We're Back!!!!

Well what can we say?

After many phone calls to our internet people we are finally connected to the Internet again! The joy and wonderment of Ozzy customer service!

It took Simon 3 calls and me 4 just to get the bloody thing working. Well its working now and we are, I think the technical term is, Skyped up!!!!

So what have we been up to since we were cut off?

We have been to a moonlight cinema! What's that I here you ask? Well, you go to a park, take along loads of food and the odd alcoholic beverage, hire a bean bag, lie back in the warmth of a balmy summers night and watch a film! We saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was fantastic, people dressed up shouting at the screen (not randomly shouting, but at the right places). It was brill!!

Then last week we went to a symphony in the park with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, I'd love to say that it was a private performance just for us 2 but there was thousands of people there!! We got there about 3pm in the afternoon and to say it was a little warm would be an understatement!!! 42 Degrees!! Full sun!!! NO clouds!!!! We went with some of Simon's work mates and we had a great laugh, ate Ice Creams by the bucket load and tried to avoid the sun!!

As you can see it was really busy, the people were lovely and the evening went off with a bang! Literally, there were 2 huge cannons by the side of the stage that boomed at the end of the show... Fantastic!!

And I haven't even mentioned Australia day..... they closed off the city and drove thousands of old, vintage cars into the city!! I gather some of you will remember them when they were new!! You know who you are!!

We spent the day wandering, looking at the cars and people watching! Then the best thing we had a True Ozzy Burger.... Bun, Burger, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, fried egg, onion, beetroot and relish!!! We couldn't move afterwards but god was it nice!!

So, that's you up to date with what we've been up to over the last couple of weeks!!!

BREAKING NEWS!

We have refrigeration and washing facilities! I called a rental company today and they delivered a fridge/freezer and washig machine this afternoon!

Hurrah!

Hey, this may not seem much to you, but try living without a fridge for a weekend and see how that feels! Let's be honest, who likes warm beer? ;-)

We're in!

So, howzat for a view?

We moved in to our new apartment on Saturday with little or no fuss; other than the expected fridge and wasing machine weren't there - no problems with that, though, we can rent them for a few dollars a week.

As you can see from the picture, we have an amazing view and at a stretch we can even see the opera house (look for the pointy things immediately right of the big church in the centre of the picture).

Saturday was spent walking our feet off and buying just about everything we need; we moved in with an inflatable bed and that's it! So, we went to a few places in the city to buy things like a kettle, iron, ironing board, toaster, cutlery, pots, pans, glasses etc - you name it, we needed it! Like I said, we needed everything!

On Sunday we had a walk out of the city to 'Supa Centre' - its a place that has shops all for housey stuff, because we'd heard there was a really cheap place that sold furniture. So, after a really pleasent 30 minute walk through tree-lined avenues, we found the furniture shop and bought a dining table, chairs, coffee table and bed-side tables; we should get them in a week or 2.

So, all in all, it was a busy but fruitfal weekend. Click here for pictures of the apartment (don't panic - it's a bit empty, but won't always be like that!).

Film On the harbour and Moving House!!

Well, on Wednesday we went down to the harbour where they had put up a huge screen in the middle of it and they were showing a film, it was really warm and we sat there under the stars waiting to watch the film.

'How wonderful' I hear you say!!!

How wrong could you be, the film was in German and the subtitles were flying accross the screen faster than old people in a 2 for 1 sale at the denture shop!! The live band that were playing the accompnying music were brilliant. We stayed for a while and then left and went and had a few beers on the harbour!! We left early as we thought that when it finished the other 2000 people there might nick the table we had our eye on in the pub!!

We also wanted to let you know that we are moving into our new apartment on Saturday the 17th of January and we don't have internet access there till the 28th January so if you email us and dont get a response straight away that's the reason....

All together now...

At the risk of being accused of going native, Australia day is soon upon us (26 January) and is a day of festivity and merriment to celebrate all things Australian (e.g. Kylie, XXXX beer and ABBA - they're Swedish, but adopted Aussies).

Anyway, in preparation for the big day, here's the National Anthem for you all to memorise - I WILL be testing you later:-

Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free,
We've golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare,
In history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We'll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share:
With courage let us all combine
To Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

For the observant among you, you will have noticed that the 4th line has the word 'girt' in it - don't ask me what the hell that means, it's anyone's guess; answers on a postcard....

Aussies not being sticklers for tradition openly welcome unique interpretations of the National Anthem in the form of the Advance Australia Dare; click here for some 'interesting' and occasionally disturbing renditions of said tune.

Sydney Festival

So, given Christmas and New Year are only just over guess what the Sydneysiders (that's people who live in Sydney call themselves, apparently) have decided to do? Have a 3 week arts festival!!!

