Our First Christmas in Sydney

Well, this is weird. Its 20C outside and overcast. We both woke up at just after six, our usual time, and decided to see if Santa had been. He hadn't - he must never have got our change of address card. Boo.

Breakfast was the usual smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, this year with sourdough toast and a banana, mango and raspberry smoothie. Yum.

Present opening didn't take all that long - Keith got me the Banksy book, a box of Lush goodies and some magnetic office poetry. Our main pressie to each other had been a camping gear extravaganza - and that wasn't really wrappable.

We weren't sure what to do next so we took a run down to Bradley's Head to have a look at the harbour. It was absolutely deserted. After a short period of observation we managed to see the Manly Ferry - but that was about it. Would have been a great day to attempt a swim across the harbour - if it hadn't been so cold, or full of sharks.

We head back up the road to check out the Christmas TV. You know, re runs of A Christmas Carol, Wizard of Oz, Snow filled Disney movies and the like - and what do we have - nothing, zip, nada. Not a single piece of Christmas programming apart from midnight mass from Gdansk or some such place - I mean what the heck? Thankfully we recorded plenty of films to last us plus we got some new DVDs to watch from Keith's mum and my friend Martin. Otherwise it would have been a but grim. Never mind I am sure a bit later we will get the 1994 Vicar of Dibley Christmas special.

More later.......

Keith's Birthday - in pictures

Order of Events.

Cake, presents and champagne on the balcony.

The Maritime Museum then Squires Brewery.

Dinner a Doyle's at Watsons Bay.

Water taxi home to Mosman

Cocktails at the library

We took a walk up to Mosman Library this evening. I had a somewhat overdue book, oops, got a fine, $3.20 and I hadn't even finished it. Keith spotted the Larousse Cocktail book whilst we were there and is now sitting pouring (ha ha) over it seeing what he can create. I think that will mean another trip to Dan Murphys (Booze supermarket) to stock up on goodies.
After the library we walked around to Fourth Corner Providores - which is a lovely Italian deli which is actually huge like a supermarket. It sells flowers, lovely fruit and veg and has a walk in cheese fridge. There is also a huge counter with hams, cheeses, salads and what not as well as fresh breads and a cafe through the back. Its not cheap but it is very good :-).
Just round the corner at Spit Junction is a nice selection of places to eat so we decided to forget cooking and grab dinner out. We settled for the Thai kitchen (there was also Japanese and Vietnamese) and it was a great choice. Crying tiger beef for starters was good rare with a great spicy, sweet, limey dipping sauce. For mains I had fish salad which had crisp snapper, mango, apple, basil, mint, kafir lime leaves, chili and tomato - totally yummy. Keith had a curry of beef and potato in a lovely sweet and creamy sauce. All very tasty and no room for pudding! Another one for our "menu" book - in which we are collecting all our faves to make a foody guide book.
We trudged down the road to home, laden with books and food and have just been sitting out on the balcony for a while with the fairy lights on (solar powered too). I got a new ipod thingy today that lets you connect it wirelessly to the stereo so we have that on. Pretty nifty we can take it in the NEW car too - ha ha, yes I caved and bought one - after all I said about not. We pick it up on Saturday. Its a little silver Yaris. Pretty good deal on it and a nice feeling to buy it cash down. Now we just need a road map and some swag and we'll be off!!

Nothing doing

Well, things have been pretty quiet of late. Yesterday I checked out the Mosman Festival super Shopping Saturday. Apart from a few balloons and some kids busking I failed to see where the "super saturday" came in. The whole festival seems a bit lame really. Which is a shame as I had quite high expectations for it.
I finally got down to Cremorne to look around the shops. I had a good nosey in grok (http://www.grok.com.au/) , which sells a nice range of fair trade goods and made a couple of small purchases. I then walked back towards Mosman - checking the shops out as I went and stopped off at Woolworths to get some shopping bits.
Today I have had a pretty boring day, but I kind of needed it. During the week I have work (obviously), yoga (doing well) and pottery - which I am loving. Its such a great chance to switch off and just concentrate solely on a lump of clay. Anyway what this means is that sometimes its nice just to sit and do nothing. Which is what I am doing today (although m second load of washing just went out). So that's it really.
They always say no news is good news so this blog is ecstatic!!

New off shoot blog!

I have created a tandem blog, solely devoted to things to do in Sydney and New South Wales check it out at http://tartankangaroo.blogspot.com/ . I will be adding more things to do and places to go as I get to them.
All reviews a based on personal experience and, to use a cliche, "tell it like it is" (no there is no swearing.....).
Click on each blog title to link to that attractions website (if it has one) - is a fully interactive, multi faceted, mind expanding experience....sort of.....

Coals to Newcastle?

Well no, but the Jones and Arkless went to Newcastle the weekend before last. It was Labour Day weekend so I took the Friday off work and we drove up to Newcastle, stopping on the way to check out Brooklyn. We arrived at Uncle Jon's about 2pm and after lugging all our junk into the house we all took a walk down to the town and had a nosey in the shops - picking up a couple of books in the second hand shop on the way. We also had a quick look down at the foreshore and had a walk along Nobbies Point and a cheeky little paddle in the sea.

