Ok. Final plans are being arranged. My plane ticket is being changed. The departure date has changed and we're staying until March 18, I believe it is. I may have some part-time IT work while I'm there for the wife's company.
I'm planning on making the trip for the Sydney GTG - 22nd Feb. The more the merrier! ;)
Question: I'll probably need a cell phone while I'm in Melbourne. My provider doesn't do GSM (ing Sprint). Anyone know any reasonably priced providers that I can get a cheapo phone and service plan?
Alrighty. Well, I'm settling in well here. I love this city. Effing amazing. My host is in Glen Iris. Nice little quiet neighborhood.
I've gotten myself a mobile while I'm here. PM me if you're interested in getting together and I'll get my number to you. Internet is still an issue.
Yesterday we Drove out to the Yarra valley and stopped at several wineries. I was surprised by the Domaine Chandon Sparkling Shiraz. I don't like most sparkling wines, but this is damn good. I probably spent too much money on wines yesterday, but we bought some good "quaffing wine" as my host says.
hey _eug just got you email. have you seen the forecast? 32-38 deg all week! You will have to head down to the beach. Would be cool to catch up, how long u in melb?
hey _eug just got you email. have you seen the forecast? 32-38 deg all week! You will have to head down to the beach. Would be cool to catch up, how long u in melb?
We're heading to the beach next weekend during the height of the heat. lol
We'll be here through March 20th. The wife LOVES the ocean and can't wait.
Well, all. I have returned to the boring comfort of home from a great trip to Melbourne. The only person I caught up with was Leok, but I had plenty of fun while I was there.
- Yarra Valley, including the Domaine Chandon vineyards. They make a great Sparkling Shiraz and I'm not fond of sparkling wines. ;)
- St. Kilda market
- Beaches of the Mornington Peninsula on the hottest weekend of the trip. (38 C/ 100 F)
- Dandenongs, Sherbrooke Forest, and William Rickett's Sanctuary. Even saw a real Lyrebird in the wild. I didn't get a picture due to the lighting and rude people that scared it off. Grrr...
- Geelong, the Bellarine Peninsula, and the Great Ocean Road where we caught sight of 7 road-side koala. Went to the Twelve Apostles and generally drove about the countryside.
- Victoria Market. Very cool place.
- First day of the Grand Prix at Albert Park. I was a bit disappointed since I was expecting to see F1 running.
- Went to Philip Island and caught the Penguin Parade. Took a surfing class on the beach below the B&B we stayed at. I'm hooked. I loved it.
Insight's into Australians:
- Aussies have weird food concepts such as fried egg and beetroot on hamburgers and so called "American" or "Mexican" pizzas using Salami and then there is the use of bacon in EVERY Italian pasta sauce.
- Aussies love sparkling wine. They drink with dinner like many people drink Chardonnay elsewhere. I thought it'd be beer, beer, beer (which was good, BTW).
- Aussies love their sports. For every hour of news 30 minutes of it is sports highlights. Brilliant!
- Aussies are very earthy-crunchy people. Very environmentally conscious. Guess it's hard not to be when you have a 6 year drought going on.
- Books are effing EXPENSIVE in Oz! In the U.S. we pay $6-7 ($9 AUS) for a paperback. You can't get a book in any less than $20 there. OUCH!
- I wanna move to Oz. Ok, so that's an insight into me, but hey...
Welcome back to very non-OZ! Where are the photos?
Well I need to narrow it down a bit. Although I didn't shoot the 5000 in 16 days I did in Kenya, I have 1300 images to go through including some I have for panorama stitching. It may take me a couple of days and this weekend is completely jammed.
