Under the shade of a coolibah tree

So I've just had a complaint that my last entry wasn't long enough, so...

What I have done for the last few months since Andy's departure:

- Bar hoping, been on quite a few bar hops, Jack, one of the guys I met, is really into the bar scene and has taken a few of us to the strange and interesting places around Melbourne. He seems quite knowledgeable about alcohol in general and I suggested he charge people for a walking tour!

I'd say the most interesting one so far in Berlin Bar. The place is divided to east and west Berlin, and has a bunk bed! Don't try the Wasabi Cocktail though, bad! Manchuria Bar is not bad, it's known for it's Lemon Drop Martini, which at least half the group ordered! Been trying quite a number of different beers too, tried one that tasted like chocolate and another that tasted quite bitter

- Dinners, dinners, dinners! Been to so many I've lost count! In one street, they have a place called Coconut House and a few doors down another one called Coconut House 2, the place is really just one store because the workers just carry food and dishes up and down the street!

There's also an all you can get Yum Cha place called Rainbow restaurant. The place reminds me of Yum Cha in Hong Kong, and it's not too badly priced for all you can eat! They have seafood buffet for Dinner, so might try that at some point.

Aussies seem to have a thing for what they call a Parma, it's a chicken schnitzel with tomato paste, ham and cheese, and is found in every pub. The locals were shocked when I told them we didn't have the parma in the UK!

Oh, and a place called Crazy Wings, which is known for it's super spicy chicken "Crazy Wing" (hence the name) is a challenge! I know I can take spicy, but this is insanely hot, I'm glad we only ordered one of them!

- Tourist stuff, beside going to see the gold rush, I've also been to:

The Old Melbourne Goal, where Ned Kelly (an famous Australian bushranger) was hung

Melbourne Aquarium, penguins were the highlight

Box Hill Japanese festival, lots of Cosplay and food (expensive food until you get till the end of the day and they are trying to clear it all out)

Glow in the dark mini golf, fun but my opponent cheated!

Copacabana, the stage show wasn't bad and the place was packed

1000 steps, there isn't 1000 of them, but still a good workout and the place is amazing. Like walking in the rain forest!

Speed Jet boat in St Kilda, the jump in the the air was the highlight

The Amazing Race Melbourne, we were penalized 60 minutes for being 17 minutes late, otherwise we would have been in the top 20! Got a free postcard and magnet though!

Fireworks, so close you could touch them (figuratively speaking!)

Karaoke, K-Box is the best so far

- Shopping, there is a place called DFO which is like a shopping centre of outlet stores, been to the puma store about 100 times now, and have dragged Linda there because she has a lot of shoes so must shop a lot, might even be able to convince her to get me some new trainers! Need to get some work shoes too, so will probably drag Linda out to that as well, haha.

Also got a suit, brought a voucher for a deals website, so it was a good deal! The lady at the store tried to get me to buy some shirts as well, but I already have a few that I haven't even worn yet. I guess extra sales is where they actually make their money!

- Touch Rugby, been playing almost every Thursday night, we're ok...haha. Got a new pair of football boots so now I can run was fast as I want without slipping on the synthetic grass, good investment, and not badly priced for Nike (from DFO as well!)

- Got a job! Work at a place called Peter Harvey Architects, the people are friendly and the boss is laid back (like a typical Australian, it's great), jobs aren't bad, mixture of commercial and residential, and a big Malaysian job which is coming up should keep us fairly busy. I'm hoping the boss will sponsor me so I can stay in the country once my working holiday visa runs out. I guess my other option is marry an Aussie! (that's probably the harder option! haha) 

In general, life is going great! (which is probably why I've been slack with the updates! haha)

You drive me crazy

Today I drove for the first time in Australia, Linda being the wonderful trusting person she is, let me take a spin in her "Baby" and assured me that she had full cover in here insurance policy, haha. Driving here is like driving in the UK, but less snow and ice! I did a pretty good job at parking as well, but Linda insisted that I fix my parking up! So demanding, but given it was her car, I let it pass (I think she likes to boss me around!)

As for other things I've been up too, went to Bendigo the other week and found gold! Had to buy a $1 bottle to put the gold in, which cost more than the gold I actually found! Ended up buying a small bottle of gold from the gift shop as well.

See the gold? (It's at the very bottom!)

Casino Royale

Thought it was about time I updated my blog. Think the last time was a couple of months ago... About the time the Griffin 'big lad' came over from NZ.
Had a great weekend as it was drinking and more drinking! He dragged me to the casino and we played blackjack... The girls where looking a bit bored at this time watching us and afraid we wouldn't leave. We both staked $50 dollars each and said we leave if we doubled our money! Andy got up to $100 and I got up to $120. We did some other things like go to the footy with my friend Angela. Mostly I made him go to the gym everyday, so much for a holiday for him!

