 |
| Not bad for a winter's day... |
This month’s report this month will be a little light on detail. Well c’mon, I mean the travelling has stopped now and Anna and I are just working regular jobs now so what do you expect? Are you after detailed descriptions of getting up in the morning, going to work and coming home again?! Okay admittedly a journey to work that involves a sail around the Sydney Opera House and a train across the famous Harbour Bridge is a damn sight more exciting than a trip on the London Orbital M25 Motorway but still there are still only so many ways to embellish the description of a daily commute.
I guess the stereotype of an Englishman is that when he is struggling with things to say he typically reverts to talk of the weather. Or just drinks a cup of tea. So as I sit here sipping on a cup of Twining’s finest I’ll tell you that it is pretty much the middle of winter here. Yes it gets cold at night (sometimes dropping as low as 7 or 8 degrees Celsius) but the daytime could very easily class as a fine summer back in Blighty. Blue skies, sunshine and 21 degrees are regular – are you sure this is winter?! A day like that in England would see a stampede of motorists, clogging up the motorways, heading out to Southend-On-Sea or Brighton or Blackpool and stripping down to their swimwear for a dip in the sea. If you did that here on Manly Beach, where we live, the Aussies would look at you with Bewilderment and claim it was far too cold for that sort of behaviour. And they call us soft?!
Living by the coast there are plenty of opportunities for days out and going for a hike. We’ve completed a few now including walks up and around both the North and South Heads of Sydney Harbour. Around the North Head I saw some of the biggest spiders I’ve ever seen in my life. Of course, being an unflinching kind of guy, I stared them down and walked by with a nod and a wink but I swear my ears are still ringing from Anna’s shrieks – oh wow! Given that this walk takes you right up to the cliff edges with 50 or 60 metre sheer drops to the ocean, you wouldn’t want to be jumping too far in the air!
The walk around the South Head was a bit more gentle and serene culminating in some more great views across the harbour and across Vaucluse and Rose Bay – some of the wealthiest suburbs of Sydney. The walk was still not without its dangers though including some sights much more sickening than a few hairy spiders. The main hike trail takes you past the entrance to Lady Bay Beach – the closest nudist beach to Sydney’s city. Unfortunately the beach is not covered in bronzed, beautiful women working on their all-over body tans, just three sad, fat, lonely old guys standing around catching the breeze. I know it wasn’t quite whale-watching season yet but it really did look like three of Sydney’s largest whales had washed up on this beach! Moving swiftly along from this nightmare inducing scene (give me poisonous spiders anyday!) we headed up around the lighthouse and back to Watson’s Bay for some of Doyle’s famous fish and chips and a good beer to try and think happy thoughts again.
Given the fact that work is going well (Anna is working in an early childhood education centre and I’m working for a biotech company in North Sydney) we are going to try and stay beyond the initial one year visa period. This means we have to go through the process of applying for business sponsorship and playing the waiting game with the Australian Immigration Department. After the experiences of working in the Vineyards of new Zealand, fruit picking or any agriculture work to gain a second year visa is out of the question! Will keep you all posted on progress.
