Can't think of a title

Sorry I haven't updated the blog for over a month. I have been very busy at work trying to study for GST Training conference and 2 internal training exams. It's hard to juggle things; thankfully I'm not doing CA yet (did I say that I possibly could...?)

Anyhow, it's been hard not being able to go to CBF City North (since it coincides with Group training). It's been encouraging meeting a few Christians at KPMG and praying with the former CILers. It's hard to keep things in focus when deadlines and demanding bosses come into the fray but, such are the challenges that God has placed before us.

In the last month, other than go to work, I've:

- walked across the Harbour Bridge with A and her parents for the Bridge's 75th anniversary
- watched CAAAARRRRRRLTON win the NAB Cup and rd 1 against Richmond (!!!)
- watched Sydney lose to West Coast by a point :)
- watched Arsenal slump into a heap in the English Premier League and go crashing out of the Champions League...
- bought a few more CD's - some classical - but in the Christian scene - Sovereign Grace Live (pretty good!), Paul Baloche "Greater Song" (good!), Casting Crowns "Lifesong" (very good!).
- been to an Idea of North gig
- misplace my SSO tickets (LOL!)

What am I actually doing at work? I've had a lot of people ask me this question - and in short, I work in the Trade and Customs (with smatterings of GST work) section - there are exactly 4 people in this practice and I'm obviously at the bottom. However, I've been to a couple of client meetings already and that's all been very interesting. I'm finding business writing completely different to essay writing and it's quite liberating having to only write dot points :)

I suppose I should sign off...i'm really tired...the Easter holiday has come as a much needed respite from the busyness of work...

It's begun

Well, working life has begun.

And I was warned, and I'm glad that I was warned. Full-time secular work is dangerous. It is dangerous spiritually, it is dangerous mentally, it is dangerous emotionally and it is dangerous physically.

KPMG flew us down to Melbourne for NGI- National Graduate Indoctrin...oops Induction. Every single graduate (499 in all) met at Flemington race course to be indoctrinated by the 4 blue squares - and its accompanying troupe of CEO, national managing partners in the 3 divisions of Audit, Tax and Advisory to find out how PwC are the biggest, but KPMG is the best amongst other things.

I met a lot of fellow grads, particularly in tax and at tax camp afterwards. It was good to get to know some non-Christian people and they are valuable colleagues and gospel harvest. Tax camp in particular was challenging in straddling the line between being all things to all men and having the gospel shining through us.

Work has been really hard and I'm getting really tired easily but such are the challenges that God throws at us. It makes us stronger. I had a great gospel conversation with my senior on the first day - it started with a "what's planned for the weekend?" - he lives in Caringbah which is on the same line and we talked for about 30-40 minutes on the way to the station and on the train. Do pray for him, he used to go to church but fell away.

I'm getting very tired very easily, so I've tried to do more exercise and sleeping earlier (I don't know how effective it is but it's 11:06pm and I should sleep...

The final weeks of being a gentleman of leisure...

I guess being a gentleman of leisure has its downsides. Life tends to be boring without a regular routine. I have, however, been trying to fill it up by making appointments to see doctors, optometrists, dentists (argh!) etc before I start work since I know that after I start, there's precious little time to get all that done.

It's also relaxing, playing games of Call of Duty online, playing EA Cricket, watching cricket, playing golf, catching up with friends, catching up with more friends and going to Canberra with A to see the Egyptian exhibits from the Louvre and discussing with A which mission we'll go to.

And to the Cowra-rites, it's with deep regret that I've decided not to join you guys on Breakout '08. It was a really hard decision and a lot of factors were taken into consideration. I am sad about leaving Cowra; the '07 team was a very strong, committed and servant-hearted group of people. However, because it is so strong, I believe that the future of Breakout (under the Lord) is strong and the ministry will continue to be faithful. I shall continue to pray for you guys but I'll be going to Gunnedah to serve the Lord there.

That's the latest news on the C.Lo front - i have some new glasses! Have a look - thanks to A for taking the picture - I like it!

