Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 304 - First Day at Sydney Writers Centre!

The view from the balcony outside my new lovely job. It greeted me this morning, and I had to stop and admire it, given my old job's landlocked was not even remotely as picturesque. I waited outside for about 10 minutes before one of my new co-workers arrived, who I had met previously, to let me in, and the day began... I was given a tour of the small office, and met the brother & sister who run the cafe in the building, Maydar and Harry, who are very close to the people I now work with. I didn't grab a coffee but a sparkling mineral water which was refreshing...

The rock on which I waited in the crisp cool morning air. After being let in by the delightful Rose, and meeting Tracy again, and Danielle, who I hadn't met previously, I was shown to my desk right next to my boss's, and my new Macbook Pro (I get to use a Mac at work - yay!) and a day that taxed my mind's ability to remember things, but delighted my soul, kicked off... 

After a morning filled with acquainting myself with Google's corporate gmail system, which is almost as intuitive and easy to pick up as Apple's, and being given basic tasks such as accepting invitations for my boss to link up on Linked In, I walked with Danielle to Kirribilli shops, grabbed some sushi in the loveliest shopping area I've seen for some time, and then ate it at my desk while checking email.

Every afternoon, about 3pm approximately, Tracy makes some tea, and went to a lot of trouble to find me some green tea. It was a kind gesture, and symptomatic of the warmth, and  friendliness I was shown all day. I am going to like working here a lot.

The view from my desk. While its my boss's desk that sits against the window, I am not far away and I get to see this every time I turn around. Awesome.

The view from platform six at Wynyard on the way home when my brain threatened to explode from a busy but fulfilling day. My lovely guy picked me up at home, and we had dinner at Tamana's where I told him everything in detail before going home and crashing out....

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 303 - Pic-a-nic-a!

My gorgeous guy had an idea - to get some simple yummy food (fetta-filled olives & dolmades for starters, and quiches from Michels and salads for lunch with local Dulwich Hill-made Greek baclava for dessert), throw a rug down under a big shady tree in Sydney Park, and spend the afternoon eating, talking, reading and snoozing....


... and so we did and it was glorious...

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 302 (Saturday 29 October) - Brunchin' and a Bloggin' and a Nappin'

Brunch in the morning with Waz at South End cafe...

...dinner that night just the two of us at Tre Viet followed by a movie, Midnight in Paris, at the Dendy Newtown (and Jonathan the flirtatious gay Vietnamese waiter)...

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 301 (Friday 28 October) - Roadtrip 6 - Back Home Alas

8.45 a.m. We finally made it to breakfast after a sleep in, showers, and some viewing of ABC breakfast television (at which actual meaningful news was covered and discussed. Imagine that!), and what a lovely breakfast it was. Our host, Margaret Fair (who in the 1970s lived in Nepal and married a Nepalese man before returning to Australia), had laid out a great spread of cereal options and toast, and even cooked my poached eggs all the way through so no nightmarishly gooey runny yokes for me! Hooray! We were even joined by by a skink who happily stayed in the same spot on the tiles near the table, warmed by the sun and the heating under the tiles...

9.54 a.m. Finished up breakfast, took a tour upstairs of the other rooms (we were the only guests that night), brushed our teeth, packed one or two final things, and while Steve settled the bill with Margaret, I packed the car, which we left parked outside the B & B (the Snow Lion) while we sauntered into town (a few minutes walk away) to go through the shops that had been largely shut tight the night before. On the way there, we passed through a beautiful park, with a trellis colonnade covered in lavender, with a  magpie and a crimson rosella feeding nearby.

10.05 a.m. We spent about two hours wandering through the shops, which featured everything from art to antiques, crafts and jewelery, buying some mugs for a friend of ours John when we found them in a retro store, doing some Christmas shopping for my niece Zara (a photo of whom arrived while were shopping - see below), and meeting some delightfully warm and friendly shop owners. There were a few shops that simply didn't open or open in time that we wanted to see but you can't see or buy everything! Although goodness knows I've tried...

A quilting shop, the photo of which I sent to Jen and Sel from my writing group. They love quilting and Sel begged me to take the whole store home with me!

The mugs we bought for John - 6 sets of mug and saucer at $22 each.

A cool butcher's sign if ever there was one!

My gorgeous guy loves his CWA recipes and so a picture outside the local CWA citadel had to be taken

The very cute shot of Zara in the rain at Australia Zoo - she loved jumping in the puddles!

12.03 p.m. Off down the road out of town, before turning off onto a road only the locals really know about which connects Braidwood with Nowra on the coast. We had planned to scoot inland but after some locals we dined with the night before recommended this road, we chose to use it instead, even with its 15 km of dirt road, because the rest of the road was newly, and beautifully paved and wide. We even got one last hit of national park beauty, stopping at Morton National Park's Tianjara Falls, after being tipped to look for the turn off sign which is only 75m before the entrance which takes you to a stunning view. While the water flow was small, the view was still mighty impressive, and a few other lucky souls had left, we pretty much had the place to ourselves, which was, as always, delightful.

