Yesterday I went to a stranger’s wedding as a friend’s +1. It was the most traditional wedding I’d been to in a long time (full catholic wedding mass, painful MC etc). There were also a bunch of differences from US weddings, and I don’t know whether that was Australian or idiosyncratic ( Read more... )

This weekend, I took the train to South Australia (about 60km from Adelaide, at the top of the Barossa Valley wine growing region) to attend a weekend party and burn hosted by my friend David from Burning Seed. I went with limited expectations, and had a really nice time in a variety of surprising ways.( Read more... )

Is a train. Which leaves very early tomorrow. While Dana and I are away, we'll be having our first air BnB guests, which will nearly pay for the trip!

I haven't had much to say about Sydney so far, since I've been (1) busy and (2) without a homebase in which to relax and reflect. Here are some unrelated thoughts ( Read more... )

I'm reading and enjoying an ecological history of Australasia, _the Future Eaters_ by Tim Flannery. I'm only halfway through at this point, just reaching the point of initial human habitation; to date much of the book has been about ecological adaptations to the hard conditions provided by Australia's nutrient poor soils and seas. Kangaroos? ( Read more... )

All in all a reasonably productive trip to Canberra. Not really enough for 2 days, but enough that covering it in 1 day would have been exhausting. Topics ranged all over, so I was glad to have the varied experience that I do--I think my colleague was a bit lost when we veered into price deflators ( Read more... )

Sunday was another day of wandering around Sydney, this time to Surrey Hills, where Jo and I had scrumptious Moroccan food. It's full of trees, and older new orleans -style terraced victorians that mix shops and housing. Definitely getting the sense that I could spend more time here in the future. We got back just in time for me to collect my ( Read more... )

My Saturday started at 430, which was a bit unpleasant. I left by way of the new international terminal, which was pleasantly airy in the pre-dawn light and in no way resembled pumpkins. I love Wellington being my home airport; it's SO easy and pleasant compared to the various US airports I went through a few months back. People were friendly ( Read more... )

I just booked tickets to Brisbane for OzBurn! I think this is the first time I've ever used airpoints for anything substantial...

I'm finally home, and trying to wind down enough to go to bed. Meanwhile, some thoughts ( Read more... )