New Adventure, New Chapter, New Me…Conquering the World One Step at a Time: September 2014

Hey guys,

AJ coming at you from paradise. No, I'm not really in paradise but it sure feels like it! Today's forecast; beautiful, with a chance of gorgeous. This last week in Varsity Lakes has been great, the weather is beautiful, the beaches are covered in white sand and the guys are HOT... I'll let you fill in the rest ;)
Anyway, two days after I arrived in the GC, Sarah and I took off to Sydney for 4 days. She had to write an entrance exam to get into med school's in the UK and I went off to meet the new family that I will be nannying for. They live in the suburb of Cremorne, which is just on the North side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and only 15 minutes to Manly Beach! The family is truly wonderful. They have 4 great kids... 13, 11, 7 and 3 and I will manly be taking care of the 2 youngest. It really is going to be a one of a kind experience and it all starts this weekend! I fly out of the GC Domestic airport tomorrow (Friday the 5th) and will most likely start my duties on Monday. This way I'll have the weekend to get to know the family and the routine better before jumping right in.
During our time in Sydney, Sarah and I went down to see Circular Quay (pronounced key) and from there we saw the Sydney Opera House and the Bridge but of course the weather was not the best (raining and a bit chilly) and so we didn't last long before marching back up to the hotel. The other days we passed the time by shopping (but buying nothing) at the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) and eating. The restaurants in Australia are so good! No matter where we went or what ethnic food we ate everything was great. We ate everything from Chinese Dim sum to fries to pub food and sushi, and of course frozen yogurt with all the toppings you could imagine.
On the Friday, we met up with Sarah's friend from school Sree who took us to this really cool local bar called the Scary Canary. I was very happy cause they had my Stella on tap! The next day we went down to Darling Harbour where I met a Koala, which was very cool. Apparently in NSW you can't hold them or touch them but in QLD it is perfectly ok... weird right?
After we got back to Varsity, I crashed hard, still suffering from jet lag. Which I still am almost 2 weeks later. I wake up between 6-7 in the morning and I'm usually fast asleep between 8:30-9:30 at night, but it's fine by me. It'll be good training for when I have to get up early with the kids.
I've spent my last few days on the GC going to the different towns and beaches. On Tuesday I went to Surfers Paradise and spent the whole day swimming and going in and out of shops and of course eating :) I did get a bit of lesson on swimming in Australia though. They lifeguards set up at different intervals along the beach and you are only supposed to swim between the flags. Stupid me I found this out by being called out of the water by a lifeguard because I wasn't swimming between the flags. According to him, they aren't allowed to save me if I get pulled out while not swimming in a designated area! Let's just say I was quick to move to a flagged area and swam right in front of the lifeguards.
The next day (Wednesday) I went to Burleigh Beach where my Aunt Liz, Uncle Ross and my cousin Isaac lived while they were in Australia. I can't believe they ever left. It was very beautiful and the people were all very friendly. I met up with a my friend Steven and he showed me around. He took me over to the Burleigh Heads National Park Hiking Trail where we went to the very top. Again... GORGEOUS. I honestly don't know how to describe it any other way. After that we walked back to the beach where there was a surf comp going on. People keep telling me they are boring to watch if you're aren't the one competing but it still looked pretty decent to me. While that was going on I went for another swim (between the flags) and then Steven bought me an ice cream (see ladies chivalry isn't dead) from the Cold Rock Ice Creamery where my Uncle Ross told me I had to go. He was right, it was such a cool little place and they mix all your toppings together with the ice cream before putting in the cone. After we walked around a bit more we said goodbye and I caught the next bus back to Varsity.
For the last week since we've been back in the GC, I've been waking up earlier than Sarah, so every morning I've been going to the Hub, a wonderful cafe/restaurant that serves really amazing breakfasts and dinners. I've been there so often in the last few days the staff already knows me. The Hub has couches to sit on and live music at night and free wifi which is always a bonus! I hope I can find a place a cool and delicious when I move to Sydney.

Well that's all for now,
xoxo AJ