Posts with tag 'Sydney'

The Melbourne Cup Fiasco

Jonny and Joe headed off for the Melbourne Cup today. They flew to Melbourne this morning, taking in Neighbours night tonight and then off to the races tomorrow... Hopefully.

I say hopefully because the lads have made extremely hard work of this trip. It started during the week when Joe had problems with his credit card. After a lot of phone calls he had his card unblocked, but he still can't use it on atms.

Yesterday though it got very funny. The lads went to the internet to check the time of their flight. Unfortunately for them they booked it for Sunday morning instead of Monday morning so they had to book a new flight. They were a bit pissed off but in fairness, they could see the funny side. Which is good seeing as I broke myself laughing when they told me.

The drama did not stop there though. I rang the lads this morning and they forgot their tickets for the Melbourne cup and can't afford to buy new ones. Its all very funny really. I now have to try to go in to ticketmaster to see if they will cancel the lads tickets that are in my pocket and then have the lads collect new ones in Melbourne. Hopefully they'll be able to sort things out but until then I'll be laughing a lot.

Other than that, there is not much news here. I have gotten a job and start work next Monday working on some kind of roll-out/migration on a 2-3 week contract. We still can't find a place to stay but are looking.

Sydney Goings On

We have been in Sydney for just over a week now and so far it has been successful. The only thing we are really missing is somewhere a bit more permanent to live. All our stuff is in a dorm room with us so its hard to keep everything clean. Plus its crazy expensive.

As for work, me and Ian both start work on Monday morning. I'm working as a Rollout Engineer or something like that. It sounds fairly easy. Its a 2-3 week contract but when that's up I think the agency will be fairly quick about getting me more work. So all is good. Jonny has an interview on Tuesday probably and Joe then just has to get himself together.

I have spent the week playing Football Manager 2007 and editing photographs. There hasn't really been much else to do. It has rained most of the week. So below you can see some of the fruits of my labour...

Taken on Mornington Peninsula with Claire and Ian

From Trikora Beach. This one was is in the gallery too but I've tinkered with it this time

This is under the bridge beside Flinders Station in Melbourne

This is where we lived in Trikora beach for a week. Again has already been in the gallery

Ian taking a pic on a beach on the way out of Melbourne. Claire got a parking ticket for the stop!!

This is from Mornington again. I think the place is called Ocean beach or something. First real waves I'd seen though since I was in Kerry!!

One of the guys in Trikora beach brought me up here to see the new resort they were building. Nice pool in fairness

A spoon in Trikora Beach.... not much more I can say really

I love this picture. Ian took it I think but I did all the editing. Its my first time to make a HDR

This is a tyre from Trikora beach. Again, nothing to say about it

Here is another photo of the island. I have to admit, that place was close to paradise

More from Sydney

Right so I started my first job since July. I hate working already. My title is an IT Rollout Engineer but my job is to change settings... wait a while and change them back again. Not really a whole lot to it. At the moment I'm based in a company who bought the wine division from Fosters. This place is gas. There are wine bottles everywhere. Full ones at that. Everyday so far somebody has pulled out a drink by 5 o'clock. Drinking at their desks during work. I'm interested to see what Friday will be like so. I couldn't imagine what Ammeon would be like if similar things happened. Would be a jollier place I suppose.

I made it to see the Opera house and Harbour bridge on Saturday. Got some great photos too. I'll add some to this post soon. The Opera House is a class building and the bridge is massive too. I was however very dissapointed to find out that the Opera House is not actually white! Its a yellowy browny whitey colour. Maybe it just needs to be cleaned.

After doing that we headed out on Saturday night and I ended up staying up til 8 o'clock drinking coffee. That was good fun. Then after 3 hours sleep, me and Matt (who is I think going to add a post with those pictures) headed to a festival in Newtown, just outside Sydney central. That was cool. It was a free thing with loads of bands and we just sat around having a laugh and drinking a few beers. There was one really great band called Dead Letter Chorus playing there, who I'm going to try and see play again. Basically though we just spent the whole day lying out on grass or sitting in a beer garden enjoying the sun. It was really hot. Somehow I didn't get burnt though... happy days.

