NZ - Franz Josef (Glacier & Superhero)

Today was an early start because I had to be at the glacier place by 9:15a. I got up, got ready, and went down to the kitchen to make breakfast. I sat with my hostel mates and the others from the back of the bus to eat and we chatted a bit. Afterwards I saw one of the girls (Iki from Germany) I knew in my glacier (the way they pronounce glacier sounds so cool - the "c" has more of an "s" sound) group and asked if she wanted to meet by reception so we could walk together so we did. We were about 20 minutes early, so we just hung around and as other girls showed up we chatted and got to know each other a bit more until it was time to begin.

Janna, our tour guide, is from the Czech Republic. She was really cool and really nice and I knew right away she was going to make this awesome. We got suited up - over trousers, thick wool socks, boots, rain coat, bum bag (fanny pack, but fanny means something else here so they don't call it that), and crampons (in the the bag). The guys behind the counters and helping out were having a ball playing around with my accent. I didn't mind though. It was pretty funny. It was a pretty overcast and a bit chilly as we headed to the helipads, but at least it wasn't raining because then our trip would have been cancelled (like a few of the trips after mine). While waiting for the helicopter we learned how to put our crampons on and had a heli safety lesson then headed to the heli pads to wait. Janna picked the two groups that would be flying and I got in the first group which I was hoping for because I wanted extra time to get my crampons on and take pictures of the helicopter on the ice. Not only did I get the first group but the helicopter guy put me in the front so I had a fantastic aerial view of the glacier and mountains.

The glacier was massive and made you feel super tiny. It was dirtier than I expected, but it makes sense seeing as how it is between two mountains.

It took a little while to get used to the crampons, but without them the trek would have been impossible. The activity required way more physical exertion than I had anticipated - especially the stair climbing. The stairs were massive for someone with short legs like me. About half way through I decided it was a good thing it was cloudy because I was sweating and could only imagine how hot I would be if it was sunny.

Our guide was really good in telling us about certain aspects of the glacier - its formation, its melting, the color, the size, etc. She also let us stop several times for photos - in the blue caves, at the top, with her ice pick, etc. Luckily, us girls were pretty good about helping each other get photos of each other in/on the ice.

Where the green starts is where the glacier was in 2008

The blue color of the ice was one of my favorite parts about the whole thing. Seeing that color blue somewhere other than the sky seems so unnatural - beautiful and cool, but not normal. The white and blue of the glacier against the dark colors of the mountains was a cool contrast. It was also cool to see valleys in the mountains while looking down a valley in the ice.

Another one of my favorite parts were the caves and narrow passageways. It really felt like an ice exploring excursion rather than just a leisurely walk on the glacier. You see people doing this kind of stuff in documentaries, movies, etc, but it was cool to actually get to do it myself. I also liked the narrow crevices that I sometimes had to walk one foot on either side to keep from falling in - just kind of added to the sense of adventure.

Once we made it back down to the bottom we removed our crampons and waited for the helicopter. I sat in the back this time to allow girls who hadn't had the chance to sit up front yet sit up front (although their view wasn't as cool). We got back, got back into our regular clothes/shoes, and said thanks and good-bye. On the walk home I was thinking to myself how glad I was that I decided not to go sky diving because not only did the couple who had chosen to, not get to go sky diving (because of the weather) but the rest of the glacier trips for the day were cancelled so they didn't get to do that either. When I got back my hostel mates and the others from the back of the bus were sitting at a table just inside the kitchen and when they saw me they shouted excitedly, "Nikki!!", and they all smiled at me and asked me questions about my experience, cancellations, etc. I couldn't believe that I had just met these people 12 hours ago and it already seemed like we were the greatest of friends. We all made lunch and while eating talked about our climbs and the superhero party at the on-site bar tonight, trying to figure out what to be and how to be it. The plans for after lunch were the hot pools, but I realized I left my water bottle at the glacier guides place, so I had to walk back there. The girls offered to wait for me, but I told them to go on ahead and I'd meet them there. During my walk I saw a basket with a sign that said, "Jandles" and a price. I couldn't help but smile because this is so New Zealand. Jandles are what they call flip flops, what Australia calls thongs.

