#997 Vivid Sydney Festival

#997 Vivid Sydney Festival


Australia is know for our B -E- A - UTIFUL weather.

For a very short part of the year in Autumn/Winter the weather turns ...well... crap.


Just for a little bit. (never fear) 


So to confuse locals and tourists to distract us from it, Sydney puts on THE VIVID SYDNEY FESTIVAL! 

http://www.vividsydney.com

Its held in late May / June in Sydney on the EAST coast and  ITS FREE BABY, FREEEEEEEEEE

Light and sound installations are incorporated into famous buildings, like the Opera House, Customs House , MCA building and random items like these AWESOME Deep sea fishy taxis.

Yes thats right, this is a Taxi. WOOOOO! 

Take me to the vivid festival, Oh Fishy chariot! 

So if you feel like listening to quirky music with the psychedelic images flashing before you wherever you look, then the Vivid festival is for you!

VIVID FESTIVAL SYDNEY = AWESOME!!

# 988 Pink Lake

# 988 Pink Lake 

What colour is a lake? Blue ? Bluey Brown ? 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WRONG!
In Australia, we have a lake that is PINK!

Connect with your inner Barbie and visit the PINK LAKE on Australia's WEST coast.

 ACTUAL IMAGE - No photoshop here.
   


Fast Wikipaedia facts
Pink Lake is a salt lake in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.
It lies about 3 kilometres (2 mi) west of Esperance and is bounded to the East by the South Coast Highway.

The lake is not always pink in colour but the distinctive colour of the water when the lake is pink is a result of the green alga Dunaliella salina and the halobacterium Halobacteria cutirubrum. (otherwise known as candy pink icky algae)

Once the lake water reaches a salinity level greater than that of sea water, the temperature is high enough and adequate light conditions are provided, the alga begins to accumulate the red pigment beta carotene. In otherwise, summertime people!

 blah blah blah who cares its a super fluffy pinky lakey!!!

 Tour It http://www.crikey-adventure-tours.com/pink-lake.html

 Visit the area http://www.pinklakepark.com.au/index.html


 PINK LAKE = AWESOME!!!

# 989 EPIC NOMS

# 989 EPIC NOMS

Australia is 100% FAIR DINKUM a land of foodies.
FOOD?? We love to eat it, blog about it, have festivals full of it, display an expo of it and sit on our couch at home and watch others battle it out to make it (AKA Masterchef, Junior Masterchef, My Kitchen Rules etc) or crown every chef in the town a celebrity chef.

We love our food oooooh so much and we have ooooh so much to choose from!
When the question is "what do you want to eat", you have to go through hundreds of cuisine options! Chinese Yum Cha, Burgers, Spanish tapas , Malaysian satays, Italian pizza pastas and antipasto, Sushi, Vegetarian, Indian curry's , Fruits, Thai every things, Seafood , tasty tasty Pies , Banger Sangas, Schnitzels and other German delights, dumplings , French pastries and cheeses, cupcakes, kebabs , Mexican fajitas and burritos , lovely lamb , Moroccan and many many many more.

Mentioned earlier in number "#995 Pub Grub & A Chinese Restaurant" yes we have some bare basic staples in every town. But thats just the tip of the iceberg. Nay, the icicle on the tip of the tip of the iceberg. if you live in a big metro city, the world is your oyster. Or your burger, or whatever the tasty treat you want it to be.

Taking a walk through Sydney town, you want it, we got it. Whatever your raging craving is, you can find a wee little place that serves it somewhere in our city.
And we have it with swagger my friend...

Here's just a sample of some awesome venues I've either personally sampled or had someone rave to me about..

PREPARE TO DROOL, FOR AUSSIELAND HAS EPIC NOMS THAT ARE AWESOME!
THE DIP! - http://thedip.com.au



Head over to Chocolatesuze.com for an AMAZING food journey blog! No only does she go to some amazing food spots in Australia, she takes beautiful photos of it too! These two pic's, courtesy of her blog.
mmmmmmm MACARONS!! DAAAMN!


Donuts with Bacon? Couldn't you just die! (also from chocolatesuze.com)



The very creatively named "Bird Cow Fish". Where I had the BEST PERSIAN FETA EVER!.

mmmmmm South Cape Persian Feta. How I love thee.


South South Cape Persian Fetta with salad of roasted pumpkin and baby spinach leaves, dressed with some of the oil and balsamic vinegar..... heaven...