Last night was the first night of the festival, which included a bloke who looked like Guy Richie (even had the cap), rapping in French while his band accompanied him on the accordion and drums! What can I say - I thought the act was pretty groovy, but Phil thought it was total pants!

Moving on to something altogether more civilised was another stage where a 20-odd piece big band were knocking out some really groovy (we both agreed) jazz/blues/samba tunes, while an amazing singer did her stuff!

At precisely 9pm, it was time to do 'The Sydney'. Some crazy antipodean had decided that it was a great idea to get 250,000 people around the city to do a daft dance that was somewhere between the Okey-cokey and the chicken dance; it must have taken at least one other antipodean to agree and the result can be seen by clicking here (be afraid - be very afraid!).

So after a couple of practice runs, there was a countdown so that all participants were in synch and then after 5....4....3....2....1...... there was nothing! To be honest, by the time we started, I had a nervous feeling that everyone else had finished! When I say 'we started', I must point out that Phil & I held our British stiff upper lip and looked on while quietly tapping our feet (much to the annoyance and cajoling of a 4 foot nothing Chinese woman in front of us who was getting right into it!).

All in all, it was a great night - lots of people, jazz/blues/samba band and a French rapper - you can't make this stuff up, can you!!!

Oh, and the picture? I think it's a wombat made out of plastic cups and rubber gloves made by local children to remind adults to keep a hold of them while at the festival - like I said, you couldn't make this stuff up!

The New Apartment

After much searching for somewhere to live we have found an apartment! The search was eye-opening, this was the first apartment we looked at and after looking at some really bad places we went back here and chose this one.

We did the house hunting over the hottest few days that Sydney has had for a few years. 30-33 degrees is not the best weather to walk (well actually jog - we had to because the apartments were only open for 15 minutes at a time and were at different ends of the city). It's a 2 bedroom place that is open plan and if you look closely you can see that all the walls move, sliding doors that disappear into the walls! Comments have been made that we are living in a wardrobe, as you can see this is actually true, no not really!

We have a balcony with no view and it's only about 18" wide so we will be having a chair at opposite ends and we can look at each others ugly mugs, the joy! Although we don't have a view we are not bothered, when you step out of the apartment block you walk straight into Hyde Park, one of Sydney biggest and most beautiful parks!

Don't think there is much more I can say about it, we love it!!

We sign the lease on Monday and move in next Saturday.

Star Spotting in Sydney!!

Well, what can I say, it's been the hottest 3 days in Sydney for a few years and as the Poms do, we went walking round Sydney between 12-3pm (I know mad dogs and English men!!) There was a reason, we were house hunting!

We saw a couple of nice places and a couple of dives, one had police tape over the door before we went in! Only Joking!!! They were all ok but they were miles away from anywhere, one was in a place called Wooloooomooorooorooo or something like that! We will keep looking.

Anyway back to the Star Spotting!! Sci-fi nerds who have watched the Matrix Trilogy will know the bloke in the picture above! It's Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith) from the Matrix.

Well, we were walking down a street just outside of the centre of Sydney and he walked past us. I couldn't believe it, I spent the next hour following him around in case Keanu Reeves was joining him in Hungry Jacks (Burger King to you and me) for a double whopper. Alas it didn't happen, but I do have a restraining order that won't let me within 100 meters of him, the Ozzy police are lovely people....

New Year Pics

Click here for our New Years Eve pics.....

Happy New Year!

So, by now, you've all had a sleep and it's 2009!

Our story for New Years Eve starts the day before, because the city was expecting 1.5 million visitors for the big night(!), so we knew that wherever we went we'd have to get there early. So, the day before we had a good recky and decided top go up to the Sydney Observatory park; there are plenty of trees for shade and it was one of the few places that allowed you to bring your own booze (let's be honest, that's an important point!).

So, New Years Eve arrived and at 2pm we headed up to the park, not knowing whether there would be many, if any, people there. Thankfully, when we arrived, there were less than a hundred people there, so we were able to find a spot under the trees, in the shade.

Ok, so we had a 10 hour wait for the main event (there was a 'family' fireworks show at 9pm - it was like a practice run and was fantastic). The 10 hours flew by - we had a picnic and did some serious people watching.

By midnight, there must have been a couple of thousand people in this tiny park; most of whom seemed to be Irish (so there was plenty of singing going on!). And then, with no warning, the show started! It was totally incredible - we've never seen fireworks like it. While they only lasted about 10 minutes, they really were totally incredible.

Instead of taking pictures, Phil took some video - click here for a look at what we saw (a word of warning for people with 'little ears' - there's the odd 'adult' expletive audible on the video, this is probably due either to the awsomeness of the display, or that most of the audience had been on the pop for most of the day - not us, of course!).....