Explore with Fran

Join me on the journey as I travel, eat, and drink my way around the world

And into month 5 we rock

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I say it every month.  I will probably keep saying it every month.  So, apologies in advance.  Am I in month 5 of this new life already?  The days and weeks are flying by, to the extent that I am already one and half months into my 6 month work contract.  Where did those weeks go?

Now, we are on the run up to Xmas, and some well needed time off work.  I suspect the next few weeks will go equally as fast.  The second half of my Spanish course.  Which, by the way, I am really enjoying.  Something I should have done a long time ago.  Regular gym visits, now I have formally committed and joined on a 6 month contract.  Nothing to do with the manager being a very attractive girl who twisted my arm into joining.  Nothing at all.  How shallow do you think I am?  Football twice a week, with the odd after football beer (or 3).  We do play on Thirsty Thursday after all, and from what I have seen the last few weeks, Thursday looks a particularly good day to wet your whistle.

Santa lording it over Darling Harbour
Did I mention Xmas?  Oh yeah, I’m sure I have seen Santa around town.  But if it wasn’t for the incongruous tree, basking in the mid-day sun in Martin’s Place, or the one below lighting up the interior of the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) one could be forgiven for forgetting we are in the Yuletide season.  Yes, some shops have trimmed up.  Or at least, made a token effort.  Some of the Xmas trees they have put up have seen better days.  If there was a “Comic Relief” charity for sorrowful looking trees, these specimens are the ones you would see on your screen.  Paraded against a backdrop of “Everybody Hurts” by REM.  I saw one in Starbucks that looked as though it had had all its pine needles stolen.  With all the money Starbucks are saving on unpaid taxes in the UK, you would think they could afford a healthier looking tree.

QVB xmas tree, or part of it.  It goes through 3 floors

With Xmas comes yet another birthday.  Not that I have ever worried about them.  What’s age but just a number.  I’ve never let it define me, or influence how I live my life.  That said, I do use the time, strategically placed at the end of the year, to reflect on what I have achieved the preceding year.  And this year, it is fair to say, has been a productive one for me personally, one in which I feel I have continued my growth as a person.  Moving to the other side of the world, on my own, was never going to be easy.  But it was something I wanted to do, and so to coin a phrase, “I felt the fear and did it anyway”.  

And here we are, entering month 5, and the festive season.  A time I am looking forward to, with visits from friendly faces from home, to help celebrate Xmas and New Year.  I suspect it will be a fun filled time, with plenty liquid refreshment and a champagne fuelled, inebriated Skype call home on Xmas Day to speak to mum, my sisters and my nephews and niece.  As I nurse the resulting hangover, I’ll be wondering what next year will bring as I continue to search for my raison d’etre.

Glebe Street Fair

The last month in Sydney has seen my going to a few street fairs on the weekends.  These are always bigger events than I anticipate.  I went to the Glebe Street Fair the other day and was staggered by how busy it was.  Glebe Point Road was full of market stalls, end to end, with evocative food smells drifting in the air, and the number of Sydney-siders who had come out in their droves to support it was truly impressive.  A fantastic community effort all round.  I had a mooch around, sustained by a coffee from Mano Espresso, as recommended by a new twitter friend, @NickiGirlStar.  Twitter really does open up a world of local knowledge when used well.  I have also been getting good coffee and food recommendations from @msnessiel, another virtual Sydney neighbour from cyber space.  It is not who you know, but rather, who you don’t know.

One recommendation that didn’t come from Twitter was “Scenic Dogging”.  I didn’t know what it was either.  Honest.  On a recent day out at Bradley’s Head, Mosman, (one of Sydney’s best look out points) on arrival a friend said it looked a great place for this afore mentioned, unknown to me, activity of scenic dogging.  I’m not sure what surprised me more.  The fact that I immediately agreed with him, once he explained to naïve little me what it meant, or who the suggestion came from.  Maybe that young man has secrets we don’t know about.  Not as innocent as he appears.  He did seem rather well acquainted with the bush up there.  Stop it!  You know I mean’t the Australian bush.  Such filthy minds.

