BOOM! AUSTRALIA; OZ; DOWN UNDER!
Even with tickets in hand, it was hard to understand it was happening!
S got us hated when we had lunch at Heathrow. Hahaha.
I really don't like Terminal 3. 5 all the way baby!
4 hours from London, we're over Russia with 8,38hrs left to Hong Kong
(and from there another 8½ from Hong Kong to Melbourne).
Legstretcher at Hong Kong Airport while they clean up the plane.
Melbourne Airport, lotsa Chinese ornaments what with the Chinese New Year around the corner.
First morning in Australia!
The motel by the airport where we spent the first night, totally OK place.
I'm a license plate nerd, what of it.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! :D
Then it was time to head back to the airport and fly up to Cairns.
(FYI: It's pronounced "Cains", and Melbourne is pronounced "Mel-Bun")
Flying in towards Cairns.
First stop was of course the pool.
It looked like this.
This is what our apartment looked like.
Bathroom.
Kitchen.
Even a little laundry room!
Sitting room.
A little salon against the balcony.
Balcony.
The Lakes Resort & Spa in February 2010! Not half bad.
Shopping in central Cairns with A, V & S.
Hey! Plate!
Cairns Art Museum.
Cairns.
At first I just lol'd at the name of the store.
Then I saw the Hello Kittys in the window and ran inside. :)
We thought it was birds at first, but it was BATS! :D
So gorgeous.
Probably my beast meal on the trip!
Otherwise it was just a lot of pasta/salads.
Koala Hello Kitty! :D
Also bought a pretty necklace this day.
And some wicked awesome new sneakers!
Day 4 started with a scenic trainride up through a rain forest to a village called Kuranda.
Some railroad history.
:)
It was an enormously gorgeous ride up.
Barron Falls, where the train took a little break.
I wish I could describe what it was like being in an actual rain forest, THE SOUND of it.
We met a couple of boys up in Kuranda that let us hold their creepy bug.
Well I say "us", I refused and just took photos while being completely grossed out.
A random "crashed" plane.
Crawlies..
Naaw.
Mini crocs!
Sleepy Koalas! :)
AWWWWWWWW SHE WAS CHO CUUUUUUUTE!
This photo is evidence you don't get good photos just cause your camera is expensive..
(I did the mistake of asking a photo n00b to take photos while I held her.)
It was totally awesome.
We met real kangaroos later in Sydney (see below) but these guys seemed way happier.
Totally gorgeous animals!
Sniffin' eachother out.
The babies were incredibly cute.
OMG I WANT ONE.
I got ot hold this one! It was so soft, like a bunny.
Our owner Rolf saying hi to a Wallabe. :)
Snake house!
Bwwuuhhh.
What's so goddamn hard about spelling "Ann"?!
THE NATURE, KIDS! OMG!
And then we flew up high above the trees in the world's longest skyrail!
It took us all the way above the rain forest and down back to Cairns.
It was just miles and miles of forest. It was just unreal.
Wild Cockatoo!
There were three stops where you could go off and into the
rain forest a bit, from one of them we could see the train!
Din Din!
Again, Barron Falls.
Insanely gorgeous.
Just to imagine all the life inside there that you can't see!
We caught a cockroach. I named him Steve.
Day 5, we got on a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef!
Cairns Harbour.
Yes, it was exactly this awesome.
I have LOADS of underwater photos from snorkeling/diving at the Great Barrier Reef but they're
on a DVD and I currently don't have a computer with a CD tray, so that'll have to wait.
Anyway, here's me scuba diving and that was the best thing on the trip IMO. ♥
So awesome.
Day 6 was out last day in Cairns and we spent most of the day in workshops at The Lakes.
Totally amazing, great place with a next to perfect breakfast.
I HIGHLY recommend it!
Ah, found a new one! ;)
We got off a bit early today as we were working "from home", so after that,
it was last day shopping tiemz! Here; The Lakes' entrance/reception area.
