Christchurch, New Zealand

The first stop on our New Zealand Adventure was Christchurch, the largest city in the Southern island. It was kind of late when we got in, so after dropping our stuff off at the hotel we went in search of food and drinks.We found this cool bar, called Coyote, that had fire pits built into the tables outside ...this was perfect because it was freezing out, but we wanted a good view. So we had some wine and an amazing dinner of fish and chips (or as New Zealanders would pronounce it: "Fush and Chops").

We noticed that a lot of the bars in the area had live music, which is something we've been missing much of in Sydney, so we stayed out pretty late listening to a fun cover band and got hit on by creepy old locals. It's really fun when a weirdo from across the bar yells "Where are you from?" and you have to scream back, "America!!", in a crowded room of non-Americans :)

The next morning of course we knew we had to be true tourists as we would be leaving with our tour group first thing the next day and may not get a chance to see Christchurch again.So in true tourist style, we hopped on a trolley to take us around and see the main sites. On the trolley we got some fudge samples and Jackie told me a little about the New Zealand rugby team called the "All Blacks"...weird name but whatever. We got on the subject in the first place because all around the city were these signs like the one below.So apparently the All Black team is the very best (...after the South African team... says Jackie who is South African), and I guess they are undefeated at their home arena, nicknamed the House of Pain, which is also located in Christchurch. Oh, and what I thought was weird was they never go by the name "New Zealand" because everyone knows who the All Blacks are. Like a game will be advertised as Australia vs. All Blacks., instead of Aus vs. NZ... hmmm...
So anyway, awhile later Jackie spotted a good place to get off the trolley and we went on the Christchurch gondola ride to see the city from up high. This is where is real beauty of New Zealand set in and the view was crazy!
At the top of the gondola, apparently we were above the clouds. Underneath those white clouds in the pic is a small town and a lake, which were totally covered. Weird huh? We only knew there was a town underneath because of the maps on the look-out deck. Anyway, it was a pretty early night for us because we wanted to be bright and cheerful when we met our Contiki tour group in the morning.

More to come....

Back to "Reality"

I just got back to Sydney... a little older, and none the wiser. Sadly I did not run into Frodo or Bilbo Baggins on my trip to New Zealand. Did you catch that? Its a Lord of the Rings joke... as it was filmed in NZ. Duh!

Anyway, it was amazing- probably the most beautiful place I have ever been to. There is absolutely no way my simple pink camera or lame attempts at photography will do it justice, but here is a pic of the scenery anyway. Very LOTR wouldn't ya say? I will blog about my trip tomorrow when I am not exhausted, but in an effort to keep you entertained, my sis made a slide show of her experience in Sydney. Check it out... she's a much better photographer than me and there are even captions at the bottom!

New Zealand Bound

Guess what? I'm heading off to New Zealand tomorrow morning. Jackie and I are going on a ten day Contiki trip around the southern island of NZ. So, I won't be able to blog for awhile, but stay posted because I'm sure I will have some amazing stories and pics to share with you.

Also, I hope the zero degree Celsius weather doesn't kick my ace! Blog to ya later!!

Sisters in Sydney

I just took Melissa to the airport a few hours ago... sad! But we had a blast even though her visit was much too short. In fact she ended up getting delayed in San Francisco on the way out, so her trip was one day shorter than we'd planned. But we did manage to get a lot in and here are a few of the highlights:

Tour of the Opera House when we were so deliriously tired that we were suckered into buying the tourist photo at the end- but totally worth it because we also got cool Opera House postcards with our pictures on them.
Deciding the Bridge Climb was too expensive so instead walking across the pedestrian path on the Harbour Bridge. There were so many runners out that we probably totally annoyed them by stopping every 5 meters to take yet another picture of the Opera House.Finally stepping foot on Bondi (pronounced Bond-ee) Beach, even though it was totally cold. Then having an amazing sea-side lunch and walking along the coast until the sun set. How romantic! :)Taking the ferry to Watson's Bay and seeing The Gap. True, this is where people go to commit suicide, but even with its ugly history it was beautiful!!
Taking a two hour train ride to the Blue Mountains. So cold!! We went on a short hiking trail which took you right to the Three Sisters (pictured below), but it was such a steep climb that I nearly died trying to get back.Having a long dinner with my school friends, and then Orbit Bar for a 360 degree view of the city.What an excellent trip! Meli, thanks for letting me show you around my new city... and for cooking for me. Love you!!

