Down Under Part 5 Well...MK and Ashley did it

After a good nights sleep we got up early Saturday morning and walked to one of the most iconic images of Sydney...the Sydney Opera House.  We walked through the park and then past a news broadcaster...news broadcasting.  Poor guy, I hope it was a one way window and he couldn't see the people making faces at him.  Oh well.  Sarah and Liz went to meet up with some long lost family (I should go someplace where I can find some of my long lost family) so it was just 5 of us trekking around that day.

The harbor was beautiful.  It was seriously everything I had seen on movies and tv for years.  The opera house tour started with a video of the history.  I honestly don't remember all of it.  I'm sure google could tell me, but what I do remember is the guy who designed and worked on the Opera House for years got kicked off of the project before it was finished and never came back to Sydney to see it completed.  I wonder if he regretted that in his final moments.  To never see the thing he had spent a lot of his life and effort on.  I hope I never have that kind of regret.  The opera house was amazing.  The inside isn't anything like you would imagine.  It's wood and cement inside and the carpets are bright bold colors.  In one of the concert hall rooms they asked if anyone would like to sing.  So Caryn sang a piece from an opera.  It was pretty neat.  I hope one day I can go back and watch a show ther
                          

Food came next.  Food always comes next.  We ate right on the harbor at the Opera House.  I was too late for breakfast by 4 minutes......4 minutes.  Come on people.  I ended up getting a classic Australian burger topped with an egg and beet relish.  It was decent.  I could have done without the beet, but it wasn't too shabby.  Also the seagulls there have a death wish.  One tried to steal my food.  Joey DeeAnn doesn't share food!!  Those birds were causing all sorts of havoc picking up drinking glasses and smashing them.  Rude.

In the harbor there's this thing I will call extreme speed boating.  We participated in this.  It was probably not my favorite activity ever.  Basically you go really fast and then he spins the boat and everyone gets wet.  Anyone who has known me since I was little will know that I do not like getting wet in regular clothes.  They did give us ponchos.  I kept mine covering my head most of the time.  Honestly I was terrified we were going to flip.  My plan for this was to quickly unbuckle my seat belt, swim down and then swim out as far as I could before I surfaced so I didn't hit the bottom of the flipped boat.  Then find something to get on i.e. Rose in Titanic so I don't get eaten by the shark our boat driver told us about.  We drove past a cliff and he made mention that it happened to be the cliff where that guy in that you tube video jumped off with a go pro and as soon as the bubbles cleared in the water he was face to face with jaws.  Anyway I survived and didn't have to use my escape plan.  We got gelato after. I felt better.

That afternoon we were going to go to the zoo, but because we had already seen animals and such we decided not to.  Instead we hiked up this hill, ok it was just a path with stairs, but it was steep, and Erin and I got tickets to do the Sydney Harbor Bridge Walk.  More on that shortly. While we were up there we saw an inflatable blow up ball soccer game.  It was pretty funny. We headed back to the "hotel" by train so everyone could take a break for a bit.  I had other plans.  Bri and I made our way to the world famous Bondi Beach!  It was an interesting ride out there.  A couple train stops over and then a wait in line for a bus and then a packed bus ride.  We made it though.  The water was cold and shark infested so we just decided that putting our toes in was enough and laying on the beach would be delightful. Apparently this was a topless beach, or some lady thought it was.  Luckily it seemed to be just her and maybe one other lady.  After laying there soaking up the sun for a bit Bri and I went up to the stores and each got a cute shirt.  I love my shirt.  I'm wearing it right now.  Finding the bus back to the bus/train station was sketch, but a nice man helped us out and got us on the right bus.  I asked probably 3 other people who had no idea where to go either.  I'm glad we had a little helper.

Back at the "hotel" I got ready for the bridge walk that night.  Maybe I'm a dork, but ever since I watched Mary Kate and Ashley do this bridge walk on the movie Our Lips are Sealed I needed to do it too.  It looked so cool.  It was super expensive, but totally worth it.  Erin and I got there and waited a little bit.  We met the guy we hoped was our guide who walked us into a room with the other people we were going with to explain why were doing this.  I was lame and didn't admit the Olsen twin thing. I should have, I won't see those people again.  We heard the rules, got in the special outfits, practiced moving with our little clip thing up and down stairs, and headed out.  I should mention this was a long process.  We also had radios so we could hear our guide.  I don't remember her name.  First we walked on the bottom of the bridge for a bit until we reached the part where it starts to go up.  There were a couple sketchy staircases, but nothing too terrible.  Then we started walking up.  It was a full orange moon that night.  We weren't allowed to take our cameras (or anything) but they took pictures of us at certain points.  We got to see the Opera House all lit up and even a party going on in the distance.  There were parties on boats going under the bridge and so many lit up buildings.  One day I want to go back and go during the day.  The night was awesome, but day would be fantastic too.  Next time...

