Sydney Art Scene, January 27th

Our friend Nicky, who we met at the southbound festival, linked up with us after Australia Day. Art museums were the agenda of the day. First was the Sydney art Museum, pretty wicked collections and the Aussie drawing exhibition was insane. Second was lunch and a delicious glass of wine from Odyssey Wine Bar (graciano from barossa valley). It's one of those joints were you can taste with a card by inserting it into the machine and hold your glass as the wine pours from an automated spout. {side note: clare is heading back to Sydney after NZ and will hopefully pick up a bottle because I forget the name.... It was bomb}.

Afterwards was the highlight of day at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art

RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER: RECORDERS
16 December 2011 - 12 February 2012

"This summer the MCA is delighted to present Australia’s first solo exhibition by one of the world’s favourite interactive artists, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer."

It was a super fun, each piece involved participation from the viewer making every experience unique to that person.

That evening Clare and I took the ferry to her dad's good friend's home in Old Mosman. We had a great meal with Ramesh and his family. Our new favorite way of eating corn on the cob began that night, a wedge of lemon dipped in cayenne pepper/salt and squeezed over the corn. So spicy and tasty! Later on Lucy, Ramesh's wife and yoga instructor, offered Clare the sweetest opportunity to nanny for their 11 year old daughter, Rebecca. So Clare will be back to Oz and extending her travels till June. Good on ya ;)

We flew out the next day to finish the Aussie leg of the trip in Melbourne. Pang, aka Steven, from Southbound met us in the CBD, where we were having lunch at Chin Chin. A definite must, the Thai inspired menu was superb. Clare and I sat at the food prep bar and got to see a bit behind the scenes, they know what they're doing for sure. Pang had just moved across the country, from Perth to Melbourne and needed to research the restaurant bar scene for job prospects, so we gladly volunteered to help him on his quest. It was the finals if the Australia open so the city was hoppin and we bounced from restaurant Cookie to Rooftop Bar to Madame Brussels.

Our flight was early the following morning so Me and Clare's genius plan was to stow our luggage at the hotel and stay up all night while enjoying the Melbourne night life. We started the day having breakfast in St. Kilda at a local fav, Galleon... so good. We both ordered the smoked salmon, goat cheese, spinach, poached egg on Rye. It was raining a bit so we ducked into a Salvo to browse their book sale and then ventured in the free tram (well it was free cause we didn't pay, whoops).
We hit up The National gallery of Victoria. And then what followed was a bar tasting spree. We started at Murmur with Clare's new found love, a shot of mezcal chased with Sangrita! This recipe is definitely coming home with us, it's a blend of fresh chillis, passionfruit, pink grapefruit, cucumber, oj, al-rabih pomegranate molasses, & chipotle Tabasco. This would also make a killer Bloody Maria/Mary base. To be continued we went downstairs of the laneway bar to a Spanish tapas restaurant. Ordered a tortilla and pomegranate glazed quail. Next to wine bar, Deanery, where our server recommended some Otago /Marlborough wineries for our upcoming trip. Trunk was sort of a miss but we loved Seamstress and ordered some gourmet chips (french or freedom fries depending on your political views) to soak up some of our "research." The night was still young and we returned to Murmur to take the bartender, Matt, up on his offer to make Clare a pineapple margarita. A little smokey (he used mezcal as it was the flavor if the evening, "Tequila Monday") but good. I think we had 2 more rounds of sangritas as the afterhours crowd rolled in, our server from dinner and the bartender from Deanery included, and then said farewell.
Around 3am we scurried thru the rainy streets if Melbourne, collected our backpacks and traveled the bus to the airport. Sleep came easy and we passed out in the terminal chairs until check-in time.
Next stop, Christchurch via Auckland.
(documentation will follow shortly)

Lennox Head, Byron Bay and Bulli

After the Hunter we stayed at Josh's Aunt's (Annie) place in Lennox head. We hadn't slept in a bed in a long time and it was definitely appreciated. Annie showed us around their beaches, which are well known for surfing. We went swimming at one of them, even though it was overcast the water was warm and the waves were perfect for dunking your head in. There's a lake across the street from the beach. It's a tee tree body of water and pretty spectacular. It sorta looks like your swimming in pool of coffee and afterward your skin feels nice and fresh.

The tea tree lake

We had come a long way by then, traveling across Australia and up the east coast took over a week in the car. Clare and I were excited to get out and spend a few days in one location. So we said goodbye to our friend/driver as he continued to travel north and we settled down in Byron Bay. Quite the typical beach holiday spot, especially for the young bronzed surfer types, we enjoyed the coastal sites and partied like the rest of the town. It was a great scene for live music at night... We joined our neighbors at the hostel and went to The Beach to see Benjalu. The next day Clare and I rode the coast with our shot-ty rental bikes to Broken heads. I experienced the aforementioned jumping ant bite which stung like a bee (right in the bum).

So random, wild turkeys roam the trees along the beach

Broken Heads

The next morning we linked up with our neighbors again and road tripped with them south to Newcastle. An 8 hour drive thru the rain and we made it to Simon's brother/cousin's place (The two roommates are serious soccer players, Ruben plays for the Newcastle jets and Tobin was in training). We opened a few bottles of wine and the guys got down with their guitars and harmonicas. All talented musicians, Aiden has just begun recording his own stuff and also plays in Sex Panthers.
His brother Cal and Simon weren't bad either ;)

Giant banana on the way to Newcastle

Clare and I continued on to Bulli to see the guys' hometown. Simon toured us around and introduced us to his wonderful friends, Claire and Nat. Probably one of my favorite nights so far, we made dinner at their house, drank some good wine (a common theme of our travels) from NZ, Oz, & Spain...and a couple different ciders. Lots of music was shared and we finished the night off with mango and dark chocolate. Yummmm

We said goodbye and took the train up to Sydney. Drenched as soon as we walked outside central station we arrived to the backpackers and made new friends. These guys were POMs, and great to share the room with. We watched the Inbetweeners, I highly recommend this movie if your into brash humor and want to know a little more about English life.

