S.

Just read a blog post of one of most interesting philosophic peopel I know, Arthur (here)

It got me unsettled again on my 'where i belong' type question. I'm thinking that Aussies are very lucky in a way that then can freely travel the world and yet have this beautiful country as their homeland. I reckon if you could choose where you born, Australia is quite awesome - you grow up in this great nature and enjoying life place, and when you grow up and get bored/desire more, the passport gives you opportunity to travel and be accepted almost everyone (definitely better than being americans, IMHO). And you can always come back to re-charge, and what a beautiful place to re-charge Australia is.

I guess for us, foreigners who come to Australia in most cases for a short while, and in most cases staying for many years, the Australian lifestyle, comfort and environment are the major attractions. I enjoy living here, and I hope I will stay for longer. But I don't feel free... I'll explain.

Free for me is at home, in Belarus (which may seem ironic to some :) It's to do with the fact that I know the place, I have my roots, my family, childhood friends, and even rights there (however universally limited, but I am an equal citizen there). This last bit is actually more important than I thought. Free also means that I can leave, and I can come back. Now, I can't go to as many places and as easily as most of other countries' citizens can, but there is always something I can do, and I can always come back.

In Australia, I'm a visitor. If I leave now, I can't just simply choose to come back, and this limitation somehow daunts me, it makes me feel less secure with where I am in life, and somewhat stains my happiness here. which is a bit of a vicious circle really - I'm happy, that's why I want to stay, but it's not that easy, and I'm not 100% happy...

I would love to have that freedom one day - the freedom to leave Australia behind, knowing at the same time that it's always there for me. I wonder will I?.. Should I?..

(and what is this travelling and coming and going away business anyways, my grandma would say :)

Labels: australia, philosophising

Our executive PA works as a vet assistant on the weekends (great combination, isn't it :)), and recently she has got into her home care a baby possum. She (possum) got orphaned, and Kathryn will take care of her for the next couple of months, until the possum is grown up enough to join other possums that will be freed into the wild.

The baby animal is so cute, she is very small, and has big eye - like a mice, but with longer legs, doens't sound too attractive, but that baby possum is so cute. She has a warm water bottles underneath, to keep as if its mom is near, its seriously small animal, sleeps all the time.

How cool is this, having a baby possum sitting in a bag next to a PA's desk, in the office of a media company - viva Australia :)

Labels: australia, cute, work

several thoughts, in no particular order, that occupied my mind recently

I've just finished a book, The Kite Runner - one of most powerful and moving books I've ever read. I could even sleep one night, after getting through the first third of the book, co-living those emotions. The book is about life of a family in Afghanistan, starting in 1970s and finishing in 2002. This is how I best take in the history and point of views - not through publicists' articles but through stories of people.
The thought is going through my mind after reading this book, which is about dramatic life of an Afghani boy - I'm so lucky, among may be several percent of the world's population. I was never starving (even there were times when the food was basic, oh those 1990s in post-USSR), I was living in a safe place (Belarus isn't the most exciting place but it's safe), i haven't had major tragedies around me. I have never experienced war, I have higher education, my parents are great support and I even have never even heard them swearing (but did my father keep the discipline, yes he did :) I can travel, don't have liabilities, not abused and I am not discriminated (if you don't count visa processes).
How much depends on the place you are born in, your skin colour, your sex, your parents. All the things you don't have control of...


I was thinking to write recently a blog post, about inspiration at my work. It is even saved as a draft in the blog. It was about how great my work is - I work in marketing communications, managing projects with suppliers and internal stakeholders, working with creative agencies. I design stands and invitations, release corporate brochures and multimedia promotions, manage online space of my company. I put together presentations and strategies and post-implementation reports (yes, i actually enjoy it :) I go to cultural events because my company sponsors many arts organizations and I manage events & promotions.
But then, when I was about to write that - my manager (great person, one of best and most positive people I've ever met) said she is going to the UK with her partner and is leaving. And later, when the new manager started, my boss, marketing director, announced he is also going to Europe with his partner and would be leaving in several months.
It made me very sad - the environment I enjoyed at work was one of main reasons I decided to stay with the company. It's like my family - I associate my life in Australia with my marketing team, as they were the people I spent most of my day (working 8hrs), and it's a good part of the day. So seeing them go is like seeing my life here changing to be something different... (which is philosophically isn't a bad thing). But fair enough, the main reason I stayed with the company is the experience I'm getting there - the new job role is great and gets me towards where I want to go in my marketing career, I'll be working on very exciting (and challenging, which is always good) projects.
And with the changing team, changing role - it's indeed a new start. It's a more mature attitude towards the job, when I want to develop particular skills while still being passionate about what I do, it's about getting out of the comfort zone to be a better professional and, well, person. Just need to keep this all in mind while getting my teeth into the business of tasks to do :)



