Australian Pie

Some exciting news: I finally found the perfect home to move into! Tomorrow, I'll be moving into a townhouse in a little neighbourhood called Alexandria, about a 30-minute walk from the city centre and 10 minutes from where I'll be (fingers crossed) working. I'm really looking forward to having my own (huge!) room and sharing the place with three awesome housemates. On the other hand, my current roomie, Mona, is also awesome, but regrettably, I won't be able to take her with me.

*zzzziip!* "and back to our regularly scheduled programming..."

You may remember reading my post about the delicious meat pies in New Zealand. I was sad to leave, fearing that I might never encounter a tasty meat pie again. Well, last weekend, I decided to put Australian meat pies to the test. And... my fears were unfounded. This meat pie I tried in Sydney was just as tasty as any I've had in Auckland. What a relief. Perhaps in an effort to one-up the Kiwis, this Sydney pie shop draws faces on theirs.

The Customs House - an unassuming neighbour to the Opera House

At Circular Quay, a grand old building called the Customs House sits outside the train station, but never manages to steal much attention away from arriving tourists who are immediately drawn to the magnificent views of the Opera House and Bridge on the opposite side. Were it not for my friend Diego who pointed out that this building is more interesting on the inside than meets the eye, I'd have never thought twice to step inside.

Once inside, I discovered that this building is a beautifully renovated space that now serves as Sydney's main library. Upon stepping into the grand foyer, the first thing you notice is the people peering through the glass floor, pointing downwards, and chatting. Stepping closer, you notice that what everyone is pointing at is a huge scale model of Sydney's CBD (central business district). Taking a few steps onto the transparent glass and hovering over the scale model, you start to feel like god-like, floating above the city. Or if you're in a more obnoxious mood, you start stomping on the glass to get a feel for what it might be like to be Australia's version of Godzilla sent to terrorize Sydneysiders....

Lucky charms?

The weekend market at The Rocks is one of my favourite things about Sydney. The reason I love this market is because, of all the artisan markets I've been to, this one offers not only some of the most unique food I have had (barbecued emu, crocodile, and roo), but it is also filled with stalls showcasing beautifully handcrafted jewelery, clothing, and accessories.

The one stand that caught my attention was this one selling odd kangaroo parts. If you've always wanted a kangaroo to scratch your back, your needs can be met! And if the old rabbit's foot is no longer bringing you the good luck you require, you might decide to upgrade to castrated kangaroo...

The waiting game

My apologies for slipping on the blog posts. It's been a hectic week with house-hunting back on the agenda, completing paperwork for my job, and doing touristy things. I still don't have a firm start date, but I have a signed contract, and a firm end date of December 3rd! How funny is that. I'm essentially "on call" to begin as early as July 12th, with the start date hinging on some civil servant receiving a piece of paper in the mail and deciding to sign it. So... the waiting game continues. The only annoying thing about this is not being able to make firm plans to travel with my friends Nhung and Mai visiting from Ottawa - they're arriving in Sydney tomorrow and are planning to hit up Melbourne, Brisbane, and Cairns. I'm really hoping I can join them in Cairns, if not in Brisbane as well!

I feel like this pigeon waiting at the train station... do I fly or do I wait for the train?

Birds in the Botanical Garden

There are other flying creatures in the botanical gardens that don't make me cringe every time they are near - birds. Most of them make strange noises I wouldn't quite call chirping. Imagine a 3-year-old child imitating a squawking bird, and you'll know what some of the birds around here sound like. There are none of those melodic songbirds around here, nope.

Something else I have to admit about birds is that I know about as much about birds as I know about cars. Thus, my observations on birds are similar to those I have for cars:

"Oh, that's a nice colour!"
"Look at that cute little one."
"What an obnoxious noise. Why is it so loud?"

And so... I have no idea what kinds of birds I took pictures of, except for the last one, which is a cockatoo. They're about the size of a seagull and mainly white with yellow accents on their mohawk and under the wings. Not only do they rock some serious style, but they're audacious too - if you have food, they will come right up to ask for some.

Going batty in the botanical garden

In the middle of the city centre, next to the Sydney Opera House, there is a huge park called the Royal Botanic Gardens. It's home to all sorts of trees and animals, including these Flying Foxes. They're furry bats the size of a small rabbit, and they eat fruit off the trees in the park. During the day they hang upside down, napping in the trees. I have this silly fear when I walk underneath these roosting bats that one of them might fall off its branch and land on me...