Easter Weekend

An Easter like I've never had before! So when my flatmates mentioned going out to the country to camp for the holiday weekend I knew I was in! I had just gotten back from Tasmania and had a few days before returning back to work. We drove out to New Gambie, A little place out in the middle of nowhere. It turned out that we didn't even need to camp out because one of the guys had just bought a house out there. When we drove up the driveway we were welcomed with motorbikes riding up on one side of the car and a 4wheeler on the other side!

We soon jumped right on the bikes and 4wheeler ourselves. First I met the owner of the house, Deaven and his brother Boa. I also met their other brother and his girlfriend. I had met Ben, my flatmate's best mate, once before but I got to know him much better this weekend. I first tried out the 4wheeler, something I felt more comfortable with. I drove all over the land until I ran into the wire fence that I didn't happen to see. Boa had to run over and help get the 4-wheeler unstuck. I ended up having a huge bruise on my calf for weeks from this. I wasn't done yet though. Deaven offer to take me on a ride on his motorbike. I have to admit I am a complete chicken. Everytime he got "too fast" for me I started screaming and pleading for him to slow down lol! It was so much fun though. Next he tried to teach me to do it on my own. I did pretty good with him behind me on the bike. I got all the way down the drive and turned around. As soon as he let me do it on my own though, it was a different story. I ended up driving the bike right into a ditch, letting go of it right before hitting the ditch. Luckily the bike and I were ok. Deaven then drove us both back on the bike up to the house.

The guys were now ready to do a little drive. However these boys decided to drive through the bush up hills and between trees, definitely in parts where cars were not meant to go. It was a very adventurous drive! Ben got his car stuck in a ditch and we had to do a photo-op before the boys worked on getting it out of the ditch. We got back to the house just in time to make some dinner. We all ate and drank around the bomb fire and had an awesome night!

The next morning was Easter. I had talked Ben the night before into going to church with me on Easter because to me it wouldn't be Easter without church. Hince the meaning behind Easter in the first place! So we looked up a few places close by but it seemed soon forgotten and I thought I wasn't going to get to go. We went into town for some groceries and resources and luckily I spotted a church starting a service right next door. Ben and I went and I really enjoyed having some God time on this very special day! The serrvice was nice and it made it feel a little more like Easter should be =) Ben and I then headed back to the house and met up with everyone else. They were discussing who was going to get to go on the boat for the day. So Deaven and his buddy took my flatmates and I out for a ride on the boat. It was awesome! I learned how to knee board!!! I had so much fun and enjoyed my time in the sun! It is a tradition in my family that I get steak for Easter because I don't like ham.

I told everyone that at the store and we all got steaks to grill out. Ben took the role as cook and made some awesome BBQ for us all. It was a really great Easter!

April: Tasmania

Tasmania had to be one of my favorite trips so far in Australia! I had very low expectations because I knew it was going to be cold. Tasmania is a island below Melbourne. It's distance from the equator and the sea breeze keeps Tasmania pretty chilly most of the time. However I had heard it was beautiful and a must see. So I talked a few of my friends into going and we had a blast.

The crew: Jen, a friend of mine through the teacher agency, and I had talked about wanting to do something over the school holidays. We had both agreed we needed to see Tasmania before we left the continent. A bit later I was having lunch with Teresa, one of the Germans I traveled with in Western Australia. I told her about the upcoming trip and she decided to come too. Lastly Sally joined. I met Sally through Jen a few times before and knew she was awesome so I was stoked she was coming.

We flew into Hobart on a Wednesday night. We got there late so we expected to check in, get dinner and stay in. When we checked in though we found out that it was "uni" night so if we wanted to hit the town it would actually be hopping. When I was packing I completely threw out the idea of going out because it was Tasmania! but I was wrong. We got dressed and headed out to the places the receptionist had suggested. We went to a place called Barcelona. It was a cool bar with drinks in stines!

We got a little food in a bakery, that ended up being a place we visited a lot on our trip. Then went out dancing. It was a fun night especially since it was so unexpected.

The next morning we got up early to drive from Hobart to Bicheno. Along the way we saw the beautiful countryside and the peaceful coastline. We stopped and took pictures at all the nice sites.

