Ellen in OZ

Visit my Etsy store!

2010-03-14T18:25:00.001-07:00

EllenJewels.etsy.com

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
EllenJewels.etsy.com

Things I will Miss!

2007-12-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

These are a few things that I will miss about Aussie:

amazing sky's

getting to go to the beach at any moment

the opera house

friends

iced chocolates

iced coffee

my fav store

the best thing on the planet...bread top!

my fav food place!

Tomorrow I'm Home

2007-12-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

To get away from the stress of packing i have been doing a lot of things around sydney but now its time to say goodbye! I leave tomorrow at 345pm and get to JFK at 945pm! this is what i have been up to....

This is where i lived all year - Gumal:

the lobby

our kitchen

Me jumping in front of the opera house and the bridge the last time i got to see it:

Manly Beach:

Centennial Parklands:

Biking in Olympic Park:

Talk to and see you all so soon!!

One Week Left

2007-11-26T00:13:00.000-08:00

This past week I have been a verrrry busy lady! Besides doing some last minute shopping I have been getting some sights crossed off my ‘to do’ list!! There are a lot of pics that weren’t posted but I will have a nice slideshow for everyone at Christmas to have on hahaha (I know your excited about that Sarah!!)

The Hyde Park Barracks Museum:

This is what they slept in!!!!

The National Maritime Museum: (I took a LOT of pics for you Uncle Pat to look at at X-mas)

this is a boat made out of beer cans!

Government House:

They wouldn't let us take pics inside but it was the most beautiful place I have been to in Sydney

TODAY:

Christmas Parade!!! - this parade made the Maschoutah Homecoming parade look fancy!

Rabbitohs float!

this is was cool i want to get this for next halloween....JK

SANTA!

Fireworks at the OPERA HOUSE (be jealous!!) for the Australian Idol finale (Nat won!)

Two Weeks Left

2007-11-18T15:50:00.000-08:00

With 2 weeks left in Sydney I have something planned to do every day of it and this is what I have been up to the past few...

This is the x-mas tree for Sydney ITS FAKE!! the lighting will be on the 22nd and a couple of us are planning on going!

This is Market City...where most of your gifts will come from

Woolloomooloo:

longest wooden structure in the world

Bondi Beach:

while you all are freezing i'm here getting a tan!! haha! its about 90F feeling every day!

Sculpture by the Sea (at Bondi):

Hope you enjoyed lots of updates to come!

Three Weeks Left

2007-11-12T04:28:00.000-08:00

Now that I am done with school work I have time do get everything in Sydney that I want to see done! There is so much to do still and so much more shopping left to do also :) This is what I have been up to the past few days...

I WILL have a video if me on this one day!!

The only time I have ever seen the Darling Harbor carousel on!

This was the Newtown festival it was a perfect day for it! got some yummy food and ice cream with Becca!

FINALLY something Finding Nemo themed!!

This is the Elizabeth Bay House I wont bore you with pics from the inside but it was really cool!

the view from inside!!

this is a sweet bed they use to sleep on

These are from Kings Cross:

or 9958.09473 miles away

These are from the Royal Botanical Gardens things are in bloom here!!

We have a few castles here too SP!!

and yet another pic of the opera house for RP

Australian Idol Part 2

2007-11-05T18:10:00.000-08:00

So this weekend I met up with a girl from Pace who is studding out here also and when we were out she was like "do you want to see the Top 4 in Australian Idol tomorrow?" and I said "YESSSS!!!!" :) good story. anywhoo last time I went it was the start of the season and it was a verdict show and this time we had to stand but it was sooooo much fun seeing them sing live!! It was 'Big Band' night not my fav but Carl, my fav, this is his genre so that was fun but tonight is the verdict I hope Carl doesn't get kicked off!

Carl!

Natalie got a 'touchdown' from one of the judges its the big thing on the show when you do awesometastic

Matt aka SP

The judges

The top 4 and the 2 in the middle are the hosts!

Aussie Halloween!

2007-11-02T00:38:00.000-07:00

Becca's amazing mom sent her a TON of decorations so we decided to be (b/c it was free) THE Halloween Party!!!

