Every Wednesday, there is an open air market at the end of the Queen Street Mall. Tents are set up with fresh fruits, vegetables, pastries, sugar-coated nuts, hummus and dips, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. I wandered around last Wednesday with a couple other au pairs and we snacked on free samples all afternoon while our kids were in school. Every fruit stand had free samples of fresh slices. We tasted pineapple, pears, apples. We snacked on candied macadamia nuts. We had foods we'd never tried or seen before, and we ate lunch on the steps across the street in the sunshine.

Fresh pineapples

Handmade Turkish bowls

Turkish jewelry, etc.

Yesterday, Sophie and I set off to explore the Glass House Mountains after dropping our kids at St. Paul's. The Glass House Mountains are a series of mountain peaks made from the cores of extinct volcanoes just north of Brisbane. They were named by Lieutenant  James Cook in 1770 because of their resemblance to the glass furnaces in his hometown of Yorkshire, England. Today, the mountains have great spiritual significance to the aboriginal people of Australia. Sophie and I drove to the scenic lookout to take some photos and then hiked a bit on Mt. Tibrogaran. We weren't prepared for full-out mountain climbing in our jeans and flip-flops, but it was still awesome to hike through the woods. After walking only several meters in, being surrounded by trees, we were enveloped into complete silence. I haven't experienced anything like it since I've been here, and I immediately felt so calm and at peace in the midst of nature. I will definitely be heading back there sometime soon.

Glass House Mountains 

P.S. Today I experienced a "first" that I never thought I would have in Australia... I pumped gas for the first time in my life! I know it's pretty pathetic since I'm 22 years old and have been driving for years, but I'm a spoiled Jersey girl! I probably shouldn't tell anyone this, but it's pretty funny so... I failed at my first attempt to fill up the tank last night. Christian got out of the car to help me and neither of us could even figure out how to open the gas tank, so we jumped back in the car in a panic and raced home, so humiliated in our failed attempt. We went back to the service station on our way to school this morning, and this time we successfully pumped our own gas. I think everyone has their blonde moments every once in awhile!

I spent the past couple of days down on the Gold Coast for Splendour in the Grass, a music festival in Byron Bay. I didn’t get to see much of Byron Bay – instead I spent the night on a friend’s pull out couch up closer to Surfer’s Paradise (about an hour away) and took a bus in the morning to the festival, which consisted of a bunch of muddy fields in the middle of nowhere. I was advised to wear old shoes that I wouldn’t mind throwing away at the end of the day, and my heaviest “jumper” (sweatshirt), as it gets pretty cold at night there. Boy, am I glad I did! I found myself walking through mud almost up to my knees all day, and by the end of the night I was shivering and wanting to ditch my muddy converse on the side of the road. The festival was still a lot of fun, despite the mud. Everyone was dressed in really funky outfits – head-to-toe tie dye, long hippie dresses, dreadlocks, flower headbands, Indian head dresses, and heaps of onesies… Apparently onesies are really “in” here in OZ. They’re kind of like the Australian snuggie, but better because you can wear them out in public…

Splendour in the Grass

I didn’t know many of the bands playing, besides Mumford & Sons who closed out the night, but that didn’t bother me one bit. I hung out with some Australian friends, trekked through mud to the Tipi Forest and Global Village, ate Japanese pork rolls, Dutch pancakes, and heaps of “chips” (fries), while listening to music and watching hippies jam out to their favorite bands.

Global Village

Jammin in Tipi Forest

Mumford & Sons

The plan was to spend the following day in Byron Bay, but it took much longer getting out of bed in the morning than expected. I’ll be back for Byron. Instead I took advantage of the sunshine and checked out the Australian beaches for the first time. We drove through beach towns – Miami, Palm Beach… for awhile it seemed like I was back in Florida. But the beaches here are so amazing. I can’t wait to get back once it gets a bit warmer!

