The pictures

I figured something out just now that I did not realize before...if you double-click on our pictures, you will be able to see a larger view of them. I noticed there was one picture that was not showing up, but you can double click on that one too, and if will show up. Check them out! :)

Birthday Weekend

Ray and I had a wonderful weekend together, celebrating both of our 26th birthdays. Friday night we had a typical night at home, heading to bed on-time since we were getting up at 8:30am to go into Sydney all day.
We caught the city bus to Paramatta, where we took the 12 o'clock ferry to Sydney harbor. We arrived in Paramatta around 11am, so we had time to grab some lunch at a local cafe. Ray enjoyed an enormous hamburger, and I had a salad with banana bread. Everything was very tasty. The ferry ride itself, was not very scenic until we arrived closer to the harbor. It was the perfect day to be out on the water, sunny and blue skies, 77 degrees. The day became interesting when a man decided to urinate on the deck of the ferry in front of everyone. Everyone around him watched in astonishment, and were thankful they were missed in the process!

On a different note, we had originally planned to go to Cockatoo Island, but the man in Paramatta who worked the ferry said it was not worth it, but that the ferry up to Manly was very beautiful. We decided to do that instead. We were glad we did, because we passed the Island, and the gentleman was right, there was not much there.

Ray has been greatly intrigued by the opera house since we've been here, so as we headed into the harbor it gave him a new perspective to take pictures. Once we arrived we figured out the time for the next ferry, and hopped aboard heading north to Manly. The ride was so relaxing. There were sailboats everywhere, and a different coastline wherever you looked-whether it was a coastline of houses, rock cliffs, or tall buildings. Once we arrived in Manly, we stayed on board, and headed back. We loved being on the water.

When we got back to the Wharfs at the harbor, we walked around and looked into taking a tour of the opera house. From there we took another ferry to Darling Harbor. I was a bit hesitant to get on this ferry, since the gentleman who urinated earlier, was going on board this ferry as well. I had to double check the water that hit my face as the ferry began moving!

Once to Darling Harbor we walked around, and watched a man do a live comedy show. He did a nice job making the audience laugh by picking on those who walked by, as well as doing tricks to capture our attention. Once all this was complete, dinner was calling our name.

We went to the Summit for dinner. The restaurant was on the 47th floor of the building, and revolved 360 degrees in one hour and forty-five minutes. We arrived in daylight, experienced the sunset, and then were amazed by Sydney at night. We spent three and half hours here, enjoying each other's company as well as the food! I would highly recommend this restaurant in case anyone is heading to Sydney. :) Ray ate a pepper steak, and I had the twice-baked pork belly. I even ate the crackle that came with it (pork skin), all those who know me well, should be proud!

Ray would also like me to include what a "classy" lady that I am. I was enjoying a margarita, and the lime fell in my face, and salt went all over my lap, Ray replied, "classy." Then I was trying to explain a drink to the waiter that I had seen earlier, that I wanted to know the name of...again Ray thought "classy." There were these tiny shavings left on the table that Ray and I were guessing what they were...I spilled them all over the table, and wandered if they were candle shavings. Apparently, it was high quality salt. Again, Ray thought "She's full of class!"

After a fabulous evening of the "dos and don'ts" of being in a fancy restaurant, we rolled home on the bus, arriving home at 11:30pm, completing an amazing day!

On Sunday, we had plans to ride on a promotional bus with a kid I work with. We waited at a bus stop downtown Sydney for almost three hours. If we were not waiting, we would have missed the man who was bleeding profusely from his arm, leaving a blood trail. Ray was so excited to finally see something he could 'track,' which he did, right back to the scene of the crime! The bus finally came two hours later, and we rode around Sydney and Bondi Beach. This was our first sighting of the most famous beach on the east coast. We were in a double-decker bus, listening to really loud music, watching people gawk at us as we rode by. The scenery was great at times, and the beach was insanely busy! We had a fun day, meeting new people, and getting to know others better.

Thank you to those who sent us birthday cards! We really enjoyed getting mail...at least I did! I was very excited to hear from home in our mailbox. :) Also, thank you for the birthday wishes on Skype, and facebook! :) We love you all!

