Bondi - The Craziest Place On Earth

Me again. I seem to always hog this thing. Although I have asked Tim to post some pics of the gorgeous little Sofia Currie - but we'll see!!

Well I went from the" training" - the term is used loosely because we got barely any training done. Mostly we just ate. Anna Payne and I had a grand Home and Away date (for those who care, Amanda and Peter are engaged, Drew and Belle are getting back together and Sally may or may not have died) in my hotel room on Thursday night before heading off for Darling Harbour and dinner with Marcus. It was delicious and such a cool spot. Sydney really has it all covered. When are the losers that run Auckland going to figure it out?

Then on Friday afternoon Anna and Marcus left for home while I went to see Mali (who does my job but in Sydney and is based at the Channel Seven network) and got shown around the TV studio. I went for lunch with Mike (also does my job) and his random friend who works for the NSW government, and could finally explain to me how that all works! And then I was free!

I dragged my gigantic suitcase all the way from the hotel, up a slight hill to the train station, to Bondi Junction where I met with Char and Des. They're still the same! Having a great time in Bondi.

And that leads me to Bondi itself - a CRAZY place. It's like nothing I've ever seen. I was there when I was 19 but somehow managed to not realise what an insane place it is. It is insane for the following reasons:

1. The speedos. Men of all sizes wear speedos.
2. All men are so into themselves. They are tanned, buffed, shaven, strutting their stuff. It's really disturbing (how nice to get home to A REAL MAN!)
3. Plastic surgery. I have never seen so much fakery in all my days. Big boobs, fake fan, botoxed face. Charlene and I saw a woman who was so botoxed, she looked (from a slight distance) as if she was balling her eyes out. Up close, you can see that her face is just so munted from botox that it has this effect. Awful.
4. Nobody sleeps - they just party. Except old grandma me, who slept as much as I could in the noisiest place on earth.

It sounds like I hated Bondi, but I actually had a raging good time, catching up with Char, sampling the millions of eateries, swimming in the really nice water! It was a blast. And catching up with Charlene, Des and Mel was so much fun! I hadn't seen Mel (who did the original tour of NSW with Vicky and I six years ago!) for about four years, so that was great.

Flew home in the flash new Airbus. Was so happy to see Tim, it felt like weeks since we'd seen each other ha ha.

And now reality. It sinks in pretty fast when you're under these damn fluorescent lights!

Have fun!

G'day MATE

How jolly exciting. I'm in Sydney on my first business trip. I say first as if it's likely there will be more. Let's be honest, this might be it for the fun trips. Had a good flight although they played one of the worst movies I've seen in a long while. "A Good Year". Don't see it. I think staring at a wall would be more entertaining. Absolutely terrible. Russelll Crowe trying to do romantic when he should stick to being a bonehead and trying to be funny when he's funnier for getting caught throwing phones at hotel workers.

Anyway! Good news when we got to the hotel! They had run out of the cheaper rooms and I had to be upgraded to the 31st floor (of 33) while Anna and Marcus are on the 10th. Doesn't sound like there're many differences in our rooms, but they are mighty flash! So tonight I plan to take a bath way higher than I ever have, the big tub looks over Sydney City! So cool.

The Yahoo! offices are something special. They're on "Pier 8" on the water and they're old boatsheds renovated into the funkiest office spaces ever. There are even lolly jars everywhere which of course I'm quite excited about. Although I think my status as a guest curtails any plans I had to steal lollies.

It's been celeb-time for me. I saw Harmeet Sooden at Mission Bay - his nose is just as big in real life as it was in all those hostage pics. Ian Ferguson was on my plane (I was tempted to ask about his great looking son, but he probably wouldn't have appreciated it). Then we spotted the Scissor Sisters in our hotel lobby! RoCK StARS!!

Our boss Carolyn is taking us out for dinner tonight, let's hope this socialising business doesn't interfere with my (and Anna Payne's) plans to watch some ahead-of-time Home And Away, take a long bath, check out the mini bar and get a jolly good sleep in the biggest, flashest bed I've ever laid my eyes on. Talk about "you can take the girl out of the West...."

Oh and shopping. To Tim's horror, I plan at least a tiny, mini, little, non-expensive look at Sydney's shops. Because let's face it, in two weeks I'll be having a quarter life crises and nothing helps more than a shiny new handbag.... and shoes... and earrings... and dresses...

A New Mrs Bree!

There is so much to report! But alas, I don't have the time. Check out the pictures of Stacey and Tanya's wedding, which was so much fun and they looked so amazing! I have a sister-in-law which is quite exciting :) And Tim has a new neice Sofia too! Will get him to post some photos of the little cutie! And I will update everyone on more exciting things when I get a chance.