The Land Down Under

We just returned from a trip to Sydney, where we did not catch a glimpse of Crocodile Dundee, but we did spot a Subaru Outback. To be honest most of the cars there were either Ford or Chrysler, who knew!?

Oops

The first part of our trip was a little rough. The flight was long (7.5 hours) and packed. The man sitting next to me was angry at me that I wouldn’t switch seats with him; he simply just wanted an aisle seat. Not mention my seat was starting to fall apart, which leads me take back my stellar review of Singapore Airlines. Apparently, there is a big difference between economy and executive economy. After collecting our luggage and breezing through customs we headed to the money exchange, only to discover all of our Traveler’s Cheques to be missing. Realizing that they likely were on the immigration checkpoint counter, John frantically tried to convince an airport official to go and look. I suspect they only look half heartedly as they came up with nothing. We got in a cab, a bit stressed, but hopeful at least it wasn’t cash :/ It took us nearly a week to get replacement cheques, which we now would like to dispel the myth that traveler’s cheques are easy to replace. Thankfully we weren’t penniless because it turned out that I had accidentally packed my jeans in the wrong suitcase and they never made it to Sydney. So I spent the first couple of days of our trip in my dress pants. I did manage to find a pair of jeans on clearance for $30.

The Pope

Realizing all was not lost we pushed forward our first day in Sydney. After grabbing a bite to eat things started to get better. We headed off to find…the Pope! It turned out that at the same time we were in Sydney so where nearly 200,000 pilgrims who were attending World Youth Day. These pilgrims where made up of mostly 16-18 year olds who ran around (Left- Starting to feel a little crazy)the city screaming “Oy, Oy, Oy!” or stopping on the street to tell passerby that “Jesus Loves You.” (Above- Swiss Guard aka Men in Black Pope Security)We spotted them saying mass at the harbor, on cliffs, on the beach, in parks, in churches, outside of churches. We even heard a gaggle waiting for a ferry chanting, “We love Pope.” John and I waited about 2 ½ hours to see the Pope in his Pope-Mobile. It was an extremely disappointing event. It turned out the Pope’s security got nervous and he flew by going at least 25 mph. We had to laugh when the following day a news caster announced “Slow Down Pope!” He was much smaller than I imagined.

Wine

Realizing the city was swarming with semi-idolatry Pope loving youth, we decided to head for the hills. More specifically, Hunter Valley –Wine Country! John and I believe (besides seeing old friends) this was the highlight of our trip. The weather was ideal, blue sky and about 70 degrees. It was such a welcome change from the noise and hustle of Singapore. We stopped at a small village to test their “jungle juice [port]” and munched on delicious scones. It reminded me so much of Maine and its tiny villages. From there it was on to Mount Pleasant Vineyard, started by the McWilliam’s family, for a tour, lunch and of course a tasting. Even though it was winter there was still much to see and explore. The people in our tour group where fairly lack luster except of the driver and a couple (in their 80’s) from Tasmania. Of course I had to mention the movie “Young Einstein” to them although the more serious topic became the Tasmanian Devil, which has been inflicted with a very serious facial type cancer that is killing them off in droves. (Even at the zoo they were not to be found). We dined on fish and chicken while sampling four different wines and then John I headed for the wine tasting counter where we settled on a very nice 1979 Limited Reserve port. Next we touched down at the McGuigan Vineyard. We started to notice a trend of Irish Surnames. Ironically, the Irish had a large hand in the wine industry of Australia. Which may have stemmed from the fact that many of the early settlers/prisoners were Irish. Also, it should be noted that Yellow Tail is exported at a cheaper price than you can purchase it in Australia (much to the chagrin of many an Aussie). Here we learned about Muscato and Semillon wines which we have never seen in the US. Our third stop on the tour was to a shopping village that reminded me of the outlet shopping areas of NH and Maine. We were told a wealthy man’s daughter wanted to get married but she couldn’t find her perfect church. Her father not only built her a church, but also a small hotel to house the wedding guests, later came the shops. Beyond these more popular locales we stopped at are many small family run vineyards where you can only purchase their wine at their shops. There are also weekend homes sprinkled all over the countryside and some had their very own mini vineyards.

Food

We had a pretty difficult time finding food in Sydney that did not cost an arm and a leg. Pub fair seemed to be far and few between. If you wanted anything after 9pm the situation got even worse. The best meal we had was in Surry Hill a trendy Brooklyn like part of town. Billy’s was recommended by one of the porters at the hotel and he couldn’t have been more right. I am still dreaming about the Oysters and the amazing chocolate pudding, which was something between a soufflé and a molten brownie served with both a chocolate and a cream sauce. YUM!! After dinner we took a stroll, hit up a trendy local bar and found a bar/restaurant called the White Horse. For those of you who don’t know there is an amazing restaurant in Jersey City called the Light Horse. We found this hilarious as there is also Sam’s Warehouse instead of Sam’s Club, and a Hungry Jack’s instead of a Burger King. Our food binge continued with our friends Sara and Tracy. They took us to a German eatery where the beer was big and the Schnitzel even bigger. What I didn’t realize before my trip to Sydney is that there is a strong German influence there. You can pretty much find Schnitzel anywhere. A few days later we took a ferry ride across the bay to a town called Manly where John’s friend Sara, who he met in Japan, took us to a great restaurant where we had more yummy Oysters and KANGAROO! It’s quite delicious. We were also treated to a very special dinner our last night in Sydney by John’s (Below-Kangaroo served rare) friend Don from work, where we dined on more fabulous Oysters and very trendy Italian.

Zoo/Bondi Beach/Sydney Harbour

Sydney offers some breathtaking view and sights. According to all the tour guides it's the most recognized city in the world...I happen to know some New Yorkers who might beg to differ. Alias it pretty spectacular. The Sydney Zoo was stellar. All of the animals seemed to be very up beat and aside from some annoying tourists who insisted on touching all the animals the experience was A+. John's friend Sarah was kind of enough to show me around the dazzling Sydney water front areas including the famous Bondi Beach while John was at work. One really neat thing I saw was the salt water pools that are installed along the coast and fed by natural waves that will crash over into the pool. We also came across a cooky homeless person living on the edge of cliff. The authorities don't seem to mind, but from time to the person gets kicked off (not literally), but he always returns. You can't beat the view.

Next Stop Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia....