2025 India & Oz Trip: Day 18 - Sydney

Day 18 - The Wander

I'd done a few of the staple Sydney tourist things on my trip twelve years back, like a tour of the Opera House, a dinner cruise around Sydney Harbor, going to the top of the CN-Tower like building they have for a meal. That's not to say there is no need to repeat these things - particularly I wanted to do the Opera House again, but I looked for tickets too late as it gets booked quite a bit in advance. But I awoke on my last full non-travel day of the vacation without much of a particular plan of what to do in the afternoon. I specify afternoon because i had a plan for the morning - to see to Taronga Zoo.

I'm generally not a Zoo person, because they normally showcase African animals - so in a sense seeing a giraffe in Sydney is no different than seeing a giraffe in Philadelphia, and both are less good than when I saw a giraffe in Botswana in the wild. But the exception in that sense is the Taronga Zoo gives most of its grounds to Australian fauna. Granted, they have an Africa section, and some Asian animals, and are building a second Africa area, but even once that is complete, the Australian parts will still be quite a bit larger.

The Tarongo Zoo is in North Sydney (most of what we call Sydney is South of the harbor), but traffic hasn't really been an issue in Australia overall, adn within about 20 minutes I was  at the entrance. It was a windy day, with a stated temperature of about 58 degrees, so it was definitely a bit chilly. That probably had an impact on some of the animals you would imagine, especially again the Africa areas. That said, I did still see some giraffes, a lot of lions, some meerkats adn what not as i raced through the Africa part. 

The Taronga Zoo is built basically into teh cliffs so from ground level where you enter, it goes down quite a bit to the bay (you can technically take a ferry to the grounds). You also get an amazing view of Sydney from the Zoo - honestly I would say the best view of the city is from the Zoo. From the Africa area, I went lower towards the seal and penguin areas, which were adorable. And then back up to the large Australia section which was a delight - more koalas, many kangaroos, a really nice nocturnal section with various billbys and platapuses (a first!). I left the Taronga Zoo feeling it was a super worthwhile trip, but also a sense of sadness that I won't see koalas anymore. They are just too cute.

Back in Sydney, I headed to Porkfat for lunch, which is a fairly trendy Thai restaurant. I will say, the food was very good, but also pretty standard, in a sense that this restaurant could easily be a Thai restaurant in New York. It would also be popular there as well, but there was nothing more unique about it. My starter of a fried pork belly was nice, if a bit too fatty, and the main of a braised beef penang curry was awesone. Again, the restaurant is really good, but unlike the coolness of the pot pie rendang for instance the day earlier, this was a bit too traditional.

After lunch, my idea was just to wander and wander. First was a long loop starting from the edge of the Art Museums, through the Botanical Gardens which on the other end spits you out at the Opera House. The gardens were lovely, including getting to drop by what looked like a great wedding at a picturesque area. The gardens and the city in general were setting up for the Sydney marathon which is tomorrow (and could really make my exiting the city a lot trickier. 

The Opera House was gleaming, it really is such a unique building, and a cloud-free Saturday, the area around it was buzzing with life - locals and tourists alike. As was the whole Cirle Quay area - with just great angles of the Harbor Bridge, the Opera House, the series of skyscapers in the other direction. It's all just a great scene. 

My last bit of wandering was at Bondi Beach, a famous beach east of the city, which starts a series of beaches that crop up between cliffs southward. Bondi is beautiful, and was packed, despite the cold weather. Many surfer, many people just lazing around. People just enjoying the world that they're in. I took the trail from Bondi, past two other beaches and a series of cliffs and whatnot. I went for about 30 minutes, but it goes far beyond as well.

From there, I headed past town back to the Newton suburb, to try one last brewery, Batch Brewing - and I'm glad I did, because this one was great. The beer choices were excellent, their milk stout was divine, enough so taht I took a four pack to take home. The crowd was great, the energy was great. They had free wifi (which I'm increasingly learning is very much not normal for Australia). Batch Brewing, I wish more breweries in Australia were like you.

Dinner was at Saint Peter, one of Sydney's most notable restaurants, for a few different reasons. Firstly, their seafood only menu, second for how creatively they use seafood. For instance, their first course is called "fish charcuterie" which literally is what looks like a charcuterie plate of sausages, hams, salamis and two terrines all made from fish. It's a mindplay, it's crazy, but it's perfect. The meal was great, probably my favorite of my time in Australia - which given ti was also the most expensive, is probably a good thing.

Also good were my final go around at PS40, trying out three more of their cocktails, and Oxford Art Factory, catching a great show in their main stage. PS40 is just a really good spot - the bartenders are great, the cocktails are interesting, not too strong, not too sweet, and fun to watch be made. Oxford Art Factory had a local notable DJ who was just on fire - a perfect level of house/EDM, just a great time. The crowd was fully into it, with probably 60% of them (me included) staying for the follow-up act that started at 2:30am. I left around 3:15am, the place still about 40% full. Oxford Art Factory still being a great spot, every bit as good as my memory (if not better) is one of the true joys of this vacation, and a perfect way to effectively end my time in Sydney.

2025 India & Oz Trip: Day 17 - Sydney

Day 17 - The Chicago/Toronto of the South

I love comparing international cities to US ones, especially in English speaking countries. For isntance, Chicago and Toronto are basically the same thing. Even geographically they are, just rotated 90 degrees. Sydney from my memory was very much like these two, and after a full day traversing a lot of it, I agree in some parts, but also find some unique elements or ones that are more similar for me to San Francisco (more hilly than I remember) or London (pubs and what-not). But overall, Sydney feels big in a way Chicago and Toronto (and of course a New York) do, and why shouldn't it - an Alpha+ city, the biggest one in one of the world's top-10 per capita GDP countries. 

Anyway, enough hagiography, let's actually talk about Sydney. From my AirBNB in Darlinghurst, I'm about a 10-min walk to Hyde Park (yes, they have one of those too), so that's where I started my day, first with a quick traipse through the Australia Museum, which was small but still nice in terms of the exhibits and especially their dinasaur exhibit. I did take offense that they featured a ton of dinosaurs that absolutely did not leave in Australia (mainly, the T-Rex), but still it was effective. From there, I walked through Hyde Park, took a quick stop into St. Mary's Cathedral, which I will say is more impressive from the outside than teh inside but that's more a credit to its regality from the outside. Finally, I headed over to Darling Harbour, one of Sydney's main two Harbors/Bays, to catch the first view of Sydney's truly great skyline, beaming into a bright, sunny day (I've gotten really lucky in terms of weather). The walk from Hyde Park to Darling Harbour took me past a lot of CBD roads, lanes, pedestrian areas, with old, regal buildings and shops and stuff that to me were more like London than either Chicago or Toronto, still quite beautiful though.

My lunch was nominally near Darling Harbour, at Ho Jiak a bustling Malaysian spot serving upmarket Malaysian fare? How upmarket? Well, my main was an incredible "Beef Rendang Pot Pie", which was basically a rendang baked and served inside an all encompassing roti - inventive, brilliant and incredibly tasty, as was my starter of beef satay. Ho Jiak is the type of place I could see myself coming back to often had I lived here (and another reminder to me how annoying it is that Hoboken's lone Malaysian spot closed two years back - granted becaues the owners were retiring).

After lunch, I continued the museum circuit, which also took me nicely to Circle Quay - the main harbor of Sydney where you find the Harbor Bridge, the Opera House, and many other tall buildings. The first spot was their Museum of Contemporary Art, which was nice but probably missable. It isn't too big, so it won't take anyone long, but also for once for Australia required you to, gasp, pay for your entry. The big plus of the museum was its location, smack dab on Circle Quay, opposite the sparkling Opera House, which I had forgotten about how unique it truly was. 

I took the long way to the next museum - the Art Gallery of New South Wales, walking around Circle Quay, taking a few snaps in front of hte Opera House, then walking around the edge of the Botanical Gardens (which I'll explore fully tomorrow) finally leading to the two-building Art Gallery, one featuring a mix of International (but nicely, mostly Asian and, oddly, North Amerian) and Australian art, and the other featuring Aboriginal Art. That was a perfect way to split the two, where you can really get lost. 

**quick aside, to put this in the Toronto camp, I like that this is now the fourth large Commonwealth Metropolis I've been to where the main art museum bears the name of the State/Province and not the city - see here, the Queensland Art Gallery for Brisbane, the National Gallery of Victoria for Melbourne, and going back to my title for the post, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto**

Of all the art museums I've been to on this trip (six of them now), this was the best to me. First, the had the European stuff tucked in one corner, but kept most of it to other art work. The number of great pieces in both museums were great. The paid exhibit in the newer building, the one featuring Aboriginal Art, was amazing, featuring the aboriginal art from one specific tribe. The poles, didgeridoos, tapestries and even standard paintings, all of it was great. In the main museum, they also had a ton of peices that were perfectly up my alley, showcasing deep colors, straight lines, popping visuals. The whole experience was just great.

From here, I ventured out Westward towards Newtown, which very much had a North York / Ossington type feel (or Wrigleyville), with streets of two-story buildings with cafes, restaurants, stores, bars on the ground floor all quite new, modern and inviting. The venture out towards this area was nominally to go to a brewery, which ended up being a bit trite. The first one I went to had no WiFi and not the best beer selection. The second I went to, Willie the Boatman, was better, but also in a warehouse type setup (like a real, real warehouse) which wasn't the most inviting. Again, the only real knock I have on Australia so far is their craft beer, aside from Sea Legs in Brisbane.

