A few of you apparently think my writing is interesting - I'm flattered, although I think you're crazy :)
So if you're feeling up to it, I posted some of my older travel stories, namely those about the previous nearly month-long trip to New Zealand, and a 10-day trip to Tasmania. This are *long* stories, since they were written over multiple days, but they have lots of pictures too.
http://olegace.googlepages.com/home
Enjoy
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Separate Reality
Due to interesting visa rules in Australia, it was necessary for me to leave Australia briefly. The destination of choice was New Zealand, which at ~2300 km away is the closest country available. Not wanting to just fly there and back, and having very fond memories of New Zealand from the last visit, I made a weekend trip out of it. What follows is an editorialized account of the 55 hrs I spent there. This may be of interest to very few people, if any at all. If reading is not your thing, link to pics is at the bottom.
Things have started out promising enough - a thunderstorm in Sydney closed all ground ops at the airport for about 45 min, so all we could do is watch the inbound flight wait 30 m away from the gate, but unable to 'dock' due to lack of ground crew to guide it in. Combined with a backlog of departing flights by the time the weather cleared, we took off more than 1.5 hrs late. Hardly the end of the world, I agree, but that made my rather late 10 pm arrival to NZ into a VERY late 11.45 pm one.
I was given temporary possession of a pretty new Mazda3 and a GPS unit to go with it, and after admonishment of severe financial repercussions in case of damage to either, I was set loose. The GPS did a fine job of guiding me out of Chrischurch, so 15 min later I was cruising comfortably towards Banks Peninsula. In the remaining 80 km of the drive I only encountered 3 other vehicles. NZ lacks the Australian danger of hitting large animals on the road (sheep are typically fenced in), so other than the incessant complaining of the GPS that I was exceeding 100 km/h (I couldn't figure out how to disable the warning) things were going smooth. With about 20-30 km to go, the roads got narrow and twisty, and my disagreement with the GPS deepened, since it deemed the route given to me by the owner of the backpacker's where I was headed to pass through unpaved roads, and so refused to give directions. Thing were getting late, and going on the assumption that the owner of the house gave me the right way, I put the GPS in the "just show me where I am" mode and pressed on. Sure enough, I got to the place right around 2 am.
I have pre-arranged the late arrival, and the owners were supposed to leave me a note as to where the available bed was, and other such details. However, since a quick look around the living room / kitchen revealed no such note, I was left to find things out by myself. Luckily, the room were labelled, and a guess that the 'Dorm' would be the one with the free bed was accurate. Amazingly, I managed not to wake up anyone in the process.
Places like this are not conducive to sleeping in, but even an 8 am wakeup meant that I was one of the last people up. My appearance in the living room was greeted with a more than a few surprised looks, as apparently they have waited for me until 12:30, and since I didn't show up, they figured I wasn't coming. I, in the meantime, was absorbing where I was - this was the view from the bedroom window:
Weather was still kinda cold / cloudy, so I bummed around the place for a while and chatted with the staff (staff are usually people on a year long working holiday style visa, who are helping around the hostel in exchange for food & stay). The staff consisted of a German girl named Mira, Taiwanese girl Coco and a 59 year old Frenchwoman named Nadine. It was very unusual to see someone from older generation working this sort of deal, but more on that later. They have helpfully informed me that the place is owned by a guy named Gary, who went to Akaroa (the nearest town) and was to come back later in the day. More importantly, for a modest fee of $14 and help with the dishes after the fact, one could partake in a dinner cooked by Gary. Needless to say, I signed up. Since the staff looked busy, and there was nobody else around, I went for a drive around the area and took some pictures.
Coming back about an hour or two later did not turn up anyone new so I decided to go see the town. Mira, having finished her chores, wanted to come too so she came along. The town, Akaroa, had a distinctly French influence to it, down to flying a huge French flag and have all streets labelled as Rue something or other. I never did find out how this French influence materialized half the world away. The real star of the town was really the harbour though - the bright blue water and the hills surrounding it made for an awesome scene.
We sat down for lunch, where I found out more about Mira. She was a legal assistant in Germany for a few years, but got bored with her job, and saw that there were a lot more opportunities available if she were to improve her English. New Zealand was then the choice due to easy availability of the working holiday visa. Having already been at the hostel I was staying at for 2 weeks, she was actually planning to move on to a different hostel that day, but was persuaded to stay one more night by Nadine.
Back at the hostel, quite a few more people arrived. I ended up spending most of the time with Yanni and Eleni, a Greek couple, and Nadine joined us later in the evening as well. Yanni, as is turned out, owns a taverna on the Greek island Skiathos, which he only runs 8-10 months in the year, so while as he put it, "i'll never get rich", he has lots of time to travel.
