C'est la vie: Ten Month Catch Up

Well let’s see..it’s been about ten months.

So August and September 2012 were busy with work. This was around the time Wendy, Louisa, and I started having Taco Tuesday’s to give us something to look forward to every week.

The first weekend of October was Labour Day weekend. It was my first visit to Balmain and it was beautiful day as Spring started to show its face. A view of Balmain from the ferry.

Towards the end of October we went to Brisbane. We went rock climbing and night kayaking on the Brisbane River. We also explored South Bank and the Botanical Gardens. It was a bit cloudy on the day we left Brisbane but here is the river we kayaked on.

The first weekend of November was Sculpture by the Sea. All along the Bondi to Coogee walk were amazing art displays.

November also brought our first annual Australian Thanksgiving dinner. Josh roasted a turkey for us and Wendy made some fantastic mashed sweet potatoes! And we even imported in some Libby’s Pumpkin Pie Mix so we could have a proper dessert! Since we had to work on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday we treated ourselves with a trip to the Hunter for the weekend. And as summer was just around the corner it was a beautiful hot weekend for touring the vineyards.

And after waiting five months from when we left the states in the summer it was finally our turn to have summer. Summer began on the 1^st of December. It was beautiful out. Looking at all of the Christmas lights on Town Hall and St. Mary’s Cathedral in sundresses and flip flops was just lovely!

Then on the 21^st of December I began my journey to reveal a huge secret to America. In October I decided I wanted to go home for Christmas so I told my dad and that was it. We decided to surprise everyone. And it turned out to be amazing. Due to flight delays I landed in Newark pretty late and by the time we got home to Brielle it was too late to wake my mom up so I went to bed in my bedroom without her knowing. Then in the morning I walked down the stairs for the biggest surprise ever. She was thrilled. I continued to surprise friends and family and it was so fun.

After a week of winter it was time to fly back to summer and the iconic New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney.

Rachel, Iz, and I took the ferry to Goat Island to see the spectacular celebration. We packed a picnic dinner and dessert to enjoy while we waited for the 9pm fireworks and then the midnight ones. It was an amazing sight to see – unlike anything I’ve seen before!

We still had one more mandatory week off from work and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. It was mid-summer and it was hot hot hot. A lot of time was spent at the pool and eastern suburb beaches. Wendy and I also took a trip up to Palm Beach and the sights to see were lovely.

The last weekend of January was the Australia Day long weekend. We took a trip up to Port Macquarie where it rained the whole time. We managed to make the best of it with a walk through the rain forest in the rain and a quick visit to a koala hospital.

Not much to report for February but March was a big month. Bruce Springsteen came to Oz and had three shows in Sydney. We went to the concert on Monday night and had such a good time that we ended up buying tickets for Friday night as well. Friday night’s show was amazing…fourth row and Born in the USA!

A few days later we saw Zac Brown Band and Jason Mraz. ZBB was great…Mraz..interesting. Easter fell at the end of March into April so we took advantage of the four day weekend and headed down to Tasmania.

There were about a dozen of us in Tasmania- Louisa, Wendy, and Wendy’s UNC connections. We arrived in Launceston on Good Friday and headed straight for a guided tour of some wineries. On Saturday we drove to the Bay of Fires to explore the beautiful coast lines.

On Easter Sunday Liz gave us a proper Easter Egg Hunt. Following breakfast we drove down to Freycint National Park for a hike down to Wineglass Bay.

After a quick hour of relaxing on the beach we drove down to Hobart. In Hobart we went to the Mona Museum. Before heading to the airport we took a quick drive up to the top of Mt. Wellington where we were lucky enough not to blow away. The wind was strong and the temperature dropped to about 8 degrees!

April was a month of travel. A mere couple weeks after returning from Tasmania, Wendy, Louisa and I took our very first quick trip to the Northern Territory. We flew out to Ayers Rock to see Uluru. The quick trip involved a walk around the base track of Uluru, the view of the sunset at Uluru, and a Camel ride!

A few days after coming back from the Northern Territory we flew out to Bali for an extra-long weekend. Bali was all about rest and relaxation and it was well deserved for us auditors as the end of April was a very busy time for us. Our first full day was spent entirely at the spa. We went on a boat trip the next day and snorkeled the reef. On Saturday morning we rested at the pool until taking an afternoon trip to a temple where we watched a traditional Balinese dance. We took the red eye home on Sunday night so we spent Sunday relaxing at the pool and beach.

May began with us saying goodbye to our Louisa and welcoming in our new friend Emily, another fellow auditor. Louisa’s farewell was at the Opera Bar so she could take in the sights of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge one last time.