The Swim that Didn't Happen

On Monday, April 26 (ANZAC Holiday), I'd signed up for the 2K swim at North Bondi Beach. I arrived early to watch my friends Liz and Dori do the 1K swim (which was before the 2K swim). A few waves of swimmers got into the water, but it quickly became clear that these were not ideal swimming conditions.

Swimmers were getting tossed against the rocks, swimmers were turning back, and the surf life savers were very, very busy rescuing swimmers and bringing them back to shore to the point that while Dori's wave got in the water, the race was cancelled before Liz got in the water.

And then they cancelled the 2K swim. I wasn't too disappointed because everyone that did finish the 1K swim said it was a very, very hard swim.

Take a look at these waves!

Winning Streak at Two-Up!

Anthony had lived in Balmain and picked the perfect local pub - Dry Dock Hotel - for Dori and Liz to learn two-up on ANZAC Day - the only day you can legally play two-up.

Two-up is essentially a matter of getting both heads or both tails. Most of the time I bet $5 (pink bill) or $10 (blue bill) and my typical bet was "tails" so I'd have to find someone who wanted to match my bet with "heads". And the person who bet "heads" always held the money. If it was "tails" that won, the person would have to give me their bet plus mine.

I also now realize why the Australian bills are different colors for each denomination - it's so you can spot a $5, $10, $20 (red bill) and $50 (gold bill) bet from across the pub.

I had a lot of $5s and $10s at the end of the night - "tails" was my lucky bet - I really racked it in!

My One Year in Australia BBQ!

It's hard to believe but it's true! I've been in Australia for a year now!

And to celebrate it seemed appropriate to have an Aussie BBQ for my friends! Weeks ago I'd scouted out Centennial Park (which is huge) for the perfect place and I found it right next to Musgrave Pond with its willow trees, BBQ and shaded area under the picnic tables. I asked the family when they arrived to secure the spot (it's first come, first serve - no reservations) they said 7 a.m.

While I wasn't eager to be there that early for my picnic (start time of 11:30 a.m.) arriving at 8 a.m. was thankfully early enough to secure the spot.

And it turned out to be a beautiful day, the sun was out and my friends dropped by when they could throughout the day and everyone enjoyed themselves.



Emma arrived at the BBQ with Australia's national dessert - the lamington - which is a sponge cake coated in a layer of traditionally chocolate icing then sprinkled with coconut. It's named after Lord Lamington who served as Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901.

What a perfect dessert to end my first Aussie BBQ with!

And Rangirangooo is a winner!

My second time to the races I didn't make the same mistake as the first time. I dressed up for the Autumn Festival at the Randwick Races on April 17 for Sandy's birthday!



I placed a bet on Rangirangooo (I liked the sound of the name, reminded me of Kangaroo and the Barossa winery Moorooroo) to either win/place/show and Rangirangooo won! My winnings were $27 - enough for my cab ride home after all the champagne I enjoyed at the races.

Lawn bowling...another Aussie experience

The North Sydney Master's hosted a lawn bowling social event and since it's a game that can be played with a glass of wine in my hand it's a game I quite enjoyed!

Because it's still a Commonwealth of the UK, it's still very influenced by the sports popular in the UK and lawn bowling is one of them. It's a lot like bocci ball but instead it's got a "jack" which is a small ball that everyone tries to get their own colored ball close to. And different from bocci ball, the lawn bowling ball is weighted differently - one side of the ball is heavier than the other. There were colored stickers on two sides of the ball and I found that by keeping the bigger sticker on the right/outside the ball hooked to the left.



My team won each of its matches, we were on a roll! And I'm pleased to share that I did contribute to my team's winning - a little.

My First IT Journo Awards

I arrived in Australia on April 10, 2009 - one day after last year's IT Journo Awards. I remember this well because my boss Peter and the Kinetics PR team said that after last year's IT Journo Awards they'd been out until 3 a.m. and considered meeting me at the airport - thankfully they didn't.

Nonetheless, the point is that from my first day in Australia I had heard about the "IT Journo Awards" and I knew that it was THE party. So of course I was looking forward to this year's IT Journo Awards!

Upon arrival, it was clearly a stylish event as there was a red carpet and a photographer taking each arrival's photo. The awards ceremony was upbeat and full of cheering from a community of journalists that as JV (the big winner of the evening) stated so well - most had worked with or for over the years.

Here I am with my fashion icon friend and colleague Emma who was a finalist for Best Media Relations (Emma's nomination stands out as it's a vote by the journalists and she was the only in-house PR manager) and the PR manager at VMware. The dress I'm wearing is from Ginger and Smart and the shoes from Mimco - both of which I selected with Emma's help. Thank you Emma, you're a fashion goddess and #1 media relations in my book!



And here's Emma, myself, Tahn (AAPT PR) and Karen (Upstream PR) at the IT Journo Awards:

Trafford Hill Vineyard in Southern Fleurieu

On my way back from Kangaroo Island on Monday, April 5 (Easter Monday - which like Good Friday is a national Australian holiday) I was invited to stop by my Cisco work colleague Jim Higginson's holiday home near Normanville for lunch.

Jim's a wine maker himself and so knows the South Fleurieu wine region well. So Jim, his wife Gill and I checked out Trafford Hill Vineyard. The wine maker himself, John, poured for us. I enjoyed the rose, the cabernet sauvignon, the shiraz and the port.



Back at Jim and Gill's place I enjoyed the "Shed Shiraz" which is Jim's own wine - you guessed it - named because it was made in the shed. It was very tasty! Fruity and full bodied, a lovely shiraz.

Best Beach in Australia? I don't know...

Vivonne Bay has been voted as the best beach in Australia according to a professor from a university in New South Wales according to a number of different factors (e.g., no buildings on the horizon, ability to support multiple fun beach activities) but upon my cursory (and brief) view of this beach, I have to say I wasn't terribly impressed...

The Remarkables (Rocks that is!)

These blogs are my continued explorations of Kangaroo Island on Easter Weekend...

Although they could just as easily be called "The Incredibles" these large granite boulders are instead called "The Remarkables". They're perched on top of this large granite dome which is about 75 meters above the ocean.

As you'll see these gigantic boulders are quite precariously balanced on this larger dom and as a former Californian, I couldn't help but worry that if ever there was an earthquake or even a rumble, this would be a very dangerous place to be!



And you've heard of "Postcards from the Edge", well that inspired me to Flip this "Postcard from the Ledge" of these Remarkable Rocks!

Spectacular Natural Archway

At Cape du Couedic we walked along this boardwalk which took us around a cliff face that led us to this spectacular natural rock arch called "Admiral's Arch" that was created by weather and erosion over thousands of years.



Here I watched New Zealand Fur seals chasing each other on the rocks, swimming and lazily sunning themselves on the rocks.

Fuzzy Butt

At the Flinders Chase National Park's visitor center I examined the "touch and feel" section and in this Flip you'll see that what my tour guide said is true - koala's do have a fuzzy butt.

And the echidna (pronounced like "a mother and a kid-na") has a very spiny exterior and are known as spiny anteaters.

Yaka, Yaka, Yaka

Well, actually not - when I looked it up on "Wikipedia" it's actually the yucca plant - but yucca, yucca, yucca just sounds well, yucky.

As we broke for lunch, I found myself in this maze of yucca which according to our guide only grows a few centimeters a year and is used for furniture polish.