The next day was Australia Day! I can compare it to the 4th of July, everyone fills the pubs and the streets covered in Aussie flags. We walked around the city, found a classic car show on the way to The Rocks, historic part of Sydney next to circular quay (the main harbor where you can catch a ferry). We caught some great musical acts, it was amazing and everything was gratis! Highlights were Busby Marou and Blue King Brown (a Melbourne-based, Australian urban roots band). Clare met the main lady, Natalie Pa'apa'a, after the show and thanked her.

The Hunter...valley of wine

I'm a bit behind (that's an understatement considering we're two weeks into the trip in NZ) but better late than never. So, a recap on the Hunter Valley. Our awesome friend Josh, who was a quite keen on Clare, was happy to drive us around for the day to taste some wine. The night before we snuck into a camper holiday park to get a shower in and joked around about having a champagne breakfast in the morning... that dream came true. Our first stop on the wine tour was at Peterson's and tasted their flight of bubbles and finished off with a fresh oysters!

Breakfast of champions

Prost!

We stopped at a few more, Brokenwood, Audrey Wilkinson... I'll have to double check my receipts and update this blog later... but my favorite one called Tempus Two had a patent on their labeling process. They used pewter and copper labels and the wine was pretty decent especially considering the price. I bought a tempranillo with intentions to save it and bring it back to the states... it was killed about a week later but I saved the copper that came with it :)

The Hunter Valley

Audrey Wilkinson

Heading Northeast

After touching down in Melbourne we started our ascent up the eastern side of Australia. Our first stop was Mitchelton Winery 90 km north of Melbourne. We arrived almost at closing but luckily the tasting room associate aka girl working the cellar door didn't seem to mind, pouring herself a glass right at 5. She also allowed us to go to the lookout tower.

After leaving with a healthy buzz our skipper, aka designated driver, attempted to cross over to the highway through some country roads. Despite what the map said we ended up running into hundreds of sheep getting herded directly at us. At our arrival they began to run back the other way. To be sure we could get through naturally I hopped out of the wagon and walked a path through them. This moment was unreal. Never did I imagine walking through so many head of sheep, buzzed in the back roads of Australia. Eventually we made it to where the farmer was and luckily he didn't try to beat Josh, he just commended us for at least realizing the debacle we created. I assume his beer tasted amazing that night.

Blue Skies.

Sheep Storm. Can you find the black one?

After our exciting detour we headed towards Tocumwal, on the Victoria- New South Wales Border along the Murray River, the third largest navigable river after the Amazon and Nile. Once we found the unmarked entrance to the camping area we drove around scouting sites. The first road led to a semi permanent gypsy encampment that later on blasted electronic music which we passed up. The second road led to sites right on the river but had ridiculously loud cockatoos nesting above. We eventually opted for a site in the middle among the cicadas and later mosquitos.

The Great Ocean Road

After hours, upon days, of driving we reached the Great Ocean Road. We'd heard alot about it so figured we'd do the tourist thing and check it out on our way to Melbourne. We first picked up some pecorino at Allansford Cheese World and then headed to down the road. The road featured numerous pull offs to check out the amazing views, including The Bay of Islands and the Twelve Apostles.

View from Bay of Islands Lookout

Up the Coast from Bay of Islands Lookout

Bay of Islands Lookout.

Bay of Islands Lookout.

12 Apostles Lookout.

Some of the Apostles

To the Nullabor and Beyond

After getting our fill of Margaret River's finest we commenced our cross country road trip with our captain, Josh who drove the car the entire time, as neither of us drive manual and it was his baby. He packed a great free campsite guide so we were able to snuff accommodation fees the entire way across.  Stocked with some snacks we packed into his 1980's Subaru wagon, with no air-con or radio, and headed to his mom''s to stay for our first night.

Sandy and Steve's house was great nestled in the coastal country, equipped with compostable toilet, extensive veg garden, and hand made from recycled materials. We made a great dinner with most ingredients coming from the garden, walked to the top of the hill to see the lighthouse far off in the distance, and finished the evening with a great game of 501 darts.

Artichoke serving another purpose.

Roses at dusk,

Greeting statue.

The Crib.

Strawberry patch.

After stocking up on superb rainwater, we voyaged forward opting for the coastal route. Our first stop was the nearby veggie stand to stock up on super affordable and delicious produce. They even had doughnut peaches, a personal favorite. We then drove east where Lauren saw a koala and stopped at Diamond Tree, one of three climbing trees in the area.

True story.

Platform lichen.

View from the top.

Heading up.

After getting our workout for the day we headed for Esperance, the windiest spot in Australia known for good surf. Upon our night time arrival we barbecued on one the many free gas barbis in Australia, and then found a campsite on the way to Norseman.

The next few days we voyaged on the Eyre Highway, the longest stretch of straight road in the world, which goes through the Nullabor Plain. 

Not completely treeless.

Lizard. 

Rooey, one the many giant animals and plants throughout the continent.

Petrol Break.

Long way from anywhere.