Erin and Kevin Visit!

Erin and Kevin, friends from business school visited Australia for a little over a week. While we were not the main attraction (a wedding in Perth was) we loved to see them and hang around Sydney! Having friends around is just what the doctor ordered!

We packed a lot in the few days they were here! Christmas Eve drinks with our neighbors, Manly, Bondi, Coogee, Sydney to Hobart race start, well really it was just the longest ferry ride EVER, Chrissy with Jules and Oscar, Speed Boating, exploring the city. We also got to meet with with Curtis and Allison who were enjoying a Sydney holiday for a BBQ on Boxing Day at our apartment.

How is this the only photo of all of us I have????

Walking around Bondi! 

Bone Crusher says, DON'T LEAVE!

Thanks for visiting, we miss you guys and can't wait to see you again soon! XOXO

Happy Chrissy (even if its a bit late)

When we first moved here we both wondered when we would get homesick. We figured it would happen around the holidays. So, I braced myself for thanksgiving, but we were both working and no one here celebrates t-giving (duh), so we didn't really have time to think about it. I've been much more homesick in the states not being with my family than I was here - since no one is with family you're reminded you aren't, if that makes sense.

We talked about leaving Sydney for Christmas for this very reason. Instead we opted to stay in Sydney and I have to say it was the best decision we made. Here is what our day looked like:

Everyone enjoys the sun and goes to the beach. On our bus to the beach (at 10 AM) there were two English bros rocking out to Bob Marley and drinking vodka slushies. #stralia

Started off at Coogee beach with the Pisca's 

It was a picture perfect day. And I got to Skype with my mom from the beach :)

Everyone was in santa hats and red 

People set up with their Christmas trees on the beach

In true Australian fashion Christmas is actually just a drinking event. As you leave the beach and walk up to the grass you see where the real parties are. This was about 11:30 and people were going hard already. This takes planning because EVERYTHING is closed on Chrissy - I mean everything, you can barely even get a coffee. And that goes for Boxing Day, the day after Chrissy as well.

These guys were crossing the street to get to their party with all the important things, cases of beer, propane and a BBQ....no shoes, no shirt, santa hat, check.

Then we heeded to the Dean's for a proper family Christmas celebration. We ate dinner outside, thats right, Christmas outside!

The Chrissy spread - seafood on seafood! 

No Christmas celebration is complete without poppers 

The table aftermath 

Then we transitioned to the backyard, where we played some games and continued generating with sparkling red wine. The Australians were outnumbered out there - only 2 of 8. So we had an American country sing along. It was great fun!

The "kids"

Fun with Lollies aka candy 

Love these guys! Wine teeth much?

As always, thanks Oscar & Jules and their families for welcoming us into their homes and making us feel right at home in Australia! And I can't forget that Greg had an Australian Quiz prepared for all the Americans, which was awesome!

Exploring the Northern Beaches

A few weekends ago we decided to rent a car and take a day trip to some of the hard to get to Northern Beaches. The Northern Beaches are across the harbor from the Opera House and are definitely less crowded. We traveled about an hour North of downtown Sydney. We visited West Head Lookout in the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase Notional Park, Church Point bay for lunch, Clareville for a coffee and Palm Beach to relax on the beach.

Here was our route

Chris made me drive most of the time and I am happy to report that I did not drive on the wrong side of the street once. I did, however, run over a massive snake, which I did not like. I thought this was very Aussie, but apparently its rare and I should feel special about it.

Here are a few photos form our little day trip. Its definitely worth the trip if you visit!

Lunch in Church Point Bay 

Coffee stop in Clareville

View of Palm Beach from the National Park 

Palm Beach

Quarantine Is Over!

Disclaimer, this is a really old post that I never finished and am just posting now :)

If you know us at all, you know we love our dog. That actually is an understatement, I am obsessed with Bone Crusher. But how could I not be, he is so handsome!

I mean look at that face! 

We've had him now for 6 weeks and I am so glad he is here. This week Chris started traveling for work, its nice to have someone to keep me company! We were so excited to get him from quarantine. Jules and Oscar were less excited to drive us there...at 8 am...on a Saturday....on Jules birthday. But they are the best, so they did! We didn't really take any pictures of the facility, honestly, I was just so excited to see him.

