Geoff D.'s Profile

We booked a ~2 hour sail around the island with our family of 5, and ended up with the boat to ourselves. What began as a random idea turned out to be one of the most memorable things we did in the area.

Our kids of all ages loved moving about the boat and trying the different seats. The trapeze swings are cool for sure (these are those harness seats where you hang out over the water), as the marketing materials will not fail to alert you. And our little guys particularly liked riding on the "wet" net down below, where they got splashed with each wave.

Our sailor was an experienced racer who showed just that right balance of being plenty friendly and sharing stories... but without making you feel forced into conversation.

Check it out.

I found Hyegraph on Yelp, and called with a one-off special request (anniversary card for my wife). Though he primarily focuses on larger jobs like wedding invitations, the owner said "sure, come on in... I can get this done for you within a day."

As promised, I walked in and he showed me some samples on the spot. After selecting the one I wanted, I emailed him the copy and received back a PDF for approval just a few hours later. Finished product was ready and looking great by noon the next day. I think my total cost for the job was about $50... not cheap, but more than reasonable for the nice custom printing and service.

Came in one day to buy a ribbon for a special card.

Jacqueline (sp?) was super friendly, helped me pick the matching ribbon and then, when I was asking how to tie the bow, she offered to do it for me. Even though the store was starting to get busy, she took maybe 10 minutes to help me with it... and did not charge me for anything other than the roll of ribbon.

Stopped in for an okay lunch before visiting the Sonoma Mission. More specifics:

- 3 stars for atmosphere in the back room -- high cabin-style ceilings were fun to look at, but made for very chilly indoor air on our winter visit
- 5 stars for Italian sandwich -- nice crunchy bread, varied meats and a little spice
- 2 stars for Prosciutto, Tomato and Brie sandwich -- strangely dry and boring given this hard-to-mess up ingredient list
- 3.5 stars for kids meals -- chicken tenders and fries are always popular with the munchkins
- 3 stars for latte -- weak espresso makes for an "ok" after lunch drink
- 2.5 stars for our service -- our server was friendly, but acted clueless and unempowered (e.g., couldn't answer questions about menu, blamed the kitchen when he brought the wrong thing)

If you're going, I recommend sitting in the front room and ordering the Italian sandwich!

I was sad to see that Bistro Elan closed, so came to give Birch Street a try yesterday. It was tasty, though offers a different league of experience vs Bistro Elan.

I had the soup, salad and sandwich (SSS), which was a good combination for the price. The Broccoli Soup of the day was fantastic, and the Salad was solid. The Turkey Club(ish) Sandwich had good favor -- only weird thing was that the turkey skin was left on -- I found that strange and ended up making a mess by pulling my sandwich apart.

The space is cute, but of "functional" rather than "warm" design and extremely small with Max occupancy of 19.

A very nice place for lunch, just not the romantic dinner spot the bistro was.

I fall into both the "tourist" and "family with young kids" category, which means, among other things, that I've been to a lot of aquariums over the years. I'm pleased to report that Sydney has one of the better ones for these reasons:

1. Shark feeding. Yes really. It's cool. You take a small boat out over the shark tank -- then proceed to toss handfuls of dead fish to them while you're surrounded by dorsal fins. Perfect scare for all ages, but safe enough for small kids. Make a reservation in high season, as the boat is small and the sharks don't eat that often.

2. Platypus exhibit. Okay, these do exist elsewhere in Australia, but I've never seen one before. We were able to watch three of them swimming around and had a friendly guide nearby to answer questions.

3. Under-tank walkways. Probably the most extensive maze of walk-through exhibits I've seen, with plenty of sharks, dugongs, groupers and rays to watch from all sides.

If there's a knock, it's that the aquarium could use a refresh in decor and such, as it feels a bit worn relative to newer or recently updated ones. Still, the exhibits themselves are world class, and well worth a visit when you're in the area.

I hate to be the snooty tourist here, but... we came with on a rainy day in August thinking we could get lost here for a day... and left maybe two hours later feeling rather underwhelmed.

The visit wasn't bad, mind you. Just not particularly gripping either. Powerhouse is huge and has the look of a place that should hold your attention for hours. There is tons to look at... planes on the ceiling, train cars to walk around, recent design exhibits to browse, even a Mars Rover.

The issue is that the exhibits weren't particularly interactive. And those that are interactive appear to have been designed with 1980s design standards. Even the newer exhibits didn't hold our kids' attention for more than a few minutes -- and they love science museums (among others, they had a blast the previous week at Scienceworks in Melbourne). As an example, the coolest exhibit we found was a "make your own fireworks" station, where you stand in line, then spend 5-7 minutes selecting ingredients to design your firework, all to see what it will do. Well, we watched 5 different people go through this process, and in every case the result was something to the effect of "your firework doesn't work. please try again."

Granted, Powerhouse was under construction in August, so perhaps the newest exhibits will be better -- and presumably the new layouts will address some of the dark-basement-like feel we encountered.

Overall, I'd imagine that Powerhouse is a fun visit for those living nearby, especially when there's a good temporary exhibit on. I just wouldn't recommend it for tourists who are only in town for a short time. Even if it's raining.

Where else are you going to kuddle a koala? Pet wallabies and potaroos? Feed kangaroos?

Granted, this is a very small zoo on a resort island. So please don't go expecting to be overwhelmed. But if you want to get up close and personal with these famous Australian critters, this is a good place to do it.

3 stars for "Breakfast with Koalas," which was fine but not more than you'd expect: a simple breakfast buffet on a patio surrounded by three sleeping koalas.

5 stars for the 30 minute Zoo Tour. Really that's all you need to see the whole zoo. Our guide was entertaining and educational. And we did get to pet & feed the aforementioned critters. Makes for some excellent memories and photos.

5 stars for the Koala cuddle. Sure it's a little pricey at $15-20, but I believe this in one of the few places you can actually hold a koala. And those photos of our kids holding the the furry little guy are well worth it.

So while this is certainly not a destination zoo (how many of those are there anyhow?), it's well worth a 45 minute stop if you are spending a few days on the island.

Pleasant atmosphere; one of the few upscale places on the island with white linens and such.

It was our most expensive meal on the island at north of $200 (2 adults, 3 kids)... but sadly not one of our tastier meals. The fish and dishes were all fine, but just none to write home about.

I quite preferred the Italian food across the street at Romano's.

Watched the Parramatta Eels get clobbered by the Manly Sea Eagles in this very suburban stadium. From Sydney, we took the river cat ferry service for a pleasant taste of the suburbs and sporting life.

Fun environment to see a rugby game outside the big city stadiums. Kept up fine, but small even by the standard of mid-sized college stadiums in the US. Literally no bad seats in the house.

One particular highlight was the members' club across the street, where we had quite a decent dinner before walking back to the stadium for the game. (Food in the stadium itself was underwhelming.)