Six Month Video Reacp

    Six months down, six more to go! I don’t know if six months in Australia feels more like a
lifetime, or whether we have just arrived. Either way, I am getting used to life Down Under! I am still Canadian through and through, but am used to a very different lifestyle here in OZ.
    With all the heat in Australia, I ‘reckon’ my cold tolerance has been burnt out of me. In the mornings on my way to work you will see me wearing a ‘jumper’ when it is 18C outside. I no longer get a ‘take out double-double’ from Timmies, but get a ‘take-away strong-skinny-latte’ from a cafe. When it is wine time, I don’t have the monopolized ‘LCBO’ to visit, but ‘bottle-shops’ on every street corner selling bags of 4L ‘goon’ for $11. Even though wine may be practically free, I no longer blink when I am out at a bar and order a ‘schooner’ (smaller than a pint) and am charged $8 for it. I no longer go to the ‘washroom’, but here I go to the ‘toilet’. Canada may have had one of the coldest winters in years, but Sydney has had one of the hottest summers. On my days off I am still heading to the beach nuzzled into the sand reading a good book, instead of cuddled up under the blanket at home. On my way home from the beach, I no longer have to think about which direction to look before crossing the street, it has become very natural to look ‘right-left-right’. There are many small and big differences between life in Canada and Australia, and I am learning to appreciate all of them. I have had such an amazing time over the past six months, and I can’t even imagine the adventures Dave and I will have in the remaining six!
    As a way to show all of our friends and family at home what we have been up to the last few months, instead of photos, we will upload videos of many highlights of our trip. All of these videos were made for personal memories, and not very well shot. They just capture some awesome memories for us. That being said, Enjoy!

1) Kangaroos at the Koala Sanctuary
- September 2012, Brisbane QLD
- Dave and I spent the day in the pen with the kangaroos feeding them and watching the walk very funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfUsvHa3uog

2) Captain Cook’s Lookout
- September 29th 2012, Byron Bay NSW
- We arrived in Byron Bay the day before, and already knew we had fallen in love and found our new home. This is Captain Cook’s Lookout on the Lighthouse Walk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VozjtP9kYU&feature=youtu.be

3) Hang-Gliding
- November 2012, Lennox Head NSW
- Went hang-gliding over Seven Mile Beach in Lennox Head (short drive from Byron) with our instructor Neil. Here is a view from above!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIp9_FMVUYY&feature=youtu.be

4) Holiday Village
- November 2012, Byron Bay, NSW
- This is a short video I took before we moved out of our home at the Holiday Village. We later moved back in for a couple of weeks, but here is a look at the home we lived at and loved for 2 months! You can see our awesome bikes we had, the van Dave used to drive, the epic Cheeky Monkeys across the road, and One One One where I worked down the street!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do1t5qZ91KY&feature=youtu.be

5) Waves at Clarkes Beach
- December 2012, Byron Bay NSW
- Just an average day jumping in the waves. Dave and I had just done the Lighthouse Walk with our good friend Josephine, and were cooling off in the waves after! May have also been almost run over by one of the rookie kayakers while we were out there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzhKmkb92c4&feature=youtu.be

6) Australia Day Fireworks
- January 26th 2013, Melbourne VIC
- Dave and I spent Australia Day in Federation Square in Melbourne watching the fireworks and the Australian Open on the big screen. Since the match was being played live at the arena right beside us, they had to stop the game until the fireworks were over so that it wouldn’t distract the players! At the end you can see the game on the big screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4rfkRd8qw8&feature=youtu.be

7) Penguins
- January 29th 2013, Melbourne VIC
- On the St. Kilda Pier at dusk you can wait patiently for penguins to swim back home to the pier! It was hard to see them in the dark, but definitely worth it! The theme of the night was ‘No Flashes!’ yelled by all the volunteers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb4xSawMztg&feature=youtu.be

