Getting Started

I have been in Australia for a week now. A lot has happened since then. The 20 hour travel time was not as terrible as I thought. I slept for about 6 or 7 hours of the 14 hour plane ride. Also Nicole and I got to watch movies (even though we didn't pay for it -- SCORE!) so I basically spent my awak time watching Definitely, Maybe and Two and a Half Men. When we arrived in Sydney is when things started to get interesting. We were supposed to have a shuttle to the apartment complex from the airport but it turns out they didn't have one set up for us when we arrived. We ended up taking a taxi which cost 40 dollars! (Yes they use dollars too but Australian dollars so we still have to exchange -- boo!) We arrived at our hotel/apartment in Bondi Beach (suburb of Sydney) at 7:30 am with no phones and all our luggage only to find out that the office doesn't open until 9:30 on Sundays. Some kind gentleman let us into the square and we sat on the side walk with our luggage until someone came in. Eventually someone came and then we found out there were no available rooms yet because check out is not until 10-noon. She let us put our stuff down in a back room so we could walk around Bondi. It was not a pretty site considering we had just flown for 20 hours and hadn't showered or any of the sort. We walked down about 3 blocks and right in front of us was the most beautiful sight.. Bondi Beach. I will try to figure out how to put pictures on here so you can see. Everything else that day started to get a whole lot better after that. We got into our room and showered then went back down to the beach. I ended up falling asleep on the couch at 5 pm. Haha oops. That of course meant I couldnt sleep in past 4 am on Monday. Later that day Nicole and I went to sydney and saw the bridge and the oh-so-famous Sydney opera house. It was beautiful! We got to walk around the city and do a little shopping. I bought absolutely nothing with the CRAZY prices!!! For example, a box of cereal is $7! It is pretty much the same price to cook a dinner than it is to go out to eat! Also the alcohol is just as bad if not worse. So those of you worried about that now know I cant afford to drink a lot here. A liter of malibu is $45 and a 6 pack of beer is $13 (and that's if you get lucky).The rest of the time Nicole and I just made our way through parts Syndey and looked in all the little shops. Wednesday morning we had to get up at 5:30 to be at the airport at 7 to meet our 4 other roommates and head up to coast to Newcastle (where we will be spending the next 5 months).

Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach again

Sydney Opera House!