Bondi Beach, Australia

I finally have some time to upload some more pics and share some stories from my trip.

Bondi Beach is a world famous beach in Australia. Unfortunately, our experience there was a bit tainted by our sketchy hostel experience (click here for that post). It also rained quite a bit while we were there but it finally cleared up enough on our last day for us to explore a bit.

Here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure....

Pretty view from trail overlooking the ocean

Swimming pool right next to the ocean

Friends enjoying the beach together

We were determined to feel the sand under our feet, even if it was a bit of a cold day!

Toe Art 

Gloria enjoying her coffee and taking in the view

Gloria sporting her new cute Australia jacket

Some yummy food

So even though I'm not at home cooking yummy food, I thought I'd still show some of the yummy treats Gloria and I indulged in while in Sydney together. And yes, I'm actually really looking forward to cooking and baking again once I'm home (maybe some healthier stuff after all this sweet stuff!)

Nice breakfast, eh?! Chocolate strawberry pancakes and chocolate banana crepes - YUM!

Pouring incredible Lindt chocolate to make our own hot chocolate

A free meal through the sketchy hostel (the only good thing about that place!)

curry chicken on chips - interesting concept but quite tasty!

Gloria loves her coffee! It was pretty strong here.

Amazing Spanish hot chocolate, it was thick and rich and tasted like pudding!

Churros with thick chocolate

Chocolate vat at a Max Brenner Chocolate cafe (where I got a yummy mint hot chocolate)

Gloria with a yummy strawberry tart

So, as you can see, we ate very well while on vacation! I am quite looking forward to salads and veggies for a while I think!

This is my last post from Australia but I'll be writing more stories and posting more pics once I'm home I'm sure. I am SO excited to get home to my love, 25 days away is too long! Pray my 25 hours of travel goes smoothly, thanks!

Easter Sunday at Hillsong Church

I'm finally getting some time to catch up on some blogging from the past couple of days.

I grew up with the music from Hillsong church in Australia. I've always thought it'd be nice to visit if I ever came here. When Gloria and I found out that we'd be in Sydney over Easter weekend, we figured it'd be a great time to check out the church. We took a train to a pick up point and then there was a shuttle from the church to take us up to the Hills campus. Overall, the journey was about an hour and a half for us from our hostel in Sydney. Oh and there was a "Max Brenner Chocolate Cafe" near the pick up point so I enjoyed a lovely mint hot chocolate!

Hillsong is a very big church and the auditorium probably seats close to 2500-3000 people. They have about 5 satellite campuses throughout Australia as well as churches in different countries. For Easter, they did a live feed of two other campuses along with the one we were at and each pastor spoke for about 15 minutes. The music was great (as expected) and though all the songs were unfamiliar to me, they were easy to sing.

Here are some pics from the morning service:

Pastor Brian speaking at the start of the Easter service

The pastor in Brisbane preaching via satellite

Our view from our seats in the Hills auditorium

We found out there was an evening service on Easter very near our hostel, so we walked over there (after a nap, of course) around 6pm.

We found seats in an upper level but could see everything just great!

The worship was pretty amazing - they even played 1 song I knew!

Sketchy Hostel

Hi there!

^{So I know some of you are waiting with baited breath for an exciting travel adventure story on this blog. Well, wait no longer folks, here it is!}


Gloria and I checked out of our nice hostel in Sydney Monday morning and traveled over to Bondi Beach to another hostel. The main reason for this was we thought it'd be nice to experience a different area of Sydney while we're here and we both like the beach. We had read the reviews online for the Bondi Beach hostel and though they weren't stellar, a co-worker of Gloria's had stayed here and said it was just fine (she and her husband had a double room to themselves so that probably made a big difference). Anyway, we got here around 10:30am and they were nice enough to let us check in then (check in is usually at 2pm). We went up 2 flights of stairs to our room to find two women mostly asleep in their bottom bunk beds and the floor was filled with stuff...dishes, clothes, you name it. It also smelled strongly of incense (which gives both of us a headache). Only one of the beds was clean and cleared so we piled our bags on that bed and locked up our valuables in one of the empty room lockers. We went out for the rest of the day with some new friends we met here and had a nice day.

