I used to cycle to and from work once or twice a week when living in Balmain, mainly because I had things to do when I finished and no car at the time so it was convenient. Having now moved house, had a baby and bought a car all since my last blog post things have changed just a bit... I now cycle to and from work 4 or sometimes 5 times a week mainly because it's the quickest way to get from Clovelly to Walsh Bay and back each day. It means I can leave work around 5pm (I know, but I have a baby to bath now) and be home in 30-40 mins depending on what gets in my way. If I'm lucky and ride fast I even get time for a dip in the ocean to cool off as well!
Anyway enough about me. Cycling in Sydney is not half as bad as everyone told me it would be and as I had expected. I find vehicles (especially buses) taking a wider birth from cyclists that they ever do when I'm driving by (my new) car. Let's face it, Sydney drivers are some of the worst in the world (from my experience travelling - which includes Buenos Aires, Argentina!!) for lack of patience and road-rage. Only once since starting to cycle approx 80-100km a week have I had a motorist deliberately cut me up - I get cut up just about every time I get in the car! The funny thing is, the prat in the Suzuki was just annoyed I was catching him up at every set of lights and getting in front of him again so proved the point he was (marginally) faster in his over sized motorcycle with 4 wheels by trying to knock me off - I'm deliberately careful to keep a good distance from cars as much as possible so it' wasn't as close as he would have liked I'd say!
So why are Sydney (and maybe it's Australia wide) drivers so aggressive toward other vehicles? You could hardly say it's the busiest city in the world for traffic, it just seems everyone is in such a hurry they lose all disregard for other drivers - I feel safest on a cycle or in a bus for sure.
One other debate between cyclists seem to be whether listening to music whilst cycling is acceptable? I personally do listen to my ipod everyday and would go insane without it but I have taken on-board friends comments and only listen through one ear now - leaving the other ear to listen out for trouble behind me. I'm pretty good at knowing what's going on all around when I'm cycling and keep a good eye left and right and behind regularly as well - but I guess a tooting motorist about to hit me could be a welcome warning some day!
Happy cycling to those who are brave enough to try, I can recommend it in Sydney but keep your wits about you, be careful and take it easy. To those who drive around Sydney on a daily basis - you have my pity but don't be a plonker, slow down, chill out and don't take it personally if I wizz by on my bicycle!
Cheers
Tim
Showing posts with label sydney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sydney. Show all posts
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Friday, 19 June 2009
Diving at Shelly Beach near Manly in Sydney
It'd been over 5 months since my last dive so was great to get underwater again and take a look around at the Shelly Beach area, about 30 mins North East of Sydney.
I was diving with a mate Paul and through the guys at Pro Dive Manly. The team at Pro Dive are cool guys with a lot of experience and a good set-up, our Divemaster Rob was open to ideas of what we wanted out of the dives and as we only had a small group of four we didn't have to wait around for too long.
Given Shelly Beach is a marine reserve (no fishing allowed) the sealife seemed larger and more mature than usual. On dive one we saw a massive Cuttlefish that took a liking to my mask (the Divemaster seemed to think they like bright colours and mines purple and orange) and swam slowly toward me like playing chicken getting very close before I moved to avoid a collision - it's eyes we're amazing, we definitely had a moment! Apparently they have a strong jaw and can grab onto things quite quickly and aggressively, I was right to move away I guess.
On dive two we saw a massive Flathead, I didn't know they got that big, this one was about a metre long and would've tasted brilliant I'm sure.
The visibility was generally good and the bottom temperature a mild 18 degrees considering it's winter in Australia now. It did get cold about 15 mins into the second 45 min dive when we all wished we had dry suits on!
I'll definitely dive with Pro Dive again, hopefully Long Reef and soon!
Cheers
Tim
I was diving with a mate Paul and through the guys at Pro Dive Manly. The team at Pro Dive are cool guys with a lot of experience and a good set-up, our Divemaster Rob was open to ideas of what we wanted out of the dives and as we only had a small group of four we didn't have to wait around for too long.
Given Shelly Beach is a marine reserve (no fishing allowed) the sealife seemed larger and more mature than usual. On dive one we saw a massive Cuttlefish that took a liking to my mask (the Divemaster seemed to think they like bright colours and mines purple and orange) and swam slowly toward me like playing chicken getting very close before I moved to avoid a collision - it's eyes we're amazing, we definitely had a moment! Apparently they have a strong jaw and can grab onto things quite quickly and aggressively, I was right to move away I guess.
