The View Down Under

Tasmania in Four Days: Part 1

2012-02-06T21:22:00.003+11:00

There are five states and two territories in Australia: New South Wales, Victoria, Northern Territory, Western Australia (not very original, it'd be like calling California "Western United States"), South Australia (again with the originality), Australian Capital Territory, which hosts the nation's capital (seriously, guys, come on), and Tasmania.

Among these, Tasmania -- or Tassie (pronounced Tazzy) as the locals call it -- is the runt of the litter. Literally, it's the smallest state by far.* Western Australia is nearly 1,000,000 square miles in area; Tasmania is about 26,000. Tasmania's situation isn't helped by the fact that it's an island of its own and you can only get there by plane or a 10 hour ferry. Most Australians have never visited. As a result, it always gets the shaft. When a big biscuit (biscuit=cookie) company launched a box of biscuits shaped like Australian states, Tasmania was left out. I have to admit, it doesn't feel like a part of the country.

Still, it's supposed to be a beautiful place and is known for its wines and cheeses. Sharon and I figured while we're in this remote corner of the world, we ought to check out Australia's remote corners, and this is one of them. We were joined by a couple friends: Michelle, a born-and-raised Aussie, and her husband, Alex, an American who now has Australian citizenship.

We flew directly from Sydney to Launceston, the second biggest city in Tasmania, which is located on the northern side of the island. The plane descended over turquoise blue waters and pine tree-filled hills. Launceston airport is small, but nicely designed. We walked from the plane across the tarmac under a clear blue sky. The atmosphere was relaxed. "Now we're on Island Time," I declared to Sharon.

Typical Tasmanian landscape.

We took a quick spin through Launceston just to check it out (small, but charming) before a long haul to the east coast for our first destination, the Bay of Fires. The drive was spectacular. Every fifteen minutes someone would point out a particularly beautiful vista: "Look over there." Every time this happened I'd try to take a quick look as well, which usually coincided with the car briefly leaving the road. After an hour my passengers caught on and began saying "Look over there -- not you, Adam; you look at the road."

By 3:00PM the clouds rolled in and we still hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. The few restaurants we passed were closed for Australia Day. We passed a sign saying "Fruit Orchard + Golf: 800 meters" and, in need of a change of pace and some food, turned off the main road onto a gravelly track. The detailed sign soon gave way to lazier signs simply saying "Fruit Golf." We weren't sure whether we'd be teeing up some oranges or what, but soon passed a sad looking golf course before creeping up to a small shack next to a fruit orchard. We got hot chocolate and coffees and then hit the road again.

Just after our less than remarkable Fruit Golf experience, we discovered an old fishing boat moored to a dock that sold fish and chips. We were all famished by then so boarded for some lunch. The main highlight was a terrible aerial photo of said boat, which I christened the "Lunch Boat", hanging on the wall. The photo looked like it was taken in the 70s and, in addition to the boat, mostly captured the parking lot. Copies were on sale for $65. I wanted to ask the owner if anyone actually bought these but didn't want to offend him.

We once again got back on the road and 30 minutes later arrived at our first sightseeing destination. The Bay of Fires is a huge bay whose beaches are surrounded by giant red rocks; the red hue is caused by a bacteria and the bay earned its name because when the sun rises and shines off of the rocks, it looks like fire (well, as much as red rocks can look like fire). We, unfortunately, were not privy to this as the sun was tucked away behind a solid cloud cover.

Bay of Fires

As the rain threatened to intensify, we decided to move on. We sped down the Tasman Highway, which runs along the empty coastline and treats you to wonderful views of the Tasman Sea on the left and fields and hills on the right, and finally arrived in the tiny town of Bicheno, our stop for the night. There were only two restaurants in town and one of them was closed, so that forced us to go to the Sea Life Centre, an odd name considering it was just a plain old restaurant (albeit with lots of seafood on the menu) and a tacky gift shop.

Under peer pressure from Michelle and Alex, Sharon and I tried oysters for the first time. They were better than I expected and didn't have the rubbery texture that I thought all shellfish had. Despite being at the Sea Life Centre, for dinner I went with lamb.

Just as we were paying the bill our waitress asked, "Are you going to see the penguins now?"

"What penguins?" we asked.

Each night a number of mini-penguins comes on the rocks for a snooze. We walked down the hill to find a few hanging out. We couldn't take any photos because the flash disorients them.

A lazy evening in Bicheno.

Friday morning we woke up, got some breakfast sandwiches at Pork's Place ("Where smiles are free.") and stopped by a blowhole. This was a cool formation of rocks that forced waves up through a crack; even with a light swell the water launched a good 15-20 feet in the air. I can only imagine how high it would get during a storm. Afterwards, we got on the road for a 45 minute drive to Wineglass Bay.

Bicheno's blowhole.

Wineglass Bay, along with Cradle Mountain, is among Tasmania's most famous spots. It's on a peninsula that breaks off from the Tasman Highway. We paid the fee for access to the park, changed into hiking clothes, and started our climb: to get to Wineglass Bay you first hike up a steep track to a lookout point, and then must walk down the other side to get to the bay. The hike up the near side is no disappointment, though. Huge boulders tower all around you and another flawless body of water, Coles Bay, sits at the bottom of the track.

Coles Bay

But once you get to the lookout -- that's where you realize everything you've seen yet pales in comparison. Wineglass Bay might be one of the most stunning beaches in the world. From the top of the trail looking down, turquoise water lapped against white sand that seemed to glow in the sunlight. Huge green hills slope down to the shore. There wasn't a manmade structure in site. A few boats bobbed in the waves.

Excited by what awaited us, our step quickened on the walk down. At one point, we passed both a pregnant woman and a woman carrying a young child on their way back up. We were all sweating profusely supporting our own body weight; I couldn't imagine carrying another's. "Crazy," I thought.

View of Wineglass Bay from the lookout point.

At the bottom we changed into swimsuits. I dived into the water and just as quickly retreated back to the beach. Unfortunately, the tropical looking water doesn't have a tropical temperature. One Tassie woman had charitably called it "Refreshing." Someone of my disposition would call it "Freezing." There's nothing south of Tasmania except Antarctica, and that's where the ocean currents come from.

Then we clambered around on the huge rocks on the west side of the beach a bit before settling on to a blanket Sharon brought to relax for a while. We soon had a visitor. A wallaby had popped down from the brush to scope out the people. He just hung around a while, basking in the attention as everyone crawled closer and closer to get their photos. When he had enough, he bounded back up in to the dunes.

Wallaby checking out people on the beach.

We decided to go since we still wanted to visit a winery or two before the day was out, and we began the slow ascent back up the mountain to get back to the car park.

Before leaving Wineglass Bay, we wound our way up another hill -- this time in an air-conditioned car -- to a vantage point called Cape Tourville. From here you have an amazing view of the Freycinet Peninsula to the north and south. We took it all in for a moment, then got in the car again to head to some wineries.

View of Freycinet Peninsula from Cape Tourville; Wineglass Bay in the distance.

Along the way we stopped at a seafood stand and got some fresh lobster and oysters (and local beer) for a quick lunch. We followed that up with a stop at the Freycinet Vineyard (good wine; okay setting) and finished with a tasting at Milton Wineries. I didn't drink because I was driving, but this one definitely had the better setting to sit and enjoy some wines.

Fresh lobster and oysters.

At Milton Winery.

Thoroughly worn out, we headed towards our motel, the optimistically named East Coast Resort in Orford, which was a "one blink" town as described by a woman at the second winery.

Following the GPS' instructions, we pulled off the highway -- and I use that term loosely -- onto a local road with nothing around but some fields. We followed this road to the very end, where it terminated among a number of deserted lots sitting by the water. A few appeared to be warehouses. Another was a shuttered bar. An empty looking building had a banner hanging in front indicating it could be hired for conferences, but there was no other sign.

"This can't be it, guys," I decided. "We're still a few kilometers from the town center." I started to drive back towards the highway. Alex called the hotel to find out where it was. It turned out the GPS was right: the empty building was in fact the lobby of the motel.

We turned around again and drove to the entrance. It didn't look any more occupied than before, but this time the front door was open. "You know this is how horror movies start, right?" someone said.

A guy inside sitting behind the desk checked us in. When we commented on the general lack of people he told us they were supposed to be shut down for renovations, but the work crew bailed before starting, and now they were trying to salvage their tourist season. He was going to head home but told us he was on call 24 hours a day if we needed anything.

We parked in the car lot -- we were the only car -- and walked to the second level, where we had rooms next to each other. No one else was staying at the motel.

"We can misbehave!" the girls cheered, skipping down the veranda.

We washed off the grime of our hiking and hopped in the car to head into the center of Orford, another tiny village that consisted of a liquor store, a gas station, a fish and chips place, and a pizza and pasta restaurant that had been recommended to us.

Alex and I sprung for the pizza special, made with wallaby salami. "Where did the wallaby come from?" I asked the waitress. "From the butcher in Bicheno," she replied. She didn't really answer what I wanted to know, which was "Is this roadkill or do they have wallaby farms here?" and I didn't press her on it.

(One side note on roadkill: a colleague who had been to Tasmania said it had more roadkill than he'd ever seen in his life; he was right about that. It seemed like every kilometer there was a dead wallaby, possum, or some other furry critter. "They're just sleeping," Alex assured us each time.)

Digging in to some wallaby salami pizza.

After dinner we headed back to the motel to drink some wine and play some cards. We huddled up in the room where Sharon and I were staying. It was eerily quiet, and now that it was dark, a little scary.

"I hope we don't get murdered tonight," someone said.

"No one would hear if we were," someone else replied.

"Well, no one else is here."

"That just means one of us is the killer."

"What makes it all a bit alarming is that the phones don't work," said Alex. Sharon got up and picked up our room phone -- no signal. Sharon and I, both on Vodafone, the crappiest mobile network in the country, hadn't had a signal since arriving in Tasmania. Our phones said "No signal" but that implies there was a signal to be had; it should have said "Just forget about it". Alex and Michelle were on Optus and had been getting service at various spots in our travels. But here they also got nothing. So no mobile phones and no room phones. If anything did happen there was no way to reach anyone. It added to the horror film atmosphere.

Back in the States, Sharon and I often stayed in a small cottage in the mountains of Massachusetts, where no one else was around. Those experiences were never creepy -- it was solitude that we sought out to escape the buzz of New York. This was different. This was a forty room motel with only two rooms occupied. In the middle of nowhere. With no phones.

The fun was thoroughly sucked from the room. What had been a chance to misbehave was now a death trap. We decided to call it quits on the cards and go to bed. Paranoia got the better of me and I propped a chair against the bedroom door. I learned the next morning that Alex did the same thing.

The next morning we were excited to see everyone was still alive and the car wasn't sitting on cinder blocks. We quickly loaded everything up, checked out, and started the drive to Port Arthur, a penal colony during the 1800s. But you'll have to wait for Part 2 for that story.

*(I'm excluding the Australian Capital Territory here, which is comparable to Washington D.C. in purpose; i.e. I don't count it as a real state).

Some Tasmanian coastline...

No more LAFHA

2012-02-01T21:53:00.000+11:00

One luxury to being an expat here in Australia is the ability to claim LAFHA every month. LAFHA is a government funded allowance for people living away from home. Basically, it helps subsidize your food and rent expenses thereby giving you more money in your paycheck. Since Adam works for a very large global consulting firm, he was unable to get this allowance (we were super bummed). However, once I got my new job for a much smaller company, I was able to obtain it with such ease. Within one paycheck cycle I noticed an increase in my salary which was not from my company.

It has been great benefiting from this for the last 11 months but to my sadness it has come to pass that as of July 2012, this allowance will no longer be given to expats living in Australia without PR (permanent residency). Many people on the same 457 Visa as myself claim they are eligible based on the fact that we normally reside overseas but are living in Australia for work. Just in the past year the amount of active 457 Visas in Australia doubled to 9,000. That means there are going to be 9,000 people just as unhappy as me.

There is a positive correlation between balconies and wine drinking

2012-01-25T15:54:00.000+11:00

Real estate in Sydney, as in New York, is a blood sport. Prices are out of control and competition for homes is intense. Real estate agents, who obviously never heard the phrase "A rising tide lifts all ships", plaster their faces around the city like they're rock stars for selling a place.

During the 15 minute showings for rentals it's not uncommon to have 10 other people looking at the apartment with you. As in New York, if you like a place you pretty much need to submit an application right away; the landlord then picks the best candidate. It's hard not to eye up the other people and judge which ones might look good on paper.

The apartment Sharon and I got when we first moved here was a five minute walk to the beach and had just been renovated. It would have been perfect but for two major reasons: 1) It had no outdoor space and 2) it was on the ground floor next to a major walkway, so we kept our shutters closed so all the people walking by wouldn't peek into our home. We felt like we lived in a bunker.

When our landlord decided to raise our rent, we decided it was time to find a new place. Sharon and I looked at a couple apartments that turned out to be dumps, and one day I went solo. It was the best I'd seen so I put an application down. Apparently, on paper we looked the best because it was offered to us.

We moved this past Saturday, which proved exhausting since we had several flights of stairs (and no elevator!) to contend with at our new location. But it was worth it: we've got a big balcony with a decent view (the trees are semi-blocking the water, but in winter when they drop their leaves we'll have a fantastic view), natural light streams in from big windows, and we're on the top floor so the only passers-by are some birds.

A view and a balcony are much more conducive to drinking wine, I've discovered. After all, savoring wine is about savoring life, and that's hard to do in a bunker. We might have opened one bottle of wine to drink by ourselves during the year in our old place; we already put down a bottle our first night here while wolfing down some Dominos. We just need to get a couple of chairs and a small table for the balcony and then it'll be off to the races.

Oh, and now we're a 15 minute walk to the beach, but I think we can live with that. :)

The Car I Never Dreamed Of

2012-01-15T08:00:00.001+11:00

Its true! After a whole year of suffering in Sydney without a car, we finally broke down and decided it was time. Since Sydney's roads follow the general layout of a plate of spaghetti, getting around without a car is pretty tough -- doable, but tough.

A few friends advised us to check out Parramatta Road, which is lined with used car dealerships whose listed price is always much higher than the price they're willing to sell at. After a long day of walking from dealership to dealership looking at crappy Holdens, Fords, and Daewoos, and sweating buckets in the humidity, we decided that this was not the best way to do things.

We retreated to our home, on public transportation of course, to do some more research. We hit up Drive.com.au and limited our search to brands we'd actually want to drive. We checked each make, model, year, and how many kilometers the car had. Then Adam contacted each one and talked the price down by at least $1000; for the ones that said they could drop the price, we plotted the location on a map and told them we'd come see the car the next day. We rented a car this time around and the next morning headed out to see each one.

Three dealerships and one house call later we ended up getting an oldie but a goodie. Since we only needed a car to last us for the next year and a half or so we decided cheaper is the way to go.

We are now the owners of a 1997 Silver Audi A4 that was listed for $5k but we got for $3750. Its registration ("rego" in Aussie parlance) and insurance don’t expire until May so we saved ourselves roughly $400 on that.

When shopping for a used car I suggest following the method we used. Here are a few more things to consider when shopping around.

Check Drive.com.au or CarSales.com.au and determine what you actually want to drive rather than blindly going to dealerships hoping you'll luck upon something you like.
Get to the point when on the phone. The first dealer Adam called, he said "I don't want to waste my time coming out to your location; what's the best price you can do on the car?" He used that much lower price as leverage with each following person. Don’t for a minute think that the price listed is the price you are going to pay. Don't be afraid to walk away -- many dealers will have last second changes of heart and drop the price even more.
Ask about the history and how many owners the car had. Check the boot and under the bonnet. Look for rust and uneven lines between body panels (sign of a collision).
Always do a test drive even if you are only remotely interested. You don’t want to have to come back later to do this. Plus, you will only know if something is better or worse the more you have to compare it to.
Ask about the rego and how much time is left.
If you are purchasing from a dealership then ask about a warranty. Most were willing to throw in 12 months for free even after talking them down on price. They want to sell cards.