When we got to Bicheno we struggled a bit to find accommodation but finally got into a hostel and were ready to go see some penguins. We took a tour to the beach to see the fairy penguins as they came up to their burrows. The were so cute and little! You can't however take photos of them because they do not have eyelids and when people use their flash they permanently blind them. Afterwards we were ready for some food. Since Tasmania is an island and along the coast, it is known for it's seafood so we went to a nice little seafood restaurant. We ate some good food and a yummy dessert! We got back to the hostel and passed out!

The day before was a bit rainy so we decided to wait to see wineglass bay with some better weather. Lucky enough for us the next day was better! We drove to the cliffs where Coles bay and Wineglass bay was and did the big hike to see the sites. I must say with the elevation being up higher and me being out of shape, the hike was a bit hard. Of course though it was worth it!

After the hike it was time to drive to Launceston. On the way to no surprise we found a few wineries to check out. Wineries are everywhere in Tasmania!

The wine was good and totally worth the price....free! We got to Launceston later that arvo and found the coolest hostel. Our room was adorable. It was extremely long and the best part...no bunk beds!(price you normally pay for being a budget travel, most hostels are all bunk beds.) It was then time to check out the awesome gorge.

It was really cool! That night we went out since it was a Friday and had a blast!

On Saturday we got up early and started driving to Cradle Mountain. The roads were crazy windy, plus we were driving on the opposite side of the road! When we finally reached the National Park we hiked around Dove Lake.

Dove Lakee was like a postcard all 360* of it. It was a beautiful hike and we even treked through a rainforest for some of it.

After that we were wore out. We stopped in a small town for a quick bite to eat and then we headed back to Hobart. In Hobart we had a nice dinner out and then hit the town. We went to one bar that I really wanted to go to and it turned out that it was a crazy young bogan crowd! It was funny but we soon left because we were so exhausted from our big day.

The next day we decided to check out some waterfalls and wineries. The wineries had a beautiful views of the fields and vineyards. It was such a beautiful day which made for a very scenic view. I love waterfalls so I was so happy to get to see a few more while in Australia. We also stopped at a little animal place were we got to see many Aussie animals but most importatnly, a Tasmanian Devil! On the way back to Hobart we stopped at the MONA museum that we had heard so much about. It is a collectors museum of all the works he had collected through the years. Well it sounded like it would be this small thing but no! We got there and there were multiple buildings including restrauants and hotels. The building with the muesum part was 3 stories tall and to our surprise his collections we all very vulgar. I couldn't believe that the majority of the pieces in this museum had to do with some sort of disturbing images. Some of the pieces literally made me feel sick. We left not knowing why so many people had raved about it. It was quickly obvious that the collector was disturbed himself. All four of us girls were in utter shock that it was so popular. The buildings had some amazing articheture to them and the voice tour that you could purchase was on ipads so the guy had put a lot of money into showing this to the public. I not one to critize art but I am one to say a person who can only appreciate disgusting artwork is not much of art enthusist himself. That night we were tuckered out. It was our last night in Hobart and we decided to watch the movie the beach in the hostel.

our last day in Tasmania was spent on Bruny Island. We caught an early ferry to the Island, saw the beautiful sites, drank some wine from the winery there, ate some cheese from the cheese tasting place and bought some amazing fudge from the fudge factory. This little island had quite a few little interesting places for such a small place. We enjoyed our last day together on the trip then caught our flight back to Melbourne. I had so much fun with these lovely girls!

Festivals Galore in Melbourne

Since I have been back to Melbourne I've moved into a new place in Canterbury and have continued working at different schools throughout Melbourne. One of my favorite things about Melbourne is that there is always something going on. Melbourne is known for having so many great festivals.

The first festival I attended after getting back from the west coast was St. Kilda Festival. St. Kilda Festival is where the whole suburb of St. Kilda shuts down the roads and have venders all around selling all sorts of stuff, there are carnival rides and tons of live music. I went to the Sunday session which is meant to be the best day to go. Shayna, Lauren and I walked around, looked at all there was to offer, got some drinks and fatty foods and finally watched some amazing live music. The stage of course is right in front of the ocean. So as you are watching the band, you hear and see the waves crashing. It was so beautiful at sunset! All in all a pretty cool festival.

