On the move!

Well, I said that I was going to change things, and, well, here is the new address and location of my new look blog:

www.ezakimak.wordpress.com

From now on, you will need to go there to keep in touch with all our adventures....

See you there!

Things are a-changing...

OK so I love doing my blog, and that ain't ever changing. But I'm feeling the need for a change of scenery. I'm thinking of changing the background and layout of the page.

Watch this space...

The sky is grey

Well, the day is coming to a close, and to be perfectly honest, I haven't accomplished much.

We dragged ourselves out of bed at about ten o'clock, then spent the next hour or so catching up on news from around the world on the internet machine. Then we went for a drive, discovered a cool new cafe in Williamstown then went to the video shop. We rented Jim Carrey's new movie Yes Man, peed our pants laughing then sat down for tea. Mrs B made a magic chicken shepherds pie which went down a treat. Soon we will retire to the lounge to watch Road to Perdition.

With the weather as grey and crap as it is, I think that is pretty much the perfect Saturday.

Don't you?

Monday, Monday

Buggered after a hard days work. Here is a pic I shot off just before getting onto the Bolte Bridge on the way home tonight:

Melbourne International Jazz Festival

The Jazz Festival was an interesting experience.

It went for a week starting last Saturday. We planned to go on the Sunday to a free concert, but the weather closed in and the rain was horizontal so we decided to give it a miss. So we tootled into the city this Saturday just gone for another free concert as the weather was magic blue skies and about 13 degrees. The gig was due to start at 12.00 but there were some major roadworks going on and we got majorly held up so we got to our brunch venue in Fitzroy at quarter to 12. We thought oh stink we have missed out, never mind, lets enjoy brunch.

While eating brunch we got our hands on a festival programme and we discovered that there was one more free concert at 5pm. We hummed and hahhed before deciding to hang around in the city until then. Fitzroy is a cool little place full of weird bookshops, music shops and fashion boutiques so we had a good walk around and a nose through many a shop. From there we went into the city proper (Fitzroy is on the city edge) and wandered around like tourists retracing some of our steps from when we came over in August. We plonked ourselves at Lorca Cafe and chilled out while the city whirled by. Just down from where we were a 5 piece jazz group turned up and set up right there on the footpath. They began belting out some aweome tunes. People were tapping their toes and dancing impromptu, it was great.

At about 4.30 we wandered up Swanston Street to Federation Square for the concert. By this time, the sun had gone down and the temperature dropped about 5 degrees, but we thought we would tough it out - it was a free concert after all! The sun went down and the lights came up and the band WAS CRAP. We had waited all that time and they were rubbish. Not that they couldn't play music, they just played the wrong type. It was the last day of the festival, and the last concert and it was freezing cold and they played quiet, subdued smoky bar jazz. Everyone was expecting some up tempo, lets get you all warm PUMP. We only lasted about 30 minutes before we baled out and headed home.

The guerilla set up on the side of the footpath band was the highlight, they were cool and funky and obviously enjoying what they were doing and having a real lark.

That's the sort of jazz I dig.

In a backstreet cafe

Sitting at Lorca with the city bustling by,
A mish mash of fashion from girl and guy.
Wafting around us, the aroma of coffee,
Jazz on the footpath, yeah, this is me.

People walk past abuzz with the groove,
The night is refreshing, it makes me feel new.
No rush, no pressure, just cruisin' along,
Sitting here silent among the great throng.

For the briefest of moments our eyes make contact,
A smile, a nod, we acknowledge the fact.
This is a great place, a happenin' thing,
Here we are happy, our hearts want to sing.

Philosophical Musings - Part 2

Suddenly the world is full of meaning. A man yawns in the Mercedes next to me. What made him tired I wonder. Crossing the road, a mother pushes a baby in a pram. The baby kicks its feet with glee at the sight of a Golden Retriever. What brought on that joy? What does his future hold? His brain is a blank book with pages waiting to be written on.

As I bite into my organic Pink Lady apple, the cool crispness of it fills my mouth with a pleasant sensation. It is only 8 degrees outside, but the cool feeling on my lips and tongue thrill as they make me shiver.

I raise my eyes and look at the clouds above. How old is the sky? I see a palette of colours and shades. Shapes and forms come and go. A rabbit, a bear, a hand, a boat. Enormous structures made of nothing. Thick enough to block the sun, thin enough to let a plane pass through.

