Yes, that's right, this isn't a post about Australia. It is the first such post on this blog to be about something that doesn't take place in the magical land Down Under. While Susan has been having a marvelous adventure in the Land of Dundee, where women glow and men plunder, I have been a man at work.

But this isn't about that, either, because in between the days of toil, I managed to spend this past weekend riding bicycles and wine tasting in Sonoma.

While I've driven through Sonoma a couple of times, I'd never gotten around to enjoying the sights and the sounds. I am pleased to have good friends who, through pity or kindness – I'm not sure which, invited me along on their weekend jaunt.

We stayed at the home of parents of a friend not far from downtown Sonoma. The weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend. Weather is one of the great strengths of California and the bright sun, blue sky, and crisp air did not disappoint.

We rented bikes at Sonoma Valley Cyclery. My friends, being generally comfortable with road bikes, rented the same and I got what they did. Except I'd never ridden one and, after a few minutes of practice, was very uncomfortable. My arms and elbows felt tense, the breaks and gear shift were in the wrong place, and my posture was killing my back.

I suspect these bikes are very size sensitive, and maybe mine just wasn't a good fit. So I decided to exchange it for a cruiser model instead. I'm just not much of a cyclist (I generally prefer walking) and so the cruiser was a much better fit. Everything seemed like it was in the right place, though later it was clear that the tires weren't as full as they ought to be and the whole thing seemed a bit sluggish.

After getting up and running, we stopped first at Ravenswood Winery. We settled in for a round of tasting, two of us sharing a glass for $15 of half a dozen or so wines. They were good, particularly the Zinfandel. They even took us back to the barrels and fermentation tanks. We were offered wine right out of the barrel that still had seven months to age. It was good! And a little sweet and fruity.

Also? No one stomps on grapes anymore because good grapes are expensive and it introduces too many bad microbes. Apparently they realized it was a health hazard sometime in the 13th century. :-)

After that we headed for Gundlach Bundschu Winery. Following the map that had been given to us by the Cyclery, we headed down a rough and thin paved road through a slightly hilly landscape of tall trees and vineyards. It was a beautiful ride.

Except that we ended up at a big chain-link gate. A flash went off and a security camera up in the tree took our photo. Uh oh. We peered over the wire fence and saw that Gunny Bunny was right there. The place we needed to be was on the other side of a fence, but we couldn't figure out how to get there. The map had squiggles right where we were that looked like the gate we saw, but gave no clue as to how to traverse it.

So we did the rational, mature thing – doubled-back – and tried to find where we had made a wrong turn.

No. No, actually, we didn't do that.

No, instead we carefully handed our bikes up and over the fence and hopped on over ourselves. When I was a kid out in the woods and the fields, I thought nothing at all of climbing right over any fence that was in my way. And I got yelled at once or twice, but it was never a big deal. But it feels quite a bit more risky when you are in your thirties. Immediately your mind worries about all kinds of things – will we damage the bikes? (We didn't.) Will we damage ourselves? (I got a scratch, but no more.) Will we be caught? (I suppose there is a puzzling security camera photo out there somewhere, but I hope they have better things to do than worry about errant cycling tourists.)

But, of course, it was fine. No harm done to anyone or anything and we ended up right where we wanted to be. We later discovered that there was, in fact, a bike and pedestrian entrance to the winery that we'd simply missed. It had a sign and everything.

That night we watched a campy, yet actually disturbing horror movie called Teeth, about a young woman with teeth in a rather unusual place. But what was most strange to me was when a scene came up about half-way through that took place among tall cypress trees, a waterfall, and a cave. It was Krause Springs, my favorite childhood campground. Weird.

While in Sonoma, we dined at two places: The Girl & the Fig and Harvest Moon Cafe. Both places had great service and an interesting menu. The cheese plate at the first was quite good, with selections of chevre and Humboldt Fog. I followed that with wild boar shoulder. It was good, but not the sweet and salty pork experience I was hoping for.

All in all, a fantastic weekend in wine country. I'll definitely be going back and I am thankful for the generosity of my friends.

