Last (?) Sydney Haul

So. I'm flying back next Monday [insert sigh here] and have started bringing the stuff I don't intend to bring back to Vienna (e.g. mugs and bowls and misc. household stuff I bought) to the office to give to a Swiss colleague who recently moved here and is moving into her apartment later this week. Thankfully, the Mermaid took quite a few of my clothes and purchases with her, but I should still do some "test-packing" later this week to try and figure out if I'll fit everything into my two suitcases. Here are some things I bought in the last two weeks:

The Mermaid and I bought each other "friendship jewellery", i.e. bought a pair of things we liked. First, she bought two necklaces with a wooden heart in Leura in the Blue Mountains, then I bought a matching pair of eelskin (!) bracelets at Paddington Market last Saturday. I love both:

At the Finders Keepers Market which we attended the Saturday before I finally bought a wooden brooch. I have to admit that I don't usually wear brooches, but after seeing them in so many shops in several cities here, I realised I "needed" one. I love this "origami" cat:

Yesterday on my way home from work I bought the inevitable pair of uggs that no tourist can leave without. Nobody seems to wear them here (no wonder since it isn't that cold and rains a lot), but I definitely intend to get a lot of wear out of them in the Austrian winter. I found a pair in a really nice purple and made sure to check for a sturdy(ish) sole that won't wear off diagonally and make me look like a teenager who can't lift her feet off the ground when walking after the first outing:

I don't know if I have mentioned it here, but unlike elsewhere, "ugg" is a generic name for sheepskin products and not ONE (expensive) brand of shoes/gloves/earmuffs. Hence dozens, if not hundreds, of different UGG brands exist side by side in Australia and the discerning tourist can choose from different colours of labels on the heel and original bynames, such as UGG Sydney, UGG Bondi, Shearers UGG, etc. Uggs are also almost exclusively sold in souvenir shops, some of which seem to target mainly Chinese tourists, so I initially thought these were all fakes. In fact, one brand is just as "genuine" as the next and you just have to shop around to find a pair (the price of which) you like and which seems suitable for the European climate. Most shops permanently pretend to have a "sale" with before and now prices, but the allure wears off when you pass the alleged once-in-a-lifetime-and-today-only! opportunity every day.

I am, however, really happy with mine and hope they last. I intend to wear them on the flight home to have nice warm feet on a plane for once...