Bondi to Clovelly

Last Sunday, Giles + I joined a few friends for lunch at NBIF followed by our first attempt at the Bondi to Coogee walk. I say attempt because we got to Clovelly and stopped for break and didn't not continue. I blame the pope and his posse but it could have just been that Clovelly was a beautiful place to end a walk. It has the least impressive beach of all the ones we passed but the view is lovely.

This is a coastal walk that meanders along the seaside down to Coogee. It was a cold day but the forcing yourself up and down the stairs makes you warm up quickly. G was kind enough to take some photos and let me share them with you.

Me @ North Bondi Beach watching the crazy people swimming in the cold water

Bondi from the south side

3/4 of the walkers

Clovelly Cometary

Anonymous Comments

I am no longer allowing anonymous comments on this blog. You will require a google id to post a comment. Own up or go away. Cheers :)

North Bondi Italian Food

Warm Mortadella (all parts) taken by Giles

In the early noughties, G + I spent a far too brief five weeks eating our way around Italy. We Australians pride ourselves on our access to fresh produce and the Mediterranean influenced food resulting from the influx of immigrants in the 50s for the Snowy River Dam project. Eating in Italy brought us a different flavor of Italian food that we are only now starting to see appear in Sydney restaurants. North Bondi Italian Food is one of those very places, right here in Sydney.

Binky suggested this as the perfect place to fuel up before walking the Bondi to Clovelly seaside walk. If carbs were what we needed then she was certainly right.

Between the four of us we tried a good portion of the menu, including:

• warm mortadella ($16);
• mixed olives with sage and chilli ($9);
• zucchini, asparagus, peas, beans, mint, waxy potatoes and air dried ricotta ($17);
• pappardelle, pork, veal ragu 'Marchiagiano' style ($27);
• spaghetti arrabbiata, crab, cooked in a paper bag ($28); <-- my very good choice
• la tagliata, chargrilled hereford/angus ribeye, rocket, green peppercorns, chilli, spring onions ($29);
• a delicious mussels dish that I simply can't find on the menu; and
  
• a dessert of 'Dolce della nonna' chocolate gelato, masala(~$14).

The dessert and vegetable dish were average but the rest of the food was delicious. The pasta servings are huge and I can't recommend the spaghetti arrabbiata highly enough. You could easily share that and the endless supplies of bread among a couple for lunch and you'd not be left hungry. Bottles of olive oil on the table are a nice touch and solve that annoying habit the bowl of oil has of running out when there is an excess of bread around. No more waiting for the waiter to refill them.

The view out the window of North Bondi Beach is uninterrupted, which makes you feel pampered and special as you sit there eating and people watching. Be warned, the place gets busy early. We arrived 20 mins before it opened and were 10th in line. With the popularity and the hard surfaces, you get the typical deafening venue that is authentically Italian (at least in this country). They could use more staff too but as a full package, this is the best Italian in Sydney and I'll stand by that recommendation.

Ciao!

Walk the Line

For a long time in Australia, the only way to get walking directions was to use the Sensis owned site whereis.com. If you have ever had to endure it's interface then you will understand why I've given up and chosen to use my own navigational skills. If you know about my somewhat lacking navigational skills then you will understand the desperation I was feeling.

There is no longer a need to complain. Dr. Evil has finally got walking directions for their maps and they are pretty good.

To find walking directions using Google Maps:

1. Go to Google Maps;
2. Click on the Get Directions tab;
3. Enter the Start Address and End Address;
4. Click Search;
5. When the directions and map appear, click Walking in Directions: By car - Walking;

If you only see Directions: By car, append &dirflg=w to the website address and try again.

Here is one I prepared earlier for the easy walk from Town Hall Station to my work...

View Larger Map

Another Personality Test

Discovered via Kate's blog.

Cradle Mountain Walks

We did a few walks while we were at Cradle Mountain. Here are the pictures...

Waterfall Walk near Cradle Mountain Lodge

Dove Creek Walk and At the Lodge

Cradle Mountain Lodge

Our first trip to Tasmania was as enjoyable and beautiful as we had imagined it would be. After a scenic drive from Launceston, we were greeted with snow on our arrival at Cradle Mountain Lodge. Our cabin had a cosy fire that crackled away and warmed us through our entire 3 night visit. There were no mobile phones or computers. The break from every day life was relaxing and recharging (even if I did have a cold that whole time).

Giles taking a photo of me outside the topiary town of Railton

A man on a bike in Railton

Giles taking photos of the snow, in the snow

Warming my toes after the snow

Ceiling fan in our room

Firewood in our cabin

The tavern fire

The Angel Giles in the Highland Restaurant

Apple Store opens in Sydney

The opening night of the Sydney Apple Store

You couldn't walk down George Street at more than a trickle through the crowd. King Street was covered in people so there was no point trying to get in to the store when I turned up at 4:45pm. People came from around the world to camp out in line and be the first in to the store. I'm sure they didn't smell too nice.

I can't say I understand the hype but it's a cool building and the scene were worth experiencing.

We Saw Edward Again

Photo by @nai used under a Creative Commons license

Months ago, I impulse bought tickets to a modern dance performance of one of my favourite romantic movies of all time - Edward Scissorhands. As a teenager, I went to see the movie because Johnny Depp was in it but then became a massive fan of all things Tim Burton. To be honest, my first Burton movie was Beetle Juice and that rocked my world too.

With the same concerns that I have heard voiced by others, I went along to the performance at the Sydney Opera House hoping that it would still work without Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder and Tim Burton.

The story had been changed slightly but did not ruin the flow in any way. It stayed true to the original telling in spirit. Don't worry, the changes were tiny and surely had a lot of do with the medium of dance and everything happening on one stage.

