New Years Eve, just got back from Sydney, what better time to reflect on the past year. Year 11 has been a tumultuous year, with huge highs and massive lows. Some of the highlights:
- World Cup and consequential moments: Australia qualifying for second round, Zidane's headbutt, etc.
- Holiday in Canberra and Sydney: had what could be classified as a good time.
- Clarinet exam: fluke or no fluke, I liked the result.
- Meeting new friends, hanging with old ones: you know who you are.
- Finding my groove: don't worry, I know what I mean.
- Finding out I actually passed Year 11. I actually didn't get expelled.
Some definite lowlights:
- Exams. Just school exams in general.
- Australia crashing out of the World Cup. Almost cried.
- Homework overload. I'm sure you've all experienced it.
- I'm sure there's some more, I had a lot a few moments ago.
Thanks to all my friends (haha, I hear you say) and family for a generally great 2006. Hope next year's a lot better than this one. Go enjoy the fireworks now and have yourselves a great new year.
Sunday 31 December 2006
Saturday 30 December 2006
Sydney, a day
Reporting live from Sydney:
First stop today: the Chinese Garden. A great place, full of lizards, plants, a lake, trees, ducks and lizards.
We then took a ferry to the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. I think it's a bit over-rated, but it's still worth going to.
I've noticed that people in Sydney think nothing of bowling you over. They just keep walking. They also seem to find it very hard to say 'excuse me' or 'sorry'. Maybe I'm just being to general and forming my opinions based on a few bad people, but I seem to keep meeting bad people.
So anyway, I'll be back in Melbourne tomorrow, probably in time to watch the fireworks. Wish I could have stayed in Sydney for that. Rooms are a bit expensive at this time though ($1300). Just a bit.
Anyway, I've enjoyed my journey to Canberra and Sydney. It has indeed been insightful. Quote and ad lib: "Journey to Sydney was a grrrreat success."
First stop today: the Chinese Garden. A great place, full of lizards, plants, a lake, trees, ducks and lizards.
We then took a ferry to the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. I think it's a bit over-rated, but it's still worth going to.
I've noticed that people in Sydney think nothing of bowling you over. They just keep walking. They also seem to find it very hard to say 'excuse me' or 'sorry'. Maybe I'm just being to general and forming my opinions based on a few bad people, but I seem to keep meeting bad people.
So anyway, I'll be back in Melbourne tomorrow, probably in time to watch the fireworks. Wish I could have stayed in Sydney for that. Rooms are a bit expensive at this time though ($1300). Just a bit.
Anyway, I've enjoyed my journey to Canberra and Sydney. It has indeed been insightful. Quote and ad lib: "Journey to Sydney was a grrrreat success."
Friday 29 December 2006
Sydney
Before our journey to Sydney this morning, we visited the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra. Wasn't much to do there, apart from "making your own coin" and looking at the history of the mint. At around 11 o'clock we said good-bye to Canberra and travelled to Sydney, arriving at about 2 o'clock.
Sydney is a great place...if you like crazy driving, insane road designs, angry people, crazy driving, hard to find hotels, random weather and crazy driving. Things started off great, with two hoons with apparently broken indicator lights cutting in front of us. The situation got even better when we couldn't find the actual CBD. When we finally found it, my dad nudged a Benz. Even though you couldn't see it, the guy just blew up. We offered him our apologies and insurance number, but he told us, in effect, to get lost. So we did.
We got lost. Then we found a funny little Chinese restaurant near our original accident site so we parked there. After lunch, we found out that the Mr. Benz decided to stick a note to our windscreen after driving away and he said he wanted us to contact him. How weird is that? That's Sydney people for you.
We started searching for our hotel. After an hour and a half of no left turns, no right turns, dead ends, roadworks and angry people to reach our destination. The place is alright, but the chairs are falling apart.
On first assessment, Sydney seems to be a bit crowded and fast-paced. I'll get back to you when I scout stuff out better tomorrow.
