cya phuket....

Well with only 3 hours left before I jump on the buss to the airport I thought I would write one more blog while in Thailand. I still have a few things to post later about Phuket... but I'll post from Germany.

I still can't get over how nice the people are here.... sure you have your street hawkers but most of them take no for an answer. I can understand why so many Aussies come over her and fall in love... Before your minds start wondering no... I haven't fallin in love... however I have fallen in love with the Thai (Phuket) people and cuture (I have loved the food for years ever since my teens at "The White Dove" at Noarlunga).

I have now checked out of my hotel although I will go back for a shower before I jump on the plane. Unfortunately today is raining and is very sticky.

The last few days have been a lot more relaxing... mainly because I haven't done any tours and just done my own thing. On Monday night I went to Simon Cabaret. with a fellow aussie I met up with on one of the tours. It was... um... interesting!

Tuesday was a relaxing day... I met up with Jacinta, John, Brendan, Mat and Crystal whome I met on the previous days tour for lunch... the food is sooooo cheap here but I will save that for a future blog and have some pictures to go with it.

On Wednesday I got to do what I have wanted to do since I booked the trip.... Thai cooking classes. It cost $1200 baht but was well worth it (around $41AU). Because I was there by myself I was assigned to the chief.... there were 5 people doing the course but they had 10 staff to help us! After a few laughs at the way I cut up the string beens (its hard having 10 pairs of eyes watching you) I got the hang of it quite quickly and felt right at home, particularly when it came time to cook chicken with cashew nut. The recipie they use was almost identical to the one I use at home. I also cooked fish cakes, phad thai and another seafood dish which I can't remember (I think srimp in crunchy noodles).

My chicken with cashewnuts

The last 3 dishes I made

Anyone that comes to visit me for a meal when I get home will have to like Thai food as this is what I will be trying for the new few months.

I have so much more to write but I'll have to wait... I have one last meal before I leave and I want to go and get my favourite... chicken with cashewnut. I have had 6 different variations now and the one at the Holiday Inn Phuket is by far the best.

Ciao for now....

Tour 3 in Phuket

On Monday I went on my last tour and what was in my opinion the best tour of my stay in Phuket, the Canoe Cave Explorer tour. After getting picked up from my hotel at 9am (I got a sleep in this time!) we headed off to northern Phuket to where the boat was. It was a small group made up mainly of Aussies that went on this tour and we have since met up a few other times. Our first stop was yet another beautiful beach for a swim… I don’t think I could ever get sick of swimming on the many beaches Phuket and surrounding Islands have to offer. Unlike the previous tours this tour had plenty of sun and very little wind (until late in the afternoon when it didn’t really mater anyway).

Feeding the sea eagles

Looking at our boat from the canoe... how nice is this!

Our main tour guide acting as a "Bodyguard" for some fellow aussies

My "bodyguard" for the canoeing side of things was Pat… and Jacinta, a fellow aussie traveling with her son and brother was at the front of my canoe. Pat did a great job and really got us in close to the sights that were to offer… rather than explain all the places we went I will just show you the pictures… except to say that a few of the sights may look familiar as 2 James Bond movies and also Good Morning Vietnam were filmed in the spots we went. One thing I will say is that there were times when we had to lay flat on our backs so we could get through the caves… it made for an interesting experience and I still can’t work out how Pat didn’t fall off as he was sitting higher than I was and there were only inches at times between me and the cave roof!
Again we had a lovely Buffet lunch… I will never get sick of eating real Thai food and it was good to meet up and get to know some other people. Its been interesting chatting to the different people I have met along the way and hearing their stories.

I just wanted to jump out and go for a swim the water looked sooooo good!

If you look closely you will see some bats on the roof.

It was a long day as we didn’t get back to our motels until around 6pm but you really didn’t notice it while you were out there. I did get a bit of sunburn on my back but nothing serious. I hope my tan stays but somehow think it will be gone by the time I get home. This tour is a must for anyone visiting Phuket, particularly those that love water and tropical islands. I would do it again should I make it back to Phuket.