Our trip back to the "hotel" was eventful.  It was late at night.  We passed some vomit on the ground and went to McDonalds. On the train home we met Mohawk Man.  Yep we named him based on his hairstyle.  He was wearing some super lovely tight pants and standing like he was Mr. Australia up against the train wall.  He saw us in the reflection laughing so he turned around a bit with the head nod.  Apparently we had the same train change.  On this change he grabbed an orange cone from what I assume was a drunk guy and blew a little tune for us.  Doo doo doo doo.  Hopefully that sound was spelled out right.  We then continued to follow him since he kept going where we needed to.  What a surprise.  He got off at Kings Cross which was hoppin' that night.  I'll admit it looked like fun.  We walked back to the "hotel" and headed for bed since we left early in the morning back to New Zealand.  Sydney was great.  I really want to go back one day.  It was a blast!

Down Under Part 4 I Get to Hug a Koala

Nothing of consequence happened while we were waiting for our flight to Australia except I got some Acai from a guy who didn't understand me and added the wrong toppings.  Life goes on.  We got on the plane, took some selfies, slept, ate some butter, I had the most delicious milk I've ever tasted, and then we filled out more forms...yeah.  We were flying LAN and their instructions were all in spanish.  They fed us so I liked them.

We got into Sydney pretty early in the morning.  I think around 8am their time which is 10am New Zealand time and 2pm Idaho time (the previous day).  It was Friday and we had all that day and all day Saturday.  The first thing we did after we got our baggage was get a shuttle to our "hotel".  So all 7 of us get on this shuttle and then two other girls probably around our age came on as well.  When we told the driver that we were staying at the Ibis right next to Kings Cross one of the girls laughed and explained that was the red light district.  After seeing the guys in Sydney...sign me up.  And honestly the area wasn't that bad.  We got to check into our two rooms early that day.  Each room had 4 beds (2 bunks) and a small bathroom that basically was also a shower at the same time.  So if someone showered the whole floor got wet.  I can't complain too much.  I was just happy to be in Sydney and really didn't spend that much time in the "hotel" anyway.  I'd stay there again...

We left our hotel and walked to Kings Cross train (subway) station and rode way way out (ok maybe it wasn't really that far) of the city.  On the way everyone fell for a marketing ad of orange soda.  Then we got off at the Pennant Hills station and then took a bus to the Koala Park Sanctuary (future me:  They only take cash.).  I was a little worried for a bit when we had to switch to a bus.  I'll say I'm pretty good at subway maps, but not bus ones.  Well we made it in time for the Koala feeding which was why I wanted to go there anyway...so I could hug that koala.  They chatted for a minute about it and then the trainer lady took one off its little tree and set it out so people could touch it.  I went through the line and got my picture petting it and stuff, then a guy after me actually cuddled with it and I had to do that too of course so I went through the line again.  This time I fully hugged/cuddled the koala.  Loved it!!  Then we went and fed some kangaroos and played with them.  We walked around the rest of the park to see the other not so advertised animals including a cool parrot that said, "hello" "bye-bye" and "Want a cracker".  When we left there we were supposed to go to the temple, but everyone was tired and hungry including me and we honestly just didn't know how to get there by bus.

We headed back into the city to the Town Hall train stop.  We ate lunch there in this little underground mall thing.  I had lamb kabobs.  I ate so much lamb on this trip.  It was yummy.  We walked around this pretty church that was unfortunately closed.  It had gorgeous purple trees all around it.  In fact all of Sydney had these purple trees.  I think they are jacarda? trees.  At this point some people went back to take a rest at the "hotel" and a few of us went to find Laduree at the Westfield mall.  Of course I had to spend way too much on a little box of pretentious macaroons, but considering they have very few stores all over the world I didn't mind.  And the cookies were good.  A couple other people left to go back to the "hotel" at this point, but me and Bri stayed so she could grab something quick.  We got it and decided to walk back rather than take a train.  It was a lovely day and sunny.  Plus when we walked through Hyde park there was a weirdo getting his picture taken.  Well worth seeing that.  We walked down some small pretty streets, pretty sure we walked through a pot breeze, and made it safely back to our "hotel".  (Side note:  I LOVED that park.  It reminded me of a small version of central park.  I wish I had that park to walk in every day...with that weather.)

