Reunion In Sydney - 15 Years in the Making...

I just had to write about the most unexpected and amazing reunion I've ever experienced and it all happened yesterday. A little background:

As you may know, I grew up in Singapore and as a result, made friends from all over the globe. One such friend was Henry Armstrong (seen here at Max's birthday party with sister Westerly) - a Singapore born Aussie that lived in the same condos as I did. Henry and I became fast friends and played together all the time. Some of my fondest childhood memories are running around our complex playing made up games, swimming in the pool and going on mini-adventures around the island together. It was a sad day when Henry and I had to say good-bye.

Ever since that time, I've kept Henry in the back of my mind, always curious as to where in the world he might be. I hadn't assumed that he would be in Australia at all - seeing as most people leave Singapore and head off in a totally random direction. I looked for him every so often on MySpace but to no avail. About a month or two before I left for Sydney, I decided to join Facebook and became totally addicted (like everyone else). For some reason, it wasn't until I was here in Sydney that I decided to search around and see if Henry might be on there. To my surprise... he was! I found him in 3 seconds after 15 years of absolutely no contact. Now the strange part - he lives just a few hours outside of Sydney and has for years BUT he had JUST signed on to Facebook himself right around the time I did. Sooooo amazing!

It wasn't long before we were in touch and decided to meet up. Well, last night Henry and I met for a drink at the Blah Blah Bar. He looks EXACTLY the same (+15 years). It was so amazing! We both just laughed for about 15 minutes but immediately fell into reminiscing mode. We caught each other up on families and our lives but mostly talked about our favorite memories from The Peak and SAS. It still blows my mind that we were sitting there - catching up. We even started telling this random lady next to us about our story - she was impressed. :)

So that is the story. We certainly plan to not lose touch again and feel pretty certain we'll be hanging out again some day. Not to sound completely cliche but - what a small world...

Cheers,
B.

Best Farewell Ever

Wow - just when you come to think you've grasped how amazing your friends are they end up doing something so surprising it leaves you honored to be even associated with them! That's how I feel about Bel and Rich! (And Mel, Dennis and Mark) :)

The day starts out with a raging rainstorm which pretty much just made me roll over and go back to bed but poor Bel was probably freaking out due to her surprise being outdoors! I made my way over to Warringah Mall for the first time after the rain stopped. This was good as I was able to take a bus I had never used before and see a little bit more of my surrounding area. I indulged in some serious retail therapy and checked in with Bel to see what plans she had cooked up. I got a few hints - dress warm, bring music and Mel, Dennis and Mark would be picking me up at 5p. I was so excited and had no idea what she was up to!

I rushed home to fix myself up - carefully straight-ironing my hair (later realized to be a huge waste of time) and got ready to go! When the gang picked me up I had no idea where we were going but we headed towards the Sydney Harbour Park I had just visited a few weekends before. Mel had the great idea to blindfold me with my scarf! We parked and they helped me walk to the surprise spot. And then the big reveal! Bel and Rich had set up this amazing spread of cheeses, olives, strawberries and chocolate, smoked salmon and cream cheese and lots of champagne all on the cliffs of North Head! We could see the city across the harbor and the sun was set low in the sky. It was amazing! I couldn't believe they had done all that for me! As decoration - they had the Aussie and American flags laid out on the table. The wind was amazingly strong - I just couldn't capture it in the pictures!

After the sun set, we packed up and went to Bel and Rich's favorite bar - The Skiff Club. This reminded me of the Changi Sailing Club where we used to belong in Singapore. It's a great bar with a deck overlooking the Manly Harbour and all the boats! We found a spot out on the deck and apparently had a three hour photo shoot after I looked back over the pictures! What a great night!




After way too many champagnes - Mel and I attempted to go see a band but completely missed it! Oops - so we basically just turned around and came home again. The end of the night is extremely hazy so even if we had made the show - I probably wouldn't have remembered! Ouch!




So this is now my favorite memory of this exchange! This has been such a fabulous experience and it's still not over. Mom, Dad and Becky get here in two days to explore Sydney and then continue on with me to New Zealand. How did I ever get so lucky? :)

Cheers,
Bridget

Reconnecting with Nature

As I entered a few important dates into my Outlook calendar the other day, I suddenly realized "Holy Crap! I only have 3 weekends left!" This came as a surprise for me as I was just coasting along - enjoying the days and weekends as they passed by. Well - not anymore! I had to take a good look at my To Do list and start making some serious progress! First on the list (recommended by just about everyone I came across in Manly) was a stroll through the Sydney Harbor National Park aka North Head. The same comments resounded with each recommendation, "the views are amazing!"

The walk to the park from my apartment is about 15 minutes and there isn't much to the park until you get to the main attraction (which are the cliffs!) As I walked through I was hopeful that I would some across some endangered bandicoots but to no avail. All I found was this mouse! But at the time, I couldn't really remember what a bandicoot looked like, so I snapped a picture just in case. Stupid mouse!


The views from the cliffs are magnificent! Extremely dramatic in every regard! The entire experience was dramatic actually - as I headed out on my walking tour I knew that I was playing with fire or I should really say water. The ominous clouds did not lie as they unleashed their fury right as I reached the cliffs. Luckily, there happened to be this tiny concrete hut (the only shelter, period, for quite some time) right there. I dipped in to the hut to hold out for clear skies with 4 other soaked tourists. When the clouds parted the sun came out and it was a beautiful afternoon from there on out.

As I headed back to town, I suddenly saw this little path almost covered by brush. I decided to continue my adventure and headed down the path for a little exploration. By the time I came to the end, I saw it was well worth the very muddy trek down. I came to some gorgeous cliffs not guarded by safety fences or walkways. Yes, very smart seeing as I was by myself! But I did manage to get some amazing shots! I didn't dangle my feet over the edge or anything so I figured I played it pretty safe. :)

















So, that's one more thing to strike off the list. I still hope to do some kayaking around Manly and get to Hunter Valley for some wine tasting! Time is of the essence!

Cheers!
B.