G'day from Down Under: Oh Newcastle...

We traveled all day and arrived in Newcastle in the late afternoon. We checked in and I headed to Uni to drop some things off plus Marli wanted to check it out a bit. As weird as this sounds, I was "TEDs" sick. Definitely missed my friends here while on holidays. We had some dinner at the hotel and hit the hay. It was another early morning. We traveled to the Hunter Wine Valley for a vineyard tour. There are over 100 vineyards at the Hunter. We experienced 5 of them plus a cheese shop and a chocolate shop. I have never been the biggest fan of wine and I can still say that I am still not the biggest fan of wine. My mom and grandma got a kick out my facial expressions every time I tried a red wine. The bitterness got to me a bit. It was a beautiful place though. We even saw some wild kangaroos around the area. We stopped at a brewery for lunch. We had some lunch entertainment of a didgeridoo player and some Aboriginal dancers. Oh and I was able to try some beers while there. Everyone brought home a favorite wine! Marli was in heaven. She loves wine! We headed home for a night out with my friends at the dorms. I wanted to show Marli what the night life was like here. We had a blast and danced the night away.

The next two days we walked around Newcastle. I took them to Nobby's Beach and Newcastle Beach along with the Newcastle Baths. They loved the beaches. I showed them the popular places that we go for lunch and to hang out. We did some shopping and I took them to the girl's favorite restaurant on Darby Street, Zinc. I took them to campus. They thought my dorm was very cute. They were shocked that our dorm had a pool! They also enjoyed the campus. My mom brought some American goodies for my friends so I gave those to them as well. My friends were so excited to meet my family. Oh one night we went out to dinner, I tried an oyster for the first time. It was definitely my last time having one also! I wanted to be adventurous! We celebrated the last night with some bubbly! Then they finally headed back to head back to Sydney to catch their flight back home.

It was a great vacation. I was so happy to see them and enjoyed showing them my home for the semester. It's crazy to think that I have been here 3 months already! I only have 6 weeks left. Ahhhh!!
Until next time! :D