Songs In Blue

We spent a lot of time just walking around the city.  It was cool to see things like the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge in person.

As you can see from the pictures, the weather generally worked in our favour.  The last day we got caught in a massive downpour and hid in the shelter of a public restroom until it passed.  I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty romantic…

I couldn’t believe how warm it still was.  Winter in Sydney is like Summer in Wellington or even Vancouver.  I could totally live there!

There were a couple events on while we were there.  Darling Harbour was celebrating 21 years, so they had a jetski fireworks show.  Exactly how it sounds, 4 guys rode around on jetskis while fireworks exploded from the back, plus more from a platform.  Matt took these sweet photos:

Then there was the Vivid art show.  Every night, music played and buildings around Circular Quay were lit up with lights and projected pictures, including the Opera House.  Matt took these as well (he rocks the night shooting):

This is one from our hotel room:

I like how most of the beaches had these side pools cause there’s no way I’d get into Aussie waters (which was still 20C)! Matt and I thought about throwing steaks into the ocean to start a shark feeding frenzy, but better judgement won out.
This is Bondi:

Palm Beach, where Home and Away is filmed.  No one back home will know about this show, but I’ll get you hooked if you visit!

We spent $150(each) to do a Blue Mountains tour and this is what we got to see:

A whole lot of nothing.

It was still a good trip though.  We went on the world’s steepest railway.  This pic doesn’t do it justice, but it was pretty much vertical.

Highlights for me were in the little things.  Our tour took us to a tiny candy shop that had every sort of candy you could imagine!  I finally found the cola bottles I’ve been looking for.
I was a loser and took a picture of Krispy Kreme!  So yummy!  These aren’t even in Canada and the last time I had one was on the way to Mexico like 7 years ago (has it really been that long??).

Wellington doesn’t really have a bra/underwear store like La Senza, for example and I always complain about it.  So, I made sure I bought a couple when I found, you guessed it, LA SENZA!!

I don’t normally shop at the following store.  I boycotted it when I was still in Canada cause EVERYONE wore it (at least in Vancouver anyway), and I would never spend more than $50 for any item.  But I caved and ended up buying a pair of pants before I left for NZ and fell in love straight away.
So, when I found it in Sydney, I decided to splurge and buy 2 more pants and my first hoodie from LULULEMON! Goodbye $450! It was worth it.

The whole trip was a lot of fun, whether plans worked out or not.  I would go back in a heartbeat.

*There’s a lot more pictures on Flickr and Facebook

I usually call home every week or 2 to check in with the fam.  It would be a little less frequent if people (Mom) were more helpful with their replies to my emails.
Case in point, Mom’s response when I asked for her curry rice recipe:

At least she’s always good for a laugh.

Anyway, talking to my sister on the phone is like pulling teeth.
I’ll ask her what’s new, she’ll say “nothing”.
I’ll ask her how school’s going, she’ll say “good”.
Then I’ll ask if there’s anything she wants to talk about, she says “no”, so I ask to talk to mom.

Everyone else I talk to back home goes on and on about how much she misses me! In my mind, if you miss someone, you talk to them every chance you get.

But Courtney has always been an ‘actions speak louder than words’ kind of person and proved it again today.

This morning I got another oh-so-informative email from Mom saying that Courtney had done a portrait of me (it’s like 2 feet high!) for Art and it was featured in the school foyer.  Of course, I had to see it so Courtney emailed a picture.
She’s so sweet, I may or may not have cried.

I miss you too, Courtney.**
**Although, I won’t show it in the form of artwork since 5-year olds are more artisically inclined than I am and whatever I managed to create would probably just be insulting.

I’m participating in the 40 hour famine, May 22-24.  Click HERE to sponsor me!

Let’s catch up, eh?

Matt and I booked a trip to Sydney for May 28th – June 3!!!  Neither of us have been before, so we’re pretty excited!
Our flights, 6 nights hotel and a harbour cruise cost about $1000 each…not bad at all.  We’re going to book a Blue Mountains tour, but if you’ve been and there’s something we have to do, let me know!
The Harbour Bridge Climb is also being considered.

