A Concert and a Boat Ride

We had a very memorable weekend this past weekend, all courtesy of our friend Lars (thanks again man!). On Friday night we went to an amazing concert at the Enmore theatre in Sydney where one of our favorite musicians performed. Tracy introduced me to this Irish band when we were first dating, and they are here with his entire band on an Australia tour. I have a particular fondness for their music since we listened to their CD on a long road trip from London to Cornwall on one of our first trips together. The concert was fantastic, the music soulful, and the vibe in the concert hall great. On Saturday, we went out on Lars' boat for a trip around the harbour with some guests of honour -- the band from the night before! We visited all the Sydney highlights (including a visit from the coffee boat -- a guy that comes up to your boat in the harbour and makes you an espresso while you wait), had lunch at the Fish Market, took a nice swim in a cove in the harbour, and finished off the day with dinner at Lars' house. All the folks from the band were amazingly nice and down to earth, and we really had a great time hanging out with them. We have some pictures, but didn't want to post them or mention the band's name so they are not found by the all-knowing Google out of respect for their privacy. If you know us and want to see just ask.

Shalom In The Office

Do you recognize this man? The famous TV Rabbi? Tracy spent the day with him in Sydney, helping get the word out about his TV show with the local media. Its a reality show in which the Rabbi helps troubled families reconnect with each other and their kids, and gives great advice on how to be good husbands, wives, and families. He has been on Oprah several times with families from the show. We both saw him speak at a local temple -- he's a great public speaker -- funny, engaging, and with a message that resonated with both of us. Things to remember for us and particularly when we have kids. He's got some books which have been very favorably reviewed that we'll have to take a look at.

The Meeting of the Queens

Queen Mary 2

Today in Sydney a very rare occurrence happened on the beautiful harbour. The Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth 2 sailed in to the same place for the first time in 65 years. Well the QM2 is brand new and on its maiden voyage around the world but it is the first time the QM and QE of any kind had a face-to-face meeting.

All of Sydney came down to the water to see them both together and it was pretty amazing to see these huge ships in all their glory. They had fireworks this evening to celebrate and traffic pretty much stopped all over the city. Carl and I went down to the Domain after work to check them both out and if you click on the picture you can see how massive these boats are up close. Enjoy!

Vroom Vroom

American Chopper Press Conference - Discovery

Click on the shiny chopper to the left to see a few photos from the press conference we managed for the guys from American Chopper. They are here in Australia for three weeks filming for their show on Discovery Channel. It was a great day with a beautiful location and best of all we got some great press hits and TV stories from the day. I also got to meet the Tetuels and despite their crazy outbursts on the show, they are pretty cool guys!

Cupid’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

Today is a special day for me and Carl because we were engaged two years ago on the 14th – oh so cute. ;-)

I spent last night making chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting – yummy! It is an American recipe and you should have seen me trying to figure out all the conversions to grams. They turned out okay and I brought them in to work for my Aussies co-workers to enjoy. I think we may have mentioned that I started a job a few weeks back working for a small PR firm managing publicity for Discovery Channel and Animal Planet in Australia and New Zealand. Tomorrow (Feb. 15th) we are putting on a big press conference with the guys from the show American Chopper. If you have seen the show on Discovery (just moved to the TLC channel in the states) you will know how crazy these guys are so it should be a lot of fun. I will have my camera in hand and hope to get a few pictures of them in front of the Opera House.

Have a great V-day!

Sunday at the Zoo

Sunday at the Zoo

Just a few photos from our weekend adventures at the zoo. My friend Stephanie came to visit on Saturday from Zurich, and we had a nice breakfast on Bondi Beach before sending her off for her first surfing lesson up in Manly. On Sunday, Tracy and I went to the Taronga Zoo, which in addition to having a great collection of animals has some of the best views of the Sydney skyline and harbour. It was kind of shadowy, and the pictures don't really capture the majesty of some of these animals, but we got a few good shots. We happened to be around for the feeding of the lions and tigers which was pretty awesome -- there are quite a lot of pictures of this, but we left them all in for effect. Click on the giraffe to see the album. Hope you are all doing well!

Australia Day & The Google Flyover

Australia Day 2007

Australia Day is kind of like the US July 4th, but in Sydney, the place to be is out in the Harbour. We went out on our friend Lars' boat to enjoy the sun, and also to partake in a Google event -- Google hired a plane to take high-res pictures of the harbour on Australia Day, and we wanted to particpate. We got some big foam Google letters and layed them out on his boat so we'll be a permanent part of Google Maps when these pictures are live. Click to see lots of nice pictures of all the decorated boats and the harbour alive with Australia pride.

Peter and Chantal's New House

Peter and Chantal's New House

We're getting caught up on old photos here -- before we left for our honeymoon, we stopped by to celebrate the closing of our friends new house in Tamarama. They bought a great house with beautiful views of the beach and are going to do some extensive remodeling so we get to live vicariously through their plans. We're so excited for them!

Bora Bora Baby

Bora Bora 2007

Hey there, sorry for the lack of updates on the blog of late -- its been a busy two weeks. We got back from Bora Bora on the 20th (click to see our pictures) and have dived into our life in Sydney. We had a great time in Bora Bora, very relaxing and so beautiful. Unfortunately I've been kind of sick with a cold, and then just a few days ago fell and hurt my ankle pretty badly, so we've been preoccupied (but don't worry, I'll be fine). We're going to try to get back on the blogging bandwagon and get some new pictures up this weekend from the last two weeks (including Australia Day), but as you can see we're somewhat behind.

In other news, Tracy started her new job doing Public Relations for the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet through a local PR firm here called EckFactor. She is one of five people there so it has a nice small feel like her Westbourne firm. She's having a great time.

Anyhow, wanted to get these pictures up from the honeymoon -- more soon.