Winter's On Its Way

This past weekend the Christian world celebrated the Easter holiday (here, we were able to ‘celebrate’ for four whole days - we had Friday and Monday off from work!) In Australia, the focus is mostly all on Good Friday as opposed to Easter Sunday. From a religion standpoint, I find this interesting because of the fact that growing up, I was taught that we celebrate the rising of Jesus from the dead after 3 days, as opposed focusing on his death, although we do recognise he did die for our sins. Enough of the soapbox – point being is, I asked if I could attend Easter Sunday with my friend Jade and her family, and was surprised to find the church building nearly empty. The pastor joked that this was due to the hard task of asking members of the congregation to come to church twice in one weekend. Apparently the building was packed to the gill on Friday, followed by large, Good Friday fish dinners. Oh well, you live and you learn - especially hard in a brand new culture.
The rest of my weekend was filled with cleaning, a bit of shopping and some long overdue canvas painting (before and after pics to come) to spruce up my apartment walls a bit (this is what happens when your housemate is away to Asia for a month – you realise just how white and cold and boring your apartment is while sitting there by yourself!) Also had a nice field trip worked into the plans:

Almost all shops and restaurants were closed on Friday. Not the Zoo though! ‘Irish Dave’ (as he is now quickly becoming known as) and I ventured out to peruse the tangled pathways of the Melbourne Zoo, along with every school-aged kid and their parents (because school was out as well for the long holiday). Separated into sections of the world ie Australian Outback (kangas, emus, wallabies), Afrian Safari (lions and everything they eat: zebra, bongos, all the boring, grazing animals; elephants and giraffes), and of course, penguins and seals. My most favourite, I think though, were the monkeys. I was completely enthralled with a baby orangutan that was eating leaves up in a treehouse with his mom. A cage of spider monkeys also held my attention for an extended period of time. The smallest one ran and jumped from branch to branch attempting to grab the attention of the larger male who swang effortlessly from one side of their pin to the other. Clearly he knew a large crowd of humans was watching as he showed off. He had a grin on his face as if saying, “I know you are all looking at me, longing for a show because all the other animals in this place are as exciting as a wet rock.” Amused as I was by his antics, I still was the most intrigued by the small female. Exclaiming to the crowd that it looked like she had a tumour on her back (of course with the unhesitating response from Dave in a Schwarzenegger accent, “It’s not a tumour!”), I realized at that exact same moment that indeed, it was not a tumour, but a brand new baby, desperately clinging to its mom’s back. Oh, I could have died, it was so cute! These are the moments I wish it was socially acceptable to have a pet monkey. Or at least be able to rescue the precious darlin’ from that pin and hold it for a while. After about 2 hours of wandering around (and taking a rest on a bench because walking around a zoo just tuckers you out!) we decided it was time to call it a day. 

Back to work yesterday morning was painful, especially due to the fact that winter is right around the corner. Without the concept of central heating in most houses here (all we have is a heater in the living room), I woke up shivering, able to see my breath in the air. Although I was trying to hurry to get ready (because, yes – I dreamed I was in Colorado skiing with my mom and aunt, it was that cold – and in turn, overslept) – I couldn’t bring myself to get out of my scorching hot shower. Time to invest in a big, fluffy bathrobe I suppose. Running to catch my train, I was happy to see Coffee Darling’s quote this morning: “Always fill your time with things you will remember and be excited to talk about for years to come.” Check!

The past couple of weekends before the Easter holiday, I was able to escape the city for excursions to areas right outside of Melbourne. The first weekend, I went with two other Americans (ironically, Billy went to GA Tech and of course knows a few of the same people I do, and Kelly who is from Chicago but went to school in Miami.) We drove Billy’s car down the Great Ocean Road – which is one of the top attractions to see if you ever make it to Melbourne. Driving along the coastline, heading West, the beaches are gorgeous (one – Bells Beach is the site for Rip Curl every year). Certain parts of the road wind through forest areas which remind me a lot of the drive from San Fran to Napa valley. We went all the way to see the Twelve Apostles (large, limestone rock formations out in the middle of the ocean, created by years of erosion) – and then back to Apollo Bay for the night. Sunday (after a long attempt to surf for the first time, which I think we extremely well, minus the few times I almost killed Kelly with my wildly flailing board), I led us back to Koala Cove (because I have been there before) – where we got to see Koalas and colourful birds in the wild. Kel and I watched Billy surf a while longer before we headed back.

The next weekend, Jade and I set out for Philip Island – a quaint little holiday island about 2 hours south-east of Melbourne and the home of the Penguin Parade (at night 1,000s of tiny penguins come out of the water towards their nests on the beach) and the Nobbies (a large rock formation and blowhole at the far west of the island – the waves are frighteningly strong and magnificent to watch). Although I was able to at least see the Nobbies (will venture down another time to see the penguins), we were there to cheer on our friends in the Tough Mudder race. I would have participated (naturally) – but my ankle is still recuperating and I feel that taking it easy is best until its 100%. But no worries, I have signed up for the Sydney race in September! For a bit of background info: “Tough Mudder is a hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle course designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie.” We had friends starting in the 10:30am group and again in the 2pm group. Thankfully because of our stressful run-around of the course from 10:30 – 1:00pm, we were experts of timing and placement by 2:00pm to take pictures of our friends at certain obstacles along the path of the course. From fire walking to electrocution to climbing up walls and half-pipes, the day was exhausting for us – and we were only spectators! Clearly, I have some training to do before September, but I accept the challenge. Grateful to a long-time family friend of Jade, we had accommodation and meals for the weekend. They own the local family Italian restaurant in town (one street with about 2 blocks of shops and cafés) – the perfect place for tough mudders and spectators alike to get their fill of carbs before and after the race. It was delicious! Their house is set up like a hotel for visitors like ourselves, and the size of it is astonishing for the price they paid (its huge) compared to what people have to pay for land/housing in Melbourne. I think I should invest in some property to hire out to holiday-goers.

