Yarra Valley Wine Tour

That's right...more wine!
This time on a winery tour of the wonderful Yarra Valley for my girlfriend's birthday.
Tasted 17 different wines - with tasting amounts, that is enough for you to feel a little intoxicated, I was annoyed at myself that I couldn't manage to finish this great Sparkling Pinot Shiraz (pictured left) from Domaine Chandon.

The tour included visits to
- Yering Station
- Rochford
- Saint Huberts
- Domaine Chandon (owned by the famous Moët & Chandon) - top notch "sparkling" wines, ie Champagne

TOTAL for CSE/CS DD = 528/528 OK

Finally! I get to fill in the last few sections of the spreadsheet with my results I got today which calculates whether I can graduate. After 528 credit points (one full subject is usually 12 credit points), I have finished!

Booze cruise

I've seen these boats go up and down the Yarra all the time, but never actually been on one of these boats. For a work function of course, with no cap on the amount of beverages provided - which is not a good thing if you're driving a passenger who doesn't feel too well home. The city lights look great from the middle of the Yarra.

Happy 21st Sis!

My sister had her 21st birthday party last Saturday (19th), it feels like only yesterday I turned 21, now my little sister is growing up so fast.
Congratulations Katrina, looks like you had a great night!

Soccer or Football?

Well done to the Australian soccer, I mean football team for qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in 32 years! hopefully it will boost the sorry state of the sport in this country (thanks to some European rivalries that turn each match into almost a riot).

So the organisers make a big deal about calling it football, yet the team is called the Socceroos? Let's face it, it's soccer here. Any game of football involves the use of hands!

Flying around

Nice day for a flight around Melbourne - here looking south across the bay towards the heads, taken around Brighton at about 1700 feet.

Woooo finished exams!

What a day, the high of finishing exams in my final year, then to be told I am redudant, before I even start my job next year - what a kick in the teeth, and a fairly big setback and inconvenience to plans.
As I haven't commented on matters regarding employment here, I don't plan gripe about it any further only to say from what I've read the company is headed for a train wreck anyway. Maybe I'll be benefit from picking up the pieces later.


Me, Andrew & David during the "happier" part of the day taking some time out on the banks of the Yarra.


What else would you do after you're final exam - head to the pub of course. David, David and Andrew poking his silly face.


Andrew doing some impersonation.

Train gripes

The train pictured on the left is a shitbox. It's an Hitachi train. You can trust Connex to provide one of these non-airconditioned trains, while 5 new air-conditioned trains sit stationary in the Burnley depot on a day when the mercury climbs above 30 degrees, higher inside the metal box.
According to Wikipedia, there are only 6 left on the network, out of what, 500?!!

Disappointed Connex.

Deva Fever

What an amazing horse this is (Makybe Diva)... 3 Melbourne Cups in a row!! (no other horse has won 2 in a row, and none have won 3 cups).
and what perfect weather for the usual cup day BBQ, 30 degrees feels very hot this time of year.
For the past 6 years, cup day has always had the association of exams with it, very difficult to study when there is a public holiday in the middle of them - hopefully this is the last time this conflict of interest occurs.
At least I'm not a Monash student, two years ago my girlfriend had two exams on Cup Day!! and to rub salt into the wounds of any serious racing fan, they were held at Caulfield Racecourse!