Sydney Thankfullness

In the spirit of Thanksgiving - I am so thankful for having had the opportunity and experience that I did in Sydney this year.  It was an absolute dream of a lifetime.  I've been back for just under a month and some of the things I miss and was so thankful to experience were:

• I miss commuting over the Harbour Bridge every morning with a gorgeous view of the Opera House

• Waiting for the sometimes not so timely M-20 bus to get in and out of the city

• That a temperature of 20 degrees was actually warm - ahhh Celsius

• The metric system of measurement and military time

• The delicacies of kangaroo fillet and barramundi

• Tim Tams - especially the mint dark chocolate biscuits

• 7.5 hour work days
• Walking up and down Pacific Highway to get to the closes train station which was 3/4 of a mile away

• The chicken pot pie at the Winery in Surry Hills

• White Chocolate Raspberry Gelatto from the little Italian restaurant near Woolworths

• The friendly cashiers at Wollworths

• The ease of domestic air travel
• Constant  activities

• And all the great new people I bonded with :)

The End

I arrived back in Sydney from Fiji on Thursday afternoon around 11:30am.  I immediately went down to the Westpac building behind PKF to have lunch with the remaining secondees who were still working.  It felt so good to be back in Sydney with all of the familiar sounds, sights, and surroundings.  After lunch I had a few hours before we were all meeting back up again so I used this opportunity to walk down Pitt Street and George Street one last time, walk through QVB one more time, and purchase a couple extra souvenirs here and there.

My last night in Sydney began at Cargo overlooking King Street Wharf before moving to Darling Harbour for a delicious dinner at the Meat & Wine Co.  I had one last kangaroo fillet for dinner followed by the delicious Grand Finale dessert.  We then went back to Cargo before finishing the night at Establishment.  We were the last group of people at each place.  Around 2:30am we parted our separate ways after many good-byes.  It was a fabulous send off with amazing new friends.

I woke up early on Friday morning to try and fit as much in as possible before facing the inevitable - getting a taxi to Sydney International Airport.  My morning and early afternoon involved:

A walk through the Rocks,

A walk around Circular Quay,
A walk through the Botanical Gardens,
A visit to St. Mary's Cathedral,
A visit to the Australian Museum
and lunch in Hyde Park.

I accomplished all of this in four very quick hours.  At this point it was time to take the taxi to the airport and board the plane for a quick 14 hour flight, a 2 hour layover, and another 6 hour flight to Newark NJ via San Francisco.  I successfully boarded and deplaned 10 different planes over the past three weeks and never lost any of my four bags - so a big improvement over my last big international trip!

The past four months have been incredible and amazing - it was definitely an opportunity of a lifetime that I'm so grateful for and will never forget.  And now it is back to reality....

Fiji - Pure Relaxation

The Fijian archipelago consists of over 300 islands across 518,000 square kilometers.  Australia is 3,160 kilometers to the south west of Fiji.  The largest island of Fiji is Vii Levu which is where Denarau Island is and the home to seven five star resorts.  I flew to Fiji on Saturday morning and arrived at the Radisson Blu Resort on Denarau Island late that afternoon.  It was only a three and a half hour flight but with the time zone changes along with daylight savings, I lost a few hours.

After exploring the grounds of the hotel, I made my way to the sunset deck to watch the beautiful sunset and enjoy some dinner.

I spent the next day at the pool all day long enjoying the sun and warmth which was much needed after the rainy disaster of the Whitsunday Islands. 

Monday was a repeat of Sunday and I couldn't have asked for better weather.  It was very relaxing and enjoyable.

On Tuesday I took a combo cruise to South Sea Island.  Upon arriving at the island, all the passengers were graciously welcomed by native Fijians.

Our first activity on the island was a submarine tour to look at the coral and fish.  It was pretty neat, but I have to say that snorkeling directly like we did at the Great Barrier Reef gives you a much better first hand view!  Then we had a couple hours at our leisure to enjoy the relaxing and peaceful island.   Then we had a traditional Fijian bbq lunch with a traditional Meke presentation.  A Meke presentation is traditional Fijian dancing, singing, and music!

