“North of the Bridge? I better not forget my passport then.” So remarked my friend when I invited him to visit my new home, a dear little art-deco apartment. I’d just signed over the next 25 years of my life…
The Great Divide
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Sydney
Resolute Beach
A while ago I stumbled, literally, across one of the most serene and beautiful beaches in Sydney. Resolute Beach. Perhaps it’s familiar to some already, but to me it seemed like a secret known only to a few lucky ones…
Five tips: Where the heck are the flamin’ locals?
I’m always surprised to hear foreigners and out-of-town-ers say that they reckon Sydneysiders are cliquey. Having been fortunate to meet so many wonderful locals I thought I’d jot down my 5 tips for finding friendly locals to share stories with…
The Opera House and Aung San Suu Kyi
Many small Australian towns find it necessary to rally around a novelty architectural icon for the purposes of tourism. Often taking the form of a giant replica of something abundant in the region, these structures are prefaced by ‘The Big…’,…
20 reasons why Marrickville is RAD
Here is my list of 20 reasons why Marrickviille, a suburb in Sydney’s inner west, is just plain rad. It’s my neighbourhood, and a neighbourhood that I chose to live in over the apparently more obvious beachside or inner-city alternatives. …
There’s a sexual revolution sweeping Sydney
Have you noticed? You can tell a lot about a place by the way its people conduct their love lives, and the young singles’ scene in Sydney is fascinating at the moment. Settling back into Sydney life over the last…
Kindness in the city
Taxi drivers fascinate me. You can pretty much always strike up a conversation with a taxi driver, whether it be of the polite small-talk variety, the comedic, the road-rage hysterical, or even the politically incorrect. Then there’s the friendly conversationalist….
Vipassana meditation in the Blue Mountains
Spending 10 days in silence and meditating for 8+ hours a day may not sound like your idea of a dream holiday. However, if you want to experience an inner calm that continues long after that first day back at…
The ride from Surry Hills to Coogee
One massive perk of living in Sydney is the ability to escape its concrete heart and find oneself on an overpopulated beach in less than an hour. Every year, as summer emerges, so too do swarms of sunbathers, searching for…
A tent in the mountains
Snapping up a beachside camping spot within a 3 hour drive from Sydney CBD during a long weekend can be one of life’s little challenges if you are a camping-loving Sydneysider. Organised Sydneysiders – no problem. If you book the…
“It’s just ice cream, people!!!”
I can’t stand lining up. Hate it. When I lived in the UK, expats would pay out on the Brits for their passion for standing in line. Like all the time. For just about anything – buses, burritos, seedy clubs…
Desperately seeking serenity
City life is exhausting. As work hours rise, so too does the cost of living. Deadlines tighten, skin loosens, and it’s little wonder my daily source of serenity has become a fairly large glass of Pinot Noir. However, as I…