HFDU - 13th Edition

Originally sent: February 3, 2004

Hi everyone! I hope that this edition of HFDU finds you all well. I feel like it's been ages since my last email, but it was just under a month ago. So, I have a few things to update you all on and hope that this edition is no more boring than all of the previous editions:-)

In the Holiday Edition I forgot to mention the Christmas Party at work! I couldn't believe it after I re-read the email, but I think I was still on a high from all of my travels during the holidays. The Christmas Party was fabulous! My company rents out an entire floor of banquet halls/ball rooms at the Grand Hyatt hotel across the street from our building, picks a theme for the evening, and then decorates each room differently, so that it's like walking into different worlds every time you go to a different room. The party starts at 1pm and officially ends at 7pm. This year the theme was Alice in Wonderland, and it was complete with white rabbits, the Mad Hatter, Alice, the Queen, and all of the other storybook characters. I truly cannot describe how elaborate this party was, but there was a casino room, a Mad Hatter's tea party, an oyster/karaoke bar room, heaps of games, drinks, and nibbles, live bands, a partner "Pop Idol" competition (which was absolutely hilarious!), and the list goes on and on and on........

To sum it up, the Melbourne office outdid itself again, and I'm just looking forward to the next ball now! I did get up on stage and sing a little karaoke in front of a few co-workers and others that I didn't know, and managed to survive. It was a great evening! Oh, I forgot to mention that for the "after party", my company rented out the entire nightclub below the Hyatt for the evening so the dancing continued on into the night and the wee hours of the morning. A great time was definitely had by all!

Another weekend a few girls and I drove down the beach about 1 1/2 hours to a town called Rye, and went horseback riding. We went for a combination bush/ocean ride and had a great time! I have always wanted to go horseback riding on the beach and this was my chance . There is nothing like cantering at full speed on a horse along the beach with the waves crashing right next to you! It was exhilarating, and a little nerve-wrecking, but "Big Pat" (my horse) treated me well and was a good ride. All of us were extremely sore in the thighs and bum for the next couple of days, but it was well worth it. I definitely want to go again soon, I miss being on the back of a horse!

One of my co-worker friends, "C", who's from Scotland, had some friends over from the UK and so we decided to take them out for a night on the town. After a nice dinner and a stop at the Vodka Bar, we ended up at a duelling piano bar. For those of you who have never been, they are SO much fun! I had been to one before and loved it, so we stopped in and ended up staying there until nearly 3am! It's just great music, dancing, and a very lively atmosphere.. I would highly recommend them to anyone who has never been as the pianists are usually VERY entertaining!

I also experienced my first hen's night (bachelorette party) over here. A manager that I work for is getting married and her friends rented an apartment on the river for the evening and threw a great party! They had a smorgasbord of finger foods and every drink imaginable, complete with a "bartender" (I'll leave that one up to the imagination). We had a great time dancing and were enjoying an evening with the girls. And everyone was very well behaved :-)

Overall a really fun night, but I must admit that C and I left at midnight when the other girls were getting ready to go out to the clubs. That was the same day that we had been horseback riding, so needless to say, we were exhausted (or as the Aussies would day, "knackered")!

Softball is going really well. Our team seems to be really improving as the season goes along and we still have only lost one game! The girls are all hitting pretty well now, and I think everyone is just a lot more comfortable with the sport. Our season ends at the end of February and I think that I'll be a bit sad now on Wednesday nights. Coach is really excited about the playoffs and we finally got matching team shirts, so we'll at least be looking good when we play from now on!

Speaking of sports, the Australian Open just finished here yesterday. I have never been much of a tennis fan, but we stumbled upon some tickets to the first round matches and ended up getting to watch Andre Agassi (which is good because I didn't know many other players at the time). I've decided that once you actually understand the game, and especially when you get to see it live, it's actually quite a nice sport and definitely full of tension and suspense. Although, I didn't realize that they are so serious and particular about noise. C and I ended up buying quarter final tickets and got to see Andy Roddick play, which was very exciting! He ended up losing, but it was a great 5-set match and I was proud of Andy for putting up a good fight for the U.S.A.! I also did not realize how long the matches could last into the night. Both nights we were there we didn't leave until midnight, which when you are working the next day, is a bit exhausting.

We also just had a national holiday, Australia Day, which I think is similar to our independence day, although I think it's more just the forming of Australia as it's own country rather than independence. A lot of people seemed to stay around Melbourne for the long weekend, as did I, and it was great to relax. I did go see the celebration and fireworks at Federation Square, a large entertainment-type complex and that was enjoyable. They had people from all over the world (as Australia is extremely multi-cultural) performing, and C and I have now been inspired to learn how to belly dance. We'll see if that actually happens, but it definitely would be fun and great exercise!

Let's see what else........the new apartment is going well. Still haven't hung anything up on the walls yet, but I'm at least organized. I really enjoy living by myself again, and my part of town is great as well. I'm within walking distance of one of the most famous streets for cafes, shopping, drinks, movies, etc. so that's definitely a perk. I went to the nursery last weekend and got some plants, so at least there is something else "alive" in my apartment besides me. My family is planning on coming for three weeks at the end of June/beginning of July, so I can hardly wait to show them around, and just see them! I may even get a trip to Fiji out of it as there is a free stopover in Fiji if you fly Qantas. B is excited to take my dad to a footy game so that he can explain Australian footy to him, and I think dad is equally excited to learn and experience it! B is back in about 2 1/2 months, and I'm definitely counting down the days......

One last thing, last night I went to a Super Bowl party thrown by an American couple who plays on my softball team. They are permanent residents of Australia now so they understand the Americans need to watch the big game way down here. They taped it on our Monday morning while we were working, and then replayed it while we enjoyed pizza and American beer (Budweiser - that's all you can get down here & it's not easy). We missed out on the great American commercials though, as they played Aussie ones here and they were not nearly as exciting. I must admit that I was a little bummed to miss out on the Super Bowl when it was in Houston, but such is life I suppose. It's not like I would have gotten a ticket anyway!

Well, that's about it from down under at the moment. Just taking life a step at a time. I still love driving around in Pajy, especially in the summer with the roof open. The Grape Grazing Festival at the Yarra Valley wineries is coming up and we are planning a day away there, as well as our Group Retreat, which I've heard is a lot of fun. So, I'll be back next time, most likely with more adventures, but I do miss everyone at home and am starting to get food cravings. I specifically crave Mexican food, ribs from Houston's, and boneless wings from Wings 'N' More at the moment! Although, my cravings tend to change by the week.

P.S. These are a few things that Australia does that I think the States could learn from:

Assigned seating at movie theaters. Takes away the hassle and the hurry, and rewards you for being smart and booking online during the day! You don't have to rush to the movie. It's genius!

Booze buses. The cops here set up road blocks at random at night and stop and breath test every car that passes (takes 30 seconds & all you do is roll your window down and blow into a device). Not only that, but they block all of the side roads so that you can't escape once you see the road block. Australia is very serious about drunk driving and has a blood alcohol limit of .05. I got stopped the other night on my way home from a girlfriend's house for dinner with 2 glasses of wine in me and I was soooooo nervous! But, of course I got through as that's not enough alcohol to be anywhere close, but it's still scary!

No tipping & tax included. It is so nice to go into a restaurant, order food, know exactly how much it's going to cost you to get out of the restaurant, and not be hurried by the wait staff because they are trying to move in the next set of people to get more tips.