I made it back to the hostel, got ready, and headed to the hot pools which were just across the street pretty much. When I got there, they all hollered my name and waved for me to come over. I don't think I've ever been excepted by a group of strangers so quickly. It was really cool and I am so grateful for the fast friendships. We all hung out in there (my hostel mates and the people from the back of the bus) for quite a bit and then a couple other girls from our bus (the ones in my glacier group) showed up and hung out for a while. Everyone but me, the guy from Essex (Dan), and the girls from my glacier group left after awhile to get showered and ready for dinner and the superhero night. I left a little while after them because I still needed to make my costume. Using brochures and the clothes in my suitcase I made a bat girl costume. I also paid for 15 minutes of internet just to quickly update my mom and dad. Then I went and had dinner (nachos) at the on-site restaurant before returning to my hostel room. I sat in the bed balancing my budget and taking notes on the day when one of the girls asked if I was coming with them tonight and although I had made my costume I just still wasn't too keen on going as we all know the bar isn't really my scene. They said I definitely didn't have to drink to come out with them and that I really should come even if just for a little bit, so I gave in, got dressed, got my "costume" together and went out with the girls.

The boys showed up about 20 minutes after us. It took awhile for the costumes to come out, but after about an hour more people were dressed up than not. The music at this bar was weird... it was like techno, house music or something, not really sure, but it was hard to dance to, so I spent most of my time chatting with people who also didn't want to dance or were taking a break from dancing. I got a lot of compliments on my impromptu bat girl costume. The girls were sky diving superheros, Dan (guy from Essex) was Woody, the girl from Holland was Jane, one guy (not with our bus) had a toilet seat on his head and Iki (German girl from our bus) was a tattoo parlor girl... so they weren't all really super heroes, but at least they were creative. There was one guy though that was the hulk and painted his entire body green, which was freaky and cool.

About halfway through the night this guy, Rom, (travelling with Stray, but not on our bus) and I had been talking for about 20-30 minutes or so. I told the girls I was going to the next room over that was lit, was a bit cooler, and the music wasn't as loud because I just needed a short break from it all. There were people in the room and all it was just a lot more chill than the other one. Well, Rom followed me and we continued chatting about a little bit of everything and out of nowhere, in the middle of me talking about the fact that I used to play musical instruments he kissed me. As soon as I realized what was happening I pushed him away and said, "No!", like he was a bad dog or something, which seemed fitting. He was like, "What do you mean? What's wrong?" So I told the stupid idiot off and walked back into the room where my new friends were. I told the girls what happened and they were shocked and confirmed my feelings of disgust and being appalled. For the rest of the night the girls (one of the ones from Denmark in particular) would come pull me away if he came over to me or would stand really close to me on the dance floor if he tried to dance near me. They were always checking to make sure I was okay and that he hadn't tried again or anything. One time when 2 of the boys from our group (the 2 from Essex) were dancing with me she checked on me just to make sure I was comfortable with it, because if not she would happily pull me away. Again, I was grateful for such quick, strong friendships. He finally got the message and left me alone entirely. Shortly after he realized it wasn't going to happen, I saw him chatting up another girl from our bus for quite some time. I forgot about it and the next thing I knew the girl came from around the corner of the room that I had been in previously and then came and told everyone goodnight and left. I had a hunch he pulled the same thing with her, so after telling the girls I was going to head out, I left as well.

As I was getting ready for bed I found the girl (Jay) in the bathroom also getting ready for bed and I asked her about Rom. She confirmed that I was right in my hunch and I told her that he pulled the same thing with me before her. She had the same reaction towards him and told him off as well. We chatted about it for a bit and then said goodnight. I went into my room to finish getting ready for bed, went downstairs to grab a snack, and hang out with Bully for a bit. By the time I got back to the room I was only there for a few minutes before the girls showed up. I told them what I had seen with Jay and what she and I had talked about and they couldn't believe it. They were just as disgusted as I was and from there out we all shared a mutual disgust and dislike for the guy. The girls all got ready for bed and we shut out the lights to sleep, but not before Haley (from London) had us all practically rolling out of bed from laughter since she had a bit more to drink than expected at the bar... This was the first of many crazy, fun, late, memorable nights to come.

