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| Front view of crowd and stage |
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| .. rear view with Parliament behind us! |
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Australia Day
On January 25th we celebrated Australia Day by going to a free concert on Parliament hill with a group of our Aussie friends. The show was great and featured music from Timomatic, Guy Sebastian, and Jimmy Barnes -- all Australian artists. There was also a air show and a presentation to the newly appointed 'Australian of the year' for 2012. We snapped a couple photos of the crowd and stage to share.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Heat wave and Bush fires
People were not joking when they said Aussie summers were H-O-T!
We've been dealing with temperatures in the mid-30's to low-40's for weeks now. We've both made the comment that on hot days it feels like we're walking next to a blazing fire - no exaggeration! On these days, we also find that it smells exactly like a sauna! It's very strange, and it really makes us appreciate having air con at our home, at work, and in the car!
The heat this year has surpassed previous records. Temperatures soared to a national record average of 40.33 degrees on January 7, the highest since record-taking began more than 100 years ago! Australia even needed to add new colors to its heat map! Deep purple was added to represent temperatures ranging from 50 degrees (celcius) to 52 degrees, while magenta was added to represent temperatures between 52 degrees to 54 degrees. (Yes, it made it to 54 degrees one day this year in Brisbane!)
Unfortunately, all of this heat meant that the country was at severe risk of bush fires (or as the Country Fire Authority rated it, 'catastrophic').
At one point this month there were between 100 and 150 bush fires across NSW and Victoria States. We even had several fires within 50 km of Canberra city - there were a few days that we could see dark, smokey skies in the distance. Luckily we live in the city center so we really didn't face much risk, but many of our colleagues live outside the city. Pretty scary times, but luckily Canberra escaped without too much devastation this time.
We've been dealing with temperatures in the mid-30's to low-40's for weeks now. We've both made the comment that on hot days it feels like we're walking next to a blazing fire - no exaggeration! On these days, we also find that it smells exactly like a sauna! It's very strange, and it really makes us appreciate having air con at our home, at work, and in the car!
The heat this year has surpassed previous records. Temperatures soared to a national record average of 40.33 degrees on January 7, the highest since record-taking began more than 100 years ago! Australia even needed to add new colors to its heat map! Deep purple was added to represent temperatures ranging from 50 degrees (celcius) to 52 degrees, while magenta was added to represent temperatures between 52 degrees to 54 degrees. (Yes, it made it to 54 degrees one day this year in Brisbane!)
Unfortunately, all of this heat meant that the country was at severe risk of bush fires (or as the Country Fire Authority rated it, 'catastrophic').
At one point this month there were between 100 and 150 bush fires across NSW and Victoria States. We even had several fires within 50 km of Canberra city - there were a few days that we could see dark, smokey skies in the distance. Luckily we live in the city center so we really didn't face much risk, but many of our colleagues live outside the city. Pretty scary times, but luckily Canberra escaped without too much devastation this time.
Friday, January 4, 2013
New Years Eve on the Sydney Harbour
As most Aussies can attest, there is no better place to be in Australia for New Years than the Sydney Harbour. Each NYE, the harbour hosts approximately 1.5 million people and the city spends over 6-7 million dollars on entertainment which includes two firework shows with over 7 tonnes of fireworks!
Seeing as this was our first NYE in Australia, we decided to enjoy it in style and booked tickets on a boat called 'The Pontoon'.
Compared to its sister ship, 'The Starship', the Pontoon is much smaller with a capacity of only 300. The limited capacity was especially nice as it allowed us to have a prime spot on the boat for the fireworks, and the boat never felt packed with people. The tickets for the boat certainly weren't cheap, but given that there was unlimited food and alcohol available to us (not to mention the best seats in the house for NYE all night long), it was well worth it. It also allowed us to casually stroll up to the boat at 6 pm, instead of camping out the night before in an attempt to get good spots along the shore (many people do this in order to secure a good view).
As the night progressed, all of the boats on the harbour lit up for the Parade of Lights Festival. It made for some great pictures and a really great atmosphere. The Sydney Opera House was also well lit up.
There were actually two fireworks shows, one at 9pm for families with kids and the other at midnight. We snapped some pictures from both fireworks shows -- here are a few of our favorites.
This is without a doubt one of the best ways to spend New Years Eve. Everything about the night went smoothly and everyone on the boat was very friendly. Unlimited champagne, wine, and beer all night long, all of which were continuously topped up by waiters (you could never manage to finish your drink without them arriving with a new one for you)....Unlimited food, also delivered right to you by the waiters, and then ice cream served just before midnight. We couldn't have asked for a better experience!
Happy New Year everyone! We wish you all the best in 2013!
Seeing as this was our first NYE in Australia, we decided to enjoy it in style and booked tickets on a boat called 'The Pontoon'.
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| The Pontoon |
Compared to its sister ship, 'The Starship', the Pontoon is much smaller with a capacity of only 300. The limited capacity was especially nice as it allowed us to have a prime spot on the boat for the fireworks, and the boat never felt packed with people. The tickets for the boat certainly weren't cheap, but given that there was unlimited food and alcohol available to us (not to mention the best seats in the house for NYE all night long), it was well worth it. It also allowed us to casually stroll up to the boat at 6 pm, instead of camping out the night before in an attempt to get good spots along the shore (many people do this in order to secure a good view).
