The past few weeks

Well, if I thought my week up at the Gold Coast was busy I was wrong! Things certainly haven't calmed down since I've returned, either at work or at home! Here's the recap of the key events since the beginning of April....

1. We farewelled Steven as he returned from his trip to NZ for a night and took him to one of our favourite pizza places (Bar Reggio) in Darlinghurst. Our quiet Monday night dinner took 2 hours to eventuate - I've never seen that restaurant so busy in my life! We had a great time though and devoured some excellent pizza's.

2. The Easter long weekend was then quickly upon us and we were on cat/house sitting duties. We looked after Tiffany and Mia (Lisa & Christian's cat who has gone away to christan their beautiful twin girls with their family), we made sure that April and May (Carl & Martinette's cats who had gone up to Mooloolaba for the Easter break) were ok and of course our own little ratbags. We ended up spending most of our time our in Manly praticsing our non-existent surfing skills but we sure did have fun. We checked out a new bar - "Henry Afrika's" before enjoying dinner at the Manly Ocean Beach House.

The Manly Ocean Beach House Restaurant, at Manly obviously :)

3. On a sadder note, we helped our friend Jenny pack up her house as she was moving to Melbourne on the 12th. Jenny lost her husband Steve in December to a brain tumour and I have to stay it was a very strange experience packing clothes into a box of a man who I had never met and would never get to meet.

If I ever need anything to put things into perspective, I will certainly recall this experience and I have such utter respect for Jenny and how she is handling the horrible situation she now finds herself in.

4. We've had Jo's cousin Karen, partner Paul and 3 boys stay since Sunday so we've been busy little bees and our apartment feels much smaller with 4 adults, 3 young lads and 2 cats in it!

5. The pace doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon as coming up in the next few weeks are:
- A weekend in Newcastle this weekend
- Jo's Mum's birthday on 3rd May
- Missy Higgins concert at the Enmore on 4th May with Bo and Claire
- Pink concert on 12th May

and don't get me started on what's been happening at work!!

Busy week

I left for the Gold Coast (again) on the 23rd March for my week long conference. Nicci and I decided to fly up on the Friday so we could make a weekend of it.

Friday night we stayed with Nicci's friend Luke near Brisbane and enjoyed a great dinner and a few nice wines and dinner in the garden with his family.

Luke kindly gave us a lift the next day to Wet n' Wild where Nicci and spent most of the day at Calypso Beach floating around on a rubber ring!

We arrived at our conference venue on the Sunday at about 11:00am - Nicci had to be there early as she was facilitating and had to attend a session. I spent the afternoon in the huge lagoon swimming! What was to be the only relaxing time of the following week.

The Hyatt at Sanctuary Cove

Up early Monday morning for a run and gym session before breakfast and then to our conference room for Day 1 activities. I had met some of my team the previous night at the welcome dinner but today was designed to make sure we worked as a team. Our task was a 'virtual safari' run by Peak Teams.

The next day the real work started. The whole point of the conference is to teach a strategic planning and thinking model and apply this to real business issues, skillfully facilitated by Michael Wilkinson from Leadership Strategies based in Atlanta, Georgia. Believe the hype, Michael is the most incredible facilitator I have ever witnessed and I was super proud to be voted by my team as the person who had contributed the most to our case study challenge and receive a copy of Michael's book.

We all were taken through the process using a common case study and by Thursday we were back in our teams to work on other case studies submitted as part of the application process. Luckily I knew quite a lot about my case study because I wrote it :) We started at 8am in the morning and finally finshed up at 9:30pm (this could have been worse had it not been a master-stoke to pause for dinner and drink wine!).

The Hyatt's fantastic fake beach and lagoon

The other focus of the week really is the networking, getting to know other people in our vast organisation and also presenting to a board of senior leaders on the Friday with the aim of getting some support for your case study.

All in all, it was a fantastic week which saw me go ten-pin bowling, surfing at Surfer's Paradise, stroke a real life white tiger, have dinner on a fake beach, sing karioke twice and present to over 70 people with a hangover! Great stuff.

