Saturday, March 24, 2007

The One with the Coastal Walk

Another week at work over and I revelled in the lie in that I had certainly earned. It's a lovely day so we decide to retry, and go and do the Coogee to Bondi Walk.

We catch the bus to Coogee - a beautiful beach complete with beach volleyball! - and start the walk along the coast.

I think I'm still surprised just how many beaches there are here. We walked through:

  • Gordon's Bay - a secluded bay with no real beach to speak of but full of snorkellers -
  • Clovelly - A thin deep beach of white snad but with concrete platforms full of sun worshippers
  • Bronte Beach - with it's park complete with mini train (just like Cassiobury!)

And also Tamarama, Marks Park and Hunters Park (to be honest they all roll into one by now!) I'm very glad we walked the way we did, and not Bondi to Coogee - as it was all downhill our way!

We eventually arrived at Bondi, and celebrated with a Boost juice (recommended by Eleri and Pittis - cheers girls!!), before catching the train back to town - just in time - once more the heavens opened and we had torrential rain... the sort where rivers flow down the road!

That evening we went to the Opera House for a performance of Vaughn Williams "Sinfonia Antartica" (it's the Latin spelling hence no second c!) This was preceded by the Australian Premiere of Barry Conyngham's "Monuments". He juxtaposes 3 sets of 2 famous Australian landmarks (one natural, one man made). These were Uluru / The Opera House, The Barrier Reef / The Snowy Scheme, The Apostles / Cityscape.

I liked the idea in principle, and visually I thought it was very good, but musically it was a little too modern for my liking!

The main event was fantastic! John Bell (an Australian Shakespearean Actor) read excerpts from Scott's diary (with perfect English diction). They showed Pontings photos on a big screen behind the stage which gave the music a visual focus. What between this and the wind machine played behind the orchestra the whole piece was very haunting... to the extent that it sent shivers down my spine.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

The One with the Bridge's Birthday

With work filling my week, I pretty much live for the weekends at the moment, and so try and cram them full with as much as I can, and this weekend was no exception.

Friday night was cause for celebration (and not just because I had survived another working week!) but because it was Lincoln's 30th Birthday. We headed round to Newtown to where Rachel and Lincoln are living, a really lovely house, with a veranda out the back, with a chorus of frogs singing in the moonlight, and delicious smells wafting out of the kitchen.

Rachel and Lincoln had done themselves proud with a joint of beef marinated in Red Wine and Garlic, and so many veggies, Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes. Absolutely divine, and with the odd glass of vino to wash it down, plus a multicoloured birthday cake, we were soon full up fit to bust.

We were also joined by Pete, Kate and Jen, and what with party poppers and cat woman style masks, it all made for a very pleasant evening.

The next day, (St Patricks Day), Helen and I met up with Gemma - it's a long story how we know her, it was the first time I met her but we all got on famously.

We were planning on doing the Bondi to Coogee walk but the weather wasn't looking too promising. We headed off anyway and stopped en route at the famous Paddington Market. The craft market is in the grounds of a church and has everything from jewellery to pictures (and most excitingly for me!) a second hand book stall - I'm going through books like a hot knife in butter at the moment, so we took the opportunity to pick up a couple more!

We wandered about for an hour or so before getting on the bus and heading on to Bondi (with a random stop for 20 minutes by the road side where our bus driver got off and never came back... was it something I said?)

Finally back on the road we pulled into Bondi just as the heavens opened and it poured down. We decided to give the walk a miss and just go and get a late lunch instead! The place we went was awesome. Some sort of Irish bar I think - the place was blaring out random Irish ballads including Mr McCulloghs favourite - Black Velvet band - but with a more Moroccan style seating arrangement. Think a small table on top of a bed - and that's pretty much where we ate lunch. I was so comfy I could barely get up to go home... which I guess is the whole idea. Throw in waitress service for drinks and the customers never want to leave!

We had to leave eventually, and caught the bus along with surfers and their boards, back to the city.