We toddled back and sat on the veranda for a while, sweating our asses off in the 30C heat. Later on we headed out for a curry and sweated a bit more - before heading to bed to sweat there too!

Saturday morning we all heaved in the car and drove up to the Hunter Valley for a bit of wine tasting. Starting at Mount View we sipped and spat our way around a good few vineyards as well as a stinky cheese shop. We managed to pack in a few bottles of wine, white port, liqueur muscat, pomegranate balsamic, goats cheese and lemon olive oil. All produce direct from the Hunter Valley. We lunched in a little noodle place and then clanked our way back down to Newcastle itself.

Uncle Jon cooked us a lovely Chinese meal. Beef in Szechwan pepper (made your tongue go numb!), chicken with mango and stir fried veg - yum. The rest of the evening was spent reading Jon's cornucopia of cookery books - inside goes the temperature had plummeted to about 20C!

On Sunday Jon had to work in the morning so Keith and I headed down Darby Street, banged on the door on Jack and Yve's shop and got in just before the rush, which was lucky cos about ten mins later it was packed! We picked up some shopping and had a chat to Jack - Yve was too busy, ordered a Malayan and a ?Turkish wrap and after an unexpected invite to the Bay that evening we headed off down to the beach to eat our yummy wraps. It had been about 15 years since I had last been to Newcastle and the wrap with the Ginger Rice balls and chili sauce was as fabulous as I remembered it - well it was until Keith pinched it and he gave me his felafel wrap - cheeky monkey.

We walked down to see the fair that was on but it was a bit expensive so we just watched and Keith munched on a Crepe.

We drove over to some beach somewhere so keith could fish - but it was really overcast and Keith kept loosing his bait to the Seagulls so we gave up and headed back to Darby Street for a look around the shops. Stopping once more to eat again, this time probably the best cheesecake I have ever had - caramel cheesecake in one of the little cafes. Cor, it was brilliant.

Realising we had forgotten to change our watches (and the clock in the car - the clocks had gone forward an hour) and it was actually an hour later than we thought it was we zoomed back to Jon's to pack up our kit and head on up to Shoal Bay, managing to arrive just for the end of the AFL final in which the Manly Sea Eagles absolutely annihilated Melbourne....before heading out to the pub for a couple with Jack and Yve. Just like being on holiday!

Jack and Yve have a new holiday place (Unit) up at Shoal Bay and its lovely, open plan downstairs, two bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms and a little garden. Compact and bijou Mostin. Very nice.

Our last day came far to fast and we spent the morning climbing the big hill/ mountain in the pouring rain, whilst sweating inside our jackets - or fetching kagools if you are Keith and forgot your jacket... it was nice seeing everyone after such a long time, everyone seemed well and well fed. If it hadn't of been for the horror drive home through Labour Day traffic it would have been perfect weekend. But then you can't have everything...

Slip, Slap, Slop

Yesterday we had our first try out with the car share scheme. Its called Go-get and basically you pay a monthly fee and then a per hour charge and you have access to either a Yaris, a wagon (estate car) or Ute. We took out Ross the Yaris yesterday and headed North up the Pittwater Road. Our target was the beaches but on the way there we took advantage of the wheels and stopped at Manly Vale to stock up on fishing stuff for Keith and a tonne of alcohol for the house. We got to the beach about noon and set up camp with towel, magazines and sun screen. Keith was in for a swim but I chickened out - again. After a while we got bored just sitting and we toddled off to explore the rock pools - which also proved a great opportunity to test the waterproof feature. Unfortunately I think the combination of sea and sun shining of the pools blasted my shins and they are now decidedly pink. Ouch.

Feeling our tummies by now we headed onto Newport Beach and Keith got a lamb sandwich and i got a iced mocha, which was mediocre to the max. We sat on the beach and munched and then had a stroll along it. The ind was getting up though so we decided to head back.

On the way home we stopped at BBQs Galore and picked up a quickstart chimney which helps get the BBQ going and some Mesquite chips, just for flavour. We also popped into Bunnings and got some planters, a lemon tree and a Passionfruit vine.

By this point it was time to scoot back, drop off all the stuff, humph it all up to the flat and then get the car back to its spot before we ran out of time (had to be back for 6pm). Since we were in Cremorne we decided to try out the Oaks pub - which looks like a Witherspoons but we had heard was nice. We headed in through a sort of lounge bar (alright) and followed the sign for Beer Bar and Garden. Wow. Its was lovely. A huge outdoor area was centred around a beautiful old Oak tree bedecked with lights. Tables sat around and under it and then around the edges is a pizza area, two bars and a DIY BBQ pit. It was quite busy but still very pleasant - we will be back.

Keith then got a call from his mate Jo saying they were down at the Opera below bar (at the Opera House) and did we want to head down. So we hopped on a bus and had a few drinks with Jo, Claire (his girlfriend) and Alex (nice Italian chap the boys work with). We didn't stay out too late as we were pooped and we got the ferry back to Mosman after a very full day!