After lunch we had a little more time to enjoy the island before boarding the boat for the second half of the day.  The second part of the day was spent hopping between six of the Mamanuca Islands.  We enjoyed the beauty of Bounty

, Treasure,

Beachcomber,

Mana,

Castaway

, and Malolo Islands

.  During our cruising adventure we were able to see lots of tiny unnamed islands that make up the Fijian Island Chain. 

On Wednesday I took a half day cruise to Beachcomber Island.  Unlike South Sea Island, there was nothing special planned at this island, you just had four hours to explore the island and relax on the fine white sand. 

As much as I love resort style life and did not want to leave the comfort of the beautiful relaxing grounds, I knew that coming to Fiji would mean having to explore some of the islands in a traditional Fijian respect because the resort doesn't really make you feel like you are in Fiji - you could really be anywhere in the world, so I'm glad I went and saw traditional islands, but in the end, I'm still a five star resort kind of girl!  My observations from Fiji are that Fijians are all very welcoming and hospitable individuals full of smiles!  Additionally, the exchange rate is amazing.  It may be an expensive flight to get here, but once here, everything is pretty reasonably priced compared to the past three months in Australia!


Fiji was definitely a relaxing part of the trip with lots of sun, heat, and humidity but I'm definitely ready to get back to Sydney in the morning!

Back in Brisbane - 13 hour Layover

The way that flights worked from Hamilton Island in the Whitsunday's over to Fiji, required a 13 hour layover in Brisbane.  So I checked myself into the Brisbane Marriott for free as I cashed in all my Marriott Rewards Points!  I was also greeted with such status when I checked in.  I got an upgraded room with a river view.  They also brought all my luggage up for me to the room and had it waiting for me by the time I got upstairs.  It was nice to not have to lug everything around by myself considering I am carrying around 23 kilos of clothes (that's after leaving a bag of about 15 kilos in Sydney and I shipped 20 kilos home - (approximately double the kilos for pounds to those not speaking metric!! haha)).  And finally, free Internet - hard to find free Internet these days!

Since I checked in around dinner time, I walked over to South Bank where I had been last weekend to eat at a restaurant that L recommended.  It was called Jellyfish and it had stunning sun set views overlooking the bridge and the Brisbane River.   I also ate one of L's favorite dishes - Moerton Bay Bugs.  They are basically baby like lobster tasting fish - absolutely delicious - despite the name Bugs!

After dinner I came back to the hotel for an early night as I was getting picked up very early the next morning to make my way over to Fiji!

Tropical Depression in Tropical Paradise

I arrived in the Whitsunday Islands on Monday to meet back up with the girls.  As soon as the plane began its descent into Hamilton Island Airport- I saw cloud coverage and rain drops.  Never did I think that this rain, grey skies, clouds, and wind would last until we left the island on Friday afternoon.  But it did.  At least this was the spot on our holiday where we splurged on high class and expensive accommodation since we spent a good portion of our time inside. 

We stayed at Pinnacles Resort and Spa and had a fabulous and spacious three bedroom apartment.  There was a gorgeous kitchen with beautiful stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.  We also had an enormous outdoor porch looking out onto the Coral Sea- too bad we don't have one pretty picture of this view.  We also had our own hot tub on the porch which we used one night.

We spent all of Monday afternoon and most of Tuesday inside the apartment catching up on our photo uploads and e-mails.  Tuesday afternoon T and I went to the spa to treat ourselves since there was only so much photo uploading and e-mails one can handle. 

On Wednesday we attempted an island cruise to Long Island.  We were in the Whitsunday's which is supposed to be tropical paradise, so we weren't going to let this rain stop us from at least seeing and saying we have been to a few of the 74 islands that make up with Whitsunday's.  Due to inclement weather yet again, there wasn't much we could do on this island so we snapped a couple pictures, had some lunch, and played some pool.

On Thursday we attempted yet another island cruise - this time we went to Day Dream Island (below).  We basically did the same thing that we did at Long Island, except this time we played a little mini golf.  Good game M!

