A day at the races

Niall and I spent the day at the Sydney Olympic Park yesterday watching motor racing. A street circuit had been set up around the Olympic arena to host the last race of the V8 Supercar national series. (I’d happened upon the circuit earlier in the week while out on the bike and had fun doing a few laps on virtually closed roads.) V8 is the big thing in Australia, the nearest equivalent would be Touring Cars in Europe. The race cars use the bodies of standard saloon cars but with massive, powerful V8 engines. The noise is incredible! Despite the fact that the circuit was narrow and had short straights (think Monaco) the cars were reaching 250 km/hr -  all very exciting.

This being Australia an earlier race had featured ‘Utes’ i.e. Utility Vehicles. As far as I know Utes are exclusive to Australia, they’re essentially flat bed vans and would normally be driven by workmen (aka ‘tradies’). I don’t think racing was foremost in the mind of the engineers who developed these vehicles so stability at 200 km/hr isn't their strength! It made for an entertaining hour.

We’re into the rainy season here and we’ve had thunder storms virtually every evening for the past two weeks, yesterday was no exception. In fact the deluge came early and ruined the main race, it was abandoned half way through. We had a good day nonetheless and felt we'd witnessed another slice of Aussie life.

More visitors from home

We've just had the Cleggs to stay. Ros's cousin Rebecca and husband David have spent the last two weeks with us. With the exception of last weekend we've continued to work so Rebecca and David have been heading into the city to do all the touristy things Sydney has to offer (with Niall tagging along on several occasions). We've then been meeting up in the evenings and doing trips together at the weekend. It's always good to have friends/family from home and the Clegg's are good company anyway. If nothing else you realise how much you take for granted after living in a place for a while. We went to Shelly Beach on Saturday to do some snorkeling, for example, and they were blown away by the number and variety of fish just off the shore. We are aware that this sort of thing is special when compared to home but we're no longer amazed by it, is that a bit sad?

Since Rebecca and David wanted to catch up with friends in Melbourne we all took the trip down there last weekend. Melburnians Keith and Andrea played host to all four of us in the end so we spent a couple of days travelling down the Great Ocean Road and two days in the centre of Melbourne itself. The road trip was fabulous, as the name suggests the road hugs the coast as it winds south of the city for over 200 km from one dramatic bay to the next and so on. We had perfect weather for the most part, clear and sunny, so we were looking out over azure water as far as the eye can see with waves smashing into and over beach after beach. There are a series of stone stacks at one point, the so called twelve disciples, vast gold coloured rocks projecting upwards, the highlight of the brief trip without a doubt.

This was our first trip to Melbourne and we were struck with how European it felt. It was tempting to make comparisons between it and Sydney. Sydney has it for the natural beauty of the sea, the harbour and the beaches but Melbourne has far more sophisticated architecture and as a bonus a more efficient transport system (the lack of which is a daily frustration in Sydney). We intend making another trip back to Melbourne before we head home that's for sure, it did have a good vibe going on.

Here are a couple of sets of photos:

• Blue mountains trip with Rebecca and David
• The Melbourne trip

Central Coast

We've spent the last couple of weekends exploring the Central Coast. This is a stretch of coast an hour north of Sydney  (from the Hawksbury River north). The first weekend was spent with the Flowers and the Forrests in a hotel in Terrigal - a small resort with fabulous beaches. On the second weekend just the two of us went off camping in Budgewoi, a narrow stretch of land between a lake and the sea. In many ways the scenery is no different from other areas of the NSW coastline, in other words ….stunning! What sets it apart, certainly from Sydney, is the suburban hinterland. It might be stating the obvious but things are so much more relaxed than in the big city -  people are able give you the time of day. Things are a lot friendlier and it worries us that we are getting the wrong impression of what Australians are really like. I suppose it's a big philosophical question - what is the real Australia? Is it the rich mix of first generation immigrants  all desperately trying to get a foothold in the busy city? Or is it the relaxed, established Australians of European extraction? TV and films suggest the latter and so inevitably it was the picture we had in our minds before we came out. We're finding out that the truth is more complicated - which has to be one of the benefits of living in a place (as opposed to merely visiting).

