Seriously ask me 3 years ago if I had heard of either Parramatta or Paramaribo, and I would probably have said “no”. Life is a journey and I ended up in both, becoming quite attached to the former and inspired by the latter. So where are they and what are they? Cities is the…
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Just last month I went to Macquarie University, on the western edge of Sydney. I had a day off work, and my flatmate Rebecca was still a student at the time – studying at this massive University – Macquarie University. It was a blast from the past and a throwback to my days at University…
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The above quote, the headline, the lyric and the song was something which I first discovered on arrival in Australia, “the land down under” back in October 2009. Seems a lifetime ago now. The lyric comes from the Jimmy Barnes/Cold Chisel hit song “Khe Sahn”, a song which will forever remind me of my time…
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Australia has a few Scottish towns and influences of course (Perth for one, and Bothwell for another). But Maclean is in the north part of New South Wales and I popped in to see what was there. Advertising itself and promoting itself as “THE Scottish town in Australia”, tartan designs, bagpipes, murals, Scottish names and…
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I probably couldn’t have left Sydney in any worse a state, but in many ways I was better off for it. Thanks to Hannah Wicks I got a lift home to my flat in Parramatta around midnight, with my flight in 10 hours time, I was feeling a wee bit worse for wear, but had…
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Goodnight Parramatta – internet in New Zealand is shit so photos and videos are banned sorry… I had been so busy, I just about had it all sorted for leaving Parramatta for a 108 day stint globetrotting again – this time I would be entering three new continents, to finish off visiting all seven continents.…
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Not quite, and “hardly end of the rainbow stuff” (as Del Boy once said to Rodney in ‘Only Fools And Horses’) but I have a flight booked out of Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport this very Friday morning. Not since I was aged 8 have I spent so long in the same country. I will have…
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The district or area of Drummoyne sounds so Northern Irish I was convinced it would be some kind of Irish quarter of Sydney. In fact it’s basically just a picturesque inner suburb of Sydney, nestled nicely by the Parramatta River. I had known about it for a brave while, since arriving in Sydney in October…
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Only in Australia have I ever heard of such a thing as “Half Way To St. Patrick’s Day!” This happened to be last week, on the 17th September 2010. Makes sense given that St. Patrick’s Day is on the 17th March, yet when you consider there are less days after the 17th September (due to…
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[quote name=’Dervock’ post=’672300′ date=’Sep 5 2010, 11:47 AM’]Nice to see I was missed! :whistling:[/quote] I honestly thought “Dervock” was a piss take name as in an Ulster accent would be like saying “who dervock are ye?” but learnt the day that its actually a place in Northern Ireland!! Anyway as a NISC nomad I decided…
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