Sooo my third weekend in Australia was almost accidentally spent in Sydney instead of the Gold Coast (think - Australia's answer to a spring break hot spot).
So..my third weekend began with the SGM Awards (see previous post). After probably downing about 2 bottles of champagne and dancing our butts off until 2am, my roommate Jamie and I took our cute little black dresses and very tired heels home for a little bit of rest before meeting the rest of the girls for a 7am flight to the Gold Coast. Well....instead of waking up at 5am (go figure..haha..hmm - in retro, not the best planning i have done), Jamie and I instead woke up at 6am to Ally calling from the lobby where we were supposed to be meeting everyone to head to the airport. Eek! We jumped out of bed, threw random clothes into our bags and literally jumped into a cab (and in front of! haha) all in the span of about 5 minutes. Yup, we barely had anything we needed but we still made those flights!!
Once we got to the Gold Coast, being the six classy ladies that we are, we hopped into our Avis white Tourago (aka...minivan haha) and Ally skillfully drove on the wrong side of the road for an hour...all the way to Byron Bay. Byron Bay is this super super cute/laid back surfer town an hour north of Surfer's Paradise. Its also now the top of my list for places to retire to....and is at the top of yours too...trust me! The beach is pristine and stretches for miles as the clear blue waves broke gently all along the shore.
We pulled in around 10am and spent a couple of hours exploring all the cute souvenir and surf shops that lined the town. Once it hit noon, we hit the only cafe on the beach and had a seafood extravaganza outside on the open air porch. Well actually, more like everyone else had seafood - being still a little roughed up from the night before, i opted for a HUGE delicios bowl of mashed potatoes with olive oil and rock sea salt and (of course!) a salad. Delicious!
Once we finished stuffing our faces, we hit the beach and took a nice loooong stroll out to the absolute eastern-most point of Australia. Thats right - you can't get any more East than that..haha...We found a really cool lookout point and watched the kayakers below as they got closer and closer to the surfers near the shore. Definitely need to try surfing at one point.
Once we finished walking as East as we could, we then headed back into town...picking our way over the beach that was now littered with people on a gorgeous 80 degree day. (Incidentally, we were the only ones in jeans...can you spot the tourists? yup, its us..haha) We did a little more shopping then headed to Surfer's Paradise to find our hotel - the nicest Holiday Inn I have ever seen! (Jin, it would have brought a tear to your eye..finally a Holiday Inn as good as a Hilton! haha) We walked into the super posh lobby, got our rooms keys and then played room key roulette to see who would be bunking with whom. Turned out to be the tall girls and the short girls hahaha...
We relaxed a little (and of course, had a couple of bottles of wine while getting ready) then decided to hit up the dirty spring break town first hand! We had dinner at Melbas - less than a five minute walk from our hotel. Melba's is a totally lively and fun restaurant that slowly becomes a club... Since we had to wait a little while for a table, we hit up the bar and got a fishbowl to share! A leisurely dinner (with lots more drinking) and then we were ready to hit up the dance floor! While fun, it was definitely a crazy mix! There was glass all over the floor from all the drunks dropping their drinks (ps - first time i have seen anything other than a pristine floor since I have been in Australia) and the clothing and hair - WHOA. People must just get drunk and chop each others hair into the awesome rock star mullets they have - otherwise, there are some very twisted hairdressers out there! To top it all off, people slam into you instead of passing you like normal. Def brought out the fighter in me and my girl from Philly - Erica...we started dropping some bows! haha...However, in spite of those few negatives, anytime you get 6 lovely ladies together with some good music, you are still going to have an awesome time! We danced the night away until about 2:30 then headed home for bed (with a pizza pit stop on the way!)
On Sunday, I woke up suuuuuuper bright and early at 8am. Ugh..gross - the only thing my poor body wanted was sleep! Since I was already wide awake tho, I decided to get up and get ready. My fellow short stuffs (Erica and Holly) got up pretty soon after I did so we wandered around and had some breakfast. By the time we got back, it was already noon - time to meet the other girls, check out, pack up the minivan (aka White Lightning!) and do some exploring. We spent an hour wandering from Surfers Paradise to Broad Beach where we had a delicious pizza and salad brunch. Incidentally, I think we were also the only people in the restaurant not drinking..haha...Australia - I like your style. We then walked the beach back and realized we still had a few hours to kill before our flight so we got some gelato and then went bowling! Yay! Sylvia ended up being the hustler of the group - she bowled a strike or a spare almost every frame!!!! Once we handed back our rental shoes and socks (I know - totally gross) we then leisurely walked back to the car, went to the airport and then hopped on our flights home!! Too bad the weekends go so fast!!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
sorry!
clearly these posts are not in order - whoops! will be better about that from now on! tune in tomorrow for details of weekends three and four! whoa! i've been here a month already!!! :-P
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
1 week down...lots more to go
Soooo my second weekend in Sydney was great! Definitely better than the first. My jet lag finally was subsiding and I got a roommate!! Jamie arrived Friday night and I am soo glad I have such a great roommate! She was also gung ho ready to go right away..