# 990 Summer Festivals

Summer festivals are Awesome in Australia!

No matter what your music or entertainment genre, we have a festival for it in Australia. Growing at huge speed in popularity and variety, music festivals in January are a plenty and there's way too many to choose from now!

Sun + Booze + Music + Summertime = YAY MUSIC FESTIVAL!

Here's Just a few we have in Sydney in Summertime!

Big Day Out
Future Music festival
Laneway Festival
Falls festival
Pyramid Rock
Stereosonic
East Coast Blues & roots
SummaDayze
Field Day
Good Vibrations
Homebake
Groove in the Moo
Park Life
Soundwave


See the full list and their music genre's (Thanks Wikipedia!) at
MUSIC FESTIVALS IN OZ Link.

# 991 East Coast Whale highway

# 991 East Coast Whale highway

Australia's east coast, and all the other coasts, (but especially east coz i live there and im biased) Are AWESOME!

Why? Whale playgrounds and migrations!!

Picture this.

You are out on the ocean in your Sea Kayak just minding your own business and
BAAAAAAAAM!
You get visitors.



This pic taken at Kiama by Kayak Game Fishing .
Not too shabby at all!

The NSW South Coastal towns such as Gerringong, Kiama, Jervis Bay, North in Byron Bay and in Queensland in Hervey Bay are prime spots for scheduling a date to meet a flippy pal.

# 992 Taking the piss

# 992 Taking the piss

No I don't mean going to the toilet for some number one-sies, I'm referring to what we Aussies call taking-the-mickey, cracking-a-joke, sending-it-up. Taking the piss!!
It's our light hearted way of taking something which is fine in its own right and making it all kinds of MORE AWESOME! Having a go at something for a laugh.

Exhibit A (and a nice one for the festive season)
LMFAO's "Sexy & i know it" film clip.



Exhibit B
The Aussie taking-the-piss version of LMFAO's "Sexy & i know it" film clip.
Awesome.

# 993 Fluffy But Fiesty Critters

# 993 Fluffy But Fiesty Critters


Naaaaw let's cuddle the fluffy fluffy tassie devil, rrrrrrrraaahhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrnnnnnnaaaa
That's the sound of it biting your arm off...

Yes many of our Aussie critters look oh so cute and lovely but have a fiesty cranky snappy ouch ouch little bite to them. When one of these little bad boys crunch down, there are some bones-a-snapping.

Now only rarely found in the Tasmanian wilderness and zoo's everywhere, The Tasmanian Devil has a big head, big ears and stores fat in it's tail for snacking on when times are tough. It's a nocturnal meat-eating scavenger marsupial with a spine chilling screech. Still sound cuddly?

Tassie Devils are now protected in Australia, so we can use then as an Army of Awesome beasts to attack.... i dunno.... killer chickens...

Aussie Tasmanian Devils are AWESOME!

# 994 Pink Diamonds

# 994 Pink Diamonds

From deep within the Australian soil comes one of natures prettiest natural treasures, the Pink Diamond.

Nothing compares to it's colour and brilliance and it's super dooper valuable and coveted worldwide.

Australia produces 90% of the worlds pink diamonds from our Kimberley region, which is a hotspot of creepy , bitey , snappy , ouchy wildlife and beauty.

So if you like it and your gonna put a ring on it,
(and have a berjeebers load of cash)
consider an AWESOME Australian Pink Diamond.

# 995 Pub Grub & A Chinese Restaurant

# 995 Pub Grub & A Chinese Restaurant

No matter how far or how wide you roam in Australia, no matter how teeny tiny the town in that you are visiting, you will most likely find the two food gems of Oz.

The Pub Grub and a Chinese Restaurant.
OR
the double bunger bonus,
the Pub with bistro and attached chinese restaurant all in the one happy place.

Yes we Aussies love our Mixed Grill , bacon and egg rolls and sweet and sour pork with special fried rice soooo much it hurts.

We will always know the local dodgy version of both places, and will sing the praises of our tried and tested favourite favourites.

Heaven knows where these isolated rural towns get their chinese food supplies but they have been a fixture in towns around australia since almost day one, where you can order every item on the menu and it will be ready in 15 minutes.

At the pub you can order all of our "Aussie Favourites" like
Schnitzel (not australian)
Chicken Parmagiana (not australian)
Bacon & Eggs (not australian)
Risotto (not australian)
Fish & Chips (not australian)
and the old Steak Special.. (ok maybe we can claim this one)

So we pay hommage to our English Ancestory and Asian Geographical placement with the tried & true, Pub Grub & Chinese feed.... Awesome..