Steven's Birthday

St Patrick's Day is also Steven's birthday so today we went out for a nice brunch at Manly with Carl and Martinette. We went to a cafe called White Water and it seemed that Eggs Benedict was the order of the day as Steven, Jo and Carl all had the same. I went slightly different and had Pear and Walnut bread with stewed rhubarb, banana and honey - very yummy indeed! After breakfast we took Steven shopping to get him a birthday present - Jo and I bought him a nice Quiksilver T-shirt and some thongs (aussie terminology for 'Flip Flops' before anyone raises their eyebrows!). Steven treated himself to a few more T-shirts, a pair of shorts and a pair of long combat style pants (Aussie for 'Trousers' before anyone raises their eyebrows - again!).

We went got home in the afternoon we had a modelling session to see Steven in his new outfits, before Tanya and Nia arrived for the night.

Pose, Monkey Boy!

We had struggled to find somewhere to go for dinner but settled on 'Fish at the Rocks' and it was a great choice. We arrived in the rocks and finally managed to find somewhere to park. Be in mind, it was St Patrick's Day and the Rocks is the most popular place for the Irish to get drunk in the whole of Sydney!

Ooooh, you Chocolate Tart!

Dinner was wonderful and the menu suitably seafood - I had prawn ravioli to start, Steven and Jo had the grilled scallops. For main I had a very nice baby barramundi filled with minced prawn red curry, Jo and Tanya had the Jewfish and Steven had the Kingfish. We all succombed to dessert and we weren't disappointed - the Chocolate Tart was fantastic!

Summer Bay

I've been very lucky this week as I was able to take off two days to spend with Steven while he is here visiting. I took off Wednesday so we could go kayaking at Manly and I took off Friday so we could take a drive to enjoy the best of Sydney's north. Jo took the train to work so we could have the car and we headed to Palm Beach at about 10:30am.

Steven enjoys a walk along Palm Beach

It was super hot and it was a good thing we were at the beach because you certainly needed to take a dip to cool down! I went in for a quick swim and Steven paddled around up to his knees. The water was lovely but there was so much kelp it made swimming a bit crap.

The "Summer Bay Surf Club" at Palm Beach

After our swim we had to head up to the surf club, as used in Aussie Soap 'Home and Away' - as you can see from the Summer Bay sign. It is an actual livesaving club as we had a nice ice lolly there to prove it.

After some lunch we headed down to coast and stopped off at Whale Beach and Avalon to take a look around. We even managed to pick Jo up from work on the way home (as we got stuck in Friday afternoon traffic). Wish all Friday's could be like this!

Visitors and Kayaks

Steven arrived on Monday night to stay with us for the week. We met him at the airport at 7:30pm and he brought the English rain and drizzle with him! Jo was very happy though as he came bearing gifts of PG Tips :)

I took Wednesday off work and the weather was much better so we decided to get the ferry over to Manly and do some kayaking. The queue for the ferry was ridiculous! I've never seen it so busy, but luckily the ferry can take about 1100 passengers so were able to get on board. The trip takes around 35 minutes and after arriving at Manly we took a walk down the Corso to the beach and then to find somewhere to have some lunch.


After lunch and some walking around we found our way to the kayaking place - it's not far from the Wharf and only cost us $15 for an hour (each). After a brief introduction (which consisted of "Don't go near the wharf or ferries" and "Do you know how to paddle?") we put our life jackets on and dragged our kayaks into the water.

Our sea kayaks at Manly

Steven then fell in while attempting to get into his kayak (I was already paddling out by this point) and managed to get in on his second attempt..hehehehe.

The water and weather was beautiful and calm, we paddled down past Fairlight beach and round to where the boats are moored and really just enjoyed being out on the water. We paddled back in an hour later and treated ourselves to a nice gelato as a reward for our efforts.

Stormy Sydney

It was hard to get to sleep last night as Sydney was covered by a huge thunder storm. The weekend had been really hot and muggy, we were at the beach on Saturday taking a dip in the beautiful cool water at La Perouse.

Sydney's La Perouse Beach

When it's so hot, and you've walked 10 minutes down a hill and along track the last thing you want to do is to go and find somewhere to buy a cool drink or an ice-cream (and still have it cold by the time you get back!). So that's when you need "Munchies Afloat"!! The floating convenience store!

Munchies Afloat - How cool is that!

The heat continued through Sunday and it all had to come crashing down at some point. A southerly change came through late on Sunday night and was eventuated was a massive lightning storm across the whole city.

