Last Saturday in Sydney

My last ambition was to sit on the bull in World Square - yeah did it!

Last day!

Can't believe it's my last day in Australia!!

Took me 4 hours to pack my bag this morning, and its way too full.

Leaving work yesterday was really sad even though I've been there less than 3 months.

Its' a sunny day in Sydney, went to my usual the 3 Wise Monkeys last night and the band was brilliant with everyone going crazy for the last few songs. Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit sticks in my head...!!!

My flights at 9.40pm and I arrive in Tokyo tomorrow at 6.30am, and Naomi (my friend who lives there, in case you don't know) tells me she has lots planned for me for the whole weekend.

Too much simultaneous excitement and sadness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surfin in Manly

Went surfing again on my last weekend in Sydney! The waves were massive this time though, and the board we hired was a proper one, not just a huge learner's one (which are easier to control in the water). So here are a few pictures of me only semi-standing on the board. I had fun trying though. More than anything, you have to learn love being battered to exhaustion by the waves....

AFL again

Sydney Swans vs Brisbane Lions and this time "we" (Sydney) won hurrah 96-69 the score was. Was a good game, and a gorgeous sunny day. We were in the Sydney Cricket Ground this time, which was a lot smaller and "cosier".

There were also dancing zebras before the match began for some unexplained reason, apart from so the crowd could win prizes.

This time I went with my new flatmates Helly and Mari. They know some guys in the reserves team so got some free tickets in the members area. How nice to be so well connected! They're from Finland (Reetta and Paula do you recognise them - Mari is from Lapland too! Such a small world).

Moving again!

Well, had a disagreement with my landlords and they kicked me out...
Slight exaggeration. They wanted to put the rent up by $5 a week (2 quid).

Yeah that's not so much, but when you have bugs in your bed you wonder whether you're really getting value for money. So I went on a flatsearch, and a mere 2 days later, found a flat in the same building, for $40 less a week. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA! It was the first one I looked at too.

I moved in last night. It's a slightly more crowded flat, there will be 8 people in a 2-bedroom flat (the balcony has been turned into a bedroom for 2), but its lovely and clean, and they have REAL sofas, not some crappy fold up bed where the cushion keeps sliding off it and a couple of picnic chairs (that's what I had before). Its only for a few weeks too, seeing as I'll be leaving in 6 and a bit weeks. Now I'm sharing with a Bosnian, three Thai people, a German, and 2 more people yet to move in. Everyone seems very nice. But why does everyone think I'm German when they meet me???! Well, only 2 people have so far, but really why whould anyone think that. A couple of people at work thought I was Irish too. To be sure, why would they think that. To be sure.

AFL game Swans vs Eagles

I went to see the Sydney Swans play the West Coast Eagles in their first match since last season. It was a biggie coz last year the Swans lost to the Eagles by just 1 point in the final. AND....they lost by 1 point again this time too. Great game though. The players are giants. I didn't know much about the game, but its easy to pic up the few rules they have, and by the second half it got really exciting as the Eagles had a big lead but the swans managed to fight their way back. It's a two hour game split into 4 quarters and points are won by kicking the ball between two rugby-style posts (6 points), and there are two shorter poles on either side of the main posts which give you 1 point if the ball goes through them instead. The ball is passed either by throwing, drop-kicking or hitting it through your hand like you might in volleyball for an underarm serve. And you can't run more than 15 metres without passing or bouncing the ball. It was a funny experience too as every five minutes random people would run on to the pitch, either to hand out drinks to the players, or, (we assumed) to whisper tactics to players and save the manager's voice.

Climbing and camping

Hello!

Had a lovely weekend camping and climbing in the Blue Mountains. Went there back in the winter last year, its only about 1-2 hours drive from Sydney. This time it was a lot warmer, and we had perfect weather all weekend. There were 5 of us altogether in the end. We've been indoor climbing for a while - me just for a few weeks and a couple of times back in Brum, and decided it was time to get out in great outdoors. One of our group knew an instructor so he helped us with knots and supplying vitals like 'binas and ropes, harnesses and crippling shoes.

