Out to the wild west.

I headed out west today, not wanting to go anywhere in particular other than just west from Sydnew centre as I hadn't been west on my bike.

I went passed the Sydney fish market which is just past the the very touristy Darling Harbour and Pyrmont bridge. To be honest I expected the Sydney fish market to be a lot bigger than it really was. Its more a load of small restaurants and fish stalls rather than a traditional fish market. Still the price of fish is quite cheep there and there were plenty of Chinese people there buying up all the fish stocks on a Sunday lunch time.

The picture above is the eastern on ramp to the Anzac bridge which is Sydney's newest bridge. It was quite good fun to cycle up and even more fun to cycle down it at speed on my way back.

This is the Anzac bridge. It's only a small bridge but makes quite an impression when you're cycling across it. There were the ususal great views of the other side of Sydney Harbour and the Harbour bridge.

As usual with the rest of the city, there is a well built cycle and pedestrian lane along the bridge to seperate yourself from the cars. I've noticed that in most areas of Sydney where they have put extra effort in to add cycle paths around the harbour and greener areas. There are even some special cycle path signs to guide cyclists around special routes around the city.

From the Anzac bridge I headed further west to Rozelle where there was this great bay where you could cycle around. The Sydney college of art was right next to the bay so there were plenty of students and rowing clubs about the place. I lost count of the number of rowing clubs after the fourth one that I saw there. I'd be quite jealous of any student studying in Sydneey that's for sure!

On my way back I passed though Balmain where Deirdre and Allen have their rented house. I really didn't realise how close their place was to the bay as I had only visited them by taking the bus. I can well understand why they chose Balmain to live in when coming here for the second time.

I went though the Pyrmont Bay on my way back home. There were plenty of modern apartments there which have excellent views of the harbour. It is the Sydney equivalent of Canary Wharf in London I guess. The very expensive apartments are just to the right of this photo and you can just make out the Harbour bridge on the left.

Incidentally my apartment is located just next to the tallest building you can see on the right of the photo.

Hailing in Sydney!

I couldn't believe it, but it was hailing in Sydney today!

What makes it even more amazing was that over lunch we ate in Hyde Park as it was quite warm and sunny. Then come the afternoon it suddenly got quite dark and we could hear thunder in the distance.

It then started to rain and then hail quite heavily. Its probably the closest that Sydney will ever come to it snowing here!

These two photos were taken on my camera phone just outside of the Sydney Water offices.

North Head.

I'm afraid just more cycling adventures around Sydney for now. More exciting things to come later on at the beginning of next month when I have a plan to go away for a long weekend.

My plan was to head out towards Manly Beach today to go for another swim and spend some time on the sand. However I wanted to visit North Head which is next to Manly before hitting the beach.

When I got to North Head I was very distracted by the magnificent views so decided to stay there for my packed lunch and spend the afternoon there and save Manly for another weekend.

The cycle to North Head takes about an hour or so from my place. It took me about two hours thanks to getting lost quite a bit and also detours to here and there.

The first photo here is of North Head looking south towards the Central Business District of Sydney. You can just about see the entire Sydney Harbor from here and it's an amazing view.

To the left of the photo is the opening of the harbor and essentially the Pacific ocean. To the right of the photo are the north Sydney suburbs.

I got someone else to take the next photo for that tourist shot and also just to prove that I really am here and seeing these amazing views. Just to the right of my head is the very north end of Watsons Bay which I went to a few weeks ago.

There were plenty of sailing boats in the harbor and also this great traditional sailing boat. Unfortunately its sails were all folded up, I wonder where it had been to.

With views like this I can well understand why people would want to live out here on a permanent basis. There have been very few dull days since I've been here. Like any big city in the world Sydney has its fair share of dodgy and rundown areas but it also has many places with magnificent views like this.

There were very few people around North Head which I really liked, unlike Manly which was quite busy when I cycled through it to get here.

This next shot is of an old lookout post that was still standing here. It was used during the second world war to look out for enemy Japanese ships and submarines that might have been tempted to try to invade Sydney.

I could just imagine people in this lookout post with equipment to watch for the enemy during war time. I suspect they would have been bored with the scenery in no time though unlike me!

