AUS9- Bondi, James Bondi

Newtown

Ri and I decided to go check out newtown the other day. It is a pretty hip little area over here that contains a zillion restaurants, cafes, gelato shops, and bars. It only takes about 5 minutes to walk from our home so we plan on trying out every single one. We went to a neat place called Newtown Hotel which is actually a pub and not a hotel at all. I learned later that night that many call their bars "hotels". So what do they call their hotels? Oh yeah, they are called hotels too. ** rolls eyes**

My first picture with a wombat --bc I'm absolutely

obsessed with these guys

Newtown is where I tried cider for the first time. Let me tell you what, Louisiana. You need to get on the cider train because that stuff is delicious. It is like you are drinking a fancy apple juice. It is missing the little bendy straw that comes with the tiny juice boxes- but hey, beggars can't be choosers. The place we ended up at was pretty much the coolest little pub in existence. This judgement may have been influenced by my interaction with the bouncer (called a sec-y). The seccy (seckie? sec-y? secky? idk how you spell it) looks at my ID and says "Geaux Tigers!" My mouth must've hit the floor. He then says that he likes the giants as well because of OBJ. Y'all, this guy has partied at Fred's. It is safe to say he was a pretty cool dude. We also met some locals who gave us a little insider's scoop on things. The "just give it a go" saying is doing itself justice FA SHO so far.

Coogee to Bondi

pronounced Koo-jee to Bond-eye (I learned this AFTER the trip. So there's that)

I think it is known by now that I am a sucker for amazing views of nature. This walk was a 5k of amazing, eyeball-hurting, gorgeous scenery from one beach to another. I have never seen water so blue! The sights weren't all of the water though! We walked past the Waverley cemetery and I was amazed. I think I have a strange infatuation with cemeteries starting to grow within me. I'm not sure what it is about those things that I find beautiful. It may be all of the stories that they hold or the peace that comes with the atmosphere.

Waverley Place

It was a beautiful day for this walk as we had sunshine and about 65 degree weather. {You know Australia has already changed me when 65 sounds like "nice" weather}

GASP

My little heart can't take this excitement

Bondi

Surprise! There was a proposal while we were at Bondi beach! You have to give the guy credit for trying, but it did end up saying "Me <3 Marry Will you". The "me" was wayyy off and the other words had mostly disappeared when he finished the E. I'm sure the point came across well enough though :). Congratulations to whoever you are out there!

Aroma Festival

This is a festival for coffee. Yes, please, and thank you. It was located at Circular Quay so we got to see the opera house and the harbour bridge all over again. I don't think it is something that I will even get tired of looking at. The depressing part was that the coffee was not free. Bummer. Why did we think we could get away with anything free over here? Sigh. It wasn't too bad- $2 for a 6oz cup. I tried a macchiato from one company and a mocha from another. These were both delicious (not that I expected anything different). Sydney answers my soul's call for caffeine and I am very grateful.

We had to fight people off for this picture - totes worth it

Thankful for these italians

BOMB.COM COFFEE

Can we just take a second to appreciate what this hill country has done for my quads?

After we took this picture a lady came up to us and asked if we would like a free boat tour of the harbour. Umm, YES. Does a better day in life even exist? A coffee festival, free boat tour of Sydney's harbour, and awesome company can't really be beat. :)

After the first coffee round everyone was STARVING. There were many food tents all over with international and local items. Ri and I passed somebody with a giant german sausage and that instantly made up our minds. I had never had Weisswurst and here it was! It came with onions and ketchup/mustard. and was pretty dang good. Now if it was on some poboy bread instead...then we'd be cookin' with crisco.

Okay, now that we have full bellies, time for a walk! There is walking path along the Harbour Bridge that you can walk along for free. Free activities? Only #1 on a list of exchange students' favorite things! I found the bridge to be much shorter than it seems but maybe my legs are just finally getting adjusted to this place. The sun was still out and the skies were clear but the wind was brutal. It was great to look back and see everybody's hair just flailing around as if each person were in their own personal tiny tornado. They had security officers about every 200 yards along the bridge and the fence itself was rather badass. It made for less-than-optimal picture taking but earned an A+ for safety precautions.

shadows suck sometimes

Overall, it was a superb day. I had a great time with these girls drinking coffee and walking across bridges. My skin stopped peeling off of my feet and I think I'm getting used to the terrain FINALLY. What a great way to spend your last day of break!

Tomorrow is the first day of classes and also O-day. O-day is out on the main walkway of campus and all of the clubs are supposed to have tents out. I heard that there is a chocolate appreciation club. If someone lied to me about that I will be rather sad. I will also be looking for a hiking club. Maybe there is even a wombat appreciation club or a quokka-a-day club...stay tuned!

EXCITING NEWS!!! I hit over 1,000 views on the blog today! woooooooooooop woooooop. Milestone-making-Monday is now a thing.

7/26/15

#AustraliaTrip