Alrighty... been a lil while since the last post it was a pretty busy week for how laid back it was. I have also noticed that when I type things in chronological order they show up in reverse so I apologize for the layout not being as smooth as it could be. 

Monday July 6th

We had our first studio pin up at Bill and George with Rebecca. We only got through three of the two groups before she had to leave so we made our way down to a cafe to finish the last two. Dan and I had a pretty good crit and got a lot of good feedback to further out design. 

Tuesday July 7th

First thing on Tuesday we met up with Adrian to go to Artspace. This was the location that Adrian lived in and was part of an ARI there. There were some pretty interesting installations and a lot of commotion going on  because the sprinkler system went off on one of the upper floors. 

Afterwards Dan and I went along the harbor to visit our site for our studio project. We cut through Darling Harbor. This was the first time I had been there thus far... it is pretty touristy but there was a floating stage where they had had a concert the week before. There is a pretty interesting building near the end of the site that we are looking at utilizing. The restaurant in the bottom had some fantastic lighting.  After getting a good number of pictures we headed back to Circular Quey to catch a train back to Newtown. 

We decided to stop and have dinner at and African restaurant called Kilimanjaro. The plates were made of wood and where a rounded rectangle.  Needless to say I really liked them. We split a lamb dish, beef dish, and an eggplant dish with rice and african bread. It all was delicious!! To top it off we had a drink that I can't remember the name of it but it was made from Hibiscus flowers. It was pretty good but VERY sweet. 

Wednesday July 8th

We started off the morning going to Tranby College. This is a college that focuses on the education of people in the Aboriginal community. Nick met up with us there and gave  us a little insight to the project and one of the professors also talked to us about the college and its history. Several people offered us tea/coffee and baked goods that they serve in the kitchen. This gives you an idea of what type of place it was. I don't know about you but I cant imagine UC giving anyone anything unless they overpaid for it. 

A few of us got Thai food before heading back to studio and getting some work done. Afterwards we headed back to the hostel for a bit before heading out to Kelly's for a few.

Thursday July 8th

This was a pretty sweet day. We caught the ferry over to Brian Zulaikha's house for a barbecue. He is a really well known architect and his house was featured in Dwell magazine. It was amazing. The details, the layout, the views, the food... it was all amazing. The japanese influenced house had all the original structure that he then converted into its current states. Everything slid open and let air in and overall was just fantastic!!!

Afterwards Emily, Dan, and I walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to North Sydney. The views from the bridge were pretty awesome. We went down to Luna Park which is kind of like a coney island. It has the creepiest face entrance thing then it was closed to add to the eeriness of it. The sunset was gorgeous... as always it seems and we headed back across the bridge. We stopped and got dinner at the Australian Hotel and got a Kangaroo pizza and an Emu pizza. They both were really good!! We all seemed to like the Emu more than the Kangaroo but they both were really good. 

Friday July 10th

The morning began at the Museum of Sydney. We visited the Glenn Murcutt Exhibit with the well known curator who put it all together. We then headed off to an exhibit of Julie Wrap's work with Julie Wrap herself. After a little walk to see the only interior done by an architect I don't remember we headed our separate ways. However most of us took a ferry over to Cockatoo Island for a little while. It was pretty neat and has an interesting history but it was mostly empty while we were there with a bunch of old warehouses so it was a little creepy. We watched the sunset then headed back to Newtown. The rest of my evening consists of updating the blog here and doing some studio work saying that our final presentation is this week!!!!aahh!!!

Sunday July 5th,

Sunday was a pretty calm day. Slept in and got some good sleep which was much needed. Pretty much spent the whole day working on studio stuff for our pin-up today (monday the 6th) and worked on a few of the papers that are up and coming. After everyone got back we broke off into our studio groups and worked most of the evening and ended with a nice dance party in 14... lol anyhow overall it was a pretty laid back day of catching up on work and sleep. 

Wednesday July 1st

Laura from Quarterbred came to visit us in our studio and talked to us about the ARI she is  a part of. After a little more insight we got back to work on our studio. Dan and I talked with Michael and got our design a little more fine tuned. Overall it was a very productive day.

Thursday July 2nd 

We went on an all day walk from Bonji beach to Koogi beach. I got some really amazing pictures and the views were amazing. We stopped and got fish and chips for lunch then had class with Adrian about half way through our walk. Then we went on and saw a building Nick recommended to us. We saw a flock of wild black cockatoos as well. When we got back we all packed for our weekend in the Blue Mountains. 

Friday July 3rd

All of us met up at Central Station at 7:30 to catch a train up to the Blue Mountains. We met our guide Evan at 10ish and began our walkabout. It was a very interesting look into the Aboriginal Culture. We got to see rock carvings and paintings, and several sandstone caves. We pretty much went rock climbing over the mountains. The trail took us down waterfalls, up and down almost vertical spaces, across moss covered logs, through rainforest pockets, and atop a mountain. My knee took a good beating through all of that but it was well worth it. The views were gorgeous and we learned about coming to ones senses through dream time. After the long and tiring walk we went to a local pub and got some dinner and a drink. We then caught a train up to where our hostel was. It was a really nice hostel and much bigger then the one we are staying in in Sydney. A few of us played a game of monopoly (the british version) before heading off to bed. 

Saturday July 4th

First off Happy 4th of July!!! A few of us went out for breakfast and had some of the most amazing eggs and bacon I've had in a long time. Then we met up with the guys and and took a much shorter and tamer walk through the "bush" to see the three sisters.

 "The Three Sisters

The legend of the Three Sisters is perhaps the most interesting story heard from around this area. According to an Aboriginal dreamtime story, the three huge rocks formation were once three beautiful sisters named "Meehni", "Wimlah" and "Gunnedoo" from the Katoomba tribe. The three sisters fell in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe but their tribal laws forbade their marriage. The three brothers did not accept this law and tried to capture the three sisters by force. This caused a major tribal battle and the lives of the three sisters were thus threatened. A witchdoctor decided to turn the sisters into rocks in order to protect them and thought to reverse the spell only after the battle. Unfortunately, he was killed in the battle and the three sisters remained as the enormous and beautiful rock formations until today. The magnificent formation stands at 922m, 918m, and 906m respectively."

After our hike we stopped by a local chocolate place and got some hot chocolate, chocolate milkshakes, and some other chocolate treats. Then headed back to the hostel where the girls took a short nap and the guys got lunch before we headed back to Adrian's book launch. It was pretty interesting but not as much as the last one had been. Afterwards I headed back to Sydney to catch up on some work. It took about 3ish hours to get back and then I had dinner with Jul and Gretchen. After getting a little work done it was defiantly time for bed. Not a bad way to spend the fourth but a nice grill out sounds pretty awesome!!