For all you photo geeks:
Photo 1 (Black Mountain)

Metering - Matrix

Length - 80mm

Aperture - f/11

Shutter - 1/200th

Photo 2 (Portrait)

Metering - Matrix

Length - 80mm
Aperture - f/3.5
Shutter - 1/500th

Cowra, Cricket and well...not much else

Well, it's taken time to recover from my trip to the US. But I didn't get any time to do that, cos I ended up plunging into the full-on-"ness" that is Cowra Summer Breakout. Most of you probably know about it but in case you don't, it's an event run by the Presbyterian and Baptist churches in Cowra every January to promote the gospel in the town. This year I did Adeos - which is basically 18 to 80 (or 100+ as you'll find out).

A typical morning at Adeos involved washing up the team's breakfast and getting coffee ready for the parents of kids who stuck around to watch their kids learning from the very energetic Concert Time. It involved talking to mums who enjoy the great coffee served up by Morro and hopefully bringing the gospel to them. Obviously, you can't just launch straight into the gospel without having time to understand where they come from.

Talking to different people about their lives is tiring. But it's the first thing we must do if we are to present the gospel. We cannot just go through 2 Ways to Live with them. It's not loving to just ram the gospel down their throats without regard to a person's life situation. We're dealing with people here, some of whom may have had really difficult lives - only after learning about these circumstances do we gain an understanding of what aspect of the gospel is going to be their stumbling block.

The hardest thing for me was giving a talk to the people at the nursing homes, particularly at Weeroona which is a palliative care institution. But, the gospel is no less relevant at these places, if not more so since time is limited. It's hard to know how much will sink in but the Holy Spirit is powerful and only the Lord knows whether these people have accepted him or not. There were people ranging from 60-odd to over 100 (I wanted to see his letter from the Queen!!!) but in general it was a little depressing, the consequences of the Fall are all too obvious.

Will I be back next year? Still deciding and discussing with A. Prayers appreciated.

Home! (and what happened in San Francisco)

Well, our drive from Vancouver to Seattle was pretty good - it rained a lot, the border crossing was busy (1 hour wait) but the scenery was good. Interstate 5 was really nice.

Took a detour off I-5 to Paine Field, home of Boeing's factory, the largest in the world. The place is really quite humongous but it's a plane nut's favourite place. Place was quiet on a Saturday before Christmas but I can imagine it being rather frantic during the week.

Dad then tried to find Microsoft (he's in IT after all...), we found it and to be honest, it's not that impressive. Looks like something you'd find at Macquarie Park. We flew back to San Francisco, no dramas, Alaska Airlines are quite good, albeit landed about 30 minutes late due to a late departure from Sea-Tac.

San Francisco - awesome city! Which is more beautiful, the Bay or Sydney Harbour? It's a tough one because the hills around the Bay make the view more accessible. The problematic thing is that the Bay is usually foggy, which obscures the tremendous view.

An aunt and her daughter live here - my cousin's kids thought 'he [that is me) speaks funny'. Does that sound like an Ameri-centric education to you?

We got taken everywhere, stuffed full of food (I had a sushi buffet on the last day before I left), shopped (I bought a whole heap of work clothes - 2 suits, 5+ shirts and ties - all cheaper than Oz), ate more food, went up Twin Peaks, ate more food, went shopping on Fisherman's Wharf (tourist trap!), ate more food, rode the cable car, ate more food.

It's like "you're young, so eat more!" Don't they get it? I'm overweight already and I'm not American and I'm 24, which isn't that young! Grr...

I really enjoyed my time there - was good to spend time with nice relatives who chauffeur-drove us around. We went on a day trip to Monterey and 17 Mile Drive - saw one of my favourite golf courses in the world, Pebble Beach - $USD450 a round, I'd do it next time. The fairways were so lush and so green *sigh*.

14 hour flights really bug me. They're painful, particularly when I can only fly economy class - the legroom is painful and I get numb. I'm glad I'm not taller (or fatter) - though I did get fatter in my month over there - there was a noticeable decrease in waistroom...

All in all, a great trip! But I'm still jet-lagged... someone called me a sleepy head this morning :(

Rain, rain, why won't it rain in Australia?