People are like clouds. They can be thick and strong enough to deflect and block the harshest of attacks. But sometimes they are pierced. Pierced through. Cut to the core. A simple word or a harsh act can destroy the calmest of hearts. With a landscape of flitting windblown grass, the mind can be stroked in many directions. Some good, some bad. Some positive, some negative.

We think that we control our mind. The reality is however, that we are controlled BY our mind. Our body is simply the puppet of the mind.

Dirty car art

Wow! I just read this news article on news.com.au and followed a link to this guys website and have been sitting here astounded at his artwork.

All of this is done on the back windows of dirty cars! Not on canvas or anything standard, but on dusty glass. Far out.

Here is a sample, here is the website for more: http://dirtycarart.com/index.html

Uh oh

It would appear that my laptop has DIED.

I feel like my arm has been cut off!

It powers up but the screen remains black and dead. I did a bit of a Google hunt on Mrs B's laptop and sure enough, it appears to be a common issue with HP laptops. Oh stink.

It is still under warranty though, so that is good, but we probably have to send it back to New Zealand to get fixed.

How long will that take?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrggghhh!!!!

Beach balls

Just read this on Fail Blog and did a pee pee I laughed so hard! Try and read it and keep a straight face...

Twittering away...

One of the latest internet fads is a little thing called Twitter. You may have heard of it. It is a little gizmo that lets you update everyone with mini updates as you move about your day. Being a geek, I have of course signed up. It is a bit like a mini blog that you can update via the web or from your mobile phone. I haven't got it set up on my phone yet, but all in good time.

On the right hand side of the page here is the little widget and you can see my updates from here and there.

We went up to a place called Upper Yarra Reservoir on Saturday. What a flippin' beautiful place. There was absolutely no-one else there and it was literally in the middle of nowhere. The reservoir is one of a network of dams that feed water into the city for us to drink.

Here are a couple of pics, e.mail me if you want the link to the rest of them:

And just to show how bad the water situation is here right now, this dam is at 38% capacity. The clay coloured area between the water and the trees is where the water normally covers. Yikes!

Slow news day?

This morning I was flickering through the news headlines and came across this article linked below. I laughed my head off when I read it. Check it out:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25350362-13762,00.html

My favourite line: "He (the husband) escaped prosecution because he was less noisy than his more enthusiastic wife." Read the article to figure out what that means, although you might have figured it out by now.

The other hard case thing? The partially deaf neighbours surname is BALL.

It reminded me of some friends of ours back in New Zealand who had to put up with the same problem from their neighbours!

Let it be a lesson to you all.

Photoshopping - Part 2

You might remember a while back I mentioned that I was learning how to use Photoshop. Well, I have been doing a bit of fiddling and learning. Thought I might share with you one of my works of art. First of all, here is the original pic:

And now the new and improved version!

Yes, I am still a weirdo. Some things never change.

Lazing on the long weekend

It is Easter Monday. It is 11:45 am. We are still in our pajamas. We are on to our third round of coffee.

Contented?

Yes.

Across the Sea

You are 18 year old girl
Who lives in a small city in Japan.
You met me at a meeting about one year ago
And you wanted to know all about me, and my hobbies
My favorite food and my birthday.
Why are you so far away from me?
I need help and you're way across the sea.
I could never touch you - I think it would be wrong.
But I've got your letter and you've got my song.

They don't make stationery like this where I'm from
So fragile, so refined.
So I sniff and I kiss your envelope and fall to little pieces every time.
I wonder what clothes you wear to work,
I wonder how you decorate your room,
I wonder how you comb your hair and curse myself for being across the sea.

When young I shaved my head and tried to be a monk.
I thought the older women would like me if I did.
You see, Ma, I'm a good little boy.
It's all your fault, Papa, it's all your fault.
Goddamn, this world is really lame,
I gotta live on an island to find the juice.
So you send me your love from all around the world,
As if I could live on words and dreams and a million screams
Oh, how I need a hand in mine to feel.

Why are you so far away from me?
I need help and you're way across the sea.
I could never touch you - I think it would be wrong.
But I've got your letter and you've got my song.

Photoshopping

I just love ambiguous titles.

I hear you wondering: "What is photoshopping?" "Is he shopping for photos?" "But its all one word not two words 'photo' and 'shopping' what could it be?"