The dinner was really the highlight - not only Gary's cooking was spectacular, with dishes ranging from steamed crayfish to pumpkin pie, the gathering proved international indeed - 10 countries were represented at the table. (Greece, Canada, USA, Denmark, New Zealand, Singapore, France, Germany, England, and Taiwan) What was even more interesting is that people's professional backgrounds were as varied as the geographical ones - from students to financial consultants. The conversations ran late into the night, topics ranging from US politics and smoking to singing the alphabet song in French, courtesy of Nadine. Nadine was really the entertainment star of the night, a 59 year old retired school teacher from a small town in the south of France. What she lacked in English skills, she made up for in enthusiasm. Overall, I definitely remembered why I loved New Zealand the first time I was there - it seems to attract interesting, friendly, adventurous people that you can really spend hours with in animated conversations over a completely unexpected range of topics. At the end of the day I had invites to 3 different countries from people I have just met, yet would be totally happy to see again.
Being in New Zealand and not going for a hike is tantamount to treason, so next morning I joined the Greeks for a hike in the nearby valley. What we did not quite plan for is that the trail was covered with up to waist-high grass, which combined with overnight rain made sure that we got soaked from waist down in a matter of minutes - all electronics have quickly migrated in the highest available pockets. On the other hand, since we got the getting wet part over with quickly, and it was warm, we happily continued for the rest of the 1.5 hour loop wet. (1 week later update: my shoes STILL smell like a swamp, even after 2 washes with strong detergent - I have now declared them contaminated beyond recovery, and bought a new pair) The hike was nice enough, although perhaps not as spectacular as some others I have done. After changing into dry clothes, we followed it up with a nice lunch in town.
Knowing that I had to go back to Christchurch for the 6.45 am flight the next day, I nonetheless stayed at the hostel as late as I could. A particularly amusing scene was played out by 2 sons of Gary's. They were playing with a small boat in the middle of maybe 10x10 m pond. The younger kid, in the boat, got stuck in the middle of said pond, and apparently having a penchant for dramatics, started to yell for help. The older kid ran off, ostensibly to get help, but instead returned with a folding chair, set it up on the shore, and sat down to enjoy the show. At this point, all adults within view were laughing hysterically.
Time eventually came for me to head off so I reluctantly said my goodbyes and headed back to Christchurch. I stopped a few times along the way to take pictures and ponder whether it's better driving the steeps roads at night when you can't see the dropoffs and aren't distracted by the views.
The hostel in Christchurch was quiet, so I struck up conversion with the owner, an Swiss man named Markus, who has moved to New Zealand nearly 20 years ago after working in electronics engineering (how's that for a career change?). He was actually quite fond of the hostel, as he said it provides him with enough income to be happy, and keeps him busy with building and fixing things. We talked for a while about the hosteling business in general, as he seemed to know quite a few details, and I was quite interested to hear them. A surprising part came when I mentioned the placed I stayed at most of the weekend, and he immediatedly went "oh, Gary and Heidi's place, yeah I know them, cool place, ya?" It is definitely a smaller world within an already small one (NZ population is only about 3 million). Talking about travel later one, I was surprised to find out that he has travelled across Russia and Ukraine, having been to placed as remote as Vladivostok in the Far East of Russia and Irkutsk in the North. Without even noticing it, we ended up talking for over 2 hours. I was forced to reflect on my initial impression of Markus, as he was one of the few hostel owners to keep his front door locked, and perhaps did not come across as very friendly on first meeting. Sometimes first impressions are just that...
A quick nap later, I headed to the airport at the ungodly early hour of 5 am. An uneventful flight later, Sydney customs have given me a new 3 months visa, and I was at work shortly thereafter, my sanity restored by a short but sweet vacation.
The rest of the pictures, with comments, are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/NewZealandWeekend
P.S. Sheep your ask? Yes there were sheep.
Lots of sheep:
Things have started out promising enough - a thunderstorm in Sydney closed all ground ops at the airport for about 45 min, so all we could do is watch the inbound flight wait 30 m away from the gate, but unable to 'dock' due to lack of ground crew to guide it in. Combined with a backlog of departing flights by the time the weather cleared, we took off more than 1.5 hrs late. Hardly the end of the world, I agree, but that made my rather late 10 pm arrival to NZ into a VERY late 11.45 pm one.