Apparently here was an incident of a Japanese midget submarine that managed to get into the harbor and the people manning this observation post totally missed it as it crept into the harbor. I'm not sure of the facts here so don't quote me. I'll have to look them up later and find out about it.

The final shot here is of the eastern coastline looking north towards Blue Fish Pt. There were some great rock colours on the cliff edge. Even out here looking east towards nothing but the Pacific Ocean it wasn't that windy at all. It must have been a very calm day today.

After finishing my tour of North Head I cycled back down to Manly and then decided to catch the ferry back to Circular Quay which is only a five minute bike ride to my home. I just didn't have the heart to cycle all the way back again. It was quite hilly on the way here and I did cycle down quite a few hills as well.

I like the fact that it doesn't cost any more money to take a bike onto the ferry and it was very pleasant to be able to take a ferry back after such a great day out and about.

It's winter and horrible here!

Allen, Joe, Jennifer and I went out to the Orbit bar on Saturday night. It's a slowly revolving restaurant and bar just next door to where I live. I didn't even know that it existed till Allen mentioned it. It was very trendy and quite smart too, and anyone who visits me now will almost certainly be taken up there.

The bar is on the top floor, the 47th and has some fantastic views of the city. Unfortunately I only had my camera phone for pictures and as it was dark the photos come out very poorly. Well you can just about make out the harbour bridge in the middle of the photo. It really was a spectacular view of Sydney's landmarks. I guess if it wasn't for the two buildings blocking my view of the harbour bridge I would have this view from my apartment as well.

As its winter here the weather isn't so pleasant. It's only been clear skies and sunny all weekend with temperatures around 20 degrees. It's so horrible with clear blue blissful skies and very pleasant temperatures. Well very pleasant for someone from the UK anyhow.

I went cycling out to Bondi beach today and met up with Allen for a swim there. Like my cycling a month ago, I hadn't been swimming since I was a teenager. I forgot to bring my main camera again so you're stuck with poor quality mobile phone pictures, at least there was plenty of light.

The water was quite cold initially but after swimming in it, it felt quite warm. Well relatively warm anyhow. This is a view looking north up the beach. As you can see it wasn't very busy, well it is mid winter here. :-)

This picture shows some surfers in the sea. They're the black dots all in their wet suits, after only being in the sea for about half and hour or so I can well understand why they wear wet suits. It was quite refreshing to go for a swim, but I could have chosen a better beach to start out on instead of Bondi.

Bondi is known for its great breaks and hence great surfing, and even though today was a calm day it still felt more than a little rough in the sea. I swallowed more than my fair share of seawater at times when I was submerged by the breaking waves.

The final picture is of the south side of the beach. It really is a very beautiful beach but I suspect coming here later on in the year will mean that it will be much busier.

My cycle back was quite tiring at times, especially after a short swim too. I didn't think I was going to make it up the steep hill from the beach but I did make it in the end, and without stopping too which put a big smile on my face. Well something had to counteract my aching legs! Allen took the bus back home and I even managed to beat him home. Mind you he did say that the bus stopped at every stop that it could.

Now to figure out how to get sand out of every item of clothing and orifice on my person! Lucky I didn't bring any cucumber sandwiches.

Shark Bay!

More cycling this Sunday. Saturday's weather wasn't too great so I only popped out for a short run around town. I did get an extra long session down at the gym to make up for it. Went out for dinner at Deirdre's and Allen's place on Saturday night. Allen turns out to be quite a cook and Deirdre can make me desert any time! Don't tell Quentin that I had some clotted cream on my treacle tart though.

I set of at midday for my cycle run this Sunday, so I would get a full five hours of cycling and not have to worry too much about getting back before it gets too dark.

This first shot is of the Marathon steps which I went up last week and fortunately only came down today. You can guess which direction is more fun!

I managed to get to the seaplane base quite quickly today as I didn't make too many detours on my way there. Here's a photo of the place which was considerably less than impressive really. Even worse was that there weren't any planes around when I was there so I didn't get to see any taking off or landing. Maybe next time.

