i got to thinking recently that 7 years ago i went on my interior design internship in australia. it's hard to believe that it has been that long...i mean have 7 years really gone by? in one way it seems like just yesterday i was boarding the plane in tulsa to meet up with anna in dallas and then it was off to l.a., sydney and finally arriving in brisbane...but in another way it seems like 10 years ago! so much has happened since then. i found the cd where i had saved my digital pictures and videos from the trip, so i thought i would do a little walk down memory lane.....
look how young we were! we had just gotten mak in april, so he was a little pup when i left...oh so cute
mymichael 7 years ago....i think we have both aged a bit! wasn't he {and still is i might add} good looking!?!?!?
sydney from the plane
visiting the brisbane lone pine koala sanctuary
learning how to windsurf
australia's version of a truck...seriously...this is the closest thing we saw that looked like a truck the whole time we were over there!
the brisbane river
our australian friend pat, who took us to stradbroke island {remember...it was summer in the u.s. which means that it was winter in australia...obviously not as cold as ours but definitely not hot!}
just beautiful!
tamborine mountain...just a small tree!
home of the crocodile hunter!
rugby game....the brisbane broncos
surfers paradise on the golden coast
my co-workers at bligh voller nield
my office
my office was in fortitude valley, known as "the valley", in brisbane....a little sketchy...please note what was across the street...
and this was anna's office building in downtown brisbane...quite a difference!
the best dessert restaurant i have ever eaten at...freestyle. it was fabulous! local artists would display their work and you could buy fresh flowers there as well. the lady i am sitting next to was the daughter of the couple that we house sat for while we were over there.
one thing we definitely had to get use to was public transportation. we would walk about a mile to our bus stop {below}, anna would take it all the way to her work, but i had to take the bus to a train station and then the train to my work. at first it was very different and uncomfortable, but after a few days we got use to it. i ended up loving it...no having to deal with traffic or road rage, just simply sit and read or listen to music until your stop comes. i could totally do it!
the train i took everyday to work
one weekend we flew to sydney. we stayed in a hostile....the boomerang backpackers! we did get a private room, but we didn't know that there would be NO bedding....it was freezing so we basically put on all the clothes we brought to keep warm. also, the hostile wasn't in the best part of town. we were located above a convenient store and during the night we could hear and see the hookers on the street corners, along with a ton of sirens! very interesting!
manly beach in sydney
the opera house, looking from the harbour bridge
probably hard to see, but this is a panoramic pic taken from the harbour bridge
bondi beach in sydney
it was an awesome trip and i would highly suggest anyone going for a visit. i will warn, it is about an 18 hour flight from l.a. to sydney...so be sure to take something that will knock you out for a good portion of the flight! i found some videos that i took as well, they are quite hilarious but i don't know if i can post them. sorry for the long post, but it was quite fun going back 7 years!
