The Red Centre

We travelled this week to one of Australia's icons - Uluru. Known as the red centre, this famous natural landscape is located in the Northern Territory 2500km from Sydney in the middle of this massive country. It was amazing to look out the window of the plane and see the changing landscape of Australia below. The thin habitable strip of land along the eastern coast quickly turns into endless arid outback with changing colours of ancient white salt flats, red rock, and sparse brown clumps of what must be the world's hardiest vegetation. My impression of the outback as a desolate wasteland of sand, sun, and snakes was quickly forgotten as we ventured to the first of our two main destinations, Kata-Tjuta. This is an impressive collection of rock conglomerations jutting out of the surprising green landscape of trees, bushes, and wild flowers. There were no snakes luckily, but there were certainly flies. Our last minute purchase of bug nets was well worth it. We were impressed to learn that the Aborigines of this area have been living here for over 22 000 years and have adapted to this harsh climate with amazing techniques for survival. We rose at 4 am to see the sun rise over Uluru. This is a truly majestic rock to experience and it surpassed our highest expectations. To the local Native people it was and remains an important spiritual place. We left the red centre feeling very fortunate to be able to experience one of the world's most unique environments. Paul

 

Taranga Zoo and a Sunrise

On Friday Paul and I spent the day at the Taranga Zoo. The zoo is a 15 minute ferry ride across the harbour from downtown Sydney. As a result we had amazing views of Sydney at nearly all times. It also means the zoo is a popular destination for Sydney-area school field trips! So, Paul and I, several retired couples and a dozen bus loads of small children enjoyed the zoo on Friday - and we all had lots of fun! The zoo is very well laid out (no multi-kilometre hikes between exhibits - sorry Toronto!) and there were lots of interesting animals to see. Here are a few of my favourite photos from the day:

      
Yesterday, we woke up at 4 am (!) to watch the sunrise at Bondi Beach. As we were starting our day, most of our fellow bus riders were heading home. But as Shortty would say, we're well into the phase of our lives when we'd rather wake up, than go to bed, at four in the morning! So, despite the obvious and expected discomfort of waking up before the city, it was a worthy excursion. The weather co-operated nicely and we had the pleasure of witnessing a beautiful sunrise. Jenn

Birds of Sydney

Turn up your volume and enjoy the sights and sounds of some amazing birds. Everyday throughout the city we hear these birds. Like all Aussie animals they are certainly different. Enjoy.

Good Food Week

October is Good Food month in Sydney, and last week, Paul and I partook in some of the highlights. Wednesday we went to a cooking class at 360 which is a restaurant around the 80th floor in the tallest building in Sydney (like the CN Tower but smaller). The class and view were fantastic! We learned to make pasta from scratch, as well as focaccia and a number of delicious salads. We also had a bird's eye view of the city, ocean and unfortunately the wildfires that started again outside the city.

During Good Food month, Hyde Park is transformed into a nightly Asian noodle market. There are tons of food stalls and people enjoying the flavours and atmosphere. We had dinner there Saturday night, which made for a lively, entertaining and unique experience.

This past weekend also happened to be Beerfest - which to my excitement ended up being Beer and Cider-fest! - an outdoor beverage market in the Rocks! There were close to 30 breweries (and 3 or 4 times that many varieties) for which you purchased tasting tickets and sampled the beverages of your choice. Needless to say we hardly made a dent in the selections, but that's probably why we had such a good time!

I have started a food blog called The Adaptive Kitchen. I create my own version of dishes we've had at restaurants or recipes I find in cookbooks, magazines or online, and post pictures of the final result. It's mostly vegetarian dishes, but there are a few desserts, the most popular being a chocolate peanut butter pie and my grandma's shortbread cookies.

Unfortunately, the wildfires continue to be a problem near Sydney. These pictures were taken Thursday. For most of the afternoon, the sky glowed red. Later in the day the smoke began to clear, like a curtain being opened. You can see the reflection of the clear sky on the buildings. Jenn

Living the high life!

The Penthouse in our building is currently for sale. Here's a link to the short but entertaining video tour: http://video.visualdomain.com.au/25322/?bcId=2698718037001
We're incredibly lucky to have access to the same view via the rooftop terrace, minus the professional decorating, furniture and marble!

Picture from realestate.com.au

Opera House Concert

It's been another wonderful weekend in Sydney. Friday night Paul and I were treated to a surprise (at least to us!) fireworks show which we were able to watch from our apartment window. Though not as grand as last week's display, they were still very impressive and a great start to the weekend.

Last night, Paul and I went to the Opera House for a concert. Performing was a very talented young Australian singer-songwriter, Emma Louise. The venue was cosy and comfortable, seating only about 300 and offering padded captain's chairs! We were lucky to have had great seats, which put us about 15 feet from the stage (though in such a small venue I doubt there are any bad seats). The acoustics were great and the performances very entertaining. Here's a short video we took at the concert of one of Emma Louise's singles:

Record October Temperature

From Sydney Morning Herald

Prince Harry in Sydney

This past weekend was the labour day holiday in Australia. There were lots of events in Sydney including the rugby league finals - "Australian super bowl" and the Navy Fleet Review. The Fleet Review was a huge gathering of navy war ships from Australia and beyond. The ships filled the harbour and were on display to the thousands of visitors.
The big news was that Prince Harry was in Sydney for the navy celebration. After a run around the Botanic Gardens, Jenn and I were walking back to our apartment and just as we were about to cross the street there was a motorcade of police motorcycles approaching with sirens blaring. A white limo car sped by and in the back seat, in plain view, was Prince Harry staring out the window. There was literally no one else around at the time. I was probably 20 feet from the passing car. It was pretty cool actually.
To cap off the weekend, on Saturday night there was amazing fireworks in the Sydney Harbour. There were fireworks being set of from many points including the bridge, downtown buildings, and from ships on the water. It was by far the best fireworks Jenn or I have ever seen. Check out the video to see for yourself.

This week we also ventured to Bondi Beach. It is perhaps the most famous Aussie beach being only 7km from the city.

Woolloomooloo

Just around the corner from our apartment is the Woolloomooloo Wharf. This is the largest timber wharf in the world, built in 1915. It was used to ship wool, act as a staging point for WW2 troops, and it welcomed new immigrants. Naturally, today it is a high end hotel and restaurant. What was old is now high end...that seems to be a trend in Sydney.

Also, right next to the Wharf is the famous Harry's Café de Wheels. This is a popular place to eat Australian meat pies. It has been serving these surprising filling pies since 1945. This place is on the tourist hit list of Sydney.