Now back into the grind of work. It’s going really well, I’m thrilled about the project I was placed on, and I get along great with my manager – there are just days where I am still unsure of what I am supposed to be working on. Sometimes it’s harder to look like you’re staying busy than actually being busy. I was asked to help organize a “Great Place to Work” program for all the Accenture employees on different projects at Coles (essentially the Kroger of Australia, where I am currently assigned to in the Project Management department). Anything allowing me to plan kick-off dinners and design logos, I’m in! With a short week last week, this week and another one next week (I am venturing up to the Gold Coast for a long weekend) – I can’t complain too much!

So to wrap things up for now, I have one last little thing for you:

At my going away party last July, my Uncle Pat lent me an Aussie phrase book (which I’ll need to return since I’ll be here longer than a year!) It’s been quite useful in translating some of the sayings I hear down here. I’m telling you – I have a hard time translating Aussie, so I can’t even image how hard it is for someone who’s first language isn’t English. I’ve decided to fill you in on some translations I hear all the time, or have picked up myself (it’s hard not to start saying certain things when you hear them all the time. Although I don’t think I’ll even get rid of my ‘yank’ accent (as they so kindly refer to all Americans down here – no matter how many times I explain that I am indeed NOT a yank, that I come from the South, but I digress.)

Petrol = Gas
Partner = Boyfriend/Girlfriend/Husband/Wife
Kiwis = People from New Zealand (who happen to prounounce their I's like E's and E's like I's, so it sounds like "Fesh and Cheps" as opposed to "Fish and Chips")
Good-aye = 'Hey There'
Mate = Friend
Good On-ya = Great Job/Good for you
Fair Dinkum = True/'You're Right'/'Good Call'
Fairy Floss = Cotton Candy
Fairy Lights = Strands Christmas Twinkle Lights
Keen = Said when you are up for doing something ie "I'm keen to go to the cinema tonight."
How you going? (How’d ya go?) = Said mostly when approaching a check out counter by the sales clerk, meaning, "How are you doing?" or  "Did you find everything alright?"
Pash (pash and dash) = Kiss (kiss and run)
Reckon = Commonly heard in the South, it's said here ALL the time instead of "I think" or "I guess"
Arvo = Afternoon
Brekky = Breakfast
Rashers = Bacon
Baked Beans = So Euro - people here eat baked beans for BREAKFAST! No one thinks its normal to eat them with Cole Slaw and Hamburgers
Barbie = Grill
Crisps = Potato Chips
Wedges = Potato Wedges served in practically every eating establishment served with Sour Cream and Sweet Chili Sauce
Aluminium/Basil/Oregano = Al-EWE-MIN-EE-UM/BAA-SAL/OR-EH-GONE-O - Almost every spice and kitchen necessity is pronounced differently, and I'M the one with the funny accent!
No Worries/Too Easy = Two of the most commonly heard phrases here b/c everyone is soo laid back and stress-free.
Car Park - Parking Lot
Lounge - Sofa
Doona - Duvet/Down Comforter
Parma - Chicken Parmesan
Pint/Schooner/Pot/Jug
Pissed/Off Your Face = Drunk
Pub = Any and all types of drinking establishment
Entrees/Mains = Very European in the sense that Mains are Entrees and Entrees are Apetizers
Lolly = Any type of hard candy
Autumn = Fall
Flat White/Short & Long Black
Fussed = Bothered
Bird/Sheilas = Girls/Chicks
Rubbish/Rubbish Bin/”Bin It” = Trash/Trash Can/Throw it Away
Mobile (ring) = Cell Phone (call)
Oh four, double two, one-nine-five, one-seven-eight = Literally how I would tell someone my mobile number
Zebra – pronounced “zehh-bruh” as opposed to “zee-bra”
Post - Mail
Dag - An indearing insult to call someone out on being stupid ie "You Dag"
Bogan - Hillbilly/Redneck 
I'll continue to add onto the list as I think of or hear phrases. Just be prepared if I say things when I'm home in May and you start to pick up on them! Speakinig of which - about 1 month to go!

Tassie. (Home of the Tasmanian Devil. No resemblance to the cartoon character.)

I can now FINALLY wrap-up the long tale of Christmas, ending with the Tasmania trip Jenny and I took.

Jen and I boarded The Spirit of Tasmania Thursday morning to sail into Devenport from Port Melbourne. Originally we were meant to sail overnight, but because of my broken ankle, Jen pushed back her trip to visit me. Therefore we had to move the Tassie tickets (which I had already booked) and the only seats available were for that morning. No worries though, the ferry was more like a low-grade cruise ship complete with “movie cinema” (5 flat screen tv’s hung on the front wall of a large inner room), a gift shop, a tourism office, a cafeteria and about 4 different bar/lounge areas. Between naps in our lounge recliner chairs, we kept ourselves entertained with Glee the movie and sorting through 100’s of maps at the tourism office. We attempted to find a veggie sandwich for me to eat (who would of thought they would run out of food by 3pm when the ferry was not expected to dock in Tassie until 7ish?) Instead we settled for a beer and bag of chips in one of the lounges while listening to the less than enthusiastic live musicians (a man and woman duet).