First day at the beach

Well, today has been the first day nice enough for the beach. We took the bus up to Palm Beach - at the very top of the Northern Beaches. Has a bit of lunch, a paddle - well, Keith had a swim, and walk along the shore. Lovely. It was about 25C which isn't bad for spring time.

The beach is lovely. No sea weed and a sea pool if you are scared of anything nibbling your toes...like a great white.

Last night we went out in town. A few drinks in the Bavarian Beer Bar and then a wander around the bustle of China Town, onto dinner at a Korean BBQ before catching the ferry home. Nice. Took some pretty cool pictures down at Circular Quay...

New Continents!

At last - what I have been waiting for - a couple of readers in Africa. Now I have a reader in every continent, well ok, not the arctic cos the penguins don't have pc's, but everywhere else!
I feel complete....it would be cool to know where you are all reading from - send me a comment and let me know.

Friend of Taronga Zoo

I got back from St.Louis yesterday morning. Both flights on time and all luggage present and corect, lovely. To counter act the extended sitting on my bum we spent yesterday walking to Cremorne Point and today at the Zoo (we became members so we can go any time we like, cool. we only live ten minutes walk from the zoo). Here are a few pictures of our walks. No chat today - too much of late!

Meet me in .....

St.Louis, that's St.Lewis and definitely not St.Looey or else you get odd looks (is it just me or was this place named by a French person....?) however. Lesson 1) St.Lewis. The second lesson is if you haven't got a car forget trying to go anywhere. I am based in Chesterfield, just 20 miles from Downtown St.Louis and it took me 45mins on a bus and then a transfer to a train and a further 25mins to get to "The Arch" (down by the Mississippi). Or within 5 mins walk of it anyway - this is certainly not a pedestrian friendly part of the US.

I headed down there on Saturday and after looking at the arch - which is pretty spectacularly huge - I headed up towards the main part of town to try and find some stuff to do, something, anything, where is everything? Where are the shops, where are the people (the street scene was taken at 2pm on a Saturday)? Did someone do an evacuation of St.Louis when I wasn't looking? I have come to the conclusion that everyone lives and plays outside the city - in strip malls (that made me giggle) and out of town shopping villages. There was signs of this being reversed though, dozens of warehouses were being converted to chic apartments and bars and restaurants were coming back to service them - in a few years it could have a bit of a buzz back.

I strolled around, heading back in the direction of "home" and came across Union Station. Once a huge, heavily used rail station (it shifted a lot of the troops leaving for WWII) it is now an indoor shopping mall, but they have saved the basic architecture including the highly impressive Great Hall (photo) which was truly stunning. It also now houses the Hyatt Hotel inside the old station and it looks great sitting on an artificial lake with one heck of a lot of fish in it.

There didn't seem much else to see so I caught the metro rail and bus back and ended up going all the way to Chesterfield mall. Its a big mall about 20 mins walk from the hotel (ok, yes I could walk there) and it has a Macy's, Gap, Old Navy, cinema all the usual shops and entertainment. This trip all I bought was baseball boots for Keith but so far I have been stocking up on Gap (you can"t get it in Oz, amazing, eh), Mac makeup, Earth shoes and other goodies that are either cheaper here or you just can't get back down under.

An example of the huge differences in cost comes from simple stuff - I bought some John Frieda Frizz Ease hair gunk today. In the UK it would have cost me equivalent $8.37 US or ($9.95 AUD). In Australia the same stuff would cost me the equivalent of $11.79 US ($13.50 AUD). Here it cost me $4.60 US ($5.28 AUD) - do I feel I am getting ripped of in Australia - yup, I do, no way you can justify that with shipping costs. I think the problem is a lack of competition - might look into that when I get back.

Anyway , back to St.Louis. Everything here is big, the cars, the houses, the portions and no surprise, the people. Half a sandwich is enough for any mere mortal and an area who fries ice cream, cheesecake, ravioli and pickles (gherkins) could perhaps even teach the Scots a thing or two about poor diets. Having said that the fruit and veg on offer in the supermarket is tasty and well priced, the seasonal fruit (peaches at the moment) look amazing. Its so cheap to buy food here - both out and in the shops that I am not surprised portions are big. Put it this way - I am not going to starve in the near future!

Its a different mix of people from LA here. There are more black people and less hispanic (I have no idea of the current pc terms for non-Caucasians so sorry if that's not right). Noticeably on the bus all my fellow passengers were black or elderly white people. Is it a social or class thing? Not really sure. I guess it really doesn't make a difference more of an observation.

I am heading back off now to watch some more of the Olympics, its the woman's gymnastics and the laws of physics are once again being destroyed by young ladies in leotards. Interestingly per the American TV the US of A are leading in the medal tables - cos they just use how many instead of weighting for colour. So everyone else in the world thinks China is winning and the US thinks they are....I think there is a metaphor in there somewhere...