On dive two we saw a massive Flathead, I didn't know they got that big, this one was about a metre long and would've tasted brilliant I'm sure.
The visibility was generally good and the bottom temperature a mild 18 degrees considering it's winter in Australia now. It did get cold about 15 mins into the second 45 min dive when we all wished we had dry suits on!
I'll definitely dive with Pro Dive again, hopefully Long Reef and soon!
Cheers
Tim
Friday, 8 May 2009
Holidays
Having spent the best part of the last month on holiday I've plenty to blog about, sadly I'm a bit short on the photo front given my camera was nicked from our house; but I won't dwell on that!
Mel's parents arrived end of March, we had a full itinerary set up on tripit.com and wasted no time getting into it. Long walks around Sydney, a trip down to Melbourne with drive on the Great Ocean Road and a night in the Blue Mountains we're highlights with plenty of nice dinners and a good few beers along the way too.
I have to admit to being surprised and astonished at the beauty of the Great Ocean Road and Blue Mountains, it's often hard to get excited about other countries natural beauty coming from NZ but it did not disappoint - there we're even some friendly Aussies to chat with here and there too! My fav accommodation on the trip has to be in Apollo Bay where our place was within spitting distance to the ocean boasting empty beaches and some near perfect waves.
My return to work was short lived (1.5 weeks) before setting off again to NZ on a trip based around two Super 14 Hurricanes matches in Wellington. Mel stayed at home in Sydney while I 'swanned off' (Mel's words not mine) to NZ for a week. I spent a lot of time with family and friends and two nights away fishing (unsuccessfully) with my mate Tavis. It was awesome to catch up with everyone again.
Now it's back to work until Bruce arrives in July when I'll take yet more time off to go surfing (I mean look after him)!
Cheers
Tim
Mel's parents arrived end of March, we had a full itinerary set up on tripit.com and wasted no time getting into it. Long walks around Sydney, a trip down to Melbourne with drive on the Great Ocean Road and a night in the Blue Mountains we're highlights with plenty of nice dinners and a good few beers along the way too.
I have to admit to being surprised and astonished at the beauty of the Great Ocean Road and Blue Mountains, it's often hard to get excited about other countries natural beauty coming from NZ but it did not disappoint - there we're even some friendly Aussies to chat with here and there too! My fav accommodation on the trip has to be in Apollo Bay where our place was within spitting distance to the ocean boasting empty beaches and some near perfect waves.
My return to work was short lived (1.5 weeks) before setting off again to NZ on a trip based around two Super 14 Hurricanes matches in Wellington. Mel stayed at home in Sydney while I 'swanned off' (Mel's words not mine) to NZ for a week. I spent a lot of time with family and friends and two nights away fishing (unsuccessfully) with my mate Tavis. It was awesome to catch up with everyone again.
Now it's back to work until Bruce arrives in July when I'll take yet more time off to go surfing (I mean look after him)!
Cheers
Tim
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Australia day in Sydney
Not being Australian I've never really thought too much about what the Australia Day celebrations are about. We have Waitangi Day in NZ to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, a treaty between Maori and British people to essentially make NZ part of the British Empire but Australia Day is slightly different and perhaps even more controversial.
Despite the controversy surrounding Australia Day where many believe it's more a celebration of the destruction of Indigenous culture by British colonialism it's a day off work and Sydney puts on a number of events in and around the city.
Mel and I spent the day with friends Ian and Jane, we decided to take it pretty easy and not try to plan things too much. I cooked up some bacon and egg pie, made a salad and took a chilly bin (esky, cool-box etc) with some beers. We jumped on a ferry from Balmain East to Circular Quay and had the opportunity to see some of the 'dressed up' ferries that has previously raced in the harbour. The most unusual one being a ferry with a huge yellow duck on top of it!
The city was alive and after a walk through The Rocks we found a spot under the bridge up on the grass bank where we chilled out, had some food and beers and waited for the tall ships to finish their race from further up the north shore. We had a couple of games of Boules (Pétanque) and a game of Grass (the card game) too.
