January Week 4

The last week in January included Australia Day on Saturday Jan 25th. To celebrate, Brian and I headed off to the Hunter Valley, about 3hrs north of Sydney, to spend the weekend with some friends. We booked into Potters Brewery in Pokolbin, which was a big hit with all the beer-drinkers in the group, particularly the boys. *Tip for girls: if you want your man to agree to a weekend away, just tell him he'll be staying at a brewery, job done! The Brwerey was actually a great location to stay at, it's one of the highlights for most people's visits to the Hunter Valley anyway, and is included on most organised tours of the area.

We spent Satuday evening ejoying a tour of the micro-brewery and sampling the various brews made on site (I'm not a beer fam, but did enjoy the ginger and cherry ones, Brian loved the Christmas brew that tasted a lot like pudding!). Afterwards we celebrated Australia Day with a bit of a session and some kareoke. Even my 'criminal' singing talents were shared with the crowd when the girls insisted we all belt out Westlife's Flying Without Wings (there is no video evidence of this historic occasion, thank God!). We partied into the early hours, so everyone was a little worse for wear the next morning...
As the Hunter is a well known wine region, we booked ourselves on to a  tour of the local vineyards for the Sunday afternoon (giving us a few hours to recover from our antics the night before). Unfortunately for us, the weather was utterly horrible, with the tail end of a storm battering us with rain and high winds for almost the entire weekend. At one point we left our resort room for breakfast and saw a family of ducks sheltering under a near-by verandah!
Needless to say, after a few wine samples we were barely even noticing the rain, and headed off from vineyard to vineyard dead set on tasting every available wine and cheese type that was on offer! We visited Ballabourneen winery, Constables Estate vineyard, and the Hunter Valley Cheese Company at McGuigan's estate where the girls eagerly bought up half the shops supply of brie and breadsticks. Our next stop was Harrigans Irish Pub for some food and a few drinks before we headed back to the Brewery to relax and watch the Australian Open finals.
The next day we trekked back to Sydney in the torrential rain, a drive that usually takes 2.5-3hrs took an epic 5hrs, torture for the extremely hungover passengers! Despite the weather and the over-consumption of wine and cheese, we all had a great time, we even picked up a few bottles of Chambourcin and Shiraz as souvenirs!

January, week 3

Hi there strangers!

Sorry I fell away from the blogosphere for a few weeks recently! No excuses, but I'm back now and have a few updates and pics to share from the past week or two, so happy reading...

That's Animal Collective behind Brian!

So you'll know from my last entry, I was super excited about going to Big Day Out in Homebush on Jan 18th. Brian and I both took the day off work and made our plans, we went for a late breakfast in one of our favourite cafe's on Crown St, Four Ate Five, where the food is always awesome! it's so good in fact that one of the biggest bands playing at Big Day Out had the same idea as us and strolled up for a spot of breakfast as we were tucking into ours. I had no idea who the scruffy guys at the table opposite us were, but Brian pointed out that they were Animal Collective, an American group set to hit the BDO stage at 10.30 that night. The day was off to a good start!

VIP Bar

Main Arena

Brian chillin in the VIP area

One of the festival greens

Main Arena

Main Arena

Big Day Out was generally pretty fab, the band were all great, it was nice to hear a few new sounds and some old classics too. The Killers were amazing live, as always, and the crowd loved them. Another highlight was Gary Clark Jr, his set was during the hottest part of the day around 3pm, and even the scorching 46 degree heat couldn't deter the crowd that gathered on the green in front of his stage! The crowd was enormous, but the high temps meant there was very little bad behaviour, people were too concerned with drinking water to get drunk (it helped that there was only mid-strength alcohol available outside the VIP area, so getting drunk would have been an expensive and lengthy task anyway!).

Gary Clarke Jr on stage

Things did get a bit crazy during the last headline set of the day, when Red Hot Chilli Peppers took to the stage. Everyone at the festival flooded into  the main arena and it was nearly impossible to make your way through the crowds without being carried away in the sea of bodies! Eventually we made our way from one side of the arena where we had been watching the Killers, to the VIP stands on the far side where we could watch the Peppers from the comfort of the covered seats. check out the size of the crowd during the Karen-O and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs set below-

All in all it was a a big success and we had a ball! It also meant we have a 3 day weekend to enjoy, always a good thing!

