Let the countdown begin...

Month 4 folks.  I’ll just repeat that, month 4.  Already.  Don’t know how it feels for you, but for me, it feels like it has just flown by.  Wasn’t just a few days ago that I was languidly sipping cappuccinos in Fremantle?  Exploring Perth and Kings Park by bicycle?  How many laundry days is that?  Ah, laundry day…

Well, it must have been longer than I think because today saw the arrival of November.  With only 7 weeks til Xmas.  I could do the whole “where has the year gone?” bit, but we can save that and do it to death on or around New Years Eve.  Or maybe New Year’s Day as we sober up on the ferry to Manly to recover.

New Year’s Eve.  Now that is going to be fun.  It’s always a great time in Sydney due to the world-renowned firework display.  But over the years it has become so expensive that I was resigning myself to sitting out with a pic-nic and watching them from a spot of grass.  That was if I could find said spot of grass amongst the hundreds and thousands of people who throng the Harbour and all the available vantage points along the various shores and bays.

Many people have essentially been priced out of a lot of the ways to see the fireworks.  Just getting entry to a place like the Opera Bar (where I watched the fireworks for free in 2001) is now costing in excess of $300.  And that is without drinks.  I think you get a couple of peanuts on entry, but I may have misread the small print.  A popular way of enjoying them is by boat, bobbing around the Harbour, but this is now in excess of $500.  But you get a complimentary lifejacket.

So it was with great joy that I stumbled upon the fact that Luna Park was having a New Year’s Eve party, headlined by a winner of the Australian version of the X-Factor.  Don’t ask me, I didn’t even watch the UK version.  Well, Ricki Lee’s presence is not why I booked the tickets.  The fact that they were only $99 each was the reason.  And when you realise the venue of Luna Park is virtually under the bridge, then you get a sense of what a bargain these tickets are.  Luna Park is the Coney Island of Sydney.  A 1930s theme park, which has been around since, well, the 1930s actually.  I think some of the rides may have been updated since then, or at least mechanically maintained, as these are also open to use on the night.  And the great thing is, it’s over 18s only.  So big kids can play little kids, without the inconvenience of little kids getting in the way.

Just 59 days to get through.  And this will fly by I’m sure.  Since we last spoke I have now started work and been there 3 weeks already.  Where does the time g… ha ha.  Working has brought a little structure back into my life.  Without a little ballast I always find myself drifting a little.  I need anchoring to something just to keep me in one place.  And anchored I am, doing the 9 to 5, and enjoying the novelty (for me) of getting paid fortnightly.  It seems to be a feature for many Australian employers to pay fortnightly, for reasons I can’t seem to fathom.  All I know is that I am now nearly skint, yet another payday is just around the corner.  This works for me.  I can even put up with going into one of the ugliest buildings in Sydney each day to earn my corn.

I have other things to update you on but feel I have taken up enough of your time already.  One reader recently accused me of waffling!  How very rude. 

With that, I will say adios, and hasta leugo.

Let the countdown begin...

Month 4 folks.  I’ll just repeat that, month 4.  Already.  Don’t know how it feels for you, but for me, it feels like it has just flown by.  Wasn’t it just a few days ago that I was languidly sipping cappuccinos in Fremantle?  Exploring Perth and Kings Park by bicycle?  How many laundry days is that?  Ah, laundry day…

Well, it must have been longer than I think because today saw the arrival of November.  With only 7 weeks til Xmas.  I could do the whole “where has the year gone?” bit, but we can save that and do it to death on or around New Years Eve.  Or maybe New Year’s Day as we sober up on the ferry to Manly to recover.

New Year’s Eve.  Now that is going to be fun.  It’s always a great time in Sydney due to the world-renowned firework display.  But over the years it has become so expensive that I was resigning myself to sitting out with a pic-nic and watching them from a spot of grass.  That was if I could find said spot of grass amongst the hundreds and thousands of people who throng the Harbour and all the available vantage points along the various shores and bays.

Many people have essentially been priced out of a lot of the ways to see the fireworks.  Just getting entry to a place like the Opera Bar (where I watched the fireworks for free in 2001) is now costing in excess of $300.  And that is without drinks.  I think you get a couple of peanuts on entry, but I may have misread the small print.  A popular way of enjoying them is by boat, bobbing around the Harbour, but this is now in excess of $500.  But you get a complimentary lifejacket.

