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jah · Dooney & Bourke

Sydney & Melbourne?

NCshopper · Hermes

RE: Sydney & Melbourne?

NCshopper · Hermes

OH MY GOSH!!! I just remembered something! (Literally, I just put my book and wine down and ran over to the computer to tell you.)

While you're in Australia, you must, MUST stock up on Tim Tams. Literally the best things known to the human race. They're impossible to find in the states.

Tim Tams are very standard in Australian grocery stores, so you shouldn't have a problem finding them. They consist of: two chocolate/fudge cookies (biscuits as they call them ) with a chocolate fudge cream in the middle and then they're coated in fudge. I think the closest thing in the US to compare them to would be a fudge dipped Oreo, but that's not really even close. Tim Tams are much richer and just so. damn. good.

Plus, in Australia, they do the Tim Tam Slam, which I highly recommend. Get yourself a nice hot cup of coffee, bite off two diagonal corners of the Tim Tam, insert one corner just into the coffee and suck the coffee up through the Tim Tam from the other bitten end. The cookie part in the middle starts to melt and you basically have to shove this melty, gooey, coffee/fudge mixture into your mouth before it all falls apart.

It's literally the best thing ever.

jah · Dooney & Bourke

Thanks for the info NCShopper. San Fran is my favorite US city, so I'm happy to hear the comparison. Many of my co-workers have spent a great deal of time in Australia, and it is hotly contested whether Melbourne or Sydney is better (that's why I decided to spend a weekend in each city!).

So glad to also hear your rec on the twilight climb. I assumed it was the best since it is the most $$$, but since it isn't that much more, I'm definitely doing twilight. That being said, if I can't get my co-worker to shell out the 200+ AUD, do you have to go in pairs or are plenty of people doing it alone? Not only is my co-worker not very good at managing money, he also isn't in the best shape, so I'm not sure he'll want to do it. I'm fine going alone as long as that is okay.

Love, chocoloate AND coffee, so I'll definitely be traying the slam.

In terms of Opals, searching for a beautiful opal is on the list. I watched a makeover show that was in australia and they showed the #1 store in Sydney for opals. It is some jeweler that only sells opals. Anyway, the orange and blue flash was AMAZING.

Thanks so much for the detail!

NCshopper · Hermes

You're going to have a blast in Australia. It's such a cool country.

As far as the bridge climb goes, they take you up in groups, so if you don't have someone to go with you, I can't imagine that it would be a problem. I think we had like 8-10 people in the group. About 6 of us were my friends and the other people were just random people. You have a guide with you too and the really strange part is that you're strapped into the bridge. You have some sort of thing around your waist that's part of the jumpsuit and they lock you into this track that goes through the whole part of the bridge climb, so the whole thing was pretty safe. There's a fair amount of climbing up ladders, so if your coworker is out of shape, that would be the only part that I would think would present a problem.

Anyway, I hope you have a great trip! If you have any other questions, feel free to let me know. I spent about 6 months in Australia and got to see pretty much everything on the east coast.

Also--if you have any extra time while you're in Sydney, you can take a train about 2 hours to the Blue Mountains. It's really beautiful there with a lot of great hiking and the town, Katoomba, is really very cute. Just in case you want to get off the beaten track a little bit.

valenciana · Dooney & Bourke

NCshopper wrote:

While you're in Australia, you must, MUST stock up on Tim Tams. Literally the best things known to the human race. They're impossible to find in the states.

DITTO to the millionth degree! Tim Tams are the cookies they serve in heaven. I'm lucky though, because here in Atlanta, there's an Australian Cafe that stocks them! And also NCshopper, I know of another source when you can order them! PM me if you want details! Believe me, I understand the need for Tim Tams!

I haven't been to Melbourne, only Sydney (well not only, I've also been to Queensland, and Canberra, but of the cities you're visiting), and my parents were living there at the time, so we didn't do too much touristy stuff, mostly just hung out with friends or at the beach, so I don't have the best perspective.

Any guidebook to Sydney would have the highlights, but definitely check out Bondi Beach (although there are other less crowded beaches nearby, like Coogee) and Hugo's at Bondi is great for brunch, plus Heath Ledger hangs out there, or so I've heard. The Rocks is a really fun area with lots of pubs and some neat little shops. Hmmm...let's see...oh, another restaurant that's great is called Doyle's, it's on Watson's Bay in Sydney, delicious seafood! If you like Thai food, there are *tons* of places, many that don't look like much but the food is great. Most are BYO alcohol too, so you can bring your own bottle of wine, which is fun.

The Queen Victoria Building is a nice place to go shopping, there used to be a cashmere shop there with great prices, it's prob still around, and David Jones is the big dept. store there. Witchery and Portman's are fun clothing shops too.

Good thinking on the black opals too! I love the opal earrings I got there.

Anyway, if I think of anything else, I'll post, but NCshopper's right, it's such a cool country and you will have a great time! I would move there if it wasn't so darn far away. Which reminds me, make sure sure sure that you get up and walk around the plane at least a few times...DVT is serious and scary, plus it's one long trip!