Farewell Sydney Life, Hello Nomad Life!

Life as I have known it in Sydney has come to an end. Last night was my final evening working at the Summit Restaurant. Last night was my final night living in my share house. This morning I officially become a traveling nomad!

The plan: I leave this morning for the Gold Coast. I am spending the day there. Then my friend Natasha is flying in and we are going to Byron Bay, and then to Coff's Harbor where we will spend the holidays with her family. I will return to Sydney on January 28th and remain here for New Years (I can't wait to see the fireworks show!). Then on January 2nd I am flying to New Zealand to meet Laura, my sis, in Auckland. We have rented a car and together will travel around the north and south islands. Afterwards, I will fly to Cairns. I have purchased a hop-on, hop-off bus pass and intend to travel down the east coast stopping along the way at numerous towns and tourists hot spots including Magnetic Island, Fraiser Island and the Whitsunday Islands. Then I'm coming home on February 8th, and bringing along with me Natasha. She has always dreamed of 1) going to New York and 2) seeing snow, so this was the perfect opportunity for her to do both.

Because of my travels, I'm not sure how much access I will have to a computer and/or Internet. However, through it all I am going to try and continue to update you all! So please continue to check back to my blog, just with the understanding that the quality of the blogs may decrease slightly as I will probably be giving a rushed account of my journeys. But I will post, I promise. Until then- Bon Voyage!!

I Ate A Kangaroo

I couldn't let myself leave Australia without trying Kangaroo. Yes, Australians eat Kangaroo. And so I needed to too. I had been told that kangaroo was tough and chewy, especially if overcooked. Plenty of people here order a rump of roo (like a big piece of steak), but this did not interest me in the least. I decided that the best means to ingest this iconic aussie animal would be on pizza, with other "things" that could potentially mask its taste if unpleasant. So last night at the Australian Heritage Hotel I ordered their famous kangaroo pizza, accompanied by cheese, roasted capsicum (aka peppers) and berries. The pizza was tasty. I ate every inch of it. This means that kangaroo was not only edible, but actually quite to my liking. It was tough and chewy, as I had been told, reminding me of a piece of well done steak. I don't foresee myself craving roo again, but I am happy that I can say I tried and enjoyed kangaroo.

OPRAHHHHH MANIAAAAA

Oprah came to town, to Aussie town. Did you know that? Because it was a HUGE deal around here. To the Aussies, Oprah is practically on par with the gods. There was more excitement about her arrival than if it had been the Queen of England. Aussies love Oprah. Ironically, it's when I'm farthest away from the US that I am closest to Oprah. When I was in Melbourne, we accidentally stumbled upon Oprah and her crew dining in an elegant arcade (aka shopping mall). There were tons of security guards outside the venue warding off crazy fans with cameras. When I returned back to Sydney was the same time that Oprah arrived in Sydney. While at work I was able to see the filming of her show at the Opera House. I couldn't actually see Oprah, but I certainly saw the massive audience sitting on the Opera House steps cheering her on. How fun. It was all anyone could talk about for days. But not Oprah has gone, taking with her the hoopla, hype and madness. Normalcy has returned to Sydney. I just thought you should know in case you had wondered or worried where Oprah had gone. =)

The Great Ocean Road Road-Trip

One item on the top of my list of "Places To See & Things To Do" was to drive The Great Ocean Road, one of the world's most famous and beautiful coastal drives, and see its most prominent landmark- The Twelve Apostles. The road stretches 151 miles along the bottom of Australia through seaside towns, beaches, country hills and rainforests. I shared my desire to drive the road with Aubrey, and she was all for taking a road trip! While there are many guided tours of the road, we decided it would be more cost effective and fun to rent a car and drive the road ourselves.

Monday morning we woke and set-off to rent a car for the day. At the shop they informed us that they only had manual cars left, which I thought was a major problem considering that I don't have a clue how to drive stick. Fortunately, Aubrey's first car as a young teen was a manual car so she volunteered to be the designated driver for the day.  We grabbed the keys, hopped in the car and were off! The car rental place had given us both horrible directions and maps (the index page was missing so I had no idea which map was for which area of Melbourne) so it took us nearly an hour just to make our way out of the city and onto the highway. However, after stopping a couple of times for help we made it onto the correct highway which turned into The Great Ocean Road. Finally, we were cruising off on our road trip adventure!

