-
Favourite Sydney Walks (so far)
Sydney is a stunningly beautiful place and one of the best ways that Nick and I have found to explore it has been via the many walks Sydney has to offer. We thought we would share some of our favourites! For reference, here’s a list of the ten best coastal walks in Sydney from Concrete Playground, which we use as inspiration. Spit Bridge to Manly Cove This is our definite favourite of the walks we’ve done. It’s a decent workout (10km with some ups and downs), it’s fun (at high tide you might have to swim part of the trail near Forty Baskets beach, or take a pretty significant stairway…we…
-
Dinner at momofuku seiōbo
Warning: this post contains a lot of photos of food! So don’t bother reading farther if that sort of thing annoys you 🙂 Momofuku, which means “lucky peach”, was started in NYC in 2004 by David Chang, as Momofuku Noodle Bar. The Noodle Bar began as a typical ramen restaurant but soon exploded in popularity when Chef Chang gave the team of cooks permission to use whatever ingredients they liked and cook however they wanted. You can read more than you ever wanted to know about Momofuku at the Wikipedia article – but suffice it to say there are now 12 Momofuku restaurants worldwide, each with a different theme or specialty,…
-
Sydney’s Rainbow Mardi Gras
A few weeks ago, Nick and I were at our favourite local pub having a mid-day pint (as one does) and discovered brochures for something amazing: a gay & lesbian Mardi Gras! It’s effectively Sydney’s gay pride festival, stemming from protests in 1978 (homosexuality was still illegal until 1984 in New South Wales). You can read more about the history here at the Wikipedia article. Nick and I learned that Mardi Gras is Sydney’s second-biggest tourist even of the year! The celebrations began on a Sunday with Mardi Gras fair day – a day of live music, food, and drinks. Next year we will stay for the whole day as…
-
Chinese New Year & Lunar New Year
Happy new year! Nick and I celebrated Chinese/Lunar New Year in style this year in Sydney, which seems to celebrate everything in style! First, there were fireworks to kick off the two weeks of celebrations for the New Year. I went with some friends – Nick missed out on this one as he was stuck at home with a very bad cold. However, the following week he was back to himself and we spent the day wandering around the festival in Darling Park… After riding the merry-go-around (we asked, and the woman selling tickets assured us that we can never be too old!), it was off for dinner at Din Tai…
-
30 before 30: Final Update
Back in 2013 I shared my 30 before 30 list on this blog, separated into 2 posts of things I had done, and things I still had to do: 30 before 30: What I’ve Done 30 before 30: Still To Do I turned 30 in September of 2014, and as I predicted, definitely did not achieve all of the items on my list! I did have an amazing time checking off the ones I did complete, and checked off a few other things that weren’t on the list in the meantime. Of the items left on the “Still To Do” list in September 2013, here’s what I did manage to…
-
Quick Jaunt to New Zealand
One of the first things on our Australia bucket list was to visit my grandmother in New Zealand. I am very close to my grandmother, and Nick loves her as well, so it was a pretty high priority for us to go and see her as soon as we could. That plan came together during the second-last week of January. Just to show you how amazing my grandmother is, here’s a picture of her in her heyday as a go-go/cage dancer, after she had given birth to 4 sons: And without further ado, we were off to the airport! The first thing we did upon arriving, after settling in, was…
-
A Place To Call Home
One of the first big challenges in any new city is trying to find a place to live. Not only do you have to choose a neighbourhood with little to no knowledge about the available choices, but every city seems to have different “rules” about apartment hunting, rental applications, rent payments, etc. Because we relocated for work, we were able to use the services of a local agent who specialises in helping relocating people with all of the above challenges and more. During one of the first conversations we had with her via Skype while we still lived in California, she asked us to describe the type of place we would…
-
First Days in Sydney, Part 2 (Food, Festivals, Driving)
In part one, I covered the beaches & wildlife, and ended the post by saying Nick and I were off to dinner at a local restaurant, which brings me nicely to my next favorite thing about Sydney… FOOD! Everywhere we have been here, the food has been fantastic. Sydney has a worldwide reputation for great food and great coffee, and boy have they earned it. Even when we visited the most hole-in-the-wall pub, with sticky floors and tables and a surly bartender, the burger we ordered was cooked to perfect medium, juicy and clearly homemade, with a gorgeous salad and fresh hot chips. We are looking forward to our first…
-
First Days in Sydney, part 1 (Beaches & Wildlife)
Well, we’ve now been living in Sydney for a few months – we arrived on Oct 17 and it’s now Jan 10 – and I think it’s about time for a quick photo-heavy post about our first experiences in this amazing city. Instead of going through as a timeline, I’ve grouped under major headers/experiences… BEACHES (of course) One of the first things we did was check out Bondi Beach, which if you did not know is a fairly famous beach just east of Sydney (technically it’s part of Sydney, but the suburb is called Bondi Beach). We arrived fairly early (well, for a Saturday) and had brunch overlooking the beach, which is stunning-…
-
Last Days in San Jose
Leaving San Jose was a bit sad for us. Not only because we had to sell our coast-mobile dream car 🙁 but also because we really had made some significant connections there with people who we were now close to. We also both really loved the area – with a special fondness for San Francisco in particular. We spent our last few weeks in SJ re-visiting old favourites (especially making sure we got our fill of Mexican food). Let me take you through our farewell to San Jose in a few photos…