So it was with great joy that I stumbled upon the fact that Luna Park was having a New Year’s Eve party, headlined by a winner of the Australian version of the X-Factor.  Don’t ask me, I didn’t even watch the UK version.  Well, Ricki Lee’s presence is not why I booked the tickets.  The fact that they were only $99 each was the reason.  And when you realise the venue of Luna Park is virtually under the bridge, then you get a sense of what a bargain these tickets are.  Luna Park is the Coney Island of Sydney.  A 1930s theme park, which has been around since, well, the 1930s actually.  I think some of the rides may have been updated since then, or at least mechanically maintained, as these are also open to use on the night.  And the great thing is, it’s over 18s only.  So big kids can play little kids, without the inconvenience of little kids getting in the way.

Just 59 days to get through.  And this will fly by I’m sure.  Since we last spoke I have now started work and been there 3 weeks already.  Where does the time g… ha ha.  Working has brought a little structure back into my life.  Without a little ballast I always find myself drifting a wee bit.  I need anchoring to something just to keep me in one place.  And anchored I am, doing the 9 to 5, and enjoying the novelty (for me) of getting paid fortnightly.  It seems to be a feature for many Australian employers to pay fortnightly, for reasons I can’t seem to fathom.  All I know is that I am now nearly skint, yet another payday is just around the corner.  This works for me.  I can even put up with going into one of the ugliest buildings in Sydney each day to earn my corn.

I have other things to update you on but feel I have taken up enough of your time already.  One reader recently accused me of waffling!  How very rude. 

With that, I will say adios, y hasta leugo.  Till the next time...

You are in Sydney, now what to do?

So, you have just arrived in Sydney and are raring to go explore this beautiful city.

What’s first?

1)    Sleep and adapting to jetlag – don’t underestimate it.  My first experience of it, with a flight not broken by a stopover was incredible.  I slept like the dead.  Even when I woke up, I couldn’t move any part of my body other than my eyes.  Completely fruitless, all I could do was surrender and go back to sleep.  First lesson, do NOT have an afternoon disco/nanna nap.  Do NOT. 

2)   Get out and walk the city.  For the first time tourist, all roads lead to Circular Quay, the transport hub and also home to the beautiful Port Jackson harbour, better known as Sydney Harbour.  Well at least I thought they did but a friend who recently arrived from the UK seems to have problems navigating the city and when heading there, usually ends up at the other side of town completely. Framed on one side by the Harbour Bridge and the other, the Opera House (opened by Queen Elizabeth II on October 20, 1973), Circular Quay is a magnet for tourists.

3)  Watsons Bay – being English, fish and chips is something of an obsession.  Finding good fish and chips is very difficult in Australia.  Believe me, I’ve tried.  And tried.  And keep trying.  Doyle’s takeaway shack at Watson’s Bay is probably the closest I’ve come.  And the trip there is amazing alone.  Get the ferry from Circular Quay, take in world beating views of the harbour, and join the queues on arrival.  Once you have your food, go and sit on the grass like all the locals, eating your fish and chips, looking back across the sparkling azure waters to the city.  When you are ready to return, jump on the bus and try to count the number of homes fit for millionaires as you journey through the suburb of Vaucluse.

4)  Manly beach – very popular, for good reason, Manly is one of the best beaches in Sydney for tourists to easily get to.  Once again, head to Circular Quay and jump on a famous green and gold ferry for the 30 minute ride across to Manly.  On arrival, don’t make the mistake of somebody I know who thought the tiny strip of beach he could see on arrival at the ferry wharf was the “famous Manly beach”  Utterly unimpressed, he spent a short time soaking up some rays before deciding it was the most overrated beach he had been to.  Now, had he walked from the ferry, across the Corso, he would have arrived at the “real” Manly beach, surely garnering much improved memories of his little day out.

5)  Bondi to Coogee coast walk -  The easiest way to get to the start of this walk is a “train and bus” combination ticket.  Train to Bondi Junction and then a bus from the interchange to Bondi beach.  Usually a 333, 380, or 381 bus.  Don’t hang around in the very faded elegance of Bondi, but head along past the fabulously located Bondi Icebergs outdoor swimming pool, and onto the coastal path walk to Coogee, taking in delights such as Tamarama, Clovelly and Bronte on the way.  All worthy of return visits in their own right.  On arrival in Coogee who can resist fish and chips (I told you I was obsessed) at Chish and Fips on the beach.  Washed down with a cold schooner from the Coogee Bay hotel.

6)  The Blue Mountains – take the train from Central station out to the Blue Mountains, a journey of just over 2 hours from Sydney, but a world away on arrival in Katoomba.  Do a walk, jump on one of the tour buses, explore.  Discover why it is in fact called the “Blue” mountains, which is as a result of the blue haze given off by all the eucalyptus leaves.  Breathe in the fresh mountain air and marvel at the thought you are so close to a bustling city yet so far away in the mountains.