LA la la la

Well i decided that the best way to see the most of LA was a tour. I took a "VIP Tour" grand tour of LA. We started of at Marina Del Wray - the largest man made boat harbour in the world - not all that exciting but lots of people were cycling which was an odd sight in LA. Next Venice Beach passing the restaurant John Wayne owned on the way. Venice actually does have canals I never knew that - in fact it has six. Both Angelica Houston and Julia Roberts live there and I guess it was quite nice. I had a look at Venice Beach and was disappointed to see that there was no-one at Muscle Beach - must have been too early. The beach was lovely - perfect California, but we had to be back on the bus in 20 mins and push on to Santica Monica. This was a very much posher area than Venice and has a very nice looking pier. We didn't stop though and drove onto Westwood, passing the building that was the Makatomi Tower in Die Hard 1. Westwood has the Veterans of Foreign Wars cemetery and also the Pierre Brothers Westwood Cemetery where Roy Orbison and Frank Zappa are buried. From there it was onto Beverly Hills which is actually a private city with its own laws, street signs etc. Certainly people didn't seem to want to hang about on the streets there - there was no-one and I mean no-one walking about - it was like 28 days later, weird. We drove down Rodeo Drive and saw all the high end stores, then down to Sunset Strip passing Marilyn Monroes last house.

On Sunset boulevard we saw the Viper Room and "Carneys" where Elvis ate his burgers as well as Chateux Marmont where the stars hang out (apparently).

For lunch we stopped at a "Farmers Market" which was really a outdoor food court - but I got some nice shrimp (prawns) and some cucumber salad and a beer. Which was a pretty yummy lunch. They had the craziest place there - a bakery for dogs! It sold pupcakes and doggy donughts - I have never seen anything like it - I thought the dog deli in Mosman was crazy.

We headed onto Hollywood, saw the sign, the Chinese Theatre, the pavement stars, the hand prints and the Kodak theatre. It was very busy down there and there was a lot of people dressed as movie stars looking for cash for photos. It wasn't great.

Next was Olivera Street - where LA started as a Spanish town. It had lovely little spanish style buildings, a lovely old firestation with an antique horse drawn fire engine and lots of stalls selling souvenirs and cactus candy - some of which I got for Keith. It had a lovely party atmosphere and although it was small there was lots of stuff to look at. We pressed onto Chinatown and Little Tokyo past the Walt Disney concert hall (big, shiny) and eventually got dropped back at my hotel.

After I dumped some stuff I walked back to Olivera Street and then onto Little Tokyo where I got Tempura (prawns and veg), rice, salad, salmon and eel nigri and tea all for $13US. Which is just mad. I also sampled some green tea and plum wine ice cream and maybe a couple of things in the Hello Kitty store....

Sunday I went back to Santa Monica beach and enjoyed the sunshine (and played with the new panoramic setting on my camera!

I got the bus there and the driver was really friendly I stood beside him and chatted almost all the way (its nearly a half hour journey). I think people really take to you when they found out you are Scottish...

Finally I headed back to the airport and caught my flight, with no delays, to St.Louis. Arriving at my hotel around 1am - and I guess now the work actually starts....lol.

Downtown LA

Well I am here - at last. I left the house at 7am on Friday morning for the flight at 10:20am. Way to early but checked in and then headed to duty free to buy a camera (waterproof, shockproof, iceproof, la, la, la) and then through security. Only to discover we were boarding late. Finally got on (3 changes of seat on the way) and then proceeded to sit there until 1:30pm because a little light was on in the cockpit. By this time I had made friends with a girl called Renee (Zoologist from WA) and when we got chucked off again we stuck together and moaned over our Pot Noodle (yes, that was what they provided me with for lunch, yum).
Finally we got back on and the flight took off at 3pm, nearly 5 hours late.

The flight was fine, watched Iron Man (V good), Lars and the Real Girl (V sweet) and St.Trinians (v crap) and got a few hours sleep. Food was as cack as BAs but staff were nicer - I even got to assist in the safety demo, lol.

Flying in over LA is mad, its huge, but very low, apart from a small spike in the CBD, which is were I was heading. The love a q here in America. We got off the plane and then waited an hour to get through "Homeland Security" and then got our bags and q'd for someone to take a customs form and then q'd for a taxi. Finally underway I realised I could not use either phone to let Keith know I had arrived ok - never mind use t'internet I thought.

My room wasn't ready (I was dying by this time, bearing in mind I had been in the air 17 hours and had landed before I left) so I minced around, looked in Macy's, generally sussed a few blocks out. By the time I had had a $6 burger at Carlos Jnr (that's 3 pounds for the Poms and about $7.50 for the ozzies) which was the size of my head, my room was ready.

I tried to hook up the net but discovered the arse computer work had given me had no disc drive - so couldn't. Great - so that's how I find myself paying through the nose in the business centre....thanks, guys. Apart from that room is fine - bed, shower, windows, TV, what can I say its a hotel room.

I then ducked back out to Radio Shack to get an international adaptor (the hotel don't have any, how grim) and also stocked up on the much cheapness toiletries. Mostly hair stuff and sun tan lotion (its hot here, about 27C) and also got stuff for Keith as so much cheaper than Oz. On the way back I stopped at an Irish Bar for a beer but it was all guys and I felt weird and despite the bouncers being friendly I didn't hang about - felt odd - need my fella with me!

