It’s raining cats and dogs in Sydney today. I know that people from northern Europe (or anywhere else with a high percentage of rainy days) would laugh but it is possibly the first time this year that I’ve had to carry my large umbrella. Such a miserable day gives me a craving for the coffee I had on Sunday – of the Turkish kind – rich, flavoursome, dark, sweet.
The Lolly Swagman in Berrima certainly brings out the child in people.
How cute is this?
And for adults…
That looks like a steak house! Well, we were in the country, near the Southern Highlands village of Berrima to be exact, so Zen Oasis, despite the name, blended well with its surroundings.
The food wasn’t bad either. A lot of it was standard yum cha fare, but equal favourites for me were the lemon ‘chicken’ and the fake fish.
By the time I tried all of the savoury dishes I hadn’t much room for dessert, however it was enough to fit in the pandan agar jelly.
Spending Easter at Jamberoo Abbey in a couple of weeks. And walking down this road at dawn again.
Temperatures haven’t quite dropped as yet but it has been noticeably cooler at night. Scenes like this at Wattamolla will be only a memory in a couple of weeks time.
Another visit to Bungalow8. This time I had the fish pie, whose presentation seemed to have improved since last time.
My friends meanwhile had the lamb rump, which looked quite scrumptuous indeed.
Saturday started off pretty crap weather-wise, but luckily it cleared up (mostly) to make a visit to the Illawarra Fly Tree Top Walk worth it.
It’s basically a walkway suspended 20m above the ground, so you are literally among the trees.
While there are similar walkways around Australia it was interesting to be up so high among such familiar landscape. The views are similar to what can be had for free at Saddleback Mountain, but I think it worth doing once.
I’ve been listening to Franz Ferdinand’s latest album for over two months straight, and one of my faves is still the addictive No You Girls, so what a surprise it is to find this!
It’s a mini Glaswegian party! But seriously, Tennant and Kapranos on the same stage? Thud! Tennant can join FF anytime…
The only constant is change, so the saying goes. It’s definitely the case where Austinmer’s concerned. The beachfront has had its share of gentrification since I started visiting in the mid 90’s. The row of traditional take-aways have been replaced by a swish condo/cafe complex. Gone are the days when lunch consisted of a good old-fashioned burger (Aussie-style, with beetroot) and a bucket-load of hot chips wrapped in newspaper eaten on the beach. Well, I’m sure the modern cafe has burger and chips on its menu, but sometimes nothing beats an old-fashioned take-away burger and chips after a refreshing dip in the ocean.
An early morning drive on Sunday took me down to the village of Austinmer. I arrived so early that the lifesavers hadn’t yet set-up shop and the locals were still doing laps of the rockpool. I eventually joined them but not before taking a squizz at the beach where a few surfers were still in the water. The waves weren’t particularly big, but still decent enough for them to get a ride or two.
Static and Silence 