Australia & New Zealand Adventure Part II: Giovanna arrives in Sydney

Dear FriendsIt has been an incredible last few weeks here in sunnySydney. I have found romance, rekindled a wonderfulchildhood friendship, partied like a

rockstar

, andfinished my job at The Sheraton!!I am now heading off with Giovanna for 3 months oftravel, adventure, and the great unknown.... All thathard work is about to pay off!Giovanna arrived on Sunday the 25

th

. She did notsuffer much in the way of

jetlag

, probably because shewas just so excited to be here! Interestingly, thesame day, I was at work and bumped into a workcolleague who had stood me up for a date the previousThursday. I have liked him for the past two months,and just assumed that he was not interested because hehad not called. Well, as it turns out, he had onedigit incorrectly entered into his phone address book.So, all this time, there were sad assumptions beingmade on both our parts. Anyway, whilst I wasdisappointed to find this out with only 1 week left inSydney (typical for me, right?) I couldn't pass up onthe opportunity to make the most of the time we hadleft. I have enjoyed an amazing week with him, I amso glad that we had this time together. It has been aromantic high, and proven very difficult to juggle mytime with my new friend! I have gotten so exhaustedthat I now find myself stricken with yet another cold,with one day to go before I take to the

New Zealand

skies.....boo

Hoo

for me!Not to say I didn't find time to take Giovanna to somecool places. We have been to the beach (many times!),done some coastal hikes, enjoyed a picnic and freeopera in the botanical gardens, numerous free meals atThe Sheraton, Open Air Cinema, Theatre to see

Sir IanMcKellen

in Dance of Death, the zoo, a gay drag showrendition of the Sound of Music, had massages & hightea, gone on a tour of the

Blue Mountains

, not tomention a lot of coffee shops, bars (drinking? Never!)and breakfast establishments.I think my highlights were the opera in the domain -we saw Bizet's Les

Pecheurs

Des

Perles

and it wasabsolutely incredible, and free! We had wine andcheese on a blanket, with over 25000 people inattendance.I am saddened to be leaving

Sydney

. A city thatproved so tumultuous for me when I first arrived hasslowly become a place I've found good friendships anda comforting sense of home. I actually remember mywork with fondness (now that its over) and all of thewonderful people I worked with....Giovanna and I are in the Travel Agency right now,about to book all of our trips beyond

Melbourne

. Wehave a full schedule ahead of us, includingAustralia's West coast, learning to dive,

canoeing

inBushland, treks in the red center, sailing inQueensland....the list goes on. Of course I will stayin touch and be sending more photos shortly too!Keep writing!Much love and wishesAnita