If you want to learn a bit more about climate change, the talks at Copenhagen, the science behind it etc etc, a really good resource is www.350.org - a group pushing for a limitation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million (ppm). We are currently at 387ppm, and the poli poli poli politicians gathered at Copenhagen are discussing a target of 770ppm.
I could go on but I think 350 does a much better job of explaining things.
Check out the 350 website, and get informed!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Australia is world's largest per capita CO2 emitter, keeps head firmly in the ground
Australia recently overtook the USA as the highest per capita carbon dioxide emitting country in the world.
It was set to pass emissions trading laws in parliament before the Christmas break. The Opposition had reached an agreement with the government to pass the legislation. The proposed law was monumentally weak, committing to only a 5% cut in 2000 emission levels by 2020 (when we were all supposed to be below 1990 levels in two years time, had we abided by the Kyoto Protocol). However, it was something.
This morning a vote was taken on the leadership of the major Opposition party, the Liberals, and Malcolm Turnbull lost out to Tony Abbott by one vote. A vote was then held on whether or not to back the emissions trading scheme, and the result was a fairly emphatic 'no'.
So Australia, the world's biggest per capita carbon dioxide polluter, will as always 'wait and see'. They will wait to see what comes out of Copenhagen, which could be a whole lot of nothing. Rather than be proactive, and act in the interests of their children and grandchildren they will risk their already depleted rivers and parched lands, not because the proposed legislation was not ambitious enough, but because there are still far too many climate change deniers walking the halls of parliament.
Well done Australia, well done...
It was set to pass emissions trading laws in parliament before the Christmas break. The Opposition had reached an agreement with the government to pass the legislation. The proposed law was monumentally weak, committing to only a 5% cut in 2000 emission levels by 2020 (when we were all supposed to be below 1990 levels in two years time, had we abided by the Kyoto Protocol). However, it was something.
This morning a vote was taken on the leadership of the major Opposition party, the Liberals, and Malcolm Turnbull lost out to Tony Abbott by one vote. A vote was then held on whether or not to back the emissions trading scheme, and the result was a fairly emphatic 'no'.
So Australia, the world's biggest per capita carbon dioxide polluter, will as always 'wait and see'. They will wait to see what comes out of Copenhagen, which could be a whole lot of nothing. Rather than be proactive, and act in the interests of their children and grandchildren they will risk their already depleted rivers and parched lands, not because the proposed legislation was not ambitious enough, but because there are still far too many climate change deniers walking the halls of parliament.
Well done Australia, well done...
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
UPDATE: I want to see a snake
It was only a couple of days ago that I wrote about wanting to see a snake in the wild, and today I got lucky! As I said early there have been a few sightings at work and today one was seen very near to where we were harvesting barley in the experimental plots. We went over to have a look and saw that it was a juvenile dugite, over a metre long and very fast moving. It was thin enough to be able to move in and out of the bird netting surrounding the plots (an area of about 2 hectares), and was pretty hard to see unless you knew it was there or if it moved. We tried to contact the guy at work whose hobby is to catch snakes, however he was not around so we sent a warning email to everyone and carried on with our harvesting (with one eye on the lookout for the snake). While it was a juvenile and not particularly big it would have been a bad situation if one of us had been bitten, and there are bigger ones around as there is bushland just over the road from work. I will be more watchful of where I put my feet in the plots from now on!
Daylight Saving grumbles
Recently Western Australia voted against adopting Daylight Saving after a 3 year trial.
Arguments against the scheme vary from the plausible: it adverseley affects farmers, as they need to keep cattle on a regular milking cycle and so their daily routine would be offset by an hour...
...to the ridiculous: curtains fade quicker (!!!). There was even an advertisment paid for by the "anti" lobby group claiming that DS contributed to an increase in car accidents.
And my opinion? Well it's probably pretty obvious by now. Twice now I have woken up to the sun beaming in my window, thinking that I had missed my alarm only to realise that it was 5.30am. Who needs daylight that early?! I would much rather have it in the afternoon so that I had more time to do stuff after work.
I really don't understand Western Australians sometimes. They are extremely change averse. As a friend of mine said, WA is short for "Wait Awhile".
Q: How many Western Australians does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: What? Change?!
Arguments against the scheme vary from the plausible: it adverseley affects farmers, as they need to keep cattle on a regular milking cycle and so their daily routine would be offset by an hour...
...to the ridiculous: curtains fade quicker (!!!). There was even an advertisment paid for by the "anti" lobby group claiming that DS contributed to an increase in car accidents.
And my opinion? Well it's probably pretty obvious by now. Twice now I have woken up to the sun beaming in my window, thinking that I had missed my alarm only to realise that it was 5.30am. Who needs daylight that early?! I would much rather have it in the afternoon so that I had more time to do stuff after work.
I really don't understand Western Australians sometimes. They are extremely change averse. As a friend of mine said, WA is short for "Wait Awhile".
Q: How many Western Australians does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: What? Change?!
Monday, November 23, 2009
I want to see a snake
There have been a couple of sightings of snakes at my work in recent weeks.
This may sounds totally stupid but I hope I see it. I really don't want to leave Australia without seeing a snake in the wild. I'll let you know if I get my wish.
This may sounds totally stupid but I hope I see it. I really don't want to leave Australia without seeing a snake in the wild. I'll let you know if I get my wish.
Friday, November 20, 2009
A bit over the top?
When we went to the basketball the other day we saw this pretty poor effort as far as parking goes, considering there was very little available....
And then we noticed what the note on the windscreen said (I have edited the photo for fairly obvious reasons)....
And then we noticed what the note on the windscreen said (I have edited the photo for fairly obvious reasons)....
I've heard of road rage, but this sort of car park rage is pretty new to me!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Basketball
On Sunday we went to watch the NZ Breakers take on the Perth Wildcats at Challenge Stadium. NZ went into the tournament as favourites to take out 1st spot, and Perth has been playing really well at home lately, so we were hoping for a pretty good game. I had not been to a game of basketball before, so I was looking forward to it, and while it was certainly not on the same scale as US games, it was still pretty exciting. There were the all important cheerleaders, who ran on at every break to do their little dances and wave about their pompoms. There was the remote controlled inflatable advertising blimp and the half time auction for a signed Wildcats top. If Perth reached 88 point (which they did) then everyone there got a free coffee voucher. And being basically on the other side of the world from NZ (well, almost) we seemed to be the only two Kiwis in the place. The mother sitting in front of me scowled every time I gave the Breakers a cheer, because of course the visitor's supporters have no right making any noise.
Well, I can tell you that by half time I had toned down my cheering significantly, as the Wildcats led by almost 20 points, and the entire second half was somewhat tiresome as they almost increased the margin to 30 points and it was obvious that NZ was not going to get close to winning. We couldn't land a 3-pointer to save ourselves, their defense was all over us like a bad rash, and at the other end our defense left huge gaps that allowed them to score point after point (or rather 3-points after 3-points). Perth ended up winning by 20, and I have to say that New Zealand didn't look in it from the start. I was pretty disappointed as I was hoping for a good close game, but I guess that's just the way of it sometimes. Don't think I'd fork out another $30 to see them over here. I am hoping for more luck when Wellington Phoenix play Perth Glory in the footie early next year though...
Check out some photos here
Well, I can tell you that by half time I had toned down my cheering significantly, as the Wildcats led by almost 20 points, and the entire second half was somewhat tiresome as they almost increased the margin to 30 points and it was obvious that NZ was not going to get close to winning. We couldn't land a 3-pointer to save ourselves, their defense was all over us like a bad rash, and at the other end our defense left huge gaps that allowed them to score point after point (or rather 3-points after 3-points). Perth ended up winning by 20, and I have to say that New Zealand didn't look in it from the start. I was pretty disappointed as I was hoping for a good close game, but I guess that's just the way of it sometimes. Don't think I'd fork out another $30 to see them over here. I am hoping for more luck when Wellington Phoenix play Perth Glory in the footie early next year though...Check out some photos here
Overcharging
I'm sick of people overcharging for goods and services simply because they know they can get away with it.
Our apartment block that we recently moved into has a shared laundry. There are two washing machines and a dryer (which we don't use, things dry in half an hour on a line in Perth). While I think it is a bit cheeky to be charging tenants to use the washing machines, I think it is down right criminal to charge $3 a wash. That's $6 a week right there just to do our clothes, and then there's towel washes and bedding to be done. Over our 6 month lease I figure that it will add up to more than $200. I don't even know who the money goes to!
The other recent example of overcharging that I have is from the basketball game that we went to yesterday. Our tickets were $30 each, not bad for our vantage point. It was the parking that we really got ripped off with. As Challenge Stadium isn't really near anything, and because most people would of course drive to the game, the venue obviously felt that they could get away with charging $7 per car for parking. To me this is far too high, but of course they knew they could make a killing from it, and they also know that they could get away with it. I think it is bad form to charge such exorbitant parking fees for a planned event that consisted mostly of families out to support their local team.
My point? Enough with the overcharging! Just because you can make a tidy profit of something does not necessarily mean that you should.
Our apartment block that we recently moved into has a shared laundry. There are two washing machines and a dryer (which we don't use, things dry in half an hour on a line in Perth). While I think it is a bit cheeky to be charging tenants to use the washing machines, I think it is down right criminal to charge $3 a wash. That's $6 a week right there just to do our clothes, and then there's towel washes and bedding to be done. Over our 6 month lease I figure that it will add up to more than $200. I don't even know who the money goes to!
The other recent example of overcharging that I have is from the basketball game that we went to yesterday. Our tickets were $30 each, not bad for our vantage point. It was the parking that we really got ripped off with. As Challenge Stadium isn't really near anything, and because most people would of course drive to the game, the venue obviously felt that they could get away with charging $7 per car for parking. To me this is far too high, but of course they knew they could make a killing from it, and they also know that they could get away with it. I think it is bad form to charge such exorbitant parking fees for a planned event that consisted mostly of families out to support their local team.
