Hi Everyone!

Hello again! Well, it is a rainy day and I have absolutely nothing else to do but update my blog! Hopefully this time, I will finally get it up to date!

Sooooo..... where did I leave off? Alright, well, after Caroline and I slept in Manly with Glenn, we took a train up to Newcastle to stay with Robbie for a while. We got to Robbie's on Jan 17 (Sat) in the late afternoon. Robbie, being the party animal that he is, really wanted to take us out, so, we all went down to the local gay nightclub! It was so much fun! The three of us went, along with Lewi and Keira (Robbie's roomate and his girlfriend). It was so much fun and it was nice that we could just walk there from Robbie and Lewi's house!

The next day, Robbie drove us up to Fingal Bay, an hour out of Newcastle. We stopped off first at some outdoor markets where they sell used goods, clothes, vegetables, crafts and much more. Caroline bought a shirt and I bought a skirt for pretty cheap! I think Robbie bought a banana. We went to this beautiful deserted beach after that... played some frisbee, swam, suntanned! After that, we went to Robbie's friend's, Josh and Zoe's place. The boys went fishing and after they didn't catch anything, we went out for dinner! That night we slept at Josh and Zoe's. We woke up the next day (Robbie managed to get Monday off to tour us around!) and went on a wine tour of the Hunter Valley!!! It was awesome! Caroline navigated and we managed to take all the back roads to get there... pretty bumpy in Robbie's little red car which was on the verge of breakdown! We visited 3 or 4 wineries and a cheese maker. By the time we got to the cheese maker, I'd had a lot of wine! They poor a pretty good sized glass and most people just take a sip and the rest gets wasted... I just don't like to waste anything, especially wine! Anyways, I was pretty drunk by the end of our tour!

The day after the wine, Robbie was back at work, so Caroline and I stayed in. Robbie has a very nice 5- bedroom house with hardwood and tile floors complete with spiders the size of my palm, even bigger spiderwebs, cockroaches and an ant trail going from the kitchen window to Robbie's bedroom window! Anyways, Caroline and I decided to clean all day... Robbie appreciated that!

The next day, Caroline and I decided to get out of the house and head downtown. We hopped on a city tour bus. It ended up being just the two of us, so it was a very personalized tour! Overall Newcastle is a very much an industrial city... the ocean and port is filled huge oil tankers and other large ships but the downtown part is still pretty. After that, Caroline and I ate a meat pie.... very very Aussie! They sell meat pies everywhere! Some are pretty good and some are pretty gross! The one that we ate was a meat pie (they are all individual sized pies, about the size of your palm) covered in mashed potatoes and mushy peas.... yum... not! Not something I would eat again. I've eaten one pie that had tuna, cheese and tomato and that was really really good, so it just depends on who makes them and what's in them! Anyways, after our pie, Keira and a couple of her friends picked us up. We all went shopping downtown and then they drove us to the convict made baths. A lot of beaches in Australia have baths. Basically, a pool is cut into the rock beside the ocean and then ocean water fills the pool. You can still see small fish in the baths since all the water comes directly from the ocean. The purpose is basically so that people can swim without the danger of sharks, rips and waves. Anyways, the baths that they took us to were made way back when Australia was founded. The convicts made this bath for the visiting Kings and Queens to swim in. It is pretty cool... I have some good photos of it! Speaking of photos, I posted a few up on Facebook.... so if you want to see them, add me as your friend on facebook! If not, I will try to post a few up on here... not sure when that will happen though!!

The next day, Robbie drove us back to Sydney. That night, Caroline and I went to another event for Sydney Festival that Matt have gotten us tickets for. We watched Reggie Watts who is a comedian/singer/beatboxer/musician etc. He was really good and really funny. I would definitely recommend going to see him if you have the opportunity.

That night and for the next 2 nights, Caroline and I stayed in a hostel because we wanted to be close to downtown. We bought all our food from a grocery store and packed lunches to save money.

The next day, Caroline and I had a date with cricket. For the record, until a year and a half ago, I thought that cricket was the same game as croquet. I had no idea that millions of grown men in countries like Australia, India, England, South Africa and New Zealand burst into tears upon the loss of their countries cricket team! Anyways, I wanted to cry because I had to sit outside for 7 hours in 40 degree weather. By the end of it though, I was in love with cricket! The entire experience was sooo fun! The actual game, once you somewhat understand the rules, is pretty entertaining! But, even more entertaining, are the fans! And the security guards trying to control the fans! Two fans jumped over the railing and ran across the pitch, dodging a bunch of security guards who eventually tackled them to the ground. I found out that running onto the pitch actually results in a $5000 fine.... pretty pricey laugh! Fans also try to drink as much beer as possible... the point of this is so that they can save all their beer cups, stack them together and make "beer snakes." The longest beer snake I saw was probably 5 or 6 meters long! They lift their beer snake horizontally in the air until enough people cheer and then they throw the entire structure onto the other sitting fans in front of them. Anyways, my date with cricket turned out well and I'm really glad I went!

Alright, well, my fingers hurt, so I will publish this entry and hopefully write another one today! Love and miss you all!!!

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