Darling Harbour was our next intended destination, having run out of beers Ian and I we're keen to stop somewhere on the way for a quick pint. Strangely enough we ended up in the Captain Cook which is one the local pubs I go to from my office in Millers Point. It was relatively quiet compared to other pubs in the area (it's not as trendy and generally full of a considerably older crowd) but quickly became much busier when the heavy rain came down. Our intended one quick pint turned into quite a few more (well it was raining pretty hard outside).
The rain was not going away in a hurry so having consumed more than enough beer for one day we all grabbed a taxi and headed back to Balmain. The rain really did spoil the day a bit and the fireworks display in Darling Harbour later in the evening must have been a lot quieter than if the weather was fine.
All in all we had a fun day but I do question whether it should be such a celebrative day given the sensitive controversy surrounding it. I know all too well from NZ that we often celebrate things we really don't fully understand and treat it more as 'just an extra day off work' than for it's true meaning!
Cheers
Tim
Despite the controversy surrounding Australia Day where many believe it's more a celebration of the destruction of Indigenous culture by British colonialism it's a day off work and Sydney puts on a number of events in and around the city.
Mel and I spent the day with friends Ian and Jane, we decided to take it pretty easy and not try to plan things too much. I cooked up some bacon and egg pie, made a salad and took a chilly bin (esky, cool-box etc) with some beers. We jumped on a ferry from Balmain East to Circular Quay and had the opportunity to see some of the 'dressed up' ferries that has previously raced in the harbour. The most unusual one being a ferry with a huge yellow duck on top of it!
The city was alive and after a walk through The Rocks we found a spot under the bridge up on the grass bank where we chilled out, had some food and beers and waited for the tall ships to finish their race from further up the north shore. We had a couple of games of Boules (Pétanque) and a game of Grass (the card game) too.
Darling Harbour was our next intended destination, having run out of beers Ian and I we're keen to stop somewhere on the way for a quick pint. Strangely enough we ended up in the Captain Cook which is one the local pubs I go to from my office in Millers Point. It was relatively quiet compared to other pubs in the area (it's not as trendy and generally full of a considerably older crowd) but quickly became much busier when the heavy rain came down. Our intended one quick pint turned into quite a few more (well it was raining pretty hard outside).
The rain was not going away in a hurry so having consumed more than enough beer for one day we all grabbed a taxi and headed back to Balmain. The rain really did spoil the day a bit and the fireworks display in Darling Harbour later in the evening must have been a lot quieter than if the weather was fine.
All in all we had a fun day but I do question whether it should be such a celebrative day given the sensitive controversy surrounding it. I know all too well from NZ that we often celebrate things we really don't fully understand and treat it more as 'just an extra day off work' than for it's true meaning!
Cheers
Tim
Friday, 23 January 2009
New Years Eve in Sydney
Crikey, two blog posts in one day but I'm on a bit of a catch up again!
It's hard to believe I'm 32 and only just had my first Sydney based New Years Eve. It's long been regarded as 'the place to be' and did not disappoint. It was always going to be touch and go if we made it back from NZ in time to host a party at our place as our flight was scheduled to land in Sydney around 5:30pm on NYE. Fortunately Air New Zealand did not let us down and we even managed to meet friends Steve and Sara Rofe at the airport (they we're coming down from Queensland for the party) to share a cab to Balmain.
Some other friends Jane and Ian had kindly been round to our place earlier in the day to get the meat out of the freezer and drop in some balloons, lights and poppers. After setting these up the drinking started around 7pm and then the BBQ got cranked up. As far as NYE goes it was pretty tame for most the evening (we’re getting old eh) although we did have a few extra 'cheers' when Kris and Sarah returned from 'getting some fags' to announce they just got engaged! Sarah then spent a lot of the night talking to family and friends back in her home country Canada – bless her.
The kiddies’ fireworks at 9pm we're pretty impressive but nothing compared to the main event at midnight. The view from our bedroom balcony lived up to expectation, the photo next to this blog post an example of what we saw for around 15 minutes non-stop.
The last of us finished up at around 3am after a quick drink at our local, The London Hotel in Balmain and then a final session involving red wine and lots of cheese and crackers back at home - nice!
If we're in Sydney to see in 2010 it might be good to go right into the city somewhere and soak up the atmosphere there, we'll have to wait and see if that’s an option.