Sydney

Sydney, a set on Flickr.

week 2

Hi all,

Not much to report this week, it was a pretty quiet one. The most notable event of the past few days would have to be the record breaking heat felt all across Australia on Tuesday, in Sydney we saw temperatures reaching past 42 degrees, a one day anomaly that sent January 8th 2013 into the history books as the hottest day nationwide in Australia since records began. It was a really bizarre feeling to think that we were here for a historic day, especially when we moved here thinking every day was going to be a scorcher! Everywhere in Sydney workers hid in their air-conditioned offices during the day, while shopping centres and cinemas were rammed with people taking advantage of the free air con in the evening. The heat was tremendous, with a hot wind offering no relief and fanning the flames of over 200 bush fires, of which 20+ were burning uncontrollably across New South Wales. Luckily no lives have been lost, but the devastation can be seen frequently on the news as the fires continue to blaze across the state, currently a number are even visible from space!
On Wednesday temperatures dropped almost 20 degrees to the mid 20s, a welcome change from what most Aussies were referring to as the 'stinker' of a day that came before it!
On Friday we were out and about again in the more hospitable weather, had some awesome sushi and a seafood hotpot at Hotaru Sushi in the Victoria Galleries, followed by a few drinks at The Clock in Surry Hills. Saturday went quickly, just some sale browsing in David Jones department store in the afternoon, then we caught a ferry to Manly where we spent the evening celebrating our friend Bill's birthday. The ferry ride is a tourist highlight, as it travels on a course directly between the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House as it makes its way across the harbour to Manly. The view is always breathtaking! Bill and his fiancé Amy were in great form, and the dozen or so others who were out for the occasion were all having a ball. We started out in 4 Pines Microbrewery where we enjoyed boutique beers and win, 4 Pines have a few unique claims to fame, having sent the worlds first beer into space last march and producing 5 of the top 20 Aussie beers last year. Needless to say the beer-loving guys in the party were in their element!
From there we headed on to Moonshine Cider and Rum Bar, above the Steyne Hotel. Here the party continued until the small hours and there were many birthday singalongs until we were politely evicted a few hours later.
Sunday was lost to well earned hangovers and spent mostly recovering on the couch.
Next week we're off to Big Day Out music festival in the Olympic Park on Friday, so we have a short working week to look forward to. There are some great bands heading the line up for BDO, with The Killers and Red Hot Chilli Peppers both taking to the stage on Friday night. We've got VIP 'Like A Boss' passes, including access to special VIP bar and viewing areas so its sure to be great! No work that day either and temps set to hit the high 30s again should make for an awesome festival experience. I'm very much looking forward to it and owe a big thank you to Santa for my ticket ;)

Roll on the weekend :)

Back soon!

Sarah

January, week one!

Hi Folks,

Well the first week of 2013 has been and gone, and now it's back to reality for most of us. If the January Blues are lurking on your horizon, I suggest filling your time with as much activity possible, distraction is key to surviving the inevitable post-holiday downer. I've made an effort to overcome my usual sofa-hugging evening routine and embrace some additional activity to help the days fly by this past week. On New Years Day a trip to Hoyts Cinema in Moore Park Entertainment Quarter to see the much anticipated (by some of our group!) movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with friends proved a great afternoon's entertainment. We were accompanied by Kieth and Sue, friends who had been visiting us over Christmas from Wellington. They were super enthusiastic about seeing a movie that had been filmed mostly in their city, and which acted as an awesome advertisement for the stunning natural beauty New Zealand is renowned for. Having had little interest in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I imagined this three hour epic would offer a convenient afternoon nap opportunity. Contrary to my expectations however, I was swept away on the wave of enthusiasm generated by my companions, and fueled by a giant popcorn, Malteser and Coke combo, I unexpectedly I found myself wide awake and quite enjoying what Bilbo's adventure. I guess that's one of the benefits of combining low expectations and too much sugar....
Wednesday January 3rd was a bit of a low as we had to say goodbye to our Kiwi guests, and for Brian, return to the daily grind in the City. It's safe to say that when he turned up to his office in his suit and tie (much resented after a week of board-shorts and flip-flops) he was less that thrilled to find that the rest of the office had embraced a casual dress code for the remainder of the week. Work for me was less of a shock, having been back in the office three days between Stephen's Day and New Years. Still, traipsing off to Leichhardt at 7am on Wednesday morning, I was already counting the hours to the weekend!
On Thursday night we had to say a second round of good-byes when we met our friends Emmet and Niamh who, along with Keith and Sue and another friend, Kevin, we had spent Christmas with in Callala Beach. Emmet and Niamh were jetting out of Sydney to continue their round-the-world-adventure in South America the next morning (Emmet and Niamh's travel blog). We met up with them in our local, The Trinity Bar, on Crown St in Surry Hills for a few drinks and to wish them all the best as they ventured off to visit some of our old haunts in Chile, Argentina and Peru. It was sad saying goodbye, but almost as potent was our jealousy at their awesome itinerary! Good luck guys!