Sydney Symphony

2007-10-30T22:40:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, the 27th, me and some friends went to see Mozart's Great C Minor Mass played by the Sydney Symphony and featuring at 160 person chior and 4 opera singers. The opening segment was also from another composer called "Also sprach Zarathustra - Symphonic Poem" by Richard Strauss - its in a lot of movies. It was a wonderful time and a lovely experience!

the hole group!

Becca and I in our cute outfits!

The Symphony and the inside of the hall

opera at night

cruise ship was leaving just in time for the sunset!

Whale Watching

2007-10-26T23:33:00.000-07:00

Today Becca and I went whale watching!! woohoo! i have wanted to do this for such a long time and it was so worth it!! my pics dont do what we got to see justice...a mother and her claf come so close to the boat and i was so in aw i filed to get a perfect picture but you can get the idea with these ones!!

our captain looked like william defoe

tail!!

this is how close they came...not the best pic but you can see how amazing it was!!

so close!!

OZ Tower!

2007-10-25T05:51:00.000-07:00

Sydney from above! It was a rainy lame day but we had to use our tickets they expire tomorrow and tomorrow I will be whale watching!!!

got this pic from the web b/c it was nasty out today

this is looking to the botanical gardens and towards circular quay

hyde park and the only nice church in sydney

like my scarf?

the opera house from one of the binocular stands...my fav pic i have taken to date.

darling harbor

i got Sarah and i pressed penny's today!!!! :D

Indian Pacific Railroad and Adelaide

2007-10-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

From October 20th(at 3pm) until October 21st (4pm) we road the Indian Pacific Railroad from Sydney to Adelaide with a stop at Broken Hill along the way. This was an amazing time! We went through the Blue Mountains then the "NSW" outback (with kangaroo's and Emu's in the wild passing by) then through the wheat fields of Southern Austalian to arrive at Adelaide to spend roughly a day seeing the sights! It was a jam packed 3 days and I loved every moment of it!!

The train!

Ready to get sitting!

aka the cheep seats!!

The Blue mountains

The Blue mountains again

We went to "sleep" and woke up in the middle of nowhere!

nothing for miles and miles

STOP 1: Broken Hill aka Ghost Town

not a sole out...maybe because it was 7am?

red soil

The lounge car

the start of the wheat fields

a 'meal' on the train...Hot coco and tim tams

a 'town' we passed through

ADELAIDE!!

looks like KC!

funny stuff

where we had our morning coffee

the FREE tram!

yes i went to Adelaide just to see something from Sparta in a museum

large shark :)

best sign ever? explaining the alarms at the airport

Wildlife World, Town Hall and Res Ball

2007-10-23T02:16:00.000-07:00

The wildlife world is located in Darling Harbor and is like a zoo but more interactive I suppose...it was a lot of fun! took some funny pics and saw some cute and cuddly animals! (went on Oct 19th)

this sign is very Interpol of them.

it had my hand

neon kola...my fav species

the butterfly room scared me

Town Hall...this is the inside of town hall...thrilling!

Res Ball (a party for all of the residences) was Oct 19th and here is one pic of me and Sara(my Italian flatmate)

the theme was 1920s thus the head band, feathers and jewelry! lol

Surry Hills Festival

2007-10-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday there was a huge festival in an area of Sydney called Surry Hills! It was a lot like a mix of a homecoming and a street festival combo. We went for about 3 hours and looked at the stands(everything from food to clothing and jewelry was for sale) ate some ice cream and turkish and german food and watched people rave at 5pm it was a great day!

Camel Racing!

2007-10-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

This past friday, the 12th, we went to Harold Park Paceway to see some highly exciting Camel Racing and people from the audience could participate in the racing of a camel...i did not! It was a lot of fun and here are a few pics but this post is all about the video!

the camels!

the ATM hahahaha

Taronga Zoo

2007-10-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, the 7th of October, me and some friends took a trip to the zoo over in North Sydney. It was a lot of fun but not the best zoo i have been to...enjoy the pics :)

what a view they have

cool turtle

the view from in the zoo.

me and becca

meerkat manor?

they had all these animals as Barbie friends it was pretty amazing.

