ANZ Stadium

Today AJ and I took a little field trip out to ANZ stadium to the hang some new art work at the Sony corporate box for the clients. Proving that even 1/2 way across the world, there is no such thing as a 'typical day' in advertising.

ANZ is similar to the Meadowlands back home - huge complex - they host all sorts of teams - Rugby League & Union, AFL, cricket, etc plus concerts and other events...Hulkamania is here this weekend if you believe it. ;)

Gazebo Wine Gardens

I met up with Molly again last night for another great dinner, and some yummy Tasmania wine. Jansz is one of the wineries that Molly visited on her latest trip to Tasmania. We went to Gazebo Wine Gardens, near her place in Potts Point. http://www.thegazebos.com.au/gazebo/index.html

The restaurant was very eclectic, with cool furniture, decorations and plants everywhere - it felt like stepping into a green house inside of your great aunt's attic.

It's so fun catching up with Molly, because she lived in NY for 10 years before coming on an assignment over here - we spend a lot of time comparing and contrasting the 2 cities, and then the majority of our time thinking back on funny 'remember whens' from my IBM account days at Ogilvy.


However, the highlight of my night may have been being proposed to by a very good looking Australian bloke. I was sitting at the bar waiting for Molly to arrive (I got there a little early - thanks to my very nice trip on the subway). Anyway, I ordered a glass of wine from the bartender, and when he heard my accent he asked where I was from? I said New York - easier than explaining, CO, well, MN...actually I live in NYC now...etc. When I said New York - his facial expression changed automatically. He said, that's my favorite city in the world, I casually said 'I'll trade you', and next thing I knew he was down on his knee behind the bar, removing a ring from his finger and offering it to me. Apparently he's looking for a US-citizen for a wife. I totally blew my chances by asking for his name first, rather than just blurting out 'yes'...but he later topped my wine off for me, 'on the house', so he may still be interested. ;)

Signs in the park on the way to the restaurant. long ways from home.

Dandelion fountain in the park near Gazebo Wine Gardens.

Dedicated to J Schwartz...

A good friend of mine, Jess Schwartz, has started up a blog dedicated to her morning commute on the Houston bus lines. Jess and I used to be roommates on the UES, and she was a pro with maneuvering the subway and bus routes of NYC. Sadly, when she moved back to Houston last year, she found herself to be one of the very few that utilizes public transportation in TX. Her blog is quite humorous, and can be found here: http://schwartzblawg.blogspot.com/

Jess has been an avid reader of my switch blog, and leaves funny comments that I very much appreciate, so when I took the Sydney subway last night for the very 1st time, I thought of her, and ignored the funny looks when I took out my camera and started snapping pics. The subway system is pretty straightforward, similar to DC that you need your ticket both entering and exiting at the stops (I always seem to put my ticket in the perfect place, hidden somewhere in my wallet, that it's never a quick thing getting out at my destination). However, unlike the subway trains in the states - Sydney's trains are double deckers. You walk through the yellow doors, can stand on that level or walk up or down a few steps to find seats. With taking the ferry to work every day, riding the subway last night to the Cross, hoping in the occasional very high-priced taxi...all I need to do is find a bus to make my tour de transportation complete. Jess - so far I'd give Sydney a 8.5 out of 10. The score would be upped if they offered more ferries in the am.

Maggie Island

This past weekend I met Matt up in Magnetic Island off the coast of QLD. I was a little nervous going into the weekend, because it could have gone 1 of 2 ways - ranging anywhere from the best weekend possible during my trip to Oz to the world's longest and most awkward blind-date-style-of-a-weekend. I had never met Matt before, but he studied abroad in Copenhagen with one of my best friends, Brandon Potter. When I told Potter I was headed out to Australia for work, he introduced me to a couple of his boys down under via email, and Matt was nice enough to help me book some weekends up to Queensland, so I could see some more places other than just Sydney. Matt turned out to be awesome, and the weekend could only have been better had Potter been able to join us. We stayed at Matt's family friends, Rick & Candy's home in Picnic Bay, and enjoyed an amazing BBQ at their place Saturday night. I think they got a kick out of the fact that I could turn on a Midwest accent and have relatives who live in Fargo, as they had seen the Coen Brother's movie. Luckily, I ended up with a lot of pictures from the weekend, since other people from our sailing cruise sent some along, and we were able to borrow Candy's camera (as I forgot my camera battery charger, and think I took about a total of 10 pictures on my actual camera). Anyway, this post may be a little picture heavy, but it was so gorgeous up there, what better way to show you?
Rocks near Arcadia.

Arcadia Bay.

Horseshoe Bay - early Saturday am, we went back there Sunday afternoon, and it was buzzing with people - but it was very serene with no one on the beach.

Our sail boat, the Providence, that we jumped on at Nelly Bay. I assumed it was only going to be a 1/2 day tour for some reason, but we were out in the sun the full day...(only a mild sunburn once we made it back on land), We met a lot of very nice people though, Dane & Vanessa from the Gold Coast and Amy & Naomi from inland Queensland.

Matt helping to pull one of the main sails up...

Me, getting in on hoisting one of the smaller sails...I think I was probably singing Andy Sandberg and T-Pain's song, 'I'm On a Boat', as I had that song in my head all day long.

Matt and I - with our XXXX Gold beers on the beach, and the Providence in the background. (Goldies are a QLD beer - and I also got to try Bundaberg, a QLD rum while on the island). We stopped for lunch at Radical Bay after snorkeling in Arthur Bay. If I get some snorkel pictures from Dane & Vanessa, I'll be sure to post those too.

