El in Oz

Extended absence

2008-01-25T19:11:00.000+11:00

Hmmm... 7 months later, eh? Quite a lot has happened during that time - the most exciting of which is that Alex and I got engaged in July! Hopefully I shall write more soon, but am about to head out for dinner at the Bondi Tratt, so that's it for now. I'm still alive though!

Storms and floods

2007-06-17T18:00:00.000+10:00

Yet again a month has passed, and I haven’t got round to updating this site. Still blaming it on Facebook though! Anyway, it isn’t as though I haven’t been doing anything – life in Bondi (and the rest of the places I’ve been visiting) continues to be good – even in the torrential rain that has been a feature of the past month. There were floods on the Central Coast and in the Hunter Valley, in which 9 people died, and even here the weather was pretty severe – six-foot pounding surf etc, and so much wind that half the beach got blown into the skate park at Bondi:

But a few weeks ago, it still felt like summer. We headed down to Jervis Bay, about 3 hours south of Sydney, for a weekend away with friends. There were 12 of us, and we rented a big house right by the beach, for a weekend of barbecuing on the balcony, and marvelling at the fact that we were swimming in the ocean instead of wearing the woolly hats and gloves that we’d brought with us. Walked to Hyam’s Beach one day, which is apparently in the Guinness Book of Records for having the whitest sand in the world. Looked it up when we got back to the house (which conveniently had the 2007 edition), but couldn’t find it. The sand was ridiculously white though!

Had a great dinner at a restaurant in the middle of a forest – part of Paperbark Camp Ecolodge, and then finished off the evening in the Husky Pub, dancing to some interesting tunes (in my case), or knocking back tequila in order to be able to cope with the tunes (in Alex’s).

Back in Sydney, we’ve been enjoying the end of the main bbq season with mates, went to see The View play at the Metro Theatre (and got extremely drunk in the process), seen ‘Shrek 3’ and ‘Death at a Funeral’ at the cinema (both good), and helped Dom and Julie move house, using the trusty ute, of course. And went to Marcus and Nance’s engagement party in Manly, which was cool.

We’ve also been booking holidays, and will be heading to Queenstown in New Zealand for a week’s snowboarding in August and then to the Northern Territory in October for 2 weeks! We’re going to go and see Uluru, rent a 4wd and drive to King’s Canyon and the Olgas and then through the outback to Alice Springs, from where we will be catching The Ghan train up to Darwin, from where we’re going to go and explore Kakadu National Park – can’t wait!

So that’s about it. I’m still swimming in the ocean – got my new wetsuit a couple of weeks ago and it makes a big difference. The surf yesterday was ridiculous, so we were swimming parallel to the beach, in the white water – there wasn’t a single surfer out, as the wind would have made it impossible to paddle out. Lots of fun though!

Addiction

2007-05-21T10:06:00.000+10:00

Well, I haven't written much about Fiji - I think I was too relaxed when we got back. It was great - neither of us had ever really been on a resort stylee holiday before, and we thought we might get a bit bored. Not the case! We stayed for 4 nights at the Outrigger on the Lagoon, on the Coral Coast of Fiji's main island, where they brought us champagne and canapes every evening, then got a helicopter transfer (nice!)to Castaway Island, and stayed another 3 nights there before getting the boat back. Our camera has been a bit strange ever since we bought it at Christmas, and soon we'll get round to taking it back, so our holiday pictures don't do it quite as much justice as it deserves.

The other reason I haven't got round to writing anything is that I have developed a mild addiction to Facebook since joining a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't be bothered for ages, and then lots of people started sending me message to join, and now I'm in there. It's a bit weird. But also very cool when overseas to see the little things going on in my mates' lives that you probably just wouldn't ever find out about unless you happened to phone/e-mail them that particular day. Anyway. Hopefully the novelty is wearing off slightly and I won't be on it for 3 hours at a stretch in future.