Cheers
Tim
It's hard to believe I'm 32 and only just had my first Sydney based New Years Eve. It's long been regarded as 'the place to be' and did not disappoint. It was always going to be touch and go if we made it back from NZ in time to host a party at our place as our flight was scheduled to land in Sydney around 5:30pm on NYE. Fortunately Air New Zealand did not let us down and we even managed to meet friends Steve and Sara Rofe at the airport (they we're coming down from Queensland for the party) to share a cab to Balmain.
Some other friends Jane and Ian had kindly been round to our place earlier in the day to get the meat out of the freezer and drop in some balloons, lights and poppers. After setting these up the drinking started around 7pm and then the BBQ got cranked up. As far as NYE goes it was pretty tame for most the evening (we’re getting old eh) although we did have a few extra 'cheers' when Kris and Sarah returned from 'getting some fags' to announce they just got engaged! Sarah then spent a lot of the night talking to family and friends back in her home country Canada – bless her.
The kiddies’ fireworks at 9pm we're pretty impressive but nothing compared to the main event at midnight. The view from our bedroom balcony lived up to expectation, the photo next to this blog post an example of what we saw for around 15 minutes non-stop.
The last of us finished up at around 3am after a quick drink at our local, The London Hotel in Balmain and then a final session involving red wine and lots of cheese and crackers back at home - nice!
If we're in Sydney to see in 2010 it might be good to go right into the city somewhere and soak up the atmosphere there, we'll have to wait and see if that’s an option.
Cheers
Tim
Monday, 15 December 2008
GoGet CarShare: Who needs to own a car?
As good as Sydney public transport is, you can't always substitute the good old motor vehicle for convenience. Mel and I are not keen to buy a car of our own in Sydney given we live in Balmain (that's inner west of the city) and we'd only use it maybe once (or max twice) a week, the costs associated just don't make it worthwhile (trust me I've done the math)! Not to mention the extra environmental cost every time someone runs a car of their own.
A few friends had talked about car sharing through GoGet, a company started by a couple in Newtown, Sydney to cater for people just like us - don't need a car of our own all the time and don't want the hassles usually associated with rental car companies (hire by the day only, limited pick-up options). In a nutshell, GoGet have what they call 'pods' of cars all over Sydney (and now some other parts of Australia apparently) which are basically cars parked in designated spaces in safe and well lit areas that you lock/unlock using your membership card that's programmed to know when you've booked that car. You can go online or book by phone and if there is a car available at the time you book you can just go ahead and pick it up straight away - happy days. The beauty is you only book for what you need, so if you just want to get some heavy shopping done you book for 1 hour and go do it!
The rates are pretty good, there are a couple of different packages depending on how often you think you'll use the service but we are paying $9 p/month prepaid membership + $7.50 p/hour usage + $0.35 p/km usage - GoGet pays for all petrol. They do day rates as well, which makes it more cost effective if you need a car for more than just a few hours.
Our first experience using GoGet yesterday was easy enough, their online system knows what it's doing, Malcolm the Yaris was waiting about 10 mins walk from our house and made it out to Palm Beach and back no trouble!
BTW - Palm Beach is bloody nice, caught a few nice waves on my body board and was kinda wishing I had a surf board out there given there were only about 5 of us around to see me try something I've not done since I was about 16!
Cheers
Tim
A few friends had talked about car sharing through GoGet, a company started by a couple in Newtown, Sydney to cater for people just like us - don't need a car of our own all the time and don't want the hassles usually associated with rental car companies (hire by the day only, limited pick-up options). In a nutshell, GoGet have what they call 'pods' of cars all over Sydney (and now some other parts of Australia apparently) which are basically cars parked in designated spaces in safe and well lit areas that you lock/unlock using your membership card that's programmed to know when you've booked that car. You can go online or book by phone and if there is a car available at the time you book you can just go ahead and pick it up straight away - happy days. The beauty is you only book for what you need, so if you just want to get some heavy shopping done you book for 1 hour and go do it!
The rates are pretty good, there are a couple of different packages depending on how often you think you'll use the service but we are paying $9 p/month prepaid membership + $7.50 p/hour usage + $0.35 p/km usage - GoGet pays for all petrol. They do day rates as well, which makes it more cost effective if you need a car for more than just a few hours.
Our first experience using GoGet yesterday was easy enough, their online system knows what it's doing, Malcolm the Yaris was waiting about 10 mins walk from our house and made it out to Palm Beach and back no trouble!