I'm so lucky to live in Australia, this country rocks. It's not only well and has high living standards. It's safe, I feel more so than Europe; people are friendly - a surfer on the beach helped us to put a kayak on top of the car easily mastering the knots; when someone exits the lift you are entering, and your eyes cross - the person would usually smile. Australians are not only well-mannered (mostly) but are humourous (oh, famous Australian humor!), welcoming and enjoy their life and usually let others do the same (I found Europeans colder and more pessimistic - oh opposite chaotic if you think south of Europe :)
And the place itself - there is everything here, mountains with snow and beaches with great water and sand; palm trees and pines. In one day, you can go from the seaside into the wine hills. Sun is out most of days, the sky is blue, and it's great climate.
And Sydney... I travel across the bridge to work every day, and still can't get enough of the beautiful Sydney Harbour. There is something magical in those glowing with lights skyscrapers of city centre reflecting in the harbour waters. Sandstone historical buildings (well, architectural history goes like 100 years back at most), modern building, futuristic and classic street sculptures. Busy crossroads and parks, and quite alleyways. Music festivals and open air cinemas, endless cafes and restaurants, and great food. There is something for everyone here, and I must say, Sydney came the closest to my favorite place of all the cities I've been to.

Labels: australia, books, career, sydney, the kite runner, thoughts and feelings, work

Well, to keep it nice and short (and yes, this is a post about what's happening in my life recently)

- I turned 25 two weeks ago; first life crisis doesn't seem to happen - lived through it with my friends, most of whom are already beyond that line :) As one of them very wisely put - 25 is an age, when you know that you are still young and life has lots of great things in store in your future, but you also already have some past, and some things will never happen again.

- I'm staying in Australia for at least another year. Yes, I've planned initially to stay for year-year and a half, but falling in love changes plans so much :)

- Karan and I celebrated our half a year together, and all is great and wonderful. it's destiny i think

- I got a promotion at work, and while staying with the same position name (marketing executive), I'm taking on more responsibilities in managing brands and having end to end responsibility etc etc. satisfied :)

- going to Brussles-Amsterdam-home in 3 weeks' time, for a couple of weeks. To see the family and for the AI reunion and to see my friends. hate bureaucracy with visas and the expensiveness of tickets, but am getting excited about the trip! would be two years since i saw all my european friends, and my parents have 30th wedding anniversary. I'm so looking forward!

will be back on air soon...

Labels: australia, home, love, news, sydney, work

Last weekend Australia had 2020 Summit, when they brought together 1,000 people to think of ideas to make Australia a better place by 2020.

I personally find it very inspiring, that the country, the government call for such an action. For me, coming from environment that everything is pretty much regulated and in Belarus they are back to working on industrial plans more or less in some areas, to see that the government basically asks their people, what do they want their country to be, is a truly inspiring act.

MORE INFO HERE
www.australia2020.gov.au

(and guess what? a couple of Sydney AIESECers were participants of youth part of the summit)

There were facilitators form all over the country, and a thousand people selected via essays or through their vocation, who worked in various groups over 2 days, defining their ambition and ideas for

• Productivity
• Economy
• Environment
• Family&Community
• Indigenous
• Creative Australia
• Rural
• Health
• Governance
• Security

For example, Economy ambition:

"Australia should be the best place in the world to live and do business. This will require urgent action to increase economic capacity through the creation of a truly national, efficient, sustainable and inclusive economy, supported by seamless regulation"

Environment:

"Our aspiration is that by 2020 Australia is the world's leading green and sustainable economy. That we will set time-bound targets and be on track to dramatically decrease our ecological footprint while continuing to grow our economy and improve our quality of life"

Ideas such as sustainable cities program, digital art, australian republic, government levels roles review were brought up and will be distilled to make up an action plan for the government.
Yes, not all was ideal - new tax or tax review is a funding strategy for most ideas; the summit is seen by opposition as kevinism; not all ideas are captured, and those that are, are generic etc.

