Sunny in Sydney

Our weekend started nicely with a trip to Cooper’s Alehouse in Adelaide for schnitzels on Friday night! Schnitzels are pretty big over here and you can get yours (beef or chicken) with just about anything on it. The Alehouse, as you can imagine has all the Cooper’s beers available on tap and a variety of other beers. Ellyn started with a Cooper’s and John with a Vale Ale (see previous post for our obsession with this beer…so good!). Ellyn then switched to a Vale Ale for her second beer – it is that good that we’d be in one beer company’s alehouse but drinking another beer! We turned in for an early night as our flight to Sydney left at 6am the next morning.

We managed to catch the bus on time this Saturday and made it to the airport in plenty of time to catch our flight. We caught a bit of sleep on the flight over so we would be sure to have plenty of energy once we got to Sydney. Once landed, we caught the train into the city and walked to our accommodation which was quite close to the train stop (thought not as close as it should have been as John wouldn’t listen to Ellyn’s directions!). Our room was ready for us, which was awesome, so we checked in and went to the room to freshen up. We were staying in The Rocks and our hotel was built on top of what is known now as “The Big Dig”. It is an archaeological site that is still being surveyed. The hotel was built on stilts above this and the center of the building is completely open and looks down into the site. There are artifacts and interesting findings throughout. It was really quite fascinating. As we walked in to our room, Ellyn went straight to the window – talk about a room with a view! Our window overlooked the Sydney Harbor, Circular Quay, the Sydney Opera House and The Rocks. Simply amazing. But enough looking – let’s go check it all out!

A bit hungry as we’d had no breakfast, we head to The Rocks Market (vendors set up in the streets of The Rocks, the oldest area in Sydney, which is the oldest city in Australia). We grabbed a coffee and muffin and walked around the streets to take in the little shops. There were artists, jewellery, food, clothes, etc for sale. We ducked into a few alleys and read some of the historical markers to get a feel for where we were. It was then time to head to Hyde Park to grab our packet for the main reason we were in Sydney – the Sydney Harbor Bridge Run! We walked through downtown and Circular Quay for two reasons. Obviously, to take in the sights but, possibly more important, to get our “weekend gear”. If you remember from the Melbourne post, John came up with the brilliant idea to get something different to wear for the weekend. Ellyn thinks this is a great idea as each picture from this trip we’ll be able to easily identify our location by what we’re wearing! For Sydney, John’s idea was screen printed t-shirts with various sayings on them. Ellyn was not a huge fan of this for two reasons – a) screened printed t-shirts make her think of a fair and b) we are supposed to wear the item the entire weekend…a t-shirt two days in a row? That’s just gross. But, she was willing to go along with it if we were able to find a vendor for screen-printed t-shirts (she knew this would be close to impossible). So John’s backup plan was funky “wayfarer” sunglasses. Not sure if what we found could be classified as wayfarers, but they most definitely could be described as funky.

We continued on from Circular Quay by the Opera House and through the Botanical Gardens, which were huge and quite beautiful. We were to meet 3 people from work (Sally, Keith and Johann) and Johann’s flatmate, Paul, at the check in area, which was at the base of St. James’ Cathedral, an enormous, lovely church. We all got our bags of gear and then decided to head to Darling Harbour! But not before John and Johann peaked into the cathedral – while a wedding was going on…oops! (We ended up getting a deal on 3 pairs of the shades so we bought 3 thinking we’d be able to find someone else in our group to wear the other pair…we were successful - Keith sported his all weekend too!)

On the way to Darling Harbour, Sally wanted to stop off at Pitt Street Cupcakes – a tiny little shop specializing in yummy cupcakes. Now that’s an idea Ellyn likes! John picked out a tiramisu one while Ellyn went for a traditional Aussie treat – Lamingtons! (Sponge cake dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut.) We wandered the streets of Sydney’s CBD on the way to Darling Harbour, a huge harbour with plenty of boat slips (mostly for mega ships/yachts) and lined with restaurants, bars and hotels. We decided on James Squire Brewhouse for lunch and were able to grab a huge picnic table outside overlooking the Harbour to enjoy the gorgeous weather. We stuck around there for a while just taking in the scenery, nice weather and company. We then decided to head to Circular Quay and just under the Harbour Bridge, looking over at the Opera House for a traditional British drink (we were with 2 Brits and 2 South Africans), Pimms. It is served chilled with lemonade and fruit garnishes. (John and Ellyn decided it was Britain’s version of Sweet Tea Vodka!)

We then decided we’d walk back through the Botanical Gardens as everyone walked through them that morning, but in a hurried state. Although they were really pretty and we saw a family of ducks waddling around, neither John nor Ellyn are “plant people” so our descriptions would definitely be lacking. Therefore, we’ll leave it at they were beautiful! (And a bit weird...)

John and Ellyn decided to head back to the room to shower and get dressed for our big night! We were meeting everyone for dinner at Blackbird Café for pasta (aka carb loading for the race the next day) but, more importantly, John had surprised Ellyn with tickets to the Opera House! (It wasn’t actually a surprise that day; it was a surprise a few weeks before so she could have some say so in the show selection…smart man!) We’d decided on the opera Riggaleto. Neither of us had ever seen an opera and we figured what better place to see our first opera than the iconic Sydney Opera House!?

So, after a yummy dinner, we hop in a cab and are dropped off right at the foot of the Sydney Opera House steps (by the way, at this point, Ellyn is so excited she’s just giggling!). We head to our seats so we are sure to be seated in time. We have box seats on the side just about 5 rows back. (Ellyn was feeling a bit like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman…hehe!) We read the program so we could get an idea of the storyline and when the curtain went up, we were both on the edge of our seats. (We did have a crazy man sitting right in front of Ellyn. Right before the show was to start, he turned around and said “Can you please stop kicking the back of my chair? I’m trying to sit down low so you can see and I really need you to stop kicking me.” Random…John just had his legs crossed and OCCASIONALLY tapped the back of his seat. At one random part of the opera that wasn’t even that funny, he started dying laughing. Then, at the end of the performance, he started clapping rapidly for a random sister in the opera and the maestro. That was it! The only people he clapped for!!!) But the opera was absolutely WONDERFUL! The storyline was great – a bit of rivalry, romance and comedy. There were only a few spots where we weren’t exactly sure what was going on! During each of the intermissions, you could go out on the decks of the Opera House and look out on the Harbour or back on the city all lit up. Champagne toast to a wonderful opera in an amazing venue? Yes, please! (Here's a clip of one of our intermissions; its pretty dark but you can see a great view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpSrif7pQaI)

After the Opera, we headed back to get to bed. John’s race started at 6:20 the next morning and Ellyn’s at 8 am. John was running in a ½ marathon with Keith, Johann and Paul. Ellyn intended to do the 9km but given it didn’t start until 9:20 and she’s not the fastest runner, she didn’t want to give up a day in Sydney to do the run but she did want the experience of running over the bridge and through the city. She opted for the 4km instead!

