Season's Greetings

Christmas Day is almost over for us and we want to share what we did today. It wasn't much: in fact, it was the quietest Christmas that we've had for a while - very cruisy!

We had a late lunch and dined al fresco on Tasmanian oysters, South Australian crayfish, Moreton Bay bugs, Queensland mudcrab, fresh crunchy salad and soft French bread - all washed down with Moët and sparkling water. There was so much food that we ended up bailing out on the crayfish and having it for dinner with the leftover salad!

Early tomorrow we leave for New Zealand to visit my folks.

See you in 2008!

Balloons over Melbourne

On any calm and clear morning, Melbourne is treated to the sight of hot air balloons travelling across the skies. Balloon safari companies such as FreemanX, Balloon Sunrise, Global Ballooning and Adrenalin launch their balloons from various points around the city, dependent on the direction of whatever light breeze there might be.

At this time of year, ascent takes place between 5:30am and 5:45am. Behind our apartment lies Port Melbourne and the suburb of Williamstown which is one of the launch sites.

This morning as I rose to attend the early morning gym class, I was treated to the amazing sight of 7 balloons being carried on the zephyr from Williamstown and over our apartment, before sailing across the city towards the Yarra Valley.


It was touch and go for the 3 yellow balloons which seemed to make heavy going of getting airborne. They cruised very low past the apartments on the shoreline before popping over the tops of the buildings.


1st Note to self: when you go on a balloon safari, don't get into a yellow balloon because they have a propensity to be yellow submarines.


2nd Note to self: from now on before you pull open the window blinds, make sure that you have clothes on, because you never know when there's going to be a balloon basketful of people staring back at you.

Oy vey.

7 Kick the Can

Back in the 80s when she was a young pup, J attended university in Berlin, graduating with a degree in Computer Science.

To make ends meet, she utilised her talents as a musician to earn money. Finally, the bullying and cajoling from her father to attend endless brass band practises was paying off!

She and our good friend from Sharron de Mol's blog were part of a seven piece group called 7 Kick the Can. The band played original songs composed by the group members, and at times they were also coerced into playing covers. 7 Kick the Can was popular in Germany in their time, playing concerts and festivals around Germany and Europe. They even made a record called Fame, Fun, Fortune & Fate. (No, CDs weren’t around in those days!)

J has some great stories of her band days, including memories such as border crossings between East and West Germany; the night that her dress split open as she blew a high note; the TV cameraman aiming his camera up her very short skirt. Her mother dines out on the latter story quite a lot and apparently there’s video evidence of this event, but I’ve yet to see it!

On December 1st, (this Saturday), 7 Kick the Can is holding a reunion concert in Hamburg, Germany. J has been madly practising to get her lip in, as she hasn’t played in quite some time.

If you’re in Hamburg this weekend, make sure that you attend – tickets can be bought here!


Look out for J – she’ll be playing trumpet.

Here are some of their songs recorded in the 80s by analogue methods and now digitised. If you can’t see the player in Internet Explorer, try switching to Firefox, or click on the links to access the songs in a browser player and push the Play button to commence the download.

7 Sinners


Link to 7 Sinners


Time


Link to Time


Missing U at Midnight


Link to Missing U at Midnight


Terrible


Link to Terrible


Good luck with the concert, honey, and I wish that I could be there.

Cruise Ship Season

November through to April sees the cruise ships head down to the Pacific for the Southern Hemisphere summer cruise programme.

Melbourne has quite a few visits lined up this season and you can see the full list of ships due to dock on the Port of Melbourne website.

First in was Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas - the best looking and most modern ship so far.


Over the long holiday weekend, 2 ships visited on Emirates Melbourne Cup Day, to allow the passengers to experience the excitement of one of the most famous horse races in the world, billed as "The Celebration that stops a Nation". Unlike the Dubai races, official betting is allowed!

Holland America Line's Statendam berthed on one side...


... and P&O's Pacific Sun was stationed on the other, behind 2 Australian Navy vessels.


Last Thursday, Regent's Seven Seas Mariner graced the cruise ship terminal.


The red hulled ship that you can just see in the above image is the Spirit of Tasmania I. She and her sister ship Spirit of Tasmania II (funnily enough), ferry back and forwards over Bass Strait, delivering freight, vehicles and passengers to and from Tasmania. Depending on the weather, the trip is often very rough and takes 9 hours.