We enjoyed driving along the windy road, taking in the beautiful scenery around us. One moment we would be staring at the gorgeous ocean coastline, and the next we would be rolling through the country side surrounded by cattle and sheep. Our final destination was to reach the Twelve Apostles which from Melbourne was about a 4 hour drive, but the whole fun of driving the road is stopping at the small towns and sights along the way. First, we stopped at the Sheoak Falls. We walked through the rainforest for about 20 minutes until we reached the lovely waterfall hidden in the brush. After resting by the falls, we resumed our drive. Due to our desolate location, we had no radio reception and thus no music to accompany us on our drive. While I was not bothered by this static silence (thanks to the hooligans who stole my radio in New Haven), it drove Aubrey nuts.  She was desperate to find some sort of music to listen to on our drive, and at any opportunity would pull up to parked cars and pedestrians and ask them, "Excuse me fine gentleman. You wouldn't happen to have any CDs that you are looking to part with, do you?" I cracked up laughing every time she did this (at least 5 times), and each time they would shake their heads no. Everyone she asked was either in a rental car like we were, or they had ipods. To make up for this lack of music, Aubrey and I sang. We sang Christmas carols and 90's music hits (Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Will Smith were the favorite artists) at the top of our lungs as we drove along the road. I wish we had recorded our performances, because they were pretty spectacular. Undoubtedly grammy worthy.

Brye ready to rock-and-roll as the DD

Cruising down the highway

At the start of the Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road

The Sheoak Falls

Our next pit stop was at Apollo Bay, a seaside town located midway between Melbourne and the Twelve Apostles. We noshed on crackers, cheese and watermelon while sitting by the ocean, and then carried on. We arrived at the Twelve Apostles around 5:00 p.m. The Twelve Apostles are limestone rocks that jut from the water right of the shore of the Port Campbell National Park. I'm not sure why they are called the Twelve Apostles (there are only 8 rocks), but they were awesome and a unique site to see. We arrived just in time to see the sun set behind the rocks. Then it was time to make the trek back to Melbourne. It was such a fun day, and I am so grateful that Aubrey a) knew how to drive stick and b) was willing to drive the entire length of the trip. It was a long day and she was a trooper. I thanked her repeatedly for making my Great Ocean Road-Trip dream come true! It was the perfect end to an awesome weekend in Melbourne.

The Twelve Apostles

The seaside coast

The end of the trip: sunset and our sturdy car

Melbourne Holiday

Last weekend Sara, Aubrey and I took a 4 day holiday to Melbourne, the rival city of Sydney. People here seem to be particular to one city; I personally love them both. I was told by some that Melbourne was a lot like New York City, but I disagree. I think it is more like a Philly- very cultural and artsy while at the same time historic. It mixes old European flair with a hip, funky art culture. We spent the first night in the city and the following 3 nights in St. Kilda, the beach part of Melbourne comparable to Bondi Beach in Sydney. We had an absolutely lovely time. It was the first and last trip that the three of us took together. Sara is leaving this week to return to the USA, thus it was bitter sweet to be able to travel to this awesome city together before she left.

The tour guide books say that Melbourne is a city you visit for the food, shopping and art, and so our trip was primarily comprised of eating (my favorite activity), shopping (window shopping that is) and exploring the city streets filled with colorful graffiti and art. Hannah, one of our Australian friends, put us in touch with Simon, one of her good friends who lives in Melbourne. He generously offered to be our tour guide weekend and took us all around Melbourne making sure to show us the local favorite spots not mentioned in tour books. But make no mistake, us tourists still made sure to see the places Lonely Planet said not to miss. I thoroughly enjoyed wandering the alluring and intricate cafe and boutique filled streets- they pulse with a unique energy. Additionally, Melbourne has a great trolley transportation system which makes getting around simple as can be. Some of the main sight highlights of the trip included: the Melbourne Royal Botanical Gardens, art galleries, various fairs and markets, the Melbourne Luna Park, and Brighton Beach.

My favorite mural located in St. Kilda

Brighton Beach: Lined with the cutest, most colorful cobanas



Gazing at art...



The Melbourne Luna Park located in St. Kilda

Indulging in amazing tapa bombas...one of the food highlights of the trip

On Monday, Sara had to return to Sydney for work so Aubrey and I decided to rent a car and drive the Great Ocean Road. The details of this adventure will come shortly in another blog. Thus I will leave this as- TBC!

