For Whom the Bells Tolled...and Tolled...and Tolled: A Tale of Tasmania

Katie and I finally had at least 4 days off at the same time so we decided that we were going to take a random trip, Tasmania was the answer. Since Australia day was on Tuesday the 26th, and almost everyone has that day off, as it is a National Holiday, we left Saturday at 5:30pm and got in at 7:00pm and stayed until Tuesday (Australia Day) morning.

The three things that generally make a safe and enjoyable holiday are the following:
1. Choosing the right hostel
2. Figuring out where you are and where you re going so you don't get lost
3. Keeping all your belongings safe and intact

We failed on all accounts as per usual.

When we arrived, after a horribly irritating flight (I thought Katie was going to jump the guy next to her for invading her space and generally just being totally disgusting), we were dropped off at our hostel, the Central City Backpackers, which looks nice online... Its down an alley and is basically just molding over where it stands. Though it is also next to a Cathedral which is absolutely gorgeous. We dropped our stuff off in our room, which was up about 300 flights of stairs and around 600 corners (not exaggerating,) and decided to check out the city.

The idea was to start off at the harbour and go from there. As we were trying to get our bearings and find the water, Katie said we needed to go left because we were on Liverpool street. So, at the next opportunity we made a left down the Elizabeth St. Mall, it didn't look like we were going towards the water. Kaie said to me" I'm a city planner, Ive spent four years learning how to read a map. I got this!" She did not and we were indeed...going the wrong way. In her defence, we didn't live on Liverpool as she thought, but on Collins. An easy mistake :)
We walked around the harbour and down Salamanca place pretty much just seeing where everything is. We tried to find Battery Point which is an industrial area that has been converted into a bunch of pubs and homes and is suppose to be very nice, we never found it.

While we were walking down one of the main roads we were looking for somewhere to have a drink. Katie had picked a place called he Thirsty Camel but I had heard music so I said"No No dude, I have to find the music!" I start off at a mighty brisk pace and all of a sudden I realize that I need to be more aware of my surroundings. s I come to this realization, I hear Katie say "Um...Jac." before she can finish her thought I respond "Yea yea I found it too". The music was coming from the taxi cab right next to us. What an exhilarating night that would have been. Note to self- listen to Katie more often.

After walking around for a few hours we stopped at a pub called The Telegraph or Tele. When we walked in I went to the toilets and Katie went to the bar. As I came out I hear Katie asking the bartender what he thinks we should have...I walk over and she tells me that the bartender had told her that we couldn't have Long Islands because they were a "responsible" bar and only put a maximum of one and a half shots in their drinks. I thought about asking him where there was an irresponsible bar I could blow my money at but refrained.


We sat at the bar and some guy talked to Katie and we went and sat with him and his friends but they were nothing special so we went and sat outside and as we were on our way out (Mind you we were now drinking 151 and coke, we decided if a shot was the limit we were going to make the most of it. Mom, Henry and Debbie DON'T worry. This story ends up NOTHING like high school) I was stopped by this girl who told me it was her friends birthday and he needed a kiss. I acquiesced and gave him a smooch on he cheek. A few minutes later Katie and I were talking to him and his sister. As I was talking to him I asked what his name was,, he told me and I immediately looked a Katie and said "KATIE KATIE! Guess what his name is? It's one of your best friends...he s a guy and he used to live across the street" Her response "Dirk?" YES. It was hilarious because they were both shocked with knew anyone who went by Dirk. It was quite a laugh. The four of us then went in and took a shot. Katie and I stayed inside and danced and after awhile walked home. ON the way we were invited to a club by some dudes and as we refused they told us that it was no time for bed as it was only 10:00pm. This left us very confused the next day.

We were awoken against our will at 9:00am to the tolling of what sounded like 100 bells directly outside our window. They were incessant and had no rhythm. It was as if I had walked in there drunk from the night before and laid down a track of chopsticks and now that was being broadcast via bells from the cathedral all of Tasmania. SO painful. We were thus forced our of bed and went in search of a coffee shop.

