Stacy has arrived in OZ!

My friend Stacy arrived in Sydney on Wednesday and I am so excited she is here! YAY!!! It is so nice having another good friend of mine in Australia! Stacy is also participating in the Bunac working visa program. To celebrate Stacy’s arrival in Sydney we had our first car bombs in OZ!

Stacy is living with Lauren and me for a week in our new house. All of my housemates and us were asked to relocate to another home in Coogee as our neighbor was complaining constantly about how load we were. The neighbor is elderly and a bit crazy if you ask me, and yelled at my housemate that he had been living next to backpackers for 12 years and just couldn’t take it anymore! The property group we rent from gave us 10 days free rent to move homes. Our new place is not as close to the beach but is much bigger and nicer. Stacy asked me how many people live in our house and I honestly couldn’t answer her! Originally there were 14 of us but everyone has made new friends and had visitors so I would guess there are usually about 20-25 people in our house.

We told Stacy she must have brought the San Francisco weather with her, as it was rainy and colder the first few days she was here. The weather finally got better on Sunday and we went to the Chinese New Year Parade and then got some sun at Coogee beach.

Stacy, Flat Stanley, and me hiked the coastal walk from Coogee and Bondi which is a 1.5 hour beautiful walk along the coast. Flat Stanley is my little cousin Blake’s elementary school project that I am helping him with. I am responsible for photographing Flat Stanley (a small laminated cartoon man) on vacation and Blake will write a story about his travels. So far Flat Stanley has had a rough summer.. he lost a leg in an accident but was taped back together.

We walked through the small beach towns of Coogee, Cloverlly, Bronte, Tamarama, and ended up at the big beach…Bondi. The views are amazing and I am not surprised to learn that 75 of the 100 most beautiful beaches in the world are located in Australia!

We finished off our weekend with our own Aussie BBQ on our back patio. Lauren grilled up some awesome snags (sausages), burgers, and veggies. It was all SO good!

Tomorrow is my last day of work as I have lots to do as we prepare to leave Sydney in a week. My friend Mary, from San Francisco, is arriving on Saturday and will be traveling with Lauren, Stacy, and me to Airlie Beach in Queensland, AU. We are spending a week at the Great Barrier Reef and sailing around the Whitsunday Islands! I am so excited to travel with Mary and catch up with her, as it has been almost three months since I have been gone and I have missed her!

With only a week left here, I am both excited and sad to leave Sydney. Sydney is now competing with my love for my favorite city San Francisco! I will miss living at the beach and I will be sad to leave all of the wonderful new people I have met. At the same time I am also very excited to travel to many new places and meet new people!