We still haven't managed to find a house yet. We have figured out that we can get an unfurnished place and rent furniture for the same price as a furnished place, so at least we have options. For now we just keep looking. Well the lads are doing most of it in fairness coz I'm in work when they are viewing places. Hopefully we'll have something by the time they get jobs or we'll really be in trouble.

Until next time

Brian

Harbour bridge at night

ladies and gentlemen... the Sydney Opera House

Newtown Festival weekend

Hi all my name is Matt and i am pleased to say im a friend of Brian, Joe, Jonny and Ian. I actually met Joe and Ian in Sri lanka and six hours later we were on a flight together to Bangkok! a few days later i then met Jonny and Brian when they met back up with Joe and Ian in Thailand. Brian and Jonny were great and took the time to sit down with me and give me loads of great places to see, stay and feed and water myself as i was heading off to Loas, Vietnam and Cambodia. They had just returned so were full of usefull info and all this within 2 mins of meeting them! great guys all four and a fast tracked friendship was formed! The crowd i travelled with very much appreciated the tips i had in my lonely planet especially when i pulled it out and said right we are off bowling at 1am in the morning!
anyhow long story short and about 2 months later we are all reunited again in the amazing cosmopolitan city that is Sydney and Brian has trusted me to upload to his blog so I will do my best to explain a great weekend which started with a txt asking me if I fancied a Tapas? well I love Tapas so I jumped at the chance so off we headed. The night started all civilised drinking red wine and swapping travelling stories and highlights as well as feeding our faces with some amazing food and ended at a foam party a good few hours later! Friday night not relishing the thought of drinking again we headed to the cinema caught an ok film and planned a night out for Saturday which for me ended at 6am and Brian gone 8am! anyhow Sunday all hungover me and Brian headed to the Newtown festival not really knowing what to expect and after going to the wrong station and taking a tour of Sydney we finally arrived, it was a blistering day and Brian went and got some alcapops in! ill never forgive him :) we had a great day chilling in the sun listening to local bands and like Brian said we will have to see one of the bands again as they were brilliant! i even caught Brian almost breaking into a dance in the corner of my eye! After the festival we headed to a local pub and chatted to some locals and generally had a great time after that we headed home on the train and popped into a local hostel bar to meet a friend of Brians :) ill let him explain that one

Foam Party night not recommended after a Tapas

all the boys posing!

Me and Brian were commenting on what a lovely place Aus is when we spotted this sign and said "look even the signs are friendly!" only later did we realise there was a cemetry behind the wall!

"one of u, one of me"

"one of u, One of me"

Just before the embarrassment of realising that I was on the cemetery wall

Saturday at a Gig

I'll first go into a bit more detail about my job. I am presently an IT Rollout Engineer. What that basically means is that during the day I uninstall software and change some settings and then in the evening I change those settings back again. It's an awful job and to be honest it really doesn't pay well. From the look of things too the contract will be extended until another week. Good because that means I still have a job but bad because that means I still have this job. In saying that its money, which I need so its not the worst thing in the world.

Anyway, on Saturday me and Matt went to see Dead Letter Chorus. This was the band we saw last Sunday at the Newtown Festival. They are a really good band and they put on a good show. We were talking to them a bit afterwards... well I was, Matt was a bit starstruck. Matt got his picture taken with them too. What I found really funny was that the band are all mad Frames fans. Its so strange, in Ireland if you say do you like the Frames you get a fairly calm yes, however these guys... "Oh my God, I love the Frames!" I found that strange. The lead singer of the band does look like Glen Hansard though, its quite funny. Apparently when they went to see the Frames he got asked a couple of times if he was Glen Hansard. I also found out that Bic Runga is from New Zealand... I never knew that.

Ok, so the pictures below have nothing to do with this post really. I took them the same day as the Opera House photos but only really got to sort them out last night. Enjoy...

2 anchors at darling harbour.

