Just For Laughs at the Opera House

Monday was Joel's 28th birthday.  This year I surprised him with tickets to the opening night of the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival here at the Opera House.  He had seen an ad last month and mentioned this would be cool to see, so I was sneaky and got him tickets.   

It was pretty cool to actually go into the Opera House.  Just as neat on the inside as the out.  Our seats were at the very back (it was expensive to go and my budget only stretched so far due to our NZ trip), but the usher let us move up a few rows ten minutes before the show started.  Score!  Drew Carey was our host and he was pretty funny.  There were five other comics- two Aussies, two Americans and a Brit.  One of the Aussies, Charlie Pickering, is the host on our favorite "news" show here, The Project.   Also up was one of the stars from "Breaking Bad" (forget his name).  Anyway, awesome show, lots of laughs!

Drew Carey

After the show we walked to The Rocks and had some pasta, a bottle of wine, and dessert in honor of the birthday boy!

I skyped with my cousin Larissa back home and got some exciting news- she wants me to be a bridesmaid for her upcoming wedding!  So excited and honored to be asked!  They're getting married September 7, 2013.  Showers, stagettes etc will start in the summer, which means I'll have to be home in July sometime.  So Joel and I will need to plan our return around this.  Makes the decision making a little easier- we either come home in Feb when we're supposed to, or get longer visas and stay till July. 

Across the Ditch: Extreme Drinking Edition

Today's original plan was to drive out to Milford Sound.  Two days before we arrived there was a big landslide and the road was closed off for a few weeks until the damage was cleaned up.  We were all sad as this was something everyone wanted to see.  Instead we thought we'd drive to Doubtful Sound, not as famous but just as picturesque.  Good thought last night, but not so much in the morning when everyone wanted to sleep off their booze!  Alana and I sort of got up when the alarms went, but decided we should just stay in bed longer instead. 

 When we did get up, this is the view we were greeted with.  How beautiful!  Our room overlooked Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkable Mountains.  We had a warmish, sunny day today with no clouds.  I'm in love with Queenstown and New Zealand and hope to come back again in the new year. 

 

We walked into town for breakfast and were able to eat outside.  Then we walked along the pier to find out about a boat cruise on the lake.  While the boys booked it, Alana and I were taking pictures (love that she takes a much as me!).  One of the tour guys offered to take our picture if we went on his paddle boats- for free!  He needed some "publicity".  We had time to kill before our cruise, so we did it.  I dipped my hand in the lake- pretty cold.  Really clean water though.

When we got to our lake cruise, we learned we were the only guests and we had the whole boat to ourselves.  Balla!  It was an hour and a half and we went all around the lake.  We got to sample some of it's freshwater.  Then the booze came out.  Extreme drinking begins...

The boys wanted to watch the live UFC fights after the cruise at one of the pubs.  Alana and I decided to do our own thing.  We checked out the "aquarium" (which sucked) and went to the Minus Five Ice Bar, which is a bar built entirely out of ice.  We were given heavy jackets and gloves before we went in.  I asked the guide if we really needed these for minus five and he said yes, it's pretty cold in there.  Clearly he's never been to Canada.  Anyways, Ice Bar was pretty cool.  We got some fancy Smirnoff drinks in ice glasses, followed by some shots.

We were now feeling pretty good and decided we had some time to kill while the boys were at the fight, so we went into a bottle shop and picked up the cheapest bottle we could find- Fat Bird- then headed to the beachfront of the lake to enjoy it.   We were not alone in our drinking.  Apparently on a Sunday afternoon this is what all the cool kids do in Queenstown.  We sat and talked till the wind got too cool, then took our bottle on a walk around town.  We took pictures with every statue we could find.  We wore bright yellow sunglasses I borrowed from the aquarium.  We danced in the streets and made random friends.  We went into a candy store, bought a bunch of candy, and ate it in five minutes.  When we decided it was time to find the boys we ended up walking in circles for like half an hour till they finally found us.  Dean's best comment of the weekend- "Usually it's us getting in trouble, when did the girls become so wild?"  Normally it is Joel and Dean being rowdy and causing a scene.   Sadly I have no photos of our adventure, but hopefully will get Alana's pics soon.  We went back to Fergburger for dinner, then I needed a nap.

Since Joel's birthday was the next day, some early celebrations were in order!  We found a cool pub to hang out at, got rainbow shots and sang happy birthday, then Joel went back for ANOTHER Fergburger!

Random moment of the night- we found Brutis' Kiwi brother!

In the morning we had a flight back to Sydney, then it was time to go our separate ways.  We didn't get much sleep, but it was such a fun weekend.  