Here's where the race ended:

John got up Sunday morning, met Keith at the train station and took the train to the North Sydney side of the Harbour Bridge. Their race started at 6:20 and they were fully ready to take on the ½ marathon…both had been training for weeks and their adrenaline was pumping! Ellyn walked over the bridge (our hotel was at the base on opposite side of the bridge from the start) and she considered it a warm up! Her race started at 8. She had been “training” just with normal workouts and just wanted to run the entire thing without stopping to walk! Both completed the race – one a bit happier than the other! Ellyn finished her race without having to walk any. John was not as pleased with himself as he ran out of energy and did not realize he needed more sugar in his system. Once he put two and two together, he grabbed some jelly beans at a water station and was good to go – he practically sprinted the rest of the race!

We walked around the “recovery area” to cool down and grab some water and free goodies (hats, flip flops, etc.)! Then headed back to the hotel to take a shower before meeting up with everyone and heading to Bondi Beach for a late lunch! (We stopped for a coffee and toast on the way back to the hotel to hold us over!)

We all met back up and hopped on a bus to Bondi. It should be noted at this point that John is still wearing his medal from the race. He did not take it off for the rest of the day and his response when we all asked why was, "When else will I be able to wear it?!" Touche. The traffic in Sydney was ridiculous, presumably from the race road closures. Keith, who lived in Sydney for a few months before moving to Adelaide, suggested we get out and walk to a suburb on the outskirt of the CBD where traffic should be less. We figured it was a good way to see more of the city and we’d get to the beach sooner! So we walked to Kings Cross and through Paddington and enjoyed looking at the little shops and cafes (unfortunately just looking, not eating!). We got to the street Keith had in mind and waited for the next bus. As the doors to the bus open, guess what we see? The SAME DRIVER as the one we got out of the bus in the city! We just walked close to an hour to get out of traffic and really, we could have just stayed on the bus the entire time! At least we got to see more of the city, right?!

When we get to Bondi, we walked around the main street overlooking the beach and looked for a good place for lunch. We found a restaurant with floor to ceiling windows that were open and we decided it looked great! After lunch, we did a little shopping and then walked out onto the beach. There was actually a fair amount of people on the beach, though not in the water! Ellyn and John went to put their feet in the water and quickly realized why there weren’t many people in!

After Bondi, the group decided to go our separate ways. We headed back to the city to explore more of the CBD. We went into the Queen Victoria Building, an absolutely gorgeous shopping mall/arcade built in the 1890’s. Even John was impressed and for a building full of shops, that’s saying a lot! We walked into a few little shops in the CBD and then headed back to our hotel. We had a bottle of wine and wonderful rooftop terrace overlooking the Harbour that we wanted to be on for the sunset! We got there in time to enjoy the sunset and take in the city skyline. Luckily, many other people were not using the terrace so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. (Check out John's awesome documentary skills...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5UV1slIwbE) After hanging out for a while up there, we decided it was time for dinner!

We went next door to The Australian Heritage Hotel. We’d heard about their Australian pizzas (and Ellyn remembered it was where she and her mom had been on their trip to Sydney!). We went in and were delighted to see they had Vale Ale on tap! We settled into a little table right by the floor to ceiling doors that opened onto the street side seating (Ellyn thought it was a bit chilly to sit outside) and checked out the menu. We couldn’t decide between prawns, kangaroo or emu pizza. So Ellyn told John to decide or to ask the bartender his favourite. When John came back from ordering, he had a huge smirk on his face…why choose just one?! We had the kangaroo and emu and they were both DELICIOUS! (We decided we’re heading back there on our next trip to Sydney, right before we fly home!)

We had early morning flights on Monday to get back to Adelaide in time for work. Ellyn was still at her main client over here, doing wrap up work to finalize the annual report. John was off the zoo (no more koalas sitting on the girl next to him shoulders…for real!) and onto a new client. Again, nothing too exciting going on during the week – we are giving whole new meaning to the phrase “living for the weekend”!

Leave always wanting more...

After work on Friday, we came home and cooked a nice dinner and chilled out a bit. We needed to go to bed early as our flight to Melbourne left at 6:20 am the next day! Ellyn had checked the bus schedule the night before and saw there were two buses that left our bus stop at 5:05 am. So up and at ‘em early it was! As we walked to the bus stop right about 5, we saw a bus pulling off. No worries…there should another one right after this. So we wait…and wait…and wait. At 5:30am and after about 10 mins of John whining about waiting on public transportation, we decided to catch a cab. (Luckily Ellyn had checked us in online the day before and given the relaxed security measures when flying in Australia, we had plenty of time.)

We board the plane, get all settled and notice two chatty women sitting behind us talking about their day of shopping in Melbourne. Well, isn’t that just lovely but can you keep it down? It is not even 6:30 in the morning on a SATURDAY! Apparently, they were really excited to be travelling away from their husbands and kids for a day of shopping in Melbourne and judging by the amount they chatted, they had not done this in ages. They talked the entire time. Thankfully, we were able to catch a bit of sleep though.

We caught the Skybus into Melbourne and went straight to our accommodation. The location was perfect – just down the street from Southern Cross Station (where we catch the bus to the airport), a few blocks from Federation Square and right in the heart of the CBD. We dropped off our bags and headed out on the town! We walked straight to breakfast in one of the Melbourne’s laneways. (The city is full of little alleys that have been embraced by the city with little shops, cafes, bars, art galleries, etc. There are also some alleys with the walls covered with graffiti, most good enough to be classified as art!) We each got the traditional Big Brekkie (huge toast, eggs, bacon, spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes) and John branched out and added baked beans to his! After breakfast, we headed to Federation Square, the heart of downtown Melbourne! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpI2BX5nr8k) After a quick walk around and stroll along the Yarra River, we went into the Visitor’s Center to pick up some maps and see if there was anything we wanted to do. (Ellyn did not plan a whole lot, just a few things, as Melbourne is more about the atmosphere, as opposed to sight seeing.) We walked around to see a few more laneways (and have John “grope” some of the artwork on Hosier Lane).