The next festival that was going on in Melbourne was the Food and Wine festival. This is where they had events and deals throughout the city for food and wine. The girls and I decided we would embark on the deal where you got to try one of the most prestigious restaurants in Melbourne for a budget price. We went to one of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants. It was situated in the Crown Casnio and we got a 3 course meal in very small portions but it was nice and fun. The restaurant was beautiful and it was cool being in a fancier restaurant. The meal came with a glass of wine and a delicious coffee at the end. I must say the food was fabulous even though it didn't fill me up.

Antoher well known festival that Melbourne puts on is called the Moomba Festival. It is like a carnival in the dead center of the city. They take the whole Yarra River and put rides on one side and games and food on another. Then the river is used for professional water sport competitions. I met up with Liam, Gezza, Michael, Adian and some more people before rolling up to the festival. First I went on this big scary ride, that takes you up in the air and then drops, while spinning you upside down. It was scary as but really fun.

I then met up with Lauren and Shayna. We all watched the water sports and were in awe of what these guys could do. Afterwards I walked around and got some yummy fried donuts. The finale was the amazing fireworks show above the yarra river in downtown Melbourne. They were beautiful and nice end to a great day.

Since then the Comedy Festival has been going on in Melbourne. I love this one because for a whole month there are comedy shows going on everywhere from anywhere to $0 to loads more to see these professional and funny as comedians. Shayna, Lauren and I went to see a show on cheap arse Tuesday in a bar downtown. The guy was pretty good and we had a good time. The next show I saw was kinda an accident. I was showing my friend Nils and his best friend Nils around Melbourne because they had come to stay with me for a few days. We went to Federation Square and there was a free comedy show going on. This guy was something. He was juggling swords and had a huge unicycle. Part of his act was to be really good but then mess up a bit for jokes. He kept throwing confetti up in the air for his own tricks. He was quite a site that is for sure. While we were standing there watching, he starts getting people from the audience. He needed a few people to hold his unicycle before he jumped on it. He was making jokes all throughout and then made an American joke. He asked if anyone was American. Not knowing I would be the only one I wooped and hollared. He then asked me to come on stage, asked my name and told me I was in charge of the knifes. I tell you the knives were real and big. He finally got to the part where he climbed onto the unicycle and was riding around. He asked me to hold the knives one at a time above me head for him to get as he rode past me. He did this for the first two knives but for the 3rd one he wanted me to throw it to him. Let me clear something up, he was on a 10ft unicycle. Pretty high up and I was scared to death to throw the knife up to him. The first try I just kind of lopped it up there and there was no way he could of gotten it. He then said quickly go get the knife before anyone notices. He told the ok lets cheer Amanda on and had everyone saying my name. I then throw it up and he caught it! I was so relieved and was finally able to get off the stage. It was really fun though! Now that I know a little bit more about the really good Australian comedians I decided to go see Carl Barron's festival show. He was so hillarious!

Northern Western Australia

The day after Australia Day I was off with George, Teresa and Stephanie to travel to the northern parts of Western Australia. Our first day driving we made it to the Pinnacles by sunset. It was absolutely beautiful. We then drove through the night to the Kalbarri National Park. We saw so many kangaroos throughout the drive. It was really cool but also dangerous because kangaroos are like deer here and you have to make sure you don't hit them. We finally made it to the national park and all slept in the car because all the hostels were closed by the time we got there.

The next day we woke up to a beautiful site of the ocean crashing on the rocks. We went to the different beautiful look outs and then headed up to Monkey Mia. On the way we made a couple of stops. First we stopped at Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve.

Hamelin Pool is one of only two places in the world with living marine stromatolites, or "living fossils". Our next stop was Shell beach.