From Rose bay where the seaplane base was I went further east/north along the Sydney harbour front. My next stop was at Shark bay which again sounds quite exciting but turned out not to have any sharks and was only a small beach with a couple of snack shops. I stopped for some lunch to see if any of the small screaming kids would entertain me by being eaten by sharks but unfortunately not.

There is a main road along from the bay which is titled "Heartbreak Hill" in my cycling book. I guessed that this wasn't a good sign for my already tired legs from yesterday.

The cycling book wasn't kidding when it labelled the road Heartbreak Hill. It's a long winding road up quite a steep hill. I thought I was doing quite well making my way up the hill and thought I was near the top. I turned a bend thinking I must be near the top for it to flatten out, only to realise that the road then got even steeper and higher! At this point my legs gave in and I had to start to walk the rest of the way.

As it turns out I was probably around two thirds of the way up the hill. The view from the top was fantastic though and well worth all my efforts.

Near the top of the hill is what appears to be this very exclusive school. They must have some fantastic views out of their windows over the harbour!

I can only think that some of the richest kids get to go to this school. Either that or only the fittest as some of the must have to cycle up the hill to get to school.

Then again there were some quite exclusive houses around some of the streets that I cycled down up there. Some of them had magnificent designs and must have cost a fortune for their location and views. Other than their size or design the flash cars on the roads helped contribute to the exclusive neighbourhood. I saw a bright yellow Lamborghini Murcielago and also a very large new Bentley Continental GT. These were the cars on the road too! God knows what would have been in their garages!

I eventually got as far as this suspension bridge over Parsley Bay. It really does come out of nowhere as the bay is quite small and the bridge and bay is totally surrounded by large houses.

The bridge is quite small and rocks quite a lot if you jump up and down on it in the middle. Who me? :-)

Just past the bridge is Watsons Bay which I didn't get to today. I don't mind too much as I had already been there on my first week here with Roger and Andrew by ferry.

When I finally got back it was near five pm again and just starting to get dark. I managed almost five hours of cycling of which I was probably actually cycling for three of them. Needless to say my legs feel a little tired now and my coccyx is a little sore.

I decided to treat myself to a Japanese take out meal and some red wine to put on all the calories that I worked off today. Teriyaki fish with rice, miso soup and red wine, nothing better in my books for an evening meal after such a fun day out cycling.

Before I go, something quite funny happened to me when I was at some traffic lights today. As I was approaching the lights I saw a dark blue BMW coming from the road on the left. He was going quite fast and didn't even think to stop or slow down when turning left out of the junction, causing me to slow down for him even though I had right of way on the main road. Anyhow, at the lights I caught up with him and when I looked over at him he was always looking right to avoid looking at me. When the lights turned green I started to pull away and heard him stall his car. I couldn't have laughed any more. Needless to say after restarting his car he really put his foot down and revved his engine loudly past me. Tee hee.

Nothing to see, just more cycling around Sydders.

It was raining quite a lot on Saturday so I figured I wouldn't get much of a chance to go cycling in the afternoon. An extra work out in the gym would just have to do for my exercise fix today. I certainly managed it by spending two and a half hours there. Working out that is, rather than hanging around like a bad smell.

I did get a chance to get out and about on my bike on Sunday afternoon though. There were a couple of scary clouds in the sky but nothing that looked like it was going to rain for too long. I still managed to get my gym work out in the morning just in case I couldn't get out in the afternoon as well.

The photo above is from Rushcutters Bay, it's the same place where we went for our charity boat race earlier on in the year. You can obviously see the Sydney Tower in the centre of the shot which marks the centre point of the Sydney shopping area.

It's great to think that just a few hundred yards from the busy streets of the town centre is a yachting harbour. In fact there are many many yachting harbours around the Sydney harbour as you can imagine.

I managed to make it out to Double Bay today which is the next bay further east along from Rushcutters Bay. I really wanted to go further along the harbour to the Seaplane base, but it was getting late by the time I got to Double bay. I'd managed to get lost so many times today which didn't help. I did buy a book on some bike rides around Sydney but it's difficult to follow when you're cycling around and you have to continually refer to the book for directions. I'd much rather just head one direction and see where the road takes me. This does however mean getting lost quite often but it's also much more interesting. I guess I have time here to explore more and more as time passes.

