A prefect day in Sydney
I’m going to Sydney in about a month for what will probably be the last time in a long while. This has got me thinking about what I want to do while I’m there, and because a few people I know seem to be heading over shortly I thought I’d post. (Warning it contains lots of eating and zero trips to Bondi.)
- The day has to start at fouratefive for breakfast/ brunch. The cafe is run by a lovely girl called Jess, and they have an out of date website which I need to fix. It can get pretty busy on the weekend but it’s worth waiting for a table. I’m not the only one who rates them – TimeOut gave them a five star review!
- After breakie I would do a spot of shopping and check out the smaller galleries. Seeing as you’re already in Surry Hills that’s a great place to begin. There’s a cute paper shop right next to fouratefive and further down Crown St is Outre Gallery and a bunch of vintage shops. If you wander into Chinatown there is also White Rabbit Gallery and Market City/ Paddy’s Markets which has tons of really cheap clothing. Then if you’re not from Australia you must make the obligatory trip to Myer, David Jones and of course Zara.
- From here I would catch a ferry across the harbour to Kirribilli. This is a great place to get pictures of the Opera House and Sydney skyline, also the ferry lands right near Luna Park which is kind of fun. Head up the road and grab a late lunch at Thai Fusion, seriously the number 40 (brandy chicken) deserves a post of it’s own.
- If your feet aren’t too sore you can walk back to the city across the Harbour Bridge. There are a few nice places in The Rocks to get an afternoon drink and if you’re not scared of bats (which I am) the Botanical Gardens are actually really beautiful. I also love St James Park, although not as much as it’s name sake. St Mary’s (the Cathedral across the road from there) has a statue of a nun standing over a little boy playing with an iPad 2!
- Ok ready to eat again? Around 8pm you must go to Elvis Pizza. I ordered takeaways from there for two years without ever going to the restaurant. Once I left Sydney I found out they have AN ELVIS IMPERSONATOR on the weekend!! I’m thinking I might have to leave Sophie’s wedding early (sorry love) just so I can experience this! The pizza is pretty great too.
- If you’re into going out there are a bunch of nice places in Surry Hills. My favourites were The Porthouse (for ale), The Winery (for vino) and Pocket Bar (for mojitos). I also suggest you check out The Ivy, it’s pretentious for a reason. That reason being there’s a fucking pool on the roof! My preferred visiting time is winter when there aren’t as many skanks up there.
I have to say I didn’t really like Sydney when I lived there, but I do miss it. I have this marvelous and geographically incorrect print by Matte Stephens on my wall to remind me of the place.
My favourites from the 17th Biennale of Sydney
After weeks and weeks of mismatched schedules, my friend Andrea and I finally made it to Cockatoo Island to see the the Bienalle just before it ended. I’m annoyed I didn’t go to the other exhibitions to see more painting, but there were a few pieces which made the trip well worth it.
Top Sculpture: ‘Summit’ by Chinese artist Shen Shaomin.
This piece captured everything that fascinated me in Europe; display of glass coffins, Madame Tussauds and of course dead politicians. The first glass coffin I walked up to was Kim Il Sung and then I saw Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, and Vladimir Lenin. Without reading a blurb I instantly recoginised each leader from the fantastic wax modelling and could assume it was a meeting of the great Communist minds. I saw Andrea standing next to Fidel Castro and thought what is he doing here, wont he live forever? When I walked over I realised the model of Castro was not in a glass coffin, but on a makeshift hospital bed with air being pumped out his mouth as though he was breathing.
Amazing.
Top Photography: ‘Goat Sluice’ by Kiwi artist Yvonne Todd
This exhibition had the perfect setting, an old lodge house which had 1960s wallpaper falling onto the floor. The slightly creepy portraits of teenage girls reminded me of Twin Peaks, especially the figure in “Goat Sluice” (left). Laura Palmer much?
Top Video: ‘The Feast of Trimalchio’ by Russian artists AES+F
We spend a long time sitting in a circular room with 9 screens playing this video. It was mesmorising and some how very relaxing. You can watch it on YouTube, but it has nowhere near the same effect:
Beer ad makes fun of the lady in melbourne with a ball of wool
Although I prefer Victorians to any other breed of Australians (oops sorry Sydney friends), I do like this ad and how it pokes fun at one of my favourite ever TVS:
Looking forward to being in Melbourne this weekend on the way to Europe. Does anyone know where that cloister is? I have always wanted to find it.
Gorgeous maps by @bexrad
Around the time my bf and I started dating he went to Melbourne for a poker tournament. I gave him a map of the city which I coloured in with places for him to see. He loved it so much he’s kept it in his wallet ever since.
Last time we were in Melbourne he showed this map to my friend Bex Rad who was also visiting the city. She completely outdid us with her own hand drawn map, far more detailed and awesome than I could ever imagine putting time into:
I’m pleased to see Bex is putting her amazing maps online for your viewing pleasure >
Check them out as they are filled with great places to visit in Melbourne, Christchurch and Wellington (so far).
