Symbio

The other weekend we got all friendly with some Australian wildlife.  Our friends, Jade and Levi, were gracious enough to give us a tour of a wildlife park in the area.  It was a blast and it was so cool to see animals that are native only to Australia.

Super stoked on wildlife!

A tired Tasmanian Devil.

Poor little guy.

An overactive spider monkey.

Feeding little ponies.

Bambi.

Check out that Mohawk on the cockatoo! 

Mommy kangaroo with a little Joey!  I guess there is a larger type of kangaroo found in the Outback, this happens to be the smaller species.

Clark thoroughly enjoying his kangaroo interaction.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my interaction, too.

Awww, I think I'm falling in love.

A sleepy Koala.  Apparently the eucalyptus leaves don't provide much energy, and koalas only eat eucalyptus leaves.

Quoting our friend Jade: "I want to feel how he looks."  

Our tour guides Jade and Levi, and a koala.

The first time we've ever pet a koala!

A Meerkat doing a Meerkat pose.

A Dingo.  Clark was disappointed because it looks just like a regular dog.

Freshwater croc.  We didn't get to pet it.

Just had to get our couple's photo with the kangaroos.

Clark taking the rare opportunity to hug a kangaroo.  Not all kangaroos like hugs. Prior to this picture, a different kangaroo tried to punch Clark in the face for getting too friendly.  Clark just wanted a hug!  

Isn't he/she so adorable?!  I want one as a pet.  Being that kangaroos are considered nuisances in Australia, the country shouldn't mind if I take one home...I just need to figure out how to get one through customs.

A red panda. 

After the exhilarating tour of Symbio, we drove down and over the sea Cliff Bridge.  It was way too windy to get out and walk it, but we'll do that in the future.

People were hangliding off of this cliff, so Clark decided to practice his form.

Careful, it's a long way down!

Since visiting Symbio, we've seen plenty of kangaroos and wallabies in the wild. We're always excited to see them; it's just such a novelty for us Americans!

The Glorious Sydney Harbour

We have internet...finally!  My goodness, it's good to be back!

A couple of weekends ago we ventured up to the Sydney Harbour and downtown area.  We took the train from Caringbah which is just a few minutes walk from our apartment, and rode for an hour before finally arriving in downtown Sydney.  This is the view we saw as we first stepped out of the train station:

YEEEAAAHHHH! 

The Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are within walking distance of each other, so we were able to see both sites in one afternoon.  Being that we didn't get out of the apartment very early in the day and the train ride took an hour, it was really convenient to only make one train stop downtown.

Ahhh, to be a tourist!

Under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, on our way to walk across the bridge!

View of the Opera House from the bridge.

Dang, this photo screams 'amazing!'

Downtown and Opera House.

Clarky posing on the bridge.

Yep. We done did that.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge in late afternoon.

Getting closer and closer to the Opera House.

Pretty downtown.

Oh, you know, just hanging out on the Opera House steps.

Chillaxin'.

Official tourist pose.

The only photo we took together this afternoon!  Clark's a poor-sport when it comes to asking strangers to take pictures of us.  That, or he just doesn't trust other people with our camera.

We can't wait to visit downtown again!  We had a blast and next time we'll be sure to start our day bright and early. 

We're leaving to go camping on the beach down in Jervis Bay tomorrow afternoon so we'll have to blog about our Australian wildlife experience later.  Let's just say that Clark got a little too friendly with a kangaroo and it tried to give him the 1-2 punch.  That's what he gets for trying to hug a marsupial. 

Oh Jeez

So I'm not sure why some of the pictures below are HUGE and incomplete...I'll have to figure it out when I have more time and faster/secure internet.  I apologize.  Man, just when I thought something would go right!

Dammit.

Sneak Peek!

I must preface this post by explaining that the following pictures were all taken with our 5 megapixel camera since loading all of our T2i pictures would take forever here at McDonald's!  

We're really loving Australia.  Sydney and the Shire (where we currently reside) is an awesome area with countless things to do; we're never hurting for an adventure or experience.  Even though I must admit that I don't necessarily like my job, that doesn't mean that I don't love where we are!  And my co workers are wonderful so really, I shouldn't complain.

So here's a little taste of what we've been up to.  Many, many more pictures to come in the near future as we should (finally!!) have internet next week!  Higher quality photos are promised.

Here is Cronulla (pronounced Crah-nah-lah) Beach.  A surfing reserve for sure.  Surfers abound in these waters!

Clark just soakin' it all in.

