Around the World

Sydney

sands029 — Mon, 25 May 2009 11:29:00 GMT

I have no excuse for being so horrible at keeping you informed, except that I've never been good at it! There is so much to do here that I always find it hard to sit in an internet cafe for more than 30 minutes - sorry!

Sydney has been amazing. At first it seemed just like any other huge city, but once you find your way around it has so much character! Each little suburb within the city has a completely different feel to it and so much to offer - its amazing how different each area feels. And there is so much delicious (affordable!) food from all over the world. Luckily, I had plenty of friends to show me around! My boss in Perth was originally from Sydney and was able to help me get a job at a huge, trendy bar in Sydney. With only 3 months here it helped that I had work right away. Working five nights a week, I have barely stopped since I arrived. Between the friends I already had living here, and the number of people from overseas or Perth that were visiting, I have barely had any time to slow down!

I was living in a huge share house that was full of other travellers or students and worked out perfectly for me. It took me 2 minutes to get to the train station and 3 minutes to walk to work. For the first month that I was here it was still summer. I had plenty of time to explore all the beaches north and south of the city. Then came the rain. After seeing rain about twice in my last two months in Perth, it was such a change to be hit by days of it here! I have to admit though, after having months of summer and heat, I did enjoy being able to bundle up a bit. Even though you don't need much more than a light fall jacket at winters worst.

Gallery: Sun!

sands029 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:36:00 GMT

Holidays in Perth

Christmas in the sun!

sands029 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:02:00 GMT

Sorry its taken so long to write - but its hard to stay away from the beach!!! I just spent 20 minutes filling you in and somehow managed to delete it... so typical!!! I'll try again but will have to summarize a bit... sigh...

I spent Christmas 4 hours south of Perth in an area called Margaret River. Its famous for its wine regions and great beaches -- both of which live up to their reputation! I stayed with Francesca's family - who completely spoiled me - who have an amazing house overlooking one of Australia's most famous surf beaches! We woke up to champagne and gifts on Christmas morning and 95degrees! It deffinately isn't the same without the snow, but I wasn't too homesick when we spent the day at the beach and eating great food! (They even cooked a turkey which made up for the one I missed on Thanksgiving!) The same went for New Years - being able to sit outside for dinner made it perfect! Eleven of us had dinner together before buying tickets to live music at a pub around the corner. I was there for a little over a week and we spent everyday going to the beach and drinking delicious wine - my type of vacation!

Since I've been back in Perth its been 95 everyday - the weather is amazing! I only have 4 weeks left until I leave for Sydney and its starting to hit me that its almost time to go!! I'm only working at the pub and they are taking very good care of me. Its really great to have days off when the weather is like this too! I'm trying to squeeze in a few more things before I leave. Luckily, I was able to get back to Rottnest Island last week - its 30 minutes from the coast and jsut like a deserted island. There are no cars, only a few houses, and beautiful beaches. There are also these animals called Quakas that are only found Rottnest and look like tiny kangaroos. They are so used to people that they come right up to you - obviously I loved this. Six of us went over on a friends boat and spent the night there!

The next weekend is Australia Day and I've taken the weekend off for the celebrations. We're headed about an hour north of Perth for a weekend away and will come back Monday to watch the fireworks in the city! I will keep you posted with my plans to come!

Gallery: Perth

sands029 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:20:00 GMT

Perth

sands029 — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:46:00 GMT

I can't believe that I have been in Perth for six weeks as of tomorrow!!! The time is absolutley flying by here....

I am living in a little suburb called Mosman Park in a really nice area of Perth. My house, and roommates are all fantastic and they've been taking great care of me. It has been non-stop since I got here!

I landed in Perth after a long flight from NZ on a Friday and started working that following Monday!! (Typical me!) Fran was able to get me retail work at French Connection and they were desperate for help because the manager was headed on vacation! I've been working almost full time there and they've been treating me really well.

Its a ten minute walk to the train station or a bus passes right by my house. Its only about 15 minutes to get to work in a town called Claremont -- the center is full of cafes, expensive shops, and pubs! Its been a great way to get to know the area and keep my busy while my three housemates (Fran, Em, and Alex) are all at work -- all three of them are lawyers!! Can you imagine our dinner conversations sometimes!?!

I was really suprised at how overwhelmingly different it is here! Fran had warned me that it was a small city but I still didn't imagine everything closing at 5:30 and a city that is really dead by 7pm!! The city itself has a great feel for it, but here, the culture is to hang out in local suburbs full of bars and restaurants instead - making it a ghost city!

But, I am really getting used to the laid back lifestyle here. I can walk to the beach in 15 minutes and they're absolutely beautiful! It is only the middle of spring and we've already had several 85degree days -- I think I might melt in the summer!!