BTW - Palm Beach is bloody nice, caught a few nice waves on my body board and was kinda wishing I had a surf board out there given there were only about 5 of us around to see me try something I've not done since I was about 16!
Cheers
Tim
Friday, 26 September 2008
Taronga Zoo
After a heavy night of boozing last weekend Mel and I decided to take a leisurely trip to Taronga Zoo to visit the animals. To be honest we did leave it late in the day and really only had around 2 hours to get around but I'm not the biggest Zoo fan anyway so focused on the bird show and gorillas - anything else was a bonus. Once you've been to African on safari it's really not the same. It's not cheap to get in either, (around $40 p/person) although you do get a discount if you've arrived by ferry (or at least say you have even if you've come by car/bus/foot/emu etc).
The bird show was genuinely good, hawks, doves and other birds I can't remember the names of all trained to cleverly do as the bird-keeper says (although the birds weren't behaving that well for the women running our show). They claim the bird show at Taronga Zoo is world renowned, I can't say I've been to many bird shows of this kind so will have to take their word for it.
The funniest thing of the day happened when watching the gorillas, they are so human like in many ways but not so much in others. There are cross sections of skulls (well not real ones, made of metal and wood) of both human and gorilla next to each other by the gorilla enclosure, you look at those and the teeth and hands of both and there is very little difference at all - then you walk over and watch the real gorillas for a while and there is big daddy gorilla eating his own crap (or his mates), fortunately most humans have moved on from that by now!
I'd recommend Taronga Zoo if you generally like Zoos and it does have the best back-drop you'd imagine a Zoo to have (the Sydney harbour) but allow plenty of time and don't miss the (apparently) world renowned bird show and the crap eating (if you're lucky) gorillas.
Cheers
Tim
The bird show was genuinely good, hawks, doves and other birds I can't remember the names of all trained to cleverly do as the bird-keeper says (although the birds weren't behaving that well for the women running our show). They claim the bird show at Taronga Zoo is world renowned, I can't say I've been to many bird shows of this kind so will have to take their word for it.
The funniest thing of the day happened when watching the gorillas, they are so human like in many ways but not so much in others. There are cross sections of skulls (well not real ones, made of metal and wood) of both human and gorilla next to each other by the gorilla enclosure, you look at those and the teeth and hands of both and there is very little difference at all - then you walk over and watch the real gorillas for a while and there is big daddy gorilla eating his own crap (or his mates), fortunately most humans have moved on from that by now!
I'd recommend Taronga Zoo if you generally like Zoos and it does have the best back-drop you'd imagine a Zoo to have (the Sydney harbour) but allow plenty of time and don't miss the (apparently) world renowned bird show and the crap eating (if you're lucky) gorillas.
Cheers
Tim
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Sydney Photobloggers meet-up
Usually my lack of regular blog posts is purely because I'm slack but this time it's because I've been so busy with stuff going on - those first few months of living in Sydney were relatively quiet due to lack of social life but that's all-a-changing! Between work and play there has not been much time left to hit the computer and post anything meaningful (debatable it ever is you might say) and all I've been able to keep updated are my Flickr photostream and facebook/twitter status.
Last week I had the pleasure of joining my first Flickr 'meet up' with the Sydney Photobloggers group and it was such a great evening. About 12 of us met at the Town Hall steps and took a slow stroll through the CBD to Circular Quay stopping on many occasions to chat and taking pictures of everything (incl each other) along the way.
We made it to the Glenmore pub in the Rocks without losing anyone and enjoyed a few beers and some food together - what a fantastic group of people all sharing a common interest for photography (and Flickr). Everyone was happy I'd brought along some free Flickr schwag too, and of course some of them bent my ear about new features coming along and about what they liked and disliked (fortunately not much dislike at all) as well.
I'll def head out with the Sydney Photobloggers again some time, great fun!
Bonza!
Tim
Last week I had the pleasure of joining my first Flickr 'meet up' with the Sydney Photobloggers group and it was such a great evening. About 12 of us met at the Town Hall steps and took a slow stroll through the CBD to Circular Quay stopping on many occasions to chat and taking pictures of everything (incl each other) along the way.
We made it to the Glenmore pub in the Rocks without losing anyone and enjoyed a few beers and some food together - what a fantastic group of people all sharing a common interest for photography (and Flickr). Everyone was happy I'd brought along some free Flickr schwag too, and of course some of them bent my ear about new features coming along and about what they liked and disliked (fortunately not much dislike at all) as well.