Gold Coast beaches, Surfer's Paradise in the background

While everyone at home is sweltering in the heat of summer, I've escaped to the middle of winter on the other side of the world. Although "winter" here in Australia lacks the frostbite and mountains of snow, I've been a little sad that since being here, I've lost that summer tan I'd been working on religiously in my free time back in New Jersey. Today, we had house cleaners, interior designers, and lawn guys at the house all morning. When I finally had the house to myself, I stepped outside, felt the heat of the sun beating down on my face, and decided immediately to throw on my tiniest bikini to catch some rays (by the way, did you know they call swim suits "togs" in Brisbane?). I brought my lunch out by the pool and after taking two bites out of my sandwich, I looked up to see the lawn guy standing on the opposite side of the pool, just staring at me with his mouth gaping open. I was so embarrassed, but all he did was smile and wave. I guess I was looking a bit scandalous for the dead of winter... By the time he left, the clouds had set in and I'd missed my chance to soak up the sun. Next time I'll think twice before throwing on my togs in the middle of July!

10 trips you NEED to take in your 20's

This weekend was extremely busy with birthday celebrations. Tea’s 6^th birthday was on Friday, which meant presents and cupcakes at school, a Japanese birthday dinner and cake on Saturday, and a birthday party at the Princess Parlour on Sunday, where she and her friends were prettied up like little princesses all afternoon. This morning when I dropped her off at school, she told her teacher Mrs. Lees that she wished every day was her birthday. No wonder when you get pampered for three days straight!

 

Tea's favorite birthday present

In my free time I hung out with friends and met some new au pairs who live in my area. Saturday was spent with a group of American girls – Kelsey from Oregon, Lana from Texas, and Tessa from Wisconsin. We explored Southbank’s regional food festival, wandering around the food tents, getting free tastes of soft brie, chicken curry, salty cashews, chili chocolate, and red wine. When the skies turned dark and the rain came, we hurried under cover at one of Brisbane’s beer gardens. We sat around the table with our hard ciders, listening to some live music by local Australian artists and talked about our kids. “So how old are yours?” “We should plan a play date!” When we actually stopped to listen to ourselves, we realized how silly we sounded. Everyone around us probably thought we were a group of hot, young moms! It was really nice for us to all have a break from "our" kids that afternoon, and we sat around and day dreamed a bit about the adventure ahead of us.

With the birthday festivities over, I’ve had some time to sit back, relax, and finally start thinking about some potential travel plans in the near future. My room is filled with heaps of travel books on Brisbane and Australia, and I’ve been sitting on my bed all morning with them sprawled out around me. Australia is such a beautiful, amazing place. There is so much to see and do. On the east coast alone, we have three major cities – Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. I’ve started a bucket list of sorts for my next year here. I want to go up to Whitsundays and see the Great Barrier Reef. I want to explore the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, Byron Bay and Surfer’s Paradise. I want to go to Sydney and see the Opera House and climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I want to venture down to Melbourne, see some art, travel the Great Ocean Road, and visit Phillips Island and the little penguins. I want to take surfing lessons, ride camels in Noosa, meet aboriginals, go sky diving, bushwalking, camping on the beach… Just to name a few! I honestly feel like I’m living a dream. Nothing feels real at this point. It seems as if I’ve become part of this family who is paying me to explore a whole new world. All I can hope is that I don’t wake up anytime soon!

By the way, here are some photos of my beautiful new home here in OZ:

My humble abode

My jeep in the driveway

Swimming pool and water slide

Tennis court in the backyard

Home cinema

My bedroom

View from my bedroom

I’ve been trying to immerse myself a bit more into Australian culture. I’ve tried some of their foods – meat pies, kangaroo, lamingtons, Vegemite (I have to admit I’m probably one of the few non-Aussies who will admit to actually not hating Vegemite). I’ve been attempting to learn the language (some of it is quite different). And I’ve been introduced to rugby (or “footy”). Wednesday night was the final game of State of Origin, which is a series of three rugby games played between two Australian states – the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues. Everyone repped Queensland all day in their maroon jumpers. To be honest, I know nothing about rugby (a bunch of buff guys in tight clothes tackling each other to get this thing that looks a little like a football, but not really). But then again, I don’t really know much about American football. I just go to the games because they’re fun and I act like I know what’s going on – you know, cheer when everyone else is cheering and boo the other team. So that’s pretty much what I did for State of Origin. I watched the game with some of my new Australian friends – they had a television set up on the back wall of a friend’s house with couches and chairs around fire pits in the backyard. Even if I didn’t know what was going on half the time, I still had a great time watching the game, especially when Queensland won for the eighth year in a row!