After a couple hours of getting ready Caryn, Erin, Kristina, Sarah, Liz, and I walked to Capitol Theater to go see Wicked!  Everyone was so excited.  I was the only one who had seen it before of that group.  On our way we found another set of missionaries getting some pizza.  They asked if we were coming to game night?  Nope, but if I lived there I would.

We walked around the theater and the shop when we got there.  I tried on some sweet sunglasses and we passed out the tickets (none of us sat together because it was cheaper that way).  We grabbed some dinner at the little cafe before the show started.  It had free wifi.  So nice.  We made our way back to the theater and took our seats and started the show.  It was awesome.  Even though this was the 4th time I had seen it, it was still completely worth it.  I loved it.  At intermission Caryn and I decided we needed the special drink cups that lit up with our mocktail in it.  I also got some of Australia's version of whoppers to munch on.  After the show it was pretty late so we took the train back and headed for bed.  Great first day in Sydney!

Down Under Part 3 Pamphlets to Hell

The very first thing we did when we got off the plane was...well...go through customs...I hate it.  Helpful hint:  If you have an old passport like I do, just get a new one with the stupid chip in it so you can avoid the 1-2 hour lines.  Seriously.  Traveling internationally, customs gets old real fast.  Luckily this time they were quick and we were shortly reunited with our amazing friend Erin who moved to New Zealand earlier in the year.  We got our luggage, got into her car (the wrong side), and she drove (on the wrong side) to her house where we would stay and meet up with 3 more of our friends in a couple days.  I had to set up my little blow up mattress that I brought with sheets and everything.  Then we chatted and slept.  It had been a long day.

The next morning Erin went to work so Caryn, Bri, and I decided to explore around the neighborhood where we were staying.  It's in the Buckland's Beach area.  It's really pretty there and right next to the ocean.  Erin had told us about a great bakery we had to try so we went down by the water and then "hiked" up the little hill path thing to the bakery.  Well they only took cash and we didn't have any yet. We asked this lady where the closest bank/shopping area was that took cards and she said it was about a 20 minute walk.  She said she could have offered us a ride if she could.  Nice people.  It was a pretty day so the walk didn't sound too bad.  We were hungry though.  We made it to the grocery store (Countdown) and got some meats and cheeses and L&P and pastries and such and took it out to a picnic table to eat.  Again we met a friendly lady who was there and chatted for a bit.  We got some money exchanged and headed back to Erin's. On our walk back we met up with American Missionaries!!  Always fun to run into them.

We chilled until Erin got home and then we went to Hell's Pizza.  I got the Lust Deluxe.  It was really yummy.  While we were waiting for our pizza we took a group shot with a little menu.  When our friend Paul saw it he had to comment that Erin was so nice to make us pamphlets to visit her...inside joke.  I think that night we watched some good ol' Pitch Perfect and went to bed.

               

The next day around brunch time we went to a little cafe down by the water.  It was super windy that day so didn't really enjoy being outside by the water.  I had some of the best hot chocolate (they make it bitter down there) and fish and chips.  Caryn also got fish and chips and Bri got the best waffles ever.  Since it was so cold when we were done we got some ice cream and headed back to Erin's place.  Her backyard has a fence so it blocked the wind which meant I spent some time laying out there and listening to the song "Men at Work" better known for it's line, "we come from a land down under".  Yeah...I love sun and songs about places with sun.

While we were basking in the New Zealand sun the other three girls (Liz, Sarah, and Kristina) arrived.  When Erin got home we went out by the water again to get Indian Food for dinner.  It was really yummy and I saw one of the most gorgeous sunsets.  Then we went back to Erin's and got situated.  Seven girls in a one bedroom house with one bathroom can get tricky.  We made it work though.  Some of the girls stayed up and watched a movie, but me and Bri went to sleep since we had to be up at 3am to catch the shuttle to the airport so we could all go to Sydney.  Super early, but totally worth it. I got up around 2am to get ready for the day since we would hit the ground running in Sydney.  This is when Erin's blow dryer attacked.

Caryn and I had bought a New Zealand approved hair dryer before we got there and had it sent to Erin's.  Erin had hers right there though so while Caryn straightened her hair in front of me I used the blow dryer to heat up my hair.  Bri was also in the bathroom because she was going to straighten the back of my hair when Caryn was done.  All of a sudden...flames started shooting out of the blowdryer. I threw it because it was hot and freaked me out (which happened to land right around Caryn's feet) and the power went out.  It was insane.  See the things that happen down in hell (again inside joke).  Well we got over it and headed to the airport because Sydney was waiting for me.