My point? Enough with the overcharging! Just because you can make a tidy profit of something does not necessarily mean that you should.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
It's not what you know... (Part 2)
...but perhaps what you don't know, or maybe even what you don't know that others know about you...
I recently joined Google Analytics. Analytics is a very interesting and useful tool - if you control the code for a website then you can use Analytics to monitor how many people visit your site. In my case, I can use it to see how many people visit my blog in any given time period.
This is Analytics at its most basic. It gets much, much deeper, and I am still only scratching at the surface. It can show me whether each visitor is new or returning (using their IP address I guess). It can show me, on a map, where my visitors come from in the world, not just countries but cities too. This data can be displayed on tables that also show the amount of time spent on any given page (or the site) and the number of pages viewed per visit. I can see how many people are referred through another site (i.e. by clicking on a link on someone else's blog), or direct (they typed in the URL) or through a search engine. I can even see what search term they entered to find my blog. Analytics can tell me what internet browsers people are using, and what sort of connection they are using (cable, dial up, DSL etc). By the time you have read this it is too late, the data is in Analytics. The only thing you can do is close the browser to change your "average time on site".
Of course, I cannot see individual's IP addresses, or identify visitors in any way other than by processes of deduction (someone visits the blog directly from Wellington, I figure it is someone I know and not someone who has just stumbled across me. But this program has raised some questions in my mind over the last few days. It is very basic, simple, user friendly and, possibly above all, free to use. All you need is an account with Google. This prompts me to ask, if I can access something so basic to monitor all this information (and it has the potential to show me a lot more) then what sort of information is accessible/gathered by, for instance, my ISP, or my email provider, or companies that advertise on sites I visit? There is so much personal and potentially sensitive data out there, and for the most part none of us actually have a clue who can access this information. I think this goes beyond the standard concern about viruses, trojans, malware and etcetera that we install software to protect ourselves from. We voluntarily enter so much about ourselves on websites for banking, networking, emailing, or whatever, that we can not possibly know where it all goes and who has access to it.
I guess what I am really just asking myself (and others) to think about is: what do we actually know about the technology that we use, or more to the point, what don't we know.
I recently joined Google Analytics. Analytics is a very interesting and useful tool - if you control the code for a website then you can use Analytics to monitor how many people visit your site. In my case, I can use it to see how many people visit my blog in any given time period.
This is Analytics at its most basic. It gets much, much deeper, and I am still only scratching at the surface. It can show me whether each visitor is new or returning (using their IP address I guess). It can show me, on a map, where my visitors come from in the world, not just countries but cities too. This data can be displayed on tables that also show the amount of time spent on any given page (or the site) and the number of pages viewed per visit. I can see how many people are referred through another site (i.e. by clicking on a link on someone else's blog), or direct (they typed in the URL) or through a search engine. I can even see what search term they entered to find my blog. Analytics can tell me what internet browsers people are using, and what sort of connection they are using (cable, dial up, DSL etc). By the time you have read this it is too late, the data is in Analytics. The only thing you can do is close the browser to change your "average time on site".
Of course, I cannot see individual's IP addresses, or identify visitors in any way other than by processes of deduction (someone visits the blog directly from Wellington, I figure it is someone I know and not someone who has just stumbled across me. But this program has raised some questions in my mind over the last few days. It is very basic, simple, user friendly and, possibly above all, free to use. All you need is an account with Google. This prompts me to ask, if I can access something so basic to monitor all this information (and it has the potential to show me a lot more) then what sort of information is accessible/gathered by, for instance, my ISP, or my email provider, or companies that advertise on sites I visit? There is so much personal and potentially sensitive data out there, and for the most part none of us actually have a clue who can access this information. I think this goes beyond the standard concern about viruses, trojans, malware and etcetera that we install software to protect ourselves from. We voluntarily enter so much about ourselves on websites for banking, networking, emailing, or whatever, that we can not possibly know where it all goes and who has access to it.
I guess what I am really just asking myself (and others) to think about is: what do we actually know about the technology that we use, or more to the point, what don't we know.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Contracts and concerts
Because of the nature of my contracts, I have to take a day off every fortnight. And no that's not a typo, "contracts" is plural. I am still working at the Agriculture Department in WA, however due to the GFC (yuss, I got to use "GFC" in a sentence) HR got all antsy about the 20-day casual contracts (which I was previously on), and wanted me to switch to a six month contract. Due to other budgeting issues, my work with the wheat pathology section then went to part time (2 days a week) on this contract, and my barley work was funded through Murdoch University, which means I have a separate contract with them, for 5 days a fortnight. And so it is that I work nine days a fortnight rather than ten. Convoluted, I know.
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my day off a fortnight, and it meant that I have just had a four day weekend as I took off the Friday for last fortnight, and the Monday for the current fortnight. I spent the Friday and Saturday basically chillaxing, although there was a failed attempt to fish in the Swan River on Friday. Traffic was very busy so we decided not to head to the coast and instead went for option B - the river at low tide, brown and smelly, but at least there were ciders on hand.
Sunday was the highlight of the weekend. After having a couple of mates over for an awesome lunch of homemade chicken and bacon sangas, we headed into Northbridge where they had closed off Aberdeen Street for something of a block party, featuring none other than Chali 2na from Jurassic 5. Although he was only given an hour to perform, 2na went OFF, and it was an amazing hour of hip hop, supported by his 'brother' Laidlaw. He really worked the crowd well, and while most of his set was new stuff from his album Fish Outta Water (which I will be running off to buy this weekend), he also chucked in Freedom, Quality Control, and the ever popular What's Golden from his Jurassic 5 days. He obviously still has a lot of love for his former group, with frequent mentions of the now defunct band. It is often said that it is a sign of a great artist if they sound as good live as they do on their albums. This can definitely be said of Chali 2na, who had the whole crowd with their fists in the air, singing along and giving him the hugest of cheers. I heard him a couple of days later on TripleJ saying that Perth was 'crazy', and it really was.
The other main hip hop act at the Low:Fi festival was NaS, who I saw last year supporting Kanye West. Needless to say, Kanye was crap, but it was my first time seeing NaS and I thought that he stole the show. The crowd was small so the gig was pretty intimate, and his band was pretty damn amazing too. This time round I can't say I was as into it as last year. It was the end of a pretty big day, which would have been a factor, but also the bigger crowd and coming off the back of Chali 2na made it less enjoyable for me. And where 2na had been even better live than from a studio, I felt that I preferred NaS on CD than live this time round.
We finished the night off at a couple of pubs, and spent Monday enjoying the fact that most people were at work while we spent most of the day in bed.
Chali 2Na live: 10/10
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my day off a fortnight, and it meant that I have just had a four day weekend as I took off the Friday for last fortnight, and the Monday for the current fortnight. I spent the Friday and Saturday basically chillaxing, although there was a failed attempt to fish in the Swan River on Friday. Traffic was very busy so we decided not to head to the coast and instead went for option B - the river at low tide, brown and smelly, but at least there were ciders on hand.
Sunday was the highlight of the weekend. After having a couple of mates over for an awesome lunch of homemade chicken and bacon sangas, we headed into Northbridge where they had closed off Aberdeen Street for something of a block party, featuring none other than Chali 2na from Jurassic 5. Although he was only given an hour to perform, 2na went OFF, and it was an amazing hour of hip hop, supported by his 'brother' Laidlaw. He really worked the crowd well, and while most of his set was new stuff from his album Fish Outta Water (which I will be running off to buy this weekend), he also chucked in Freedom, Quality Control, and the ever popular What's Golden from his Jurassic 5 days. He obviously still has a lot of love for his former group, with frequent mentions of the now defunct band. It is often said that it is a sign of a great artist if they sound as good live as they do on their albums. This can definitely be said of Chali 2na, who had the whole crowd with their fists in the air, singing along and giving him the hugest of cheers. I heard him a couple of days later on TripleJ saying that Perth was 'crazy', and it really was.
The other main hip hop act at the Low:Fi festival was NaS, who I saw last year supporting Kanye West. Needless to say, Kanye was crap, but it was my first time seeing NaS and I thought that he stole the show. The crowd was small so the gig was pretty intimate, and his band was pretty damn amazing too. This time round I can't say I was as into it as last year. It was the end of a pretty big day, which would have been a factor, but also the bigger crowd and coming off the back of Chali 2na made it less enjoyable for me. And where 2na had been even better live than from a studio, I felt that I preferred NaS on CD than live this time round.
We finished the night off at a couple of pubs, and spent Monday enjoying the fact that most people were at work while we spent most of the day in bed.
Chali 2Na live: 10/10
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Oman trip 2009 - part 3
After our night in the desert we headed back out the way we came, doing the driving ourselves this time. We headed North on our way to the old capital Nizwa, getting a little lost on the way but making it eventually in time to see some of the markets in the souq before they all shut up shop for the day. We took a walk around the big old fort and then hit the road again for Jabal Shams - Oman's highest peak. It was a nice drive up the mountain, utilising the 4x4 and enjoying some pretty spectacular views. Some boys sold us some key rings (they were hardly a bargain...) and challenged to a game of soccer. We had a wee kick around and then got moving again, stopping to take in the view of Oman's Grand Canyon and to buy a goat hair rug from some local Bedouin.
The following day was the journey home. We stopped on the way at Al Hoota caves, where we took a guided tour through the very humid tourist attraction. The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful, and the following day was our last day in the country. We went to the Diving Centre in Muscat to pick up our diving licences, and went for a snorkel and a sun bathe. This time I managed not to stand on a sea urchin and get a number of spikes embedded in my foot, however the fish were not as impressive as at the Yacht Club. We flew out that evening without any troubles and managed to catch up on a bit of sleep in Doha airport. We managed to cancel out special meals before boarding the flight for Bangkok, and in Bangkok we got a hotel room for a very reasonable price. It was great to have a comfortable bed to sleep in between flights, and I even got a free 1 hour Thai massage to boot. We bought some duty free in Singapore and when we finally got home to Perth we were welcomed with an unseasonable 11°C. All in all it was a fantastic trip, and I really do want to return to Oman one day (although probably at a different time of year, because it was bloody hot). The people were lovely, the scenery amazing, and basically I had a down-right wonderful time.
