We moved the next week, but before we moved we had a few Sydney festivities to tick off the list. One being AUSTRALIA DAY where we headed into the city for a day out celebrating this beautiful sunny country. We walked around Sydney harbor then made our way to Darling Harbor and shared a few pitchers of beer and cider. Once our bellies were full we headed to The Star casino and watched Amy win over $75! After the casino we headed for some ice cream then found a spot in the crowd to watch the fireworks. The show was AMAZING!! The fireworks were set to music and lasted 30 minutes. It was so much fun watching and celebrating Australia day with Australians in Australia’s most beautiful harbour!!
After a few weeks of "career" job hunting online and living it up in Sydney with Amy and Sid we decided we would start researching places to move as we wanted to live somewhere smaller with more outdoor activities nearby. So one day we went to look at an apartment in a city called Newcastle approximately a 3.5 hour train ride from Sutherland. We totally lucked out and found an amazing apartment right beside Newcastle Beach sharing with an awesome Aussie bloke. We moved the next week, but before we moved we had a few Sydney festivities to tick off the list. One being AUSTRALIA DAY where we headed into the city for a day out celebrating this beautiful sunny country. We walked around Sydney harbor then made our way to Darling Harbor and shared a few pitchers of beer and cider. Once our bellies were full we headed to The Star casino and watched Amy win over $75! After the casino we headed for some ice cream then found a spot in the crowd to watch the fireworks. The show was AMAZING!! The fireworks were set to music and lasted 30 minutes. It was so much fun watching and celebrating Australia day with Australians in Australia’s most beautiful harbour!! Our last day in Sydney was spent in the city where we got to go on a jet boat ride courtesy of Amy and Sid from Christmas. It was insanely fun! The boat was airborne the majority of the hour ride. Due to a storm, the swells in the open water were too big (they tried hitting one and it felt like we were about to flip) so we stayed in more protected waters. After our ride we met Amy and Sid for a delicious pizza dinner to thank them for hosting us for over 1 month. The Monday after we headed by train to our new home in Newcastle. For the first few weeks in Newcastle we looked for casual jobs at all the cafes, restaurants, and retail stores. Whoever says getting casual work is easy, it sure wasn't for us. We kept hearing that no one was hiring or that they wanted people to stay at least a year and have years of serving or food handling experience etc etc. We were feeling pretty low and looking into other places to move when Andrew got a call back from an Adventure travel and gear shop! He got a interview and was working within the same week! A few days later I got a job working as a receptionist at a family medical practice. So now we are living and working in Newcastle enjoying the city. One weekend we headed to Port Stephens, a touristy area popular for their beautiful scenery, water sports and marine park where most in this area go to snorkel or dive. We stayed at a "rustic hostel" (another name for dirty and unkept). The first day we had great weather so we spent time playing around on surfboards and then went out for dinner in Nelson's Bay. When we came home this guy (photo below) was waiting for us to arrive. Andrew flicked Henry off the door but when we got inside we were all spooked and spent the next hour looking for Henry's relatives, which we found all over but luckily they were much smaller but still gross. We ended up sleeping with the light on, then woke at 5:00am by roosters crowing, overall not the greatest sleep we've had. On Sunday along with being tired the weather was also pretty lousy, however we did get to see that the area is beautiful and we'll be back as soon as we can. So far we love living here, we've got to experience living next to the beach, waking up to the sound of the ocean and swimming in the ocean baths and surf. We've even spotted dolphins off our balcony multiple times!! The area is great for swimming, surfing, biking, running and close to both of our new jobs. We've signed up for an Ultimate Frisbee league and will start participating in some local events and clubs. We've also enjoyed watching the weather change and the storms roll through. The last storm caused severe flooding inland and currently there is a dark brown silt tinge to the sea from the river waters. Newcastle was hosting Surfest, a large international surf competition with competitors from all over the globe including Brazil, Japan, USA, Hawaii, but no Canadians. One day I volunteered at Surfest and was responsible for checking in the junior pros and handing out their rash guards. It was pretty interesting and informative as I got to learn all about surf competitions and who this years up and coming surfers are. The week after the juniors competed the world pros came to compete so we went back to watch. The pros were amazing and made it look so easy when we've experienced it's quite the opposite.