Lightning strikes Centrepoint Tower in the heart of Sydney

Taronga Zoo

Today was another 'Community Day' for me - this is a paid day where I can volunteer my services and myself along with 9 of my team mates from work went along to Taronga Zoo. I arrived as specified at 7:30am, ready and willing to start work for the day. Our designated keeper came to get us at 8:15 (!) and our post was with the miniture penguins.

Taronga: The Zoo with a view!

Two of my colleague were assigned with shovelling the old sand out and putting new sand into the enclosure. Scott and I were tasked with cleaning the little huts (16 of them) out by hosing and scrubbing them clean. The huts hadn't been cleaned since they were put in last July so there was a fair amount of penguin poo to be scrubbed off that's for sure! After we had finished those it was time for morning tea and a cup of coffee in the Keeper's staff room by the Elephant enclosure.

We were all set for more work but the keepers seemed happy with our mornings efforts and gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the seals! I got my picture taken right next to one called Kira and even rubbed her belly! The keepers showed us how they train them using a whistle and some fish and another seal put her flippers up on my knee as a trick! So cute.

I was so disappointed that I didn't take my camera along, but another lady in our group took a picture of my with the seal so if she e-mails it to me I'll post it here.

I haven't been to the zoo for a while and they certainly have been doing lots and lots of renovating and refurbishing! The place looks great, the animals are very well cared for and spending the morning with some keepers really showed me just how much they love the animals they look after. The new elephant enclosure looks great and they are still building and expanding to improve the enclosures for many of the other animals - if you haven't been to the zoo or it's been a while I'd highly recommend you give it a go. Make sure you visit the giraffes - well known to have the best view of Sydney bar none!!

Colin Perini

Whilst we were on holidays, we noticed paintings by Colin Perini that were just fantastic. They are all ocean and beach paintings, wonderfully life-like with perfect colouring.

"Summer Twist"

We noticed as our paintings are looking a little small and out of place at the moment and one has fallen off it's 3M hook and I haven't bothered to put it back up again so that probably isn't helping.

If I had my choice, I'd go for the beautiful 'Wishes and Dreams' triple but at a cool $5670AUD, I may be waiting some time...

"Wishes and Dreams" - courtesy of Colin Perini

Day Eight: Dane and Alyse spent the night on the air mattress they brought with them (this was before we realised that the sofa was in fact a sofa bed - doh!) and we all had some breakfast before driving out to Wet n' Wild.

The weather was a perfect Queensland day and the queue for the water park on a Saturday was understandibly huge! We eventually made it through the gates, put our gear in a locker and headed straight for our first ride - Mammoth Falls!

Saving the best 'till last - The Tornado!

We systematically went through every ride the park had to offer, occassionally chilling out in the relaxing Calypso Beach where you float around on a tube being gently carried by a soft current. Until that is we arrive and all chase each other around the 'river' like idiots! We ended up spending nearly 6 hours at the park and were throughly exhausted by the end of it. The combination of being in the strong sun, chasing each other on rubber rings and walking up endless stairs to the top of huge rides took its toll but it was excellent fun. We saved the best thrill for last as we joined the largest queue to ride the Tornado (bascially the equivalent of White Water World's 'The Green Room').

It was great to spend the time with Dane and Alyse as we didn't get to see them much when there were last in Sydney, hopefully we can catch up with them again soon.

As it was our last night we decided to go out for a nice dinner (we had been mainly eating in as the view from the balcony was too good to waste!) and we found a very nice restaurant near our apartment called Moo Moo's. Obviously this is a serious place for MEAT!!! But Jo was tempted by the Fish of the Day - Salmon on a crab salad with chinese cabbage, garlic gnocci and something else with truffle oil. It was much better than it sounds. I went for the lamb backstrap on pommes lyonnaise with seasonal vegetables - served with a global knife (like we have at home) - excellent stuff.

We then wandered over to Jupiter's (the casino) and Jo was tempted to have a flutter on the roulette table. We looked slightly stupid with our massive collection of eight chips ($20's worth) when most other people were betting $100 each round but we had fun anyway :) We had a nightcap and I turned into my brother for some reason and had a brandy and dry. The week has gone so quickly but we had a great time on the Gold Coast - looking forward to coming again one day.