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I’ve been working without a contract for over a week now.  Apparently, it’s been approved but went to New York to be finalized.  My company likes to process simple tasks overseas and while that may save resources it’s a big pain, not to mention a big FAIL when it comes to efficiency.
I’m really frustrated by it all especially since I’ve been asking for an extension since January.

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I’ve never fallen off the Canucks bandwagon.  However, being in a different country (one who calls hockey, ‘ice hockey’ (so wrong)) has made paying attention to the regular season VERY DIFFICULT.   That being said, there’s no way I’d miss the playoffs.  I’ve been listening to the games online, then watching the highlights once they’re up on the Canucks website. 
Not quite the same, but it’ll have to do.
I’m pretty impressed with the run so far, but (and don’t hate me) I’m trying not to let my hopes get too high.  It’s hard though, since they’re playing really well!

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Fall/Winter is definitely here.  It’s still nice and sunny for the most part, but it is chilly.  Nothing compared to Canada, but I’d much rather it be warm all year round!

What’s new with you?

My Wordpress and Flickr accounts appear to hate each other right now, so I can’t upload photos to my blog without a lot of time and energy….which I don’t have.
I think my whole site needs to be taken down and re-installed, but I’m a little scared to attempt that on my own.

Anyway, we spent last weekend in Castlepoint.  You can see pictures here.  It’s a tiny town, so there wasn’t a whole bunch to do.  We hiked up the big cliff and it was so windy I thought I’d get blown off .  We walked along the rocks  to the lighthouse.  Then the rest of the time was spent playing Trivial Pursuit, Boogle and watching Flight of the Conchords.
Overall, it was really nice to relax and give my camera a bit of a workout.

We’re going to Castlepoint for the weekend.  I’ve seen a couple photos and it looks like a beautiful place!  My camera has been feeling a little neglected lately, so hopefully this trip will remedy that.

Last April, I applied for a Partnership Visa with Matt sponsoring me. Unfortunately,  we didn’t have enough evidence supporting our relationship at that point and it was declined.  The lady dealing with my application was really helpful and said she would give me a 1-year Working Holiday Visa instead.  That way I would still be able to work and live in New Zealand then re-apply for Partnership once Matt and I had been living together for a while.

I was going to wait a few more months before doing that, but thanks to work, plans changed.

My 6-month contract with work ends in the middle of April.  I’ve been asking for an extension until August because it would be impossible to find a new job with only 4 months left on my current Visa.  Last week, work asked if I could apply for the Partnership Visa now so they could give me a longer contract or even make me permanent!

There’s a lot of extra paperwork to go along with the 16-page application form, so it’s going to take a couple weeks before I can send it in.  This creates a bit of a problem since I probably won’t be accepted before my work contract expires.  I’m still not sure what will happen in this case…they want me to continue working, but I’m not really comfortable doing that without a contract.  We’ll see how it goes, but I may have to take a couple weeks off.

Good thing is, since I sent in the same application last year, my police certificate and medical forms are still valid so I don’t have to send in new ones! 
This saves me a lot of time and not to mention, money I don’t have. 

The only downside to applying for this Visa early is that it’ll only be good for a year so I’ll have to go through the whole process again before I apply for residence. Overall, I’ve had a pretty easy go with Immigration matters, which is more than most can say.  Hopefully, that luck continues.

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There’s an update for my last post on my sideblog

Thanks for the advice on my gym dilemma!  I signed up for a year with no joining fee, another month (for a total of 10 weeks) FREE, and a gift certificate for the spa.  Pretty decent, I think!

One of my bestest friends sent me a care package this week!!  She wrote me a 2-page poem about our friendship that rhymed and everything, there was a letter for Matt and most importantly, copious amounts of cinnamon hearts!
Marissa, you rock.

Matt has an awesomely massive and very important (not too put the pressure on or anything) exam tomorrow.  He’s been studying his ass off and I know he’ll do great, but it would be nice if you could think of him and maybe send good vibes his way