We ended up at Gloria Jeans eating banana bread, a bagel and coffee. It was really nice and we just sat for awhile before we headed to the harbour to try and book a tour to Mt. Wellington. We got there and there was still room left so we booked a tour for 12:30. We assumed this was going to be a hike as it was two hours long so we went back to the hostel to change etc. We were wrong and I was car sick.

The tour consisted of a ride to the tip top of the mountain (which was VERY curvy and bumpy) when we got to the top we had 20 minutes to check it out. The views were amazing (and will be posted later). Basically indescribable, thus you can wait for photos :)

We got back to Hobart(the capital and where we were staying) and walked around some more. We went to Salamanca place which reminded us of Santana Row (for you Bay Area-ers?) and had lunch. Again I should have listened to Katie because the place we ate wasn't that good and she had noted to go somewhere else. Damnit. But we did discover a 24 hour bakery we wanted to check out later. We went back to the hostel and grabbed our books and looked for a coffee place to go read in. Apparently on Sunday's Hobart turns off at like 4. We could find nowhere to go and NO ONE on the streets so we ended up in a park reading. The problem was the weather in Tasmania is quite a bit cooler than Sydney ( we are ridiculously spoiled with weather. It was 104 when we left). We didn't last long before we tried to find a bottle shop which occurred about 2 hours later.

Back to the hostel we went to change and get ready. We drank most of the bottle and went out to find that, not surprisingly, everything was closed EXCEPT the 24 hour bakery! We went there..ate and went back to bed. However, none of this occurred until after I had dropped Katie's camera...the third camera we have gone though on this trip. The lens would open for NO ONE. How my heart ached....

The next morning we were up early again because we had booked a day tour. I went and got a disposable camera and we were on our way. The first stop was the Cadbury Factory. Katie's downfall. I wont even tell you how much she can eat in a day but it is a SOUND number. We got there and were a bit disappointed. We though we were actually going to see the machines that make it but we just watched a video and went to the visitor center...the free samples were gone before the day ended. We each got a box.

Next we were dropped off for a harbour cruise and the weather was perfect. We had a sandwich on the boat and then got a coffee (or cookie) and Katie and I actually fell asleep for the second half of the ride. Its rough trying to get sleep when you have a cathedral in your sheets with you. Anyway, when we got back to the harbour the bus was waiting to whisk us away again.

Bongorong Wildlife Park! We went in and were introduced to Hubert the baby Wombat who I LOVE. Officially the coolest animal ever. Apparently they are more aggressive than Tasmania Devils and aren't not to be messed around with. They have cartilage over there rear end so when they are being chased(they can run 40km per hour) they go into their little holes and put their butt up so the predator cant get in. If the predator tries to go over him he lifts his butt up repeatedly and smashes his predators head into the roof of his den over and over again.

Next we saw Tasmanian Devils which really are kind of pathetic. They look so sweet and innocent and sound scary as Hell but they are actually just scavengers who fake everyone out. They can only see one foot in front of them, and are slow as a chicken. Hence why they cant hunt anything and have to eat what they find. They are called Devils because when the convicts were camped in the woods they would hear this horrifying sounds but would never be able to find the creature that made them so they assumed it was the devil. After we saw a Koala named Banjo and got to feed the Kangaroos which are actually scary up close...the big ones anyway. They have this toe like a raptor and vacant creepy eyes.

Soon we were back on the bus and off to Richmond. A historic city which hast grown since 1870. It was SO cool. We walked over the oldest functioning bridge in Australia and went into the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Australia as well. St. Johns. As a non-practicing Catholic, it was one of the most awesome places I've ever been in. If you're interested email me, if not ill move on :)

We drove back to the city and went and ate at this fish and chips place that was actually on the water in a little boat thing that floated right near the wharf that you walked along. Katie got prawns and chips, I got fish, chips and attacked by seagulls. By this time we were just wicked tired and wanted to hang out in the room at our hostel and read/write in our journals/ nap. Did this happen? Noooooo


When we got back to the room it was empty so we changed and I jumped into bed and started to read but kind of fell asleep. Katie was in the shower but when she got back and started to fall asleep one of our new roommates came into the room and started watching TV on her computer and kept laughing this horrible laugh. Then when we started to fall asleep another girl came in and the two were apparently friends so they kept talking in like Vietnamese until Katie finally said (in a VERY un-katieish tone) "Yea, when you re done making your bed can you turn the light out? Thanks." She was NOT having it. So when she finished making the bed lights went out and before I knew it my alarm was going off and we were on our way back to Sydney for Australia Day!

