House Sitting in Cammeray

A few weeks ago Dana and I had the privilege of house sitting Dana's boss's house in Cammeray. Anna (Dana's boss) and Andrew, her husband, are really great people. We enjoy their company and enjoyed their home without them nearly as much as we enjoy their company. Wink-wink. I'm sure one of their two sharp teenager daughters, Iona and Laura, will find this post, so Anna/Andrew, please tell me who found it first. Their house is build at the edge of a reserve and has a pool and a trampoline. Jump and swim. The house is only a short bus ride from the city center but it feels like the middle of the bush. Water dragon and dragonflies frequent the grounds. Cockatoos wake you up the morning, and kookaburras laugh at you when you're getting ready for bed. Much more pleasant than hearing drunks screaming at midnight and recycling trucks crushing glass at 6AM. Anna and Andrew have graciously agreed to swap abodes with us. Thanks!

Yes we even have photos from here.

Jazz in the Domain

A couple of weeks ago we settled into the Domain, a public park here in Sydney, for a day of hanging with friends, eating, drinking and listening to some fantastic jazz. "Jazz" is a loose term here. The music was great but I'm not sure if the didgeridoo backing up a Brazilian whistle and drum band is jazz to many people. It sure was exciting music though. Glenn, Chris, Fiona and I got there at about 1PM to claim a good spot. A large good spot. Dana and lots of friends filtered in through the afternoon and into the evening, filling our space appropriately. Some buggers did show up at the park at 7 and later expecting to sit right up front. I was very territorial and told them to get lost before they got too settled. Seriously though we put in a good effort holding down the fort for many hours. These peabrains can't show up just before the music starts and expect to sit anywhere besides the back. We had laid out our space well and peed out a perimeter, so I was confused how any other human could think it was unclaimed land. Once the undesirables were scattered we continued to have a grand ole time. If you live in Sydney and have not been, go. And go early or sit in the back.Check out the amusing photos here, and hear Stiffy describe the legends here:

Some other vids from the event...

CONFIRMED: SAM COATES DANCES HIP HOP

Weekend At Benny's

A couple of weeks ago, our good friend Ben Waud had some of us over his (parents') place for a BBQ. It was a solid night of grilling, eating, drinking and wrestling. We started off at the beach and moved back to the Gosford house from there. Ben had an excellent spread for us, and we all enjoyed a fantastic night... especially after the crazy eights and Jaggard that went along with it. Midnight bocce became midnight wrestling, with me, Glenn and Brett beating each other on an absurdly small sheet that Ben laid out for his officiation. My shoulder still hurts. Bowie the dog made a good showing. And thanks to Sam and Lana for lift up and Heat Miser (pictured right) for the lift down.

View all photos here.

Kiwi Cricket

Ben lost a bet to Alexis a few weeks ago. Ben paid Alexis with his cricket ticket. Alexis sold this ticket to me. And so two Sundays ago I participated in a true cricket experience: The Australians versus the All Blacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It was a great day but there were a few too many kiwis flapping amongst us. We met up at Bar Cleveland in Redfern for a few critters (Little Creatures) before heading over to the official grounds. Somehow we made friends with some other rowdy groups and next thing you know the game is on TV. This is a "one dayer", a short version of cricket, so we better hurry! Not quiet. While a true cricket match, called a test match, lasts up to five full days and can still end in a draw, a one dayer is not short. A typical one dayer lasts about eight hours. Yeah, short version. After breaking free of the (other) rowdy bunch we hiked over to the SCG and settled into our seats. The SCG was first set aside for recreational use in the mid-1800s. In 1882 Australia beat England in the first Ashes test match played on the grounds - the sixth Ashes. I think this set the base for a tremendous future of Australia destroying England in the game the English invented. It's a beautiful stadium, and I appreciate the design of the Members' Stand (1878) and Ladies' Stand (1896). The game was great fun, but we couldn't seem to separate Glenn & Simon. Oh and the free Daily Telegraph hats provided excellent shelter from the sun. Thank you Daily Telegraph.

All kiwi cricket photos here.

*Note: Australia beat the All Blacks but barely. My brother, Ricky Ponting, embarrassed us with an early LBW. Shame.

Google Plane Grounded

Google, the company that provides this lovely blogging service to me for free, screwed up this past weekend. They did. They made a big hub-bub, a big to-do about a hired aircraft that would fly low over Sydney and its beaches, taking high-res photo-graphic metallic plates to add to their Internetified map service. It was big news! All over the papers there were articles with Google boasting about its first detailed photo of a city. People made plans and went out early with signs for a non-profit cause, an expression of love as a surprise for the lovee, a request for forgiveness or just for fun... and yeah some people were looking to take advantage of the free advertising.

So what happened? Nothing. Or next to nothing. Google posted this lame-ass update to the site. That space covers less than 10% of what they said they would and hardly any of the beaches and parks where people had started to prepare since early morning. Google, you are responsible for the [continued] failure of Aaron Schwebel's marriage. People will also be less inclined to Vote Climate, and, thanks to you, David Hicks will not be brought home. Possibly your biggest loss, Google, is that poverty will NOT be made history. I hope you're proud of yourself.

Yes, Google was providing a free service, but it also set expectations that it could not meet. It turned out that they did not have clearance to fly over the city and that Sydney airport would have had to have been closed to satisfy their demands. Google, c'mon, maybe if you're packing the right goods, but an aerial camera... {scuffaw}

We were out there with a big white sheet ($9) on which I spray-painted ($8) "DWARBI'S ROOF". Google, kindly send a refund of $17. And thanks for this free blogging service.

Australia Day 2007

This past Friday was Australia Day, Australia's celebration of the landing of Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet at Sydney Cove on 26 January, 1788. Another name for this day is Invasion Day. Depends on the way you look at it. Similarly, Dana and I arrived on Australian soil on 26 January, but in 2005. We call this day Australian Anniversary Day. Another name for this day has recently surfaced: Dana and Denis Sepo Invasion Day. Depends on the way you look at it. Somehow people came out to celebrate with the Sepos Dana & Denis on Australia Day!

In an attempt to reduce gang violence we did ban the Australian flag, but both Sams brazenly ignored the ban and waved the flag to and fro. Thankfully everyone played nice. Except Glenn Hinton. If you look at the photos it's pretty clear he doesn't know how to play nice. The party started nice and early with set-up beginning at 1, and friends coming and going into the night. We must of left a window open because there were kiwis in our apartment until after 3AM. Who knew kiwis could fly into an eighth story apartment!

Also, Google was scheduled to fly a plane low over the Sydney to add high-resolution images to their Google maps service. I was ready with a giant "DWARBI'S ROOF" sign but the Google plane didn't come very close us. In a few weeks we'll be able to check!

View all photos here.