A couple of extra things I thought I'd mention. Petrol is CHEAP over there. The price does not change from day to day, and we were paying 120 baisa for a litre of unleaded. That equates to about 41 cents (NZ) per litre, and that was for super unleaded too I believe. Driving in Oman is more dangerous than, well, quite possibly anything else in the country. Bangkok drivers are crazy, and in Oman it is the same except that the cars are a lot nicer (in Oman you can get fined for having a dirty car!). Overtaking in the on-coming lane is very common, and you will often find the over taker leaving literally metres to get back into their lane. The government is quite secretive with negative statistics, so I don't know the accident rate, but it must be very high.
I also forget to mention the mosques. There are mosques everywhere, and they are all beautiful. One of the few mosques that opens to non-Muslims is the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat, which the sultan had built to celebrate his 30th year in charge. It is a truly incredible building, and the ladies prayer room had us fairly impressed, until we entered to men's prayer room and the difference in size and decoration is remarkable. The carpet in the main prayer hall is the largest single carpet in the world, and everything else about it is stunning as well.
I really would recommend to anyone that they visit Oman, and Kiwis get a free 3 month visa, which is pretty awesome.
Photos
Map
The following day was the journey home. We stopped on the way at Al Hoota caves, where we took a guided tour through the very humid tourist attraction. The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful, and the following day was our last day in the country. We went to the Diving Centre in Muscat to pick up our diving licences, and went for a snorkel and a sun bathe. This time I managed not to stand on a sea urchin and get a number of spikes embedded in my foot, however the fish were not as impressive as at the Yacht Club. We flew out that evening without any troubles and managed to catch up on a bit of sleep in Doha airport. We managed to cancel out special meals before boarding the flight for Bangkok, and in Bangkok we got a hotel room for a very reasonable price. It was great to have a comfortable bed to sleep in between flights, and I even got a free 1 hour Thai massage to boot. We bought some duty free in Singapore and when we finally got home to Perth we were welcomed with an unseasonable 11°C. All in all it was a fantastic trip, and I really do want to return to Oman one day (although probably at a different time of year, because it was bloody hot). The people were lovely, the scenery amazing, and basically I had a down-right wonderful time.
A couple of extra things I thought I'd mention. Petrol is CHEAP over there. The price does not change from day to day, and we were paying 120 baisa for a litre of unleaded. That equates to about 41 cents (NZ) per litre, and that was for super unleaded too I believe. Driving in Oman is more dangerous than, well, quite possibly anything else in the country. Bangkok drivers are crazy, and in Oman it is the same except that the cars are a lot nicer (in Oman you can get fined for having a dirty car!). Overtaking in the on-coming lane is very common, and you will often find the over taker leaving literally metres to get back into their lane. The government is quite secretive with negative statistics, so I don't know the accident rate, but it must be very high.
I also forget to mention the mosques. There are mosques everywhere, and they are all beautiful. One of the few mosques that opens to non-Muslims is the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat, which the sultan had built to celebrate his 30th year in charge. It is a truly incredible building, and the ladies prayer room had us fairly impressed, until we entered to men's prayer room and the difference in size and decoration is remarkable. The carpet in the main prayer hall is the largest single carpet in the world, and everything else about it is stunning as well.
I really would recommend to anyone that they visit Oman, and Kiwis get a free 3 month visa, which is pretty awesome.
Photos
Map
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Oman trip 2009 - part 2
We had intended to do a guided 4-day trip in a 4-wheel drive while in Oman, however it was going to be pretty expensive, and so we ended up taking the 4x4 without the guide, cutting the cost significantly. The tour operators printed off the instructions for us, and with the help of a very good book - Oman Off-Road Explorer, we set off for our first destination, the Ras al Jinz Scientific and Visitors Centre.
Muscat is basically a strip of coastal land sandwiched between the Gulf of Oman and the Al Hagar mountain ranges so our exit from the city took us inland through on some very new roads through the mountains (which provide a rather spectacular backdrop for Muscat, provided it is not too hazy). We eventually descended (rather steeply) down the other side to emerge at the eastern coast, which we followed in our hired Land cruiser until we reached our first proper stop, a saltwater sinkhole located between the coast and the highway (it took a bit of finding), where we parked up and went for a welcome swim. We did a wee bit of offroading after this to find a beach where we took a short walk, and then continued on to Wadi Ash Shab. A wadi is a dried river bed, and they are quite beautiful features of the landscape here. Often they have pools suitable for swimming, and this is their biggest draw card in the Omani heat. We thought that '45-60 minute' walk through Wadi Ash Shab to reach the swimming holes would be well worth it, and figured that 45 minutes would be ample time for us. Of course, walking in the midday heat, with very little shade and not enough water was definitely not the smartest move, and by the time we reached the pools over an hour later we were fairly knackered. The swim helped recover, and there was a cavern accessible only through a thin gap in the rock that we managed to squeeze though to see the waterfall within the cavern, which as a lovely sight. We managed to get back to the car in better time than the previous walk, however it is fair to say that we had all had quite enough of wadis by this stage.
We continued on to our destination via the Tomb of Bibi Mariam (Virgin Mary) located at the ancient town of Qalhat, and a number of wrong turns and thanks in part to my navigation, and in part to the remarkable inconsistency of Oman's street signs. While the Arabic spelling of places does not change, when this is converted into English script, the variety of the translations is highly amusing. Vowels almost all seem interchangeable, as are many consonants, and tourists are basically required to follow the rule of 'if it sounds right, it probably is'. Seriously, some places had at least half a dozen different spellings in various books, maps and on road signs. Anyway, it was dark by the time we arrived at Raps al Jens, and after a quick dinner we joined the group ready to head out to see the Green Turtles On the beach. We were treated with the sight of a mother laying her eggs, and another burying hers in over a metre of sand. We also encountered many hatchlings on the path to the beach, as they had been fooled into thinking that the light from the centre was the moon reflecting off the ocean (being there navigation method to get to the sea). A number of tourists attempted to take some of these baby turtles despite multiple warning not o from the staff. Some people are idiots, and I had no qualms letting the guides know who the offenders were.
That evening the Mullahs sighted the new moon, which heralded the end of Ramadan and the beginning of the month of Eid. The first three days of Eid are the primary celebratory days, and it is very much like Christmas in Western countries. Most things are closed and everyone is extremely happy and friendly. As we drove through the towns and villages the following morning everyone seemed to be out and about in their best dress, and they all waved and smiled as we passed. Our destination was the Wahiba Sands, and we had been instructed to let air out of the tires at one of the garages in Al Mintarib before entering the Sands. Of course, everything was closed as it was Eid, and we ended up following some locals to a garage that eventuated to be closed as well. They then offered to drive us for an exorbitant rate to the resort 20Km into the desert, which we declined, but eventually got a better price out of them so ended up agreeing and getting one of them to drive us in. The Sands were amazing, and looked like a true desert. The 'road' we were on is actually just were everyone drives, so it is somewhat compacted, but it would be inadvisable to stop unless you wanted to bog your ride. We got to the Al Raha resort and parted with our guide (and the extortionate 30 rials), and settled in for a pleasant night in the desert.
Photos
Map
Muscat is basically a strip of coastal land sandwiched between the Gulf of Oman and the Al Hagar mountain ranges so our exit from the city took us inland through on some very new roads through the mountains (which provide a rather spectacular backdrop for Muscat, provided it is not too hazy). We eventually descended (rather steeply) down the other side to emerge at the eastern coast, which we followed in our hired Land cruiser until we reached our first proper stop, a saltwater sinkhole located between the coast and the highway (it took a bit of finding), where we parked up and went for a welcome swim. We did a wee bit of offroading after this to find a beach where we took a short walk, and then continued on to Wadi Ash Shab. A wadi is a dried river bed, and they are quite beautiful features of the landscape here. Often they have pools suitable for swimming, and this is their biggest draw card in the Omani heat. We thought that '45-60 minute' walk through Wadi Ash Shab to reach the swimming holes would be well worth it, and figured that 45 minutes would be ample time for us. Of course, walking in the midday heat, with very little shade and not enough water was definitely not the smartest move, and by the time we reached the pools over an hour later we were fairly knackered. The swim helped recover, and there was a cavern accessible only through a thin gap in the rock that we managed to squeeze though to see the waterfall within the cavern, which as a lovely sight. We managed to get back to the car in better time than the previous walk, however it is fair to say that we had all had quite enough of wadis by this stage.
We continued on to our destination via the Tomb of Bibi Mariam (Virgin Mary) located at the ancient town of Qalhat, and a number of wrong turns and thanks in part to my navigation, and in part to the remarkable inconsistency of Oman's street signs. While the Arabic spelling of places does not change, when this is converted into English script, the variety of the translations is highly amusing. Vowels almost all seem interchangeable, as are many consonants, and tourists are basically required to follow the rule of 'if it sounds right, it probably is'. Seriously, some places had at least half a dozen different spellings in various books, maps and on road signs. Anyway, it was dark by the time we arrived at Raps al Jens, and after a quick dinner we joined the group ready to head out to see the Green Turtles On the beach. We were treated with the sight of a mother laying her eggs, and another burying hers in over a metre of sand. We also encountered many hatchlings on the path to the beach, as they had been fooled into thinking that the light from the centre was the moon reflecting off the ocean (being there navigation method to get to the sea). A number of tourists attempted to take some of these baby turtles despite multiple warning not o from the staff. Some people are idiots, and I had no qualms letting the guides know who the offenders were.
That evening the Mullahs sighted the new moon, which heralded the end of Ramadan and the beginning of the month of Eid. The first three days of Eid are the primary celebratory days, and it is very much like Christmas in Western countries. Most things are closed and everyone is extremely happy and friendly. As we drove through the towns and villages the following morning everyone seemed to be out and about in their best dress, and they all waved and smiled as we passed. Our destination was the Wahiba Sands, and we had been instructed to let air out of the tires at one of the garages in Al Mintarib before entering the Sands. Of course, everything was closed as it was Eid, and we ended up following some locals to a garage that eventuated to be closed as well. They then offered to drive us for an exorbitant rate to the resort 20Km into the desert, which we declined, but eventually got a better price out of them so ended up agreeing and getting one of them to drive us in. The Sands were amazing, and looked like a true desert. The 'road' we were on is actually just were everyone drives, so it is somewhat compacted, but it would be inadvisable to stop unless you wanted to bog your ride. We got to the Al Raha resort and parted with our guide (and the extortionate 30 rials), and settled in for a pleasant night in the desert.
