The Road to Kiwis & Kangaroos

- Post from Allie

Wouldn’t it figure, the last day Of our trip and I have to go to the ER. If you have been following our blog you will recall an allergic reaction i had to coffee only a month ago in New Zealand. Well I had many a cup of coffee since then and been fine so one would naturally assume it’s not that big of a deal. I had a latte before we made the walk out to the Blue Mountains. By the time we got to them I was feeling very hot and itchy. I kept trying to ignore it because I thought I was psychologically imagining it and so far I couldn’t see any hives. But after a solitary minute passed I began to feel like the skin on my face felt funny as I talked. I turned to Kelsey and removed my sunglasses asking her if my face looked puffy. Her response, “Yea your face doesn’t usually look like that and you are really red.” Crap, really?!? We are 20 minutes from town and I am without benedryl. I was swelling up by the second. So we walk into the closest gift shop and they are no help, then to the next one. The woman at the counter said you should go with Sue to the chemist. Sue was standing next to the cashier she introduced herself and said “wow you need to get to the chemist.” So reassuring. She said it was a 10 minute drive and would refuse to leave us here. Thank you Jesus. So we hopped in her car. (I know Dad, don’t get in the car with strangers…Sue even lectured us on the dangers of hitch hiking but my other options were walk 20 minutes, wait for a bus, or call an ambulance and pay $500.)

We were at the chemist (or what we know better as the pharmacist) in no time. I walked in and asked for antihistamines and Sue also insisted on buying them for me. The pharmacist looked at my legs as hives were popping up all over and then my back and stomach. All of her responses being, “that’s not good.” Then I noticed my lips were beginning to swell (all I could picture was Hitch from the movie) and I began to feel a slight panic. That was when the decision was made to take me to the ER. Sue again insisted that she drive us to the hospital. We were three hours out of Sydney in a small town called Katoomba. If it weren’t for Sue we would have been completely lost. So we get there and the woman at the front desk informs me it will cost $90 to see the Dr. I accept but she doesn’t take my card for me to pay. We wait for a very long hour of me shivering with chills and jumping around trying not to scratch. But I occupied my time watching Martha Stewart and chatting with the other people in the waiting room. The woman sitting nearby asked if I was badly sunburnt. When the Dr. called me back she said “first and foremost from a coffee addict I am very sorry”. I hadn’t even thought about the fact I wouldn’t be able to drink coffee anymore. :( She then gave me a steroid to help the swelling and a stronger antihistamine. Upon leaving, I went to front desk and they told me I was free to go. Yet another random blessing today! Thank you Jesus!

So after a long morning made even longer with drowsy medications I guess I have to officially say farewell to coffee and hello to teas. But I also have to say that my brother Alex is one of the best people I know. He has had more allergies then anyone I’ve ever met but has never complained once about not being able to eat certain foods or the amount of crazy itching that comes with a reaction. I am glad that I could taste a little of what you have been through bro, and I truly admire you.

On Friday, we had a glorious beach day. We went out in the morning and it was absolutely perfect weather. It was warm enough to give us that cozy, sun-kissed feeling, but not the disgustingly hot that makes you sweat off all your sunscreen. Yes, we were responsible and wore sunscreen. And we still tanned. Let that be a lesson to all you bakers out there. Wear sunscreen!!

We luxuriated in the sun with our music streaming through our earphones, a combination for perfect bliss. Until lunchtime. We had lunch and then headed back out to the beach with Brittanie for another hour and a half, at which time Amanda joined us. But Bondi Beach gets chilly around 3:30 (it is their autumn after all). We headed back to the apartment to get ready for dinner with Joan and Des’s (our Christchurch family) son, Chris, who lives in Sydney. While we waited for a table at the restaurant, we went to the coolest cocktail bar. It’s very classy and has a great atmosphere. They do crazy stuff with drinks. Dry ice clouds that look like a mad scientist’s experiment. And Chris got a drink that was lit on fire and then poured from glass to glass multiple times, blending the drink sufficiently. It was fascinating. Dinner was amazing. Such good food! Then we headed to The Flying Squirrel where Brit was working. It’s a funky little place. The whole night was quite enjoyable and fun.

On Saturday, we went with Brittanie to Paddington Market (not to be confused with Paddy’s Market). There were tons of stands with jewelry, crafts, clothes, specialty foods, etc. We were good though and managed not to spend any money. Hayley joined us for lunch, and from there, we (Allie and Kelsey) split off to go catch a ferry to Manly Beach. Fantastic name, is it not? We had great views of the Opera House from the ferry. Unfortunately, the weather turned and by the time we got to Manly, it was cloudy and chilly. Not good beach weather. No worries though, there were plenty of little shops to occupy us for the rest of our time there. On the ferry ride back, we saw incredible night views of the city of Sydney and the Opera House. We took the bus back to Bondi and got ready with Hayley and Amanda for a fun ladies’ night out. Later, Brittanie was able to join us after she got off work, and we all had a fun night.

When Sunday morning rolled around, we popped out of bed and headed up the hill for a 10am mass. After the service, we enjoyed a lovely stroll back down to Bondi in the gorgeous sunny weather. We made our way to yet another market, the Bondi Market. It was a good one. We each bought a few things and then went to eat some lunch on the beach, followed by a little nap in the sunshine. Afterwards, we continued to do a little window shopping and browsing in the shops along the main road. We walked by Gelatissimo and could not resist a delicious gelato. We decided on a veggie pizza for dinner and then went back to the apartment to spend time with Amanda and Hayley. Such a nice, relaxing day.

