Bienvenidos!!

So, after our not so glorious flight home, I was imagining Christmas trees and relaxing evenings with the family. While there were Christmas trees, we were hit with more than I thought possible our first week home, making it anything but relaxing!

We arrived home on Monday morning. I spent the day downloading all our pictures to be able to show them to our family that evening since everyone was coming over for dinner. Meanwhile, Jordi spent the afternoon at the doctors office being poked and prodded and prescribed pointless medication.

It was great to see our families that evening, and share with them our pictures and stories. We went to bed absolutely exhausted, and didn't wake up until noon the next day!

When I checked my e-mail, I received a letter from the owner of the surf shop in Australia where we rented my board and wetsuit. He was very sweet, saying he was so sorry that we got the board stolen, and he hoped it didn't ruin our experience of Australia. He also said that he would only charge us $200 instead of $300 for the board.

This was good news since we had also received in the mail a ticket that Jordi had incurred over 3 months ago, before we left. According to the letter, he didn't come to a complete stop before turning right on a red light. The ticket was for over $400! And that's not mentioning the late fees and court orders!

I also had a letter, this one being from the Collections Agency, saying I owed $800 for not paying a ticket. I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about!

First we had to make all the wonderful calls to Verizon to re-open our accounts, and then we spent hours on the phone, calling courts and collection agencies, and making sure there was enough left over to pay for the stolen board.

Thursday morning I awoke to an e-mail from the surf store guy in Australia saying our card information didn't go through to pay for the board. I quickly went online to check our bank account, and low and behold there were 3 transactions I didn't recognize adding up to more than $500, and all taking place that morning. I immediately called the bank and told them the situation. Whoever was buying stuff was using Jordi's card number, so they canceled it.

I spent much of the day contacting the FTC to protect our good credit, calling the local police and heading to the offices to fill out an incident report. Not to mention calls to and from collection agencies who told me to call the LA courthouse to fix the problem. (Ends up I paid the ticket over a year ago, but somehow Collections didn't get that memo).

The bank said they would investigate the situation, and we would be fully reimbursed. This was great, but unfortunately we desperately needed the few hundred dollars in our bank account like, now! It was almost Christmas and I needed to get presents, as well as pay for our stolen board! (I found it ironic that we couldn't pay for the stolen board because all our money has been stolen as well. At least we still have our disposable camera!)

I transfered money from our long term savings into our bank account, but that takes 3 days to transfer. In times like these, when you have absolutely no other resort, you borrow cash from your parents. Yup, that's what we did, and that's how everyone got their Christmas presents on time.

So I went to Nordstrom Rack with my mom to do a bit of Christmas shopping, and of course left a bag of clothes at the counter after I paid for it. I got home and realized I didn't have some expensive items. GREAT! More calls, this time to Nordstrom Rack.

Friday morning Jordi woke up in severe pain. He still had a fever and stomach issues, and now his chest was hurting when he breathed. We rushed him to the hospital again, only this time the doctor gave him a super gnarly anti-amoeba medicine, and ordered tests for malaria and parasites. Of course, we couldn't pay for anything since Jord's card had been discontinued. So we had to drive all the way back home, and then drive all the way back again with my card. I kept checking the bank account to see if any transactions had gone through. We spent hours trying to set up skype and put money on our account so we could call Australia to give the surf guy my card number (I didn't want to write it down in an e-mail!) We FINALLY got that taken care of, which was relieving.

Jordi got sicker and sicker before he got better, but he did start getting better (Thank God). We had to wait for over a week to get all our money back in the bank, but we did get it all back. The money we transfered from the other account eventually went through, and we could pay off the surfboard and my parents. Jordi finally talked to the courthouse and made an appearance (not guilty, we're still waiting for the trial). I eventually got my ridiculous $800 ticket canceled. I got my bag of clothes back from Nordstrom Rack. Christmas was very fun and we had a great time seeing all of our family. When it rains, it pours, but I guess the sun comes out eventually :)

Now if only we could get jobs....

Oz Part 2

The next day was Friday - Aaron flew down to Melbourne for business and for a Christmas Party with his work. Melissa went to work, and Jordi and I took the train to Ferndale - a wildlife animal park just out of Sydney. We got to pet and feed kangaroos and wallabees.

We saw Wombats passed out on their backs in their little holes. We saw Echidna's, which were super funny, and tons of crazy birds. We got to pet koala's, and they really are as soft as they look! They were soooo cute!!!

