.:Aino in Australia and in South-East Asia:.

Ticket to the Moon...

2007-07-07T01:59:00.001+10:00

I was just taking a sea water shower in our hotel when the electricity went dead and now the only light I have is the computer screen, so I thought it is a perfect time to write a story. (Picture: Sunset in Seminyak)

As the Hindu parties kept on delaying our departure from Kuta to Gili Islands, we decided to rent a scooter for couple of more days and risk our lives again by being part of the chaotic traffic. The first day we just drove to Seminyak, which is basically the same beach close to Kuta, but it is way more upscale. The coastline is filled with luxurious spas and resorts. We watch the sun to set on the beach and later went to a fancy cocktail lounge for drinks. (Picture: Seminyak)
When laying on the lounge, watching the stars filling the sky, warm breeze blowing from the sea ad hearing the sounds of chill house music mixed with the waves from the sea, I had to pinch myself again to understand that this is REAL.

On the second day we decided to visit Ubud, which is known to be the home of culture and arts. Another reason was also to see the big Hindu celebration, and we were told that Ubud was a good spot for that. The drive took a bit longer this time as we got lost few times (the road marks just doesn’t make any sense) and because of the occasional showers. The traffic was also super busy, when all the people were rushing into temples with their fancy Hindu clothes and turbans.
(Picture: Me surrounded by local souvenir vendors) The city or the village of Ubud turned out to be as we were told; the home of artists, galleries, carpenter- and painting shops next to one other, more than eye can comprehend. Would have been great explore the shops more, but as our aim for today was to find the Hindu party, we were advised to drive further all the way up to a mountain village called Kintamani and find a temple called Pura Ulun Danau Batur. The showers started again as we left Ubud and in some point the rain was so hard that we had to stop for a while as the road got too slippery. (Picture: Volcano and the lake, Kintamani) After 40km and many hours we arrived to Kintamani and the sight to volcano ‘Gunung Batur’ and lake Batur was stunning. We also managed to find the temple, but apparently the ceremonies were already finished. Driving back to Kuta was the worst part. After few kilometres it started to rain again, which lasted almost the whole trip. We were soaked wet and freezing our asses off cuz the temperature up on the mountain was way colder than down on the bottom. Our journey back to Kuta Beach must have taken 3-4 hours in dark and wet weather conditions… If only our mum’s would have seen how dangerous it was…
(Picture: Pura Ulun Danau Batur Temple) But made it in one piece, thanks to Petteri’s driving skills. I must say that a warm shower has never felt as good as after the trip. (Picture: me and rice field)

After 9 nights in Kuta Beach (Bali) we eventually managed to organise a transfer to Gili Islands. Our journey to Gili started at 6am when a shuttle bus came to pick us up from our hotel. After 2 hours drive and an hour waiting we took a ferry to Lombok Island, which was quite an experience. Just when we thought that there wouldn’t been any annoying souvenir vendors harassing us… well it seemed that they had been doubled in the ferry. Four and half hours seemed like eternity when sitting and killing time by watching some Indonesian karaoke videos which they played so loud that I thought that I would be deaf after the trip. From Lombok we continued to another harbour village where we got fooled to buy mosquito spray with a very expensive price by the locals and the funniest thing is that there are no mosquitoes here =) At last we arrived to Gili Trawangan after 12 hours travelling. Trawangan is the biggest island of the 3 Gilis and known as a party island. One nice thing about Gilis are that there is no motor traffic here and the local transport here is ‘Mercedes’ horse and bike.

After wondering around for a while we found a nice cheap hotel called Pondok Lita close to the beach. That night we had a long sleep as we were exhausted from the travels. The next day we decided to explore the island a bit more and found a nice spot to sunbath without anybody around. Later we discovered that we weren’t the only Finns around. So far we have met 9 Finns :) Have to watch out what we are talking! That night also happened to be the full moon party in the island. We hooked up with a Finnish couple and went for ‘magical’ dinner with them. The party was indescribable… Can’t say more, it’s better if you discover it yourself!

The island really is a paradise. Everywhere you look it looks like a postcard. Diving is really big here and I’m thinking of going tomorrow. Today we went for a snorkelling trip with 20 others around the Gili Islands with a glass bottom boat. The corals were pretty dead and I don’t think that anything can compete with the Great Barrier Reef, but we did see at least 6 turtles :)

We were supposed to swap the island and go to Gili Air for few nights, but as Petteri got a stomach bug we stayed in Gili Trawangan all the 6 days. Diving was great and I managed to see 2 sharks around 1,5 metres by a close distance.

6 days was just perfect length to stay in the ‘paradise’, just enough not to get bored and have a nice relaxing time. Our journey back to Bali started on Thursday morning, again with a small boat back to Lombok, a shuttle bus to Sengigi and again ferry to Bali. As I thought the ferry trip last time was terrible, this time it was worse and took 7 hours, because of an accident. Our flight to Singapore was departing at 10pm and we had to take a taxi straight away as the ferry arrived to the harbour. We told the driver to drive like mad , which he did and managed to get us to the airport in an hour time, when usually the trip takes 2 hours. So eventually it all went good, except I didn’t get to have my manicure, pedicure and massage that I was dreaming on the ferry… So now we are back in Singapore for one whole day before heading to Vietnam. But that’s another story :)

BALI-BALI-BALI

2007-06-28T14:01:00.000+10:00

It’s half past 9 in the morning, Petteri is still sleeping. I woke up half an hour ago into the sound of the hammers and construction work coming outside from the building next door. My back feels sore from the sun yesterday, but I’m pleased the colour my skin is finally turning into. We are now in Bali; the Southeast Asia’s Cliché, also in the place where the bombings took place just few years ago, in Kuta Beach. (Picture: Kuta Beach) The tourist industry isn’t still quite the same as it was and it can be seen everywhere here. Most of the hotels are half empty, like ours, which is nice as we now get super good service. The people outside selling their tourist goods in their little booths are basically attacking you when you walk by. Everyone is shouting; transport YES?? ‘rum´rum’ = room? and scooters and motorcycles everywhere.

We left Darwin 19^th June 3 o’clock in the morning and got a drive from our road trip buddies, Maria and David. The flight was dreadful as next to us sat a lady with the worst flu ever and she just kept on making these disgusting noises. But Tiger Airways was very positive experience.

Before getting to Bali we had a whole day in Singapore. We arrived to the airport at 7am and even though the flight was tiring, as soon as we landed we both cheered up. After dropping or back packs to the safety we took a bus to the city. Both of us were so surprised how clean and green the city is. As I have been told that Singapore is great for shopping, you probably guess how we spent the day. Petteri bought a fancy camera and I was in ecstasy when entered the doors of Zara after being apart a year!!! I really loved the city and as we were heading again back to the airport I told Petteri that I wouldn’t want to leave yet. He just said; Aino we are going to Bali come on!!! (Picture: Pro-surfers, yeah right!)

-Bali, yes it felt unreal. For me Bali has been just a distant dream. A holiday paradise where you probably get to go once in your life time, or then not and now we are here. At times we both have to pinch each other to realize this all…

As we arrived to the airport quite late at 10pm, the first challenge was to find a place to stay that night. Outside the airport there were dozens of hotel reps waiting the tourist come out and sell them over priced overnights. We decided to find one on our own and took a taxi to Kuta Beach. (Picture: Sunset in Kuta)The thing here is that none of the prices are set, like in the taxis there are no charging meters and you have to agree the price beforehand, which can be very annoying! We should have known that it is a real suicide to walk around the city with all our bags, meaning that people shouting everywhere: ‘transport transport’, ‘rum rum’. Two stereotype looking tourists looking for a place to stay <- a gold mine for the local people. After checking out few hotels we decided to stay a night in one and continue our search the next day. (Picture: Denpasar)

The next morning we checked in to another hotel: La Walon, close to the beach and a lot cheaper than the previous one. I heard from the place from my friend Minka who also had stayed here a year ago. With 14€/day we have a nice room in the 3^rd floor and breakfast. Cheap like soap and I still think we are paying too much. (Picture: Petteri was enchanted with the smells of Pasar Badung)

The first few days we just explored the Kuta area. Went to the beach sun bathing and surfing. Petteri is getting better and better every day… with me I don’t see any progress :) But it’s fun just float with the board and sunbathe and watch the hot surfers. Food is ridiculously cheap here. With 5€ you eat like a king… very hard to resist deserts ;)

(Picture: Pasar Badung) One day we rented a scooter cuz we wanted to visit a few places outside Kuta. First of all the traffic here is crazy. NO RULES!!! Even though the traffic here is left sided, it doesn’t mean it would stop the people driving on the wrong side. I’m really surprised that we made it alive! And the petrol station… My god!!! Also there you have to bargain and there is no set price. Well you can just guess how much they dried to fool us, two blondes wearing bling bling sunnies and looking sooooooooo like tourists! But I got really pissed off and I guess they got a bit surprised a girl yelling like that and we only ended up paying one quarter of the price they asked. Still I’m convinced we paid too much. (Picture: Pasar Badung) It is not really about the money, but I’m just so irritated of the fact that they try to fool you just because you are a tourist. But in the other hand they have to get the money from somewhere… well at least now I’ve learned to pay only a quarter from the first asked price, not a cent more.

The first stop we did in Denpasar and visited the famous market Pasar Badung. Finding that place wasn’t the easiest and even when we eventually found it, getting there with a scooter was a real challenge as most of the street are one way streets. From the markets you can find anything. (Picture: Veggies in the market) There are no supermarkets around (at least I haven’t seen any) so the locals shop everything i.e. their groceries; living chickens, gooses, vegetables, rice, spices etc. from there.

After lunch we continued driving in the crazy traffic and tried to find our way without a proper map to the art markets, but after too many ‘no goes’ we gave up and went straight to Mengwi where Bali’s most famous temple Taman Ayun is located. (Picture: Ricefield on fire) Before going home we also visited the Monkey Forest ‘Alas Kedaton’ that holds over 700 crazy monkeys that steal everything. I also got a taste of a monkey attack when one of the bosses jumped on my back and refused to come off for minutes that seemed like eternity.

So that’s all that has been happening here on the other side of the world lately. Petteri is waking up finally. Breakfast time!!!

Above: Local Easter Bunny in the rice field :)
Below: Taman Ayun temple

Above: Taman Ayun temple
Below: 3 monkeys in Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest

Road trip; Cairns to Darwin

2007-06-21T01:33:00.000+10:00

Hyvää Jussia kaikille!!!
Survived outback, didn’t get killed by suspicious aboriginals or kangaroos and made our way to Darwin. (Picture: me, Maria & Petsku) As we left 3pm from Cairns we decided already that it was better for us to stay on the coast instead heading to the outback, therefore we drove again to north; to Cape Tribulation, which is famous rainforest national park. On our way we passed by Port Douglas, where we had holiday with Julia, Chris and Marko in October… Brought some good memories :) We also stopped in Port Sea (resort we stayed), where Chris’ brother in the GM and I went to say hi to him. He was quite surprised to see me. (Picture: long way home from Port Douglas)

We stayed that night in Cape Tribulation, a place called JP’s. I was shocked to hear that they don’t have TVs in any place there (to save the electricity). The next day it was my turn to start driving and I have to brag that Im getting quite pro on left side driving :)
We checked out some nice beaches and lookouts on our way, as we knew that for few days we only would see outback. We drove that day 16hours and the last 6 ours we were struggling with 287km long never ending gravel road. It was a real suicidal way as the dark came and all the animals; kangaroos, rabbits, cows jumping around. Luckily this time we were only very close to hit one. (Picture: David & Maria)

That night we also had to sleep outside, as we almost ran out of gas and therefore had to stay in some caravan site we found in the middlew of nowhere. It was soooooooooo cold that night, so I had to wear all my clothes on and squeeze into my sleeping back shivering on the ice cold ground in Maria’s and David’s tent. I lasted till 5 in the morning before I had to get into the car where Maria and Petteri were sleeping. Well it was an experience, I kept on telling myself. (Picture: Lunch Break)

The next day we continued driving and getting deeper into the outback. Dry yellow fields, gray partly burned trees and the road as long as the eye can see. There was plenty of time to read some books. I read 2;'the Alchemist' and 'First they killed my Father' (about Cambodians time under Kmer Rouge). Both of the books were very impressive and I recommend them if you need some summer reading.
(Picture: Hot Springs in Northern Territory; Maria, David & Petsku)

Finally we arrived to Darwin after 5 days spending in the car. It felt good to be in a proper sized city and next to the internet. The weather in Darwin was just perfect, +30 and sunny every day. Unfortunately you aren’t allowed to swim in the ocean because of the jelly fishes and crocodiles, but at least we had a spa in our hostel. One day we were about to see the place where “God would live, if lived on the earth” (like someone once told me); Kakadu, national park, but as we didn’t have a four wheel drive it was waste of time. One day we also visited a crocodile farm close by and saw the only captured albino crock in the world. There are only 3 known albino crocks to be living. Pretty unique ;) (Picture: Poor crock and Hunter)

19th of June 2007 it was time to say bye bye to Australia and start our adventure number 2; Asia. Leaving felt surreal and still can’t really comprehend it. Guess it hits me when Im back in Finland.

Above: Crocodile Farm in Darwin
Below: The familiar sight for 5 days

Above: Cape Tribulation rain forest
Below: Landscapes while driving (Queensland)

Above: Landscapes while driving (Queensland)
Below: Cursed gravel road (286km=6hours)

Above: Landscapes while driving (Northern Territory)

We are still here...

2007-06-07T11:07:00.000+10:00

Hola mis queridos amigos <- So great to have Spanish speaking friends around when you need them (as my Spanish is getting RUSTY)! Here we are still alive in Australia for 8 more days before flying out to BALI, WOW! (picture; Petteri spotted a Koala in Magnetic) We left Airlie Beach the next day and said goodbye to Whitsundays as we got a ride from a Dutch couple; Hans and Evelin, we me in Fraser Island. Our next stop was Townsville 3hour drive from Airlie. As we drove by the endless sugarcane plantations I kept on thinking how sugar is actually made into the form we consume it. If anybody knows please let me know :) Yeah, I know I could just check it from the Internet, well nah! Can’t bother. (picture: Rock Wallabies)

Anyway, we stayed that night in Townsville, even though the city itself didn’t really impress us. We booked a tour to Magnetic Island for 2 nights departing the next day. In the hostel we met some familiar faces; Tina, the German girl who was sailing with us in Whitsundays and 2 Finnish girls; Anna-Maria and Tiina who I met before Christmas by accident in a sushi place in Sydney. World is really a small place. The Finns also were heading to Magnetic the next day, so again we got a big Finnish delegation :) (picture: Albino monkey; Magnetic Island)

Magnetic Island is located a 20 minute ferry ride from Townsville. It is famous for it’s untouched national park, nice beaches and a sunny climate (Magnetic Island averages over 320 days of sunshine per year). But of course the sun was hiding almost the whole time we were around :S Typical!

As we arrived the island we decided to rent a Barbie to get around the island better. We chose a beautiful pink Barbie moke, which was SO cool! Really could use one in Finland! This was the first time for me to drive on the left side, SCARY, but managed without a scratch. Actually I was a bit nervous cuz I haven’t been driving any motor vehicle for a whole year. We picked up the Finnish girls with us and just cruised around the rest of the day. (picture: Barbie & Ken)

The next day I signed up for advanced diver course, because the Australia’s best diving site ‘Yongala wreck’ lays close by the island and for that I needed to be certified to get as deep as 30 meters below the sea level. The first day of my course included 3 dives; Navigation dive, Naturalist dive and something else which I can’t remember anymore. I did the course together with another English girl, Laura. (picture: Petteri is scared when the girls are behind the wheel) We were lucky as there were only 2 of us, because usually there are a lot more people at the same time, but now we got exclusive teaching :) Petteri went to explore the nature and did some koala spotting in the National Park.

