Wednesday, December 31, 2008

9 o'clock firework display










These photos are from the 9 o'clock firework display, specifically for the children.

Almost New Year




From when I was young, I always remembered seeing the firework display for New Years Eve In Sydney. This is my third NYE here and it is still very special, and only 4.5 hours away!

The picture above is where I am watching the display from.

So, a Happy 2009 to all.
Keep safe

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Insomnia

I have had so much trouble sleeping lately - not good. I need to be up in 4.5 hours to go white water rafting. Then in the afternoon I have a flying lesson....

Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Xmas!

Although Christmas has finished in Australia, I wish you all a peaceful, relaxing day.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Planes

A couple of people have asked what sort of plane I am learning to fly in. It is a Cessna 172SP.






I have my first lesson today since a mid air collision took place, involving my flight school so I must confess to being more than a little scared. I am still not 100% sure that I will see this through but, let's see how the next few lessons go.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Lots going on

There has been quite a bit going on as of late. My health has been a bit of a worry over the last month or so. I have been having pains in my chest which has lead to visits to Cardiologists, etc. To cut a very long story short, it looks like is something called Reflux. While it is bearable much of the time, on occassions it can be unbearable.

As a consequence, I have had quite a bit of medication but that did not seem to be working so well. Eventually that lead to me going in to hospital and more tests, and a visit to an enterologist. He referred me back to hospital (are you keeping up?!?) and today, we find out that I have gallstones as well! To quote the nurse, "too many to count"...oh joy.

Anyway, my train has nearly arrived in town so, for now, keep safe.

Updates Galore

I have now found an application that will allow me to update my blog from my iPhone so, no more excuses!

Weekly updates on the way!

It is nearly 2am so this one is going to be short (more of a test).

So, here is a photo from a recent flying lesson! (more on that later).


-- Post From My iPhone

Monday, September 29, 2008

Great Australian Advertising



It took me 10 minutes to explain what was so funny about this sign, to the shop assistant. She still did not understand the irony of a sign, selling five things for $2, at a price of $10.75.

I asked if I could purchase them separately for $2 each, and she kept repeating "They are $2 each"...not the brightest race, the Australians...

Keep Safe

The Bizarre Sky


Likely, this has not come out as well as intended but the sky had some really eerie colours in last week. The photo was taken with my iPhone so not the best quality but, you get the idea.

Photos







I have been moaned at for not putting any pictures of Amy on to my blog so, here are a few...and yes, I know I have not updated this thing for ages...as always :(

I will try to do a few updates over the next day or two.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

The Great Walk of China



That was not a typing error, it sure felt like the Great Walk of China...I will update with more photos in due course but as an idea, we walked what seemed like the whole of the Great Wall! In the foreground of the photo you can see our finishing point. In the far distance (left side of the photo) is where we started. The Wall ran for quite a distance, left to right, then towards the front of the screen Overall, it took approximately 90 minutes, including quite a bit of stopping.
We were quite pleased with the time that we made as some of the terrain was incredibly steep, actually needing a railing to get down.
I will post more photos from the trip over the next few days.
Tomorrow we leave Bejing for Macau.
Keep Safe

Not the greatest menu I have ever seen...



Thursday, July 24, 2008

Hong Kong/Beijing Update

So far the trip has been going well although it is remarkably hot. The heat in itself is not a major issue; having spent so long in Greece I am used to it however the humidity makes it harder to handle.
We have had two days in Hong Kong and did plenty. The first day was spent shopping, mainly seeing the local markets such as Mong Kok. There was some local shopping and much joy was had looking at the shop and street names… wow I need to grow up.



In the evening we caught the light show and then headed up to The Peak and got some dinner. It was actually the clearest night that I have ever seen up there although he clouds had come in by the end of the meal.


The second day was spent at the Monastery in Lantau Island and seeing the Tan Tian Buddha. Bizarrely, dinner was had in the Outback Restaurant; Australian cuisine! As I had eaten Asian food almost exclusively, and the next few days would see plenty of the same, I did not feel guilty for tucking in to a prime rib steak!

Tuesday saw a rather scary flight to Beijing. Initially the flight was booked by Amy’s mother and she booked us on to China Airlines…officially the worst airline in the world. It has had more fatal crashes (5) than any other airline in comparison to the number of flights taken. It ranked 90th out of 90 in airline rankings.

One argument later and we were booked to fly with Dragonair.

The flight was horrible, loads of turbulence but we arrived safely.

I am now in Beijing and spent today at the Forbidden City. I then went to what must be one of the oldest restaurants in the world. A Peking Duck one. It was awesome and is without doubt the best Peking Duck I have ever had.

Anyway, I will try and update the blog again before I go but as I have to steal bandwidth from someone living close, I rely on them having their wireless turned on!

Until next time

Keep Safe

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Sigh...another delayed post..

OK, way too long again...

So much has happened since my last post I have no idea what I have done, and what I have not. 



2008 Melbourne Poker Championships.
I flew down to Melbourne for their annual poker festival. I have to say, I didn't particularly enjoy myself although I was there for the best part of 10 days. Bizarrely, one of the highlights for me was going to the theatre to watch My Fair Lady! I did not know that I would know a few of the songs but was surprised at how much I actually did. I think it dawned on me when they reached "The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain"...
Of course I played a fair amount of poker while I was down there, including the main event. In usual fashion, Day One ran for way too long and I think it was about 13 hours of poker by the time that we finished for the day at roughly 1am.

