Carnaval in the Hunter

We recently had our annual office-wide company offsite. Last year, you'll recall, it was spent skiing down south. This year, the venue would be the Hunter Valley, one of my favorite places in Australia outside of Sydney. 3 days and 2 nights spent in the wine region, with a ton of fun in store for all. The morning we left was also the morning of the dust storm - and the dust was apparently worse up north in the Hunter.

Vonnie and Fadhila - notice how everyone is

wearing the same hat. One of the many pieces

of sweet swag we got as a result of the Carnaval

theme.

I dunno, I think it's a good look for me...

While there was a portion of the offsite dedicated to actual work stuff, there were ample opportunities to have a bit of fun. For example, my team had not spent our quarterly offsite budget yet, so we decided to go horseback riding. It was quite stunning - the sun was shining, the wind blowing the tall grass, magpies swooped out of the sky to attack your head. Really magical.

Me and Rusty, who was generally well-behaved,

but who made a really dramatic scene when

walking downhill with me on his back.

While we waited for the one taxi in the Hunter

Valley to come pick us up, we entertained

ourselves with a few of the animals hanging around.

Anna, pictured here with Buddy, the happiest

little pooch you've ever seen.

There was also a very affectionate cat, who at

one point disappeared into a bag of sawdust

only to emerge completely covered in it.

The first evening there we had a fantastic pub quiz competition with 300 people, hosted by Lincoln, who dressed up as a bogan (the Aussie equivalent of a redneck). There really isn't a huge difference between the two - mullet, cut-off shorts, plaid sleeveless t-shirt. He was an awesome host, and the evening was great - mensa problems, balloon animal making, and my personal favorite, movie quotes (destroyed it). After an evening of drinking and dancing, most of us retired to bed to prepare for the next day.

After the work festivities were over the following day, and we had gone horseback riding, we all began to change into our costumes for the evening, which would bring the offsite's biggest party. Even better, it would be themed after Brazilian Carnaval, and everyone was encouraged to dress up. In my 4-and-a-half years, it was probably the best Google party I had ever attended. There were food stalls set up with Mexican, Indian, Asian, and American food (I think I had 4 massive tacos), and the mood was set with tiki torches burning in the darkness. Then, the party kicked off.

Out of the darkness emerged a massive Brazilian

percussion band, which immediately got

everyone dancing.

We also had dancers.

Bora and me - she was the only one who knew

that my mask was from Venetian Carnaval and

not Brazil. Curses!

At one point, the entertainment turned to

Capoeira dancers.

Fadhila and me - I wish I could say that the soft

filter was an artistic choice, but I'm fairly

certain I just touched the lens after eating my

tacos.

Fadhila post-lens-cleaning, with the

maracas we got as another part of

our swag.

The footballers, before things got rowdy.

Ashleigh and Joe, mid-meal.

Hooray for matching costumes!

The Golden Girls.

Jasper - part Brazilian, part Jamaican - and

Joel / Zorro.

The party rages on outside on the patio - which

was sadly right outside of some other guests'

rooms. They picked a bad week to come, I guess.

Verne, dressed up as...I really don't know.

Me and Victoria. I've discovered that the

amount of alcohol I consume is directly

proportional to the likelihood of me

making Magnum / Blue Steel / Le Tigre /

Ferrari faces in pictures.

Alan, our Engineering Site Director, maraca-ing

things up.

Isa and Roger. Little-known fact: Under the right

circumstances, a maraca can actually substitute

as a microphone.

Adam and Lu. Not shown: Lu's small shaker of

glitter, which she went around shaking on everyone.

I was still finding glitter in my hair several days

later.

What has been seen cannot be unseen - this is

one of the most disturbing photos of the evening.

Ashleigh and me...and my gills. My secret is out:

I am part mer-man.

The evening progressed (mostly) without incident, and eventually the party moved inside and continued into the wee hours of the morning. The following day, we had one last fun activity planned.

The following morning - guess who can't

take serious photos?

Ok ok ok, I'll give you one seri-DANGIT YOU

GUYS.

For our fun activity we did a wine blending and

cooking class. What better way to spend a day

after a party than drinking wine in the hot

sun at 10 in the morning?

Mark, apparently immune to or still recovering

from the night before. We only had one rule

at our table when it came to wine: if you spit

or tip, you leave the table.

After tasting several wines, we were then given

a mystery blend bottle and had to mix the

proper proportions of each wine to match

the bottle. Jon and Joe took it very seriously,

and in the end, we were SO close...

We then had to create our own blend, complete

with bottle label. Ours was named after the

blending process, which I developed. It was

mixed in the measuring beaker by capping one's

hand over the end and shaking vigorously.

Chateau du Paume en Sueur will be hitting

shelves near you soon.

Laura demonstrates our unique blending process.

Because our grill was not working, the chef actually

cooked ours for us. Mark wanted everyone to

think otherwise though.

