Brisbane International

Two weeks ago the Brisbane International tennis tournament was on. I went on Wednesday with Philippe and two other guys that I know from the tennis club where I play every monday and wednesday.

We arrived at 11am and we bought 2 ground passes (only $15, 12 Euro!!) and to tickets for the Rod Laver arena so that we could all see some action on the side courts and in the arena.

Phil and I started with a doubles match on the side court. Jamie Murray, Andy Murrays' brother was playing with Paul Hanley against Marach and Peya.

Murray-Hanley

Then we saw the second set of Gilles Simon (FRA) - James Duckworth (AUS) at Centre Court. Of course the French guy won :-)

Simon

Then we saw the first set of the match of Sam Stosur, but unfortunately for the Ausies she lost the match

Sam Stosur

Me @ Rod Laver Arena

After the game we went to the Circle where Philippe had some fun...

Philippe

Me

Then it was time for Serena's match! What a power!

2nd round - arena full!

Serena

After one of the very long rallies she twisted her ankle! 

But she managed to win her match (later she stepped out the tournament)

 Then it was time for the side courts again. We saw an awesome match between Dolgopolov and Andrev. Both of them were playing so well and the crowd went Crazy!

Dolgopolov

Andreev

Eventually Dolgopolov won the game with 6-7 (3) 7-6(9) 6-2. As you can imagine the second set and the tie-break were very close! Andreev had about 4 matchpoints but he couldn't finish it!

Awesome day! Unfortunately there is not enough money to go to the Australian Open again... Maybe next year!

Cheers,

Jessie

Christmas Break

Hi everyone!

It has been a while since I have posted so I don’t know where to start…

First of all: 

Happy New year and all the best wishes for 2012!

But let’s go back in time first…

Barry – Rest in Peace

Phil and I lost a very good friend, Barry. Barry was our neighbour at Malanda Place. He was 76 years old and lost the fight against leukaemia when he wasn’t strong enough to fight against a lungs infection. Barry was a great person and felt like family to Phil and I. Barry taught Philippe how to fix the motorbikes, how to make furniture for our apartment and many other things. Philippe has spent hours with him making the furnitures we have now in our apartment. We are so thankful that Barry shared his knowledge and skills with us. Often Phil and I went for afternoon tea at Barry’s and Beth place. We did so after Phil’s graduation were we managed to make some awesome pictures of Barry, who doesn’t like cameras and pictures.

Barry & Jessie

Phil, Beth, me

Barry

Phil - Barry - me

When Beth called us that Barry wasn’t well at all, we immediately went to the hospital to see him. He was sleeping. We said goodbye to Barry. Five hours after we left he passed away. It all went very fast, it was only 1 month after they diagnosed him with Leukaemia. Barry was a very friendly, happy, smart, handy and warm person. We will miss him and he will be missed by many others.

Beth and their daughter Denise organised a very nice service on the 22^nd of December. We have spent quite some time with Beth and Denise since then.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went to Pierre and Nemo’s place. Nemo did some great cooking! The food was delicious! Thanks Nemo and Pierre J

Stuffed mushroom

2nd serve :-)

Christmas Day

On Christmas day we went for lunch at Beth’s and Denise’s place. Philippe made some delicious appetizers based on Gordon Ramsey recipes. They are worth trying!

Aubergine Caviar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tSfgIa_hG0&feature=related

Stuffed Courgette rolls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7z8vAwdt_M&feature=related

It was very nice to eat outside next to the pool in a very nice garden! For dessert/dinner we crepes with Nutella, bananas and strawberries.

Mountain Tambourine – Curtis Falls

Between Christmas and New Year I took some days of to relax. Phil and I went with the motorbike to Mountain Tambourine where we went for a nice walk in the rainforest to some waterfalls and rock pools. After the walk we had a hot chocolate in a Dutch café.

The rock pools

Sport

The past weeks I am doing a lot of sport! I go for a run 3 or 4 times a week, I try to swim once a week and I play tennis once or twice a week. On Saturday morning (7am!) Phil and I went to the Parkrun at Main Beach. This is a free organised 5km run where your run is timed. Over 80 people participated! Philippe did his run in 28 minutes, me in 32 minutes. I want to run 5km in less than 30 minutes! Once I went for a run along the Broadwater and I did it in 30 minutes 3 seconds…

Here a picture of the Southport pool where I go for my swims:

New Years Eve

On new years eve Phil and I went for afternoon tea at Beth’s place. Then we went for dinner at an Indian Restaurant where we used to go quite often when we were at Bond University. Food was delicious! At 10pm we went to the Fire Work at Robina Town centre. Here in Australia they have fireworks at 9pm or 10pm for the families with children and fireworks at midnight for adults. After the firework we went to Beth’s place for drinks, delicious cake and we watched the Sydney’s Firework on TV… I want to celebrate NYE in Sydney next year!

