Australia (four)

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Hello Hello,
About time I write once more before I head off into he depths of the North East of Australia!
sill having an amazing time here! I'm still working away at Altium where I have been for the last few months but I leave there on the 20 April for out trip to Cairns.
Well before all that here are a few highlights of my last month in Sydney

There always seems to be something going on in Sydney and one Saturday a few weeks ago there was the Sydney Mardis Gras Parade. Having never seen anything like this I thought I'd have a look. so I headed to Manly and waited for the ferry - and I have never seen so many people waiting for the ferry! There was such a party atmosphere on there too which set things up well for the evening. When I arrived at circular quay I jumped in a cab as I had sent too much time on the beach and was running a little late. I had arranged to meet the Korean girl who lived with us but unfortunately we ended up on opposite sides. The parade was massive with a great atmosphere everyone was there to have a good time (and the girls were dressed rather provocatively) and there was fireworks and music and lots of fun. John also arrived a little late as he had been visiting a friend in Aldbury. He too ended up on the opposite side to me. So we waited until it had finished and I walked down to meet each other. We then went for a wander to soak up the atmosphere having a fair few random conversations. We then went and found some food and a beer down by the opera house.

Well our trip to Cairns is now looming large and it will all be done in a massive estate car, a Ford Falcon estate (around the 1990 mark if you wanna look it up before I get any photos online) The car came complete with a tent, a mattress, body board, camping stove, seats etc etc. almost everything we need for our trip in fact! This all happened on sunny Saturday
a few weeks ago when John, Cam and I went to Sydney looking for a car... We first went to a used car place on the outskirts which didn't have that much to offer us that was of any interest. So we left there and headed for the Backpacker car sales place which is in a car park in Kings Cross in the city. When we got there there were a few possible options and we had a look about and eventually found the car for us. However the asking price was a little above our range. So we had a chat with the guys, two Belgian guys, and we went and had lunch and had a chat and when we came back we put an offer to them which they debated for a few minutes and came back of an increased offer - the increase being a crate of beer!
We then went and had lots of fun with the cash machines, as it had slipped our minds that there was a maximum daily limit on our cards! Eventually with a huge wad of money and a crate of beer we returned to the Car park and found the guys and had a beer with them before going upstairs to seal the deal. They were really nice guys and we could see that they we genuinely sad to see the car go as they had so many good memory's with it!

Sydney Earth Night this was an effort to cut emissions, not sure if this was an Australia wide thing but all I know is it happened in Sydney, and every household and business were encouraged to switch off all non-essential electrical appliance between 1930 and 2030 and have dinner by candle light. So John and I made plans to head to the city. It just so happened that a friend we made in Malaysia was also in town that weekend so we made plans to meet up in the city on Saturday night. During the day though John and I went to lounge on Dee Why beach enjoying the surf and the sunshine. We then headed home and had a shower before jumping on the bus to North Sydney where we went to a massive pub called the Oaks. We had heard good things about the pub but never got around to going until now. The pub is quite sizable and does come complete with a quite impressive oak tree!! So we sat down grabbed a beer and I went to order some dinner. We had both decided on steak, I went and ordered at what only can be described as a meat counter, but instead of receiving a nice piece of perfectly cooked steak I was given two raw bits to go and cook ourselves on the BBQ! Very bizarre indeed, but the steak was gorgeous! definitely worth it. After we had eaten dinner we were running out of time to get to the bridge before the light came back on at 2030! so we jumped in a taxi, the driver of which was rubbish and had to look at a mad to get to a nearby railway station! We weren't impressed but eventually got there. We then walked onto the bridge and were in the middle as all the lights slowly turned back on. We then headed to the Lord Nelson for some good quality ale. The pub is the oldest in Sydney and has a micro-brewery. Good for my belly! then into the rocks and saw some football in a bar with $5 pints of Guinness but only down side was the dreadful music! But they had football... oh the sacrifices I make. We then headed to the three wise monkeys where we met Babs (from the Tamen Negara) and her friend Orla an Irish girl and her friend Martin. Martin spent most of the night glued to the tv watching the football but John and I on the other hand spent most of the night chatting with Babs and Orla. Turned into a really good night and it was really nice to see a familiar face. We even managed to catch a bit of the Chelsea game on our way home before the bus back home...

During the week fist John left me for England for a couple of weeks and then the rest of his family leaving to just Me, Cam and the two Korean girls in the house. So as Babs & Orla were going to be in Manly anyway i invited them to come and stay here for a night or two. Babs was leaving on Saturday morning so I said I'd drive her to the airport. So I went straight from work to Manly and met her and Orla in a bar on the seafront. We then had a drink before heading for the car and home where we cooked dinner and chatted away. I even taught Babs how to make custard!! We then went to a very busy for a few drinks, also meeting up with Cam once she had finished work. We went to a few places there before heading back home. We got home in Annemarie's car which Cam had driven over however I wasn't driving as I was over the limit, so Babs drove. This turned out to be quite a funny drive home as she had not driven in months and also never on the left! But we made it home safe and sound. The next day we got up and had some breakfast and headed to Freshy where Babs and I went for a dip in the rather large swell. This was great fun, rather hard to catch any waves but we both enjoyed ourselves and the water was such a nice temperature. We then went back for a shower before Babs, Orla and I headed to Manly where we had a bite to eat in the Bavarian. we then went for a wander along the Corso and had an ice cream. I also discovered that the girls had not been to Shelly beach so we went for a walk over there. When we returned we met up with Martin and then headed back to the house where we cooked dinner and watched a film. After that we dropped off Orla and Martin in Manly and said our goodbyes, as Babs and I had a 0430 rise so as to get her to the airport on time! We then spent a while chatting before falling asleep for about 3 hours and then getting up and driving to the Airport. We then said our goodbyes and off Babs went to New Zealand and I... Well I went back to bed! I got back around 630am and Cam came in at around 9am and we decided to hold fire on the Hunter Valley that day as the weather was so bad! yes they have bad weather in Australia! So we spent the day relaxing at home...