On Saturday we went to the Fish Market for lunch (we being, Jamie, Ally, Holly, Erica, Martin and I) and was it an adventure. Its supposed to be a bit past Darling Harbor so we walked over the bridge...and then immediately veered off course. An hour later, we got there and since we were starving, I'm sure the food was even better!! Pretty much everyone in th
e group got some type of grilled fish. Being as ravenous as I was, I decided to go for the seafood platter aka the mountain of fried golden goodness haha. It had a scallop (only thing not fried) as well as fish and chips, three kinds of oysters, calamari, squid and a big jumbo prawn. YUM. I only got through about half..haha (see picture) After that we walked all around Sydney (the Opera House, etc) and then headed home to relax for a few hours before hitting up another JIT's place for a party - Igor's birthday. House parties are such a blast. We partied up then went to King's Cross -specifically to Hugos. Hugo's is totally your NYC club type place. Guys def needed girls to get in but unfortunately we didn't split into cabs in the most diverse way so all the girls were already in by the time our last group of guys got to the door. After being rejected once, they finally made it in. There we partied the night away to tons of great music - lots of hip hop and 80s and my fave - lots of Will Smith haha. Soooo much better than the unst unst unst of techno which haunts us everywhere else we go!! Too much techno!
On Saturday we went to the Fish Market for lunch (we being, Jamie, Ally, Holly, Erica, Martin and I) and was it an adventure. Its supposed to be a bit past Darling Harbor so we walked over the bridge...and then immediately veered off course. An hour later, we got there and since we were starving, I'm sure the food was even better!! Pretty much everyone in th
e group got some type of grilled fish. Being as ravenous as I was, I decided to go for the seafood platter aka the mountain of fried golden goodness haha. It had a scallop (only thing not fried) as well as fish and chips, three kinds of oysters, calamari, squid and a big jumbo prawn. YUM. I only got through about half..haha (see picture) After that we walked all around Sydney (the Opera House, etc) and then headed home to relax for a few hours before hitting up another JIT's place for a party - Igor's birthday. House parties are such a blast. We partied up then went to King's Cross -specifically to Hugos. Hugo's is totally your NYC club type place. Guys def needed girls to get in but unfortunately we didn't split into cabs in the most diverse way so all the girls were already in by the time our last group of guys got to the door. After being rejected once, they finally made it in. There we partied the night away to tons of great music - lots of hip hop and 80s and my fave - lots of Will Smith haha. Soooo much better than the unst unst unst of techno which haunts us everywhere else we go!! Too much techno! 
Hugos: Chilling with the Shin-ster (aka Sylvia) .....loving the disco balls with Jamie and Ally
After doing shots with John - our fellow JIT from Adelaide (and also EY NJ - see pic), around 2:30, Jamie, Ally and I decided to call it a night but not without stopping for some pizza from the kebab place near our apartments! While no NYC slice, at 3am it def did the trick!!!
On Sunday, Jamie Ally and I headed up to the Rocks (the area right beneath the Harbor Bridge) for the Aroma Festival. Basically the festival was to showcase a lot of little booths focusing on coffee, tea, chocolate and spices - 4 of my favorite things. I had some really delicious tea (surprise surprise) while Jamie and Ally spent 20 minutes hunting down a cup of coffee! I also made out with a sampler of some authentic Aussie spices..can't wait to try to use those! After that, the 6 girls (Sylvia, Holly, Erica, Jamie, Ally and I) headed off to Bondi Beach. Bondi is about 20 minutes from the city and is absolutely adorable. Its one of the must visit spots in Sydney...even celebrities hit up the beach when they
are in town (according to the travel program on channel 9 here anyway). Even though the day was gray and threatening rain, we still enjoyed a cute little brunch on an outdoor patio (thanks to the heat lamps), with a great view of the beach. I had the best bacon sandwich of my life..haha (again..see pic) and then went on a coastal walk from Bondi Beach weaving all around the coastline to another little beach - Coogee. Although it was threatening to rain the entire time (see the pic of Erica and I at Bondi Beach below), we walked fast and made it home safe and dry! Aside from the gr
ay skies, the views were absolutely gorgeous off the coastline. Its so weird how much of Sydney is surrounded by water, and ocean water at that! After our walk, we headed home and just chilled out (actually warmed up! hahaha...i am too much of a dork for my own good) for the rest of the night...and just like that weekend #2 was already over!
