Lost and Found

Hawaii 5-0

July 10, 2009 at 2:07 pm | In Travel | Leave a Comment

My fiancée and I are off to Hawaii this evening for two weeks. Neither of us have been there before so we are very excited. From what we hear it is a land of contrasts, where people get off the plane with a Surfboard under one arm, and Snowboard under the other.

Being a volcanic archipelago Hawaii has peaks as high as 4,200 meters, almost twice as high as Mt Kosciusko here in Australia. We are staying on three different islands over the fortnight, leaving our shopping in Honolulu until the last three days. I’m certain I will have some wonderful stories and photos to share with you all when I am back.

Indigenous Incarceration

July 10, 2009 at 1:52 pm | In Life Observations | Leave a Comment

Some very alarming statistics were released this week. In NSW, Indigenous youths are 26 times more likely to be in juvenile detention than their non-Indigenous peers. Nationally it is even worse at 28 times.

I am a firm believer that we need better programs to reduce these rates. Clearly the system is failing.

Lost in Switzerland

July 7, 2009 at 11:47 am | In Life Observations, Switzerland, Travel | Leave a Comment

Some of you of course know that my fiancée was born in Switzerland and has lived in Australia since 2000, and that all of her family still lives in Germany and Switzerland. During the past nine years we have had discussions on and off about going to work and live over there. In 2003 we made an attempt but I was offered a lucrative promotion at work and we decided to stay in Sydney.

My fiancée had been looking at Swiss roles casually for the past 12 months, and recently a great one came up. After a number of interviews and a whirlwind 38 hour visit to Zurich, she has been offered and has accepted the role. She starts on October 1^st and we will be moving over there early September.

It will be another exciting chapter in our lives. Having worked in Darwin I have proven that I can survive being away from family and friends. If anything the past nine months were even more difficult given I was up there alone.

We have a whole bunch of travel planned between now and when we leave, starting with two weeks in Hawaii from this Friday. We head to NZ for two weeks in August and will probably end up somewhere in Europe in the weeks before she starts her new role. All in all this is a very exciting and somewhat scary time. My first two priorities will be learning to speak better German and finding a job. I can only be a kept man for so long it seems.

Busy Weekend

July 6, 2009 at 6:56 pm | In Life Observations, Sydney | Leave a Comment

I have been back in Sydney for 4 days now and tonight is the first night we have not had something on. I surprised my fiancée last Thursday by having a chauffeur pick her up to take her to Café Sydney, arguably one of the best Restaurants in Australia. My brother was very kind and picked me up from the airport, dropped me at the Restaurant, then took all my 77kgs of luggage home for me. What a legend.

Friday night we met up with the ex-Westpac crowd for dinner at Vinothek, the new German wine bar in Darlinghurst. I invited a dozen people hoping that 5 or 6 could make it. To my surprise everyone came along except one friend who was travelling for work. We had a great night. A wonderful way to spend my first 24 hours back in Sydney.

On Saturday we took my mum to see the Wayne Scott Kermond musical Candy Man at the Theatre Royal. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would, even more than Buddy which we saw earlier in the year. The dancing was simply sensational.

Last night we had friends over for dinner which was another superb night. Great food, wine and conversation. How could we not have a great night.

And now I am waiting for my beloved to come home from work so we can go for a walk in the brisk night air. Very different to the 32 degrees I was baking in this time last week.

The Fishing Trip

July 3, 2009 at 3:40 pm | In Darwin, Darwin Observations, Sydney | Leave a Comment

I landed back in Sydney last night after completing my final week in Darwin. I learnt an enormous amount in the 9 months that I spent up there. Not only about life in Darwin, but about the challenges faced in remote parts of our country, about life for our Indigenous, and a lot about myself.

I originally took on the contract for a number of reasons. I have had a keen interest in Indigenous affairs since reading my fiancée’s PhD on Indigenous Health. I was also excited about living in a new city for a while having lived and worked in Sydney my entire life.

Prior to taking this role I had spent the better part of 10 years working for a large bank so I was looking forward to working outside the corporate environment. I was even happier to be working for a not for profit (NFP) company.

I think I had some naïve views about what it would be like to work for an NFP. Given their missions are usually about altruism and community, I had thought that those who worked for them would embody this. Sadly, this was not always the case. Of course there are a number of people who’s career focus is about improving the lives of our Indigenous, but I would say that to the majority of people it is just a job. A lot of people wouldn’t have the faintest idea about the challenges Indigenous people face. I don’t profess to be an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I did all I could to learn during the time I was here.

Having said all that, the people that do believe in the cause and understand what the mission is go a long way to making up for those who don’t. There are some truly passionate people, some of whom have been here since the very start. These are the people that the organisation needs to hang onto, and listen to, if they are going to succeed.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Darwin. I will miss the weather, the relaxed way of life and the fact that you can wear your thongs anywhere. Most importantly I will miss the geckos.

