Sydney Festival

So, with the new year comes the start of the Sydney Festival.  Similar to the Edinburgh Festival but not as big.  However, it is still fun all the same.   And what is even better about it is that on the first night of the festival, it is all free! 

There are several stages set up around the city centre, including the Domain, Hyde Park and Elizabeth Street.  We had decided to check out all 3 venues, as the music acts at them all looked good. 

We started by meeting at Hyde Park late afternoon to watch a bit of Norman Jay and his big red bus tour.  He was on for 8 hours in total, I got there about 6pm and watched him for about an hour, the park was jumping, 10’s of thousands of people were in the park and the atmosphere was jumping, we did hear later on that the many people were passing out in the heat, but mainly because of the booze consumption.  We then moved onto Elizabeth Street, where we were hoping to catch The Jolly Boys, a Jamaican band formed in 1955.  Sabrina being part Jamaican, suggested that we see them and after watching a couple of youtube clips I thought it would be a bit of a laugh.  Here is one of the youtube clips:

So we headed to the Elizabeth street stage, which was essentially the Soul stage.  A band called Urban Empire, were first up here and, they were the perfect act and got everyone in the mood.  The stage was being compared by a drag queen, who did a couple of Shirley Bassey numbers between the acts.  It was all very weird, especially when he….er I mean she, swallowed a bug and couldn’t sing.

Then the Jolly Boys were announced as coming on stage and about 10 minutes later they did, I think one of them might have got his zimmer frame stuck on the stairs. 

Once they got started, I don’t think anyone had a clue what they were singing, the accent was so thick, and to me, the first 4 or 5 songs all sounded the same, it was a bit like listening to Status Quo! ;-)

After a few songs they then got into the covers, which included a wide range of songs from artists including Rehab by Amy Winehouse, Perfect Day by Lou Reed. There was even some white stripes and Blondie thrown in for good measure too.  The covers were great and everyone got involved and in the end I think we all enjoyed it.  Here are a couple of videos from the night I found on youtube (oh, and by the way, the man can dance):

After The Jolly Boys had managed to waddle there way of stage, we had planned to head to The Domain, for the rest of the night.  However, as we walked around the corner, the police were announcing that the park was at capacity and nobody else could get in.  So we did what we always do, headed to the pub instead!!! All in all an excellent way to start of the festival.  Edinburgh take note!

Happy New Year at Sydney Resolution

Firstly, happy new year to everyone!

I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks now since New Year already!  The whole holiday period was great and New Year was a great way to finish it all off.

Sab, Anna & Sally at the flat beforehand

The planning of it was all very last minute, a week or so before christmas I got a text from Sabrina suggesting we all go to Sydney Resolution.  This was the first time that this particular concert had been held here, but i doubt it will be the last.  Held just west of the Harbour Bridge, on Glebe Island it was the perfect location for a concert with a great view of the bridge for the midnight fireworks.  After a couple of days, 7 of us had signed up for it, Sab, nick, Josh, Will, Sally (Sabrina's friend from back home, who has just arrived) and Anna (Sab's friend who now lives in Melbourne).


We decided to all meet at Sabrina and Nick's apartment as it wasn't that far a walk to Glebe Island.  Although the concert didn't start until 4pm, we decided to meet at 1pm, to have lunch and a few pre drinks.  This allowed us to chill and play with Nicks toy gun, which was particularly fun as the bullets stuck to Josh's head.

Our view

We then got stuck into some chicken and chips for lunch, as well as a few beers and some coconut drink that Anna made, which was very nice.  It took us about an hour to walk from the flat to Glebe Island, but don't worry we filled a water bottle with wine to keep us going on the journey.  Once we arrived at Glebe Island, we were all searched and unfortunately the woman looking in my bag, found my hip flask full of Johnnie Walker, she then proceeded to pour it out in front of me.  However, what she did not find was the small bottle I had hidden in my jacket which was rolled up in my bag!!!! hahaha!!!

Josh & Anna on the sling shot

Once we got in we headed straight for the bar, naturally, and got ourselves a drink, but at $10 each I sort of felt that we wouldn't be buying to many drinks, how wrong I was!  As we arrived the 2nd band Psuedo Echo were just finishing off their act with Funky Town. So since we had a couple of hours to kill, as the the next act was a former Aussie Idol winner, and none of us were interested in him, we decided to head to the bungee sling shot!!!  Anna and Josh were the first to go up, and then Sally and I followed, although, I have to say my fear of heights meant that I was completely and utterly shitting myself.  I parted with my £35 and got myself strapped in.  You literally get fired up at the speed of light and before you know it you are 100metres in the air and falling towards the ground, the views at the top were amazing and you could see the whole of Sydney Harbour and had a great view of Glebe Island.  Once you start to fall, that is probably the worst part as you are more or less going head first towards the concrete and then without warning you are flying back up again! Then it calms down, and you are back on the ground fairly quickly, it was all over in a matter of 30 seconds.

Our camp for the night

Although, I was petrified at the start, afterwords I was delighted to have done it, and it wasn't the last time I would be going on it either, when it got dark, Anna and I headed back for another go.

