Down to business down under

25 February 2010

Hi everyone – not an easy blog this one because it’s been a packed week with little time for creative writing!
 
Yesterday we went to Hammondville which is a huge aged care development spreading over 30 acres in South East Sydney, which was first developed by the original philanthropist Hammond in the 30's to enable unemployed Sydney families in the Great depression to build their own homes on small plots which were given to them, and has been further developed over the last 80 years by our modern day client Hammonds. Since the 50's its has concentrated on Aged Care facilities and provides everything from Independent Living Units to Dementia Care in a series of developments - the latest of which was completed in 2007 which we had a detailed look around.

We'd spent most of Tuesday having a good detailed inspection of the two hospital sites we'll be looking at Greenwich (just to the NW of the Harbour Bridge) and Neringah (about a further 30 mins NE towards the edge of the built up area of Sydney). These are fascinating historical (early 20th Century/ late 19th Century) sites with a myriad of development constraints and I'm coming back with 250 photos!

Last night saw us out for dinner with the senior management team at a delightful restaurant overlooking Freshwater Bay to the north of Manley beach. We were introduced to Angela Raguz, who is an integral part of the management team and knows our neck of the woods pretty well with happy memories of Manchester as she won a bronze medal at the 2002 Commonwealth games in Judo.

Tomorrow is a visit the Montefiore scheme which Damian Utton knows well, a luxurious care facility about half an hour from here. Evening will see us on a ferry across the Harbour to a BBQ in our honour before we pack for our planes to Tokyo (via Singapore) on Saturday.

14hours flying time arriving on Sunday morning and 1 hour closer to home.

What do you call a boomerang that won't come back?...........A stick.
 
Cheers to everyone.
 
Hope to blog from Japan.
 
David