I'm going to start writing again - Shock, Horror Etc.

So it's been nearly six months since I wrote my last blog.  The irony is that heaps has happened in that time, so I really have no excuse for updating it except for pure laziness.  I think my desire to write is tied in with my enrolment at university.  Maybe because while I'm at uni it seems like more fun to write blog posts and when I'm not at uni the rest of life and sleep is more exciting :P

So quick update on the last six months!

In December we went to go see Muse in concert - it was amazing.  As expected they totally rocked my socks off and the show was just way too exciting.

At the end of December my BFF's little son turned one! She had a lovely 'woodland' themed party for him and it was very sweet to see all the little ones playing together.  The cake was omg amazing (visually since I couldn't eat it :P):

And I finally got to give Cameron the quilt I'd been working on since *thinks* October.  I did a quilting class for four hours every two weeks - great fun and a really good starting point for a complete newbie to the sewing machine!

In January, where I live in Queensland was hit by the floods.  It was a pretty scary time for us because we can see the river from where we live.  But we were really, really lucky to avoid the flooding - by only about 20cm!  If the river had reached the height they were predicting, we probably wouldn't even be living at home still :(  It was really positive to see Queensland pull together and be really supportive of each other in a crisis - makes me proud to be an Aussie :D

Also in January we went on a trip to Melbourne!  I'd never been to Melbourne but always wanted to and let me tell you, I was not disappointed.  I love how eclectic it is as a city - it has something for everyone, which makes it really interesting to visit.  I couldn't live there, but it's definitely a great place to spend a week in.

View from Eureka Tower, Southbank.

I'd also made the decision two weeks before we went to Melbourne to say bye bye to all animal products.  Yes, I am now a vegan (superpowers pending).  So it seemed quite fitting to spend our time in Melbourne with our vegan friends: Phil and his gf Amy.  I have seriously never been so well fed in my entire life - the food was amazing, vegan and just.. omg amazing.  

I'll cover some of the vegan stuff in another post (as well as updating some of my blog roll!).  For now more photos of Melbourne!

Trams!  Really funky way to get around!

 R.M Williams building in the middle of Melbourne Central (shopping centre).

Oh no! It's a giant bird attacking a village! (Relax, it's just a model tudor village :P)

Dinosaurs @ the Melbourne Museum

OMG! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!

Projects on the go in 2011:

- Learning the in's and out's of veganism, nutrition, cooking and the art of a smoking hot bod.

- Writing a business plan to buy a new business mid next year!

- Going to uni and continue to be awesome

- Learning to sew clothes and look at creating some upcycled pieces (inspired by Tweal blog)

- Creating a line of party decorations and giftware

- Researching homeschooling and alternative curriculums

So this year a lot of my writing with focus on those things as I come across them and as I learn more (of course in amongst the usual day-to-day crap I do that I feel the urge to write about!).  Now off to obsessively download apps for my Iphone before taking a walk through the Toowong cemetery! xx

Ekka 2010

So I'm pretty sure the last time I went to the Ekka was when I was a teenager.. so maybe around 14 years old? Okay so lets say I went to the Ekka around 8 years ago.  For those not from Brisbane the Ekka is like a big city fair that lasts for a week every August.  We even get a day off (or two if you're still in school).

I couldn't remember anything about it, so I thought 'Okay this year, I'm going to do it!'.  I actually had a really great time (despite being all on my ownsome), there were heaps of areas to look at in most interest bases - my personal favourites were the animals, the cake decorating and the food stalls (yum!).

The Dumps

I am literally in them.

I actually stayed in my bed today until about 2:30pm.. until one of my friends convinced me to go the hell out somewhere.  So I did.. I drove two hours to eat Italian and drove two hours back.  Granted it was the best spinach ricotta of my life, but if I know me at all (which I kind of do sometimes) I know that exaggerating actions are almost certainly a sign that I'm not doing so great.

That and wearing heels of the beach has to be a sign of madness.

But at least it was a great view.

Dad's Birthday

Today it was my dad's birthday.  In typical fashion my mum gave him the same ol' gift of Baileys, except this year she gave him two.  For some reason she thought it was a hilarious idea to wrap them both differently and then died of laughter when he asked which one he should open first.  Sigh, my mum..

We went up to Mt. Tamborine which is about half hour from my parents house and had a look around the gallery walk (which is a street full of little shops at the top of the mountain).  My favourite store is the German Cuckoo Clock store.  I went to Germany when I was 16 and pretty much love anything to do with the country - I am totally dirty that I never got to see the cuckoo clock place in the Black Forest.. one day.  I also love clocks, because my granddad was a watchmaker and I have very fond memories of all the amazing clocks that he used to make and fix.. he had so many around his house that every time I see a clock I think of him.  Here's a pic of one wall of the cuckoo clock place, so you have some idea of how jam packed this place is with clocks:

We were meant to have lunch, but we actually ended up getting up there too late for lunch and too early for dinner.. so instead we went for a walk at Curtis Falls.

