Christmas and the New House

Robin and I moved into our new pad on December 12th, just in time to get everything sorted out and ready for Christmas.


We had so much stuff (and crap) to unpack and a lot just went back into the bin. There were also many trips to the supermarket and even to IKEA to make sure this house felt like home :)


A trip to Bunnings during the week and I bought some chillies and parsley to add a little more life into the somewhat dehydrated garden. Yellow chilli will go nicely with my garlic prawns or mussels!


And just to prove to the non-belivers, I "am" able to do things! Below are my first ever chocolate marble muffins (which came out perfect actually) and my green manila folder origami Christmas tree.


This year for Christmas I got some Oakley sunglasses, Disney Pluto DVD's, a personally signed copy of Petter's "X" CD, a white gold and diamond pendant ball, a Diesel tee (from Mum) and lots of chocolates. I gave Robin an awesome toolkit (black chrome) and a big kiss ;)

In other news, it's going to get a little tougher to post up blogs as I don't have internet at home and will be without it for a little while. No thanks to iiNet running out of ports for ADSL 2 at the Victoria Park exchange. You bastards!!! Anyway, blogs will still keep coming, just less frequently.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas, and I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year.

The Final Night

My final night "at home" isn't off to a good start. I've already been trying to fall asleep for nearly an hour with no success. I'm just too excited. Only a few more hours until I pick up the keys to the new place and till we move in!

Certified

Last Tuesday I invited Robin to come with me to have my MIEAust certificate presented at the Engineers Australia auditorium in the City. What does this all mean? It means that after four years of experience in the field of engineering I am deemed a professional engineer! Hurrah!

The only thing I have left to do (and I aim to complete it by end of June 2009) is my CPEng which is an actual assessed certification of my chartered status. That will really tick all the boxes :)

B Eng (Mech) MIEAust... all that's missing is the CPEng

Moto Italiane Ovest 2008

This year, Robin and I headed to the Moto Italiane Ovest which was held by the Ducati Owners Club of WA The day started with a ride from Belmont around the city then the Shelley river run and back out to Technology Park where we parked the bikes up in decades for showing.

Of course being the owner of two Japanese bikes, I took Robin's Cagiva Mito instead. It's a little two stroke bang bus that makes heaps of noise and even more smoke. At first, the bike was uncomfortable and noisy, but by the end of the day I was absolutely loving it!

An awesome dark Ducati. Lots of carbon, tinted headlight covers. It's purely mean.

Some old bangers from the 50's

And some bangers from the 70's. Couple of shockers in there too!The Meeeeeetoohhhhh!

Robin with the MV

Back to a Buck

Last night I took this photo. Finally. A dollar a litre. Petrol is finally cheaper than Coca Cola.

I was in Sydney a few weeks ago and the top story on the news was that fuel was less than a dollar a litre. Well, it only took 3 weeks for Perth to catch up. We're so far behind the rest of the universe.

Packing Up

I'm taking my bat and ball and going home. To a new one that is!

It actually started yesterday with mum bringing some boxes from work, I packed up some documents and trinkets. The bigger packing was this evening, with Uni books and photo albums all finding a perfect slot in each box. Obviously not everything needs to go in a box, just the clumsy things. Last of all will be things like the computer, printer, bed, cabinets... all for the final day...

...which is next Friday!

The good news is that I have been sleeping well since my initial excitement of a fortnight ago. But there is a long way to go yet, we need to buy a fridge, washer, microwave to live. Down the line we can look at a new couch (leather of course), dining table, wall unit etc. All with time and whenever there's a sale on.

I'm Moving Out!

Yes, after twenty-six years I am finally going to be moving out in December. Robin got the phone call from the agent this morning advising that we had got the property we were looking for... the first one we applied for!

It's great news all round and I'm looking forward to a little more physical freedom, but a little less financial freedom. There's heaps to do yet, like locate furniture from three different addresses, change the post, get the 'net connected, utilities, and buy some whitegoods. It's all a bit full-on, a little scary (first time out of home) and really exciting at the same time. Which is probably why I can't sleep and its 4am.

Anyway, I'm still more excited than anything. Hoorah!

QF571 SYD-PER

Flying home from Sydney on Friday afternoon, Row 27B, I sit behind a lady and her daughter who looks to be about 6 years old. The flight attendants are being nazis again about iPods, headphones and anything electronic again, so for the sake of not being told off, I leave my headphones in the case for the taxi out to the runway.

