First impressions of Sydney

We arrived at Sydney airport around 19.00 (local time) and my fears of getting stopped by the immigration people for having something suspicious on me were blown away as we basically just walked out of the airport in a matter of minutes after we had claimed our baggage. I might add that my fears were slightly exaggerated from watching Border Contol: Australian Front Line on youtube. We’re currently staying in Woolloomooloo, feel free to let that name sink in for a while. It’s located right in Sydney Harbour about a 20 min walk from The grand Opera House. 

We started the day doing some laps at the excellent pool nearby and continued with brekkie (breakfast) at the adjoining cafe. 

It didn’t take very long until I had my first encounter with a spider. This one was a Golden Orb spider, which is fairly harmless to humans to my relief. Australia’s wildlife is very impressive to say the least. Wherever you go you hear the sounds of birds which can only be found at a zoo or in a pet shop in Sweden. It’s pretty awesome!

Leaving Sweden

I’m writing this only a couple of hours before our flight leaves from Copenhagen. We have a short 26 h trip in front of us that will take us to Sydney via Düsseldorf and Abu Dhabi. I’m really glad that I managed to attend one of my oldest friend’s wedding on Saturday. I’ve known him since before kindergarden and it gives me a great pleasure to see how happy he is. After being together for seven years he and his girlfriend decided to get married. And what a beautiful husband and wife they make.

The wedding was a great opportunity so meet and say goodbye to lots of my old friends which I’m guessing I won’t see for a while now.

Family Portrait

We had a small gathering for mine and my  big sister’s birthdays the past weekend. That was the last time the whole family got together for the forseeable future. My aunt’s husband took this great shot of us all four together standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

Capturing a sundown

The weather has been very clear the past couple of days so me and my dad took the car and drove down to the beach to get a proper look. As I stepped out of the car I filled my lungs with the lovely smell of seaweed. Growing up so close to the ocean I’ve grown to love the very distinctive smell of it. By the time we arrived it was around -5 degrees and the snow made a wonderful crunching sound as we stepped on it.

Dad swapped between capturing the scene on his analog camera from 1958 and using his binoculars for birdwatching.

An early sign of spring

The sun shone on me as I took a short walk in the hibernating garden. Only the very first hints of a coming spring were shown.

These very early flowers are called “Snödroppar” which directly translates to “Snowdrops”

Candysh..I mean Måns kept me company and took the opportunity to roll around in the fresh sawdust.

Taking a good photo of your black cat with an iphone is not the easiest task so here’s one more.

New firewood

For as long as I still lived home with my parents I have more or less always helped out with the stapling of the firewood needed for the cold and bitter winters. So as soon as I arrived and saw the stack of 30 cubic meters of ash tree I knew what I had in front of me.

To cut the wood my dad uses a hydraulic splitter instead of a regular circular saw blade.

And here’s evidence that us Swedes doesn’t always eat our herring prickled. Fried and served with mashed potatoes and the essential ingredient, lingonberries.

Paris

As a last goodbye to France we’ve been in Paris since Thursday until we left this morning. For most of the time we walked around the city streets, windowshopped,  then we walked some more, managed to find awesome places for coffee. I walked to Musée d’Orasay and awed over paintings and sculptures. We walked under the Eiffel Tower, passed Arc de Triomphe, walked up to Sacré-Coeur etc. I was a bit disappointed though that I didin’t see any guys with white/blue striped sweaters with a baguette kept under their arms while I heard an accordion play in the distance. I guess that only happens on tv.