Manly Beach

Of course, the weekend before I left Sydney was absolutely gorgeous! Well, at least on the Saturday... I woke up after sleeping in and sunny! Blue skies!

Of course I had to make use of the sun so I decided to head back to Manly Beach which was a bit gray and dismal the last time I went. I am glad I went - it was seriously beautiful out there and the surfers were out in force.

On the way to Manly, in Sydney Harbour:




Manly Beach



Bird preening in the sun



Surfers waiting (wading?) in Paradise




Doesn't this look like a dragon?



Sunset over Sydney Harbour Bridge

Interesting social experiment brewing...

And so far, Sydney people (Sydney-ian? Sydney-siders?) have been... interesting.

We'll leave it at that. For now.

Slightly off topic...

I just remembered that I have been wanting to let whoever reads this blog know about one of my favorite new products! I have only used it 2-3 times, but it has already made me happy.

About 1 year ago, I discovered the Vinturi Wine Aerator which made life with wine so much better. Who can predict when they will want to open a bottle of wine? So that little number would aerate the wine making it drinkable as soon as opening the bottle. (Drinkable, not ideal). The negatives? You have to hold the aerator and pour for each glass = messy. Slightly too frothy when wine poured through. But overall, quite decent. But, I started a fad and now many of the Peds Residents at UCSF have one.

Well, then, to give credit where credit is due, I was watching America's Test Kitchen on PBS one day and they were doing a little test of wine aerators out there. Most were crap but then along came the Wine Finer! I was immediately intrigued and America's Test Kitchen liked it best, so I got on my computer, went straight to Amazon and purchased one. I LOVE it! So much easier to use, just fits in the bottle neck, no frothiness, good aeration.

I wonder if I'll start a new shopping fad in the Peds Department at UCSF? :)

I made it to...

...the Blue Mountains! Specifically to Katoomba to see the Three Sisters. It was gorgeous out today and considering the rainy weather forecast for the remainder of my stay in Sydney, I thought I better make the effort to get out there!

I was worried I wouldn't get enough time up there - there was a fallen tree on the tracks which was really delaying the train ride up and I spent a good half hour waiting at a train station. Considering it takes 2+ hours to get there, every minute counted. But what a good deal travelling by train - $10.80 round trip!

Luckily the weather hung in there for me...

I decided against the Skyway and to walk the trail instead. It was wet and muddy on the trail given the almost nonstop rain we've been having. Luckily I only had one shaky moment.

Katoomba Cascades:





Three Sisters from the Cliff Walk Outlook:



Three Sisters from Echo Point:




View from Gordon Falls:

Back O' Bourke

Here in Sydney there is a saying that when you are "Back O' Bourke", you are somewhere out there, i.e. in the Outback where it is remote and deserted. See here for proof. Well, today, I went to Bourke! To see patients with the Flying Doctors.

We left early from Bankstown airport and had to make one stop before landing in Bourke. And actually, we lucked out - we were actually delayed because there had been a lot of fog earlier in the AM and they weren't sure we would be able to land. Luckily, the fog burned off and we were able to land.

Here is our plane:



Then we heard a story from our host physician. Apparently, green frogs like it damp and dark and where is the perfect place to relax? In the local toilet at the Bourke Airport! Makes you think twice before you decide to just sit down on the toilet, hunh? Well, lucky us, when we arrived at Bourke, we decided to have a look:




Awesome!!!

Seeing patients there was lovely and having the experience to get out to Bourke for the day was absolutely wonderful.

On the way back from Bourke (who's that flying the jet???)

Weekend in Adelaide Part Deux

This time I went with my sis and we did some wine tasting. Weather wise, it was pretty wintery - watery wintery, I mean, à la San Francisco.

But, it was still beautiful and more, the wine was mostly divine.

Sydney at night, aerial view:




Day One Barossa Valley:

Two Hands - solid, lots of Shiraz
Torbreck - meh. it got crowded too which didn't help.
Laughing Jack - named after the Kookaburra bird and its laugh. A small family own/run winery which was fantastic for the experience of tasting wine with the winemaker, trying some of their just-put-in-the-barrels-2010 wintage. Definitely a winner.
Langmeil - solid. Oldest vines in the valley here!
The Willows - meh

Then we went to see some wild kangaroos and to Mengler's Hill for the lookout!




One the way back to Adelaide:



Just of note - we went to a nice restaurant that night called Assaggio. The interesting part was finding out that apparently in Adelaide, you need a special "Take Away" license in order for guests to take their leftovers home. So, when in Adelaide and going to dinner, definitely go hungry or be prepared to lose your meal and pay good $$ for it.


Day Two McLaren Vale:

Gemtree - meh. not worth going back.
Spring Hills - again with the winemaker which was fun. Good value for wine. Mourvedre very nice
Samuels Gorge - unexpectedly nice. would go back.
Alpha Box and Dice - see my previous blog. But I will say - the winemaker Justin Lane has an awesome memory - remembered my co-worker and thus me. Great fun that day watching their kids and other kids having fun and trying to bring a lion piñata down!
Olive Grove - for their fantastic olive products - yummmmmmmmm
Olivers' Taranga - lovely wines
De Lisio - one of our absolutely favorite wineries/experiences this trip. Kristina sat down with us and was absolutely fantastic to speak with - too bad we only had 1.5 hours to chat with her! Definitely will be looking for this wine in the US - especially the Catalyst.