We take off to the North and as the plane soars into the sky a few moments later I see the little girl pointing out of the window to say, "Mummy, mummy! That looks like Google Earth" to which mum replies, "That's because it IS the Earth, sweetie".

It's a worrying world that kids are growing up in!

Back to Bondi

Bondi isn't the same place it used to be...

It's actually nicer.

When I was growing up on the east coast of Australia, Bondi was a slum. It was crap. Nobody really wanted to live there, it was just a haven for hippies a surfer dudes to get high and hit the beach.

Like most urbanisation, Bondi has been transformed. There are still a few rickety beach apartments, some rusty shacks and mouldy houses, but for the most of it, Bondi has nice new apartments, rows of shops, trendy cafe's and pubs. I really enjoyed being there.

At first I was afraid that going there would make me sad, especially to see some landmark realestate being developed (I had family that lived there) but I enjoyed the experience. The only thing I didn't have time to do was go for a swim!

River Cruise, Sydney

As a part of the 1st International Future Mining Conference and Exhibition 2008, the delegates were treated to a river cruise and dinner in Sydney Harbour. Not too much to report on the night itself other than the cruise was nice and the food was alright. The views were pretty awesome though!

They're Everywhere!

Here's a little something that Al bought me this morning before we jumped on the plane to Sydney. Apparently this is a collector's edition! Awesome!

Coogee Beach, New South Wales

Is pretty miserable right now actually. I'm at the Medina Executive Apartments, about a block off the beachfront. It has been raining all afternoon and it is also quite windy. I'm here for the Future Mining 2008 Conference and Exhibition at the University of New South Wales. Hoping to learn heaps more about the future of automation in mining, this time from an academic's point of view.

This evening, I headed out to dinner with Al. We did a lap of the main street and ended up with two nice looking restaurants. One was "In the mood for Thai" and the other was "Churrasco". Both looked pretty good but there was a more funky vibe and more people at Churrasco so in we went! Churrasco is a Brazilian BBQ restaurant where different cuts of meat (and other things like seasoned mozzarella, cheese bread and sliced sausage) come out and you basically eat until you can't eat anymore!

I love trying something new when I travel and this place was certainly something! Having chorizo, parmesan beef, eye fillet, scotch fillet, chicken and pork sausages, roast lamb... all coming out at our heart's content! You get a little coaster with a red side and a green side, so the waiters walking around with the food know if you want anything coming past. Green means "yes, offer me food!" while red means "i'm having a rest" or "i'm done!".

I'm also looking forward to scoping out Coogee during the daytime (if there's time on Friday). Perhaps do some shopping and sight-seeing. Maybe even help Al with the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon he got from the flight over from Perth! Hope to take some photos tomorrow too.

Day 12 of Movember

Thanks to Hornet for taking me over the $100 mark for Movember 2008. You legend! Come on you rats, donate now!

Fuel Economics

When the Australian Dollar was close to one US Dollar and oil was fetching USD 90 a barrel, the price of petrol at the bowser in Western Australia was over $1.50 per litre.

So why has fuel gotten cheaper when the dollar slump has matched the slump in oil prices? Shouldn't fuel still be at $1.50?

Why can't I find any articles about fuel dipping to $1.26? No praises for the cost of living going down? No report on Today Tonight? Why HAS it gone down?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset about it. I just haven't heard any positive response about it either. As soon at it starts going up again the pissing and moaning will start again.

So, how much more would it cost me to run a V12 over a V8?

BMW 850i (E31)

Graduates

This evening, Robin and I graduated from our Beginners Swedish class! YEY!
We finished the ten week course with fika. I enjoyed dill chips (haven't eaten them since I was in Sweden in March), cinnamon scrolls, donuts, coffee and lots of other sweets. I'm still burping up dill and it's awesome.

We both got a "Diplom" from the Svenska Skolan and even that is pretty impressive. I will have to scan it in when I pick it up from Robin's house.

I'm, really looking forward to enrolling next year (in February) for the Intermediate course and learning lots more over the summer break leading up to the start of semester.

Day Two of "No Chocolate" for Movember 2008!

Yes, that's right! I have given up Chocolate for Movember. Show your support and donate now!

Movember 2008

Movember (the month formerly known as November) is an annual charity event held during November.

