on fire firemen

So I've settled into my new abode and my new office I think. Urgent work of the week has pretty much been done so now to posting more pics.

I am pleased to say I had a fairly busy first weekend in Sydney. Friday night I went out with SJ (Ben and David's part time flat mate) on quite a serious lash. A two hour journey from macquarie into town at a Friday rush hour and then we headed to Newtown to 1 of only 2 non-gay bars in the area apparently, Zanzibar. We had intended to have dinner - but you know how Friday evenings go - too much white wine later and nobody's really hungry. Met up with a friend of SJ's, a Kiwi who will remain nameless as I can't remember her name, who made me decide that Kiwis being the top t'interweb searchers on the keyword 'misery' perhaps isn't much of a surprise! Evening's pretty much a blur but on the way home I insisted on playing pool, but on entering a pub with a pool table decided against it as it was a bit scary. Stayed for a beer though - well I did, SJ was refused service. Hee hee, surprised I wasn't!

Peeled my dried drool-covered face off the pillow Saturday morning to the prospect of my first 'roo steak. Yummity yummity, it is tastee. Ben and David had a lunchtime BBQ. Things started to heat up when the fence caught fire and the fire brigade were called by some kindly anonymous citizen. I was in the middle of opening a bottle of wine when they turned up - that task was promptly abandoned as I sprinted into the house to find my camera!! Abandoning alcohol for pretty boys in uniform - who'd have thought? Ben is doing such a good job in helping me objectify men!
A very pleasant time was had drinking by the fire into the evening with a bit of kung fu fighting by the hosts. And in case you think that I am just gathering photos from the internet and actually hiding in my flat for 4 months, I actually allowed myself to be photographed. Notice I am wearing a skirt and open toed shoes while Ben and Mark Dras are wearing jumpers and jackets. How optimistic was I when packing?!

Sunday brought sunshine - hurrah. The boys took me to South Head. It's one side of the entry to Sydney Harbour - the other side imaginatively being North Head. There's either a naval or army barracks there but no sightings of sodgers were made. I believe they spend their sundays indoors licking the sweat off each other - at least that's what Ben told me and here he is pictured looking for evidence of such activities. There's a nudist beach called Lady Bay there too. Just above it is a look out point I guess for folk to look out over the stunning harbour views except there are trees in the way and the only view you actually get is of the nudist beach, with the odd giggling lady taking photos. I refrained, sorry if you are disappointed.

Sydney reminds me a little of San Francisco as there are a lot of short sharp hills and, on the way up to South Head, especially near the water. This affords beautiful views of the city. Apparently when the city was first being colonised the all powerful Anglican church snapped up all the 'best' places first which to them was on the sea front for easy access to supply boats. This left the Catholic church to build futher up the hills. Guess who's got the more sought after buildings now?!

South Head consists of dramatic cliff faces, part of which is called the Gap. It's quite a suicide spot - perhaps they should fix that gap in the fence.

There is a candy striped light house there built after the sinking of the passenger ship Dunbar in 1857 with the loss of 121 souls and a sole/soul survivor. It was a huge disaster in its day. They'd been travelling in cramped quarters for 81 days from the UK and then were driven into the rocks an hour from their destination. Now that's gotta suck. The delectable David is pictured beside the Dunbar's anchor. David is only 7 inches tall.

Drove through Bondi on the way back. Loads of folk were in the water surfing or body boarding. Unfortunately the area is quite built up and just reminded me of a Brit-packed holiday resort in Spain, so I don't suppose I'll rush back.

I moved into my new place on Sunday night and the neighbours invited me to their BBQ - I think they just wanted to suss me out about possible baby sitting. Met one flat mate Aaron/Birdman, 20. Crikey, he's even younger than The Youngster, but not as sexy! He's a music, dance and drama student - look out for him on a TV screen or theatre near you sometime in the next 10 years. Other flat mate is apparently taking a bit of time out from work and travelling around the country. The girl who's room I am renting is overseas (Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok etc)at the moment for the Cartoon Network. She's spent the past year and a half being different characters for stage musical versions of kids TV shows. She's never out of work in this field because all the costumes are perfect for people who are about 5'2"!! Think Barney/Teletubbies/Tweenies etc but anime/manga inspired.

No spiders yet, but people keep insisting on telling me stories about them.

Dude chilling over the water
Rainbow lorikeet in a flame tree

Other side of dude shack on Camp Cove beach.

Another lorikeet



Trying to format this for Firefox is an absolute pain, I wonder if I just type for a bit longer things might just come together! Blah blah blah. How are you? Not think it would be polite to email me and tell me how much you are thoroughly bored of my ramblings?

Sydney opera house - can you spot it? This was my very first glimpse. Saw it at closer range this morning but I've still only seen the top of it.