Most of the animals in the park were lazying about, either asleep or drugged up on eucalyptus. But then we went over to the Emu pen, and he might have been drugged up, but not on Eucalyptus, more like speed:

We were surprised that the Emu hasn't taken over Australia, seeing as how hyperactive and crazy it was compared to all the languid koalas and wombats. We fed it some food, and while Wallabies would take 5 minutes to munch the food, the Emu ate everything in 3 very forceful pecks.

We had lunch at the park, and had a great time walking around and seeing all the interesting animals. We got back to Sydney, and since Aaron was gone, we hung out with only Melissa that night. We walked to downtown Leichhardt, and went to a very nice little wine bar on the main street. Then we went to this AMAZING Thai restaurant that was also downtown. It's one of Aaron and Melissa's favorites, and it really is delicious and authentic, and as far as Australia goes, good prices. We had a lot of fun eating our many curries and soups, and then walked back home. Melis and I tried to watch Australia, but totally fell asleep. Oh well, maybe next time....

Saturday morning Jordi went to Manly Beach to meet up with his friend Lyle. Melissa and I went to a little town nearby where they have a huge market every Saturday. It's called Glebe Markets, and the town of Glebe is super cute and earthy. We spent the morning shopping in the markets, and didn't even get through half of them! I was excited to get a new dress, I was getting pretty sick of the clothes in my backpack. After shopping we went to a cafe called Badde Manors and had a really good breakfast, coffee, and chat (and good manners! ;) ) We then drove up towards Manly beach and met Jordi and Lyle at a beach called Curly.

(The waves were not great, but it was beautiful day. Jordi was sick, which is why he's wearing a jacket!)

Melissa and I lounged on the beach while the boys surfed. Then Melis went to the airport to pick Aaron up from Melbourne, and Jordi and I drove back to Manly with Lyle. We stopped at the grocery store to pick up some things for a barbeque. Ingredients for an Australian barbeque include steak, sausage, perhaps one more type of meat, sliced white bread, ketchup and fried onions, and some cheap beer. Probably the most unhealthy meal ever. Lyle bought some kangaroo at the store, and bbq'd that right up also (it's actually pretty good). His other friend came over, and we sat on the porch for a while, which was nice. When I came up with the name for this blog, I didn't realize that Croissants, Curry, and Kangaroos were all food groups!

We left Lyle's house, and took the ferry across back to downtown Sydney. It's an absolutely gorgeous ride, and very fun. I wish I lived in Manly and worked in downtown Sydney and could take the ferry to work every day, that would be glorious. It's like getting a very cheap Harbor cruise.

Anyways, Sydney was verrrrry crowded, and it took us over an hour to get home on the bus (it's only about 10 miles away!!) We said hello to Aaron and Melis and Ewok, and decided to go to downtown Leichhardt again for dinner. We found a really nice Italian restaurant on the main street, and had yet another delicious meal!

The next morning we had a beach day with Aaron and Melis. We packed up the little car and drove back up to Curly. Jordi wasn't feeling well, but Aaron went surfing. We played some paddle ball and enjoyed the summer weather. Then we went further up the coast for some gourmet Pies. Jordi got the spinach and goat cheese pie, Aaron and I got the veggie pie that came with some delicious cream sauce!

We got home, and Jordi and I had to go return my wetsuit to Bondi beach. We took the bus to downtown, and then I took the bus to Bondi, which took way too long, and ended up taking a taxi back to downtown to meet Jordi. We then walked to a restaurant in the Rocks, and old part of town, where we met Aaron, Melissa, and Joe - Melissa's pilot dad who was in Sydney that day. We met at this place called Lord Nelsons, which was really old and thus really cool ;)

We got more amazing food, and Aaron and Melissa opened some Christmas presents that Joe had brought over from family in California. After dinner we walked to Darling Harbor, where Joe's hotel is, and it was so much fun! All the lights were reflecting on the water, and the Christmas trees and decorations were up, and it was a beautiful summer night, our last night in Sydney :(

The next morning we went for a run, and packed up our backpacks one last time. We borrowed a suitcase for all the extra souvenirs and presents, and said goodbye to Melissa in the morning, and then to Ewok, the grey poofball. Aaron wanted to take us to the airport, but his meeting went 4 times longer than usual, so we had to get a taxi instead - which was fine except that we couldn't say goodbye to Rone!! :( We got to the airport, and were pretty hungry, so we got some Subway. We got sodas also, which unfortunately aren't allowed through customs, so we had to sit on little seats next to 5 lines of people putting their stuff on the conveyer belts and eat our sandwiches and sodas in exile.