At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants, known as Mo Bros, have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their Mo, raising money along the way to benefit men's health - specifically prostate cancer and male depression.

Movember culminates at the end of the month at official Gala Partés, Mo-Office and Mo-Town parties where Tom Selleck and Borat look-a-likes battle it out for their chance to be the Man of Movember.

While growing a Mo is left to the guys, Mo Sistas (ladies who support their guys or just love Mo's!) form an important part of Movember by recruiting Mo Bros, helping to raise funds and attending the highly anticipated Gala Partés.

But it' s not all fun and games, so why the extreme behavior?

Which ever way we look at it, men are far less healthy than women. The average life expectancy for men is five years less than for women.

The obvious question is why?

Men lack awareness about the very real health issues they face. There is an attitude that they have to be tough - "a real man" - and are reluctant to see a doctor about an illness or go for regular medical checks.

Movember aims to change these attitudes and make men's health fun by putting the Mo back on the face of fashion and in the process raise some serious funds for key men's health issues, including:

Prostate Cancer: because every year 2,900 Australian men die from prostate cancer and over 18,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Find out more HERE

Depression in Men: because one in six men experience depression at any given time but most don't seek help. Find out more HERE

Donate now!

https://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-details.php?rego=1456531&country=au

Some Things Never Change

Some things (in Perth or otherwise, never change.

Like rubber necking. Gawking at an accident. Slowing down, making a nuisance of yourself and then once the desire of inquisition is satisfied, one speeds up to the required road speed and life goes on.

This afternoon on the way home from work I drove up Tonkin Highway and headed North. Whilst at the lights at the Leach Highway intersection, I could see cars slowing down already. I knew there must have been an incident further up the road. The stretch between Leach Highway and Great Eastern Highway is 100 km/hr. About 300m past the intersection I slowed down to second gear and to 30 km/hr. For the next few kilometres, that is how it went.

Now, for those that don't know, Tonkin Highway is a dual carriageway and not often does the speed of surrounding vehicles drop below 80 km/hr. It was refreshing to actually putt along and see how boggy the median is, to read the advertising on the side of the road, to see how huge the green road signs actually are and how bumpy the joins in the road are. I got to take it all in. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't angered about going slowly. It was slow, but it was consistent for almost the whole time.

So on I go, at this lowered speed. I see blue and red lights, a fire truck, two massive tow trucks and a completely anhialated four-wheel-drive. You know, the old white Toyota 75 series utes. However, it was on the OTHER SIDE of Tonkin Highway, heading South. As usual, Perth drivers at their best, just rubber necking, and slowing down progress.

Sick Revenge

I read a little story today from one of my friends, Neil. Always good value and always lovely to catch up with him, he's a hard man to get hold of as he travels the country almost non-stop. This is from his blog. Enjoy.

So I get off the plane in Melbourne with a six and a half hour stop over.

What to do?
Melbourne has great Chinese food, so it would only be right to get myself a good feed.

