Arriving in Perth, Australia

It's been a long week, Blogger World. I finally made it through my last week of work, training my replacements (yes, my job is so important I've trained 2 people to do it), packing, and moving all our 7 months of Sydney living into 3 big luggages and 2 backpacks.

If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know that Steven and I have wrapped up our working lives in Sydney and will be spending the next few months traveling and exploring Australia and Asia. This last week at work has been an emotional doozy. I guess I was pretty well-regarded and appreciated in my job, as I got a farewell dinner, a beautiful card, and the well wishes from all my co-workers and my employer. Farewells and "last time to do ---"s always make me emotional.

Like this: One of my last morning commutes over the Sydney Harbour Bridge with the opera house down below: (sigh)

My boss even took me out for one last lunch at Aboutlife, which is a popular health food shop in Bondi Junction. Like a true adult, I had this "healthy" tiramisu for my lunch. Made of nuts, cacao and all sorts of other healthy stuff, I was STUFFED by the time I scraped the bottom of the cup. Nuts and seeds are filling, guys, but not a true tiramisu do they make. Nothing can replace the soft, fluffy cream and cake of a true tiramisu.

On my last day, I left work a few hours early, confident that my replacement could handle everything, and went home to pack.

It is a LOT of work sorting through the items that would come with me for my 3 week trek through Australia, and the items that would stay in the luggage in Sydney, awaiting our onward journey to Asia. Especially since I had worked all the way up until the day before we would leave, there were a lot of things to be thrown away, donated, or wrapped up.

I finally filtered all the stuff that I didn't need from stuff that was really necessary and got this:

This is the backpack that I would be carrying for the next 3 weeks in Australia... I hope it's enough!

This morning, Steven and I got up at 3:30 AM to get to the airport for 6 AM. After an extremely smooth check-in, we boarded the plane. I took a Travelcalm (for motion sickness) "non-drowsy" and fell asleep immediately. The motion sickness drugs always make me feel like I'm weak and jello-y, and I never really knew why. The pharmacist this time explained it to me in a face-palm, obvious kind of way: Motion sickness drugs are muscle relaxants. Like DUH. No wonder I would feel jello-y, HELLO Bachelors in Science, I'm an idiot.

Before we knew it, we had arrived in Perth.

Let the Western Australia adventure begin!

A Long Australian Weekend: The Queen's Birthday!

Down here, under the equator, the Queen's Birthday is celebrated the second Monday of June. That means it's a long weekend for us working folk!

Steven and I had planned to go to the Blue Mountains to do some sight seeing and tourist-ing, but Lazy, Cheap, and Car-less struck us hard. So, we stayed home.

We did all my favourite things:

Run:

Stretch (ouch):

Eat Japanese Tofu Donburi:

Eat Chimney Cakes from Kurtosh:

Eat pies from Pie Face:

Yes, there was a lot more eating than exercising, and that's the way we like it!

Now, I'm downloading Nike Training Club app so that Steven and I have something to play with the next time we hit the gym. From what I can tell, it looks like a good idea, but the initial download also took like 20 web-minutes (which is really like 3 real minutes), so I've already lost half my interest. There are bonus workouts named after (or created by) famous athletes, like the Kara Goucher Pro Running Stretches that you have to download individually.

By the way, the Kara Goucher Pro Running Stretches workout is EXTREMELY basic. It covers the major areas I always do after a run: low lunge (hip flexor), triangle (outer hip, glute, inner thigh), and IT band (twist with straight leg - she does it supine while I usually do revolved triangle). But it's missing a whole lot of other stuff, like your feet, ankles, calves, quads, piriformis, spine.... yep, the entire spine.... I don't think they did one twist....

Maybe I'll do my own post-run yoga/stretch routine to show you guys... What say you, Interwebs?

Anyway, I'll write a bigger update on what Steven and I think of the Nike Training Club app soon!

