Here's a look at the sights that we have seen in the past few days. Marvel at the beauty that is Australia!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
A Red Hot Day!
Good Day from Australia!!! Guess what? It's another beautiful day here and the GSE Team is absolutely adoring our home away from home! Every day is magical and full of surprises. We are learning so much about the culture and taking it all in.
Ok, well, time for an update!
We went to an Aussie bbq yesterday and sampled the local tucker; prawns, cheese, delicious friut, Aussie burgers with the works (including beet root!), sausages, delicious desserts and of course a huge selection of Aussie wine and beers. As the night pressed on, we were the ones to be entertained as The Red Hot Chilli Mammas took the stage and delighted the audience in 4 part harmony! Their upbeat songs and charasmatic choreography created a fantastic show for the 30+ crowd. The GSE team also performed and was able to expand our set with some off the cuff material. The crowd truly enjoyed us as we enjoyed playing music for them. The Aussies are such a fun-loving group of people, it's hard not to be happy here!
We spent the morning paddling around in the surf, riding on a "rubber ducky" and surfing the big swells of Avoca beach! This legendary surf spot is the home of several world champion surfers and the views are just incredible! I was told that when big storms come up from southern Australia, swells can reach 20-25 feet!!! They have jet skiis that pull surfers out to ride these monsters to shore. I am honored to have had the chance to paddle out in these waters.
For lunch, our host families surprised us with a picnic, which we ate on the rocks at the base of the 3 points. These huge rock formations are what Captain Cook saw when he first discovered Avoca. We are staying with the best people in Australia and we are certainly getting spoiled out here!
I woke up early today in order to go paddling... unfortunately, I forgot to set my clock back and woke up an hour earlier than I had too!!!! No worries! It gave me the opportunity to write to you!
It's now time for me to hit the surf so have a great day in Jersey, or where ever you are and Ooroo until next time!
Ok, well, time for an update!
We went to an Aussie bbq yesterday and sampled the local tucker; prawns, cheese, delicious friut, Aussie burgers with the works (including beet root!), sausages, delicious desserts and of course a huge selection of Aussie wine and beers. As the night pressed on, we were the ones to be entertained as The Red Hot Chilli Mammas took the stage and delighted the audience in 4 part harmony! Their upbeat songs and charasmatic choreography created a fantastic show for the 30+ crowd. The GSE team also performed and was able to expand our set with some off the cuff material. The crowd truly enjoyed us as we enjoyed playing music for them. The Aussies are such a fun-loving group of people, it's hard not to be happy here!
We spent the morning paddling around in the surf, riding on a "rubber ducky" and surfing the big swells of Avoca beach! This legendary surf spot is the home of several world champion surfers and the views are just incredible! I was told that when big storms come up from southern Australia, swells can reach 20-25 feet!!! They have jet skiis that pull surfers out to ride these monsters to shore. I am honored to have had the chance to paddle out in these waters.
For lunch, our host families surprised us with a picnic, which we ate on the rocks at the base of the 3 points. These huge rock formations are what Captain Cook saw when he first discovered Avoca. We are staying with the best people in Australia and we are certainly getting spoiled out here!
I woke up early today in order to go paddling... unfortunately, I forgot to set my clock back and woke up an hour earlier than I had too!!!! No worries! It gave me the opportunity to write to you!
It's now time for me to hit the surf so have a great day in Jersey, or where ever you are and Ooroo until next time!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
Maybe The Dingo Ate Your Baby!
This is Gina, posing as Jon...Day 3, it's only Monday!? Here.
Ok, I'm going to bed so here's Jonny!
We woke up this morning at 3... then 3:15 then 3:45... jet lag is getting better but it is still present ( I am hopeful that goes away by the time we return to Jersey). We finally got up and dressed around 6:30. For Breakfast this morning I had a bowl of Kelloggs Rice Bubbles. This is the Aussie version of Rice Krispies. But they don't have Rice Bubbles treats- I think they are missing out. We started early by loading into our host Graeme's Land Cruiser and heading out to Featherdale Wildlife Park. On the way we saw some amazing birds called Galas( beautiful gray and pink parrots- I am not too sure of the spelling)... they looked like something right out of a pet shop. We enjoyed the wildlife park immensely! Many of the animals were right out on display to pet and feed. We were able to pet a koala and feed kangaroo, and the emu was able to knock Brian down and steal Brian's ice cream cone. One of our favorite animals to see were the Dingos. They are a dangerous animal here in Australia capable of great harm, but we enjoyed listening to them sing. We also saw the most venomous snake in the world the inland Taipan (strangely enough they would not let me pet it). Its comforting to know that we are spending a month so near the ten most venomous snakes in the world. We also marveled at the beauty of the golden pheasant. It looked like a mythical creature of some sort- maybe a phoenix.
After our visit with the animals we went to see a historic church called St. Matthews. It was interesting because it was designed by a convict architect. The stained glass art work was amazing to look at. After the church we took a scening drive to Wiseman's Ferry Inn. The group dined ( and drank) a delicious pub lunch. We enjoyed sampling many of the local beers ( I loved the dark beer). During the ride back to our hosts we laughed until our faces hurt- Brandon must have snapped 100 pictures of himself in his new hat ( narcissism is a quality he is proud to display). We would have asked him to stop but he's just too pretty.
