Sensational sunny Sydney

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A long long weekend

In anticipation of my American blogging exploits I have decided to tell all other tales in between.

So far this year we have been to Adelaide, Lakes Entrance and now Sydney, all for little getaways always together.

Of course there are other people who come on our trips but the key three are Ash, Julia and myself. I could go and call us The Three Musketeers, but we are not quite that lame, or are we?

Anyway I just got back from a four day weekend in Sydney and surrounds. It was great to getaway, as leading up to the four day weekend I worked 19 days straight, yes, that’s right! It was pretty horrible and according to my luck I of course got sick right before I went away, but on the brightside I had a fabulous time in Sydney.


DAY 1

Where to start, well we caught a 5.05pm flight on Tiger Airways, yes it’s cheap, yes it can be slightly nasty but it was fine flight wise. Our flight was on time, but manned by horrible and unfriendly flight staff. Now one flight attendant was simply a cow, the other just looked like a clown with bright red cheeks and hair pulled back far too tight and the other had a constant scowl on her face and her foundation ran into her blonde, blonde hairline. Either way nothing against them except they had the personalities of wet mops.

Once we arrived in Sydney it was freaking cold, I was not impressed as I had bare legs. I almost got in the wrong car, this gave Ash and Julz the giggles. We were super excited to see Rochelle (we crashed at her house) and Alex (from Adelaide), both who are friends we met on our cruise at the beginning of last year. We were also excited to see Rochelle (a tiny size 8, 19-year-old who just got her license) driving a 7 seater mini-van, road trip style woo yeah!

Anyway we drove from the airport back to Mona Vale where Rochelle lives, and were amazed at all the bloody 3 story houses and tree lined streets, Rochelle also lived in a three story house, it was fun running up the stairs.

We ended up going out for dinner at about 8pm to a place called Rock Lily. They had AMAZING gourmet pizzas and we ordered lamb, vegetarian, smoked chicken and duck ones, they were all good, except the duck, it tasted like Chinese food on a pizza, gah!

We got home and chatted a while longer before getting so tired that bed was the only option. Julz and I were sharing a room while the boys were down on the ground floor, basement style.

DAY 2

Today we sort of chilled for a bit. I made scrambled eggs for breakfast and we just caught up on some gossip before heading out of the house to have a look around Rochelle’s neighbourhood.

Well me being, well me I wore my suede wedges and we ended up climbing down some hilly, cliffy area that lead to this blow hole spot on the edge of the ocean where mad men (and women, Rochelle did it) jump off and swim under and come out a blow hole, no thanks. Anyway while the others went further down Julz stayed with my on the edge and took photos, heights make me soooooo nervous.

After climbing back up we headed for a shopping mall (I was excited), a place called Warringah Mall. Anyway we spent ages just traipsing around the place, it was a pretty nice, open plan shopping mall, far quieter and more relaxed than Chadstone. Anyway I was tempted to buy a stack of American chocolates in this candy store and decided against it. However I was in need of a new bag as my other one which my brother had brought back from Bali had broke (gotta love fake Prada).

I got a super cute tan one from Sportsgirl after looking at $500 Mimco and $800 Oroton ones. Sportsgirl=$60 and I love it! I also bought a super cute charcoal polka dot skirt from Sportsgirl and a cute peach and lace top from Dotti.

At this point Alex from Adelaide was getting a haircut and Rochelle and I had separated, we searched for the others and I was lead to JB-HI-FI where I bought Gossip Girl Season 3, yes! I’m so excited to be seeing New York next year! And I then went into a shop called Typo in search of the PERFECT travel diary (this is my third attempt after buying several others). Anyway I found one, I wasn’t 100 per cent happy with it, but it was alright.

We spent a little more time looking around, I was trying on shoes in Wittner, while the boys were mucking around, I couldn’t find what I was after and we ended up having to get our other friend Emma from the airport. She lives in the Ballina area up the top of NSW. After about two hours in the back of the mini-van Ash and I had turned feral and were being complete idiots (well more than usual).