Shaking things up in Sydney

Since moving to Sydney last year, Steven and I have settled into a life of work, weekends, work and work.

That's one of the reasons we took our New Zealand trip so suddenly. The routine of life can really make this Australian working holiday feel more like work than holiday. It's the reason we're trying to do something new each weekend.

Today, we started the day with a walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

There were plenty of runners out, but the pollution from the traffic beside the pedestrian walkway was really too much. I wouldn't ever want to run the bridge mid-day, but I am thinking of taking an early morning run by the bridge.

Across the bridge, you walk into a suburb called The Rocks.

There was an open air market on today--food, clothes, souvenirs!

They built a temporary windmill here just for kicks.

They hold workshops, concerts, and demos here. Today they had a talk about how windmills do useful stuff like grind grain into wheat.

As we strolled around, I got this:

There was a fresh juicing stand and for some reason Steven let me "build" my own juice.

It was disgusting: apple, lemon, grapefruit, carrot, kale.

Still, I drank it all because it was healthy, and I didn't want to be sick again.

I also saw this:

The cone-shaped frostings were very interesting, but I didn't get any. I don't have much faith in Australian cupcake makers. No one can compare to my forever love: Prairie Girl Bakery in Toronto.

After we grabbed some lunch, Steven and I went to Sydney's Sea Life Aquarium and saw my new favourite animal: The Dugong!

He was chowing down on some delicious lettuce.

Steven thinks I like them because they eat the same meals I do:

But it's not true. Not the eating part...yes, I do eat a lot of lettuce, but the reason I like dugongs is because they're huge, gentle, cute and cuddly.

Steven wouldn't buy this for me because he says we should spend our money on silly things like vacations and food.

Great day in Sydney! What are you doing this weekend?

By the way, a new New Zealand post will be up soon! Stay tuned!

Rain in Sydney, and work anyway

It's been a few days of rain, with maybe one day of break in between.

With all the hot-cold-hot-cold weather, both Steven and I got sick recently, which resulted in 9:30 bedtimes and lots of our favourite herbal remedy and not-so-favourite throat gargle (that stuff tastes like choking on iodine).

Needless to say, I've had to skip most of Ashtanga this week and my run this weekend.

Despite the sniffles and coughs, I got all done up for a Saturday work day.

I love my new job, so it makes working Saturdays really not so bad.

My wonderful co-worker got me some genuine Australian lamington. That shit is gooooood.

It's a soft white sponge cake dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut. They filled this one with fresh cream.

After a long day of work, I got home to a bunch of Caution cones in our building because of the rain.

It turns out I live in Sparta.

Best day in a while

After my run yesterday (I'll blog about this later!) I woke up feeling pretty good. I was determined to paper the town with my resumes. 

NO RETAIL STORE ANYWHERE IN SYDNEY WOULD ESCAPE MY WRATH. 

I took a train (btw, 6 dollars for the ride. SIX DOLLARS! Gawds, I'm so poor now.) over to Chatswood, a  suburb in northern Sydney.

Actually, I had an ulterior motive in coming here to Chatswood. 

It is the location of a Lululemon store, and you know how I love to get my lemons on. 

The ladies here were super nice (as they are everywhere), and asked me a bunch of questions. They didn't seem to mind that my visa only allows me to work with any one employer for 6 months. 

I'm invited to an open interview soon, and I hope I get a job (for the sake of both Steven and my sanity). 

My lunch was Sumo Salad, this fast food chain with ready-made salads in nearly every food court I've been in here in Aussie-land. 

I chatted with Steven about how happy I was that the Lulus were nice to me. 

Then, I went for a walk around Chatswood since I'd already paid the $6 to get there. 

I was looking about the shops when I saw the mighty OM sign in a window. Naturally, I examined it further, and found The Yoga Hotspot. 

I went inside and talked to David, the co-owner of the studio, and I'm excited to practice, and possibly teach (!!!!) at The Yoga Hotspot. 