Joel and I were so glad that Dean and Alana were able to fly out here to see us and had such an awesome time with them!  Already making plans for our next trip...

Adventure Across the Ditch: Extreme Adventure Edition

On Saturday The Crew was reunited in Queenstown, New Zealand.  Joel, Dean and Alana had spent the last five days road triping to Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road while I stayed home and worked to fund the trip!  They had a red eye from Melbourne via Auckland to Queenstown.  I had an early flight from Sydney, and my flight arrived half an hour after theirs.  (For those questioning this posts title, "Across the Ditch" means crossing the Tasman Sea, traveling from Oz to New Zealand.)

It was cool and drizzly when we got in.  We all fell in love with Queenstown right away- so beautiful!

First thing on the agenda was the Nevis Bungy Jump and Canyon Swing.  Joel had seen this on Departures (awesome Canadian travel show) and decided he must do it.  Which meant Dean had to do it too.  Alana and I were not interested, but had to accompany the boys as photographer and videographer.

 The bungy platform is over a canyon.  We had to take gondolas out to it.  As I'm terrified of heights, I didn't enjoy this part.  It wasn't a fully enclosed car, so we got hooked in with harnesses.

Dean was getting a little antsy on the way out, but Joel was pretty calm.  Check out their ultimate bromance moment!

The bungy tower is 134 m tall, the second highest in the world.

I don't have any photos of the boys actually jumping on my camera (just video), but they did pretty good!  Joel was all pro and just went for it.  Dean hesitated at first, but did it.  They were both pretty high on adrenaline after!

Next up was the Canyon Swing.  This is the world's largest swing and swings you out over the canyon.  Scarier then bungy, as you don't pick when you drop.  The jump platform was also in the middle of the canyon and this time we had to cross a suspension bridge to get to it.  This was my extreme NZ adventure and I did not like it!

The boys did this one tandem.

The operators forgot to video the boys swing, so they got to go a second time for free.  They had to buy the video, which was only $40, a good deal considering how pricey the swing is!

It was pretty cool going up and watching the boys jump.  Also got pretty excited to see a little snow at the top of the hill- didn't expect I'd miss that!

With the bungy out of the way, it was time for lunch.  We headed to a local favorite, Fergburger.  You can't go to Queenstown and miss this place.  Huge, delicious burgers.

After dinner we made our way into the Queenstown.  We explored the town, then hit up the Wine Center for some tastings.  Unlike the wineries, this one wasn't free, we had to pay for sample.  Prices weren't bad and we tried a bunch.  We picked our two favorite bottles to drink later.

By the time we left it was dark and everyone was hungry again.  We found a little pizza/pasta place called The Cow, which was BYO (bring your own booze).  They wanted to charge us a big corkage fee, so we decided to drink it elsewhere.  And where else would you drink that when in Queenstown?  The back alley of course!  We are classy people.  We made a little circle and passed the bottle round till it was finished.  Funniest moment of the trip.  Then back to The Cow for awesome spaghetti, followed by more drinking at the hotel and some crazy dancing at Winnie's nightclub.  Joel almost took out a few people Gangnam Style.   Good night.

Kangaroos or Maple Leaves?

We are getting close to the day when we have to decide how long we'll be staying in Oz.  Our current visa expires February 8, but both our employers have offered to sponsor us on longer working visas (both our trades are needed here).  Joel loves Australia and wants to stay longer.  I am much happier in Sydney (wish we came here first thing and am trying to erase life on the Gold Coast from my memory!).  We are making good money, have good jobs, and are making friends.  I do still miss everyone back home and wish I wasn't so far, but my homesickness is not as bad as it was.

 

I talked to my travel agent the other day and the last return date we can change our flight to is February 6, 2013, otherwise the flight gets cancelled and we lose the money.  We decided we're going to change the return date to that day.  That gives us four more months to figure out what to do.

I am constantly thinking about what choice is right.  We have nothing to lose by staying longer.  I know in my heart we will return to Canada one day, but maybe staying longer isn't so bad?

I've got two choices.

a) get the most out of our time here as possible, then go home Feb 6.  Catch up with friends and family, eat my comfort foods, and veg for a bit before finding new jobs etc.  We'll have to decide what city to live in and start fresh again, as Joel is adamant on no Edmonton.  If coming home isn't all it's cracked up to be, we could ask our current employers to sponsor us and go back to Oz.  We might feel once we get back that we liked Sydney.

b) stay in Oz.  We'll lose the money for our flight home, but not the end of the world.  Continue working, pay off some debt (we make more here and are able to pay stuff down faster), explore more of Oz and enjoy being a Sydneysider.  I'm at one of Sydney's best salons and the opportunities offered here could really advance my career.  The only major con to staying is being far from friends and family and missing things like birthdays, weddings, and other celebrations.  I missed alot of weddings this year which made me sad.

