Flora and Fauna in Balgownie NSW

Guppies and tetra, although minuscule, have a liveliness in them - a dash of colour and group display.

They do not require much in feeding - but tolerant only of a narrower range of water temperatures,important in a temperate and colder climate zone.

In Balgownie, the challenge is to ensure a continuity of blossoming plants even in the cooler

mid-year season. On the other hand, succulents and other breeds not requiring much care nor watering epitomise the most adaptable plants for the Australian weather (background, with frangipanis and jade plants).

Ornamental plants are a hit with time starved modern lifestyles anywhere.

Above image, fern like grass and below, the small leaf jade plant.

                             

Sydney Olympic Park - An Enchanted Evening

The cries of  "Aussie,Aussie,Aussie" still reverberated in my ears this cool and nippy Saturday evening.

This is what the Sydney Olympic Park (SOP) can do to me. I have many happy memories of the Sydney Games, especially when viewing live the diving and gymnastics events - plus the Opening Ceremony on a mild September night.  I was there this time one Saturday night to attend the encounter between the Waratahs and the Brumbies in rugby union at the officially renamed main year 2000 Olympic Stadium - the ANZ Stadium (above, at dusk).

I could recognise the key facilities and buildings from the heady days and nights of the Sydney Olympics - and also recall the hordes of volunteers in their bright and distinguished shirts. There is special fondness for the Aquatic Centre and Acer Arena.  Apart from the still maintained parklands like Blaxland and Bicentennial, I noted hotelsl like the Pullman, Novotel(above image) and Ibis ( all a stone's throw from the ANZ Stadium).

There is also a commercial hub centring around a Commonwealth Banking Group office support presence near the Olympic Park Station.

Two boys size up the concrete ramp which thye later scaled,with the encouragement of Dad. (above)

The lighting structures around the ANZ Stadium suggest transformer-like appearances at sunset. (below)

The names of every sports person who participated at the Sydney Games in the year 2000 are recorded alphabetically for posterity on each of the poles (above), inspired by indigenous Australian culture.

The SOP continues to host sporting events ( for example AFL, NRLand the second annual State of Origin) ,concerts  expositions, conferences and community functions like the annual Sydney Royal Easter Show.  I have to conbfess that my camera ran out of battery power just before the rugby union match, but I did have a whaleof a time at the match!

Return to Kiama, NSW

Kiama, which in indigenous Australian language possibly meaning "fish caught from rocks" or " where the seas roar",  is  a pleasant two hour drive south of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  It is the home of the Wadi Wadi tribe. Most likely the place name is an honour to the ancient father spirit of eastern New South Wales - Kiahma.  An obvious lifestyle place, it offers a varied coastline that provides volcanic rocky cliffs, beaches, scenic views and an often serene ocean for most of the year.  Above image, weekend lunchtime at the town centre.

Most outsiders associate Kiama with its blowholes, large and small (above).  I returned to Kiama on the day of its monthly outdoor markets on the third Sunday of each month. The customised tent tops do provide an interesting contrast to the backdrop of deep blue water.

Jeannie, Grant and I had a quick bite at the Seachange Cafe (along Manning Street) which provides gourmet burgers, quiche and pumpkin soup on the wintry but clear blue sky day we arrived there.   There is a sufficient variety of retail outlets in the town centre,some of which reflect the surrounding  higher property prices and money from Sydney and overseas.  Many of the heritage buildings are well maintained and the streets are rather clean for a touristy spot.

Planting Seeds, Inflation and Moderation In Everything Else

Even the local Chinese takeaway at a nearby shopping centre confirmed my gut feel. Three choices used to be five dollars, now it's eight. Meanwhile, electrical and electronic items have taken a dive in the asking price, whilst fast food sets have shot to double digits. Prices of guppies and the various kinds of gold fish have doubled.



