Australia's short wet season was even more unusual during our stay because apparently we are witnessing the drought being broken! At one point, as Chris told us, the state was concerned they would run out of water so they invested in a desalination plant, wondering if it would ever rain again... Well, it's raining now! And they have a back up plan now just in case...
Chris took us around on this showery day, and we finally got opportunities to meet the rest of their family! But not all at once, which was kind of amusing in itself. All of their four daughters live around Sydney, with the youngest (our age) at home, but in meeting the three other girls, we got to see more different areas of outer Sydney.
First, we met up with Chris and Janet's oldest daughter and her husband at this cool cafe just down the street from their place. They live in a rather funky, artsy area of Sydney with character found in murals and some graffiti. A lot of people actually live in boarding houses with cast-iron terraces that have been recycled and turned into apartments. And another re-envisioning trend is that old warehouses are remade into restaurants, like the cafe we went to! High ceilings and light wood give it an expansive feel, rather unlike dim and chattery coffeehouses.
Just a few of the cafegoers' brollies.
Sim and her husband Steve are very nice people, and world travelers too! She just got back from three months in Africa and has been all over the place, and the story on Steve, more importantly, is that he is from New Zealand! And for that reason, rugby is a forbidden subject at the table as to avoid sporting rivalry arguments that would take participants out of their typical sweet manner.
On to find daughter number two, Fiona, by way of more interesting places:
- An area known as the gay and lesbian scene and hangout zone - the city in general seems to be very gay-friendly, and there's even a gay and lesbian Mardi Gras festival, one of the largest Pride festivals in the world!
- Sunshine! Ok, this is not a place, but it happened, albeit fleeting.
- Woolloomoolloo Wharf (a fun name) used to be an industrial wharf where sailors and marines would come hang out.
- A dandelion water fountain like the one in Loring Park, Minneapolis! (Ok, so this picture is of the one in Minneapolis, but I could not snap a photo fast enough of the Sydney version... but you get the idea).
- The harbor. Chris wanted to poke around the docked sailboats while he phoned Julia's dad to give him the update on our travels. "16 and a half degrees, it's a regular heat wave!" he reported as the day was progressing in a hopeful manner with some slight sunshine.
The three of us then continued the extended trip home to pick up Janet for the next daughter visit, discussing "blokes" (which Julia and I would replace with "guy" or "bro" in our lingo), the different scenes in north side versus south side (of the harbor), and the importance of not just substance but style as a post-modern cultural value in Australia (yachts, fashion, fancy cars, etc). I am sure there are plenty of Australians who are left behind from these values, but as far as absolute poverty goes, at least in Sydney there appear to be very few homeless. Then again, based on my limited experience in world traveling, there may be a gap between appearance and reality.
Our feet sank the next time we hopped out of the car as we took a walk on the wet beach and watched the pelicans.
While that beach walk grounded us, the next beach, Manly, gave us the best, sky-high view nature could offer of the Sydney harbor.
We popped in and out of the car a couple of times based on the sprinkles, and getting such an excellent view of the coasts got Chris going even more on wanting to get us surfing. But the weather (and timing - we are leaving tomorrow!) is a bit, as he says, "problematical." I'm sure this English works just as well, but perhaps I am too accustomed to hearing people chop off the last syllable!
Mmm, nature. Back to suburbia we went to grab Janet and a quick snack to meet their second daughter, Fiona, and her fiance. The name of the area where we met them escapes me, but it was somewhere in the outer reaches of Sydney's north side. We intended to meet them at a specific place, but it and many other shops were closed for the Queen's Birthday. We did find a cute cafe to hang out with them and have some tea before saying our "It was nice to meet you!"s and moving on to daughter number three. Such a funny way to meet the family, but it works!
We popped up to Emily and her boyfriend's place, quite a nice one for the young couple, by Bondi Beach. Several times over these few days we have been hearing about a TV show about Bondi Beach that sounds reminiscent of Baywatch and is even on American TV, but neither Julia nor I had heard of or seen it before. But Bondi Beach is apparently quite famous as a surfer paradise especially, so of course we had to get there before leaving Sydney. Maybe we'll be able to catch the show when we get back to the states.
Even though it was extremely windy and cold, it was still well worth it to walk along the beach with Chris and Janet (and finally get a photo with them both!) and their daughter Emily.
And despite the aforementioned less-than-desirable temperatures and the fact that the sun was dropping quickly (we're getting close to the winter solstice here...), the surfers were still at it. They have wet suits, right? Still crazy.
It's not just us, that little surfer kid looks a bit chilled too.
I had fun playing around with my camera settings trying to get some interesting shots of the waves, hopefully you readers like these shots too!
So we have been to the famed Bondi Beach, and in our huddled walk to the car, we spotted a beachfront house where we stopped for a little wine and a windowed view on the surfers at dusk. Chris picked out a bottle of Pinot Noir precisely for its name, Juliet. A little wine and pleasant conversation is great. Except when you're running on basically an empty stomach - with all the meeting daughters at cafes etc, we never ate more than snack-sized portions throughout the whole day. So I had never felt anything from wine before because I had always had a little bit with food, but two glasses on an empty stomach got me a little light-headed! International travel definitely makes you learn things about yourself.
So we headed home for another wonderful dining experience, and while that was in the works, we all got some snacks to appease our stomachs (and inner ears). Rosemary crackers and brie is an incredible combination. And Chris broke out an Anderson Pinot Noir, which he told us is made using a basket-pressing method so as to make it less tart, which is definitely desirable, at least in my opinion.
Despite all the snacking we were thankfully still hungry for dinner: sweet potatoes mashed with lime and mint was a new recipe Janet was trying, and I think we would all say it was a success! Though I would say I'm still partial to my mom's dash of pineapple juice sweetened with cinnamon. But both are great! For protein, we got to spear pieces of roasted chicken and also some filet mignon that came wrapped in bacon (a reminder that bacon in this country is nowhere near as greasy as what you would find in the states, it is more liked thin cooked ham). Broccoli and then caramel brownies with ice cream rounded the meal out with good for you and good for your soul.
Feeling stuffed and no longer light-headed, Julia and I set about taking care of the things big (like packing) and small (like friending Ally on Facebook) that would help our trip home tomorrow go smoother. I cannot believe our stay is almost over. I knew it would go quickly, but you never quite realize until it is done. With the majority of everything ready to head out early in the morning, Julia and I decided to stay up a little bit later and watch Music and Lyrics so we could calm our butterflies about leaving this incredible continent and set ourselves up to be tired enough to sleep on the plane ride tomorrow.
What is the "goodnight" equivalent for "G'day mates"? As far as I know, Australians just say, "good night!"
No comments:
Post a Comment