I come from a blog down under...

Ach! I moost a furgotten that I 'ave maself a wee blog!

2005-09-28T08:07:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone from Paris!

Well despite the fact that I have not posted in nearly five months, good 'ol sitemeter tells me that people are still checking Blogdownunder.

So I thought I might put in a small post for the hell of it and show y'all some travel pics while I'm at it...

Finnish girls

Reichstag dome, Berlin

My Paris digs!

Hope you enjoy them. You never know, I may return again... :D

Hey y'all

2005-05-06T11:43:00.000+10:00

Only two weeks to go until I finish work.

Only 20 days until I jet off to Hong Kong-London.

Only 21 days until I spend my first night in London.

Starting to get excited now :)

Hiatus

2005-05-02T10:54:00.000+10:00

Good morning all!

As I will be embarking on my European trip in just a few weeks, I have decided that Blogdownunder will come to an end. I intend to replace it with a travelog that follows my exploits in the northern hemisphere.

Thank you all for visiting. I hope you've enjoyed reading this blog over the last year as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

I will post a link to my new travelog here in the next couple of weeks.

Cheers!

Definition of nervous

2005-04-28T11:38:00.000+10:00

Imagine the anxiety of a father who takes his newly L-plated son out for a drive in the family car for the first time.

Now multiply that by 400 and that might give an indication of how the Airbus A380 engineers were feeling last night...

Imagine the relief when this 421 tonne monster lifted off the tarmac cleanly and crisply. What an achievement!

Congrats all

Notice

2005-04-22T16:26:00.000+10:00

Today I told the GM at work that I'm resigning to go to Europe. He took it well and expressed frustration at having his own travelling plans thwarted by the fact that he has a busy job, gets paid $300k a year etc. As you can imagine I was very sympathetic!

Also been handing out these vouchers that give the holder 50% off at Oroton and 30% off at Marcs, Morrissey and Polo Ralph Lauren. I'm a very popular person at the moment :)

The vouchers are a "Family and Friends" promotion by the Oroton Group and fortunately I know the right people...

Now here's a random classic for you. Why? Why not I say!

'59 Cadillac Eldorado convertible. Verrrryyyy nice.

Looking forward to my trip

2005-04-20T17:18:00.000+10:00

Tomorrow it will be only five weeks till I jet away from Australia for at least five months!

I've been a bit concerned about the money situation lately and have really shut myself down in the spending department, so I hope to have perhaps $500-$1000 more by the time I leave than I've predicted in my budgeting.

Opened an eBay seller's account today so soon I'll be trying my hand at flogging off stuff that would otherwise be costing me money or favours by being stored for five months. Someone already wants my DVD player, I'll be selling my TV, perhaps a chest of drawers, maybe my bike, the brand new laptop hard drive I never installed and a few other bits and bobs. There's nothing like killing two birds with one stone - extra cash and fewer bits to find a storage place for. That's my kind of deal.

Full on weekend

2005-04-18T16:40:00.000+10:00

A 6.4 metre boat with a 225 horsepower V6 Yamaha motor goes rather fast.

And it did. On Saturday.

On Sunday it didn't want to go. Why? Fucked if I know! There I was standing waist deep in Lake Macquarie on the Central Coast, pulling the spark plugs out of the biggest outboard motor I've ever seen, finding that they were all covered in oil. We felt sure that it would go once the plugs were clean again, but it f%*^ing didn't!!

Taking the piss out of 90s album covers

2005-04-15T15:13:00.000+10:00

Another Night - Real McCoy (circa 1994)

"We're too cool to smile. Got it?"

Walthamstow - East 17

"Yo, we be livin' in da 90s and we're hard core white homies... everybody in a house o' love... peace out"

Barbie Girl - Aqua

Enough colour to bring on an epileptic fit. As for the music, well they've got good drugs in Denmark. What's with the bloke in the green jacket and white pants? Is it Elastiman?

Jump - Kriss Kross

"Yo G, if I grow like, four feet taller, I won't even need to buy noo pants, know what I'm sayin'?"

Savage

2005-04-14T15:30:00.000+10:00

I am planning to go travel from London to Athens in late June, so I looked up a flight on Easyjet. 58 pounds all up, sounds great to me. Have to wait until tomorrow when I'm paid to book it though.

So keep an eye this week, the price has gone up to 75 pounds. Hmm, bit of a shame but nothing too disastrous.

This morning I looked again. The price was 84 pounds. Bloody hell, I thought, I wish I could have bought it a couple of days ago.

And the latest? 135 pounds total. Fuck me! Scratch that idea! What a bastard.

New plan. Fly Ryanair from London to Bari, Italy (only 29 pounds). Ferries travel from Bari to Patras in Greece on an overnight trip (about the same length as the Spirit of Tasmania on the Sydney-Devonport run). Grab that, arrive in Patras, four hour train ride to Athens. Mission accomplished along with a nice cruise and a saving of 60 odd pounds.

Funny thing is that the ferry trip is with a company called Superfast and guess where the three Spirit of Tasmania ferries were purchased from? :)

Family ties

2005-04-13T11:19:00.000+10:00

Favours may very well be the glue that holds a family together, long after all of the kids have moved out. One day a couple of weeks ago I received requests for favours from all three of my siblings. Usually it would probably take a month to hear from all of them so this was a very unusual occurrence.

My older sister asked me to check over a uni assignment.

My younger sister wanted me to lend her $50.

My older brother requested that I check out a 6 metre boat for him in Sydney.

I get on well with all of my siblings, and I managed (after a colossal effort, I might add) to honour all three requests.

I'm glad we've got these sort of things going on, after all I have full trust in my siblings (and my mum of course). I help them, they help me.

So this weekend my brother is coming up to buy his boat (not the one I checked out, it's in Newcastle) and the flipside of that is that I get a boating weekend!

My sister has just emailed her friend (and my former lawyer) in London to let him know I'm coming and subtly requesting a spot for me to rest my head. This line is a direct quote from her email:

I'd be most greatful if you could catch up with him at least the first time he's there just so he knows someone. He is my baby brother after all.

Since my father passed away in 1997 my family has had a few hiccups and I hope all of this cooperation is ironing those out. It's probably a healthy thing that we don't all live in Tasmania (in fact only my mum, younger sister and brother do) as I think that although they're all great people, everything should be done in moderation!

OK, enough warm and fuzzys, I promise I'll slam someone again soon :)

Boat Hunt, Part 2

2005-04-12T10:43:00.000+10:00

My bro called yesterday to say he's booked on the Spirit of Tasmania to Sydney on Thursday.

Why? The boat hunt is over. On Saturday we are going to pick up the 6.2 metre Haines Hunter half cab from Newcastle. The long distance meant I was off the hook for looking at this one. We'll be taking it down to Gosford where his sister in law lives (her husband checked it out for him).

So it's a boating weekend ahead. Let's hope the weather is as good as the last two weekends, because I think I can talk him into taking a few mates out on the harbour on Sunday :)

A valuable contribution

2005-04-11T09:32:00.000+10:00

Anthony Albanese, Labor's environment spokesman, has put out an article aiming to preserve Federal Labor's forestry policy (released in the final days of last year's Federal Election campaign).

In an unemotional, well though out article, Albanese has made some valuable points and calls for forestry to be centred around more value adding activities. He makes the very important (yet obvious) point that woodchipping is a ridiculous waste of our forest assets.

What a shame that Labor usually passes over leadership candidates from the Left faction? Albanese appears to be an intelligent thinker who knows how to put his point across and can handle criticism. Hopefully he will play a leading part in a future ALP government.

Spooky, magical, prehistoric, frozen in time

2005-04-08T12:36:00.000+10:00

Courtesy of Blue Tier

The heroism of the unfortunate

2005-04-05T13:54:00.000+10:00

Some may consider what I have to say to be sacrilege, but I think it needs to be said.

This is the front of Sydney's Daily Telegraph today.

"Our fallen heroes to be honoured by grateful nation".

The hyperbolic headlines of Murdoch papers seem to be bordering on patronising the dead. They were just doing their jobs. Unfortunately in the process their work claimed their lives.

The Daily Telegraph has decided that those killed in Indonesia are heroes. How so?

They've helped many people affected by a natural disaster, yes.
They died in the service of their country.
They were unfortunate to end up on that fateful mission.

But, do these things make someone a hero? No one called them heroes before their deaths, so why are they now?

This sort of sensationalist crap just serves to trivialise the efforts of all of the Australian Defence Force personnel who haven't been killed in the service of their country. A sort of "you're not a hero unless you get killed, regardless of your efforts" idea.

Having said this I have the deepest respect for these people and hope that they will all rest in peace. My thoughts are with their families.

I welcome comments on this topic, whether you agree with me or not.

Sunday, 2:51pm

2005-04-04T16:20:00.000+10:00

My mates want me to hand out copies of this shot on my trip around Europe.

Hmm... not going to happen... :)

Let me tell you about my morning

2005-04-01T13:47:00.000+10:00

Two days ago I get a call from my brother.

"Can you check out this boat for me? It's on ebay"

So I say that I'll see what I can do as my bro is in Hobart and the boat is in Sydney. It turns out the boat is in Kearns. Where is Kearns? That's what we all said too. As it turns out Kearns is in the extreme south-western corner of Sydney near Campbelltown, 55 kilometres from the CBD.

For a day and a half I tried to find a way to get someone to drive me or lend me their car (as I don't have one). I organised it for Wednesday night then the seller tells me the batteries are flat and they won't turn the motor over. That coupled with the darkness convinced me to abort the original trip.

Tried about five different options to go last night and kept hitting brick walls. In desperation I messaged a mate asking if I could borrow his Jeep this morning. He said yes, but you have to drop me at work first.

I got up at 5:30. James was meant to arrive at 6am but got to mine at 6:20. At that time of the morning we had a great run into work and got there at 6:40. After that I headed onto the ED and then hit the M5 for the bulk of the journey out there.

I arrived in Kearns at 7:25 (a very quick trip by all accounts). Boat is a good'un, 140 Yamaha on a 20m half cabin boat with all sorts of cool gadgetry.

I'll put the link down further so you can check it out.

