014 – Sydney, Australia – Slippery When Wet

The last few days have had a decidedly fluid theme to them. Each has revolved around a different one. Allow me to summarize…

Liquid #1 – Beer (what else?)

We spent all day Sunday at my friend (from U of Guelph) Jen and her husband Dom’s place in Sutherland hanging out and clearing all the dusty old beer out of their fridge.

Dom and Jen whipped up a classic Aussie cold prawn sandwich lunch with a few oysters on the side.

I “enjoyed” it almost as much as my beer cosy.

In the afternoon we meandered next door to the Legion for the much-touted Sunday Meat Raffle and Random Stuff Auction…and (in keeping with the theme) the cheapest beer in town.

Beginner’s luck saw Britt and I both get a chance to spin the big wheel to earn some “lucky loot” for the auction.

We scored a cool 13 G’s!!

“Bring on the auction, baby!”

However, we soon found out that it is common practice for all the blue-hairs to stockpile their loot for weeks in anticipation. Thus we were out-classed by a room full of millionaires. Alas, we watched with dismay as our coveted hotdog boiler with attached bun-warmer went down for 50 grand. We were obviously out of our league.


It’s okay though, we had a second chance to shine when we came up big in the meat raffle and landed some fine lookin’ lamb chops.

All that excitement worked up an appetite, so Ciel left her admirers,

And we flowed back to Dom and Jen’s for a little BBQ to cap the night.  The chops complemented our ceviche and Oysters Kilpatrick (everything is better with bacon) nicely.

 Riight tasty!

Liquid #2 – Water

First it fell from the sky, effectively putting the kaibosh on our Monday open-air bus tour plans. Not to worry, we detoured to the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife World for a few close encounters.

 “Ciel, look out!”

Even the koalas were waterlogged.

Our admission included a free trip up the Sydney Tower.

The view outside was somewhat lacklustre due to the 5 meters of visibility.

 But the view inside the tower was awe-inspiring.

 Liquid #3 – Diesel (okay, so it’s a stretch…)

With the rain clouds gone we were free to partake in Britt’s new favourite pastime…riding around on hop on/hop off buses. (She’s already looking to book one back in Toronto the week we arrive home)

 It’s a handy way to see all the big sites.

Darling Harbour,

Bondi Beach,

This random fountain in King's Cross…

…that Ciel promptly yaked in.

We also used our raincheck to return to the Sydney Tower for a few clearer shots.

 Liquid #4 – Wine ( last, but not least)

Apparently since we’re not in Southeast Asia anymore people actually expect Ciel to be in a carseat. Thus there was a minor setback to our Hunter Valley wine tour plan when the tour operator wanted to charge us 80 bucks to bring her along. After much begging and pleading we managed to whittle it down to 50.

Joke’s on them, our girl can drink!

 I guess Madeleine (Britt’s time zone savvy mum) was just as excited as us about the tour and didn’t want us to miss it. Which is why she gave us a 4:30 am super-chipper “Hi! It’s Nana!” wake-up call to kick start our day. Thanks, Nana.

We visited three “boutique” wineries we’ve never heard of (and probably never will again, as they only sell in Australia): Irongate, Ernest Hill ad Mount View.

With our common sense appropriately inhibited we were suckered into five bottles of wine, one block of chevre and some costly dark chocolate macadamia nut bark.

The best part of the day was when Denise (our Aussie-Canadian friend from the Philippines, Ref. Blog #009) surprised us by feigning gastro and playing hooky (don’t tell!) from the O.R. so she could meet up with us for lunch.

Tomorrow we pick up our RV to start our trek down the coast to Melbourne (Anyone happen to have a map of New South Wales handy? We’re short one…) and our next challenge: Finishing our five bottles of wine and (impulse buy) 40oz of Tanqueray before our next flight…