Originally sent: August 19, 2004
Hi everyone - I feel like I haven't sent an email in ages but it is busy season after all! Hopefully this will still be an interesting email despite the long hours that I've been working lately. But what can I say, I needed a break from auditing and decided to say hello to all of you.
As you all know, the Olympics are happening right now in Athens. Let me tell you, it's a completely different experience over here! I never get to watch gymnastics because the Aussies aren't good at it so they don't broadcast that part of the Olympics. It's all swimming, swimming, swimming right now, and I was amazed to learn that the Aussies get up in the middle of the night to watch Ian Thorpe swim, rather than watching re-runs in the morning! They just seem to think it's more exciting to watch it live when you don't know who's going to win. I'm perfectly happy watching re-runs over breakfast :-) I do miss watching the Americans, but am still happy to see them climbing up in the medal count daily.
The Greeks seem to be satisfied with their Euro 2004 soccer win - and Melbourne, having the 2nd largest Greek population outside of Athens in the world, was extremely chaotic after that win several weeks ago. B was up at 3am on a Monday morning with his mates in the middle of the city watching the final game, on a big screen in the streets of Melbourne with the rest of the Greek population in Melbourne. I don't know what it is about the Aussies and live events - they seem to watch them and participate no matter what the hour is! Speaking of Greek, I've officially started a Greek class on Monday nights at an adult education center and have been going for about 5 weeks. I've really enjoyed it, and B enjoys listening to all of my new phrases and hearing my progress from week to week. I'm happy to stretch my brain a bit and learn a new language.....after all, that was initially one of the challenges that I was looking for coming overseas. And I thought that I wouldn't get that chance in Australia!
My friend from home, A, was over here for a couple of weeks and we had a great time! I enjoyed having some girlie time and showing her a bit around Melbourne. Although, she rented a car and travelled a bit around the countryside by herself as I had to work and she wanted to see some of the fantastic scenery in country Victoria. B was a good tour guide to her while I was in Greek class, and she got her fill of footy attending both B's weekend game and my company's Footy Day. We ended her trip with me being "sick" for the day and we drove through the nearby mountains and winery region. I think she mastered driving on the left side of the road quite well and reminded me that I was going to have some trouble driving in the States when I come back in December for a visit.
Speaking of that visit, B and I will be coming back to the States for 3 weeks over Christmas. He's never been to the States so he's quite excited about the trip. I don't know where all we will be going besides Texas (I've left that up to him), but I'm sure that he'll select some interesting places, and likely ones that I have not been too before as well! It'll be good to have some real Mexican food and get some shopping done. Any special requests from Australia need to be made early to ensure adequate allocation of space in our luggage on the flight over :-)
What else has been going on.......B & I and another couple went to Circus Oz a few weeks ago and it was fabulous! I ran a 10k race, completely unprepared, and survived the whole thing without walking, but I couldn't really walk for the next two days after that. I probably should take it a bit easier in my next race! We finally had the Apprentice Grand Finale over here about 2 weeks ago and I won the betting pool at work with Bill as my selection, so I won a bit of money. It was a bit frustrating though, because so many people already knew who won and I was trying to get them to keep quiet while I watched religiously every week.
My Scottish friend "C" and I are going to start rowing on Sunday mornings once a month at the local rowing club. For $10 you can row with them for the morning - I know it's crazy, but we both thought that maybe it would tone up our muscles (what muscles?) a little bit. Hmmm....we'll see! I organized a secondee drinks night for all of my company's employees on international rotation in the Melbourne office and it was great to meet everyone from all over the world. I think we have about 12 countries represented here and it was nice to meet others who are away from home as well. Although, I honestly feel like a local now, except when I still get made fun of because of my "accent" and the way I say "tomato". I met my second Starlight wish child and he is such an adorable little boy. He's 9 and has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, but his wish was for a motorbike, so we did some research and found one that would be suitable for him. It doesn't get delivered until late November, but I can't wait to see him riding around on it for the first time!
We had our annual company and Chartered Accountant Footy Days this past month, and my company was again victorious over the other accounting firms on Chartered Accountant Day. B's footy club had it's 30th Anniversary Gala this past weekend and it was a great night. B made the "Team of the Decade" for 1994-2004 which was a significant achievement. I was so proud! We enjoyed getting all dressed up and spending time with non-work people. Once he sends me some photos from the night, I'll put some of them on the web. You may have noticed, but I haven't been so photo crazy over the past few months. I just can't be bothered to drag my camera everywhere anymore, but hopefully the best moments will still be caught on film :-) We have our annual company Ball coming up in 2 weeks, so I'm sure that there will be some good photos from that evening as there were last year!
Well, that's about it from down under at the moment. It's trying to become spring slowly, but the mornings and evenings are still very cold and we've had some pretty cruddy, rainy days lately. I am looking forward to better weather as that means the end of footy season, which means more motorcycle rides with B, more weekends away with B, more fishing at his family's holiday house.......can you see a trend here? Hope all is well with everyone and thanks to those who have been keeping in touch with me. Pass along those photos and emails......they make my life over here a lot easier.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
HFDU - Family Fun
Originally sent: July 8, 2004
G'day everyone! I hope this edition of HFDU finds you all well & enjoying the summer back in America - or wherever you happen to be. I'm pretty sure that everyone on this email list is located in the northern hemisphere, so hopefully the weather is a bit warmer for everyone than it is for me here in Melbourne.
This email will sum up the time that I spent with my family over here. It was great to see them and get to spend time with them, just like back in the good ole' days. It was a bit strange at first, with my two worlds colliding, but my family actually transitioned very well into the Australian culture (although mom could never get over the fact that "lemonade" over here is Sprite!) & enjoyed all of the tourist activities. B & I picked them up at the airport on the Sunday morning & took dad & my sister "A" a few hours later to an Aussie Rules footy match. What a way to welcome them to Australia! I think the afternoon was enjoyed by all, even though it was cold & rainy. Dad got to experience meat pie at the game & A was glad to be back at the MCG.
I worked the next week while they saw the sights during the day, but we managed to sneak in fun dinners and activities at night. Dad got to eat kangaroo like he was so much looking forward to, B & I met them for dinner along the river, we made a trip to the Casino, & then they were off in the rental car on the Great Ocean Road for a couple of days. Since I had already been, we put mom behind the steering wheel to have a go at driving in Australia. I think she did pretty well, although my sister may have a different idea! No major incidents though & everyone made it home safely.
On the weekend, dad enjoyed grocery shopping with me & seeing all of the differences between American food & Aussie food in the store, & we made a trip to a giant liquor store so that Amy could stock up on Australian wine to take back home. I think she ended up with about a dozen bottles to bring home, which makes the suitcases quite heavy when you load them all up! A & I also went out with a few girls that weekend so A could see a bit of Melbourne nightlife.
On that Sunday, the Masons made a trip down to Phillip Island, about 2 hours away, to stay for the night and observe the infamous penguin parade. Phillip Island is home to the smallest breed of penguins in the world, the "little penguin" or what Melburnians call the "fairy penguin". We watched them make their daily waddle from the ocean to their homes in the sand hills at dusk, and they were absolutely adorable! Unfortunately we were not allowed to photograph them, but trust me when I say that they were definitely entertaining! B rode his motorcycle down to Phillip Island that afternoon & attended the penguin parade with us to spend a bit more time with the family. We also took a trip to the seal rocks & the Koala Conservation Center on Phillip Island. We got right up next to a male koala sleeping on the handrail & also saw a mom & little joey eating & playing. I think dad really enjoyed seeing the native Australian wildlife - & the fresh fish & chips that he ate for lunch :-)
When we got back to Melbourne, B treated us to a proper Greek dinner at a Greek tavern. I've developed a real liking for Greek food (except for octopus & whitebait) & I think the family really enjoyed it as well. Dad, A & I drove up to the Healesville Sanctuary the next day where they got to see a bit more of the native Australian wildlife, & we all got boomerang lessons (& did quite well I might add!). A & dad will be coming home with boomerangs so beware! The whole family drove up to the Dandenong Mountain Ranges & took a ride on the 100-year old Puffing Billy steam engine. It was FREEZING cold on the trip, but the scenery was beautiful. That night, several of my co-workers met us all for dinner before we headed off to northern Queensland the following morning.
I was instantly relieved of the cold weather in Melbourne when I got off the plane in Cairns, in northern, tropical Queensland. It was such a treat to be in warm, humid weather in the middle of the Melbourne winter! We stayed at a lovely resort just north of Cairns in a town called Palm Cove. Since I was only up there for a few days, I had to squeeze in everything possible during my time there. One day dad, A & I took a trip to the Daintree National Park & Cape Tribulation. I say this with complete honesty - it was one of the most beautiful (if not the most beautiful) places that I have ever been. The endless miles of tropical rainforest (with no scary animals mind you) colliding with the ocean and the Great Barrier Reef, were just breathtaking! I took lots of photos, but they just don't do the place justice - at all. We went on hikes through the rainforest, did a cruise down the Daintree river where we spotted crocodiles on the banks & a python coiled up in a tree, & visited a discovery center that taught us some amazing things about the rainforest.