Photos
Map
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Oman trip 2009 - part 1
We flew out of Perth on September 11 with the prospect of 4 flights and almost 2 days of planes and airports ahead of us. It was the cheapest way to do it, but of course once you factor in the food, drinks and potentially transport and accommodation at your transit locations, sometimes it is better to just ignore the budget airlines and go for the direct flight. We'll think about that next time.
Our stopovers were in Singapore, Bangkok and Doha (Qatar). We had a 12 hour wait in Bangkok, so left our baggage at the airport and caught a taxi into the city. Ten minutes into the ride we almost rear-ended a broken down truck on the motorway, and got a rapid education into the dodge ‘em style driving of Bangkok. We got dropped off at Khosang Road and went for a walk around the area - it was early for a Saturday so shops were slowly opening up as we strolled around. After much badgering by every taxi and tuk tuk driver in the city, we eventually decided that the 20 baht tuk tuk ride to various attractions was a pretty darn good price, so we hopped aboard and had a blast rocketing around the city with our friendly driver, weaving in and out of traffic and seeing lucky buddas, golden mountains and gem stone showrooms. I had a wee kip in the taxi back to the airport and then we settled in for the rest of our wait. We had flown twice with Tiger Air now (with no complaints I might add) and now had two Qatar Airways flights to look forward to (not budget, so we got fed and entertained). When we booked our Qatar flights on the internet there was a meal selection section, which had an odd assortment of meals, none of which were 'standard' or 'standard vegetarian'. As a result we ended up selecting 'Hindu meat' and 'raw vegetarian'. What we didn't realise is that this option could be left blank if you wanted standard grub, so it was a bit embarrassing when the hostess on the plane came looking for the people who had ordered these specialist meals. Oops.
We arrived in Muscat at about 4.30 on Sunday morning, and promptly headed to bed to sleep until midday. That afternoon we went for a walk at the nearby beach, but didn't last long as the heat, and more significantly the humidity, didn't take long to knock us flat. The following day we drove the short trip to Al Sawadi Resort where we had a two day SCUBA diving course booked. The course was through SSI and was one of the coolest things I've done in a long time. The first day involved theory and two pool dives, and on the second day we were taken to the Damaniyat Islands where we completed our first two open water dives. It was a fantastic location, and we saw lots of beautiful coral and fish, the highlight for me probably being a black and white sea snake. I took a disposable underwater camera along, and while the photos weren't brilliant you can see some of them here.
The next couple of days were spent in and around Muscat. We went snorkelling at the yacht club and made a couple of visits to the Muttrah souq, which is AMAZING. I don't know how big it is but I could have spent hours wandering around looking for bargains and checking out the different shops. You have to be good at rejecting people in the souq, as every single shop owner will try and sell you a silk scarf, a traditional hat or some frankincense.
In my next post I will describe our four day driving adventure. I wanted to mention Ramadan before signing off. When we arrived in Oman it was the holy month of Ramadan, and as such we were not permitted to eat or drink in public between sunrise and sunset, even water was forbidden. Despite not being Muslims ourselves, if we were seen eating or drinking during the day we would have committed a huge offence, which of course we were not interested in doing. As such we had to make sure that we skulled back the water before leaving the house, and any eating or drinking we did had to be somewhere that no one could see us. Of course, once the sun has set and the call to prayer has been made (of which there a re five each day), the fasting is broken with Iftar, which is usually a rather lavish meal (which I'm sure must often be the happiest time of many people's day!). At Al Sawadi, where we did the diving, we were treated to some lovely buffets for Iftar, both nights we had about a dozen dishes to help ourselves too, and of course about the same number of desserts. Choooiiice.
Stay posted for part two of the adventure.
Photos
Map
Our stopovers were in Singapore, Bangkok and Doha (Qatar). We had a 12 hour wait in Bangkok, so left our baggage at the airport and caught a taxi into the city. Ten minutes into the ride we almost rear-ended a broken down truck on the motorway, and got a rapid education into the dodge ‘em style driving of Bangkok. We got dropped off at Khosang Road and went for a walk around the area - it was early for a Saturday so shops were slowly opening up as we strolled around. After much badgering by every taxi and tuk tuk driver in the city, we eventually decided that the 20 baht tuk tuk ride to various attractions was a pretty darn good price, so we hopped aboard and had a blast rocketing around the city with our friendly driver, weaving in and out of traffic and seeing lucky buddas, golden mountains and gem stone showrooms. I had a wee kip in the taxi back to the airport and then we settled in for the rest of our wait. We had flown twice with Tiger Air now (with no complaints I might add) and now had two Qatar Airways flights to look forward to (not budget, so we got fed and entertained). When we booked our Qatar flights on the internet there was a meal selection section, which had an odd assortment of meals, none of which were 'standard' or 'standard vegetarian'. As a result we ended up selecting 'Hindu meat' and 'raw vegetarian'. What we didn't realise is that this option could be left blank if you wanted standard grub, so it was a bit embarrassing when the hostess on the plane came looking for the people who had ordered these specialist meals. Oops.
We arrived in Muscat at about 4.30 on Sunday morning, and promptly headed to bed to sleep until midday. That afternoon we went for a walk at the nearby beach, but didn't last long as the heat, and more significantly the humidity, didn't take long to knock us flat. The following day we drove the short trip to Al Sawadi Resort where we had a two day SCUBA diving course booked. The course was through SSI and was one of the coolest things I've done in a long time. The first day involved theory and two pool dives, and on the second day we were taken to the Damaniyat Islands where we completed our first two open water dives. It was a fantastic location, and we saw lots of beautiful coral and fish, the highlight for me probably being a black and white sea snake. I took a disposable underwater camera along, and while the photos weren't brilliant you can see some of them here.
The next couple of days were spent in and around Muscat. We went snorkelling at the yacht club and made a couple of visits to the Muttrah souq, which is AMAZING. I don't know how big it is but I could have spent hours wandering around looking for bargains and checking out the different shops. You have to be good at rejecting people in the souq, as every single shop owner will try and sell you a silk scarf, a traditional hat or some frankincense.
In my next post I will describe our four day driving adventure. I wanted to mention Ramadan before signing off. When we arrived in Oman it was the holy month of Ramadan, and as such we were not permitted to eat or drink in public between sunrise and sunset, even water was forbidden. Despite not being Muslims ourselves, if we were seen eating or drinking during the day we would have committed a huge offence, which of course we were not interested in doing. As such we had to make sure that we skulled back the water before leaving the house, and any eating or drinking we did had to be somewhere that no one could see us. Of course, once the sun has set and the call to prayer has been made (of which there a re five each day), the fasting is broken with Iftar, which is usually a rather lavish meal (which I'm sure must often be the happiest time of many people's day!). At Al Sawadi, where we did the diving, we were treated to some lovely buffets for Iftar, both nights we had about a dozen dishes to help ourselves too, and of course about the same number of desserts. Choooiiice.
Stay posted for part two of the adventure.
Photos
Map
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Photos
I have now started an online photo album with photos from my trip and some photos from home. They are photos of things and places, rather than people, as I do not think that it is fair to put up photos of other people in a public forum. You can find my photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/WgtnMax
I hope you enjoy them. I will add more photos and albums as they come.
Cheers.
http://picasaweb.google.com/WgtnMax
I hope you enjoy them. I will add more photos and albums as they come.
Cheers.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Kalgoorlie now has competition for my Least Favourite Place in Australia So Far
Last night I spent the night in a town 180km north-east of Perth. It's name is Wongan Hills.
My work involves planting barley seeds, most of which happens in Perth (or within 30 minute's drive). Twice now I have gone away for the night, the first time being a trip south, staying in the very nice Pemberton Hotel, the other excursion being last night, to Wongan Hills.
It was not so much the trip that got to me. I get a $15 allowance for breakfast, same for lunch, and something in the region of $40 for dinner, plus an accomodation budget. Anything not spent goes in my pocket. The drive there is nice, and not too long, and the Bindoon bakery stops on the way there and back introduced me to my Favourite Bakery in Australia So Far.
Wongan itself however, well, sucks. It is a two road town, it was cold, it was wet, the soil was stony and full of doublegees that stick into your hand and leave nasty little splinters. But it was the hotel that dealt the biggest blow. My room was literally 3 metres by 4. It had a bed, a wardrobe and a little cradle to but my bag on. I got a towel and a soup. There was not heating and the door that led onto the shared balcony was letting a lovely draft in. My duvet was actually a duvet cover, and I was lucky enough to find a woollen blanket at the bottom of the old wardrobe. I fear my bed probably had bedbugs. The mattress felt more like springs that had a sheet wrapped round them. The 'facilities' were shared. Of the two showers, one's door didn't close, and the other's latch was broken. I got steak at the adjoining pub, thinking it was a fairly safe bet, but apparently 'medium-rare' in Wongan Hills is 'rare as ya can give me'. The only cider was Strongbow.
I was happy to get out of the hotel this morning. We waited 20 minutes for the bakery to open, only for me to have to buy 2 coffees, after managing to spill the first one all down the side of the ute. Probably my fault, I know, but I am happy to blame Wongan in this instance. More cold planting this morning, and the rain was more than happy to hang around.
I should rename this "Max's Rant Blog". Thanks for listening. Don't go to Wongan Hills. (I am, in three weeks)
My work involves planting barley seeds, most of which happens in Perth (or within 30 minute's drive). Twice now I have gone away for the night, the first time being a trip south, staying in the very nice Pemberton Hotel, the other excursion being last night, to Wongan Hills.
