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A week today was the first time I started working from home. In that time streets have definitely got emptier but not necessarily day over day, I think Monday was still the quietest. Started the day with a 9am call and yesterday was crazy at work as everyone seemed to start reacting to Coronavirus, so didn’t wake up early enough for a walk.
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Sydney Opera House at night
I started a travel writing course late last year, one of the first assignments was to identify some potential ‘hooks’. Hooks are stories, events, key dates – something you can hang a story on to increase its relevance at the time of publishing. As I was scratching my head for some hooks I was also planning the trip to Australia.
While Melbourne became the main destination, Sydney had always captured my imagination and particularly Sydney’s Opera House. Thinking back as to why, firstly I remember watching NYE celebrations on the TV, Sydney always being one of the first countries to ring in the new year and so seeing all the fireworks go off with the Opera House in the foreground. Always leading the celebrations and a distinctive setting. Then, secondly, that distinctive setting, distinctive design, more so than a tower, a clock or a bridge and an existing part of the landscape – unlike a ball.
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Torquay Beach
Torquay, some may recognize the name as a seaside town in Devon, England. It also happens to be the name of a small town near Melbourne, population of only 10,000 with significant surfing heritage. Two of the biggest surfwear companies RipCurl and Quicksilver were both founded in the town.
On this occasion, as we got out of the van and climbed over the ridge to face the sea, we were not here to surf. Torquay is also known as the Gateway to the Great Ocean Road and this was the order of the day. Indeed, we were not carrying surfboards but rather a cup of tea, as we made the first stop for morning tea and cake. I had joined a tour run by a local company “Go West”, we were going to travel the Great Ocean Road making several stops along the way and then returning express in the evening.
Continue reading“You’re from Australia?”, the question from the cashier in the bank was perhaps understandable, I was after all talking about a trip to Australia and trying to exchange some US dollars to Aussie currency. It’s actually a surprisingly common question. Apparently the Australian and British accents have very subtle differences to the American ear. Unfortunately for the cashier the answer wasn’t so simple, “Nah, I’m British, living here, travelling there (Australia)”, “Oh!” was the slightly embarrassed reply.
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