Jo's Asian Holiday

I thought I'd post some pictures of Jo's trip to Singapore and Hong Kong, they had an amazing time, bought so much stuff I can't believe but they managed to squeeze in so much in their 2 weeks.

At Singapore Zoo

Raffles Hotel - Home of the Singapore Sling!

Repulse Bay, Hong Kong Island

Hong Kong from the Hotel

Two weeks

These past two weeks have been a strange one for me, I've been completely out of my comfort zone not only with work but being home alone without Jo as she spent 2 weeks with her Mum in Singapore and Hong Kong.

I've been working heaps and trying to come to terms with the new challenges my role brings, while still doing my old role and trying to cope with the workload.

I've also lost my social planner and it's been very different for me to organise catching up with people! I started out well though as Claire and I went to see 'Another One Night Stand' at the Capitol Theatre - a comedy night hosted by Red Symons and starring Jimeoin, Judith Lucy, Corrine Grant etc

I've caught up with Claire twice since as we've started our "Management Meetings" as we both have the same crap going on a work and they are basically a work whinge session over dinner and wine! We've had two so far, both extremely successful! If this is the best that comes of my promotion then I'm happy as they have been such good fun.

I managed to catch up with Carl and Martinette too as I took a trip to Manly, it was such a beautiful clear winter day and we took a nice walk to Shelly beach and back. It was great to catch up with them both again. I picked up Lisa and Christian (and the twins) from the airport as they were back from their trip to Germany to see Christian's family and had dinner with them on Sunday.

I managed a night out at the pub with my team on Friday night and I also had a work offsite with my new management team which ended up quite messy in Surry Hills!

So, I've managed to keep myself busy but I'm now exhausted! I picked up Jo and Mrs B on Saturday morning at 6am and we had a very quiet Saturday after the shopping show and tell. Sunday morning we all went for brunch to Wah Wah in Waterloo, I met Chiara (a friend of Steven) for the first time and she joined us for brunch. It was great to meet Chiara finally as Steven has talked about her so much and we got on really well :)

I can't believe the weekend is nearly over again, I'm trying to brace myself for another week at work, wish me luck!

One girl, two cats

This week wasn't as bad at work, that was because I only worked 3 days and I was in bed sick on Thursday and Friday. This is preferable at the moment.

I started to get sick on Tuesday night and it got much worse on Wednesday. I tried to shake it off and even went out for dinner at planned with Carl and Martinette to Radio Cairo in Cremorne (bloody fantastic food, sort of north African, I had one of the best curries I've had in a long time) for Carl's birthday.

Thursday morning though was a different story. Stupid me left my laptop at work the night before so I went into work and picked up and came straight home to bed. That's were I've been pretty much since.

Yesterday afternoon, Jo's mum came down in the afternoon and kept me company. We were all up early this morning as they jetted off to Singapore and Hong Kong for a nice holiday. I just received a text from Jo saying they had arrived safe and sound and that it's really really hot!

Hot Water!!

Not the most exciting of news to report but it is for us! At our flat, the so-called hot water takes approximately 2-3 minutes to come through in the morning for a shower and when it does, it's usually just warm.

Lately it's been getting worse so I called strata, who called a plumber, who arrived yesterday morning. He tried a few things but said it might take some time to fix up. We left for work and left him to it and when we arrived home Jo had to try out the shower to see if it was working.

The water is now scorching hot and he has probably doubled if not tripled the pressure! We're so excited. How pathetic! We both can't believe we've been living with such crap hot water and pressure for so long!

More Manager updates

Well, if this doesn't sum up my week I'm not sure what does. It's 11.21 on Friday night and I've just finished work.

This week has been extremely intesting as tomorrow is end of financial year here and working for a superannuation, investment and insurance company, coupled with massive incentives for people to invest in super due to federal budget changes things have been somewhat hectic!

It has been suggested that over the past week we as a company has taken 3-4 times a much money as usual and our systems are getting hammered left, right and centre.

I have resourcing issues, people problems, a mobile phone number that won't port over to a work account, no credit left on the stupid phone, a million unanswered e-mails and to-do items....ahhh remind me again why people want promotions!!??

My birthday continued!

Well, my birthday surprises didn't stop there as when Jo and I got home from the Hilton on Sunday there were some other little goodies in store!

Firstly, I opened all my cards from family and friends and Jo gave me my birthday present; a brand new Babolat tennis raquet! Looking forward to trying it out soon, when it stops raining in Sydney!