To Do List

June 25, 2009 at 4:12 pm | In Darwin, Darwin Observations | Leave a Comment

It is exactly one week today until I return to Sydney. It’s funny, I have been here for months but there are still a few things I want to do. I have been keeping a mental list of things to do before I leave. I managed to tick two off last night. I went to see Max and Mary at Darwin’s outdoor cinema, The Deckchair Cinema, and then had mud crab for dinner afterwards. There is a real art to eating it, but the colleagues I was out with were experts. Not I know what the nut-cracker thing is for!

I still want to get back to Mindil Beach Sunset Markets, plus a visit to my favourite restaurant Char. No doubt I will also end up at the super suave Sailing Club for sunset drinks.

My project manager colleague arrives today from Sydney and will return on the same flight as me next Thursday night. It will be good to have some company during my final week, to have someone to go out with.

One thing I am not looking forward to is the Sydney weather. I have been watching it on SMH online and it looks appalling. Very different to the 30 degrees we are getting here every day.

Mr Barra

June 18, 2009 at 1:50 pm | In Darwin, Darwin Observations | Leave a Comment

I am a huge fan of Barramundi and being in Darwin there is no shortage of it. It is caught all year round by hobby fisherman, but the commercial fishing season starts in June/July, and lasts about 5 months.

Whenever I am in a restaurant and I see something a little bit unusual containing Barra, I always buy it just to see what it’s like. Doing so I have discovered some very unusual combinations:

Barramundi Pie (Kakadu National Park)
Barramundi Malaysian Nonya Style (Noodle House Darwin)
Barramundi Springs Rolls (East West Thai Restaurant)
Barramundi Soup (Casuarina Mall)
Barramundi Sushi (Zushi Casuarina Mall)
Salt and Pepper Barramundi (Darwin Sailing Club)

Of course on a number of occasions I have had the obligaroty Barramundi ‘Fish and Chips, but I have to say that the Spring Rolls have been my favourite to date. A really interesting snack.

The Big Issue

June 16, 2009 at 12:18 pm | In Books, Life Observations | Leave a Comment

I mentioned some time ago how much of a fan I am off The Big Issue. A brief reminder, it is a totally independent street press magazine which assists homeless people and the long term unemployed.

It originally started as a very small venture but is now available in almost every capital city (except Darwin unfortunately, and I miss it greatly). This week the magazine celebrates its 13^th anniversary. This article in the Brisbane times has highlighted something to me. I always though I was just providing income for the vendors I purchased from, but it is very much more than that. It provides an opportunity for the less-advantaged in our communities to socialise and communicate with their somewhat better off peers, and helps to build their self confidence.

The magazine itself is also a good read. Being totally independent it is not forced into conformity, and can often share some harrowing and compelling stories that would otherwise not see the light of day.

I strongly urge you not to be one of those who walk past their local vendor. Take the time to have a chat and buy a copy of the magazine. I can assure you that they will really appreciate it and you will be a better person for it.

The Misinformed

June 12, 2009 at 5:39 pm | In Darwin, Darwin Observations, Life Observations | Leave a Comment

Recently I was at drinks with a number of people from the Health industry. This included Nutritionists, Dieticians and other health professionals. A conversation came up about the recent increase in anti-social behaviour and violence along Mitchell Street Darwin, the local nightclub strip. A number of people jumped to the conclusion that it was related to Indigenous Australians.

The truth is that a lot of clubs won’t even allow Indigenous people in. I have been witness to it myself, making up all manner of excuses to not allow sober, well dressed and well mannered Indigenous people in.

There was an article about the Mitchell St situation in the NT News last week. A magistrate was discussing how two out of every three cases she was seeing were related to anti social or violent behaviour, and that three out of four of these involved young white males. We also need to remember that Indigenous people make up only 20% of the Darwin population.

What bothers me is that people automatically assume that this type of behaviour must be related to the Indigenous population. Of course there are some problems with Indigenous people, but obviously not as many as people like to think. I took it upon myself to correct what the health professionals were saying. They turned away to exclude me from their conversation.

Outback Dave

June 9, 2009 at 5:09 pm | In Darwin, Outside Darwin, Travel | Leave a Comment

I now feel like I am officially Australian. It’s hard to believe, but in the more than 30 years I have been alive I had never really been ‘out bush’. That all changed over the long weekend. We flew from Darwin into Kununurra which is about 800kms, 40 minutes flight time. The Bungle Bungles are in Purnululu National Park, 180kms south of Kununurra. We took a 2 hour scenic flight (in a four seat Cessna plane!) to have a look from the air. It is difficult to describe just how beautiful the area is.

We stayed at Emma’s Gorge which is part of the El Questro resort, a working pastoral lease. The accommodation was in walled tents (see photo below) which were ludicrously expensive for what they are. Now I know why there are no photos on their website.

Driving to and from Emma’s Gorge was about 90kms, 50 of which were on unsealed, and very corrugated, roads. Luckily my Fiancée had booked a ‘real’ 4WD for us, none of this toy Rav4 crap. We saw countless Boab Trees, wild cows and horses, and even a water monitor. The icing on the cake was a place called Zebedee Springs. It is a series of natural thermal pools that really look like an Oasis. It was almost like a scene from a movie. A truly memorable experience. I am very glad we made the decision to go.