12/1/2012 - Sydney, Again.

Before I tell you what I've been doing in Sydney, I'm going to tell you the embarrassing story of how I missed the whole of the party.

On Saturday night, there was  party at the Melbourne house for Ash's 40th, which I'd been helping to set up all day. I wore a dress and looked lovely, if I do say so myself. The party began at around 7pm so by 9pm I was reasonably merry on the mojitos that Simon had been making all night. Let me remind you all that I haven't drank since I was in New Zealand, so these mojitos hit me pretty hard. Around 9.30pm, Jarrah decided it was too noisy and she wanted to read her book and asked if she could use my room, the only room upstairs and the quietest. I agreed, and went up to put a movie on for her and decided to stay with her for 5 minutes to check she was okay. The next thing I knew it was 3am and I was in bed. I missed the whole blooming thing! I of course then couldn't sleep, so I read and then decided to put on a T show at around 5am, when to my surprise Mum was on Skype, so we had a nice chat before I took a sleeping pill and slept until 1pm. Lesson learnt: do not peak early, you'll miss the rest. There is another hilariously embarrassing story coming up but you'll have to wait.

My last day in Melbourne was pretty chilled out. I Skyped with Vicki, hung out with the kids at Gloria Jean's and Stella and Jarrah bought me a present; mini Mars bars, 85 calories each, so I can get rid of my chocolate cravings but not get loads of calories. Eliza drove me to the Bus terminal to get the SkyBus to the airport, but not before we had to explain to Griffin that only I was going on a plane, not him, to which he replied "Don't go without me!" - the sweetie! I had to stand on the SkyBus, but it wasn't so back since I could rest my backpack on one of the shelves and the journey was only twenty minutes.

If I can carry it, I think the guys who work unloading the plane will be fine, no?

I was happy to find at check-in that my backpack only weighed 19.6kgs instead of the 22kgs I was expecting. It's good because I don't plan on sending any more packages home and it means I had space for souvenirs in Bali and Vietnam. After the usual hanging around departures, I boarded the plane expecting it to be packed since I couldn't pick my seat, but the thing was empty. I snapped a picture because I just couldn't believe that my whole row was empty, including across the walkway, and two rows behind me were empty. I would have spread out and had a little sleep if the flight had been longer than an hour. Do cameras count as one of the electrical things that interfere with the plane?

Way too emotional bathroom wall graffiti and a very honest reply. Melbourne Airport.

After getting through baggage claim and picking up my backpack, I made my way down to the subway to get the train to Revesby to meet Lyn, Dan and David. It took about 10-15 minutes all in to get from baggage claim to sitting on the train seats. What I realised when I took my backpack off on the train is that my skirt had got caught in my backpack. For 10-15 minutes, I had been showing off my bum and frilly knickers to much of Sydney Domestic Terminal, and no one had told me. Brilliant. Flying the flag for England there guys. Embarrassing story #2. Lesson learnt: never again will I travel in a skirt. 

Been back in Milperra a couple of days now and it is, as expected, lovely to be back. There was a little gift waiting for me here, a notepad of Australian money. (No no, not real money sillies.) It's awesome, I really like it, especially because of that thing I have about stationary.

I spent most of my first day back reading To Kill a Mockingbird and finishing it in fact, so tomorrow I'll try and remember/find time to write a review and tick it off my TIME list. David's friend Dylan came over, so he was pretty distracted until we all headed out to get some stuff for dinner and hair dye for me, before stopping for a coffee. I was quite pleased to find that if I have my vanilla latte with skinny milk and no sugar, it tastes exactly the same but has half the calories. Today I dyed my hair and we headed out to Parramatta so I could do a little shopping for some things I needed. Some underwear, a bra, some yoga pants, two new books, some shorts and some baggy travelling pants. The last one is to avoid situations like the one above. Had a lovely day just wandering around and looking for bargains really, which I got a few of! Tonight was sushi for dinner, lush and Skyping with home. Yet to catch up with Mum though since I can't seem to get up early enough, boo!

The next books on the TIME list.

Looking absolutely knackered, hair's looking black but it's actually dark red, as always. It'll lighten up in a couple of days, always does in the end.

I think my whole weight loss thing is going pretty well. I mean, technically I've only lost 1lb, but I feel better and I really do think my legs look a little slimmer. I have a plan B though (of course!) that if I haven't shifted it by the time I'm home, I'll join Weightwatchers, seems to work for other people I know! I'm a bit worried about how I'll keep up the exercise in Bali, simply because I'll be in a dorm room and there's no way I'm jumping about like an idiot in front of 6 people. I know I could go running, but I really despise running; it's boring and I have weak knees. On the other hand, I did volunteer myself for the Race for Life 2012 tonight, so maybe some running isn't a bad idea. Plus my hostel has a pool so maybe some lengths? Hopefully I'll keep it up. 

I've done plenty of planning things tonight, like looking up how to get from the Domestic to International Terminal in Brisbane (they're 2kms apart, madness!) to printing out little cheat sheets on currency conversipons for Bali and Vietnam (1000 Indonesian Rupiah  is equal to £0.07, double madness!) to looking at the Ho Chi Minh airport map and finding a meeting place for Dom and I. That one was actually quite simple. Tomorrow it's all about Skyping with Mum, writing/sticking stuff in my travel journal, reviewing To Kill a Mockingbird and possibly getting some Rupiah exchanged and $25USD for the airport tax if we end up straying near a currency exchange, if not there's no rush. 