The Ferry

No, there were really only 2 of us.

Because we were meant to be on the ferry overnight but since then, plans changed, we had to book a last minute hotel (which ended up being the most expensive night of the whole trip – but you have to roll with the punches.) We landed a bit after 6pm to find out that the last river ferry (the quickest transport from the dock side to the city side of the river) had pulled out at 6pm – in so many words, we were stuck at the docks, with no taxis in sight. Wandering for a bit, we came across a pizza shop where we asked the direction to our hotel. They seemed to have little to no clue where we were talking about (I mean, how big could this city actually be?) The son of this very obviously owned family restaurant spoke up after a minute of awkwardness to inform that the hotel was about a 30 minute walk down the road, up over the large bridge, then back down the road, just on the other side of the river. So in short, we had to go up and around to street we could clearly see from the side of the river we were standing on.

Still in my walking boot, dragging a rolling suitcase and wearing massive movie-star size sunglasses with Jenny by my side carrying an extra-large Vera Bradley tote, sporting her aviators, we started the hike towards the bridge. About half-way down the first stretch of road, I literally blacked out for a minute. Everything went dark and I thought I was going to collapse. I reached out for the fence to our left to keep myself steady. I don’t know if it was the pain in my ankle, or the heat outside amplified by our luggage and many layers of clothing weighing us down. Taking deep breaths and assuring Jenny I was ok, we continued on. Thankfully we ran into a group of girls who (disgustedly) pointed us in the direction to get up onto the bridge. While crossing over the river, we had to switch holding each other’s bags, Jen somehow got her hand caught on the guard rail fence and we got honked at by several drivers. I don’t know what they could have possibly found amusing (other than the fact than everyone else that departed from the ferry had proper backpacking gear, two normal working ankles and weren’t violently sweating while trying to locate their hostel/hotel)! Finally off the bridge and down towards where we just came from, but on the other side of the river, we had to fight the urge to scream at each approaching street sign that we hoped was where our hotel was located, but indeed was not. About an hour and 2miles later, we made it to the front counter (of course after being harassed by the bogans lingering out front). Collapsing onto the bed (Jen and I have a habit of sharing a king size as opposed to two twins – it’s just better that way!) – we pulled ourselves together and headed out into the deserted town of Devenport to find some dinner. Somehow we ended up in the one Chinese restaurant open to enjoy a big bowl of fried rice (I just gave up on caring what I ate, I was just needing any type of food at this point.)



Wineglass Bay



The next morning, thankfully the river ferry was up and running again and after a nice McCafe at Mackers (what Aussies call McDonalds) we bought the $2 trip across from the very nice ferry driver. Locating our surprisingly large rental SUV, we were on the road about an hour later towards Swansea. Tasmania is a fairly small island off the coast of Australia, so driving around the entire East coast was not too much to fit into just a few days. In Swansea we got to see Wineglass Bay (yes, I hiked up to the viewing deck in my boot) – one of the world’s top ten beaches. Because Tassie is mostly made up of National Parks, the majority of our time was gazing at scenery (I know they don’t make the best of pictures – but it was beautiful). Finding our hostel that evening was not too difficult as it was one of the 2 buildings that appeared out of the middle of nowhere. After checking in and gathering a recommendation and “Free drink with purchase coupon” for dinner (which we came to the conclusion later that the owner of the restaurant was the brother of the owner of the hostel) – we left to find this spoken of eating establishment. It was nothing more than a fresh seafood shop with a food counter, but we ordered the fish and chips – and they were delicious! After dinner since there was literally nothing else to see in Swansea besides and “Dolls and Bear” shop and about 2 streets of residential area, we thought it would be nice to see the Seven Mile Beach marked on the map in our Lonely Planet book. Recommendation – NOT WORTH IT. Yes, it’s 7 miles… of road blocked by high sand dunes, shrubs and “Property For Sale” signs. We found an opening in the dunes at one point and drove in to see what the hype was about. It was nice, don’t get me wrong – but, it was a beach. Sand and Water. Right. So back into the car, back to the hostel for an early night to bed (because the movie we attempted to buy and watch on the laptop, curled up on our bunk-bed, failed to load.)  Terrified of what was outside our window in this desolate stretch of wilderness, we fell asleep to the sweet singing of Bon Iver (I told you I don’t like silence!)

Thankfully the early morning came quickly and we piled back into the car and continued our way down to Hobart. We were continually amazed by the ever changing scenery – from forest to desert to farmland to lakes to mountains. Literally we felt like we were driving across the US, but in a mere fraction of the time. Arriving in Hobart, we located our hostel and headed to the #1 recommended attraction – the Salamanca Market. It was quite amusing to walk around and enjoy what every market is typically brimming with – fresh produce, food stalls, jewelry, knick-knacks, artwork, performers and Alpacas?

Hungry for lunch, we headed down towards the docks and were immediately pulled into the restaurant boasting the sign “Free glass of wine with lunch purchase.” It was right over the water and had a full menu of deliciously fresh seafood. Topping off our lunch with gelato from one of the food boats (think food truck, but lined up on the water), we headed back to the car to head to Cascade Brewery.



The brewery was built in 1824 and was still using the original building for the production facilities. Opposite stood a modern building housing the breweries’ museum, tasting room and gift shop and gardens. Apparently, every Saturday there are at least two weddings booked on the premises – and after walking around the gardens, we could see why- they were gorgeous! Settling down at a picnic table with our tasting trays, we tried Cascade’s range of ciders and beers, “Made from the fresh mountain waters of Tasmania” (that’s their advertisement tagline – and to clear up any confusion, Aussies pronounce it “add-vurt-iz-mint”).

