A Thanksgiving to Remember

Today, which was my last full day in Australia and also Thanksgiving Day, really started last night.  After work yesterday I attended a business dinner with about 15 coworkers and I didn't get home until way past my bedtime which caused me to oversleep today and miss my morning run.  So I was in a bad mood pretty much from the moment my feet hit the floor. 

Then while getting ready for work I remembered that back home it was the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving which meant my entire family was getting ready to go to the “world’s best” Pizza Hut for dinner.…without me.  So now I was in a sad mood. 

Then on my 20 minute walk into work I ran down my mental check list of all the work that I needed to get done today and began to think how I wish I could choose just one of these jobs to do (project manager, systems trainer OR technical writer).  I then thought that ultimately I do have a choice but that choice is either all or none.  So now I was in a frustrated mood. 

But then I looked to my right and saw beautiful Bolte Bridge, Central Pier and Victoria Harbour not more than 10 yards away from me and I started to smile and I thought “Good Grief, Kristi!  Get over yourself!  You have everything to be thankful for and absolutely nothing to complain about!”  I then chided myself for a few moments, asked God to forgive me for such a bad attitude and then started making a new mental check list of all the ways I have been blessed and all the things I am thankful for. 

So my pity party is over now.  Yes, I missed my morning run.  Yes, I had to work on Thanksgiving Day.  Yes, my Thanksgiving Day dinner was really, really bad.  Yes, my family is literally thousands of miles away from me.  But I have legs that can run, a job that pays well, food to eat and a family that loves me.  And that is only scratching the surface of all the ways God has and continues to bless me every single day.

To end this wonderful Thanksgiving Day, here’s a few pictures I’ve taken around town of things that made me giggle when I saw them.  Those crazy Aussies!

Jonathan's Week in Melbourne

Boy, this past week flew by fast!  It seemed like Jonathan just arrived and then it was already time for him to leave.

I met him at the Melbourne airport around 4:30pm last Sunday.  I think it took him about 30 hours to get here and he was stuck in Coach for the whole flight!

Most places close early on Sundays so that night we just walked through the South Wharf precinct and the Southbank along the Yarra River.  This is a beautiful part of the city.  There are many restaurants that overlook the river, some high-end shopping and a casino.  There are also lots of picnic areas along the riverbank and this is a nice place for running and cycling.  There are several bridges that cross the river too.  Each bridge has a different look but they all offer a gorgeous view of the city and the riverfront.  We continued walking through downtown Melbourne and made our way to an old English-style pub where Jonathan had some fish and chips.  It was here we learned that you don’t ask for a refill on your soda in Australia because you’ll probably get laughed at.  Instead, you just buy another.  I guess Americans are the only ones who offer free refills. 

The work week was routine.  I would get up and go to work every day while Jonathan slept the morning away.  I was pretty jealous of him but happy for him at the same time.  He met me at work every day for lunch and then he would spend the afternoon going to the zoo, the aquarium, or one of the many malls in the city. 

Monday night and Thursday night were two of the most exciting nights of the whole trip.  Jonathan and I got to play tennis at Melbourne Park!  In case you don’t know, that’s where the Australian Open is held every January.  On Monday we played on an indoor practice court at Rod Laver Arena and on Thursday we played on one of the Show Courts.  It was amazing!  We felt like real tennis pros…up until the point when Jonathan’s kneecap slipped out of place and then back in.  That kind of put a damper on the evening.  But he went to the doctor’s office on Friday and got checked out and thankfully, there wasn’t any major damage to his knee. 

The weekend was jam-packed!  We rented a car Saturday morning and headed towards The Great Ocean Road.  Driving the car was an adventure itself considering the driver sat on the right side of the car and we drove on the left side of the road.  I can’t count the number of times we turned the windshield wipers on instead of the turn signal!  J  We also had a hard time keeping the car between the lines; we kept drifting towards the left shoulder.  The Great Ocean Road is about 150-mile stretch of road along the southeastern coast of Australia and I have to admit that it’s the most beautiful coastline I believe I’ve ever seen, even more beautiful than Hawaii.  And if you’re reading this, Jonathan, there is a Great Ocean Road Marathon.  :)  There are so many cliffs and rock formations, and the beaches are so wide they seem never-ending!  Most of the beaches were deserted too, maybe because it’s still pretty cool here.  Both Saturday and Sunday the high temperature was only around 60 degrees.  It took about 11 hours to make it to Port Campbell which is about 140 miles west of Melbourne.  We stopped at several beaches, scenic points, and towns along the way and made a short hike to view Erskine Falls.  We stayed at a “luxury” hotel in Port Campbell Saturday night.  (Luxury is how the owners describe the hotel.  I would call it economy at best.)  The first stop Sunday morning was the Twelve Apostles which are huge rock stacks that stand just off the shore.  It was cold, windy and drizzling Sunday morning at the Twelve Apostles but I think that only accentuated their beauty.  And again, we had the beach practically to ourselves.  Next we drove 4 hours east to Healesville Sanctuary located in the Yarra Valley.  Here we got to hand feed and pet several kangaroos.  We also got up close with a Koala.  Apparently, the laws here in the state of Victoria don’t allow for touching or petting of Koalas but we were able to get pretty close and it was awesome!  His name was Dindi and he was wide awake and eating and he was just too cute! 