I wish it rained in Australia more. We've been praying about it at church for awhile. The mission I go on goes to a town that is unbelievably dry and I've never seen the town dam more than 24% full.

Why does it rain so much in Vancouver and Seattle and so little in Australia? Only God knows.

Vancouver was fun - sort of - it rained a lot and meant that I couldn't get many good photographs and didn't see much. I wish I had more time there in order to get to Whistler but I didn't get the chance, Dad had friends and relatives to see. I managed to buy a lot of CD's at Sikora's Classical Records (lots of Strauss, Mozart and Dvorak - no Mahler!!!) at pretty cheap prices (30% off).

Vancouver's a very picturesque city with a great location and a laid back atmosphere. It also has the worst traffic this side of Los Angeles and the peak hour traffic is appalling at best and gridlocked at worst. The 2 major bridges, Lions' Gate and Second Narrows, north of Vancouver have 3 lanes and 6 lanes respectively. Considering the 3 lane bridge is the closest one to downtown, it creates unbelievable chaos - even worse is the fact that the speed limit in the city is 50km/h!!! Over the bridge, it's 60. SLOW.......

Dad got to drive but I couldn't because Seattle in Washington state does not let people under the age of 25 drive. Eh well, it was the same car that I hired in Boston - so a big, wallowing, gas-guzzling V8 Mercury Grand Marquis. At least it had comfy seats.

Washington state is really beautiful - the fir trees that line Interstate 5 are pretty. Mountains pop in and out of view of the trees and of the clouds, they were snow-capped and cloud-covered.

Flew back to San Francisco on the 23rd - took the cable car, went to Fisherman's Wharf, went up Twin Peaks blah blah - all the tourist stuff is great, but it's been good seeing my cousin and her husband my first cousins once removed, as well as my aunt and uncle. Dad has met a friend he hasn't seen for 35 years and they drove us around the place.

I'm stuffed after a steamboat Christmas dinner, so I'm going to sign off. I haven't had turkey, ham or anything like for Christmas hehe - we had yum cha for lunch!

Time to hitch a ride to San Francisco...

Again with apologies to the BeeGees, but I'm in San Francisco.

Well, it's been a week since I blogged and I've been updating my past posts with pictures and the like, hopefully that's been helpful.

Well, I loved Boston - ate at Legal Seafoods too many times (4 times) but it's a Boston icon, so why not? I explored Harvard University with Dave and Armanda, a couple from church, it was nice to meet up with them and to get some local knowledge.

My museum "pilgrammage" continued with visits to the JFK Library and Museum - really well done in portraying his life from babyhood to 22 November 1963 - tastefully reduced to a mere minute of footage and none from the infamous Zapruder film.

It's the most liveable city I visited on the East Coast in my opinion. Sure the traffic is appalling, something I experienced firsthand whilst day tripping to historic Lexington (see left) and Concord, but it's a really pretty place. I picked up a car on Thursday 14 December in preparation for my trip to Albany, I was given a Lincoln Grand Marquis V8 (see below). It looks like a cop car and it handles like one. It had steering as light as a feather (could park it with one finger) and the front seats were so big, it was like sitting in a sofa and travelling at 65mph.

Albany was frustrating staying with my aunt. I don't want to talk anymore about it.

Drove back to Boston with Dad in this tank - got lost in Boston because I took a shortcut - but ended up ok.

Flight to San Francisco was alright - it was American Airlines, it was bumpy crossing the Rockies but otherwise a pretty standard flight. Completely full, no empty seats and babies crying all over the place; it is holiday season after all.

Have arrived at my cousin's place which is in a nice part of town, and it's close to the airport which is a bonus. Dad and I fly to Seattle to pick up a car to drive to Vancouver tomorrow. I wonder what car we'll get this time...

I will try to blog from Vancouver, but I'm not able to blog, then I wish you all a safe, fun and Christ-filled Christmas.

If I'm going back to Massachussetts...

I used to be (and still am) a huge BeeGees fan, I used to listen to them everyday on the way to school (dad used to drive me cos we both had to go to the city).

Anyhow, I'm in Boston now and although I've only been here a little while, I really like it.

