we found ourselves walking through the ghost town of Sydney.  Not only do the people sleep half the day away, but our breakfast spot does not even open!!!  Luckily before our grumbling tummies got angrier, we found a good alternative a few doors down…fewf! 

Because we had been striking out searching for an apartment online, and after making multiple calls this morning, we decided the best option might be going to the actual locations.  After buying our week pass for the ferries, buses and trains, we hopped on the ferry to Manly.  Walking down the streets in Manly, I saw a realtor sign out front of a place, and decided to go check it out.  What a great way to start our search in Manly, stumbling into a $2,100,000 town house!  Unfortunately we decided this was a bit above our price range, and we weren’t willing to pay the extra thousand or so…  As we rushed to make it on time to one of the showings we had found online, a couple from the UK walked out letting us know that the realtor was no longer showing the apartment.  Tommy inquired if the place had been furnished, and when they replied that no it was not furnished, he was relieved saying, “oh perfect, we need a place that is furnished anyways.”  Well I could not help but notice the couple’s eyes lit up at the mention of needing a furnished apartment, and knew fate was in the works.  It just so happened they had 3 months left on their fully furnished apartment in Manly and wanted to get out of it to move to a bigger, ocean-view spot.  Fate?  After a week of hardcore apartment hunting, this was finally a step in the right direction!  We still went to the other apartment we had set up a viewing for, and after holding our breath for the two minutes we had to be trapped in that grotesque place, we ran out and did not look back! 

We returned to the city satisfied, and headed straight to The Rocks for the food/flea market that is held every Saturday and Sunday.  As we wandered through the different vendors, I could not help but follow the whooping cheers echoing off the walls.  The sounds led me to a packed Irish bar, beer flowing left and right at 3pm in the afternoon, full of people watching the Ireland vs. Wales rugby game.  How could we resist grabbing a beer and joining in on the excitement!  Unfortunately Ireland lost, but we left before that occurred, probably a smart idea.  The next game, England vs. Scotland, we watched in a bar called 333 just a block down from our hotel, and once again the team we were cheering for (England) lost.  So I am now thinking that Tommy and I should not cheer for Australia tomorrow because maybe we are bad luck… NAH!  AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE, OY OY OY!

10/9/11 – Sydney, Australia

Calories were flying high this morning after dining at Pancakes on the Rocks.  The Banana Rama (a stack of buttermilk pancakes topped with cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, caramelized bananas, and drizzled with homemade butterscotch) and Choco Supreme Surprise (a stack of buttermilk pancakes smothered in cream, ice cream, chocolate sauce, bananas, and walnuts) settled nicely into our tummies.  We made use of our week long transportation passes, hopping on the bus from Circular Quay to Coogee.  We lucked out with a gorgeous day, and after visiting a few rental agencies, we began the four-mile costal walk from Coogee to Bondi.  I know I have been using a lot of Australian place names to describe our experiences, so I hope you are all pulling out a map as you read my blogs, but if not, Coogee and Bondi are both beach towns, connected by a gorgeous boardwalk that twists and turns around the coast, harboring two other beaches, Bronte and Tamarama, between the two.  It took us just under an hour and a half to walk the two switching between power walking, strolling and pausing to take pictures.  Coogee is about a third the size of Bondi, making it a great family spot, but Bondi is a better spot for young people to live.  Tons of bars, cafes and shops line the streets, and a great Sunday flea market took over a few blocks.  We would have loved to stay in Bondi all day, but we wanted to get back to the city for the Australia vs. South Africa rugby game.  We arrived at a fun bar just in time for the start of the game, and 4 beers and many cheers later, Australia deserved their great victory over the Springboks!  I guess we are not bad luck after all!  The New Zealand vs. Argentina game followed the Australian victory, and we spotted #9, a Samoan beast who plays for the All Blacks (New Zealand).  The reason we were looking out for him was actually because we just happened to meet his 7 year old son in Apia, Samoa swimming in the ocean with us.  Pretty cool!