Jo had also arrange for heaps of our friends to join us for dinner at Govinda's in Darlinghurst for dinner and then for a movie in Govinda's legendary lay-down-on-beds-and-cushions movie theatre.

We arrived on time at 5:45pm to find Kate, Vanessa, Guy, Josh, Phillipe, Jade, Carlos, Brenton, Janet, Nicci, Joe and his son Rory all ready to tuck into some yummy dinner.

Some of us then rushed up to grab some spots for the movie Pan's Labrynth but we weren't quick enough to get the cosy beds but we did get two cosy lounges at the back so that was good. The movie was odd but very enjoyable, kind of a mix between fantasy and adult drama, I was surprised as I wasn't expecting to like it but by the end I thought it was great and forgot about the subtitles!

The stragglers then headed to The Piccadilly pub in Kings Cross for a nice nightcap :)

Priscilla Hilton

This weekend we've been celebrating my birthday in style!

I bought Jo and I tickets to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (The Musical) for her birthday and she thought it would be cool for us to stay at a nice hotel in the city to make a weekend of it. Jo found a great internet deal for a night at the Hilton that included breakfast at Luke Mangan's Glass Brasserie and a drink at the wonderful Marble Bar.

We spent the morning with Ryan who drove down from Newcastle and we all enjoyed some great Thai for lunch in Newtown. He gave us a lift into the city and we checked in at 3pm, dropped off our bags in our room and then headed out for a bit of afternoon shopping at Myer and David Jones.

We spent some time getting ready and headed downstairs to check out the Marble bar for a nice glass of wine before hopping in a cab to Star City where Priscilla is playing in Sydney. We took our seats in the dress circle and looked forward to the show. In our performance, the character of Bob (usually played by Michael Caton from The Castle) was played by Home and Away's own Alf Stewart!

The show was fantastic, the costumes were amazing and the musical did extremely well following all the main plot lines of the movie and keeping all the great one liners such as "That's all Australia needs...a cock, in a frock, on a rock!". The music had the crowd going and there was a great atmosphere in the Lyric theatre - this show has been a huge success for the producers and Star City alike and is in it's final run in Sydney before it moves to Melbourne.

We enjoyed a great breakfast in the Glass Brasserie, I've never seen so many type of bread, muffins and cakes! And for $39 per person for the full buffet you'd bloody well expect quality! Luckily, this was included in our deal as I think most people would struggle to get their money's worth without feeling sick!

It was a great way to spend the weekend and my birthday :)

Gold Class

Jo and I finally made it to Gold Class at the Greater Union, Bondi Junction last night. We had a call from Nicci who had two vouchers and asked if we'd like to go see Shrek the Third with her and Joe and we thought why not!

We arrived at 7:15pm and thought we'd get something to eat from the yummy food court at Bondi Junction Westfield but they were all shutting up shop for the night. We then wandered Bondi trying to find something open and eventually found a Thai Restaurant so red curry beef, chilli and basil seafood, vegetarian pad thai and asian greens it was for dinner.

We made it just in time for our 8:40pm showing of Shrek and the usher took our tickets and showed us to our front row lounge chairs. I've never been Gold Class before but god it's great. First, the cinema must only seat about 30 people. All the seats are like massive cosy lounge chairs that have a button that reclines the chair and extends a foot rest, there is a table with a wine cooler between each set of two seats, wait service for food or drinks if you would like. Basically, why ever go to the normal movies again!

My first week

I'm officially at the end of my first week as a manager (or people leader as we tend to say now) and it's been interesting to say the least.

My first day involved attendance at the monthly People Leader's Forum from across technology meet for a whole day for education sessions, working groups all that sort of stuff. As I'm trying to replace my old role I was only able to stay for the morning but I was welcomed into this clan-like group :)

Apart from that, I really have been just getting used to the idea of what this change means for my (and my team). I certainly have lots and lots to learn and to be honest am quite daunted by the challenges that are sure to come my way. I can't say the week as been smooth, I've experience many bouts of self-doubt and I can feel my usual confidence ebbing away at points but I suppose we all have to do things once and time will be the thing that will give me the experience I need.

Facebook

Strange co-incidence this week as I was pointed in the direction of Facebook by two completely unrelated friends!

I had no idea what this whole facebook thingy was all about (it's like an online community where you can keep in touch with friends) but after I signed up I instantly had 3 friends linked and after 4 days I can proudly say I have 13 friends :) Quite an acheivement.

