Chatswood

I went in to Chatswood today since it was nice out and I needed something to do. It wasn’t nearly as entertaining as I’d hoped though. Sarah went with her housemates a couple weeks ago and spoke very highly of the “cute little town.” I was surprised when I got off the train (it’s only three stops away) to feel like I was stepping into a dingy Chinatown, kind of like a part of New York City you wouldn’t care to spend a lot of time in. Almost all of the food places had Chinese characters for names and it was really crowded for a Tuesday afternoon.

The only thing it appears there is to do in Chatswood is shop. I found two huge malls that I got lost in, but the most exciting part of that was finding a bookstore that was going out of business so I could look through their books for a few minutes. It didn’t really help that I didn’t feel like spending money. I probably shouldn’t have decided it was a good day to go shopping.

The one success of the afternoon was finding a decent-looking Moscato in a bottle shop that I passed. The guy behind the counter was really nice and offered to help me like four times, probably because I kept opening up the coolers to pull bottles out and read the backs. The Moscato I ended up picking was on special 2 for $10, so hopefully it ends up being good.

Market Saturday

Yesterday was dedicated as market Saturday. I’ve been hearing a lot about Sydney’s street and flea markets, so I wanted to spend a day checking them out. Sarah and I took the bus into town and ventured first to Paddy’s Market. It reminded me of the flea market I used to go to in Florida with my grandparents. You could find everything from clothes to cookware to luggage to souvenirs. They also had a separate area for fresh produce. The main part of the market wasn’t too interesting because it was just a bunch of stalls selling the same thing at different prices, if you paid close enough attention. However, the produce was interesting to wander through. I found something called a sugar banana, which I’ve never heard of. I bought one—I was totally undercharged as the sign said $3.50 per kilo and he only asked for 10 cents—and tried it. I can’t even describe how weird it was. I felt like I was eating something banana flavored that had a grainy texture like it had been rolled in sugar. It also had a bite of sweetness at the end. I’m not sure why anyone would choose to pay more for them.

Pretty view of the city

Fountains near Darling Harbour

Sugar Banana! (look how fat it is)

We spent near two hours at Paddy’s, which is set underneath a full-service mall, before heading over to the Rocks. I didn’t quite realize that we were on the complete other end of town when I suggested that be our next stop, but oh well. We ended up walking through a really pretty park on the edge of Darling Harbour that we stopped to take pictures it. There was a carousel and giant playground as well, so it was swarming with families. We also passed by the outside of the Chinese Garden of Friendship, something I plan to see eventually.

When we finally got to the Rocks, there market was just starting to close, so we hurried quickly through the stalls. The Rocks is more of an arty market with many paintings, ceramics, and decorative purses on display. It was more fun to look at the items on sale here though.

The Rocks Market

It finally got too cold for us though between the wind chill and the sun going down, so we went to the nearby Pancakes on the Rocks and had mimosas and pancakes for dinner. It was fairly decently priced compared to everything else in Sydney, only $6.95 for a stack of two pancakes with butter. It kind of reminded me of iHop. It seems to be some kind of phenomenon here as there was a huge line out the door. I wanted to buy some of their pancake mix because I haven’t seen a mix anywhere else, but I didn’t want to carry it around with me the rest of the night, so I passed. I did find pancake mix at the store today though and it was $7.50 for a small bottle! It might have been cheaper to buy it in the Rocks...

Some building...

Hunter Valley

Today, I went on a wine tour of the Hunter Valley, which is the wine region nearest to Sydney. I went with a group of international students from Macquarie because the office who represents us organized a trip that was $30 cheaper than any others I could find. I had to get up really early, which sucked, but I was able to sleep most of the 2.5 hour drive out to the valley, so that made it slightly more okay. I felt so useless all day though because all I did was sit in a bus, drink wine, and eat cheese and chocolate.

