wine, cheese, roses, CLASSY

Okay guys, time for another lengthy post.
Let's divvy it up for your reading ease (and so I don't forget anything):

• Australia Day and Dragon Boat Racing
• Born Ruffians concert
• Wine Tour
• Australian Museum
• Valentine's Day

Australia Day and Dragon Boat Races
Note that Australia Day was January 26th, and note that today is February 20th. So.... yeah. Australia Day is celebrated Jan 26th because that was the day that the first convict ships arrived on the shores of Botany Bay/Sydney Harbour to set up colonies. The Aborigines have aptly named the day "Invasion Day." Yikes, the tension in the air was almost palpable!!
On Australia Day thousands upon thousands of people turned up to The Rocks, an area of Sydney near the bridge and the Opera House. There were tons of outdoor concerts and other events going on--it was a massive celebration of all things Australian.

Australian pride!

Random Chair Sculpture by The Rocks--how cool!

We were tuckered out fast, but look how patriotic!

Later that week as a joint celebration of Chinese New Year's and Australia Day, they held dragon boat racing in Darling Harbour. It was an incredible sight and all the boats were marvelously decorated with flaming reds, greens, and golds.

Dragon boats at the finish line

Born Ruffians concert
I sort of forget whether I went to the Born Ruffians concert or the Wine Tour first, so let's just cover Born Ruffians.

Well, Kelly and I had a little bit of trouble getting over there since we took the wrong bus down George St. instead of Oxford St. BUT! when we finally did get to the Oxford Art Factory, Born Ruffians was just getting on stage. Overall the performance was a little above average; they were energetic but not particularly captivating. The music was decent, with my favorite song being "I Need a Life" because of the catchy (ugh) chorus. The band is from Canada, and it was delicious to hear people talking without an Australian accent for once! I wanted to jump up yelling, "Hey we're from North America too! Whoo Canada!!!"

Also let's talk about how incredibly SCENESTER the kids at the show were. Australian scenester kids are pretty similar to American scenester kids in terms of looks: they're adorned with the exact same plaid, skinny pants, and boots. They wear the same amount of bangles, excessive cat-eye eyeliner, and revel in their piercings. Things are pretty much the same except that Australian scenester kids drink a lot more than kids our age (duh, because it is legal here) and they are less stupid and seem to actually be there to enjoy the music. It was a nice crowd to enjoy Born Ruffians with.

For more pics and stuff of the concert and more, visit Kelly's blog: Make War and Peace Down Under.


Hunter Valley Wine Tour
Okay, the Wine Tour. I realize I haven't really explained why (or HOW) I am taking a wine-tasting class and getting credit for it---pretty much I am awesome, that's all you need to know. It's the first year that the course has been offered in the Sydney program, even though back home in Boston there is a School of Hospitality course about wine-tasting as well. Anyway, this class is a little different because it is about the Australian Wine Industry, with emphasis on the industry. So as part of our class we spent two days in the Hunter Valley, a wine region just two hours north of Sydney. There we went around to several wineries and did tastings and walked around their vineyards.

At each vineyard we walked in to each individual cellar door (whose designs ranged from rustic to ultra-modern) and got about 7 or 8 different samples of wine to try. Trust me, I learned very, very quickly that I had to spit out the tastings rather than swallowing them--after all, my friends weren't in the best state to carry me back onto the bus either. The tastings didn't get me shit-faced (because I would not allow myself to get shit-faced on wine), but they did leave me with a tingling joviality and a terrifically embarrassing Asian glow.

Here are the places we visited (I have kindly hyperlinked you to them):
Tyrrell's
Drayton's
Tempus Two
Peterson's Champagne House
Tamburlaine
Nightingale Wines
Margan

My favorite parts of the weekend:

Amazing Hunter Semillon from Tyrrell's

1. The Semillon wines at Tyrrell's. Semillon has officially become my favorite white wine, and it's what the Hunter Valley region is best known for.

Classy tasting at Tempus Two

2. The lush, beautiful tasting arranged for us at Tempus Two, a new and up-and-coming winery that is all about the marketing and the sales of wine. Their wine labels, unlike the paper labels of most wines, are actually made of pewter. And, their cellar door plays host to AMAZING bands each year. In previous years they have hosted Elton John, The Beach Boys, Santana, and Rod Stewart.

3. Peterson's Champagne house was also lovely, and the cellar door at Margan was probably my favorite of all time because it was like being in a really nice home of a friend's, complete with little modern design pillows and sweet lighting. Tamburlaine Wines was the first and only organic and biodynamic winery we visited, and the whole place was very rustic and you could tell (and smell) the natural fertilizers being used. Finally, the tour through Nightingale Wines really showed us the behind-the-scenes making of wine:

Behind-the-scenes action at Nightingale winery

Overall the trip was a huge hit with me. I increased my knowledge of wine about ten-fold, and now I know which kinds of wines I like to drink and which I don't. Plus, I got some sweet pictures of the vineyards:

Me among the vines

Fountain in the Gardens of the Grand Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens (our SWANK overnight accommodation). Also notice how Matt is a total gay pimp in the picture.

Australian Museum
Okay, I'll keep the last few words on the Australian Museum and Valentine's Day short:

The Australian Museum had great exhibits on Aboriginal art, Australian wildlife, and Australian geology. It was VERY similar to Harvard's Museum of Natural History if you've ever been (except the Australian Museum is much more modernized--I swear some of the stuffed animals in the Harvard museum are older than my grandparents, and they definitely look in desperate need of updating).

The BEST part, hands down, of the Australian Museum was the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 Exhibition. The exhibition showcases the best wildlife shots from professionals (Nat. Geo. photographers, mostly) and amateurs (kids from as young as seven). It was a breathtaking exhibit, and made me seriously lament my point-and-shoot camera skills.

Australian Museum top floor

Valentine's Day
Finally, Valentine's Day. I have the greatest friends here who really went all out for VDay and exchanged flowers, candy, cards, and kisses, etc. etc. everything that makes Valentine's Day special. That night we went to dinner, where I had a chicken schnitzel and Sav Blanc Semillon for dinner, and then we went planning to see He's Just Not That Into You, but that was sold out so instead we saw Rachel Getting Married. I'm still not entirely sure if I liked the movie--it was great acting but not the best VDay movie. Dark stuff. In Melbourne we did eventually see He's Just Not That Into You, but I'll review that in the next post.

Some final pictures from Valentine's Day:

Gerbera Daisy from Becky, the fellow Kansan. I put the daisy in a beautiful bottle of Botrytis Semillon desert wine from Tempus Two.

And of course, roses from the boy, who was ingenious enough to arrange a local florist to deliver them:

Roses 1

Roses 2

And... that's it folks. Next time I'll cover my trip to Melbourne this past weekend, including my helicopter ride over the Great Ocean Road and how I got to see WICKED performed in Melbourne (a total random but extremely enjoyable experience)!