The second photo is from Mrs Macquaries Point and looking over Farm Cove to the Sydney business centre. I watched the sun slowly set from here as it's only a few minutes ride from my apartment. The picture makes me realise how much of a lovely city Sydney really is.

Bondi beach, at last, well almost.

I went out cycling again on Sunday afternoon. This time I decided to head east towards Bondi Beach. After a quick cycle through the centre of the Sydney business district I was on the main road towards Bondi. I did notice that my legs did ache quite a bit from all the cycling yesterday, especially when going up hills.

I didn't quite make it to Bondi beach. I saw the beach from the top of a hill but really didn't want to have to cycle back up the hill today so decided to save it for another day. On my way back from the beach I did come across a lovely small monument to Australians that had died in WWII, the Korean wars and Vietnam. It was in a small park just off the main road and I stopped to take a rest. I guess the Aussies just can't stay out of a brawl wherever it's going on in the world.

On my way back there was quite a bit of traffic on the main roads. I had quite a lot of fun cycling through the stationary traffic. It was quite exciting passing cars and having to look out for cars pulling out from the left and right. At one point I was in the middle lane of three lanes of traffic because the right two lanes turned right. A big 4x4 passed me by on my left and clipped me on my shoulder with his drivers side wing mirror!

I couldn't believe it, he must have seen me and known he had clipped me but he didn't stop at all. I was quite shocked at being hit and more annoyed than anything else as no damage had been done. I suppose it could have been much worse and I was lucky to get away with just being clipped.

From Howling Bells to Love Generation.

We went to see the Howling Bells at the Annandale hotel on Thursday night. I've never heard of them either. Deirdre and Allen asked if I wanted to go after they had seen them on Rage, the late night TV music program. A friend of Deirdre's Sandra came along too, to make a happy foursome.

The band turned out to be quite good, the lead singer and her music was very similar to Belly, a band of the nineties which I remember.

There was a pinball machine at the pub so Allen couldn't resist another challenge. I just had to put him in his place again ( :-) ). He had a big lead of twenty odd million, with one ball each to go. I fortunately managed to get a good score with my last ball and had taken a five million lead, and Allen cracked and couldn't make up the difference. Tee Hee, boys and their competitiveness as Deirdre said.

I went out cycling again this Saturday. To be honest I couldn't wait to get out again, especially as the weather was fantastic. Even though it's winter here the temperature is quite pleasant and most days are clear skies with plenty of sunshine. After my usual two hour session at the gym I grabbed some lunch and went out on my bike. This time with my better camera too.

Here is a much better shot of the Harbour Bridge as I rode along it. I'm constantly amazed by its construction and size. It's only spoilt by the barb wire along the bridge to deter would be jumpers. Not of the pullover Christmas variety, though they should be banned and strung up on barb wire too.

After going along the bridge I just decided to just explore around north Sydney a bit and try to reach the various bays and beaches. I still had to take it easy initially on my bike as my first few yards were a bit wobbly again!

Here's my view after a few miles along the suburbs of north Sydney. I cycled passed some really amazing unique houses around the place. I could quite easily imagine myself living in some of them. They all looked very different with some great design touches. I guess they were also all very expensive as well. Probably much more than my Sydney pad too, and that is currently being sold for $800,000.

You can just make out the top of the Opera house in the centre of the shot too.

After a few more miles I ended up at Mosman bay. This is the view from the top looking east over the bay. There was a small winding path down to the bay but it wasn't very bike friendly so I didn't go down to explore.

The wooded area in the centre of the picture is just the other side of Taronga zoo. For a few pixels you can just about make out the cable car at the top of the wooded area. The cable car takes you up to the top of the zoo from where you can walk down to the harbour while seeing the animals.

Finally this is as far north as I managed to get today at Hunters Bay. I would have made it much further north had I not got lost so many times. I did plenty of loops around the suburbs after cycling down dead ends and ending up on main roads which I wanted to avoid.