Well, call off the hounds, the answer is simple. I am learning how to use the computer programme Photoshop. You may have heard of it. It is a program that you can sharpen, adjust and manipulate photos. You can also mix and mash photos to create amazing effects and build beautiful graphics for websites and printing.

All stuff I am interested in of course.

I present for your viewing pleasure my first bit of work. First of all here is the original pic of Mrs B:

And the rework:

This gives the pic a more grainy, colour / sepia feel. Makes it a bit more gritty. For the techheads out there, the pic has a high pass of 142.0 pixels and sheened with Hard Light.

Anyway, we are going coffee table shopping. We are sick of using a cardboard box.

For got to mention a couple of things

Oh yeah, yesterday I forgot to mention a couple of things, so here goes:

Tonight (Saturday) daylight savings comes into effect here in Victoria. I can't remember what the date is that it changes in New Zealand, but here it is tonight. So if anyone calls or texts or whatever, remember that we are going BACK one hour so the time difference will now be three hours.

And for those who got my text about my amazing technicolour puke. I now present for you the full story, with pictures.

So on Thursday night after the meeting, Mrs B and I decided to sit down and have some watermelon and rockmelon. The watermelon we had in the fridge had already been attacked by us, so there was only a little wedge left. So we chopped this up along with the rockmelon and chowed down.

The rockmelon was yummy, as was most of the watermelon, but some of it tasted funny. Instead of being crisp it was a little bit softer than normal. Never mind, I finished it off. Mrs B had only rockmelon as she prefers that (weirdo). So there you have it.

About twenty minutes later. I sat bolt upright on the couch as my stomach started doing backflips. I knew that feeling. Hadn't had it for a long time. Tried my best to keep it down and get my mind on other things. But, much like the arrival of a baby, when the time comes, you have no control. I raced to the bathroom, got on my knees and puked and puked and puked. All watermelonish pink and mushy. Then it came to an end. Then I puked and puked some more.

On this second round, on one of the back arching hurls, my eyes felt like something had been injected into them and my vision went pink. Now I have heard that when snipers concentrate so long on a target before firing, they get 'the pink mist' from the pressure on their eye. I am no sniper, and the water and spew in the bottom of the toilet was a fairly easy target so I quickly discounted this as a cause.

However, when I had finished up and was checking for damage in the mirror, to my horror, by eyes were blood red. Not bloodshot, blood red. Like a zombie.

I was a little concerned, but not in pain, so like any kiwi bloke, I went to bed with out giving it another thought. The next morning, the blood had receded a lot. By mid morning it had disappeared behind my eyelids. By the end of the day, it looked thus:

Hmm. Yes. And so ends my adventures. I guess I will have to be more careful with my watermelon next time!

Fridays...

You gotta love them!

They bring the week to an end and open up the weekend festivities. Today should fly past and then we are straight into it.

Tomorrow night we have a congregation dinner and games thing which we are all looking forward to. Its a little bit of a pat on the back for the massive effort we have been putting in for the FS this last month. Very nice.

Apart from that we will be doing as little as possible. It has been a busy week / month at work culminating in me be nominated the employee of the month second month running. Woohoo!

Anyway, I better get ready for the day ahead.

Take care everyone.

The rapping flight attendant...

Just spotted this on news.com.au. A flight attendant on his fifth flight for the day deciding to rap the in-flight safety announcement instead of the usual boring presentation.

Check it out:



Here is the article:

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,25199543-5014090,00.html

Oh yeah, and I think I got busted by a speed camera tonight...

Black Hawk down

Well I certainly had myself an interesting day today.

I was minding my own business driving down the highway when there was this almighty roar and rumble from above. I looked out of my window in time to see six Black Hawk army helicopters sweeping through the sky at a very low level. They are awesome machines, and to see them so low and so close was quite impressive. I found out later that the Special Forces are doing a training exercise at the moment around the city. Urban ops was the order of the day.

Then later I arrive back at the office and swing into the driveway, and who should be there crouching down picking up the pieces or a dropped cellphone? Rove McManus! Hard case. We share our building and carpark with Rove's offices. We are at one end and they are at the other. I have been there for just over three months and finally I have seen him. Lucky I didn't run him over!

And then, at 4.29pm there was an earthquake!

Melbourne - the city that keeps on giving.

