Aussie Rules
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2005
1
18
24
Trip End
Aug 02, 2005
Sydney,
Australia
Saturday, May 28, 2005
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We love Sydney! Our first glimpse of it was of the beautiful skyline from our Qantas flight from Cairns. At the airport, Eloise, a former colleague of Alex's, was there waiting to pick us up. What a nice feeling it was to see our first familiar face since we left Shanghai. Eloise was a tremendous host for our two weekends in Sydney and we had a blast catching up with her.
The first evening we went up to the area called "The Rocks", which is the oldest section of Sydney, directly under the Harbor Bridge. We then walked along between the snazzy apartment buildings and hotels and around to the Sydney Opera House. Sydney Harbor is truly a special place. The bridge, downtown, including the financial district, ferry terminals, botanical gardens, and opera house are nestled together on this cozy, protected harbor
01 - Aerial View of Sydney
. It is not one of those massive ports, but gives a sense of intimacy and friendliness endemic of many of the Australians we have met along the way. We had dinner at the Australian Hotel, a famous traditional pub near The Rocks that served up delicious pizzas.
May 21
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In the morning, Eloise took us a few minutes walk from her apartment to Bondi Beach. On our walk from Bondi to Bronte Beach, we saw surfers taking on the crashing waves and families taking in the sun on the beach...AND THIS IS THEIR WINTER! We had brunch overlooking the beach as a reward for our power walk to Bronte.
Eloise dropped us at Paddington Market, an arts and crafts market that had a similar feel to our old DC haunt, Eastern Market. We picked up some gifts after some bargaining. From there, we took a taxi to Circular Quay to catch the ferry to Manly, a nearby town. The ferry offered us great views of the harbor as we passed right next to the Opera House and between all of the sailing yachts and coves on the way to Manly
02 - Walk from Bondi to Bronte for Brunch
. It was a picture perfect day, so we got some great pictures of the bridge and the Opera House along the way. That night, we decided to bust the budget a bit and attend a symphony at the spectacular Sydney Opera House. We saw Mahler's 9th (and last) Symphony, where he clearly contemplates death. The acoustics were tremendous and it was one of the trip experiences that will be a highlight. Beforehand, we caught some of the talk that explained the symphony conducted by one of the trombonists and then enjoyed the sights and sounds from "the nosebleed section". We were a little embarrassed about what we were wearing, as we are traveling very lightly and don't have any dress clothes, but were thankful when we saw that the locals were dressed in an array of clothes -- from tuxes to jeans.
Alex vowed to take Amy back to the restaurant that sits in the front "sail" or "shell" of the opera house before they see another performance there. It looked exquisite.
May 22
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After our night of culture on the town, we got some culture in the stadium
03 - The Magnificent Sydney Opera House
. That's right--you've seen it at 2:00am on ESPN2 and scratched your head--it's Aussie Rules Football. On another picture perfect day, we caught the Sydney Swans take on the Western Bulldogs at the Cricket Ground that doubled as the Aussie Rules pitch. Eloise did her Australian duty by teaching us how to properly eat meat pies (involving careful spreading of ketchup with the index finger). Amy got a little crazy and ketchuped her pants. We had some beer and got sunburned watching the game and admiring the skyline. And again, this is their WINTER.After a close game that led to victory by the Swans (called the Swans because of their ability to sail high to catch the ball -- though the name sounds a bit wimpy), we did what comes naturally after attending a sporting event in Australia (or anywhere), we headed to the pub.
After a few libations and visit to the liquor store, Eloise made us dinner at her house...and that's about all we remember until we woke up the next morning (with a slight headache).
May 23
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On Monday, Eloise had to go to work, so we decided to head off on our own for a few days
04 - It just keeps getting better . . .
. We rented the cheapest possible car from the no-frills rental company called Bayswater and drove a few hours to the Blue Mountains, with a quick stop for lunch at the skate / bike half-pipe to watch some kids do their stuff. The main site in the Blue Mountains was the so-called "Three Sisters" who were frozen in rock for protection by their father, according to Aboriginal legend. Also according to the legend, their father lost the magical stick required to unfreeze them after they were safe and sound. We were amazed that there actually is a blueish tint or haze to the "Blue Mountains" that is a result of an oily excretion from the leaves of the eucalyptus trees that dominate the area. We even saw a womat on the side of the road, but Amy chased it off trying to take a picture.
We stayed the night at the YHA and even took in the new Star Wars movie at the IMAX theatre in town. It was much better than the most recent two.
May 24
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After a light rain in the morning, we set off on a 8km walk that took us from Govett's Leap, along the edge of the cliffs, past several waterfalls, in the Blue Mountains range to Evans Lookout, and back
05 - . . . and better!
