A day at the races

Last week, my manager Katie asked if I would like to go to a horse race... An afternoon filled with cocktails, gambling, and donning a pretty dress? Count me in! So the day after I got back from Newcastle I joined Katie, her husband Pete, her little sister who is also here on a work and travel visa, and some of her friends from her previous job at the Rosehill Gardens. Races go on all summer long, the biggest one is Melbourne Cup, held at the beginning of November and known as “the race that stops the nation.” Perhaps the only difference between an American horse race and an Australian one is that ladies wear “fascinators" in their hair instead of hats. As far as gambling goes, I’ve had good luck in the past (I even helped my friend Michael Brill win hundreds of dollars at the Kentucky Derby a few years ago) but it seems that lucky streak has come to an end. Still, I had such a lovely time and was so happy to meet everyone.

The race track was beautiful, and you could even seen the Sydney skyline in the distance (although I couldn't quite capture a good picture of it).

My manager Katie and me.

What a great day out with the girls!

And now for exciting and slightly random updates:

- My parents have officially booked their flights and are coming to visit at the end of January. I’m so excited to spend three whole weeks with them. I think it’s safe to say I’m officially their favorite child…

- They won’t be my only visitors while I’m here, my little brother Alex is also coming! We’re planning on backpacking after he’s done with school in May and then we'll go home together in early June.

- Colin goes golfing almost every weekend now with friends from work and this past weekend he got his first eagle! The head honcho of Olympic National Park happened to be with them that day, talk about a good impression. Way to go Colin!

Newcastle

Fun fact: Newcastle was settled in 1801 as a colony for the worst behaved criminals. But don’t worry, Rachel and I behaved just fine! Although Newcastle is quite small, it was well worth the trip. We arrived around noon on Wednesday and after dropping off our backpacks at the hostel we headed straight to the beach, about a two- minute walk from where we were staying. Jealous? After lying in the sun for a few hours we walked around exploring the town and ended up at the Queen’s Wharf, the prettiest spot in town. We climbed 180 steps to the top of the tower to take in the beautiful view and snap some pictures before the sun set.

Rachel and I climbed to the top of a very steep hill, on a very hot day. The view was worth it.

Queen Wharf Tower

Our hostel, it was small but very clean. We stayed in a room with four other girls and even had our own private bathroom which was a real treat! There were also two girls from St. Louis who worked at the front desk.

The next day we went on a 4km coastal walk which passed through Newcastle Beach, Bogey Hole the oldest ocean pool in Australia (built by those naughty convicts in 1820), Bar Beach, and Merewether Beach. As we walked on the beach, there was a family of dolphins swimming right along with us. I’ve never seen so many dolphins for such a long period of time. It was amazing. That night we went to a free barbeque with other backpackers from our hostel at The Brewery, a restaurant on the Queen’s Wharf, and also participated in trivia night. Although my team and I gave a valiant effort, we did not come out on top.

Newcastle Beach

Merewether Beach

Rachel and I thought we could walk along this rocky beach and make our way to Bogey Hole. We were wrong.

On our last day, we went on a day tour of Hunter Valley, the oldest wine region in Australia. We started our first wine tasting at ten in the morning and weren’t done until after three o’clock that afternoon! We went to five wineries, a cheese shop, and stopped at a charming little village to have lunch. Each tasting began with a bit of sparkling wine, the bubbles help cleanse the palette, then we moved on to three whites, three reds, port, and dessert wines. I can’t say I cared very much for the port wines because they are brandy infused, but I did discover I’m a fan of Shiraz and of course Chardonnay, a taste I most likely inherited from my mother. It was a wonderful day and something I can see myself doing again when my parents come to visit.

It was slightly overcast all day, but vineyards were still stunning.