Anything that requires more human input costs more, obvious in health care, age services and food preparation. The cost of a bowl of chicken curry laksa at Malaysia-Singapore Takeaway in Sydney used to be five dollars in 1989, and today you dish out twelve dollars at the level five food court in Sydney CBD's Westfield. Customers are still willing to pay a premium for coffee and chocolate at fancy chains - and for the retro 3D technology in viewing latest release movies in modern cinema halls.

Paying more does not always mean receiving better customer service. We used to be able to sit anywhere up to our whims in a darkened cinema hall, but now have to search for our allocated seating. We pay double for Asian food in places like the Temasek in Parramatta, NSW, but are told to rush our dining as we only have our table up to 8pm. There is talk in the media of whether there is any more usefulness for the five cent coin - while forgetting the rising copper value of the item.



There is an exponential rise in the manner we are encouraged to spend - and not likewise in nurturing each of us to plant the seeds and grow sources of income and capital growth. Credit card limits and financial arrangements involving white goods are still being offered relatively liberally, despite the hard lessons in the USA and UK from the recent global financial crisis. Traded economic value is not just built from hard earned productivity, real gains and mortar with brick, but still facilitated through speculation, current market equity and, at times, hyped up expectations.

What has not changed perhaps is the interaction between demand and supply. These can be manipulated, professionally regulated or artificially controlled. Timing and location are decisive. The age old rules of buying low and selling higher shine through, despite the complexity and nature of new products, properties or environments. Money makes more money, as long as you beat the time value of compounding in regular expenditure, borrowing costs and interest charges.





Being able to sub-divide land and properties has been the boon of the new rich, whilst borrowing to fund daily wants and excesses has been the bane of endless debt. Income received in employment must be utilised to grow new and other sources of revenue for one self - and not taken for granted. Tax deductions are to be maximised and gross income payable minimised. Do we delay our occasional gratifying needs?

At times, it is practising the fine art of walking away when you have made your targets, and not be sucked into anything longer. In life, sometimes, we do have to take a gamble,but the idea is to increasingly increase our safety net. At other times, it is to make a disciplined commitment to commence a new source of wealth, despite the teething times and initial pain of belt tightening. Often it is imperative to create a foundation layer of wealth and firewall this from other dimensions of discretionary spending or more speculative investment.





As always, the effects of time surround wealth decisions and accumulations. There is another certainty in life - rising prices - when you live in a growing economy. There are values to the human economy despite the vagaries of time - dependency on family, good mates, gold and food. There is the comfort of knowing your wealth is growing even when you go to bed at night.


Do we want,or have to, change jobs every two years - to challenge boredom plateaus or in the hunt for better rewards? As with the more important things in life, moderation is the key in the long run - but there is no harm to do the equivalent of the bunjee jump at times, when you have worked out the risks and checked your current harness.

The Doughboy, Potts Point, NSW

Since this post was written in 2011, the name of the place has changed to the Rocketboy Pizza.

Doughboy is a recent pizza chain that joins several others already on the typical Australian fast food scene. It currently has four outlets in metropolitan Sydney, including Bondi and Randwick. My first encounter with Doughboy was in Potts Point, along the more quiet Victoria Street, adjoining a Chinese dumpling bar and residential unit blocks and removed from the infamous Kings Cross strip. A client friendly Aussie youngster efficiently maintained the small joint, which nevertheless was frequented by take away walk-in customers.

What impresses me about Doughboy was its effort made in creating a lifestyle, with bright red colours, eye-catching names for its fare like the Chick and its ability to maximise utilisation of its limited retail space. The Potts Pott outlet had a kitchen downstairs but which was well hidden from view of the street side. I also appreciated its well done salad offering, tasty and looking more like dished up in a restaurant rather than in a franchised pizza eatery. We were there as part of an informal degustation, commencing with churruzos dipped in hot chocolate at a St Moritz cafe in Darling Harbour and landing up at the Gelato Messini in the Darlinghurst side of Victoria Road. So we chose only one pizza - the toppings with Morrocan lamb (image above) - and what a hit it was, with crispy crust and even more fascinating flavours once in the mouth!