catching up

well I am back in the USA, after a quick 13 hour flight home from Sydney on Wednesday, I had a short stop-over at home (like 6 hours) only to jump on another plane for Las Vegas - can you say jetlag...

I am here for the Consumer Electronics Show and although I would love to be waking up in my own bed this morning, it's not a bad way to start the work year.

instead of partying all night with my colleagues I spent a lovely night in my cushy hotel room watching the Bachelor (yes, already sucked into another one of these ridiculous shows...) and started sorting through the many photos I took on our vacation.

more to come soon, but here's a photo from our honeymoon... I took this one as we flew into the Whitsundays.

hope you're having a fantastic week

Happy Australia Day!

photo here

a horse of course

Tuesday was Melbourne Cup Day in Australia, and although I stopped betting on the horses the year the poor horse I was backing broke it's foot in the race (it was terrible) the day itself is lots of fun and I really miss it. It's not really about the racing for most (the race only lasts about 3 or 4 minutes) you see it's about the hats, the outfit and the excuse for finishing work early to go drinking with your friends and coworkers, thus known as 'The race that stops the nation'... wonder if we could make a national hat wearing, drinking holiday here...

photo here

this is what I feel like for dinner...

an aussie hamburger with the lot!

happy birthday Johno

My little brother is 27 today... which makes me feel old geesh! and honestly, he's not that little... at 6ft 2'ish I think he stole from my height department... but eh what can you do... he's the quiet brooding type, but once you start him talking is full of random yet funny facts :)

He wanted to be a train when he grew up (yes a train, not a train driver) , and for about a month would not take the batman mask my dad made him from a wine cask bladder off his head and smelled like fruity white wine...

Hope you're having a great day Johno!

here he is scoring free wine at the Gin Garden at the swanky Establishment Pub in Sydney

red dawn

my friends and family just started posting all these 'red dawn' photos on facebook and I immediately thought bushfires, but no it's a severe dust storm, along with high winds, hail stones and flash floods...

(you can read all the details here)

can't beat fish and chips

while I was in Australia this last few weeks I must admit I ate everything in site, there are so many Aussie foods that I didn't realise I had missed so much. Fish and chips are one of them, which you can get anywhere you go. This was at lunch with Trudy and Louise.

there is a huge list of food I miss about home, but I'll save that for another post...

yummy passionfruit

When I was visiting with my sister Louise in Queensland, Australia I was spoiled by her lovely passionfruit vine in her backyard, so I brought some seeds back with me (they must have just fallen into my pocket...) and I found this great article for growing passionfruit from seed - I can't wait!

one thing I always get asked...

as an Australian is 'do you really have big spiders everywhere in Australia?' here is the answer:

This is a huntsman spider I came across the other day on the shower screen at my Dad's place as I was just about to get in the shower... he's about the size of your palm although this poor guy is missing a leg.

These spiders are not deadly, but if bitten can make you a bit sick. These guys are good to have around as they eat the mosquitos and other bugs, but I prefer not to shower with them though.

This one however, is a funnel web spider (that my Dad just randomly has sitting on his bookshelf in a jar - as you do...) and these are not the type of spider you want to come across - they are quite scary and they raise up their front legs to warn you that they mean business.

Funnel webs are one of the 3 most deadliest spiders in the world and have sharp fangs that can bite through fingernails and shoes even... eewk! My Dad came across this one while digging in his yard so put him in a jar to donate to the local university where they milk them for their venom - what a fun job... not!

gotta love functional design

when handed this strange looking bottle of wine on my flight back from Australia I had to look twice... but really it is quite an ingenious design.

the glass is attached to the lid of the wine bottlewhich you screw off (corks are so 2004 in Australian wine circles)

now you have a neat little glass with the lid at the bottom of itall you have to do is pour and drink

:)

where the wild things are...

We all went to the Featherdale Wildlife Park the other day where I got to hold this ferocious beast - a 14 week old dingo pup. She was SO cute, cuddly and playful.