Sunny Day in the City with my Sis

Friday 5/28 was a lovely day in the city and my sister got to explore a lot of it! Thankfully, I did get to enjoy some of it with her. Unfortunately, she didn't get to try Mamak, that lovely Malaysian restaurant - oops, I got the hours wrong which wouldn't have been too disastrous except that I was also running late from work! Oh well, next time. :)

I think Je's favorite thing was actually the bike lanes. :)



But we walked through the canopied trees in Hyde Park which was quite beautiful:



And then saw this guy making gigantor bubbles! One came right at me! (Not this monstrous one)



But we found the giant chess set in the park - sadly, for Je, the pieces were only about 2 feet tall, not life size. Too bad! (Photo courtesy of J Lau)



St. Mary's Cathedral in Hyde Park was quite lovely with the shadows:



And then on our way back, we took some photos of the 2 sisters enjoying their walk in Sydney:

Rainy Day has It's Bright Side!

Rainy Day in Sydney

It was a rather rainy day in Sydney when I decided to check out the QVB. Along the way over, I walked through Hyde Park, but didn't spot the elusive giant chess board. It must be further north in the park!



Then, there it was, the QVB!





It was very pretty, a bit out of my price range though. :)

I then walked several blocks away to try some Malaysian food. It's hard to find good Malaysian food in San Francisco, sadly. Since I am out here, I decided I better get as much as I can. :) I went to Mamak, and it was lovely. Affordable first of all. The Roti canai was delicious and flaky. The satay was to die for - tender, and the peanut sauce it came with! The Mee Goreng was also lovely. Of course I left with leftovers - perfect for my lunch tomorrow! (All three dishes = $23.50) I think I may need to come back before I leave Sydney.

I can't believe that I only have about 10 days left. I don't want to go back to the US.

Masterchef Australia!

So good this week that I have to post about it.

Marion is my fave to win and she beat the Masterchef this week! Yay!

And the next challenge looks awesome!

I better be able to watch MA once I get back to the states.

Sydney Harbour and Manly Beach

I started the day with a migraine but after loads of caffeine (in the form of espresso) and ibuprofen (Neurofen here in Australia) and Tylenol (Panadol here in Australia), I managed to make it upright. As the day sort of cleared up - I decided I should make use of the ferries and check out some of the Sydney sights.

Here is the first ferry I took leaving from Circular Quay:



Finally - proof I am indeed in Sydney! :)



Pretty Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge:












I then went to the famous Manly Beach where pro-surfers from around the world come to surf here. It was a bit gloomy out but I did see some surfers out. The surf didn't seem very high. But what do I know?





Then, I went to a fantastic restaurant at the end of the walking path - Le Kiosk. Seriously? Best meal in Australia so far. I started with Sydney Rock Oysters and a glass of Australian Chandon Brut. 2 were natural and 2 were warm - all were excellent. I then had the Blue Crab Tagliatelle (entree portion) 'cause I couldn't eat too much more, but darn if I didn't wish I got the main portion size! :) The crab melted in your mouth, the tagliatelle was just perfect. Mmmmm.



Btw, I love my Kindle - I take it EVERYWHERE!



On my way back to the ferry, I saw this:



I can't believe the mother let her kids climb this 1) because it probably shouldn't be climbed on and 2) her kids were little and this thing was high - with nothing but concrete below! What if they fell head first???!!!

Daintree Rainforest

On Sunday, we head off to the Daintree Rainforest to engage in some Jungle Surfing - ziplining in the forest!

The drive there was pretty - very rural, sugarcane plantation after plantation. Kind of like Hawaii was back in the day! Once we hit Daintree Rainforest, we saw lots of signs warning us of the Cassowary bird, a flightless bird. The best was this one:



Again, because of Jocelyn's excellent research, we went with the Jungle Surfing company. We got geared up in a harness and a helmet - all with their own name on it. Je was Tinkerbell (she was almost Stifler's Mum!!!), Sean was Spiderman, and I was Cinderella.

There was a total of 4 platforms. I think we expected the distance between the platforms to be longer, but no matter - it was still fun! Especially when they let us go fast or upside down. :)



After, we drove back but stopped along the road to check out the beaches. It was relatively low tide so we got to see some cool things. Like this:



Obviously something was under the sand, oxygenating, and thus sending up piles of wet sand - almost seemed like gross worms! Ewwww!

Je and me on the Beach:



Later, we stopped at another beach and this time, we saw these sections covered in little sand balls!





But they made beautiful patterns.



We also happened upon the Daintree Ice Cream Company. Mmmm. They have a gorgeous orchard of all different fruits in front and they make ice cream with what is in season. They had Black Sapote, Wattleseed, Mango, and Coconut. We all had our favorites - mine was wattleseed and je's was mango - but honestly, they were all very tasty!