A post for Uncle Stu!

I have had to do a blog post for Uncle Stu’s reading sessions… and the fact that it has been over a month since my last post.

Nothing out of the ordinary to report other than I’ve spent most of my time just exploring Sydney and my home suburb of Newtown. This largely consists of going to the pub and taking advantage of the “Tab” or “Pokies” which most pubs have, (betting shops/bookies to me and you). The fact you can sit in a beer garden and watch footy, rugby, racing, dogs and the trots all with a cool beer and the sun on your back often results in unproductive weekends and sometimes drunken face time sessions with friends back in the UK.

Highlights of the past few weeks/months have been the Pukka Up boat party around the Sydney harbor, watching Bookashade and Digitalism at the Ivy, Sydney FC’s first home game v Newcastle Jets and a Sunday lawn bowls session! A few really good nights out in Kings Cross and Sunday sessions at the Kurrajong Hotel in Erskineville which plays fifties style teddy boy music most Sundays!

It would be safe to say the Aussy life is pretty good everyone is really relaxed. Landlords in the UK could learn a lot from their Aussy counterparts in the sense that the pubs aren’t part of huge chains (or they do not appear to be) each one has its own sort of atmosphere, no stupid dress codes to get into places etc. The only down side is they don’t serve pints!

Work has also been interesting. I have been working on a maintenance contract for the Sydney Olympic Park Authority. Site visits and remeasures include checking completed works around the Olympic Park which homed the Olympic Games in 2000. Recent events have been the final of the V8 Supercars known as the Sydney 500. So it was really cool seeing the road network around the park being turned into a race track!

As I am writing the parents are 2 days away from arriving in Sydney for Christmas…so the festive season will be a real treat! This weekend we are having a “Merry Shitmas” party at the house so that should make the next blog post along with other Christmas events!

Pics FYI.

Camping at Upper Colo Reserve

http://www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/community/parks-and-recreation/upper-colo-camping

My first camping trip in the Australian bush was spent at the Colo Reserve for a friends (Matthew) birthday. The site about 100km outside of Sydney is pretty remote and roughly 5km from the main road on small winey track. The site has a toilet block with cold showers only and no suitable drinking water, so basically it is in the middle of nowhere. The site ranger also informed us that the snakes are now becoming more active and advised us not to get bitten by anything dangerous (which is pretty hard in Aus) because the helicopter evacuation service takes 40 mins to get to site. CHEERS PAL!

Seven of us made the trip in total and myself and Claire were first to arrive and set up base camp in the dark. I was quite surprised with how I managed to pitch the tent in the dark in all honesty. Anyway we were soon joined by the birthday boy and a few other lads and with tents pitched and beers cooling in the eski (a cool box to any Brits reading) we set about making the fire so Matt could prepare his all in one pot, stew (which was excellent).

I think I have mentioned before how relaxed everything seems to be here compared with back home… this can be seen when comparing camp sites with those back home. Kids running around enjoying themselves with music coming from different groups of campers throughout the site and the fact that open fires were allowed. My experience of camp sites back home were certainly not the same.

The first night was spent devouring the stew which Matt made from scratch on the open fire (pretty impressive) with crusty tiger bread, before cranking up the tunes and getting on it all gathered around the fire… I am not really sure what time we all got to bed but it didn’t seem long before I was being woken by the morning chorus of the bush…. Kookaburras, macquarie’s and all other birds was pretty awesome. After bacon and egg sandwiches expertly cooked by yours truly some lads had to return home for work so that left four of us to enjoy the river and surrounding area. After a brief trip to stock up on supplies…well just booze manly and enjoying the river we set about constructing the BBQ for Saturday night’s dinner. Matt again didn’t disappoint with some great burgers which went down a treat. The rest of the evening was spent again around the fire until midnight before hitting the hay.

Sunday was over pretty quickly after de-camping and we were on the road for 9.30am and stopped in Windsor for breakfast before returning home to Sydney; back to normality with phone signal and warm showers. A great weekend was had by all thanks again to Bob for lending me his camping kit and to Matt and Claire for organizing all the weekend and all of the food etc.... Hopefully more trips to come!!

Pics FYI.

Sydney Life

No blog posts for a while largely due to the fact I haven’t actually been travelling.

I am now living and working in Sydney and will be here until Christmas to meet up with my parents who are over for three weeks. I have been out of the hostels for just over a month now and I am house sharing. I am living in Newtown which is a pretty cool part of Sydney (Hello obviously- ahahaha). Seriously though it’s a great place to live lots of bars, pubs and eateries and it is minutes from the station which is good, as I catch the train to work every morning.

