My sister-in-law Ellen sometimes calls my nephew "Kai-bear". And sometimes when he's been bad, Kai's sent to stand in the corner to think about what he'd done wrong.
So, when I saw this slumbering koala facing the gumtree I thought of Kai-bear!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Koala's are not Bears!
So, to call them "koala bears" is like saying "dog lions". Koala's are in fact marsupials which means they carry their young in their pouches. Just call them cute koalas!
When we arrived, the tour guide provided us with binoculars and the idea was to look among the gum trees to spot koalas. And amazingly we spotted at least 15 koala! I found a Mom and a baby koala in the tree (I Flip Video'd it but upon review they were too far away) - the baby was holding onto its Mother's back and it was totally adorable!
Here is one Flip of a koala whose ear was tagged (to keep track of them) and according to the tour guide is a female. Since koala are nocturnal, they sleep during the day and this is what probably made them a bit easier to spot as they didn't move much at all = plus the hint from the tour guide was to first check out the branches closest to the trunk of the tree and to look both low and high.
When we arrived, the tour guide provided us with binoculars and the idea was to look among the gum trees to spot koalas. And amazingly we spotted at least 15 koala! I found a Mom and a baby koala in the tree (I Flip Video'd it but upon review they were too far away) - the baby was holding onto its Mother's back and it was totally adorable!
Here is one Flip of a koala whose ear was tagged (to keep track of them) and according to the tour guide is a female. Since koala are nocturnal, they sleep during the day and this is what probably made them a bit easier to spot as they didn't move much at all = plus the hint from the tour guide was to first check out the branches closest to the trunk of the tree and to look both low and high.
Double Hippity Hop, Hop it's Easter on Kangaroo Island!
It's Easter Sunday and I've signed up for a guided tour of Kangaroo Island where the highlights were getting up close to wildlife in their natural habitat.
Here's a goana and in terms of pronunciation - my best friend's name is Ana and it's pronounced with a short "a" versus Anna with a long, nasally "a". Well, it's pronounced "Go-Anna".
We also went into a kangaroo sanctuary and saw these roos up close and personal. One new thing I learned about kangaroos is that when they are born out of the birth canal, they are the shape of a little pea which somehow crawls up its mother's back, over her shoulder and then slips into the mother's pouch where it grows to the form of a baby kanagaroo (aka "joey").
Here's a goana and in terms of pronunciation - my best friend's name is Ana and it's pronounced with a short "a" versus Anna with a long, nasally "a". Well, it's pronounced "Go-Anna".
We also went into a kangaroo sanctuary and saw these roos up close and personal. One new thing I learned about kangaroos is that when they are born out of the birth canal, they are the shape of a little pea which somehow crawls up its mother's back, over her shoulder and then slips into the mother's pouch where it grows to the form of a baby kanagaroo (aka "joey").
Happy Feet, Happy Penguins!
One of my fondest memories of my nephew Kai is when we were in the Turks & Caicos and as we walked around the resort, Kai would run ahead and do his Happy Feet!
Just like the animation movie with the penguins!
So, as I went on this nocturnal tour on Kangaroo Island, I was particularly keen to see the little penguin as they marched up the beach. You'll hear in the video that I even tried to get the little penguins to do their "happy feet" for Kai.
These little penguins are known as fairy penguins and they are the world's smallest penguin (14") and live in southern Australia and New Zealand. The little penguins spend all day out at sea fishing and return to the beach every evening. You'll see in the Flip Video that we use a red light to see the little penguins so we don't hurt their eyes.
On the way to see the little penguins we took a side trip to check out the kangaroos at night as well.
Just like the animation movie with the penguins!
So, as I went on this nocturnal tour on Kangaroo Island, I was particularly keen to see the little penguin as they marched up the beach. You'll hear in the video that I even tried to get the little penguins to do their "happy feet" for Kai.
These little penguins are known as fairy penguins and they are the world's smallest penguin (14") and live in southern Australia and New Zealand. The little penguins spend all day out at sea fishing and return to the beach every evening. You'll see in the Flip Video that we use a red light to see the little penguins so we don't hurt their eyes.
On the way to see the little penguins we took a side trip to check out the kangaroos at night as well.
Lovely Hospitality at Wanderers Rest on Kangaroo Island!