I was given temporary possession of a pretty new Mazda3 and a GPS unit to go with it, and after admonishment of severe financial repercussions in case of damage to either, I was set loose. The GPS did a fine job of guiding me out of Chrischurch, so 15 min later I was cruising comfortably towards Banks Peninsula. In the remaining 80 km of the drive I only encountered 3 other vehicles. NZ lacks the Australian danger of hitting large animals on the road (sheep are typically fenced in), so other than the incessant complaining of the GPS that I was exceeding 100 km/h (I couldn't figure out how to disable the warning) things were going smooth. With about 20-30 km to go, the roads got narrow and twisty, and my disagreement with the GPS deepened, since it deemed the route given to me by the owner of the backpacker's where I was headed to pass through unpaved roads, and so refused to give directions. Thing were getting late, and going on the assumption that the owner of the house gave me the right way, I put the GPS in the "just show me where I am" mode and pressed on. Sure enough, I got to the place right around 2 am.
I have pre-arranged the late arrival, and the owners were supposed to leave me a note as to where the available bed was, and other such details. However, since a quick look around the living room / kitchen revealed no such note, I was left to find things out by myself. Luckily, the room were labelled, and a guess that the 'Dorm' would be the one with the free bed was accurate. Amazingly, I managed not to wake up anyone in the process.
Places like this are not conducive to sleeping in, but even an 8 am wakeup meant that I was one of the last people up. My appearance in the living room was greeted with a more than a few surprised looks, as apparently they have waited for me until 12:30, and since I didn't show up, they figured I wasn't coming. I, in the meantime, was absorbing where I was - this was the view from the bedroom window:
Weather was still kinda cold / cloudy, so I bummed around the place for a while and chatted with the staff (staff are usually people on a year long working holiday style visa, who are helping around the hostel in exchange for food & stay). The staff consisted of a German girl named Mira, Taiwanese girl Coco and a 59 year old Frenchwoman named Nadine. It was very unusual to see someone from older generation working this sort of deal, but more on that later. They have helpfully informed me that the place is owned by a guy named Gary, who went to Akaroa (the nearest town) and was to come back later in the day. More importantly, for a modest fee of $14 and help with the dishes after the fact, one could partake in a dinner cooked by Gary. Needless to say, I signed up. Since the staff looked busy, and there was nobody else around, I went for a drive around the area and took some pictures.
Coming back about an hour or two later did not turn up anyone new so I decided to go see the town. Mira, having finished her chores, wanted to come too so she came along. The town, Akaroa, had a distinctly French influence to it, down to flying a huge French flag and have all streets labelled as Rue something or other. I never did find out how this French influence materialized half the world away. The real star of the town was really the harbour though - the bright blue water and the hills surrounding it made for an awesome scene.
We sat down for lunch, where I found out more about Mira. She was a legal assistant in Germany for a few years, but got bored with her job, and saw that there were a lot more opportunities available if she were to improve her English. New Zealand was then the choice due to easy availability of the working holiday visa. Having already been at the hostel I was staying at for 2 weeks, she was actually planning to move on to a different hostel that day, but was persuaded to stay one more night by Nadine.
Back at the hostel, quite a few more people arrived. I ended up spending most of the time with Yanni and Eleni, a Greek couple, and Nadine joined us later in the evening as well. Yanni, as is turned out, owns a taverna on the Greek island Skiathos, which he only runs 8-10 months in the year, so while as he put it, "i'll never get rich", he has lots of time to travel.
The dinner was really the highlight - not only Gary's cooking was spectacular, with dishes ranging from steamed crayfish to pumpkin pie, the gathering proved international indeed - 10 countries were represented at the table. (Greece, Canada, USA, Denmark, New Zealand, Singapore, France, Germany, England, and Taiwan) What was even more interesting is that people's professional backgrounds were as varied as the geographical ones - from students to financial consultants. The conversations ran late into the night, topics ranging from US politics and smoking to singing the alphabet song in French, courtesy of Nadine. Nadine was really the entertainment star of the night, a 59 year old retired school teacher from a small town in the south of France. What she lacked in English skills, she made up for in enthusiasm. Overall, I definitely remembered why I loved New Zealand the first time I was there - it seems to attract interesting, friendly, adventurous people that you can really spend hours with in animated conversations over a completely unexpected range of topics. At the end of the day I had invites to 3 different countries from people I have just met, yet would be totally happy to see again.
Being in New Zealand and not going for a hike is tantamount to treason, so next morning I joined the Greeks for a hike in the nearby valley. What we did not quite plan for is that the trail was covered with up to waist-high grass, which combined with overnight rain made sure that we got soaked from waist down in a matter of minutes - all electronics have quickly migrated in the highest available pockets. On the other hand, since we got the getting wet part over with quickly, and it was warm, we happily continued for the rest of the 1.5 hour loop wet. (1 week later update: my shoes STILL smell like a swamp, even after 2 washes with strong detergent - I have now declared them contaminated beyond recovery, and bought a new pair) The hike was nice enough, although perhaps not as spectacular as some others I have done. After changing into dry clothes, we followed it up with a nice lunch in town.