On Sunday, Jamie Ally and I headed up to the Rocks (the area right beneath the Harbor Bridge) for the Aroma Festival. Basically the festival was to showcase a lot of little booths focusing on coffee, tea, chocolate and spices - 4 of my favorite things. I had some really delicious tea (surprise surprise) while Jamie and Ally spent 20 minutes hunting down a cup of coffee! I also made out with a sampler of some authentic Aussie spices..can't wait to try to use those! After that, the 6 girls (Sylvia, Holly, Erica, Jamie, Ally and I) headed off to Bondi Beach. Bondi is about 20 minutes from the city and is absolutely adorable. Its one of the must visit spots in Sydney...even celebrities hit up the beach when they
are in town (according to the travel program on channel 9 here anyway). Even though the day was gray and threatening rain, we still enjoyed a cute little brunch on an outdoor patio (thanks to the heat lamps), with a great view of the beach. I had the best bacon sandwich of my life..haha (again..see pic) and then went on a coastal walk from Bondi Beach weaving all around the coastline to another little beach - Coogee. Although it was threatening to rain the entire time (see the pic of Erica and I at Bondi Beach below), we walked fast and made it home safe and dry! Aside from the gr
ay skies, the views were absolutely gorgeous off the coastline. Its so weird how much of Sydney is surrounded by water, and ocean water at that! After our walk, we headed home and just chilled out (actually warmed up! hahaha...i am too much of a dork for my own good) for the rest of the night...and just like that weekend #2 was already over! (yes this post is out of order)
every other workday (so far)...
Ok so basically every day since my first day has reinforced the following. Forget what you heard. Here, its really busy season. blechhh...Especially on the FS clients, one of which I just worked on for the past three weeks. Sooooo to all you people enjoying your summer – live it up! We work…sometimes a lot…and the workpapers are scary. Maybe I shouldn’t be writing this down haha…they are just too scary to not mention. Just take the worst workpapers you have ever seen and multiply that times an engagement. Then times a whole office. Then times a whole country. Yeahhhh… On the bright side, all of my SGM coworkers thus far have been really great and super helpful! There are a surprising number of other people who are here from all over…be it the UK, South Africa or…um the UK or um…South Africa…haha. I’ll work on broadening my horizons sometime later. Supposedly there are tons of Germans too but I have yet to meet any of them. Oh well. Plus side so far is that I realllllllly like my group – SGM. Its like a somewhat extended family since everyone is super nice and friendly. Its so great to have people introduce themselves to you! My buddy here is super cool too. His name is Max and he is from Edinborough. Yay Scots..haha… Its great to have him as a buddy though, especially since he just moved here 6 months ago. And the other great person I have met in SGM is my roommate – Jamie! She is awesome! I can’t wait to actually start working on SGM jobs instead of this FS nonsense!
The best part of SGM so far has been the "SGM Awards Night". The group is still pretty small (about 150 ppl) so every year they host an awards night to recognize the hard workers as well as some of the funny things people have done/said over the past year. I would totally love it if we had something like this in the US. I guess its kinda hard to explain via blog but I'll try to "capture the magic" as best as I can. The theme was Willy Wonka so you had two options for dress code - black tie or movie character haha. Since I didnt have a dress, I bought one (black tie style..not Oompa Loompa). They held the event at a function room overlooking Darling Harbor (which is every bit as "darling" and cute as the name implies). When we first arrived, we had cocktail hour outside on the balcony overlooking the harbor and then went in to have dinner. They started dinner with a cute little skit then we had our appetizers (which they actually call entrees here...weird). Then after that they did the awards. First were awards for People, Quality and Growth, as well as an "Overall" winner. Those people each got $200 gift certificates to dinner! What a great prize! After the serious awards were over, then they presented the non serious awards in the form of a top ten countdown of quotes and moments from over the past year. It was hysterical! All throughout, the waiters and waitresses kept refilling our glasses. The we had our entrees (aka "Mains" to those in Aussie) and after that danced the night away to tons of great 80s songs while still more drinks kept flowing! We danced like crazy until like 2am and then Jamie and I realized we had to get to bed so we could catch a flight the next morning..more about that in my Gold Coast post =)
The best part of SGM so far has been the "SGM Awards Night". The group is still pretty small (about 150 ppl) so every year they host an awards night to recognize the hard workers as well as some of the funny things people have done/said over the past year. I would totally love it if we had something like this in the US. I guess its kinda hard to explain via blog but I'll try to "capture the magic" as best as I can. The theme was Willy Wonka so you had two options for dress code - black tie or movie character haha. Since I didnt have a dress, I bought one (black tie style..not Oompa Loompa). They held the event at a function room overlooking Darling Harbor (which is every bit as "darling" and cute as the name implies). When we first arrived, we had cocktail hour outside on the balcony overlooking the harbor and then went in to have dinner. They started dinner with a cute little skit then we had our appetizers (which they actually call entrees here...weird). Then after that they did the awards. First were awards for People, Quality and Growth, as well as an "Overall" winner. Those people each got $200 gift certificates to dinner! What a great prize! After the serious awards were over, then they presented the non serious awards in the form of a top ten countdown of quotes and moments from over the past year. It was hysterical! All throughout, the waiters and waitresses kept refilling our glasses. The we had our entrees (aka "Mains" to those in Aussie) and after that danced the night away to tons of great 80s songs while still more drinks kept flowing! We danced like crazy until like 2am and then Jamie and I realized we had to get to bed so we could catch a flight the next morning..more about that in my Gold Coast post =)
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