Challenge #3 and Challenge #4

Posted on 19 May 2011 by Thomas

Challenge #3: Take a picture with a Koala!

As easy as it seems, it is still rather difficult to spot Koala’s in the wild and take a picture. Luckily enough I ran into a very big Koala who was so kind to let me take a picture…

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I have to admit, not a picture of a wild koala, neither somewhere nice in the bushes. But, but, but that was not in the Challenge ;-) . Anyway, I’ll do my best to spot a real koala and picture it, but until then this should do…

Challenge #4: Kiss an Aborigine woman. Failing that, kiss any Australian man. Picz or it didn’t happen.

Sorry Junior, but I’ll use my veto-right for this one.
Although I embraced Ronal McDonald in Bangkok, does that count for any of those.

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Challenge #2

Posted on 15 May 2011 by Thomas

Eat some Kangaroo meat as the fake vegetarian you are!

Let me first explain, I’m not against eating animals, but I have something against how we treat animals before we eat them*… So, that is one of the reasons why I’m ‘part-time’ vegetarian. Which allows me to enjoy fish and meat once in a while.

Still I was struggling with this challenge, do I really want to eat Kangaroo meat? Or can I do the lazy variant: take some pictures of Kangaroos and tell how cute they are…

The struggling is seen in the pictures: some kangaroos, meat in the supermarket and in the end on my plate.
The Chefs special Kangaroo burger from the “Savoy” restaurant (I couldnt find any of the typical mountain dishes: tartiflette, raclette, cheese fondue…)

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The obvious, and yet unanswered question is: how is kangaroo meat?
I’m afraid that my sample of Kangaroo meat is not representative for such a general statement; this piece of meat was rather dry, and not very special, but that can easily be due to the restaurant and not due to kangaroo meat itself. If it was summer I’d loved to get a piece from a proper BBQ!

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SURFING!!!

Posted on 11 April 2011 by Thomas

After a couple of weeks in Canberra it was time for a change… So, I took Friday off, and went to Batemans Bay, the closest beach village from Canberra – Cycling and Surfing. And yes, surfing is cool!!

Friday I got a lift from some people I met the week before, and they suggested that I also brought my bike. Good thinking, since the nicest beaches are a bit far from Bateman to walk…
So the global planning of the weekend was: Friday biking, saturday surf, beach and bike, and Sunday surf and go back home…
Continue reading →

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Morning cycling

Posted on 6 April 2011 by Thomas

Last wednesday before work, I cycled a bit towards the ‘Black Mountain’ remarkable look out due to the Black Tower… Although the bike ride was great, and even gave some nice views (mainly over the tower), the look out point itself was rather disappointing, and since it was before 9am, even the tower was closed.
Continue reading →

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Oddities in Australia

Posted on 2 April 2011 by Thomas

So, I’ve been here way over a week here, time for some oddities I’ve found so far…
First and most of all it is the time difference with (mainland) Europe. It was 10 hours when I arrive, it got 9 hours after the Daylight savings started in Europe, and from tomorrow on it will be 8h as the Australian DLS will stop.
But, what does this mean in practice? When I wake up, it is bed time in Europe. Continue reading →

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Challenge number 1

Posted on 2 April 2011 by Thomas

At my birthday party I got a couple of challenges… Among others to find (and take pictures while hugging/fighting/dancing ) Kangaroos, Koala’s, …

But also to find a English Convict who was sent to Australia years ago, and to get to know his story. Yesterday evening I was lucky enough to run into one. In the Duram Castle Arms while listening to some live music.

Continue reading →

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New room!

Posted on 2 April 2011 by Thomas

Today I moved to my new room! See below the pictures of this amazing japanese* style master bed room with walk in wardrobe and ensuite bathroom, and dressing/make up table…

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Look at this, it is amazing ;-) But my bags are definitely feeling lonely, so if you appear to be around, let me know! It is in a huge shared apartment, living with  4 other guys/students/working people…

*Before I offend someone, with Japanese style I mean minimalistic in furniture…

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Found a room in Canberra!

Posted on 29 March 2011 by Thomas

I found an incredible spacious large bedroom with en-suite bathroom! I took me slightly over a week, but Thursday I can move in. Anyway the room is way to big for Thomas + his single bag. So, feel free to come over ;-)

Her a satellite view and map of Canberra:

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To indicate the scale, the distance between the two points is about 4km, the southern one is NICTA, and the northern one my new house. Pictures will follow soon!

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First week in Canberra

Posted on 27 March 2011 by Thomas

So my first week in Canberra is done, at least almost… I arrived last week Monday afternoon… Until Friday I hadn’t seen much more than the NICTA building and the house of Tiberio. But luckily this weekend that changed a bit.

On my [crappy] bike, I’ve been cycling around a bit and took some pictures:

First question which raised in my head was: where is the city?!? There isn’t at least not a city centre. The pictures are all taken around the lake which divides Canberra in 2 parts (see google maps), and the only city feeling you’ll get is where I work (London Circuit). The rest just feels like small villages, with a small centre… But, I might be wrong, this was only some daylight-cycling-experience… Who knows how it changes during the eve…

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Ski rando: Grand Arc

Posted on 30 December 2010 by Thomas

Again my alarm at 6… Skiing becomes tiring ;-) . Today I went ‘ski-rando’ with Onno, Guillaume and Guillaume, all colleagues from Xerox. We went to the Grand Arc, starting from Montsapey (in the Savoie, vallée de la Maurienne).

Somehow it looked like Alpe d’Huez we went up in a traffic jam… But the snow was better than the day before -both the coverage (less stones) and quality (more powder!). But the 1200m climb was again tiring, and the descent went not as smooth as I hoped…

It was an easy classification task between the dutch and the french…

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