Time flies

Things got complicated in WA leading to extended evenings in front of the computer, which in turn meant that I couldn't face any more typing. Then before I knew it a couple of weeks had passed. It's now almost July - how did that happen?

Anyway - a quick catch up of some scenic Fremantle pictures

The Hotel - the Esplanade. Very nice, but with thin walls. Not so good with - exuberant neighbours. Still, they seemed to be having a good time.
Some of the subtle brick architecture of the region

A boat shop. If they don't all fit & you can't expand out, go up!
The Little Creatures brewery, 2 minutes walk from the hotel. A fine drop and a cool drinking establishment in what was at one point a crocodile farm.
The famous Fremantle markets. Just like every other market in Australia it's mainly full of chinese-made Australiana tat, but the building is nice.
The Sail & Anchor, microbrewery & pub and the original home of what is now the Matilda Bay brewing company. It's a great pub conveniantly placed next to the market and at the head of a strip of coffee shops, cafes & restaraunts called 'Cappuccino Strip'.
The Strip itself, looking unusually deserted on an early weekday morning. This street is wall to wall people on summer weekends.

The building set back from the road in the last picture is 'The Mad Monk', yet another pub & microbrewery. When I was there they had suspended their regular brews and were hosting a 'WA beer week' featuring interesting boutique brews from all over the state. It can be hard when you're away from home & on site, but it shouldn't be ALL work :)

World Cup blues

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not a big football fan - something that invokes a great deal of confusion over here given my English roots. World cups are a little different as it's hard not to get caught up in the excitement but sometimes I think it can go a bit too far.

Case in point the recent Australia vs Germany game. Now Australia are a pretty good team with some talented players and a lot of guts, but Germany have always been one of the best teams in the world cup and have won it several times. Germany beat Australia 4-0 and it seemed to come as both a huge surprise and a national tragedy, with pundits stating that 'they would need to rethink their plans', 'this changes everything' and (the traditional favourite) 'sack the coach'. No-one seems to want to stand up and say 'we only had a slight chance of winning, we gave it our best but still lost, let's get on with it'. Maybe I just don't understand football.

A day in the life away from home

Didn't sleep very well last night - I never do the night before the first day on site. Woke up at 5am because of the two hour time difference but managed to doze until almost 7. Then got a call from the office because something has come up that needs to be checked. Try to be irritated but know that it only beat my alarm by about 10 minutes. Had a quick breakfast in the room (hotel buffet breakfast is $25 a day and whilst I'm not paying I still resent that kind of pricing) whilst checking emails, then grab a cab to the clients site.

Got back from the clients place at 5.30 today (a nice early finish), but by the time I caught up with all my other work & skyped the UK about some issues it'd turned 7.00. By then it's a bit late to ring home in case my partner is getting ready for bed, and besides I've been talking all day and my throat is scratchy, so I decide on a text instead. Then out for a quick meal with a good magazine, at a restaraunt that looks good (but not TOO popular because you'd look out of place by yourself). Weekday nights are easier in that respect as everywhere is fairly quiet. Tonight was a Mexican place with a very good (but very filling) burrito. After that the gym is far too optimistic so it's back to the room, check emails again, try and stretch out the stiff back caused from hunching over a non-ergonomic desk all day, decide I'll iron tomorrow's shirt when I get up and veg out on the bed in front of the TV until it's bed time.

Read a good quote today from a guy that travels a lot in his job - 'It's hard to live out of a suitcase at times. I'm sure that when James Bond got sent off on a work trip he didn't count how many undies & pairs of socks he needed till he get's back home again'.

West Coast Living

I'm in Western Australia this week for work. My company graciously allowed me to enjoy the 5 1/2 hour flight on my own time on a Sunday so that I could be at the clients site first thing Monday morning, and they didn't even take the cost of the flight out of my wages for the privelage. I'm staying in Fremantle (or Freo), about 20km south of Perth, which is a slightly bohemian little town on the coast. Unlike Queensland all of the old buildings seem to be built of of local rock which gives it a bit of an English feel

For those not familar with Australian geography, the majority of the population live on the East or South Coast so a sunset over the ocean is a bit of a rare thing. It's something I've promised to experience with my partner but unfortunately that's not possible this trip.

On a good day it's beautiful

That's the Indian ocean there.

