K+S In The City: Day 8 & 9- Working Weekend

Friday I had to work a double, again. Luckily Kristin was a great sport about it and easily kept herself occupied souvenir shopping. That evening she met up with Sara to celebrate our friend Matt's birthday, and once finished with work I joined them.  It was a birthday party unlike any birthday party I had ever been too. Matt decided that for his birthday he wanted to go to a foam party. This was a novelty to me. All I gathered was that foam (the white, bubbly, soapy stuff) would be involved somehow. This assumption was correct. I entered the bar to a room full of people covered in foam, dancing in a sea of bubbles and having a grand 'ol time. From the ceiling hung a foam machine that would generate heaps of foam and dump it on the club-goers below. This was more than I had bargained for, and I opted to stay on the outskirts of the dance floor as far away from the foam-spitter as possible. We had a great time dancing, but the fumes and smell of the foam was unpleasant and slightly nauseating. We left after a short while. At least I left the cleanest I've ever been after a party. Although I have no intentions of ever returning to a foam party, I'm glad that I can add it to my list of "firsts".

Saturday I also had to work in the evening again, but we spent the morning at Paddy's Markets, Australia's original market, browsing the stalls full of souvenirs, clothing, jewelry, sun glasses and much, much more. Kristin again spent the evening with Sara while I worked. Then around 11:00 pm she came to the Summit. I had intended to meet up with them after work, so I was startled when I turned and saw Kristin walking towards me worried that something had happened. But no, she just came in to say hello. I introduced her to my co-workers and managers. Frank, who I am now quite fond of, told me to sign-off and go sit in the Orbit Lounge for some cocktails and tapas. Wahoo! I got off work early AND got free food and drink. Thank you Kristin for being such a good looking, charming visitor. I know it was the dimples that did it. We spent about an hour in the bar, circling round viewing Sydney at night before we headed home to rest up for the most exciting day of our trip yet -- skydiving day. Dun dun dunnnn...

K+S In The City: Day 7- The Zoo, Manicures & Fiery Nights

The sun went back into hiding on Thursday and the rain came back out to play, but we didn't let this stop us from heading to the zoo. The Taronga Zoo was chosen as the "Best Major Attraction" at the NSW Tourism Industry Awards, so you know we had to go. Getting to the zoo required taking a short ferry ride across the harbor. Then we had to climb aboard the Sky Safari Chair Lift, which carried us high about the trees , animals and people below to the entrance at the top. We disembarked, opened our umbrellas and spent the afternoon trekking around the zoo seeing the wild things contained within.

Riding on the Sky Safari Chair Lift

View of Sydney from the Zoo

The definition of adorable. I wanted to kidnap them.

I like the way you hang dude

Kristin's fashion inspiration

The Aussie animal icon- Kangaroo

Tasmanian Devil...much cuter than I was expecting

I love peacocks, and this fellow was roaming freely around the zoo. He was our tour guide for a bit (or, as this picture may suggest- we chased him around a while) 

The butt looks painful

Just monkey-ing around

Baby elephant! 

The bird show we attended because after someone told me it was awesome and couldn't be missed. It was ok. The best part was probably the view of the city we saw behind...

The bird show...

We caught the last ferry back to the city. Then it was time for martini's and manicures, my favorite Thursday evening activity. Kristin and I arrived early and snabbed spots 1 and 2. Aubrey joined us and together we sipped sparkling wine while our fingers were filed, painted and polished. I walked away with bright pink nails, Kristin with deep red nails. Then we made our way to Darling Harbor for the "Harbourside Fiery Night" that was taking place. I'm still not 100% sure what exactly Fiery Nights was, but I do know that for weeks I had seen advertisements urging the public to come see the "skies come alive with fire." The website touted: "Feast on delicious cuisine from around the world while fire cannons put on a show." It sounded pretty worthwhile to me and something different to do, but the "fiery" night was a fiery dud. I was expecting a magnificent cannon-shooting fireworks show, or something of that nature that would knock my socks off (or at least my hat had I been was wearing one). But nope, all my clothing remained put. All that we saw was an occasionally blast of fire off in the distance. That was it. I know, its boring to read and it was boring to see. Still, we enjoyed chilling on the harbor, fully aware that sometimes you have to make your nights fiery on your own. 

