The Weekend!

This is us feeding a kangaroo! Who took this sweet picture anyway? Oh yeah, that was me! :) haha

Oh yeah, it's that time again! The weekend was here and we were ready to get our P-A-R-T-Y on!

Friday June 20
Friday was awesome! We met Brighton for lunch and tried out this delicious bakery that had all kinds of homemade stuff like quiche, meat pies, croissants, breads, dessert pies etc. Everything was awesome and I love it that there really are so many different little bakeries on every corner!

Later that night we were going to watch a band play. Wendy and I on one of my first days here had been walking around Bondi Junction (the ginormous mall thing by us) and we saw this way sweet candy shop where they make the candy right in front of you, so we stopped and watched and the two workers started talking to us one of them was older and the other was probably around 25ish had gage earrings, tattoos on his arms, lip rings, and a wife beater (and yes I was strangely attracted to him :) haha) his name was Ben, but he was super nice and gave us lots of samples! And it was the most divine candy I've ever had and pretty much we go there every week now cause we eat the bags of candy so fast! Anyway, in talking to him we found out he was in a band and had a gig coming up, that naturally he begged us to come check out! So we got the address and decided it could be cool! So Friday night we took a taxi to this totally dodgy looking bar called The Bald Face Stag that's far enough away from the closest train that it cost us $25.00, I haven't quite figured that out in miles but it was enough! I just don't know why we keep getting ourselves into these awkward anxiety filled situations! :) haha So we walk into the bar and it looks pretty deserted, we ask the bouncer if there was supposed to be a band playing and he had no idea so we started to get a little nervous. Don't worry though we found them, the stage was just in a back low lit room full of Goths, no not people dressed as Goths these were actual Goths, I don't even really know what that means but they looked like they meant business! Ben had told us his music was Pop Rocky and that their groupies were 14, but apparently he meant Goth Rock because that's what it was and I couldn't validate the 14 year olds because we were at a bar, maybe they were out back waiting for the after party?... :) The music was actually pretty good minus a few parts where it turned screamo. Their name is Mz Ann Thropik and they just started recording their first real album to be released. The lead singer was a chick and she had a way strong voice when she wasn't yelling! At the end the guy on bass decided to take his shirt off, so the girl was like, "Why do guys get to have all the fun?" and then proceeded to take her shirt off and did the whole last song just in her bra! haha After the show we even got to hang out with the band, I've never gotten so many dirty looks from people wearing eyeliner (aka The Goths) it's like they didn't think we belonged.... Weird! Overall it was a really fun night, we got invited to the after party at some Goth club and had to respectfully decline, but we still visit Ben at the Candy shop all the time and I'm sure we'll remain lifelong Australia friends!


This is the band minus the singer! The drummer is next to me, the bassist is hiding behind him, then it's some random lady, then, Ben and of course Wendy and Brighton! Yes Brighton and I did wear our Bon Jovi and Pink Floyd shirts to show that we really do know how to "get crazy and rock with the best of them"!

Saturday June 21


This was the day the train gods were apparently not pleased with us! The train to the zoo only came every half hour and we literally ran on to the platform as the train doors were closing and they wouldn't open for us! :) haha Later on we just kept taking the wrong train that wouldn't stop at the stop we needed, it was a rough day! So we decided to make the most of it and play a little cards!


Well Saturday was supposed to be our big day at the Blue Mountains. We had gotten home super late and didn't actually get to bed until about 3 after making all our plans. We all set our alarms for 5 so we could get up and get going because it is a 2 hour train ride out there! Next thing we know it's 8 am! None of us had heard any of our alarms go off once! haha I guess that's what we get for staying out so late! So we decided to make the most of it and do the Blue Mountains another day. Wendy was getting so mad at Brighton and me for not waking up! When we finally did get up we made a delicious breakfast of crepes (one of our staple foods here for sure) with yogurt and raspberry jam, and nutella and bananas! Mmmmmm!! Afterwords we headed off to Featherdale petting zoo! It's supposed to be for little kids, but we had heard lots of good things so we decided to check it out!


