more adventures

Oh my god, off to Tassie tomorrow for the overland track how exciting...get ready for some fantastic photos in two weeks!

The Cat Empire

Here are some really bad quality but quite creative photos of The Cat Empire at The Prince of Wales, St Kilda....some pre-concert mug shots....and some fantastic sunset pickies . All of which I should mention were taken on Lilli's phone, gee how did us eighties/nineties kiddies survive in the pre-mobile phone era?

Aussie Day

...decided finally to have some people over to my new place in Elwood for a Aussie Day/unofficial house warming. Unfortunately I forgot to put in a request with the weather-man so we ended up with a 40 degree day, which as we soon discovered is not the best conditions for a BBQ...however we did find relief (with the other hundreds of melbournians) at Elwood beach.
the girls feeling much better after a swim...the fishman...can you believe these pickies were taken on a phone!the BBQ master!

Chucking things around Sydney....

Well...back to Sydney again for me, this time the main even was to watch Marty chuck things around at Homebush (translation: competing in shotput and discus at the Nationals) with a side aim of 'meet the parents'. Marty came seventh in both shot and discus and we got to see Shervo throw a tantrum :), the parents seem to approve, and we even managed to fit in some touristy stuff!

Marty throwing the discusme and the fam. watching the athleticsoh how cute!suz and mumtourist stuff!

Tennis action

Australian Open time again and its even more exciting because I'm a Melbournian now. Dr G and Mikey were in town for the tennis, it was hot! Actually I dont think that describes it well enough, after sitting in 35 deg heat all day I'm surprised we're all still alive.

Domino (aka. Dominik Hrbaty) and Anastasia Myskina in action.

The paparazzi shots...

The Whitlams

....through a friend of a friend I heard that the Whitlams were playing in Melbourne on the weekend at the Docklands. The Docklands just opened up and looks suprisingly like Cockle Bay, hmmm! Anyway, I assume this nice free concert was to get everyone to have a look around, however, only a few people showed up which was great for me having a personal show but I somehow dont think that was intended.

New years in New York

Finally I have been to New York seen the big apple and that statue thing with the flame :) I absolutely love it, could even see myself living there. Had a few days by myself for starters then met up with Jo, Gareth (her boy) and Gareths family. New Years was fantastic, for starters it snowed on new years eve, we decided not to join the million people in time square for the ball drop and ended up in an Irish pub for the night where we had a great time. At some hour of the early morning we payed a visit to times square just to experience it (without the hoards).

So my holiday is over now, and its back to Melbourne and work.....bye bye USA!

Jo, Gareth and me in times square
Ice-skating with every other tourist in NY.
Time square on New Years eve covered with confetti

Our silly new years outfits...cant take us anywhere!

Vegas....

After christmas in San Diego it was time to move on to the bright lights of Vegas....the drive took about two hours more than expected due to xmas traffic but (thanks to Michaels all american driving) we arrived eventually.
Vegas is great, its so tacky but I love it. Greg, Michael and I stayed in the pyramid in the luxor, v. nice rooms. We somehow managed to get free tickets to see Dame Edna, I suspect its due to being Aussie (note the american accent there), which was a good show but I feel bad for all those poor tourists who forked out $80 to see it. We also, god nows how managed to only spend $20 each on gambling, not because we are cheap but there were so many other great things to do...one of which is going on a roller coaster on the top of a tower, which almost ended in tears, but we all kissed and made up and had fun at the top.
Sadly now I must kiss the boys goodbye and head off to NY to meet up with Jo who is over here for new years (now living in Guernsey).

This is the luxurious LUXOR that we stayed in, good job it has a bright light at the top so we could find our way home.
The bright lights of Las Vegas Blvd, crazy place!
The Stratosphere Tower...see those red lights on the top thats a roller-coaster, yikes.
...and this is the view from the roller-coaster, so many more times scary than a big one on the ground.

Kissmas in San Diego

We hit the road for an all american road trip from LA to San Diego for xmas at Natalie and Terry's place (friends of Michaels) and somehow I drew the short straw and ended up driving...I may have gone slowly but those freeways are scary. Xmas finally arrived and they put on quite a feast for us tourists, with probably the biggest turkey I have ever seen cant imagine what it must have been fed....followed by pressie opening where I think Greg probably scored the best (stupid pineapples). The following night we got into some fancy Mexican tequilla which was very yummy, dont think I'll ever drink cheap stuff again.

Suz attempting to drive on the wrong side of the road.
Of course we had to have xmas pressies. and look at this great kissmas tree in San Diego at Kess and Terry's place.
Oh my god are you alright!

Hollywood with the Stars

We left Hawaii in style....
and arrived in Hollywood with more style.

A quick stroll through Rodeo Drive was all we could afford
and Beverly Hills was full of too many expensive cars.

Conference activities

This is my talk at PacificChem conference, dont I look professional!
...And this is us all working really hard in Waikiki.

Sunset Beach

15 foot waves at Sunset beach on the north shore ....oh and some romantik moments with the boys!

DrG and Mikey

...dont forget to check out more pickies at drgandmikey.blogspot.com

Hanauma Bay Snorkelling

Snorkelling at possibly the most tourist infested place I have ever been to, however once they finally let us get into the water after promising not to drown it was lovely.

Michael and I look very classy in snorkelling gear as you can see!

Also check out Simons pictures http://www.chem.usyd.edu.au/~iremon_s/index_files/Hawaii/index.html
there are some really amusing ones of the waterslide park

Waikiki Beach

The lovely view from the greg and michael penthouse, looking over Waikiki Beach, where we have spent many nights watching the sunset in hawaian style.

The Spiegeltent

Went to The Spiegeltent last week and saw 'La Clique'....and I think the paper put it perfectly.
"Its the place where circus meet vaudeville and it never has been, could never be, sexier"

The two german acrobatic brothers look like they are joined at the hip, and well what can I say about the 'hide the hankie' act...hmmm!

Flying High

When I woke up this morning and looked out the window I got a smile on my face....beautiful blue sky and no wind, today is flying day.

Went flying today out at Morrabbin airfields with Marty and Mike in a tiny little plane. Mike (from work) has his pilots license and Marty and I wanted some air shots of Melbourne, so he offered to take us up...thanks Mike.






Marty (shh dont tell) took over the flying for a while...what a natural! But the best bit was the tight turns which felt like being on a roller coaster.

It was great fun, but I have to admit I prefer my feet on the ground....sorry guys theres never going to be a Pilot Sneville.







Oh...and look, the aim of the day was achieved...a lovely shot of Melbourne to go next to my Sydney one :)

zoom zoom zoom

I have now officially completed Defensive Driving Level 1. Sunday was spent zooming around Sandown Racecourse, well not overly zooming but braking. I had my first experience of ABS brakes, there great fun. We manouvered around many witches hats, however, I did have a rather large hit rate, oops! Overall, it was quite clear that all the guys were speed demons and the girls liked the brakes. I fall into the girlie category, not that its a bad thing :)