Tag Archives: Australia

Sunny and Soggy Sydney

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Scott - Bloggiest Bloggy Blog | 2 Comments

Well I made it to Sydney twice over my travels. I have come to the conclusion that the city, no doubt has bi-polar weather. It just so happened whilst I was in Australia, the worst summer they have had in 50 years. Some days I admit it rained, however I also found myself caught up in a heat wave that scorched up to 37°C.

Arriving from Hong Kong, but back to a western style of living I still experienced some culture changes. The biggest things I picked up on were:

1. You can’t by alcohol in supermarkets. You have to go to a ‘bottle shop’. A lot of these are in fact Drive-Thru boozers. Does that make any sense?

2. Woolworth‘s is a thriving supermarket that sells absolutely everything you need, and not a run down sweets and toy shop.

3. Without any warning at 2 am a nightclub transforms into a Football loving pub. I went to the toilet and returned to the music off, the clubbers gone, and Arsenal v Norwich kicking off. Not only is it strange watching your team scrap a win at 2am, it’s even weirder following a heavy session of Jagerbombs.

4. The cost of living in Sydney is very expensive. For example, $3.90 (£2.70) for a small bottle of coke, not on my watch sonny boy! On the other hand, buy a bigger bottle and get your name on it!

Places I recommend:

New South Wales Art Gallery

The Rocks, Sydney Harbour Front.(below) A great place to stop for a drink, enjoy the harbour views, explore some unique market stalls and buy a kangaroo bollocks bottle opener.

Wake Up! Hostel near Central Station. – Out of all the hostels I stayed at in Oz. Wake Up was certainly one of the best, cleanest, and spacious. I stayed in a 10 man room and had my own lockers, loads of space and no waiting time for the bathroom. It’s quite pricey, but believe me sometimes it’s not always better to go cheaper in Sydney.

Hyde Park Barracks ( below)

Take an interesting, and quite cheap (with a student/young persons card) tour of the old prisoner barracks restored to its prime. See how the UK’s prisoners lived and were distrubuted into developing Sydney.

Hyde Park – It’s not as big as ours but its just as epic!

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Posted in Other Stuff, Photography, Travel

Tagged Australia, Hyde Park, hyde park barracks, New South Wales, new south wales art gallery, sydney, Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Nike 6.0 girls’ surf video, Leave A Message

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Tom - Bloggiest Bloggy Blog | 1 Comment

I’ve been skating my Nike Dunks a lot recently and thinking about getting a fresh pair and then stumbled across Leave A Message featuring the Nike 6.0 girls’ surf team.

If you’re not into surfing, you’ll probably still enjoy the nice photography at the beginning of each section and, if that fails, there’s always the surfer chicks carving waves like nothing else.

Directed by Jason Kenworthy. Filmed & edited by Aaron Lieber. Featuring: Carissa Moore (Hawaii), Lakey Peterson (USA), Laura Enever (Australia), Coco Ho (Hawaii), Byrne-Wickey Monyca (Hawaii) and Malia Manuel (Hawaii)

First image via Likespor

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Posted in Other Stuff

Tagged 6.0, Aaron Lieber, Australia, Byrne-Wickey Monyca, Carissa Moore, Coco Ho, Hawaii, Jason Kenworthy, Lakey Peterson, Laura Enever, Leave A Message, Malia Manuel, nike, surfing, USA

I’m sailing across the Pacific!

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Tom - Bloggiest Bloggy Blog | 2 Comments

You may know already that I left my sweet-ass job the social media agency, We Are Social, last week to sail across the Atlantic with Yaz by ‘hitching’ on yachts as crew. Yeah well things change, and since I blogged “I’m sailing across the Atlantic“ last week, the plan has now changed. Dramatically.

We’re still effectively hitch hiking, by working as crew aboard yachts in exchange for the ride, but instead of the Atlantic we’ll be sailing across THE PACIFIC. So, the initial idea of ‘warming up’ by crossing the Atlantic has kind of disappeared and we’re now going straight in at the deep end by sailing across the largest ocean in the world. Cool, but shit scary!

To give you a proper idea of the route we’re sailing, check out the map below along with a list of just a few of the (many) destinations we’ll be exploring along the way below that.

Map: http://g.co/maps/sgjpj

A. Los Angeles, California
B. Ensenada Municipality, Mexico
C. Ecuador
D. Galapagos Islands
E. Marquesas Islands
F. Tuamotus
G. Society Islands
H. Tahiti
I. Moorea
J. Bora Bora
K. Tonga
L. Savusavu, Fiji
M. Vanuatu
N. New Caledonia
O. Queensland, Australia. (Bundaberg Port, not Cairns as the map shows)
P. Bunbury, Australia. (possibly but possibly not)

In terms of timings, it’s looking like we’ll be leaving from Los Angeles, California, at the beginning of November 2011 and finishing on the East Coast of Australia around October 2012. So by the end of it we’ll be seasoned sailors (not in the oi oi sailor way) and probably looking like these fellas above.

So…. as we’ve spent the last 4 months planning a transatlantic trip, can you recommend some ‘must sees’ in any of these (or nearby) locations???

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Posted in Travel

Tagged Australia, Baja California, boat, Bora Bora, Bunbury, california, Ecuador, Ensenada Municipality, Fiji, French Polynesia, Galapagos Islands, los angeles, Marquesas Islands, Mexico, Moorea, New Caledonia, ocean, pacific, queensland, sailing, Savusavu, Society Islands, Tahiti, Tonga, Travel, Tuamotus, Vanuatu, yacht

Flashmob Kicks Off The Rugby World Cup 2011

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Scott - Bloggiest Bloggy Blog | 4 Comments

In preparation for my travels to New Zealand and Australia this November I have kept a keen eye out for any news, advice or info surrounding my upcoming adventures.

I have particularly been looking forward to The Rugby World Cup that kicks off in New Zealand’s largest city Auckland, on the 9th September.

Not only because I love a good ole game of Rugby, but I am hoping that the coverage will really showcase New Zealand’s picturesque landscape, and give me a small taster of video insight to the country I am about to explore.

Alongside the traditional above the line campaign you would usually find with an approaching World Cup I really like how the Kiwis have promoted the competition by virally spreading spontaneous public performances of the famous Haka performed by the All Blacks before kick off.

Malcolm Mulholland, a rugby historian, says the haka are a great example of traditional Māori culture meeting modern technology.

“They are organised by Māori, exhibit Māori culture, are being done in a modern way and get crowds to stop what they’re doing and appreciate an aspect of Māori culture,” he says.

To add a twist to the tail, the flash mob group performing the haka have been mostly performing around their bitter rivals’ turf across Australia, bring traffic and shopping centres to a standstill.

This is a confident showcase from New Zealand, who once again find themselves favourites to win the Webb Ellis Cup despite not actually winning the trophy since the tournament was last held in their own backyard in 1987.

In Conclusion… C’mon England, stuff the lot of them!

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Posted in Advertising, Other Stuff, Travel

Tagged Australia, creative, flashmob, Haka, New Zealand, New Zealand national rugby union team, Rugby, Rugby World Cup, tourism, viral, Webb Ellis Cup, World Cup

Stop motion trip of a lifetime: Move, Eat, Learn

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Tom - Bloggiest Bloggy Blog | 3 Comments

3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38,000 miles, 1 exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost 1 terabyte of footage = an awesome stop motion film and a trip of a lifetime: Move, Eat, Learn

Photo from the Move, Eat, Learn film in the Anish Kapoor exhibition at Grand Palais, Paris