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Published: March 10th 2008
Spanish Harlem Orchestra in The Domain
We got their 6 hrs early to claim our spot and enjoyed a picnic & plenty of wine on this gorgeous afternoon!Yeah, yeah, yeah, i know! No one knows as well as me how long it's been since my last entry! Well no more waiting. As many had suspected I altered my travel plans a wee bit after the holidays and determined to get back to Sydney to plant myself a little more firmly in my new city. In my first Sydney entry I lamented the fact that I had failed to do many of the "IT" things to do in and around this incredible city, but I assure you the second time around I made serious progress on the list! For a sneak peak of what's to follow below here are my Top Ten (in chronological order) from the past 6 weeks.
1. Spanish Harlem Orchestra in The Domain
2. Macquarie's Chair Outdoor Cinema, JUNO Premier
3. Australian Open - Melbourne
4. Port Douglas
5. The Police in concert
6. Hunter Valley
7. La Boheme at the Opera House
8. Kelly Clarkson in concert
9. The Bridge Climb
10. Australian Grand Prix
11. Tracy's first Cricket Match - it's #11 for a reason!
And those are just the highlights! As you can gather, January and February were pretty busy.
El Barrio
Spanish Harlem Orchestra comes on! Thanks to Si's endless connections the tickets just kept on coming for summer events. Each year the city hosts a 3-week long affair appropriately named The Sydney Festival. Movies, music, dancing, eating, drinking...there's something for everyone and we squeezed in every bit we could manage between our other plans. My first week back we saw De La Soul perform, they continue to be as good as they were two decades ago. Later that week I attended my first Cricket match...I am still trying to figure out what in the world about this sport keeps men glued to the television for days on end. That weekend however the jaw dropping excitement of cricket was easily forgotten when we planted ourselves in The Domain and awaited the anticipated performance by the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. We easily passed the time with a couple mean games of Scrabble and 4 bottles of wine and I must say the wait was worth it! SHO put on an amazing show and I highly recommend making the effort to see them if they ever come to your hometown...and for the majority of you who reside in NYC, you have no excuses. We were so inspired by the
Macquarie's Chair - JUNO Premier
The most spectacular cinema in the world! Latin beats and the dancers who accompanied them that we promptly signed up for Latin dance lessons ourselves. I don't think you will see us gracing the stage anytime soon, but we're doing our best to have fun and laugh at ourselves plenty!
Admittedly we were a little fuzzy the next day, which is apparently what happens when you sit in the scorching sun for 5 hours drinking, but managed to recover in time for our JUNO premier a couple nights later. Presumably most of you have seen Juno by now. In fact I am pretty sure you have to live under a rock to have missed the warranted buzz (oh yeah and that little thing called an Oscar) not to know the genius of this film. That said I guarantee none of you got to see it in a venue that comes close to rivaling that of Macquarie's Chair. One of the things Sydneysiders have mastered is taking advantage of the incredible outdoor venues throughout the summer months. Situated on the Sydney harbour with the bridge as a backdrop, this outdoor cinema is like nothing i have ever seen. The tickets for every summer movie showing apparently sold
Holding Up for Hewitt
The excitement was keeping us awake despite the hour! out in one day but we were lucky enough to score a couple. I was told only a couple people had to be murdered to make it possible. They did not die in vain.
Although I can't remember exactly when, somewhere in this week we also made it to the women's final of the Medibank International and got to see the world's #1, Henin defeat #2 Kuznetsova. It was just a little warm up for what was to come.
Our first weekend away we succeeded in fulfilling one of my lifelong dreams and attended the Australian Open in Melbourne. Despite the fact that it rained cats and dogs, we were not complaining as we witnessed the now legendary Hewitt-Baghdatis match that kept dedicated fans glued to their seats until 4:30AM. It didn't make for an easy checkout the following morning but the experience was well worth the exhaustion and bragging rights for attending the latest match in professional tennis history. We enjoyed a whirlwind week upon returning that included another outdoor cinema, this one at Bondi Beach, as well as a life-changing performance by The Police. As far as I am concerned they have at least a couple
Hewitt's Serve
Did i mention we were in the 3rd row! more decades of comeback tours left in them. Sting's voice remains phenomenal and the packed stadium revealed that I wasn't the only one who felt this way! We had few moments to catch our breath before repacking our bags and jumping on another flight, this one up north to Si's parent's home in Port Douglas.