Phuket Tours 1 and 2

Well 3 days have come and gone as have 3 great Tours. Phuket is a wonderful place… it’s a pity about the weather but I expected it could happen… but more about that later…

My First tour on Saturday morning was a half day tour of lower Phuket and Phuket town itself. Our tour guide was called "Woody" and as we only had three in total on our tour I had a good chance to chat with him during the tour… like most Thai’s he was very pleasant to talk to and very helpful (and funny… you tend to get the same jokes recycled but that happens everywhere!)

The other 2 people on the tour were older ladies Julie and Lyn, both from Adelaide and both from the Suburb I live, Happy Valley. If that wasn't scary enough we knew some of the same people including a neighbor (current for one, and former for another), Laurie and Helen. The weather for the whole morning was drizzly which didn’t spoil the trip… but perhaps a few pictures. After a tour of some of the main beaches we headed off to on of the many temples in Phuket, although we went to the main "Touristy" one. After 30min there went to a cashew factory… Cashews are so cheap over here and I stocked up. Because there was only a few of us on the tour Woody took us to a local fruit market where I bought a dragon fruit and wait for it… a kilo of bananas… 1 kilo only cost me 15baht… 52cents Australian. You can tell the Australians as they tend to be eating bananas as though they are gold!

During the tour I was able to see some of the Tsunami Damage however these parts weren’t as affected as other parts, particularly Northern Patong beach were the damage is still obvious.
The last stop for the tour was yet another Jewelry store… this time the largest in the world… and it wouldn’t surprise me if that was true… it was so big! I loved the pieces that they had displayed but had no need to buy any. I ended up going out into the foyer and having a drink and talked to Woody.

I'll try to find some pictures of the tour to post... I must have not put them on my usb stick to take to the internet cafe.

On Sunday I headed out to Phi Phi Island on a speed boat tour with Phuket Adventures. Our boat as full so it was a bit of a squeeze but it was bearable. Our first stop was for snorkeling and I got to test our my camera underwater for the first time and got some good pictures. After some fresh fruit we then headed off to Phi Phi and looked around the harbour. While there had been a lot of work done to the island after the damage it sustained in the tsunami damage was still obvious. It was chilling to be in the same spot as where boats were only a few years earlier that smashed into the island.

Some pictures from our first snorkling stop

On the way out of the bay we were shown where "Birds Nest" come from, for those that watch the Iron Chief on SBS in Australia it was the theme ingredient a few months back. I can’t remember the Japanese saying (Mel if you remember put it in the comments) but Birds Nest is reserved for only the best people. The locals get 100 000 baht per kilo, that’s around $3500 Australian.

Searching for Birdsnest

Not long after that stop were able to get up close to some monkeys in a tree and feed them… they were so cute and just took the food out of peoples hands. There was one mum that had what looked like a newborn baby monkey hanging on for the ride.

Feeding the monkeys

Next stop was to see the beach where "The Beach" was filmed. I must admit I was disappointed with the beach itself from the view I got as it didn’t look anything special… either that or it has been damaged since the filming.

Unfortunately the weather got really rough so we had to skip some other stops so we headed straight to were we were going to have lunch… and the only thing I could say is that it felt like paradise… a sandy island in the middle of no-where with a buffet lunch… and sunshine too!

Some pictures of our lunch location and the incoming storm

We were there for just under 3 hours and except for the last 10 minutes we had amazing sunshine. We could see the rain front coming and it made for some amazing views and pictures. It was good to get home after a short ride back and have a much needed shower (and to see the end of the Port and Adelaide showdown and find that I had lost a tip!).

Ahh… rest…

I am currently sitting in the bay window of my motel room enjoying the view of the pool and surrounding hills (as can be seen in the picture below). Today was really the first relaxing day of my trip so far... I basically did nothing... It was great! After waking up I lazily had a shower and then met up with my travel agent in the foyer of my motel to organize some tours and change the time of my flight out of Phuket (I had 12 hours in Bangkok and thought about going into town but decided not to now).