Arrived on the Saturday and went for a walk to the "Red Hand Caves", where Aboriginees about 1600 years ago left their hand prints on the walls of some small caves. Very pretty. But I was even more impressed by the kangaroos in our campsite! They were just lounging around, eating grass, fighting with each other, not worried in the slightest that we were invading their space.

Had a BBQ in the evening, and got quite overenthusiastic in throwing the wood on the fire, so it was burnt sausages and bacon all round yum. Then I learnt how to play Texas Hold 'Em poker and was doing quite well until I lost all my chips...

Then on Sunday, after a slightly chilly night where I dreamt I was flying on a sheet of ice over the ocean, we managed to get ourselves up and pack the tents early. Our instructor, Colin, was actually originally from Solihull! But he'd been living here since a child. Coz we were all relatively new to climbing, and pretty much complete beginners in outdoor climbing, he took us up the "easy" routes. Easy they were not! My fingers still have skin hanging off them and my knees look like I've been kneeling in fried beetroot juice (they're bruised and battered, ok! yes I know that was crap but I'm trying to be more literary). I think they were graded as 14, 15 and 22, whatever that means to climbers. He did concede that probably some of the routes had changed by handhold being knocked off and worn away over the years. Part of one of the routes was an overhang! I just wasn't strong enough. I also got really nervous, as Colin kept telling us about people who'd lost limbs and been dropped from great heights. Being outside seems a lot more real than climbing indoors. Especially when there are no cushions on the ground to ease your fall. Only more rock. And then there are lizards and spiders and probably scorpions and crocodiles hiding in all the nooks and crannies that you're supposed to put your hands in and cling on to with one finger. So by the end of the day the adrenalin had got to me and I was knackered.

It was a great weekend though - hopefully will get to do it again soon!

Pic of us round the barbie: Me, Allan (Oz/Hong Kong), Sebastien (Oz/France), Juanita (Oz) and Jessica (US).

Last pic is of me being helped up the "easiest" climb of the day by Colin!

Bed bugs!

Maybe I shouldn't broadcast this to the world, but I thought this might satisfy those of you who like to laugh at others' pain and sorrow, or who shriek at creepy crawlies, or who want the smug satifsfaction of seeing that travelling the world isn't all sun and fun....here are my BUGS. All dead, fortunately, and they don't bite anymore (even the live ones). Actually, they bite my roommate, who doesn't have any bugs in her bed, so I'm not sure how that all happens, but at least they aren't biting me! Apparently I brought them in from a hostel. Well, no I did not! The fact that they already had a problem with bugs in that very bed before I moved in, and that I'd never had a single bedbug bite no matter which smeggy hostels I'd stayed in over the past year, doesn't seem to matter. Anyway, the killing continues. Anyone who has any tips on killing them without killing myself (i.e. without the use of deadly sprays, kerosene, and fire), please send them to me!

Mardi Gras

Pretty people wearing interesting things...
Even Jesus was there carrying his cross (but my photo of him was all blurry). The parade went up the length of Oxford Street, which is just a couple of mins from my flat.

I made lots of videos too but can't upload them onto the blummin blogger! Oh well, you'll all be able to see them when I get home! Did I mention I'm coming back? On 31st May??!!! Yes!! EEek

NEW JOB!

Got a new job, starting next week as a "Document Controller". I like that job title. The Controller bit sounds like I will be very important, don't you think. Working for the transport authority for a new smartcard they're launching a bit like the Oyster card in London. Very exciting and really nervous actually, as its going to require me to use some of my so-called professional skills once more, rather than just general office slave stuff that I've grown accustomed to. The job will take me to the end of my visa in May. I'd better stop giving vague ideas about when I'm coming home as it changes by the day, but it will be before christmas!

