The apartment is three levels and this is a video tour of the second floor where I live and the kitchen is. Enjoy!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Confessions of a couch sleeper
My stuff finally arrived today and I couldn't be more ecstatic about it since this marks the first time in over a week that I will be sleeping on a bed and not a couch (or the floor, as I first started out this little bedless adventure). Once the guys emptied all of the boxes leaving a massive pile of all of my worldly belongings on my bare mattress, I began to sift through them to put them away. The funny thing about unpacking is it can also serve as an exercise in self discovery.
A few things I discovered about myself...
1) I own far more pairs of shoes than any sane person should. I understand this may be a blasphemous statement as a woman, but sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade. 43 pairs. I counted. I also acknowledge the irony that most days I alternate between my two favorite pairs of flip flops. All of the shoes wouldn't even fit in my closet. I had to set up a shoe rack outside of my closet in my room to hold some of them.
2) I have a touch of OCD. Even as I was trying to make my way through the massive pile of clothes that was keeping me from my mattress, when I hung them up in my closet, I found it very important to me that my clothes be grouped by color. (This was something I had done in San Francisco as well, but considering my priority was just to get my stuff put away, I found it curious that I placed such a premium on this.
3) I have a lot of crap. Seriously. I thought one of the benefits of the whole 'moving to another country' thing was that I would purge myself of a lot of the unnecessary garbage in my life. This particular moving company really was able to drive home this point for me since they took every little thing out of my desk and wrapped it. I have chargers for phones that I don't own, boxes of checks to a bank account I don't use (and don't even think exists anymore) and a ton of electronics that I don't use (and also can't use because I don't have enough converters). A fine use of the space allotted to me by the moving company. Incidentally if anyone over there wants to send me an american power strip, I'd be VERY grateful. That way I'd only need one converter to use all of my electronics).
Anyway, looking forward to tonight when I can finally sleep in my old bed again, as I presume my spinal column is as well. When I look back on my days of couch sleeping, I will know that though they were challenging, I am better for having them, for now I can truly appreciate my fantastic bed, which fits my entire body on it. The couch and I will remain friends, as I still plan to continue my relationship with it during the day for tv watching, etc. I'm sure there will be a few naps on it in my future, but for now, I only have eyes for one piece of furniture...
Isn't she beautiful?
Also, I recorded a video of my floor and my room with all of my stuff in it but will have to wait til tomorrow at work to upload and post so stay tuned!
P.S. Happy Birthday, Mom!!!
A few things I discovered about myself...
1) I own far more pairs of shoes than any sane person should. I understand this may be a blasphemous statement as a woman, but sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade. 43 pairs. I counted. I also acknowledge the irony that most days I alternate between my two favorite pairs of flip flops. All of the shoes wouldn't even fit in my closet. I had to set up a shoe rack outside of my closet in my room to hold some of them.
2) I have a touch of OCD. Even as I was trying to make my way through the massive pile of clothes that was keeping me from my mattress, when I hung them up in my closet, I found it very important to me that my clothes be grouped by color. (This was something I had done in San Francisco as well, but considering my priority was just to get my stuff put away, I found it curious that I placed such a premium on this.
3) I have a lot of crap. Seriously. I thought one of the benefits of the whole 'moving to another country' thing was that I would purge myself of a lot of the unnecessary garbage in my life. This particular moving company really was able to drive home this point for me since they took every little thing out of my desk and wrapped it. I have chargers for phones that I don't own, boxes of checks to a bank account I don't use (and don't even think exists anymore) and a ton of electronics that I don't use (and also can't use because I don't have enough converters). A fine use of the space allotted to me by the moving company. Incidentally if anyone over there wants to send me an american power strip, I'd be VERY grateful. That way I'd only need one converter to use all of my electronics).
Anyway, looking forward to tonight when I can finally sleep in my old bed again, as I presume my spinal column is as well. When I look back on my days of couch sleeping, I will know that though they were challenging, I am better for having them, for now I can truly appreciate my fantastic bed, which fits my entire body on it. The couch and I will remain friends, as I still plan to continue my relationship with it during the day for tv watching, etc. I'm sure there will be a few naps on it in my future, but for now, I only have eyes for one piece of furniture...