Arrgghh WORK back to grindstone it is and with thanks to Claire I am working for Downer who are a large Australian Contractor. I am working as a QS on a road maintenance contract covering the NE of Sydney and the job itself is great there are differences regards the working culture but the actual day to day QS roles and responsibilities are still the same (a bit like being Robin Hood stealing from the rich and giving to the poor).

In terms of doing stuff it has been an eventful few weeks with my birthday which was spent in Coogee at great restaurant before throwing shapes in a few bars. I have also been to a Bledisloe Cup match to watch Australia get hammered by New Zealand although we left at half time to watch the start of the football season as the atmosphere was that bad… well compared to the lions anyway.

I have joined a rugby team St Patricks and have been to training and played in the last five games of the season initially starting in the fifth team before being promoted to the thirds. I am all for the way they do things out in Australia regards local rugby… Each club has five teams and the fixtures are arranged so all five teams play the opposing clubs team one after another on the same day e.g. fifth team then fourth team and so on…  once the match has finished each team creates a tunnel to clap and cheer on the next team while they run out to play. Therefore rugby takes up the whole Saturday and everyone in the club watch’s all of the team’s play which is pretty decent.

One difference which that is a bit cringe is that before kick off the team gathers and we do an American Football like chant where the whole team place their hands in the middle of a huddle before the coach gives a call of “pats on three then break” which let’s be honest is tad G-A-Y! Certainly different to Coach Bicknell shouting the orders with or Steve Dono yelling “It’s just another fifteen men boys lets f**king do these…” Pahahahahaha However the great weather and pitch side beers and BBQ’s certainly make up for it!

A trip to Luna Park (a theme park) to watch the Sydney Darts Masters made for a great night out and crossing the harbor at night by ferry to get the venue was really picturesque, a massive contrast to the darts itself. Basically pissed up POMMS everywhere largely in fancy dress… It was a great night and Phil the Power didn’t let me and the other stokies in the crowd down with a fantastic win against MVG. The weekend just passed was spent in the Blue Mountains taking in the fantastic scenery with a great 3.5hr trek following the “National Pass” a manmade walk cut out of the rock face of one of the many mountains which make up the region. The sheer size and vastness of Australia can be seen when walking around up there and is truly breathtaking. Thanks to Bob for the lift up to Wentworth Falls where we started and finished our walk!

Future Plans:

I am going to be in Australia until February next year when I then fly to New Zealand before returning home. In between that I have some plans to travel around Aus more and hopefully see Ayres Rock and the Whitsunday Islands. I also have tickets to the Ashes so I can’t wait for that.

Anyway until next time….

Pics attached.

Labouring Down Under

No updates for a while since the Lions i have been living in Bondi Beach which is about 45 mins outside of Sydney's CBD. I have been in Australia now since the 4th July and have spent a lot of money and over the past few weeks I have been applying for QS positions on fixed term contract positions. To say its been hard has been an under statement and to cut a long story short i have been labouring for a small builder. The bulk of the work has been digging and shoveling and TBH its been brilliant and i have really enjoyed it.

I must admit the health and safety side of things is nowhere near what i have been used to whilst working for Skanska back home, but needs must! I have also brushed up on my Strallian and after a few, days learnt that a tea break is known as a "Smoko" and my name was very quickly changed to "Jacko" The Aussies have a knack of putting the letter "O" onto the end of every word!!! My Bsc certainly came into use when the boss gave the tutorial on how to fill a skip and use the wheelbarrow BRILLIANT!! Aahahah

I have managed to get out and about around Sydney and have obviously visited Bondi and walked around the coast to the other lesser known bays and beaches. A brilliant trip out to Manly using the Ferry to cross the harbor taking in the bridge and opera house was also pretty decent! Most nights usually involve drinking goon in the hostel and then i always seem to end up in Kings Cross! This place reminds me the most of a night out back home so not a great advertisement but loads still loads of fun!!!

So now i am sort not living the life of a traveler but i am still using hostels as accommodation to keep costs down and maximize drinking opportunities. For the first time in four months i have had to get up at a certain time and do a days work its a hard life!

Pics FYI.Peace and Love, JH

Bondi Beach Boozing

A special thank you to Chris and Gaz who had given me the heads up on where the Lions would be spending there Sunday after the test victory. This really capped of the tour for me boozing with the lions it was mental. They were all in good spirits even Adam Ashley Cooper who had some good banter and even posed for a picture. At one point was stood having a wee with Leigh Halfpenny, Tom Croft and Ben Youngs ahahaha Brilliant. Anyway pictures speak a thousand words.

