Australian Invasion: Phoebe & Liam's Visit Part 1...

I cannot believe it has already been almost 2 months since Phoebe and Liam stepped off the plane onto American soil!!!! I still can't believe they were here at all! It was such a whirlwind and before I knew it they were gone again and 2 months later it all still feels like a dream somehow!

In case some of you don't know who Phoebe is... read any of my posts from my 6 months in England, starting HERE... and then again any of my Australia posts, starting HERE...


The month of January in the Mertz home was entirely devoted to readying our abode for guests! Our first house guest! We needed of course to actually get furniture for the guest room, so weekend #1 was moving all my furniture from Elisabeth's house to our house... it was quite a task and we had awesome help!! Having my couches and my old bed and dresser and blankets in my new home made me feel more settled. Plus Phoebe and Liam would have a place to sleep :)

Weekend #2 was all about painting! We painted the guestroom and rearranged the furniture and then it was set.

Weekend #3 - THEY ARRIVED!!!!


I had the day off that Friday they arrived and so I spent the whole morning running around like a mad woman cleaning, doing laundry, grocery shopping and other errands. Then off to the airport for pick up! I was like a little kid pacing around the airport terminal waiting and waiting for their arrival... FINALLY they came through security and I ran faster than I thought I could! Phoebe and I stood screaming and slightly crying from joy in the middle of Sky Harbor terminal 4! Hugs for Liam too, of course!

(oh yeah, my hair is red...)

We grabbed their bags from baggage claim and drove home. One might expect upon first visiting Arizona that sun and heat would be their welcome... but not for them... instead Phoenix was rainy and chilly!! What?!

I am a terrible person because there are no picture for the first couple of days they were here... I think because it was so rainy and we ended up just laying around being lazy most of the time. To highlight the first couple of days:

- Got home and allowed them to unpack and shower. I had pre-made dinner, so I stuck it in the oven and we waiting for Aaron to get home from work.
- Gift exchanging! Phoebe and Liam brought gifts and decorations for our Australia Day party! Aaron and I also had a gift basket for them as well including Cactus Pear Jelly, and all other types of Southwest snacks and paraphernalia.
- Dinner and wine! Phoebe and Liam love wine and they introduced us to some pretty delicious stuff!
- The next morning it was super rainy, so we went to lunch nearby at Vovomeena and then took them to show them downtown in the rain... we did a bit of shopping and then back home to prepare for the Australia Day party that night!

The Australia Day Party!

So many people in my life were probably getting tired of hearing my endless Phoebe stories and might have started to believe she was a figment of my imagination (that isn't true, I have plenty of photo documentation). But none-the-less just a little over 24 hours after Phoebe and Liam arrived in the states we had a party to give all my friends the opportunity to say hi to the infamous PHOEBE!!! I will say here now that Liam also made a huge impression at the party. My brother, Tyler, noted that I built up Phoebe and she met all expectation, but I had seriously neglected to say how AWESOME Liam was. haha

The party was actually Phoebe and Liam's idea because that day (January 26th) happens to be Australia Day!! It marks the day when the first British Fleet landing in Sydney Harbor and when it was proclaimed as a British Colony. YAY Australia! It is kind of the equivalent of the 4th of July here in the States - Australian's usually BBQ and have lamingtons and pavlova and have picnics and party outside. Sadly for us, Arizona was rainy YET AGAIN, so the festivities were indoors. We did however have Lamingtons (brought all the way from Australia) and Pavlova (hand-made by yours truly). Some people came dressed in Australian garb - Tyler was Wolverine honoring Australian actor Hugh Jackman, Shawn was Daniel Johns from the Australian band Silverchair, and Nicole and the twins wore prison stripes in honor of Australians being convicts. haha.

Liam, Phoebe, me, and Aaron - I wore Australia Day colors - Green and Gold/yellow

Prison stripes!

My attempt at Australian Pavlova - is was a wreck, but tasted delicious!

Our Australia Day snacks - ANZAC biscuits, Lamingtons, TimTams, a Salad and S'mores treats (those are American), Shawn and Nicole brought pulled pork sandwiches and we had different jerkies of Emu, Crocodile, and Kangaroo.

Bundaburg Lemon Lime and Bitters and of course Vegemite

Hugh Jackman (Tyler) & Daniel Johns (Shawn)

Sarah brought a "gum" tree - like the song about the Kookaburra- winner for best Australia item!

Playing an Australia trivia game! I losing team had to take a tiny bite of Vegemite! It was disgusting!

It was such a fun night we had a BLAST!  So glad everyone got to meet them and understand how awesome they were!

