Sydney, Australia: Part 3

What an amazing time in Sydney with Rebecca and Dave! Our 7th day in Sydney we walked up to a nearby café for breakfast. Rebecca had a standard Australian breakfast with a poached egg, which is completely different looking than what we’d come to think was a poached egg. Either we’ve totally missed the boat on that or Australian’s are weird about their poached eggs. Anywho, Tyson and I chowed down on some pancakes while Marshall had a steak sandwich. Then we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some mangoes and a few other things at the store. I have been obsessed with mangoes while I’ve been here and eaten at least one a day. They are so perfectly ripe and delicious in Sydney which is so hard to come by in Washington. Definitely something I’ve missed since living here and I’ll miss again when we leave.

The past week or two Tyson has not slept as well since he can’t sleep in a pack n play anymore (climbs out and onto our bed since we’re always in the same room) and in turn Marshall and I have not slept well. We have been so exhausted and I think it shows on our faces, so Rebecca and Dave offered to watch Tyson for a night while Marshall and I got a hotel room to relax and catch up on sleep. We were more than happy to take them up on their offer and booked a room at a 5 star hotel they recommended and got a great deal for the next night!

That morning, we packed a little overnight bag and took the train a few stops into the city. After walking a few blocks we arrived at the Sofitel Hotel. We checked in around noon jumped straight into bed and watched a WHOLE movie! It was about lunch time, so Marshall ventured out in search for food. It was a Sunday and it turns out nearly everything in Downtown Sydney is closed on Sunday. He walked all over creation and then ended up finding a Japanese restaurant open right across from our hotel. He brought the food back to our hotel so we could eat it while watching another movie. That night we didn’t feel like venturing back out (everything was closed anyway) so we ordered room service which came with a complimentary bottle of champagne and some strawberry fondue desert. Sweet! Marshall ended up falling asleep at 7pm and I followed shortly after. I think we both got a good 12 hours of sleep and another 8 hours of bed rest from our day at the hotel. SO needed and felt so much more energized and ready for the next/last leg of our trip!! Thank you Rebecca and Dave for that amazing gift!

The next morning we stayed at the hotel all the way until check out at 11am to maximize our relax time together. I had some time to do a little research and work on the blog which was nice. Once we checked out, Rebecca drove to our hotel with Tyson to pick us up and take us to one of her favorite places for lunch called the Grounds of Alexandria. It’s an industrial area that they converted into a trendy spot with a couple restaurants and even a petting zoo for kids. Tyson enjoyed looking at the animals while we waited for our table to be ready. They had the most creative drinks at this restaurant. Marshall had a pina colada that came in a flower pot with a sunflower in it. He said it tasted like liquefied peanut butter mixed with rum (gross) and there were little bugs crawling on the sunflower, but at least it made for a fun picture. After lunch we walked over to a candy apple stand. I have looked all over for candy apples in Washington and can never find them so I was so excited to find them and bought three…then ate two of them…myself…before the day was done.

We hopped back in the car and drove over to the elementary school I went to in 4th to 6th grade and where I met Rebecca. It was closed for school holidays so we just took some pictures from the outside. I didn’t remember what the school looked like and even when I got there it didn’t really look familiar. Well, I guess it’s been almost 20 years so no wonder. Rebecca and I wanted to do a funny pose so we tried to both jump in the air and click out heals. It was so hard to do at the same time and capture on the camera. We were cracking up so hard trying to get the picture right. Fun times.

We got back on the road and headed to my old neighborhood, Sylvania Waters. We couldn’t remember the name of the street I lived on so we just drove around the area hoping something would look familiar. We drove all the over the place with no luck so Rebecca and Marshall were ready to call it a day, but I wasn’t quite ready to give up. We continued driving and all of a sudden I saw a convenient store that I remembered was close to my house. Then I saw a big track that I remember running on. I then knew exactly where my house was so we drove over to it. Rebecca and I jumped out and were taking crazy pics on the front lawn. Hopefully the new owners weren’t looking out the window wondering who the crazy girls were. It was fun reminiscing memories from that house like Rebecca, Nicole and I making up dances in my parents room in front of their closet that had mirror doors stretched all the way across the room. Good memories for sure.

By that point it was rush hour traffic so it took us nearly an hour to get back to Rebecca’s place. We didn’t feel up to cooking dinner that night so the guys went and picked us up some food from an Asian restaurant down the street. I had yummy cashew chicken that I practically lived on when we were in Thailand, but haven’t had since then. So good! We had fun chatting about different words Aussies use compared to us Americans. They like to use the term “far out” which I don’t think American’s have used since the 60’s. Haha! They also like to shorten just about every word in the dictionary. For example, instead of saying afternoon they say “avo”. I guess they just like to be nice and concise.

On our last day in Sydney, we wanted to have a low key day before flying out in the morning. I needed to get a warm sweat shirt so Rebecca and I took the train over to a shopping mall while the guys hung out at the house and watched Tyson. It was a challenge finding sweatshirts because Australia is now in spring so the stores have gotten rid of a lot of their warmer clothes. Finally after an hour of shopping I found one for Marshall and I and they happened to be super cheap. Score! We then headed back home and we all just had random things we could find for lunch.

In the afternoon we walked over to a nearby baby store to get Tyson a new sippy cup. It has been all over the world and is now leaking. Tyson has also chewed the straw up so much there’s hardly anything left. Luckily we found a replacement cup at the store. We then headed over to the cemetery park for Tyson and Abbie to play. After about 20 minutes we walked over to the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner. Along the way we passed a gelato shop and I just had to get a scoop of chocolate chip mint gelato. Yum!

Rebecca was craving a Japanese veggie pancake called Okonomiyaki for dinner and was excited to make it for us. I was really just feeling a plain pancake and since I wasn’t having it she decided to slather bacon over the top of the pancake and mix in minced pork. We all cheered with a glass of champagne for our last night together and then dug in. Marshall said the pancake was amazing. Rebecca you are an awesome cook! Thanks for your hospitality and all of the delicious meals you cooked for us while we stayed with you. You’re such an amazing person and a great friend that graciously opened up your home to our family. We will never forget the wonderful times shared with you, Dave, and Abbie. We’re excited to see you again when you and Dave can visit us in Washington! Let’s not wait 19 years this time!

Well, it’s finally come…our last leg of this amazing around the world 6 month adventure. Tomorrow we will be taking a three hour flight to our next destination.

Next Stop: Auckland, New Zealand