The beach is made up completely of shells. We then finally made it to Monkey Mia. Monkey Mia resort is known for having dolphins come up consistently throughout the day for feedings. The first night we visited the beach. The next morning we got up early to see the first feeding of the dolphins. I couldn't believe it how close the

dolphins came up to the people. The told us the history of the dolphin feedings and the name of the dolphins that come up. They then asked for a few volunteers to feed the dolphins and I GOT TO FEED THE DOLPHINS! It was awesome. After that we all relaxed and enjoyed the resort. I layed out on the beach and read a bit while listening to the waves. I then noticed many

people walking up to the shore. The dolphins had come back to get some more fish. I went up to watch and saw even more dolphins came up this time. One of the baby dolphins I seriously could of touch, it kept coming up so close to my feet!

The rest of the afternoon was spent buying gifts, laying around by the resort pool, swimming in the ocean and then drinking and eating with the gang. All in all a great day!The next day we left Monkey Mia for Exmouth. When we finally got to Exmouth we stopped at the store and when we came out our car wouldn't start! We had it jumped and got to our hotel. When we got to the hotel I called the car company and they said they couldn't get anyone out there that night. So we chilled around and meet some people from a tour group. The next morning the car started so we went off to the Cape Range National Park. When we got to the National Park we parked the car at the tourist center then when we tried to start it up again, it wouldn't start again. So this time I called the company again and the lady said she couldn't get ahold of the only mechanic in town and that we will have to wait. We decided that we weren't going to wait our whole afternoon sitting by the car. So we met this awesome Aussie, Nikolai and his American friend, Jamie and they jumped the car for us to get to the beach car park.

We left a note to fix the car and to find us on the beach. We spent the afternoon at Turquoise Bay snorkling and hanging out. After awhile we got hungry and Nikolai offered to cook up some fresh fish for us. So we went up to the cars, built a tent between our cars to eat under and then like perfect timing the mechanic showed up.

By the time we ate our car was fixed:) That night we all, including our new friends went back to the hotel, cooked up some food and had an awesome night chilling out and talking.

Now it was time to hit Coral Bay. We drove down with our new friends following behind and set up under a tree in the arvo right above the beach. We all took naps under the tree and relaxed all day in the sun. We swam a bit then cooked up some more fish. It was such a nice day. We camped out at a campsite nearby. That night we looked at stars, cooked a veggie curry

and then I slept in a tent that was ontop of a 4x4. It was awesome. In the morning it was time for us to say our goodbyes to our new friends and then go on a boat!

In exmouth we did a bit of snorkeling on the Ningaloo reef but in coral bay we wanted to see it farther out. We snorkeled with manta rays first. Those things are huge!!! Then we went into the reef and swam above reef sharks. The reef was beautiful and we got to see so many colorful fish. After our boat ride we packed up the car and started heading back to Perth.

We stayed in a cute quant town that night and then were off to Geraldtown the next day. Geraldtown had a nice harbor and was a nice place to spend our last night of the trip together. We all had so
much fun together!

In Perth we all parted ways. I went back to Beth and Colins for my remaining days in Western Australia. Their daughter had come to town and I went shopping the next day with them. Beth drove me around to see all the beautiful beaches in Perth then we shopped and had a drink at the harbor. That night I had my last dinner with them at this amazing thai place. I flew back to what has now become my home here in Australia, Melbourne and have started teaching once again.

Southern Western Australia and Perth

It has taken me way to long to wrtie this one. Western Australia is amazing and beautiful! I got to go to a lot of places, see some really cool things and best of all meet some really interesting people. I feel lucky in the ability to quickly meet people wherever I go. My first night that I was off traveling, I was spending the night in Perth.

My first night in Perth I was a little nervous because though I flew all the way to Australia by myself I actually hadn't been truly by myself since then. All my travels and short trips have been with people, except my daytrip to Brisbane. But now from that day on I was on my own for the next 4 weeks, or so I thought. So off I went to this little beach bar in Cottlesloe because I was told by Liam that I had to go there for a Sunday session. So off I went and instantly met a really nice Brazilian bloke. I then meet his friends who were all Aussie. We all talked, drank and had a good time. since it was Sunday the bar closed quite early and that left plenty of time for some mischeif. We decided we would go to the beach and hang out. We did and it was really fun. It was a great first experience on my own. At the end of the night we all split ways and I was back to my hostel getting a little sleep before I had to get up and get going unto my next destination.