What I really like about the walks at Mt Tamborine is that there's a real rainforest feel to them, with occasional bits and pieces of normal Australian bush.  The waterfall was beautiful, not flowing very much because of the lack of rainfall.  There's lots of birds in there too, you can always hear them chirping away and some random turkeys that go skittering in front of you as you walk along haha.  Definitely one of my favourite places in Qld.

Ripley's and Timezone

The last time that I went to Ripley's on the Gold Coast was probably about 12-14 years ago.  I didn't remember anything about the place, but I did know that I thought it was the bomb-diggity.  Fast forward to 2010, Ripley's have spent about six months redoing the entire place because of the new construction going on around it.  I've been dying to go since they reopened in February, so I firmly persisted with my friend Patrick until he agreed to come check out the place (He'd never been so he was the perfect candidate, plus I may have bribed him by promising a visit to the massive Timezone there lol).  Behold some highlights from Ripley's!

Badass Shrunken Head.  It's like seriously the size of a computer mouse or something.

This is a tiny painting, with Pat standing in as my comparison!

An amazing sculpture of Dame Edna made entirely of chicken wire.  The detail on the glasses is great.

This wedding dress is made entirely out of toilet paper!  Patrick joked that I had found my dream dress - I can guarantee for those taking note that I wouldn't be caught dead with pink on my dream dress :P

Pat on the dodgem cars.  I don't think I've seen him more happy than when he realised Timezone had dodgem cars lol!  Had to take a photo of this momentous occasion.

Me at the wheel of a dodgem car.. yes I was aiming for a cheesy photo haha!  I actually drove these surprisingly well, if only dodgem cars were the norm on our roads.

Patrick lining up the shot for the final hole on 18-hole putt putt.  This is a tricky shot because of the slope before the hole.  It was a really up and down game and we actually ended up tying at 52 points each.

Movies - Twilight 3: Eclipse

Lol anyone actually reading this is going to start thinking that all I do is read books and go to movies!  Last night it was TY3, today L&G I bring you the lowdown on Eclipse - book 3 of the Twilight Saga...

Rachel asked me to go see it with her today and I was like HELLS YES!  Despite the fact that I was on like 5 hours sleep, mostly delirious and flying high on V juice.  Despite the fact that there were 1000's of teenagers encircling the movie cinema foyer - my butt was on that seat faster.. than two minute noodles my friend.

"Face it - I am hotter than you" - Yes Jacob, we know it!

Going in I seriously forgot the entire plot of the third book.  I kept thinking of the fourth book watching the whole time and then wondered why none of the stuff I thought was going to happen actually happened.  So don't ask me about accuracy here, I'm assuming most of it was there cause I haven't heard the twi-hards crying too loudly on the internets.

Bella, one day when you grow up you'll realise it's actually a lot harder to get a guy to propose to you a thousand times than it is to get in his pants - priorities girlfriend priorities!!  (Oh and tell him to fire his stylist.. he looks like Wolverine).

Look comparing it to the previous two movies, I think this one had way more effort put into it.  Different director I think?  I'm not sure how easy it is for a non-twilight reader to understand.. it did seem to chop around a bit.. but it's pretty good, they can actually act to save their lives and the right balance of drama/romance/comedy/action is there.  Thumbs up from me, I look forward to watching this one with a glass of vodka and crying at how unfair it is that Bella has the ultimate romantic and the ultimate sex on leg's chasing after her despite being a plain and boring character.  Life's tough bro.

Movies - Toy Story 3

A few weeks ago I saw a Facebook page named along the lines of 'Move out of the way kid, I've been waiting (x) amount of years for the 3rd Toy Story!'.  So freaking true!  I loved the first two as.. well a young teen I'm thinking?  Rex and Slinky were my fav fav's.. because slinky's are freaking cool and so are dinosaurs!!

Number three was really really great.  I love what Pixar do with there story lines and I really am glad that they haven't cheapened this franchise - all three of these movies are equally amazing and wonderful in their own right.  Now in the spirit I won't spoil anything (mostly because my boyfriend will have my head), but please if you haven't seen it yet - GO SEE IT!  And if you get a bit teary at the end it's okay.. my mum cried :P

In other news my other half is boarding a plane to Bangkok right now.. he's off to London for an unspecified amount of time.  So on one hand I'll probably have more to write about in an attempt to get a life.. on the other hand it's probably going to be pretty obvious I'm compensating for something.

Ron Mueck Exhibition

Justin and I have been interested at seeing this exhibition at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art for a while.  So on this beautiful sunny day we took a ride on the citycat and decided to see what all the fuss was about.

My goodness it was really something.  This artist makes sculptures out of a variety of synthetic materials, mostly polyester resin, fibreglass and silicone.  The crazy thing is not just their size (which Justin demonstrates above, but Mueck also does small/to scale sculptures) but the unbelievable amount of detail on the sculptures.  Each hair is put in individually to have the appearance of hair growing (this includes stubble and body hair) and each tiny detail is painted on painstakingly.  The result is really amazing.