Dinner was at Firedoor, one of the restaurants featured on Somebody Feed Phil - but let it be known, I booked prior to the new season coming out (same is true of tomorrow night at Saint Peter). It is a tasting menu spot where the conceit is every dish is either fully or partially cooked over the open embers in the kitchen (which are beautiful and keep the space quite toasty). The meal was quite good, though I do wish there was something more cohesive about it. Granted, that's more my issue with these English / close enough to American countries. Like, in the end this is Australian cuisine, but other than the ingredients, there isn't much notable. Granted, since some of the ingredients were a local squid farmed in Queensland, or kangaroo, you get some pretty great stuff. More to come on my full breakdown later.

The one critique I would have is dinner did take a while, and I wanted to get to the EDM spot by 1am or so, which left me likmited options for the ~2 hrs in between. In the end, I went with PS40, which was a lot more crowded (granted, today is Friday). I had to stand for about 20 minutes before a bar counter stool opened up, and I could remain there for the rest of it. The place was buzzing, the drinks were great - at this point me having tride about 60% of their given menu (and most of the remaining 40% are close to no-go's for me). The place is really quite nice.

Same can be said of where I ended the night. Quick backstory - when I came to Sydney last in 2013, my cousin Vikram was on a project in Australia and came to Sydney that same weekend. We met up Saturday (or maybe Friday) night and went to a couple places before happening upon the Oxford Art Factory, a multi-room performing space focusing on EDM/Hip-Hop/House/etc. on the buzzing Oxford Street. We went, had way too many drinks but enjoyed the hell out of it. I have some great memories of a projector playing random music videos that did not in any way correlate to the music the DJ was spinning, but who cares because the various 200 or so Australians were just having a good time. It was a great night.

Tonight I went back. This is quite easily the longest gap between visiting a club so I was a bit nervous. Reviews still held it as a top spot. The event I got tickets for, which is basically just five local Sydney amateur DJs trading off, seemed right up my alley. I went in, and immediately did think it was a bit smaller - guessing they lost some space during covid, and the orientation changed (i.e. bar was on the other side as before) but man was the night incredible. The five DJs were spearheaded by the one who played second (when I got there) who was a really cool Aussie chick, as were DJs #3 and #4. #5 was a visiting friend of theirs from Queensland, who I guess is more known in the Aussie scene. The crowd wasn't the biggest - maybe 100 when I got there, maybe 30 by the time I left at 3:15am (closed at 3:45), with most of those 30 being people who knew this group personally. Still, being one of the few outsiders who hung on ingratiated me with the group, so by the end I got to know a few of the 30. I even got invited to various parties in subsequent weekends - me too sad or drunk to tell them I was leaving. Anyway, as a way to end the night, the fact the Oxford Art Factory was this good after all these years was just a perfect way to end the day.

2025 India & Oz Trip: Day 16 - Gold Coast to Sydney

Day 16 - The Golden Hours

So, about an hour south of Brisbane is a city called Gold Coast, part of a larger area called the Gold Coast. There's a ton of beaches, surfing, beauty, and all the like. People that come to Brisbane often visit it. In the beginning I was planning on spending a night there, and because it was going to be the last day of my time in Queensland, I had booked to leave from Gold Coast's airport. After doing more research into Brisbane, I felt that was cutting my time there too short, and a lot of Gold Coast's appeal is outdoorsy stuff that I assumed was going to be too cold to do. So in the end, I decided to just see Gold Coast for half a day, and because Gold Coast as an area is quite sprawling (it's about 30 min drive from their downtown to their airport) I had planned to rent a car.

Only last night, I got cold feet about driving and also didn't want to deal with the hassle of what was an unclear rental pickup sitaution in Brisbane. So I scratched that, got an uber at 9am down to Gold Coast to what was in theory my main point of tourism, the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. Couple this with Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, and my plans to see the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, and I'm dedicating a lot of time to seeing Aussie creatures - which in my view makes perfect sense given how notable these particular creatures are, how singular they are to this continent.

Currumbin is a lot like Lone Pine, except instead of featuring koalas, they feature kangaroos. Not to say they don't have koalas, but they are far less plentiful. They did have a large expansive area towards the end where kangaroos roam free - maybe in not as high a number as they did in the Phillip Island Kangaroo park we went to in 2013, but it was similar in intent. We even found one kangaroo that had a joey in its pouch that poked its ear, hand, legs out. A group of five of us waited probably ten minutes to see if it would come out fully but never did. Still, it was a pleasure to spend time in such close proximity to these marvelous hoppers.

Currumbin is more than just kangaroos though. First of all, it is surprisingly large given it sits inside a town in the Gold Coast. Like there are just normal houses across the street and it seems like it would be small but is quite sprawling. They also had a really nice nocturnal animals set-up where they actually take you inside a small building that is blacked out where you can actually get a peek at some of these. Granted, I'm sure some environmentalists would say it is cruel to make these animals think it is perpetually night time or whatever, but it beats Lone Pine having them in open air areas where unsurprisngly 95% of them were sleeping.

From Currumbin, I went a bit further upwards about halfway between Currumbin and the main Gold Coast city, to the town of Burleigh, whose beach is the southern end of a series of beaches leading up to the main city. From teh beach here you get a nice view of Gold Coast's surprisingly nice skyline, and of course the just glistening beach. Before I went to the beach though, took a quick stop in one of Burleigh's many restaurant filled alleys to stop for a conveyor sushi lunch - not the best, not the worst, but efficient and having maybe the coldest coke zero can ever. 

The whole town of Burleigh reminded me so much of San Diego. The whole set-up down, in a way. San Diego also has the small downtown with nice skyline, but if anything is more notable for endless picturesque beach towns bordering it - ones like here with Burleigh. The weather was also San Diego like, a perfect 73 degrees (again in their late Winter), to which an uber driver told me in Summer it will generally cap out aroudn 85. Perfect - the town added to that with the pristine beach (cold, cold water though) and beautiful people strolling around in beach clothes in the middle of the day on a Thursday.

I enjoyed my little respite in the Gold Coast, and if anything added it to my mental trip for a potential third trip to Australia, a list including it and Perth for the time being (when this will happen? who knows, but I doubt it will be another twelve years). I got to the airport way too early given how quick the check in and security was, which was annoying but gave me time to watch the latest episode of Alien: Earth (very good!). The flight to Sydney was fine, though we were held circling for about twenty minutes. The scheduled landing was 6pm, to which we landed at 6:20pm, with a dinner booking at 7:45pm - not to worry though as by the time I got to the conveyor, the bags were coming out, and Sydney is notable for having its airport be quite close to city center, and by 7pm I was checking into my AirBNB in Darlinghurst.

My meal was at Kiln, a fusion/australian eatery, in the Essa mold, which of course had a banquet menu, to which of course I chose to partake in. Out of the three, ti probably had the best snacks - they had a kangaroo tartater nori which was amazing, as was a yellowtail preparation. However, their main beef dish was probably the weakest main I've had at these banquet spots. As with all of them I didn't finish every course, but that isn't really the idea. It's basically getting a chance to taste a panoply of their dishes (generally they are all on the a-la-carte menu also) for like 1.5x the price of ordering an app, main and dessert. 

From Kiln, I wanted to check out a few cocktail spots - the first being a speakeasy named The Barbershop. Why? Well, because the door is hidden in the back wall of a barbershop (which I would learn as I write this part of it the following day, is a real active barbershop). The place is large, they serve primarily gin and gin-based drinks, from martinis to Gintonica's (the Brazilian inspired types), to various gin cocktails both their own and old classics. It was a really effective spot and a great way to start the night.

From there I went around the block to PS40, a more notable cocktail spot that when I arrived was fairly empty - the bartender telling me that i was lucky I came then, as about 20 minutes earlier it was packed. I would question this but Google's live business meter said the same. The cocktails here are more varied, inventive (one involved a sous vide) and vibrant - very much my type of place.

Thursday Night isn;'t a notable club/EDM one in Sydney - granted, that's the case everywhere, but very much so here. But there was one place that was on my lsit for drinks / casual enjoyment that also had a live DJ on Thursday Nights and clsoed at 3am (I left at 2am, but the two prior cocktail spots both closed at 1am) and that was The Soda Factory. Honestly, it was fantastic, but not sure if that's because it was perfectly suited for me on this particular day - the DJ playing all 00's and '10's hip hop and house, a crowd of about 30-50 all in the say 25-36 age range. Drinks weren't expensive. The Soda Factory hit all the marks, even if I won';t be back - I have my sights set on bigger things for my last two days in Australia.

2025 India & Oz Trip: Day 15 - Brisbane

Day 15 – The Top of Brisbane

The one thing I haven’t really done yet on my trip yet is a real hike. Granted, for me a hike isn’t really a hike – it is more of a trek with some uphill and maybe a few rocks. I tell people I like to go hiking, but I gather the more official term to use is “trailing” or some such. No ropes, no added gear, no risks in that sense. But anyway, I probably do more than most, but so far I had not lived up to that on this trip, and my body was feeling a bit bloated for it. So this morning, I changed all that, going over to Mount Coot-Tha, the tall hill (truthfully, calling it a mountain is a stretch) to the West of the city. The grounds also hold the Botanical Gardens of Brisbane at its base. In something of a Cape Town-like set-up, there is a back entrance to the Botanical Gardens accessible by trial where you can basically through that enter for free.