A Sand Dune Boarding Sunday

Last Sunday my Italian housemates decided it was time to get out of Sydney and embark on an adventure. Luca, my actual roommate, was the ringleader. He just purchased a car -- a white '96 Honda Civic, just like me (wut, wut) -- and was eager to take a road trip outside of the city. Luca decided that our travel destination would be Ana Bay, located in Port Stevens, where we could go sand dune boarding. Port Stephens is a large natural harbor located about 3 hours north east of Sydney (when driving) and it is known for its beaches of large, towering hills of white sand that stretch on for miles. From afar, the beaches look like mounds of snow that one could go skiing, sledding or snowboarding down. And that is precisely why Luca wanted to go there: so that we could go boarding down the hills of sand. Having never seen beaches like these nor gone boarding down sand dunes, you know I was game!

Sunday morning we rose early and piled into Luca's car. The day travelers included myself, Luca, Marta, Ernesto and Max (the only non-housemate, but still an Italian). The ride up was long, but it was a pleasant and relaxing; a nice change from walking hastily around the city. As the smallest crew member I got to sit in the middle back seat between Ernesto, who is quite a big dude, and Marta. So I can't say it was the most comfortable car ride, but minus a majorly sore butt I exited the vehicle in one piece.

During the car ride I was the designated directions giver, primarily because I am a native english speaker and thus could best read and understand the maps. However, the maps we had were for Sydney and its surrounding suburbs only. Once we made it outside the city we had no guide to follow.  Fortunately, unlike the stubborn men of America (at least the stereotypical ones), Luca and my Italian companions were not ashamed to stop and ask for directions. Actually, shout for directions. Whenever we were stopped at a red light, Luca and Max would roll down their windows and wave and shout at the cars next to us signaling for them to also roll their windows down. During the brief stopped-at-a-red-light period they would try and gather instructions for which way we needed to go. This method was amusing to watch, and I am happy to report also quite successful. We didn't get lost once, and after three hours we arrived at our destination.

 We climbed on board a 4WD (4 wheel drive) which was captained by Ray. He took off, clamoring over the mounds and hills of sand, throwing our bodies back and forth, side to side and every which way. There were multiple times when I was certain that we were going to topple over and tumble down the dunes we were climbing, but Ray was no armature and he transported us safely to our destination. We were given our boards and brief instructions on how to ride them (basically sit down and go). The boards were similar to snowboards except more narrow and long, and made of a firm but slightly flexible black wood. The climb to the top of the hill was a challenge, but once there I plopped on top of my board, positioned my feet and pushed. I pushed and pushed with my hands until gravity finally took over and I began sliding down the hill. As I picked up momentum it became apparent what my one mistake was: I wore shorts. Oh yes. By the time I reached the bottom of the hill a pile of sand had accumulated in my shorts and my crotch. This, needless to say, was quite uncomfortable. Despite my efforts to shake off the sand, it proved impossible to completely do so. I was still peeing sand days later (at least it felt that way). Still, the thrill of sailing down the dunes was enough for me to do it again and again. Luca, Ernest and Marta- those brave (or crazy) souls- attempted to master riding down the dunes standing. Marta was the most successful. Her sand-boarding skills were far superior to anyone; she was practically a sand-dune boarding pro!

Once we had our fill of sand boarding, we departed and stopped at a local brewery for dinner before making our way back to the city. Overall it was a wonderful day! It was nice to get away from the busy city scene and spend quality time with my favorite Italian housemates.

Marta & Me at the Ana Bay

Luca & Ray in the 4WD

Us back seat riders

Me & my board

Starting the boarding action

Marta boarding like a pro

The whole crew

Movember Gala: Mustaches, Mustaches Everywhere!

"Movember." Say it. "Movember." It rolls off the tounge, doesn't it? During my first few months in Sydney I heard the word "Movember" thrown around constantly but had no idea what it was. "I love Movember!" people would exlaim. "It's my favorite month of the year!" My reaction was always one of perplextion: "Huh? What is Movember?" Aubrey, perhaps the greatest fan of Movember, was the kind soul who finally explained it to me. "Movember is when men grow rediculous mustaches for the entire month of November in order to raise money and awareness about men's health issues. (November + Mustache = Movember. Get it?) It's the greatest month of the year!" She felt this way because she absolutely loves men with mustaches. She thinks there is nothing sexier than a man with a big 'ol stache. Wierd, I know. I, on the otherhand, prefer men whose chins, cheeks and lips are hair-free. Well, a little stubble is ok, but full-grown exhibitions of facial hair are a no-no in my book. Still, I was intrigued by this Movember, and when the month of November arrived (a month ago) I was impressed at how dedicated the men and women of Australia were to the concept and cause. 

