Exploring Sydney

I've been in Sydney for 3 weeks now and it has been a crazy few weeks!

I am staying with my friend Mattie and his 3 roommates and 4 flat guests. We are a total of 8, but the flat is large and we have the penthouse suite - so plenty of room on the roof! Most of our flat mates are boys, so the flat can get quite dirty.

We live in Bondi - 15 minutes away from the beach. It is a great spot - but a bit touristy. Most of the Bondi Beach population consists of Irish folk - most of whom I cannot understand!

Our neighbor is a crazy, kind hearted, CRAZY millionaire named Mary Anne. She sometimes just strolls into our flat at 6 am for a chat. She owns a restaurant in Paddington and always comes over with little treats for us.

I have explored the city a few days. China town is spectacular and I just love to take the 389 bus into town and just wonder around aimlessly. We have yet to check out some cute cafes in Paddington - but have already been around the CBD, Newtown, Suri Hills, The Rocks (my fav), Darling Harbour, and Manly.

We spent Christmas eve pub crawling around CBD (Central Bank District) and it was interesting to be in a group of travelers, drinking, in the hot weather on Christmas Eve. As amazing as it was, I did miss my mom's outrageous amounts of delicious food, hanging out with my dad watching 'Its A Wonderful Life,' and watching my older bro get overly excited to open presents. All us backpackers did band together and become each other's family for the holidays - which was nice.

I woke up Christmas day with 6 flat mates piled on top of me screaming "HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!" It was, of course, a rough morning after the debauchery of the previous night. I got off my lye low and started getting to work to get things ready for our party.

We had 20 people at our Christmas barbecue feast! I made 2 Brazilian treats (brigadeiro and habanada). We had turkey, ham, skewers, burgers, and all kinds of other snacks and things. Oh and don't forget the bathtub full of beer. We improvised. :)

I spent new years eve at darling harbour watching the famous Sydney harbour bridge fireworks. It was AMAZING! I met a group of Brazilians and an Irish boy and just danced through the whole fireworks experience. After the fireworks I hoped on the ferry and went to a bonfire party my friend Chris was throwing on Manly beach. I watched the sun come up in off the water and the surfers catching those 6 am waves. It took me 3 hours to get home - to finally arrive at 9:30 am - but was worth every step of that journey.

We have been just watching movies and recovering the last couple of days. Now that the holidays are over, I am getting ready to hit the road once again. I am going to spend a week in Melbourne and then I am off to Thailand for 6 weeks. Once I get back from Thailand I am going to get a flat in Sydney and a real job and settle down.

Quick observation: sometimes I am sitting around with our flat mates - 5 English boys, an English gal, a gal from Cypress and I feel like I'm in a movie! Sometimes we have Irish, Kiwi, or Aussie friends over and I feel like its the UN! So many people from all over the place with so many different backgrounds and experiences and here we are - sharing these little moments. Cheesy yes, but also very true. :)