50 days!

Well, the days are starting to get longer and the weather is getting warmer. Which means the opposite is happening back home. But oh well.

It's 50 days until I get married! Well, I guess maybe depending on how you count. And with the 17 hour time difference (16 to NM)... ehhh.... we'll just say 50 days from today.

Had a pretty low key Friday night. Met up with some co-workers at the bar where they were celebrating someone's last day (moving back to the UK). Headed home fairly early (around 10 or so). This morning I hit up the gym and started cleaning up my place. I gotta prepare for the American party I'm throwing tonight. I'll teach some of these guys some beer pong (they learned king's cup from the last party at the other secondees' place).

I purchased some drinks and chips. Can't be a bad host (but not looking for host of the year or anything). One thing to note, here it seems most credit cards have PINs. However, obviously, mine doesn't. So I sign for it, but often they ask to see the back of my credit card to compare the signature. I mean, this makes sense. Probably should do that more often in the States, but rarely happens.

And I also got my tuxedo shirt today. Yep, instead of swimming in one because I'm cursed with a tiny body frame, I decided to buy one to go with the tux I'm renting (hiring). Now, I don't know if tuxes are like dresses. Can Michelle see this before the big day? Hmm.... I'll just show my dear readers an exciting picture of the bag.

Now imagine every tux dress shirt you've ever seen...

 

Ah, another picture I wanted to share. It doesn't quite do the scene justice, but apparently by the weekend my gym gets a little chaotic (because it's an unmanned gym after 3pm on Friday).

 

Pictured: Chaos

OK. So it's not THAT bad. But weights are just kinda everywhere.

 

I'm currently writing this from the great outdoors (botanic gardens). And while I don't have wifi in my apartment (which seems strange) my firm did hook me up with a wireless card that is actually pretty cool and handy.

 

 

Now I'm going to turn my attention to writing the article I promised for my firm's newsletter back home. Enjoy the weekend.

Comedy Night

Just got back from the Star Casino. Met up with a few co-workers to enjoy a comedy night there. It was at Rock Lily, a bar in the casino. The first two guys were all right (eh, well, the first guy was kinda terrible), but the last guy was pretty funny. Pretty angry about Subway and Bunnings (Aussie Home Depot). And really crude. Lots of swearing, with the "C" word sprinkled around for good measure. A lot of Aussie sayings and jokes, too. Got most of it, I think.

The bar had a special on pitchers (jugs) of beer for just $10. I also had the $9.50 fish tacos (3 of them). They were tiny and, um, not so good. I'll have to hit up some Mexican food when I get back to the States.

This morning I had to catch my first bus to my client. I first had to go to 7-11 to buy a bus pass (a lot of the buses, especially during rush hour, require you to pre-purchase a ticket). I then waited nice and early for my bus. Now, there was a bus that pulled up and kind of blocked my view. I looked down at my phone then looked up and my bus, 618, just blew on by. Nooooooooooooo.

Ok, another one is coming in 15 minutes. I made sure to keep my eyes open to signal the driver. Around the time when my bus was supposed to come, another bus (very busy street) pulled up and parked in front of the stop. As this happened, 2 other buses drove by and I didn't catch their numbers. Shoot, was one of those 618? Figuring I'd never actually get on this bus, it finally started pulling up and I successfully signaled it to get on. However, I now had to figure out when I needed to get off. I asked the bus driver about 30 minutes in and he said that this is the last stop. Oh, well I better get off (although a lot of people remained on the bus, so I don't think it was the last stop...).

Thankfully, I had my phone with Google Maps to finish navigating to the client. Turns out I had about a 20 minute walk ahead of me. Whew. At least I made it.

Tomorrow (Friday) marks another person's last day at the firm, so there's a little work party. I'll go to that after my client. Then on Saturday I'm hosting an "American" party. Should be fun.

WW and spelling

Just got back from a  mildly successful Wine Wednesday. Felt good to get out of my apartment now that I'm finally feeling better. A few of us met up at the park and had some wine. Lovely evening. The weather has been really great lately. I hope it carries over to the weekend. And one of these days I'm going to check out the beaches.

And now another edition of Aussie spelling.
We all know they spell things like realize, specialize, capitalize, etc with an "S" rather than a "Z." However, I recently learned that curb, as in what's on a street, is spelled "kerb" here. Crazy, right?

Melbourne - pt 2

Ah, I forgot to mention that after the AFL game, I stopped by Lord of the Fries. It's a local burger chain that has some tasty burgers. Also has some "American" sauces, such as the East LA and KC BBQ sauce.