After four days of being in Australia, we finally made it to the beach.  We ended up staying at the Cronulla Beach Youth Hostel for nearly a week as we waited to be approved for an apartment.  Anyway, when we checked in the the hostel, the first thing we did was hit the beach.  And jellyfish were embedded in the sand everywhere!  We even heard a young Australian surfer girl say, "they jellyfish everywhere!"  Apparently this is not a common occurrence. 

Yay for us, getting shiz done and all!

Clark happens to be the blaring white body in the dead center of this picture.  The waves here are monstrous.  A bit intimidating, if I do say so myself.

Hottie sporting his zenni prescription sunglasses!  Oh, yeahh!!

Another of many self photos after playing in the Pacific!

We found Dr. Pepper at a random convenience stop near a train station.  We may have paid $3 a can, but it was well worth it.  Now I'm kinda wishing we had that money back as we have $32 dollars in our bank account and even though it's payday, we didn't get paid :(  Just another obstacle we have to maneuver around...but let me tell you, I'm getting sick of these obstacles!

The Opera House!  We have more impressive pictures coming :)

My professional photographer doing his thing.  

The Sydney Harbour Bridge.

We hope all of you are doing well!  We look forward to catching up with everyone via blogs/email in the future as we don't have much time lately and the wifi at McDonald's is super slow.  We miss America, family/friends, mexican food and The Office, but we're really enjoying our "working vacation!"

Stay Tuned

Hello all!

We are alive and well here in Caringbah, New South Wales, Australia, Planet Earth!  We have found an apartment and so a HUGE stress has been lifted off our shoulders.  For the last week we've been living in our one bedroom apartment, eating all of our meals on the floor or our mattress...which is on the floor.  It's awesome.

We should have internet in a week or two.  Companies here really aren't in a rush to install anything and/or sell you anything.  Until then we cannot upload pictures as we are using McDonald's Wifi and it is SLOW.  So once we get internet we'll have a gay old time uploading pictures of the things we've seen and done thus far in Australia.

Last weekend we took the train to the Sydney Harbour (Australians spell 'Harbor' as 'Harbour') and saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.  Sydney does have a nice downtown feel; it is a really cool area.

Anywho, stay tuned for pictures in a couple of weeks!  We're excited to post them for yous guys.

Cheers!

We made it

Hi.

Did you miss us?  I swear we're still alive.  We just don't have the patience/desire to blog as of late.

We made it to Australia in one piece.  Plane ride was SAAWEEET!  We were the only two in our three person row, we had individual movie screens that allowed Clark and I to watch three movies apiece AND we got two free meals!  Our trip almost paid for itself!

And then we landed and s**t hit the fan.  Even if you do speak the language of the country you are moving to, stress still abounds when you don't know another soul other than your spouse, you end up in several dingy hotel rooms and the rental market is as fierce as...well, I can't think of a good analogy at the moment.  Not having an apartment or permanent accommodation has kept us stressed for days.  We have been looking for a rental since day 1 and, God willing, we will have an apartment by the end of the week.  That is, if Chase Bank doesn't screw up the international wire transfer and not send it through like they're supposed to...my goodness I sound pessimistic lately.  I knew we should have brought cashier's checks.  We could have paid our bond (security deposit) and first month of rent without any problems.  I am just so tired of being homeless.  And let's face it, sleeping in youth hostels and dingy hotels is not good for your love life.  It's our 3rd Anniversary today and we're stuck sleeping in bunk beds.  Lame.

We've taken very few pictures thus far.  I would post them but I just don't have the energy.  Maybe when we get our own apartment and my stress level falls to a more normal range.  In case you're wondering, we haven't even seen Sydney Harbour yet. That is how hard we have been apartment hunting!  We have seen the beach though, and since we're staying in a youth hostel down by Cronulla Beach it would be a shame if we hadn't seen it yet.  But we have.  Phew.  We've seen something noteworthy.

Please, pray for us, if you think we deserve it.  Hell, even if you don't think we deserve it, we could use all the prayers/good karma you can send our way!  We need a place to live!  The sooner the better, or I may just have to come home.  I'm serious.  Homelessness and living out of suitcases is not fun.

Hopefully in the next week or so we'll feel capable of posting some of the few pictures we have taken so far.  One picture is even of the bathroom at our first hotel.  Get excited!  Peeling paint and mildew!

Oh, and Vegemite is...not tasty.  Like spreading bouillon onto bread.

Worth storing?

Ok fellow blogging friends.  I need your honesty and advice:

Should I store my wedding flowers or toss them?  Though this dried bouquet holds sentimental value, it's going to be difficult to store these flowers without potentially ruining them.  I'm not sure what to do?  Keep them or toss them?