This ship is constantly moored in darling harbour. There is a sub beside it too

The lighthouse at darling harbour

The same lighthouse

Sydney by Night

The pedestrian bridge at Darling Harbour which opened to let a boat through. I couldn't really get a good pic of it though

Matt all starstruck apparantly....

New House, New Job

Finally we have moved in to our new house. Its in Ashfield which is a suburb about 20mins by train outside the city centre, which is handy enough. At the moment there is just the four of us living there at the moment but Jonny's brother and two friends are moving in in 2 weeks so that will make 7 of us. There is only one bathroom which will make things awkward in the mornings but I'm sure we'll survive. The house is nice and fairly big with a bit of a garden out the back so we can have bbq's or whatever. There are 3 single rooms, which the lads have named the Japanese Room (Jonny's), the India Room (Ian's) and the Madonna Room (Joe's). Joe fought valiantly to have his room named the white room but thats not happening. We still have no kitchen yet because they are still working on it, although I did manage to make my first home cooked dinner since Melbourne last night. Pork chops, carrot, spuds and gravy. The spuds weren't great and the pork was a but dry but I loved every last bit of it. Bring it on.

Other than that, I have gotten a new contract with Ericsson. I'll be working as a Network Fault Analyst. Either way, its a job that will look good on the CV when I get home. I'm not the only one starting on Monday thought. Both Ian and Joe will be working with me. That should be good fun.

Yesterday, me and Ian went to the Blue Mountains. Wandered around a path after a 2 hour train Journey. It was nice with some great views but I don't know that I would go mad about it. It was nice to see. There is a scenic railway and cable cart there that we didn't go on but if we go back up with the lads, we will probably go on that. It was a nice day though and good to get out of the house and have a wander. Legs were slightly stiff.

The lads sitting outside on the front porch

The hall in our house. The red light shines into my room at night and makes it look like a brothel

If I had a wide angled lense, I could show the rest of the room. But thats my bed. Sitting room and kitchen are still upside down at the moment.

Christmas in Sydney

Ok, it has been a long time now since I posted. Mainly because I've been lazy and partially because I've been working a lot lately. So what has been happening I hear you scream? Well, I met my aunt Beda when she was over. That was great to see family again. We went out to dinner and a few drinks. Just a bit of craic in general. Me and the lads started our new jobs with Ericsson. Its going well. It is fairly interesting and we are getting exposure to lots of the mobile network which we might not have gotten otherwise. Our contract finishes in January but at the moment it looks like we will have it extended. They seem to be pretty impressed with us in here.

The house is now full. Jonny's brother Ray, along with the other DubsDownUnder.net people, Dec and Fitz, have joined us. Ian's friend Paddy is also staying with us for a while sothe house is good and busy and good craic. We have the house all pimped out now, along with the tackiest Christmas tree. Bling ***. Looks like someone vomited tinsel on it. The lads met the "Three C's" in Thailand so they have been around a couple of times too and been out with us a couple of times. Its good to have a bit of a group now. 2 more of their friends then spent a couple of nights with us. We tried to do a 12 Pubs of Christmas but we got lazy and just stayed in one pub.

As for Christmas, unfortunately I was working Christmas day. I missed out on the savage dinner the lads cooked. They kept me some though which was savage. Christmas day itself didn't seem like too bad of a one to miss. There is no hype here like home. The Aussies are not a festive bunch. We did go out to PJ O'Briens for Christmas Eve and St. Stephen's night. 2 very good nights out.

In the lead up to Christmas the weather has been shocking. I've been told its the wettest December they have had, in Sydney anyway, for about 30 years. Because one wet summer a year isn't good enough for me. Thankfully in the last week the weather has gotten really good. Its crazy hot here. So 2 days ago, we went to Bondi beach. It was mental. I've never seen so many people on a beach before. It was mobbed. Was nice though to get to the beach. It was actually the first time I've been on Bondi beach since I've gotten here, unusual for an Irish person.

