Australia & New Zealand Adventure Part I: Living in Sydney

Wow, I cant believe how quickly the last month hasflown by. I have settled into my Australian lifestylepretty well by now, although I am working so much ithas been difficult at times to find time to play!

Christmas

and New Years were decidedly fun andentertaining; which was quite a nice surprise. SO,for those of you who are interested in hearing aboutlife in Sydney (well, my life in Sydney) please readon.I have settled into my new jobs rather well. I amquite confident about waiting tables now (working onthe floor as it is known at the Sheraton), which isstill a hilarious fact to me. I can carry multipleplates simultaneously, pop bottles of champagne, makeespresso, schmooze guests (alright, I think I handwell-honed schmoozing technique before I became awaitress) and my biceps are developing nicely. Thetips

aren

't bad either (although Aussie

s

are way morestingy than Americans!) and I have met quite a fewlovely people at work (although I

wasn

t here thenight

Nicole Kidman

ate here after the premiere of hermovie

Cold Mountain

Dammit!!!!!!!). This includesa little old lady who I served on

Christmas Eve

, whopromptly invited me to her family home for Christmaslunch when she heard that I had nowhere to go! Ideclined at first (a little weird, even for me,right?) but she insisted that there would be manypeople there and most of them my age, so I'd fitright in (she

didn'

t know me, so one can't blame herfor making such an assumption, right?). So, off I went in the blazing heat (SO strange) and Ihad quite a fun time! There were four generations offamily present including

Gramps

who declared thatthey should have a strange English girl for Christmasdinner every year from now on, because I was simplylovely as he put it (yes, he was old; and the olderthe person, especially if male, the greater thepossibility of finding me delightful, or so I'

ve

foundto be the case in the past.) The family's hospitalitytruly stunned me when they presented me with 3 wrappedgifts from under the tree; including a

Limoges

gravyboat (yeah, that will carry well in my backpack!), ahand-painted Christmas tree ornament with my name, anda basket of perfumed candles. Well, blow me down ifthey

didn

't get me drunk too! I went straight to workfrom the lunch, and the hand was a little unsteadypouring champagne for a few hours, and Anita was evermore gregarious, complete with Santa hat and tipsysmile. We had carolers in the hotel, which sangrequests for the guests at their respective tables;it was all so beautiful it was all I could do to stopmyself from hugging them all and openly weeping. God, I'm emotional.

Boxing Day

was highlighted with a trip to the premiereof

Return of the King

; and I can honestly say it isone of the best movies I have ever experienced(experienced because you can't watch

Lord of theRings

, you are there with the characters). Anabsolute work of genius, I highly recommend it to allof you! I cried, shouted, hollered, cheered andclapped so much, everyone within a 5 row radius knewme by my first name by the credits.New Year's Eve in Sydney was incredible. I managed tobeg, plead, cavort and bribe my way out of working(I'm sorry; but how often will I be in Sydney on NY'sEve?? I rest my case.) and headed for the botanicalgardens with people from the house. I say peoplefrom the house because, since I'm hardly there, Ihaven't really developed any friendships with any ofthem, and haven't felt cheated as a result; they are aunique bunch of young, drinking, travelers (No, notlike me at all!) My friend, Andreas, flew to Cairnson 30 Dec so I was missing his presence

muchly

. Hewas bummed to leave; apparently there

wasn

't muchgoing on up north, whilst

Sydney

was jammed withactivity. We lay out in the sun for the best part ofthe day, in an excellent spot right on the harbor witha magnificent view of the bridge and opera house. Thefireworks were spectacular, especially the second set(yeah, two sets!!

London

eat your heart out!) atmidnight. The only interruptions were one of mydrunken housemates screaming and crying into hermobile to her ex-boyfriend that she still loved him,and then another couple from the house who decidedthat the stroke of midnight was the perfectopportunity to start a loud brawl. Yes, a perfectstart to a New Year. I walked home alone,contemplating a rewarding, successful andadventure-filled (well, duh!) 2004. Hopefully, withmore of you guys in it , I miss you!!!!Lets see, What else fun to share? OH - perhaps mybiggest news is that I will shortly have a new partnerin crime! My oldest friend on the planet, in fact,Giovanna from the

UK

is flying to

Australia

at the endof January. Yeah!!! Funnily enough, whilst we wereinseparable from the ages of about 7 to 12, we losttouch after that, and have only spent a day togethersince as adults!! (well, we got along famously for theday, and still have a surprising amount in common, soI can't wait for her to come out and join me!) We areflying to

New Zealand

together on the 3rd of Februaryfor a whole month of the alpine, thermal, beach,nature and adventure wonders of

Lord of the Rings

country a camping tour of both islands with a focuson hiking and biking. I can't wait. I miss thewilderness and being in such a busy city as

Sydney

istaking its toll on my love of the great outdoors.(oh,

Alaska

!! love to all of you out there braving thewinter!) After

New Zealand

, we are flying on to

Melbourne

and then driving on to the Red Center of thecountry. Major heat!Not that I haven't been enjoying the great outdoorshere. Sydney does boast some great long walks; and Ihave been exploring on my days off of late. I havewalked several coastal walks, all the way from thenorthern suburb of Watson's bay, famous for itssuicide-popular site known affectionately as the Gapa spectacular set of cliffs plummeting straight downto the Pacific Ocean and coast as far as the eye cansee; to

Bondi Beach

and beyond to

Coogee

. Of course,I have stopped to swim and sunbathe along the way andhave started to really love the coastline here. Thereal estate is simply incredible, people sure havemoney here. Each beach tends to have rock pools thatlet you swim free of the dreaded waves and sharks(yup, still a little wary) so I love those for arefreshing dip. But mostly, I have really started totreasure my afternoons of solitude, breathing thefresh sea air and contemplating the present andfuture. Being here in

Sydney

has been SUCH a learningexperience. Although, there are things that I willalways associate with Sydney that I never thought Iwould: the thousands of giant bats I see each nightflying overhead to

Moore Park

as I walk home, hearinga multitude of Eastern European languages every day onthe public bus system, Australian words for espressocoffees (Flat white, short black, long black),

Tooheys

Beer, and the list keeps growing. I now feel that Icould handle setting up from scratch in any majorcity. And I know that by the end of the year, I willbe forced to do just that, stateside. Right now, I amlooking to

Seattle

to call home come next fall.For now, there is more work, fun, sun, mountains andgood times to look forward to. And not to forget,ALASKA by May!!!!!!!I just want to end this letter by mentioning mygratitude for all of your wonderful and comfortingwords and comments to me recently. I do not feelalone because of your amazing emails. Keep 'emcoming!Love to you all and best wishes for 2004Anita __________________________________