Day 16: Sydney (Day 2)

When I woke this morning I was determined to have a game plan rather than just roaming around the city. I had gotten a map from the tour guide the day before, so I took it and mapped out all the sights I wanted to see and then started my day.

First stop was through Hyde park again to get to St Mary's Cathedral. I am such a sucker for old and ornate cathedrals.

The journey continued through Hyde Park I reach the "rum hospital" again and this time I had time to rub the procelino's nose and hope for good luck!

A short walk away I got to the Royal Gardens and spent a good amount of time wandering through those grounds. It was overcast and so the gray cloud cover made the day feel rather chilly, but the grass was that much more inviting and smell of the flowers was that much more aromatic.

There is a part in the gardens were it juts out into the Harbor and it is from there that the more popular images of the Opera House and the Harbor bridge.

It is also in this spot where I found Mrs. Macquarie's Chair. Mrs Macquarie was the wife of a prime minister of Australia and she loved to sit in this spot and watch the ships come in. There are a lot of places around Sydney names for this Prime Minister, and this spot is for his wife.

I made my way aimlessly across town to the Sydney Aquarium next. The Aquarium is attached to a Wildlife park too with kangaroos and koalas, but since I had seen those already, I was only interested in the underwater life.

 Now I have seen my fair share of fish and stingrays, and clown fish. After the Great Barrier Reef, I feel I had gotten enough of them. So going through the aquarium, I was most excited about the sea turtles, mantees, and sharks. Especially the sharks!

 The sharks were pretty dang awesome. I will confess, I stood in front of this window exceptionally long trying to get a good picture with a shark in it. I finally got a good one of me smiling and low and behold, it turns out the shark behind me was smiling too!!

I think one of the most fun parts about my time in Sydney was being able to aimlessly walk around the city and loose myself in the streets and the maze of buildings. I would sit or walk and had no expectation for the day. I could decide on what I wanted to do and had no one I had to run it by. It was heavenly to be able to think and dream and spend hour after hour talking to God... sort of like I was on a date with Him.

After the aquarium, I walked along Darling Harbor for a bit and looked in the shops and stuff. I even sat in a coffee shop and had a chair tea with biscotti. Then I made my way to Paddy's Markets. This market is a huge indoor shopping area with countless stands selling useless touristy, knock-off junk - I loved it!!! It reminded me so much of Camden Markets in London, but without the high fashion and delicious asian food. I bought a pocket watch there and generally enjoyed being able to scan the merchandise.
Then it was back to the hotel where I nursed my horribly aching feet.

Day 15: Sydney (Day 1)

I woke up early for my first full day in Sydney. I had planned a month before to take a Blue Mountain Day Tour with OZ Experience. The Blue Mountains are a national Heritage site and are on the list for the must see sites in Sydney....
Unfortunately, the tour never happened. Apparently there was a misunderstanding with the tour company and when I said I was going to take the tour, they took it as a maybe and requested I confirm my tour 2 days before the tour day. Sadly I had no internet for the 2 days before leaving for Sydney and so I never got their confirmation request... and so they never came to pick me up. My whole itinerary for Sydney was shuffled in a moment.
I walked back to the hotel rather frustrated and dejected (since I had walked 20 minutes to the meeting spot) and crawled back into bed and opened my computer to plan the day.

Since the free walking tour I had planned on taking the next day was offered daily, I decided that is where I would start my time in Sydney.
The walking tour started at 10a, so I started to make my way to town hall where the tour started. My hotel was right across the street from Sydney's central park. Oddly enough, this park is called Hyde park, which is actually the major park in London, England... as I discovered A LOT of the stuff in Sydney is names after places in London, down to their metro stations.

Upon entering Hyde park, I came upon the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) memorial.

I then leisurely made over to town hall to meet the walking tour.
This free walking tour was awesome. What was most interesting is that the sites we were taken to were not the most popular sites in the city, so I felt like I was getting an even more well-rounded view of the city.

Sydney Town Hall

Around Sydney there are these plaques in the ground that say "eternity". There is even one in the bell tower of the Main Bank of Australia building. The story goes that the word "eternity" was being written in chalk all over Sydney mysteriously. It occurred for years and years before anyone knew who was doing this.
Come to find out a man named Arthur Stace, a reformed alcoholic had heard his pastor, John G. Ridley, say "Eternity, Eternity, I wish that I could sound or shout that word to everyone in the streets of Sydney." He was inspired to do just that. So for a period of over 35 years he wrote that word countless times throughout the streets of Sydney.

