Other Aussies

It is interesting to see in the local free newspaper an article about an Aussie who loves Wellington, and he's only 43 years old. But as a lot of this new generation he hashtags everything and has made a business out if it, eulogising Wellington just as much as I do. 

It looks like he has done what I have wanted to do, but also taken it to the public in his cyber sure way.

He started his strategy with a Twitter tag and now has 1100 Wellingtonians following him, telling him why they love Wellington. Everyone, he said, asked him why he came to Wellington so he thought he'd find out why, interesting.

Aussie Ben Woodward

Kiwi car loving

Also an article about three McLaren racing cars being imported at $1.5 million each. One forgets that it was Kiwi Bruce McLaren who was the original Formula One champ who established this iconic racing car..again an achieving Kiwi under the radar.

Amazing country, amazing products.

Oriental sun bathing...

Fountain refreshing..

Best stroll in the world!

Maori Theatre - WOW!

Last night was a revelation and stays with me today. 'The Ragged' was not something you just see and forget.

Back at Gotham City

My new app. A translator?

My luck to see...

The Birdman

Well back in Wellie and already an excellent play and very special movie under my belt. Last night at the Cuba Lighthouse  I saw the excellent Michael Keating in a very black comedy set in NYC about a failing actor on stage who has as his nemesis the Birdman character which he played with great success as a young actor. This sometimes present character is constantly talking to him while he is going through multiple problems with his ex-wife and daughter who happens to be having an affair with his very strange co- star. It is a weird romp made by the director of that other interesting film Babel. It is set for awards at the Oscars no doubt, probably with Michael Keating as best actor.

Am back at Memphis where they give me my best coffee, but my favourite barista is not on today so I get second best. Still I like it here, full of retro music and when the sun shines it ia a delight.

Last Day in Sydney

Its is cooler and grey skies, so a fitting preparation for my return to the windy city. It has been a full and  satisfying eight days and I am having lunch with Benjamin at the place of the first meeting, Coco Cubano. 

Yesterday's visit to Helen went very well in spite the presence of the 'ugly sister' who always puts a damper on things. I gave her the stray yellow rose which was broken from the bunch I put in the vase for Helen. Helen  appreciated them although they were a rip-off and I should have bargained for them. Oh well next time, I am slow to learn these things.

Grey sky on Cubano

Lovely cafe like in Cuba street

Things with bro were also OK and the visit only confirmed how different we are and how intransigeant he is. There'll be no changes there I'm afraid. I am about to have a serious chat with B, this time about me, as up to now it has been about him. He is extremely nice and genuine, but he is an Aries like my bro. so I need to remember that. In the meantime I have done all my emails to Wellington to prepare for my return. All will be well and I am looking forward to a very busy return.

Nice Cuba Coffee

Airport waiting for Air NZ

Having had a third lunch with B I feel we are progressing well, even to the point where I feel good about inviting him to Wellngton for  visit, and quite soon. So that is indeed a big step forward, but no promises, early days yet. 

Arrived in tons of time for the flight and Air NZ was all automatic at the check in  which is so much easier and no queueing and few people so I am waiting with an hour to spare and no stress at all. Be prepared and arrive early is my present mantra about travelling. And it works to a T.

Home at the Memphis

I cannot believe I have brought the beautiful Sydney weather back to Wellington, it is a perfect day, sans humidite! The trip last night was excellent sitting next to a German girl who may even be looking for a house in Roseneath in a few months so I passed on my card. However it was not without incident as we were at least half an hour late so with no Uber taxis available I was relegated to paying double.

Added to this was the fact that I had not been instructed how to eject the sim card, in case you need to know, by poking in a paper clip it emerges without a problem. Also in struggling with it I damaged somewhat the Sim card case and it wasn't making correct contact so it registered as NO sim card! Quelle drame!

However after a quick visit to Vodafone they remedied and I saw how to eject the sim in future, another lesson learned by a cyber dummy.

Coffee and scone at Memphis

Absorbed in the Dom Post

Yup, sure is...

Great weather for a week!

Hope to see this tonight at Te Papa.

On perusing the Dom Post I see an excellent Maori play tonight on at Soundings Theatre at Te Papa, I hope I can get tickets. It is about the Maori - Pakeha differences on the settling by the British. Looks very interesting.

Well, it was more than interesting, it was astoundingly good. I am so happy I went and after the production as it was the first night several speeches were made, some in Maori, and it was a privilege to be there.  Jim Moriarty the director, came right up to me after the show and gave me an enormous hug. It was moving me as theatre always should. What a great return to Wellington.

Hot Sunday

Am out and about on a superb Sunday in Sydney. The weather couldn't be better, about twenty six degees Celsius and a cool breeze blowing. I am on the roof of the MCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, situated in an unbeatable position opposite the Opera House and below the Harbour Bridge ..it is nearly too perfect.

Last night Tosca was ab fab...really a great production by fabled Sydney director John Bell and set in Italy at the end of  World War Two. It worked pefectly and he took a few bets which paid off, plus all the singers were excellent, especially the essential Floria Tosca who died beautifully, this time being assassinated on the tower instead of jumping to her death - a nice touch. The evening was picture post-card perfect and the big crowd certainly enjoyed the wonder of the architecture of the Sydney sails in the evening light, the sparkling craft sliding silently by outside the enormous window panes with  the luxurious appointments inside the tiled sails a real buzz to behold. We all loved the Opera and it deserved even a bigger reception than it got. But then that's the Aussies. 

