Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains

Here are a couple pics from a quick day trip to Wentworth Falls.  Travis's cousin Coe visited while on business, and we were more than happy to catch up with him when he wanted to get of town for a bit.

By the way, you won't see the actual falls in these pics because there were too many stairs to climb down to them.  We heard the water rushing though.  (I am so out of shape!)

(Link to PicasaWeb)

Neon is back!

Raise your hand if you thought you had seen the last of neon when the 80's ended? Well, I sure did!

Neon is everywhere in Sydney, and I suppose it makes sense if you start to look at why it's used so much.  Sydney is a very labor intensive, manufacturing/industrial city.  So, there are a number of factories and warehouses.  The neon goes to good use there.  All the workers are required to wear neon green, yellow, or orange shirts, vests, fleeces, jackets for safety reasons.  Many of the city workers do the same, from rubbish collectors to street cleaners to motorway workers.  You certainly can't miss them.  It's sort of funny though because you wander into the local sandwich shop at lunch, and you have no idea who is who.  There is only a sea of neon before you.

Melbourne

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to Melbourne.  Melbourne is the capitol of the state of Victoria, and it definitely presents a different city feel than Sydney.  There is a little more of a European feel there, with small laneways and shopping arcades to happen upon.  Melbourne has much more theatre, cafes and cultural events than Sydney as well.

Actually, Travis took me to see the musical Wicked while we were there.  I can't believe I had to travel all the way to Australia to finally get the chance to see the show.  It was good though.  I bought the book, but I could never get into it.  I think the musical version was probably much more my speed.

One of the days, we took the local street cars to St. Kilda to see a little bit of coast line.  Melbourne has the Yarra River running through it, and the coast looking out towards Tasmania is not far at all.

(Link to Fraus Restaurant)  Here is a link to one of the yummy restaurants we ate at while there.   Fraus serves yummy hot chocolate with many flavors to select.

(Link to PicasaWeb)

My Aussie Dictionary - Volume 2

Slowly, I am starting to get the language down, but here are a few more words that are a little different than in America.

Doona - Down Comforter

Knackered - Exhausted, wiped out

Nappies - Baby diapers

Nibblies - Snacks or Hors de heuvres

Plastic Cheese - Kraft Cheese (or American)

Prawns - Shrimp

Rice Bubblies - Rice Krispies

Rock Melon - Canteloupe

Sultana Bran - Raisin Bran

Sunnies - Sunglasses

Tomato Sauce - Ketchup or Katsup, however you choose to spell it

Hamish & Andy

Okay, these guys are definitely the highlight of my evening commute home.  They pull some of the funniest stunts.  Prior to the Olympics, they were working on "the People's Chip."  One night, they had a rep from the major chip company, Smith's, which is pretty much the Australian Lays company.  Anyhoo, the guys started in on all the cool flavors you could have in a chip, which led them to ask if you could just call up Smiths and ask them to make a particular flavor.

Turns out, you can!  So, the guys set out to find the flavor that would truly represent the people of Australia.  Over a period of weeks, they had listeners write in with their wish list of flavors, and at one point, Hamish decided that they should blend multiple flavors.  Much to Andy's disagreement of the combined flavors, Hamish waged on.  So, they did a practice run taste test where Andy mixed a bunch o' stuff in a blender and made Hamish drink it...  The reaction was priceless...  I laughed so hard, I was basically crying!

In the end, Hamish agreed that only one flavor could survive, and from amongst the many suggestions, the gravy chip was born.  Of course after listening to this whole series of shows for so long, I had to try a bag, and they were pleasantly delicious.

If you get some free time, check out their website, and watch their footage about Ghosting. 

(Link to Hamish & Andy website)

Bark in the Park

Here are some pics from the recent dog festival at the park nearby.  Molly wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it was kind of fun.  They had the Aussie version of the Dog Whisperer and a grooming station.  Kind of funny but a nice afternoon out.

Greatest American Hero

Sydney radio stations are nothing to write home about, but every once in a while, you find that golden nugget that just makes you're day.  

I was on the way home from work tonight after a very tiring week, the last round of traffic for the week.  I start flipping stations for some actual music instead of the replays of the morning shows.  When all of a sudden, I land on the beginning of the theme song for Greatest American Hero!

"Believe it or not, I'm walking on air..."  Come on, you know the words... You know you do!

Needless to say, I turned up the volume and sang as loud as I could. I remember that show as if it were yesterday...  What a blast from the past and a funny way to start the weekend!