Parrots and other fish

Most of the time I don't really think about being in Australia as different (apart from that it is sunny every day), as most things are the same, but when you get parrots flying around in the wild you suddenly stop and notice. There were several of them outside a house and they were really nice. The picture above is taken without zoom and they were not scared of me at all.

As it was Sunday, we headed off to the Fish Market for lunch. You can choose to buy your lunch from "take-away" places around the market and then sit outside in the sun and eat, or eat at one of the proper restaurants. As all the nice tables were taken and the Seagulls seemed a bit aggressive, we decided to try another branch of the Doyle's Restaurants. The food was nice (I had grilled Whitings and Martin had Tandoori Barramundi), but the service was not great. Also, the desert menu was very limited, so in the end we went to the deli counter in the market and brought home cheese, bread and wine for consumption on the balcony. Really looking forward to furniture arriving...

Pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sissi.se/ParrotsAndOtherFish

Bills

Yesterday I asked a friend to collect a letter from my apartment in Stockholm, as inflexible Swedish government companies cannot mail things to addresses abroad, and I needed some information to register Little Car here in Oz. If I had not needed this, she would not have gone there and discovered 2 other extremely important documents that had been sent to the wrong address.
Fortunately Insurance Companies are more friendly and without discussion took the blame for sending me my insurance bill to the wrong address, waived the late fees and also ensured that the 500kr fine I had received from a 3rd party, for not having paid my insurance was also waived. In all, I feel a bit better than this morning when I received all of this. Thanks Malin ;-)

On another note our hot water tank in the House in Stockholm gave up a week ago, flooded the kitchen and now needs replacing. At the same time our Central Heating boiler for the House in the UK may need replacing as well, to pass the Gas Safety Certificate criteria. So a week of many, and some fairly expensive bills :-(

I think there is a saying in Sweden stating "an accident never comes alone" and I think it might be correct.

Balmain

Today we wentured to a very nearby suburb called Balmain. It was 2 stops on the ferry which is really just across from where we live. A girl from work lives there and said it was nice. It was, but it is quite a wide area so you can't see the water from everywhere.
We walked up Darling Street, which is the main street going through Balmain, but also ventured off the track when we saw something interesting. One of those things was a very large old house, overlooking the water, and another was a "swimming pool" named after some Australian swimmer who got drunk during the Tokyo olympics. It was not really a swimming pool, but more like a part of the harbour closed off, with decking around.
We also walked past a house which was "open for inspection". A bit like Sunday viewings in Sweden and a concept that has not taken off in the UK yet, where property that is for sale is listed with when you can go an look at it. We just happened to walk past the sign and went in. It was quite nice, but they had too many bedrooms upstairs which made the rooms quite small, and there was not much of a garden. It was also $1.5M so out of budget.
We had lunch at the balcony of a nice pub and afterwards walked past where I think the girl from work lives and it looked very nice. The bus back into the city took only a few minutes so it is not a bad spot.
I also managed to buy a DVD copy of "Love Actually". I really like that movie. I watched all the "taken out" bits and then the whole movie with commentry by some of the actors seeing it for the first time since they filmed their parts. It was great.
Now looking forward to Martin's cooking. He has not done a great deal this week as he has been working for 4 days and is very tired, but it smells nice ;-)

A Chinese meal

Sydney has a decent China town which include some quite authentic restaurants. We came across something that did not look very expensive one evening and decided to try it. The restaurant was your usual Chinese with plastic tables and cheap chipped plates. The food comes when it is cooked and in no particular order and is put on your table without much care.
The menu is also quite interesting, you can for example order "Pig's ear salad" and a few other things most people I know would not eat - but they also do the most amazing "deep fried pork with pepper". In comes a mountain of pork pieces wich have been fried just right.

We now go to this place almost every week. Yesterday we decided it was time so I went to queue for a table whilst Martin went to get some beer (you have to buy your own beer in the shop next door). Fortunately I got a table almost straight away and decided that we would try the "Home made noodles with beef" as well. Both dishes were excellent and the total bill came to round $30 which is very reasonable.

I have been informed by our removals people that the ship with our stuff on is due in Sydney on Friday, so if everything goes OK we will have furniture next week - and maybe Little Car the week after ;-)

Lazy Sunny Sunday Afternoon

Yesterday we went off to discover the Rocks. We have been in the touristy part before, but realised last week, when looking at it from the other side of the water, that there was more to see. We found an elegant looking wine cellar at the far end of Kent street, Some really nice old town houses with water views, converted shipyards into apartments we can't afford and then we wondered through the weekend market down to the quay.

There were several people doing the Harbour Bridge climb, where they walk on top of the arches of the bridge. Maybe we'll fit that in one day.

We had lunch at Peter Doyle's fish restaurant. They asked if we wanted a long or a short lunch, and we thought short - which was 2 hours. However, we stayed much longer. For the first 2 hours we had a waterfront table with a view of both the Opera house an the Harbour Bridge. We spent those hours in the sunshine with a sample starter and a bottle of Semillion, followed by Barramundi & Lobster accompanied by a bottle of Chardonnay. Unfortunately at this point our 2 hours were up and we got moved to a table with a less interesting view. We then finished off we a cheese plate and dessert wine before heading back to the flat.

Pictures are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sissi.se/LazySundayAfternoon

This is a very good example of a Lazy Sunny Sunday Afternoon.

Boats, Boats, Boats

Today we went, as long planned, to the Sydney International Boat show. The normally empty Darling Harbour was filled with boats. Martin had already done a pre-view on Thursday while I was working - so tried to steer me in the right direction. However, while he could spend half an hour on a boat chatting to the experts I decided to have a look at as many as possible to try to get an understanding on which ones I liked, which size would be suitable, and value for money. We looked at all the big makes but I quite liked the Hanse ones, a 37 or 40ft, whilst Martin still talks about a Sea-quest 36.



He took me around to look at what he calls "Bendy-Toys" - Benetau's I think which are supposed to be really nice, but I was not much impressed. We also look at Hunters (apparently no good for passage making) and some others. As you may have figured out, I don't know much about sailing boats, but I like there to be teak-decking on the top, a nice G&T area with a table and cup-holders, a decent shower and workable kitchen + 3 x double births in case we bring some of you guys on a trip. Is that too much to ask for?

Finally I got talked into a 3 hour sailing lesson for $20. Think I will save that one for the summer.

End of freedoom

Today Martin signed the contract for his new job. He is quite spectacular when it comes to getting new jobs. Last time he decided to look for a job, he a applied for 1 job, had one interview, a few days later, and got the job immediately.

This time he applied for 2 jobs (last Monday), but only managed to speak with one recruitment agency. They told him on Tuesday that he had an interview for the Thursday. Then Thursday afternoon they asked him for a second interview on the Friday - and Friday afternoon they told him that as long as his references and work visa was OK he would get an offer. Then they took a week to sort out the paperwork.
Anyway - good luck to him!

When his 6 months are up (unless the contract gets extended), it is in the middle of summer here, and I guess he will want to do some more sailing.

So today he is celebrating his last day of freedom - and I am looking forward to working from home all alone next week.