Saturday, January 10, 2009

G'DAY MATE!

Greetings from Sydney, Australia!

A large portion of our team elected to make the trek to Sydney; initially, it was only to be three of us (myself and my teammates Chad and Greg). However, some rainy forecasts in Cairns, Australia, re-routed two of my other teammates (Stacey and Bridgette) from their weekend snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef to join us. It has been a blast.

We got in last night around 7:00 p.m; it was actually nice, because, due to the timing of our flight, we were able to work a full day and then head to the airport. This was very helpful and were able to accomplish a lot with work yesterday. After we arrived, we took a short taxi to our hotel. We are actually staying in Darling Harbour at the Sheraton, which is the exact same hotel that I stayed in Sydney last March. What's better about this trip, though, is that I am here for a longer period of time, and the exchange rate is immensely better! Last March, it was about 1:1. Now, it's about 1:0.72, so things are a little bit easier.

We took it pretty easy last night; we had dinner on the Harbour, walked around a bit, and went to bed. I think I was fast asleep by about 11:30 p.m.

We woke up today around 9:00 a.m. and immediately did some sightseeing. We took off for a long tour of the city around the Harbour to see the bridge and the Opera House; it was cloudy in the morning, but turned into a beautiful day! We got some great photos. We then headed to the Rocks marketplace in Sydney and did some shopping. I am on the hunt for some Ugg boots! (not for myself, thank you very much) We then made the trip back to the hotel and changed clothes for the remainder of the afternoon at Bondi Beach, the most well-known beach in Sydney. We just got back from Bondi Beach and are taking showers and getting fixed up for dinner. We are going to have another dinner on the Harbour and then head to bed.

Tomorrow morning at 9:05 a.m., I will be scaling this. I am super pumped and really looking forward to the climb; unfortunately, cameras are not allowed, but I plan on paying an arm and a leg for a lifetime of memories!

On a final note, Stephanie got her bloodwork results back and she does indeed have a clotting disorder; for more information, go here. She is heading to a specialist next Thursday to get more information to avoid future miscarriages, but we feel a little better having an answer. On the flip side, it's hard knowing that things are a little more difficult and that we will be seeing high-risk pregnancy doctors, but again, knowing is better than nothing at all.

I hope to have a bunch of pictures posted tomorrow night. We lave Sydney in the afternoon and fly to Auckland, New Zealand, for the second week of the audit.

Cheers, mate!

~~M14~~

1 comment:

Krissy said...

Glad to hear that you're having fun and that it's nice and warm there. and glad that you guys finally have an answer. Kat's friend had a clotting disorder and she just had a baby. I'm sure that she can tell you what she knows about it. Hope all else is well and miss you guys!