Camp n stuff

Just had a long catch-up with Ben. He has been at camp (DCN), and I have been thinking quite a lot about camp as it has just finished. This is the first time for ten years that I haven’t been, and I really missed it. I am enjoying being in Australia, but am missing out on ‘normal life’, and the kids growing up. Span and Jex both got really pleasing results for AS levels and GCSE, Jex has been in various shows, Span is nearing her driving test, Ben has started a new sport and so on. They are very grown up now, and even though I do speak with each of them pretty often, it isn’t easy to be away so much.If I do stay on this project to the end, it goes live in early November, so it will be after that when I am back for good. I am looking forward to being around again, though I can’t complain about having had such a great set of experiences in Australia – this is a beautiful country.

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Manlybikes

Borrowed bikes and are riding around Manly today. Been up to north head which was beautiful, now about to try and not share our fish and chips with 80 seagulls.

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Bondi

One of the names that most people know in reference to Sydney, and even Australia, is Bondi Beach. Surfers everywhere speak about it, and tourists who have been speak in hyperbole about it – so we thought we would go for a visit. Jelena and I met through a mutual friend, young Keith. Now when young Keith was even younger (when the world was still in black and white), he spent some time living in Sydney. He put us in touch with a good mate over here, so we met up with Mal and Carol for a coffee. They live near Bondi Junction, so we got the train over, and they picked us up on the way to Westfield,a large and thoroughly modern shopping mall.

We had coffee and some goodies, and chatted for a long time, finding out all about Keiths darkest secrets. Then Mal and Carol gave us a lift to Ben Buckler point, which overlooks the northernmost poing of the mile-ling Bondi beach. The view was spectacular, and set the scen for the rest of the day. Our plan was to walk down the coast, along a trail that has been laid out to cater for just such a meander, and which mostly hugs the costline for a long way.

Ben Buckler point at Bondi

After taking in the view for a while, we climbed down to the rocks and pools below the pint, and Lena went off to investigate the ocean spray, which was also spectacular. We then ambled down to the beach, and all the way along to the south end. At the far end of the beach is a club called Icebergs, so named because the members swim daily at 6 am, all year round, and put large chunks of ice into the water before doing so. Don’t ask why, cos I don’t know, but I think somebody spent a bit too much time drinking beer in the sun. Anyway, not to feel left out, we went into the club and decided to join in the mood, by drinking beer in the sun. The view, once more, defies description, but basically the floor to ceiling windows, and balcony, overlook the whole of Bondi. We were sat about parallel with the surfers below, and had lunch (fabtastic burgers) while enjoying the sun and the view.

View from the Icebergs

Once we were done, we headed out again, and walked down the coast along paths, cliffs, boardwalks and roadways. We walked a total of about 8kms down the coast, via beautiful coves and bays such as Bronte Bay, Tamarama Bay, Clovelly Bay, as far as Coogee bay. We got their around dusk, and had a beer in a very loud, very large hotel, filled with backpackers and tourists and 80% of the population of Ireland. It was too noisy for us, so we hopped onto a bus back to town. We went back to the hotel, then wandered off to find some food. We found a queue outside a Malaysian place, so decided (both of us becoming bery British) to join the queue. If so many people were prepared to wait for this food, it must be good. And it was.

The make Roti’s in a traditional Malaysian way. The dough is spun very thin, then fried on a large flat metal stove, tih or without goodies inside the roti. Delicious, cheap, and well worth the 40 minute wait in the queue.

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Lena in Oz

So Lena arrived yesterday for a ten-day visit to Sydney. I went to meet her at the airport at silly o’clcok in the morning, and she was pretty tired after about thirty-something hours of travel. We went back to the hotel and Lena had a few hours of sleep while I did some work. After I woke her, we headed out for a walk, and went down to Circular Quay and the rocks. We wandered about for a bit, then walked over the harbour bridge to the north shore.

View looking back over the city about halfway across the bridge

Sat in a street-side cafe and had a drink, then walked down to the jetty, and caught the ferry back to Darling Harbour. Quick shower, then we headed north again to meet my colleagues for a Friday night out. We went to a pub which was huge, and sat outside under a massive oak tree shivering our bits off – it was pretty cold for Sydney. We finally found enough place to get 14 of us onto a table inside, and had a lovely supper. Basically, you chose your cut of raw meat, then went to the grill where you cooked it yourself. I made lovely steak for me and Lena- somehow hers turned out better than mine. Not sure how that happened, but anyway….

We spent the evening playing pool, drinking beer, and generally having a good time. Had a good sleep, then headed out this morning after breakfast down to Darling Harbour. We walked through Tumbalong park, and had a ride on the big Ferris wheel, which gave us lovely views of this part of the world. We then went into the Chinese Garden, a gift from the people of Guangdong Province, which was magical.

