An Australian Holiday Downunder - Part Three

And finally the last chapter of my trip Downunder...

Wednesday, January 2, 2012

We woke up fairly early the next morning (a theme for this trip it seems!) and made our way to The Boathouse, apparently a very well-known, very tasty restaurant on the water.  I wish I could say that I made a bigger effort to eat new and different things but I just couldn't help myself.  LOVIN' THE TOAST.  I had te Avocado Toast with, you guessed it, avocado and crispy bacon on thin, seeded rye toast with cherry tomato salsa.  I also ordered it with a poached egg because honestly it's not Australian if you don't "put an egg on it."  The toast, and the breakfast beer, were the perfect brunch on a hot summer day.  Good start to my morning!

 

The second theme of my trip was stuffing my face since as soon as we finished brunch we headed to the grocery store to buy BBQ supplies.  We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the beach house, grilling up sausages and steak and drinking beers.  The end result was a pretty awesome spread that of course tasted ten times better because it was made with love... and grease.  The rest of the night resulting in debauchery with Earl the Flabongo, beers and an awesome playlist.

Thursday, January 3, 2012

Having spent the last two days AT THE BEACH I hadn't actually spent much time ON IT.  So today was officially heralded a "beach day."  Apparently to me this meant "go 15 minutes without sunscreen in n-ozone Australia" resulting in a full body burn that even 50+ sunscreen couldn't reverse.  Let's say it was a less pleasant ride back to downtown Sydney.  My only salve was the cool wind whipping my cheeks in Party Pants' top-down convertible.  At least I'm sunburnt in style.

 

With a full day at the cricket looming on the horizon we decided to take it easy back in Bondi Junction.  So we headed to the theater to see The Hobbit in 3-D while gobbling down some Guzman y Gomez burritos.  Amidst the previews was a PSA about a 24-year-old guy who had died of melanoma.  Okay, thank you for the warning but all I could think about as I slashed aloe all over my body in the theater was "um... too soon."

Friday, January 4, 2012

We were up at the crack of dawn for the cricket which I was pretty excited for now that I kind of get the game.  At Cricket NSW, there are a couple different areas to sit.  Our target was the Members Pavilion were the upper echelon of Sydney's elite gather to compare khakis and sip draft beers while watching the game from shaded seats.

At the entrance I was immediately stopped because my dress landed ONE INCH above my knees.  The old, angry woman manning the door was not about to let that slide and instead ushered us in the direction of the "Womens Pavilion"... really??!  I quickly assessed that the solution was certainly not to bow my head in defeat but instead to slouch as much as possible thus lowering the hem of my dress, covering my front crotch area with the largest hat available from amongst my group and to head directly for a male entrance attendant.  Worked. Like. A. Charm.  A mere glance and we were upstairs drinking in all our finery.

Okay fine, I freaked every time I went to the toilet concerned that the She Devil might catch me and throw me out but luckily the tyrant was nowhere to be seen.  All it would've taken was one cursory stroll through the "upper deck" as I soon realized I was the only female under 30 on that floor.  Definitely still a "man's" game but boy did I have fun!  After countless champagne and sunstroke we wandered as everyone had different afternoon activities.

 

Post cricket I as usual found myself back in Bondi Beach at Hurricanes for lunch with Captain Cous Cous.  It was good to have a chance to catch up with him as he was the only Croa-ustralian I hadn't seen much of.  The food was pretty good but nothing great so not really bothering with too much of a write-up on these one... although I did manage to order something other than toast!  Oh, and I had another one of those magic lemon lime bitter drinks.  Taking that recipe home for sure.  The Cap' also explained that you can order really good burgers from the to-go section of the restaurant for relatively cheap (like everywhere in Sydney this restaurant was stupid expensive).

The Cap was headed to meet up with his London lady, when I received a perfectly timed call from my friend, Doc, who turns out was flying into Sydney a day earlier than expected.  AWESOME!

I spent the next hour or so learning the Sydney bus system which probably would've been less challenging if I had cell service and thus Google Maps.  Instead I found myself getting off at the correct bus stop but with no idea how to get to Doc's actual apartment.  I ended up in a bar where an older gentleman and the younger bartender went to war to see who could answer my question first.  The gentleman appeared from the back of the bar with a massive book of the Yellow Pages (those aren't extinct??!) and the younger bartender of course opted for Google Maps (which I watched with thinly veiled jealousy).  The bartender of course won by a landslide and I continued on my merry way.

