Snow in the desert

This is very silly.

This makes no sense and there's something about being part of this that makes me feel guilty.

But this was still an experience I wanted to try at least once.

I was skiing in the desert.  Not skiing on sand, but actually skiing.  Snow, skis, stocks and everything.

The complex is enormous.  You walk into the middle of the shopping mall and you walk towards a shop front that feels like the front of a large department store.

Of course, it isn't a department store, it's actually the entrance to one of the largest indoor ski fields in the world.

I went inside, paid my money, got my gear and went skiing.

It definitely wasn't the "best", but it was far better than I expected and it was much longer than expected as well.  There were two runs (well.... there was one run that was split in half) and it was a few hundred metres long.  I did my runs and it was enjoyable.  It had been a long time since I had been skiing, the first time I had skied since my knee reconstruction in fact.  Who would have thought that the first time I would ski again would in fact be at a ski centre in the Arabian desert?

At the end of it all, it just felt a bit wrong.  I was pretty much alone skiing, with only the occasional office worker coming in to do a few runs (clearly a European expat longing for home).  It all seemed like an enormous waste that was there purely so that whoever sponsored the project could tell people it was here, rather than for it to actually provide the benefits of skiing.  On top of that, the poor workers inside (who looked to be Indian foreign workers) looked truly miserable in the cold.

After being blinded by the whiteness of the snow, it was extra surreal to be outside again and looking at the endless sands of the desert.

Into the desert

I was tired from the long flight and the early start, but my time was short.  I only had a few days in the UAE and I wanted to see as much of it as possible.

After a lovely wander around the beautiful Shaikh Zayed mosque, Pinar left Nader and myself to go do some chores.  Nader had planned more fun for the both of us without telling me.  I'm generally a fan of surprises (the good ones anyway) so I was happy to go along.

He wanted to give me a true Arabian experience.  This involved first getting decked out in the appropriate clothing.

Once we had all of that sorted, it was off to the desert.

I have often written about my love for the desert and this trip showed me that nothing had changed.  From the moment I walked onto the sands and looked out into the distance, I felt an immediate sense of ease.  Deserts and snowy mountains seem to both share a clean perfection that I love.  There was something so perfectly calming about being out in the openness that completely relaxed me.   What we did was probably the opposite of relaxing though.  Nader had arranged a 4WD expedition across the sand dunes for us. 

We were taken well into the desert and I definitely appreciated being so far from anything man-made.  It helped me to properly see the size of the place, the feel the scope of the desert and where I stood within it.

It was a touristy trip.

But I didn't care.

We were even taken to a small training ground for falcons.

The birds were uniquely beautiful, and the location added to the experience of "authenticity" which was in reality completely missing.  It was a strange paradoxical feeling to be able to embrace the culture I wanted to experience in such a manufactured manner.

Maybe this was just part of my progression and development as a traveler.

I certainly seemed to care less about seeking out what many would consider to be the most "authentic" experience, and was probably far more concerned now with seeking out the most enjoyable experience.

Those things don't need to be mutually exclusive, but there is definitely a time and place for some of the more guided experiences.  They help things along and can give you access to an activity that you simply wouldn't be able to organically achieve.

As I sat on a rug in the middle of the desert, eating rice and chicken, looking up at the stars and drinking tea, I was full of appreciation for where I was.  I was in the desert.  I was in Arabia.  I was with a good friend.  Did it matter at all how I had arrived at the place?

Beautiful people in a beautiful place

It had been a long time since I had been the Middle East.  It had been a long time since I had been able to travel at all.

I had been given the opportunity to take some leave and so I decided I would make the most of it by going to visit friends in some far away places.  I was now in a better financial position than I was when I was younger and so I even made the decision to purchase less direct tickets so I could stop in some other places and visit different people.

The first stop I decided to make was in the Arab gulf.

The United Arab Emirates has done an incredible job at promoting itself as a tourist destination, but I wasn't convinced yet.  My personal love for the Middle East was driven by what I would consider to be the genuine or "real" parts of the region that I had discovered back when I was backpacking.  There was something about the shininess of the UAE which didn't feel completely right.  It felt almost like a theme park version of the places I had grown to love.