Philosophical musings

I sit now with light piano based jazz tinkling on the stereo. Its cool outside today, a threat of rain. The song ends, a cymballic intro to the next song begins fading into an electronic beat with sad trumpetic wailings in the background. This music is, as it happens, reflecting my mood. Some deep pulses intertwined with some upbeat grooves backed by a progressive beat. This music to my ears is indeed music to my ears.

To my left is the big grey edifice of the building where my client resides. To my right the skeletal structure of a building still in the throes of being born. In front of me, down the hill on the freeway, a thousand thousand metal beasts jockeying for position. Why does their postion mean so much to them since they are all in the same jam going at the same pace? It is the same with life. We all push and pull only to find that we are the same as all the others. We have slight variations in theme and appearance, but when you strip back everything, there we are, naked and the same.

On the footpath next to me an Italiam mama wobbles held upright by the handcart she pushes in front of her. Her face wizened and crevassed by the rampaging years. What events and happenings have passed before those clouding eyes?

As she struggles toward her unknown destination a looming figure rises behind her. A businessman scowls down from his height at this woman in his way. His belly hangs over the front of his belt like a muffin over its paper wrapper. Plump and on the edge of obesity he cares little for her plight nor her experiences in life. Probably, she could teach him much were he humble enough to listen. But no, in this fraction of time, he veers around her missing out on the opportunity of expanding his horizons. The opportunity is forever lost.

Do we grab hold of opportunites that are before us? Do we see them as opportunities? Or are we so caught up in the jam busy jockeying for position to see them for what they really are? They may seem inconsequential, yet at their core, they are very consequential.

It is up to us to make the choice. No-one else can choose for us. The choices we make flow onwards from that point in time to eternity. The choices we have to make must be wise and considered carefully. Never presumptuously jumped in to. Never pushed to one side.

Stop and think. Think well. By making wise and well thought out decisions we bring wa to our life. Wa is harmony. It is a smoothness to our existence. It calms us and moves us deep within. It gives us the character and hardiness to continue. It gives us what we need to face up to each day. One way we get wa is by making strong decisions based on reality. It gives us strength.

Be nice to everyone you meet. Treat each person as if they were holy.

The weekend!

Life goes on at a million miles an hour here. The weeks just fly past and then after what seems like a 5 minute break we are into the next week. February has been a busy month for us. We have had our Circuit Overseer's visit, our circuit assembly and Jim and Susi were in Melbourne for a week. Busy, busy, busy.

It was great to catch up with Jim and Susi. We haven't seen them since they left NZ to move to Darwin. They are currently on their way around Australia. I'm so jealous, they have been to some amazing places. They stayed with some friends on the other side of the city, but we managed to catch up twice during the week they were here. On Monday night last week we had them over to our house and we had a massive feed of nachos. So yum. High five to Mrs B for a great brew. Then on Wednesday we met in the city and went to Lygon Street to our favourite haunt called Mercadante. We have been there a number of times since we first came to Melbourne in August (for my interview) and have never been disappointed. It is an Italian place that specialises in my favourite food - wood fired pizzas. Yum yum.

After going there we went up the road to a chocolate cafe where they serve everything drizzled in the most amazing chocolate. In the fact the hot chocolate you order to drink is exactly that, chocolate that is so hot it has melted and been poured into a cup and topped off with cream.

Oh so very decadent.

The Circuit Assembly was fantastic. We were very impressed with the quality of the talks and speakers. The Aussies have a very down to earth way of speaking from the platform, but done in such a way that reaches our hearts. The District Overseer is hilarious, when he came out for his first talk, the first ten minutes was basically a stand up comedy routine as he regaled us with stories of their travels around Aussie and the Timor Islands. He is very funny and has a gift for getting important points across. The Circuit Overseer is a bit of a larrakin too. He has a cheeky smile and a great sense of humour. He is very good at making comparative illustrations. He often doesn't have to say his point directly as we have already figured it out from his illustration. Jolly good skills I say.

The assembly hall itself is fantastic. It is on a massive section out in the country in the town of Melton, about 40 minutes from where we are. The grounds are park-like and well maintained and there is tonnes of space for the kids to run around safely during the lunch breaks. The hall sits 1700 and we had about 1600 in attendance.

The rain we have had in the last week has really helped with the fires. There is now only one major fire going so the firies can focus their attention more directly on it. Still no brothers or sisters majorly affected by it, just a couple of homes destroyed. Pretty amazing when you consider that there are more than 200 dead and 2000 homes destroyed. Scary stuff.

