The pictures from our trip are now posted online in a public gallery on Picasa. They are arranged in 30 separate albums, based more or less on location/date. There is roughly one album for each day of our trip. Since they are arranged in separate albums, you can start/stop viewing them at any time, come back later, and still know exactly where you left off.

If you have any trouble accessing them, just email reillyke@gmail.com or chorneck@gmail.com and we’ll help you out.  Hope you enjoy it!

click this link to access the photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/reillyke?feat=email

When I returned home to Oak Lawn, I received the sad news that my Aunt Donna had passed away the very week we left for our trip. My parents decided it best not to tell us until we came home, but the news was not any easier 35 days later than it would have been in November. I said goodbye to Aunt Donna with a hug like usual while I was in Minocqua in October, but never imagined it would actually be goodbye.

I am sorry I was not able to be with the family to show some support and love and reminisce about Aunt Donna, who was taken WAY more quickly than anyone could have ever imagined. Some of my earliest and best memories come from spending time with her and the rest of the family.

Many of my first memories involve Christmas at Aunt Donna and Uncle Ron’s house. We always had Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa’s, then Christmas Day over at Aunt Donna’s. For some reason, I remember her giant punch bowl, always filled with red punch. Us kids were always being scolded (by someone, not necessarily Aunt Donna) for taking too much punch and using too many cups. The Christmas lights were always hung giving the basement a cheery glow. There was *always* a new and seemingly impossible puzzle for us to do, and it was a huge deal when 3D puzzles came out. If we weren’t doing a puzzle, we were playing a board game, card game, or causing some mischief. I recall a few games of hide and seek, with the best place to hide always being under the pile of coats in the bedroom. This was obviously before I was 6 feet tall, it doesn’t work so well anymore. Somehow they managed to put together a feast, even though it seemed like there was an army of us to feed. Thinking back on it, I’m pretty certain the adults used to enjoy a few of their own beverages…or maybe everyone really was just cheery and bright on Christmas The boys were usually being mean to the girls, not letting us play whatever they were, or punching and poking us, but one dangerous glance from Uncle Ron was enough to straighten everyone out.

During the summer, for every summer I can recall including this past one, I used to love heading over to Grandma and Grandpa’s to see just what relatives might be around. Aunt Donna, when not working at the hospital, would always be there with a friendly smile and hug…and usually some delicious treat or snack, which is very important to a 5 year old (…and also to a 25 year old college student). Often, we were running around and being issued warnings that “if Grandpa comes out and sees you on his lawn, you are going to be in big trouble.” Or, “Don’t go in that house, you are dripping wet!” When Aunt Donna wasn’t busy taking care of everyone and everything, you could usually find her sitting around in the late afternoon on a sunny weekend with her other brothers and sisters reminiscing about the old days. Being the 2nd oldest of the 7 children, she had some great stories to tell about everyone else and their mischief. We’ll have to see if we can dig up some stories from the younger kids about her. It was always interesting to hear how things used to be, to listen to her describe what the road, lakes, and Minocqua area used to be like, to hear stories about swimming to the island, fishing (note: they claim to have caught fish, this can’t be confirmed though), water skiing, driving up from the city, and the countless number of stories about how those 7 kids entertained themselves and each other. Most of the stories are news to Grandma, and I’m pretty sure it still adds to her aging process

Aunt Donna always had a story about the bears and deer in her yard, and was on an endless and tireless pursuit to find a way to plant and grow some flowers that the animals couldn’t get at. I don’t think she ever quite worked out a perfect solution, but she was on her way to a million bucks if she had. It was great to hear her stories about what the old neighborhood in Chicago used to be like, and to give her the occasional update on how the area had changed. They loved to go back there every now and then, grab some S&T’s, and see just how things were. Of course, this was when they weren’t enjoying their favorite Hawaiian island.

For years you could look forward to seeing Aunt Donna outside the house on your way to or from a snowmobile ride down Sutton Road, as her house was the last one on the paved road. Passing her house meant it was ok to pick up the speed and fly through the twists and turns of Sutton. On the way back, when I was tired of trying to keep up with my brothers on their snowmobiles, her house indicated I could let go of my death grip on my machine and slow down a bit. During the rest of the year, a walk, run or bike ride down Camp Pinemere and Sutton almost always meant passing by Aunt Donna and receiving a friendly wave and smile that was just part of her nature.

She is a fixture in many of my best memories, as are my seemingly countless aunts, uncles, and cousins, and trips to Minocqua would never have had as much meaning without her. She will be dearly missed by everyone who ever had the opportunity to meet her, and I know she was smiling down on us and keeping us safe through our entire Australian and New Zealand adventure. Aloha, Aunt Donna.

