Melbourne is considered the most “English” of Australian cities – its stately architecture evokes the Victorian era, when it when it was one of the wealthiest ports in the British Empire, and its inhabitants are still known for their conservative style and buttoned-down habits.  Whether the image is true or not, Melbourne’s most elegant and Anglophile corner is certainly Fitzroy Gardens.  The 64 acres of sculpted greenery were laid out in the 1860s, when Melbourne was flush with funds from a gold rush in the nearby hills.  In an over-the-top burst of loyalty to Imperial Britain, the garden’s landscape was based on the pattern of the Union Jack flag – although most of the plants and flowers are most definitely Australian.

Today, you can stroll through the shaded promenades, visiting conservatoriums, a café-restaurant and a model Tudor village.  But perhaps the garden’s most appealing attraction is the actual 18th century cottage where Australia’s discoverer, Captain James Cook, spent his boyhood.  The building was transported piece by piece from the Yorkshire village of Great Ayton by a patriotic Melbourne businessman in 1934. Today, you can see the initials of Cook’s parents carved above the front door, then poke through the tiny rooms to find the very bed where James slept before heading off to sea in 1745, at the ripe age of 17, an apprentice on a merchant ship.   Many years later, the now-famous, middle-aged explorer returned to the house to spend a winter with his father in 1770-1, fresh from charting the east coast of Australia and confirming his place alongside Columbus as one of history’s great navigators.

Walk into any Australian restaurant these days and you’ll find woven into the menu any number of native ingredients – stir-fried kangaroo, emu prosciutto, crocodile burgers, even oddities such as “Anabaroo, Mango and Burrawong soup” (buffalo meat, mango and a native nut).

This ongoing fascination with “bush tucker” is a complete reversal of Australian culinary history.  In fact, the first British settlers in the 1790s nearly died of starvation by refusing to acknowledge native food sources.  Fresh from the slums of London and Manchester, they saw the Australian bush as a dry and barren world, and were dispirited when they failed to raise their home staples like turnips.

The dry expanse of the Outback was considered even less promising – a vision of hell, its needle-sharp spinifex housing ungodly animals like Thorny Devils (horned lizards) and deadly King Brown snakes.  But to the Aborigines, who had thrived in Australia for nearly 40,000 years, this landscape was a seasonal supermarket, providing bush plums, and figs, desert raisins, honey ants, edible reptiles and marsupials.  Flowers that caught the morning dew even provided water in the desert.  It only took 200 years, but urban Aussies are now eagerly learning from Aboriginal elders and experimenting with the subtle flavors of the bush.  Native ingredients are also healthy: Beyond the ubiquitous ‘roo meat (which is far leaner than beef and just as flavorful), look for jams and chutneys made of the green billyoat plum (which has 5000 times the vitamin C content of an orange), or even “green ant sorbet,” a delicious concoction of lime-tasting insects: the ants feast on native citrus and their slightly crunchy bodies explode with flavor.

Continuing our post from Thursday, here are 4 more Australian hot spots to make your Sydney, Australia vacation more memorable.

Café Hernandez
For a great cup of coffee any time of the day, head to this family-owned Potts Point café. It’s open 24-hours a day, seven days a week, and serves delightful Spanish treats.

Red Eye Records
This music store is the best place to pick up new music, rare records, and tickets to the hottest local shows.

Naturally Australian
Located at Circular Quay West, this shop offers the most tasteful Australian souvenirs. Here you can pick out a bowl, box, or piece of furniture carved from sassafras and other Australian woods.

Paddy’s Market
If you want to bring home inexpensive, kitschy souvenirs, this Chinatown market is the place. Kangaroo oven mitts and Opera House shot glasses abound.

We hope that these Sydney must-see sights will help you get more vacation from your vacation.  Make your trip even more unique and use our travel planning resources to help get your dream vacationn underway.

Combined with the adventurous Outback, the world-renowned Great Barrier Reef and the charm of the Aussie people, Australia is a travel destination that can’t be outdone.   On your travels to the land down under get off the beaten path on your Sydney, Australia vacation by visiting these must-see sites.

Justice & Police Museum
Starting as a colony for convicts, Sydney’s first residents were quite colorful. Journey back in time at this unusual museum for a real-life story of cops and robbers.

Brett Whiteley Studio
When renowned Australian artist Brett Whiteley died of a drug overdose in 1992, his wife turned his studio into a memorial, leaving everything just the way it was. Here, you can get inside the mind of this notorious artist as you stand in his workspace and bedroom.

Clovelly Beach
While the masses head to Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach, make a beeline to serene Clovelly Beach. Its calm waters are perfect for snorkeling or swimming laps. Waverley Cemetery, where poet Henry Lawson is buried, is also nearby.

Barefoot Bowling
Once considered a sport for Australia’s elderly, lawn bowling has made a comeback. Grab a beer, kick off your shoes, and join the trendy at Paddington Bowling Club for this quirky pastime.

Check back on Tuesday next week for Part #2 of our Sydney, Australia not-to-be-missed sights.  Start planning your Australia vacation today!