Then we hopped on the City Tram. It takes you around the city with commentary about various areas/sights. We rode for a while before deciding to get off and walk to the Queen Victoria Markets – the largest outdoor market in the Southern Hemisphere (you’ll notice there are a lot of “largest in the Southern Hemisphere” in this blog…we decided its because there’s not much competition!). We wandered through the market but only made one purchase – gear (scarves and hats) for the footy game that night! Given that our Adelaide Crows were knocked out of the finals, we needed a new team to support. We were going to watch the Sydney Swans and the Western Bulldogs that evening. The Swans beat the Crows the week before so we decided we should pull for them because they obviously were really good if they could beat our Crows!!

We got back on the tram and headed to Brunswick, the artsy district. We just walked around, did some people watching and window-shopping. Ellyn then decided she was tired of window-shopping and wanted to do some real shopping! But the first store we went in, she bought nothing and John bought a new pair of shoes! We were looking around for a neat place to have a drink but we think we were surrounded by a lot of hungover people as they all looked very “artsy” and were drinking a lot of coffee (though most Australians drink heaps of coffee at all times of the day). As we started back towards the city, we stopped in one last store. As Ellyn was looking around, John had a brilliant idea – we should each pick out a hat for the other one and where it for the rest of the weekend! Awesome! As we started picking out hats for the other, we realized we were picking out totally ridiculous hats just for fun. So we decided we each were allowed to pick out our own, with the others approval, of course! We felt very stylish in our snazzy hats!

We decided to walk back to the heart city to get some exercise and take in more sights. We stopped to check out a huge cathedral but did not go inside as there was a wedding taking place. As we were wandering through the city, we saw a James Squire Brew House. This has been one of our favourite beers, so we decided we just had to go in! We ordered some news beers we had not previously tried and some wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. We found seating in a great spot – two bar stools sitting in front of a large open window overlooking the street. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMTil_mlWIM) We did have a man who had been “over served” stop and talk to us. It was a bit comical at first but quickly became annoying. John politely asked him to leave and surprisingly, there were no issues – he started walking! We then decided to go to a place overlooking the Yarra River with a rooftop bar. Unfortunately, the rooftop bar was closed until the evening (maybe we were too early for drinks…) so we went back to the first floor which was packed (obviously we aren’t too early!). We grabbed a drink and seat to just take it all in. After a drink though, we had to head back to the room to get changed for the footy game!

We hopped on the tram and headed to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds – a HUGE stadium that seats close to 100,000 and is in the parklands just on the edge of the CBD. We wanted to make sure we got there early as this was a big game and we wanted to be seated and ready to cheer our team on when the whistle blew!

Ellyn and John in front of the MCG with our Sydney Swans gear! (Sorry its so dark...we had the camera on the wrong setting!)

We also decided we needed to do the footy game Aussie style and place money on the outcome. (Australians bet on just about anything…sports, the elections, Dancing with the Stars, etc. It’s crazy!) We waited in line and tried to figure out how to work the TAB machine to place our bet. We kept letting people go in front of us so we could watch them and see what they were doing, under the premise that we were still deciding on our odds. Ha-ha! Then Ellyn decided it would just be easier to ask someone so we went to the man that was running the TAB booth and explained we were new to all this and so he walked us through the process. Ellyn convinced John of a reasonable sum to bet and we decided, since we weren’t overly familiar with the teams, we should just go with a pretty big window. So we bet the Swans win by 39. We head into the stadium and found our seats (interestingly enough, right in front of another group that included at least one American but she was an annoying American with a bad accent – we won’t state the are of the country the accent was from so as not to offend any readers!).

The first half of the game was amazing! The Swans were doing great; we were cheering along with fellow Swan supporters (we’re sure our Swans gear helped us feel included) and even started our own Swans cheers! We were up by so much at half time that Ellyn started getting nervous that we might win by more than 39 points! Unfortunately for us, the second half was not as thrilling. Though a great game, the Bulldogs slowly started to come back and the Swans just couldn’t keep up. We ended up loosing the game (and our money!) and headed back to the hotel, but not before stopping to get Ellyn a sausage roll – so yummy! (And so bad for you!). We were exhausted from getting up so early (and a little depressed by our team losing…).

We got up Sunday morning and rode the tram out to St. Kilda, a beachside suburb of Melbourne. We walked around a bit to see our breakfast options and get our bearings of the area. There are bakeries that line the street and their windows were literally filled with goodies. Ellyn thought these looked like great breakfast options but John wanted a “real breakfast” and then something from the bakeries for “desert”. So we found a place for a “real breakfast” and were able to get a table outside, right in the middle of things! After a delicious breakfast, we walked around St. Kilda a bit more (just to make room for what was next!) before heading to the bakeries! We wandered through the community gardens which were really cool - residents of the town could get a small plot of land and plant a little garden. So even if you lived in an apartment or townhouse, you could still have a garden!

John said Ellyn should decide which one she liked best. Not a good idea! It literally took her 15 minutes and multiple times of looking at the goodies in each window before she finally settled on one!

We ate our yummy breakfast desserts in the small bakery before heading to Luna Park. It is an old, traditional amusement park right on the beach. We did not ride any of the rides (Ellyn thought they looked a bit rickety), but just wandered through taking in the scene. Since it was Sunday, St. Kilda had their market set up along the Esplanade. We slowly strolled through the market on our way to the pier. Although the wind was really blowing and on the beach it was quite cold, we walked out to the end of the pier so we could get a good view of St. Kilda as well as Melbourne in the distance.

We then caught the tram back to the city so we could catch a train to Windsor. (By the way, the public transportation in Melbourne is awesome…always on time, frequent pickups and very clean.) Knowing how much John loved lawn bowls last time he was here, Ellyn had set up for them to play lawn bowls at the oldest bowling club in Australia! We arrived and were given a quick lesson about bowls (John didn’t need this but Ellyn most definitely did!) and purchased a few beers at the bar before heading out on the greens. There was only one other group playing so it felt like we had the place to ourselves! (It should be noted that we were the youngest people in the club by at least 40 years and definitely got some interesting looks as we walked in.) A national lawn bowling coach was also hanging around the club and came over to give us some pointers (that really worked!). We had another club member keep coming over to chat to us and tell us jokes. As he was talking to us and telling stories, he would say something like, “We were driving, let me put this in your terms, about 20 kilometers”. Really?! The USA? Kilometres? We appreciated the effort but wanted to explain to him that we were on the standard not metric system! Regardless, John beat Ellyn in the overall score even though Ellyn was able to win a few matches! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsKcZMuqZwM) But, as seemed to be the theme of the weekend, as much as fun as we were having at one place, we had to get moving so we could get it all in!