We're Married!

2012-01-11T15:58:00.000+11:00

As of December 31, 2011 Adam and I are now husband and wife!! We had a long 26 hour flight to Tampa, Florida where lots of last minute wedding planning took place.

After a few long jet-lagged days we had an amazing time celebrating our nuptials and New Years Eve with all of our friends and family. Thank you so much to everyone for all your love and support. My only wish... that it didn't go by so fast.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Cockatoo Island Outpost Exhibition

2011-12-28T08:00:00.004+11:00

We have previously mentioned Cockatoo Island in one of our previous posts but this time we were headed over to the famous island for Exhibition Outpost. Outpost is an exhibition for local graffiti artists/urban art which transformed the industrial island into a large outdoor art gallery from November 4^th – December 11^th.

Most of the artist are relatively unknown in the main stream world with the exception of an artist called Banksy, who maintained underground status for years until exploding on the scene back in 2007 where Adam and I first saw one of his exhibitions in NYC.

Here are some great pictures of the day.

This day last year...

2011-12-25T08:00:00.011+11:00

I was on a Sydney Scavenger Hunt!

Today, I arrived back in The United States to get married to my best friend on New Years Eve!

2 Summers and a year later…

2011-12-17T17:22:00.000+11:00

It only took 2 summers and a year of living in Australia for Adam and I to finally do something that we have been saying we were going to do… SURF!!

It was a beautiful day in Bondi and a great day to learn to surf so we signed up for lessons through Lets Go Surfing in Bondi.

The waves were a bit rough but we had a great time. The instructor was really cool and we were even able to stand up! Round 2 the following week was also a success and we are ready to book in round 3!

A short list of things I like and dislike about Australia...

2011-11-24T21:24:00.000+11:00

After more than a year in Australia, it is time to pass judgment on the entire continent:

Good

Great beaches
Great mountains not too far from the beaches
Geography in general is strong to quite strong
Great breakfasts -- better than the U.S.
Easy outdoor lifestyle

Bad

Not a week goes by that a Kardashian doesn't appear on a magazine cover (last week they were on the cover of at least five magazines) -- why is everyone so obsessed with these oxygen thieves?
Pizza doesn't come close to a New York slice
Come to think of it, almost nowhere offers slices
Pizza places are only open for dinner
Mmm...pizza
Prices -- everything is ridiculously expensive

There...that wasn't too bad, was it?

Gone Fishin'

2011-11-24T21:10:00.002+11:00

When my brother Andrew visited us before shipping out to Afghanistan, one of the things he wanted to do was deep sea fishing. Most of the fishing guides required you to charter an entire boat, but I was able to find one through www.Adrenalin.com.au that accepted singles.

So on a Saturday we roused ourselves at 5:30 am and caught a taxi to the Rose Bay wharf, where the boat would pick us up. There were about 20 other people hanging around too, and I assumed they were all on the same fishing trip. After about 15 minutes a beautiful power catamaran pulled up to the dock. Pretty swanky fishing boat, I thought. People started piling on; I asked the deckhand if this was the fishing boat. "No," he said, "This is for whale watching."

So that boat pulled away and set off without us. About half an hour later another nice looking boat pulled up. This boat had several fishing rods so I figured this had to be ours. A number of people started boarding; once again I asked if this was our fishing boat. "No," the captain replied, "This is a private charter. But I think we passed yours on the way here; it's a real wreck."

Brothers.

He was right. Ours finally arrived. It looked about 30 years past its prime. Andrew and I boarded; there were about ten of us in total.

The captain had a thick Scottish accent and was missing his front teeth. His first mate, Les, who was the only mate, rounded out the crew; he was also missing his front teeth.

After everyone boarded the captain came out of the steerhouse. "Here's your safety lesson, so listen up," he declared. "Toilet's in the back, fishing is on this side of the boat, and spewing is on that side of the boat. Don't spew in the toilet." And that was it…nothing about life jackets or what to do if you fell overboard.

We chugged out into a rolling, grey sea. Occasionally a light rain added to the merry weather. Once we arrived in a place the captain deemed good fishin', he stopped the engine and said we could start fishing. The boat violently rocked back and forth as the waves started hitting its sides rather than its bow. But it was a good spot and other people on the boat started pulling in fish quickly.

Andrew and I spent the first hour without a catch, though the fish seemed to be making off with our bait pretty well. We moved to a new spot a few hundred meters away and our luck turned -- we were catching fish...albeit ugly, exotic looking fish that looked they'd been exposed to industrial grade pollutants and radiation. Every time I pulled out a fish I asked Les what it was and if it was any good. Les' standard response was "Oh, that one -- good eating." I was skeptical.

Andrew spent about half his time untangling his line from those of our companions. That's one of the disadvantages of having 10 people line one side of a boat all fishing. When someone asked about fishing on the other side, the captain responded that then there's a risk that lines become tangled from both sides, under the boat, and can screw up the propeller.

Andrew and I caught seven fish, but a couple were too small and were tossed back in the water. We took our five keepers back home where we planned on making them for dinner.

I took one out of the bag and put in on the cutting board, pulled a knife from the drawer, and attempted to fillet the fish (which were already dead). The knife didn't make a scratch. I tried all the other knives in the kitchen. Nothing. They were too dull to cut fish and we didn't have a sharpener.

Andrew suggested using a meat cleaver to chop the fish's head off and I gave him the honor of trying that out. He raised his hand with the cleaver in it and smashed it down on the fish. Besides some viscera that splattered around the kitchen, the fish remained intact.

We ended up throwing the fish out and going out for Mexican where Sharon reprimanded us for killing the fish for no reason.

Taronga Zoo

2011-11-10T22:08:00.001+11:00

Two Sundays ago Sharon and I took a bus to Circular Quay, a ferry just across the harbor to Mosman, and another bus up a hill to the entrance of Taronga Zoo. We've been meaning to go for a while and the Australian newspaper had a 2-for-1 deal going on through the end of November so we thought we'd take advantage of that.

The zoo is celebrating its 95th birthday this year and was one of the first to take animals out of cages and put them in habitat-style enclosures (the concept was brought back by the Secretary of the zoo after seeing such a setup in Hamburg).

The zoo is beautifully laid out. It's built on a hill, so you start at the top and work your way down to the bottom, and at various parts you get stunning views of the Sydney harbor, Opera House, and bridge. This is definitely a must-see for anyone visiting Sydney. Here are some photos we took:

Our 1 year anniversay and Melbourne Cup 2011

2011-11-03T09:56:00.001+11:00

Just over one year ago, Adam and I landed in Australia for the very first time to begin our new adventure living abroad. Since then we have met lots of new people, seen lots of great places and now have a whole new insight into Australia.

Last November 2nd Adam and I walked down the street from our Double Bay sublet to the infamous Golden Sheaf to see the festivities and funky hats known for Melbourne Cup Day. I didn't understand all the hype for a 10 minute horse race and seems like a year later I still don't.

Being that this time around I am a working woman, I celebrated with my co-workers in true Aussie fashion. We started the day off like any other but by lunchtime we were all packed up and on our way to The London in beautiful Paddington.

We had a lovely sit down lunch with starters, bottles of Preseco, yummy food, and ended with chocolate brownie ala mode for dessert. We picked horses, placed bets, and sorted out everything for our office sweep. My lame self only bet $3 but since I ended up not winning I am pretty happy with that.

After the race we all went upstairs for more drinking. Lots of picture taking and even more shenanigans.

Overall, we had a really great time and Adam was even able to stop later in the day for a drink with IFG.

Happy Racing!

Central Coast Trip

2011-10-24T16:04:00.001+11:00

A great way to spent your weekend out of Sydney but not break the bank is by taking a road trip. There is so much to see and do just a couple hours outside of Sydney in any direction. A few weekends ago we went west to The Blue Mountains and this past weekend we went north to The Central Coast.

With a group of 10, we drove 1.5 hours north and rented a 5 bedroom house on Forresters Beach with the most beautiful views. We packed the weekend full of BBQ, beach, hiking, whale watching, game playing and relaxing.

Here is the link to the house that we stayed at. It was pretty great!
www.HorizonForresters.com.au

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

making brekie

Whale breaching

Hiking

Animals, Mountains and Caves… Oh My!

2011-10-05T21:39:00.001+11:00

With Adam’s younger brother visiting from California before he deploys for Afghanistan, we decided to plan a little weekend get-away 3 hours out from Sydney.

Here was our itinerary:

SaturdayFirst things first, we got brekkie and then got the rental car. We drove an easy 30 minutes to Featherdale Wildlife Park to visit with all the amazing animals. My personal favorites were the koalas, penguins, kangaroos, and dingoes.

We drove another hour and a half to The Blue Mountains, where we saw the most picturesque views during a pretty grueling 2.5 hour hike. We started at the top of Echo Point, eased our way down the Great Stairway, and hiked through the forest before climbing straight up Furber Steps. The Great Stairway deserves its name; after we got to the bottom, no lie, I stopped and my legs were trembling. Shake it off! Furber Steps were just as hard but this time we were going up; at some stages I was literally pulling myself up the vertical steps gasping for air.


3 Sisters

Great Stairway

Beware of Yeti

We then had to hike another 20 minutes back to the carpark to retrieve our rental go, then went to our motel to get cleaned up. After some drinks at a local bar and dinner at a local Greek restaurant we called it a night.

Sunday
After getting our act together we quickly got some brekkie to go and hit the road. We were running a bit behind schedule as we had booked a 12pm tour which was still an hour and a half farther out at the Jenolan Caves. Note that if you decide to do this then you should definitely book in advance. They are like movie times and they fill up fast, especially on a holiday weekend.

We spent a good hour and 40 minutes touring the cave. They are pretty amazing and the walk ranged from a tight squeeze through narrow tunnels to massive open rooms. One cave was so big that they have weddings in them and even host concerts.

We were super exhausted and on a tight schedule to get the rental car back by 530pm so we had to bust a move immediately following the tour. An hour later we were still at the caves because Adam had mistakenly left our lights on and burned the battery out. After a jump from one of the park staff we were on the road back to Sydney.

Andrew and I napped in the car and left the driving to Adam!

Fiji Time

2011-10-03T12:58:00.002+11:00

A few Fridays ago Sharon and I jetted off to Fiji for a long weekend. We were inspired to travel after seeing a friend mention a 2-for-1 airfare deal on Facebook. We looked at cheap fights to the Whitsunday Island chains (where hotels were $1,000/night), and then looked at cheap flights to New Zealand (hotels were also expensive for some reason), before booking full fare flights to Fiji. The bonus was we'd be able to use my Hilton points to stay for free.

In the past I've had bad luck with tropical destinations. It started with the Bahamas in 2005 or so, when I went to visit some relatives and got a lot of rain and chilly weather. Then on a family cruise in the Caribbean the weather was so rainy and rough that we were unable to dock at some of the scheduled ports. Then Sharon and I went to Brazil where it rained the entire week -- it rained so hard the beach town we were in actually lost power two nights in a row. As an added insult, it was beautiful on the day we left.

So I refused to check the weather as our trip to Fiji approached, afraid that I'd see rain predicted. But then Sharon went ahead and checked and told me rain was predicted for the time we were there. I was crushed.

We arrived and headed over to the taxi line. Our taxi driver was very friendly and acted as tour guide as we drove.

I was a bit caught off guard when he pointed out a cluster of simple houses (a "village" he called it) and called out the chief's home. If there's a problem in the village, he said, the people go to the chief first, then the police if need be. It didn't occur to me that chiefs were still around.

On either side of the road, where there weren't buildings there was lush, dense green -- palm trees, mangroves, banana trees, tall grass, flowers. Green mountains rose in the distance to the north.

The change in scenery as we crossed a short bridge to Denarau Island, where the Hilton was located, was sudden. The unruly foliage and basic homes gave way to a mix of Fijian-style and modern mansions with well-curated lawns. Denarau Island is 2/3 man made; one taxi driver told us it took ten years to truck in all the dirt. It supports a collection of seven big resort properties, a golf course, a yacht-filled marina, and a number of small gated communities containing said mansions.
The Hilton was the northernmost resort. We stepped out of the taxi into a large, open-air lobby and were greeted with fresh lemonade and a round of "Bulas!" from the staff. Bula means "hello" and also "cheers", so it's the word you'll encounter the most in Fiji. Thanks to my Hilton Diamond status (the fruits of living at a Doubletree for 15 months in New Jersey), we were upgraded to a large 1-bedroom suite overlooking the grounds and ocean.

View from one of the Hilton's pools.

We got a late lunch at the Hilton's main restaurant, which overlooked the beach and was flanked by the resort's six pools. The holiday pace-of-life, the breeze, the view of the ocean…it was thoroughly relaxing. And then something wonderful happened: the clouds began receding and the sun popped out. We walked around the island a bit, then chilled out with some wine and had a late dinner.

Saturday had perfect weather. We spent the morning lounging around next to the pool. Though the resort had a beach, it was what Fiji calls a "black sand" beach. Really it was just brown. And a bit muddy. It wasn't the exquisite white sand you see in ads for Fiji.

In the afternoon we took a bus to downtown Nadi, the nearest city and second biggest after the capital, Suva. Nadi has a great central market but is otherwise a bit of a dump. It's full of souvenir shops and fast food joints. Every other block we were approached by someone who promised to take us to a real Fijian souvenir shop, not the Indian places on the main street.

The market in downtown Nadi.

(There seemed to be a bit of tension between the native Fijians and Indian immigrants. There is a large Indian population in Fiji and from the looks of it they've been quite successful; a lot of the bigger and nicer stores did indeed appear to be run by people of Indian descent. One day we had a tour driver named Salesh, who was Indian; he made it a point to tell us that Indians in Fiji only rooted for the Fijian rugby team, not India's team. I wasn't sure whether that was a true statement or just spin, but the fact that he specifically called it out made me wonder just how good relations are between the two groups. Update: just Googled it and there are racial tensions between Fijians and Indo-Fijians.)
Sunday we hopped on a big ketch at the marina with about 40 other people to cruise out to an uninhabited island and go snorkeling for the day. The water was crystal clear and warmer than the resort's pool. We saw bright blue starfish, these little fish that were almost an electric neon purple, and tons of coral formations. Victor, the first mate to Captain Paul, impressed everyone by remembering the names of every guest on the boat correctly. Then we did a kava ceremony. Kava is made from the ground up root of a pepper plant and then mixed with water. It resembles muddy water in both color and taste. Kava is drunk from a bowl that is dipped into the large stoneware in which it is mixed, and then passed from one person to another. About twenty people had sipped from the bowl before it got to Sharon and me, which made me hope that no one had any transmittable diseases.

On the way to the island.

Our island for the day.

On Monday morning we got up early and reported to the lobby to await a ride into the hills we had passed on the drive from the airport to the Hilton. We were going to go hiking up to a waterfall. After about 20 minutes of driving we exited the main road and then slowly lurched and bounced along a rocky dirt road for another half hour.

View of the mountains from the road.

The scenery was stunning. Fields of sugarcane, banana, and tobacco lined with tall trees in bloom, with the mountains in the background steadily getting closer. The odd cow with a bird perched on its back. Small homes and shops. It was definitely rural.

Our driver was fantastic. He stopped at one point and ran out into a field of sugarcane, then brought us back a piece and showed us how to rip off the skin to get to the sweet core; you could then rip off a chunk with your teeth. It was very sweet.

Eventually we made our way to a small property with a few shacks and a bure (a traditional Fijian hut). Our driver introduced us to a large man in a white polo shirt who turned out to be the chief of the village, which encompassed about 70 people. Becoming chief in Fiji is a hereditary privilege: this man's grandfather had founded the village and become chief, then his father inherited the position, and he took it up upon his father's death.
He presented our guide for the day, Vika, his granddaughter -- a girl of 14 or 15 in a t-shirt, resort towel wrapped around her waist like a sarong, and bare feet. Sharon and I both took notice of her toes: spread out in a sturdy fashion, free of the deformation that comes from wearing shoes all the time.

