Vehicles & Animals

With Mitzi & Trish leaving the Beach street domicile the following week, the girls had extra motivation to make the most of their last full weekend in Sydney. Mitzi suggested going horse riding and since trying things I’d not ever done before was well at the top my list, I begrudgingly came along. “Begrudgingly” since this particular morning was cold and raining and I have no waterproof clothing. Nevertheless, we (minus Trish but add friends Tom and Rob) got our selves down to Centennial Park and tacked up ready to meet our new best friends.

On meeting Buster; described as a Chestnut with a White face, there was an immediate bond. I knew he was a horse and I was about to pay $60 to have a ride on his back, and he could obviously tell I wasn’t gonna flatten him with my weight – a fair compromise I think. I was informed that Buster “forgets he has 4 feet and occasionally trips over”. I’ve never seen a horse “trip” but I was hoping it wouldn’t look anything like those first few dramatic fallers at the Grand National.

We were led out of the stables and onto the Centennial Park Bridal track; the inner-most lane to the cycle route I took a few weekends back. After a brief induction on how to drive a horse, I was ready to yee-haw my way around on Buster… okay, more like trot through the mud hoping I wasn’t gonna fall off – or come off with my inner thighs in agony. After a few stumbles, I was confident Buster would get me all the way home without me coming off in a muddy puddle – even after he stepped the pace up to a canter a few times; quite possibly threatening the original colour of my under-krackers, I think his accelerator cable must be faulty.

As luck would have it, the rain eased up… 20minutes after we’d finished and got on the bus.

After an afternoon drying off, warming up watching DVDs and munching on oven fries and home made chicken baguettes, we ventured back out in the dark of night to check out the notorious Kings Cross district of Sydney. Kings Cross is home to a wealth of clubs and gerenal seedy nightspots where some of the worlds odd balls go out to play. We checked out a couple of bars, including one that served us Long Island Ice Teas in an actual tea-pot before everyone was ready to move on to some awesomely classy night club. We fell into a place called The Empire, which was suitably trashy playing all the cheesy tunes you could ask for. After fulfilling our fix of the 'notorious' Kings Cross, it was time to do battle with the drunkards challenging for the odd rare cab appearing from around the corner.

After the late night, half of Sunday was already lost when we all started to stir. Trish having not been in the waters off Sydney, decided she’d like to go for a dip. The sun was shining and it was looking like a fine (winters) day to go swimming. And none of us needed any convincing… None.

After a quick dip that saw us get flipped upside down by a monumentally large wave we headed off to Five-O’s; the home of the $5 steak & mash. These cheap meals had become the Sunday tradition and this was to be our sad farewell with all four of us Mosely Place tennants plus Tom munching away at our Medium Rares, (and Calamari in “veggie-Flees” case).

Hit me baby one more time

During the week, as well as suffering some ill effects of, well, being ill, I watched the 2 World cup Semi final 2nd halves (at 6am) and was looking forward to the Italy V France finale on Monday morning. Sadly it was to be shown at possibly the worst hour of all. 4am.

In the mean time Mitzi and myself boarded a bus from Central station on Friday night, destination: Lake Jindabyne. It was April 05 that I last strapped on a snowboard and I could barely wait to get going after such a long layoff. This would also be the first time in a very long time I’d have to suffer hire gear. Luckily I got some reasonable stuff which aside from the board & bindings, was all brand new with no sweaty remains of anyone else left over.

The journey was around 6hours but was nice and easy with movies all the way. After a sleep and some fried brekkie, the bus was headed to Thredbo. As we rose up in altitude, it took quite a while till the first snow sighting, though on arrival at the resort, the main runs seemed well covered. Indeed my first few were really enjoyable until I ventured away from the Gunbarrel lift and found quite a few muddy, gravely and icy patches. Luckily today was the first day of the season that the highly elevated Basin section was open. I was able to get some first tracks on some crusty untouched snow.

My first day back on snow in 15months was a little trying at times, my usual ability seemed lost, though I still managed a few small kickers and a few slides along a funbox. With blue skies and warm sunshine I was able to ride at times, with just my T-shirt on. Sick.

Most Ozzies had warned me not to expect much of their snow resorts compared with European and American destinations, which I think was good as my expectations were originally low. My opinion was higher at the end of the day, I’ve ridden smaller resorts in California and if Thredbo had a decent snowfall on it, there would be some really great runs. It was completely surreal sat on a chairlift with a snowboard strapped on after spending the days previous in an office in Sydney city. Also quite strange, was the lack of regular Alpine landmarks; gum trees replacing the pine trees and rocks & bush in place of the usual rugged grey rocks of the Alps.

As the sun set, the après began. Back in the Snowy Valley resort we were treated to a live band – fine in my book doing a fine cover of the Verves Lucky Man. After seeing a dog getting served at the bar, I decided that I must’ve drank too much so hit the hay.

