I sort of slacked on my travel blog (oops). Instead of pretending like I kept it up to date while living in Oz, I decided to do a 'best of' Australia blog entry. If you care not to read, just know that I loved it there!I went to Sydney not knowing anyone and I feel so fortunate to have met some really amazing friends. I met all of my friends through NYC friends who knew of someone that was moving there or had a friend who was out there for work. I had many a great memories with my peeps and also met some great aussies and kiwis through work and friends of friends.
Aside from meeting a great group of people, I thoroughly enjoyed the cuisine in Sydney. I'd venture to say that the food is better quality and therefore tastes better than a lot of the food in NYC (gulp, NYCer's please don't take it personally). I'm a huge fan of dairy and sweets - which is a bad combo for my body, but that's not the point - and they were so good in Sydney! The yogurt tasted like Haagan Daaz ice cream and the chocolate tasted like real chocolate...mmmmm! The food is extremely eclectic due to the influence of Asian immigrants as well as other immigrants from Europe. I couldn't decide which Thai restaurant was my favorite - there were too many yummy ones! My favorite tapas restaurant, Kika's, will always have a special place in my heart. Bill Grangiers restaurant Bill's (clever name) was great for brunch. If you are ever in Sydney, be sure to check it out! Order the banana ricotta pancakes with honeycomb butter and you will not be sorry!
As far as travels, I had an opportunity to travel up and down the east coast of Australia on the weekends when friends and family visited. Here is a re-cap of the places and experiences:
Byron Bay is known for it's great surf and amazing beaches. It's also known for being really chill. One thing to note is that Australia in general is really chill so you can just imagine the breezy attitude in this town. I went to Byron Bay with my friends Martha, Mel, Ayano and a gal named Sarah. There was some drama on the night I arrived - someone broke into our room and stole iPods, docking stations and anything else of value while we were out. It was such a downer for everyone and some took it harder than others. But back to happier memories, we went to Byron Bay for the Blues and Jazz Festival where they had great local bands and other more well know bands like J5 and Ozomatli. The venue was open, grassy and under the stars...needless to say, it was awesome! There is nothing better than the energy of live music; we spent the night dancing, drinking and having a grand old time.
Tasmania is where some of the most notorious convicts were sent - as if Australia wasn't far enough from England. Sireesha and I went there over Anzac Day weekend - a holiday to honor soldiers, but a day of celebration more like New Years Eve! There were parades of older folk dressed up in their soldier gear and afterwards people headed to the pub for some afternoon drinks and a game of two-up - a gambling game ANZAC soldiers played during war times. Anzac Day is the only day in the year it's legal to play in public.Anyway, we stayed in Launceston, the second largest city on the northern part of the island. It was quaint and had a unique small town appeal even though it was technically a large one. We stayed at a little place called the Old Bakery Inn, which was originally a bakery established in 1870 by an ex-convict (of course!) and turned into an inn some years later. Tassie was beautiful and the landscape reminded me very much of New Zealand with it's majestic mountains and infinite bays. We drove all around the island and it's nice because Tassie doesn't have that many people -- roughly 500k - which equates to easy driving, well, with the exception of the wombats and other road kill. Every hundred feet or so on the smaller highways there would be something dead plastered to the ground and it became a mini mission to not squish more animals. We went to Wineglass Bay, which was stunning and on another day went to the wine country. In the Tamar Valley, I had one of THE best meals in Australia at a restaurant called Daniel Alps at Strathlynn. Daniel, the head chef, made dishes with local product. I had a sampler plate of heaven and became a huge fan of beets of all random vegetables. The area was so cosmopolitan that I found it hard to believe that I was in Tasmania...it's Tasmania!
Cairns was a cool little town - a common departure point to the Great Barrier Reef. I went with Mayra, Geoffrey and their friend Linda. We stayed in the heart of Cairns at a serviced apartment which was OK.On our first night after a delicious dinner, we retreated back to our apt to get some sleep and to get ready for the GBR. The next day we went to the Green Island, about an hour and a half east of Cairns. After the number of horror stories I heard about choppy waters and people throwing up, I was afraid of getting sea sick and purchased rolls of Peppermint Mentos and found a place on the boat that had lots of fresh air. It actually ended up being a really smooth ride and we all got there ready to snorkel! Geo, Linda and I got our snorkel gear and quickly headed to the water while May decided to do an underwater tour. As Linda and I were getting our gear on we heard Geo yelling from the water. I wasn't sure what was happening but it turned out that he lost his wedding band after diving in the water! We searched around him for a while and had no luck finding it :(
While that was a bummer, we still ended up snorkeling and saw some of the most amazing underwater creatures...ever! From brilliantly colored fish to water snakes it was almost hard to believe that I was there swimming with all of them. The water was really low so after walking in about 10 feet, I was in a whole new world. Towards the end of the day the low tide made it hard to move properly, I could easily touch and see all of the sea life hiding, eating and camouflaging in the coral reef. It was an excellent experience and something I'd love to do again one day.