7)  Spit to Manly walk - If you are feeling energetic, do the 10kms Spit to Manly walk.  You will not be disappointed.  If you were paying me for this recommendation I would give you a “no quibbles” money back guarantee.  Get the bus to Spit bridge from the city and start the walk along the Middle Harbour shoreline. See the Heads, north and south, from a different perspective.  Visit a historical site of Aboriginal rock engravings.  Make friends with one of the many iguanas you will inevitably see on the way.  Reward yourself at the end with a cold cider at the New Brighton Hotel on the Corso and lunch at one of the many cafes and restaurants lining the sea front.

8)  Taronga Zoo – And we are back to Circular Quay again for the ferry over to Taronga Zoo.  I told you Circular Quay would be an important spot for the visitor to Sydney.  Now, some people like zoos.  Some don’t.  I’m in the “do” camp and not just because Taronga surely the best view from any zoo in the world.  It also has an overall experience to rival that of even the great Singapore Zoo.  Believe me, even the animals look to be smiling.  And as you meander through the many exhibits, seeing all the animals, looking back across the water, seeing the sun reflected off the sails of the Opera House, you will understand why.

9)  Harry’s Café de Wheels – Another food related recommendation, but who doesn’t like a good pie and peas?  And where better to get them than the world renowned Harry’s Café de Wheels, at Woolloomooloo.  Really.  That is not made up.  Google it and check.  You can either walk here, through the Royal Botanic gardens (recommended) or jump one of the very frequent Sydney buses.  Treat yourself to a Harry’s Tiger, which is your choice of pie, served up with peas, mash and gravy.  They even have HP sauce to complement/finish the experience.  Feeling like a bit of exercise after?  Cross the road and tackle the very steep, very numerous steps up to Potts Point and have a wander through some beautiful leafy streets, lined with Victorian architecture.

10)  The North Shore – Yes, there is life across the water too.  Get out and explore some of Sydney’s lesser seen, and lesser known North Shore suburbs.  Neutral Bay with it’s great bar and dining scene.  Mosman with achingly cool cafes and Balmoral Beach just down Raglan Road (one of my favourite Sydney beaches).   Kirribilli and Milsons Point with it’s eclectic mix of places to eat, and also home to the excellent theme park, Luna Park, a throw back to a more innocent time, when fun was fun.  Take a bus up the Northern beaches.  Check out Curl Curl (so good they named it twice), Narrabeen and beautiful Whale Beach.  Finish up at Palm Beach, made famous by “Home and Away” and have lunch, drinks, or both at the Boat Shed café.  This, my friends, is a gem.

What have I missed off your quintessential SYDNEY EXPERIENCE?  What are your “go to” activities on arrival in this beautiful harbour city? 

Let me know.

You are so cool

There is a great advert on the TV in the UK for a broadband service based in Yorkshire.  In the advert, lots of fanciful things are just about to begin before the protagonist shouts the inimitable catchphrase.  Recently I’ve had many an occasion, way too many to be totally truthful, to recant that phrase, if not out loud, but then most definitely sotto voce.

And what causes this mild form of tourettes?  Sydney has been taken over by the “hipsters”.  Starting with the Bondi Hipsters, Bondi Hipsters - YouTube

, the phenomenon has made it’s way either by stealth, or good transport links, over to the North Shore.  No longer can I leave the apartment and walk a few yards before encountering a hipster clothed in Mosman mulberry.  And not mulberry of the very expensive handbag variety, but mulberry the colour.  I thought it was plum.  But no, I was corrected.  Definitely mulberry.  And it has to be the right tone of mulberry.  I was told this by a English friend who turned up in what looked suspiciously like a pair of washed out mulberry shorts.  Hmm, I have my eye on him.

To complete the look you have to also wear a pair of achingly cool old style, black rimmed glasses, sport a haircut that looks like something from the 80s with a laughable quaff, have one of the ubiquitous “fixie” bikes without gears, and you have your look.

And it’s everywhere.  As though the locals are bred in some kind of test tube and released into the world when they grow into their mulberry chinos.  I feel like I am in some kind of Hipster version of the Stepford Wives. 

Which leads me back to the advert, and the catchphrase, “You can stop that nonsense”.  You see, that’s not how we are made in Yorkshire.  We are simple, down to earth folk really.  Not feeling the need to look like everybody else to fit in.  We realise that by looking like everybody else, you become that exact opposite of cool.  And that bike, the fixie with no gears, yeah, maybe it does carry an air of cool about it, but I’d like to see you ride it and not just push it to the café, casually resting it against the wall whilst you order your soy skinny decaff mocha latte chino.

And don’t get me started on the lycra brigade.  Maybe next time…