Day Seven: We took it easy yesterday and just stayed around the Broadbeach area, enjoyed the pool at our apartment complex and had some very nice and very cheap Yum Cha for lunch. But we can't stay still very long and as we got such a good deal with the massage that we decided to use the rest of that budget to go Sea Kayaking for the day.

The pool at 'Air on Broadbeach'

Jo called up the night before to book with Splash Sea Kayaking tours that we take us on a 7km paddle to South Stradbroke Island (or "Straddie" as the locals call it). Our 'Triple Adventure Tour" started at 8.10am when we were picked up from our apartment and taken to a spot where we would get kitted out with our life-jackets and other equipment. After a short introduction to the day and some kayaking safety lessons we were on our way.

The Sea Kayaks

There were about 12 people on the trip, with one instructor. This meant that we were two to a kayak and Jo had the fun task of being in charge of the steering (the kayaks use a rudder at the rear) for the day. We paddled over to Wave Break Island and took a rest stop. The weather wasn't fantastic today (which was probably a good thing as otherwise we'd be so sun-burnt!) so we had morning tea at our first stop and we went for a snorkel. Just off the beach the water was teaming with fish and they ate the fish food I was given right out of your hand. Awwww.

The rather miserable South Stradbroke Island

We then paddled over to South Stradbroke Island and took a walk over to the beach. The weather by now had really closed in and it was starting to rain so it wasn't as picturesque as I'm sure it would have otherwise been. The Island is popular for camping and fishing but we didn't stay for very long and were soon back in our kayaks for another paddle around the top of Wave Break Island before heading back to land for our pick-up.

We got back to our apartment just in time to have a quick dip in the pool, shower and change before Dane and Alyse arrived at about 5:30pm. We all enjoyed a nice cold X&Y Sauvignon Blanc on the balcony before heading up to Chaing Mai Thai up the road. We continued with our exploration of yummy wines this week (we had already sampled some great ones including Stoneleigh, Montana and Rockbare Mojo) with a bottle of Eye Spy and South Island!

Alyse had made the booking for 8pm and we had heard this was the place to go for Thai in the area. We certainly weren't disappointed as Jo and I tucked into Coconut Prawns and Thai Dim Sim for entree. We all shared a Massaman Beef, Tofu with Chilli & Basil stir-fry and Lemongrass Prawns for mains. Yummy!

Day Five: Yesterday saw us head down to Rainbow Bay and Snapper Rocks as there is lots of activity there due to the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro's happening from the 26th February.

The as yet blank leader board

We took our boards down there but didn't have much luck as the current was terrible, the waves were a bit too big for us at the moment and the rips all up the coast are pretty bad this week.

Still, we did get to see some people who actually can surf carving up and down by the rocks as most of them were pro-surfers or plucky locals practising for a wild card spot in the comp next week.

A proper surfer gets some practise in

I stood and watched for a while from the rocks, it was pretty busy out there but the guys and girls who were having a go were excellent. It's such a shame we didn't plan our trip so that we could've seen a few days of the actual competition, but still there's always next year.

Some youngsters head out for some action

That afternoon we went to the Wings Day Spa at Surfers Paradise for a well earned massage. We booked in yesterday and got a great deal that included an hour of steam room/hydrotherapy pool before an hour and a half of all over massage. It certainly was value for money, the spa was beautifully designed and we were very well looked after by the staff there. Note to self: Must do this more often!

Day Three: We spent yesterday out exploring the surrounding area, and we even took a drive up to Sanctuary Cove where I will be staying with work at the end of March (very nice too). But today we decided to do what most people do when they come to the Gold Coast - go to a water park!

We have arranged to visit Wet n' Wild with Dane and Alyse on Saturday so today we went to the brand new White Water World next to Dreamworld. The day started of beautifully hot and sunny that we even had our breakfast out on the balcony but as soon as we hopped in the car the heavens opened. We thought we'd drive there anyway and luckily by the time we arrived most of the rain had passed as blue sky was starting to emerge again.

White Water World's 'The Green Room' ride

We went on every ride (except one which we didn't even realise was there until afterwards!!) and had a great day. The park isn't as big as it's main competitor but the rides it does have are excellent. My favourite had to be The Green Room - a huge green funnel type thing that goes like the clappers. 'The Green Room' is a surfing term for when the surfer is in the barrel of a wave.

