sf 2 oz

Do you know what a babychino is? It's a drink of steamed milk (sometimes with a bit of espresso, chocolate or flavoring) made by a barista for toddlers as young as say.. 2 yrs old. That way, moms can go order their flat white and feed their kids too..and make them feel included in the coffee ritual I suppose. But do these kids even want a babychino? Highly doubtful.

We started seeing the babychino after we moved here and I have to say, I find it so freaking comical! While I absolutely love the coffee culture in Australia, why start your child on an expensive take away coffee habit before they can string a sentence together? They have many MANY years ahead of them for this. 

The babychino could very well exist in the US, but I had never seen it or heard of it (and I did live in the Marina, which is SF's strollerville). I guess the closest thing would be a small hot chocolate at Starbucks.

Photo credit: Little Feet Family blog

Photo credit: sydneywalker@flickr

Photo credit: popsie@flickr

We've seen some really stunning scenery in Australia over the past two weeks. Last weekend we were in Melbourne to watch the Australian Open and and took two days to drive the Great Ocean Road, which is west of Melbourne. We drove about four hours to the 12 Apostles, which are really neat rock formations along the beach and cliffs. We drove back via Queenscliff, put our car on the ferry and headed to Mornington Peninsula. We went to two wineries, but were a bit rushed through the area. Really pretty though!

This weekend we had another adventure planned with some friends of ours, Mark and Katy. We hiked the entire length of Royal National Park along the coast - 28 kilometers! We are feeling it now...tired and on the couch..Mike has 10 blisters. Ouch. It was gorgeous though, just one beautiful and relatively deserted beach after another. We stayed at North Era campground, which is a large grassy area right near some dunes and a beach. We walked from north to south, starting at Bundeena (a short ferry ride from Cronulla) and ended at Otway where we barely made the train (only comes every 2 hours) back to the city. Here's the photos from each trip.

Around 6 months ago, I started my own version of a 365 Project after being inspired by the Aquabumps daily newsletter.   Project 365 is a challenge where you document your life with a photo once a day for a year.  Photography was a new hobby for me when I moved to Australia and I figured this would be a good way to try to work on my skills.  I knew my schedule probably wouldn't enable me to take a picture each day, but since I started I've averaged near a photo every other day (Project 182.5).

It's been a fun experience and has forced me to take my camera with me almost everywhere I go.  It's a bit of a pain sometimes, but I've been able to document some interesting moments that would have easily faded away into obscurity.

If you are on facebook, you can follow along at "Mike's Daily Photo" or by clicking like on the box below.  I'm also trying to keep my flickr stream up to date with the latest, so if you aren't on facebook this link will give you the latest photos.

Finally, I really do appreciate any comments/criticisms/suggestions, especially on things to shoot.  I'm trying to improve my skills each day, so it's great to see comments in addition to "Awesome" or "Great Picture"

We had company this year for Christmas, which was fab. Mike's sister Nicole was here in addition to our friends Beth and Brian from Seattle. Christmas this year was much warmer than last year -- it was a perfect beach day. After brunch (complete with Christmas crackers and champagne) we opened some presents, headed to the beach and for dinner BBQ'd in the park. Mike even prepared some delicious prawns! And I made a pavlova with passionfruit and strawberry on top, how Australian of me!

I normally don't rant on this blog, but one particular topic has been building up steam and I've got to say something! The topic is that nothing - NOTHING - is free in Australia. I'm sure it annoys me since I come from the American culture of free drink refills, coffee top-ups, free ketchup, complimentary bread with dinner etc. But honestly, it really gets under my skin that Australians squeeze every damn penny out of you. Here's a few examples:

-Postage: I went to the Australia Post the other day to mail a few cards and since one card was a bit smaller than normal in terms of dimensions, I had to pay extra postage (for a smaller card!). When I asked why, the woman behind the counter said it was because someone had to post it by hand. As far as I know, the don't charge extra for that in America. Come on.

-Food: Obviously food is a biggie here. Now I'm not that shocked at having to pay for bread, but I'd like to rant on one experience we recently had at Sean's Panaroma in Bondi. On the menu there it says bread costs $4. So we ordered it for a table of 6 and when we got the bill we found out it was $4 per person! Yep, that's $24 for 6 sourdough rolls. Ridic. Also recently I went out to get a few sushi rolls for lunch. You know those little plastic fish they fill with soy sauce? Well, I got one with my sushi rolls and when I asked for one more, they asked me to buy it...for 10 cents. These are just a few small examples. 

-Buying flights: This is one that I discovered shortly after we moved and I've come to accept it like most other people here.. But, when you buy a flight (online OR over the phone) on one of the local airlines - Jet Star, Virgin Blue, Tiger Airways - you have to use your credit card. Ok, fine. But, the catch is they charge you about a $15 fee per ticket to use your credit card. When I asked if there was another way to pay (ie cash or debit card), they said no. So you're basically stuck with no choice but to pay a fee.

-Surcharges: Most restaurants and cafes charge a 10% surcharge on Sundays and public holidays. The public holidays one I understand, but Sundays? I have to pay 10% more because I want to go to brunch on one of the busiest days for a restaurant? In fact, it's been illegal to do so for over a year now. Restaurants must print a separate weekend menu if they wish to re-coup extra costs through their clientele. Here's an interesting SMH article on how many cafes are breaking this law - especially in Sydney inner city and eastern/western suburbs. 

That's my rant for now. If you're an ex-pat living in Sydney, I'd love to hear your thoughts - whether you agree or not? Or does this annoy you even?