I found Wanderers Rest on Trip Advisor and it had rave reviews so I booked a room for two nights here.
I was thrilled with the warm hospitality from Ros and Chris the owner's of the Wanderers Rest and loved the view from my room of the American River. I'd definitely recommend it!
What won me over was that as a single traveller Ros and Chris paired me up with another single traveller the first night (a fellow American who's taken a job in Melbourne) and the second night their daughter who was up for the Easter Holiday joined me for dinner. We had an interesting conversation about her taking courses at the Adelaide Circus School where she's not only taking fire breathing classes but also loose tight rope walking (as if you walking a tight rope wasn't hard enough, believe it or not there's such a thing as "loose tight rope walking").
I was thrilled with the warm hospitality from Ros and Chris the owner's of the Wanderers Rest and loved the view from my room of the American River. I'd definitely recommend it!
What won me over was that as a single traveller Ros and Chris paired me up with another single traveller the first night (a fellow American who's taken a job in Melbourne) and the second night their daughter who was up for the Easter Holiday joined me for dinner. We had an interesting conversation about her taking courses at the Adelaide Circus School where she's not only taking fire breathing classes but also loose tight rope walking (as if you walking a tight rope wasn't hard enough, believe it or not there's such a thing as "loose tight rope walking").
Ba-Ba-Sheep's Milk
On the advice of Ros from my Bed & Breakfast, Wanderer's Rest, after lunch and a bit of shopping at Kingscote, I go and check out Shep's art studio at the Bay of the Shoals. He paints beautiful landscape architecture - the paintings that stands out the most in my mind is are the Kangaroo Island mountain and field landscapes bordered by wired fences that extend out into the "white" frame of the painting. The seascapes reminded me of Claude Monet's paintings as Shep did a superb job weaving in yellow, reds and other colors to create dimension and interest in the water and waves.
Check out more of his paintings here.
Then I drove my little economy rental car "off road" to the Island Pure Sheep Dairy. Upon arriving I was shown into a room where I watched a video on the sheep milk making process but the real action was afterwards as I watched several ewes (female sheep) getting milked. Check out the video below, but key things were:
* These are happy sheep, while they're getting milked they are eating their hearts out.
* They hardly notice when the floor moves them backwards (have you ever seen sheep moonwalk backwards?) to the equipment that collects the milk.
* The sheep are very orderly, following each other in a line after their milk's been collected.
* Sheep are quite cute!
And after watching a few rounds of sheep getting milked, I tasted a variety of products from Island Pure Sheep Dairy including cheese and yogurt. I enjoyed the "super cheese" the most which is kefalotori and I definitely preferred the yogurt with the hone (the plain yogurt was too sharp and bitter to my taste).
Check out more of his paintings here.
Then I drove my little economy rental car "off road" to the Island Pure Sheep Dairy. Upon arriving I was shown into a room where I watched a video on the sheep milk making process but the real action was afterwards as I watched several ewes (female sheep) getting milked. Check out the video below, but key things were:
* These are happy sheep, while they're getting milked they are eating their hearts out.
* They hardly notice when the floor moves them backwards (have you ever seen sheep moonwalk backwards?) to the equipment that collects the milk.
* The sheep are very orderly, following each other in a line after their milk's been collected.
* Sheep are quite cute!
And after watching a few rounds of sheep getting milked, I tasted a variety of products from Island Pure Sheep Dairy including cheese and yogurt. I enjoyed the "super cheese" the most which is kefalotori and I definitely preferred the yogurt with the hone (the plain yogurt was too sharp and bitter to my taste).
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Ferry to Kangaroo Island and Kingscote
Early on Saturday, April 3 I drove to Cape Jervis to catch the ferry to Kangarood Island. It's a 45 minute ferry ride and it was quite impressive to see the jigsaw puzzle of cars, buses and RVs fit onto the ferry!
I checked out Penneshaw's Art Exhibit - it was small - then I drove to Kingscote (the commercial hub of Kangaroo Island) where I did a little shopping of fine arts and had a late lunch at The Ozone Hotel & Pub.
I checked out Penneshaw's Art Exhibit - it was small - then I drove to Kingscote (the commercial hub of Kangaroo Island) where I did a little shopping of fine arts and had a late lunch at The Ozone Hotel & Pub.