It was great to see Doc and his fancy-schmancy new apartment.  A landowner!  Congrats!  We spent the next few hours shooting the shit, catching up since our last meet-up in NYC.  All this chatting got us hungry but we were too lazy for a real restaurant so we opted for a juicy burger from Grill'd down the street.  Another early bedtime.  Man all New Yorkers should visit Sydney when in need of a real holiday.  I was feeling close to completely recouped!


Saturday, January 5, 2012

The next day was the closest I came to sleeping in, this time actually being able to call my first meal of the day "brunch" instead of "brekkie."  Doc had opted for this little place he really enjoyed up the street from his apartment but upon closer inspection it was closed for renovation.  We pushed on and were rewarded with an awesome little restaurant, Royal, featuring waitresses with flowers in their hair and fresh pressed juices touting colorful straws made from paper.  So organic!  In a bout of obstinacy I ordered the toast. haha. yup.  It was the best one I've had all trip, the biggest portion, and the CHEAPEST!!  This place was adorable, cheap and had such friendly service.  It was the perfect start to the day.

In an attempt to make this the most boring blog post ever, we returned to Bondi Beach, which ironically I had my first real beach day (all the other day were punctuated with day drinking, gale force winds and intense jonesing for burritos).  The weather couldn't have been more perfect and the water was the optimal temperature.  I could've spent all day on my back, the waves moving me to and fro, under a blazing blue sky.

After a delicious nap stretched out like lazy lions soaking up the sun, we meandered up to the bar, Bucket List.  This will forever be the site of my very first Pimms' Cup.  And by cup I mean one or two "jugs."  I desperately wanted a t-shirt but they are apparently for employees only.  Well clearly I know where I will be working should I ever make the move to Sydney.  I would have to say this is probably my favorite place in Sydney thus far.  There is something about sitting outside in the afternoon sun, staring out at a gorgeous beach, surrounded by hot Australians that really does something to a girl.  I could stay frozen in time here.

Photo Credit: Bucket List Website

But alas there comes a time to shed the sand-stained, heat-baked swimmers and class it up for an end-of-holiday fancy dinner.  Doc, always knowing the best places to go, landed us at The Winery, which is one of the most whimsical, beautiful outdoor restaurants I've ever seen.

 

 Above three photos credit of The Winery website

And the food was unbelievable.  Definitely the best meal of the trip.  We started with the toasted ciabatta, ash chevre, vine cherry tomatoes and olive paste.  Ash chevre is my favorite kind of cheese and the tomatoes were roasted and hot so they just exploded in your mouth.  It also either came with prosciutto or we ordered it extra but it was finely sliced and not too salty.  Could not have been a better start to the dinner.

We decided to share everything for purely selfish reasons (the more you share the more you get to try!).  So for entrees I started with the ocean trout with beetroot, fennel, goat’s cheese, grape tomatoes and saffron dressing and Doc tucked into the linguini pasta with grilled calamari, garlic, chilli oil, basil, green olives, and crumbs.  He literally had to wrestle the plate of trout away from me and is lucky he still has five fingers on his left hand.  The trout was perfectly flakey and the mixture of all the other ingredients just created this amalgam of flavors that covered the spectrum of soft, creamy, crunchy, spicy and salty.  A true treat to the tongue.  The linguini had a surprising kick to it which elevated the dish to something more than your standard grilled squid with lemon.

Last up was hazelnut ice cream with salted butterscotch and pineapple.  Doc called me out when I asked if we could get it without pineapple (I'm not a huge fan of pineapple) and it was nice because I realized hey, who knows, maybe the pineapple will make the dish!!  It didn't make the dish but it certainly didn't hurt what turned out to be a refreshing sweet ice cream with a shock of salty scotch to it.  The ultimate end to the ultimate holiday meal.  Add in a bottle of wine and I was finished.  I can die happy.

 

Sunday, January 6, 2012

My last day in Australia and I feel like there is so much I still want to do and see!  Probably because I've spent my whole time here at Bondi Beach.  So today I decided to play tourist with my friend who was randomly in town from Melbourne!  I've always wanted to go to Manly Beach so that became the task of the morning but not before I wandered the Botanical Gardens and got some amazing photos of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.  We hopped on the ferry to Manly which resulted in more awesome shots and spent the next 45 minutes catching up. 

