So, my regular updates haven’t really popped off as I was intending them to. Sorry! I’m going to be playing catch up and get back up to speed with the blog.
Back at the very end of April, I traveled down to Kangaroo Valley for Erin and Adam’s wedding, Mim’s friends. It was the first time I ventured out of the city and experienced some Australian countryside. It was pretty spectacular, especially after Miriam organised for a group of us to stay in an amazing passive glass house overlooking the valley.
View of the valley from the outside:
…and from the inside:
We actually arrived late on Friday night so I was excited to unveil the view across the valley in the morning by lifting the automatic blinds from bed, only to see about 10 metres of countryside due to thick, low lying fog. Over the course of the morning the sun broke through and unveiled the expansive uninterrupted vista, all with no city noise.
Naturally, I had high expectations of finally seeing a kangaroo. After all, it was Kangaroo Valley and I was told of stories citing the infamous valley scene from Jurassic Park with big groups of Kangaroos hopping across the valley in the evenings.
Whilst we missed the evening flocking, being at the wedding ceremony, I did see 3 kangaroos at the bottom of the valley in the early afternoon when getting ready. No T-Rex though:
The wedding ceremony was held in the Upper Kangaroo Valley Community Hall. It had a Kill Bill, El Paso, Texas vibe to it, very quaint, beautiful and typically Australian.
Back in Sydney, we went to Everleigh markets – a yuppie farmers market in Redfern – to look around only to bump into a cool installation at Carriageworks gallery next door. It was somewhat reminiscent of Anthony Gormleys White Light installation. This was a dark room 
with a central platform, heavy strobe lighting and rain sprinklers to create a perpetual storm. Luckily they provided the attire (Pat & Mim):
May passed pretty quickly as it was nearly all taken up by moving from place to place and finally settling down into the new abode. Here is our house is Marrickville, the same suburb I was initially staying in for the first month.
Entrance and front porch.
Hallway from front door, with bedrooms off them to the right, leading into living room and then kitchen, bathroom, toilet, garden. Living room.
Kitchen.
Bedroom.
Ceiling detail in the bedroom (Sneddling, I thought you’d appreciate this).
Our avocado tree, with the last remaining avocado.
Here is a baby huntsman spider that I found in our small shed in the garden when we moved in. Fortunately, its just the shell as they shed their skin every so often:
I was freaked out by it at first and I spent a long while waving a broom at it to see if it was going to, probably fatally, attack me. This baby is only about 10cm across, but Huntsman can grow to “clock size”. In all seriousness, they only eat insects and cockroaches – so it’s probably best to spend my time worrying about other insects I may encounter.
Sadly, at the very end of May, Mim’s cat Rafa was hit by a car and killed outside our house which was very upsetting for everyone. Mim rescued the little guy from a tree when he was a kitten and nursed his scrawny frame into good health. He was a huge character bringing a lot of life to the house and happiness to everyone who encountered him. I was lucky enough to hang out with him a fair bit when everyone else was out working in the day time. It’s a massive loss not having him about.
A few days later, June rolled around and it was my Birthday. Many of you would have seen the photo I put on facebook of the Opera house, claiming the view was from our new house. Lies. Mim took me to the Four Seasons in Circular Quay and it was the harbour view from our room! The view speaks for itself really:
After arriving and checking in, we ventured out into the Rocks (an area of Syd) for lunch and to check out the Museum of Contemporary Art which was about 100metres down the road. The gallery was heaving as it was the last weekend of the large temporary exhibition, plus it was raining a fair bit which always means indoor attractions are fairly packed. We decided to leave it for another day and go and chill out in the hotel and get ready to go for canapes and drinks on the Executive Club level that Mim had organised! I got back to the hotel room to find she had paid for my shirt to be pressed which was hung and waiting for me. What can I say? She knows me well! The views during the evening were just as impressive.
