Saturday, August 26, 2006

BROAD!

On Wednesday night, I dragged Dave along to the Atheneum Theatre on Collins Street to see Broad.

Broad is a five-woman concert series put together by Deborah Conway. Basically, Deborah picks four up-and-coming artists from a broad range of genres and they all tour together singing some songs together and each taking turns to sing some of their own songs (with the others free to chip-in whenever they feel like it). She actually did the same type of show last year with a different group of artists.

The four artists she brought together this year were: Kate Miller-Heidke (a quirky folk-pop-operatic singer and pianist from Brisbane); Ella Hooper (rock chick from Killing Heidi); Melinda Schneider (country music singer) and Mia Dyson (R'n'B / country).

Really, I just wanted to go and see Kate Miller-Heidke who I "discovered" earlier this year on iTunes. She has an amazing voice and some really quirky song lyrics which I really love. You can have a listen to a couple of her songs at her My Space page. The show was great, and I don't think Dave suffered too much. The highlight for me was when Kate sang a song she wrote called "Australian Idol" which was absolutely hilarious and had the entire theatre laughing.

We also spotted a couple of Melbourne celebrities who were also there to see the show... Lindsay Field (back up singer for John Farnham) and Brian Nankervis (the really tall guy who hosts RockWiz on SBS).

posted by Nelle @ 3:41 am 0 comments

A Day Out with Picasso

Last weekend we went along with some friends (Huw and Pippa) to see the Picasso exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria. It was quite a fascinating exhibit which really gave you a sense of what Picasso the person was like, and of the times in which he worked.

My favourite was a series of photos that showed the creation of a huge mural that was showed at one of the World Expos. They projected the images in sequence onto a large wall and it really gave you the feeling of watching the artist at work as the painting come together. As the images progress, various features of, and characters in, the painting emerge and came to the fore at different stages with some then moving into the background as other figures came to the fore. As you can tell from the following photo, the Gallery is trying to keep the exhibit "hush-hush"!


Obviously, I wasn't able to take any pics inside the gallery, but here's a photo I took in the foyer of a sculpture with the water falling over the plate glass as a backdrop - just because I thought it looked beautiful!



Then, just because I am once again besotted with the city of Melbourne and how beautiful it is, I took some more pics on the way back to the car. Here are a couple of them... just look at that beautiful Melbourne weather!




posted by Nelle @ 3:20 am 0 comments

Friday, August 25, 2006

Homeward Bound!

Finally, it was time to head home. Fortunately as we were already in Orlando, the journey home took only 4 flights (3 for Dave).

We left the hotel and set of for Orlando Airport. Given our experiences with airports to date, we decided to allow ourselves plenty of time. As luck (or is that Murphy's Law) would have it, we managed to check-in in record time (after having to go through our bags in front of everyone to try and distribute the weight a little better - which also involved the throwing out of a few non-essential and replacable things such as product packaging, shampoo, etc). Anyway, after our amazingly fast check-in, we went for a bite of lunch. Given that the Orlando Airport was practically home-turf for Dave (after his 4 day stay here earlier), he was able to point us in the direction of where best to eat!

Even though we still had heaps of time up our sleeves, we then thought we'd best get ourselves to Security to go through the slow process of lining up, taking out the laptops, taking off the shoes, etc. Our prior experience had taught us that this could take an hour or more to get through. But not this time! We walked to Security and straight to the head of the queue - there was hardly anyone else there. We were through security in about 3 minutes flat! Murphy's Law got us again - now we had to wait another couple of hours for the flight to take off!

The flight from Orlando to Los Angeles was pretty uneventful - which is really the best kind of flight in this day and age! We were able to see a couple of cities out the window - Dallas and Las Vegas - both of which looked really pretty and sparkly from high above and we were able to make out The Strip and some of the casinos.

We were a little nervous about our changeover at LA - we only had a hour between flights which we thought could be a bit tight, and we still were unsure whether we had been able to secure an upgrade using the points we had accumulated on the way over. We needn't have worried. We walked straight out of one plane and all we had to do was walk onto the plane at the very next gate. We even managed to secure the upgrade which was very exciting(!!!) as at least this meant I'd hopefully get some sleep this time!

The one catch was that Dave and I had seats about 10 rows apart!!! Luckily I managed to sweet-talk the flight attendant into letting Dave switch seats so that we got to sit together.

I then discovered that you don't actually get to enjoy all that Business Class has to offer when you are boarding a flight at what was about midnight Orlando time (which is what we were running at!) and which arrives at it's destination at around 6am! Having champagne and a fancy dinner (and I use the term fancy rather loosely) after midnight is really just weird. Really though, the only real benefit of Business Class is the seats - you can practically lie down on them! My tenth flight on this whole crazy journey and I finally got to sleep on a plane!!!!!