She led us towards the back of the property. We passed the buildings where they lived, low structures made of corrugated tin; I tried to peer inside and just saw some rugs on the floor. An outhouse buzzing with flies was the bathroom. A number of large water jugs sitting outside the kitchen suggested there was no running water.
The buildings gave way to some tobacco fields, which sloped down to a stream. We crossed over it and began heading uphill, ascending into dense jungle. After about twenty minutes, by which time I was dripping in sweat, we arrived at our destination: two waterfalls cascaded down the hills above, with one landing in a pool of water large enough to swim in. I lowered myself into the freezing water, hung out for about 30 seconds, decided I'd experienced enough of Stage I Hyperthermia and hustled back out.

Hiking up to the waterfall.

We moseyed back down the hill to the chief's property for a real kava ceremony in the traditional bure. The kava he and his granddaughter made was stronger than the kava we'd had on the island. He made a lot of it and nearly filled the bowl up for both Sharon and me. Then he told us we couldn't leave until the kava is finished, so we forced down another full bowl each. Then we had a lunch of chicken sausage, banana, spinach made from taro leaf, and cassava.

The chief and his granddaughter making kava.

Afterwards one of the guys on the property knocked down a coconut from the tree (apparently the orange ones are sweeter than the green ones), whipped out a machete to chop off the top, and handed it to Sharon. She'd been saying how she wouldn't leave Fiji until she had fresh coconut water, and this was as fresh as it gets.

Getting some fresh coconut.

Sharon ready to ride.

Then we hopped on some horses and were led on a walk around the area (not that awesome as Vika kept the horses on a lead). Then it was back to the Hilton and back to chilling by the pool.

One thing that surprised us both was the number of babies in Fiji. The flights there and back were packed full of young families (and unfortunately Sharon and I were downwind of dirty diapers each time). The Hilton was also full of toddlers running around. There were so many babies, Sharon thought it must be some kind of special promotional deal, like "Baby Month" or something. She googled it but nothing came up. I asked a colleague who'd been to Fiji a year ago whether he had the same experience and he said he did; I guess Fiji is just a big holiday destination for young Aussie families.

On the last morning, just hours away from returning to Sydney, Sharon and I sat by the infinity pool looking over the ocean and a number of islands. I did my best to soak up the air, the view, the "chill". It's a lifestyle I've always wanted. "Sharon," I said, "We might need to move to the Caribbean when we leave Australia."

She said "no" but I can probably convince her….

Woolloomooloo

2011-09-18T16:09:00.002+10:00

Just in case you weren't sure how to

pronounce it we thought this would help.

Another little neighborhood in the eastern suburbs of Sydney is Woolloomooloo. It's located on the harbor just east of the Central Business District (CBD).

Historically, it was a poorer working class suburb and even after a little gentrification, most of the area is still pretty sketch; however, a small area of it is pretty and houses beautiful yachts and fancy restaurants.

Something to strive for!

A navy base is located in Woolloomooloo.

The main street of interest is Cowper Wharf Roadway which houses a few bars, a bottle shop and some restaurants. On the other side of the street is the new marina that has some really nice restaurants, a hotel, some bars and a very notable resident, Russell Crowe.

One well known eatery is the famous Harry's Cafe De Wheels. It's known for its meat pies and we decided to walk over and grab one for ourselves. We went with the "Harry's Tiger," which was strongly recommended. While we were there eating our Tiger a wedding party rolled up to get pictures in front as well.

Turns out we weren't impressed. Sorry Harry but your reputation is far superior to your meat pies.

After a subpar meat pie and an afternoon of exploring we decided to take a load off at the local pub and have a beer. Cheers!

Sydney vs. Melbourne

2011-09-04T19:07:00.000+10:00

Every country has great rivalries between its capital cities. Barcelona versus Madrid. NYC versus LA. Cleveland versus Pittsburgh. Given that Australia only has about five cities, and only Sydney and Melbourne are of consequence, it's no surprise that their rivalry is fairly intense.

Sydneysiders and Melbournites (neither exactly rolls off the tongue) are locked in battle over whose city is better. The whole reason Canberra, the country's capital, exists is because Melbourne and Sydney fought so viciously over which should host Australia's government that a miserable spot in between the two was picked to teach them a lesson.

When I first moved to Australia, a colleague from the States who has toyed with the idea of moving here asked me which city I liked better. I wasn't qualified to tell him at the time, but after spending a few weeks in Melbourne for work and getting the chance to explore quite a bit I'm ready to make a call:

If I had to pick a city to live in for the next 2 years or so (which is our situation), Sydney wins. If I had to pick a city to live in for a longer period of time, I'd pick Melbourne. Melbourne is the better city.*

I can hear my Sydney friends crying "Traitor!" and my Melbourne colleagues saying "We already knew that." But city preference, of course, is a personal thing. There are people who love Los Angeles who wouldn't dream of moving to New York, and vice versa. My vote is based on personal preferences. So here's my breakdown based on a number of criteria:

Lifestyle:

Sydney has a gorgeous harbor and a number of great beaches. For two years -- and after living in the concrete valleys of Manhattan -- that's the lifestyle I want: mosey down to the beach, have a swim, get some sun, sit at a café and look out onto the water while I drink a beer. Just a few weekends ago Sharon and I hung out at the beach -- and it was winter here! That's good living. Melbourne of course isn't far from the water; its harbor is great for parasurfing and the beach is accessible by train. But it doesn't have the beach town feel that pervades Sydney. (Sydney is, according to one of Sharon's coworkers, just a giant beach town). Win for Sydney.

Restaurant and Bar Scene:

After 9 months in Sydney, I feel as if I've already eaten at all the restaurants and checked out all the cool bars. Obviously I haven't; there are probably dozens of good restaurants I have yet to try, but that's the feeling I get. We actually have to do research to pick a new place to try out. For me, the key to enjoying a city long term is a sense of discovery and Melbourne seriously kicks Sydney's ass when it comes to cool little bars and restaurants waiting to be discovered. Just walking around a Melbourne neighborhood like Fitzroy or South Yarra I feel like the number and variety of restaurants could keep me busy for a long time. Win for Melbourne.

Transportation:

Sydney public transportation sucks. It is a car city…or rather would be if the parking situation was passable. The roads curve and wind and end unexpectedly and right turns are not allowed at half the intersections. A friend once said it's like someone dropped a pile of giant spaghetti on the city and then built roads using the noodles as a guideline. Melbourne, on the other hand, has a simple grid layout and a fantastic number of trams (not to mention buses and trains) to get around easily. And whether it's due to the ease of transportation or simple geography, Melbourne feels more compact -- it's simply easier to get around. Win for Melbourne.

Weather:

Sydney wins, though it's certainly not the year-round mecca I expected (see previous post). As I write this, Melbourne is a good 10 degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler and I've seen the sun for all of a few hours since I started working here. The gloom and cold do get depressing after a while. A YouTube video spoofs the weather in Melbourne: Jacket on, jacket off, jacket on, jacket off -- all in one day. When the weather is beautiful, you'll be hard pressed to find a better place than Sydney. Win for Sydney.

Shopping:

As a dude, I don't really shop -- I go on missions. However, being engaged to a woman who loves to shop, I can appreciate the things that make shopping good. Melbourne wins here. It's not just the variety of stores, because Sydney also has a huge variety, it's also the density. While Sydney has shopping districts such as Paddington, Melbourne packs much more in, and in a smaller area. This applies to many of the Melbourne suburbs I've seen as well as the center of the city. In fact, I told a coworker that if I didn't already know Sydney had the bigger population, I'd assume Melbourne is the bigger city -- it just has that density of shops, restaurants, and bars. Win for Melbourne.

And that's all she wrote.

*Unfortunately, Fitness First gyms play the same crappy Euro-trash pop in both cities**

**Europe's economy has been getting all the attention lately, but seriously, the real crisis is all the shitty pop music they produce

Southern Highlands

2011-08-21T18:00:00.002+10:00

A while back Sharon pounced on a Daily Deal advertising a day of wine tasting in the Southern Highlands, an area of rolling hills brimming with small wineries about two hours south of Sydney. So a couple weeks ago, along with two friends, Tess and Scott, we availed ourselves of the trip.

We got up early on a rainy, chilly Saturday morning and took a cab to Central Station, the pick-up spot. A jitney bus with a seating configuration like a small airplane -- three seats across broken up by an aisle, with two seats on one side of the aisle and a single line of seats on the other -- pulled up; this was our ride for the day. We made our way to the back of the bus, tried to interpret the trip overview provided by our driver of some mysterious European heritage, and then zoomed off.

Despite the gloom, once we got well out of Sydney we were treated to beautiful countryside. After a couple hours of driving we pulled off the highway and onto a two lane road, stopping in a small town for a tea break. Then we piled back into the bus and drove a few minutes longer before turning onto a narrow road, bouncing along to the first winery. The cellar door was too small for the group of about thirty, so we headed to the warehouse for the wine tasting. The owner provided a thorough tasting of his wines; we must have tried about ten whites and reds.

Australia has various wine regions all over the country. The most famous is the Barossa Valley which began producing wines in the 1850s. The Southern Highlands, by contrast, is one of the more recent areas to develop a wine scene, with the first vintners starting out in the 1980s. This particular winery, Tertini Wines, had only been around for about ten years. The area gets particularly cold winters and they had lost two full years to bad frosts; wine is not a business you get into to make your fortune.

Tess and Scott picked up a couple bottles, then we headed into a nearby town, Bowral, for the lunch included in the tour. I'll only say that the lunch was lasagna, and I use that term loosely, and that I wandered off to go find something else to eat.
We made our way to the second winery, called Joadja Vineyards, which happened to be the first winery in the region. The cellar door was a small cottage with stone floors and an Australian collie laying by a fire: it was the experience you'd expect from a distinguished winery. We tasted a few good wines, Tess and Scott added a few more bottles to their stock, and then we got back on the bus.

Our next stop was a "cheese tasting". This was actually just a country store that sold cheese and happened to have a couple plates with various cheeses by the door. I hadn't been successful finding a superior food option after I walked out on lunch, so I was ready for a snack. I picked up a big loaf of bread, some English cheddar, and some blue cheese. After everyone in the group had completed their purchases, we got back on the bus and chowed down on bread and cheese while we drove to the final winery.

After 45 minutes of zooming over picturesque hills I could tell the GPS wasn't working properly. By now it was 4:30pm, everyone was pretty worn out, and it was getting dark. I was thinking we should just can the last stop. The driver, who must have anticipated these thoughts going around his passengers' minds, piped up over the intercom, saying he was back on track and this last winery was really worth visiting.
We eventually pulled into a private drive and chugged up a hill to a small house. We were ushered into a separate lodge-style room off to the side. A collection of kangaroos peered at us from farther up the hill. The owners, a couple in their 70s, had inherited the vineyard when they bought the property to retire on after spending their lives in England and South Africa.

The house and lodge had commanding views of the surrounding hills -- it wasn't a bad place to sit and relax and enjoy retirement. They decided to name the winery after the street they lived on, Howard's Lane. The old couple was so charming that I decided, even before sampling the wine, that I would buy some, just to support them. It turned out that they had several very good wines, so my decision turned out to be a good one. After the tasting we got back in the bus one final time for the long drive back to Sydney.

Our U.S Tour

2011-07-31T09:39:00.001+10:00

On Tuesday morning we arrived back from our two week whirlwind tour of America. Like many holidays it was not a relaxing one. Because this was our first joint trip back since moving to Australia in November we had many stops to make.

First stop: Los Angeles

We had the pleasure of spending our 4th of July weekend with friends and family in LA. We spent a night in Costa Mesa with Adam's sister Sarah, brother-in-law Tim and brand new niece lil' Taylor. Then we headed to LA to stay with some great friends and celebrate America's Independence Day! We even got a special visit from Adam's brother Andrew who will be leaving in October for his second tour of Afghanistan.

Tim, Sarah, Taylor, Me, Adam in Costa Mesa

Friends for dinner and drinks at Pink Taco, LA

Amazeballs on July 4th!

Second stop: The Burgh (also known as Pittsburgh)

We flew to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a quick 3 night stay to see Adam's family. We had a lovely time seeing his parents, his brother, his uncle, 2 aunts, 2 grandmas and a great aunt. Phew!

Third stop: Penn State

After our stay in The Burgh we took a bus to Penn State for our amazing friends' wedding. We got to see so many people and had a wonderful time. It was my first time at Penn State since I am originally from Florida and it was nice getting the tour. Congratulations to Renae and Travis Kochel!!!

Us with the beautiful Bride and Groom

Chris Stewart/ The James Bond of Beer

The Bride and Groom

Fourth stop: NYC!

After the wedding, on Sunday, we hitched a ride with our friend and headed to NYC! We went straight to our dear friends Luke and Mandy place where we crashed for the next 3 nights. First night there we had a lovely dinner at Mama Mexico with both my parents, Adam's mother, and Luke and Mandy. After dinner, we went and had some drinks at a cute wine spot along Riverside Park. The next couple days included shopping, dinner in Long Island with my family, more shopping, Happy Hour party at The Cooper Square Hotel with our amazing friends and then an early flight out next morning. I LOVE YOU NYC!

Dinner with Family in Long Island

Drinks with friends at Cooper Square Hotel

Dinner with friends in East Village

Fifth and final stop: Tampa, Florida

Our 4 nights and 5 days in Tampa went by fast. My mom picked us up at the airport Wednesday morning and then the madness began. Without even going home first, she drove us to our wedding venue to have our food tasting and meet with the florist. Then we were off to our first cake tasting. The next few days included looking at wedding invitations, another cake tasting, a gown fitting, lots of shopping, and an amazing co-ed shower hosted by my mother's amazing friends. About 50 people came and that included my sister and her boyfriend who flew down from Chi-Town and two of my bridesmaids: Megan Lathinghouse with her boyfriend and Heather Wiseman with her future husband-to-be. It was such a great time in Florida. Turns out we got a lot done and all thanks to my mother who so generously schlepped us around the whole time. Thank you Mom!

With friends at our wedding shower.

My Mom and Shower Hostesses

Now we're back in Sydney where it has basically poured every day all day! I just hope it doesn't rain this weekend because we are headed to Hunter Valley for some wine tasting.

Keeping it Dry in July...

2011-07-03T06:28:00.000+10:00

Last year we arrived in Australia in November, the month of Movember, if you remember. Well, looks like the Aussies have done it again. Dedicate a whole month to something, that is.

Here in Australia, July is referred to as “Dry July.” This is because during the month of July people commit not to drink alcohol for the entire month in order to raise money for people living with cancer. It was started back in 2008 with just over 1,000 participants and now in 2011 it attracts over 9,500 participants and has raised almost $3.5 million. Dry July is not only about not drinking alcohol, its about clearing your head and making a difference. Get healthy, challenge yourself, encourage positive change and a healthy attitude to alcohol consumption.

This initiative was a surprising discovery in a country that drinks heavily. One of our friends said to us shortly after moving to Australia, "Remember how much you drank junior year of college? The best part of Australia is you'll drink that much the rest of your life."

My co-worker, among many, has signed up and already begun raising money for a good cause. After the work weeks we have been having I can only wish her the best of luck. You can see her profile here.

As I sit here on the airplane flying to L.A., we have decided not to participate this year since we are taking our first trip back to The United States together since moving here last November. We have lots of celebrating to do and thought maybe we could do dry August but it doesn’t have the same ring to it.

I love the idea of a whole country coming together with something fun to raise money for a charity. Is this something we could introduce back home? Anyone interested?

Happy Birthday!