We took the train back to the city and headed straight to Eureka Tower (the Southern Hemisphere’s tallest building). They have a viewing floor and outdoor platform. It was an awesome view of the city and showed exactly how far the city spreads. As luck would have it, we got up just as the sun was starting to set, so we walked around the floor taking in all the sights and then back round to a spot to watch the sun set completely. Once the sun was gone, we did another walk around the floor looking at the city all lit up! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw2dkzgK-to) We headed back to the hotel room to warm up our left over pizza from this morning (Ellyn ordered a breakfast pizza that turned out to be a somewhat regular style pizza and it was huge; since she was saving room for the dessert from the bakeries, she only had a few small pieces) and enjoy some wine on one of the outdoor patios.

After we finished up, we got all dressed up and headed out on the town! We went to the Crown Casino which was just across the River from our place. There was a fire/light display going on that we watched before walking through the casino (the largest in the Southern Hemisphere). We watched some betting but did not place any of our own as we figured our betting luck for the weekend was probably a bit off! We walked all along Southbank (a trendy, newer area along the Yarra River) looking for a good dessert spot. We finally settled on World. It had a huge patio overlooking the river and a band was setting up outside. The band was playing awesome music (a lot of John’s favorites) and the weather was just perfect for an evening outside. We ordered a cheese plate and some dessert wine and sat back to enjoy the tunes and the evening. (We did feel very high class with our cheese platter for dessert and port for John and dessert wine for Ellyn.) We stayed there for longer than we’d planned but the atmosphere, food, drinks, music, etc were all just so great. We did finally pull ourselves out of our seats to head to another place we wanted to visit – Cookie! (Not a sweet shop but a trendy bar right in the CBD.) The menu at this place was unbelievable. There were 3 menus – one each for wine, beer and cocktails. The beer menu was over 60 pages long! It obviously included some description, but still, that is an intense list! John got Ellyn back for her indecisiveness that morning in St. Kilda by taking at least 10 minutes to decide on a beer! (On a side note, John’s been collecting the beer bottles of cool/good/new beers he’s had while in Australia and they are acting as decorations in our apartment. This bottle, once finished, was slipped into his jacket to come back to Adelaide to join the collection!) The bar was very cool and had we been looking for a big night on the town, we would have stayed longer, but alas, we had a 6:30 am flight Monday morning and needed to head back to the room.

We left Melbourne without incident, though we both agreed it was a great weekend in a great city and we definitely would not have minded staying a few more days! Luckily we did not have chatty women behind us on the plane so we were able to get some sleep on the flight back to Adelaide. When we got back to the apartment though, John realized he did not have his cell phone. He said he remembered putting it in his pockets and thinking it wasn’t in there very securely but was too tired to worry about it. He then fell asleep on the plane and forgot about until we got home. Ellyn called the airport and a phone had not turned up. She called John’s phone and someone at the Gold Coast airport answered! Guess the phone decided it wasn’t ready to come back to work and would rather continue travelling around Australia! Given that we only have a few weeks of work left and then will be travelling together, John decided not to get another phone so we are sharing one…very interesting!!

Unfortunately, John started feeling sick over the weekend and it continued into the week. It was a bit frustrating for John, not only because he does not enjoy being sick but it was the week before his big race and so his training took a pretty big hit. Ellyn started a new class at the gym – BODY PUMP – and has really enjoyed it.

We leave at the crack of dawn Saturday morning next weekend to head to Sydney!

Snorkeling and Sandsurfing and Whale Watching and 4 Wheel Driving - Oh my!

After work on Friday, we each did our “training” for the upcoming race in Sydney, then went home, showered, packed, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the airport for our 8:30 flight to Brisbane. After we’d boarded the plane, Ellyn leaned over to John and said, “You do realize we just boarded a flight and a) never took our shoes off, b) carried on a full bottle of wine and c) never showed any IDENTIFICATION!!” Crazy.

As we were leaving Adelaide it was cold and rainy. (Note – apparently, we’ve been in the coldest winter in Australia in 40 some odd years and the wettest August in 18 years. Great…glad we were here for that!) When we arrived in Brisbane, it felt like home…hot and humid! We headed out to get a taxi to take us into town. When we got in, we told him where we’d like to go and he seemed a bit confused. In hindsight, we should have told him to use the GPS that was hooked up and sitting proudly on his dashboard but instead, we were taken on the “scenic” route to the city. (Scenic = much longer than necessary, thus increasing our cab fare. From what we’ve been told, this can be a major problem in the big cities.)

Once we got all checked, we headed straight to bed as it was after midnight and we were to meet our tour at 7 am the next morning. We both set our alarms – we figured the more noise going off, the better our chances of actually getting up so early on a Saturday! The next morning, Ellyn woke up and realized it seemed to be pretty light outside to not even be 6 am (our alarms were set for 5:45 am). She looked at the clock and immediately flew out of bed: 6:48 am. Twelve minutes to get ready, packed and to the transit center where we were being picked up? Yeah right. Ellyn was frantically trying to figure out how to get the number to the travel company so she could call them and tell them we were on our way but would be a bit late or see if we could just meet them at the ferry. (She typically has all this information printed out and ready to go but our original tour was cancelled at the last minute and on Friday afternoon, we were booked with a new company). But John simply said, “They’ll wait a few minutes. Get dressed and we’ll run there.” Guess that’s why we’re a good match – Ellyn works best with plenty of time to plan, John better under pressure.

Regardless, we gave new meaning the phrase looks like they just rolled out of bed. The only thing that looked different from when we got out of bed was we did change out of PJs. Otherwise, hair going everywhere, teeth un-brushed, no contacts in, etc. Since we were going on a camping tour, we had backpacks and pillows. So we were literally running through the streets of Brisbane with our backpacks flopping around, carrying pillows and sweating like crazy in the humidity we are no longer used to! When we get there, we can’t tell if the bus has arrived yet or not so Ellyn goes up to a few other bus drivers and asks if the Goanna trip has left yet? He asked what time they were to pick us up and she said 7am. He looked at his watch and looked at her and said, “Its only a few minutes after. It’s a Saturday. Give ‘em a break!” Well okay then! So Ellyn went directly to the bathroom to at least brush her teeth!

