Boxing Day at the Zoo

This was my first Boxing Day. I’ve never been in a country that celebrates it for the Holidays. Not that any of us really knew what one does to celebrate Boxing Day, so we figured we’d use it to address the biggest gaping hole in our experience as tourists in Australia– we visited the Taronga Zoo. Luckily, while it was still a little rainy, this time we did not get rained out.

It is much touted, and for good reason. It’s located on the other side of the harbor from Sydney and the principle way to get there is via ferry; so it already feels like you’re being whisked away to a special place.

The set-up is also kind of cool. The zoo is built on a hill and they've used that hill in the zoo's design. Once you disembark from your ferry ride at the base of the hill, you queue up for a Sky Safari that takes you to the top. Right away you get a great view of Sydney and an overview of the entire zoo to get you excited. When you land again, you’re psyched to start your journey back down while wandering through the beautiful animal habitats.

Here are glimpses of the rest of the zoo:

There was one rather comical moment caught on video. By this point, I had become pretty big fan of wombats. They’re just sooo cute! And they had a very cute little guy here at the zoo. I found him particularly adorable because he was scratching an itch and cuddling or playing with a log. Or so I thought. Greg pointed out too late that our little wombat friend might have been scratching a different kind of itch.

Hmmm. Still not sure.

It really is a beautiful zoo. The kangaroo and wallaby habitat is cool in that visitors can walk through it and be near the animals. However, we did see one idiotic visitor taunt a kangaroo to the point that it stood up on its haunches to its full height. For a second, he looked like he was contemplating punching that offending visitor. Luckily, nothing bad happened, but I once little part of my brain thins it would have been kind of satisfying to see that kangaroo get a kick in -- like in a cartoon. Lesson: don’t be a douche bag when dealing with animals.

A little Wallaby, exhausted by a day of performing to the crowds.

The koalas were ridiculously cute of course. The red panda and giraffes were also really adorable, and the bird show is really very cool.

Red Panda


Not sure who is cuter


Awkward, perhaps, but definitely endearing

At 5 we found ourselves deserted in the zoo. We hadn’t heard any announcements regarding closing time, we just looked up at one point and found ourselves alone in the place, as if everyone else had received a memo but us. It was VERY eerie. We hightailed it back to the ferry. Luckily, there was still one there.

At the end, it was just us and the peacocks walking around. Kind of surreal.

We could not let our day end on this creepy note. Plus, after walking around all day, we were pretty hungry, so once we got back to Sydney, Mark treated us to a Peking Duck dinner in
Chinatown.

As it turned out, the girls were going out dancing out that evening. If we’d gone home first, we’d never have made it back out again, so the three of us joined them in our gross state and all. Vanity shouldn’t get in the way of a good time . . . but maybe, it should get a little more consideration next time.

Here are few more adorable animal pics before I sign off:

View Larger Map

Xmas in OZ

Christmas Down Under was kind of lackluster.

We used to joke that all the Christmas cheer was on the CBD free bus, because that seemed to be the place where the city chose to spend it’s entire decorating budget.

Ok that’s an exaggeration. There were a couple of prettily decorated trees downtown here and there, and they did do this cool thing where they projected pretty light patterns onto some of the historical buildings to make it look like they’d been gift wrapped. That said, the Christmas spirit seemed to elude me for some reason.

Now, I’m used to warm weather Christmases. The majority of my Holidays have been warm – Florida, Venezuela, Los Angeles. However, there ‘s something about seeing ads where watermelons are rolled up to the Christmas table to be eaten alongside turkey and ham and all the traditional winter trimmings that we're used to, that just seemed wrong.

Nonetheless, I was actually kind of psyching myself up for the idea of a Christmas BBQ on the beach. We were all ready with burgers and sausages to grill while wearing silly Santa hats with our swimsuits by the surf.

Instead we got rained out.

We tried to make the best of it. Carla and Alex joined us to BBQ at our house instead. Alex brought pumpkin pie and we played Christmas carols.

However, there was still just something kind of sad about seeing Greg huddled beneath the overhang, hunched over the grill to protect our burgers from getting soaked. A little sad, but a little comical too.

What we really drank

It’s time to come clean about something. I talk a good game about all the lovely wine tastings we did Down Under, and that’s all true, but to be honest, most of the time we drank on the cheap. Booze are expensive in Australia . . . really expensive, at least in comparison to here where it’s not heavily taxed and where we have places like Trader Joe’s and Bev Mo. So to come completely clean, most of time we drank boxed wine. Yes, boxed wine . . . and not the new-wave kind that uses the high-tech packaging to better preserve the taste and freshness of the wine. Just boxed wine . . . a lot of which tasted much like slightly alcoholic grape juice. We did find a couple that were ok enough to replace of Two-buck Chuck as everyday table wine. (Stanley's, in the lead picture, was one of the more passable of the cheapie boxed wines.) I know many of you are probably debating even the wisdom/taste level of allowing Charles Shaw onto our table, but hey we're on budget. While I can appreciate a good wine, we have to make concessions for the weeknight table. There, the truth is out.