I was actually in pretty good shape at the end of the day and was very pleased with my game, making a few well timed bluffs to pick up a couple of nice pots.

Day two was a real struggle and took various bad beats throughout the day but managed to hang in. Eventually, I excited in about 20th position I think, all in preflop with KK against KQ...a horrible way to lose.

In the end I won about $5,500 but I was remarkably disappointed having played well for the two days. It was good to catch up with a few friends  after we had finished playing though and we went upstairs to the nightclub/casino to unwind until the early hours.

Holiday
I am going on holiday on Saturday for 9 days and to be honest, I can't wait. I have actually written a schedule which can be found here.

In short, I fly in to Hong Kong for a few days. I have been plenty of times so it will pretty much be the usual trips to the Po Lin Monastery, The Peak, Tian Tan Buddha, etc. I will be going with my girlfriend, Amy, so it will be nice for her to see those places as she has never been before.

We will then fly on to Beijing for four days and see the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, etc. I will also get to meet her parents as they live there.

Finally, we will be flying back in to Hong Kong and then on to Macau. We are staying at The Venetian so it should be pretty good. Also, the day that we arrive is the opening night of the Cirque Du Soleil show, Zaia. We have tickets :)

What else...well, on Thursday, I am going to the public opening of another Cirque Du Soleil show in Sydney actually, Dralion. It is one of my friend's birthday, Tanya, so I will be taking her. Should be fun.

Other things of late...I have been to loads of concerts; Matchbox Twenty a couple of times, Kiss and an Australian with the most incredible voice, Vanessa Amorosi. Oh...and the support band for Vanessa Amorosi was a guy called Michael Paynter. I really believe that he will be huge. We actually have gone to watch them a few times lately but mainly to see him. 

I have linked a YouTube video so that you can see him here. Prepare to be amazed :) His first album will be out in a couple of months I believe...play it loud :) Finally, here is a link to one of the shows that I recorded on my phone :)

So, until next time,

Keep Safe

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Who is this cute fella ?!

Not the greatest condition picture of all time but I will try and do something with it in due course (I have just purchased Photoshop Extended for my Mac). I used to be so cute. Where did it go so horribly wrong?!

A photo from circa 1972


Above is an old picture that I found from when I was a wee fella! There were actually quite a few other photos that I found so I will post some more over the coming days/weeks...even some of me when I had my long hair. They are quite amusing looking back.

Life has been rather average the last few weeks or so and I am just getting over the flu. One piece of good news is that I have had approval to import my motorbike in Greece. I am not entirely sure when it will get here because the dockers are still on strike in Greece but, at least it has been approved.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Photos from Bike Ride




Above are a couple of shots taken on a recent bike ride (with Richard from work) out to Brighton-Le-Sands. The area is known for one thing. Its Greek community. With that in mind, we decided to take a ride out there and have a bite to eat. I had Feta Saganaki and Lamb with lemons. Those that know me will not be in the slightest surprised by my selection...
For various reasons, it has been a stressful few days so I thought a blast on the bike would hit the spot. It is always nice to go for a relaxing ride, even though both Richard and I have such contrasting bikes. He has the fastest sports bike ever made, a Hayabusa, and I have a VTX 1300 Cruiser. Very comfortable but certainly not a bike for getting your knee down going around corners! That said, we took our time and it was a pleasant evening in good weather.
Until next time...
Keep safe.

Recent Motorbike ride to Brighton-Le-Sands

The above video was filmed from the back of my bike by Justine. The person in the video is Richard who I work with. Advance notice for Grandmothers/Mothers etc, there is a rude gesture so avoid watching it ;)

Monday, February 18, 2008

Hello / Goodbye Greece...

As I write this I am sitting in the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class lounge at Heathrow Airport. We have been in Zakynthos for the last few weeks but have now left Greece permanently. It was a very bitter sweet feeling to be leaving. I love the place I really do but I think in my heart of hearts I knew that after the earthquake swarm in 2006, I would not be spending the rest of my life there. Even though it is one of the most beautiful places on earth.


The 'rest of my life' is now starting in Sydney, Australia.


I have spent the last year there anyway and the two weeks back on the island was more of a hinderance than anything.


It really was not the same.


Having said that, it was a pretty emotional time when we took off from the island and I looked out of the window knowing it was a fond farewell...


So what have I been up to recently? Well, I have taken in a few concerts; Bon Jovi and The Police spring to mind (bizarrely as I type this, Bob Geldof has just walked in to the room...hmmm, would I be a groupy to go and ask for a photo..yeah, I think I would so I won't bother....Justine just said "He looks like a young Bob Geldof....").


I also had a trip over to Hunter Valley which was fun. It is one of the best wine regions in Australia and the home of my favourite wine, Pepper Tree.


Below is my attempt at getting all artistic (autistic is probably a better description!)



The sign vaguely amused me. Not sure what is amusing about a sign warning you of crocodiles but...


Here are a few shots from New Years Eve in Sydney:






Here is a picture of my tongue taken during the Sydney festival with Erin (Erin is the wife of Heath, one of my best buddies in Australia):




And finally, for now, a picture of a trip that I took to Melbourne, to watch the final of the men's and women's tennis Australian Open:


Poker has been going pretty well, the last decent win was about a week ago, I won about $2,200 for finishing in fourth place in a $75 tourney on Full Tilt.
I will endeavour to post again when I get back to Australia (only two days of the trip left to get there :S
It was a little disappointing as I had a huge chip lead for most of the event. Oh well, profit is profit.
Until then, Keep Safe
S.