I too am growing sleepy.... maybe I will let Brian finish our day's summary.....
Jon says we're only up to the rehearsal, but I'm honestly too tired to say much. We rehearsed in the afternoon, which was great fun, then went to our first presentation. Everything that could go wrong did, from personal mistakes, to the PA system breaking down. It was a bit scary, but we pulled it back together, and it was received well.
I don't know what else to say. Good night everybody. Let me hand off to Brandon...
G' Day Mates! Yes it is very late here and we are all about to hit the sack, but I just wanted to say how much we are enjoying our stay here Down Under. The Aussies have been nothing but hospitable and more than kind. Our debut performance did go well tonight despite the PA shutting down twice, remedied by a swift stab by the cello and my guitar strap coming loose in the middle of Mary Mary. Brian played a stellar pseudo guitar solo on it too! Good job!
Alright, the scotch (scotchy scotch scotch I love scotch) has hit us all and our beds are calling.
Until tomorrow, or actually, your two days from now back home... this time change is very confusing isnt' it?
: )
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Has it really only been two days?
Hey everybody. It's Brian again, writing for the group. The jet lag is subsiding. Surprisingly, the beer might actually have helped. Maybe. For some reason, the three of us all woke up at 4am, separately, in different areas of the hotel. This makes sense, because after all, it was 1pm in NJ. Fortunately, we were able to go back to sleep.
For breakfast, we had food, and our first (and most definitely only) taste of vegemite. A month is not nearly long enough to acquire the taste for it, but it will probably be long enough to get the taste out of our mouths. (Me - Salty dog food. Brandon – Salt, then, eew? Jon – Looks like mud, only mud tastes better. Gina - I wouldn't eat this deep fried and covered with ice cream.)
The group parted ways for the first time today. Brian went to a chamber concert in Turramurra (Tarra-marra, despite the U's), while the others ate lunch at a classy establishment on Oxford Street called Bite-Me Burger before heading to the first host families. (They tell me the burgers were delicious.) Brandon even ate the pickles. Apparently that's a big deal.
We were reunited later in the afternoon, for some tea, which means dinner. Interestingly enough, no tea was actually served. We had lamb stew, and a sample from our host's expansive wine cellar. After dinner, we went to the Hillsong church.
Overall, we were completely blown away by the quality, and quantity, of what's being done there. We went to what we were told was a small service, of only a few thousand people, probably 75% of which were under 30, which is amazing. They really get it. The people are there because they genuinely want to be there, and it showed. The presentation was slick, but it was a means to an end, not the end in itself. A lot of “mega-churches” like that can get so caught up in the production that they forget that there's a reason for what they're doing. They didn't. The message was inspiring, and accessible, but not shallow. The music was passionate, but not forced, which unfortunately, is rarer than it should be. http://www2.hillsong.com/ for more information on what they do. Check out our video for a few seconds of what we saw.
For dessert, here's a short list of crazy things from the past two days that we've noticed. Telephone poles are octagonal, not round. There is nothing wrong with offering someone a beer at 7:30am. Sydney is hard to navigate, even for locals. The toasters lower your bread in automatically. You're more lost after asking for directions than before. Some grass looks like Astroturf, but isn't. Gina really, really hates spiders. Toilets don't actually swirl backwards, they just kind of, ssskkoosh straight down.
Time for bed. Good night.
For breakfast, we had food, and our first (and most definitely only) taste of vegemite. A month is not nearly long enough to acquire the taste for it, but it will probably be long enough to get the taste out of our mouths. (Me - Salty dog food. Brandon – Salt, then, eew? Jon – Looks like mud, only mud tastes better. Gina - I wouldn't eat this deep fried and covered with ice cream.)
The group parted ways for the first time today. Brian went to a chamber concert in Turramurra (Tarra-marra, despite the U's), while the others ate lunch at a classy establishment on Oxford Street called Bite-Me Burger before heading to the first host families. (They tell me the burgers were delicious.) Brandon even ate the pickles. Apparently that's a big deal.
We were reunited later in the afternoon, for some tea, which means dinner. Interestingly enough, no tea was actually served. We had lamb stew, and a sample from our host's expansive wine cellar. After dinner, we went to the Hillsong church.
Overall, we were completely blown away by the quality, and quantity, of what's being done there. We went to what we were told was a small service, of only a few thousand people, probably 75% of which were under 30, which is amazing. They really get it. The people are there because they genuinely want to be there, and it showed. The presentation was slick, but it was a means to an end, not the end in itself. A lot of “mega-churches” like that can get so caught up in the production that they forget that there's a reason for what they're doing. They didn't. The message was inspiring, and accessible, but not shallow. The music was passionate, but not forced, which unfortunately, is rarer than it should be. http://www2.hillsong.com/ for more information on what they do. Check out our video for a few seconds of what we saw.
For dessert, here's a short list of crazy things from the past two days that we've noticed. Telephone poles are octagonal, not round. There is nothing wrong with offering someone a beer at 7:30am. Sydney is hard to navigate, even for locals. The toasters lower your bread in automatically. You're more lost after asking for directions than before. Some grass looks like Astroturf, but isn't. Gina really, really hates spiders. Toilets don't actually swirl backwards, they just kind of, ssskkoosh straight down.
Time for bed. Good night.
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