After our 1hr flight from Christchurch to Auckland, a 4hr airport lounge wait proceeded by a 3.5hr flight to Sydney we finally arrived in Australia and proceeded to follow our instructions to get to our new home for the next 7 days. Dave’s good friend Rob offered his flat for us both to stay in as he and his family were back in the UK whilst we were dropping by, unfortunate as we would have loved to have met up with them properly. He suggested we purchase a week long travel pass which allows the use of trains, underground metro, buses and boats at a very good price of $43 AUS.

A few train stops later and we arrived at the flat, received the keys and settled in to our home for the next week. The view from the kitchen was spectacular and with the sun setting over the Harbour bridge we made our way to the Sydney Festival 2012 First Night which included several free performances in Hyde Park and around the city. The streets were packed with people in the centre of the city and the music was pumping from Norman Jay’s 8hr big red bus.  Other performers included Washington and an energetic performance from rising World Music star Manu Chao, we were amazed by the fusion of sounds, genres and crazy dancing that was going on and the crowd absolutely loved him. This was all taking place in The Domain whilst Norman Jaye was pleasing the hard core fans.

As a free event to kick off a month long festival in the heart of Sydney it was great to see thousands of people turn out and enjoy the music and atmosphere. The queues for food and drinks were huge however we finally managed to find a smaller line for a plateful of Dim Sum which raised our energy levels ready for the journey back to the flat and a king sized double bed, its has been a long time indeed, luxury.

The next morning we enjoyed a well deserved lie in followed by an equally well deserved breakfast out at the local Kirribilli Cafe welcoming us nicely to our new city life. After travelling around New Zealand for two months in and out of the wilderness it was strangely comforting to be back in-between all the hustle and bustle that a city has to offer. Although it’s clear to see that people just aren’t as friendly as their rural neighbours.

Food shopping was required to fill the cupboards as we cannot afford to eat out all the time and we found a local Aldi as well as a deli to help us stock up. Items are cheaper to purchase here than in New Zealand. The Kirribilli Sunday market was also underway nearby so we had a look through what was on offer, no mens clothes unfortunately to help replace Dave’s ripped jeans!

We jumped straight into sightseeing mode and made our way across the Harbour Bridge en-route to Helen’s Uni friend James who just so happened to be getting married at the Rocks. We had a drink with the newlyweds and caught up on the Loughborough gossip. This was followed with a stroll around the Opera House followed by an impressive storm taking place later on and documented patiently by Dave. This was also the night we started watching The Killing (Danish Version), with 19 episodes to follow we were hooked instantly and knew it would have to be included into our daily schedule from now on!

(Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Well we can’t all say that we’ve spent Christmas in Hong-Kong…but WE CAN!! He he! Although to be fair we could have been anywhere in the world and still made this a day to remember. It was a slow start to the day with our customary oats, yoghurt and fruit breakfast followed by some prancing around in our Christmas hats. Dave slept in a little longer and enjoyed the cosyness of the apartment. We got ourselves a little pack up so we could go to Victoria Park for a Christmas picnic. We were also downloading a Christmas film that we would watch later in the day; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and strolled out with our Christmas hats still on.

The park is just around the corner from Causeway Bay and was packed full of the local overseas contingent mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines, we’re pretty sure they are mostly maids and restaurant workers and had read prior to going that it’s a very common sight to see them all to get together in public spaces, hanging out with each other on their days off. We assumed this was the case. We walked around and found the central open air swimming pool which is an Olympic-sized pool left empty in the park. Its really eerily located right at the foot of sky-rise apartments and office blocks and left us with a great photo-opportunity.

Moving on from this we continued to walk and found a nice quiet spot in the park where we would have our picnic. For Christmas brunch we opted for the much anticipated and longed for hummus and carrot, a good tomatoe relish, rivita crackers, posh crisps, dark chocolate and cider. Oh how we enjoyed this sipping cider with the local monks passing by and just simply enjoying our little moment.

After this satisfying and overpriced picnic we went back to the apartment via the shipping area, photographed more of the locals and went back to settle in for some Ferris Bueller action. This was Dave’s first time…Can you believe it?? It was enjoyed along with a bottle of white wine and dark chocolate…oh how the other half live!

After the film we got ready for our Christmas meal we had booked the previous day. Most restaurants offer a set menu from day to day and they tend to be good value for money. We had noticed a little pub underneath our guesthouse offering a Christmas menu that didn’t look to shabby at all and was at a relatively good price considering the cost of other things on offer. So we didn’t venture very far at all, we did get a few Christmas presents to enjoy with our meal of which you can see us modeling the best below! The meal started off okay, but it just went from bad to worse and by the end Helen felt like it was the toilet that was calling her rather than the local dessert. Hmmm! You can’t win them all!

So after a slightly disappointing meal (although the picnic did make up for this!!) and a good Skype call to the Roscoe’s we went off to Victoria Peak via the metro so we would take in the Hong-Kong skyline by night. It was a good little journey, packed with many other tourists waiting to go up to the Peak, and the tram ride up was fun. Once we were up there it was really cold, so it was a good job we’d put on some extra layers. We experimented with slow shutter work on the Leica which provided us with an alternative view take of the skyline. Helen’s dinner didn’t do her many favours so she was not a happy bunny but after a good hour or so we got the tram back down and made our way back to Causeway Bay.

You can walk down from the Peak and on a nice evening this would have been a good option and alternative to getting the tram. We didn’t buy tickets to the highest viewing platform and the main building contains a lot of shops which we more or less bypassed to get outside and photograph the views.

Back in Causeway Bay we walked around a little longer, took in some more neon and then went back to our little room to enjoy the rest of our Christmas evening together.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)