Tasty

Anyway, I was still getting over being sick, so I didn't venture out that night. But the next morning on Sunday I went back into the center of the city to see some more sights. I first stopped at the National Gallery of Victoria (yes, there are 2 locations).

It had more older art than the first gallery. Some Asian art and some European art. I thought this installation was cool. It's porcelain bowls floating around in water. Every now and then they bump, making a "ting" noise. Guards had to stay on top of the tourist and tell them not to touch the bowls.

I also stopped by the Victoria Market. Had all types of things: fish, meat, produce, wines, athletic gear, etc.

I next started making my way to Lygon street. Lots of eateries there, especially Italian food. However, I didn't really feel like Italian food, so I gave some Vietnamese pho a try. Not too bad. I still think it's better in San Jose, CA (and a lot cheaper, too. I paid $9 for a bowl of it here).

Along the way I also stopped and got this.

$7...

I also enjoyed a Jamba Juice-type place (I forget the name of it). That was also obscenely expense, but such is the state of life in Australia. Food (and everything else) is really expensive.

But check out this bar I passed. Notice anything in the background?

And this sign was interesting. They apparently don't want 457 visas... I believe I'm here in Australia on a 457 visa...

Is that a thumb in the bottom left corner...?

And that about sums up my trip to Melbourne. It really was a cool city. I wish I was feeling better, but glad I still got to see it. I made it home all right (slight hiccup at the airport) and work has been going well so far this week. I hope to do a few things during the week and then see Sydney some more this weekend. Feels good to be feelin' better.

Melbourne - day 1

 

Thankfully, I started getting better in time for this weekend trip. On Friday night I hopped aboard the train from Wynyard station to the airport and flew Tiger Airlines. It's a discount airline...

 

 

...and it shows. Not only are you at the farthest gate, but as you can see, not a ton of leg room. Good thing it's only an hour flight to Melbourne, Victoria (pronounced Mel-bin).

 

I landed around 11:30pm and met up with three other American secondees who are working out of the Melbourne office.

 

On Saturday, I took a tram from their place to Federation square, kind of the heart of the city. My first stop was at the National Gallery of Victoria.

 

 

Nice collection of art. For some more art, I crossed the street to Hosier Lane. 

 

 

Hosier Lane is a street full of street art, or graffiti. 

 

 

 

 

 

Very cool street to take a stroll down. Massive amount of graffiti.

 

After that I just walked around some of the main shopping areas, some restaurants, and around the river walk. 

 

Busting out my phone's panorama feature

 

  Then I took a trip to the Shrine of Remembrance. Apart from its epic name, it looks pretty epic, too.

 

 

It's basically a memorial for veterans, focusing on WWII. To be honest, not totally blown away by it. I guess I was expecting a bit more.

 

 

And on to the highlight of my trip. From co-workers to that drunk guy I met in Christchurch, I've been told that I need to see the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, or MCG. It's the main stadium there. And there, besides cricket, they play AFL games (Australian Football League). Australian football, or footy, has unique rules. 

 

My ticket

My view from general admission

Probably impossible to accurately describe this game without seeing it for oneself. My first attempt at describing it would be that it looks like a game a bunch of kids would make up in a background (I don't mean that as bad as that sounds). The ball is bouncing all over the place. Players are running around, bouncing the ball, kicking, punching the ball (as a forward pass), pitching, catching, etc. 

 

 

 

The object of the game is to kick the ball through those two uprights pictures above. That's 6 points. If you kick it through the wider gap, that's only 1 point (called a "behind"). And don't call that an end zone. I learned that the hard way...

 

It was a ton of fun to watch, although there were times when I had no idea what the penalty was for. From what I've pieced together, if you kick the ball and a teammate cleanly catches it, he gets a free kick. That is, no one can tackle him but have to back off. So if you kick it to your teammate in front of the goal posts, he gets an easy kick for points.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is if you are tackled with the ball, the other team gets a free kick. So as people are getting tackled, they toss the ball (which leads to the ball always bouncing all over the place).

 

Another cool thing, if the ball goes out of bounds "unintentionally" the ref, with his back to the players, tosses the ball in over his head. See below.

