Bring out the big guns

I was really excited to have been picked from a group of 25 people to fire the cannon during our excursion to Fort Dennison. The firing happens everyday at 1pm and can be heard in the city. Imagine my dejection when all it involved was pushing a button. You can see Dania next to the big gun that I “fired.” The opera house is in the back right corner – we were right smack in the middle of Sydney Harbor.

Johnnie Walker Blue & Rabbi Jeremy

It’s not every day that one meets a sky diving, scotch drinking, Warcraft loving rabbi. After attending Shabbat services at Sydney’s central synagogue, Dania and I were invited back to the rabbi’s house for dinner. Two young couples about to be married were also there. Boy, did we feel like experts on all things matrimonial after only three months! Who’d a thunk it?

The conversation was quite interesting, and it was quite an honor when the rabbi bypassed the black and green labels and went right to the bottle of blue (in case scotch isn’t your poison, a bottle of blue is quite a treat).

It’s been nice staying in town the last two weeks. Dania wowed everyone with her beautiful voice at a karaoke bar the other night. We finally went horse back riding per Dania’s request in a beautiful park. Dania is keeping busy with Pilates & dance classes and French lessons.

Perth & Freo

Perth is all the way on the west coast of Australia. It’s the most remote large city in the world - 1.5 million people. Felt like a cross of Vancouver and San Diego. We arrived for the start of their international arts festival and went to the opening night concert. The Perth mint was probably the coolest site. They did a live pour of a real gold bar – heated to 1400 celsius. It was so cool (errrr hot) that we saw it twice.

We then headed to Freemantle – aka Freo. It’s Perth's sister city/suburb. Really nice old buildings, great museums, right on the Indian ocean, hip restaurants, beautiful people and tons of live music. It felt and looked a little like New Orleans. At one point, there were tons of old souped up antique cars roving the roads on some kind of antique car scavenger hunt. It was to end with a sausage sizzle according to one guy in an old school ferrari testarossa. I tried to get us a ride, but no go. We liked Freo so much that we spent two days there.

One Cool Rock

As far as rock rankings go, I’d have to put Ayers Rock just behind Fraggle Rock, but definitely ahead of the geode I received as a present in fifth grade.

Ayers Rock is smack dab in the middle of the Australian Outback. A place where the 'cold water' runs hot and toilet seats always feel 'just used.' Aside from the sauna-like heat and relentless flies, it’s a pretty neat place. You can climb the rock (1000 ft almost straight up), hike around it (10km), see it at sunrise, see it at sunset, and discuss its attributes with other interesting travelers. We did all of the above and also hiked another cool rock formation – the Olgas.

Where the Wild Things Are

“Australia’s plants and animals are just about the closest thing to alien life you are likely to encounter on earth” says naturalist Tim Flannery.

I’d have to agree. Especially the birds. They are out of this world. Pictured… Pelican, Black Swan, Lizard, and Little Tiny Blue Headed Killer Hawk.

DC’s got nothing on Canberra. Well almost…

We went to Canberra, Australia’s capital, over the weekend.

Being the culture vultures that we are, we took tours of several really well done museums, the old and new parliament houses, and the botanical gardens. All had very enthusiastic and engaging tour guides, which is always a plus. The Australian War Memorial Museum was a real pleasure. It’s always interesting to hear about historical events through the lens of a different country. You’d almost think the Aussies single-handedly won the day during WWI!

We are off to Ayers Rock (aka Uluru) and Perth this whole week. After all, I had to do something about my 100% class attendance!