Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
It had been about a month since we had arrived in Aus and we felt at home being the resident pommes. We got into a routine, sight seeing and exploring some days - going to the Harbour Bridge and over to a beautiful island called Manly. We went to Padington Market, Sydney Zoo, Surfing, demolished Sushi Saturdays, went to the Set of 'Home and Away', we went out and tried different clubs such as 'World Bar', The Ivey and Chinese Laundry(despite being severely skint) but here was where we made are new (unscrupulous) best friends. Nicknamed the Spice girls (original i know) we seemed to make an impression where ever we went. Especially when we got high in NERDs which were banned in the UK for a reason.
Monday, 2 November 2009
The logic of a student traveller - Finding our feet
Despite the mammoth trip to get to Australia, myself and the girls were energized by the fact we were in Sydney, half way around the world and a million miles away from home and reality. Of course jet lag had taken it's toll, especially on myself and Josa who had never travelled to Australia before. Tired and naive, we had no idea of what to expect or the adventures we were about to encounter. We definitely underestimated how challenging and life changing this journey was going to be. But we were here and it felt amazing.
Our new home and Aussie adopted parentals
Arriving in Rozelle, Sydney, we looked up at our temporary home and sighed in relief. The house was set back in to hill, with our apartment just below the main house. We all picked a bunk bed and unpacked our copious amounts of clothes. Within 5 minutes of entering the house, we had managed to make the place look as if it had just been ransacked by a group of toddlers. Sandals, uggs, jackets, bikinis, boardies and numerous bras and pants were flung over sofas, book shelves, beds and cupboards. We were settled and we already felt at home. I think Phillip may have had a little shock when he saw the catastrophic mess we had made of his previous office, however not having lived with 4, 20 year old girls it was always going to be a challenge to say the least to fit into to each others routines and habits.
Having unpacked (sort of) we went up to the main house and got our first taste of a real Aussie house. Very open and light, the house stretched out from the kitchen to the dining room, ending with the lounge. Stone walls and open fires were a beautiful feature of the house and radiated the character of the house. Pieces of art from various film festivals took pride of place over the fireplace and it was clear to see that both Phillip and Cathie's lives had been dedicated to film. Perhaps what was most novel about the house was that there was no glass in the bathroom window. Having not showered in over 40 hours none us particularly thought twice about this unusual window. However a certain young gentleman (Nicholas, Ani's 6 year old brother) had come up with a cunning plan to introduce him self to all of his adopted sisters for the summer. Blissfully ignorant to what Nicholas was up to, Josa was showering and enjoying the breeze. Suddenly we hear a scream... I immediately thought Josa had hurt herself but really Nicholas had managed to fit his head through the window and was trying to say hello to Josa. As you can imagine it was a bit of a shock. Nicholas had a huge, cheeky smile on his face as his plan had worked. What was clear is that Nicholas was very excited to meet us all and wanted to take advantage of 4 new people to play with and teach his PlayStation skill too.
Within a day we had adopted a little brother, invaded a perfectly normal house and now formed a rather dysfunctional, unconventional, temporary family. We all felt so welcome and at ease in the Bowman residence and so lucky to be given such an opportunity. It was all very exciting, so much so that Nicholas was determined he wasn't going to go to sleep but in fact going to stay up and eat dinner with the big kids and the adults. Of course as expected Nicholas was told to go to bed as he had school the next day... taking the news badly Nicholas dashed off and 2 minutes later returned with Phillips power drill. Completely flabbergasted by the determination and sheer craziness of Nicholas, we were all lost for words. Finally Nicholas saw sense and went off to bed, after calling us big bucket heads and a giving us hugs goodnight.
It has been a long day but we were at home and ready to regenerize and begin exploring our new playground. It was actually happening, we were here and our adventure was just beginning.
Our new home and Aussie adopted parentals
Arriving in Rozelle, Sydney, we looked up at our temporary home and sighed in relief. The house was set back in to hill, with our apartment just below the main house. We all picked a bunk bed and unpacked our copious amounts of clothes. Within 5 minutes of entering the house, we had managed to make the place look as if it had just been ransacked by a group of toddlers. Sandals, uggs, jackets, bikinis, boardies and numerous bras and pants were flung over sofas, book shelves, beds and cupboards. We were settled and we already felt at home. I think Phillip may have had a little shock when he saw the catastrophic mess we had made of his previous office, however not having lived with 4, 20 year old girls it was always going to be a challenge to say the least to fit into to each others routines and habits.
Having unpacked (sort of) we went up to the main house and got our first taste of a real Aussie house. Very open and light, the house stretched out from the kitchen to the dining room, ending with the lounge. Stone walls and open fires were a beautiful feature of the house and radiated the character of the house. Pieces of art from various film festivals took pride of place over the fireplace and it was clear to see that both Phillip and Cathie's lives had been dedicated to film. Perhaps what was most novel about the house was that there was no glass in the bathroom window. Having not showered in over 40 hours none us particularly thought twice about this unusual window. However a certain young gentleman (Nicholas, Ani's 6 year old brother) had come up with a cunning plan to introduce him self to all of his adopted sisters for the summer. Blissfully ignorant to what Nicholas was up to, Josa was showering and enjoying the breeze. Suddenly we hear a scream... I immediately thought Josa had hurt herself but really Nicholas had managed to fit his head through the window and was trying to say hello to Josa. As you can imagine it was a bit of a shock. Nicholas had a huge, cheeky smile on his face as his plan had worked. What was clear is that Nicholas was very excited to meet us all and wanted to take advantage of 4 new people to play with and teach his PlayStation skill too.
Within a day we had adopted a little brother, invaded a perfectly normal house and now formed a rather dysfunctional, unconventional, temporary family. We all felt so welcome and at ease in the Bowman residence and so lucky to be given such an opportunity. It was all very exciting, so much so that Nicholas was determined he wasn't going to go to sleep but in fact going to stay up and eat dinner with the big kids and the adults. Of course as expected Nicholas was told to go to bed as he had school the next day... taking the news badly Nicholas dashed off and 2 minutes later returned with Phillips power drill. Completely flabbergasted by the determination and sheer craziness of Nicholas, we were all lost for words. Finally Nicholas saw sense and went off to bed, after calling us big bucket heads and a giving us hugs goodnight.
It has been a long day but we were at home and ready to regenerize and begin exploring our new playground. It was actually happening, we were here and our adventure was just beginning.
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