Sydney, a Derby, and Christmas

Hey look everyone.  Its an update.

Sorry for the lack of any type of posts or pictures, at least for those non-facebook followers.  May headed back to the states for a wedding leaving me alone in Melbourne to fend for myself for 3 weeks.  That basically meant that all of my survival skills went to trying to cook a meal that didn’t kill me and therefore updates would be a luxury.  But now that I’m here to give you an update, it just means it is going to be very random.  You’ve been warned.

Sydney

Thanks to work, I was sent to Sydney for a week to complete training.  While many would view this as a great way to sight see, I ran into two problems:  weather and work.  Work is the obvious one since I would be in a meeting room all day, every day during the week so I would be left with little time in the evenings to venture out.  The weather was the worst the first two days thanks to a storm that rolled in.  And by storm, I mean super ultra monsoon of rain.

However, when it subsided, myself and a colleague made our way out.  The primary stopping point would be the Opera House (of course) but prior to that we had 3 minor stops that are of interest to point out.  The first is Home Thai, a spot for dinner one night that I thought was fantastic.  For the price and quality it really hit the spot and I’d offer others to try it out if nearby that section of Sydney.  The second is Baxter Inn, a bar that one would never find if they did not know where to look.  If you can’t find a whiskey here to enjoy then I believe you might never find a whiskey.  Finally, my crocodile burger at Blackbird Cafe.  This was lucked upon as the weather was turning poor that evening and we needed food prior to returning to the hotel to end the night.  I’ve had alligator before not crocodile.  I can’t quite explain the taste as it was different from many other things.  The texture could only be described as what you find in a vegetarian burger patty.  That will turn many of you off from it but I would easily order it again as it was quite tasty.

Now of course there was the Opera House.  I’d have to say that sitting in front of this beautiful structure with the Harbour Bridge occupying the other portion of my view was magnificent.  I could have easily sat here all night just looking around at the lights and sounds of Sydney.  I’d describe it more but it wouldn’t do it justice.  Of course, neither do my pictures as my smartphone’s camera was pretty bad as well.  I might have at least one reasonable picture in the group but don’t get your hopes up.  May is the one with the legit camera phone.

Melbourne Derby

We moved from AFL and Rugby and now we are on to the Football Federation Australia A-League.  That means soccer to the normal Americans.  Thanks to friends here in Melbourne, we were treated (by paying our way) to the Melbourne Derby between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City FC.  This game lived up to the “hype” as it was a scoring bonanza.  While the quality of play was not exactly “A” league material, we did get to see loaner David Villa in action as well as get a taste of the Melbourne Victory fans.  The fans were really into the game from start to finish and made me long to sit in their section just to partake in the soccer h0oligan festivities.  Hey look, I think they are trying to start a riot fire again.

Christmas in October?

And finally, its Christmas time in October.  In the states, we would always complain about the Christmas season edging earlier and earlier with each passing year, but we’ve never reached the early saturation of October.  I see this more as a byproduct of no large holidays to push the season out.  In the US, we have Halloween and Thanksgiving.  That’s not the same here.  One thing to note in the pictures below is the cost of the Christmas tree in the picture.  At that price, I can guarantee that we will not be getting that one.  If that’s the normal prices, then I’ll be wandering the streets with a hatchet and eyes searching for a reasonable tree.