So the New Years Eve Celebrations are starting soon which should be great. The fireworks this year are set to be the biggest yet. Should be good. If I can get somewhere to see it from. I'm in work until 9. Also, just heard that there is a massive storm heading this way too. Frazer Island is being evacuated but hopefully it wont hit us before New Years.

Until next time...

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(ASCII translation :- Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Just because I haven't made a nerdy joke in a while)

The tree is in Queen Victoria Building. Its 3 stories high. This was taken from the second floor. Monster of a thing

One of hundreds maybe thousands of Swvorsky Crystals... or howver you spell it

We spent one of the days after Christmas on Bondi Beach. It was mental busy and really hot

Jonny's brother Ray has joined us with 2 of his friends. He was also at Bondi.

Paddy is a friend of Ian's from home who is with us now. He's relaxing on the beach after surfing

Dec travelled with Ray. He's the senior gentleman of the house

The lads met the "Three C's" in Thailand, who are also in Sydney. This is Claire.

Clionadh makes it 2 of the C's. Catherine is the third but the only nice pic I took of her, she deleted... spoil sport

Jill and John stayed with us for 2 days after Christmas. I love the reflection in this but the focus is a bit off. Would have been great otherwise

John doing his Johnny Bravo impression!

Since Christmas - Its just not cricket

So Christmas was a month ago now and New Years Eve has come and gone. I have to hand it to people in Sydney, they really know how to do New Years. I'm not sure if anybody saw the fireworks on tv, but they were amazing. I was working that night until 9 o'clock so after work I bailed in to town as quick as possible to meet the lads who had been in there most of the day.

After getting off the train the first thing you notice is the atmosphere. There is a definite buzz around and then you notice the sheer numbers of people. It was mental. I eventually found the lads and we rang in the new year. It was crazy though. Everybody had brought drink with them and it was pretty much one massive street party with music been played from pubs out on to the street. Like nothing I have ever experienced before. Australia Day is meant to be similar and that falls on Saturday so that hopefully will be more of the same.

Since then I went to see a cricket match. I was told that at cricket match you sit around drinking beer, enjoying the sun and that there would be plenty of beer. That was meant to be the entertainment... not the actual cricket. The beer was mid-strength, it rained (although not all the time) and there were no hot chicks. Cricket by the way is as boring live as it is on tv, well actually it is more boring. To make matters worse, when it wasn't raining, it was roasting hot and I got some bad sun burn too. That'll be my last live cricketing event I feel.

Other than all that my only other news is that I am moving out of the house, 8 lads under one roof is just a little too much for me :) I'm moving in with Matt at the start of next month. Not sure if I'll be going in to Matt's place now or if we'll just get a place on our own. If I do move in with Matt, it will mean that I'll have a gym, swimming pool and jacuzzi at my disposal :) Obviously I won't be using the gym.

So for now, I'm working away and saving for my trip to South America. I do have pictures from New Year's Eve but they aren't great. I'll put them up as soon as I get my ass in gear.

Later

Brian

I call this one the Paul Snr. I didn't stick with it. Looks good though

Matt, Ian and Paddy. I think somebody has done something nasty to Ian, he looks violated!!

This was one of the Croatian girls we were talking to on New Years Eve. Her name is Iwanna - I nearly split myself laughing. She was sound though

Not a great picture...

The Long Delay

Yet again it has been a while since I have updated the blog, but in fairness this time I was kind of forced into it. I moved house about 5 weeks ago and I am living with Matt now but only just got internet sorted. There is no swimming pool etc but its ok because I probably wouldn't have used it enough and would have felt guilty. We are living in Kings Cross which means we are beside the wondrous O'Malley's. $6 for a jug of beer, can't beat that with a really big stick. When we moved in there was a girl from Manchester that Matt knew and 2 Northern Irish girls living across the hall. It was really cool living beside them because they were great fun and always up for a night out. Unfortunately these nights always ended up in the courthouse until 6/7 in the morning. The courthouse is an awful place, it's like a bookies with a bar but its not actually a bookies! Alas, the girls left 2 weeks ago and we have nobody to call into for a chat.