The hike to the top of Mount Coot-Tha wasn’t all that difficult, going up about 500 feet in elevation over 1.3 miles. Not close to the most strenuous, but also not the lightest either. What was nice is that it was shade covered for most of it, which was helpful given the beautiful sun-soaked sky. As we were in winter, there was not much vegetation or flowers to be found, but it was still quite a pretty hike. The real treat though is at the top, with a birds eye view of blissful Brisbane. What was weird is from this particular angle, you can’t really make out the curvature of Brisbane around its river. In fact, it is hard to make out there is a river at all – just an agglomeration of buildings cropping up from the greenery.

The hike down was slightly different (as it needed to lead to the back entrance of the gardens), and I will say I did get slightly lost. All thanks to AllTrails app though for having for more clear guidance in their app map than the signs in the area. The hike down was a bit more barren and honestly quite steep (downwards) at times, but in the end I did reach the botanical gardens. It is almost comical how similar this is to the Contour Path ending in Kirstenbosch, as similarly you find yourself at the very extreme end of the gardens. Now, nicely for me, unlike Kirstenbosch, the Brisbane Botanical Gardens are not set-up in a giant oval, but rather a lot more rectangular, making it easier to not really miss anything despite entering at the back end.

The Gardens were quite full given it was a weekday and in their winter, but, as I’m learning, winter is not really a thing in Brisbane. The weather was perfect, the gardens were super well manicured. Yes, there weren’t a lot of flowers, but the trees were great, there were birds aplenty, and a lot of beautiful trees. Combined with the peak of Mount Coot-Tha (reachable by car as well), this is a good way to spend a few hours in Brisbane.

Anotehr great way to spend a few hours is what I did after lunch at Yoko. Lunch was notable in a way as it got me to see the under the bridge area of New Farm. The bridge in question is the Story Bridge, one of the more traditional (read: uglier) bridges crossing the Brisbane River, but underneath it on the north end of the river is a beautiful area of restaurants, breweries and life. Yoko was one of these – a Japanese place that had a nice lunch sashimi set menu that I took in, the food being about as good as the glorious view of Brisbane, even if a non-traditional view given how far upstream we were in a sense (or downstream – no idea which direction the river runs). After lunch I walked further north to a really nice small art gallery / handicraft store, at the moment featuring a set of homeware sculptures from 12 different Queensland sculpturs. After quite a bit of perusing, I picked one piece to take home. My only real sad point is none of them felt uniquely Australian in their look (to me, at least), but all were quite beautiful – including many beautiful at price ranges I was unwilling to meet.

From there, I took an uber to basically near the Art Museums, to start a long walk the reverse direction on the South Bank – passing all the stuff from yesterday, but then taking the curve towards the other side of downtown – the cliffs on the south side there being known as the Kangaroo Cliffs (sadly, not because there are any of the eponymous animal). You can either walk the cliffs at the bottom banks, where there are some running tracks, sculptures, etc., or at the top level, which gives a better view of Brisbane proper. Both are great, though on the whole the Kangaroo Cliffs side of the river is less built up than the Southbank side.

That said, at the end of the road (plus about 10 more minutes walk inland) was SeaLegs Brewing, which is probably the best craft brewery I’ve been to in my time in Australia. Large open warehouse, tons of different beer options on tap, even quite an extensive food menu, though I didn’t have any food. It was about half full when I got there at 5, and pretty much 80% full when I left around 6:15pm. Tried half pours of three beers, including a truly fantastic stout. All in all, a great spot – and just a few minutes from a world class view.

My dinner tonight was the only proper tasting menu (i.e. not a “banquet menu”) in my time in Brisbane, at their most reputed restaurant Exhibition. The place seems at first like a speakeasy type entrance, but soon enough you are sat in a small room that seats about 25, all decked out in black and spotlights, and you watch a team of talented chefs just go to town. I’ll cover all the courses in my normal end of trip write-up of the tasting menus (this being the second one, after Tresind to start the trip what feels like four weeks ago), but suffice to say, it was incredibly inventive, sharp and pointed. Great stuff, including one of the most talkative, yet down-to-earth somelliers I’ve met, who suggested sakes to me like a master despite me not going for any pairing.

Afterwards, with the night still young (as finally I had a dinner at a normal, from Brisbane, time of 7pm), I first went to Dr. Gimlette, another very nice cocktail bar that happened to be the ground floor above Exhibition. This one is also owned by the same group as Antico and Death & Taxes. I will say, other than them all sharing a nice menu style of having a sketch of how the drink will look, there’s nothing all too similar about these places, nor gimmicky (i.e. there isn’t one tequila focused one vs. whiskey focused). They’re all seemingly just really good.

From there, I went back to Death & Taxes, which was packed and I snagged the last bar seat. I tried a couple new cocktails but ended wuth the same one I ended yesterday with, called The Green Man, which is a lovely absinthe and whiskey cocktail that is just lovely and velvety and minty and I already want to go back and have another. From there, I walked a few blocks down to Turquise Kebab, had another lovely kebab to end the night – as I like to do in any city.

That basically ended my time in Brisbane, as I will be heading to Gold Coast tomorrow during the day and then Sydney in the evening for the last leg of the trip (not including I guess 18 hours in Auckland). On the whole, I don’t think I spent too little time in Brisbane, but I do wish maybe I came here for a weekend. You really get the best sense of a city on a weekend – already I’ve seen it be more full on Wednesday than ti was Tuesday than it was Monday (the exception being Mexico Mondays at the Brooklyn Standard). There are a couple nice sounding EDM clubs and the like – but obviously those are open Thu/Fri/Sat. Granted, that’s also true of the places in Sydney. In the end, I don’t regret the decision of saving Sydney for the weekend, but I do think Brisbane deserves it’s due.

I can see why this city earned itself an Olympics (granted, like any host they had to pay up…). It is a world class city. From my travelling around, I saw no real mediocre area, let alone bad areas. Just I guess some slightly empty ones. It has one of the best riverfronts of any city I’ve been to. It has a glistening, shiny quality that I wasn’t expecting. There is a niceness, a pleasantness, a calmness to the people. From what I understand, mining is basically making the money here, but enjoying amazing weather seems to be doing a lot of the work as well. Brisbane is easily worth visiting or adding to an Australia itinerary – I would say more so than Melbourne purely as a place to spend a few days.

2025 India & Oz Trip: Day 14 - Brisbane

Day 14 - Kuddly Koalas

Today was cloudy. It never rained. It never really threatened to rain. It was also a perfect 70 degrees. But because it was cloudy for moreso the morning part of the day, it caused me to call an audible and basically flip the activities I was initially planning for today with tomorrow (when it would be spotless blue without a speck of a cloud). Not like this required a whole lot of challenging manuevering or anything, but it was quite a last minute thing. What it did though is lead my first bit of tourism in Brisbane to be arguably my favorite - a visit to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

As its name indicates, the stars of the show are the koalas, these little fluffballs of cuteness. But as always I tried saving that for last, and first started with the rest of the place. The Lone Pine sanctuary is actually quite large. When you enter, you can go left to see reptiles and then barnyard animals, or right to see other reptiles and birds. All roads lead to the koalas in the middle. I started out going left, seeing reptiles (including one massive crocodile) and then a series of barnyard animals that were all crazy cuddly, from sheep, to goats, to donkeys to a bunny. All of it just plain cute. From there, you go through a large "nocturnal animal" section. Now, the park is only open during the day. In the end, of the purported 8 species, we saw two of them - one possum and a tasmanian devil (really nice!). I can't blame the park in the end - they make it clear this area has only nocturnal animals.

Anyway, past that we get to the koalas, and I mean a lot of koalas. Basically the middle third of the park is series of enclosures with 1-3 Eucalyptus trees, with 1-2 koalas on each tree. It's overwhelming in its adorableness. It's koala overload and cuddliness overload. By the end of it, you are almost not even noticing the next tree with a couple more koalas. For instance, the eating area near the restaurant has say 10 of these trees on its perimeter, all of them with koalas, but the people issting in that enclave or mostly just focusing on eating. How can you focus on eating at a time like this!

Off to the side, is an area where three times a day they offer an opportunity to pet and take photos with a koala. It costs $30 AUD (~$20 USD), on top of the already sizable $58 AUD entry, but how could I not. It takes a while, since they do a great job of not hustling people in and out, but man when I got to the front of the line I was lovestruck. They are indescribably soft. Just petting one on its back puts an immediate smile on your face. They let you take selfies and then give a phoen to one of the handlers to take more photos, along with giving you little stats and facts and figures about tehse little fluffballs. By the end of it, koalas shot up clearly to my #3 favorite cute animal ranking behind the all-time leaders at #1 and #2 of polar bears (cubs, mostly) and penguins. Nothing will top those two, but I don't know if anythign will top koalas as well.

After the Koala park, I returned near my hotel for a quick Korean BBQ lunch, which was good but nothing special. They did give a lot fo banchan with it, some were excellent, and had ice, ice cold beer on tap. Those plus reasonably good meats and I was a content fellow. After a quick check-out of one hotel and check-in to the other, I was ready to explore South Bank, the more green, artsy side of Brisbane.

In reality, the main attraction of South Bank is probably the areas by the riverbank with amazing views of Brisbane CBD, the many varied, geometrically diverse bridges that span the river, and the world around it. While walking the South Bank, you really start to get the majesty of Brisbane. First teh glistening towers and buildings behind these beautifully designed bridges on the otehr side of the river. The curling Brisbane River really is just a magnificent sightline. They've also heavily developed the South Bank Riverfront Park in a great way. In a stretch about say three blocks wide (but probably 20 blocks long) they fit a covered "rainforest walk", a man-made pool with beach sand (very busy), a bunch of restaurants, a ferris wheel, and so much more. On the south side of the park are also the arts district with the Brisbane Opera / Performing Arts center, the Exhibition Center, and two art museums, conveniently placed at the far end of the walk.