View from my balcony

I then went to the ''day spa" that the Holiday Inn has onsite. After changing into fishermen pants and a Linen Shirt I enjoyed a Thai massage. Relaxed I went back to my room for a bit before going out to do some shopping for some bathers.

For a late lunch I enjoyed real Phad Thai on the beach front and was so good. I will definitely be going back for more!

I’ll be having an early night tonight (although hopefully will find an internet caf้ to post my blogs). I have three tours booked over the next 3 days so need all the sleep I can get. Tomorrow is a quick tour of Phuket, on Sunday I'm of to Phi Phi island for the day and then on Monday I'm off to the islands where 2 James Bond movies were filmed. I originally wanted to spread my tours out but the guide advised me that bad weather was on its way (Its monsoon season).

It will be a few days before I can post again but I will definitely show you the pictures from the next three days.

Take CareAl

Off to phuket...

Well after a good sleep (although only 6 hours worth) I was up at 5am to head off to the airport for my 8.55am flight to Bangkok. As I walked out to the bus I saw my first glimpse of rain for the whole time I was in Hong Kong. I had been very lucky as everyday rain had been predicted.

Ricky, the tour guide from my tour was also the one organizing the pickup of passengers from the various hotels, it was good to see a familiar face. As I arrived into Hong Kong at night I wasn’t able to get a good view of the place, this time I was able to get a great view and couldn’t believe the size of Hong Kong airport. The word Huge probably is the closest word that describes it but even then I feel I would be understating the size of the place!!

A small part of the departures area in Hong Kong

Inside the departure area of Hong Kong airport

My flight left a little bit later but they made time up in the air. It was amazing seeing clouds while flying at 40 000ft.

Its was a bit of a shock arriving in Bangkok Airport after the facilities in Hong Kong. It looks as though it is soon going to get a much needed upgrade soon! It reminds me of Adelaide's old airport ;-)

Inside Bangkok domestic departure terminal

Due to the lack of space at Bangkok Airport we had to travel out by bus to our plane for the trip to Phuket. Phuket is only an hour away by plane from Bangkok so it was a nice quick trip. After arriving I had a bit of a scare… my bag didn’t appear on the carousel but once I saw that a few others hadn’t received their bags I didn’t feel so concerned. While I was on a domestic flight because my bag was checked in from Hong Kong it was delivered to the International part of the terminal. After walking through customs the wrong way (which scarily was very easy to do!) I got my bag and met up with my bus for transport to my motel.

I am staying at the Holiday Inn which is right on Patong beach but I will give you more details about that later… for now its ciao from lovely Phuket.

Hong Kong pt 2

I went back to Mongkok were the markets were every day, but it wasn’t until late on Tuesday that I found “Computer World”. Now that place was amazing… 4 stories of computer gear. I was looking for some specific things but unfortunately never came across what I wanted… On the Wednesday afternoon I did buy a few “toys” though and have used one of them to partially write this blog.

As I mentioned before Hong Kong has great public transport… but it also has great methods to move Pedestrian traffic safely as well. I quickly learnt that the pedestrian overpasses and subways were a quick and safe way to get around. In the three days I was there I nearly got run over nearly once trying to cross the road… considering the way the drivers drove I think that was a good effort.

The ferry that runs between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon

On Wednesday I went for my only tour in Hong Kong (my main intention for HK was to shop and have a quick look around). The tour guide was “Ricky” and apparently we had the “2nd best driver in Hong Kong, the 1st was in Hospital!” (Ricky’s attempt at humour!). We later found out that even “the best” drivers stuff up and our driver dropped the back wheels of the bus down a big drainage hole while going around a corner… quite funny at the time!