Our driver came to pick us up in a 4-wheel drive SUV that had been modified to seat 10 passengers (plus the driver). All luggage went on a rack up top. We found out this would be our mode of transportation for the trip (aside from the ferry to the island). Our guide appeared to be about our age and definitely the typical “Aussie bloke”. Once on board the ferry, the sun came out and we could tell it was going to be a beautiful day. Crazy where a two-hour flight can take you.

Ellyn and John on Moreton Island.

The ferry docked on Moreton Island straight onto the sandy beach. There are no paved roads anywhere on the island and 4-wheel drive is a must. There are a few small communities and a small town, with a fancy resort, but for the most part, the island is deserted. It is the third largest sand island in the world. For an island to be made entirely of sand, it was huge. Our first stop was just down the beach at the “shipwrecks” for some snorkelling. There is a row of 15 ships that were brought to this spot to protect the island. We were in the first group to go snorkelling so after suiting up (wetsuits provided THANK GOODNESS!!), we headed out! The water was freezing! We had to swim across a channel that went fairly deep before reaching the wrecks. Obviously, touching the wrecks was not advised since they are metal and would slice you, Luckily there were a few sandbars under the water that allowed a little break from the swimming; but with life jackets in hand, it was nice to just float along. We saw lots of fish and a shark and some coral. John swam up under some of the ships but when Ellyn tried to do it, she obviously pushed too hard and got a massive cramp in her calf and did not make it very deep. John led the guys of the group through a few “new” passage ways that our guide had not done and they all said it was awesome. After a while of swimming out there, we headed to shore to let the other half of the group have a turn. When we got back on shore, Ellyn saw the guide had cut his leg pretty badly and was very concerned and kept asking if he was okay and could she get anything. Once convinced he was okay, she looked at John who was giving her a funny look and saw he was bleeding as well! Guess it looks a little funny when one is so concerned about a stranger’s cut and hasn’t even asked her husband if he was okay! Oops! After a rinse off of the cuts, it was decided he’d live. (Ellyn thinks he secretly enjoyed the fact that he’d been cut so he could have a “battle scar”!) We played footy on the beach and just relaxed for a while and enjoyed the beautiful weather. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3azi5kaQSdI)

Ellyn and John on Moreton Island in front of the Shipwrecks.

Moreton Island Shipwrecks.

Once the other group finished, we packed everything up and headed to the “Desert” for some sandboarding! We drove down the beach and through the middle of the island. Surprisingly, it was full of trees and grasses (surprising because its soil is sand). The driver drove really fast (according to Ellyn) and did not slow down for bump, hills or curves but had great music pumping! Before he started to speed up though, he said, “If I say ‘hands up’ put your hands on the roof to brace yourself. There have been people that have really injured their neck by hitting it on the roof.” Oh fabulous! John was grinning from ear to ear the entire time (Ellyn was a bit more reserved at first but started to enjoy it more as we went along). As we were rounding one of the last turns before the Desert, the sand was super soft and we kept getting stuck. We literally tried for about 10 minutes to get around this one turn. We would rock forward and backward and then back up and try again. We were considering everyone piling out to try and lighten the load when our guide, Josh, decided to give it one more try. And he succeeded! Ellyn did announce that she thought he staged the entire episode on purpose so we’d realized why we were on a tour as opposed to driving ourselves!

We got to the Desert and ate a picnic lunch before climbing to the top of the OH SO steep sand dune. We were given very brief instructions on how to sandboard (really, unless you are standing, it isn’t that hard). Everyone that wanted to go was allowed as many turns as they wanted. But after a few climbs up the sand dune, you couldn’t do too many. Ellyn tried a few sitting down and then a few lying down on the board, face first. John tried one sitting down and one lying down face first before he decided to brave it and go down standing up. He did really well on his first try – he made it half way down the dune before falling off. He tried a few more standing up but never made it down the bottom without taking a tumble. According to Josh though, this takes a lot o practice to get it down. Josh tried to go down standing and fell as well. (Ellyn thinks this made John feel better!) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Vc9Zl7UGo)

Once we were all tired from the sandboarding, we headed to the north side of the island, where our campground was. We made a few stops along the way and did a few short hikes to some scenic lookouts. It was really interesting to see the different make up of the island plants as the middle and south part of the island were taller trees and rainforest type plants but the north part was very much “bushland”. We stopped at a little “community” (if you can call it that – there was a very small store and a few houses). Ellyn asked if there was restroom she could use and the woman behind the counter said not here, you’ve got to drive up to the helicopter pad and there’s one there. Ellyn wanted to ask where did she go – surely she doesn’t drive every time she has to go! And we decided they don’t put prices on anything in the store so they could just charge whatever they were feeling was appropriate on that day.

Ellyn and John on Moreton Island (5 Hill Lookout).

We made one more stop before getting to camp…a fresh water lagoon! John dove straight in and swam around looking for wildlife while Ellyn was a bit more timid. The water was pretty cold but she did make it in about half way (just enough to rinse off the sand and salt water! From there, we headed to camp and got all set up (tents were already set up for us…very nice!).

On the last stretch of the trip to camp, one of the girls kept saying she heard a rattling noise under the vehicle but Josh said “oh it’s just the luggage up top”. But when we got to the campsite, Josh looked under the car and saw that the metal strap that held the primary gas tank had come detached on one side. So John decided he needed to help him! They finally got the strap fixed (well, not fixed, but remedied for the moment!) and we all grabbed some drinks and headed to the lighthouse! We climbed to the top and were getting positioned to watch the sunset when we saw a few large splashes in the water out in the distance. It was humpback whales! They were everywhere. It was difficult to see the whale itself as they were moving around quite rapidly but we did see the whales themselves a few times. Once we saw the sunset, we climbed back down and loaded up into the vehicle.

John helping Josh fix the car.

Ellyn and John in front of the North Point Lighthouse on Moreton Island.