. After the rain had ceased, the sun came out and we removed a layer of clothing every 200 feet until we felt like we were carrying around half of our trip wardrobe. The morning rain scared away all other hikers, so we had the trail completely to ourselves.After a long drive in the afternoon, we arrived in Cessnock, the small town completely surrounded by the vineyards of the Hunter Valley winemakers. We decided to stay in the upstairs portion of a pub because it was cheap and had character. We were happy when all of the character (and characters) finally left the pub at 12:15am, when the pub closed.
Our daily budget unfortunately does not go as far in Australia as it did in Southeast Asia, so we have been on the look out for cheap eats. In Cessnock this means looking for restaurants that have an "N" used as a conjunction in a cheesy name. The first night we ate at "Cork N' Fork". The second night was "Swill N' Grill".
May 25
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We woke up early to book a winery tour aboard the "Cheers Bus" that eventually took us to 5 wineries, a cheese / chocolate shop, and a brew pub
06 - Couldn't resist an inside look
. We were pleased with the bus tour because the driver was very knowledgeable about wines and got to know our tastes very quickly. He would often suggest certain wines or tell us that we may want to pass on others. Also, we were able to leave the driving to him. We enjoyed tasting the specialties of the region, including Chardonnay, Semillon and Shiraz. We also got to taste some new types of wines for the first time, such as Verdelho and Chambourcin.
During the day, we visited Pepper Tree, Ernest Hill, Tullock, Lucy's Run, and Ivanhoe. Of the five, we enjoyed Lucy's Run, a small winery run by a former Cathay Pacific pilot. We even got to meet Lucy, the winery's namesake, a peppy dog with battle scars from fights with invading kangaroos. We also enjoyed the wines at Tullock a great deal.
We even saw a famous kookabura bird outside one of the wineries.
We were dropped off by the bus back at the pub, where we soon dropped into bed for a long nap before dinner at the aforementioned Swill N' Grill.
07 - Different priorities at the Swans' game
May 26
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We decided to head off to a few wineries on our own and enjoyed the individual attention we received. We visited Cockfighter's Ghost (owned by Poole's Rock), home of our new favorite Semillion, and Piggs Peake, a small winery that Amy choose because of the funny name and the cool label.
We also hit Peterson's Champagne House, which specialized in sparkling reds. Because the sparkling Merlot tasted a strange to us and we happened to hit the winery just as the geriatric bus had unloaded, we left quickly.
We had a fabulous lunch at a cheese factory, where we choose three cheese from a menu of dozens and they were served with bread, crackers, olives, and marinated vegetables.
Dinner was equally interesting. We ate at an Irish Pub which was a little generic with mediocre food. The interesting part was they had a "Grill your Own Steak" feature. You went up to the counter to choose your meat and then you grilled it on the large indoor grill in the next room
08 - Super Fans!
. May 27
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We woke up very early and drove back to Sydney, crossed the Harbor Bridge, made a wrong turn and headed straight into Sydney rush hour. We were still able to drop our wines and backpacks at Eloise's before having to return the car to King's Cross (which is similar in seediness to King's Cross in London).
Alex had heard that the Sydney Aquarium was fantastic and it lived up to its reputation. We spent the entire day there. They had two massive tanks, one filled with sharks, and the other filled with fish from a coral reef, that you could walk through, on top of, and beside. They were impressive. We were there during the feeding hour for the reef tank and watched the big leopard shark and manta, as well as the schools of jacks and batfish attack the food. Swarms of smaller fish got the leftovers. The scale of these tanks was amazing...the next best thing to diving. We also took some time to explore The Rocks and the Darling Harbor, which surrounds the Aquarium.
We met up with Eloise, had a glass of wine, and ordered pizza take-out
09 - . . . and the fans go wild!
. The night ended as the lights went out during a local blackout!May 28
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Eloise got us up and going on a 10km walk to Manly from a nearby area called Spit. The weather was cool and sunny, perfect for trekking along the beaches, cliffs, and in front of the swanky houses that lined the coast. From Manly, we drove to Newport and had a late lunch overlooking the water, just in time for sunset.
For dinner, we walked a few minutes to Bondi Beach, close to Eloise's apartment, and found an outdoor Greek / Italian place that served up a pasticcio that rivaled that of the Washington DC Greek Deli on 19th Street.
Thanks again to Eloise for being such a great host and for showing us the highlights of your spectacular city.
We both agreed that we could easily live in Syndey. No problem. And if this was Winter, we can just imagine how nice Summer is!