 

 

 

 

 I watched the the Blues take on the Bombers. Apparently the Blues needed to win this game to keep their playoff hopes alive. It was a great game, with the Bombers scoring late for the win. A couple things to note. 1) The Bombers are tied up in a PED scandal (yay! not just our athletes who cheat) and 2) I missed the 1st quarter, but the 2nd and 3rd both ended around 30 minutes, so I assumed they are thirty minute quarters. However, during the 4th quarter, with the Blues trying to come back, the game was blown dead at 27 minutes. I thought, huh, that's weird. I later learned that the stadium clock is a running clock, but the actual game clock is stopped and they are 20 minute quarters. What the heck? Don't they think people would like to know how much time is left? Instead, you have to guess that typically around 26 - 30 minutes the quarter ends.

 

Part 2 post coming up next!

 

Sickness update: Feeling much better! Woo hoo! Almost at 100%!

 

Apartment update: Finally have hot water. Sheesh. But then I took a step on my kitchen "tile" (linoleum) and this happened

 

POS...

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

Wallabies vs All Blacks

Look what I found in the elevator on Thursday evening on my way to the gym to take a hot shower:

 

Totally didn't deface this at all...

Anyway, on to the Wallabies and All Blacks game (in case you're wondering, New Zealand is called the All Blacks because they wear, well, all black. It's not an uncommon thing to call a team based on their uniforms, especially in soccer).

Mastering my low light setting

A big group of us went, maybe around 12 or so, and sat in two sections. Here's my seat.

To start the day off, I wasn't feeling too bad (this was Saturday) but I was shivering by the end. But it was a lot of fun to see a game in person. However, the Wallabies played terribly (turned the ball over all the time it seemed) and the All Blacks stomped all over them.

The cool thing about seeing New Zealand play is getting to see the haka. It's a Maori warrior dance that they traditionally do before each match. It's like an intimidation thing, I guess. The NZ team faces the other team before the game and performs it. The other team just kind of stands there (feel free to look up YouTube videos. No way I was going to get any kind of photo from my phone). Little awkward for the other team, I suppose. Apparently, in the past, teams haven't quite known what to do. I guess one team, maybe it was the Irish?, once kind of walked towards the NZ team during the haka, forming an arrow. I guess that was deemed poor form and the ruby governing body fined them. So now teams just stand there.

Anyway, here are some shots from my seat.

First row!

The camera guy in from of me... half blocking the haka (see NZ on left and Aus on right)

The NZ fans turned out in full force and seemed to be more dressed up than their Wallabies supporting counterparts. We sat directly in front of a bunch of guys dressed as cows (helped us get on the jumbotron). These guys were pretty happy about the game's outcome:

This post is a little rush, but I suppose better late than never. I'm just about to work (writing this on my 45 min train ride). Tonight I head off to Melbourne. I plan on taking it easy while I'm there. See some stuff and be able to say I've been there. I'm still improving, but not all better yet.

When in doubt, sweat it out

Wow. It's been awhile. I was feeling pretty sick these past few days. On Sunday I just laid around my apartment all day. But I eventually had to go get food so I dragged myself up and stumbled to Coles. I bought one of those rotisserie chickens, 4 liters of juice, and then spent waaaay too much time in the medicine section. Now, I think it's similar to what I found in Spain in that drugs are sold in a pharmacy. Eh, I don't really know. But from what I could tell (although my brain function was low at this point) a lot of the things there were these herbal based drugs (side note: they pronounce the H in herbs). I'm not looking for hippie nonsense. I'm looking for some drugs here. So what did I settle on?

A few thoughts may enter your head. 1) Yes, I brought medicine from the US, but supplies were running low so I needed to restock 2) Yes, those are children's medicines.

 

Now let me explain. On the one of the left, I was looking for something like Children's Tylenol because my throat was killing me (really hurt to swallow) and I've found that sucking one or two of those helps the pain there. Well, Tylenol ain't an international thing, but this seemed comparable. I saw some that said dissoluble, but I knew I didn't want that. So I bought the soluble kind (yes, I know... I later found that out the hard way. Remember, brain function was low. On a related note, do people ever find out the hard way that inflammable and flammable mean the same thing?).

 

Interesting to note that Panadol is the name brand for paracetamol which is what acetaminophen (Tylenol) is called here. Why they aren't they same, I have no idea. But I had to later research what the heck I purchased.

 

The Robitussin I purchased almost solely on brand awareness. I figured, hey, I know that. I hope it's the same here. I'll just up the dosage a bit. I didn't see an adult version. Maybe that's in pharmacies?

