The lift of doom

Unfortunately my ski weekend in Perisher was not without incident. On Friday afternoon Penne, Clint, Matt and I were on a four person chair lift riding up the mountain.

When we got to the top I slid of the lift as usual and away down the slope. I realised Penne was no longer with me and looked over my shoulder to see her still sitting on the lift, her feet dangling in the air as the lift started to make its turn back down the hill. Was Penne going to stay on the lift? Or make a jump for it? Penne went for the jump and luckily pulled it off safely.

No longer distracted I suddenly heard Matt exclaiming for someone to help release Clint's binding so that he could straighten his leg. By the time I looked round Clint seemed to be ok, but sitting on the ground, had obviously had similar problems to Penne getting off the lift.

Clint was composed, but making mutterings about his weekend being over. Unfortunately he began to fade quite quickly becoming less coherent, while (as all injured people seem to) slurringly trying to reassure us that he was ok. Worryingly Clint momentarily passed out. It is amazing how powerless you feel at the top of mountain unsure what to do.

We called the volunteer mountain rescue team who turned up with great efficiency to whisk Clint away on a snow mobile. Not before a friendly passer by stopped to give us a bottle of very odd coloured water which to help revive Clint.

Penne and Matt giving an enthusiastic wave once we had ascertained Clint was ok.

Skiing at Perisher

I'm just back from a weekend of skiing in Perisher, Australia's largest ski resort in the Snowy Mountains.

We travelled up in the early hours of Friday, in order to make it onto the slopes by mid-morning. I was excited about going skiing in Australia despite the best efforts of Penne and Clint to to curb my enthusiasm.

Perisher is a compact resort, the majority of lifts are my least favourite T-bars, but there are also a number of chair lifts to get you up the slopes. We had a fantastic day on the Friday with the sun out and a decent covering of snow on the pistes. Although check out the background of the photo above, there wasn't much excess snow around!

Sadly Saturday was a completely different story. There was thunder, lightening, hail and rain! I've never experienced rain on the ski fields before. White outs and blizzards yes, but rain no. It was a uniquely horrible experience in my make shift ski gear. The lightening also caused them to close the lifts which meant we had a long trudge home from the base of one lift.

We were staying the nearby town of Jindabyne and had one of the best ski apartments I have stayed in. It was a modern and well equipped holiday home with a roaring fire to warm up next to at the end of the day. There was a water born disease in Jindabyne while we were there and they had increased the chlorine level in the water to, I am guessing, the legal maximum. After taking a shower it smelt like you had just come out of a swimming pool. I risked a couple of glasses of tap water before switching to the bottled variety.

It was a good weekend, but next year I think I'll be heading to New Zealand for my skiing fix.

Bakerloo Line for Brockley?

Excitingly TFL has done a study which is considering extending the Bakerloo Line to Lewisham. Dampening the enthusiasm, this is only one of three options being considered and any line extension wouldn't be built until 2025.

I read the news on the interesting (although sometime heavy going) London Reconnections blog.

The ever excellent Brockley Central picked up the story from yours truly. Sadly they didn't give me a link, a guaranteed way to get a hundred hits in a day!

*I'm off skiing at the weekend. An Aussie snow report will follow next week.

Business Idea III: Tomato Ketchup

What were Business Ideas I & II I hear you cry?

Business Idea I was to buy the franchise for, and open a chain of the excellent Chipotle restaurants / take aways here in Australia with my good friend Clint. We had it all planned, I quit my job in the UK and moved out to Oz. Let's just say I've been let down, but I am stoically not letting it affect our friendship.

Business Idea II is to start up a internet business with my friend John producing things in Thailand and selling them in the UK. I won't say too much here in case you all steal our ideas!

My latest idea is to start selling Aussie style ketchup sachets in the UK.

We are all used to the annoying ketchup sachets you get in fish & chip and cafeterias in the UK. Difficult to open, liable to explode everywhere, the ketchup gets on your fingers and you are never able to satisfyingly get all the ketchup from the packet.

The Aussie version is pure genius, you squeeze gently and the ketchup comes out without any mess and is controllable in terms of direction and speed. I have made a little video to demonstrate on some lovely homemade sausage rolls (half fennel & cumin and half whole grain mustard & mozzarella since you ask).

Here's the killer innovation, they don't have a brown sauce version yet!

It's not glamorous, but I think Yorkshire folk have an expression "where there's muck there's brass".

The first art of successful business is delegation. Blue Eyes, this seems to be in your line of work. Can you look into UK patents, trade marks, exclusive importation rights? That sort of thing. Thank you!!

Of Gyms and Vanity

At different times this year I have been a member of three contrasting gyms, having never previously stepped inside one.

First came the gym at Supalai Park where I was staying in Bangkok for a couple of months earlier this year. In wonderful Thai style while they were re-furbishing the gym they moved all of the equipment into the car park.

