Friday, October 22, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Weekend in Victoria
Fascinators and fancy frock for Caulfield Cup
We each took a photo with our favorite horse at the Hilton
The "General Public" as the CEO put it, tragic.
The Trifecta in the Members Reserve
Great Ocean Road
Apollo Bay
12 Apostles!!
Me and the 12 apostles, not 12 anymore though...
The people that took our photo were from Mammoth Lakes!!
My stellar park job
The Great Ocean Road
Oh yeah, and I got a speeding ticket... a really expensive one..
Videos
Hi Mom Hi Dad
12 Apostles - Windy!
Driving
Thursday, October 14, 2010
the left side = the ride side
The stats:
- 1 horn honk
- 2 lane drifts
- 2 wrong turns even with the GPS
- 4 giggling fits
- 30 minute drive
- 30 minutes of nervous shaking
- 1 successful park job
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
the tomato sauce... i mean ketchup.... get it, bahahaha
Alright, so I am going to do a quick and dirty recap of the last few days to get things current…
Saturday 10/9/10 – Day 7
We slept in and toured around Cairns. We let a Germany named Chris from the hostel tag along with us. He was very quite but very nice because he offered to carry maria’s camera in his back pack. We did a little shopping to get our fix but most of the time we usually just left the shops with dropped jaws due to sticker shock. We also laid out by the lagoon, which is a pool built right on the beach. It’s really pretty and is where everyone goes since you can’t go to the beaches because it is basically a mudflat and infested with crocodiles. We got ourselves real crispy in the 35 C weather… hhhheeeehot!
That night we headed to the infamous woolshed for dinner and an hour of 2 for 1 specials. There we ran into our front desk guy, Steve, who is super nice, and joined us for dinner. There was also this poor german guy, Patrick, by himself and looking for a seat… taking pity on him we let him sit… mistake. Dude was creeper status. Once we finished dinner we went to the balcony to have a drink, steve went home and we were hoping Patrick would disappear as well, no luck… Rather he continued to violate our personal space up until I was about ready to us the ‘please don’t touch me” line but instead we opted to leave… he asked to be fb friends, I said no that’s personal, he asked how will we stay in touch, I said that’s kind of the point…. I know I sound mean but dude was seriously creeper…
There we walked home and then maria and I decided to head back out for some dancing at Giligan’s. Giddy up, really fun… Ran into the rugby guys again but thankfully not Dan the taxi man.. le sigh…
Sunday 10/10/10 – Day 8
Jules and I up at the crack-o-dawn or at least it felt like it to me since I crawled into bed at about ooo 3:30 am or sooo. We headed to the airport to catch our flight 930am flight to Melbourne. Maria was on a later flight that didn’t depart until 7 pm.
Arrive Melbourne, hop in a taxi only to discover the driver had no idea where he was going,,, instead of following his gps he continued to drive aimless around Melbourne… I restrained myself from grabbing the steering wheel from over his shoulder. He was a mess. We finally got to the hotel, argued over payment because he took a more than scenic route, and then scurried inside to check in and relax.
Downside of Melbourne, I have to work. Upside of Melbourne, staying in a ridiculously posh hotel way outside of our budget and having our own bathroom that does not have to be shared with an entire hostel. I spent the afternoon ironing my weeks + of business casual that had been packed down my backpack and then Jules and I met my boss and his friend for drinks and dinner. We are right on the water in Melbourne which is suppppperrr pretty and it is close to a casino with really good resturants, all and all a nice city.
Monday 10/11/10 – Day 9
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria took Melbourne by storm and considered eating vegemite.
da hotel and views from the room
and some shots of melbourne on the way to dinner
Tuesday 10/12/10 – Day 10
Get up and go to work…. Jules and Maria hunted for Australia bachelors in the streets of Melbourne. Due to the considerable amount of success they had in finding such men, they returned to the hotel to discuss an Australian man import service. Much like an Australia order husband service, man tanks and glamour muscles included.
