UNSW Chemball

I went to the chemball last Friday, where it was held upstairs in some pub near fox studios.
It was pretty good apart from the Kareoke which was atrocious and the fact I started pouring down with rain 5 minutes before we were due to leave.


Adelle, Sarah and I.

Berrowa to Kuringai

Redid (is that even a word) a walk I did a few years ago with Simon and Aleshia, but in reverse this time for no particular reason.

I was a nice walk but unfortunately the oxfam trailwalker had been through recently so everything had been trampled and there were piles of human excrement pretty much on the track in places.
Still I did get to see my first variegated fairy wren.

Back on line

Well I finally moved in to the new house and I'm back on line.
Got bored and installed linux on my computer and it is working suprisingly well. In fact it has been better than windows at playing music so far. Also works pretty well for browsing the net so can't complain.
Not much else has been happening. Working life is very sedate. About time I got out into the mountains again I think and did some climbing.

New flat

Adelle and I spent saturday looking for flats with a sizeable portion of sydneys population. The average number of people looking at each flat was about 50 which made it a pretty horrendous experience. Luckily though we managed to get one of the ones we wanted the most. Supposedly they really wanted good tenents for this place above all else, which considering I have only stayed in established share flats and have not been on the lease of any flats in Sydney it's quite amazing they chose us.

The palace from the outside.


Cockroach breeding area.


Pretty colours.

Cowan to Brooklyn

Went for a wee walk from Cowan to Brooklyn. The first half is very nice with even a small beach section where there were a lot of weird blue crabs. The walk is pretty easy and mostly downhill apart from two short sections. Overall it was very nice apart from the large amounts of rubbish left at one of the camp-sites along the track.

Whale retching

It was a lovely day out on the boat, although I did have a head ache before I got on the boat you always feel so much better when those around are suffering greatly. Therefore, when half of the people on the boat started throwing up as soon as we got out of the Sydney heads I felt a lot better. Some of the passengers on the boat managed to see quite a few whales as well as a few albatross, a nothern giant petrel and some Australasian gannets.

Not the best of scans But you can take my word for it that this is actually a butterfly. Also I have come to the decision that I really need to start to do some more tramping. Particularly back home in the southern alps, it's been far to long since I have felt cold, hungry and tired over a prolonged period of time. Maybe another trip to Tasmania will have to do for the time being.

Finally an Update

Well I finally got internet access in my flat and with a bit of luck should be able to update my blog a bit more regularly. Might even move out of this dingy hole soon and find myself something a little nicer. Really not looking forward to moving though it is pretty horrible at the best of times and it is amazing how much crap I have accumulated. I'll write more soon, maybe...

Finished

Printed off my thesis last night and handed it in this morning, it's good to finally get that out of the way.
Also I got a job which I start tomorrow, should be interesting I will be working for NICNAS.

Cowan to Berowra

Went for a nice walk on the weekend from Cowan to Berowra both which must be pronounced with a horrible Australian accent if you want anyone to understand you. The weather was good perhaps a little to good as the water supply did not last long. The views were good with plenty off lookouts along the way such as the one below.


The track quality was also very good and well marked as it is part of the great north walk which goes from Sydney to Newcastle.


Luckily I wasn't navigating so I could just wander and enjoy the scenery. Still it would have been hard to get lost with all the signs around.