H and I were planning on staying up all night again to watch the back to back games for the last weekend in the 6 Nations tournament. As we weren't heading out until midnight, we had Lincoln and Rachel over for dinner (surpassing myself yet again!) and watched a film. To be honest by the time midnight rolled around I was ready for bed. Joe came round, and he was about as enthusiastic as I was, but Helen persuaded us and we headed round the corner to an Irish pub called the Porterhouse.

What kind of Irish Pub shuts at 1am on St Patrick's Day, when Ireland are playing rugby from 12.40am? A very stupid one! So we grabbed our cans of Red Bull and set out on a mission of finding somewhere where we could watch the games. This eventually led us back to the Sports Bar in Kings Cross.

Obviously it was full of inebriated Irish Men and the Irish team pulled out all the stops to win the championship. After England's defeat the other week I decided I'd support France to beat Scotland by enough points so that France would win the Championship... which obviously made me very popular surrounded by the Irish. At least we had a bit of banter!

So this week watching the rugby was even weirder than normal. Not only was it Stupid O'clock in the morning, and I was sitting cross legged on the floor of a pub, I was supporting France (what was I thinking?!), and one of only 3 people going crazy when they scored! If you didn't watch these matches you must trust me that it was all VERY VERY exciting! I'd like to point out that I only put this hat on for the photo and then I took it STRAIGHT BACK OFF again!

Thankfully, I was still buzzing that Ireland didn't win, and that kept me from crying too hard at England's performance against the Welsh. The less said about that the better I think. It had been a long night, and to be honest a long tournament. We crawled into bed as the sun came up!

Finally, the weekend wasn't complete without a weekly Sunday celebration. We've been so lucky in Sydney - there's been some sort of parade or party most weekends, and this weekend marked the 75th Birthday of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The talk of the town was about the walk across the bridge itself. Thousands had signed up to do it (the traffic had been stopped!) but there were no places left by the time H and I checked it out, so we decided to go down and mingle in the celebratory atmosphere.

We wandered down to Circular Quay and headed to the Rocks Market. It was whilst perusing the stalls that we got word from Joe that anyone could walk across the bridge, so we hot footed it down to the ferry and across to Milners Point.

We joined the masses of people heading across the bridge, expecting to be stopped at anytime, but soon we were passing through the pylons and under the magnificent arch of the bridge itself.

Music filled the air (rousing in a Chariots of Fire kind of way), and ahead of us the crowd pulsed with bodies. It reminded me of watching the start of the London Marathon on TV. We passed two women in Wheelchairs who had walked across the bridge when it opened in 1932!

As we neared the centre of the bridge the music changed to snippets of radio broadcasts of historic events which have taken place in the last 75 years... this sent goose bumps over my body, and I knew that I too was taking part in an historic event!

As we headed through the toll booths at the other end of the bridge, we headed down to join Katie and Joe (who had got hats when they did the walk... they must have run out by the time we went across!) They didn't stay long, but that meant we got their seats and settled in for the laser show.

The bridge was lit up in various colours, and there were searchlights coming from the pylons. To be honest, I have seen more impressive laser shows. They took a while to change colour, and it was a little nippy out. Maybe the guy changing the coloured light bulbs could have put roller skates on. I wish that they'd done fireworks instead!

We sat for a while and were joined by Lincoln and Rachel, and simply soaked up the atmosphere. All in all, it had been a fantastic weekend!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

The One With the Early St Patricks Day

I had "just popped into town" for a few errands on the Sunday morning when I stumbled across the Sydney St Patrick's Day parade - particularly Irish in the respect that it wasn't even on St Patrick's Day!!! (It turns out that that's because it'll be the bridge's birthday next week!)

Unable to reach H on the phone, I stood in the glorious sunshine, burning (no sunscreen as I'd only popped into town!), and watching the variety of floats passing (sadly I had no camera either - not expecting to need to take photos in a card shop!)

I saw St Pat himself, a float of Irish Dancers (little girls wearing ringlet wigs!), a Bodrain float, and a Molly Malone float (cue impromptu song!) My favourite had to be the Aboriginal Float with Aborigines dressed in Irish Costumes playing didgeridoos.... very surreal!

