HOMEBAKE 2007

It's summer time!! Having escaped from a cold Scottish winter I was expecting Sydney to deliver searing sunshine and sunburned skin. Instead it's been mostly cloudy, cool and rainy. Still, feeling a bit chilly at 21 degrees is better than shivering uncontrollably in a flat with a dodgy boiler as the sun goes down at 4pm and the temperature drops below 7 degrees. Not that I want to rub it in or anything, guys :)

I've seen more sunshine over the past few days than in my last month in Scotland. I'd forgotten how bright the Australian light is and also how incredibly high the sky appears to be. I'd become so used to constant cloud cover over the UK that the sight of a seemingly never-ending expanse of bright blue sky kind of freaked me out. It still does actually. Crazy country.

Anyway, 48 hours after landing at Sydney airport I was rocking out at "Australia's premier all-local festival". And by 'rocking out' I mean snoozing under a tree. Jetlag stinks. But I was snoozing to the tune of some really great Aussie artists. I saw (heard) Art of Fighting, Ed Kuepper, Kisschasy, Angus & Julia Stone, Josh Pyke, Sarah Blasko, Missy Higgins, The Divinyls and Paul Kelly, as well as this DJ guy called Muscles who was surprisingly good. It was a really chilled day, and a great way to ease myself back into the Australian lifestyle.

Speaking of Aussie lifestyle, I'd forgotten how repulsive drunken Australian men could be (I've managed to live in the UK all year long and not have a single trashy night out in any of the Walkabouts). And the smell of a warm Carlton Draught tinny as it's tipped down one's top by an incoherent, stumbling bogan with a bare chest and a shirt tucked into his pants like a flappy tail. Very important cultural experiences that I'd managed to erase from my memory after only 10 months away.

Some of the experiences I've been more than happy to reacquaint myself with include: seafood laksa, affordable sushi, Coopers Pale Ale, Sydney's Chinatown, the ANZAC bridge, the Annandale pub, Smith's crisps, eucalyptus trees and King Street Newtown. And of course, all the friends I've managed to catch up with over the past couple of days. I'm only in Sydney for a week, then I plan on moseying on down to Canberra. It will be interesting to see if that little trip provides any nostalgic memories. I do like the Dickson Asian Noodle House. Mmmm, laksa. Gotta go, suddenly hungry.