Encounters with the local wildlife

I seem to remember talking about the absence of dangerous animals in an earlier blog, despite all the talk of deadly creepy crawlies prior to coming out. I've now come into contact with an example of one - though not one that I was expecting! The local birds are busy tending their nests as spring is in full swing here but one species in particular are particularly vigorous in their defense of said nest, namely the Australian Magpie. The male magpie sees any fast moving animals coming into their territory as a threat and do all they can to discourage him coming anywhere near a second time. In the eyes of the magpie cyclists fall very much into the category of threat and swoop down from behind to attack either the back of the head or preferably the eyes. Just to add to the fun the bird has a very good memory and attacks the same individual if and when they return. So I'm now taking a detour at both the beginning and end of my regular ride to work and will be doing so for the next 6 weeks. Two birds have currently got me marked down as public enemy number one and no matter what I do I can't persuade them otherwise, so that's that!

Niall has now returned back to Sydney having done his 3 months of service to rural Australia. He's successfully applied for his second year visa and is now considering his next move. Possibly staying in Sydney for a couple of months if he can find work or maybe going back to Queensland with friends? Time will tell.

Sunday was the first beach day of the spring so we took advantage and met everyone at Balmoral beach. It made us realise why we're here. The winter hasn't exactly been cold by UK standards but it's amazing how quickly we've acclimatised and how relatively colder weather has affected us. It's good to be swimming in the sea again!

The O'Kanes come to Sydney

I seem to have settled into a trend of only posting here to report on trips away from Sydney. And I suspect that will continue - inevitably we've settled into a weekly/workday routine and very pleasant as that is, it doesn't make for good writing! This last week has been a deviation from our usual 'another day in paradise' routine, hence the post. 

The flat has been a hive of activity as the O'Kane family (Pat, Karen, Sam, Elliot and Alice) have arrived from the UK for a long planned visit. We expected that the confines of our two bedroomed flat might wear thin after a day or two so we arranged a stay in a lodge in the blue mountains for us all. As it's still winter and the lodge was a few hundred metres above sea level we were half hoping for snow (they get a couple of falls each year apparently). That wasn't to be, but we experienced our first frost in Australia - sad I know but its funny the things you miss :-) 

We've done a couple of day trips to the blue mountains previously but it was good to go further afield this time and explore more of the stunning landscapes up there. We also took a drive to Bathurst, the first inland town to be settled here and also the site of the mid 19th century gold rush - all interesting stuff. Bathurst also sport a motor racing circuit, it's a normal road for most of the year, all be it one with chicanes and crash barriers. It was slightly surreal to be driving round a race circuit at 60km/hr in an 8 person automatic Kia , in Australia, with friends from back home?!

I've posted photos of the trip as usual on flickr - if you fancy a look.  

Pat, Karen and Alice are now doing a couple of weeks visiting the wider Australia (the lads headed straight home from Sydney) and will be spending another couple of nights with us before flying back to the UK. There's already been tears from Roz but I'm sure there'll be more when they finally leave. That said there's a good few promised visits from others to come, we're not going to be lonely! 

Hunter Valley

It's well and truly winter here so it's not the weather for sitting on the beach and as we've pretty much seen the sites of Sydney we're finding ourselves seeking places further afield on the weekends. A case in point - we did a short impromptu trip to Hunter Valley this last week. The Hunter, as it's referred to, is a celebrated wine growing region two hours north of Sydney. We threw the bikes in the back of the car and having booked a room for the night set off. After a wet start to the day the sun came through just as we got there - as if on cue. We spent the rest of the day cycling from the cellar door of one vineyard to the next. Each had several wines on offer so it would only have been rude not to partake of each. A glance at our bank account reveals that as the afternoon went on we bought an increasing number of bottles at each vineyard. I suspect this is how the economy of the region works! The wineries and the abundant number of restaurants makes it all very pleasant and civilised.

Niall is now in Tasmania doing a couple of months unpaid work at a Hotel/ Eco Village. He's been working reception so I guess it's a pleasant contrast to spending his days in fields picking one fruit or another. This is in aid of getting his second year working visa, a government scheme to encourage backpackers to work in the more rural areas of Australia. And rural it is, he's an hour from the nearest town and is out of mobile phone coverage. So we've only had the one update from him so far - no doubt we'll get more details on his experiences as time goes on.