Josh turned the key and nothing happened. Nothing. Didn’t even sound like the battery was trying to do anything. So we all climbed out and everyone started looking under the hood. Long story short, the battery was dead, but luckily, Josh had forgotten to take out the battery charge/jumper like he meant to so we jumped ourselves off and headed back to camp! Once there, Josh started cooking. One would think, since food was included in the tour price, the meal would be a bit on the skimpy side. WRONG! First, he made a huge batch of spring rolls; then salad, garlic bread, sausage and onions and finally steak! It was all delicious and very “Australian” feeling. Ellyn loved it when Josh seriously referred to the grill as the “barbie”. We had some wildlife (a bandicoot) come up to the campsite and John bonded with him and was SO close to feeding him out of his hand but some crazy girl on our tour was trying to take a picture of it and scared the bandicoot away! After dinner, we played cards and hung out. Josh even put on a show, rapping for us! (Video of Josh rapping - please cover young people's ears and we apologize in advance for the language! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wxPcnfz1Ms)

After a while, we decided to turn in and headed to our tent. We feel asleep rather quickly but Ellyn was woken up a few hours later with the rain POURING down. Now, Ellyn enjoys camping and doesn’t mind sleeping in a tent but this was really coming down and the wind was blowing like crazy. We’d left the sides open (with the exception of the netting) to let some air in, so Ellyn woke John up to help her put the sides down. John went right back to sleep but all Ellyn kept thinking about was water coming into the tent (when we arrived at camp, there were a few tents that had water in them from a rain the night before, luckily ours was not one of them). She finally went back to sleep and didn’t wake up until she smelled fresh pancakes being made the next morning! The pancakes were delicious and Ellyn got to feed a wild Cookaburo that was just hanging out some leftover pancakes out of her hand! The plan was for everyone to get surfing lessons in the morning but, according to Josh (who won some amateur surfing competitions when he was younger, so we figured he knew what he was talking about), the surf wasn’t right and the currents were too strong so he said we’d spend most of our energy fighting off the currents. Given the water temperature from the day before, Ellyn was okay with no surfing, but John was a bit disappointed. Instead, we hiked over to Honeymoon Bay, a beautiful sandy cove, and then up to Moreton Point, which is where the only rocks on the island are located. They are what created Moreton Island (sand from the Eastern Australian Current, think Finding Nemo, gathered around the rocks). After making it to the top, we hiked back down and while the others went swimming, John and Ellyn walked around and explored a bit of the island. (We got in to our knees but it was really cold and we decided, we live near the ocean, we don’t need to go swimming just to go swimming in an ocean!) View from the top of Moreton Point - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVxyXZKsi6I.

We then headed over to the Champagne Pools, but the tide wasn’t right, so there were only a few of pools. We walked around the COMPLETELY deserted beach. All you could see for miles was beach and there was no one else around. It was amazing. Once we got back to camp, we had about an hour before it was time for lunch. John and Ellyn grabbed their books and headed to the beach to relax for a while. There were kayaks and surfboards we could use but given the overcast weather and cold water (with no wet suits this time!) we decided to stay away from the water! After lunch, we packed up camp and headed to the eastern side of the island. Once through the sandy roads and bush, we emerged to what seemed to be an even more deserted beach. We headed south to the Blue Lagoon, the second largest fresh water lake on the island (the largest is not really accessible as it is between some hills/mountains and does not have any beach access). It was incredible to see such a large freshwater lake so close to the ocean and on a sand island. We then hiked up the largest coastal sand dune in the world. It was quite a hike, especially in the humidity. (The trail was actually closed due to some maintenance on the stairs at the top but Josh said we’re only here once and we needed to do it. Plus, he “reckoned” it was a Sunday the workers or park rangers wouldn’t really be working…he was right!)

We got back in the vehicle and continued south on the island. We passed a massive sea turtle and manta ray (both dead) on the beach before stopping at The Mittens, a historical Aboriginal eating ground. (There were layers of shells from where the Aborigines have gone to this same location for millions of years to eat. They always went to this location and always ate a certain shellfish, which is what the stacks of shells represent.) We continued on the beach to see an old WWII barracks situated on the southeast side of the island. Unfortunately, the weather was getting worse and the tide had started to rise…so much so that Josh seemed a bit unnerved when we were on the way there (judging by the speed of the vehicle). On the way back to the ferry, we were speeding along the beach when some of the others in the tour, as well as Josh, started to feel a lot of heat rising through the floorboards. Needless to say, Ellyn started getting a bit nervous. John seemed to love the extra element of adventure and Josh’s remedy to the situation? Speed up – the faster we get to the other side and where the ferry is, the less chance we have to be stranded on a beach with a rising tide.

We did make it back to Western Beach and got on the ferry. From here, the trip was fairly uneventful, which is probably a good thing – to be uneventful when travelling. At the end of the day though, we did note that we had travelled by 4 wheel drive car, ferry, taxi, airplane and bus all in one day. We felt like such well-seasoned travellers! (We documented out trip in a "summary video". Ellyn did not want to post it based on her appearance, so please disregard that! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cayWbmZbPe0.)

Ellyn, Josh the tour guide, and John on Moreton Island in front of the Shipwrecks.

This week at work was pretty good. Our hours were better and John started working on the Adelaide Zoo audit! One day he was sitting at his desk in the Zoo when a girl walked in and sat down at her desk with something on her shoulder. John looked over to get a closer look…and it was a KOALA! Just hanging out on the shoulder of the administrative staff! Awesome!

We’re off to Melbourne, Australia’s stylish and artsy city, next weekend!

Barossa Valley Wineries Weekend

Friday afternoon, everyone came back to the office for a farewell speech for a rotational that was about to head home. Then we all went to the pub across the street for a few beers. John and Ellyn only had one beer and then decided to go for a run through Rymill Park across from our apartment before meeting some friends for dinner. (We figured we could at least work off some of the goodness we were about to partake in over the weekend!). We went to North Adelaide, the O Hotel, for dinner and it was great. (We are still contemplating why everything over here is called a “hotel” even if there are no hotel rooms. For instance, Ellyn was walking home the other night and a guy stopped to ask if she knew where the Electric Light Hotel was. Her response? Sure…its right over there but it’s a club; I don’t think they have any hotel rooms. Ha! He probably thought she was an idiot!) The rest of the group went to the movies after dinner but we headed home so we could get a good start on our overnight trip to the Barossa Valley!