Still, I hadn't actually experienced it yet.  I needed to look at it all with my own eyes to be able to make a proper judgement.  This trip would give me the opportunity, and it would also let me see my old friends Nader and Pinar again.  Meeting the two of them had been one of the great (and few) highlights of my trip to Egypt and so if nothing else, it would be amazing to see them again.

I landed early in Abu Dhabi.  So early in fact that there wasn't a chance that they were awake.  I decided to stay in the airport for a little bit to give them time to wake up.  Soon enough, I watched the sun rise over the desert and again felt the rush of comfort knowing that I was back in this part of the world that I loved so much.  I found a taxi and before long I was at their beautiful modern apartment next to the ocean.  The only way I can describe seeing Pinar and Nader again was joyful.  The happy expressions we all had combined with overall excitement is something that continues to encourage me to travel.  Seeing old friends is always an amazing experience.

So now I was in Abu Dhabi.  It seemed like a beautiful place and I was now with my beautiful friends Pinar and Nader.  They wanted to show me some of the most famous sights of Abu Dhabi and so decided to take me straight to see the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

I had seen a lot of mosques over the years, but this was definitely on a different level.  There was a modern opulence to it that I was completely unfamiliar with.  Everything glistened and the white of the exterior almost glowed in the strong sunlight.  The size of the entire complex was also incredible and the grounds didn't seem to have an end to them.

Once we walked inside, we were given another shock.  The interior was covered with gold and other beautiful jewels.  There was an enormous chandelier that overlooked the prayer floor.

It was all very nice.  It was incredibly impressive.  Yet for all of this opulence and grandeur, it didn't quite impress me in the same way that other mosques had when I was young.  This felt big and it felt a bit manufactured.  It lacked the intricate beauty that was in the mosques I had seen in Turkey and Syria.  Those mosques were near antiques from a time long gone.  This mosque however was a modern construction.  As a modern construction, I couldn't help but think that it was actually overly simplistic for its time.  The real monuments of this era didn't look like this after all, they were the skyscrapers and enormous museums that were down the road.

It was still nice to look at though.

That one day in September

I write about Australian football a lot on my blog.  It's something very special to me.  My one truly tangible link to my childhood.  I still remember very clearly moving away from Melbourne as a child.  It was a devastating experience for me that I didn't get over for a long time.  I left my friends and the places that I loved and I found myself in Canberra, an unfamiliar city that I disliked intensely.  The people were unfriendly and I went from being in comfortable surroundings into some pretty unhappy situations.  Maintaining my "Victorian" roots was important for me and my continued support of Australian football whilst living in rugby league territory was a badge of that for me.  Things were different when I was younger as well.  Canberra was well and truly foreign ground for Australian football and there was no where near the level of interest in the sport there as there is today.  

Even today, the sport still creates a level of emotion for me that I don't experience anywhere else.

An important part of following Australian football has been supporting the Hawthorn Hawks football club.  They were the team closest to where I grew up.  This wasn't an instance of merely supporting some faraway sporting franchise because I liked a player or a mascot.  No, for me this was an old fashioned approach to sports that is often absent in the increasingly internationalised area of sporting interesting. They were my home town team.  

So in the middle of year, I found out that my brother would be moving to the UK.  I wanted to arrange a nice farewell gift for him, and so I organised for us to go and watch the Grand Final together.  At the time of organising, we both of course, had no idea who would be playing in this final game of the season.

As the season progressed and the teams slowly made their way through the finals, we became increasingly excited.  The Hawks were doing well.  They were doing very well.  When the siren sounded for the end of the preliminary final, all our hopes had come true as the Hawks had made the Grand Final!  I had been excited enough about attending a Grand Final, and so being able to attend a Grand Final with my own team playing was even more incredible.

On the other side of the game were the Sydney Swans.  I don't like the Sydney Swans.  Living in Sydney makes me dislike them even more.

I was hopeful of a win, but the Sydney Swans were a good team.  There were no guarantees, so I went into the game with the mindset that I was going to try and just enjoy the moment.  I was going to enjoy the experience of being able to see my own team play in the Grand Final and that whatever the result, I would be appreciative for that.