And then.. :D :D :D :D :D
Not bad work in 45 mins! The shops close REALLY early in Australia!
Happy scooter!
I saw this ring my first day in Cairns but I thought it was a bit too expensive.
Then I kept thinking about it a lot and now I bought it. And I'm so happy I did
cause I love it a lot and use it all the time now that I'm home as well!
Also got this one, which I also use quite frequently.
I bought this 4-in-1 pack mostly for the bow one,
it's a bit too big but if it works when it's warm outside.. ;)
Day 7, time to head south to New South Wales and Sydney!
FUCKING SYDNEY!
Beyond gorgeous! What a city!
Old..
..and new!
Down in Darling Harbour.
lol :)
Pyrmont Bridge.
Darling Harbour.
Walking Pyrmont towards Harbourside.
The Monorail is $5 for one trip or $10 for an entire day -- well worth it to get around the
CBD - Chinatown - Darling Harbour! (Depending on where you live and what you wanna see obvs)
Darling Harbour.
&Sydney;
Heading up to the CBD and the hotel again..
This was so typical Sydney; old sandstone buildings vs new modern ones.
To me, Sydney was a bit Seattle meets London, and Australia in general was the US vs the UK.
See why I loved it so much? ;)
Kent & Market.
(I know, NERRRRD.)
:D :D :D :D :D
God I love a good scraper.
I could so live here.
OH, SYDNEY!!
Wibbly wobbly timey wimey..
Late afternoon, we all walked up to The Rocks.
..where we had dinner to this view.
I was so stunned by it, I kept glaring over and almost had to rub my eyes every time.
The Gorgeous Opera House. The white tiles on it clean themselves
when it rains and were shipped in from.. that's right, Sweden!
Almost equally gorgeous Sydney Harbour Bridge!
Heeee.
PUPCAKES!! AAAAWWWWWWWW!
Great bookshop up in The Rocks that was open really late (for Australia).
Day 8 started with a guided bus tour around Sydney, here I am
in the Royal Botanical Garden with this not exactly piss-poor view..
I sorta don't understand I was there. Kinda like with my Highway 1 photos,
I'm like "..did I take this photo? No, really?"
Gorgeous rocks.
Mrs Macquarie's Chair.
And no, it was impossible to get a picture without an Asian person sitting in it.. ;)
Now we're a bit further outside of Sydney at another viewpoint.
Private school for girls. Kinda Hogwartsy, no? :)
Another viewpoint.
And also one of Sydney's most populart suicide places.
See the "lion"?
Bondi Beach!
Happy swimmers, wish we'd had time to stay and take a plunge..
Only got this far myself.
Preeeeetteh sign! :)
Lunch in Darling Harbour, I got pasta as always but the panacotta was deliiiiish!
Here I am!
Bedbugs bites from the last night in Cairns when the cleaner didn't change the sheets.
Afternoon free in Sydney, I of course just walked around and ENJOYED the city.
Finally a dinner by myself, in Darling Harbour.
At Australian Wagamama of course! :D
Went walking to scout for stores for the day off, here inside Queen Victoria Building
(between George & York St). Everything was closed but the building was still open!
So gorgeous.
Day 9 was free in Sydney, I started by walking up to The Rocks..
Oooh, plate!
Fucking gorgeous Sydney Harbour Bridge.
There wasn't really any good place to put the camera when I was gonna have
the picture taken of me in front of the Opera House in my Cort & Fatboy-tee..
Fortunately, a kind and photo savvy fellow tourist helped me out!
The area on the other side of the bridge is called Kirribilli! Hee!
There's another part of town called Woolloomooloo, and our funny guide told
us a funny verse to remember it by; Sheep, Toilet, Cow, Toilet; or Wool, Loo,
Moo, and Loo again! Hee! :D
Hello, purdy Opera House. I just can't get enough.
Walking through The Rocks.
Breather at the Starbucks by my hotel.
Then shopping, here back at the QVB!
They didn't have much of interest, but they did have a Borkish shop!
Letter from Queen Lizzy written in 1985, to be opened in 2085.
