Bush Tucker!

So today we decided to get away from soul destroying property inspections and general stress, and take the advice of a few folks from work to get out and visit a few places in the “country”. This boiled down to driving for about an hour into the Yarra Glen, and around the Dandenong mountain ranges. Its all very green, and has HUGE and I mean HUGE forests of eucalypts and ash tree’s. It really did look ancient and prehistoric. 

First stop was a place called Sassafras, which is famous for its cream tea’s and Miss Marple’s tea rooms. First problem was finding a parking spot as it was heaving! It was a lovely day today, with sunshine and very few clouds and it seems everyone had the same idea. However, we persevered and found a spot then set out to have a mooch about. Lots of little gift shops, like you used to get in Cornwall etc…. selling bits and bobs and antiques. Sat down for a cream tea and a rest, then onto the next stop which was…..

,,,,,a place called Olinda. No problems finding a parking spot here so got straight into looking around. Couldnt get anywhere near the big Bavarian restaurant (the Cuckoo) but was nice to see what was about. Saw a huge bunch of parrots and cockatoo’s there, which I was excited to see. I still cant believe they just flap about outside!

Final port of call was a pub that had been recommended to me called the Pig and Whistle which was about 10 minutes up the road…and god damn was it worth it. A PROPER english pub, with beer garden outside, fireplace inside and a load of beers and ciders on tap, of which I got to taste none as I was driving! Damn probationary license! Anyway, it didnt stop us sampling the food so for starters we shared a warm crusty sourdough load with balsamic, oil and seasoning for dipping…and its was amazing. I would never have thought just bread could be so good! Then for main, Crook had huge game pie which looked great, and I had roast pork and mash, and the pork was the best pork I think I’ve tasted anywhere! It was so moist and had a real strong flavour. Still got some of it left in a box, as I couldnt polish it all off! We’ll probably go back there as theyre doing a Christmas in July thing where they are serving a traditional Christmas 3 course dinner for $35, and if the quality of todays food was anything to go by, it will be fantastic!

So after the last stop we made our way back, on a different road which had some absolutely stunning views and scenery. This forest really has to be seen to be believed. We got all excited when we saw road caution signs for “Wombats Crossing” and “Caution: Kangaroo’s Ahead”!!! However, we saw neither, but even the mention of their proximity was exciting! It really has felt like we’ve been on a mini-holiday today – we’ve both really enjoyed ourselves. Lets hope its the first of many trips into the country!

I did try to post some live updates via Twitter, but there was no phone reception in the mountains, unsurprisingly. For those that dont know, even if I dont make a full blog post, its worth checking back to see if my Twitter bit on the right has been updated. The main page will not change but more messages on the Twitter box will keep appearing. Also, dont worry if it doesnt work straight away – Ive noticed it takes up to an hour from when I make a Twitter post to when it appears on my blog. If the Twitter box on my blog is broken, or its not updated, you can still click on the Twitter title over the box and it will take you to the actual Twitter site, where you will see updates as they happen. Hope that clears things up – Im off to get changed into my “lounge suit” and make a cuppa! Have fun!

ps – Ive added some photo’s to Photoshop Express and Facebook, so click the links on the right to have a look!

Less Ache. More Mario. More House.

Well for once, a fair amount has happened since my last post. On Saturday, we spent most of the day in and around St Kilda, looking for houses, and going to inspections. Its all good practice for when we do come to buy a place, and it also gives us more of a feel for which areas are good, bad or indifferent. Went to a lovely place on the seafront that is within our price range, but it (and nearly all of the places we visited) all have their auction dates pretty soon, so we probably wont be able to bid. However, thats not the point of the exercise. What is heartening is that the sellers seem to be getting jittery about a the poor market conditions, and are knocking money off properties. Im sure when we looked a few weeks ago there was very little in our price range, but now theres a ton of stuff. All nice 2 bedroom properties in decent suburbs, and most of them would be up for consideration, had we the finances to bid. Its what we’ve sent most of today doing too, taking in 3 properties in the area. Very nice. Although its been 35 degrees hot so walking around has been energy sapping. 

Went round a mates house from work yesterday after our house hunting, for a few drinks and a meal. It was all very sophisti-ma-cated with high brow banter and everything. Very posh! Had some nice wine and some tasty beer and got to give his dog a fuss. Didnt drink too much though as I knew I had to be up early for my driving lesson this morning. All went well, which is good as I thought I may have been a bit rusty after no lessons for 2 weeks. To be brutally honest it was a bit boring. We just drove around for 90 minutes, not really learning anything. i shouldnt moan really, as its all good practice for my actual test. 

Played a  lot more Mario Galaxy today and it really is one of my favourite games of the past few years. Its just so much fun, its really addictive and you always want to see whats on the next level. Its unabashed merriment and I dont care if its seen as a bit childish. I think ive pretty much had it for now with realism in games. Fun is where its at, and as such, I’ll probably take my Brothers advice and buy Beautiful Katamari for 360 too. No bloody deaths, no “gritty urban environments”, no frustration, no “fiendishly clever A.I.” just pure unadulterated fun. 