Tree Hanging Kangaroo

becca, christoph and sebastian

the view from the ferry at the zoo

Hobart, Tasmania!

2007-10-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

This post is going to be set up like the Cairns one...click the links to see the pics! and fyi i didnt proof read this...old school ellen style.

First off lets start with a map that shows where i have flown over the past 2 weeks...needless to say i'm exhausted!

ok so maybe my flights didn't follow those red lines but none the less i covered a lot of ground! from top to bottom!

PICS!!!!!

October 3rd - Day 1

Becca and I arrived late at night on October 2nd and had some fun getting into the hostel, which was amazing, but it all got sorted out by the super nice staff there and we went to bed because we were tired and cold!

We woke up early to get a good start to our day of exploring Hobart! It was a chilly 12C or 47F out with winds that could knock a child over! But that didn't stop us from seeing literally ever part of Hobart. At 1:30 we went on a tour of the oldest brewery in Australia, we did this because the chocolate factory was all booked :( but it was a LOT of fun and our tour guide was so awkward it made me so happy!I also got 3 free beers at the end, one of which i had cider with, and the beer i like best is called Cascade(the name of the brewery) Mercury its so yum! (are you proud dad?) We took a bus around town for a while it was only $2.40 so we were tired of walking but still got to see the sights from the comfort of a city bus! Later that night we wanted to eat dinner, like a normal person, it was around 7pm, a normal dinner time, and i only mention this because of the extreme difficulty we had finding anything that stayed open past 5pm!! We had to have dinner at the same place 2 nights in a row because it was our only option but it was a delish and homey Italian place, that was cheep too!

PICS!!!!!

October 4th - Day 2

The 4th and 5th we went on two tours with a company called Bottom Bits Bus. The bus itself caused me a lot of physical pain and frustration but the locations that we went to were breathtaking and amazing. The first stop we made was to Mount Wellington just outside of Hobart this is when it started raining after we went to the Sphinx lookout, we couldn't go to the summit because of the bad weather. This rain wouldn't stop all day, not when we hiked through the rain forest or at the waterfalls or at the wildlife sanctuary, it never stopped. I have never been so wet in my whole life. The second stop was Mount Field where the mountains were covered with fog and mist it was amazing and i didn't even care about the rain...yet. We drove through a small town called New Norfolk to pick up lunch and then kept on going in the uncomfy bus to a cool temperate rain forest where we went on a tall trees walk (and were in mud up to our ankles) that lead us to two waterfalls, Russell Falls and Barron Falls. This was a lot of walking but little did i know what was about to come tomorrow but the day had a wonderful ending - the wildlife sanctuary! It was the best kind of 'zoo' i have been to...the kangaroos are free to come and go and they love these animals, who are all rescued, so much so that our guide at this place takes home the baby wombat at night! TOO CUTE! we also got to see Tasmanian devils here and they are presh!!

PICS!!!!!

October 5th - Day 3

Today was our last day in tassie and we went on another, longer, tour so that meant more time in the horrible bus but today i have to say was the best sights. The tour guide was a little cookey but none the less got us to these amazing places. The first stop(on our 3 hour drive to see wineglass bay) was a lookout at Maria Island. The dive continued until we reached a small town to get lunch and then once again continued. The end of the longest drive landed us at the Freycinet peninsula where we were going to the lookout at wineglass bay...welllllllll this lookout was at the top of a mountain and this is the #1 place that people have heart attacks in tassie....needless to say i was out of breath during the entire 30 min it took to get up the mountain but the view was worth it! The next stop was to Sleepy bay and this was my favorite stop. The pictures i took here are my favorite by far. We went on to Cape Tourville to have another walk and a look at a lighthouse then down to friendly beaches for a light stroll and more pics. The last stop before the long drive home was Kates Berry Farm where i had a fresh raspberry shake! yum! The drive home went fast-ish considering he drove 100kph no biggie.

PICS!!!!!

I had such an amazing time in Tasmania it has been my favorite thing to date!

tasmania pics

2007-10-06T03:47:00.000-07:00

i took 561 pictures in tassie so these are just a few for you all to enjoy!

our room! and our heater!

