first week in Sydney

G’day everyone…..I’m finishing up my first full week in Sydney and loving it so far. The weather remains very mild for it being the middle of winter but I've had to buy a sweater. So funny to think of December as the middle of their summer too, Christmas must be a different experience.

I finally found an apartment after looking at some tight situations. Apparently there are a lot of people who rent 2 bedroom apartments and then sublet them to travellers, cramming 4 bunk-beds per room and charging about $600/month/person for short terms. I almost settled on one of those situations with 4 Brazilians and 2 British guys in a 2 bedroom place when a friend of a friend said he was moving to the UK and I could take his bedroom. It has worked out great and now I have my own bedroom in a townhome I share with 2 Australian girls and a guy form New Zealand. We all have different schedules so I don’t see much of them but think I will put together a BBQ sometime this week. The apartment is in a great part of town, small cafe’s/restaurants all around and very close to the downtown area, Darling Harbour, Oxford St and Kings Cross. I walked down to the Sydney Opera House yesterday and enjoyed some lunch overlooking the Harbour and ferries coming and going...so nice!

I've been working with my friend's company, Barmterix (www.Barmetrix.com), consulting bars and restaurants around the city. A few of the guys were sick last week so I was helping everyday, getting up at 7am and stocktaking bars, helping with bartender pour testing and training for bartenders/managers. It's been fun so far and they've agreed to pay for my apartment and give me a car in exchange for my help, so that works out well.

I've been walking all over the city checking things out. I have a grocery store just around the corner and a place that serves excellent breakfast sandwiches and coffee across the street. I've been getting used to driving on the other side of the road and am enjoying the challenge of figuring out my way around the city. I still can't help but take a picture of the Harbour Bridge as I'm driving across it.....quite the landmark here. I went up to the Northern Beaches last week for a "barbi" (BBQ) on the beaches which was fun, really beautiful area, kind of looks like the coast of northern Italy in some parts with houses built into the cliffs going into the ocean. I took the ferry over to Manly with some people I met who work with Pfizer yesterday and the beach was filled with surfers, I think I'm going to try it out next weekend...even though it may be a little chilly in the water.

The US Navy Aircraft Carrier Kittyhawk is in town, so Sydney is filled with 5,000 soldiers running around. I wasn't sure how the Australians would take to them but they are surprisingly welcoming. I overheard one local guy thanking some soldiers for their service as we all waited to cross the street.

I've begun to meet some new people; everyone seems very welcoming and down to earth. Although the city is mainly Australians, there are tons of people from England and New Zealand living here....still trying to distinguish the accents at times. Well, I'm headed to try to find some pickup soccer games in one of the parks here. I hope everyone is well, talk soon!!

Cheers!

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