 

Along comes Monday and I'm feeling a bit better, but still have the chills. Just can't stay warm. Work was pretty miserable (including the hour plus commute via train and cab one way) and I wasn't able to get a ton done. Tuesday was similar, but again, starting to feel better. However, late afternoon I just hit a wall. I got home Tuesday night and went to bed at 7:40pm after having a warm cup of OJ with a Panadol soluble.

 

Works better in juice vs your mouth...

Before 1am, I had woken up 3 different times drenched in a cold sweat (requiring me to change my clothes and lay down some towels in my bed). I was kind of scared to go back to sleep, so I laid on the couch a bit. But then I decided to face the music and go back to my bed. Thankfully, I didn't break out in a sweat again and at about 8am (en route to work) I was feeling better! Woo hoo! I mean, not 100%, but much better! And my chills are gone! You know what that means? I got to work later than I was able to do previously... Yay... And do some wrap up work I'd been putting off once I got home. But hey, I'd rather be working than feel the way I'd been feeling. I also was able to clean up my apartment. There were dishes, clothes, and medicine wrappers EVERYwhere.

 

That leads me to this (Thur) morning. I still have a cough and don't feel all the way better. But such an improvement. The only thing is I basically sweated the whole night. I still feel fairly rested, but weird... I hope that goes away tonight...

 

And one more side note. All this week I've basically taken no showers because there's been no hot water (twice I jumped in, washed my hair, only to have the hot water go out and I have to jump out). Not pleasant when you're been sick. I emailed the HR lady who hooked me up with the apartment and she emailed the property managers. I guess they're installing 2 new boilers on Friday. Oh, gee. Thanks, guys. That's really awesome. So I'll leave you with my thoughts on my shower.

 

You'd be pissed, too

Wallabies/All Blacks post to follow. Oh, and I go to Melbourne this weekend. Glad I'm so ready for that.

 

 

The Aussie Flu

I've been meaning to post about the haircut I got on Saturday afternoon (by the angriest barber ever in the hairiest barber shop ever) and the tux shirt I finally purchased for my wedding, but I got pretty sick. I'll post soon about the Wallabies/All Blacks game I went to on Saturday night, but I don't have the energy. But never fear, I will.

I'll also write about my experience going to Coles in search of more medicine. But right now, I want to survive this train ride home and then curl up on my coach for a little bit. Hopefully these chills go away. Dang this Aussie flu.

Starting to get a little sick...

Uh oh. Starting to feel sick. I suppose the first sign was last night when I was really, really tired at about 10pm. I went to bed early and woke up still tired. My legs started feeling sore, too. And I'm a little stuffy. Feeling like the flu... I suppose that makes sense. New country. New bacteria. And stuck in rooms working with a bunch of other people who are getting sick. Oh well. Glad I brought some cold & flu medicine with me. I learned from my previous experience living in another country that drugs can be hard to come by when you need them.

Tomorrow is the big match between the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks. I'm excited to watch my fourth rugby game since arriving Down Under and the first in person at a stadium. Should be awesome.

Thursday shows and tuna

It's Thursday! And you know what that means. Yep, Star Trek Deep Space Nine on channel 11. Oh boy... I didn't know people watched this show. But I do enjoy turning on the TV when I get home. You learn a lot by seeing the various ads and shows. And now there are starting to be political ads. The election is in the beginning of September and apparently you only campaign for 4 weeks in Australia. Here's a funny Daily Show clip that my sister sent me regarding the Australian election.

And I know I've posted pictures of canned tuna, but I was at Coles yesterday and I stopped to look at all the flavors. Enjoy

I really have no desire to try ANY of these. But when else would I get to have sweetcorn & mayonnaise flavored tuna...?

Hahndorf, South Australia

I just got invited to a wedding! My wedding, that is. Michelle had an invite sent to me. The only mail I've received so far... *ahem* hint hint family.

 

I think the invitations turned out great! Glad I got to see one. Only odd thing is it was mailed (posted) to the office here, and the admin apparently felt it was necessary to open a pretty blatantly personal letter.

 

Time to wrap up the Adelaide trip then wrap up a little bit more work.

 

About an hour bus ride south/southeast of Adelaide is a little German town called Hahndorf. Back in the 1800s, Germans escaping religious persecution sailed all the way from Europe to Adelaide. A bunch of them (I believe led by a guy named Hahn, if I recall the quick little museum we ducked into) started the town of Hahndorf. Unfortunately, during WWI (and I'm assuming WWII?) Germans were kind of persecuted in this area and many Angloized their names.