But the whole idea that this kind of event and bringing together minds of people can happen in a country is a great one. I think it's a kind of thing that happens when a country at a particular state of development, and as per the pyramid of needs, after security, food and certain standard of living is secured, the next level is self realisation. Can you imagine Russia, or China, or Japan, or Egypt, running this kind of summit?..

This is an advantage of the country with no pressure of tradition (yes, I think there are some good things in not having a long history).

Feels great living in the country and under the government capable of such an initiative. I like Australia more and more :)

Labels: australia, inspiration

On Wednesday I had the best medical system experience of my life!

and believe it or not, it was Australia's Health Service, that runs medical checks for people applying for AUS visas.

Apart from the waiting in the line (which is expectable), all the rest was great. The guy accepting my papers was interested where Belarus is and got an atlas out to check it :) Welcome, please come through, smiles and being professional, thank you etc etc - you feel like a decent person being treated there! Official people - smiling at you!!

It may sound strange for many, but being treated in such a way is something unusual coming from Belarussian background. If you were to apply for similar stuff in Belarus, you'd feel like a criminal not deserving effort. Our officials almost never look at you, never smile, almost never say please and thank you.

Needless to say I'm very impressed and appreciate once again the comfort of living in the great country of Oz :)

Labels: attitude, australia

Time to describe the greatest weekend getaway I've had so far, a couple of weeks ago in Melbourne.

I'll try to be short, my pictures on flickr tell much more

I went with Patrycja, a friend of mind, Polish intern here in Sydney, and we stayed with another friend of mine in Melbourne, Hungarian guy Tomi (here we go, international networks :)

In total:
4 nights,
3 full days,
1 Melbourne city centre,
(..) beers,
many kilometers walked,
250 kilometers of Great Ocean Road seen,
1 horse races attended,
3 live music events,
1 tourist tram line ride and at least 15 times on a normal tram,
3 nights out,
18 hours in those 3 days and 4 nights slept,
and ONE GREAT MELBOURNE TIME!
(and even the weather was very good and sunny all days, too! even though the weather is said to be the only bad thing about Melbourne :)

Night 1:
even as we arrived late, nearly midnight, our wonderful host Tomi convinced us to go for drinks to a local pub, and it was so worth it! local beer (yes, I had VB), and local band making one of best performances I saw (cross-dressed, but what an energy they had!)



Day 1:

Melbourne city walks -
narrow streets with cafes all along (add some more chaos and Middle-Easterness, and there is Cairo Khan El-Khalili for you; add some waffles smell and rocky pavement, and there's Brussels; love those kind of arcades)


Some landmarks -
Flinders Street Station


Federation Square


Royal Botanical Gardens


And here's how Adshel's medium looks like! (I work for a company that is a major player in street furniture advertising, out of home media)


We took trams a lot - it's interesting how trams a perfectly normal and usual transport in Europe and in Belarus and Russia, but are so interesting for Australia - nearly everyone told me before my trip to Melbourne - "take one of their trams somewhere" hehe

Night 2:
Birthday dinner (and guess what, Thai :) of a friend of a friend in a far away suburb; partying till 3am in 3 clubs/bars in the same building, in a true Melbourne spirit hidden away so you have to find the place; Cookie is one name I remember

Day 2:
Caulfield Cup day! (part of Melbourne's Spring Racing Carnival)
The first time ever I've visited horse races: great weather, field full of dressed up people (like in a movie, every girl is wearing a head-dress!); champaign in plastic glasses; and the thrill of seeing the horces cross the line and supporting your number... I bet a little and won a little, great and unreal experience I'd never get at home :)








Night 3:
Walking around evening streets, Yarra river night views, dinner in one of Italian restaurants on those little streets, some beers in Young&Jackson's (one of oldest pubs right in the centre)



Day 3: GREAT OCEAN ROAD

[UPDATE: can't upload images anymore here for some reason, just check here for Great Ocean Road trip]

Wonderful day, full of amazing views and landscapes;
Even got closer to not-so-wild-life - we saw kangaroos, koalas (someone 'khe-khe' me, even climbed the tree to get closer...), fed parrots

Drove with U2 loud in the car and wind fresh with ocean breeze, through the hills and turns and turns of what is indeed a GREAT road;

saw simply amazing sites like this (Gibson Steps), which are so serene and perfect without any humans there; but we did jump around with joy anyhow :)

Twelve Apostols

and Loch Arch Gorge, where we were running along the beach under the moonlight...
The trip took the whole day - we left the last site in Port Campbell after 8pm, and arrived about 1am back to the city...