Knowing that I had to go back to Christchurch for the 6.45 am flight the next day, I nonetheless stayed at the hostel as late as I could. A particularly amusing scene was played out by 2 sons of Gary's. They were playing with a small boat in the middle of maybe 10x10 m pond. The younger kid, in the boat, got stuck in the middle of said pond, and apparently having a penchant for dramatics, started to yell for help. The older kid ran off, ostensibly to get help, but instead returned with a folding chair, set it up on the shore, and sat down to enjoy the show. At this point, all adults within view were laughing hysterically.
Time eventually came for me to head off so I reluctantly said my goodbyes and headed back to Christchurch. I stopped a few times along the way to take pictures and ponder whether it's better driving the steeps roads at night when you can't see the dropoffs and aren't distracted by the views.
The hostel in Christchurch was quiet, so I struck up conversion with the owner, an Swiss man named Markus, who has moved to New Zealand nearly 20 years ago after working in electronics engineering (how's that for a career change?). He was actually quite fond of the hostel, as he said it provides him with enough income to be happy, and keeps him busy with building and fixing things. We talked for a while about the hosteling business in general, as he seemed to know quite a few details, and I was quite interested to hear them. A surprising part came when I mentioned the placed I stayed at most of the weekend, and he immediatedly went "oh, Gary and Heidi's place, yeah I know them, cool place, ya?" It is definitely a smaller world within an already small one (NZ population is only about 3 million). Talking about travel later one, I was surprised to find out that he has travelled across Russia and Ukraine, having been to placed as remote as Vladivostok in the Far East of Russia and Irkutsk in the North. Without even noticing it, we ended up talking for over 2 hours. I was forced to reflect on my initial impression of Markus, as he was one of the few hostel owners to keep his front door locked, and perhaps did not come across as very friendly on first meeting. Sometimes first impressions are just that...
A quick nap later, I headed to the airport at the ungodly early hour of 5 am. An uneventful flight later, Sydney customs have given me a new 3 months visa, and I was at work shortly thereafter, my sanity restored by a short but sweet vacation.
The rest of the pictures, with comments, are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/NewZealandWeekend
P.S. Sheep your ask? Yes there were sheep.
Lots of sheep:
View from above
To mark the momentuous occassion of my birthday (yeah right), I went up to Sydney's Centrepoint tower for a drink. This was the first time I was in one of those revolving restaurant/bar sort of things, which was pretty neat. The quiet and the view definitely have a tranquil effect of sorts. Taking pics was a bit of challenge, since the structure was moving, but here's a snap:
One more pic at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/SydneyTower
Thanks Matt for coming :)
One more pic at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/SydneyTower
Thanks Matt for coming :)
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Strange supermarket sightings
Strange things seen at local supermarket. Looks like regular mangoes:
Until you look at the pricetag closely:
R2E2 mangoes? What? C3QO oranges?
Until you look at the pricetag closely:
R2E2 mangoes? What? C3QO oranges?
Electrifying
Haven't blogged in a while, so a few things to tide the readers (if any) over until I finish the New Zealand entry.
A quickly-patched together edit of a lightning storm in Sydney, view from the office.
A quickly-patched together edit of a lightning storm in Sydney, view from the office.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
You call that creative?
As some of you may now, I entered photos into Canon photo5 contest, run by Canon Australia.
The premise of the contest was as follows - they mailed you a set of 5 items, which were a cardboard box, (4x4x4" approx), a red balloon, a piece of chalk (I got yellow), 10 1-inch diameter yellow dot sticker, and maybe 3x3 ft sheet of blue cellophane.
They goal was then to submit the most creative photos, 5 total, one with each of the items. I would like to repeat, the creativity aspect was key, and was highlighted extensively.
The finalists, top 10 for each object category, were posted today. None of my shots made it. I'm disappointed, yes, but much more so by the crappiness of the photos that were chosen than by my photos not making it. Seriously, some of the photos (balloon #1940, for example) have no creative merit whatsoever.
Sour grapes? See for yourself (hideous hard-to-use Flash warning): http://www.canon.com.au/photo5/gallery/default.aspx
My photos are here. Once again, not trying to say mine should've been in the final, but rather that they could do far better than they did.
The premise of the contest was as follows - they mailed you a set of 5 items, which were a cardboard box, (4x4x4" approx), a red balloon, a piece of chalk (I got yellow), 10 1-inch diameter yellow dot sticker, and maybe 3x3 ft sheet of blue cellophane.
They goal was then to submit the most creative photos, 5 total, one with each of the items. I would like to repeat, the creativity aspect was key, and was highlighted extensively.
The finalists, top 10 for each object category, were posted today. None of my shots made it. I'm disappointed, yes, but much more so by the crappiness of the photos that were chosen than by my photos not making it. Seriously, some of the photos (balloon #1940, for example) have no creative merit whatsoever.