30/12/2011 - From Little Acorns

Well, what a wonderful time I'm having at Lyn's! Some new-to-me family I can relate to!

Wednesday night was my sushi making master class, and it didn't go too badly at all. In fact, it went very well indeed. I even had an apron, feeling like it was 2009 and I was in Mrs Heckles food tech room. Anyhow, here is my finished plate of sushi!

There's some chicken going on in there, some prawns, avocado, spinach, carrot, cucumber and omlette! It was really good actually, and wish some miso soup and Japanese mayonaisse it was delicious! 

Yesterday we had a full day of touist activities, beginning with the Sydney Aquarium which was suitably packed out to the edges. We got there by train, which was an hours journey yet it went quite quickly really. We took the light railway to Darling Harbour and after a wander around headed for the aquarium. After queuing for what seemed like a lifetime, we got some lunch in the cafe and then headed into the aquarium itself. The place was amazing, the best bits being the sharks and the dugongs, which were massive, as well as the giant crab. 

Green Screen Entry Shot with my Cousin David and some dugongs.

We were in the aquarium for a couple of hours but didn't stop for long between there and the wildlife park. I found the wildlife park much more interesting, especially getting a look at the koala and spotting the babies, then cringing at the size of some of the native Australian snakes and spiders. Also saw some kangaroos, which look very strange when they're laying down and also some free running emus. Yes, I got pecked. The best part of it all though, was getting to pet a koala! They're surprisingly bristly!

He looks less than impressed

After a stint in the gift shop (yes I bought a souvenir boomerang and didgeridoo, so sue me, I'm being a tourist) we wandered back towards the train station, but not before a quick stop at Starbucks, it's been a good month since I had a toffee nut latte and that's dangerous territory. 

Last night, I took a look at Lyn's family tree and how I fit into it. She's done a lot of work on it and it really made me want to get back into working on ours, so I downloaded the program she uses (MyHeritage, if any one is interested, it's free) and asked Mum to send me the file of our tree. So today I spent a good portion of the day putting in all those details to the new program. The earliest record we have of someone in our family tree is from 1790, albeit it only a name and marriage but that is over 200 years ago, amazing! It's actually really cool because you can select two people and it will tell you how they're related, so it stops all that confusing first cousin, once removed business. So officially, Lyn is my first cousin once removed, whilst David (her son) would be my second cousin. Glad we got that sorted out. 

This morning I had a little lay in before we headed into Paddy's Market in the CBD. It was an undercover market selling pretty much everything, but I was out for a cheap bag to use as carry-on since my Christmas presents won't fit in the bag I bought with me. I ended up getting one for $3 so it all worked out, but the crowds were stressing me out by then so I was glad to go get some lunch. After that we took a wander through Chinatown before going home via Museum Railway Station. Fun history of the station (well I thought it was fun): The station is totally underground because it was the second station (after central) to be buitl for Sydney's cityrail scheme, modelled on the London underground and New York subway. 

Looks similar to the tube, no?

Of course I know it's because of the empire and colonies etc etc, but the amount of similarities to London in Sydney is outstanding. Some examples are the street names - Downing Street, Oxford Street, Liverpool Street, in fact Museum Station was originally going to be called Liverpool Street Station. Then there's the parks - Hyde Park and Regent Park. 

At home tonight, I've been doing more things on the family tree. I really can't put into words how appreciative I am of Dan and Lyn, not only for letting me stay but welcoming me into the family (and for shouting me for a few things whilst money is tight) and also for wangling me a ticket to the Observatory for NYE. Yep, that's right, I'm going to be at Sydney Observatory tomorrow night watching the fireworks from the comfort of my picnic blanket with my family. No crowds, no shoving, no tall people blocking my view. It's not that I wouldn't have enjoyed going to the vantage points, or that crowds are a problem, but this is the much better option. The much better option by far. 

All things are looking up at the moment. I'll be back in Melbourne on Monday, I've sorted my accommodation pretty much everywhere and have back-up plans (in true Scott style) and even though I'm absolutely skint, it's all okay. 

Oh yeah, and I know you're all still waiting on pictures. It'll be number one on y to-do list once I'm back in Melb. 

28/12/2011 - Doing the Rounds

Just to update you a little on what I've been up to... I'm now staying with Lyn (who is Roger and Julie's sister), her husband Dan and their son David who is 13. Yesterday, Julie and I went out for the day with her friend Ros and Ros' son Hayden. We went down to Bondi beach, then to Bronte then to Coogee, which was lovely, and I ended up having Indian food for lunch. I've now stayed with all three members of my family here in Australia!

Although it was a bit windy, the day was enjoyable overall. When we got back I got my stuff together and headed over to Lyn's on the train, they picked me up from the train station and we went for dinner at the Sports Club. When I say club, I mean a massive building full of all kinds of things; restaurants, gambling machines, kids play area, even a fake rainforest with a stream! The evening was really nice and it's really good to get on so well with Lyn, Dan and David. Today we went over to Westfield shopping centre for some lunch. I did really well and had a salad, only to ruin it by having a vanilla glazed pretzel for dessert, boo!

Tonight we're having sushi for dinner, which I'm going to learn how to make - fun times! All good here!