I've been working a lot during the week but am keeping up with my social life on weekends - of course! We've been on tours of the wine valley 40min from here, went to an opening day at a horse track, spent the day on my housemates boat, and been to an all day festival. There is always something to do in the sun!!

I am really enjoying it here and will upload some photos soon!

Gallery: New Zealand

sands029 — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:08:00 GMT

New Zealand

sands029 — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:13:00 GMT

It's been a quick three days in Auckland but I've taken advantage of my time here! I landed at 5am to rain and a dark sky... I had surprisingly slept for almost the entire 13hour flight from SF so I was up for anything. I met a girl on the bus who was headed to the same hostel as me so it was nice to have company from the start.

We dropped our bags at the hostel, went out to breakfast and did a mini early morning walking tour of the city - it is very small and sits right on the water. The light rain was a disappointment but it didn't bother us too much. After we checked in, we went to the Auckland museum which has information about NZ's history, Maori culture, and a large natural history section as well - an easy way to kill some time. Had a nice easy night after such a long trip!

The next morning I walked to the ferry dock at the end of my street and bocked a ticket to an island in the harbor called Waiheke. It was a 45 min ride and you got a 1.5hour tour when you got there - it was supposed to be one of the more beautiful islands in the harbor. It started to rain as soon as I bought my ticket and there were no refunds - surprise, surprise. But, I had an hour to kill and by the time I got on the ferry the sky had cleared and it was beautiful weather. The island was absolutely amazing and I spent the day with an older French man and four old couples - perfect.

--Sorry for the extreme delay but I have found an internet cafe that is open past 5:30 -- everything closes at 5:30 here so it has been hard to keep up with the journal!!

Its been a while since New Zealand, but I'll post some pictures today too if I can figure it out!

I spent that second day on Waiheke and the sun came out as soon as we docked on the island -- the rain came once more when we were on the bus but quickly passed. It was absolutely amazing! We had coffee on the beach and then moved to a winery that we had to ourselves! It was the end of winter there so we had the place to ourselves -- people are waiting for the warmer weather but it worked out perfectly for me!

When I got back to Auckland a good friend I studied with in Uppsala drove up to meet me. He took me around the city and showed me some of the nightlife - I had to sample some more NZ wine of course. The following day I made him take me outside of the city to show me some of the west coast and the infamous sheep farms that cover NZ. We drove through an enormous national park 30min from the city that spits you out at unbelievable beaches you could never imagine are so close to a city!

I called it an early night and was up early for the airport the next day! A very short trip that was well worth it!

Gallery: San Francisco

sands029 — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:22:00 GMT

San Francisco

sands029 — Tue, 9 Sep 2008 09:28:00 GMT

Surprisingly not as over packed as I imagined, my first stop was San Francisco! I had a nice easy flight to SF where I was picked up by my cousins and was spoiled for the whole trip - with my own private tour guides. I had expected wind and cold nights but didn't need my extra jacket for any of the trip - the weather was unbelievable!

You think after all the traveling I've done I wouldn't be surprised to see how different the other side of the country was, but I hadn't really thought about SF too much. Everything looks different - the colors of the whole city are brighter and the landscape is completely different from Boston - with palm trees and even the occasional cactus - something I imagined in Southern Cali instead. It was great to really feel far from home - and get me into the travel mode.

My first full day there we took a walk to the Golden Gate Park through the botanical gardens and ended at the De Young museum. Cathy and I had planned to take a quick look in the observatory but instead got caught in a Chihuly exhibit - a strange modern art exhibit of colorful hand blown glass. But it didn't take us long to walk through and end up eating lunch and sipping wine in the cafe! We met my aunt Germaine and cousin for dinner at the old ferry terminal downtown and took the night from there. All in all it ended with cable cars, sundaes, seals, and mini bottles of Sutter Home - I don't know if you would consider the last point good or bad :)

The next day I was determined to see the seals at Pier 39 in the sun. We started off at the Golden Gate Bridge which is really amazing to see in real life. When you walk across it you have a great view of the city as well. We headed to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch and then hung out with the seals, who are hilarious (Cathy is probably shaking her head when she reads this). For dinner we went to Germaine's house in Walnut Creek. We moved the table onto the patio (there are no mosquitos!!) and had a perfect night. In the middle of dinner there was a loud crack and the table began to shake back and forth - it was probably no more than 10seconds - I didn't process what had happened even after Germaine had yelled "earthquake!" If it had been any longer I would have been running to hide under door frames like Bostonian's are taught. It was so exciting to have an earthquake, in a twisted way!

The rest of the weekend included more wine, a look at the surfers, hippie parties in the park, the zoo, and free tickets to the SF Symphony! I couldn't have asked for a better way to start of my trip, even getting some fog on my last day!