Rider's coming out of the funnel on their tube

Jo's favourite ride was the 'Blue Ringed Octopus' - where you lay down head first on a mat and race down one of eight different slides. We'd both start off next to each other at the top but end up in opposite lanes by the end of it - good fun.

The 'Blue Ringed Octopus' in all it's glory

Day One: We arrived at Coolangatta airport on Queensland's Gold Coast at about 2pm, after we had adjusted our watches back 1 hour to account for the time difference. The first thing was to pick up our bags and surfboards from the oversize luggage counter before getting picked up by the East Coast Car Rental company to pick up our shiny white Toyota Corolla that would be our transport for the week. The guys at the car rental place were really friendly, and even helped us fit our boards and bags into the car.

The very cool 'Air on Broadbeach'

We set off up the Gold Coast Highway to Broadbeach and our apartment that we had rented for the week at the fantastic 'Air on Broadbeach'. I'd booked this place months ago and had high hopes for getting a nice and comfortable self contained apartment but all our expectations were blown away from the first second we walked through the door! The view!! The luxury!! The location!! We truly couldn't have picked a better place to stay, very very happy!

Our living area and view

I wasn't sure what to expect from the area as this was my first time on the Gold Coast, but it all makes sense when you see the coast line. I was thinking the beaches would be more like Sydney, all separate by headlands but the Gold Coast suburbs are just all in a row along what must be the largest and longest beach I have ever seen.

The balcony view over Broadbeach

Gold Coast here we come

It's not long now before Jo and I head up to the Gold Coast for a week of sun (hopefully), sea and most definitely surf!! We fly up tomorrow afternoon and will pick up our rental car (we've decided to rent one for the week so we can see some of the coast) before trying to squeeze in our luggage and two 7' 6" surfboards into a Toyota Corolla hehehe.

Places to explore on the Gold Coast

We are both so excited and I personally can't wait because:

1. I will get to go to Wet n' Wild
2. We'll get to catch up with Dane & Alyse for a few days
3. We can practise our surfing at some of the best beaches in Australia
4. We will treat ourselves to a nice relaxing massage
5. We can do whatever we like for 8 whole days without worrying about work
   

Board Art

Since we bought our lovely but albeit bland 'Maliboo' surfboards the other week, Martinette has put her usual creative genius to work using Uni Posca art pens! These pens are great for using on surfboards because they are water-proof and won't fade (apparently).

Her plain white board is now covered with a massive mermaid mural. It's so fantastic that the guy who sold her the board now wants to buy it back from her to put in the window of his shop!!

The 'work-in-progress' version taken via Mobile Phone

I think it looks awesome as it's done in a very 'Mambo' style. I love how she's drinking a beer and sitting next to an eskie of coldies!

I'm now going to be very nice to her so she can make my board look pretty too! I'm thinking of a nice surfie pattern so I can look cool :)

Spring forward

I found out at work yesterday that I have been selected to attend a 5-day Strategic Planning Forum to be held on the Gold Coast at the end of March.

I made my application (which consisted of an interview on paper eg. "Tell us why we should select you", "What can you personally bring to the forum" etc) and a case study to highlight a current business issue/challenge in December last year and I didn't think much more about it until my manager approached me yesterday to say that I had been selected!

I've read the draft agenda and it is FULL ON!! I have to arrive on the Sunday and the conference starts on the Monday morning. All the days start at 8am, finish around 5:30pm, have 45 mins for lunch with dinner starting at 7pm! I don't leave until the following Saturday!

Even though I'm sure it will be lots of hard work, it should be a rewarding week as I'll get to meet lots of people from other business units and get to apply some strategic planning techniques to actual challenges my company faces as some of the case studies written as part of the application process will be used during the week.

And the slightly cool thing is, I get to stay here.

Boards and Bluebottles

Last weekend saw my first surfing related injury. We went out on Sunday afternoon on our new boards (we finally bought our own last week - 7' 6" fibreglass mini mals) and I was only in the water for about 10 mins before I was stung by a bluebottle.

