The Shack

We have met some really great people that have opened up their doors and allowed us to come into their homes and that is just what the Osborn’s did for us.  Cherie and Nick Osborn let our household come down to their shack for the day to enjoy the ocean and the great weather.  Their daughter Lucy plays on the team with Lindsay so that is how we got to know them, but they have been wonderful and invited us over to their shack.  It was a great day and so we took advantage of the weather and went into the ocean.  I didn’t feel like getting wet but I did enjoy lying out on the beach reading a good book.  It reminded me of up north so it felt like home in a way.  Here are a few pictures of the beach with and without people in it.  One has Lindsay and the other has Jordan in it.  It is like he is a model posing on the beach!

Now the Osborn’s have all the great water activities so the gang jumped on the Jet Ski and took out the kayaks.  The water was a bit cold but once you were in it felt all right.  Lindsay and Jordan took the Jet Ski out and ended up falling off of it.  They were fine but they definitely were not expecting to fall off!  Here are a few pictures of them on the Jet Ski and the kayak.

After hanging out on the beach they made us a wonderful barbi…aka lunch.  They made chicken, burgers, sausage, salad; Brie, crackers; olives and we enjoyed a few glasses of wine or beer as well.  It was really a great day and we enjoyed the hospitality as well.  We cannot thank them enough for opening their door to us and making us feel like part of their family.  Here is a picture of the sun starting to go down and a picture of my Aussie family and me.  You can tell how happy we were and how happy we were to be there!

MONA

Yes I know it has been a loooonnngggg time since I have blogged and I apologize for that but hopefully these next couple posts will make up for it!  So we went to the museum here that is called MONA.  It stands for Museum of old and new art.  Now the theme of this museum is sex and death, so needless to say I didn’t take a lot of pictures because they would be too inappropriate. But here are a few pictures of what the area looks like and also the views that they have.

The not only have art here but it is also a winery and brewery, so of course at the end of our time there we had to have a beer.  Now this is the craziest museum that I have ever been too.  For one it is very out there and you have to have an open mind when you are in there.  Now you won’t have seen any pictures but there were photos of penises, vaginas and movies that people were naked in.  But it was in an artful way.  The few pieces that I took pictures of were my favorite.  We went into this room and when you opened the door all these faces were staring back at you and singing.  They were singing the same song but each one had their own way of singing it and their own movements.  They were singing songs by Madonna and it was pretty cool.  It was hard to leave the room because you wanted to see what the next person was going to do.  Here is what it looked like…and if you hum or sing a Madonna song you can get the affect for yourself.

This next art piece reminded me of a toy that I had when I was younger.  I would call it the art wheel.  We had this toy that you would put a piece of paper down and it would spin on a wheel and as it was spinning you poured paint on it.  It would create a design with all the other colors and was actually pretty cool.  This is what the big one looked like and it also spun around but at a slow pace.  Makes me want to make a big one like this.

The next piece that we saw was a very dark area that you walked around until you reached a little room.  There were numbers written all over the wall and it seemed kind of boring but when you got into the room you looked up and there was a mirror….needless to say it scared the shit out of me because I wasn’t expecting my reflection.  That sounds bad, my own reflection scared me.  But here is a picture of Lindsay, Jordan and I in the room.   It is pretty dark but it looks awesome.

There was an area that had falling water and each time the water fell it spelled out a different word.  I don’t know what it was trying to say but it was interesting to see how they created this water and it falling to create a word.  I would like to know how they did it.  Here are a few words that it spelled out.  Also the affect of it was better when you were in there.

This last picture is one of my favorites.  These squares were moving as if they were coming out towards you.  It was mesmerizing to watch them but I also think this picture is better than the exhibit.  I think I just like the look of it and that it is forever changing. There are two pictures and see if you can tell the difference between each square. 

Now I didn’t show you the raunchy pictures because it is too much for this.  But just know that these pictures do not do justice to what this museum is really like.  If you ever get here just know that you are in for one hell of a surprise!!!

Sydney (day 2)

Day two started off bright and early once again.  Lindsay and I decided that to be able to see all of Sydney we were going to have to hop on a tour.  We ended up taking a double decker bus that cost us $40 and there were 30 stops.  There was one that went all around Sydney and then there was a bus that took you over to Bondi Beach.  We left our hostel around 9:00 and hopped on the bus.  Here we are ready to start the day!

The bus took us by the Opera house which we had seen the day before, but really you cannot get enough of the building.  We rode around for about 25 minutes until we reached the first stop that we wanted to get off on, which was Hyde Park.  Lindsay and I has seen the park the night before but wanted to come back durning the day time to get the full effect.  It is way smaller than Central Park in New York but there was an area that reminded me so much of it.  You see the park scene in almost every New York movie and it is just a long path with benches on either side and it is covered with trees that just make it look beautiful.  I feel like they wanted the same effect here.  Here are a picture of it.