My 2 nights in New York were great, 1 spent in Carnegie Hall and the other at the Metropolitan Opera. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pierre Boulez (a very sprightly 81 years old) gave a beautifully balanced, controlled and powerful performance of Mahler 7. The acoustics in Carnegie Hall are quite incredible. The sound was "immediate", the richness of tone and clarity, even in the bass puts the Sydney Opera House to shame. Really. The SOH is awful. And the Sydney Symphony in comparison to these orchestras is, sorry to say, awful as well.

The sound must be heard to be believed, I heard the Vienna Philharmonic in September and these orchestras are in the same league.

A teacher from Grammar was also in NYC so we met up at the concerts and had supper afterwards. The first night, we went to Carnegie Deli, arguably the most famous restaurant in NYC. It's on 55th and 7th (Street and Avenue respectively - gotta get with the lingo) and serves the most obscene (quantity-wise) amount of corned beef on a corned beef sandwich. There is no way anyone could finish it (but some do and no wonder America has a weight problem).

I went to hear a performance of Puccini's La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera (hereafter known as the 'Met') on Saturday night. I wasn't an opera fan, I dunno why, it never seemed to register with me, in addition, tickets seem exorbitant compared to orchestral concerts. However, I think I'm converted to the opera cause. The sets were astounding, during Act II, the set would have had 100 people on it - the chorus and supers as well. Incredible detailing of the Parisian street scenes. The Act III set was equally impressive, complete with snow. The singing was of the highest calibre and the drama very convincing. There was a standing ovation, which given the frequency with which the opera is performed and the fact that the work is so well-known, gives you some idea of how great a performance it was.

The second night we went to the Benash Deli - just opposite Carnegie Deli - the pizzas looked awful but tasting them, we found them rather delectable. I then ordered the famous New York cheese cake and safely can describe it is quite something. It's not particularly sweet, it is very rich but it is deeply satisfying, it has a most wonderful aroma and a melt-in-your-mouth texture, the base was not crumbly but held together by a lot of grease (shudder!) but superbly complemented the quite-savoury top layer. Anyone going to New York, give it a try - 55th and 7th - opposite Carnegie Deli.

I went to Calvary Baptist Church on Sunday morning, which was a multi-cultural service (a mixture of Asians, Caucasians and African Americans) - the preaching was average, it was biblical but didn't have great exegesis. It seemed to be more of an in-and-out church, not many people stuck around afterwards.

I took the 2:03pm Acela Express out of New York to Boston, the train was sold out - NY Penn Station was a shambles, the Regional Service to Washington DC on the next platform was also booked to capacity and rumours were that people would have to stand up for the 3 hour trip to DC. I sat next to a nice gentleman from Boston who told me about the best places to eat and so on and so forth, very useful. He'd been to Australia 3 times so we talked about that. Adelaide he described as a "dead city"...

I love Boston. I love the juxtaposition of the old and the new; it's even better done than Philadelphia. I'm staying a block from the Boston Common, the oldest park in America (dating from 1634) and I've walked the Freedom Trail, which basically is a tourist walk with all the historical sites along it. Boston has done it really well because they paint this red line that you follow. There are parts when it goes to red brick - either way it's extremely easy to follow and a fantastic do-it-yourself walking guide.

I'm going to Back Bay and Beacon Hill (sort of like the Mosman or Paddington of Boston) - a lot of history tied up there as well.

Hope to hear from some of you - I'm having a great time but what's happening with you people in Sydney?

Washington DC - Capital of the Free World (!?)

I commented on the history of Philadelphia previously, Washington DC is a completely different place. It's newer but it's more important. Not only does it look more important, it feels more important. People stride about with far more purpose than in Philly.

Though I enjoyed the laidback style of Philly, the Washington humdrum is exciting in its unique way. Traffic is atrocious, walking is faster than driving at 5pm at night and there are police and fire trucks EVERYWHERE, car horns are used with abandon and it's never quiet.

Except on the Mall.

The Mall contains some of America's most "sacred" memorials. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial (see photo right), the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument (the pointy photo). If America does anything besides steaks and ribs well, it's symbolism and connecting their history with their present and future. Americans have a great understanding of their history, where they have come from as a nation and although this has meant they think America is the only place on Earth (again stereotyping), they know and love their country.

