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!
I've wondered why the handful of islands in Sydney Harbour aren't more accessable to the public. I mean, these are cool bits of land with amazing views! Obviously others have been thinking the same because this year a special Island Hopping tour was announced as part of the annual Crave festival. With the purchase of a ticket, we got to access four islands (Fort Denison, Shark Island, Garden Island and Clark Island) via a special ferry service. On each island we had about 40 minutes to explore, eat a picnic and enjoy some of the entertainment, which was pretty hokey to be honest. You'll see in one of the pics that a lady with a crazy puppet animal seriously invaded my personal space while I was enjoying my sandwich. When swatting it away I was told to give it 'respect'..uh what? Show me some respect! Anyhow, the weather actually cooperated for the first time in a very rainy week and it was a great way to get outside, spend time with friends and see four islands in one day -- something that would be nearly impossible to do on our own with regular ferry service. Next up, the Night Noodle Market in Hyde Park! It's apparently an October tradition as part of the Intnl Food Festival that Sydneysiders look forward to and associate with Springtime. Yay!
One of the first things we planned after arriving in Australia was a ski holiday to New Zealand. Skiing in August in the Southern Hemisphere was something we just couldn't pass up.. I booked the trip after some internet research and a few hours with a Lonely Planet guide, so I was pleased that everything turned out great! Well, everything but the snow conditions. It had been several weeks since the South Island had seen snow, so we had spring conditions for 3 of 4 ski days. The last day we enjoyed powder as it snowed about 20 cm. the night before.
For those interested in the play by play summary, read on.
We flew Air New Zealand direct to Queenstown, which was so worth it. Going via Christchurch would have added a lot of extra driving to an already short trip. After 3 hours and a hot meal on the plane (which I don't think I've had on a short flight since I was 12 or so), we descended upon the South Island and the scenery from the plane was incredible..seemingly endless snow topped mountain ranges, fiords and lakes. After arriving we picked up our rental car from Nationwide, which was a groovy hot blue 4WD Suburu. It turned out to be a perfect car for the trip.
We then headed into Queenstown and checked into Browns Boutique Hotel, a really cute B&B on the edge of town that I had discovered on Trip Advisor. After we got our rental gear squared away, we had a fun night having drinks at the Bunker and pizza at the Cow, a popular eatery in an old stone milking shed from the 1800's. The next day we skied at Coronet Peak, which is only a 20 minute drive on a sealed road from Queenstown. After a full day of skiing, we played mini golf in our Uggs and then headed to battle the crowds at the famous Fergburger. At $12 a pop it was no In n' Out burger, but it was still really good.
The next day we headed up a steep and curvy dirt road to ski at The Remarkables, a small resort with 3 lifts. We couldn't imagine driving that road if there was ANY weather or frost, it was pretty treacherous. We did some skiing and watched freestyle skiers practice for the Winter Games. The highlight I think was our "Snag" sandwiches. For some reason sausage in airy white bread tasted SO good! That evening we had a bottle of wine in front of the roaring fire at Browns that Donald McDonald, one of the inn keepers, kept stoking for us. And yes, I enjoyed saying his name..Donald McDonald.
Since we were in the adventure capitol of the world and had no desire to bungy jump or sky dive, we decided to do the Shotover Jet Boat ride. Shotover Jet has exclusive access to a really cool part of the Shotover River with high cliffs on either side. The ride was so thrilling..it's sort of hard to describe, so we've posted a video below. After our action packed morning we packed up and drove to Wanaka, about 45 minutes north of Queenstown. The incredible scenery continued..there seemed to be a beautiful vista, field with sheep or snow peak around every corner. Amazing! We skiied for about an hour and a half that afternoon at Treble Cone, which was defintely the best ski area out of the 3 we tried. It had a lot of accessable terrain that was all pretty advanced. We really enjoyed skiing there on our last day with powder and blue sky, although Mike was kicking himself that he didn't go heli-skiing that day.
In Wanaka we stayed at a B&B called Wanaka Homestead. It was built within the last few years and the buildings were a beautiful combination of stonework and dark wood. We got upgraded from a lodge room to a "cottage" so we ended up with lots of space to spread out. As a little birthday treat, we even had a massage therapist come to our cottage. It felt so great after days of skiing. The town of Wanaka was much smaller and quieter than Queenstown and a nice change of pace. We ate at two really good restaurants while there, Missy's (where we saw Shaun White!) and Relishes. We drank some wonderful Pinot Noirs, as that area of New Zealand (the Otago region) is known for that varietal. It tasted so delicious with all the meat we were eating like lamb, venison and steak!
After 5 days in Queenstown and Wanaka we both felt we'd just scratched the surface of New Zealand. I'd love to go back during another time of year and spend time driving in a Campervan around the country.
Yesterday, around 75,000 people participated in Australia's 29th annual biggest footrace - City2Surf. The route starts downtown in Hyde Park and finishes at Bondi Beach. The race is Sydney's effort to replicate Bay to Breakers in SF as people are encouraged to wear 'fancy dress.' Yes, that's Australian for 'costume' .. makes me giggle every time. Although, I'm proud to say that SF still wears the crown when it comes to creative costumes, debaucherous behavior, naked people and keg toting during an organized race.
Mike and I finished the 14 km race, running the whole way! We were pleasantly surprised given we'd been fighting some foot/ankle pain recently and hadn't really trained much. The course had beautiful ocean views and we got to run through several areas that neither of us had seen yet. We had fun running with our friends Mitch and Ellaine and celebrating post race with sausages and beer on the beach...nothing like grease and booze to help the body recover, ha!
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to take an overnight offshore sailing course in Sydney. I decided to do it both as a way to get out on the water as well as to brush up on my skills. During the trip we had some good parts and some bad parts. The bad part was the lack of wind (5-10kts) and low seas (1-2m) which didn't really give me much of an adventure on the open ocean...
Now for the good stuff (which was everything else)...Mild wind/seas were the result of a high pressure system which meant sunshine and 70+ degree weather. Not bad to be able to sail in the dead of winter in shorts/t-shirt. We headed out on a 40ft. Beneteau which gave me some good experience on a bigger boat. The instruction was a great success, I had a chance to iron out some bad habits that Kevin and I had inevitably picked up over the last few years in SF. I learned some new things about navigation, especially at night, as a bonus we were able to see meteors, an offshore lighning storm and glowing bioluminescent plankton. The plankton were incredible to see glowing as the boat churned up water (click here to see a youtube video - ours wasn't quite this dramatic but looked similar) We also moored overnight, so I picked up some new tips for mooring/cooking/cleaning, etc. Coincidentally, the bay that we moored in was at the head of the hawkesbury river about 2 miles away from where we took a trip on the Riverboat Postman.
The highlights came on Sunday during the ride home. After waking up in the middle of a nature reserve with a waterfall at the end of the bay, we took care of some anchoring practice then headed back out to the ocean. We had breathtaking sights of the headlands, spotted a pod of dolphins in the distance, and eventually the spout of a humpback whale ahead. After disappearing for about 5 minutes the whale resurfaced directly behind the boat and only about 20 meters away. For the next 15 minutes, the whale followed us through several course changes as we tried to get out of the way (video below). Luckily no collisions, but an amazing up close experience. Overall a great weekend and can't wait to get out again soon.
Recent Comments