Into the heart of Melbourne I trek.
A bus ride and a walk later I am in the heart of china town.
There is a little restaurant I like called “china inn”. It has great BBQ pork and fantastic hananeise chicken rice.
Divine.
I walk for about two k’s to get a feed of this heavenly cuisine, I am not disappointed!
I wolf down a fat-inducing meal of taste bud overload Chinese and I’m off.
What has this to do with revenge you might ask.
Nothing really, it was just a really good feed of Chinese.
I climb on the bus back to the plane, an uneventful trip really. (Well, there is a guy who looks like someone I know on the bus and I have missed the two busses I had planned to catch because I was drinking with locals, but anyhow).
I rock up to Melbourne airport at 8pm ready to board an airplane to come home.
Home.
How I miss home.
Anyhow. (This is a drunken story, can you tell)?
I had grabbed a window seat at the back of the plane when I booked. None of the front seats were available, but I wanted a window.
From the two years of travelling I have noticed that the rear seats on the plane are reserved for people with kids.
I got no issue with that, most of the time it is quite quiet, with most people able to chill the kids out, or the kids being nice and quiet.
Not this time.
From the moment we boarded the kid in front of us screamed.
The parents seemed to be oblivious at first.
Then as the child screamed for each parent they would respond.
I was dismayed.
I thought that the parents would be able to control their child to some degree, but not these.
Each time the child screamed for something they gave it.
Once they realised the child was not going to stop screaming they threatened the child with violence.
How the fuck do you think you can get away with threatening violence to a child on an airplane?
How are you going to smack your child?
There is not enough room to stretch your arms let alone beat a problematic sprog dump.
Yet they threatened.
By the time my “swipe your card to watch the" movie started everyone was looking at them.
They had the child that would be the catalyst for the journey home.
The children around us had started to sook just as the child in front did.
Each time the child in front whined so did the other fucking lambs.
More threats, more cries, more threats to smack its arse, more cries.
For fuck sake, hit it, slap it, punch it, ask the hostess to stick it in the bin. Just shut the fucker up!
A whole plane load of children are watching, a whole plane load of people waiting.
Finally quiet. Finally peace.
An hour of fucked up whining when it hits me.
I had about five hours in Melb.
I had not only nice Chinese, but nice beer.
Lots of nice beer.
I like beer.
I walked for about five hours, each time I passed a pub I would grab a pint.
If you could see my spelling pre posting you would know I am writing this pissed.
Anyhow.
I nearly missed the plane due to Carlton draught.
Bloody Carlton draught you might think!
But no.
I boarded the plane and continued on my merry beer consumption way.
After sitting in the seat, when the child first cried I pulled out my pen and made stabbing motions.
The kind of stabbing motions that would be accompanied by the music(?) from “Psycho”.
“Rreek. Rreek, Rreek”
Everybody around me laughed.
We all could see this satanic child for what he was.
A flight destroyer.
Raised by retards to annoy the world.
No lamb shanks on the menu, I have sandwiches.
The plane is finally peaceful.

For nearly six hours I have been drinking beer.
I ate Chinese food.
I had to burp.
It was a small one, I smelt it and realised its potential.
(You know where I am going don’t you)?
I looked around the plane at each of the people that had been annoyed at not only the child, but the parent’s inability to control this satanic creature and I had an idea.
I burped again, this time a little bigger.
Toxic.
And again, only this time I kept my mouth closed. My cheeks puffed at the pressure, but my lips never unsealed.
I leant forward, AND BETWEEN THE SEATS I GENTLY BLEW, RELEASING THE TOXIC BBQ PORK CHICKEN RICE WIND into the row in front of me.
The row of the demonic child, (let's call him Damian).
No one moved.
I leant back and continued to Watch my movie. (Iron man).
Game on.
Damian was falling asleep by now.
Each time I had a burp bubble over I held it in my mouth to blow into the seat in front of me.
Each time I watched Damien’s fathers head turn and look at Damian.
As my BBQ pork burps fester to explosion I would pass them into the demons space with a smile on my face.
Each time father of Damian would look at his son.
He leant over to his wife and said something.
Her and Damian swapped seats.
The seat next to me was empty.
The guy two seats up had been in on the pen stabbing joke, time to bring him to the next level.
I pulled the pen out again, motioned for his attention, stabbed a couple of times as I burped into my mouth and then showed him I was burping between the seats.
He laughed.
My next big burp I leant over and placed carefully between him and the middle set.
Damien’s mum moved quickly.
Damian got the “have you poo'd your pants" pat and then we laughed.
The guys behind me figured out what was going and I got the thumbs up.
Damian was moved to his dads lap.
Each and every burp was quietly loaded into my mouth and gently blown into Damien’s peaceful space.
I watch Damien’s parents check his pants about ten times thinking he had shit his pants.
Thank you Chinese food.
These people who had not been interested in quietening their son until he could not be quieted spent the whole flight thinking he had shit himself because of my Chinese burps.
The two guys behind me and the guy in my row spent our flight watching movies and laughing each time I burped.
I developed a system where I would raise my hand, check that they were watching and then burp.
I think this is the best revenge I have ever had.
Harmless and justified....

Hanging Out with the Man

I've really been enjoying myself the last few weeks. Even though work is uncertain and the GFC (Global Financial Crisis, not the Geelong Football Club) is taking its toll on industry, I have had enough time and spirit to enjoy myself and those around me. I have spoken to or at least emailed those which I miss most and will make time to catch up, and of course I have been hanging out with Robin.

The weather has been warming up greatly with the first hot day of the season about two weeks ago. Summer really does come out of nowhere in Perth. I have been riding the bike more, going out more and generally having fun.