The fence driving up - its very serious!

Apparently people think they can buy these dogs - back off! 

Once we drove in we had to wait until exactly 9:30, about 20 minutes, for the doors to open. I could see them unloading the truck with all the dogs, there must have been 30 dogs in their respective crates in an open air holding room. There was a guy from a transport company there who I talked to for the 20 minutes of waiting. He was picking up 5 dogs that were flying again (poor puppy's) to their final destinations to see their owners. There were also 2 people that had driven all night from Melbourne (about 10 hours) to pick up their two dogs from Canada - they had not seen their dogs in 8 months! I can't imagine! They also did not have teeth. I also can't imagine that.

Once the doors opened, we headed in and they checked our paperwork and IDs. Once they verified everything, they lead us back to the holding room. It was just tons of crates full of all different types of dogs. They let Bone Crusher out and he just bolted for the 4 of us, he was one happy man. The rest of the dog went crazy, its was really, really loud.

He surprisingly was not as stinky as I thought he would be, don't get me wrong he smelled, but it wasn't that bad.

I feel like everything with moving him here aligned for us - they shorted the quarantine period from 3 months, to 30 days, to 10 days; we learned that day the Sydney quarantine facility is in the process of closing, the only facility will be in Melbourne. I don't know if we would have brought the little man if there were so many obstacles pilled up against us.

When we got home we also bought a couch that day. The couch came in 2 huge boxes, so clearly Chris built a fort for Bone Crusher. It was adorable! I am actually not sure who had more fun with the fort :)

Thanksgiving Down Under

Thanksgiving week was a big week in the Speelman household! I started work that Monday and then we hosted a party on Saturday to celebrate. It was strange to start week after all of my time off on Thanksgiving week! I was definitely not planning on drinking until about midnight on Friday with new co-workesrs, grocery shopping at 1 AM and then waking up at 7 AM to cook....but hey you only live once. #YOLO as the kids say.

Of course we celebrated in style. We wanted to really give the Australians a true thanksgiving experience, that meant fancy dress. (Fancy dress is what Australians call costumes, it still gets me a bit confused, fancy dress = cocktail in my head)

The whole family 

The cutest turkey out there!  

We had a mix of American and Australian friends over and one Frenchmen. The food all turned out well, it was my first turkey. Most of the ovens here are fan forced, I am not sure if I like them more or less. It does cook faster. We took the turkey out to baste and discovered it was already done in only 3 hours (it was a 7kg bird). Please also notice the baster - we could not find one anywhere, so we used a tomato sauce bottle, empty of course.

Chef Oscar made an appearance and I forced him to wear this apron.

Our kitchen is soooo small - three of us in there was intense!

The spread - thanks to Hayley for the photo I stole from her blog.

And of course there was a drinking game, it was called chug a beer as fast as you can. This consultants have a way with coming up with creative games.

We had a great day with great friends! My only regrets were not taking a picture of everyone and not saving leftovers for Jules :) This is sure to be an annual event!

Visitors!!!

We were so excited that Cool Mix (one of my college, called uni here, friends) and Topher were flying though Sydney after their 40 day honeymoon in New Zealand. They were only here one night and it could not have been more perfect (well other than the torrential downpour they get stuck in trying to find "the basement"). Seriously people, you have no idea how nice it is to see friends in Sydney!

We went to Mr. Wong's for dinner. It was SOOOO Good, I have been dreaming about the twice cooked pork cubes daily since Wednesday.

If you visit Sydney Mr. Wong's is a great place to go! And you will look cool, cause its in an alley, there are a few restaurants right near it as well if the wait is too long. 

Good Food Month

October was good food month in Sydney. The marquee event is the Noodle Markets. It's the equivalent to Taste of Chicago, except you don't have to look over your shoulder for gang bangers with guns. You do have to look out for camera bandits, like this guy, at a moments notice he might snap a photo of you.

The markets are in Hyde Park, which is right near the CBD (Central Business District). There are tons of people and tons of vendors - all asian inspired. The food was delicious. And you can buy a bottle of wine, awesome.

A converted shipping container into a bar

Some sort of Korean fried potato.

The dumpling machine. So many dumplings.

Interesting desserts.

October has been a good month in Sydney, that's for sure!