We finally escaped the van, ran inside had a few minutes to catch up and then went out in search of food. I forgot to mention I had a killer lunch, Red Thai Curry from a food court that was actually delicious.

For dinner Julz and I shared a take-out Indian feast, we had tandoori lamb cutlets for entrée, followed by rice, butter chicken and lamb korma for main…and of course naan…mmm naan.

After this we were soooooo stuffed, but we trudged on and left the house to head to see Tomorrow When the War Began, for those who are not aware it’s based on an Australian novel by John Marsden and it’s AMAZING! Anyway I’d basically been waiting since I was 13 to see it made into a movie and it did not let me down.

Funny shout out to the United Cinemas in Warriewood for this classic line “It’s Hollywood in Warriewood” I couldn’t stop laughing for ages.

After the movie we pretty much went back and crashed again, so far a busy 24 hours.

DAY 3

Today we were off to a good start we pilled into the mini-van and headed to a place by the beach called Avalon and got a breakfast at Rochelle’s favourite restaurant The Healthy Chef

I had what they call the Hubby Special, two poached eggs, a piece of super health toast, topped with grilled tomato, spinach, lemon dressing and Persian feta, it was yum! Very healthy and made me feel super great on the inside after all that Indian (especially since I was eating no carbs before the trip).

After this we had a look around at a few shops, we all spotted this place called Bookocino and had to head in. I was of course drawn to the travel books but held back and only bought two of those $9.95 Penguin Classics. I got Lolita and Madam Bovary (I’m going back to uni next year to study Literary Studies so figured I better get into this whole classic literature thing). I also got cappuccino, I mean a cute little book store and coffee just go hand in hand, right?

Anyway after this we went for another drive, at this point it was drizzling, but despite the rain the air was sticky and balmy and was heaps better than the Melbourne cold I was so used to. Rochelle took us to a real treat of a place, essentially a piece of Australian History, or at least pop culture history…of course it’s Summer Bay.

You know we belong together…anyway basically we got plenty of shots out the front of the Summer Bay Surf Club and ran around the beach and other areas being overly dramatic and pretending we were in the soap. Lame? Yes. Fun? Hell yes!

Rochelle then took us around the streets and we looked longingly at the homes of the wealthy.

We then went to ‘Hell’, well not literally but Rochelle did surprise us by taking us to the place called ‘Hell’ from the Tomorrow When the War Began movie, and actual spot where they filmed the movie we were excited.

I explored a bit with the others and we headed back, I literally put one foot in this stream thing and looked down and had managed to get 2 leeches stuck on me, I was freaking out and managed to get them off me before they started to suck my blood. We gave them names Edward and Bella Leechen and the others had a good laugh at my expense.

We then headed back home to Rochelle’s place to freshen up before dinner and a night out, when Emma discovered she actually had a leech attached to her toe. After some laughing and cringing, Rochelle managed to use salt to get rid of the blood sucker and video tape it on Ash’s iPhone at the same time.

We ended up making pasta at home and got ready to go out to the Mona Vale Hotel.

The night ended up being super fun, I might have had 5 or so drinks too many and was very merry when the place got broken up at about 2.30am (bloody early if you ask me).

After a drunken stumble up Rochelle’s massively steep driveway I made it into bed and managed to wake up without a hangover.

DAY 4

Today was our sleep in day as it was Father’s Day and Rochelle had to have lunch with her Dad and brothers. I didn’t really sleep in though as I was coughing a lot and was a bit restless. Anyway I made bacon and eggs and Ash made a wicked chocolate and berry smoothie (great for my slight sore head, okay I lied I was a bit seedy).

Anyway we just mulled around for a bit and watched a movie, and then went outside to play word yahtzee which was way way way too complex for our tired brains.

