Greetings from Aussie!!!

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Hi Everyone!!

Happy New Year!!! I'm sorry I have not been able to write on here sooner-- we have been busy and unfortunately the wireless internet was down here for the last few days. Anyways... here's what I've been doing in beautiful Australia 😊 .......

After a long, 20 hour flight, I made it into Sydney the morning of the 31st. The flight went well, and I actually did sleep a little bit, but once I got there they lost one of my bags!! (Which I finally received last night!!) My friend Kara and her boyfriend, Andy, were there waiting for me once I arrived. After they picked me up, we went to this place called Pancakes on the Rocks... mmmm it was so delicious... a very good first experience! I had the Banarama, which was grilled banana pancakes with ice cream and butterscotch syrup.... yum 😊 Then we walked over to a place called Circular Quay (pronounced "key") and sat by the water... it was a BEAUTIFUL view of the Opera House, the Bridge, and the water... and a great way to start off my trip!! We sat there for awhile, and then headed back to Kara's place to drop off my stuff. Her apartment is right downtown, so it's a great location and close to basically everything. It's a little packed right now... it's a 1 bedroom apartment and she lives there with 2 other girls, Raphaela from Brazil, and Micaela from Finland... they are both really really nice and fun! Micaela also has 2 friends staying here, so it's a pretty packed apartment, but a lot of fun!! After I settled in at the apartment, Kara and I walked around a little more downtown Sydney. I had to buy some shoes, since all of my shoes were in the lost bag, so we took care of that, tried a few dresses on, and then walked down to Darling Harbour for a little bit, which is a really beautiful place-- I think we'll probably go there again today since we weren't there long. We then headed back to her place and rested for a little bit, then got ready for the New Years Eve festivities. We got all dressed up and had a little champagne, then headed to a bar called Argyle. It was a very cool, hip bar, everyone was pretty dressed up, and part of the bar was outside and had a few different levels. We stayed there for a few hours and met a few people, then headed down to the fireworks at midnight. Although we didn't have the best view, they were still very cool and we were able to see them shoot out from behind the Opera House. Very cool. The first New Years ever that I was not freezing my butt off!!!

Now let's see here... day 2... after we woke up, we took a ferry to Manly Beach to get a little bit of a tan. The ferry ride was beautiful... it passed the Opera House and you could see the coast, and took about 30 minutes to get there. The beach was packed, but still a lot of fun. Very warm... about 95 degrees! Kara and I went there and then met Andy and his friend Marlow there. Then Raphaela, Micaela, and her 2 friends met up with us. We stayed there til about 5 or 6 and then Andy drove us back home. When we went back to the apartment we freshened up and then went to a place called Scruffy's... cheap, good food. The guys were excited about the $6 steaks... but I wasn't sure about that, so I just had some pasta. And cider... my favorite 😊 We then went to a place called Lowenbrau, a German bar that served delicious Mango beer... Kara insisted that I needed to try it!! We headed home pretty early to rest up for the next day!

Yesterday we had a full day on the Hunter Valley Wine Tour. We took a bus out to Hunter Valley-- it was a really beautiful drive and I took a lot of great pictures!! When we got there, they took us to about 5 diffferent wineries where we had tastings, a cheese and chocolate factory, and a jam/olive oil place... yum!!! I was very full by the end, but it was all delicious and a ton of fun. I learned how to test wine the right way... so by the 5th winery I sort of looked like I knew what I was doing... haha! When we got back we took a nap-- as the wine made us pretty tired. Then Micaela and Kara insisted we go on a pub crawl, so that they could show us some of the local establishments they enjoy in Sydney. The whole gang went, and then we met up with a few other people once we got there. We stayed out dancing for quite a while... it's actually pretty funny to watch the Aussies dance.... they don't exactly...umm... know how to!!!! 😊

I just got up a little bit ago and today we are going to walk around Sydney a little more, see the Botanical Gardens, meet Kara's mom and aunt for an early dinner, and then going to see a show at the Opera House called 30 Shakespeare Plays in 97 Minutes... should be fun!! Will update you more later!!!

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Comments

[erinabroad]

Hi Erin!
Erin! I could absolutely picture, smell, and practically taste all of the great things you have done so far. This is a trip of a lifetime and thanks for sharing it with us. It sounds like the fun will continue right up until it is time to leave. Any prospects on the premonition I had? Wendy