Sydney is a great place...if you like crazy driving, insane road designs, angry people, crazy driving, hard to find hotels, random weather and crazy driving. Things started off great, with two hoons with apparently broken indicator lights cutting in front of us. The situation got even better when we couldn't find the actual CBD. When we finally found it, my dad nudged a Benz. Even though you couldn't see it, the guy just blew up. We offered him our apologies and insurance number, but he told us, in effect, to get lost. So we did.
We got lost. Then we found a funny little Chinese restaurant near our original accident site so we parked there. After lunch, we found out that the Mr. Benz decided to stick a note to our windscreen after driving away and he said he wanted us to contact him. How weird is that? That's Sydney people for you.
We started searching for our hotel. After an hour and a half of no left turns, no right turns, dead ends, roadworks and angry people to reach our destination. The place is alright, but the chairs are falling apart.
On first assessment, Sydney seems to be a bit crowded and fast-paced. I'll get back to you when I scout stuff out better tomorrow.
Thursday 28 December 2006
Journey to Canberra
The journey to Canberra. It began today with me waking up at 4:30, feeling all revved and ready to go. Then I remembered how long it would take to get there and calmed down significantly. Anyway, we left at about 5 o'clock in the morn. The journey was relatively uneventful, unless you count the excruciatingly bad pun about us being 'yesmads' instead of nomads (clearly I didn't come up with it) and the toilet that was, to put it mildly, dirty. We also got ripped off by this 24 hour convenience store thingo for breakfast.
We started entering Canberra, but believe it or not, we almost got lost. We began our search for the golden arch, the yellow M, McDonald's. Anyway, we found it eventually at about 1 o'clock, although it took a while. It seems that Canberrasiders/Canberralians/Canberrazoids like putting the M sign down at ground level, hidden by huge buildings. Then they left two burgers, a coffee and a Happy Meal toy out of our meal. What do you expect?
We decided to take up John Howard's invitation to coffee at Parliament House at 3 o'clock, but he never fronted. In other words, we were stood up by Johnny. It's an alright place I guess, not all that exciting, but that's pretty much what one visits Canberra for. It's good if you like history. There's lots of museums here, but I think we'll just be visiting the Royal Australian Mint and leaving after that tomorrow. Until my next post, au revoir.
We started entering Canberra, but believe it or not, we almost got lost. We began our search for the golden arch, the yellow M, McDonald's. Anyway, we found it eventually at about 1 o'clock, although it took a while. It seems that Canberrasiders/Canberralians/Canberrazoids like putting the M sign down at ground level, hidden by huge buildings. Then they left two burgers, a coffee and a Happy Meal toy out of our meal. What do you expect?
We decided to take up John Howard's invitation to coffee at Parliament House at 3 o'clock, but he never fronted. In other words, we were stood up by Johnny. It's an alright place I guess, not all that exciting, but that's pretty much what one visits Canberra for. It's good if you like history. There's lots of museums here, but I think we'll just be visiting the Royal Australian Mint and leaving after that tomorrow. Until my next post, au revoir.
Tuesday 26 December 2006
Cold
Sup all. Hope you all had a great and relatively warm Christmas.
By the way, I'm going to Canberra and Sydney on Thursday, so if anyone has any suggestions for where to go, especially for Canberra, give us a shout.
In case you were wondering, I obtained a grand score of 33 for bio. I know you're all thinking "step back" because it's such a great score, but you shouldn't. I'm sure many people did much better. Many, many people. In fact, now that I think about it, 33 isn't such a great score.
This post has been a revelation. I've discovered that 33 isn't the great score I thought it was, among other things. I'll blog my journey to Canberra and Sydney. Till next time, stay warm, cool and dry.
By the way, I'm going to Canberra and Sydney on Thursday, so if anyone has any suggestions for where to go, especially for Canberra, give us a shout.
In case you were wondering, I obtained a grand score of 33 for bio. I know you're all thinking "step back" because it's such a great score, but you shouldn't. I'm sure many people did much better. Many, many people. In fact, now that I think about it, 33 isn't such a great score.
This post has been a revelation. I've discovered that 33 isn't the great score I thought it was, among other things. I'll blog my journey to Canberra and Sydney. Till next time, stay warm, cool and dry.
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