2011-06-13T05:00:00.002+10:00

Today is a public holiday here in Australia and therefore, I do not have to go to work! We are honoring The Queen's birthday. Truthfully, I had no idea which Queen's birthday we were celebrating. My first thought was the Queen of England since we are apart of commonwealth. However, I was a little confused since my sister and brother-in-law, who live in London, aren't getting work off.

A little investigating, I call Google, and sure enough I find out that we are indeed celebrating the current monarch Queen Elizabeth II birthday. Her real birthday is April 21st but if every year we celebrated it on that day then many times it would coincide with Easter, which would mean one less day off... and we can't have that now can we?

So, in honor of The Queen's day of birth and not having to work.... Happy Birthday!

Balmain

2011-06-11T17:30:00.000+10:00

Balmain is one of Sydney's oldest working suburbs slightly west of the central business district (CBD). However, now it is a colorful and artistic suburb, home to some of Australia’s best-known writers, actors, film directors, musicians and artists. The main street of Darling is lined with stylish cafés, pubs, restaurants and shops. Just walking down the main street you can feel the energy and life of the cosmopolitan crowd.

Today we hopped on the train and bus to hit up a cute cafe for food and check out the weekly Saturday Balmain Markets.

I was hoping for brunch but by the time we sat to eat at 1pm I was already craving lunch. We hit up a fairly busy cafe called Fundamental which served surprisingly large sized meals. 'Merica style!

Green Tea

Tuna Melt on Turkish Bread


Baked eggs in tomato with feta and chorizo

After lunch we headed down to the markets which had lots of cute booths each filled with handmade and vintage style things. I was in need of a gift for a few people back home and happen to find the perfect gift here. Sorry, but I wont be able to share what I bought just yet.

On our way back up the main street we passed by Adriano Zumbo Patissier, which had a long line out the door. Probably something worth checking out but we (and I mean Adam) weren't interested in waiting in line.

So... instead we popped into the Cupcake Factory for a quick afternoon snack which was right around the corner. P.S. these were really soft, squishy cupcakes. Totally work my $3.

Overall, a great suburb worth checking out if you are in town or live here. I would love to go back and check out the night life.

A Hypnotic Weekend Bash

2011-06-06T21:28:00.003+10:00

5 years ago, while still living in New York City, my parents came to town for a visit my sister and me. Our plan was to wander around the fabulous city and see all that it had to offer. As we were walking through Washington Square Park we heard an amazing brass band playing, The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. We joined the already existing crowd to hear the sweet jams. Instantly my older sister and I were hooked and agreed to go halvsies on a CD right there on the spot.

As it turns out that same summer, before Adam and I were even together, he too wandered through that same park and stumbled across HBE. Moved by the music just as I was he chose to buy one of their CDs as well.

Now here we are present day living in Sydney and what do I find on the Sydney Opera House website? None other than the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble playing on my birthday weekend. We instantly bought tickets!

Best show! So much energy from the band and from the audience. It was a great night followed by a beautiful birthday Sunday filled with brunch and a massage compliments of Adam.

Thank you to Adam for making my birthday far from home, far from family and friends so special!

The Ultimate surprise!

2011-06-04T14:43:00.000+10:00

Two of the coolest friends we have made since arriving to Australia recently got engaged. Due to the drama that usually follows planning a wedding, they opted out of that and plan on eloping. They had recently decided to do this in Vanuatu, a group of tropical islands near Fiji.

That being said, they decided to throw an engagement party before they ran off and got hitched. We were excited to hear that we were invited to this fun affair and quickly RSVP'd YES! We were instructed to arrive at 5:00 sharp as dinner would be served at 5:30. Adam and I thought that seemed early but thought nothing else of it.

So this past weekend we got all dressed up and headed to the historic district of The Rocks to a great restaurant called The Italian Village. Elma & Max, the soon-to-be-runaway bride and groom, rented out the whole top floor. It was beautiful! They stood at the entrance and greeted all their friends and family as they arrived.

Max & Elma

While waiting for dinner to begin, wine, beer, and champagne were offered by the waitstaff. There were also at least two bottles of whiskey on each table. This would not be a mellow night. Soon everyone began sitting down and Max stood at the front of the room to make a quick announcement. He told everyone that he and Elma had a little surprise for everyone. There were whispers all around the room.

All of a sudden, two double doors in the back opened, some music started pumping, and out came Elma in a full-on gown!!! SURPRISE WE'RE GETTING MARRIED, Max said.


Bride and Groom

Everyone's jaw dropped. No one -- not friends or family -- had any idea this was coming! We all thought we were going to an engagement party but really it a wedding and the trip to Vanuatu was for their honeymoon! It was such an amazing night. Lots of eating, drinking, dancing and celebrating.

We also had the most amazing view of the Sydney Opera House from the room and turns out the wedding coincided with Vivid Sydney Festival of Lights, not to mistaken for the Jewish festival of lights. Max joked that he arranged this little show as part of the wedding celebration.

The Vivid festival is a two week event in Sydney's CBD, where light shows are project onto the Opera House and other buildings all night long. It might sound lame but it's pretty cool. On top of that there is a fire show -- not to be confused with fireworks, they literally just blast fire into the air -- on the hour every hour from 7pm-midnight

What a great night with great people! Congrats again to the wonderful newly wed couple Max & Elma!

Australia may have misrepresented itself…

2011-05-28T12:54:00.008+10:00

...Weather-wise, at least. As I write this, I'm huddled up on the sofa in sweat pants and sweat shirt, draped in a blanket, with a space heater pointing directly at me. It's not yet winter and already getting out of bed in the morning and exposing myself to the cold air is a daily psychological struggle.

In Sydney the night temperatures drop to the 40s (Fahrenheit). Even the nights at Ayers Rock, a monolith sprouting from scrub in the middle of the continent where the sun regularly cooks the air to 100 degrees during summer, have crept down into the 30s.

Now, I know what all my brethren in the northeastern United States are saying: Oh, that's nothing, it drops below freezing here and we get dumped on by blizzards. Duly noted, but you also have indoor heating. That's right -- most housing in Sydney has neither air conditioning nor heating. This would be explicable if cold nights and chilly days were rare, but they're not. Fall and its lower temperatures came in late March and we won't get much relief until September or October. Space heaters do a brisk business.

On my walk to the bus stop in the morning I often see wetsuit-clad surfers, carrying their boards, on their way down to the water. Crazy, I think to myself. They all swear the water is warmer than the air, which it probably is, but I just don't have the willpower to throw myself from a dry cold environment into a watery not-quite-as-cold one. I'm happy to wait for summer to roll around again before jumping in the ocean.

The only solution is to reverse the migration direction of America's snow birds, the legions of mostly retired citizens who decamp to Florida during winter. In Australia's case, you'd have to drive some 1,500 miles north to Cairns or thereabouts, where temperatures are a balmy 80.

Perhaps this wouldn't be so unpleasant if it wasn't so unexpected. Before moving from New York, I got rid of my winter coat. I was going to Australia, you don't need coats there! Obviously I didn't do much homework, but I'm going to put some blame on the Australian tourism office. The A$180 million "So Where the Bloody Hell are You" tourism campaign from a few years ago -- which turned out, on analysis, to have decreased tourism from some countries -- prominently featured blue skies, stunning beaches, turquoise waters, kangaroos, and hot chicks in bikinis. In other words, they suggested this was paradise. It's pretty damn good, I'll grant, but paradise isn't cold six months a year.

"At home in front of a space heater."

The one benefit of the colder weather is that Sharon and I don't feel obligated to spend every sunny day by the water, soaking up the beach culture. Instead, we're exploring more of Sydney's neighborhoods, scoping out new restaurants, bars, and shops (including the coolest butcher shop I've ever seen, Victor Churchill). Still, I'll be spending three weeks out of the next eight in the U.S., where it will be summer. I'm pretty pumped.

Victoria Barracks

2011-05-16T18:30:00.001+10:00

I've passed it countless times riding a bus to and from central Sydney: a long sandstone wall extending for several hundred meters, interrupting the boutiques and cafes of Oxford Street. Behind this wall sits the Victoria Barracks, built in the 1840s to house British troops keeping the peace. The barracks are, remarkably, still in use, though their purpose has changed from troop housing to administrative offices for the army. That this huge complex sits in Paddington, a ritzy neighborhood where townhouses sell for $5 million plus, is all the more remarkable.

The one building you're allowed to photograph -- initally the main barracks and now administrative offices.

One way or another I found out there are tours of the Barracks on Thursdays and Sundays, so Sharon and I decided to go check it out this past Sunday. We arrived at noon and immediately found out the tours are now held only on Thursdays, which doesn't do much good for people with regular jobs. And except for the main building, photos were not allowed, lest someone have evil intentions. We were welcome to visit the museum, however, which only costs $2 per person.

We walked through the carefully groomed grounds to the museum, a large, single room with a number of display cases. This room had once been the exercise yard for convicts held in the barracks jail; a roof had only been added in the last few decades. The display cases guided us through the relatively short military history of Australia, starting with the British garrisons and finishing with World War II.

Photo of the original barracks. That's Oxford Street on the left.

Attached to this main room and also open to the public were a number of original jail cells, a toilet (just a small room where you'd bring a bucket), and a bath (another small room that had once been lined with lead to hold in the water -- not good for your health).

Original jail cell.

The museum also has a large collection of military medals, including a "Victoria Cross". This medal was created by Queen Victoria in 1856 to honor those who served with valor in the Crimean War and is considered the highest military honor achievable in the UK and Commonwealth countries. It's supposedly made from the metal of cannons captured from the Russians at Sebastopol during the war. It's still awarded -- a couple elite Australian soldiers serving in Afganistan have recently gotten the medal. We also learned that they are extremely popular with collectors: the record for a Victoria Cross at auction is 400,000 pounds.

Apparently this guy was a work horse; he's got tons of medals.

We ended up chatting with the two men staffing the museum. One told us about the Battle of Hamel -- a fight to capture a French town during World War I in which American troops served with Australian troops. The commander leading the attack was an Australian, marking the first time American troops served under a foreign leader. (And an American won the first Medal of Honor to be awarded during World War I: Corporal Thomas Pope rushed a machine gun nest with just a revolver, captured it, and held it until reinforcements arrived.)

In a "It's a small world" surprise, it turned out the other guy has a daughter who attended the same university I did. She graduated just about the same time I started.

Overall, it's probably not worth a special trip. But if you're in the area already it's not a bad way to spend 30 minutes. I'm sure war buffs would really enjoy it. If you would like to call to verify the tour schedule for Thursday, the number is (02) 8335 5330.

Pound v. Gram and Other Challenges

2011-05-04T12:33:00.001+10:00

Sharon and I always say Australia is like the love child of England and America, culturally speaking. We see the DNA of both cultures here. So, coming from the States, things are familiar, but just different enough to throw you off occasionally. One of the subtler changes I experienced is shopping for groceries.

My first solo trip to the grocery store found me at the deli counter. I ordered a 1/3 of a pound of turkey. The deli person looked at me blankly and I remembered Australia uses the metric system. I quickly tried to calculate in my head how to order metrically. My mind went through the paces: 1 kilogram is equal to 2.2 pounds…let's just round that down and say a kilogram is twice as heavy, so I should cut the order in half from pounds to kilos… okay, I'm good. "I'll take 1/6 of a kilo of turkey," I said. Confusion still hung in the hair.

A native Aussie woman took pity on me. "You should order 300 grams," she said. She turned out to be right and I've been ordering 300 grams ever since, which I find amusing since the only time grams is mentioned in the U.S. is in the context of a drug bust.

The differences in measurement confounded me again when I went to buy fish. "$39.99/kg" it read. Holy crap, I thought, I can't afford to buy fish at that price. Then I remembered to convert it, which made it about $18/lb which is on par with New York City prices.

And I don't know any brands. When it came to buying peanut butter, I went for Kraft, thinking that as a multinational conglomerate their peanut butter would be suitably over-processed, indestructible, and delicious, just like good old Skippy or Jiffy back home.

This ignorance extends to clothing. 29 years of brand exposure went down the drain when I moved here. If I need a pair of slacks for work, what's a quality brand? What's just overpriced hype? You take for granted that this sort of knowledge is actually useful. Here's to learning all over again!

ANZAC Day and a game they call "Two Up"

2011-04-26T17:38:00.000+10:00

Truly, there is no holiday to compare with the Australia National Holiday known as Anzac Day! Its a mix between tailgating at a football game with July 4th with legal gambling mixed with a game I never heard of. Strange I know but what a great day and a tradition that I plan to continue with.

For those that don't know, today was a public holiday here in Australia known as Anzac Day. It is a holiday that celebrates the memory of all veterans that have died and or fought in all wars. The day starts with a commemorative dawn service at dawn followed by a ceremony at the Australia War Memorial. Two things that we did not take part in.

Unofficially, the day is filled with drinking, eating and a game EVERYONE knows as "2 Up." We met up with our friends Alex and Michelle around noon to catch the ferry to Manly. Once there we met up with another 2 friends Charles and Steve. Our first destination was the Skiff Club where following a quick bite to eat the betting and shenanigans began.

Here are the rules of 2 Up: (first day playing so I hope I get them all)
Someone pays to become a spinner, the spinner, who doesn't actually spin anything, is the person holding the wooden stick that flips 3 coins and hopes for at least 2 of the 3 to land on heads. Someone from the crowd has to match the amount that the spinner puts down. As long as the spinner continues to flip heads he continues to play. Each play the spinner's money doubles and again needs someone to match.
All the while, everyone in the crowd is making side bets with each other betting on whether the spinner will get heads or tails. Some bets are as small as $5 but I saw others go up to $500 for one spin!

Confusing I know! But heaps of fun! After the Skiff we headed to another place that was even crazier! I am already looking forward to next year!

Calling all expats!

2011-04-17T17:32:00.000+10:00

Moving internationally is a major undertaking. Some companies arrange the move, but many don't, and there are also retirees and others moving for lifestyle changes that don't have any company underwriting their expenses. The challenge for us, and no doubt for others, was finding a reputable moving company. Unfortunately there's no Yelp!-like site for international moving companies. What limited information there is tends to be incomplete.

Sharon and I want to make this easier for others, so we've put together a survey that captures some basic information about expats' experiences with international moving companies. If you've moved abroad, please take a few minutes to complete the survey or forward on to any friends and relatives who have moved internationally.

Here's the link: http://theviewdownunder.blogspot.com/p/intl-movers-survey.html

Many thanks for your help,
Sharon & Adam

Rugby: An Introduction

2011-04-09T10:44:00.000+10:00

Last night I went to my first rugby game with my friend Max. Two styles of rugby are played in Australia: Rugby League and Rugby Union. There are a number of differences, ranging from field size to advancing the ball to scoring. In general, League play is more about finesse (as much as rugby can be about finesse) while Union play is more about strength (ripping the ball out of your opponent's hands is more common in Rugby Union). League play is most popular in New South Wales, Queensland, and Canberra, whereas Union has international matches. The game last night was Rugby League.

The home team, and the team I rooted for since Max is a die-hard fan, was the West Sydney Tigers. They played the South Sydney Rabbitohs (Rabbits probably aren't the best mascot, unless the goal is to conjure up the Killer Rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Max refers to them as the "Bunnies"). It was a Heritage Round game so both teams wore throwback jerseys and brought out old rugby stars before the game started.

The stadium, which is plopped right next to the posh neighborhood of Paddington, holds 45,000 and was half full. But the striking thing is there are a number of Sydney area teams in addition to the Tigers and Rabbitohs: the Cronulla Sharks, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Parramatta Eels, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Penrith Panthers, and Sydney Roosters. Most of these teams' hometowns are within a couple miles of each other. So a regular game fills about half the stadium and a big game will sell out. It's hard to imagine Pittsburgh having eight professional football teams that all play each other.