Thursday, October 29, Mom and I booked a last minute trip to Melbourne--I'm so glad we went though I was grumpy while booking it. Sorry, Mom! I'm not always great about trip planning.

The only flight we could catch left early in the morning so we walked up to Kings Cross at 6a. It felt safe with a few people getting an early start on their work day and new arrivals from Dublin on holiday, sleepily walking up the street to their hotels. We took a budget airline, Virgin Blue, so ti was only carry-ons for us, a backpack for me and a little rolling case for Mom. It was great to the laptop behind for a few days.

Arriving in Melbourne we discovered that the good weather foolowed us--in fact it must have been at least 30C! Mom rented a manual car because that was all that was available and she knows how drive them. I don't. It was...exciting sometimes. Mom hadn't driven a manual in a while. Over the four days we had the occasional stalling, rolling backwards just a tiny bit on hills, and forgetting an intersection was a roundabout. But! We had no accidents or near accidentss, and Mom only turned into the wrong lane once the entire time. She did a great job! All of this is to say we didn't spend any time in the city because managing city driving on top of a manual and driving on the other side of the road would have been too much.

We used our early arrival as an opportunity to visit the Melbourne Zoo before heading to Ballarat. If you're gluten free, your best options are either to bring your own lunch or eat at the sit down cafe. None of the other food places inside the zoo cater much to gluten free diets. The sit down cafe has a few items that are clearly marke don the menu. I was starving so we ate lunch before noon, and the cafe was still serving breakfast. I had a tasty omelette.

It was just us and about 50 million school groups at the zoo that day. It was big enough that we weren't tripping over the groups all day but small enough that we could explore a lot of it without my foot hurting. Most of the animal homes are fairly large and well-landscaped to imitate their natural habitats. The Australian animal area is neat since the kangaroos can roam freely in the area. Since we visited them after noon, they were all laying down, napping in the shade--I can't blame them. It was so hot that if I was wearing a fur coat, I'd be doing the same thing. The wombats were sleeping (they're nocturnal), but the exhibit has a dark room with a view of their sleeping holes. So cute! My favorite Australian animals at the zoo were the echidnas. They look like cross between a hedgehog and an anteater. It was all I could do to resist picking it up for a cuddle. We did see a koala, or rather, a koala butt. It was not interested in people at that hour.

All the school kids were staring raptly at the elephants in the Asian area, but Mom and I were equally enchanted by the tiny ducklings that called the elephant's pond home. There were little fuzzy puffs of black and red. It was baby season at the zoo. In the monkey are we saw a baby monkey that had only been born the month before. The parents are all black with white fur around their eyes, but the baby is all white for the first couple months. We saw orangutans and gorillas. They were mostly busy eating and grooming each other.

Two of our favorite exhibits were the large butterfly and bird enclosures. The butterflies were everywhere. You needed to be careful when exiting that one didn't hitch a ride on you. They were mostly variations of black and orange butterflies, though we caught a glimpse of a large one with an iridescent blue body.

The bird enclosure was so large that it included three habitats : tropical, woodlands, and a more arid section. Most people tromped straight through barely stopping to look, but Mom and I easily spent more than an hour watching, sort of playing a variation of "Where's Waldo", trying to spot all the birds on the signs. I think we found them all except the large emu-like bird that Jon and I saw at the Alice Springs Desert Park. Some favorites include the pink crested cockatoo, red and green parrots, blue egrets, and some duck-billed bird that's rare.

By then we were wilting from the heat pretty badly, so we headed to Ballarat. There were lots of rolling green hills, pastures, and freshly shorn sheep--quintessential pastoral with an Australian touch: gum trees and koalo and kangaroo crossing signs. Somehow koala crossing signs are infinitely cuter than deer crossing signs in the States.