Spending time on the bikes: here, there and everywhere

The piano is also sold and there is room in the house, I have also been saving lots of money and hopefully I will be moving out with Robin in the next few months. I'm already looking forward to finding somewhere nice, a little villa in Rivervale perhaps, close to the city and close to work (povo Perth International Airport) with room for all the toys and perhaps even a BMW 8 series.

Good news is that the sales and marketing team (including me) are going to be moving offices to the upper level of the "Gate 1" complex on the other end of Horrie Miller Drives. Even better news is that Nandos is going to be opening up on the ground floor along with Subway and Dome. Miiiiint!

International Visitors

Last week I had the pleasure of having Pete back over from Sweden for a whirlwind tour of Australia with two fellow designers, Camilla and Patrik.

It was great to catch up for dinner at the Bluewater Grill in Applecross (a place I will definitely visit again). I shared a seafood platter for two and enjoyed every bite! I highly recommend trying the cuttlefish!

It was also Pete's Birthday on the 8th of October and I will make an effort to stock up at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory and send some chocolates over to Sweden.

In other news, I caught up with Ben on Thursday night for dinner and a few beverages in Mount Lawley. He had come back home for two weeks from Tanzania. It was great to hear of all the stories and how much fun he is having over there and that the work is a lot more rewarding than fly-in/fly-out of Plutonic.

All this travel has got me thinking of heading overseas again, this time for Jess and Joel's wedding in Koh Samui next September. Here's the plan...

September 24-26 Singapore Forumla 1 Grand Prix, Singapore
September 27-October 2, Koh Samui, Thailand
October 3-11, Bangkok, Thailand
October 12-19, Hong Kong *maybe*
October 20-26, Sepang Moto GP, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Four weeks, Four countries. It would be the most awesome month of travel.

Lady Owner, Only Driven On Weekends

NOT!

Yesterday, one of the guys in my office comes up to my desk and starts looking at the photos pinned up on my wall. There are photos of me at the drags on the 400, at the track on the 400 and the R1, stills of the bikes, action shots, burnouts, portraits... my tribute wall to myself.

He points to a photo of my 400 (Paris) parked up at Causeway Honda and asks if its a 400, '92 model and if I bought it from Causeway Honda. I reply "yes" to all of his questions...

It turns out that he was the second owner of the bike! Derek had owned the bike up until about 25,000km at which he traded it in on another Honda. It was then sold for $5,500 to someone else at which it was then bought by me for $4,990 with 48,000km on the clock.

He brought in a photo today of the old girl, with ugly yellow rim strips and gold bar ends. I asked him if anything was wrong with the RH bar end and he confirmed that a bashed-in broomstick handle kept it all in place. That's mah girl! He also confirmed that the belly pan had been busted from day one and only the side bolts held it on. I later told him that I araldited the whole belly pan together and he wondered why he never thought of doing that.

Paris is now a whisker shy of 72,000km on the clock and I hope she can do another 30,000 without a single plume of smoke. Most reports indicate that the 399cc engines will do 120,000km's easy.

Withing the next year, I hope to be able to get her back to her original glory and finally get the fairings fixed (or better yet, remoulded), repainted, and strip her down to her bones and give her a complete wash and electrical overhaul. Robin has already foolishly volunteered to tackle that one. On the bling list will be to get some nice levers (ASV), a new pipe (Yoshimura), polish the rims up, redo the heel guards... who knows what else! Maybe even fork out for some race fairings and take her up and race Formula Two. I might even have a chance at winning something.

Cough, Splutter, Choke

God damn it. I'm sick again. Only good thing about being sick is going in to work, knocking over the morning, scoring a free lunch, then going home to nap in the afternoon. Two days running! At least this time it's only the common cold, not a debilitating virus.

Things have been going steady, steady this week. I may not have already mentioned, but Robin and I are slowly looking for a place to move into together. It's pretty new and exciting but sure as hell it will put a strain on the pocket. Last week I paid off all my oustanding debts (minus the home loan, its hard to pay off a house in 3 years) like my credit card and its back to saving up full time. It's a most awesome feeling and a heavy weight off my shoulders. I'm looking forward to going shopping for a fridge, a washer, a microwave and one day furniture! I'm also glad to be taking the next step with Robin. I just hope he knows what he's getting into! LOL *hugs and kisses*

Slack. Again!

Yes, I've been terribly bad at updating my blog. For once, heaps has been going on. So much so that I haven't really found the time to write.

So here goes, the abbreviated version of all things good, and inte så bra.