I decided I wanted to start at the bottom and work my way up. So the next morning I got a bus ticket for Albany. I was excited about taking a bus because it was the first time I had ever taken a public bus on a trip. In Albany I quite enjoyed my stay in a hostel that was once a hotel. The town was nice and quant. After I checked in, I asked about all the best tourist spots and the owner felt that they would be hard to get to without a car so he decided he would take the next day off to show me all the most beautiful spots in Albany. It was so nice of him and the sites were seriously breathtaking.ev

Early in the morning before I went on my personal guide I did get some great alone time. I ran 5k to the nearest beach and
swam a bit. The trail was beautiful and it was so refreshing to swim in between my runs. The 5k back I took the trail along the coastline and it was fabulous. The rest of my time in Albany was very nice and pleasent. Everybody that night from the hostel hung out drank and had great conversation. Each person seemed to be from a different part of the world so it made for some very interesting conversations.

Maragret River was my next destination, known for it's wine and surfing. My first night I went to an outdoor cinema at one of the vineyards with one of the girls staying in the same hostel. It was really fun watching the movie on grass, under the stars, with the grapevines being the backdrop of the screen.

The next day I checked out a few more wineries when I took a winery tour with a few German girls. The wines were wonderful and we even stopped at a cheese factory and a CHOCOLATE factory. That night I changed hostels to the one near the beach and went and watched the sunset with a group from my new hostel. I went and had a parma and a pot (very aussie bar food) with some of my new friends and then crashed out from my big day. The next morning I got up very early and checked out the beautiful beaches around me. I finally stopped, swam and relaxed at a point where all the surfers were. The waves were massive so I didn't try surfing but I did jump in for a bit. The waves were really strong so I only lasted awhile before returning to sunbathing.

My last day in Maragret River I wanted to make the most of it so I got up early, ran along the trail overlooking the beaches, took a swim and then ran back to my hostel to get ready for my next adventure. That night I was off to Perth again.

I was excited because I had heard good things about the nightlife in Northbridge and wanted to check it out. It lived up to its hype. I got all dressed up and went off to a couple different bars and clubs.

I met people at each one and really enjoyed my evening. The next day I was off to cottlesloe beach again. It wasn't the sunniest of days so I ended up checking out the shops and getting the most amazing nachos at a nearby pub. My father's company has a division in Australia so one of his co-workers actually lives in Perth. So he arranged for me to meet him and his wife. Well it turned out they were so sweet that they offered for me to stay with them for free during my stay in Perth. Since I am a backpacker and on a small budget I of course agreed. They are a wonderful people and I loved staying with them. The first night, they had a bar-b-q where I met some very nice and interesting people. The next day Beth showed me around Perth. We went to the art gallery and then through all the wonderful stores downtown.

I had planned to go to rottnest island the next day. George is a german guy who I had talked to about traveling farther north in WA. When he heard I was going to rottnest he decided to come too. Rottnest Island was beautiful.

Over the beaches you could see the city skyline of Perth. We biked over 20k around the island and even saw the quokkas. Quokkas are marsupials just like kangaroos but are only found on Rottnest Island.

After our day on the Island we took the ferry back to Fremantle and headed to the Little Creatures brewery. There we enjoyed some of their great beers and a delicious meal! After dinner it was time to head back to Colin and Beth's place for the night. Their son had flown in and his girlfriend came over to see him. We all drank wine and had a good night. The next day was Australia day and Perth knows how to do it up right. Jonathon, Ashleigh and I met up with some of my friends to enjoy the amazing 30 minute fireworks show and a little celebration of drinks. Jen had flown in from Melbourne that day and scored us a spot in the downtown area overlooking the lake. Shortly after we got there George and stephanie my soon to be travel companions arrived too.

The fireworks were awesome and afterwards we headed to Northbridge for a little dancing. It was a fun night and my last one in Perth before I headed up to the northen parts of Western Australia.