On the Tour we visited Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter which is the home of boat people and the largest floating restaurant called “Jumbos”. We toured the Shelter (harbour) on a Sampan which was quite interesting. Generally when you think of boat people you thing poor, but these boat people were reasonably well off and even had colour tv’s in their houseboats.

Some of the boat peoples house boats (will try to enlarge it and re-post)

Jumbos

After the Sampan ride we went to Stanley markets where I bought 2 surf brand T-Shirts. The markets were interesting but I think I preferred the ones in Mongkok. We then visited Victoria Peak where I took some pictures of Hong Kong and even had the first picture of me taken while on holidays. The picture to the left is of me with Hong Kong in the background. After 30mins we travelled back down on the Peak Tram, a tram that has been around for well over 100 years.

(I need to work on toning up my stomach!)

I really enjoyed my time in Hong Kong and I hope that one day I will be able to return back for a longer stay, I would love to go to “Water World” and perhaps Disneyland or one of the 101 other places that Hong Kong has to offer.

Oh... and before I go, this picture below is just one of the things that amused me with the way english was used in Hong Kong... "Willy convinient supermarket"

Hong Kong pt 1

I have decided to split my blog about my time in Hong Kong into two parts rather than give you a day by day account or one long list or ramblings. It will take a while to get through it all so grab a cup off coffee or tea and pull up a comfy chair.

Hong Kong is an amazing place and in the time I was there I have been all over the place. I started my first day, Monday, with a sleep-in and tried to catch up on some much needed sleep. I ended up not getting much sleep at all but lay in bed till 10am anyway.

After recommendations from people at work back in Adelaide I decided to walk up to the markets in Mongkok… The markets were amazing and full of variety. As I was there in the morning it was quiet although I didn’t realise this until I went back the next day during peak hour how popular the markets were. The streets get closed off and it becomes a mass of people. It was amazing.

I was asked if I could buy a particular type of bag for someone back in Adelaide, so armed with a picture I went looking… and after walking the first quarter of the ladies market I decided to show the picture to one stall owner and see if I could get pointed into the right direction. I was asked to follow her and I was lead up so stairs into an apartment block, through a secure door, up an old lift to the 7th floor, through another secure door and then to a room that had padlocks on it. Inside the room, the size of a standard Hong Kong apartment, was a full range of fake bags and watches. It was amazing. I didn’t buy anything that time but the did go back to another place later to get what was wanted and saw 2 Aussie couples in the same room, we all looked at each other and chuckled!

The smells in Hong Kong were amazing, from both extremes! I love Asian food but wasn’t game enough to try any off the street in Hong Kong. I was actually quiet tired most of the time as I hadn’t caught up on sleep so took the easy food option most times, junk food! (although I did eat a big salad once a day before you start telling me off!). Unfortunately not all smells were nice, on one walk I came across some cooking that just smelt foul… but the locals seemed to be enjoying it!

On my first day in Hong Kong I worked out from the maps that I walked nearly 15km, I quickly decided that was enough exercise and decided to try Public transport for the next two days. The public transport system here is amazing, but I guess you could expect that considering that Honk Kong has 7 million people with very few who own transportation. The trains I caught were very clean, efficient and fast! I’m not sure how often they do run but I don’t think I waited more than 5min to catch a train.

One downside to Hong Kong would be the watch and suit hawkers on ever street corner. I ended up getting really sick of them and possibly ended up being a bit rude and said no ever before I got to them… they could see me coming as I was about 1 foot taller than most people around me! On Tuesday morning I went to Wanchai on Hong Kong Island and had a much more relaxing time… why… no street Hawkers!

Wanchai is an older area of Hong Kong and you did notice it when walking around. But after walking off the main street I came across a fresh food market and also a clothing market. There was lots of fish and red meat up for sale as well as fresh fruit and veggies. The butcher did his work on the street right in front of you. In some stores there were fresh animals ready for him to do his work! Most of the meat for sale was fish… and most of it was freshly stored in tubs full of flowing salt water. The prices seemed to be really good as well!