Second I joined Fitness First when I moved to Sydney. The gym was overcrowded to the extent that it was difficult to work out. The staff were pushy sales people and it was my least favourite of the gyms I have been a member of this year.

I gave up my Fitness First membership to become a member of the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre. What a contrast. The gym is never too busy, all of the equipment is in good order and the weights are kept in the right places. The staff are friendly and put together work out programmes for all the members along with record cards so that you can track your progress.

I have lost 7kg in weight this year, feel healthier, get out of breath less easily and have improved my posture. Non of my trousers now fit without a belt. It is very heart warming to receive unsolicited compliments, one of which I got this week.

A big thank you to John who inspired, taught me how far I can push myself and exercise routines to keep me going.

Don't worry mum I am eating properly and not becoming obsessed.

An eBay experiment

I signed up for an eBay account back in early 2005. I have only ever bid one item, which was a filter for my camera lens. While bidding and I suddenly realised I was about to pay more than the item cost in the shops, so I stopped. Thankfully someone not so smart carried on bidding.

My friend John bought my a rear light unit on my behalf when someone ran into the back of my car, but I've never taken the plunge myself. I don't really know why, but the thought of having to use PayPal puts me off.

Clint does a bit of buying and selling on eBay, partly using it to recycle things he doesn't want any more. I bought the above telephone cord a few weeks ago when I was setting up my broadband, only to realise it had the wrong connectors.

I thought I would embark on a bit of eBay recycling and sell the telephone cord, it has been a very frustrating experience! I've tried and failed to change my country of residence (and billing ccy) to Australia. Two emails with customer services haven't yielded any results. I've given up.

If anyone would like the telephone cord let me know and I'll pop it in the post.

Restaurant Review: Billy Kwongs

I've decided to give the mantle (for what it's worth) of my favourite restaurant to Billy Kwongs in Surrey Hills. I went their for dinner with a group of friends, just before Brad and Chel's wedding. It was my third dining experience, having made it on both previous visits to Oz.

The restaurant is small, dark and intimate. The guests pack round small tables, looked after in a casual yet efficient manor. At the back of the restaurant, the kitchen is largely open to the dinners. I've noticed before that you never seem to hear much noise coming out of the kitchen, all the chefs diligently going about their business. Kylie Kwong was in the kitchen when we arrived, but she didn't seem to wielding a knife in anger and left half way through the service.

As well as being my favourite restaurant, a second - more dubious -award needs to be given to Billy Kwongs and that is of having the hottest toilet in the world. The bathroom shares a wall with a restaurant next door, who must have all their ovens up against the wall. It's like an inferno.

We ordered largely from the specials menu. Duck is one of the restaurant's signature dishes and almost a compulsory choice. We choose the crispy duck in an orange sauce. The duck was tender, the skin crispy and the sauce infused with star anise and cinnamon had a syrupy consistency without being too sweet.

We had a steamed fish and one of my favourites of the evening wok fried green beans with a hint of chili. With all the variety on the table I didn't think a simple vegetable dish would be one of my highlights.

Our final two dishes were deep fried silken tofu and some crispy pork belly. The crispy pork belly was my second stand out dish of the evening. Tender, flavoursome, crispy skinned and with a lovely asian coleslaw on the side. The silken tofu was salty and hot, but I've decided that I am not a lover of the texture of silken tofu and it was my least favourite element of the evening.

The restaurant has always had a slightly new age feel to it, if that is the right description, which I thought was more prevalent this time. Smatterings of bio dynamic ingredients have joined the organic references on the menu. There were also posters for Oxfam and the Dalai Lama in the window. We decided we didn't exactly know what bio dynamic food was.

Sydney Boat Show

A couple of Saturday's ago I went to the Sydney Boat Show. The boat show took up most of Darling Harbour with multi million pound yachts filling the water. The Exhibition Centre was also packed with boating paraphernalia and smaller boats.

Kerensa, Dave and I got bargain $5 after 5pm tickets. This "only" gave us a couple hours to look around the luxury gin palaces and a bit longer for the exhibition halls. But how long do you really need?

We were a bit nervous about getting onto our first boat. The ropes, $2.7m price tags and smattering of by invitation only signs were a bit intimidating. We found a friendly looking boat owner, jumped on board and then there was no stopping us.

The level of luxury was unbelievable. Wood panelling, en-suite bathrooms, dishwashers, fridge & BBQs. You name it and we probably saw it on board. The only purchase we made was for a sailing lesson that we have booked for the start of November.

Brad and Chel's Wedding!

The only fixed date when I set off on my seven month (and counting) adventure back in January, was Brad and Chel's wedding on 8th August. The day duly arrived yesterday and glorious it was too.