On my second and the final day of diving was by far the most challenging and most AMAZING day of my entire life. It was time to see the Yongala ship wreck. (picture: Yongala wreck) The first surprise was to realize that the boat trip took 3 hours one way with a tiny boat. The ride was rocky all the way and the first people spewed after an hour. I lasted 2,5 hours but after that I was throwing up the rest of the trip, on the boat, in the water and even when diving (which was an experience itself). Even though I was feeling really shitty and could barely jump into the water myself, after getting into 10 meters and deeper I felt great. My condition got immediately better and as we descent deeper all the way to27 meters and when seeing the wreck and all the marine life; giant fishes, sea snakes, huge turtles, stingrays and many other creatures I can’t even name, I felt like never before. The feeling was indescribable and I felt like I was in some discovery channel documents. All the colors, corals and fishes!!! Too bad that the pictures I took weren’t any good :(

The history of Yongala in brief goes something like this; ‘A luxuriously appointed passenger and freight ship, SS Yongala sailed into the eye of a cyclone on the 23 March 1911. It was not identified until 1958, having lain undisturbed for nearly 50 years. On board had been 122 people, a racehorse called Moonshine, a red Lincolnshire bull, and cargo for northern ports. Only the horse was found.’ We did all together 2 dives to the wreck, around 35minutes each! I f you ever have a possibility to go diving there DO IT! As I said by far the best experience of my life! Meaning only the diving…the spewing part almost killed me.

On our way back to Townsville the people who managed not to get rid of their meals on our way to Yongala were now all feeling the same pain as rest of us as the wind was blowing 55m/sec. In some point I thought that we are all going to die and even the crew revealed to us that they’ve never been out there with same kind of weather conditions. But luckily we made it, safe, but freezing as all my clothes were soaking wet from the ride. And the best part; now I’m certified advance diver!!! (picture: it's me)

We took the bus with Petteri the next day and left Townsville. Our original plan was to go skydiving in Mission Beach, but continued all the way to Cairns as the weather was so bad.

On Friday Piritta got back from her 4 days diving trip and it was to celebrate her farewell as she is leaving Australia today (11 June). As Piritta and I have our old tradition on Fridays, also this Friday we draw a litre Friday bottle. Yes, and the night was wild!!! Also Piritta’s friend Maria from Finland, David (Maria’s bfriend) and Roshine (Piritta’s English friend) came to Cairns to party. And what a party that was… Unfortunately what happens in Cairns stays in Cairns :) (Picture: from left; Roshine, Maria, Pirre, me after big night out)

Today we are leaving Cairns and our plans have changed a bit. Instead of flying to Darwin we are doing a road trip together with Maria and David… Yes it’s going to be a long trip; 2700km… And outback! Hopefully we have a better luck than the backpackers in Wolf Creek :S I’ll let you know how it went as we arrive (hopefully) alive to Darwin after 4-5 days. Till then take care and remember that Aino loves you all very very mucho!

Picture above: Maria & David

Journey begins!

2007-06-02T13:20:00.001+10:00

Two weeks have passed and we have made our way 2000 kilometres north from Sydney. The first stopover for us was in place called Noosa (Australia’s Riviera) in Sunshine Coast. (picture; sunset in Noosa) Four days went pretty relaxed on the beach, walking around the National park, looking amazing houses (not bad place to have “a little” holiday cottage) and getting used to the fact that I don't have to work no longer.

From Noosa we took a bus ride to Hervey Bay (2,5hours north). We stayed in the only hostel in town that was supposed to have a wireless internet, but pretty soon we discovered that there was none. So no games for Petteri. The next day we had to wake up very early as we booked a 3 day tour among 10 others to Frazer Island. We got lucky as our group turned out to be great fun; couple from Amsterdam (I was super happy as I could impress them with my Dutch vocabulary), 2 Japanese, 2 British girls, 2 boys from Switzerland and a Canadian girl. As we signed for our tour in Beaches (hostel) we were camping in a real camping site and had BBQ facilities and warm showers which felt divine after all the sand and sunshine during the day. (picture: Petteri in Sahara)

Fraser Island (World Heritage protected) is the biggest sand island in the world and it has more sand than in Sahara I was told. The island is famous for its long white beaches, sandy cliffs and over 100 freshwater lakes. We had our own jeep, heaps of food (as I did the shopping with Fabio and exceeded our budget with 90$) and of course booze :)

The ride was pretty bumpy and as we cruised through the rainforest it really felt that we are in a real safari. The first day we went to Lake Wabby and chilled out for a moment. We also cruised along the endless beach and saw the famous ship wreck. Later that night we got together to the camping site and after setting up the tents had a fantastic BBQ meal and played drinking games. Our group was by far the loudest party group and the next day 'little men' were still hammering our heads (you know who Im talking about ;)) Oh and I saw a shooting star the first time of my life! (Picture: jeep ride)

The next day we woke up early and packed our Jeep again and it was time to explore the north side of the Island. The first stop was in Indian Head, a cliff where you can spot sharks, turtles and other sea creatures... Unfortunately we only saw one tiny turtle from the distance. We also spend couple of hours in Champagne pools, which is a good spot to dip yourself in the sea water after sunbathing, as its too dangerous to swim in the ocean because of the currents, sharks and crocks. (Picture: our group in Lake McKenzie)

We also saw a dingo, which Petteri was so eagerly looking forward to. Dingoes are a bit of a trouble in the island and they have even been attacking humans. But they do look cute.

3rd day we got a bit of rain as we visited the final couple of lakes before heading back to Hervey Bay. Lake McKenzie which is told to be the most beautiful lake in the island was also my favourite. I really recommend to do the Fraser tour independently with a group (assuming that the group is as great as ours). The given suggested itinerary is great and when travelling with only small number of people you can do the sightseeing with a more relaxed pace. Really a fantastic trip and we made new friends :) (Picture: Champagne Pools)

When coming back to Hervey Bay we stayed at the Beaches one more night, had a final last dinner together with our group and partied a bit in the bar which was totally empty, except some hilly billy locals. During that night we both were woken up by the wild moaning coming outside right under our window. Really couldn't believe my ears and eyes when saw a couple having sex without sparing any noise! heheh pretty funny! The next morning we had again an early morning as we got a ride to Airlie Beach (11hours north from Hervey) with the Swiss boys (Fabio and Manuel) who also were in our Fraser team. We also stopped in Bundaberg, which is famous for its rum. Unfortunately we missed the tour in the factory, but after Fabio used his Italian charm we got to do still the tasting part ;) Really fell in love with the dark coffee/chocolate flavoured rum that you can only get from the factory, damned! The road trip went safely and we got ourselves to Whitsundays at 10pm. (Picture: drinking games at the camping site)

That night we all stayed in a same room and had a few drinks of Bundaberg Rum and played card games. (Picture: Bundabeg Rum factory, from left; Fabio, Manuel, me and Petteri)That night we all slept like babies as we were still all tired from Fraser and the drive. The next morning it was time to say bye bye to Manuel and Fabio as they departed for sailing. Me and Petteri stayed one more night in Airlie Beach relaxing and watching the girls getting wet in wet t-shirt contest =)

On Wednesday we also booked a sailing trip for 2 nights and 3 days with Pegasus. (Picture: Pegasus in sunset) Whitsundays is famous sailing and diving spot. There are in total 74 island located close together in Whisundays and surrounded by one of the world’s seven natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef. I was a bit worried that I would get sea sick so I was popping the seasickness pills all day long, but it really helped and I was feeling brilliant the whole trip. This time our group consisted again of 12 young people, ready to dive, snorkel, sail and party, which was great as usually carries 24 people. Our boat Pegasus, departed at 4pm and the sunset on-board was breathtaking. The next day we sailed to the famous Whitsunday Island and explored the beautiful Whitehaven beach. After lunch we got to do our first diving and I really have to say that there is not many other as impressive sights as when diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Petteri also dived the first time and really liked it. (Picture: getting ready for diving)

Later that evening I did my first ever night dive, which was sooooo scary, but also exciting. It is a strange feeling when you are 10m deep in the ocean, breathing from a air tank, in dark and totally depended of the torch you are holding. The freakiest thing is that you never know what is coming behind or after the next corner. My instructor told me that there has been occasionally sharks seen in the area, but I took the risk as I wanted to experience the world's top 5 diving site; Blue Pearl Bay. And hey I am still alive :) (Picture: Sunset onboard Pegasus)

That night we also got to join to a surprise Toga party held in a boat called Romance, which was also staying the night in the same bay. Even though the party ran late, we still had to wake up fresh and early for our final diving before sailing back to the harbour. (Picture: guess who?) Again, amazing trip and already now when looking the pictures it feels like the whole thing was a dream...

Now we are back in Airlie Beach and hitting the road again heading north later today or tomorrow morning. Last night we went again to see girls in wet t-shirts, tonight there would be jelly wrestling... but really feel ready to move on. So bye bye Airlie! (Picture: On the way to diving in the Great Barrier Reef)

Picture above: Whitehaven Beach in Whitsundays
Picture below: Lunch break by the Airlie lagoon, Petsku with 'Uuno Turhapuro' sunnies

Picture above: Sailing to the sunset
Picture belove: Petteri, Aino & Misha in Farser jeep

Picture above: Petteri's pyramide by the Lake McKenzie in Fraser Island
Picture belove: Lookout from the Indian Head (Fraser Island)

Picture above: Wabby Lake in Fraser Island

Time for goodbyes...

2007-05-28T17:05:00.000+10:00

The day came eventually that I was so eagerly looking for, talking of course about my last day in Finnesse. 11 months of hard office work behind and 3 months of holiday ahead in the places I could only dream of a year ago. But before I introduce my travel companion and our destinations more in details lets go back to my last days in Sydney. (picture: Antto,Piritta,me and Petteri)

On Friday 11^th May Petteri (the guy Im travelling with) arrived in Sydney. I went to the airport to pick him up. We were both a bit curious how our embrace would go as we only knew each other for 4 days when we met in Sydney in January. Exciting, but also a bit scary… This is probably the craziest and by far the coolest thing anybody has ever done for me: To come all the way to Sydney from Finland to travel for 3 months with a person who you only met for 4 freaking DAYS! crazeeeyyyyyy =) (pic: me and Petsku)

That night I also had my farewell party for my closest friends in a
Spanish restaurant (Encasa) I picked from www.eatability.com.au <- a great website that lists most of the restaurants in bigger cities in

Australia

. Well the number of my closest friends exceeded my expectations and eventually we were 21 people eating tapas and drinking wine. Such a great night and I was so happy that everybody came… meant a lot to me. From Encasa we continued our night to the Rocks and checked out a new club called Argyle. Groovy place and nice that most of the people stayed around as it sometimes might be a struggle with such a big group.
(Picture: Farewell party at Encasa)

The next days we took relaxed with Petteri and I showed him the city a bit more, went to movies (if you haven’t seen Jim Carey’s number 23, I highly recommend to hurry up!), also we went to see a 3D movie (which I wanted to see already for months), did a walk from Googee to Bondi etc. (pic: Piritta, Minka, Chris)

The last days in Finnesse I could barely concentrate. My mind was already too focussed on our coming trip, packing, saying goodbye to everybody and leaving Sydney. 11 months, god it feels that it went in a flash of an eye.

Tuesday was my last day at work. VERY strange feeling! Even now, after a week from that day it still feels like Im on a holiday and returning back to Sydney and Finnesse in a while… I guess it takes few weeks to realize everything what has happen. Anyway, back to my last day. (pic: from left; Ritchie, Rach, Antto, Elias) My boss, Satu organised a farewell party at 6pm in Firehouse (restaurant next door) and I got to invite the people I had been working with the past months. It was so nice to have a chance to say goodbye to all the people face to face. Later Satu also took our Finnesse team for a dinner to Milsons and also Petteri came along. Great meal with colleagues sealed the last day of my internship nicely and I also got a beautiful bracelet Im wearing every day when travelling (Santos; protecting me from the dangers) and Satu had wrote me such a great poem of my days working in Finnesse… very emotional. (pic: Claire,me and Sean)

The rest of the week I spent cleaning and packing… Can’t believe how much stuff I have gathered in 11 months! On Friday we had my second farewell party and I said goodbye to my Aussie mum as we were flying out from Sydney on Saturday morning. It was very strange feeling to close the door of my flat the last time, not to mention sleeping in my bed the night before. (pic: from left; Pete, Mauricio, Antto) The last night in Sydney started out with a dinner in a Korean restaurant, after we headed to the Opera Bar and along came the other friends. From Opera Bar we continued to X with our team Finland and ended up having a after party at McMahon’s Point where Antto and the other guys live. At six in the morning we started to make our way home, slept for few hours and started our holiday with the flight to Noosa!

(Above: Allan & Hanna)

(Above: from left; Rach, Aleksi, Ossi, Re)

Running out of time!

2007-05-07T10:50:00.000+10:00

Heyyyyy…long time no news!
Well my days here in Sydney are almost done and the departure date is becoming closer every minute. Today I have one more week work left and then my days in Finnesse are over forever, jeaaaah!

So what has been going on lately… mmm, well have been trying to see my friends here as much as I could. Last Friday we had a family dinner at my place and finally I got to meet Bret Lee (the famous Australian cricket player) and his wife Liz (the niece of my Aussie mum) who were great fun. Their baby, Preston couldn’t make it unfortunately. Talking about babies. I have been babysitting few time an 8 months old boy called Finn, and even tho he is such adorable sweetheart, he is a handful :) going to take few more years before I even consider to plan my own. (picture: Minka and me; girls night out)

Last Saturday we had ‘girls night out’. Minka, Jo, Piritta and I headed to the city to have a big one and went to Hugos and Dragon Fly in the X. Fun night, except drank a bit too much and the next day wasn’t feeling like a champion. (picture: Piritta & Jo)

This Friday Im going to have my farewell party in one Spanish restaurant for my friends. Also Petteri is finally arriving from Thailand. For those who are not following… Petteri is a Finnish guy I met here in Sydney in January and he is now coming back to travel with me for the next 3 months. One month in Australia, in East Coast and Northern Territory and 2 months in Asia (Singapore, Bali, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. Yep, going to be my dream holiday adventure! (Picture: Karoliina, Maha, me, Minksu, Pirre)
But will keep on writing this blog, so you can follow our trip :)
Btw. Im flying back to Helsinki 13th of August. So see you then!

Kisses and hugs! Oh, and remember to cheer for Finland in Eurovision song contest! We are having a big Finnish crowd here in Sydney to watch the contest! Go Hanna Go! Also Happy happy birthday to Katri aka MAMA and to Pinja! Luv you lots!

Picture above: AFL; Sydney Swans

Picture above: Baby opossum in our terrace

Happy Happy Easter!

2007-04-12T20:26:00.000+10:00

Isn’t it great to have a few days longer break every now and then from work? Last week was my biggest challenge at work; it was time for the Finland Down Under seminars. Not only it meant long, 12 hour days, but also I think my stress limit approached the maximum daily. Luckily we had everything quite under control well in advance, so there weren’t any surprises when the seminars kicked off on Monday the 2nd of April. (Picture: Finland Down Under seminar organizers and partners) Monday was easy, no presentations for me, only an evening cocktail event at the Finnish consulate. Nice exclusive function with 40 guests, who were welcomed in with the special mini Sibelius concert by 4 players from Australian Chamber Orchestra and Finnish delicatessen such as karjalanpiirakka and real Finnish dark bread. I was in heaven!!!

The next day the real fun begun. Our first seminar took place in the Museum of Sydney and gathered 20 media representatives and 120 travel agents to be present. My boss had given me huge responsibility to do all our presentations and I must to admit that I was a bit nervous before I entered in front of 150 people in the auditorium. But everything went very well and everybody was happy :) Some people even came to congratulate me and to tell that they definitely want to go to Finland now, so I guess I did my job :) Oh, and after Easter one radio channel wants to interview me… well, that is an experience as well!

On Wednesday morning we took an early flight to Melbourne, where our second and last seminar took place. I was a bit nervous, because I had chosen a venue that Satu (my boss) hadn’t seen yet and when I saw it couple of months ago, it was totally under construction. Luckily the venue was all done and nicely decorated and perfect for our purpose. The second seminar went as good as the first one and I even made some good contacts for the future.

On Thursday morning when flying back to Sydney I was exhausted and really looking forward the coming Easter break. My boss gave me the rest of the day off so I went quickly home to drop off my stuff and joined Marko for car hunting in the city. We had some big issues finding a rental car, because as we should have known; public holiday is not the best time to start looking for a rental car in the last minute. Luckily after hours we found one. The car itself was the crappiest vehicle ever and even the smallest hill was a big struggle.