New Zealand - Getting There and Franz Josef

It felt weird going to the international departures, taking my passport, going through customs, etc to go to New Zealand. In my head I’m already overseas so I shouldn't be doing all of this again unless going home. I navigated the airport like an absolute pro, thanks to the years of training from my dad, who is an airport expert. Who knew that all those trips (Florida, Hawaii, Ohio, etc), fumbling over documents and IDs, chasing after dad as he sped full steam ahead through the airport, etc would be preparing me for an international trip entirely on my own one day! At security the guy pulled me out of line to be swabbed for explosives and I asked if I could get back in where I was and he said I could jump the queue. Never in my life have I ever wanted to be swabbed for explosives until right then. I arrived at my terminal with an hour to spare, which I used to call my mom for the last time for the next 10 days and do some last minute facebooking. By this point it was 10:40p and I had been up since 5:30a so I was pretty tired, excited, but tired. Actually, I’m not sure that I was excited… I couldn’t keep my eyes open and it all felt so weird and the fact that my day was a typical Thursday (work and LifeGroup) except for the airport made it feel weirder. I boarded the plan in my usual window seat on the wing, did one last instagram, and then tried to let what was about to take place sink in and decided… I was finally ready and excited!!

The flight was uneventful and involved very interrupted sleep. When I arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand it was 5a, dark, and cold. I made it off my plane, through customs, bought fruit and water, and made it outside all in under 30 minutes, which if you don’t know was quite the feat for an international flight. I read the signs saying bus picks up and shuttles were outside to the left so that’s the way I went… but it was deserted… I wandered around the area a bit in the dark with all of my luggage trying to find something to tell me where to go. I tried calling the shuttle company, but my phone wouldn't work. My immediate response was to freak out a bit since it was now 35 minutes after my flight landed I was afraid the shuttle had left me. I didn't let that sink all the way in though. I decided to go inside, find a store/kiosk, explain the situation, and ask to use their phone. Luckily, on my way back towards the building I saw the shuttle pull up in a different location than stated by the signs, but I didn't care at this point. The shuttle took me to my meeting place to get on another shuttle to begin my tour. I arrived at the meeting place right around 6a.

It was still dark and the temperature was 6C (about 42F). My next shuttle wasn’t to arrive until 7:10a. At the last minute I decided to pack a thicker jacket and boy was I thankful for that!! My fingers were freezing, but at least most of the rest of me was warm. My phone popped up saying there was open wireless connection (my data plan doesn’t work over here) to the YHA across the street from where I was sitting. I pulled it up and it said I had $12.00 credit… I don’t know how or where that came from, but I was certainly thankful for it!! I got to text my dad to update him and a couple other people, facebook, check weather, etc. Also to pass the time I decided to start counting the ridiculous number of being biking/walking/running at this hour in the morning in this temperature – 64 in 35 minutes… I seriously couldn’t believe it. And it wasn’t a marathon or anything. Everyone was going different ways, doing different things, etc. I saw a big bus pull up and it was Atomic Shuttles (the company I would be traveling with to Greymouth). This bus had roomy, reclining seats and plenty of space. Well it turned out that bus was actually headed up north, which made sense since it was really early, and mine would be along in another 30 minutes.

My shuttle finally arrived (on time, but it felt like forever) and needless to say… It wasn’t a nice, big, roomy, comfy, reclining bus… It was like a van shuttle thing… Creaky, small, cramped, cold. It smelled like a school bus and felt like a field trip but without the friends. There were only 5 of us plus the driver, so at least I had the seat next to me free. I managed to fall asleep for a bit and when I woke there was warm air blasting on my feet and I could feel my toes again!! I was in and out of shallow sleep. When the van shuttle thing stopped it felt like I was sitting on top of an unbalanced washer – extremely shaky and loud. When I was awake I was delighted with the scenery – huge mountains against a blue blue sky. Oh… And I don’t know what all New Zealand has at this point… but I do know they have sheep! And lots of them!! Seriously, I have never seen so many sheep in my life! For about 35 minutes I really really had to pee and the pressure was serious and I seriously questioned what was going to happen if I didn’t go soon. Miraculously the driver pulled over at a store/café/bakery thing and told us we had a 15 minute break here. And the best part… they had toilets! I saw two New Zealand army guys in their tank, which seemed random. I bought a hot chocolate and blueberry muffin to take back on the van shuttle thing – both of which were uber yum and just hit the 

spot!

