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 :-)