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the city and relaxing at Lark Distillery. That evening we got to experience Hobart’s nightlife (which was really happening, surprisingly – as in young people appeared out of nowhere once the sun went down and we had a blast!)

The next morning, waking up in just barely enough time to throw on some clothes in time for check-out, we were back in the car to head back North toward Launceston. We took the route that ran between Aurther’s Lake and The Great Lake, again – pretty cool to see – not much happening, but beautiful scenery. Winding our way up and through the lake country, down and around some mountains and then out across farmland – we literally were rapidly moving through every type of geography you can think of – it was gorgeous to see. Arriving in Launceston, we checked into the hostel and headed north toward the Tamar Valley. There was a self-guided tour (which was not very well marked) of several vineyards along the way to the most northern tip of the island. We stopped at a few vineyards for a tasting, they were all nice, and the cellar door workers were lovely people. Tourism apparently is at an all-time low right now, so it was fairly quite at each place. One of the cellar doors had a restaurant attached, but they had not served food in months due to the lack of traffic. I’m sure the owners were happy to see anyone coming through. Driving back into town, we took a look around the city square (about 4 square blocks total) and then out to the gorge – which once again, was nice to look at, to say that we had seen it – check it off the list). Our last stop was the north point lighthouse, home of an evening penguin walk. Instead of paying $60 for the “guided tour” – we opted to hike down from the lighthouse to the edge of the water where the penguins were roosting on rocks out in the water. Trying to get as close as possible, climbing over large rocks in my boot added just a fraction of difficulty to the climbing process – but we made it.

Penguins!

 A few pictures later, we were off, back towards town to find some dinner – we were starving! Stop 1 was a recommendation from our Lonely Planet book – we made it all the way there, parked and while trying to locate the front door of this old flour mill turned waterfront restaurant, we figured out they were only open until lunch time on Sundays. Disappointed and even hungrier, we opted for choice #2, a different, family-owned water front restaurant that thankfully was not too far from the first stop. Fortunately, we snagged the last table available (because apparently it’s a really popular restaurant and bookings are normally essential.) I had fresh, local salmon (here Tasmania is known for their salmon) and Jenny had mussels. I’m always 100% happy to support the local, fresh food when I visit places (unlike our first night at the Chinese place!) We left to head back to Melbourne the next day – the trip back was more filled with book-reading and sleeping, as the end of most trips are. I had to head back to work the next day and Jenny was off to Sydney.

Taking time off to travel around places like Tasmania makes living here that much, especially when friends are there to go with you. This past weekend, we had a fabulous time at Golden Plains. Sitting around one of the nights, we all starting talking about when you were 10 years old-ish, what you thought your life would be like by the time you were in your mid to late 20’s. I never would have thought I would be in Australia, exploring places like Tasmania (I didn’t even know where Tasmania was – or that it was an actual place, with actual Tasmanian Devils living there! They aren’t very cute creatures…) But regardless of where I did see myself (prob married because back then, I thought 24 was soo old and that I would of course be married by that age) – I wouldn’t take back where I am at now for anything. I believe this is easily becoming the recurring theme throughout my posts – and I am just happy to share my stories with you all.  

Just one of THOSE days.

Today started as just “one of those days.” Last night I had planned to wake up early for a nice, long workout in the gym then head into work. Instead, when my alarm went off, I decided to sleep in, convincing myself to head to the gym after work. Until I start my project at work, I have odds and end tasks to complete, but for the majority of my work days recently, I have spent time developing Career Goals (which is a mandatory process for us at Accenture), writing for my blog, sorting out flights and completing my 2011 taxes. Back real quick to the writing Career Goals part – I think one of my challenges is writing about myself, which is why I had a big fear about starting a blog in the first place. When situations arise such as, “Tell us about yourself in 10 words or less. What is one unusual fact about you? Name 5 of your strengths and weaknesses” – I literally am almost always dumbfounded. So many times I kick myself when about 5 hours after the question has been asked, I come up with that witty, perfect answer. I'm just not quick enough on my feet at the poignant time. Nor do I have the ability to remember small things I have completed in my past to elaborate on as a skill set or accomplishment. I can thank my mom for pointing out those little things to me along the way for certain things like writing college essays, job interviews, etc. – she’s pretty great at this type of thing.

My anxiety of writing these bios and career goals, compounded with wanting to perform well on the few tasks I had been assigned for work and letting worry about my future get the best of me, I was a wreck heading toward a disaster this morning. After re-grouping over a nice cup of muesli in the office lounge, I came back to re-read the quote from Café Darling this morning:

 

"If you risk nothing, then you risk everything."
(I think this quote pretty much speaks for itself for the train of thought I am trying to convey)

I also took a minute to visit a few of my favorite sites, Ruthie Dean’s blog: http://ruthiedean.com/ (she is my childhood's best friend (Rachel)’s sister) and Pinterest (if you are not signed up for it yet, you should be.) These two sites were the swift kick in the backside I needed to snap out of my anxious self-absorption. Ruthie’s husband Michael was admitted to the hospital for the next 3-5 days after he began losing his vision last weekend and had indecisive MRI results. Please pray that angels are watching over him and Ruthie as additional tests are run. Anxiousness and fear clearly have no place in my life right now as I can’t even fathom how they are feeling. This puts everything right back into perspective for me. If interested, you can sign up on the “prayer list” Ruthie set up for updates, etc. on Michael’s progress.

http://ruthiedean.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe/post

Pinterest gave me a great stumble-upon today as well with a post from this blog:

http://cherishinghopesanddreams.blogspot.com.au

The writer of the blog gave her readers a challenge that I myself will take and you might find encouraging as well. It might just solve my above fear and help me learn even more about myself.
Every day, for the next 30 days, there is a question that you have to answer open and honestly about yourself. Phew, this won’t be easy, but I accept the challenge.

