First visitors of 2009

My parents made their way across the Pacific to be our first visitors of 2009. Although we didn't have anything planned out, we were able to see a bunch based on Sydney's crazy weather. The first half of their visit, the weather was miserably hot, however on the second half of their trip the weather changed to showers with temps in the mid-70s (and this is summer).

One of the highlights (I believe) was watching Jess swim the North Bondi Ocean Classic 1k Swim. Another highlight was driving out west to Camden airport.

Although it was tough to say goodbye, it was great to see my parents. Thanks again for everything Mom & Dad.

Harbor Fireworks

We are very fortunate to have friends with amazing accommodations in Sydney, because occasionally we get invited for spectacular views and fun times. Recently, we went to our Jennie and Thor's place in Kirribilli to watch the finale of Australian Idol. The main focus was not on the show itself, but on the fireworks that accompanied it. Jennie and Thor's view is like a postcard, with uninterrupted views of the harbor, bridge and opera house.

Because I knew there would be fireworks, I invested in a tripod and attempted to learn as much about shooting fireworks as I could. Everything happened so quickly, that I was a little behind the curve and a lot of the photos are unrecognizable. The photos below are some of the better ones from the frenzy that night.

We Be Cultured

In addition to enjoying the colorful sights and sounds of musical geniuses such as the Scissor Sisters, whose concert highlights include the launching of florescent colored wigs out of air guns into the audience, I have now added opera to my musical repertoire.

For our first opera experience, we went to the Operatic Aria Competition at the Sydney Opera House this past weekend. This is a competition that identifies young opera talent. The prize for the winner is a $50,0000 scholarship to study opera anywhere in the world.

This isn't an event that we would typically find or seek out on our own, but our neighbor, Susannah, was playing violin in the orchestra and was able to get us tickets. To boot, one of Susannah (and Will, her husband's) friends was one of the six finalists in the competition.

We didn't know what to expect, but we were thoroughly impressed with what we saw and heard. We heard operatic aria highlights from the great composers and vocal ranges from bass to soprano. The singers were in formal ball gowns or tuxes with tails. It was really a great experience. To make things better, Susannah and Will's friend won the competition!

We capped off the night with a bottle of wine at the Opera Bar, which has to be one of the best settings in the world.

We will definitely be going back for more...and by more, we me opera...and wine.

Flugtag meets Air

This past weekend was perfect for me. We took it easy on Saturday morning (due to a stressful week) and then decided we need some "home" food. A trip to Bondi Junction later lead us to make Tex-Mex (namely Fajitas). We spent most of the afternoon preparing the tex-mex meal (something we are getting quite good at) and invited our neighbors (Will and Suzanna) to join us. I cooked the chicken fajitas on our new grill, which I am enjoying more and more every time I use it. The fajitas turned out very nice considering we just made up the marinade. Overall, it was great evening with good food and fun conversation. We ended the night we a viewing of Flight of the Conchords (our pick) and Fawlty Towers (neighbors pick).

On Sunday afternoon, Jess graciously put up with my ongoing want to see a RedBull Flugtag in person. As luck would have it, Sydney is the host for the first Australian Flugtag. The event took place directly across from the opera house, at Mrs. Maquaries Point (for those of you keeping score at home). I am not sure why I am drawn to this event...I guess it is because for some strange reason, I really think I (with the help of many others) can put something together that would fly (any takers?).

Anyway, the Sydney crowd of more than 60,000 exceeded RedBull's forecast by more than triple which cause a few issues getting around. We managed to squeeze our way to front gate (on happenstance no less) and were lucky enough to get into the viewing area (thanks to some folks who gave us their passes). Although we were on the back side of the launch ramp, we were at least able to hear and see most of the action (unlike most of the crowd). The world record distance is 60m and and the closest contest was a disappointed 20m. Regardless of the turnout, we had a good time watching the ridiculousness that is Flugtag...I have a feeling this won't be my last one.



Later that evening we celebrated my birthday (a little early I know) by going to see Air at the Opera House. I have been a fan of Air for awhile and this was a great opportunity to 1) See them live and 2) See a show at the iconic Opera House. We arrived a little early to get a drink in the bar and take in the views of the harbor from the decks of the venue. Surprisingly, the Opera House is quite small inside, with seating in the main concert hall for only ~2500 people. The architecture inside is almost as impressive as the outside with concrete and wood finishes throughout.

The show was excellent, although the lighting was a little "in your face". The set consisted mostly of "hits" rather than new material, which was fine with me. The pinnacle of the show was the last song....La Femme d'Argent (no doubt the most popular song of the night). I can't really describe the live performance, but I found a clip online that hopefully shows some of the song's intensity. Enjoy!

Taronga Zoo

On Saturday, Jess and I went to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. This isn't something we would normally set out to do, but we got free passes with the purchase of our TV, so we thought we would give it a shot. To get to the zoo from our place we had to take a train to circular quay and then take a ferry to the zoo. This was my first ferry ride here in Sydney but there are lots to choose from. The ride was only about 15min, but provided some spectacular views of the Opera House, Harbor Bridge, and Downtown.

The zoo is situated on the side of a large hill and and features a sky safari cable care which takes people from the bottom to the top of the zoo. In addition to the 'normal' zoo features, this zoo also features 'Wild Australia', which basically allows you to go on a 'walkabout' with Kangaroos, Wallabees, and Kola bears. I will let Jess talk about the chimp highlights....

Here are some pictures from the outing.

Seaplanes and Opera

Since Jess was working today I went out on my own expedition. I took a 10min bus ride to Rose Bay to check out Sydney Seaplane base. Jess got me Seaplane ride for our 1st anniversary present. The bay was packed with some very nice boats and a couple of seaplanes (beavers on floats). On the East side of the park is a the Sydney sailing club and a kayak rental place. I had a quick bite to eat at the Lyne Park Cafe...a tasty chicken burger...and watched 2 seaplanes come and go.



After the seaplane base I took the bus back to Edgecliff station where I caught a train to the Circular Quay (pronounced "key"). This is the spot where a bunch of stuff is going on...ferries, busses, tourists, street performers, etc... I headed out to get some pictures of the Harbor Bridge, The Opera House, and Sydney's Downtown. Although it is summer here, the temperature isn't really that bad when compared to Houston. The best part is that in the shade with a little breeze it feels just like air conditioning...which is not very common here.