Day 1

typical house in Battery Point

caution for the aged!

and the elderly!

lookin cute in our neon vests and plastic glasses!

you can barely see him but thats our awkward tour guide in the corner <# Day 2

SNOW!

mount wellington

for some reason this reminds me of rachel...take that as a complement rp :)

tamanian devil!

itchy kangaroo baby

sittin on its tale

snack time! this reminds me of sp...also this is a complement!

squishy wombat! and his dad hehe

kola!

scary emu. this wasn't zoomed in he got a little too close!

Day 3

Maria

after the climb

what we climbed

they had elephant rocks!

Wineglass Bay - mom's favorite bay in the world

wildlife on the walk a wallaby!

Cape Tourville:

Kate's Berry Farm!

the evil bus.

Cairns, Queensland!

2007-10-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

To look at the pics in this post please click the links!

On September 25th I flew into Cairns which is in northern of Australia and in the state of Queensland. From the airport we checked into Shenanigans (much like the bar in Belleville) and our room was so nice! We (meaning me and Dom) had our own double bed and a very nice sized bathroom and a TV! It was a very nice place and in the center of town, a great location! The first thing we did was walked to the marina to have lunch and scope out where we would be coming for snorkeling the next day. We walked around a little and then went and changed into our bathing suites and we to the lagoon aka a huge pool right on the water, Cairns does not have a beach in town. My friend Andi was in town and he met us for an ice cream by the lagoon and then he had to get to the airport to get back to Sydney. The rest of the day we spent exploring the city and we went to bead early we had to be at the Reef Fleet Terminal at 7:30am to go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef!!

PICS of day 1!

Day 2 – September 26^th

As some of you may know I have an ‘issue’ with the ocean so I thought that I was going to have a very difficult time snorkeling…this however was not the case! When we got on to the boat, a huge catamaran sail boat, I just didn’t think about what I was about to do and then when they went “ok time to get your gear together and get in the water” my nervousness hit a high but once I was in my wet suite and was on our way to the first reef, one off an island called Michaelmas Cay, it subsided. When I first got in the water it took me a while no relax, which is very important in snorkeling since all you do is lay on your stomach and look down at everything, but it eventually happened and it was so much fun! I even snorkeled all the way back to the boat! I did this just in time because soon after this we saw a black tip reef shark swim by the boat! We had lunch, which was lovely, and then headed on to the main reef which was just in the middle of the ocean we had to hop off the back of the boat. It was amazing there was so much color and crazy fish that were rainbow colored! It felt like I was swimming in a larger and colder version of Sarah and Steve’s fish tank!

The pics are not the best quality but what do you expect from a Kodak underwater camera?

PICS OF DAY 2!

fishys in the water

Day 3 – September 27^th

So the day after going to the reef I slept in until 9am! Woohoo!! I went to breakfast where I had a wonderful scone and butter outside and then caught a bus to Palm Cove an amazing beach 50 minutes north of Cairns! The pictures are mostly from the 29^th but the are all of palm cove!

Day 4 – September 28^th

Today me and Dom went on a tour called “on the wallaby” by recommendation of Becca and it was SO much fun and we got to see so much of the country side, the rainforest and waterfalls and lakes around the area! The first stop was Hailes Look out where it was almost a white out from the bush fires then on to the Cathedral Fig Tree, a tree growing on top of another tree. Then Lake Barrine where we had our first rainforest walk. The next stop was Lake Echam which is the top of an inactive volcano that has filled with rain water. I swam in it, another huge feat for Ellen, and it was so cold but apparently good for your skin! We ate our picnic lunch here and it was delish! We then went on the most photographed waterfall in the work, Mila Mila Falls! It was sooooooo cold I couldn’t get in past my thighs! We then had fresh fruit and chocolate J mmmm too good. We went to our final rainforest walk, where we were to be cautious of Cassowaries, and to the last waterfall – Dinner Falls – and the coolest thing ever called The Crater.

pics of day 4!

