Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

Boxing Day was spent out on the harbour sending off the yachts racing down to Hobart in the famous Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht race...one of the most famous and difficult yacht races in the world.

Pre-race...boats demonstrating their storm sails

The morning was wet and overcast but hundreds of boats still gathered in the harbour to cheer on the sailors. It was pretty spectacular to watch the 87 boats race out of the harbour and all of the spectators cheering on.

Our crew took our sailboat out past the heads and sailed down with the fleet out a few miles.

Boats sailing off towards Tasmania

The majesty and speed of the super maxi's amazed me. I had only a few seconds to snap shots of the Wild Thing (the 98-foot yacht our friend Rusty is racing...you can see him hanging of the bow in the photo below) before she sped past us (and at this point we were still under motor; because of restrictions spectator boats were not allowed to put up sails until they were clear out of the harbour).

Wild Thing

Wild Thing racing into the horizon...you can make out Wild Oats XI on the right

GO WILD THING!!!

Bono in Sydney

December 14, 2010--Steph and I saw U2 live at ANZ Stadium.

It was a spectacular performance. Their 360 stage is truly amazing--and allows the band to get closer to their fans. We were probably within 50 meters of Bono at one point :-)

Here is what they played...

Main Set: Return of the Stingray Guitar, Beautiful Day - Sgt. Pepper's, New Year's Day, Get on Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Elevation, Until the End of the World, All I want Is You - Need You Tonight - Never Tear Us Apart - Slide Away, Love Rescue Me, Pride, In A Little While, Miss Sarajevo, City of Blinding LIghts, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy (remix) -Two Tribes, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On- You'll Never Walk Alone

Encores: One, Amazing Grace - Where the Streets Have No Name, Ultraviolet, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender

Victory!

The silly season is in full gear...more about that later...

But I had to take a minute to let you all know that I've officially crewed my first winning sailing race...Caroline la Duce won Friday night's Twilight :-) We were first in our division and second across the line!

I'd like to think my winching contributed to our win...our prize--a bottle of wine, signed by our crew--to be saved for a very special occasion. Or as Graeme suggested--put away into my "cellar".

Watson's Bay adventure

Recently we have been blessed with a long series of "perfect" Saturdays...

(as a side note--I've just realized I've typed "recently"...but what that should really read is since my arrival in Sydney)

One recent Saturday was spent in Watson's Bay. Meredith, Tom and I took the ferry from Cicular Quay (a great and efficient way to travel to the various bay's in Sydney harbour)...we managed to catch the 12 pm ferry (with only 3 minutes to spare) despite the late conclusion of Friday night festivities :-)

We had a brilliant lunch of a seafood platter and fish & chips at Doyle's. I recommend sitting on the second floor as you can take in brilliant panoramic views of Sydney.

Stephanie and Ed joined us for an afternoon hike up to South Head opening up to spectacular views of the harbour and ocean.

In honour of AJ we took a "staged pass out" photo along our walk. While walking, someone yells "pass out" and you must collapse on the spot. We gave some asian tourists quite a fright!

Kicking off the Holiday Season at the Squady

I have to be honest...I'm missing the white Christmas...it's been quite an adjustment getting used to Christmas trees decorated with emus and kangaroos, store front decorations with sand and Christmas balls, Santa in a Hawaiian shirt and a panama hat, parrots on decorative "Happy Holidays" flags...I miss the coziness of being wrapped up in a soft blanket while sipping hot chocolate and reading a book (preferably in front of a roaring fire).

But Australia none the less has it's charms and traditions...we kicked of the Holiday Season on Monday with a beautiful dinner and Christmas Carols at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. The night was filled with great company, fine champagne, a cheezy choir decked out in sequence and lots and LOTS of singing....my heart filled with the holiday spirit and as we toasted to the Queen I realized that there is no other place I'd rather be :-)

I even won a bottle of Squady champagne by finding the "coin" in my Christmas pudding! Stephanie was sad she couldn't find the coin in hers...

We wrapped the night up singing the AUSTRALIAN version of The Twelve Days of Christmas...

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

an emu up a gum tree

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

two pink galahs and an emu up a gum tree

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

three jabirus, two pink galahs and an emu up a gum tree

......

On the twelth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

twelve parrots prattling, eleven numbats nagging, ten lizards leaping, nine wombats working, eight possums playing, seven koalas climbing, six platypuses, five kangaroos, four kookaburras, three jabirus, two pink galahs and an emu up a gum tree.