On Saturday, P&O's Pacific Star was in town.


The P&O vessels look old and somewhat dilapidated, and judging from comments that I've overheard from some of the passengers, they are less than impressed with the onboard facilities.

I often find myself playing tour guide when some of the passengers and I share the tram on the way into the city. I tell them where to get off for the main shopping area, as well as which trams will take them to the zoo and the Queen Victoria Markets. It's fun!

For me, highlights of the season will be the visit of Cunard's new Queen Victoria on February 21st, and a nostalgic goodbye to Queen Elizabeth 2 on February 29th. Most people mistakenly think that she was named for the current Queen of England, but the human queen is actually known as Elizabeth II, whereas the ship is QE2 as she is the second of Cunard's vessels to bear the Queen Elizabeth name.

This cruise is her last Southern Hemisphere cruise as she ends her service next year to be retired and sailed into Dubai, to become a floating hotel.

Because Dubai doesn't have enough hotels and the Dubai Government had a spare $100 million to buy her.

Moon over Melbourne

The moon rose over a nation with a new government as Australians voted Labor into power, ending the 11 year long John Howard Coalition rule.

As I write, Kevin Rudd is making his inaugural speech as Prime Minister, and it appears that Labor won a 5+% increase in margin.

One thing's for sure.

For the ordinary people, life goes on - no matter who's in charge.

Cruising

Before J had to fly back to Germany on business, we took advantage of the only full weekend that she had downunder and got the hell out of Dodge. To be accurate - it was out of Melbourne, and a very spontaneous escape.

After a confusing week at work where stuff just seemed to be going wrong, I was ready for change. Coming home, I put it to J that we should cruise down the Great Ocean Road and go see the 12 Apostles - a sight that I had always wanted to see, and I knew that J was going to also love the area.



On Saturday after visiting the South Melbourne markets for food supplies, we picked up a Saab Turbo convertible from Avis; a quick stop home to stuff some clothes into a bag, and we were off!

A warm, clear Spring day meant that the car roof was down, and remained that way for most of the weekend. Clearing the motorway, we were soon passing through Geelong (sorry Wendy, we will pop in one day!) and on our way to the coast.

The Saab - our baby for the weekend!

It was heaven. The cool salty sea air, the warming heat from the sun, great company, a cool car and stunning scenery - we couldn't have had it better.

We briefly stopped at Apollo Bay for a stretch before carrying on.

The fishing boat harbour at Apollo Bay

As we had heard that the 12 Apostles were best viewed at either sunrise or sunset, and we had no idea of how long it was going to take us to get there, we didn't want to risk arriving too late. Our timing was perfect, and we joined the hundreds of other people lining the cliffs to watch the sun set behind the main cluster of outcrops. The crowd reminded us of our similar experience when viewing the sunset at Ia on the Greek Island of Santorini!

The 2 Apostles to the east of the main bunch - the light was sublime

We hadn't booked any accommodation, and the number of people that were at the 12 Apostles lookout had us worried that we would be sleeping in the car. We headed into the nearest town of Port Campbell, and were lucky enough to get the last room in one of the better looking motels; albeit highly overpriced. After a less than memorable meal in the motel restaurant where the chef had used about a kilo of garlic in our pasta, we were soon in the spa bath in our room, drinking wine and relaxing after a great day in the fresh air.

We weren't in any hurry on Sunday morning and made it out of the motel by 10am. J was desperate for a caffeine fix, so we bought coffee and croissants and sat by Port Campbell Bay before starting the drive back to Melbourne.

Port Campbell Bay

Moving more leisurely now, we first stopped at Loch Ard Gorge, so named after a ship of the same name foundered on rocks in a storm; 52 lost their lives and only 2 managed to survive.

The Loch Ard Gorge reserve is part of the Port Campbell National Park (which also includes The Twelve Apostles), and is a beautiful area with lots of walking trails to the various bays within the park. We did a couple of the shorter walks before continuing on our way.


We stopped at the 12 Apostles again to see them during daylight. I doubt that there would be any time of the day in which these promontories would not be picturesque - it's a magnificent part of the planet.


We were reminded that we were in Australia by sighting koalas in the gum trees lining the road that lead from the main highway to Cape Otway! The cape was often the first sighting of land that ships would have of Australia if they had ventured around the bottom of the African Continent on their travels eastwards.