The wedding ceremony took place on the Band Lawn of the Botanic Gardens. It was a beautiful setting with a pond, fountains and trees sweeping down to views of the harbour. The park was still fully open to the public and Chel arriving across the lawns in her wedding dress caused a few raised eye brows from the picnickers and tourists who were nearby. Some of the local bird life also wanted to get in on the action with a duck waddling into the middle of a ceremony and a parakeet squawking in the arrival of the vows.

I was truly honoured to be asked to do one of the readings during the ceremony. Luckily I didn't stumble on any of the words and the English accent was a winner with the crowds. The final reading, by Brad's mum, was same Dr Suess poem I read at Emily and Andrew's wedding two years ago. The slightly eccentric, but lovely, celebrant remarked on the how Diane's emphasis had brought a whole new meaning to the poem!

Once the vows were said we popped a dozen bottles of champagne and enjoyed the setting sun in the park while the wedding photos were being taken.

The reception was held at Zilver in China Town. We had a thirteen course banquet including suckling pig, lobster and lots of other delights. The stomach fish lining soup was translated simply as Maw Fish Soup so that it didn't put off the squeamish. It wasn't as much of a culture shock as the Chinese wedding I went to in Singapore. Partly because it was my second banquet and also because the guests were fifty percent Australian.


I decided to take photos of the day on my film SLR, experimenting with a black and white for the first time. I'm going to have to wait for a couple of weeks to know whether or not I managed to take any gems.

Hunter Valley II

On Ruth's final Saturday we headed up to the Hunter Valley for the day. Having visited the Hunter just over a month ago, I did the honourable brotherly thing and drove. Allowing Ruth to sample some wines.

We followed a similar circuit of vineyards to the one I travelled last time. It was a lot less busy which gave us a bit more time to talk to the wine makers. I was also wise to the fact that the food shopping options in the Hunter can be a bit limited, so we took a picnic.

Audrey Wilkinson is a picturesque start to the day. They were impressed to learn that we had been quaffing a bottle of theirs the previous evening. It was interesting to discover that they sell virtually all their wines from the cellar door, I didn't think that would be a big enough market.

Without doubt the highlight of the day was the tour we took at Tyrrells. For only $5 we got a one hour and forty five minute tour from one of the wine makers. We started in the vine yard where our guide went off on wild tangents, but did impart a few interesting facts about the Hunter Valley and how to grow good grapes.

Next we moved into the wine shed to see the machines that they use to extract the juice from the grapes and ferment the wine. We moved through to the rooms filled with row upon row of oak barrels. The less prestigious wines are kept in American oak and the top notch vintages are kept in French casks. Finally we ended up in the lab where they mix blends and analyse their competitors wine.

The final vineyard of the day was Mount Pleasant. Anyone who knows where I grew up will understand the obligatory photos.

Elizabeth Bay, Bills & Sydney Uni

There is something a little bit magical about being off during the week, when you know that everyone else is at work. On the last (weekday) of my time off with Ruth, we started our day at Elizabeth Bay House. The house is one of the oldest classical homes in Sydney, built by the eccentric Macleay family. In the finest tradition of great house builders they went bankrupt, and all of the land and contents had to be sold off.

The house has been wonderfully restored by the Historic Houses Trust. The HHT look like a good find, and I think I will make an effort to visit all the other buildings they look after.

We had lunch at Bills, which is a bit of a Sydney cafe icon. I don't think Ruth grasped the full significance, but it was a good lunch.

After lunch we headed across to the University of Sydney. The central quad is befitting of Oxbridge. Not too much else to report from the Uni, apart from how shockingly young all the students looked. It was 11yrs since I started uni!

Darwin

In contrast with Cairns, I rather enjoyed the quaint Darwin. Remarkably Darwin was settled by people travelling north from Adelaide and not from the sea. For those of you who can't picture the Australian continent, take a look at a map and you will see how crazy that seems.

The city has been flattened twice in its life. The first time was during a Japanese air raid during WWII. (There was a certain pride in telling you that it was by the same fleet that bombed Pearl Harbour and that more bombs were dropped on Darwin.) Then again by Cyclone Tracy in 1974.

There isn't that much to do in Darwin, but it is a pleasant place in which to relax and have a wonder. The highlights for me were seeing what historic buildings they have left, including Burnett House at the Historic Precinct and the old Telegraph Station. The modern Parliament building is worth a look inside. Without regard to cost, they have built a large building - suitable to expand into in the future according to the signs - which barely seems to be used. A white elephant? Sitting on the beach to watch a sunset over Cullen Bay was a lovely end to the day.

Litchfield National Park

Day three of our tour was to the Litchfield National Park. Ruth's Rough Guide made Litchfield sound like the undiscovered gem compared to the over touristy Kakadu. However, we found the reverse to be true. Litchfield was packed with day trippers from Darwin and we definitely saw less crowds in Kakadu.

