Sydney is surrounded by 🏞️. Today I head to the Far North of Sydney to the broad Hawkesbury River that marks the city’s Northern border.
The Anglers Rest is a great old hotel in Brooklyn opposite the train station 🚉,. On beautiful 🤩 sunny day it was crowded with a good vibe. It’s a friendly hotel with good food.
Of course I’m going to eat steak 🥩- sorry Klaus I’m not ready to ‘eat zee bugs 🐜.’
There’s this cute coffee shop on the corner opposite appropriately called Brooklyn’s Corner..
There’s an even cuter building called The Riverboat Postman where The Riverboat Postman works. People live on the river & islands only accessible by boat.
To the left is where the ferry ⛴️ leaves.
There is a nice riverside walk to the Brooklyn boat ramp. You can learn about the history of Brooklyn from the displays.
From the boat ramp you can follow the main road back to The Anglers Rest Hotel.
Tasmania is a small State in Australia 🇦🇺, which I had never visited before. It’s actually an island off Australia - right down the bottom of the continent. This would be my first trip in two years of the pandemic.
Hobart must be the smallest airport for a capitol city in Australia! 😅 Tasmania had until recently been largely locked down due to the pandemic. Hence, they sold half their rental car fleet resulting in what must be the most expensive rental car market in the Southern Hemisphere!
I sucked it up & hired this hybrid car. It was actually so quiet you could hardly tell if it was on or not at low speed. It was my first time driving one & it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
It might be worth it to bring your own vehicle across on the car ferry ⛴ for an extended trip in Tasmania. You might have to investigate & do your sums. I hired a car for a month, which worked out quite well & took it across the Irish Sea to visit Ireland on the car ferry ⛴.
Note, no First Class lounge at Hobart. Positively ghastly!
I’m enjoying, like all vaccinated Sydneysiders, in being finally out of Lockdown! We are all making the most of our freedom & packing in as much as we can each weekend! Last weekend was awesome I had the best Tapas I’ve had outside Spain 🇪🇸. Followers who saw my month in Spain would I know I love my Tapas. On Sunday might I went to Tapas Tapas Bodega in Sydney’s Northern suburbs (I’ll put the details below) & the octopus & seafood paella 🥘 was superb! 😋
International travel is opening up again. Qantas, our national carrier that never crashes, is bringing its planes in from the desert to have all its staff working by December. The A380's will be flying the London route & LA route from Sydney. At one stage we went down to one flight to London, but soon it will be 37 flights out of Sydney to London again. The demand for international travel obviously is very strong after nearly two years of restrictions!
I'm planning on heading to Northern Europe again in July where hopefully I can include the Baltics & St Petersburg. I'll be going back to Finland, Sweden & Norway. Hopefully I can get Denmark in as well. But, as you know you never know where I'll end up on my adventures! Anyway, the plan is to definitely be up in the Nordics for Midsommar, because I just missed it last time. Although, I hope it doesn't end like the movie, Midsommar!
Yes, they still do Midsommar in the Nordics, although it is called something else in Finland. It's a typical long Finnish name. This event is thousands of years old & is a fertility festival. There will be lots of dancing around what we call the Maypole & bonfires. In Finland this weekend normally starts the long summer holidays where most of the population go to their cottages by the lake or sea. If you saw my Finnish trip it will be sauna, swim, sauna, swim, so much fun! The Finns are great, so much fun.
Oh, I almost forgot I have a new DSLR with 4K video, so I'll be uploading my Australian adventures & next years Northern European trip on YouTube! I know right, so exciting!
Sydney is out of Lockdown, well, for the fully vaccinated at least. We are got out two weekends ago, however it didn’t feel official until I went to the beach 🏖. Being Lockdowned & restricted to 5km from my home is something I don’t want to go through ever again.
Of course Sydney & New South Wales was the first Australian State out of Lockdown. Well, NSW is a third of Australia's GDP, so it was costing a fortune. When we entered Federation in 1901 there wasn't such a big wealth disparity. Once Victoria was the wealthiest State in Australia, but not any more.
Soon, Sydney will be open for international arrivals & we will get our skilled migrants back in quantity! Australia 🇦🇺 has always had a skilled labour shortage. NSW as the most dynamic economy in Australia 🇦🇺 desperately needs them.
If you wish to come to Australia 🇦🇺 (who wouldn’t) then have a look at the Australian government website to see the list of skills we are desperately short in.
One of my favourite countries Finland has been found to be the World's Happiest Country for the fourth time in the row!
Finland top many of the world's rankings from honesty (they top the Lost Wallet Test) & they are considered by many educators to have one of the best education systems in the world.
Watch what makes Finland so happy in the video above. Think about what makes you happy in your life.
The Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC. A fitting memorial for the great man. Sit on the steps & reflect on his achievements, whilst looking across National Mall. Perfect late in the day. Washington DC is easy to visit if you are travelling by train from New York City like I was - Penn Station is in the heart of Manhattan & the train station in DC is opposite the Capitol Building!
The South couldn't win the American Civil War or 'War of Succession' as the South called it, right? Not so fast, Lincoln was not politically popular at the time before the Battle of Gettysburg. You have to remember war is a political act for a political purpose. If the North had suffered a big defeat in General Lee's campaign in the North then it could have dramatically changed the result of the upcoming election. That was the aim of the strategy. This is a great presentation by historian Steve Knott on the lead up to the Battle of Gettysburg at the US Army War College (above).
I would love to visit Gettysburg, because I studied American history, and I've read so much about the campaign. Maybe on my next trip to the United States.
I have not been to Iceland yet, but its definitely on my list to do. Maybe next year. In many ways Iceland as described in Hfarna's video is similar to the Nordic countries I have visited - Finland, Sweden & Norway. However, you can buy beer in the supermarket, but for spirits you have to go to the special government owned shop. I understand that this was to curb alcohol abuse.
I hate carpet, and yes it is true, that most Nordic homes have wood floors, not carpet like in many homes in the Anglo-Sphere. Although this is slowly changing with many people installing timber flooring in my home country Australia. You take your shoes off at the door in every Nordic country I visited.
Nudity - I had a German girlfriend who grew up in a nudist family, which is quite common in Germany. In Finland you are generally nude in the sauna, however I've been told it is mainly segregated unless you are with close friends. The Finns have a saying, "everyone is equal in the sauna." In general, we in the Anglo-Sphere have more of a problem with nudity.
Hfarna raised the fact that in Iceland everybody, including teachers, are called by their first name. This is the same in Finland too. In Australia we have to call them by their title. Nordic countries are probably more committed to the concept of equality.
In conclusion, I like Hfarna's videos and her take on the differences between Iceland and the United States. I really like Nordic countries and their practical way of dealing with life. I think we can learn a lot from Nordic countries.