 

(Coogee Beach)                                               (Bondi Beach)

(Tamarama Beach) 

(Bronte Beach)

Tonight we are finally meeting Eric Braun, the man who has helped us SO much   with our move to Australia, providing us with endless information over many emails and Skype conversations.  He is actually an American who moved to Australia 20 years or so ago, and never returned.  He also just happens to be a Bucknell alumnus who graduated 40 years ago!  Eric offered to store a few pieces of our luggage in his apartment while we travel to New Zealand, and we must have been quite the spectacle to see, sprinting down the streets of Sydney with our bags in tow, my roller often flying ahead of me and almost knocking a few people over, trying to catch the 8:30pm ferry.  Of course when we showed up to the ferry at 8:28pm panting and dripping sweat, we found out the ferry did not leave until 8:45pm…  ARE YOU KIDDING ME! 

10/10/11 – Sydney, Australia

I come bearing great news!  After a week of endless, tiring, stressful searching…WE HAVE AN APARTMENT!  It was truly fate that landed us this awesome apartment.  As I mentioned earlier, we ran into this couple just by pure luck that wanted an out, and a few days later, their place is ours!  Our top choice of a place to live was Manly, so we are thrilled to be living there and in a great location that is beautifully furnished.  I think Tommy is most excited about the 45” flat screen TV…typical boy.  I am sure you all want to hear the details of the new humble abode, but I am going to leave you hanging with curiosity until we officially move in.

After successfully setting up a bank account and Australian cell phone for me, it was time to have a fun day!  We took a bus out to Surry Hills, a hip, young area with boutiques and cafes lining the streets, and a few promenades and parks scattered throughout.  We walked from Surry Hills all the way back from our hotel, passing by Hyde Park which reminded us of the International Food Festival taking place there tonight.

The food festival was great, tents set up along the perimeter of the park lawn, and tables all throughout to sit an enjoy a great meal while listening to the DJ spin his jams.  Of course we are in Australia so beer was flowing from the Coopers tent.  The International Food Festival should actually have been called the Asian Invasion Food Festival because the only food in the 50 or so booths was Asian influenced.  We ended up getting a mix of the Asian cuisine, dumplings from China, sushi from Japan and chicken pad Thai from Thailand.  I am still trying to figure out where the rest of the food styles were as it was called the INTERNATIONAL food festival…

A great walk across the bridge over to Darling Harbor helped walk off our food and beers.  Darling Harbor is the next harbor over from Circular Quay.  It reminds me a bit of the shopping and restaurant promenade at Disneyland, but as a horseshoe boardwalk surrounding a harbor.  At night it was absolutely beautiful with the restaurant lights reflecting off the still dark ocean water.  As we sat with our feet dangling over the bay, it was almost eerie with the stillness, I was ready for a shark fin to tear through the calm surface to disrupt the tranquility…luckily this was just one of my many daydreams that Tommy snapped me out of.  I always say I was born with DDD also known as Day Dreaming Disorder, not such a bad “disorder” to have as it keeps my mind constantly entertained, but I am constantly caught staring off into space in my own world.  Anyways, no shark to ruin our great evening, and we continued to walk around the entire harbor before passing back over the bridge to our hotel.  When Tommy and I were talking about Darling Harbor on our walk back we used the word electrified to describe the harbor and its atmosphere.  Of course we had not forgotten our plan to celebrate our apartment success over a Max Brenners treat, so we stopped in for a chocolate soufflé and half white half milk hot chocolate.  Death by chocolate…talk about SWEET DREAMS!  

10/11/11 – Sydney, Australia

Back to Manly we headed this morning to turn in our apartment rental application making us one step closer to making it official. Only the fun part left now...paying.

With nothing left on the agenda to do, we wandered around Manly on an hour and a half long walk before sliding into a booth in 4 Pines Brewery.  We had a good lunch washed down with some delicious Manly brewed beer.  We were lucky to find a movie theatre next store to the brewery that has $10 Tuesday specials for movies…MOVIE DATES ARE BACK ON!  Tommy and I used to go on a movie date every weekend at Bucknell and we were missing this tradition of ours especially with movie tickets being $17 per person in Australia, so the Tuesday special was a great find!  I guess I can't avoid admitting that a Max Brenners hot cocoa warmed us up on the ferry back to Circular Quay.  If you haven't figured it out already, Tommy and I are a bit infatuated with Max Brenners.

