Sydney Deliciousness

Um, not much to say here. Just some drool-worthy memories of food in Oz. Coming from Afghanistan where the DFac (dining facility) is affectionately known as the DCrap and the only fish we get has been flown for thousands of miles and cooked into oblivian, we were just excited at the mere thought of fresh fruits and veggies. Arugala. Heirloom tomatos. Oysters. Salmon. Sushi. I know I sound like one of the "blue staters" that Fox News loves to make fun of but seriously, I don't think I'll ever want an onion ring again after smelling them daily for this whole year.


While we were all about fish most of the time, all steak cravings (medium for me, medium-rare for him) were met as well. Good thing since I've been eating baked pollack since then. Lots of yummy oysters with all kinds of sides but my favorite was with simple squeezed lemon. Incidentally, neither Mark nor I had ever even tasted an oyster until our Edinburgh trip with friends in 2009. Thanks to our friends, we now have a new favorite food! The Sydney Fish Market (where all of Sydney goes during the holidays to get their Christmas seafood) was extraordinary. Besides having lots of yummy food to look at, there were some kitchen stores and I was able to get a few things that I've really been needing.


Lastly, we were lucky enough to be in Sydney for the annual Crave food festival. While there were a lot of cool components to the festival, we really didn't have enough time to research and take part in all the events we would've wanted to. One event that was easy to attend was the Singapore-style Night Noodle Market in Hyde Park. The beer garden served a variety of Aussie ales and there were about 50 stands sponsored by local Asian restaurants serving all kinds of dishes. They were serving in small portions which, when shared, allowed us to sample quite a bit of stuff and a crowded venue ensured that we got to chat with all manner of Aussies and expats. The mango and sticky rice at the end was a delicious finale to our time in Sydney...bodes well for our April trip to Thailand!

Sydney, Australia (aka My Kind of Town)

After leaving the cool weather and clean air of Tasmania, we headed back to the big city. Luckily, there was plenty of fresh air and warm (but definitely not hot) temperatures in Sydney as well. We spent a fair amount of time sitting in scenic areas, drinking beers, and people-watching but did a whole lot more walking here too.

We stayed in an area of Sydney called The Rocks at the Lord Nelson Pub and Brewery. It's the oldest pub in Sydney (yes, they brew their own beers too) and there's also a hotel attached. Some rooms have adjoining bathrooms but since we're cheap and Sydney is expensive, we opted for the traditional inn-style of a shared hallway bathroom. Luckily, it wasn't a problem to share and the hotel kept things very clean. The rooms were small but well decorated and we really loved the atmosphere (plus the stumbling distance to the room after a pint or two).


The first two days after we'd hit Sydney, we were lucky enough to catch a street fair in The Rocks, right on the street leading to the water. We came accross it the same way we come across most things while on vacation - by wandering around. The first day, the market was oriented to cheese and locally made foods (think olive oils and jams rather than veggies) with a smattering of arts & crafts and clothing. The second day (I think it was a Saturday), the market had quadrupled in size and had almost everything you could possibly want. We continued our tradition of buying a Christmas ornament to mark this new country and admired how the stalls were covered with a roofing reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House.


Speaking of the Opera House, we decided to stop by the box office on our first full day and were pleased to discover that there were reasonably priced seats left to the theatrical production of "Our Town". We went back later in the evening and though it wasn't in the grand auditorium, the production was great and it was really need to be there and have our intermission cocktails on the deck, admiring the lights of the Opera House. Mark got another great view of the Opera House a couple days later when he completed the Sydney Bridge Climb! On an escorted tour, he strapped in and climbed to the top. I joined him later to take the steps to the top of the turrets along the side of the bridge (can you see it in the picture below?) and since even the views there were great, I know that what he saw was amazing.


A friend from my wild Paris days left Paris shortly after me to return to her native Australia. Six years later (my, how time flies) she's married with an adorable baby. We were lucky enough to meet up in her 'hood of Manly Beach. We sat in a cafe, played with baby Poppy, took a walk along the shore, and caught up. At nap time, Mark and I explored the rest of Manly (including yet another street fair) and wished that we'd had more time to surf (or in my case, learn to surf).

Our visit to Manly only made us want to spend more time on the beach so we hopped on a bus from Circular Quay to the famous Bondi Beach the next day. The sky was blue and sun shining so it was nice to take off our shoes, roll up our pants, and stroll in the sand. We saw a group of kids running off to surf school with their boards and sat for a couple hours just talking and taking in the waves. Put Sydney on my "dream assignment" list for the future.

Hobart, Tasmania

We did a bit more in Tasmania than just wine-tasting and kangaroo-petting. We walked. A lot.

We walked the city streets of Hobart and all along the the docks. We stopped for fresh seafood at the little restaurant/boats that are docked alongside the city. We drank some yummy beers (including a delicious non-alcoholic ginger beer) at the Cascade Brewery.


We drove out to Seven Mile Beach, parked the car, and walked and walked. We saw a dog that looked like Cooper, played with him a while, and tried not to be too homesick in such a gorgeous place. We wore jackets because it was pretty darn cold out there and we were SERIOUSLY far south. It was tempting to buy sheepskin boots (the original Uggs) from one of the MANY stores selling them. I refrained.


One of us (ok, me) also accidentally OD'd on Tylenol. Did you know that was possible? I did not and it took me a really long time to figure out why I felt so whacked out.

Back to Blogging - Tasmania!

No, we didn't go back. Oprah went though. She must've read my posts last fall and been totally jealous.