 

Nowadays, it's a cute town with German shops, food, etc. A little touristy, but worth a quick visit. Also in the area is Adelaide Hills, a wine region known for its white wines. However, we didn't get a chance to go there.

 

Below are some of the shops that we stepped into. My dad would have died if he was here. Lots of tasty candy stores (oddly enough, you weren't allowed to take photos in a lot of these stores. But I risk it all for my dear readers' enjoyment).

 

Worth noting, some things we call candy are called lollies in Australia. What we call lollies or lolly pops are just called lolly pops here.

Lots of black licorice

And what German town would be complete without...

Cuckoo Clocks!

There were even some bath salt and candle shops.

The vibe in the town was also a little unique (besides the whole German thing). There was small psychic convention going on (and I do mean small, and kinda sad looking...), and we noticed more tattoos in this part of Australia than in Sydney. Here's a wall in one of the coffee shops we went to.

Cool, eh?

It was a fun town and I'm glad we were able to make time and stop over. Next trip is Melbourne in 2 weekends (pronounced Mel-bin, not Mel-born).

Barossa Valley

It took awhile, but finally got a chance to write up on my Barossa trip. I'll write about my Sunday trip to Hahndorf next (nothing too terribly exciting going on this week besides a lot of work).

Flew to Adelaide after work on Friday. I learned that on domestic flights, you can carry on as many darn liquids as you desire. This knowledge was handy on the flight back (ended up carrying on 3 bottles of wine). Also worth noting, my ID was never checked once I got to the airport. To print a boarding pass at one of those self-serving kiosks, you just need a name and destination...

Worth noting, Adelaide (maybe all of the State of South Australia?) is 30 minutes behind Sydney. That seems a bit, um, different, no?

We checked into the hostel around 11pm then decided to walk around a little bit. We found this cool Spanish bar that was playing some fun music and served Estrella Damm! The beer I often had in Barcelona.

Takes me back

They even served Mahou, a Madrid beer. Cool place.

Anyway, with an early tour in the morning, we headed back to the hostel. There were a total of 4 of us in the room. There was this other couple and when we turned off the lights, well, let's just say I heard some funny noises.... Why do I keep staying at hostels?

ANYway, next morning we checked out this market for breakfast. I wanted to make sure I had a full meal before our tour that kicked off at 9am.

At 9am we met up with Scott. He drove us around in his car to a total of 5 wineries (or cellar doors as they call them. Well, cellar doors are where you do tastings. Wineries are just places that make wine). If you're ever in Barossa and looking to do a tour, I highly recommend this guy. A little more expensive, but he has great knowledge, connections, and we often got discounts (such as being charged the "club member" price for a bottle of wine).

The area is beautiful. Barossa is about an hour drive outside of Adelaide.

The place was settled in the early 1800s. It's in a valley and has comparable climate to Napa and Sonoma. Ideal for wine producing. The most widely grown grape is the Shiraz (it's the same grape as a Syrah but called a Shiraz in Australia and South Africa). However, the wines produced in its early history were fortified wines. I'm not a big fan of dessert wines or this style, but I quickly learned that EVERY place had one. So I ended up trying a lot. Still not a huge fan, but fun to try. I also think I finally learned the difference between a tawny and a fortified wine/port (although apparently these names can be interchangeable or different, depending on where in the world you are). A tawny is aged in barrels, can be mixed with wine that has been aged 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, etc. And, a key point, it has been slowly exposed to air, oxidizing it. Oxygen is typically bad for wine (and beer, too), which is why you should finish a bottle soon after opening. However, with tawnys (tawnies? tawyn wines? whatever), you don't have to because it is already oxidized (giving it a golden brown color). Ports, on the other hand, aren't oxidized. And when the say fortified, that means alcohol (maybe a bourbon or just a clear alcohol) is added before fermenting is done. Yeast eats sugar, but by adding the alcohol before the fermenting is done, you kill the yeast before it eats all the sugar, giving the wine the sweet taste.

OK. On to the tastings. First stop was Ross Estate (although it was recently purchased and is undergoing a name change that other wineries were making fun of. Named after the goddess of the sun, or something like that). It should be noted that none of these places charged a tasting fee. And also unlike Napa or Sonoma Valley in California, you don't get just 4 or 5 tasting. Heck no. We probably had between 8 - 10 (at least) different wines (that includes ports) at each place. Check out all of these we had (and this photo is not all inclusive):

Not pictured: sweet Riesling, tawny...

About halfway through our tasting, we got a mini tour of the place.

