Aus(some)tralia Part Deux

Part two is going to be heavy on all the eating/drinking/fun we had on this trip.

Victoria Room. One of the best meals ever. John and I sat in a little corner table that had a victorian lamp and chairs. We shared a beet salad, pork belly, barramundi, mushrooms and had wine. 

And by sharing wine I mean I had wine and John drank beer :)

I typically am not a huge dessert person. I've always preferred salty foods over sweet foods but I have never in my 34 years tasted a molten chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream as decadent and flawless as this one. I think in the 12 years I've known John this may be the only time I have eaten more than my 1/2 of the dessert. Typically, I take a bite and leave the rest to my better half but with this dessert I think I conquered 3/4 of it without even blinking.

 Needless to say, John felt like a pimp daddy for 1. picking out such a dope restaurant and 2. ordering such a pimp meal.


We were also in Australia during Cinqo de Mayo so we spent the afternoon at this amazing little pub called Harts Pub where we got paddles of beers for 10 Australian Dollars which was such a deal.

Although I think the bartender was a little frightened by John's pants.

 We also took this walking tour through Sydney. It was actually really fun and informative and we met some great people along the way...

 After the 3 hour tour we actually went to a bar down the street and had a couple beers with this 60+ year old Irish couple, this 30 year old Portuguese couple, this Chilean boy, and a Welsh med student. It was funny hearing why everyone was in Sydney and where they were headed to next. My favorite part of the conversation was when the Portuguese couple said they had just finished a 3 month stint through Asia and had flown here from China and I asked them how it was...
PG: Portuguese Girl
PB: Portuguese Boy
ME: Me

ME: "how did you like China"
PG: "It was good. I mean we were there for a month and uh, it was ok. and uh well there were a lot of people. We were uh there for uh long time..."
PB: (cuts her off and says) "she hated it. she is being polite"
PG: (all awkward) "well no I didn't hate it, it was very very different...and uh...."
ME: "don't worry I hated living there too. I'm from Taiwan"
PG: "oh, ok. Yes, yes, I hated it."

amazing conversation.

This was a pig donated and put in front of Sydney's first hospital (which coincidentally was built by three liquor salesmen) the story goes you throw your coin in the pig fountain and rub the snout for good luck...but as you can see by the photo people apparently were rubbing something other than the snout. Then the money is collected at the end of the year and donated to the hospital.

Here's John and I trying to take a photo of ourselves at the Botanical Gardens. Didn't work out so great. Plus we had to run out of there shortly after this picture was taken as the sun was going down and the park suddenly filled with very loud cries from very large birds that we did not recognize. (yes we are very wimpy for two adventurers)

I still can't get over how beautiful the Sydney Harbor is. The bridge, the opera house. it is all just amazing. I could spend hours just sitting by the Harbor people watching.

Here we are again taking every photo-op to capture the Sydney Harbor. I think at some point John wished I wasn't Asian and fitting the stereotype of taking way too many photos. But I couldn't help it, it was just so beautiful.

I mean seriously...this is a postcard. Not something I saw with my own eyes. On a different note. During our tour we learned an interesting fact about the Opera House. The Danish architect Utzon won the global competition to design the opera house and his design was so grand that the projected 4 years it was scheduled to build the opera house ended up taking from 1957 - 1973. But sometime in 1966 the Australian government stopped paying Utzon as the project was still not complete so Utzon had to take his family and leave Australia. Eventually the opera house was built and Utzon died in 2008 never having laid eyes on his final masterpiece. Kinda sad but what a great way to be remembered.

Me at Darling Harbor. Didn't like Darling Harbor (too touristy) as much as Circular Quay but since it had such a darling little name I had to have my picture taking by it.

Another amazing meal in Sydney. This time at The Almond. A Syrian restaurant serving creamy hummus with almonds, toasted, roasted, spiced and dressed in multiple ways.

A miniature replica of the entire city under glass and we got to walk over it seeing the entire city in miniature size.


Last but not least a shout out to my new husbs. After an exhausting day we came home and he said to get ready for bed as he had a surprise for me. As I laid down in bed he turned on the TV right when The Notebook was starting. Le Sigh. Great Hotel room, RG on TV, and hubbies next to me. A girl couldn't ask for much more.

Aus(some)tralia

John and I recently returned from Australia. It was a work trip that we also turned into a belated honeymoon. I had to say that I had no idea how much I would love Australia until I spent a day there. Sydney and Melbourne are vastly different but yet similar. John and I had a fun time debating back and forth as to which we liked better. In the end, Sydney won my heart over Melbourne (although only by the teeny tiniest amount) and Melbourne won John's heart. Here is a quick recap of our trip.

Day one. Breakfast in Darlinghurst. Cute cafe called Fountain Cafe. Had a delicious ham and cheese croissant with a long black (their version of black coffee). It was a gorgeous sunny day.

Afterwards I took a walk through the Botanical Gardens in Sydney and didn't know that I would stumble onto an overlook that gave me this view of the Sydney opera house. Literally felt like a story book picture. Blue skies, clear water and the opera house looking like an enormous sailboat across the harbor.

I also happened to stumble upon a little sailboat called Oscar. I had to take a photo and upload it since my darling girl Megs is an avid reader and her little boy is named Oscar. it was so nice having a little piece of home with me even as far away as I was in Sydney.

That night we decided to have dinner around our neighborhood so we took a long 2 hour walk to check out all the places that looked interested and when it was settled between 2 John gave me the final say. I decided on The Owl House. It was quiet, quaint and quite adorable. we sat down and there were only 3 people working
1. The Maitre D
2. The Sommelier
3. The Chef
Our server/sommelier was a super friendly man who asked us where we were from. Now this has got to be the smallest world ever as he is from New York, lived in Williamsburg and worked at 49th and 6th (My first job in NY was on 49th and 6th) Either way, after he learned where we were from we were showered with amuse bouche and dessert and dessert wine all one the house. It was seriously fantastic.

 The Rock is a neighborhood in Sydney that is one of the oldest. It was built literally on top of a rock so many of the buildings and passageways are all used from the rock. After a few years when it was built a long long time ago people living on the rock were getting super frustrated that they had to climb an enormous rock just to get to the other side that they ended up blasting through the rock and creating a bridge/tunnel.

Photo of the tunnel it was gorgeous. We walked through during sunset and it was so weird to get to the other side of the tunnel and see this....

Yes, a beautiful Maple tree turning colors but in May....ha ha ha our first evidence that Australia truly is completely opposite of the Northern Hemisphere.

 While at the Rock we also saw The Hero of Waterloo. One of Sydney's oldest bars and the best was the story that came with it. Men used to come in here and get pissed drunk and they would always offer one free pint for every pint that was bought so men loved it. Rumor has it that those that passed out at the bar would wake up in the basement and find themselves sold to a ship leaving and became workers on that ship. Good thing I stopped John after 3 beers.

These birds were everywhere throughout Sydney. They are like NYC pigeons but 20X larger! Below are a few of the city shots we took. Sydney was truly a beautiful city with amazing architecture...enjoy.