I'll def head out with the Sydney Photobloggers again some time, great fun!
Bonza!
Tim
Monday, 8 September 2008
Pool at Leichhardt, Sydney
It's been awhile since I played pool but when I'm playing I always wish I could more, when I was a kid I had a pool table in my bedroom and even though you had to play "up the wall' on a few shots it was a blast - this table in a Leichhardt suburb pub near Balmain was so old the casing outside the slot where the balls roll down had come off and so the balls rolled down the slot and dropped onto the floor. I can tell you that after the number of beers I'd had before, during and after the West (Balmain) Tigers rugby league match that night I could not stop laughing every time a ball would hit the floor and roll across the room – it was hilarious.
After playing a few games and getting in the mood for more we were kicked out but moved on to the Unity Hall pub in Balmain who you guess it, have a pool table as well. Coops (Ian Cooper) and I played many more games and eventually drew a crowd who in the beginning did not seem to want to challenge us but many many many beers later could see we were a bit worse for wear (which was drastically effecting the way we played) so put the coin on the table. We were in no fit state to be challenged by fresh players so let them have the table.
One other thing to note that night was the Guinness at the Unity Hall pub in Balmain. So you order a pint of Guinness (they have what looks like Guinness on tap) and they get a can out of the fridge, pour it into a glass then place it on the Guinness looking pump and flick a switch - some minor vibrations occur and hey presto a perfect looking Guinness head forms. It even tastes ok which kinda proves the head adds a purely psychological factor - everyone knows Guinness from a can can't taste as good as the real thing!
I'm so close to getting the wetsuit I want (a Rip Curl e3 with chest zip) and hitting the waves I can almost smell the salt water. I’ll take the body-board out to begin with but plan to take a couple of surf lessons (I’ve not surfed for 15 years now) and go out with the big boys… that coupled with the classical guitar I'm picking up from my mums in NZ in Oct and attempting to learn I might have to grow those dreads back again soon eh!
See ya!
Tim
After playing a few games and getting in the mood for more we were kicked out but moved on to the Unity Hall pub in Balmain who you guess it, have a pool table as well. Coops (Ian Cooper) and I played many more games and eventually drew a crowd who in the beginning did not seem to want to challenge us but many many many beers later could see we were a bit worse for wear (which was drastically effecting the way we played) so put the coin on the table. We were in no fit state to be challenged by fresh players so let them have the table.
One other thing to note that night was the Guinness at the Unity Hall pub in Balmain. So you order a pint of Guinness (they have what looks like Guinness on tap) and they get a can out of the fridge, pour it into a glass then place it on the Guinness looking pump and flick a switch - some minor vibrations occur and hey presto a perfect looking Guinness head forms. It even tastes ok which kinda proves the head adds a purely psychological factor - everyone knows Guinness from a can can't taste as good as the real thing!
I'm so close to getting the wetsuit I want (a Rip Curl e3 with chest zip) and hitting the waves I can almost smell the salt water. I’ll take the body-board out to begin with but plan to take a couple of surf lessons (I’ve not surfed for 15 years now) and go out with the big boys… that coupled with the classical guitar I'm picking up from my mums in NZ in Oct and attempting to learn I might have to grow those dreads back again soon eh!
See ya!
Tim
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Banana bread in Paddington, Sydney
Mel and I headed for Paddington market in Sydney a few weeks back, we picked at some of the market food along the way and checked out the stalls but most items we're not really to our style - still worth a look though and a great atmosphere around the food area where two blokes were playing guitars and singing folk type songs!
On the walk back from Paddington to the city we stumbled upon a great (and hidden) outdoor cafe area at the back of Lilifields Cafe on Oxford St. I went for my usual Mocha and Mel (not being a coffee drinker) had a hot chocolate. We seem to have both become mildly addicted to banana bread so had a rather large piece of that to keep us going - banana bread is really just like banana cake with a healthy sounding name and probably even more sugar! Anyway who cares about that, it tastes nice especially with some honey.
The shopping in Paddington is fantastic, and that's coming from someone who generally hates shopping. There is a g-star raw shop as well as American Apparel and many other local and popular well known labels.
It made me think about trying Paddington to live when our current rental in Balmain runs out - who knows but it would be closer to the eastern beaches...