Isn't she beautiful?
Also, I recorded a video of my floor and my room with all of my stuff in it but will have to wait til tomorrow at work to upload and post so stay tuned!
P.S. Happy Birthday, Mom!!!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Birthday Luck
I hate my birthday. Now, I am not a negative person by a long shot. I just really truly like every other day of the year more than my birthday. There is the obvious reason that I am becoming one year older and thus one year closer to having to lie about my age (and in the opposite direction than when I used to lie about my age in high school and college) but also due to the phenomenal amount of bad luck that seems to befall me on this day. So perhaps this blog would be more aptly titled had I amended 'Lack of' to the beginning of it. Every year, as I approach May 18th, I set my expectations unbelievably low, and without fail, the day always seems to miss the bar.
When I say that I set the bar low, I'm not even talking about in terms of the good things I expect to come out of it, like getting disappointed because I didn't get flowers delivered to me at work (Though incidentally, one year I had told a former boyfriend about my lack of luck on my birthday, and he naively attempted to fight my bad birthday curse by sending roses to my work. However the delivery man lost the card containing the delivery address, but remembered the name of my company, and ended up looking up the address of some other part of our company that was across town. Needless to say, I never got my flowers.) No, my setting of the bar involves just hoping that the world doesn't decide to take a giant shit on me, which it inevitably does.
This year was no different. I rang in the big 2-7 sleeping on my floor on a makeshift mattress composed of my sweatshirt and some dish towels. My bed is now in Australia but hanging out in customs for 10-15 business days. As you can imagine, this was not an ideal sleeping arrangement, but I figured I could deal for one night as a coworker of mine was bringing me his inflatable bed that day to borrow. I was awoken at about two in the morning by a huge thunder storm outside. Up to this point, as I had mentioned before, the weather has been beautiful. Naturally the sky would decide to fall in this country, that it is worth noting is IN A DROUGHT, on the day of my birth. I spent the next 5 hours of my life tossing and turning on the hard-as-rocks floor and listening to the cyclone coming down outside.
When it was finally time to go to work, I got up, running on three hours sleep, and was reminded of my lack of umbrella. This could happen on any day since my umbrella turnover rate is pretty high, but of course, it happened on my birthday. I used my Banana Republic coat to try to shield my purse and laptop as I embarked on the 45 minute walk to work. One tiny ray of sunshine in my day came when at one part of my walk, a woman noticed my struggle and ran over to me to share her umbrella with me. She was only going in the same direction as me for about ten more yards, natch, but I will say that her random act of kindness was well received and made me feel a little better about the day and about mankind.
The day at work was relatively uneventful. My team was actually awesome about my birthday. Everyone had remembered and they even got me cake which I promptly proceeded to drop face down on the floor. The lack of sleep makes most of the day pretty hazy, but I do know that I went to the convenience store and bought not one but TWO umbrellas to ensure I would not be caught in a similar situation to this mornings any time soon (or at the very least, for the next two days, given the average life cycle of an umbrella of mine).
At the end of the day, I threw my coworkers heavy aero bed on my back and proceeded home. I had planned to catch a cab but due to the heavy rain, it was near impossible, so I walked about a mile to the train station. The station nearest my house is at Kings Cross. As I mentioned before, this is the red light district, full of brothels, strip clubs and degenerates. It is also a LOT of fun on weekends, when I aspire to be one of those degenerates. Not being too well acquainted with my new neighborhood just yet, I managed to meander all the way into the heart of the Cross, aero bed in tow, before realizing my mistake. Though the area is quite seedy and I was a bit concerned about my safety, it didn't stop me from making a joke to myself about how with this aero bed, in this area, I essentially could carve out a career as a mobile brothel.