Queensland champs

Today I had the day off and ventured into the city with another au pair, Sophie from England. Sophie is an incredibly sweet girl – she’s been traveling on her own since February and has been in Brisbane for the past couple of months, so she was more than happy to show me around the city. Here are a few of the pictures I took throughout the day:

Southbank beach overlooking the CBD

Southbank

Ibis (these guys are creeping literally everywhere in Aus)

CBD 

Me and Sophie at Mt. Coot-tha

Although I’ve only been here a short time and haven’t met many people yet, something I’ve already started to realize is how different it is to have friends here. It isn’t hard to meet people – it’s easy to get in touch with other au pairs online and everyone is always happy to meet new people. No matter where we’re from and what kind of people we are, we bond instantly because we’re all on this grand adventure, doing the same thing in the same place at the same time. But girls I’ve met and will continue to meet are coming and going so often. I have always been the type of person who will get to know someone well, make close friends, and keep them for a long time. This is different because everyone is constantly on the move in different directions. It is so awesome that I have the opportunity to meet girls and make friends from all over the world, but I reckon it’s going to be quite hard for me to have to say goodbye so quickly and frequently, while also constantly letting new people into my life.

I’m starting to feel a little like a soccer mom. The kids went back to school on Tuesday, so the past few days have been my first real “work” days. I get up at the crack of dawn so I can get Christian and Tea fed and dressed in the next two hours before school, and they milk every minute of it. Tea always wakes up with her claws out, acting and looking like a wild thing with her hair frizzed every which way, and Christian disappears to the bathroom during breakfast every morning for about a half hour, singing while he sits on the toilet, and whining, on the verge of tears, if you tell him to hurry up. My host mom Suzanne and I run around, packing lunches and backpacks while trying to get them moving. I give major props to anyone who is a parent for being able to handle the whirlwind that manifests in children. Somehow their moods completely change the second we get in the car. As soon as the radio turns on, both kids start belting out in unison every single word of every song, and I can’t help but smile and forget that they were acting like tazzy devils two seconds ago. We drive about 10 minutes to their school, St. Paul’s. All the kids there wear these cute little red and green uniforms that remind me of my days at St. Joe’s as a kid, except for I didn’t have a floppy green safari hat to match. The school is beautiful with wide-open land, and the classrooms all open up into outdoor courtyards.

Christian in his uniform with the pups, Marley and Molly

I have my days pretty much free while the kids are at school. This week I’ve just kind of been hanging out, exploring the mall and adjusting into the routine. Somehow the day flies by and before I know it, I’m back at St. Paul’s, hurrying the kids into the car so we can make it to gymnastics or swim lessons or dance classes on time. I am so impressed with these kids and their dance classes. In the past couple of days, I can’t even tell you how many hours they’ve spent at their dance school. Whenever I’m there, I feel like I’ve been thrown onto the set of Dance Moms, surrounded by mothers prodding over their daughters (and sons), doing their hair, dressing them in their tutus, making them look pretty, and trying to live vicariously through them while their competitiveness makes them act all passive-aggressive to all the other little girls and their mothers. In only two days, I’ve already gotten countless dirty glares. It would be an understatement to say I don’t look like I belong there. But every time I sneak a peak at these kids’ moves, I am incredibly impressed and proud of them, and the Dance Moms drama seems worth it.

