I'm back!!!

So... It has officially been over a month since I have last posted on here...My apologies, I totally suck at this. However, I have some time now, over this weekend, to catch you all up on my happenings. hmmm... so where to start???

A week from today it will have been 2 months since I left home. The time has absolutely flown by. Let's see... how can I summarize the month of November. Majority of the month was spent forming some sort of a routine. Getting back into the workforce proved to be harder I originally thought.

I have been working for a recruitment agency and learning a lot about HR and the recruiting process. I spend A LOT of my time on the phone...which is funny because I get a lot of people asking ME to repeat something because they can't understand what I am saying. haha! What a change, huh? I'm still trying to determine if this is an industry that I would like to pursue more, but as of yet... I'm thinking not. For every great phone conversation where I get to tell someone that they got a great job, I have to make 3-4 phone calls telling someone they didn't get a job. It's not very fun in that sense. However, it is a wonderful opportunity for now and I will be working there until the beginning of May.

One thing I have truly amazed by in the Australian workforce is their paid time off. Everyone works very hard when they are at work, but hardly anyone works past normal work hours. Also, in my 6 month contract I get 2 weeks paid holidays, and 8 paid national holidays. I don't know about all of you American readers, but this is more paid time off then I got in a whole year at Target. Crazy huh?

Well, also in November, we had a paid national holiday to celebrate the Melbourne Cup... yes, a day of horse racing...a paid holiday. Below are a couple of pics. It was a wonderful day and Nick's girlfriend Lucy was able to get us members seating which made a huge difference as it was a really, really hot miserable day.

Chris and I before going to the races.

Lucy and I at the races.

Guess what?!? I put $10 down on the winning horse and walked away with $135! This is me after collecting my winnings....check out the girl in the background with the sunburn!

Chris and I were able to get away for a day a couple weeks ago and go to the coast for my first taste of the absolutely stunning beaches. The coast town of Bateman's Bay is about and 1 1/2 drive from Canberra through the most beautiful mountain range ever. It reminds me of the Black Hills of South Dakota - in the size of 'hills' and density of the forest, but with plants and trees of a more dessert climate. Most unusal but breathtakingly beautiful. Below are a few pics of our day:

Pretty Beach...really pretty isn't it?


Chris and I standing over the lookout over Merry Beach.

Me on the lookout over Merry Beach.

Breathtaking isn't it? Not a sign of civilization anywhere.

This is what the good ole' Aussie bushland looks like. Gum trees and dry grass.

Just watch out for snakes and spiders!

Me and my kangaroo friends on the beach.



You have to be careful when they have babies with them...this mama wasn't to happy about me getting very close.

This is Pebbley Beach...one of my favorite places on Earth!


See how the rain forest comes right up to the edge of the beach?! Amazing!

Chris hanging out with the local wildlife. There are parrots everywhere on this beach. They will come straight up to you and fly onto your hands if you have food.

I will write more soon...and this time I swear!!! I hope you enjoy my posts!

xoxo

Iowa Girl @ <3

Updates Since Arriving in Canberra

So..since I have been really horrible about getting on here and giving updates about what I've been doing, I thought I would write a quick posting of the activities I've been doing since I arrived.

So, here goes...

The trip from Sydney to Canberra (a 3 hour drive) was fairly uneventful. I saw my first glimpses of native wildlife though! ....in the form of a dead wombat and kangaroo on the side of the road. :(

I did get some glimpses of parrots and live kangaroos in the next couple days though, no worries!

The first week I was here was pretty low key...It took me a couple days to get adjusted to the time. I am currently 17 hours ahead of home in Iowa. Nick and Lucy (Chris's brother and his girlfriend) came over for dinner that very first night to see me. Uncle Chaz, whom I got to know the other two times I've been here came over for Sunday roast that weekend. Uncle Chaz is really just a very close family friend. Andy (Chris's dad) knows how to make a DELICIOUS roast. We had probably a little too much to drink that night too...there was champagne, white wine, red wine, and some sort of little desert wine called Muscat....like I said, a lot to drink.

Chris is playing on a baseball team here called the Bandits with his brother and a lot of his good friends. I've been going to every game if I can. They play 1 week night game and a game on Sunday afternoons. Lucy and I usually go and make up about 1/4 of the crowd during the week night games. Believe it or not...America's past time is not popular in the land down under, not at all. However, because it's not popular...everyone that plays is really, really good. On Chris's team in particular, everyone has been either signed in the MLB or has come to America to play college baseball. Chris has been doing amazing, playing short stop and pitching.

One week after I had been here, we had such a busy week!

