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Published: March 9th 2014
G'day Mate! Wow, Australia is absolutely beautiful. The land is actually a lot different than I had imagined, but that isn't a bad thing at all! The beautiful summer weather has fully won my vote. This is a place I could see myself living. I fully understand why my Mom's cousin Bengt, moved here from Canada. The palm trees and tropical vegetation give the city a wonderful relaxed vibe, as well as the sound of the cicadas, lorikeets, and multiple other strange birds. Since most of the cities are on the coast, a beach is usually only a few minutes drive away! The von Schwerins live in the Northern Beaches in Sydney, Dee Why to be exact, and are a simple 15 minute walk from the beach. Their house is in a pleasant court with incredible neighbours, especially Zarko and Marija next door from Zadar, Croatia! The lovely couple never forget to ask you to come in for Turkish coffee, offer fresh figs from the garden, or simply wish you a wonderful day!
Bengt,Sheryn and Max are such different people than those who I am used to living with. Sheryn is a very passionate, feisty, opinionated, strong person who will
Australia
I am here!speak her mind and the truth about anything. Although she is very set in her ways, she also loves to be adventurous and join in on spontaneous trips to the beach or coffee shops. Bengt is one of the hardest workers I have ever met. I feel Bengt was born to be successful just by analysing his personality and traits. He is a very organized, self motivated person who likes challenges and feels such reward when he completes something in the most efficient and effective way possible. Max is a very relaxed guy, loving video games like every other 19 year old boy, but also has a feisty side like his mother. He is interested in Chinese culture and language and will be taking those subjects in University! All families are different and its so interesting for me to be able to observe different dynamics, relationships, opinions, emotions and activities within them.
It is summer in Australia at the moment, and although the sunburnt country is known for its heat, it hasn't been too bad! In fact, I feel that in the past few years I've experienced more heat and humidity in Canada's summers! I have woken up early
to the sound of kookaburras for the past few months, talk about a wonderful alarm clock! My mornings here in Australia differ with what Max, Sheryn, Bengt, and their dog Mischka are up to. Max and I often head down to the beach to workout with a fitness group and do exercise, while Bengt runs a 10 km + run with Mischka. Sheryn and I often enjoy a wonderful breakfast with coffee made on the stove (I have never seen it done this way). Since I have made the commitment to living the lives of whomever I am staying with, I now drink a delish skim flat white (incase anyone was curious! ) The sunrise is a beautiful thing as it ascends from the horizon over the Pacific Ocean. If the sky is clear, you can simultaneously see both the sun and the moon in opposite directions!
The people I have met so far in Australia have been very welcoming and great company. Canadians are typically liked in Australia, probably not as much as I like the Australian accent though. Since I have been in Sydney, I have got to explore the life of an Australian. There are always
surfers on the beach, people walking their dogs, some hustle and bustle in the city, some flower opening up for you to smell, and an opportunity for icecream. The afternoons were often spent napping, relaxing, doing errands or visiting Mooie (Sheryns mom), exploring the beaches, or going on a hike. There are several beaches that are separated by a massive cliff inbetween. Mischka and I often explored the paths, dodging lizards, bunnies and bugs.
Christmas in Australia is completely opposite to a Canadian Christmas. Obviously there was no snow, so that meant the Christmas tree automatically looked out of place. In fact finding a real Christmas tree in Aus is rare and expensive, plus it doesn't even look like a typical short needle tree! (It had long stringlike needles). Santa gives his reindeer a break over Australia as well and hands the job over to 7 kangaroos. Some houses had lights and decorations, but few and far between. The Christmas spirit just didn't seem to catch on in Australia, although there are a few songs...
" Christmas where the gum trees grow
There is no frost and there is no snow
Christmas in Australia's hot
Cold
and frosty is what its not
When the bloom of the Jackaranda tree is here
Christmas time is near"
and another.... "Six White Boomers" ...
Early on one Christmas Day a Joey kangaroo
Was far from home and lost in a great big zoo.
“Mummy, where’s my mummy? They’ve taken her away”
‘We’ll help you find your mummy son, hop up on the sleigh’
Up beside the bag of toys little Joey hopped,
But they hadn’t gone far when Santa stopped.
Unharnessed all the reindeer and Joey wondered why,
Then he heard a far off booming in the sky.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Six white boomers, snow white boomers
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.
Pretty soon old Santa began to feel the heat,
Took his fur-lined boots off to cool his feet.