Quite simply, Australians know very little about their own country. We might criticise Americans for not knowing about the rest of the world, but for goodness sake, I think far too many Australians know too little about our own history. How come we keep moaning that Australia has no history and yet we don't think America has no history even though it's a scant 100 years or so older? It's because we haven't braced our past and instead try to ignore it - to our detriment I believe.

Anyhow, how is my rant relevant? Well, the historical sites and clamour to reclaim sites because of their historical purpose has generated huge amounts of tourism and fascination. To illustrate this, I'll talk about Mt Vernon.

Mt Vernon was George Washington's estate. He inherited from his father and then older brother and now it has become a bit of a national shrine to the man himself, particularly as he is buried along with his wife in a tomb on the estate. The mansion which has this most wonderful view over the Potomac River has been restored so carefully, it has about 40% original furniture in it. Fat chance of Edmund Barton's house being kept up to date.

That aside, I've been to the major Washington attractions, the notable exception being the museum I most wanted to see, the Smithsonian Museum of American History - which has been closed for renovations until 2008 - GRRR!!!! The National Air and Space Museum is really quite incredible - the amount of detail and the care with which they've designed the exhibits is astounding. They've hung World War II fighter planes from the roof and have a display cabinet carrying every single type of aerial ammunition used by the major air forces in World War II. They have an original Lunar Module that was used as a backup for Aldrin and Armstrong - and other remarkable things - and of course, the 1903 Wright Flyer.

It's an easy city to navigate around - I wish Sydney was like this. Streets are numbered and lettered - the higher the number and letter the further you are from the Capitol - easy.

It's supposed to snow tonight (30% chance) and I'm train-ing to New York, so your prayers are appreciated. The wind coming off the Potomac River is very very sharp - and walking to the Jefferson Memorial and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial was very very cold.

Philly and Washington DC

This trip has been an eye-opening experience. I guess there's the stereotype we have of Americans, that they drive big cars, they eat big and they are big around their waistline. Well, as much as I hate placing people into stereotypes, it couldn't be closer to the truth.

The Yanks serve huge portions of food. I went to this place in Philly last night, and being a tapas place, I thought I could eat 2 plates worth. I ordered some lobster mashed potatoes that was piled higher than Mt Everest and a crab pad thai that was bigger than Canada. And they called that tapas!!!!!.....

Fortunately their "bigness" extends to some good things. I went to Tenth Presbyterian Church in Delancey St Philly and it was a traditional Presy service. Good solid, exegetical preaching with hymns accompanied by a full brass choir (at least 5 piece) and timpani and tubular bells - pretty much orchestral in nature - was quite inspiring. Bigger can be better after all. I was welcomed by an American sitting next to me in the pew, that was encouraging - he has a son in Australia - in "Mell-BORN".

I then went to the Philadelphia Orchestra - a boyhood dream fulfilled. One of the greatest orchestras in the world - it was a pity they only did Mozart, so they couldn't unleash their full power, but their delicacy shone out yesterday. Superb ensemble in a hall that leaves Sydney for dead. Sydney's exterior may be awesome, but any musician worth his/her salt knows that the Opera House Concert Hall's acoustics are deadset awful. The Verizon Hall in the new Kimmel Center [sic] for the the Performing Arts is a modern classic, wonderfully detailed on the inside with great sight-lines and clear acoustics. What a hall! And to think they're doing Sprach there on Thursday night........grrr

Washington DC is freezing - my legs went numb, I couldn't feel them walking through the Mall this afternoon. Plenty of tourists around, and plenty of people wanting me to help them take photos. I hate shooting with point and shoots though - i find them harder to use than an SLR. Grr.....

I lost my beanie too - dropped it whilst trying to wrestle my bag out of the doors of a train on the Washington Metro. Not happy!

I'm looking forward to the Smithsonian museums tomorrow - should be awesome - and a tour to Mt Vernon on Wednesday, that will be great.

Blog Restarted - for the USA!