Cheers
Tim
On the walk back from Paddington to the city we stumbled upon a great (and hidden) outdoor cafe area at the back of Lilifields Cafe on Oxford St. I went for my usual Mocha and Mel (not being a coffee drinker) had a hot chocolate. We seem to have both become mildly addicted to banana bread so had a rather large piece of that to keep us going - banana bread is really just like banana cake with a healthy sounding name and probably even more sugar! Anyway who cares about that, it tastes nice especially with some honey.
The shopping in Paddington is fantastic, and that's coming from someone who generally hates shopping. There is a g-star raw shop as well as American Apparel and many other local and popular well known labels.
It made me think about trying Paddington to live when our current rental in Balmain runs out - who knows but it would be closer to the eastern beaches...
Cheers
Tim
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Mels 30th at Berowra Waters
It's true, I'm married to a 30 year old women! Mel denies being upset she has left her 20's behind however I remember how it felt a few years back... just.
As we've only been in Sydney for a few months and don't have a big social network yet we had a few quiet drinks in Darling Harbour with some friends the night before Mels birthday then drove up to Berowra Waters 45 mins north of Sydney CBD for a posh dinner on the waters edge on her actual birthday on 07/08/08. I think Mel was a bit worried when I said the weather may affect the evening slightly (it was raining on the day) and that she would need some warm clothes. Mel had visions of camping out for her birthday celebrations - after 10 years you’d think she knows me better than that, or perhaps she does and that’s a worry!
We arrived at the public wharf at Berowra Waters to be greeted by our accommodation host Barbara from Yarragal (a self contained lodge type place) who took us by small boat (the only way to travel to the accommodation) to Yarragal to freshen up before heading out for dinner. Barbara was a typically friendly Aussie taking life easy and not too seriously – I’d recommend her place to anyone and must get on tripadvisor.com to write a positive review of her abode.
Dinner was at Berowra Waters Inn, rated top restaurant in Sydney on the main food review site in Australia eatibility.com. They pick you up (again by small boat) from any accommodation on the river and take you to the restaurant door. Starting with Champagne (you understand if you know Mel) we made our way through 5 courses of divine food - presentation hard to beat and an overall great experience. One piece of advice I felt compelled to give them (Tim give advice when it’s prob not wanted I hear you say!) was that perhaps when the restaurant is quieter during the winter months some quiet background music wouldn’t go a miss went in one ear and out the other of the young waitress.
I wanted Mels 30th to be memorable for her given she is away from home and no doubt missing family and friends at times like these. I think that was achieved and worth every cent. She did get a piece of jewellery for a present as well!
Next post, Mums trip to Sydney last weekend!
Cheers
Tim
As we've only been in Sydney for a few months and don't have a big social network yet we had a few quiet drinks in Darling Harbour with some friends the night before Mels birthday then drove up to Berowra Waters 45 mins north of Sydney CBD for a posh dinner on the waters edge on her actual birthday on 07/08/08. I think Mel was a bit worried when I said the weather may affect the evening slightly (it was raining on the day) and that she would need some warm clothes. Mel had visions of camping out for her birthday celebrations - after 10 years you’d think she knows me better than that, or perhaps she does and that’s a worry!
We arrived at the public wharf at Berowra Waters to be greeted by our accommodation host Barbara from Yarragal (a self contained lodge type place) who took us by small boat (the only way to travel to the accommodation) to Yarragal to freshen up before heading out for dinner. Barbara was a typically friendly Aussie taking life easy and not too seriously – I’d recommend her place to anyone and must get on tripadvisor.com to write a positive review of her abode.
Dinner was at Berowra Waters Inn, rated top restaurant in Sydney on the main food review site in Australia eatibility.com. They pick you up (again by small boat) from any accommodation on the river and take you to the restaurant door. Starting with Champagne (you understand if you know Mel) we made our way through 5 courses of divine food - presentation hard to beat and an overall great experience. One piece of advice I felt compelled to give them (Tim give advice when it’s prob not wanted I hear you say!) was that perhaps when the restaurant is quieter during the winter months some quiet background music wouldn’t go a miss went in one ear and out the other of the young waitress.
I wanted Mels 30th to be memorable for her given she is away from home and no doubt missing family and friends at times like these. I think that was achieved and worth every cent. She did get a piece of jewellery for a present as well!
Next post, Mums trip to Sydney last weekend!
Cheers
Tim
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