Blue Mountains

Adam was kind enough to take us on a mini road trip out of Sydney to the Blue Mountains, which Amy said was one of her favorite trips when she was in Australia.  Just a couple hour drive outside of the city, the mountain range and series of deep gorges have a blue haze to them because of the forests full of eucalyptus trees:

 

We took a walk through one of the Blue Mountain's towns, Leura, for some shopping and to pick up some local Aussie treats at a bakery for a picnic/taste test with a beautiful view:

Starting in the lower left corner and going clockwise, you've got a fig slice (kinda like a cross between fruit mince pie and a Fig Newton), Lamington (vanilla cake cubes coated in chocolate and dusted with dried coconut), vanilla/passionfruit slice (pastry layered with vanilla and passionfruit creamy custard), custard pie (vanilla custard with nutmeg), and caramel slice (an awesomely chewy caramel bar cookie covered in chocolate)... all pretty awesome, although the vanilla and caramel slices were my favorite:

Not pictured are the awesome sausage rolls and meat pies, as we scarfed them down too fast.  Sausage rolls might be my new favorite thing.  

Adam and his siblings sing a song about sausage rolls to the tune of the ACDC classic, "It's a Long Way to the Top if Ya Wanna Rock and Roll":  it goes "It's a long way to the shop if you want a sausage roll."  It is an earworm, as Tim will attest after hearing me sing it approximately a thousand times for the next week.

Also not pictured ( but thoroughly enjoyed) is the assortment of Australian salty snacks we sampled, including the familiarly orange-hued, yet strangely shaped Cheezels, Twisties (similar to Cheetos in shape and crunch), and bacon and cheese balls.  My review of each is as follows:

Cheezels: interesting... poofy like a cheez ball, but somewhat lacking in intense cheez flavor.  Let's be honest, though: nobody does fluoro (Aussie for "fluorescent") orange faux cheese like America.

Twisties: We tried chicken flavor Twisties, which had great crunch, but were disconcertingly chicken soup flavored.

Cheetos Cheese and Bacon Balls: Amazing.  Like the canned cheez balls of your childhood, yet with a slightly bacony, very smoky overtone.  Amy compared it to smoked gouda, which sounds weird, but is pretty accurate.

Probably not the healthiest meal any of us has eaten, but the view was great!:

After our picnic, we headed to Katoomba to catch another view of the mountains, including the awesome view of the Three Sisters rock formation from Echo Point.

After checking out the views, we headed to a beautiful historic (built in 1880) hotel, the Carrington, for a beer.  They had some cool old Blue Mountains posters that reminded us of the old school U.S. National Parks prints of yorn.

They also had some really random Laurel and Hardy (I think?) statues in the hallway?

Coogee Beach

 Tim and I had brunch with Adam's family in Coogee beach, a suburb of Sydney where Amy and Adam used to live, south of the more well known Bondi beach (locale of one my favorite Aussie shows we get here in Indonesia, Bondi Rescue).  It's a cute little beach town and everyone was out and about enjoying the sunny spring weather (although it was cold enough for me to be shocked at how many people were in the water):

Moon over Coogee...

The Coogee Surf Lifesaving Club (established in 1907) hiding behind the super tall Gymea Lily, a flowering plant native to New South Wales that can grow up to 6 meters tall.

 Tim enjoyed many of Australia's micro-brews, this one aptly named "Angry Man Pale Ale."

Self-portrait in Coogee.

Coogee has these funny pool/baths built into the beach.

Australians didn't play frisbee or paddle ball on the beach, but we did see a game of rugby/footy (I'm hoping Tim will do a guest post on footy vs. rugby vs. Aussie rules football soon) as well as some cricket being played.  We also saw these dudes walking a tightrope, which was pretty cool:

Australia has some crazy trees... in addition to the ubiquitous eucalyptus, there are these funny pine trees with the upward pointing needles and strangely uniform branches.  We thought they kinda look like the cell towers you see in the U.S. sometimes that are shaped like trees.

Above is the view of the beach from the north side, facing towards Amy and Adam's old neighborhood.

Tim and I stumbled upon this small shrine while walking around Coogee. Apparently there was a Virgin Mary siting at Coogee back in 2003... one of the fence posts on a cliff overlooking the beach is said to look like a veiled woman from certain angles, drawing the attention of many and prompting the local Australian media to dub it "Our Lady of the Fence Post" or "Rail Mary."  Ha!

Ferry to Manly

One of the first touristy things that Amy and Adam took us to do was to ride the train from Adam's house downtown to Circular Quay (which I cannot resist pronouncing "kway" even though it is pronounced "key") and then to hop on the commuter ferry to Manly, a cute seaside Sydney suburb abutting the Sydney harbor as well as the Pacific Ocean.

The ferry takes a very scenic route through the beautiful Sydney harbor, passing many of Sydney's iconic structures, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. 

Triple A riding the Manly ferry and enjoying the views.

Alex's first boat ride... he looks slightly concerned about the seaworthiness of the vessel.

Amazing weather, super blue skies and cool clouds.

Purty.

Sydney's Central Business District (referred to by all as the CBD).

CBD with the Rocks, a historically rough port area now a prime shopping, dining and boozing neighborhood, to the right.

Big ships docked in Woolloomooloo Bay.

Harbor Bridge in the distance.

The ferry got quite chilly, especially on the shady and windy side. Time to bundle baby up! 

Amy is rocking a bit of a cockatoo hairstyle, but Alex is stylin' and warm in his puff-ball hat.

Aww.

What a manly wharf.  Apparently Manly was named by Royal Navy Captain Arthur Phillip, based on his observation that the Aborigines in the area carried themselves with a certain "confidence and manly behavior."

The Manly Corso is a promenade of shops and "hotels" (bars) in historic buildings, leading pedestrians from the ferry port to the beach.

Did I mention that "Manly" is a funny name for a town?

Me and Amy at Manly Beach.  Too cold for swimming unfortunately, but just right for walking around and grabbing a pint (or a schooner or midi if you're a lightweight/not Manly).

Sunset ferry ride back to Circular Quay.

r

The north Sydney residences of Australia's Prime Minister and Governor-General (Kirribilli House and Admiralty House, respectively), just over the Harbour Bridge from the CBD.

Sydneysiders

Tim and I were Sydneysiders for this past week and loved it... Sydney is beautiful.  Lots of hills, bays, coves, sun, sand, clean (and brisk this past week) air, and crazy birds.  Tim and I were loving the ability to easily walk around, the chill in the air, the blue skies and Aussie cuisine (including beer and wine, gallons of it).

Bright Sun by the Sydney Opera House.

Plus we got to hang out with Amy and Adam, meet their adorable and well-behaved little boy, Alex, and hang out with Adam's big, boisterous and welcoming Aussie family for the week, which was awesome.  Some baby time, a little sightseeing, a few lessons in Aussie lingo, lots and lots of food.  

Triple A on the ferry to Manly.

More on our trip to Sydney and its environs coming soon!