Canberra

We were away for a long weekend in Canberra last week. It's a three hour + drive from Sydney so a relatively easy trip to make. We had mixed feelings about the place even before we got there - you tend to get a tepid response from Aussies when you mention the city. One colleague in particular advised us to see everything we could on our first visit as he predicted it would be our only visit! We'd also been advised to take our bikes with us as that's the best way to get around the city. And they were right, it's a place blessed with wide open boulevards, a large sculpted lake, lots of green, and lots of bike tracks. And all of this devoid of people! It was eerily empty for a capital city. Our first visit of the weekend was to the National Gallery - we arrived on bikes and so went in via a side entrance. We didn't see another punter until we'd been through at least five large galleries, it was just us and the omnipresent security staff. This is a gallery with a massive budget and priceless art on display. It just goes to show that 'you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink' - or whatever the saying is. Canberra, as you may know, was only conceived a century ago and despite all the money, excellent town planners and the best architects money can buy can't guarantee a buzzing capital city. It's people that do that (and perhaps the gravity of history). That said, we had a very pleasant break drinking in culture between leisurely bike rides and learning a little Australian history along the way. An interesting place, but no, we won't be rushing back.

It was a good five degrees cooler than Sydney so the drop in temperature and a good number of deciduous trees dropping their leaves gave us a real autumnal feel - just in the nick of time as winter officially starts this week. The nights are drawing in so the working weeks are rather routine at the moment. We're already debating about where our next trip should be. Watch this space.

Steady away

We're enjoying a quiet period at the moment. Niall is still away on the Sunshine Coast hoping to pick up enough farm work to qualify for a second year visa so that he can stay on a little longer. As for us, we're enjoying the fantastic weather, mid twenties and sunny most days - perfect. We're settling in to a daily routine in our new home - so just to shake things up we've bought roller blades. I could already skate, all be it a little wobbly. No such luck for Ros, she's learning from scratch and is already sporting a large bruise on a certain part of her anatomy. She's persevering - so we'll soon be powering along the water front here with the best of them. 

It's late autumn down under but a combination of unseasonably warm weather, a lack of deciduous trees (and therefore autumn colours) and a preponderance of flowering plants means it simply doesn't feel like it. Not the first time I've said that I know but neither of us can get our heads around it, the seasons seem, well, upside down!

Ros has now been promoted at work and has a fixed term job until we  leave next September. So no worries on that score. We've just got to get through the year without falling out! It's all a bit too cosy, being in one another's company 24/7 ;-)

Here are some photo's from our travels over Easter:

• Port Douglas
• Out and about in NSW

Phew!!!

We're just coming down from a manic period! Our guests, Mick and Sue returned to the UK at the weekend having spent the last two weeks with us - they arrived just two days after we'd moved into our new apartment. Prior to that we'd had 4 backpackers staying with us (Niall and three of his friends). So now it's just Ros and myself, a chance for the two of us to settle into our new home. We're loving getting up to a wide panorama over the river and sitting out on the balcony eating breakfast while watching the runners and cyclists passing by on the waterfront. We're adjacent to the Olympic Park - a vast green area with cycle / running lanes through mangroves and manicured grassland. So Ros has no excuses for not getting her running back on track. As for me, we're a little further from work now so I've bought a second hand bike for commuting - I'm hoping to get fitter too as I've neglected my cycling over the past few weeks.

Mick and Sue's visit was the catalyst for a couple of trips over the Easter holidays. In particular we spent a few days in Port Douglas, Queensland. It's a seaside resort on the edge of the oldest tropical forest in the world and also happens to be adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef. Two world heritage sites for the price of one! So we spent two days in each! Mick and I went scuba diving on the reef while Ros and Sue went snorkelling - all from the luxury of a large boat. We did three fantastic dives at different sites to see as much of the amazing sea-life as possible. We were so enthralled that we just had to go out and do it all again and found ourselves on the Low Isles a couple of days later, this time diving from a tropical island. In between we did a couple of trips into the rain forest..... spending time with an aboriginal guide, diving into a natural plunge pool, going on a Crocodile safari and pretending to study the massive number of ancient species of plant. I took so many photo's that it's going to be a week or two before I process them all. In the meantime here's one I didn't take myself -

Diving, visitors and a new home

Mmm, I've just noticed that my posts are becoming less and less frequent - sorry for that. It's not as if I'm running out of stuff to talk about, in fact it's quite the opposite - we're going through a very active period.