Our Finnish trio; Marko, Piritta and me spent the Easter, 4 nights in Hunter Valley, which is the closest wine region from Sydney (1,5 hour drive). We stayed in a cabin in a holiday park in Cessnock close to the vineyards (naturally). Our holiday basically ran the same daily routine: Eating, wine tasting and touring, nap, more eating, playing cards, wine and eating again, playing cards, sleeping… But was soooooo nice and did so good after a stressful week. Oh, and we did watch some dvd’s and my favourite show: Kumman Kaa (Katri the following video ‘Perjantai Pullo’ is for you).

For those who are petrified of the vodka… Well we didn’t drink that all in once ;) We did have a real traditional Finnish Easter with all nice Finnish delicatessen such as cinnamon buns (made by Piritta), Karjalanpiirakka, egg butter and real dark bread, which we went to pick up from the Finnish Consulate before leaving Sydney. Yes, I get along very well with the consul; Aino as well ;)
On Sunday morning we painted eggs and were playing hide the Easter eggs… Our neighbours were staring us like a punch of weirdoes.

The holiday went by way too fast as always and now Im back at work. Thought my last month would be a bit more relaxed, but NO WAY! Satu has made sure that there is no breather. Well one more month and then Im on holiday for 3 months and my big journey around Australia and Asia begins!

Almost forgot… On Tuesday we had a farewell dinner for Marko. It was good to see Chris as well, who got back from a coaching trip from Asia just now. Going to miss you so much MARKO! But luckily Im going to see you in Helsinki as soon as I return :)

This weekend my laptop is going to be sent to Finland so do not wonder if Im not online in msn or in skype that often. But email always works. Cha cha xxx

Above: Marko's farewell dinner

Above: Piritta's 80's party

37 working days left...

2007-03-23T14:56:00.000+11:00

WOW time seems to go so fast! Today I have 4 good reasons to be happy and 2 to be sad.
First the most important ones: Ms Anniina Baumann has 23rd bday today! Happy bday sweety!!! Another happy news; today is my little cousin Liisa is meant to give birth to her firstborn. So exciting! Please let me know how everything goes. Then today I have ONLY 37 working days left… soon counting the hours :) and yes, today is Friday, jeah! Bad news; no clubbing for me this weekend cuz I’m absolutely broke and Julia left today back to Sweden :(

Work is very stressful at the moment, because the Finland seminars (which I’m responsible for) are getting closer. For those who doesn’t know what in the earth I’m talking about: As our company is the Marketing representative for Finland here in Australia, we are organizing (or I’m organizing…Don’t get much of help from my boss) 2 seminars in Sydney for 100 people (3rd April) and in Melbourne for 80 people (4th April), media functions in both cities and a welcoming cocktail event at the Finnish Consulate. So basically I have been signed to be the coordinator for the whole event and as there are no employees in Finnesse besides me and my boss, (well Anders and our new Lithuanian intern) all the work is on my shoulders. But anyway… ill let you know how everything goes. And no more work talk for this entry.

More interesting… NEW ZEALAND! Few weeks ago we left Australia with Julia and headed to New Zealand. The land of amazing landscapes, sheep (four times more than people) and extreme sports. We arrived to Christchurch after 3 hour flight and stayed that night at one of my class mates, Hanna’s place (She is doing her internship in there). It was so great to see her after 9 months and compare our work experiences… It seemed that I wasn’t the only one with some shitty times at work :) The next day Hanna showed us a bit around the city before our bus to Queenstown that departed at 10am.

9 hours on the bus was quite torture, but the sights were breathtaking; Surrounding mountains with snow on the top, lakes and rivers with turquoise water. The weather also got better from that on and for the next 4 days we had cloudless sky and +28degrees. Queenstown is located on the Southern island, by the second largest lake in New Zealand (Wakatipu) and surrounded by massive mountains. It is a tiny village with only 9500 locals (compared to Christchurch, with the population of 200,000 people), famous for extreme sports; bungee jumping, skydiving, paragliding, drafting, river surfing, all sorts of winter sports etc. and for its magnificent scenery and therefore it is a popular place to movie shooting (Lord of the Rings, Last Samurai, Narnia, just to name few). (picture: Queenstown)

After a long bus trip we checked in to our hostel (bungee backpackers) and took the rest of the night easy. Had a dinner, went for a drink and zzzzzzzzz…

The next morning I woke Julia up with my lovely voice, as it was her bday. That day was going to be full on! At 9am we got picked up with a jeep from our hostel for the Lord of the Ring’s safari. Us and 2 other people plus our guide was about to explore the wonders of the Lord of the Ring’s scenery… and yes I have to say that it was amazing even tho I have to admit that I’ve only seen one of the movies and fell asleep during, ups!

Later we had some sushi lunch at the park, enjoyed live music and the market that was held next to the park every weekend. 2pm it was time for the adrenaline shot of the trip. As bungee jumping is originally from Queenstown and the first commercial jump has been made from Kawarau bridge in 1988 it was obvious for us to give it a go. Even though I have sword that I could never do it, rather try skydiving…but, well have a look yourself :)

Yes, still alive and really loved it! Next time I want to do the worlds highest bungee jump; 132m and 8,2sec of free fall, which is also in Queenstown! Julia didn’t really enjoy it, but at least she have something to tell her future grandchildren.

From bungee jumping we headed back to the centre and took the gondola up on the top of the mountain. After viewing the beautiful sight and sunset we went to see Kiwi-Hakka show, which was something. They even forced me on the stage to spin the “poijs”, in which I really sucked!

Then the best part… New Zealand buffet!!! Stayed there 3 hours and were probably one of the last ones to leave. Left some inappropriate comments to a hot waiter and rolled away with a too full tummy. What a great day!

On Sunday Julia left early for a Milford Sound –tour exploring the famous fjords. I had a sleep in and later went horseback riding to the mountains. It was so cool to ride next to the wild life, reindeers and sheep… and I cantered the first time properly :) After a nice afternoon nap I headed to the “city” and as Julia was still on her tour I had to have a dinner alone, tried some Korean food.

One cool thing in Queenstown is the Otago Wine tasting centre, were you can load money to a chip card and taste hundreds of local and international wines. We were supposed to meet up in Otago with Julia at 9pm, but after the time passed 10pm and my chip credit was getting low I decided to go back to our hostel to check if she had fallen asleep or something. As I walked I saw the tour bus dropping her of the same time. It certainly was a full day tour, 14 hours, but she said it was worth it!

The next morning it was time to check out from the hostel, and have the Queenstown’s best breakfast; Blueberry pancakes with lemon syrup, yummy! We also did some last minute shopping and went again to the wine tasting in Otago. This time not alone :) Our bus departed 2.45pm and this time luckily went faster, only 7 hours. Hanna was waiting us in the station and we had a dinner together before crashing her couch again. The next morning it started to rain in New Zealand and has been raining ever since… the holiday was over.

Picture above: Lord of the Rings tour

Picture above: Queenstown, Wakatipu lake

Picture above: Lord of the Rings tour

Picture above: Kawarau bridge

Picture above: Bungee jumping view

Picture above: Queenstown

Picture above: Sigths from the gondula

Picture above: Queenstown

Picture above& below: Milford Sound tour

T-A-S-M-A-N-I-A

2007-02-20T20:30:00.000+11:00

Hola chicas y hombres! This chapter is dedicated to Tasmania… But before I go more in to details, a brief update what’s happening. Today is the first official day of autumn. Yep summer is over and weather is getting cooler :( I am staying home and having a sick leave for the whole week because my last wisdom tooth was cut out on Tuesday. I already had forgotten how painful the recovery time was. So the rest of the week I am just staying in and looking like a hamster :S (picture: Copacabana Beach)

My first business trip to Melbourne went well and everybody was pleased to my presentation. When staying alone that night in the hotel room, I was just thinking how boring it must been to travel alone for work. I thought that was the thing I wanted, but not so sure anymore. Just kept on thinking how great it would be to enjoy the hotel room with someone ;)

That week I also got a ticket from my boss to a comedian called Billy Crystal’s show, which was amazing. He is truly a talented one, so funny, right on spot, but also capable to make the audience feel emotional and sad. I still can’t believe he kept on entertaining us for 3 hours with one break only. (picture: Dinner with Claire's family)

Last weekend I went to my friend’s holiday house in Copacabana, which is around 1,5hour drive from Sydney to north. Claire’s whole family came with us as well so it was nice and relaxing weekend with good food, movies and beach.

Oke, but now back to Tasmania…
On Friday I left from work couple of hours before, as our flight to Hobart left at 5pm. 3 days and 4 nights exploring the wonders of Tasmania with my friend Julia was about to start. As we landed few hours later to the airport it was pouring and we were thinking: GOD, nice start for the holiday. Luckily I had packed lots of warm clothes, winter hat and cloves. Might sound like exaggeration, but at that particular moment when we ran out from the plane 30m to the terminal and got soaked wet I was more than pleased my choice.

Our hostel was right in the centre and we even got our own bathroom without paying any extra! That night we went for sushi and had a drink in a bar called 42˚ (which was nominated the trendiest hang out bars in Hobart, by Lonely Planet). The next morning we were happy to discover that the weather was sunny and warm… later that afternoon very hot actually! First we went to the famous Salamancá markets in the harbour, which is organized every Saturday. From the market you can find anything Tasmanian handicraft, art, delicatessen, jewellery etc… I made a real discovery and bought a kangaroo leather bag for 45$ (it was the revenge for ruining our car in Adelaide road trip). (picture: Salamanca markets)

At 1 o’clock we were about to start our first tour to Port Arthur, but as we were about to leave, our tour guide announce that we were missing two people. After 1,5 hours delay and without the 2 missing people our tour finally got started. We did get an extra stop in the Botanic Gardens and Julia’s wish came true when we saw the beautiful lily bond. The next stop was a bit further in Richmond, which is a cute little town with old wooden houses and that’s about it.

Our journey continued to the coast and we saw some amazing scenic cliffs, beaches and national parks… but no Tasmanian devils :( Finally we arrived to Port Arthur which used to be biggest spot for British convicts. Port Arthur also got publicity in 1996 when an 18 years old kid went mad and shot 25 people including children. Very sad story, still giving me shivers when thinking about it. Our guide took us for a tour around the area explaining the daily life of Port Arthur. The most impressive place in my opinion was the silent jail. Where the convicts were sentenced after bad behaviour and were totally isolated from the outside world and from each other. That place was meant to break the convict mentally, and I guess that is the worst punishment one could imagine. There was also a room for “extremely naughty ones”, where they were left to suffer alone in dark for days… creepy!

The landscapes of Port Arthur itself were amazingly beautiful, looking so green and peaceful, but our guide kept on telling us that remember the SAD SAD past.

As soon as the dark hit the Port Arthur at 9pm it was time to take part to a ghost tour. To be honest me and Julia were looking for a more commercial type of ghost tour, with people dressing up as ghost, smoke, scary noises, blood… like in Universal Studios :) but this time it wasn’t really like that.

The next day it was time to conquer Mt Wellington. Julia, our tour organizer had planned a 6hour hike, which was going to be hard one as the temperature was above 30’c early in the morning. Tuff one or not, but the scenery was magnificent and we made it! My first real hike ever… Not that I am going to do that more often :)

On Monday, on our last day we took a part for a tour to Wineglass Bay at 7am with some other young people. It took a few hours to drive up the beach, which has been ranked btw the 3rd most beautiful beaches in the world, so we could continue our sleep for few more hours. Our group was a real mixture of nationalities; A total of 4 Dutch, 2 German, 2 Chinese, an Aussie, Kiwi, Swede, Finn and one American, almost felt like I was back in INHOLLAND :)

After a good 3 hour drive we finally arrived to Freycinet National Park and I got to touch the first time wild wallabies. They were unbelievable friendly and soooooo cute! Then we heard the bad news; there would be an hour and half hike to Wineglass Bay plus the same length back! No thank you, after hiking 6 hours the day before. We still decided to gather our strength with Julia and make our way to the lookout, which would be in midway. Even that was a struggle. But as we saw the sights, it was again definitely worth it. As the rest of the group bravely continued their way all the way to the beach the tour guide took me, Julia and Stephanie (the American girl) to another lookout and to the light house. While breathing the fresh air and letting the wind play with my hair, I was just wondering what a pity it is to spend 8 hours a day indoors in stinky office, when you could have this view and the wild outdoor as your office… at that moment I really envied Matt, our tour guide.

As we got back to our hostel, tired and hungry, we decided to celebrate our last evening eating in sushi –all you can eat buffet. Before that night I didn’t know how it feels to “get overdosed” with sushi, but well… now I know :) Awesome trip altogether, go Tassie! (picture: Wineglass Bay)

(left: Freycinet National Park lookout)

(left: Richmond)

(left: Mt Wellington, Organ pipes)

(Below: Church in Port Arthur)

It's a small place -> WORLD

2007-02-10T21:54:00.000+11:00

O-M-G world is so small. Last week I got an email from my mum’s colleagues son, Antto that he is coming to study in Sydney for 5 months. Well as I met him the first time yesterday, I was wondering that why he looks so familiar. After a while it occurred to me that we have met and partied the New Year’s Eve together 2 years ago in Amsterdam. How bizarre is that :)
(picture: Australia Day picnic)

The last few weekends I have been busy being a tourist guide. Last weekend I got another email from an Austrian guy Tom, who I met in Vienna 2 years ago as well and he had also end up in Sydney and staying here for 2 months doing his internship in a hospital. So many people end up here… Anyone else arriving shortly? (picture: from left ?Finnish guy, Aleksi, me)

Then there was the Australia Day. Have been such a good girl the whole January and haven’t been partying, but as it was long weekend and some people from Finland were staying in Sydney. We ended up partying 3 nights row. For Australia Day me and Julia organized a picnic in Cremorne point, and spent the day chilling on the blanket eating and drinking. Later that evening we all went out again, where else than to our ultimate favourite club; Cargo Bar in Darling Harbour. (picture: Petteri and me)

Last Sunday my neighbour, Sean had bday and he oraginzed a typical Aussie BBQ. Ver yummy seafood and was nice to spent the day outside as the weather couldn't be better.

Work is quite busy at the moment and I have already started counting the days I have left in Finnesse. Now precisely 60 working days :) So excited already to go travelling for 3 months!!!
(picture: Sean's bday BBQ)

Next week will be something different tho. On Tuesday Im going to my first business trip to Melbourne, ALONE! My boss is sending me to have a presentation in a seminar for travel agents and represent the Finnish Tourist Board. I am so excited about it! Will look great on my resume ;) On Friday we are going to Hobart for a long weekend with Julia, so lots of travelling and sitting in the plane for me next week! (picture: Sean, Roland, bday cake)

What’s happening in Europe? I heard it is pretty cold down there? Here the sun is shining and keeping me warm ;) Sorry don’t want to be mean! Love and miss you all heaps!

Family holiday part III -Road Trip-

2007-01-17T20:33:00.000+11:00

Here it comes the 3rd and the final part of the superb family holiday…
Where was I? O-yes… I woke up the next morning without a clue of the time or the reason that actually had woken me up. Maybe subconsciously I still remembered the flight to Adelaide, which was the start of our coming road trip in South Australia. I rushed to the living room to discover that I would have less than 15 minutes time to get myself organised and hop on a cab to pick up my family on the way to the airport. Believe it or not, I made it on time and my parents were not even that angry to me :) …only few pretty “direct” voicemail messages from my mum.

Marko had flown to Adelaide already with earlier flight, after having little trouble to find the right airline company. Although missing the flight he was supposed to be, he still made it to the next flight and so we all met happily again in Adelaide airport.

The first mission after our arrival was to rent a car. After getting quotes from 5 different car rental companies we drove away with silver Subaru Outback. My only request for the car was that it had air-condition, but I should have had another one: FULL INSURANCE! I will get back the latter one later.

As the weather was warm (+31) and sunny our first stop was naturally by the water. We had some Mexican food for lunch on the wharf in a place called Santa Fé (the food wasn’t as great as in my fav Santa Fé in Helsinki). After, we went for a walk on the beach and up we go again…

For this part of the holiday I didn’t have pre-booked anything. The whole idea was to drive from Adelaide to Melbourne in 5 days and experience the beautiful coastal South Australia and have a stop-over where ever-when ever we felt like one… well one thing I discovered after the first night; - We were not the only ones!

At 7pm we started to wonder where to stay that night and after the first doomed attempt to get a cabin from a caravan park we discovered the dreadful truth that the whole city and surroundings were fully booked till end of the month! After 25 useless phone calls to different motels/B&B/caravan parks etc. I really started to realise that the next night would most likely to be spent in our Outback Subaru, until I rang this one caravan park somewhere in Clayton. A helpful man promised to organize 2 vans for us that night, without linen or towel though, but I was more than satisfied to have a bed and roof on top of my head!

