John Howard on Pamela Anderson

"I don't mind M&Ms, it's really the whole outfit, I think most Australians would find it confronting." John Howard

People Are Strange

I like looking at my stats to see how people stumble across my site. I thought that this Google search was pretty funny:

www.google.com.au/search?q=schapelle corby boobs pics&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&start=60&sa=N

According to the stats the person who did this search lives in East Burwood, Melbourne.

...very odd.

Dangar Island

I've been pretty neglectful of the old blog I must say. So I'm back and will try and keep the darn thing updated.

Thought I'd let you know about a place we went to the other week. We wanted to stay somewhere that we could get to by train so we decided that Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River was the go. It's exactly one hour from Sydney Central on the train and we found a reasonably priced place to stay in.

But the real find was Dangar Island which is a 10 minute ferry ride from Brooklyn. It's a small place with no cars except for the fire truck and the council ute which the locals are allowed to share. You get off the ferry terminal and there are heaps of wheel barrows stacked up at the wharf - obviously people keep them there ready for the shopping when they get off the ferry.

The island has a great cafe which doubles as general store and post office - we were surprised because it really is pretty good. You get off the ferry and there it is, right on the water.

Next time we go up there we are going to save our pennies and stay on the island (most of the places there are pretty pricey). But we reckon it's worth it - the best thing is that you can get on a ferry, then catch the train and you are back in Sydney in an hour and a half. Total cost about $11 for the trip.

Anyway - on another note - thought I'd share some positive news about the London attacks. As a result of the bombing bicycle sales are taking off. Nothing like a bomb going off in the underground to get people on a bike. Get the full story here.

Sorry

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while. It's been a busy couple of weeks. First off I was in Tasmania for a while, then we had friends staying and this weekend we went up to the Hawkesbury.

It's been kind of nice to see that a couple of strangers have made my way to the site after searching for weird stuff on Google. Here are some examples from my stats:

www.google.com/search?q=wenhao zhao&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-20,GGLG:en&start=50&sa=N

www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=darren hynch&btnG=Google Search

The person who searched for Darren Hinch is from the US - I'm kinda curious WHY?

So if you come back please let me know. Or just send an email...

And if anyone else is reading this after doing some weird Googling stuff please say hello!

And thanks BC for the condolences regarding Cockroaches (he sent me an email). I was astounded to hear that some of them are indigenous! The cockroach myth expands - next they'll be selling hand crafts.

Anyway - promise to post some pics soon.

Cheers....

Xena the Warrior or just Zenophobia?

I can't resist writing about Schapelle. The whole media beat up is now out of control and now the Sydney Morning Herald has reminded me of the story about Japanese tourist that was jailed in Melbourne on very similar grounds to Schapelle. Drugs were found in Chika Honda's bag when she arrived in Australia and she was sentenced to over 10 years despite protesting her innocence.

Like Schapelle she suffered from imperfect translation services and cultural misunderstandings. The Japanese media apparently were very upset about this.

Just goes to show that the Indonesians aren't the only ones that can be accused of miscarriage of justice...

Includes all Bills and Rice

World Tower Apartment
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

I like reading the notices for student accommodation that you see stuck on poles around Sydney - particularly around the central station end of Pitt St.

I thought the classic was one which advertised a 2BR flat with sauna, pool, access to gym - and all in a city location for $100 per week. The catch? You were sharing with 5 other people.

My student life was luxury compared to this.

But last night I saw one of much better value. A World Tower apartment. Weekly rent includes all bills and rice!

Interested? Email me and I'll send you the number.

Orange Grove Organic Markets

bikemap
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

Thought I should get back to the original intention of this blog. Which was to write about discovering things in Sydney.

Now... even though the Schapelle Corby post did grow my readership by 25% overnight (hi Russel Allan - thanks for the comment, and yes, you are worth more than one dollar!), I will resist the urge to actually write about something so interesting that it touches a pop culture nerve and crashes the Blogger servers (sorry... I'm fantasizing).

Yesterday I ended up going for a bit of an explore on my bike. Since coming to Sydney I've been trying to find a decent place to buy organic food and after 6 months have had no luck. So far it's been really expensive and crap.

