Sunset

Last week I went out for some leaving drinks after work. Avoiding our usual trip to The Oaks in Neutral Bay we headed down to the Deck just inside Luna park. 

Luna Park is the traditional fair behind the scary face you can see poking out under the bridge as you look north across the harbour.

While we were there the sun set in a fairly typical for Sydney, by very spectactular fashion. I have attempted to capture these, the quality may have been affected by a) use of a phone camera & b) I may have had a beer or two..

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Spring has sprung, at least in the shops.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Weather

No posts for a month & then two in a day. Whatever next?

Anyway as an Englishman abroad it is traditional to mention the weather at regular intervals. "Blimey it is hot/cold/wet/dry etc" or more usually "So this 20 degree sunny day is Winter is it?"

Anyway in order to prove that it is not sunny here all the time, here are some views from the flat a couple of weeks ago. This is looking over to North Sydney.

Today however the weather is slightly different as can be seen from these pictures. August is still technically winter, but it is 23 degrees outside.

I suppose I should include a picture of the Opera House as well.

All for now, will return when I have something else to take pictures of.

Moving in

Well not really moving in, as we've been here for a while. Actually our stuff arriving from the UK.

The container that only just fitted up the drive was full to bursting with the 146 packages that had been shipped from the UK. This time I wasn't able to avoid helping due to being in a different country.

Step one was to get the stuff off the truck. The two blokes delivering the container were surprised that we helped get things into the space under the building. I think that says more about the area we live in than how helpful we are.

From here it was only 4 hours of carrying the boxes up 3 flights of stairs to the flat. It is comforting having our stuff with us now. The bedroom is much better now of course.

We have, since these pictures were taken, rented a storage unit to keep some of the bulkier stuff in. Putting the contents of the boxes in wardrobes & chests of drawers helps too.

Google Boobs

I've been playing cricket in Neutral Bay at Forsyth Park (among other places) but when I Googled the park I saw this on the map view:

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Does anyone know if the trees were intentionally planted for comic effect & what is under the circular man-made part of the park?

Vivid

A return to the better approach of less typing more pictures. We ventured south of the harbour (yes really) to see the Lighting The Sails displays.

There are 43 installations around Circular Quay, with the main one being the illumination of the Opera House. The Opera House bar was surprisingly quiet (and the same price as the Oaks) which was an excellent place to view the light shows from.

A swirly light thing

Some glowing people 

 The city skyline and Circular Quay were illuminated with some of the colours of the rainbow. And purple.

Opera House of many colours.

This was created by motion capture of people throwing virtual paint balloons.

Direct from the Ice Planet of Hoth - an Imperial Scanner Droid.

Driving & the North

No posts for a while - Mrs WorldOfDub has arrived, we've been to Newcastle for a work weekend away & less interestingly I've been at work.


This might be a bit rambling, but here goes...


I had my first experience of driving in Sydney a couple of Thursdays ago. I've joined GoGet a car hire scheme where you can hire cars by the hour. The cars (mainly small town cars) are parked at various locations in the city and you use a swipe card to get into them. It is cheaper than owning a car, especially as living 7 minutes walk from work & a short bus or ferry ride into the city makes using a car rather pointless.


Anyway, I successfully got myself to Sydney airport in the hired Hyundai without major incident. As usual I'd allowed too much contingency time so there was a degree of pacing until Mrs WoD pushed her huge pile of luggage through the arrivals channel.


I managed not to bend the car on the return journey in the rush hour traffic, and the rental flat is now much more full of semi unpacked luggage. It is so good that MRs WoD has arrived, the last 6 weeks have been lonely without her.


Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) our first weekend was a trip to Newcastle (surprisingly similar to the UK version) for a work conference.


The trip up was rather pleasant, past the Hunter Valley & the forests of the central coast (none of which I have pictures of). It was good to see/meet people from the other offices - especially the Melbourne guys who were in the pub by 1pm on the Friday...


The 'work' part of the weekend started at 8:15 on the Saturday, which meant that most people were somewhat struggling as a result of the Friday evening socialising. It seems that most of the 'other halves' used the Saturday to sleep, something I think the staff wished they could do as well.


Anyway, I think I have some pictures of shiny things to sort through for another post so will end the typing now.