It was not so much the trip that got to me. I get a $15 allowance for breakfast, same for lunch, and something in the region of $40 for dinner, plus an accomodation budget. Anything not spent goes in my pocket. The drive there is nice, and not too long, and the Bindoon bakery stops on the way there and back introduced me to my Favourite Bakery in Australia So Far.
Wongan itself however, well, sucks. It is a two road town, it was cold, it was wet, the soil was stony and full of doublegees that stick into your hand and leave nasty little splinters. But it was the hotel that dealt the biggest blow. My room was literally 3 metres by 4. It had a bed, a wardrobe and a little cradle to but my bag on. I got a towel and a soup. There was not heating and the door that led onto the shared balcony was letting a lovely draft in. My duvet was actually a duvet cover, and I was lucky enough to find a woollen blanket at the bottom of the old wardrobe. I fear my bed probably had bedbugs. The mattress felt more like springs that had a sheet wrapped round them. The 'facilities' were shared. Of the two showers, one's door didn't close, and the other's latch was broken. I got steak at the adjoining pub, thinking it was a fairly safe bet, but apparently 'medium-rare' in Wongan Hills is 'rare as ya can give me'. The only cider was Strongbow.
I was happy to get out of the hotel this morning. We waited 20 minutes for the bakery to open, only for me to have to buy 2 coffees, after managing to spill the first one all down the side of the ute. Probably my fault, I know, but I am happy to blame Wongan in this instance. More cold planting this morning, and the rain was more than happy to hang around.
I should rename this "Max's Rant Blog". Thanks for listening. Don't go to Wongan Hills. (I am, in three weeks)
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Life goes on
I've been harassed a wee bit lately for not updating this. Sorry fullahs!
Soooo, I've just seen that National has withdrawn its promise of tax cuts. Can't say I'm surprised, they've been a party of schemers for quite some time now! And to call Labour a "credit card opposition" is pretty pathetic given the good surpluses Labour ran for a number of years (which of course National took no hesitation in attacking at the time). So New Zealand is going to get screwed on superannuation and the environment (and I'm sure other areas to boot) and there will be no tax cuts. Change for change's sake isn't such a good idea any more huh.
Well that's my rant. Feel free to disagree or to add to the discussion. I'm sure the letters pages in the papers back home will be pretty interesting for the next few weeks.
Back to Perth. Work is good. Planting will begin either tomorrow or next week, starting with on-site plots, then some trips to regional areas (Wongan Hills, Mount Barker, Manjimup, Katanning). After my work with the Barley pathology group drys up I should be able to get work with the wheat guys, so fingers crossed work is secure for the next couple of months.
Long weekend this weekend. Going to Fremantle prison on Saturday (it's historic, I'm not in trouble...) and maybe a wee drive on Sunday. It's good having a car, you really need one here because of the distances. plus it cuts 40 minutes off the trip to work (each way).
I have a cold right now. I guess I have no immunity to things over here. Hoping it isn't swine flu. I guess if I get it and recover I have immunity?
Not too much else to write about, life goes on. Winter hit here in 24 hours, with a pretty impressive thunderstorm - the streets were a mess with debris, but it seems to have calmed down a bit now.
Hope everyone's well. Will try and be a bit better with this!
Out.
Soooo, I've just seen that National has withdrawn its promise of tax cuts. Can't say I'm surprised, they've been a party of schemers for quite some time now! And to call Labour a "credit card opposition" is pretty pathetic given the good surpluses Labour ran for a number of years (which of course National took no hesitation in attacking at the time). So New Zealand is going to get screwed on superannuation and the environment (and I'm sure other areas to boot) and there will be no tax cuts. Change for change's sake isn't such a good idea any more huh.
Well that's my rant. Feel free to disagree or to add to the discussion. I'm sure the letters pages in the papers back home will be pretty interesting for the next few weeks.
Back to Perth. Work is good. Planting will begin either tomorrow or next week, starting with on-site plots, then some trips to regional areas (Wongan Hills, Mount Barker, Manjimup, Katanning). After my work with the Barley pathology group drys up I should be able to get work with the wheat guys, so fingers crossed work is secure for the next couple of months.
Long weekend this weekend. Going to Fremantle prison on Saturday (it's historic, I'm not in trouble...) and maybe a wee drive on Sunday. It's good having a car, you really need one here because of the distances. plus it cuts 40 minutes off the trip to work (each way).
I have a cold right now. I guess I have no immunity to things over here. Hoping it isn't swine flu. I guess if I get it and recover I have immunity?
Not too much else to write about, life goes on. Winter hit here in 24 hours, with a pretty impressive thunderstorm - the streets were a mess with debris, but it seems to have calmed down a bit now.
Hope everyone's well. Will try and be a bit better with this!
Out.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
News and stuff
So it's a while since I've done one of these! Sorry about that, if you care.
Life is all good in Perth at the moment. Job is ticking along and I'm hoping to get another contract after the first 6 weeks is up. May get a longer one too so that'd be all good. I don't get holiday pay but I get a higher wage as a result so I'm pulling in about $AUS1400 a fortnight, so more than I was getting in NZ! Can't complain about that. Actually I saw a Brit from the hostel we stayed at the other day, and he got really pissed off that I was getting paid more than him to 'pack peanuts'. Poor bastard.
Sticking with the British Isles, there's a ship load of Irish over here, and they're pretty animal. They get on the bevvies a lot and half the time you can't understand what they're saying. Some people were walking behind me the other day and I was trying to figure out what language they were speaking - something Eastern European I thought. Turned out they were a couple of Irish blokes speaking English. Go figure. St Patrick's day is big over here for them too it would seem. Rosie O'Grady's, an Irish pub down the road, managed to get a section of the street closed off, had half a dozen port-a-loos outside, and had 2 queues of about 30 pissed Irishmen (and women) just hanging out to get a beer past their lips. Fiddle de dee.
Anyway hoping to get internet at home in a week or two so a bit more of this sort of blah blah blah to come hopefully.
Life is all good in Perth at the moment. Job is ticking along and I'm hoping to get another contract after the first 6 weeks is up. May get a longer one too so that'd be all good. I don't get holiday pay but I get a higher wage as a result so I'm pulling in about $AUS1400 a fortnight, so more than I was getting in NZ! Can't complain about that. Actually I saw a Brit from the hostel we stayed at the other day, and he got really pissed off that I was getting paid more than him to 'pack peanuts'. Poor bastard.
Sticking with the British Isles, there's a ship load of Irish over here, and they're pretty animal. They get on the bevvies a lot and half the time you can't understand what they're saying. Some people were walking behind me the other day and I was trying to figure out what language they were speaking - something Eastern European I thought. Turned out they were a couple of Irish blokes speaking English. Go figure. St Patrick's day is big over here for them too it would seem. Rosie O'Grady's, an Irish pub down the road, managed to get a section of the street closed off, had half a dozen port-a-loos outside, and had 2 queues of about 30 pissed Irishmen (and women) just hanging out to get a beer past their lips. Fiddle de dee.
Anyway hoping to get internet at home in a week or two so a bit more of this sort of blah blah blah to come hopefully.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
It's not what you know...
So I finally have a job! After weeks of looking, and trying a number of different avenues, the old 'hook-ups from back home' came up trumps. I had a contact in the Western Australia Department of Food and Agriculture, who I saw when I first got to Perth. At the time he had no work going and told me to try him again in March. I was sure I'd have other work by March. After trying about a dozen recruitment agencies, applying for jobs online, calling jobs in the paper, calling people not advertising but thinking 'what the hell', and trawling the city with copies of my CV, I still didn't even have an offer of employment as a temp, or in a garden centre (and I called heaps!). Walking down the street on Monday I was feeling pretty dejected, when I remembered it was now March, and called DAFWA again. Booya! I had work the next day on a 20 day contract, with the possibility of more to come. So I am pretty stoked and very grateful for the contact.
My week ahead is filled with transferring barley seeds from big packets to smaller ones in preparation for planting. They conduct field trials breeding for disease resistance. My job isn't rocket science, but it beats worrying about how I'm going to spend the last $100 in my account!
My week ahead is filled with transferring barley seeds from big packets to smaller ones in preparation for planting. They conduct field trials breeding for disease resistance. My job isn't rocket science, but it beats worrying about how I'm going to spend the last $100 in my account!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Loophole
I have had my New Zealand restricted driving licence since October 2006, and in January I sat my test to get my full licence, which I failed (I thought maybe a tad unfairly, but that's just me...). Goodbye $120. I knew that full NZ licences could be transferred over to Australia, but did not know the rules with restricted licences, so was a bit worried that I would have to start the process from scratch. In Australia, the step after your learners licence is the provisional licence, which you have for 2 years before it flicks over to a full. What I discovered, to my delight, is that because I had had my NZ restricted for over 2 years, I was able to transfer it over to a full Australian without sitting a test. You beauty! So I guess now I am able to bring my full Aussie licence over to NZ, get it transferred, and not have to sit the test, which I have already failed.
What a loophole eh.
What a loophole eh.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Nannup
Monday was Labour Day here in Western Australia, and there were quite a few concerts and events on around the state. One of those was the 20th occurrence of the Nannup Music Festival, in the small town of Nannup, about 3 hours south of Perth (longer when it's a long weekend and everyone is heading out of the city). Two of our flatmates had tickets to go, but one of them caught a stomach bug, and they felt that they couldn't really go if one of them was spraying out both ends. As it was we scored the tickets, and their friend was kind enough to drive us there and back. So on Saturday, with their tent, their primus, their tickets and their friend in tow, we hit the road for Nannup.
The festival is essentially a folk music festival, and I had only heard of one of the acts, so we weren't really sure what to expect. When we got there we were welcomed with the news that the campsite was full, despite the fact that 'our' campsites had been booked and paid for well in advance. We went down to the grounds with one of the friendly old volunteers and managed to find a couple of spots on relatively even ground. 'Riverbend', as the campsite was called, was situated next to Nannup's river, which was actually a stagnant stream that probably wasn't doing the local wildlife much good. Safe to say the togs stayed packed in our bags for the whole trip. We got our tents up with no hassles and headed back to the town to check things out.