Day One:


          List 20 random facts about yourself.
 (ok- here goes nothing...)

1.      I am a joyful person – it doesn’t take much to always have a smile on your face

2.      My stress release is running mostly, but any type of workout will do

3.      I like to sleep with a large, fluffy duvet and as many squishy pillows as possible

4.      Sunflowers are my #1 favorite flower

5.      I like the feeling of rubbing bear feet on carpet and the feeling of cold sheets

6.      My favorite part of entering into an airport is the feeling of excitement, but more importantly, the clicking sound of a suitcase rolling across the floor tiles

7.      I no longer eat meat, I am what they call a “pescetarian”

8.      My first thought when I see something in a store is, “I can easily make that.”

9.      Reading has always been a hobby of mine and I now get new recommendations from spying on other people’s books on the train

10.  I always need some type of sound playing, whether its music or white noise – I don’t like when it’s so quiet you can hear your ears ringing

11.  Top item on my bucket list is to have visited every continent by the time I am 30

12.  I have a tattoo of my mom’s initials - She died when I was 10 months old

13.  My family is more important to me than anything else in the entire world

14.  I don’t like asking for help, I like to think I am invincible and completely self-sufficient – Humility comes in large doses when needed though

15.  I am stubborn (see #14)

16.  Despite popular belief, I am a hopeless romantic and want a husband one day that I can have children with and love endlessly until I am 110 years old

17.  I love the feeling of adrenaline rushes (which probably led to my skydiving experience and the balcony jumping incident)

18.  I have a passion for traveling and talking to people from different cultures, backgrounds and beliefs

19.  My favorite fruit is the strawberry, made even better dipped in dark chocolate on the rare occasion.

20.  I truly believe Faith and Doubt go hand in hand. Without one, there is not the other, but having a faith in God is where my joy stems from.



My day ended with the train I normally catch home being cancelled due to a car accident somewhere along the route. Frustrated, I exited the train, caught another train to the Richmond station (which is pretty close to my apartment) only to find the trains still delayed. Even more frustrated, I ran toward the exit, all the while searching for my transport card called "myki." In my usually expert enormous-purse-diving endeavours (ladies, I think you know what I'm talking about - that inbred ability to dive into your large handbag with one hand and easily extract the exact object you're searching for about 2.5 seconds later. Ask a guy to find something in your purse, and it takes them AGES!), I was unable to locate my Myki. I literally stood at the train station exit stall for a solid 8 minutes removing every last object from my purse when I eventually remembered sticking it in my wallet after adding money to it when boarding the train in the city. Idiot me! I bolted out of the station, thought briefly about catching a taxi, then decided against it and just walked the rest of the way home.

Settled into my couch now with a glass of red wine and remembering all the wake up calls I had throughout the day, and the fact on top of that - that I was able to even go to the gym today because my ankle is healed and I have NOTHING to complain about...I am happy to tell you that I am filled with joy. God has blessed me with an amazing family, a great job, I live in a beautiful city, have friends and loved ones constantly surrounding me and am daily reminded that I am blessed. So when you have "one of those days" - just remember, you are just a small part of this large world, and it does NOT revolve around you. Be grateful for what you have, take risks and above all Choose Joy (as my dear friend Emily would say.)

XX

Ponyfish Island, Cookie and Madame Brussels

This is a big week for me. I was officially signed to my project at work and will start next Tuesday! On Thursday I will go for my next x-ray and physio appointment, so I have my fingers crossed that the Ortho has good news to report. I have been back in the gym, which was much needed for my sanity – and it feels so good to be active again. Working back up to triathlon readiness is in the cards. Also on Thursday, Accenture is hosting a conference for International Women’s Day. There will be lots of panels, speakers and networking. This weekend, I am heading west to the Supernatural Amphitheatre for a 3-Day camping/music festival trip over our long Labor Day weekend!

Almost caught up to speed with my Christmas Vaca:

So after the trek back from Monkey Mia, we were exhausted and Adam and Emily had to head back to work for the next couple of days. Bec and I decided to use this time to soak up some rays on the beach. We hired bikes one of the days and biked from Scarborough (Northern Perth) all the way down south to Fremantle. It was about a 45k ride all together. Our intention was to find Cottesloe beach to relax on – but at one point the bike path split into two directions, and we chose the wrong one. We ended up riding through people’s front and back yards, huffing up an enormous hill and finding ourselves in the docklands where freight ships come in. Looking back, we should have obviously taken the path to the right since that was the direction of the beach! Turning around, we went back north (the right way, sort of, because at one point we were crossing a huge, grassy field into a residential neighborhood) but finally made it to Cottesloe and stopped to have some much needed food and drinks.

The next day we returned the bikes and just took it easy at the beach, stopping at The Wild Fig Café for some quite delicious coffee. The café looked a lot like how Melbourne cafés look- very eclectic and vintage. Chandeliers made out of industrial size whisks, tables made from old doors complete with bowling ball legs, mix-matched tables and chairs – it was quite nice to hang out and feel a bit at home for a while.