Anyhoo, I have the rest of the day to go to the beach and read a book so I best be off!

Its official

I am an idiot.

Here we go again...

Oh dear. The fires have flared up to worrisome levels again. They have been going solidly for close on 4 weeks now, but have mostly been under control for the last two. Yesterday though, two major new fires started and both of them are much closer to the city than before.

The closest fire to us is in Daylesford. Still not super close, but close enough that our sky is covered in red tinged low hanging smoke clouds.

Sit tight.

Normally at this point on my drive home you can see the mountains here nice and clearly. Yesterday though, couldn't see them as they were all smoked out.

Sunrise over the neighbours roof.

Yesterday's sunrise.

Reeeeelaxing

Yeah baby! The weekend is here. The time we look forward to where we can get up when we want, do what we want and just muck around. Love it.

We helped the Reynolds with phase one of their move last night after work. They have got the keys to the house they bought, so it is all on. The pro movers are coming today with the big truck to move the big stuff. Their new house is great. Lots of potential and heaps of space. We thought they would be wrecked from all the stress of moving so we have invited them over for dinner. It will be nice to have the first proper catch up since we got our own house.

The bushfire crisis continues to go on, coming up to 4 weeks now. This past week, the smoke has been blowing towards the city. To give you an idea of how bad it has been getting, here is a picture I took out the window of the car as I was coming off the Westgate Bridge last week. Normally this is my favourite part of the drive as I am presented with a beautiful clear vista of the city on one side and the gorgeous harbour on the other. However as you can see here, it is all dark, gloomy and hazy:


Quite a change from the norm.

You may remember that every now and then I mention Zoriah, a Photojournalist whose adventures I follow. He has just made a most interesting post on his blog about trying to getting over the Gaza / Egypt border. He has a honest and up front style of writing which I really enjoy reading, and he goes to some pretty amazing (and scary) places around the world. Check out his writing and photography work here: http://www.zoriah.net/


Again you might remember a while back that I mentioned I am putting together a photofolio called Skies of Australia. Well, with all the bushfires going on, there has been some amazing skies above us of late. Here are a couple that I have been able to capture. Don't forget that I am only taking these on my Blackberry, so they are are not as good as they could be:




Well, a masssive feed of bacon, eggs, rockmelon, Samoan bread (thanks Lalongo!) and coffee has materialised on the table, so I must be off to fill my belly!

Is it just me or....?

Is it just me or are the weeks totally blazing past? I know that I have asked this question before, but seriously, time seems to be flying past. We are already well into February and staring down the barrel of March.

The fires are still continuing, but they are slowly getting beaten by the fire crews. There are now firefighters from all over Australia, New Zealand, England and America here helping out. The wind has been blowing towards the city for the last week, so there has been a thick haze everywhere. You can actualy see the smoke in certain parts of the city. It is a bit like living in Beijing!

Anyhoo, must go, gotta get to work!

Break my heart

I don't know why, but this picture just broke my heart when I saw it. A wild Koala being given a drink by a CFA man, clinging to him as if to say "don't leave me."


So many sad stories here. Tragedy hangs over us.

Whoa

I write to you somberly now as we have just been through the worst day in Victorian history. From the heatwave that came yesterday there have been massive fires across the state and most of it has been declared a disaster zone.

I'm watching the late news at the moment, there are now 84 confirmed dead and there are many townships that they have not yet been able to access, so that number will increase. More than 750 homes have been destroyed and at least two towns have completely disappeared in the 61 fires that are burning. The news is showing pictures of cars burned out on the road from where people tried to outrun the flames, but got caught. Whole families have been wiped out and peoples lives have been shattered. Most of the people being interviewed on the telly have literally lost everything that they own and only have the clothes they are wearing left.

You might remember a couple of weeks a go I talked about the trip we took out to Mount Dandenong and Kinglake on Australia Day. The area where we drove is now just a blackened smouldering ruin. We have friends up there and there is a congregation in Marysville about 20 minutes away from there. We have heard that our friends are safe, but have not heard about the congregation and its members. We are sure that if anything had happened we would have heard about it, so we are hopeful, but Marysville is one of the towns that has been wiped out. Here is an aerial pic of the town:

It is quite simply carnage. Our friends were saying that they were in a mini convoy trying to get away from the fire when the highway became blocked with trees and flames. In their words, the flames where "licking at their car" as they turned around and headed off to find another way out. Scary. They eventually made it to another town and stayed the night with other residents at an emergency centre set up at a local football ground by the emergency services. Last we heard at about lunchtime today, they were making their way to here to stay with their mum and plan what to do from here. They don't even know if they will have a house to go back to.