G’day mate. Prepare to travel to the land down under as we explore the 6th largest country in the world, Australia.

Join us over the next several weeks as we travel to a beach lover’s paradise and an adventure seeker’s dream.  We will vacation in the outback, tour beautiful gardens, dine on local delicacies, and uncover the must-see-sights of this great continent.

Get ready to dive into some of the world’s most recognized reefs, meet local wildlife and connect to the world’s oldest living culture.  Enjoy your time in the Bush!

The coolest era in Las Vegas history began on the night of January 20th, 1960, when Dean Martin was performing onstage in the lavish Copa Room of the Sands Casino and was joined onstage by Frank Sinatra to sing “Sleep Warm.”  That same year, five entertainer friends – Martin, Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and the comedian Joey Bishop – appeared together in Vegas-based heist film Ocean’s Eleven and became known as the Rat Pack.  (Nobody knows who came up the name, which suggests a raffish, irreverent and tightly-knit group).

Throughout the 1960s, the group would return to the Sands for a series of classic performances that would firmly establish Las Vegas as the entertainment capital of the US.  Whenever one member was booked to perform, the others would often turn up for impromptu joint show – marquees began to read DEAN MARTIN, MAYBE FRANK, MAYBE SAMMY — and the sold-out audiences would be sprinkled with Hollywood goddesses from Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland and Angie Dickinson, as well as political aristocrats like the Kennedys (the Rat Pack members campaigned for JFK, and helped desegregate Las Vegas, refusing to appear in hotels that did not allow African-American performers).

The group’s popularity began to wane at the end of the 1960s as rock and roll gained momentum and the Rat Pack was seen as too “straight,” but nostalgia for the era has led to a revival of interest in recent years with, for example, a hit remake of Ocean’s Eleven starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, plus sequels Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen.  Visitors to Las Vegas in search of the iconic Copa Room, however, will look in vain: The Sands Hotel was demolished in 1996 to make room for The Venetian.

Warren Beatty’s film Bugsy reminded the world that Las Vegas had the strangest founding father of any American city, a vicious gangster named Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel.  The handsome, sadistic Siegel rose through the ranks of the Jewish criminal underworld of New York in the 1930s to help found a mafia hit-man organization called Murder Inc.  Ordered to oversee mob affairs on the west coast, he settled in Hollywood, where he hobnobbed with celebrities and starlets.  (Incidentally, Siegel hated the nickname “Bugsy,” which the media gave him during a failed prosecution for murder, referring to his crazy and erratic behavior).

In early 1946, Siegel’s bosses ordered him to inspect a lonely outpost in the Nevada desert called Las Vegas.  Apart from a few dusty saloons that catered to workers from the nearby Hoover Dam, a Californian businessman was building a modest casino-hotel, the Flamingo.  Unexpectedly, Siegel fell in love with the idea and decided that Las Vegas could become a gambler’s paradise: He took over the Flamingo project and started pumping funds to turn it into one of the most luxurious hotels in America, a dreamlike resort with air-conditioned rooms, croupiers in white tails, swimming pools and golf courses.

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There are endless sights to see in Sin City.  On your Las Vegas vacation make sure to visit these must-see sights:

Fountains of Bellagio
The 8-acre lake comes to life multiple times a day in from of the Bellagio hotel.  Don’t miss this complimentary show of water, music and light.  It is a beautiful choreographed aquatic masterpiece.

Eiffel Tower Replica at Paris Las Vegas
Enjoy the best view of the Las Vegas strip atop the Eiffel Tower Experience.  Take a elevator 460 feet above the heart of Las Vegas to enjoy panoramic views of the valley.

Freemont Street Experience
Venture to downtown Las Vegas to experience the Viva Vision canopy light show.

Gondola Ride at the Venetian
No trip to Venice, or Las Vegas, would be complete without a Gondola ride.  Glide down the Grand Canal on a relaxing and romantic gondola ride at The Venetian.

The Forum Shops at Caesars
Get ready to shop ‘til you drop at more than 160 boutiques and shops, and dine at over 13 restaurants at The Forum Shops at Caesars.  Find all the latest fashions from the best known designers.

What other attractions are not-to-be-missed on your travels to Las Vegas?

Get ready to jet set to Las Vegas, Nevada otherwise known as “Sin City”.

Travel with us to the gambling capital of the world to try your hand at a game of Black Jack, learn about the notorious Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, and listen to the famous sounds of the Rat Pack.

During our trip to Las Vegas we will provide you with the not-to-be-missed sights and the top things to do when visiting The Strip.  Make sure to find some down time on your vacation to enjoy a relaxing day at the pool, catch a famous show, or visit the magnificent Grand Canyon on a helicopter tour.
So, take a chance, roll the dice and read on…

Vacation in Sydney, Australia and tour Sydney Harbour.  On your sightseeing adventure see the Sydney Opera House, one of the 20th century’s most distinctive buildings.  The opera house is a multi-venue performing arts complex and was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list on June 28, 2007.  Aside from hosting many touring productions, the opera house is home to Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony.