Ip Man

Yesterday we went to see the excellent Ip Man, the story of the Wing Chun KungFu Grandmaster who trained, (among many others) Bruce Lee.

It's thoroughly enjoyable, with lots of great (and brutal!) fighting and especially earlier on, humour.

7½/10

.. and back from Sydney

My girlie and I recently flew back to Sydney to spend xmas and (gwei-lo) new years with my friends and family. It was her first trip to Oz, and as we're planning on moving back there in a couple of months time, it was also the 'sell the city to the girl' trip. :)

.. I think it was successful.

We :

• walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge
• Caught the ferry to Manly & went to the beach
• Ate meat pies
• Drank Australian beers
• Had nice coffee in the CBD
• Went to Chinatown for dinner
• Caught Sydney trains
• Caught Sydney buses
• Caught Sydney taxi's
• Lunch and clothes shopping in Newtown
• Roamed around the Rocks markets

.. The only thing I can think of offhand that we didn't get to do was go to Glebe markets, which is one of my alltime favourite Sydney rituals. Ever since I was at university in sunny Wagga Wagga, the two or three times a year that I was able to trek across to Sydney and go to the Glebe markets was the epitomy of Sydney cosmopolitanism for me.

I'm pretty sure that says more about me than it does about Sydney =)

Anyhoo, here's a few pics.

inside the ritzy sactum of the QVB


Jet coffeee is goood coffeee


QVB's indigenous tile design


Delish Turkey Xmas dinner at my sisters house..


Pei Lin in tropical Eastwood


obligatory Harbour bridge pic


on the ferry to Manly


Speed chess is a spectator sport, (or was it cleavage?)


Down & out on Elizabeth st (bum on seat)


looking from the Opera house back to the city


Australian Chinese food - lunch in Eastwood.
Top right is not Char Kway Teow, despite what the menu says.


:)


out


in


transit 1


transit 2


transit 3


Town Hall stn escalator detail


train detail (yes, we caught a lot if trains)


Building detail on Elizabeth street

I wasn't sure about the prospect of moving back, would I be bored with everything being so familiar?
Nope. I'm looking forward to it.

It's not about 'there's no place like home' ~ I'm not originally from Sydney but from a small town in South Central NSW ... and sorry to say, but I don't really miss that place at all. Home is where the heart is. I've always loved city life. There may be a time when I move away from it, but I will always enjoy returning.

Sydney is a lovely city, sometimes we need to step away to see things more clearly :)

Kinesis K2 solar and wind-powered portable charger

The Kinesis K2 solar and wind-powered portable charger stores enough juice to recharge your average mobile phone 5 times. It comes with a variety of attachments, including usb, all stored inside it's yellow plastic body when not required.

It should retail for around $140 AUD, and I think it's pretty darn awesome.

.. more here:

www.cleantechnica.com

www.engadget.com

Season 3 - IT Crowd

Hilarious stuff!

Watch it on YouTube

Yoda hat for babies

Last week when we were in Sydney we met with my cousin Stephen and his family and got to talking about making a yoda beanie for his 7 month old to wear while in his backpack carrier.

Looks like it's already been done. There's another million dollar idea down the gurgler :)

Presenting the yoda baby hat.