Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Friday, 22 August 2008
Going home
2. If the eye of the typhoon passes directly over Hong Kong, there may be a temporary lull lasting from a few minutes to several hours. This will be followed by a sudden resumption of violent winds from a different direction. Remain where you are if protected and be prepared for destructive winds and the change in wind directions. Listen to broadcast warnings.
3. Since seas are very rough, you are advised to stay away from the shoreline and not to engage in water sports. "
All sounds very serious hehe. I'm glad I got to see Lauren, Marty and Sam yesterday. I spent the afternoon with Lauren and Marty down at Big Wave Bay and got to go to the beach with them (the waves really were big! I guess because of the typhoon starting). Their baby Zara is looking very big now! In the evening I went for dinner with Sam in Soho which was cool. Had a wonderful meal at Jaspas. I was meant to be going for a meal with my principal and all the teachers from school today but obviously I can't go now, and I'm really quite disappointed. It would have been nice to have seen them all again.
Hopefully I'll be seeing you all soon! Goodbye Hong Kong...
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Brisbane
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Sydney 3
That isn't my picture btw, I got it from here. No cameras allowed in the show. Oh, they had some clowns as well which were hilarious. They kept picking on this guy making him do silly stuff, but then it turns out the guy is part of the show... And they keep popping up in funny places. I loved it!
On Thurrrsday I went to Hillsong's Sisterhood meeting. They start with breakfast and have a pamper area where you can get your nails or hair done, or have a massage, and while they do it they pray for you which is awesome. I met Celeste again and had a neck massage. Then they have worship and a small service with offering and a talk. For the talk they had 4 different women share something- so we had 4 different messages which was great! The women were all fantastic. I loved it!
Afterwards I went to the Opera House and did a quick tour. It was good but not as informative as I'd have liked. I liked hearing about the architect of the building who was kicked off a few years into the project, so he never got to see it finished. But now he's working with his son on revamping parts of the building. I'll get pics uploaded soon. I still had quite a bit of the afternoon left after that so I went for a walk through the botanical gardens, which was very peaceful, and then went to the Museum of Contemporary Arts. It's rubbish. I'm not an arts person at all but it was all pretentious poop. Won't be going there again... For dinner I went out with my room mate Suzanne to Darling Harbour. We found a nice little place which did cheap meals. I had really nice lamb pie, mash, peas and gravy. It was delicious!
This brings me to Friday. I had to get up extra early to get a tourbus at 7:15 to the Blue Mountains. It nearly didn't happen because there was a forecast of snow but the tour guy phoned and said it was still on. It was a great day to go in the end- sunny and clear. We drove all the way up the mountains and the views were amazing. It's the kind of scenery they'd use in a dinosaur film or something, just miles and miles and miles of forest and lots of mountains. When we got to Echo Point we hiked (or bush walked if your an Ozzy) down to the bottom. My legs were so tired after, I don't know how anyone can do it up again?! To get back up we had to go on the world's steepest railway. There's me thinking the tram up the Victoria Peak is steep but it's nothing compared to this one! I'll upload the video sometime. The tour took all day because we stopped for coffee, to see kangaroos, to do a smaller bushwalk, and for lunch. The final stop was at the Olympic Stadium on the way back, which was a bit boring to be honest. It's nothing special.
Saturday, my last day in Sydney, went really fast. In the morning I treated myself to a massage and pedicure at a spa before meeting a lovely woman named Lee (who I met at the Cirque Du Soleil). She took me to Featherdale farm which has all the Australian animals but you can feed and pet them. I got to stroke a koala! And a kangaroo! And I saw a crocodile, echidnas, tazmanian devils, peacocks (I know they're not Australian...), and loads of others. It was really fun! In the evening I went to another AFL football match- Sydney Swans vs. Fremantle Dockers- which was run by the hostel. I met a group of British people and ended up going out after with them. We had cocktails at the bar at the Opera House, then partied the night away. I had loads of fun but really regretted it the morning after when I had to do the flight to Brisbane hungover and even more sick with a cold.... eurgh.
So that's my stay in Sydney. I feel like I've hardly seen anything Sydney has to offer. Definitely got to come back another time haha.
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Sydney 2
On Sunday I went to the Hillsong Church (city campus). They do a free bus service there and while I was waiting I met a lovely lady name Wati, from Fiji. After the service we went for lunch together at the Circular Quay. In the evening I went to the Sunday Night Live service, at Hillsong again. It was great! With worship and a drama sketch with a powerpoint presentation thing...I can't explain it but it was awesome!
Monday afternoon I went with Celeste, who I also met at Hillsong, to Manly which is a coastal town just north of Sydney. It took about 20 mins on a ferry to get there and it's a really nice place- there's a beautiful beach and lots of great cafes. We had fish and chips at the beach, and then amazing hot chocolate at Max Brenner's. The weather here is fantastic- even though it's winter the sun is shining and it's quite warm.
On Tuesday I woke up feeling awful. I caught a cold in Perth but it wasn't that bad- just a sore throat- and it persisteed in Melbourne where it turned into a cough and now I'm getting a runny nose. But yesterday I just felt soo ill. This Korean girl in the room gave me some vile tasting medicine and all it did was make me feel sleepy. I think it didn't help that all I ate on Monday was the fish and chips and a chocolate brownie. Anyway I dragged myself out of my room and went to Taronga Zoo- it's on the other side of the harbour bridge and you take a ferry to get there. I uploaded just a few of the many pictures I took there... They're mostly the same animals that were at Melbourne zoo. I saw the 2 shows they do- the seal show and the free flight bird show. They were quite entertaining. I also saw the Keeper Talk with the Elephant keepers which was fantastic- the elephants did lots of "tricks" like playing football, balancing on logs and rocks, sitting down like dogs, and finally shooting water at the crowds hehe.
In the afternoon I went back to the hostel and slept... I had such a nice nap. In the evening I went salsa dancing at the Establishment hotel bar. It was fun, even though the lesson was rubbish.
Today I've already been to the Chinese Gardens, which are just up the road from where I'm staying. They're really nice with lots of greenery, waterfalls, and pagoda things. This afternoon (4pm) I'm going to see the Cirque Du Soleil show! I'm really excited! Just have to work out how to get there...