By the time we got to Manly Beach I was STARVING.  Unfortunately, restaurants don't serve alcohol until after noon (yeah we wanted to get to it) so it was a beerless brekkie.  We ended up at Sugar Lounge right on the beach because I at least wanted a view!  The restaurant was uber hip with cozy thatched chairs and an open view of the ocean.  I finally switched it up opting for blueberry pancakes.  The large pancakes was WAY too much but they were soft and oozy with syrup.  Such a fat kid breakfast.  I could've sat at this place all day but the beach was calling me and the wifi didn't seem to work. 

 

We spent the next two hours wandering the little town which is very cute (outdoor flea market, surf shops, ice cream stands, etc) and lying around on the beach.  The ocean in Manly seems to be a little rougher than Bondi since the area to swim was tiny and filled with small children.  No thank you.

As early afternoon set in on us, we couldn't cook any more and one of my best friends from USC was finally back in town and I wanted to maximize time with her so we eventually headed out.  While I'm glad I saw Manly I have to say I prefer the stroller-bare streets of Bondi better.

Bear and Booker picked me up from Bondi Junction and we wandered down to the Cruising Yacht Club in Rush Cutter's Bay.  Yet another blissful outdoor patio surrounded by expansions of blue ocean.  Switching it up yet again (I know right?!) I ordered the fish n' chips because you can't say you were in Australia without ordering this at least once!  The fish was crispy on the outside and flaky on the inside and it came with my favorite kind of fries.  Mid meal Booker tossed me two US dollars and said "Don't say I never gave you nothing."  What a sweetheart.

 Photo Credit: lakeloveslife.com

With it being a Sunday Funday and all, it was only a matter of time before we ended up, you guessed it, back at Bondi Beach to meet up with Doc and some of Bear's other Sydney friends.  We spent the remainder of the afternoon on the balcony of Bondi Social taking in the stunning views of Bondi Beach while sipping rose like a bunch of classy people.  A perfect ending to an amazing trip.

 Above two photos credit of Bondi Social Website

Monday, January 7, 2012 

I woke this morning feeling the impeding depression that could only mean I was headed home, weaned from Australia once again.  Ponyo had offered me a lift to the airport after a farewell brunch which I gladly accepted.  He recommended Bills, which apparently is famous for their brekkie, so I was excited to try it out.  Unfortunately the dish they are best known for are their pikelets (baby pancakes) and I'd JUST had pancakes.  Plus, at Manly Beach the day before my friend had ordered the corn fritters and I'd had such bad food envy that today I ordered the sweetcorn fritters with roast tomato, spinach and bacon.  It was one of the best meals of the trip.  The juiciness of the tomato paired with the saltiness of the bacon and the sweet, crispy corn of the fritter made each bite a flavor explosion.  It was a culinary crescendo of the trip.  The service on the other hand was pretty awful...

Photo Credit: Bills Blog

 

With the end of brekkie came the end of my two week Australian holiday.  Ponyo drove me kicking and screaming to the airport clutching my Arnott Mint Slices (the only piece of Australia I would be able to return with other then my memories).  I end where I began with lyrics from St Lucia, the song we listened to as we pulled up at the terminal...Until we meet again Australia...

I will never take back
The words that I said then
I will always come back to you

Even in the meantime
I will always stand by
A mirror on the shelf

An Australian Holiday Downunder - Part Two

Part Two of the Australian adventure starts us in Sydney living like a local before traveling down to Melbourne and the forests and beaches of the tiny town of Lorne.  For those who read my Croatia blog you should recognize some of the names in this post.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Up bright and early on my first real day in Sydney, one of my favorite places in the world.  Ponyo happens to be a stellar tour guide and was determined to introduce me to all the local spots on my trip (since my last trip to Sydney had covered all the touristy ones).

First up was First Drop for brekkie in an area called Red Fern.  The restaurant is located on a quiet leafy street which perfectly fit the organic feel of the food and the decor. I ordered a chorizo and egg scramble with spinach on a piece of warm toast and an espresso which turned out to sound more interesting on the menu (I forget the exact description) then the result.  It tasted okay and was fairly expensive so not sure I would need to come back here.  And the wait staff took FOREVER.  I mean it's eggs and toast people!
 