My last big adventure on this trip was A & I's excursion out to Green Island & the Great Barrier Reef. I got a bit seasick on the 45 minute ride out to the island, but was fine after my feet hit solid ground. I did an introductory scuba dive along the reef, which basically means that they take you a little ways out from the island, give you a crash course on scuba diving (in about 15 minutes), & then throw you into the deep blue! It was a bit overwhelming at the beginning & I actually thought that I wouldn't be able to do it because I couldn't get used to the fact that I could breathe underwater, but once I calmed down & started seeing the fish life & the reef, I had an amazing time. It was great swimming right alongside the fish - some were huge, most were very colorful - and I got to play with several "Nemos" & feel their sea anemone home! I think I must have been smiling constantly while I was down there & snapping photos like crazy. Luckily it was just me & the instructor though, so he wasn't bothered by my excitement & curiosity. We also saw a moray eel poking out from his rock & I was just trying to make sure that my fins didn't end up in his mouth :-)
All in all, the Cairns trip was thoroughly enjoyable & gave me the opportunity to see another amazing, beautiful part of Australia. Having my family up there was a huge bonus, & we enjoyed just relaxing & hanging out together as a family of four again. They have been in Sydney all week enjoying the sights there, but finally fly home tomorrow after three weeks away. I think this will definitely be a memorable trip for us all!
My next exciting milestone is a visit from my best friend AP in just over a week! I'm ready for some good quality girl time & she's just the person to spend it with me :-) Until next time, I hope that you all are doing well & aren't completely bored by my emails. Thanks to those of you who have been emailing me, keeping me updated on your lives, & sending photos. It makes my life over here seem not so far away home.
G'day everyone! I hope this edition of HFDU finds you all well & enjoying the summer back in America - or wherever you happen to be. I'm pretty sure that everyone on this email list is located in the northern hemisphere, so hopefully the weather is a bit warmer for everyone than it is for me here in Melbourne.
This email will sum up the time that I spent with my family over here. It was great to see them and get to spend time with them, just like back in the good ole' days. It was a bit strange at first, with my two worlds colliding, but my family actually transitioned very well into the Australian culture (although mom could never get over the fact that "lemonade" over here is Sprite!) & enjoyed all of the tourist activities. B & I picked them up at the airport on the Sunday morning & took dad & my sister "A" a few hours later to an Aussie Rules footy match. What a way to welcome them to Australia! I think the afternoon was enjoyed by all, even though it was cold & rainy. Dad got to experience meat pie at the game & A was glad to be back at the MCG.
I worked the next week while they saw the sights during the day, but we managed to sneak in fun dinners and activities at night. Dad got to eat kangaroo like he was so much looking forward to, B & I met them for dinner along the river, we made a trip to the Casino, & then they were off in the rental car on the Great Ocean Road for a couple of days. Since I had already been, we put mom behind the steering wheel to have a go at driving in Australia. I think she did pretty well, although my sister may have a different idea! No major incidents though & everyone made it home safely.
On the weekend, dad enjoyed grocery shopping with me & seeing all of the differences between American food & Aussie food in the store, & we made a trip to a giant liquor store so that Amy could stock up on Australian wine to take back home. I think she ended up with about a dozen bottles to bring home, which makes the suitcases quite heavy when you load them all up! A & I also went out with a few girls that weekend so A could see a bit of Melbourne nightlife.
On that Sunday, the Masons made a trip down to Phillip Island, about 2 hours away, to stay for the night and observe the infamous penguin parade. Phillip Island is home to the smallest breed of penguins in the world, the "little penguin" or what Melburnians call the "fairy penguin". We watched them make their daily waddle from the ocean to their homes in the sand hills at dusk, and they were absolutely adorable! Unfortunately we were not allowed to photograph them, but trust me when I say that they were definitely entertaining! B rode his motorcycle down to Phillip Island that afternoon & attended the penguin parade with us to spend a bit more time with the family. We also took a trip to the seal rocks & the Koala Conservation Center on Phillip Island. We got right up next to a male koala sleeping on the handrail & also saw a mom & little joey eating & playing. I think dad really enjoyed seeing the native Australian wildlife - & the fresh fish & chips that he ate for lunch :-)
When we got back to Melbourne, B treated us to a proper Greek dinner at a Greek tavern. I've developed a real liking for Greek food (except for octopus & whitebait) & I think the family really enjoyed it as well. Dad, A & I drove up to the Healesville Sanctuary the next day where they got to see a bit more of the native Australian wildlife, & we all got boomerang lessons (& did quite well I might add!). A & dad will be coming home with boomerangs so beware! The whole family drove up to the Dandenong Mountain Ranges & took a ride on the 100-year old Puffing Billy steam engine. It was FREEZING cold on the trip, but the scenery was beautiful. That night, several of my co-workers met us all for dinner before we headed off to northern Queensland the following morning.
I was instantly relieved of the cold weather in Melbourne when I got off the plane in Cairns, in northern, tropical Queensland. It was such a treat to be in warm, humid weather in the middle of the Melbourne winter! We stayed at a lovely resort just north of Cairns in a town called Palm Cove. Since I was only up there for a few days, I had to squeeze in everything possible during my time there. One day dad, A & I took a trip to the Daintree National Park & Cape Tribulation. I say this with complete honesty - it was one of the most beautiful (if not the most beautiful) places that I have ever been. The endless miles of tropical rainforest (with no scary animals mind you) colliding with the ocean and the Great Barrier Reef, were just breathtaking! I took lots of photos, but they just don't do the place justice - at all. We went on hikes through the rainforest, did a cruise down the Daintree river where we spotted crocodiles on the banks & a python coiled up in a tree, & visited a discovery center that taught us some amazing things about the rainforest.
My last big adventure on this trip was A & I's excursion out to Green Island & the Great Barrier Reef. I got a bit seasick on the 45 minute ride out to the island, but was fine after my feet hit solid ground. I did an introductory scuba dive along the reef, which basically means that they take you a little ways out from the island, give you a crash course on scuba diving (in about 15 minutes), & then throw you into the deep blue! It was a bit overwhelming at the beginning & I actually thought that I wouldn't be able to do it because I couldn't get used to the fact that I could breathe underwater, but once I calmed down & started seeing the fish life & the reef, I had an amazing time. It was great swimming right alongside the fish - some were huge, most were very colorful - and I got to play with several "Nemos" & feel their sea anemone home! I think I must have been smiling constantly while I was down there & snapping photos like crazy. Luckily it was just me & the instructor though, so he wasn't bothered by my excitement & curiosity. We also saw a moray eel poking out from his rock & I was just trying to make sure that my fins didn't end up in his mouth :-)
All in all, the Cairns trip was thoroughly enjoyable & gave me the opportunity to see another amazing, beautiful part of Australia. Having my family up there was a huge bonus, & we enjoyed just relaxing & hanging out together as a family of four again. They have been in Sydney all week enjoying the sights there, but finally fly home tomorrow after three weeks away. I think this will definitely be a memorable trip for us all!
My next exciting milestone is a visit from my best friend AP in just over a week! I'm ready for some good quality girl time & she's just the person to spend it with me :-) Until next time, I hope that you all are doing well & aren't completely bored by my emails. Thanks to those of you who have been emailing me, keeping me updated on your lives, & sending photos. It makes my life over here seem not so far away home.
HFDU - Outback Special
Originally sent: June 7, 2004
Hello everyone! Well, what can I say about my adventures in the Outback - they were amazing! Made even better by the fact that I got to experience everything with B. And this trip definitely warranted it's own HFDU email - the Outback Special. For those of you who are new to these emails, "HFDU" stands for "Hello From Down Under". It was the title of my very first email that I sent out once I got to Australia, and the name just stuck. So, what did B and I get up to in Australia's "Red Center" (it really does look like Mars!)?
Our first night was spent in a little country town, but it was literally a sleeping spot for us as we had no time to wander about the next day since we had to get to moving. We had thousands of kilometres to cover and lots to see along the way. The first point of interest was when we stopped in a town called Bordertown (near the border of Victoria and South Australia) and snuck a peek at the white kangaroos that the town is famous for. They are literally albino kangaroos, and they were very intrigued by us as they immediately hopped over to the fence to see who we were and what we were doing there. Photos of these little guys will be posted on the website. They really were a sight to see!
We continued along our way to Adelaide (capital of South Australia - about 1 million people) and made it there by mid-afternoon. Keep in mind that we're still not in the Outback yet, just doing lots of driving to get there! We spent the afternoon & evening in Adelaide just wandering around, and enjoying our last night in a big city before heading to no man's land.
The next morning we took a drive through the Barossa Valley, which is my favorite wine-producing region in Australia. It's the home of many famous wineries, including Jacob's Creek, which I think exports to the U.S. so some of you may have heard of it or drank some Jacob's Creek wine at some point. Once we left the Barossa Valley, we started heading up north and getting more into the country of Australia. One of the first things that B told me about on the highway was Australia's notorious "road trains". Imagine a normal 18-wheeler in America......then add on up to four more semi-trailers! You're literally driving down the highway and a truck passes you with up to five semi-trailers. They are huge, and are everywhere, although the largest that B and I saw was four trailers. They do this because driving around Australia, particularly in the Outback, is long and arduous, so they try to be efficient and have one driver take along as much as possible. I've also taken a photo of a road train alert sign so be looking for that on the website as well.
One of the things that we specifically planned on not doing during this trip was having to drive through the Outback after the sun went down. This is because the kangaroos (who are nocturnal) tend to bounce right in front of your car, and if you're traveling along at more than 110 kph (~68 mph) it's hard to do much about it when you can't see them. Also, there are heaps of sheep and cattle in the Outback that are not fenced in and tend to wander alongside or on the road. But, because of many reasons, we ended up driving a few hours in the dark on our third day. We managed to make it safely to Coober Pedy without hitting anything, but we did see a few roos and sheep on the way up. Unfortunately, a couple staying at our hotel were not so fortunate and hit a roo on the way up, so they were busy trying to figure out what to do with their car!