# 996 The City to Surf Race

# 996 The City to Surf Race

The City to Surf is held in lovely Sydney early in August just as the weather starts to warm from winter. It's the world's largest run and an Aussie favourite event.

Over 80,000 people run in the race and in Awesome Aussie style has about 1/2 the people running seriously, while the other half are just out for a good time, many dressed in fancy dress and team costumes.

It's pretty tame in race marathon standards at only 14km distance from Sydney’s CBD , through the tunnel at Kings Cross and Rose Bay, up “Heartbreak Hill” (the halfway point)then down hill to spectacular Bondi Beach.

CITY 2 SURF Race , AWESOME!

# 997 Ray Meagher

# 997 Ray Meagher

Stone the flaming crows its Ray Meagher!

Superstar longest continuing performer in an Australian television role, as Alf Stewart on Home and Away, having played the role since the first episode in 1988.

Home & Away is an Aussie soap which has been a favourite here and especially in the UK for many many years, and it's rock is most definetly Alf Stewart.

Finally recognised for his long stint on Home & Away in 2010, Ray won the Gold Logie voted by the Aussie Public.

Love ya you Flamin Galah!

RAY MEAGHER Makes Australia AWESOME

# 998 The Sneaky August Change

#998 The Sneaky August Change

Living in Australia can involve everything from sunbathing on the beach in scorching summers to knocking snow off your boots after a day of skiing and from sweating out the humidity during the build-up at the beginning of the wet season, to wrapping up snug and waiting at the bus stop in the pouring rain.

The winter here goes from June to August and quite often in early August, Australia gets a sneaky peak of the coming Spring. A warm snap for a good few days to tease us as a temptation of the beautiful 9 months that are ahead. Its just enough to keep us all sane through the last tiny bit of the cold winter.

The Clouds dissapear to reveal the blue skies, the smell of BBQ's fill the air, jackets come off and everyones moods lift significantly while we all drink up the glorious warm for a few days and nights.

The sneaky August weather change makes Australia AWESOME!

# 999 Dinosaur Stampede!

# 999 Dinosaur Stampede!

Australia is awesome because it has a genuine dinosaur stampede recorded in our scorched earth!

Were they in a race for some delicious milo? we will never know.

The Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways are 120km southwest of Winton in central Queesnland.

The Story goes that one dino day around 95 million years ago, a large herd of awesome aussie two-legged dinosaurs gathered on the edge of a lake and in a rush to avoid being eaten for breakfast they took off like a melbourne cup racehorse in the muddy flats, leaving their Aussie dino mess of 3300 footprints fossilised in the mud.

Other theorists suggest that because it was Australia, they were obvoiusly in some kind of sporting race with the big heavy guy coming last.

Either way, Aussie Dino Stampede is AWESOME

http://www.dinosaurtrackways.com.au/

# 1000 Super Bright Cash

Australian currency, well the notes anyway, are AWESOME.

In 1988 , the year we celebrated our bi-centenary the country got just a little bit excited. It was decided the Aussie landscape of our currency notes was a bit dull and needed some sprucing up.

Enter the Fiver, The Blue Heeler, The Red Back , The Pineapple and the Greenback.

Psychedelic Polymer banknotes!

They are SUPER Bright coloured, recyclable, much cleaner than paper money and can survive a spin in the washing machine intact.

Other than Queen Elizabeth on the $5 , it's pretty safe to assume a lot of Australians don’t have a clue who the people are on our currency. But who needs to know when you can spot what note it is from 50 meters away!

Aussie Money is AWESOME

# 1001 MILO

MILO

Not Happy with the non-MILO state of the world, Thomas Mayne sat down in Sydney in 1934 and concocked up this tasty treat that Australian's cant get enough of.

No longer were our options restricted to Coffee and Tea but we also had the third most AWESOME option, which was Milo.

So much did we love it that we even associated it with all things sporting in the Milo Tv comercials. So Aussies can't possibly excel at their favourite sporting pastime unless they have a big dollup of milky milo goodness in their bellies swooshing around.

Whether having it with Hot Milk, Crunchy on top in cold milk or like a chocolate snowstorm on your ice cream,

MILO IS WHY AUSTRALIA IS AWESOME



IMAGE: Milo.com.au