Gaby returns to Australia

Danielle's post made me laugh until I cried.  Which is probably a pretty normal sight at the airport lounge.

Day 8: Where the Leafs Lost and Gaby Smiles (not related)

Gaby picked up a Friday shift at Double Shot (she typically only works weekends), and she stays at her Dad's house overnight to get to her early morning shifts.  So I was wandering through Canberra Centre en route to catch the bus to her work, when Blair messaged me that the Leafs - Bruins game was tied 1-1.  I did quick Google research on Sports Bars (free Wifi in Canberra, woohoo!), and discovered I was sitting just outside a pub with multiple TVs that showed US sports.  When the pub opened at 11am, here's the table and tv they gave me.  As you may know, Leafs were Boston Creamed.

Then I jumped on the bus to Double Shot Deakin; the bus route looks something like this.

I tried to take pictures of Canberra landmarks, the Parliament (old and new), galleries, and museums, as I passed by on the bus, but my phone pictures through the shaded bus window sucked. This one of the Parliament is the only one that was even sort of worth keeping.







Here is Double Shot, where I spied on Gaby from my corner table and tried not to seem stalky to the other customers.  I've never seen Gaby smile so much, to customers and co-workers.  It's almost like she's a happy person :-) 

Quick Yelp review of Double Shot: Good coffee, great service, too much vegan for my taste, although the vegan brownie was to die for.  Morning Kiss smoothie was rather chewy from oats and coconut on the top, so I couldn't finish it.

On the bus back to Braddon, .here's another picture of something famous in the landmark area, but I forget what.

Day 7: Where Grandma fed James her American Ribs

Lessons learned in Australia today:

• Macca's (McDonald's) coffee is just as expensive as Lonsdale coffee, around $5 AUD.  Timmies must drive McD's price down in Canada.  
• Ribs isn't a thing: 

• James is a good egg (to quote Danielle).  In classic Gaby competitive fashion, she kicked James's butt at Mille Bornes, the highly frustrating French Driving Game that I brought from Canada and Gaby didn't explain thoroughly.  To which James responded "Well that's Shit".  My kids rarely swear around me, and I realized I'd never heard their friends swear before.  But in an Australian accent, it doesn't really sound like swearing.

Day 6: Hello Braddon and Lonsdale Street

Lonsdale Street: More coffee shops than you can throw a stick at ;-).  And...the occasional llama crossing?  According to people in the know both home and abroad, llama crossings are odd even for hipster Lonsdale.

With my suitcase having finally arrived in a city that I was currently in, I took the bus to the airport where Gaby would come meet me with the car. Here's me figuring out the change for the bus, and Danielle's reaction lol.

 

Story of the suitcase:

In addition to the multitude of coffee shops, there are also lots of restaurants in Braddon.  Gaby picked Yat Bun Tong Dumpling House for dinner, where you can see the women making the dumplings in the window.  Yummy!

Day 5: Bye-bye Bondi

...and still no suitcase...

Gaby took me on the scenic route to Canberra; the fast route can be done in about 3 hours.

• Coalcliff Rock Pool, just before Sea Cliff Bridge is a salt water swimming pool that fills up with the tides 

• It was low tide, so we hiked amongst the rocks and puddles teaming with life; and saw some cool rock features, including this crocodile that almost ate Gaby.

• Coalcliff has the friendliest public toilets ever!  The door opens, a voice says "Please lock the door".  Once locked, it tells you that you have 10 minutes.  Then jazz music starts playing.  Once done and you unlock the door, it says "Thank you".  

• Sea Cliff Bridge, we thought it might be a bridge that falls off a cliff, but no, just the highway rutting over the cliff.  Still gorgeous though; first picture is mine, 2nd is stolen from Wikipedia. 

A Quebecois man married an Australian woman,
moved to Wollongong, and this place was born.

• Wollongong, the poutine place, http://lemontrealshack.com/menu.html, was closed until 5pm on weekdays, Gaby's tried to go there several times and keeps missing them.  So no Wollongong stop for us.  But a pretty coastal town with an apparently decent Uni (Gaby's Masters perchance?) 
• We stopped for a picnic at Kiama Blowhole, a cliffside cavern where seawater shoots into the air.  It was pretty impressive, with lots of mostly Japanese tourists holding their selfie sticks at the ready for the blowhole to blow.  I didn't bother taking pictures as I knew the web would have better ones, like this one:

After Kiama, we drove away from the ocean (boo-urns).  Gaby navigated the windy mountain roads on the left side like a pro, never once sending us over the cliffs or into an oncoming car.  :-)  Gaby likes the bushfire signs as we approach Canberra, see how the scale goes from "Low-Moderate" to "Catastrophic" lol.

We arrived in Braddon, Canberra, ACT, to my home away from home for the next 2 weeks.  It's perfect.

Oh, and this:

Day 4: When we were Stranded on a Deserted Island

4.4 km walked, but 15 minutes body-surfing felt like a marathon

Our objective for the 2nd day with our Hop On Hop Off Ferry Pass was to picnic and swim at Shark Island, so named (we heard from the friendly ferry tour guide the previous day) because the island is shaped like a shark, not because there are sharks near the island.   We picked up picnic food in Bondi (although I forgot to buy beer, as the island is also licensed), took a bus through rich Sydney suburbs to Watsons Bay, to then:

1. hopped on the ferry towards Circular Quay / downtown; 
2. got off at Fort Denison; 
3. to then catch the returning ferry back to Watsons Bay to be let off at Shark Island.

