Happy Thanksgiving from Oz

OK, we're not that far in the future, but since I have BIG plans for next weekend, T and I celebrated Thanksgiving this Saturday. But first, we went out for the morning.

The Rocks

We decided to walk across the bridge and explore the area on the opposite side from the more touristy area (where The Rocks, Circular Quay, and the Opera House are). That quieter side is called Walsh Bay, and it has lots of historic buildings and quaint old houses.

But first, I had to walk through the Rocks Markets, just to make sure I wasn't missing a deal anywhere! I was just there a couple weeks ago with Megan, but there are always new things going on down there. And today didn't disappoint!

There was a cruise ship at port in Circular Quay so it was pretty packed in the markets.

There was also lots of entertainment around, like this band outside the German bier stube.

I really like going down to this older part of the city, because even when it's as crowded as it was this day, if you even slightly leave the main streets, it can feel like you've stepped back in time.

T is really good about patiently standing aside or walking slowly when I'm taking pictures. But sometimes, a guy just needs to be in some pictures of an alley!

Try 1

Try 2

Success! (But I think the first two are my favorites!)

Walsh Bay

After thoroughly checking the vendors at the markets, we headed over to Walsh Bay. We crossed under the Harbor Bridge where we saw several groups getting ready to do the bridge climb.

We also this guy's campaign poster:

Glen Wall wants YOU!

After the bustle of The Rocks, it felt like we had entered a different city (and maybe a different decade) after we crossed under the bridge. All of the buildings are quite old in that area, so it made the whole atmosphere slower and overall peaceful.

Some cobblestone streets...

And lots of old stone walls, ancient concrete, and winding streets.

Then we walked down to the wharf, where the old commercial port buildings have been repurposed for lots of different things, including a theatre, a hotel, and restaurants.

It was a beautiful area - lots of peaceful harbor views and a lovely fresh sea breeze blowing in. I was a little surprised that there weren't more people down there, because it was relatively deserted.

We wandered through there for a while and then decided to head back. But, before we got off the pier, I saw a bunch of kelp attached to a little dock. When I stopped to take a closer look, I noticed there was a HUGE school of jellyfish floating by it! There were more jellyfish than we could count and in all sizes - from tiny to bigger than my hand. It was so cool! We stood there staring at the water like crazy people for probably 15 minutes. =)

It was hard to get a picture because of the glare, but one was close to the surface when I took this one, and you can kind of see it, right by the leaf in the middle bottom. I wish I knew what kind they were!

You pretty much can't beat a casual jellyfish sighting, so we called it an afternoon after that and headed back across the bridge. The wind had picked up, so the harbor was full of sailboats.

Dinner Time!

We started cooking our Thanksgiving dinner when we got back to our apartment. Our menu was:

• Smoked tofu
• Sautéed brussel sprouts
• Roasted green beans with goat cheese
• Smashed sweet potatoes with feta
• Pecan pie cheesecake

So not exactly a typical Thankgiving meal, but it suited the two of us perfectly.

And not to worry, we found Australian brussel sprouts. (Not to be confused with inferior varieties!)

We had fun working on dinner together, and I think it turned out great!

We also finished our tree of thanks, which I've made us add to every day this month. It felt a little juvenile at first, but now we have a pretty tree full of all the things we're grateful for! I'm going to keep it around for a while.

So even though it was a far cry from celebrating Thanksgiving with our families, we had a fun day together. We'll miss seeing the people we love next weekend, but we are both so thankful for this opportunity and the experience we're getting to have here.

Posted with Blogsy