Coober Pedy is an opal mining town with lots and lots of red dirt. That's about all you see, because a lot of the establishments (hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, etc.) are underground. This is because of the immense heat in Coober Pedy in the summer. It regularly rises over 40 degrees C (104+ degrees F) and there are hardly any trees to provide protection. B & I actually stayed in an underground hotel that was an old opal mine. It was very cool and photos are on the website, along with photos of the town. Coober Pedy produces more opal than any other place in the world, and along with two other towns, supplies about 85% of the world's opal supply, so you can imagine that opals run in these people's blood. We took a tour of an old mine, and it was very interesting. The miner's used to live underground as well, and we took a tour through an old underground home. All in all, Coober Pedy was a very interesting and very barren part of the South Australian Outback.
There are a few more photos related to Coober Pedy up on the website:
- a sign seen a long the highway that warns people about the opal mine shafts that are hidden. In other words, pay attention to where you are going or you are likely to fall down into one!
- the endless piles of "ant hills" that actually represent the exploratory digs for opal. When driving along the highway, you can literally see these as far as your eyes can see!
- a photo of me next to the "dog fence", which is the longest man-made fence in the world! It spans 5,300 kilometres (nearly 3,400 miles) across the Australian Outback to separate the native dingo from many of the sheep. The plan was to build the dog fence and then kill all of the dingos on one side so that there would be one side that was safe for the sheep. Obviously it is not perfect, but the theory has worked well.
We continued travelling up the highway, getting deeper and deeper into the Outback, and the dirt was become more and more red the further north that we got. I wasn't fully aware of the true meaning of "the Red Center" but I certainly am now! We would drive along and see dirt so fine, and so red in color, that it looked like paprika. Literally. I had to get out of the car at one point and just sift it through my hands. Once we crossed the border between South Australia and the Northern Territory, a big smile grew on B's face and it didn't take long for me to remember why.........there is no speed limit on the highway in the Northern Territory. And boy did we take advantage of it - in a completely safe manner of course - when I climbed into the back seat with the camera ready to snap a shot of the car doing 230 kph (143 mph), I was sure to hold on tight and not distract B as he was maneuvering the car past shocked bystanders on the side of the road! It was exhilarating to say the least! And we were again made aware of the danger of driving at night by the high number of dead cows and kangaroos that were on the side of the road the next day!
Needless to say, we made it to Ayers Rock Resort quicker than planned, and had some time to settle in and relax a bit before the evening got started. For those of you who don't know what Ayers Rock is, it's the largest monolith (single rock) on the world. It's as well known as the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge to Australians, and lies almost smack dab in the middle of Australia. It's believed that 2/3rds of the rock is actually underground. It holds spiritual significance to the Aboriginal people and stands out like a glowing giant in the middle of the otherwise flat Australian Outback. Because of the popularity of this rock, an entire community was created about 25 kilometres away that houses about four hotels, a petrol station, grocery store, post office, campground, and other bare necessities. It's formed in one big loop and reminds me of a large "big brother" type complex. It's the only settlement for hundreds of kilometres, in fact, there is a sign that states that there is no fuel for 815 kilometres after this community - and you guessed it - I have a photo of that sign as well :-)
Anyway, B and I really enjoyed this little community, known as Yulara, and the place that we stayed was enjoyable as well. It was called the Outback Pioneer Resort and definitely complemented the feel that you really were in the Outback! I think our favorite part of this hotel was the Outback Pioneer BBQ, which offered lots of different raw meat that you selected and then cooked yourself on their large grills. Just to give you an idea of the food that they offered.......kangaroo skewers, emu steaks, lamb shanks, crocodile skewers, and the normal beef burgers, steaks and chicken. We had a great time grilling our meat, drinking beer and enjoying the Outback!
The next day we actually were making the quick trip to see Ayers Rock (known as Uluru to the Aboriginals) and the nearby Olgas (another rock formation known as Kata Tjuta to the Aboriginals). Considering that this area gets about 30 days of rain per year, we were very unfortunate that two of them were while we were there. That meant was that we didn't get to climb the rock or see the magnificent changes of color of the rock at sunset, but we enjoyed it anyway. As part of learning about the history of the rock, the Aboriginals have set up a Cultural Community Center that was very interesting and informative. B & I took a stroll through there and learned about how the Aboriginal people used to live. We also drove to the Olgas and went for a quick hike through a gorge. There are several beautiful photos of Uluru and Kata Tjuta, but the photos can't really capture the splendor of either of these rocks!
After our two nights and days at Yulara, we headed further north to Alice Springs (known as "the Alice" to the locals), which is the only decent size city in the Northern Territory Outback. It was refreshing to be back in a city and get to walk around shops and eat at cafes. Before we left Melbourne, I had read about this restaurant in Alice called Bojangles. This place is an Outback saloon of sorts and B & I decided to go there, if for nothing else, but for the extensive and interesting menu. Just in short, these are the things that we actually ate while at Bojangles:
kangaroo, camel, emu, crocodile, bush pig sausage, wallaby sausage, buffalo sausage, and razor back ribs - can you believe it? I was so shocked that I actually tried everything that I had to call my dad that night and let him know! Only in Australia........
Bojangles also had a live radio station and live web cast on while we were there, and B & I were lucky (or unlucky?) enough to be interviewed live while we were there. After B told the host that I was from Texas, I was asked if I could do a little boot scootin' to the Shania Twain song that we had requested, but I somehow got out of it, thank goodness!
The next day we tried to fit as many things as possible - trips to the nearby Simpsons Gap and Standley's Chasm (where I hand-fed a rock wallaby, after eating one the night before!), a trip through the National Transportation Museum (where B got to read all about the road trains) and a camel ride (after eating one of those the night before too!). We did an hour long sunset camel ride through the Outback. My camel was an ex-racing camel affectionately known as Greyhound. B's camel BJ, was....well..... just HUGE! When you look at the photos of us with the camels, his looks nearly twice the size of mine. We really enjoyed the ride and got to see some wild kangaroos hopping along side us for a bit. Alice Springs was a nice end to the holiday part of our trip - now we just had about 2400 kilometres to drive before we got home!
The next two days were straight driving. We clocked up about 1,250 kilometres (~777 miles) the first day, which was about 14 hours, taking into account the stops for fuel and food, and a bit of sightseeing. It's a good thing that I like B so much :-) The next day was much of the same, but at least we knew it was the home stretch.
Overall, our 8 days in the Outback were spectacular! So many people only want to go to exotic, tropical places for holiday, but there is no feeling like driving for hours through the Outback without passing another car, or looking out into the horizon, and seeing nothing but red dirt. It was amazing for us to be together in one of the most inhospitable environments in the world. You hear about the Outback in movies and books, Survivor did a show there, the Crocodile Hunter makes a living there, and we were standing in the middle of it! If anyone gets a chance to take this trip, I highly encourage it. You can fly to Ayers Rock from any major Australian city for about $600 round-trip, or do what we did and experience the great Australian Outback in a car. Just make sure that it's not going to break down in you! :-)
I hope this email finds you all well and that it was at least somewhat interesting to read about our Outback adventures. My family is over in less than two weeks now, so the next email will probably be discussing our adventures at the Great Barrier Reef. Until then, take care and let me know how you are doing! I always enjoy hearing from everyone.
Hello everyone! Well, what can I say about my adventures in the Outback - they were amazing! Made even better by the fact that I got to experience everything with B. And this trip definitely warranted it's own HFDU email - the Outback Special. For those of you who are new to these emails, "HFDU" stands for "Hello From Down Under". It was the title of my very first email that I sent out once I got to Australia, and the name just stuck. So, what did B and I get up to in Australia's "Red Center" (it really does look like Mars!)?
Our first night was spent in a little country town, but it was literally a sleeping spot for us as we had no time to wander about the next day since we had to get to moving. We had thousands of kilometres to cover and lots to see along the way. The first point of interest was when we stopped in a town called Bordertown (near the border of Victoria and South Australia) and snuck a peek at the white kangaroos that the town is famous for. They are literally albino kangaroos, and they were very intrigued by us as they immediately hopped over to the fence to see who we were and what we were doing there. Photos of these little guys will be posted on the website. They really were a sight to see!
We continued along our way to Adelaide (capital of South Australia - about 1 million people) and made it there by mid-afternoon. Keep in mind that we're still not in the Outback yet, just doing lots of driving to get there! We spent the afternoon & evening in Adelaide just wandering around, and enjoying our last night in a big city before heading to no man's land.
The next morning we took a drive through the Barossa Valley, which is my favorite wine-producing region in Australia. It's the home of many famous wineries, including Jacob's Creek, which I think exports to the U.S. so some of you may have heard of it or drank some Jacob's Creek wine at some point. Once we left the Barossa Valley, we started heading up north and getting more into the country of Australia. One of the first things that B told me about on the highway was Australia's notorious "road trains". Imagine a normal 18-wheeler in America......then add on up to four more semi-trailers! You're literally driving down the highway and a truck passes you with up to five semi-trailers. They are huge, and are everywhere, although the largest that B and I saw was four trailers. They do this because driving around Australia, particularly in the Outback, is long and arduous, so they try to be efficient and have one driver take along as much as possible. I've also taken a photo of a road train alert sign so be looking for that on the website as well.
