Category Archives: Travel and entertainment

The Boathouse

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I had the pleasure this weekend of visiting The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay for dinner.

Anzac Bridge at sunset ...

The ideal way to get to The Boathouse is by water taxi.  You approach from under Anzac Bridge and the taxi drops you a short distance along the waterfront from the restaurant.

It’s a great location looking out over the water back to the city, especially on a warm evening like last night.

Looking passed The Boathouse toward the city

As you might expect The Boathouse specialises in seafood.  They have a great menu and I have to say that the snapper pie is fabulous.  No, I really mean it.  It is absolutely fabulous. They also do very good chips!

Sadly I don’t appreciate oysters, but if you do, then The Boathouse will deliver.  They have a special section on their menu just for the oysters (all natural of course) listing the oysters that they serve that come from a dozen or more locations or more.  The Boathouse is oyster lovers heaven.

This was the view from the corner table at The Boathouse looks back over the bay to Anzac Bridge. It really is a spectacular place.

So, there you have it.  If you are looking for somewhere special for lunch or dinner, then The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay is a great choice.

John.

Hotels are strange places

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I am currently enduring hotel checking limbo.  Meaning that the earliest that I can check in is 1,00pm, and it’s now only just after 10.30am  I had to drop my bike off early this morning to get it serviced.  So here I am whiling away the time in the hotel bar.

Thankfully I have my laptop and phone, so I am pretty much self-sufficient and able to do “real work” if I choose.

On the off chance that you are in the Rose Hill area and feel like meeting me for a coffee, then send me a text, or give me a call.  I would enjoy some company :-)

John.

New Orleans again …

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I have found myself once again at the New Orleans Cafe in Crows Nest on this wet afternoon.  I had quite an enjoyable lunch and thanks to the staff generously allowing me to use a power point, I am not getting down to some work (thanks to my laptop and smartphone – have I ever told you I just love what technology allows us to do!).

Anyway, the actual point of this post was to share some grafiti and other stuff from the Mens Room here.  First up was this grafiti.  When I think of the real New Orlean (although I have never been there personally), I think of food and music … I think this really embodies it!

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I am not sure if this is going to be legible, but I will upload a high res version of the image another day if it’s not.  The message though is this: Never, ever, fuck with the person who prepares your food!  It’s a heart warming reminder for all those under appreciated cooks out there ;-)

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John.

Melbourne visit 26th and 27th of November

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Just a quick post to let you know that I will be in Melbourne on the 26th and 27th of this month (November).  Please see my calendar on my Price & Booking page for my availability.

I will be at Sexpo on Saturday afternoon and am hoping to get along to The Night Cat in Fitzroy too.  I haven’t been there in years (litterally since before I moved to Sydney).

Hope to see you in Melbourne!

John.

Curse this rain …

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I don’t often say this, but Curse This Rain!

I am about to get on the bike and head to Sydney and it’s raining.  Not my favourite way to travel in the wet.  My car (which has been at the mechanics for three weeks) is finally home and working, however the fairly major nature of the work done to it means that it is limited to just running around on short trips for a while until it is properly bedded in again.

So, bike it is once again.  The road works around my area don’t help either, making a slow trip slower and meaning that the bike is definitely going to need another wash when I get home!

John.

Fancy a trip to Hong Kong?

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Being a “Qantas Frequent Flyer” I am kept totally up-to-date by Qantas on their goings on.  I just received an email about their latest offer …

“From 15 January 2012,* our award winning A380 will fly four times a week from Sydney direct to Hong Kong, a city that never sleeps.  To celebrate we’re offering amazing sale fares for travel to Hong Kong.

Economy – Enjoy Qantas Economy comfort from Sydney to Hong Kong for just $380 one-way, or $760 return.”

So, there you have it ladies.  If the urge strikes you to have a weekend in Hong Kong with me, then (Qantas) airfares in Late January to Hong Kong will be much more affordable! ;-)

John.

The image used at the top of this post comes from the Qantas promotional material that they emailed me.  It seems reasonable therefore to reproduce it here!

Sun and sand

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I had a couple of hours to spare today, so I rode my motorcycle to South Head and then walked down to Lady Bay beach.

Its a small clothing optional beach that, when the tide is in (like today) is not much more than a few meters of rock and sand.

Still, the day was warm and the water was beautiful, cool and clean, so I got to swim for the first time this season. I love salt water. I always feel good after spending time in it. Especially if I can then relax in the sun naked to dry off.

I don’t much go in for tanning, but after a winter of no sunshine I am ready to get just a little bit of colour back again!

Being able to strip off legally is good. There aren’t that many option around inner Sydney. So it was nice to get to Lady Bay today.

No photos to show you sadly, as it’s not really polite to be waving a camera around on a nude beach.

John.

The dying art of walking in the suburbs

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I was staying at the Rydges hotel in Rose Hill on Friday. Rather than order room service, or go down to the restaurant I decided to go out for a walk to find some food (hotel dining gets old very quickly if you spend as much time in hotels as I do).

I was really surprised then to find that unlike Australian suburbs as I know them – where walking is easy and the built environment is pedestrian friendly – this one is like a little slice of Houston, Texas.

If you have never been to Houston, then heres a short description: limited footpaths (if any), massive parking lots, limited public transport, everything is focused on driving. Even (I kid you not) driving 100 meters up the road to get lunch which is considered normal.

Walking is liable to get you heckled or worse.  Only poor people walk, or catch the bus, so pedestrians are considered fair game by many.

So walking around Rose Hill was a real shock.  The fast food stores (extruded from their respective corporate motherships) all seemed to assume that the only way anyone would approach them was by car.

The average pedestrian was forced to walk far out of their way to reach a door, and often run the gauntlet of driveway crossings and car parks to get there.  It was really quite startling and more than a little bit repulsive.  Somewhere some council town planners need to be sent for “re-education”

At least the extra walking required was good for me!

John.