Emu with a Clue

Cooks River, Southern Sydney

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:10:33 -0700

These photos were taken late yesterday afternoon in a spot across the river from Sydney airport. This river is actually rather disgusting. If you look closely in the third photograph, you can see an abandoned airport trolley sticking out of the water. There is all sorts of disgusting stuff in there.

Cooks River view to Mercure

Cooks river bridge

Cooks River airport trolley

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QotD: Homes Sweet Homes

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:47:13 -0700

How many houses have you lived in? How is where you live now different from where you grew up?

All up, I have lived in 10 houses and 2 flats/apartments. These have been in Melbourne, Canberra, Jakarta and Sydney.

This is what our current house in Sydney looks like from the front (have since finished the painting and no, it is no longer either of those colours):

Our house

and this is the view from the backyard:

Backyard view

Despite what you see in the first photo, most of the house is actually made from brick (the old brown Sydney kind) with sandstone foundations. It was built during the Depression by a man who had owned a big mansion on the main road going through our suburb. Back then, the rocky, hilltop location meant that he got the land fairly cheaply but now is it actually seen as an asset - although the blocks still very tricky for building on. It was originally only a one bedroom cottage. The front room which is what you can see in the first photo was added on much later.

Our street is a surprisingly bustling little cul de sac on top of a hill. We know some of the neighbours but not all (there are quite a few who are a bit nutty or otherwise antisocial). We are endlessly renovating and think this is the reason we have stayed here for so long (almost 10 year). This is actually the longest I have lived anywhere apart from the house I grew up in which was a 3 bedroom brick veneer in a quiet suburban street in Melbourne. My mum still lives in this house and this is a photo from her front garden:

Pebble garden

And now a word from Madness on their house:

Madness - Our house

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Sydneynearlydailyphoto blog goes to Melbourne

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:16:51 -0700

I have posted about this blog site previously but thought I would again as it now includes some Melbourne photos as well. I think it epitomises the Love Where You Live ethos and has made me look at my home of Sydney in a different light.

Building entrance

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Sydney Daily Photo

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:06:51 -0700

Sydney Daily Photo

http://sydneynearlydailyphot.blogspot...

This is a great photo blog showing different aspects of Sydney and surrounding areas

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Being a tourist in your own town

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:03:31 -0700

This is something I always mean to do but never seem to get around to. I work right in the city of Sydney so have numerous interesting places I could go to on my lunch break. I am also in the city frequently on weekends taking the kids to their various activities. I am going to set myself a challenge to try and do at least one touristy thing a month in the city and write about it on here.

One of my first ones is going to be participating in a guided tour of the Great Synagogue. This is so close to where I work that I feel quite remiss to have never have gone on one of their tours. It looks like quite a striking building from the outside with beautiful, ornate gates. I actually took some photos of the detail on the gates the other day but they are on my broken phone.

I also really want to go at see the Archibald Prize (portrait) finalists at the Art Gallery of NSW before it closes on 18 May. I really love the winning work this year by Del Kathryn Barton:

You are what is most beautiful about me

Link to all the finalists here.

I was similarly apathetic when working in Jakarta. In Jakarta, my office was just a few doors down from the National Museum and opposite the National Monument but do you think I ever visited either of these places? Canberra was a little better as i was working shift work so used to get so bored and lonely that I did a lot of cultural type things on my days off. I also do all the touristy things when visiting Canberra with my kids these days - helps that the attractions in Canberra so easy to get to and so attractively priced (or free!). I used to do lots of things in Melbourne but not anymore. I think my daughter has been the Museum and the Healesville Sanctuary once each. My son's biggest adventures in Melbourne are typically going down to the playground near my mum's place or to that Mecca of the South Eastern suburbs, Chadstone - the fashion capital.

Anyone interested in trying to join in my challenge to be more of a tourist at home?

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