So after a going over it with a fine-tooth comb for an hour (way longer than I intended), I've set off back to the city at 8:30. Intended to park in the Opera House carpark and get the early bird rate ($17 for whole day if you get there b4 9:30).

About ten kms along things start looking grim.

On a 110km/h motorway we are travelling at 20km/h. Then we stop. Altogether. The stop start continues until the M5 tunnel (4 kilometres long, longest road tunnel in Australia). In the tunnel things somehow fix themselves, we get moving and when I exit the ED at Macquarie Street, it's 9:29. Shit!!

Hit the gas down Mac St, fly into the Opera House and get my ticket. It says 9:32. Dammit! So I ask the bloke on the way out, 'will you let me have this as earlybird?'. He thinks that should be fine.

The auction! It was due to close at 1:07pm today. Organised a work colleague to watch it for me as I was going out to lunch at 12:30.

In the last 1 minute and 30 odd seconds, the price went up by about two and a half grand. This was all good, except guess whose bid came out on top by $100?

THE OTHER GUY

This is the boat

So all of my stressing and last minute organising was for nought.

However there is one upside though. We don't have to go out in a boat called "Rachey Pooh III"

Why???

2005-03-31T14:50:00.000+10:00

...does a night in an Estonian hostel cost a minimum of 15 euros, yet in Berlin it is only 9?

...doesn't Lonely Planet put a section of "commonly used phrases" in the Eastern Europe guidebook?

...doesn't Ryanair fly to Greece?

...does Russia still have such draconian visa requirements?

...does this still happen?

Hey all

2005-03-31T10:17:00.000+10:00

Have you missed me?

Hope Easter was great for you all. Mine went something like this...

Clomping around Ku-ringai Chase National Park on Good Friday

Dancing at Tank till daylight on Sunday morning

Relaxing at a fantastic barbecue in Manly on Sunday

Getting smashed by rough seas while snorkelling at Gordon's Bay on Monday

I had an absolutely fantastic time all up. It really did seem like a longer holiday than it was.

So let me know how your Easter was (especially Claudi and BHR!)

P.S. My 'internet usage' appears to have become an issue at work which has lead to this delay in blogging :)

Sydney gone mental

2005-03-23T17:06:00.000+11:00

Weather wise that is. Yesterday and last night there was a storm of GARGANTUAN proportions and it's left a trail of destruction in its wake.

At my house:

TILES started flying off the roof.
WOODEN trim bits fell from the eaves.
FENCE palings came off.
TREE bits demolished plants in the backyard.

So its all a bit messy outside. Fortunately none of these things caused the house to leak. It's a 1930s built house, so just proves again that they made 'em tough in the olden days!

Let's get satirical

2005-03-23T16:56:00.000+11:00

Rick Chesshire is a funny man. I love the style of his cartoons. Here's the follow up to "Looking Through a Gunns Onion"... (I think Rick may have had a woodchip of acid coming up with this!)

Love the "Fuck Orf!" in the background and the "new Bacon tastes like Spam"

LOL!

When I come back from travelling...

2005-03-22T14:28:00.000+11:00

I'm seriously considering starting training to become a pilot. It's expensive but it's something I've been thinking about for a long time...

Sometimes the planes into Sydney Airport fly near my house. I quite enjoy sitting there and watching them and seeing as Sydney is such a busy airport there is never much of a gap between them.

So if it happens I plan to learn my skills in one of these...

Hopefully advance quickly to twin engine aircraft like this...

Get my hours up doing something touristy...

Then get qualified for jets

Maybe one day I might even fly one of these

I'm getting more excited about this possibility as I'm writing this. I've previously mentioned how I don't think I'm suited to working in an office for the rest of my life. Perhaps this is my ticket out of the rat race.

What the?

2005-03-22T12:16:00.000+11:00

It's true that in general, I'm a fan of Fairfax newspapers and their journalists. However in today's SMH, Gerard Henderson has really dealt out some Murdoch style half-baked crap.

In this article, Henderson tries to make a connection between last weekend's Werriwa by-election result and the rejection of Latham-Labor. He basically says that the reason why Labor's vote increased so much is because of the departure of Latham.

Hmmm that's interesting. For some reason Henderson doesn't seem to think that the lack of a Liberal candidate may have contributed to the magnitude of Labor's victory. Some people just don't vote for independents or minor party candidates. I'll wager that plenty of these votes opted for Labor (with a fair few perhaps influenced by the recent interest rate rise).

I think Henderson is really drawing a long bow here. Werriwa has 90,000 residents in south western Sydney and yet apparently it provides a great indicator of the mood of the Australian electorate as a whole? Come on!

Thoughts for the weekend

2005-03-18T17:11:00.000+11:00

I hope everyone has a good one, here in Sydney the outlook for the weather is not especially great so I haven't got a whole lot planned. Actually come to think of it I do have a jungle-themed party at Jane and Kate's house in Surry Hills on Saturday night, and I have a date with the Mexican girl tonight and she's baked some choc chip cookies :) So I guess I do have plans after all...

No beach though! Damn crap weather!

We just had a big meeting about "Women in the Workplace" upstairs. It's kind of a passion of our female Executive General Manager. Not sure what they want us blokes to do about it though, short of booking ourselves in for sex changes (oooohhhh I wrote the word 'sex' in a post... let's see how many porn-related referrals I get!). Well I guess people who actually have direct reports can do something by hiring more women, but wouldn't that be discriminatory to the men??

Oh I got a Virgin Credit Card yesterday and they've surprised me by giving me a credit limit almost double what I expected to have! Kind of strange considering I've never had a credit card before but whatever. Its for my Europe trip, 4.9% for the duration of my trip which will be VERY handy...

My ex called to say that Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper is going to pay for her to visit Gallipoli for Anzac Day. Two years back the Federal Government did the same for her sister. Why the interest in the family? These girls are the great grand-daughters of our last Anzac, Alec Campbell, who died in Tasmania a couple of years ago. No doubt the fact that she is a Tassie girl will be of interest to The Mercury too, so I gather she'll be popping up in a few articles south of Bass Strait too.

Before I go, I must say that I'll be particularly pissed off if no one comments this weekend. Especially to the "Ask four questions" below. So make a comment. If you've got a blog or other personal website, please feel free to plug it in your comment. Other than that, have a great weekend, wherever you are on the third rock from the sun :)

Come on!!!

2005-03-17T11:30:00.000+11:00

In an attempt to bring out the lurkers, I am going to take Pete's lead and say that:

I want everyone who reads this to ask me 4 questions. Any 4, no matter how personal, dirty, private, or random. I have to answer them honestly.

P.S. I wonder if I could live in this charming Eastern European city for a while...?

P.P.S. It's a bit cold in Sydney today - I recently added the temperature monitor on the right... 17.2 degrees at 11:45am??

The magic 5000

2005-03-16T09:48:00.000+11:00

Blogdownunder reached the 5000 hits mark earlier today. Thanks to everyone for visiting and please leave a comment if you feel inclined to do so.

Cheers all!

Also...

2005-03-15T13:05:00.000+11:00

The Sydney to Devonport ferry is to be retained. This would have to be the smartest decision the Tasmanian State Government has made in a long time. Here's to getting more Sydneysiders down south to experience the joys of the island state!

They've even taken to promoting it the Sydney way... in the sky!

Tasmania in March

2005-03-15T12:21:00.000+11:00

The official reason for my visit to Tasmania was that I had to attend a meeting at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania at Sandy Bay. The view is shown below:

My meeting wrapped up around 3pm, so I wandered up to Battery Point and had a lemon curd tart at Jackman and McRoss, which has been rated as the best bakery in Hobart. Crikey commented that "Jackman & McRoss had us wishing we could have one just like it back in Sydney". It's the black shopfront on the left...

After that I went to the Wilderness Society Shop in Salamanca and got some postcards and then met up with a couple of friends at Bar Celona in Salamanca Square. The apartments in the Square are probably the most Sydney-like part of Hobart

The next day my sister, my friend Cassie, my Canadian friend Bonnie and I all went on a road trip to the Styx Valley near Mount Field. We visited walks set up by both Forestry Tasmania and Greenpeace/Wilderness Society. This pic is of "Bigger Tree"(!) which is the tallest hardwood tree in the world. It's 87 metres tall, equivalent to a 25 storey building.
The tree itself has an incredible presence and its an amazing experience standing beside it. Its over 400 years old, so just think of the people and events that have come to pass over its lifetime. The Industrial Revolution, the Napoleonic wars, the rise and fall of Hitler, the advent of rail transport and the motor car... truly the most amazing and enchanting living thing I've ever seen.

Unfortunately a fellow giant, named by conservationists "Gandalf's Staff" and former host to the Greenpeace Global Rescue Station (GRS), is located in a coupe that is faced with logging by Forestry Tasmania. At 84.5 metres in height, Gandalf's Staff is half a metre too short to be protected under Forestry's Big Trees Policy. The whole coupe is amazing and comes complete with one of the most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen (quite an effort to get to it too!)

On our return from the Styx we dropped Cassie off and then headed up Mount Wellington which has a fantastic view out over Hobart. It's not often you get a view like this without being on a plane. The arrow points out where I grew up on the Eastern Shore.

Unfortunately the mountain is shadowing most of the western side of the river due to the late time of day. Must be the reason that the eastern shore is always a degree or two warmer :)

On Saturday I went to Salamanca Market. The market is a special place for me, as I spent almost every Saturday there with my late father between the ages of 10 and 15. My dad was a leather craftsman and our stall between Parliament House and the Supreme Court was like a second home to me for a good part of my childhood.

Less words, more pictures

2005-03-08T13:54:00.000+11:00

Another day, another MILLION dollars

2005-03-07T11:23:00.000+11:00

That title just sprung into my head and has zero relevance to my post, so let's get that out of the way right now.

So my weekend began with getting on an express Clovelly bus with my mate James and his gf Jen. I was to be the custodian of James' Jeep Wrangler for the weekend and to save him a cab fare and me a long boring trip home from Manly, I accompanied them to the airport.