It seems like they use American oak more than wineries in Napa. My theory is that American oak (as opposed to French oak) is also exotic to Australia. And yes, there is a difference. American oak is more porous than French oak. This has some impact on the taste and aging. You can (maybe) see the American oak barrels above. There are just a couple. They have orange rings on the bottom.



Starting from bottom left barrel, go 5 bottom barrels over

I ended up getting an old vine Grenache at this place (vine is around 100 years old). Really smokey and unique. I almost got a GSM (Grenache, Shiraz, and Mourvedre blend), but liked the Grenache a little better. GSMs are also a popular wine in Barossa (although, dangit, didn't end up getting one).

The next stock was Rockford. Good wines, but not on par with the rest of the wineries that were all exceptional.

 

 

I ended up getting a Shiraz (50.5%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (49.5%) blend. It was a cool looking winery

Super old barrels. Yep. Still using them. For tawny wine

 

After this it was lunch time. We went to Saltram where, for $15 each (Scott's discount), we got this massive spread of tasty dips, plus 2 9" inch pizzas, order of fries, and a salad. It was a stupid amount of food. The leftovers served as dinner that night.

 

Mmmm... pate

 

The wines at this place were, of course, also amazing. Seemed more focused on the traditional Shiraz. I ended up with a bottle of the Shiraz Tempranillo blend. Nice and peppery and spicy.

 

The next place was Tsharke. It's pronounced "sharkie" and Scott kept saying we were "going to sharkies next." Which I was confused by (Sharkies, coincidentally, is the same name as a dive bar in Sydney I've been to with co-workers). However, I finally realized that this must be the place on the itinerary that started with a "T."

 

 

This was the most unique winery. I guess it's run by a young guy and his wife who are experimenting with different grapes that aren't traditionally considered to be Barossa grapes. The guy is also apparently good at everything. He is a metal worker who made that sign, lights inside, etc. She made the pitchers, stain glass windows, etc. Power couple right there.

 

Fabulous wines (which, at this point in the day, I probably said about a million times. Poor tour guide...). I purchased a bottle of a Tourgia wine. It's a red wine made from Touriga Nacional grapes. It's a Portuguese grape that I'd never heard of before. Think cinnamon for taste. The pourer also said marzipan, but because I have no idea what marzipan tastes like, I'll have to take her word for it. I also purchased my one non-red wine, a Savagnin frizzante. I guess it doesn't have quite enough bubbles to be a sparkling wine. A refreshing wine that I look forward to enjoying on a hot summer day (which I guess I'll have to wait another year by the time I get back...?).

 

Our final stop was Langmeil. Their claim to fame is the oldest (believed) Shiraz vines in the world. We're talking 170 years here.

 

The "Freedom" one on the left is from the 170 year old vines

The first thing we tried was a sparkling Shiraz. More interesting than amazing to taste. This was followed up by various other Shiraz wines, had a Cabernet Sauvignon, tawny and fortified wine, and, of course, the 170 year old wine (well, the vines are that old, not the wine itself). It was an awesome wine (like many of the others at this place) although, no, I didn't end up purchasing it. It was $100+ a bottle, I believe. I ended up getting the 2011 Shiraz (from just "normal" vines).

 

If you want to know what 170 year old vines look like, look no further. Just like trees, these bad boys get bigger and bigger each year.

 

 

No. I'm not #teoing. I'm resting my arm on a wire. Could have posed better...

And thus ended a full day of wine tasting. Got back to Adelaide around 5:30 or so. I told Scott at Langmeil that Barossa is the one thing I've experienced that has convinced me to come back to Australia (not to say other places here weren't awesome). There's a lot of world out there to "repeat" a country to visit, but Barossa was just amazing. I gotta come back. And I'm really excited to share the 6 bottles of wine I purchased once I return to the States. And yes, I successfully got all 6 bottles back with me to Sydney. Thankfully, I got some boxes from a couple of the wineries. Whew.

 

Interesting fact: Most Australian wines are screw tops, not corked. The main reason is economics. It apparently saves a LOT of money. To me, it seems to make sense. I'm sure the technology on a screw off top is just as good (if not better) than a cork. Plus, you can screw it back on? I suppose some of the romance is lost, but pssh... I'd like to see more screw tops in the US. Similarly, I don't understand why craft beer bottles don't have screw off tops. Seems so much handier to be able to just twist than need to pry off a cap. Of course, why aren't more craft beers in cans rather than bottles? Blocks out all light and is lighter to transport and oh dear, waaay off topic here.