Before the bounce, the noise of the crowd lifted to a level I had never experienced before.  It was loud like nothing I had heard and yet the moment the countdown hit zero for the bounce itself, the crowd suddenly went quiet.

All of my fears and worries turned out to be for nothing as well.  By the end of the fist quarter, the Hawks stamped their authority.  The Swans were outfought and outhunted by a Hawks team that seemed intent on hurting their opponent.  As the game progressed, the gap between the two teams widened and the Hawks took complete control of the game.

I cheered and celebrated every goal and yet even in such a moment, I couldn't let myself get away too quickly with thoughts of victory.  Lingering in the back of my mind was still the thought that there could always be a comeback, there could always be a sudden change which would snatch victory from the Hawks.  It wasn't until the last quarter that I truly accepted that it was happening and the Hawks would indeed win.  As the crowd erupted in round after round of the Hawthorn club song, it was hard to think that anything other than a victory had been achieved.

It really was the best day ever.

Sunshine wedding

I feel fortunate that I'm now in a position where on certain rare occasions, I am able to travel just to attend a particular event.

I think about the suffering that my parents must have gone through when they were young.  Far from home in a foreign country, with the important events of friends and family all happening far from them.  Out of reach.  Only experienced when recounted to them in a letter or on the phone.  It seems strange now that when I have a friend in another state invite me to their wedding, I am happy to jump on a plane and fly over to take part in what is effectively just a party.

Still, as far as I'm concerned, it also presents another opportunity to travel.  Another opportunity to go somewhere I wouldn't have otherwise gone.

It was because of a wedding invitation that I decided to go up to Noosa in Queensland.  A good friend was getting married and she invited me to join in the celebrations.

I didn't know all that much about Noosa, other than it had long been known as a holiday location of choice for the rich and famous in Australia.

Arriving there, I quickly understood why Noosa was so beloved by so many.  It was beautiful.  But beyond just being blessed with incredible natural surrounds, it was also surprisingly high end.  The buildings on the main street were restrained and surrounded by lovely draping trees.  It gave the entire area this subtle and gentle moving light.

My friends were happy.  The wedding was beautiful and everyone was happy too.  Standing under a large tree, with lots of white wooden chairs, it was a picturesque scene that seemed to come out of a postcard.  It was simple, and yet far lovelier than many other weddings I've been to.

My friends, being the amazingly considerate people that they are, arranged for all of the guests to be taken on a cruise along the waters to the reception venue.

We were given a long and slow cruise through the area.  We got to see the sun slowly set as we headed towards dinner.

The entire areas really was undeniably beautiful.  I have no idea what people in this area do for work and money, but it's definitely a nice to spend your time if you can.

Maybe it's more of a holiday spot rather than a place to actually live.

A country escape

I needed a break.

City life can be a bit draining, particularly with the long hours at work.  The colder months in Sydney are also a drag.  It's a city built for summer and I've always found that winter in Sydney is a bit lacking in activities.

A friend from work owned a property in the country and offered to host a few of us over the weekend.  I wanted to leave the city so it was a perfectly timed offer.

His property was only a few hours drive away from Sydney, close to the town of Goulburn.

I was shocked by the perfect beauty of the place when I arrived.

The land was a lush green that I wasn't used to.  Back when I lived in Canberra, the countryside was mostly dead and dry.  It was the effects of years of drought and I had grown accustomed to a dead land.  Seeing everything full of water and life was something I remembered only from my childhood.

I enjoyed walking the fields and feeding the animals.  I enjoyed making dinner in the lovely quietness of the surroundings.

 But most of all, I loved the evenings.

When I closed my eyes at night, there wasn't a single sound to be heard.

It was perfectly quiet as I drifted off to sleep.

Working late

This was an expected occurrence.

Moving into a law firm was always going to mean longer hours and less time for myself.  I knew this was going to happen, so much so that I even talked about how I knew it was going to happen in my interview.  I had acknowledged this to both myself and the world at large.

Yet when you are finally confronted by the terrifying reality, all your mental preparations seem to be for naught.  The steel of self assured confidence that you have used to brace yourself starts to bend and you start to break.