As we roll into December, we usher in summer.  Scooter rides in thongs (the Australian version), long lazy days at the beach, apple based alcoholic refreshments in the local.  Spending the evening on a new hobby.  Counting freckles.  The sun brings them out you see, and it’s a good barometer of how well you are catching the sun.  Whilst always remembering the sunscreen.  Which is as tenuous a link as is needed to re-post this fantastic song again. Sunscreen song.  Working on getting the tan just right for when Pommie friends visit, and I can sufficiently gloat.  Well, after all, isn’t that why I moved here?

Hasta luego chicos and see you in month 6.

You have a choice…

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Too much choice!

“We are our choices”, said Jean-Paul Sartre.

Which would be OK, if we were actually able to choose.  But that is where the problem starts.

You want to go out for dinner.  A restaurant would be the logical place to start.  But what type of food do you want to eat?  This used to be a simple decision, a process of eliminating a couple of choices and off you go.  Now things are much more complex.  Not only do you have the age-old dilemma of nationalities, curry over chinese, or maybe the English stalwart, fish and chips.  Now you have the problem of nationalities joining forces and creating “fusions” of each.  The word fusion and it’s morphing into a genre of food probably originated in Australia.  A cultural melting pot in which many foods converge, and then merge, giving fusion cuisine.

A great concept.  To begin with.  But has it gone too far?  

Quite possibly when we have Japanese/French, or Australian/Mexican fusion restaurants amongst others.  I don’t want sushi on my pancakes.  If I order a few bbq’d shrimps or a bit of tender kangaroo, I don’t want it in a taco.  Stop!

Technology is as bad.  Not many years ago, going into a shop and asking for tablets would usually result in the question, how strong sir, is it for a migraine.  Now you are more likely to be asked, what screen size?  Retina display?  Do you want jellybean, ios or a google based one?  Help, shoot me now. The market seems awash with tablets and not many a month goes by without either a new launch, or a “refresh” as they are euphemistically called.

And mobile phones?  Don’t start me on mobile phones.  Seriously.  Don’t. 

I recently was looking at ways of organizing the paper based notes I’m making in my Spanish classes.  This proved to be a minefield.  Evernote?  OneNote?  Useless note? (OK, I made that one up).  And where to store them?  The mythical cloud seems to be the place these days.  In Skydrive?  Apple’s cloud?  Dropbox?  The irony of DropBox is the tagline, “Simplify your life”.  Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it too late to want to go back to when the world was a simpler place? We all had the same Nokia phone? People weren’t messing with my food.  My capacity to save documents was determined by the memory available on whatever device I was using.

Am I kidding myself?  I fear the answer is yes.  Have we gone too far in western society?  Have we gone too far full stop?  There are books written on minimalism.  In fact, there are dozens of books on minimalism.  Appreciate the irony in this?

And coffee shops.  Further irony.  The more independent coffee shops we have, offering more choice, they all suddenly look the same.  What was once the homogeneity of the big chain coffee shops, has now morphed into homogenous streets of endless independent coffee shops, all offering the same arty flat whites, or lattes with a pretty little flower made in the milk on the top.  The only way they can differentiate themselves now is by going to such extremes as offering overpriced vacuum made coffee (also called siphon), as seen so long ago as 1945 in the film “Brief Encounter”.  And people are paying for this.  It’s complete nonsense.  Give me an Italian espresso house any day.  Without menus and silly offerings such as skinny decaf soy lattes.  You want coffee, you pay your euro and you get a shot of pure gold.  You want a ridiculous concoction that involves messing with the heart and essence of coffee making?  There is the door.

Well, that’s my rant over.  I just suppose I am going to have to deal with the abundance of choice, despite how it makes me feel.

In the meantime, fish and chip pizza anyone?
And if you want proof that too much choice paralyses our decision making abilities, Google “the jam experiment” which details a study by an expert in the field, Columbia University Professor Sheena Iyengar.  In 1995 she conducted an interesting experiment that highlighted just how difficult we find it to make a purchase when given too much choice.

