I See the Girls Walk by Dressed in Their Summer Clothes

Welcome to Oz and to the middle of what has been a stronger summer for weather than usual.
I first got to see Sydney out the window of my plane.  We came from the east but had to land from the west, so we got to do a picturesque flyby.  I stayed at a hostel that was like a hotel.  It had a pool, sauna, little movie theater, tv lounges, only you share rooms.  I quickly learned that Sydney is home to giant bats.  Yes that's right, really large bats that come out before twilight so you can get a real good look at them.  The beach at Manly is quite exceptional.  It was reminiscent of some Jersey shore beaches, but with a shallower grade, warmer water, and very fine sand that refuses to come off.  It was bright and sunny and warm, so essentially perfect for the beach.  I was surprised to see a Ben and Jerry's store right across the street.  The ferry ride to and from is well worth whatever I paid.  You get great views of the harbor and downtown, bridge, opera house, everything.

After my sunburn recovery day, I went to the Sydney aquarium, down on the waterfront.  They have many types of fish, a platypus, and a Great Barrier Reef tank.  Their highlight though is a pair of tanks that you get to walk under, through glass tunnels.  One has sharks and rays, the other has sea cows and big fish.  One strange thing that they did was have little displays for animals that don't exist, that could evolve from present species years from now.  The next door Wildlife World featured most of the big names on Australia's creature list: kangaroos, venomous snakes, and a huge saltwater crocodile.  I saw the big Chinese New Year Parade on my way back.

Watching the Super Bowl is an annual American tradition.  In Australia, not so much, unless you really want an excuse to skip work.  "Super Bowl Monday," as it is, is a Sydney tradition mainly limited to sports bars in tourist areas.  That said, the bar I was in got very crowded, as they ran out of seats and people had to stand to watch the game and halftime show.  The game was on Oz's ESPN (whereas it was on Fox in the States) and featured only generic Australian commercials.  This did, however, allow me to learn that ESPN here has an Australian version of Pardon the Interruption, and just hearing the guys argue in that commercial made me laugh.  In the end Green Bay had more supporters (though I did see a terrible towel), and I say it's because they wear yellow and green, the colors of Australia's national teams.

Sydney also has some great parks, including a large free botanical garden.  I spent almost a whole afternoon just walking through, stopping to read, watching guys play chess on the big board.  Many birds live in these places, pigeons of course but also parrots.  The old part of town, The Rocks, has a fun little charm to it.  It's at the southern foot of the Harbor Bridge and was the site of the original European settlement.  An old restaurant there named Pancakes on the Rocks serves some really fantastic pancakes dishes, both savory and dessert, including their yummy chocolate ones that I tried.

I'm in Melbourne now, which while being almost as big a city, comes with a noticeably different feel.  Sydney is very buttoned-up, very much about business.  Melbourne is more laid back.  It's the home to almost every major sporting event that happens in Australia, and to an indie film scene, and immigrant neighborhoods for the Greeks, Italians, and Chinese.  The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the most hallowed sports stadium in the country, let alone the city, but I witnessed my first Aussie Rules football game at the newer Etihad Stadium.  The roof was closed and 3 teams played 3 games in the first round of the preseason tournament.  Richmond got clubbed by both Carlton and Collingwood.  Then Collingwood outlasted Carlton to advance to the next round.  Things were very hectic inside the stadium, since all 3 of those teams are based in the Melbourne area, and 40,000 people (about half of capacity) came out to scream for their side.  Did I mention this was preseason?  I picked up on the rules fairly quickly, but I have to give some credit to the couple seated next to me, Deb and James, for clarifying some finer points for me (and for giving me a ride back to my hostel afterwards).  Thanks guys.

Just outside of Melbourne is the Yarra Valley, the Yarra being the river that runs right through the city.  The valley is very lush, especially at this time of year.  I went with a tour group to visit some of the wineries, like Chandon and Rochford.  The scenery is so beautiful here.  One place appropriately called itself "the shire."  Wines were plentiful and delicious.  Our guide made sure that we knew how to correctly assess each one.  Some chardonnays were a bit too oakey, but I generally like reds more anyways.  I think that a cabernet sauvignon that I tried at the place went to before Chandon was my favorite.  Sadly, I can't remember the name of the place (make your jokes now).  Rochford served us a fancy lunch.  I chose the trout on spaghetti.  Chandon served us cheese with baguette and, of course, excellent bubbly.  The one I tried had pinot noir grapes, so it was in fact dark red.  The tour came with nice people too, which fortunately is a common theme in this land.