Sitting in the office starring out the window, you see the world go from lively to dead in less than an hour.

I wonder if it's something I'll ever get used to?

Batter up

Baseball in Australia.

Who would have thought I would be watching a Major League Baseball game in Australia?  I didn't even know that many people even liked baseball in Australia.

MLB had decided that the opening series for the season would be held in Sydney.  The Dodgers vs the Diamondbacks!  I've loved baseball since I was an university, so I quickly bought tickets as soon as they became available.  They weren't cheap.... not cheap at all.  This would be a disaster I thought. With ticket prices like this, no one will go and the entire experiment will be a disaster.

It turns out I was completely wrong.

Whether it was merely the novelty of having the MLB in Sydney or if instead it was because Australia was full of secretive baseball tragics, it was a full house (I would late find out that all three games of the series were well attended and the entire endeavour was a great success).

I had a great time watching the game.  Seeing the SCG completely transformed into a baseball diamond was also something which I felt glad to witness.  One of my last memories of sitting in the members' stand was watching the cricket, so it was a bizarre image to see a baseball game happening directly in front of it.  It was one of those strange moments in life that may never happen again, but I'm glad I was able to be part of it, even if it's just so that I can tell people one day that "I was there!"

Through the pouring rains

I've witnessed something historic.  I've witnessed the first ever win by the GWS Giants over their local rivals the Sydney Swans.

Being involved in something that is the "first" is special.  It's something that can never be taken from you.  Things which are the biggest, the best, the greatest or the last.  Those things can change.  They are things that may not necessarily remain so forever.  That's the the case for firsts though.  There is no rewriting and there is no improvement.

The entire crowd gasped as one when the stadium was hit by lightening.

The rain became so heavy that what I could see in front of me gradually faded away.  First the buildings on the other side of the stadium disappeared behind the curtain of water.  Then even the other side of the stadium itself became a shadow. 

The siren rang for quarter time and the players pushed their way through the curtains of water into the change rooms.  This was a rarity as players normally stay on the ground at the end of the first and third quarters.  Sitting in the grandstand, we chatted as waited for the players to return for the start of the second quarter.  Nothing happened, we looked at our watches and started to wonder whether they would come back at all.  The rain was still heavy and the players were still nowhere to be seen.  Eventually the rain started to slacken the players emerged.  I've been watching this game for a long time and I can't remember the last time the restart of a game was delayed for so long.

The Giants wanted the ball.  They wanted the win.  The rain seemed to give them a strength to their legs missing from the Swans and they gradually overwhelmed them.  Their first win over the big brother happened on this rain soaked day.

Happy New Year!

I've been incredibly lucky over the years with the people I've met.  I've been able to make amazing friends from all over the world and I feel very fortunate the opportunity.  They've all been lovely people, but I do also believe that knowing so many different people from different places and cultures has helped me to develop as a person and given me a far broader outlook on life and people more generally.

There are massive drawbacks though.  With so many of my friends having only been in Sydney short term (or having been people I met when I was myself traveling), it's meant that my friends often leave (or I do anyways).  It can be tough to grow close to people and then find yourself completely alone as they go home.

So, with this all in mind, I was very excited to be welcoming old friends back to Sydney!  Christian, Corinne and Phil were friends I met during my masters program and were from Switzerland.  They were all traveling through Australia again and had managed to time their trips to coincide not only with one another, but also with New Years Eve.

New Years Eve in Sydney is a great time.  The weather is warm and the city is still experiencing the "holiday mood" that grips Sydney for a good two to three months.  I managed to find a spot for all of us to watch the fireworks that evening.

Seeing my friends all again was incredibly special.  We talked about old times and reminisced about our studies, but we also talked about what was happening going forward in our lives too.  Too often, you can discovery that old friends were merely friends during that a particular time of you life.  It's a joy when you find old friends who you are able to interact with as though no time had passed at all.

We found ourselves an amazing secluded spot in the middle of the city to have our picnic and to enjoy the fireworks.  The new construction on Barangaroo had started, so this was a secret little location that few knew about.

We were able to get amazing views of the fireworks completely unobstructed and without having to pay any exorbitant prices.

Sometimes everything just seems to work out perfectly.