Wonder what it says. Probably "I'm dead, you can be your own country now, kthnxbye".
Queen Victoria.
Burger King is called Hungry Jack's over here.
Ruh-roh!
Took the train out to Bondi Junction where I found the def best shopping in Sydney!
Could have spent DAYS here!
They have so much UK complex over here they not only drive on the left side of the road,
but also stands on the left side in the escalators! They don't even do that in the UK! :)
Found a top at Target.
Back in central Sydney, here at Martin Place.
Proper cupcakes!
Giant cupcake!
Valentine cupcakes.
:D
Loooved Peter Alexander!
At the hotel room in Sydney, less pretty than Cairns, but super central!
Back at Martin Place, which was suddenly crawling with brides & grooms!
Do you take the photo before or after the wedding? You can't take it before
because the groom isn't supposed to see the dress -- but how fun is it to
have to get dolled up again after the wedding just for the photos? Do you do
it after the wedding but before the party? I don't understaaaand! :)
Bored bridesmaids.
This scraper was pretty Battlestarish, no?
Cornettooooh
When I move here, I'll be living at this place.
My roomies practicing the Thriller routine.
(There is vid, I promise you'll get to see as soon as I get it!)
One of many pastas..
Day 10 started at Taronga Zoo.
With gorgeous birdies.
And this little fella.
Wombat balls.
Totally adorable.
I'm not a big fan of zoos at all cause I think it's cruel and shitty,
but it wasn't really optional today.. the monkeys didn't seem too happy.
It was a gorgeous park though, with great views over Sydney.
Some sort of chili (I think)
The Lions were lazy, but pretty kitties.
I almost died of excitement over the tiger den though.
SO GORGEOUS.
PRITTY KITTY! ♥
Adorable Mr Fox.
Adorable kangaroo.
Goats. On a mountain.
Sounds like a movie that needs to be made. Or not.
Spent almost as long time with these guys as I did with the tiger.
I HEART MEERCATS.
CHO CUTE!!
One started digging..
One always sits guard.
- Hey lazy, it's your turn now!
The digger dug on. Wonder where he was going.
Gah! Scary.
The Thai elephants had a baby. AAAWWWW it was also CHO CUTE.
Seeing elephants actually holding on to the first one's tail is an awesome sight.
a.dor.a.ble.
The Zebras also had me squee for a while, OMG. So pretty!
More goats. I like goats.
Ostriches, on the other hand, are scary.
Oh, oh, and the giraffes! OMG!
They were SO gorgeous!
And they obvs had a couple of these..
After that, we had a few hours at manly Beach, where I and a few other took a plunge!
We body surfed and IT WAS AWESOME!
Manly Beach ft Anno Superstar.
And then we went back "home".
♥
Some of the co-workers went bridge climbing on SHB on the day off.
It's expensive as shit but they said it was well worth it.
These houses face the Opera house. I wonder how many millions they cost..
Sydney Harbour Bridge.
My bag has travelled far. From Portland, to Sweden and now to Australia!
And just too soon, it was day 11 and that meant going home day.
I started it with a cupcake.
We were the last group to go home so we had a few extra hours to kill after
the last seminar, I just walked around and tried to get in as much Sydney as
I could, here in darling Harbour close to Chinatown.
On the flight from Sydney back to Melbourne, they had named me Nystorm instead of Nystr(ö)m.
hahaha
Lunch/Breakfast/Dinner in Hong Kong.
It didn't look like much but it was HEAVENLY.
A Snapple peach tea and a what?
I really wanna come back to Hong Kong and actually stay for a while longer!
Our plane. We just killed 10 hours from Melbourne and soon awaits another 12 to London.
No Furbees on the flight!
Poor V had no flying socks and her feet swelled up something terrible.
Heathrow, London. I eat at Wagamama, I buy candy at WH Smith and I pretend
I'm Darth Vader in the bathrooms. Things are, in other words, as they should be.
Then we went home and left my bag in London.
FIN