Those art museums were my real destinations - both area connected in a sense, one named the Queensland Art Gallery and the other the Gallery of Modern Art - stylized together as QAGOMA. Both entrances are free (aside from some paid exhibitions), and both collectively took about 75 minutes to see properly. About the perfect balance of time for waht was a couple interesting museums. The QAM portion heavily featured Australian art, from large modernist takes on Aboriginal designs, to a series of 1930s stills. There was also a large exhibit on aboriginal art featuring animals which was nice. The GOMA part was about half in development for a future exhibit, but the one half still open was one large set of rooms featuring large, vibrant art, very little of it was too modern for my taste (which is a great thing). There was a lot of large, deep color paintings, some interesting sculpture and design. Just a really good curation.

Staying in South Bank, I walked towards the "West End" part of Brisbane, which is a more bohemian type area featuring a lot of restaurants, shops, bars and the like - one of which was Brisbane Brewing Company, which is a craft company based here. Despite a pretty basic name, the beer was good, but not great. That actually seems to be a theme of most of the craft spots I've been to in Australia. It's a weird dichotomy where this is absolutely a beer obsessed country, but in a very UK type way that overfocuses on pub pours and underfocuses on true craft.

Dinner was at Essa, which worked a lot like Honto the day before, with a nice banquet menu option. The food was more elevated Australian, than Honto which leaned far more into Japanese style cuisine, however it arguably was better, from a really nice burnt pork kebab/skewer topped with fig and radicchio slaw, to a brilliant wagyu trip-tip main. Even their dessert was delectable. The one thing though I did learn through this dinner, and the one yesterday, is that Brisbane very much is an early to rise, early to sleep town. My reservation was for 8pm, and I was the last one seated. I guess it maks sense since the sun rises around 6am and sets around 5pm. I just haven't done enough to get on that schedule.

Granted, while the restaurant was fairly empty, the nightlife wasn't really. I went to Death & Taxes first, a cocktail bar also on that little lane that held Antico and the Hyatt. I quickly learned the owners are the same between teh two bars, and they also own to other leading bars in teh city that were on my list (Dr. Gimlette and Cobbler). It's weird in the sense that you would think this is a bad thing, too much ownership of what should be craft type bars, but so far at least these two were quite different, and both still excellent. Death & Taxes was qiute full, though I was able to snag a seat at the bar and watch the mixologists work.

From there, I took a stroll down the main drag towards The Gresham, which also was quite a bit more full tonight, including some groups clearly coming from something or the other, as many people ordereed food (in the form of toasties) along with their drinks. It was if anything else a great people watching scene, elevated by some great cocktails as well. This was a great way to end a great day in Brisbane, a city I'm very quickly starting to love.

2025 India & Oz Trip: Day 13 - Melbourne to Brisbane

Day 13 - The Switch

It's never easy to decide when to plan a short haul flight into your vacation. Well, I guess if you are an early riser, than it is pretty easy - just book the first (or close to first) flight of the day and in your in the next place by lunch time. I don't work that way. Maybe I should one time, but it won't be this time. I chose the 4pm flight option - to be honest for even my subsequent flight to Sydney as well. It gives me a good morning in Melbourne, lunch with my Aunt and Family, and enough leeway on the backend to make an 8pm dinner booking and enjoy some merriment there after.

The last bit of Melbourne was fairly staid, but still quite pleasant - mostly occurring within the enclave of Carnegie, the suburb that they live in. We walked down their main street which over the years has developed really nicely into a say 4-5 block stretch of all the Asian restaurants, basically 2-3 of every type of cuisine, with 5+ for the more popular ones (Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese). Melbourne has a lot of Asian immigrants and Carnegie from a food perspective has become a hub. And these were all generally quite inviting looking restaurants. If anything, I do regret I wasn't able to squeeze a meal local in Carnegie on this trip. 

From there, and a nice last meal with my Aunt and her family, we were off to them dropping me at Melbourne airport. We left with plently of time, but Melbourne's arcane largely 80km/h speed limit even on their highways at least make it a bit nerve wracking. At the airport, I got in a quick drink at the Virgin Australia lounge (courtesy of their partnership with United) and settled in for a quick two hour flight over to Brisbane. I snagged a window seat, but chose the side that was blinded by the setting sun for much of it, but on descent into Brisbane, with the sun gone, I was able to look out and see the first glowing signs of the city below.

Brisbane is an interesting place, a very good place, but a curios one. I'll have mroe thoughts on it as we go, but overall it is a sign of just development turning a city into something more meaningful in the strange way that there is nothing particularly notable. Well, now people may say them winning the 2032 Olympics - which I think is about 60% of the reason I chose to visit, in a "if it's good enough to be an Olympic City there must be something to it" type of way. It's shot up as a city in population, growth, money, etc., over the last 15-20 years as well.

Given a perfect forecast of high of 74 and low of 55 in winter, I can see at least one reason why. In many ways this is like the San Diego of Australia. At least that's how it looked in the car ride down into the heart of the CBD where my hotel (Hyatt Regency, free night) was located. After a quick check-in, shower, etc., I was off to Honto, one of the more lively weekday restaurants in teh city.

Honto serves elevated common Japanese fare, all served as small / sharing plates. But they also have their "banquet menu", which I've learned is basically a standard in Australia. It effectively is a menu that just pick 3-4 small bites, appetizers, mains and a couple deserts and serves them. In most restaurants, if you are in a group of 6+ you are forced to go with this. If you are a solo traveler, it basically becomes a tasting menu, if you will, and generally maybe just 1.5x cost of ordering a standard one app and one main. As the math at Honto worked out that way, that's what I went with.

The meal was quite good, and I'm definitely happy I went with the banquet menu. From the starters, the beef tartare dish was excellent, as was their tuna tartare tostada (all of these are served basically as single bites), the pork gyoza (incredibly rich), and the main of a wagyu striploin (about 150g) with just a great jus and mushroom side. The place also had affordable sake as well. Everything about Honto was a great success.

From there, I headed back to near my hotel, whose drive-up entrance is in the small Barnett Lane, which is a tiny laneway, that also holds two great cocktail bars, one of which was Antico where I went today. What I leanred pretty quickly is that Brisbane people sleep early - another San Diego type similarity - so it was pretty sparse by 10pm when I got there. Still, the two cocktails I tried there were excellent. The next spot was less sparse - as the famed (in Brisbane) live music venue of Brooklyn Standard was having their weekly Mexican night, whi ch had a live band until 11:30 and then DJ after (they close at 2). It was nicely well crowded and lively. It was the type of place I love to see in random towns of the world. That said, I wanted some heartier fare, so I went down teh street to The Gresham, one of the few bars taht closes at 2am (most are 1am), which also had a graet set of craft cocktails. None of these places were earth-shattering, but all quite solid on their own and worth visiting if you're in this little gem of a city.

2025 India & Oz Trip: Day 11-12 - Melbourne

Day 11-12 - A Weekend in Melbourne

What do people do for a weekend in Melbourne? Well, I guess they start the weekend like I started it last night, going out quite late (for Melbourne, which is not a Sydney) with Gavan, and then sleeping in quite late. Not embarrassingly late - as it is harder to do that when you are a geust at someones house. I did get up in time for a quick coffee and then I headed into the city with Lisa (my other cousin) for lunch at Embla, a well reputed wine bar with incredible small plates in the heart of Melbourne. Again, heart of Melbourne means a 30-minute ride from my Aunt's place, so by 12:45 or so, we were at Embla (and yes, this does mean working backwards I got up at 10:45 or so... sue me).

Embla was great, they had a really nicely curated menu of elevated Australian small plates. Our favorite that we ordered was probably a pork sausage and rapini pasta with an incredible pistachio paste, or a starter of yellowtail sashimi, but all four dishes we ordered were excellent, and a reasonable size for a reasonable price. Embla is a very well reputed restaurant, but you wouldn't know it from the laind back vibe it had. Because it is nominally a wine bar, I did have a wine, which was excellent. But the food was better, and if anything the real reason to come here.

From there, we wandered around the many little lanes, alleyways and galleries that make up Melbourne's CBD. Melbourne is really known for these graffiti covered alleyways with many bars, cafes, bookshops, restaurants and the like. I do remember strolling around some of these in my prior trip, so I was delighted to realize that they hadn't been overtaken by corporatization and a lot of the places still seemed quite independent, rustic and lively. Admittedly, that isn't true of the massive Italian dining hall we went to for a coffee and dessert - named Brunetti, it was straight out of Milan by way of New York (in that New York has a lot of these). In the front was a full dessert bar, then coffee bar - but further back an area selling what looked like delectable paninis, pizzas, pastas. Given the time of the day, the dessert and cafe parts were far more busy - for us as well, adn the flat what was nearly as good as the custard muille-fuille I got.

From there, Lisa left to go back and leave me to explore the other NGV - the one that featured international art. It's a weird thing because on its face, this is the better museum - it is larger, really nicely curated, and was far busier (granted today is Saturday, and I went to the NGV-A on a Friday). But it isn't Australian - I guess if you are from Australia, getting to see a showcase of International art is great, but for me as a tourist, I like the local stuff. Anyway, the NGV-I was more than just a bunch of repetitive European stuff, but included a lot of Asian art, and even some US stuff (mostly in the "modern" sections). It was a lovely way to end my strolling in Melbourne. I hit up a quick bottle shop for a couple quick can pours, and then went back to my Aunt's for dinner.