Pretentious and impractical

The development of Canberra since I left has been surprising.  There have been an incredible number of hotels and apartment complexes that have been built and I cannot completely understand why there is a need for so many of them.  Even with the population growth that has happened in Canberra over the last few years, there still doesn't really seem to be the people necessary to fill all of these places.

Canberra still feels empty.

Driving around the town, walking around the town... there doesn't feel like there has been any increase in activity or density.  The traffic hasn't gotten any worse either (not that there ever was any traffic).

Even when I reached my hotel, I was a little bit shocked by the pointlessness of it all.  Everything looked nice, but even here there were numerous examples of design for design's sake without any real function or purpose.  In the bathroom for instance, the designers had decided against a sink and opted instead for a flat piece of metal like in a "fancy cafe".  It may have looked nice (arguably), but it was just a perfect example of missing the point.  This was a hotel where people lived (albeit briefly), and I needed a sink.

I didn't even bother to take any photos.

Easily pleased

It turns out I'm very easily pleased.

My mood can be immediately improved by simple things such as the result of a football game.

I was still in a pretty upbeat mood following the grand final win by the Hawthorn Hawks.

This happy mood became something tangible for me when I got to take hold of the premiership cup!

I had never been this close to the cup before!  Getting the opportunity to actually hold it was something special.  It made me feel like a little kid again, filled with the excitement that comes with seeing your team and celebrating the wins with friends at school.

Those are balls

I have a lot of friends who live in or who are from Adelaide.

When my parents first arrived in Australia as young immigrants, they each independently chose Adelaide as their first city to live in.  It was actually in Adelaide that they first met and it was in Adelaide that they fell in love and eventually married.

I also remember that Adelaide was the destination of one of the better childhood holidays that my family had.

All of this combined to give make me feel some kind of connection to Adelaide.

When a group of friends all decided to congregate in Adelaide for the weekend, I decided to jump on a plane and to join them.  It had been years since I had been there and it was the first time I had the opportunity to go there as an adult, independent of reliance on other adults.

The event I attended was of no real consequence.  It went off without a hitch and it was good to catch up with my friends.

What was more of a shock was the day we had left in Adelaide to explore.

Three of us had decided to take the evening flights out of Adelaide so that we would have the whole of Monday to look around.  We really didn't find much.  Within a few hours we felt as though we had wandered around most of the city of Adelaide.  We walked through the main CBD, through the museum, through the gallery, around some of the shopping malls and then we aimless wandered up and down the streets.

The highlight was the giant steel balls in the middle of Rundle Mall.



There is absolutely nothing "wrong" with Adelaide.

It's a beautiful city (city feels a bit strong... town may be a more appropriate description).

It just felt to us that it was the type of place that needed a weekend and a car so that we could explore the Adelaide region itself.  Staying in the town itself didn't give us tourists anything to be excited about.

By 4:30pm, we were bored enough that we decided to go to the airport.

It had been nice to reconnect with my Adelaide roots, but I don't think I'll be rushing back.

Fleet Review

There had been a noticeable increase in the military presence and regalia in sydney.  Most people didn't pay too much attentionto the changes. This was Sydney after all. There were events happening all the time.  In Martin Place alone, there seem to be memorial services held every second week next to the cenotaph.  Working in the city also meant that you'd be occasionally buzzed by black hawk helicopters as exercises were conducted around the city towers.  Most Sydney events are usually ignored by the locals as well.  No one takes any notice until several weeks after the event at which point they complain that they would have "loved to have gone" had they known about it.  To be fair to them, most events aren't well promoted.

As time went by, it became clearer that something was different with this event.  The number of military personnel kept increasing.  The decorations began appearing.  The chatter began to spread that foreign dignitaries would be arriving.  The words "Fleet Review" began to circulate the city.

This was no ordinary Sydney event.

This was the "Fleet Review".  It was a gathering of warships from around the globe for a "review".... the purpose of which is entirely lost on me.  Apparently it is a big deal.

So big in fact that this was the biggest event in Sydney since the Olympics.

I was fortunate enough that I had a dear friend in Rachel who had managed to get tickets to actually go on some of the warships as they were docked in the harbour.