Drinks, art, football and drinks

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As I promised in my last blog, there are a few things that I was going to update you on.  Things I had been up to since my last dispatch.  Not that much of it has been overly exciting but my mum seems to enjoy reading about it.  And it saves me the cost of a stamp, sending her a real letter.  So mum, this is for you, but you may be sharing it with many of my other friends.
A couple of weekends ago saw me attending the annual beer festival at the Australian Hotel (pub, remember) in the Rocks.  I met up with a mate from England who was over here with work.  Budget constraints within Lloyds Banking Group means that they can no longer afford to provide biscuits for team meetings.  However, they can fly a couple of people business class to the other end of the world for beer festivals.  I was assured by Steve that he was also here to work on some other stuff, but I’m not so sure.  I think Steve thought I wanted to meet up with him as we had not seen each other for a while.  Actually, the real reason was that I was hoping he was going to return the box of Lapsang Souchong tea that I lent him in 2003.  I ended up very disappointed.  That said, we had an excellent day that seamlessly segued into an evening bar crawl around some of Sydney’s less touristy pubs.
With a head that was as tender as a heavily worked over steak, I again met up with Steve and Andy on the Sunday, to do the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk, along with Scott and Kelly.  It was like “Yorkshire’s day out”.  All we needed was for one of the cafes along the way to start selling Yorkshire Puddings.  It didn’t happen.  We picked a good weekend for the walk as it was the “Sculptures by the Sea” event.  A random collection of art pieces placed along the walk; some better than others in my humble opinion.  But then, I’m no art critic.  I can’t tell a Manet from a Monet.
Tuesday of the following week saw me attending my first ever Spanish class.  Something that I have been threatening to do for years.  For a long time I have been dipping in and out of Spanish language books, listening to Spanish language podcasts, and even immersed myself in Spanish for 3 months last year whilst travelling around South America.  For the first time I am now formalizing my learning and have started an 8 week, level 1 course.  I have grand intentions of continuing post this course and taking my learning to a level where I could actually have a conversation in Spanish.  Some cynics have suggested that it is my way of trying to meet dark haired, buxom senoritas.  Me? 
My weeks really are beginning to develop a structure, and this continues on Thursday nights with me signing up to an outdoor 5 a-side futsal league.  Futsal is an extremely popular sport around the world, just not so in the UK.  It is essentially “normal” 5 a-side but with a small, less bouncy ball, large goals, and mainly no contact.  The no contact thing is the hardest to get used to, especially with a referee as fastidious on the rules as the one we have each week.  That aside, it is great fun and I’ve met another bunch of lads, both European and Australian.
Two other events of note have been Balmoral Uncorked and the Air BnB party.  Balmoral Uncorked is an annual event at my local beach.  Various wineries of the Hunter Valley set up stall and allow you to taste, and subsequently purchase their many fine drops.  Complemented by stalls selling cheeses, olive oils and various other foods, you had everything you could need for a fabulous Sunday afternoon.
For those not familiar with Air BnB, it is a global website whereby people advertise rooms in their homes to give traveller’s a more authentic experience than staying in a faceless hotel.  I used the site for my first month in Australia, which is where I was unfortunate lucky enough to have met Steph.  Based in San Francisco, the founders of Air BnB held a party on Cockatoo Island in Sydney for hosts and their guests.  So I went along with Steph, together with Darrol and Claire, two more guests that have stayed with Steph.
Not knowing what to expect I have to admit I was blown away.  Ferries were laid on every 30 minutes to shuttle us to the island from Circular Quay.  The bar was free all night.  It was, I kept checking!  And with a great selection of bottled beers, wines and cocktails.  There was free food served up from the excellent food trucks that have been doing the rounds of Sydney recently.  And once the guests were suitably inebriated, there was a DJ spinning some quality tunes, allowing us all to make idiots of ourselves on the dance floor.  Brilliant.  Oh, I did I mention the beautiful actress, Mila Kunis, was there too?  And her eyes are even more captivating real life.  She was with some fella called Ashton Kutcher who is mates of the website founders and did a little speech on their behalf.  
The last couple of weekends have been very quiet and tame in comparison, but judging by the number of shops getting in the festive spirit, I guess Xmas is just around the corner.  That being the case, I better start consolidating my finances and make sure I have enough to celebrate Xmas in style, have a rocking New Year’s Eve and usher in 2013 and all it holds.