We had a terrible time finding our hotel; there are multiple Comfort Inns in Ballarat. Ours turned out to be near Sovereign Hill, not the downtown. After the trauma of navigating many roundabouts, hills, and stop-and-go traffic, neither of us had any urge to get back in the car to find dinner. Mom took a walk around in the late afternoon and discovered an Italian - Indian - Thai restaurant (Restaurante Da Uday). Crazy. The Indian curries were all gluten free. Needless to say we ate there every day, unfashionably early around 6p. Not the very best Indian food I've ever had but tasty, not too expensive, and near the hotel. Plus, Mom had never had Indian food in a restaurant before--she's eaten quite a bit because of my school friend Swati's family but that's all homecooked (and better, of course).

An exciting start to our Melbourne trip.

Tuesday, October 27, was another rainy day, so we decided to embrace it and go to the aquarium. Most of the little tanks are nice but forgettable--there were two we liked. We spent a long time looking at a tiny tank of prawn-like creatures with huge front claws and a much smaller body. The largest one kept trying to climb up the large sticks but it failed again and again. We must have watched it try seven or eight times. I think it had just grown too large to climb up them. We were also entertained by a tank of leafy-looking sea horses. They look like kelp--there are some at the California Academy of Sciences.

We almost skipped the large tanks because I was thoroughly exasperated by the marketing at the aquarium. Practically every 10 feet there was another poster encouraging you to buy a ticket to Wilderness World or Sydney Tower or buy some candy or take a photo. I hate that crap. And frankly, outside the large tanks and the Great Barrier Reef exhibits, it really doesn't compare to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The large tanks were neat. Both had glass tubes that run along the sides so you could see some of the fish above your head. The first tank featured two dugong. They are a lot like manatees. They mostly waited for trays of romaine leaves (called 'cos' here) that were dropped to the bottom of the tank. The dugongs grazed on the leaves like cows, hence the nick name "sea cows". Despite their large size, they seem rather cuddly and gentle.

There were also large turtles, friendly sharks, and little fish swimming around. I'm guessing all these animals must be vegetarian since no one was chomping on anyone else. The turtles were super cute, diving down and then wedging themselves against a rock to take a cat nap. I approve of naps. I was also a fan of the animals that would rest on the top of the tubes, being all smooshed against the glass. The second tank had more sharks and big fish and giant sting rays.

The Great Barrier Reef area was fun! At the entrance was a medium-sized tank full of small, colorful tropical fish that schooled together going back and forth along the length of the tank...except one little clown fish that hung out by himself. Very Nemo-ish. I have to admit that Mom and I sat on the floor and watched the tank only to discover that there was a huge tank just a little further on. We took over the beach and sat there for a long time. We saw tons of fish, large small, some schools, angel-fish like ones, one that was large but blended into the surrounding coral. It was awesome. I think Mom must have taken a picture of every fish in the tank by the time we left. We had intended to go to the Great Barrier Reef but started planning so late that tickets were prohibitively expensive, and we pretended like this was our trip instead. Hee.

In the end I would recommend the aquarium but just for the large tanks and the Great Barrier Reef area.

And then It was time to go home for the day and have dinner.

Digression #1: You might be thinking, "Even if they spent four or so hours at the aquarium there's still a lot of day left. What on earth were they doing??". Well, for starters, a gimpy foot means taking lots of public transportation which means everything takes longer. Luckily like me, my mom is a fan of buses and trains. We also took frequent breaks like an extended lunch or coffee in the afternoon, with lots of chatting, of course.

At dinner time even though my mom normally likes control in the kitchen, she graciously allowed me to cook every night. She would sit down and work crossword puzzles or email Dad while I made dinner. We had more long, long chats over dinner and a glass of wine. Mom would wash the dishes (heaven!), and the we'd settle in for an evening of TV, mostly trashy reality TV like Australian Apprentice, Celebrity Masterchef, Ladette to Lady, and a few of my mom's favorite shows like The Mentalist and The Ghost Whisperer. And before you criticize that that's a lot of TV, it made for nice down time. I loved getting to cook for Mom!