After plugging in my camera and stocking my mini fridge (complimentary) with water I headed down to the reception to book a Grand Tour of LA tomorrow - I will be heading to Hollywood, Mann's Chinese & Kodak Theatre, Walk of Fame, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive (pretty woman time), Olvera St, where LA started, China Town, Venice Beach and Fisherman's village amongst others. It lasts all day so it means I don't have to think to hard to amuse myself and I see everything in the short time I have - see why I needed to charge my camera?

I walked round to the cinema (sorry, movie theatre) but there was nothing on I wanted to see (The Mummy 4 anyone???) but what I did notice was the contrasts of this place. People eating out of bins and people driving Maserati's. Loads of Gyms and joggers matched with a load of fatties and fast food joints. Steps up a hill, escalators too.
Its a very soulless place, Downtown LA, all concrete and glass. Nothing of architectural merit. The Westin Bonaventure Hotel wouldn't have looked out of place at Normandy circa WWII - awful.
The streets are wide, the cars are huge, the people aren't particularly friendly (and the majority of them are Hispanic (not that that is a problem, just an observation)) and the only white people walking are tourists (its the cameras that give them away). Its making my pine for Sydney - and that isn't exactly an architectural masterpiece. Of course whose there might have something to do with it too - travelling on your own is no fun really......

Flat Hunting Sydney style

Going to go back a step and do the story of how we got our apartment/ flat, place. Its all a bit backwards but until now never had time to sit down and write anything.
Basically we had heard many horror stories about renting in Sydney. Demand is high and so competition is fierce and rents are scary. We had set ourselves a cap and went looking for things in or under that price in the areas we liked. Quite often flats are open for viewing from say 2pm - 2:15pm on a Tuesday - and if you are late forget it.
After we had ruled out Glebe we made a list of Mosman places and set of on a Saturday morning to see the one that were available. The first looked great on the net but really wasn't all that when we got there. We drudged back up the hill and went to find our second place - which was right down the other end of Raglan Road near the ferry. It was a nice old place with a lovely sun room of the main bedroom but it had a really pokey back yard and it was shared as well. We sort of held it in reserve in our head - which can be dangerous cos if someone offers then it will go no messing about here. We had though seen another one we fancied, right down at the point almost hanging in the water - it was really cool, but the access was awful and no viewings had been scheduled (we were just snooping in the garden!). So that was Saturday done in . No success.
The following Tuesday Keith went off to view some on his own. I was coming up in the afternoon to meet him to view an AMAZING looking place at Chinaman's Beach (very high end posh) well out of our price range but it looked so good on the net we had to go see it. We met just outside and the view was amazing, right over the sea, boats, sand, glistening waves, we had managed to get a sneak first peak at it - or so we thought. A few mins later some borish yank turned up "are you here for the viewing? you are to wait downstairs". We both just looked at each other - thinking we ere the only people to see it - and then another couple turned up. We were a bit miffed, but never mind we headed in. What a bloody disappointment. The view was amazing but that was it - the balcony was tiny, so was the kitchen and the living/ dining area was just one big lump of space.
So we decided to go back and out in an application for the one Keith had seen - bit of a gamble but I trusted his judgement. We got together all the paperwork and sent it over - we were assured a decision that evening.....next morning we heard that someone had gazumped us (if that's what you call it) and had gone straight to the owner - what a tosser. So we were back to square one. But here is were we struck lucky. Because all our paperwork was up to date and very positive the agent said she would be happy to have us as tenants and so we could have the pick of her stock. She had two places, not even on the market yet to how us - score!
For the last time we headed over to Mosman to go flat hunting. first stop Mosman street and a lovely bright flat with a nice gas (shock !) kitchen and balcony. Very positive. Then he said she had another super new one to show us, so we headed up to Prince Albert Street and saw this place, and we both said "Yes!" perfect, but there was one more so we headed up there just in case it was a little gem.
It was an open viewing so there was about 15 other interested parties and it was vile. It was dark, small, dirty, there was junk everywhere and to top it all off there was dog poo on the carpet! Eeeew. We made a sharp exit and hung around outside, ready to swoop on the agent and grab flat number 2. We headed straight up to her office and signed the paperwork. That night the flat was ours - how lucky was that.
So hear I sit - after a trip to Target today on my new bean bag lounger watching the tv we got yesterday at our spree at Rhodes shopping centre (did IKEA and Bunnings warehouse too). So now we have a table and chairs in the kitchen, beanbags, tv and dvd in the lounge and flowers on the balcony. I just thank god I have somewhere to sit now!

Edinburgh Festival

Check out the link on the right of the page to a great Edinburgh festival review site - not that I will be going this year!

Our new appartment

Hall

living room

This is a short photo piece cos Im tired and there has been too many words of late. Here is our new pad in Mosman, its all looking a bit biege right now.