Day 5 – September 29^th

Today I went pack to Palm Cove to get tanner! The last time I went it was the late afternoon and I didn’t have much time to explore the town or walk the whole beach but today I did and the pictures tell the whole story! Beautiful! (see day 3 section for pics)

Flight drama – September 30th

The day that I got the Cairns Jet Star (the airline I was flying) called and told me my flight was cancelled for on the way back and they were going to put me on a Qantas flight, since they are owned by them. Then the night before the flight I went to check the flight online and it was no where to be found! I called Qantas and they told me (this took them about 30 min to figure out) that I had been told the wrong information and then had been erased from they system. The end result was me being on a flight to Brisbane on Jet Star then re-checking in to a Qantas flight there to get to Sydney. This day, which started at 3:30am, only got worse when I landed in Brisbane. There were about 100 people waiting in line to check in fro Qantas, the line was out of the terminal it was so long, and about 5 workers! It was chaos! But since my mom taught me to always be nice to people the worker at the service desk checked me in before he was allowed and I made my flight on time! Also the singer MIA was on my plane for anyone who cares lol. When I landed in Sydney I had forget that it was the equivalent of the Super bowl happening and the trains were a mess for the NRL final, the national rugby league, where Melbourne beat Manley – once again for those who care ;)

Hope you all enjoyed the update I’m off to Hobart, Tasmania tomorrow with Becca! Update next weekend about that trip! Love you all!!

cairns pics

2007-10-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

the published date on this is wrong on purpose so that it does not load when you open up my blog just when you click on the links on the post titled Cairns!

Day 1

pre tan

tan

the lagoon

low tide

high tide

day 2

first place we snorkeled

Reef pics:

proof!

Day 3 and 5

Day 4

rain forest walk 1

this plant will kill you

i swam in this

mila mila falls

the tablelands

the crater

dinner falls

the bus

they are very confusing pokies

but i managed to win!

see you in 2 weeks!

2007-09-22T02:24:00.000-07:00

So I leave this Tuesday morning for The Great Barrier Reef and then Tasmania right after that! So I sent this in an email to a few people but I thought it would be nice to post it on here since I wont be updating for a few weeks!

This is what i will be up to from September 25th to October 6th:

WITH DOM
Sept 25th - fly to Cairns on Jetstar ( flight JQ952 - depart 705am arrive 1015am)
Sept 26th - Passions reef tour (snorkeling in the great barrier reef)
Sept 27th - tanning on the beach :)
Sept 28th - on the wallaby waterfalls tour
Sept 29th - tanning on the beach :)
Sept 30th - fly to Sydney on Jetstar (flight JQ64 - depart 6am arrive 9am)

Hostel info for Cairns - Shenanigans Cairns phone: 61 7 4051 2490

Oct 1st- relax and do laundry / pack for Hobart

WITH BECCA
Oct 2nd - fly to Hobart on Virgin Blue (flight DJ622 - depart 735pm arrive 925pm)
Oct 3rd - boat cruise and Cadbery chocolate factory tour
Oct 4th - Mt. Field trip to the West coast of Tasmania
Oct 5th - Wineglass bay day trip all of the east coast
Oct 6th - fly to Sydney on Jetstar (JQ720 - depart 620am arrive 805am)

Hostel in Hobart - Hobart Hostel phone: 61 3 6234 6122

See you all in 2 weeks i'm sure i will have a TON of pics and videos for you :)

and just one little pic of Becca, Andi and Me at his b-day bbq!

Cronulla

2007-09-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

This Saturday (the 15th) Andreas, Becca and I went to this wonderful beach town called Cronulla! It is an hour train ride and so worth it! Its a very surf town and I will definitely be going back when its hot enough to sun bake! Not much else to say the pictures say it all :)

Just a little clip of the train ride for fun....

Australian Museum and Orchid Show

2007-09-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I have been celebrating my friend Andreas birthday but Becca and I managed to go to the Australian Museum and an orchid show at the Royal Botanical Gardens on Thursday the 13th! I have decided that they museums here in Sydney are very "special" to say the lest.

Lots of pics ahead enjoy!!