Built in 1848 and only the second lighthouse to be on mainland Australia at that time, the 18m sandstone tower was decommissioned in 1994 and replaced with a small solar-powered beacon.

The telegraph house could send telegrams by morse code to anywhere in the world, but was mostly used for local transmissions between ships and the shore.

Cape Otway played a part in the mysterious disappearance of 20 year old aviator Fred Valentich, who disappeared in his Cessna 182 in 1978, during a flight from Melbourne to King Island. Fred reported to air traffic control that he had reached Cape Otway, but soon came back on air to say that he was being buzzed by an unidentified object while flying over Bass Strait. Fred and his plane were never seen again, and no trace or wreckage has ever been found. Read more about it here.

After leaving Cape Otway, we drove back into Apollo Bay where we stopped for lunchtime fish and chips from the Greek-run fish shop, before driving for home.

There's so much area and variety to explore in Victoria, and we have great intentions of doing it all whenever J can make it back here. This week however, we're meeting in Mauritius for a week of sun, relaxation and catching up with some dear friends.

See you on the other side!

Rugby World Cup Quarter Final Summary

Fandango – what the Argies did to the Scotties

Unbelievable – the Ozzies bow out to the Poms

Choked - the Kiwis suffocated by the Frogs

Kings – both the Saffies and Fijians

Fiji played a better game against South Africa than Australia and New Zealand could do in their matches.

Heads should roll in the Antipodes.

Fiji - Tei vovo!

Although I call myself NZM, (because most people know where New Zealand is nowadays - except for some Americans and an Emirati woman at the DXB immigration counter!), I was born and raised in Fiji until 15 years old. My family then uprooted to NZ as the political tensions in our home country grew hotter.

On my father's side, I was the 4th generation of my family born in Fiji. My mother's family was all born in India, but that's another story. Colonial blood runs thick through my veins, but thankfully both sides were not involved in the military/political presence in either countries: they arrived as missionaries or traders.

Digression aside, I'm a person torn between divided national loyalties. I travel on a NZ passport - surely one of the easiest on which to get around. I sing both National Anthems with pride. (After 3 months in Australia, I'm even starting to get teary about Advance Australia Fair!)

When I arrive in NZ, I feel at home because my family and most of my friends are still there.

When I arrive in Fiji, I am home.

As I write this, the TV is showing highlights of the Fijian rugby team singing after yesterday's match - a game that will be long remembered by all the people who witnessed it at the ground and on TV.

What a game!

Fiji 38 - Wales 34

At about 3am Melbourne time, I was screaming at the TV: heart pounding; up on my feet; the 3 minutes of injury time seemed like a lifetime; the last minute penalty with the Welsh threatening the Fijian defence looked as if the Fiji boys had thrown it away.

The whistle for full-time couldn't come quickly enough; even the patriotic and often one-eyed Australian commentary team were effusive in their praise - they are calling it the best game of this tournament and the best since the 1999 World Cup NZ-France clash.

Akapusi Qera on his way to scoring the opening try

Next up, Fiji meets South Africa.

That will be tough - the Boks are powerful. They don't make mistakes and they will pounce on the weak Fijian scrum and will intercept stray passes.

Kea Leawere scores a try to Fiji's delight

The Fijians have island flair, and their unpredictability is a huge asset when they playing well. They love to keep the ball in play, hate to kick for position, and will run from anywhere. They're also extraordinarily good at staying on their feet during opposition breakdowns, and snaffling the ball away.

I'll be up to watch this game too!

Like the famous NZ haka or wardance performed by the All Blacks before their matches, all the Pacific Island nations have their versions.

Fiji has the cibi (pronounced thimbi) - a warcry from the days when Fijians were at odds with their island neighbours. It was performed before battle, and even more vigourously when the victorious warriors would return home after war.

The Fiji team practising the cibi

The cibi first made its appearance on the rugby field around 1939.

Ai tei vovo, tei vovo
E ya, e ya, e ya, e ya;
Tei vovo, tei vovo
E ya e ya, e ya, e ya

Rai tu mai , rai tu mai
Oi au a viriviri kemu bai
Rai tu mai, rai ti mai
Oi au a viriviri kemu bai

Toa yalewa, toa yalewa,
Veico, veico, veico.
Au tabu moce koi au
Au moce ga ki domo ni biau.