One of the things that we specifically planned on not doing during this trip was having to drive through the Outback after the sun went down. This is because the kangaroos (who are nocturnal) tend to bounce right in front of your car, and if you're traveling along at more than 110 kph (~68 mph) it's hard to do much about it when you can't see them. Also, there are heaps of sheep and cattle in the Outback that are not fenced in and tend to wander alongside or on the road. But, because of many reasons, we ended up driving a few hours in the dark on our third day. We managed to make it safely to Coober Pedy without hitting anything, but we did see a few roos and sheep on the way up. Unfortunately, a couple staying at our hotel were not so fortunate and hit a roo on the way up, so they were busy trying to figure out what to do with their car!
Coober Pedy is an opal mining town with lots and lots of red dirt. That's about all you see, because a lot of the establishments (hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, etc.) are underground. This is because of the immense heat in Coober Pedy in the summer. It regularly rises over 40 degrees C (104+ degrees F) and there are hardly any trees to provide protection. B & I actually stayed in an underground hotel that was an old opal mine. It was very cool and photos are on the website, along with photos of the town. Coober Pedy produces more opal than any other place in the world, and along with two other towns, supplies about 85% of the world's opal supply, so you can imagine that opals run in these people's blood. We took a tour of an old mine, and it was very interesting. The miner's used to live underground as well, and we took a tour through an old underground home. All in all, Coober Pedy was a very interesting and very barren part of the South Australian Outback.
There are a few more photos related to Coober Pedy up on the website:
- a sign seen a long the highway that warns people about the opal mine shafts that are hidden. In other words, pay attention to where you are going or you are likely to fall down into one!
- the endless piles of "ant hills" that actually represent the exploratory digs for opal. When driving along the highway, you can literally see these as far as your eyes can see!
- a photo of me next to the "dog fence", which is the longest man-made fence in the world! It spans 5,300 kilometres (nearly 3,400 miles) across the Australian Outback to separate the native dingo from many of the sheep. The plan was to build the dog fence and then kill all of the dingos on one side so that there would be one side that was safe for the sheep. Obviously it is not perfect, but the theory has worked well.
We continued travelling up the highway, getting deeper and deeper into the Outback, and the dirt was become more and more red the further north that we got. I wasn't fully aware of the true meaning of "the Red Center" but I certainly am now! We would drive along and see dirt so fine, and so red in color, that it looked like paprika. Literally. I had to get out of the car at one point and just sift it through my hands. Once we crossed the border between South Australia and the Northern Territory, a big smile grew on B's face and it didn't take long for me to remember why.........there is no speed limit on the highway in the Northern Territory. And boy did we take advantage of it - in a completely safe manner of course - when I climbed into the back seat with the camera ready to snap a shot of the car doing 230 kph (143 mph), I was sure to hold on tight and not distract B as he was maneuvering the car past shocked bystanders on the side of the road! It was exhilarating to say the least! And we were again made aware of the danger of driving at night by the high number of dead cows and kangaroos that were on the side of the road the next day!
Needless to say, we made it to Ayers Rock Resort quicker than planned, and had some time to settle in and relax a bit before the evening got started. For those of you who don't know what Ayers Rock is, it's the largest monolith (single rock) on the world. It's as well known as the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge to Australians, and lies almost smack dab in the middle of Australia. It's believed that 2/3rds of the rock is actually underground. It holds spiritual significance to the Aboriginal people and stands out like a glowing giant in the middle of the otherwise flat Australian Outback. Because of the popularity of this rock, an entire community was created about 25 kilometres away that houses about four hotels, a petrol station, grocery store, post office, campground, and other bare necessities. It's formed in one big loop and reminds me of a large "big brother" type complex. It's the only settlement for hundreds of kilometres, in fact, there is a sign that states that there is no fuel for 815 kilometres after this community - and you guessed it - I have a photo of that sign as well :-)
Anyway, B and I really enjoyed this little community, known as Yulara, and the place that we stayed was enjoyable as well. It was called the Outback Pioneer Resort and definitely complemented the feel that you really were in the Outback! I think our favorite part of this hotel was the Outback Pioneer BBQ, which offered lots of different raw meat that you selected and then cooked yourself on their large grills. Just to give you an idea of the food that they offered.......kangaroo skewers, emu steaks, lamb shanks, crocodile skewers, and the normal beef burgers, steaks and chicken. We had a great time grilling our meat, drinking beer and enjoying the Outback!
The next day we actually were making the quick trip to see Ayers Rock (known as Uluru to the Aboriginals) and the nearby Olgas (another rock formation known as Kata Tjuta to the Aboriginals). Considering that this area gets about 30 days of rain per year, we were very unfortunate that two of them were while we were there. That meant was that we didn't get to climb the rock or see the magnificent changes of color of the rock at sunset, but we enjoyed it anyway. As part of learning about the history of the rock, the Aboriginals have set up a Cultural Community Center that was very interesting and informative. B & I took a stroll through there and learned about how the Aboriginal people used to live. We also drove to the Olgas and went for a quick hike through a gorge. There are several beautiful photos of Uluru and Kata Tjuta, but the photos can't really capture the splendor of either of these rocks!
After our two nights and days at Yulara, we headed further north to Alice Springs (known as "the Alice" to the locals), which is the only decent size city in the Northern Territory Outback. It was refreshing to be back in a city and get to walk around shops and eat at cafes. Before we left Melbourne, I had read about this restaurant in Alice called Bojangles. This place is an Outback saloon of sorts and B & I decided to go there, if for nothing else, but for the extensive and interesting menu. Just in short, these are the things that we actually ate while at Bojangles:
kangaroo, camel, emu, crocodile, bush pig sausage, wallaby sausage, buffalo sausage, and razor back ribs - can you believe it? I was so shocked that I actually tried everything that I had to call my dad that night and let him know! Only in Australia........
Bojangles also had a live radio station and live web cast on while we were there, and B & I were lucky (or unlucky?) enough to be interviewed live while we were there. After B told the host that I was from Texas, I was asked if I could do a little boot scootin' to the Shania Twain song that we had requested, but I somehow got out of it, thank goodness!
The next day we tried to fit as many things as possible - trips to the nearby Simpsons Gap and Standley's Chasm (where I hand-fed a rock wallaby, after eating one the night before!), a trip through the National Transportation Museum (where B got to read all about the road trains) and a camel ride (after eating one of those the night before too!). We did an hour long sunset camel ride through the Outback. My camel was an ex-racing camel affectionately known as Greyhound. B's camel BJ, was....well..... just HUGE! When you look at the photos of us with the camels, his looks nearly twice the size of mine. We really enjoyed the ride and got to see some wild kangaroos hopping along side us for a bit. Alice Springs was a nice end to the holiday part of our trip - now we just had about 2400 kilometres to drive before we got home!
The next two days were straight driving. We clocked up about 1,250 kilometres (~777 miles) the first day, which was about 14 hours, taking into account the stops for fuel and food, and a bit of sightseeing. It's a good thing that I like B so much :-) The next day was much of the same, but at least we knew it was the home stretch.
Overall, our 8 days in the Outback were spectacular! So many people only want to go to exotic, tropical places for holiday, but there is no feeling like driving for hours through the Outback without passing another car, or looking out into the horizon, and seeing nothing but red dirt. It was amazing for us to be together in one of the most inhospitable environments in the world. You hear about the Outback in movies and books, Survivor did a show there, the Crocodile Hunter makes a living there, and we were standing in the middle of it! If anyone gets a chance to take this trip, I highly encourage it. You can fly to Ayers Rock from any major Australian city for about $600 round-trip, or do what we did and experience the great Australian Outback in a car. Just make sure that it's not going to break down in you! :-)
I hope this email finds you all well and that it was at least somewhat interesting to read about our Outback adventures. My family is over in less than two weeks now, so the next email will probably be discussing our adventures at the Great Barrier Reef. Until then, take care and let me know how you are doing! I always enjoy hearing from everyone.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
HFDU - 16th Edition
Originally sent: May 20, 2004
Hi everyone! Well, I must admit that over the past month, much of my time has been spent catching up with B and making up for the 5 1/2 months that we spent apart. But, I did manage to squeeze in a few fun things and hope that you find this Edition of HFDU at least a little bit entertaining :-)
After my 10+ months in Australia, and in KPMG's Melbourne office, I had yet to attend one of the official "end of audit" lunches that the office is so famous for. That is until the lunch that occurred at the end of April! I'm still shocked at the effort that the Melbourne office puts in to events. We had 30+ people at the lunch, from all divisions of my company who worked on the same audit. The best thing about it is that it started about 12:30 and didn't end until about 10 hours later, so I only had to work half a day and then got to relax and enjoy myself with my co-workers for the rest of the day. Me and one of the managers were responsible for allocating awards to other staff members (for doing something memorable/entertaining during the engagement) and they were quite the hit of the afternoon! I think the lunches are a great way to reward all of the hard working team members and let us know that we are appreciated. After we left the restaurant we ended up at the pub downstairs and continued the festivities, and have plenty of digital camera photos to show for it!
The granting of my first wish for the Starlight Children's Foundation is now complete. My little girl and her family just got back from their trip to Australia's Gold Coast (where the Disneyland-type theme parks are located) and I am meeting up with them soon to see photos and hear about all of her experiences. B and I met with them just before they left and gave her some goodies for the trip, and she was so excited to get to ride on a big plane for the first time! In the meantime, I've been allocated my second wish child, who I think will prove to be a bit more challenging as his illness is a bit more severe. But, I think it will make the process that much more rewarding when it's complete and he is happy!