Til the next time amigos…

Let the countdown begin…

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Month 4 folks.  I’ll just repeat that, month 4.  Already.  Don’t know how it feels for you, but for me, it feels like it has just flown by.  Wasn’t just a few days ago that I was languidly sipping cappuccinos in Fremantle?  Exploring Perth and Kings Park by bicycle?  How many laundry days is that?  Ah, laundry day…
Well, it must have been longer than I think because today saw the arrival of November.  With only 7 weeks til Xmas.  I could do the whole “where has the year gone?” bit, but we can save that and do it to death on or around New Years Eve.  Or maybe New Year’s Day as we sober up on the ferry to Manly to recover.
New Year’s Eve.  Now that is going to be fun.  It’s always a great time in Sydney due to the world-renowned firework display.  But over the years it has become so expensive that I was resigning myself to sitting out with a pic-nic and watching them from a spot of grass.  That was if I could find said spot of grass amongst the hundreds and thousands of people who throng the Harbour and all the available vantage points along the various shores and bays.
Many people have essentially been priced out of a lot of the ways to see the fireworks.  Just getting entry to a place like the Opera Bar (where I watched the fireworks for free in 2001) is now costing in excess of $300.  And that is without drinks.  I think you get a couple of peanuts on entry, but I may have misread the small print.  A popular way of enjoying them is by boat, bobbing around the Harbour, but this is now in excess of $500.  But you get a complimentary lifejacket.
So it was with great joy that I stumbled upon the fact that Luna Park was having a New Year’s Eve party, headlined by a winner of the Australian version of the X-Factor.  Don’t ask me, I didn’t even watch the UK version.  Well, Ricki Lee’s presence is not why I booked the tickets.  The fact that they were only $99 each was the reason.  And when you realise the venue of Luna Park is virtually under the bridge, then you get a sense of what a bargain these tickets are.  Luna Park is the Coney Island of Sydney.  A 1930s theme park, which has been around since, well, the 1930s actually.  I think some of the rides may have been updated since then, or at least mechanically maintained, as these are also open to use on the night.  And the great thing is, it’s over 18s only.  So big kids can play little kids, without the inconvenience of little kids getting in the way.
Just 59 days to get through.  And this will fly by I’m sure.  Since we last spoke I have now started work and been there 3 weeks already.  Where does the time g… ha ha.  Working has brought a little structure back into my life.  Without a little ballast I always find myself drifting a little.  I need anchoring to something just to keep me in one place.  And anchored I am, doing the 9 to 5, and enjoying the novelty (for me) of getting paid fortnightly.  It seems to be a feature for many Australian employers to pay fortnightly, for reasons I can’t seem to fathom.  All I know is that I am now nearly skint, yet another payday is just around the corner.  This works for me.  I can even put up with going into one of the ugliest buildings in Sydney each day to earn my corn.
I have other things to update you on but feel I have taken up enough of your time already.  One reader recently accused me of waffling!  How very rude. 
With that, I will say adios, and hasta leugo.

Let the countdown begin…

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Month 4 folks.  I’ll just repeat that, month 4.  Already.  Don’t know how it feels for you, but for me, it feels like it has just flown by.  Wasn’t it just a few days ago that I was languidly sipping cappuccinos in Fremantle?  Exploring Perth and Kings Park by bicycle?  How many laundry days is that?  Ah, laundry day…
Well, it must have been longer than I think because today saw the arrival of November.  With only 7 weeks til Xmas.  I could do the whole “where has the year gone?” bit, but we can save that and do it to death on or around New Years Eve.  Or maybe New Year’s Day as we sober up on the ferry to Manly to recover.
New Year’s Eve.  Now that is going to be fun.  It’s always a great time in Sydney due to the world-renowned firework display.  But over the years it has become so expensive that I was resigning myself to sitting out with a pic-nic and watching them from a spot of grass.  That was if I could find said spot of grass amongst the hundreds and thousands of people who throng the Harbour and all the available vantage points along the various shores and bays.


