Our tour of Melbourne with a local Aussie

It is now our 5th day in Australia! It has been a bit chilly and rainy and is finally starting to become the more typical WaRm weather today! The sun is shining! On Saturday we went with our German friends and our mate Josh to the casino! I didn't gamble because I am trying to use my money sparingly.  Our $ is worth less than the AUS$ and prices are higher here, so it is a lose-lose right now.  Either way, most of you know I LOVE gambling and casinos so I had fun either way! The Thunder game was playing! What a great game!  Guys kept asking us why we were watching US basketball when there was a cricket game on. haha.  We ended up sitting at a table at the casino next to Nathan Green, a young Australian pro golfer.  The Australian Open just ended in Melbourne and Tiger Woods was staying on the 54th floor of the casino, Crown, that we were at.  My dad will think that's cool :)

On our way home from the casino we met a really nice Aussie girl, Sacha, while waiting for the tram.  She is from here originally but travels to and from New york pursuing her dreams of being on Broadway.  She had the stereotyped Aussie friendliness and asked if she could meet up with us on Sunday to be our tour guide.  Well of course we said YES! We met her outside of her mother's apartment at 1:30 on Sunday afternoon.  She took us to eat thai food for lunch and then we trammed into the city for her very knowledgeable and fun tour!  We saw all of the southbank area in downtown Melbourne and the continent's largest building.  I hate a delicious bananarama sundae! yummy!  She took us to a really big shopping district....which we DID NOT shop! haha.  Very hard for me to not shop, but it sure was fun looking! 

Sacha and me.  I LOVE sweets!

Everything is already decorated for Christmas since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving.  It was beautiful! We ended up in China Town in Australia.  Very cool....It was down an ally with restaurants and shops lining it and tons of cute outside tables and such.  We ended our day with a place called Topolinos, a really nice pizza place......don't worry Hideaway, you're still #1 to me!  Sacha took us up to her mom's place to meet her.  Her name is Sybille and we got to watch some local news and visited with her.  They are both so nice and welcoming and Jenni and I are so greatful to have met Sacha at the tram stop.  We are going bowling with Sacha Friday night so I will keep you updated on her! 

The last couple of days have been very chill and we have just been hanging around the hostel and trying to get settled in.  We are on the hunt for an apartment and jobs this week, so hopefully I will have good news soon! The hostel has ended up being a really awesome experience.  It is like living in the dorms in college again.  There are always people from different countries gathered in the main downstairs room or on the rooftop.  Everyone just hangs out, plays guitar, and listens to music.  It is really cool hearing all the different accents and hearing about their home countries.  Most people think Americans are the easiest to understand......except me, sometimes, because I "talk fast"! haha.  I have started to say "my name is Caaaaaandiiiiice."  Most of our friends in the hostel just call me Candy!  Jahn, our German friend, tells everyone my name is Candice Sugar and other Germans laugh.  Apparently that is the proper name of their brown sugar.  Yesterday was very relaxed and we went to the bank and ran a few errands then played frisbee in the park with 5 German guys who we really enjoy hanging out with.

Lorenz, Jan, Me, and Simon

Well, this blog is veeeeeery long because I haven't had internet, but I will try to get on more often and write shorter blogs, so stay tuned for more adventures! 

Cheers