It's been ages since I blogged and this seems to be the only way to keep my written communication other than spam emails which I can do because I have free wireless internet at my hotels in Philly and Washington DC (hereafter referred to as DC).

I flew into NY's JFK airport with the plane running an hour late from Los Angeles - not unusual, and spending 30 mins taxiing to the gate (again not unusual). Took the bus into Manhattan, was dropped off at Grand Central Terminal (out came the camera) and i found a taxi that took me to the YMCA Westside.

The YMCA Westside is a very interesting property. Having just spent 2 nights there, I'd prefer not to have to stay there again, the decor is pretty basic - but it does have all the TV you could want - including NCAA games, Fox, CNN, Weather Channel (enthralling watching - really is - proved very useful) blah blah.

A lot of Poms frequent the place, their accent is sooooo not like mine, I sometimes wonder how these Yanks confuse my accent with Poms. Honestly! I went to a "drugstore" and they're like,

"You from England?"
"Nah"
"You Chinese yeah?"
"Sort of"
"Where you from?"
"Australia"
"How come you don't speak like Chinese? Where are ya folks?"
"They moved to Australia a long time ago"
"Oh..."

I did a lot of walking - from 63rd Street and 8th Avenue to 54th street, then up to 57th, across 9 avenues to 1st avenue to see the Queensboro bridge (there you go Anna! :D) - then down to 44th St where the UN Headquarters are. I got there early so I walked down to 42nd and Lexington to take pictures of the Chrysler Building, my favourite building (in aesthetic terms). I then went back to the UN and took a tour. There was a session of the General Assembly taking place and so was able to sit in for about 5 minutes - it was about the Syrian, Lebanon conflict - (there you go Pete, something to aspire to!)

I went lens shopping at 33rd and 9th Avenue at B&H, probably the largest photographic store in the world - they are huge, taking up an entire NY City block. I bought a macro lens there, 2nd hand, yes, but in immaculate condition.

The NYPO was fantastic, but I was so tired that i did start to nod off at times - dunno why, maybe the Mozart was so dreamy that I almost went into la-la land? Salome was fantastic - I stayed awake for that - so it must have been the Mozart.

I find New Yorkers a friendly lot, they're pretty good when people ask for directions and all and without sounding like Holden Caulfield and all. Customer service is non-existent in the States, have to deal with rude people all the time. I suppose if the work is menial etc, then people get a bit nasty.

Anyhow, I should sleep, it's midnight here and I have to do the Philadelphia tourist stuff today (I went to Liberty Bell this arvo).

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Gee whiz...

I haven't blogged for ages, so to all my fans, I'm sorry. Things have been rather hectic and there have been lots of things going on in my life. Uni, piano students, various other things...those who me will know what and who I'm talking about.:)

I'm getting quite tired and crashed today, was almost late for church due to my arvo nap. But at least I wasn't too tired for church tonight. Mat preached on John 12 and it was encouraging to be told that the cross tells us who God's people are; God's people are identified by the Cross.

Stuart our youth pastor is leaving in a couple of weeks, he has been an excellent YP for us over the last 3 years. May we continue to build on what you have shown us in your 3 years here.

Could be out of a job soon but that's another story, I'll update you all on that when that happens.

But it's always good to remember that there are always people worse off in the world and it is loving to be praying for them and not be self-piteous because things happen for a reason. God has his purposes and we can learn and are to learn from the situations that He places us in. I have realised that this year and the people He has surrounded me with this year have been instrumental in that.

If you're one of them, I want you to know that I have been really encouraged and feel very blessed that the Lord has placed you in my path to help me in my journey. May you help keep me on the straight and narrow and enter through the narrow gate. Thank you for praying for me and being there for me, particularly during the difficult weeks in April (see blog for April).

*Sigh*

Well, I could be facetious and say I don't blog much anymore because no one comments on it but that's ok...that's not the real reason.

I'm just too tired to blog much anymore.

Because most of my life revolves around uni - if you want to read stuff about uni, you can go to Jeff's blog at http://jelification.blogspot.com

In short, I'm tired. I had an ingrown toe nail operation today as well...that was pretty painful...3 local anaesthetic needles (woohoo!)