The picture on the right is actually at the top of a very steep hill looking down to the bay. I only managed to cycle half way up the hill before my legs felt too tired. I think going to the gym for two hours and then cycling for three hours in the afternoon is my limit right now. I did feel the onset of cramp a couple of times on my thighs which I never normally get, so I must be pushing myself a little harder.

The sea in the distance in the picture is of the Pacific Ocean! There's a small white sand beach at the bottom of the hill too, but this was a little to crowded for my liking. I remember cycling all the way down the hill and thinking that I would regret going down as I would only have to cycle back up. But the lure of the ocean was just too much and I had to get down there to see the beach and sea.

I had some fun coming back too. I had about and hour before sunset so decided to start heading back. I tried to take the main highway back which was very busy on a Saturday late afternoon. I had lots of fun cycling past all the slower moving cars and there were obviously one or two of them which had problems with me cycling past as they wouldn't slow down for me at all. At one point one of the cars just overtook me to get a few yards ahead of me in the traffic queue and then closed the gap right in front of me so I couldn't get past! Just don't ask about the extra wide 4x4's than I couldn't get past either!

Once the weather started to get slightly darker I was getting concerned as I couldn't find my way back to the entrance of the Harbour Bridge. I saw more fantastic houses and also smelt some amazing curry smells too which wasn't helping my predicament! However I didn't have any lights on my bike and was obviously quite lost on the wrong side of the harbour. I asked someone for some directions and fortunately he gave me some excellent directions to the bridge and I got back just as it was getting dark. Phew!

In case you're wondering the "Love Generation" in the title refers to a song that's playing in my local gym. Its called Love Generation by Bob Sinclar. The video features a small boy who starts out cycling from his house and ends up going past various American landmarks before ending up near the Golden Gate bridge to eat his sandwiches. I think of myself as that boy right now, just exploring Sydney on my bike instead, and not so young either!

If you want to know what I might look like after three hours of wearing a bike helmet on my head then look at the next picture! :-)

It's true what they say about riding a bike!

I decided that I really wanted to get further out of Sydney centre seeing as I've explored most of the centre. Rather than relying on my own feet and public transport to get around I figured that it would be a good idea to get a bike to get around.

I chose the bike on Saturday and the very helpful guy at the bike shop said he would prep my bike and have it ready for me on Sunday. I felt like a young kid again after ordering the bike, as if it was Christmas, I was so excited.

I picked it up today after my normal gym session. I was quite anxious when picking it up to be honest. Remember that I've not ridden a bike since I learnt to drive and that was when I was 18! So it's been almost 18 years since I've ridden a bike.

The guys at the shop asked if I wanted to ride the bike home. Images of them all watching me ride off into the nearest lamp post or car convinced me that I should say no and walked off with the bike, helmet and bike lock. Once I got home I decided that today was as good a day as any to try for a ride so I put on the hair flattening helmet and took the bike onto the streets of Sydders.

Well more truthfully my first few goes were four laps around my apartment on the pavement. I was very very shaky at first and it took quite a lot of concentration to get going again. After a few hundred yards it was all starting to come back to me and I felt confident enough to tackle the roads.

By this time I was picking up courage and started to cycle down to The Rocks near my apartment. Then I went further a field around the harbour and then across the Harbour Bridge. Cycling along the Harbour Bridge was really good fun and I really enjoyed the freedom of cycling again.

It made such a change to be able to slow down to a reasonable speed to be able to take in the scenery around me. I found the effort involved in cycling very easy as I cycle and row quite a lot in the gym anyhow. The only thing that was really tricky was trying to take in the street signs while looking out for cars at the same time.

Still after a while it did get much easier. I must admit to not giving any hand signals when riding about though as cycling one handed is still a little shaky on my bike. I'm sure that this will improve with time though.

It also felt very strange to be on the road and not in the safety of a car too. Not having that protective metal around me did make me feel vulnerable to the other cars on the road. When overtaking parked cars you're always aware of cars moving to overtake you and also cycling though junctions I was always thinking that a car might just drive though me!

Still I made it around Sydney for ninety minutes without an accident today so can't wait for next weekend when I can cycle and explore some more around Sydders.

What a Beautiful City.