Wednesday, October 28. At my request Wednesday was a day in. 3 weeks of constant sightseeing was getting to me. We spent the day reading, eating, and generally lolling about. We did check out the Borders bookstore at Bondi Junction and were it not for the high price tags, I would have come with many cookbooks. The mall was new and really nice. I'm sure I'll be back on a rainy day. Check out the Target above the Chanel store. I doubt you'd see that in the States. They had tons of cookbooks I'd never seen of chefs and restaurants local to Australia. I had a flat white at La Buvette later in the afternoon in Potts Point. Perfect coffee on a nice, warm, sunny day. In fact the weather was so nice I had to go get Mom and show her the park in Potts Point. We sat on a bench and baked and saw lorikeets and other birds. A lovely lazy day.

Sunday, October 25, brought the end of our sunny weather. It was overcast all morning. We decided to have slow day after our two action-packed beach days. We happened to be staying in Potts Point for the one day of the year that the Navy opens Kuttabul Base to visitors, so I thought it would be fun to see some of the ships. The Navy base covers the entire tip of the penninsula that Potts Point sits on.

They had three ships open for visiting. It was neat for me because these were the first ships still in service that I've ever been on. I kept being surprised that it was the Australian Navy. I don't know why I was--I guess I was having a blonde moment. Also? The Navy personnel were so young! They barely looked old enough to drive.

Just as we entered the gates it started sprinkling a little bit. We thought that was ok. We had brought our umbrellas after all. By the time we reached the first ship, a carrier ship of some sort, it was pouring rain. And continue to pour during our entire visit. Mom saw water coming up out of the gutters on our walk home, and our shoes were completely soaked.

I may have had one other blonde moment that day. There were several demonstrations of helicopters and rescuing someone from the sea via a boat. Mom and I happened to see a helicopter overhead, just at noon when one of the demonstrations was planned. We were very excited and watched the helicopter intently--the only working military helicopters I'd ever seen had been on the TV show Airwolf. But nothing happened. We watched and watched and it just hovered overhead. One of the servicemen came over and told us we were watching a news helicopter and the real action was over in the water where they were demonstrating a water rescue. Doh.

We also walked through one of the long-range escort ships. It is capable of air defense, warfare, surveillance, and reconnaissance. It was weird to be walking right by missile launchers. There were a lot of servicewomen presenting on the ship, though I can't imagine that women actually make up 50% of the service. My favorite presentation was the young man wearing shades who is security on the ship who was demonstrating how various guns work. (Don't worry the guns lacks ammunition and were chained to a table). He was quick to point out how one gun was exactly like one of the ones used in the Terminator movies--needless to say he was very popular with the boy visitors.

It was raining so much that we gave up on the third ship and just headed home. We used our soaked clothes and shoes as an excuse to stay inside all day and read. :)

Monday, October 26, was still rainy but not the torrential downpour of Sunday. We decided to visit the Australian Museum, specifically the Egyptian exhibit and the rocks. It was one of the best Egyptian exhibits I've been to--not because it featured a famous pharaoh's tomb or lots of gold treasure (it didn't), but because it had lots of context for each piece it displayed. Too many museums just stop at the date, name, and material for describing a piece. This one had much more. For instance on one tombstone they explained each scene, even listing off the food stuffs that were depicted (duck, bread, etc.)

Since my mom loves rocks, and I'm dating someone who's also fascinated by them [And who might that be? Also? No pictures of the rocks. Sad. - Jon], we went to see the rocks and minerals permanent exhibit at the museum. They really have a huge collection. It covers nearly an entire floor. Mom told me the names of lots of the rocks, but I was all, "ooh! This one is sparkly!" and, "Look how green that one is!" Even though I don't know so much about minerals or rocks anymore, I loved looking at all the crystals and the vivid colors. There was rhodochrosite, a red rock that my parents also find in Colorado sometimes, malachite, a really, really green rock, amethyst, lots and lots of quartz, and, of course, tons of other minerals, too. The displays at the beginning did a good job of explaining how different rocks are formed, but we went through the exhibit backwards to avoid people so I didn't see them until the end. I did learn that rubies and sapphires come from the same mineral, corundum. Someone had donated a very extensive collection of minerals to the museum and those were all display, too. Thanks to my mom there were regular visits to rock shops and Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art over the years, so I've seen a lot of rocks. The ones at the Australian museum are quite impressive.