Our next adventure was decided and we headed over to Watson Bay where the delicious seafood restaurant, Doyles, awaited the arrival of our growling stomachs. We did not know that the ferry stopped running to Watsons Bay at 3pm, but we had a quick easy solution by hopping on a ferry to Rose Bay and then catching a bus from there to Watsons Bay.  We are quite a resourceful couple.

The bus dropped us at its last stop, which was the very tip of Watsons Bay.  This is where the harbor opens up into the ocean, between Watson Bay and Manly. There was a great walkway up to the tip of the bluff that gave a spectacular view of the vast ocean, but an even better view of the Sydney city line with the Harbor Bridge lit up from the sun. We watched our first Sydney sunset tonight while having our seafood meal at the famous Doyles Restaurant. Although the view was unbeatable, we were not thrilled with the food for what it cost...but this might be due to the fact that we picked the least expensive dishes on the menu!  My night ended on a very happy note when Tommy surprised me and treated me to a dinner date!  Such a romantic!

10/12/11 – Sydney, Australia

Taking advantage of our week long transportation passes, we decided to choose a destination that required a ferry, bus or train.  Well, we ended up making use of all three of these forms of travel.  We decided to go walk around Sydney Olympic Park.  The ferry actually stopped 6 times along the way making it a long trip out.  The thing I love about the ferry is that you get to see much more of Sydney traveling this way and it is beautiful on the water.  We went under the Harbor Bridge for our first time, which was a pretty exciting experience. 

Sydney Olympic Park is absolutely huge and has really neat modern architecture.  It was not that exciting being there with no competitions going on, but it was still fun to walk around.  We found a little hole in the wall restaurant serving phenomenal kebab wraps for lunch before taking the train back to our hotel. 

Tonight we enjoyed dinner at a very hip spot, the Ivy.  This is in two huge buildings encompassing many levels with different style restaurants, and a pool lounge with cabanas and bars.  With the DJ spinning and Tommy gnawing down on his ribs, I had the best view in the house.

10/13/11 - Sydney, Australia

The destination for today was the Featherdale Wildlife Park.  Of course this is a very easy place to get to on a 40 minute train straight to the park, but of course we were determined to use our week passes which did not include a train out that far, so our trip was closer to two and a half hours!  The riverboat ferry took us to the very last ferry stop, Parramatta, from there we walked to the train station and caught the train one town over to Blacktown, and then hopped on a bus to the front of the park.  Well, we increased our journey time by riding right past the front gate, oblivious to where we were, and had to take the bus to its last stop before turning around and heading back to the Featherdale Wildlife Park.  We tend to ride and walk in circles at least once a day...  

Featherdale is a great way to see the wildlife of Australia, but is better than a typical zoo because there is the option to pet and feed the kangaroos and koalas!  We spent a few hours walking around and looking at the wombats, dingos, peacocks, kangaroos, koalas, fruit bats, snakes, and much much more, and truly were in animal heaven!  How could we not be obsessed with the cute koalas sleeping up in the trees or the kangaroos that hop right up to you to say "hello mate!"  The best part was that we got into the park for $6 off by purchasing a student ticket (Tommy's clever idea) after showing them our Bucknell Student ID cards, who knew those would come in handy in Australia!  'Ray Bucknell!

10/14/11 – Sydney, Australia

The last step is DONE!  Making great use out of the LAST day of our transportation pass, we took the ferry over to Manly and signed the lease for our apartment!  Now it is actually 100% official.  That being said, we have two bunk beds in our new place so all of you who have been jealous reading the blog can come on over and stay with us, you don’t have an excuse not to anymore!  If you’re lucky, I may even cook you some breakfast in the morning, making it kind of like Tommy and Kaitlin’s Bed and Breakfast…not too shabby. 

We had a great lunch in a little hole-in-the-wall quaint café called Hemmingway’s.  Old, musty books line the bookshelf walls, and an old Hendricks bottle is used to serve the water. 

I must mention for my dear sister Molly that I have great news for you…Lulu is in Sydney!  No, not KC Lulubell, but lululemon, right on George St.  I know you are so excited to come visit me now!

We had a really excellent and unique dinner at a restaurant on The Rocks called Wine Odyssey.  We both ordered the red wine flight that came with three different wines paired with three courses of food.  This included a wine from Margaret River, Western Australia, paired with beef carpaccio, a wine from Southern Australia, paired with roasted saltwater barramundi, and a wine from New South Wales, paired with seared kangaroo.  Nope that is not a typo…yesterday we were petting and feeding kangaroos, today we ate one-- sorry ‘bout it!