Into one popped Joey feeling quite okay,
While those old man kangaroos kept pulling on the sleigh.
Hey!
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing
Australian Miner
One of the many Sheryn feeds daily Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.
Then Joey said to Santa, Santa, What about the toys?
Aren’t you giving some to these girls and boys?
Well they’ve all had their presents sonny, we were here last night,
This trip is an extra trip, Joey’s special flight.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.
Soon the sleigh was flashing past right over Marble Bar,
Slow down there, cried Santa it can’t be far,
Hop up on my lap here son, and have a look around,
There she is, that’s Mummy, bounding up and down.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.
Well that’s the bestest Christmas treat that Joey ever had,
Curled up in his mother’s pouch feeling snug and glad.
The last they saw was Santa heading northwards from the sun
A flock of hungry Lorikeets
These are Sheryns wild pets, although not tame enough to eat from your hand quite yet The only year the boomers worked a double run.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.
Although Christmas didn't seem like Christmas, I still really enjoyed the company and celebrations with Sheryn, Bengt, Mooie, and Max! For dinner we had turkey, vegies, prawns, and finger food that had caviar! A typical Christmas day would be spent on the beach, but because of the rain, everyone was forced to stay indoors. We played some cheerful music and opened presents. My mom send a big package of gifts from the family which included books, a magazine with deep concepts, a necklace with amethyst, some lovely letters, and a one of a kind pair of shoes designed by Bianca. The henna like pattern on the shoes is so detailed and magnificent I bet she could sell them for 50 bucks to any hipster easily.
Max introduced me to one of his closest friends, Genevieve. Gen is extremely bright and overall is one of the most genuine people I have ever met. We have gone to the beach multiple
times, as well as to the movies to see "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". Gen is heaps of fun (heaps is a common term to use in Australia), especially when Max, herself and I went out to the city and explored the bars and clubs.
The block had a Christmas party that I got to attend as well, "Where in America are you from?.... CANADA!" was a reoccurring conversation.
Bengt and I took a trip to Palm Beach and hiked up to a lighthouse that was on a massive cliff. We accidentally went off the path and had to rock climb up some of the trail! When we got to the top, the view was extraordinary. You could see the ocean, as well as the bay, the beaches, the cliffs in the background, and the tiny ant like people running around. There was an eerie feel to the place because of a recent fire that left the trees covered in black, but it made for a great relaxing place to catch some rays and catch up in conversation.
Bengt, Sheryn and I headed into town to the massive fish market one day. The
A beautfiul sunrise over @ Deewhy
The sun and the moon were both up at this time! produce was so fresh I swear I saw some of the fishies twitch.
The whole family, minus Mischka went to Kurringia National Park to walk the bush. We found a great location where the water hit the land and wildlife was booming. We spotted a guana, tons of sea birds, ants of all colours and sizes and fish. Sheryn led us to another spot where we rediscovered the aboriginal carvings in the ground of Emus, Kangaroos, and fish!
For Christmas, Bengt and Sheryn gave me a ticket to Bradleys Head to watch the fireworks show on New Years. Bradleys head is located within Sydney Harbour National Park and was transformed into a family friendly venue to celebrate the new year. Max and I brought along a picnic basket, blanket, and sunblock and relaxed in the shade of a tree, listening to the live music that went on all day. The fire works were incredible, by far the best show I have ever seen. I particularly liked the eye that was created using the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The $6.8 million dollar light show was one I will never forget.
I will do another separate blog on
Vanuatu, but this part is probably necessary to mention... Max had jumped on the back of a truck when in the islands and smashed his shin off of the lip. Since earlier on in the day, a dead cow had been sitting and hanging over the same area, its possible for funky bacteria to develop. Once we had gotten back from the trip, Max was still feeling ill and his soar on his leg wasn't healing very well. By the end of the night he couldn't even put pressure on it, let alone sleep! We went to the doctors thinking it was just an infection, and turns out Max had blood poisoning! He was kept in hospital for about 5 days until he was finally able to walk on his leg. Blood poisoning is a serious thing and its a good thing we caught it before his flesh started going black, or moved any closer to his heart!
Since Max was in lockdown in the hospital, I had to celebrate Australia Day on my own. I decided to check out Manly beach for the day. It was actually quite a lonely day since most people were busy with family
and friends, so I brought a book and did some exploring. I found a really neat hidden cave in one of the cliffs that led to a little hidden rock area where I set up camp. Although I was all by myself, I really enjoyed my own company.