K+S In The City: Day 6- Sculpture By The Sea

Wednesday Kristin and I headed to the beach where we embarked on the Coogee to Bondi coastal walk. It was an absolutely beautiful day (one of the few we had), and the entire walk we took in stunning views of the coast.  

Cooggee Beach

All that's missing is the Little Mermaid

When we reached Tamarama, the center point of the walk, we had the additional benefit of viewing artwork along with the coastline as part of Sculpture by the Sea. Sculpture by the Sea takes place in November only and is an art exhibition in which the coastal walk is "transformed into a giant sculpture park of over 100 sculptures by artists from Australia and across the world" (www.sculpturebythesea.com). This, in my opinion, is most definitely the best way to view artwork- with soft, white sand as the canvas and a piercing blue ocean and sky as the backdrop. Kristin and I roamed among the statues which were scattered across the sand, rocks and grass which lined the water. Around each bend we discovered new statues, some of which were hidden within the landscape surrounding us. Below are some of my favorites we saw that day.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a statue!

Made entirely out of plastic bottle tops

The circle of life...

This would make a cool slide

Recycled icicles 

The aliens have landed

That evening I had to work again. It was hard to drag myself into the restaurant and get into "work mode" after such a lovely day at the beach. However, this evening turned out to be perhaps the best night I've ever had at work, the reason being that I finally consumed my first meal at the restaurant. Day after day, week after week, and by this point month after month, I stood at the hostess stand watching the mouth watering starters, mains and desserts pass my by on trays. Smelling the tantalizing aromas of the food, I tried with all my might to halt my salivary glands and suppress the hunger raging in my stomach. I fought this same battle every night. But on this Wednesday night I had the unexpected pleasure of eating those dishes I had dreamt about eating for so long. Finally, I surrendered the battle and gave into the temptations before me. Why? Because for some reason my manager Maricia thought I deserved a Summit meal. "Sarah, " she said at the start of the night, "have you ever had anything on the menu before?" When I replied no she seemed taken aback. A few hours later she came over and handed me a menu. "Here," she said. "Pick out something you'd like to eat. I'll put in the order and we'll have dinner after your shift." I was psyched. I don't know why she was offering me a meal, but I wasn't going to question her motivation!

For my main meal I selected Michael Moore's signature dish, the twice cooked pork belly. The menu description is as follows: glass crackling, royal gala apple & radish salad, apple vanilla marmalade & apple balsamic toffee, roasting pan juices.  Delicious. For a side we shared broccoli with red chilli and garlic butter. It had been a while since I had fresh broccoli, so this simple side was especially enjoyable to eat.  And for dessert (yup, I had the works baby!) I selected the hot raspberry "meringue souffle", served with a raspberry custard and clotted meander valley cream. Heavenly. Maricia also ordered the cheese platter which, as you know from my trip to Hunter Valley, I thoroughly enjoyed. All this was coupled with a few glasses of wine. And viola! There was my first (and probably last) Summit meal. It was splendid. Not only was I thrilled to finally dine at the restaurant, but my joy was enhanced by the fact that it was free of charge (always a bonus). Yes, I would have splurged on a meal at the Summit before leaving Australia, but now I don't have to thanks to my awesome manager. Thank you Maricia for pleasing my taste-buds while enabling me to hold on to my nickels and dimes (lots and lots of them)!

The pork belly dish

The raspberry souffle

Now do you understand why my mouth watered every night?! This girl was happy.