After dinner we thought we would check out a fun bar just around the corner called Argyle.  Argyle was a really hip, happening bar, and looked like a great place to be on a Friday night, until we realized we do not have any friends or money…shoot.  So after sharing a beer (lame), we realized that we had no more money to drink and it was getting awkward with people watching without really being a part of the crowd, so we headed back to the hotel to avoid being kicked out by the bouncers for stalking people.  What better way could there be to cheer us up then a Max Brenner chocolate drizzled sugar waffle?  We had no choice but to stop for a sweet treat on our way back to the hotel…

10/15/11 – Sydney, Australia

Six hours later, our legs were wobbling, barely making it down the hallway to our room.  That is six hours of walking around the city, with only a short break for lunch.  There are outdoor markets every weekend in Sydney in almost every different city area--Coogee, Bondi, Surry Hills, Paddington, The Rocks, Manly, and more.  These are similar to a Farmer's Market; however, rather than solely selling food, clothing, art and jewelry are also being sold.  The Paddington market was ranked number one of 2010, and is open every Saturday.  We decided that we must go browse the many stalls of the famous Paddington Market on Oxford St.  After walking a few miles and strolling through the many stalls, we headed to Paddy’s Market.  This is actually in a completely different area in the center of China Town.  Paddy’s Market is very similar to the markets one would find down the back alleys in Shanghai, cheap, discounted souvenirs, clothing, etc. (even golf clubs!) being sold in many jam packed booths.  Paddy’s Market is open almost everyday of the week, and is constantly packed with people looking for some great bargain deals.  Our next stop was over and down quite a few blocks to the Sydney Fish Market.  This was our favorite stop on our long walking tour.  After walking for hours on a pretty empty stomach following a breakfast of coffee and a split chocolate croissant, we were absolutely starving by the time we arrived at the Fish Market at 2pm.  The Sydney Fish Market is open daily to the public from 10am – 5pm, selling all the fresh seafood catches of the morning, and preparing it right on the spot to eat.  Of course you could buy some fresh fish, lobster, oysters, and much more and take it home, but we had them make it fresh for us right in the market to have some lunch in the harbor.  The harbor was just one down from Darling Harbor, not too far of a walk back to our hotel.  Not only were the lobster, shrimp, oysters, and sashimi extremely fresh and delicious, but they were also damn cheap!  Our kind of a spot. 

Tonight we went to a underground club called the Basement for a concert.  To secure our spots, we had to arrive two hours early, and got a bit bored sitting around, but it was worth it once the first band came on.  Because alcohol was so expensive, Tommy snuck out to a liquor store around the corner, bought a flask of whisky, and snuck it back in to spike our cokes that we ordered!  That is the way we roll…  The concert was pretty good, but we actually enjoyed the opening act more than the main group! 

10/16/11 – Sydney, Australia

Happy Birthday Daddy from Australia!!! 

On Sunday mornings, the hotel delivers a free Sunday paper to every room.  As I was reading through the paper this morning, I stumbled across an announcement for the Sydney Opera House free tour!  Well we were not going to miss this opportunity since we had been planning to pay for a backstage tour as it was, so we got up and headed straight over from our hotel.  Of course by the time we got there, a huge line had already formed, and we were told that it would be about a 2-hour wait from where we were in the line.  There was no way I was about to stand in line for 2 hours, so I told Tommy I would be right back, and a few minutes later I gave him a call letting him know I was in the Opera House and to hurry his booty up to come meet me.  Twenty-five minutes later, cutting past 500+ people, we started our hour-long tour of all the different theatres, dressing rooms, and the backstage of the Opera House.  I am a good person to have around in a time crunch. 

We leave for our cruise around New Zealand tomorrow, and could not be more excited, but that means today we have to pack up, do some laundry, and scout out where the port is we will be leaving from.  We are meeting up with Gina, a potential Aussie friend (wooo finally), at the Opera Bar for a drink before heading over to a sports bar to watch the semi-final Australia vs. New Zealand rugby game!  GO AUSTRALIA!