Main Bedroom

Kitchen (doh)
Laundry



Bathroom Guest bedroom - with patio doors

Robes in guest bedroom

First day flat hunting

I did make a big list of flats to go see in Glebe today - but then we walked up there last night and thought, nah. Its fine, its just a bit studenty and more of a Portobello vibe than the Stockbridge one we were looking for. So this morning, we did a quick review of the places to rent in Mosman,flew down to QVB to catch a bus and headed over the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Mosman.
From the moment we got off the bus at the Spit Junction I felt right at home. There is a proper main street with lots and lots of shops, cinema, doctors, library - in fact it felt more like a little town than a suburb. There was a fantastic selection of shops - from clothes and furniture to butchers, bakers, fish shops and deli's. The fish shop also did fish and chips - with fish right off the counter, you could even get octopus and chips!
The area was mostly older people and a lot of families. The number of toy shops and kiddlies clothes shops was testament to the number of kids about, mostly pre-schoolers. It had a nice vibe though and I think we have kind of set our hearts on there.
The first place we saw was down the Raglan Road and was a two bed with balcony - it was ok but was a bit disappointing. The second was a much older property right down the Mossman ferry terminal and was really nice. It had a huge main bedroom with built in wardrobes (or just built ins here) with a small room off it which would have made a good study. The living room was a good size with the kitchen and second bedroom (small but adequate) of it. There was a little outside area and an outhouse to put your washing machine in. It was about 5 mins walk from the ferry and not too far from the bus stop either.
We couldn't go into see our most favoured choice. Its right down on the tip of the land at Mosman - just about hanging into the sea. It has 2 bedrooms and a study and a shared bit of garden. It is spitting distance to the ferry terminal and has a bus terminus nearly outside the front door - its not open to viewings yet so we will keep our eyes peeled on that one.
We got the ferry back to the city and grabbed some lunch at the food hall under Myers (Turkish today, felafel wrap) and then wandered back. I was trying to find a little bead shop but we ended up finding a great bar which brews its own beer. Its called Redoak Boutique beer cafe www.redoak.com.au and sells great British and European style beers (like Porter, Pale Ale and Wheat Beers). They also do tasting glasses and food matching which I think we will be back to give a try.
Was going to go to Coles on the way home but it was so busy on the street that we couldn't be bothered so we just headed back to read the papers and chill out.

First day at work

Yesterday was my first day at work. It only takes me 20mins to walk there which is great. Nice to start the day without the hassle of driving your car to work.
The office is at Australia Square, sitting at one end of a courtyard area, which has seating and a food court (more later). I work on the 9th floor with the rest of the RGA Australia guys, RGA South East Asia sit on the 8th floor. The office is modern and bright and I have a nice big desk (but no window...booo). As usual the first day was made up of introductions, meetings, HR stuff and getting to know the people and my way around. Everyone is lovely and friendly and judging by the cheeky emails flying around a good laugh.
We have a kitchen which contains a fridge, coffee machine, toastie maker, dishwasher, vending machine and a seating area to have your lunch. Twice a week we get a huge basket of fruit delivered which is great.
After lunch (when I nipped up to the NAB to open my bank account and grabbed some sushi) I had to go over to the main building on the other side of the quad to get my picture done for my pass. I was a bit early so took a turn around the food court - well, I won't go hungry or get bored. There was Japanese, Vietnamese, Salad Bar, Italian, Sandwich bar, Mexican, Juice Bar, Hot meat rolls (roast beef and the like), a pub, Indian, Fish and Seafood, Coffee, plus a hairdresser, post office and newsagent.
Other lovely little perks are dress down Fridays, fairly flexible working hours (within reason) and the option of an at desk massage twice a week! How good is that. And that's on top of all your usual benefits. I think I am going to like it there....

First Weekend

Friday, the day we arrived, was quite a wash out. We were both tired and it rained all day, sometimes it was more a deluge than a shower. We walked around the bridge, the opera house and the botanic gardens before giving up and heading home to watch some tv.

Saturday we headed up to Kings Cross, they were having a Farmers Market and it was lovely. We got fresh organic mango and peach juice, organic lamb (which is now a curry), loads of veggies and a roo burger. It was really lovely up there, sun shining, girl playing the accordion and lots of lovely smells. After we had headed back and dropped off the shopping we split up. Keith headed off to the Botanics again and I headed off to the shops. I started at the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) which is a Victorian building (yes, amazing isn't it) full of lovey little shops. I then headed on to David Jones (a very posh version of John Lewis) were I minced around, bought some Mac makeup and a lovely pair of Chloe shoes (Black patent, round toes, little heels) and checked out the food hall. By that time I was fading again so I headed back, via Lush at QVB for a bath bomb and a very early bed.