Of course I spilled on myself, since we had to eat on our laps, and then when we finally went through customs, I forgot that I was wearing my socks with the holes in them. Of course the guy thought he was being funny, and made comments about Santa getting me new socks. We finally made it onto the airplane, and luckily we got 3 seats to ourselves, so Jordi was able to sleep a lot. Qantas is a great airline, I highly recommend it. We got lots of good food, and plenty of drinks, and hundreds of movies and TV shows at your command.

This was the last flight of our trip, the last leg of our journey. As we flew closer and closer to home, all I could think about were my 4 siblings I was leaving on the other side of the International Date Line, and I was sad. (My stained pants and hole-y socks and sick husband didn't help my mood). But we were also relieved to be going home because Jordi was still sick after 2 weeks of fevers and diarrhea and really needed to see a doctor, and we were excited to see the rest of our families and friends in California.

Goodbye Australia, and world traveling.......for now!! :)

Oz

Monday was our first day to explore Sydney. Aaron showed us how to use the bus system, and we took the bus from their street to Circular Quay, about a half hour ride. We walked along the water to the Opera House, and explored that a bit. Both Jord and I have been to Sydney before, but it was fun to see the beautiful sights again, and explore it together this time. After checking out the Opera House, we went to the Sydney Museum, which had all sorts of information on the founding and history of Sydney, which was interesting. Also they had a couple really cool art exhibits going on, which were probably my favorite part! After the museum we wandered over to the Botanical Gardens. The Gardens are situated on rolling hills sitting above the Harbor, and are amazing to walk through. Not only are the plants interesting to look at, but there are some pretty funny animals that have made the Gardens their home. The Flying Foxes, which are huge ugly bats, live in many of the trees, and are quite a sight! Also, huge white cockatoos and brightly colored parrots, and other crazy looking or sounding birds just wander around on the grass or in the trees! We ate our picnic in the Garden, and then went down for a long walk that runs between the Garden and the Harbor wall, with great views of the Opera House and the Bridge.

We then decided we would walk to Darling Harbor, and took the longest and ugliest route possible. We FINALLY got there, and by that time the sun was in full force and we were sweaty and grumpy. We got 50 cent ice cream cones from McDonalds and walked around the pretty harbor, with it's fountains and Christmas trees. By the time we caught the bus and rode it back to Aaron and Melissa's, it was almost dinner time! Melissa was cooking up something, and meanwhile Aaron challenged us to some tennis. We walked to a park near their house that has courts, and Jordi started to feel sick again. Aaron and I had a rowelling game of tennis, in which I barely beat him and we had about 10 deuces. So fun!!! Melissa made another amazing meal, and we watched our nightly movie (Movies in English were still a novelty for us, so we watched at least one a day ;) )

Aaron and Melissa highly recommended a great walk that starts at Coogee Beach and runs along the cliffs and ocean all the way to Bondi Beach. So Tuesday morning we hopped on the bus that took us straight to Coogee. It's a great little beach town, smaller and less touristy than Bondi or Manly, but very pretty and fun. We started the walk, and it took us over an hour to reach Bondi. The entire time we were mesmerized by the views, and all the little beaches and towns we came across on the way. Australians have this amazing ingenious idea where they build walls in the ocean to make a free swimming pool...it's the coolest thing ever, I wish they had them in California!

Some views from the walk...

A very pretty cemetery on the cliff

Lawn Bowling...

Coming into Bondi!

When we got to Bondi, we swam in the ocean and hung out at the beach for awhile. I hunted out the shops and restaurants I went to 4 years ago, and then we caught the bus back home. Jordi was still not feeling well, and we had a mellow night of Melissa's amazing cooking, Tim Tams, and Movies.

Wednesday, Jordi still wasn't feeling well. He didn't feel like going anywhere or doing anything, except laying on the couch or taking naps in the bedroom. By the afternoon however, I was done hanging out at home, although Jordi was still not feeling well. I got on the bus by myself and went to Queen Victoria Mall, an old market building that has been renovated into a fancy mall! There is a huge gorgeous Christmas tree in the middle, reaching through the three marble floors to the ceiling above, winding stairways on the ends, high end stores and exquisite coffee shops and bakeries competing for the attention of your senses. It's quite an experience, and so fun to walk around during Christmas season.

