Photos: Frankston

Here are photos from today's bike ride. First a ride on a train and then riding around Frankston, beautiful beaches, channels, playgrounds... Wonderful.

Flickr: -=|MisterY|=-'s photos tagged with 20080330

Rain in Melbourne

There was a shower or two in the previous few days. Real shower. It's been raining for most of the day yesterday, the whole night, and it's still raining in the morning. The environment reminds me of home. Gray clouds all around, no sign of stopping. Everything is wet, sound of water on car tyres as they pass by.

Defence

Got some information on the phone in regards to joining the Defence Reserves. Applied for an Information Session. Should receive further info in the next few days.
Could be an interesting experience. :)

Photos: Sandringham Ride, City

Sandringham ride, along the Ocean. HMVS Cerberus. Also some views of the city in the morning as well as views of the city from above. :)

Flickr: -=|MisterY|=-'s photos tagged with 20080324

Living at the Coast

Yesterday, as I was cycling down beside the Ocean I thought how stupid it was not to remember to bring swimming suit. It's difficult to get used to living by the coast.
The water temperature is almost constant. There were many people swimming in the Ocean. I could have cycled, get a swim to cool down as it was a warm and sunny day, and then go back. Habits are not easy to change. This also shows that it's hard to encompass many circumstances in one's mind. It's still difficult to remember to bring a helmet, lights, water bottle, keys, camera, and other necessities. I don't like carrying extra clothing, which might be needed in Melbourne if suddenly Southern wind blows. Fortunately, rain can pretty much be ignored here. It is extremely rare (I mean the real rain, that can get you wet, actually :), and does not last long, anyway. So far I may have seen two, only.
The beaches are marvelous. Had I gone a few kilometers further, I'd get to Frankston beach, which is quite long. Well, that could be a task for next weekend. Next time I'm getting a train down and then cycle from there on.
This is such a nice place to live.

HMVS Cerberus

Another lazy day. Finally got out for a bike ride at 3pm. Cycled down St.Kilda Road to the end of Albert Park, then towards the coast and down the ocean line. Went a bit South of Sandringham. The path appeared to go on forever. Amazingly, the length is just above 20km again. :) I measure it in Google Earth. That's another 40km ride. I used to be amazed by such distances when I heard others talk about it but now I find it's nothing special.
I decided to turn back just at the point where there is a semi-sunken ship. Well, it sunk but is still a bit above water so might be interesting to do a dive there. It's HMVS Cerberus. Location S:37.58'02.43", E: 145.00'28.81".
There are a few photos, of course. Will post them later.

Photos: 2008-03-21, Yarra

The first day of Spring! Well, I haven't been here long enough so I still see it that way. :)
The temperature dropped so it was a perfect day for cycling. I went up the Yarra River for about 20 kilometers. The scenery is beautiful. Got some photos taken. You can view them - here.
Only the Turkish shop worked so I got some food and cooked dinner after I came back.
Finally got to finish The Prestige.

2008-03-20

It's Thursday, the end of this working week. On Sunday there was the F1 race. I laid to rest, it was too hot both in the house and outside, and I fell asleep. Woke up at 5pm. Slept the whole day but at least I got enough rest, finally. :)
Then I went to the swimming pool. The temperature was 38 the whole day. It's not that bad if there is air flow. Riding a bicycle can be quite refreshing as the air is dry.
Last night was the drinks night for various people. I went to a pub with housemates and friends.

2008-03-15

There was a qualifying race today. I was at work so I didn't go watch. There was an air program with acrobatic group, military F-18, helicopters, and parachuters. The airplanes we watched from the window.
After work I rode a bicycle down to the track because the sound of formulas could be heard at the city. By the time I got there the show was over so I went to Botanical Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance. At the river I met hundreds of metal fans going to Ozzie Osbourne concert. The concert can be heard from our back yard. :))
I went to bed late last night and woke up at 6am because of the heat but I still don't feel tired as the day at work was great. I'm doing some architectural diagrams and enjoying it to the maximum.

2008-03-12

Today I walked to work. Takes about half an hour to get to the office and is quite nice, just strolling down the river. Checked with the people at Rialto, should get a secure cage for the bicycle and then I'll cycle to work. That seems the best way, I admit. Tried the tram yesterday but I can't stand waiting at the station. It's too static. :) Trains are useless at this distance and walking is just too slow and tiring. So, bike to the rescue, again.
Got a few nice night-mode photos tonight. Walked around the cricket ground and tennis courts where the Australian Open is held. A few concerts advertised at Rod Laver arena. Quite unusual to see all these things around.
Work is great. Finally doing some higher-level stuff, diagrams of the architecture and alike. Days pass so quickly, I don't even notice.
Cooked dinner for the housemates after work. Turned out well. Still need to adjust the amounts a bit.
Got a really good feeling of how things worked out so far.
I love it here.

Photos

Flickr: -=|MisterY|=-'s photos tagged with 20080312
Photos from Mt.Dandenong barbecue and climbing the 1000 steps, beach and first swim in the ocean, Moomba festival fireworks, and city at night...