Of course as we were leaving on Friday to make our way back to the airport, the sun did peak out for a bit, but lucky for us, it didn't last long, so we didn't feel cheated.  And as we collected our baggage at Brisbane airport, it was time for us to say our goodbyes.  After spending the past four months together, we were about to part - I was on my way to Fiji, and the girls were off to the Sunshine Coast.  What an incredible, memorable, and amazing four month adventure with new girls to add to my mix of amazing friends. 

xx

Weekend in Brisbane

There really is nothing like a Saint Anselm College bond.  At St. A's, we are immersed in a culture of hospitality.  My weekend in Brisbane Australia demonstrated that St. A's truly is a special place and five, six, seven years off of the hilltop, there is still a sense of community and hospitality among those connected to Saint Anselm College.  L and I met at St. A's through mutual friends.  When L found out I was moving temporarily to Australia, she invited me to her and her fiance's home in Brisbane to check out the city.  I graciously accepted so on Friday evening L and her fiance S picked me up from the airport. We went straight to their new home and L cooked dinner and we had a relaxing evening in just catching up.  It was like no time had passed, we picked up where we left off last on L's visit to the Jersey shore.

On Saturday, despite forecasts for a rainy weekend it turned out to be a beautiful day so we took a ride on the City Cat which is a ferry that runs through the Brisbane River and you can take in the beautiful sites of the city and river bank from the ferry. 

We got off at South Bank to walk along the walking trail and enjoy the beautiful flowers and greenery. 

We then drove to take a ferry to Straddie Island (where they got engaged).  Upon arriving at Straddie Island we had some great barramundi for lunch (I'm going to miss this fish at home - its such a nice white fish).  We then did the walking trail to enjoy the views of Moerton Bay from the Island where we saw giant sea turtles swimming along.

Then as we were waiting for the bus to take the ferry back home a kangaroo just hopped along in front of us with a baby kangaroo in its pouch - unfortunately I was not quick enough with the camera but it was so cute!  That night there was a rugby game on so they had some friends over and we watched the game.

Knowing that there were two important rugby games on this Sunday afternoon, we made an early start to the Gold Coast.  The Gold Coast is very comparable to Miami.

After a quick breakfast we went to Main Beach in Gold Coast to soak up the sun and go in the ocean.  Before heading back for the games we stopped for some great seafood outside of Surfers Paradise.  When we got back home they had more friends over to watch the game.  They were all so great and welcoming and it was a fun day!  It was no surprise that their friends were so welcoming and nice because they were connected to a St. A's alumni!

My flight to the Whitsunday Islands to meet back up with the girls on Monday was not until lunch time so S and I had breakfast after L went off to work before he dropped me off at the airport.  Once again, another notation of St. A's hospitality!

It was a  fabulous weekend in a new Australian city with wonderful hosts.  Thanks for a great mini SAC reunion weekend.  

A Quick Trip to Cairns in Queensland

On Wednesday October 12th I had an early morning flight out of Tasmania up to Cairns with a connecting flight in Sydney.  Basically the whole day was devoted to travel.  I left Hobart around 8am and didn't get settled into our hotel in Cairns until about 4pm.  So that afternoon I explored the famous Esplanade of Cairns at sunset and had a quick dinner before resting up for a big Thursday.

On Thursday I had a  full Day Great Barrier Reef Boat and Snorkel adventure.  The highlight of the snorkeling was seeing a giant sea turtle just swimming along.  There were also tons of giant brightly colored fish which was a delight to look at.  The coral was not as bright and colorful as you would expect from pictures, but nevertheless, beautiful to look at.   The water was quite warm so no wetsuit was required - a fabulous welcome to my first taste of summer in 2011, even though it was already October.  All in all a great but exhausting day. 

My flight to Brisbane was not until 5pm on Friday so there was still plenty of time to explore a little more of Cairns.  I decided to spend the morning and early afternoon at Trinity Beach and then I got some Tim Tam flavored gelatto before heading to the airport to have a mini St. A's reunion! Trinity Beach was very peaceful as it was not full of tourists and the scenery was just beautiful.