My favorite vineyard of the day, Kevin Sobels Wine

Sculpture by the sea

I can’t believe it’s been over a week since I last posted, time seems to run at warp speed down under. Earlier this week I did the Bondi- Coogee costal walk, it’s 6km long and takes about two hours from start to finish. November is the perfect time to go because that’s when the annual Sculpture by the Sea art exhibit is held, so the walk was even more beautiful than normal. As you can imagine, I passed through many beaches along the way. Bondi is known for it’s crowds and surfing, Tamara is a small beach where the Sculpture by the Sea exhibit ended, Bronte was by far the most beautiful, Clovelly is a “sheltered” beach which I discovered is just a nice way of saying cement, Gordon’s bay (which I have been to before) is a hot spot for snorkeling and scuba diving, and finally Coogee, which is where I go the most often.

Sydney's most famous and overrated (according to locals) beach, Bondi.

I feel like this would be found on a Star Wars set.

This was one of my favorites because it reminded me of a Curly Gril Design card that says, "Some people will go their whole lives and not actually live one day. She did not intend on being of them." It's sort of my motto these days.

This was my second favorite, I love elephants and it's so fun to look at!

For all my Chi Omega girls out there =)

Bronte beach, the most beautiful beach I've seen yet.

This boardwalk just opened in September, it was an amazing walk.

In other news, I went on my first night dive at the end of last week. It was unbelievable. We actually went to Camp Cove, where we learned how to scuba dive, but like our Dive Master promised, it was completely different at night. I saw a numb ray, squid, octopus, salt water catfish, and even an eel. I wasn’t scared at all to be diving at night, but I was a tad frightened about getting to close to the animals! It was a large group, about ten people in total: five people from my diving course and five Americans that just finished up their semester at University of New South Wales, including a guy named Chris who’s a junior at Miami. Small world, huh?

I have the next few days off work so Rachel and I decided to take a trip up to Newcastle, a small beach town about three hours north of Sydney. We’ll most likely spend our three days there laying out on the beach, exploring their downtown, and maybe even making a day trip to Hunter Valley, the wine region. As much as I love living in Sydney, I’m very much looking forward to exploring a new place.

Chinese Gardens of Friendship

Between settling in, finding a job, and scuba diving I didn't have time in the past few weeks to do what I came here to do: sight see! That stops now. I’ve decided that on every day off I will explore something new in Sydney, starting with the Chinese Gardens of Friendship. These gardens were built according to the Taoist principles of “Yin- Yang” and the five opposite elements: earth, fire, water, metal, and wood. Yin- Yang plays such a vital role that one missing element would disrupt the garden’s harmony and balance… this all according to my self- guided tour pamphlet of course.

The Dragon Wall: the gold dragon represents Guangdong and the blue represents New South Wales. The Pearl of Prosperity floats between the two states symbolizing their bond with one another.

Those Taoists sure know there stuff! I found the garden both beautiful and peaceful.

This lamp signifies prosperity... seems to be a popular theme.

The Gurr is situated at the highest point in the Garden.

For only $10 you could dress up in formal Chinese attire and walk around the gardens to take pictures. I think that's reason enough to go back another time with Rachel.

All Hallow's Eve

Australians don't really celebrate Halloween, but I didn't let that stop me. Rachel and I invited a few of our girlfriends over to celebrate on Saturday night. Our English friends Kat and Tamsin came, as well as my new friends Kelly and Jen. I met Kelly through my cousin Kendall; they did club gymnastics together as kids and ran into each other again this past summer. Kelly and Jen have been here about three weeks and live near Bondi beach. After hanging out at our apartment for a while we decided to go to SideBar, a well-known backpackers hang out in the city. And where there are backpackers, there are Halloween costumes. I saw everything from an Oompa- Loompa, Papa Smurf, and all five Teletubbies. It made me wish I had put a little more thought into my costume, nonetheless it was still a fun night!

We make such adorable hippies, don't we?

All the girls together: Me, Kelly, Tamsin, Kat, Rachel, and Jen.

Kelly did club gymnastics with my cousins. Small world, huh?