For those of you unfamiliar with Australian geography, Port Douglas is in the northern most state of Queensland. The closest international airport is Cairns, which is about an hour's drive south of PD and a 3 hour flight from Sydney. In other words it's a little bit of a trek for a long weekend but the travel time was well worth it. After months of being drenched, the clouds parted in Port Douglas and gave us 3 beautiful, albeit scorching, days. Each morning we rode our bikes to the local cafe for brekkie and to and fro the beach. The sand is hard enough there that you can actually ride along the beaches which admittedly is something I had never done. Both the climate and the views are reminiscent of my parent's home in Kauai and I would be lying if I said I
was anywhere near being ready to leave when our time was up. Apparently however, an extension just wasn't meant to be and thankfully so as the torrential rains returned the day after we departed. We had such a gorgeous time that we're toying with the idea of returning for the Easter holiday but we'll just have to see what we can pull together in the next couple of weeks!
I'm starting to get a little nostalgic for January writing about all we did. Admittedly February wasn't too shabby either. In light of my extended unemployment I thought it only appropriate to work on my procrastination skills and although I might get in trouble for saying this, I have many Pugh's around me to provide guidance in this arena. Those of you who know me well, or for that matter those who met me for 10 minutes, have gotten used to my starting sentences with "here are my detailed plans for the next 12 months"...in some cases the next 12 years. Tracy Flick however is on vacation and I have replaced her with a very easy going, non-planner version (okay, I have tried) that takes making reservations 24 hours in
Riding the Beach
Can't do this on too many beaches around the world! advance in stride. This was the case when planning our weekend away in Hunter Valley. Come Friday morning we had no place to stay and little idea whether the weather would even permit the drive but by Saturday morning (and a large credit card bill later) we were on the road ready for some serious wine tasting. Hunter Valley is Eastern Australia's equivalent to Napa and I happen to think a very worthy rival. The vistas are filled with the typical images of rolling hills with endless grapevines and by some divine intervention we again got pristine weather despite months of flooding that has plagued the region. More attractive than Napa is the fact that tastings in the Hunter are free. For any of you that have visited the California wineries in recent years you will know this generous luxury is long gone and you can easily be charged $15 - $20 for a measly few tastes of wine. In true Australian fashion, they pour every wine your heart desires and plenty of it and still smile and say thanks if you leave without purchasing a bottle (which is nice in theory but we of course loved most of what
Hunter Valley
Yes, it is that idyllic. we tasted and came home with plenty!). It was a relatively quick trip, but thoroughly enjoyed and you can bet we're already talking about the next venture up there. Well there and Barossa Valley, Yarra Valley, Coonawarra, Margaret River...did i mention they make a lot of wine in Australia? And I stand my ground that it rivals any Californian, French or Italian wine I have tried to date!
I was just saying to Si last night that it amazes me that we can pass a building as iconic as the Sydney Opera House on a daily basis doing something so mundane as picking up a pair of boots from his parent's home. Many people spend a lifetime hoping to see this structure and yet it's just there for us to encounter whenever we choose. We all have these structures in our home towns and guaranteed we all take them for granted, but I challenge you to make a date with an architectural wonder and keep in mind that people likely come from all over the world to see it. Luckily it's pretty easy to make a date with the opera house and that's just what we did for Valentine's
Opera House
Waiting for La Boheme to begin. Day. Si surprised me with tickets to La Boheme and not only was it my first time in this incredible building, it was my first opera ever so needless to say the night was quite memorable. If only i hadn't spilled that glass of champagne down his suit...whoops, some things never change!
Most recently we went to see Kelly Clarkson in concert. I know some might stifle a laugh at this one or maybe even chuckle out loud, but I assure you the girl can sing! I can't say anything that came out of her mouth was a disappointment and even the throngs of 12 year old screaming girls didn't keep us from enjoying our experience!
You will notice there are two more things on my list of Top Ten. Unfortunately however you will just have to stay tuned to see how they turn out because the Grand Prix is this weekend in Melbourne and The Bridge Climb is somewhere in the near future so long as the weather holds out. I bought us tickets for this crazy adventure for Christmas knowing our mutual acrophobia would be too good of an excuse to avoid it but the incessant
Kelly Clarkson
I know she's a pop artist, but I assure you this girl can sing! rain has postponed the inevitable thus far. And soon to be added to the list are the 2008 Logie Awards (aka Australia's version of the Emmy's) which we attend in Melbourne in May. For those of you who have not already adorned your calendar with indelible ink, my birthday is coming up in a couple weeks and all I am asking for is house guests in 2008! So start saving that $ and get your butts to Australia. At the request of many I have thrown in a few photos of our abode.
Massive hugs to all!
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