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!! :)