My Last Yoga Class and Ugh, I Washed My Shoes

Yesterday, was my last day as a yoga teacher in Sydney. I boarded the 6:15 train to the city, and was delighted to see the sunrise--the first time after days and days of endless rain.

It was a 7 AM Ashtanga class that went quite well. After class, I did my own practice in the beautiful city studio and then made my way home to start my day with Steven.

Steven took the day off work so we had planned to get our tourist jeans on and explore the city.

Our tourist jeans look a lot like our new skinny jeans by the way.

We took the bus to a quaint nearby neighbourhood called Neutral Bay. It has a small town feel on a heavily trafficked road. We had a morning coffee in the sunshine (oh how we have missed you, dear sunshine).

We strolled along Military Road to Mossman, a larger suburb in North Sydney. Boy, is Mossman ever POSH. Lining the streets were little boutique fashion stores, coffee shops, furniture stores, etc. Soccer moms pushing baby carriages walked along these streets as Porches drove by. And I'm NOT EVEN JOKING. All we needed were some Desperate Housewives running naked down the residential streets.

We found a busy little lane-way off the main strip, and decided to have lunch here. The restaurant is called The Mews, and was actually a bit disappointing. 

Most of the meals were pre-made in the display cabinets, which would be OK, except they didn't even heat my vegetarian lasagne through. It was so heavy and filling that I felt overly stuffed afterwards. Though The Mews is a beautifully presented restaurant, I was quite disappointed with its food.

We did a bit more wandering around the extremely beautiful Mossman area (some of the houses literally looked like CASTLES). Then, we hit up the Chatswood shopping mall to look for new shoes for me. After my beautiful hike on Monday, I was seriously considering scrapping my shoes completely and getting some new kicks. Unfortunately, the shopping malls really couldn't offer me anything I liked enough. 

So when I got home, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. 

Do you ever get that feeling of satisfaction when you suck every last bit of use out of something? The smug righteousness that happens when you've used these things really properly and well? Like you've wrung out every lasting ounce of value from a product, and you therefore win? Well, I'm clearly winning with these shoes.

I've had these Nikes for over 3 years now. They've journeyed with me to several countries, often multiple times, and hiked and walked and ran so many miles I can't even begin to estimate. These puppies sitting out in the sun now, and I'm excited to bring them back on the road.

You and me, babe, we'll go far.

Day 5 in New Zealand: Our last day!

This is the fifth and last installment of Steven and my adventures in New Zealand in April 2013. You can find the first, second, third and fourth posts at the links provided! Cheers!

Our last day in New Zealand started with lots of phone calls to the NZone Skydive company, trying to work out whether or not Steven could skydive that day.

It was rainy and wet in the beginning of the day, so we didn't hold out much hope for the early morning jump.

There were clear skies in the distance, so we agreed to push back the skydive from 7 AM to 10, then to 12, and finally at 1 PM they decided they were not jumping for the day because of wind.

Steven threw the biggest man-tantrum in the world (not true, he just sort of went, "Ah well."), so I took him for the next best thing in the world, a hike!

The hike up to the top of the Queenstown Gondola is actually quite difficult. It's an hour-long hike that is slippery when the ground is wet, and ALL UPHILL.

I know, I know, complaining about a hike going UPHILL is like complaining the sky is blue. But some hikes will flatten out in some areas, maybe even dip in some others, and generally go uphill, giving you the impression that you are far stronger than you actually are.

Not this one. It hits you over the head with uphill-ness and then knocks you down flat cuz you suck at climbing uphill for an hour.

Luckily, the views at the top were as amazing as ever, so Steven and I had something to gaze at as we sucked wind and congratulated each other on beating the two old people up the mountain (they came trotting up minutes later, in considerably less visible pain, BUT WE STILL WON).

Going down was easier and quicker (I heart Gravity). By the time we were at the bottom, both of us needed a bite to eat.

I had THE BEST boston cream donut ever from the Freg Bakery which is next door to the very popular Ferg Burger (Our opinion? Good, but nothing very original or mind-blowingly delicious for vegetarians.)

The pies and savoury items looked great, but I went with the honkin' huge Boston Cream donut, which was filled with the best vanilla cream I've ever tasted. Towards the end, though, I was starting to feel a little sick from the sugar overload. This is definitely a donut to split between two people!

