blogz0r ___ version fifty seven

I took a train south yesterday to Cronulla Beach, the area that was unfortunately the scene of some nasty race riots around the New Year time. As expected though (quite rightly) there was no sign of any trouble today! The beach itself is curved into the land, so not massively long but the sand is lovely! The skies were perfect too so the sea became a deep blue/green colour.

I’m pretty much fascinated by the sea (and planes) so this place was ideal as it overlooks the area of the Tasman Sea used by incoming planes to circle whilst waiting for a landing spot at the . It was a nice way to spend the afternoon! Pics, as ever:

On my map was a land mass called “Shark Island” that had to be visited with a name like that, so I walked a bit south and was dissapointed when it turned out to be some lame rock. No sharks, no frenzied killing, no nothing. Stupid lame shark island:

The sea:

Well folks I think its about time I wrote a few bits and bobs instead of leaving Davey boy to do all the work.

Here in Adelaide is one kickass thunderstorm, I’ve never seen so much rain in my life, the garden is flooded more than usual and the roads look like a river, I hope it dies down before I have to walk to work.

The Fringe festival starts today so the city should be a laugh, I’m working a couple of them but we arent allowed to take cameras at working times which is a pain as I could get some good backstage pictures of artists and comedians nobody at home knows or cares about.

I got a bit bored today so I cooked one of my favourite meals for the second time this fortnight, Poached salmon tail on top of dill and spring onion mashed potatoe drizzled in home made hollandaise sauce, Those Jamie Oliver references I get are understated, I’m way better

Anyway folks, I’ll pop some piccies of the festival up if I can get in with a camera, have fun now, be good to each other.

Lee/MiGGinZ

On my way to Kings Cross (I went via a diverted route) I stopped by the Anzac war memorial, a “focal point for the Returned Services League and all those who remember the wars in the search for peace”.

The Hall of Memory – it’s designed so people have to look down so their heads are naturally bowed.

There are 4 “corners” in the circular building with etchings in the stone depicting Australian activity in wars/military activity. Here’s one corner:

One external side:

The memorial from further out in Hyde park:

I had a stroll along to Darling Harbour today which is just west of the CBD, and south west of Sydney Harbour. I was more excited about the buildings to be honest, although there was a (I assume decommissioned) warship and a pirate ship on display. OK, it wasn’t a real pirate ship but it does look like one.

Here’s the warship. It was called the VAMPIRE. Hardcore:

Here’s the pirate ship. I didn’t catch its name so I shall name it the VAMPIRE. Hardcore:

Here’s a pic of the monorail from the other side of the harbour. I like straight lines:

The IBM building with the monorail cutting across it.

The skyline kind of looking over the south of Sydney's centre:

I want to go back here (and to the harbour bridge) at night and get some shots as I reckon once it’s all lit up it’ll be quite spectacular.

I overhead some hoity toity student from down the road telling a lady in a shop that tonight was the first performance of an English play where she had to have a Liverpool accent. Cue her doing her “accent” in front of this bemused lady… I kind of turned to look at nothing in the distance to hide my grin as she spouted this sentance like a bloody BBC news reader fresh from the silver spoon factory.

Maybe postpone your audition for Brookside for a while, eh?.

I’ve had limited access to the web recently, but here’s a selection of photos I took at the harbour last week when the QE2 sailed out:

View from the concourse:

View from The Rocks on other other side of the harbour:

Harbour Bridge:

Back view of the CBD from the Opera House:

Docked QE2 before departing:

QE2 being pulled out by the tug boats with the bridge behind. The ship pretty much engulfed the whole view as it sailed past.

Patriotic passenger. I like this one:

Back of the ship as it sailed out of the harbour:

Here’s a list of stuff I saw today:

• Top-Class Sheep Placenta – Now, if I were to decide to go out and buy a sheep’s placenta I’d have to be certain it’d be top quality, so at $7 who can complain? Quality offal for those quality occasions.
• Crazy Guy (and toy) – There was a crazy guy in his 50s chasing a pea-sized screwed up piece of paper across a busy street. He looked like he was having fun! I certainly was when I watched him actually trip over the thing in excitement.
• Worst Bagpipe Player Ever – I think this guy was taking the piss to be honest. If I were Scottish I’d have been embarrassed to have witnessed it. I’m not though so I couldn’t give a toss!
• Lightening – Storm’s on its way!
• The biggest food hall ever – rows and rows of stalls all selling oriental-style food. I’d just had my lunch so was thankful I didn’t have to decide on choosing one. These are some hard choices I have to make at the minute, eh?
• Andy Chiu – OK, it wasn’t Andy but looked a lot like him.
• “Treats From Home” – A shop catering for all the English people clearly missing a few home comforts. I was expecting the usual chocolate bars, biscuits, Union Flag tat, but they had UK washing powders and conditioners too! That’s not that exciting is it?
• A Curious Dog Turd – I’m actually lying here as I saw this last week in Newtown, but it was a dog turd on the street with a shoe box laying next to it with “DON’T TOUCH THE DOG POO!” crudely written in red and blue marker pen. I was amazed someone had the courtesy to forewarn pedestrians about the danger, and had used two colours to emphasise this.

And that’s that.

This is what I can see from my room. All those buildings make up the central business district of Sydney’s centre. It’s a 25-30 minute walk from here to get there (at my pace!).

Out of my other window is the rooftop balcony which overlooks the Eastern Distributer road. You don’t need to see that

Woo, well I took a long walk today after I decided to go and buy linen and carried on walking. The only reason I’m in here is because my legs are knackered!

I walked from my flat upto Hyde Park to the war memorial, then up one of the roads running parallel to to the CBD until I stumbled across the Opera House (and Harbour Bridge). Because I’d initially gone out to buy linen I didn’t have my camera with me so I don’t have any pics!

Despite the lack of cam (it’s been a cloudy day and I’ll be going back anyway) it was cool. The actual Opera House is covered in white tiles that have, over the years of wind battering and general sea air, being turned a kind of brown colour. I was surprised at the state of it really, as it’s not that clean at all. The offices are situated around the front (or rear? – I don’t know which is the front) with semi-darkened windows, but you can see the workers in there picking their noses, and random plates of uneaten food lying about. I overheard one pissed off Aussie lady saying “this is a fucking disgrace! This country is full of dickheads!” which I thought was a bit much. It was only a dirty plate.

The Harbour Bridge on the other hand looks pretty cool. It’s massive, and the people climbing it look like ants. That’ll be me soon – I’ve always wanted to climb it but I’ll wait ’til I have company. It’ll look pretty cool at night I reckon if it gets lit up, as will the harbour which plays host to some giant cruise ships and cafes along the edges. It’s a groovy place!