This is the entrance to Featherdale! It's located right in the middle of a neighborhood!

The zoo was awesome, they had lots of different areas that were fenced in that you would just walk around with the Kangaroos and Wallabies and Emus and feed them and pet them! It was crazy! There were lots of momma Kangaroos with their Joeys sitting in their pouches! We acted like little kids we were so excited every time one of them jumped around! The Emu's were a little scary though (Emus are huge birds that are as tall as me), they were in with the Kangaroos and they had food you could buy and fill with food and then feed it to the Kangaroos but the Emus loved it too so they would randomly just come at you to get your food. One time we were all standing there trying to get this Kangaroo to jump for us when this Emu starts charging Wendy for no reason! Naturally she screams and tries to run so Brighton and I scream and run too! Everyone was laughing so hard and just staring at us it was so funny, I'm pretty sure a few of them got it on tape and kept watching it over and over! :) We looked like squeamish Americans who had never been around animals before in our lives! haha It did make for a good laugh though! In there we also got to see a huge Crocodile, Dingos, Penguins, Tasmanian Devil, Wombat, Cassawari and so many other birds! It was way cool cause it was just lots of animals that are native to Australia!


This is a real life Koala we got to pet! Normally you get to hold them, but he was taking a nap so we missed out on that.


Don't even worry this is just a 20 ft long Croc waiting for his dinner, we're brave!


This picture doesn't even do the Emu justice, when it's head is up it's way bigger and scarier looking, really!


I don't even get why Brighton is making this face? I feel like she's saying "Jayne it's not ok for you to hold my hand on a public bench, even if it's only for a picture".... How rude!

After the Zoo we headed to Newtown, it's kind of the trendy part of Sydney where you can buy lots of vintage stuff (the only thing different I could see about vintage was that they seemed put a higher price tag on it) and a lot of the new and upcoming styles! We ate at this African restaurant that was awesome! Everything was served on wooden plates and we had flatbread and lamb and veggies and chicken and cous cous with all sorts of different sauces! It was very tasty and we are starting to feel like quite the worldly eaters trying a little bit of everything! :) haha


This is the African restaurant, strangely enough we only had Indian servers? Explain that one?....

Sunday June 22, 2008
Well, Sunday we were back to business as usual and by business as usual I mean yes we were late to church.... :) haha So we stayed after and went to the Chinese ward for Sacrament, you think Sacrament in English is boring? Try not speaking the language... After church we went home and made yummy tin foil dinners (I'm pretty sure I eat way better here than I do at home)! Later that night there was a party for this American that was leaving the ward. It was pot luck and we decided to go at the last minute so we had to throw something together and ended up making a semi peach cobbler type of dish that was amazing even if no one else thought so! One of our friends from the ward, Jess, took pity on us and gave us a ride to the party! It was way fun, just at some random girl in the wards apartment and so many people showed up! It was way cool just to see how close their ward really is! We even got everyone to play this hand tapping game, it was hilarious!

Monday June 23
Monday started out as just another day in the land down under, but after Wendy and I had made our plans for the day we knew it was gonna be so much more! We met Brighton for lunch after she was stuck in her office all day alone! We had authentic Turkish Kebabs and they were pretty great! After that, the real fun began! On Saturday night in Newtown we had discovered this coffee place called Gloria Jeans that had free wi-fi with a purchase. As some of you may or may not know our internet at our flat is limited, so we are stuck missing our favorite show So You Think You Can Dance every week! This sadly enough is all three of our biggest regret (and by regret I just mean the thing we're saddest about) about coming to Australia, that's how much we love it! So when we saw this we knew this meant big things for us and the show! So Wendy and I had packed our lap tops with us and we headed to GJ's! We bought our delicious shakes, mine was Tim Tam flavored hers was coconut, and went to town downloading all the dances from the first episode! We even made a spreadsheet to keep track of what we did and didn't have! :) haha We're freaks but we saved them and that night it was pure bliss as we all sat down and enjoyed! It was like a weight was lifted from my heart!


These are the beloved chairs where the magic happened!