It was the day after Boxing Day so Ponyo then forced me to go shopping for boardies and wallets for the next few hours.  It did give me the opportunity to see a little bit more of the CBD area of Sydney though.

From there we returned to Bondi Beach to spend a little time stretched out on the sand before meeting up with Party Pants and Little Sailor (who henceforth with be referred to as Mr. Hands) for some lunch (I feel like I spent a lot of time eating on this portion of the trip!)

Bondi Hardware was one of my favorite restaurants of the trip.  The food was a little hit or miss but the attitude of the place was awesome.  I would come here for drinks anytime!

Photo Credit: Bondi Hardware Website

First up was the pork belly slider with pickled cabbage and apple chutney.  First of all this was juicy deliciousness with a little pickling to spice things up.  Loved it!  Wish I'd gotten more than one.  Although I think it's cool you can just order one!

Next up was the grilled polenta cakes with tomato, basil and blue cheese.  The polenta was too dry, the tomatoes too green and the blue cheese was WAY too overwhelming.  I didn't finish this one.

Last up was the honey, soy and sesame chicken drumettes with fresh chili, coriander, spring onion and lime which were unbelievably, finger-licking good.  Only problem was I was so full at this point with beer and nasty polenta cake that I could barely stomach more than one.  With great trepidation I passed them along to the boys who noisily ravaged them to the bone.

From there we changed and prepared to go out but after pre-party at my friend's in Bondi Beach, Ponyo couldn't get his second wind so we ended up crashing early.  The only plus was that I discovered a new chocolate treat that may rival my age old favorite Arnott Mint Slices!!

It's a chocolate bar with jelly beans and pop rocks inside.  It sounds disgusting and yet is amazing.  I brought three giant bars home with me.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Up and about early again thanks to an early night.  At least it's making my days feel longer!

Brekkie today was in Bondi Junction at Savta.  I apologize because I got almost the same type of thing that I had at First Drop because it's my favorite ingredients mixed together and is like an Aussie brunch staple!  It was toast with roasted tomatoes, a poached egg, feta and avocado with herbs sprinkled on top.  The feta was really salty but used sparingly the dish was still delicious especially the tomatoes which just exploded with flavor when you bit down on them.   And the egg was perfectly cooked and hot.

 

From there it was, you guessed it, back to Bondi Beach for what we thought would be a beautiful day at the beach.  It definitely started out that way as you can see from the picture below.

But within an hour it was so windy I could barely see Ponyo stretched out on the towel next to me!  We were forced to retreat to the Beach Burrito Company up the road where we washed our sand-tans off and downed some Coronas.  This place is SO cool.  If it was in NYC it would definitely be on my shortlist of day drinking bars.  In addition to Shwood, I met a couple of Ponyo's other uni friends who were delightful! 

 Photo Credit: Thescreamingartichoke.com

So delightful in fact that we all ended up at dinner together.  Ensuring that I saw yet another neighborhood of Sydney, we dined in Surrey Hill at Fratelli Paradiso.  While my risotto looks like throw up, it tasted like heaven.  I like my risotto a little soft and this just melted its way down my gullet.  The restaurant itself features extremely attractive Italian waiters, chic furnishings, and delectable Sangiovese wines.

Photo Credit: urbanwalkabout.com

But what is dinner without dessert?  My Aussie pals were extremely excited to introduce me to Messina in Darlinghurst where I had the best salted caramel gelato of my life.  Highly highly recommend.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

On my last day in Sydney before heading to Melbourne, I had to take advantage of the famous Taronga Zoo!  I've heard SOOO much about this zoo and even my resident Sydney friends were excited to go.  We spent the morning seeing everything from the reptiles to monkeys to the big cats to the elephants.  We even managed to make it in time for the seal show. 

 

 The highlights included:

While hanging out in the monkey exhibit, Mr Hands showed me a new, delightful YouTube video titled "Chimp rapes frog" which features footage of exactly what you think it does.  For those of you who lack imagination I have graciously provided a link to the video (Animal Rated R).

