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August 21, 2012

A little taste of New Zealand and a delicious taste of Surry Hills


Saturday night was the start of the Rugby Championship and the first round of the dispute over the Bledisloe Cup. We headed down to the Harlequin Pub in Pyrmont to catch the action on a big projector screen, and unbeknownst to us, hang out with the All Blacks Supporters Club. 

You'd think after meeting the Wallabies we would feel a connection to cheer for them, but Luke and I felt no shame hanging out in the bar in our finest New Zealand t-shirts and cheering on the All Blacks for old times sake.
















On Sunday we had our usual lazy morning, then followed our stomachs to Surry Hills in search of a place I had read about called Four Ate Five (conveniently located at 485 Crown St). We walked past it initially and it was SO busy. We figured since we weren't falling over with hunger quite yet we would explore a little bit of Surry Hills and wander back to the cafe in a little while. We walked up and down one of the main streets window shopping and admiring, then headed back to enjoy some of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten.


It is, as with most things in Surry Hills, deliciously chic. It was also the best coffee I have had in Sydney hands down. Luke went for the pulled pork and I had an amazing ricotta and sun dried tomato sandwich. We shared the Kumera (New Zealand sweet potato) chips because we hadn't had enough of New Zealand the night before. We mm-ed our way through the meal and couldn't stop saying how good it was. Needless to say we will definitely be back again soon!

After leaving the restaurant we spent some more time wandering Surry Hills and trying to digest. We decided to wander over to the famous-for-being-famous, Bourke Street Bakery. To its credit, the bread in the window looked amazing, and the line was winding around the block at 3pm, but I just couldn't stand in it and wait to be disappointed. I know that's kind of cynical, but when you are constantly told something is amazing and its not (cough cough Fergberger), then you tend to seek out the lesser known names and get the same quality. I'm sure we will go there eventually, and probably be proven wrong, but until then you can catch me around the corner at Four Ate Five.

Rant over.



Anyone been to Bourke Street Bakery? Is it worth the wait? What should I get when I do eventually suck it up and go?

August 18, 2012

A Hump Day Treat

Wednesday brought with it the perfect mid-week entertainment. The Strand Arcade was putting on an event - an evening with their designers. The arcade itself houses some of Australia's premiere fashion designers, so a night with them was a big deal! People got all dolled up, you needed tickets to get in (which were free online), and there was a red carpet and velvet rope.

A lot of the shops had special offers on to draw you in and free gifts with purchases over certain amounts. The crowd was buzzing and the fashionistas were out in full force! All of the shops were packed with people browsing, trying and hopefully buying!

Once we got in we headed for the free Chandon bar then strolled through the arcade where we spotted live models posing in bathtubs, shop windows, and cat-walking the ground floor. We spotted a few of the designers, but the models stole the evening in my opinion. There was even a free Sally Hansen nail bar where we lined up for a free manicure! 

It was a great event that later led us to after-party at the Orbit Bar...














Needless to say, Thursday was a tough day...


August 13, 2012

Satisfying Sundays

Don't you just love those Sundays where you're saying 'good morning' to your roommates at 1pm, eating breakfast for lunch, and sitting on the couch reading and relaxing the "morning" away? This past Sunday was one of those glorious type of Sundays. 

After we thoroughly enjoyed our relaxing early afternoon, we headed down to Darling Harbour to a Fan Day with the Wallabies - the Australian national rugby team. We are pretty familiar with the players after the World Cup last year, so seeing them left Luke and I both a little bit star struck! 


 Posing with the Tri-Nations Cup


 The National team coach (he's actually a kiwi)


 Will Genia - Scrum Half
 Quade Cooper! Fly Half



Posing with the Bledisloe Cup - the cup that the Kiwi's and the Aussie's play for 
every time they play each other!

August 10, 2012

The Week in Pictures

I don't have much to say about this past week, so I'll just show it to you!










August 04, 2012

Aroma Festival

Last weekend was a lot more fun than my lack of update and severe lack of pictures can attest to! On Saturday night we headed down to Wollongong - a city about an hour and a half south of Sydney - for a friend's birthday celebration! We had dinner, laughed tremendously, ate until we were about to burst and then topped it up with some amazing cake! As usual in a restaurant my camera stayed firmly in my bag, sorry!

As for Sunday morning we slept away our hangovers and then headed to the Rocks to check out the Aroma Festval.  Luke and I have said it about a million times, but Sydney puts on some incredible FREE events and the Aroma Festival can definitely be added to that list. 

We went thinking it would mostly be about coffee and chocolate, and we certainly had our fair share of each, but it had so many other stalls with deeeelicious treats. We tasted chutneys, salsas, ginger beers, rocky road, teas, coffees and my absolute favorite, baklava. We were so full at the end of the day that by the time we left I nearly couldn't drink my Sunday afternoon beer....



 Spotted: Marissa Monaco's doppelganger





 Just some camels on your normal Sunday stroll through Sydney...