Life has gotten pretty quick. It seems like I am always on the move and never at home. In some ways I love that, but I'm definitely missing the down time to make lots of yummy food, netflix time, and my super awesome home workouts.
You can probably guess pretty easily what has been taking my time? Number one is work. Number two is frisbee. Number three is friends. Number 4 is a mixture of everything else!
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| Hello Cockatoos |
One of those Ultimate Frisbee tournaments took me to Sydney, where I decided that since I was already taking a flight to Sydney, why not enjoy a few more days and enjoy the sunshine and amazing beaches there, as well as visiting universities. So I had six days there. I got to see Apo, for the first time in two years, and of course stay in the cutest house on the Sydney Harbor with his family. Apo and I headed to Bondi beach one afternoon and the water and weather was absolutely perfect. When I boarded the plane from Melbourne it was a measly 11 degrees C (~60F), and cloudy and ugly outside. The sunshine and warm in Sydney was the perfect change up! Another day I joined some backpackers on a trip to the Royal National Park just an hour or so outside of Syd. We had wanted to visit this
place.. However when we arrived we realized the tide was too high and the sea was too strong to get photos like the ones you see on the link. Nonetheless, it was still a stunning hike through pristine beaches and coastline. It was a guy from Peru, girl from France, girl from Germany and myself. After our trek to the 8 pools, we went to a cool little cliff jump into a little river leading to the ocean.
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| Royal National Park, NSW, Australia |
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| Sydney Harbor Bridge |
Our team was a little short on ladies due to many factors, so we had a little bit of a challenging weekend but also played some really good teams so we did our best to keep up the fight. After the tournament I joined a few of the guys for a little swim at Manly Beach before they flew back to Melbourne. Commuting in Sydney on the fairies is always such a funny concept to me but is so scenic and beautiful and way faster than sitting in traffic.
Oops, I started writing that part of my blog nearly two months ago. I have continued to keep myself busy with mainly the same things. Soo i'll keep the words short and just update some photos for you guys. I had another two frisbee tournaments. Our last tournament of the season was the very first Division 2 Women's Australian Nationals. There were 15 teams and it was held in Melbourne. My team played so well and everyone really pushed hard for the wins for some very close games. We lost on universe point one of our pool plays, which meant the best that we could get was 9th.. However, on Sunday we smashed our games out and ended a on a super exciting note by winning a game after time and were down by three. Leading up to Nationals we really tried to step up our training and team time together and I think it really paid off. During the weekend, I was selected to play on a team comprised of the " Division 2 All Star Ladies" to compete at Division 1 Nationals in a few weeks. So the training continues. Never enough of that plastic disc.
My Monday night team is also doing super well and we will play in the finals this week to clinch our title hopefully! Our team has incredible flow together and it really has been so much fun to be on a winning team with talented players that can put the frisbee up for me to catch long.
I didn't really do too much to celebrate Easter. I had some dumplings with a friend. Australians generally hide only chocolate eggs and not plastic eggs with jelly beans inside of them. however, these chocolate eggs sometimes can be filled with a hilarious cream filling which looks like an actual egg yolk. It was funny to bite into the first time. I did one little egg hunt at a friends birthday party. I miss Easter with my family and the games and awesome Easter baskets the Easter bunny puts together and hides so well in the house. They also have public holidays for Good Friday and EVERYTHING (almost, maybe a few restaurants were still open) is closed. However on Easter, most things were still open. Then Easter Monday, another public holiday things were closed again. I was super confused as to which day they found most important, but a large majority of Australians say they aren't religious. Kids have their fall breaks from school at the time as well so they had two weeks off I believe.
I have moved to a different area of the city after some drama and the management company realizing that none of the occupants staying at my apartment were on the lease. Unfortunately none of the furniture or furnishings belong to us, so tomorrow I will spend my day cleaning and moving things to the sidewalk for people to take for free. Boooo, no fun! But hopefully we get some of our deposit back!
I live with an ultimate friend in an area called South Yarra. It is just a short 15 minute bike ride to the city along a beautiful bike path next to a river without any cars or traffic, which is sooo wonderful.I also live across the street from a huge shopping complex and down the street from Target and lots of awesome restaurants and now just a five minute walk to a train station which makes getting around much much quicker. I'm really loving the new area and apartment.
I had some visitors staying with me from Arizona. Ray and Matt arrived in Melbourne after spending time in New Zealand. They found a camper van to buy and have recently started off in their adventures. After my 3 week job, I plan to take more leave and join them for part in their adventure. I'm not exactly sure yet where I'll meet them, but i'll just pop on a flight and go. :) It's time for a little holiday again right? Especially since it's been getting kind of chilly in Melbourne. Mornings aren't fun getting out of bed, and it is getting dark sooo early. However, I did enjoy the extra hour of sleep during my first experience of daylight savings.
Some frisbee friends and I enjoyed some time camping during a three day weekend. We swam in a freezing cold, super fast flowing river, jumped off some trees, canoed, and played lots of frisbee during the weekend. For meals each car organized a certain meal so we had some delicious grub and an all around good time. :)
I've started a temporary three week much more than full time nannying job which is in the same direction from my new apartment. I can cycle there in about 20 minutes or just two train stops away if its raining. The family is really sweet. They have an adorable one year old girl named Pearl who isn't walking just yet. Then a 4 year old boy named Mischa who has special needs. He is non verbal and can't walk or control his muscles. He is pretty happy and easy to carry. Mostly I am helping with Pearl and some light cleaning while she is sleeping. Mom is kind of in and out. I work usually 11 hour days with them.. While the hours are a lot, it's all in the same place and I really enjoy working with the family. Their usual nanny is just on vacation, if I have the opportunity to stay with them as their normal nanny will be looking for a nursing job as she recently graduated with a degree so we will have to see what happens. As I mentioned before, I just took leave from my disability jobs. I'm not sure yet whether I'll return to one of the agencies, but I still have time to think about that.
Gosh, I think that is everything that is new! Here are some fun photos from recent happenings. Lots of love from the land down under!
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| Friends son, Cassius and I |
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| Katy and I enjoying some coffee and Royal Botanical Gardens |
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| Adults throwing a kids birthday party. |
Some frisbee friends and I enjoyed some time camping during a three day weekend. We swam in a freezing cold, super fast flowing river, jumped off some trees, canoed, and played lots of frisbee during the weekend. For meals each car organized a certain meal so we had some delicious grub and an all around good time. :) 
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