Spectacular Sydney Harbour - Oct. 28-29, 2012

After a great sleep (wearing earplugs), we had another nibbley breakfast in our rooms and decided to walk to the Botanic Gardens.  We weren't sure how far away everything was, but it was a beautiful walk through quiet neighbourhoods to get there.  We didn't spend too much time in the gardens, but we did get a stunning view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge from the top of a hill.

We kept walking through the city to Darling Harbour where we had overpriced burgers for lunch, and then made our way over to the aquarium.  I think we were all pretty excited for the aquarium, but I'm not sure it lived up to our expectations.  There were some really cool small tanks (I especially liked the jelly fish), but the big tanks with the sharks and stuff weren't as mysterious or well "decorated" maybe as we were expecting.  They were still really cool though, just not as cool as aquariums always look in movies.  One thing I wasn't expecting was to get seasick from just LOOKING at the ocean!  Seriously, the fish tanks made me nauseous.  Or maybe it was the swarms of kids everywhere…

Darling Harbour seemed to be the hub of all of the excitement, so we stopped at another pub for a drink and watched the boat racing. 

Randomly the power went out in the strip of buildings we were in, so the music stopped and we headed on our way.  I went to play in an interesting fountain, my dad checked out some classic cars, and we sort of watched a guy juggling fire (but he was boring). 

To get back to Circular Quay we walked the Esplanade, but that was a bit long and tiring so we stopped for another quick drink before dinner.

Dinner was during sunset, overlooking the Opera House, at ARIA.  It's co-owned by Matt Moran who is a famous Australian chef and guest judge on the show MasterChef, and Peter Sullivan who also makes guest appearances on the show.  As most of you know I absolutely love that show, so one of the things I really wanted to do in Sydney was to go to a famous restaurant.  There are dozens to choose from, but this one was in the right location, has 2 Chef's Hats, and was open on Sundays.  I was looking forward to this the most of everything, but I know everyone had an unforgettable night.  The restaurant was beautiful, but not pretentious which was great.  The menu was short, but we all wanted to eat everything on it.  For each course we all ordered something different, so we got a really good sampling of everything they had.  And holy cow was it amazing!  We were all blown away, which is great considering we're all very good cooks.  We really wanted excellent wine with the meal, and the sommelier was really attentive and helpful with that.  We picked one bottle of bubbly, and then he surprised us with the rest.  He found a red wine that my mom loved, and a beer that pleasantly surprised my dad - both high praise!   After dessert they even brought us an extra tasting plate of various desserts, which we managed to eat even though we were beyond full. 

Since my parents had paid for the dinner cruise, it was our turn to pay for this meal.  I loved that we could take them somewhere that they would never go themselves, and honestly it was nice to take care of the bill for once.  Until my card got declined.  Imagine you're in a fancy restaurant full of people, and the bank machine makes a horrible declined noise.  Not once, but 3 times in a row.  Most embarrassing thing ever!  In Australia we get really high interest rates on our savings accounts, so it's stupid to leave too much money in your day-to-day account.  I guess we just didn't have enough in there for the trip!  We ended up using our Canadian credit card, but turns out we actually would have had enough cash to pay for the meal if we had been thinking straight.  Oh well, you've just gotta laugh at stuff like that!

We were all on such a high from dinner that we weren't quite ready to go back to the hotel.  My dad has kind of a hippy-sounding philosophy to "follow the music", but really it's the perfect thing to do on a night like that.  Find a live band, have a few drinks, and everything is right in the world.  We did just that, and it quite possibly overshadowed the rest of our trip.  We went to the Opera Bar which was outside on the Esplanade, and there was a band called Uncle Jed playing awesome jazz covers of popular artists like Gnarls Barkley and Jack Johnson.  I could not have written a more perfect end to the evening.  The harbour was lit by the Opera House, the Bridge, and a ginormous cruise ship, which sounds bad but it was quite ambient. 

Unfortunately the band only played for another half an hour, but I bought a few of their CDs to bring back the memory whenever I listen to them.  Near the end of the evening the cruise ship started to leave, which was quite a production in and of itself.  I cannot overstate how huge it was, and it had to do a multi-point turn to get out of the harbor, narrowly missing the bridge and the shoreline.  Everyone at the bar was watching intently, and they all clapped when it left successfully.  I'm sure they do it all of the time, but it was quite the accomplishment if you ask me.