Our flight home was pretty turbulent but overall uneventful. It was nearly full, with everyone heading home for the holidays and all of those study abroad kids finishing their fake semester abroad. (I wish I had been smart enough to study abroad, earning college credit for doing things like surfing, sailing, and petting koalas.) We managed to snag three seats for just the two of us, allowing us some space, though we still didn’t manage to sleep much. We arrived in LA and made it through customs before meeting up with my brother who was on the same flight as us back to Chicago later that afternoon. Since we had about 8 hours to kill, we went down to Hermosa Beach for lunch. This means that we sat on the beach on both sides of the Pacific Ocean in the same day, which is pretty cool (well, we think it was the same day…we’re kind of confused on what day it is right now…I guess we went back in time?)

We arrived in Chicago to this very unpleasant thing they refer to as snow and cold. One day we were in 42 degree Celsius weather, the next we were in 22 degree Fahrenheit weather. Hmm, why do we live here? Turns out there is a whole huge country full of open land we could live in where it is plenty warm. We’ll have to investigate further. If you know how to gain Australian or New Zealand citizenship and employment, please let us know.

We had a blast every single minute of our trip (ok minus the time the cockroach was in our room) and cannot believe how quickly it went by. We’d go back in a second if we had the time and funds, of course. I wish everyone would have the opportunity to travel in these countries at some point. We had so much fun seeing new sights, doing new activities, and comparing cultural differences and quirks. Although the U.S. doesn’t always admit it, other countries sometimes do things more efficiently and effectively, and we found it interesting to make these observations and comparisons. It helps us to be more aware of our actions and decisions.

We’re so happy we took this opportunity while we had it, and just hope things work out in the next few months as far as jobs and what not. Either way, it was the experience of a lifetime and we wouldn’t change a second of it.

Bondi Beach on the eastern side of Sydney is supposed to be “the” beach-the one you see in movies, the one the rich and famous go to, the one where anyone who is anyone hangs out. We pictured this huge golden sand beach extending for miles full of gorgeous people and movie stars. What we saw when we got there was a half mile stretch of beach with a rundown boardwalk and murals on their concrete walls that really just looked like graffiti. It wasn’t so terrible, really. The sand was decent, the water temp was tolerable, but mostly the sky was cloudy and the beach full of fat lazy tourists like ourselves. Didn’t stop us! We joined right in the laziness.

There were actually minimal options for food and drinking establishments, but we desperately wanted a daquiri or margarita, some frozen beverage. We finally found a bar serving them (at an outrageous price) and decided to indulge. Unfortunately, the margarita was not frozen like we desired, but rather “on the rocks” essentially. Appeared more like a martini…but with tequila (small amounts of it, too). For some reason, our margaraita disappointment did not stop us from ordering Mexican food…which was served to us in rabbit size portion. So much for that. I guess thats how all those movie stars can stay rail thin and still hang out at Bondi Beach. My theory is that they are all at their own private beaches on Tahiti or Fiji for the holidays, and thats why we didn’t see anyone. That, or they didn’t want to be shown up by Chris’s rugged good looks.

The next day we took the 5km walk from Bondi to Coogee, which winds along clifftops and along a few other less crowded beaches. The views were decent, but not the best we’ve had. We stopped after a bit for breakfast at an oceanside cafe, taking in the views and people watching. It was fun to hang out at some of the less crowded beaches, though. Chris enjoyed playing in the waves like he was 5 years old. Somewhere along this walk is the house of Heath Ledger…er, I guess now it probably belongs to his parents or daughter or girlfriend or something. Needless to say, we weren’t able to pick it out.

We decided to make another attempt at surfing since our hostel offered free surfboards for use. We only had the one lesson behind us, but thought sure, we can do it. Wellll we were wrong. The surfboards we had at our lesson were quite long and broad, providing a lot of stability. The board we had from the hostel was smaller, making it a lot more difficult to balance. In addition, the waves at Bondi broke very unevenly and irregularly, making it difficult to catch one. Kathleen managed to stand up once, and Chris was at least able to ride the board in on his stomach, but the uneven surf and rip tides got too dangerous and tiring.

As you may have inferred, our hostel, and the Bondi area in general, is dominated by the surfer/hippie culture, and it seemed like most of the people working at our hostel were into the funny stuff. Our first night, we also had a false fire alarm we had to evacuate the building for. Someone smoking in their room, probably. Good thing it wasn’t real, though, since it took the fire department about 15 minutes to get there. Such are the things that come with staying in a cheap hostel. The accomodation itself really wasn’t bad, just wasn’t our crowd.

It is hard to believe, but our trip is just about over. We can’t even comprehend how quickly it has gone by or how sad we’re going to be to leave. Aside from the 10 foot long cockroach (I SWEAR he was that big!), pretty much every experience we had was fun and exciting. Hopefully we manage to entertain ourselves one last time before heading back to the States. Post again soon!

