Happy New Year!!

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Happy 2009, Everyone!!!!!

Hope you all had a wonderful New Years Eve and that 2009 is off to a great start for all of you!! My friend Erin, a girl from school at Iowa, got here Wednesday morning. So Andy and I picked her up from the airport and had a big, delicious breakfast at Pancake on the Rocks. Then we sat out by the Opera House for about an hour soaking up the sun. After that, Erin and I did about a 3 or 4 hours walking tour around the city and it was hottttt... probably about 90 and sunny! So we got ready, had a couple bottles of yummy champagne, and started walking down towards the harbour at 9pm and saw the kids fireworks off the bridge, which were cool. Then we went to a bar called Argyle that I had tickets for, left there at 11 so we could see the fireworks at midnight. It was INSANELY packed everywhere. Basically all of the streets around the harbour were closed because there was an estimated 1.5 million people... it was CRAZY! We were able to see the fireworks at the top of the bridge, but otherwise I think we missed out on alot of the cool stuff of the fireworks, but atleast we got to see some! By the time they were over, our feet hurt so bad from our heels so we went home and hung out for a bit.

The first day of the year started off the right way: A DAY AT THE BEACH! We went to Manly and it was sooo hot, maybe close to 100 and sunny (and I have the burns to prove it!). We had a ton of a fun though... it was me, Erin, Andy, Andy's friend Marlow, my roommates Michaela and Raphaela, and Michaela's two friends from Finland, Jenny and Dickie. It was sooo much fun, and the water is finally starting to warm up, so we played in the waves for awhile.

Yesterday Andy, Marlow, Erin, and I did a day-long wine tour up to Hunter Valley and, again, it was soo hot and sunny, but really pretty and a lot of fun. We did about 4 or 5 wineries, a brewery, some delicious cheese tasting, and a couple chocolate and olive oil/jam places. It was really funny and the valley was really pretty.. kind of reminded me of the wine areas in Carbondale or a little of California. The first winery we went to, Sobels, had this amazing red wine that was just incredibly delicious, but I didn't buy any 😞 Overall, it's been a fun packed 3 days so far.

Tonight Erin and I are having dinner with Mom and Aunt Pat on the harbour, then Erin and I are meeting up with Andy, Marlow, and our friend Mike to go see a Shakespeare comedy at the Opera House followed by some drinks at the Opera Bar! Tomorrow we are either headed to the zoo or beach, beach on Monday, and a day-long Blue Mountains trip on Tuesdays! On Wednesday, Erin and I head up to the Whitsunday Islands for 4 days to do some snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef!! I better get some sunscreen!! 😊

Anyways, hope you all are doing well!!! I'll put up some pictures of the fireworks, obviously not taken by me, but just so you can see what 6 million dollars worth of fireworks look like!! 😊 Love and miss you all!!

*I'm making only one new years resolution this year so I have a better chance of keeping it... and that's no McDonalds (or fast food at all.... ok, well, minus Steak and Shake when I get back home to the states).

What's your resolution??? 😊

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Comments

[anonymous]

Don't forget the sunscreen!!!!!!!!!!! by the way, I love the pics