Alchy grape juice. Beware of sugar shock.

For those who are unwilling to sink to such levels, Australian wineries offer another option for budget conscious – cleanskins. Wineries put out these bottles with minimally marked labels containing only the basic information. It allows them to get rid of excess wine that might not otherwise get used, such as wine produced in the first or last pressing of a batch. This way they make a profit of this wine without potentially damaging the quality of one of their lines. You can actually get pretty good deals this way, but its also kind of a grab bag.

For anyone searching for decent prices in OZ, we found Dan Murphy’s to generally have the best prices. You can do pretty well here. (See lead picture for one day's loot.)

You’ll also find another convenience around Australia that you won’t find around here . . . the drive-thru liquor store. Almost makes up for the higher prices . . . well, not quite but it’s still novel to a wandering American.

Kate shows off the drive-through, a la Vanna White.

Hunter Valley Redux

Towards the end of Carolyn’s visit, Marc arrived in Oz as well. The question for Greg and I became what can we do that everyone in this group can enjoy, as different as we might all be. The answer: eat and drink.

We had decided to rent a car for our final week , so we piled everyone into the car and headed up to the Hunter Valley for a round of Christmas Eve wine tasting. We cobbled together a slate of wineries by looking up websites and articles and factoring in the convenience to our route.

Our first stop was Tyrrell’s Winery. They had some really lovely wines here . . . and they poured quite generously. A lot of their wines don’t make it over here, but three that we liked that they told us can sometimes be found in the U.S. are the Vat 47 Chardonay, the Vat 8 Shiraz, and the Vat 1 Hunter Semillion.

With all the hefty pours, we were all a little tipsy by the end of round one, which made it necessary to fill our tummies at the Smelly Cheese Shop. When we were there the last time, a bunch of people snuck in an extra tasting next door at Tempus Two. Since we’d heard positive things from their experience, we decided to do the same. Sadly, our experience was not as good. Not bad, just ok. The exterior is kind of cool though.

The one thing Greg and I had not counted on when planning this day was that we’d be beaten down by intolerable heat. This stands out in my memory as one of two most oppressively hot days of our entire stay in Australia. (The other was the first day on the Grand Pacific Drive.) The air was heavy with humidity. The intense heat amplified the effects of the wine and did both Carolyn and Marc in. Neither of them was able to pull through for the third winery.

I admit, I too had to take a step back and had a scaled back tasting, but I’m glad I was able to taste a bit since Brokenwood had some nice wines too – and these are easier to find in the US – and quite a few at decent prices. I remember enjoying some of their dessert wines and this 2007 Brokenwood Shiraz Estate Blend.

Sadly, with everyone down for the count, we had to call it a day early, which was rather disappointing, especially since this was Carolyn’s last day in Oz. However, once everyone had recuperated later that night, we headed down to Circular Quay and Marc got his first glimpse of the Opera House. His excitement was definitely infectious.

Feeling sentimental that our time in OZ is drawing to a close, I get sentimental.

Back to Sydney - Mom's Awaiting

We didn’t have time to lament the end of our New Zealand Adventure. We had only a couple of weeks left, and in addition to wrapping things up around our place, packing, and enjoying the last of our time with our Sydneysider friends, Sydney, a procession of guests was about to come through to help us spend our last couple of weeks down under. Greg’s mom was already there, ready, and waiting for us when we returned.

Carolyn flew in a couple of days early to acclimate to the time change, and once we arrived we basically hit the ground running to show her our favorite spots around town. A good beginning to the end of our time Down Under.

Greg and I had become quite enamored of an adorable area of Glebe. With so many fun spots in such easy proximity to each other, this strip was one of our first stops.

Included are Red Chilli Sichuan Hot Pot, Sapho Books, and Chocolateria San Churro.

To make sure we got the shopping in, we took her to the Paddington Market, where she picked up quite the loot.

Carolyn's new earring wardrobe.

And of course, we had to spend some time in the Botanic Gardens and enjoyed the extra treat of having a beautiful lunch at the Botanic Gardens Restaurant.

We also got the chance to experience Sydney in a way we hadn’t before – via ferry. A ferry tour around the harbor is usually one of the first things tourists do upon arriving in Sydney, but we had somehow omitted this step. Carolyn loves a ferry-ride – she finds it very relaxing – so we took that ferry to all kinds of new places.

The ride to Parramatta was lovely, but we arrived to late in the day to see much of the town . . . so we grabbed beers and appetizers instead.

We had better luck in Manly, and enjoyed walking around their strip and a long the beach area – although it was really windy. However, as most people will tell you, the highlight is the ferry trip back at sunset sunset.

Of all our ferry excursions, I think my favorite was probably our trip to the Sydney Fish Market. It was a gorgeous day and a lovely trip, and while the market can be a little overwhelming, the feast we had of super fresh fish in many forms was absolutely delicious.

Amongst our activities, we were able to mix in a little Christmas cheer as well. We celebrated at the Opera House with a show of kicky Christmas rock classics and took advantage of the beauty of the harbor at night.