Wednesday 10/13/10 – Day 11
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria scoured the local shops for some new fancy pants frocks for this weekend. Sadden by the turn in weather, they returned to the hotel and discussed how they are going to launch the Chilean miner diet in the US
Oh and I went to a business dinner and had kangaroo loin
Thursday 10/141/10 – Day 11
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria went to the local fire department for Australian firefighters to learn about the careful maintenance of glamour muscles and all that entails. While there they discovered that in Australia, they are the cute girls with accents that can get whatever they want as long as they end the sentence with a smile and a head tilt to the left (their left, your right).
my view everyday this week... at least there's a window :)
**Note**: all Jules and Maria activities might have been grossly exaggerated do to the level of boredom I am maintaining sitting at a desk for copious amounts of time.
Saturday 10/9/10 – Day 7
We slept in and toured around Cairns. We let a Germany named Chris from the hostel tag along with us. He was very quite but very nice because he offered to carry maria’s camera in his back pack. We did a little shopping to get our fix but most of the time we usually just left the shops with dropped jaws due to sticker shock. We also laid out by the lagoon, which is a pool built right on the beach. It’s really pretty and is where everyone goes since you can’t go to the beaches because it is basically a mudflat and infested with crocodiles. We got ourselves real crispy in the 35 C weather… hhhheeeehot!
That night we headed to the infamous woolshed for dinner and an hour of 2 for 1 specials. There we ran into our front desk guy, Steve, who is super nice, and joined us for dinner. There was also this poor german guy, Patrick, by himself and looking for a seat… taking pity on him we let him sit… mistake. Dude was creeper status. Once we finished dinner we went to the balcony to have a drink, steve went home and we were hoping Patrick would disappear as well, no luck… Rather he continued to violate our personal space up until I was about ready to us the ‘please don’t touch me” line but instead we opted to leave… he asked to be fb friends, I said no that’s personal, he asked how will we stay in touch, I said that’s kind of the point…. I know I sound mean but dude was seriously creeper…
There we walked home and then maria and I decided to head back out for some dancing at Giligan’s. Giddy up, really fun… Ran into the rugby guys again but thankfully not Dan the taxi man.. le sigh…
Sunday 10/10/10 – Day 8
Jules and I up at the crack-o-dawn or at least it felt like it to me since I crawled into bed at about ooo 3:30 am or sooo. We headed to the airport to catch our flight 930am flight to Melbourne. Maria was on a later flight that didn’t depart until 7 pm.
Arrive Melbourne, hop in a taxi only to discover the driver had no idea where he was going,,, instead of following his gps he continued to drive aimless around Melbourne… I restrained myself from grabbing the steering wheel from over his shoulder. He was a mess. We finally got to the hotel, argued over payment because he took a more than scenic route, and then scurried inside to check in and relax.
Downside of Melbourne, I have to work. Upside of Melbourne, staying in a ridiculously posh hotel way outside of our budget and having our own bathroom that does not have to be shared with an entire hostel. I spent the afternoon ironing my weeks + of business casual that had been packed down my backpack and then Jules and I met my boss and his friend for drinks and dinner. We are right on the water in Melbourne which is suppppperrr pretty and it is close to a casino with really good resturants, all and all a nice city.
Monday 10/11/10 – Day 9
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria took Melbourne by storm and considered eating vegemite.
da hotel and views from the room
and some shots of melbourne on the way to dinner
Tuesday 10/12/10 – Day 10
Get up and go to work…. Jules and Maria hunted for Australia bachelors in the streets of Melbourne. Due to the considerable amount of success they had in finding such men, they returned to the hotel to discuss an Australian man import service. Much like an Australia order husband service, man tanks and glamour muscles included.
Wednesday 10/13/10 – Day 11
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria scoured the local shops for some new fancy pants frocks for this weekend. Sadden by the turn in weather, they returned to the hotel and discussed how they are going to launch the Chilean miner diet in the US
Oh and I went to a business dinner and had kangaroo loin
Thursday 10/141/10 – Day 11
Get up and go to work… Jules and Maria went to the local fire department for Australian firefighters to learn about the careful maintenance of glamour muscles and all that entails. While there they discovered that in Australia, they are the cute girls with accents that can get whatever they want as long as they end the sentence with a smile and a head tilt to the left (their left, your right).
my view everyday this week... at least there's a window :)
**Note**: all Jules and Maria activities might have been grossly exaggerated do to the level of boredom I am maintaining sitting at a desk for copious amounts of time.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Great Barrier Reef - Day 6
Ahh so obviously a little behind on the blog business… but I am now at work, so I am going to maximize my computer time and free internet. Of course this is not during business hours :)
Day 6 – 10/8/10 – Great Barrier Reef
AMAZING… if I ever have a chance to go back I will. We got a lift from our hostel down to the wharf. There we settled up our balance due with Jeremy the dive instructor and bee lined down to dock five to board the Osprey to the reef. The trip we selected allowed us snorkeling and a scuba dive at two different locations.