There was dancing and a really damn good score along with amazing props, costumes and performers. Only one slow moment brought me back to reality. It was the ice skating on rollerblades which I blame Eurovision for. Ice skating just does not work in story telling or European pop contests, even if they do win. The rest was very very very entertaining and heartbreaking.

I don't recommend seeing any other live performance - dance, music, opera, bands, whatever - until you see this. It is the best show I have seen in a long time and didn't disappoint in any way.

Go see Edward. We did. He's going well.

Spotting People Who Like Pizza

While walking around Surry Hills, G + I passed a terrace occupied by pizza lovers. I think they loved beer too.

Can you spot a fake smile?

Humans are not very good at spotting a fake smile. This may be because it's easier to deal with not knowing what everyone else is thinking. I got 14/20 on this test so be careful the next time you want to fake that smile at me :)

Linked from new new favourite blogger, Ines

Chocolate Coat Everything

Today I had a sick day after discovering the hard way that I am sensitive to local anesthetic. The whole thing was very Pulp Fiction with injections, adrenaline and shaking. No dancing, unfortunately. As you do in recovery, I decided to coat stuff in chocolate. Here is how that went...

The ingredients

A double boiler

Bits of chocolate

I'm melting! I'm melting!

Grease proof paper to put the chocolate coated things on

Nicely melted milk chocolate

Dip the fruit in chocolate

The haul

Eat now

A 4WD Showdown

While waiting at a Commonwealth Bank ATM on Clarence Street in the city, I witnessed a soccer mum back in to and then rip off the bumper of an innocently parked car. It was one 4WD attacking another so I didn't care too much. The petrol guzzlers deserve each other.

Don't blame it on the sunshine

Giles + I spent a pretty awesome weekend on the Gold Coast for the TorchWood annual away day - TW Australia Team Hug. We left Sydney on Friday at lunch time and returned on Sunday evening. In between, we had drinks and canapes on Friday evening with ThoughtWorkers from all over the country and some international guests streaming in. I met some cool people who I've only dreamt of meeting and met a few who might be worth avoiding.

See lots of pictures here!

On Saturday, I spent most of the day in a small room listening to my colleagues rant at me, at the conference. It was kind of like a normal work day but with less typing :) G spent the day drinking, eating and hanging by the pool with the partners (behind every great tw'er is a far more interesting partner but I never said that). Saturday night was spent at Dream World which was open only to us and those poor suckers locked in the Big Brother house. There were rides, food, awards for me being loud and well known and lots of dancing. There was even a strange groupie moment with Darci and I but let's not spread that one.

The night only went insane after that - lines of vodka shots; graduates lit on fire; eviction from hotel rooms after some very good cupboard hiding; and many more things that must remain as internal news only.

Did I drink the kool-aid? Not totally but I do like the cult members a lot more after hanging out with them. Don't blame it on the sunshine, don't blame it on the moonlight, blame it on the boogie.

On the bus about to leave for Sydney airport and the Gold Coast

The Chairman and the Chicken

Wait to register

Serious guys at the morning retro

Darci Potter and her friends

Birdies!

Duck!

Giles on one of the many bridges at the resort

Relaxing by the pool

Relaxing and waiting for the bus... come on, there had to be a self-portrait!

i can haz facebook

Arrested outside our garage door

Less than half an hour ago, a man was arrested in the alley next to our apartment building. Giles got a better picture than mine because his arm is much longer and could see the drama happening right beneath us (just out of site.) I got some video of him demanding to know why he is being arrested.

flickr

I finally got myself a flickr account. Some of my recent photos are up and more are coming.

Freerange Children

When I first read about the woman who let her 9 year old ride the NY subway and then a bus home on his own, it sounded crazy. After reading her response to the massive criticism she got for doing this, I've decided to exhale and stop screaming "who will think of the children?"

My parents didn't use the freerange approach but they did let us go out and learn things if we really wanted to. They encouraged us try things and sometimes they discouraged us. It was the discouraging that limited me in later life. Don't take this as criticism. Parenting is a difficult thing and parents make mostly the right decisions. I haven't done it so I can only speak from the point of view of the child (at least the effects of that).

When adults (parents of teachers) told me something was out of bounds because it is dangerous, it scared me and worried me in later life. I waited until at last in my mid-20's to travel around the globe. It changed my life. I stopped avoiding things because other people told me it was too risky. I decided to take the risk myself and make the decision myself.

Since then, I kinda like living outside my comfort zone. Go on, scare me. Scare them. Let the children live life.

Feeding and Not Feeding

G + I took our time to meander through Surry Hills on the way to the Bourke Street Bakery. On our travels, we passed the Surry Hills Markets which are held on the first Saturday of each month in the park near the Clock. It was a sunny Sydney day.

There was a chubby Labrador with a sign on his collar saying "Please do not feed me". He waited for us to feed him our spoils from a visit to the bakery but we chose to obey his sign. He tried a couple of other passers by but seemed rather unsuccessful. Poor doggy.

"Please do not feed me"

Me on Bourke Street, Surry Hills

What's with all the shoes on power lines

Let There Beer Light

A couple of weeks ago, I told dcam that the Mexican place on Crown and Oxford Street wasn't a real restaurant but was instead a chain from the US. Oops, if it is a chain then the one they have in Sydney has only one link :) Documenting my mistakes again!

Mad Mex is a small takeaway Mexican joint where you can sit and enjoy cheap, tasty Mexican food over a Mexican beer or margarita (not made from mix). G + I have been there twice now and do recommend it for a quick and good meal on that end of Crown. Try my fave - crispy tacos with black beans and shredded beef. Add cheese, guacamole and salsa + spicy tomato sauce.

The Corona chandelier