Mission Beach was our next destination, our friends Caroline and Kenneth highly recommended going to the Mission Beach Sanctuary. It's a new age yoga retreat and has interesting accommodation. The eco-lodge nestled in the rainforest has 'huts' which are essentially mesh screen that cover an area of about 8ft x 10ft. It was far from fancy but honestly one of the most fun places I stayed at while in Australia.
As for the beach itself, it's not really a beach people swim in since it was jellyfish season. Needless to say, we stayed far away from the water. The town itself was pretty sleepy so we ended up spending the several evenings we were there at the Sanctuary admiring all of the
moths, spiders and other creepys that spent their time in the main lodge area. We also played a heated game of spades (I shall not disclose the winners names), played board games and talked to the people that lived/worked at the Sanctuary. Anyone who decides to live in a place where wearing black is the norm, yoga is always available and walks around barefoot for most of the day is an interesting one in my book.Every night we had a ritual where we'd get geared up to head down to our 'hut' - we'd walk down together since it was really dark and sort of scary! Once we made it to our 'hut', I did a bug check in and on the blankets, sheets and anything else that had been left out and then would get into bed and pull my sheet over my head. I don't know how in the world animals sleep there, you'd think that a rainforest would be quiet and serene but it was quite the opposite! Every animal and it's mother was buzzing, chirping, squeaking, mate-calling, hissing and any other sound you could imagine. I'm used to city noise (garbage trucks, honking, people walking), so it definitely took some getting used to. One day we did get out to a neighboring island to do some ocean kayaking and chilling by the beach, which was nice. The water is generally calm so there is no chance of tipping over into the jellyfish infested waters.
One of the highlights of Mission Beach was seeing a cassowary bird up close and personal. He was hanging out at the Sanctuary, drinking water from a standing fountain. It's the strangest looking thing and turns out one of the most violent birds in the world. The one that was near us didn't do anything though, it just sort of stood around for a bit after its drink and then walked off to the yoga retreat center. We ended the trip back in Sydney celebrating May's birthday eating Mud Cake, yum. Lucky gal went to Tahiti the next day and got another birthday since it's on the other side of the date line.
Melbourne is known as the fashion capital of Australia because of its strong European influence.
Eleni, Gareth, Mara and I went there for a weekend trip of wining, dining and shopping. It was a lot larger than I thought it would be, especially considering it's about as far south as you can go in the country. In addition to just hanging out and seeing the city, we went to Melbourne Cricket Grounds and watched Aussie rules footie - it was cool to see how passionate the Aussies were about the sport! There were kids decked out in gear from head to toe and a guy behind us almost broke down he was so upset by a ref decision he didn't agree with. Ladies, the shopping was superb! I bought most of my clothes in Australia while in Melbourne. Oh, and Ackland street has THE MOST amazing cakes. Definitely worth checking out if you're there. The cake shown above is a vanilla cake, 70% cream. Heaven on earth I say.
Airlie Beach/Whitsunday Islands is another area by the reef. I went to with Mara, Michelle and her friend Christy. It was such a fun but random trip. The town is really cute and great for backpackers. There's a huge beer garden and tons of restaurants in town. I was particularly impressed by the lush landscape considering how close it was to the water. The weather was a little chilly when we were there, I was sort of disappointed because I had cold weather leaving NYC, relatively 'cold' weather in Sydney and then cold weather in Airlie Beach. Either way, we were determined to have fun!One day we took a ocean raft trip out to the reef and Whitsunday beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It was SO much fun riding the ocean raft - we went over 6 foot swells and landed pretty hard only to do another and another! I was pretty wiped out by the time we reached the reef but excited to snorkel.
