Our Journey Around the World: Part 16 - Sydney, Australia

Sydney: A Dreaded Place to a Dream Place

Off to Sydney we go! We were initially nervous to see how this time would go as last time we were not big fans. We stayed in downtown Sydney and did not enjoy it at all because lets be real… We are not city people! But we knew we had to go get people certified in Sydney, so for the sake of our business we did it.

We finally arrived in Sydney, far later than expected, but everything still worked out. Our lovely Australia Instructor, Jane Hemingway-Mohr, whose house we would be doing the program at, was there to pick us up and she greeted us with such a beautiful smile! Since we arrived so late we were unable to see the place where the program would take place the night before so we had no idea what to expect the next morning. Staying positive, we eagerly waited for morning as we were curious where this program would take place.

Morning finally came and Jane came to pick us up bright and early to take us back to her place before the course began. Let me tell you; it was not what we expected at all! WOW! That was the only word we had to describe her place. We were in complete awe! As we approached her place, the gates began to open to welcome us to her place. It was beautiful! There was not a thing I would change about it. The classroom was perfectly set up and we were not sure how on earth this was even possible? It was like a version of Shangri-La, a dream. Everything was laid out beautifully and to say the least, we were much more excited to begin than usual. We were ready to start the day! You all should know that throughout our time in Sydney, Jane would come to be know as Saint Janey of Terrey Hills and you will understand more as you hear more about our trip. But it was because of Jane and her family that changed our minds completely about the Sydney.

The week began with 12 women and this was a special group! Such a diverse group. They were women from all different backgrounds, walks of life, places in life but all together were brought to Sydney for a similar, new purpose. However, that was not the only reason this group was so special; they were the most loving, supportive and truly determined group of women that we had trained yet. One would think with that many women in a room for an extended period of time that at one point or another, a little drama would ensue, but this was not the issue. It was truly an honour to be there with them and again, they made this course that much better. We were already agreeing with one another that this course was better than last time and we were loving every minute of this experience!

After a days of hard work, we did not really go out much after work as we mainly preferred to hangout at Janes. But when we did go out, we got lost. Typical! Even when we think we knew and were completely positive where we are going, we still manage to take at least one wrong turn. Would it really be a trip if Kari and Carolyn did not get lost? Absolutely not! So of course, this trip was no different other than the fact we only got lost the one time but we made sure we got really lost. We of course drove the wrong direction for a solid fifteen minutes just to ensure we were for sure lost. We did not just want to be lost, but really lost! But at the end of the day we survived and there were no near death situations even with Carolyn driving on the opposite side of the road than we drive here in Canada. Hooray! We made it and our beds were waiting for us.

It became clear why we really did not go out much after work because a couple of hours out would turn into 6 maybe 8 hours being lost. So we would just chat with Jane’s beautiful family and relax on the back deck by the pool. Her lovely husband even cooked up an AMAZING dinner for us one evening. See what I mean? It was a dream! How could it get any better than this? Another reason we were not fans of Sydney last time we were here was because of the food… It was atrocious. But, this trip proved us dead WRONG! Almost every meal was to die for, especially the one that Jane’s husband Stephan cooked for us. Again, this was an experience we were not regretting and we were happy we gave Australia a second chance.

After the course was complete and our facilitators had all left to go begin their dream careers, we decided to change it up a bit and go stay a couple of nights in Manly Beach as this was one place we absolutely loved last time we were there. So Jane drove us down to Manly Beach and we began this adventure by going for a delicious lunch and then we had to go find a place to stay. But seeing as there was a surf competition going on, there were very little places to pick from to stay at. Asking ourselves ‘how long we would even be in the room for?’ we decided we could take anything we could get. So we got an one bedroom room, where we shared the bed for a couple of nights. No biggie! But don’t worry it turn into a BIG problem shortly after, of course! Nothing can ever go smooth and as expected. It was after dinner and we were so tired that we could not even keep our eyes open, that we decided that we had to go back to the room. It was a fairly early night but we did not get the sleep we needed. It was an hour into the night and it hit. It was terrible. It was the stomach flu. Starting with Carolyn it kept her up all night which ended up keeping Kari up while she was at it. After making it through the night, not even five minutes after awakening, BOOM. Kari gets hit. The stomach flu got her. This is what I mean by “it turned into a BIG problem!” as one bed means one bathroom. I gotta say, nothing brings two people closer than two sick people and one toilet. We could not move, our new bed was the floor.

DUN DUN DUN DUN… Jane to the rescue! Another reason why we called her Saint Jane. She came all the way out to check on us and brought us fluids, toast, and some anti vomit pills from the pharmacy. Seriously! Could this woman be any more lovely?!

Thanks to Saint Jane, we survived the stomach flu. However, it left us with sleep deprived, dehydrated bodies. It was the next day and it was time to mentally prepare ourselves for the long time home. So Jane came to pick us up and take us back to the airport. We arrived at the airport safe and sound, said our goodbye and thanks for such an amazing trip and off we went. We were ready for home.

This trip was a memorable, lovely experience. Thanks to lovely Jane, we were able to enjoy everything Australia had to offer… Well other than the stomach flu.