And thus ended our amazing trip to Sydney.  It was great to get to share the adventure with my parents, and the perfect way to visit Sydney for the first time.  I know there are lots of things we didn't do, but Sydney is massive so you have to pick and choose.  I wouldn't change anything!

The next morning we slowly got ready to leave, then flew back to Adelaide around 11am.  My parents continued on to Hawaii, and Ryan flew back to work the next day.  It was a wonderful whirlwind.

As a bonus, since I took so long to blog about our trip to Sydney, here is the postcard we created from the trip and a brief insight into Wasylyk humour.  Enjoy!

Spectacular Sydney Harbour - Oct. 27, 2012

After my parents left Adelaide, Ryan came home 3 days later and the next morning we flew to Sydney for a last visit with my family.  It was a 4am wakeup, which was early even for Ryan but worth it because we got to Sydney really early.  After our flight we took the train (only once in the wrong direction) to our hotel, which was the Holiday Inn at Pott's Point.  Supposedly it's in a rough neighbourhood, but we didn't find that out until after we got home so it wasn't a problem.  We had a nice nibbley breakfast with my parents in the hotel room and then ventured out on the town!

Most of our trip was spent in the harbour area, so the first morning we wandered around Circular Quay and The Rocks Market.  I think we were all just in shock that we could actually see the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, so no matter what we did we would have had a good time.  It also helped that it was a spectacular weekend weather-wise.  The food from the street vendors at the market all looked delicious, so we settled on skewers and kept wandering around and shopping. 

There was all sorts of cool stuff for sale (it wasn't a produce market) so that's where I bought some of my Christmas cards.  To finish it all off we stopped for a few beers at a pub just outside of the Opera House while we waited for our show to start.

The show we booked to see at the Opera House was "Blue Planet in Concert", which we thought was something everyone would like.  If you don't know already, Blue Planet was a documentary done by the BBC about the oceans a few years back.  The show started at 2pm, so we took our time looking around before the show.  I can't explain to you how massive the building is, and how interesting it is architecturally on the inside.  I had to be careful to watch where I was walking, because I had a tendency to look up and walk. 

On top of that the show was incredible.  It was short clips from the original show with introductions to each clip by a narrator who I believe actually works on the documentaries with the BBC.  During each clip the orchestra would play, and it was incredibly easy to forget they were even there at all, since it felt so natural for them to be there.  Overall, an unforgettable experience for me.

After the show we went to another pub for some more beer and snacks, then wandered around the area some more.  Mom bought a pair of Aussie Uggs, and we came across this random event called the "White Picnic".  We had noticed them setting up for it earlier, and it turns out it was something people could sign up for to attend.  They weren't told where it would be held until the last minute, but they had to wear white and bring their own table, chairs, food, drinks, etc.  It looked really cool from our perspective, but the people who attended were upset that they had to pay for an event where they had to provide everything.

At 7pm that night we boarded a small ship for a dinner cruise around Sydney Harbour.  That was something my dad has always wanted to do, and I think it was a huge success.  There was a fantastic live jazz singer, delicious food, and of course great scenery and company.  The staff was also wonderful, and we felt well taken care of even though there were hundreds of people.  It was the perfect way to end an amazing first day in Sydney, and I was hardly seasick at all!

It was tough to get a cab that night because of the White Picnic, but the wait was good for people watching.  First of all, it was the Saturday before Halloween so tons of people were dressed up.  There was definitely a party somewhere with a specific theme, because there were all sorts of normal costumes but then they were covered in blood.  Also there were all of the drunk and angry people from the White Picnic, with many of them covered in red wine spills.  We had to laugh a little at that!  We went straight to bed that night, but not before the partying for Halloween started outside of our hotel.  We were definitely in the fun neighbourhood!

Visitors from Abroad

Only a few days after we got back to Australia my parents arrived in Adelaide.  That didn't give us long to settle into the new house, but at least it was for a good cause.  They had already been to Los Angeles, Fiji, New Zealand, and the North-East coast of Australia, so their jetlag was gone and they were ready for me to show them what I've been up to for the past year and a half.