Sunday morning was spent at The rocks at the Aroma coffee festival - which oddly enough was just loads of stalls with coffee, some tea, cakes, spices and such like. It was absolutely packed, probably because it was nice and sunny and warm. After our fill of coffee we headed off to Circular Quay and caught a ferry to Manly. It takes 30 mins to get there (as opposed to 15 on the fast cat) and it is a lovely chug across the harbour. You arrive into a small seaside village with a pedestrianised town centre full of lovely little shops and pavement cafes. The other side of the precinct is the pacific ocean, and there were plenty of kids taking advantage of the surf - despite the "cold" weather - it was glorious sunshine. We walked along the headland to "Cabbage Cove", a protected bay for sealife and Keith went in for a paddle. Ambling up the cliffs we got a great view over the Atlantic and back to the bay at Manly and then headed back round the road to the town centre. Before catching the ferry we stopped for a beer at the Loenbraugh Beer cafe (with a roaring fire and gluhwein if you wanted a heat) and then oddly (for a winter treat) a Gellato at Gellatisimo (where they have 16 different chocolate flavours, never mind the non choccie ones) before hopping on a ferry back and a short walk back to the apartment for dinner and another early night!

Its still feeling a bit odd. Don't feel like I live here yet - I think that will be better when we get our own place and I won't feel quite so temporary as I do here. Oh, and I spoke to Owen on the phone last night. I asked him how he was and he said "I've been good!", bless. Then he asked if I was coming around, I said no, I was in Australia now and he said "well you could come on a plane" - bless, that brought a wee tear to my eye. I do miss the little terror.

The Road to Sydney

The road to sydney started at Edinburgh airport. My brother dropped me off and Helen (his wife) and Owen came along too. The cars suspension took a bit of a hammering from the suitcases and rucksacks but we got there in plenty of time. All was fine until I made my move to go through security and started giving out hugs - that's when I started crying. Then Helen started - the boys stood impassively and by brother commented "she's my sister, why are you crying?" which is about typical!
Anyway we headed through security and it was only yesterday that I realised that I never turned around to wave to them - not sure if that was deliberate or not - certainly not a conscious decision I had made. I felt a bit bad about that later.

The flight was late leaving in Edinburgh by about 90 mins (isn't it always) and so we had less time to mess about in Heathrow We came in at Terminal 5 (no idea what all the fuss was about, it wasn't anything special) and then transferred to Terminal 4 - where we bought books and magazines and what not before boarding the 747.

I had managed to get two seats at the back, in a row with only two seats - so no climbing over people, which was good. It was reasonably cramped and far too hot but at least the movie and TV were on demand. The flight to Bangkok was reasonably uneventful expect a few bits of turbulence and a dizzy air stewardess. Dinner was fish pie, hmmm.

We had 4 hours to mince around in Bangkok airport - which looked nice but didn't have much in it. You aren't allowed to bring in duty free to Oz anyway - have to buy it when you get there (crafty devils) so shopping wasn't even a pastime to indulge in. Eventually we hauled ourselves back on board and settled down for another 8 hours of overheated torture. Dinner this time was Thai Beef and the oddest cheesecake type thing I have ever seen. Hmmm. I managed to get a few hours of fitful sleep and at 5 am was woken up for breakfast of a yogurt and stale croissant (really does it need to be this bad?)before our landing at 6am.

You cleverly have to pass through Australian duty free before you get your bags back so we decided to make use of it and got a bottle of Laphroig, one of Bowmore, and one each of Frangelico and Chambord (need a cocktail shaker now). As well as some perfume for me. We then headed through passport control, got our bags and cleared customs with no more questions than what we had in our bags of value (laptop, jewelry) and did we have any food (yes, t-bags) to which we were fast tracked out without a customs search.

We got in the taxi q and pretty quickly we were heading towards our apartment on Kent Street, which turned out to be on the 50th Floor with a very nice view of Darling Harbour. More of that and our first day in sydney on my next post.

The best Fish and Chips in the world?

We headed up the coast road of fife today - destination the Anstruther Fish and Chip restaurant. We drove up along the fife tourist route. I think someone somewhere is having a laugh. It takes you through some of the most downtrodden, grey, grotty and grimy towns and villages in Fife. They all look like every last job, except the ones in the pie shop and the bookies, left about 15 years ago. The men are fat, the kids are schemie and the shops all have their shutters down. What exactly are tourists meant to be touring? Yuck.
Anyway then you get to Anstruther. A beautiful, bustling little fishing village. Busy even on an overcast Monday afternoon. We head straight for lunch, cos at three o'clock we are starving. We sit in and get haddock and chips x2, bread and butter and two strong cups of tea. Its not a glamorous place but as sson as those fish and chips arrive Keith and I fall into a self satisfied silence. Nothing comes between us and the golden, crisp, miost and succulent fish and chips - unless you count salt, vinegar or mushy peas. We decide to top it off with an ice cream and got a couple of tubs to sit outside with. I had pineapple and rum & raisin. Keith got vanilla (yaaawn) and toffee.
We took a stroll up to the harbour at Craill and Keith had a little paddle - it was too cold for me, I'm a woosy! It was gone 5 by now so we decided to head home, and promptly got stuck behind an old duffer He braked for every corner - even when only going 25mph, he braked when someone came the other direction and my personal fave when he entered a 30 zone he carried on merrily at 40 mph. I HATE that.
Anyway - a good day was had by all. So we are now back in the flop house. Counting off another day before the off. You don't count the day you go so that leaves one.......aaarrrgghh!