Aside from all that, everything is still all good in Sydney. BhangLassi are having a bit of a break, as Chris and Matt are overseas for a few weeks. We've been out drinking more than the recommended amount rather a lot recently - poker nights, rugby games, PGL (Pissy Girls' Lunch), comedy nights (at the Opera House, of course!)and generally just enjoying life. The water is still about 20 degrees, and swimming on Saturday mornings does seem to get rid of the hangover very effectively, which is good. May have to purchase a full wetsuit if I'm going to carry on through the winter though...

Fiji Time

2007-05-01T10:32:00.000+10:00

We stayed here. Need I say more?

Off to Feeeeeeeeejeeeeeeeeeeee!

2007-04-18T14:51:00.000+10:00

Three weeks since my last post, and again, lots has been going on...

On Saturday, March 31, between 7:30pm and 8:30pm, it was Earth Hour, when most of the buildings in the CBD (including the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House) turned off their lights and switched off appliances on standby, and people at home did the same. Our mates Jo and Andy have a flat on the north side of the harbour, in Kirribilli, with a great view across to the city, and they invited us round for a dinner by candle-light to watch the spectacle. It was pretty impressive, but not exactly the total black-out we'd been picturing (especially as the Opera House was 30 minutes late in turning off its lights!). Lots of lights were never going to be turned off - street-lights, etc - and the parade of cars who'd specially driven down to the harbour foreshore to watch kind of defeated the purpose of the whole thing, which was to raise awareness of climate change. Delicious dinner though!

The great event of the following week was, of course, BhangLassi's debut at The Cat and Fiddle. A resounding success, loads of people came along to watch, and if the boys had any pre-gig nerves, you couldn't tell from the audience! The follow-up is happening tonight, at The Hopetoun in Surry Hills, well-known for the quality of its live music, and in Matt's words, "BhangLassi's Wembley".

A day to recover from that, and then it was Good Friday, and off we set for The Great Escape. A fantastic weekend was had by all, even in the torrential rain. Luckily, although wet, it wasn't cold, and by Sunday there was even intermittent sun, necessitating constant changes of clothing (hoodie on, waterproof on, waterproof off, hoodie off, waterproof on...) My personal favourites were The Magic Numbers, but I kind of knew they would be, being a band that are dear to my heart, but in terms of acts I'd never seen before, The Bird, a Sydney-based reggae-type outfit went off, I really liked the Hilltop Hoods and also Flogging Molly. Plus lots of others... Saw some bad and some great comedy in one of the bunkers (the festival is held at an old armory), and certain of the males in the group went to watch the same cabaret show on all three nights...

We had left Alex's old housemate from Battersea, James, in our flat for the weekend, handing over the key as he arrived from Brisbane on the Friday morning - looking a little unprepared for the wet weather, in Queensland-suitable shorts and thongs - so we were able to catch up properly over lunch by the beach on Easter Monday (it was sunny by then!), which was good.

Another short week at work last week, and then on Friday, we headed off to the Blue Mountains for another weekend camping, only this time it wasn't in a tent, but in a cave! It was Rach's 30th birthday, and her boyfriend Mike (the BhangLassi drummer, no less) had organised the trip for 11 of us. And it was wicked! 405 steps down through the bush from the lodge, which comes included when you rent the cave (or the other way round) was a massive, sandy-floored cave, fitted out with a barbecue, various acoustic musical instruments, area for a big campfire and a large, trapeze-like swing/hammock. We carried down food, booze, guitars, percussion and lots of drums, and partied like cavemen. It were great.

And after the excitement of the gig tonight is over, Alex and I are heading off to Fiji for a week of chilling and snorkelling on Saturday! Woohoo. I think it's raining at the moment, but, hey, I can cope with tropical rain. Fiji, here we come!

No time!

2007-03-28T21:46:00.000+10:00

The thing about writing a diary-type blog, so I've found, is that the more stuff you do, the more you have to write about, but the less time you have to actually get round to writing about it. And the longer you leave it between writing, the more stuff you've done in the meantime, and so inevitably you end up reducing amazing experiences to one-liners. Ah well.