They are not the only friends I made over here that have gone on their way back home. The same weekend they left, Brian and Fiona, who I met in Melbourne left too. However, Elaine who I met in Nha Trang just arrived so there are still plenty of people around, and Kieran O'Callaghan who used to work in Ammeon is over now too. The best news I've heard recently though is that Robbie is coming over next week. Will be great to see him again.

So not much has really been happening here. Australia Day wasn't as big as people told me it was, although I did enjoy it. We panned out in the sun in Hyde Park listening to live music and then headed to a pub afterwards. Strangely I was home by 2:30 that night. That seems so early now. It was a good aul laugh and everyone was out. I have also been to a couple more Dead Letter Chorus gigs. There is a festival on in a week that I wanted to go to but I had to pull out due to financial constraints.

Work was going well. Joe one the Hutchison Desire award. Its for public relations skills or something like that. It was fun teasing him for a few days. They really loved us in there but obviously not enough because 2 days ago we were given our week's notice. Bit of a kick in the teeth but it will be fine. We'll just have to look for new jobs now and hope to get better money. Joe is working on getting us in doing the same thing in Vodafone. That would be handy. Ideally I'd love to get a job developing in the CBD but that doesn't look likely. The one thing I do know is that since getting to Sydney, the only time I didn't have a job was the first day I got here so I think we will be fine.

I am getting some pictures off Matt to attach to this post, So hope fully they'll be up soon. They are more than likely just of nights out and stuff that we had with the Manchester girls (I know there are 2 NI and 1 Manc but when first I met them there were more mancs and a girl from Belmullet. Plus they were Matts friends from home so they got dubbed the Manc girls).

This was the first night in O'Malleys. Marian and I think Heather are the 2 girls.

Me and Matt with our neighbours. From left -> right the girls are Aine, Lauren and Mairead. Great fun with them

Me Matt and Mairead... "Don't tell the other 2, but she's our favourite" :)

Mardi Gras

This Saturday, Sydney celebrated it's 30th Mardi Gras. 300,000 people lined the streets for the biggest parade I've ever seen. This was no Mullingar St. Paddy's parade that lasts for 30mins. The parade went on for about 3 hours. We spent the night drinking on the streets followed by dancing Samba (badly I'll have you know) on a street corner.

It was an eventful night but so much fun. I brought my camera out with me but didn't get to take many pictures... but Matt had his fun with it. He shouted at 2 English girls "Girls! Girls! For a magazine!" and they started posing for him. After a while one of the girls came back over with her boyfriend and he said to Matt "Oh this is her dream!" and the 2 of them started posing for pictures, him posing more than her. After another picture, she asked Matt "Where are you from?" to which he replied "Manchester.... This isn't even my camera" and he handed me back the camera. Later on in the night, Matt joined in on the parade. Dancing along with one of the marching groups. It was hilarious.

I have to point out that there is no way you could do this at home. First of all, you'd have gay bashing scumbags hanging around O"Connell bridge. All the public services, Police, Fire, etc., had their part in the parade. Could you imagine the Gardai taking part in a gay parade? You should try to for a second... its a funny thought.

There was a strange gathering of people at the parade. Some things you'd look at and laugh, some things would make you grimmace and say "No thanks" and some things, mainly girls in bunny suits, made you drop your jaw. It really was an experience although, because most people were standing on milk crates and I didn't fancy paying $10 for one, I didn't get to see a whole lot of the parade until the end. Of course there were also fireworks. I think people in Sydney will use any excuse to get out the pyro-technics! The whole thing was a huge spectical. It was just one massive street party and I have to class it as probably the best night out I've had in Sydney. The atmosphere was class.

I particular liked the Samba at the end. There was a guy with drums, a guy with a bongo, a guy with a trumpet and one with a sax. Me Joe Ian and Dec just messing around. I have to point out though, that why we all danced very badly, Joe was the worst, which is a surprise cause we are really abd and Joe is generally a decent dancer.

Rounding off a great weekend... Westmeath beat Meath. Can't ask for much better than this really!!

Ray gets on Fitzy's shoulders to have a better look.