First off, yesterday I did my second beginners Swedish lessons with the Swedish School of WA. I'm doing pretty well as I've done Pimsleur's Swedish 1 CD a few times, I've been to Sweden of course and picked up a lot whilst I was there. I'm looking forward to the rest of the course and doing the Advanced course next term! Robin is doing the course with me and picking it up very quickly too. It's such a refreshing feeling going back to school and learning. I sometimes wonder why I don't actively go and learn things. Next on the list would probably be a cooking class, maybe some finance, AutoCAD, something mining related. Master of Mineral Economics anyone?

Two weeks ago I hit rock bottom in the health stakes. I was dead to the world. Well, not far off it. I had a random virus possibly caught from Hornet that made me tired, drowsy, flat and lacklustre. I lived on 3L of orange juice over 4 days. I ate one piece of toast that took 20 minutes to eat. I had to rest after going up or down the staircase at home. All I did was sleep and drink juice for almost five full days. I was always pale and sweaty. At least noone was pestering me from work. What was even worse, was that Sebastian (a mate from Sweden) was in Perth to visit and I couldn't even properly take him out on the town or anything. We did go to Whiteman Park, AQWA and the like, but we didn't do dinner or drinks enough. There wasn't enough time to catch up. Sorry Sebbe!

It was my 26th Birthday last Wednesday but I pretty much celebrated all week. On the Wednesday, I took some Polish donuts into the office for morning tea. It was the first time I had celebrated a Birthday at work, usually I'm out and about jetsetting all over the world. This time, I was still here. Not that there's anything wrong with that! I got some money towards Swedish lessons from Mum and Dad, a nice top from Mum, and Robin got me one of the best gifts I've ever received... Pluto! Mum, Dad, Robin and I also went out to dinner on Thursday to Pines in Scarborough. Mmmm, yummy foooooood.

Meanwhile, things at work are going a little pear shaped. The "Engineering Team" has pretty much one member left, and that's me. People leaving and signing contracts with other departments... but that's how these things go. Now I will have to fight for more money and better value. To say I am annoyed is an understatement! But still, tomorrow is another day and I will be at work as usual, just clocking up time in order to get paid and use the money for something I'd rather be doing!

So, its hej då for now.

FOR SALE: Alex Steinbach upright piano

So, know anyone that wants to buy a piano?

It's an Alex Steinbach in gloss black.
German scale, in tune, great condition, no scratches or dents.
Comes with red key cover, hinged book stool and buffing pad.
Looking for about $1,800. Pick up only.
Email me if interested, myvolvowillkillyou@hotmail.com

WASM BBQ

Ah, its refreshing to have beers during work time!

"Stormin'" Norm Stockton, head of WASM at Curtin University had invited me (and the Atlas Copco troops) to sponsor a BBQ for the WASM students. Lucky that it was a beautiful sunny day. We put a couple of cartons on, got out the stubby holders and keyrings, grabbed the company flag and used it as a tablecloth so everyone could see it as they reached for the sauce.

Travis, Brad, me, Norm and Martina

The BBQ being fired up

Norm with his keyring

It was all my evil plan to get another bunch of students (about 50 or so) familiar with Atlas Copco and hope that one day when they're all grown up and graduated, they can make all the big decisions on capital equipment and buy yellow! ^_^

It was great to talk to the students and have a hotdog and a beer or three in the warm sun, all on company time. Work isn't always hard work! Thank god for that.

Good Times with Old Mates

My beloved possum, Ben is going to Tanzania with Barrick Gold for three years starting next month. His official going away party was on Saturday. Being such a nice boy that he is, he put a tab on at the Balmoral and booked the top floor out for all of his old uni and school mates, plus his work mates from Plutonic.

I picked up Andrew along the way, who also spent a couple of years in Adelaide with Santos who is finally back in town long term, and we headed out. We got Ben a little "something" to keep him informed and entertained in Africa: Can't go anywhere without a Lonely Planet Africa book, and The Gods Must Be Crazy I and II on DVD!

Me and Ben (possum)

The old uni days crew, Andrew, Kathryn, Ben and me

With any luck I'll be able to catch up with Ben one more time before he bogs off to Africa in two weeks with a meal at Uber, something I've been talking about forever and a day...

Anyway, good luck with it all Ben and hope you stay safe and most of all, learn heaps and have a most awesome time!

AFF #3 Photos