After 4 hours we finally arrived in Greymouth where I would officially begin my tour with Stray (the hop on hop off bus company I have a pass with). I arrived at 11:30a and Stray wasn’t set to arrive until 1p so I had a bit of time to kill. I wandered around aimlessly for a bit and then found a Subway to get lunch. Then I wandered aimlessly a bit more and found free wifi, which I used to update people and facebook, since I figured I wouldn’t be on facebook for the next couple of days. After I was done there I went to see if the Stray bus had arrived and it had. I chatted with the driver, Motors, and she was really really nice. Once everyone started arriving (they had gone to the bathrooms, to get food, etc) it was really intimidating because all of these people have been traveling together for a few days days by now and knew each other. Two Canadian guys returned to the bus with hockey sticks and the driver was talking to them about it and I somehow got joined in on the conversation, which led to me and the Canadian guys introducing ourselves and chatting for just a moment. Once everyone was back on the bus I went looking for an empty seat, there were only 4 or 5. The Canadian guys pointed out one near them towards the back so that’s where I headed. Around me were 2 Canadian guys, 2 girls from London, 2 girls from Denmark, a girl from Germany, a girl from Holland, and a guy from France.  I am the only American on the bus. They were all really nice, welcomed me to Stray, asked me questions, etc. It was really cool to be with people from all over. We all chatted and took part in some antics (the Canadians bought a box of calendars for $2 and were handing them out and someone bought balloons and was making animals and popping them) for the 2 hour drive to Hokitika to go to the supermarket since there wasn't one at our destination. The second 2 hours of the trip were pretty quiet as most people had a short sleep. I managed to get a bit of interrupted napping done before arriving in Franz Josef.

We arrived in Franz Josef and went to the glacier walk to register. I didn’t get with the group I wanted, but I know a couple of the girls (the ones from Germany and Holland) in the group I did get with. Afterwards we headed to Rainforest Retreat Backpackers for our accommodation. I got in a room with the girls from the glacier walk group I wanted to be in (the 2 from London and the 2 from Denmark), so that’s good. They are a bit messy, but that's the life of a backpacker. They are really friendly and accepting which is what is really important. We are in a room with 5 – 2 bunks beds and a single bed – so I have the single bed : ) and the only outlets are right by my bed : ) . Our room is right above the kitchen, right across from reception, and right across from the bathrooms/showers… These are the important things when staying in hostels. Once everyone was settled we all headed to the kitchen to make our dinners. To all of our surprise there is a resident cat here named Bully. You can tell all the backpackers miss their animals back home because they all (me included) went crazy over the cat. My hostel mates have all gone to the on-site bar, but considering I’ve been awake for 36 hours now… I think I’m going to turn in early for the night. A big day tomorrow of glacier walking and hot pools swimming. =] Hoping for good weather!!! =]

View From Hostel Room

Backpack Explosions

Sydney - Australia Day

I went back to the city for 2 nights for Australia Day - January 26th. This is the day that commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove, New South Wales in 1788. It's pretty much Australia's version of the US' 4th of July. There are events everywhere, everyone gets decked out in their red, white, and blue (or green and gold), and there are fireworks, but not just any fireworks when you do Australia Day in Sydney.

For Australia Day I chose to stay in a different part of the city - Railway Square, near Central Station. I decided it was only appropriate if staying at Railway Square that I should stay in an old railway car at the YHA. They had a section of old, refurbished railway cars that were on the same platform as the trains at Central Station, but blocked off from the station with a glass wall/partition. It was kind of cool to be laying in bed in a railway car and get to hear the tone/chime of the screens on the platform showing train arrivals times and stops that I've become accustomed to and my brain immediately associates with trains. My railway car was luckily positioned right at the end of the section, closest to the door leading inside to the bathrooms. My hostelmates all spoke German and very very little English, so not much conversation took place between us but I wasn't there much honestly.