Love the Barossa!
It was Good Friday and many of the Barossa Wineries were closed so fewer wine tours. When the concierge at the Intercontinental tried to book me on a tour, they were all fully booked. My only option was to rent a car and drive myself, not ideal as the police were heightening their search for drink drivers (instead of "drunk drivers" Australians call them "drink drivers" - odd, huh?).
I stumbled on the first winery - Villa Tinto - by that I mean it was the first winery that was open that I drove by. And I was in luck! Albert the wine maker was there and poured my series of red wine tastings and even took a FlipVideo for me! They had a "ship anywhere in Australia for free" special so I purchased 6 bottles. My favorite was the 2006 Cabernet Shiraz and I also enjoyed "Albert's Block Shiraz" too.
Since there were only 14 wineries open, it was pretty easy to decide which to goto next. The nearest one was called Moorooroo Winery and I love the name as it reminds me of my brother's name Tomu (we would always tell people it's pronounced "toe" as in your big toe and "moo" as in a cow) and my cousin Ryuichi (who we all just call "Ryu" as in kangaroo) - get it? Moo-ryu-ryu :)
In actuality, Moorooroo is an aboriginal word that means the coming together of two rivers. The Jacob Creek (river?) and another which I've forgotten.
And as it turned out, Moorrooroo is now one of my favorite wineries in the Barossa! They had 9 wines to taste (it's odd, at this winery and the one I went to on Easter Monday, neither had a dump bucket which means you're intended to drink the full tasting) and there was everything from a viognier to flavorful reds to sticky dessert wines.
One of the varietals that was both at Moorooroo and the winery I went to on Easter Monday - Sparkling Shiraz - it was wonderful! It's champagne made out of shiraz red grapes! It reminded me of the raspberry sparkling wine that Boony Doon in Santa Cruze used to make!
Before you even reach the cellar door (interestingly, instead of following the sign to the "wine tasting" you look for the "celler door" sign), I walked through a fragrant rose garden.
Then when I reached the "cellar door" I immediately felt like I'd stepped into a Jane Austin movie. It was such a romantic setting, beautiful trees with wrought iron candleabras hanging from majestic gum trees, a tree-line creek and in the wine tasting room was a French-inspired lounge area decorated in Louis XIV style.
I absolutely LOVED the wine! I had the Zebra Vionier 2005 with my degustation lunch which was light and fruity and the Anna Clara Rose 2005. I compared both the Lotties Shiraz 2004 (very smooth and velvety) and the 2005 which has a lot of potential (Tomu when you receive these please do compare them both, I believe you'll agree that the 2004 is amazing). The Samuel Nitschke Cabernet 2005 had great fruit and surprisingly had little tanins and was so well rounded and balanced I felt it was more like a pinot noir. Then of course there was the Silentium Sparkling Shiraz 2006which is made with the same shiraz grape but using a different process and what's different is that they top it off with liquor of shiraz grapes (Silentium means "tranquility").
Ellen, you're going to totally LOVE the Earth Song Muscato which is apple-y, crispy and has a flirty spritz to it. When I tasted it, I immediately thought of you! You'll probably even want to save the bottle - it fits your living room and the wall decorations you just purchased.
And then there was the Late Harvest Semillon 2005 or the "sticky" dessert wine. All of these wines are only available in Australia although they hope to soon have it sold online. It is also served at Bilson's and Aria in Sydney which are two very, very nice restaurants - Mom and Papa we had dinner at Aria the night we saw the opera at the Sydney Opera House, remember?
After the wine tasting, I enjoyed a degustation lunch while I decided what wines I'd send to my brother and his family for his belated birthday last month.
I stumbled on the first winery - Villa Tinto - by that I mean it was the first winery that was open that I drove by. And I was in luck! Albert the wine maker was there and poured my series of red wine tastings and even took a FlipVideo for me! They had a "ship anywhere in Australia for free" special so I purchased 6 bottles. My favorite was the 2006 Cabernet Shiraz and I also enjoyed "Albert's Block Shiraz" too.