Australian Thanksgiving

Team Thanksgiving

On Thursday Stephanie, Meredith and I put together a traditional Thanksgiving for our Aussie and American friends. The party was a huge success largely due to Meredith's unbelievable turkey cooking skills. She managed to turn out a juicy, flavourful turkey despite the fact that we did not know how to properly operate our oven which resulted in us broiling the turkey for the first hour....OOOPs :-)

We had a severe spoonery drought in our flat and asked our guests to bring peace offerings in the form of spoons...another HUGE success, thanks to the creativity of the attendees we collected enough spoons to have enough serving utensils for all of our dishes....next party chair donations?!

Throughout the evening guests wrote what they were thankful for on our "Thanksgiving Canvas"....here is the result....

I personally am incredibly thankful for the opportunities I have been blessed with this year...Australia has been a dream and I am thankful for the new friends and old who have made the transition so smooth and also for my family and friends scattered across the globe for their support of my dreams and faith in my abilities....

Harbourlife 2010

On Saturday we danced the day away at HarbourLife Music Festival...

Line Up:
SOSUEME DJS
KNIGHTLIFE
METRONOMY
FLIGHT FACILITIES
YACHT CLUB DJS
EMBER
THE TEMPER TRAP

This is probably the best music festival in Sydney because of the stunning location, fun line up and limited attendees (only 5,000 tickets are sold--which keeps the dance floor danceable).

Venue 505

Another amazing night in Sydney...I'm making an official pact to let you all in on more of my life in this incredible city....sooo Alice has been in Sydney since Friday...more about that and the weekend tomorrow.



But tonight we went to a jazz venue called 505. I went to a show there last November when it was still a studio of apartment of a jazz connoisseur..But they have since expanded and now occupy a very cozy bar in Surrey Hills (corner of Cleveland St. and Perry St...but shhh...I'm really wanting to keep this as a local secret!!)



We saw a SPECTACULAR performance from Gerard Masters Trio...one of the most inspiring jazz performance of my life...two former music conservatory students and their teacher.... video to come!

Sailing in Sydney Harbour

To really experience Sydney, one must really get out on to the water. You get a completely new appreciation for this amazing city. I've been incredibly fortunate to have found myself out on the water on numerous occasions. One of my favorite water activities is the Twilight Sail. It is a more casual Friday evening race which starts around 5:30 p.m. The race can take anywhere from 1.5 hours to 3 hours depending on the winds....here is a few photos of me sailing Caroline la Duce.

Lunches and dinners at the Royal Sydney Yatch Squadron are also very memorable...great food and company. On Saturday I had the Steak Sandwich...fresh baguette, with a 1-inch steak (med-rare), tomatoes, rockette, onions and a fantastic sauce---wish I took a photo :-)

MelBIN and the Race that stops the Nation

I've spent the last week in Melbourne. Stephanie and I went down to see friends and watch the Derby Day Races. This year marked the 150th anniversary of the Melbourne Cup, also know as the "Race that stops a Nation". The Aussies take horse racing so seriously that the state of Victoria has an official day off on the Tuesday of the Melbourne Cup race! This year a horse called Americain won....coincidence?! Unfortunately, Stephanie and I only bet once on Darby Day on Race 7 Horse 9...but lost :-(

The races were quite the event. 100,000 people were in attendance, everyone dressed to impress, ladies wearing their racewear best---hats and fascinators included. Unfortunately, the photos from the last week and half have been erased due to the poor judgement of a guy who went to take our photo...at least we got a free dinner out of it :-) Tip ladies: If it rains on race day (which inevitably it will--b/c let's face it, it's Melbourne)...bring a HUGE umbrella. It's a great way to make friends :-) Fortunately, Stephanie and I were in the Member's Enclosure and were safe from the rain--but got the pleasure of meeting a number of interesting characters on our walk back to the train station.

Here is another tip for Melbourne: Bring a JUMPER, JACKET, SCARF and most importantly--an UMBRELLA...It rains quite often in this city.

Case in point--we were NOT prepared

Despite the weather we had a good time...caught up with old friends that I met in Greece years ago travelling (no photo unfortunately from our lovely dinner at a Spanish tapas place in St. Kilda). We also took a drive down the Great Ocean Road (spectacular views but not recommended for those prone to motion sickness)...and saw koalas in their natural habitat...

Our wonderful hosts Nigel and Amy & Joseph....Thank you so much for your hospitality.

You all were so kind!

Weekend in Palmy

Returned from an amazing weekend in Palm Beach. A beach getaway town 45 minutes north of Sydney. Stephanie and I went up to watch our friends' sailing race competition. We hiked up to the light house on Barrenjoey to get the best views of the competition below.

The views from the top were absolutely spectacular. This is truly "god's country".