There were a number of venues, the main one being an amphitheatre specially prepared for the event. It was located at the end of a cordoned off street lined with stalls, hippies and local kids trying to earn a buck playing Mary Had a Little Lamb on their violin. Their was some pretty good deals, and my dinner that evening of a plate of snapper, calamari, prawns and crayfish for $10 was pretty satisfying. Snapper is quite common over here, and oddly enough it is often cheaper than shark in the Fish & Chips shops. Go figure. The other venues included the local pub, the Town Hall, the Churchyard, and the some pretty inoffensive acts in the Playground for the kids. Actually the drumming monkey puppets were pretty impressive...
TinPan Orange, Nick and Liesl, Michelle Shocked and Microwave Jenny impressed. Other acts were not so much to my taste. Jez Lowe & Kate Bramley reminded us that we were at a folk music festival. I bought a CD of TinPan Orange and got them to sign it - I now know that I prefer them live but it is still a good wee CD. Other highlights were my first ever sighting of fork lightening on the drive down, the sign announcing the presence of tiger snakes in the vicinity of the campsite, the sighting of a baby snake at night (which in fact on reviewing my photos the next day turned out to be a very small lizard with very small legs - you can not imagine how disappointed I was), and the dolphins in the river at Mandurah on the drive home.
I'm not sure that I would pay to go to Nannup again, but it was a fun weekend and I enjoyed getting out of the city for a while. I think our next musical excursion will be the West Coast Blues 'n' Roots Festival in Fremantle on April 18, headlined by John Butler Trio. Hopefully neither of us get gastro.
TinPan Orange in the Town Hall
Nick and Liesl
Michelle Shocked in the amphitheatre
Folkies (Jez Lowe & Kate Bramley)
Gets my vote!
Snake!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Hi, I'm Mix...
"I Max Fraser Donelan do solemnly swear..." So yesterday was the first time that I had to put my left hand on a piece of paper, raise my right hand and solemnly swear that I am who I say I am, and that the above statement is correct and true. It was only a statutory declaration that my name was actually my name and that I am in Australia to live and work, but it did carry a certain aura of importance and seriousness. I was however a bit peeved that I have to solemnly swear. It wasn't a particularly sad occasion (although the JP at the cop shop did seem pretty bored), and I was actually quite happy to finally be getting this Medicare business sorted. Why couldn't I ecstatically swear? Or at least bring some kind of mild optimism to the event?
Apparently I was wrong about my name being Max anyway. My flatmate's mother came round yesterday, and I let her her in the door. When I introduced myself she gave me a quizzical look and asked me with some confusion "Your name's Mix?". I guess I need to work on dropping the Kiwi twang.
I have made some more observations of Perth, which you might take interest in. In fact for the most part they're more gripes than observations, so stop reading now if you couldn't give a rat's about my feelings on the price of lollies. Because seriously, they're expensive here. A dollar mixture will have maybe 6 lollies in it, and they're not even good. You end up spitting half of them out. I saw a self-serve lolly bin in a 'convenience store' yesterday. Lollies that should have been 5c each were 20c a pop (and they even have 5c coins here still, so there's no excuse!). What the hell is convenient about that I ask??
I was also horrified when, walking down the street minding my own business, I looked up to find that I was standing outside the Croc Shop. Yes, they have a shop devoted to Crocs. And what's worse, from what I could see from my vantage point on the footpath, Croc is diversifying its stock. I am unimpressed.
My 6 years at New World Metro have given me, other than of course valuable life experience..., a good understanding of what the words 'customer satisfaction' mean. Supermarkets here close at around 8pm, even earlier on Saturdays (don't even try to go on a Sunday). I would try and give you more accurate times, but I haven't yet seen a supermarket that has its hours of operation displayed outside the store. This is something that has been getting me quite worked up actually, and something needs to be done about it.
That's it for now. I feel like Peter Griffin when he's telling Quahog what Grinds His Gears. Next time I'll try to be less, well, solemn I guess.
Apparently I was wrong about my name being Max anyway. My flatmate's mother came round yesterday, and I let her her in the door. When I introduced myself she gave me a quizzical look and asked me with some confusion "Your name's Mix?". I guess I need to work on dropping the Kiwi twang.
I have made some more observations of Perth, which you might take interest in. In fact for the most part they're more gripes than observations, so stop reading now if you couldn't give a rat's about my feelings on the price of lollies. Because seriously, they're expensive here. A dollar mixture will have maybe 6 lollies in it, and they're not even good. You end up spitting half of them out. I saw a self-serve lolly bin in a 'convenience store' yesterday. Lollies that should have been 5c each were 20c a pop (and they even have 5c coins here still, so there's no excuse!). What the hell is convenient about that I ask??
I was also horrified when, walking down the street minding my own business, I looked up to find that I was standing outside the Croc Shop. Yes, they have a shop devoted to Crocs. And what's worse, from what I could see from my vantage point on the footpath, Croc is diversifying its stock. I am unimpressed.
My 6 years at New World Metro have given me, other than of course valuable life experience..., a good understanding of what the words 'customer satisfaction' mean. Supermarkets here close at around 8pm, even earlier on Saturdays (don't even try to go on a Sunday). I would try and give you more accurate times, but I haven't yet seen a supermarket that has its hours of operation displayed outside the store. This is something that has been getting me quite worked up actually, and something needs to be done about it.
That's it for now. I feel like Peter Griffin when he's telling Quahog what Grinds His Gears. Next time I'll try to be less, well, solemn I guess.
Monday, February 23, 2009
"Whispers through my Gran Torino"
Here's something you probably don't know about me. When I go to a movie at the cinema I get an irrational fear that I am going to need to go toilet during the movie, and will embarrass myself by having to squeeze past people, while also missing part of the movie, and having to embarrass myself all over again when I come back into the cinema. Sometimes this ridiculous feeling is so strong that I simply am not able to enjoy the movie and spend and hour and a half sitting there worrying that soon I might need to go to the toilet.
And every now and again I end up in a movie that is just so good that I forget I am even in a movie. I forget that I am in Perth, I forget that I paid $15 for the flick and $6 for the popcorn, I forget that I am stressed out about not being able to find a job, and I forget about the illogical angst that so often manages to ruin a movie for me. I get absorbed in the film and when it finishes I sit through the credits in silence and awe reflecting on what I have just seen. Gran Torino is one of those movies, as I discovered on Saturday. I highly recommend that you watch it.
I did not know anything about the film before going to it, except that Clint Eastwood had directed, produced and starred in it. I did not know the setting, the story line, or even how long it would be. And this is how I want to watch all movies now. I will not give anything away about the movie here, suffice to say that the characters are wonderful and the story is gripping. Go see it.
And every now and again I end up in a movie that is just so good that I forget I am even in a movie. I forget that I am in Perth, I forget that I paid $15 for the flick and $6 for the popcorn, I forget that I am stressed out about not being able to find a job, and I forget about the illogical angst that so often manages to ruin a movie for me. I get absorbed in the film and when it finishes I sit through the credits in silence and awe reflecting on what I have just seen. Gran Torino is one of those movies, as I discovered on Saturday. I highly recommend that you watch it.
I did not know anything about the film before going to it, except that Clint Eastwood had directed, produced and starred in it. I did not know the setting, the story line, or even how long it would be. And this is how I want to watch all movies now. I will not give anything away about the movie here, suffice to say that the characters are wonderful and the story is gripping. Go see it.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Perth - first impressions
I like Perth.
Today it's another pearler. Literally not a cloud in the sky (we've had a few days like this). Directly overhead it's a beautiful deep blue, getting paler towards the horizon. Just earlier I looked up and high overhead was a flock of about a dozen white birds circling and cartwheeling. Pretty damn cool.
Well, there are things about Perth that I think are pretty cool, some not so cool. Here's a bit of a run down on some of those things.
Taxis
Our first experience of Perth, after the train station, was the taxi to our hostel. The driver was in a shitty mood because he missed out on a $120 fare and instead got us, for $10. Then he took us to the wrong street because he was all worked up. Whoops. The next time we caught a cab it was the same company. The driver didn't know the way (and our street is hardly a back alley) so relied on his GPS. Of course this took him the wrong way and we ended up on a one-way street heading in the wrong direction. We got out and walked the rest of the way. We were assured by friends that this was still the company to cab with, so we tried them one more time. We gave the driver $22 for a $12 fare, and he gave us a 5er change, instead of a 10er. We had had a few drinks so didn't realise 'til the next morning. Damn you Swan Taxis!
Beaches
On our first day in Perth we went to Cottesloe Beach, and headed to Scarborough beach on the second day. GREAT beaches here. Good for body surfing (or just surfing, but I'm not doin' that just yet). Warm water (and that's not Oriental Bay warm, I'm talking hopping in a bath warm) and great sand make them ideal for almost anything. Well done the beaches.
Roads
I mentioned a one-way street earlier - there is an extensive one-way system in Perth, which seems to work but would be confusing for new drivers here (or some taxi drivers, apparently). I don't like the phasing of the traffic lights (an odd complaint I know), and drivers are pretty bad with letting other cars change lanes etc, and someone seems to be honking their horn at every intersection. There are cycle lanes everywhere which is really good, and in some less built up areas the speed limit is 60 rather than 50.
Public transport
Is good inner city. Buses are free in the inner city, and there are 3 loop routes in the city (the CATs) that have dedicated buses on them. They have a screen that tells you the next stop coming up, and even a friendly robot voice that announces the current bus stop in an inoffensive manner. At the bus stops there is a display telling you when the next bus is expected (and the CATS run every 7 minutes, so it is very easy getting around the city). I have not caught a train or bus out of the inner city yet, although I am told it is not quite as good as the inner city transport. To get to the beaches you really do need a car, but I guess it is worth it. I caught a ferry across the river the other day, and it is only $1.60 for the 7 minute trip, which I thought was pretty decent.
Food and beverage
You can not buy dozens here. You buy either a half-doz or a carton (2 doz). It is a bit odd I find. Booze is also dearer, which I think everyone probably already knows. They love their flavoured milk here. There are lots of brands and some random flavours (spearmint...).