So - since last time, this is what's been going on:

The Playground Weekender festival! Up at Wiseman's Ferry, a little town/village I'd never visited, about an hour an a half from Sydney, on the banks of the Hawkesbury river. We rented a houseboat which slept 10 people with Chris, Esther, Matt, Mel, Andrew and various of his friends and friends of friends and had a hot, sunny, fun-filled weekend, involving lots of swimming in the river and barbecued breakfasts. Oh - and we visited the festival (mostly in the evenings) too. We could hear the music from the boat in the day, and there weren't all that many people there (you could tell it was the first time they'd organised it!), so we didn't feel the need to go over too early. Only one crash with the tinny (metal dinghy with motor for getting to shore), although we did come back in the dark one night and find it mostly underwater, lots of booze and generally muchos fun. Band highlights for me: Fat Freddy's Drop and Elbow.

Then Friday night, went to see Ross Noble at the Enmore Theatre. Wicked. There's a comedy festival on at the moment, so we've seen a few things. A couple of pleasant post-comedy beers catching up with Julie and Dom too, which was good. Saturday was Marcus's (the BhangLassi bassist) surprise birthday dinner in Manly. Thai banquet in Wok Bar - highly recommended for $25 per person - we could only manage about half the food!

Thursday 22nd was then Alex's birthday - he's finally reached the grand old age of 28! Apart from a very stylish BhangLassi mug (the envy of the band, I'm told), I also got him a day's hire of a Lotus Elise - to make a change from driving the ute! So we're going to take a day off work sometime and go cruising! He went to band practice on his birthday, so I went to see the closing film in the French Film Festival, with Tom, the only person I thought would be interested! Film was quite good, even with Gerard Depardieu playing his favourite character, and then we went for tapas.

Took Alex out for his birthday dinner on the Friday (after I had spent all afternoon at a boozy work lunch in the sun by the harbour - my first one in a year!) We wandered around East Sydney - mainly known for its Italian restaurants, but it has some others too, and he picked Voiaj, which has dishes from all over the world, and amazing decorations inside. And you get to drink out of metal goblets! I played it relatively safe with Moroccan lamb, although I was slightly tempted by the "Afghan camel snake pie with dirty rice..."

Saturday was the full-on birthday celebration, along with Alex G, who has the same birthday! We spent the whole afternoon from 2pm in the beer garden of the Rose Hotel , which is a great pub (and conveniently, just across the road from the theatre where a few of us had booked to see Ardal O'Hanlon, of Father Ted fame, in the evening). A huge thunderstorm at around 5pm meant we had to retreat under cover, but there was lots of room. Cooled it down a bit from the 35 degrees as well!

And after all that, on Sunday we went round to visit the Kirribilli massive for an afternoon of fajitas, poker and birthday cake (and the odd glass of wine!) Woohoo!

Have just come back from Wednesday night swim squad - hopefully I'll carry on all winter - may need a wetsuit in a couple of months though - it's in the Icebergs pool (see the pic at the top), so outside. Feel a lot more relaxed than when I got in from work though, which is all good.

And finally - the most exciting news of the past few weeks - BhangLassi have got real gigs! The first one is April 4th at the Cat and Fiddle in Balmain. Talk round these parts is of little else...

Harbour swim

2007-03-07T09:44:00.000+11:00

Was great to see Leila again - she was last here about a year ago - although she was pretty busy working for most of the time. Came back from the last surf ski training session and she had cooked us dinner though - nice.

Bhanglassi had a chilled out practice session at Mike and Rache's flat, not far from us, on Thursday night, followed by dinner cooked by guest bassist Matt - risotto with scallops...mmmmm... They're sounding pretty good these days - if only they'd get their arses into gear and book themselves a proper gig somewhere!

Friday we had intended to go to the full moon drumming session, which happens on the cliffs between Bondi and Tamarama (once a month, surprisingly enough) - but were just too tired by the time we got home. Quite poor really - have to go next month instead.

