Saturday, March 16, 2013

Australia: Sydney

Luckily after such a long flight to get across the world, flying from Christchurch to Sydney, did not seem bad at all. Unfortunately I was delayed a good bit, which was not good because I had plans to meet a friend that night! Not hard to guess, I was stressing a bit. Thus I ran the whole way, checked in, dropped my stuff and then turn and ran out the door with hardly a clue where I was staying or going. Made it to my destination and lucky for me, my friend Mr. S was there with friends waiting. We went out to get food, ended up in a restaurant with a menu as long as a mile and had a great meal. Then spent some time wandering around the harbor, looking at Sydney at night decked out for the holidays and chatting. As I crashed, since it was a very long day, I couldn't help but think it was a great first night.
The next day I set out and started to just walk around to get my bearings. The church and park above was not only a landmark, it also was a great place to break (OK siesta), lounge in the sun, or read a book. Sydney is easy to navigate but includes a bit of walking, and when you are carrying a heavy bag; it helps to have a rest spot. 
I reached out to a friend of the family Ms. K (in the middle above) and she included me in her girls night out! We had so much fun bouncing from bar to bar, hitting the dance floor and chatting up locals. Her whole crew was just as open and friendly as she was and made me feel very welcomed.
The next day, it was crazy hot... just like I like it. Naturally, I decided to hit the beach. Bondi Beach that is. I had a lovely time just lounging around and popping into the ocean. I met some cool people to hang out with for the day and then headed back. Wandered around but really spend the majority of the day baking at the beach. Let me tell you, it was a perfect day!

Woke up early to go on the free tour, and they took us around a lot of the sites. Again I was with a heavy backpack and after an hour of half of walking my dogs started to get tired. I had already seen most of the sights they were showing me except for the full Rocks and tunnel below.
I started to hang at the back of the group and make a friend. We both were enjoying the tour but it was long, over three hours. While the history was interesting, it was not enthralling and as much as we liked and were engaged with our tour guide; our feet were complaining to much and we decided ditch. 
On route to find the other less famous and only 10 ft shorter revolving tower and restaurant  we knew were were on the right track via the sculpture above. Yes, sometimes I actually have a great idea and want the photo to be shot.

Shortly after, we took a long elevator ride up and sat down before the happy hour rush and had a nice drink as the restaurant slowly turned to show of the city skyline. I really enjoyed the company of my new found friend Ms. M. Below are some of my favorite shots.


After while a few of Ms.M's friends joined us and we started to walk around in search of food. We also stumbled into a funky light art installation in an alley way below.
We went all the way to one side of the city to find our destination closed, then went back to the other side and found a great brewery restaurant. By that time we were starving and everyone ate well. Decided not to go out with Ms.M's crew to rest for NYE. I got to relax at the hostel for a bit and then got dragged along to a pub crawl with my hostel.
We bounced around a bit and then ended up in Scruffy's, which had a sports pub up top and two dance floors below. It ended up being a killer night filled with dancing and new friends (below).
The next night I managed to sleep in, OK so I was up and out of the hostel by 10:30, but considering I was out before 9. This was luxury. I decided to keep on that track and walk to the Quay, get food and then catch the ferry.
Sydney from water is something everyone should see, and from the number of boats out; many people do. It was great to be able to take better shots of the skyline (above) and of course, the famous Opera House (below). 
Then a short walk, through a nice shopping strip to Manly Beach! Yes, Manly and from the number of surfers you could tell testosterone ran a bit higher on this beach. Yet unlike Bondi Beach, there were a bit less people. 
I guess the ferry deterred them? Who knows, for myself I parked it in the early afternoon. Had fruits, water and a good book to keep me occupied. For those who know me, I am a busy bee type of person; but put me in a warm beach and I can lounge. Which is exactly what I did!
Was not until the sun was almost setting did I realize how quick the time passed. Luckily I was on the boat already and would be be able to get ready for NYE soon enough. Dressed in a snap, grabbed a few Mates from the hostel and off we ran.

First we got our wrist bands and a quick drink. Borrowed a friends headband for some flash and snapped a shot. See the tan I am was working on!
The streets are madness and overcrowded. Making our way to find a viewing spot was intense. Happily everyone was well mannered and no fights broke out, some parts of the crowd looked hairy for a moment.
Then we went to stake our spot to view the fireworks and lucked out as someone gave us extra passes into the spot they were headed to. Meaning we got a perfect view of Darling Harbour! All the boats in the bay were lite up like they were on the Playa of Burning Man. The shot above does not show it but they choose a kiss or set of lips as the NYE emblem. Fireworks went off in all directions, from the bridge, hotels on the side and behind us, the boats, Opera House... EVERYWHERE. It lasted about 20 minuets. If you want to watch see the full thing below:



After it was back to Jackson on the George, and a night full of dancing, laughing and sharing good times with random strangers. We got back to the hotel around 5:30 am and sadly I could not crash well. I had to check out the next day by 10. Bleh!

Being half pack but not really, and with a fresh load of clothes done the night before (somehow managed before NYE), I had to completely reorganized. Wanting to be nice to my dorm room, I made trips and did it in the lounge so I did not wake anyone. Oddly, I had two travelers watching me pack with the jaws dropping ever moment with how much stuff I could take in how little bags. My secret? Spacebags! Kneeling on them works just as well.

Afterwards, one of the astounded travelers decided to join me on a quick museum run since I had half a day to kill before my flight. We went to the Contemporary Art Museum and saw some incredible pieces of art, see for yourself below.
The sculpture roof top garden with a view of an huge cruise boat behind it is above and a multidimensional piece is below.
I thought the flashing arrow below was too cute of a picture to pass up, even if the cement was ridiculously hot.
We grabbed lunch to go and walked through the Botanical Gardens (below) to eat, nap/read and relax.

After I had a flight to catch and was picked up by the shuttle. Once at the airport, there was confusion. Flight times had change, I was not notified, and a good bit of  of running around thanks to Jetstar sending from domestic to international and back twice not knowing their flight schedules. Warning: Unlike most airports, their shuttle is not free it is like $5.50 each way! Can we say rip off? 

Obviously Jetstar got me to my destination and did not loose my bags like Air New Zealand tended to. Yet it was a hiccup that ended a nice day and caused me to take an expensive taxi to my next hostel as there were no shuttles running. 

Oh well, we got to roll with life's bumps right?

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Paper Re-Decorating

Maybe you have the redecorating bug, but you're not allowed to paint. So here's what you do, use paper. You are probably thinking what! I'm serious, you can do almost anything you'd want to paint or tile with paper. My dream was a kitchen back splash, my issue nothing permanent. I was able to create the look and you can too, keep reading to learn how.
In this picture you will see some of the project and little pieces looking like tiles cut off.  Since I decided to to do a back splash in another way, I went to the local art store and found a work around. Picked up the prettiest paper you've seen and start to make it happen. Since my idea is a backslash I had to imitate tiles I was dreaming of in my head.
I got different types of paper cut them into equal sized strips. I picked a range of blues to pull and compliment the blue accent wall and the gold and lighter brown to bring out the wood grains. Then I started to leave them together in a pattern pulling them tight. This created a place mat almost with some loose ends, which I cut to clean up the edges.  
Then it was about getting tape and some thumb tacks and sticking it to the wall, trying to mix and match some of the paper strips. It also helped to take off the electrical light plug box and put it back on, over the paper. 
This helped give the nice finish look, that from far one would never guess it was paper.