Apparently Movember is a worldwide funraising effort. I am told that it does exist in the states. This was news to me. Perhaps you have heard of, experienced or even taken part in Movember before. I had not. This was my first Movember experience. For those of you who are still confused about what exactly Movember is about, here is how the Movember website describes it:

 Each year Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces in Australia and around the world, with the sole aim of raising vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

Men sporting Movember moustaches, known as Mo Bros, become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November and through their actions and words raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.

Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo growing efforts. The rules are simple; register online at Movember.com and start the month of Movember clean shaven, before growing a Mo.  

Money raised in Australia is shared equally between programs targeting prostate cancer and male depression. Funds are committed to our men’s health partners, the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue – the national depression initiative and the Movember Foundation. Together, the three channels work to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world class programs in the fields of research, education, support, and awareness.

As we progressed into the month of November, it seemed that practically every male I passed on the street was sporting a mustache of sorts. Every which way I looked, there were men with mustaches! This was most true at work.  Frank, my manager, challened the male Summit employees to a  Movember competition: whoever could grow the best movember mustache (as determined by the Summit crew via a vote) would win a $100 gift voucher. And so each guy at Summit spent the full month of November trying to grow the best stache they could. It was so funny to see them all. Big mustaches. Small mustaches. Brown mustaches. Blonde mustaches. Mustaches, I have come to realize, are really unique things that come in all different shapes, sizes, colors and styles. No mustache is like the next. I have a newfound appreciation for mustaches and the Mo Bros that grew them.

Clearly unable to be a Mo Bro, I decided that I would hop on the Movember bandwagon by becoming a Mo Sista. Basically a Mo Sista is just a female who supports the Movember cause. Sara and Aubrey were also Mo Sistas. We decided that the best way to show our Movember support and appreciation would be to attend the Movember Gala at Luna Park in Sydney. This gala took place on November 25th, Thanksgiving night. After we had stuffed our faces with our Thanksgiving feast, we got in our gala gear and headed to the amusement park to partake in the celbration of men with mustaches.

Luna Park where the Movember Gala took place.

The Movember Gala was one of the most fun evenings I have had since being in Sydney. For the gala, Mo Bros were instructed to dress up in a costume to match their mustache. Mo Sistas were told to dress in a costume to complement the Mo Bros they were supporting. Basically it was a massive Halloween party at an amusement park, and we got to ride the rides for free! Us Mo Sistas didn't have any Mo Bros to dress up with, so we opted to purchase fun little top hats and draw mustaches on our fingers. At some point in the evening someone offered Aubrey a mustache cut-out, which she eagerly plastered to her face. It was hilarious, as were most of the outfits worn by the Mo Bro and Sista attendees. The costumes that the Mo Bros donned were creative, innovative and oh-so funny, including: ElMO, MOna Lis, and MOah's Ark (as shown below). Prizes were awarded for the best and worst Movember costumes and mustaches. The grand-prize winner's mustache started from his lip and went all the way down to his ankles. No joke. He had shaved off all the hair on his cheeks, neck, chest and legs except for two inch-wide lines of hair that trailed all the way down his body. It was impressive. It was hilarious. It was enough for him to be crowned Mr. Movember.

Flashing our finger mustaches

El-MOs!

MO-na Lisas

MO-ah's Ark (and his mustache clad animals)

The awards: no worries, even lame-mos are prize worthy!

Riding the free-rides at Luna Park and loving it

I am now a huge fan of Movember, and I am certain that in a couple of years Movember is going to be HUGE in the United States. I know this fun way to raise money for an important cause will catch on like wildfire. I predict that next year, come Thanksgiving you will be feating with mustache-clad husbands, sons, uncles and nephews. But don't worry, as soon as the calendar page turns to December 01, the staches come off. This I can assure you; mustaches on men are almost obsolete now, especially as we enter the summer season.