The 3 lads at the start of the night... Ray was a bit sun burnt

Ray and Fitz get in on the action.

Ali, Matt and Jes. Ali is staying with us a couple of nights. He's a funny Scottish man

In fairness the fireworks weren't too spectacular.

St Patricks Day

We all went out to Hyde park for St Patrick's Day. I was going to do a story board for this post but I had to edit the photo's :) The ones I have put up tell the story pretty well though. All that needs to be said is that it was a savage day in gorgeous heat. Quite possibly the best Paddy's day I ever spent...

The parade itself was fairly poor... definitely compared to Mardi Gras

This guy was in the parade but looked a bit out of place

Matt knows style when he sees it. Somebody should tell him that Mullingar is not that good

We had a few pints. The Guinness there was the closest thing to a nice pint I've had since leaving

The six Mary's came in after a while (None of them are called Mary!)

Fitzy wasn't impressed by Ray's guns...

Ian and Joe came in to join the party

Then followed the 3 C's

I don't know most of these people... this was just after I got soaked with water!

Ian picked up a wig and I got a sparkly hat!

I then met one of my cousin's neighbours from home

I upgraded my hat for a bit

Joe spent some time chatting up girls. In fairness not these ones, but other ones

Some Randomness

A month or so since Paddy's Day and I have actually done a few things, despite what Matt and Gareth say. I've been to Summer Bay, the V festival, the Red Bull Flutag and the aquarium. Not the most exciting life ever but at least I did get to see some things. More so that I can say I have done them. I also have a new job working for Telstra. Its the same thing as last time, so I'll spend 3 months doing that until we leave Sydney and Australia for good.

A few weeks back I went to Summer with the 3 c's. It was a decent day out although "star" spotting is not really my thing. They were shooting the outdoor scenes and a few of the cast members were there but I only recognised one or two. The girls were mad after the dude that plays Jack. The place where they shoot is amazing. We were there in the evening and I got some really good pictures. I'll put them up in a bit when I get a chance to do some post-processing.

2 weeks ago we went to the V Festival. Smashing Pumpkins the were headline band. They were a real let down. I got to see most of Queens of the Stone Age. They were class. I really wanted to see CSS but they changed the time so missed them. Dec recommended them and normally he is spot on with bands. I got a tshirt anyway, afterall they are called CSS... nerdy jokes galore. That night ended up like most nights lately, calling around to the 6 (but now 5) Mary's house for a few drinks with them and Kieran.

Yesterday was the Flutag. That was really boring. I went down there with Matt and Gareth, the Welsh guy we have living with us for a couple of weeks. He's good craic to have around. We stayed at the Red Bull thing for about 20 minutes and then headed down to Darling Harbour. There was a bit of a brass band with some Sinatra like music playing. We sat there, had a coffee and met up with 4 of the Marys. The lads headed off and I went with the girls in to the aquarium. I've been trying to get there for ages. It was interesting in places but after a while all the fish kept looking the same.

The best weekend is yet to come though. Declan O'Rourke plays next weekend. Can't wait to see that. There will be more to come when I get some better pics. For the moment I'm distracted watching the 40 Year Old Virgin.

Shooting a scene on Home & Away. Not sure who the people are!

The "stars" were out. I think this one is the doctor

All the lads at the festival

Me the lads and Collette (she's friends of the girls that lived across the hall)

Paddy was taunting the crowd

Joe was up to his usual tricks

For seniors week 2008 there was a band

Sharks at the aquarium

Seals

I found Nemo

Hunter Valley

Last weekend 7 of us rented 2 cars and headed to Hunter Valley, the wine area north of Sydney. We left after work on Friday. I had Niamh and Linda in the car with me. It was really funny because they were really giddy. Even when we got a bit lost, proving the theory that people who are lost have a natural tendency to go around in circles. It took us about 3/4 hours to get there, less than 2 to get back.