Accommodation
Our hostel is not brilliant for the price. I have a few complaints but will not bore you with them here. We used the interweb to find a flat, posting ads and searching other people's ads. We were contacted by a guy that had 2 rooms available - one for $265 and one for $295. We went and met him and looked at the 295 room. It was a bit of a shitter. We found it odd that the landlord was finding tenants rather than the flatmates looking for people. It would seem that he looks for people new to Perth and rips them off, basically. We didn't bother looking at the 265 room. Tell him he's dreaming. On the way back to the hostel we looked at a room for 175 incl power and gas. It was great, with nice flatmates, so on Tuesday we move in. Yuss. And screw you Rolf with your overpriced dumps.
Yeah so that's Perth in a nutshell for me so far. A lot of that was negative I just realised but I actually do really like the city. We are in an area with lots of crazy Vietnamese supermarkets, and heaps of restaurants. The city is quite compact and there seem to be a few nice parks around. I haven't met many Aussies yet, but people seem nice enough. The weather is usually sweltering, and the sun is piercing, so you have to be careful not to burn. I will take some photos of a sunset over the Indian Ocean. They are absolutely off the hook.
'Til next time.
Today it's another pearler. Literally not a cloud in the sky (we've had a few days like this). Directly overhead it's a beautiful deep blue, getting paler towards the horizon. Just earlier I looked up and high overhead was a flock of about a dozen white birds circling and cartwheeling. Pretty damn cool.
Well, there are things about Perth that I think are pretty cool, some not so cool. Here's a bit of a run down on some of those things.
Taxis
Our first experience of Perth, after the train station, was the taxi to our hostel. The driver was in a shitty mood because he missed out on a $120 fare and instead got us, for $10. Then he took us to the wrong street because he was all worked up. Whoops. The next time we caught a cab it was the same company. The driver didn't know the way (and our street is hardly a back alley) so relied on his GPS. Of course this took him the wrong way and we ended up on a one-way street heading in the wrong direction. We got out and walked the rest of the way. We were assured by friends that this was still the company to cab with, so we tried them one more time. We gave the driver $22 for a $12 fare, and he gave us a 5er change, instead of a 10er. We had had a few drinks so didn't realise 'til the next morning. Damn you Swan Taxis!
Beaches
On our first day in Perth we went to Cottesloe Beach, and headed to Scarborough beach on the second day. GREAT beaches here. Good for body surfing (or just surfing, but I'm not doin' that just yet). Warm water (and that's not Oriental Bay warm, I'm talking hopping in a bath warm) and great sand make them ideal for almost anything. Well done the beaches.
Roads
I mentioned a one-way street earlier - there is an extensive one-way system in Perth, which seems to work but would be confusing for new drivers here (or some taxi drivers, apparently). I don't like the phasing of the traffic lights (an odd complaint I know), and drivers are pretty bad with letting other cars change lanes etc, and someone seems to be honking their horn at every intersection. There are cycle lanes everywhere which is really good, and in some less built up areas the speed limit is 60 rather than 50.
Public transport
Is good inner city. Buses are free in the inner city, and there are 3 loop routes in the city (the CATs) that have dedicated buses on them. They have a screen that tells you the next stop coming up, and even a friendly robot voice that announces the current bus stop in an inoffensive manner. At the bus stops there is a display telling you when the next bus is expected (and the CATS run every 7 minutes, so it is very easy getting around the city). I have not caught a train or bus out of the inner city yet, although I am told it is not quite as good as the inner city transport. To get to the beaches you really do need a car, but I guess it is worth it. I caught a ferry across the river the other day, and it is only $1.60 for the 7 minute trip, which I thought was pretty decent.
Food and beverage
You can not buy dozens here. You buy either a half-doz or a carton (2 doz). It is a bit odd I find. Booze is also dearer, which I think everyone probably already knows. They love their flavoured milk here. There are lots of brands and some random flavours (spearmint...).
Accommodation
Our hostel is not brilliant for the price. I have a few complaints but will not bore you with them here. We used the interweb to find a flat, posting ads and searching other people's ads. We were contacted by a guy that had 2 rooms available - one for $265 and one for $295. We went and met him and looked at the 295 room. It was a bit of a shitter. We found it odd that the landlord was finding tenants rather than the flatmates looking for people. It would seem that he looks for people new to Perth and rips them off, basically. We didn't bother looking at the 265 room. Tell him he's dreaming. On the way back to the hostel we looked at a room for 175 incl power and gas. It was great, with nice flatmates, so on Tuesday we move in. Yuss. And screw you Rolf with your overpriced dumps.
Yeah so that's Perth in a nutshell for me so far. A lot of that was negative I just realised but I actually do really like the city. We are in an area with lots of crazy Vietnamese supermarkets, and heaps of restaurants. The city is quite compact and there seem to be a few nice parks around. I haven't met many Aussies yet, but people seem nice enough. The weather is usually sweltering, and the sun is piercing, so you have to be careful not to burn. I will take some photos of a sunset over the Indian Ocean. They are absolutely off the hook.
'Til next time.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Training days - from Sydney to Perth on the Indian Pacific
On Wednesday 4 February our train pulled out from Platform 1, Sydney Central Station, bang on time at 2.55pm. It was the start of a 3 day adventure across the biggest island in the world, the great southern continent, home of that swagman sitting by the billibong, Australia.
I first heard about the Indian Pacific train journey in Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent. It immediately struck me as something that I would rather like to do, and as it turns out Grace was keen on it as well, and so we planned our trip to Australia around it, with 3 nights in Sydney before heading off an a trip that would get us into Perth on a Saturday morning, which seemed a logical arrival time to explore some of the city and have some fun before the impending yet inevitable job/flat hunt.
The departure from Sydney was slow. We crawled along as we gave way to the time-constrained suburban trains, slowly moving out of the inner city to the poorer and more run down suburbs in the west. It was a side of Sydney I had not yet seen. So far for me, Sydney had been a city of, basically, money. Now I saw that it was like any other city. On arrival you see the flashy, glamorous place you came to see. After a bit of digging you find the Cannon's Creeks and the Otaras.
The Blue Mountains came and went faster than expected, needless to say they provided some beautiful scenery. The first night was a rather sleepless one. The ride was not what one would call smooth, and everything in our wardrobe-sized cabin seemed to rattle and clang. And the cabin really was something of a wardrobe. There are 2 main classes on the Indian Pacific. We were in the Red Kangaroo class, which is separated into 'Daynighter Seat' - essentially like sitting in an aeroplane for 3 days, from what I can tell - and 'Sleeper Cabin', which we went for. The carriage had rooms on either side, separated by a winding corridor just wide enough to pass someone, provided you were comfortable with pushing past either their bum or front bits. The room itself was a feat of engineering. Floor space was at a minimum. We had a seat each, facing one another, and a little table in between that could be folded into the wall. Once you had folded the arm rests back on the seats the bottom bunk could be, you guessed it, folded down from the wall, and the upper bunk then lowered down from the ceiling. We also had a sink that had no drain in the bottom, but when FOLDED back the water drained down the back of it. I am sure that it must have been the work of German car manufacturers.
On Thursday morning we arrived in the old mining town of Broken Hill, home of BHP Billiton, one of the Goliaths of the mining world. As it was 7am, everything happened to be closed, which was very disappointing. I couldn't get into the museum, or even the local equivalent of Four Square. I was puzzled by the two women walking around with small branches in their hands, when I realised that they were in fact geniuses, as their makeshift fly swats were a necessity. The flies were relentless. Stop for a moment and they were crawling on your face and arms. I reckon I got OOS from the constant swatting. I knew they were all over my back, but rather there than my face. We had actually booked a tour of the town from the train, but the bus left without us, which put us out somewhat.
That afternoon we arrived in Adelaide, which was designed by the same man as Christchurch, which about sums that city up. It was stinking hot and getting back to the train after 3 or so hours was very nice indeed. Our train's crew switched over and we were on our way once again. Sleeping pills and earplugs made the night a bit more pleasant.
The following day saw us arrive in the 'ghost town of the Nullabor', Cook. At population 4 there is not a lot happening in Cook. It exists to serve trains that pass through, and there is an impressive array of postcards, tea towels and teaspoons available for purchase from the only shop. The school is probably haunted and every square inch of ground is swarming with ants. Once again the flies manage to distract the ambling tourist from the sheer vastness of the surroundings, and after a wee walk around and lots of photos the train once more provides a welcome refuge from the heat and insects.
Friday came and as we trundled west we were diverted along a hastily built piece of temporary track. A week earlier the area had been washed out and a freight train had been derailed. It was an impressive sight to see whole carriages crumpled and shipping containers strewn about like toys in a sandpit.
That evening we were treated to Kalgoorlie. The first locals we saw were a ute load of young guys hanging out the window pulling the finger and shouting at the new arrivals 'Mother f***ers! Suck my d***!'. I didn't expect much following this, and the hostile atmosphere in the pubs we ventured into was enough for me to label Kalgoorlie my Least Favourite Place in Australia So Far. At least there was a pharmacy still open to buy more sleeping pills. And impressive lightening storm closing in on the town provided an awe-inspiring sight as the train pulled away and we entered the final stretch.
We arrived in Perth just after 9 on Saturday morning. It had been an adventure for sure, but I think that one more night in those close confines would have been stretching it. I felt for the travellers in the Daynighter seats. I had seen an emu, camels, a wallaby, eagles and dingoes, and visited some of the most isolated towns the continent had to offer. I was sleep deprived and looking forward to a good meal, but I was glad that I had done it, and look forward to one day riding the Ghan, which traverses the continent North and South.
Next time I might save my pennies and go Gold service though.
(Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=77468&id=623332446&l=255af)
I first heard about the Indian Pacific train journey in Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent. It immediately struck me as something that I would rather like to do, and as it turns out Grace was keen on it as well, and so we planned our trip to Australia around it, with 3 nights in Sydney before heading off an a trip that would get us into Perth on a Saturday morning, which seemed a logical arrival time to explore some of the city and have some fun before the impending yet inevitable job/flat hunt.