The rest of the night was lovely. Steven and I had a beautiful dinner and turned in early.

The next morning, we said our goodbyes to the wildlife here on this New Zealand adventure:

Random emu-like dinosaur statue in the park....

And kiwi bird park that we never went into....

Goodbye New Zealand, and we hope dearly to see you again in the future!

Day 2 in New Zealand: Fox Glacier Township

This is the second installment to Steven and my adventures in New Zealand! If you missed the first, you can find it here. Cheers!

When Steven and I had planned our road trip to New Zealand, we were prepared for hours of driving a day. It would be worth the effort to have all the adventure we were planning on having.

Our first adventure would be hiking around Fox Glacier, the most accessible of New Zealand's 3000-some glaciers. This was supposed to be an easy drive: 5 hours from Christchurch to Fox Glacier Township through Arthur's Pass.

The drive was actually more like an agonizing 6 hrs plus. I was considering murdering Steven and dumping his corpse in the mountains.

Just kidding... Maybe.

We took a rest-and-stretch stop at a random lake about an hour or so out of Christchurch. Up in the mountains it was significantly chillier than the sunshine led you to believe.

We also stopped at Arthur's Pass for some gas and grub. I got 2 oranges for $3 NZD! Outrageous but I thought the vitamins would do well to heal my cold.

Some unique warnings...

Then, there was that magic moment when, after driving for hours through mountains and farms, you hit the coast and endless horizon:

By the time we got to Fox Glacier Township, the sun had just set. We were both really afraid of driving in the dark, so we were racing the sun to get there.

We had a quick dinner (btw, most delicious soup I've ever had; it was roasted tomato!), and went to bed.

The guy at our motel had told us to check out Lake Matheson, just 5 min down the road, before we went on our glacier hike at 8:30 AM. The sun was set to rise around 7:30, so we had a quick breakfast and made our way there.

So. Worth. It.

Steven and I signed up for a "Fox-Trot" half day hike around the glacier. You walk up the terminal face of the glacier and explore whatever area of it you can.

The company we went with, Fox Glacier Guiding, got us fully outfitted.

Boots, socks, wind/water proof jacket, waterproof backpacks, and crampons.

Crampons are sharp little pointy things that allow you to kick your enemies off glaciers and frolic with triumph. RAWR.

There was about a 20-30 minute walk from the car park to the glacier itself.

Those bits of white are the glacier there, covered in rock and silt.

Once you got on the glacier, it was incredible to think that it extended back another 30 miles up into the mountains.

It was really dirty up there.

"Glaciers are like conveyor belts for mountain rocks," our guides explained. "They carry them from the mountain tops to the bottom as they melt."

I just thought Foxie needed a good ol' shower and scrub. That dirty ol' glacier girl.

That's right.

"Sandy DOMINATED the mighty Fox Glacier."

One of our Heart Challenges is to dominate everything I do. What can I say. It comes naturally.

Byron Bay Lighthouse hike

Last week, Steven and I visited a suburb near Byron Bay, a popular surf/vacation/resot town. 

One of the highlights of our trip was the Byron Bay lighthouse hike. 

The views were so jaw-dropping that our jaws literally dropped and we had to pick them back up, dust them off, and surgically sew them back into our faces.

To get to the lighthouse, we took a 20 minute bike ride.

So, you see, we started off already tired.

The winding, little residential streets took a steep uphill at some points, so we got off our bikes and walked it (don't judge me, it was a HUGE hill!). 

At the start of the walk (and throughout), we got lots of signs and notes.

Already, from the height of the start of the trail, you can look down and see the entire Byron Bay.

Water dragon alert!

 There were a LOT of steps! Great cardio workout. There were even people running this loop. Our host calls this path their local gym.

The trail reaches the most easterly point of the Australian mainland. Sorry for the face...sun in eye. I was also worried about losing the sun, and having to bike home in the dark.

Which we did.

Scary.

This was definitely one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever done.

The lighthouse is by FAR the most beautiful lighthouse either Steven or I have seen. Very well kept, pristine, beautiful lands and structure. A really amazing hike.

I put on my Garmin so my sister could Garmin-Connect-stalk me. Here are the stats:

Bike to lighthouse walk:
23 min
3.38 miles

Hike:
51:16 min
2.19 miles

Bike home:
16:59 min
2.51 miles
(because we walked into town for dinner, and biked from there)