Brisbane

I've been seconded to the Brisbane Office for this week's work, so I spent this afternoon wandering around Queensland's capital. Brisbane is a rather pleasant (albeit very quiet), and I'm staying right by the river with a view to the Story Bridge, and right next to the Botanic Gardens. I also took a stroll over to Southbank, which has been done up full of landscaped parklands, including an artificial beach, with lots of restaurants and cafes... All in all, I've had a great day.

Photos: The Treasury Casino, Brisbane by night, My hotel - the Stamford Plaza, Brisbane bridges (including the famous Story Bridge), and Brisbane highrise.

City to Surf

Every August sees the City to Surf here in Sydney. For the 3rd time, I participated (to say I ran is probably a bit too much of an exaggeration) in the 14km route from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach, including the famous "Heartbreak Hill". Overall I would have run about a quarter of the way, walking the rest. I finished the race in about 2 hours (only an 80 minutes longer than the winner!!) and overall my position was 35,094 (out of 60,000-70,000 participants). I have to admit, the final push came from the smell of the barbecue in work's marquee, all the way down the hill to Bondi Beach.

Unfortunately I didn't take my camera (it would have slowed my blistering pace) however a great day was had by all. It was a beautiful day, on a beautiful beach, one of those glorious winter days we get here in Sydney. Looking forward to taking part again next year!

South of the Border

Last week I had to travel to Wangaratta, Victoria for work. This is one of the largish country towns in the North-East of Victoria, and is the home of the church below. Following the week's work, I spent the weekend in Melbourne, doing some sightseeing and wanderings.

Exhibition Buildings in Melbourne

On Sunday, the Exhibition Buildings at Carlton held an Open Day, so we went inside to take a look. Here are some pictures of the external view, and the internal view of the dome.

Shopping in Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital of shopping in Australia... and for good reason. There are some great shops & shopping centres like Melbourne Central, recently refurbishing, and featuring the magnificent shot tower and cone. Also, the refurbished GPO shopping centre on Bourke St Mall was one of my destinations (thanks Mark for showing me!) I loved the wine bottles filled with pink flowers floating in the air.

I also visited Block Arcade, one of the historic shopping arcades off Collins St.

As for something to show for it? All I managed this trip was a new jumper. I promise to do better in my shopping next time :)

Cocktails at Cruise

We went to the Cruise Bar, at the Overseas passenger terminal for some cocktails on my birthday!

Mi Cumpleaños en Capitan Torres

We celebrated my birthday at Capitan Torres over Sangria and Tapas... Here I am with some Rioja, Dad with a mix of food and Matthew and Justine and some Sangria!

Eastern beaches with Al

I visited Alison's new pad a couple of weeks back. She and Cam are now living in Randwick, within a convenient walk of Coogee and Clovelly... Al took me on a walk to show me the sights.

Top: Alison under the Bali memorial at Coogee.
Above right: Here I am on the beach at Coogee

Clovelly beach

Waves crashing in at Clovelly...

Winter wanderings

It's been a while since my last post, so to update on my wanderings...

It's turned cold lately, and we've had a fair bit of rain lately as well... I'm also heading Wangaratta-ward in a couple of weeks, though I will get to have a shopping weekend in Melbourne afterwards, so it should be good!

I turned a respectable twenty-four on June 10. I had a great birthday (or weekend as it turned out)... With the girls, we had dinner in the Rocks followed by some schnapps at the Löwenbräu, followed by a cocktail at Cruise, one of the trendy bars at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay. On Monday, a public holiday here in Australia, the family and I went to Capitan Torres for some Sangria and Tapas. Yum! (Photos to come...)

Other than that, June has been pretty uneventful. I did fit in some ice-skating last weekend (only stacked it once). I've also got some photos from that to post.

Anyhow will update the photos soon, once I remember to hook up my digital camera.

Autumn in Sydney

The view from my bedroom during Autumn, the prettiest time of year!

Bindu's Birthday

We all caught up on 21 May for Bindu's birthday as she was back in the country... We had a great time at the chocolate shop in Camden.

Chocolate Wombat and Penguin at Camden 

Dianne at Bindu's birthday 

Cruising around...

I haven't been up to too much since getting back from New Zealand. My latest obsession is the Lindt Cafe (53 Martin Place) where everything contains some kind of Lindt chocolate (except the sandwiches of course... that would just be a little strange). The good people at Lindt decided to open their first cafe worldwide here in Sydney, and I've become a regular customer. I think I must have been there at least once a week for the last month... The photos are from when I took Bindu there on her last trip back to Sydney... She seemed to enjoy the experience.

My recommendations are the dark hot chocolate and the Lindt brownie. I'm also a massive fan of the Creme Brulee block of chocolate.

Anyhow, other than chocolate, I've spent a couple of days in Wangaratta (country Victoria) for work, which was quite pleasant. It's a pretty little country town. Not sure yet if I'll do the ski trip when I back there in July. It's quite conveniently located an hour or so from the Victorian ski-fields.

New Zealand Trip photos

Sign warning us of kiwis. We didn't see any!

View of Christchurch from the Gondola, with the Southern Alps in haze 

As we punted along the Avon... 

Beautiful autumn in Christchurch, near the Avon River 

Here I am at the Waiau River