The departure from Sydney was slow. We crawled along as we gave way to the time-constrained suburban trains, slowly moving out of the inner city to the poorer and more run down suburbs in the west. It was a side of Sydney I had not yet seen. So far for me, Sydney had been a city of, basically, money. Now I saw that it was like any other city. On arrival you see the flashy, glamorous place you came to see. After a bit of digging you find the Cannon's Creeks and the Otaras.
The Blue Mountains came and went faster than expected, needless to say they provided some beautiful scenery. The first night was a rather sleepless one. The ride was not what one would call smooth, and everything in our wardrobe-sized cabin seemed to rattle and clang. And the cabin really was something of a wardrobe. There are 2 main classes on the Indian Pacific. We were in the Red Kangaroo class, which is separated into 'Daynighter Seat' - essentially like sitting in an aeroplane for 3 days, from what I can tell - and 'Sleeper Cabin', which we went for. The carriage had rooms on either side, separated by a winding corridor just wide enough to pass someone, provided you were comfortable with pushing past either their bum or front bits. The room itself was a feat of engineering. Floor space was at a minimum. We had a seat each, facing one another, and a little table in between that could be folded into the wall. Once you had folded the arm rests back on the seats the bottom bunk could be, you guessed it, folded down from the wall, and the upper bunk then lowered down from the ceiling. We also had a sink that had no drain in the bottom, but when FOLDED back the water drained down the back of it. I am sure that it must have been the work of German car manufacturers.
On Thursday morning we arrived in the old mining town of Broken Hill, home of BHP Billiton, one of the Goliaths of the mining world. As it was 7am, everything happened to be closed, which was very disappointing. I couldn't get into the museum, or even the local equivalent of Four Square. I was puzzled by the two women walking around with small branches in their hands, when I realised that they were in fact geniuses, as their makeshift fly swats were a necessity. The flies were relentless. Stop for a moment and they were crawling on your face and arms. I reckon I got OOS from the constant swatting. I knew they were all over my back, but rather there than my face. We had actually booked a tour of the town from the train, but the bus left without us, which put us out somewhat.
That afternoon we arrived in Adelaide, which was designed by the same man as Christchurch, which about sums that city up. It was stinking hot and getting back to the train after 3 or so hours was very nice indeed. Our train's crew switched over and we were on our way once again. Sleeping pills and earplugs made the night a bit more pleasant.
The following day saw us arrive in the 'ghost town of the Nullabor', Cook. At population 4 there is not a lot happening in Cook. It exists to serve trains that pass through, and there is an impressive array of postcards, tea towels and teaspoons available for purchase from the only shop. The school is probably haunted and every square inch of ground is swarming with ants. Once again the flies manage to distract the ambling tourist from the sheer vastness of the surroundings, and after a wee walk around and lots of photos the train once more provides a welcome refuge from the heat and insects.
Friday came and as we trundled west we were diverted along a hastily built piece of temporary track. A week earlier the area had been washed out and a freight train had been derailed. It was an impressive sight to see whole carriages crumpled and shipping containers strewn about like toys in a sandpit.
That evening we were treated to Kalgoorlie. The first locals we saw were a ute load of young guys hanging out the window pulling the finger and shouting at the new arrivals 'Mother f***ers! Suck my d***!'. I didn't expect much following this, and the hostile atmosphere in the pubs we ventured into was enough for me to label Kalgoorlie my Least Favourite Place in Australia So Far. At least there was a pharmacy still open to buy more sleeping pills. And impressive lightening storm closing in on the town provided an awe-inspiring sight as the train pulled away and we entered the final stretch.
We arrived in Perth just after 9 on Saturday morning. It had been an adventure for sure, but I think that one more night in those close confines would have been stretching it. I felt for the travellers in the Daynighter seats. I had seen an emu, camels, a wallaby, eagles and dingoes, and visited some of the most isolated towns the continent had to offer. I was sleep deprived and looking forward to a good meal, but I was glad that I had done it, and look forward to one day riding the Ghan, which traverses the continent North and South.
Next time I might save my pennies and go Gold service though.
(Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=77468&id=623332446&l=255af)
Sunday, February 8, 2009
More Aussie adventures
Well we made it to Perth. There was going to be a post between this and the previous one but the computer managed to wipe it. Bummer.
So back in Sydney I managed to do lots of touristy stuff. Went to the Wildlife World and saw a whole bunch of cool Australian beasties. Jealous of the fiddler-beetle! Went on to the Aquarium after that which was alright but I reckon I prefer Kelly Tarlton's (although that is based solely on childhood memories). Jealous of the fiddler-crab! Went and had a look at Chinatown, including a crazy bakery that sold things like chocolate and cheese rolls. I didn't try one. Fish and chips is way more expensive over here ($9 for a battered fish and a scoop!).
We went for a walk in the botanic gardens too and saw the bats hanging from the trees, which is pretty cool. This took us to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge where we did the mandatory photo taking. Caught a ferry on the harbour and decided to get off at Sydney Olympic Village - sounded pretty cool. Turns out it is just a big industrial area with sweltering heat, roads for miles and no shops to buy a drink or an icecream. We felt pretty jipped and saw other tourists that must've fallen into the same trap. Shame on us.
Will fill you in on the train ride across the continent next time!
So back in Sydney I managed to do lots of touristy stuff. Went to the Wildlife World and saw a whole bunch of cool Australian beasties. Jealous of the fiddler-beetle! Went on to the Aquarium after that which was alright but I reckon I prefer Kelly Tarlton's (although that is based solely on childhood memories). Jealous of the fiddler-crab! Went and had a look at Chinatown, including a crazy bakery that sold things like chocolate and cheese rolls. I didn't try one. Fish and chips is way more expensive over here ($9 for a battered fish and a scoop!).
We went for a walk in the botanic gardens too and saw the bats hanging from the trees, which is pretty cool. This took us to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge where we did the mandatory photo taking. Caught a ferry on the harbour and decided to get off at Sydney Olympic Village - sounded pretty cool. Turns out it is just a big industrial area with sweltering heat, roads for miles and no shops to buy a drink or an icecream. We felt pretty jipped and saw other tourists that must've fallen into the same trap. Shame on us.
Will fill you in on the train ride across the continent next time!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Sydney Day 2
Yeah so here I am in Sydney, sweating away in an internet cafe, drinking a hot coffee when I should be sucking on ice cubes. Flight over was all good, couldn't sleep and the 'wonderful' personal computer system in the back of the seats was, of course, broken. Cabbed to Grace's mate's place in Bondi - man, taxis in Sydney are WAY cheaper than in Wellington. It's a bit odd though, they obviously haven't had EFTPOS here for long and the minimum spend in a lot of shops is $10-12 which I find quite weird.
There are lots of posers. We walked along the coast from Bondi to Coogee and there are just tanned muscly people everywhere showing off. There are even 'exercise points' along the pathway where people can do pull-ups and stomach crunches for us all to see their manly manliness. A bit different. Nice to have a swim at Gordon's Bay to cool off though, and the walk is actually very nice.
We went to Grace's old workplace the Tea Room. Man it's nice. We had bubbly and high-tea and the service was mint and the building it's in, the Queen Victoria Building, is splendid. Real flash.
Gotta sort a cellphone and ATM card today, then maybe hit the Aquarium. And probably shower 3 more times. I'm sweating like a fiddler.
There are lots of posers. We walked along the coast from Bondi to Coogee and there are just tanned muscly people everywhere showing off. There are even 'exercise points' along the pathway where people can do pull-ups and stomach crunches for us all to see their manly manliness. A bit different. Nice to have a swim at Gordon's Bay to cool off though, and the walk is actually very nice.
We went to Grace's old workplace the Tea Room. Man it's nice. We had bubbly and high-tea and the service was mint and the building it's in, the Queen Victoria Building, is splendid. Real flash.
Gotta sort a cellphone and ATM card today, then maybe hit the Aquarium. And probably shower 3 more times. I'm sweating like a fiddler.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Post the First
So, this is my first post on my blog. Haha, I didn't actually think I'd ever get into this blogging business, but I figure that it's a good way to fill people in on what I've been up to while I'm overseas. So, if you care, add it to your favourites!
Oh yeah, I haven't actually left the country yet. I thought that I'd kick things off with the subject lines of some spam emails that I recently received. There're some doozies in there!
Runners up:
Yes, you, grow your manhood
Make her horny with this
No human part is stronger longer
Turn on your charm and show off your manhood
Turn your boner to something you can be proud of
You can trick any chick by giving her impression of a rich man
This blue pill works like an alarm for your sleepy member
The life will be wonderful again with the blue pill in your hand
Now you will have Hard Rock not only on your Cd's but in your pants as well
The bigger the size of candy stick, the more delicious it is
You can be happy leaving your wallet happy as well
2nd and 3rd place go to:
Trade your banana for a steel pole
Graduate in style with a new shaft
And my personal favourite, the wonderfully inspirational:
Turn your member into a leader
Hope you enjoyed that little snippet of interweb innovation. I'll do my best to keep you posted on the happenings!
Ciao for now.
Oh yeah, I haven't actually left the country yet. I thought that I'd kick things off with the subject lines of some spam emails that I recently received. There're some doozies in there!
Runners up:
Yes, you, grow your manhood
Make her horny with this
No human part is stronger longer
Turn on your charm and show off your manhood
Turn your boner to something you can be proud of
You can trick any chick by giving her impression of a rich man
This blue pill works like an alarm for your sleepy member
The life will be wonderful again with the blue pill in your hand
Now you will have Hard Rock not only on your Cd's but in your pants as well
The bigger the size of candy stick, the more delicious it is
You can be happy leaving your wallet happy as well
2nd and 3rd place go to:
Trade your banana for a steel pole
Graduate in style with a new shaft
And my personal favourite, the wonderfully inspirational:
Turn your member into a leader
Hope you enjoyed that little snippet of interweb innovation. I'll do my best to keep you posted on the happenings!
Ciao for now.
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