We enjoyed a fantastic meal in the sun. Watch

Mark closely - his steady decline has been

cataloged for later viewing.

Not looking so good...

His last living photo - lots of red wine + scorching

Aussie morning sun = not a good idea.

Anna relaxing before we all took the long bus

ride home. In the Hunter, beer glasses come

in '512-ounce Big Swig' sizes.

Isa - the event organizer, still alive after

very little sleep.

We boarded the buses to head home, arriving back into Sydney just in time for rush hour, making our return journey time around 3 hours. The good news is that I slept through most of it.

A Day in the Vines

Last weekend, I went with my friend Bree to the Hunter Valley (again), since I had been a bad friend and missed her birthday while I was home. Every time I go up there it just gets better and better. We set off at half past 8 in the morning, and for whatever reason, someone had set the nav system in the rental car to the 'go through every toll road possible' setting. Bollocks.

Anyway, the drive up there was beautiful - we couldn't have asked for nicer weather that day. Traffic was nearly nonexistant (as it usually is once you leave Sydney proper), and we made great time. Arriving at around 11, we headed to a few wineries before lunch - Pepper Tree, Blueberry Hill, and one other that I can't recall (we visited 8 wineries during the course of the day - I'm bound to not remember at least one). Oh wait - I just remembered. It was Tatler. Sweet.

Bree in front of our first winery of the day,

Pepper Tree.

Here we see Bree demonstrating the Vim Chatto,

the dance craze that is sweeping a very small

subsection of the nation.

This dog was laying in the path at Tatler, staring

at me. When I walked over to it, it rolled over

and just lay there like this. I naturally provided

belly scratches.

We went to lunch at this place I had been meaning to try called Leaves and Fishes. It looked like a small rustic cabin from the outside, but inside it had beautiful decorations with a sort of quirky touch to it. Half the tables were out on an enclosed patio area. The food was superb.

Entrees - a bread plate with oil and vinegar,

dukkah (spices), and feta with olive oil, and an

iceberg salad with cheese and rocket.

Massive plates of fush and chups. They

were a tempura-battered slice of heaven.

Me conveying my level of fullness after lunch.

After a leisurely lunch, and stuffing ourselves with delicious food, we headed off to some other wineries in the afternoon. Ernest Hill was next, followed by Iron Gate. The latter was by far my favorite winery of the day, and I had to refrain from buying everything that we tasted (I ended up leaving with 3 bottles, out of my total of 9 for the day). Iron Gate was started by a gentleman named Roger who was originally from England. Despite every person we met that day being exceedingly nice, he stood out as being even nicer. I'll definitely be back.

As a side note, Bree (who lived in England for quite some time), asked an Aussie earlier that day if he was British (he wasn't), but couldn't place Roger's accent either. Go figure - heh heh.

Standing in front of the vines at Iron Gate.

I sersiously had to stand like this for 30 seconds

while one of the winery workers took the picture.

The massive hamstring cramp set in at about 8

seconds.

Bon Jovi fan?

We swung by a few other wineries as the afternoon moved toward dusk - Drayton's, McLeish, Audrey Wilkinson, and I believe one more. Audrey Wilkinson was the last for the day, and we had about an hour and a half to kill before dinner.

One of the best views in the Hunter, taken from

Audrey Wilkinson.

The sky turned into a rainbow of colors

as the sun set in the evening.

It started to get a bit breezy and chilly as the sun

went down. My kinda weather.

We got to watch the lights in the houses turn

on as the sun went down, and both agreed

that it would be nice to have a holiday home

out here as an option.

Eventually it was time for dinner, and we drove across to Mojo's on Wilderness, where I had gone the previous visit with my parents. It's another one of the really stellar restaurants in the Hunter, not because of its extravagance, but just because the food, service, and ambiance are on a whole other level compared to most places. My entree was a flaky chicken and mushroom pastry with white truffle oil (I love the smell of truffles). My main was mouth-watering: steak wrapped in bacon. *drooooool* Unlike last time, I managed to save room for dessert - the pear tart I had mentioned in the previous post. It was spectacular.

Stuffed to the brim and tired, we made our way back to Sydney, hitting a couple more toll roads along the way. As a side note, the previous times I have gone, I haven't had to pay a single toll. Ah well. It was such an enjoyable day, that not even $12 worth of tolls could bring me down. Can't wait to go back again.

Parents Stop By

A couple of months ago (yes, I'm a bit behind), my parents stopped over as part of a 'visit their sons in the southern hemisphere' tour. Shortly before coming down under, they had gone to visit my brother in Brazil, who - consequently - has been working at an orphanage deep in the jungle (literally), developing a nutritional plan, teaching English, and other such things.

I had a blast with them while they were here - they stayed at a hotel about a 5 minute walk from my place, so it was really easy to meet up with them. We packed in quite a few things while they were here.

