Today was my last full day. I went to Circular Quay to do souvenir shopping and to hang out. I then went home with James. We had some people over for dinner. They were pretty fun. I am so sad to be leaving! But it will be nice to see everyone.

Today was yet another fun day. Teddy, Henry and I went to Bondi Beach for a surfing lesson. The instructor's name was Luke and Kiki took lots of pictures of all of us. Teddy and Henry had surfed before and were decent but this was all new to me. I stood up about 3 times (maybe 4) and had many wipe outs. I really enjoyed it though. After that we went home and then went back to Bondi Beach to meet some of Teddy's friends. We swam with them for about an hour before going back home. Today was Teddy's orientation at his new school and he starts back up tomorrow. Tomorrow is my last day here in wonderful Sydney. :( I am going to go downtown with James to see what is supposed to be an amazing aquarium and then do some souvenir shopping. Unfortunately there are no pictures from surfing that I can upload to the blog. Kiki took them all on her camera and I uploaded them to my facebook album. They are not saved to my computer though!

Today was Australia Day. We went out on a boat with some friends of Kiki and James. The boat was so cool! It was an older sail boat. There were tons of people and lots of food. Unfortunately no pictures. No one wanted to get a camera out since everyone was soaking. We just lived in the water and where the food was. The water was so pretty. You could see the bottom and all the fish around. It was a little foggy at first but that cleared up quickly. We came back in at around 7:30 pm and everyone collapsed. Eloise had to stay at home. She had a 104 fever today. Tomorrow we are taking surfing lessons at Bondi Beach! Super excited!

Today I went to Featherdale! Featherdale is this huge wildlife park made up of only Australian animals. They have this area where all it is is you petting and seeing kangaroos that are just walking around! It is so cool. I got to pet this baby koala. It was 17 months old and as cute as can be. My favorite part was petting the kangaroos. They are so cool! I bought this ice cream cone filled with grain for the kangas (kangaroos) and they seemed to love the ice cream cone! Afterwards we went to this new area that the city of Sydney just finished. It is a beach that has a shark net around it. Also, it has high pier type things so you can jump off and a ramp that slowly leads you into the water. Tons of fun!

Tomorrow is Australia Day! I am so excited!

Today Kiki was very sick, so Eloise, Teddy and I made our own plans. We walked thirty minutes to the ferry where we then took the ferry over to the Rocks (the oldest part of Sydney). We ate some lunch and then walked through some souvenir shops. We toured the Botanical Gardens (so pretty!!) and saw the Sydney Opera House. It was a lot of fun. On the way back, we were walking along a beach instead of the sidewalk when the beach disappeared leaving only water. The water was not high ( about halfway below my knee) so we hiked up our pants and walked straight through. It was so much fun! We went home to find Henry gone with a friend. Kiki was feeling much better so we went to a park. We fed these gorgeous black swans. We looked for eels that supposedly live in the lake also but none appeared. Very successful day! Tomorrow we are going to see the kangas at Featherdale! I have been looking forward to that for a long time!

Today was a lot of fun yet again! We went to church. The service was nice and Eloise and I got to take up the communion! Everyone here dresses really relaxed for church. They wear shorts and t-shirts... much different from the USA! We came home and dressed to go on a walk. James, Eloise, Teddy and I walked from a beach (not sure which one) to the point where the harbor meets the ocean. It was stunning. The wind was blowing and the waves were hitting the rocks with a lot of force. James, Teddy, Eloise and I bought some gellato (which for some reason is much better here:) and walked home until Kiki came and got us in the car. Everyone except Kiki went down to the beach. The water was not quite as cold as today and everyone seemed to enjoy it. On my way back up, I crossed paths with a creepy blue- tongued lizard. Needless to say, I ran away and it stayed in its spot. I miss everyone but am having so much fun!

Spent the rest of the day down on their private little beach! There are the most beautiful shells here and nice sea glass. We came back in and spent the rest of the evening enjoying each others company. I miss everyone back home a lot but this is an amazing experience. I am already much tanner and my hair is getting blonder! Yay! Australia Day is Wednesday I believe and I am SUPER excited about that. We are supposed to be going out on someones boat!
So long for now!

My view (the top one)

Went to the fruit market today. They have tons of fruit. So many I don't even know the names to half of them! They are delicious. I don't know why but they taste better here. We spent the day on their private beach. Saw a lot of sea glass and beautiful shells. Tonight we may go to a restaurant named Hurricanes. I am not sure what the plan is!

Fun day! We went shopping in the morning. I got some really cute Australia board shorts. We came back to the house to eat lunch, and then left to go to Shark beach. The water was beautiful and surprisingly cold. We swam for about an hour, took pictures and then Teddy, Eloise and I (Henry was sick) climbed some cool rocks to take more pictures while Kiki waited. James came home today and took Teddy, Eloise and me out to a Thai restaurant. It was very yummy. We looked in souvenir stores and a little market that was set up, but did not see anything. All of us bought some delicious gellato. We came home to watch Oprah in Australia and the movie Australia. Tomorrow I am going to the fruit market with Kiki (the fruit here is delicious!) and I am not sure about the rest of the day. Oh, James showed me the bats at dusk! CREEPY! :) They fly very low and you can see all of their claws and ughh. Good night! (you can see pictures on facebook if you are my friend~ the album is Australia 2011)

We landed yesterday at 11 am Sydney time. Spent the whole day just relaxing, because we did not want to go to bed until 8 pm so we could get rid of the jet lag. It is 6:45 am here. Just woke up to an amazing view. I must have the best room in the house. I can see the Sydney Opera House and the bridge. We are right on the harbor. We are going on an hour long walk this morning. I am not sure what the rest of the day will be like. James has not been seen yet. He is supposed to be home some time today. It is the 21st here! Have to go get ready!

Ok... so I'm changing the blog to talk about my trip to Australia...

I'm in LA right now. My flight does not leave until 11:30 tonight. I am meeting up with good family friends who live in Australia. They were in the states for a visit and I'm going to spend two weeks with them! YAY! My dad flew me to LA. We got in about 11 am local time and have been touring LA.