8) Swedish House Mafia
- January 31st 2013, Melbourne VIC
- Dave and I saw Swedish House Mafia’s last tour in Melbourne. It was an amazing night, despite the freezing cold rain, the energy of the crowd kept us warm. As you can see in the video, Dave and or I were jumping a lot during the filming. Very jumpy, but a great video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQmjOco6eTE&feature=youtu.be

9) Swedish House Mafia
- January 31st 2013, Melbourne VIC
- Just another quick clip of the concert! You get to be serenaded by Dave himself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Un2Y4sayM&feature=youtu.be

10) Of Monsters and Men
- February 5th 2013, Melbourne VIC
- This was such an amazing show! Here is a clip of one of Dave and my favorite bands. They were so great live!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z18xITq0HLY&feature=youtu.be

11) Perch Creek Family Jugband
- February 2013, Sydney NSW
- We became quick friends with Jarrah from Sydney, and he invited us to go see an awesome folk show with him one night! We ended up getting in for free to their sold-out show, because Jarrah was friends with the band, and hung out with them after the show! Fantastic night, and now I think folk music is AMAZING!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8JslPBKdGU&feature=youtu.be

12) Wild Kangaroos
- February 2013, Blue Mountains NSW
- This is a short clip of kangaroos we saw on our hike up in the Blue Mountains. At this point we were quite far off the hiking trail, and surrounded by lots of wildlife. Later I was able to actually get much closer to some kangaroos than this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWOyEvDAM3A&feature=youtu.be

13) The Three Sisters
- February 2013, Blue Mountains NSW
- A quick panoramic shot of the famous Three Sisters in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7-AYMqujno&feature=youtu.be

14) The Grand Canyon Walk
- February 2013, Blue Mountains NSW
- A short video of our hike in the Grand Canyon walk. It was so breath-taking, the pictures and videos do not do the place justice. In the video you can hear Dave and Chris chatting about whether or not they should walk on the slippery log (which they later did), and Chris’ response is “Yolo!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDZp4oupLtw&feature=youtu.be

15) Mardi Gras
- March 2013, Sydney NSW
- The Mardi Gras celebrations in Sydney are some of the biggest in the world. Dave and I attended the Mardi Gras parade, and taped the finale dance routine from the jumbo-tron. It is a bit choppy quality, but a fantastic performance!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnGphn8UhQQ&feature=youtu.be

16) The Coastal Walk
- March 2013, Bondi NSW
- This is a small panoramic clip of one of Dave and my favorite places in the city, the Coastal Walk in Bondi. We love being close to the beach, and on all of our days off we head in this direction to hang out. Just wanted to share some of the beauty with you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pECfLBwzSvQ&feature=youtu.be

17) Sydney Harbor
- March 2013, Sydney NSW
- A quick panoramic video of the Sydney Harbor! Such a beautiful spot in the city with a view of the Harbor Bridge, Opera House, downtown, and the Harbor! 

http://youtu.be/t1_xRNi01ko

That is all the video clips we have for now! In the past few weeks since we have settled in Sydney, Dave and I have been having lots of fun discovering the city. We have spent lots of time at the beach trying to enjoy the last few days of summer, picnicing in the Botanical Gardens, and lots of Happy Hour hopping around the hot spots in the city with friends. We also recently discovered a Canadian bar very close to our house in Bondi called The Beaver! It plays American sports on TV, has hockey equipment and a deer head on the wall, and of course serves poutine! At work Dave and I have both done a bit of celebrity spotting as well! Dave met Greg Inglis who plays rugby on the South Sydney Rabbitohs. I worked a function a couple of weeks back that Miranda Kerr attended as well! Sydney seems to have a lot to offer, and we have many more adventures to come.