The scale is different in other ways as well. A star player might make half a million a year for a season that lasts 22 weeks. Lesser stars make ~$250k and the regular joes make about $100k. Teams struggle under an annual salary cap of $4.5 million. In the NFL, by way of comparison, the minimum salary for a rookie is close to $300,000 and teams have a salary cap of $128 million.

I pestered Max for the first 20 minutes, trying to learn the game. "Why are they doing this? What did they do that for?" By the end of the first 40 minute half I had the basics down. Like the NFL, many of the plays are of the "grind it out" variety, gaining only a couple meters of ground. But there are plenty of big plays, with players pitching the ball to teammates just as they're brought down, giving new life to the effort.

Raised on American football, one of the first things that struck me about the game was the silence: there's no crack of pads as the players collide. This almost gives the impression of it being a soft sport, but it doesn't take much imagination to guess at the impact created when two guys weighing more than 200 pounds a piece run into each other. The injury list backs this up; about five of the Tigers' key players were on the injured list, one of which had disclocated his hip the previous week.

The Tigers team includes Benji Marshall, considered one of the best players around. "Rocks and diamonds," Max said of him. "He makes amazing plays and then follows up with the dumbest moves." True to Max's word, Marshall scored early with a 40 meter dash and then again in the second half; he balanced these out with some wild passes and turnovers to the Rabbitohs. In the end though, these infractions didn't matter: the Tigers won 30-6.

Lost in Translation #2

2011-04-08T22:05:00.001+10:00

Every day at work is quite crazy! Everyone is always rushing to get things done. The other day a co-worker of mine came through the office desperately asking everyone for a texter.

Of course and as usual, I am lost and have no idea what the heck a texter could possibly be. So without fail, I stop everyone mid track and ask "whats a texter?"

Everyone almost in unison, like something out of a Ferris Bueller movie, "a marker of course!"

How the heck was I suppose to know what that was? How the heck is that even similar?

Lost in translation

2011-04-08T21:58:00.000+10:00

Quick story:

Yesterday at work one of my co-workers was working next to my desk pulling samples and having at her late afternoon treat. Here is the play by play:

Me: Hey Iva! Whatcha eating?
Iva: Just a biscuit. You want one?
Me: No thanks. Kinda in the mood for something sweet like candy but thanks.
Iva: No worries. Let me know if you change your mind.
Me: ok

(1 hour later as I am passing by Iva's desk)
Me: Hey! That looks like chocolate your eating!!
Iva: Yeah! It is! Chocolate covered biscuits.
Me: Well, damn Iva. Thats exactly what Ive been craving! Something sweet like candy.
Iva: No this isnt candy, its a biscuit. Candy is a lolly.
Me: Chocolate is candy!! For sure Ill take one!

Oy!

I'm Famous!

2011-04-04T21:48:00.000+10:00

Check me out! I'm famous! (relatively speaking)
QuestAus Interview

Being the foreigner

2011-04-04T21:40:00.000+10:00

I just finished week one at my new job here in Australia ( I work here ) and other than having no time to workout the week was pretty cool. I met new people and best of all am now back to having income!

In the past I have been pretty quick to adapt to new environments, but I can already tell this is going to take a little more time. I am the only American among many Aussies; they all speak fast and use LOTS of slang. I now know what an ocker and a blower are and also learned that cursing in the workplace is totally acceptable.

I have to be honest, though: it's pretty great being the foreigner! I can get away with so much. I just say "Oh, but I am from America" or "Thats not what we do in America." Plus, they love my accent! One co-worker asked me to setup her work voicemail and another co-worker asked me to call one of our difficult-to-handle accounts because they thought my accent sounds nice and I would have a better chance at winning her over.

I moved here from Manhattan thinking no one could possibly work longer hours than New Yorkers. Man, was I wrong! I start work at 830am here and leave the same time as I did in New York. Plus, public transportation sucks here so after taking 2 buses to get home I have pretty much killed an hour.
Goodbye Lady of Leisure, hello working woman!

Cockatoo Island

2011-03-25T12:54:00.000+11:00

The best thing about having friends visit from outside Australia is getting motivated to do things that we, as new locals, have not yet done.

5 days after arriving back from our trip to Kangaroo Island and Barossa Valley, Adam and I had two new visitors. Meghan and Sims, both coming from The U.S. for their first trip to Australia. They had quite a wild ride and after visiting Melbourne and going up to Cains, they came down to Sydney to visit us for a week.

Adam had heard about Cockatoo Island, an island pretty much people-less with the exception of a bar that only recently opened to the public. Cockatoo Island opened in the mid 1800's as an imperial prison but became Australia's largest shipyard in the 20th Century. However, all maritime activities ceased in1992 leaving it pretty desolate most of the time. We went on a Monday evening and as it turns out its the only night the bar is not open!! Ugh! Still it was pretty cool getting to see the Island where movies like "Wolverine" with Hugh Jackman were filmed. Check out our pictures and some of them should remind you of the movie.

A quick and beautiful ferry ride from Circular Quay will get you there in no time. Its about $13 for a return ticket but keep in mind ferry times to and from the island are limited and the Island Bar is not open on Mondays.

The Island also offers over night camping and is a great venue for outdoor concerts and parties.

Appellation-- for my foodie friends

2011-03-14T10:49:00.001+11:00

In my last post, I mentioned the #1 restaurant that we went to while in Barossa Valley, Appellation. It was a fantastic restaurant with amazing food and staff. We all agreed that our server was the best we had see in a long time, a young lady travel through from South Africa.

Our server began the evening with complimentary champagne for the table!

Here is what was on the menu...

The Head Chef, Ryan Edwards, prepared some tasting for us to start with. These were not on the menu.

roasted red pepper covering with avocado stuff on the inside


White and red beatroot salad with some yummy cheese

We began with a salad off the menu which turns out was everyone's favorite dish. This is so unique with an explosion of taste!


Salad of fragrant spiced roasted sweet potato, pepitas and toasted almonds and cumin

Then came the mains...

Hutton Vale Lamb with braised vegetable fruits, pearl cous cous and sherry jus

Rare fillet of Coorong Angus beef and broccoli with tarragon emulsion

Fillet of South Australian snapper with pilaf, zucchini and chervil butter sauce

We ended the meal with a beautiful selection of dessert tastings compliments of the chef!

South Australia Part Deux: Barossa Valley

2011-03-11T10:13:00.002+11:00

The second half of our South Australian trip was spent driving up from Kangaroo Island to the Barossa Valley, Australia’s largest and most famous wine region. This being my first time to a wine region or even a winery for that matter, I was thoroughly impressed and at awe of the beautiful vistas that surrounded us.

We stayed in Lyndoch at the Abbotsford Country House, which overlooked rolling hills and vineyards. Our rooms were beautiful and we woke every morning to a fantastic home cooked breakfast.

Our first official day in the Barossa began with a hearty breakfast of our choice and then we were off to our first winery, Peter Lehmann. We arrived fairly early, thankfully beating the crowd that streamed in later. Upon arriving we were greeted by Sally. She guided us in the correct way to taste wines, moving from the lighter whites to heavier whites and then to lighter reds before finishing with the really strong reds. If you go to any winery I seriously suggest going here! Sally served us tastings for a wide variety of wines that were all free! Amazing! Bob and Holly liked some of the wines so much that they ended up buying 2 bottles. One such wine was called Stonewell, which we ended up bringing to dinner and drinking later that night.

Since this was my first time wine tasting, I was so happy to be accompanied by the lovely Holly Vagley and her exceptionally sophisticated palette. She explained the basics and told me what to look, smell and taste for. Every wine tasting went a little something like this…

Sniff, Swirl, Sniff and Taste

Next we went to the Maggie Beers country store. She is considered the Barefoot Contessa of Australia with her own slue of cookbooks and snacks. We did some sampling and were on our way.

The second winery of the day was Torbreck. It’s a smaller, boutique winery that was recommended to us by our lovely hosts, Dale and Quentin, from Kangaroo Island. They told us to ask for Ben Mullen, who happens to be their daughter's roommate. Ben was terrific! He helped us select some great wines to taste and told us about a wine of theirs that sold at a charity auction for over $88K. These wines were great but they are hard to find in The U.S. so he recommended buying them at the cellar door.

Last but not least we hit up the Charles Melton Winery. Dale and Quentin also recommended this winery to us but not only because it has great wine but because their daughter Melanie Chester works there. Upon arriving we instantly found Melanie, a super bubbly and sweet young lady. Turns out she is going to school in Adelaide to get a degree in viticulture and oenology and let me tell you she knows her stuff. We started off with some sparkling rose wine that was followed by some reds. All very yummy but we were starting to get hungry so we sat outside (vineyard side) for a delicious lunch. I had a tasty cheese platter with local olives, bread and dried fruit. I sneaked a couple tastes from Adams beef pie that was pretty amazing as well.

Completely wined out by this point we decided to explore some of the surrounding towns before we heading back to Lyndoch to get changed and head to dinner. We ended up getting reservations at the NICEST restaurant in Barossa. Its called Appellation and its located at The Louise, a luxury hotel. Appellation was the perfect dinner to end a great vacation in South Australia as the next morning we ate breakfast and headed off to the airport.

We arrived at the airport and thanks to Bob and Holly, who were traveling on Qantas, we were able to accompany them to the Quantas Gold member lounge. We ate, drank and relaxed as we waited for our plane to arrive. We noticed a lot of guys that looked like they were in rock bands and right across from us was a guy that looked like Slash, from Guns 'n' Roses. Adam did a quick search on his iPhone and found out that a major rock festival had just come to Adelaide, and all the rockers were waiting to fly to Perth for the final show. It did turn out to be Slash, who kept his hat box right next to him!

Yet another great ending to a great vacation. Lots of love and thanks to Aunt Holly and Uncle Bob for including us in such a memorable vacation.

Kangaroo Island

2011-03-09T21:55:00.006+11:00

My aunt and uncle were recently on a cruise touring New Zealand, Tasmania, and southeastern Australia that terminated in Sydney and wanted to see a bit more of the country. They generously offered to include Sharon and me in their travels, so we began looking at various places to go. They had a limited amount of time and Australia has a large number of places to go so it was a tough decision, but eventually we settled on Kangaroo Island and the Barossa Valley, both in South Australia.

Early Wednesday morning we met at the airport, still groggy from a late Tuesday night dinner, flew into Adelaide, picked up a rental car, and drove the 2 hours south to Cape Jervis where we would take a ferry over to Kangaroo Island. The drive down the coast and through the hills was stunning. In parts you've got the ocean on your right and high, rolling hills on your left. Then you get deeper into the hills and are swallowed up on both sides as you zoom past farmsteads and quaint towns.

We boarded the ferry with our SUV and then clambered up to the top deck for the 45 minute ride over to Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island. I decided not to get a GPS, thinking I would just use my iPhone to navigate once arriving on the island. It didn't occur to me that I might not have any service…which it turns out I didn't. We resorted to using a map in a free tourist booklet from the ferry to navigate to our lodge in Cape Willoughby, on the far eastern side of the island. This led us up a deeply rutted dirt trail. As we bounced and lurched up the trail and I worried about breaking an axle we encountered a downed tree blocking the trail and decided this couldn't possibly be the right way…no one would stay at this place if this was the only way to get there. We retraced our steps and stopped at a gas station, got directions, and were on our way again.

Kangaroo Island is big, about 90 miles long and 35 miles wide at its widest point. Only a few of the roads are paved so an SUV is recommended (and for this reason I'm not even sure if a GPS would have the dirt roads programmed in). We quickly ran out of paved road en route to our lodge and rumbled the rest of the way there on hard packed mud and gravel.

As we turned up the private road to our accommodation for the next two nights, the Sea Dragon Lodge, we saw our first wild kangaroos snacking nearby. We'd all seen kangaroos, or roos as Aussies call them, in zoos before, but there was something about seeing them in the wild that made it much more exciting.

Quentin and Dale, the lodge hosts, came out to greet us and show us our rooms. The house had three large suites; two were off the main living and dining area, with a third requiring a 5 second walk out on the huge deck facing the water and down to the door. The two suites I saw were both very large (one had its own living room) and looked out onto the water. The setting was beautiful -- besides one other home a few hundred yards away there was no one else around us. The yard in the rear of the house tumbled towards a small beach and the water and Eucalypt trees filled the hills. We could see kangaroos grazing in the distance. Kangaroo Island roos are a subspecies of the Australian Western Grey that are only found on the island. They are similar in size to the Western Grey, but have a darker and thicker coat of fur, which makes them easy to spot against the golden-hued grass in clearings.

We sat on the deck, drank some wine, and ate some cheese and crackers while taking in the view before going inside for a dinner prepared by Dale. There was another couple there on their honeymoon who were very pleasant. Tired from a full day of traveling we all crashed early.

On Thursday morning we woke up and enjoyed the continental breakfast the lodge provided. Quentin helped us map out a plan of attack for the day and by 10:30 we were back in the car and rumbling towards the far western side of the island, 90 miles away. Despite the bumpy roads, the scenery was spectacular. Besides a few small towns on the island -- and I do mean small, the entire population on the island is 4,000 -- the land is mostly wild or planted with vineyards or given over to sheep for grazing. After 45 minutes we met up with a paved road and continued west.

Quentin had recommended stopping at the Koala Walk in Hanson Bay Wilderness Retreat. Dale said sometimes a lady was there with a baby kangaroo that we could see. When we arrived we were the only ones there. A box requested $2.50 per person and I dropped in a $10 for the four of us. The Koala Walk is basically a long dirt path lined with tall Eucalypts. It wasn't exactly what I expected: the koalas were indeed there, but they were so far up the trees all you could see were tufts of fur hanging over a branch. We later learned they're more active in the morning and evening and even climb down the trees, but for the time being I was ruing the wasted $10.

Then we saw a guy who worked there and asked if the baby kangaroo, called a joey, was there and whether we could see it. The guy, Mark, said no problem. He led us to a large pen where there was not one but two joeys.

(It turned out Quentin had told us to stop at the Eucalyptus Oil Distillery, where the woman often has a joey with her. We just remembered the instructions incorrectly and lucked out that the wilderness center was raising a couple roos).

Ruby had been orphaned when her mom was hit by a car (there are tons of dead wallabies and a few roos on the side of the road in KI); she was found alive in her mom's pouch. Matty was also found abandoned at a young age, though Mark didn't know what happened to his mother. Mark had initially put the two roos in his room to make the 4:00 AM feedings less painful. Now, at 12 months old, they slept in a shed inside the pen. They were about 2 1/2 feet tall and probably weighed around 30-40 pounds.

As soon as we entered the pen they hopped over to us and lifted up their heads for a good chin scratch. Then Mark asked if we'd like to feed them. Already feeling that just getting to pet them had more than made up for the Koala Walk, we jumped at the chance. Mark went in the shed to heat up two bottles of milk while we kept Matty and Ruby entertained.

As Mark walked out with the milk his walkie-talkie buzzed and he picked it up. A tour bus driver wanted to see if it was okay to stop by even though it wasn't scheduled. Mark, who was beginning to seem like the most accommodating person on the planet, said no problem. He asked us if we wanted to help out and carry the roos down the path to the beginning of the Koala Walk where the tour bus would stop. He pulled out two fleece bags, which the joeys gladly went tumbling into head first, to use as carrying cases.

My Aunt Holly picked up Ruby, who was slightly smaller, and Sharon picked up Matty, although she passed him to me for a break mid-walk. We sat on a bench at the end of the path and bottle fed the roos while all the other tourists took photos and ooh'd and aah'd over them. The experience really set the bar for all future wildlife encounters. Mark said they'd be released back into the wild (which is pretty much the entire island) once they got older. I'm sure they'll have an affinity for human contact the rest of their lives.

After parting ways with the joeys we got back in the car and made our way to the entrance of Flinders Chase National Park, a huge conservation area encompassing the southwest and west of the island. First we stopped to see the Remarkable Rocks. These are massive rocks perched on the edge of the ocean, surrounded by scrub bushes. They are formed from granite and are ancient. Some parts of the magma that formed the granite when it cooled was weaker than others, and these parts have eroded more quickly, leaving fantastic shapes. It really is a worthwhile trip.