At the restaurant

At the restaurant

Robina Town Centre (Shopping centre)

Fire works

At Beth's place

New Years day

On New Years day Phil and I went to the beach. We went to Main Beach this time. We wanted to go surf but the waves weren’t good. So we just relaxed at the beach, we swam and we did a walk along the water.

Working

Now it is working time again! Philippe is applying for jobs. I am working on my PhD. I just got a review back from a journal and I have to make changes again to my manuscript… The reviewers were happy with the changes that were made after the 1^st review, but still had some comments. So I am working on this paper again… Fingers crossed.

That was the news so far J. On Wednesday I am going to the Brisbane international with some guys from the tennis club and Philippe, so I might post soon!

Cheers,

Jessie

Sydney

Last weekend Phil and I went to Sydney. Phil has his CFA exam in the exhibition centre on Sunday and we decided to stay a few days longer and do some sight seeing.

Saturday
Philippe spent his whole Saturday in the library studying for his exam. I went for a run from the hostel to the Botanical Gardens, to the Opera House where I started walking and enjoying the atmosphere of the city. Then I walked to the Rocks where a market was on. Here are some pics of my Saturday run:

My first stop on the run: view on the Opera house and the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Markets at the Rocks (the old part of Sydney)

Opera house & Bridge on the way back

Sunday

On Sunday Philippe had his exam in the exhibition centre from 9am to 12pm and from 2pm till 5pm. I went to Paddys Market in the morning.

Wikipedia:

Sydney's Paddy's Markets is a commercial enterprise that has two large markets in Sydney. Sydney's Paddy's Markets specialise in the sale of fruit, vegetables, fish, clothes and giftware.

In the afternoon I went to the Rocks to catch up with Gaby, one of our roommates at Malanda Place. Unfortunately it was raining :-( We did the markets and then we went to the Belgian Beer Cafe for "ne Kriek"!

After the exam of Philippe we caught up with a friend of Philippe and we went for dinner.

Monday
On Monday we visited the Chinese Gardens. Very nice! Some pictures here:

We walked around in Darling Harbour and then we relaxed on Town Hall Square.

Pyrmont Bridge @ Darling Harbour

Chilling in the relax chairs at Town Hall Square

In the afternoon we did a guided tour. The guide was a local and was really good! We now have some nice stories about Sydney and the history of Sydney. It was a 3 hour guided tour from the Town hall to Hyde Park, through George Street, Martin Place, Circular Quay, the Rocks... below some pics.

Queen Victoria Building (Shopping Centre)

The Talking dog and the guide

Hyde Park

The pig

There are 2 places to rub the statue to bring you good luck.. the nose and ... 

(if you look well at the picture you can see 2 shiny places)

Big Christmas tree at Martin Place

Jessie & Bob

 

Phil & the Harbour Bridge

As it had rained during the guided tour and we needed a break after all the walking, we went to the Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe. Mmmm...

In the evening we went to the movies... Don't ask me which movie we saw... I fell a sleep!

Tuesday

On Tuesday we walked to the Opera house and the Harbour Bridge for some more sightseeing.

Then we took the boat to Cockatoo Island as there was a Street Art Exhibition. Some pics from on the boat:

The art exhibition:

After the boat trip back to Circular Quay we climbed the bridge. Nice views up there!

The Opera House

Circular Quay

The Bridge again :-) 

Then we walked to the botanical graders to a nice look out point and waited for sunset.

Before sunset

Sydney by night

ooooh

Jess & Phil

On the way back to the hostel we passed the Town Hall which was bueatifully illuminated! These are just a few pictures:

Wednesday
On our last day we went to Bondi Beach. Unfortunately it was clouded and cold again so instead of tanning on the beach, we did the Coastal Walk along some of the other beaches.

Bondi Beach

The Icebergs pool

Me & Phil

one of the other beaches

Bondi Beach again

Wednesday afternoon it was time to get on the plane to the Gold Coast. We had a great time in Sydney, but the weather could have been better. For me it was the second time that I visited and the second time in the rain. We wanted to go the the Blue Mountains but decided not to go because of the weather... 

This morning I went for a run at 6.30am! We (me and 2 other friends) did a 5km run and some exercises on the way we got all wet because of the rain! After studying, Phil and I went to the broadwater to play with the beach rackets my parents had sent by mail. We are trying to break there record, a rally of 140 hits without missing... after one hour of practising we got to 56... but then we gave up. We also bought a little Christmas tree today to decorate the house! 

Cheers,

Jess & Phil