On the other side of that glass partition is the train platform

 Once I got settled (I didn't buy any groceries this time since I was only going to be there for 2 nights and knew I'd be spending most of my time out and about) I went ahead on out towards Circular Quay and the Opera House. I bought dinner at McDonald's (I'll talk about this later) and headed to the Opera House to try and get a picture or 2 of it and with it, as well as a picture of/with the bridge. I then walked along the water in the Botanical Gardens to Mrs.Macquarie's Chair to watch the sun set behind the bridge. I was sitting on the edge of a rock wall eating my McDonald's for the first time since I've been in Australia. I took a bite, chewed a bit, and thought to myself... No, no, there must be some mistake... This is my usual! My McChicken (which they call Chicken and Mayo here) with added ketchup (except they added cheese and not ketchup, but I can't blame them because it was overly busy) and a small fry!! Why does this taste like revolting rubber?!?! No matter how many times I inspected it or expected my next bite to taste better... it never did. (I'll come back to this). Anyways, I finished eating, snapped a few photos, looked at some maps, did some people watching etc. After some time I noticed this guy trying to get a picture of himself with the bridge in the background. He had a DSLR like mine and I could tell that he was clearly struggling (they aren't the best cameras for "selfies"). I hopped off the wall and asked him if he wanted me to take it for him. We got to chatting and I found out he was 20, from Canada but also lived in the US, and was just doing some leisurely, long traveling with a friend. We sat and chatted and snapped pictures (and watched a bollywood group dance) as the sun set behind the bridge. Once there was nothing left to see we decided to head back to our hostels which were right around the corner from each others.

Shortly after we headed towards our hostels, before we left the gardens, we came across some "free seats" for the outdoor cinema that is on the harbour. By "free seats" I mean a cement staircase on a hill, under street lights, behind a fence and some trees. We sat down on the stairs with the 10 or so other people that had the same idea and turns out we could actually see quite well and were fairly comfortable and could hear it just fine. After about 1 minute I realized that it was Pitch Perfect! I had been wanting to see this movie, but didn't want to pay the $20 for the movie ticket, but here I was now watching it for free on a beautiful night, outside, by the harbour, with a new friend. The movie finished, we walked back to our hostels, and made plans to meet up the following day - Australia Day!!

I woke up and got ready for what I knew was going to be a long, busy, fabulous, amazing day! I started off the day at 10am with a trip to the Paddington Markets where if I had a million dollars, or even several thousand for that matter, I could have brought home the COOLEST souvenirs. The Paddington Markets is a craft market so everything there is made by hand and is extremely high quality. Considering the quality and the time required, their prices weren't unreasonable, but they were surely out of my budget. I did however get 2 cute broaches to liven up my black winter peacoat. After the markets I headed to the Opera House to catch the end of the Ferrython and watch the Australia Defence Force fire a 21 gun salute at noon from the gardens.

Afterwards I heard live music coming from the Opera House Bar so I decided to head on over to the crowd. There was a girl about my age singing covers and boy was she good!! Her voice was flawless, smooth, and beautiful. Her personality was beautiful too! She waved to anyone and everyone while she was singing, she was always smiling, and she would talk to the audience during lulls in songs or between songs. We were standing above her and the people at the bar on like an overpass thing and she still made sure to wave to and talk to us. I wanted a CD even if it was just her singing other people's songs. My favorite one she sang was "Put Your Records On" by Corrine Bailey Rae. I was stuck, like seriously in a trance listening to her. After a few more covers she sang an original, which upped my hopes that there would be CDs. After a bit longer I headed down to find out if there were CDs. I asked a guy who seemed to be with the group and he said there were and that Elle May would love to meet me and give me one. When she finished the set I got to meet her, take a picture with her, and got her EP. Her personality wasn't just for her show - it's who she is in person too. =] I couldn't wait to get back to Gran's house to listen to the CD! (Turned out to be fabulous and I can't get enough of it! There are only 5 songs so I'm itching for more and they are all about boys/relationships - good and bad - so I'm hoping the next has a bit more variety. However, I still love her voice and her style!!)