We dragged ourselves out of bed at 6am on Monday to get an early start on our day trip to the Blue Mountains. Our goal was to have the afternoon to spend back in Bondi. We hopped a train and took a very long ride to Katoomba, the town that lies next to the Blue Mountains. We popped into a cafe for some hot drinks because it was super cold up near the mountains. Then we walked about 20 minutes to the lookout that shows the Three Sisters, a famous rock formation. …Well that was anticlimactic. We snapped a few pictures and were toying with the idea of walking down the trail to Katoomba Falls when Allie suddenly blew up like a balloon and we ended up in an ER for an hour. Super awesome way to spend part of our last day in Australia. More details on that to follow in a personal post from Allie.

After that little adventure, we caught the train back to Bondi Junction (different than Bondi Beach) and did a little more shopping, before heading back to Bondi Beach. We told our tales to Amanda and then we all went out for one last dinner together. We went to an awesome Thai place that Amanda likes and split three amazing entrees. Perfect choice. We then headed back to the apartment to pack up our backpacks in preparation for our 13-hour flight back to the States the next day.

We woke up in the YHA hostel in the center city in Sydney and went to a Starbucks. There we began to think proactively about when we got home, ways that we would bring the adventure home with us and keep ourselves focused on what we learned while constantly being open to new adventures at home each day. It was an encouraging conversation. We then made the decision to find our next accomodation in Bondi beach for a more relaxed environment then the center city. First we stopped at McDonald’s for a good few
hours doing our usual blog posting and fighting the temptation to get food (it’s a losing battle which we are so ashamed of). Then, we were able to get in touch with Amanda, one of the friends we made in Fiji. She came to meet us at McDonald’s along with Hayley (a new friend who Amanda introduced us to, from Ireland). We all went back to Amandas and Brittanies (also a friend from Fiji) for a glass of wine and some quality girl time. Then we checked into a hostel down the street. It was a pretty nice place and for the first time we did not check for bed bugs. Shocking we know! We decided that upon finding the little creatures we would not get any sleep nor would we be able to do anything about it because the beds are assigned to us so it was better just not knowing. We are growing leaps and bounds we tell you, leaps and bounds! …however in the morning we had to strip the bed of its sheets. We were appalled at the state of the mattresses we had slept on. Stains. Mold. Crud. Vomit? Just gross. Goodbye hostel.

The next day Amanda and Britt invited us to stay with them for a few nights. We were so excited to spend time with them since we really hit it off in Fiji! Our day was then spent with Amanda as she gave us a tour around Bondi and brought us to this amazing little lunch place and into the best shops in town. We got back to the apartment and had a pretty relaxing night.

The next morning we slept in. That was a wonderful feeling especially for Kelsey since she had conjured up one of the most wretched sounding sinus infections known to mankind. Seriously the girl sounded like a clogged garbage disposal. Her sinuses hated her and she hated them. This battle went on for the next week. After some much needed R & R we went into the city to Paddy’s Market. This is basically the biggest Chinese market one could imagine. We spent a couple hours there but ended up not spending much (thank goodness). We walked around the city a bit more then back to the apartment where we caught up on our favorite show, The New Girl.

The next day was a big one as it was our main day to explore Sydney. We woke up early and took the bus into the city. We started at Circular Quay. This is the area right near the water that leads to the Sydney Opera House. When we stepped off the bus we noticed a bunch of teenage girls pointing and practically crying in excitement, sure enough, One Direction was in the hotel nearby. We couldn’t help but chuckle at their reactions as they pointed to the empty windows saying the band was in that room. Ah the joys of teeny boppers. We walked along the Quay taking pictures of the Harbor Bridge and when we turned a corner, boom, there it was the Sydney Opera House. This building was magnificent! With Kelsey’s appreciation for architecture and Allie’s appreciation for photographs we weren’t going anywhere for a while. So we grabbed a bite to eat and a cup of coffee right next to the opera house. We meandered around this spectacular building and then strolled around the Royal Botanical Gardens where Allie was inspired to try to sing opera in various languages. Quite entertaining. We then went through the Quay again to the museum of contemporary art. We wanted to try to make it back to Bondi in time to catch some sun on the beach but we still had much to see. Given our time restraint and the nature of the museum we decided to create the 15 Minute Museum Challenge! Our objective: Take as many random and crazy pictures with the art as possible. Rules: Be random and spontaneous - the first thing that comes to mind. Our goal: We must be finished with all 4 floors in 15 minutes. And we did it! The photos are fantastic, specifically the one of Kelsey laying in a room full of pillows with one women in the background completely ignoring her sprawled across the floor. From there we walked through the city to Darling Harbor. We walked along the harbor next to various cafes and shops. It was a sunny day and the harbor was the perfect place to be!

We went back to Bondi and were able to lay on the beach for about an hour before the wind picked up making it too chilly to stay. So instead we had some hot cocoa and sat in the grass at a park that overlooks the ocean. Since Kelsey still wasn’t feeling well because of her sinus infections, we went out for soup and found ourselves at the Bondi Cafe. They had the most amazing soup. Our dinner was followed by another relaxing night at the apartment. We were enjoying the relaxing evenings in Bondi as we have grown so used to being on the go. The change of pace was refreshing and the best way to spend our last week in the south pacific.