Happy Birthday Erica!!!!

Weekend

Good morning! Good Evening! Ray and I continue to do well down under. Ray's work stays busy, and I continue to enjoy the people I work with. On days where people are not thinking I am a spy, they spend their time instead trying to convert me to the aussie language. There are times where we will sit around the office, while people yell out different words that they want me to say, and then they correct. The times can be quite humorous.

Friday night Ray and I actually ventured out of our apartment, and headed to Luna Park for the evening with my co-workers. About 10 of us took the train downtown to Sydney's permanent carnival. We were big kids for the evening. I had a blast clogging up the bumper cars, ending the ride early, and taking a leap of faith down the Conney Island Slides. Ray stood by and watched us all laugh and giggle on the rides, too afraid to disturb his stomach on the spinney rides, that rose high in the air. He was a trooper though, and was happy to see my having a good time. The weather was great on Friday, very comfortable and a clear evening.

Saturday we were going to try and get to the Taronga zoo, but after a late start and getting lost on the way, we turned around and went home. I spent the afternoon reading a book in the sun on our deck, and Ray stayed in and played on the computer. In the evening we went for Chinese food. It was delicious.

Sunday we tried a Baptist Church. The service was fine, and the size of the church was much more to Ray's liking. I witnessed a woman and her husband have a little dispute over the attendance booklet that is passed within the pews. I'm not sure exactly what got her so upset, but she was chucking the book, her husband was grabbing it from her and glaring at her, (probably because she was acting like a child), and I watched in amazement, with a large smile on my face (because it was quite funny, and I was in shock). The sermon that day was on love and resentment, and that the hardest thing that one can do is love those we dislike, and they we need to rid ourselves of our resentment now. I realized we are not supposed to point fingers, but all I could think about was the woman sitting next to me, with her legs crossed, and her arms folded across her chest, and attendance books flying through the pew. Hmm...who/what is she so angry about?

After church, Ray and I grabbed a little lunch at home and caught a bus into Sydney. Once again it was a beautiful day, and we walked through the rocks again enjoying a drink at Lord Nelson's, and then headed through the markets picking up a few more souvenirs. At the markets we had an entertaining cartoon created of Ray and I. People walked by and smiled at me as the man drew, but when Ray was drawn a little girl stated, "he's chubby." When Ray looked up at her, she quickly corrected herself, "in the picture." Some of you have had the joy of seeing this picture, but others will enjoy a fun treat when we return.

Now it is almost wednesday. Tomorrow is another day of work. The people I work with enjoy making a mess of the birthday girl/guy's desk to show their appreciation and I'm beginning to worry about what my desk will look like on Monday morning! I made sure Ray's boss knew about Ray's bday on Thursday, so hopefully they will do something special for him as well.

Happy Birthday Ray!!!

Well, I think that's all for now. Hope everyone else is doing well! Love and miss you all!

Restful weekend

Well, Australia continues to treat us well. The weather has been gorgeous this past week, and Ray and I were not complaining about only having four days of work last week. As normal, Ray and I hung out and watched a movie on Friday night. We wanted to go into Sydney on Saturday, but they kept talking about rain, so we slept in, and relaxed on Saturday. I went to the mall for a little while, and got my hair cut. Nothing crazy, just needed a trim. Only one person noticed my hair cut, so it was not very noticeable. Anyway, in the evening we tried a new restaurant called "Savannah's." It was very good. The food presentation was eloquent, and the staff was very friendly. Our waitress even asked for my facebook name! Ray enjoyed chicken, with a white creamy sweet sauce and I of course had steak. :)
Sunday afternoon we were invited to an aussie bbq with Julieanne and Eric (the couple we went to the hunter valley with). It was at their friends house. We sat outside all afternoon and soaked in the sun, and then once again had steak! What a great weekend! Lots of sleep and steak! We all then watched 'Australian Idol' and headed home. Once again, Julieanne told me I was being called a "spy" at work. She will not tell me who calls me that, but then again I will not tell her who said that she misses a day of work a week. :)
Ray continues to enjoy work, and has been very busy lately. My job continues to go the same-stuffing envelopes, writing up cancellations, charging people for patrols, checking on returned mail, handing out the mail, scanning, and filing. It's all VERY exciting! Haha!
Ray is currently missing hunting. He should be in a tree right now, but instead he is sitting in the living room, drinking a glass of wine, and watching T.V. He's pretty bummed out about it, but we are both looking forward to our "Green Island Resort" trip to the Great Barrier Reef on November 2! That is our birthday present to each other. Later in November my best friend comes to see us, and then Ray's parents come out at Christmas. We have a number of things to look forward to, which makes things like missing out on hunting, and missing our dog and family a little easier!
This next weekend we hope the weather will be more promising and we can go in the city. On Sunday afternoon we are going out for a dinner with another couple on the harbor of Sydney. I'm looking forward to that. It will be nice to hang out with another couple our age.
Good to talk to you most you again this weekend!