This past weekend I helped host a baby shower for a girl on my softball team and it was a great girlie afternoon. A lot of the food that I made was American food that I would have prepared for a shower or party at home, and the Aussies just loved it! I was amazed at how popular some of the stuff was! Unfortunately, I couldn't eat any of it because I was participating in World Vision's 40 hour famine. I started my famine on Friday night (after a full night of dinner & drinks!) and couldn't eat until 40 hours later on Sunday afternoon. For those of you who know me well, you know that I LOVE food, so this was a bit of a challenge for me - especially since I was making all of the food for the baby shower! I did make sure to keep back some of the goodies so that I could enjoy leftovers on Sunday afternoon when my famine was up :-)
And B was really supportive too because we went down on Saturday night to his family's holiday house on the coast and he didn't eat the entire time we were down there, until I could eat. That was a big help, but I'll tell you, I didn't realize how much energy food gives you! B and I were fishing on Sunday (at about 38 hours into the famine) and I could hardly walk through the sand on the beach because I had no energy! But, I made it and managed to raise just over $200 for World Vision thanks to the generosity of my co-workers. Oh, and can you guess what my first meal was at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon? McDonald's - 2 cheeseburgers, large fries, and a large coke. My stomach wasn't real happy with me but my tastebuds certainly were :-)
In an effort to work that meal off, and all of the other yummy food that I seem to constantly eat down here, I'm running my first 5k in Australia this weekend. One thing I really miss is the Houston office's running club, which ensured that I ran at least one 5k every month. Me and my friend CT have been running on Tuesday and Thursday nights at a nearby park in an effort to shed some weight and get more fit, so entering a race has kept us somewhat motivated. We also signed up for a 10k in July to motivate us to keep running! The only problem is that it's turning to winter very quickly and it gets bloody cold at night some times!
My family comes to visit in 4 1/2 weeks and I absolutely cannot wait! They will spend a week and a half in Melbourne with me, then we all fly up to Cairns (home of the Great Barrier Reef) for 5 days, and then they'll end their adventure in Australia with a few days in Sydney and I'll come back to Melbourne. I'm very proud of them for making the big trip down under and hope that this also encourages others to come for a visit as well :-) My best buddy AP comes a month after my family, and I'm really looking forward to that as well. As I have said for the last 10 months, one of the things I miss the most from home is my girlfriends, so we'll have lots and lots to catch up on!
Oh, and B and I leave in a week for our trip to the Outback and we are very much looking forward to it. We will be taking lots and lots of photos (as requested by my father) and will definitely share many of them on the website. It's supposed to be a phenomenal place, full of culture, really big kangaroos, and lots of adventures! I can't wait to get back and tell you all about it!
Okay, so the moment you've all been waiting for (okay, not really). What have B and I been up to over the last month? It was so good to see him again after so long, but it was very difficult at first because EVERYONE wanted to see him! But, our schedule is back to normal now and we get to spend more time together. I've become a resident "footy chic" at his footy club on Saturday's as he has a game every weekend. I've met the other girlfriends/wives and have a good time chatting with them during the games. I love watching him play - he's so passionate about it and it makes him so happy :-) We actually have a Ladies Luncheon at the footy club in a couple of weekends and it'll be a great time to enjoy girlie time at the club and apparently we will be handing out "awards" to the boys, although I don't know what for. His team is 5-0 so far, so every game proves to be a good one.
I took B on a surprise date to a night at "The Producers" which is a show straight from Broadway, that apparently has won the most Tony Awards ever! It was sooooooo funny and we laughed out loud on several occasions. I think because we are both accountants that it was a bit more humorous to us :-) He took me on a surprise date as well, and re-created our first date. It was so sweet. We went to dinner at the same restaurant, and then went salsa dancing at the same place that we did on our first date. We had just as much fun as we did nearly 9 months ago! It's so nice to have him back and get to have a normal life again, and we are definitely enjoying making up for lost time.
What else have I been up to? Hmmmm.......went bowling one night with B and his mates, which is always entertaining. I've been regularly attending trivia night on Wednesdays at a local pub, and every time I go I feel more like an idiot. But we have a good time and I've luckily got some smart people on my time who keep us in the top third of teams there. Now that B is back, he adds a male perspective and gives us a sporting advantage! It's been very cold at night here, but the days are still mild and enjoyable when it's not raining. The Outback should be nice & warm, as should Cairns. I've also begun mixing my vocabulary a bit - saying half Aussie things and half American things, and it's a bit humorous actually. I never thought that 10 months would have such an impact on me, but the Aussie phrases are definitely catchy!
I hope that all is well with each of you and am very jealous that you all get to watch baseball. Especially with Roger Clemens pitching in Houston, I'm sad that I have to miss the season. I've actually moved up to 6th place in my group's footy tipping competition (out of 51), which is pretty good for a "yank" with no past footy tipping experience! I think a few of the guys in the office are a bit perturbed, but it's all just good, fun competition in the end :-) I'll keep you posted on the Outback trip and would love to hear from each of you on what's going on in your lives. Take care and enjoy the summer!
Hi everyone! Well, I must admit that over the past month, much of my time has been spent catching up with B and making up for the 5 1/2 months that we spent apart. But, I did manage to squeeze in a few fun things and hope that you find this Edition of HFDU at least a little bit entertaining :-)
After my 10+ months in Australia, and in KPMG's Melbourne office, I had yet to attend one of the official "end of audit" lunches that the office is so famous for. That is until the lunch that occurred at the end of April! I'm still shocked at the effort that the Melbourne office puts in to events. We had 30+ people at the lunch, from all divisions of my company who worked on the same audit. The best thing about it is that it started about 12:30 and didn't end until about 10 hours later, so I only had to work half a day and then got to relax and enjoy myself with my co-workers for the rest of the day. Me and one of the managers were responsible for allocating awards to other staff members (for doing something memorable/entertaining during the engagement) and they were quite the hit of the afternoon! I think the lunches are a great way to reward all of the hard working team members and let us know that we are appreciated. After we left the restaurant we ended up at the pub downstairs and continued the festivities, and have plenty of digital camera photos to show for it!
The granting of my first wish for the Starlight Children's Foundation is now complete. My little girl and her family just got back from their trip to Australia's Gold Coast (where the Disneyland-type theme parks are located) and I am meeting up with them soon to see photos and hear about all of her experiences. B and I met with them just before they left and gave her some goodies for the trip, and she was so excited to get to ride on a big plane for the first time! In the meantime, I've been allocated my second wish child, who I think will prove to be a bit more challenging as his illness is a bit more severe. But, I think it will make the process that much more rewarding when it's complete and he is happy!
This past weekend I helped host a baby shower for a girl on my softball team and it was a great girlie afternoon. A lot of the food that I made was American food that I would have prepared for a shower or party at home, and the Aussies just loved it! I was amazed at how popular some of the stuff was! Unfortunately, I couldn't eat any of it because I was participating in World Vision's 40 hour famine. I started my famine on Friday night (after a full night of dinner & drinks!) and couldn't eat until 40 hours later on Sunday afternoon. For those of you who know me well, you know that I LOVE food, so this was a bit of a challenge for me - especially since I was making all of the food for the baby shower! I did make sure to keep back some of the goodies so that I could enjoy leftovers on Sunday afternoon when my famine was up :-)
And B was really supportive too because we went down on Saturday night to his family's holiday house on the coast and he didn't eat the entire time we were down there, until I could eat. That was a big help, but I'll tell you, I didn't realize how much energy food gives you! B and I were fishing on Sunday (at about 38 hours into the famine) and I could hardly walk through the sand on the beach because I had no energy! But, I made it and managed to raise just over $200 for World Vision thanks to the generosity of my co-workers. Oh, and can you guess what my first meal was at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon? McDonald's - 2 cheeseburgers, large fries, and a large coke. My stomach wasn't real happy with me but my tastebuds certainly were :-)
In an effort to work that meal off, and all of the other yummy food that I seem to constantly eat down here, I'm running my first 5k in Australia this weekend. One thing I really miss is the Houston office's running club, which ensured that I ran at least one 5k every month. Me and my friend CT have been running on Tuesday and Thursday nights at a nearby park in an effort to shed some weight and get more fit, so entering a race has kept us somewhat motivated. We also signed up for a 10k in July to motivate us to keep running! The only problem is that it's turning to winter very quickly and it gets bloody cold at night some times!
My family comes to visit in 4 1/2 weeks and I absolutely cannot wait! They will spend a week and a half in Melbourne with me, then we all fly up to Cairns (home of the Great Barrier Reef) for 5 days, and then they'll end their adventure in Australia with a few days in Sydney and I'll come back to Melbourne. I'm very proud of them for making the big trip down under and hope that this also encourages others to come for a visit as well :-) My best buddy AP comes a month after my family, and I'm really looking forward to that as well. As I have said for the last 10 months, one of the things I miss the most from home is my girlfriends, so we'll have lots and lots to catch up on!
Oh, and B and I leave in a week for our trip to the Outback and we are very much looking forward to it. We will be taking lots and lots of photos (as requested by my father) and will definitely share many of them on the website. It's supposed to be a phenomenal place, full of culture, really big kangaroos, and lots of adventures! I can't wait to get back and tell you all about it!