Since there were only 14 wineries open, it was pretty easy to decide which to goto next. The nearest one was called Moorooroo Winery and I love the name as it reminds me of my brother's name Tomu (we would always tell people it's pronounced "toe" as in your big toe and "moo" as in a cow) and my cousin Ryuichi (who we all just call "Ryu" as in kangaroo) - get it? Moo-ryu-ryu :)
In actuality, Moorooroo is an aboriginal word that means the coming together of two rivers. The Jacob Creek (river?) and another which I've forgotten.
And as it turned out, Moorrooroo is now one of my favorite wineries in the Barossa! They had 9 wines to taste (it's odd, at this winery and the one I went to on Easter Monday, neither had a dump bucket which means you're intended to drink the full tasting) and there was everything from a viognier to flavorful reds to sticky dessert wines.
One of the varietals that was both at Moorooroo and the winery I went to on Easter Monday - Sparkling Shiraz - it was wonderful! It's champagne made out of shiraz red grapes! It reminded me of the raspberry sparkling wine that Boony Doon in Santa Cruze used to make!
Before you even reach the cellar door (interestingly, instead of following the sign to the "wine tasting" you look for the "celler door" sign), I walked through a fragrant rose garden.
Then when I reached the "cellar door" I immediately felt like I'd stepped into a Jane Austin movie. It was such a romantic setting, beautiful trees with wrought iron candleabras hanging from majestic gum trees, a tree-line creek and in the wine tasting room was a French-inspired lounge area decorated in Louis XIV style.
I absolutely LOVED the wine! I had the Zebra Vionier 2005 with my degustation lunch which was light and fruity and the Anna Clara Rose 2005. I compared both the Lotties Shiraz 2004 (very smooth and velvety) and the 2005 which has a lot of potential (Tomu when you receive these please do compare them both, I believe you'll agree that the 2004 is amazing). The Samuel Nitschke Cabernet 2005 had great fruit and surprisingly had little tanins and was so well rounded and balanced I felt it was more like a pinot noir. Then of course there was the Silentium Sparkling Shiraz 2006which is made with the same shiraz grape but using a different process and what's different is that they top it off with liquor of shiraz grapes (Silentium means "tranquility").
Ellen, you're going to totally LOVE the Earth Song Muscato which is apple-y, crispy and has a flirty spritz to it. When I tasted it, I immediately thought of you! You'll probably even want to save the bottle - it fits your living room and the wall decorations you just purchased.
And then there was the Late Harvest Semillon 2005 or the "sticky" dessert wine. All of these wines are only available in Australia although they hope to soon have it sold online. It is also served at Bilson's and Aria in Sydney which are two very, very nice restaurants - Mom and Papa we had dinner at Aria the night we saw the opera at the Sydney Opera House, remember?
After the wine tasting, I enjoyed a degustation lunch while I decided what wines I'd send to my brother and his family for his belated birthday last month.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Quaint City of Adelaide
Australia has 6 states and 2 major territories. For the Easter long weekend, I checked off one more (#5). I'll be going to #6 at the end of April and have to figure out how to make my way to #7 and 8 ...
1. (State) New South Wales (Sydney)
2. (State) Victoria (Melbourne)
3. (State) Queensland (Brisbane, Noosa, Cairns, Great Barrier Reef)
4. (Territory) Northern Territory (Alice Springs, Uluru Rock, Darwin)
5. (State) South Australia (Adelaide, Kangaroo Island)
6. (Territory) Australian Capital Territory (Canberra)
7. (State) Western Australia (Perth)
8. (State) Tasmania (Hobart)
In Australia, Good Friday and Easter Monday (yes, Monday!) are national holidays. Since I arrived on Good Friday last year I'd experienced how Sydney basically shuts down and everything is closed. Back then, I'd made a mental note to myself, "plan to travel somewhere fun" because everyone else left town too.
So why Adelaide? Well, it's only an 1 hour 45 minute flight so just right for a long weekend, the Barossa Wine Valley is world renowned for its shiraz/red wine and I was looking to build up my wine collection since I had to give away all my wine before moving to Australia and friends from swimming had just come back from Kangaroo Island and had a terrific time!
Adelaide's known as the "City of Churches" and the "City of Festivals" yet I didn't see that many churches nor did I time things right to see one of their famous festivals. I actually found Adelaide a very quiet and quaint city.