Finally at home, I set up my aero bed, and looked forward to a night of floor-less sleep that I was about to embark on. I also looked forward to my birthday being over. At 2AM, I woke up...on the floor. Under me was the flattened aero bed, which evidently had a hole in it. My birthday luck was seemingly running on Pacific time. I spent the next few hours wrestling with the corpse of the aero bed until it was time to get up. Maybe I just looked out the window at the wrong time or maybe I was hallucinating due to lack of sleep, but when I checked the weather outside, it looked lovely and so I decided against bringing one of my new umbrellas with me, lest it become another statistic in my lost umbrella logs. I don't even think I have to tell you what happened here, suffice to say that I made my proud purchase of umbrella #3 on my way to work this morning.
When all is said and done, I guess this isn't all that bad. I still have all my limbs, I wasn't set on fire and I was never in any danger of being on the news for any reason (except possibly the entrepreneurship of my new mobile brothel). Plus most of the stuff that happened to me could happen on any given day, and it would just be another bad day, but it just seems to especially suck when that day is your birthday, a day that we are conditioned to believe is supposed to be filled with happiness and joy. However, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing there are 364 days before me and my birthday meet again.
When I say that I set the bar low, I'm not even talking about in terms of the good things I expect to come out of it, like getting disappointed because I didn't get flowers delivered to me at work (Though incidentally, one year I had told a former boyfriend about my lack of luck on my birthday, and he naively attempted to fight my bad birthday curse by sending roses to my work. However the delivery man lost the card containing the delivery address, but remembered the name of my company, and ended up looking up the address of some other part of our company that was across town. Needless to say, I never got my flowers.) No, my setting of the bar involves just hoping that the world doesn't decide to take a giant shit on me, which it inevitably does.
This year was no different. I rang in the big 2-7 sleeping on my floor on a makeshift mattress composed of my sweatshirt and some dish towels. My bed is now in Australia but hanging out in customs for 10-15 business days. As you can imagine, this was not an ideal sleeping arrangement, but I figured I could deal for one night as a coworker of mine was bringing me his inflatable bed that day to borrow. I was awoken at about two in the morning by a huge thunder storm outside. Up to this point, as I had mentioned before, the weather has been beautiful. Naturally the sky would decide to fall in this country, that it is worth noting is IN A DROUGHT, on the day of my birth. I spent the next 5 hours of my life tossing and turning on the hard-as-rocks floor and listening to the cyclone coming down outside.
When it was finally time to go to work, I got up, running on three hours sleep, and was reminded of my lack of umbrella. This could happen on any day since my umbrella turnover rate is pretty high, but of course, it happened on my birthday. I used my Banana Republic coat to try to shield my purse and laptop as I embarked on the 45 minute walk to work. One tiny ray of sunshine in my day came when at one part of my walk, a woman noticed my struggle and ran over to me to share her umbrella with me. She was only going in the same direction as me for about ten more yards, natch, but I will say that her random act of kindness was well received and made me feel a little better about the day and about mankind.
The day at work was relatively uneventful. My team was actually awesome about my birthday. Everyone had remembered and they even got me cake which I promptly proceeded to drop face down on the floor. The lack of sleep makes most of the day pretty hazy, but I do know that I went to the convenience store and bought not one but TWO umbrellas to ensure I would not be caught in a similar situation to this mornings any time soon (or at the very least, for the next two days, given the average life cycle of an umbrella of mine).
At the end of the day, I threw my coworkers heavy aero bed on my back and proceeded home. I had planned to catch a cab but due to the heavy rain, it was near impossible, so I walked about a mile to the train station. The station nearest my house is at Kings Cross. As I mentioned before, this is the red light district, full of brothels, strip clubs and degenerates. It is also a LOT of fun on weekends, when I aspire to be one of those degenerates. Not being too well acquainted with my new neighborhood just yet, I managed to meander all the way into the heart of the Cross, aero bed in tow, before realizing my mistake. Though the area is quite seedy and I was a bit concerned about my safety, it didn't stop me from making a joke to myself about how with this aero bed, in this area, I essentially could carve out a career as a mobile brothel.