We got up early, picked up our car and headed to the Barossa. This is Australia’s most well-known and largest wine region and we were super excited to be spending the weekend. We arrived in the Barossa around 11 in the morning and headed straight to Angaston to pick up a cooler basket full of cheeses to partake in the Barossa Valley Cheese Company’s Wine Trail. Essentially, we were given four different cheeses and crackers and a map of the wineries. There were 6 trails to choose from and it listed specific wines at each winery to pair with one of the cheeses. We’d already compiled a list of places to go from our own research/knowledge and from inputs from other people around the office. Our first stop was Maggie Beer Winery…interestingly enough, a woman whose last name is beer creates wine! She also has become a iconic Australian chef. This place was recommended to us for lunch. As soon as we walked in, we were not impressed. It extremely crowded and the focus seemed to be much more on food than wine. We went to the wine tasting table (which seemed to be made for only about 2 people tasting) and crowded in with a few other people. The woman serving the wine apparently kept running out of clean glass (really?!) so as she left to get clean glasses, Ellyn propped the cooler up on the table (remember how small it was…) and was looking through the wine map to see which cheese she should bring out to have ready for the tasting. But John gave Ellyn a look like, please don’t do it. To John’s credit, it was a bit crowded and we may have looked a bit crazy standing around the wine tasting table with our own cheese. So Ellyn put it away and decided the Wine and Cheese Trail should be reserved for smaller, less crowded wineries. After our wine tasting, we went to the counter to order our lunch. The menu consisted of about 15 different things, all of them being some variation of pate. Not that we’re hating on pate, but if you are such a great chef, don’t you think you’d serve something other than pate?! John could immediately tell Ellyn was not enjoying the experience and suggested we head somewhere else for lunch…great idea! So we hopped in the car, headed to the quaint little town of Tanunda and had a steak sandwich and chips…yum!

Then it was off to check out our “cottage”. One of Ellyn’s favorite wineries from last time was the Langmeil winery. When she found Langmeil Cottages online, with great reviews and similar architecture as the winery, she booked it thinking it was in the courtyard of the winery. But when we arrived at the winery and asked about the accommodation, we were given a blank stare. Right, so we’re in the wrong place. Back in the car, we head down the road maybe a quarter of mile and see our home for the night. At first glance, it is in someone’s backyard, which Ellyn thinks is a bit weird. But, to make matters even weirder, we have to walk through someone’s garage and knock on their backdoor to check in. Interesting. But, once we get all checked in and the “hosts” gives us a tour of the amenities, we love it! We have a little stone cottage with a front and back patio, there is a barbecue area, a hot tub and sauna, and a large shed filled with bikes. It is very quiet and secluded feeling. Just perfect! (See John's guided "tour" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SniTQ3ovygM.)

Once we were all checked in, Ellyn is ready to get to the wineries as the day is ticking by and she was put off a bit by the Maggie Beer experience. We took a look at our list and decided we should go to Rockford, as Ellyn remembered it being very small with a perfect little cellar door and are impressed with their wine and the ambiance. But, we’ve got more to see! We headed to Grant Burge, which is a much larger wine producer but with a nice cellar door and gorgeous grounds. We had a wonderful tasting there with a knowledgeable and friendly server. We tried some new varieties and some of their iconic varietals. After a walk around the grounds, we decided it would be a perfect place to get married and started mapping out where the food and band would be, when we realized, “Wait a minute! We’re already married!!” He-he!


Ellyn outside of Grange Burge Winery

Ellyn thought we should stop at Jacob’s Creek, not because she is necessarily a big fan of their wine or thought their cellar door was great, but more because it is an iconic Australian wine that is the USA so much, it seemed like a necessity! It was by far the largest cellar door we’d been to and the tasting list, like at Grant Burge, was overwhelming. But luckily, we had an extremely knowledgeable server who is actually studying wine making and marketing at the University of Adelaide. He walked us through the tasting list and John decided we should taste wines that were exclusive to the cellar door (good idea!). We actually tried some nice wines and enjoyed the open, sunny cellar door.

Next, it was on to two smaller vineyards – Keis and Burge Family (cousin to Grant Burge). We walk into Keis and both think we should turn around given the guy behind the tasting counter is in sweat pants and the other people in the cellar door were, well, let’s just say very relaxed. But we decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. We start with one of their “award winning” wines. Neither one of us were impressed with the wine and given that was described as one of their best, we decided we’d head out. Practically across the street was the Burge Family winery. We pulled up and noticed there were none other cars. We actually debated going in as that could mean the wine isn’t good and that the tasting may be a bit awkward since all the focus would be on us and our reactions to the wine. But, the winery had been recommended to us and since we were already there, we figured, why not? The tasting room was small with a nice feel and a huge wall of windows overlooking the vineyards. (Plus, I’m sure it helps John knows and likes the music playing on the stereo…Ellyn has never heard of it.) Regardless, the woman helping us is really friendly and tells us a bit about the wine. It was very much a boutique winery (not sold in many other locations other than the cellar door) and their wines are all organic. We enjoyed every wine we tasted and she had a few aged wines that were opened that we tasted and really liked. We stayed there for a while as the wine kept flowing and we were enjoying the views and the company!

We finally headed back to our cottage and opened some champagne that was left in the cottage for us! We watched part of the Crows footy game before heading into town for dinner. We went to The Clubhouse which was a pub style place as we wanted something casual and low key. Apparently, we were in for a treat since the wait for food was 45 minutes to an hour and we were sitting in the bar area (not the dining room). We played some Golden Tee and had some good people watching before our food arrived. The food was very good, though nothing overly exceptional. We headed back to the cottage and grabbed one of the bottles of wine we’d purchased earlier in the day and headed to the hot tub. (It is comical to note that when the host was showing us around the place, she said, “If the light in the hot tub room is on, we respect one another's privacy and don’t go in.” So we knew if the light was off, we’d have the place to ourselves, which was great. But we would like to note that as we were leaving for dinner earlier, the light was one and, let’s just say the couple in there obviously didn’t realize people can see through latticework!)

Sunday morning, we got up and enjoyed breakfast in the cottage (the hosts provided fresh fruit, croissants, toast, cereal, yogurt, milk, juice and coffee) and mimosas with our left over champagne! We then headed over to the bike shed to pick out bikes for the day! John immediately sees a tandem bike and we decide that would be fun! NOT! We don’t even make it halfway down the driveway before Ellyn is unconvinced on the whole tandem idea – those bikes are difficult to drive/steer! Plus, as John later noted, being on a tandem bike after some wine tastings might be dangerous! So we each picked out our own bikes and hit the road!

Sunday Morning Mimosas!