In that point we were still unaware what was about to happen… Clayton was about 1,5 hour drive from Adelaide and soon we all discovered the new meaning for the words “middle of nowhere”.

It was already getting late and the sun had gone down hours ago. Every 5 kilometres there were signs warning kangaroos and other outback animals, but no road signs regarding Clayton. Suddenly we saw a gigantic kangaroo jumping and crashing on the right side of our car. It all happened so sudden and there was nothing Marko, who was our driver could have done. For one second everyone stopped talking. And then: What happened? What hit on us? Is everybody alright? Where is the animal? Is it still alive?

After recovering from the first shock and the fact that everybody was ok (meaning the people) we venture to get out of the car. No sign of the roo, so guess he get of with a fright as well. The car looked fine except the one missing part on the right hand side on top of the back tyre. (Great explanation, eh?)

Kangaroos are so stupid. You barely see them during the day, but when it gets dark and when they see some sudden light they instinctively run towards the light and BANG! This is the result.
The first night of our road trip and we got hit by one. What a great start!

Eventually we found our way to Clayton and the place we were going to spend our night. A place totally middle of nowhere and people staying in trashy caravans that looked like the ones from the 80’s. No bed covers, blankets, linen… and this yucky rotten smell. Just one night I repeated in my mind as I falled asleep.

The next morning we woke up early and continued our trip towards the vineyards in Mclaren Vale. This time we actually found a decent motel, which included even a spa with disco lights. That day we visited few other small towns close by and one wine tasting, yummy.

On the third day we continued ‘the amazing world of vińo’ and started the morning with a tour in Fox Creek’s vineyard. We said good bye to the Mclaren Vale and drove away with a box full of red.
That day we had to do some serious driving to keep up in our schedule. We drove by the salt lakes, saw the tackiest tourist attraction in South Australia ‘Albert the giant Lobster’, and again had major problems to find accommodation.

Day four we decided to take more relaxed. As it was again sunny day we decided to spend half of the day on the beach. As my mum was still recovering from a sun burn and went exploring the ‘not that exciting’ city of Portland, the rest of us went to burn our skin some more on the beach.

The next stop was Warrnambool, a bigger city and the starting point to the Great Ocean Road. We stayed there the night, saw some penguins and get annoyed with flies that seemed to be everywhere in that city. Later that evening we went out for a dinner in an Italian pizzeria and visited a funfair, returning to our accommodation with many price teddies.

Day five was definitely scenically the highlight of our road trip. It was time for one of the ‘100 things to see before you die’ The Great Ocean Road. The temperature kept on rising that day and from 8am the thermometer was up to 38 degrees. On our way we also witnessed bushfires that causes some serious damage every year around Australia. The Great Ocean Road runs 241 kilometres between the cities Torquay and Allansford. The scenery was breathtaking and no wonder that most of the car advertisements are shot there. The only downside of the great experience were hundreds of flies that kept on harassing people, plus the heat was almost unbearable when it got up to 39 degrees.

We drove that day all the way to Melbourne, because again we had a trouble to find accommodation on the coast. Also some people (not mentioning any names: MUM) was on a rush to hit the shops in Melbourne the first thing in the morning.

Our road trip was almost completed and excluding the encounter with a kangaroo everything went great. The biggest thank you goes to our driver Marko!

But no rushing… Im not finished yet. Saturday we spent shopping around Melbourne. Checking out the Queen Victoria Markets, where the last souvenirs were bought and visiting the huge outlet stores that the city is known for. We also had a nice dinner “the last meal together” by the Yarra river and admired the Christmas windows at David Jones’ which were still repeating the X-mas of the Wombat (so cute)!

The next morning it was time to say good bye to Marko who stayed in Melbourne and fly back Sydney. We also got to hear the dreadful news about the lease car. It figured out that our cheap deal didn’t include the full insurance and therefore we had to pay AUD$1,900 (1,155€) excess fee. Later we found out that even our travelling insurance wouldn’t cover it. My father was thrilled!

Sunday, the final day my family being in Australia went by so quickly. The whole 3 weeks have just flown by and the hardest part was still to come; saying good bye… Before that we had a great lunch in Darling Harbour together and watched some more videos from our trip and ate lot of cakes :) The best holiday I have ever had and all the memories from our adventurous trip will make me smiling many years to come.

Koala posing (Great Ocean Road)

Sunset (Warrnambool)

Yarra River (Melbourne)

Jaakko, me and Marko (Melbourne)
Below: Mum and Dad

Family holiday part II -New Year's Eve-

2007-01-17T20:05:00.000+11:00

First part of the Family holiday was completed. Two more to come. From Surfers we flew back to Sydney on Friday late morning. Everybody felt a bit sad on our way to the airport especially when the weather turned that day to be perfect. My dad was the most quiet one in the taxi, looking outside watching the beautiful sandy beaches and the sparkling water that could be seen everywhere. When I asked what was he thinking he answered that he would love to have a small place by the sea, maybe a tiny boat to get around and that would be enough to wish for. I replied; Dad lets do it :)

The flight took an hour and before we noticed we were back in my home town, Sydney. This time, for the next 3 nights my parents were staying in a hotel in Rushcutters (which is 5mins with a taxi or bus from the city). That day we spent by watching all the videos we had recorded so far (hours already) later that night we went to have a dinner in nice Italian restaurant in Rocks.

The next morning we got up early and hit the Christmas sales. We had to buy a new suitcase for all the shopping we did and the biggest shopper this time surprisingly was my dad!!! Im so proud of you. You will look great in the golf course :)

Sunday came so quickly and it meant that the New Year’s Eve celebration would take place that night. That night there would be 4 millions Australian dollars worth of fireworks exploding in the sky (tax money). If you haven’t booked accommodation to stay in Sydney it was impossible to get one, because Sydney is THE PLACE TO BE during the NYE! Marko also came to Sydney and decided to follow the other pack packers next to the Harbour Bridge and secure his spot already starting at 9am. He stayed there that day 16 hours in total and even the fireworks were indescribable he told me that he would never do that again. Especially when travelling the day before 12 hours in a bus from Byron Bay to Sydney.

Earlier that day we went to the Taronga Zoo with my family with the tickets my Aussie mum gave us as for Christmas present. The zoo was located only 15mins by bus from my place on the top of the hill, in the spot you could see the whole city and harbour bridge. Everybody agreed that it was the most beautiful zoo we have ever visited.

Spending few hours while watching the animals and walking around, it was enough activities for that day. We took the ferry back to the city, my family to the hotel and I went home to get ready for the celebration. Julian (my Aussie mum) had invited us all to have a dinner and watch the fireworks from our place. There wouldn’t be better spot to watch them in whole Sydney (expect from the balcony of the party I was invited and went later that night). Dinner was beautiful and fireworks spectacular. We had a great fun together and stayed up drinking sparkling Shiraz (my new fav drink) till 2am. After 2am my family decided to get back to the hotel, because we would be flying the next day at 1pm to Adelaide (to start the 3rd part off our holiday, called ‘the road trip’). I decided to continue the night and go to check out the party I was invited in Kirribilly.

As I arrived there after walking an hour (cuz it was faster than wait on a taxi) people were already starting to make their way back home. The party was held by Piers, Tim and Matt and the dress code was simply: white – tennis. I was the only one who showed up wearing simply BLACK ;) After partying some more with Julia I made my way back home soaking wet collapsing in my bed way too late (or should I say early) without setting my alarm clock on … big trouble!!! (because I thought my phone got broken, but the next day discovered that only my battery was dead)... Yeah, Yeah I know what you all are thinking: BLOND! Hold you breath! To be continued…

Family holiday part I

2007-01-08T22:40:00.000+11:00

Hyvää Joulua – Merry Christmas – God Jul och så…

Christmas finally arrived here in Sydney and also the day I’ve been counting days for the past few months – my FAMILY arrived!

17^th December I woke up at 6am feeling excited, fresh and ready to welcome my mum, dad and my brother to Sydney. I took the train to the airport and as I walked towards the Kings Cross station I was amused to watch all the people going out from the night clubs and finishing their ‘big night out’ (looking not as fresh and cheerful). I can’t even describe how good it felt to meet my folks after half a year being apart. In one point when waiting them to come out from the passenger area I was feeling so emotional that I had to fight against my tears, but the actual embracing was nice and happy.

After dropping off the luggage to their apartment in Woolloomooloo we headed to the city and spent the rest of the day on the sea, enjoying the sun and getting familiar with the city. Finnish Chamber of Commerce organized its annual Christmas cruise for all Finns living or visiting Sydney. The weather was perfect, which was great surprise as it had been raining the past few weeks. We also got to eat some Finnish Christmas food and Karjalan piirakka, that I have been graving for the past months. Later on we went to my place with the whole family and I got to show my current home and the neighbourhood.

I still had to work from Monday to Thursday, so during the daytime my folks were exploring the city by themselves, visiting Watson’s Bay, Monorail, the Royal Botanic Gardens and other basic tourist stuff. During the evenings I joined them for dinners and on Tuesday we all came to my place and had dinner with Julia and Chris, so my parents could see the people I spent most of my time with.

On Thursday evening it was finally time to start our X-mas holiday and fly to Surfers Paradise, which is one hour flight from Sydney to East Coast, in Queensland. After a small hassle in the wrong airport we managed to catch the right flight, relax in the plane and start ‘the perfect holiday’; 16 days together with the family in Australia!!!

The holiday started nicely as we found out that the flat (Q1) I rented from some guy in the Internet happened to be in the world’s highest residential building (324m), five star accommodation with ocean view, swimming pools, gym, saunas (after 6 months felt soooooo good) spa, central location and 1 minute from the beach… not bad!

The first days we took pretty quite, because everybody was feeling tired and my parents and brother was still recovering from the jetlag and all the shopping in Hong Kong. Few days went pass just hanging on the beach (testing body boarding) and by the Q1 pool. Me and Jaakko also signed in an open water diving course the next day as we arrived and were busy with discovering also the under water life. Unfortunately my brother got stung by a jelly fish on his upper lip the first day we started the course so I was the only one to complete the 3 days course and now I am a certificated open water diver, jeiiiiii!

Christmas Eve this year was a bit different than last year in Finland. This year I was busy with diving from 8am. In the afternoon my diving instructor Adam took me and my brother surfing, which is SO hard btw. Later on we cooked a Christmas dinner in our flat, which didn’t include anything typical Finnish Christmas delicatessen. A typical Australian X-mas meal consists of seafood on BBQ. We made some steak with cream & garlic potatoes, avocado salad and for the desert oven baked cinnamon apples with ice cream, yummy! The best Christmas gift I could ever ask was to get the whole family to Australia, but even thought we made a deal; -no other gifts this year, I still got an iPod Nano, diving course, money… too much! I guess I have been an extremely good girl this year.

The next day we decided to explore the underwater world with the whole family and visited the famous Sea World. The weather wasn’t the best one as it was raining at times, but we got to discover all sort of sea creatures. We also visited the shark bay and got to see the most feared predators in Australia through the glass. You could even dip into the water to swim along with the sharks if you wanted to, but we saved that for the next trip ;)

Later that evening Marko joined our trip and came to Surfers to stay with us for the rest of the days. Unfortunately the weather started to go worse and Queensland had its coldest Boxing Day in the history, but hey 22 degrees is better than +2’c I reckon ;)

One day we rented a car and drove all the way to Brisbane, which is located around an hour drive from Surfers. My dad got to try out the local golf course and as the rest of our gang headed to the city shopping he got taste of Aussie golf culture. I also did a little test drive with his golf car, which was a new experience for me heheh. Brisbane was relaxed city built around the river. Reminded me a bit of Jyväskylä :)

Eight days flew by so fast and before we even realized it was time to say good bye Surfers Paradise and return to Sydney. The first part of our holiday was completed and a great success. And we only had one bigger argument (Anniina I bet you are proud of me). Loving my family!!!

2 Weeks for X-Mas!

2006-12-10T22:03:00.000+11:00

Hellouuta homies =) taken again ages the last time I updated my blog, but been really busy for these past weeks... Guess it is because x-mas is approaching. Oke, now a little review on what’s been happening here lately.

Picture; from left--Carolin,Jonna,me,Joanna,Chris
(Boat party 24Nov)

Well the biggest work related thing for me was the Finland presentation for 70 people in Galileo future travel agent –seminar. Most of the people know how I hate public presentations and especially in this occasion I was super scared, as it was ‘a real-professional’ not school situation. I spent the weekend staying at home and didn’t leave the house for the whole weekend. My Aussie mum was away, gone to Hunter valley to see her friends so I had the whole flat in my own use! This was probably the first time for more than a year that I spent the whole weekend at home, doing nothing except working on the presentation, watching movies from our new 40’inch LCD, that we got a week ago and reading a book. That weekend was good for me!

On Monday it was the day I have been scared of the past month –time for my presentation. I was the second speaker after Finnair presentation. I have never even imagined that I could enjoy on the stage while having presentation, but after the first 2 slides I forgot my nervousness and absolutely loved it there. The best part was to make the audience to laugh and watch my boss impressions while I was up there. My boss was really pleased and even the organizer of the seminar came to thank me. Definitely the highlight of these past 6 months that I have now worked for Finnesse. Now Im officially promoted to be the presenter of The Finnish Tourist Board Australia.

So that’s about work… Otherwise things are pretty much same here. Have been in movies couple of times. Went to see Borat ;) I also went to the opera house to on guitar concert with my boss. Yes, and of course been partying. Last night was massive. Went out for one of my Swedish friend’s b-day first in Bondi and later to Hugo’s in X. This morning had the worst headache for months. Felt like been driven over by a gigantic truck. But I still managed to go to the beach with Julia to work on my tan (Im still milk).

Today is exactly 1 week when I will see my family. It is going to be SOOOOO GREAT! Today I was thinking that –my god I’ve been here already almost 6 months… Time really flies! And can’t believe that it’s only 2 weeks for the Christmas eve! Really doesn’t feel like Christmas here, maybe because it’s summer here,,, well well I don’t mind the heat ;) Kisses to everybody and happy birthday to Mari ‘Major’ love you lots!

Mr Patrizio

2006-11-20T23:51:00.000+11:00

Wow it’s hot! Today the temperature rose up to 38 degrees and tomorrow is meant to be even warmer… Well I should not be complaining :) (picture: I spotted a butterfly on Saturday in our garden).

Yesterday our company, Finnesse team, organized/hosted an exclusive dinner for an Italian singer, Patrizio Buanne together with Universal Music and CIT Holidays. I wasn’t even supposed to attend the event, but when Satu asked me to join (one hour before departing from the office) I thought to give it a go. First, I had to rush home with a taxi, find something suitable to wear from the closet, get my hair and face done and be back in the office in less than an hour… Believed or not, but I managed. And who said my time management could be improved??

The dinner was held in Paddington, an Italian Gourmet restaurant called Lucio’s. The guest list consisted the editors from the top travel and lifestyle publications (such as Luxury Travel, Gourmet Traveller, New Idea, ABC Radio, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sunday Telegraph etc…) and of course the star itself; Patrizio. The night seemed to be a total disaster as we arrived and realised that the audiovisual man was missing and the function was supposed to start in 40 minutes. The guests started to arrive and still no projector or sreen. The first 2 apetizers were served and Patrizio was getting ready to blow the roof with his beautiful voice, but luckily in that same moment the man came and set the audio. Eventually everything ended up going nice and smoothly and the night was a big success. Patrizio was happy, as well as the media, and the food (5 course meal) was sensational. Btw. Patrizio is heading to Finland some where in December so keep your eyes & ears open ;)

It's a bit strange to be here in the middle of Christmas hassle when it feels more over like summer. All the shops are decorated with sparkling Christmas decorations and people are getting all fussy with the presents. Last Saturday while sunbathing in our garden there was a plane in the sky and left a note (in the picture). 26 Days to go and I will finally see my family! JEEEEIIIIIIII! Kisses and hugs from down under.

Finnesse Team

2006-11-06T20:01:00.000+11:00

Hejsan alla! Another weekend is almost over and new week at work getting closer. The summer finally arrived here in Sydney after few weeks of cold and rainy weather. The temperature has been above 28c these past days and finally I get to go to the beach =) me very happy!