A drive from the airport to Manly is usually quite an undertaking and I set off with various people assuring me that it would take at least 45 mins to an hour to travel the 25 or so kilometres between the two. I was pretty sure that I could do the trip in less than that. The southern side of the Harbour is fine, basically you get onto the Eastern Distributor tunnel near the airport and keep on going through the Harbour tunnel, come out on the Waringah Freeway and take the Falcon Street exit. This is where it gets a little slower. Military Road through Neutral Bay and Mosman is a major bottleneck on the North Shore. It was slow, but not too bad. I stopped at Theo's in Mosman to buy a bottle of red. After quick consultation with my wine buff sister in Adelaide, I picked a 2001 Richmond Grove Cabernet Merlot. More about that later.

The Jeep and I hit the ED tunnel...

So despite this stop and then a delay at the Spit Bridge (while three yachts went through it), I got to Manly within 45 minutes. In a car I'd never driven before, on a Friday night. Come on, be proud of me!

In Manly I was going to dinner at a girl's place and we had a fantastic meal which was complemented by the Cab Merlot (a beautiful drop as it happens). There were very thick scotch fillet steaks involved, served on a beautiful horseradish mash with a beef ju. Beautiful and so filling that the sticky date dessert had to be removed from the menu!

Approaching the coathanger

On the coathanger

Over the bridge and approaching the toll booths

Mardi Gras
On Saturday night my housemate invited me to join her and her friends to watch the Mardi Gras parade along Oxford Street. I've never been before, but the floats, the participants and the atmosphere were amazing!

(Photos courtesy of SMH)
Unfortunately we didn't find the friends until after the parade, but it was fun nonetheless. Only prob is that I've got a sore neck from having one of the girls on my shoulders for a while, but as I could see and she couldn't it seemed the best way to fix the problem. ;-)

Sunday
A beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and I get a phonecall at 10am from Ash who wants to go to the beach. So I tell him I'll be down in an hour or so, start doing washing etc and end up getting there at 1:30. Another mate arrives with his new girl who seems nice, although she seems to be slightly hung up on their age gap (he's 22, she's 28). We ended up drinking nearly a carton of beer down at the beach (yes, it's legal in NSW) and then decided to have a barbecue at Ash's. As I have developed a name among my mates as the chief salad maker, that task fell on me again (which I didn't mind at all!). Barbecue went well (after we got the gas bottle refilled!) then acrobatics ensued following it! Handstands against the wall quickly turned into break dancing moves on the polished floor and then one girl stunned us all by doing that yoga move where you start lying face down and then bend upwards until your feet are resting on your head! The challenge had been made and all sorts of things were bent in ways they weren't used to and it's a miracle there were no injuries. Actually, there was one and I'm still not sure how it happened, but in a large wrestling incident Chris somehow managed to fully punch Ash in the face, leading to a cut lip for Ash and a very apologetic Chris...

So the moral of the story is, as always:

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

And that was the weekend.

Reflections

2005-03-04T11:39:00.000+11:00

In just over three weeks time it will be two years since I walked across the tarmac of Hobart airport on my way to a new life in Sydney. Two years. It seems like such a long time ago. I've probably experienced more new things in those last two years than I did in the previous five.

This morning I found some old emails on my Yahoo account which were written around the time of my relocation. As I read over them, I realised that my perspective has broadened significantly. The size of my world is much larger now, but its still nothing compared with how much I will have seen by this time next year. Nearly six months in Europe, possibly a side trip to Africa. I'm glad I'm doing this trip. Its stretching my finances pretty tight but I'm sure it will be worth it.

I wonder how the next two years will compare to these last two. The next year should definitely be amazing, but what of the time after that? I've started to canvas some very diverse options for what I will do on my return to Australia. Maybe I will not return to Australia. Who knows?

While there is a high degree of uncertainty for me at this time of my life, this uncertainty also lends an air of excitement to the experience. In ten years I might be married with kids and the sense of endless possibilities will be gone forever. Sure, there will probably still be nice holidays, I'll probably be richer and own a house, but right now I have few responsibilities and no attachments.

So I want to make the most of this time. I'm going to embrace new experiences overseas just as I have in Sydney. They say you only regret the things you don't do. When I'm old and grey and the grandkids want me to tell them stories, I want to be able to tell some good ones!

Silly me...

2005-03-03T16:39:00.000+11:00

I forgot to comment on the interest rate rise!

All I've got to say is congratulations to all Liberal voters.

October 2004: "Oh no! If I vote for Labor, my home loan will go up to 17%!!! Save me Johnny!"

March 2005: "...."

Dear Readers,

As of tomorrow I promise to give up politician bashing for a week. That is a core promise.

Stay tuned!

A hot topic

2005-03-03T15:07:00.000+11:00

Hot is a very versatile word. Think of all of the different things it can describe...

Temperature

A taste

Beauty

Excitement

It's not the most versatile word, but it's quite evocative, don't you agree?

Thanks for bearing with me in my randomness ;-)

Premier/PM meeting update

2005-03-03T10:37:00.000+11:00

Today ABC online carries an item entitled Lennon upbeat after forests plan meeting.

The only time Paul Lennon is upbeat is when he's making more moolah for his master John Gay. This article makes me much more pessimistic with regard to the forests that will be protected by the Howard government.

There's got to be something really big going on in the background here. No one fights this hard for the right to chop down trees without there being a decent amount of cash in it for them. The jobs argument is a joke considering that as more trees have been chopped down there have been less jobs involved. Why doesn't some media outlet like 60 minutes give some ex Bacon government politician a bundle of cash to blow the lid on the whole thing?

Actually its probably a matter of these pollies setting themselves up for life after politics. Just look at former Liberal premier Robin Gray. After attempting to completely destroy the Franklin wilderness (thwarted by Bob Hawke) he went on to get defeated in a landslide over the Wesley Vale pulp mill proposal. Guess who he works for now?

Gunns Limited.

What's the bet Paul Lennon will be slotted into a cushy well paid job with Gunns after he finishes as Premier (which could be as soon as next year considering the opinion polls)?

A quote

2005-03-02T16:57:00.000+11:00

"I can't begin to tell you the beauty of these forests.... the forests of Tasmania as yet unsullied and polluted by our kind of civilisation. That we should have to defend them is something quite unbelievable."

Sir Yehudi Menuhin (1979)
Patron of the Wilderness Society

In the last few days the Gunns 20 have launched their website. These twenty people are being sued by Gunns Limited, one of the world's largest woodchipping companies which I am ashamed to say is headquartered in Tasmania.

The website will hopefully garner further support for these activists who have put in so much work to try and save Tasmania's natural assets from these bastards.

Last time I flew to Tasmania I saw a guy wearing a shirt with "Timber Communities of Australia" embroidered on the front. I assume the bloke was Barry Chipman, spokesperson for the TCA (actually I can now confirm this as I did an image search and sure enough, there he was).

In an exhibition of gargantuan amounts of restraint, I managed to convince myself that knocking this fuckwit out would not be a good option (although a piece of Tasmanian myrtle to the head would be poetic justice!). I was however particularly incensed that I was being forced to share an aircraft with this lowlife. I wanted to say something to him, but feared that if I did my restraint would shrink faster than Paul Lennon's bollocks in the presence of John Gay (Gunns chairman).

So I settled on sending letters off to a number of politicians. I intend to do the same shortly with the view to getting the most important areas included in the 170,000ha of forests in Tasmania that the Howard government has promised to protect.

These are the one's I'm intending to write to:

Bill Heffernan (Liberal Senator for New South Wales)
Peter Garrett (Labor member for Kingsford Smith, my electorate)
and maybe Eric Abetz, as much as I hate him, he is a Liberal (Senator for Tasmania) and its the Libs who are making the decision on this.

Why aren't Tasmanians more angry about the fact that their elected representatives simply refuse to do what they want them to???

Highlights of Queensland

2005-03-01T12:08:00.000+11:00

The moment when I realised that "The Regatta" that everyone was talking about was not a big carnival type thing, it's actually a pub(a very popular one too, it seems)

The refreshingly relaxed attitude of security at Ignition. The concert was absolutely sensational with plenty of sweaty craziness in the mosh pit. Particularly when Scribe came on.

Being reminded of what its like to be a first year in O-Week! UQ seems to have a lot in common with UTas and everyone's relaxed and friendly.

Sol, Gordo and I hitching a ride back to Taringa with three blokes who had a Kombi. They were all 17/18 and we were all chatting away like old mates by the time we were jumping out and thanking them for the lift!

Also:
- Helped push a Saab up a hill (hard work)
- Witnessed Sol getting kicked out of the RE (a Brisbane institution) due to an altercation he had with the bouncer a week earlier
- Observed Sol's very amusing foray into online dating!
- ...and helped him into his very first attempt at crowd surfing!

A fun weekend!

Viva le Australie Republique!

2005-02-24T17:25:00.000+11:00

Songs that are now ten years old

2005-02-24T15:13:00.000+11:00

In 1995 I was in grade nine at St Virgil's in Hobart. I remember highlights of '95 involving a bike riding school camp of Bruny Island, a family holiday to Queensland (actually the first time I ever went on a plane/out of Tasmania) and the St Mary's Grade Nine social (ha ha!). It was at this particular gathering that I met my first girlfriend Clare. Hobart being Hobart, I found myself at Uni five years later studying Commerce with her. Then just two months ago when I was home for Christmas, I ran into her at the Taste. Gotta love old Hobart Town!

In '95...
...mobiles were the size of bricks and I didn't know anyone who had one
...Sydney was a mysterious, far away place that I'd never been to
...talking to a girl made you an instant legend (come on, we were 13/14 yo boys!)
...moving out of home was still years away
...the thought of going to the other side of the world was almost incomprehensible!

It's hard to believe that the songs we danced to down in the St Mary's hall are ten years old now (at least). I've found that when I remember songs from back then, I kind of remember them in the context of songs I hear in 2005. You really do forget the unmistakeable 90s traits that songs had back then. For example, I recently heard Another Night by Real McCoy (remember them??) and what really struck me was how much more synthesised/electronic it sounded than I remember.

So give it a go! Think of a song you remember from back then and go to Metacrawler, type the name in and click the "audio" box then search away. Metacrawler will find almost ANY song you want to listen to.