Besides the Dance Moms, Australians are awesome people. As a whole, they are probably the nicest, friendliest people I’ve met, and that’s one of the things I love the most about living here. If I walked down the street in the middle of the city, looking completely lost, there’s no doubt that countless Aussies would notice my confusion and point me in the direction I need to go. Wandering around the mall today, I had compliments on my accent from the cashiers of every store I went into, and the people I talked to struck up conversations like they were my best friends. Even the airports are filled with friendly smiles. At home, you walk through airport security and the people glare at you as if you’re a criminal. Last weekend when I flew to Bali, all the Aussies working in the Brisbane airport actually treated us like we were people. No blank stares. Instead I got stopped and “searched” at security, but what it really felt like was some cute bloke chatting me up, debating whether or not to ask for my number. I don't think that kind of attention will ever get old. There isn't that same feeling that I get at home where everyone is extremely self-absorbed. People seem genuine, and I reckon they are. They're aware of you and interested in getting to know you, even if you're a stranger. It's something I find extremely refreshing.

Bali was incredible. Where do I even begin? We arrived last Saturday to our resort right next to Jimbaran Beach and it was the most magical place I have ever seen. We stayed in our own private villa, which meant I could sit on my canopy queen sized bed (yes, I had my own room) and look out the window at our private pool surrounded by trees covered in frangipanis. To my right was the kids’ room, and to my left were the master suite, outdoor living area, and fishpond.

 

View from my bedroom

It was hard to pry ourselves away from the hotel. We had the sweetest Balinese man, Kariana, drive us around in his little buggy to basically wherever we needed to go on the resort – the infinity pool, the spa, or one of the many Asian restaurants. We spent a few days lounging by the pool, but we also managed to break away from our little oasis to experience the real Bali.

The streets of Bali have absolutely no road rules. On first glance, there appears to be two lanes on the road, with the suggestion of keeping to the left, but the roads are entirely overtaken by motorbikes. Scooters are everywhere. They drive pretty much wherever they want, weaving in and out of cars. Whole families will ride on one bike – I don’t think I ever got over the shock of seeing 5 people squished onto one bike, with babies sandwiched between mom and dad. Kids as young as 8 or 9 years old would be driving, and a few times I saw people carrying live chickens by their legs as they rode on the back of a bike. The streets reek of a combination of rice, incense, sweet cigarette smoke, and BO. Outside of every building/store/home there are incense burning. They’re placed in these little hand-woven grass baskets filled with rice and flowers – it’s Balinese tradition to give these offerings daily. They are given as thanks for the new day and as hope that it will be filled with good fortune.

My offering of incense

We drove all over Bali and saw so much of the tiny island. We drove by thousands of rice fields, toured several temples and a coffee plantation, ate lunch at a tiny lookout where we had a great view of the mountains and volcanoes, and watched a Balinese dance that represented the fight between good and evil spirits.

Rice fields

Fresh water temple

Balinese dancer

But my favorite part of the week was our trip to the Elephant Safari Park. At the park, elephants roamed freely. Babies played in the lake while the adults took tourists on rides through the rainforest. I got to hang out with some of the baby elephants and took a bunch of pictures with my new best friends who’d hold my hand with their trunks. Later on, we rode a sweet 32-year-old elephant named Kusuma through the park. A Balinese man sat on her head and guided us. It was truly amazing – I can still feel myself rocking slowly back and forth with her long, lazy steps. Elephants are such strong, tranquil creatures and I’ve always felt drawn to them. I was so happy to cross another item off my bucket list by meeting my spirit animal!

New baby friend

Elephant hugs

Christian, Tea and I with Kusuma

The week was a dream come true. I am so lucky to be with such a sweet family who has truly taken me in. Growing up, I was always such a homebody and I liked nothing more than being with family. That feeling has unfortunately disappeared for me in the last couple years, and I’ve started to believe the typical feeling of homesickness doesn’t really exist for me anymore. Every now and then I’ll feel that ache, but it’s for a place that isn’t there. Which is why I could not be in a better place than I am now. While on holiday, another exciting thing happened – the Hockridges invited me to stay with them longer than I'd originally planned. I am feeling so blessed that this journey continues to fall into place for me. I have been welcomed into a family who has its quirks, but they love each other so much and they are happy. While they may not be the most traditional family, they remind me of that traditional family type I always had and loved growing up, and that safe feeling of home that I was afraid I’d lost is coming back.