In fact, this weekend was rather characterised by sleep. I got up for the 8.30 swim session at the beach on Saturday - supergood - caught 3 waves and nearly won one of the surf races because of it! Returned feeling pretty tired and went back to bed - Alex hadn't noticed that any time had passed in between me leaving and returning! Hot and sunny, so we spent most of the early afternoon lazing around the balcony with the papers. Then deceided we ought to do something, and caught the bus to Watson's Bay. Here there is a famous fish restaurant called Doyle's, established about 100 years ago, so pretty old for Australialand. Just made it before they stopped serving lunch at 3pm, and had fish & chips (v. nice, but priced for tourists) and a bottle of rose in front of the little beach (inside the harbour). Had a lot of fun people-watching - especially the rich people with yachts and pink shirts. Took a walk up to the South Head afterwards - the southern side of the entrance to Sydney Harbour, to walk it off a bit, and then came back down for an ice-cream in the park afterwards. I fell asleep on the bus on the way home, and then we passed out for a couple of hours when we actually got back, only to be woken by a phone call from Carol and David "hoping to catch us before we went out for Saturday night"!

Sunday morning wasn't characterised by sleep - got up and drove to the Opera House so I could do the Harbour Swim. Was much more confident than last year, and it felt like I went a lot faster, but I only shaved 1m02s off my time, to finish in 30.46. Back for a swim at Bondi, as it was very hot and sticky out of the water, where Alex did some proper hardcore swimming, and then got stung by a bluebottle. Ah well. Back home, had some lunch, and then I passed out on the sofa for a couple of hours, before we got up to start our trip over to Manly (back to Circular Quay to get the ferry) for Andy and Kristin's barbecue in the evening. Which was great.

A fairly touristy weekend, all in all - Bondi Beach, Doyle's, Opera House, Bondi Beach, Manly. Excellent.

And back to the Opera House on Monday evening, to see the Gotan Project. It felt a little odd to be watching in a formal concert setting, but they were really good, and the stage show was cool. Not a bad Monday night really!

Bowls and Bill

2007-02-27T10:58:00.000+11:00

Still getting up-to-date on the past couple of weeks at the moment - Valentine's Day we went for a romantic surf ski lesson (the second week of four) - the weather was much better than the first week, and it was highly amusing paddling up to supposedly deserted beaches and suprising amorous couples there.

Then we raced back home for a quick shower and change before heading out for dinner at Sean's Panaroma, Bondi's only 2 hat restaurant (The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide awards 1-3 chef's hats for the restaurants it rates the best. There are only about 5 or 6 with 3 hats!) V nice, but sooo much food on the set menu. Have to go back sometime and order about a quarter as much!

Thursday was Barbara's birthday Teppanyaki meal - all good, but carrying on with the red wine in Darling harbour until 1am was not good for my Friday. Friday night involved a Bhanglassi strategy meeting for Alex (in the pub), with girlfriends permitted to turn up after the main business had been sorted. Luckily Matt was able to summarise the main points covered in a Powerpoint presentation for us when we arrived. I managed about one beer in my fragile state, while Alex, who had been at band practice the night before, managed to put away a large amount of Coopers and a pathetic amount of laksa, resulting in high levels of memory loss.

Saturday I was up for swim training with Bondifit at 8.30 (and may have subsequently gone back to bed). Then Barefoot Bowls at North Sydney Bowlo for Mark's birthday in the afternoon - they are rebranding lawn bowls massively to appeal to a younger market - it's the cool thinig to do at the moment. Norths Bowlo does have a pretty good view though!

Unfortunately, we could only stay for the first hour or two, due to our hectic social lives. We had to grab a cab over to Sydney uni for the Durham University 175th Anniversary Alumni dinner. Random - but we were mainly going to hear Bill Bryson (now chancellor of the university) speak. Which he did, but not for very long! Still, the meal was great, we were there with lots of freinds, and he was very friendly when we chatted to him later:

Again, this evening could have ended at a civilised time, but we decided to head back to Alex G's flat in the city, where drinking was continued until 3am. Excellente. We still managed to go and practise kayaking on Sunday though - I think it actually helped the hangovers! And then to the Domain in the evening for Tropfest, the annual openair short film festival. All good (well, some were more than slightly odd), and a good end to a busy weekend!

