Visits and Complaints

G'day my many friends! The two points in the title are not related (I hope). The complaint is that I haven't posted anything lately. That is true. I guess I've slipped into a routine where not much new is happening. I'll make an effort to create some new adventures (that I can share).

Good news is I have visitors! Sister-in-Law Sherry and her middle son David are here for 2 weeks! The arrived on Friday and managed to negotiate the trains (4 total), find my flat, the key to get in and David was able to hack my computer to get on line to tell me they'd arrived!

I took Sherry up on her offer to buy me a pint at my favorite Pub. So, off we went to the Charles. It was lingerie night and I introduced her to my pub buddies including some new guys who happen to not only run the lingerie models, but are high ranking members of a notorious motorcycle gang. One of the guys is simply known as Sarge as in Sargent of Arms as most gangs are set up in a military style. Fortunately, all are well behaved on Lingerie Night.

Sherry and David got an eye full as half way through the evening, the model who serves drinks, changes into only half her outfit. The picture is of Bek from Portland of all places. She's studying fashion design at the local college after spending 7 or 8 years in Japan doing the same thing. David was grinning but trying not to grin too much when he looked at his mother. Sherry adjusted ok until she saw that night's waitress was wearing braces making her look even younger. It was all good fun.

But the rest of the weekend was more usual, taking them on a tour of the office and the City of Wollongong. Sunday, we went to the Town of Berry (of course I'd take them there) which is full of botiques and so crowded, we had to drive around a couple times to find a place to park. Sherry immediately got sucked into a quilting store while David and I waited for her patiently...at a local Pub. We were going to drive through Kangaroo Valley but it was getting late so I turned in the opposite direction towards a winery Holly and I visited during her last visit. http://www.shoalhavencoast.com.au/two-figs-winery.html This is the link to the area where we stopped at Mountain Ridge, Coolangatta and Two Figs wineries. Sherry and I bought several bottles from each along with some for David to give to a couple of friends who are getting married soon.

Later I took them to an Italian Seafood restaurant in Kiama where again, Holly and I stopped at and really enjoyed ourselves. We ordered a bottle of wine and Sherry was about gone as we headed home. So much wine in so little time. I'm sure she was less than impressed with me when I poured the last bit out of a bottle when we got home.

They flew up to Cairns Monday and will return Friday to spend the rest of their stay with me! It is winter here with temperatures barely reaching into the 60's during the day. They wanted to go where it was hot an snorkle the Great Barrier Reef. Someday, I'll do that too...I hope.

More fun later.

A Walk Through Sydney

I thought I'd start out with a little humour...a Mullet Alert! Yes, they've invaded down under!

But really, most of the pictures are of the parks and architecture during my walk from King's Cross to Circle Quay where the Opera House is located. Sit back and prepare for a long story.

Really, I needed to take my new ride, "My Hoon Wagon" on a longer drive on the freeway to exercise it and make sure it was road worthy for potential guests. The first victims, I mean, guests to have an opportunity to drive on the wrong side of the road will be Sherry and middle son David next month. In case they're feeling brave, I thought I'd give it a spin. It's an hour and a half each way from Hi Ho Fairy Meadow to King's Cross in Sydney. The car performed admirably however, I didn't. The rest of the story:

King's Cross is the Night Club neighbourhood of Sydney. Naturally when I arrive early in the afternoon, I thought I'd stop in at a common...and I mean very common bar for a beer to wash the dust of the road away. Of course, the roads are paved in Australia so it was just my usual excuse. I found a typical dive (actually, very nice as most are in Australia) and saw a couple enjoying a Bloody Mary. It looked mighty tastey so I ordered one. It was expensive but so good (sorry Barry) that I thought it might be a good idea to order another. As I was nearing the end of #2, I realized it was time to call Holly for her nightly tuck-in, good night phone call. It's really only about 3:00 pm here, but between 10 and 11 the night before for her.

Towards the end of the phone call, I realized I was slurring my words. Now, normally I wouldn't mind but it was only the afternoon and I was a ways from home. I wondered if someone in this shady neighbourhood, someone had slipped a ruffie in my drink and was going to rob and rape me. Maybe I was having a storke or something similar that old codgers might experience! I really was worried! So I hung up, took my empty glass to the drop off at the bar (being a polite drunk and all) and mentioned to the bartender that those Bloody Marys were very good and very strong. Naturally, the bartender looked at me like I was a complete idiot and said, "Well, they ARE doubles! Didn't you notice the price?!" I thought about it and realized I hadn't had anything to eat that day except for a slice of toast about 9 hours before! Whew! I'm not going to get raped!

So, I decided to walk about and the following pictures are the result. Basically most were taken during my walk. I hope you enjoy what I saw including the parks, birds and architecture. Sydney does have some old places that have been incorporated into the typical hell-bent drive to improve and modernize. Some were of when Holly was here and we walked around the Opera House and the park next to it including the birds.

