US Guys

Here is a picture of us from the States who have worked on the project (Oranit is not in the picture, but has been replaced by Brett).
(L-R): Brian (Austin), Me, Lorenzo (Chicago), Joe (Chicago),
Aaron (Seattle), Brett (New Zealand), Jeff (Boston)

Cowabunga Dude

I went down to the Gold Coast over the weekend with Jeff, Joe & Bianca to learn how to surf on Saturday. I couldn't have asked for better weather as it hovered around 30 all weekend! We left after work on Friday night and headed to Surfers Paradise to the apartment we rented for the weekend. Jeff and I stayed out 'till past 4am on Friday and woke up about 3 hours later to head to our surfing lessons. We were paying the price for it the entire car ride down to Coolangatta - even though it was only a 30 minute commute, it felt much longer.

We had some land based instructions (proper feet position, how to balance yourself, how to jump on the board, etc) for about a half hour before we headed to the ocean to catch some waves. Joe & Jeff stood up on their third try, but it took me a couple extra waves to finally stand up. Once I did though, I had no problems after that. To start out, our instructor pushed us onto the waves so we could learn how to properly stand up. After that, we tried to catch our own waves, which proved to be difficult. Overall, it was an absolute blast learning to surf. We spent the remainder of the Saturday day at the beach catching some rays. We were all pretty exhausted after we got back to our rooms, so Saturday night was pretty uneventful.

On Sunday we headed back to the beach for a couple of hours. The three of us guys made the mistake of not applying any sunscreen and now we're all pretty red. I actually have proof that we stood up via pictures & videos.

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This is my last week of work before I head out for two weeks of holiday before heading back to Illinois, so my post will probably be pretty erratic (not that they're consistent now) from here on out. My itinerary is to spend 6 days at Fraser Island and the southern tip of the Barrier Reef (at Lady Musgrave Island) and then back to Brisbane for two days before I head to Hawaii for five days. I should be able to post some pictures once I get back from the reef.

One Down ...

Sorry about the lack of posts this last week or so - I've been lazy. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

Two Saturdays ago we headed out to South Bank for Oktoberfest. It was a long day of German beer and German food, but thankfully the weather was nice and the music was loud. Another American has joined our group - Gene. He's from Dallas, Texas and will be here for a year. We've also picked up a POM (Englishman) too. He wasn't quite able to keep up with us on Saturday as he passed out on the table and had to be escorted out!

This past Friday was Oranit's (OP) last day of work. We can a day-long bbq for her on Saturday where we all ate, drank, and played hacky-sack all day/night long. OP flew out on Sunday morning and is finally back home with her dog (& husband) after three months away.

Jeff, Joe & I are heading down to the Gold Coast this weekend to learn how to surf. Should be interesting. Will write about it next week to let you know if I was actually able to ride some waves.

Be very very quiet, I'm hunting wabbits

Here are some pictures from yesterday:


My birthday card


My t-shirt


My stubby holder



From earlier this morning:
I believe a picture says a thousand words

I Look Like a Monkey and I Smell Like One Too!

Update:
The guys at work got me a birthday cake and a couple of presents for my birthday today - a stubby holder (beer coozy) in the shape of a bikini-clad Aussie girl and a t-shirt with + beer = on the front of it.

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So today is my Australian birthday and tomorrow is my American birthday ... one of the benefits of being overseas is that I can celebrate on two different days.

I've told some, but not others and some have found out through others and not me, so I'm telling everyone now. I will be back in Illinois on Tuesday November 20 and will be back in Chicago on Saturday November 24. My last day of work is November 2 and I will be travelling around Australia and the South Pacific for a while after work.

A Wet and Wild Weekend

**Update: I've updated the photos from the Australia Zoo & Oranit's trip to Cairns**
Some of our group went to the Australia Zoo on Saturday. This is the zoo that used to be ran by Steve Irwin & is still under control by his family. I decided to pass on the zoo, but I am posting a bunch of photos that Craig, Jeff & Lino took during the day.

On Sunday the same group (with me included this time) went down to the Wet n' Wild water park. It was a perfect day for it - sunny but not too hot & humid. We were there until it closed at 5pm, so I was able to ride the better & 'scarrier' slides multiple times.

Also, Oranit & her husband Robert just got back from Cairns (upper Queensland) and I've posted some of her photos that they took while snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef.

There's Always Next Year

So my theory that the Cubs would go far in the playoffs because I'm here in Australia fell apart this weekend after the Cubbies got swept by Arizona. So my new theory is that the reason the Illini are playing well is because I'm here in Australia. Hopefully the football team's end result will be better than the Cubbies.

Thank God for MLB.TV

In about a half hour, I am going to watch the Cubs vs. D'back's Game 2 of the NLDS on a delay becuase a couple of us forked over $25 to watch postseason baseball. This will be the first time in over three months that I will have seen a baseball game. I can't wait! Go Cubs!

'Gay Bomb' for Enemy Soldiers

Taken from the Courier Mail:
The "peace award" presented by the science humour magazine, Annals of Improbable Research, went to an inventor who created a bomb that makes soldiers fall in love with each other.

"Peace Prize" - The Air Force Wright Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio for instigating research and development on a chemical weapon, the so-called "gay bomb," that "will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other". (article)

I'm Still Not As Old As Jess

In case you didn't know (and shame on you if you don't), my birthday is coming up soon - October 11 to be exact. So there's still time to buy me a birthday card and mail it to me. My address here in Brisbane is to the right. If you're too cheap to do that, you can always send me an electronic greeting card or even a simple "Happy Birthday" email.

Frank & Wendy's Weekend Out

This past weekend Jeff, Brett, Donna, Rossyta, Erika & myself went down to Byron Bay - it's about 2 hours south of Brisbane. We left Saturday morning and stopped off at the Gold Coast at a fellow co-worker's home (it's actually her in-laws). This is definitely the largest & most expensive house I have ever been in. It's located on a canal in the Gold Coast - with a jet-ski dock & swimming pool out back - a home theater room with a massive screen, a walk-in fridge, and to top it off ... a yellow Aston Martin convertible. It's an absolutely awesome house.

After stopping off at Olga's, we headed down to Byron Bay. We didn't get into Byron until 4ish, so we only had an hour to spend at the beach on Saturday. After a little swim in the ocean, we showered and had some surf n' turf for dinner and then headed out for drinks. After breakfast on Sunday, we hiked up to the Byron Bay Lighthouse where we ended up at Australia's most Easterly point. This time of year is when humpback whales migrate north, so we were lucky enough to sight a couple of whale's. The remainder of the day was spent at the beach swimming in the ocean and playing around on the beach. Here are the pictures from the weekend.