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
Friday, 23 January 2009
Christmas Day
It was SO good to be able to spend Christmas with my family in NZ this (now last) year!
We started the day with mothers home-cooked eggs benedict which was pretty bloody good and washed down with some champagne. We then moved on to my sisters place (just round the corner) where a full-on turkey lunch awaited us. Kelly made some pudding (pics on my Flickr photostream if we're connected as friends or family) which was like a layered cake thing with cream, puff pastry and some chocolate - it was pretty darn good too!
The highlight of the day for everyone was watching Ella (my new niece) open her presents and just be generally entertaining like kids are.
Last but not least was another turkey dinner at my Nan and aunt Jodi's house. I've not had much of a chance to spend time with them over the past few years so it was nice to have a good catch up with everyone, enjoy some good food and be entertained by Brynn, Jodi and Shane's new baby boy (who is a cool chap to hang out with already!).
Another highlight was watching Nigel open a 1997 bottle of red, it took a while to talk him into it but once open we had no trouble getting through it - as you do!
The idea for this next Christmas day of 2009 is for Mel and I to host in Sydney. It will be awesome if mum, Kelly, Nigel and Ella can make it!
Bonza!
Tim
We started the day with mothers home-cooked eggs benedict which was pretty bloody good and washed down with some champagne. We then moved on to my sisters place (just round the corner) where a full-on turkey lunch awaited us. Kelly made some pudding (pics on my Flickr photostream if we're connected as friends or family) which was like a layered cake thing with cream, puff pastry and some chocolate - it was pretty darn good too!
The highlight of the day for everyone was watching Ella (my new niece) open her presents and just be generally entertaining like kids are.
Last but not least was another turkey dinner at my Nan and aunt Jodi's house. I've not had much of a chance to spend time with them over the past few years so it was nice to have a good catch up with everyone, enjoy some good food and be entertained by Brynn, Jodi and Shane's new baby boy (who is a cool chap to hang out with already!).
Another highlight was watching Nigel open a 1997 bottle of red, it took a while to talk him into it but once open we had no trouble getting through it - as you do!
The idea for this next Christmas day of 2009 is for Mel and I to host in Sydney. It will be awesome if mum, Kelly, Nigel and Ella can make it!
Bonza!
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
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Campers breakfast
Back on the first weekend for Nov I went camping with a couple of mates from work Morgan and Tony. I've always been a keen camper since my parents started taking us kids to Ruatiti Domain back home in NZ. This particular trip was born out of a night in the pub where another mate and I (Ian Cooper) had a few beers and came up with the idea of going fishing somewhere remote with just tents and whatever other camping gear we could pull together in time.
Anyway Ian decided a tennis semi-final was more important and after a few brief discussions in passing Morgan, Tony and myself agreed on Jervis Bay as a good location. I'd borrowed a fly fishing line from my mate in NZ mad Geof so was pretty keen to get some fishing in during the trip as well. Tony took his surf board as there is a surf beach near the Green Patch campsite we were staying in, Morgan took his camera and some tins of sardines to keep him going too!
The drive from Sydney to Jervis Bay is do-able after work, we left around 6pm and although it was dark when we arrived with car lights we had no trouble pitching tents around 9:30pm - even with the friendly resident possum hanging around.
Our first morning was spent walking to an old derelict lighthouse, Morgans impressive GPS system keeping us on track for the most part and getting us back to the car safely. In the afternoon we headed to the beach but the waves were not great and the beach had blue-bottles around so we kicked a soccer ball for a bit then headed back to camp for some bbq steaks. Whilst enjoying dinner out in the wilderness with various birds and animals around us a cheeky Kookaburra who has earlier swooped across the picnic table in search of food decided my steak was the best and proceeded to swoop in again and take it right from between the pieces of bread in my hands! That Kookaburra is probably still trying to digest the steak now - serves him/her right.
Day 2 we decided to pack up in the morning and take a slow trip back to Sydney via the Shoalhaven River so I could drop the fishing line in the water. The fish were way too tiny for my line, I got onto a couple of small ones that fell straight off the hook! It's good to keep the practice up with fly fishing though.
