Sunday in Sydney

We had no idea what to do today. We were supposed to catch up with some friends for a walk and a picnic this afternoon but something came up and they couldn't make it.

So were we faced with a whole brand new Sunday to make the most of. We decided to take a long walk into the city and see where we ended up. I took the camera along (of course) to take some pictures as we went along.

First we have to walk past dodgy Redfern Station, home of the Redfern riots. Next we walk to Central Station which is the backpacking hostel mecca of Sydney and also home to an abnormal amount of nutters. We carry on up George Street past Chinatown and the myriad of restaurants, cheap clothes shops and Chinese herbal medicine pharmacies.

Further up George St is the QVB (Queen Victoria Building), which is one of my favourite buildings in Sydney. It's beautifully ornate design stretches for several blocks and is filled with shops and cafes and is like no other shopping centre I've ever been to. While in city, we had to do a bit of shopping :) We had a wander around Pitt St mall (see picture above of Pitt St and CentrePoint tower). And I just loved these Ugg boots I saw in the Peter Alexander (my favourite pj's) shop.

We eventually end up at The Rocks and Circular Quay. While I love these parts of the city, they are also the biggest tourist traps you can possibly come across! How some of these shops selling stuffed kangaroos and koalas survive I don't know!

We rounded off the day with a cold beer at a new bar on Circular Quay that includes and area we have heard a lot about. Minus 5 is a new 'Ice Bar' that will cost you a cool (pun intended) $30 to enter and includes a free cocktail. You must wear a special jacket to keep you warm and you are limited to 30 minutes! To be honest, I'm not sure what the attraction of such a place is. When I was in my early teens I remember it being much cheaper to drink a cocktail of alcohol in the freezing cold wearing a big jacket. It was called Friday night in the park!

Pandora's Box

If you spend as much time in front of a computer as I do, Pandora has to be one of the best uses of the internet I have seen yet.

It also helps if you are a bit of a music freak/geek such as I, as Pandora is your own personal Radio station (but without the ads, annoyingly cherpy "hosts" and stupid phone-ins).

Simply type in the name of a band/artist that you like and Pandora will work its magic by picking songs by other bands/artists that are similar. The aim of this "musical genome project" is to introduce people to music that is close to the music they already love but maybe would not have had the opportunity to hear. It's such a "me" thing, if I've ever given you a CD it means I like you. If I've ever given you a CD of someone you've never heard of it means I like you even more. Because a lyric at the end of track 4 probably has some profound meaning that I thought was appropriate.

It cleverly works in two ways; by finding matches to your original choice through musical attributes for exampe: key tonality (major/minor), time signature (4/4, 12/8), acoustic rhythum guitars. Fear not if you don't like what you hear as Pandora will also be guided by you to tailor and refine the music it presents to you. You can tell Pandora if you like a song (hence it will play more of that style) or you don't like it (hence it will be banished to some type of musical Room 101 and never to be played again on your station).

Give it a go. I love it. I've found some real gems through listening to this (not at work though, of course not, no no no). If you do happen to stumble across a song you really like, you can store it in your Pandora favourites so you don't forget it.

Ok, sell job finished!

Going home...

It's a funny thing living in another country. It makes you look back at your homeland with rose-tinted glasses and makes you think how your country does things so much better or so much worse!

I was thinking today about what I am most looking forward to doing/seeing when I get to the UK, then I got to thinkng about what I will most miss about Australia while I am away.

Here's my top five things I am looking forward to doing; UK style (this excludes seeing family or friends and watching the world cup because these things are sacred and are of course a given). They are also in no particular order, because that is too hard.

1. Having a freshly made bacon sandwich mmmmmm :)
Reason: Bacon in Australia is this bizarre pre-cooked ham like stuff. Bluuurrrgh.

2. Going to the Natural History Museum in London
Reason: I haven't been since I was about 8 and I still remember the big blue whale thingy. I also think I have finally reached an age when I might actually appreciate it.

