Easter in Melbourne

Easter weekend..4 days, why not fly to Melbourne and check it out?!

Sydney is to Toronto as Melbourne is to dare I say Montreal? It's got a lot of culture, lots of things going all the time and people are very cool there too!

Luckily an old friend from Brantford(Adam Weir-piano man extraordinaire), lives there now with his bandmates-members of "Jive Crank"(other members Steve and Andrew), and I was glad to stay with him instead of the seedy hostel I had booked. I saw most of the city, and got in some "Jive Crank" shows...altogether it was a great trip. So good in fact that I have been considering moving from Sydney to Melbourne...definately recommend to anyone who's out here, or considering coming out here.

Enjoy the pics! Sorry the band pics weren't the best...

Elbow Live at Home Bar (Sydney, AU)

You can't say anything bad about these guys. First off, the support band couldn't say anything but a million thank yous for allowing them to tour with Elbow and if you've seen them live you know why.
These guys are so laid back and genuinely nice it's refreshing! Before their first song they introduced the audience to Matilda, a young girl from Melbourne who is a big fan but was not of legal age to get into the venue, but they pulled a few strings and made sure she was in the front row with her family.
I met Guy in Manchester in October, and he was just the nicest guy and so appreciative and easy going. It really made the show even more amazing because they were just nice guys...
Anyways, the music was awesome too! HAHA...
If you don't own any of their music you have to pick some up!! NOW!

Not the best pics, sorry it was really smoky in there.

The Dears Live at Home Bar (Sydney, AU)

Once again, The Dears put on an amazing show!! They're new album "Gang of Losers" is deadly, and their live performance is even more so...

This was my 3rd time to catch these guys in the past year, to be honest the Glasgow show was a touch better, but this was a good one none the less...AND I met Patrick after the show and got a picture(which didn't turn out if you've seen my camera you understand why)... The photo with Valerie however did come out..

The opening act was Aussie band "Dappled Cities Fly", who put on quite a show themselves, and I'm picking up their album next time I'm in a shop. If you've never heard of them, give them a listen. If you don't own any of The Dears music, seriously consider picking some up...they're amazing AND Canadian.

KILL ALL INCANDESCENT LIGHTS BY END OF MARCH!!

Hey all if you haven't begun already now's the time to chuck those incandescents out and buy CFLs not only are they better for the environment but they'll save you money on your energy bills!! You can't lose!

On March 31 at 7:30pm there will be an hour of darkness which will mark the last hour of the switch... don't wait start today! Save money, save the world!

for more info go to http://www.cbc.ca/technolo
gy/story/2007/02/20/tech-b
ulb.html and http://www.financialstanda
rd.com.au/index.php?id=932
2

Also if you are interested in hearing more about ways you can do your part, and have it explained in a more interesting way than your average website, search for Brendan Callery on Facebook, and ask questions, he's a wealth of information...be sure to tell your friends about it too!!!

My Flatmates

Here is a pic of my flatmates, Nathan, Kat and Carl (lt to rt)....They're super nice Kiwis, who all work at the same travel agents. Funny thing is most trips they sell are to Canada!

My first(and hopefully last) traffice offence in Australia

So the other night I'm driving around up on the coast, looking for this motel my work was putting me up in and...while looking and really lost, I was searching for street signs to no avail. I decided to pull over to look at my map to see where the hell I was. When I pulled over, I glanced in my rearview, and there's a police car behind me...I'm like ok whatevs.... Then he comes up to my window, and asks me "Did you know that you ran a stop sign back there?" I'm like "No, I did?"(meanwhile to be quite honest I did spot it, pulled a yield and went through, because I was tired and lost and just wanted to friggin get there you know?? Anyways, long story short I got a $231 ticket!!! So pissed you have no idea, but perhaps this hideous pic will demonstrate....oh and that's my car...

AUSTRALIA DAY!!!

Jan. 26th is Australia Day...and what better thing to do on Australia Day than become an Aussie citizen! That's what Cynthia did, and what a ceremony!! Congrats Cynthia!! The rest of the day was the typical "Off your face amazing race" you'd find on Canada Day...here's a few pics, of some new cool peeps I met that day...

Mais 'ttend minute luh, c'est pas beautiful ca??

This is too funny not to put on this site...especially if you attended gradeschool with me..or speak a few words of French, it's hilar ca!
http://www.tetesaclaques.tv/video.php?vid=42

What do Australia's PM and GOB Bluth have in common?

Even if you are not a fan of the serious "Arrested Development" this is a shocking read. In season 3 as GOB is attempting to argue the fact that Steve Holt is his son he says " I hear the jury's still out on science." On TV it's funny in real life, and when it is the political leader of your country it's a little unnerving...

On February 7th, John Howard(Australian PM) was asked if he supported Minister of Industry,

Ian Macfarlane, who was still out and proud about his scepticism of the link between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
His answer: "The jury is still out on the degree of connection."
Howard returned to the chamber a few hours later to clarify his position, saying he thought he had been asked about the link between the drought and climate change.