I mentioned in an earlier post that we were planning on doing some scuba diving and we have since started on that. However it hasn't been plain sailing - we had a false start a couple of weeks ago. A combination of poor instructor, poor conditions and Ros's instinctive fear of drowning (!) led to a panic attack and a bail out. So we re-arranged the training with a more experienced instructor in a swimming pool (rather than a busy beach/bay) for this last weekend. Unfortunately Ros just couldn't overcome her natural fears and despite several attempts has called it a day. I've carried on and so far have completed two of the three days of the PADI Open Water Certificate. Just two dives to complete next Saturday and I'll be certified and ready for our visit to the Great Barrier Reef over Easter.

We had visitors from home a couple of weeks ago, my Auntie Bernadine and Uncle David. They were on their last leg of a tour around Australia and were staying in a hotel in the city centre having booked it before we even came out to Aus. It was good to see them and show them a few of the sydney highlights - felt like we were seasoned locals showing them the ropes. Not only did it make us realise how comfortable we've become in our surroundings in just six months but also provided us with a link to home, short lived though it was.

Despite all this activity we've just signed up for a new property. We move into a smart riverside apartment next week in a trendy district adjacent to the Olympic Park. It's 5 miles from work so in some ways is less convenient than where we are at the moment but there's a little more life down there and will give us more of a city vibe for the next 18 months. We're both looking forward to the change of scene.

Rain, rain go away

Shock, horror, it rains in Australia!

I don't think either of us were naive enough to think that it didn't literally rain but we imagined that it would be more of the tropical variety i.e. brief heavy downpours immediately followed by sunshine . That's certainly not the case in Sydney if the past month here is anything to go by. It's been miserable ... more rainy days than dry ones and when it has been dry the skies have been grey. Not what we signed up for, perhaps we should be asking for our money back? But I don't suppose I'm going to get much sympathy if you're reading this from the UK

Given all the rain I haven't been getting out on the bike as much as I'd have hoped so I braved the weather on Sunday and got a couple of soakings while out on the morning club ride. We set off for a 90k ride on dry roads but I think we all expected to get wet at some stage, the forecast wasn't good. I went prepared as if in the UK, so I had arm warmers on and a waterproof under my saddle - all standard practice back home. As it turned out I was the only one making such adjustments - it was simply too warm for extra clothing.  I was expecting that 5 degree drop in temperature that you get back home, even in the summer -seems like doesn't happen here. And the other thing is that it's a relatively clean drenching you get here, the roads are much cleaner, none of that road dirt blackening your legs and bike. So not exactly a positive experience but even getting wet in Australia presents surprises to this naive Brit.

Niall is away again, this time in Muldura doing some fruit picking (it was Oranges initially, now Grapes). He seems to be enjoying the experience as a whole but is rather disgruntled by the rates of pay. And who can blame him, the Orange farm were paying 40 - 50 dollars for a 9 hour day and taking 10 dollars back for transport costs. So he was getting up at 5 in the morning and getting the equivalent of 2 pounds fifty per hour doing a long day in the sun. Needless to say he's now happier to be moving on, hopefully the vineyard pay more than 'slave' rates.

We've just heard that a couple of Ros's friends from work, Mick and Sue ( - 'Darth' to her students) are coming to visit us over Easter. It did come as something of a (pleasant) surprise when Mick announced they'd booked the tickets and were virtually on their way out here  - though Ros had enticed them with the promise of warm autumnal seas so we shouldn't be too shocked. As a result we've quickly booked a trip to Port Douglas to see the Great Barrier Reef with them. It'll be our first trip  outside of the state, hopefully the first of many! 

Creepy Crawlies

Before we came out numerous people warned us about deadly snakes, deadly sharks, deadly crocodiles, deadly jellyfish and deadly spiders in out here. And yes all these things do exist, and I might be tempting fate here, but we haven't seen a single one of them in the wild - never mind been threatened by one! The fact is that we're spending the vast majority of our time in a major city and creepy crawlies don't like cities. Of course everyone likes to talk about their close encounters or about a friend of a friend who rescued his son from the grips of a python .... or whatever. And we did have a large (harmless) Huntsman spider in the house a couple of months ago. But I'm beginning to wonder if it's all a fuss about nothing. That said, it strikes me that these posts can't be deleted once they've been published ........ so I could be setting myself up for an embarrassing backtrack if we're attacked next week.

We were away on a camping trip in Jarvis Bay last weekend. It's a popular destination about 3 hours south of Sydney. The beaches have the whitest sand in Australia (it's in the Guinness Book of Records apparently) and go on for miles, so it's obvious why it's so popular. Part of the reason for the trip was to try out snorkeling - we bought all the kit while we were down there but things didn't quite go to plan. Turns out that facial hair doesn't help in forming a seal between skin and mask. Drastic measures may need to be taken! Here's a short set of photos from the trip.