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Live forever

It's been a couple of weeks or so since my last post, so I give a summary of what's happened as I cannae remember that much. Probably be a longer post as well!

Looking for jobs, going to the gym, going for dinner with friends. I been to the cinema to see some movies mostly 'chick flicks' i.e. No strings attached, just go with it, as there wasn't anything on at the cinema recently, limitless was good though!

Out to many cheap places to eat, when I say cheap , places between $10 to $20 per person. We usually end up going to the same places, somewhere cheap and cheerful! Yeah we usually end up at the japanese bar at the end of the night! Fast becoming my local pub, but Cho Gao is becoming very popular because of the cheap beer.

Bought a tennis racket to play tennis but still haven't had a game yet. Stopped my boot camp for the time being as no one really seems to interested. At the last one, only one person turned up and see was wearing jeans. How can you do a bootcamp in jeans? Been doing the training runs and going hiking as well. I was coming back from one and saw my tram, which I ran for an tripped splaying myself right in front of the open tram doors. I gathered myself and and proceeded to

Been trying to increase my attendance in the gym, but somedays I canna be arsed really! I really need a decent gym partner! One of the personal trainers was a contestant from big brother, really fit! Q

This month is also the Melbourne comedy festival. One of my friends got free tickets to a show, so I arranged to meet Dan and the others for dinner in the city first as I thought at the town hall. Dan and I met up first and. I contacted my friend who then told me it was in North Melbourne, so we decided just to have dinner I the city first and then caught a team up to the venue. I just glanced at the address and we walked past the past, funny enough there was another show on in the street that was playing at the same time. One of the actors was sitting in the lobby and was surprised to see us, apparently there had been no bookings online and they were having technical difficulties with the sound equipment and were going to cancel the show! So he offered us free tickets to the show tomorrow, even though I think he knew we had the wrong venue! I then got a call from my friend who asked me where we were, it turns out the first venue we past was the right one! My friend Dan decided to escape at this point, he sort of gave me a lame excuse but I know the real reason!! lol

The guys on the circuit weren't that funny in my opinion, except for the Irish guy who was last, maybe cause I am from that part of the world! The show lasted for three hours! I went to the other show with San the other day as no one from the day before wanted to go! It was ok, I wouldn't have paid for it though!

I also had a couple of calls from people about work, one was a woman out in Wantirna who was looking for someone to work part time! Another from a quy who had started his own practice from his house and also a couple from some agents! I we to see the woman in Wantirna first it's about a hours journey on the train and thirty minutes on the bus! Interview was going well, had a bit of banter telling me too much personal information etc. Then she started crying towards the end of the interview. It wasn't like she was sobbing more teary eyed. Needless to say she was only offering. 2days a week and with the amount. Of. Travelling I dare say it wouldn't be worth it. I then met with the other guy the following week,about's 45mins on the tram from my place, he really needed someone so I started to work for him the next day! He is a very relaxed guy, I just turn up whenever I like and just submit my hours at the end of the week. Couple of times he went a bit nuts at me but not harshly! Think he was getting worried that I wouldn't get the work done.

Next instalment I load some photos of what's happened in the past weeks and also what happened when my mate Andy came across from NZ!

Location:Palfreyman St,South Yarra,Australia

Fade Away

Again tonight was another social event, this time with the young professionals. Went to the gym in the afternoon and then headed to the event. Met Dan and we headed there early, so early that no one was there yet. Eventually Linda (our host) arrived and proceeded to confirm our reservation, funny thing was she didn't print the voucher properly so was trying to find it on her iphone whilst everyone started to phone her. the table had only been booked with people with vouchers, Dan managed to sneak onto our table as we where the first people there, so we just waited for more people  since the restaurant was fully booked.. Someone else joined our table without a voucher an took the place of someone that had a voucher, which meant the person was left sitting at another table till we managed to get another table. Dinner took 3 hours and wasn't really worth it in my opinion. Had a beer afterwards and then decided to head home as the place was a bit 'ferral' as Dan put it!

All the love in the world

Today I went for dinner, again we went to the QV and the Mamak restaurant it was ok.
afterwards. Some of us headed to an Irish pub to celebrate St Patricks day!

We have forgottten

Didn't do much today, the usual; get up look for jobs and then go to the Nike training run for kids! Some girl overtook me on the last stretch, I managed to claw it back and over take her and we sprinted to the finished point, where she just beat me, she hi-fived me on a good finish.

Wasn't too please, imagine getting beat by a girl! lol

Later in the evening I was teaching myself Revit for the test and watching TV. I have been reading this, this is the most funniest thing I have read in my life! Sort of reminds me of last weeks email episode!

http://www.27bslash6.com