Okay, so the moment you've all been waiting for (okay, not really). What have B and I been up to over the last month? It was so good to see him again after so long, but it was very difficult at first because EVERYONE wanted to see him! But, our schedule is back to normal now and we get to spend more time together. I've become a resident "footy chic" at his footy club on Saturday's as he has a game every weekend. I've met the other girlfriends/wives and have a good time chatting with them during the games. I love watching him play - he's so passionate about it and it makes him so happy :-) We actually have a Ladies Luncheon at the footy club in a couple of weekends and it'll be a great time to enjoy girlie time at the club and apparently we will be handing out "awards" to the boys, although I don't know what for. His team is 5-0 so far, so every game proves to be a good one.
I took B on a surprise date to a night at "The Producers" which is a show straight from Broadway, that apparently has won the most Tony Awards ever! It was sooooooo funny and we laughed out loud on several occasions. I think because we are both accountants that it was a bit more humorous to us :-) He took me on a surprise date as well, and re-created our first date. It was so sweet. We went to dinner at the same restaurant, and then went salsa dancing at the same place that we did on our first date. We had just as much fun as we did nearly 9 months ago! It's so nice to have him back and get to have a normal life again, and we are definitely enjoying making up for lost time.
What else have I been up to? Hmmmm.......went bowling one night with B and his mates, which is always entertaining. I've been regularly attending trivia night on Wednesdays at a local pub, and every time I go I feel more like an idiot. But we have a good time and I've luckily got some smart people on my time who keep us in the top third of teams there. Now that B is back, he adds a male perspective and gives us a sporting advantage! It's been very cold at night here, but the days are still mild and enjoyable when it's not raining. The Outback should be nice & warm, as should Cairns. I've also begun mixing my vocabulary a bit - saying half Aussie things and half American things, and it's a bit humorous actually. I never thought that 10 months would have such an impact on me, but the Aussie phrases are definitely catchy!
I hope that all is well with each of you and am very jealous that you all get to watch baseball. Especially with Roger Clemens pitching in Houston, I'm sad that I have to miss the season. I've actually moved up to 6th place in my group's footy tipping competition (out of 51), which is pretty good for a "yank" with no past footy tipping experience! I think a few of the guys in the office are a bit perturbed, but it's all just good, fun competition in the end :-) I'll keep you posted on the Outback trip and would love to hear from each of you on what's going on in your lives. Take care and enjoy the summer!
HFDU - 15th Edition
Originally sent: April 12, 2004
Hi everyone-- I know I was supposed to wait until B got back to send my next update, but honestly, once he gets here I don't think that my mind will be on much else! And there have been lots of things going on over the past month, so I decided to send another update now rather than later.
A few weeks ago my group at work had its annual retreat in the "High country" of Mansfield which is the homeland of the notorious outlaw Ned Kelly. It was held on a Sunday and Monday, with the thought being that the employees give up a day and the firm gives up a day to spend time together, relax, and get to know everyone better. We were divided into teams and had such events as a scavenger hunt throughout the town of Mansfield, crab soccer, dart competition, Group Idol contest, and other team building exercises.
The theme for the entire retreat was western, and Sunday night we had a "hoe-down" celebration where we rented out the entire local pub complete with dancing and singing country music. A great time was had by all, and it was definitely entertaining to see the partners up dancing on old whiskey barrels! I felt right at home with the music & the atmosphere, and still was amused at the Aussies' idea of Western attire, although some of them looked quite good!
On Monday we rented out the local golf course and played a 9-hole Ambrose event, which was my first experience swinging a golf club at other than a Putt-Putt Golf Course :-) I've decided that I'm not a very good golfer, but that if I had some practice, it might actually be enjoyable. It involves a lot of walking though! We also had a Group BBQ one Friday night after a group meeting down on the river just outside the city, which was a good way to meet all of the new starters ("grads") who came straight from university. We have a few resident masters of the grill in our group so the food was delicious and a good time was had by all.
The next weekend was the end of the season softball bash at one of the players apartments near the beach. It was a good night, hanging out casually with the softball team and closing out the season on a good note. As Wednesday nights are now free from softball, a few of us on the team have decided to start going to trivia night at one of the local pubs. We had our first go at trivia last week and actually did a decent job, although I felt like a complete idiot because most of the questions are related to Australia and the one question that related to the U.S. I got wrong (what is the capital of South Carolina? I said Charleston -- it's Columbia)! The host of the evening was giving me a hard time once he found out that I was American & I didn't know the correct answer :-) But, we will become regulars there and prove that we are worthy of playing from now on!
I spent St. Patrick's Day with 3 Irish women and we had a great time -- I drank Guinness beer for the first time and proudly wore my green hat (courtesy of the Irish pub). I also spent my friend AS' birthday with her celebrating at a genuine Greek tavern. It was an absolute blast -- I felt a bit like I was in the middle of the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"!! Once you are there you are there for the evening. The meal is a feast really. A set menu with about 10 courses (saganaki (fried cheese), char grilled octopus, whitebait, Greek salad, oysters, crabs, fish, dips, lamb, beef, chicken, then dessert), and in the middle of eating you take breaks to dance, Greek style, with the live band playing the festive Greek music. It was a great evening and introduction into the Greek culture. It warmed me up for spending time with B's family when he gets back (in 3 days!!!).
My friend "C" from my firm's Houston office (on rotation in Sydney) was in Melbourne for training and decided to stay the weekend and spend it with me. It was fun to have a houseguest again and show her around Melbourne. We went to the Social Club drinks night together and then to a farewell party for a couple from Germany who have been working for my company here for 2 1/2 years. I really enjoy having friends come and visit as I actually feel like I live here and can show people around and give them suggestions of things to do! Which I guess is a good thing, because my best friend AP is coming over to visit me in July! Her sweet husband surprised her with a plane ticket over here to see me for her birthday, so we're going to have a great 2 weeks of girl time when she gets here :-) I absolutely can't wait!
Speaking of girl time, I had a Girls' Night In at my apartment a couple of weekends ago and we ordered pizza, drank wine, and watched chic-flicks :-) I'm trying to squeeze in all of this time with my girlfriends before B gets back because he & I will have to catch up for 5 1/2 months of being apart!
Footy season is in high gear now, and I've already been to 3 games. I'm hooked! I joined my Group's footy tipping competition (betting) and am actually doing pretty well up against all of the Aussies who have been doing this for years. I'm pretty impressed with myself, and am learning a lot about the footy teams in the process. I've selected the team that I'm supporting from now on -- the Richmond Tigers. It's B's team so I thought since I had no basis to choose any other team I may as well choose the team that he supports. Although, they lost in an embarrassing way today & as I was at the game, it was a bit hard to watch! If anyone is interested to learn about/read about/or just get general information about footy, you should check out www.afl.com.au for tons of interesting stuff. It's honestly a religion over here and Melbourne alone supports 10 of the 16 teams in the league.
I've just completed the long Easter weekend and am getting ready to go back to work tomorrow after 4 days off (Good Friday is a public holiday in Oz -- as it should be in America!). I spent Thursday night through Saturday afternoon at Bells Beach (about 1 1/2 hours away) for the professional surfing competition (Rip Curl Pro). I've never hung around surfers in my life, and I've confirmed that they are not my type of people, but the weekend was good fun anyway! The girl that I went with (one of the Irish women) was not satisfied getting into the "general public" parties, she had to get us into the V.I.P. parties! So we managed to get into the Rip Curl V.I.P. party on Thursday evening & the Globe/Tracks V.I.P. party on Friday evening thanks to her charming ways :-) We had a great time, just dancing the night away and laughing at all of the surfers and their groupies. The actual competition was quite enjoyable to watch, much to my surprise. I thought that I would get bored watching the same thing over and over, but each surfer really did have his own style and it got quite intense close to the end of each heat.
On Saturday night back in Melbourne, I spent the evening at the Greek Orthodox church with AS and her family. I really wanted to spend Easter in a church and AS & her family were kind enough to invite me along. Keep in mind though that this is a large Greek family & that they had all been fasting for the past two weeks, so after the midnight mass, we headed back to the house for a full meal at about 1:00 am! After getting to bed after 2:30 am, I had to be up again for the proper Easter Sunday feast, complete with lamb on the spit, chicken, quail, beef, sausage, and then all of the veggies, salad, & sides that go along with meal. I've never seen so much meat in my life! I honestly felt like I was in the middle of the movie, complete with "Christos Anesti" (He is risen) & the response "Alithos Anesti" (indeed He is risen). I felt like a natural Greek & all of the Greek elders were quite impressed with my Greek "accent". B spent Easter in Greece in his mother's village so he got to enjoy the genuine Greek Easter celebration. Easter is the biggest holiday for the Greeks as the religious significance is so huge compared to any other holiday. I really enjoyed being a part of it, even though I understood absolutely nothing at the service as it was all in Greek!
Well, that's enough of my life until the next edition. I would love to hear about what's going on in each of your lives right now! Any vacations planned for the upcoming summer??? I'll be enjoying B's return for the next few weeks until we are off on our trip to the Outback together at the end of May. Please keep in touch and know that I think about everyone often!
Hi everyone-- I know I was supposed to wait until B got back to send my next update, but honestly, once he gets here I don't think that my mind will be on much else! And there have been lots of things going on over the past month, so I decided to send another update now rather than later.
A few weeks ago my group at work had its annual retreat in the "High country" of Mansfield which is the homeland of the notorious outlaw Ned Kelly. It was held on a Sunday and Monday, with the thought being that the employees give up a day and the firm gives up a day to spend time together, relax, and get to know everyone better. We were divided into teams and had such events as a scavenger hunt throughout the town of Mansfield, crab soccer, dart competition, Group Idol contest, and other team building exercises.