Sour grapes? See for yourself (hideous hard-to-use Flash warning): http://www.canon.com.au/photo5/gallery/default.aspx
My photos are here. Once again, not trying to say mine should've been in the final, but rather that they could do far better than they did.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Just a photo
Gear: Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D), Canon 50 mm f/1.8 II
Postprocessing: Levels, Channel Mixer, Dodge/Burn/Clone, Contrast, Unsharp Mask
Look what I have created
One skills that is not particularly well enhanced by working at Google MV is cooking. When you get 3 awesome meals a day, the motivation to cook is definitely lacking. So, when one finds oneself in an office that doesn't serve dinner for a change, one starts to learn more of this cooking business they speak of :)
Thanks Matt for the recipe.
And yes, I know many of you guys can cook just fine. I, however, have never really gotten into it. So, progress.
Thanks Matt for the recipe.
And yes, I know many of you guys can cook just fine. I, however, have never really gotten into it. So, progress.
Going native
All of these are from Koala Park in West Pennant Hills, abotu 20 km out of Sydney.
Look, an awake koala (awwww):
The usual state of a koala (sleeping 20+ hours per day):
The crowd pleaser, feeding the 'roos:
What do they eat you ask? Cheerios. I kid you not. I think the premise is, if you buy a kid some kangaroo food, and they decide to try it themselves, no one is worse for the wear.
Moving on to more interesting things, like results of nuclear experiment induced mutations. Part one looks like a cross between a kiwi bird and a porcupine (part 2 is a platypus, which is a cross between a duck and a beaver, not pictured here).
.JPG)
That is an Echidna. E-what? Echidna.
Oh, and how's that for a chicken?
I would NOT want to mess with that chicken. That chicken looks like it preys on small animals, like kangaroos or something.
Come to Australia...where you just might get eaten by a chicken :)
Look, an awake koala (awwww):
The usual state of a koala (sleeping 20+ hours per day):
The crowd pleaser, feeding the 'roos:
What do they eat you ask? Cheerios. I kid you not. I think the premise is, if you buy a kid some kangaroo food, and they decide to try it themselves, no one is worse for the wear.
Moving on to more interesting things, like results of nuclear experiment induced mutations. Part one looks like a cross between a kiwi bird and a porcupine (part 2 is a platypus, which is a cross between a duck and a beaver, not pictured here).
.JPG)
That is an Echidna. E-what? Echidna.
Oh, and how's that for a chicken?
I would NOT want to mess with that chicken. That chicken looks like it preys on small animals, like kangaroos or something.
Come to Australia...where you just might get eaten by a chicken :)
Sculpture by the sea, or, there is a spoon
There is a nice 6 km (4 mi) walk in Sydney, connecting the world-famous Bondi beach to the beaches further south via a seaside path, ending at a quieter Coogee beach. It's named, with stunning creativity, Coogee to Bondi Walk. A nice walk any time, it was particularly interesting this weekend due to Sculpture by the Sea event. A whole bunch (nearly 100) sculpture were mounted along the walk, for enjoyment/amusement of locals and tourists.
The highlight? A most awesome SPOON!
A few other were really neat as well (look closely...):
And we couldn't figure out whether this one was a sculpture or a fruit stand :)
Yes, that is exactly what it looks like, lemons.
A few other pics are on: http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/SculptureByTheSea
The highlight? A most awesome SPOON!
A few other were really neat as well (look closely...):
And we couldn't figure out whether this one was a sculpture or a fruit stand :)
Yes, that is exactly what it looks like, lemons.
A few other pics are on: http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/SculptureByTheSea
4-wheeled toys
Haven't posted in a while, have a few updates backlogged. To start things off, a photo set from Sydney Motor Show.
http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/SydneyMotorShow
Those not interested in cars stay tuned, more updates coming up.
http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/SydneyMotorShow
Those not interested in cars stay tuned, more updates coming up.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Point Perpendicular
is not a geometric term you've never heard of before, but rather a large headland about 3 hrs south of Sydney, known for
a) being a Navy bombing range
b) spectacular sea cliffs
So, if one calls ahead, and makes sure the Navy is not using the headland for a), they're fine with allowing people to come in and climb on b). They'll even come look for you if you're not back by end of day (there's a gate you have sign in/out at). Try that at Moffett...
We actually came down to camp at Kangaroo Valley the night before, so we can get to the cliffs earlier in the morning. While there were no kangaroos around, the campground had quite a few wombats grazing around.
There are no words that can really do justice to climbing at this place. Go see pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/PointPerpClimbing
a) being a Navy bombing range
b) spectacular sea cliffs
So, if one calls ahead, and makes sure the Navy is not using the headland for a), they're fine with allowing people to come in and climb on b). They'll even come look for you if you're not back by end of day (there's a gate you have sign in/out at). Try that at Moffett...
