Great Ocean Road

We're getting serious now... hitting the entrance to the Great Ocean Road


Doesn't she look fun?! She never laughs...


Stop in the name of love! These are the famous 12 Apostles - yep, not quite 12 any more

Another view of the remaining apostles

We arrived at the 12 Apostles just before sunset Saturday evening - I love the blue hues of this photo

We settled into the B&B and, like meemaas, were in bed by 9PM after a cup of hot tea

Here's the view from the B&B, including the vineyard, cellar door and rolling hills filled with grazing cows

We even snuck in a wine tasting before 10AM on Sunday. A little early? Nah!

This is Thunder Cave, the other side of the Blowhole - do you really think we'd just make silly faces for no reason?

Like ships passing in the night... it has a bit of Titanic reminiscence, doesn't it?

London Bridge is falling down! These segments used to be attached... oops.

Look at that perty water!!!

No, your eyes do not deceive you. That is Katie driving on the wrong side of the car down the wrong side of the road en route to the 12 Apostles. She's a pro!

Look at these structural feats, icons along the much travelled Great Ocean Rd

This weekend Katie and I ventured down along the windy Great Ocean Rd, one of Australia's most scenic drives. From Melbourne to the furthest attractions is about a 4.5-5 hour drive along the Southern Ocean. We stopped briefly at a couple of the cheerier more frequented towns along the way (Lorne and Apollo Bay which has a great little shoe shop called High on Heels), but pretty much bee-lined it for the Twelve Apostles in Port Campbell National Park. We arrived just before sunset to view the giant rock stacks. For any of you history buffs or curious people, I ripped this off a tourist website: "The Twelve Apostles are the remnants from constant erosion of the limestone cliffs of the mainland that began 10–20 million years ago. The stormy Southern Ocean and blasting winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs. The caves eventually became arches and when they collapsed rock stacks up to 45 metres high were left isolated from the shore."

We wandered into the nearby town of Port Campbell where we ate delicious antipasto pizza at Nico's before finding our way to our luxurious bed and breakfast at Heytesbury Vineyard. We settled into the giant king chairs with a hot cup of tea and cookies before turning in very early. Katie's wearing me out! My body is not keeping up with work and all our quick weekend getaways. I've been teetering on the edge of sickness for a week or so and this weekend it hit full on - better now than in Asia! So I could think of nothing better than being in bed by 8PM. We made it by 9PM and both woke up around 1AM ready to go... guess that's an indication of a typical night's sleep.

We had a nice home cooked breakfast in the morning followed by an early morning wine tasting at their cellar door. Then we headed off to the other nearby attractions of London Bridge, Loch Ard Gorge, The Blowhole, Thunder Cove, and several other lookouts with a second stop by the Twelve Apostles. We were hoping for a sunny day but had another cold, windy, overcast day. At least the rain held off until we were en route home. We stopped at the surf shops in Torquay, where we saw all the Rip Curl, Reef, Quicksilver, Roxy, and Billabong surf attire a person could ever want.

We raced back to Melbourne to make it in time for church at Planetshakers, a real experience in itself! We were late but the service went longer than normal so we still got over an hour of good stuff. We saw most of my friends from Urban Life and Katie scored a free CD as a first-time visitor.

Dena's Bon Voyage

Em, Hanya, Nicola, and Liz


Katie, me, Kerry, Dena, and Mhairi

Dena is taking a four month leave of absence from work to travel overseas. They always say that here, that they're going overseas - that doesn't distinguish between Europe, Asia, or the U.S. - it's just that everything is overseas from Australia. She's headed first to the U.S. (a rarity among Australians), then onto Europe. Her tentative plan is to return to URS when she finishes travelling, but she will be sorely missed while she is gone. Friday was also Liz's last day, who is starting a new job at the Port of Melbourne Monday morning. Lot's of fluidity around here! We went to Jasmine, a Thai restaurant in Southbank for a celebratory girls dinner following Friday Night Drinks. Katie is becoming quite a regular around the office with Friday being her third night of drinks. She nearly started a fire in her mouth after she mixed ALL the hot chili pepper into her pad thai but being the brave trooper she is, she managed to fork it down.

Sydney Rd

Live music at The Retreat


Salsa music and dancing at The Spot

I took Katie out for a night on the town Thursday night, but it ended up being a bit of a bust. The usual happening spots along Sydney Road in Brunswick were pretty dead. I supposed I've only ever been on a weekend, but I was surprised to find it so quiet on a Thursday night. We started at The Retreat, a great eccentric grunge bar with a really great outdoors area with heat lamps and covered lounge areas. There was live music when we first arrived, but the band finished after only a few songs. The crowd was really mellow and we moved on after about an hour. We happened upon The Spot which apparently was THE SPOT to be Thursday night as it was packed out. There was free salsa dancing and lots of it! I wasn't feeling top notch, so we headed home around 1AM.