Then, as I was walking back to the train station, glowing with happiness, some guy came up to me and said, "Sorry to stop you, but I couldn't let this chance walk away from me." 

"So, you're pretty cute, and I thought I'd just try to talk to you." 

"How are you doing?" 

When I picked my jaw back up from the floor, for a milli-second I thought about toying with this guy, but then I said, "I have a boyfriend. Sorry." 

"Boyyyyyfrrriieennndd?!?" he moaned. 

"Good luck!" I patted him on the shoulder. 

And that's the makings of a pretty awesome day. 

How was yours? 

My Melbourne yoga setup

I've been pretty diligent with my morning Ashtanga practice since I've started traveling around Australia. I've done yoga on a lot of carpets, kitchen floors, and quiet little corners.

In my expertise, carpet throws off balance and makes jumping forward and back really difficult. So, I try to avoid it.

But kitchen tile is incredibly hard, so I grab a sarong or towel to cushion my old bones.

The view of stove, vacuum, and table fades away by Surya Namaskar B.

I'm loving self-practice because I don't have to wait for adjustments (while at the same time, I miss them), and I can listen more carefully to my own breath and rhythm. I'm expecting my return to Mysore to be loud and busy as compared to self-practice.

There's no better way to usher in a new year than with a good, strong, knock-the-sense-back-into-you Ashtanga practice!

Happy New Year!

Our first vegemite encounter

During our Fraser Island adventure this weekend: 

Verdict:

It's disgusting.

Santa surfing

This is how Santa travels in Australia--rally up the dolphins and surfboard his way around the continent.

Marvellous Creations!

Jelly beans and crunchie wafer bits covered in milk chocolate.

Weird and delicious!

Australia, you are awesome.

Kangaroo hunting

Steven and I are staying at a private home here in Byron Bay. The host family has an apartment attached to their house with it's own entrance, kitchen and bathroom.

Not only is it AWESOMESAUCE, but the family is awesomesauce as well.

We chatted late afternoon yesterday about how Steven and I haven't ever seen a wallaby, roo, or really anything yet.

So the family offered to take us for a little drive into roo country (a big park, really).

"Is that a tree stump in the distance?"

"No, it's moving!"

"It's a kangaroo!"

They never let us got close enough to feed them or anything (after all, this wasn't a zoo. We literally walked around a park). This one here stood in the sunlight all James Bond-like staring at the Canadians approach.

They hopped away once we got too close. It was hilarious! But also marvelous! It's so cool that these animals HOP to get away from things that could possibly hurt them. WONDERFUL IDEA, EVOLUTION!

There it is! That's a roo!

After our Roo Sightings, we walked over to the local golf club and had dinner at The Deck, a nice little eatery.

It was curry night, so we both had a nice curry with rice, yoghurt sauce, crispy chip-like things, and NOT HOMEMADE NA'AN! Oh, sister, I miss you (and your GAH-mazing baking skills) so much.

I ordered chips with aoili (French Fries with flavoured mayo, for all you Canadians) on the side because I'm a Chip-a-holic and gosh-golly-gee these were AMAZING. Are the potatoes here yummier or something?! Mmmm!

Today, we did a big beautiful hike that I'll post about later! The photos are so amazing you'll have to hold onto your socks. Or maybe take them off completely. Or whatever you're into with socks. I accept you. Cool.

The hearts

Before we left Toronto for Australia, Steven and I got a very special gift from our friends.

The card reads:

"Dear Sandy + Steven,

From our hearts to yours before your big journey!

Just some words of advice and ideas of things to do together on your year-long adventure. There's more where this came from...so complete 3 heart ideas, let me know & I'll send your SPREADSHEET of love ideas! <3

Adrienne"

I've been friends with Adrienne since I was 2, and she's always been an excellent gift giver. This really topped the list though!

Each heart in the stack had a "thing to do" or a wish for safety and happiness and the survival of spiders, cockroaches and killer sharks.