To those who have sent text messages to us, thanks very much. We are fine and on the other side of Melbourne City from where it is all happening so are in no danger. I know that some of my texts haven't been going out or coming through properly. Sorry for that, I guess something must be messed up somewhere with the network.

Here is a link to some news articles, pictures and video of what has gone down today: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25023335-1243,00.html

Phew.

Another scorcher

It is official - today is going to be a scorcher!

The predicted high is 44 with hot winds blowing in from the desert. There are official warnings advising people to stay indoors and close to their airconditioners. There is expected to be a massive drain on power supplies as people crank up aircon, fans, evaporative coolers and anything they can find to beat the heat.

The good news is, the Cool Change is due to happen later on in the evening. The Cool Change is the nickname given to the change of wind direction here when it swings from blowing in from the desert to blowing in from the ocean. When it happens, the temperature can drop as much as ten degrees in fifteen minutes. It makes a welcome change to the searingly dry heat.

We have to do some shopping this morning to pick up a few bits and pieces and then I suspect we might end up at the beach, neck deep in water. Mmmmm.

Yours meltingly,

SKB

My first experience with a prostitute

So I am sitting at the lights at the intersection of Victoria Rd and Church Rd yesterday, singing away to Weezer when there was a knock at the drivers side window. I turn and look to my right and there, in the middle of the road, where the tram waiting area is, was a blonde lady looking at me and making the "wind your window down" gesture. So turned down the music down and I wound my window down and said "Hi?". The reasonably respectable looking lady then leaned over the railing and said in a rather monotone voice:

"Hi, I just thought I would let you know that if you are ever looking for a good time, my name is Shelly and I work over there. I do good BLEEP and BLEEP and I have a phone that is on 24 hours."

To which I, after to opening and closing my mouth like a fish on the carpet replied "Duuh, uuh, guuuh. Ok thanks." and promptly wound the window up quick-smart.

Melbourne - the beautiful city. The city of contrasts.

S...w...e...l...t...e...r...i...n...g

Well, what a week that was! Speaking in degrees, it went something like this: Monday - 38, Tuesday - 39, Wednesday - 42, Thursday - 43, Friday - 44.8 at the peak. Far out. Previous to this week, the highest temperature I had been in was 42 (in Japan). This week alone saw that record beaten twice. Speaking of records, those temperatures were record breaking for Melbourne, it is the first time since records began - in 1895 - that there have been three consecutive days over 40 degrees. And don't forget that the official temperatures are taken in the SHADE.

Spare a thought for those in South Australia though as they have been between 40 and 45 degrees for the whole week. The temperatures there and here have resulted in some terrible bush fires too. So far in Victoria there have been 15 homes destroyed and many more damaged. Also, in one of the areas where the fires are - a massive one covering 6000 hectares - two out of the three major power transmission lines for Victoria got caught up in the flames. This combined with the extra power drain from everyone cranking their airconditioning resulted in blackouts for many of the suburbs. We were fortunate to miss most of them, but our power went down last night for about four hours. We ended up at the Reynolds having ox tongue sandwiches - yum!

A funny thing happened while driving home from work on Thursday. I was on the phone to mum (hands free, don't worry) when something caught my eye down the road there was a truck pulled over on the side of the road with smoke coming out of it. Now, I must explain that it is not uncommon to see vehicles pulled over on the side of the road and highway here when you are out and about. But something seemed different as I got closer and noticed that it was on fire!

It must have only just started as the driver and a few other

people were standing around dumbfounded with cellphones plastered to their ears calling the fire brigade. Not sure what happened to set it off, but the main part of the fire was directly above the cab. Maybe it was the airconditioner for the back that caught on fire? Not sure, but it made for interesting viewing nonetheless.

We had a fun day today. After FS this morning, we decided to go to Ocean grove, a little beach spot about an hour and a half to the south of Truganina.We where thinking about

going there on Australia Day last Monday, but that was the day that we went on The Big Drive with the Veltri's.