This week and weekend were a little quieter - although we managed to fit in a trip to the other open-air cinema in Centennial Park to see Happy Feet, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at the theatre on Friday (woohoo - just as good as I remember!), and a very nice dinner at Alex G's on Saturday to drink up all the wine we have won at various quizzes. Another 3am night!

This evening Alex's cousin Leila is coming to visit from Perth for a couple of nights, and hopefully the rain will stop!

Wigs and Peppers

2007-02-24T18:13:00.000+11:00

I can't believe it's three weeks since I last posted anything! We've just been doing so much - sitting down at the computer and writing about it just hasn't featured. Think I'll be adding more pictures later on - most of them are still on Alex's phone at the moment (no time to upload them either!)

So, two weeks ago yesterday was Andy Halls' 30th birthday - celebrated at his and Lorna's lovely flat in Pyrmont with a wig party. There were many styles of wig present, including some excellent mullets in various styles, as well as a bald wig and a Pocahontas effort. We fitted in very well.

We managed to restrain ourselves from drinking too much, as we had to get up the next morning for a four-hour drive north - to Port Stephens, an area north of Newcastle, which is a big natural inlet, about two and a half times the size of Sydney Harbour. We were staying at Peppers Anchorage, a lovely little resort hotel with its own marina. One night and dinner was a Christmas present from Alex's parents, the other night was paid for with a voucher given to everyone in Alex's group at work at the end of last financial year. Nice!

We rocked up in the ute after a sit-down pie from the award-winning drive-thru pie shop in Heatherbrae (highly recommended), had a rest and enjoyed the view over the bay from our balcony.

Went on a sunset saling cruise around the harbour in the evening - we weren't actively looking for the local dolphins, as there's an agreement between all the tour operators to give them some time off in the evenings, but we had our swimmers on ready for a ride in the boom-net. Enjoyed a glass of champagne and some nibbles, were the first people to check out the bow net (not actually in the water, but close enough to see the huge jellyfish in the water below, and noted that everyone else was a lot more dressed up than us and there for a romantic evening à deux, or with a few other couples and drinking the bar dry. Not an option for us, as we'd driven down to the marina, so we settled for providing everyone else with some entertainment as we climbed down into the boom-net for a fast and furious ride in the water alongside. I think they thought we were a bit strange!

Then back to Peppers for a lovely meal in the restaurant, and a nightcap and a couple of games of pool in the Captain's Bar. Sunday we got up and went quad biking on the huge sand dunes at Stockton beach - woohoo! Two hours of it does tire you out though, so we spent the afternoon by the pool (and watched a wedding that was basically taking place next to the swimming pool, with everyone in it shamelessly staring!)

A local seafood restaurant for dinner, which was very nice, even after they told us when we got there that they were extremely busy and we might have to wait 20 minutes for a table even though the place was half empty. When we looked a little puzzled, they said they had some big groups arriving later on. No-one came in after us! Was all good though, and then we went back, watched England finally win some cricket, and polished off a bottle of red on the balcony under the stars. Ah.

Woke up to rain on Monday morning, but enjoyed the sumptuous breakfast buffet before driving back to Sydney. The rain has caused flash flooding along parts of the Pacific Highway, so we were quite glad of our big truck. We drove straight into the city, found our usual carpark was full and had to park in the one next door, which didn't look quite as well maintained, but was the same price. A quick change of clothes, and we both headed off to work - Alex to E&Y and me to Channel Ten for my 2pm captioning shift. When Alex got back to the ute in the afternoon, it had been broken into! Boo. Luckily they hadn't taken anything, including the car radio in the glove box, so I guess they were just looking for cash. And the door still locks from the inside. So naturally, we still haven't got round to having it fixed!

Weekend fun

2007-02-06T11:45:00.000+11:00

OK, so it's Tuesday now, but what's interesting about work? The weekend was much more fun, starting with a trip to the open-air cinema at Mrs Macquarie's Point in the Botanical Gardens on Friday evening.