They had a lot of skeletons

ROTFLCOPTER to this!!

Mr. Turtle

This moved the skeleton it was creepy.

Now for the flowers :)

Australian Idol LIVE!

2007-09-11T20:30:00.000-07:00

Last week a opened up some mail and three Australia Idol tickets fell out! I had applied online but didn't think that I would get them! I applied for 3 and got all of them so I brought along Dom and Becca! We were let in at 6 and sat in the 2nd row!!

Well the show was great! They have 2 hosts and they were both a riot! It was an elimination show so we got to see some one (the first of the top 12) get booted off live! You don't realize that they are really getting told live until you see them during the commercial breaks! Holly got kicked off!

http://www.australianidol.com.au/

These pics are from before the show obvies I couldn't take them when we were live but enjoy!

Dogs

2007-09-05T02:32:00.000-07:00

Thank you Sarah for taking these videos for me! It made my day :)

Rugby Game and Centennial Park

2007-09-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, September 1st, Me and a few of my friends went to a rugby game! It was a lot of fun and there were only 3 fights in the stands and 2 on the field! The game was to advance in the finals of there league I think...all i know is that it was the South Sydney Rabbitohs vs. the Sydney Roosters at Telestra Stadium in Olympic Park!! and the roosters players were way cuter :)

The pics are not the best and our group shot is blurry but enjoy!

btw russell crow ownes the Rabbitohs!

The Stadium

We were in row 8 so close!

The rabbits got killed by the roosters!

The cute team

Blurry group

Today I went to see if there was this cool thing called 'art in the park' over in centennial park and i bussed 30 min there to find out they had stopped having th events but left the ad online! But this is one of the biggest parks and nicest parks i have ever been to so i just walked around for an hour or so and then walked down oxford street and caught a bus home!

one of the 5 lakes in the park!

Jesus was in the sky today

Parramatta

2007-08-27T16:22:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, the 26th, me and my Austrian, German and Italian friends took an hour long ferry to Parramatta the second oldest established city in Australia and i had a ton of fun with the people but the city was rather boring!

The group:
Christoph, Andreas, Daniela, Sebastian, Bastian and me - Becca was the photographer!

The Ferry

The Government House in the middle of the park we ate lunch in!

Town Hall

St. Johns

South Coast Day Trip

2007-08-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday the 25th I went on a day trip with Becca and a few Austrian kids to the south coast!

We went to a few places such as Fitzroy Falls, Kangaroo Valley, 7 mile beach, Berry(a cute little town), Kiama Blowhole, Nan Tien Temple and then drove along a ocean coastal road home! This 12 hour day was so much fun!

Yurunda Valley

I know you all miss my face

Fitzroy Falls

7 mile beach

the sky is so blue here I love it...this was down in the valley

The blow hole was lame this day!

Berry

We went to the largest Buddhist temple in Australia it was wonderful!

Mass was going on and I took a short video of the monk hitting the giant bell

Ryan Adams

2007-08-25T04:36:00.000-07:00

To make this easier on me I am going to do 3 small posts! one on Ryan Adams another on south coast and a third on parramatta(which im going to tomorrow)!

I went to see Ryan at Enmore Theater on Friday the 24th this was his last show on his tour and he played a special set! This was the best concert I have EVER been to!

A few pics and a video for you!! The viedo is of Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard my fav song!!

Ryan likes to hide his hottness from us in the shadows.

Powerhouse Museum

2007-08-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday the 16th I went over to the Powerhouse Museum to see their special International Design exhibit these are a few pics of the day and then after i walked to Pyrmont and Johnsons Bay and took a few pics it had a very dumbo feel but the buildings were newer! Then just a few shots from Newtown a cute area about 5 minutes away!

This Friday I am going to see Ryan Adams in concert and then on Saturday i'm going on a day trip to see the South Coast so next week will have a big update for everyone!

also what is this weather about rain every day?!?! I want my summer!!

Its a roomba (automatic vacuum) for your grass! an automatic lawn mower!

They had a lot of random things here but this robot was a-maz-ing.