Our first stop of the morning (we were already drinking wine at 10:30!) was McGuigan Winery where we sampled eight different bottles. My favorite was there 2012 Cellar Select Autumn Harvest Semillon because it was really sweet. Semillon is a really popular white wine in this area because the grapes are easier to grow in Sydney’s particular climate (Shiraz in the most prevalent red). I also liked the 2010 Late Picked Gewurtztraminer, which is a desert wine that we tasted. I wouldn’t let myself buy either of them though because they were priced at $20 and $30, respectively, which at the moment, is just too much for me to spend on a bottle that would last two nights at the most.

The Tasting Room :)

Aging Barrels!

Second, we went to First Creek and were taken on a tour of their bottling and aging warehouses. It was kind of cool, but I was a little bored during it because it was very similar to the tour I went on in Italy, just on a slightly larger scale. It was interesting when she talked a little bit about how the wine seasons vary in Australia though due to the opposite seasons. Apparently, the grapes that are going right now will be part of the 2013 batch because they won’t be harvested until January and February. So Australia is in the future even when they harvest the grapes for their wines!

We tried some of the wines at First Creek too, but I wasn’t a huge fan. Their 2010 Semillon has apparently won a multitude of awards in the wine world, but it wasn’t sweet enough for me. I think I would have liked the raspberry desert wine we tried if I could handle the taste of raspberry. It was sweet, but had a little bit of a kick to it because it was a 17%, which is very high for a desert wine. It was pretty too :)

More barrels!

The bottling machine

With my 2011 Raspberry Wine, I think.

Everyone was a little tipsy after the second tasting because, being college students, we were of course drinking all of the sample instead of sipping a little bit and pouring the rest into the spittoon. It might not be classy, but we wanted to get our money’s worth. Luckily, it was time for lunch at Potter’s Brewery, a small restaurant and microbrewery nearby. They already had our pre-selected meals prepared for us when we arrived. I had ordered the steak sandwich, which was really good. I found the fact that it had beets on it a little strange, especially when I took them off and the bread underneath was purple, but I still enjoyed it. Instead of ketchup, they gave us a creamy dipping sauce for our French fries that was really good too. I’m glad Sarah made me try it (at first I thought it was ranch and refused).

Amazing steak sandwich!

We were rushed to finish lunch though because we were running a little bit behind for our visit to a local chocolate shop. I didn’t enjoy this part quite as much as the other girls, but it was still nice to sample some of their Belgian chocolates. Unfortunately, since we were running behind, we didn’t get to do a tasting at the attached champagne room.

En route to our final tasting, Sarah spotted a group of wild kangaroos on the side of the road. They were just hanging out in someone’s front yard. She freaked out enough that our bus driver pulled onto the side of the road and let us get out and act like tourists creeping up on the kangaroos to take pictures. They actually let us get surprisingly close before hopping away.

They were a bit different than I expected though. I knew in theory that they moved using both their hind legs and on all fours, but it was so peculiar to watch. It was also really funny when they started hopping, which I managed to catch on film. It was cute to watch them for a little while, and we all felt better about being such tourists when a family stopped as well and brought their children out to see the kangaroos, but eventually we had to move on to our final tasting at Tempus Two, a slightly more futuristic looking winery.

Kangaroos!

Fields outside Tempus Two

I really liked the futuristic look

At Tempus, we tried an amazingly good 2011 Brioso Rosa, a pink moscato. I’ve had moscato before and liked it, but the pink was even sweeter than I’m used to. I also really liked the desert option here, a 2008 Botrytis Semillon and it was a great locally-valued wine to end on. After this tasting, we went next door to Smelly Cheese’s to try a variety of cheese. I don’t remember all of the ones we tried, but I know I really didn’t like the bleu cheese. There was one that tasted like a creamy version of feta though that was really good. I was tempted to get some gelato from their store, but I was way too full to even think about stomaching it, even though it did look really good.

The amazing-looking strawberry gelato, reminds me of Italy

Pretty much everyone slept on the drive back to campus because we were worn out from all the food. It was a great tasting. My only regret is that I didn’t buy anything, but maybe I’ll find something when I go on the wine tasting in New Zealand that is both sweet and a little closer to my price range that I like enough to ship home. I’m also really excited that I unexpectedly got to see my first wild kangaroo, so many people come to Australia and don’t even get that because they never leave the big cities.