sydney is better with a friend on vacation...

i know, i know… i haven’t been keeping up with this thing all too well (cough allie cough). better late than never, i always say.

since my nzed trip, there have been a quite a few fun and different happenings in my life. the day (literally the day) after my return, my friend amanda from nj came for a visit to sydney! and boy was i happy to see her! it was absolutely lovely having one little piece of home with me for 2.5 weeks and devastating to see that piece return without me!! her 2.5 weeks here with me honestly brightened sydney in my eyes. don’t get me wrong, i absolutely loved sydney before she arrived, but having her here and seeing her experience the city (and being able to experience it all over again – and through a tourist’s eyes) was incredible! here’s a rundown of the awesome activities that we did during her visit:

picnic in rushcutter’s bay, visits to hyde park, tour of botanical gardens (::sigh:: i love the botanical gardens), visit to the nsw state art museum in the domain, lunch at circular quay, ferry ride to taronga zoo – including a seal show, giraffes (i love them!!!), aussie animals, elephants!, and a gondola ride – so great, thai food, hunter valley wine tour, hand feeding kangas at the reptile zoo (or being attacked in amanda’s case – no harm done though!!), saturday night at the ivy (a gorgeous & fun club), an attempt to watch the sunrise at bondi beach at 6 o’clock am (a bit too cloudy… oops), dinner aboard a pirate ship! (well, a tall ship – close enough!), the ferris wheel, the carousel and coney island at luna park, an amazing dinner and the magic flute – the opera! – at the sydney opera house, over 1,000 steps at the bridge climb, a superb view at the sydney tower, a few movies here and there, pancakes on the rocks (twice!), the rocks market, the 3D dinosaur movie at the world’s largest imax theatre, a stroll around darling harbour, weekend in the blue mountains including the blue mountains explorer bus, the jenolan caves, and tons of bushwalks, and last (but most certainly not least) the extreme shark dive at the manly aquarium (which was more remarkable than i can even describe!!!!)!

so yeah, she and i did a lot during her 2.5 wk vacation. and i loved it. and she loved it. and it was perfect! i would have never done some of the activities that mandy and i did during her stay if she hadn’t been here…

after mandy’s departure (tear), i packed my things and prepared for my move. see, our 6 month lease was up on the apartment in elizabeth bay and i was not too keen on extending it since i’m going on an ultimate vacation myself very soon. so, i moved to north bondi in with my friends sara & oved. (i worked w/ sara at glicks and we’ve been friends ever since) i’m loving living so close to the beach again and have been known to frequent the beach on both saturdays and sundays! and it’s pretty wonderful living in a cute town again rather than so close to the cross! i’m staying with sara until i leave for my trip and then again right before i leave this country in june.

i head out for a 7 week vacation on april 19th. i fly out to alice springs (the outback) and work my way down to melbourne and then east to canberra and back to sydney and then all the way up the east coast to cairns. i am extremely excited for what awaits me on this trip!!! i have some plans for my time spent, but not everything. thank goodness for the lonely planet book australia – otherwise i’d probably be lost without any idea of what to do for 7 weeks! (7 weeks… i can’t believe i am going to just travel for seven whole weeks!!!!!)

oh and, no worries, i’ll keep you posted on my whereabouts and plans!

ps. have you counted the months that i’ve been away thus far – it’s been about 8 months. and i return to nj in june. oy.