I'm now back in touch with people I haven't heard from in ages, including one (my good friend Andy) to find that his wife is expecting their first baby any day now!

The real value of technology :)

I'm that Twat!

You may remember from this post that my team is being split off, will need a new manager and that I was hoping that person wasn't going to be a twat.

Well, I'm that twat! I finally plucked up enough courage to put myself forward for the role (after some conversations with my manager and his manager who practically told me to apply!).

I had the interview last Monday, about 3 hours after I found out that Nell had died :( and I was interviewed by my manager and his manager. The interview only lasted 30 minutes but felt like an age but I did heaps on preparation and it definitely paid off as I answered all their questions well and presented my vision of the team going forward. I'm sure this much have looked impressive!

I found out on the morning of last Thursday that I had been successful and am now (well from tomorrow as it hasn't been announced yet) promoted from Senior Business Analyst to Development and Support Manager with 15 team members!! Wish me luck!

Farewell Nell

We had some very sad news last week that Jo's Aunty Nell had passed away. She was 72.

Nell had been ill for some time, being a heavy smoker her lungs were not good and she had been in hospital for a few days before being admitted to intensive care were she died on Tuesday. Even though we knew she was ill it still doesn't prepare you for when the worst happens.

Jo drove up to Coffs Harbour with her Mum on Wednesday and I flew up on Thursday to attend the funeral on the Friday.

Nell was a religious lady and her service was held at the local church in beautiful Sawtell that is no more than 50 metres from her house. The local priest, Father John, had tears in his eyes during the service as they were very close and he was there when she died. Nell's daughter Karen (Jo's cousin) and her 3 sons; Matt (13), Luke (15) and Cameron (10) all made speeches at the service and did so well considering the circumstances.

The amount of people who turned up the funeral and wake was a testiment to how loved Nell was and she will be missed by us all.

Life on Mars

For those in the UK this will be old news but for us on the other side of the world the TV show "Life on Mars" finally aired on Sunday night.

This is a show my mum told me about probably a year ago now so when I saw it advertised on the ABC I had to tune in.

The show is about a 21st century copper who has an accident and wakes up in 1973. He can't determine if he is in a coma and has a very detailed and vivid imagination or if he really is in 1973. He finds himself Detective Inspector at his normal 'nick' in Manchester on a murder case with startling similarities to one he was working on in 2006 (but without the help of mobile phones, DNA evidence or computers)

Sam: "Where's my PC terminal?"
1973 copper: "You need a constable down here?"

The contrasts between the two eras were very interesting. Everyone smoking in the office, woman officers treated like tea ladies, having to use an operator when making a phone call. I thought the best line of the episode was from Sam's boss "Hey you kids! If anyfing 'appens to that motor, I'll come over to your house an' stamp on all your toys. Alright?". Hehehe. I really enjoyed it and will definitely be tuning in next week.

Names & Dates

Ok, this has to be at least an 8.5 on the cacky handed witch scale - Steve, your opinion please as you're the only one who reads this blog :)



The cocky cow even re-tunes mid song! Hehe.

Ps. The 'cacky fingered old witch' phrase comes from a very amusing story by the very amsuing Jack Dee.

32 Flavours

Check out the rare live TV performance by Ani Difranco - playing one of my favourite songs "32 Flavours"...

Chad Vader strikes back

Thanks to Steve for the heads up that Chad Vader episode 7 is now available on youtube. Will Chad get back the Day Manager's job? Looks like we'll have to wait for episode 8 - doh!



Best line: "Shut up! No!! You shut up!!" Hehehehe

Pink!

Last night we went to see Pink at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. We met up with our concert companions at Donna's place in Surry Hills and were introduced to Michelle, Julie, Trish, Steph and Bronwyn.

We all enjoyed a few drinks and nibbles before heading into Chinatown for a bite to eat (and to avoid the support act) before the show. I've never been to the Emperor's Garden before but the food was fresh, yummy and cheap so chances are I'll be back! We got to the Entertainment Centre at about 9pm and Jo and I took our fantastic central seats, unfortunately not sitting with the others who had seats elsewhere.

Pink kicked off her "I'm not Dead" tour to an extremely enthusiastic and noisy crowd to "Cuz I Can" and the got the entire place rocking.

