Sydney

I had already been to Sydney before I arrived there permanently on the 22nd of December. I had flown down with my mom to check out schools and apartments before the schools closed for summer break. Sydney is already one of my favorite cities even though I have only been here for around a week or two. There is everything you need in the city center, the suburbs that surround it are beautiful and peaceful and the people are super accommodating and nice. 

We found an apartment located in a nice and convenient part of town, my sisters and I are all enrolled in our separate schools and we're all ready to move in on the 10th of January. After moving around constantly for the past two years, I'm kind of ready to settle into a house for a while. 

We just celebrated Christmas and after getting lots of new stuff I packed most of it away to open again when we reach the new house. It's hard to get organized when you're moving your stuff around all over the place and I've been losing and misplacing my stuff where ever I go, so I've decided to try to get by with as little things as possible.

Melbourne

On November 16th we flew from Brisbane to Melbourne for my moms birthday. It was a 3 hour plane ride to the Melbourne airport, and a couple minutes in a taxi from there to the hotel. Our room was nice and comfortable with two bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, a sitting room and even a kitchen. We unpacked our stuff and relaxed before exploring the neighborhood. My mom had picked a place in Chinatown because we were big fans of Asian food and the other interesting parts of the city were within walking distance. 

Melbourne was awesome! We took a walking tour one morning and my sisters and I spent a fun day with a friend when mom and dad were busy. We discovered hidden alley ways brimming with tasty surprises and neat little squares hidden behind towering monuments. We went to the zoo and saw platypuses and kangaroos and koalas where I was used to seeing snakes and tigers and bears. We quickly outfitted in hats and socks so we wouldn't completely freeze in the ice skating rink (it can be cold in Melbourne) and saw the whole city from above when we took a trip to the Melbourne Star, a giant ferris wheel like the London Eye. At the Imigration Museum we did a treasure hunt while learning about how Australia got such a diverse population and every night we eat noodle soups and dumpling from the many Asian restaurants in the neighborhood. 

I really want to go back.