Boy, will I miss these people!

I don't know where the time has gone, but it is my last weekend in Australia :( It's this bitter sweet feeling that I always feel when I leave yet another country. The new places I have seen, people I have met and experiences I have got will always be cherished. Still, it is never easy to leave, you think I would be used to it by now, but it's always hard no matter what. The notion of seeing my dear family and friends back home again usually helps a lot and makes leaving a bit easier.

When I first got to Australia, little did I know that I will be an Au Pair again. My exchange semester was my priority and the last 2 months after school were planned for traveling. Well, as I know by know, plans don't always work out. Before I knew, I was almost out of money but desperate to see more of this gorgeous country. That is how I ended up being in Brisbane for my two last months in Aussie and found a lovely family to help out with their kids.

I have become so attached to Julie and Toby (3y and 1y) that I'm afraid my niece is going to be smothered once I get back home. I have had such a great time with these kiddos and a wonderful experience living with and Aussie family. I'm extremely happy I decided to stay here longer and not go back to Europe right after school finished. I also met some great Au Pairs from America, Canada and England, and even though it was for a short time, I am grateful to have met every single one of them :)

As for today, I have 4 more days to be with the family and then 2 more days in Sydney, so inly 6 days until my trip back to the Northern Hemisphere. First stop- Abu Dhabi!!!

Second last weekend in Aussie

Time has gone so fast since I moved to Brisbane. I only have one more weekend left here until I will fly back to Sydney and then from there back to the Northern Hemisphere. I have been excited for the weekends as I have used the free time to fir in as much fun and activities as possible. This past weekend was awesome!

Laila had a friend over for the whole weekend, she arrived on Friday, so on Friday we went to Daisy Hill Koala Sanctuary/Park. It was a huge area of eucalypt trees, I even so a koala up high in one of the trees. In the middle of the park, there was a boardwalk surrounding four koalas that were there to see, they were all sleeping when we got there. There was a also a small building with all the information you could imagine about koalas, literally, it was my koala Heaven :)

I went straight to the city from the park and met Silvia and Magali. They have salsa nights on Fridays at the Brisbane square, so the girls and I wanted to try it out :) It was so much fun!!! Totally reminded me DC, but Brisbane, I gotta give you the credit, you are getting cooler and cooler every day. Salsa was just the started for the night, because once it was over we headed to a club called "Down Under" lol. It was my first time going clubbing in Brisbane and I was more than ready. The bouncer at the door checked my ID and said: 'Estonia, huh? We get lots of you nowadays and you are all so pretty.' Gee, thanks! Probably needless to say that I had a blast. I stayed over at Magali's and went back home early next morning to work.

Saturday evening, Laila, Sawsan and I went for a little girls dinner at Chompers. A famous burger place where you can have your burger with donuts instead of normal buns. A place that Laila has been telling me about since I got here. I was so nervous the whole way and didn't know what to expect, I mean, how can this be even possible. That must have been the most exciting 10min I have ever had waiting for my food lol. Once the burger was served there was no way back and...it was actually good!!! It even had pineapple slices and egg in it. Despite the delicious taste, thoughts of how unhealthy it was didn't really let me to enjoy it. But still, what a great once in a lifetime experience :) We finished the night with a movie at the cinema and watched "The Heat", which was hilarious and that's exactly what you would expect from Sandra Bullock and Melissa McGarthy. 

donut burger

Sunday we had a lovely family BBQ and tried to eat as much healthy meat as possible :)

Oh, what a weekend!

Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo

Crocodile Hunter!

Busy weekend as it was, on Sun last week, we went to Australia Zoo with my host family. It was Julie's late birthday present. I had no idea that Australia Zoo was THE zoo that Steve Irwin founded and where he had worked. When I learned that little fact I was more than excited to go and see Bindi Irwin and all the crocs. It was such a fun day for me, unfortunately Julie didn't seem to care or simply understand the whole concept of a zoo. She did enjoy petting and feeding the kangaroos, which is lovely for any age group I'm sure.

Bindi, Robert and Terri Irwin

The Crocoseum was the main area where all the magic happened. When we got there, Bindi was still performing- singing and dancing for the younger audience. The opening act for the crocs was a bird show. A beautiful start with lorikeets, cockatoos and macaws flying around the Crocoseum, just close enough for the audience to touch them. Soon Terri, Bindi and Robert Irwin ran out and the show could begin. The little boy looked exactly like his dad and Bindi is definitely as outspoken as Steve was. Nevertheless, the real star of the show was a huge crocodile. Bindi fed him from a high platform and we could all see his massive jaws when he jumped for his bait. It was awesome!

My second favorite part of the zoo were the koalas of course. I have slowly become a koala freak while living here, I just can't get over the fact how darn cute and cuddly they are. It has become to a state where every single thing that mentions or has a koala on it will without a doubt have my close attention. So you can only imagine my surprise when I got to the koala village and two of the koalas that were on the poles to be pet had little joeys!!! I nearly pissed my pants of the cuteness that hit me, how is it even possible to be so adorable little baby koala, awwwww. Words can't really describe, everyone needs to experience seeing a baby koala once in their life. My host family literally had to drag me away from there.

I am so happy I had a change to go to Australia Zoo thanks to my lovely Aussie hosting family :) It is heart-warming to see Steve Irwin's legacy, love and passion for the nature and animals is truly felt all around the zoo.

Crikey!

4th of July in Australia

Happy 4th of July!

Last week was 4th July, my favorite American holiday! I have been in America at this time for the past 4 years, so obviously I was little upset to miss it out this year. For my surprise, I found bunch of American Au Pairs right here in Brisbane and we all decide to do a good old blue, red and white BBQ at the South Bank on Saturday. So it was, Saturday was our 4th of July on the 6th lol. I met lot of cool new girls (though unfortunately I'm about to leave). Most of them were Americans from random states lol, but we also had 4 British girls, 1 Austrian and of course me :)

We all pitched in something and finally had enough hot dogs, buns, cupcakes, ice cream, cookies, strawberries, root beer, etc to feed an army. The weather was gorgeous- so sunny and hot, so we stayed  at the Picnic Island until sunset. Later that night some girls and I strolled around the city to find a BYO restaurant to have our ciders, but it turned out to be hopeless. I had to take the 9:30pm train back to Springfield Lakes, but others went on to a night club. It was such a great day and for a second I forgot that I wasn't in America, but  7500miles/12100km away. I guess Aussie is not really that different from America to start with, but I am happy to have had a 4th of July experience in Australia :)