A Glamorous Glass Ceiling at the Cinema

Mhairi, Kate, Jill, Katie, and Tracey lining up to pick up our movie treats on the way into our private screening

URS rented out the cinema for URS women and our clients for a night of glamour at the cinema

Katie came as a secret 'client' guest and is showing off her popcorn and choc top (an ice cream cone dipped in chocolate and a traditional movie treat in Australia)

URS hosts the Glass Ceiling once a quarter. It's an evening to promote women in technical fields for URS female employees and our female clients. It typically involves a well regarded speaker with champagne and hors d'ourves at the office. This time, they changed it up and we all headed to the theater to watch Sex & the City. They rented out an entire cinema, we started with drinks in the lounge, then URS provided all kinds of movie treats including a fancy cupcake with a high heel trinket in an individual box wrapped in ribbon. The whole evening felt very indulgent and luxurious. What a company to work for.

Color Model

Ah, yes, I am indeed a model, a color model for Aveda for my hair stylist housemate Dan that is. It still sounds glamorous right? Wednesday morning, I headed to his Aveda salon, Mien, for a head full of foil highlights. I drank peppermint tea, had my head massaged, and emerged with an updated fresh new look. It's a rough life. I may have to do this more often.

Bonus Day in Sydney

Katie hopping onto the Sydney Explorer tour bus


Darling Harbour


The other side of Darling Harbour with the aquarium

This massive shopping building houses four levels of shopping in which the prices ascend by level

Kaite and I climbed the pylon lookout ahead for great views of the city, opera house, circular quay, and bridge - this time we could even bring our cameras

The wharf at Circular Quay - the opera house is further to the left, and the bridge is just behind us

I love this picture of the bridge - what a beautiful piece of art

This sunset doesn't even begin to compare to the sunset we watched from the top of the bridge the day before but you can start to get the idea of the magnificent colors we saw

One last evening shot of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Katie I discussed that we will likely need to return for New Years at some point to see the fireworks shoot off the bridge.

Tuesday morning, we scored free continental breakfast at the hotel, where Katie and I got very adventurous and tried vegemite for the first time. I did it just the way I've been instructed (lots of butter on the toast followed with a thin scraping of vegemite) and our shared reaction was YUCK! But at least we tried it. We took the Sydney Explorer Bus Tour and explored Darling Harbour and the shopping district of the city. There is a walking street shopping mall area on Pitt St, and we stumbled upon the 'frozen in time' video take. Have y'all seen that on UTube? There was a video going around where a large group of people with synchronized watches in Grand Central Station freeze mid-step for 5 minutes, then at the end of 5 minutes go back into normal activity. Everyone who doesn't know about it is confused and shocked and in disbelief. It was fun to see. We did a little shopping, then headed to the pylon lookout at the bridge. We got free access to climb it after climbing the bridge the day prior. This time we were able to bring our cameras so we could capture some of the view. There's also a museum set up within the pylon explaining the history and building process of the bridge. The sun started to set as we were coming down the pylon and we rushed to the end of Circular Quay to the bridge lookout to try take it in, but it was dark by the time we got there. We took in one last view of the bridge and opera house and headed to our pick of the bars, The Orient, for one last drink. We went back to the hotel to collect our bags. By this time, the staff all knew us and jokingly offered a free upgrade for another night's stay. We declined, realizing that at some point we really did have to leave this beautiful city and get back to reality (and work!). We had a fantastic time in Sydney and it is a beautiful city located on the harbour, but I still prefer Melbourne!

Sydney Harbour Bridge

We took the ferry to Manly first thing in the morning


Gonna go surfin, surfin USA... nope not USA, try Manly Beach in Australia

We got some great views of the skyline, bridge, and opera house on the ferry ride back to Sydney

A real close up of the water side of the opera house

The unbelievable view from Macquaries Chair in the Botanical Gardens

It only took us seven shots to get it right... love the long arm!

Boo yea, about to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge

And here we are on our way up the east side of the bridge in our lovely bridge climbing suits - what a view!

A little posing action from those crazy Texan girls

This was our climbing guide Mike giving us our climbing certificates and group photo

Mike recommended the Lord Nelson Hotel (Sydney's oldest hotel) for the first stop on our evening pub crawl - the place felt reminiscent of Germany and was packed out with great character, good beer, and $6 meat pies

Next stop on the pub crawl was Fortune of War, Sydney's oldest pub

After a flurry of spontaneity, we headed to Three Wise Monkeys more centrally located in the city

Monday morning began with breakfast at our usual shop (usual after two days!), the Baker's Oven Cafe. We took the ferry to Manly (a 30 minute ride) and walked through the main street of Corso and along the beach. It reminded me of all our cathedral viewing in Europe where after a while, it's just another cathedral. It felt like just another beach. I think in the heat of summer, it would've been great to splash through the waters. We headed back to the city and out to Macquarie's Chair in the botanical gardens, which is renowned for its amazing view of both the opera house and harbour bridge. After ripping down George St (the main shopping drag), we headed towards the bridge. We had an appointment to climb the bridge at 2:45pm! We found the entrance to the bridge climb, had lunch at a nearby pub, and returned to do the climb.