It's a bit of a formal cinema, compared to some of the other open-air ones around Sydney in the summer, but it has the great views across the harbour and a proper bar to sit and watch the sunset with a drink in. So that was nice. And then we wandered over to our seats (you get a sticker when you arrive that you can write your name on to reserve a seat whilst you go to the bar), the screen rose up from where it had been lying flat on the water, the bats started flying out of the trees, and we settled back to watch 'Glastonbury'. I've never been, but I almost felt that I had by the end of it! Made me a bit homesick for English festivals in the summer though. Still, someone had thought about that, as they were handing out flyers for the Playground Weekender festival that we're going to in March on the way out!

Saturday was the final Can Too swim training session at the beach, as lots of people were swimming in the Cole Classic at Manly Beach on the Sunday. Was quite sad to say goodbye to a lot of people, although hopefully we'll meet up again at some point. Also let myself get talked into signing up for a 4-week surf ski course with Spot, one of the coaches who also runs BondiFit. Surf skis are kind of like long kayaks - the lifesavers use them and race them (and catch waves with them) - we're going to be learning in the harbour at first - so no waves to tip us up. Have managed to convince Alex to do it too!

Then back to ours for a barbie with some mates, and lots of games - darts, dance mat and finally poker. Our run of house luck finished though, and Mark cleaned us out (although he has been playing in some pub tournaments recently, so I reckon the practice has paid off...)

Sunday, Dom and Mark were heading up to Curl Curl beach for a surf and invited us along. Never been to the Northern beaches before the Big Swim, and suddenly there we were again! You can sort of see why so many people think Bondi is too crowded when you get there - it was great.

Although our surfing wasn't really - the paddling is just so tiring, and the current meant that I only made it through the break once. Maybe the surf ski course will help the old upper body strength. They had to head off, but left us the beach tent, so we spent the rest of the afternoon lazing on the beach with the paper and occasionally going for a dip to cool off.

The bluebottles did start appearing by the end of the afternoon though, so we eventually packed up and headed home to Bondi, for a glass of wine and some more barbecued chicken on the balcony. Ah.

El - Ocean Swimmer!

2007-01-30T08:26:00.000+11:00

I did it! Woohoo! The Big Swim, as I put it in my email to everyone who had sponsored me (and a few who have since), is swum! It turned out to be a great day, the giant swell never materialised, and it was a good feeling to run (yes, I did actually run) out of the surf at Whale Beach and across the finish line. A bottle of chocolate milk and some prawns and avocado, and I was nearly feeling human again. Spent the rest of the day at the beach, lazing around - even went back in for a swim later - although just to play in the surf really - then a game of beach cricket, at which members of the public proved better at taking catches than any of us. We were all English I suppose. Forgot to put any more sunscreen on for about 3 hours after getting out of the water, so now have nicely burnt shoulders. Doh. Still - with around $4,000 raised for charity, not too bad really.

Alex drove us back to Bondi late afternoon, and in the evening we finally got to watch some tennis at the Opera House forecourt - the last chance this year actually, as it was the men's final. Which Federer won, unsurprisingly. Still good to watch though, with lots of Chilean fans at full volume.

Ready to go...

2007-01-27T13:11:00.000+11:00

Well folks, that's it. 3 months of training are now over, and tomorrow morning is The Big Swim. It feels a bit strange - I can't quite believe it's going to happen. We trained in the pool on Thursday, and then at the beach yesterday (Australia Day, so a public holiday), and today. The water's still lovely and warm, and it's been hot and sunny - but in the last couple of hours the wind has changed and a huge southerly is now blowing. Not entirely sure what that means for the water temperature up at Palm Beach, but apparently 6-foot swells are likely. Hmmm. Luckily, I am now an ocean swimmer, and thus embrace all such challenges. I have my CanToo swimming costume, so I'm all set.

We're leaving Bondi at 7am, picking up Rachel and Leo (extra supporters - woohoo!), and then heading on up to arrive by 9ish. A quick 2.7km swim for me, and then it's a picnic on the beach with all our mates who've come to cheer us on. I really, really want it to go well - everyone's been so generous in sponsoring me, so I hope I can live up to all your expectations!