Once the boat departed we were required to release the boat from any sort of liability,,, we breezed through the fine print, did an appears reasonable test, and signed our lives away… since we were diving they also had a series of questions on recent trips, illnesses, and medicines. One specific question asking have you been sick recently and have you taken any medicines today… So I carefully contemplated, the truth was yes, I was sick and yes I took Sudafed that morning because I had a cold… but I also new the truth was if checked yes, it would raise questions… but ah well I thought, honest is the best policy and it was only Sudafed, nothing major, so I should be fine. Passed in our releases, Brendan, the collector paused, asked me some questions about my yes-es but everything seemed ok, so we headed to the bow of the boat to watch the trip.
We got fitted for wetsuits, which were stunning absolutely stunning.. but downside was the fitting was inside and the choppy water made Jules pretty nauseous. Then they sent us up stairs for a intro scuba briefing… there our dive instructor Jeremy let me know they were calling the doctor to make sure it was ok for me to dive and I should stay in the briefing because I will probably be able to dive. We listened to all the fascinating facts about how you can die diving and the importance of equalization. I think poor Jules felt more like she was dying sitting inside the cabin with all the massive rocking back and forth…. from an outsiders perspective she looked like the motion sickness was hitting her pretty hard. I wasn’t the only one with this opinion because another dive instructor handed her option B… option a is ginger tablets, option b is a yak bag. But she trooped through it and managed to sit through the whole presentation.
We arrived at the first location and jumped in for some snorkeling, literally jumped because we were to impatient to wait our turn to take the stairs down into the water. We were dive group 5 which gave us about an hour to swim around before having to suit up. Also, fortunately once Jules was in the water she felt much better, just another reason to keep floating around. The reef was amazing, super vibarant, awesome fish, the water is sooo blue. I felt like at the rainforest we were in the setting for Tarzan and at the reef were in the setting for little mermaid. We swam all around, but with in safety meters to our boat. Maria and I saw a shark.. I think it was a great white.. not 100% positive but if not a g.w. it was definitely a leopard shark.
We heard our dive number called so we headed back. Once there they told us they hadn’t reached a doctor yet and that I couldn’t dive tell they had an ok, so we collectively decided to be the last group to dive to give the dive instructors time to call the doctors. So back in the water more swimming, then back on the boat to eat lunch, except for Jules because she still felt like she was going to die on the boat. At about one they packed things up and took us to the second location. On the way there Jeremy called the doctor and came back with crappy news. Apparently, the doctor would not give their approval and I would not be allowed to dive. So bummed, like really really bummed. I may have even started crying but I could tell Jeremy felt really bad, and I acknowledged it totally wasn’t his fault… and then retired to the bow of the boat to finish crying and curse myself for being honest.
Jules and Maria came back and we snorkeled around together. The safety guard from the boat let us know he could hear us laughing from 15 meters away haha, and Jules mentioned she could hear mine and Maria’s laugh under the water across the reef. Which I thought was awesome. That is why I started humming/singing in some of the videos because I wanted to see if I could capture the sound, haha, worked in a couple.
At about 3 we had to leave, it was hard to tear us out of the water. But on the way back they had a complementary wine and cheese session. It was supposed to be only one glass but the instructors felt bad that I didn’t get to dive so mine became an endless glass of complementary wine.