Sydney has been keeping us quite busy with all there is to see and do here. The Sydney Harbour actually extends roughly 20km inland to the edge of the Paramatta River. The city is really built up all along the water and harbour, making it quite spread out. The suburbs extend for a decent distance (though not as far as Chicago’s! How does Rockford think it is a Chicago suburb?)

Friday morning started off with very yucky weather. It was downpouring most of the morning and early afternoon, but at least the temperatures were quite warm. We went out anyway, afraid we wouldn’t see all we wanted to if we waited for the rain to stop. We put on our rain jackets, and even rain pants, and walked more than 15 km. We checked out their upscale shopping areas and markets, made our way to Hyde Park (what big city doesn’t have a hyde park?) admired St. Mary’s Cathedral and St. Andrew’s Anglican Church. It is interesting to compare these churches to those we saw in Europe, since these are, of course, much newer relatively speaking. Still, the architecture and design are much more artistic and ornate than most of the churches we’ve seen in the U.S.

We made our way through The Domain and The Royal Botanic Gardens, which we’re sure are quite beautiful when it’s not raining! We wandered out to a point between two harbors which gave us some great views: The opera house and harbour bridge in one direction and the city skyling in the other. We attempted a few pictures, trying not to let our cameras get drenched, before continuing our trek toward Circular Quay. Circular Quay is the main transportation center of the city, where all of the ferries depart from. Along Circular Quay are numerous shops and cafes, and the famous Sydney Opera House. The Opera House just doesn’t look quite as majestic and interesting in the gray rainy skies, but we snapped our photos like the tourists we are anyway.

We continued over to an area known as The Rocks, situatied between Darling Harbour and Circular Quay. The Rocks used to be a huge slum full of trouble and drunk sailors, but nowadays has been built into a tourist destination. It has some of Sydney’s oldest pubs and restaurants, a number of street markets, and quaint cafes.

We eventually made our way back toward the hostel in search of dinner. Chris never did manage to find the Crocodile meat, but that’s probably because we never set foot in a nice restaurant. Everyone in this city gets very dressed up at night. It seems there are probably a lot of Christmas parties goin going on right now, so maybe that was the reason for the dress code everywhere. Needless to say, the dirty backpackers that we are didn’t bring anything nicer than jeans and a polo, so we opted for some Thai food before checking out the nightlife at some local pubs.

(How is this a deal? That’s $7 PER BOTTLE)

The next day we made our way back to Circular Quay to catch a ferry to Manly Beach. Luckily, there was not a cloud in the sky. The temperature was decent, so we opted to re-shoot some pictures of the Opera House and harbour bridge. Really, we don’t find the bridge that impressive. It’s a big hunk of metal like any other big bridge, and we’ve seen more interesting bridges. Maybe it is only famous because of the Opera House in the background? We didn’t manage to get tickets to any shows, since everything this time of year is booked up and expensive.

We caught the ferry to Manly Beach, one of Sydney’s northern beaches. It was roughly a half hour ride on a pretty fast moving boat with capacity for over 1000 people. Just a short walk from the ferry we reached the beach. It was a very nice stretch of azure blue water and golden sand. Unfortunately, the winds held very study and continued to blow sand on us all day, caking us in sand. There wasn’t a whole lot we could do about it though, and just got used to it. The water was a decent temperature so we took a few quick dips, but again the wind made it seem a bit cooler than it was. We finally had our clear skies and decent temperatures though, so we took full advantage of our time on the beach. At least there were no jellies to worry about this time…only sharks. Manly was a very nice area with a little main shopping strip offering the usual tourist wares, restaurants, cafes, and of course gelato. We enjoyed our day relaxing on the beach, watching the sailboats come and go in preparation for the December 26th Sydney to Hobart sailboat race. Apparently it is very competitive, and Australia’s version of the larger America’s Cup race (which we actually were able to see while we were in Valencia, Spain in 2007).

We thought we would make our way back to the hostel since the hostel’s bar was offering free bar and wine. Free? Don’t mind if I do! Unfortunately, the youngins beat us to it and missed out on the freebies. Tomorrow it is on to the world famous Bondi Beach on the eastern side of Sydney for our last two days Down Under.

We counted and figured out that over the course of 33 days, we will have stayed in a total of 23 different accomodations. After the whole cockroach incident our first night, our accomodations have been pretty great-definitely better than the places we stayed in Europe, definitely a lot cleaner. For the most part, we have had our own room or 4-6 bed rooms. Last night, however, we had an 8 bed room. One of the annoyances is having to constantly lock up all of your stuff. Although we have never had anything stolen, its mainly because we are pretty careful. But it gets tiresome. An additional problem is the one bathroom for 8 people. Not Fun. Although our group was surprisingly not rowdy last night (almost everyone had an early flight), we had a particular Canadian who snored like a freight train with a megaphone and amplifier. We didn’t know it was possible for humans to sound like this. Needless to say, we opted for our own room at our next accomodation so we could catch up on sleep and enjoy the last few days of our holiday.

