Ringing in The New Year…on Dec. 31 at 8:00am NC time (Sydney – December 28-January 1)

We arrived in Sydney at 7:30 am (meaning we left our Brisbane hotel at 3:30 am).  The plan was to take a tour of the city at 10:30 and hang out by the harbor and take a ferry to Manly in the afternoon.  However when we got to the hotel I laid down on the bed while Adam took a shower and I fell asleep for 2 hours.  Good thing the tour also went at 2:30.  We stopped for lunch at a deli and took our sandwiches to the steps of a government house.  It was great to be able to sit on the ground (even being pregnant)…it is amazing the things you miss.  After lunch we had some time so we hung out by the harbor watching street performers.  The best thing happened when a contortionist said “I need a helper…you in the blue shirt…yes you behind the pregnant lady” yes it was Adam and yes I got the entire thing on tape…including a little kiss she stole from my husband!  When we get back I plan on sharing the video with EVERYONE…I apologize in advance for the shaky tape, I was laughing non-stop!  I took tons of pictures which will be on the blog soon!

The tour we took was amazing and I totally recommend it to anyone visiting Sydney or who lives in Sydney for that matter.  In fact the reviews on trip advisor were mostly from Sydney residents who had out of town visitors and took the tour for them.  Basically it is a “free” tour, they request that you tip or give a donation to the guide (who doesn’t make money otherwise).  Our guide was amazing and super Australian…she had the blonde beachy look and the fun personality that the stereotypical Australian has.  She had a lot of fun jokes and interesting facts to share with us!  I think one of the best parts (and this was my intention and why we wanted to do this tour first thing) of the tour was it took us past and to a few places we wanted to revisit (including the first of many cupcake shops we went too).  We spent the rest of the afternoon on the harbor eating and people watching.

On the 29^th we went to a wildlife park in the outskirts of Sydney.  There is one right in the city center but we heard this one was better (and it was cheaper).  We were really excited to finally get to see kangaroos and koalas.  There were roos hopping around the whole area and trees with koalas sleeping in them (the look totally fake when sleeping).  We both got to pet a koala (if you know me I am not very comfortable around animals and I think they smell my fear, I especially don’t like birds) the zoo person kept trying to get me to hug the koala but it was all I could do to pet it’s back with one hand.  When we got to the area with the birds I took a step back and was in charge of the camera.  I am thankful to say I got out of there without being pecked or attacked by any birds or stepping in any poop.  I was apprehensive around the animals but it was still a pretty amazing experience.  I am also good at hiding my fear (as I have been to the zoo with kindergarteners and first graders…my class was always the first to finish the bird sanctuary). 

After the park we took a ferry to Manly (another beachy area with great restaurants and a wonderful view).  We got there just in time to see the sun set.  Our dinner was amazing (even though it took me a long time to decide what I really wanted to eat…sounds silly but it is hard to make a decision when you haven’t wanted food for the past 6 months). 

On the 30^th we hung out at the Darling Harbor and took a river cruse tour of Sydney.  Again we ate very well (yes I consider Subway and pizza an amazing meal day). 