We actually came down to camp at Kangaroo Valley the night before, so we can get to the cliffs earlier in the morning. While there were no kangaroos around, the campground had quite a few wombats grazing around.
There are no words that can really do justice to climbing at this place. Go see pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/PointPerpClimbing
Monday, October 8, 2007
Oceania Cup climbing competition
A few videos from the finals of the Oceania Cup climbing comp. These are the difficulty finals, where competitors must lead climb a route they never seen before (they're kept in isolation up until their attempt), whoever gets further on it wins, as nobody was able to complete the entire route.
The men's route was Aus grade 28 (12d), women's 26 (12b), and they joined at the very top for 30+ section (mid 13).
Young Kiwi guy doing the first mini-crux of the men's route:
Same guy, running out of strength and ideas, followed by excellent airtime:
One of the better attempts, *awesome* no-hand rest in what looked like a very awkward position, only the wall smack looked a bit painful:
Women's winner, fantastic roof climbing technique and inhuman strength, in case orientation is hard to tell, look at the dangling chalk bag to see which way is down:
I have much to learn :)
The men's route was Aus grade 28 (12d), women's 26 (12b), and they joined at the very top for 30+ section (mid 13).
Young Kiwi guy doing the first mini-crux of the men's route:
Same guy, running out of strength and ideas, followed by excellent airtime:
One of the better attempts, *awesome* no-hand rest in what looked like a very awkward position, only the wall smack looked a bit painful:
Women's winner, fantastic roof climbing technique and inhuman strength, in case orientation is hard to tell, look at the dangling chalk bag to see which way is down:
I have much to learn :)
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Trains and Flash Mobs
So, went to watch a climbing competition at the gym I climb at out here. On the way back, waiting for the train, which only goes once in half an hour or so. Maybe 2-3 more people on the platform, Sunday afternoon, this is in the suburbs. Sitting on the bench, GTalk'ing off of the BlackBerry to kill time.
Then over the course of a few minutes, a whole bunch (15+) of youths show up, loud and obnoxious, sitting around me in all directions, talking/yelling in some language I don't understand, playing with ringtones on their mobiles, and generally being a nuisance. I swear, it looked like something out of a prank TV show or something. In the meantime, another spontaneously formed group of different youths (also non-native) is sitting on the stair to the platform watching? this chaos.
Long story short, if someone finds this on YouTube or something, send me a link.
Peace out
(Videos from climbing comp tomorrow)
Then over the course of a few minutes, a whole bunch (15+) of youths show up, loud and obnoxious, sitting around me in all directions, talking/yelling in some language I don't understand, playing with ringtones on their mobiles, and generally being a nuisance. I swear, it looked like something out of a prank TV show or something. In the meantime, another spontaneously formed group of different youths (also non-native) is sitting on the stair to the platform watching? this chaos.
Long story short, if someone finds this on YouTube or something, send me a link.
Peace out
(Videos from climbing comp tomorrow)
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Fiesta!
One cool thing about living right in the middle of downtown is that there's always something going on, and it's only 5 min away. This weekend, Darling Harbour (the same harbour that is prominent in our office views :) )had a big Latin Fiesta. It also happens to be a long weekend in Australia, so the party was really quite impressive. Now, I have no idea why the have a Latin Fiesta in Australia, but, why not?
Aside from the stage where the Brazilians were partying last time, they also had a stage set on a barge that was moored near a sort of a natural amphitheater built into the harbour shore. How does this work, you ask? Look:
Really not much to say here, they were spectacular. The first and third videos were really more about showing off rather than showing legitimate 2-person Capoeira game, but the end result is not less spectacular.
On Sunday night, the treat was some very well-choreographed tango, performed by the winners and the runners-up of the Australian Dancing with the Stars.
The winners.
The name is Bond. James Bond.
Check out the photos from these and other acts (flamenco, fireworks, etc) at http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/DarlingHarbourLatinFiesta
Aside from the stage where the Brazilians were partying last time, they also had a stage set on a barge that was moored near a sort of a natural amphitheater built into the harbour shore. How does this work, you ask? Look:
While not all the acts were up the standards (in particular, the DJs that tried hard to represent themselves as the cool gangstas of the Latin Rap community, while sucking at DJing...*sigh*), overall this was amazing for a (free) street show.
I have some photos, but really this was all about the action, so...I got videos! :) (please forgive the quality, it was dark, crowded, and all I got to shoot videos with is my old Canon SD200)
This first the first time for me seeing Capoeira performed live. For those who have seen Ocean's Twelve, this is the Brazilian martial arts/dance the Toulour was performing to get through the lasers. So, without further ado, Grupo Capoeira Brasil:
Really not much to say here, they were spectacular. The first and third videos were really more about showing off rather than showing legitimate 2-person Capoeira game, but the end result is not less spectacular.