sunrise before work

View of ocean from Bondi Rd

New Home, New Job, and Familiar Faces

Fireworks at Darling Harbor

High School Reunion with Devon

       On our return to the big city, we had two goals: find a house, and a job. For the meantime we settled in at Easy Go Backpackers right downtown on George Street, in the heart of the city. We instantly loved the hostel as we met so many friendly people from all over the world. We spent a lot of time getting to know our new roommates, and exploring the city together.
    Our days were spent searching on Gumtree.com for jobs and apartments. We toured a couple of apartments in the city, but were not happy with the price or quality of the homes. We remembered how much we loved our visit to Bondi, and decided to focus our search there. Finally we toured a beautiful apartment half way between Bondi Beach and Bondi Junction (shops and the bus terminal), that suited our price point and lifestyle. After only living in the hostel for a week, we moved out and into our new home for a few months! We now have four very friendly roommates from the Philippines, and a room to ourselves.
    Dave was called back for many job interviews in the city, but eventually chose the opportunity to work close to home in the Westfield mall selling cellphone accessories full-time at Platinum Communications. I also found full-time work a short bus ride away serving breakfast and lunch at Centennial Parklands Dining. We hope to work as much as we can over the next few months to boost our income before we continue to travel the rest of Australia.
    The past few weeks haven’t only be work though, as we have met up with many familiar faces along the way. One evening Dave and I were in a bottle shop, and as I was looking at the refrigerated section of goon, I hear a man ask Dave, “excuse me, do you know Becki Charles?”, I turn around and see my friend Devon from high school who I haven’t seen for six years! He recognized Dave through my photos online, and we couldn’t believe we ran into each other so randomly in the biggest city in Australia. We went out together that night, and met up the next day at Bondi Beach to have more time to catch up. It is amazing to think of how small the world really is, and we promised that it wouldn’t be another six years before we see each other again.

Byron Holiday Village Family

Nathalie and I

    Now that we have been on the road for more than five months,

Becki, Alanna, Noel, and Dave

Fran and Helen

we keep running into people we have met along the way. We were able to meet up with many members of our Byron Holiday Village family this past week. Our good German friend Nathalie came to visit Sydney, so we naturally went to Bondi Beach and chilled on the cliffs overlooking the water. We later all went out together to meet up with more Byron friends Morgan, Roman, and Carla (who just returned to Australia from her home in Chile)! It was so good to spend a night out with our Byron family in Sydney. Nathalie has since moved on to Melbourne, and the trio has gone North to Noosa. We can only hope to run into them again in the next six and a half months!
    A couple of days ago we were lucky enough to meet up with an Irish couple Alanna and Noel, we met in Surfers Paradise our second week we came to Australia. They spent a couple of days in Sydney, after spending four months working on a cotton farm in Northern inland Queensland, and looked us up during their visit! We met up with them on a night out, and again at Bondi Beach the next day. Dave and I both were silly enough to get our first true Australian sunburn on this visit to the beach, and have learned our lesson to apply sunscreen before hitting the beach! It was fun to meet up with friends that we met months before, and only knew for a few days. When you travel you make friends very quickly, and tend to keep in touch well.
    Another friend came to town that Dave worked with at Wicked Travel in Byron Bay, our British friend Fran. We spent the night out at the Darling Harbor watching the Saturday night weekly fireworks, with her friends from home. We went out that night and visited some amazing bars, and tried to convince her to move from Byron to Sydney. It seemed to have worked! The other day she arrived back in Sydney to work at the chain of Wicked Travel here. We met up once again to have drinks by the harbor with her friend Helen, and spent the rest of our night acting like kids climbing on the jungle gym. We are so happy to have more friends that have moved to the city that we get to spend more time with!

Mardi Gras

Easy Go Backpackers at Mardi Gars

    Last weekend was the very famous Gay Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney! The streets filled with millions of people all dressed up in costumes, or dressed down, to watch the parade. The energy in the city was very high, as everyone was celebrating, and being who they wanted to be that day. The parade was very well done and finished with a choreographed dance routine to Lady Gaga and some fireworks! We went out that night with friends we met back at our Sydney hostel, and all the men embraced their feminine side, cross-dressing for the evening.
    We have the best of both worlds, as we are a short train or bus ride away from the heart of the city, and a fifteen minute walk from the famous Bondi Beach. The last few weeks have been great introduction to the city, and we are excited to spend the next few months living in Bondi.

Our GIANT friend that lives outside our apartment!!