FINALLY it was New Years Eve…I had been looking forward to this day for a LONG time.  We decided when we were assigned to China to spend New Years in Sydney.  I was excited to be involved in the first (big) New Year’s celebration in the entire world!  This had also been the hardest day to plan…besides knowing that we were going to spend the day on Bondi Beach.  There were so many options.  We could have taken a river cruse costing between $700 and $1000 a person, we could have gone to dinner on the harbor for about $500 a person or we could celebrate somewhere low key for only $200 a person (I say only sarcastically).  These plans needed to be made at least a month in advance…however a month before our trip I wasn’t able to eat much and I wasn’t sure a trip on a boat would be great for my tummy.  We figured this was a once in a lifetime experience so we wanted to do it well…meaning we had to see the fireworks overlooking the harbor somehow.  After thinking about it (a lot) and spending a lot of time researching on the computer I decided to take a risk.  I figured this is our last time to do something crazy…I mean if it was your first time in NYC for New Years and you knew you may never get to go back you would for sure spend it on the street no matter how miserable it may seem.  I figured we should tough it out, bring a towel, buy a bagged lunch and camp out on the harbor for as long as we needed to.  We got to the harbor at 5:00, but they weren’t letting people in the gates.  Our plan B was to head to North Sydney and watch from the other side, but I was afraid that we would get there and that area would be closed as well.  Plan C was to head to Darling Harbor where we would have a show and fireworks but it wouldn’t be overlooking the Opera House or the Bridge.  Then a crazy old man told us that we could get in the harbor area from the other side.  We took a risk listening to him but it ended up being the best decision!  We found a spot on the ground and took turns changing out of our swim suits and going to the bathroom.  Not 30 min after we sat down (which ended up being 6:00) they had closed the gates and we were trapped in and everyone else was trapped out.  It was amazing how quickly the time went by.  They had fireworks at 9:00 for the kids and then again at midnight.  It was truly the best New Years EVER!  I started the evening thinking it would be one of those experiences you would trade for anything but would never want to do again and looking back we would think we were totally crazy.  This was not one of those experiences…I would gladly do it again, they didn’t allow alcohol on the harbor and had police all over the place so it wasn’t a miserable experience for me at all (I was picturing having beer spilled on me and crazy drunk people knocking into me…the most sober person at the party). 

If you rub his nose you have good luch...if you rub his ___ you get lucky.  Our tour guide thought it was ironic

Can you find me in the crowd of preople waiting for the firworks?

Adam and I at Bondi Beach

“Normal” Rainy Day Activities (Brisbane - December 26-28)

Our concierge struck again when we decided to take the train to Brisbane from Noosa (we really weren’t excited about paying a taxi driver another $250).  They sent us to a train station that only had one train coming through at 11:00 pm.  Our taxi driver was concerned as we were on the way and said he would wait for us in case we would be stuck, he even said he would take us to the next train station that had more trains going through for about half the price.  This was the nicest taxi driver I had ever been in a car with (not only because he gave us a discount on a holiday when he could have charged more…we probably would have paid anything to not be stuck for 13 hours).  He said that he and his wife had just come back from a holiday in the States and people were nice to them so he wanted to return the favor.  He seemed to know everything about the history of the US and the history of every piece of land we passed.  I can’t imagine what we would have done if we had taken the concierge’s advice about taking the bus (it was free that day) to the abandoned train station.  We figured it may not be easy to take luggage on a crowded bus.

When we arrived in Brisbane the plan was to go to a mall and enjoy the Boxing Day sales.  However everything in Australia is very expensive right now…between the inflation issues there and the low low value of the US dollar we would pay more on sale items then we would pay on regular priced items in the States.  We did pick up a few things for baby (skin care items that I was certain were Johnson and Johnson and not a copy).  The rain the first day was just annoying enough that we didn’t want to do anything outside, which was fine we were happy to be a normal couple doing normal rainy day things (shopping and a movie). 

The next day we planned on going to the Australia zoo, which is supposed to be one of the best!  It was started by the Crock. Hunter years ago!  This was our second attempt to go but it was rainy the first time.  We decided to go no matter what!  However the receptionist said it would be miserable in the rain.  We decided to spend the day at a different outdoor shopping area armed with our umbrellas and rain jackets.  We stopped for lunch at a sandwich place overlooking the harbor and as we were finishing up the skies opened and we got wet even in the covered area of the restaurant.  We hung out until the rain slowed down, which it never really did, and we went back to the mall from the day before.  We walked around a bit then went bowling!  It isn’t easy bowling with a bowling ball poping out of your belly, not to mention I was super careful.  I picked the lowest weight ball and didn’t bend too much when throwing the ball because I was afraid of tipping over.  Adam gave me a 30 point handicap which turned out to be necessary considering the only reason pins fell down was because they were knocked down by other pins.  I don’t think I even broke 80.  I can see my family now trying to fix my stance and telling me how I could bowl better…good thing I don’t really care, I just enjoy the game!

Video's from Sydney

This was the Animal Park in Sydney...notice how uncomfortable I am with the Animals

This is my favorite video of all time!  This was taken just a couple hours after arriving in Sydney when we stopped to watch this show while killing time before our free tour.