What are you up to Charlie?

I've have not long got home from a night out at L & M's place and wanted to quickly copy a CD before heading off to bed. I hear the table I have out so Charlie can get inside though the laundry window rattle so I though she must have come in to say hi. I went out and couldn't find her so I thought that was strange.

I had a quick look for her and eventually found her in my bedroom... staring at a spare pillow I had leaning up against the wall. My mind went straight back to a story my house sitter, Miss M, emailed through to me while I was in Germany. Charlie (and a friend who I think made the noise I heard while escaping) had caught another fruit rat! I quickly closed the doors and emptied out the dirty clothes basket to capture it. After 5 minutes and with some "Help" from Charlie I had it in the basket (I never realised how much they can jump around!).

Because it was so cute and reminded me of a hamster I saw in the USA I decided to release it down in a nearby park. Miss M I now know how you felt although thankfully I wasn't woken from a deep sleep by Charlie jumping onto my bed chasing the rat!

It wasn't me... It was my friend "Scara" from next door!

Back to work in the office....

Well I have been back in the office at work for two days and already I'm looking forward to my next holiday... All I need to do now is plan one! I have struggled over the last two days at work but have been really busy so while I was there had little time to think about it. When your away from the office for 11 weeks (no... not all holidays unfortunately!) you can expect for quite a few decisions to have been made as well as changes. I was very disappointed at some of things that had gone on in my absence but it seems to be the way of the world these days... my pay rise before I left ended up effectively being a pay cut once I worked out the entitlements I had lost.

Anyway... enough depressing stuff...

I never really talked about coming home from my trip. The day I arrived home was a lovely day weather wise in Adelaide... but the first thing that hit me was how dry everything was. Australia is in the middle of a drought and it was obvious even in the area I live in (we even had some regions that only had 1% humidity!). Thankfully my garden looked great and my house was immaculately clean. I would have to say cleaner that I left it! (Thanks Miss M!). Charlie also remembered me... and the first night back she was up to her usual bad habits of jumping into my bed and snuggling up to me... ok... so I let her... but it was nice to see that she still knew who I was.

As I only had 28 hours until I had to leave home for my flight to Melbourne the first thing I did was unpack everything out of the suitcase and wash the clothes.... my immaculately clean house was a pig stye within 10 minutes however I did have the load of washing hanging out to dry.

I had had very little sleep in the previous 3 days I had to push myself to stay awake so I made sure I was doing things all the time. My mobile (cell for the USA/Canadian readers) phone got damaged on the way back from Vegas and wouldn't turn on so within 3 hours of landing I was at Marion Shopping Centre taking my phone in to get repaired (I just got it back today and they ended up giving me a new one, but I lost all my numbers and SMS's from while I was away!). Next stop was work to pick up a few things for the course in Melbourne but thankfully I was in and out as I didn't want to do any work that day.

Even though Charlie did wake me up a couple of times during the night I slept soooooo well on my first night back in Oz. The Sunday was already planed for me before I even left... actually even before I booked the tickets.... Bathurst was on TV.... now for the non Aussies the Bathurst 1000 is one of our biggest car races of the year. I woke up at 8.30 am and from that point until I left for the airport later in the afternoon I had at least one of my tv's on watching (or listening to) the race.

The whole trip just seems like a big blur right now and it feels like it went so fast. I'll keep on writing my blog so stick your head in occasionally and you'll probably see more stories about my trip and also what ever I have going on in my mind at the time (scary stuff!). Last night on Getaway, a Travel TV show, they had a special on Hong Kong... and did it bring back memories.... I'll try to remember some more stories for you and also post things like my favourite places etc as well (plus there is the video which I am still to watch!).

Well take care everyone... just to make sure there was some colour in this blog entry I have included some pictures...

My front Garden just after I got home. I have now cut the lawn right back ready for summer and will soon start phase 2 of the re-vamp (subject to water restrictions that are being put in place soon)

I took this picture in front of the Melbourne Fire Station last week. That particular day it was 37 degrees which was the second hottest October day on record. It reminded me of the weather in Vegas.

