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Today we celebrated ANZAC day, which is a national day of remembrance (always April 25) in Australia and New Zealand commemorating all those who died and served in military operations for their countries. It's the Aussie and Kiwi version of Veteran's Day, if you will. There's a few traditions for ANZAC day that we fully embraced - ANZAC biscuits and Two-up.

The biscuits (aka cookies), which I made yesterday, are supposed to resemble the biscuits that women on the home front made and sent overseas to soliders. There are no eggs used in ANZAC biscuits as eggs were scarce in war time. Instead the binding agent used is a golden or treacle syrup. Here's the recipe I used that Arley sent me after making these for a friend of hers. They are quite buttery and sweet!

Two-up is a gambling game that is *only legal* in public on ANZAC day as a way to remember the soldiers who played it extensively during WWI. How great is that? Consequently, most every pub in Australia is packed with people drinking beer and playing Two-up on ANZAC day. Mike and I followed suit of course. 

We met up with one of our Aussie friends, Tim, and his mates at a pub in Balmain called The Dry Dock Hotel. We played Two-up for nearly five hours - it was so much fun and of course addictive! The game is basically a heads or tails coin toss (game of chance) so anyone can take part in the action. The bets hover around $5 to $20 so no one is losing big money. I tripled my money and Mike had a few highs and lows and unfortunately ended on a low. So, I bought dinner :)

Upon arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Open we quickly realized that people here don't watch tennis, they watch "the" tennis.

Well, we really enjoyed the tennis. I was actually surprised at how exciting it was to see such a high caliber of players battle it out on the court. The first day we had tickets to Rod Laver arena and watched some highly ranked players like Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray...we also got a peek of the Williams sisters playing doubles! The second day we bought grounds passes for $20 each and ended up seeing some great tennis PLUS Roger Federer warming up. It was also a fun atmosphere with beer gardens, live music and sponsor tents everywhere. This whole experience is making me want to see Wimbledon..hmmm.

A lot of our Sydney friends were actually in Melbourne as well - some for tennis and some for other stuff. We had fun during the evenings going to dinner and bars. We even got to celebrate Jess' Dirty 30 at Coda Bar + Grill followed by karaoke in Chinatown (which I think the girls enjoyed more than the guys).

The last day we were in Melbourne was Australia Day, which appears to be a day off from work for people to be patriotic, BBQ, go to the beach and do other Aussie things. Officially it commemorates the first explorers to arrive at Sydney Cove in 1788, the hoisting of the British flag there, and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia. We didn't really have a typical Australia Day as we were busy exploring a few other parts of Melbourne including St. Kilda and Chapel Street. Oh well, 4th of July is still better!

Last Sunday we checked out Sculpture by the Sea, a display of over 100 sculptures by artists from Australia and around the world on the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk. Set against such a beautiful backdrop, all the sculptures seemed pretty incredible. We'd never seen such a cool fusion of art and the outdoors, plus it was perfect photography material for Mike. Hope you like the pictures.  

Over the weekend we also went to two Halloween parties and a Mexican Fiesta. Friday night we decorated cupcakes and ate lots of candy, Saturday we carved pumpkins and watched an awesomely bad scary movie about genetically altered sheep in NZ (thanks Jennie and Thor) and Sunday after the sculpture walk we took care of our appetites with homemade fajitas and margaritas at Chris and Jessica's place. We are very lucky to have such wonderful friends here!

This past weekend we ventured to Melbourne. While Sydney is known for stunning ocean views and iconic buildings like the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, one must work a bit harder to uncover Melbourne's treasures. The city is full of small laneways and historic arcades with coffee shops and bars tucked here and there. It's also decidedly more victorian or 'european' feeling in its architecture, weather, cutural offerings..even the horse-drawn carriages add a certain je ne se qua (though mainly for tourists I'm sure).

We were fortunate enough to stay with Mike's friend Rita, who has been working for Accenture in Melbourne for several years. She showed us around the city, taking us to the fabulous Queen Victoria Market, an Aussie Rules footy game, local parks, shopping districts and more. We also hung out with Cameron, my ASDS classmate of 12 years who has been living in Melbourne for over 9 years. Thanks to our friends, it was a weekend of nonstop eating, drinking, touring etc.

For those considering a visit to Melbourne, here's a word of advice. Do not be swayed by the $39 price tag for the Jet Star flight from Sydney to Avalon. Avalon is an hour drive from the city and you end up paying extra for a bus transfer, plus there's unnecessary waiting in a tiny country airport! Needless to say, we'll be flying into Tullamarine next time. Yes, we're already planning another visit to Melbourne - we liked it that much!

For the next 2 weeks, we are lucky enough to be treated to some pretty amazing visuals across the city.  Vivid Sydney is a "Festival of Light, Music, and Ideas", the most exciting and dramatic is Luminous sydney, which is a collection of lighting exhibits near Circular Quay.  The highlight is definitely "Lighting the Sails" by Brian Eno.  The Opera house is lit every night with a series of 70,000 watt projectors (home lightbulb is 60 watts), and they display a constantly changing image on both sides.  Of course this means that I have a great excuse to try out my new camera at night.  Here's some shots from the last few nights, hoping to add more as long as the rain holds off.

For more info check out www.vividsydney.com