Week 2 in Sydney!

Since I last blogged, Carly and Paul have very kindly been putting me up in their flat (unit in Australian speak) in Lane Cove since last Sunday. I have done a bit towards earning some Aussie dollars whilst I am here, doing a responsible gambling course and will be doing a responsible service of alcohol course on Wednesday! (Seems kind of crazy to have to do exams to do bar work.) Also I have asked around in a few bars in Manly and I have had a couple of call backs for trials so we will see.

I feel like I have done an awful lot of walking! Last Saturday (another nice, hot day) I walked from Circular Quay, through Hyde Park, down the length of Oxford Street to Bondi Junction. Really makes me laugh how so many of the places are named after places at home - Putney, Epping, Cheltenham, Paddington, Kings Cross, Greenwich to name a few. Did a bit of shopping on Oxford Street - particularly liked Source and the Witchery and then met up with Lucy who I had met in Semporna, Borneo on Bondi beach. Bondi is a huge beach and looked awesome - apparently in summer 80,000 people can be on Bondi!

Sunday was my first Harbour race with Manly Yacht Club. I was sailing on a Radford 40 and after a bit of a rusty start on the symmetrical bow we ended up with line honours and 2nd on corrected time. After racing we headed over to the yacht club where the 1st and 2nd placed boats in class were presented with a bottle of wine. It seems like a really friendly club and I may join for the period of time that I am here.

Friday was Kiyomi and Heath's wedding. Really amazing day, she looked so glamorous and Heath scrubbed up pretty well too! The venue for the ceremony was Japanese gardens in Fagan park in Galston quite a way out of the city. Heath and the groomsmen were all lined up ready and waiting on the balcony of the tea house, the bridesmaids one at a time joined them before Kiyomi and her dad, Mick completed the wedding party. The celebrant knew Kiyomi through work and was really moved by the day. As a tribute to Japanese culture Kiyomi and Heath both took sake after the official part of the ceremony was over. The reception was at a lovely venue in Ryde - heartfelt speeches from Mick, Kiyomi and Heath, lots of yummy food and lots of cheesy dancing! Perfect!

I joined Carly, Paul and Carly's psychologist class mates at the start of Spring Carnival races at Randwick on Saturday. Despite tips from Jim Hingston we unfortunately weren't particularly lucky and the weather was pretty horrendous. Still, it was a fun day - particularly checking out some people's outfits!

Yesterday I joined Lucy, Andy, Kiyomi, Heath and Kiyomi's family for lunch at the top of the Sydney Tower. Despite the fairly horrible weather the views were incredible! We then wandered down to the Rocks to have a quick look in the shops and then over to the Opera bar (underneath the opera house). Really nice to have a proper catch up with everyone after the wedding.

Today Lucy, Andy, Jim and I went whale watching. Despite some rain early on the weather improved considerably and we saw about 9-10 whales (mostly humpback), including a mother and calf that breached (jumped clear of the water) - really cool. After lunch at Darling Harbour we headed over to Manly to meet Jill (Jim's wife) and their little girl, Chloe. The weather was lovely and there was an outside jazz festival on the Corso which was cool - great atmosphere!