Day Trip to Sydney Harbour

The other day I woke up and the first thing Dave asked me was, "Wanna go to Sydney tomorrow?" Of course I replied, "Why NOT!!" so we did just that. Newcastle is about 2 hours north of Sydney and lucky for us there is a train that goes there every hour. We walked to the station, ordered our usual hot chocolate and chocolate chip muffin, and anxiously awaited the train to arrive. During the 2.5 hour ride down to Sydney we chatted a bit about what we would do, watched the scenery go by, and took a little cat nap.

Dave explaining which way we were traveling

Once we got to Sydney we grabbed a few maps and were on our way. Instead of taking the bus or rail we decided to walk so we could really get a feel for the city and explore things as we came across them. Right away when we got on the street Sydney felt like New York City with the fast pace, large amounts of people, and skyscrapers block after block. It was welcoming change from the slow pace city of Newcastle. 

After touring parts of The Rocks, the first settlement in Australia by British convicts, we headed to the nearby harbor. As soon as you walk onto the sidewalk you are met with spectacular views of both the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. Both iconic landmarks are breathe taking, I couldn't stop myself from taking picture after picture. ( I will do separate posts with more pics!)

After spending a good hour or so taking pictures at the Opera House we headed to the Royal Botanical Gardens. If you are ever in Sydney you NEED to visit the Botanical Garden, it is definitely a MUST SEE! We didn't get through half before we had to leave because the sun was setting. The garden had the most wonderful array of trees I have ever seen. I love trees and I really geeked out over these trees due to their size and uniqueness. (More tree geeking out in another post!)

We ended the evening by grabbing a bench and watching the sunset over the bridge and the light bouncing off the opera house. For awhile there it felt like everyone disappeared and it was just Dave and I there taking in the beauty.  We grabbed a bite to eat at Burger King  Hungry Jack's, headed towards the train and talked about all the things we want to do when we come back for a second time!

Cheers!

Glimpse of Newcastle Beach

This is just  little glimpse of the beach that Dave and I live about a mile from, Newcastle Beach. Since the weather was finally warmer we decided to head out for Dave to get in the water. The bad news was that as soon as he put his foot in and a wave went over it, he got stung by a jellyfish! Everything was fine and nobody had to pee on his foot, he just had to take a hot shower! The lifeguard informed us that there are about 100 bites a day! 

Adventures in the Rain

This is week the Newcastle weather has been a little dreary, it has been raining off and on with a heavy outcast. But even this weather can't stop Dave and I from going out a bit each day to either run errands or go on a little adventures. Our latest adventure was to the Antique Center, walk the Harbor Promenade, and then to Stockton Island to walk the Shipwreck Walk.

After the Antique Center, which was AMAZING, the weather was beautiful so we slowly walked on the Harbor Promenade. It was a great atmosphere with families walking along, couples skateboarding and biking, and hearing the laughter of children while Dave and I walked side by side always ready for the many photo opportunities. 

From our walk we went to find out when the next ferry ride was to Stockton Island. Stockton is a little town and in true Island fashion you can only get to it via the ferry. The ferry arrives every 30min. and runs from the crack of dawn to midnight and costs $2.30 for a single ride. Dave and I were headed to walk the Shipwreck Walk near Stockton Beach where you actually see different ships that didn't make it to there final destination. 

When we arrived on the Island the weather turned quit nasty pretty quickly. The wind was howling and picking up speed and it began to drizzle. But being the troopers we are we just smiled and walked out into the weather heading for our destination. As we kept walking and running about like fools the weather kept getting worse. It wasn't until I had been pelted by water for about 10 mins. did I decide that maybe it was time we start headed back to the ferry and some type of shelter. But while on the Island we did get to see a very large ship come into the harbor. I had never seen a ship this big! Even some of the locals drove out in the weather to come see the ship get into harbor.

We got back to the Ferry Terminal just in time to get the next Ferry, talk about good timing! And as luck should have it the weather wasn't as bad on the Newcastle side as it was on the Stockton side. The wind had died down, leaving us with just a slight drizzle as we made our way back to the apartment to settle in for the evening and stay dry. 

I hope that next week the sun decides to come out to say hello and stay for a nice visit! But if not Dave and I will continue to find small little things to do here in Newcastle to occupy our time. We probably should try looking for a job, but what fun is that when you live in a new city and there is soooo much exploring to do!

Ta!

