As promised, a post about the drinking here as it is a bit different from home. When we first got here one of the things we had to figure out quickly was where to buy beer and wine. We had a tip from a Frommer travel guide that alot of restaurants have "bottle shops" attached to them where you can buy beer and wine. We went into quite a few restaurants the first couple days and found nothing. Jason had mentioned he found a place right on our street that had wine but he didn't want to ask if they also had beer (I think it was one of those guy things, not wanting to ask for directions). So, the next time we were out together we stopped by the place and I went in to ask while he waited outside with Abby. Sure enough, they had beer it was just back in a walk-in-cooler. Looking around, I didn't recognize any of it so I went with a six pack of James Squire. That has turned out to be one of the best decisions yet. Jason has gone though every James Squire type of beer and they are all really good :) It's similar to the craft beers that have gotten to be very popular at home. And, as it turns out, the James Squire Brewery is right around the corner from us. We are going on Sunday as they have free kids meals and face painting, I haven't had my face painted in years :) Oh, I mean, Abby will love it! We have yet to find another beer that we REALLY like.

As it turns out, there are "bottle shops" we were just missing them for some reason. We also missed the liquor express store that is right in the middle of the foodstore. I feel like I was walking around with my eyes shut. Maybe there was just so much new to take in that I couldn't quite process it all.

Jason's company goes out for happy hour every Friday to Bar 333 right across the street from his office so he has had a bit more interaction with the drinking atmosphere. He said that alot of people drink Stella and quite a few drink champagne. I guess it's not reserved for celebrations :)

There is alot of wine made in Australia so we are doing our best to try them. We won't be adding to our cork collection though as they are all twist off. This did however come in handy the first bottle we opened when we weren't sure if there was a bottle opener in this place. The Hunter Valley (kinda like Napa Valley) is only 2 hours north of Sydney so that is on the list of places to go. Maybe for an anniversary trip?

Lastly, the drinking prohibited signs make no sense at all. They are all over the place and say things like "Alcohol Free Zone - the consumption of alcohol is probited from 3/7/07 to 2/7/10". Alot of the signs are out of date and so I guess you can walk down the street with a drink in hand? Not sure.