Science and Technology
Australia
The Rocks Aroma Festival
Jul 6th
Sydney people are really serious about their coffee (and chocolate.) Earlier today, I went to check out the annual Aroma Festival at The Rocks. I was expecting it to be a small affair. Boy, was I wrong! There were lots of people there as you can see from the photo below (click on the photo for the higher resolution version.)
There were over 40 booths. These included numerous coffee roasters and chocolatiers plus small samples of teas of the world and a spice bazaar. The festival included a number of stages spread throughout The Rocks with live music entertaining the crowds. There was also a huge exhibit of espresso machines; the coffee machines on display ranged from those costing a couple of hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. One of them caught my eye because I had not seen such an espresso machine before. You can see it in the photo below. It is the Otto stovetop espresso machine. Very cool!
The Sydney Aroma Festival is worth a visit. If you happen to be in town next July, don’t forget to add it to your schedule. You won’t regret it!
PS: Did I mention that it was a brilliant day to be outside today? It is apparently the middle of the winter here but it feels more like summer!
Freezing in Sydney but having a great time regardless
Apr 29th
I’ve lived in Sydney for a generous 9 days now. I can’t say that Sydney is not a beautiful city because it truly is. It is also a bit expensive but I guess high quality of living comes at a high price. However, I have to admit that for the last few days, the weather has been just terrible.
First, I left Vancouver in the middle of a snowstorm; yes, it was snowing hard on April 18th which was a first for the 10 years I lived there. At any rate, after a long delay at the Vancouver airport due to the unexpected weather and after flying for 15 hours straight, we arrived in Sydney on April 20th.
The weather in Sydney has also been a bit of a disappointment from day one to today. It was raining when my plane touched down in Sydney and it continued to rain for my first 5 days here. Apparently, this was the wettest month of April for Sydney in over 70 years! The weather decided to take a break for the Anzac long weekend and it was really beautiful, warm and sunny; I earned my first sunburn for 2008 last weekend. It didn’t last though. Last night, Sydney experienced the coldest night in 25 years and everyone expects a repeat of the low temperature tonight. By the way, a cold night here means a low of just 8.6 degrees which in most parts of Canada is considered warm weather. Anyways, when you live in a building with no heating and little insulation, it feels really cold at night. It is even worse when you have to take a shower in the morning (you should try it some time.)
The good news are that the weather will soon improve and temperatures will return to seasonal normals. Moreover, the place where I am staying right now is temporary and now I know to look for an apartment with heating so that I won’t have to deal with this in the future. But the point I was trying to make with this post is that bad weather seems to follow me. Not that it has stopped me from enjoying my time here. Even though I have spent every day exploring the city, there is still much to see. I’ll post some photos from around Sydney over the next few days. In the meantime, here is a nice photo of the famous Sydney Opera House.