But let’s go back what has been happening in my life lately…
Last Saturday my boss asked me to go to Australian Travel Writers annual gala dinner together with my college Anders. I was thrilled since the occasion was held in Shangri-La hotel (which is one of the best 5 star hotels in Sydney) and that meant that I had to find something suitable to wear :) I allowed me to buy myself a new cocktail dress, as a celebration because I sorted out an 800$ bill which was the consequence of the over usage of my Internet. Way too long and boring story to tell, but anyways the outcome was that I didn’t have to pay a single cent!

The ASTW-gala was nice experience and even though I felt a bit strange at first to mingle with the Australia’s top travel writers who were around double of my age the evening was great fun. Later on I hopped on a taxi and joined Chris’ brother 40th birthday party. The evening continued to be even bigger celebration because Shane (the b-day boy) proposed his girlfriend!

The week at work was quite busy because Satu was going for a holiday for a week on Thursday and everything had to be organised before that. On Tuesday the entire Australia was celebrating the Melbourne cup, which is the biggest horse race in the country. Even though the race takes place in Melbourne, the whole country is watching. People stop working at lunch time and it is common to go for a fancy lunch with the whole office all dressed up (girls wearing feathers or a hat) drinking champagne and watch the races. My boss also took us all for lunch that day and later on we had a dinner party at my place when my Aussie mum invited some people over.

We also had our new intern starting on this week, an Australian girl called Claire. She is my age studying communications. Seems to be a really nice girl and I am so happy, because the previous girl was a big disappointment. On Friday I had to go to Sydney Uni to listen some presentations, because two girls who did a research for our company were performing. It was pretty funny, because the teachers introduced me to the other students as a special guest; Aino Collan, consultant of Finnesse Communications (I was laughing myself… if they only knew that Im just an undergraduate intern, hehehe). Anyway it was a good experience, and gave me some insight for my own final thesis and presentation.

On my way back to the office by accident I bump into 2 Finnish girls and as I heard them speaking Finnish I had to talk with them. The girls had been pack packing the past 2 months around Australia and going home this Sunday. I asked if they would want to join me and Marko for a dinner that night and later on we had some Thai food in China Town and went for couple of drinks in Orient.

Finally I can tell you about this Saturday! In the morning I went to the Balmoral beach as it was such a great weather. And no Chris I didn’t get burned ;) Oke, and now the highlight of my story and one of my top 3 experiences! U2 CONCERT!!! Yes, my lovely friend Chris took us to the concert and the experience was indescribable. I just kept on telling Marko; Can you believe that we are in Sydney, watching U2 with 100 000 other people?! What can I say… I am still speechless even though it was around 24 hours ago when Bono filled the stadium with his amazing voice (my skin is still in Goosebumps)!

Oh, yes… With or without you babe! I love Australia! Btw, my lovely Dutch family I want to thank you for the card you sent me. It made me so happy when I saw it the other day lying in front of my door. I feel better now and true, not long since my family arrives for the Christmas, jeiiiii! And to my little brother HAPPY HAPPY birthday! 19 years already, congratulations and I miss you and can’t wait you to come over :)

.:Another week:.

2006-10-31T21:20:00.000+11:00

Hey, hey, hey heard that you got the first snow just now in Helsinki. So now it start, countdown to Christmas. I am counting the days here as well. Today exactly 47 days when my lovely family arrives to Sydney. Really can’t wait!

Last Wednesday was a nice stimulation for my ordinary week, because Julia got some freebies for a premier night of a Norwegian play in Sydney Opera house. For us it was really exciting because neither of us have been inside the building so far. The play “Hospital” was based on the 2nd world war in a hospital, which had no patients, only 3 crazy nurses who spoke some sort of nonsense Icelandic (so no English the whole play, except few sentences). The theme dealt with violence, drug usage and sexual desires and cravings and was partly dancing and partly acting. Overall the play was humorous, but in some points I had to wonder how twisted the director's mind has to be… in nutshell the tree nurses were keeping themselves active by hurting each other or them selves with block of wood, humiliating each other, swigging pills, sexually amusing them selves etc… so it was pretty different from the other plays I have seen so far, but still I found it amusing and rating it 3½ out of 5! After the play we were invited to have a drink and some sushi as it was premier night, but we left home quite early.

The rest of the week went smoothly in the office with Anders and Tracey (the intern who we fired this week). Even though we gave her a second change she didn’t show any sort of reliability or initiative, so after Satu returned from Tokyo we decided to let her go.

This weekend I took really easy compared to last one. On Friday I just stayed at home watching TV with Jules. On Saturday I woke up early and went for a jog, and walk to the city visiting few markets on my way there. I met up with Minka and her boyfriend Tomi and e went to Hyde Park to a food and wine festival. The area was packed with people and little tents (representing all the best restaurants and wine bars in Sydney). All the profit went to charity for AIDS patients. I had a trouble to choose what sort of food I wanted to have, but finally made my mind and ate some fried tofu hassle, which is btw one of my new favourites. Tomi had to work later that day so me and Minka made a little tour in the city and later went to her place to have some barbie and watch a movie “dirty love” <-which was absolutely the worst movie I’ve seen for a long time! Oh, one thing… here people sell puppies and kittens in pet shop and it is such a torture to leave the shop without one… seriously I want to have a puppy! When I return to Finland I will have one (dad I know you agree with me, right?). Sunday I met up with Marko who finally returned from Cairns. I haven’t seen him since our trip together, because he decided to stay in Queensland for a while. He was working few weeks in banana bar and told seen some REAL Aussie country life :) The weather was too cold for beach so we decided to visit the Sydney fish markets and take some lunch and spend the day in one park next to the harbour. The day was not too bad to be Sunday. We had some nice greasy seafood and few bottles of champagne… at 7pm we met up with Chris (who I also haven’t seen for way too many weeks) and finally our super trio was complete again. We ended up going around few bars in Rocks. See a video from that night below (yessssss, I LOVE youtube!!!!) From now on I try to record more videos, because I have got comments from some people that I write too much. You lazy people! But I have to admit that videos are fun :) Cha Cha… new story again next week!

News Down Under

2006-10-24T19:12:00.000+10:00

June, July, August, September, October… Four months in total have I been away from you guys. Somehow it feels like ages, but on the other hand days, weeks and months fly so quickly.

Today I woke up as usual 7.40am when my alarm went on; Every step I take, every move I make, every single day, every time I pray ill be missing you… I felt tired, which is probably consequences from the weekend, yes again 2 nights in a row –hard core partying, bad bad! I switched the TV on just in case if I would fall asleep again and kept my eyes closed for 5 more minutes. Funny how much difference can 5 minutes make, but at 7.45am I was ready to stand out from the blankets and get some breakfast. This morning the weather was beautiful, sunny and warm (not like the 5 past days). I took my “breaky” outside to our terrace and sat down for few minutes. From my place the views are sensational. From our garden you can see the whole city with its skyscrapers on the horizon and watching down to the hill you can catch the ferries picking up people to work. I made a bit more effort while choosing my clothes today than usual, because I knew that my boss would leave later tonight to Tokyo for a week and I would be in charge the coming days.

I walk to work every day, which takes around 15 minutes. It is still spring in Sydney and even though the changes between seasons are nothing compared the Nordic countries, I love the blooming trees. My favourite is magnolia (in the picture; jacaranda tree on my daily route to work, which is also really beatiful). This morning I was the first one in. My boss, Satu goes for a run every morning (still don’t understand how she can do it) so she comes in usually after 9am. The first half of my day I was busy with preparing several presentations for Satu for the Tokyo seminar. We had also one girl coming in for an interview for an internship, but she wasn’t really what we were looking for and I think she felt the same way. At noon I have my lunch break and head myself to the gym. An hour lunch break is perfect to spend in spinning class and it gives me more energy for the rest of the day, plus I don’t have to drag myself there again after work! The second half of the day I spent with Satu, by listing the things I need to take care of when she is gone. I am a bit affright hence I have so much responsibility, but on the other hand I feel great because she really trust me and my abilities :)

During that day I also had to make decision whether to give a second chance to our other Aussie intern, who started in our office a week ago, announced to be sick the next day and ever since and the weirdest thing was that on Monday, so yesterday she didn’t show up and contacted us at 1pm!!!! via e-mail stating that she is still very sick, pla pla pla… 1pm!!!So my boss send her an e-mail saying nicely that maybe it's better if we would find another intern etc. But since the other girl we interviewed was even worse, I decided to give her ONE MORE change. But if she doesn’t show up tomorrow, my mother Teresa carrier is history!

So now I just got home, had a chat with my Aussie mum like every night :) Soon Im going to have a shower, cook some dinner and watch TV with her. And maybe later on skype with some of you guys there far away! I really miss you all, and few days ago I felt the worst ever. Even thought everything goes smoothly and nicely here and the other day I am having the best time of my life, the other moment can be so different, sad and harrowing. Today is a good day. Hopefully tomorrow as well :) Love you all very much!

Randwick Race

2006-10-12T12:41:00.000+10:00

Horse racing is the second biggest and popular sport in Australia, so it was only natural raise our awareness and find out more about the sport. Randwick race is the biggest jockey event after Melbourne cup, which is held in November and ideally located only 20 minutes from the city centre. I was being given before hand information that be prepared to have a big day out, dress up nicely and wear a hat or feathers…

Saturday morning I felt a bit awkward as I walked all dressed up with my highest high heels to the buss stop. I met up with Julia at 11am and we took the buss to Milson’s Point where we were supposed to meet Piers (one Aussie guy) and take a taxi together from there to the races. It was relieving to notice that quite many people were wearing their best and looking all fancy when on their way to the races.

Piers has the nicest apartment I’ve been so far and the best views to Sydney opera house and the Harbour Bridge. Great spot to take some pictures ;)

We had some problems to get a taxi and finally after walking way too far, too long, taking the train to the city and eventually getting a taxi, we arrived to Randwick 2 hours later. Yep, we weren’t the only people going there. I couldn’t stop staring all the people I saw around me, I was speechless. Seeing thousands of people all dressed up, guys looking hot in their suits and girls prettier from another. Champagne, hats, feathers, curls… and f*ck that girl is wearing the same dress as I am, and another one…shit, more champagne!

We met up with two other girls, friends of Piers, but most of the time me and Julia were wandering around, betting some of our own money and a bit more other guys money (didn’t win anything tho). The day was fun but tiring and after spending 13 hours walking around with 7cm heels I collapsed to my bed and slept like a baby… zzzzz

!!!Spring Break!!!

2006-10-04T22:55:00.000+10:00

This is it… my first real holiday in Australia. 5 days pure relaxing and getting my mind out from work and daily routines. Our holiday kicked off on 29/10 on Thursday 2pm as I closed the door of my office. The weather was nice and I couldn’t stop smiling as I rushed towards the North Sydney station dragging my red luggage behind me, which I already had trouble to close as I was packing. I met up with Julia in Central station where we took the train to the domestic airport to meet up with Chris and Marko. Our destination was going to be Port Douglas which is 3 hour flight from Sydney and 45mins drive to north from Cairns. As we arrived to Cairns we had a brand new limousine waiting for us in front of the airport and 45mins went quite smoothly while drinking champagne. The resort we were staying was called Port Sea, and we were lucky to stay there for free because Chris’ brother is the GM for the place (good to have contacts). The first night we decided to go out, because Damien (Chris’ bro) was unfortunately leaving to Sydney the next day for a wedding and would stay there the whole time we were exploring his neighbourhood. Port Douglas is a relatively small place and really popular holiday spot among couples and families. Not really an ideal place for singles… but Thursday night was pretty good and we got back to the resort early morning I guess :)

The next day we woke up early (working routine) and I and Julia dragged our selves to the pool. Friday went by just relaxing and resting after the big night out. Later that afternoon we went to check out the beach with the guys and ended up walking the whole beach all the way, which was 7 kilometres long and took us 3 hours. My feed are still giving me a hard time and not even mentioning my inner tights (I shouldn’t have climbed to that coconut tree just wearing bikinis)! The next day we decided to be more active and hire a car. 8.30 in the morning we got our vehicle and started our road trip. Our first stop was in Mossman when we took our first steps in rainforest. We made a quick walk, but got a bit disappointed when we didn’t bump into any exotic animals. Our next stop was higher up to north to Daintree village. We booked ourselves to crocodile cruise to glance some real river beasts. Finally after 30mins we saw one croc behind the bushes. More over we saw heaps of bats and special birds and by the end of the cruise we have seen a total of 3 crocs. Our guide told us that there has been only one accident where a woman was eaten by a crocodile in 1989. She was apparently drunk and dancing pretty wild on the deck and fell on the water… end of story.

From croc watching we decided to drive all the way to Cairns, which is the biggest city in that area, popular amongst pack packers and livelier than Port Douglas. Me and Julia spend the rest of the day efficiently shopping while the guys were watching the game in the pub. Unfortunately Sydney Swans didn’t reach the gold medal :( I was surprised to find a tourist shop that sells Marimekko’s Unikko –bags (terribly over priced). On our way back home we had a bit drama in the air while the guys wanted to stay in Cairns that night, but me and J wanted to get changed and ready for a party in local bar, but after a little emotional burst we decided to head home. Although that night didn’t really go as we planned and after few drinks we headed back home and went to bed. zzzzzzzz

The next morning (Sunday) we participated on horseback riding tour. A mini bus was picking us up at 7.50am. So I guess it was good not to get wild the night before. The horse riding was a blast, even though I probably had the laziest horse in the region, Nugget. Anyway it was a great experience to ride on the beach while breathing the fresh sea air. Julia had the cutest horse 4ever and she was a total pro, even it was her first time on the back of a horse, a natural talent I guess. Later that day we went to do some shopping with Chris, because me and Julia promised to cook that night. It was Marko’s b-day that day and we decided to celebrate it just amongst the 4 of us. We also made some yummy punch with lots of fruits, which Chris “borrowed” from the resorts breakfast storages :) After the dinner we were so full and went for a moonlight walk on the beach. Did good for all of us and after we continued with desert… what else than mud cake and some more punch ;)

Monday was without a doubt the highlight of the holiday, cruise to The Great Barrier Reef. Unfortunately Marko was feeling sick that morning so he couldn’t join us… wonder whether the reason was the punch or?? At 9 our boat, Calypso departed from the harbour and even after sea sickness pills after 35mins I was feeling dizzy and my face turning green. Luckily I survived after a while and could start to focus on my coming challenge, diving. As it was my first time, I was happy to discover that there was only one person diving with me and Chris besides our instructor. The rest of the people on the boat were happy to observe the colourful sea life with snorkels. My first experience of diving was sensational. As I threw myself in to the blue and took my first breath with oxygen respirator I felt like the time had stopped around me. All the corals and the colourful fishes were mind blowing. It was strange to swim around with all the bizarre sea creatures which didn’t seem to mind my present. There was also a shark, but unfortunately I missed it. Guess I was too focussed on other sea life around me, but our photographer took a shot of it. The day was amazing with all the snorkelling and diving, but after returning back to our resort I was exhausted. 45min power nap helped a bit so we could all go to have a nice last dinner in the city together. Luckily Marko was feeling better now so our team was complete again! The whole week we had been checking out one Chinese restaurant, which happen to be really popular also amongst some real stars, such as Bill Clinton and the lead actor from 24h. And, yes the food was heavenly and we were happy. What a great last supper!

Tuesday went by doing our last shopping with Julia us went to ge and later all oft some tan on the beach. It was horrible to realise that our holiday was almost over. 5 days in paradise and the returning to reality was getting closer minute by minute. As we arrived to the airport at 5pm it was time to say good bye to Marko who decided to stay for few more weeks in Cairns. Well it was about a time him to explore some other cities besides Sydney, since he had stayed there already 4 months. Still going to miss him tho. The flight back home went quickly reading “the Devil wears Prada” which I recommend to all the girls warmly. Yep, that’s all folks!

B-B-B-B-B-Birthday!!!

2006-09-28T00:08:00.000+10:00

Another year has flown by and my age increased again with one year. Yes, 22 this time my god! Well actually who counts it anyway after 18 ;)

First I want to thank you all for remembering my b-day and a special thank for Pinja who send me the sweetest present. I couldn’t help shedding some tears and I promise you that there will be many more at least as good moments as the ones we had in past… One year to go and then I am back in home-sweet-home, Finland!