I've been having problems sleeping since coming back from my travels, what with jet lag and lots of things on my mind recently.

I only managed a few hours sleep last night so was a bit dozy at work today and in danger of seriously nodding off this afternoon. I didn't want to go straight back to my apartment after work today so decided to go for a stroll around the Opera House. I hadn't been there since my first day in Sydney so thought it deserved another visit.

It was a beautiful building to see again and more so when the sun was just setting in the crisp winter air. I just had to take this photo with my camera phone of the Harbour Bridge while the sun was setting. It was a real shame that I didn't have my proper camera with me as the quality of the camera phone pictures leaves a lot to be desired.

Summer Holiday in England Pt 2.

My final couple of days in the UK were spent at my sister's place.

The two little terrors you can see on the right are my two nieces, Elise and Aimee. Don't be fooled by their cute smiles, they are little devils underneath and know how to use their cuteness to get whatever they want from poor unsuspecting uncles.

I was roped into helping set up their school fete. I sometimes wonder what has happened to my Friday evenings as setting up a school fete wasn't quite what I had planned.

There was cheap beer at the fete, no doubt to help some of the parents get though the occasion!

Here's a picture of my sister Helen and brother in-law Aran trying to peddle their wares to some unsuspecting children.

I was surprised at how much profit they did make in selling raffle tickets to children at 50p a go with a very generous 50% chance of winning. They could have made even more money if they lowered the odds of winning, but I suspect that wasn't the point of the stall really. :-)


On my flight into Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon I managed to get some great shots of the city as we flew in. I'd never really noticed the great scenery on previous trips to Hong Kong, probably because I don't normally visit in the summer anymore and it's normally dark when landing because of this.

The weather there was quite unbearable though. Even though the heat was only 32 degrees, the humidity made it feel like we were living in an oven. I'm amazed that anyone would choose to live there really. As soon as you step outside you immediately get the feeling of heat and humidity and want to get back indoors for another shower!

I was quite happy to see my folks again, and my dad is generally doing fine now without anymore complications.

After only 24 hours in Hong Kong I'm back here in Sydders and updating this web blog. I had a really good time away from here and it was one of those holidays that I really didn't want to end which is always a good sign.

Oh well, back to planning snowboarding trips this winter here, and also more holidays in this land down under, oh and doing some work for Sydney Water too. :-)

Summer Holiday in England Pt 1.

After a 'good' flight back to the UK I had one week of work which wasn't too bad. It was really good to see everyone back at the office and I'm sure that they were all happy to see me too, I think! :-)

My car wasn't as happy in the garage though. It started fine but when I drove it down the drive and back it was making a loud clunking noise from the rear. I suspect it was the rear disc brakes not working properly but it was difficult to tell. A good trip down to the Honda monkeys is in order when I get back next year.

Finally got to start my holiday on Friday afternoon after a half day at work. I went straight up to Manchester to see my mate Dave and his family. All was well with him and after meeting up with Andrea on Saturday we all went to the Manchester War Museum! Where else would you rather be on a Saturday afternoon? The building for the museum is fantastic and this is one unusual shot of one side of it. I heartily recommend a trip there to anyone who has some free time in Manchester.
On Sunday we went to Preston to see two other of my friends Steve and Jeff. Jeff actually lives there while Steve was just visiting during the same weekend from London. We had a good couple of beers in Preston centre and then crashed out in Jeff's excessive mansion!

On Sunday afternoon we all went to see Flight 93 the film about the doomed flight on 9/11. It was a very good film if quite intense as well. I couldn't recommend it as a good film to go and see for a good time, but can recommend it as a film that should be seen.

From Sunday to Thursday I finally had some time to relax properly with some time in the Lake District. I had a really good time there and took some great photos of the place. If you ever want to get away from city/suburban life then get out there as it's quite easy to get away from anyone and anything there.
Even though it rained on most days while we were there we still had a good time relaxing.

The last three pictures here are ones that I took from the area. The first two are on the only day where it was quite sunny for the first half of the day, while the rainbow in the third picture shows how changeable the weather was as it was sunny one minute and then poured down for the next few hours!

