BJD

This post is dedicated to the dearest, loveliest Sheila. I had a "Bridget Jones" moment today while walking across the Pyrmont Bridge on my way back from a meeting. Amid the lunching workers and tourists I felt like BJ as she walks across the bridge in London on her way to work. Tallying the number of cigarettes smoked, alcohol units consumed and weight gained in her head. I don't smoke, haven't been drinking a lot or weighed myself recently, but still, it was a moment. Here are a couple of pic's below:

Brit

Monkey Birds

For the past few weeks since I have been living in Bondi I keep hearing what sounds like a pack of monkeys fighting outside my window. Sometimes I feel I am living in the middle of the jungle. I have come to find out that this crazy noise is coming from the small birds that inhabit the trees in the front of my apartment. I am not sure what kind of bird it is, I think someone said it may be a lorikeet, but it isn't very colorful. In any case here is a picture of the monkey bird.

Bondi Weekend

After a fun night out (I need to learn to say no to Jager bombs), and dragging myself out of bed, I spent a lovely morning with a walk to Bronte beach and had a delicious brunch with Fiona. I still can't get over how beautiful the water is here. So clear and blue. Enjoy a few pic's.

Just say No

Bronte Beach

Delicious Brunch (just noticed the name of this place is kinda funny)

View on the walk back to Bondi

Beach Day!

Neon yellow bikini bottoms and mismatched top? Check. Sarong/Towel? Check. Three different types of sunscreen (face/body/cooling mist)? Check. Reading material (The Alchemist)? Check. Jacob's Creek Visor (freebie promo item from Australia Open)? Check.

It's a Beach Day!

I was such a lazy bum this afternoon and it was awesome. Spent the morning watching "The Circle" (Oz's answer to 'The View") then headed down to the beach. It was perfect weather. Not too hot, not too cold, light breeze, just right.

Few pic's from the afternoon:

Beach Bag ready:

View of the ocean in front of me:

View of Bondi behind me:

Tourist that fell in the water trying to take a picture:

On The Rocks

I went down to an area of Sydney Harbor called "The Rocks" today. When Sydney was colonized in the late 1700's it was a pretty seedy area where sailors would go to find prostitutes. Now The Rocks is a tourist area with lots of shopping and cafe's. While I was there I did something I have never done before. I had a psychic reading at a place called the Argyle Oracle. I won't share what the psychic said here since I believe, as with blowing to birthday candles, if you tell it won't come true. And I am not sure if I believe in this sort of thing entirely, but it was pretty interesting and a fun way to pass the afternoon.

Brit

Free Yoga? Yes please

I went down to check out the free yoga class the Lululemom store offers on Bondi Beach every Tuesday tonight. Life is pretty hard when you are taking a free yoga class on a cool summer night staring out at the ocean. I could have fallen asleep to the sound of the waves it was so relaxing. Here is a pick of South Bondi on my walk home. What a way to end the day :)

"V" is for Vintage

Sydney has a lot of great vintage shops. Proper vintage shops, not just thrift stores (with the prices to match). I went to about 4 shops today and could not get enough. I also couldn't buy anything since I am on a bit of a budget till I get a job. One particular suburb in Greater Sydney called Newtown has one street with amazing vintage stores and second hand furniture shops. I did break down and buy myself a little Valentines present, a fun little dress at a shop called Jelly Blossom. I'll take a pic of it tomorrow since I'll probably wear it out.

Here are just a few pic's from my trip today. I also decided to walk to Bondi Beach from Bondi Junction (the nearest train station), so the last pic is of the view from the street right before you walk down into the beach area. Enjoy.

First few days in Melbourne

I was going to try to start this blog when I first arrived in Melbourne 3 weeks ago. Obviously that did not happen. here a just a few pic's from my short time there.

This is me right after getting off the plane. I have to say that I don't think I look too bad after a 14 hour flight.

I couldn't check into my hotel until 2pm, so having a few hours to kill I went down to a park near the beach to read a book.

I ended up falling asleep in said park and got a nice little sunburn on my face, chest and the top of my leg. I had set myself under a shaded tree, but the sun moved during my siesta and got me.

It was Australia Day in Oz on February 26 (like our Independence Day), there was a parade and all sorts of celebrations around town. I saw these two on my way to Federation Square.

So it was a short time in Mel, but a good time.

Good Vibrations, not just a store in SF

Yesterday I went to a music festival in Sydney called Good Vibration. It's is kind of like Coachella, but it is only one day and travels to different cities around Australia. I went specifically to see Erykah Badu and Miike Snow, but caught a few other acts as well. The first act I saw in an Aussie duo called Tim& Jean. Not only was the music awesome, but the lead singer was rocking a pretty sweet porn'stach and jean jacket. My kind of people.

(I was taking pic's off the giant screens, so they aren't the best quality).

All the music was amazing, but I have to say I was a bit off put with how trashed the park got. There were beer cans and soda bottles everywhere and, to my disgust, condoms (unwrapped) laying around near the toilets. It really made me appreciate the beer gardens at Coachella, as I do not remember Coachella having hardly any trash at all. It was pouring rain during the festival as well, so I am sure that didn't help with the trash situation. Even so, it was a pretty fun day of live music and interesting people watching (please see guy in Indian outfit).

Off to find some vintage stores in Sydney tomorrow, hoping to find some gems.

Brit

First Days In Oz

I’ve been in Australia for a little under 3 weeks now and I have finally figured out to download my pictures on my new Macbook, so I can post them on the blog I finally started to write.I started out in Melbourne, but after a few days decided to head to Sydney. In my short time in Mel I managed to get a sunburn, watch a parade for the Australia Day celebrations and catch a bit of the Australian Open on TV (tickets to the actual event were quite expensive).

Once in Sydney I quickly decided to head to Bondi Beach to find a place to live and ended up in a lovely apartment just a 5 min walk to the sand. I was fortunate enough to have met some lovely ladies through a friend of a friend that invited me the Bondi RSL for drinks were learned to pull the shells and guts off a prawn and ate my first oyster (which actually was not as horrible and I though it would be). Later on we went down to the park nearthe beach to watch the Men’s finals for the Aussie Open (i realize the in the picture there is a soccer match on the screen, it was playing while we waited for the tennis to start).

After getting a sunburn in Melbourne you would have thought learned my lesson, but no. Got my second burn at Bondi from the mid day sun, which I should have known better to stay out of. The sun here is extremely strong and the heat was at record highs the first week I was here. I pretty much walked around the city sweating form head to toe for the first week. When it finally cooled down again I ventured out to Manly, a beach in northern Sydney. You take a ferry to get there that leaves from Sydney Harbor right near the Opera House and offers amazing photo ops. Sailing in Sydney is a pretty big thing and on the way back we saw some beautiful sailboats coming out of the harbor. It was cloudy and raining but the pictures were pretty cool.

Yesterday I had my first paying gig in Australia being an extra on a popular tv show down here called “Packed to the Ratfters.” We were there for 9 hours and only worked for about 3. Days are long when you aren’t actually doing anything, but at least we got paid.

Tomorrow I am going to a music festival called Good Vibrations in Centennial Park. It is supposed to be 77 degrees and raining, so that should be interesting at the festival. I will hopefully remember to take pic’s this time!