I was a little reluctant to do the climb given it's considerable expense but Katie really wanted to do it, and I'm so glad we did. Our experience was tremendous. It's a 3.5 hour deal from beginning to end. We got issued all our equipment and got suited up with more gear than I expected - bridge suits, wind pants, jackets, hats, handkerchiefs, cable guides, headsets, headlamps, radios, and a safety belt/harness (off of which everything hangs). We did a 'practice climb' up the ladders and gangway inside, then headed out for the real deal. We elected to the bridge climb in early twilight, meaning we climbed the east side of the bridge in daylight, and got to the crest of the bridge just as the sun began to set. Our guide Mike was wonderful. He got right into the photo shoots giving we crazy Texan girls plenty of time to plan our poses and prepare for the shoot. Yes, we did manage to add a little fun to every tour we did. Shocking. He also let us stand around at the top of the bridge for about 10-15 minutes and just take in the spectacular sunset. We were privileged to have a really rare and beautiful sunset with brilliant colors that deepened in intensity by the second, blazing beautiful hues of burning red, fluorescent orange, and a purple haze. We weren't allowed to bring anything with us on the climb, so unfortunately, the only two photos we have up there were purchased, but the experience was incredible. I loved being in the bridge, looking and learning about the design of it, and seeing it from so many different angles. It took 8 years to build with around 1500 people were working on it at any given time (coincidentally the number of steps we took that day to climb the bridge). There are 6 million steel rivets in the bridge. Like the Opera House, they completely blew the budget during construction. Lesson learned here is that if I blow the budget on a project, it has potential to become a big iconic structure.

After the exhilarating climb, upon Mike's prompting, we headed to Lord Nelson's Hotel on Argyle St, which claimed to be Sydney's oldest hotel. We enjoyed a couple beers and a super cheap $6 meat pie dinner. Very Aussie. The next stop along our pub crawl was Fortune of War, which claimed to be Sydney's oldest pub (okay...hotel/pub distinction). About 10 minutes before we were planning to pick up our bags from the hotel and head to the airport, we decided we weren't quite ready to bid Sydney farewell. We were having too much fun and decided we needed another day. In a flurry of excitement and spontaneity, we changed our flights and booked our hotel for an extra night. The continuation of our pub tour took us further down George St into the city to Three Wise Monkeys then Scruffy Murphy's, Sydney's #1 Irish pub. We sure did hit all the highlights and had a really fun night of dancing and live music.

Blue Mountains

Here's Katie hand-feeding a kangaroo at Featherdale Wildlife Park


And here's me doing the same!

We saw lots of koalas in the trees

And even got to get up close and personal and pet them

A couple of wombats - the only time they generally come out is to eat

The Tasmanian devil was running laps around the tree base but paused for this quick shot after about 20 blurred takes

This is a cassowary, a common and potentially dangerous animal in the rainforests we visited in Cape Tribulation last weekend

Jack, oh wait, that's a dingo which bears a strong resemblance to my buddy at home

The miniature penguins, like we would expect to see at Phillip Island

The Blue Mountains, toted as Australia's 'Grand Canyon', and so dubbed because of the blue haze created by the eucalyptus trees

And here's Lisa between me and Katie in front of the Three Sisters rock formation at Echo Point

A close up view of the Three Sisters

This is the steepest railway in the world (52 degree angle), which we rode to the bottom of the Blue Mountains. It was quite a thrill, resembling an amusement park ride without any safety bars or belts.

Freaky!!

Katie's working it on the horse which was used historically in coal mining of this area

I'm swinging from the vines at every opportunity

me and Katie waiting for our cruise ship back into Sydney Harbour enjoying the sunset over the Paramatta River

Sunday we took a bus tour to the Blue Mountains. This tour was a Sorenson design, jam packing everything possible into a single day. Put your foot down, you've been here. We started with a stop at a wildlife park to see, pet, and feed all kinds of Australian animals. Feeding the kangaroos was a real thrill and we found them to be similar to dogs in their gentle mannerisms, even placing a paw on our hands while eating. We then enjoyed a boomerang throwing demonstration. Next onto the Blue Mountains, where we hiked down part of the gorge to see Gordan Falls, then went to Scenic World where we took a skyway, a cable car, a railway, and walked through a portion of the gorge, then stopped at Sublime Lookout for afternoon tea. We got to rub our hands and squeeze the leaves of a teatree oil tree to clean our hands. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the bbq lunch - none other than kanga bangers (that's a kangaroo sausage). The next stop was the site of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. However, there was a Socceroos game on that night, so we couldn't gain expected entrance. We barely stepped off the bus before we were herded back on. Our final leg of the tour was a river cruise from Homebush Bay down the Paramatta River back into the Sydney Harbour at Circular Quay. Our tour returned rather early (by 6PM), but after two nights of 3 hours of sleep, Katie and I were exhausted and opted to take a nap before heading out for the night. In true Sorenson form, we slept and slept and slept. We woke up at 2AM, got ready and headed out to see what we could find, but were disappointed that Sydney is not a city that doesn't sleep. The streets were dead and we reluctantly went back to bed.