Night 4, the last one:
packing, getting the photos and catching a bus at 3am for 6am flight...

Tired but oh soo happy!

Great, GREAT times in Melbourne - I might be even coming back!..

Labels: australia, melbourne, travel

Great Barrier Reef (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef) is the biggest coral reef in the world and the only living system that can be seen from the space. And it's also one of most interesting places in Australia to visit.

Having said that, of course I couldn't choose anything else but traveling to AUS Tropical North, Cairns and Port Douglas as my first vacation after 6 months in Sydney.

AND IT WAS GREAT!!!

We spent 3 days in Cairns (were locals are said to pity everyone living south from there :) because Cairns is so much cooler they believe and the weather is awesome), and then 5 days in Port Douglas, small resort town (former fishermen village) 1 hour drive up north from Cairns.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Esplanade in Cairns is great, it goes along the coast and is an awesome place; it has green areas, cafes, and a man-made lagoon (I loved it); I saw there a spiritual movie screened at night, open air, people just sitting around on the grass; jogged early in the morning with a swim in the open air pool (which is the lagoon), walked in the evening just enjoying the breeze and the chilled-out mood of the city;


Skyrail to Kuranda; Skyrail is one of longest cableways in the world, going for nearly 8 kms above the rainforest to Kuranda, a village up in the mountains


Driving around Cairns in mountains for a sneak view on the real rainforest, with mountain rivers, cascades and cliffs covered in tropical plants (falling at one of the hiking tracks left quite a big scratch on my arm, but is also a part of the getting to know the rainforest :)


Green Island (part of the Great Barrier Reef) day trip: sailing on a big motor boat to the island, which is a small and very nice place to be, surrounded of course by corals; first exposure to the Reef!

We saw even a big grouper and a shark, which even being a small reef shark, nearly made me jump out of the water

Drive to Port Douglas along the coast is very nice, with beaches and mountain coastline opening at every turn; we stayed in a very cool hotel (I felt like real grown-up having a holiday :)

From Port-Douglas as a base:

Trip to Cape Tribulation; the drive up north is awesome, we drove through Mossman (a small town with ancient rainforest trees), took a ferry to cross the Daintree River, took the hilly roads, made detours to the beaches (highly recommend Cow Beach), and finally reached Cape Tribulation, a place that is an iconic place "where rainforest meets the reef" (and after which the sealed road ends, and you are on the discovery in the tropical north forests); the sand there is silver-greyish, and the view of misty rainforest-covered mountains stepping right into the ocean is very memorable


Crocodile watching tours: in a true touristy spirit, we took a boat to see the crocodiles in the Daintree River. It was solar-powered, with a close-up video camera and an lcd display (technology is everywhere :), which was the right choice: there were kingfisher birds, tree snakes, crabs, little yellow birds (that I don't remember the name of, but read in my school geography books and was more than excited to see in life :);

And of course crocodiles themselves; the tour guides know them all, living along the river, and tell stories that this crocodile did that and that last winter, it's just fascinating :)


Crocodiles are nearly invisible to not-used to eye, as they are the same colour as the water and the land on the river sides; I learned lots of interesting things about their lifestyle :)

We saw the rain in the rainforest; and I got fascinated by mangroves; it is a name for all plants that can live near the ocean water, specific being in their roots that can survive low and high-tide in the sand; they are just awesome, so different from plants we have in Belarus and Russia :)


Mossman and Mossman Gorge: a beautiful location, mountain river with walking trails in the rainforest. It is owned by aboriginal tribes but is open to public; we saw a little forest stream, swam in the river's waterhole (I got nearly blown away with the current :), saw wild little pigs (piglets, their mom was making sounds nearby). I enjoyed so much the peacefulness of sun-filled green world - birds singing, sounds of running water in the river, other sounds of the forest - it was so good to re-connect to nature again!..


An interesting thing is that in Mossman town (and actually generally in Cairns etc) I saw much bigger proportion of aboriginal population; good to see them differently - normally -rather than playing music on Sydney streets..