Next up was Shwood telling me the terrifying story of Mr. Shuffles the murderous elephant.  Apparently a few months earlier, Mr. Shuffles had crushed a zoo keeper up against a metal pole at the zoo causing a heart attack and severe injuries.  She slipped into a coma and was in critical condition for several days.  Recommendation: Suggest a different career path for your seven year old.

A rare glimpse of an authentic D-Hole (the animal kind - yes they do exist!)

 

And lastly, Mr Hands and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the seal show where the largest, stupidest seal ever to grace the stage of a zoo managed to screw up his routine so many times that he was practically booed off the stage by the children in the front row.  You have to be TERRIBLE for little kids who have suspended all belief to BOO you.  For us immature adults it was the most hilarious thing ever.  The worst part is apparently this seal and the female seal who had performed prior (she wasn't a brain surgeon either) mate "backstage."  I worry for those offspring...

Overall a very enjoyable visit complete with a trip on the air trolley back to the top of the hill which featured stunning views of Sydney Harbor's bridge and opera house.

Watching seals shovel fish into their mouths had made us all unbelievably hungry so we stopped at the Buena Vista Hotel in a neighborhood called Mosman (again props to Ponyo for showing me literally ALL areas of Sydney).  They had just recently built an awesome indoor/outdoor rooftop dining area which definitely made me feel like I was on a tropical holiday between the open stovetop where you can cook your own steak and the wooden paneling of the walls and window shutters.

I wasn't hungry enough for a giant steak and there was no way the boys were about to share so I went with the Devils Wings with Hot Homemade Chilli BBQ Sauce, the Vegetarian Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls and the Tuna Sashimi Wasabi and Soy because as starter plates you can do three for $25.

The wings were almost too breaded but instead were perfectly crispy and really hot although could've used a tiny bit more flavoring.  The vegetable rolls were pretty terrible.  The rice paper was freezing cold and rubbery and the veggies were sliced too large making it kind of hard to bite into.  The sashimi though was some of the best I've ever had.  SUCH fresh fish.  And I topped the meal off with a lemon lime bitters which is my new favorite drink.  If you are curious what's in it reread my last sentence.

 Photo Credit: BV Hotel Website

SUPER full we paid and scurried back to Kirribilli to finish packing and get to the airport in time for our evening flight to Melbourne.  We were originally going to DRIVE to Lorne for the Falls Festival but avoiding 30+ hours of driving was well worth the $250 round-trip ticket.

After spending an hour trying to find parking in permit-riddled St. Kilda, we grabbed a steak sandwich at Grill'd and passed out.  The burger was all kinds of awesome with chewy ciabatta bread and thick, juicy steak.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

So you've heard me mention Lorne and Falls Festival a couple of times now so let me give you a little more information.  Australia has two major festivals (and a third one on the rise) for music each year.  There is Falls on New Years in Lorne and Tasmania and Splendor in the Grass in May in Byron Bay.  Lucky for me, my trip was perfectly timed for Falls and even more lucky, my favorite band, Boy & Bear was playing!!  They've never come to the States so this was my one chance to see them!!

We woke up at 7am to start the two hour drive from Melbourne to Lorne.  Luckily I'd put together a slammin' playlist that made the hours melt on by.  Just outside of Lorne we stopped to get food and alcohol in preparation for this festival camping extravaganza.  Past festivals we'd been to had a no alcohol policy which really just means "be as creative as possible with how you hide your alcohol."  Most amateurs refill other liquid containers and are thus always caught.  We went a different route...turns out the largest uncut loaf of bread at the grocery store is the perfect size to fit a small bottle of Absolut.  Absolut-ly Genius.  My task the remainder of the drive was to construct a hole in which to fit said bottle.  The irony?  We drove right in and they never even asked to look inside the car.  What a waste of time!!

 After pitching our tent, we slathered ourselves in sunscreen and spent the rest of the day at the festival.  It's about a five minute bus ride from the camp site we were at to the festival grounds.  The festival grounds are divided into two stages - Valley Stage and the Grand Theater.  The lineup for Day One included Oh Mercy, SBTRKT, Beach House, Boy & Bear and Flume.

The first three weren't particularly memorable for me.  Boy & Bear was incredible but I was surprised by how physically forceful the crowd was considering they are a low-key band and they didn't play my favorite song!!  WTF!  Flume was on all counts incredible... I've never seen so many people swaying in unison.  It was like everyone was on the same drug, on the same roll, at the same time.  CRAZY.