Being a Nanny in Western Australia

After a crazy night in Sydney for New Year's I was off to fly to Perth to meet the family I was going to live with for the next 2 weeks. When I got there I met the wonderful and very sweet mum, Rebecca, and her adorable crew of 3 boys and 1 girl. I got the full experience quite quickly when we went to McDonalds for lunch. I watched them play on the playground and I saw they were full of energy. Luckily for me I am too!
So let me introduce you to the family. We have Alaya who is 8, David 7, Nicholas 4 and finally Todd at 2 years old. I had so much fun those 2 weeks watching the kids all day long that it actually made me have baby fever. I have always wanted to have 4kids and as I found out I actually think I could handle having that many. The enviroment was perfect. The house was set in a small western Australian town. It was scorching hot and I loved every minute of my time in the sun. Everyday I would watch the kids in the morning. Usually they would play outside, we would do some sort of craft or "school" then it was time to make lunch. After lunch, I would put Todd down for a nap. I would play with the older kids some more. Then when Todd woke up we would go to the pool. I got a great tan those 2 weeks. The kids were all good swimmers for their ages. I mainly stayed in the little pool with the two younger boys or I would go to the big pool and they would jump to me. I would have my daily chat with the pool owner and other locals while soaking up the sun.


The end of the workday for me would end with me making dinner. So it doesn't sound so great to make dinner everynight but for me it was sooo wonderful. The family owned the local IGA store so I was able to go in pick up anything I needed and go back to make whatever meal of my choosing. Since I normally only have one to cook for I don't venture out too much but while staying there I had 6 to cook for! It was great. I made a prawn risotto for the first time ever! I made a sweet curry one night and much more. The kids helped me make banana bread one day and an angel food cake (which they don't have here in Australia) for a ladies birthday at the shop. I felt part of the family and quite enjoyed myself.


Rebecca was great and also loves to travel. She showed me her scrapbooks of her travels around Australia so that I could see where I wanted to go. She was a great source of information for me to learn from. I also got to travel a little with the family. We made two trips to Dongara beach. On the way back on both trips we all tried to spot Kangaroos. Rebecca was the best at it and I was probably the worst. I got to see so many wild Kangaroos and my excitement on seeing them never calmed down. We also went to a national park that was so beautiful. Another day we went to Geralton and then off to a farm to go yabbie hunting! (yabbies are like crawfish). On my way back to Perth with them we stopped and saw the Pinnacles which are these amazing limestone structures that have came out of nowhere. It was really cool.


Once we got to Perth I got to meet the dad of the family. His name is Jamie and he is really nice. I spent the next day with them in Perth. We went to Jamie's mum and dad's house, which is right by a beach. They had a bbq and it was a fun day of chatting with some real American fanatics:) His parents have traveled around America and can't wait to go back. It was a wonderful afternoon walking alongside the beach and meeting some genuinely nice people. That night I had to say my good-byes to the family when they dropped me off at my hostel. They were off to Bali the next day and I was off for a night in Perth before I ventured down the southern coast of Western Australia.

New Year's Eve In Sydney!

After Christmas I had just a few days before I headed out for over a month to travel around Australia. The last few days were busy, busy. I found someone to take over my room in the apartment for when I was gone. That was a huge relief. I had to pack up everything for my trip plus pack up everything I wasn't going to take so it could be stored at Liam's while I am gone. It was a bit of a headache but was a huge weight off my back when it was all done. Who knew I had so much stuff here!

Then it was time to go to Sydney. Laura, Greg and I rented a car to drive up there. Greg and I went to pick it up from the city, while Laura stayed back and got us snacks. It was interesting driving it back to the apartment out of the city. The city is a little crazy with it's no turns, tram lines, bike riders and of left-side of the road driving. Once that part was done it was a breeze. We packed up the car and was on our way. A few hours in we found an awesome submarine statue that had to be 30 feet long. We stopped and had to jump on it to take pictures. We talked and played games on the car and had a blast. We even stopped in the big town of 500 for dinner. We ate at it's only pub and met probably around 1/3 of the towns patrons.
We got into Rosehill a suburb outside Sydney late that night. The next morning we got up and ate lunch at no other than Hooters. It was a massive hooters right beside where we were staying. I hadn't had buffola wings since I had been to Australia, so I was actually quite excited. It was then time to hit the city. We of course headed to the harbor to take picutres at the bridge and opera house. At the harbor there were a few abororginals performing their didrodoos. One of them was so cute.
He was telling everyone to take as many photos as they like, which is unusual because many aborginals believe photos capture their souls. After all that picutre taking time, it was time to go shopping! I found two dresses while shopping in this great shopping area of Sydney. Then we met up with Josh. He lives in Sydney and let all of us stay with him because two of his roomates were out of town. It was great because he lived right in the city.