Queen Victoria Statue

Inside the QVB (Queen Victoria Building)

There are two clocks in the Queen Victoria Building. One shows different scenes from Australia's history and the other shows scenes from England's history - one of the silhouettes shows Charles I being beheaded.

Fountain in Hyde park

We were shown the "Rum" Hospital, which at one point was actually the meeting house for the Australian parliment. It was actually built using profits from rum sales, making the Australian government building funded by alcohol. Out front there is pig, known as Porcellino. It is believed that if you rub its nose you will be lucky. He was decorated for Daffodil Day for Cancer Research.

The Bank of Australia, is supposed to be the Sydney equivalent to London's Big Ben... unfortunately even the people of Sydney acknowledge that it is a most lame attempt.

Above the Bank of Australia sign is the Australian Coat of Arms

 A little while into the 3 hour walking tour we stopped for a short break in Australia Square and saw this statue sculpted by J Seward Johnson. It is incredibly intricate all the down to the watch on his wrist.

Then we continued on making our way down closer to the Harbor. In once of the lawns near the water's edge there placed the actual Anchor and canon from the Norfolk Island wreckage from the HMS Sirius. This ship was the flagship for the first group of settlers to form a colony in Australia.

Then we moved on to the Harbor and full view of the Harbor Bridge.

The first  settlers house in Sydney

Our next stop was to the area of Sydney known as the Rocks.

 The Rocks were historically the slums of Sydney and the site for Sailors to find entertainment. It is now the site for shopping markets and bazaars.

After taking a walk under the Harbor Bridge, we arrived in full view of the Sydney Opera House. There we ended the tour and I was left to finish exploring on my own.

The Sydney Opera House is the most iconic thing in Sydney. I remember seeing is in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. It was like seeing Big Ben when I first arrived in London. It was the sight that made it real that I was actually in Sydney. You actually can't go into the main part of the Opera house unless you pay for a very expensive tour, but walking around the outside and look in the lobby was definitely enough for the little architect in me.
The building is shaped in order to look like the sails of a boat. It was designed by Danish architect, Jom Utzon, who won the privilege to design the building in global contest.

Oddly enough my favorite part of the Opera House was actually the bathrooms. The sinks were crazy interesting. The counter was actually waved and each of the dips was a sink. The sinks didn't actually have drains, but instead the water would run off the back of the sink into a trough and then drain out of site. Seriously is was super cool. It seemed that even the detailing in the bathroom kept the water theme of the waves and sails of the ocean.

After I had gotten my fill of the Opera House I decided to walk down to Circular Quay for lunch. I was desperately craving a hamburger and was glad to find a Burger King for lunch. Actually, it wasn't called Burger King, but instead it is called Hungry Jacks in Australia - same menu, same logo, but different name. Apparently when Burger King franchised out to Australia, there was already a trademarked Burger King restaurant in Perth or something like that, so they had to change their name. I got a simple whopper meal (which cost the equivalent of $12 in the US) and ate in the Royal Park in view of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge.

Found these awesome building fragments to sit on while I ate.

After my quick lunch, I decided to go spend the rest of the day in Manly Bay across the Harbor. I was told my a family friend, Greg, that I should visit Manly Beach while in Sydney and it would seem that everyone else I spoke with from the receptionist at the hotel, to the tour guide on the walking tour. So after lunch, I went down to circular Quay, bought my ticket, and headed out to spend the afternoon and evening across the harbor.

While waiting for my ferry to depart I was thoroughly entertained by a kid out from of the terminal, who was seriously skilled!

Jack Dawson

Quote by Jack London in the walkway

The main reason why everyone told me to go over to Manly is because the views of the city from the middle of the Harbor are not to be missed.

the opening to the Pacific Ocean

Upon arriving to the Manly Harbor I had really no idea what I was going to do with myself. I wandered around the shops and then sat at the beach for a bit and watched the surfers.

 While pulling into port I had seen a rather old looking building on the top of a hill that looked all British and ancient, so I decided to go exploring for it before I grabbed dinner. Turns out it was an old seminary that  is now an international business school... nothing too fantastic, but then you get the view of the beach down below.

I felt a little odd strolling around the grounds with no one else around. I also felt like with all the international flags hanging over the entrance, I was afraid there were going to be armed guards keeping watch over a foreign diplomat. But then I stumbled on a group of students playing rugby and figured I was not intruding on an international meeting.

After taking in the gardens and then walking back down the hill, I bought a cornish pasty for dinner and ate it while watching the darkness fall over the waters. A pigeon and I had a stare down over a couple of fallen crumbs and then I was ready to head back and go to sleep.

If I thought the look of the harbor in daylight, the view in the darkness was even more sparkly and beautiful!