I continued walking down George Street, and found to my astonishment that clothes in Sydney are European style expensive! All my thoughts of Christmas shopping flew out the window - a pair of Quicksilver boardshorts cost no less than $80, and there are rarely sales, and no existing Nordstrom Rack! But it was fun to go in all the shops, and make my way back down to Circular Quay. Once there I walked around the Harbor, listening to the crazy guys on their didgeridoos and meandering the shops by the Harbor. It was actually really fun to have a day of shopping and wandering by myself, since I know Jord doesn't thrive on that, and I didn't feel rushed. I ended up getting some good deals on few things, and eventually made my way by bus back to the house. When I got there, Aaron and Melissa had just gotten home. I went for a run (there is a great run from their house to a park on the Harbor water!) and we ordered take out from the most amazing pizza place I've ever experienced (Crust Gourmet Pizza in Annandale). We watched movies and ate pizza and had a great relaxing night!

The next day Jordi was feeling slightly better, so I dragged him out of the house, and we went for a long walk to another town called Newtown. It's a pretty funky town, with Berkley vibes and crazy characters. We went into some of the fun little shops, and by that time Jord was ready to trek back (I wasn't!) We relaxed in the afternoon until I got restless again and decided to go into the city. Jord felt like he was well enough to join me, so that was fun. We stopped at the Queen Victoria mall again, so I could show him how awesome it is. We walked to the Opera House, and went to the classy Opera Bar down on the water. Tons of people were having their Christmas Parties there, so it was very festive and crowded, which I love :)

We took the bus home, and had a nice evening with Aaron and Melissa. Melissa made us dinner again, and we hung out chatting, and laughing at Ewok's crazy antics! Later we watched The Castle, a classic Australian movie, that is absolutely hilarious.

Coledale Campings

We arrived in Australia on Thursday, and spent Friday meandering around the cute little town of Leichhardt, where Aaron and Melissa live. We also took advantage of free internet and phone, and thoroughly enjoyed watching English TV for the first time in weeks.

In the afternoon, we drove to Bondi Beach to rent a board and wetsuit for me to use all week, (Jord was borrowing Aaron's stuff). When Aaron and Melissa got home from work, we packed up their little car with tents, ice chests, blankets, pillows, surboards, and wetsuits. There was no way 4 people could fit in there too, but somehow we squeezed. Aaron called us the Clown Mobile, and it felt like it!

Driving in Sydney is actually very much like driving in the South Bay. There are no freeways, lanes come and go, there is no direct way to get anywhere....but after two hours of manuevering, we finally got out! The difference between Sydney and LA is once you are out of the city, there's nothing there! Immediately you feel like you are on the Central Coast, cruising through forests and meadows, and before long we came to a cliff drive along the ocean. It was so incredibly beautiful driving along the coast, and soon we got to our campsite. It was a big grassy area right in front of the ocean. Jordi and Aaron went surfing while Melissa and I put up our tents (what good wives we are ;) ). Later in the evening more of Aaron and Melissa's friends showed up, and after they set up their tents we hung out for a bit before going to bed.

I woke up early in the morning to a baby crying. More like whining, actually. Where the heck is it's mom, and why does it not stop?? Maybe that's not a baby...? Is it some sort of animal? I learned later that it was a bird whose cry is uncannily human. Australia has all sorts of birds that make the craziest loudest noises!

Saturday we went surfing in the morning, it was fun and beautiful. We had a big Australian breakfast of baked beans, spaghetti, sausage, bacon, and eggs (interesting...). The boys went surfing again, and we played some bocci ball as well. Jord and I went for a really long walk up the coast, and it was seriously sooooo pretty!! Even though it's relatively close to Sydney, it's not even close to being crowded.

That night more friends arrived and set up tent, and some of the guys bbq'd steak. Right after dinner it started raining, so we ducked into tents to hang out until everyone went to bed.

The next morning some guys went surfing, and we all had breakfast together. After breakfast I was going to go surfing also. But I couldn't find my rental board. Yup, it had been stolen in the night! I was incredibly bummed and mad - who steal a surfboard at a campsite?? There is a road behind the campsite, and everyone else around us had things stolen also - camping gear, alcohol, etc.. We think some punks drove up in the night, hopped out and grabbed stuff, and drove away. It was super lame. So, we ended up having to pay for a new surfboard that I had ridden once, on top of renting it for a week. Fabulous.