The following Sunday morning, we were dropped off at the Ski-Tube station for Perisher Blue. Within a short while, the train had taken us through the mountain and into the Perisher resort; Australias largest ski resort. The guide had suggested the cover wasn't as good at Perisher, which was contrary to 3 other peoples opinion so we weren't too sure what to expect. But a great snow cover was ready and waiting; not just the runs but the surrounding scenery too. The sky was blue, but the temperature much colder.

We spent the morning on the Perisher Blue mountain where there are some wide open runs great for finding your snow feet and also some narrower paths through the trees and along tight banking turns. I was already enjoying Perisher more than Thredbo (although my riding was markedly improved over the previous days which would have had lots to do with that).

Another trip on the Ski-Tube and we arrived at Blue-Cow, one of the other mountains at Perisher Blue. Here there was not so much choice in runs, however there was a really good challenging steep run (that didn't have death-ice all over it) that I had a few goes on.

After a Roast lunch, I spent the afternoon gunning it down the runs at Blue Cow and was more than a little sad when we had to jump on the train back to the car park.

As we headed back to Sydney, I was left to think about the Oz resorts in general. Although not as big as most in the world, there is definitely a great experience to be had there, especially after some new snowfall - and later in the season when the terrain parks are fully built.

A little physically exhausted, I managed to get up for most of the world cup final, and after an entertaining enough game; I can admit as far as the early mornings go - I'm glad it's over. Congrats to Italy.

Way to Fall

The end of the Australian financial year meant party time at work. So as 5.30pm rolled around, our modern staff room was filled with helium balloons, a frozen cocktail machine wheeled in, finger snacks covered the worktops, beer and wine populated the two refrigerators, music and videos played from the plasma screens. Everyone rolled in and hours later, filtered out. After using the last of my energy up at a club, I cabbed it home and watched as much of the Germany Vs Argentina match as my tired eyes could manage.

It was then the day of the England Quarter final against Portugal. Australia time meant a whole day to kill before this so I opted for a visit to the NSW art Gallery, Sydneys Chinese Gardens and dinner at restaurant I’d had my eye on – “Rib Specialists”. They were indeed great ribs!

The Chinese Gardens were as ornate as you could imagine, and bared a very striking resemblance to the ones I’d already seen in my time in South East Asia. Hard to believe that you’re actually smack in the middle of a busy metropolitan city.

Trying my best to culture my Essex-self, the art gallery was next on the hit list of things to do. The old stuff is admittedly wasted on me although I still managed to find some humour in the old oils. In the gallery’s sub terraenean levels, there was a lot photography and modern art that was far more fascinating to my eyes before the lights were killed and we were ejected at closing time.

I caught some early evening Z's before heading to the pub for the England game. The game wasn't anywhere near as well supported as the opener against Paraguay but the atmosphere was still pretty lively. It wasn't to be Englands year yet again. Beckham leaving injured (almost a blessing in disguise had we have got to play another world cup match) and then Rooney getting sent off, brought out the best football I'd seen from England so far - but still no ability to finish the 2nd rate team off. As Chris Ronaldo blasted in the decisive pen, bitter Aussies let out there laughter just to make the defeat even worse. Though I'd given Sven my support up until this world cup, I had grown tired of him this time around. Roll on Steve Maclaren. Ah well, there's always next time in Austri-tzerland '08.

Half way through Sunday I emerged from bed with a sad, sad hangover - made infinitely better by the news of Brazil also having an "off day" at the office. I went for a bike ride around the Centennial Parklands to burn some of the belly I'd gained over the previous 2 evenings. stopping by to watch the world go round; or at least some geese, horses and roller bladers.

I had to get a picture in here relating to the new Superman Movie which I saw last week. Most of the street scenes were filmed in Sydney, and you may notice a fountain that Superman lands in front of holding a car. It's a minute or two from my work, and here's Luke thinking he can fly after a couple of beers...

Waltzing Matilda

Unfresh from missing Englands red-eye encounter with Ecquador, I decided to get up at 00.20 and wander down to the Coogee Beach Hotel to see the Aussies take on Italy. I wanted to experience the Yellow and Green armies support at least once and this would, if the bookmakers had their way, be the final chance to.

They nearly provided an upset too, until deep into stoppage time, they gave away a penalty and lost it with the final kick of the game. I left a very packed but very silent pub and returned home for the better part of 4hours sleep.

Young for Eternity

With work week no.3 behind me, the weekend was kicked off in the newly opened Custom House Bar. After working in several “Custom Houses”, I can confirm this one to have been my favourite! Live band, patio drinks and plenty of banter fresh from Australia’s victory in the World Cup over Croatia allowing them the path to the second round. When I finally left the pub, I met with my friends for another Karaoke session. Frank Butcher stayed at home this time, however I did sing about living in a Country House and provide backup shouting to a Lost Prophets number.

Having decided to boycott doing the Harbour bridge climb, we set out to simply take the footpath across and check out the views. With a sunny day they were great, and I’ve found myself falling for Sydney in a big way. The more I pound the pavement, the more I seem to find. Quaint craft markets, quiet historic streets with lively pubs and top quality restaurants everywhere you go. This time we went for Italian in the Rocks, in the restaurant district clustered around one end of the harbour bridge. The area is one of the coolest and most picturesque in Sydney so it would seem with at least 3 weddings out and about looking for rustic backdrops for which to be photographed against.