Here are some ideas (go ahead, try some really bad ones!):

Gangsta's Paradise - Coolio
Boom Boom Boom - Outhere Brothers
Waterfalls - TLC
Scatman - Scatman John
100% Pure Love - Crystal Waters (not surprisingly still played at Surreal apparently)

Hmm... Wonder what we will think about the songs of 2005 in 2015? I wonder what I'll be doing or where I'll be in 2015? Ooooo the big questions!

Packed schedule

2005-02-23T17:15:00.000+11:00

I have nothing on tonight, but it's the last one for a while.

Going to a nice little Italian restaurant in Darling Point tomorrow night, I've been wanting to go there for a while so it will be interesting!

On Friday night I'm going to an O-Week party at the University of Queensland called Ignition.

This should be great with acts like Spiderbait, Scribe, The Cops and more. I love flying to Brisbane at this time of year too. You leave Sydney and arrive in Brissy 25 minutes later (no daylight savings in Queensland!)

I don't know what my mate Sol has planned for Saturday and Sunday nights, but no doubt it will involved plenty of drinking. Monday I fly back to Sydney, so I guess my next potentially quiet night will be nearly a week away?

Unless he sells it first, next weekend I will have my mate's Jeep Wrangler on my hands, with the intention of offloading it for at least $20k. A handy commission could await... it is a dead ringer for this one:

Then the following Tuesday I'll be on a big red Virgin down to Hobart for five days. Hurrah!

Share house living

2005-02-23T12:36:00.000+11:00

This is a pretty random post, but why not some randomness on a Wednesday?

I'm happy to report that my flatmate's sister Charlotte has finally found herself a home that is not her sister's bedroom. Charlotte could possibly be a front runner in my own personal competition of The Most Annoying Person I Have Ever Met.

Now I'm not one to whinge, but this 21yo has all the naivety and the lack of street wisdom of a 17 year old. Not to mention her TV viewing habits which include a fondness for everything crap and completely lacking in artistic merit, e.g. Neighbours, Home and Away, Rove Live and Sunrise. Her one saving grace in viewing habits is her liking for Little Britain...

Ever met someone who watches crap like A Current Affair or Today Tonight and automatically becomes a sheep to whatever beat up they are working on at that time? A person with no mind of their own? That's her.

He he

2005-02-23T11:07:00.000+11:00

(Courtesy of Chesshire)

No one could argue that Tasmanians don't have a sense of humour!

Amusing, although I should imagine John Lennon would turn in his grave if he knew he was to be played by a greedy, chainsaw loving yobbo...

Three months of poverty awaits!

2005-02-22T11:30:00.000+11:00

I'm going to state the bleeding obvious here:

Taking a five month trip to Europe is an expensive proposition!

I just got a call from my travel agent to find out where the deposit for my Contiki trip was. Fortunately I paid it last Wednesday, she's just missed it on their banking form. However prior to this phone call I had thought that some of the $300 involved applied to my flights but unfortunately that is not the case!

All of this means that I have to pay my flights in full by next Monday and I will be in Brisbane then, so Friday it is! I am going to have a lean month (another one!) At least I only have to pay rent once before I get paid again so hurrah for that...

These guys had better be good! (I'm sure they will be of course)

Tasmania: Domestic One-Day Cricket Champions

2005-02-21T09:48:00.000+11:00

What a great front page!

Congratulations lads.

Toy time

2005-02-18T12:05:00.000+11:00

Toys I'd like, part I

"What are you doing this weekend?"
"Not much, think I'll just get the Spitfire out of the shed, its about time she went for a run, you know, blow away some cobwebs"

"Sir, your club awaits"

"Fuel economy? Hell, I got me an oil rig, ain't I?"

"Oh, OK! I suppose this will do"

"I ain't nuthin but a hound dog..."

A slice of Tasmania in Sydney

2005-02-16T17:27:00.000+11:00

Plan for tonight? A few brilliant beverages here:

Then dinner here.

Tasman's is a restaurant in East Sydney that says

Our aim is very simple: to offer a casual dining experience featuring top quality produce at reasonable prices. When looking for the produce, a common theme kept popping up - Tasmania!

Fair enough too. So these guys better turn it on as I'm always singing the praises of Tasmania to my Sydney friends. I'll never hear the end of it if it doesn't live up to expectations...

One for the 'doh!' files

2005-02-16T15:45:00.000+11:00

SMH reports that 47 per cent of poll respondents said that they believe that the Coalition's control of the Senate was a 'bad outcome for Australia'.

NO SHIT SHERLOCK.

Let me offer my congratulations to the dumbasses who voted for the Liberal/National scumbags.

The Herald goes on to say that "even among Coalition voters, almost a quarter say they believe it is a "bad outcome".

That's right and they're the brain dead fuckwits who dumped us in this mess.

The stupidity of this dumbfounds me. On October 9 these bright sparks have toddled off to the polling booth, got out their Senate paper and put one above the line next to the Liberal party. Then they're surprised to find that the heartless bastards have control of both houses of parliament.

I suppose they'll also be surprised when the only voices they hear on Australian television are American, when the country gets plunged into recession because we can't pay for whichever war George W starts over the next four years and when their mentally ill mother/neighbour or friend ends up locked up in a detention centre for five months.

These are the same knobs who will go to visit "Our Natural State" and find that its been logged, firebombed and poisoned all because they didn't vote for Labor or the Greens.

They're just lucky Family First didn't get the balance of power. No doubt if that had happened they'd then be surprised to find that their daughter is in hospital with blood poisoning and can't have children any more because she was forced into having a backyard abortion.

The people of this country really worry me sometimes.

Also...

2005-02-15T17:56:00.000+11:00

I love my company sometimes. In the next month they are flying me to both Queensland and Tasmania and on each occasion I will be able to extend my stay over the weekend. Score!

Only found out about the Brisvegas trip today and already have an invite to a big uni party on Friday the 25th.

MWAHH HA HA HAAAA

I love it when the words just flow

2005-02-15T17:45:00.000+11:00

As my job involves a lot of writing, you'd think I'd be able to spout forth all manner of electricity laced prose at any given time. Unfortunately this is not the case. I'm sure, dear readers, that it will shock you to discover that I manage to waste substantial amounts of time tending to my blog garden and watching it grow and blossom. Not to mention the time spent peering over the fences of my blog neighbourhood. So no one was more surprised than I when upon being asked to give some background on wind generation, I quickly whipped up the following passage off the top of my head:

With the introduction of the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) in 2001, the economic feasibility of renewable generation (and wind generation in particular) became much more convincing. Since that time wind farms have moved from being statistically insignificant to a point where their highly variable generating patterns are beginning to have a noticeable effect on traditional market participants. In the NEM, wind generation is not scheduled and as a consequence it directly subtracts from the requirement for scheduled generation. With the growing number of wind farms coming on line in jurisdictions such as South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, issues such as wind forecasting and the possible inclusion of wind generating units in dispatch are becoming increasingly important.

I'm pretty happy with that, but lets see how I go tomorrow with the national gas market. *excitement*

A good point

2005-02-14T11:38:00.000+11:00

Reading the posts on this forum on the Sydney Morning Herald site, it seemed most of the posts fell into two categories. There were those who poured scorn on Valentine's Day for being commercial, tacky, chance for florists and chocolatiers to cash in etc and the posts who slammed them, giving the "you're just bitter coz you haven't got a boyfriend/girlfriend" sort of retort. Then I read this entry and I think this person has the right idea...

Missing from the forum so far is the fact that isn't Valentines Day meant to be about telling someone you fancy them who doesn't already know? I have always thought it is a day for singles more than couples because it's your day to take a chance. Send a card, put a flower on someones desk or ask someone out..

If I were single that would be my plan for VD..ask someone out today ... and book the resturant for next week when the hype is over and you won't pay double! Today should be a day with romance in the air..pinch that guys butt or wink at someone on the train. Enjoy!

Natasha

So readers, my message today is to think about Natasha's advice and take the plunge! You don't have to go for something huge and ostentatious - just be spontaneous! In a hopefully inspiring act of spontaneity of my own, I've even come up with an Australian city by city guide giving you all a few ideas. Happy Valentine's Day all!

Sydney, Wynyard Station

This is Natasha's idea, so full credit to her but think about it Sydneysiders. Everyone gets annoyed at late trains, but why not use the extra ten minutes to start a conversation with the pretty commuter you eyed off on the escalator?

Melbourne, Chapel Street

Do a Melbourne and ask Lydia for a latte or Marvin for a mocha. Don't tell me there aren't plenty of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes swanning through Prahran on any given day!

Hobart, Elwick Racecourse

It's Hobart Cup Day! Everyone's dressed up, colts and fillies are everywhere as are the glasses of Cascade and champers. I'll leave the rest to you Tasmaniacs!

Adelaide, Rundle Street Mall

Over thirty degrees, outside in the sunshine. You can't share a bottle of Barossa Valley Chardonnay with yourself now, can you?

Perth, Cottlesloe Beach

In Western Australia you have the advantage of seeing the sun set over the ocean. Now go and invite someone to do it with you (er.. watch the sun set that is)

Darwin

Everyone knows everyone. You've had your eye on him for ages. He broke up with his gf on NYE. What are you waiting for girl?

Brisbane, Storey Bridge

Walking across the bridge to work? Make sure you have take a rose with you today and make sure its been handed to someone special by the time you get to the other side :)

P.S.
Last week Blogdownunder cracked the five hundred hits a week mark. That tells me that each one of you is obviously an absolute legend. Thanks everyone!

Groove Coverage

2005-02-10T11:09:00.000+11:00

I'm loving Poison by Groove Coverage at the moment. Fortunately its a hell of a lot better than its namesake from Bardot... :-)

This is a powerful song in many ways. The beat, the tone of it and the lyrics in particular.