Northern beaches

This week Ray and I had the opportunity to drive up north about an hour and a half to the northern beaches. We were located near Lake Munmorah, near New Castle and Swansea. We had plans to visit Jervis Bay this weekend, but was told to go there a different weekend, when the weather was nicer. We were glad we changed our minds, because it rained all day Saturday, and was very cloudy on Sunday.
A woman at Amway offered us her friends cabin for the weekend, so we were thankful for somewhere to stay. We left Friday night, and made our way up north. We arrived around 9pm, to a dark house. I was a little nervous about the way the house looked from the outside, but I tried to keep an open mind. We went inside, and the woman was right, "It was nothing fancy." We just needed a place to stay for a few nights right? Well, we were checking out the bedrooms, and I sat on a bed that looked like it was about to collapse, and Ray yelled out, "Don't look now, cockroach!" Two cockroaches ran across the floor. We then decided we needed to turn all the lights on in the house to keep the cockroaches in the walls. I tried real hard to relax, but it was difficult. I'm not used to bugs crawling around in my living space.
Saturday we took a drive up the coast. It was hard to see anything since it was raining so hard. Ray and I were both disappointed by the weather. We headed back to the cabin, hoping that maybe the rain had broken up so that we could go fishing. Thankfully it did, and we could go beach fishing for a few hours before dark. Unfortunately, we did not catch anything but it was nice to be out. We were hoping not to have to spend any money on dinner that night, and had packed some chicken nuggets and fries to eat. But opening up the oven and having a cockroach crawl out of it, ended that meal real quick, and we headed out for pizza at the local restaurant. Over dinner, Ray and I decided we would go home on Sunday.
On Sunday, the woman from Denmark, came up to join us in our site seeing. It was still very cloudy outside, but the rain had stopped, so we were able to get a lot of pictures in, and see a lot of beautiful coast! We drove through a nature preserve, and walked a long some cliffs. We drove up to Swansea, and took pictures that Ray and I wanted to take on Saturday but could not because it was raining too hard. We had lunch at a motel, and did some more walking and driving. We then headed back to the cabin to pack up our things, and headed south to visit The Entrance and Terrigal. We were not able to spend much time here because it was beginning to get dark, but they were both places we could go back to and explore.
Monday this week, was NSW Labor day, so we had off of work. We were hoping to have had better weather, and stayed up north till now, but due to the weather and the bugs we relaxed at home today. We slept in, and caught up with family. It was so nice to talk to everyone again. Our time went ahead an hour this week, so we are now 15 hours behind MI and 16 hours behind Illinois. In a few weeks it will be 16 hours and 17 hours behind.
We visited Parklea Market today. It reminded me of Shipshewanna, but smaller. They had a few stores where we could buy cheap souvenirs. They also had clothing stores, paintings, jewelry, and fruits and vegetables. We did not have much time to spend there, so we will go back another time.
Nothing else is planned for this week ahead. We hope to go back into Sydney on Saturday, seeing that we have not been there since the second day we were here.
P.S I just read my blog entry to Ray and he chuckled and stated, "You were quite kind about the place we stayed at this weekend."