I am going to try to blog again though. Slowly. So here are some photos from Tasmania. We wanted to go wine tasting in Tassie but we thought 9am was a little early to start (amateurs, I'm sure some of you are calling us). Instead we headed to a nature preserve near the wine country outside of Hobart. We thought we'd see some cute animals but were EXCITED to see a sign at entry about kangaroo feeding at 11am. They gave us some food and set us loose.

We saw a bunch of other animals native to Australia first, including the above Tasmanian Devils. They were definitely devilish-looking and fighting over a twig.

I finally spotted a kangaroo freely hopping around and was so excited that I ran right up, spending a lot of time petting it and thinking this was my one big chance. Little did I know that we would turn a corner and walk right into a GIGANTIC kangaroo pen. HUGE. There were probably 60-80 kangaroos just hanging around, snoozing, playing, etc and a few other people who were feeding them the snacks from right inside the cage. We walked in and while Mark didn't want to feed them (he was convinced at least one would be rabid. He was wrong.), I went for it. I fed and pet the tall aggressive ones and the little joeys. It was such a fun detour and definitely worth postponing the wine.

Eventually, we got hungry and were ready for some wine and lunch. After quiches in a tiny Tasmanian town's cafe, we hit our first vineyard. Writing this three months later, I can't remember any of the names (and am too lazy to get up and check the bottle labels) but they were all pretty good. The whites were especially tasty and we brought back some Pinot Gris and Champagne that has never been exported out of Tasmania. Very yummy.

The Solway Lass

I've been crazy-busy since getting back but finally have a moment to breathe and thought I'd work in another post.

I first saw a photo of Whitehaven Beach about two years ago. I've been obsessed ever since. When we decided to plan a trip to Australia, we knew we couldn't pass it up. We love boats and sailing and decided to see Whitehaven and the rest of the Whitsundays on the sea.

There are a lot of party boats leaving out of Queensland's Airlie Beach but I think we found a good one. There were some very young backpackers on board but the rest of the group was is their twenties - making us the old foagies (and I'm still in my twenties!). Drinking a beer with a guy born in 1992 is something that was difficult to get used to. A CERTAIN SOMEBODY celebrated his birthday on board, the crew helped me to arrange a cake but the complimentary prosecco was best enjoyed the next day at sunset.

Our boat was the Solway Lass. She's a wooden tall ship with two masts - she was gorgeous when all sails were up. Built in 1902, she's criss-crossed the globe as she traded from Dutch to British to Scottish to German and finally to Australian possession when she was purchased for Whitsunday Cruises. Quite a change from her original cargo ship days carrying coal, produce, and stone.
We slept in a tiny compartment down below but it did the trick. No sailing at night but when we set off early the first morning, the rocking did get to me a bit. Nevermind though, the fresh air outside did the trick. A quick dip into the water (making sure to wear the scuba suit protecting against deadly invisible jellyfish - no joke, basically my worst fear - an invisible enemy) was even better.

It's hard to decide what we liked more, our time on or off the boat. On board, we had the gorgeous islands, crystal clear waters, cool breezes, and a rope swing. Ashore, well, stay tuned....

Brisbane - Welcome to Australia!

After 16 hours in the air and 10 in various airports (Kabul, Delhi, Singapore) along the way, we went from here:

to here:

Ok, maybe that picture doesn't mean much to you but it meant a lot to me at the time. Sunshine (of the non-blinding sort), flowers, greenery, thoughtfully designed architecture, fresh seafood, spring...all of that was there to meet us in Brisbane, our first stop during vacation in Australia.

Brisbane doesn't get much press compared to her sibling cities in The Land Down Under but it was the perfect place for us to shake off our jet lag and get re-acquainted with life outside of Afghanistan. We only had three night and two days in this Queensland city but took full advantage of the gorgeously warm spring weather by staying outside. On our first afternoon, we spent the early part walking around the center of the city, near our hotel. After years of vacationing in Europe, it was a little weird to visit Brisbane's oldest church and discover it wasn't even 200 years old. However, thanks to a recent renovation, it was still in beautiful shape. I was pleased to find my favorite saint - St. Christopher - in the windows. St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers.

We spent a good deal of time along the river. On one side, we explored the City Botanic Gardens, testing the benches and watching all the business-folk take breaks during their work days. We even saw some creepy lizards in there.

A ferry along the Brisbane River brought us to the South Bank Parklands for more exploration (this time with more teenagers and children). The Parklands was created in 1992 to make use of space originally designed for the 1988 World Expo. One of the highlights is the Grand Arbor, a one kilometer arched walkway covered with bougainvilleas and pictured above. The Ferris wheel also made for a lovely distraction in the afternoon. However, the real star of the Parklands was the Street Beach. Made mostly from reclaimed Brisbane River land and surrounded with sand imported from the nearby Moreton Bay, the beach has river views on one side and parkland on the other. Even though it was a workday and the weather was only in the upper 70s, lots of kids were in the water, surrounded by parents with their toes in the sand.

On our last night in Brisbane, we happily met up with a friend's friend for dinner. Trina brought HER friend and our little group had some delicious Thai food as our new Aussie friends gave us suggestions on things to see and do during the rest of our trip. After dinner, Trina was kind enough to throw us in her car and take us to the top of Kangaroo Point Cliffs. From there, we had expanded views of the whole city. Looking around, it seemed like it wasn't just Brisbane, but rather all of Australia, welcoming us.

Vacation

Sometimes I think there's no better word in the English language. We're in Australia (Tasmania at this moment, to be specific) and have another week or so to go. These pictures are from Whitehaven Beach in Queensland. The sand is so fine, NASA used it to help cut glass or parts or something (I really wasn't paying attention) for the Hubble Telescope. The water is truly turquoise but clear at least up to your mid-thigh.

Probably won't post again til we're back in Kabul. Ciao!