Returned to land, had some serious sea legs, but regardless, scurried back to the hostel to shower and change and head back to the wharf to hit up bella vista since the dive instructors invited us out. Tee-hee. We actually were more focused on the two for one drink specials since everything here is sooo expense. It is really ridiculous, the exchange rate is pretty much one for one and everything is overpriced,,, i.e. a soda is 2.50, chocolate 3, coffee 5, a tshirt $50… outta control.
here are the photos from that day....
goggles do wonders for your face
So anyways, met the divers, had drinks, left for dinner, and then started to walk the downtown area trying to determine where to head next….. being the largely indecisive group we are we just ended up walking around and around and around until a rugby league team stumbled upon us and decided to take us under their wing and directed us to Gilligan’s. We had a great time people watching at Giligian’s. Oh well that’s until about 2 hours into our night, when jules elbows me and goes oh my gosh look who just sat down next to Maria. I look up and what do you know it’s Dan the taxi driver. Bahahaha!! He proceeds to try and chat us up which was super awkward because the rugby guys were like who the hell is this. After a few minutes, he kind of got the message, kind of because he still asked us what we were doing later and if we wanted to hang out… again we declined… after than we danced out little American bums off and then called it a night, only after walking ten minutes home in the intense rain, like hardcore soaked to the bone wet:) it was awesome
Rugby boys after dancing
We’ve made the observation here that man tanks are all the rage… in fact, glamour muscles on men are all the rage here, please refer to season five episode six of it’s always sunny in Philadelphia for a detailed definition of glamour muscles.. but to demonstrate here is the glamour that was over seeing Jules and Maria on their dive, bahahha.
Another fascinating observation is that guys here are really really into dancing, and you don’t have to have girls to dance, nope dudes just rock out with each other. Much like how girls circle together to dance, guys do that… in fact I think there were many more guys dancing on the floor compared to girls that night.
Here are some videos from the day... it's so fascinating down there, the photos really don't do it justice
Sorry val, this might make you a little motion sick
Hi mom and dad
Scuba
Day 6 – 10/8/10 – Great Barrier Reef
AMAZING… if I ever have a chance to go back I will. We got a lift from our hostel down to the wharf. There we settled up our balance due with Jeremy the dive instructor and bee lined down to dock five to board the Osprey to the reef. The trip we selected allowed us snorkeling and a scuba dive at two different locations.
Once the boat departed we were required to release the boat from any sort of liability,,, we breezed through the fine print, did an appears reasonable test, and signed our lives away… since we were diving they also had a series of questions on recent trips, illnesses, and medicines. One specific question asking have you been sick recently and have you taken any medicines today… So I carefully contemplated, the truth was yes, I was sick and yes I took Sudafed that morning because I had a cold… but I also new the truth was if checked yes, it would raise questions… but ah well I thought, honest is the best policy and it was only Sudafed, nothing major, so I should be fine. Passed in our releases, Brendan, the collector paused, asked me some questions about my yes-es but everything seemed ok, so we headed to the bow of the boat to watch the trip.
We got fitted for wetsuits, which were stunning absolutely stunning.. but downside was the fitting was inside and the choppy water made Jules pretty nauseous. Then they sent us up stairs for a intro scuba briefing… there our dive instructor Jeremy let me know they were calling the doctor to make sure it was ok for me to dive and I should stay in the briefing because I will probably be able to dive. We listened to all the fascinating facts about how you can die diving and the importance of equalization. I think poor Jules felt more like she was dying sitting inside the cabin with all the massive rocking back and forth…. from an outsiders perspective she looked like the motion sickness was hitting her pretty hard. I wasn’t the only one with this opinion because another dive instructor handed her option B… option a is ginger tablets, option b is a yak bag. But she trooped through it and managed to sit through the whole presentation.
We arrived at the first location and jumped in for some snorkeling, literally jumped because we were to impatient to wait our turn to take the stairs down into the water. We were dive group 5 which gave us about an hour to swim around before having to suit up. Also, fortunately once Jules was in the water she felt much better, just another reason to keep floating around. The reef was amazing, super vibarant, awesome fish, the water is sooo blue. I felt like at the rainforest we were in the setting for Tarzan and at the reef were in the setting for little mermaid. We swam all around, but with in safety meters to our boat. Maria and I saw a shark.. I think it was a great white.. not 100% positive but if not a g.w. it was definitely a leopard shark.
We heard our dive number called so we headed back. Once there they told us they hadn’t reached a doctor yet and that I couldn’t dive tell they had an ok, so we collectively decided to be the last group to dive to give the dive instructors time to call the doctors. So back in the water more swimming, then back on the boat to eat lunch, except for Jules because she still felt like she was going to die on the boat. At about one they packed things up and took us to the second location. On the way there Jeremy called the doctor and came back with crappy news. Apparently, the doctor would not give their approval and I would not be allowed to dive. So bummed, like really really bummed. I may have even started crying but I could tell Jeremy felt really bad, and I acknowledged it totally wasn’t his fault… and then retired to the bow of the boat to finish crying and curse myself for being honest.