At his place we all went on his roof and chilled up there because his apartment building had purposefully set up where each apartment has a enclosed rooftop spot. It was really cool. Afterwhile it was time to get all dressed up and go out for a night on the town in Sydney! Laura and I both dressed up in nice dresses and Greg wore his new white shirt he got that day and a lose tie. We first went to this classy looking bar and met all kinds of nice people.
Shayna and one of her friends met up with us as well. Then we were off to the World Bar which was so cool and had good dancing. They also served drinks in tea pots!

The next day was New Year's Eve day and we had to figure out what we were going to do. Our friend Matt had invited us to a house party but we knew our main concern was
to see the fireworks. We got to North Sydney to park the car and then walked across the oh so famous Sydney Harbor Bridge. It had amazing views of all the people getting their spots for the New Year's celebration plus the Opera House.
We got some pictures taken from a very nice Australia man who loved America and Canada which is good since Laura and I are from America and Greg is Canadian. We then made it to the side where the fireworks would be let off. We found a great spot but then realize that it was still 4 hours before they were going to go off. We saw that there was an entry that people kept coming in and out from so we figured that we probably could get back to the spot later if we tried. We were venturing around and stumble across that most amazing thing.....a party in the street!
A bar had a live band playing on the roof and everyone was dancing and drinking in the street. It was something you would think would come from a movie. We joined right in and had the most amazing the night. We sang along, danced like crazy and met a million people.
I even met a girl who was Australian but had lived in Houston for 12 years, crazy huh! I met people from Western Australia and they were giving me advice on were to go when I go there plus they were so excited for me because they said it was the most amazing place. One very unexpected but fun thing that happened was this guy turned around and said hi to me then gave me a yellow rose I LOVE YELLOW ROSES! They truly are my favorite flowers. It was so funny. We hung out with his group for a bit because it was time to go see the 9pm fireworks. We all ran over under the bridge and watch the fireworks go over the Sydney Harbor. They were awesome and they were coming from everywhere. . We had a few more hours to spare and continue the fun in the street. Then it was time for us to find our good spot again to watch the fireworks come off the bridge. We along with a million plus people were all scrunched in to watch the spectular site. The bridge had a lit up bit that counted down and then there they were the most fabulous, dazzling fireworks display ever! They actually came off the bridge and above the bridge. Then they even had a waterfall of fireworks coming down. I know I just can't describe how beautiful they were. I was a dream come true to be there to see them on New Year's Eve. It was even better than I could imagine.

So it was past midnight and time to follow the sea of people to the train station. We went down a few different streets and every single one just as packed with people walking down them then the next. Cars were obviously not allow in the area because there would be no room for them. We finally got to the train station and was on our way to North Sydney. We met some interesting people on the train and wished everyone a Happy New Year. Greg even started the chant Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi. A lot of people joined in. It was really funny! We then took a bus and walked a bit to find Matt's friends apartment. When we finally did, we started the party up again. They were all sitting on the couch winding down because it was almost 3am but then we walked in hype and they all got up.
The view from their balcony was amazing. It showed all of the beautiful city of Sydney. The boys started singing to their video of Live and I quickly found out they were all amazing singers. Then Connor got out his guitar and we all had a sing along on the balcony. I couldn't believe that the night could get any better but these boys really made it that much more memorialable. We stayed up all night and watch the sun rise over the city.


We then did the hike to Matt's house so I could have just enough time to shower and make it to the airport for my flight to Perth. I knew when I booked the ticket it was going to be a hard morning to get to my 10am flight on New Year's Day but it had to be done because I was starting nannying on the 2nd of January so the mum needed to pick me up on the 1st.
Even though I was exhuasted getting there it was all worth it. LUckily I had no problem sleeping the whole entire 5 hour flight, dreaming of nothing but the amazing events of the night before!