Off round to Mike and Rache's for a leisurely barbie this afternoon - it is Australia Day weekend, after all. We spent yesterday at Alex G's all-day housewarming/Australia Day barbecue, which was great - not a bad weekend, so far...

Cold water

2007-01-22T11:22:00.000+11:00

Well, Roddick beat Safin by 11.30pm on Friday night, so no late-night tennis watching for us after all. Had to have a drink at the Opera Bar instead, and then some late-night nachos at the City Extra - 24 hour food and drink with a view of the Harbour Bridge - sometimes it just has to be done.

I got up for swim training at the beach on Saturday, to find that the water temperature had reached a record summertime low of 14.5 degrees. Brrrrr..... Luckily the sun was out and the skies were blue, but there were very few people in the water - and most of them had wetsuits on. I think the coaches were scared of people getting hypothermia, so they made us alternate running (well, jogging, in my case) with swimming - my group had to run the entire length of Bondi Beach, and then swim back. Twice. After that I was ready for breakfast, and Alex came down to meet us and head to one of the beachfront cafes for some.

Managed an exciting trip to Ikea in the afternoon, for a new bookcase, and reminded ourselves again that we need to get the aircon in the ute fixed - it's started dripping all over the passenger's feet. It was around 35 degrees outside, and we were having to rely on Aussie Aircon - i.e. winding the windows down.

Jazzanova at the Beck's Festival Bar was all sold out, so we went to meet Chris, Esther and co in the Domain (part of the Botanical Gardens, with a big stage at one end), for this year's 'Symphony in the Domain' - a big free concert by the Sydney Symphony, which always ends with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, cannons firing and fireworks. Excellent. And you get to bring a picnic and sit and drink throughout. Followed this up with a few drinks in the East Sydney hotel - a traditional old boozer near the park - and ended up back at some friends' house, playing guitar and drinking Pimms until around 3am. Not bad for a quiet night!

Sunday was all just chilling - lie-in, lunch, beach, bbq. Ah.

Awoken by the builders upstairs at 7am this morning (Monday) - joy. Another beautiful day, and I was swimming in the Icebergs pool by 8.30am. Now just got to do a bit of clearing up, soak up a few more rays and then it'll be off to start my 2pm captioning shift.

Summer’s (finally) here

2007-01-19T16:51:00.000+11:00

It’s taken a long time, and the weather resolutely refused to play ball when the family were out here for Christmas – we had some nice days, but I think they were a little disappointed by the ‘Australian summer’, especially Erica, a fellow sun-worshipper. But it’s been hot and sunny all week, and set to reach 41°C this Sunday – woohoo!

I know there’s a drought on and everything, but even when it rains in Sydney, it doesn’t rain inland, where they need it, or fill up the reservoirs, which for some reason were all built where it doesn’t rain. There aren’t even many rainwater tanks on houses here, for when it does rain (apparently there used to be more, but at some point it came to symbolise being poor and backward, so most people took them out. Doh.) There also aren’t that many solar panels, especially compared to places I’ve been in Europe – Cyprus springs to mind – but I’m not getting started on that subject now.

As I was saying – summer is here, and our weekends are filling up with fun stuff. Tonight is Friday, and there’s going to be drinking in the city – probably Bar 333 – and then maybe we’ll wander down to Circular Quay and watch the late-night tennis match from the Melbourne Open on the big screen that’s set up in front of the Opera House steps. Tomorrow is my penultimate Cantoo swim training at Bondi, and we’ll probably try and catch something at the Sydney Festival in the evening. I plan to mostly lie on the beach on Sunday, with the odd swim to cool off. Oh yeah!

First post!

2007-01-19T13:24:00.000+11:00

After having lived here nearly a year, and realising that I’m getting worse and worse at keeping people updated on what I’m doing (I don’t really like sending out massive group emails – I’m never sure if people actually want to read them), I have decided to add another blog to the millions already out there. I’m not promising I’ll be very good at posting to it regularly, but I am at least going to try!