It was Winter in Sydney Again!?! Let’s Sum it Up!

Winter time in Sydney…

Yes, it is a thing!

And I just survived my second one (Phew).

Minus crazy rain that made me sleep overnight at my office and the purchase of a heated blanket that went very very sour…

These are some of the highlights of my Aussie Winter

State of Origin

With such fun and excitement I experienced last year at the pub watching State of Origin, I knew this year I had to witness the mayhem first hand.

I took an hour long train ride filled with drunken people in blue and I arrived at the stadium to witness even more chaos! People were already running around like chickens with their heads cut off, laying on the floor too drunk to function even before this game started.

So I knew I was going to be in for a real treat!

Once the game started, shit got real. The 5 guys who kept bugging me to my left finally shut up and meant business. Fans were yelling left and right, screaming out cunt and chanting bull shit…  

Just like music to the ears really…

I was right there with everyone experiencing play by play and genuinely enjoying the vibes coming from the arena. It was thrilling, intense and questionable at times as many people in the stands never made any sense!?!

But I bought a meat pie to eat and VB to drink…and for the first time ever, I felt like a real Aussie.

Well, a real Aussie with a super American accent 🙂

Vivid!

 The festival of lights!

Every winter a festival filled with lights, design, innovation and fun takes over all of Sydney. Last year I went alone one night, but this year I did what I do with all my Tinder dates and really took advantage of it – taking friends, dates and visitors from out of town.

YES IT IS THAT BIG!

         And just as big as it was also crowded.

 I once again I found myself accidentally knocking over small children trying to walk through the massive crowds while simultaneously not going blind from the raver light beams streaming right into my eyeballs.

 I felt the festival this year was targeted towards kids, much much much more than last year. The light shows and exhibits were more kid enjoyable than adult enjoyable. This limited the amount of the time I spent at the attractions and more time spent with my biological clock utterly exploding.

But don’t worry I will still be back next year…

 Even if I have to steal the neighbors 4 year old to enjoy it respectively.

Dinning in the dark
  

Since I am always on the quest to try new things,  an event of dining in the dark, of course, made the cut. I have tried this before back in LA, but was curious see how Sydney would put their own spin on this peculiar meal.

The night started by Lime and Tonic sending a map of clues to find out the secret whereabouts of the night.  It was a cute idea, but it wasn’t a very clear idea as the instructions were a bit confusing… leaving me feeling like an idiot wayyyyy before I  think I was supposed to.

I had no idea how to read the thing, so of course I cheated and asked my good friend Google 🙂

 On arrival, my date and myself were greeted with a glass of bubbly and seated at a long table of 15 random people. We placed masks over our eyes and sat there chatting to the characters around us… and trust me we got some good ones!

For the next hour, we sat their completely blind eating a 3-course unknown dinner.  Each bite was just as delicious as the next, but also frustrating since I had no idea what I was putting in my mouth!!

Was that fish? Clam? Spongebob? ARGHHH

At the end of the meal the chefs came out and told us each ingredient and we all sat there in laughter being so far off on our assumptions.  But after I was done laughing I realized.. that I was in fact..mad!

Truffle? I just ate truffle?? When? Where?!

Not being able to know what we were eating, we were unable to appreciate the ingredients appropriately, and taste where my 300 dollars went!

Though Lime and Tonic should make some tweaks to this event, I would go back for that meal any day..

Well, any day after pay day.

Winter Festival

When a random girl from a party invites you to perform in the mountains for a festival celebrating the winter solstices… I do not think there is any other answer than HELLLLLL YES!!

The winter magic festival is an annual event in the Blue Mountain where they close off the streets of for artists, dancers, and the community to take over the town in costume.

I jumped on a train first thing up the mountain and prepared myself to freeze my butt off in this teeny tiny costume I stupidly agreed on wearing in negative 2 billion degrees weather.

The second I arrived it was nothing short of pure chaos as I was told we were actually performing that second!

With a crowd of 6,000 people, there was no way I was going to be able to find them in time to get naked and jump in the parade dressed like a peacock. I ran like a crazy person through the crowd and finally found them moments before going on,  just in time to get my Samba on.

The crowd was filled with hippies, families and couples alike, all getting into the grooves of The Samba Ninjas. I did my “cool moves” and danced around while grabbing kids and stealing babies.

 I honestly had the time of my life and remembered how much I enjoyed performing.

I spent the rest of the day at the festival taking pictures with randoms and enjoying the other performances.  Subtract the ridiculous crowds and the weather cold enough to freeze Godzilla’s nipples off, it was a unique experience I truly enjoyed.

The Forth of July

Is everyone wearing red? Is everyone drinking bud-light? And is everyone ready to lose at some beer pong?

With a little help from my friends, I threw a last minute BBQ for my favourite summer holiday…

Oh wait, nope.. I now mean winter holiday.

The 4th of July!

Or what all my friends here call..  America Day!

One thing I have learned from living abroad is that people all over the world have particular options on Americans. Many I do not like, many I do not agree with,  and then some I do..

Many at this point I have learned to laugh off and many that still genuinely hurt.

There are many people in this country that have entered my life and made me feel ashamed to be American. Making points about my country and it’s bad gun laws and crazy religious views and then some how believing that makes up who I am.

Hi my name is Michelle!

NOT AMERICAN POLITICS.

But luckily for me,  there have been many more people that have embraced what makes me who I am, and accepts my loudness and when I order French fries with Ketchup 🙂

I know the beautiful homeless women sleeping next to our BBQ enjoyed America Day, especially when she was invited to dig in and join our feast!

I am proud to be an American, and on that special day, was not ashamed to show it!

A Day Down The Coast

On the last day of winter, I decided to jump on a train going south and let it take me to new places to explore.

3 hours and 300 cows later,  I finally reached my first destination!

Berry was a cute little country town of cute little stores and cute little old people.  An old man even asked me if I was from Italy because he though my accent was very “exotic”.

I wanted to squeeze his little cute old man checks while also gifting him some Rosetta Stone as an Italian, FYI.

 Known for their sweets, I made a stop in every bakery and every candy store just to make sure I ate it all… I mean, saw it all. Within 20 minutes I had already walked through the entire town and was ready to go, but apparently, trains only came ever 2 and half hours.

Perrrrrrrrrfect..

So I walked into every store, again..literally. Even walked through the town museum twice,  quizzing myself each time on what I learned like a complete dork.

But finally the train to Kiama reached this chocolate and sugar wasted tourist and I was off!

While sitting at the pub to figure out my plan of attack, I was instantly interrupted by 10 guys dressed up like they have had a few too many margaritas.

I managed to get the little hooligans to accompany me the rest of the day to be my photographers and escort me to the famous blow hole. It was very sweet of them until they kept trying to push me in it…

Winter time in Sydney was a thing indeed,

a very beautiful thing…

But you know what is even better?

SPRING!

Stay tuned 🙂

<3 Hot Mess

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