When I saw this, I was really sickened and although I've noticed a fairly strong lack of knowledge and caring for environmental issues I was absolutely shocked to find that the PM would make such a ridiculous statement. Not to mention that it is only the last month or so that they are discussing this among other issues such as the massive drought and renewable energy. Just this morning it was announced that people are suffering from more frequent asthma attacks, with the QUESTION of whether it has something to do with environmental changes or not...Seriously!

One positive thing I have seen here is the use of "Green bags" instead of plastics at many retail and most grocery stores.

I hope that anyone reading this is(or finds themselves more and more) concerned about environmental issues and understands their own potential to do something about it.

I'm not the greenest person, in fact my brother Brendan(who most of you know) has really encouraged me to open my eyes, and could help do the same for you.

If you are interested check out his blog at: http://brendanpatrick.blogspot.com/

He's got tonnes of links and interesting facts and figures. CHECK IT OUT!!

My Place...in Newtown(20/01/07)

After much searching, and meeting some of the strangest people, I found a place....
Honestly it was quite trying...at one house I was interviewed while the share mates played risk and were asking me how to capture Ontario.. One girl at another house told me she didn't believe in TV because it was always "like bombarding me with so much like violence and hatred, I couldn't take it anymore"..ok, so it's like better to like block out the world....also as some of you know I have a slight attachment to tv(although here where you get all of 4 channels that's changed a bit)...
Anyways, my new place is in a suburb called Newtown, an artsy gay/lesbian area, which is really cool. I live with 3 kiwis (Nathan, Kat and Carl) they are really friendly, pics to come. It's great, three floors, my own bathroom and balcony,what a change from the hostels!!!! But cost of living is ridic here, I'm paying $162/wk(and that's considered cheap here), I saw some serious dumps for $200/wk...
Soooo glad I have a home!

New Year's Eve in Sydney AU(31/12/06)

New Year's Eve is a pretty huge thing here. In particular,watching the fireworks at the Harbor Bridge/Opera House is a big thing, and attracts massive crowds. We had heard you had to head down early to get a good spot so we headed down about 1:00pm, with some new Canadian friends to meet our German dorm-mates(Climens and Tina see pics) from the hostel...You can drink all you want, but if you have to use the toilets, you are totally screwed as I found out...I completely missed the first set of fireworks at 9pm even though I left for the toilets at 8:15pm and they were only about 100ft. away...it was absurd! The fireworks however were amazing they were all over the harbour and behind us on buildings...everywhere, not to mention they started them off with a Rufus W. tune...it was superb...

Christmas at Bondi Beach (Dec 23-26 2006)

Steve and I moved down to Bondi beach for the cmas holiday, because we heard it was a huge party and it's a beach...We met some pretty cool people and had a great time.. Christmas day was a little dull weather wise, beaches full of people wearing santa hats, apparently they don't really decorate here and only tacky people put up "fairy lights"(christmas lights)...bars shut fairly early and we just ended up watching "Bad Santa" on the tele....man did I wish I was home at that point....mmmm turkey and latkes...

Christmas at Aaron and Patty's (10/12/06)

I was lucky enough to have been invited to a true Christmas lunch with turkey and all the fixins' at my good friend Laura's(b-dot) brother's house, who came to Australia years ago on vacay and never left, and since married a lovely Australian Patty. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures, but fortunately I forgot my camera at their place and they took a couple for me...people in pics are friends of both, Aaron's in the blue on the left here, with Vicki, and Patty's ducking out in the background...thanks for the pics guys..

Week 1: Living With Trudy in Newtown

Gwen and Peaches(Top)
Hard to tell who, I think Trudy is in the red wig
More people in wigs..and Seamus(Cynthia's man)
Wigs for all!
Trudy and Peaches...Aussie flag tattoos...

For the 1st week that I arrived I stayed with a lovely girl named Trudy, who was a previous flatmate of my brother Brendan, when she lived in Dublin. She(and her flatmates Gwen(Eng) and Cynthia(Fr.)) were kind enough to let me stay at their beautiful terrace in Newtown. The 1st w/e I was here they were throwing an Australian BBQ, fancy dress was recommended, however most came plain clothed. I have some pics which I hope can illustrate how crazy Aussie bbqs can get...

The Flight to Australia (5/12/06)

I won't bore you with the minor details..
In total the flight was 23 hrs.. a little long.
My sister maeve bought me an Ipod(30G) days before I left, and I spent hours uploading songs, I had nearly 2000...before even reaching Honolulu, I stood up to stretch, it fell from my lap and gave me the whole :( "I'm broken" reading...I was so pissed because I was babying it the whole time, and then one little fall, it's over, all of that work gone...
One funny thing that happened was from Honolulu to Sydney we sat in front of a girl who was carrying a 5' trophy, covered with maple leaves, a couple sitting next to us asked her how she'd won the trophy, she replied "Dancing", they replied" That's great! What kind of dancing do you do?" Her boyfriend replied "Exotic dancing.", the couple seemed a little shaken then said "Congratulations" and that was that...apparently she had won a STRIPPING competition in none other than Cambridge Ontario!! Had a good laugh there...