I put on my wetsuit and hopped into the water with the other gals. The water was cold and I realized that I would get tired pretty quickly because there was nowhere to rest, except on the boat. I swam back to the boat to grab a floating tube for me and Christy and headed back to her. En route I felt someone grab my foot - I freaked out a little bit and thought it was Mara. I waited for a few seconds for her to pop up her head but there was no one there. At that point I became scared and started swimming quickly towards Christy. On the way to her, I still felt something pulling at my leg. At this point, I had lost a flipper and was starting to panic. I'd look below every once in a while and would see a white looking blob. I pushed on it with my foot a couple of times and I was definitely being followed. Interesting how the mind starts to go into survival mode - note: it probably didn't help that I had read 'In a Sunburnt Country' by Bill Bryson where he tells many tales of people in Australia dying in water from sharks, etc. I started thinking about my family and friends and what I could do without in life if I were to live (i.e. legs, will I miss them if I don't have them? Arms, I could probably get synthetic ones). I got to Christy, asked her if she saw what I was seeing, which she did not. I decided that the shark or whatever it was liked me and had chosen it's victim. Also, at this point, I realized the rocks would be too hard to get onto without getting hurt so I just started screaming and waving my hands like a crazy woman. The guys on the boat, about 200 feet away, asked if I was ok and I said 'NO!' but no one really actioned. A guy on the trip with us ended up coming over and helping me back to the boat. After discussing with the guys on the boat, it turns out that coral reef was the 'predator' and the thing that grabbed my leg originally was long algae! Needless to say, I was the butt of jokes for the remainder of the day.
Another random thing we did while there was rent a moke, which is a little mini jeep that goes no faster than 30mph or thereabouts. It was bright yellow and we took the top down for the full effect. It was almost like being on spring break +10 years driving around town and to the beach! We went Dingo Beach which was a cool beach escape for locals - by the looks of it we were definitely the tourists. While at the beach I went for a long walk and soaked in the rays before heading back to Sydney.
Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, was one of the last destinations I wanted to visit before leaving Australia. I heard so many positive, lukewarm and negative reviews so I thought it was best to check it out myself. My friend Kevin and I went there on a bit of a whirlwind tour. Most tourists that go to Uluru, stay for less than 24 hours, with that said, we left on a Saturday morning and returned Sunday afternoon. Flying into the area, all you could see was red sand and shrubery and the two big rocks. The city, Yulara, which is the main destination for tourists visiting Uluru is owned and run by one company, Voyages Hotels and Resorts. Everything with the exception of the bank and the post office are managed by the resort. From budget accommodation to luxurious accommodation, the resort had it all. Upon arriving to the hostel, we threw down our bags and headed out to check out the rock from some of the lookout points near the hostel.We were both equally excited (I think) about being there and seeing 'the rock'. It's the desert so needless to say it was sort of hot, but we walked around anyway. We went to a lookout point but decided that it wasn't a long enough of a trip so then we outbacked in the outback (meaning we made our own trail) down into some of the rolling hills. When it became obvious that we weren't going anywhere in particular we decided to head back up to the main trail. We got a recommendation for another trail across the street, which again didn't take very long to hike up.
There we met a father and daughter from Alabama that had coincidentally met our friends parents who were coming to visit her in Australia from the states. It was quite a random meeting. We ended up hanging out with them for several hours chatting about culture, people and how/why Australia is so darn expensive! Afterwards Kev and I went to a dinner under the stars. It's an outdoor dinner where they prepare a buffet of Aussie foods and talk about the stars. The only problem was that it was cloudy so there were no stars - we had to pretend there were some to look at. It was such a long day that I actually got really tired and slept through part of the astrology discussion. By the time we got back to the hostel, I quickly retreated into bed.
The next morning, I woke up early to catch the bus to see the sunrise over Uluru. It was actually pretty cool to see the multitude of colors that Uluru changes into over the course of 30 minutes. It was also truly amazing to see how ginourmous the rock was when looking at it from up close. The way our guide described how Uluru was formed was the following - 'it's like a pimple that's ready to be popped'. Graphic but to the point. We did a hike around Kata Tjuta, another rock formation about 55km away from Uluru. It was a long, but good hike and we learned a lot about the fauna and animals that the indigenous people used as food. I think the highlight of the trip was the hike as well as the sunrise moment.There are so many things I loved about Sydney that I didn't get a chance to write about like the Bondi to Coogee walk, playing social tennis at the Coogee tennis courts, hanging out at the Observer (oh so many memories!), doing the day trip to Blue Mountains with Ayano and Martha, rollerblading around Glebe, going to the beach at Manly, exploring new restaurants, walking around Surrey Hills - my favorite neighborhood, bbqs and many many more.
I left with some lifelong memories and experiences and look forward to going back again one day.......
