When I arrived back from the Outback on Saturday night before Easter I walked and met my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Bill at their hotel. They were staying at the Old Sydney Holiday Inn. It was so nice to see them! I liked having the familiar face around. We went to a late dinner at a cute little Italian place called Amo Roma. I had some delicious gnocchi! After dinner we walked back to the wharf where I caught the last ferry back to Manly and then had walked the wonderful walk up the hill. I got up early Easter morning and caught the first ferry back to the city. I met up with Sharon and Bill at a little breaky café by their hotel. I had some delicious pancakes. We then went to the Opera House and took a tour which was very nice to see everything. You got a little different point of view than when we went to the show there a few weeks ago. We then went over to George Street and did a little shopping and got a bite to eat. Later that afternoon we went and did the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb!! It was so fun and SO scary! My heart was racing the whole time and there were different points during the climb that my whole body, especially my legs, were shaking! We had 11 people in our group because one lady changed her mind at the last minute and didn’t want to do the climb. The very top was probably the least scary part of all of it. I felt really safe, and it was absolutely beautiful! We could see Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s apartment from where we were! There was someone out on the porch, and it quite possibly could have been one of them! Our guide for the climb was nice and pretty funny. It was definitely a big accomplishment!! I was very glad we did it.
After the bridge climb we went to a really nice dinner at a place right by the Opera House called The Aria. It was definitely a 5 star restaurant! We had an amazing meal! For my main meal I tried Blue Eyed Tarella, a fish that I have never heard of, and it was delicious. Everything was plated very nice and pretty as well. The chef’s name was Matt Moran and for those of you who know… Anthony Bourdain gave him a really good rating! After dinner I took them on the ferry over to Manly to show them around. It was a nice evening to take the ferry over and they really enjoyed the sight of the city. We walked down the corso and then were supposed to go up to the school so they could see it, but we ran out of time because they had to make sure to catch the last ferry back to Sydney so we said goodbye and they went home.
Since we had Monday off of school as well, we got some nice time at the beach. It was another beautiful day. I was sick all week and had a really bad headache so I did a lot of sleeping. We had fun this week having some photo shoots for Diesel ads that we have to put together for our Marketing classes. The winner from each class will get displayed on one of the walls of the school. We had a party to raise money for Breast Cancer last night called the Pink Party and it was a ton of fun! My parents and sister were supposed to arrive last Saturday, but their flight was delayed out of Chicago because of a big snowstorm so they wouldn’t arrive until Sunday. MJ and I were supposed to go to Gold Coast and Brisbane with them for the weekend and then fly back Monday, but we didn’t get to do that because of time so that was a little bit of a bummer. They are up there for the week and then coming back down tomorrow to stay in Sydney for the next week. It will be nice having them here and show them around. They are very excited so it will be fun.
We spent a good portion of our day last Sunday at the beach. While we were there the alarms went off to tell us there was a shark in the water! (This is the second or third time that a shark got through the "shark nets" while we've been down at the beach.) We sat for half an hour thinking there was a shark in the water, when a lifeguard went by and mentioned that it turned out only to be a school of fish that was just changing directions. That seems to be a bit of a difference to me! ha! On Tuesday I got to try my hand at surfing! My friend Chris, an Australian from Sydney, took me down for a couple hours before class. It was so much fun even though I did not do well. I didn't make it into the standing position, which I am ok with since it was my first time trying. I did get better at just staying on the board and balancing throughout the time. We are going to go again sometime soon and I cannot wait!
Tuesday night I ended up going with my friend Andy to watch his water polo match. He played in the same pool that they played during the Sydney Olympics in 2000, which was cool to see. We got there early enough to watch the game before his so he could explain some of the rules to me, and then I watched his game. I got the basics down and it was a lot of fun! One small side note since I brought up the Olympics, something kind of cool was that my friend Andrew swam in the Olympic trials for Beijing a week of so ago. He has been training for a very long time. He swam 2 events (I believe the 200 and the 400), but unfortunately just missed the spot by only one or two spots. It was still a very nice accomplishment!
Yesterday was my friend, Chad's 21st birthday. A few of us went out for Chinese food at this nice place called Pheonix by the wharf. It was delicious, especially since I was looking forward to it all day (and the dinner option at the school ended up being Veal Schnitzel). Last night after dinner the SRC (student organization) put on an auction... for people. It was kind of a joke date auction to raise money for a children's hospital nearby. It consisted of 12 acts of people to be "bid on" some people did it on their own and some went up in pairs. Everyone had coordinated routines and it was pretty funny. Afterwards we went out to our normal Thursday night place for a night full of dancing. I am SO excited for tonight because Dana, Scotty, and I, plus some others who are sitting close nearby, are going to the Maroon 5 with One Republic and Brandi Carlisle concert at Acer Area (near the Olympic Stadium).
Here is the link to my newest photo album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2191962&l=30808&id=22411794
1 comment:
Hi Perri- Grandma and I are thououghly enjoying your blogs. Each one is better than the last. We are so glad you got to explore Sydney a bit. It certainly is an interesting place. When we were there, we stayed in a small hotel in The Rocks region, so can appreciate your comments even more than others might. There was a large department store a couple of blocks from our hotel, but can't remember the name right now. Your weekend spent in the Outback (we would call it "the country") sounds wonderful. What an experience!! Keep up the blogs, please. We really look forward to them.
Much love, Grandpa
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