I checked out the Central Markets:
I couldn't miss Haight's Chocolates (founded in Adelaide) because every store I saw had a line out the door with people waiting to buy these gigantic chocolate Easter eggs! I couldn't resist buying these cute little bilby stuffed animals with chocolates for my nephew Kai and niece Kalea.
1. (State) New South Wales (Sydney)
2. (State) Victoria (Melbourne)
3. (State) Queensland (Brisbane, Noosa, Cairns, Great Barrier Reef)
4. (Territory) Northern Territory (Alice Springs, Uluru Rock, Darwin)
5. (State) South Australia (Adelaide, Kangaroo Island)
6. (Territory) Australian Capital Territory (Canberra)
7. (State) Western Australia (Perth)
8. (State) Tasmania (Hobart)
In Australia, Good Friday and Easter Monday (yes, Monday!) are national holidays. Since I arrived on Good Friday last year I'd experienced how Sydney basically shuts down and everything is closed. Back then, I'd made a mental note to myself, "plan to travel somewhere fun" because everyone else left town too.
So why Adelaide? Well, it's only an 1 hour 45 minute flight so just right for a long weekend, the Barossa Wine Valley is world renowned for its shiraz/red wine and I was looking to build up my wine collection since I had to give away all my wine before moving to Australia and friends from swimming had just come back from Kangaroo Island and had a terrific time!
Adelaide's known as the "City of Churches" and the "City of Festivals" yet I didn't see that many churches nor did I time things right to see one of their famous festivals. I actually found Adelaide a very quiet and quaint city.
I checked out the Central Markets:
I couldn't miss Haight's Chocolates (founded in Adelaide) because every store I saw had a line out the door with people waiting to buy these gigantic chocolate Easter eggs! I couldn't resist buying these cute little bilby stuffed animals with chocolates for my nephew Kai and niece Kalea.
Love the Spirit of Entrepreneurship in Sydney!
On Monday, March 29 I was the first official visiter to The Delimiter's new offices in Randwick. I really admire Renai Lemay's entrepreneurial spirit - very reminiscent of the good ole days in Silicon Valley when two regular guys invented something incredible in a garage. Renai's not only starting his own business, he's also creating a place for fellow entrepreneurs to invent and innovate.
The vision is to transform this office into a hub where folks can connect, collaborate and free flow brainstorm.
The vision is to transform this office into a hub where folks can connect, collaborate and free flow brainstorm.
Archibald Finalists at the Art Museume of NSW
My friend had submitted her painting for consideration for The Archibald Prize which is one of Australia's oldest and most prestigious art awards. What's unique about The Archibald is that it's all portrait paintings.
The finalists were being shown at The Art Museum of New South Wales. My favorite was of the director of the Australian film Samson and Delilah (which won best foreign film at the Cannes Film Festival) and it was called "The prince of darkness - Warwick Thornton". The artist had taken the director's technique of using light in the movie (e.g., bright lights to show the heat and stark despair of the situation) and the dark (when the characters are in the hut, living under the bridge) and represented that by lighting up the portrait from behind with a light board. You saw dark and light of the portraiture and it was a very, very cool effect.
Afterwards I went to the pier in Woolloomooloo (aka "the loo") for dinner.
The finalists were being shown at The Art Museum of New South Wales. My favorite was of the director of the Australian film Samson and Delilah (which won best foreign film at the Cannes Film Festival) and it was called "The prince of darkness - Warwick Thornton". The artist had taken the director's technique of using light in the movie (e.g., bright lights to show the heat and stark despair of the situation) and the dark (when the characters are in the hut, living under the bridge) and represented that by lighting up the portrait from behind with a light board. You saw dark and light of the portraiture and it was a very, very cool effect.
Afterwards I went to the pier in Woolloomooloo (aka "the loo") for dinner.
Black Hawks in North Sydney?
It was Thursday, March 25 when from the 13th floor of the Cisco North Sydney Office we heard what sounded like helicopters flying low and very close!
I'd heard about it on the radio earlier that morning so knew to expect it, but seeing and hearing it was was totally different.
Evidently this went on well into the evening and the residents of Mosman complained, here's a story.
I'd heard about it on the radio earlier that morning so knew to expect it, but seeing and hearing it was was totally different.
Evidently this went on well into the evening and the residents of Mosman complained, here's a story.
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