This is just one of those "Arty" shots of an MSN chat window...

Vegas Pics...

Just a quick note to advise you all that I have finally been able to post pictures from my Vegas trip below. The pictures were posted under Mondays date when I started to upload them rather than today’s date when I finished it.

Anyway have a look below and enjoy the pics... videos will come sometime soon I hope.

Ciao

I'm home.... sorta

I'm now home in Australia... but currently I'm sitting in a motel in Melbourne just down the road from the Queen Victoria Markets. As expected it was a long flight home but unfortunately it was made longer by not having any "In Flight Entertainment" and also being in a bad seat. I got my ticket for the Qantas L.A. to Melb flight 8 hours before my flight was to leave and hoped I would get a good seat... but I couldn't accourding to the American Airlines staff that served me (I tried two of them) so I had to have a normal seat. Normaly that would have been bearable for the 16 hours I sat on the plane except that the seat in front of me was broken so I got 1 inch less legroom that I would have normaly had. I'm 6'2" tall so every inch makes a difference!

The Qantas crew onboard were great but unfortunatly the flight was full and had 4 people waiting on standby so there was no hope of me moving seats. The head of the Economy Cabin was really good to me and if it wasn't for their service the trip would have been more of a nightmare... I guess the disapointment for me was that I had planed my trip around this flight (L.A. to Melb) as I could have got a cheaper ticket if I had have used the Star Aliance but I wanted to fly home with Qantas... oh well.

I was home in Adelaide for a whole 28 hours before I had to return to Melbourne for work. I was able to get a load of washing done, unpack all my bags and also do a bit of weed spraying in my lawns. I managed to stay awake until 9.30pm on Saturday night and woke up at 8.30 am so I did have a pretty good sleep waking only once wondering where I was! Up until I had fallen asleep I had been awake for 32 hours and had only had a 4 hour sleep the night before I left!

My first day back at work was a stuggle to stay awake. I am at a training course in LEAN Management and while the course is interesting and of value... trying to stay awake in anything would be hard to do for me at the moment! I get home on Friday night (the 13th) and won't go back into the office until next Thursday which will enable me to do all thing things I need to do after not being around for 8 weeks!

I will have some pictures from Vegas up soon... I am currently having problems uploading them as I am using a dial up connection...

Chat more soon....

Vegas Pics...

I have posted below some pictures to give you a bit of a taste of Vegas. But as those that have been to Vegas before its too hard to put the Vegas experience into pictures or words to do it justice. I was originaly thinking that 3 days in Vegas would be too many, I now wish I had a few more days to look around as there is so much to see!

Anyway enjoy the pictures and if I find some more I will put them up later. Hopefully I will soon post some video which may give a better view of Vegas.

New York New York. I never got to go inside but from what I hear it was pretty good inside. The roller coaster up the top looked pretty scary!

I was staying at the MGM Grand and its theme was Lions. Inside the Casion there were a few lions including some cubs. They were so cute... I would have loved to give them a cuddle but I get the feelling their mum and dad wouldn't have appreciated it!

Outside the Bellagio was an amazing water display. Inside was where "O" was performed... another amazing water display!

Paris

Outside Treasure Island there was a free show every night which climaxed with fireworks and flames! It looked really impressive although some of the acting was a bit tacky!

The only picture of the Phanton theater I could get. As the show is only 3 months old they were very strict on Photos and also unfortunately... no cheap tickets! (I had to pay US$110 for my "cheap" ticket!)

On Wednesday I went on a tour to the Hover Dam and met a lovely Canadian Family. Latter that night we met up and went to "The Golden Nugget" for my first and only Las Vegas buffet dinner. One thing I never expected when I left for my trip was to meet up with so many great people. After our meal we went out into Freemont Street and looked at the large video screen roof... I have included some pictures below.