After dinner, I ventured back out to meet Gavan for another night on the town. We replayed some of the hits (Apollo Inn was great again, we ended the night at Pulp again), but also tried a new spot in the Garden State Hotel - which is the type of place I probably would ahve loved 10 years prior. It was a few levels, it was packed, it had modern music and a lot of people aged 21-35. In taht sense it is perfect, but I do think I've graduated to more either one of two things - (1) elevated craft cocktails or (2) far more grimier club/EDM - this weird half-way is not the spot. Anyway, we spent most of the night at Apollo and Pulp, after a quick dalliance to the Ruca Bar at the Grand Hyatt, which was far more affordable than a Grand Hyatt Cocktail Bar would make you think. 

Saturday was for action, and Sunday was for lazing. After a lazy breakfast at home (after waking up at a more appropriate time), I went back into town to wander around the one area I hadn't really yet - the Southbank. Melbourne in many ways has a London type thing where most of the sites, and action are North of the River - from teh CBD, to the Sports district, to bohemian neighborhoods like Richmond. Technically the Arts District and NGV-I are South of it, but that's close enough to the Yarra it is hard to tell. Well, I wanted to walk around, and what south of the river is great from is walking.

I carvedd out about a 90-minute trail for me through the city, starting at the NGV-I, shifting over to the large park that extends from the other side of it, cutting across to the banks of the Yarra (still very much within this park), and then down the river to the Botanical Gardens. This whole thing was lovely - granted I have gotten extremely fortunate with weather, but the Yarra was sparkling. The large expanse of green to my South was beautiful. On the other banks after a first few buildings was the tennis center - a dream of mine to attend in real. Given the weather, it was also packed with what I assume are 95% locals just enjoying Melbourne. That seems to be the theme - people just enjoy life in this city.

The botanical gardens were equally crowded, and surprisingly green and colorful despite this being the tail end of their winter. There were some nice lakes, sculptures, gardens, lawns, and it ended at the foot of the large, regal Anzac Day Memorial Shrine of Remembrance, just a nice little stroll through Melbourne's greenery.

From there I had a true Sunday lunch - going to a brewery and having a parma. Now, a brewery is probably more fancy than going to a pub and having the same, but the key was the parma - which is basically a chicken parm with ham as a layer below the molten parm. It isn't anything too novel I guess, but it was fantastic - at least the place I made it had breaded the chicken just brilliantly so the chicken retained a ton of juiciness, and the parm was perfectly molten. Just fantastic - as was their beer, and the views. The place was called Brewmanity, which had a little three-story brownstone type building, but the best part being their top floor was a semi-open rooftop with unobstructed views fo the city, A perfect place to enjoy a couple nice pites and a parma.

From there I went on my final walk of Melbourne, going up towards the river more on the upmarket side, first passing the large Crown Casino and then a series of upmarket residential buidlings, hotels, with bars, restaurants on their ground floors opening out to the Yarra. Again, i just remain continuously impressed by how interesting Melbourne's skyline is and how well it works despite having no real true skyscrapers. A testament to creative architecture.

That should've ended my time in Melbourne proper, but a colleague of mine who is from Australia was visiting his family down under and realized I was in Melbourne and suggested we meet for dinner. It was his choice, adn he picked well, having us go to a place named Farmer's Daughters, which served a lovely 6-course tasting menu of produce all from specific regions of Victoria - in this case the Gippsland (to the East of Melbourne). The food was fantastic, from truly maybe the best cooked trout I've ever had, to one of teh better venison dishes. The company was good as well. This was the perfect way to end my time in Melbourne proper (I'll do a full review later), and having a few drinks at home with Gavan and my Uncle was the best way to end the weekend proper. If this is what weekends in Melbourne are like, then sign me up.

2025 India & Oz Trip: Day 10 - Melbourne

Day 10 – A Tourist in Melbourne

The last time I came to Melbourne, I went to the city 1.5 – 2 days of it, taking the train from my Aunt’s place the requisite 20-30 minutes down to the various stops within the Melbourne CBD Loop. That said, I didn’t really internalize everything I saw, aside from remembering some of the names of the places, and that it had a weirdly, indescribably beautiful skyline. The skyline fact remains true, and I’ll get back to that in a bit. The sites also I found to be quite nice, or at minimum a way to easily spend a couple parts of days.

The first day was locally Friday, with both my cousins working from home. I decided to do my work of getting up earlier than I normally would, and taking the train down to Melbourne proper, my first stop being the Arts District area, which is right at the heart of the city. I’m an Art Museum guy, and far more so than I was thirteen years back. I went to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in 2013, but as stated earlier, it is one of those places I don’t really remember visiting. So much so that I forgot that there are two NGVs in Melbourne, the bigger/more notable of the two featuring International (e.g. non-Australian) art, and the other featuring just Australian art. I wanted to see the Australian one, but walked past it to the other one.

Luckily the entrance to either is free (there are special exhibits that are paid), so I didn’t waste any money. Better yet, I got a really nice walk back to Federation Square (of which the NGV-A hugs a corner), which I definitely do remember from my last trip. Those little hits of nostalgia are quite nice. Anyway, the NGV-A despite being the smaller museum of the two, is still quite big and well laid out. There’s alternating areas of art made by Indigenous Australians, and art made by Settler Australians (not sure what to call them). Both are great. Interspersed in the museum are gorgeous views of Melbourne CBD and the Yarra River as well. On the whole, the NGV-A is a great time to spend say 45 minutes.

From there I headed north to grab both lunch and then a trip to the Melbourne Museum (basically their natural history museum). Lunch was at a Malaysian spot called Blue Chillies. Melbourne is notable for its panoply of Asian cuisine, much of it providing you an endless selection. Malaysian is definitely less plentiful than Thai or Vietnamese, but that is true back home and Blue Chillies seemed to have very good reviews. It also had some great food. I got a duck rendang bao starter, which was every bit as good as those combinations of words would indicate. For the main, I got a lunch special of beef rendang with roti - a weirdly great combination of the meat of my favorite Malaysian dish and the Roti part of my second (roti canai). The rendang wasn't as fatty and chewy (in a good way) as say Nyonya in New York, but pretty damn close. Overall Blue Chillies was a true hit.

The Melbourne Museum served three purposes, all of which paid off. First was seeing a part of Melbourne I hadn't before last time, a more rustic, but still quite green, northern area. Second, was getting a good download on the history of the settlement of Melbourne (and through that, Australia itself in many ways), which the museum did well over a couple exhibits. And lastly, was seeing Australian Dinasaurs, which the museum did fantastically. I've for a while now been on a minor paleontology kick, and seeing a dinasaur museum in a completely different part of world was a thrill. Even in the Cretaceous, Australia was so disconnected from North America that the famous dinausaurs any American is used to is not present. Instead are a bunch of slightly off, weird ones, but it all added up to something excellent.

That ended my tourism part of the day, with teh next stop being meeting my cousin Gavan who finished work early. We met in the Richmond area, one of the buzzing life areas of Melbourne, but probably the more Bohemian of them, for drinks on a rooftop. This was before we were to meet the rest of the family for dinner in the same neighborhood. We had a couple beers at a lovely rooftop, snagging a tabble from 5-6:30 before the real evening rush wandered in. The views of night-time descending upon Melbourne's lovely skyline were just brilliant. To be honest, I'm not sure what specifically does it for me about Melbourne's skyline. It's just such a great combination of different styles of buildings, with so many around the same height and few skyscrapers drowning everything out. To me it is the best skyline for a city not known for its skyline.

Dinner was at Ho Chi Mama, an Asian Fusion sharing plates spot where we tried a little bit of everything, from baos to curries to lamb shank to much more, nearly all of it very good. I'm always a bit skeptical of places like this whose menu cut across so many different types of cuisines, but they tunred out to be really good. It also provided a good amount of sustenance that carried ourselves over for the rest of the night.

Gavan and I checked out four spots after that in Melbourne Central (e.g. the CBD and adjacent areas). They ranged from somewhat disappointing (a fairly empty rooftop of a boutique hotel), to plain very good (another rooftop of a more pub-style place that was packed with after-work-extending-into-night crowd (a personal favorite type of place), to just class (a martini/gin heavy cocktail spot) to pure fun (a side of the road club). Other than the first rooftop, the others I would all fully recommend. Especially Apollo Inn (the cocktail spot) which was just great - the martini's served so chilled, so pure. The ambience great as well. Ending the night at Pulp also was quite a scene - they played a lot of 90/00s hip hop (perfect for both of us, it seemed), with the right level of noise, cheap drinks, people and fog. It was a hazy, fun way to end a great day in Melbourne.

2025 India & Oz Trip: Day 8-9 - Flying to Melbourne

Day 8 - Singapore Airlines, my Old Friend

Day 8 technically began while I was awake, an hour after boarding my flight from Bangalore to Singapore. This will beget a five hour layover in Singapore (sadly from 6am - 11am - not really giving me any chance to do anything), and then a flight from Singapore to Melbourne. This ironically is quite similar to how I went to Melbourne the first time in 2013, that too was a flight first from India to Singapore and then to Melbourne. That time, I came from Mumbai, and also had nearly a day layover in Singapore (it was a double redeye booking). If anything, the flights were better scheduled and sequenced this time.