We returned around 6pm and went to the room. The one bed was still not cleaned or made and there just seemed to be STUFF everywhere! We met one of the ladies and she had been living there for over a month and said the other girl had been there a while too. We went down to reception to see if there was another room we could possibly have (and were strongly considering spending the extra money on a shared twin!). They had a 6 share room available that only had one person in it. Great, we'll take it! We go to check out the room and there's a guy sleeping in one of the beds! We thought "well, at least it doesn't smell like incense and it's bigger" and got our stuff from the stinky room. We returned to our new room to find a guy and a girl coming out of the door. Apparently the guy and girl were taking a nap or something in the bed when we first walked in. I asked at reception if there was just one person in that room and she confirmed that yes, only one girl was in that room. I told her there was a guy sleeping when we got there and she said it's a 6 share female dorm (phew!) and that if he comes back, to make sure to tell her.


We went to cook dinner in the common share kitchen and discovered that if you want cutlery (plate, bowl, cup, silverware), you have to pay a $10 deposit and keep the cutlery in your room! And the kitchen was quite dirty.

There are some very interesting characters here as well. One guy is completely tatooed all over his face and upper body and he seriously has elf ears! I guess that's something you can do now, get your ears surgically shaped to look like an elf!

Needless to say, we'll probably have an interesting two nights here. But, the room is at least clean and quiet and rather spacious as there's only 3 of us in here. We hope it stays that way tomorrow night too! Thankfully, we are going to some friends of mine on Wednesday for the rest of our time here so that should be a nice change from hostels.


P.S. We were woken up at 2am by our roommate and her friends who brought more stuff into the room then proceeded to hang out just outside the room and talk really loud in French. At least she didn't turn the light on. Stay tuned, we may have more stories to share before this stay is over!

Best friend date day

Gloria and I met at college in Minnesota 15 years ago (wow, that makes me feel old!). After we graduated and both lived in MN, we would often plan "best friend dates" for each other. I took her to see Phil Keaggy (a really good Christian guitar player) once and she surprised me with tickets to a great theater production of Pride and Prejudice. I figured since we were in the great city of Sydney together, it would be a perfect time to plan a fun best friend date here.

Here was our day:

We got to do a guided tour of the Opera House

Gloria inside the Opera House 

Julia just outside the Opera House on a drizzly day

View of the sails from inside the Opera House

Tiles on the Opera House - they are cream, buff and white

Friends in Darling Harbour

Lindt Chocolate Cafe - YUM!

Dark hot chocolate that you mix yourself

Cold iced chocolate - looks good but it's nowhere near a good milkshake you get in the States

Yummy waffle with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce!

Acrobat performers at a Hoopla Festival in Darling Harbour

We got discounted tickets to this symphony & choir concert
 since we did the tour at the Opera House

Harbour Bridge at night from the Opera House

Inside the concert hall at the Opera House - the only bad thing about the night 

was that it was SO hot inside the concert hall! The A/C must not have been working very well.

Overall, it was a great day and we enjoyed spending time together!

Good Friday Connections

Connections can be interesting and fun. My mom went to a bible study lunch in Washington state and met a lady there who has some friends that live in Sydney. We got in touch with each other and the friends offered to meet up with Gloria and I and show us around the city a bit. We joined them to their Good Friday service and then got to see some fun sights with them. Good Friday is a public holiday in Australia and most things are closed. We did discover that Chinatown was still open and had a nice lunch in a mall there. Oh and while at church with them, we met some other people who offered to take us around to some pretty beaches on Monday! It's always nice to find locals who are willing to show us the sights!

Here are some pictures from our day together with Nora and Clarence:

Nora, Julia and Gloria near the Anzac Bridge (like a Veteran's memorial)

Meeting new friends - Marissa and her husband and daughter are taking us to the beaches on Monday

Nora and Julia at a tower at a park near Olympic Park

Friends enjoying the nice day together

The girls at another bridge at a different park

Thanks Nora and Clarence for a very nice day! Connections can be a lot of fun!