We loaded up the car again, and went with two of Aaron's friends to another beach in a nature reserve. The drive was awesome, and the beach was really pretty too, but windy! Aaron, his two friends, and Jord surfed while Melissa and I worked on our tans and read gossip magazines :)

We got back home in the afternoon, unpacked, and got cleaned up. Melissa's dad, Joe, is a pilot for United, and flies from San Francisco to Sydney on a regular basis. He happened to be in town on this Sunday, and we met him in downtown Leichhardt for some incredible Italian food.

It was a quite a weekend! We had so much fun camping, aside from the board being stolen, and it was great to see Aaron and Melissa, and a little bit of the Australian coast and nature reserve, and fun to see Joe again! :)

On The Road Again

We stayed for two nights in our hotel in Seminyak, and it was really fun to be right on the beach. Our new system for dealing with street vendors worked out very well, and everyone was right when they said Seminyak had the best food and shopping. Unfortunately, Bali was going through a hot spell, so the days were over 90 degrees and Humid!! It was sooooo hot!!!!

We would try to run or surf before 7 or 8 in the morning, because the heat was already unbearable by then. I would drink tea for breakfast while sweat was pouring down my face. Luckily our hotel room had air condition, and we retreated there a lot, just to cool off!

Our last day in Seminyak we had the whole day to kill since our flight didn't leave until 11 pm. We received both a call at the front desk from our taxi driver, and a note under our door from the management reminding us of our appointment at 7:30 with (whatever his name was). We were like, "OMG he's stalking us!!!!!!" Taxi drivers love taking tourists to the airport also because many times they give the drivers all their extra cash. Anyways, we spent a nice day surfing, walking around the shops, and eating at beachside restaurants before meeting our lovely taxi driver at 7:30. We had to stop in Kuta to return the surfboards that we rented, and while we were walking down the street we saw a German guy that was in our bus on the way to Cambodia!! Sooooo random!! We chatted with him for a bit, and thought it was crazy that we met him the first day we were in asia, and ran into him our last day in Bali!

Anyways, we made it to the airport and I gave the taxi driver the rest of our cash ($5) of which he was profusely grateful and I hoped I never saw him again.

We got in line to go through customs, and oh! what do you know? Indonesia charges $15 a person to leave the country. Cash only. AAAHHHH!!!! We thought they charged $10 a person, and set that much aside, and had perfectly spent the rest of our cash - only to have to go back to the ATM and spend 10 dollars in fees to get 10 more dollars out. It was extremely frustrating.

Our first flight was from Bali to Darwin, and it was 3 hours long. We landed at 3 AM and had to hang out in the airport until 7 AM. The only cafe in our waiting area was ridiculously expensive, as in $6 for a slice of banana bread. So we decided to hold out. Well, our flight was delayed until 8 AM, and we were flying Jetstar, which is like the Ryanair of Asia. Basically zero amenities and tons of hidden fees. So we finally boarded, and it was a 4 hour flight, putting us in Sydney at 2 PM. They didn't give us any meal or snack, and only one cup of water. Jordi splurged on a $3 nescafe to hold him over. I was cold, so I asked for a blanket - oh, that will be 8 dollars. "What??!!" So instead I dug out my travel sleeping bag sheet thing and cocooned up in that, much to the amusement of the guy next to me.

Do you know I read somewhere that they are actually thinking of charging to use the restroom? (or was that Ryanair?) Anyways, the fact that they would even think that gives you the gist of how fabulous it is to fly with them, how taken care of you feel.

By the time we landed in Sydney, we were tired, freezing, thirsty, and starving. Thank you Jetstar. We gobbled up some expensive Subway and got a taxi to take us to Aaron and Melissa's house. It took us over half an hour to get there, so you would think they would be somewhat far from the airport. Imagine my surprise when I went on the porch and I could practically see the people in the little windows of the plane as it roared above me!! Apparently their house is only a few miles from the airport, downtown, beach - everywhere! But since there are NO freeways and horrible traffic, it just takes forever to get anywhere!!

Anyways, Jord and I cleaned up and rested for a bit until Aaron got home around 4. It was soooooo good to see him!! I hadn't seen him in over a year, which is the most I've ever not seen him! He directly took us to the beach where him and Jordi went surfing. When we came home, Melissa was home, and already cooking an incredible steak dinner. It was SO amazing to see her also, and we had a big happy reunion. It felt like normal, which feels great :)