Rochelle got back about 2.30-3 and we headed for Manly, the day was still beautifully sunny, clear skies all round. Manly was nice from what I saw of it, we parked pretty close (for $45 mind you) and missed the first ferry to Circular Quay by about a minute. Waiting around, Alex and I got Crème Brulee Chillers from Gloria Jeans (not a great idea before a boat ride mind you), while Ash got a mega Tim Tam chiller with plenty of crème, chocolate and caramel sauce.

The ferry ride was nice, just chilling on the lower deck taking in the sites and reminiscing about the cruise (it was the last time we were in that spot together). Being late afternoon the sun was beginning to set and we got some great snaps of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House (like true tourists). We also decided to go to this bar called Minus 5, which is a bar, made entirely of ice, it was freezing, but great fun and Julz managed to get drunk off one cocktail while Ash broke some expensive ice balls.

We ended up dancing around in the ice and got some great happy snaps. After this adventure we were in search of food. Alex was hanging for a Parma; the rest of us just wanted anything. Of course we were at the wrong end of George Street and had to walk about 2-3km (and googling a good spot) before we found Cheers Bar and Grill, its theme was of course based on the American TV show bar of the same name and we managed to score ourselves some $13 Parma’s, healthy Rochelle ate a stir-fry.

After sitting for a bit we managed to drag ourselves back for the long walk back to the harbour and tiredly got onto a ferry back to Manly.

Before heading home we of course had to a chocolate café, Max Brenner (we have them in Melbourne, but holidays make it more acceptable to go), even though I was super full but I still ate a cookie, while Ash and Emma shared a plate of waffles, fruit and melted chocolate, which the others happily helped them consume.

We headed home, but detoured to a beach. I ran into the water, was knee deep and not at all cold in my little new skirt from the previous day. But it was great and it made me feel good to run for a bit.

After this I barely managed to stay awake for another hour before crashing at about 11.30, lame but I was exhausted being sick and hung-over and running on a lack of sleep.

DAY 5

Poor little Emma had to leave super early and make it back in time to go to uni for 8 hours, so she came in and said goodbye and I tried to go back to sleep but had little luck. I got up and read for a bit and ate some toast and an apple (trying to get back to normal eating) and then Rochelle got back from the airport and woke all the others up. We got motivated and talked for a bit while Rochelle had a nana nap.

We decided to go to the movies again to see Going the Distance. I’d been hanging out to see it and I was really impressed, it was funny and a touch sad and made me really like Drew Barrymore even well more.

In between the movie we’d had a rushed lunch and ate way too much again.

After the movie it was time to head to the airport and say our goodbyes.

We thought we would have got to hang out with Alex as our flights were almost at the same time but he ended up having to go to some dodgy terminal three so we said goodbye and parted ways. It was sad to be apart again, but at the same time Ash, Julz and I still had each other haha.

We chilled at the airport; I looked for a belated Father’s Day present for my step-dad and failed. We boarded the plane which left late but got into Melbourne on time. Cold, dreary and rainy Melbourne, ah well.

After seeing a billboard with this girl from our school on it who got the lead in a big Melbourne musical Ash and I were peeved haha, she deleted us off Facebook and is just a general cow. Anyway the reason for mentioning this is it led us to looking at other billboards, which led us to seeing an advertisement for Hogs Breath Café. Even though it was getting late and Ash was broke we stopped anyway and ate a delicious final holiday meal together. I had their famous steak with vegies and mash potato, while Julz had a burger and Ash lamb cutlets. We finished it off with desert, Julz had the sticky date, Ash the Mississippi mud cake and me a Hot Fudge Sunday, it was delicious and filling and we left poorer, more entertained and certainly fuller than when we arrived.

The drive home was uneventful and I dozed off a bit despite trying my hardest not too (sorry Ash). Before I knew it I was home in Morwell again and back in my nice warm and cozy bed for a great (well it wasn’t so great) nights sleep before work the next day.

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