E luvu koto ki ra nomu waqa
O kaya beka au sa luvu sara
Nomu bai e wawa mere
Au tokia ga ka tasere


English translation:
Make ready, make ready,
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh;
Make ready, make ready
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh;

Look hither, look hither,
I build a breastwork for you,
Look hither, look hither,
I build a breastwork for you.

A cock and a hen,
They attack, attack, attack
It is tabu for me to slumber
Except to the sound of breakers.

Your ship is sunk below,
Don’t think I’m drowned too.
Your defence is just waiting
To crumble when I prick it.

It sounds better in Fijian!

Wendy over at Babasiga and Pandabonium at Pacific Islander have their accounts of the match too.

Go Fiji!

Abyad in Abu Dhabi

An AFP article in today's online Melbourne Age reports that Abu Dhabi is about to get a new taxi fleet - London cabs especially built and customised for "the often blazing hot climate of the Gulf".

Part of the upgrades includes a colour change from the traditional London taxi colour of black to a cooler white.

I wonder if the taxi drivers will also have to pass The Knowledge before they can get behind the wheel? ;-)

Hello..anybody out there?

Hello possums, are you still here?

Sorry for the looong silence around this blog.

We've been busy settling into Melbourne life: finding an apartment, getting into new jobs, sorting out new routines.

Our furniture arrived safely from Dubai - no damage and thankfully we were able to find an apartment into which it all fitted! One thing's for sure, Dubai apartments are very spacious in comparison to what we've seen here!

We found a great place to live and have a super landlady who has even offered us the use of her Porsche Boxster until we get a car. We haven't taken her up on that!

The public transport system is wonderful and it takes me less than 30 mins to get into my job in the city - walking and the tram.

Every Saturday, we go shopping at the South Melbourne markets for our weekly groceries. I blogged about it here when we visited Melbourne back in April. The food quality and variety is fantastic, and as a special treat once we've finished the shopping, we stop at the fish bar, buy 6 freshly shucked oysters and guzzle them down on the spot!

J is about to spend her life on planes again, as she sets up a new venture in Germany, working through our company in Dubai. It means periods of separation for us again, but shit happens!

I'll continue to blog when I find stuff to write about. Not living in Dubai and not travelling as much as we did has taken its toll on interesting things to post.

In the meantime, this is what we can see from our apartment. You can click on the images to enlarge them.

Facing north, we see the Melbourne city skyline across the rooftops.


Facing south, we see Port Phillip Bay and the port area.

This was taken on a walk around the bay and shows our apartment building.

We're looking forward to summer and shrimps on the barbie!

So - where the bloody hell are you?

Textbook crash landing - picture perfect too!

Take a look at this fabulous image taken by Derek Flynn from the Marlborough Express newspaper in New Zealand.

It shows an Air New Zealand Beechcraft 1900D aircraft (operated by Eagle Air) crash-landing at Blenheim Airport, after mechanical and manual attempts to lower the undercarriage had failed.

The image is amazing - you can see the blades from the props flying into the air, as well as other debris off the plane and runway.

Due to the skill of the 2 pilots, they and 15 passengers walked away uninjured.

You can read the full report on the Stuff.co.nz website and view the newsclip video of the landing on the TV3 website.

Great job, pilots!

Derek - you have my admiration for a stunning image!

Fruit and Vege sticks

This is a special guest blog entry by our friend Britany who, at the grand old age of 9, is a chef extraordinaire and also wrote and typed this post!

This is her recipe for Fruit & Vegetable Sticks.


Ingredients
6 long skewers
2 carrots
1 apple
1 block cheese
6O spinach leaves
1 tsp of butter

Instructions
1. dice apple and slice carrots.
2. rub butter on the skewers.
3. slide carrot, spinach and apple (in that order) on the skewers.
4. cut the cheese into 2cm x 2cm cubes.
5. put cheese cubes on the end of the skewers.
6. decorate and sprinkle the plate with any left over ingredients!!!
7. ENJOY!!!!!!!!

Thanks Brit - they were yummy!

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

We've been getting a kick out of watching these clips on YouTube of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

What a funny, class act!

Here's our favourite - Kate Bush's ~ Wuthering Heights


Be sure to also check out:
Streisand & Diamond's ~ You don't bring me Flowers
Nirvana's ~ Smells Like Teen Spirit
David Bowie's ~ Life on Mars
Theme from ~ The Good, The Bad & the Ugly

Be good while I'm away from our blog and travelling to Melbourne!