The Executive club was awesome. We did a great job of taking advantage of the self serve bar — Champagne, Hennessy, Gin, Vodka. Once geared up, we walked across to the Opera Bar to meet our friend Sarah for a drink and to explore the Vivid Festival. Vivid, is a light festival along the harbour in the Rocks and around Darling Harbour where installations are installed within and projected on architecture and the surroundings of Sydney. http://www.vividsydney.com/
We raced across the the Opera Bar first as Sarah was going to a show at the Opera House and didn’t have much time before it started. Once we arrived, Sarah actually had 2 spare tickets to see Amon Tobin – a DJ/light artist that was part of the Vivid festival. After swiftly disposing of the drinks we had just bought – down the hatch – I found myself in the Opera House itself.
The Amon Tobin show was quite a spectacle. He DJs from inside a central pod built into a stage of boxes, that then have multiple projections and effects cast onto them.
Afterwards, Sarah, Mim and myself returned to the Opera bar to finish with some drinks and a long overdue catch up. The outside area of the Opera bar has a great view of the bridge, as well as being a great place to view the projections onto the Opera House itself:
At some point in June, I finally finished my cable knit jumper. It only took me a year to complete but its coincided with the cooler Australian winter. I’m enjoying having something so well fitted.
After the colonisation of Australia, a mint was set up in Sydney with all of the coins prior to this a brought over from England before . As there was so much gold around, the first coins in production were all solid gold and with pretty cool designs including my favourite with St.George and the Dragon. I was also curious to visit the mint as it has recently been redeveloped and wanted to see how the original C19th sandstone building had been adapted to work with the new contemporary aspects. When redeveloped it was designated to be the new headquarters of the Historic Housing Trust which means it now dual purpose as a museum and an office. However, there was a really interesting library specialising in the design and architecture and some artefacts from the Historic House Trust collection. Most notably a clay ceramic garden seat that looked like it had been grown on a coral bed or something. It got me reminiscing of the clay work I did at Cedars.
The library was in part of the old Mint factory which was so big that the columns were painted in different configurations of stripes to denote which area you were in.
At the end of June, Mim and I flew up to Byron, her home town, for a long weekend. Mims mum, Cas, picked us up at the airport and we went on a tour of Byron in the car, ending up at main beach. As you can see from the flowing photos its a beautiful place and when we arrived there was a great swell with lots of surfers in the water and the beach full of spectators. As many of my friends who have travelled will know Byron is a pretty popular tourist and backpacker destination. With surf that good, I wanted to stay much longer than we did.
Here is Mims Byron house. The main reason we went up when we did was to help Cas with a garage sale/house clearance. She has sold this house and its huge plot of land and bought a new plot on the other side of Byron that she is building on.
Garage sale:
Cas feeds some Kookaburras which means they come very close to the house.
On Sunday, Mim and I took a long walk down the beach in sensational weather:
We stopped by the famous Byron markets on the way home from the beach. Picked up a delicious fresh Lemonade amongst other things- as well received in the heat as the Lemonade stall at Glastonbury last year! On the way back from the markets, right by Mims house, there were loads of fruit bats in the trees. Another animal crossed off the ‘to see’ list.
Often, hilariously, compared to a lighthouse, here I am, with a lighthouse.
Again, here is the main man at the most easterly point of Australian mainland, apparently with a flashing woman, exposing herself to the Pacific Ocean!
We were in Byron during whale season. Whales are basically swimming up the east coast of Australia from the Antarctic to give birth in a Harvey Bay, Queensland. With Byron being the most easterly point in Aus, its a great place to whale watch. I was lucky enough to catch a few groups, mainly identifiable from their fountains of water. They were really far out but it was still amazing to see. Occasionally I saw a black smudge of whale but unfortunately no ‘Free Willy’ experience jumping over me on an outcrop of rocks. I did however see some dolphins very close to shore. I even caught one on my iPhone, just: look closely now —
On Sunday afternoon, Mim and I visited Astrids mums house in Coorabell — a few km inland from Byron. Their house is built from scratch, on stilts and it has unbelievable views of the macadamia farms in the valley and all the living space is up in the tree canopies.
Back in Sydney, I managed to get to the Gallery of New South Wales for an afternoon. Its pretty big so I only looked around the contemporary permanent galleries. There was some pretty good paintings, especially of the Australian landscape. Overall, pretty impressed. The Gallery of NSW:
If passing when in Surry Hills, I check out Living Edge. It’s a high end interior design and furniture shop. Its got lots of really nice, inspirational design in. Here’s a chair I really liked:
Mim and I went to the Sydney Fish markets one weekend and bought scallops, mussels, pinkies, cockles and some bugs (a kind of flat lobster). As with every trip to various food markets we bought too much and had to freeze a load of stuff.