We had about 15 minutes to explore Fort Denison (a little longer as the return ferry was behind schedule), a former 18th century prison and military fortress.  Here are pictures with a spooky filter:

Shark Island per Wikipedia: Parts of the island were set aside as a recreation reserve as early as 1879 and it was also used as an animal quarantine station and naval depot until 1975. At that time it became exclusively a recreation reserve and part of the Sydney Harbour National Park. 

When we arrived at Shark Island around 1:30pm, there was a couple on the small beach by the wharf.  So to give them some privacy, we picnicked at the top of the island on the grass and shared our lunch with the ants (they don't like grapefruit so much though).  We then meandered around the very tiny island on rocks and a very roughly hewn pathway.

By the time we wandered back to the beach the other people were gone; we were all alone on a deserted island!  The tiny beach was lovely and mostly calm (except when a big boat created waves), although Gaby didn't appreciate walking on shells or swimming in seaweed (what a surf princess!).  I jumped in and cooled off, Gaby only went waist deep.

The view of the Opera House and the bridge from the Island:

The next and last ferry off the island was at 3:30pm; if we missed the Hop On Hop Off ferry, Gaby assured me she could call a water taxi to come pick us up, but I didn't want to chance it.  

With Gaby's disappointment at the less than perfect beach conditions, she wanted to go swimming at the always busy but more than perfect Bondi Beach.  So from Watsons Bay we jumped back on the bus to BB to hit the big waves.  By the time we reach Bondi, the weather had turned windy and it was getting close to sunset, but I guilted Gaby into running for it and jumping in.  She was having so much fun in the waves that I got jealous and had to go join her.  Best body surfing since Sri Lanka!  We each caught a couple of good waves, I bumped my shoulder somewhere and took in a giant mouthful of salt water; it was an awesome 15 minutes.  Gaby was freezing and just wanted a shower once we got out, so back to the apartment to recover it was.  

Day 3 Manly Beach and other Wharves: Where Grandma would have taken Gaby Shopping and Surfing

8.9 km walked

We woke up at 5am to catch the Bondi sunrise over the Pacific, but this is all we got:

Yes, the entire rest of the sky was blue, and it naught but clouds over the ocean.  Still gorgeous, but no sunrise for me (and as if I'm ever going to wake up at 5am again!).  We did peruse the graffiti on the walk back to the apartment:

Even after picking up coffee on the way home, Gaby wanted a nap before future adventures.  So I graduated from coffee to "apple juice":

The plan for the rest of the day was, unlike the previous day, to NOT walk another 13.9 km.  So we headed to Circular Quay in Sydney, and bought our 2 day tickets for $39AUS pp (with coupon, woohoo), for this: https://www.captaincook.com.au/sydney-harbour-cruises/hop-on-hop-off/

...and did this tour around the Sydney harbour over the space of 8 hours:

Some general impressions:

• Watson's Bay Wharf supposedly has the best Fish & Chips in Doyle's; the fish was meh.  The fried calamari, prawns, and scallops were awesome though.  Then there are boats and a baby beach, like a wading pool in beach format.

• Manly Beach, from the map above, it was supposed to be filled with beautiful people like this.  Well, it was.  

• Night ferry to Bangaroo / Barangaroo / Bangerang, whatevs. 

Sunset is around 6pm, so our 7pm ferry from Manly, past the Opera House and Bridge, to Banga-whatever / Darling Harbour looked something like this (after applying Google filters):

And in a recurring feature of this blog...

Stuff Grandma would have done with Gaby in Manly

• Take Gaby shopping at her favourite shops in Manly, including Billabong, and Rip Curl.  
• Sign Gaby up for 2 hour surfing lesson and watch from the beach.
• Fancy restaurants and hotels abound, you should stay in Manly instead of my low-budget Bondi Beach locale.

Day 2 Sydney: Where Grandma would have spent more time at the Royal Botanical Gardens

13.9 km walked

Having worn my cowboy boots on the plane, and all my sandals and running shoes in my delayed luggage, I had borrowed Gaby's flip-flops for our brief Bondi Beach walkabout on Friday.  Woke up Saturday to a between the toes oozing blister.  So priority one was shopping for cheap shoes (that aren't flip flops), bathing suit, socks, and underwear to get through the next 24 to 48 hours.  K-mart at Bondi Junction fit the bill.

With better shoes under my proverbial belt, we were ready to hit Sydney proper.  Some stuff we saw:

• Cool statue just off the train at Martin Place 

• Birds in Royal Botanical Gardens, and buildings & statues at Hyde Park (close-up photos are just to prove they are anatomically correct :-)

• St Paddy's Market freaked Gaby out a little

We went looking for fancy Chinese food in Chinatown, but the restaurant recommended to us was having a private function.  So we found wood-fired pizza instead.

For dessert, Gaby's friend had recommended

...where the flavours are Tofu (white), Matcha (green tea), and (blue) Sea Salt.  Neither of us were brave enough to try the Tofu flavoured ice cream.  

Stuff Grandma would have done in Sydney

• Backstage tours with lunch or high tea at the Sydney Opera House
• More time a the Royal Botanical Gardens, we only looked at birds and sat on the grass, but there's workshops and (I assume) flowers somewhere in there
• Bought more stuff at St Paddy's