better late than never ;-)

the deal when i left for australia was to write a blog entry
approximately once a month to keep those at home updated with my
comings and goings however this month i'm a little late (almost a
month) in doing an update ;( that said, i suppose the implication is
that my life has been particularly busy these last two months!!

so what have i possibly been up to you ask?! to start, i ended up
traveling a bit for work which puts a big dent in life in so many
ways!! i spent four days in brisbane/gold coast checking out all some
recently refit nab branches, looking at some under-construction and
checking out some possible new sites. after two action-packed days of
work, i had the weekend to hang out at surfers paradise, catch a water
festival in brisbane proper, discover a couple of local markets and
just get a feel for australia's third largest city. the following
week, i headed off to perth where i made similar discoveries from a
work perspective. after my solid three days of work, i took a cruise
down the swan river to fremantle, perth's trendy vibrant suburb. i
had dinner at little creatures (a wa microbrewery), checked out the
freo market, got picked up by two very drunk aussie gents and then
headed home!! the next day, i got up early and took a ferry over to
rottnest island which is a nature reserve. i took a public bus around
the island and checked out the beautiful coastline, photographed some
quokka (cross between a 'roo, a possum and a raccoon) which you can
only find on the island. i then headed back to freo, had dinner with
joc's cdn friend sue and then watched a movie at the hostel.
unfortunately, sunday involved a late breakfast and then a trip to the
airport to catch my flight home. the boss has suggested that i go to
both perth and brisbane on a monthly basis, alternating months, so
i'll get to see a bit more of the area around each city which is
great!! (photos from the trip will be posted on
http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouvert2001/ tonight if i can stay up
late enough or tomorrow).

in between the travel, my life has been filled with a mismatch of
stuff from olympic themed parties to food and wine festivals, from
foreign film festivals to 10 pin bowling (yes, you read that one right
:-), from street parties to birthday parties, it's been a bit of
variety of stuff on the go at the minute and it'll only get busier as
summer approaches and the days start getting longer!!

i must head off but wishing everyone well as the weather turns cooler
there and slowly gets warmer here :-)
s

p.s this coming weekend is the afl grand final (the equivalent of the
stanley cup playoffs) and my team, the hawthorn hawks, have made it to
the final (which is more than i can say for the leafs in the last 30
years!!) so i'll be cheering them on this sunday!! i even have a team
scarf which i think is pretty hysterical - it says i've been a
fan/member for 7 years!!