3. Enjoying a pint the beer garden of a country pub (on a nice warm summer day)
Reason: Because it's just not the same in Australia. Honestly.

4. Converting everything into Australian dollars and then marvelling how wonderfully expensive everything is
Reason: It's going to happen anyway.

5. Wandering around London like a tourist
Reason: It will make a change to see my homelands capital as a tourist as opposed having my usual "bloody tourists" attitude :)

Anzac Day

It seems like I haven't been at work for ages. Yesterday was "Community Day" at work, where you can take a day to go and do some work in the community but still be paid. A few people from my team and I decided to join the Conservation Volunteers to spruce up a nature reserve at Chifley. I was picked up at 9:15 and had to swing past a great coffee shop I know on the way at Rosebery.

The day was spent weeding mainly, pruning and using round up to kill the buggers once and for all. The men all made a bee-line for the heavy tools (axe, pick-axe etc) and seemed slightly disappointed there was no heavy machinery involved. The day finished at 3:30, so not quite the 'hard yakka' I had been expecting but a good day none-the-less.

Today is ANZAC Day here in Australia. The term 'ANZAC' comes from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers who landed at Gallipoli in Turkey on the 25th April 1915 during the First World War. It's an incredibly important day in Australia and to visit Gallipoli on this day has almost become a rite of passage for young australians.

The mission was to quickly knock out Turkey from the war but they ANZACs were met with fierce resistance by the Turkish defenders and the battle lasted a long eight months, at which time the allied forces were evacuated after suffering massive casualties of about 8000. This year is the first year where there are no more surviving ANZACs to join the parade.

It is also a wet and miserable day in Sydney so we spent the day baking! The 'bake off' consisted of Jo's ANZAC biscuits versus my Rock Cakes :)

The final score:

Anzac biscuits: 7.5/10
Rock Cakes: 8.5/10

Swans -v- Demons

We had a great day at the AFL today. We picked up Bo & Claire and got to the SCG at 1pm to watch the Sydney Swans versus the Melbourne Demons.

AFL is truly a sight to behold when watching it live. Going to see a game, it makes me think of what it would've been like to see a soccer game in the UK in the 1950s, with eveyone in their striped scarfs!

You simply cannot grasp the scale of the pitch and just how much ground 44 (!) players can cover over 4 quarters of play on TV. Each quarter is supposed to be 25 minutes, but they routinely go for over 30 minutes meaning a game of Aussie Rules usually turns out to be a 3 hour epic.

Sydney are the reigning AFL champions after winning the Premiership last season after a 72 year wait. It turned out to be a very close game, the two teams swopping goal for goal in each quarter. In the 32nd minute in the 4th quarter the teams were level at 92 points each before Melbourne snatched the final goal a minute ahead of the final siren.

Final score - Sydney: 13.14.92 :: Melbourne: 15.7.97

I really enjoy watching AFL live, especially as the SCG is a great ground but also for the fantastic tradition of 'Kick to Kick' which takes place after the game has finished. This basically means, after the 2nd siren has sounded everyone can take their Sherrin (afl ball) onto the pitch and have a kick around. The pitch is full of Mum's and Dad's with their kids and teenagers booting the ball from 80 metres trying to emulate the great Barry Hall. I just can't imagine this happening in the UK after a footy game, I'm sure the Old Trafford pitch would turn into the world's largest boxing ring!

Four weeks to go...

In four weeks time, we will be on a plane headed for Kuala Lumpur and eventually Amsterdam. There is not much left to organise now. My passport finally arrived from Canberra, a "pre-pack" has been done (I know, I know) and there is just four more weeks of work to go (minus a public holiday next Tuesday - Anzac Day).

Not much planned between now and when we leave, only a weekend in Jervis Bay to look forward to with Bo & Claire (and Elvis the pooch).

We're still on the look out for a decent place (pub/bar) to meet up with everyone in London, if anyone has any recommendations post a comment.