Plans for the week…..I was going to go into work tomorrow but after looking at the bus timetables, I find that there is NO publice trasnport going anywhere near Boeing, so Im going to have to give it a miss. Maybe next public holiday, if they want me to work, they can pay for a taxi – we’ll see. Not sure what we will get up to tomorrow though. Becca goes to her volounteer work on Tuesday, Ive got more badminton on that day too, Wednesday we’re seeing Maximo Park, Thursday Ive got off, got a haircut and got my hazard perception test. Crook has a job interview (fingers crossed), then and Friday the chaps from work have a social thing going on in Port Melbourne so will get to meet some more people from work.  After that, its another solid weekend of inspections – should be really good. Ive thoroughly enjoyed this weekend, as its always good to look round other peoples places! 

As a parting shot, have a look at this video. Thanks to B3ta for bringing it to my attention, and for making me laugh my arse off at it! Enjoy! 

Is this gonna be a standup fight, sir, or another bughunt?

So, not much has happened between now and yesterday, so here are the highlights. I did indeed have a shower last night, but no shave. Becca enjoyed Knit Club, and was back early, thanks to a super fast tram. I went to bed, got up, went to work, had a good day, and came home ok. See…..uneventful. So to while away the time, I’ll post one of those good piccies I promised last week. But first…..a story to accompany it.

Last week, we noticed that we started gettting the odd ant in our kitchen, which we werent really surprised about thanks to the lack of double glazing, no windows that actually fit properly in their frames and the fact that were on the ground floor! So I started dustbustering them up. However, this soon became tiresome, so off to Safeway we went to buy some hardcore ant annihilator. We decided on some spray that you put on the floor, and if they cross it, they die, and a kind of poison trap thing that the ants eat, take back to the nest, and whole nest gets nuked. We did a quick test of the spray and it worked a treat – it was like the ants were walking “out of the play area” in Halo or something – a slow sapping of the health until death ensues. On reflection though, we’d prefer to wipeout the nest so we put a poison trap down, and god damn if it wasnt like tasty magical ant-elixir to the little shits. They were swarming all over it, lapping it up and scurrying back to their home. We got slightly alarmed as it attracted more, and more and more ants so we put a ring of insta-kill spray around it, to stop any greedy, poison-high ants having a wander around our kitchen to see what else they could eat. The following day, we noticed our ant visitors had reduced significantly, and the day after they had stopped. Nest successfully nuked! My only 2 regrets are that we didnt have an Attenburrugh style ant-cam showing Barry, the happy little ant taking back his pickings to the grateful Queen only to see the lot of them keel over and peg it! Muhahahahaaaaa! My only other regret is that the actual Queen death wasnt as dramatic as the box made out…..

 

I wanted to see a large bulbous red ant, lying on its back, being continually struck by vicious looking red lighting bolts from the heavens.  Maybe if Id had ant-cam, I could have witnessed this spectacle. Oh, and 10 points to anyone who got the Aliens quote in the post title. Minus 10 points to Andy if you DIDNT get it!

The Transvestite & Sheep Post……

OK, a proper post today, so lets start with yesterday. Driving was uneventful at best. Slow speed manouvres are still a bit of a pin, but other than that everything is going swimmingly . Got 4 weeks to my test so not really that long considering Im only having 1 lesson a week. After driving, we went to see Priscilla, which if Im perfectly honest, I wasnt really looking forward to. I thought the film was a 7/10, I dont like theatre, and I like musicals even less, but a promise is a promise so I had to go. However, I soon changed my tune when it started. It was a good laugh, faithful to the movie, had great sets and outfits, the musical numbers were (mostly) out straight out of the film so were at least memorable and the performances were great. I dont think even the most cold hearted people could have failed to love it – was thoroughly enjoyable! Thinking about going to see Spamalot now, but I think my brief venture into theatrical hijinks will end there.

Today, has been a pretty routine day. Up early for work, had another enjoyable day ACTUALLY getting stuff done and completing jobs that I started. So unlike all of my previous experiences in engineering. 

Oh, I promised a review of Black Sheep too, so here it goes. Its fairly good. Next….! The whole film has a similar feel to Peter Jacksons early films in the sense that its humourous, gory and preposterous…so all good then! My only criticism is that it bogs down in a few places, whereas Jacksons films were relentless non stop affairs. Saying that though, if youre a fan of B-movie schlock horror its worth watching. Id give it a 6.5 out of 10.  

 

Beccas gone to Knit Club tonight so got the place all to myself. So far Ive done crazy things like….eat food! Watch Primeval! Do the washing up! And shortly……..I will be……..having a shave……..and….a…..shower!!!! oooooooooooooooooo! In other news, have you heard australian magpies – theyre great – nowt like UK magpies – have a listen.  And you can check it out anywhere if you dont believe me – Becca thought I was mad when I told her I heard that noise come from a  magpie!

  

And finally…..thanks to the B3ta newsletter for this awesome find. A great website dedicated to Camp Records, purveyor of groovy 60’s gay pop records! My favourites include “Mixed Nuts” (check out the lyrics), “Im so wet”, “Leather Jacket Lovers” and “Florence of Arabia”. However for sheer jaw dropping excellence, feast your ears on “Homer, the happy little homo”. I kid you not! Quite a catchy tune too!