This is the chorus:

I want to love you but I better not touch (Don't touch)
I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too much (Too much)
I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison
You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't want to break these chains

These lines kind of echo the internal conflict shown in a much more mainstream song, Genie in a Bottle by Christina Aguilera. Now before you laugh, think of these chorus lines:

My body's saying let's go
But my heart is saying no

Of course its not exactly the same obviously, I think that Groove Coverage is talking more about feelings for someone who their head tells them is totally unsuitable and always will be, where as Christina's lyrics have more of a "It won't happen overnight, but it will happen" sort of message.

Also I don't think this line would mesh well with Genie...

I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name

Ha ha! Not really teenage girl sort of stuff now, is it!

I'm always drawn to slightly out there tracks like this, they're kind of freaky but exciting at the same time and certainly not mainstream. I'm interested to see what other stuff the girls from Groove Coverage come up with in the future.

Arggghhh... be gone Satan!

2005-02-09T13:20:00.000+11:00

But fortunately the flip side of that means that...

For your reference, Kranki is only 39% evil, despite the fact that he displays cartoons such as this...

and this...

I ask you dear readers... WHERE IS THE JUSTICE???

The Music Questionnaire

2005-02-07T16:42:00.000+11:00

What is the total amount of music files on your computer?

Not many, about 40 tracks, 100Mb

The CD you last bought?

The Annual 2005 Box Set from Ministry of Sound

What was the song you last listened to before reading this message?

Push It by Garbage

Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you

1. Emerge by Fischerspooner

This song is great, first heard it on Triple J a few years ago and its stuck in my head since then. Love the remix version too, its called Everybody Wants You to Emerge, Fischerspooner vs Billy Squier.

2. On My Mind by Powderfinger

This song is just fucking awesome, my only regret is that I didn't write it. Seeing the boys perform this live at Sydney BDO was a fantastic experience.

3. Hate to Say I Told You So by The Hives

What a rocking song. The crowd went nuts when they played this one. I remember The Hives rising to prominence in Oz around the same time as The Vines and I always thought they played The Vines too much and The Hives not enough. As it happens I now like The Vines too, especially Ride.

4. Lovefool by Jamiroquai

I usually end up associating songs to people who are important to me and this one turned out to be quite prophetic.

5. Push It by Salt & Pepa

Reminds me of school camp '92, my early teens and a few people from school days. This song is put together really well and has a classic sound. Nearly fifteen years on it still cuts it.

A story behind every picture

2005-02-07T13:52:00.000+11:00

I went to the Travel Expo at Darling Harbour yesterday and got this photo while waiting for a bus at Hyde Park. This is a building in Elizabeth Street with the American Express building at the bottom of Oxford Street reflected in its windows.

A recent article on Tasmania's "economic miracle" in the Australian Financial Review Magazine mentioned that the Sydney to Devonport run had been axed and the ferry was now for sale. I took this photo from the Manly Ferry the day after that article came out and as you can see, Spirit III is still plying Sydney Harbour.

I got handed this as soon as I stepped off my bus this morning. Do you think it's targeted at the male market? Just look at the cover lines, "A taste of Imogen" and "What women want". Hot topics indeed!

I've seen people handing out 9 To 5 magazine before but I'd never realised the extent of its longevity before. This one is issue # 835!

P.S. Thanks to all my readers for making last week the biggest ever. Its blown me away that there were 495 hits in one week. To think it was four months before Blogdownunder got to its first 500 hits!

This will be the next big thing

2005-02-04T14:40:00.000+11:00

This track is going to be the next Call On Me. Its even following the formula of remixing an old favourite (although it hasn't been as changed as much as Call On Me was).

Its been around in the UK for several weeks now, so it can't be far from our shores.

Catchy, but maybe a tad monotonous?

P.S

2005-02-02T18:03:00.000+11:00

My hits are continuing to surge relentlessly...

Sitemeter says we've hit 382 hits for the week already!

I'm glad that more people are coming to visit and I'd like to extend an invitation for you all to leave a comment, perhaps link to your own blog/website if you choose.

Welcome to Blogdownunder. Feel free to look around the archives and don't get too worried about my previous campaigns to buy former Ansett jets, 86 foot cruisers, get John Howard kicked out of office or stage an Island Idol competition starring a two headed cheetah called Lenny.

I really do have a dolphin as my Minister for Recreation though. Honest.

On a stormy day

2005-02-02T17:46:00.000+11:00

Look, there's no point me leaving the office until it stops pissing down, so I thought "why don't I write a little something in the blog?"

As I've been unwell I haven't felt very inclined to write much lately, so the pictures have been doing there "worth a thousand words" routine. I'm quite proud of the Gordon River one, even if I didn't take it (credit to Leatherwood Online for that one). I think if I had my time in Tasmania again I would have headed out into the wilderness a bit more. I would have had a boat too. And a wakeboard. And a house by the beach. And a... oh alright, I'll shut up!

Crazy times have been happening at my house lately. So we had the 21st party last Thursday night and guess who has been the only one to do any cleaning since? Me! The sole male member of the household! The state of the place on Saturday was so repulsive that I immediately whipped out the vacuum cleaner, only to find that the girls have blocked its hose. What was it blocked with? A big wet lump of hair! Ewwww... Chalk one up for "reasons why living with blokes is better". So I unblocked it and vacuumed the place to within an inch of its life. I threw the remains of melted ice out of the big tubs near the kitchen, got rid of heaps of bottles and rubbish and left the floor mopping for someone else. Its still not done. In fact I have decided there is one thing someone did - Charlotte did the dishes. Hooray!

Next time Naomi is home the house will be scrubbed, disinfected and generally returned to liveability. Unfortunately this will make me feel guilty, despite the fact I've done my share. Dammit, what is wrong with the other two??

Still, I can't complain. My rent in Sydney is only ten bucks more than what I paid in Hobart and that is ROCK BOTTOM. Its all good really. The house hasn't been renovated in a lonnnnngggggg time, but it does the job. Who said Sydney is expensive??

Back to baaa-yoot-i-full Tassie shots

2005-02-02T13:32:00.000+11:00

This is the Gordon River. I'm pleased to say I've had the pleasure of cruising on it. In fact less than a month before I moved to Sydney my then girlfriend and I went camping on the west coast and this experience was part of it.

Tasmania has such a diversity of terrain, from this sort of wilderness into the west, across the plains of the central plateau to the gum trees, beaches and warmer temperatures in the east.

Monday Schmonday

2005-01-31T13:51:00.000+11:00

C'mon Hobart!!

2005-01-28T17:32:00.000+11:00

You call this a storm?

Last night

2005-01-28T14:45:00.000+11:00

We had a party at my place last night as it was my housemate Ioulia's 21st and Naomi's 24th. It was fancy dress and we were all guest listed to get into The Empire in Kings Cross later on (pretty much regardless of what we were wearing).

So Ioulia was Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. We could not believe how authentic she looked. She is a pretty sporty girl so she made a pretty good Angelina Jolie.

I was Julius Caesar in my toga and a wreath made by Ioulia from leaves in our garden. A couple of the other guys got toga-ed up too, but chickened out when it came to actually going out dressed like a Roman!

So off we head to the Cross, which is not exactly bereft of weird and wonderful people. My friend Lisa who is visiting from Tasmania was a bit scared and wanted to know who were the prostitutes:) After I gave her a couple of clues to look for she started to realise that they are pretty obvious and wasn't so concerned about looking like one herself. Eve, on the other hand, had such a great hooker outfit that I swear she looked more authentic than the working girls themselves...

Anyway so who gets shouted at the most? Me! Apparently Roman emperors are not that common in the red light district, who would have thought? I actually didn't think that it was that big a deal, but members of our group kept coming up to me and saying how impressed they were with me for going out dressed up like that, so maybe it was a big deal after all? ;)

Anyway so nside the Empire, Ben declared that "All the guys are looking at Ioulia and all the girls are looking at you". I got plenty of looks from both guys and girls and many enquiries as to whether or not I was wearing anything under the toga. One girl actually came up and lifted up the toga to see for herself and then protested when she discovered I had boardies underneath! Not only that but she then attempted to rip the boardies off me but fortunately I had them tied up pretty tight! One of her friends then came over and apologised, saying "Sorry about my friend, she's desperate" before hurriedly apologising for making that comment... crazy girls.

Ash, who had disappeared down the road for an hour, found that on his return they wouldn't let him in with his steel-capped boots. As he seemed to be pretty keen on Eve, this was a pity, in fact Eve kept asking me to check my phone to see if he'd msged me, which would have been sweet except that she was in an eccy-induced stupor at the time. Not sure if what she took was dodgy or she had too much of it, but she was pretty weird...

So we had a great time, dancing around with Lara Croft's guns and using them to control the members of the dance floor... spin the gun, everyone spins around etc... it must have been a sight with Lara Croft leading Julius Caesar across the bar to the dance floor too, so I guess we gave the rest of the crowd a spot of free entertainment. Finished up around half three and then got up for work at half seven, yet feel surprisingly fresh... no doubt I will hit the wall in a few hours time :)

I'll post some pics when the girls email them to me.

Have a great weekend everyone!

P.S. Just threw this entry into the Gender Genie and got this...

Words: 597
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)

Female Score: 1412
Male Score: 856

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

WTF?

For a laugh...

2005-01-28T11:40:00.000+11:00

...and because its Friday and I don't feel like doing any work thanks to getting home at 3:30 this morning...

Its the Gender Genie!

Basically the Genie thinks it can tell whether you are a boy or girl by the stuff you write. I decided to check it out and submitted my blog post entitled This pisses me off as a test.

The Genie said:

Words: 342
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)

Female Score: 378
Male Score: 850

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

Well that was fairly emphatic. However it was less than the 500 words recommended, so I tried Welcome to Tuesday.

Words: 414
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)

Female Score: 769
Male Score: 771

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

Man, that was closer than Latho vs Beazer in December '03! Still not 500 words though...

OK so finally I submitted Stuff from January 10 and got this:

Words: 571
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)

Female Score: 746
Male Score: 1197

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

So I guess its pretty accurate, hey? Let me know how you go!

SYDNEY BIG DAY OUT 2005!!

2005-01-27T11:39:00.000+11:00

It was hot.
It was sweaty.
It was farkin brilliant!