We completed our first challenge tonight!

Observations about the supermarkets:

1) Prices seem steep, but they really aren't. Everything here is measured in kg, whereas back home we do lb for some items, like apples. The apples here ranged from 3.99 per kilo (granny smith), to something like 5.99 per kilo (for pink lady).

The Loblaws flier for back home shows me 4.39 per kilo for apples, or 1.99 per pound. See? Not really a big difference for a fruit that seems to be in season in both Toronto and Sydney.

Now, we did notice that grapes were crazy expensive--16.99 per kilo! But that might be seasonal. I don't think grapes are in season back home either.

2) There are funny names for some foods, like "Paw Paw" (giggle) and Capsicum (so scientific!)

3) Tropical fruits are readily available! Mangoes, papayas, pineapples, and melons! Wonderful selection for winter-broken Canadians.

4) Eggs weren't sold in the fridge. Why aren't eggs in a fridge?!?!

5) There are family-owned fruit or vegetable stands here in some suburban malls, which helps cut costs for people like us (trying to save as much as we can)! I got 2 green onions for free from the nice man at the vegetable stand just by asking for it!

"You sure? Two is enough?"

"We're only here for one evening and we're cooking dinner..."

"You only feed him one green onion for dinner? What kind of diet is this!?"

"Umm...."

:)

So the supermarkets here really aren't that expensive or different. Steven and I have kept ourselves fed (and vegetarian!) for quite a few meals by cooking at home.

More challenges to come!

Gifts galore!

This month has been hard on the wallet.

It's not only a month of birthdays, but in a few weeks, Steven and I will be on an airplane to Australia for a year.

That's a long time.

That's a Christmas, a New Years, a whole year of birthdays and weddings and things we'll miss.

So I got my sister this:

She's already run with it a couple of times. She says the GPS is really, really slow to load, so she hasn't actually used the GPS function of it yet (WHICH WAS THE WHOLE POINT AGGHHHH GARMIN!!!)

I got Steven a bunch of stuff for his birthday yesterday.

It started with a travel pack: Visine, floss, lip balm, toilet seat covers, hand wipes.

Then, sunscreen for his delicate baby's bottom skin, and underwear.

Because all of that makes sense together. Right?

The piece de resistance:

A waterproof camera! 

Steven was surprised. When he first brought up the idea of a waterproof camera, I played it really cool.

Steven: I think a waterproof camera is a good idea! We'll be in and out of water, traveling, you know. It might be good to have a camera that can take the abuse.

Me: Nooo, it's too expensive. I have a waterproof casing for one of my film cameras. We can just use that.

Steven: But I'm sure we can find it for cheap on kijiji or something.

Me: Bad idea. Don't waste your money.

Steven got the most badass cake for his birthday ever.

Those cupcakes are glued onto the mini cake with frosting.

Whomever thought of this is genius.

In other news, Two-Two got a hair cut:

Big Brown Eyes.

:)

Headache, Rib-ache, Goodnight!

It's been a while, Blogger.

It's been a while....

My 26-year-old body is decomposing before my eyes.

Which is weird, cuz I can't exactly see my whole body with my eyes unless I'm looking in a mirror, then I can see everything including my eyes!

Anyway, I've come here to report that my pain-in-the-left-side-rib is back.

So I'm kicking the Half-Marathon training plan to the curb. It is far more important to breathe without pain, so I must get back into the chlorine-infested waters (better than poop-infested) of the community pool  and swim my weekly laps.

I think I may have been trying to do too much with my days.

Morning Ashtanga.
Being walked by my dog.
Afternoon classes.
Running.
Night classes.
See the Strawberry Jam Boy so I don't forget his face.

Add in planning for Australia, swimming, and being the best House Cleaner in the world, I've got a headache.

I've taken one of my classes off my plate for tonight, so I'll have to pop the pills, power through the other, and then collapse. Hopefully my favorite donut in the whole world will be there to cushion the fall.