September 10th 2005 – Manly Fish ‘n Chips

Thursday and Friday flew by with more of the same data entries for Accor. We got two new roomies and spent the evenings bonding with them in the common room. Now our household consists of two French couples who keep mainly to themselves, a dutch couple who like the country and two Scottish travelers that we get along with great and are our inspiration for traveling to New Zealand. On a tangent has anyone ever heard of Zorbing? It resembles a human hamster ball in which they roll you down a hill, just one of the many crazy adventure sports that New Zealanders have developed… Friday at noon I had my first potential job interview for a long-term role. The interview went great and that afternoon I was offered the position. For the next 3 months, I’ll be working at the Societe Generale Bank in the CBD in their mailroom. Although not quite what I expected, the job sounds pretty fun for temp work and I’m getting excited for my first day on Monday morning. Aside from three deliveries a day, I will be doing basic maintenance work and security database archiving. I'll be based on the 22nd floor... To celebrate, Laure and I went out for Indian food at a restaurant in Darling Harbor. The view was breathtaking, but it was a little pricy for the portions.

Saturday morning we headed out to Manly on the ferry. From the water we got a terrific view of the Sydney harbor and the Opera house. We wandered straight to the beach through a trendy coursol and took in some sun while watching tons of surfers…and no we didn’t see any sharks. We took the manly scenic walk out to the point of a nature preserve and then back to the coursol for some Fish and Chips. Interestingly enough, from the restaurant take out bags we learned that Manly was named because the aboriginal receiving party given to the Captain who first landed there were unarmed and very 'man-ly'. We proceeded back on the inner coastal side and walked 10 km down the length of harbors and inlets all of which were fab-u-lous. Every time someone out here uses that description I have to choke back a laugh, but it seems that it is acceptable out here and not stereotyped the same as in Montreal with a limp wrist. We had to drag ourselves at the end of it, but discovered some picturesque little beach hide-a-ways on the inland coast. We also discovered some of the popular Bar-B’s that everyone jokes about, although everyone prefers sausage to shrimp.View from the Scenic Walk looking towards the outer entrance to the Sydney Harbor.