Wednesday 27 October 2010

Sydney Sojourn


I have just spent a very enjoyable and busy week in Australia shaking hands attempting to charm the big names in property.

Haron Robson had a successful 25th party at the top of the Museum of Contemporary Art. I got an exceptionally warm welcome, a surprise mention in the speeches and some unforgettable mini Aussie meat pies. I also met some very helpful and friendly people who I hope to see again next time I’m in town.

Amongst meetings with a variety of companies I also got introduced to the Green Building Council of Australia’s star rating system for sustainable buildings and attended the Australian Property Institute (API) award ceremony for Excellence in Property at the Powerhouse Museum. The setting for the latter was impressive, the MC quite funny and the company excellent but the awards themselves were dull as almost every entrant received a prize of some description – for the API at least, everyone’s a winner.

As it was my first working trip to the city I saw a number of new sides to Sydney – So I thought I’d wrap up this entry with my ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ of the week.

Likes:
Surry Hills - Sydney’s answer to Shoreditch
Australian property market fourth fastest growing in the world – good news
Sydney Theatre Company’s Political Review – very funny
Bloody good coffee – the rumors are true
Bathers Pavilion - fantastic food, friendly staff
Australia’s Asylum Law changes regarding children in detention – excellent news
Aussie-Pomme relations – a very warm welcome

Dislikes:
AUD reaches parity with USD – widely celebrated but not by my wallet
Taxi drivers without a sat-nav  - useless
City center wireless Internet access – for love nor money

Until next time …









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