I would love some input.  What would you do if given the choice to stay longer in Oz?  Take the adventure or go home?  Leave a comment or send me an email- the more thoughts the better!

Jervis Bay

Sunday morning was the start of Dean, Alana and Joel`s road trip to Melbourne, Jervis Bay.  I really wanted to see this too, so Joel and I drove together in Brutis while Dean and Alana followed in their car.  Not a great drive in our car- I got a parking ticket for parking in a no stopping zone the night before and Joel was pretty mad about the high fine on it!  The drive itself is beautiful, one of the prettiest drives I`ve been on.  Jervis is about three hours south of Sydney.  It goes right along the coast and there are lots of ocean lookout points.    Kiama is the halfway point and is so scenic- green rolling hills and tons of wineries.  Wouldn`t have minded spending a whole weekend in this area exploring.

When we got in to Jervis we headed to Hyams Beach.  In my opinion, this is the most beautiful beach in Australia!  White, soft sand and turquoise water.  If you come to Oz, make sure to stop here.  We chilled out here for awhile and Dean was the only one brave enough to test out the water.

We had lunch here, then drove into a national park to check out another beach, where we saw a walla bee (like a small kangaroo).  Around six I started the drive back to Sydney.  I was sad to say goodbye to everyone and wished I could have continued on with them on the trip, but someone had to make us some money!  The drive back was long and uneventful, with more stupid variable speed. I love that at home you can usually go ten over the speed and it`s not a big deal- here there are cameras everywhere and one km over and you`re fined.  I stopped at Wollongong to see the big Chinese Temple that`s there, but as it was already dark the gates were closed.  Oh well.

We had daylight savings here on Sunday, so are now an extra hour ahead of Alberta.  I`m enjoying leaving work in the light.

The crew has made it to Melbourne and are currently at the Crown Casino.  Hope no one loses anymore money!

Any computer savy people able to help me out with a problem on my keyboard- I did something and my question marks now come up as É.  How do I change this back, it`s annoying!!!

Luna Park

On Saturday the boys had a golf date, so Alana and I had a girls day.  We started out with a trip to Luna Park!  I wanted to go on some rides here so bad and Joel`s not been that interested to go, so I was really happy that Alana wanted to check it out.  Luna Park is a vintage amusement park, built in 1935, and sits right on the north shore of the harbor.  We walked around and went on two rides, the wooden Wild Mouse roller coaster (which gives you some pretty good air when you go down a dip!) and the Tumble Bug (like the Scrambler for any Capital Xer`s).  They had cotton candy and I got myself some on a stick.  It was spitting rain, and unfortunately half my cotton candy turned into a sticky mess on my jacket :(.  Still an awesome time!

The Wild Mouse

From here we walked across the Harbor Bridge.  It wasn`t the nicest of walks due to the rain and fog.  We took the train back to the CBD and hit up the best place to be on a rainy day- the mall!  We headed to Westfield for some serious shopping.  Well, none for me today, but Alana did well.  We made a dessert stop at Laduree.  This is a famous French macaroon store that has only just recently opened in Sydney and is a pretty big deal with the locals.  We had to wait in line for ten minutes or so to order.  Alana got a box to bring back home, I just tried one.  It was pretty good, strawberry marshmallow.  Believe it or not, that was the first macaroon I`ve ever had!

At the end of our day we hit up TopShop.  It just opened up on Thursday (there`s only one so far in Oz in Melbourne) and EVERYONE was lined up to get in.  We walked past a few times, and around five the line had shortened so we joined the line and got in right away.  Didn`t do any shopping as it was crazy busy (and the dress I wanted wasn`t there), but we did get some free swag bags!  Everyone in the CBD seemed to have one, so I needed one too.  Not super exciting stuff inside (magazine, water bottle, scratch cards), but I now have a fancy canvas bag commemorating the opening day of TopShop.

The boys got home from golf only a few minutes before we did.  Joel was still pretty sick and went to bed, so once again Dean cooked.  Tonight he made chicken, rice and stuffed mushrooms (my fav!) and Katrina joined us for dinner.  Joel was able to get up for a bit and eat something, then back to bed.  Poor guy.  The rain really picked up tonight- I don`t think I`ve ever heard rain pour down so hard!  We were going to stay in, but Dean wanted to make the most of their last night in Sydney.  I took Dean and Alana out to the Star Casino, where they both lost some money in black jack and the slots.  Pretty fancy place though!  Then we drove through King Cross.  On a Saturday night this is where everyone goes to party- the streets were packed.