November Wrap-up

Sorry (as always) for the late post. So in addition to Movember, Jess and I have been doing a bit of travel about the country. Here is a recap.

At the beginning of November, Jess and I ventured out to Royal National Park - about an hour south of Sydney - to check out the secluded beaches and to try out my new camera. We packed a picnic lunch and spent the day in the park traveling from beach to beach. It is a tough life but someone has to do it.



The following weekend I was sent to Canberra (the country's capital) on a last minute work trip. As a result we decided to make a weekend out of it and Jess came to meet me. Similar to Washington D.C., Canberra is full of National Museums and Memorials. We visited the Australian National Museum, New Parliament House, and the War Memorial. Unlike D.C., Canberra is very quite on the weekend as most of the residents live outside the city by a fair distance. In a way this made it nice, because we really felt like we had the entire city to ourselves.







Finally, at the end of the month Jess and I traveled to Tasmania for an extended weekend getaway. We flew into Hobart and drove nearly the entire East Coast. Along the way we saw Penguins, Kangaroos, Wombats and Tasmania Devils. We also met Priscilla the beer drinking pig...of course we had to see it for ourselves. We also hiked to the lookout of Wineglass bay.

Mad Mex

A short-update on the quest for decent Mexican Food: First I should clarify that most probably I am searching for good Tex-Mex not true authentic Mexcan food (although that is good too). Anyway, thanks to our friend Mickey we learned about Mad-Mex, a burrito place near Oxford St. It is about a 20min walk from our place, but it turns out this is the closest thing to Tex-mex found to date. In fact, I would say the is the Australian rip-off of Chipotle.

Needless to say I have been there several times since and even have a frequent burrito card (buy 10 get one free). While we may be a long way from really good tex-mex, this is a suitable substitute for the time being...and they have decent margaritas!

So now there is no excuse for all of our Texas friends to come visit (hint hint).

Lawn Bowling Birthday

First let me say, that I am sorry this post is so late. It has been in progress for awhile, but due to Jess' recent hospital adventure (to be documented soon) this post has been put on hold. And now without further adieu...

For my 29th birthday we decided to have a 'lawn bowling' party. Lawn bowling is a pretty big thing here...they even show it on TV (on Saturday afternoons). Recently the game has appealed to the younger generation due to the easy access to the alcohol and the relatively low athleticism required (a lot like 10 pin bowling in the states). The idea of the game is to bowl the ball closest to the 'jack' (white ball). The bowling balls are not perfectly spherical and are biased to one side so there is some skill and strategy involved.

For this party, we picked the Paddington bowling club due to it close proximity to our place. Several of our friends (some also new Sydney) were able to join the fun. Even Jess (with her crutches) was able to participate (they are usually very strict about the 'green', but Jess was able to convince them that she was no harm). We had 2 lanes which worked out pretty well given the size of our group.

I could see lawn bowling being a big hit back in Houston (or Austin) with the year-round weather capabilities. Anyone interested in starting one with me when I get back? Perhaps 'The Dudes Bowling Ranch'....just a thought.

Back to reality...After bowling we had some deadly delicious cupcakes from The Cupcake Bakery. I used to wonder how a cupcake shop could survive, but these little gourmet cakes are unbelievably tasty and are not that cheap. My celebration continued on through the night at The Centinneal Hotel. I will spare you the details (and poor writing) and just say...

Good friends, great food, and lots of laughs...what more could I ask for my first Aussie birthday.



Mickey's Album

Bridging The Weekday Gap

So the blog is turning into more of a recap of our weekends, which isn't what I had intended - but that is when all the interesting adventures are taking place.

That being said, last Saturday we headed out to Darling Harbor to watch the Dragon Boat races as part of Sydney's Chinese New Year Festivities. It was fun to watch the dragon boats...but after one race, we kind of felt like we saw the whole event.



Afterwards, we decided to walk around the harbor and accidentally discovered the Pyrmont Bridge - the world's oldest electric swingspan bridge. I say accidentally, because we were taking pictures of the races on the bridge when we heard an announcement saying the bridge was closing. We wondered how the bridge could close as there were no gates and no one seemed to be moving off the bridge. As we looked around, we noticed a small section of the bridge (maybe a 1/4th of the overall length) start to close its gates (which were well hidden) and I dragged Jess closer to get a better view. The bridge section swiveled around its center and opened about 90degrees. I really can't explain the bridge in words, so hopefully this video makes more sense.



On Sunday, we went into Central Sydney to climb the Harbor Bridge. One of Jess' work colleagues was in town for meetings, and we decided to share this adventure with him. After a nice lunch at the Glenmore Hotel, we made our way to the base of the bridge for the climb. The climb basically takes a path along the outside arch the bridge and down the opposite arch. For safety reasons we were fitted with a special suit and harness and we couldn't take camera's (or most personal belongings) on the climb, which was disappointing but understandable (no one wants to drop a camera on the traffic below). After a small safety demonstration, we were on our way climbing to the top. Most of the climb is very minimal, with the worst section being 5 separate ladders to get the base of the arch. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the bridge (hence being a guide) and provided some interesting insight. For example 80% of the bridge is made out of British Steel, and the Australian government continued to pay on the bridge until the 1980s when the British decided that waive the remaining balance. The climb provided some of the most amazing views of Sydney I have seen, and I highly recommend this diversion for anyone planning to come visit.

New Posts

Due to a busy week, we are running behind in our posting. Anyway, here is some of what has been going on....