One of the advantages of skates over bikes is that they fit in a suitcase so I bought mine with me and had a roll. So this is in lieu of the usual 'bike shot'

You could presumably experience something similar in Brisbane if you got up early enough, but that's just crazy talk.

Brisbane winters

Winter is hitting hard in Brisbane at the minute. Sometimes the temperature can drop to single figures at night and only reach the low 20s during the day. And even though the sky is beautifully clear & blue the wind can cut through you. Yup, life is tough over here.

The weather also brings out the best in Brisbane fashions. The idea seems to be wrap up certain body parts whilst leaving others exposed to the sunshine. It's common to see girls wandering round in cut-off shorts so short that the pockets are hanging below the hemline but with ugg-boots and beanie hats. The guys go the other way with heavy jackets and jeans but exposed feet in flip-flops (known as thongs over here, a cause for confusion amongst visiting Brits when pub entry signs say 'No Thongs allowed').

First pasta the post

We made pasta over the weekend. We cheated a little bit by using a breadmaker to make the dough, but I countered that by hand-rolling the noodles. It was a bit messy but, accompanied by a fine Pinot Noir, it was a fun way to spend some time in the kitchenThe end result was worth it (drying on a traditional italian pasta rack)
We had it with a chicken schnitzel, steamed broccoli and a cheese & mushroom sauce. It tasted great - a little noodly because we had no semolina flour, only plain, but that just adds to the 'fusion' flavours.

We also watched 'Julie & Julia' on Friday night so I feel a little bit cliched blogging about food!

Citizenship ceremony invitation

In other news I've received an invitation to a citizenship ceremony on the 28th July. This will be the final step to becoming an Australian and it feels like the final step towards a new life. Can't wait, although I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing. I was checking out a V8 ute this morning at the lights, and even wound down my window to listen to it pull away - I might be uncovering my inner bogan.


Sports utes seem to be a uniquely Australian thing. The 'ute' (utility vehicle, or pickup truck in Americanese) is actually an Australian invention. In the early 30s Ford Australia received a letter from a farmers wife asking 'Why don’t you build people like us a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday, and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays?’ There was also a financial element - bank managers at the time would lend money to farmers to buy a farm truck, but not a passenger car. And from that the ute / pickup was born. They're ubiquitous over here, the Australian version of the tradies white van, and they come in all shapes and sizes. The design suits a 4x4 (the Toyota Hilux 4x4 ute is probably the most famous in the UK thanks to Top Gear) and there are plenty of 2 wheel drive estate car equivalents. But there is also a smaller market for sportier versions that can (theoretically at least) carry a ton of building supplies to the yard during the week and still burn rubber at the weekends. Not my pictures


I currently own a very reliable & practical Land Rover turbo diesel Discovery which is great, but I can't help looking at the sports utes. Lots of power, rear wheel drive, no weight over the back wheels and in the hands of an early 40's guy with no real experience of driving high performance cars. What could possibly go wrong?

The dangers of exercise

After another late-ish departure from work on Monday I ended up missing another evening ride. So I decided I'd do some core strength exercises - sit-ups, planks, side planks - which felt good at the time but lead to a mild recurrence of an old back injury. Because of this I've spent the rest of the evenings this week laying on my back in front of the TV. I'm on the mend now, hopefully able to ride at the weekend (within reason), but best of all I can put my socks on without wincing.

We went for a skate on Sunday morning so at least I've had the chance to try the new skates. Skating without brakes is a strange sensation. You're very aware of it on steeper hills but often get taken by surprise just carelessly rolling up to a door or a junction. New skates also mean new wheels which are sticky sided and don't slide very well. This can catch you out when you try some dramatic slide-stops that backfire when the wheels grab.

The K2 skates are a 'softboot' fit. These clench your feet much less than my old FSKs so there's a lot more foot and ankle input required. If I forget to think about my feet I find myself 'flopping' off my edges which feels ungainly & inelegant. They also seem to be less efficient - I think I'd struggle to cover 30km in them wheras I can cruise through 50km with the FSKs. That might just be practice and getting used to them - Monte used the same model of skate for skate Melbourne and apparently found them very comfortable, although he has also been skating for 15 years more than me. The plus side is that the skates feel more like shoes, less restrictive, and jumping already feels easier without the supportive / restrictive structure of the skate. The large 'soul plate' on the side of the skate also makes stalling on ledges etc really easy although the frames seem to not like the battering this gives them.