Anzac Day

This past Wednesday 25 April was Anzac Day, commemorating the Australian and New Zealand troops that fought at Gallipoli in World War 1. We had the holiday off and celebrated at work the day before with Anzac Biscuits and a moment of silence. The story behind the biscuits (as told to me by my coworkers) is that the soldiers needed something with sustenance that wouldn't perish while in the trenches at Gallipoli. They are very hearty and made basically out of oatmeal and gold syrup (like mollasses). 

Also, the ones we ate were the size of my face. Delicious!

On Anzac Day, I went to the Taronga Zoo with Nancy, Whitney and Christina - with free tickets woop woop! As some of you may know, I love animals and specially ZOOBORNS! Didn't see many babies at this zoo, but there were tons of cute animals. 

My first koalas!

Loved the giraffes and view of the city in the background.

Friends!

Some kind of mountain goat, high on his perch.

Sleeping little mountain goat, so cute.

Fennec Fox, the smallest fox in the world.

Tigers were another favorite. I have a ton of photos, but most are blurry because these guys were moving all over the place.

Lions.

Tasmanian devil! Not quite as ferocious as I expected.

KANGAS!

Wallaby.

Don't worry, this Kangaroo isn't dead, just sleeping.

Cool flowers.

A spider for Kyle.

Picnic at the zoo.

With my stone platypus friend.

Nancy and I were trawling around the zoo looking for water (we were dying of thirst) and came upon this giant leaf. Notice the empty water bottle.

Red pandas - these little guys were the cutest.

Pop quiz. Is there an animal in this photo?

After the zoo, we came back into the city and went to get gelato at our favorite spot, Messina. Next door, Messina has a little bakery were they make goodies out of gelato and into fun shapes like these.

Next, we went to Govinda's, which is an Indian buffet and movie place. We stuffed our faces with food and then saw 21 Jump Street - all for $30! Not bad at all considering movie tickets are about $20 each here. The buffet included a cheesy pasta dish...not sure that was an Indian dish...but was also delicious.

Mango Lassi, yum!

Tourist Time

This past weekend, Nancy and I met up for some touristy activities in Sydney. First, we went around to churches and a synagogue to view some beautiful religious architecture. We were a bit unlucky - I rudely got in trouble for taking pictures in St. Mary's so we rushed out of there, St. James had a wedding so we couldn't tour around, the Great Synagogue was closed and St. Andrew's was closed. Gah!

Here are some photos of St. Mary's. I've posted a couple previously, but these are new :)

These following pics weren't even worth getting in trouble for!

Here's the gates of the CLOSED Great Synagogue. 

This is the outside of St. Andrew's, but the light was all funny so these kind of suck.

Then, Nancy took me to Queen Victoria Building (QVB), which is a beautiful old structure that is now a very nice shopping centre. She made sure to take me to the nice ladies bathroom here, but I neglected taking photos. It was beautiful, though, just like the rest of the building. 

Nancy then took me to this cheap, delicious crepe place by the Townhall train station. I got a peanut butter crepe and she got coconut butter. These were a perfect snack after traipsing over the city looking for religion. The best part was the last bite, which was soft crepe and filled with the peanut (or coconut) butter that dripped down to the bottom. YUM!

Then, we walked over to Chinatown, where we got 30 cent 'emperor puffs,' which are creme puffs. We ate these too fast for me to get a photo. 

In Chinatown is Paddy's Market, which is a huge warehouse filled with everything you need. Part of it is a section with retail items like bags, clothes, hats, sunglasses, etc. and another section with vegetables, fruits, meat and seafood. Everything is really well priced and you can bargain, too. Bargaining is actually expected and encouraged.  

Giant sweet potatoes.

Nancy said I should put my hand by it to show the size difference, but this looks kind of creepy!

Purple sweet potatoes. Really purple with white on the inside - these photos don't quite capture it.

No flash.

Flash.

And some other fun items. I got a big bag of grapes for $2. Holler!

Definitely plan to go back to Paddy's to get fruits and veggies sometime soon! 

A few weeks ago, Nance, Whitney and I went to Centennial Park, where we saw some black swans. I forgot to post these photos, but wanted to make sure I did, because they are such beautiful birds.