We then drove over to Admiral's Arch, which is a another rock formation. This one is not as remarkable for it's structure so much as the fact that it is base camp for a colony of New Zealand Fur Seals. There were hundred of seals lounging, playing, and fighting with each other. Great White Sharks inhabit the ocean and feed on these seals, and we were told sometimes sharks can be seen from the boardwalk. Unfortunately, we didn't see any.

We made the 2 hour drive back to Penneshaw for dinner at the only pub in town. I was determined to eat kangaroo (Sharon said she couldn't after holding the two joeys), which was on the menu, but the pub was out. I settled for a burger which consisted of a small piece of stake, bacon, and a fried egg on top. We drove back to the lodge in the dark, driving slowly to make sure we didn't hit any roos that might be on the road.

On Friday morning we got started early since we had to be on the ferry going back to the mainland by 5:30. We drove about an hour to Seal Bay, which ironically is home to an endangered species of Sea Lions. There is a free boardwalk that goes down to the beach where the Sea Lions lounge. There is also a tour ($27.50 per person) that goes down to the beach. We opted for the tour and were underwhelmed. The guide didn't offer much information and my uncle had to keep asking questions to learn anything. I'd recommend checking out the boardwalk first, because sometimes Sea Lions sleep right next to it, and then if you can't see anything do the tour.

We piled back in the SUV and cut through the island to Stokes Bay on the northern side. It had been a grey, gloomy morning but the sun finally started to show around noon, which made a huge difference. Stokes Bay is a beautiful beach that can only be accessed by hiking through some giant rocks. On the western side of the beach there's an enclosed rock pool perfect for swimming.

We'd been told there was a wonderful café right by the entrance to the beach, but it was closed so the owners could attend the funeral of a young man from the island killed in Afghanistan. So after the beach, we drove 30 minutes east to Kingscote, the largest town on the island (which is still pretty small). Whereas Penneshaw had one pub and one Italian restaurant, Kingscote had several restaurants, some gift shops, and was the seat of the island's government. If you're looking for any kind of action, this is pretty much the only place to go. In fact, we saw a sign that any drunken behavior would result in a ban from all Kingscote bars for 6 months, which would effectively crater a local's social options.

We drove back to Penneshaw to board the ferry back to Cape Jervis and on to the Barossa Valley.

Want some cheese with your wine?

2011-02-27T14:50:00.003+11:00

What a great Saturday here in Sydney! Yesterday morning I started off my weekend swimming laps at Bondi Pool. It was so beautiful and everyone was out in full force. Adam eventually came to meet up and then we went to the beach to lay out for a bit. Ahhhhh!

After the beach we met up with a couple friends, Charles and Steve, at Hyde Park where the NSW Wine Festival was being held. It's 2 days of tasting wines and eating food from various wineries around NSW. Adam and I each bought a $5 glass and then five $4 tickets. Each ticket got you a 60 ml tasting from any of the many booths, but most booths also offered two 30 ml tastings.

We ended up tasting wine from Canberra, Hunter, Mudgee, Southern Highlands, Shoalhaven and Cowra region. Some were better than others. My favorite was the Semillon from Hunter and my least favorite was the Shiraz from Canberra (it tasted like pepper).

The event started to wrap up at 6pm so we headed to dinner followed by a cool party in Darlinghurst. Happy Saturday!

Its starting to feel like home!

2011-02-25T23:34:00.002+11:00

I can't believe it's almost been 4 months since arriving in Sydney! Sometimes it feels longer and other times it feels like I just arrived. Probably because I've seen so much but miss my friends and family terribly. Either way its been 4 months and its starting to feel a little like home.

Our first month here we were living in a sublet in Double Bay, or as we call it "Double Pay." Our second month we moved into another sublet in Elizabeth Bay, all thanks to our friends Tess and Scott. Third month we finally moved into a place to call our own but to our disappointment our stuff that was picked up in NYC back in October still had yet to show up.

Literally, the day before my sister arrived so did our stuff! It's been a slow progression of unpacking boxes, buying furniture and getting this place in order but I think its safe to say its now starting to look like a home.

BEFORE

AFTER

(queen bed in the guest room!!)

We now live in Bondi, literally 2 blocks from the beach. It's a really great area as it's always bustling with shops, restaurants and lots of people coming and going from the beach and CBD.

Animalia of Terra Australis

2011-02-22T19:19:00.003+11:00

It was a decidedly grey day in the Blue Mountains. With Sharon's sister in town we planned a weekend getaway there -- hiking on Saturday, spending the night in one of the local towns at a quaint (read: outdated) motel, and then going to see the Three Sisters, a famous rock formation, on Sunday morning before heading back to Sydney. But any mountains that existed, including the Three Sisters, were hidden by a cloud that descended on us. We could tell our altitude had increased by the popping of our ears, but there was no indication that beautiful, sweeping views were ours to see if only the sun would come out.

This was a shame since the Blue Mountains are supposed to be beautiful. They get their name from the blue haze that comes from the moisture in the air mixing with the oil from all the eucalyptus trees. We thought it would be a great chance to show Dalia a part of Australia outside of Sydney.

Instead, as the rain pounded down outside we grabbed lunch in Katoomba, the main town in this part of the Blue Mountains, and debated our next steps. Sharon thought we should still proceed with our hiking plans. I said I wasn't going. Dalia concurred and we eventually convinced Sharon we'd be soaking wet and cold and muddy and probably slip'n'sliding down the trails within a few minutes.

This left the question: what to do with the rest of the day? We had already incurred the expense of a rental car -- might as well use it. Dalia had found, while flipping through a tourist pamphlet on Sydney, the Featherdale Wildlife Park. This was about halfway between our current location and home, so we decided to go.

As we entered the park, a wallaby hanging out on its own greeted us. We walked right up to it and were able to pet it. In fact, there were wallabies, and kangaroos, and koalas all over the park that you could pet or feed. Koalas got special treatment though. Whereas the wallabies and kangaroos could roam freely, the "show koala" (there were probably a couple dozen in the park, but only one at a time is accessible to visitors) snoozed on a stand while a keeper made sure no one got too animated and tried to pick it up. The koala, when we got there, was fast asleep. They only eat eucalyptus, which is a narcotic, so they essentially get stoned and then sleep 20 hours a day. They actually have to sleep that much or the eucalyptus will poison them, however. Interesting evolution. The koala was by far Dalia's and Sharon's favorite.

There were also a number of emus wandering the park. These animals are, I decided, not very bright. One kept trying to eat Sharon's shoe, even though it was obvious that her shoe wasn't edible. The park also had a Tasmanian Devil, which looks like an overgrown rat, a wide collection of birds, some beautiful Alpine Dingoes, a large crocodile, and the requisite reptile house full of snakes and lizards.

One of the most fascinating looking creatures was a bird called the Cassowary. If any animal looks like something out of the dinosaur age, this has to be it, at least from the neck up. It's got a giant fin on the top of its head that looks like it's out of the Jurassic era. I learned it's considered the "most dangerous bird in the world" according to the Guinness Book of Records.

Here are some photos we took:

TROPFEST 2011

2011-02-21T13:31:00.002+11:00

Just last night we went to the annual Tropfest Short Film Festival here in Sydney. Turns out its the largest short film festival in the world and other than Sydney it is held in only ONE other place... New York City!! (yeah baby yeah!)

With thousands of films submitted only 16 were chosen to exhibit at the festival last night. Held in The Domain, we headed over with chairs, blanket, food and wine in hand to claim our turf. We arrived around 5pm and friends trickled in over the next couple hours. The show began at 8pm and wrapped up around 11pm. Here are some pictures from the event.

Some films were better than others but all were quite entertaining for one reason or another. My personal favorite ended up being the winner. It's called Animal Beatbox and I am sure you will enjoy it as well. Check it out but please note you might be chanting the words for the rest of your day.

Dogs and Cats and Dogs and Cats and Dogs and Cats and Dogs and Cats

If you're into the whole brevity thing...

2011-02-20T11:22:00.001+11:00

One of the things we learned once we arrived in Australia is that Aussies love to shorten words. Sharon discovered that she is now called either Shaz or Shazza. "Brian", which is apparently too strenuous as well, is shortened to Baz. And if you go by "Anthony" you can expect to be called Ant.

Mosquitoes are called Mozzies. University is just Uni. Air conditioner is now Air Con.

This nomenclature extends to food. Savignon Blanc has become Sav Blanc. Breakfast is Brekkie. Avocado is Avo. And the formal Eggs Benedict has been reduced to the casual Eggs Ben.

Sharon, who is soaking up Aussie slang, has gotten in on the action. When I thanked her for making a snack yesterday, she responded with, "My plez" instead of "My pleasure."

This is a trait that would be more appropriate to the hectic pace of New York City rather than the studied chill that is the Australian lifestyle. No one seems to be in a hurry here. It's at once refreshing and frustrating to people used to the instant gratification of Manhattan. But we're getting used to it, and getting better at chilling is something I always aspire to: http://manlycards.typepad.com/manlycards/2007/06/summer-of-adam.html.

Dalz Came to Town!

2011-02-17T11:35:00.002+11:00

I had the pleasure of spending the last 1 1/2 weeks exploring Sydney with my sister, Dalia, who came to visit from Israel where she has been interning for the last 5 months. We started her trip here with a ferry ride to Manly where we spent the day and night hanging on the beach and around town with some friends. Sydney was experiencing a heat wave, with temperatures hitting 106F (41C). Basically, being at the beach was like putting your head in the oven. Nonetheless, we had a blast!

The next day we decided to take a break from the heat and go to the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art (yay for air conditioning!) down in The Rocks. It was a huge exhibit and I personally loved it! It’s on through March so check it out if you can.

Dalia and I decided to spend one of our afternoons chilling poolside at the Ivy Pool, a complex of restaurants, bars, and a hotel. It's very posh and very Miami, and we had a great time ordering food, drinking wine, and swimming in the pool downtown among all the suits out on their lunch break.

That night we decided to hit up Opera Bar for some pre-dinner drinks. I cannot express enough how amazing this place is! The views, the crowd, the food, and the drinks are fantastic. We could have stayed and stared at the spectacular views all night but we decided to head out so we could hit up some more places. Here are a few photos:

By far the best lunch we had was at the Sydney Fish Market in Pyrmont. After two bus rides from Bondi we arrived to the smell of fish. Amazed by how much fresh fish and seafood there was to choose from we ended up getting a spread of salmon, king prawns, ½ of a lobster and some sashimi. Dalia even got a free raw oyster. Not wanting to end on a fishy note, we decided to grab some fresh cut mango slices and a couple strawberries dipped in chocolate. Probably the best strawberries of my life! If you come to Sydney this place is worth a trip.

In an effort not to make this post tooooo long, I will close with a few pictures of our coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee. The walk is too beautiful to pass up. The Bronte seaside pool is so beautiful and perfect for a swim. There is also a Bondi pool and they are both free to the public.

Dalia is now on her way to Thailand where she will be exploring yet another country. I think my older sister said it best…"Dalia, have fun on your trip within a trip within a trip!"

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-15T12:11:00.000+11:00

Just want to wish everyone a happy Valentines Day! We celebrated yesterday but I know many of you are celebrating today. Enjoy and lots of love from down under!

Australia Day!

2011-02-02T12:59:00.001+11:00

I hate starting off with an apology but sorry for the lull in posts. It has been pretty crazy. I got back last Saturday from a 2.5 week trip to Florida where I totally surprised my sister, Sivan, and niece, Sienna, who were passing through on their way back to London. After having an amazing few days we said goodbye and I instantly got sick with the flu. After sitting on the couch for a couple days with a high of 103.6 degree, I got better and quickly schlepped my mom around town to finalize some wedding planning before heading back down under.

I have to admit being back is a little bitter-sweet. Sweet because I am back in my man's arms but bitter because we are sleeping on an air mattress and living in an empty apartment without Internet. (I am actually writing this from a cafe by my apartment in Bondi.)

This past Wednesday January 26^th was yet another national holiday here in Australia. It was Australia Day! Everyone has off from work and basically does the same thing… go to the beach and BBQ. To our great appreciation, our good friends Max and Elma invited us to join them to do just that.

In honor of this day I decided to wear my Wednesday best.

We were picked up at 10am and we headed out to The Royal National Park to meet others at Bundeena beach for an all day BBQ. Just over an hour drive south of our place in Bondi we arrived to meet tons of people, food and drinks. Long day in the sun and Adam and I are wishing we had done that extra reapply of sunscreen. Learning life long lessons everyday!

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

Desperately seeking stuff...

2011-02-02T12:52:00.002+11:00

I am officially taking a moment to vent....

Its been 3 months since we first landed in Australia and we are having a great time meeting amazing people and exploring a new world.

However, as of the first of this year we signed a lease and have been living in our new EMPTY apartment in Bondi. We have no couch, no bed, no chairs, no kitchen equipment, no TV and no Internet. Only by the generosity and pity of our friends were we able to scrounge up an air-mattress and two lawn chairs. So needless to say, we avoid our apartment at all costs.

Task at hand numero uno... get Internet! Appointment #1 got canceled due to the flooding in Queensland because all the technicians were sent up there to get the state back online...understandable. It's a worthy cause. So we set up appointment #2 for this past Monday. A technician was scheduled to come somewhere in between 1-5pm (enough time?). Therefore, I was required to sit in our apartment (please re-read paragraph above) and wait. I spent the long 4 hrs finding ways to keep myself busy and when 5pm rolled around and there was no Internet man, I was instantly on the phone wondering if he was attacked by a wallaby. The following day we found out that the tech guy did indeed come to setup the wiring but never cared to knock on the door and tell me. What!!! I seriously waited all day when I could have been out! Horseshit! I now wait by the mail for our modem to come so I can hook up the Internet. Hopefully, only 1-2 more days of mooching free wireless off Katipo Cafe.

Task numero dos... GET OUR STUFF! Back in October our stuff was picked up in NYC, put on a boat and shipped to Australia. After patiently waiting for over 3 months, we found out 1 week ago that it arrived safe and sound in the land of bush walks and kangaroos. We anxiously waited to hear when our quarantine inspection date was. God brought good news yesterday when we found out that it got inspected and passed! But like all good news there was bad. Turns out there aren't enough moving men so our stuff might not get delivered till next week. I'm stressed and upset because my younger sister, Dalia, is due to arrive in Sydney this Friday and I have nowhere for her to sleep. 3 on an air mattress? Not so sure about that.

This week could go one of two ways.. Very good or VERY BAD. I am sending an e-prayer to everyone. PLEASE GIVE ME INTERNET AND PLEASE DELIVER MY STUFF!

Thank you!

Australia is out to get you

2011-01-19T18:47:00.007+11:00

I've noticed that it's difficult to have a casual conversation here in Australia without somehow getting on the subject of "all the things that can kill you here". We spent NYE at the house of a couple friends, Mark and Matty, who live very close to Coogee Beach. Matty's family was there, and this being Australia we quickly found ourselves discussing lethal sharks, spiders, and snakes.

Now, no one ever comes right out and says "How are you enjoying Sydney so far? By the way, mate, there's a ton of shit here that will kill you." Rather, you always stumble on the subject unintentionally.

In our case, we got started due to the the helicopters that kept swooping low over the beach. "Shark patrol," Paul, Matty's dad, said. "The bottom of the ocean is white sand all the way out to the end of the shelf where it drops off, so you can see sharks against it pretty easily."

When we told people we were moving here, everyone said "Don't get eaten by sharks." What's ironic is that Florida has way more shark attacks than anywhere else -- 268 sharks attacks over the past decade, accounting for almost 40% of the world's total, while Australia "only" had 115.