I finally managed to get through to H as the last float drove past, but suggested she joined me at Hyde Park where the celebrations continued.

Everyone loves the Irish it seems, and Hyde Park had been decked out into a mini, Guinness-selling Ireland complete with signposts to famous towns and areas in Ireland, and a few less well known - such as County Bondi!

To be honest, other than a band, there was not much going on, but that didn't stop the place being packed, full of people wearing green, sporting Shrek Ears, and even the odd Leprechaun hanging about!. H and I wandered about and just soaked up the atmosphere!

On the way home we wandered through to Selwyn Street (another random mission from The Illusionist) and once again we weren't disappointed. These trees need to be seen to be fully appreciated!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

The One on Bondi...

H was out working today - painting a room in the hostel with Mike and Joe (I guess eating with those boys pays off!!) I decided to head out on a bit of sight seeing (which H had done when her parents popped out the other week!) so headed down to Circular Quay to meet Lincoln and his girlfriend Rachel to go for a tour of the Opera House.


Our guide was great and filled us in on the history of the opera house (in a nutshell it was the brain child of Eugene Goosens and designed by Jorn Utzon - although neither got to see the finished article as both were thrown off the project. The buck stopped with Utzon, as the architect, when the project went hideousty over budget. In the end a lottery was started and as Aussies like the odd gamble, the project was paid off within 10 years!)

We were shown around the various buildings - I'd always thought it was one building but its actually about 3. Including rooms such as the Symphony hall, the Utzon room and the Playhouse.

The best description of the Opera House that I have heard is that it's like a walnut. The roof is like the shell, and the buildings inside (the nut) are totally self contained within. The concrete structure of the roof looked, from the inside, like the inside of a piano, while the outside of the symphony hall reminded me ofa huge organ... maybe it's just my wild imagination but everything here seems musically inspired!

The symphony hall is fabulous - as a group we all clapped on 3 and the echo took a couple of seconds to die away. Amazing accoustics.

The Utzon room is a small room which can be used for functions like book lauches or cocktail parties or intimate concerts such as for string quartets and the like. What stands out is the large tapestry down one wall, which was designed by Utzon who tore up and stuck coloured paper on a big sheet. Apparantely if the thread was all unravelled it would reach to Darwin and back! It was inspired by a piece of music by Bach, and a painting (but not sure by who!)


Lastly, the playhouse - a small theatre all set up for what looked like a modern version of Shakespeare's Macbeth - what limited scenery there was had televisions in it!


Making the most of the nice weather we went for a wander, throught the Botanic gardens, round Mrs macs point (another million photos of the bridge and opera House - I am totally addicted) and through to Wooloomooloo.

Here we stopped for a pie - and not any ordinary pie - but one from the famous Cafe Harry de Wheels. I do not often take a photo of my dinner, (even my toad in the hole didn't make it photographically onto my blog) but this pie was so good it deserved this worthy recognition!

From here to The Old Fitzroy pub (a recommendation from Dermot Lavelle: Illusionist) for a cheeky afternoon beverage - if you are here, it's well worth a look - I loved the 70's style wallpaper!




Feeling a bit sleepy we jumped on the train to Bondi to meet H and the boys and to finally try out the boogy boards. I wasn't expecting much from Bondi, but still felt the need to check out the famous beach, and I was actually rather impressed! It was a tad busy but the sand was clean and white and there were big waves.

I'm not that fussed on being in the ocean, but am determined to love the surf by the time I leave oz. This was my first time in the sea here, and the first time ever in waves like this. They're huge, and can take you unawares knocking you for six and bringing you up not knowing which way you're facing, where you are, and desperately clinging to your bikini, with your hair across your face like Cousin It. I am certainly no beach babe (especially with my still whiter than white tummy, but brown arms!), and this is nothing like swimming off Brighton!

Plus, Boogy Boarding is not as simple as it looks.... and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying! I won't go into descriptions, you see the problems I had jumping the waves - giving me equipment just complicated the matter. My visions of being a fantastic surfer by the time I leave are fading rapidly. I will settle for just surviving in the water!