The Hothouse is really more like a sauna... admire the Hilltop Hoods

Antidote to the Hothouse - this is the Sydney Olympic Cauldron in its new role

The Crusty Demons with a twist

And my favourite shot and the one that everyone has commented on...

Chemical Brothers hit the lasers

Some proper party pics

2005-01-25T15:23:00.000+11:00

Do you agree?

2005-01-25T10:45:00.000+11:00

This has got to be the catchiest song around at the moment.

Seriously, wherever I go I've got this line running through my head:

I can't wait... for the weekend to begin

Fortunately I don't mind too much as I quite like the song, its a feel good sort of tune which is something I think we all need sometimes!

The video clip is er.. quite good too, although unfortunately I've never worked in an office with such a liberal dress code!

The 80s movie party

2005-01-24T17:08:00.000+11:00

Me early on... cap and aviators but no military shirt at this stage

Yeah, OK, Celine looked better in the glasses than me!

"Hellooo Mr Pricey!" The man who first uttered those words along with yours truly (in the proper shirt this time)

Shelley Mon!

So you may have guessed most of these are pre-party pics. Other than the kitchen shot above most of the others were just too dark... my phone has a light but it seems you need to be no more than ten centimetres away for it to work - doh!

Holy rocketing hits Batman!

2005-01-21T11:54:00.000+11:00

I don't really have an explanation for this, but since the last week of 2004, the hits that Blogdownunder is getting each week have increased by five hundred percent!

Basically in the space of a month its gone from its lowest ever week for hits to the highest ever. This blog now gets almost as many hits in one day as it used to get in a whole week...

So I guess I have some new regular readers and I'd like to extend an invitation to you all to introduce yourselves, because I lurrvvve getting comments!

OK, I showed you the harbour view the other day, now this is the view out the other side of our building looking south:

Taken from our "breakout" room... note the retro colours!

Its a long way down - this is the intersection of Hunter and Pitt Streets

A beautiful day in Sydney!

2005-01-20T14:05:00.000+11:00

So guess what I did at lunchtime? Took photos of course!

So here are the best of Sydney today.

A lovely CBD shot (if I do say so myself). See what I mean about it being a beautiful day?

Water taxis are the new black

On now! My pick is the outdoor cinema.

Strolling on the harbour side concourse of the Opera House

At last!

2005-01-20T11:55:00.000+11:00

I've set up image hosting so that I can actually post the pictures I take with my new phone to my blog!

So here you go everyone, this is the view from my office.

Apologies for the reflections! Pretty good photo for a phone though, hey?

More to follow...

P.S. He he, I'm going to have a lot of fun with this!

I'm backing Gillard

2005-01-19T17:17:00.000+11:00

I've decided that Beazley is not my first choice for leader of the ALP. Sure, he's a smart bloke and a decent individual, but I have to admit that I think his time has passed.

Its a pity the Labor Party is rife with backroom factional deals which just serve to diminish the range of candidates for the leadership. Those from the Left faction (such as Julia Gillard and Jenny Macklin) have trouble mustering the numbers to take the leadership.

So if the Labor party really wants to move with the times, then let's stick with generational change and pick Julia Gillard. The ALP needs a breath of fresh air to make voters forget about its recent problems. How about its first female leader? What better way to throw Howard than by giving him the sort of opponent he's never had to deal with before?

I like Kevin Rudd but if he was leader you'd only need two words to forecast his inevitable downfall - tall poppy. I also think he would have trouble tuning into the electorate. Julia Gillard is a fighter and that's what they need.

This pisses me off

2005-01-19T10:12:00.000+11:00

Have a look at this shit.

In particular, take note of the hypocrisy of Eric Abetz, whose election to the Senate is an absolute embarrassment for every Tasmanian (most of whom did not even vote Liberal in the Senate).

Senator Abetz urged Tasmanian Labor MPs and senators to seek a guarantee the new leader would "dump federal Labor's anti-Tasmanian forestry policy".

Senator Abetz is probably the most anti-Tasmanian representative of the state I've ever had the misfortune to meet. I'd suggest the only reason he is on the Liberal Senate Ticket in Tasmania is because none of the other states would have put him above third spot. He is an arrogant, out of touch, self-serving wanker and god help us if he ever gets put into a position of real responsibility.

Now onto our next Liberal scumbag. Yes, its old spineless himself, Rene Hidding. Rene can't even think of something original to say, as evidenced by his one line of "glory":

Liberal leader Rene Hidding also said he hoped Labor's "anti-Tasmanian forestry policy departs with the former leader".

Yeah right boys. Its downright, bona fide, poke you in the eye anti-Tasmanian to want to protect the state's irreplaceable natural assets. How dare Latham even suggest that the State Government and Gunns should actually do what's right for Tasmania rather than logging the bejesus out of the place.

Sorry to rant, but I'm absolutely disgusted by this. Tasmania's ONLY hope is to get more Greens into state parliament and for them to hold the balance of power, as they did between 1989-1992. The Labor and Liberal parties are both committed to working tirelessly for Gunns Limited, at the expense of Tasmanian hospitals, roads, police and tourism. The problem is not that Tasmanians are stupid, they are simply tired of the debate and consequently uninterested. Labor and Liberal try and bore them with forestry with a kind of "Look, don't you worry about anything, leave it all up to us and we'll keep those smelly communist greens out of the way".

Its a crying shame.

Its 3:00pm

2005-01-18T15:00:00.000+11:00

Yep, he resigned. Unfortunately he is quitting his seat as well, so it looks like that's the end of Latham's political career.

Wow, six months ago we hoped he would be prime minister. Now he'll just be a normal family bloke picking the kids up from soccer on a Saturday.

For what its worth, I wish him all the best and hope that he recovers fully from his pancreatitis.

It's 2:30pm Tuesday

2005-01-18T14:29:00.000+11:00

...and my bet is that before the clock strikes 3:00, Mark Latham will have quit as leader of the Labor Party.

Stay tuned.

Welcome to Tuesday

2005-01-18T09:29:00.000+11:00

So Friday night involved a trip to the Tilbury in Wolloomooloo. Despite Lawsy and Mr Crowe living across the road, they chose not to join us for a lager. Pants. Also re Friday night, note to Boss, if you are reading, try to spend a little less time at work drinks making out with your 20yo Swedish girlfriend :-P

Saturday night was massive. Met up with a few mates at the Paddington Inn for earlies before heading to a birthday party that was happening at the other end of Oxford Street at Q Bar. Until I got there I didn't actually know who's birthday it was, but fortunately he didn't seem to mind. The bouncer didn't mind either thanks to the fact I was on the guest list (someone was very organised!).

Q Bar was rather quiet at 11pm so after getting stamps we headed off again, this time to Middle Bar. Middle Bar is at Taylor Square and a couple of years back was the place to be seen in Sydney. Fortunately they've thrown out a good portion of the wankiness, although its still expensive, but it also still has the much sought after balcony!

Middle Bar turned out to be good fun, despite me making a few gaffs that my friend Connor found endlessly amusing, including telling a girl she looked about 27 when she was only 25. For some reason she still wanted to talk to me after that...? I also requested a red bull and vodka, which appeared as a random energy drink and vodka, which the bar guy then proceeded to try and charge me $12.50 for. I basically said something along the lines of "you've got to be joking" and walked off. Then the bar guy yelled at a bouncer to kick me out, so I stealthily disappeared into the crowd...

We'd previously decided to return to Q Bar at 3am or so, as apparently this is when it hits top gear. So at about 3:30 Connor and I left Middle Bar (me having avoided eviction) and went back. Walked back in and yes, the place had about twenty times as many people this time. I don't know when Connor left, but I wandered out at 6:30 and grabbed a cab back to Coogee. Half away along I decided to divert to Maccas on the beach, then proceeded to walk bleary eyed back up the hill to finally crash at 7:30...

EPILOGUE
It's Tuesday and I've only just started to feel like myself again :-)

My working life

2005-01-14T15:24:00.000+11:00

I haven't mentioned too much about my job on here, but as a picture paints a thousand words, here you go...

Energy, dear readers, particularly of the renewable kind whipped up by these zero-emission gadgets. The company I work for buys the entire electricity output of a number of wind farms in Victoria.

So basically my role is to go into bat for wind generation (along with other issues) which is quite disliked by the coal and gas burning generating companies. They try and change the rules to their liking, we try to change it to our liking... Fortunately the latest battle has been won, thanks mainly to the political implications of governments legislating against non-polluting sources of electricity. Creating more pollution is not exactly a vote winner!

Of course renewable energy is only one part of my job, but its the part I like the best. So there you go, just a little about my day to day working life.

And in other news...
This is my new mobile, on the 3 network (which means video calls for the uninitiated). Can't wait to play with it... its got an MP3 player and a 1.2 megapixel camera, mwah hah hah!

Some good news

2005-01-13T16:30:00.000+11:00

It turns out that the three people missing in the Adelaide bushfire have been found.

Observations of the world

2005-01-13T10:53:00.000+11:00

Prince Harry has been very naughty. (Or some bored hack in London whipped up a scandalous little creation in Photoshop)

The old British TV show for kids, Rainbow, turns risque with twangers and maraccas...

Could Ashley make a comeback? Hundreds of frustrated college boys are no doubt praying that she will...

South Australia has turned into hell. Let's hope that the missing are found alive and well.

At long last justice for an Australian who was abandoned by our weak-as-piss, gutless Prime Minister...

and finally, will Latham resign?

Some of my destinations this year

2005-01-10T16:41:00.000+11:00

London

Paris

Ibiza!

More to follow!

Stuff

2005-01-10T10:45:00.000+11:00

Another weekend has come to an end and let me share with you a few anecdotes...

The Loft

I went out with Con and Russell on Friday night, something I haven't done in a while. When I go out with these guys, they tend to want to hit the posh spots and Friday night was no exception. So after we had a quick meal at Wagamama at King Street Wharf, we headed to The Loft which is very upmarket (as evidenced by the $14 requested for a Redbull and vodka(!)). Getting in here can be a challenge, although we had no trouble on this occasion. Anyway within ten minutes of arriving, a tall blonde girl approached the three of us and said "My friends and I have been trying to guess what you all do for a living". So she goes away and comes back and in the interim Russell decides that my occupation is "eccentric billionaire".