Above is a picture of me above Lake Meade, Lake Meade is the lake created by the Hover Dam. The picture above this one is from the dam wall looking over the lake. You can see how low the level of the dam is as currently the region is experiensing a drought.

Hover Dam from the air. Taken the next day on the way to the Grand Canyon.

Pictures of the Grand Canyon from the air... it was truly an amazing place!

Pictures of the roof inside Freemont Street. The shows were amazing (there was one though that was a bit too "American" for me!) and they drew a big croud in the mall on the hour when there were scheduled to start.

This is the view from my room. It doesn't have the same impact during the day as it did at night. Unfortunately the MGM had bright green lights on the windows so it didn't make for good picture taking at night. The day after this photo was taken it rained for the whole day, apparently the first time for the year!

Unfortunately there was no gold at the end of this rainbow for me... and millions of visitors to Vegas each year. I took this photo while waiting for the plane to take me to L.A. Apparently this was the first time it had rained all year in Vegas!

Stuck in Vegas....

Well I am currently sitting in Las Vegas International Airport waiting for my plane that has been delayed by 2 hours. Its going to be an intersting trip home I can tell now! Overall I'm ment to be traveling for just over 24 hours so I'll let you know how it went...

Vegas was amazing... It's just one crazy place... I arrived at night and was staying at the MGM on the strip. Because the type of room I requested wasn't available I got an upgrade to a stip view room (now that doesn't mean what it sounds like... its a view of the main road in Vegas known as "The Strip"). When I got up to the room I found that it haddn't been cleaned so I went downstairs and complaned... they gave me another room 6 floors higher but it was a smoking room... I said I would see how I went.

Well the next morning my Asthma was playing up so I went back downstairs and they changed my room for me yet again. This one was on the 22n'd floor and was perfect. I also had a great view and will post pics when I can.

Its amazing to arrive in Vegas at night and then see the difference of the place in the day. It is an oasis in the desert when you look all around. I did one tour (that ended up getting split into two). The first was of the Hoover Dam, the other was a flight over the Grand Canyon. Both were great... I loved the views and the countryside (or is that desertside :-S ).

I started talking to a Canadian family that had come down for a few days R&R (and by the sounds of it a bit of warmth?). I went with them to "The Golden Nugget" one eventing to experience a Las Vegas Buffet. It was great... although as I hadn't eaten anything that day I could only get 2 plates in! Speaking of eating I think I have lost 5kg while I have been away... I now need to put yet another hole in my belt!

My highlight though of Las Vegas would have to be going to see "Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular" and also "O", a show by Cirque de Soleil. The were amazing... absoulutely amazing. I just can't say how much I enjoyed the performances but also the whole theater feel and athmosphere. Both of the shows had had the theater designed for the show and that added so much to the performance. The tickets weren't cheap though... the "Cheap" seats I go cost US$110 each but they were worth every cent.

I do have lots of pics but I will have to post them when I get back in OZ... most probably while I'm in Melbourne next week (if I make my connection I will get into Adelaide Sat Morn at 10am and fly out Sunday Afternoon around 4.45).

Well I'm going to post this blog now before my battries go flat... silly me for packing the power converter!

New York – Day 2

I should mention that the New York trip happened the weekend before the Wedding, but everyone back home has been asking about “The Big Day” so I decided to post out of order.

Our second and final day in New York was at a different pace to the first day… mainly because there were now 20 of us Aussies walking around. Our first stop was where the train from New Jersey stoped, The World Trade Centre. From there we went to St Pauls church right next to the WTC, then onto the Staten Island ferry to take some pics of the Statue of Liberty, back to China Town and then finally Little Italy.

My first view of the WTC pit (through mesh) after getting of the train in the train station

Photos of the WTC have been put up as a memorial around the WTC train station

Another view of the pic looking north

A piece of the tower that has been left as a memorial in the site

Right behind me is the WTC Site, this fire comany would have been one of the first to the site and tragically they lost half of their company when the towers came down.

