winter wonderland
i know all of you back home are complaining about the heat, and just a few weeks ago so were we! bali, singapore, thailand, all of them kept us busy figuring out different ways to beat the heat. it all seems like so long ago, now that we’re in the cold weather of new zealand! last night our room was so cold, and jess and i took turns staring dumbly at our radiator, fiddling with the controls, kicking it, and trying to get the damn thing to work. we both gave up and headed to bed bundled up, crossing our fingers it would magically go on during the night. somehow this morning, around 10am it started to gurgle and now we’ve got a nice and toasty room. go figure.
yes, we’ve made it to the southern hemisphere. yes, australia, new zealand, and the rest of the world “down under” are heading into winter. yes, the toilets flush in the opposite direction down here. and no, we haven’t tried vegemite. we’re definitely not in asia anymore.
sydney was a huge change from bali, and the rest of southeast asia. once we arrived and got over the sticker shock of everything costing what it does back home (or more! the american dollar is so weak!) we realized we’d have to reign in our budgets a little bit down under. we’ve been taking advantage of our hostel’s communal kitchens more often and we sadly had to give up our every-other-day massages. sniff, sniff
but in return, we’ve been rewarded with a whole new culture to take in. sydney was beautiful. we stayed at a little hostel in king’s cross, steps away from the iconic coca-cola billboard. we familiarized ourselves with the efficient public transport, including the lovely ferries. we had a wine and cheese picnic in the botanical gardens with a view of the sydney opera house, and we even got to attend the sydney writer’s festival! (probably more fun for me than for jess, but she’s a good sport!) we watched the leaves turn color on the trees as the city heads from fall to winter. we bundled up and strolled the streets around the harbor, the rocks, paddington (with a wonderful weekend market!) and of course, king’s cross. one day we took a bus out to bondi beach and walked the coastal route all the way down to coogee beach at sunset. in short, we had a great time!
as much as we enjoyed sydney, our next stop was even more exciting – new zealand! and now here we are. again, everything is much more expensive than we’ve been used to, but we’ve definitely made the most of it. jess loved new zealand so much when she visited for the first time that she told me we HAD to stay at least two weeks if we could. it turned out that that was all we had time for, but now that we’re here, i can see why she loved it so much, and i join her in wishing we had made our stay here longer. everything in new zealand is green (well, once we left auckland at least!) and the hills seem to roll on forever. there are tons of sheep and little black and white spotted cows that dot the hillsides like sprinkles! the fall foliage is still hanging on, although the weather is turning to winter. there is so much here to do and see… stay tuned!
Tags: malia, new zealand
malia
Good dog pictures.
Waaaahhhhh. I am green with envy. I hope that you and I are able to meet up in Europe this summer! My itinerary is shaping up, so keep me updated on your plans!