The first weekend, we had a trip up to the Hunter Valley, one of Australia's major wine-growing regions. I had been there before, and it's just beautiful, so I wanted to take my parents up there as well. It was a gorgeous day, with a really strong wind, and just a great way to unwind. Did I mention that wine-tasting in Australia is free? As a result, you basically drive up from Sydney in the morning (under 2-hour drive), start tasting at 10:30 / 11, and just hit as many wineries as you can before 5 when most of them start closing. It's rarely very crowded, and the people are just incredibly personable.

One of the many spectacular views of the

Hunter Valley. This one is one of my favorites,

from the Audrey Wilkinson winery, one of the

oldest in the area.

Every time I go to the Hunter, I find more and more wine that I like. I'm not sure if it's that my palate adjusting to Aussie wines, or if I just happen to be stumbling upon more and more wineries that make great wine. Case in point - last time I came home with only 3 bottles; this time, I brought home six. The Hunter region is well-known for their Semillon varietal (a dry, fruity white wine). I've made a serious effort to try it each time I go, and just can't get myself to like it. I've found it just dies too quickly in the mouth. Fortunately there are dozens of different varietals grown in the Hunter, so we had options.

We fit in a couple of wineries before lunch, before making our way to The Verandah Restaurant. Like most places in the Hunter, it was in the middle of a beautiful green field surrounded by vines. We sat out on - you guessed it - the veranda, and enjoyed a series of tapas.

This was Hannah, one of the dogs running around

the property during lunch. Apparently she doesn't

like having her picture taken.

Mom sits under a tree with Hannah after playing

a bit of fetch.

We managed to stop by 4 or 5 more wineries after lunch, including one that specialized in Port and other fortified wines. I had never had much exposure to Port in the past, but I've found that I absolutely love it (probably thanks in part to my ridiculous sweet tooth).

With most of the wineries closing by 5:15 or so, we had some time to kill before dinner reservations at 6:30. We used the opportunity to cruise around some of the outer roads of the Hunter, as well as some of the inner ones that didn't really lead anywhere. That's when we discovered one of the many things that makes this amazing country unlike any other.

A large herd of at least a dozen kangaroos (which

is called a mob, a herd, or a troop) were sitting on

the side of the road. We slowed down and they

started hopping one by one across the street.

Here is another group sitting on the side of the road.

Just before dinner, we caught an amazing sunset.

This really is a beautiful place.

Dinner was at a place called Mojo's on Wilderness. It was small, intimate, and warm - really one of the best little restaurants I've found since moving here. Dinner was fantastic, and I actually didn't have room for dessert at the end (I know - I'll give you a moment to collect yourselves). At that point, I was very nearly rolling out the door. I made a mental note to come back, because the service was stellar, and the food was to die for (which would have happened, had I tried to cram down the caramelized pear tart tatin with ice cream and rum butterscotch sauce).

A few days later, we went out to dinner at a place over in Watsons Bay back in Sydney for dinner. The restaurant was called Doyle's, and they're famous for their seafood, specifically their fish and chips. It was a very lovely dinner, and I found out after I had finished my heaping portion that since I got through it all, I could actually have a half-serving of fish and chips for free. I had really wished they had mentioned this at the beginning so I could have paced myself. Dinner was delicious, though.

The harbor at Watsons Bay. So many parts of

Australia remind me of Italy.

The view of the Sydney skyline from Watsons

Bay, the last bay of the harbor before you hit

ocean.

I love it when you can see the moon

as the sun is setting.

Fajah, Majah, and me just before dinner. No,

that's not a corduroy jacket I'm wearing - why

do you ask?

Doyle's by night.

We fit in many more meals while they were there, as well as a fantastic classical concert at the opera house. I've found that I absolutely adore classical music since moving here (I liked it before, but the prevalence of it has escalated that like to lust).

Naturally, I had to show them Featherdale while they were here as well - the wildlife park that I frequent so often. Here are a few pictures from that little venture.

Wallabies are unflinchingly cruel. This one

beat me up and stole my ice cream.

No, this image does not need to be rotated. This

furry little guy was just having an exceptionally

lazy day.

The most sinister-looking koala you

will ever meet.

A close-up of a kookaburra - one of my

favorite birds here. This one was not

in a laughing mood. Even my jokes

did not get him to crack a smile.

Disapproving owl disapproves.

A wombat - roughly the size of an ottoman, and

exceedingly chunky, they are putty in your

hands if you scratch their backs.

A black-necked stork. These guys stand about

5 feet tall. This was the last photo taken before

my unfortunate demise.

Just kidding. Here's an albino peahen

who has my haircut.

I believe this is a black kite, a large bird of prey.

It was really a treat to have my parents visit - we had some great times, ate some fantastic food, and I'm quite glad they made the time to swing by.