Anyhow...CIL Steamboat evangelistic was nice - my photos turned out badly though (too much f-stop)...

Melbourne, Adelaide, MYC and Uni

I haven't blogged for ages. I've had better things to do quite frankly :P

Melbourne and Adelaide was great - if a little cold and wet and windy. I flew Qantas (QF in IATA speak) on Thursday 7 July and "enjoyed" a roast chicken panini and Multi-V juice. Now I'm one of those who actually enjoys airline food, but QF has descended to another low with this thing. The roast chicken and stuffing occupied about 60% of the surface area of the roll. The lettuce covered the rest. It was reasonable tasting but gone are the days of two course hot lunches on Melbourne flights. I'm not complaining though, for $66 total airfare and 1000 frequent flyer (FF) points to boot.

Arrived in Melbourne, and it was a weird feeling going to the place and doing the same things I was doing the day before mum died. Same bus, same destination, it was difficult. Thanks to my support crew who kept me in their prayers. Good way to exorcise demons, figuratively; realistically it was a good way to allay the fears I've had - I was scared of flying since my last flight was so awful, I was scared of a lot of things.

Went to my accomodation, thanks Liz for the accomodation - cheap as chips in East Melbourne. Had Fox Footy (woohoo!) - went to The Cat Empire at the Prince of Wales in St Kilda that night. They were fantastic, support band was awful though (Symbiosis they were called...avoid unless you like over played music that's so loud that your ears are shot before you listen to the main act. Cat Empire live are better than on record, there's something visceral about their performing style.

Went to Carlton training on Friday arvo - thanks to Brendan Fevola and Andrew Walker for taking pictures with me, I'll publish those at a later date.

Lygon St for Italian on Friday night - at the Cafe Corrente....i'm still full from it, particularly the Italian Hot Chocolate at Brunetti's.

Met Ros and Al at Spencer St on Saturday morning. Walked about Queen Vic market - and went to Cafe Corrente and Brunetti's AGAIN (I'm addicted can't you tell??). Michael W Smith was fantastic at night.

Went to the footy on Sunday, Carlton got smashed by St Kilda (woohoo - draft picks!) but I managed to score Medallion Club tickets from my cousin (thanks Adrian) at Telstra Dome.

Adelaide was non-descript - except spending a day with Mecka, my Tanzanian pastor friend, that was great, and an evening with Tim and Gill Haslam, who were in Musoma while I was in Africa.

MYC was great...read Jeff's blog on http://jelification.blogspot.com for a run down of the talks.

And Uni's started....erk

One of the great icons in the world. The Sydney Opera House in its evening glory. It's possibly a more beautiful building at night than during the day, though it might be because I go there at night usually to watch the Sydney Symphony. This was taken with my toy zoom (the affectionate name for my 28-100mm G lens) set at 90mm at 30 seconds exposure at f8. Taken from the same location as the previous one with the two sandstone rocks. 

The 5th location for my "expedition" was just under the Harbour Bridge. If you look carefully at the bottom left and right you will see two pieces of sandstone. They are in focus and made by my 24mm f2.8D lens (thanks to Denise for courier-ing this back for me from HK). 

The 3rd location for my film shoot was Observatory Hill but those ones didn't quite turn out because there was low cloud. This 4th location was on Walsh Bay and is an attempt to capture the lights of North Sydney. Notice the Harbour Bridge curling towards the focal point of the picture just left of Luna Park (that big bright yellow light in the middle of the picture). Taken with 24mm f2.8D on its side. 

Word of warning re: Harbour pics

Just a word of warning. Since they were posted by Picasa they are not as sharp as they could otherwise be, they may be better viewed by saving them onto your computer and then viewing at 50% or 100% using Picture Viewer in MS Explorer.

Yes, I did mention I like photos didn't I?

One of the world's great sights in all its night glory. Sorry about the left pylon being brighter than the right; that's because there was extra lighting on the left pylon for the sake of the unions, who had paid for (I assume) advertising space to spread recognition for their battle against the Howard government's proposed Industrial Relations reforms.

Being able to take such a picture really makes you marvel at the natural beauty of the harbour that God has bestowed so graciously to us.