With some friends having a house party to celebrate a birthday, the evening time again saw plenty of food, drinks and fun and looked like setting the pace for slow Sunday. However we managed to get ourselves together and make our way out of the city to Macquarie Ice Rink for some skating. After a very shaky start, I finally managed to get it and was cruising along with all the finesse of Peter Crouch attempting an inverted scissor kick at the world cup finals.

With the England match firmly on my mind, I set my alarm for 12.55 and went to sleep. I awoke by chance at 5am, realising the match (a 1-0 Beckham free-kick) had finished hours ago and that I should’ve set my alarm for 00.55. No such blunders when the 3 Lions meet Portugal this Saturday in the quarter finals.

Bend in the Road

Friday morning, 1.55am after around 4hours of sleep, my phone started buzzing to remind me of the England game. I crawled into the front room like duvet shelled tortoise to cheer the boys on. Sadly, England did nothing for much of the game to keep me from slipping into sleep - until Crouch and Gerrard popped up in the final 10minutes to send us through to the next round.

After a Saturday morning World Cup hangover (catching up on sleep I'd been losing all week watching the games), we headed out to Glebe Market - a recommendation that decribed the place as a cool clothes and trinket market in a hip part of town. It was okay if a little small, and the vibe was indeed quite cool. I bought no clothes, but a couple of cracking cds at rock bottom prices. We continued the slow paced weekend with a trip to the cinema - which ended in a viewing of one of the worst films I've seen in a long time - Poseidon - it's almost comedy how bad it is. It really is.

Sunday I got up (to a strange argument with one of our neighbours which ended in her apologising for the noise they'd been making repairing furniture at 7am, with a bottle of Chardonnay) and collected a hire car for a little day trip we were all looking forward to going on. An hours drive North of Sydney got us to Ku Ring Gai Chase national park.

Most of the National Parks have something different to offer than the last, and this was no different. It almost has a European feel about it, lush green hills meeting a wildy crazy estuary. Our first stop saw ustaking in some lake like views as a father taught his daughter to fish. Very idillic, as the little girls reel went mental. She tried her best to pull the beastie in, but dad took over. He battled for 2 or 3 minutes and it the fish splashed around in the water in front of us, the little girl asked "What is it dad?", to which he replied as only an Aussie dad can - "It's a bloody great fish!"

Onward, we were heading around the winding hilly roads to the set of Home & Away - Palm Beach. Located on a peninsula North of Sydney, the area is obviously very wealthy and very beautiful. The temperature too was way more forgiving than the average 19degrees I'd been getting way to used to. We soon found the Surf Club, the trade mark beach walk fence and also spotted Alf Stuarts Boat House. Sadly there were no cast members (to heckle) so we stayed around for some lunch before heading back into Ku Ring Gai Chase.

A new feature to the blog this week - is a little video of yours truly filling in for the missing Alf Stewart of Summer Bay fame.


We were able to check out a great couple of view points over Lion Rock (named after the Egyptian Sphynx) and America Bay - a 1km walk through the bush eventually finding it's way to a small waterfall overlooking a surreal snorkelling bay with a couple of millionaires pleasure-mobiles anchored for show. We also got a look in on the "Basin Walk" famed locally for it's aboriginal rock engravings. I was a little sceptical after the hand prints a few weeks ago, but these were a little more interesting. Fish, Turtles, people, Roos - all right there in the rock for... I'm not too sure how long. But they were pretty cool nonetheless.

Back into the working week, the obvious highlight was the England V Sweden match. It all looked so promising until the second half. Ah well, after 2-2 and a Joe Coal wonder strike we won the group and get to play Ecquador in the next round - thankfully over the weekend at 1am!

World in Motion

World Cup fever had arrived. I spent Friday afternoon at work feeling more like it was Christmas eve than anything else (as well as the world festival of football, it was the long Queens Birthday weekend). Of course the only problem with the World Cup in Australia - is the ludicrous time the games are on TV. Nevertheless, I waited up till the start of Saturday and watched the opening ceremony followed by the Germany game with all its cracking goals. I attempted to last it to the Poland match but soon found myself looking at the back of my eyelids instead.

So I was left with a Saturday to kill until the main event in the evening (England Vs Paraguay). Myself and Trish took a trip into town to check out a few things. The 2006 Darling Harbour Jazz festival (nice) was on - a floating stage with plenty of jazz acts for you to shake your "boom-boom" to. Though once we'd finally had enough of that, we went in search of more thrills. We found the Sydney Maritime Museum with its tremendous Viking exhibit.

After settling some disputes about the Viking history, we found out what it was really like to be a viking - by trying on a viking helmet. Hmmmm. But when the fun had gotten much too much, we trotted off home to get fed and ready for a night watching Eng-Ger-Land, Eng-Ger-Land, Eng-Ger-Land.

After the 1-0 victory had been digested, we carried on celebrating into the night dancing it away in the Palace...