We swung by the birds exhibit, but then we were museumed-out, and headed home. It is worth mentioning that the cafeteria had gluten-free muffins, and they both looked and tasted good. I had an almond-raspberry one. It was pretty fluffy, very tasty, and not gritty at all. I might go back just to buy another one.

Sigh. I'm so far behind posting!

We woke up on Saturday, October 24, and unexpectedly still had sunny weather. We quickly made plans to go visit Manly Beach, though we delayed it briefly to stop at the Potts Point Farmers Market. There were only two or three vendors selling fresh produce, but I didn't mind since Fratelli Fresh has such good produce on a daily basis. The rest of the vendors were selling value-added products like bread, jams, hot foods, soaps--one in particular was entirely gluten free food! I kept looking at their blackboard just to double-check what I was seeing was real. We bought some meat pies, a roll, and a couple cupcakes to try. The roll was a disappointment, very eggy. I plan to turn it into bread pudding or french toast where the egginess will work well. The cupcakes were rich but tasty. My favorite was the chocolate hazelnut. It managed to be fluffy and no gritty or sticky aftertaste. Mom wants to save the meat pies for me, so you'll get a review of those in another week. I'm excited to try meat pies. One of my previous co-workers (Mike) is from Australia and talked longingly of those and Timtams when we used to work together. Jon is decidely not a fan, but a pie crust + meat sounds pretty good to me. I'll need to be sure to swim that day! [Despite what Susan says here, I actually like the pies. The good ones. But they vary in quality. I recommend Boomerangs in… Austin, Texas. :D - Jon]

Many of the trees in the park at Potts Point had knit coverings--perhaps the same people who covered the pole downtown.

It takes about 30 minutes by ferry to get to Manly from Circular Key, and it gives you a nice tour of the outer part of Sydney's harbours. We passed a bunch of sailboats sailing but clustered together. My theory is that they were racing, otherwise I can't imagine why the boats would want to be so close together. There was an excellent view of the CBD skyline as well. The boat sways a lot towards the end since you cross the mouth of the harbour that heads out to the ocean. It was rather exciting.

We walked from the ferry dock to the beach through the little downtown. There's a Coles that seem to span several blocks--it must be huge inside. Coles, unlike Kohls in the US, is a popular supermarket chain. I'm guessing that it is considered slightly downscale compared to Woolworths because there's a Coles at Kings Cross but a Woolworths in Potts Point. That said, I've found a lot of gluten free food at Coles, sometimes a better selection that Woolworths. The Coles at Bondi Junction in the shopping mall next to the train station has a really large selection of gluten free foods. It's easy to get there from Potts Point; you just get on the train and go two stops, walk out the train station, and you're practically there.

Even though it was sunny at the beach the wind kept things chilly, and Mom and I left our fleeces on. We sat on a bench next to the beach and again enjoyed the people watching. There was a class of people learning how to surf, and some teenage guys clumped together, just hanging out. They started out very far to my right, just standing around. Many of them had their arms crossed the whole time; they must have been cold in just their swim trunks but didn't want to be lame and put on more clothes to stay warm. Periodically a girl would join the group and then eventually wander off to the right. Not surprisingly the clump of guys slowly migrated to the right, following the cute girls. Occasionally a boy and a girl would break off and have one of those conservations where one person leans, then the other, then a little arm touching, and then the girl flounces off. Hours of entertainment.

 Eventually, though, we got up and walked up the beach because we wanted to visit the lookout at the end of it. We saw something a little bizarre: kids paddling out in the ocean on surfboards, and then just paddling right back to the shore, kicking their legs in the air. We have no idea why they were doing that.

There were lots of people snorkeling at one part of the beach, and when we walked out to some of the rocks on the edge of the beach we saw why. There were little crabs everywhere! Well, so long as we sat still we saw the crabs. There must have been even more marine life under the water. We sat for a long time at the rocks, pointing out crabs to each other. I'm sad we never saw any larger than 4 or so inches. We also passed some crazy large lizards on walk over to the rocks.

If you ignored the beach full of surfers and people in swim suits, you could almost imagine we were along the California coastline near Monterey.