I've flown Singapore Airlines a lot, but after spoiling myself in business class the last two times (return flights from my 2022 Korea and 2023 Japan trips), and the three prior in Premium Economy (all iterations of EWR-SIN), I had to slum myself back to economy. Luckily, few economy experiences are better than Singapore's finely tuned perfection. Also helped that I got the "poor man's business class" with the seat next to me empty on both legs. Couple that with the fact they give a super comfortable blanket, and a seat that reclines ridiculously far for economy, and I had about as good an experience as I could have hoped for. 

The first flight is 4.5 hrs, which means by the time they finish meal service and put the lights out, only about 2.5 hrs were left. This wasn't really an issue - I wasn't too sleepy anyway, and the food was good (a nice lamb biryani main, paired with a really nice wine). The movie selection was nice, though decided to check out Gone Girl for the first time in a while. Anyway, I enjoyed my brief sleep, before I enjoyed a real (partial) sleep.

Changi Airport is many things, all of them great, but one of their underrated aspects is how quiet it is and how empty it feels despite how continually busy it is. I got to the KrisFlyer Gold Lounge, tucked away in a corner, put my face-mask on and went to sleep for a solid 2.5 hours more. When I woke up, the lounge was no more busy than it was when I went to sleep, but now with the sun out there was a great view of the various Singapore widebodies below. From the lounge, I took a quick trip through the Butterfly Garden, a peruse through the duty free, and before I knew it I was boarding my flight to Melbourne.

The prior time I flew to Melbourne, it was on the A380, and I scored an upstairs seat as one of Singapore's configurations had upstairs economy. This time, it was on a B777-300ER, which was showing a bit of wear (at least compared to the far newers A350-1000 that I flew on the BLR-SIN route), but again, the food was excellent (beef rendang nasi lemak), the wine even better, the movies good (watched The Last Duel for the first time), and coupling in a bit of sleep, before i knew it we were landing in Melbourne - the flight taking a quick 6:45 (which is odd, since I swear the flight was closer to 7:30 - 8hrs in 2013...).

In 2013, I was accosted by immigration, being asked more prying questions ("How did you pay for your ticket?") than ever before. This time, I sailed through without worry, and met my Aunt and cousin about 40 minutes after deplaning in the beautiful, crisp Melbourne winter weather. A quick dinner and a few drinks at their house, with those two, my Uncle and other cousin, and it seemed I went from one sleep to the next, settling in at 1am before the start of, to some degree, the real vacation.

Day 9 - The Wine of it All

When I came to Melbourne in 2013, I did most of the touristy things. Grant it, there isn't endless touristy stuff to do in Melbourne. It is a great city to live (cost of living for locals aside). It often ranks super high in list of best cities to live. It doesn't rank so high in best cities to visit. But that doesn't mean there is no tourism, but the main things I did last time. Including a day in the Yarra Valley visiting a few wineries. Well, it seems the difference between visiting Melbourne and living in Melbourne is this time we went to the Mornington Peninsula to the Southeast of teh city, to the Red Hill wine region. This is the area the locals come.

The day started first with a quick trip to my cousin Lisa's new place, which is a lovely three-bedroom in the Carnegie suburb of Melbourne. From there, we headed towards the Peninsula, and the brilliant views of Melbourne's and Victoria's landscape started in earnest. the rolling hills, the lush greenery, the picture perfect bleu sky (which apparently has been a rarity in recent weeks). It all combined to something beautiful.

The first winery we went to was Montalto where we did a full tasting (8 pours, though will say Australia is a bit light on the tasting pours). They were all quite good, including for me especially a Shiraz and a Pinot Grigio. The landscape was immaculate, made better by it moonlighting as a sculpture garden as well. The land was gorgeous. But as their menu was a bit normy - see: charcuterie, sliders, brick-oven pizzas (which admittedly did look good), we went to another winery with a far more eclectic menu. If anything, it was more a restaurant that happened to have a beautiful winery around.

The RareHare winery is relatively new (<10 years) but garnered a lot of praise for both the beautifully manicured grounds, but also the food. The menu reads like a great small plates style spot, and ate like it too. From one of teh better soft shell crab disehs I've ever had, to a really nice tune tartare, to a really interesting malaysian-style deep fried barramundi wing (oddly named a "barra wing" which I thought meant some interesting chicken wings preparation). The food was divine. The grounds were great. Overall, the time in the Red Hill area was well worth the trip, the last bit of fortune being a nice drive up the coast back towards Melbourne past a series of lovely little towns.

The other highlight of the day was sport - Melbourne's other love, where I took in a footy game. It is the last week of the AFL Regular Season, and my cousin's favorite team, Essendon, is having a rough year (which has been their norm for a while now). Their opponent as well. The game meant nothing in that sense, and for that reason the MCG was only half full (meaning 50k attendance instead of 100k), but still I loved it. First off, I just really like the game - the strategy, the action, with it being this great combination of soccer and NFL. There was less hitting than I remember, but part of that might be due to Essendon chasing their better opponents around often and not catching them on their way to a fairly easy loss.

Despite the outcome, the vibes were great. At halftime, we went to the MCG Members area to check out of a couple of the inside bars, which were well attended. The atmosphere is just great, as is the little bits of history littered aroudn the stadium in various plaques, statues, paintings, etc., of the legends gone by (more cricket focus than AFL, admittedly). I took a tour of the MCG on my prior trip, but this was my first time actually getting a game in the stadium, and it was a treat. A perfect way to end a first full day in Australia.

2025 India & Oz Trip: Day 3-7 - Bangalore

Day 3-7 - A Wedding in India, Redux

2025 India & Oz Trip: Day 1-2 - Dubai

Day 1-2 - Dealing with United

From 2018 through 2024, I've taken a two-week Holiday, generally in September or October. Generally also to Asia, with exceptions in 2018 (Africa) and 2021 (Spain & Portugal). Obviously, I did not take such a trip in 2020, but had planned one. It's always been odd doing this in September or October - basically right after most people would take two weeks off (e.g. Summer). Well, this year I'm doing it in Summer, but also making it one of my weirder ones. The trip will start with five days in India attending my cousin's daughter's wedding, going there to spend five packed days of revelry with effectively all members of my Mom's side of the family, the closest to a family reunion since my cousin's wedding in 2010/11. However, India really isn't great this time of year, and with the wedding events ending on August 18th, most of my cousins were gone by August 19th. So I had a challenge - where else to go?

After a lot of stewing, I ended up landing on Australia for some reason. Actually, I guess for myriad reasons - it's a lovely place, i have family there that have all treked to meet us in the US three times since I last went to Australia in 2013, and despite it being their winter, is perfect weather for me wanting to escape US summers. Tied to that last point, it is relatively affordable to get tehre and stay there. And the last point, while I definitely was not as homesick in Australia during my 2013 trip as I was in Japan, I still feel like I left a lot of meat on the Australia bone.

But Australia is well in the future. This is about India. Or actually, this is about a ridiculous trip over the oceans to Dubai. It started with me deciding to use my 8 hour layover in Dubai to (a) leave the airport and see the city and (b) go to one of their more famous tasting menu spots Tresind, a three Michelin star Indian spot. It is expensive, though by Dubai standards there are many more expensive spots that are lesser reputed. The bad news for me though was the charge for the menu is nonrefundable. I would land around 6:45pm, and the dinner was at 9:15. It should have fit perfectly.

And it would've been if not fora  combination of Newark airport's much reported miserableness and a huge torrent of rain and lightning around 5-7pm on the day I was leaving (my flight was at 9:15). It hadn't rained for days but somehow the day I was leaving it was truly lightning like I've never seen in terms of the pace, size and proximity of lightning bolts. Of course, that was long gone by the time my flight was supposed to leave, and the inbound flight reached on time. But alas, our 9:45pm departure became a 11:58pm departure, adn a 8:55pm arrival (this seems to be the one route with a flying time that approaches the stated length. 

To fast forward, I was able to make my meal, despite me leaving the plane at 9:11. Credit Dubai's near empty immigration, easy taxi pickup and good roads (at least in teh direction I was going). I reached Tresind at 9:59pm. They started the meal for me at that point, and by the end of their 2.5hr service time I had basically caught up with teh rest of the seven-table crowd (that's their max capacity). The meal was excellent - of which I'll chronicle later.

The flight that preceded it was also quite nice, especially since we were so delayed I just assumed the dinner wouldn't work out. Once I let myself go of that expectation, I could enjoy the nice ride in Polaris. United continues to make improvements to their catering, which has correctly been called out as the main limiting factor in the past. Now, it still isn't great, and because of the delayed takeoff, they served it all at once and even skipped the pre-meal first drink and nuts. I guess this is because we're now eating near 1am instead of 10:30pm, but this is still a thirteen hour flight. There is time here.

Anyway, I enjoyed my chicken tagine dish, with a nice prawn starter. The sundae was graet as always. United's nice wine selection (the one area they've generally outpaced at least their US based competition) remained strong. I slept like a lamb, and also took in some nice views as we saw the beautiful morning sun on the horizon a few hours into the flight. Before I knew it, we were landing in Dubai and the chase to the restaurant commenced.

Dubai airport is massive, but immigration was crazy quick. I take it taht because of our delay we were now landing at a time where few other flights are, as the immigration hall was relatively empty when I got there. Taxis are super easy to pick up from the airport as well, and the roads leading from DXB to the Palm Jumeriah St. Regis were quite empty. The city was hazy so it was hard to really see the extent of its modernity, but it does seem like a glistening spot. 

