Sydney

I can say without a shadow of the doubt that this 5 days in Sydney was the best holiday ive ever had :) It really came at the perfect time....i had the chance to step away from day to day life....and not stress about my weight loss journey etc and just focus on me and "living" (and really isnt this what it is all about it???) and I think by the time the end of the trip came without trying some important things had "clicked"

So i left on the thursday....arrived in Sydney a lil before lunch time....went and checked in to the hotel. Then went and grabbed some lunch and then wandered down to Circular Quay, after wandering around for a bit i then caught a ferry over to Darling Harbour and then walked back to the Hotel to meet up with Sarah and Fiona. We then met up....walked down to the rocks (should i mention fiona reckons while we walked down there some guy checked me out hahahah *rolls eyes*) anyway so we stopped for this photo of me and sarah (photo taken by photographer extroidinaire fiona lol)

We then went for dinner at the rocks...found this lil restuarant that was in this lane which was all paved....kinda reminded me of what i imagine paris is like...i shared a pizza with sarah for that meal (yumm!) and of course a pic of me studying the menu!! lol

We then went on the ghost tour...which i really enjoyed. It was a lot of historical stories...i really enjoyed it. I did get a bot woozy in one of the houses (was warm and musty in it) i would definitely recommend it for a nice walk around the rocks! We then went back to the hotel.

Next morning we walked Sarah of to the convention centre for her convention...and me and fiona went off for breakfast! Pancakes with strawberries and bananas with a hot chocolate anyone??? And of course photos were required!! lol

We then went walking around...around Pyrmont and then back down to the westfield. It was then lunchtime...and we went to "Bodhi's" which is a vegan yumcha restuarant. It was dumplings filled with lots of different great ingredients....and again photos!!! lol

Filled with carrot:

Filled with beetroot:

Tofu with satay sauce:

Iced Ginger Lemon Tea:

Best Dessert...was filled with black sesame seed paste:

After lunch we went to a beauty salon and had a beauty treatment each :) Fiona had a manicure with a hot parafin treatment and i had a pedicare with a hot parafin treatment. Was soooooooooo good....so glad i did it :) We then wandered around some more and then headed to a restuarant at Darling Harbor called "Blackbird" and i had a wood oven pizza....was so yummy :) and we followed that up with a iced chocolate from the Lindt Chocolate Shop with 2 white chocolate balls (heavenly!) we then sat out right at the harbor while fiona took some photos....fab fab way to finish the day :)

Saturday was Adventure Caveing day, we were up bright and early leaving the hotel at 6.30am *yawns*...and of to the train station....for a 2.5 hour train ride to Katoomba...followed by a 75 minute coach ride to the Jenolan Caves. Only problem with this day was we didnt have anything to eat before we left and ended up surviving till we returned to Katoomba on 3/4 of a turkey and salad roll and a hot chocolate. At the caves we did a self guided audio tour...heres some pics....

We then went to the organised adventure caving tour. Now this is basically where they take you to the top of a small mountain and you climb down the mount inside it. So we first of all did a 10 metre absail (this was good!!) then we entered the cave and started climbing down it. It was hard...physically and mentally. You had to climb up over rocks...down over rocks...some with mud and water on them....so a real test of agility...i wasnt as scared as i thought i would be...but i really had to concentrate and i was half expecting to fall and break my ankle or something lol. There were about 3 tight squeezes where you are in bizarre positions like lying on your side having to pull yourself thru a small hole...i mean it was hard....and you needed strength....definitely mentally and physically. Once we got near the end i was a lil over excited to see flat ground LOL...fiona said it sounded like i was singing i was so happy :) lol. I dont for a minute regret doing it in fact i was glad too...it was a lil proof that i CAN do things like this. Here are some photos from it:

We had decided the night before to go for pancakes for dinner that night. After the long trip back to Sydney we went to pancakes on the rocks...and there was a line up out the door at like 8pm at night!! hahah after barely eating all day we couldnt line up for food....so we wandered around darling harbour and found the BEST restuarant...was called Adria...the best carbonara I have ever had....omg so yummy!!!!! We of course went to the lindt chocolate shop after for a ice chocolate LOL (are you seeing a theme yet!!) We then headed back to the hotel after a veryyyyyyyyyyyyy late night!

Next day was sunday...we had breakfast at darling harbour (of course!!) i had bacon, scrambled eggs, oven roasted tomatos and sourdough toast....not the greatest meal ever but still did ok lol. We then went to the fitness expo...i didnt spend here at all (surprisingly lol) but nothing was overly cheap so didnt bother....i did pick up lots of health and fitness magazines and also brochures on PT courses.

Lunch time we finally went to pancake on the rocks! YAY!!! I had pancakes with banana and caramel sauce:

We then wandered back into the expo for a while....then walked back to the hotel and said goodbye to the girls as they headed back to Adelaide. That night i was then meeting someone who is on my facebook who i know from the weight watchers site (sapphy from the weight watchers site)....so her name is Sarah...we went for dinner at Baia....i had a yummy carbonara (again lol) was a really good night...we got along very well and found her very easy to talk too :) And by the end of the night we had already decided next trip to go for a girls night out :)

I then went back to the hotel....very tired!!

Monday morning i checked out of the hotel and went to "measure up" for my dexa scan (see previous post on this) I then went for breakfast at circular quay...right by the water. Breakfast was baked eggs...omg so yummy!!!:

The rest of the day before the airport i wandered around Darling Harbour....bought myself a hard rock cafe tshirt and a cute lil pink cotton top from "temt". At the airport i stopped at Victorias secret...and bought 5 pairs of knickers

So the trip was fab...what i have realised....while i never expected a flat tummy and a pert lil butt...that prolly the majority of my stomach now is loose skin....there is prolly still a lil bit of fat there (but considering the amount of "fat" its been recommended i lose is only a maximum of 7 kilos and the doc thought i prolly have about 2.5 kilos to lose of each leg and a kilo or so off each arm...im prolly not going to lose a lot of my stomach...its pretty evident now...the stomach is mostly skin and it is what it is. Its nothing bad...while i would have liked to end up with a smaller stomach...i think what ive got now is prolly how its going to end up....i think realising that im prolly not going to lose a lot of my stomach....so all about dressing good to minimise it. I feel good....it doesnt feel like im a failure...i mean when u think of it....at the ABSOLUTE most...i have about 9.5 kilos of fat to lose....is a pretty damn awesome effort considering where i came from...i also prolly wont lose the whole 9.5 kilos of fat....he recommended 5.1-7.2 kilos of fat left to lose. So while i cant say im successful at this weight loss gig yet....its not going t be too far off where i can....im hoping when i go back and get it redone in september my body fat will weigh 23 kilos or less....which would be a fat loss of about 2 kilos...

The scales did drop 400 grams overnight....so yesterday was a good eating day (just as today will be!)...off for a hour PT session with Nora this afternoon...hopefully my ego isnt squashed too badly in it! lol Enjoy ur wednesday all :)


PS gonna write up a post on expectations over the next few days...especially for us girls who start 130 kilos plus....the sooner we have those realistic expectations the better we are off i think! :)