The day before my birthday I was feeling a bit depressed and missing you all heaps. I remember my 21st b-day in Helsinki club which was blast when I had all you there, well next year again :) But now when I am looking back my b-day here I really can’t complain. When I woke up and opened my door there was a little present and a cute card on the floor. My Aussie mum had bought me nice little silver jewellery box. I think it was very sweet. When I came to work my colleague Anders came in with my favourite chocolate cake and a singing candle. My boss was having a long weekend, so we had pretty relaxed Monday with A. The cake was so good that I even finished Anders' piece, heheh there goes my diet! The whole day I got many b-day messages and e-mails, and sorry if I didn’t replied to you, but still got them and thanks to all who remembered!

5.30pm we hopped on a train with Anders and headed towards Kings Cross where I had reserved a table. Zaccery’s gourmet pizza place was our destination and really a positive surprise. I had invited only the closest friends; Anders (my colleague), Sarah and Julia (Scandinavian Airlines), Minka and her boyfriend Tomi, Joanna (my ex-colleague), and of course Marko and Chris. Well I did invite my Aussie mum's nephew Christian and one Aussie girl, but they didn't make it that night. The evening was really nice and relaxed. Didn’t want to have any crazy party cuz it was Monday and we will celebrate a big time in our holiday in Port Douglas later this week.

After dinner we did have few cocktails in Zaccery’s and later Marko, Chris and me went to have one in Scuba bar which was full of pack packers and uni students.

The next morning work again and my boss returned from her holiday. She was in surprisingly good mood and came to the office with a huge bouquet of flowers and a present. Even bigger surprise was later when she took me and Anders for a lunch this nice Italian place in North Sydney. I guess holiday did good for her ;)

So eventually I really had a great birthday and actually the parties are just in head of us, because tomorrow we will fly to Port Douglas for 5 days! Great Barrier Reef here I come! And yes, dad I will be careful with sharks and stingrays, will wear +30 sun cream and cover my head :)

About sharks… last weekend it was +30 in Sydney and everybody headed to the beach. There was a shark alarm in Bondi beach. 2 sharks had been seen swimming too close the swimming area, jaiks!!! Luckily I was on a different beach…

Ok, I better go to sleep now so I will be ready for our holiday. Thanks again for all the nice cards and presents. LUV U LOTS <3

Time Flies!

2006-09-18T19:43:00.000+10:00

¡Hola a Todos! Yes Im still alive and enjoying my time here Down Under. It must have been three weeks since I wrote a story the last time… well guys & girls here comes another one ;)

The week after Snowy Mountains was more or less recovery week. My knees were all bruised and sore because of falling down way too many times and gym that week was such a torture. On Friday I was supposed to take it easy, have a rest and shed some tears while watching Bridget Jones’ Diary, but as you probably can guess I ended up partying with Julia at the Opera Bar (Next to the Sydney Opera House). That bar has probably the best sights and locations in the world. On the right side you have the Opera House and on the left side the sea, Harbour Bridge, Circular Quay, and the lightened skyscrapers. Quite funny was the fact that from all the bars in Sydney I bumped into to Marko while getting a class of red from the bar. We really weren’t supposed to have a big night out, because the original plan was to save it for Saturday, but we ended up having an after party of course, and there was no return after that. The next morning, after too little sleep we decided to hit the beach with Julia and spend our day efficiently sunbathing. First we had some difficulties to find the place, cuz I have only seen the beach once and it was dark then. So to be honest I didn’t have a clue which direction we should go. After an hour we finally asked some help from a lady and good that we did, because we had taken totally wrong road. Right on cue she offered us for a ride to Balmoral Beach were she was going with her family. How perfect was that! As you can see from the picture Balmoral Beach is gorgeous. So far my favourite beach and nice cause it’s just 20 minutes walk from my place (if you take the right road).

Saturday evening I cooked some cold smoked salmon pasta and antipasto and invited Minka and Julia for a dinner at my place. My Aussie mum was out so we had the flat for our selves, which was nice. Every one of us was really tired so we decided to stay home and skip the parties. Sunday morning was nice to wake up fresh and we spend the whole day outside walking around and visiting the markets in Rocks. Oh, and I found my new obsession… Strawberries dipped into chocolate, yummy!

The next week went by really fast at work. I was busy with organizing and sending travel journalist and travel agents to Scandinavia and Finland and organizing Scandinavian Airlines 60th anniversary luncheon with took place the week after on Friday. That weekend we decided to vanish from the city and have a nice relaxed weekend at Chris’ place in the country. The weather was dreadful the whole week, rainy and cold. A big change to the beach weather as it was the previous Saturday. Sometimes Im wondering what must Chris’ parents think, cuz me and Marko are basically living there every other weekend =) but it is such a nice place and I mean the parents are great! The weekend went by nice and easy, without doing anything special. We did visit one vineyard close by (and I discovered a good drink that kept me warm over the cold and rainy nights -> whisky port, Wendy I know you would love it). Saturday night we went out for a dinner with the family and made a quick visit to the local bar, where they had some nice live music. On Sunday morning I woke up really early because the animals were making strange noises. Chris’ mum made us some pancakes for breakfast. It was still raining and that was a good excuse to stay in and watch some DVD’s.

Again Monday, which I kinda like, because Im working with Anders (Swedish guy), so I have another person to socialize with, besides my boss. This week was also quite busy at work and on Friday we had the Scandinavian Airlines 60th anniversary luncheon that we organized in the Coast Restaurant in Darling Harbour. Me and Julia were welcoming the guest with our vintage SAS flight attendant outfits, which was pretty funny. The guest list consisted 10 of the best travel writers in Sydney from the magazines such as Vogue Entertainment and Travel, Travel Daily, Gourmet Traveller, Travel and Leisure etc. The whole event was really exclusive and the lunch was sensational. We also had great waiters, a French guy whose accent was enchanting and an Irish one who really tried to get us drunk, my god and it was only a lunch time!

Later that night we went to the State Theatre to watch Eurobeat musical with Sarah (Julia’s boss) and J. As the name says it was about Eurovision song contest, making fun of our big passion! It was pretty funny, even though Finland wasn’t surprisingly competing =) next year I bet they have Lordi there! Saturday was beautiful and we went to Balmoral Beach for the day. On our way back I was desperately hunting for high heels for the coming night, which I couldn’t find :( That night was going to be Joanna’s birthday party. Joanna is a German who used to work for Finnesse Communications for 3 weeks as an intern as well, but then she got enough and quit… Smart girl. We started in Manly at her place where we had some punch. Joanna and her Australian boyfriend have a quite nice place in 9th floor with seaside views. Marko was already there, because there was an accident on my way there and it took ages with the bus. Later we had a dinner in the city (in Rocks) in a place called Pony Lounge and from there took a taxi to Oxford Street to one club. Oxford Street is know as a gay street and it is full of nice clubs/pubs/restaurants and sex shops ;) I met up also with my Aussie mum’s nephew, Christian. From Ruby Rabbit (the place in Oxford Street) I forced Marko to join me and Julia to Cargo Bar where Chris was celebrating one of his friends’ b-day… My god this whole story sounds like I wouldn’t have done anything else than party!!! SO NOT TRUE.

Yesterday I was having relaxing day though. Me and Marko went for a walk and had an afternoon coffee close to my place. There are heaps of nice parks and areas close to my home to have a Sunday picnic or just to chill. In the evening Chris took me out for a dinner in Manly and we had some bellissimo Italian food and ice cream of course ;)

So there you go. Three weeks in a nutshell. Next story will come sooner I promise, about my birthday (1 week) can’t believe that Im turning 22 already! Time flies! Oh, and in 13 days we are flying to Cairns, The Great Barrier Reef here I come… Better watch out for stingrays and sharks, jaikssss! One more thing I forgot to mention. A week ago Australia lost probably the most famous Aussie man... Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Man. Rest in Peace!

.:Snow in August:.

2006-08-27T23:03:00.000+10:00

Oh boy what a week! Just came home all bruised, but happy from our 3 days mountain trip which was indescribable! The week at work went by so quickly. Probably the reason for that is because I am so busy there at the moment. And bit by bit I am actually starting to like it there (sort of). On Wednesday I was supposed to go for movies with Christian (my Aussie mum’s nephew) but instead I ended up to have drinks and play pool with him and 2 of his (BIG) rugby team mates, which was a great fun! Before I even realized it was already Thursday evening and it was time for our snow trip. Chris picked me and Marko up from the city and we stayed the night at his parents place. The next morning we woke up early, packed the car and started our journey towards the mountains. The first stop was after 2,5 hours in Canberra, which is the capital of Australia. The city reminded me about Finnish towns, maybe it has something to do with the weather as well, because it was pouring and cold ;) The city it self holds approximately 200,000 inhabitants and the main attractions are the parliament house, heaps of different museums, porn and fireworks ;). We did a quick visit to the parliament house, which is enormous. The guide told us that the building holds 25km corridors space. Wouldn’t want to be the cleaning lady there ;) The next place we visited was the War memorial museum, which was really impressive and our guide, Brenda was really inspiring. We browsed through the 1st and the 2nd world war and wondered the enormous warships.
At 6’oclock we finally arrived to Thredbo ski resort, which is the biggest resort in New South Wales. We stayed at Vince’s (nice Italian man) winter unit, which was located right next to the slopes. We had the two upper floors just for us three (Chris, Marko and me) and happily I discovered that there was a big bath next to my room. JACKPOT! Later we went for a dinner with Chris’ brother (Darren) and one other guy and it felt so surreal when I was watching outside the window and it was snowing. Felt like Christmas and it is August. The dinner was yummy! After our stomachs were full we decided to go for a drink. The bar was packed and there was a nice live band playing the oldies from the 80’s. We really weren’t supposed to stay long, but yep the hours just went by so quickly and it was about 6am when I was comfy in my bed.
After 3 hours sleep we hit the slopes and I really didn’t even feel tired, because I was so excided to go snowboarding. The weather couldn’t be better, sunny, no wind and prob +15 in the sun. The sights were breathtaking from the top and we spent quite a while just sitting with our boards and admiring the beautiful nature from the heights of 2000m. My snowboarding skills were a bit rusty since it has been 2 years the last time I did it, but we still managed to be active the whole day there. At four o’clock the resort closed and my last run was so painful. Seriously after dozens of fallings on my knees I felt that I couldn’t take it any more and the whole last run I was just veining/crying, but eventually made it back to our cabin. Immediately after returning from the slopes I jumped in hot warm bubble bath and it felt sensational. Donno what it is, if I am getting old or what, because I remember we did this partying-nights, snowboarding-days every day for 5 days with the girls when we were in Levi in 2002, but now I was really feeling exhausted. Later we were invited downstairs to have a dinner with Vince (the owner of the cabin) and had some great pasta. The guys went out that night and I stayed home and fell asleep at eight. The next day our trip was about to come to the end and it was time to say goodbye to Tredbo. On our way back home we made a quick visit in Jindabyne, which is a small town nearby. It is also the place were the Aussie movie “Jindabyne” surprisingly was shot. We also visited again Canberra, but this time we saw the city in the heights of hundreds of meters, from Telstra tower. Yep, and the city looked a bit better now (when it was not raining ;)). Around at 7ish we came to Chris’ parents place and had a nice dinner with the whole family, some Chinese. Couldn’t believe that it was already Sunday and I would have to work the next day. Well only one month to go to our birthday trip to Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef ;) How are you all hanging there? Summer is over and the winter is threateningly getting there? Wendy how is your new apartment? Oh, and for my Dutch mum and dad I wanna wish great trip to Indonesia, ENJOY and remember to send a postcard for me ;) hugs & kisses!

City week

2006-08-21T22:49:00.000+10:00

G’Day mates! I start to realize that I am getting a bit lazy for producing stories, but I assure you that next week’s story will be awesome. Yep, in 2 days we will hit the road again with my bro’s Marko and Chris and make our furthest trip so far, six hours drive to South… Snowy Mountains watch out! But before that let’s go back one week…

The highlight of the week was without a doubt, when my boss took me to the concert of Australian Chamber Orchestra on Wednesday. My first time ever and I absolutely loved it. I couldn’t talk the whole time, just sat in quiet and stared to the stage. I felt that my whole body was in a different level and I could feel the notes going in deep, all the way to my soul. Yeah, I know this may sound a bit cheesy, but trust me you would have been crying next to me and my boss during Hindemith’s “Trauermusik”.

The week went fast with working and training. On Friday my boss went to a seminar in Gold Coast and I was the first time alone the whole day in the office. It was quite nice to go work with casual clothes and without make-up and have the club-mix channel on =) and I was really productive besides organizing a dinner for ten people later that evening. After finishing at work I went to have a quick shower at home and at eight o’clock Chris picked me up. We met up with the others in Double Bay, restaurant called the Golden Sheaf. The place was really nice with a big terrace area, 3 bars, live music etc. Our group was again really international; Mette (an intern) and her boyfriend (both Danish), Cordula and Joanna (in the picture with me) are from Germany plus some other people, oh yes and Marko and Chris (regulars). From Golden Sheaf we went to one karaoke bar next to Hyde Park, but stayed there max 10mins and moved forward. The next stop was in Oxford Street in a bar called the Gaff. One Austrian girl, Susi, who I met last weekend, was organizing a birthday party for one girl. The place was full of Sydney Uni students and celebration got pretty wild in some point and the guys took me out from dancing on the stage (yep my dear friends the old wild Aino is back ;)) and we jumped in a taxi and headed towards Kings Cross. And again… The Empire! After 2 hours sleep Chris asked me if I would want to go to his parents place in the country and so we did. The day was gorgeous and I sobered my head by the pool. In the afternoon Chris and his brother took me around the neighbourhood and showed me the biggest dam in Australia, which provides all the water in New South Wales area, except the place Chris lives. To that neighbourhood they need to get the water from tank trucks… strange, but true. The rest of the day I was just sleeping, watching a movie and chatting with his parents, who are REALLY nice and friendly!

The next morning after a good and long night sleep I was ready and fresh for Sunday. Chris went to his fire brigade for few hours so I had a good time to get some tan for my milky skin. At mid day I met Julia (intern for Scandinavian Airlines) who finally arrived from Sweden, my new party girl. We had lunch in Darling harbour and after did some shopping and bought some nice tiny dresses for our coming holiday in Cairns ;) After spending too much money we decided to check out one apartment that Julia was deciding to move into. The apartment was located in Cremonre, which is a walking distance from my place. The place was quite nice and after we bargained the rent from 140AUD to 120AUD/week (good to have a man as a landlord ;)) she decided to take it. Later that evening I finally got some rest on the living room couch and watched some CSI with Jules.Millions of kisses to all you far far away… Still thinking about u!

Vino Tinto/Dead Kangaroos and luxlife ;)

2006-08-13T22:28:00.000+10:00

Its Monday again, a whole week behind and again gained some awesome experiences. The first week of august started with a feedback session with my boss. The start was quite intimidating, but after a heavy discussion we reached the common tone and at least I was satisfied with the outcome. Well we will see how it goes, me and my big mouth again hehe. Days from Monday to Friday were relaxed and my days went pretty much like work, gym and watching telly with Jules.

On Friday I met Marko in the city after spending some time with my new heat rolls (what was the reason I was few hours late from my schedule) and we headed to Kings Cross where one of his colleague, Alex hosted a dinner party. The evening was lovely and I met some Spanish, Colombian, Mexican and Austrian people, it was almost as international as in Kiezel ;) Alex (Mexican guy) had prepared some delicious tortillas with beef or chicken, avocado salad, warm breads and some special Mexican desert (can’t
remember what was it called tho) and we washed the dish down from our throats with what else than tequila.

From there we took a taxi ended up in George Street a restaurant/bar/club called Establishment were Chris was already waiting for us for quite a while. The funniest thing was when we entered with Marko. I went first and the bouncers were just welcoming me in, but from our 26 years old mate they asked ID’s heheh. The place was quite different compared to our local place in X, full of men with suits, lot of gays, pretty people and wannabees, but it was nice for a change. After few hours we decided that it was time to move on and went to the next nightclub which happened to be the Hilton’s. The decoration was absolutely beautiful, but unfortunately people were missing, so it was pretty much like one drink and out. The next stop was in our faithful friend; The Empire and we met there also the people we were earlier dining with. In some point me and Chris took off and ended up in one more bar… something with monkeys, heheh. So it was quite a big night indeed.