Monday morning came all too quickly and I had to go back to work and Jonathan had to catch a plane back to Atlanta.  We haven’t checked Australia off our bucket list yet.  There is still much to see and do and we will definitely be back some day.  

Click here for lots of pictures of the beach, kangaroos and koalas! 

Manly Beach

Although it’s still early springtime here in Australia, we had an unseasonably hot day on my second Saturday in Sydney.  The temperature reached 36 degrees Celsius!  That’s about 97 degrees Fahrenheit.  I took full advantage of the weather and walked down to Sydney Harbour and caught the ferry to Manly Beach.  Manly is about 7 nautical miles from Sydney and the ferry ride took about a half hour.  

I got to Manly around 9:30 and first walked around for a few minutes trying to decide where to have breakfast and where to buy a swimsuit.  I settled on this little café called Bean Rush for breakfast and had to go to several shops to find a swimsuit that was under $200.  Everything in Australia is expensive but the prices they were charging for their swimsuits were outrageous.  I bought a few other beach supplies and then went and rented a bicycle for the day.  Manly Beach is only about .2 miles from the Wharf but I wanted to get out of the city a bit and away from all those pesky tourists.  

I first rode to North Head which is located in Sydney Harbour National Park.  The lookout there offers a phenomenal view of Sydney Harbour, the city of Sydney and the Tasman Sea.  To get to this lookout I had to bike up a couple of long and winding hills.  And did I mention that it was extremely hot that day?  By the time I reached the top I could feel my skin burning so I applied a second coat of sunscreen.  

And let me warn you about the flies in Australia.  When it gets hot, the flies come out in full force and there isn’t much you can do to keep them off of you!  Just Google “Australia flies” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  

After soaking in the views from North Head, my next stop was Shelly Beach.  The lady at the swimsuit shop told me that it’s a great little beach that’s not as crowded as Manly.  Boy was she wrong!  It is a small beach but there were people everywhere.  I was able to find a spot to drop my bag and towel and then I headed straight for the water.  I was really hot and was looking forward to jumping into the nice, cool ocean but I forgot that it’s still early spring.  The water hasn’t had time to warm up yet and on that day the water was freezing!  I went in about thigh-deep and that was all I could handle.  So I went and just laid on the beach but then about 20 minutes later a thunderstorm started rolling in.  It never really started raining but the sky got dark and cloudy and there was a good amount of lightning.  

So I headed back to town, grabbed some lunch and waited for the clouds to pass.  I guess the lightning scared most everyone away because when I went back to Manly Beach there was almost no one there.  I spent the rest of the day working on my tan and watching a bunch of kids surfing. 

I caught a late ferry back to Sydney because I wanted to see the Sydney Opera House from the water at night – gorgeous!  

Blessed with another amazing day! 

Click here to view pictures from Manly Beach.  

I Can't Get Enough of this Place

My birthday is coming up on Friday so I bought myself a little present last week.  I went and saw “The King and I” at the Sydney Opera House.  And I had a pretty good seat too – 8^th row, just left of center stage. 

There are several venues at the SOH.  “The King and I” was staged in the Joan Sutherland Theater, named after the famous Australian opera singer and who I later learned I share a birthday with.  The theater is on the small side.  If I’m not mistaken I believe its seating capacity is only 1500.  The interior is very sleek, and contemporary – very understated as opposed to the Fox Theater in Atlanta or the Boston Opera House but breathtaking nonetheless.  

Normally I’m not the type of person to take a tour but I’m so captivated by the SOH and I have no idea if I will get this chance again so I went back on Sunday and took the official tour.  It lasted only one hour and we didn’t get to see anything that I would consider extra special but we were taken into all the performance rooms – the Concert Hall, the Joan Sutherland Theater, the Studio, the Drama Theater, the Playhouse, and the Utzon Room (named for the architect who designed the SOH).  And to make things convenient for everyone the tour ended at the gift shop.    

My favorite room by far was the Concert Hall.  It is absolutely gorgeous!  It looks and feels like a cathedral and has a pipe organ with more than 10,000 pipes.  According to the tour guide the organ is very rarely used.  

I have so many pictures of the SOH!  Every time I passed by I would snap at least 10 or 15 photos.  Click here to view a few of my favorites from the past week.