There is definitely a coffee culture in Australia and they take it very seriously.
I would say that their coffees are definitely some of the best I’ve tasted: certainly not of the flavoured milk variety I’ve often had in the UK, or coffee with nasty sweet flavourings …
Even the church we visited in North Ryde had their own espresso type machine and served seriously good flat whites. It puts some of the misguided attempts at coffee in the UK to shame…
Just read an article in the newspaper here which tested the temperature of several coffee outlets. Apparently steaming the milk above 68C robs the milk of its velvety sweetness – compromising the full taste of the coffee beans.
Just been to Top Ryde City ( Shopping Centre): 78,125m² of floor space, comprising 276 stores over six levels serviced by 6,150 car spaces. It’s BIG!
Having learnt our lesson from previous visits to supermarkets and shops with large car parks, we made a careful note of our car’s registration and where we had parked it. On a previous supermarket shop we spent a good 10 minutes walking around (on the wrong level) with our shopping trolley – and having forgotten the make colour and registration of our car we resorted to continually clicking our remote to see if any of the cars reacted…
Just been for power walk. It was only 8.30am, but the temperature was already 32C. On balance it’s not an experience I recommend.
We tried to keep to the shade and walked along a local park by an estuary and then along a small Creek. We saw some white parrots, a kookaburra and some very large bats.
It was the bats that made the greatest impression. They were hanging upside down in trees in the mangrove area of the estuary. At first glance they were black clumps of dead foliage or fruit hanging from the branches. A number were flying over tree tops like gigantic crows. Those in the trees chattered and squawked like congested seagulls.