"Fish Mungler" (I think thats what they are called)

Butcher

One of the markets in Wanchai

Hong Kong Island also has traditional tram cars which were a sight. I took this picture mainly because of its destination… “Happy Valley” which is where I live in Australia. On my tour the next day I found out that Happy Valley is were all the rich people live in Hong King!

If you look closely you can see it says Happy Valley on the destination bord

3 non stop days....

Well after three days in Hong Kong and a lot of traveling I tomorow I head off to Thailand. I have wanted to write about my time here but have been too busy to sit in front of the computer for long enough. I am looking forward to slowing down in Phuket and writing a bit down.

I will go into more detail later but to give you a quick overview I have spent most of my time walking up and down the streets of Hong Kong... and even though I probably walked over 25km in the three days I was here (15 on the first day!) I know I have only seen a very small amount of what is available.

Most of my time has been spent walking through the markets of Hong Kong kong looking for presents and bargins. To the left are two pictures of some of the markets in Mongkok, the top one is the start of the electronics marked early in the morning (it is full of people in the late afternoon) and below it is the "Ladies Market". My first day I didn't buy anything but after checking prices amongst different shops/stalls and checking prices back in Adelide I have now spent heaps but have some good bargins. The only thing major that I bought myself was a PDA... It was more of an impulse buy compared to my other purchases but when I got back to my motel I was relieved to find out that I had saved AU$180 on what I would have paid in Oz. I have also got some other good bargins for others including my nephews.
It will now be time to tighten the purse strings and stick to my budget so I have some money left for Las Vegas...

Every night at 8.00pm in Hong Kong they have a light show over Victoria Harbour. Its quite impressive... I have taken video footage of it but below are some pictures I took from my motel room last night. I'll edit the video footage and post it up here as soon as I can

Today was my first and only official tour... we went over to Hong Kong island (where incidently the buildings in the distance in the above pictures are). We visited quite a few places but I will fill you in about that when I do a full wrap up of Hong Kong... but I will say it was good to be in a bus full of Australians again. I do miss speaking English!

Well I had better go to bed... its nearly 10pm and I have to get up at 5am for the 6am bus! Next stop Phuket via Bangkok... I am so looking forward to relaxing as I haven't really done any at the moment... by body is aching!

I will write more about Hong Kong as soon as I can... take care everyone.

What a long day....

Hi Everyone...

After a long few days I'm now sitting in my hotel room in Kowloon overlooking Hong Kong island drinking an icey cold can of Coke.... From my room I have a view of the harbour and Hong Kong Island. As you can see from the picture to the left it was really steamy here today so I couldn't see too much! Now at midnight local time it is much clearer and I can see heaps of lights... its quite an eye opening.

I'll write more about Hong Kong later but for now I just wanted to give a brief discription of my flight... I woke up at 7am yesterday morning and grabbed Charlie to give her one last cuddle (Charlie is my cat for those that don't know). I then got up, did a bit more housework and played a bit more with Charlie. At 8.30 mum came past to pick me up and we were at the airport at 9.00am just before the big rush. I got called up to the "First Class" counter and said seeing as I was there I thought I'd ask if there was any chance for an upgrade to first? Unfortunately I was informed that the flight was full and all seating had been already allocated. Thankfully I got a great window seat.

As the flight was going via Melbourne to pick up more passengers we had a short hop before the main part of the trip. The flight was just over 12 and a half hours all up but if you include traveling time, customs and waiting for the plane/busses it was a very long day.... 18 hours all up. It was an interesting trip, I sat next to an older lady who "was going to complain to her travel agent about going via Melb" amongst other things... She was a bit of a complainer. It was interesting though sitting in the waiting rooms... one image that sticks in my mind is one girl with tears running as she read what looked to be a letter from some friends that also came with a photo album. I couldn't help but look through the room and wonder what some of the other 101 stories of the people in that room would be.

