Happy First Day of Spring!

Yes, today is the first day of Spring in Australia and New Zealand. Who knew? It just never occurred to me that there was any other way to mark the change of seasons than with the corresponding solstice or equinox, and yet apparently there is. (Luckily you all back home can still wait a few more weeks before you have to accept the fact that summer is over!)

As an aside, meanwhile, a quick check of Wikipedia reveals that in Ireland Spring traditionally starts on February 1st which seems downright insane given how bitterly cold it must still be in February in Ireland. On the other hand, in Sweden the meteorologists define the beginning of spring as the first occasion on which the average daytime temperature exceeds zero degrees Celsius for seven consecutive days. That makes some sense at least though this approach allows for Spring to start on different days depending on latitude and elevation.

Anyway, back here in Australia, we have a day of professional visits today so there won't likely be any pretty photos or funny stories. So I'll just mention dinner last night. We decided to stroll down to Chinatown. One little block is just crammed full of Asian restaurants. No way for us to know which one to pick so we chose the most crowded one. While eating our chili king prawns and noodles we noticed a long line snaking away from a tiny window next to a bakery. In the entire time we were eating the line never got any smaller. We had no idea what they were selling, but we were darn sure we wanted some.

So after dinner we joined the line. The sign said:
Emperor Cream Puffs
$.35 for 1
$1 for 3
$2 for 7
$4 for 15
$5 for 20
Fresh and hot

So we were in line to get the local equivalent of Krispy Kreme doughnuts!
Needless to say, at the back of the line we figured we'd get 3 just to see what they were like.
By the middle of the line we realized they were only about 1-1/2" in diameter so we had upped our intended order to 7. But by the front of the line we realized that if you bought 15 or more they actually packed them in a little kind of Tupperware container. So 15 it was.

I wish we'd had the camera, though the sign said 'no photos', because in this tiny little room - not much bigger than a king-sized bed, was one girl and an amazing little assembly-line machine that squirted out the dough on two sides of a cast-iron mold, snapped the sides together like a book, worked its way around like a little model train track, injected the custard and Voila! out dropped the little cream puffs right back in front at the window.

Very cute and VERY YUMMY!


 

Opera House

Today dawned clear and sunny which was a good thing since today was also all about the Sydney Opera House. We admired it and took pictures from across the way from Mrs. Macquarie's Point. Then we admired it and took pictures from inside. Then we admired it some more and took more pictures from a Harbor Cruise during lunch. We saw it from one angle after another which only proved the architect's goal since Mr. Utzon felt that the location of the Opera House out on a point such as it is required that the structure be visually interesting from all sides. And that it is. It is just stunning.
So here you go:

 

Sydney

Today is Saturday down under. It was a quiet day waiting for the rest of the group to arrive after their long flight from the States. Just as well, I suppose, since the weather was pretty bleak. Dreary and drizzling. But it was nice to sleep in and relax. We did some strolling. Went in search of one more inexpensive sweater (since I don't think I should wear the same one every single day for a week...). Checked out the Paddy's Market in search of little souvenirs. That sort of thing.

The group only consists of 10 people total including the two of us. And four of them have been on other trips with us, so learning everyone's names was pretty easy. Dinner was here in the hotel tonight and that was the whole day. Tomorrow we go sight-seeing. That means I will hopefully have better, closer, sunnier (dare I dream) photos of the sights of Sydney. But meanwhile, here's the one that Michael took through the window of the plane when we were landing yesterday....

 

I came to the land down under

Here we are in Australia.

(First of all, let me say that I was SHOCKED to see that I have not posted anything to this site for over 8 MONTHS! What is up with that? Have I really not been anywhere noteworthy since our trip to COPENHAGEN? That is pathetic! We have simply got to do better than that in the future. )

Anyway, after breaking up our trip with a few days visiting in California, we headed to Cairns.As it turns out we can still survive 30 hours of traveling (with 15 hours on one transpacific flight) in coach. But we don't much like it. And we only managed because Michael's status with American Airlines still got us (even without business class tickets) into the Qantas business class lounges. He will lose his executive platinum status this year unless I make him fly to Dubai or some such place for an overnight...and I'm beginning to think there is real value in that!

Anyway, Cairns is a quite enough little town where we came just to take a day snorkeling trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. The Reef is a huge - spanning about 1400 miles, 900 islands and almost 3000 different reefs. Our tour took us to Michealmas Cay....about 20 miles off of Cairns. A two hour boat ride out, a few hours there, and a ride back in. Coming from the Caribbean we were fearing ridiculously cold water, but with our wet suits on it was quite tolerable. And while the numbers of fish weren't that impressive the coral certainly was.....so many shapes and sizes and colors. Unfortunately the gopro camera photos just don't do it justice. The colors don't reproduce well, and the wide angle lens takes in so much more that what is right in front of you so that giant clams don't look that impressive at all. And the absolutely brilliant colors on the velvety edges of the clams are stunning in person but barely visible in my photos. So here's one of my images, but you'll have to trust me or google someone else's better representations.

















While you are googling, perhaps you can figure out for me why it's so chilly here at night. I checked and we are currently about 17 degrees south. Anguilla is 18 degrees north. That means that we are closer to the Equator here than at home. Now before you snort in disgust at the implication that I don't realize that it is still winter here and summer at home, I know that. BUT never, at ANY time of year, does the temperature in Anguilla drop to 60 degrees at night. How come?

Meanwhile, we are off to Sydney today....for now, G-day.