Hunter Valley day had finally arrived, We got up around 8am and packed up the car before hitting the road. It was a fairly simple drive out of Sydney and the traffic wasn't too bad. It was definitely nice to get out of Sydney and be able to go a bit faster that 50 km/h! The Hunter Valley was well sign posted and we had no trouble in finding the place. It was just so nice getting out of the city for a few days. seeing rolling hills etc. was great. Our first stop was the information centre where we were able to pick up a map of the area which showed where all the wineries/vineyards were. Our first stop was Mcguigans which also had a cheese shop. So we went and had a few sips of wine, also trying a sparkling Shiraz which neither Cam or I had heard of. As it turned out it was actually quite nice! We sampled a few drinks before going and checking out the cheese. I had some vague high hopes for this as the general quality of the cheese out here is not that good. Unfortunately as it turned out it was OK but nothing to write home about (oops done it anyway :p) We then left there are headed up the road not really knowing where to stop, we just had to randomly pick a place as there is so much to choose from. The wine at the next place was not as good but they sold us a sandwich. They also told us about a horse whisperer which was performing that day. We decided to return for that and headed around the corner and stumbled across a brewery! Unfortunately no free tasters here so we got a four shot paddle which then gave you a free middy once we'd had them. We got some chips and began on our beer. We had two lagers, a pilsener and a dark beer. The dark beer turned out to be not that nice at all but the pilsener saved the day! very nice beer it was too. We then headed to see the horse whisperer. We sat watching him for a few minutes before deciding to head for another place. The Wyndham Estate this turned out to be the best place we went all weekend. We arrived at 1600, half an hour before it shut. We first went for a wander and tried to see the river which is now a poor excuse for a river. We were told that it used to be navigable by steam boat unfortunately now you could barely get a kayak up it. We then headed inside and were told to come and have a drink. We then were asked what we would like. I replied red so we were give about 7 to choose from, mainly Shiraz or Shiraz based as this was the speciality here. But what really made it was just how nice the guys there were. We asked them to take a photo so they told us to come behind the bar and one of them posed with us. They then took some of our money in exchange for some wine and then gave us some half bottles of unfinished samplers for the day. So we went and sat outside and were shortly joined by some of the guys who then spent an hour or two just chatting to us. It really was so nice. They even told us where to go for dinner and suggested a few quiet spots to pop the car where we could sleep with out being bothered! We then said goodbye to the Wyndham Estate and headed for the spot recommended to us. We found a spot and then wandered to an Irish pub not too far away being simply blown away by the stars the brightness of which I had not seen in a long time. We had some dinner and a few beers in the pub, it was definitely nice not to be watching my drinks as there was no ore driving to be done that day! The next day we woke up to fabulous sunshine so we got up and went for a walk along the lane we had parked along which was really nice. The hunger then got to us so we went and got some breakfast in a nearby town before heading off for some more wine tasting. We spent the morning sipping and made the odd purchase before finding some lunch in a nice tapas place. We then had one final stop to make before hitting the road, this was to the Hunter Valley chocolate shop!! It was Easter after all! We then headed home and cooked up some dinner served with some fine wine of coarse 😊

is weekend was another one without John but a few of the guys from work were going out so I went along we started off in Manly for some dinner and a few drinks before heading to the city on the ferry. We then wandered over to Darling harbour where we went to a bar overlooking the water. After that we left and heading to Home nightclub. Once inside I heard the sweet sweet sound of trance emitting from the speakers... Mark was most definitely a very happy boy!!! Quite possibly the best $25 dollars I'll ever spend in Australia! It was just a residents night but just so refreshing to hear a bit of music I actually like while out something that I have definitely been missing! I eventually made it home for around 6am!! The next day, even though the weather was gorgeous became a day of watching films!! And of course the brekky trip to Curlys to get a good old fashioned plate of grease!!

Then on Sunday Cam and I set off for the Blue Mountains!! they are located just to the west of Sydney and after a couple of hours of driving we arrived. We found a blue mountain scenic drive which we followed and saw some amazing views. We stopped at echo point which has a really nice viewing platform. After that we followed the road for a bit before spotting an unsealed road which we drove down for a few miles before going for a walk for an hour or so. We then decided to try and get nearer the river. In order to do this we had to follow an unsealed road for 20kms. The car handled really well it took us about 45mins to get to the end but when we did we saw the most fantastic view over the river and mountains. We then jumped back in the car and drove home as Rachel, one of Cams friends from the Bavarian was having a wine and food evening in a cafe in order to exhibit her art work. So we had some dinner then went there and sipped at bit of wine...

Today was back to work for my last week before regaining my tan a little on the north coast

Hope all well with you all back home...

Mark

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