Our Christmas trip was coming to an end, and we were both exhausted and ready to be back in Melbourne. I, however, had to get my game face on because Jenny (one of my best friends in the entire world) was coming to visit the day after we were to land home.

Finally back on my couch, I started sorting through emails I had missed while away and I just happened to notice one from Jenny saying she missed her flight from LA to Melbourne! My heart just sank! One, because I was so excited to see her the next morning and two because I just knew how upset she was, sitting at the LA airport when she was meant to be in the air. So instead of picking her up Saturday morning, Bec and I headed to the airport Sunday instead. Of course, of all times for road construction, they choose the one Sunday morning I am in a rush. Frustrated at the slow pace and the lack of signage at the airport of how to meet arrivals, I jumped out of the car and worked my way to the international arrival gate. Pacing up and down the long gate – I kept my eyes peeled for the my blondie to appear (she would have stood out from the large amount of Asians coming home with trolley after trolley carts of cheaply made Asian goods to sell in Australia). I reckon about 30 minutes passed and she was still nowhere to be found, so of course I started to panic (not to mention, I could not for the life of me located her flight on the arrival board.) When all of a sudden, I get a huge slap on my butt with a, “Hey idiot! Where have you been? I had to fly in from Sydney – so I’ve been waiting for 45 minutes in the Domestic terminal.” OH MY GOSH! I am so so sorry – it literally did not even occur to me that the flight would be coming in domestic. I was thinking ATL to MEL is international. Of course, there had been no way for her to contact me (because silly me hadn’t emailed her my Aussie number, address, anything!), and only then did I realize her boyfriend Juan had been sending me Facebook messages asking where I was. I felt awful, but the overwhelming awfulness was swept away with the gigantic bear hug I was then embraced in. I swept her away (sans luggage, because of course the airline lost it on top of everything else that went wrong with her flight) to find Bec.

We walked around the city all day, had a nice lunch on my favorite, Degraves Lane and went home since we were both tuckered out from all our recent travel. Because I had to head back to work the next day, I loaded Jen up with maps, contact numbers, instructions to buy herself an Aussie go-phone and every other precautionary tool I could think of. I was on stand-by from the airlines for her bag to arrive (which did not come until 2 days later and was full of Christmas presents for me!) She had a great time touring around my area of town (Prahran, Windsor and South Yarra – all along Chapel Street) as well as Yarra Valley wine region during the day, and after work each night, we met Michelle and Bec at different bars/restaurants around the city for dinner and drinks. My favorites have to be Ponyfish Island, Cookie and Madame Brussels.

Ponyfish Island was built around the bridge supports of the Yarra Pedestrian Bridge which crosses over the Yarra River in Southbank. It literally is a floating bar/restaurant on the water, always brimming with people right after work.

Madame Brussels is on the north end of the city and looks like a replica of Mrs. Higgins house from the end of My Fair Lady. The floor is covered in astro-turf, flowered wallpaper covers the walls, guests sit at white lawn furniture and the menu of drinks ranges from Peach Tea to Mint Juleps. There is a “Lounge” you can rent out for private parties, otherwise there are 2 outdoor patios to relax on (during the cold months, there are blankets available for you to wrap up in and during the warmer months, large handheld fans are fluttering about.)

Cookie is in about a 9 story building with different restaurants, shops, etc on each level. Cookie itself is a Thai restaurant with a fairytale feeling atmosphere (The place where your bill is brought out to you in a Little Golden Book. There is also an amazing rooftop bar and Choo Choo’s, a restaurant inside Toff Bar which is on one of the middle levels - where you eat inside of train cars.

Jen decided on a day trip to the Great Ocean Road to see the 12 Apostles (large rock formations out in the sea). I went with her into the city that morning as the van was meant to pick her up at 7:30am. We arrived just on time, asked some nice man about our specific tour and he assured us the van was on its way. 30 minutes later, we were still waiting on the sidewalk. Jen called the company – and it went directly to a man’s voicemail…the same man we had just talked to on the sidewalk! He assumed both of us were coming on the tour (guess he didn’t care to pay attention when we said it was just Jen going). Jen was humiliated to climb into the van full of other tourists because they had circled back around the city to pick her up, even though she was there on time. I just had to laugh my whole way to work…picturing her in the fan, trying not to feel the stares boring into the back of her head.

12 Apostles

That next weekend, we headed to Tasmania (a whole story in itself!) and Jen spent the next week in Sydney/wandering around Melbourne. Thursday night of that week, we met up with some friends for Beach Volleyball in St. Kilda Beach (I was just a spectator because that was the day I was approved to remove my walking cast! Walking for the first time in a tennis shoe felt extremely foreign). Friday night, Jen was able to meet the infamous Irishman. We had a huge BBQ at the even more infamous house of Padraic (pronounced “Porrick” – it means “Patrick”) - the house where the balcony was that I so thoughtfully leaped from to break the ankle contained in the aforementioned walking cast. Jen walked into the house, saw the balcony and just shook her head. I know. Bad judgment call.

THE Balcony. Me finally sans cast/boot.

