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Stuart Page Joined: June 19th 2007
Logged in: August 30th 2010
Logged in: August 30th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
Coogee.
Bit of a timeless classic this trip and everyone was amazed to hear it had taken me so long to do it. It all happened a while ago now, a couple of days after the trip to Palm Beach, so I'm a bit hazy about the exact details. I do know I caught a bus from central and rocked up at Coogee just as it started to rain a bit. It's always funny being by the seaside out of season: you get the same atmosphere wherever you are in the world and walking around Coogee in the drizzle dragged me straight back to England. It seems to be a bit more laid back than Bondi with fewer posers and fitness freaks. Be great to come back in the summer when it must really come to life. ... read more
Palm Beach
In an atypical example of masterous forward planning, I've arranged a bit of holiday just when the World Cup is on. Trouble is, both England and the Aussies aren't up to much, so to escape the misery, I took a trip up to the Northern Beaches. CityRail have just introduced new tickets which give you unlimited travel on trains, buses and ferries - dead handy when you want to go all the way up to Palm Beach. From Wynyard it's about an hour on the L90, which, with the rain tipping down, did look like being a bit of a mistake. Luckily, things had calmed down by the time we got to Mosman and by the time I hit the beach the weather was as perfect as you could wish for. Anyone who watches Home and ... read more
Cheese.
It's seldom that a Michael Bolton gig is responsible for anything other than misery, but, for what's got to be the first time in history, good came from one of them as his show at the St Kilda Palais led to us getting invited down to Melbourne by our mate Rowena. Quite why a mostly sane 26 year old girl loves him is beyond me, but she does and God bless her for it, because it resulted in one hell of a holiday at exactly the time we needed one. Had a few dramas after her place was torn apart by a plumber looking for a leak (only 4 swimming pools worth), a few days before we left, but we managed to get a late hotel, so all was pretty peachy in the end. We tried ... read more
Aussie Parliament.
A bit harsh, but you can see why the rest of Australia ridicules it at times. Ange had to go down there for work, so we decided to make a short break of it and booked into a hotel for a night (against the advice of just about everyone I talked to who reckoned I'd have more fun pulling my fingernails out slowly). Instead of going straight there, we zigzagged south, through Bowral and then onto Goulburn, basically so I could see the Big Merino. Every roundabout should have one I reckon, if not two. Thinking about getting one for the back yard. Be the ultimate garden gnome. Spent most of the night in Canberra in an Irish pub drinking Guinness and eating calamari, which is never a bad way to spend time. Had a bit ... read more
My office.
Bit of a weird mix this time. Guess most of you know by now that I've got a new job. Going really well so far (the Christmas meal was at Nick's Bar & Grill on King Street Wharf and you’ve got to love a company who pays for you to eat there). I'm playing football at lunchtime, the Christmas party was a top night out at the Arthouse and, most importantly of all, the team I'm in are a really good laugh. Stuck a couple of photos up mostly so the old dears know what the office looks like, so sorry if they don't mean a lot to the rest of you. Been meaning to write this for weeks, but as usual I haven't. Basically, I haven't got a whole lot to tell you all. Had ... read more
Tourist tram
Just back from a weekend in Melbourne and I can confirm that they do have trams, tree lined streets and a dirty great cricket ground. Wasn't sure what to make of it at first: it is a lot different to Sydney (as people never tire of telling you) and the wide boulevards do make it feel a little more European, but it's all a bit more complicated than that. I guess it's true that it's a more stylish place (I fitted in wonderfully, obviously) and the food was good, but there's something above and beyond all that that slowly creeps up on you and makes you realise that you love the place. Walking along the Yarra is as good in it's way as ambling around Sydney Harbour. St Kilda is much better than anything Sydney's got ... read more
Poncey one for Mr Indge.
As I've said before, I liked St Kilda. Thought the tram ride was going to kill Ange (won't go into the details, but an old boy wouldn't let her sit down even though she was sick because he was saving the seat for his wife who was already happily seated at the front of the tram), and when we got there it was blowing a gale, but in the end it all turn out for the best. For a start, Ben and Jerry's were giving away free ice cream, and secondly the wood fired pizza we had was very tasty. You've never seen a happier little bunny. Lots going on everywhere. They'd packed stalls in along the seafront selling trinkets and art work and all sorts of Bohemian tat. Lunar Park was great to walk around. ... read more
On the train into town.
Guess by now most of you will be bored to death with pictures of the dust storm that hit last week, so, just to annoy you, here are a few more. By all accounts it took most of the top soil from what’s left of the Australian farming industry to create this. The cloud stretched right the way to Brisbane apparently and at one point they thought they’d be having red snow in New Zealand because of it. It was pretty freaky; at 6am it looked like we were going to have to put up with a few years of nuclear winter and start shooting looters. The media loved it of course and we had the female version of Kent Brockman standing by the bridge for hour after hour telling us the blindingly obvious whilst the ... read more
Black Horse Broad.
Back home and on the Broads for the first time in what must be couple of years, I guess. Seemed really quiet to me, (the boat hire companies must be struggling). Even on a beautiful day we virtually had the place to ourselves. Makes for a better trip that way, so it was good news for us and I expect good news for the Broads too. Don't think I've ever seen terns diving on them before, or as many lily pads, so, maybe less traffic and the long running clean-up process really has improved the water quality. Things seem miles better than they did during the 80's, anyway, so make the most of it before the sea comes crashing in and ruins everything again. Left Hoveton at 9.30am with the Morgs and Indge in tow and ... read more
View from our hotel bedroom.
We had to do something special for the folks' last weekend in Australia, so we decided to bundle it up with my birthday festivities and get a hotel right in the centre of town for one last run around in Sydney. Worked out very nicely too - apart from Crum falling off an escalator... Had one magical ferry trip over the harbour on the Saturday night, which, I can honestly say, was the happiest I've ever seen the old dears. They looked so excited by it all and it was great to be able to share that with them. Everything just came together: a beautiful sunset, an insanely fast ferry, the city lights slowly taking effect and then showing Sydney at its glittering best made it perfect on every count. It's amazing how often we talk ... read more
