May 1

First day of May...

My roommate and I were feeling crafty and decided we wanted to see how many birds we could attract to our window. So we took a walk to collect some pine cones.

Our old caretaker left lots of his loot/chow in the cabinents.. So in one bowl we mixed a concoction of peanut butter and vegetable oil. In another bowl we put nuts, fruit granola bars, raisins, rolling oats,and a broken up tortilla. Dipped the pine cones in the peanut butter and then in our mushy dry mix attached dental floss and hung them from our tree. WEnt to the beach and let the birds chow the rest of the mix out of our tubberware.

So far--- the birds hate our pine cones (too challenging for them), but loved the dry mix.

April 29-30

MOM LOVES THESE BIRDS...


Thanks for the mail MOM!

Walked to campus barefoot..probabaly stepped on a million cockroachess... what a walk on the wild side.

Thursday night was a girls night out for a little Max Brenners in downtown Paddington. I got my signature Choc-Banana Pizza and a few other girls got coffee (boringggg), strawberry crepes, and chocolate covered waffles.

Then we met up with an Australian from our class and he showed us a few "hidden gem" bars. One was very small, 75 maximum capacity, he said it was the American style of Australia. Had peanuts on the tables, an older crowd, and looked like a scene from Clue (the boardgame) or a bar in downtown Boston. The beers were American and the drinks were fresh squeezed in front of you. The owner was even cleaning tables...small town greatness.

Another place we headed to was called Doctor Pongs and there was a ping pong table in the middle. Different atmosphere.

April 20-28

Tuesday..Mom and I had an early morning class together and she headed to the airport.
I came back to my room at the end of the day to find little surprises that she had hidden in various parts of my room.
I am ready for her to come back. What is another 28 hours of traveling? Hopefully I will be able to convince her to go home check her mail, feed "Turtle" the fish and head to Logan again:) Wishful thinking.

Wednesday..its a sunny day..Mom is missing a crazy beach day..
Thursday...swamped with homework..lots to do (not the weekend yet: paper due at 4pm tomorrow
Friday...Saturday..Sundayy..Monday,...(Anzac Weekend)..
Tuesday.. Wednesday...classss and presentationssss...

one group in Business Ethics used this clip for secret surveillance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyYS6SrDkBg

so funny.

April 19

Today we had the back to normal tea beach date. Then headed for a surf adventure with Mojosurf (http://www.mojosurf.com.au/). We were picked up at 9am and headed out to an amazing beach in Botany. Mom caught thousands of waves--did a lot better than myself. She was a trooper. Long Day--we got home around 3am and had another tea date and soaked in the sun.

For Mom's last night we headed to Scubar (http://www.scubar.com.au/) for $10 all you can eat pizza night and some hard core hermit crab racing--Bilby and Cupcake disappointed us (but they tried their hardest)---

Then we hit Mcdonalds for $1.75 hot fudge sundaes and booked Mom a taxi for her travel back to the states in the am :(

So sad.

April 17-18

Today we took a morning gym class and headed straight to Central Train Station in Sydney.

We took a bus to Blacktown and a train to Lithgow.. to meet our "long lost cousins". We got to see a scenic view on the train of Bathurst (the Blue Mountains)..and arrived at their house around 5ish.

Experienced "tea time" and headed for a early evening sunset walk.

We headed back to the house and chatted over dinner. The next morning we woke early and once again had tea time and headed out for a morning walk of wandering around the 2000 acre farm. We saw horses, sheep, cows, and kangroos all over. Then spent the afternoon motorbiking all around the farm. We jumped on a early train (130ish) got to Sydney around 5pm and had a pretty dinner overlooking Darling Harbour
(http://www.crinitis.com.au/).

Then took a walk to the Sydney Tower and headed to Max Brenners and polished off an entire dessert pizza
( http://www.maxbrenner.com.au/).

The couple next to us saw what we ordered and were amazed and said "That's beautiful".

April 12-16

Monday was a bit chilly. Ventured to get some tea and sit on the beach--usual cafe and usual location. Then we jumped on a bus to do some shopping.
Spent the day from 9am-530pm all over. We hit the Queen Victoria Building Shopping Center, Darling Harbour, and Bondi Junction. Discovered some new jumbo cookies(http://www.muffinbreak.com.au)! Saw the biggest jar of Nutella I have ever seen (Perna--you would go nuts) could probably ice at least 100 of your Mom's cakes).

