S.

(this is not much of a story entry, it's rather me wanting to hold on to very nice memories)

Friday evening we left work at about 6pm, was heavily raining, but this kind of warm summer rain. Decided to go straight to friends' place, got some budweiser on the way. Ended up watching Bollywood movie (oi lucky, lucky oi! not bad), having dinner at 11pm (great veg risotto), and when got home at midnight, immediately fell asleep.

Saturday morning is my favourite time of the week - no alarm :) almost never get out of bed before 10am, and definitely at 9am I'm still deeply sleeping. That Saturday we got up at about noon, I had my favourite choc flakes, coffee while reading magazines (one good story in the Australian Marketing magazine about Disney brand and people behind it, I wish my job was like of that journo taking those interviews :)

The after talking to same friends (oi they are the Puri family, Vishal and Ity, plus their brother and sister), we decided to join them for a roadtrip to Royal National Park down south coast (about 1 hr from Sydney). Places there are beautiful, hills and the ocean, small towns. Plus the weather was great, warm and sunny. First tried to stay on the lookout, but was way too windy up on the tip of the hill, so eventually we got down to Stanwell Park's beach, nice little area. the beach is very pretty, sand cliffs, sun, blue ocean and blue sky. The only annoying thing was wet sand flying up to 50 cm above the surface, taken by a very strong wind, It's like little needles getting into your skin, when you are next to water, or blows of sand when you are in a quieter area. But once you get out to a green lawn of public park, the whole afternoon becomes so relaxing :) Boys spent time playing frisbee in the water, and we played connector (quite a cool game actually, like advanced tic tac), and then your just lie there with eyes closed soaking sun, warm wind, sounds of the ocean... or reading more magazines.

then we drove to a small local cafe - I love this kind, cosy local place, where people are friendly and everything is so peaceful...

One iced coffee and a Portuguese tart later for me, fish&chips, beer, more coffee, burger and a pie for others, we decide why not drive to Kangaroo valley and stay overnight (the valley is a very very beatiful one in south coast of New South Wales, with a nice small town). Our friends knew a place we could stay overnight from previous trips, so there's no stopping...

The trip was quite a long one, but also very nice coastal type. When getting to a valley, it's actually a very narrow two-way that looks more like one-way road, and it was very twisting. I felt like on an adrenalin ride, because strong wind was still going, and the road was full of broken brunches, so it like 'are we going to be hit next?' plus it was getting dark... But all went well, and a couple of hours later tehre we were, in the valley. The adventure just began however :)

we went to the house our friends knew, but no one answered the ring... Not a good place to be at 8.30pm on Saturday night in a very small town! Thanksfully from last time Ity remembered that the owner went often to a local bowling club. There we went, and there we found the owner :) It was seniors Christmas private party, so we decided he'll finish the dinner, and then we'd be back for the keys (so he wouldn't need to leave the party early). Little we knew...

there are about 3-4 cafes/restaurants in Kangaroo valley, and even on Saturday night, if you don't get in by 8pm, you don't get dinner. it was almost 9pm, and all places we went to just cleaned their kitchen/closed stoves/couldn't give us any food... (by the way, 'bella' restaurant people are not friendly at all, not coming back to that one for sure)

So we took our last shot by going back to the bowling club and trying to get some food (any food really by that point). They also just closed the kitchen, but thankfully had some schnitzels and burgers left and agreed to warm them up for us - we looked very desperate I should say :)

That time in the local bowling club was the highlight really;
first of all, it was very warm, and when we got out to the terrace to breeze some fresh air, we suddenly saw a giant full moon, you know how it happens sometimes, that early in the night it hangs very close and very yellow. beautiful...

and then when we were having our dinner, they started live music, and it was so much fun! Average age of people in the club was about 60 I'd say, but such enthusiastic seniors they were! we even went to dance a chicken dance in the circle, was the best time ever :) and when we left , people were waving us, saying don't leave, come again, have a merry christmas... :) this is so special in australian country towns