For Love of the Irish: A Slamdown

Things we're not into:

-THAT JEN AND STEVE ARE LEAVING! Nooooooooo!!!
-That I wont be around for the MLK party in AA. Dang it!
-Having the little room in the apartment
-Being so sore you cant walk
-That the Cock N Bull closes at midnight, you stupid Irish pub!
-When you talk to someone who is mad Irish you cant understand them, especially since they are drunk all the time that doesn't help. (A generalization, that applies to all of them)
-Spilling coffee beans ALL over the floor at work, then having to pick each one up because the vacuum is broken (or lost, or I may have just been punished for being a fool and the vacuum was "broken")
-2 hours later spilling espresso all over the floor because my boss thoroughly stresses me out
-WHERE ARE ALL THE TACOS?! All we want is Taco Bell... I was talking to a guy at work about it and he looked a me all confused and said "What are you talking about? We have a Taco Bell on George st" (around the corner from work). My heart instantaneously inflated with joy, my palms got sweaty, I imagined the joy and happiness I would see on Katie's face when I told her of my victory. Only to hear two seconds later, "Oh wait, they got rid of it". JERK! Matt and my relationship has not been the same since. Apparently there used to be TB's around here but they just couldn't think outside the bun....

Things we are into:

-That apparently the owner of Capital Grill has taken a liking to me so I wont get fired for spilling coffee beans and espresso
-The Cock'N Bull, live bands so awesome, I love the Irish!
-That there aren't pennies. Prices are always rounded to the nearest 5 cents
-Texts from Knute,
ME: "KNUTE! I wish you were here! I need more jigging lessons"
Knute: "This may be tricky over text, but here goes...Keep your arms locked
at your sides, your back straight, and flail your legs like your kicking
midgets"
Me: "Of course, Ill keep my arms at my sides. Im no Protestant!"
Knute(Who is from Belfast): "Blind prejudice, im so proud!
----No midgets or Protestants were harmed that evening

-Supre, a store Katie found with really cute stuff that's cheap (shocking, I know)
-That were having a party tonight that will most likely have the police called (again). The cops will come to ours and ask us to keep it down, chat for a bit, smile, and leave. Not to be seen the rest of the night.
-Pie Face. I still cant get over it.
-The Shadow of the Sun. Good book.
-Boat parties. Unfortunately, Russell wasn't able to make it, but we went out on this OLD school boat that looked like a pirate ship and just road around the Sydney Harbour for awhile.
-Articles like this that your friends, who im assuming are trying to get you to come home, send... http://www.cracked.com/funny-163-australia/ a quote from the article "You just walked into Mother Nature's Thunderdome, friend. And in this analogy, you're not Max; you're the dead retard."
-That my mom has facebook and her information is HILARIOUS
-Julie Hyrne
-Did I mention pies?
- Fancying and being Keane on doing things, going to yours as opposed to your house or coming to ours, instead of our house. The phrased "I just cant be asked" Instead of "I don't feel like it".
-Meeting and befriending authors at your gym. Katie met a women who authored "Sexpectations" and is in the process of writing another book and she would like Katie to write down her encounter with Sam and Russell to potentially add to the book. Savaggeeeeee!
-Meeting your personal trainer who has been told that you want him to make you cry, seeing him, then realizing he could FOR SURE bring tears to your eyes.
- Alll for noooowwwww


xoxo

New Years Eve....

Started out pretty slow. Katie Ryan Dan and I had decided that we were going to go to Jen, Hannah and Chris's house in Pott's Point to watch the fireworks. Their house over looks the Sydney Harbour and the Bridge. There were two fireworks shows, one at 9:00 so families with kids could enjoy it and then another at midnight. It is suppose to be one of the best firework displays in the world...I would have to agree.

