Baristas and the open ocean

On our first day in Australia I walked down the street from our apartment in Sydney and stopped in at a 7-eleven convenience store to grab a sandwich. The attendant was chatty and after discussing his trip to Vancouver Island, he talked up their coffee maker and suggested I try the coffee. I wasn't expecting much from a 7-eleven but thought what the heck. I was confused by the options though. Did I want a long white or a short black? I went for the long white - whatever that was. It was very good and tasted much like a latte. By contrast the next day we visited a Starbucks and I didn't find the coffee as good.

Australians are not a pretentious bunch, but they could be about their coffee. It's excellent and they're willing to pay a few dollars more to have it made to order. No ready to pour drip coffee pots are to be found here. Starbucks tried opening up some stores in Australia but most of them closed down a few years later. It turns out Australia already had great coffee on offer from many independent cafes, which have been in operation for decades. I was intrigued to learn why - Australians don't strike me as too picky when it comes to food and drink in general.

For example, just today we stopped at a very popular local burger place and ordered the burger with 'the lot', which included the beef patty, fried onions, cheese, bacon, pineapple, a fried egg and a beet - this artery clogging concoction isn't subtle cuisine. It was really good by the way. As I understand it, the country has a large Italian community, and had a very large influx of Italians after WWII. These immigrants brought their love of espresso machines with them, and spread coffee to a bunch of tea drinkers. I understand many Australians will drink an instant coffee at home, but they will take the time for a barista to make them a flat white or perhaps a cappuccino when they're out.

We're staying in an area a few blocks from the beach that looks like a suburb. After a while things started to look like other mundane suburbs, with people walking their dogs or mowing their lawns. Then out of the blue we spied a group of kangaroos hopping down the street. There are other unusual things about this neighbourhood. We heard a cacophony of strange sounds from the birds overhead, and we saw succulents taller than me growing on the front lawns. Walking by the shore we saw a half dozen large pelicans standing stoically in the water a few feet offshore while young kids fed the seagulls bread. But it's the kangaroos hopping and grazing throughout the suburbs in the parks and brush that strikes us as most strange. What an unusual animal to see.

This morning we took a whale watching boat tour from Gervis Bay. We had high hopes since October to November is prime humpback whale-watching time in the bay, where the whales come to feed. Sadly there were no whales to be seen today, but we did see a pod of dolphins swimming by, their dorsal finds and open bodies breaching the surface as they propelled themselves along. We also saw a couple of pods of seals, resting near the shoals with one of their flippers waving out of the water to either cool themselves down or heat themselves up. After leaving the bay we travelled for awhile along the sandstone cliffs, feeling the rolling waves from a open ocean with no land heading east for thousands of miles. What an awesome feeling to be on the open ocean with massive waves crashing on high cliffs, creating a mist. It all had an alien, eerie quality to it.