On Monday night, I had my first go at playing rugby. I've seen some games played and even went to an Australia vs. South Africa game, but I have NEVER attempted to play. Nick and Lucy play on a coed social league on Monday nights and they needed some extra people, so Chris and I went. I should say first that it is spring here and it is not uncommon in spring for it to get up to 90 degrees during the day. That being said, this night was FREEZING!!! I was in just pants and a short sleeve t-shirt and it was unbearable....everyone wanted to be in the game just to warm up from running around. If you know me, you know I am fairly athletic, right??? Yeah, rugby is not really my thing...I was pretty sucky. I didn't really know the rules so I ended up just running around randomly and got the whistle blown on me a few times. I started to get it toward the end, but you know when you just aren't good and something so you just don't really like it? Yeah, that's me and rugby. :) However, it was good to get out there and meet some people. Nick and Lucy's friends were all really nice and I told them if they needed another sub sometime that I would gladly give it another try.

So that was Monday...On Tuesday, I spent the whole day at the mall interviewing with different retailers. (I'll get into the job search in a later post) After that, I walked to Nick and Lucy's house and went to the boys' game with Lucy. We only stuck around for 5 innings or so...the boys weren't playing too well. We later found out though that Chris pitched the last couple innings and won the game for them...just my luck. But anyway, Lucy and I went back to her place to watch this show (that I'm now hooked on called Packed to the Rafters) and have a glass of wine :)

The next day, Wednesday, I actually got a phone call at 9:30 in the morning when I was still in bed from a place called Kowalski Recruitment (not related to the grocery store for you Minnesotans reading) asking if I could come in and work reception for the day since there receptionist was sick. I had interviewed with them the week before and was hoping they could help me find a good job, so I jumped up, showered and went off to work. After working all day, we headed off to a delicious Indian restaurant called blue ginger for Nick's 26th birthday dinner with his and Lucy's family. It was really really fun with lots of good food, wine, and company. We didn't get home until after 11 so it was straight to bed. Especially because I had signed up to work at Kowalski again on Thursday and Friday.

Thursday was the only night of the week that we didn't have any plans, so we just did a lot of R&R. I was so tired from adjusting to working again. At this point, I had been off of work for pretty much a whole month.

Friday was off to work again and then I met up with Chris, Lorraine/Andy (Chris's mom and dad), and Nick/Lucy to see the Michael Jackson movie This Is It. Has anyone seen it??? SO GOOD! I was dancing and singing in my seat and all the way home :)

The weekend was really low-key which I was very grateful for...I was soooo tired after the busy week! On Sunday Andy, Lorraine, and I went to this little country town market and then to a winery before heading to Chris's baseball game. It was a very relaxing Sunday.

At the baseball game!

Enjoying some sparkling shiraz and dark chocolate at Gallagher Winery.

Well, that takes me up to this past week...the first week of November believe it or not! I had Monday off to just relax by myself and start this blog. Tuesday was a public holiday for (you American's will never believe this) the Melbourne Cup horse races. Australians get a paid holiday off of work for this day...UNBELIEVABLE! Anway, I'll write more about this past week and the Melbourne Cup day in a later posting.

Till then, thanks for reading!

xoxo

Amanda

The big surprise...

So, I told several people before I left that Chris had something up his sleeve...I had no idea what it was, but I knew he had spent quite a bit of money and I that he requested I get off the plane in Sydney rather than fly all the way through to Canberra.

Well...the big surprise was...drumroll please...We were not going home to Canberra. Instead, we were staying the night in a hotel in beautiful downtown Sydney and better yet, we were climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge the next morning!!!

Just to give you a little perspective as to what the bridge is and where it is located, look at the picture below. It is a huge steel structure that is one of the biggest bridges in the world. The very top of the top arch sits like 470 meters above the water. We climbed to the very center of the top arch where the flags are located on the picture below. It was by far the coolest thing I've ever done. It was an absolutely gorgeous day...not a cloud in the sky and very warm. You could see out to the ocean in the east and far out to the mountains in the west. Gorgeous, perfect, beautiful...and a wonderful welcome to Australia. Thank you Chris!

This is Sydney Harbor...you can see the Sydney Opera house in the background and the ocean beyond the land...think Finding Nemo

Here are a few pictures that were taken of us on the bridge:

This is 1/2 way up the arch in our wonderful climbing gear :)

Beautiful Sydney in the background.

Sydney Opera House in the background!

Chris hates this picture, but I happen to like it a lot!

We've reached the top!!

Heading to The Land Down Under

Hello friends and family! This blog has been a long time coming and I'm finally sitting down to put it together.

As most of you know...I left the United States on October 17th, 2009 to move to Australia to be with Chris and his family. The decision was defintely not an easy one...leaving my friends and family was the most difficult thing I have ever done. However...after a very uneventful/boring/long flight, I arrived safely in Sydney on October 19th. It has been a whirlwind since I arrived, but I've loved every moment of it.

In the next few postings will catch you up on all the happenings of the past 2 weeks!

Lots of love and thank you for reading,
Amanda Skye