- Saturday, July 27, 2002

Day 2 and 3....
Woke up a little tired from my very long day out... (18 hours up and about and a little too much red wine:). Slept in till 10.30 read the paper in bed and then set off for the city. Walking through the Cross I felt like I was right back at home.... "The Coke Sign" a familiar marker of "my neck of the woods". I walked down William Street taking shots all the way and revelling in the winter sunshine. The dodgy Tattoo parlour... the many cheao rental car places.... models spilling into and out of "Studio Magazines" till I got to Hyde Park. People rugged up in stylish coats and scarfes were strewn throughout... reading by the fountains, drinking coffee on the benches or watching the old men play "giant" chess. I got to David Jones, had a wander through and headed into the Mall. Try as I might I still was uninspired by the shopping opportunites. Covering most of the "city" I headed to the travel agent to pick up my tickets for the next trip down ( in 2 weeks) then scouring the last remaining places I decided to give up and booked myself into a massage back in Darlinghurst. and hour and a half later I floated out of Zen and then headed to my favorite Deli, Pellagio, to buy some late lunch. I had to really restrain myself from buying produce to take home... all those ingredients I can't get in Singapore... great Pasta, Arborio Rice, Vanilla Bean... maybe I still will tomorrow. Back in the hotel I sat down to check in with the office and coordinate my visit to animation company ZSPACE on Monay. within 40 minutes I had a knock on the door... the reception man to tell me I had guests downstairs. Frantically making myself presentable I went down to find the lovely Mike Boswell and Kate sitting in Fix (the hotel bar, a red laquered corridor... very very cool) I excused myself to finish my organising, showered, changed and got back down in 45 minutes. Soon we werer joined by the girl gang again.... Kelly, Katy (who I hadn't seen for so long) and Marie. We had a few drinks in Fix and then relocated to my room to quaff the bottle of Krug I was given on my flight. in lieu of a seat upgrade (its a long story). It really IS great champagne :) We set out for our night out and braved the biting cold on our 2 minute walk to Hugos Lounge. Scoring the couches by the door (the best place for service, comfort and people watching) we bought a bottle of wine and sat and talked for hours.

The girls started fading so I suggested one last stop at the "tasting room" a new bar in Kellet strett that no one had visited yet. Itrs a really nice spot. comfortable, warm with great music and even amusing bar staff.... One by one we all peeled off until I eventaully got home at 3.30 am...

Went to bed very very worn out and then awoke this morning with a 10 am meeting planned that HAD TO BE MOVED. I called Hugh (Hamilton) and asked if he could give me another hour and a half... he kindly obliged :) Phew

At 11.30 after more sleep and another wonderful hot shower (I'm going to miss that next week) I met Hugh with my laptop to take him through the work we have been doing on his website... he loved it so now I must get it going so that its all finished soon.

As the first real Guest in his new (6 days old) car we set out for Bondi via his new Rushcutters Bay appartment.

Bondi.. I'd forgotten how beautiful it can be, especially in winter.... The water crashing on the rocks, the hoardes of people strewn in the plethora of street cafes, some in the sun some rugged up in the cosy interiors, drinking coffee, reading the papers, looking for appartments. I love being back in Australia. I miss this lifestyle.

Raw Bar for lunch... Sushi and excellent sushi at that. A great chat in the sun and even a call to Anna, who its seems is actually in the Gold Coast and now Adelaide where I had last left her. She is working on a film whose name eludes me but it apparently has a cast of 70 - all men - as it is a WW2 movie. Who is in it? Some guy from Spiderman(but as I haven't seen it I don't know who it is....) and then theres the guy she was going to watch the Rugby with this afternoon, Joseph Fiennes... :)

I miss Anna :)

A walk to another cafe for a cofffee thena hug goodbye and we parted company. Hugh taking the long hike back to the car and me meandering through Bondi, shopping and shooting.

Finally I found some worthy purchases. More Sass and Bide Pants... new Baggy legged ones....
Finally I jumped into a cab, decided to brave Paddington again and traipsed through the shops on my way back to the hotel.
Now its time to rest... watch the news, catch up with the saturday Paper, then maybe out for a bite to eat and perhaps to a movie... Would like to see Dirty Deeds as I'm sure it will never make it to Singapore.

More tomorrow.. can't believe I really have to leave again on Monday....Did I say I love Sydney yet?

The viual story continues with pics of Friday day, and Friday nightSaturday? well I'll put those up later OK?

posted by jen @ 6:12 PM