Tuesday.. we got up earlyyyy morning did a water class and a fun pilates class. Mom experienced two of my classes today and even had a beer with one of my teachers in class! How funny! Hit a new cafe on campus (1919 Bristot Caffe Express) for some tea and coffee..snagged a Viva La Pizza on the way home for dinner.

Wednesday...we got up and got our morning tea and coffee--today at the usual location near my house. Headed to campus for the 11am lecture and a few other late classes. Mom thought some were a complete snore. Grabbed some Moo Burgers and some Spit chow for dinner with some ice cream and headed to the beach for a night of people watching.

Thursday..was a busy day. The usual tea and coffee date at the beach, except this time we fed the birds with our left over Kangaroo chow from the zoo. I had my Sydney Children's Hospital Orientation and had a few classes on campus. Ventured over to the QVB again for some lunch at All That Sizzles and a jumbo and rushed to a the new 3D Movie: How to Train a Dragon!

Friday...after our coffee and tea we took a bus to Malabar Riding School and did the hour trail ride along the hills and the beach---amazing.. My horse was Ace and Mom's was Splash. Mine wanted no part of the trail ride and did whatever it felt like doing. We then had to the QVB for another jumbo cook and some lunch!

April 11

The usual tea spot..then mom and I took advantage of our gym memberships on campus (2 miles) and went to BodyPump for the 10am class. We came home had ourselves some lunch and hit the beach for a few hours. Met ourselves some friends from BU that are here from New Zealand for their Spring Break.

Then came back and tried out a new dinner spot in Coogee called "The Spit". Great salads and cute environment. Our waitress was great-super friendly. American which was ironic. She worked for Lifetime for 2 years in the advertsing department (right down my alley).

Then to Garlos to snag apple pie..

http://www.garlospies.com.au/

which looked appealing but "where are the apples"--julia.. a surplus of cream....slacking in the apple department...decided there is no such comparison to an American Apple Pie.


Oh and we thought we'd snag one of these donuts for a midnight snack--kidding.. what a bizarre combination--with a pop or a candycane? These Chupa Chups pops are extremely popular here.

April 10

Today we departed my house at 430am and jumped in a taxi for a 6am (80minutes) flight to Brisbane, Australia. We arrived and jumped on a train (25 minute ride) which took us into the city to catch the Croc Express bus. From there the bus (85 minutes) took us to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. Along the way we passed numerous plantations with fresh growing pinapples, oranges, and strawberries right in the ground! SUCH A BEAUTIFUL HOT AND 85(ish) degree day--not bad for their Fall. After arriving, we hit the Turtle feeding shower, fed elephants, watched a special crocodile show where the Irwins themselves did the show (they only come on holidays--so this was special). We saw Terri, Bindi and Robert. The staff jumped in the water with the crocodiles right in their clothes and fed them massive pig body parts. We grabbed lunch upstairs at the Feeding Frenzy Foodcourt (mom got a neat cup for her drink-- steve's on top) and before departing we snagged ice cream at BW Croc Ice Cream Parlour(I got rum 'n' raisin and triple swirl (this kind was tie-dye) and mom snagged the some of Terri's death by chocolate and strawberry).. Next we headed downstairs for our 2 hours safari tour which had 4 of us on it so we got to see a lot in a short period of time...snakes, wombats...cheetahs (rare again),tigers, tazmanian devils, more elephant feeding, and even kangaroo feeding (you could go right up and pat them like dogs)...and even saw the new development they are creating for an Africa exhibit with Giraffes, Rhinos,etc and got the behind the scenes facts about the new resort they are talking about creating for the zoo. Other fun facts: We fed the kangaroos with a trail mix like mixture and the elephants with watermelon, "rockmelon"/cantoloupe, carrots... After our tour ended at 330pm we went and held kaolas, which in Sydney you aren't allowed to do because they get aggravated..but here I guess every man for themselves. We ran to a quick crocodile feeding show and jumped back on our 4pm Croc Express and headed back. The bus driver told us various stories, and we got to watch an Irwin documentary on the way back. Also, he let us off at one of those fruit places along the way home where they had freshly grown everything! Amazing freshley squeezed pineapple juice/almost like a slushy. Then back to the train and airport for a 8pm flight and a short taxi ride home. We arrived around 1030/11pm. Definitely worth the day trip!