Come on down (under). Write, leave comments. Just say G'day!

Post 34?! More Infrastructure Stuff and Junk

Here are some local, hot cars I saw while wandering around the lighthouse. There is an American Muscle Car club and they sure look American except for the steering wheel is often located on the wrong side of the car.

I've also included a picture of a covered float for mooring a powerboat out of the salt water. I thought it was very clever so hopefully, the picture is good enough to figure out how this works.

To all my patient friends who want to know the true Underbelly of OZ, I apologise. This is simply a little more on the differences between how we and the Aussies tackle such mundane items as getting water and power to a flat. I've included some pictures so I don't have to type so much, besides I get complaints if I write too much. Every yard has these goofy water pipes with the water meter in the middle, standing up in the yard. Naturally, they seem to get run over all the time. Some people put bricks around them to attempt to keep them in once piece. The advantage is however that if they're leaking, it's readily apparent.

The Loser Cruiser

G'day Mates! Last weekend I became the proud owner of a 1996 Holden Commodore Acclaim Legacy VS V6 with only 259,000 kilometres! Gas guzzler, fallen headliner, and a sticker on the back advertising some 'hoon' (Aussie for a lout, usually referring to obnixious driving habits) auto accessory with the slogan "Drive it like you Stole it!" Obviously, I disregarded some of the tips in buying a used car like listening to the radio to see if the presets were tuned to codger stations or finding a maintenance book. Throwing caution to the wind, I plunked down $1,700 to buy it then it took another $1,000 for manidory insurance, public liability, NRMA (think AAA) and registration. So now, I'm styling and actually out on the freeway when I push it up to 110 (that's almost 70 in the US) it feels rock solid! I can see myself heading out on the highway soon. Right now, I'm practising driving on the wrong side of the road.

In reality, New South Wales has the strictest vehicle registration requirements in the country. If the car is over 5 years old, it must be inspected and everything is checked over by a certified garage. From lights and windshield wipers down to citing a tie rod end needing replaced on my car. Fortunately, the guy I bought it from owns a body shop called 'Smash Repairs' in case you have a bingle, and did all the required work. This "Rego' is so important that the remaining months are included in advertisements of used cars. This guy Scott, even painted a part he replaced, touched up some of the nicks and gave me the rest of the paint. He washed and vacuumed it prior to delivery (on his wrecker). So as you can see by the pictures, it looks ok and it really feels pretty good. The last picture Holly took of an old, one lane bridge we went over during her Spring Break visit. No traffic lights, you're just left to figure it out on your own.

My first trip in the car was to teach it the 'usual' route. First, we went to the auto parts store as I'm sure I'll be making that trip often, then to the petrol station (I reset the trip odometer to see what kind of mileage I was getting. Do you call it kilometrige here?) and then onto the Charles for an innocent little pint. The car performed admirably!

It must be getting great mileage (or whatever) as when I bought it, the odometer read 259,000 and the trip odometer hasn't moved a lick! What a great car! I wonder how long I can go on one tank of petrol!

Tomorrow's adventure is to go to the harbour (as they spell it here) and look over art in the park. I saw this when I first arrived and had it in the back of my mind to buy some original are to put up on these bare walls. I have no idea on prices and certainly don't know anything about art, but if it has ocean scenes or nudity, I'm there! I mean you know, tasteful art. There was a big sale last weekend, but I didn't get the car in time to go shopping. Maybe I'll be able to buy some culture.

Read, comment and write. You know I love hearing from all of you!

Downtown on Crown and the Mall

I'm sure I've shown the main road through downtown Wollongong, Crown Street. Three blocks have been blocked off to traffic to create a mall. It has an interesting, open weave cover over half of it, which creates an intimate atmosphere and during the day, especially at lunch, quite a few people just hang out, eat at some of the several sidewalk cafes and watch the world walk by. I usually walk the mall during lunch just to ease the stress of the day. The last picture made Holly and I laugh everytime we rode the elevator in the Grace Hotel in Sydney. If you're in town, I'd recommend staying there. Not just for the above plaque.

Wollongong and where I live Fairy Meadow, remind me of how the US used to be and most likely still is in smaller towns. I know I've harped about this in previous blog entries, but my little neighbourhood is really like what I imagine a small town was like in the olden days. 3 butchers, a seafood shop, a fresh pasta shop, I go to a real barber although there are plenty of hair salons, and even a post office. It's a great little place just a few kilometres from the CBD of Wollongong.

Thank you for reading and comment.

Office Space 2 - The Outside

Hi all and Harvey. I thought I'd add the outside of the new, high tech building we're in. It is a nice looking building with a good lobby, complete with small sandwich/coffee bar and plenty of places to enjoy their food inside and out. I especially wanted to try and show the automatic, round entry door. It is weird and makes me think of some futuristic movie prop from the 1960's. Overall, in spite of some goofy automatic aspects of the building and office space design, it is a very cool (and green) building.