We arrived at the second spot and Jules and Maria suited up for diving… Jules was dying of nausea and Maria was dying of fear… their expressions while getting ready were classic, but their instructor, Juliano, was super nice and eased them into the water and out into the sea… prop side of not being able to dive was I was able to capture some of their diving excursion on film and video. While they took off, I hung out with Wally, this giant fish that just hangs out by the boat and lets you touch it,.. pretty cool, but the thing was super ugly. I also went and snorkeled the reef which was even more amazing the the last location. The water was a little clearer and the reef was closer to the surface which meant I could get even closer, perhaps to close because I have scratches on my foot and bum from being pushed into it a few times, whoops.
Jules and Maria came back and we snorkeled around together. The safety guard from the boat let us know he could hear us laughing from 15 meters away haha, and Jules mentioned she could hear mine and Maria’s laugh under the water across the reef. Which I thought was awesome. That is why I started humming/singing in some of the videos because I wanted to see if I could capture the sound, haha, worked in a couple.
At about 3 we had to leave, it was hard to tear us out of the water. But on the way back they had a complementary wine and cheese session. It was supposed to be only one glass but the instructors felt bad that I didn’t get to dive so mine became an endless glass of complementary wine.
Returned to land, had some serious sea legs, but regardless, scurried back to the hostel to shower and change and head back to the wharf to hit up bella vista since the dive instructors invited us out. Tee-hee. We actually were more focused on the two for one drink specials since everything here is sooo expense. It is really ridiculous, the exchange rate is pretty much one for one and everything is overpriced,,, i.e. a soda is 2.50, chocolate 3, coffee 5, a tshirt $50… outta control.
here are the photos from that day....
goggles do wonders for your face
Miss Maria getting ready to jump in, soo precious. we were excited we just jumped from the side rather than take the walking stairs down.
Jules snapping some pics at the first reef
2 of the many fish i annoyed that day
Jules going in for a closer look
The view at the second reef
Jules and Maria getting preped for the scuba session
This is Wally, he is huge and slow. i touched him.
Away they go!
I felt like Ariel
The coral on the right had these purple tips that glowed, really really neat
So beautiful
Kind of was in love with the purple coral
Brains
Wally and some smaller fish
pretty little yellows
A fishy I chased
The lovely lovely reef.
Maria diving down
Oh goggles
Me and the reef
Maria getting closer
Maria and the reef
So anyways, met the divers, had drinks, left for dinner, and then started to walk the downtown area trying to determine where to head next….. being the largely indecisive group we are we just ended up walking around and around and around until a rugby league team stumbled upon us and decided to take us under their wing and directed us to Gilligan’s. We had a great time people watching at Giligian’s. Oh well that’s until about 2 hours into our night, when jules elbows me and goes oh my gosh look who just sat down next to Maria. I look up and what do you know it’s Dan the taxi driver. Bahahaha!! He proceeds to try and chat us up which was super awkward because the rugby guys were like who the hell is this. After a few minutes, he kind of got the message, kind of because he still asked us what we were doing later and if we wanted to hang out… again we declined… after than we danced out little American bums off and then called it a night, only after walking ten minutes home in the intense rain, like hardcore soaked to the bone wet:) it was awesome
Rugby boys after dancing
We’ve made the observation here that man tanks are all the rage… in fact, glamour muscles on men are all the rage here, please refer to season five episode six of it’s always sunny in Philadelphia for a detailed definition of glamour muscles.. but to demonstrate here is the glamour that was over seeing Jules and Maria on their dive, bahahha.
Another fascinating observation is that guys here are really really into dancing, and you don’t have to have girls to dance, nope dudes just rock out with each other. Much like how girls circle together to dance, guys do that… in fact I think there were many more guys dancing on the floor compared to girls that night.
Here are some videos from the day... it's so fascinating down there, the photos really don't do it justice
Sorry val, this might make you a little motion sick
Hi mom and dad
Scuba
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