Thank you and Good Night

Since I'm no longer living in Australia, I've decided to close off this blog for now and start a new one about our lives "in America" (as the Aussies say!). I've loved writing about our overseas travels and time in Australia, and I sincerely hope those of you who have read this blog, have enjoyed following along with our adventures. My only regret about this blog is that I didn't start it sooner... but better late than never, right?

So, if you've enjoyed reading this blog and are craving for more, please check out my new blog, It Feels Like Home. The adventures continue!

Thanks Heaps.
xx

Until We Meet Again

Our time in Australia has come to an end. After three years abroad, we decided to pack up everything and move back to the US. Unfortunately, Dad is ill and my family needs help. It's really hard to care for an ailing parent from so far away, never mind from another country. So, Paul and I have decided the right thing to do is to move home.

I know despite the illness, my parents would want us to live our lives and not worry about anything. In fact, Mom being mom has still tried to shelter her kids from the harsh reality of dad's illness. But after three years, we've had a good run in Sydney. We had fun and will always look back at our time abroad with fond memories. Although our lives were really good in Australia, it just wasn't right to being living the high life while things are not going well on the home front. At the end of the day, life isn't all good if your loved ones are struggling. Dad's illness seems to be finally confirmed by his doctor and at least now we know what we're facing. Paul and I need to be there for our family... we don't want to miss anymore time.

Luckily, Paul's work has been extremely understanding and offered him to work from the US for the same Sydney company. He's telecommuting and will hopefully be making a few trips a year back to OZ. So, in a way, it's not a final goodbye to Sydney. I'm confident we will be back... even if it's just for a few visits here and there.

We had some really amazing experiences while living abroad. We travelled heaps, experienced different cultures, learned much and have come away with a different perspective on life and our lives. I am so thankful and feel so fortunate to have had this experience and look forward to perhaps living abroad again in the future. I honestly think if one has the chance to live overseas, they should. I know it's a big change and there's a lot involved in uprooting one's life but the experience is so rewarding in so many way- too many to really communicate. You get out of it what you put in to it and I think we really gave it our all, which is why we loved it so much. Don't get me wrong, living overseas can be difficult in many ways, but you just have to keep things in perspective, give it a chance and be willing to make compromises and sacrifices. In the end, the benefits and the experience, at least for us, out way any obstacles.

We will miss Sydney and will always think of it as our second home. It's a beautiful city with just about everything you could want- beautiful beaches, scenic harbours and views, green park lands, mountains, wine valleys, culture, arts, business, fine cuisine and on and on. I know I'm a bit partial since we've called Sydney home for three years, but I really do think it's one of the best cities in the world.

I'm not going to say goodbye to Australia because I know we will be back so here's a short re-cap in pictures of some of our good times living and travelling in Australia.

The Final Countdown

We’re leaving on a jet plane… don’t know when we’ll be back again. That’s right… we’re departing our beloved Sydney for a move back to the US. It all happened way too fast and a lot sooner than we thought but that’s life for you. In a way, it's sort of sad yet good at the same time.

We love Sydney, we love Australia, and we will surely miss all of it dearly. The quality of life is amazing, the lifestyle is superb and really, in some aspects, life in the US just can’t compete with what Australia has going for it. Yes, Australia has its draw backs and it isn’t quite up on the latest technologies and all the modern conveniences, but in a way some of that is part of the charm. Sydney has just so much green space for being a major urban city and we have found that living in Australia, there's plenty of time to enjoy the little things and always time to travel. Life is just more relaxed and carefree and I love having four weeks of annual leave from work! I call it the no worries mentality, if you will.

Moving back to the US, Paul and I have sworn that we will not get back in to the same rat race we were in before moving overseas. We’re all about adjusting our lives to be fairly on par with how we have lived in Sydney. We pledge to use ALL of our leave time from work, try to live relatively stress-free, be more active and involved, enjoy our days and weekends, explore our surroundings, and really travel our own country. Not that we didn’t do those things before, it's just that we now have a different perspective about everything. I know there are places in the US that are similar to Australia and the US has its own beauty and a lot to offer... we just have to seek it out. It’s pretty obvious that LA isn’t going to cut it.

So yes, we’ll get back in to the American way of life, but we hope to live it up with a bit of an Aussie flare. We look forward to what's in store for us back in the US and of course we're thrilled to be reunited with our families and friends. Hopefully we'll at least return to Australia for a few trips here and there so stay tuned for more. I'll write a few more posts about our upcoming adventures. xx

Our Three Year Love Affair With a Sunburned Country

Like most things in life, things don’t always go to plan. Originally, our great Australian adventure was only going to last for a year; however, one year quickly turned in to two and today we are celebrating three years living down under. It’s strange yet wonderful how life works out, and just how quickly time flies.