There was a special area located just off the lookout with a reinforced steel grill that allowed you to see right down to the valley floor. Not for the vertigo sufferers, or faint-hearted!

2.47p.m. After emerging at Nowra, diving into Berry quickly to grab some bookends we'd seen in Berry for my gorgeous, we hightailed it up the coast reaching Kiama for a relaxed mid afternoon lunch at the Stone Wall cafe (very appropo name for two gay boys really!) and some of the yummiest sandwiches I have ever had...

6.49 p.m. At St Peters station to head into the City - after rushing to my gorgeous guy's place to wrap the bookends and drop off to Brett - to see the newly restored 2010 print of a 1927 cinematic classic, Metropolis

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 300 (Thursday 27 October) - Roadtrip 5 -Off to Braidwood

9.27 a.m. After getting up at the crack of dawn and eating our Coco Pops in a cup (twice in a week...back to healthy cereal next week I swear!)- well it felt like that after sleeping in till 10 a.m. the last two days - cleaning up the kitchen till it was cleaner than a sterilised lab (who alas shall never have beakers of its own), and trying unsuccessfully three times to find the garbage bins (even the cleaner had a hard time locating them so well were they wanting to keep the pristine ambience of the apartments complex intact), we made it to reception with the keys (with the funky green garage door opener) mere seconds before the 9.30 cut off and hit the road, waving goodbye to Top Fun and the rest of Merimbula, and heading down the road past countless lots of road works to Bega (stopping for photos of their Acr de Triomphe like war memorial which is quite impressive), then Cobargo then...

10.58 a.m. Central Tilba. Frankly Tilba Tilba sounds like more fun as town names goes, but it only has houses, isn’t ‘hysterical’ as we like to say, and only has Pam’s eating house to recommend it. Central Tilba on the other hand is chock full to inelegant bursting with old shops and houses perched along the top of a ridge, has the sort of one-of-a-kind shops I keep hoping I can find a whole town or village full of (and I did!), and is a delight to wander through from top to bottom. Yes the food at The Tilba Teapot - yummy burgers with the lot on Turkish bread, and home made scones and rose-hip, and strawberry jam and cream - took forever to arrive, extending our stay (but the staff were so delightful that all was forgiven in seconds), and yes, the Tilba cheese brand is now sourced straight from dairies in Victoria thanks to their new owners, National Foods, but when the stores are full of unique items, the owners are warm and country-friendly (the candle guy especially who was super passionate about his craft), and the weather is sunny but not too warm, and almost cold at times, what’s not to love, and love we did. It was a delightful three hours spent in a delightful part of the world...

2.51 p.m. After making one last pass through Narooma, and Montague Coffee, we docked at the Caltex petrol station at Moruya, before making a beeline for Braidwood our stop for the night, and the much recommended Snow Lion Bed and Breakfast owned and operated by the loveliest lady...

4 p.m. She had left the key in the planter at the front door, which was trusting of her to a very pleasing, and to a Sydneysider long used to mistrusting everyone I see, astonishing degree, and so while she babysat her grand children, we let ourselves in, enjoyed the warmth of the already heated room (the air outside was already Winter-like) and chilled after a long drive before going for a walk along the main street. Now, I had expected a quaint small town full of funky shops but it is a lot smaller and quieter than expected (and than my gorgeous guy remembered) but it was lovely wandering the streets, checking out which stores we’d visit tomorrow - it was 4.30pm and a Wednesday so lots of shops that only open Thursday to Sunday or 11-3 were shut up tight much to my City resident’s amusement - and finding a great place to eat dinner, all within walking distance of the B & B....

6.35 p.m. We decided to have dinner at Torpeas, a restaurant of only 2 weeks standing, and what a smart decision it was. The owner, a chef who still cooks for the pub down the road, was friendly, the furniture funky and idiosyncratic, we had our drinks and first part of the entree (Dojo bread + balsamic reduction, and olive oil, and warmed up olives and roasted garlic) on a retro gold velour couch in the bar area watched over by the owners’ dog, James, and the rest of the meal - Peaking Pancakes, a cute play on their name for entree part 2, and Beef Wellington for me and Pork Belly for my gorgeous guy, and the sticky date pudding for dessert - was delicious with the chef and owner often wandering in to chat ( we were one of only filled tables that night). It cost a bit but for fun and ambience, and a quick walk home, it couldn’t be beat. I loved it!

10.02 p.m. Typing this in the B & B’s loungeroom with a roaring fireplace going great guns, my gorgeous guy reading near me, and wishing this could go on all night...