When we got back from sailing, we relaxed at Rick & Candy's house, and tried to learn a few tips from the grill master.

Had to show you our lemon chicken and grilled vegetables, as much like with Nat's blog, this has turned into somewhat of a food blog as well. :)

On Sunday morning, Matt and I cruised around in the purple mini moke he hired for the weekend. In the map above, you can see the island has one main road that you can drive on, and the rest of the island is made up of national park land.

View from the window of the moke. Me with the moke near Arcadia Bay...this was before I took my turn driving it, but Matt was brave enough to let me behind the wheel. You sit in driver's seat on the right side, but drive on the left side of the road, and making things even more difficult, you shift with your left hand, and 1st gear is then further away from you, rather than closest to you, and the gas, brake and clutch are all switched around too...needless to say, I'll be renting an automatic when I do my road trip in NZ.

Candy gave us some Wallabee food for when we were out on Sunday - we found a little guy who was hungry - not going to lie, was a little worried about him eating directly out of my hand, as this was in the wild, not at a petting zoo, and it brought back flash backs of the monkey attack in Cambodia last year (I think most of you know that story - haha), but things turned out just fine this time around.

Matt and I at Arcadia Bay - thanks for being my tour guide and planning such a fantastic weekend - looking forward to Noosa & Boreen Point next weekend!

Friday Lunch @ Harbour View

Today we went to lunch at the Harbour View Hotel - which is a restaurant situated pretty much directly beneath the Harbour Bridge overlooking the water - this was the view from our table. I was happy to see fish & chips on the menu, because I still hadn't tried this Sydney staple, and I needed a bit of a greasy lunch after my big night out on the town with Anna, Nat's bestie, last night (thanks again Anna for the fantastic thai dinner, and finding Pocket Bar - great night, and per your request, no photos will be featured on the world wide web). But if you find yourself in Sydney, definitely stop by Pocket Bar in East Sydney - great hole in the wall spot!

Here are some of the people on the Bridge climb - every 15 minutes another group of 10 or so people would walk by on the Bridge (matching outfits, gear and carabiners). I was interested in doing the walk, but when I found out it was $200 - decided those 2 greenies could be better spent elsewhere.
http://www.bridgeclimb.com/

Fish & Chips...
While we were at lunch, Nat text AJ saying she was at dinner with Jake & Loren (who just arrived in NYC today - already miss you guys here). Anyway, she let us know she was at dinner with Jake & Loz, and they were sitting next to Matt Dillon! AJ wrote back and said he was at lunch with Dan, Neal & I - and we were sitting next to Rob Hunwick! Touche.

I hope my team in NY is taking Nat out to some fantastic lunches in the West Village...I feel extremely lucky to be working with the guys on the Sony team - thanks again for lunch today!! I'm off to Magnetic Island this wknd, so plenty of pictures when I'm back on Monday - have a great weekend!

Have you got any lobsters floating around in there?

Like I said, looks like monopoly money, right?! With all of the different colors, there are different names that go along with some of the bills - $20 = lobsters, $50 = pineapples, $100 = greenies (sorry to not be able to show you a picture of a hundo - but probably comforting to know that I'm just as broke in Sydney as I am in NYC) :)

The good thing about Aussie money is it was the 1st country to introduce polypropylene polymer notes - so it's more plastic-y vs paper-y, and can actually go through the wash.

I decided to look up who's on each bill too - to give you a little history lesson (you know, in the spirit of learning something new everyday): $5 feature Queen Elizabeth II & the Parliament House on the back. $10 feature Banjo Patterson (famous Australian bush poet, journalist & author) and Dame Mary Gilmore (another famous author). $20 has Mary Reibey (Englishwoman who was transported to Sydney as a convict, but went on to become a successful business woman) and Rev. John Flynn (Presbyterian minister and aviator who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service, or the world's first air ambulance). $50 features David Unaipon (Australian Aboriginal preacher, inventor & writer) and Edith Cowan (the 1st woman elected as a representative in an Australian parliament). As for the $100 - Nellie Melba (Int'l Opera singer sensation) and Sir John Monash (Australian military commander in WWI).


I appreciate the equal showing of both sexes on the bills vs our dead presidents.

Here are some of the coins - they have .05, .10, .20, .50 coins (all silver) and $1 & $2 coins (goldies).

Morning Ritual

Every morning Dan, AJ and I head over to Fine Foods, one of the best cafes on the Rocks. If you're ever in Sydney in the Rocks area - head to Kendall Lane and stop in for a coffee. The staff is awesome, and I love that after only 2 weeks I've pretty much become a regular. :) They get to work on my coffee order (lg skinny cap), while I still struggle to find the right amount of coins to pay for it. I'll have to take some photos of the currency here - all kinds of colors, shapes & sizes - feels like you're playing monopoly with the pink, blue and yellow bills, but then with so many different types of coins it's like you've also put the thimble, the scottie dog and the iron in your coin purse as well.

There is another coffee shop that opened up a few blocks closer to work, AJ tried it awhile back, and I asked him how the coffee tasted? His answer: a little like guilt. The Sony team members are regulars at Fine Foods - and I'm happy to get in on the tradition (sorry Nat - I'm thinking this post will make you miss good coffee...with the closest coffee shop to the NY office being Dunkin' Donuts).
Inside of Fine Foods.

My morning cappuccino - made with love! xx

Quality coffee is definitely something I'll miss when I head back to NYC.