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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 :)

Since most of our recent blog entries have been about travel, I thought it was about time to drop some Sydney knowledge. Here's a handful of our favorite restaurants, cafes and bars around town. I love personal recommendations, so if you're a Sydneysider please leave a comment with your favorite spot!

Tiger Mottle: This is the best cafe in the 5 Ways are of Paddington. Friendly staff and great blackboard specials. Really airy, yet vintage vibe with old record jackets on the wall and a wooden stag's head above the fireplace. Great coffee, pancakes, salads...it's all fab.

Paddington Grind: It's a block away from our old apartment, but that's not the only reason why we went. The eggs benedict and porridge are delicious and the coffee top notch. For some reason it's a favorite for hardcore cyclists so if you're going early on the weekend, watch out for the hoards of men in lycra!

Eat Thai: This is the restaurant we've frequented the most. The the yellow curry and pad see ew are the bomb. Curry puffs are also good as a starter. It's a lot of food though..always leftovers for lunch, which isn't a bad thing!

Rockpool Bar & Grill: This place is pretty swanky and I'm sure the menu is fabulous, but we've only ever gone to the bar and ordered a burger. It's a $20, but oh so worth it. The onion rings are also yummy. Bring your appetite!

Love Supreme: This place can be easily missed as the front window is full of stacked pizza boxes and crates of veggies..kind of weird, but once you get inside it's a buzzing local gourmet pizza place. The Parma is my favorite! 

Agave: So, good Mexican food in Australia is basically non-existant. We're talking kidney beans in burritos...bad bad bad! Agave is the best, most authentic Mexican food we've found. Our friend Alane does it justice in her review here. Btw, The huevos rancheros are great if you go for brunch.

The Local Taphouse: This place is great, if you love beer. They have an extensive international beer list and serve each beer in a different glass, it seems. They have beer flights and tastings as well. The bar is really cute and cozy with lots of little rooms for hanging with friends (the upstairs has antique bird cages hanging from the ceiling!). My only gripe is that they didn't have Sierra Nevada when I ordered, even though it was on the beer menu.

Speedos Cafe: Right near the beach in North Bondi, this place is always packed with half dressed people getting coffee and grub (hot coffee + beach is so weird, but the Aussies seem to love it). Given it's right down the street from our new apartment, we decided to try it shortly after moving to the area. I had a fabulous bircher muesli and chai latte and Mike had a ham and cheese croissant and flat white. My recommendation would be to get there early or try to go on a weekday. Also, don't make it a habit because it's not cheap!

More to come in the next installment..maybe next I'll review activities next like yoga, hiking, sailing etc. 

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 weekend we traveled to South Australia to enjoy some wine and wildlife! Inspired by a trip that our friends Chris and Jess did about a year ago, we spent time on Kangaroo Island and the Barossa Valley, one of Australia's most famous wine regions. 

We flew Tiger Airways to Adelaide on Friday afternoon. Tiger offers incredibly cheap fares (20-30 dollars), but you definitely get what you pay for.. there's no online check-in and the service is notoriously bad. Oh well, it got us to Adelaide in one piece! After checking into the airport hotel we took the bus into Adelaide to walk around. There really wasn't much to see there as a visitor except for some interesting old buildings and churches and the University of Adelaide was quite pretty. Our favorite part of the city was where we had drinks and dinner - Apothecary 1878, which I had read about it in the Good Food Guide in advance. Mike had an authentic mint julep in a special pewter cup and after drinks we headed down to a brick wine cellar for a yummy dinner.

We had an early flight the next morning to Kangaroo Island, which we were okay with given our motel was slightly creepy. There was a hot tub in the middle of our bedroom and the curtains didn't quite blind the fluorescent sign outside (a la Kenny Rogers Chicken from Seinfeld). We were picked up by our wilderness guide after arriving at Kingscote Airport and within minutes of being on the road we saw a koala in this big dead tree and a black tiger snake (apparently the 4th deadliest in the world, eek!).  Our guide first took us to a forested area where we saw koalas hanging out in the trees. After morning tea we headed to Flinders Chase National Park to see Admirals Arch and the Remarkable Rocks. Then our guide Peter, who has been a sheep farmer on Kangaroo Island for 30 years, made us a delicious BBQ lunch. In the afternoon we ventured to Seal Bay, a nature reserve and breeding area for Australian seal lions...it was cool to get relatively close to these animals.

With temperatures at 37C (99F), we were all pretty hot so we waded into the water at Vivonne Bay, which was rated Australia's best beach 2002. The water was so turquoise blue and amazingly clear! Peter then drove us through his farm on the way to a local sheep dairy where we got a cheese tasting and tour. It was fun to see the sheep's milking routine and understand all the work that goes into producing cheese and yogurt.

After about nine hours of touring we were driven to our B&B called Seascape Lodge. It was a wondeful place overlooking Emu Bay. After we went swimming at the beach, we had drinks on the deck and the owners made us a three course meal followed by a yummy brekkie the next morning. We felt very spoiled and it was difficult to leave and get on the plane again.

Although, after getting back to Adelaide the fun didn't stop! We drove about an hour out of the city to the Barossa Valley. We visited four fabulous wineries, Two Hands, Hentley Farm, Rockford and Turkey Flat. A lot of the wineries had a really nice rose, which I was loving given the weather. Our accomodation was a self catering little cottage originally built by German emigrants in the mid 1800's. Mike killed a HUGE spider right when we got there, so I was a bit worried about the bug situation the whole time.

The next day we visited two more wineries, Bethany and Teusner. Teusner doesn't have a cellar door so we had a private tasting in the wine production area and liked it so much we purchased a case. On the recommendation of Chris and Jessica, we drove about 30 minutes outside of the Barossa to Wombat Rise, an animal sanctuary for injured or orphaned wildlife.  They had lots of birds including Galahs, Cockatoos, Kookaburas and Owls plus twenty kangaroos, several wombats and more. I got to cuddle a wombat and play with several young kangaroos!

It was a busy weekend, but I feel like we really saw a lot and had some unforgettable experiences. You'll see in the photos that Mike has some facial hair.. nope he didn't forget to shave, he's growing a mustache (aka mo) for Movember. More to come.

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!