Finally at home, I set up my aero bed, and looked forward to a night of floor-less sleep that I was about to embark on. I also looked forward to my birthday being over. At 2AM, I woke up...on the floor. Under me was the flattened aero bed, which evidently had a hole in it. My birthday luck was seemingly running on Pacific time. I spent the next few hours wrestling with the corpse of the aero bed until it was time to get up. Maybe I just looked out the window at the wrong time or maybe I was hallucinating due to lack of sleep, but when I checked the weather outside, it looked lovely and so I decided against bringing one of my new umbrellas with me, lest it become another statistic in my lost umbrella logs. I don't even think I have to tell you what happened here, suffice to say that I made my proud purchase of umbrella #3 on my way to work this morning.
When all is said and done, I guess this isn't all that bad. I still have all my limbs, I wasn't set on fire and I was never in any danger of being on the news for any reason (except possibly the entrepreneurship of my new mobile brothel). Plus most of the stuff that happened to me could happen on any given day, and it would just be another bad day, but it just seems to especially suck when that day is your birthday, a day that we are conditioned to believe is supposed to be filled with happiness and joy. However, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing there are 364 days before me and my birthday meet again.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Melbournin' Love
In Melbourne for work so I have internet access so I just wanted to update you with a few random thoughts and observations...
Currently feeling like a hotel hobo...Left the Medina Grand hotel room for current hotel room in Sydney. For the record, current hotel room > Medina Grand hotel room. For one, the room had a complimentary loofah. Maybe I don't stay in hotel rooms enough (or at least nice enough ones), but that is awesome as far as I'm concerned. When I get back, I will officially be living in my new place in Darlinghurst. However my mattress is still in customs so I will be sleeping on the floor when I get home.
Observations on Australian TV...Some TV that has made it over here is expected due to it just being good...The Simpsons, Seinfeld, etc...however there are definitely a handful of ones that slipped by, e.g. The Big Bang Theory and Two and a half men ...those shows shouldn't have been allowed to be shown in the states much less exported to here. No wonder everyone outside the U.S. thinks Americans are idiots. (to be completely fair, I have never actually watched either of these shows. I'm just being judgmental)
Observations on Australian fashion...Ed Hardy made it over here. Of all things, Ed Hardy. The douchiest thing to ever come out of America...and it is wholeheartedly embraced here. As with the TV mentioned previously, this is something that should have never existed, much less been spread to other parts of the world like some kind of virus. This just makes me sad.
Quick update: Pat might not be moving out here after all. He found out he has to have shoulder surgery which obviously means he wouldn't be able to play rugby which is why he was coming out in the first place. He already had his visa and everything. This obviously sucks more for him than for me but I was really looking forward to having him here to remind me of home and make me less homesick, so I am bummed.
Last of all, this hotel room ROCKS! I know I mentioned it before but seriously...
That is all! Will try to update when I can
Currently feeling like a hotel hobo...Left the Medina Grand hotel room for current hotel room in Sydney. For the record, current hotel room > Medina Grand hotel room. For one, the room had a complimentary loofah. Maybe I don't stay in hotel rooms enough (or at least nice enough ones), but that is awesome as far as I'm concerned. When I get back, I will officially be living in my new place in Darlinghurst. However my mattress is still in customs so I will be sleeping on the floor when I get home.
Observations on Australian TV...Some TV that has made it over here is expected due to it just being good...The Simpsons, Seinfeld, etc...however there are definitely a handful of ones that slipped by, e.g. The Big Bang Theory and Two and a half men ...those shows shouldn't have been allowed to be shown in the states much less exported to here. No wonder everyone outside the U.S. thinks Americans are idiots. (to be completely fair, I have never actually watched either of these shows. I'm just being judgmental)
Observations on Australian fashion...Ed Hardy made it over here. Of all things, Ed Hardy. The douchiest thing to ever come out of America...and it is wholeheartedly embraced here. As with the TV mentioned previously, this is something that should have never existed, much less been spread to other parts of the world like some kind of virus. This just makes me sad.
Quick update: Pat might not be moving out here after all. He found out he has to have shoulder surgery which obviously means he wouldn't be able to play rugby which is why he was coming out in the first place. He already had his visa and everything. This obviously sucks more for him than for me but I was really looking forward to having him here to remind me of home and make me less homesick, so I am bummed.
