And just like that, I’m home. Driving (and being driven) on the ‘right’ side of the road which happens to be the left. With the familiar sights and sounds of Sydney to reacquaint myself with through the window rather than tarmacs full of planes and support vehicles. Why can’t the traffic departing Sydney Airport look…

Au revoir, New Orleans. Thank you kindly for your endless hospitality and raucous sense of humour delivered to a soundtrack of jazz and backdrop of buildings that represent your French and Creole history as well as your modern American present. I will remember your fondness for arctic airconditioning with a smile.  Of how I had…

The skies are grey over New Orleans today.  In light of the events of this past weekend, I thought I’d deviate from the usual themes of my US posts and reflect. via Facebook Even as an Australian, 640 miles away from Orlando, it’s hard not to think about the glaringly obvious in light of Sunday…

The main reason I’ve been in New Orleans is to attend the American Diabetes Association’s annual conference.  The last few days have been thought provoking, practice changing and perspective giving.   I was also proud (on behalf of our nation) to note that Australian based research groups are leading the research into antenatal diabetes prevention.…

It’s often at around this time of a trip to the northern hemisphere that my sleep wake cycle loses its way.  I sleep like a log for the first two or three nights away as I catch up on what I lost on the plane as well as my usual chronic deficit from back home…

 Jazz is not only the soundtrack of New Orleans, it is also part of the molecular structure of this city.  You can just feel it in the air, pulsing and lilting through the air as you pace its streets of secrets, contrasts, beauty and history. The drive up the Poydras Street takes you from the…

Have I only really been away since Tuesday?  However long ago that was, give or take a few time zones.  So much has happened, so much has been Instagrammed and now, patient readers, so much has to be faithfully blogged about.  It’s feast or famine around here.  Weeks on end of the same same that…

Well.  That was a weekend I’m glad to have seen the back of. Work took its cue from the prevailing weather conditions and was chaotic.  A large mug of instant coffee was required before I could even contemplate doing the thirty second walk down to The Corner for my real coffee.  By the time I…

They’re calling it our Stormageddon. www.smh.com.au Five river systems in New South Wales have been flooded, parts of the Vivid festival have sustained damage from the rain and there’s already been at least 249mm of rain on the North Coast this weekend.  We’ve been pretty lucky so far to have only suffered a mildly leaking…

Just as well my legendary gardener came over last weekend to rehabilitate the back garden rather than this one because it’s shaping up to be a very soggy one for Sydney indeed. Garden aside, the house is as ready as it can be for some special house guests who arrive today.  My mum and two…