Dropping Jen off at the train station the next morning was painful. I didn’t want to, but of course did, burst into tears on the sidewalk, telling her to give everyone at home a huge hug for me. I watched her walk away and with tears still in my eye, visited my friend at Brumby’s bakery for a skinny flat white and sat down outside, hiding the tears behind my sunglasses. Why I decided to then call my mom was beyond me because as soon as she answered, I burst into tears, again! She was practically in tears as well because just at the same moment as I was calling, she was standing in the grocery store in front of a large display of sunflowers (my FAVORITE). I told her I missed and loved her, but that I would indeed see her very soon. That afternoon I headed with my dear friend Michelle to a few bridal boutiques to help her find a wedding gown (for her upcoming exchange of vows back in the states) and then to brunch at a cute little café. With my emotions, still on edge, I turned into THAT SAP that burst into tears the moment she walked out in her first dress. She looked beautiful! She chose a simple gown that fit her amazingly (and that we swore was white, even though she wanted cream and the sales lady was claiming this WAS the cream one – only to find out by the end of the appointment that this sample actually WAS white). I rounded off my afternoon at The Australian Open, watching the large matches on the jumbo-trons set up around the park.

Since Jen left, I was busy sadly saying good-bye to my new friends at The Chocolate Box, starting at Accenture and meeting all my new work friends, I had a relaxing weekend away in the mountains just north east of Melbourne, a weekend in Sydney and a few quiet weekends at home. Time is going to fly by before I know it and I will be in Atlanta May 12^th (flights now all confirmed!) for two weeks.

Cafe Darling

I believe I mentioned before, Cafe Darling is a cute little coffee shop I pass every morning on my walk to the train station. Outside on the sidewalk, they have an A-Frame sign with their Logo on one side, calling customers to come in for an enjoyable cup. The other side of the board is a chalkboard used to write daily, inspirational quotes.

All week, the weather has been cold and rainy, which subsequently meant there was no message on the board. Until today. I started my gorgeous, sunny, 60degree day with some yoga and news reports of the flooding currently taking place in NSW (New South Wales, the state right above Victoria where I live on the East Coast of Australia). My hopes were high for the Cafe Darling board while traipsing down the hill from my apartment to the station. As I approached, I squinted to see the message awaiting for me on that chalkboard, and it was perfect:

"As long as you live, keep on learning how to live."

My day continued to brighten once I stepped through the office doors. I confirmed my flight home on 12th of May with the airlines and cleared the dates with work! I also had a call with a Senior Manager who reached out to me for a role on his project. I will be working on an e-commerce project for Coles, one of the two largest supermarkets in Australia. After speaking with him, I was elated about the role, my responsilbites and the project we will be working on. I literally feel like Cinderalla finding her glass slipper today - all the pieces are fitting together perfectly. After confirming my role (which will start on Monday), I verified my registration for a mandatory, two week training session held in Kuala Lumpur (the largest popluated city in Malaysia) in June.

Not only did I take a risk when I moved to Australia without a job, I also took a risk by accepting a job with Accenture (mostly because the lack of my IT skills/knowledge). These past 7 months have taught me more about myself than I could ever imagine, and in areas where I had never before realized I needed to self-examine. I have met so many amazing people from all over the world with different viewpoints, thoughts, opinions and beliefs who are absolutely amazing to sit down and talk to, you just have to make the time. From the lady on the tram wanting someone to talk to about her daughter, to my new friends at work who literally moved from all over the world to begin a new career at Accenture, Melbourne. I am constantly learning. Learning about new cultures, lifestlyes, thought processes. I am also now learning a whole new side of business, now that I am part of an IT company (yes, I am surrounded by nerds!) but without this continued learning and growth, life would become dull and mundane. I am so blessed and thankful to have this experience of a lifetime.

Off to lunch at a great restuarant in the CBD and a networking event for work tonight - then its the weekend!

Monkey Mia

After several days of record heat here in Melbourne, last night the rain clouds decided to roll in. Not the perfect timing for a Monday morning (with no umbrella and lugging around an entire desks’ worth of work equipment/papers, plus workout clothes). My train was 10 minutes late and I desperately still needed some food from the supermarket, so 30 minutes late to work was not too bad considering. Thankfully I am still “on the bench” at work this week – so am using my time wisely: 1.  Completing required training videos. 2. Writing this blog post. 3. Sitting on the phone for 1 hour with Travelocity/American Airlines trying to book my flight home in May 4. Taking a long lunch with co-workers at a busy Thai restaurant. 5. Looking at Oscar Red Carpet pictures online. Busy, busy day I tell ya.

I take you back now to the West Coast of Australia adventure:

Another day hanging out on the beach in Perth and we headed North in a fantastic 4x4 to Monkey Mia for New Years. We booked a campervan park again, but this time we had luxurious accommodations: a cabin with AC, two bedrooms, a stocked kitchen and an amazing front porch with a view of the ocean - we were high class!

The 10 hour drive was anything but exciting with not much more to see than desert, a couple of trees and more desert. The highlight of the trip was the half-way-point-stop-over in the second largest town on the west coast, Geraldton. Now, with all the hype this place received from the locals we spoke with, we were expecting the Las Vegas of Australia. What Geraldton actually is: a city, on the water , with one main street and about 4 neighborhoods of homes that look identical to each other. Granted, the beach was beautiful, but that was about all Geraldton had going for it.

Expecting the local restaurants to have some great seafood, we opted for the local family-owned place on the corner of the town’s square, "Skeetas." Looking back now, based on the name alone, we should have been more skeptical of the place. But we were trusting of the locals and gave it a try despite our hesitations. The interior resembled the dining hall of a nursing home, complete with padded chairs, communal tables and horribly pattered, worn out carpet. The icing on the cake (not even exaggerating): the center piece of the entire restaurant was a large fish tank housing a real life version of every single main character from Finding Nemo.