There were a couple of Tornado fighter/bombers flying around and though the hills of the Lakes when we were on one walk too. They made an amazing sound passing past us at almost eye level! Unfortunately I wasn't quite quick enough with the camera to take a shot of them flying by.

We're going on a summer holiday, to England!

I have two weeks away from Sydney now, one week to work back in Wallingford and one week of holiday. I'm quite excited about coming back and especially looking forward to catching up with some friends back there. The better British weather will also make a nice change as it's been quite cool in Sydders and raining lots, more is expected next week.

Well I'm all packed now and ready to set off to the airport and just thought to catch up on the web blog before going. You can see my rather full ruck sack on the right with a kangaroo that I've managed to catch and stuff into my bag. You can just about make out it's black eye. I swear that it's over half full with presents for other people rather than my clothes. It has made me realise that I will have lots of stuff to bring back in another seven months time or so.

I'm not looking forward to my 22 hour flight and then two hour drive in the hire car back to Bristol. If I can survive that and the first few days of driving to work with all the jet lag then I'll be ok. Hmm, maybe I should take my snowboard to work every day so I could die happy knowing that it was near me. :-)

Robocop and ping pong in a cold sports bar.

Poor Allen has a stress fracture in his foot, caused by too much walking while on holiday around Uluru. What really didn't help was the flying doctor whom he saw in Uluru said it was probably just gout and he should be able to walk on the foot fine. So after many miles of walking he felt much worse and his food really swelled up. After having various xrays and other scans on his foot in the Sydney hospital he was diagnosed with a stress fracture. The extra walking that he did around Uluru was probably the worse thing he could have done for his poor foot!

Unfortunately that means he has to wear this ski boot like cast on his foot when walking around. He does sound a bit like Robocop walking around the place! You can hear him coming from around the corner at work. :-)

A couple of weekends ago we went out for some great seafood in Balmain, near to where Deirdre and Allen live. The restaurant was only a small one but the seafood platter that we had was fantastic. It was a little expensive for Balmain at $40 a head but that's only around £18 each and for the amount and variety of seafood that we had it was great value.

Last night we went to a sports bar around the corner from where I live here in Sydney. It was one of those really small doorways off the main street that goes straight downstairs to a good sized sports bar underground.

It was a proper sports bar too, as well as a few pool tables, pinball machines and big screen TV's there was also a table tennis table too! It would have been fun to try playing the game after a few beers, but unfortunately it was karaoke night last night so we didn't get a chance.

Allen and I had to play a couple of games of pinball after I had earlier challenged him to some games, we both played quite often during our times at Uni. so both fancied our chances against each other. Fortunately I was the luckier one this evening and won both games.

Despite the heavy rain outside and cooler weather the bar still had their air conditioning on. So much so that Deirdre felt very cold, she had to put on Joe's coat as well as her own layers underneath. Here she is moving some beers as we tried to relocate to a table that wasn't in direct line of an air conditioning vent.

I have a top tip for everyone out there, don't go for a gym work out when you have a hang over. It may sound obvious but I tried it this morning and it's not the best feeling in the world to have done a two hour workout, feel drained of energy, aching muscles AND have a stonking headache. To be honest while I was working out I generally felt fine and quite enjoyed it, but when I stopped between machines and caught my breath I really felt terrible.

I went shopping around china town this afternoon. I had wandered around the place before when I first got here, but only around the main streets. Today I went more off the beaten track and explored some of the inner side streets. I was very impressed with what I found. I didn't think there were many supermarkets there but I found plenty of them today, and lots of smaller cafe style restaurants where you can get really good food at a cheap price. Mmm, can you say roast duck and rice!

Winter is finally here!

I've not updated for a couple of weeks, mainly because to be honest nothing much has been happening recently. Mostly just work time, home time and weekend time. I guess I'm getting quite settled down in Sydney now. I shouldn't get too used to it, as if I were to settle down here I wouldn't be living where I am now.

This is a picture of the ground floor of my apartment. I've already mentioned that it's a converted church and listed building so they have to keep some original features. God knows how they managed to get away with adding the monstrosity of flats above the church though. The flats don't fit in with the rest of the church at all, but at the same time it does make a unique building and I always like unique.