Treasure Hunt!

Today Dave and I had a great little adventure out and about. Last week when we moved into our apartment we deemed Saturday, Cleaning Day, just so we can make sure we are up on top of keeping this place as spic and span as possible. So after our morning cleaning and eating lunch we headed out the door.

First stop was to the Centenary Antique Centre, to see what they have. Oh MY GOODNESS...this place is AMAZING! It is a HUGE building filled with different antique and vintage shop/areas! By far it is the biggest store with the best selection that I have ever been to. If you are into antiquing or thrift shopping than you would believe this place is heaven. It has clothes, purses, chairs, books, things with the Queens face on it, posters,....almost anything you could think of.

Seeing all the purses row by row in stall after stall I was in heaven. I would just pick them up one by one and show them a little love and gently put it back. Since I couldn't buy (or afford) them ALL I had to just pick one small little coin purse. It is SOOOO cute, a blue print with flowers all over it. I know that is will be used for many many years. 

Don't even get me started on all the A-MAZING clothes they had! Cute dresses, skirts, tops, and variety of coats from eras gone by. When shopping for thrift or vintage clothes I always wish I could buy them, but there is rarely anything in my size. I think this could be great inspiration to get fit! Maybe a little reward for me will to purchase a clothing item from here! OOOHHHH..I can't wait to go back and look at all the inspirations!

Man, I am a SUCKER for old books. I love how they are worn down from being loved and read over and over and over again. I feel like the carry so much history and have a story, other than the ones on their pages to tell. I found this great kids book called the Magic Pudding that has Koalas, Wombats and Pudding that was printed in Australia!

Here is a picture of what we purchased today. We hopefully will be going back after our first pay check (we should on getting jobs) to purchase some more great pre-loved items for our future home!

Australian Travel Bag, Floral Coin Purse, Magic Pudding Book, Queen Elizabeth Tin

Our home away from home

Dave and I have officially had a place here in Newcastle, Australia for 5 days! It is located in an area called The Hills. The name is very fitting because any which way you turn on the streets you are bound to end up going up hill. This is exactly what Dave and I found out when we went  tried to go for a run earlier today. It turned into a walk up the hill, catch breathe at top of the hill, jog down for a bit, then walk down because it is to steep of a slope and then start all over again! We did however find a new park that is only 3-4 blocks away that we will probably be visiting more because it has a great view of the city. 

Here is a little tour of our apartment, so you can see the Shoave palace in Newcastle:

The place has turned out to be okay...nothing great. We have shelter and a place to sleep at night, that is the most important thing. Plus here we are FAR more cleaner than we were in the states, so that is a plus. It has to do with a fear of roaches, which I will touch on a little bit later!  If you don't feel like watching the video tour and hearing my voice sound like I'm 12..here are some pictures!

When you enter the door you come right into our living room

Kitchen off to the left. All appliances and dishes came with the unit

Living Room and Door. We bought the sheet and pillows to cover up the icky couch beneath.
We also placed bags from home up for easy grabbing, decoration, and to feel like we are home. 

Our bedroom. It had two single beds that we pushed together, pillowcases from home (they say Key to my heart). The room has some storage for our clothes, which is nice. We had our second encounter with a roach on the bed, it was the biggest one I have ever seen!

Our bathroom..where the shower drain barely works, when you turn on the hot water the cold water handle runs, and where I killed my first cockroach (it was a german cockroach..I've become an expert on roaches)

So this is our place here on Mosbri Crescent in Newcastle. We find it to be okay, but honestly we don't really spend to much time in the apartment. Our days usually consist of us waking up, getting ready, heading out for the day, and then coming home for the night, watch tv and check internet, and then head to bed. As stated above we have had a few encounters with the insects of Australia. I HATE bugs...they are sooo gross, so it has been hard for me to handle these roaches. I have learned that due to the warm weather here in Australia there really is no way to stop roaches, they are just a part of life. I don't know if I can have them become part of my life...hopefully we won't have to many more visitors! It does make it a good reason to clean up EVERYTHING and not to leave anything on the floor where they could hide. 

We just found the second roach tonight on Dave's side of the bed. This thing was HUGE, I even took video of it because we had to show people for them to believe us! We are also posting different parts of our adventures here in Australia on our Youtube channel, ShoaveRoberts. Check it out and see some of the videos, warning they aren't the best because I have NOOO editing skills!

Cheers!