Victorian Wildlife

This weekend I spent a rather nice time catching up with some friends I'd not seen for nearly 6 years. While I was there I saw a selection of local wildlife, some slightly tamer than others.

It was a somewhat more rural area than where I'm currently living....

More local things

Just a couple of pictures for this post. Yet another view of the bridge from near where I live. Also an old car & proof that when I say uphill that is exactly what I mean...

Bits of Sydney & a very large boat

Sydney is essentially worn out of rock & here is some of it.

I went for a wander around the eastern side of the CBD and ended up in Hyde Park.

After that I got the ferry back to the Lower North Shore, so here are the last of the Harbour Bridge pictures for a while.   

This P&O cruise liner barely fitted under the bridge & was being attended by a tug to ensure it didn't cause havoc in the harbour

Flat hunting Aussie style

I went to look at a flat today. The place I am staying at the moment is a furnished rental, but it is only for 3 months. 


The location is pretty good, close to work/transport links & several Japanese restaurants, so when I saw a longer term rental advertised in the same street I thought I'd go & have a look.


The way it seems to work is that a time is defined for anyone who wants to rent the place to turn up & have a look. This means that the letting agent has to do even less work than normal. For anyone who has ever tried to find rental accommodation this may come as a colossal surprise, but it is indeed true.


There was no branded Mini Cooper outside the property, but there was a sign with the logo on which is I guess the same thing.


The net result of this process is that the guy with the stupid hair stands in the flat while for 20 minutes potential applicants wander round hoping that the other applicants don't like it.


In the end I was not going to make an application (you can't just say you'll have it) as we are not looking to move for a couple of months. Also there was a guy putting the new carpet in, but they had neglected to clean/update the kitchen or bathrooms.


If nothing else an interesting experience, and it is good to know that letting agents are the same the world over.

Pictures at night and also day

Well, after a slow start to my day I managed to be reasonably productive. I went to the gym for the first of my 7days of free trial (this is actually about 10 days as the bloke running the gym game me some extra days due to the Easter holiday). I ran to the gym as a warm up. Well ran/walked, it is a) hilly, b) warm & c) I've been eating in hotels a lot recently due to work. This will improve I hope.


After the gym and a bit of a bumble around Neutral Bay I went off to try the new camera properly. 86 pictures later....don't worry they are not all going on here..


I've been to Mosman and Balmoral beach. I even took a self portrait:

Some of the streets are slightly steep. But there is lots of green around.

The beach is mostly sand with some rocky outcrops.

The sun started to go down as I was there.

A bus to Taronga (no visit to the zoo this time around)  and onto the ferry to the city was the next destination.

With varying degrees of success I took some pictures of the CBD from the ferry.

Also a picture of North Sydney for good measure.

New Camera

So I've got myself a camera. Nothing especially flash (pun intended) but a slightly better digital compact one. A Canon G12 since you ask.

I've had it about 5 hours, most of which it's been in charge while I went to the AusPost shop to arrange a PO Box & then to the local gym to start a free trial.

Here are a couple of the first pictures taken on full auto from the balcony off my living room.

If it wasn't for that tree I'd have a direct view of the bridge.

Anyway, more later when I worked out how to use the camera & found some more interesting things to take pictures of.

I can't believe it's not Fratton

Well, day one of the new country. I found the flat ok (well the bloke who drove me from the airport did anyway) and picked up the keys.

If it wasn't for one inconvenient tree I'd have a direct view of the harbour bridge from the balcony off the lounge. The words 'view' and 'balcony' will be strange to those readers in Portsmouth. As will the sound of crickets and cockatoos rather than drunken students.

Anyhow, I started today with a trip to the supermarket followed by a walk down (and the hill means it is literally down) to the Neutral Bay ferry. The picture above is the view I had of my first foray into the city as a resident. I can't quite get my head around the fact I now live here.

More later as I have done a fair bit of walking, activated my bank account and bought a bicycle. Now, it is time for lunch. Mmm roast beef sandwich....

With apologies to John Denver

So, I'm at the airport, only 27 hours to go until I arrive at my destination.


The trip from home was rather uneventful, the main notable experience being the complete lack of a response to my attempts at conversation with the driver. Oh well, I'll soon be leaving on a jet plane.


It was hard to leave Mrs WorldOfDub this morning, but at least we know that she will be following me in 6 weeks or so. Once she has arrived we can start looking for a longer term rental property & get into the swing of a new country.


In the mean time I, as the advance party, will be investigating North Sydney and the surrounding areas. I have a list of things to find out & will be starting work in a couple of weeks, so it is not like I'll be totally on holiday.


That is about it for now, I'm clearly not used to writing this amount of prose. There will be a return to my more normal approach of mainly posting pictures once I've bought a camera. 


For now, I shall wait for my flight to be called and watch the sun come up for the last time in this hemisphere.