The food was great.... but I had to chuckle when I saw that a Cornish Pasty was an option for dinner (having spent a lot of time in Kadina, part of S.A.'s Cornish region). We also had a great Flight attendent who sounded very Australian when he spoke English...

For those that haven't been to Hong Kongs new airport try to get there if you ever can... its an amazing place. The Airport is so large that the have installed an automatic train system that ferrys passengers from the furtherest gates back into the baggage and customs area. The baggage department itself was huge... I'm sorry to say but the baggage hall alone puts my home town airport of Adelaide to shame.

I spent most of the trip from the airport to my motel with my jaw droped.... I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.... so many tall appartment blocks, so many lights... and that was just over near the airport... when I got closer to the centre of Hong Kong my jaw just droped even more. I have taken quite a few pictures that I will try upload sometime.

After such a long day I just crashed when I got in to my Hotel room... I really wanted a shower but I just couldn't stand up. I have however had 3 showers today though due to the humidity... today was 32 degrees with 80% humidity at around 3 this afternoon. I have been drinking heaps but due to the amount of walking I did today I still felt a bit dizzy at times so I took it easy this evening....

Well I will leave it at that for now... I will write more about today and my impressions of Hong Kong tommorow as right now... I just want to sleep!

I trust every one is well...

Cya Adelaide....

Well I have now packed my bags and now just need to have clean the bathroom. Its been a busy week trying to fit everything in and at one stage I wondered if I would be able to get it all done! Today was still pretty full on... I poped into a few friends places to say goodbye and also managed to clean the car, clean the veranda, fill my tool shed and also do a Will!

Most of you will laugh at this but tonight I was at a friends place and while they were putting their kids to bed I sat on the couch and started to feel homesick... now that is sad! I haven't even left the place yet and I was feeling homesick! I'm sure once I am in the warm tropics sitting on the beach or in the spa any homesickness will go!

Well I should head off to bed... In less that 10 hours I will be at the boarding gate and as I can't seem to sleep on planes and its a 12 and a half hour flight I need all the sleep I can get!

Oh... before I go... I was just on the Airliners.net site and came across this link to a discussion discussion. Its intersting to see the comments about Aussie humour as compared to North American humour. If you just want to see the video click on this link: Chasers War on...

Well take care everyone... and keep posted. I don't know how often I will be able to add to my blog but I'll do my best to keep everyone informed.

ciao

2 more sleeps to go....

Well in two days time I will have finally started my holiday.... time has flown! I am really tired at the moment as to finish all the work I needed to do before I left the office I did a 14 hour day... Crazy.... but I did complete all of my general work. Unfortunately one of our shop computers unexpectedly died so I spent most of last night getting that back up and running (a HDD failed... I have never had a HDD fail in this way!).

Generally preparation for my trip is going well... yesterday I picked up my International Drivers Licence (which for some reason is not valid in Australia :s) and also hunted around for some other little things like a wet (toiletries) pack and also a tooth brush holder...

Today is a bit of a Lazy day.... I am currently finishing off the shop computer, then after lunch I'm catching up with a friend for a coffee before heading off to Marion Shopping Centre to get a hair cut and pick up a few last minute items. I'm going back into work late this afternoon for "drinks" (coke for me) and to say goodbye to the staff. I won't see most of them for 8 and a half weeks... (secretly that is why I think they are having the party... while the cats away the mice do play ;-) ).

Well no picies today... but be assured when I can upload them during my travels there will be plenty!

Take care everyone....

You call this study!!

I've took some photos today of some of the things I have been doing.... and your probably going to look at them and think... You go to a $6000 course and play with dolls! Well no... we don't just play with dolls... we also have had the plasticine out and had a bit of fun with that as well.

Our Work Cell in the early stages

There is method to our American Lecturers madness... we were using this dolls to simulate a real workplace environment and were made to apply what we learnt in the lectures to this workplace. Its actually a good idea as you get to practice what you have learnt before you go back to the "Real World".