I picked them up at the airport on Thursday October 18th, and their first surprise was that I met them at their gate.  In Australia you can get through security without a ticket (and you can get a ticket without ID sometimes) .  We had to rush home because I was late for work, but not unexpectedly they did yard work while I was gone!  When I got home I took them for a walk around the neighbourhood and to the grocery store where we picked up some local Yabbies (it's actually a type of crayfish, not whatever you were thinking!)  That afternoon my Mom helped me plant my herb garden and we feasted on yabbies and an Australian lamb roast while trying to find a wine in my extensive collection that my parents liked.

I had to work Friday afternoon, so we just stuck around town in the morning.  First  we went to one of my favourite places in Adelaide: the Botanic Gardens.  From the first time I went there I wanted my Mom to see the gardens, so it was amazing that it actually happened.  We joined the free guided tour at 10am, and the guide took us all over showing us the native Australian plants.  Then I took them to the Adelaide Central Markets which is always fun.  We only had a few things on our list, but as with any market I always leave with much more than I had anticipated.  When we got home we made up a platter of snacks for lunch, and then while I was at work my parents cooked and did more yard work.  Lucky me!

On Saturday we went to McLaren Vale, which is always the best part of any visit to Adelaide.  I wasn't sure what to expect since my parents have very specific wine preferences, but throughout the day they were both surprised to find multiple wines that they liked.  We did our usual tour, starting with Leconfield because they have the best platter lunches.  I think we would all agree that was the best part of the day!

Then we stopped at all of the usual places: Fox Creek, Dog Ridge, Vale Ale, Lloyd Brothers, and we tried to find the lookout and failed again.  The only new place we went to was Ekhidna Wines, and they specialize in beer and cider.  Their wine was terrible, but the cider was alright.  We didn't buy any though.

That night we had kangaroo steaks for dinner, but I think it was a little bit weird for my parents.  Roo has a really strong flavour and has to be cooked just right, and I probably haven't mastered that yet!  Overall we had an excellent day, and it was probably the highlight of the visit in my opinion.

My favourite thing to do on a Sunday morning is go to the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market, so that's exactly what we did.  Unlike the Central Market, the Farmer's Market is actually all local produce.  There's no holding me back when we go there!  As usual, I bought so much it wouldn't fit in my fridge (which isn't saying much because our fridge is really small).  After the market I took my parents to Henley Beach (where we used to live) to show them our neighbourhood, but more importantly, the beautiful beach!  Much to my disappointment, though, it was super windy and really cold.  Not at all how I remember it from living there!  Sadly our beach walk didn't last very long, so I took them up my favourite local river walk instead.  It's usually where we spot some neat birds, so they enjoyed that as well.

That afternoon we feasted on oysters, mussels, and a Thai salad.  Mom and Dad were sceptical about the oysters, but I think they both figured if I liked them then they must be alright.  I've found some amazing recipes, so they were delicious!  We ate really early because that evening we had plans in the hills.

First we went to the lookout at the top of Mt. Lofty for a beautiful view just as the sun was setting.

Then we made our way to the Warrawong Sanctuary in the hills for a nocturnal tour.  I had never been there before, so it was new for all of us this time.  We started the tour by feeding the kangaroos, and protecting them from the ravenous ducks that tried to steal all of the food.  When we eventually did leave, the ducks took over and the roos all gave up trying to get any more food.

As it got dark we made our way to two ponds where the platypus live.  They say there is only a 30% chance of seeing one  on any given day, since they're very shy animals, and it was not our lucky day.  My parents had already seen one in Queensland, though, so at least they didn't really miss out.  The park was beautiful, but it rapidly became dark and we started to look out for more nocturnal animals.  There were a few wallabies out, but mostly we saw smaller marsupials like bettongs and possums.

Bettong

Brush-tail Possum

The tour was really fun, and it gave me a new perspective on Australia since I rarely go out at night (mostly because I don't like night, but also because of the spiders…)

Monday morning I went with my dad to pick up their rental car, and then my parents left for their road trip of the Great Ocean Road, ending in Melbourne.  It was so awesome to show my parents around Adelaide, and it's only a shame that Ryan wasn't here to join us.  But luckily he came with us to Sydney the next weekend, so stay tuned!