Like many, I'm always a bit of two minds traveling to the Middle East, but at least with Dubai it isn't squarely around oil. Now, we may not like the seedier aspects of Dubai, but I'll say this, I've come to really appreciate how the airline took advantage of its central location to connect the entire world in one stop. The number of ethnicities, of people, of cultures that I saw roaming in that airport. Looking at the departure board, you can't help but smile about the random, but globe covering nature of that list. Maybe this is driven by flying through it twice in about three months, but I'm defintiely coming around on Emirates. Kudos to you Dubai.

Re-Post: The Long, Slow Continuing Descent into Madness of the Colts

I posted this last year when the Colts benched Anthony Richardson for Joe Flacco. A lot of what I wrote below happened, in that Flacco had like a two week spark and then started to, unsurprisingly, suck again, and Richardson got the job back. Richardson did not, however, play any better on his return, got hurt and the season was another essentially lost one.

About 10 months later, we are repeating it again, with the Colts today naming Daniel Jones the starter for Week 1. I don't care if Richardson is already irredeemable. I don't care that he doesn't really "deserve" the job based on his play. What I care about is that this is the dumbest move the Colts could make, continuing a series of dumb ones.

Daniel Jones is not a good QB. He's had one good year out of his first six, and was a legendary bust for the New York Giants. The one good year was almost immediately proven to be a mirage. He is also not the 'high-floor, low ceiling' type backup anyway. Even at his "best" he was a highly volatile, undependable player. The Colts are not winning a division with Daniel Jones. Now, they probably weren't with Anthony Richardson either, but if there was any potential light at the end of this decade-long madness (or really six year long madness since Andrew Luck's retirement) it was the guy drafted #4 overall. The Colts basically extinguished that.

They should cut Richardson. But they should also fire both Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard. To be honest, it is outrageous that Ballard has a job. Irsay held onto Ryan Grigson too long, and his firing looks trigger-happy compared to this. I have to hope that Irsay's daughter who is now the main ownership voice of teh team, is not as loyal or stubborn to call a mistake a mistake as her old man. The Colts have never really figured it out ever since Peyton left, and this is maybe the clearest sign of that - of picking a ceiling of 9-8 and just opting for it. Shameful, but sadly, not surprising.

The Colts are benching Anthony Richardson. Not that his play hasn't warranted it - what with the 44% completion percentage. But he's also showed flashes of brilliance. He has a great arm. He can read a defense. He can run. He's started just 10 games. The Colts are 4-6 in his starts, and are 4-4 this season adn in the playoff mix. This is a woeful decision. Sadly just the latest in a long line of them for this franchise, nominally the one I root. It's been 15 years of woeful decisions, ever since that wintery Week 16 in 2009 when the 14-0 Colts pulled their starters. 15 years later, the Colts have still not recovered.

It's not like hte Colts have been a pure embarrassment since then. They've made the playoffs eight times, and in the years they didn't, they generally hovered around .500. They've had some highs. They had Andrew Luck. But really it's been one long descent from that moment of being on top of the football world. Bill Polian made his decision, that resting up a team that wasn't 14-0 good anyway was mre important than chasing 16-0. I disagreed then. Many did. I don't know if I would call everything that's happened since karmic retribution, but it wouldn't be the worst throughline for a 10-part docuseries.

The story goes that Jim Irsay vehemently hated the fact that Bill Polian pushed coach Jim Caldwell to pull his starters and give up on the 16-0 season. Bill Polian was a noted asshole. He was our asshole, the Colts asshole, and ruthlessly good at his job. Jim Irsay hated the fact that Bill Polian basically pulled every string on that franchise. Irsay wanted his franchise back. After a fairly staid 10-6 season in 2010 (their worst in eight years), Peyton Manning got hurt in 2011. The Colts fell to 2-14, got the #1 pick that gifted them a generational prospect, and Bill Polian had everythign he needed to "take his franchise back." He fired Polian, cut Peyton, drafted Luck and it was all supposed to be hunky dory. It all may have worked also, if not for that darn Peyton.

The biggest risk in all of that was Irsay cutting Peyton - the guy who basically built this franchise and turned them into a professional outfit. Manning missed an entire season and had a scary neck injury. The only failure point to Irsay's plan was if Peyton returend as good as ever. It's one thing to cut a guy who wouldn't really play again. It's another when the guy you cut leads a team to a 50-14 record over four seasons, two Super Bowls, one title, and two incredible seasons, one of which would see him set all time records that still haven't been broken for yards and TDs. I honestly don't think Irsay could take the fact that Peyton returend as good as ever and he would be the known as the guy that "gave up on Peyton."

So what did Irsay do? He doubles down on this being his franchise - and namely that he went to some degree to put down the Manning/Polian era. He lamented them winning "just one" Super Bowl. He lamented their "star wars" numbers of offensive glory, noting how teams win on defense and running and that normal bullshit. Forget that the Manning era was incredibly successful in every way - won twelve games in a row seven straight years, had four MVP seasons from Peyton, etc. But no, Irsay wanted somethign different.

That something different ruined Andrew Luck's career. With Luck, he should've just repeated the Manning era - surroudn him with great weapons, invest in pass rush, build through the draft, etc. Instead, through GM Ryan Grigson, and coach Chuck Pagano, they did the opposite. The overspent in free agency on interior lineman and linebackers. They wasted picks on running backs (Trent Richardson!). They never got a real pass rusher. They had a terrible line, made worse by Luck's one failing of holding the ball too much. Luck was great enough to win a lot of games, but also couldn't hold up. He was beaten and battered into a shock retirement right before the 2019 season.

That leads to big mistake #2 (#1 being cutting Peyton and overreacting to Polian). Luck's retirement should have been a moment of introspection. Instead it wasn't that at all. By then Chris Ballard and Frank Reich had replaced Ryan Grigson and Chuck Pagano, and while both have been a step up, neither had the right approach. It's been five seasons since Luck retired and there's still undercurrents of that admitted shock being an excuse for why there is no answer. It definitely lasted through three years of recycling old QBs to worse and worse results (Rivets in 2020, Wentz in 2021, Ryan and 2022). None of those were even medium-term answer, but the Colts trod on.

And then came the Richardson pick. They got a top draft pick eleven years after getting the top draft pick that got them Andrew Luck. Anthony Richardson had a lot of red flags - not many starts, accuracy issues in college. It was going to take time. 10 games isn't enough time. But the rushed decision here, even if Shane Steichen is taking full responsibility, is another sympton of how broken this franchise is mentally. 

It was broken when Irsay "wanted his franchise back." It was broken when he demeaned the Manning era because he couldn't handle he cut a Peyton who could still play at an MVP level. It was broken when it literally broke Andrew Luck - something that was such a gift that they just wasted. It was broken when they decided to keep trotting out old QBs instaed of actually just re-setting thigns for the post Luck world years ago. And it is broken now when they are seemingly either fully giving up on a guy 10 starts in, or just wasting time to further evaluate by pushing that decision into 2025 to see if Flacco can go 9-8 like Wentz did in 2021. I don't think Irsay is a bad owner, but he's a rash and emotional one that has still not mentally recovered from 2009.

Someday the Colts will get out of this cycle of stupid decision making and mediocrity. When that day eventually comes, I hope we can look back at maybe this - the quick trigger failing of Anthony Richardson - being what set them back on track. Fifteen years ago, they pulled their starters. It was a fairly cowardly, weird move, but led to so much madness. Fifteen years later, they've pulled their starter at QB. It is fairly nonsensical. Hopefully not a perpetuation of a fifteen year nightmare, but the more I think about, the more I think it is.

2025 NFL: 10 Half Baked Predictions

1.) The Chiefs have their best offensive season in years, Mahomes is an MVP Finalist (if not winner) and they fail to reach the Super Bowl

This one seems pretty clear. Rashee Rice should be back after 5-6 games. Xavier Worthy should be better in year 2. The line seems more settled than in the last couple years. Mahomes is still the best QB in teh NFL. I can absolutely see him having a masterful season. The Chiefs need him to, as on paper their schedule is way harder this year than last. That said, I do think this is also the year their AFC Title Game streak ends, as their defense has a bit too many holes, and more to the point, at some year this has to end, no? Mahomes is the best QB since the Manning/Brady/Rodgers contingent that won 12 MVPs between them (5/3/4 for that trio). They won a grand total of zero Super Bowls in theri respective MVP seasons.

2.) The 49ers are resurrected and win the NFC West

I'll admit, this was a more out there take before the Rams started slow-rolling a recurrence of Matt Staffords back injury and what-not, but I still think this is worth commentating on. The 49ers were the big disappointment of last year. Yes, a host of injuries did them in, but they weren't doing all that well before teh injuries. Many have compared this to the 2020 49ers season, where after a Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs they went 6-10, adn the year after were right back in the NFC Championship Game. This team is different, but I think the season, at least in the regular season, goes about the same. Purdy is a very good QB. I think McCaffrey will be healthier. Yes, the losses on defense are troubling, but I like Robert Saleh as a DC coaching up some youngsters. And finally, I think some are overrating the rest of the division. I do see a 11-6 or 12-5 season on the way.

3.) The Raiders are one of the worst teams in the league

Yes, this is a bit enabled by my hatred of Tom Brady - the most ballyhooed very minority owner ever. By most reports, he owns like 5% of the team, adn someone we're suppsoed to believe this win-above-all-costs-including-my-family asshole is going to magically make one of the worst franchises successful? Also, unless Pete Carroll has decided to change the way he calls defense, I can see that side of the ball struggling. The OL is tough, and Geno can still throw some picks. Couple that with a very tough division and schedule I can see a trainwreck type season in store.