Related: Nicholas Jones’ map of Flinders Lane >
Newnes glow worm tunnel #obscuraday
At 7.30am we started our Obscura Day adventure. We took a train three hours out of Sydney, past Paramatta, past Penrith up into the Blue Mountains.
The drive from Lithgow with the other explorers was slow and dusty with very high chances of death. After an hour of windy cliff roads and termite hills we made it to a point where we could only proceed on foot. The lush ferns in the forest reminded me of home until we came across a large red bellied black snake who slithered away we neared him.
After following the old railway line for 15 minutes we entered the tunnel, every so often turning off our torches to reveal the glow worms. They were pretty, but not as impressive as some of the caves I have seen in NZ. When we reached the end the others stopped to take photographs outside, James and I went back into the tunnel. This time waiting still and quiet for several minutes as the glow worms lit up. We even found one who was broken and stayed glowing when the torch was on.
On the return trip we found some more treasures which Lithgow had to offer including a Mining Museum which we jumped the fence and had a look at and the Blast Furnace (below). With trains scarce from the remote location we got a lift home with two lovely friends we made (above, crossing the bridge).
The drive home was probably the highlight of the trip with sing alongs and driving past Hooters, who knew there was one in Sydney! We got home 14 hours after our trip had begun incredibly tired, but surprisingly alive.
Obscura Day was organised by Atlas Obsucra >
Terrorist attack on sydney (almost)
A rip off of the controversial WWF ad (below)?
Also only 12 people a year die from bowel cancer? Why would you even make an ad about that when 1,700 die of skin cancer in Australia every year. Cut the ad budget and send out some SPF30 sunscreen and a bag of apples to everyone in the country.
Flinders lane
Flinders lane is probably one of my favourite places in the world. I first went there when I was about 17 and it’s always first on my list when I get to Melbourne. The coffee there is terrible, but probably the best you will find in Australia, but the turkish sandwiches and graffiti are fantastic! I like the paste up (pictured above) so much, as until recently my trips to Melbourne have usually been to escape from boys.
I was delighted (and yet sadly nostalgic) to see guest blogger Lucy Feagins blogging about Flinders lane on Design Sponge >
Here is the Nicholas Jones map:
Raising the IQ
I like that MR Vintage have put this Muldoon quote on a tshirt, it has been my motto over the last couple of months and it’s even my Skype status. Someone should probably buy me the tshirt.
Talk of the dinner table
Anyone who’s had the misfortune of hearing about the Kyle and Jackie O radio saga in australia can probably appreciate this fantastic ad from their competitors. Sorry about the bad quality pic ( taken on iPhone )
Storm of terrible ads
Of course the dust storm was going to send creatives into a frenzy of ads for their cleaning product clients. But seriously, these ads are terrible. Insert any one of their logos or pack shots into the above ad and the terrible pun works. The only one which I think has any merit is the following from Telsta:
More from (not so) theinspirationroom >
Anyway my new house is covered in dust, I made the mistake last night of walking onto the balcony with no shoes.
Apocalypse in Sydney
Woke up early this morning, sirens going and the sky was bright orange. It’s calmed down a lot now (colour wise) but there is dust settled like heavy fog. This is a photo of the harbour bridge from my office – usually I can the opera house and the city behind it but today I can barely see the harbour bridge only a few kms over the valley.
It’s funny seeing SUVs which have never been out of the city now covered in dust like they were meant to be.
For sale : Established Brothel in Sydney
When I saw this in the window of lj HOOKER (of all the real estate businesses out there) I thought, they must be joking right?
Nope, buy it here if you have always wanted to be a Madame or take your Pimping business to the next professional level.
Kid feeding mating kangaroos
Doing some research for a new project of mine and found this amazing photo.
from http://www.funnyphotos.net.au/zoo/ >
fully sick ad, bros
It’s not secret to anyone who knows me that I love Darryl Parsons, he is my hero in every sense of the word. Why did he have to go start a burger joint before I could ever be his apprentice?
Flip the lost honeyeater
This poster has boogled me for the months and months in has been up near my work.
Fie months have gone past and I don’t think Flip is still a half sized baby, but I have spotted hundreds of honeyeaters around the area in varying sizes. Every single one of them looks like the bird in the photo.
So what makes this one bird stand out? She’s friendly the poster claims, which is definitely true of most hand reared birds. Unfortunately for Flip’s owners it also seems to be true of wild honeyeaters I’ve encountered in Sydney, especially the ones which sit outside my window at work and gawk at me.
Until tonight I thought this poster was a joke, some art school kid setting up a massive honeyeater conspiracy where every bird could be “Flip”. People frantically trying to catch birds as they swoop too close so they can be returned to their owner.
However curisoty + the internet has killed my imagination. I hope Flip is safe and has found her way home by now. I would be very sad if Starkey and Larry had left.
Possums
In NZ possums are gross but in
aus they are cute as. I ran up to this little guy in covinent garderns and gave him a little stroke before he climbed up a tree. There were so many of them in the trees there.
Today on the way to work I saw a dead one at the bottom of a tree like he had fallen and covered his face as he fell. It was a lot sadder than roadkill usually is.