After the first go we headed back to where we had set up camp for the evening, there was probably another 10,000 people there, but we had plenty of space, to sit and enjoy ourselves.  The Pet Shop boys were the next act on, and although they have that rep of being a bit gay, they were really entertaining and go the crowd going.  They were immediately followed by the 'childrens fireworks' at 9pm.  This is basically a smaller version of the main firework show that you all will have seen on the TV, still fairly spectacular itself though.

Pet Shop Boys

Jamiroquai were the next act on and would lead us up the bells at midnight.  I have never really been into them before but they were awesome, JK was amazing and I don't think anyone there didn't enjoy seeing it. Anna and I even managed to fight our way from the back of the crowd where we were set up to as near the front as we could get.  Which wasn't too far, as they had cordoned off the richer people from the rest of us.  But we were still pretty close to the front.  By the time we headed back it wasn't too long until it was time for the bells.  Midnight came, fairly sharply as JK stopped playing and then we could see the count down on the bridge, with only 15 seconds to go.  The fireworks started and I tried to get as many decent pics as I could of them over the bridge, but I failed miserably.  So decided just to enjoy them for what they were.

Jamiroquai

Culture club then came on to finish the night off much dancing was had by everyone now, not saying it was good dancing just dancing as Sab is demonstrating here.  I then remembered at about 2am about the small bottle of whisky in my bag, we toasted the new year and we then started our walk home about 2:30am.  I crashed on the floor of Sabrina's flat as the journey back to Bondi seemed like far too much effort at that point.

The next morning we got up and watched Shrek the 3rd and the firworks and new year celebrations from the UK, the London ones almost outdoing the Sydney fireworks, not quite though.  We then headed out for brunch and some hangover cure, on what was the hottest day.

Fireworks over the bridge

 By the time I eventually got home it was mid-afternoon.  And I was knackered, but it was one of the best new years I have ever had and want to thanks all friends who were there that made it such a good night.  Already can't wait for next year!!!

Our view of the bridge

Sab & Will

Sling shot

Sunset

Nick & Anna

Anna & I

More JK

JK again

Nick, Anna, Me, Will, Sabrina, Josh & Sally

Culture Club

I'm surprised we don't look more drunk here!

Awesome dancing!

That week in between!

So that week in between Christmas and new year is always a bit of weird one.  Usually, it is spent watching DVD's, drinking and catching up with friends.  And this year it wasn't too different.

Boxing day was spent watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart race at Watsons bay and eating fish and chips with my friends Sabrina and Sally.   The on tuesday night we had a little bbq at out flat.  Greig's colleage and friend dan had bought us a brand new bbq for xmas, so we thought it best to put it to the test.  So after spending what felt like hours trying to work out the crap instructions, we finally managed to get it all built, and the gas attached, I was sure I was going to blow myself up when attaching the gas to the bbq. 


The bbq was great fun, we had about 12 people round, mostly folk from work, with one or 2 other scots thrown in too.  The bbq worked exceptionally well and the food was great.  I would also like to apologise to the the neighbours for the noise, and especially the neighbour who left her 1950's clothing on the washing line, that we decided to try on.  Really sorry, hope they didn't stick of smoke too much.  The night was finished off with some drinking games and then heading into the city for some Karoake, where I decided to lie down for a rest and promptly fell asleep as some awful singing was going on around me.

 On wednesday a few of us wanted to get out of the city for a while so we headed north to the Chu-Ring-Ga Chase National park and to Palm beach.   I headed up there with Sabrina, Nick and Sally.  It is about an hour or so drive north of Sydney, it was a great day out, even managed to see some wild iguana's.  There is not much left to say, so I think I will let the views do the talking for themselves:

So after the national park we headed to Palm beach, famous for Home and Away, I've never watched that show, more of a neighbours fan myself, so to me it was just another beach, but it really is a stunning beach. 

All in all it was a great day out and a perfect way to cure the hangover of the bbq the night before. 

The rest of the week was spent relaxing and recovering from the christmas period and looking forward to the New Year. 

Hope you all had a great christmas too!

Christmas in Sydney

So my first christmas in Sydney has come and gone, infact it was my first christmas away from Scotland.  And although it was completely different to any christmas I have had before, I really enjoyed it.

Luckily, I had had a few presents sent to me from back home which were all great.  My sister deliberately trying to make me feel homesick sent me a parcel full of scottish things, including whisky, a dvd postcard, a soltaire tie and an envelope full of pictures of things I have missed over the course of the last year back home.  She succeeded in making me feel homesick, so mission accomplished nicola!  Well done!

So on Christmas day I was taken away to a friends family during the day which was fantastic, treated just like one of the family.  There were plenty of kids around too, which just reminded how crazy christmas can be when there are young kids tearing open presents like there's no tomorrow.  The spread of food was fantastic; ham, pork, turkey all accompanied with an arrange of salads.  But the desert was the best part, baileys cheesecake, literally could have eaten the whole thing.  Then in the evening I headed round to another friends for drinks and more food.  Was a great day and a huge thanks must go to the great friends that made me feel at home on the day. 

I must admit I was not looking forward to Christmas at all this year, firstly, it just doesn't feel right to be celebrating it in the sun, and secondly, I knew it would be weird being away from home.  But because this year was totally different and I spent it with some fantastic friends, it really was a great christmas, and I am already looking forward to next year.

Thanks to all that looked after me.