I'd definately recommend Green Patch camp ground at Jervis Bay to anyone, stunning scenery and great facilities.
Cheers
Tim
Anyway Ian decided a tennis semi-final was more important and after a few brief discussions in passing Morgan, Tony and myself agreed on Jervis Bay as a good location. I'd borrowed a fly fishing line from my mate in NZ mad Geof so was pretty keen to get some fishing in during the trip as well. Tony took his surf board as there is a surf beach near the Green Patch campsite we were staying in, Morgan took his camera and some tins of sardines to keep him going too!
The drive from Sydney to Jervis Bay is do-able after work, we left around 6pm and although it was dark when we arrived with car lights we had no trouble pitching tents around 9:30pm - even with the friendly resident possum hanging around.
Our first morning was spent walking to an old derelict lighthouse, Morgans impressive GPS system keeping us on track for the most part and getting us back to the car safely. In the afternoon we headed to the beach but the waves were not great and the beach had blue-bottles around so we kicked a soccer ball for a bit then headed back to camp for some bbq steaks. Whilst enjoying dinner out in the wilderness with various birds and animals around us a cheeky Kookaburra who has earlier swooped across the picnic table in search of food decided my steak was the best and proceeded to swoop in again and take it right from between the pieces of bread in my hands! That Kookaburra is probably still trying to digest the steak now - serves him/her right.
Day 2 we decided to pack up in the morning and take a slow trip back to Sydney via the Shoalhaven River so I could drop the fishing line in the water. The fish were way too tiny for my line, I got onto a couple of small ones that fell straight off the hook! It's good to keep the practice up with fly fishing though.
I'd definately recommend Green Patch camp ground at Jervis Bay to anyone, stunning scenery and great facilities.
Cheers
Tim
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Shoe fence in Tutira
OK, I'm on catch up here. Two posts in a week and I'm still blogging about Oct! Quick mention that NZ has just beaten Australia in the Rugby League World Cup, we are now world champions at league for the first time ever.
Mel and I took a trip to NZ in Oct, the main purpose was to see our good friends Steve and Sara get married in Gisborne. The trip started with a NZ$200 fine for forgetting to eat the banana and apple in my bag before entering Wellington airport - I commend NZ for having such strict rules and for not letting people like me convince them to waive the fine, it's how we manage to keep NZ so clean of foreign parasites and disease.
We drove around 1200 km in total during the trip which sounds a lot for only a week but it's always a pleasure for me to drive back in NZ. The roads are always quiet and the scenery spectacular, it reminds me how lucky I am for being a Kiwi. Along the way I spotted the fence in the picture, I have no idea what all the shoes people have left on it means but Tutira, NZ must get more than it's fair share of cars stopping just to check it out (or perhaps just me)!
Not only was it great to see friends from the UK at Steve and Sara Rofe's wedding in Gisborne but to catch up with family in Wellington was extra special with the recent arrival of my first blood niece Ella - and what a beautiful little girl she is. We even found some time to go fishing with mad Geof, Tavis and Sarah - always a lot of fun with those guys and we landed 2 fish one of which we ate a few hours later at a BBQ with Tav and his family!
It's nice the flight to NZ is only 3 hours now, all the more reason to spend more time over there while we can. We'll be back for Christmas - but hopefully more blog posts to come before then!
Go the Kiwi cricket team, beating the Aussies is too much fun to stop now!!
Tim
Mel and I took a trip to NZ in Oct, the main purpose was to see our good friends Steve and Sara get married in Gisborne. The trip started with a NZ$200 fine for forgetting to eat the banana and apple in my bag before entering Wellington airport - I commend NZ for having such strict rules and for not letting people like me convince them to waive the fine, it's how we manage to keep NZ so clean of foreign parasites and disease.
We drove around 1200 km in total during the trip which sounds a lot for only a week but it's always a pleasure for me to drive back in NZ. The roads are always quiet and the scenery spectacular, it reminds me how lucky I am for being a Kiwi. Along the way I spotted the fence in the picture, I have no idea what all the shoes people have left on it means but Tutira, NZ must get more than it's fair share of cars stopping just to check it out (or perhaps just me)!