Beach

Here is a great site with real-time temperature information. The history is available so you can see the temperature graph for today (2008-03-10). It was quite hot, around 38 degrees, and I was looking forward to going to the beach, as we arranged earlier. Then, in one hour the temperature dropped for about 15 degrees. Well, that did not stop us. The ocean was not cold. It took less than a minute to get used to the temperature of the water and then I had my first swim in Australia. :)
Waves are larger than I'm used to, definitely.
Got a few photos at the beach. Magnificent. The beach was almost empty, in my view.
On the way back there was the fireworks again. Moomba festival.
Beautiful long weekend. These are the days to remember...

Picnic

Today I woke up around 6 o'clock, knowing that the bed should be delivered soon. Got a call a bit later to confirm the guys are coming. I love when things get done when it's told they'll be done.
Spent a couple of hours assembling the bed. I just love it. Exactly what I was hoping to get.
After that I joined friends at the barbecue at the Mt. Dandenong. Climbed the 1000 Steps. Fortunately, there isn't really the thousand of them there. :)
Been to Dandenong in the afternoon.
Tonight there was the fireworks again. Even managed to get a few photos in the night mode. Will post them later.
Tomorrow we should go to the beach and have a swim. It's been warm for the past couple of days so I'm finally going to swim this Summer. :D

Move

Moved to a new place today. Went to Ikea to buy a bed and the accompanying stuff. The bed will be delivered tomorrow and the rest I took home today. Tonight I'm gonna sleep in my own bed. :)
Tonight there was fireworks at the Yarra river. There are some beautiful scenes I saw last night so I'm thinking about going there in the evening and take some night photos.
Tomorrow I'm going to a picnic to Mt.Dandenong. Apparently it's beautiful there and the weather should be nice. It was very warm today. So, it should be a nice weekend.
I expect to post more often now that I have internet at home and in my free time. Probably I'll become more Internet-active than in the last month or so.
Everything is well and I feel so good. As good as when I just arrived here.
The link to the bed is here.

Photos: Epping & Yarra Bend

See Album.
Ride around Epping and Yarra Bend River Ranges Park.

Photos: Albert Park

Albert Park Album
Ride to Albert Park, lake and F1 track in February.

2008-03-06

Another day at work. It's quite interesting as I'm researching the abilities of SharePoint 2007, Team Foundation Server 2008, web services... Need to integrate some older systems so we're looking how to implement some of the options offered by the new versions of software packages available these days.
Friends keep in touch so that keeps me posting. :) Haven't been posting a lot in the past period but that's because I'm lazy. That would be the single most important reason. Australia is quite easy to live in so I'm becoming more and more relaxed.
And, I've been at the dinner with the new housemates and I'm looking forward to moving to the new place during the coming weekend. I'll have Internet at home there, finally, so I'll be able to keep in touch regularly, post new items to the blog, and upload more photos to Flickr.
Looking forward to seeing F1 race live on 15th.
The stand for the camera is doing it's job so I'm starting to make some nice night photos. The city looks completely different at night so the photos should be interesting. The view from the front door of the new house is magnificent. There are trees in the alley and parks in front and, above them, the skyscrapers in the city in all different colors. Maybe I even catch some of the small possums that come to the back yard at night (on photos, of course).
Now I need to see about delivery at Ikea so that I can get a bed/mattress, sheets and other stuff I'll need in the new room. :)

2008-03-01

Today I got up earlier very eager to go to Belgrave and Mt.Dandenong. Prepared lunch and some fruit for the day, got on a train with the bicycle. Stepped out at Richmond in order to change trains but then - disappointment. There were works on the railroad and the line was connected by buses. I decided to change destination, so I went all the way to Epping. Later I remembered that I could have cycled the distance that was operated by buses and continue on a train to Belgrave, but... Too late. Anyway, Epping was nice. It was the end of urban area so I still got to walk in the hills. Photos should be posted soon, together with Albert Park Lake photos. Spent some time in the hills north of Epping and then decided to go to Pakville. Went on a train to Victoria Gardens and then thought to cycle West towards Parkville but was sleepy a bit. Looking at a map I saw a better destination - Yarra Bend Park (or whataver the correct name is). It was right there near the train station. The area is beautiful. People playing cricket, cycling, jogging, walking, rowing boats... I had a sleep in the shade at a golf field. Then I decided to go home, pick up a laptop and go to Fed Square to chat back home. So went straight South, crossed the river and saw Ikea. It was still open, so I went in and spend more than hour there. Would be there even longer but they closed at 6pm. I was amazed at the amount of products offered there. They had everything needed for home. Found beds, mattresses, sheets, pillows... Kitchenware, book shelves, cases... After Ikea closed, I went down to Kmart. All I could see was clothes. The area is enormous. They closed at 6, too, so I decided to go there tomorrow and see what they have. I might need some things for the new room. Those woolen rugs at Ikea were just marvelous. 100% Wool, soft, and thick. Perfect.
Another nice day. Although the plan to go to Mt.Dandenong didn't work out, it still turned out very good. There are so many areas to explore. I'm getting quite accustomed to the city, finding my way around.