My First Visitor

In just a few short hours my sister will be on a plane headed to Sydney. She is currently in flight to San Francisco, and I am SO excited!! Wish her a safe journey on her long flight to Australia.

Twilight... Not too bad

So, I made all of April's dreams come true and finally read "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer. Now I should preface this by saying that I went into this venture with a few negative pre-conceived notions. Perhaps it was the fact that after April read the entire four book series in like one sitting, she became like a crazy obsessed fan. She would rave about it and saw the movie like 10 times the first week it came out. And then all of her friends followed suit. And truthfully I did not want to get sucked into this alternate universe that most Twilight readers seem to be sucked into.... and all over what to me was a book about vampire love! (Insert eye roll here).

Well, I read it and it was okay... I mean I read almost the entire first book on the plane ride from Hawaii. Now this book is probably written at an eighth grade level, but it is 500 pages so it was quite an accomplishment. I will admit that the book did keep me interested (I mean I could've been watching "Confessions of a Shopaholic" on the plane), but it was basically exactly what I thought it would be. Also, I kinda wish that I had read it before the movie because all I can picture is Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart- both of whom I am only luke warm about. But all in all, I think I will continue reading the series- the second book, "New Moon", for sure because I already own it. And maybe one day I will even watch the movie with April because I'm sure she bought the DVD the minute it came out... maybe.

Happy Birthday Jason!

For the first time in ten years (sick!) I won't be celebrating with my best friend on his birthday. Ten years?... We must've met each other when we were 11 or something. :) So sorry I can't celebrate with you... but I'm thinking of you and love ya lots!!
Oh the memories... probably better to forget most of those! Not sorry we're hot!!!

Goodbye Family

I'm back home - to my Sydney home - and looking at some pics reminiscing about my excellent trip to Hawaii. I got some sun, ate lots of Mom's awesome food, watched movies and TV I'd missed... and overall had a very relaxing time! Here are some of the memories from the island:Boogie boarding with Dave and Deed at Hapuna Beach where the waves were so big and strong that I nearly drowned (multiple times), David messed up his neck and can longer lift it completely straight, and Deedee lost her top! :)

Not only getting to drive again, but more so getting to drive a silver Jeep around the entire perimeter of the island. We decided to take the walls of the Jeep off because the weather was perfect, but then we got caught in a rainstorm and I cursed myself for deciding to take the walls off!Seeing a real live volcano - the Big Island currently has two active volcanoes. But we only saw it from a far distance and only the smoke coming out of the hole not actual lava. We did however, walk through an old lava tunnel, stood over active steam holes, and hiked down to the floor of an old volcano devastation site - all of which was cool... except maybe the hike back to the top! Punalu'u Black Sand Beach. We stopped there randomly on the way back from the volcano, just as the sun was going down. The sand was gorgeous... tiny smooth midnight black pebbles. And even though there were signs that warned not to take any of the sand, Dave still did, and now has to face the wrath of Pele.

Snorkeling and snow cones at Kahaluu Beach Park. The fish were beautiful, and we even saw a sea turtle, but Deed and I both got bit by a fish! Can you believe it? First it was Deed and I didn't really believe her, but as she was showing me the mark, I got bit too. And it hurt so bad! We both started screaming and splashing around to keep the fish away, but this only seemed to anger the fish more and it actually started chasing Deedee. It was actually pretty funny. And then Dave swam closer to us trying to get bit...crazy!! We asked the snorkel lady about it and she said it was probably the Humuhumu (or reef triggerfish) protecting her babies. Check out Deed's bite on her foot... this was taken like 8 hours later!All and all, it was a very fun trip and it was totally worth the sun-burnt skin and fact that I may have gained ten pounds!