Where Australia does win out is with fatal attacks, 13 here versus 4 for Florida. Your survival chances are much better when a Lemon Shark takes a nip on your calf than when a Great White eats your torso. The shark threat here certainly isn't idle. In 2009 a Navy diver lost a hand and part of his leg to aggressive Bull Sharks, which prowl the Sydney harbor and have been found 40 miles up the river that empties into the harbor. A day after that incident a surfer was attacked at Bondi.

Having sufficiently covered sharks, we next moved on to spiders. After hearing about Sharon's encounter with a Huntsman, Paul displayed a finger and pointed out two white bumps. "Scars from the Hunstman's fangs," he said. When you use the word "fangs" to describe a spider's biting apparatus, you know you're dealing with a big sonofabitch.

"I was bitten by a Huntsman 20 years ago," he continued. "I pulled down my car visor and one fell down on my chest. When I grabbed it to throw it out the window, it bit me. When it gets really cold I still lose feeling in my finger." They may not be lethal, but they still carry a punch. Oh, and they can jump. He had seen one in the kitchen the previous night and it was jumping away from him, before finally turning and standing its ground.

Then we heard about the White-tailed Spider, whose venom can cause gangrene. At that moment, our friend Alex spotted a White-tail on the ceiling and calmly trapped it in a glass. He was going to toss it off the balcony, but Sharon and his wife Michelle both took turns screaming "Kill it! Kill it!" They weren't interested in being charitable after learning of its danger. Nothing ruins a good party like gangrene.

The spider excitement behind us, Sharon and I told how we were going hiking in the Blue Mountains, about an hour west of Sydney, when her sister comes in February. "Watch out for snakes," we were warned. And that's how we got to talking about snakes.

There are about 100 venomous snakes in Australia, and 12 whose venom can kill you. Of the ten deadliest snakes in the world, six reside in Australia. This includes numbers one, the Inland Taipan, and two, the Eastern Brown Snake. Paul once met a guy with an enormous ulcer on his calf and asked what happened. This guy had been bitten by a Brown Snake 18 months earlier and was only now beginning to heal, and he still had the ulcer to show for it. The Brown Snake's venom kills your tissue. He had almost lost the leg and was lucky to be alive.

This converation pattern repeated itself at a friend's engagement party I attended a week ago, but this time instead of stopping at animals we also covered flash floods and fires. It was a very comprehensive discussion.

Fortunately, this is a well documented phenomenon. If you go to Google and type in "things in Australia that" the four auto-complete suggestions provided are:

"things in Australia that are not trying to kill you" (stay away from everything else)

"things in Australia that will kill you" (don't bother resisting; you will be killed if you go)

"things in Australia that can kill you" (able to kill, but not necessarily interested)

"things in Australia that could kill you" (yes, it's possible to kill you)

Consider yourself warned.

And they still smoke...

2011-01-12T12:12:00.000+11:00

After living in New York City for over 6 years I have become quite accustom/big fan of the “No Indoor Smoking” policy that was initiated by the amazing Mayor Bloomberg. You can always count on a smoke-free meal or drink at the bar because this policy is tailored to the non-smoker needs.

After arriving in Australia, we quickly learned that the rule/courtesy does not exist down under. People are allowed to smoke, or do anyways, in bars/pubs. Tons of smokers were in full force just the other night at a restaurant in Bondi where Adam and I were sitting down to have dinner. Ugh! I used to think that nothing bothered me more than cigarette smoke but now I found something that bothers me more… indoor cigarette smoke!!

What struck me as strange is that after noticing just how many people smoke, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where they were buying their cigarettes because I never saw them sold anywhere. There are no pro-smoking advertisements ANYWHERE and having been in plenty of convenience stores and gas stations I still couldn’t find them there. After a little research on my end I found out that those same stores I had previously been in do indeed sell cigarettes. However, unlike The States they are hidden behind a solid white or black unmarked door! Famous! Not sure if that helps but you know the saying “out of sight out of mind.”

Something that I certainly got a kick out of are the VERY anti-smoking pictures printed directly on the cigarette package; babies dieing, women with breathing apparatuses and a close-up shot of Leukoplakia. Clearly, the manufacturer of these packages has had no say in what goes on the box. Guess they save money by not needing a marketing department.

And they still smoke!

Engaged! The Story

2011-01-06T21:17:00.001+11:00

Sharon and I had discussed marriage for a while and had even gone to look at rings together, so you might say she was expecting a proposal soon. I of course wanted it to be a complete surprise for her, even if she was expecting it. How would that be possible? That's right: Inception...I had to plant the idea that marriage had never occurred to her. By the time I was done, she wouldn't even know if she was in a dream world or not.

Actually, I just used good old fraud.

A couple weeks before Christmas, I sent Sharon a link to a website with details about a Sydney-wide scavenger hunt held on Christmas Day. The website, http://sydneyscavenger.com, described how this was an event now in its third year, started initially for all the international backpackers in Sydney who don't have anyone to celebrate Christmas with. A colleague of mine had told me about it and I thought it would be fun since we had nothing else going on. We signed up using the team name "The Huntsman" in honor of Sharon's encounter with Australia's king of the spiders.

This was a completely digital scavenger hunt. Your starting location would be emailed to you the day before the hunt; at the start, a clue would be emailed leading you to a destination where you checked in using Foursquare, a location app; you would then be emailed your next clue if you were at the correct place. Oh, and there were also a bunch of different routes, so no two teams would have the exact same starting point or path to the finish. And there were prizes and an after party at the final location. Pretty cool, right?

We were told via email to be at Sydney's Central train station at 3:00 PM for the start of the hunt. We made it there a couple minutes early and soon received our first clue:

"The Huntsman,
A clue for you:
Take a stroll to the oldest house in Sydney.
-Sydney Scavenger"

After some time plugging away on our smartphones to identify where the oldest house is located (turns out there are many competing "oldest houses" in Sydney) we determined it was the Cleveland House in Surry Hills. So off we raced -- well, I attempted to walk since it was hot and I was wearing flip flops, but Sharon is extremely competitive and made me race as well. We got to the Cleveland House and I checked in on Foursquare. A few minutes later we got our next clue.

"Where artful dodgers serve their time."

Our sleuthing led us to the National Art School, which in an earlier time was known as the Darlinghurst Gaol and hosted several public hangings.

The next clue, "Entry to the dragon", was trickier. It obviously had something to do with Sydney's Chinatown, but we had no idea what. As we made our way to the central part of Chinatown, we saw it: the gates to Chinatown, guarded by two dragon statues. We checked in and received our next email.

"Rub him for luck to avoid the ills of the building he guards."

This was solved quickly, as a few weeks prior we had passed the answer to this riddle and I had stopped to read about it. In front of the oldest hospital in Sydney is a bronze statue of a boar. Rubbing its snout is good luck and keeps you healthy. There we received our next clue.

"Lodging between continents."

Sharon figured this one out right away. "It must be the Intercontinental Hotel," she said, which was only a few blocks away. As we entered the hotel, I said I had to use the restroom and Sharon decided to sit in the lobby and give her feet a rest. Instead of using the restroom, I went to the front desk and checked us in (literally this time) to the hotel.

I went back to where Sharon was sitting and told her I asked the concierge about the scavenger hunt and he told me this was the end. The after party was also being held in the hotel and he gave me a key.

"Let's go up," I said.

"We can't go up," Sharon exclaimed, "we haven't gotten a clue yet! We just can't go up there!"

"No, no, it's fine," I assured her, leading us to the elevator bank and pressing the button. Sharon protested on the ride up to the 20th floor and all the way to the room number marked on the key. I knocked on the door for effect. It was quiet.

"No answer.... Oh well, screw it," I told her and opened the door with the key, letting her walk in first. We were greeted by a giant window overlooking the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, and Botanical Gardens. There was a bottle of champagne and a plate of chocolates on the desk. Sharon was utterly confused, and as she turned around to look at me, I got down on one knee with the ring in my hand.

She started half-laughing, half-crying, still not really getting how we had gone from a scavenger hunt to being in a hotel room with me on one knee holding a diamond ring. "Sharon, will you marry me?" I asked. "Of course I'll marry you," she said through tears.

I finally confessed. "All of this was for you. The entire scavenger hunt was fake."

"What?! How is that possible?!"

I told her there was no reference from a colleague. I bought the website domain and put the website together. I had done research over the previous weeks to determine the clues and locations and then sent all the email clues to myself the day before.

A view from our room.

"A little champagne for the lady?"

"Well, now I know how you solved all the clues so quickly," Sharon said, laughing. "I was thinking you were really good at this."

Sharon had actually bought the deception a little too well. In the days leading up to the scavenger hunt she kept saying we should get more people on our team. She emailed friends the link to the website, asking if they wanted to join us, and even posted it on Facebook. "Crap," I had thought, "what if other people decide to come?" But I didn't want to say anything for fear of making her suspicious. Fortunately no one else could make it, a key benefit of doing the hunt on Christmas.

During the scavenger hunt, we'd pass people on the street looking at their phones and Sharon would yell, "I bet they're doing the scavenger hunt too! We have to hurry, Adam!" I played along the whole time, but could hardly keep from grinning.

Once the scavenger hunt was explained, I told Sharon there was one more surprise: Earlier in the week I had stolen some of her clothes and dropped them off at the hotel earlier in the week. They were now hanging in the closet of our room, and she'd need them for dinner at a restaurant on the harbor later in the evening.

So we drank a little bubbly, looked out the window at a million dollar view, and laughed about the day before moseying on down to the restaurant, which sat directly across from the Opera House.

And that's where fraud will get you.

Adam asked....

2011-01-04T07:00:00.002+11:00

And I said YES!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T11:59:00.000+11:00

Wishing all of our friends and family around the world a very

safe and happy new year!

Chinese Garden of Friendship

2010-12-29T15:59:00.000+11:00

Juxtaposed to the busy CBD (Central Business District) is a big beautiful Chinese Garden that was created back in 1988 at Australia's Bicentenary.

I decided to take a walk down to The Chinese Garden of Friendship and check it out. $6 to get in and totally worth it. A beautiful garden with great sculptures, flowers, pavilions and trees. I want to say it was quiet and tranquil but being surrounded by a very busy district you can hear all the noise surrounding it.

Nonetheless, a great experience that I will recommend to everyone that comes to visit. Bring a camera and make time to sit and have tea in one of the Chinese pavilions.

Do you have any pies?

2010-12-24T13:48:00.001+11:00

The Friday after Thanksgiving Thursday in the States, we celebrated Thanksgiving at my boss's boss's house in North Sydney. He's American , his wife is Australian, and they invited some people over for the holiday.

Sharon and I were tasked with bringing pie, something that seemed easy enough so I didn't think about it again until Friday morning.

I did a search for local bakeries and started calling them. I figured it would take a few seconds to figure out whether they had what I wanted or not.

I called the first bakery. A French-sounding woman answered.

"Hi," I said, "Do you have any pies?"
"Yes," the French accent answered, "We have chicken pies, chicken and bacon pies, beef pies, lamb and…

"No, no," I cut her off before getting the entire menu, "I'm looking for dessert pies."

"Eh, dessert pies?" She asked as if this were an alien concept. I was starting to get the sense this task might not be so easy.

"Yeah...like apple pie or pecan pie," I suggested.

"Pecan pie?" She said, as if confused. I had pronounced it peh-cahn, like it's said in the States. I had heard it's said pee-can here so thought maybe that threw her off.
"Yes...peh-cahn pie, pee-can pie." I tried it both ways, hoping that might get things back on track.
"Eh...no apple pie or pecan pie. But we have chocolate cake, cheesecake, and…lots of other cakes." She paused, before triumphantly stating that they also had apple strudel. "That's like apple pie," she said.

"Oh, apple strudel?" I was willing to settle for anything approaching pie at this point. "Okay, that might work," I told her.

"I'm sorry -- you want strudel?"

"Um, look, I'll just swing by to look at what you have."

The French accent didn't understand. "Sorry?" she said. This was going downhill quickly.

"Um…yeah, it seems like you guys have a lot of…offerings…so I'll come take a look." I was now thinking to myself…'Offerings?', that's retarded. How do I extract myself from this conversation?

The French accent started talking again, but it was garbled.

"I'll just stop by," I said, not sure how I was still on the phone.

There was another round of garbled French accent.

"Okay, um…I'll see you later," I said and hung up.

Sharon could barely contain herself and started laughing hysterically. Then she declared that no one could understand me. While it's true that I mumble a bit (okay, all the time), I told her it wasn't my fault and gave her the honor of calling the next bakery.

In a very clear, professional voice Sharon asked the first bakery she called if they had pie. It was a voice you could have confidence in and I figured she'd have this situation all wrapped up in a few seconds.

The façade quickly broke down though when after a moment of silence she raised her voice and stressed "Not meat pies, dessert pies. Like apple pie or pecan pie." I broke into a grin.

There were a few more seconds of silence before Sharon again had to describe what she was looking for. At this point I started laughing. Either we were both retarded or all the bakers were, but if the former at least I wasn't alone. She hung up the phone, defeated.

After calling about five bakeries to no avail we gave up and figured we'd try again when we got to North Sydney. We called a bakery that, surprise, surprise, did not carry dessert pies. But the very kind lady did let us know that a deli across from her was selling pies. We walked in and found out they had just made a bunch of pumpkin pies that morning. I scooped up two and we made our way to the Thanksgiving dinner. Next time I'll just show up with a meat pie: "Oh, that turkey and stuffing was fantastic. Hope everyone saved some room for lamb pie!"

Funny Money!

2010-12-22T20:49:00.000+11:00

I love American money! I do! But not only for the obvious reason. When going out at night the strategy is to bring as little as possible. I grab the necessities and a couple $20s to get me through the night. At the end of the night, after having spent some of my money, I pull out the few bills to see what is left.

This is not the case in Australia! Given the same situation, I end up coming home with still less money but weighing an extra 50 Kilos. Why? Because instead of paper, their $1 and $2 are actually coins. So coins don't always get thrown into the change jar. They have a $1 coin and a $2 coin! I once counted up all the change in my wallet and it totaled $12.70!

You thought the quarter was the only coin worth holding on to? Wrong! We have a coin here worth 50 cents and its twice the size of a quarter in weight. We saw some hapless girl buy a ferry ticket at a kiosk with a $50 bill. She had to use both hands to scoop up all the change the machine spit back at her.

Either I need to hire a little midget to carry around all my change or Australia needs to do something about their money.

Another beer, sir? Flying in Australia

2010-12-19T17:25:00.002+11:00

Flying within Australia is very different than flying within the US. Clearly this is a place that has never experienced a 9/11 and isn't on code red or DEFCON 5 or whatever the States has been on since then.

Much of the security requirements around flying in the US are just theatrics. I can't take tweezers but I can take a pen or pencil, which could be used to stab someone. Or I could break a credit card in half and cut someone's throat (happened on 24). Or someone with a black belt could simply use his martial talents to break some necks. There was a sign at LaGuardia Airport last Christmas explicitly saying "No snow globes." Seriously, is that necessary? Are all the precautions relevant? Probably not.

In Australia, security is less rigorous than at a trendy nightclub in Manhattan so they don't bother with all these charades. For starters, you don't have to take your shoes off. As for liquids? If you got 'em, bring 'em. As I was about to go through the security checkpoint I realized I had a full bottle of water with me. I asked a security guy where I could throw it away. You don't have to, he said, you can bring it through. Amazing!

They don't even check ID at any point. I could literally buy a ticket and let someone else fly for me. (Maybe they should work on this one actually....)

You also don't board by row here, but queue up at the gate. It doesn't matter whether you're in first class or in the last row by the toilets, it's first come, first board.

Air travel is also more civilized here. I've only been flying Qantas so I can build up my points, so other airlines may be different, but on every flight so far I've gotten a free meal or at least snacks and tea. And the snacks are usually fancy-schmancy, like gourmet crackers and dip or cookies -- nothing like the miserable bags of six peanuts you get on American airlines. Qantas also serves complimentary wine and beer, though for what airfare costs I probably deserve a six-pack.