Ocean Grove reminded us a lot of Whangamata. The town centre is smaller than Whangamata but the residential area is larger. We went down to one of the many beach access points and sat in the car for a while having lunch, reading our books and chilling out. The view from where we were was beautiful, just a light breeze blowing in to cool things down.

We went for walk down the beach and found it well populated. Everyone was enjoying the cool change in the weather and the nice warm ocean. From there we checked out the town centre and shafted with a couple of milkshakes. What do I mean by shafted? We got two 'smoothies' which were only milk, banana and malt and they cost $6.50 each! Oh well, at least the view was nice in Ocean Grove.

The big drive

Wow, what an awesome day we have had. In this one day, we have seen more of Victoria than we have in the whole time we have been here!

We started this morning when the Veltri's picked us up at 0800 and we headed off into the city. On Saturday night we had mentioned to them that we really missed the cool cafes that we had in NZ - Truganina is a brand new area so there are no cafes in old brick buildings with wooden floors etc. So they said that the new the perfect part of the city for us: Fitzroy.

As we turned into one of the main streets of Fitzroy, it became obvious that they were right on the money. The area is an older part of Melbourne, and the old buildings have been preserved with their rustic charm and filling the shops are quirky fashion boutiques, groovy cafes and bookshops. In other words, heaven for Mrs B and I.

We went to Cafe Retro and sat down on torn vinyl chairs at our chrome edged pink and white flecked table. We ordered a 'Sleazy Bowl Latte' and 'Big Breakfast' each and then spent the next two hours just chatting and laughing and having a hilarious time. The food was magnificent, the atmosphere was magic and the coffee was perfect.

When we finally dragged ourselves away from there, we hit the highway and headed for the Dandenong Ranges. It was the perfect day to get up into the mountains as it was a beautiful clear blue sky kinda Melbourne day with the temperature around 30 degrees. We stopped at the National Park entrance where we were treated to a view right across the plains to Melbourne and the coast. A truly amazing view. Where we were was only 633 meters above sea level, but since it rises up from the plains, you can see for miles. Here is the view with a hot chickie in it to spice it up a little:

Then we pretty much carried on down the highway with no particular plan, just seeing where the road would take us. We ended up at a German chocolate house / cafe in the middle of nowhere. They made the most decadent cakes and choclates that were just to die for. Our hot chocolates had Bavarian chocolate flakes sprinkled on and through them, which made them heaven to drink.

After leaving there and finding civilisation again, we realised we had ended up close to where some friends from Hoppers Crossing congo had recently moved to. So we went and dropped in on them to have a bit of a catch up. They were stoked to see us and, coincidentally some other friends from Hoppers had also dropped in to say hello, so it was nice addition to our day. We filled up on coffee again there and then made our way home. It turns out we were only an hour from home so it was a pretty cruisy drive back.

Of course the best way to finish the day was to have pizza, so we gorged ourselves on that. Yum yum.

A huge big long day, but by far the most fun we have had since arriving here. We have lots of new places to explore further, and lots of places that we can take you all when you come and visit.

Off to bed with a full belly and satisfied tiredness.

*sigh*

Long weekend

Yay! This weekend is a long weekend! An extra day to chill out and relax. Monday is Australia Day, the day when Aussies (and all the imports like us) take a day to enjoy the sun, some beer and a BBQ. Australia Day is actually an anniversary of when the first ship arrived here from England with the first load of convicts for imprisonment and labour.

These days you no longer need to be a criminal to get in, but it sure helps...

Tonight we invited the Veltri's over for dinner. Since we moved in we haven't had anyone for dinner so they were our first honoured guests. We had a great time just chatting and laughing and guffawing as we regaled each other with stories of FS, work and holidays. There was some serious talk about the foods we love and the drinks we like to imbibe. In the end we decided that this Monday (Australia Day) we will all pile into a car and go for a random drive. Just get in the car and see where we end up. Not sure yet if we will go inland or of we will head south down the coast. All will be revealed. One thing you can be sure of is that much fun will be had.

Much fun indeed.

Hello from the land of HOT

You know its hot when:

1: The mercury reads 40.5 degrees
2: The council bans lawnmower use due to the sparking danger
3: The railways are closed because the tracks are warped
4: The grass on the side of the highway spontaneously combusts

Then, as a little bit of a sequel to the list above: You know you are Melbourne when the wind changes direction and it drops 9 degrees in 15 minutes! Brilliant, I love this place.

Hot, hot, hot!

Where has the week gone?