Port Douglas: a wonderful little town, which I just loved; with a café/restaurant/shopping street as a center;


our hotel was 1 minute walk to the beach and 20 metres to the centre, how's that? :)
My favorites in Port Douglas:

Seeing the sunset at a seafront of the town;


Watching the sunrise on Four Mile Beach


Four Mile Beach itself (isn't the sky reflection on the sand cool??) and oh! The water in Port Douglas! Tender, warm, and you just don't want to leave the beach :)


Relaxing in cafes, visiting Sunday markets, listening to live music at the corner hotel pub, swimming in the ocean, enjoying the sun… This was my Port Douglas life style for several days, and I must say, I wouldn't mind that for longer :) Very relaxing time…

And! The most exciting part of the trip!
...GREAT BARRIER REEF...

For our second, main and best, trip to the Reef we've taken Poseidon, the boat that took us to the very edge of the GBR; it's hard to describe how cool it is to stand on the boat deck, with the ocean breeze in your face and sun in your eyes, facing this unique nature creation…



We were snorkeling (as they say you see more snorkeling as more life is in warm surface waters, and anyways I'm afraid of being in depth); it's great, there is the Reef and nothing else; the ocean is the Reef's domain there.

You swim along the edge of the Reef, and there is a new underwater landscape at every turn; schools of fish are everywhere, completely not afraid of humans (floating humans in snorkel masks are not significant in that system; however can be still influencing it badly).

The life on the Reef is so diverse - fishes are big, small, swimming in groups and in couples, and singles; different shapes and colours; I saw Nemo! (clownfish) luckily close enough, held sea cucumber, saw a turtle floating away in the blue, swam with a school of fish; it's just great to be there, the Reef is so alive and interesting!..

I managed to take some good pictures with the underwater camera; all is on flickr :)
Here's some sneak preview:



I loved traveling to Australia's Tropical North, obviously the rainforest and the reef were the highlights; however the whole lifestyle of those places is just so relaxed and nice, you just don't want to leave :)

Here's some of the trip; see what I saw, through my photographs: Australia's Tropical North

Labels: adventures, australia, great barrier reef, rainforest

So that was how the trip started - one week-end several weeks ago me, Gabi and Mandi set our feet to Australian capital city - Canberra.
The trip is quite short, it's just about 3 hours drive, so we just rented a car and went on one saturday sunny morning! Girls' Power trip - and what a match we got with the car, girly enough color :)


The first stop was in Goulburn, a small town which is said to be the first inland city. It's famous with a gian statue of a sheep, Big Merino - which I thought how people told me, was a ship, marina... Imagine my surprise when instead of a boat we got to a sheep :)


The city is actually very nice, it has its charm of a small town - cool for a break, but not the one where I see myself staying for long...




The road itself was great - it was actually the first time I went out of Sydney and saw something more of Australia than the city. I loved the vastness of the landscape, reminded me somewhat of Russia or Kazakhstan - the power of huge plains and mountains... And the road, it equals freedom! Just you, blue sky, and your land around you.



I liked Canberra a lot, and even though many people say it's nothing there and it's boring, I disagree. It's all about people and outdoors in Canberra :)
The most amazing part for me was the fact that the city is so different!..

You drive just for 3 hours from Sydney with it's ocean and summer forever, palm and forever green tress - and Canberra welcomes you with so much a European landscape!
It looked so much like some Germany or Switzerland or something like that - trees are golden and red, the sky is blue or gloomy sometimes, mountains around, and even same style of buildings!..So different from Sydney - if I flew from another country to Canberra, I wouldn't tell I'm in Australia, it's great!




(I think Geneva has similar fountain on the lake?..)


The city is very young - it was build to be the capital city (like Astana, or Brasilia), which it became in 1927. Therefore it's quite well-planned, with the type of architecture that was modern at those times. Interestingly enough, on Sunday afternoon when Mils was walking me around the city, I've realized that some city center parts remind me Rotterdam so much! Wide enough streets, boulevard shopping streets, not too tall buildings, golden leaves, cafes outdoors, and not too many people. Felt like home at times :)

Canberra has a few of attractions (meaning not a lot), and we managed to visit some main of them. And a good part that almost everything is free :)
Parliament House (open for public, some pics above - the distinctive fetaure is that everyone was so friendly in there - I wonder how it'd look like if they opened Russian parliament for public visits:) Or may be it's already open?),

War Memorial (dedicated to all the wars Australia participated in).