Sydney; The 3rd Test

Arriving in Sydney you could really feel the vibe centered around the rugby. Lions fans everywhere and Aussy flags and advertisements of the wallabies claiming to be "Lion Tamers." The first day was spent with Adam around the Rocks area in Sydney where restaurants and bars look out over the harbor and the view of the opera house and bridge are truly awesome. I decided to tag along with Adam and some the of Eccleshall RFC lads to the Lions Legends game and bumped into a pissed Jeromy Guscott and massive Steve Thompson. The game was pretty decent (until the power cut) but the pub after was a brilliant night. Loads of booze and rugby songs including my new favorite "We all dream of a team of Tommy Bowes!!!" Friday was spent over in Bondi Beach looking out over the ocean watching the whales in the bay before returning to meet up with one of the welsh lads i met in Melbourne for a session in Scary Canary bar.

The day of the test was AMAZING!! Pre drinks in The Rugby Club in Sydney with the Welsh who kindly let me display my St Georges flag. I have never felt so nervous watching a sporting event and i really did not know what was going to happen during the game. I had been winding up Gareth and Chris over how bad i thought Toby Faletau is... and i followed this theme for the whole day... (only joking boys hes is a great player). A few more beers around "The Rocks" and then over to the stadium which was rammed 83,000 people.... MENTAL.

I wont bother describing the game but as you can imagine it was AMAZING in the ground! Afterwards i met up with Gaz, Chris and some others and headed to "The Orient" hotel and partied until 4.30am before some miserable Aussy doorman asked me to leave!!! Seriously though asking me "are you drunk" Erm let me think i am miles from home and the Lions have just smashed Australia for their first win in 16 years. Please point out a sober lions fan at 4.30 in the morning you bonehead. Anyway what a day and what a night.

Thank you to Chris, Gaz and Dan for sharing a few beers with me for such a monumental occasion!!! LIONS LIONS LIONS

Pics FYI

Melbourne; The 2nd Test

 

  

Pics from the 2nd Test in Melbourne FYI.

Melbourne

I really enjoyed my stay in Melbourne the city is very cool! Its like a blend of Soho, Shoreditch, Manchester's Northern Quarter and San Francisco all in one. The city has lots of small lanes with cool shops, eateries and loads of graffiti (some areas are designated for this). A free walking tour from the hostel allowed me to get my bearings of the city quickly and i was soon getting around with ease. The main form of public transport are trams which i used to explore St Kilda. St Kilda is Melbourne's beach area and it was very picturesque with its large beach and lighthouse situated on the headland.

Federation Square is the focal point of the city and sits opposite Flinders Street station and hugs the Yarra River. The only productive day was spent in the ACMI (Australian Center for the Moving Image) which documents the history of film and media through the ages. The free exhibition was pretty cool and had lots of interactive areas with retro video games and TV shows. The paid exhibition focused on importance of costumes within the movie world. My favorite part of this was the display centered around Robert de Niro as they had costumes on display from Casino and Goodfellas.

Most of time was spent in the hostel bar where i met loads of welsh people (seriously there cannot be anybody in Wales ATM). Friday night was spent in the hostel bar taking advantage of the happy hour before heading to a pub in Fed Square then i had the pleasure of pulling my trump card which certainly impressed my new found welsh friends. Basically i had a Facebook invite to a club night which upon entry if you had the correct password you could buy beers for $1.... Guess who had the password yours truly!!! So Friday evening was spent dancing the night away in some small club full of "cool" kids and me and my new rugby buddies!!! Ahahaaha a brilliant night was had by all. Special thanks to Emelyne who i met in Thailand who sorted me out with the password.

The day of the test was spent with Phil and Adam (Trentham Rugby Club Friend) who both had tickets for the game. Adam had kindly agreed to bring me some warm clothes from the UK. Special thank you to Adam for this i know it would have been a complete ball ache!!! THANK YOU. We again ventured to St Kilda and had lunch before heading back into Melbourne for the game where i had agreed to meet a friend from back homes Sister and her Aussy Partner Chris we shared a few beers and banter before walking to the ground.

My seats were on the front row and the steward would not let me hang my flag up and viewing the game was also hard work but the atmosphere was electric... the stadium roof was closed for the game and this definaltly helped towards the atmosphere, shame the game was terrible! (I will upload pics from the 2nd test on a new blog entry).

After the mad weekend i basically had a chilled few days to save money for Sydney and look for jobs to try and boost the traveling monies for New Zealand. But i did manage to have a browse around Carlton and Fitzroy again all very cool areas where you are surrounded by fashionista's and blokes riding folding bikes!

Pics FYI.