It was special and unexpected treat to be able to explore these modern warships.  We went on three ships, one from each of the US, the UK and Australia.  Each one of these ships was the culmination of decades of research and development.  They were the pride of their nations and we were wandering around them poking and prodding, touching things we probably shouldn't have and generally gawking at all of the "cool stuff".

It was interesting seeing the different attitudes of the different countries as well.  For the Americans, we were shown very little, the exterior of the ship and a limited amount of the insides.  Through the whole trip, the Americans guided us very carefully through only the most superficial parts... such as hall ways and sleeping quarters.

The Brits on the other hand didn't seem to care as they seemed to let people wander through large parts of the ship.  Kids were seated in front of their computers, people were pushing buttons, trying to make screens light up and work.  All the while, the British sailors stood by smiling and helping the children up so they could get their chocolate covered hands on the precious equipment.

I grew up as one of those kids who was fascinated with the military.  As I've grown older, my interest levels have waned.  However, events such as these still have the ability to reignite some of the old passions.  

These are rare and wonderful events.  I keep searching the world when traveling for sights and events that will capture my imagination, when very often it is the things that are immediately in front of me that make me truly amazed with the wonders of the world around us.

Meat and the fruit baby

I was happy to be invited to the baby celebrations of my dear friends in Sydney.  They were some of the first people I met and became friends with when I moved to Sydney and it was fantastic to be able to celebrate this milestone in their lives.

Instead of having a traditional baby shower, they decided to have a semi-combined event.  The girls would have their baby shower in one room while the guys would be outside having a BBQ.  Everyone got to have their fun and I got BBQ.  I was happy.

There was a ridiculous amount of food at the BBQ, but I was even more happy with Jimmy brought out the enormous tomahawk steaks.  I had never seen anything like these steaks before.  They seemed to belong more to a Flintstones episode than to real life.

Inside at the baby shower, the girls were having their fun.  The weird food theme of the BBQ had carried over to them as well, with a "fruit baby" being the star attraction.

Personally, I found the fruit baby slightly creepier than others and so I decided to go back outside to eat some of the enormous steaks.

Finals Fever

I never seem capable of expressing the extent of my love for AFL.

It elicits an emotional response from me that I never experience in anything else.  I think it's because it helps me to tap into my childhood feelings and memories more easily than anything else.  When I'm at game, I lose my usual calm and collected demeanor and I scream and curse with the angriest fans.  It's probably cathartic for me and it definitely helps me to relieve some stress.

Going to games that don't involve the Hawks are also usually better for me as it reduces my passion levels and lets me enjoy the spectacle of the game itself.

That is when there is actually a spectacle there to be enjoyed.

I went to the finals game between the Swans and the Blues.

It was possibly the worst finals game I have had the personal misfortune of attending.  The game was over after about 15 minutes as the Swans overwhelmed the Blues and the game died a slow death over the next two hours.

Thankfully, there was a group of Melbourne boys sitting in front of me.  They had flown up for the match to the support the Blues and the shift of the game against them led to a stream of abuse being hurled towards all the Swans fans in the area.  Most of the Swans fans laughed it all off as "banter", but the hatred in the eyes of the Melbourne boys spoke of this as being far more than a mere joke.

It made for excellent viewing.

Office jealousy

My old friend Kieran and I started off our careers together.

Back in those days, we were just kids wearing unfamiliar suits trying desperately to be useful without being annoying to those around us.  It was a fine line we walked and it wasn't always walked successfully.

We've both moved on from our first job and onto newer and brighter things.

However, to my immense jealousy, Kieran's move has included something far brighter than anything at my new job.

Kieran's office includes a staff recreation room that seemed to have been created from a university student's dreams.  There is an open bar and food available for anyone who wants it.  However it is the entertainment available that is truly unbelievable.

There was the race car simulators they had.

The pool tables.  The table tennis.  The foozeball.

Then there was the open bar and the endless supply of food.

All free of course.

The stale biscuits in my office pantry didn't seem to hold the same appeal.

Bracing mountain air

As part of my desire to see more of Australia, I had decided to actively begin focusing more of my travel locally.