The far pavillion
The lake of brightness

The garden was beautiful and very peaceful. After a nice quiet walk, we had some tea and Dim Sum, then headed through China Town to Paddys Market. We only bought one small souvenir there, which was pretty good, then briefly came back to the hotel before hopping on to the ferry to Circular Quay once more. We got there after a beautiful ferry ride, and headed to the market on the Rocks. We ate some sushi, and looked at shiny things and more Aussie souvenirs, before walking around to the Opera house, where we had a couple of glasses of wine while watching the sunset against the backdrop of the Harbour Bridge and the whole bay. Most lovely indeed. Then train-ed it back to our part of the world, where we went to my favourite steak-house for a proper piece of nicely cooked meat. Fab. Now we are back in the hotel, with tired legs and full bellies, getting ready to rest before another busy day tomorrow. Aiming to head to Bondi and surrounds.

Be good

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Evening drinks

Sat at the Opera House bar drinking red wine and enjoying the view. Marvelous.

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‘AS’ Levels

My oldest offspring got her AS level results today – 2 A’s and 2 C’s. What a good result. Well done baby.

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Jelly Bean

Just spoke to Lena as she was boarding the plane to Bangkok and then on to Sydney. She lands here tomorrow for a ten day stay. Gonna be great

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Hello Darling

I have been staying in Darling harbour for about 7 weeks in total, and haven’t really explored the other side beyond the shopping centre and Restaurants on the shore side. Until now. Yesterday I went for a long walk exploring the areas known as Pyrmont and Ultimo. The shoreline follows a very wiggly line here, and as I walked I kept getting differing views of the city and harbour. It was a gorgeous day, bright and warm, and I was lost in my own little world as I trudged around.

I keep being impressed with Sydney and this walk offered plenty more reasons to like the place. I found a crassy hill, and from the top o it had views around 270 degrees of the harbour – from the familiar Darling harbour and Harbour bridge around to areas that I was not really aware of before. I wandered back down, stopping at a lovely cafe for a refreshing beer and some food, and sat reading a guide book in the sun for quite some time. Lena is coming to visit me on Friday (Yay!!!) and so I am planning a bunch of tourist-ing for us. My itinerary is taking on the shape of a project plan, and we still have ten minutes of free time left on the second Saturday to fill.

View from Darling Island

Anyway, finished lunch, strolled through to Ultimo, before heading back to the mundanity of having to collect my washing from the local laundry. I think I might have complained about this before, but I refuse to use the laundry in the hotel. A bag of washing, dried and folded, costs Au$12 - an equivalent weeks washing in the hotel would have cost me Au$205!!.  Headed back to the hotel, did some more work (trying to get ahead so I don’t have to work while Lena is here), and then skyped Lena, spoke to Jexi, saw Richard as he came to borrow some kit for camp, and watched some fireworks in the Harbour below my hotel with Lena and Richard on the end of the skype webcam, before watching some football and going to be.

Today has been lazier – some more work, a quick stroll across the bridge for a quick bite at lunchtime, followed by some reading of the Sunday papers, browsing and wacthing “My name is Earl”. Will be a short week cos Jelly Bean arrives on Friday morning (at 6am – yikes), so will be working and planning our itinerary  further.

Be good

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Pyrmont

On a beautiful walk at the moment. Walked via Darling harbour around the shore and explored Pyrmont. Fab views, glorious sunshine, now about to have a beer, some olives, and then pasta for lunch, sat outside a cafe baking in the sun. Paradise.

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Dances with Eels

Back in Oz – been here a few days, Was not nearly so badly jet-lagged this time, only spent a day or two as a zombie, then reverted to my usual inert and inactive lively self once more. I need to get back inot the habit of blogging – a couple of weeks off and I have become very remiss.

Anyway, worked the back half of last week, then had a weekend to re-orient myself. I went out to Newtown on Saturday, which was fab. It is a very bohemian and alternative centre, with all kinds of shops and eateries. Lots of second-hand book stores, and a fair amount of art-deco shops, about 200 Thai restaurants and a bunch of others. Walked up and down King St enjoying the sites and sounds, had a haircut and a cup of cofee in a cafe, then headed back to the city.

On Sunday I caught the ferry which went to Parramatta. It is the furthest stop up-river that the ferries go – at that point the river is less than 25 metres wide. The trip is very picturesque, and the different waterways look very exciting – I would love to spend a few days on a boat exploring the harbour. It was low tide, which meant that the ferry couldn’t actually do the final bit of the trip, so they put us on a coach for the last 15-20 minutes.

Lovely views
Parramatta Park

Parramatta is a sleepy town,  with quite a developed CBD, but not a lot happening on a Sunday. I had lunch at a lovely Lebanese restaurant on the river, then walked along the river to Parramatta Park and had a great stroll around there for an hour, before walking back to town and getting the train back to central Sydney. Apparently Parramatta means “the places where the eels lie down” or some such in the aboriginal dialect.

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