Taronga Zoo

Yesterday was a beautiful day, and Matthew and I went to the Taronga Zoo again. It's quite large, so we saw several animals that we missed on our first visit. Some of the highlights were the sunbears and the Tasmanian Devil:

The Tassie Devils only exist in Tasmania, and they're facing a horrible cancer that is threatening to wipe them out.

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the Binturong, the "Asian Bearcat." When we stopped by, the keepers were in his enclosure giving him treats, such as apples and grapes. Then, the keeper gave him a raw egg! The binturong picked up the egg in his mouth and ate it all up. He even licked up some of the egg white and yolk that spilled out of the sides of his mouth, then used his paws to wipe his mouth and groom himself.

Finally, I never get tired of the cute wallabies.

Hello 90s, Goodbye Hearing

The other night we saw Helmet at the Manning Bar at Sydney Uni. The opening band was Pangaea, a 90s punk/metal band from Brisbane, whose members went on to other Aussie bands Wolfmother and Regurgitator. The drummer, Dave Atkins, was a manimal behind the kit. In some ways, I actually preferred Pangaea's set over Helmet.

Anyway, the Helmet lineup is now Page Hamilton, the only original member, and a bunch of other (younger) guys. He happened to mention he is 51, and I would not have guessed. Overall, they were alright, I think M liked the show better than I did, but it was still fun.

Luckily, we were up in the back, behind the board, and nowhere near the pit. Ahhh 90s, with your sweaty angry boys slamming into each other, how I do not miss you. Instead, I was behind a pleasant Asian guy, who was kinda short like me, and occasionally threw up ASL I Love You signs, instead of horns. ;)

Walking and Adolescent Humour

Matthew and I like to take walks, so the other day we went on a 7 km walk to Surry Hills. We saw a tiny street on the map called Butt Street, so of course we had to walk down it, if just to take a picture.

By the way, if you're wondering how I know our walk was 7 km, we used Google My Tracks to record our GPS track. It's a cool little app. 

Aussie Experiences

I had two distinctly Aussie experiences recently. First, I saw a platypus! Granted, it was at the aquarium, but I was still very excited. The last few times I went to the aquarium, he was hiding. But this time, I waited, and he finally came out of hiding.

Second, Matthew and I went to our first rugby match. Our friends Grant and Lindsay took us to see the New South Wales Waratahs play the NZ Highlanders. The 'Tahs won 33 to 7! 


If you're wondering, a waratah is a flower. This proves awkward for having a team mascot. They have to settle for "Tah Man," a guy who wears a foam superhero suit with a red flower emblem on the front - kind of silly. ;)

By the way, it's winter here - so strange for it to be cold and feeling like Christmastime in June!

Back in Australia, Photos from USA and Argentina

Hello! We're back from our epic 6-week trip. Sorry for the lack of posts - we were enjoying our holidays, and didn't get around to blogging very much.

To recap, our 6-week itinerary was:
Sydney > Tulsa > Houston > Austin > Houston > Argentina > Portland > San Francisco > Sydney.

The USA portion of the trip was part work trip for Matthew, part visiting friends and family, including the adorable niece and nephew.

The Argentina part was a vacation with our friends, Laurel and Andy. We drank lots of red wine and ate heaps of beef - Buenos Aires 3 days; Puerto Iguazu/Iguazu Falls day and a half; Mendoza 5 days (including organized wine tours of the Luján de Cuyo and Uco Valley); back in Buenos Aires 5 days, including a day trip to historic Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay.


It took me ages to get all our pics uploaded, and after all that, I got too tired to edit them all down. So, apologies that there are hundreds of photos, but if you'd like to have a look, here you go:

Buenos Aires photos


Puerto Iguazu, Argentina photos


Mendoza, Argentina photos


Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay photos


USA photos