Home sweet home

We finally moved into our own place this weekend. Here’s the link to the estate agents view of the house. The reality was a little different to the pictures as the previous occupants had ‘done a bunk’ -  leaving the country in a rush and neglecting to clean the place before they left! So we spent the weekend cooped up indoors cleaning. All that’s behind us and it does feel like the effort involved has made it ours now. We’re happy bunnies. While Kirsty and Derek have been fantastic sharing their home with us for 3 weeks and 'showing us the ropes' it is good to be in our own space now - it does make a difference.

Luckily the house is furnished (not many rentals are for some reason?) but there's no kitchen equipment, knives & forks or plates. Thing is that we've shipped all that stuff out but it hasn't got to us yet. So when we weren't cleaning we were buying the cheapest gear we could find. It reminded me of being a fresher at Uni.... that excitement of setting up home - for next to no budget.

Friend and colleague, Ceri, has lent me her road bike so I managed to get out on the open road the other day. Prior to that I’d been riding a static bike in the University gym in an effort to maintain some remnant of fitness. The roads are smooth, there are more hills than I expected and the weather is perfect for cycling - I can see I’m going to enjoy the riding here. I was caught by a group of riders from the North Sydney Cycling Club so I tagged on to the back of them. I was happy to stay at the back, out of the way, but when we got to a small climb the group started to splinter so I had to pass a few riders. Judging by the ‘under the breath’ comments made I think they were a little put out by the foreigner in civvies and trainers (I don’t have any cycling gear here yet) seemingly cruising past them on a tough climb. I did get chatting to one of the group later on who invited me to join the club - I mustn't have upset them too much.

Fires

We're under a dark cloud at the moment. Not the adage, a literal one. we're told that there's a big bush fire burning in the blue mountains and the easterly wind has blown the smoke across Sydney. I've looked it up, the mountains are 120 km away! It's a strange thing, the light has that pre storm glow to it and car's out on the road have their headlights on despite the fact that it's 3 hours till sunset. I had ash falling on me before I got on the bus to head home. Brit's might be pre-occupied with rainy weather but the Aussies are certainly obsessed about bush fires - especially during warm dry weather - understandable I suppose given the stakes.

Being away from home makes you question things, things you take for granted. The most profound of questions come to mind such as: "Why do Fish and Chip shops have such high counters?" There are Fish and Chip shops here, not surprisingly, and they have standard height counters. All very friendly and welcoming. So why not in the UK?? Perhaps we'll never know!

Settling down

It's been less than 3 weeks but we feel to be settling down in Sydney now. After a couple of Saturday house viewing sessions we've found a house to rent. We'd love to live out on the Northern Beaches where we've been staying up to press. The area has a more laid back vibe going on but isn't so well connected (no train line so buses only!) and until we know where Ros and Niall are going to be working we can't commit. So we've taken out a short lease on a house near to the University - fairly central and close to the Northern train line. For the first time in my working life I'm going to be within walking distance of the office, I can see a regular 'sleep in' coming on.

Thanks to friends Ceri and Tony we've had our first Australian BBQ. Similar to a UK BBQ as it turns out - just better weather! It's the approach that's very different - no song and dance, just fire up the ubiquitous gas grill and get on with it. Seems like every back yard is set up with all the required flat surfaces and miscellaneous equipment - they come as standard, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised.

We also discovered the force of the surf yesterday. We walked down to the local beach, the wind was getting up and producing some big breakers on the surf so we dived in. It wasn't long before we were being bowled over - literally. I came out feeling like I'd taken a tumble off the bike, aching bones, grazes and all. Good fun though, Kirsty was with us so there were 4 brits screaming with laughter as we were battered by the sea.

And as promised here's the  first set of photos from Sydney  - enjoy!

Hot!

It's the hottest day since we arrived today - by far! It's currently 36 degrees in the shade and predicted to get hotter towards the end of the afternoon. I'm not so sure I've experienced this before, even in the Caribbean a couple of years ago. I'm not so bad in that I'm in a cool, air conditioned office but Ros and Niall are out and about - not so sure how they're getting on. It's not going to last it seems, they're predicting a max of 22 tomorrow. We're told this is the difference between spring and summer - you can get hot days like this in spring but it's not sustained heat like it gets in the summer. So just a flavour of what's to come!

Like we've always been here.

It's still not two weeks since we landed in Australia but in many ways it seems like we've been here forever. It's amazing how quickly we've 'adapted' - exotic plants, animals and birds become commonplace. You come to expect warm days and are slightly disappointed when it's just 20c. And you become critical of the many fantastic beaches "this one's a bit busy, I much preferred so and so....".

We can't quite get over the cost of living here and a straight conversion from dollars to pounds according to the prevailing conversion rate leaves us feeling short changed. So Ros has come up with a pragmatic solution and has decided a straight two dollars to the pound conversion takes account of the higher salaries .... and certainly helps with the mental arithmetic.

We think we've found the house for us and we're currently filling in the application paperwork. That's another aspect of Australian life we've noticed, everything relies on the completion of long, poorly designed forms... ad infinitum. You come away with the feeling that they, in this case the owner/agent, are doing you a favour allowing you to stay in their house - which would be OK if they weren't charging extortionate sums for the privilege!

We've had a busy weekend seeing the Australian Navy Review in Sydney harbour and then the Jazz festival in Manly. We're beginning to see the city in a more positive light now. The Sydney bridge is far more impressive when crossed on foot or observed from below. Doubly so when it has fireworks and spotlights emanating from it and projections onto it (this during the Naval review on Saturday evening). We also sailed past the Sydney Opera House on the Manly ferry last night and decided it was best seen from the water to appreciate the scale and aesthetics of the building.

Sorry, I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to photos so it's taken me this long to get the Hong Kong images on line. Click to view if you're interested. Early Sydney photo's to follow soon (sooner or later that is!)

First impressions of Sydney

We've been in Sydney for 6 days now and today was the first we've seen a cloud in the sky - kind of what you might expect (not that it's going to last forever). But we are reminded that it's still early spring here by the cool nights! We had a meal out on the first evening with Kirsty, Derek and friends. It was drawing in dark by the time we got there and a cool breeze was blowing from the bay stretched out below us so the restaurant set up outdoor heaters as we ate - seemed a little surreal to be sat out in Australia relying on heaters but we've needed them a couple of evenings since. Just about our false expectations really.

We've spent most of our time north of the city. On the northern beaches and in the suburbs further inland. Everywhere is green, with exotic trees and bushes in abundance. Houses are spacious and well appointed and the roads are wide and fairly free from congestion (on a par with Leeds rather than London). All this in a warm climate!

We have been a little underwhelmed by what we've seen of the city centre however. We've crossed over the harbour bridge a couple of times and been disappointed by the view. Perhaps we just haven't seen it from the right angle as yet or maybe it's because we're now comparing all cityscapes to that of Hong Kong. We'll see - we're keeping an open mind.