On September 4, 2010, at 4:35am, I was woken by a loud pop, followed quite closely by intense shaking of my house. As I listened to what crashing and breaking around me, I immediately realized I was experiencing an earthquake of significant proportions. This natural disaster was the Canterbury Earthquake, registering at 7.1 magnitude on the Richter scale, and based only 40 kilometres from my home situated on the outskirts of Christchurch's Central Business District (The CBD). The loud pop was the power going out in the city. Once the shaking stopped, I searched on the floor for my alarm clock/torch and started the long road to creating a disaster recovery plan.



Perth had certainly increased over that period. But its general character appeared to be pretty much the same. It had a relaxed, friendly vibe. And though the population had increased, it hardly seemed more crowded. While there were a few new buildings here and there, it seemed pretty much like it always had.

With the Westhaven Marina and Victoria Park close by, The Racquettes Club and West End Tennis club, there's a lot to keep you occupied in the evenings and weekends for those living in this suburb of Auckland.

As the crow flies, Parramatta is about 20 miles away from the Sydney CBD and no doubt a crow on its great day could do the trip in 10 minutes flat, now you'd think that this would be a mere doddle to drive to.

As I understand it the THC amounts of today's more evolved pot plants are much stronger, and therefore more potent, thus, can be more problematic. And trying to run a company with people who do lots of recreational hemp dispensary drugs is really tricky. We had challenges in the Car Washing business (I am retired from that sector ) from people we hired, therefore, I've seen enough abuse out there.

At the northern end of Melbourne up in Brunswick we've Sydney Road which is full of CBD Products authentic and economical priced Middle eastern restaurants and cafes. A1 bakery deserves a mention for meat pizzas from $2.50.

Like two wayward heroines armed with heels that could kill, we braved the single jungle. We explored the depths of serial dating to mastery. We lived and ruled singletown. Wantonly. As the bottoms of our Jimmy Choos pared and thinned traipsing through countless bars just to exhaust our charms on heart-thieves, tricksters and disingenuous gentlemen, we oft but plodded home barefoot and depleted. Optimistic, nonetheless.

In short, if you're on a shoestring, then Newcastle is both a wonderful place to visit in its own right and a fantastic base from which to explore Sydney.