Not only was it great to see friends from the UK at Steve and Sara Rofe's wedding in Gisborne but to catch up with family in Wellington was extra special with the recent arrival of my first blood niece Ella - and what a beautiful little girl she is. We even found some time to go fishing with mad Geof, Tavis and Sarah - always a lot of fun with those guys and we landed 2 fish one of which we ate a few hours later at a BBQ with Tav and his family!
It's nice the flight to NZ is only 3 hours now, all the more reason to spend more time over there while we can. We'll be back for Christmas - but hopefully more blog posts to come before then!
Go the Kiwi cricket team, beating the Aussies is too much fun to stop now!!
Tim
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Vineyards around Yass, NSW, Australia
12th of Oct since my last post (not to draw attention to my pathetic effort of keeping a regular blog) - sad!
Works been pretty busy and I've been reffing lots of touch rugby in preparation for reffing at the NSW State Cup - I was invited to represent Sydney University which is awesome. The competition is in Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia. I'll finally be able to pick up my level 2 badge and start working towards level 3.
Anyway, back in Oct Mel and I joined friends of friends Nat and Kallan + a friend of theirs Annie (or crazy Annie as I like to call her) on a vineyard hopping session in Yass, NSW, Australia. It was wine festival weekend and all the vineyards we visited (around 5 or 6 I think - it's a bit hazy) had food on offer to give an excuse to drink more wine. The Yass region (near the current Australian capital Canberra) produce some awesome wines and to be honest it's so long ago now I can't remember them all. Two I do remember and well worth a visit are Jeir Creek and Clonakilla. The pies (and wine) were also notably tasty at whichever vineyard we we're at in the picture (we were too tanked to know where we we're by then)!
A great time and worth the trip down to good ole (if not tiny) Yass!
Cheers
Tim
Works been pretty busy and I've been reffing lots of touch rugby in preparation for reffing at the NSW State Cup - I was invited to represent Sydney University which is awesome. The competition is in Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia. I'll finally be able to pick up my level 2 badge and start working towards level 3.
Anyway, back in Oct Mel and I joined friends of friends Nat and Kallan + a friend of theirs Annie (or crazy Annie as I like to call her) on a vineyard hopping session in Yass, NSW, Australia. It was wine festival weekend and all the vineyards we visited (around 5 or 6 I think - it's a bit hazy) had food on offer to give an excuse to drink more wine. The Yass region (near the current Australian capital Canberra) produce some awesome wines and to be honest it's so long ago now I can't remember them all. Two I do remember and well worth a visit are Jeir Creek and Clonakilla. The pies (and wine) were also notably tasty at whichever vineyard we we're at in the picture (we were too tanked to know where we we're by then)!
A great time and worth the trip down to good ole (if not tiny) Yass!
Cheers
Tim
Sunday, 12 October 2008
NZ warriors so close and yet so far away
It was a while ago now but I've been busy, the NZ Warriors rugby league team made the semi finals of the NRL (National Rugby League) competition in Australia this year but came up against Manly - by far the best team this season. Not only did I go along to the game with a mate Ian, I'd decided the week before to grow a beard in support of retiring captain Ruben Wiki and the whole team. I created a group on facebook for the purpose of sharing the Ruben Wiki beard grow occasion and a few mates from around the world joined in and uploaded photos of their beard growing achievements. If you search for 'Ruben Wiki beard grow' you'll no doubt stumble upon our efforts!
Anyway Manly easily beat the NZ Warriors and have now gone on to easily beat Melbourne Storm in the grand final - I was a Manly supporter well before the NZ Warriors entered the competition so I was happy to see them win too!
Who knows what we'll decide to grow for next!
Tim
Anyway Manly easily beat the NZ Warriors and have now gone on to easily beat Melbourne Storm in the grand final - I was a Manly supporter well before the NZ Warriors entered the competition so I was happy to see them win too!
Who knows what we'll decide to grow for next!
Tim
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