The evil bastard itself

Never mind the sharks, the sodding bluebottle sting hurt like hell! I felt it all around my left knee in an instant when walking about with my board in the low tide. I had seen a few in the deeper water but thought nothing of it as you usually do see some. But this time it must have been under the water pushed down by the surf. When I looked at my knee all I could see was this bluey string all around it.

By the time I had fled the water, the sting had fallen off and I was just left with the pain. Martinette took me back to her place where I hopped straight in the shower, still in my wetsuit, to wash my leg with warm water (apparently the best treatment). About ten minutes after the sting, horrible blister type welts had formed where the stings had been and my leg felt like it was on fire. It felt like you had about 3inch think deep heat on there but worse!

Today, the day after, the blisters have gone and I'm left with red stratch-like marks that are still tender to touch. And these little suckers appear in volume 6 of 120 volumes of things that will hurt, maim or kill you horribly in Australia.

Australia Day(s)

It's been a busy few weeks and here are a few of the highlights:

1. I managed to convince my boss to let me have a laptop so that I can 'work from home'. It was actually much more painless than I thought even though it did need approval from my bosses' boss! Once approved though, my Lenovo T43 arrived swiftly and I know think I'm all important :)

2. The surfing continues with us renting boards to take out at Manly. We've now tried a few shapes and sizes ranging from a 6' 6" Webber Afterburner to a 7' 6" nsp. I'd love to say that the 6' 6" was easy to ride cos it does look cool but unfortunately the 7' 6" is a breeze in comparison.

It's been interesting as we went out this morning before work with a new teacher, Mark, who has shown us the 4th different technique by 4 instructors! Good news was that his way definitely is the best as I caught my two best ever waves this morning! Nothing bothered me much as work today as I felt so refreshed, relaxed and pleased with my efforts.

3. We've finally been out to sample the delights of the Thai at the Bank Hotel. After closing for about 12 months for a $5million refit, this pub is a monster! Huge with 3 large bars, masses of outdoor seating and a Thai restaurant good enough to rival any on King St - which is no mean feat! There must be 20 Thai restaurants on that street!

The massaman beef is so huge I think it would feed about 5 people. My fave's include the duck stir-fry and the yummy curry paste prawns. Mmmmm.

Sorry, I can't talk. I'm listening to Jazz!

For the second year in a row we thought we'd go along to the highlight of the Sydney Festival - Jazz in the Domain.

This basically involves getting as many people and different types of cheeses along to the Domain in the centre of Sydney, getting a plot of grass and staking your claim with whatever blankets and bags you have brought with you, drinking lots of wine and eating lots and lots of food while listening with another 100,000 people some of the coolest jazz there is going.

Our 'plot' at the Domain

Nicci and Carlos were on plot staking duties this year and arrived super early around 4pm to get a good space. We arrived with Carl and Martinette a little later about 5:45pm and were joined by Gary and Wendy-Ann, Brenton and Joe throughout the evening.

It was great night, a perfect warm evening to spend outside with friends, enjoying way too much food and listening to music. This is such an excellent and free event you can see why over 100,000 Sydneysiders decided to go along. Looking forward to next year!

Twenty20

There isn't really much to say about England's form this season. But being a glutton for punishment I went along to the Twenty20 game that England played against Australia on Tuesday night.

England are so hopeless they couldn't even win the toss and Australia chose to bat first. Probably a good thing as otherwise the crowd wouldn't have seen much cricket!

Australia were ruthless with their demolition of the English bowlers, but Monty didn't do too badly much to the delight of the crowd of this now cult figure.

The man, the legend, Monty Panesar

We had great seats in Bay 9, an excellent position for Jo to experience her first ever live cricket game. Twenty20 really is like Diet Cricket so for someone who can't watch cricket on TV as it's "too boring" it's a good version to watch as it's so fast paced and there is lots of action.

Thank god Jo is Australian though otherwise I'm sure she'd never watch cricket again after yet another woeful performance by England. Not one member of the team stood up to take any sort of leadership role. Flintoff, who was remarkable in the previous Ashes series has shown that he is actually not Superman by obviously not coping with being a top order batsman, a bowler AND captain all at the same time. Stupid selectors.

Still, the Barmy Army were out in force but even they couldn't muster much enthusiasm for what must be the worst display yet.