It was a hazy day

This ship in the bay was unloading hundreds of new cars one after the other I have never seen such a big ship in my whole life. The Anzac Bridge in the back is HUGE and the ship makes it look small!

This is who i'm going to see with Becca on Friday!!

I thought New York was the concrete Jungle!?

Moore Park

2007-08-13T01:33:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday my friend Becca and I went on a walk to what we thought was going to be Centennial Park but you have to walk thought Moore Park to get to the other park and they are both so bight that we were too tired to walk to Centennial so we just relaxed in Moore park!

Also Becca and I just booked our trip to Tasmania!!! click on the blue to get to a NY Times article that has a slide show with amazing pics of Tasmania! We will be there from Oct 2 to the 6th! So I will be away from Sydney from Sept 25th(when Dom and I go the the Great Barrier Reef) to Oct 6th(when Becca and I get back from Tasmania)

Enjoy the pics and Happy Birthday Dad and Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad and Happy Birthday SP tomorrow!

PS - i dont know why but it keeps messing up the captions and i cant figure out how to fix it! sorry but you get the idea!

This was in Redfern.

The City

Dad this is some Boys Tennis Academy it was HUGE!!

We walked passed the Cricket grounds to get to a lake!

The tree's here are HUGE!!

looking up!

i want a huge print of this when i get home!!

and i leave you with a cup of Cadbury hot coco! YUM!

Sydney Aquarium

2007-08-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

on August 3rd Dom, the kid from Pace who is here also, and I went to the Sydney Aquarium in Darling Harbor! We got a pass that is good until October 30th for going to the Wildlife Park and the Sydney Tower for 20 dollars less because we are students! I love that this town gives concession! Here are a few pictures since it was an aquarium they aren't the best because my camera doesn't have a fish tank setting! enjoy.

p.s. they had lots of fun signs there so a lot of these pictures are of signs!

Platypus! he was very active thus the blurry-ness!

Funny platypus sign!

I think I blinded him!

Love those names!

If the fall wont kill ya' the crock will!!

The award for the best animal name goes to the Banana Peel Eel!!

This was the finding nemo exhibit they painted the Sydney sky line in the back! how cute!

Blue star fish!

They were feeding the sharks while we were there, note the leftovers in his teeth! also im very sad that I am missing shark week!!

some cool coral

Dom, Me and a sharkie!

Sarah James get one of these!!

The orange in this picture is a fish!

They were having a boat show in the harbor! I bought a yacht mom and dad!

These are two videos I took!! The first is entitled "keep swimming" and you will see why and the second is some shark feeding action!

its getting warmer outside!

2007-07-31T00:57:00.000-07:00

I have been sick the past week or so with a super soar throat and a cough but its clearing up as the weather is getting warmer! its going to be 23C this week! that's about 66F! and they call this winter!

On the 29th, even though I was sick, I went on a walk from coogee to bondi beach, thinking that the outdoors and ocean air would help my sickness, well little did I know that if was a four mile walk along the cliffs of the country! yikes! but I had an amazing time and got some amazing pics!

My classes started on the 30th and so far I have been to two out of the three, tomorrow is my last, and they have gone wonderfully should be a breeze considering they don't give exams here!! today in my class when I said I was an exchange student from new york city no joke the whole class went "oooooooooooooooooohhhhh!!" they all love the idea of meeting a new yorker!

But first by popular demand more pics of my dorm room

My desk, nice and clean!!

I put up some bus maps for things on the wall!

My door and food area, went to the store yesterday!

This is what we walked along the coast not the blue line!

Coogee Beach!

A grave yard that looked out onto the ocean!

Oh look its me!

I do have friends!

what we were walking along!

Bondi was the end point and I was glad to reach it!

lots to say

2007-07-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

So since the last time I posted a LOT has happened! You know that I moved into my room but I had yet to go to orientation and all the international events...well those both went every well! I have made a few friends and met lots of people from all corners of the globe! My 'flat mates' are from Milan, Malaysia and Pakistan! During orientation I got my ID card and all my classes are ready to go and I start them Monday the 30th! The first class I have is called Communication and Audience! Its from 1 to 4 in the afternoon! Can't wait to get a feel for how the semester will go as far as work loads and reading and so on!

