girl gone kiwi.: April 2011

I feel accomplished for making yet another international flight, solo. It was so good to see my aunt, Carrie and Craig. A 15- minute, $50 taxi ride later we made our way to our hotel in downtown Sydney with killer views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was so strange to be in a nice hotel compared to the hostels i've been frequenting. That night we perused Pitt Street and couldn't help noticing the plethora of well-dressed, pointy-shoe'd, young Wall Streets'. This was followed by the countless designer stores I'd have to spend my quickly-depleting life savings to just buy a pair of socks and fancy restaurants, when I soon made the realization that living in Sydney would land me on the streets next to Blanket Man. After a few hours of walking around I tracked down an internet cafe/mini grocery store that played loud club music. On Friday we woke up early and took the ferry to the Taronga Zoo. The zoo was like non i'd ever been to, it was very clean and laid back, we got to get up close and personal with a few dozing koala bears and feed some nosy giraffes some carrots. That night, Aunt sue and I donned some schnazzy outfits and hit up the Sydney Opera House to see Edo conduct Beethoven, Wagner and Adams. It was a great concert, the acoustics were obviously amazing and just being in the Opera House was surreal. The next day we had big plans to sight-see in the morning, take the bus to Bondi Beach to have a surf lesson and then climb the bridge. The double-decker bus was more of a terror-ride, we were dodging low branches left and right and it took us an hour longer than we had planned (I guess that's what we get for being extra touristy). We finally made it to Bondi, it's a lot smaller than I had imagined but the water was beautiful and warm. We decided against a surf lesson since the bus took too long and just meandered around the beach and the boardwalk trying not to get blown away from the intense wind. Later we walked through a night market and made our way to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and began the 14,000 steps to the top. The next morning we took a ride on a high-speed jetboat all over the harbor, it was so much fun and left us completely soaked. We ended our brief Australian adventure by going to the Museum of Contemporary Art and seeing the Annie Leibovitz exhibit(AHH!!!). Overall Australia was a ton of fun, expensive-- but fun. I left happy to be returning to Welly. Aunt sue, Carrie and Craig spent their three days in Welly saving beached dolphins, experiencing the famous wind and not seeing kiwi birds. Despite all of this, I think they had a great time in New Zealand and was sad to see them go. This past weekend was more normal, I went with some friends for sushi and gelato then hit up a German film festival. After the film we went dancing and ended up at the waterfront for a nice twist to end the evening. The next day we headed out for another mini road trip to explore Castle Point (sorry Meg and Morg). The town dog, "Holly" adopted us for the day and showed us around. Nicole grew quite attached and is now suffering from separation anxiety ;) After a fish and chips snack we headed into town for some chinese takeaway then made our way back to Welly. Another great day! Sunday I made brunch for my flatmates, chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, bacon, and cinnamon buns-- I was definitely the favorite for the day :) So far this week has been pretty low-key, mid-semester break starts next week so we've been gearing up for two weeks full of adventure. I'm looking forward to unplugging myself from technology for a bit.
Until next time,
Kristen
Here, have a listen to some Langhorne Slim, Land of Dreams