Bundeena

Another day off, so I decided to take the ferry to Bundeena. It's a really small village that's surrounded by Royal National Park, and you can only get to it by boat or by taking a drive through the park. There's a lot of artsy people living there and no chain restaurants or anything, kind of like going out to Vashon. There are several beaches within walking distance of the dock, and I heard that they're a lot less crowded than the Cronulla beaches since you can't really drive there, so I decided to make the trip out.

The ferry dock is right next to the Cronulla train station, and it was so small I almost walked right by it! The boat is the longest continually operating ferry in New South Wales-it's been going since the 1930s. The ride to Bundeena took about 20 minutes since the water was really calm and blue today.

The beach out there was absolutely beautiful! There were only about 20 people total on a half mile stretch, and I couldn't tell if they were residents of Bundeena (there are houses all along the water) or if they had taken the boat in. The water is really calm compared to Cronulla since the beach is on a bay rather than right on the sea, and I was wishing I had brought along a swimsuit. Instead I just sat on the beach and read my book for a bit before heading back home. I'm going to try to go back pretty soon and take a look around the national park!

Horderns Beach

View of the ferry dock

Happy Boxing Day!

Yesterday was Boxing Day. Since there is no such thing as Black Friday in Australia, Boxing Day is the day where everyone gets up really early and goes shopping. It's also a public holiday (so is today) so I get a few days off in a row to sit around. Instead of shopping I went down to the beach near my house. When I got there the tide was fully in and the waves were pretty rough-there is usually about 40 feet of sand between the rocks and the water but this is how it looked yesterday. Instead of swimming I ended up just reading the paper and drinking a beer. Christmas Day was hot and sunny so one out of two days isn't too bad I guess...

This beach is a little rockier than the main beach, but I like it because it's usually a lot more quiet. Also the path leading to it is too steep to bring prams (strollers) and eskies (coolers) down so that scares off some people...

The sports section was ALL cricket today:(

Christmas Celebrations

This weekend was  the Christmas party for Hayden's work, so we got to spend the night in the city. Everyone here has pretty massive Christmas celebrations, and my work already had a lunch a couple of weeks ago at a really nice seafood restaurant in Glebe. But since Hayden DOESN'T work in the arts, his boss has more money to spend on hotel rooms, dinner, top shelf booze, etc. So I got to dress up and go out for Italian food in Darling Harbour on Saturday night. Darling Harbour is a really nice section of downtown with tons of bars and cafes. It's right on the water, and there's no roads running through it so it's really nice for walking around and sightseeing. It reminds me a lot of the waterfront in downtown Seattle, just bigger and maybe a little more sanitary.

Having a nightcap after dinner. 

View of the Harbour on Sunday. We stayed at Four Points.

Another view of the Harbour. It was kind of cloudy but definitely warm enough to eat outside.

Champagne and oysters!

I had a really good weekend but I'm definitely paying for it today. I slept for almost 12 hours Sunday night and woke up with a cold today so I'm going to try and take it easy for the next few days.

Messiah

I've been getting a little antsy since I haven't really been doing anything music-ish lately and my trumpet isn't here with me in Oz. Luckily the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs needed people to sing in the chorus for Messiah this month. Specifically they needed sopranos. So this alto decided to pose as a soprano and give it a go.

I've been rehearsing about once per week for the last couple of months, and we had dress rehearsals pretty much every night this last week. I really like my free time, but it's been nice having structure and places that I HAVE to be at certain times with the threat of consequences if I don't show up. I'm definitely on the younger end of people who are doing this-for some reason, a three hour long baroque oratorio doesn't appeal too much to some crowds. But the music is really beautiful and it's so much better when you know it really well and can anticipate what is going to happen next. Handel wrote the entire Messiah in twenty or so days. This is incomprehensible to me, and the best I can hope for is stretches of moderate productivity fit in between TV/Facebook/blog posts etc.

Opening night was last night and I think it went really well! The oboist was struggling a bit, bringing back memories of 7th grade and my brief and tragic oboe career. The chorus is singing it from memory, which actually was not as hard as I expected. The only song I need to review is "Amen". That's a five minute song with one lyric: Amen. Not easy. I'll try and sneak a few pictures from inside the opera house on Saturday to post.

Thanksgiving!

I had my first Thanksgiving away from family yesterday. It's definitely an American holiday, and people here have been focused on Christmas for the last couple of weeks.  Luckily, a few Aussies were keen to help me celebrate it this year.

Of course I had to work so that spoiled some of the fun, but I got up early to watch the Detroit-Green Bay game. I accidentally-on-purpose missed Nickelback's halftime performance, whoops! The game was pretty boring overall but at least I got my football fix before work. Afterwards I went over to Hayden's house and helped fix some dinner for people who were a little confused by the combination of food that we eat for Thanksgiving. I never realized it, but it's pretty carb-heavy and probably something I would never just whip up without knowing it's what I'm "supposed" to eat that day. His family had decorated the dining room with an orange tablecloth and fall-themed napkins (his mom explained she looked all that up on the Internet, adorable). I made stuffing, which turned out pretty good but a little dry, and on top of that we had turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, gravy, rolls, etc. His family all had pumpkin pie for the first time, which I LOVE but they thought was a little gross. They were also grossed out when I explained I was going to eat it for breakfast, but were intrigued by the turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sandwich that I was planning to have for lunch.

I'm really thankful for Mom, Dad, Patrice and all my friends back home. I'm thankful I have a place to live and new friends here. And I'm REALLY thankful that Black Friday does not exist here and that I no longer have to get up at 3AM to make people their stupid lattes at the Northgate Mall Starbucks. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Missing Home

So far I've had a lazy Saturday. Dan has been mainly living with his grandpa the past few weeks since his grandma passed away. He's trying to sublet his room for a couple of months, so I cleaned the place and am meeting him and a potential new roommate in about an hour for coffee. I'm kind of bummed about it because I get along with him really well, but hopefully he'll be able to move back in a few months.

I haven't been homesick too much, which surprises me because I really thought I would be. There are definitely a few people back home that I think about a lot, but I actually don't miss Seattle itself most of the time. I feel like the sun and heat kind of suit me; Sydney reminds me a lot of Southern California. But this week I had Skype chats with my parents and Carri. I got presents in the mail from Patrice and Rochelle. I talked to Pam a bit about making a trip down here. AND I made a Seattle playlist which was maybe a mistake because it turns out a lot of the music made in Seattle is kind of depressing. I wish I could come back for Christmas but I probably won't be able to save up enough money until I'm working full time, so hopefully I can make it back for a visit in May or June.

MEAT

I was pretty excited to get off work yesterday because I had plans to meet up with my friend Matt at Central Station to go for a climb. I've been trying to go about once a week and it's been really nice to have someone who will hold me accountable if I don't go, and who also won't let me fall to my death from a great height. When I walked into the lobby at work, it was POURING rain. The Westfield Tower is a few blocks from my work and it was completely hidden beneath clouds and sheets of rain. I waited in the lobby for about 15 minutes hoping it would pass, but finally just made a run to the train station. Of course I didn't have an umbrella because 8 years of living in Seattle has convinced me that they are dumb. Anyways I got completely soaked and Matt was in the same condition so we ended up scrapping the whole thing to go drink schooners and play bingo.

Best decision ever! In Australia a lot of the time pub trivia nights, raffles, bingo etc don't have a cash prize. But they DO have a meat tray that you can win. And yesterday was my lucky night because I got a bingo and got to ride home on the train carrying this! I was so proud.