Back to the Hills

Spring is here, and along with it the warmer weather and the new cycle of life. Flowers are blooming and the scenery is getting greener. The air is starting to carry the scent of eucalyptus, however faint it might be at the moment. The perfect time to go back to the Blue Mountains. The first time I went was in July, which is the middle of winter here. This time it was much warmer and greener. I was accompanied by my friends Steffen and Mert. Mert has a digital SLR camera, a Canon, that takes high quality photos. So some of the shots we got this time are just stunning. We took a different path through the cliffs and the forest than the one me and Andy took on our trip, so there were new sights for me as well. Here are some photos of us and the scenery taken with Mert's camera. Some of the shots are in black and white for artistic flare.

Mert Karaçim

Steffen Müller and me

More Internet Drama...

Some of you may be aware that my wireless router has been out for repairs for 5 days (instead of the promised maximum 3 days). I still have internet access, but I am currently sharing a single ethernet cable with everyone else, meaning access is limited. Actually, I'm writing this from work right now, a place where I, sadly, have greater freedom with the internet at the moment. Hopefully (how many times have I used this word on my blog?) my router will be returned to me soon, preferably in a functional condition. Then I will pray that this is the last act in my internet saga and the epic tale of our struggle with the evil Telstra Corporation and D-Link will come to close. I know, I'm making a bigger a deal out of this than it actually is, but how many of you have had this much trouble with their internet? Any one?

In other news, my friend Judith will soon be back from her trip to Darwin and Kakadu National Park, with thousands of pictures I'm sure. If she is kind enough to share them with me I will publish some on my blog. I'm sure she'll put them on her's too and I will put up a link to it when she does.

Still in other news, I am now on my mid-semester break, which means I have more time to... work. Yay. I have two weeks, so I'm sure I'll fit in a whacky and potentially disastrous adventure somewhere between my shifts. I'm thinking of going to Melbourne on the weekend with my friends Steffen and Mert. We'll see how that turns out. More updates comming soon.

The Chaser's War on APEC

Some of you might be aware that Stephan Harper and George Bush, along with other world leaders, are currently attending the APEC Summit in Australia. APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooporation, and is an organisation comprised of major players on the Asia pacific rim. This year the summit is held in Australia, and as a result Sydney has spent 250 million Australian dollars setting up security zones in the CBD and surrounding areas. This includes hundreds of extra police officers, a 2 meter high, 5 kilometer long fence through the city and search and detain powers granted to police within the security zone. In comes The Chaser. The Chaser is a satire comedy group based in Sydney, and they have a show called The Chaser's War on Everything. In this show they pull hilarious stunts poking fun at various social and political issues, people and events to expose them in a ridiculous light. For APEC, they decided to see if they could breach the security surrounding the InterContinental Hotel where George Bush was staying. How did they pull it off? As the Channel 10 newscast below explains, they rented black vehicles with tinted windows, dressed up as Secret Service officers and Osama bin Laden, and prented to be the Canadian delegation's motorcade. They even made themselves fake passes, which explicitly read "Insecurity" instead of "Security" and the word "Joke" appeared in hologram on the card right below the text that reads "It's pretty obvious that this isn't a real pass". Did it work? They were waved through two security checkpoints by police and were only stopped and arrested in front of the InterContinental hotel. Police are not amused, but we are! The made a total farce of APEC security, and embarrased the police. They were let out on bail but could face trial and up to 6 months in prison.

Wine Series: #2

For my second installement of the wine series I have a special wine to showcase. This wine comes to us not from Australia but from Austria, Judith's home country, courtesy of her parents. In fact, the wine comes from her neighbours, the Sax family. Hence the label, Sax Blauer Zweigelt, Qualitätswein. The type of grape is called Blauer Zweigelt, a variety grown mainly in Austria where it is the most popular red grape. It is usually drunk young, but can make a serious full-bodied aged wine given time. It's quite fruity and 'wet', not to strong, an has a neat purple color I haven't seen in other wines. It was very easy to drink, and as I had it with spicy Thai food it served as a fire extinguisher for my palette. It must be very hard to find here in Australia, as the grape is not very common outside Austria, and maybe Czech Republic and Hungary. However, it is somewhat popular in the Ontario Niagara Falls wine region, so it might be easy to find back home. Uncle, if you can find it give it a try.

Fur Nils

This is a regretably overdue goodbye post for Nils Jacholke, my friend and flatmate of 5 months who has now returned home to Germany. Like Marco, he's left an empty space in the house, and in my daily life, that can't be filled by anyone else. In fact, his bed is still unoccupied, since the two guys who where assigned his space only lasted two weeks and 1 day, respectively. I think his evil spirit still lingers in the matress and scares potential flatmates away! (just kidding Nils :) I look back on the last semester with fondness when I think of all the memories we made in this flat, and in Sydney and general, memories I will keep with me forever. Coffee, kebabs, beers on the balcony, underwear fishing, wasting hours away in our boxers drinking instead of studying... But alas, it appears that returning home, finishing a master's degree and starting a life with his girlfriend (Doerthe, a lovely woman I was happy to meet) is more important than getting fat and drinking beer in a rundown flat with his pet Canadian. No worries mate, we'll see you in a couple years. I wish you and Doerthe the best until then, and I miss you buddy. Take care, mein Freund!

Who will kick the furry yellow friends to my room?