On Sunday night, the treat was some very well-choreographed tango, performed by the winners and the runners-up of the Australian Dancing with the Stars.
The winners.
The name is Bond. James Bond.
Check out the photos from these and other acts (flamenco, fireworks, etc) at http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/DarlingHarbourLatinFiesta
This is postcard Sydney
I realized I haven't shown much of the city so far. So I took a walk with my camera yesterday to rectify that :) Well, that, or maybe I was just bored. But this way sounds better.
I walked from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay, and took the ferry back. (Which cost $5.20, and probably took longer than it would've taken to me to walk back, but hey, that's not what ferries are about)
Map of the area here: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=-33.865177,151.207151&spn=0.016891,0.028925&z=15&om=1
So, the postcard views of Sydney:
Probably the most recognizable performance hall in the world, Sydney Opera House
Sydney Harbour Bridge. Even though most people take the tunnel these days if they need to cross the harbour by car, the bridge is pretty cool. Anyone who saw Olympic and/or New Year's fireworks launched from the top arch (even on TV) knows what I am talking about.
CBD (Central Business District, aka downtown), from the ferry on the Darling Harbour side.
More photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/CircularQuayToDarlingHarbourFerry
Shipley Upper Climbing
Another weekend, another climbing trip. There will be plenty more of these, non-climbers are invited to stop reading now if they're not interested :)
Went to Blue Mountains, about 2 hours out of Sydney. They're not real "mountains" in the traditional definitition of the word, but rather a range of hills and plateaus interesected by many cliff-sided valleys. All together, this makes for beautiful climbing on orange sandstone, and with great views too. As for climbing, every climb seemed to have a hard move right off the ground, with much more reasonable climbing later. I'll need to get the hang of those :)
The place is called Shipley Upper. Very social crag, with very closely spaced routes. But, everyone was friendly and was enjoying the climbing.
3 climbers on about 30 ft width of wall
Matt cleaning the top anchor on Aus grade 21 (11b). Awesome, if a messy, lead, I had more than enough trouble toproping this one.
Full set of photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/ShipleyUpperClimbing
Blogger "Features"
Ok, a bit of ranting is in order :)
Blogger alone:
- every time I insert an image, it get placed at the top of the post, not at cursor position (????) Because the WYSIWYG interface doesn't allow images to be moved relative to each other easily, the only solution is to go to HTML edit mode and move it from there.
- the line breaks and spacing around images differ wildly between the edit view and the published view
Integration:
- If I blog images from Picasa, then the post editing view I get is missing most of the text control features, only really suitable for posting an image with brief comments
- If I link to images on Picasaweb (instead of reuploading them), it resizes huge images down to blog size, and on click, offers to save them (see my previous post)
- YouTube: no integration at all, as far as I can tell?
If anyone knows solutions or workarounds to these, please post in comments or let me know directly.
Blogger alone:
- every time I insert an image, it get placed at the top of the post, not at cursor position (????) Because the WYSIWYG interface doesn't allow images to be moved relative to each other easily, the only solution is to go to HTML edit mode and move it from there.
- the line breaks and spacing around images differ wildly between the edit view and the published view
Integration:
- If I blog images from Picasa, then the post editing view I get is missing most of the text control features, only really suitable for posting an image with brief comments
- If I link to images on Picasaweb (instead of reuploading them), it resizes huge images down to blog size, and on click, offers to save them (see my previous post)
- YouTube: no integration at all, as far as I can tell?
If anyone knows solutions or workarounds to these, please post in comments or let me know directly.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Backstreet Boys Kung Fu, Brazilians, and chalk art
Was hanging out around the city on Sunday, around Darling Harbour specifically. Touristy as Sydney may be (Matt's observation), it's pretty cool to live in the middle of a busy city for a change
Some highlights from the day:
Hi!
Some highlights from the day:
Hi!
Koreans were having a party, ostensibly with the purpose of raising awareness of Korea and attracting visitors. To aid in this, they put on a show, that could best be described as a cross between Backstreet Boys an Kung Fu. A group of Korean martial artists were doing a weird mix of dance and kung fu moves, all set to some pop-style music, to much consternation of the audience. You just can't make this stuff up.
Backstreet Boys move
Immediately followed by a Kung Fu move
Even their managers looked confused
Some other highlights included "Korean Pottery Lessons", and rapidly appreciating price of Kimchi.