There is a wine trail called the Parra Road Wine Trail right down the road from our cottage that we decided would be fun to ride along. It goes through the vineyards and grounds of four wineries. Our first stop was Langmeil Winery but we noticed a large tour van parked outside and so we decided we’d head to the next stop. We go into Pete Lehman winery, which is a large producer in Australia and we’ve had some of their wines and really enjoyed them. We aren’t sure if it was because it was early in the morning or if we just still had the toothpaste taste in our mouth, but we really didn’t enjoy any of the wines. So we head over to the next stop, Richmond Grove. Again, as we pull up, we notice we are the only ones there but after our experience the day before at Burge Family, we decided maybe this was a good sign! Though the actual cellar door wasn’t much to look at on the inside (the outside was very pretty) the wine was wonderful! There were also quite a few aged wines open and the guy that was serving us would set up the young wine and then the aged wine so we could get a really good sense of how the type of wine aged. It was really informative and we learned that we really liked some of the aged wines and weren’t as impressed with others. As we left Richmond Grove, we started to become concerned about how we were going to ride our bikes and carry our wine! Oh well…we’ll worry about that later!


Richmond Grove Cellar Door


Ellyn and John on the Richmond Grove grounds.

We headed then to Stanley Lambert. We knew we were at home when we saw the American flag flying outside! (One of the winemakers is from the USA.) The cellar door was not very impressive and neither was the wine to be honest. So we got on our bikes and headed back to Langmeil. If Ellyn had any doubts about this place not living up to her memories, she was dead wrong. As soon as we walked in, we got a good feeling. It was a small, but not too small cellar door with a big fire going off to the side. We walked around the grounds before heading in to taste some of the goods! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2MQgr0DGZE)

We walked up to the counter and looked over the tasting list. We selected our first wine and then were going to narrow down a few others to try. But after reading the descriptions on the wine list, we couldn’t make a decision! They all sounded delicious and they had all the wine available for tasting (including wine not typically available for tasting). John wanted to go with some specific wines and Ellyn wanted to go for the wines that you couldn’t normally taste! So we pretty much tried all the wines! Before we even got out of the white wines, we were trying to narrow down what we wanted to buy. We continued on to the reds and when we got to the second nicest wine, Orphan Bank, Ellyn mentioned she’d bought a bottle of it a few years and ago and was letting it “age” back home and hadn’t opened it yet. (That’s code for – she is too sentimental and doesn’t want to open it yet!) Well, that’s all it took! She told a few of the others working with her about it and then filled our glasses up and told us to come to a back area and watch a video on how they transplanted the vines. After that, we went back to the tasting area and she handed us two glasses of their nicest bottle of Shiraz ($100 a bottle). She looked at the glasses and then doubled the amount that was in the tasting glass and told us to take a walk around the vineyard with our wine and enjoy it and take in all the old vines (up to a hundred years old). Needless to say, we LOVED the wine and the total experience. It was a highlight of the weekend. (And we were very glad we were on bikes at this point and not driving a car!) See tasting - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTw9xfmjvHo.

We rode back to the cottage and decided we should probably get something to eat so we headed to Angaston (about a 10-minute drive) to the Roaring 40s Café where the chef is world renowned for his pizzas. He won 7th place in a worldwide pizza making competition in Las Vegas. We didn’t even look at the menu – we asked what he’d cooked in the competition and got a large one of those! (It was quite delicious!) Then we headed to another winery recommended by a co-worker, Saltrams. It was a cool cellar door and the ambiance was really great. But we tried two wines and didn’t really get a good feel for wines, so we headed out the door! We decided we’d make one more stop before getting on the road home to Adelaide. Wolf Blass is huge winemaker and distributes all over the world so we weren’t expecting the small, cozy cellar door we liked but, like Jacobs Creek, we felt it a bit iconic and that we should at least go check it out. The cellar door was big but it was in a pretty setting and the wine was decent.


John outside of Wolf Blass winery.

We headed back to Adelaide and received our first parking ticket while unloading the car! But if that was the only negative of the trip, we’ll take it!

Next weekend…camping on Moreton Island off the coast of Brisbane!

Weekend at "Home"

We’ve been busy at work (shame them making us work so hard!) so the blog has fallen behind. Here is the post from 3 weekends ago (oops!). Hopefully we’ll be caught up before our trip this upcoming weekend. Stay tuned…

Last weekend was a relatively uneventful weekend as both of us had to work (though John a lot more than Ellyn). We did manage to get an invite from the Office Managing Partner to a charity quiz night on Friday night though. We rode out to AAMI Stadium (home of the Adelaide Crows!) for the event with the OMP and his wife. The event was held in one of the rooms that also housed some of the old AFL memorabilia, so John enjoyed looking that at that. There were about 400 people in attendance. Food and drinks were on each team's table and constantly replenished. (Though apparently there was not enough food as Ellyn and John contemplated asking the table next to us if our table could have their dessert plate since they obviously weren’t eating it. Ellyn thought this was not a good idea given our table consisted of the OMP, i.e. the man that gave us our job, and other KPMG employees more senior than we are and clients. Regardless, John proceeded to ask the senior manager at the table if he thought it was a good idea and he responded, “Definitely! I’ve been thinking about it myself!”)

Regardless, it was the most winning night we’ve been a part of! The first “quick” game was True or False and our table was the last one standing…and one a large basket of chocolate from Haigh’s Chocolates, a REALLY yummy local chocolate factory. Our table was in the top 3-4 position all night (out of 40 tables, that’s pretty good!) and ended up winning the entire game! Our table was awarded a $500 gift certificate to a nice Italian restaurant in the City. There were 5 couples so we’ll each either get a portion of the gift certificate or we’ll have a winning table reunion at the restaurant.

Saturday we both worked and then went to a great pizza place where we were able to try “heaps” of local, boutique beers. The pizza was delicious and all organic. The dessert may have been the highlight though…its name was Filthy Rich and John was lucky to get 3 bites…Ellyn devoured it!

John worked on Sunday so Ellyn did some shopping and walked through the Botanical Gardens and had lunch, but nothing too special as she didn’t want to do anything that John would want to do. (And we know he doesn’t care about botanical gardens!)

Last week things at work got a bit better but still relatively busy. John has been running about 10 kilometers (approximately 6 miles) a few nights a week in preparation for a race we plan on running in September in Sydney. BUT, this past week, he decided he was going to go the distance and double his nightly run! He went 20 kilometers (approximately 13 miles) and didn’t even break a sweat (okay, that last parts a lie, but he did do 20 kilometers in great time and was really excited about it!). Ellyn has been sticking with regular running at the gym – she is going to run the 10k in the race, John and a few guys from work are planning to do the ½ marathon.

Next weekend...the Barossa Valley wineries!