There was also a fountain here that was beautiful as well, so here is Lindsay and I in front of the fountain.

Across the street there is St. Mary's Cathedral.  Because it was Easter Sunday Lindsay and I decided to go to church and not only make our parents proud but to get in a good mass as well.  The inside of the church was packed with people because we were having mass led by Cardinal Pell.  I have never seen a Cardinal in person before so it was really cool for us.  Here we are before church, a picture of Pell and then some pictures of the church. We were not allowed to take pictures inside and it was a shame because it was really beautiful inside.

After being relieved of all our sins...which are basically none we left the church and hopped back on the bus.  By this time we were hungry and decided to head off to the Sydney Fish Market to eat some fresh seafood.  This place was PACKED with people.  It was insane and there was so many different options for us to choose from.  We walked around and weighed our decisions and finally made a choice.  We got a mound of food, mostly fried but all still really good.  We got crab, lobster, octopus, calamari, fish and chips.  Here is a picture of our food before and then after!

and.....gone

As you can tell we devoured the food and it was soooo good.  The perfect meal for Easter, so next year Aunt Jeanne I expect pretty much the same thing...and your ham.  Here are some pictures of the fish you can get and an octopus.  Everything is so fresh and I think that is why people keep coming here to just have lunch and chill out.

After stuffing our faces we headed back on the bus.  Lindsay has never been to a China town in any city so off we went to China town.  It is not like New York's China town so when we got there I wasn't being hounded by people to buy things.  It was still packed with the crappy items that you can buy that don't last very long but good for Lindsay to see and get her feel for it.  We bought some dried fruit to hold us over till dinner later on and headed back to the bus to head to BONDI beach.  I was very excited to get here and see the beach that is very famous in Sydney.
We got there and I needed to get something hot to drink because I had gotten a bad cold the first day we had arrived so I wasn't feeling very well, but as soon as I got the hot drink and saw the beach, I felt amazing.  Here are some pictures of the beach and then the beach with Lindsay and I in it.

I decided not to jump in the water only because I didn't feel like getting wet nor having to change my clothes.  But Lindsay was all for it and in she went.  Here she is getting ready to go and loving it.

The beach wasn't as packed and that probably had to do with us getting there somewhat late but I still loved the feel of it.  There were surfers and kids and families and teenagers that were just there to enjoy the beach and have a good time.  I would love to go back and just spend a day relaxing on the beach doing nothing but soaking up the sun.  One day I will get back here and do just that.

We left the beach once it got dark and headed back on the bus to go back to Kings Cross.  When we got back it was drizzling a bit and we had about half a mile to walk back to the hostel.  So much for me not wanting to get wet because it started to down pour and we got soaked!  It became somewhat of a laugh because here we were in Sydney watching a pretty cool thunderstorm and getting soaked.  We finally made it back and changed and showered.  We were hungry and for our last night out we tried out a restaurant in Kings Cross that had $10 burgers.  Perfect for our budget and they totally hit the spot.  We were exhausted after this and headed back to the hostel to get some rest because the next day we were leaving.

The next day we were up early again and decided to just walk around because there wasn't going to be enough time to really do anything.  We do want to go back to Sydney though and make it to the Aquarium, see Manly and Bondi Beach during the day time, catch an Opera and many many more things.  I absolutely loved Sydney and I would visit it again and again.  Here's Lindsay and I kissing you all from Bondi!

Sydney (day 1)

After a month or so being here and many many years of wishing and hoping to go to Sydney, I finally made it!  To begin, I love Sydney.  I could see myself living there.  There is so much to do and see.  Great markets, restaurants, events and monuments to go to.  I will have to take up to 2-3 blogs to just cover what Lindsay and I saw in Sydney.  We did work getting around the city to take in all the sights.  So let's begin from the beginning of our long weekend and the best weekend I have had so far.

We left Hobart around 5:30 at night and arrived in Sydney around 7.  Not a long flight at all and I read the entire way there so it went by quickly.  We took the train to Kings Cross to the hostel that we booked for the weekend.  Lindsay or I had never stayed in a hostel before and for all of you thinking about the movie where people get chopped up and killed.....it is NOTHING like that.  This place was very safe and kinda more cool to stay in than a hotel.  Also we learned that Kings Cross is the prostitute area and the place to go out for a good time.  No worries didn't see any and we both had enough money that we didn't have to work the corner for a few extra bucks. ; ) We got a 4 person room so when we showed up we were sharing with two other guys that were from Germany.  They turned out to be really nice and oddly enough it wasn't weird to stay in a room with two people you didn't know.  I think that everyone just seems to feel comfortable and want to do their own thing that they don't get in anyone else's way.  So here is a picture of the hostel (sign), our room and the toiletries that they left in the room.  Yes those are condoms...don't worry mom and aunt Kathy, we didn't have any use for them.

