Australia

Welcome my 5th Year Anniversary to travel to the Land of Oz! And Happy Birthday Dad! I'm sorry I did that to you this time five years ago! Today is the day that I left for Sydney, Australia, five years ago. Yet, it doesn't seem that it was this long ago; my innocence of the unknown world and post college youth. My time spent in the land down under holds some of the best days of my life. I was fearless and braver in this country I called home for 4 1/2 months. I learned a lot about myself and capabilities to manage life in another culture with foreigners of all nations. I quickly realized that the American way has much more influence than I ever imagined. And, sadly, that other countries know more about our State and National history than we do. Not to become too nostalgic, but this time abroad seems a lifetime ago.

The cherished moments and memories that still make me smile:

The first night in Coogee, after D arrived, and we met our Scottish, English, and Irish friends that we would travel all over Australia with!

We lived as if on the Real World, with 7 other people in an apartment ! The Americans, the British, and a Canadian. And that was just in Coogee Beach! The rest of the time was out of two bags in a hostel with several people! And you know the saying " I will never see them again anyway!" This does not apply to this country. You see the same faces all the traveling and that was actually an awesome thing!

And this is the closet Kristen and I lived in. Yup, a closet. However, we slept with the windows open every night and the ocean was only a stroll away. It was actually a paradise of it's own kind.
Also, there was a tarantula in our quarters on Coogee Bay Road. His name was "Harry" and he was our pet that lived on the ceiling. I was never afraid until he went missing. Do pineapples grow on trees or bushes or out of the ground?! Well friends, here is the answer to our lengthy discussion.... Kristen and I trying to be domestic in a foreign country did not work out too well; but the cake tasted delicious and our roomies liked it! The C.B.H. was our home away from, well, our belongings at least. And our favorite restaurant Mille Lire; the best pizza in the southern hemisphere! Our trip to the "three sisters" mountain range. I am glad we made it back safely after D almost fell in the waterfall ;).

Kristen and I won the TWISTER contest one night!
Sydney Harbor and the emerald green building I worked in as a temp for Credit Suisse.

The "Bar-b-q" we had with all of our friends in Coogee! Not anything like Texas but a whole lot of fun! Going to my first Australian Footy Game with Kristen and D. The sailing trip to see the Oprah House in Sydney Harbor with K and D.
The running trail between Coogee and Bondi that held the most beautiful views of Coogee. These pictures were taken during my last run in Coogee, the day that I set off to explore the rest of Australia. But this is a pretty accurate view of the place I lived for the two months before I set off to travel.

Juggling a soccer ball, the cherished and favored sport futbol, at the camping ground in Airlie Beach. This is right before I fell off that ledge chasing the ball.......do yal remember that?! Riding up the coast with DeAnn and seeing the most gorgeous, truly deserted, beaches of Australia in the "Don" with our English and Scottish friends. And then breaking down on the side of the road in a very deserted, yet still gorgeous, part of Australia. This was the perfect day. Camping out in Darwin with the Aboriginees, that was an adventure and a world I had never been exposed to. Wow, that was wild. The true land down under and all of the red rock it bestows. Lesley arrived about a month before I left and met me in Melbourne. What a way to end the last month!
Meeting the larakeets of Airlie Beach!

Our escapade to the most dangerous, and I believe deadliest, island of Australia; Fraser Island. We were fortunate enough to not get eaten by Dingo's.... ...or these sharks in the shallow waters. Although, we did wash our dishes in the Pacific Ocean. The huge jeep we traveled in! I even drove it on the wrong side of the rode, well, the wrong side to us.
Sailing the Whitsundays at Airlie Beach with Lesley.

Wishing my Momma a Happy 50th Birthday from across the world!

A beautiful sunrise I woke up to one morning while we were on Magnetic Island.

Bunji jumping with Lel in Cairns. This was easily, hands down my favorite place in all of Oz. Scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef with Kristen and D, then again with Lel. This was the big fish that acts as friendly as a dog, his name was Wally.

Cairns Pub Crawl, we tried to be the entertainment! Feeding and petting Kangaroo's and Joey's at The Crocodile Hunter's Zoo before we left for New Zealand. Snowboarding the Remarkables in New Zealand, we made a quick trip over for about a week on my mother's orders. NZ was an amazing place, I wish we had had more time there.

The classic Australia dinner: Tea, Ramen noodles and Tim Tam's---in the Don!
The famous lingo I still don't get: Pull, pissed (means tipsy), snog, lemonade (sprite, what?!), can't be bothered, getting in que, dodgy, taking the mickey, bloke, and fair enough. I miss calling my friends mates and hearing "cheers" instead of hello/goodbye. Or saying thanks instead of "please". I still don't get that.

And, five short years later, I still miss laughing until my stomach hurt almost every single day because of those "you had to be there" moments including: Lesley falling off the ledge in our hostel at 4:00 am in the morning and laughing at me sliding off the boogie board, trying to understand Gavin the first night we met our lifelong legacy friends, listening to Paul tell a story and the way he loved the "Don", cleaning house with Lou and meeting her family, drinking a bottle of Lambrusco every single night with K&D or working at those crazy concerts on the weekends, waiting for Leon to get back from the beach with pigtails and singing "Music Gets the Best of Me", learning all about Credit Suisse Asset Management and peaches with Nate, having Emma call me bird and always telling me to stay lucky. And it all began with Kristen and I being brave enough to entertain the idea of a venture to Australia. Or graduating "uni", procrastinating adult responsibility, and moving to a far away place without a place to live, a job, and hardly any money. But we had enough guts and curiosity to figure it all out.

Mostly, I miss all of the various accents and friends I met along the way. I love you all and thank you for the memories I will forever cherish!