The four of us got to their apartment right as the first set of fireworks had started. We walked right to the edge of the lookout and had a pretty awesome view...through a metal fence. After the first round we went into the apartment. Hannah, Chris, Gary, Louisiana Katie, Steve, Jamie, Felix, Mira,Ric,Clement, Thomas Ali,Britt and Martin were all there already. We all basically sat around drinking and dancing until all of a sudden it was midnight (I dont even remember there being any excitement about the New Year, just the fireworks) and Katie and I ran out to the point to get a good spot. We found Ali, Britt and Martin standing on this pillar thingy and watched with them. We have about 15 pictures of all of us...looking REAL good. Of course you cant see them because Katie got a new camera but her computer wont upload the software because there is no disk drive and my computer, well, you all know about that.

I walked back toward the apartment to find half of my friends on the roof of someones garage and Jamie standing on a trash can trying to get up onto the roof. Lets just say the next day he had bruises EVERYWHERE. All of a sudden everyone who had managed the ascent to the rooftop came running and jumping off, apparently the owners had been yelling at them to get down for awhile but the kicker was "Get off my GODDAMN ROOF or my wife is going to spray you with that hose!" Wife from out front '- "YEA!". They got down quite quickly.

We went back downstairs and into the apartment for the dance party....





And a photo shoot...

Jamie and Steve...



Britt and Steve...


AND THE ENGAGED COUPLE JEN AND SAAAMMMMMMM



Sam had proposed to Jen at midnight on the cruise they were on in Sydney Harbour as the fireworks were going off. She had no idea it was coming...Kodak couldnt ask for anything more picture perfect.

Later, I took it as my personal mission to stop all of my friends from smoking. Here is one attempt.

After stomping out Steve's cigarette...



I grabbed his face and said, "I gave you my heart. DONT DIE". He then lit up another and apparently I wouldnt stop the campaign. Here are the facebook comments that are below this photo...


This is the caption Katie put beneath it, "i gave you my heart. give me your ear."

-Jacqueline Gowin-No no no. "I gave you my heart. DONT DIE"

-Katherine Guilbeau -you were asking for compensation at one point. it went from "give up cigs" to "well give me your ear then"

-Steve Greig Could you be......the most beautiful girl in the world!! x

...this is my contribution to the world. Stop smoking or give me a body part. Nice.


Moving on, a short while later Katie and Ryan decided to leave. I had gotten a call from Jenah, who had just finished work and was heading over, so I decided to stay. Jenah and I were there until 6:00am. The only ones there at that point were me, Katie, Jenah, Chris, Clement, and Ric. I went to the bathroom to come back and find that the others were having a slap fight...time to go.

Jenah and I then were in search of food...we found a sandwich place and went there. As we walked back we went passed all these bars that were still PACKED. We contemplated going in but Jenah had to work that night and also walk some dogs. We hopped on the train and when we got back to Bondi Junction, we were basically ridiculous. All I wanted was a coffee...NOTHING was open...surprised? At the time I was. Instead I filled the void with a bag of chips, a candy bar, chocolate milk (which im SURE came from Heaven) and peach tea. Jenah got an ice cream bar. As we walked home we stopped at a light and the guys next to us looked at Jenah's ice cream and said "little early for ice cream isnt it?" She looked up at them, and said "Im on Holiday, Ill do as I damn well please!". The guys looked back and her and said, "You're right". Duh she's right. When is ice cream EVER a bad idea?

We got home and passed out. I got a call from work at 11:30, missed it and was SURE I was going to be fired for reading the schedule wrong or something. When I called back they were just asking if I could possibly come in at 1:00. I informed them I had gone to bed at 9:00 but would be more than happy to come if they needed me. They didnt call back.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year!!

xoxo

Sydney Opera House

Debbie and Henry (being the amazing people that they are) took Katie, Ryan and I to the Sydney Opera House to see a comedy show called "2009: That Was The Year That Was". We had a drink at the bar inside and then went outside and took some pictures. The show was about to start so we walked to our seats which were about 30 rows up, dead center. At first a band came out and planned a small opening song for the MC and during that short time I could tell that the acoustics in that place far exceeded the expectations that I had. It was amazing.