Many people have essentially been priced out of a lot of the ways to see the fireworks.  Just getting entry to a place like the Opera Bar (where I watched the fireworks for free in 2001) is now costing in excess of $300.  And that is without drinks.  I think you get a couple of peanuts on entry, but I may have misread the small print.  A popular way of enjoying them is by boat, bobbing around the Harbour, but this is now in excess of $500.  But you get a complimentary lifejacket.
So it was with great joy that I stumbled upon the fact that Luna Park was having a New Year’s Eve party, headlined by a winner of the Australian version of the X-Factor.  Don’t ask me, I didn’t even watch the UK version.  Well, Ricki Lee’s presence is not why I booked the tickets.  The fact that they were only $99 each was the reason.  And when you realise the venue of Luna Park is virtually under the bridge, then you get a sense of what a bargain these tickets are.  Luna Park is the Coney Island of Sydney.  A 1930s theme park, which has been around since, well, the 1930s actually.  I think some of the rides may have been updated since then, or at least mechanically maintained, as these are also open to use on the night.  And the great thing is, it’s over 18s only.  So big kids can play little kids, without the inconvenience of little kids getting in the way.


Just 59 days to get through.  And this will fly by I’m sure.  Since we last spoke I have now started work and been there 3 weeks already.  Where does the time g… ha ha.  Working has brought a little structure back into my life.  Without a little ballast I always find myself drifting a wee bit.  I need anchoring to something just to keep me in one place.  And anchored I am, doing the 9 to 5, and enjoying the novelty (for me) of getting paid fortnightly.  It seems to be a feature for many Australian employers to pay fortnightly, for reasons I can’t seem to fathom.  All I know is that I am now nearly skint, yet another payday is just around the corner.  This works for me.  I can even put up with going into one of the ugliest buildings in Sydney each day to earn my corn.


I have other things to update you on but feel I have taken up enough of your time already.  One reader recently accused me of waffling!  How very rude. 
With that, I will say adios, y hasta leugo.  Till the next time…

You are in Sydney, now what to do?

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So, you have just arrived in Sydney and are raring to go explore this beautiful city.
What’s first?
1)    Sleep and adapting to jetlag – don’t underestimate it.  My first experience of it, with a flight not broken by a stopover was incredible.  I slept like the dead.  Even when I woke up, I couldn’t move any part of my body other than my eyes.  Completely fruitless, all I could do was surrender and go back to sleep.  First lesson, do NOT have an afternoon disco/nanna nap.  Do NOT. 
 
 
 
2)   Get out and walk the city.  For the first time tourist, all roads lead to Circular Quay, the transport hub and also home to the beautiful Port Jackson harbour, better known as Sydney Harbour.  Well at least I thought they did but a friend who recently arrived from the UK seems to have problems navigating the city and when heading there, usually ends up at the other side of town completely. Framed on one side by the Harbour Bridge and the other, the Opera House (opened by Queen Elizabeth II on October 20, 1973), Circular Quay is a magnet for tourists.
 
3)  Watsons Bay – being English, fish and chips is something of an obsession.  Finding good fish and chips is very difficult in Australia.  Believe me, I’ve tried.  And tried.  And keep trying.  Doyle’s takeaway shack at Watson’s Bay is probably the closest I’ve come.  And the trip there is amazing alone.  Get the ferry from Circular Quay, take in world beating views of the harbour, and join the queues on arrival.  Once you have your food, go and sit on the grass like all the locals, eating your fish and chips, looking back across the sparkling azure waters to the city.  When you are ready to return, jump on the bus and try to count the number of homes fit for millionaires as you journey through the suburb of Vaucluse.
 
 
 
4)  Manly beach – very popular, for good reason, Manly is one of the best beaches in Sydney for tourists to easily get to.  Once again, head to Circular Quay and jump on a famous green and gold ferry for the 30 minute ride across to Manly.  On arrival, don’t make the mistake of somebody I know who thought the tiny strip of beach he could see on arrival at the ferry wharf was the “famous Manly beach”  Utterly unimpressed, he spent a short time soaking up some rays before deciding it was the most overrated beach he had been to.  Now, had he walked from the ferry, across the Corso, he would have arrived at the “real” Manly beach, surely garnering much improved memories of his little day out.
 