Last of all, this hotel room ROCKS! I know I mentioned it before but seriously...
That is all! Will try to update when I can
Thursday, May 13, 2010
UPdates from DOWN under
Sorry for my delay in updates. It has been a crazy busy week in my life, as it always seems to be, but I wanted to at least update you so that you can rest assured I am still alive.
My friends, Lauren and Juli got in on Sunday to visit me from the states. In yet another twist of 'What a small world', Juli and Lauren both worked with Hazel who was on the houseboat a few weeks back when Hazel had lived in San Francisco. Hazel hadn't known any of us in San Francisco though. She had actually met Lindsey out here despite the fact that both Hazel and Lindsey went to Berkeley.
We went to the Taronga Zoo on Sunday. I've been to the zoo before but I still always love to see animals. Particularly koalas, which are SO cute. This expedition inevitably led me to wonder out loud about koala sex. (Sorry Mom and Dad, after 27 years of upbringing, you've raised a 10 year old boy). My new fascination is not completely unfounded, since I recently was exposed to this YouTube clip of a turtle humping a shoe, which I find endlessly entertaining:
He sounds like Elmo. Doesn't he?
Anyway, I had a lot of questions in my head about Koala sex. For one, how do they even get up the energy? They sleep 20 hours a day due to lack of energy available in Eucalyptus leaves, which is their only food source. I imagine the whole process would be quite slow, provided they've even mustered up the energy to find a suitable mate. I'd think they might go for whatever the best option within a close proximity is...much like I'd imagine the turtle must have...and much like drunk people all around the U.S. do at last call. Also, all Koalas have Chlamydia. Though I know that wouldn't affect the act itself or the logistics, but it is an interesting fun fact and worth mentioning in the context of this conversation. Bet you're thinking they seem a lot less like the cute, furry animal you've always imagined them to be and a lot more like an FSU frat boy now, huh?
BAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! Sorry Ben!
Anyway, it is great having Lauren and Juli here. Seeing people from home really helps stave off the homesickness. Right now they are in Cairns which is great since I can't really get any time off of work and also that way they'll get to see more of Australia while they're here.
This weekend is a big weekend though. I'm going to be getting the keys to my new place to officially move in. However 'move in' is a very liberal way to put it considering all of my stuff, though technically in Australia, is going through 10-15 business days worth of customs inspection. My internet that I paid for in my hotel has expired so I don't have access to the internet besides when I'm at work, and when I'm at work, I am SUPER busy! I'll be heading down to Melbourne for work (though going early on Sunday so I can see the city a little too). Needless to say, my updates in the next week or so might be a little sporadic and more spread out, though PLEASE don't let that interfere with you sending any well wishes/gifts/cash/bentleys/blood diamonds my way for the most important day of the year, My Birthday! :) Alright, back to work.
Oh yeah, and one more thing...In case you were wondering...
I was totally wrong about it being slow!
My friends, Lauren and Juli got in on Sunday to visit me from the states. In yet another twist of 'What a small world', Juli and Lauren both worked with Hazel who was on the houseboat a few weeks back when Hazel had lived in San Francisco. Hazel hadn't known any of us in San Francisco though. She had actually met Lindsey out here despite the fact that both Hazel and Lindsey went to Berkeley.
We went to the Taronga Zoo on Sunday. I've been to the zoo before but I still always love to see animals. Particularly koalas, which are SO cute. This expedition inevitably led me to wonder out loud about koala sex. (Sorry Mom and Dad, after 27 years of upbringing, you've raised a 10 year old boy). My new fascination is not completely unfounded, since I recently was exposed to this YouTube clip of a turtle humping a shoe, which I find endlessly entertaining:
He sounds like Elmo. Doesn't he?
Anyway, I had a lot of questions in my head about Koala sex. For one, how do they even get up the energy? They sleep 20 hours a day due to lack of energy available in Eucalyptus leaves, which is their only food source. I imagine the whole process would be quite slow, provided they've even mustered up the energy to find a suitable mate. I'd think they might go for whatever the best option within a close proximity is...much like I'd imagine the turtle must have...and much like drunk people all around the U.S. do at last call. Also, all Koalas have Chlamydia. Though I know that wouldn't affect the act itself or the logistics, but it is an interesting fun fact and worth mentioning in the context of this conversation. Bet you're thinking they seem a lot less like the cute, furry animal you've always imagined them to be and a lot more like an FSU frat boy now, huh?
BAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! Sorry Ben!
Anyway, it is great having Lauren and Juli here. Seeing people from home really helps stave off the homesickness. Right now they are in Cairns which is great since I can't really get any time off of work and also that way they'll get to see more of Australia while they're here.
This weekend is a big weekend though. I'm going to be getting the keys to my new place to officially move in. However 'move in' is a very liberal way to put it considering all of my stuff, though technically in Australia, is going through 10-15 business days worth of customs inspection. My internet that I paid for in my hotel has expired so I don't have access to the internet besides when I'm at work, and when I'm at work, I am SUPER busy! I'll be heading down to Melbourne for work (though going early on Sunday so I can see the city a little too). Needless to say, my updates in the next week or so might be a little sporadic and more spread out, though PLEASE don't let that interfere with you sending any well wishes/gifts/cash/bentleys/blood diamonds my way for the most important day of the year, My Birthday! :) Alright, back to work.
Oh yeah, and one more thing...In case you were wondering...
I was totally wrong about it being slow!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Modern Day Fairy Tale
Not far from my hotel room, maybe a 4 minute walk, is the Slip Inn. It is an Australian pub that at first glance, appears very much like every other pub in the city. It has a few pokies (slot machines), serves pub food, and has a nice outdoor terrace that most nights will be covered with men and women, in their business suits, imbibing in a few post-work pints.
You might think I'm telling you about this place because it, like so many other places in this city, has a name that could serve as a double entendre (or is that just my dirty mind?) but in actuality, it is because this was the commencement of what I consider to be one of the best modern day fairy tales that has occurred, and I absolutely love the story.
In 2000, the summer Olympics were held in Sydney. This naturally attracted many celebrities and royals along with an influx of regular, everyday people. Mary Donaldson, an Australian real estate agent, happened to be one of these regular people, just in town for the games. One evening she found herself at the Slip Inn. It was here that she ended up meeting a guy. Totally normal night out at the pub... except this guy happened to be the Prince of Denmark.
They dated long distance for over a year until she finally moved to Europe, where he eventually proposed. They are now married and have two beautiful children together.
So basically one night a girl went to a bar, and ended up becoming a princess. What I got from that is to repeat this process, I must go to as many bars as possible to increase the likelihood.
I've frequented this bar many times since I've been here. Partially due to its proximity to where I'm living. But when people ask why, I always tell them, of all of the bars in the city, if I'm going to go to a bar, I'm going to go to the one that has the highest success rate of turning girls into princesses. :)
Here is an old article about the Prince and (now) Princess, before they were married: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/07/1046826529873.html
You might think I'm telling you about this place because it, like so many other places in this city, has a name that could serve as a double entendre (or is that just my dirty mind?) but in actuality, it is because this was the commencement of what I consider to be one of the best modern day fairy tales that has occurred, and I absolutely love the story.
In 2000, the summer Olympics were held in Sydney. This naturally attracted many celebrities and royals along with an influx of regular, everyday people. Mary Donaldson, an Australian real estate agent, happened to be one of these regular people, just in town for the games. One evening she found herself at the Slip Inn. It was here that she ended up meeting a guy. Totally normal night out at the pub... except this guy happened to be the Prince of Denmark.
They dated long distance for over a year until she finally moved to Europe, where he eventually proposed. They are now married and have two beautiful children together.
So basically one night a girl went to a bar, and ended up becoming a princess. What I got from that is to repeat this process, I must go to as many bars as possible to increase the likelihood.
I've frequented this bar many times since I've been here. Partially due to its proximity to where I'm living. But when people ask why, I always tell them, of all of the bars in the city, if I'm going to go to a bar, I'm going to go to the one that has the highest success rate of turning girls into princesses. :)
Here is an old article about the Prince and (now) Princess, before they were married: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/07/1046826529873.html
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Moment of zen...