The first few comedians that came out were mediocre, followed by two pretty funny ladies whose names are, at the moment, eluding me and then there were these two guys that redid songs and played them with their guitars and basically just made them hilarious, they were really good. The show kept getting broken up by a guy who would talk about the top four things that happened in 2009. One section was like athletic scandals one of them was about the women who destroyed her competition in the 100m dash or something like that, but it actually turned out "she" was a he. Followed by some Michael Phelps and the weed incident, Serena Williams and her blowout with the ref and then of course....as was the theme of the night it seemed, Tiger Woods. If I hear one more Tiger Woods joke...I have no idea what I will do, but, I can assure you, it will be less than pleasant.

The last guy seemed like he was going to be hysterical, he was clearly drunk and had created a "poem" of everyting that had happened in 2009. It literally lasted 10 minutes and by the end we were all wishing it wold just be over. He did have this one joke at the start that was kind of cute in a really sad way, "I had this girlfriend once who knew I really liked Dr. Seuss, she broke up with me by leaving a note that read 'I really like green eggs and ham, but not you". Or something to that effect. I guess that's not really cute at all, at the time I thought it was hysterical.

After the show ended we started walking back to Circular Quay to catch a train when we heard what sounded like karaoke. We looked below us to find a bar, the Opera Bar, to be exact. It was rad. Right on the Sydney Harbour with a live band. Pretty expensive bu the atmosphere was delightful. We had a drink there then jumped on the train. I was STARVING so Katie and I got off at Kings Cross to go to Pie Face, im telling you im going to steal a whole Pie Face store and bring it back to the US. Katie and I LOVE pie...im drooling at the moment.

We then jumped back on the train and headed home. All in all it was a really good night! Thank you Groth family :)!!!

Christmas!

Having my first Christmas EVER away from my family was NOT something I was looking forward to at all. THe past 22 years of my life I had gone to my grandparents house in Santa Clara where my whole family would congregate, eat FAR too much, be hasseled by whoever was the youngest at the time to open presents, then sit around for hours while the smallest(which, ironically, up until about 5 years ago was my cousin Amanda and I)kids passed out the presents and then we would eat dessert and talk for ages.

This year was a little different. I woke up on a couch, something not totally out of the ordinary but at the time I could not recall where I was. Mostly because the apartment was immacculate, it didnt smell like a college dorm room, and there was the sweetest face in the world waking me up. Katie's mom! Then it hit me that I had fallen asleep on Henry, Debbie and Ryan Groth's couch on Christmas Eve. Katie's mom and brother came a few days before and Henry had just recently arrived.

That morning we lounged around and watched a movie opened a few cards and basically enjoyed each others company. It was SO nice to have the Groth's there since they are basically my pseudo family...whether they like it or not:)

A few hours later I jumped on a bus to go home. I had gotten a text from our friend Hannah who told me they were having people over for dinner. My new roommate Dan and I went over there at about 3 and hung out with Hannah, Jen(Who was cooking), Steve, Chris, Rick, Jamie and . I went into the kitchen to help (aka watch) Jen cook. She was making mini hamburgers, salad, sausage, coleslaw, potatoes, mini kababs, and some other things im sure im forgetting. Delicious.

After we ate a few people started getting cranky because NONE of us had realized that basically nowhere in Sydney can you buy alcohol on Christmas Day (or Good Friday apparently). The previous day I had been wondering why people were getting SO much alcohol at the stores. Literally people were pushing out 20 cases of 40beers per case. The reason was because they are all smarter than us. After that we hung out for awhile and I stole a few books from their apartment. Im currenty reading Lolita and as Henry pointed out, probably should have gotten the annotated version. Ill need to get a full analysis of the book when im finished:)

Anyway, after that I was so full I basically went home and passed out. Overall it was a really good day despite the fact that I was missing that family of mine:(