The snorkeling is a prelude to scuba diving as we've been bought gift tokens for a local dive school (birthday presents from the Smith family back home - thanks folks!). If the snorkeling goes well the plan is to upgrade to the full scuba course and give that a serious try. It could prove to be just one of many new experiences we're picking up here.

A holiday every weekend.

Both Ros and myself have been working for a few months now so we're over the new, eager to get started phase. Consequently the working week has become fairly routine on a day to day basis. It's compounded by the fact that it's now dark well before 8 on an evening so there's only so much you can fit in to it.

On the other hand, come 4 o'clock on a Friday the weekend starts! We're conscious that we only have 2 years here and there's so much to do, so many places to see - and that gives us the impetus to just get on with it. Invariably we do something different each time, often visiting two or three places over the weekend. So much so that we have to pinch ourselves, every so often, just as a reminder that we're not on holiday. The downside to all this is that every Monday morning we get that post holiday slump we all suffer from...... but every week!! C'est la vie.

Photos from the last few weekends here: Sydney Feb 14

Backpacking and cycling.

Niall has spent the last couple of weeks in Coffs Harbour-a working holiday you might say. He's been staying in a back packers hostel - music, beers, bbq's by the beach and the company of people less than 50!  Needless to say he's enjoying the experience. but  the trip was partly prompted by his frustration of not finding work in Sydney so he's also been fruit picking up there. He came back to Sydney yesterday but the plan is to go off again some time soon and break things up that way.

The result of Niall's absence is that I've been without my training partner so I've finally joined the local cycling club. Peleton Sports describe themselves as a recreational club which suits me fine as I've promised Ros I won't be racing here - we just have too much to fit into our two precious years. The set up is reminiscent of the Ilkely CC in that there are several hundred members and it has a family vibe to it with a good number of women and youngsters out on the rides. We meet at seven in the morning on a weekend but with so many members there are several rides going out, according to ability and ambition. The fast group do a regular 50-60 mile on a Saturday with a few 2-3k climbs and descents up by the coast  - fantastic in a 30 up group. And all this in time to get back home and in the pool by ten. It came as a bit of a shock that I was struggling with the pace on the first ride last week. It shouldn't have -  it occurred to me that it was the first group ride I'd done for 6 months. I've got some work to do!

Away from Sydney

We've just got back from our first trip away from Sydney, having spent a few days near Wollongong. It's just an hour and a half south of the city but feels like a thousand miles away. In many ways it was the Australia we were expecting to come to - very laid back - very beach centric - very 'outdoor'. We took advantage of the weather and camped - something we've only occasionally done in the UK having learned the hard way that it's not much fun in a tent when it's raining. It was warm and sunny the whole time and so camping was a joy - particularly in the good company of the Flowers family. We'll endeavour to do more of the same.

It's Australia day this Sunday (a public holiday celebrating the founding of the nation - as you might guess) so it seemed appropriate to take a look at Botany Bay over the weekend. The point where Captain Cook landed and which inevitably led to the colonisation of the continent is marked by several memorials and flags. To their credit the Australians are increasingly sensitive to the flip side of the story i.e. successful colonisation can also be seen as devastating dispossession if you happen to be Aboriginal. Aldi (the supermarket) was forced by public opinion to remove Australia Day celebratory T shirts off their shelves last week. The shirts read 'Australia - Founded 1788'  - effectively ignoring 40,000 years of rich history in a single sentence! Thankfully it didn't go unnoticed.

Here's a few photo's taken over the last month :- Sydney January 2014

Alternative festive season

We were a little unsure in the run up to Christmas as to how it might pan out. On the one hand it was refreshing to be in a place where the build up to the season is less frantic but on the other we were aware that we would miss friends and family. It was also strange to be in summer heat at a time we strongly associate with cold , it just didn't compute! We decided early on that the only way to approach things was to go for a completely alternative Christmas. And so it was. Unfortunately the planned BBQ on the beach on Christmas day didn't happen due to rain (yes it does rain here!) but otherwise we've had a fantastic week. A couple of days at the beach, a trip to a national park, the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, new year fireworks at the harbour, a couple of BBQ's by the pool and upteen skype calls with folks back home. Good times!

I've posted the Yacht race photos below:
Sydney to Hobart, Boxing Day 2013