The next morning I had scheduled to have a facial at 11am. I really needed it after Friday night. By accident I bumped into Marko who was on his way homefrom god knows where so we had a quick breakfast. At lunch time Chris picked us up and it was time to leave Sydney. This time we direct to North and the destination was called Huntervalley. It is famous for its huge wine regions and surprisingly we decided to stay over a night in one called Adina.

We stayed in this sensational newly constructed accommodation
with big terrace, barbi, beautiful living room with fireplace, two
big bedrooms with toilets and a case full of red wine ;) After settling down we headed to wine tasting to the main building,
where we started the evening with some red. My favourite was Shiraz yummy. From red it was good to try some rose and finally some white, what a mix indeed. The founder of the Adina vineyard was really helpful and told us all kinds of information about vines and olives. He used to work for IBM for decades, but after retiring from the corporate life decided to move and start up a vineyard, in other words he is living his dream. Could be my
future as well after 40 years ;)

After getting a bit taste of Adina wines we decided to continue
some tasting in our own lovely accommodation. Every one of us were quite tired from the night before so we enjoyed the evening just sitting in front of the fireplace and playing scrable and guess who won =) I was superior and poor guys didn’t have a change (well it was their first time to play and I explained the rules, but hey… I won)! Later on we went to have some Tapas in the restaurant across the street, but as usual I ate way too much and even we had planned to check out the local nightlife I was the first to give up and went to see the sandman already at 10pm.

Sunday morning we all woke up early and fresh and I took a quick walk to the vineyard. There was not much to see tho, because both the wine and olive season were over but the weather was great, sunny and +21. In the mean while the guys were already packing the car and we hit the road again after saying goodbye the vineyard staff and buying some “vino” togo. The next stop was some where middle of no where. One of Chris’ friends, Pete, was competing in W.E Rock. Yep, donno really how would I explain this extreme sport, but maybe the pictures tell more =) Never seen anything like that, “cage cars” trying to climb up on the cliff but most of the times they were just rolling down on their roofs, but luckily nobody got hurt.

The journey back home was shocking. On our way I saw my first time wild kangaroos, at least dozen, except they all were dead. Chris told me that during the nights they like to jump towards the light and BANG (u know the rest)! Besides kangaroos I saw 2
dead wombats and one opossum =( Before heading home we made a quick visit in Avoca beach, which is popular holiday spot for the wealthy people. Even Nicole Kidman used to have a flat there. Beautiful. It is so nice that the days are getting longer every day and in about a month time the summer is here!!! jeiiiih!

How are u doing in Europe? Missing me hopefully ;) well I miss u and I would love that all of you would experience some Aussie style of living. I LOVE IT and so would u! Oh, Happy Birthday to Wendy, my lovely Dutch sis, to Däni and Martina! BIG wet kiss from Down Under!

Escape to country

2006-08-06T23:55:00.000+10:00

Heya my dear friends! Hope you had as nice week as I did. The whole week at work went quite fast and since Monday I was already looking so much forward the weekend because I knew we would leave Sydney and hit the country. Nothing really special happened during the week at work, except I had to go to the doctor because of my foot. She discovered that I am suffering from Achilles tendon and she told me to stop training for a whole week and that I should stop running for good. What a shock! Well I rested my heel for the weekend, but on Monday I have to go to gym, can’t wait any longer, hehe! Oh, almost forgot... On Tuesday I met one German and two Danish interns who are working here in Sydney as well. Marko joined us as well and we went for Tapas and movies, You, Me and Dupree (!which is hilarious!).

Our weekend trip kicked-off on Friday at 7pm when Chris (the Aussie guy) and Marko picked me up from home. We headed to Chris’ home which is about an hour away from Sydney to South-West. They have a sort of farm, a big house with huge yard, pool, few horses (which were not home) and 2 dogs and a parrot that doesn’t have a name, who almost pooped on my hand while trying to feed him. The night was really relaxed and we just watched some telly and chatted with his mother. We went to bed quite early because the next day we had to woke up early to hit the road.

At eight o’clock we were all up and happily surprised that the weather was nice and sunny. There was no sign of the heavy rain that bothered us the night before so we decided to go horse riding. It was a great fun and after a little struggle I got my horse, Misty to obey me and we even did some galloping =) Markos’ horse was called Polly and that girl was so lazy. We had a good laugh with Chris while watching his struggle to keep her going. An hour session cost 18€ in mountainous country. Definitely going to do it again soon.

After riding we headed to a town called Kiama, which is a small place by the coast. On our way we made a quick stop in one Buddish temple. We had a nice lunch in a café and enjoyed the afternoon while walking on the beach. We also went to see a sight called “Blow Hole” which is as the name says a whole in the cliff by the ocean which spits waves from that hole. It was pretty amazing so see the water coming out with such a huge power, even it wasn’t even that windy. It is also a quite dangerous place and many tourists have been sucked in the whole and got killed with the waves when they have reached too close the hole. Luckily they built a fence you are not allowed to cross.

We decided to stay in Kiama that night and rented a bungalow by the sea, a really nice place to stay with friends or family with sleeping places for total of 7 people, Jacuzzi, terrace and BBQ. Our bungalow was called the Friendship and honestly I am so grateful that I met these two guys. We have become extremely close and
have a great fun always together. They make my stay here so
much nicer and it’s also a good to be the only girl, because they kinda spoil me, heheh. So thanks guys you mean world to me!

Later on we ate some Barbie (BBQ) and me and Marko tasted the first time a kangaroo beef (I ate just a one piece), which was surprisingly nice, soft and a bit sweeter compared to another meets. We also got two guests coming over for dinner, Chris’ friend and his 14 years old son, who tried to teach me the rules of rugby and explain the difference with rugby league and rugby union. I must admit that so far I still can’t tell the difference. I also took a long bubble bath (most of you probably knows about my addiction to bubble baths) and enjoyed there with a bottle of red ;)

We also decided to make a quick visit in the local bar, where they got a live band playing. The next morning we hit the road again really early and decided to check out the markets nearby. Believe it or not but they were selling Dutch pancakes and we felt
obligated to eat some, yummy! I bought also a stone turtle to my Aussie mum, because she is really into gardening and I knew she would love it =) After the markets we stopped on our way home in two small villages and ate some Aussie meat pies (which are
really nice by the way). I almost bought a puppy from a pet shop… would have been a nice surprise to Julianne, hehe. They were so extremely cute… irresistible. On our way we stopped again at Chris’ place and his oldest brothers place who lives in Sydney. Such a great weekend, too bad that the time flew so fast and tomorrow it’s Monday again and a new week at work. Well luckily the time seems to fly here anyways and before I notice its weekend again. Luv u all!!! Cha cha…

Come hea!

2006-07-29T18:33:00.000+10:00

How are you doing all my sweethearts there far far away? Hope it’s still nice and warm in Europe. Here everything is going good and smoothly, if we just ignore the fact that I had those days again, that I was missing home and all of you guys out there so much that I thought that I wouldn’t make the next 13 months that I still have left here. But luckily I won the battle in my twisted little mind and now I am fine again.

This week work was pretty much ok. Normal stuff, organizing media trips to Scandinavia, writing media coverage reports, dealing with clients. We also had few meetings in our office and on Friday we went up to the city to the office of Scandinavian Airlines and had a chat with the head of the SAS Australia Lars Sørensen about the coming projects. Besides working I have been punishing myself in the gym. I found this new fitness class called body compact, it is a mixture of boxing, kickboxing and screaming which is pretty funny =)

On Friday evening the boys (Chris and Marko) picked me up and we went to have a dinner in Cremonre, some yummy Thai. Later we decided to see an Australian movie, called Jindabyne. I really wanted to go to see one Aussie band called Eskimo Joe, which is quite hip at the moment. They were playing in the city, but like usually with my luck the tickets were sold out. The movie was based on a true story and therefore it was interested to see and also because it was Australian. Few years back few men went for fishing trip and found a dead woman in the river in Jindabyne, which is a town in New South Wales. The killer never got caught and he is still out there hunting for the next victim….oooh scary!!! Quite like our Bodom lake story in Finland. After the movie we went for a couple of drinks in the Oaks, which is “the place” in Neutral Bay (where I live). We managed to go home after 2 drinks, impressive, eh?

On Saturday morning I woke up at six and couldn’t get anymore sleep. The day was gorgeous and me and Marko decided to check out the neighbourhood in Watson’s Bay. Manly has been so far my favourite place, but after seeing Watson’s I was hooked. The place is amazing because it is located on a slope and you can see the city with all the skyscrapers and the Harbour Bridge. On the harbour there is one of the best seafood restaurants I have ever eaten called Doyles. We had a lovely lunch with prawns, salmon, on the terrace and it was so warm that it was hard to understand that this is the winter in Sydney. Later that evening I had the family dinner at our place. It was a farewell dinner for Christian (Jules nephew 23) who is going to England to play rugby for 3 weeks in October. Also there was his mother, Jules brother, Trevor and his 2 kids (Sarah 23 and Rob 17). The evening was lovely and food was delicious (Lasagne, Salad, chocolate cake). The whole family is absolutely great and I am so thankful that I can be part of it this 13 months. After the dinner we went to have few drinks with Christian in the city, in a club where his friend works as a bouncer. Such a nice guy and he promised to teach me how to surf… that will be funny =) We managed to leave quite early and I was a good girl again (holding on with our 2 weeks no drunkenness deal). Well it seemed like Marko forgot that and had a quite wild night in the Rocks (surprise) with Chris.

Sunday morning I woke up again too early and took a buss to Watson’s Bay. My plan was to get some colour to my milky skin, but there was too much wind on the beach just to lay there with bikinis. I was already getting bored to be there alone, when just on the right time Chris called me and told me that his brother (who I haven’t ever met before) was cruising with a boat close by and told me to catch up with them. Well I did and got a freaky bumpy ride in the ocean. After the guys dropped me off I headed back home, took a little nap and baked mokkapalat (my special chocolate cake) and watched few episodes of CSI with Jules… and now it’s time to go to bed. Night! Oh, and one more thing. My Aussie accent is improving. I learned that instead of saying here, Aussies pronounced it as hea… so cute ;)

Summer Im Waiting for you!

2006-07-23T19:17:00.000+10:00

I can’t believe that it’s weekend again, days just keep on going by so quickly. The weather has been awful the whole week, heavy rain all day and night long. And I mean REALLY HEAVY! One evening when I left work to go to the gym it wasn’t raining so I left my umbrella to the office and of course when I was going home it was pouring. Honestly I have never ever in my life been so wet! It was so ridiculous and I couldn’t do anything else than laugh… Well few days later I wasn’t laughing any more and I got this flu and I had to skip Friday form work because I was feeling so ill. So there you go!

On Wednesday morning I had my first “Breakfast lecture meeting”. I went there with my colleague, Anders. Tom Burton (former executive editor of the Sydney Morning Herald) was giving a speech about the changes and opportunities of the Australian media. It was pretty interesting and I was really surprised the all the invited people were 20-30 old. I mean I knew that PR industry is relatively young and ruled by young people, but still! I met some interesting people. but as it was time to change business cards I felt a bit awkward and unprofessional because I obviously didn’t have my own business card to give, so I just got a punch of cards in my pocket after I left.

Another funny thing happened to me few days ago as I was on my way to get the mail. I bumped into this old man, called Wayne who I met and started to chat with while I was waiting the train in North Sydney Station 3 weeks ago. He was the one I wrote about earlier, the old man who was offering his time share in the Cold Coast. Anyways, I lost his number when I moved into Julianne’s place, but now I got it again. I think this was meant to happen, destiny!

I really didn’t have any big plans for this weekend. Well I was thinking to have it a bit more relaxed than last weekend. Friday evening I was feeling better so I went movies with Chris (the Aussie guy I met last weekend). First time in my life I saw a movie at first class seats and it was great. The movie wasn’t that spectacular (My super ex-girlfriend), but I enjoyed the free drinks, popcorn and extra comfy seats =) After we picked up Marko from the hostel and had few drinks in Rocks in the same Irish bar we met Chris exactly one week ago.

Saturday morning Marko came to pick me up and we decided to check out the Kirribilly markets. During the weekends there are plenty of outdoor markets, selling food, antiques, art, juwelry, secondhand clothes etc. You can find basically anything there in fair price. We did the whole North Sydney walk and walked that day probably 10 kilmometers. We even walked the Sydney Harbour Bridge which is massive! The weather was great and we enjoyed lunch in Darling Harbour, what else than sushi ;)

Later that night I went to have a dinner with Minka, her boyfriend Tomi and with some of his collegues. We ended up in China Town and had a great meal in Chinese restaurant (surprise). Later we went to one of the clubs in Oxfort Street, called N&N which turned out to be the worst teenager hell that i have been to in a long time. I really didn't feel comfortable queuing there for an hour among all the kids dressed up in their mini tops and tiny skirts. The only way to manage that evening was to get few more drinks ;) Later I took a taxi to Kings Cross and met Chris and Marko in the Empire (which is becoming our regular club). I met so many strange people and most of the time I was hiding from them (after they offered free drinks for me and after I vanished) hehehe… I am such and naughty girl! Well we had to leave around 4am because the bouncer had thrown Marko out because he was feeling a bit tired on the dance floor =) yeah…. what can I say! What a night again!

I forced myself up at eleven because it was such a pretty day and I didn’t want to waste the whole day on sleeping. We decided to take to bus to Manly with Marko and spend the whole day walking on the beach. We also made a promise that we are not going to party for 2 weeks. We will see how that goes =) I really love the lay-back life style here. People gather on the beach during the weekends, go surfing, sailing, scuba, reading magazine on the beach, climbing, having barbi (barbeque), having a nice Sunday walk by the coast line etc. The funniest thing is that you are still able to do all these things, even though it is mid winter here. Manly is the second known beach in Sydney and really popular among the surfers and pack packers. It is just 30mins by bus from the place I live so it is nice to go there every now and then.

So that was the story of the week. I better get to bed now and get a bit more sleep than 5 hours like last night. Greetings to everybody and I still miss you all very mucho! Oh, and Drew congratulations for winning the band contest. I am so proud of you. Everybody go to this website http://www.purevolume.com/maclean/blog and listen the next BIG band from Canada. They will be HUGE! Remember Drew that I am still your biggest fan in Finland!

1 Month Anniversary!

2006-07-16T18:35:00.000+10:00

Today it is my 1 month anniversary here in Sydney. Celebration =) In the other hand time has gone so quickly here and so many thinks have happened already, but then again it feels so much longer than 4 weeks when I left Amsterdam. At the moment I am feeling a bit sad because nobody is online (sleeping away their hangovers probably). God I miss you all so much!!!

The pass week has been really good for me. Everything worked out in my work and I feel more confident now what ever I am doing there. This week I was busy with organising media trips, writing itinerarys and reports (Media coverage reports) to our clients, which are done quarterly. Basically my task is to analyse the gathered data and inform our clients how the perception of the public has changed within the period and to research what is the share of the media. It is pretty interesting and days flew by so quickly. I am also happy because now I getting much better along with my boss. Oh yes, and we got a new employee joining us every Monday, Swedish guy called Anders. He is a freelancer journalist. So that makes us the total of 4!!! Besides Me, Satu (my boss) and Anders we have a bookkeeper coming every Tuesday called Marianne.

This weekend was a blast! Finally I tuned on my party mode (took one month, tho). On Friday after work I skipped gym and yoga and we headed for a drink with my boss to the bar next to the office. Most of the offices have tradition to get a drink or few after work, especially on Thursdays (which is the party day of the week) and on Fridays. It was nice to chat with Satu about some normal issues and THANK god in Finnish! Our corporate language is English and English only, which first felt a bit weird, because we are both Finns, for god sake! After she dropped me home and a quick dinner I headed to the city to see Marko. We were supposed to go to have few, but like you probably all can guess, we had a bit more ;) We found this great Irish pub in the Rocks with live music and the singer was amazing (meaning the voice ;) of course and he melted my heart… (Don’t you worry Kelvin, you are still the ONE! heheh! After many many many drinks we met few Australian guys while I was loosing all my money to the gambling machine. They were heading to the Cross (Kings Cross, also known as the X) and asked us to come with them. The X is full of bars, pubs, clubs, drugs and prostitutes and of course we joined them. Chris (the obvious leader of the group) took us from the back door of the club, called The Empire in and my party life in Sydney was officially opened, HURRAY!

