Viva la vida Cuba!

One of the more dubious activities I've lined up for us in a while was the Viva la Vida Cuba festival this past Sunday. I say "dubious" because it was in an area of Sydney we've never had occasion to go to before. It was in a large suburb called Ryde, and specifically a part of Ryde called "Top Ryde." Why that name, I have no idea.

But T was a good sport and said he'd check it out with me. So a 35 minute bus ride out of the city, we were in Ryde and finding our little Cuba Festival.

I do not believe there's a very big Cuban population in Sydney, and what I could find on the Internet backs that up. But Sydney is home to the biggest Latin American community in Australia, so maybe that helps explain why there would be a Cuban festival here. Otherwise, I have no explanation! =)

But regardless of why such a festival was put on, it was still really fun. The stalls were nestled in a partly covered area between shopping centers, which made it feel kind of cozy.

There was a little street band adding to the ambiance. They were great and all the little kids were having a blast dancing to the music.

We found some "tex mex" food, and of course we couldn't resist giving it a shot. It was by far the most decent take on tex mex that we've had here, but no substitute for the real thing!

We had fun walking around all the stalls and checking everything out. There were even some Chevys and Buicks around!

As festivals go, it was on the small side, but what it lacked in size it made up for in enthusiasm. It was a really fun outing!

On the way home, we went back to the city a different way, and had the eery experience of being in a giant train station all alone. I had to take a picture just to capture the weird moment.

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T & C's last day of summer

Fall is really setting in here. (Even though they don't use the term "fall" it's only ever "autumn"). The mornings have been cool and dark, and it's almost time to start wearing a jacket in the evenings.

But we had what I think will be the last truly hot day recently. So we decided to head out to the coast and take advantage of it! Won over by my recent adventures snorkeling, T decided we should go out to Gordon's Bay so he could check it out for himself.

The day was really nice - just around 30 degrees and nice light breeze. The surf was a little rough, but it just added some good adventure to our day!

After our water adventures, we were properly starving so we inhaled a couple veggie burgers at a small cafe in Coogee.

The face of tired

By the time we got home and washed all the saltwater off, we were good and tired, but had that satisfying feeling that only a day on the water can give you. It was the most perfect way to bid goodbye to a lovely summer!

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At the wine gala

One of the things I'm involved with at work is our Foundation Council, which helps organize volunteering opportunities and donations to our main charity called Room to Read. The Room to Read organization focuses a lot on educating women and girls in developing countries and Atlassian donates money to it each year. Atlassian also helps it with normal fundraising activities, like buying tables at the wine gala fundraiser this year. I was lucky enough to be invited to one such event, along with a few co-workers.

I didn't really know what to expect out of the evening, but one thing I knew for sure is that I would have to dig out one of my nice dresses that I'd brought over with us. I almost never dress up here, and luckily the one I had in mind still fit, although it was a wee bit tighter than when I wore it five years ago. =\

Tight-fitting dresses aside, it was a really fun and lovely evening. We started out in the "Dom Perignon VIP" area, where we were a good 25 years younger than the rest of the crowd. This earned us a few dubious glances but we held our own!

Then it was on to the dinner and auction part of the night. Unfortunately not a single thing on the auction list was in my budget, so I didn't contribute much to that part of the evening. It was fun to see how the charitable 1% live though!

Our founders are big personal supporters of the charity, and one of them made some remarks during the dinner. It made us all at the table really proud to be Atlassians. =)

There was also a graduate from one of the girls' programs in Zambia. She was an amazing speaker and very inspirational.

Even though I didn't end up with any of the auctioned cases of wine or private island getaways, it was still a really fun night!

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Shipping it at work!

Last week was ShipIt at work. ShipIt is a 24 hour coding competition where people form teams and make something that they feel passionate about. I had a pet project in mind, so I petitioned a few developers. And although I'm not sure they met my level of enthusiasm, they agreed to join my team and do a ShipIt project together.

The ShipIt day kicks off at midday on Thursday and officially goes for 24 hours. It was a quiet start to the day. There was lots of focus on the developer side of the table. And I do mean a lot.

At about 3 PM on Thursday, the candy cart came around to keep everyone going.

The candy breathed some life into our team!

While the developers were busy coding, the designer and I worked on our presentation for Friday. The first round of the competition is a presentation in small groups. Winners from that round go to semi-finals. Unfortunately, that wasn't us. Even though we had a really solid project, we didn't quite make it. 

And even though we didn't win, it was still a really fun time! My team was so fun, even if they were quiet, and it was a blast just participating in such a big, innovative two days. 

Snorkeling in Gordon's Bay

Last weekend was one of what I fear will be the last hot summer days. So I took myself, my snorkel, and my GoPro out to Gordon's Bay for a good afternoon.

Gordon's Bay is nestled in between Coogee Beach and Clovelley Beach. The easiest way to get there is to start the walk from Coogee toward Bondi, which makes me happy of course!

The bay isn't very beach-y. People just camp out on the big rocks along the shoreline, so it's kind of a unique way to experience the beach.

There were lots of great fishes to see, and of course, tons of wonderful sealife! It was a really great day to be in the water!

Breakfast in Centennial Park

Last Saturday, we grabbed a GoGet and drove over to Centennial Park. It's a huge park in Sydney, and it's always hopping on the weekends with tons of people biking and running. It's so busy that there's a full-time food truck, and T had his heart set on a breakky sandwich from it. So off we went!

T just waiting for his sandwich

After we got our food, we sat in the park and had our breakfast. Then we took a stroll around and watched the morning get started!

This plant was amazing. There's not a good scale in this picture, but it was holding a good half inch of water. It makes sense that a plant would need to be able to hold water like that in this climate, but it was truly amazing to see in real life. 

It was a pretty good start to the weekend!

Mardi Gras Fair Day

Sydney does a HUGE celebration for Mardi Gras. In Sydney, Mardi Gras is pretty much synonymous with a pride celebration: there are events, concerts, a parade, and something called a fair day. Fair day, as it turns out, is basically a huge festival with performances, concerts, and tons of booths and food.

Atlassian sponsored a booth for the first time this year, and a few of us volunteered to staff it during the day. I had a couple hours' morning shift. Even though it was scorching hot, it was a ton of fun!

Even though I was hanging out with lovely people, by far one of the best things was hanging out with Holly the dog. She was a sweetie and a real people dog!

But of course, we were there to talk to people and socialize. It was such a fun crowd; everyone was in festive moods and just plain happy to be there!

After my 2 1/2 hours on the booth, I met up with T and we walked around to check out the rest of the fair. 

There was so much fun stuff at the fair! At Doggywood, there were all kinds of contests: like a dog and owner lookalike contest, a doggie costume contest, etc. All the dogs were so cute and friendly - they were all so happy to be out at Fair Day!

There were some other animals too. Taronga Zoo had a booth and they had an echidna waddling around so all the kids could see it. So cute!

There were also tons of vendors with free stuff, like Lush body products and Ben & Jerry's! It was a really really fun day!!!