Pink struts her stuff

She dazzled the crowd throughout a 2 hour energetic show that saw her display huge amounts of flexibility in a net 30 feet up in the air and talk to the audience in an intimate mini acoustic set. In between she was dancing around the stage, voice strong and always with a smile on her face. The entire show went so quickly but was so packed with energy you certainly didn't feel short changed and definitely left feeling fully entertained.

Donna had arranged for us to get free entry into the Shelbourne Hotel after the show for a few drinks and a dance. As suspected, our little dance turned into a long one and we eventually left at about 3:30am!! I blame the "retro" theme of 70s, 80s & 90s and my quality air-guitar :)

Still, I paid for it in the morning as there was a server upgrade at work this weekend that didn't go to plan and I had to have a tele-conference at 9am to decide what action to take. Eurgh.

My Humps

Fergie: "Check it out!"



It really should've been like this originally and Fergie should've done the cover! Hehehe.

Hungerford Hill

Jo and I took our first trip this year up to Nelson Bay to visit Jo's Mum for her birthday. We left early on Saturday morning and arrived at about 10:30. We had no plans of what to do for the day but inspiration struck and we decided to go to the Hunter Valley for the day.

We were off shortly afterwards and decided to stop into a winery for a look around as even though we had decided on our destination we still had no idea what to do once we got there.

We entered Hungerford Hill and saw people having a very nice lunch out on the terrace, well that was that. We were sat at a table in no time looking at a delicious menu that was to turn into Mrs B's birthday lunch treat :)

The head chef is Darren Ho (yes, brother of Lisa) and his asian influenced menu was delicious. We were all treated to a complimentary

Mrs B and I started with the aylesbury duck won tons with roast duck jus, blackwood fungus & pickled vegetables while Jo had the sea scallops stuffed with water chestnuts on sautéed garlic chives & sauce vierge.

Jo and I then had the beautiful fish of the day and Lyn had the waygu beef cheek slow braised with hungerford hill shiraz, on braised witlof & paris mash potatoes, served with béarnaise sauce. Yum!!

If that wasn't enough, we had already had a plate of mixed bread before the entrees and after we treated ourselves to gelato at a place down the road! Pigs!

Missy's Back

I went to see Missy Higgins showcase her new album "On a Clear Night" at the Enmore Theatre on Friday night.

We spent the first half an hour trying to "sell" a spare ticket we had by a late cancellation but with a lack of touting skills we ended up giving the ticket to some French tourist who seemed pleased enough!

We arrived in time to get a drink and take our seats to watch the support act. Leroy Lee played about 5 songs, a simple acoustic set that was reminissent of Jack Johnson mets John Butler.

Missy arrived on stage at about 9:40 and the crowd awoke and burst into cheers as the catchy but simple riff from "Secret" emerged from behind the curtain. The album was only released about a week before the concert but I've been lucky enough to listen to it for free for the past week via Claire's website :)

"Secret" is one of my favourite tracks on the album, probably because it consists on 3 notes on 1 string so I should be able to play it on my guitar hehehe.

Missy in action....

Missy played a great set mixing new with old favourites from the ever popular "The Sound of White". True to form she stuffed up the opening lines to no less than 3 songs but her innocent charm means she can get away with it with the crowd laughing along as say blurts out "Ahh! Those are the wrong words!" then mentally backtracks to the beginning to start over again.

Points have to be awarded for effort though when she gave up her trusty piano and guitar to simply sing, although you can tell she finds it extremely awkward and you want to shout "That microphone does detact from the stand you know!". Once again, a very enjoyable show from someone who improves everytime I've seen her.

Work, work, work

It's official, I'm in training coma.

Not only am I in a new role, in a new team, with a new technology, with 1 technical person to support 3 production applications with about another 10 on the way, I seem to spend my life in training courses.

First there was the Project Management course going back a few months, this was backed up with the conference in Queensland (sounds like a junket but wasn't really), followed by a dose of "Emotional Intelligence", then came my LSI training (I can't even remember what it stands for but they plot stuff about you on a circumplex, that's about all I can recall), now I am on a "Resilience" course that is for 2 hours a week for 6 weeks. I think. I have an exam to take in July and the rest I'm trying not to think about!

And to top it all off, it was announced today that my team is going to be split away from my current manager into a separate team. As much as I'd love to apply for that role, I'm not sure I'm ready to manage a team of 15! Fingers crossed whoever lands the role will do a good job and not be a twat.

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.

Mmmmm, Heineken