Summing up Dubai?

Heh - seen today in Karstadt at Hermannstraße in Berlin!


Sums up Dubai nicely, don't you think?

BTW - the jeans were ugly and very unfashionable!

Relationship Issues

Seen today on the Kurfürstendamm which is one of the main shopping and entertainment streets in Berlin.


The message on the side of the car reads:
Here is your share of the car

and it's signed:
Your Ex

OUCH!!!!

Power to the People!

Spotted around Berlin are billboards advertising a campaign to spread awareness for tolerance and understanding in communities made up of people coming from different ethnic, religious, political, whatever backgrounds.

The project is called "die Gesellschafter" which means "the shareholder", and it's inviting people to think about what kind of world they want to live in and then work to make it a reality.

The website, in German, says that for years, governments have been talking about creating future ideal societies, and that future never arrives. It goes on to say that the time for talking should end, the time for doing has arrived, and it's up to everyone to make it happen.

This particular billboard says:
Left Side: In everyone of us is a pacifist
Right Side: I would like to live in a society where no man, be he Muslim or Christian, lives in fear.

There are other billboards with different target messages included in the campaign - some can be seen here on the website.

Power to the People!

Off the beach at Umm Suqeim

Before we again left Dubai for Germany, we were walking Umm Suqeim beach every morning at 7am, enjoying the exercise but not the ever-increasing pollution, and watching the offshore goings-on.

A few weeks ago, a wall was erected along the beach and a company statement from Zabeel Investments announced a 4.5 million square foot project development - much to the collective horror of local and expat residents.

Thankfully, Sheikh Mohammed stepped in and stopped the work - according to sources at Gulf News.

The wall came down, but the activity offshore has not ceased - neither have the onshore offices, (erected on the beach at the port end), been taken away.

In his blog, Life in Dubai, Seabee has been commenting on the whole affair, and recently mentioned the offshore activity still happening at Umm Suqeim Beach.

The tugs are still bringing in barge-loads of sand and muck, and dumping it about 200m off the beach.

They have been joined by 2 dredges - one close to the beach, and the other further out.

Shuttling back and forth under its own engine power, and probably taking core samples, is a little yellow drilling platform which we've seen close to the beach as well as further out in line with The World development.

The work is being carried out by Royal Boskalis Westminster Middle East according to the signage on the buildings. The equipment is probably either owned by them or leased from Gulf Cobla LLC.

What they're doing out there is not known in any certainty, but a thread on Skyscraper.com mentions what we're all thinking - the Zabeel project is still on the go.

Nakheel's New New Island Development

I came across this by chance today.

Dredging contractor Jan De Nul announced back in December 2006 that Nakheel had awarded them a new contract for a new island - called New Island!

It's to be reclaimed 50kms out into the Gulf in 20m deep water and is to be crescent shaped.

Apologies for the poor image - it was taken from the Press Release pdf. In the top left you'll see where the island is going to be located way out into the Gulf and off the Jebel Ali Palm.


In order to be built, the island will require:
~ 3 dredging vessels
~ 1 stone dumping vessel
~ 1 positioning pontoon
~ 29 million m³ of sand
~ 3 million m³ of rock
~ US$115 million (422, 380,000 dirhams)
~ 27 months to complete

Work started on the project in December 2006 and, according to the JDN Press Release, the island's "primary function is to provide shelter for recreational vessels".

So far, the project isn't showing on the Nakheel website.

The Jan De Nul Press Release can be found here.

According to this Wikipedia entry which records the claimed distance, 50kms puts the island outside the UAE maritime contiguous zone. Also see this report which defines the continental shelf boundary between the UAE and Iran.

All this effort and money for a shelter island?

Did I hear someone say casino? (Just a hunch!)

Spiderman on the Burj Al Arab

The cleaning systems on the Burj are a work of engineering art. The cleaning platforms which service the curved façade windows, run on tracks mounted on each side of the windows. Likewise, the platforms on the outer curved support columns run on tracks which can be seen in the above image on the front of the structure.

The side windows are cleaned using a conventional platform suspended from divots mounted on the roof.

The underneath of the helipad has another custom platform which rotates on rails around the underside.

The rest is done by men like this guy - dangling from a rope, using a water-blaster, and praying that the rope doesn't break!

He's got about 200 metres between him and terra firma!