Blogs from Bondi Junction, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

The exchange rate between the Rand and the mighty Aussie dollar is now around 7 to 1. Which if memory serves me well, is around the same rate for dad at home looking after the kids vs mom doing the same. Which means that in the past month, with Alexa gallivanting all over the known world, chiefly via Hunter Valley (retreat), Perth (home) and Thailand (surprise Schoofess visitation for Hans’ 70th) I have built up a healthy 161 day credit. I have been warned, though, that such credits have a half life of only a few days, and are known to disappear rapidly in a puff of unwashed dishes or forgotten anniversaries, and have therefore cunningly decided to cash them in in one go by booking my fare to New Zealand to attend the greatest male ... read more

This is getting to be a habit! By the time we got to sleep around 04:00 it was 11:58 by the time we woke - we got to see the morning this time at least... Pulled round after 14:00 and thought it too late for the beach (it was sunny but with patchy cloud) Decided to wander eastwards till we got sick. Wandered up Oxford St, through Darlinghurst and stopped for a latte and toastie near Paddington Town Hall - Sydney's version of the district is much posher with boutiques lining the street. Walked to the end of Oxford Street through Woollhara into Bondi Junction. Then decided to continue down Bondi Road and ended up at Bondi Beach around 17:30 It was warmer than last Christmas Day and not alot of people around, mainly surfers taking ... read more

Our travels around Oz are pretty much at an end now. We went back to Sydney to say goodbye to the few friends we had here, to sort out the stuff we had dumped on poor Karen and to sort out our New Zealand visas. Just want to say to Karen (if you read this of course) thank you again for holding onto all our crap for the 3 months we were travelling round Oz! Really appreciated it and I'll do the same to you if you ever need it! We spent about 5 days in Sydney, prob 3 of them were spent in the post office sending things home and the others were on the internet sorting out the work-holiday visa for NZ. Luckily the visas came in before our flights (just!) so we were ... read more

voili, voilou, mon premier Noël avec plus de 20 degrès dehors!!! Toute la famille a été super gâtée, et moi aussi... Hier joli début de journée, il faisait très beau, très chaud... Chris, les enfants et moi en avons profité pour aller fais un tour sur "The Boat of the Sydney Marina", le Rivarama de Chris: "Dolce", un vrai bateau de compète qui claque, tout en bois, magnifique, chic, énorme, sublime et franchement disons le "qui pète la baraque tellement qu'il est beau, tellement que tu pourrais draguer Russell Crowe avec!" Bref, petit tour dans la baie, première rencontre avec la construction si particulière de l'Opéra de Sydney (je vais voir si je peux trouver un Opéra ou un ballet sympa avant mon départ...) et puis arrimage au ponton de chez Otto un super restau italien ... read more

Hello les z'amis, ok nous sommes a d+3, je vous livre ici mes premieres impressions... Alors le positif: - le ciel bleu, la végetation luxuriante, le vent qui vous rafraîchit instantanément ce qui est commode quand il fait 34°, les oiseaux exotiques que l'on ne voit que dans les îles, et qui vous servent de réveil matin magique, l'omniprésence du bio et de l'organic, c'est un pays ultra eco-friendly et franchement j'apprécie énormément. Une nature préservée sur un terrain aussi vaste que l'Australie se trouvent environ 22 millions d'habitants de quoi avoir la place d'ériger d'immense parcs à l'anglo-saxonne comme on aime. - Les fruits exotiques, des mangues sublimes et satinées, des fruits de la passion, de la goyave, miam! des restaus capables de mettre à leurs cartes du bon vieux fish & chips à côté ... read more

Sydney August 2009 There is no holding back Mary here, she interviewed with an employment agency the day after we arrived, was sent to a bank interview the next day and started work the next, so amazingly was set up in a great 4 month contract job after only 2 days. Unbelievable. Took a lot of pressure off us, knowing that we would soon have money coming in and we would actually be able to stay in Sydney and go get somewhere to live. Over our first week we scoured through the web looking for places, and tried to get to grips with what the areas were like and where was suitable. We viewed a few places and then on the Monday we found a massive one bed place in an old house in Charring Cross ... read more

So, there hasn't been a lot to report. The weekend after orientation I went with some of the girls to Paddy's market. It's like the French Quarter in New Orleans. A lot of cheap little stands that sell absolutely everything. My purchases include a $10 for 10 minute massage , zebra print light-weight scarf, and DG sunglasses. Mine were falling apart, so this purchase was completely necessary. It just happened that I bought DG ones, after Delta Gamma... The next weekend and this weekend have been extremely uneventful, but that's okay. I've been slowly exploring the area around the Tiffany, which includes a little market and other cute shops. Some of my roommates are planning a trip to Nimbin, which is the Amsterdam of Australia, but I'd rather save my money for when my mom and ... read more