While living abroad has its disadvantages- for example, the huge ocean that stands in between us and our family and friends, the time difference, the expensive flights, etc., overall, I would have to say our time in Sydney has been absolutely fun-filled and amazing. Our quality of life is excellent, our lives are relatively stress-free, and we’ve been able to travel heaps. We definitely have a different perspective on life thanks to our time in Australia.

Sydney obviously keeps us coming back for more and while we do realize there will soon be a time when we have to pack it up, for now we’re very happy to continue making our home here.

To celebrate our "three year aussie anniversary" we decided to re-discover Sydney over the weekend. It was finally a gorgeous, hot and sunny weekend so we had to take advantage of it!

It was a very busy and electric weekend in Sydney. There were heaps of people out due to the fabulous weather; the Australia v. India cricket match and the Hyundai A-league finals (football) were going on; it's (gay) mardi gras party time; and there was the royal rendezvous of the Queen Victoria (on its first tour) and the QE2 (on its last tour).

Saturday we caught a ferry to Circular Quay where we dined and drank it up in Aussie fashion at the stylish, harbour-side Opera Bar. After a lovely dinner, we engaged in a bit of culture at the Opera House and enjoyed the comedic production of Shakespeare's As You Like It.

Sunday we went on a walking tour of Sydney. We started in our neighbourhood, walked over the Harbour Bridge, through the Rocks and their outdoor markets, and on to Circular Quay. We had a beautiful seafood lunch and a few wines at a lovely restaurant on the harbour. After lunch, it was more walking all throughout the Botanical Gardens.

We had a wonderful weekend and as we move on in to our third year living on this giant island, we look forward to what lies ahead for us.

I Almost Died

Being that we reside in the land which is home to more deadly snakes than anywhere else and of the world's ten most venomous snakes all are Australian, plus, it houses the world's two most venomous spiders, the paralysis tick, the world’s most venomous octopus, the lethal stonefish, the deadliest jellyfish, and of course the innumerable sharks and saltwater crocs (just to name a few), it's only natural that anything that swims, slithers or crawls is considered DEADLY in my book. A bit dramatic or extreme... perhaps, but do you really want to find out what could happen? I think not.

That being said, last night, I almost died. The creepy crawlers are out in full effect since it's summer and they almost got me. In particular, I'm talking about the Huntsman Spider, otherwise known as the Australian tarantula.





Now the locales tell me that these speedy buggers are harmless, but they are just massive and hairy and if you are unaccustomed to them, like I am, you would think the huntsman is the scariest and deadliest creature on the planet. HELLO- they can still bite you and leave you wincing in pain for days. Not to mention that a female can lay up to 200 eggs... um, NOT IN MY HOUSE, BIATCH! Oh, and their name is: HUNTS MAN- need I say more.

Anyway, back to my story... So last night I almost put my hand on a freaking HUGE huntsman. I was just a few centimeters away from touching the nasty beast as I went to grab the rim of the plate where it was residing. Luckily I saw something brown and hairy on the edge of my clean white dish and needless to say, I quickly jumped backed and went running in to the living room to get my knight in shining armour to rescue me. Fortunately, I keep several cans of spider spray locked and loaded for occasions such as these (you can never have too much) and the poor spider never had a chance as we took it down, tag-team style. Phew, that was close... too close for comfort.

Last Christmas we had the invasion of the Redback Spiders...


courtesy of wikipedia

Who must have been living in our Christmas tree and decided to have their babies in our living room. Now these suckers are one of the two spiders (the funnel web being the other) that are venomous and potentially deadly to humans. So you can imagine my hysteria when I woke up one morning to the redbacks running around our floor and hanging from the bottom of our tree. I doused the house in spider spray, wrapped up the tree and tossed it in the rubbish.

So, it looks like this Christmas we get the huntsman... Merry Christmas to us.

Not that I'm keep count or anything, but after last night, that makes four huntsmans killed this week. It's official, the spiders have declared war and I must defend my home. Now, most Australians will probably frown upon me killing the huntsman but I'm sorry, we're under attack and I just can't sleep at night knowing there are tarantulas crawling all over my walls. Can you blame me?

Ah, the joys of living in the "most dangerous" place in the world.