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After our awesome two weeks down the South coast we had to get back to reality and start applying for jobs. We then spent a few days writing cover letters and resumes to all sorts of full time jobs around Australia. Andrew was looking into engineering project management jobs while I was looking for some kind of research or laboratory technician jobs. When we weren’t looking for jobs we spent time exploring the shire, beach and nearby national parks. Our first adventure in, around or near the city was to The Basin in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park for a one night camping expedition. We left Saturday afternoon and drove 2 hours north throughout many subdivisions lining the coast. We drove under the harbor bridge and through one really fancy area where the famous Australian show “Home and Away” is filmed. We parked the car up on a hill with a beautiful view of the small marina and then boarded a ferry, which took us to The Basin, a campground and day recreation area split into two swimming areas. One area was a beach where small sail boats were docked and the other was a salt water lake inlet. Being summer school holidays the campground was really busy but we lucked out with a great spot under a tree shading us form the 35oc sunshine. We then spent time swimming, playing Frisbee, drinking and then cooked a yummy BBQ. One of the most fun parts of The Basin was that there were wallabies visiting our neighbors and getting into their trash. Amy isn't much of a camper but was a great sport until we starting taking photos of her sleeping. Later in the night she got us back when she woke up screaming that there was a wallaby on her tent, there really wasn't. Night terrors were bad in The Basin. Our second adventure was to visit Amy and Stefen in Canberra, Australia’s capitol city 3.5 hours inland form Sydney. We took a bus to them on Friday and a scenic train back the following Monday. We really enjoyed our visit, getting to see Canberra’s sights and hanging out with our other Aussie friends! On Saturday we visited two lookouts then visited the War Memorial Museum then out for Saturday ciders with Amy’s friends. Sunday we spent the day on a wine tour visiting 5 different wineries. We had a delicious pizza lunch at one of the wineries then continued sampling the areas finest wines. Later in the day we went to parliament house. The train ride back was very scenic winding throughout the country side and then into Sydney CBD. Our third adventure was a two day trek in the Royal National Park, which is situated in the shire's backyard. It's a beautiful National Park so close to Sydney and sprawls a huge area of coastline and forest. The best part was the hike was completely accessible on public transport! We started by taking a train to Cronulla (6 stops away) then waked to the ferry which took us over to Bundenna, a small town or suburb inside the parks area. Then we walked through Bundeena to the trail head and began the 24 km hike. The hike followed the beautiful coast line, every so often the trail would lead us to a beach where we dropped our bags and jump into the wonderful cool ocean. Our favourite beach was called little Little Marley, a pristine protected bay with crystal blue water where we floated and enjoyed some rest. We stupidly decided to hike in our "Barefoot" runners, which had no ankle support and made our calves KILL! Needless to say by the end of the end we were exhausted and ready for bed before sunset. http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/Royal-National-Park/the-coast-track/walking Along the hike there were certain park picnic areas and beaches accessible by car where we would run into others enjoying the beautiful Australian summer weather. The campground was very picturesque with a great view and easy access to the beach. We also loved that there were countless deer surrounding us. In the middle of the night Courtney got up to go to the bathroom and spotted hundreds of little glowing eyes surrounding our tent area. They were so close and there were so many, it was amazing! The next morning we had approx another 10 kms to hike. The trail followed along the coast to two more beaches, one where we swam then continued up a steep incline into the forest. Along the way the bush opened up to some great lookouts. The trail ended at a popular lookout point accessible by car. We then followed signs to a relatively remote train station in the middle of a large valley. We walked down the stairs and waited for the train back to Sutherland. Over all, it was a fantastic trip with amazing views, beaches and scenery.
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