Happy Halloween

Halloween is not the big deal over here as it is in the states.  I do miss getting dressed up and seeing the kids in their costumes. I also miss the way the neighborhood goes all out on Phantom Way.  So, I decided to keep some Halloween spirit and do something spooky.

I have never done this before and I've never really wanted to, but I know my son likes scary movies, so I thought he might enjoy this.  I decided to take a ghost tour of one of the most haunted places in Sydney, Quarantine Station, or Q Station here in Manly.

I was dreading this all day. My stomach was queasy.  I didn't even buy the tickets until the very last minute, just in case I wanted to chicken out and scrap the whole thing.  But I did it, and here I am at midnight writing about it, partly because I'm too scared to turn off the lights and go to sleep and also because the adrenaline from the night is still running through my veins.

They say you should do something every day that scares you. I think I've met my quota for the next few weeks!

Q Station is the place where they kept sick immigrants just getting off the ships before they were allowed in Sydney.  Of course not all of them survived, many died of their illnesses: small pox, flu, scarlet fever, plague.  So you can imagine that many unfortunate souls might still be "living" there.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I hate being scared.  Ah, the things I do for my son.  We were early for our 8:30 PM tour, so Trenton and I walked around the outside of the restaurant where it was dark and quiet with a great view of the harbor.  Trenton pointed out into the water and asked, "Is that a boat?"

I stared for a few seconds and turned around to say yes, but Trenton was gone and I was all by myself, in the dark in Q Station! Grrrr, Trenton! Already, he was freaking me out.  He jumped out from behind a table laughing.  Ugh, is this how this night is going to be?

But everything turned out just fine.  I actually enjoyed the tour.  Yes, it was scary, but I loved the history and the ghost stories! Our guide, Amy was great.

The tour was done by lantern light, but as we entered each building, she made us leave them outside.  Each room had no lights except for Amy's red flashlight, but she hardly kept that on either. In one room, she actually just left us in there in the pitch black to ask us if we "felt" anything.  Umm..how about cold, spine-tingling fear? Is that a feeling? Later, she gave us these EMF sensors that detect Electromagnetic frequencies and are supposed to light up when they detect paranormal activity.

Trenton was holding the EMF sensor while walking around the grave diggers quarters which houses some of the not-so-nice ghosts. He wanted me to go with him into one of the bedrooms and I told him "No Way." I did not like the feeling of that room. Just then he had the EMF pointed at me and it lit up! Ack! Was there a ghost right next to me?

As much as I couldn't stand being scared the whole time, I actually had fun.  Something super scary happened in the morgue, but our whole group ended up laughing so much about it.  She also had stories of friendly ghosts that made me feel a little better.

Anyway, I didn't take too many pictures because I didn't want to capture anything creepy on film, but here are a couple.

The First picture is of the shower stalls in the decontamination station.  Walking around here was super scary, so I held Trenton's arm the whole way.

The second is of the hospital.  There are three original hospital beds behind some stanchions.  Amy said that we could sit on any of the other beds except for those three.  After looking at the photo, it looks like some bodies were, or are already sitting there.

If you really must see more images of Quarantine Station, you'll find plenty on Google.

Happy Halloween, everyone!  Don't be afraid to do something different! You might actually enjoy it and create a new Halloween tradition!

Curl Curl Beach

Move in day is tomorrow!!

But this past week, we stayed at one more airbnb to check out another Northern beach called Curl Curl.  You would think it's named this because of the curls of the waves that make this one of the best surfing beaches, but it's actually derived from a variation of the original Aboriginal name.  Say that 5 times fast...original Aboriginal...

Two things I learned about surfing so far:

1.  Surfers will leave their keys in the wheel well of their car when they go surfing

2.  Other, smarter surfers will actually have a combination lock box attached to the door handle of their car.  Maybe he was a realtor and had extra lock boxes.  This is a great idea for runners/hikers that don't want to carry the extra weight of their car key on them.

The weather this past week hasn't been great.  It's been raining most days and I left our one umbrella on the ferry last night. Ugh!  But at least Monday cleared up enough so that I could do some exploring and yoga on a cliffside.

There's a loose leash dog area at the north end of Curl Curl beach where dogs can frolic in the lagoon.

North of Curl Curl beach is a nature walk trail that takes you into a headland which you can follow down to the ocean pool.  I didn't realize there were so many ocean pools in Australia.  I don't think this is a thing in the states.  I stopped on a landing overlooking the pool to get my Om on.  You can definitely feel one with everything here.

I hiked on up the headland and took a few more pictures and a video!

Of course I'm missing Arizona.  I get small reminders of it sometimes.  Like the lantana grows everywhere here and I see this bird that reminds me of the quail that run around my neighborhood.  It's actually called a crested pigeon.