Litchfield was all about waterfalls and swimming holes. We started off with a quick stop at Florence Falls:

We then headed over to the Buley Rock Holes, where we went for a swim. There were nine lovely interconnected pools that you could sit and slide between. Enjoying a massage from the water along the way.

After lunch we had a quick stop at Tolmel Falls (not very impressive in the Dry) before we headed to Wangi Falls. Wangi was the most crowded of all the spots we visited during the day. I was somewhat intimidated by the signs up saying that there was a croc. trap set, but there "usually" weren't any problems. I was hot an sweaty so I risked a brief swim.

The final stop on our tour were the magnetic termite mounds. These things were truly impressive. They grow in a North-South direction within three degrees of accuracy. How do they do it? There was a whole field of them. Only to be found in Australia. Once side gets the sun all day, while the other is in the shade. Here is me a illustrating the point handsomely:

A final few words on Connections Travel who I thought were excellent. The guides were friendly and knowledgable, there were a couple of nice freebies (towel and pillow), the food was good and the campsites were pretty decent.

A final photo of our tour group:

My reviews of day one and two can be seen here and here.

My Darwin photos are here.

Kakadu National Park: Day 2

Our second day in Kakadu (I blogged about the first day here) started early so we could head to Nourlangie to see some more rock art.

To my untrained eye, Nourlangie and Ubirr weren't too different. We did see both a real wallaby and this ancient painting of one:

Disaster then struck when the air-con on our tour bus died. Ashley, our guide, tried in vain to fix the air-con and we had to call for a replacement bus. At this point it was about 10am in the morning, and one of the downsides of being the middle of a National Park, means that there isn't a garage on every corner.

We didn't rendez-vous with our new bus until 3pm. It was absolute hell spending a day driving round in 32 degree heat when you can't open a window. We all consumed litres of water, but the feeling of nausea was inevitable.


On the way to our rendez-vous with the new bus we stopped at the Gunlom waterfalls for a swim and lunch. Gunlom was probably the highlight of the trip for me. A stiff twenty minute hike to the top of the waterfalls unveiled four swimming holes which provided for a much needed refreshing dip with a fantastic backdrop. No safety fences here, it was possible to get dangerously close to the edge of the waterfall. Rock pools at the top:

A few of the waterfall from the bottom:

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We met up with our new bus at the old mining town of Pine Creek. At this point our tour group split. Everyone except Ruth and I were carrying on for a longer tour of Kakadu. Ruth and I joined a group heading to Litchfield National Park.

We spent the night at Mount Bundy Station. Less luxurious than our first campsite, it could only be described as agricultural. The shower block felt like being in a stable block. We did however, have an absolute feast for dinner cooked in the open air and eaten around a fire. A damper (unleaven bread), bbq pumpkin, kangaroo, buffalo, crocodile, steak, sweetcorn and noodles. The kangaroo was excellent and the crocodile - I hate the cliche - tasted like chicken and was a bit bland.

My post of Litchfield National Park will be published tomorrow.

You can see my Darwin photos here.

Kakadu National Park: Day 1

The highlight of my two weeks in Cairn and Darwin, was the three day tour of Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks, Ruth and I took with Connections Travel.

Day 1 started when we were picked up from our B&B and we were driven out to Kakadu National Park. Before reaching the Park we stoped at a billabong for a boat trip to see the crocs. Our guide was a slightly eccentric man, who was very knowledgeable about the wildlife and vocal in his dislike for TV crocodile hunter Steve Irwin.

We saw freshwater and salt water or estuarine crocs, including this four and a half meter monster:
We also saw water buffalo and plenty of birds including jabiru, ducks and others I can't remember the name of. Our guide very bravely put his hand over the side of the boat to pick a lily and take this wonderful photo:

After the billabong we drove into the National Park, stopping to view some termite mounds along the way:

At over three and a half meters tall this termite mound is about 35 years old. Incredibly they survive bush fires during the dry season and being submerged by water for a couple of months a year during the wet season.

Our final activity on Day 1 was a visit to Ubirr to see some Aboriginal rock art. I'm not the biggest fan of Aboriginal art, but it was interesting to hear from our guide the different phases Aboriginal art has been through (a bit like the classics, impressionism, cubism etc..) and how they have been used for teaching.

From the top of Ubirr there were some dramatic and sweeping views of the National Park. Instead of which I will give you a photo of me in my new bush hat:

We spent the night at a campsite in Jabiru. Connections had a number of permanent tents at the campsite, as well as a kitchen and open air dining room. Coupled with the swimming pool and hot water showers it meant we weren't exactly roughing in.

Over the next couple of days I'll blog about, Kakadu Day 2 and Litchfield National Park.

You can also see my Darwin photos here.