***MMML***

butterbeansmama

we did not get to go to Melbourne or Brisbane. Dh did get 4 days off in a row, but there was so much that we could see closer to us that we just didn't have time. We would have loved to though.

I did notice that the clothes shopping was not all that great. I'm either way out of style or Sydney was way behind style, but some of the outfits and clothing that they had in the stores were just soooo casual looking. It was strange. Dh could not get over the types of cars they have there. That there GM vehicles are called something different and the styles are so much more nicer. He must have mentioned it a few times a day (enough that I was getting tired of him talking about it)...lol.

We really didn't get to have "real" australian food, but we did have the most amazing chinese food that I have ever had. I think the closest we got to "real" Australian food was a meat pie that we had at this well known local joint in downtown Sydney.

Whenever someone asks me what I liked most about Sydney, the first thing that comes to mind is the people. They are great!

marrymemylove

OK well you come to Melbourne next time do you hear? I may even come out of hiding.

Yeah Australian clothing is not as nice as some parts of the US (though I've seen similar stuff in the US too, but I guess you have such a huge population that anything's available somewhere). I miss Gap and Ann Taylor and Banana Republic. Now I know why DH always shops for clothes when he was on trips to the US (since about 1994). Mind you, some parts of the East Village in NYC have some pretty heinous clothes and I hate to say I've seen almost identical stuff in Melbourne :-)

 General Motors long ago (I mean like pre WW2 I think) bought out a local carmaker called Holden. Holden had already had groundbreaking technology for the time and was a big brand name, so the deal was for the name to be kept. So its General Motors Holden here, and mostly Aussies will just call them Holden. Which is why I always found Catcher in the Rye odd. Calling a kid after a car I mean :-)

I think in general Australian cars are heavily influenced by European and Japanese styles, ie smaller cars than in the US mostly.

Don't worry, there's really no such thing as aussie food. Just desserts. Honestly, when asked for things that were Aussie foods not just adopted I could only come up with desserts. Which fits my priorities pretty well really.

Next time you need to come to Melbourne and we'll go to a footy game. Glad you liked the people. When I went to NY I kind of ignored everyone saying NYers were brusque. I expected them to be as friendly as here and I think that's why they were :-) I had the vibe of "of course you'll help out someone needing directions right?" not in an arrogant way but just, if everyone is polite then everyone helps everyone. But yeah, I found out later there were SOME NYers not as friendly as back here.

I love the harbour. I could seriously spend days on that water.

Chinese food is good here (makes up for totally awful mexican and spanish - well we have no diaspora for that but tons of australian-born chinese). Chinese food in Sydney is well respected, I've even seen it written up in a worldwide list in the NYT. Likewise in Melbourne there's Flower Drum (famous chinese).

Anyway- great that you liked it, hope you'll come back!