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.