Anyway when it came to the crunch, Con (who was the first to reveal his true occupation) was completely honest (as was I), much to Russell's chagrin. It turns out the girls thought he was a corporate type, which is pretty much right. They decided Russell was a backpacker/student which he was not impressed by. And me? "My friend's think you are a model" says tall blonde. Right... the others were not impressed although I was quietly pleased. Russell hisses to me that it now seems obvious that I was the reason for the approach and while we are discussing this, the girls quietly leave. Strange...

Later I talked to a girl who does the breakfast show for Sydney radio station FBi. Her name was Michaela and she promised to give me a "shout out" on this morning's program, which I'm pleased to confirm she did! Usually I listen to Triple J in the morning, but hey, everyone loves a personal touch!

Rest of the weekend

Actually did not involve the beach... yes it surprises even me! Well OK, I did have gelato on the beach on Sunday afternoon, but that hardly counts as far as I'm concerned. Hung out with Ash, Jimmy, Chris and Amelia and then went to have a refresher in the beer garden. Ash and Chris have all of a sudden decided they are having an alcohol free January, basically as they are trying to "pump up" as Ash puts it. He's aiming to have abs within three months (which seems a long time to me...). So there we are, Jimmy, Amelia and me with our Coronas and the other two with OJs. Never thought I would see the day...

Sunday night was low key at the lads' place, I taught Chris how to cook rice and a stir fry (he's only just left home). This turned out much better than it was looking at one stage and we followed that up by a DVD and a LOT of chocolate (bit strange for the boys not to drink beer but to be fine with chocolate). All in all a good weekend, although the weather was strange, about 24-25 degrees both days but mostly cloudy with a little rain. Hopefully better next time :-)

-- UPDATE --
In other news, my Seppo pal Kranki has declared this young lady to be one of the most beautiful women he has ever seen... I've got no idea what he is talking about - can anyone shed some light?

A story in pictures

2005-01-05T15:24:00.000+11:00

Coogee Beach - where I live in Sydney

The ocean pool at Coogee

Where I work - Australia Square, Sydney CBD

Imagine this as being a dark metallic green and its my car...

A bit random...

2005-01-05T14:37:00.000+11:00

For some reason this morning I kept thinking "What is an iambic pentameter?"

Why this term was in my head is anyone's guess, I knew I'd heard it before but couldn't for the life of me work out what it meant.

For the record, an Iambic Pentameter is... A type of meter in poetry, in which there are five iambs to a line. (The prefix penta- means “five,” as in pentagon, a geometrical figure with five sides. Meter refers to rhythmic units. In a line of iambic pentameter, there are five rhythmic units that are iambs.)

So there you go. Something I read, heard or saw must have triggered memories of highschool studies of Shakespeare, because it just so happens that Shakespeare wrote his poetry and drama in iambic pentameter. An example is in Romeo and Juliet: “But soft!/ What light/ through yon/der win/dow breaks?” (the second syllable in each pair is emphasised).

So there you go. Quite possibly my most random blog entry ever, but valuable in a literary sense at least. :)

Words cannot describe...

2005-01-02T13:07:00.000+11:00

...the sheer magnitude of the tsunami disaster. Its times like these when Mother Nature puts us in our place and reminds us not to fuck with her.

Every day the number of dead extends even further beyond human comprehension. Its hard enough to come to terms with the fact that there are still NINE HUNDRED AND FIFTY Australians who have not made contact with family or friends back home. The scale boggles the mind. While I am usually more of a glass-is-half-full sort of person, I am pretty pessimistic about the chances of finding these people, let alone finding them alive. No matter how far away from civilisation you are, surely you would get a message out within a week if you are OK. Its a terrible, terrible tragedy and as I write these words I know that they are grossly understating what we all know.

It makes our own problems seem ridiculously insignificant and brings home to us how prone we are to selfish behaviour. All of a sudden it seems that those of us who are safe really have no right to worry about any of our petty concerns.

So may I say Happy New Year to all six billion people around the world.

May 2005 be free of natural disasters, terrorism, war and famine.

(Optimistic I know, but you have to aim high!)

To make me feel better

2004-12-27T18:21:00.000+11:00

F#%*ing F@#$ F@#$

2004-12-27T17:43:00.000+11:00

OK if you are sensitive to profanity I suggest you exit the page now...

Fuck, fuck fuck. I really hate being single sometimes. Single life brings you the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I've had both of these extremes in the last week and unfortunately the magic of the high just made the low cut all the deeper. Can you really feel satisfied if you have given your best? I don't think so. All it tells you is that your best is just not good enough.

Anyway whatever. Let's move on. I'm now counting down the hours until I get to go back to sunny Sydney. I'm not going to gild the Hobart lily today, it sucks the big one, crap weather, I'm tired and I miss my queen size bed. I hate sleeping in singles!

Hobart seems quite surreal to me these days. The buildings look lower than they used to and the distance between point A and point B seems to have shrunk. Nothing has changed of course, other than my perspective. Don't get me wrong, I like the place, it is my home town and will always hold great memories for me. But I now see the city as outsiders see it, at once a charming little place, with amazing colonial architecture and a laid back way of life, but also as a tiny place where the best career you can get is in a call centre and your life is on display. Everyone knows everyone and this is both a blessing and a curse. I don't think I can come back. This is not to say that I am in love with Sydney, in fact I don't think I'll stay there much longer. I guess I haven't found a city I really love to live in yet. Let's look on the bright side, you are limited only by your own imagination. I've seen but a small corner of the globe and there is so much out there to experience.

Going home

2004-12-21T17:18:00.000+11:00

I fly out of Sydney this evening and not a moment too soon. Sydney is a busy place but the attitude of the people sometimes gets too much for a Hobart boy! It will be good to get back to laidback summer goodness in my home town.

Car hunting is the order of the day for tomorrow as my older sister (who has recently returned from Singapore) wants some wheels for escape purposes! I can understand this, Tassie is the sort of place where a car is almost essential. There are no commuter trains, trams or ferries so Metro buses are pretty much it when it comes to public transport. When I came to Sydney I wanted to live somewhere that I could commute to and from on a ferry but did that happen - no! Still the benefits of living on the eastern beaches I think outweighs the fact that you need to take the bus...

Leave this

Chill here

Proud of Tasmania

2004-12-20T10:21:00.000+11:00

Last Wednesday more than 700 people cared enough to attend a rally for Freedom of Speech in Hobart's Franklin Square. The huge timber company Gunns is attempting to sue environmentalists claiming that these people have "damaged their business". Never mind that they are happy to damage Tasmania and its priceless clean green reputation. Congratulations Hobart on a fine turnout!

Goddamn

2004-12-15T11:35:00.000+11:00

Physically, I am in Sydney.

But alas! My brain seems to have missed the plane out of Hobart. It is still sleeping soundly in Lauderdale...

6:30am flights are not much fun, yet some nutjobs took a 6am flight from Hobart to Melbourne this morning (obviously in a moment of pure, unadulterated insanity)

Anyway my productivity today will not be high! I did have a fun time in Hobart though, in a nutshell it involved a Syrup experience on Saturday night, recovery on Sunday, a jam session with my eight year old niece on her new piano, fishing for salmon, BBQ at the house one of my mate's has recently purchased (hmm, that never happens in Sydney), coffee with Claudi (who is a great girl), my sister's graduation, drinks yesterday at the Metz and finally dinner at Mummaluka.

Thursday and Friday I have an Origin conference, the first day at Star City and the second at the Botanical Gardens above the Opera House (WTF?)

Highlight will be the five hours of (company funded) good food and drinking tomorrow night which is being held above the Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour. As my best Sydney mate moved to Randwick last weekend, we will no doubt be hitting the Palace in Coogee on Sunday night for the last time this year.

I'll get you one of these next time Miss Reidy :)

My bar (Part 2)

2004-12-07T15:19:00.000+11:00

OK here is what I'm aiming at.

Probably something along the lines of White Horse (without the Sydney attitude) in Surry Hills which re-opened recently after a long sabbatical where it did little other than sit forlornly on Crown Street. I'd love to start off with an old stone type building (like 5 Franklin Wharf, which I've linked to below). They tend to create a great atmosphere before you've even walked in the door.

Melbourne probably has more of the sort of place I'd try and create. I like Bar Open on Brunswick Street, in fact I like a lot of places on Brunswick Street. I want my bar to be stylish but unpretentious. Classy but laidback. Unique but not arrogant. When you go there you should feel like you are among friends, not like you need to compete against the other patrons.

Let the search continue.

My bar

2004-12-07T14:44:00.000+11:00

I spotted a top location for a bar in Hobart yesterday, in fact it is practically next door to Isobar on the waterfront. Its listed as "Commercial office space" but I told the agent that using it for an office would be a waste of a brilliant spot!

Anyway with an ask of nearly $190k a year for the lease, I gathered the place must be pretty damn big and I was right. In fact I think it must be about the same size as Iso, as outlined in this response from the agent:

Good Afternoon

Floor area (two levels) is approx. 739m2 of which ground floor comprises 400m2. Preferable use is as offices due to good quality fitout. Moreover, owners are not keen on hospitality uses involving sale of liquor.

Regards
Randall

So its big and the owners think they can tell the tenants what they can do with it.

Anyway I've got no idea what I'd do with 739sqm or even 400! I think something in the range of 100-150 is more what I'd be looking at.

Its a shame that this place won't be made into some sort of entertainment venue. Hobart's waterfront has a good vibe at the moment but it needs to be livened up more. At night time office precincts are dead and boring. The waterfront should not be wasted in this way.

I'm sure Hobartians would agree, this place would be fantastic with a couple of restaurants on the top floor and maybe a bar/cafe downstairs.

:UPDATE:
This is exactly the right size with the right intended use. Although it is a bit far away from the rest of the waterfront drinking spots...

The Island Idol for 2004 is... Lenny!

2004-12-06T14:39:00.000+11:00

Upon hearing the news, our new mascot had a mixed response.

His left head was surprised...

