Home made soda culture - Day #1

Today I got inspired by my friend Nils and a radio show he sent me to make my own home made Soda Culture. That you can use for anything related to soda water, tonic, fizzy juice.

I am a bit over the constant drinking culture here in Australia so I have been looking for some alternatives. And I am also a bit ashamed of the amount of bottled water we are drinking. So I thought a water karaff for cooling water in the fridge would be good.

Buying some new supplies.

A jar to make the culture in and a karaff for wine or water.

Ginger water in the Karaff in the fridge.

Home made soda culture - day 1

Here is the recipe and instructions. Though in Swedish.

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=950&artikel=6035693

Festival of the Winds - Bondi Beach

Yesterday me and Nicole visited the Festival of the Wind at Bondi Beach. Festivals of the winds is an annual event held every year at Bondi Beach arranged by the Bondi Pavilion in association with The Australian Kiteflyers Society.

Last year we were on the way down but it was impossible to get a bus down to the beach, after walking half way it started raining and we headed for a cafe next to the Queens Park instead. After our cafe lunch it was still raining so we headed to the cinema in Bondi Junction instead.

This year we had much better luck with the weather. It was the first really sunny day in months. But with the sun came the crowds, it was ridiculously crowded on the beach and around the pavilion. Except for kites there was entertainment, stilt walkers and much more.

It was a lovely day and I wanted to share so photos with you.


Read more about the Festival of the Winds here
http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/recreation/places_of_interest/bondi_pavilion/annual_attractions/festival_of_the_winds

Look at all those Kites

Alien kite

Crazy stripped man kite

Blue Whale Kite

Souther Cross Eureka Flag

We found Nemo! And his mistress ;)

Acrobatics Exhibit

Butterfly kite

Huge kite

Shark kite

Octopus and Egyptian themed kite

Such a beautiful day, plenty of surfers out having fun

Huge crowds on such a lovely day. 

Eastern Beaches

Read more Eastern Beaches posts here

• Bronte Beach
• Rainy Day in Tamarama
• Tamarama back in the day
• Visit to Maroubra

Swedish Midsummer In Sydney

Midsummer

I just wanted to share some photos from our amazing Swedish Midsummer that we had in Centennial Park back in the day. Since I moved here I have gotten to know a handful of Swedish people. Some from work, some from the Svenskar i Sydney group on Facebook and some through Nicole's Swedish classes. So when midsummer approached me, Sigge and Mikael decided to cook up something Swedish and invited some Swedish friends and their partners. Unfortunately Nicole couldn't make it as she was on a work trip up the Central Coast.

Trying to be Australian casual we tried to organise as little possible. We decided on a place in Centennial Park and bring a plate style pick-nick. ( Knytkalas as it is called in Swedish. ) There was no rules that the food actually needed to be Swedish but I think many were inspired to bring something Swedish for the event.

A couple of days before me and Sigge went via IKEA and picked up herring ( inlagd sill ), hard bread ( knäckebröd ) and matured cheese ( Prästost ).  I made a pretty unswedish pasta sallad, but Sigge spent the whole morning making meatballs with boiled potatoes.

I can't remember what every else brought but it was a feast and great fun. We had a beautiful sunny day as you can see, remember that it was midwinter in Australia! It was a huge success and I am already looking forward to planning a Swedish xmas dinner :)

Sigge, Filip, Sofie, Michel and Mikael chilling in the sun waiting for Jasmine and Kenny to show up

Mikael, Michel and Sigge in the grass.

For such an unplanned event it was huge success and amount of food.

Amazing Strawberry cake by Jasmine

Michel and some really lovely home made Cider

Beautiful day in Centennial Park, remember it's Winter

One of my favourites spots in Sydney, Centennial Park

Michel had made kanelbullar!

As expected in Centennial Park we got some avian visitors.

Centinnial Park

Centennial Park is one of my favourite spots in Sydney. It's within walking distance from our Apartment in Bondi Junction so we got there quite a lot to run, look at birds or just hang out on our pick nick blanket and look at the dogs. 

One of the first posts I wrote, more than a year ago now was about Centennial Park. :)

Maroubra - Eastern Beaches

Eastern Beaches

One thing that I love when living in Bondi Junction is the Eastern Beaches and Bays. There are so many beaches, bays and little reserves along the coast which gives an almost  unending amount of options to visit and explore. Except for the more known beaches Bondi, Bronte and Coogee, there are plenty of smaller beaches.

This post is about our visit to the little less known of the beaches, Maroubra.

Maroubra

I had lived almost a year in Sydney before I heard people mention Maroubra. I suspect that it is just far enough away from Sydney to make most people not be bother to go there. Nicole and me decided to go there for a visit on a chilly but clear winter day. I was surprised by the long, almost empty beach and the unhurried streets and shops. Even in winter Bondi is pretty busy, at least the restaurants and cafes. Maroubra on the other side shows nothing of this, the streets were calm and the hand full of places to eat gave a little village feel to it. It felt like we had gone to a small coastal town a couple of hours out of Sydney and not just 10 km from the city center.

It was winter so we didn't go swimming of course. Instead we took a stroll down beach and then a lunch at a lovely cafe. We really enjoyed it and talked about going back in the summer.

Here are some photos from our winter visit. Click for larger version

Rough day, as is common in Sydney. :)

A strange Rubrics cube in the middle of the beach.

It's a long beach, about 1 km long. Which is long for a Sydney Beach.

Nicole enjoying the winter visit to the beach.

Turns out the rubrics cube was a ventilation shaft for the water drainage. 