Afterwards I headed to McDonald's again because I was going to undo what happened the night before. I ordered my usual + a vanilla cone and went to Circular Quay to eat and wait for the Royal Australian Air Force's Hawks. I erased my previous experience with McDonalds and came in with a fresh perspective and fresh taste buds... Didn't help. This stuff STILL tasted like revolting rubber! With every bite I took I kept thinking the next would be better or the next would hit that spot... but it never did. Have I really become one of those people?! Well, at least the vanilla cone was still good. Once the Hawks flew overhead I ferried across to Blue's Point where I would sit and wait for a concert.

I couldn't decide where to sit, because the logical place for the stage would be in the carved out dip in front of the sand, but the security guys (when I asked them) seem to imply that the area directly next to them would be the best viewing spot. I took the security guys' advice and sat there instead of what seemed like the logical spot. This is the point when I was supposed to meet my new friend, so I tried to sit somewhere I could see him should he walk up and somewhere where he could see me, but that I'd still have a good view of the stage. While sitting at Blue's Point I got to watch the end of the Tall Ships race, which was an unexpected surprise. Shortly after, way off in the distant, I could see the floating stage in the harbour making its way over from a concert done just before at another point along the harbour. The artist, Jessica Mauboy, is an indigenous Australian singer, songwriter, and actor. I was first introduced to her shortly after I got here when I went to the movie "Sapphires" with the girls from Compass. It took quite some time for the stage to get to where we all were and get anchored in, but once it did it was so worth it. As they were anchoring in the stage I was so paranoid about whether or not I was in the best location because the stage kept shifting towards that logical spot, but once it anchored in... I was dead center with a clear view. The bridge and Opera House to my left, sitting in the grass, beautiful blue skies, sparkling water in the harbour, and a stage on the water with Jessica Mauboy performing... I wasn't thinking about much else other than the here and now. I was beginning to wonder though if my friend was ever going to show though and because he didn't have a phone I couldn't contact him. He ended up showing up about half way through the concert. Turns out, rather than following his gut and my instructions, he did what someone else who didn't know what they were talking about told him to do, which took him way away from where the concert was. Anyways, Jessica Mauboy was great, especially given the awful heat. She was so energetic, very smiley, and always waving to the little girls playing in the water and sand dancing and singing along with her. Once the concert ended it was time to head to Darling Harbour for the day's main event - fireworks!!

My friend and I discussed who we wanted to get to Darling Harbour. He wanted to walk (due to lack of funds), but I wanted to ferry because it was just too hot and I was too tired. I offered to pay half of his ferry fare and after some time and back and forth he agreed. I told him though that I was pretty sure that we were actually going to get to ferry for free. This particular wharf never has anyone manning it and there isn't a ticket booth at it to even buy tickets so the 2 other times I'd used it I got to come and go for free (because the wharf I was leaving from and coming back to also didn't have anyone manning it). Our plan was just to tell the attendants on the other side at Darling Harbour and pay there. We got on and enjoyed the ride over. I could tell he was grateful that we didn't have to walk. When we got off it was a massive spill of people into Darling Harbour off the ferry. I told him to wait here and I was going to see if I could get through for free. I did and then waved him on and he got through for free as well. He couldn't believe it and was totally stoked.

We stopped and got some ice cream and an Icee/Slushy, had a short sit in the shade, then headed further down Darling Harbour. I took a picture with Leonardo DiCaprio. We took another, longer sit in the shade at  the innermost point of the Darling Harbour (the wharf). Then I decided it was time to lay claim to seats for the fireworks, even though it was about 1.5 hours early. My friend came and sat with me for a bit, but having strawberry blonde hair, no shade, and wearing a long sleeve button down shirt and pants... He couldn't last long. He had told me earlier that he wasn't going to be able to stay to the end anyways because of plans with a friend. Once he left I asked the guys next to me to save my seat while I went and got Subway. Good news, I haven't lost my taste for Subway.