I went kayaking for the first time on Narabeen Lake, right off the backyard of Mooies house. Since I had no experience with kayaks, I fell in right away. That's alright, it was refreshing and didn't even smell too bad! I paddled all around the lake for a couple of hours, and when I got bored, explored a river that was somewhat hidden. It seemed to go on forever and finally got to a point where I couldn't hear any vehicles and no people were visable. The calmness of nature relaxes me like nothing else. The silence, other than the animal noises, gives great opportunity to reflect on myself. In nature, I find my thoughts always end up in a place where the world seems clear. I feel one with the Earth, sharing the ground, nutrients, sun, air, water, forever giving and taking, forever changing.
Max has been accepted to go
to Sydney University, so we went and checked out the campus on an open house day. The university is outstanding! It would be a killer experience to go to university in such a prime location, Max is very lucky.
Max and I ventured off to Sydney Aquarium which contains a large variety of Australian aquatic life. The aquarium consisted of a series of underwater, see through glass tunnels where sharks and sword fish swim above visitors. The aquarium also displays over 650 species and over 6000 individual fish and other sea creatures. Some of the highlights included: seeing the jellyfish, platypus (which is smaller than a duck! I always thought they were the size of a big beaver!), massive sting rays, seahorses, and my favourite, angel fish! Because of that little adventure, I got to see abit of Darling Harbour as well! I hope to soon go into the Opera House if I get a chance before I leave the country!
My new friend, Jobe from Vipassana, invited me to go out with him and his friends one evening. The friend group was a combination of completely opposite people. It was actually very interesting to watch
how such different people can be such great friends even with all their differences. Although they disagreed on things, it was an accepting debate where opinions were still valued and not necessary to be agreed with. I have really come to believe that respecting other peoples opinions and agreeing to disagree is incredibly more important than being victorious and losing a friendship.
Sheryn has been giving me cooking lessons every now and then! So far I have learned some simple yet delicious meals such as Vietnamese rolls, sausage rolls, tuna mornay, pasta, rice using a steamer, ANZAC cookies and many more!
Max, Genevieve, my friend from Canada Josh, and I went to the future music festival! About 50,000 people rocked up to the event to enjoy multiple musicians that were spread over 9 stages. Some of the popular bands that you may know were, Macklemore, Deadmaus, Hardwell, Rudimental, Knife Party, and Pharrell Williams to name a few. The event went for 12 hours which was exhausting since you're dancing in the blazing sun! We got to the festival early so we were closest to the stage as possible
and got front row seats to the show. By midday, it was so packed that people were having massive crowd pushing waves, fights, and people were simply being squished and elbowed continuously. Because of the over crowding, it was impossible to move, getting in or out. After watching from the same spot for 5 hours I needed a break and pushed my way out, taking almost 15 minutes to walk 50 meters. Macklemore put on a great show, as well as deadmaus with insane light and video effects! I spotted a few wacky dancers that had been on drugs, like you will find at any major festival, but made for great entertainment to observe. There was a foam party that I unfortunately didn't take part in since it would have been wet and freezing after and I still had a long bus ride and wait. Some fights broke out throughout the night, as well as pushing circles where idiot guys ram into each other. All in all I had a blast and would love to go to one in Toronto with my friends and maybe go full out in some sort of costume. People were videotaping the entire event and
there is a good possibility I will be in the highlight summary since we were so close to the stage!
Ps. There are a lot of photos and I know the website isn't set up in a good way to be able to see them all, but try to find the other pages with fish etc! I still have some time in Sydney and may do another blog if anything else interesting happens before Im off to Germany!
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Brigitte von Schwerin
non-member comment
Australia-Christmas
Liebe Charlotte.We only can say WOW.Will you move to Australia one day? I would not be surprised if you did.When ever I meet someone who has been there ,loves it.When my parents wanted to leave Germany we applied to Canada and Australia.But Canada replied first so we came here.Give our love to all of you in Sydney.We are glad that your mother wants to walk the Camino with you.With all the walking you did with Bengt you are fit for that walk ,but your mother has to get in some walking for the Camino.Stay healthy,I am glad Max is ok.The fishy fotos are wonderful.We have an Aquarium here in Toronto now too.When I took the edge walk they were just putting the finishing touch on the Aquarium.Love and H U G S, Oma and Opa.