Australia

Although it feels like we've been back in Hiroshima for ages, we just returned from a 2-week vacation in Australia a few days ago. We spent time in Melbourne, Ayers Rock, Sydney and Noosa.

Some highlights:

MELBOURNE:
- There's lots of alleys in the city, with plenty of graffiti all over the walls. I spotted two graffiti artists at work and had a photo feast.


- There was a Dutch festival in town, on the South Bank. Aside from Pieternel's kitchen, I've found another place to eat poffertjes (I'm sure I didn't spell it right). Yummy!
- We attended the wedding of Kumar's dearest and oldest friend Parminder. They grew up in the same block in Chandigarh and 30-odd years later still speak several times a week and exchange cooking recipes over the phone.
- Our friends Indy and Malkit had us over for dinner. It was fabulous to catch up and talk about everyone who still is in or has moved on from Hiroshima. And -- have I mentioned that Malks cooks the best Indian food on Earth?

AYERS ROCK and THE OLGAS:
a.k.a Uluru and Kata Tjuta in the aboriginal language... Ayers Rock is a SINGLE rock, about 4 km long and 1 km wide (and according to our guide another 5 km deep into the ground) that lies in the middle of the desert. The Olgas are a group of rocks a few km away. Both are sacred sites to the aboriginal people and beautiful to explore and photograph... even when it rains!


Get this: Australia has been suffering from a years-long draught. There are severe restrictions on the use of water (can't wash your car or water your lawn if you live in Melbourne for example). And we went to literally the middle of the desert. What are the odds that we would get pouring rain most of the time we were there??? Exactly 1% -- again, according to our guide. On the upside, I got to photograph waterfalls on the rock!

SYDNEY:
Simply put - we fell in love with it. We have decided that Sydney is where we want to live when we grow up.


Highlights (aside from the Opera House):
- the 270-degree view over the bay from our 29th floor hotel room
- Watsons Bay (thanks Gavin for the tip)
- the amazing terrain (hills, steps, cliffs, more steps... got calf pains but well worth it!)
- walking over the Harbour Bridge (we were chickens and didn't climb it though)
- Bondi beach... much more casual and charming than we had imagined!

NOOSA:
The most relaxing 4 days we've had in years! In the most beautiful setting too.


Highlights:
- Kumar took a Thai cooking lesson at the Spirit House. Has been practising mouth-watering recipes ever since.
- A national park home to koalas with beautiful trails, secluded beaches, stunning views from the top of cliffs; and surfers, lizards, butterflies and turkeys all happily enjoying mother nature together. We didn't run into any koalas though...
- A bathing suit store that carried a) normal Western sizes (imagine Silvina trying to find a bikini in Japan) and b) separates (yes, even in a Western store I need different sizes for tops and bottoms).... Shopping heaven!
- These tiny crabs that loved to get into the folds of my beach towel and into my beach tote. Cute as a crab could be and a lot of fun to play with while lying in the sun (although I was asked whether I was five!)

Links to more pictures on the right...