Down Under Part 2 It's Gettin' Hot In Here

Our flight from Las Vegas to Hawaii was filled with a lovely Benadryl induced sleep.  It was much needed after our early travels to Vegas and then not flying out of vegas until 1am.  We got into Honolulu Airport a little before 6am on November 2 2014.  That was just enough time to grab our bags and head over to the shuttle pick up area to get to our rental car.  The guy who picked us up on the shuttle was great.  He was friendly and made sure we knew where we were headed and how to return the car when we were done.  Awesome customer service.  Then when we got to the rental car place they were super rude.  As soon as you told them you didn't want their "gas refill" option (which means that you can return the car back with half a tank and they will pay to fill it up at a lower rate, but they charge you for half a tank no matter how full you bring it back...this isn't a good option for a one night layover on Oahu) they became terrible and snappy.  Then they saw our luggage and told us we had to get a bigger car and pay an extra $10 a day.  We explained we had done this in another similar car before.  They didn't care.  Terrible customer service.  For reference this company was Advantage womp womp.

We took our car (we named Chandler) and went Kailua to put our toes in the ocean on Lanikai Beach and then to Cinnamon's Restaurant also in Kailua.  So far it's been my favorite breakfast ever.  I got my usual Red Velvet Pancakes, but I also had to get the Guava Chiffon Pancakes too.  If I can swallow my pride gulp I'll admit that the Guava Chiffon ones are better.  I would love to have those every sunday morning.

Next we headed to the North Shore to enjoy some beach time.  Luckily it was early enough in the morning that we got a great parking spot at the Waimea Beach Park.  It was glorious there.  We played in the ocean, soaked up some sun, and took naps.  I love naps.  A couple of us ended up a little lobster like from this excursion, but totally worth it for me.  I could do relaxing beach days like that frequently.

For lunch I wanted to go get food from food trucks.  I had seen a special on the Travel Channel about these little food truck areas on the North Shore and wanted to give it a shot.  I had actually eaten at one of them before.  Giovanni's Shrimp Truck.  Oh my goodness.  It was better than I remembered.  I had a half order of the lemon butter with a side of their hot sauce.  If I lived there I would probably eat that daily.  I also got an Acai bowl with granola and honey and banana.  Caryn lived in Brazil and ate those before and said the ones they have there were legit.  I was not disappointed.  I wouldn't mind that for breakfast every day (except the day I get my pancakes).

 

After lunch I dropped Bri and Caryn off at Pearl Harbor to go out to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial.  I had already been so I used this time to drive to Waikiki and check us into our hotel.  I forgot how terrible the traffic was in Waikiki.  It's bad, and there are so many one way streets that are allegedly two lane, but seriously should only be one lane.  HATE IT.  Then the hotel elevator only worked when you scanned your card.  Unfortunately I didn't get this memo so I just kept riding around because other people were requesting the elevator on other floors.  I had too much luggage, there was no air conditioning in the common areas of the hotel, it was hot, and I was frustrated.  I was almost in tears when I made it back to the lobby and someone explained it to me.  I got the luggage up there and then went and picked up Caryn and Bri.  It was a glorious 86 degrees that day.

We headed back to the hotel, changed, and walked to Waikiki beach.  We walked around there for a bit and spent some time in some of the stores and then headed to bed for sleep in an actual bed.  It was a pretty good day in Hawaii.

The next morning we got up, repacked, and headed to the airport.  I got to stop by a store that the company I work for owns which was neat.  I met people I had talked to over the phone, but had never seen before.  It was neat.  Then we went and got gas in the car so we didn't get charged the bajillion dollars they swore we would if it wasn't "completely full" and "filled up within 2 miles of the rental car drop off".  In case anyone (or future me) needs to know here's the address for the nearest gas station to the airport:  Chevron Honolulu, Valkenburgh Street, Honolulu HI.  You're welcome.  Just say no to their stupid half take gas fill up program.  We returned the car and got to the gas station and then got shipped out to the nether regions of the airport where there was no food, no shops, one vending machine, and, according to the crazy lady, only one outlet.