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| Great location for the fireworks show! |
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| Looks like a neon pirate ship! |
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| Many boats at Circular Quay! |
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| The Sydney Opera House |
There were actually two fireworks shows, one at 9pm for families with kids and the other at midnight. We snapped some pictures from both fireworks shows -- here are a few of our favorites.
This is without a doubt one of the best ways to spend New Years Eve. Everything about the night went smoothly and everyone on the boat was very friendly. Unlimited champagne, wine, and beer all night long, all of which were continuously topped up by waiters (you could never manage to finish your drink without them arriving with a new one for you)....Unlimited food, also delivered right to you by the waiters, and then ice cream served just before midnight. We couldn't have asked for a better experience!
Happy New Year everyone! We wish you all the best in 2013!
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Christmas Time in Australia
Another Christmas has come and gone - but for us it didn't feel particularly Christmas-y this year. There was no snow, no bitter cold windchill, no slippery roads...Simply put, it just wasn't a Canadian Christmas. It was, however, a very traditional Aussie Christmas! Keep reading to hear about how we went full-on Aussie with the rental of a cottage at a beach for the week.
The cottage we rented was located in the Hyams beach area of Jervis Bay. We really lucked out with our cottage as we were within 25m walking distance to a small, private beach called Chinaman's beach.
We lucked out by having access to this smaller, more private beach as most of the crowds tended to be at Hyams Beach, an absolutely massive beach that runs along a large part of Jervis bay. Most of the crowds head to Hyams Beach (as opposed to the smaller Chinamans Beach) as it is home to the whitest sand in the world (according to the Guinness Book of Records).
While the weather wasn't perfect each and every day (Xmas day was a 'chilly' 21 degrees due to a cyclone out at sea), we had many days in the low 30s, so we were able to make the most of our visit to the coast.
Some of the locals showed up on Christmas Eve to build a not-so-traditional 'Sandman' -- or 'Sandwoman' we guess :).
The cottage itself was very spacious and very relaxing! It had a full-sized kitchen, a huge living room, two bedrooms, and great upper balcony with a view of the water!
All in all, it was a great Christmas week. Hopefully we can do it again next year when our family visits!
The cottage we rented was located in the Hyams beach area of Jervis Bay. We really lucked out with our cottage as we were within 25m walking distance to a small, private beach called Chinaman's beach.
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| Chinaman's Beach |
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| Chinamans Beach - Do you see Blair swimming out there? |
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| Hyams Beach - lots of people! |
While the weather wasn't perfect each and every day (Xmas day was a 'chilly' 21 degrees due to a cyclone out at sea), we had many days in the low 30s, so we were able to make the most of our visit to the coast.
Some of the locals showed up on Christmas Eve to build a not-so-traditional 'Sandman' -- or 'Sandwoman' we guess :).
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| 'Sandwoman' |
The cottage itself was very spacious and very relaxing! It had a full-sized kitchen, a huge living room, two bedrooms, and great upper balcony with a view of the water!
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| Our cottage for the week! |
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| Lots of room! |
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| Great kitchen |
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| 2 big bedrooms |
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| Upper balcony with a view of the water! |
All in all, it was a great Christmas week. Hopefully we can do it again next year when our family visits!
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Christmas is coming?!?
Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming?!?
Let us just come out and say it - It doesn't feel like Christmas to us. At all. The days are hot and the daylight hours are long. How can it possibly be Christmas time?
It's certainly not like we've never experienced warm and snow-less Christmases before. We've been fortunate enough to spend a Christmas in Florida, and we certainly had our fair share of green Christmases in Maryland. But this year...it's different. We think it's due to a combination of things:
- Our Christmas in Florida was a getaway for a week. It was a temporary escape from the cold Canadian Christmas. In Oz, however, the days have been getting hotter and hotter since the beginning of October. We often find ourselves thinking that's it's July since it feels like the beginning of summer (as it should, we suppose, since it is indeed summer here). But no, it's not July - it's December and it's only 2 weeks until Christmas.
- The days are bright and long! Christmas, in our mind, is a dark but cozy time: The days are short, which allows you to enjoy colorful Christmas lights everywhere. This is definitely not the case here - it's still bright out at 9 pm, so we're missing all the Christmas light festivities.
Given that we're not huge fans of cricket (i.e. the most boring sport to ever exist), we've crossed that item off our list of Christmas must-do's (for this year, anyway!). So how are the Foster's spending Christmas? Well, we've rented a cottage on the beach (Jervis Bay - Chinaman's/Hyams's Beach - which apparently holds the Guiness Book of World Records for the whitest sand in the world). We've been told that the cottage has a nice BBQ and backyard, so voila - all other Aussie traditions will be met!
Check out our cottage rental by clicking here: (Seahaven Cottage)
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| Chinaman's Beach - Our cottage is located by the grassy area at the left of the photo! |
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