It's a great museum, interactive etc, and was good to see another perspective on events that meant so much for my countries' history. However I couldn't spend too much time in there, we have so much already of history and reminders of it (WWII)since childhood, that it's enough - and more, every time I'm in a war museum, I just think how wrong is that to fight other people, and in case of Australia in WWI - for some idea that didn't actually affect your country much, but country men died for that...


Great to see though that people do commemorate and respect their history - I think actually even more than people in countries with older history do, Russia for example... May be there were too many wars in our history that we loose the hard feelings about them...


(this an eternal flame, as we call it in post-USSR countries - it commemorates the lives people gave in wars, and an eternal flame symbolizes an eternal memory we should have for soldiers)


Well, on a light note - Canberra is so great on a sunny morning!.. We had our lunch in a smaal park near the Art Gallery, on the side of the lake, it was soo peaceful and relaxing, perfect mood for sunday morning!..


Canberra is also famous for Questacon - an interactive science museum, mostly kids' paradise - where you can do whole lots of stuff, measure your balance, check the gravitation, see the sound etc etc. It's all really visual and you can experience everything!! Me and Gabi were some of very few adults there, enjoying all those cool things surrounded by crowds of children :) Was great though to feel yourself a 5-year old!.. hehe


(this is my after the free-fall experience - when you fall with 0 gravitation)

However the place I liked the most was the National Art Gallery, especially the exhibitions of Asian art and modern Australian art, i think it's great!!! There were also original works of Picasso, Monet, Andy Warhol, Kandinsky, which was great to see.
The entry to the gallery - how awesome is that???


I definitely liked Canberra - however I wouldn't like to live there. The city is great for a week-end/short visit or so, but Sydney is the best anyways :)))

Labels: australia, canberra, trip

The week-end before I was in Blue mountains. Lucky me, not even 2 weeks, and already there! Things happened just right, that a friend of my friend was going there by car and kindly invited us to join in. Apparently Blue mountains less than a couple of hrs drive from Sydney, so that made a perfect Sunday trip.

Generally Blue Mountains is a big forest, I presume it's a national park. Wikipedia it, I guess it'd be better than my would-be theoretical background :)

One major feeling after visiting though - you want to come back and sit on some cliff, looking into far-away horizon of mountains and thinking life. It was great.



We began by going to waterfalls and around. Follow the trail, and stunning views are opening just as you turn another time on a small path.




We found a would-be closed for maintenance path that leads to waterfalls, it was great! Feeling of a real tropical forest, when it's all green and water gathers from the stones up there. Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't climb some tree around or didn't go right to the waterfall!





Views there - they are just wonderful, I loved that place. You go around, up and down, on the caved in the rock way, and at every second, left, right, above, beneath you - nature itself, so perfect and peaceful that you want just to breeze it and to be a part of it… Don't know how to describe best, I guess every mountain place, even though different, has some magic in it.

The we set for Three Sisters, famous tourist place, where you see a great panoramic view. Three Sisters are actually rock cliffs (not a surprise I guess :), according to a legend, there were 3 witches (don't know though good or bad ones), that were turned into stones.
I nicely enjoyed the sun there

And then - oh, then we took a trip in an almost vertical train road down to the plain, to follow the walking trail in the forest, and then climbed back in a cable cabin.
Things that amazed me:
I kept staring at all those unusual trees around me, they are just great! "Paporotnik", a plant usually growing from the ground as a kind of grass, in Blue Mountains it was a tree! It's just so cool, I loved it.

This one looks like a corn on the tree! too cool :)

And of course, eucalypt trees themselves. As I learned, Blue Mountains are blue, because eucalyptuses' oil, when melted by the sun, emerges in the air tiny fluids. And that, multiplied by hundreds of thousands of trees, creates a special blue-ish aura. However only from far-away, when you are actually in the forest, you just breeze enormously clean and very… forestly air, you know, that unmistakable scent of a real forest?

These are actually eucalyptuses

And yet another farewell look at the magnifying far of the mountains…

I wish some of you, my dear friends, come to visit me in Australia, so I can share Blue Mountains with you :)

Labels: australia, Blue Mountains, forest

Yes, I'm in Sydney!!!
14.500 km away from home, half of the world down here :)

Still taking time to believe that's happened, too good…
Typing these words, sitting in my room in a bay district, with palm trees just outside of my window, flowers everywhere, and night ocean breeze flowing into my room…
Australia? Australia! My country for the next year...

Labels: australia, internship, sydney