4.) The Cowboys finish higher than the Commanders

The Commanders were not 12-5 good last year. Granted, they were like 10-7 good. I'm in no way saying they were a bad team. But they had everything go right, including a hail mary win and a few other ridiculous wins too. I don't see them falling much below where they were last year, but they don't have to do so for a Cowboys team that ideally will have a healthy Dak Prescott to pass them. I believe in Dak and the core of the Cowboys. I think the hiring of Brian Schottenheimer was uninspired, but much like the Mike McCarthy one that came before it, uninspired is usually still decent for a year or two. The Cowboys have a lot of challenges in more of a 3-4 year window, but for the next year or two this team is still top heavy enough to be good.

5.) The Cardinals finish higher than the Rams

Again, with Matt Stafford now sleeping in hyperbaric chambers or what-not, this doesn't seem too hot. For the second straight year, I'm going to put some weird stock in the Cardinals, on Jonathan Gannon finding some diamonds in teh rough of that defense, and Kyler doing better in year two in that offense, and more than that, Marvin Harrison doing better in year 2. No WR as reputed as him coming into teh NFL has not turned into a great WR in quite a while. He was definitely a disappointment in Year 1, but I'm willing to chalk that up to randomness and say the true ability is still there.

6.) Caleb Williams has a better season than Bo Nix

Caleb Williams had a rough rookie year. That much is obvious. His OL was rough, but he had weapons. There was no real cohesion to that offense. Ben Johnson should help fix that. Bo Nix has good weapons, and a good OL and a good playcaller in Sean Payton. Not much has changed on the Nix side of things, but I think the combination of Ben Johnson, and having another year in the NFL, will calm things down for Caleb. I do think Ben Johnson can reign in that "extend every play too much" trait that Williams has had dating abck to USC. There's a reason he was seen as a generational prospect, and Nix an overdraft at #10. Yeah, maybe the football world was wrong on both accounts, but I just don't see that as likely.

7.) The Bucs just remain Really Good

The Bucs quietly had a great season last year by underlying numbers. They lsot early in the playoffs, which was disappointing, but decided to run it all back. Yeah, there is a risk in running it back with what is a generally aging team, and there's a further risk in trusting the Mayfield-led offense that will be on its third offensive coordinator in as many seasons. Of course, maybe the two OCs only looked so good because of the composite parts the Bucs have. I love Mayfield in that offense. I like the prospect of the run game and still like the strength of that defense. The Buccaneers to me are still clearly the best team in that division, unless Penix has a huge rise in year 2. I don't see that happening, and more than anything against a weak schedule, see the Bucs challenging for the #2 seed.

8.) The Packers finish 3rd or 4th

Yeah, this might be my hottest take. Everyone loves the NFC North - and with good reason. Three 11+ win teams last year, two of them winning 14+. The last place team with the generational QB and hot coach. Many are predicting one of the two 14+ wins team to tumble - either the Lions from continued talent and OC/DC drain, or the Vikings turning to a rookie in replacing Darnold. Maybe one of those things happen, but I doubt both do, and that combined with my Bears love see me thinking the Packers being the most disappointing team of the season. Lost in that campaign last year was that many units took a step back. Jordan Love is not all taht young, and I'm not sure Matt Lafleur can coach the bad stuff out of him. The lack of a true #1 option is still there. The defense is good not great. I see way too many people talking them up as one of the best rosters in the NFL, and while there are no obvious huge weaknesses, I also see no world-beating units either.

9.) Two AFC South teams make the playoffs

People mock the AFC South, and for good reason. What with the constant Saturday 4:30pm Texans Invitational last year (and in 2023, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2012, 2011 before that...), and the general ineptness of those franchises over the past decade. The AFC South hasn't sent two teams to the playoffs since 2020 (Titans and Colts). I think that ends this year, and honestly I can see any two of the Texans, Jaguars and Colts making it. There is talent on these rosters. The Texans should be close to a lock to at least make the playoffs. If one of Trevor Lawrence or Anthony Richardson gets some consistency, their teams are good enough to make the playoffs as well (Lawrence is better than Richardson even at this stage, a lot better actually... but the Colts roster outside of QB is better than the Jags). Call it a weird hunch, or a sign I don't buy people's love of teams like the Patriots, but I think the South gets two wild cards. Wouldn't be shocked if both are gone by Divisional Weekend, though.

10.) The Bills or Ravens make history with their Coach / QB combo

No Coach/QB combination that won a Super Bowl together took more than 5 years to get it done. Many won in Year 5, from Flacco and Harbaugh, to Manning and Dungy, or Year 4, from Brees and Payton to Hurts and Sirriani. Go further back and time and tiem again it is the same. That would seem to bode poorly for the Bills and Ravens, who are now in Year 8 of their respective Coach/QB combinations. In fact, no Coach/QB combination that ever even made the Super Bowl took that long to get to their first. But all those types of streaks are meant to be broken. Maybe it is my long time hope that every all-time great / HOF type player gets a ring - or in this case at least gets the chance to get a ring. If you had to put a gun to my head out of the two, I would take Buffalo, but in reality I just want one of the two to get it done.

The House, Pt. 5: The End

In our long, protracted goodbye to our house, the only house I've really ever known, I only cried once. It wasn't even a ton of tears, but definitely real. It was right at the end, as we were about to walk out of it for the last time. It was about 10:45pm, the Wednesday Night before the Thursday where my parents were relinquishing it. This was after our packing and closing took a bit too long and harried, and I had made five straight trips to the storage unit with remaining boxes and wares.

We were all together, my Mom and Dad, my Sister and her husband. The house was hauntingly empty. That's not a surprise. It was supposed to be empty. It had to be. Yet it was still so jarring. We stood in our eating kitchen, all looking up at the wall at a place that stood a picture of teh Sacred Heart for 32 years, and prayed. My mom led the prayer, and in the middle she started tearing up. We all did. My sister notably cried out "I don't want to leave" after. I hugged my Mom and Dad with more vigor than in yaers probably, and then did the same with my sister. Telling each other we would be back.

I was back four days later. Granted, it was just to the backyard, to pick up some remaining pots and tools and stuff left behind. The new owners were travelling (and aware that we were coming back). But it already felt a bit different. There's solace in knowing that after this six month period where the new house is being built, we will again be either a 4-minute drive or 22-min walk away. But it will be that distance away from something that is very much not ours anymore. 

Going back to that last moment of tearing up in prayer, I truly am surprised that this was the only time in the entire process where I cried. It helps taht the strain of the moving process only heightened the reasons why I felt it was the right time (my parents would not have been in position to physically do as much of the move in five years). But also that this was done in stages. There was the rush from March through Mid May (when the open house was) where we had to pick a whole lot of stuff, rifle through boxes stretching across decades tucked away in corners of the basement, and get the house ready for the open house - including taking a whole lot of furniture away. From May 15, it wasn't truly our home.

The second stage was my favorite which was basically Memorial Day through July 4th, where the house was sold in this process. There were insepctions and some drama around that, but we didn't do much packing - instead just enjoyed the house every weekend. It was glorious. Of course, from me coming back from India two days early to squeeze one additional weekend at home, I was definitely counting them down. When we got past July 4th, there were two more weekends left, adn way too much to do to wallow in pain and sadness.

I wrote in "The Basement" post that I would feel a wave of emotions coming up the stairs the final time. That would be July 19th (or July 20th morning). And yeah, it was definitely a "moment" - but I wasn't sad. I was happy, I was content with a life and three decades in that basement, and more than that getting more use out of it these past five years than I would've expected. Same with the last night spent in my bedroom (July 21st). It wasn't until that collective moment that this was it that it really did hit. We had some incredible memories, incredible times, incredible laughs, joys, celebrations in that house.

My Mom often compared our move as being a positive event compared to when she and her siblings couldn't get their mother to move out of their childhood Mangalore home (a home I've written about a few times). That at least we were moving at a time when the memories would largely be all positive, instead of their house turning into a bit of disrepair. My sister and I didn't really agree with this line of thinking, mainly because even at 32 years of age, our house is far more stable and livable than Lighthouse Hill was. But all the same, I understood it. My Mom and her siblings regretted not moving out earlier. We shouldn't regret moving out at the perfect time.

There's also the prospect of helping to design up the new house - something we started already in its design process (helping pick out flooring and finishes) and continued with nearly twice-weekly trips over to the house in various fornms of construction, from when it was dirt with concrete outlines, to a slab, to a real structure now with some pipe-work. I went there with my parents on July 24th - the next time any of us will see it is likely if I make a trip around September 7th or so. God knows what progress may have taken place in that six week interim. I'm already excited by it. But then, I also need to wrestle with teh question of if I do take a trip to visit the new house, do I take the quick detour to see the old one.

By then, the new owners will have likely moved in (though they do have some repairs to do, namely new flooring). Who knows what state my Mom's garden will be. Who knows what cars will be on teh driveway. It won't be the same, that much is for sure. It may be better if my last memory is walking out the front door of that empty house.

In a way, that brings me full circle, as one of my first memories is that. One of my first memories I can conceive of is myself and my sister just giggling and tumbling over and over again on the carpet of a blank room - so excited to be in this big palace that was ours. Now, in my memory it was a completely empty house, but more than likely it was just far more sparsely furnished, as it is unlikely that this took place in the fall of 1993. More likely it was a couple years later, but it is such a pure memory. Giggling and laughing at an empty house we moved into, proceeding for all of us to poor 30-32 years of memories into it, so much so that we were all crying and tearing up as we moved out. There's probably no better way for the first memory and last memory to exist.