High culture and golf... really?

I can't believe that two weeks have passed since I last posted anything on this blog so here's a quick update on the last two weeks... amazingly there's only six weeks left until I'm due to fly to India... and Hannah will be back there even quicker (but I'll let her write about that).

Since I got back from the UK I've been hanging out with a bunch of (mainly Irish) ex-pats (although there are some Brits thrown in for good measure) which has meant many opportunities to try out the many very cool pubs and restaurants found in Sydney's eastern suburbs. And do some cultural stuff. But mainly go out a lot.

It was thus that I found myself doing a pub crawl through the back streets of Paddington last Saturday... not a backpacker in sight and there are some really interesting places to get a drink. And attempting to eat a rack of ribs bigger than my head in Bondi on the Thursday before that. And finding what could be my favourite pub in Sydney, the Cricketers Arms in Surry Hills. Basically all this goes to show that, like London, a lot of the more exciting stuff in Sydney happens away from the city centre. So lots of scope to explore. I have a feeling that if I were to stay on, I could spend years getting to know the city and not get bored.

I spent some time this weekend seeing some more of the Biennale of Sydney exhibition (i.e. what I went to Cockatoo Island for back at the start of July) at the Art Gallery of NSW and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Typically the art varied from the pointless to the interesting to the funny to the frankly quite horrible. Fitting into the last bracket would be a real stuffed horse hanging from the ceiling at the MCA. But at the same venue there was an 'installation' by Helio Oiticica (famous Brazilian artist from the 60s) which consisted of a room full of hammocks, lit psychedelically, with Jimi Hendrix blaring out of a stereo. This was very cool, but I probably would have enjoyed it more if the hammocks were hung a bit higher: I couldn't really swing and 'chill' with my butt touching the floor.

And today I did something I haven't done for a very long time... play golf. Kind of inadvertently. I was invited to play 'pitch & putt' but on arriving at the Bondi Golf Club it was clear that it was a bit more serious... although not much! And of the six of us playing, I got round with the 3rd best score, so despite not touching a golf stick in probably nine years I did OK. The Bondi Golf Club is a fun little place... it only has nine holes, most of which are Par 3, and sits atop the cliffs north of Bondi Beach. So basically there are no poseurs, and the views of the beach and ocean are amazing. You can even (just) see the Harbour Bridge. Once again, I really should have taken my camera!

Robin

Manly Fishos and Surfing Dolphins

Yes, yes, I'm quite sure that the title of this post makes no sense to anyone who hasn't spent some time in Sydney. The Fishos in Manly (aka the Manly Fishing and Sporting Association) is a true Aussie working man's club, offering amongst other attractions the delightful sounding 'meat raffle' - not the normal kind of place I would choose to hang out - but it is also one of the city's more interesting small venues for live music. So having found a friend to go to some gigs with, I found myself out in the 'burbs at the Fishos watching a band called British India... who coming from Melbourne, are neither British nor Indian. But who are very short and very young. And quite good for a Friday night rock out. Thankfully the gig finished in time to (just) make the last ferry back to the city...

I had an interesting week at work. Work on the Brisbane Airport job is tailing off and the number of staff working on it is being scaled back. I've been given a week's work to do on the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground), scheming up a design for the roof of a new stand. This is interesting stuff and more up my street than the work I've been doing on the airport, but for a moment I thought there was a risk of being sent home early! This would be a tad inconvenient, seeing as Mal and Krellis are visiting me in late September and have already booked flights. And I've got a list of things I want to do before I move on. But I think I've convinced the powers that be to keep me on until October 3rd. This would tie up nicely with my London superiors' expressed preference for me to return to work there in early November, and still allow me a month to travel in India in between!

After a very welcome eggs benedict for Saturday breakfast (it's not the weekend unless I get at least one cooked brekky, if you ask me) I headed over to Bondi to do the famed Bondi to Coogee coastal walk. This is an easy 3 mile / 5km walk over cliffs and past beaches and beautiful seaside homes. It also takes you past several awesome seawater swimming pools, literally perched on the rocks by the water, with waves crashing over the side... I really should have taken my camera along. Especially when, only about 20 minutes into the walk, a pod of about twenty dolphins could be seen playing in the surf of Tamarama Bay. They were literally surfing - using the waves to propel them along, just under the surface of the water. And then one even jumped clean out of the water, seemingly just to please the sizeable crowd of onlookers that had now gathered. Amazing.

So even though I'm looking forward to India, it's hard to contemplate leaving Sydney with stuff like this on your doorstep and summer just around the corner...!

Robin

Jetlag schmetlag

Just a quick post to say I made it back to Sydney in one piece. I didn't really sleep on the night flight from London to Tokyo, and so was pretty disappointed when I found that the 'day rooms' at Narita airport that I was hoping to use for a couple of hours' kip were all occupied. But I could at least get a shower room so managed to get over some of the skank of a 12-hour overnight flight!

The flight from Tokyo to Sydney was more comfortable - I managed to get an exit row seat - but again I didn't really sleep. Landing at 6:40am, I was back at my apartment shortly after 8am. I felt ridiculously tired but decided that I should go into the office (well, it is only a couple of doors down the road!) and to my surprise managed a whole day. I even got dragged out for a couple of beers and pizza after work. But shortly after 7pm, having gone about 50 hours without any decent sleep, I hit the sack and slept for 12 hours. Jetlag? What jetlag?!

It's Sunday night now and apart from two nights out on the sauce I have achieved not much this weekend. Must try harder... I may have as few as nine weekends left in Sydney so I'm going to start making some to-do lists to make sure I actually do everything I want to do before I move on again! Already looking forward to India...

Robin