Brazilians, in the meantime, were having their own party nearby. I couldn't tell exactly what the reason for celebration was, but since when do Brazilians need a reason for partying anyways. Also, I have discovered that Brazil has clearly taken an unorthdox approach to international diplomacy:
Not to be outdone by foreigners, there was also a local sidewalk chart show going. The art ranged from creative:
to downright bizarre:
Fun time was had by all :)
More photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/SydneySep23
Nowra (again) climbing
The climbing has commenced :) Went to Nowra, did some quality sandstone pulling. No pictures to really show for it, just some snaps that didn't turn out. Definitely brought back some memories though, as Nowra was also the location of my last climbing trip during the previous Australia stay.
For the climbing audience: did about 5 routes, an easy warmup, then 2 leads, 2 TRs. Leads at roughly 10a, and 10c, very fun routes all bolted nicely, TRs at 11c, which didn't work out well at all, route was covered in loose sand; and 10d/11a slight overhang, which I think we all ran out of strength for. Matt did a hero move by stick-clipping the 2nd bolt while hanging from the first one. It was a sight to behold, I wish I had pictures of this, but I was belaying :)
Grade conversion: http://www.alpinist.com/media/page/grades/gradingchart.jpg
For everyone, pics:
For the climbing audience: did about 5 routes, an easy warmup, then 2 leads, 2 TRs. Leads at roughly 10a, and 10c, very fun routes all bolted nicely, TRs at 11c, which didn't work out well at all, route was covered in loose sand; and 10d/11a slight overhang, which I think we all ran out of strength for. Matt did a hero move by stick-clipping the 2nd bolt while hanging from the first one. It was a sight to behold, I wish I had pictures of this, but I was belaying :)
Grade conversion: http://www.alpinist.com/media/page/grades/gradingchart.jpg
For everyone, pics:
Nowra, NSW, Australia - May 26, 2006
Nowra, NSW, Australia - Sep 22, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Arrived
All right, I'm at the Sydney office. 9:13 am here, 4:13 pm MV.
This was probably the best long-distance flight I've been on so far, disregarding some lack of organization on the part of Qantas crew. At check in (nearly 4 hrs before flight), I was told all exit row seats are taken, so I got 59K (58 is exit row), with the promise of an empty seat beside me. That was all well and good, but after the cabin crew guy said the boarding was complete, all of 58 right in front of me was empty.
Some quick negotiations later, I got 58K (window), which has the exit slide in the way, but still way better than a regular seat, contrary to what SeatGuru says; the aisle seat was spoken for by a 6'5" Kiwi guy, and we both used the middle seat as the dumping ground.
Food was excellent (salmon for dinner, vegetable fritata for breakfast), and the movie selection half-decent. Watched 300 (crap, but good visuals), and rewatched parts of Paris Je T'aime (very good movie), but most importantly, got some sleep.
Got keys and a tour of my apartment (5 min walking from office), and a grand tour of the office from Bryan. Apartment is great, but the office views are really what blew me away. Pics of everything coming up soon.
I am NOT sleepy..for now.
This was probably the best long-distance flight I've been on so far, disregarding some lack of organization on the part of Qantas crew. At check in (nearly 4 hrs before flight), I was told all exit row seats are taken, so I got 59K (58 is exit row), with the promise of an empty seat beside me. That was all well and good, but after the cabin crew guy said the boarding was complete, all of 58 right in front of me was empty.
Some quick negotiations later, I got 58K (window), which has the exit slide in the way, but still way better than a regular seat, contrary to what SeatGuru says; the aisle seat was spoken for by a 6'5" Kiwi guy, and we both used the middle seat as the dumping ground.
Food was excellent (salmon for dinner, vegetable fritata for breakfast), and the movie selection half-decent. Watched 300 (crap, but good visuals), and rewatched parts of Paris Je T'aime (very good movie), but most importantly, got some sleep.
Got keys and a tour of my apartment (5 min walking from office), and a grand tour of the office from Bryan. Apartment is great, but the office views are really what blew me away. Pics of everything coming up soon.
I am NOT sleepy..for now.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Ready Steady Go
Well, I'm all set, and as promised, now there's a blog, if kind of a basic one for now.
T - 6 hrs to flight. QF74, if someone wants to track it.
On a side note, I have clearly been corrupted by technology - my carryon bag contains 2 laptops, a dSLR with 3 lenses, an external HD, headphones, and a bunch of other smaller stuff. I just hope Qantas doesn't decide to weigh it :)
Next post from Sydney. Check back soon...
T - 6 hrs to flight. QF74, if someone wants to track it.
On a side note, I have clearly been corrupted by technology - my carryon bag contains 2 laptops, a dSLR with 3 lenses, an external HD, headphones, and a bunch of other smaller stuff. I just hope Qantas doesn't decide to weigh it :)
Next post from Sydney. Check back soon...
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