Proof of sobriety

Took this before a night out with flatmates et al. Drank water and chewed ice all night, honest!

Boat trip around the harbour

Went on a "special" boat trip around Sydney harbour with food, drinks aplenty, and friendly dancers...

Here are some of the earlier pics with Ashley and Emanuela.

And yes I do wear practically the same thing every time I go out - wore the same on NYE! Can't wait to get back to the shops for clothes and shoes shopping!

What nonsense

UK backpackers hit the booze

Its lies: all lies.

Happy 2007!

New Year's Eve: nearly got crushed to death in the throngs of travellers all swarming to get a first-hand view of the fireworks down at the quayside. My friends thought I was going to pass out for a while and I thought so too (NOT from the alcohol I might add, but because I could barely inflate one lung I was that squashed, and people kept shoving and pushing through. Too many people: don't like), but I managed to stay standing, and really, it was so not worth it, as there was some big ferry dock blocking our view of the bridge, where the main action happens. AND, on a number of occasions, incurred xenophobia!!!!!! This Dutch guy commented, "The English are just the worst nation" I don't know what prompted him to say it right there and then, but that's what he said. Then these Ozzie guys blamed the overcrowding on all the "Pommies". And it wasn't just in the area I was in. Some of my flatmates went to "The Domain" to watch the fireworks from there, and got a better view, but similar anti-Pom comments. So it wasn't the most fantastic NYE, but then, they rarely are. BUT I had a nice time wearing my tacky-but-beautiful mirror-bird-brooch, and I bought a NEW TOP toooooo! New nice clothes! It's too exciting! BTW I don't know those guys in the photo but the girl on the end is my Thai friend Supa who is working out here.

New Year's Day was better. Got last minute tickets to "Field Day" a music event in the Domain (big park). After a brunch (more like breakfast actually) of Tasmanian bubbly, we headed in to watch Mylo, The Presets (again), The Freestylers, Plump DJs, and other dance/electro kind of stuff DJs and groups. Gorgeous hot day, and fun dancing in the rain near the end of the day.

Now for the serious stuff:

New Years Resolutions 2007

1. Go home at some point
2. Always wear factor 15 (at least) on my nose = don't get a burnt nose
3. Improve my 20 mins running distance from a pathetic 1.5km to 3km (without stopping for walking breaks) (at least)

Merry Christmas all yez

Merry christmas! Well it was the most unchristmassy christmas I've had yet. On chrimbo eve, I went to mass in the cathedral and enjoyed singing the olde carols and hearing the choirboys sing "Oh Holy Night". Then next day, got the bus to Bondi along with about 40,000 others (prob mostly Brits and Irish). Went to eat sushi for brunch, then found no alcohol was allowed on the beach (made sense I guess), so we sneaked into the park behind the beach and sneakily drank from our wine box most of the afternoon, nibbling on camembert and crackers, chocs and....MINCE PIES!! Forgot to bring the christmas pud but saving it for later. Was a lovely sunny day. Christmas eve was rain rain rain. 14mm of rain in Sydney to be precise! It was good actually as there is a severe shortage of water here, and bush fires all the time. But I was still relieved to have a rain- and cold-free christmas day.

Anyway, after finishing the food and wine went to the beach for a quick dip in the freezing and scarily rough water which tried to rid me of my bikini! Had enough of that quite quickly, and we got lastminute tickets to go to Gatecrasher (clubnight) playing in Bondi Pavillion. Danced in there for abut 5 or 6 hours along with a load more Brits and Irish, and the odd Australian or two.

All in all a lovely and unchristmassy day. Hope you all had fun too and ate and drank too much and got fat and merry. New Year's Eve next!

Back in Oz

Now back in Oz!!! Its hotter and busier than last time I was here, and not so easyto find a place to live or a job...but looking forward to christmas and new year here anyway.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

(pic of parrots in the park)

Oz

Everyone's English!