Short little story:  We got to our gate pretty early for our flight from Honolulu to Auckland, New Zealand.  Because we were some of the first people there we found a spot in the corner where we could set up all of our bags, plug in our phones, and just chill for a couple hours.  This middle/older aged lady came and sat practically right next to us.  Now this was a huge gate...huge.  And if you saw how it was all set up you would realize it wasn't in the main part of the airport so it's not like random people not on the flight were taking up seats from another gate.  This was just our gate.  She could have sat anywhere.  We were watching videos and a little loud which is why we picked a corner of the airport so we wouldn't bug anyone.  She acted all annoyed and then came up and said she wanted one of the outlets because we had the only ones in the whole gate.  Rude.  There were others.  So we packed up our stuff and moved next to the completely empty outlets.  I hope that lady's phone somehow fell in the ocean.  end of story.

We got on the plane to New Zealand and mentally prepared for our 9 hour flight.  We watched movies, chatted, read, laughed, and ate the whole way.  I might have also taken a small nap.  We got into Auckland around 10pm. on November 4th local time.  This was 20 hours ahead of our home time.  They made us sit there while they sprayed us and our baggage down on the plane.  It was weird.  Then we walked off the plane into NEW ZEALAND!!

Down Under Part 1 The Journey Begins

Isn't there a quote that says something like, "A thousand mile journey begins with a single step"? Well the single step on this journey began when Bri, Caryn, and I got our tired selves up before dawn on November 1 2014 to catch the shuttle from Idaho Falls, Idaho to Salt Lake City, Utah.  It was mostly an uneventful "sorta bus" ride.  They had the heat up to about 1000 degrees and my feet got a bit burned.  We had good weather, and by the time we got to Salt Lake it was in the 60s and sunny.  Pretty nice for Utah/Idaho in November.  We were dropped off right at the airport so we didn't get to do our usual mall/food trips in Salt Lake that I love.  Honestly I was just antsy to get on that plane because I felt like that was the real start.  Then I saw the plane...it looked like a pretty sketchy start.

Do people seriously still fly in things like this?  Guess so because we did.  I loved the fact that the plane was fairly empty.  We each got our own row and the flight attendant (let's call him Stove) was pretty entertaining and didn't seem to care too much about any safety shenanigans which I appreciate since this was not my first rodeo (flight).  We made it to Vegas alive around noon.  I was grateful.

We had rented a car in Vegas, but the rental car place wasn't right at the airport.  We had to take a shuttle to a rental car mall where they had tons of different rental car places and then from there ours was even further so we got on another shuttle (luckily free still) and rode to our rental car place.  It was fairly quick and easy.  Once we paid and probably signed away our first born children to them they gave us a number and pointed out to a lot where our car was waiting with the keys in the ignition.  It was behind a truck so I didn't see it (from here on the car will be known as Beverly) yet.

I'll explain first that we were traveling internationally.  I had a huge bag to check, a carry-on suitcase, and a backpack, Caryn had the same, and Bri was just missing the checked bag.  We also had a couple neck pillows on top of all that.  Basically we had a ton of crap plus the three of us.  When we walked past a truck and saw the car they had rented us I thought we were going to have to strap Bri to the roof. Meet Beverly.

Well we ended up getting all our luggage and ourselves in this little car and headed out for the strip since we only had about a 12 hour layover there.  We parked at the Paris hotel and headed for the Bellagio Gardens.

We also saw the lovely chocolate water fall they have there.  Next we hit up the Cosmopolitan to eat at Secret Pizza.  It's this sweet pizza place that really doesn't have any directions or signs to get there.  You just have to know where it is...or google it.

 It had really good pizza and a neat little hallway to get there.  Not super pricy either for Vegas.  After a little time on the strip we went down to Fremont street.  We got froyo, watched a ceiling light show thing, and saw some people that barely had clothes on.  Neat.  We played $1 each at the slots there since you can still pull the little handle to play them.  Nobody walked away with enough to pay for this trip sadly.

Once we were done down at Fremont Street we still had some time to kill before we needed to be back at the airport so we parked down at the MGM Grand and hit up the M&M store and the Coke store.  The Coke store ended up being the real star of this leg of the journey.  On the second floor they have a little cafe looking area and for about $8 they have a "Coke Tastes of the World" where you get 16 little cups of different Coke products from around the world.  It was so much fun.  I would have to say the highlights were the Fanta Pineapple from Greece and the Bibo Kiwi Mango from South Africa.  The low and by low I mean pretty close to hell would be Beverly from Italy.  Which is how the rental car got the name Beverly.  Beverly is terrible.  The best way to describe it would be to mix bitter with death and add carbonation.  Bri said if she was ever rich...or bored in Vegas she would love to just sit all day watching people taste each drink one by one and wait for the moment they drink Beverly.  I bet that could be a great youtube video montage.

                              

Once we were done there we returned Beverly, made it through security, and camped out until we loaded up for our next flight to Honolulu, Hawaii.