Watch this video about the pregnant woman sculpture, it shows some of the processes that led to the completion of the sculpture and shows some of the other sculptures.  NB: You need to be registered with Youtube to prove you're over 18 to watch it, but if you aren't just start here ;)

Bye Bye Hamilton!

Well today we left Hamilton Island.  Boarded my first Virgin plane - way better than Jetstar, I guess you get what you pay for teehee.  This time I had TV so the trip went sooo much faster, but still no food :(
Special of today:  A look back at the biggest WTF moment on this trip, proudly brought to you by the King of WTF - Justin.

Okay backstory:  There's this place on the island that sells sculptures and stuff for tourists.  Anyway out front they have some epic statues of different things.  Justin (who is obsessed with aliens and what not)  noticed this little alien dude hanging off the back of some chiselling ancient dude!  Naturally he couldn't resist capturing the moment and frankly I dont know who's scarier in this photo out of the three of them.   The alien may just take the prize because of the anal probe he's holding in his hand.. EW!

Whitehaven Beach

Today we took a tour to the beautiful Whitehaven Beach.  It was a great trip with Fantasea off Hamilton Island, they served us lunch and afternoon tea which was yumm-o.  The scenery was fantastic on the way to Whitehaven and it just got even better once we landed.

As you can see the water is just unbelievably beautiful and clear.. the sand is so so fine and pristine.  Unfortunately it was a tad bit windy, so it made it hard to read or even lie on the beach without being covered in a fine blanket after 10 minutes!  Justin and his dad gave the metal detector's a swing with no luck - can't win them all I guess.

This is me giving the underwater camera a go (it's my housemate's camera, so I was super paranoid about dropping it in the water!).  If anything is a testament to how much wind there was, it's my hair right there.. outrageous!

This is Justin with a starfish he found in the water.  The photo doesn't show it, but this guy had really really bright red, nasty looking spikes on him.  It was really cool seeing such a big one up close and in the wild!  (The starfish of course, not Justin).  

I wish I could say the trip back was as nice as the trip to Whitehaven, but the wind really picked up and it suddenly become Hurlsville for me (I'm not great with boats that are moving around a lot).  But all in all I really loved Whitehaven and would love to go back there in the summer sometime. :)

Bird Invasion on Hamilton Island

It started with one little cockatoo.  I was eating my sandwich on the balcony of the lovely apartment we were staying at on Hamilton Island when it flew onto the edge of the balcony in front of me.  This cockatoo (who I would end up calling Bungy because of his mangled foot) looked at me expectantly and I thought 'Ah what the hell' and gave him some of my bread.  He took it very carefully and ate in a very dapper fashion.

Next thing I know Bungy jumps on the table, scaring the crap out of me and just when I think he's crossed boundaries he jumps right on my knee and gives me a long hard look with his head tilted towards me.  We would soon find out Bungy wasn't the only overly friendly bird on the island!

This is Justin's dad feeding Bungy nuts.  He would always take food very gently and get very very close, but he wouldn't let you touch him.

This is a kookaburra I found outside our door.  He was literally about 30cm away from me and the camera was about 10cm away from him when I took the photo.  Amazing how tame these birds have become.

And this is what happens when chips get left out on the balcony!  There are about 6-8 lorikeets you CAN'T see in this picture!  Boy were they loud!  

Leaving on a Jet Plane

It's been 6 years since I boarded a plane, the last time was to get on a very long flight back to Australia from Germany when I was 16.  Today I boarded my first Jetstar flight to Hamilton Island!  The actual flight was pretty non-eventful (No TV and no food will do that) but once we got near the island we got some sweet views of the islands around.

Once we landed on the island, I was thrilled to find out that we go our own sweet little golf buggy to drive around the island on - hell yeah!  Courtesy of our 5km an hour buggy somehow making it to the highest point by road on the island here is a shot of the Hamilton Island waters.

                                        

Sea World

My last hurrah at Sea World today for the year I guess.  I love Sea World for the same reasons I love Underwater World - it's brilliant to see animals up close, I find fish and the mammals of the sea very interesting.

The polar bears are sooo cool!  I never knew that they weren't white, they are actually clear which is why it's really weird when you go there and see a brown bear!  They get reasonably white once they jump in the water though, and it's nice watching them play with a barrel or traffic cone.

There's an amazing aquarium section, where you can see fish, sharks and stingrays underwater.  My family all agreed that they could spend a long time just watching all the fish go about their day.  Also on the note of stingrays, there's an area where you can touch them and the baby stingray's are very cute.

These guys are the fairy penguins, unfortunately few of them were swimming.  I have gone there before and watched them all do formation laps up and down the pool.  I love these guys!  I seem to have an obsession with birds I think haha.

Finally the dolphin show is definitely worth watching, they've choreographed some amazing routines for the dolphins and it's a real thrill to watch.  Didn't see it this time, but we went a few months back and it was amazing.  Back when we went one the mothers was pregnant and didn't do tricks.  It's great, because I was watching the news a couple months ago and the baby had been born, so I felt really connected to the news story because I had seen the mother pregnant.  Story here.