The only letdown was the the day started off so hot you could see heat wiggling off metal.  But by the time Boy & Bear finished it was so cold I could barely breathe.  Hot Chip was scheduled to go on at 2:30am and by 1am we were so frozen we gave up and spent the night huddled next to each other for warmth in an attempt not to lose any important body parts.  The cold also resulted in me buying the only sweatershirt over at the concert - DZ Deathrays.  God I'm gangster.  Can't wait to rock that on my next L.A. hood trip.

Monday, December 31, 2012

None of the bands in the morning were ones we had to see so we decided to take advantage of the ten minute bus and go see the town of Lorne for a little beach retreat and a much need "shower" in the ocean.  Lorne is the most adorable town with a gorgeous beach and tranquil, turquoise water.  It felt so good to nap in the sun after a frozen night on hard ground in the tent.  It was pretty crowded though probably due to the festival attendees.

Once the heat finally got to me, I retreated up to Tom's Bar on the beach where I snacked on fish n chips while reading the best book - "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao."  I HIGHLY recommend.

We were quick to get back to the festival post-lunch so that we wouldn't miss First Aid Kit.  They blew away all the bands from the day before.  I've never heard such pure, angelic voices.  And they had two tiny little ballerinas dancing around the stage as they sang.  Quite the show.

We stuck around for Maximo Park (who was absolutely awful) before heading back to the camp.  We'd learned the hard way the night before so this time we layered ourselves in every warm article of clothing we had before heading back for the night sets.

Upon arrival back at the festival grounds, we were astounded at the number of people who'd showed up for Hilltop Hoods.  For those non-Australians, Hilltop Hoods are an Aussie rap group who are surprisingly amazing.  I found myself jamming with the rest of them in no time!  I highly recommend checking them out.  This crowd was WILD.

As you can see from the photos we spent a fair amount of time towards the back enjoying the bigger sets from an enjoyable, non-sweaty distance.  This would not be the case for Two Door Cinema Club that is not only one of my favorite bands of all time but my favorite band live and the set that would be ringing in 2013.  All these reasons resulted in my fighting tooth and nail to the very very, and I mean very, front row where I spent the next hour singing lyrics to Settle, Sun, Beacon, and all my other much loved songs.  Oh, and dancing my ASS off.  It was one of the best moments of my life...

 

Not to be outdone by watching a bunch of Australians singing Gangster's Paradise with Coolio.  Yeah, that happened.  Coolio looks like he is about fifty years old but he still knows how to get a crowd going.  I was repeatedly crushed until the front fencing which definitely fit with his lyrics about "walking through the valley of the shadow of death."  I felt like Mr. Shuffles zoo keeper! (Too soon???!)  The final icing on the cake was Coolio launching himself into the crowd, crushing three small girls with his gut, and crowd-surfing his way the length of the stage.  So surreal.  So awesome.  Please retire.

The night ended with a couple tracks by Total Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs but I was completely wrecked at that point so we headed back and passed out.  Best start to 2013 ever!!

Tuesday, January 1, 2012

At the crack of dawn the next morning, we were up, tent packed, and on the road before most of the hungover revelers had a chance to wake.  There was no way I was getting stuck in the five hour crush of cars trying to leave later that morning.

Because we'd managed to avoid the traffic we decided to skip the freeway and instead take the Great Ocean Road back to Melbourne.  It is a beautiful drive along the ocean and we even stopped to take a quick picture of the famous Split Point lighthouse.  Ponyo, ever the awesome tour guide, explained that every young Aussie knows this lighthouse because it is the prominent location in the kid's TV show, Round the Twist.  Just for kicks I've provided a link to the theme song.  So entertaining.

We made crazy good time back to Melbourne which allowed us to grab brekkie at Il Fornaio and spend some time at the beach.  Yes, I ordered Aussie toast again and it was the best one yet.  This one was enhanced by heirloom tomatoes and goat cheese. YUM!  The place is super cute too although the wait staff takes forever.  Uugh.

Photo Credit: Timeout AU

It was a quick, easy flight back to Sydney where I immediately repacked my festival bag with beach clothes and hopped on the bus to Palm Beach to spend two days BBQing and beaching with Party Pants and his friends.

But you'll have to wait until next week to hear about that.  Happy weekend!