Prague

When we were sat down with the map of Europe in front of us and trying to decide where we should go on our trip, Prague was one of those places that immediately came to mind. Don't ask me why, I don't really know much about the place but as other places came and went (we were originally going to go to Munich - discounted as already going to Berlin, Brussels - uniformly discounted as being too boring, Vienna - discounted as not a fan of The Sound of Music and Barcelona - discounted as impossible to get too from the previous location), Prague always kept its place.

When I have spoken to people about Prague, the opinions are fairly polarised. On one hand, a friend said that it is a magical place, full of amazing architecture with a great atmosphere. On the other hand, others have said it's nice but somewhere you should've gone ten years ago before it became touristy. Although, I'm not sure I would've appreciated much about Prague ten years ago other than the cheap beer!

Still, from the information I have read on the web and the Lonely Planet there is much to do in Prague, even if you only have 4 days like we do. The Charles Bridge and Prague Castle seem to be the biggest draw cards and the reasonable Staropramen and Absinthe seem to have their place too :) I'm also keen to take a day out of the city and maybe visit some of the surrounding towns with castles like Karlstejn.

Last line of defence

Not that I am advocating the use of this widget at all, but I thought it was pretty clever. It's nice to know that there are other people in the world who are just as deliriously happy at work that they have come up with this idea!

Now if only I had my Mac at work, I'd be laughing.

Easter

Easter has come and gone for another year. A wonderful four days off work (well, five for me and Jo because we were sick with food poisoning!) and some great weather in Sydney that's for sure. Friday was a huge clean-up day, getting rid of all sorts of crap that manages to pile itself up inside wardrobes and cupboards.

Saturday was spent shopping in the city and I decided to be all 'Jamie Oliver' and make pizza (even the dough!) on Saturday night. This was really just an excuse to go to the David Jones Food Hall, which I love to wander around. This time I actually bought things there, which is a rarity! I cannot believe how expensive buffalo mozzarella is! But it was worth it :)

What else do you do on a beautiful sunny warm Sunday in Sydney. You go to Watson's Bay of course. Full of tourists and locals eating fish and chips from the famous Doyles, the Hotel was packed, the park was packed, the walk up to 'The Gap' was packed, but the view of the harbour and of the ocean is fantastic.

It's days like those you remember why you live in Sydney.

James Blunt

Jo and I went to see James Blunt at the Hordern Pavillion on Friday night. As usual, I followed my standard concert routine, which goes as follows. 1. What do you mean it's tonight? 2. God I hate people, why didn't I get seats instead of general admission. 3. I really should go see more live music.

Before James came on, we saw Claire Bowditch, who I thought played the role of uninspiring and slightly weird support act to a tee. James came on and played to a sold out crowd, two nights into a three night sell out at the Hordern.

We both really enjoyed the show, I don't think he missed a song off his Back to Bedlam album and surprisingly the new songs he played were pretty good too, but I don't think anyone was expecting the Slade cover version of "Coz I luv you"!

The Little Pink Robot

Ok so this has nothing to do with a trip to Europe, but I find it highly amusing.

Check out the "Woomba"* spoof film clip, based on "Roomba" which is the little round vacuum cleaner gadget you can buy (which my neighbour actually has!) that will automatically whizz round in little circles 'cleaning' your carpet without your help.

In my experience, it zooms around generally banging into everything, making a noise and brushes dirt around in a more even fashion, giving the perception of a clean carpet.

* Disclaimer: This clip may offend some viewers :)

Packing light

One of the final things we need to do before setting off on our trip (even though it's only 5 weeks and I'm talking like its a 5 month trek to some of the most uninhabited parts of the world) is what the hell to pack.