5)  Bondi to Coogee coast walk –  The easiest way to get to the start of this walk is a “train and bus” combination ticket.  Train to Bondi Junction and then a bus from the interchange to Bondi beach.  Usually a 333, 380, or 381 bus.  Don’t hang around in the very faded elegance of Bondi, but head along past the fabulously located Bondi Icebergs outdoor swimming pool, and onto the coastal path walk to Coogee, taking in delights such as Tamarama, Clovelly and Bronte on the way.  All worthy of return visits in their own right.  On arrival in Coogee who can resist fish and chips (I told you I was obsessed) at Chish and Fips on the beach.  Washed down with a cold schooner from the Coogee Bay hotel.
 
 
 
6)  The Blue Mountains – take the train from Central station out to the Blue Mountains, a journey of just over 2 hours from Sydney, but a world away on arrival in Katoomba.  Do a walk, jump on one of the tour buses, explore.  Discover why it is in fact called the “Blue” mountains, which is as a result of the blue haze given off by all the eucalyptus leaves.  Breathe in the fresh mountain air and marvel at the thought you are so close to a bustling city yet so far away in the mountains.
 
7)  Spit to Manly walk – If you are feeling energetic, do the 10kms Spit to Manly walk.  You will not be disappointed.  If you were paying me for this recommendation I would give you a “no quibbles” money back guarantee.  Get the bus to Spit bridge from the city and start the walk along the Middle Harbour shoreline. See the Heads, north and south, from a different perspective.  Visit a historical site of Aboriginal rock engravings.  Make friends with one of the many iguanas you will inevitably see on the way.  Reward yourself at the end with a cold cider at the New Brighton Hotel on the Corso and lunch at one of the many cafes and restaurants lining the sea front.
 
 
 
8)  Taronga Zoo – And we are back to Circular Quay again for the ferry over to Taronga Zoo.  I told you Circular Quay would be an important spot for the visitor to Sydney.  Now, some people like zoos.  Some don’t.  I’m in the “do” camp and not just because Taronga surely the best view from any zoo in the world.  It also has an overall experience to rival that of even the great Singapore Zoo.  Believe me, even the animals look to be smiling.  And as you meander through the many exhibits, seeing all the animals, looking back across the water, seeing the sun reflected off the sails of the Opera House, you will understand why.
 
9)  Harry’s Café de Wheels – Another food related recommendation, but who doesn’t like a good pie and peas?  And where better to get them than the world renowned Harry’s Café de Wheels, at Woolloomooloo.  Really.  That is not made up.  Google it and check.  You can either walk here, through the Royal Botanic gardens (recommended) or jump one of the very frequent Sydney buses.  Treat yourself to a Harry’s Tiger, which is your choice of pie, served up with peas, mash and gravy.  They even have HP sauce to complement/finish the experience.  Feeling like a bit of exercise after?  Cross the road and tackle the very steep, very numerous steps up to Potts Point and have a wander through some beautiful leafy streets, lined with Victorian architecture.
 
 
 
10)  The North Shore – Yes, there is life across the water too.  Get out and explore some of Sydney’s lesser seen, and lesser known North Shore suburbs.  Neutral Bay with it’s great bar and dining scene.  Mosman with achingly cool cafes and Balmoral Beach just down Raglan Road (one of my favourite Sydney beaches).   Kirribilli and Milsons Point with it’s eclectic mix of places to eat, and also home to the excellent theme park, Luna Park, a throw back to a more innocent time, when fun was fun.  Take a bus up the Northern beaches.  Check out Curl Curl (so good they named it twice), Narrabeen and beautiful Whale Beach.  Finish up at Palm Beach, made famous by “Home and Away” and have lunch, drinks, or both at the Boat Shed café.  This, my friends, is a gem.
What have I missed off your quintessential SYDNEY EXPERIENCE?  What are your “go to” activities on arrival in this beautiful harbour city? 
Let me know.