This year I got to celebrate the last year of my twenties in
Sydney. Most people that know me are
aware that I tend to make a big deal about my birthday, or as Neal calls it my “Birth Month” and this year was no exception. The celebrations started off on Saturday
February 2 where I spent the afternoon at the hair salon getting a cut and
color (I went for the Australian sun kissed look of Ombre). Neal then took me
out to “Rockpool” which is an amazing 3 Chef’s Hat Steakhouse located at the
Crown Casino. The food there was delicious and although I am a born and raised
Alberta girl I do have to admit that the steak was incredible!
I spent the week leading up to my birthday feeling incredibly
homesick; it is a lot easier to miss your amazing friends and family at a time
of year when I usually get to see and celebrate with everyone. Thankfully I had Neal to cheer me up. Another big
difference with my birthday this year was that for my entire life my birthday
has been in the dead of winter in Calgary. On the plus side I usually get to
see a Flames Game (not that I am missing much this year!). However, a winter
birthday usually means needing to wear snow boots to restaurants and changing
into heels. On occasion people have not been able to attend my birthday parties
as a snow storm had rolled in and the roads were too bad. This was not the case
this year; my birthday was in the middle of summer! I finally got to see what
it was like to have a birthday with sunshine, beaches and BBQ’s!! It was
awesome!
Neal had an amazing opportunity to go to Sydney for a work
function that was on my birthday so I decided to take the trip with him. Neal got
to spend the evening on the impressive “Starship Sydney” boat in Darling Harbour being wined and dined with the Michael Page consortium. I spent the evening with Jeff & Jess and went back to their home where they cooked an amazing birthday
dinner of Flatbread, Steaks, Caesar salad and Caramel slices. Yummy! After Jess
and I finished nearly 3 bottles of wine we headed off to meet Neal. Neal also
got to take advantage of the open bar that was on the ship and we were all
feeling quite happy, we went to two other places and enjoyed a few more
beverages (I didn't have a hope of remembering the names the next day).
Jess & I with our matching Havi's!
The following day (aka my Canada Birthday with the time
change) was spent enjoying pancakes and recovering at Manly Beach. We met up
with the Stoy’s and friends visiting from Auckland (members of Jeff & Jess’
NZ Family) Grissel & Jorge at the Jamie Oliver’s Italian Restaurant. We enjoyed a delicious meal of fresh pasta and
beers. We then watched the fireworks at Darling Harbour which run every
Saturday year round at 9pm. I was so excited, I LOVE FireWorks!!
Our last day in Sydney (Sunday) was spent with Neal and I
taking the ferry from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay. This ferry offers
spectacular views of the Harbour Bridge and famous Sydney Opera House. We walked
around the Opera House and took plenty of tourist photos. We had our North American
food fix at the Hard Rock Café and then flew home.
What an amazing way to celebrate a birthday!!
… and just to prolong my birthday for a little longer we spent
the following week entertaining our first houseguests Grissel & Jorge for 4
days before they returned home to Mexico. We also went to see Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang on the following Friday with our friends Jen & Eric.
Stay tuned for our next blog post “House Guests on A’Beckett
Street!”
Cheers,
Laur
xoxo