There is almost nothing worse than being sick and being 1000's of miles from home. Unfortunately, at the moment, that is where I'm at. To self medicate and try to make myself feel better, I am looking at this site all day. It always makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside so I wanted to share it with you.
Here it is. Your moment of zen.
www.TheDailyPuppy.com
You're welcome.
Here it is. Your moment of zen.
www.TheDailyPuppy.com
You're welcome.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Gone Houseboatin'
Another weekend, another adventure.
As the title of this blog suggests, this weekend involved house boating. Also, this weekend involved getting my lease signed so I am officially moving in on May 16th. It's such a relief to have that out of the way. It's also such a relief to know that absolutely nothing is sacred in Australia. When walking out of my soon-to-be new home, I noticed the elevator in the building is created by a company called 'Schindler's lifts.' To add to the irony of this situation, the apartment is also right next to the Jewish History museum.
Anyway, the real adventure of the weekend began Saturday when 7 of us decided to rent a house boat. You can houseboat on the Hawkesbury river which is an hour train ride north of the city. I met up with the rest of the group at Central Station at a Krispy Kreme where I immediately proceeded to drop my things in a giant pile of pigeon shit. I know it is supposed to be good luck if a bird shits on you. Still no word on if that applies when you throw your stuff directly into bird shit. The weekend was off to a good start.
We piled onto the train, though sadly one member of our group apparently had some difficulty locating the Krispy Kreme or the trains and he was left behind to catch the next train an hour later. We arrived at the Hawkesbury River station and as soon as we deboarded the train, we were once again reminded that NOTHING is sacred in this country...
We got to the docks, were introduced to our boat, and were given 15 minutes worth of instructions on how to operate this 15 ton piece of machinery. Frankly, I think a group of baboons high on PCP would have been more qualified to drive this thing than any of us were. At one point, Abbey even asked the guy 'Have you ever had a more unqualified group of people take one of these things out?' He didn't say yes.
A few beers later and once our tardy comrade arrived, we were ready to set sail. Driving the boat proved to be easier than expected. I say that despite the fact that I did not once operate the boat, so truly I'm in no way qualified to make such a statement, but it didn't seem too bad. We headed to an area that our guide had told us had a waterfall and a little beach. To get there, first we had to park the boat (an effort that required 3 tries to get right) and then paddle our dingy to shore. I definitely am qualified to say paddling the dingy was much harder than one would expect. It didn't help that one of our dingy paddles was missing a half so our first few attempts at paddling the dingy resulted in us going in small circles to the left.
We finally got to shore, and got a few pictures with the 'waterfall'. I use the term 'waterfall' very loosely cause it was really only a small trickle. It was the equivalent of if someone had left a hose on at the top of the cliff and the water was running over. Even though the 'waterfall' was not quite Victoria Falls, our trip to shore was made completely worth it by this guy:
In case you can't see it in the picture, his shirt says "FBI: Female Body Inspector" He let us know he had one at home that had PHD on it. I'll let you figure out what that stood for yourself.
Here are a few more pictures of our adventure to land.
Once we got back to the boat, it started to get dark and we realized there is actually very little to do on a boat when it's not daylight out. Really, the only options left were eat and drink. So we did both, in excess. Dinner was fantastic, probably partially due to the fact that I had no part in putting it together. Here is our group shot taken with the self timer:
At some point in the evening, all of the girls ended up on the top deck talking and all of the boys were down in the cabin, 5th grade dance style. Once we realized this on the top deck, we made a few jokes about 'who do you think is the cutest?' and other things girls generally talk about when grouped together without boys. A short time later the boys came up and joined us. We inquired what their 'girl-free' conversation had consisted of. "Flame throwers." The difference between the two sexes had never seemed so apparent.
The next day was absolutely gorgeous. We boated around for the day, we managed to somehow ruin a boat race by being directly in the race track and I got a tan, which made the whole trip wildly successful by my standards I was reminded of how much I really love being on the water and how much I love boating. Particularly when I'm in no way responsible for doing any of the actual 'boating' part.