Instead I have been shopping at the Fox Studios Farmers Market and there is some good quality stuff there but I haven't bought from the organic stall because I don't like shopping at places where the prices aren't clearly displayed. And also - when I've been able to decipher the handwriting on the blackboard behind the stall I've thought it's too expensive.

Instead I've been going to one of the conventional stalls which has some pretty good stuff. The problem with Fox Studios is it feels like your shopping inside some Gold Coast property developers wet dream. It's just SO clean!

Anyway, someone I met told me that there is one organic stall at the Glebe Markets (which is better know for it's trash, treasure, crafts etc). So I rode out there yesterday using my new Central Sydney Bicycle Map (which I picked up at the Surry Hills Festival a couple of weeks back). At the markets I found the vege stall but it wasn't clear whether the food was organic or conventional and it didn't look that great. So I went across the street to the healthfood shop that's been there for at least 10 years but in recent times has been taken over by that vitamin mutinational GNC (I thought of hotlinking to their site but anyone that uses the term "health and wellness" doesn't deserve the time).

They claim to be running the shop as it always has been but I have to say that I have never seen such tired looking vegetables since the morning after my two inebriated female flatmates bought some guys home who later decided that it would be sensible to piss in the fridge. This happened back in 1990. And if you're wondering - we washed the vegetables and made a soup. We were poor students.

So I decided to go check out the market at Orange Grove Public School which is on the corner of Perry St and Balmain Rd in Leichhardt/Rozelle. One of my readers had recommended this place sometime back. After consulting my bike map I managed to find my way there. It was a lot of fun riding over the ANZAC bridge 'cause you get a great view of planes taking off over Newtown on the left hand side and the harbour on the right hand side. And I LOVE planes and water - so perfect for me.

And I can really recommend that bike route from the city out to Rozelle (it keeps going to Olympic Park I think). RTA also have maps if you are interested. Actually I was thinking how different it is to cycle around Sydney (compared to Melbourne) having to follow these bizarre routes but I guess it's the same with driving in the two cities. Melbourne is full of straight lines, Sydney just doesn't have the landscape for that kind of simplicity.

Anyway. This market was really fantastic. It has three really great organic stalls, one of which was quite huge. And really cheap. In fact, dare I say, I think they were cheaper than organics at Vic Market in Melbourne.

I also discovered this amazing Guatemalan Coffee Stall. One thing I've learnt about Sydney is that if there is a queue then it must be something worth queing for. And there was a queue for this place. While waiting we were urged by a fairly steretypical middle aged Rozelle dwelling anglo saxon do gooder (female) to donate to a fund which educates Guatemalan kids. She was kind of hanging about in the back ground while the two real-life Guatemalans that she'd (no doubt) imported directly from South America did the coffee making.

After waiting for 10 minutes I found out why this place is so popular. The guy at the counter made me sniff two types of coffee before making a selection. He then asked Do you eat chilli? When I nodded, he said OK. Now we are going to give you a new experience, and proceeded to mix dried chilli seeds in with the coffee. My neighbours in the queue assured me that I was about to have a positive experience. And they were right. Chilli expresso just has a bit of a kick. I might even try it at home.

Schapelle Corby - The Next Intruder on Big Brother

Funny. Never thought I end up agreeing with Darren Hynch, but he has recently copped a bit of flack for suggesting that Schapelle Corby might be less than innocent.

Not that I necessarily feel that she is guilty but I do feel that the whole thing is rather bizarre. We accuse the Indonesians of not giving her a fair trial but the Australian attempts to convince them otherwise have been all based on hearsay. First we send over a prisoner who'd heard some gossip in the cells, then we get our government to write a half hearted letter to say that it might have been a baggage handler.

If you were looking at this whole sorry episode from somewhere far removed - like Uzbekistan - who would you believe: Indonesian justice or trial by Australian media?

I think that Darren's correct when he says that the only reason 92% of Channel 9 viewers think she's innocent is because "...she is young, white, pretty and has big boobs."

Channel 7 viewers wouldn't know anything because they watch Today Tonight.

And most Channel 10 viewers are probably wondering which number they need to SMS for her eviction.

Meanwhile ABC and SBS viewers are reminding themselves that perhaps Tahiti will make a good holiday destination this winter.

And does anyone know what happened (or even care) to Wenhao Zhao?