Tag: Culture

St Matthias – Paddington’s Church

February 24, 2016

I have a rather interesting relationship with St Matthias Anglican Church in that while I have only been here twice I actually have a few connections, namely the current and previous senior pastors. The reason for that is that both of them used to be pastors at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Adelaide, with one of them being both my youth pastor, and also the head of what was then the Evangelical Union (EU) at Adelaide University. … More St Matthias – Paddington’s Church

Cruising the Torrens – The Popeye

January 14, 2016

Even since I was a kid these boats have been cruising up and down the Torrens River. Okay, they may not have been these particular boats as sometime along the way the old wooden boats were replaced with new fiberglass ones (quite possibly because the older ones were getting, well, a little too old). I remember when I was a kid we would jump on the Popeye at Eldar Park, go for a cruise up to the wharf outside the zoo, and then go and have a look at the animals. Well, remembering those more innocent days in my life I decided to take my brother on that exact same journey. … More Cruising the Torrens – The Popeye

Pubs of the Rocks

December 24, 2015

For some reason every time I come to Sydney I seem to find myself down at the Rocks. Maybe it has something to do with it being the closest thing to an Old City that you get in Australia (I say that because The Rocks is where the original settlement was located and in a way it is Australia’s oldest suburb). Maybe it also has something to do with the pubs because, once again, you will also find some of Australia’s oldest pubs down here. Okay, I’ll admit it – I visited the Rocks this time simply to go and check out all the pubs so that I could write this post. … More Pubs of the Rocks

Speed Boat to Phi Phi

Phuket Phenomenah – Speedboat to Phi-Phi

November 8, 2015

After a relaxing day wandering around Patong Beach (and a couple of not so relaxing nights) it was time to go on my first tour. However I was a little worried, namely because this isn’t Australia where you can take companies to the ACCC if they rip you off by taking your money and vanishing into thin air (not that the ACCC can do all that much when that happens anyway – it is still a case of caveat emptor). So, I went into the lobby of the hotel (after having breakfast) with my laptop and book in my backpack (which was going to be a mistake) to wait for the bus to come and pick me up. After five people coming in calling out ‘James Bond Island’ and one calling out ‘Phi Phi Island’ I was starting to get a little worried. However the driver soon turned up, collected me, and took us off to the Royal Phuket Marina where our tour company, Sea Star, was based. … More Phuket Phenomenah – Speedboat to Phi-Phi

Patong Beach Front

Phuket Phenomena – A Day at the Beach

November 3, 2015

The tour guide in Singapore made a comment that Singapore has four seasons: hot and hotter, and wet and wetter. Well, I guess I must have landed up in the Wetter Season because when it rained it really did rain. I was quite fortunate that I remembered to take my umbrella the night before because at one point the rain began to full on pelt down – and amazingly my umbrella managed to survive (though I guess it has something to do with rain in Phuket not being accompanied by gale force winds). I have experienced tropical rain previously – in Hong Kong. … More Phuket Phenomena – A Day at the Beach

St Andrews South Brisbane – A Friendly Queensland Church

June 25, 2015

I’m going to have to say that this is my home church whenever I go to Brisbane. Okay, I don’t go to Brisbane all that often, but whenever I do (a grand total of four times) I have always paid this church a visit and my experience has always been the same, which is probably why I keep on coming back (to this church, not Brisbane – the last time I was in Brisbane was back in 2008). Anyway, I first heard about St Andrew’s South Brisbane through a friend from a church that I regularly attended in Adelaide, which was generally how you would find out about churches back in the day, simply because you never knew what you were going to get when you walk in through the door (and I have walked into some absolute shockers). Actually, I don’t mind wandering into random churches because, depending on the church, you can have some very interesting experiences, but I must say that every time I have come here the experience has always been wonderful. … More St Andrews South Brisbane – A Friendly Queensland Church

12 pubs (but skipping the 12 pints) – Adelaide’s Golden Mile

April 16, 2015

I’m sure many of us have heard of the final instalment of Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy called ‘The World’s End’ in which a group of friends come together again to attempt to complete an epic pub crawl in their home town which involves visiting twelve pubs and drinking twelve pints and concluding their night at a pub called ‘The World’s End’.

So, you may ask, how does this film relate to this particular post? Well, after watching this rather amusing story of five men’s attempt to complete was is called ‘The Golden Mile’ I remembered that Adelaide has a pub called ‘the World’s End’ (or more precisely ‘The Worldsend’) so one day I decided to try and work out how I could replicate the Golden Mile in the sleepy little town of Adelaide. … More 12 pubs (but skipping the 12 pints) – Adelaide’s Golden Mile

Two Wells – Adelaide meets the country

April 12, 2015

The one thing that has always baffled me about Two Wells is that I’ve never been able to find the two wells from which the town gets its name. However, according to Wikipedia, the name originated from when the town was first settled as the colonists used the two Aboriginal wells in the area to water their cattle. I guess that makes a bit more sense now, but I still remember one day I actually drove up here to see if I could find these two wells. … More Two Wells – Adelaide meets the country