In mid July, I finally found a job. Despite having my second worst interview of all time I now work at David Jones. It’s a big department store in the centre of Sydney, akin to Selfridges back in London. Finding a job was pretty tough with the visa restrictions of working for any one employer for a maximum of 6 months. I think I was pretty naive in thinking I would find something as easily as my brother did in Vancouver. Anyway, after countless applications I’m finally working as a Junior E-tail Coordinator within the Marketing department. David Jones are relaunching their website having not changed it since it launched. They’re going from 900 products on the current site, to 90000 on the new. So I am coordinating a certain group of products onto the new website- working with the buyers, suppliers and agencies to source images and copy and processing them ready for the site. This is my second week at the job and I expect to be here till the end of August when the new site launches.
Winter here has been pretty glorious and I often eat lunch in Hyde Park right next to work, occasionally with my pal Victoria I. David Jones is right under centre point, so you know where to find me:
I can just about walk to Gelato Messina in my lunch break too. So Friday lunches are usually set aside for a brisk 20 minute walk each way to Paddington for some deliciousness:
This street I find really reminiscent of a downtown American city with the huge acrylic Coke sign which is the start of Kings Cross , part of my walk to Messina from work:
I had about 2 weeks in between securing the job and my start date. With some work lined up I was finally feeling good that I could go and explore and I didn’t need to spend every moment searching online or being out looking for work. Here are some photos when I was out and about: 1) ‘HIPHOP’ CBD alley 2) Florence Nightingale Hospital 3) Occupy Sydney – considerably smaller than Londons!
During this update I have tried to leave all notable food and drink until the end after feedback that the Field blogs are predominately filled with and emphasise all things consumable. For the haters, you can skip this section and avert your eyes as its just food and drink for a view hundred pixels. Some of this updates best of includes:
1) Sardines on toast at Cornersmith, Marrickville.
2+3) Joint effort Sunday Roast/Feast, home, Marrickville.
4) Prosecco at Frida Bar, Chippendale.
5) Lunch at Breakfast by Mike, Roseberry
6+7) Tequila Oyster shot with chilli salsa at The Eathouse Diner, Redfern.
A few weekends ago, our flatmates Astrid and Eddie did poetry readings at a Gallery in Surry Hills:
Mims work, Pure and Applied, have started Final Fridays- a seminar night with food and drinks every last Friday of the month. They have speakers on design/design practice/sustainability which I helped run last weekend. It was very well attended and a definite success.
Yesterday, a huge group of us woke up very early, caught the train to the south side of the National Park and walked a stupid 32km along the coast back toward Sydney in aid of Mim’s friend, Pat Grants Birthday. Although it was painful, the whole experience was incredible– proper Aus bush, walking through a freaky disused train tunnel, springs and waterfalls, secret surf spots, sandy beaches, crazy cliff faces, swimming in a freezing cold water hole, swimming on a deserted beach with flying fish at dusk, seeing a type of small kangaroo very close up — all in glorious 20degree weather. I’m burnt and sore from it but it was definitely well worth the effort.
2/3km disused train tunnel – we were all concerned as to where we were being taken!
Fresh water swimming hole plunge pool:
‘Tofu’ cliff:
So close to the end!!! Type of Kangaroo (you can just see it in bushes) with City in the distance- a welcomed sight:
I’m enjoying the transfer window hotting up and I hope AVB can attract a decent signing or two. Also, the new Tottenham kit has been unveiled and I’ll be hoping to ship a B, B, Bale shirt over here when I get some funds together. I’m resigned to Luka Moders being sold but hopefully for some good money and we can invest it back into some world class or young players with big potential. Only a couple of weeks to the start of the new season and its a big one for the Spurs, away at Newcastle.
That is it for now. I hope to catch up with more people back in England as I know I’ve been as good as staying in touch as I have updating this blog. I miss everyone a lot and I’m really missing out with the Olympics. From what I can catch, it’s epic!
Liam
liam resides sydneyside 