Tag Archives: Sydney

THINGS I LEARNED LAST NIGHT – at the Sydney Seafood School

I'm not the only one who expects a good meal here.

I’m not the only one who expects a good meal here.

Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day and it will taste so bad he’ll never eat raw fish again. Teach a man to cook fish and you give him a lifetime of showing off at dinner parties.

After he’s sourced the ingredients.

I’ve got enough stuff, so when another birthday rolled around it was very smart of my daughter to give me a voucher for a class at the Sydney Seafood School.

I’ve written before about this excellent institution at the Sydney Fish Market, but I can’t praise it highly enough. It’s open to anybody who cares to spend an evening or an afternoon learning to cook two or three fabulous dishes. For locals and visitors it’s time and money very well spent. Continue reading

10 Comments

Filed under Travel-Australia

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA HOUSE

It makes you feel something special is about to happen.

Simply approaching it makes you feel something magic is about to happen.

Mevrouw T and I don’t do this often enough. A thoughtful Christmas present was two tickets to a Sydney Symphony Orchestra concert.

A rare trip to the iconic Sydney Opera House at night reminded us what a special building it is, and what a spectacular location it enjoys. Continue reading

12 Comments

Filed under Travel-Australia

PHONEOGRAPHY CHALLENGE – My neighbourhood, where the coffee is real!

Okay, it's a little fuzzy, but so am I at this hour of the morning. What matters is that the coffee has some colour in it. Take note, all ye would-be baristas!

Okay, it’s a little blurry, but so am I at this hour of the morning. What matters is that the coffee has some colour in it. Take note, all ye would-be baristas!


For once I’ve done this Weekly Photo Challenge strictly according to the rules. The instructions were to depict the delights of your neighbourhood as seen through the hole in the back of your phone.

So armed with nothing but an iPhone 4, out I went into the streets of Marrickville, Sydney, NSW, Australia. First stop was the Post Cafe – the old post office now converted into something far more useful early on a Saturday morning. Continue reading

26 Comments

Filed under travel photography, Travel-Australia

ANISH KAPOOR MAGIC – it’s all done with mirrors (mostly)

Sky Mirror (2006) It all depends on what it's reflecting.

Sky Mirror (2006) What you see depends on what it’s reflecting at the time.

The signs in the MCA foyer say ‘no photography’. It’s a lost cause. Everyone has at least a phone with a hole in the back now and we don’t often have Anish Kapoor sculptures in Sydney. The moment must be captured. Continue reading

14 Comments

Filed under Art, Travel-Australia

KANGAROO ON THE MENU – Gardener’s Lodge Cafe

Gardener's Lodge - too good to be a toilet, now even more convenient.

Gardener’s Lodge – once a toilet block, and a seedy one at that.


It’s been a while since I ate kangaroo. It’s lean, full-flavoured, healthy meat, and it’s a shame we don’t see much of it around these days.

A laudable enterprise has recently opened in Sydney; the Gardener’s Lodge Cafe, where Beryl Van-Oploo has remodelled a beautiful, historic building and trains and employs Aboriginal Australians in hospitality. The publicity said it serves ‘bush tucker’ – food native to Australia.

Mevrouw T and I have cut down on meat-eating in general and kangaroo is seldom on our menu, but we saw this article on the Fairfax website and went to try lunch at Auntie Beryl’s. Continue reading

16 Comments

Filed under Travel-Australia

GEHRY’S ICONS – great for tourists, less great for locals?

Frank Gehry's lunchbags

Frank Gehry’s lunchbags

Sydney’s big story last week was about a crane which caught fire and collapsed on a construction site at the University of Technology, Sydney, crumpling the building below it. Fortunately nobody was hurt.

UTS will soon get a building which is supposed to look as if a crane has fallen on it, when Frank Gehry comes to town. Continue reading

8 Comments

Filed under Architecture, Art