That aside, I did not need to be rescued, and actually thoroughly enjoyed my first experience on the Aussie beach - bring it on!

Friday, March 9, 2007

The One where "Neighbours Become Good Friends"

Or to coin a true Friends' title "The One with the Routine"


Just to prove to you all that I did get a job!

I now have work for the remainder of the time I have in Sydney (it works out about 7 weeks in all) I work at a "Marketing Fulfilment Agency which specialises in Print, Mail, Fulfilment and Telemarketing" (Just in case the boss reads this) but to you and me that's a mailing house! - and as you can see from my screensaver the comapny is called Centrica.

Centrica is based in Chatswood which is a 20 minute drive in good traffic but takes me over an hour each way each day by train and bus. It's not all bad though, as the trip takes me over the Sydney Harbour Bridge each day so I get to see the Opera House glinting in the early morning sun each day, and if I'm lucky catch the sunset on the way home. It doesn't matter what the weather is like - the Bridge and Opera House still get me all excited each time I see them and I have to pinch myself to remind myself that i'm actually living and working in Sydney.

I am the receptionist... and to be honest there's not much to do. I have given up asking for work, and drowning my bosses in tea, and have used the last few weeks wisely - reading endless books at my desk and updating my journal which got a bit behind - and getting paid for it! That said, I already have itchy feet and am counting down the days until I can get back on the road again!

A big hi to Roland (my boss), Andy, Phil, Ray and Ross (did I mention I was also the only girl!)

My life has fallen into a routine, which means that after work, H and I have taken it in turns to cook with Joe ( a guy next door) and Mike (our Landlord who also lives next door). One of the four cooks, and then we watch TV. This is great, as not only do you only have to cook once every 4 days, but the competitive nature means that each of us has tried to go one better on the culinary front, resulting in yummy food every day. I proved that not only am I a good receptionist (hmm!) but I am also somewhat of a culinary genius with a fluky Toad in the Hole which, even if I do say so myself, was pretty impressive! (Still not sure how I pulled that one out the bag!)

Saturday, March 3, 2007

The One with Mardi Gras - Part 2

On a scorching Saturday,which turned into a hot and sticky summer's evening, H and I joined the throngs for one of the biggest parties of the year in Sydney - MARDI GRAS!

Lincoln joined us and we joined Luke and his friends before heading to Oxford Street the hub of Gay and Lesbian activity in the city. The streets were packed, and Luke - who had some friends with an apartment - wangled his way in to get great views of the parade from above. That left the three of us to bob over shoulders for a few minutes to get a view, before paying the $10 for a stool to stand on (a hardy investment - it now serves as my bedside table!)

The parade started in its traditional manner led by the "Dykes on Bikes" - no explanation needed - women, motorbikes, various levels of dress. Then followed numerous floats - the whole thing took over two hours to pass. Some groups had really gone to town.
The thing I loved most was that every section in society were represented - there were the Catholic Gays, the jewish gays, Middle Aged Gays - members of every emergency service turned out, and even some shops jumped on for the advertising opportunity - the bank ANZ and Ikea both had a float!

My favourite floats were those with the choreograophed dancers. There were the Asian marching Boys, and then a group from a nightclub. A lit up trojan horse follwed a greek style building, and a whole load of trojan soldiers with helmets and swords danced in unison behind. The men had muscly bodies which glistened in the lights from the float - and boy could these men dance!! The other group were the Bondi lifesavers all in their red Speedos (they're called Budgie Smugglers here!) and red and yellow swimming caps, carrying the red and yellow flags! The guys below are dressed like firemen and were dancing to "It's raining men!"


My favourite float of all was called Kylie's Impossible Princesses. There were hundreds of people bopping along behind a float that carried a huge image of Kylie. They all carried huge pink "K's" while Kylies songs blared out. After all of them, was a woman dressed as Danni Minogue carrying a sign which said "I can sing too!"

I had such a great night although I appreciate I look a bit of a wally now with four glowsticks coming out of my ponytail - but then hey - I certainly was not on my ownat the time!