We're not going to anywhere remote, extremely hot or extremely cold, we're travelling to mostly cities and two weeks will be with my parents being suitably pampered I hope :). But still, there is always the dilemma of what should we take with us. Unfortunately, we can't take any inspiration from our friends Dane & Alyse who are taking 5 month trek around the world and have decided that if it's not from the Kathmandu shop and it's not quick-dry, they're not taking it :)

My mum will agree with me when I say, I'm not a good packer. I have a tendency to pack a large IKEA wardrobe sized suitcase for an weekend trip mainly comprised of the things I might need "just in case". One never knows when you might be invited to a formal dinner party when going camping with friends. I'd take my hairtongs with me on a trip to the North Pole.

I don't know how many times I have said it but thank god for the internet :) and the help I may get form reading the OneBag site. Now, I'm pretty much stuck with only taking one bag (plus a daypack and a bag for going out...oh god that's three bags already) but maybe I need to consider the strategy involved and come up with a plan.

I'll keep you posted with how I go with my three bags. I mean one.

Italy = Good Coffee. Or does it?

Whilst meandering through the internet recently I stumbled upon an article about one of my favourite topics. Coffee.

Now I have to say, one of the big draw points of choosing Italy as a destination of this trip was the coffee. Actually, the points were as follows
(and in order of importance):

• The coffee
• The gelato
• The other food items (mmmmm pizza)
• The red wine
• Maybe some of the sights :D

So I found it quite amusing that apparently Aussies are the coffee connoisseurs of the world. I'm not sure how much of that is true but I know I can't do without my daily cappucino (although I'm happy about what my choice of coffee says about me in this article), and I'd rather go without that have a bad one. I'm hoping that Italy's reputation for good coffee will eventuate, as I am strategically going there after the UK as I know what dross they serve up in Blighty!

Ahh well, if it does turn out to be rubbish, at least the first three of the best top ten coffee houses in Sydney are all within 5 minutes from me!

A Tale of Two Cities

Berlin, where do you start? No, really. Where do you start? A city with equal amounts of historic and contemporary attractions, knowing where to spend your time is difficult.

Friends of ours who have been to this great city have unanimously recommended that a walking tour is a great place to start. They can start in either the East or the West and introduce you to all the main sights such as the Berlin Wall and the Brandenburg Gate.

It's an amazing city where you can be at Checkpoint Charlie one minute and at the Olympiastadion (soon to be the focus of the world's attention during the 2006 World Cup) the next.

Other items of note are Potsdamer Platz, hanging out in Unter den Linden, and I'm keen to spend a nice afternoon in Berlin's oldest beer garden or "by the beach" at Strandbar in Mitte. And if it's too cold outsite, that's okay because there is always a Tropical Island near by.

Really looking forward to it.

Things to do - Amsterdam

After a bit of research, here's the list of what we're planning to get up to in Amsterdam. I'm the list will read like a "must-see" list of the city but we're only there for four days so we've got plenty to squeeze in.

For attractions, there is Anne Frank Haus, the Van Gogh museum, the Museum of Modern Art (Stedelijk), we can't forget the Heineken Experience followed by sleeping off the hangover in Vondel Park.

No visit to Amsterdam would be complete without a visit to the Sexmuseum or the Red Light District!

And Jo has her heart set on dinner at what is supposed to be one of the best Indonesian restaurants outside of Indonesia. Even my Indonesian guitar teacher agrees!

Testing uploading of a photo

Flinders Street Station in good old Melbourne.

Just testing out how this works and if it looks any good.

TripAdvisor obsession

It's official. We're obsessed with checking out reviews for hostels on TripAdvisor. I found the site when I thought I would see if there were any reviews for this charming B&B I had found in Venice. It looked too good to be true, close to the city, breakfast included, warm friendly owners. TripAdvisor had another story to tell. The owners were never there, the breakfast was sweet kiddy cereal with long-life milk or bread with jam, it was a 30 minute hike to reach the place before a climb up 4 sets of stairs. See for yourself with this shining example.

Ever since, everywhere has been doubled checked with the review bible before booking. Looking forward to seeing how accurate the reviews really are!