Day out in Edinburgh

We decided to be total tourists today. Inspired by a very odd tv show called Reichenbach Falls we decided to climb Calton Hill, go to Mary king's Close and generally mosey about.
We parked at the park and ride and got the bus the rest of the way - so much easier. We started with Calton Hill, which the council had done everything they could to put you off going up. the steps we headed for were closed and appeared to have suffered from a rockfall, or more likely lazy workmen who had just dumped the aggregate everywhere. There was no sign telling you another route or anything so we just sneaked past the closed sign and up the hill.
It is so worth the short climb up there. Lovely views of the firth of forth, the pentlands and the classic "princes street" shot that you always see in the news. We had a look at all the follies and bits up there and then headed down for something to eat. As we had taken the "proper route" down we ended up near Elm row. So we headed to "The Street" and had a gorgeous apple martini (Zybrowka, apple sours and elderflower) which supped down far too fast. We then really needed food and I saw a man walk up Broughton Street with a fab looking roll so we headed down there. I ended up in a nice little bakery and got a goats cheeses, roast veg and tapanade and Keith found a Polish deli and got chicken mayo with smoked cheese on white and he just about died from sandwich ecstasy!
Anyway, enough about rolls.
We then headed up the High Street and bought tickets for Mary King's close - which gave us a bit of time to kill which we filled with Coffee at the Elephant Sufficiency, a look around the Museum on Chamber Street, a quick pit stop at the comic shop and then off to the Bow Bar for a swift half and then off to The Real Mary King's Close experience.
It takes about an hour to go around, led by a very perky little tour guide who was really good at bringing the place to life. You wander around lots of little rooms, houses and streets, all below the main streets of Edinburgh, when you look up their are a good three stories above your head, buried beneath the streets of Edinburgh. Pretty cool.
After all that tourist led excitement we walked over to the bottom of Dalry and met Martin and Lisa at Sushirya for some farewell Japanese food. As usual the service was dead slow and stop but the food lovely ( really, really quickly, rainbow sushi, veg tempura, seafood yakiudon and green tea ice cream). We sat and chatted for about 2 hours and finally, after hugs and goodbyes headed off.
Lovely end to a lovely day....

Craic Den

Well, yesterday the shippers came and put all of our stuff into a shipping container and hauled it off to the port. The poor chap from the removal company was on his own and he worked hard to get it all boxed up and then into the container. At least someone turned up to help him with the heavy stuff at the last minute. I keep on going around the house, paranoid he missed something, or worse packed something he shouldn't - like the visas or passports! Also paranoid that customs are going to swarm all over our stuff and find the packet of tea I sneaked into our kitchen stuff...
So now Keith and I are living in our version of a crack den. We have our mattress on the floor, a portable tv on a chair and our laptop. That's it. It does feel a bit "Trainspotting" and keep joking we have to sell the TV for our next fix.
We both had a trip home last week to see our parents. I had a great time. The weather was lovely and we had lots of nice walks, ate cream teas, had a couple of BBQs and visited my grandparents. Its always odd when you have a really lovely time and it makes you twice as sad when you leave. I was fine until I got home and into bed and suddenly I felt really sad and had a little cry but a quick hug and I was fine. I guess you are never too old too miss your mummy and daddy.
We are just marking time now, saw the solicitor today about the sale of the house, I popped to ENT to get my hearing aid checked out for the last time. Now all we have to do is hang in our crack den, go to the cinema, visit friends and generally be lazy. Its nice, having laziness forced upon you. Not used to it.
Hoping to get on the net pretty fast in Oz. Even if I can get a dongle - not sure how they will be about using the pc at work. Another thing to figure out......

Washer Woman

I have spent the entire morning/ day washing my shoes. How mad is that? I feel like I have OCD! I am glad nobody came round and saw what I was doing - they would have thought I was mad.
You have to clean all your shoes before customs will allow them into Australia, I should explain. I have not just gone totally mad.
Feeling kind of weird about it all today - maybe its beginning to sink in a bit....

The house is up for sale!

At last. Its finished. Its for sale.
Take a look - there are lots of pictures.
Feel free to make me an offer!

http://www.remax-scotland.com/PublicListingFull.aspx?lKey=9efe76aa-b95a-4996-9fdc-124d197b548d&SearchKey=7911EFD50F3043B9B0F24021A28CE128&Index=3&RNDIndex=633489238734859063

well, here is one half of the finished kitchen. In the middle of taking these my camera properly broke - it was on its last legs anyway, so now I have no camera - which is fairly annoying. I mean it was just over a year old, is technology designed to break now? Usual story with repairs, more than it would be to get a new one, blah, blah, blah. Will have to wait till I get to Oz now. Which is a total pain.

Anyway. Kitchen looks good I think. Much more storage. More of a cooks kitchen than a "heat a tin of soup" kitchen. Brighter and cleaner too.

Going to get the study and the bedrooms sorted out today, then off to yoga and then a party at my friends Lisa's house tonight. So a busy day.

Less than one month till we leave now.

I had to laugh yesterday. Someone at work thought I had made up that I was going to Oz and it was an elaborate ploy to cover the fact that I was actually going into the big brother house! How much of an egomaniac do they think I am! Madness.