....please raise your glasses to Matie and Kat!

Now that my body clock is back in order and things are settling down I can pick up my Australia tale where I left off, namely, the wedding.* Apart from a rampant swarm of ill-tempered dunny budgies (insects of the Order Diptera or the common house fly if you prefer) it was a perfect day. Watching two of my best mates get hitched and have many other friends around, old and new, really did make for a cracking day. The ceremony itself was simple yet effective with a touch of country in the form of the ring bearer, Toffy the dog.


It was then pictures, drinking, nibbles, organising herding and then finally inside to dinner. The venue itself was an picturesque old homestead near Great Western with the ceremony being in the gardens and then dinner inside.


True to form I ended up writing my speech on the morning of the wedding so I was getting a wee bit nervous as the evening wore on. It went as well as can be expected but I'm a bit pissed at my laziness for not getting on it a bit sooner. Meh. Anyway, the night wore on and once official duties were out of the way I jumped on the express (booze) bus to pissedville. Much frolicking later and it was off to the shearers quarters for a kip. The next morning I got to feel like a proper farm boy by starting the fire that gave people hot water. All in all a great day (and night) surrounded by a group of wonderful people.

Two days after the wedding was Mat's b'day so we loaded up the coonomobile and took off to Port Fairy for the day to indulge in a spot of spearfishing. We dropped by the farm where Mat and I grew up on the way and had a sticky beak which was both interesting and weird. A quick meal of f'n'c's upon our arrival to the very pretty little sea side village and then it was off to kill some (very stupid as it turns out) fish. Our first excursion out Mat nailed a largish fish and I then swam in with my little knife to help finish him off. We did well not to sever any hands in the process but eventually we got it (almost) dead at which point I took off with it back to the shore and Mat and Keiran continued on in search of more game. What I didn't count on was the strong current and after what seemed like about 30 minutes I finally made it to dry land. I was shitting rather large bricks on the way back in however as I was swimming with a still struggeling fish, covered in blood against a strong current. Not the smartest move in the world.


After that it was back to Melbourne where Tim and Michelle kindly put me up again for a few days. A couple of lovely dinners later with the guys and it was on a plane back here. A somewhat tiring experience but well and truly worthwhile. Thanks to everyone back home who put me up (and put up with me) whilst home. Special thanks go to Haden and Kat (and Laura) for being such generous hosts and lending me the coonomobile for the duration. You guys rock.

* I wondered if a dyslexic** couple were to get married they might find themselves inviting all their friends to help in the garden?
** Why is this word so difficult to spell? It's just cruel. Makes about as much sense of the spelling of 'phonetic'.

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Update:

Yesterday I discovered that in addition to all the great memories of my time back in Oz I had something else to remind me of my visit in the form of a speeding fine. I was apparently 2kph short of loosing my license which I guess wouldn't have been a massive blow.

Down under, over and out.

After a heady month abroad I find myself back in London. It actually feels like I was coming home which is a good sign but at the same time it was good to get back to Australia to catch up with everyone and I guess one day I’ll eventually end up back there. Anyway, this blog entry is primarily to stave off sleep and hence try not to get too jet-laggy.

My first two weeks back home were work related and there seems to be a lot of potential in the Australia/NZ market. If I ever get the urge I doubt it would be too hard consulting in that market but for now there should be some interesting customers. After a few day in Melbourne and a quick catch up with Tim, Michelle and Mahney it was off to NZ. My overwhelming impression of Wellington was the cold weather, beautiful scenery and large quantities of Kiwis. I know the last shouldn’t have surprised me but my brain has become accustomed to that accent being the exception rather than the rule. Auckland also seemed alright from the day I saw of it. The weekend was spent in Sydney getting trashed, catching up with Marcelle and working. Ian (my counterpart from the Hong Kong office) and I then had three heady days in Canberra which, whilst mostly positive and productive, where also pretty dull as is Canberra’s way.

I returned from Canberra just in time to catch the end of Chia’s drinks. In addition to meeting some of her lovely friends I also got to spend the wee hours of Thursday morning in a Kings Cross strip club (it was the only place still serving drinks, honest). The next morning I had a 8AM breakfast meeting (that I was surprisingly only a few minutes late for) however as I had trouble keeping the contents of my stomach down and, I was later to be informed by my non-pulsed colleague, still stank of grog I’m not sure I made the best of impressions.

T’was then (theoretically) holiday time so I caught a flight to Melbourne before catching up with Haden, Kat and Laura, the Heard clan and finally my mother and sister etc. Nextly it was back up to Melbourne (in the car, A.K.A. Coonomobile, very graciously lent to me by my brother) to finally see Mat and Katie before catching up with Cheese and Knackers. This evening culminated in Steve sleeping in a dog bed. Torquay was next on the list which saw much drinking and much surfing. Then back to Melbourne to catch up with a VERY trashed group of girls headed by the principle trash bag herself, Katie.

Anyway, there was then a wedding and stuff which will be my next post. I’ve managed to stay up to 6:40PM which is good enough in my book. Pictures and less tired content to follow.