The theme for the entire retreat was western, and Sunday night we had a "hoe-down" celebration where we rented out the entire local pub complete with dancing and singing country music. A great time was had by all, and it was definitely entertaining to see the partners up dancing on old whiskey barrels! I felt right at home with the music & the atmosphere, and still was amused at the Aussies' idea of Western attire, although some of them looked quite good!
On Monday we rented out the local golf course and played a 9-hole Ambrose event, which was my first experience swinging a golf club at other than a Putt-Putt Golf Course :-) I've decided that I'm not a very good golfer, but that if I had some practice, it might actually be enjoyable. It involves a lot of walking though! We also had a Group BBQ one Friday night after a group meeting down on the river just outside the city, which was a good way to meet all of the new starters ("grads") who came straight from university. We have a few resident masters of the grill in our group so the food was delicious and a good time was had by all.
The next weekend was the end of the season softball bash at one of the players apartments near the beach. It was a good night, hanging out casually with the softball team and closing out the season on a good note. As Wednesday nights are now free from softball, a few of us on the team have decided to start going to trivia night at one of the local pubs. We had our first go at trivia last week and actually did a decent job, although I felt like a complete idiot because most of the questions are related to Australia and the one question that related to the U.S. I got wrong (what is the capital of South Carolina? I said Charleston -- it's Columbia)! The host of the evening was giving me a hard time once he found out that I was American & I didn't know the correct answer :-) But, we will become regulars there and prove that we are worthy of playing from now on!
I spent St. Patrick's Day with 3 Irish women and we had a great time -- I drank Guinness beer for the first time and proudly wore my green hat (courtesy of the Irish pub). I also spent my friend AS' birthday with her celebrating at a genuine Greek tavern. It was an absolute blast -- I felt a bit like I was in the middle of the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"!! Once you are there you are there for the evening. The meal is a feast really. A set menu with about 10 courses (saganaki (fried cheese), char grilled octopus, whitebait, Greek salad, oysters, crabs, fish, dips, lamb, beef, chicken, then dessert), and in the middle of eating you take breaks to dance, Greek style, with the live band playing the festive Greek music. It was a great evening and introduction into the Greek culture. It warmed me up for spending time with B's family when he gets back (in 3 days!!!).
My friend "C" from my firm's Houston office (on rotation in Sydney) was in Melbourne for training and decided to stay the weekend and spend it with me. It was fun to have a houseguest again and show her around Melbourne. We went to the Social Club drinks night together and then to a farewell party for a couple from Germany who have been working for my company here for 2 1/2 years. I really enjoy having friends come and visit as I actually feel like I live here and can show people around and give them suggestions of things to do! Which I guess is a good thing, because my best friend AP is coming over to visit me in July! Her sweet husband surprised her with a plane ticket over here to see me for her birthday, so we're going to have a great 2 weeks of girl time when she gets here :-) I absolutely can't wait!
Speaking of girl time, I had a Girls' Night In at my apartment a couple of weekends ago and we ordered pizza, drank wine, and watched chic-flicks :-) I'm trying to squeeze in all of this time with my girlfriends before B gets back because he & I will have to catch up for 5 1/2 months of being apart!
Footy season is in high gear now, and I've already been to 3 games. I'm hooked! I joined my Group's footy tipping competition (betting) and am actually doing pretty well up against all of the Aussies who have been doing this for years. I'm pretty impressed with myself, and am learning a lot about the footy teams in the process. I've selected the team that I'm supporting from now on -- the Richmond Tigers. It's B's team so I thought since I had no basis to choose any other team I may as well choose the team that he supports. Although, they lost in an embarrassing way today & as I was at the game, it was a bit hard to watch! If anyone is interested to learn about/read about/or just get general information about footy, you should check out www.afl.com.au for tons of interesting stuff. It's honestly a religion over here and Melbourne alone supports 10 of the 16 teams in the league.
I've just completed the long Easter weekend and am getting ready to go back to work tomorrow after 4 days off (Good Friday is a public holiday in Oz -- as it should be in America!). I spent Thursday night through Saturday afternoon at Bells Beach (about 1 1/2 hours away) for the professional surfing competition (Rip Curl Pro). I've never hung around surfers in my life, and I've confirmed that they are not my type of people, but the weekend was good fun anyway! The girl that I went with (one of the Irish women) was not satisfied getting into the "general public" parties, she had to get us into the V.I.P. parties! So we managed to get into the Rip Curl V.I.P. party on Thursday evening & the Globe/Tracks V.I.P. party on Friday evening thanks to her charming ways :-) We had a great time, just dancing the night away and laughing at all of the surfers and their groupies. The actual competition was quite enjoyable to watch, much to my surprise. I thought that I would get bored watching the same thing over and over, but each surfer really did have his own style and it got quite intense close to the end of each heat.
On Saturday night back in Melbourne, I spent the evening at the Greek Orthodox church with AS and her family. I really wanted to spend Easter in a church and AS & her family were kind enough to invite me along. Keep in mind though that this is a large Greek family & that they had all been fasting for the past two weeks, so after the midnight mass, we headed back to the house for a full meal at about 1:00 am! After getting to bed after 2:30 am, I had to be up again for the proper Easter Sunday feast, complete with lamb on the spit, chicken, quail, beef, sausage, and then all of the veggies, salad, & sides that go along with meal. I've never seen so much meat in my life! I honestly felt like I was in the middle of the movie, complete with "Christos Anesti" (He is risen) & the response "Alithos Anesti" (indeed He is risen). I felt like a natural Greek & all of the Greek elders were quite impressed with my Greek "accent". B spent Easter in Greece in his mother's village so he got to enjoy the genuine Greek Easter celebration. Easter is the biggest holiday for the Greeks as the religious significance is so huge compared to any other holiday. I really enjoyed being a part of it, even though I understood absolutely nothing at the service as it was all in Greek!
Well, that's enough of my life until the next edition. I would love to hear about what's going on in each of your lives right now! Any vacations planned for the upcoming summer??? I'll be enjoying B's return for the next few weeks until we are off on our trip to the Outback together at the end of May. Please keep in touch and know that I think about everyone often!
HFDU - 14th Edition
Originally sent: March 11, 2004
G'day everyone! Well, I suppose it's about that time again. It seems like forever since my last email, but it's only been a month and a bit. I've managed to keep myself quite busy down here, enjoying the nice summer weather and taking advantage of all of the Aussie holidays.
The most recent holiday was Labour Day, which meant that we got a long weekend. So, I went with three Irish women (and boy are they feisty!) down the coast a couple of hours to Sorrento (was there at Christmas), Portsea, and Queenscliff. All quaint little seaside communities that have lots to offer. I stayed in a youth hostel for the first time in my life and actually thought it was a good experience. I don't think that I have slept on the top of a bunk in many, many years, but it was cheap and we enjoyed ourselves, even on the night when a hen's night and buck's night (bachelorette and bachelor party) were staying at the same hostel . That made for an eventful evening, or rather, morning!
The girls and I just hung out on the beach, read books, waded in the bay, went for hikes along the water, shopped a little, and just relaxed. It was exactly what I needed after a busy week at work! And Pajy performed like a champ, blessing us with the sun when the sunroof was open and keeping us dry when it was raining. This was also the weekend of the Australian Grand Prix, so needless to say, there were a lot of people around. If you haven't noticed by now, Melbourne is the sport capital of Australia -- 10 of the 16 footy teams are based here, Australian Open, Australian Grand Prix, Spring Racing Carnival, and the Commonwealth Games are coming in a couple of years. We went to lunch on Friday and clear across town you could here the Grand Prix cars doing practice runs on the track! It was very cool!
I also had to go up to Sydney for 3 days for work, so me and the girl that went up with me stayed over the Friday night and had a great weekend in Sydney. It really is a beautiful city, and a must see if you come all the way down to Australia! It's much more like America, whereas Melbourne is more like Europe. But both cities are great and offer different atmospheres. Speaking of America, a couple that I worked with just transferred to another Big 4 Accounting Firm in San Francisco in February. For some reason I get proud and excited when others go to America. Another guy was sent to Chicago for 3 months for training for his new job and he was so excited to get to the States. It really is a neat experience for the Aussies to travel to the States as they typically would travel around Europe first.
Work has been going well. I've been pretty busy with a deadline that is coming up, but managing to get everything done and still enjoy my weekends. I have been walking to my client at least 2-3 times per week to get in some exercise. It's about 4 kilometers away and takes me about 35 minutes. Most of the walk is along the river so I really don't mind all that much, and my new mobile phone has a radio so the walk goes by very quickly when I'm listening to that! The weather has been pretty good lately but we did have a couple of days of 100+ heat, and when most apartments have no air conditioning, you just hope that they only come a day at a time so that the bricks don't heat up! It's pretty miserable at times, but at least it's not humid. One day it was so hot that I just hopped in Pajy and drove around with the air conditioning on for an hour or so to cool down! I can't say that I have ever had to do that before, but I was thankful that I had the option.