Btw, I learned a big lesson last night, yet again, about carefully looking after my cash, don't put it loosely in my trouser pockets, zip it up. I think I have really learned that one now and someone is 200 bucks the richer for it!

After the opera finished quite late, I caught a bus to Maroubra Junction and walked the last few kilometres home in a balmy night, taking off my shoes to feel the warmth of the earth. The end of a big and lovely day.

Working towards recognition...

Tosca at Sydney

Great production...

MCA roof view...

Cruiser in berth

Ham and egg toast with interest

As you can see this is a wonderful city, with  a spectacular harbour and sunshine to burn, and that's exactly what it does, as Aussies have the highest percentage of skin cancers in the world. But when you are aware that the this great weather comes with a toll, you appreciate it all the more and take care to avoid the bad outcomes. Immigrants like Benjamin from Peru are the ones who feel the privilege even more than we native Aussies do, and this is a salutary lesson to remind us that it is our undoubted privilege, not entitlement, as so many think.

It is now time to do my little visitation of the day, to Prince Alfred Hospital to see how Helen is recovering from her operation, and also to see how Peter is surviving the strain!

Having a drink in P.A.  Deli with Peter

Friday on the move

Well things started very quickly this morning. Leaving brother's house at eight am I managed to be at Central  Station to catch the 8.45 to Gosford in record time, but it was not meant to be as in Hornsby we hear a message saying a fatality in Berowra is cancelling all trips to Gosford, so here I am in a Hornsby cafe with a watery coffee doing my blog.

The Westfield Plaza

...sunny, but a bad coffee

Last night was the epic bad movie. A debut director Angelina Jolie showed she has a lot to learn in an action movie based on a true story of survival in the second world war with an imprisoned American pilot captured by the Japanese. But he was very handsome, of course, and also an Olympic long distance running hero. After half an hour I couldn't stomach any more and having seen him run, I did not want to see him tortured in technicolor so I left to go home early and was relieved I had the guts to walk out on a very bad movie.

 One star. Btw it was called 'Unbroken' but I'm afraid it was very 'broken'!

'The Kiss' at Wyoming

At Gosford after a long and tenuous trip I have just had a nice lunch with friend Andrew and Heather...nothing changed in Gosford and they welcomed me home, when I return, that is!

Next stop is a look in at my next home to be, at Wyoming, so a chai latte at Gloria Jeans before Susie comes for a long awaited chat and then we will look at my home. 

Woy Woy Bay is at 5 pm and now tomorrow is also taken care of with Diane ringing for a RV at Hornsby on my way home tomorrow. Life in the fast lane is how I may be leading when I return.

No 42 Taylor Rd

Woy Woy Bay from balcony

Susie kindly drives me to arrive at Malcolm and Dean's fabulous home on the bay, a secret spot on the Brisbane Waters which is slowly being discovered. Malcolm is welcoming as always and takes Susie for a tour of his lovely Artworks and garden. She is suitably impressed. Dean is working late so we will dine at nine, not my favourite time but....I am on holidays!

Coco Cubana RV

Another sunny Sydney day and already I have gone to sales shopping to return to NZ with new clobber.

Peruvian Benjamin is on his way for the RV planned many months ago in Wellington. He sounds very pleasant with his heavy South American accent but with all such encounters there is absolutely no expectation. 

I read today's Herald with an excellent review of first night of Tosca at the Opera House so I am surely looking forward to a classic night at the Opera on Saturday. News from PK is that sis Helen is recovering in a drowsy state from her radical mastectomy and we all pray she will be well and recover soon. I hope to catch up and see her on Sunday.

On Taylor Square at Cubana...

Waiting for...Benjamin.

Well it was worth the wait as B turned out to be a charming and interesting man with a long story of emigrating to Australia in 1974 and creating such a good life here that his four sisters all followed him and he is living a very family life but still is alone, and for a Latino, that is a little sad. 

We share interestingly a few friends which was very satisfying especially as he knew, but not well, my good and passed friend Aldo Gennaro whom he cared for sometime in his role of clinical nurse at St Vincent's Hospice when Aldo was dying.

Benjamin, aka Kike, his family name, has had an interesting history of a poor beginning in a village south of Lima, with an alcoholic father who abused them quite a bit and finally abandoned them. His mother had already died when he was ten years old, and he has two older sisters and one younger, all with children and grandchildren. He is a doting and much beloved uncle. Perhaps we will catch up again on Sunday when he may be free. I certainly would like to get to know him better.

After a light lunch which he insisted on paying for, he showed me his tiny Sydney terrace on South Dowling Street where he lived for many years and where he still has many friends. He has certainly made a big success of his life here in Australia and hopefully we will meet again on Sunday.

Called in to help Annie hang some pictures and she was very appreciative. Her new couch had arrived and made a big difference to her little apartment so more changes had to happen.

So on to a movie before I go home and on at the Verona in Paddington is 'Unbroken', a film by Angelina Jolie, a true story which looks very interesting indeed. I'm in the foyer having a snack before the movie starts at 8.15