Australia is a land of many wonders, but I had been clearly far too caught up in my own personal travel snobbery to fully appreciate what was there in front of me.

One place that I had not explored enough was the Blue Mountains.  I had been there previously a few years ago, but an injured knee had meant that I had been confined to the house whilst the others had went for their walks.

On a cold weekend, a group of friends and I gathered in cars and fought through the evening traffic to our destination in the mountains.  It was a surprisingly short drive and we were at our destination in under an a couple of hours.  It was dark when we arrived so there was no point in exploring at that stage.  We immediately began to enjoy ourselves and we woke with sore heads the next morning.

To clear our heads, we decided to go for a walk.

Only a short distance away, we found something incredible.

We hadn't seen any of our incredible surroundings on our trip in due to the darkness, so this morning reveal had taken us all by surprise.

We explored and we continued walking.  The scenery, all dense and green, was unexpected.  I still often think of Australia as a barren place due to my upbringing in the midst of the Australian drought, so I am continually amazed by the life that can often be found only a short distance away from barren hills and empty plains.

I need to see more of this country.  It is so unique and wonderful.  I pay it a disservice every time I ignore it.

Australians travel the globe far and wide to see and experience the natural wonders of our planet.  I love to travel and I would never discourage anyone from seeking out more, but there is a clear case to be made that there are incredible things to be seen only moments away from where we live.

New habits

I never thought I was one for habits, but my mind is clearly developing in unexpected ways (it must be an old age thing).

My love of a local cafe has reached such a level that I have almost given up my search for newer places to explore and spend my time.  Instead, I find myself going through the repetition of going back to the same place again and again.

I've always thought that I prefered the excitement of the new, the pleasure of being able to be surprised.  However, there's definitely something comforting in the familiar.  I can understand the appeal and I am growing to appreciate it.  It is a simple pleasure like a warm hug or favourite book, always there and always reliable.

Late Autumn in Sydney

My good friend Chris was visiting from New Zealand.

I always enjoyed catching up with him.  It was incredible to think that we had managed to stay in touch after having first met in Aleppo all those years ago.

We caught up for breakfast at a Norwegian style cafe near King's Cross and reminisced about our days traveling and the painful realities that now faced the people of Syria.  We couldn't help but think of those people who had been so kind to us when we had been there and the torture that they must now be facing.

After breakfast, we returned to Coogee for a walk.

It was late Autumn in Sydney.  It was meant to be getting "cold".

Walking along the south of the beach, it was difficult to believe that winter was only days away.  It was an outrageously beautiful day.  The sun was shining and there were people on the beach and in the water swimming.

During these lovely days, it's difficult not to lose a bit of general life ambition.  Why work hard and why subject yourself to any hassles when you can just stare out into the water and enjoy the sun?

Tears to my eyes

Looking at the computer screen, I could feel tears slowly building up behind my eyes.

I blinked them away and recomposed myself.

I had just watched as the minaret in the central mosque of Aleppo had been demolished by a tank shell.  It had proved too effective a spot for snipers and so it had clearly been decided that it had to go.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-22283746

It had only been a few years ago that I had walked around its courtyard and had one of my most eye opening experiences of my life.  Guy and I had been walking and chatting, marveling at the beauty of the place.  In one corner of the courtyard, a young Syrian man was seated but looking intently at the both of us.  His eyes clearly followed us as we walked and it was an intense stare that he was giving us.  As we walked past him, I turned, smiled and greeted him with a "salam alaikum".  He immediately pulled back, shook his head, then smiled back and responded with a "wa alaikum salam".  Any hostility that may have been interpreted in his face disappeared and we were given instead his warm welcome.  He clearly hadn't felt any hostility or anger towards us, but had merely been confused as to why a tall Australian man and a Chinese guy had been wandering around in downtown Aleppo.  I couldn't help but wonder how many instances of conflict in history had been caused by simple misunderstandings or situations where people had misinterpreted something said or done by another.

This mosque had survived for centuries.  Now it was gone.  It was the victim of the interaction between extremism, totalitarianism and global power struggles far removed from the place of quiet contemplation it had once been and that it was meant to be.

I will try and remember it as it the beautiful place it once was.