In other news the weather has gotten BEAUTIFUL! Its about 20C every day which is about 63F and for winter thats amazing! I cant wait for summer! But just in time for the weather to get nice my Mom and Jan had to head back to the ole USA :'( I'm so great full that they came with me at the start of all this! They kept me from ever being overwhelmed! But I miss them already!!

The shopping report to date is that I haven't done much of it!! K-Mart and Target are both on the PRICEY side!! can you believe it?! Tops at target are about $40 and a little less at K-Mart! but i did get a nice top and bag from there for less than the norm! :)

Now for some pictures!!!

These are from when we took the ferry to Watson's Bay and then looked out at "The Gap" on the 26th!

The View from the boat of the Opera House!!

The Gap is the Pacific ocean and the next mass of land you will get to is America!

The Cliffs we were on looking out at the ocean!!

<3

When you looked over one shoulder you had the Sydney Skyline and over the other you had the Pacific! This was on the last day with mom and Jan!

Amazing.

The Bay

The Bay and Sydney from the top of the cliffs!!

The Boat home

The Harbor Bridge from the boat home!

The last meal with mom and Jan and thats Dom my Pace buddy here in OZ!!

Aussie Idol...where they have no Simon because everyone is so nice here.

The Anzac Bridge from the fish market i went to today I also went to Glebe market which I will be going to very very often! It may be better than my upper west side flea market in NYC!!!

The photo studio I live across from!

Some Aussie food I like!!

And I leave you with the sunsetting over Darling Harbor...view from mom and Jan's hotel room!

The Rain Forest

2007-07-20T16:41:00.002-07:00

Forgot to add these but rach reminded me lol

Part 2 - Since I Have the Time

2007-07-20T01:15:00.000-07:00

This is from the 18th to the 20th of July!

18th
This day we took an all day tour of the Blue Mountains! They are a mountain range about an hour out of Sydney and they are amazing! This tour took us to a Kangaroo Park also where we got to see them in the wild, tea on a river, lunch in a mountain town, on the world steepest railroad, down in a cable car into a cold-temperate rain forest, through Olympic Park and a boat ride back to Sydney! It was a long but FUN day!!

The Three Sisters Rocks!

This was down the cable car!

My mom was FREAKING out! but she did it and lived to talk about it!

NOW FOR THE KANGAROOSSSSS

Thats a video of them hopping around :)

This is one of the Olympic stadiums!

This is for Rachel Pesin....Sydney, London sytle! and yea thats the opera house.

19th
Today I got moved into my dorm room and then we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens and then to the Victoria Building for some dinner!

i think i over-decorated lolz

20th
Today my mom and Jan went on a wine tour and I had a meeting about housing and spend the day going to Target and K-Mart to see if they were like in America and guess what THEY ARE BETTER! (Rach I will take pics of things there another day I had limited time lol) but there was a Steve Irwin ride for little kids and yes there will be a pic of me on it soon.

Part 1 - The First Days

2007-07-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

This is the first post of when my mom and Jan are here its the first two weeks of being in Sydney this post is from the day we got here - Monday the 16th - to Tuesday the 17th!

This was on the quantas airplane how funny NO FERBIES!!

The first day we walked around our hotel and this is by Darling Harbour! and no i didnt see Nemo. how sad.

This is the view from our hotel of Darling Harbour!

The Monorail going over the walkway to get to the other side of Darling Harbour!

Then we went to the world largest Chinese Gardens outside of China!

Mom and me looking pretty in the gardens!

DAY TWO

We decided to take a bus tour to get a feel of the whole city! This is mom and Jan on top of the bus...it was a little cold considering this is the coldest weather they have had in 20 years! its about 53 every day!

Oh look its UTS!

The harbor Bridge!

The Opera House!!

We decided to take a tour of the opera house its AMAZING inside! i must go see something there!

The outside is made out of concrete but the inside is all wood! lovely!

The next post will be the Blue Mountains, kangaroos in the wild and my dorm room i will try to post those soon!!

Five Days

2007-07-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

Five days until I am on a plane to Australia!