After some time of dancing back and forth trying to stay in the shade of the guy next to me the evenings festivities began (around 7p). It started off with the Royal Australian Navy Band playing a few pieces. Then the Governor of New South Wales (the state Sydney is in) came in on a boat and delivered an Australia Day address ending with the band playing and everyone singing Australia's national anthem - Advance Australia Fair. Another vessel came through with the Australians of the Year - Australian of the Year, Senior Australian of the Year, Young Australian of the Year, and Australia's Local Hero. A couple of them spoke as well and afterwards the main boat parade started, which was a parade of the Harbour Heroes - Police, Fire (my favorite), Rescue, etc. Also included in the Harbour Heroes were old, restored tug boats and other vessels important to Sydney and its history. The end of the boat parade was the tall ships, which pretty much look like pirate ships. I had seen them earlier before the concert, but they were pretty far away. It was cool to see them up close. Then what happened was what everyone was really waiting for...

Darling Harbour Crowd

Fireworks Ready and Waiting

Governor of NSW

Fire Boat

The fireworks were extraordinary!! They were the most beautiful display of fireworks I have ever seen. They were set off in the water and went off in time with music playing. There were also colored laser lights that shone and moved in time with the music. It was a 15 minute display of non-stop show. Waiting for 3.5 hours was totally worth it! And my seats were perfect for a good view!

Afterwards, the foot traffic was at a standstill. It helped that I was alone because then I could just squeeze and weave in and out wherever possible to get out. Due to all the people and the fact that I had never been at this particular location and the fact that it was dark I had completely lost all sense of bearings so I asked a security guy and he said he doesn't know the area and that he was brought in from somewhere else because of the crowd. I kept walking in the general direction everyone else was and finally found a street I recognized. Not too long of a walk (on this walk I saw a girl wearing American flag shorts which made NO sense to me since it was Australia Day) and I was back at my hostel and in my railway car bed.

The following morning (Sunday) I packed up, had a nice breakfast, and headed to Manly to meet my friend Kat (from school). Unfortunately we were given the worst of weather to be seeing Manly, but I had had beautiful weather for my entire trip so I knew it was bound to happen at some point. However, Kat and I managed to make the most of it. We caught up with a long chat, I got to pet the kitty!!!, I met her host family, and then we headed out to show me around. She took me to the main part of Manly and showed me the wharf, the shops, and the beach. Even with the cold and rain I could tell that this place had a cool culture. It was fairly laid back and everyone seemed connected and in good moods. She is very lucky to live so close to an ocean beach. Melbourne's bay beaches just don't cut it for me. She got some ice cream and I got some pizza, which we ate in the rain and then we rinsed our feet off in the fountains because the puddles had made our feet dirty, but also because the fountain water was warm. We headed back to her place and we chatted a bit more before I had to leave. It was cool and weird to have someone so close to home right here with me... It had been 6 months since I'd been in the physical presence of anyone from back home. But it was time to go back to my host family's grandparent's house for one last night in Sydney before leaving for Melbourne Monday morning.

I am so thankful that I got to spend ALL this time in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. I fit so much into just 3 weeks of time. Some things were left out due to time constraints, but rather than doing each thing half way and getting to see everything, I decided to do each thing I did do to its full extent even if that meant having to leave some things out. I also don't plan on this being my last ever time in NSW or ACT, so of course I needed to leave things to do when I go back. ;) Sydney is a beautiful city with so much history. There are some very cool places just with 3-4 hours of Sydney. My 12 year long dream came true in Sydney. Sydney made me cry happy tears twice. Sydney is absolutely amazing, but after visiting... it's obvious to me that I'm truly a Melbourne girl at heart. As everyone has said - Sydney is the city to visit and Melbourne is the city to live in. Everyone is most definitely right. I was so excited to be walking off the plane in Melbourne. The heat was gone, the humidity was gone, the go here and go there was done, the slow pace was back, and I was back in close proximity with my church and friends/family. I loved Sydney and all the adventures I had while there. My dreams may have come true in Sydney, but my heart is in Melbourne. =]