The Yarra Valley wine region just had its annual Grape Grazing Festival. I went up on a bus with about 20 other people (co-workers and friends) for the day and we toured 3 different wineries. You hire buses because with all of the wine tasting, your blood alcohol content goes past .05 pretty quickly and the government is very strict over here about drunk driving. Anyway, you buy a day pass and get a wine glass that you carry around with you everywhere. The atmosphere is so casual and very festive, and everyone seems to end up at one particular winery that ends up being more like a concert than a day at a winery. Only on this day, do you see some of the strangest people drinking wine -- people who you never would imagine drinking wine! The bottles are pretty cheap though and they just keep them coming so everyone definitely enjoys themselves. I will definitely be attending next year as well :-)
Our softball season is officially over. We made it to the Grand Final for Wednesday night, but played horribly and ended up losing pretty badly. That was only the second game that we lost during the whole season, and we had beat that team just 2 weeks before. Regardless, we had so much fun during the season and I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to play. Most of us are going to start playing Wednesday night trivia at a nearby pub so that we can keep the spirit of our team up! Our end of season bash is coming up in a couple of weeks, so I guarantee that I'll have some good stories to tell after that night is over! Speaking of bashes, my birthday was a few weeks ago, on one of the 100+ days, and I had a nice night out with the girls going to dinner and to a bar afterwards. It was good to catch up with them, and a fun night, despite the fact that B and I were spending our first Valentine's Day together, apart. He was so sweet though, and sent me a nice box of goodies for my birthday/V-Day, and my parents and best friend "AP" were very, very thoughtful and sent me flowers at work, so that made it a little easier to get by being away from everyone that I love :-)
It took me about 8 months, but I finally woke up one morning and decided that I was a bit homesick! I just want to pick up people from home and bring them over here! Although I have met some great friends over here, they've known me for a few months, whereas my friends from home have known me for many, many years, and my family has known me forever! But, that will hopefully be cured by my family's visit in June and my planned visit home sometime later this year. I definitely have food cravings too, like Tex-Mex and cheap margaritas, ribs from Houston's, Chick-Fil-A (strange, I know!) and my dad's famous Mason burgers. I think I'll gain about 10 pounds when I ever do get home as I'll be eating all the time! And it's weird to think that the city of Houston just keeps on going day after day, and it will have changed so much by the time I come back for a visit. It'll be good to get back home. B says the same thing -- but he's FINALLY back in 36 days! Can you believe it? It's really gone by quickly but I miss him so much and just want him home. He's exploring around Europe at the moment and last I heard he was in Munich, headed of for the Austrian Alps and Italy next. Must be a tough life :-)
A few things that still make me smile:
- Sausage and mashed potatoes are affectionately known as "bangers and mash".
- I still feel like I do a bit of a sidewalk dance with people when facing them head on walking on the street. There seems to be no general consensus as to which side you go to, so everyone just "dances" until you make your way past one another.
- I'm no longer the new kid in the group as the entire class of new grads just started. I'm just an old secondee now!
- The Aussies still like to argue with me on how to pronounce things saying they are closer to the "Queen's English". I simply state that Americans have no desire to speak like the Queen, that we are happy to speak American :-)
- Some people think that Texas is next to Canada, and that the United States is part of Central America. I gave several of them a geography lesson!
Well, that's about it for this Edition. Next time up you'll be hearing about our Group Retreat, Easter, and B's return :-) Until then, best wishes to everyone and please, please, please keep in touch. You should know by now that I love to hear from everyone and it always makes me smile in the morning to get an email from home!
G'day everyone! Well, I suppose it's about that time again. It seems like forever since my last email, but it's only been a month and a bit. I've managed to keep myself quite busy down here, enjoying the nice summer weather and taking advantage of all of the Aussie holidays.
The most recent holiday was Labour Day, which meant that we got a long weekend. So, I went with three Irish women (and boy are they feisty!) down the coast a couple of hours to Sorrento (was there at Christmas), Portsea, and Queenscliff. All quaint little seaside communities that have lots to offer. I stayed in a youth hostel for the first time in my life and actually thought it was a good experience. I don't think that I have slept on the top of a bunk in many, many years, but it was cheap and we enjoyed ourselves, even on the night when a hen's night and buck's night (bachelorette and bachelor party) were staying at the same hostel . That made for an eventful evening, or rather, morning!
The girls and I just hung out on the beach, read books, waded in the bay, went for hikes along the water, shopped a little, and just relaxed. It was exactly what I needed after a busy week at work! And Pajy performed like a champ, blessing us with the sun when the sunroof was open and keeping us dry when it was raining. This was also the weekend of the Australian Grand Prix, so needless to say, there were a lot of people around. If you haven't noticed by now, Melbourne is the sport capital of Australia -- 10 of the 16 footy teams are based here, Australian Open, Australian Grand Prix, Spring Racing Carnival, and the Commonwealth Games are coming in a couple of years. We went to lunch on Friday and clear across town you could here the Grand Prix cars doing practice runs on the track! It was very cool!
I also had to go up to Sydney for 3 days for work, so me and the girl that went up with me stayed over the Friday night and had a great weekend in Sydney. It really is a beautiful city, and a must see if you come all the way down to Australia! It's much more like America, whereas Melbourne is more like Europe. But both cities are great and offer different atmospheres. Speaking of America, a couple that I worked with just transferred to another Big 4 Accounting Firm in San Francisco in February. For some reason I get proud and excited when others go to America. Another guy was sent to Chicago for 3 months for training for his new job and he was so excited to get to the States. It really is a neat experience for the Aussies to travel to the States as they typically would travel around Europe first.
Work has been going well. I've been pretty busy with a deadline that is coming up, but managing to get everything done and still enjoy my weekends. I have been walking to my client at least 2-3 times per week to get in some exercise. It's about 4 kilometers away and takes me about 35 minutes. Most of the walk is along the river so I really don't mind all that much, and my new mobile phone has a radio so the walk goes by very quickly when I'm listening to that! The weather has been pretty good lately but we did have a couple of days of 100+ heat, and when most apartments have no air conditioning, you just hope that they only come a day at a time so that the bricks don't heat up! It's pretty miserable at times, but at least it's not humid. One day it was so hot that I just hopped in Pajy and drove around with the air conditioning on for an hour or so to cool down! I can't say that I have ever had to do that before, but I was thankful that I had the option.
The Yarra Valley wine region just had its annual Grape Grazing Festival. I went up on a bus with about 20 other people (co-workers and friends) for the day and we toured 3 different wineries. You hire buses because with all of the wine tasting, your blood alcohol content goes past .05 pretty quickly and the government is very strict over here about drunk driving. Anyway, you buy a day pass and get a wine glass that you carry around with you everywhere. The atmosphere is so casual and very festive, and everyone seems to end up at one particular winery that ends up being more like a concert than a day at a winery. Only on this day, do you see some of the strangest people drinking wine -- people who you never would imagine drinking wine! The bottles are pretty cheap though and they just keep them coming so everyone definitely enjoys themselves. I will definitely be attending next year as well :-)
Our softball season is officially over. We made it to the Grand Final for Wednesday night, but played horribly and ended up losing pretty badly. That was only the second game that we lost during the whole season, and we had beat that team just 2 weeks before. Regardless, we had so much fun during the season and I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to play. Most of us are going to start playing Wednesday night trivia at a nearby pub so that we can keep the spirit of our team up! Our end of season bash is coming up in a couple of weeks, so I guarantee that I'll have some good stories to tell after that night is over! Speaking of bashes, my birthday was a few weeks ago, on one of the 100+ days, and I had a nice night out with the girls going to dinner and to a bar afterwards. It was good to catch up with them, and a fun night, despite the fact that B and I were spending our first Valentine's Day together, apart. He was so sweet though, and sent me a nice box of goodies for my birthday/V-Day, and my parents and best friend "AP" were very, very thoughtful and sent me flowers at work, so that made it a little easier to get by being away from everyone that I love :-)
It took me about 8 months, but I finally woke up one morning and decided that I was a bit homesick! I just want to pick up people from home and bring them over here! Although I have met some great friends over here, they've known me for a few months, whereas my friends from home have known me for many, many years, and my family has known me forever! But, that will hopefully be cured by my family's visit in June and my planned visit home sometime later this year. I definitely have food cravings too, like Tex-Mex and cheap margaritas, ribs from Houston's, Chick-Fil-A (strange, I know!) and my dad's famous Mason burgers. I think I'll gain about 10 pounds when I ever do get home as I'll be eating all the time! And it's weird to think that the city of Houston just keeps on going day after day, and it will have changed so much by the time I come back for a visit. It'll be good to get back home. B says the same thing -- but he's FINALLY back in 36 days! Can you believe it? It's really gone by quickly but I miss him so much and just want him home. He's exploring around Europe at the moment and last I heard he was in Munich, headed of for the Austrian Alps and Italy next. Must be a tough life :-)
A few things that still make me smile:
- Sausage and mashed potatoes are affectionately known as "bangers and mash".
- I still feel like I do a bit of a sidewalk dance with people when facing them head on walking on the street. There seems to be no general consensus as to which side you go to, so everyone just "dances" until you make your way past one another.
- I'm no longer the new kid in the group as the entire class of new grads just started. I'm just an old secondee now!
- The Aussies still like to argue with me on how to pronounce things saying they are closer to the "Queen's English". I simply state that Americans have no desire to speak like the Queen, that we are happy to speak American :-)
- Some people think that Texas is next to Canada, and that the United States is part of Central America. I gave several of them a geography lesson!
Well, that's about it for this Edition. Next time up you'll be hearing about our Group Retreat, Easter, and B's return :-) Until then, best wishes to everyone and please, please, please keep in touch. You should know by now that I love to hear from everyone and it always makes me smile in the morning to get an email from home!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
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.
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.
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