Based on the decor and mojo of the place, we did not have high hopes for the quality of the food. When I say the food was sub-par, it was not only extremely over-priced, but really, not very tasty – especially for a town on the water – Fresh Seafood should be its specialty! We hurried out of there to continue our journey (after taking the "scenic route" out of town - which ended up being nothing more than a huge horseshoe road along the coast leading back to the highway with an amazing view of the backs of warehouses.) Needless to say, we were NOT impressed with Geraldton and hoped we never had to encounter the place again.

Finally arriving about dinnertime in Shark Cove Bay, we enter into the campervan park, found our amazing cabin and cooked up some dinner. The next day we drove about 30 minutes to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia. They come into the cove 4 times a day for feeding by the trainers based at the National Park. They had not been in to feed for the past 10 days, so that was our lucky day that they actually showed up! I stayed up on the boardwalk to look down into the water – but Adam and Emily walked right up to the water’s edge. When they asked for volunteers, Adam did’t even raise his hand, but the trainer picked him out of the crowd regardless (it may have been because of the blatantly obvious “tourist look” of a graphic tee, cargo shorts and bright red Canada Leaves hat!) They called him forward to feed one of the dolphins a fish – and said he could bring someone with him. Bec and I literally had to yell down to them, “Go, Go- they called you – you both can go!” (They looked dumfounded and confused as to what was going on.) We of course had to take heaps of pictures of this momentous occasion (it really was not as exciting as watching some of the other “characters” heading down the beach to watch the feeding.)

Ohhh some of the people you see...







After the feeding was over, we set out on a “Wildlife Cruise.” Promised to see dolphins, manta rays and dugongs (related to the manatee and native to Australia), we hopped aboard the sailboat sans shoes (I was allowed to bring my walking cast, but all other shoes, including my lone left sandal had to stay on the dock to “preserve the condition of the boat”) and headed out into the middle of the ocean. The skippers on the boat were two young guys who grew up in Geraldton (poor guys) and had moved to Monkey Mia to work on the reserve. They chatted with us the whole time (along with the 10 year old there with her two siblings who were “leaving her out, so she had no other friends to talk to or hang out with.”) Half way through this wildlife tour, and still no wildlife to be seen, the most exciting bit occurred when one of the other kids aboard the boat spotted a water snake gliding in the current. The poor skippers tried about 5 other spots in the ocean where animals could usually be seen. At this point though, I gave up seeing anything and just settled for a sailboat cruise instead. Pulling back into the marina, we said farewell to the skippers (which they returned with an invite New Years Eve beach party the following night) and headed back to the 4x4 to do some off-roading around the area. There were several coves and lookouts down dirt paths off the main highway – so we took the rest of the afternoon to cruise around these turnoffs.



Adam was less than amused to not have seen any wildlife.



Bec got to hoist the sail!



Dugong



  

The next day was New Years Eve. We spent the morning on the beach and did a few more off-roading trips, including one to Shell Beach – literally miles and miles of tiny white sea shells make up the beach – and it had to of been at least 800meters of walking to even reach the water – it was huge! The water was really shallow for about 1 mile or more, so we walked out for a bit (well as long as my ankle let me before I really started to feel it hurting) and came back in. After cleaning up and eating some dinner, Bec and I marched down to one of the two local restaurant/pubs in Shark Cove for the live New Years Eve festivities (later in the night, yes – we attempted to call Yellow Cab to drive us back to the beach party to meet up with the Skippers.) Obviously that plan failed due to the fact that 1. The beach was 30 minutes away and 2. The town was so small, there were no cabs. We instead made friends with a group of people also there for the live bands and the midnight countdown (two of which we convinced to take us fishing the next morning at 7AM!) By the end of the night, Bec and I were the famous North Americans (half these people had never left WA once in their lives – so America was like the Golden Land Destination for them) at both the local establishments (they both had different genres of music playing – so we had to test out both!)



Shell Beach

7AM came WAY too fast the next morning – and we weren’t even too sure if these guys would show up to actually take us fishing. But indeed, there they were outside the bait shop waiting for us! We drove down to another national park nearby that had a large bay, perfect for kayaking and fishing (I thought I would be sick between the rocky, sandy, twisting roads we had to drive through and the smell of the meat pies the guys were eating in the front seat). Talking with them, we found out they were from Geraldton and would probably never leave (I over-enthusiastically announced my shock at this statement) and that they were both 20 years old and still at Uni. (Uni, University, College, same thing.) Bec and I exchanged that look again of- where are we and what did we get ourselves into!? But taking everything in stride, we had a fantastic time out on the water (unfortunately, catching no fish – but soaking up some rays for the rest of the day.)





The next morning we left early to head back to Perth. We took the time to stop off at some famous spots along the way: The Pinnacles and Stromatolites. Just in case you don't know, the definition of the two are as follows:

The Pinnacles - Limestone formations contained within Nambung National Park,

that were formed from seashells in an earlier epoch rich in marine life. These shells were broken down into lime rich sands which were blown inland to form high mobile dunes.



The Pinnacles



Stromatolites - Layered accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding and cementation of sedimentary grains by biofilms of microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria (commonly known as blue-green algae). Stromatolites provide some of the most ancient records of life on Earth.



Stromatolites



Both were pretty neat to see. At the half-way point we stopped in yes, Geraldton for some lunch, because that was literally the only viable place we had seen in hours (passing characters on the road as we went, like the biker with “I love Sluts” written across the back of his helmet.) By this point -  I was getting a bit homesick to be back in Melbourne, but we still had a couple more days to go.