I also tried to face a long time fear of mine of snakes...

I held this little 2 year old olive python for about 2 minutes... eeewk!

I heart Sydney

Here's a photo I took of the Opera House from the Manly Ferry when coming back into Circular Quay the other night, was hard to get a good shot, but you get the idea.

yes, we eat kangaroos

The Australian Prime Minister has been in the news this week, being called a "Camel Serial Killer" hope nobody tells them about the kangaroo meat I found in the meat isle of the supermarket...My personal favourite - the Kanga Banga

Steve Irwin lives on...

look what I found in the local shopping centre the other day...crikey!

here I am

here's a photo from my dad's place which is beautiful but a little way out of the way and I have been feeling totally at a loss without internet... is that sad or what? but this morning I finally figured out his internet card and I am back in business! I have been having a great time catching up with my family and rediscovering Sydney!

leaving on a jet plane...

tomorrow night I am heading home to Australia for a few weeks to visit my family and friends, it's been a while since I was there - wonder if I'll remember how to drive on the other side of the road again...

happy friday!

I took this photo a few years ago at Port Campbell, Victoria, Australia on our Great Ocean Road tour.

It was such a great trip and if you're ever down that way I suggest you rent a campervan, take a few days and just stop wherever the mood takes you. We visited Torquay, Bell's Beach, Lorne, The 12 Apostles, Gibson Steps, London Arch, Loch Ard Gorge, the Grotto, Great Otway National Park just to name a few. We saw lots of wildlife from koalas to echidnas just on the side of the road...

look what I found

One of the things I really miss about Australia is the food - there's something about the comfort of eating food you grew up on... so I was quite happy to stumble across this little pie shop in San Francisco yesterday.

The Aussie meat pie (or pot pie as they call them here) is like the hotdog of Australia.

Australianophile

My obsession with Australians started when I was living in San Francisco and met my first Aussie at one of those after hours warehouse parties. We were both slouched together in a bean bag chair and ended up talking for a hours, telling each other every dirty joke we knew. He came over and helped me break into my little studio in the Mission (believe it or not, it wasn't because I lost my keys it was because the locks on the door were finicky) we lay on my futon mattress and I listened as he read my high school year book out loud in his best Crocodile Hunter impression. "It waaas the most daaan-gerous prom night in the woooorld" and right then and there I knew he was special. However, at this time in my life I was very, very fickle and his specialness quickly wore thin, what with the calling me for dates and all and wanting to spend time with me. We lasted about a month or so of him pursuing me and me not wanted to be tied down. Much to my surprise he got the clue, found someone who liked him back, and ended things with me. Naturally I was devastated and thus began the epic WALLOWING where I cried non-stop and couldn't stop obsessing about the love of my life (who's last name I don't even remember at this point) was gone forever and how he was never coming back to me. After several days of exhausting weeping I finally called my friend Taylor to come rescue me. I don't know what it was, probably the desperation that came through when I screamed "Save me!" and then threw the phone down, but Taylor literally leapt off the treadmill at 24 Hour Fitness and raced to my rescue. At this point I was so weakened from the wallowing that I didn't even have the energy to open the door for him. Fortunately Taylor had a key, so I didn't have to get up off the floor. This is how he describes the sadness that awaited him when he burst into the room: "You were laying on the floor all sweaty, wearing nothing but a pair of blue sparkle panties and a black turtle neck sweater. When you looked up and saw me you screamed, "WHY ARE YOU WEARING THAT HAT??" and started crying hysterically." In his rush to get to me Taylor had forgotten to remove his souvenir "Australia" hat from a recent vacation. After my rescue I recovered from my heartbreak, but had developed a crush on the Australian race and set out on a quest to discover new and exciting Australian friends.

and you wonder why I am so strange...

Happy Fathers Day Dad :)

Even though it is not Fathers Day in Australia until September, it is here today in the US, so hope you have a great day and know that I love you