One of our "employee's" at the drill press

As mentioned previously our appartments are brand new. Rather than having traditional keys we have a card that we slot into the door, much like fancy motels. Well tonight I did the thing I warned the others not to do... I locked my key inside my room and couldn't get it out! I had to go downstairs to the foyer and call for help! I was so embarassed but in talking to the girl that came to rescue me and found it was quite common!

The picture below is our appartment block taken from the College carpark that is outside our lecture rooms window. Its so handy being close! Our appartment is on the top floor on the RHS with the black rectangle around it.

This place is very luxurious compared to other student accomodation that I have seen over the years... and there are 3 coffee shops in the picture alone which I'm sure are doing a great trade!!

Well I should have a shower and head off to bed... while its only 9.00pm Adelaide time I am stuffed and am in need of yet another good long sleep!

This will probably be my last post until I get home.... until then I hope your all well.

An Alarming evening...

Yes... another post from Melbourne... Funny how I post more when I'm not at home... I wonder why that could be... more spare time not doing things around the house perhaps?

Well today was the 12.5 hour day that I had been dreading since I received the course program... It was long... but the information that was presented was really good. I must admit though, if it wasn't for the regular short breaks I would have probably fallen asleep!

Last night just as I was about to go to bed a fire alarm started to go off in a building close by... after about 5 min I decided to stick my head out of the window just to make sure I shouldn't be getting out of bed and heading outside. I couldn't see any smoke and there seemed to be no panic so I went back to bed. 60 min later the alarm was still going so I am a bit concerned about the fire brigades response time!

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not in my last blog (even though it is just 24 hours it feels like weeks since my last entry) but I'm staying in an apartment at the Swinburne Uni. We are on the 6th floor with lovely views... but we can still hear every sound from what is going on at ground level... and that includes the trains that regularly go past through the night, the 4.30am garbage run, the 6am street sweeper and of course the hoons flying through the "S" bend in their cars throughout the night. Still I will definitely try and stay at this place again for my return trip in a few months, apart from the fact I'm sleeping in a brand new bed and its close to the college this apartments biggest selling point for me is the fact that we have central heating.... I tell you... its bliss! 20 degrees all night.... ahh.... (although walking outside to near 0 degree temps wakes you up in a hurry!)

A quote from the back of a packet of Nescafe "Joe's" Instant Coffee mix... how true and what a timely reminder for me!

P.S. I got an MMS from my friend who is looking after Charilie earlier this evening with some pictures... she stayed around and played with them tonight unlike last night. Needless to say I'm relieved that she seemed to be happy :-)

Melbourne....

Well tonight I'm sitting in an appartment at the Swinburn University after a long day of study. I've come over from Adelaide to do a course in "Lean Leadership" put on by the Institute for Lean Systems, a group of guys with exensive manufacturing experience that come from Kentucky in the USA. Today the course ran from 8am til 5pm however tommorow is 8am till 8pm! I think the day will go quickly though like today. They course is really interesting (however I won't bore you with the detail!)

(View of the TAFE Complex where we are studying taken from our balcony)

We flew over from Adelaide last night, our flight was delayed for 15min due to "bagage issues" and as I was sitting on a window seat I could see my bag sitting on the trolly by itself. I was wondering if I would see it later that evening in Melbourne or not... thankfully I did. The flight itself was quite short and uneventfull, upon landing we waited for a co-worker to come in on a different flight and then we caught a taxi out to Hawthorn... we still suspect that the driver took us on the scenic route!

Tonight I spoke to a friend of mine that is looking after Charlie for me while I'm away... Charlie was at the door crying when they come in but when Charlie realised that it wasn't me inside she ran off... hopefully she will be still around when I get home. She hasn't been the same since Max died :-( I sorta feel a bit guilty about leaving her... but I guess she will have to get use to it as its only a handfull of sleeps until I head off on my Round the World trip!

Well I had better go and read up all the information that we need to read tonight ready for tommorows sessions on "Value Stream Mapping"...