Not much variety...

The Huntsman

2010-12-16T19:18:00.004+11:00

"OH MY GOD, ADAM, I'M SO FREAKED OUT RIGHT NOW!!" These were the panic-stricken words Sharon cried out when I answered my phone at 7:00 in the morning. A nervous breakdown sounded imminent. My mind jumped to all the awful and unlikely things that might have happened: someone trying to break in, a finger lost in a kitchen accident….

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"There's a Huntsman in the apartment!" Sharon said, near tears. My brain was still fuzzy from waking up and I couldn't make sense of what she said. I kept picturing a guy in a red plaid jacket with a bright orange vest and hat, walking through the woods with a rifle. "It's soooo freaking big!" Sharon cried.

Then my neurons connected: the Huntsman is without a doubt the king of spiders in Australia. Adult males can grow to a foot in diameter. They don't build webs to trap prey, but actively hunt insects, hence the name. They're actually a good spider to have around because they eat cockroaches, which plague Sydney. For this reason, many people will simply put the spider outside rather than kill it.

Sharon is not many people. She has what might be called an insect phobia.

On a good day, she freaks out about a moth flitting around the room. I am immediately ordered to destroy it and Sharon becomes incensed when I tell her it'll leave on it's own and I'm not going to bother chasing a moth around the apartment. She once killed a cockroach with my flip-flop when I was away for work, and then left my flip-flop resting on top of the bug for two days because she was too afraid to move it. (The dialogue from that gem of a conversation is at the bottom of this post.)

So now Sharon was alone in the apartment with a live spider as big as her hand. And she was hysterical about it. "It's so freaking big! It's so freaking big!" she kept repeating. "You have to come here and kill it!"

I didn't think flying home to Sydney to kill a spider would be looked on kindly by my manager.

I tried to calm her down a bit. "Look, it's big…but we know it's not poisonous and they don't attack humans."

"How do you know?!"

"Because everyone in this country has told us that."

Sharon wasn't buying it. "What if this one's different?!"

"That's not very likely."

"I can't stay here! Adam, I can't stay here with that spider -- I'm freaking out!!" I didn't have much hope of calming her down so I figured it might be better to extract her from the situation entirely.

"Well, look, what if we get you a hotel room and I can deal with it when I get home tomorrow?" I suggested.

"Okay."

"Alright, I've got Marriott points so let's see if we can use them."

"Actually, I don't think going to a hotel is a good idea. What if it moves while I'm gone and I'll have no idea where it went?! My heart's about to come through my chest. I think I've aged 10 years!"

So the extraction plan wasn't working either.

"Okay, here's what you're going to do. Get your laptop, go in the bedroom…"

"I can't go in the bedroom…what if the spider moves? I have to watch it."

"Okay, don't go in the bedroom, get your laptop, Google 'exterminators', and see if one will come get rid of it, okay?"

"Okay." Sharon said. She seemed like she was coming to her senses, but it was short-lived. She returned to exclaiming, "But it's so freaking big!! It's so freaking big!!"

"Sharon! Calm down and get a grip," I ordered. "Google 'exterminators' and get one to come to the apartment, okay?" I could only imagine how an exterminator would react to a call to come kill a single, innocuous spider. "Call me back later and let me know what's going on."

About fifteen minutes later Sharon called me back in much better spirits.

"So you got an exterminator?" I asked.

"No, none of them answered their phones. I went down the hall and started knocking on doors, and I got two guys from another apartment to come kill it."

"How did they kill it?" Huntsman are pretty fast so I was curious what the strategy was.

"They kept whacking at it with their shoes."
I pictured the remains splattered across the wall of the beautiful apartment we're staying in until January. "Sharon, are there guts all over the wall?"

"No," she said, "But I do have to vacuum up some of its legs now."

And that's why we'll be putting screens on the windows of our apartment.

----------------------------------------------

Phone conversation from several months ago about a cockroach (I was away for work and it was two days before I'd be returning to New York):

Sharon: "Sooo…I did something and I don't want you to get mad at me…"

Me: "Okay."

"Sooo…I saw a cockroach and I didn't like it…and I decided to do something about it… So I hit it with your flip flop…. …."

"Okay." So far I hadn't heard anything that could possibly make me mad.

"But I'm too scared to look at it, so I'm just going to leave it there under your flip flop until you get home."

"Sharon! That is so ridiculous, just pick it up and throw it away." This was completely ridiculous.

"No…I'm just going to leave it there. I put a note next to the flip flop so you know which one it is."

"Jesus Christ."

Here's what I came home to:

"Don't move dead bug under"

Only in Australia...

2010-12-13T10:40:00.000+11:00

I found this on my walk home from Cook & Phillip Park and thought... I am definitely in Australia!

Mailing just isn't what it is today...

2010-12-09T16:39:00.000+11:00

The more time I'm in Australia the more I see that it's very similar to America...but not the America we know and love today. Instead, it's like the America of 30 years ago.

Here in Australia, just like in America, mailmen/women deliver mail to your home or apartment. However, unlike America, here they do not pick up mail from your home. No walking to the front of your house and simply lifting the red flag to designate a pickup. No, here you have to walk around to locate the nearest drop box, where ever they are, and hand deliver your mail for a pickup.

Now I don't want to sound spoiled, maybe I am, but since the mailpeople have to deliver mail to your home why not eliminate one extra stop and pick up our mail as well.

I'm just saying....

Rules to live by...

2010-12-07T15:50:00.000+11:00

I found this sign hanging on the wall at The Courthouse, a pub in Newtown. I think they have it right!

Baby Racing

2010-12-05T20:50:00.004+11:00

It's a big surprise when you walk into a pub here and see a dad with a pint of beer in one hand and a year-old baby hanging in a carrier on his chest. In the States, you just don't see dads taking their kids to the bar...I don't even know if that's legal in the States (if not, it probably should be...).

I was remarking on this to a guy we met during a pub crawl last night who shared a good story about what happens when men are in charge of the kids. Mike is originally from Miami. One of his friends there, who had recently become a dad, invited Mike to a park in Miami to hang with his son.

Hell no, Mike said, he wasn't about to get stuck co-babysitting. Trust me, said the dad, you'll have fun. So Mike went to the park and found there was a group of other young dads with babies. And that they race the babies. And that they bet on the babies.

Turns out you need 2 adults per team. The dad goes to the end of the straightaway to coax the child and give the baby something to race to. The other adult holds the baby in place until the race starts. All the babies were in the crawling stage for the most part, but still had to be handicapped for age. A few months here and there makes a big difference when everyone is still in diapers. A baby with a 6 month lead was forced to start farther back.

The dads all bet on the kids as well, and prior performance is weighed heavily: "Well, last week your kid just rolled over so I have $5 against him." How often dads bet against their own kids would be an interesting thing to know.

When Mike and his friend got back to the house, the wife asked him if he had fun. Oh yeah, it was great, Mike said. "We played on the swings, walked around...had a great time."

"Don't bullshit me," she said, "I know you were betting on my kid."

And that's what happens when you let dads babysit.

Just out of curiosity, I googled "baby racing" and apparently this is a sanctioned sport in Lithuania: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bQ0oyNntjE.

Aussies know how to throw a party!

2010-12-04T11:04:00.003+11:00

Last night Adam and I got dressed up for the annual Accenture Holiday Party. The theme for this year's party was to wear white so everyone would glow under the black lights. Upon arriving we quickly realized that this company knows how to throw a party.

They rented out part of the giant Sydney Exhibition Hall, had tons of food, desserts and an open bar from 7pm to midnight. They hired the best soul-full big black lady to sing as well as the winning team from Australia's Got Talent for entertainment.

One thing that wasn't well thought out was the Indian food buffet. Not my go-to type of food for a night of drinking. Either way, we had a great time but now I need to rid off this champagne headache and take some Tylenol to gear up for the going away pub crawl at 3pm for our friend Mo. Oy!

The Poop Tree...

2010-12-02T11:05:00.001+11:00

This literally stopped me mid run!

Just one of the fabulous things to see here in Sydney!

A Trip To Manly

2010-12-01T16:36:00.001+11:00

A great way to travel and explore here is by ferry. It's pretty quick and offers the most amazing views of the harbour. Last week while Adam was stuck inside an office working, I decided to head north on the ferry to Manly Beach. Its a 30 minute ferry ride from Circular Quay and was $13 for a return.

The view was beautiful and after arriving I immediately got a bubble tea and then I walked around. I happened to be at Manly while a surfing competition was happening, which I watched for a bit and now I am super motivated to get lessons. Whether we are good or not at least we have to try it out. I'm pretty confident but Adam might need some one-on-one.

A tip for ferry riders... sit in the back of the boat. The front has great views but the wind is so strong that its chilly, plus it totally messes up your hair...but the back is smooth like a baby's bottom.

Mozzies

2010-11-29T20:06:00.002+11:00

I am a big fan of NPR. They have some great programming that provides a nice overview of news and cutting edge thinking. Not all of their programs are winners, though, and neither are all of their guests. A while ago I caught a few minutes of a special on bed bugs. They were in the middle of interviewing the U.S. Army's chief bug expert (yes that is a post in our military -- he'll tell you what type of Deet to pack).

When you think "U.S. military" you probably think of corn-fed Americans carrying around 100 pound packs in 100 degree weather. This dude did not convey that image. At all times he carries on his person a tube of live bed bugs. He lets them roam his hand and suck his blood to stay alive. He displayed his calf, which he had apparently offered up to the bed bugs as a snack, to the program host. It looked "welty" to her. The Pope gets more action than this guy, I thought.

The reason I bring this up is that I'm currently getting destroyed by Australia's native mosquito population. At last count I was sporting about 30 mozzie bites from my knees on down. My body has this great reaction where the bites at first form the typical pink bump, then morph into dark purple welts. As a result, I am both looking like the bug expert and in need of his services. Irony.

The best thing in America...

2010-11-29T18:10:00.000+11:00

This past Saturday, while at a friend of a friend's place celebrating Thanksgiving, a young lad by the name of Matty told me that his favorite thing from America is marshmallow fluff. Here is a picture just in case you have forgotten.

Just thought I would share because I am still in disbelief.

Lazy Saturday View...

2010-11-29T09:44:00.003+11:00

...From our current digs.

Sydney Flugtag

2010-11-28T11:19:00.005+11:00

If I told you to get a few friends together and spend every waking moment you're not in work building a flying contraption, and then I told you to chuck it off a building and throw yourself off after it, you'd probably say that's not a very good idea.

In fact this idea is so good it has been institutionalized by the fine folks over at Red Bull, who have been hosting Flugtag, an annual celebration of building shit that won't fly, since 1991. The first was held in Vienna, Austria and it changes location every year. It just happened to be taking place in Sydney a week after we landed.

The rules are simple: Anyone can enter. The contraption cannot be motor powered. It must meet size and weight limits determined by each location. There can only be one pilot and three crew. You must launch your machine off of a 30 foot high tower into some body of water, which in our case was the Sydney harbor. It must float. It helps to drink heavily prior to your turn.

Entrants are judged based on distance they fly, creativity, and showmanship. Most people worked the "creativity" angle and entered things that ignored basic laws of aerodynamics, such as "Don't make it shaped like a pint of beer" and "Don't make it shaped like a pirate ship."

The team that won for distance did decide to follow these rules, but they also had an unfair advantage: they were all students at an aeronautical college.... We only got a few photos because it was so packed, but you can check 'em out below.

Sculpture by the Sea

2010-11-27T09:23:00.001+11:00

A few weekends ago we decided to check out the Sculptures By The Sea walk. (http://sculpturebythesea.com/). We had only been here two weeks and had heard great things about it from several people. The walk is an annual exhibit that starts at Bondi Beach and goes down to Tamarama Beach. This coastal walk is accessible all year long but during these few weeks there are beautiful (and not so beautiful) sculptures from a wide range of artists along the entire walk.

This was an amazing way to check out a few great beaches as well as some pretty sweet views. Afterward, we walked a little farther to Bronte Beach where we attended a BBQ birthday party. Overall, it was a great day! Check out our pictures.

New Apartment #2!

2010-11-25T20:32:00.001+11:00

Our "apartment plan" is to sublet until our furniture and stuff arrive late January. For our first month we were subletting a bedroom in Double Bay. Now for our second month we are subletting our friends', Tess and Scott, apartment until January. Come January we will be in another place and then February we will be in our final apartment. Phew!

So as of today we are in our new place and loving it! It is a 2 bedroom located in Elizabeth Bay in the Eastern Suburbs and has a huge balcony. Everyone in NYC should be totally jealous right now.

Here are a couple pictures.

Living Room with view of Harbor

Kitchen

Bathroom

Win!

2010-11-23T22:27:00.003+11:00

Movember November!

2010-11-22T19:09:00.000+11:00

As many of you know, Adam and I departed from The States on October 30th which got us into Australia the morning of November 1st. That day marked the first day of a month long charity to raise money for men's health, specifically prostate cancer and depression.

Men participating in this month long charity show their support by raising money and sporting a super fine mustache, also known as Mo Bros. At first, we had no idea this was the case and just thought that we stepped back in time to the 80's where everyone reminded me of my father and his mustache. Luckily, the truth became known and a sense of relief fell over both Adam and myself.

Prime example number one... our recently acquired awesome Aussie friend Max (and his fabulous fiance Elma).

With only a week left to go I'm kinda sad to see it end. For more information on Movember or how to get it started in your town check out their website. Its totally legit! http://au.movember.com/about

Boom!

2010-11-20T23:33:00.002+11:00

Settling In

2010-11-20T23:31:00.003+11:00

It's now been 3 weeks since our arrival to Sydney and what was suppose to be our first week of holiday was really getting down to business. We got settled into our first sublet, got bank accounts (which required an afternoon drink at the pub to make the final decision) and 2 days to get our phones setup. I guess having no credit in a foreign country can only play against you. Alas, we have phones and are very much back on the grid. We also had to file for our TFN, which is basically the Australia version of a social security number. That will come in handy when pay day comes around.

Here are a couple pictures of our hood in Double Bay. A woman we were chatting with just today called it "Double Pay." Rightfully so, it is pretty expensive in this area but its super expensive everywhere. To that point... a good blog name probably would have been EverythingsExpensive.blogger.com. And this coming from a gal who was living in Manhattan for the last 6 years. Oy Vey!

This is our place on Cross Street!

This is one block away in front of our apartment. Beautiful public park that overlooks the bay.

More views...

Redfern beach

One more week here and then we are off to our next month long sublet. This one does not include a roommate. Supposedly, our stuff should arrive sometime in January but I guess we will have to wait and see.

Blog Names are Hard

2010-11-20T22:32:00.002+11:00

The goal was simple: set up a blog so Sharon and I could share our experiences in Oz with friends and family. We had things we wanted to write about before even leaving the States. We’re only now getting started for the simple reason that we couldn’t agree on a name.

Obviously, we have different styles. I wanted something attention-getting (some might say immature) that would make you think "I have to read this blog". Ideas shot down by Sharon included Hunting Koala Bears, Hunting Baby Kangaroos (Hunting pretty much anything would fly), Eating Dingo Babies (a play on the Seinfeld line "Maybe the dingo ate your baby?"), Moving to Sydney - Oy Vey!, and about a dozen others I can’t recall anymore.

Sharon really liked Two Tickets to Oz, a riff on Two Tickets to Paradise. She also touted Shadam in Oz (Sharon + Adam = Shadam), which I nixed. We were at an impasse for weeks, both trying to think of that awesome name that was witty, funny, engaging, and a great guest at cocktail parties.

Finally, we agreed to The View Down Under which is fitting since the blog is about how we see things in Australia.

Also, I recommend subscribing to the RSS feed for this blog — that way you don’t have to check back for new posts, they’ll be delivered right to you.

Enjoy!