Whereas his right head thought it was all a bit of a laugh

And in a surprise development, it seems Torquay and Fred have something to celebrate too...

If I had an island part 2

2004-12-03T11:44:00.000+11:00

Lenny, Torquay and Fred.

You may think that there is another dude behind Lenny but you would be mistaken. Lenny is in fact a very rare Tasmanian Cheetah and therefore has an additional head. He grew up in an apple orchard down the Huon and drinks Cascade like its nobody's business.

Update: As suggested by Claudi, one of these lucky contestants will become our island's mascot. These guys are the three finalists in Island Idol.

Readers, it is all up to you. Which one of these junior cheetahs will win? You decide!

(Personally I like Lenny. After all two heads are better than one etc, however I think Torquay has the coolest name and Fred is a bit of a comedian)

If I had an island

2004-12-02T13:20:00.000+11:00

Taking a leaf out of Kranki's book, I decided to work out what would make up my island nation.

The only way you can get there

Report to our Customs Officer on arrival

Police Chief

If you need me I'll be in the office

Or refer to the Minister for Recreation

Under the Exclusion of Undesirables Act 2004, these two have been refused entry

Entry is granted to all others, pending approval by our Customs Officer.

Welcome to Taz-Land!

Goldie and Brisvegas

2004-12-02T10:47:00.000+11:00

I got back from my Queensland excursion on Monday night and I can tell you, the tan has improved significantly!

Went out with the boys on Saturday night in Surfers and the schoolies were still out in force. It was strange though, there were hundreds of them out on the street but not so many in the bars. Plenty of underagers I guess...

So I was there for a wedding and that took place on Sunday afternoon. We were meant to get all blokey and head out for a fishing trip that morning but that didn't happen in the end. Incidentally it was meant to be with the uncle of one of my mates who is probably the world's biggest speaker of bullshit. He tends to talk stuff up but rarely delivers. Not the best sort of mate to have.

Fortunately the groom is a top bloke and he now has a beautiful wife who is also a really sweet girl. Its a pity their son Lachlan is a tyrant but I suppose I can forgive that seeing as he is only three!

Its been six years since we all finished school and the paths each of us have taken could not be more different. Nick now has a wife, a son and has built a lovely little house on Hobart's eastern shore. Harry (aka Dave) moved to Sydney for a while and last year also became a dad with his long term gf Jen. They are back in Hobart now. Andy, he became an apprentice mechanic before throwing that in and I'm not sure what he is doing now. Chris is single as far as I know, working in a fruit and vegetable shop in Kingston. Alan, who we thought would never have a girlfriend, let alone kids, has a gf of about two years with a baby on the way.

And me? I'm a single guy who is happy to just take life as it comes and enjoy my twenties and life in a big city. I'm in no hurry to settle down with wife and kids like my mates, after all there's plenty of time for that later. Now is the time for travelling, meeting new people, hitting the slopes, surfing the waves and jumping out of planes!

You are only young once!

What do you like to do on holidays?

2004-11-24T10:00:00.000+11:00

I was discussing holidays with my housemate the other day and she said "well as long as there is a beach and its warm, that's all you need".

I couldn't relate to this viewpoint at all, as although I love the beach, I've lived my entire life within walking distance of a beach and I intend to keep doing so. The beach is a feature of daily life for me, not something I look forward to just on holidays!

So I'd like to get some comments on what you think is the most important feature of a holiday. Is it...

The beach?

The sites?

The parties?

The thrills?

Or getting back to nature?

Controversy

2004-11-22T13:36:00.000+11:00

Hmm... going by the email that Site Meter sends me each week, the number of hits this site gets falls off dramatically when I stop making controversial remarks!

The week when I called 59 million Americans bona fide dumbasses turned out to be the most popular for Blogdownunder in six months! Another hit booster was a long time ago when I wrote about The Athens Dream which was published by Black and White Magazine a month or so before the Olympics. As it turned out, Google referred heaps of drooling blokes who wanted to see birthday suited Olympians to my site. Sorry guys...

-----------------------------------
In what is turning out to be my biggest month of flying ever, this weekend I am going to the Gold Coast.

Before you ask, I am not planning on seducing drunken seventeen year olds at Schoolies, I am actually going to the wedding of one of my best mates. Apparently we are staying on the Gold Coast but the wedding is in Brisbane. We are actually going to drive from the Gold Coast to Brisbane in a stretch limo which should do very nicely!

Hobart - party capital of Tasmania (!)

2004-11-16T16:35:00.000+11:00

I got back from my three days in Tassie last night and had a great time!

So many mainland people seem to never bother going to Tasmania but I think it has something for just about every sort of tourist. Lots of people know about the wilderness etc but I think partying backpackers should go south too.

I've never started a night out in Hobart at 1:30am before but that's what happened on Saturday night and I had a fantastic time. It sounds funny but I've missed the "let's jump around like nutjobs to a cover band" thing that seems to happen a lot in Hobart. I caught the end of one of these occasions at Irish Murphy's while trying to hook up with my very drunk friends.

It also seems that Hobart has embraced the dance scene in the last couple of years so its getting to the stage where you can find a venue to cater to most tastes.

I went along to The Metz in Sandy Bay on Sunday night and I was pleasantly surprised. First of all by the number of people (it seems Hobart has discovered the Sunday Session) and also by the general setup of the place. It was the first time I've been there since it became the Metz and I was impressed by the indoor/outdoor areas, the design, the music and the crowd. It was a little cold for outdoors but its good to have the option. The way it's set out inside shows that the owners have obviously pulled some ideas from the stylish Sydney/Melbourne bars. The crowd was attractive and there to have fun but there was no pretentious Sydney attitude. There was a DJ who wasn't particularly creative but he did play some good house tracks. What would I change? I'd get rid of the table and chairs style seating and replace it with a more luxurious ottoman/coffee table arrangement and I'd cut back on the lighting a little but apart from that its quite good!

So my point is that if you are from Sydney or Melbourne, get a few friends together and go down to Hobart for a weekend at least! Make up an intinerary that includes a bit of nature and a bit of partying and you will have a great time. Check out what's happening on Naked Dwarf or Freshdisko and discover the best of Australia's island state!

Some appropriate lyrics

2004-11-16T16:25:00.000+11:00

I'm sure there are plenty of bored office workers out there who could relate to this new(ish) track from Narcotic Thrust...

I hate the treadmill everyday
I hate the mundane things they say
The boredom sets in nine to five
At night that's when I come alive

(Chorus)
I long to be connected
I long to be affected
The bright lights beckon me
Beckon me to you
I like it when we go to extremes
I like it when you enter my dreams
I like it when i feel your touch
I like it, i like it so much

There must be more to life than this
This life for surely will not miss
To spend my time waiting in line
To search for something a brand design

Damn weather

2004-11-12T13:18:00.000+11:00

I'm going to Hobart tomorrow for three days and the weather will be:

HOBART:
Fine until showers develop overnight, clearing for a period tomorrow morning. Mild with chiefly light to moderate northwesterly winds, and an afternoon sea breeze today.

In Brief: Showers developing.
Tonight's Min 09
Max for tomorrow 17

Forecast for Sunday : A shower or two.
Min 07 Max 17
Forecast for Monday : Showers, windy.
Min 07 Max 14

This is not the sort of weather I approve of! Having said that, last night in Sydney I experienced probably the second biggest storm I've ever seen (the biggest was in the tropics!). It was absolutely hammering down with crazy lightning and thunder that felt like an earthquake.

Europe 2005

2004-11-09T15:10:00.000+11:00

To paraphrase Big Kev, I'm excited!

I went to the travel agent last week as they've been advertising early bird specials for Europe next year. The best prices are for flights departing in May which is a little later than I intended to go, but it will give me more time to save money and generally get organised. To get the good prices you need to go on a tour as well, which is fine as I was intending to go on Contiki anyway.

I've pretty much made my mind up to go on the London to Athens trip, leaving somewhere in the second half of May so that I can have my b'day on tour. I think celebrating my 24th while soaking up the sun on the Greek island of Corfu will suit me just fine! Thinking of having three days on Mykonos at the end of the tour too... ha ha!!

Plenty more to come after that but its all going to be pretty unstructured and based in London. BIG parties in Spain around July/August and Oktoberfest after that!

Ad-verse reaction

2004-11-08T17:14:00.000+11:00

Ever heard of the term to "get brain"??

Me neither.

Apparently it is a slang term in New York for oral sex, as some city officials were embarrassed to discover here.

That tome of salacious slang, the Urban Dictionary, helpfully defines it for us.

So now that we are all clear on that, can you work out why New York officials suddenly decided that this ad should come off city buses??

Just to lighten the tone a bit

2004-11-05T14:36:00.000+11:00

Remember this guy??

How times change

2004-11-05T13:40:00.000+11:00

Its suddenly occurred to me just how petty the indiscretions of our past leaders seem in this age of Bush/Howard & Blair.

It seems laughable now when I think that Bill Clinton was impeached for lying when asked about whether or not he had committed adultery. Comparing that to the actions of George W seems akin to comparing a man who has copped a speeding fine to a man who has committed mass murder.

Similarly, Paul Keating was hammered relentlessly for the L-A-W tax cuts and his investment in a piggery. Wow, he owned a few shares and decided not to cut tax - what a BAD MAN!

Its amazing how minor our concerns were just five years ago.

Why hasn't George W been impeached for taking his country to war on a lie?

Why are we so willing to accept (and endorse!) the actions of people like Bush and Howard? Is the threat of terrorism such a powerful tool for instilling fear in the general population that we are prepared to give up our values and allow those who lie and spread propaganda free reign?

One other point, there is such hysteria about a terrorist attack on Australian soil, despite the fact that it has happened here before - 22 years before September 11. Does anyone consider the date February 13 significant? No! Yet it was on that day in 1978 that terrorism came to Australia with the bombing of the Sydney Hilton during a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

Its a shame that Australians and Americans have re-elected the men who feel that violence is the only way to combat terrorism. This will never work with suicide bombers who have no respect for their own lives, let alone the lives of others.

The only way we can get rid of terrorists is to solve the problems that cause such people to become so desperate that they are willing to take their own lives just to try and get their point across.