So not only was the weekend super fun, it also was educational for me. I learned more about the differences between men and women, I reaffirmed that the happiest place in the world for me is on a boat and I also learned that boxes/bags of wine can prove quite functional, even after you are done drinking them.
See? It doubles as a pillow!
As the title of this blog suggests, this weekend involved house boating. Also, this weekend involved getting my lease signed so I am officially moving in on May 16th. It's such a relief to have that out of the way. It's also such a relief to know that absolutely nothing is sacred in Australia. When walking out of my soon-to-be new home, I noticed the elevator in the building is created by a company called 'Schindler's lifts.' To add to the irony of this situation, the apartment is also right next to the Jewish History museum.
Anyway, the real adventure of the weekend began Saturday when 7 of us decided to rent a house boat. You can houseboat on the Hawkesbury river which is an hour train ride north of the city. I met up with the rest of the group at Central Station at a Krispy Kreme where I immediately proceeded to drop my things in a giant pile of pigeon shit. I know it is supposed to be good luck if a bird shits on you. Still no word on if that applies when you throw your stuff directly into bird shit. The weekend was off to a good start.
We piled onto the train, though sadly one member of our group apparently had some difficulty locating the Krispy Kreme or the trains and he was left behind to catch the next train an hour later. We arrived at the Hawkesbury River station and as soon as we deboarded the train, we were once again reminded that NOTHING is sacred in this country...
We got to the docks, were introduced to our boat, and were given 15 minutes worth of instructions on how to operate this 15 ton piece of machinery. Frankly, I think a group of baboons high on PCP would have been more qualified to drive this thing than any of us were. At one point, Abbey even asked the guy 'Have you ever had a more unqualified group of people take one of these things out?' He didn't say yes.
A few beers later and once our tardy comrade arrived, we were ready to set sail. Driving the boat proved to be easier than expected. I say that despite the fact that I did not once operate the boat, so truly I'm in no way qualified to make such a statement, but it didn't seem too bad. We headed to an area that our guide had told us had a waterfall and a little beach. To get there, first we had to park the boat (an effort that required 3 tries to get right) and then paddle our dingy to shore. I definitely am qualified to say paddling the dingy was much harder than one would expect. It didn't help that one of our dingy paddles was missing a half so our first few attempts at paddling the dingy resulted in us going in small circles to the left.
We finally got to shore, and got a few pictures with the 'waterfall'. I use the term 'waterfall' very loosely cause it was really only a small trickle. It was the equivalent of if someone had left a hose on at the top of the cliff and the water was running over. Even though the 'waterfall' was not quite Victoria Falls, our trip to shore was made completely worth it by this guy:
In case you can't see it in the picture, his shirt says "FBI: Female Body Inspector" He let us know he had one at home that had PHD on it. I'll let you figure out what that stood for yourself.
Here are a few more pictures of our adventure to land.
Once we got back to the boat, it started to get dark and we realized there is actually very little to do on a boat when it's not daylight out. Really, the only options left were eat and drink. So we did both, in excess. Dinner was fantastic, probably partially due to the fact that I had no part in putting it together. Here is our group shot taken with the self timer:
At some point in the evening, all of the girls ended up on the top deck talking and all of the boys were down in the cabin, 5th grade dance style. Once we realized this on the top deck, we made a few jokes about 'who do you think is the cutest?' and other things girls generally talk about when grouped together without boys. A short time later the boys came up and joined us. We inquired what their 'girl-free' conversation had consisted of. "Flame throwers." The difference between the two sexes had never seemed so apparent.
The next day was absolutely gorgeous. We boated around for the day, we managed to somehow ruin a boat race by being directly in the race track and I got a tan, which made the whole trip wildly successful by my standards I was reminded of how much I really love being on the water and how much I love boating. Particularly when I'm in no way responsible for doing any of the actual 'boating' part.
So not only was the weekend super fun, it also was educational for me. I learned more about the differences between men and women, I reaffirmed that the happiest place in the world for me is on a boat and I also learned that boxes/bags of wine can prove quite functional, even after you are done drinking them.
See? It doubles as a pillow!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