Map

Eastern Beaches Series

This is my forth post about the Eastern Beaches. Read the rest of the series here

• Bronte Beach
• Rainy Day in Tamarama
• Tamarama back in the day

Tamarama Back in the day - Bondi Aquarium, an Elephant and Wonderland City

Sydney's Playground - Tamarama

Last week I wrote about our visit to Tamarama on a rainy day

While looking through some photos from another visit, I found a couple that I want to share. As my close friends know I have a interest in history, I tend to take pictures of all the any old stuff I can find basically. So when I found three plaques describing Tamaramas history I couldn't help myself and I'd like to share them with you guys. I transcribed the text so it's easier for you to read them. Hope you enjoy this bit of Eastern Suburbs history :)

Here are the photos, click for a larger version.

Vaudeville acts and an elephant called Alice.

The Bondi Aquarium, Sydney's first coastal amusement park opened on this headland in 1887. It's great attraction was a plunging rollercoaster that dived and twisted over the beach. People flocked to laugh at the vaudeville acts and marvel at the aquarium creatures, which included seals and a tiger shark.

Powered by it's own steam plant, Wonderland City which replaced the Bondi Aquarium, was an extravaganza of noise, entertainment and light. It thrilled crowds and with an airship suspended above the bay, and rides on the beach on an elephant named Alice.

However, battles with local residents over beach access, charges of cruelty to animals, and an accident involving the airship led to a decline in visitors. After a few years of poor crowds and low revenue, the Wonderland City closed in 1911.

Local Beach Tamarama on a Rainy Day

Local Beach on a Rainy Day

Tamarama is the beach closest to us, it is still a 20 minute walk but it feels really nice to go there for a walk. I don't think I have ever been for a swim there as it is pretty rough and there are several closer beaches that are much better for swimming. But I have dipped my feet there plenty of times and it is really nice in winter when there are almost no one around. 

Last weekend we took a stroll down to the beach, it was a gray and partially rainy day but it was still beautiful to visit. They recently added a cafe, bathrooms and some new barbecues so I am looking forward to heading back there this spring and summer for some serious beach hang.

Here are some pictures from our gray but lovely day at Tamarama.

Dangerous Surf

I have heard before that Tamarama is one of the more dangerous surf beaches in the Sydney area. The sea is usually pretty rough and there are lots of rocks around, and probably even more hidden under the water. And a fatal accident earlier this year showed that it might well be the case. 

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/surfer-matthew-richell-dies-at-tamarama-beach-20140702-zstl2.html

There are a life guard tower at Tamarama but it is only manned in the summer. If an accident happen they have to have life guards from nearby Bondi Beach to come which of course, even if they are fast will take a while to show up. 

 

 Tamarama on a Sunny Day

Visiting Tamarama and writing this post brings back a lot of memories. Tamarama was the first place I visiting after moving to Sydney. After 9 long months apart I moved from Sweden to Sydney to be with Nicole. I arrived pretty late in the evening and didn't get to see much. The next day, my first in Australia we walked down to Tamarama and from there we took the coastal walk to Bondi. The joy, confusion and jet lag of being in Sydney with Nicole after months of planning was both overwhelming and wonderful.

Here are some photos from that day.

Rough day, as almost always at Tamarama.

Nicole laughing at me as I dropped my shoes for a splash in the ocean.

Happy Together after 9 months of being a world apart, quite literally.

View from top of Tamarama Park

I love this sign.

Tamarama Park

Map

 

 Eastern Beaches

This is my second post about the Eastern Beaches. Read the first post of the series here

• Bronte Beach

Spit Bridge to Manly Hike

Atlassian QA Team goes for a walkabout

As many of you know I work for Atlassian, a Sydney based software company that develops software for software teams. If you haven't heard of Atlassian you might have heard of JIRA or Confluence which is our two most well known products. 

Atlassian is a good company and they take care of their employees with lots of social activities. A few weeks ago the QA Team took the afternoon of for some team activities. We had two choices, either doing the Spit Bridge to Manly walk or a chocolate making course. For me it was an easy choice since I am not really a big fan of chocolate and but hiking on the other hand is something I really enjoy doing.

The Hike

I was really impressed by the hike, I had heard it was suppose to be great but still it blew me away. The hike takes you through bush land, beaches, cliff walks, great views and there is even great aboriginal rock carvings to stop and look at. Since we were doing it on a week day it was pretty much empty too, I can image that on a nice weekend it would be much more crowded.

I'd like to go back when I have more time, bring some picnic and stop at some beach or view point along the hike and chill out. Bring my binoculars and maybe my bird book. 

You can read more about the hike at

• http://short-walks.com.au/new-south-wales/sydney/spit-bridge-to-manly-walk/
• Trip Advisor

Here are some photos from the hike, they do not really do the walk justice but should give you an idea of how beautiful it is. Click for larger version.

Sandy Bay

The plane wrote "Fix Trains" in the sky 

Brush Turkey getting ready to jump it.

My colleagues Glenn and Mikael chasing a brush turkey.

The water is crystal clear, wouldn't mind going for a swim here.

We did a halfway stop at Grotto Point which has plenty of Aboriginal Stone Carvings.

South Head in the distance.

Here you can see parts of Manly and North Head.

View towards Manly

Some statistics

4 Pines Brewery

After the hike both groups, hikers and chocolate makes meet up at the 4 Pines Brewery, a brewery in Manly, for dinner and drinks. The food was alright and I really enjoyed the drinks. We got tasting platters which I am not a big fan of, but the rest of the menu looked great. I'd definitely go back back for a veggie burger or veggie schnitzel. 

http://www.4pinesbeer.com.au/