The arrival into Sydney was a joy (other than having to part ways with Dave, of course, who was heading straight home to Melbourne). Australia really does have it right. Instead of being greeted by grumpy immigration officers, I was met with a beagle! They are so cute... especially when they ignore you! After a slight hiccup (my flight had been cancelled due to some misunderstanding between Qantas and United!), I checked in for my flight to Brissy and sat myself down for a 4 hour wait! All the Australian accents around me and over the PA sounded really strange for some reason - extra ocker! But oh so good to be on home soil!

The flight up to Brissy was uneventful, except for a small-world experience I had when I found out the bloke sitting next to me had also worked in Antigua (what are the odds!). Anyway, I was greeted by Mum, Dad and Katie and we headed back to Mum and Dad's (via Big Dad's for a lammie - of course). It was great to see everyone again, and to be reunited with my Chloe! After a nice afternoon and evening with my family it was an early morning drive to the airport for my last (12th!) flight.

Home again, home again, jiggedy jog!

posted by Nelle @ 12:13 am 0 comments

Dinner at the Dome

A couple of weeks ago, Dave and I, along with friends (Kent and Cath) went to one of the Lion's President's Dinners at the Telstra Dome as guests of AAPT. It was quite fun, and we got to see a live interview with some Aussie swimmers - Brooke Henry, Gian Rooney, and Patrick Murphy - who all seemed really nice and were very entertaining.



The function rooms at the Dome have an amazing view of the stadium, as you can (sort of) see in this picture... So you can see the game without having to battle the Melbourne cold!

posted by Nelle @ 12:07 am 0 comments

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Living at the Florida Mall

I know. I have been very slack! Since returning home 4 weeks ago, I haven't put up a single blog entry. If you all didn't know any better, you might think I was still living at Universal Studios, and still suffering from a sore foot! So obviously, a fair bit has happened between then and now.

I've started thinking of a few new things to put up on my blog. However, as I can't stand to just leave a big gap, I'm going to have to do a couple of quick entries to round off my journey.

Well, after the day at Universal, we all packed up and moved to a different hotel... The Florida Mall Hotel. Here is a pic of our room...

And what an inspiring view we had out our window.... Not!


As you have probably guessed The Florida Mall Hotel is located in a shopping centre! Thus, the great news (at least for Kerri and I) was that when we were done with work, we could go and check out the shops! The Florida Mall has several large department stores (Sears, Saks 5th Avenue, Macy's, Nordstrom, JC Penney, and Dillards) and a whole heap of specialty stores. After almost 2 months of living in Antigua with a very limited number of shops, it really was a little over-stimulating!

It is also home to M&M's World! You might think that that would be heaven for me, as I looooooove M&M's. However, as American chocolate bears very little comparison to Australian chocolate, it was rather disappointing! Sort of like being lost at sea, surrounded by water, and dying of thirst! But, then again, it was probably a good thing that they didn't taste any good, or I might have been in a bit of trouble living under the same roof as a giant M&M store!!! In any case, it was a treat for the eyes with all the colours and the giant tubes of M&Ms, and the merchandise was amazing - you could get an M&M anything - clothes, toys, ornaments, jewelry, scrabble, monopoly......

Another Orlando highlight was a visit to Super Target!!! As you may know, I have an affection for Tarjay, and I certainly wasn't going to let the chance to visit a "Super" version pass me by. The place was huge, and as you can see the checkouts went as far as the eye could see....

(And, if you are wondering.... Yes, I did feel a bit odd standing in Target taking a photo of the checkouts! Things we bloggers have to do!)

Oh - and because I know Dad would be interested - here is the car we had in Orlando....


After a few days living, eating, and sleeping in the Mall, the time came for Mack and Kerri to head off for Toronto and for Dave and I to head home. It was soooo sad having to say goodbye after spending every day of 8 weeks together - even if we would all be back in Melbourne together in a couple of weeks.

However, just before we had to leave for the airport I raced downstairs for a quick visit to the AquaMassage place just near the entrance to the hotel. I had passed this place at least a couple of times each day we were here, and I kept promising myself a turn. And I certainly wasn't disappointed. What a delight! You lay face down inside a clamshell shaped "thing" (for want of a better word) where there is a plastic sheet type surface on top of you and above that the water shoots at the plastic - if that makes any sense at all. Hang on, I've just found a picture which seems to convey what my words are struggling to...


Basically, its the equivalent of having a spa without getting wet. You also get to hold a small remote device which lets you pause the water jets at any point as they go up and down your spine! Very nice. I only wish that I had had a turn every day that I was there, not just on the last day! In fact, they really should have these at airports so that you can have a turn as soon as you disembark a long flight!

posted by Nelle @ 10:16 pm 0 comments