Lindsay and I chose not to eat before we got on the plane because we were dying to get some good sushi.  We were lucky enough to have a japanese restaurant that was right next to the hostel we were staying at.  So we popped on over next store to the Moonstruck (I believe that was the name) restaurant and dined on some sushi.  I got a california roll, a prawn roll and miso soup.  And Lindsay got the rainbow roll, salmon roll and tuna roll.  She really wanted eel but they ran out and she was not happy about it, yet the food was still awesome.  Here is a picture of her rainbow roll.  Very colorful. 

The food was awesome and we were full so we decided to take a walk and explore a bit before returning to the hostel.  We were located on Victoria Street in Kings Cross which is a busy street so we walked down to see what else there was to see.  There were plenty of restaurants and shops and bars so we decided to keep those in mind for the next day.  We did end up stopping at a gelato shop and got some.  The place was PACKED but we soon found out why because it was awesome!!! Not that expensive and just to die for it was so good.  We headed back to the hostel after our gelato and head off to bed because of the big day we had planned.

We woke up around 8 or so and headed down to breakfast which they served free of charge.  I hear that most hostels don't do this and it was one of the reasons we stayed here.  So after breakfast we head off to the Paddington Market that our friend aka Tasmanian mom told us to go to.  So off we walked which was about a 20 minute walk away and headed off to find something to buy.  Here is a picture of the market area.  Oh and by the way, we had the best weather here except for maybe a few hours.

Can you believe that the first thing we found to buy was something to eat.  It was a blueberry muffin and it was the best muffin that we have ever eaten.  It was fresh and full of blueberries.  Here is Lindsay very excited about eating it.

No worries after the muffin we went real shopping and I ended up buying a thin silver ring that I have been wanting forever and Lindsay bought a dress.  One of the best things about Australia is all the markets that they have.  So if you have markets around where you live go out and support those people.  Some do it for a living and you can really find some cool things.  But back to Sydney....so after the market we walked back to the hostel to drop off our stuff and then decided we waited long enough and it was time to see the Opera House.  So off we walked and headed up to the Mrs. Macquaries Bushland Walk.  It took us about 20-30 minutes to walk around this and finally coming over a hill we saw it.  This was the image we saw and I will never forget it.

It was so surreal that I still can't believe I have seen it, let alone touched it.  I have waited forever to see this building and I still have trouble believing it as I am writing this and even showing you the pictures. So here are a few pictures of the Opera House and the bridge with and without Lindsay and I in it.

After spending about an hour taking pictures and walking and staring at the Opera house we decided we were very hungry.  So what better meal to have was fish and chips.  We had been waiting all day to get some and so we did.  We sat in the harbor, ate and enjoyed the beautiful day that we were having.  

After lunch we moved onto the Rocks which is on the other side of the harbor and there was another market going on here.  This one was not as good as the Paddington market and it actually reminded us of state fair where they sell stuff in the expo center.  So we left that area and had a seat and a drink at the Lowenbrau.  Finally a good german beer.  But the real show was this dog that was there.  It was like no one had ever seen a dog this big, so people just kept coming up to take pictures and try to pet it. It was insane how many people came by and actually got annoying.  We were sitting right behind it so we were all in the action and probably most of the pictures.  Here is my beer and the dog.

We decided to then take the ferry over to Manly so we could see the Opera house from the water at night.  The ride over was a little chilly now that the sun was going down.  And then on the way back it was a little wavy.  So as we were sitting in the front, the ferry hit a huge wave and it splashed a ton of water up and soaked us!  Here we are soaked and now inside since we were freezing.

After the waves calmed down we moved back outside to get some amazing pictures.  Here is the Opera house at night.  It is just as incredible at night as it is during the day.

Once we got back onto land we walked back to the hostel to shower and get ready for the night.  Since we had walked down Victoria Street the night before we found a restaurant that we wanted to try out.  It was called Mad Pizza and bar and it had the best pizza that we have had so far in Australia.  We got a half and half so we could try more than one of their choices.  So on one half there was pumpkin, feta, cheese and onion and then on the other side there was pepperoni, kalamata olives and cheese.  Both were incredible.  Here is a picture of half of it because we were so hungry that I forgot to take a picture before we began eating it.

If you could believe it we still had time to do one more thing before turning in for the night.  We went to the pub that was really close to our hostel called the Kings Cross hotel.  It had five levels on it, each one catering to a different theme.  We mostly stayed on the bottom level and just hung out but moved up to each level to check them out.  After seeing that they weren't as good as the bottom level we headed back down.  Some guys approached us and we all began talking.  They were from Ireland and were pretty cool, but because Lindsay and I were so exhausted we headed home.  But I leave you with a picture of Lindsay and I enjoying ourself at the bar and just loving life!

Day 2 of Sydney will be coming soon!