Friday was FRIIIIIIIDAAAAY!!!! Thank the good Lord! And it couldn't have come soon enough, never had a three day working week felt so long. Bizarrely, after getting home from work reasonably early, and finding myself home alone for at least an hour before Brian's return, I thought it would be a perfect time to ease myself back into some sort of fitness routine. So before I had a chance to talk myself out of this bright idea, I was pulling on my (too small post-Christmas) running gear and lacing up my trainers and set off for my favourite Centennial Park Run. One hour and 7kms later, delirium had set in and I was a shaking, sweaty mess on the sofa when Brian got home. Between my lack of fitness and the 25 degree heat, I was left suitably wrecked not to venture into the world of exercise again until Monday. Photographic evidence below, smile indicative of aforementioned delirium.

Brian had to work on Saturday, so I enjoyed a lazy morning reading on our roof-top before heading into the city to pick up some end-of-year sale bargains. We dropped by The Queen Victoria Building and the Victoria Galleries, I came away with what I thought was a fab set of Royal Doulton coffee cups to use with my new coffee machine, only to find I'd left one of them in the shop when I got home. Oh well. It's too hot for coffee now anyway!

Sunday was a lazy morning of sunbathing and housework at home, before filling up the cooler bag with a picnic lunch and making our way to Centennial Park for some more relaxing by the lakes. Brian was hiding under the shade of a tree reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods while I lay out in the sun a few feet away reading Snow Falling on Cedars. When we couldn't take the heat anymore it was back home for a BBQ on the roof before the pre-Monday fear set in as usual.

And that was only the highlights, imagine all the thrilling details I've left out :P

Enjoy the links folks, they're far more interesting and informative than my accounts!

Sarah

NYE in the City

Tonight is one of the biggest nights in the Sydney social calendar. The city is world renowned for heralding each New Year with unrivalled pyrotechnic displays and a party atmosphere that's so potent the celebrations have to be broken into to parts, just in case the lightweight partygoers are overcome before midnight. Preparations begin months in advance, with celebrity guests being flown across the globe or numerous special appearances, this year the whispers are around Leonard DiCaprio and Jamie Fox partying at The Star Casino, the Chemical Brothers, Knife Party and Fedde le Grand are all taking to the decks at Bondi Beacs one night music fest, Shore Thing. Australia's sweetheart Kylie Minogue is leading the charge at the fireworks display from Sydney Harbour Bridge, while anyone who makes it through tonight's celebrations can carry on the party at Field Day in the Royal Botanic Gardens where DJ sets by Mark Ronson and live performances by Hot Chip and Two Door Cinema Club, amongst many others, will rock the Domain.
As for me I enjoyed a delicious, wine and cocktail fuelled dinner at Malaya on King St Wharf with some friends. At 11.30 we hopped in a cab home to Surry Hills where we rang in the New Year with cheap bubbly on our rooftop, with glimpses of the spectacular fireworks in the distance. We listened to cheesy tunes and chatted til the wee hours. 2013 is already off to a great start!

See you all there....