The winds were so strong on Saturday that only the large off-shore boats were able to race. We caught some photos thinking that they were our friends :-)

The evening was spent drinking wine and dancing at one of the most amazing houses I have ever been to. The bathroom was so high-tech that both Steph and I managed to lock ourselves in :-)

Sunday was spent lounging in the sun, cuising in our awesome beach cruiser (we even got "Wow, AWERSOMEEEE" from group of 12 year olds!) and lovely afternoon lunch at Dunes Cafe with Janelle.

We also managed to catch the sailing competition....Stephanie also stepped up as crew for one of the boats....if you squint you can sort of make out the blond hair!

New "talents"

Apologies for the lack updates in the last week...we are still waiting for internet to be hooked up in our apartment...and my camera is for the moment out of order (photos to be posted next week).


Australians love sports. Everyone who knows me knows that I am HUGE fan of CHELSEA and football (soccer) in general. But since arriving to Australia I've been picking up new sports...I've been learning to play cricket :-) My friend Simon has taken me to the "nets" (bating cages) to practice my "balling" and "hitting". I've also managed to sit through an entire afternoon of watching Day 5 of the Australia vs. India cricket match. Despite appearance, cricket is quite an interesting sport!


Furthermore...I'm learning to GOLF. Beautiful public courses like the one below are scattered all over Australia. I've been fortunate enough to play an 18-hole game at the Coast Golf Course. The views are absolutely breath-taking.

The Coast Golf Course

Stephanie and I have also discovered that driving ranges are a great way to relieve extra stress and get an upper-body work out!

This weekend we are off to Palm Beach to watch a sailing competition!

Paper and other lessons

So I am full steam ahead into settling into my life in Australia.

Here are a few lessons I've learned during my first week here:

1. Contrary to the suggestions on many expat blogs, Westpac does not require a letter from your US bank in order to open an account. All you need is a passport and $500 min. deposit (although the min amount requirement may vary at different branches).

2. In order to sign up for a mobile phone plan in addition to a proof of residency (welcome letter from a bank) you need a work telephone number--because they need to run a credit check. The best option for those just arriving is the pay-as-you-go option.

3. Australia uses a different paper size--well one that is used by most of the world except for America--A4. This can present a re-formatting nightmare. BE PREPARED.

4. Australia is not an "instant" country. When hooking up internet you have to wait 3-4 days from activation. (hence the all quiet on the blog front for the past few days).

5. Contrary to my belief that Australia is warm year round--it can get chilly. Sweaters are necessary accessories.

AND...

In the spring and summer months you can frequently catch a .... show during dinner :-) AMAZING. We had a delicious dinner at the Manta Restaurant in Woolloomooloo Wharf a caught a brilliant fireworks display over Sydney Opera house from our dinner table. It was breathtaking...

More brilliant moments to come....

and....we've moved into our new place! Photos to be posted shortly (once we get our courtyard set up...)

Arrival in Sydney

Steph and Benny met me at the airport and immediately put me into tourist gear :-)

Of course the adventure started immediately with locking the keys in the trunk...luckily Ben managed to macgyver us out of the situation...

The last few days have been filled with beaches......

Welcome parties......

Boat trips out in Sydney Harbour....

Crab feasts.....

Charity cocktails at the Museum of Contemporary Art...

AND

Making new friends...

Now full steam ahead on settling in and finding a job...stay tuned for tips and finds!

Farewell weekend in SaN FrAnSiScO

Here are some of the highlights from the weekend with Alice, Roxy and Meggie.

Friday night drinks at the Cigar bar--great life Latin music and mojitos...Meggie arrived straight from the airport with her suitcase (and she brought her camera in its box!)

Saturday morning walk around the Marina after a delicious breakfast of fresh squeezed apple juice and fresh mozzarella and tomato sandwich.

Afternoon at the Japan Pop festival...curious trinkets and people in anime costumes

Mid-afternoon cheese/naps in Golden Gate park...(Roxy's flower pictured above)

Scrumptious dinner at Cafe Claude--Creamy tomato soup "to-die-for"

After dinner drinks with a view of SF...followed by a limo ride


Dancing in the San Fransisco fog :-)

(Best times to visit to avoid fog...September/October/January..or you might just catch fog dancing)

Sunday morning omlettes courtesy of Roxy

Aternoon/evening rooftop BBQ and dancing at The Endup to music by Alice's DJ friend

Monday: Walk across Golden Gate bridge and afternoon coffee in Sausalito

Ferry ride back to SF from Sausalito with spectacular views of the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz

Yummy Thai dinner with AJ, Karen and Alice

Farewell Tuesday morning breakfast with AJ before Taxi to airport....