My New Happy Place

Just two days after moving to Manly, I decided to go on a hike and explore.  That's how I found my new happy place just 1.2 miles away.

View from My Happy Place of the northern beaches from left to right:  Manly, Fairlight, Curl Curl

South of Manly beach and up the hill past Shelly Beach is a rocky path which takes you up into the cliff.  If you take a left from the main trail you'll find a perfect alcove along the cliff with a bench.

This is where Trenton and I stopped for lunch to watch the whales.  Two whale watching ships were already out there checking out a few humpbacks.  The season in New South Wales goes from May to November, so this is the time the pods are heading south with their new babies.

A not-so-little Water Dragon kept us company the whole time.  The woods had a few of these guys scurrying about.  We also saw a couple Australian Brush Turkeys.

It has been cold and drizzling for the past couple days, but this morning there was a break in the rain.  So I took the chance to get back to my happy place.  The alcove is sheltered from most of the wind and the rain so I took a quick break to watch for more whales.  I am seriously in love with this place.  It's so different and a world away from Chippendale and the Central Train station.

Chippendale, New South Wales

It's been a record 3 weeks living in a hotel room in Sydney.  The streak ends this weekend when we move into an Airbnb in Manly.  Our apartment actually won't be ready until mid October.

Although living in a hotel for this long is not ideal, there will be a few things I'll miss in this suburb they call Chippendale.  Chippendale is right in the middle of Sydney.  In fact, the closest train station is Central Station.  Because of that, it's easy to get anywhere from here.  We can walk to Darling Harbor, China Town, or the Haymarket.  Today's going to be sunny, so I'm walking out to Hyde Park to do some jogging.  Chippendale is the perfect location for us to explore the different neighborhoods we wanted to learn more about.

It is definitely a big city, hustle and bustle feel here.  So, I'll be glad to leave this for the suburbs.  Our hotel is right across the street from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and  the University of Notre Dame.  The University of Sydney and Charles Darwin University are close by as well.  It's  a very busy area.  I compare the walk to Central Station like walking in NYC, except with British Commonwealth rules which means we walk on the left and pass on the right.  This is also important to remember this when you're on the escalator.

This area has seen some revitalization after the completion of the Central Park project which boasts a beautiful park and eco-sustainable buildings fueled by it's own power generator housed in the old brewery.  I have a view of the brewery from my window.

If you look behind the smokestack on the left, you'll see one of the mixed-use buildings practically covered in plants.  The building is a vertical garden.  The story of it can be found here.  When it's time to water the plants, you do get a few sprinkles as you're walking by the buildings on your way to Central Station.

Another cool thing about this neighborhood is the restaurants.  This is a definite plus if you're living in a hotel without a kitchen.  Central Park Mall takes up the first few stories of the vertical garden buildings.  The Mall has many restaurants outside in a beautiful courtyard, or you can grab something from the food court and enjoy eating on the balcony overlooking the park.  Also, on the East side of the mall is Kensington Street with even more eateries.  Every Saturday this month, they had the Kensington Street Festival which featured artists, DJs and bands.

Also within Kensington Street is Spice Alley.  If you blink you'll miss the entrance.  Within that alley are more than a dozen Asian restaurants including food from Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, even Hainanese, which sounds like my kind of food! It's like a Singaporean Hawkers Market with every possible variety of curry, dumpling, noodle and satay skewer you can think of.

Knowing I won't be here much longer, I splurged on dessert yesterday and picked up an Ice Kacang.

I only read about the Ice Kacang from Crazy Rich Asians.  As described in the book, it reminded me of the Filipino dessert Halo-Halo with the ice, gelatin and sweet red beans.  However, I have to say, it didn't hit the mark.  The crispy rice, ube and jack fruit were missing from the Ice Kacang.  So Halo-Halo is still my all time favorite.

Yes, the restaurant is called Happy Endings (insert eye-roll here).  This weekend marks the happy ending of my life in the big city.  Next week, we'll see what beach suburb life has in store.

And The Winner Is...The Esplanade

We put in a bid for all five of our contenders last Saturday.  The crowds at each inspection showed us exactly how competitive apartment hunting is out here.  At one of our inspections there were at least 20 people waiting before opening! As we were leaving we passed by 20 more just coming in!  The realtor told us that usually, they would let us know by Monday.

Monday, we found out that our number one pick, The Cove, was off the market.  The current residents changed their mind and have decided to stay.  But we were accepted for our number 2 pick, The Esplanade!  We are so excited to be moving in next month!

It has a beautiful view of the boats docked in the harbor from the 2nd floor, which is the 3rd floor to us Americans.  I'm still getting used to that and have found myself getting off the elevator one floor too early sometimes.