Being at the World Trade Centre site was a strange feeling, it was one of the two must see’s of my NY trip, the other was the Empire State Building. I almost felt as though I shouldn’t be taking photos and there was a strange calm/quietness around the site. If it wasn’t for the building of the new “Freedom Tower” on the site I would think that this area would have been quite a bit quieter than the rest of the city.

As it has only been 2 weeks since the 5th Anniversary of the towers being hit there were still remnants around the place and there obviously is still a lot of hurt as you would expect. We then went over to St Paul’s Church that backs onto the Trade Centre site. While most of the buildings around the Trade Centre site sustained at least window damage when the towers came down St Paul’s didn’t have one window broken. The church ended up becoming a rest area for the Fire Fighters and other rescue workers trying to find survivors in the days following the collapse of the towers. The whole visit to the WTC site was an experience that is too hard to put into words and one that will remain with me for quite some time.

It seems that all of the NYPD vehicles seem to have dents in them... watching them drive through trafic I can understand why!

hmm... I don't think the drivers in New York can read. I have never heard so many horns honking!

Joel & Holly with NYC in the background

The trip out on the Staten Island ferry was a relaxing one and a great time for some “happy snaps” including a few of the Statue of Liberty. On our return trip I noticed a plaque and found that we were travelling on the “Andrew J Barberi” Ferry that crashed into the docks on the 15th October 2003 and killed 9 people while many more were injured.

Our last stops in NYC were Chinatown and Little Italy. It was funny thinking back to my experiences in Hong Kong 6 weeks earlier and I couldn’t help but think how similar the China Town in NYC was to the real thing… just the people were different and I wasn’t one of the few tall ones around!

New York Stock Exchange

New York City was everything that I expected it to be… Loud, Fast and full of Rude people. It was funny at how different it was to what I had already experienced in the USA… completely different to Fairfax VA and Washington DC.

We left NYC in the early evening and arrived home around 2.30am after a much easier drive back and eventually some much needed sleep!

Goodbye New York...

New York - Day 1

Well as mentioned in an earlier blog my trip to New York will be a memorable one… and not just because of the need to drive but also because I was seeing all these sights that I had seen on TV before.

On our first day of touring we focused mainly on the upper Manhattan sights, the Empire State building, Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Plaza, Central Park and of Course Times Square.

You know your in New York when you see all these taxi's

The empire state building offered great views of the skyline that most people would recognise from any photo. We had a great clear day and the line ups weren’t very long compared to the normal ones that others had encountered in the past.

Views of New York City from on top of the Empier State building

Central Park was so quiet as compared to the hustle and bustle going on in the city, I can understand why it is such a popular place as you can escape from the craziness outside!

Times Square was amazing, one of the streets was blocked off for the opening of an opera and the big screens were showing a live performance of it. There were lights everywhere… It was so crazy!

Times Square

The Wedding...

Well the event I have been waiting all year has come and gone... It was a great day however a day not without dramas. I stayed with the guys on Friday night at the Hotel and yet again it was a night of not much sleep, to bed at 2am and up at 6am! I had had 5 nights that week with under 4 and a half hours sleep!

We got to the Wedding/Reception venue at 8.30am'ish so the guys could have some photos taken around the grounds. It was overcast but not much later at around 9.30 it started to lightly rain. The wedding was due to start at 11.00am and at around 10.35 the decision was made to not have the service outside but instead to re-arrange the reception venue and have it inside.

The outside venue before the rain hit...

While the service did start late it was amazing and all the party did well considering that they hadn't practiced in that venue. As always the bridal party looked great but Holly looked stunning (and yes Joel, you scrubbed up quite well as well ;-) ).

Joel and Holly...

Saturday the 30th September was a lovely day, but also a sad one when I realised that I probably won't be seeing Joel again for quite some time. It was great catching up with him and everyone else, but as always, sad to leave... but more about that later!

Joel and Myself at the reception, see the lights in the roof... Good Job Linda, Andrew and Meridy