La Regal @ Berkeley

I went back to Berkeley last night to see what I missed on my last outing here. Not much apparently, the streets were relatively empty, except for a couple bums spread across the town. After getting chased away from a prospect Japanese place by a bum, I wandered over toward the campus. On center street I found a Vietnamese place called La Regal with no bum guardians. Soon after I sat down in the back corner the other patron left and I had the whole restaurant to myself. Somehow my main coarse of calamari came out before the pork appetizer, leaving me ready for a doggy bag by the time the pork arrived. Overall the food felt fairly traditional and the atmosphere was awkward like I've come to expect out of a good Vietnamese place.

Berkeley at night

Bar Cleveland

I've been staying near the intersection of Cleveland and Bourke and naturally I've become and avid customer of Bar Cleveland. This bar has a pretty mellow crowd, some slot machines, a nice outdoor seating area and some great food. I find that dropping by here and ordering a pint of Vale or Coopers and then hitting the slots is a nice way to wind my night down. Of the food I've tried here I'd say the Wagyu burger is the best thing they've got going and pretty much melts in your mouth. If you're just looking for a snack the Calamari is only 12 bucks and is a decent enough portion to hold you over before your next meal.

Bar Cleveland from street

Cronulla Visit

On the train back from Bondi Junction in my previous post, I saw some advertisements for a beach town called Cronulla. This lead eventually to some googling later that night where I discovered that the train route that goes to and from Bondi Junction from Central also goes south of Sydney to to Cronulla. I decided on this day that I'd hop on the train and see about this place.

chick with a nice chair on the train

Rainy Day at Manly

It was a rainy day which otherwise would have been spent on my computer or at the local bar, however I decided I would venture out anyway and take the ferry ride over to Manly. The place was pretty dead when I got there and my options for food were slim. The only thing opened that looked slightly appealing was this hole in the wall sea food restaurant inappropriately named Watervue. I got the calamari plus fish combo and this filled me up, nothing too special about this place really, well they at least serve beer.

Newcastle at Daytime

I woke and checked out of my hotel on the morning of new years eve, and walked down to the beach to see what type of activity there was. The heat and the coastal breeze worked well to make it feel like a great summer day, great enough that after walking up and down the beach-side path and witnessing my first topless sunbather I celebrated with a beer at a beach-side cafe.

Landing in Sydney

I've just managed to land in Sydney after a 15 hour flight from San Francisco. I got a couple of good pictures from the plane of Sydney and even one of Hawaii at night.

Hawaii from the plane