Situated on the wharf side of Manly, it's right across the street from the water and just 400m from the ferry building.  The commute into the Central Business District is just 17 minutes by Fast Ferry which departs every 20 minutes.  The beach on the East side is just a few blocks away as well.  The location is full of shops, restaurants, bars and coffee shops.

We'll make sure to furnish this room with a sofa bed for our US visitors!

This kitchen could use some extra counter space, so I will add a hightop table to my shopping list.

The same balcony view can be seen from the master bedroom.

I remember when our ferry rode into the harbor on the morning of our inspections.  The captain announced that there were a pod of dolphins swimming by on the starboard! I was so excited, and when I figured out which side was starboard, I saw them swimming along and noticed there were several paddle boarders enjoying the company of the dolphins as well.  This was going to be my new home!

Apartment Hunters International

We spent all of Saturday apartment hunting in Manly.  This looks like the neighborhood that checks off all of our boxes.  All of our "Inspections" as they call it here, were walking distance.  We planned on 7 inspections starting from 10 AM to 1:15 PM.  Even though they were close together, I was able to rack up 6.5 miles of steps.

Here's our list of contenders in order of preference.

5.  The Spicoli.
We call it this because as we swung by to view it an hour before inspection, the balcony above the apartment had Spicoli talking fairly loud on his mobile.  He was complete with long hair and a couple surf boards on the balcony.  The view was ok, considering it was on the 1st floor.  It was the only 3 bedroom we looked at and had a large living area.

The Spicoli Living Room

4.  Gardenview.
This is a 2 bedroom townhome surrounded by a nice garden.  It had a spacious front patio and bright interior.  It's clean and roomy.  However, there's no view of the water.  It's only 1/2 mile (800 meters) from the wharf (but uphill).

Gardenview

3.  The Osborne.
The current tenants have a lot of stuff, so it's hard to imagine the place cleared out.  It was on the 3rd floor (4th floor to you Americans) and on top of a hill.  You can see the bay and the beach from the spacious patio.  The kitchen was larger and had the same amazing view.  The bad thing about it was that the carpet was a little dingy.  Maybe, they'll give it a good cleaning (or removal and hazmat disposal?) before anyone moves in.  Also just 800 meters from the wharf (uphill).

The picture doesn't do the view justice

2.  The Cove.
Just steps from the Manly Skiff Sailing club and a common area swimming pool right on the bay.  I can see myself having coffee on the balcony checking the waves before hopping on the paddle board in the morning.  This place checked off almost all the boxes except for a garage.  Great view from the balcony, even if it was on the 1st floor.

 







1.  The Esplanade.

This 2nd floor apartment had an amazing view of the bay and was the closest to the wharf at just 400 meters.  It had nice hardwood floors and a big balcony for dinners al fresco.

The Esplanade

We've turned in our applications and hope to hear from the property managers soon! Wish us luck!

Seven Things I'll Miss About Arizona

In just one day, our family starts the long journey to Australia.  We leave behind a home we've lived in for 13 years.  But what we have ahead of us is a year living on the beaches of Sydney.  Here's a list of the 7 things I'll miss about Arizona.

7.  The hiking.  It's no secret, I've been on many hikes here in Arizona.  My favorite ones being Havasupai Falls.  My trail shoes are coming with me to collect some mud from the Southern hemisphere.

6.  My job.  Yes, I actually liked my job.  But last week was my last day at work.  I had my going away party at...wait for it...Outback Steakhouse!!  I gave my team lead a going away gift of a boomerang to remind him that I might be back.

5.  The cactus.  Basically, the desert landscape, flora and fauna.  Nowhere else will I find Saguaros that tower over you whose blooms attract the bats at night, or the calming red rocks in the vortices of Sedona.  I'll miss seeing the roadrunners, coyote, occasional javelina and bob cats.  I guess I'll be trading those in for kangaroo, koala, huntsman spiders, wombats and wallabies.

4.  The sunsets.  Seriously. A. May. Zing.  And the sunrises are even more spectacular!

3.  This house.  As I said earlier, we've lived here for 13 years.  My youngest is 15 now, which means, this is the only house he's ever really know.  This is basically the last night we'll ever be sleeping in this house.  This video was taken this morning when we painted over the wall that marked Trenton's growth throughout the years.  When we move back next year, we will most likely continue to rent this house out and downsize into something new.

2.  My Marley.  The red tape, cost and quarantine to bring our best friend with us is not worth the trauma that this sweet little pup will have to go through.  Our friends will be taking care of her while we're gone.

1.  These two.  They are 27 and 22 now with adult lives of their own.  I will miss them the most.  This will be the hardest to leave.  Hopefully, they will come to visit in January and before we know it, our year abroad will be all over.