The night was fun, long and very expensive for some people. In some point we lost Marko and I was alone with my new Aussie friends. Only the next evening I was able to reach him. That night he lost his phone (a new Nokia, worth of 500€) and spent 300AUD! When I woke up on Saturday morning I was hammered, but I forced myself to wash the laundry and do the groceries with Julianne, as we do every Saturday. After, I decided to make a quick visit to the nearest mall, because the weather was bad the whole weekend. Mum I didn’t buy anything unnecessary ;)

Saturday evening started really relaxed. We watched a movie with Jules and I made some mashed potations and sour cream salmon, yummy! It felt like at home! I really wasn’t supposed to go out that night, but well... I ended up partying big time again. Chris took us to one restaurant called the Libertine, which seemed to be full of beautiful people, pretty girls and rich guys. Girls, that is the place I am taking you all when you come over ;) After we found ourselves in the Empire (again) holding a whiskey cola in my hand. Oh, and the best ending to my night was, when I woke up in a night bus somewhere in Manly (fell asleep and missed my stop). I had to take a taxi, which cost me 25 bucks, God damned! So that’s about my party carrier.

Again in the morning I felt hammered, but I had to recover quickly, because my boss had invited me for a lunch 12:00 at her place. The lunch was lovely, pumpkin soup, self made bread, chicken salad, wine and for desert coffee and cinnamon rolls, that she made herself…yummy, yummy! The rest of the day I watched some more DVD’s with Jules and finally relaxed. Great weekend indeed!

Blue Mountains & Northern Beaches

2006-07-11T00:18:00.000+10:00

This weekend we decided to rent a car and explore the areas outside Sydney close by. 11 am Saturday morning I got picked up by the Finnish guys Marko and Mikko from Neutral Bay and my very first road trip in Australia was to begin.

Blue Mountains are located a little over 100 km from centre of Sydney. It consist of series of hills and impressive 250,000 hectares Blue Mountains National Park. The name comes from eucalyptus oil rising off of the trees and refracting the sun’s rays making the mountains really looking blue. The best way to explore the region is bushwalking, and without even planning the route we direct our selves among all the other tourists to the start point of 2,5 hours hiking trip.

Our trip started nearby the Three Sisters, which is the SPOT to take pictures. So did we as well ;) After way too many pictures we started our descending to the bottom of the valley (Giant Staircase) and I have to say that after 841 steps my legs were a bit shaky. The views were amazing, and we were lucky because the weather was sunny, warm and not windy (doesn’t happen very often during the winter). The valley is stuffed with eucalyptus trees and wollemi pines (what was thought to have been extinct for 150 million years). Even though, I tried really hard I didn’t see any koalas, but I heard there are some, well maybe next time. For a moment I was a bit worried that we would have to climb another stairs up to the hill (which would have been a suicide), but luckily in the end of the route there was a train, scenic railway (which is by the way the world’s steepest railway, at an angle of 52) which took us up in few minutes.
Pretty amazing experience!

After we survived up the sun had gone down and it was pretty cold and I had to dig out my winter jacket from my pack bag. From the top there was another 30 minutes walk (uphill walk to our car). After we left Blue Mountains we stopped to have a dinner in the Katoomba city. The whole centre was like a ghost town even it was Saturday evening, but we found one nice Italian restaurant, really popular one and it seemed the whole town was there trying to get a dish at the same time.

One thing about Australia. Most of the restaurants have this policy that you can take your own drinks with you, how great is that. The reason for that is that most of the restaurants don’t have licence for selling alcohol. I heard that it costs around 30 000AUD to get the permit, therefore most of the smaller places can’t afford it. Well, I think it is a great deal for consumers!

On Sunday we decided to experience some beach life and we planned our trips towards the northern beaches. From the place I live, Neutral Bay all the way to Palm Beach (1,5 hours by car) there are beaches and more beaches after another. At least now I know how I will spend my summer weekends ;) Here are some pictures (coming in few days) from Dee why, Palm Beach and Collaroy.

Oh, and just for the record, I got my internet today. So I can skype etc. from home now!!! Miss you all very incredibly much! And if you have time I would LOVE to hear from you! Enjoy the summer heat in Finland, soon it is gone…

Winter wonder land!

2006-07-04T17:46:00.000+10:00

Two weeks have flown by and I am finally starting to find my place. But let’s go back few days. I moved out from my first hostel last Wednesday. It must have been a sight, me dragging all my stuff (the amount of luggage have increased already quite a lot ;)) at 7am and trying to get a taxi in the worst rush-hour time. Finally I got one and direct myself few blocks towards the city. The hostel is located right in the centre, above a dance studio. It’s funny, but the hostel is kinda underground place. It has no name and the people who live there have founded their way by accident or heard about it from a friend. I belong to the last group. Thanks Henna ;)

The hostel is modest and ideal for pack packers because of its location and prices. My room was neat, but all the conveniences, like TV, heater, fridge and own toilet & bathroom were missing. Well I think you get less if you pay less. Even though my room wasn’t that spectacular I met some great people while living there for 3 nights, some nice German people and coincidentally two Finnish guys from Lahti. Since then I have been spending quite a lot of time with them, going for a dinner or drinks, watch movies etc. Really nice to meet some new people!

On Saturday morning I finally got to move into my new flat. I can’t even describe how good it felt to settle down, wash all my clothes and get rid of the stinky hostel smell. Not to forget to mention how great it felt to sleep in a queen size bed…

Julianne, Jules is fabulous (the woman I am staying with). She is really helpful, kind and funny. I am so happy that we get along so well and I can really be myself and act like at home. (Mum, you probably think oh nooooo that poor woman doesn’t know what she is dealing with! Well don’t worry I’ll try my best to behave.) Saturday evening I just stayed home after having a dinner with Minka and making a long “get known to the neighbourhood” walk. Later me and Jules watched few episodes Miss Marple on TV and went to bed early. On Sunday the weather was great, +20 and sunny. It is very hard to understand that it is the coldest season in Sydney (mid winter). Anyways, we did a long coast line walk with Minka, all the way from Coogee Beach till Bondai Beach. The sights were incredible like you can see from the pictures. Can’t wait the summer to come.

Work is ok, at this moment. I am starting to understand better the organization style and now I have learned a bit more how the travel industry in Australia works. Satu (my boss) can be sometimes a bit pain in the ass, but I will survive. Sometimes she looses her nerves if I ask some things that in her opinion are obvious (but in mine are not!!!) But at least she gives me quite demanding things to do. For example I am responsible to produce all the Work in Process Reports and Annual reports. I am also involved with the Sibelius proposal (which is the main project for the year 2007). There is also continuous media monitoring task, where I have to extend Finesse’s own database etc. So at least I don’t have to be an idler =) Anyways, I will take no stress about the work. I am going to do my best, but not loose my sleep.

Today I started in a gym nearby, Fitness First. Yes, I did it after 2 months break, hih! And it felt great. My goal is to go to a fitness class or a gym 4 times a week. That will happen after work, because I don’t want to waist my weekends of that kind of nonsense ;) More over I want to learn how to surf and scuba! Well few months to go still…

OK, I better go to sleep now! Early waking up tomorrow, that means early walk to work (so great that I can just walk 15mins and be there). I miss you all very extremely much. Mum, dad, Jaakko and Anniina I am so looking forward you to come here during Christmas. I already have BIG plans for that trip! K I MISSSSSSSSSSSS U!!! To all my other sweethearts hope to hear from you soon. I’ll get my internet this coming Saturday, so I will have my hotline tuned on 24/7. Kisses and hugs and you can also write how things are going in the other side of the world as a comment!
kus kus *

Hunting for apartment...

2006-06-25T09:55:00.000+10:00

First working week behind and actually I have to say that I really like it. My work I mean. On Friday I had my first real business meeting in the head office of Finnair, Sydney. Finnesse was representing The Finnish Tourist Board and our task was to sell Finland as a tourist destination for Australian travelling wholesalers together with Finnair. There were 11 representatives from different travel agencies participating the meeting and everything went absolutely great. The sales manager of Finnair, Sydney was introducing the new options to travel from Australia to exotic Finland and giving the latest information concerning the flights. Our task was to make Finland look as attractive place as possible to visit and convince the wholesaler to take Finland as a part of their selling product. I was responsible for preparing the power point and making all the tricky graphs ;) Thank God I knew how to do it!

After work I went to check out two apartments which were located in North Sydney. In the first apartment lived a couple, a German guy and an Asian girl. The apartment wasn’t that great, but the guy was extremely friendly. He even came to pick me up from his car and after took me all the way to Manly where the other apartment was located. Oh, and he showed we the Balmore beach… well it was really dark, so I hardly saw anything, but still it was nice thing to do! The apartment in Manly was horrible. It was like a house for homeless people, no furniture, rotten smell, the people who lived there were strange and the most ridiculous thing was that the girl who was renting the room moved herself into the walk-in clothes closet which was connected to the room I was supposed to live. So basically every time she wishes to enter or exit her “room” she is going to do it via my room!!! So much for that privacy! Oh and the room was unfurnished, well there was a broken rotten desk…

After that I felt like crap. Should I just spend 11 months in that kind of shi* whole??? No way! That night I felt really home sick and was missing my own bed more than ever. The only positive thing from that situation was that on my way home I met this nice English girl, who was actually checking out the same rotten room. I started to talk with her and we ended up having a drink and moaning our sad situation. Well at least I made a new friend, Samantha.

The next morning (Saturday) I was supposed to meet my Finnish friend Minka and see together some apartments, but unfortunately she was feeling really sick after a food poisoning, so I had to go alone. I only had one settled meeting in Neutral Bay. That is one of the nicest and most expensive areas in North Sydney. I had quite high expectations from the apartment, because there was living this middle aged lady. And for my luck my instincts were right for once. The apartment and the views were breathtaking. You will experience the same as me when you see the pictures. The woman, Julianne was extremely nice and friendly and from the first minute I knew this was it. My new home! The apartment was located on the slope of Neutral Bay and from the living room and from my room you could see the city, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the see. In my room I would have my queen-sized bed, TV, own entrance to the back yard and amazing views, own renovated bathroom, cleaner that comes once a week. It was too good to be true. Julianne’s sister has 3 kids around my age and one of them just married with a famous cricket player, who is kinda celebrity in Australia. Can’t wait to meet them and get into the games!!! The whole family seemed really nice and because she hasn’t got kids of her own, that is probably the reason she wants to have some young person living with her. Well I am more that glad to be her foster daughter the next 11 months ;) I will move in the coming Saturday!

After leaving Julianne's house on my way to see Minka I started to chat with this Australian man in his sixties. He was really nice and interested in my background, why I was in Sydney etc. Eventually he was offering me his timeshare apartment located in Cold Coast, because I told him that I am heading to Queens Land after I finish my internship here in Sydney. He gave me his number and told me to call if I just needed anything or was in a trouble. So strange, the people here, so nice and helpful!

Finally I ended up to Kings Cross and met Minka. We rented a movie and took pizza from the pizzeria downstairs her flat. Tomorrow the weather should be great and we will go to check out the markets and do a little sightseeing! Miss you all very much, kiss, kus and pusu <3

First Day @ Work!

2006-06-22T13:37:00.000+10:00

Today I started officially my 11 months long internship in the company called Finnesse, Communications, Marketing and PR. As the name already says, it basic functions are in those three fields. Tonight I woke up again 4am and after that I barely could get any sleep. I think Im still suffering from the time difference (which is by the way +8 hours from Holland and +7 hours from Finland). My working hours are from 9am till 5.30pm, including 1 hour lunch break. This morning was also the first time I used public transportation in Sydney. It went ok and I hopped in the right train on the first try =) North Sydney is only 7 minutes with a train from the Central Station, other side the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I felt myself really business like with my adult clothes and everything went great before I almost fell down because of my high heels while rushing across the North Sydney Station. The rest of the trip I took easier and minded my steps… “highheelers” are just not my cup of tea!The office was tinier than I expected and at the moment there is working only 3 people including me, Satu, my boss and 27 years old German girl called Joanna. She is working only 2 days a week, so she is kinda part-time intern. She seemed really nice, too bad that she only works so rarely.Satu is ok, first she seemed to be a little intense, but by the end of the day we got along good. I already was happy about the fact that she really gives me responsible work already from the beginning. Basically the daily work is answering customer calls, e-mails and other requests. Update the media follow-ups related to the customers, planning upcoming projects and some other related things. I will be having my first real business meeting already this coming Friday, when Finnesse is giving presentation for its travel industry clients… really exciting!The day went really quickly and I ate again sushi for lunch. Soon I will probably transform into a fish myself =) But it is just soooooooooooo good! The weather was crap, rainy and cold. The rest of the day I tried to find a room for me from the city. No more hostel-life for me, please!Hyvää Jussia kaikille!!! And the biggest and the furthest congratulations to my lovely dad who is turning today respectfully 70, but still looks not a day older than 50 ;)

First Day in Sydney!

2006-06-22T12:29:00.000+10:00

Here I am, finally after 21 hours of flying. The trip was tiring, but it was definitely worth it. Sunday morning was quite hard for me because I had to say goodbye to some very special people who Im going to miss so much in these 14 months. Even though Im usually good in keeping my emotions inside, this time it all came out. I want to thank my Dutch family for taking me to the airport; it meant a world to me!

My first stop was in Hong Kong, after 11 hours. The airport is massive and ideal for shopping. Even though I was tired as hell, I still had some energy to run into every Gucci, Channel, D&G and Dior store….heheh! The city, Hong Kong looked great from the plane, with all the skyscrapers and beaches. I definitely want to go there for once. From HK there was still a 9 hour fly to my new home town, Sydney. But luckily the trip went fast and I probably slept 7 hours of the flight. The city looked amazing from the plane, especially because the sun had gone down already so it was dark. It looked like millions of diamonds shining. That was the first time when I saw the Sydney opera house live =)

From the airport I got picked up by the owner of the hostel Im staying. He was really nice and helpful and answered all the weird questions I had. The hostel was also really nice and much cosier than I expected. The even gave me a room with own bathroom and toilet without charging anything extra!

I was so excited that I barely could get any sleep. I was just waiting the sun come up so I could hit the city. Eight in the morning I took my first real steps towards the city and I can’t say anything else than WAAAAUUUUU… What a place!!! I can still hardly believe this to be true. Finally in Sydney, After all the misfortune I had with visas and passports!

I went for a tour just by walk, because the hostel is just 10 minutes walk from the centre. The first impression I got was really good. The sun was shining behind the big palm trees as I crossed the Prince Alfred Park. People were smiling to me and wishing Good Morning. I was walking towards the Central Station a latte on my hand and I thought in my mind… I feel like home already. I walked next to the big skyscrapers heading to the harbour and I saw so many great shopping places, sushi bars, all kinds of restaurants that serve healthy food with low fat dishes. I noticed that I have to get used to the left sided traffic and the strange sound of the traffic lights (which sounds like a space racket taking off when people can cross the street). The city itself is incredibly beautiful, also because most of it takes place by the sea. I took some sushi for a lunch on my way to Darling Harbour, which is by so far my favourite place. I enjoyed my lunch by the water and it was hard to believe that it was mid winter while I had to take my sweater off.

The rest of the day I walked and walked. I met my Finnish friend Minka, who has been living in Sydney already from March with her boyfriend. Im really glad that I have somebody to talk with and show the city, it makes the acclimatization to the environment so much easier. Tomorrow is my first day at work, exciting! My new Aussie number is: +61410137432. Feel free to call =)

Farewell party in Finland 27.5.2006

2006-06-03T00:11:00.000+10:00

If you are reading this blog, you belong to the elite group of my closest friends. Congratulations!!! hehe... just kidding.

This is the official site where you can find out what Im doing, where, when and why. But let's begin!

Today is a special day for me, because I finally got my VISA to Australia approved by the Australian government. JIPPIE! So 16 days left and then I will direct myself to Australia, Sydney. That will be the 18th June, Sunday. I must say that Im a little bit nervous already.

But let's go back few days... to Finland.
I had the greatest 6 six days for a long time and I want to thank you all (the ones who were there) for attending my party on Saturday. The whole night was great, including few boring hours in Kaivo, but the overall night was unforgettable. One of the things I won't forget are the bus we went to Kaivohuone and Mari's shoes! Well done girl! And even though we couldn't have our SingStar sessions in Sami's after party, it was nice!

I will really really miss you all! But remember that you are all more than welcomed to visit me in Sydney, if you have the time and money. And if not, you can follow my journey by reading this blog.

Yours,
Aino