K+S In The City: Day 5- Melbourne Cup & Sushi Trains

Tuesday I had to work during the day because it was the Melbourne Cup. The Melbourne Cup, for those of you who have never heard of it (I never had) is the "greatest 3200 metre handicap horse-race in the world" (www.melbournecup.com).  Its most equivalent to the Kentucky Derby in the USA, only one hundred times larger in Australia. The Melbourne Cup is as talked about and as big a deal in Australia as the Superbowl or World Series is in the US. The hype and anticipation built up around it the months, weeks and days before the two-minute race (at least it felt that long) was enormous, and surprising to me because horse races back home don't cause national frenzies. Sure, we (Americans) air the races on television and the winning horse may grace the front page of the newspapers the next day, but we don't stop work, halt our lives and attend special luncheons and parties to watch the big event. Some people may get out their fancy cocktail dress and wacky hats to attend the event, but us common folks at home don't do the same and head to the local pub. This is what the ENTIRE population of Australia does on Melbourne Cup day- they leave work, go to a party (the ladies wearing ridiculous hats, bows and hair accessories), bet on the races and watch the big event in crowds. Thus, like every other bar and restaurant in Sydney, the Summit hosted a special Melbourne Cup lunch. I was looking forward to working the event because I couldn't understand the hype and I was eager to finally experience the horse race that is basically a national holiday.

When I arrived to the Summit, the restaurant had been transformed into a replica of a horse race track: white fences and trees lined the elevators and grassy mats covered the floor. Three large plasma televisions stood erect for patrons to view the big day happenings. People all around me were buzzing about the races, talking about which horses they bet on and pondering who would win. I had not bet on the races. I am not a better, I have zero skills when it comes to gambling. When I went to Las Vegas I spent a total of $1.00 gambling at a penny machine. Thus I didn't even think to bet on the races. Fortunately for me,  my fabulous co-workers Natasha did. Well aware that I, Miss America, didn't "get" the Melbourne Cup, Natasha thoughtfully took it upon herself to bet for me. She came skipping into the Summit with a ticket in hand and gave it to me. "Here," she said, "I bet on Americain for you because you're American!" I laughed, thanking her for her kind deed. Then she handed me a headband with a black flower on it. "I also brought you this because I knew you wouldn't have anything to wear on your head." I laughed some more as I put the headband in place, now officially ready for the race that was about to take place.

The race itself was quick. I had no idea what was happening, which horse was which or who was in what place, but it didn't matter because seeing the excitement on the faces of everyone around me was all I needed to raise up on the tip of my toes, strain my neck to see the television and eagerly watch the race unfold. By the final lap most people were jerking their bodies and yelling at the screen encouraging their horse to cross the finish line first. And then, as if in the blink of an eye, the race was over. I was clueless as to who had one, but then my manager Maricia turned around and shouted, "Sarah, you won!" I looked at her perplexed. "Huh?" I said. "I won?" "Yes, Americain won! Isn't that the horse Tash bet on for you?" I threw my hands up in victory, laughing at the irony that the American who didn't know a thing about the Melbourne Cup won $15.00 because her Australian friend bet on an American-themed horse for her.

Americian, the winning horse, on Melbourne Cup Day

Meanwhile, Kristin met up with Aubrey in Newtown (where I went to the festival) for some afternoon beverages and quality get-to-know-each-other time. After the Cup had ended and I finished work, we all reunited back in Sydney along with Sara for dinner. The destination was Sushi Hero, a sushi train restaurant (you know, the kind with a rotating belt carrying plates of sushi that you pick and eat). Not only was the sushi good, but the Hero also had a stack up magazines available for your mindless, pleasure reading. And so the four of us spent the evening chomping on sushi while flipping through the pages of the latest fashion and trashy pop culture magazines available in Australia.

At Sushi Hero for some Din Din

Afterwards we went to a local rooftop bar, which in itself is not blog worthy but while there we saw a massive flock of bats (do bats fly in flocks? it looked that way) soaring through the night sky. I felt like I was in Gotham city and batman was being summoned to fight evil somewhere in the land. The picture doesn't do the moment justice, but it was pretty cool. Overall, it was an idyllic, relaxing Tuesday evening.

Bats taking flight, can you see them?