When we finally got into the hostel on Friday night it was fairly late so it was off to bed. Up early on Saturday for our day of activities. First was kayaking. That was about an hour or so on a creek (to use the local lingo). It was 2 per kayak but because there were 7 of us, I was on my own. I've been canoing a few times and never had a problem before but this time I spent most of the early part of the outing in a ditch or going in zig-zags instead of straight ahead.

After that we went horse riding. I've been once before definitely, I've been told about the time I went down the neighbours hill on a pedal horse and trap straight across the road, down our drive way and into a wall... sitting the wrong way! This experience was worse than I imagine that was. I was given the angriest bloody horse. This thing tried to eat other horses and even at one point started kicking other horses... all with me on top. At one point I wanted to get off and walk back. Then horses more kind of walked around with us on top rather than us riding them. When we finally got off I was in bits and delighted to get back to the car. Thats the only type of horses I want to be near from now on. At the same time though I'm glad I did it because there are some funny stories.

That night we headed for dinner and drinks but I took it handy enough because I knew I'd to drive on Sunday. The next morning we went off to visit some vineyards. After 2 of them we headed to Hunter Gardens. There we played Aqua golf. This was fairly cool. Its hitting golf balls from a driving rang into a lake. Then there was targets in the water and if you got the ball in a net you win a prize. Kieran and Aine both won stuff. Then it was back to Sydney to face Monday morning.

On traveling news I have BOOKED MY SOUTH AMERICA TICKETS!!!!!!!!!! Wohoooo.

The plan is this:

June 29th - Sydney to Christchurch
Make our own way to Auckland
July 10th - Auckland to Buenos Aires
July 14th - Buenos Aires to Rio
make our own way to Quito
Sept 30th - Quito to Madrid

After that we will try to spend some time in Spain but that will depend on cash. The ideal thing would be to travel to Barcelona and hopefully meet Isa when I'm there. So I still don't know when I'll be back in Ireland.

All 7 happy travellers at the Glenworth Valley place. We're smiling so its obviously before the horse riding!

Linda and Niamh in the car boot... should have left them in there

Niamh fell on her arse when dragging the canoe back in!

Sydney Photos

Some photos I took wandering around Sydney

Birthday in Sydney

It was my birthday on Monday so we celebrated on Saturday. A crowd of us hopped on the boat and headed off to Taronga Zoo. It's a nice zoo but really it's no different than any other. The bird show there is well worth watching, and yes, I do mean birds of the flying nature. We spent most of the day there. After that it was off a Rugby League match with Fitz, Matt and Kieran. Boring does not go far enough to describe that sport. Thank God for cheerleaders.

After the match we met up with the rest and went for tapas followed by a night on the town. I have no pictures of that but I will ask around for a few. Sunday I managed to make it in as far as the Opera House to do the tour, which was actually really interesting. Other than all that though, there has been no real news in the last week!

Matt and Butch show off in front of the zoo

Michelle was getting cosy with the koala at the enterance of the zoo...

... but then things got a little weird as the koala took advantage of the situation

Joe and the koala though had a more civil time together

I'm not so sure that the giraffes appreciated the views from inside the zoo

To be honest, they seemed more intersted in the food

From the zoo, there was a class view of the whole harbour. Worth a trip out there for that alone nearly

Matt reckons he has aged about 5 years since living with me. It must be my maturity rubbing off on him

I thought this would come out a lot better than it did. I will have to improve next time

More angles to see the Opera House from means more pictures to be taken

The boat took us around the Opera House

The girls couldn't resist getting a picture

Night Photos From Bondi

More photos.... no stories to tell!

Swimming pool getting battered by waves. The mist is from the spray with a long exposure

Not sure who that guy is but I liked the graffitti on either side framing it

With a wide angle lens, this would be really cool.

There is a moving light on the horizon of possible a boat. Planes kept ruining my photos most of the night

The steps were being battered... until I went to take a photo. Couldn't stay there too long either because the tide was coming in fairly fast!

The fountain in Hyde park with St. Mary's Cathedral behind. We took this on a timer. Matt has his eyes glued to the camera but hid it well :)

Didn't get this one right at all. In fact, I'm not wild on most of these photos. Will try to get more practice taking photos at night.