When we finally got home, we got our wine out, started playing this new table game 'sorry!' (very cool one), when done, switched ro scrubble - but this is probably the worst game to play at quarter past 11pm :) it's very slow, and in 15 min we gave up and went to bed... sweet saturday night dreams :)

It was so cool to wake up by yourself, without alarm, on Sunday morning, and look outside to find great sunny morning in a nice country home :) we had our coffee on the veranda, and it was just the symbol of a perfect sunday morning: sun through green leaves, green backyard, cosy place and nowhere to hurry...

a couple of hours later, we finally got out of the house for breakfast, and went to another local cafe - it's so interesting, many places in the country have very young people working there, and that poor girl went red on every second occasion we asked her for something :) (we were perhaps an unusual bunch there - 5 indians + russian, but all seem quite modern and behave like all other australian young people, some get confused :)
Cafe itself was nice, with old newspaper ads (of 50s, 60s and 70s) glued to their walls, provides lots of entertainment during breakfast! Ads for vegemite from 50s, ads for Ford as the 'best car in the world' from 60s, etc etc etc.

Afterwards Karan and set our feet (car wheels?) back to Sydney, while our friends continued to Fitzroy Falls (very cool place too). Took us much lesser time to get back, so I was on time for the Kris Kringle Christmas lunch/dinner with Sydney interns. Was cool to immerse back into international crowd; we had barbeque on the balcony (well done Jason), overlooking the waters of Botany bay, Portuguese fish pies of some sort, Kenyan cinnamon pies, and lots of other food other people (including myself :) decided to go easy on and just bough ready

We tried to infuse water melon with alcohol, but as it was cut half open, didn't really work, so at the end we just did usual fruit basket punch (was much better actually :)

I got a sydney t-shirt as my gift (good one actually, these are kind of things you'd want to have but never think of buying yourself, especially when living in the city). everyone else seemed to be quite happy too with their gifts :)

and later we just had way too much laughs playing charades guessing movies, you know how it goes when you get young international people together, and if most of them can act, it's so funny (or it's actually even funnier when people cant' act :)

I got home at about 10pm - had lunch ready for next day lovingly prepared by my second half :) and had a great early night, just on time to be fresh this Monday morning :)

this is how I like my Sydney weekends :)

I feel like I'm settled into the routine in Sydney, and am not sure how I feel about it. It's somehow different from my internship times - once I stayed on, the approach also changed. I'm on a permanent job, moved in with my boyfriend, and everything seems more paced.

I discovered love for shoe shopping, and I like spending time in the nearby homeware store selecting stuff for the house (I even got a fondue set). I work long hours, and on some Friday nights I do not feel like going out, but rather getting a takeaway and watching a movie. In fact, I don't really go out much at all. My weekend mornings are spent catching up for breakfast with friends in Newtown and reading papers. I started buying sun herald for the free goodies (last sunday got the cd #2 with 'the greatest christmas hits', which was more like carols and I feel deceived). My parties are work events (media industry has quite a few entertainment options I must say), theatre nights, friends' birthdays and housewarming dinners. When it's good weather, we'd go down to the park or a beach to ride bikes or play cricket (well, Karan plays and I watch). I watch some TV now, and would try to get home on time for my favourite shows (fan of 'Packed to the Rafters', House and Amazing race). I haven't taken public transport for a while because Karan and I work in the same area and in most cases I get driven a lot :)

1 year and 9 months on, I feel pretty much like a local.

I'm comfortable and I value my little perks of living in such great city as Sydney. I feel spoiled by the beaches, beautiful harbour, easy going and friendly people, cheap and great food.

But recently I started feeling like I need something else, as if something is missing.

I want more adventure, even in Australia itself. I look at the pictures of interns travelling to the places I have or have not been, and want to feel that excitement of discovery again. I want more intellectual challenge and stimulation, I want interesting conversations, I want friends that would not leave Sydney after a year. And I want to finally find and start pursuing my passion.

Spoilt for choice, am I not :)
May be it's this time before the end of the year, I don't know...

Labels: "what to do" sydney thinking