These hostels, unlike ours in Europe, typically provide sheets for the bed and prohibit sleeping bags in order to reduce the transmission of bed bugs. However, I do not trust them. I have been carrying around my own sheet and pillowcase the entire trip and putting it on the bed each day. Additionally, I refuse to use the blankets, because I barely trust them to wash the sheets, let alone the blankets. This has led to a many nights where I shook all night because I was so cold, but still I refused! In addition, I sleep in socks, long pants, and a sweatshirt with a hood on it so that no part of my body is touching their bedding. Paranoid? Maybe, but I seem to have inherited some of my Polish mom’s habits regarding cleanliness (though, I do not vacuum at 5am like she has been known to do).

After our lack of sleep, we opted to get to the airport a bit early for our flight to Sydney. Trying to navigate public trans is always a bit of a challenge. Melbourne had good transit, but it took us forever to figure out where to pay for our ticket! We didn’t see the ticket machines, and didn’t see anyone else paying for tickets or swiping their cards. We were getting nervous the transit police would jump on and check for tickets or something, but we eventually figured it out.

We Found Nemo!!!

Upon arrival in Sydney, we again needed to find transit to our next hostel. We opted for a shuttle van that takes us directly to our door since it was the same cost as city transit. We found the shuttle and the driver told us to throw our bags in the trailer and jump in the front seat. Full shutle, I guess, but it sure was cozy up there with him. Our shuttle driver was doing everything BUT driving as we left the airport. Checking tickets, making radio calls to base, taking notes on where everyone was going…we were sure we would get in an accident. He finally looked up at the road for a millisecond as another car swerved to avoid us, before going back to doing whatever he was doing. We finally made it safely to our hostel and checked in early, before wandering out for some lunch. Chinatown was nearby and we thought that might be a cheap option. Chris is a bit more daring than Kathleen when it comes to food, but Kathleen blindly ordered something (blindly because, well, this was not American Chinese, and nothing was written in English. Just pick a number and order it.). Something is what she got…shrimp (which she doesn’t eat), noodles, vegetables, and….something else. Tentacles? Octopi? Some other weird seafood? Don’t know. But down it went since it had been ordered!

“Fish are friends, not food”

After that, we opted for a quick nap in our air conditioned room since the temps were hovering over 33 degrees C. ( ~91 degrees F). Then it was out and about around Sydney. It is a very busy city with people, buses, and trains moving quickly in every direction. People are definitely less friendly, but I guess you get that in a big city. We still found it very enjoyable. We made our way toward Darling Harbour, part of the whole huge Sydney Harbour area. Darling Harbour is similar to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, if you have ever been there, except bigger. There are tons of upscale shops, restaurants, casinos, etc in the area, and we were definitely not dressed for the crowd. We wandered anyway, eventually ending up at the Sydney Aquarium. It is Australia’s largest, and voted the #1 attraction. Although it was interesting with all sorts of local fish species, sharks, manta rays, sting rays, turtles, penguins, etc, it was actually rather small and took less than an hour to thoroughly view all of the exhibits. Besides, we were on the Great Barrier Reef ourselves, who needs to see it behind glass! Pshh! We did find Nemo though! He was with P. Sherman at 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. Actually, we looked it up on Google Maps and that address does NOT exist. Somebody lied.

Steve Irwin’s Demise:

We wandered back along the wharf to enjoy some Christmas Carols on the Harbour. Christmas? But its 91 degrees! Christmas is quite different here. They opt for a huge Christmas lunch, often on the beach, with ham, salmon, and Australian side dishes. It is hard to imagine Christmas in such a warm climate. We joined in some Christmas Carols for a bit by the tree, and listened to some of their variations of our traditional songs. For example, instead of “Dashing through the snow…” they sing “Hiking through the bush…”. The lead singer asked all the children if they’d ever actually built a snowman or thrown a snowball, and very few had. Weird! We started to think about the fact that the winter Olympics are starting soon, but take place during the summer for half of the world. Just something we’d never really thought about. Also, since Sydney held the 2000 Summer Olympics, it was actually winter here at the time. Just some obvious observations that we’d never really considered before.

Sunset at Darling Harbour:

After enjoying Christmas Carols by the Harbour, we waited for the sun to set and the lights of the tree and wharf to come on, offering a very pretty view of the harbour. We enjoyed some fish and chips, a staple of the Australian diet, while watching a lightning storm roll in…then decided the harbour wasn’t the best place to be during a lightning storm. Needless to say, the storm never made it all the way inland. We are enjoying Sydney so far, and will make our way to the famous Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, and all the usual tourist sights.

Christmas at 91 degrees?