It's Spring Time!!!

I know summer is winding down for all of you, but we are getting excited because it is getting closer to spring time.  We can hold off on the really warm weather for awhile because we don't have air conditioning here.  So it's going to be hot and humid this summer.  Thank goodness I have straight hair and not hair like Monica from Friends.  No fro here and I won't be getting braids in my hair with seashells haha!!

Overall the weather is pretty good right now.  Warms up in the daytime and if you are out walking in the sunshine it feels hot, but once in the shade you can get the chills.  At night it hasn't been too cold, but enough to make you put a warm jacket on.

Apparently there are cherry trees here and there were notices on Facebook that the blossoms were in full bloom.  So yesterday, I met up with Aram in Auburn and we walk to the Auburn Botanic Gardens.  It was a cloudless day and after walking for about 25-30 mins, I realized that I need to pack sunblock with me all the time.  Google maps took us on a walking trail next to the Duck River.  Initially, I thought it was pretty and peaceful until these signs showed up.

I'm terrified of snakes.  I can't even stand to see them in Harry Potter movies.  So seeing this, I wanted to pick up the pace and get away from there. Finally we made it to the Botanic Gardens.  It was way busier than I expected and for the most part it was all Asian people.

Entrance when you first walk in

It was really pretty to see the Cherry Blossoms.  It was a little crazy because it was like an Asian photoshoot.  There were ladies dressed up that would side in between trees or down by the water and pose for a photo.  I halfway wanted to see one of them get stuck by a bee because they all over these trees lol.

So also here there was a Fauna Reserve that had wallabies, kangaroos, wombats and emus there.  That was cool to see to.

Always napping

Not sure if it an albino wallaby

Kangaroos

Some birds with their babies

Australians also are super picky on their coffee, so we found this little truck with espresso machine in the back.  I will give it to them, they do know their coffee here and probably once we are back in the States, I'm going to be missing good coffee.

Overall a fun day and it's nice being outside in good weather.  Miss everyone back home!  

Cheers,

Ann & Aram

Kombucha

So I love Kombucha.  I'd rather drink kombucha than a beer for the most part.  Brooks and I ended up going to a Kombucha making class.  We are going to brew it at home! Most of you are probably wondering what in the heck kombucha is.  So here's your history lesson.

Kombucha is a fermented, lightly sweetened black or green tea that has gone through a fermenting process. The fermentation is done by using a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast).  This is what a scoby looks like.

This is the process of making kombucha.  "The process of preparing kombucha can vary but generally involves a double fermentation process wherein a scoby is placed in a sweetened tea mixture and is left to ferment at room temperature for 1-3 weeks.  It is then bottles for 1-2 weeks to retain released CO2 and encourage carbonation.  From there, the bottle kombucha is places in a refrigerated environment to slow down the carbonation and fermentation process." Here is a link to a Forbes article with the history, etc.

Should be simple right?!?

We all got a scoby to take home

Fresh fruit our instructor brought

Best wild raspberries ever.  Apparently they produce fruit 3-4 times a year.
 It's winter time here and look how good this are.

Pretty layout for class.

Samples of kombucha.

 Brooks and I just put our kombucha starter kit in bigger containers.  So fingers crossed it all works out.  I'll give you an update in 1-3 weeks and let you know how it turned out!

A Week Out of the City

Aram and I wanted to get out of the city for awhile.  Sometimes we don't realize that we live in the heart of Sydney.  We can literally go out in the front or backyard and look to the west and see skyscrapers right there.  While it's great to be able to get to public transport easily, it can get to be a little much because there are always people around. We got there Monday evening and found our Air BnB, dropped off our bags and then headed to go grocery shopping.  Made dinner that night and crashed.  Next morning we had breakfast at home and then decided to go to the beach.  Ended up down by Hunter River in order to catch the ferry across the river.  There were massive ships coming into port.

Being brought in via 3 tug boats

We ended up at a beach that was massive and had vast quantities of seashells. We spent some time looking for cool seashells.  Aram was brave enough to go swimming.  I stayed on shore and read a book. There were maybe 10 people at the beach.  So it was pretty quiet.

Man fishing with 2 poles, sitting back with a cooler and his dog--reminded me of Jim

It was pretty nice not having anything plans set in stone because we could just come and go as we pleased.  We ate dinner at home each night.

Another day was spent at the beach.  The waves were insane there and lots of surfers.  Aram thought people were probably taking the day off of work to surf because there were so many out there in the middle of the day.

Looking towards the North

 We ended up going to the Merewether Ocean Baths.  Had two of the largest ocean baths I've seen in Australia so far.  It states it is one the largest ocean swimming complexes in the Southern Hemisphere, but we find they say that a lot because there aren't really any other countries to compete with haha.

Can't forget the sunscreen! Thinner ozone layer means quicker sunburn.

We tried out a brewery one day.  Best sign I've seen so far.  Also had a beer with less ABV for Dads with Prams.

We to the Blackout Reserve as well one day.  It is 182 hectares of natural bushland.  There are walking trails all over as well as the animal exhibits.   It is a Eucalyptus Forest and there is lots of vegetation.  There is also a restored rainforest there. Here are the pics from our experience.

Four koalas just sleeping the day away

Woke up just long enough to change positions

Peacocks just wandering around

Aram and the emu

We have these birds in our neighborhood 

Wombat that we thought was a statue initially

Tons of kangaroos 

Wallaby---these guys can book it when they get going

Well that's all the photos I took on this trip.  It was a nice break before Aram had to go back to school.  

Cheers!  

Ann & Aram