The church is still functioning as I often see people in the other half of the ground floor of the building attending some service at the church. How very ironic of me of all people to end up living above a church. People who really know me will realise how very religious I am and how much I love religion. I wonder if the church has a crypt and where people were buried below the church. Oh well there's a multi story car park below the building now so they probably sit happily side by side with flash parked cars. Do you remember the film Poltergeist, one of my favourites? :-)

They've recently removed the covers of the lifts and here you can see some of the beautiful original doors that were in the church. The wood finish in the lifts is really fine and always makes me want to touch the walls whenever I'm in the lift on my own.

Jason and John from the UK office recently visited us here for a week of meetings with Sydney Water. We had a really good time going out for some great food and beers. It's not many places where you can go out for Japanese noodles for lunch and then Bavarian beer and food in the evening and all for quite a cheap price too.

I'm sure both of them will go back to Wallingford and report at how tough life is out here and how much hardship we have suffered in putting our lives on hold for a year to come here to work. :-)

Winter has finally arrived in Sydney as it's relatively cold during the day and night here. It almost reaches below 10 degrees C in the morning and ranges up to 18 during the day. Quite cold for Sydneysiders. Some of the locals are wrapped up in gear that I would go snowboarding in, while I just have a shirt and light jacket on.

I was quite chuffed the other day as when I was walking home from work a tourist here asked me for directions to an art gallery. Fortunately I knew where the place was and could give her directions, does this mean I'm a qualified Sydneysider now? I'd like to think so, but probably not as I doubt I'd ever get used to the heat for the rest of the year.

Fu%&wits First should be all sorted now, I've probably said this before though. After speaking to a customer care manager in the Sydney branch they sympathised with my problems and said they would email the Bristol branch to cancel my membership and as a gesture of goodwill they would allow me to have six weeks free membership at the Sydney gym. They recommended that I also send a letter to the Bristol branch to complain, get my money back and cancel my membership too just in case.

I also spoke to someone who was dealing with my case at the Bristol gym and they assured me that my membership had been cancelled there and they have requested a refund for my last month's membership. I'll just have to wait and see if this is true. I doubt I'll be joining them again when I get back to the UK next year. So after only four months I've finally managed to relocate fully to Sydney, I hope it's not as traumatic when going back!

The Art Gallery of NSW and you really can't leave a gym once you've joined!

I went to the Art Gallery of NSW on Sunday afternoon. It's an absolutely fantastic building in the middle of The Domain which is one of the many parks in Sydney.

There is a good collection of Australian artists work on show as well as a good sized far eastern set of works. I particularly liked a set of Japanese paintings that they had on show which was meant to be part of a collection of works showing views of Japan.

There is also a small waxwork of this old woman on show. She wasn't to scale just a shrunken version of what an old woman might look like. She was very realistic though and you could almost believe that she was sleeping in the middle of the gallery.

She did remind me of some works that I once saw in a London gallery. The works were almost identical and were probably by the same artist.

I was also quite pleased because I managed to recognise a Barbara Hepworth piece of work before looking at the label. It's helped by the fact that her work is quite unique and I was only at St Ives last September.

This is a view of the main restaurant of the gallery. It doesn't really show the amount of space and view properly but you get the idea. I'm going to have to have a meal here someday.

Start of a rant and rave now so watch out! I'm still having to pay membership at the Fitness First in Bristol. Despite the branch in Sydney saying that they have transferred my membership details and the Bristol branch saying that they are all ready for my details to be transferred. As a result I'm now paying for membership at both branches. Bloody big grrr! I called them today and they first tried to fob me off by telling me that the Bristol payment was a last one for leaving that branch, but I wouldn't have any of it and complained some more. In the end they just said they would look into it some more and call me back.

It really is true that once you join a gym you really can't leave! I would cancel payments but it's not a direct debit or anything, they just have my bank card details and take money out once a month.

On the plus side, the XE Trade web site has turned out to be a fantastic way to move money from my UK account to my Australian one and it's very cheap to do at only £6 for each transfer. Forget Barclays, I'm going to leave them as soon as I get back to the UK permanently next year.