This week just seemed to fly by. Of course the fact that I was in a near constant state of tiredness-fog probably helped make the week zip past. Why was I tired? Well, last Sunday I went to my first cricket game at the MCG!

I must say, it was a great night out. Sadly the South Africans lost against Australia, but it was a good spectacle nonetheless. Big hits, big catches and a big crowd. There were 62,180 people there - the biggest group of people I have ever been with. It was quite and experience to be in the middle of a 62,000 person mexican wave! I have some video of the wave, e.mail me if you want to have a lookie. I will definitley be going back there to watch more games - hopefully with some mates from New Zealand. HINT HINT everyone!

We are back into the swing of things at work. The holidays are over and everyone is back so things are at a nice level of busy. I have a new client to look after now in addition to my regulars, but they are an on call client, so I don't have to see them everyday, just whenever they need media or data from us. I am nice and familiar with my run now, so it is nice cruising around the city and the suburbs taking it all in. Melbourne is a beautiful city and there are many, many things to see and do.

This morning we went down the road to Werribee, the next town down the highway. It is a bit similar to Cambridge, nice leafy trees and cafes dotted here and there. Mrs B (the bargain hunter) took me to a place called Dimmies where you can get mega bargains on everything from clothes to shampoo. To give you and idea, we bought some new pants for me for work for only $12.99. These are the sort of suit pants you would pay anything from $30.00 to $60.00 for elsewhere. We will definitely be going back there! Another place we will be going back to is the Werribee Fruit, Vege and Meat wholesaler. We got 1.7kg of chicken (wings, breasts etc) for $5.00 and one kg of coffee for $7.99 as well as a few other things. Yum!

Well its quarter to two in the afternoon now, and I think I need to have a snooze....

Lazin' in the sun

As I sit here at the dining table, I cast my eyes yonder to the sun drenched patio. A question bubbles into my mind like the fine froth on a good beer. Shall I venture outside into the 30 plus degree temperatures and sun my pasty white skin in the warm glow of our closest star? Or should I stay here, strong coffee in hand and enjoy the cool breeze gently lulling through from our front door through the house and out the ranchslider?

Suddenly turmoil encases me as I realise that I wish to have the best of both of these worlds. More questions arise and I contemplate the challenge of accomplishing these seemingly small goals. The questions fire at me like the spray from a machine gun. In my mind I wrestle with the decision making process. Just when I think I have made the decision, the process counter strikes with a choking blow to the throat.

Caught in the grip, mentally I picture myself as a mighty army overcoming a weaker enemy. This somehow gives me the strength I need to fend off the decision process and claim my win. As I stand victorious over the decision process, for a moment as I look upon my defeated foe, a pang of sadness fills me as I look at it all beaten up and mangled. This pang comes for just a brief moment before the thrill of my victory engulfs me once again. It was a well schooled enemy, but honour and principles won in the end.

So here I am, still at the table, the status quo maintained. Peace once again gently strokes the grassy fields of my mind.

And there ends todays dramatic writing piece by Shane K Ball a.k.a Balley, a.k.a 8-Ball, a.k.a The Big Teste (my nickname at work).

Bye.

In case you were wondering.....

Our new house flippin' ROCKS.

We love it so much! It is a little bit empty here and there, but we are slowly filling it up. The furniture has been delivered and we are now looking around for all those little things that you forget about - like toilet brushes and coffee plungers. All the important stuff!

In line with the big move to our first house in Australia, I now present for your viewing pleasure, Vanderbilt Drive - The Movie:

Hopefully that will give you some idea of what it is like. I took it before the furniture arrived so thats why it looks so empty. The video is 9.5MB so it may take a while to load. Remember, the best way is to press Play, let it start for a second, then press Pause. Let it load up then press Play again. This way you will avoid it playing all jumpy and stoppy starty.

Today is January the 1st 2009. Another year begins! It seems like not that long ago we were facing 2008. I guess looking back, 2008 was a year that we could have happily bypassed had we known all the crap that was going to turn up. I guess now we are through all of that we can look back and make ourselves stronger. We got through some tough times with the help of the Big Guy, our family and our friends. May you all be blessed for whatever help you gave us, big or small. Many of you may not even know how much you helped us. Sometimes just a kind word or a pat on the back was all we needed to get through. Thank you all.

To everyone, take care, hug your loved ones and don't ever stop being thankful for each day we have.