sydney trip

Have just returned from a whirlwind trip over in Sydney, attending a friend's wedding and as always, cramming in as much as I possibly could for the 36 hours I was there . . .

. . . it might surprise you how many people catch the 0055 flight over to Sydney from Perth. Well it surprised me. I thought it would be next to empty, with nobody quite as crazy as me willing to attempt to fly over at this time. I was sorely mistaken, literally. I couldn't get my usual window seat to try and catch some Z's, and our flight had to take an unscheduled stop over in Adelaide because an elderly gentleman that had boarded the flight with us in Perth fell deathly ill 15 minutes after taking off, vomiting and falling in and and out of conciousness. Even after they wheeled him off the plane, we couldn't take off for another 25 minutes because of Adelaide airport's curfew being nestled within suburbia! This resulted in our flight arriving in at the Kingsford terminal at 8am . . .

. . . giving me exactly 3 hours to catch a train to the Wynyard station to catch a connecting bus to Mosman junction so that I could meet up with Tom & Jenni and get change at his sister-in-law's place before we raced along the M2 towards Baulkham hills to attend Caesar & Jenny's wedding. All the while with Jenni using a 2004 UBD (supplied by Avis) to navigate along roads so new that haven't made it into the street directory! Good thing I brought along my tomtom GPS :D Thankfully, we made it to the ultra modern chapel (apparently only less than a year old) before the arrival of the beautiful bride, and sat through a lovely service in greatly appreciated air conditioning. Caught up with a swag of old friends from Adelaide who had all turned up for the wedding and went for lunch nearby.

The evening reception was held at Bicentennial park, and with the number of other functions going on at the same time, we could have just as easily walked in the wrong hall. The food was positively scrumptious, and the red was surprisingly smooth. Our bonboniere was a tealight candle with the cherry blossom insignia which has covered everything in today's celebrations. It was a good atmosphere, nothing too stiff or formal about the proceedings with everyone enjoying the occasion. Did the usual updating of contact details with friends from long ago, and managed to chat and get a photo with the newly weds for a whole of 5 minutes. With daylight saving, we all had our extra hour to stay out, but we still all made tracks by 11. Stayed with a good friend in Pyrmont and chatted till the wee hours of Sunday morning on life and all it's challenges.

Caught up with Vince & Ida along with Tom & Jenni for brunch at Concrete in Pyrmont (224 Harris st). Tried something a little different this time instead of the usual eggs benedict with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce, I went for the italian fried eggs! Italian fried eggs turned out to be a fried egg upon fried bacon and sweet corn pancakes, covered in napolitana sauce surrounded by small fried potato cubes. Interesting combination, worth trying next time you are up in Sydney :) Have not caught up with Vince since he got married, so it was a great catching up on old times. Spent the afternoon walking about Darling Harbour trying to take photos, but it was an awfully wet and windy day, so unlike yesterday which was far too hot for comfort!

Had scheduled to catch up with yet another friend in the afternoon, but due to some last minute changes, could only meet up for an early dinner before my flight back at 1945. We managed to navigate our way with a slightly suspect PocketPC GPS to Bill's of Surry Hills (Bill Granger). Since we had arrived early, we received their 'something small' menu having to wait till 6 before they served their dinner menu. Not really the type of restaurant to rush in to for a quick meal, but my seared tuna steak with vine ripened tomatoes and olive tapenade was an enjoyable meal before dashing off to catch my flight. It would seem that there were a lot of people dashing to the airport as traffic seemed particularly heavy that evening.
Once again, I was stuck in a middle seat, but thankfully, our flight was otherwise not delayed which made for a smoother 4 1/2 hour flight back west . . .

KFC

Did you know that they serve hot'n spicy KFC all year round here in Perth? I'm not aware if this happens in the other states, but it definitely isn't the case in Adelaide, so I went to get my 2 piece feed for lunch yesterday . . .
. . . there was a sign at the counter indicating that the lass behind the register was in training, so requested for people's patience. No big deal, I was only ordering a 2 piece feed after all, how complicated could that be? After taking my order, she dutifully asked if I would be dining in or taking away, I informed her I would be dining in. Things started to get strange when after she asked what drink I would like, she asked again if that would be dine in or take away? After placing my hearty meal on a tray, she continued to get a bag and asked for the third and final time - would that be dine in or take away !?! I'm guessing she must have been grilled for not asking the previous customer, or KFC must have one very strange training program for new staff . . .

car

Picked up my Vectra today from Kewdale (once again, think Elizabeth) after the delay due to the quarantine procedures. In the back of my mind I was thinking . . . great, they've cleaned my car for me . . . very foolish assumption, there was still sand in the boot from the paving, and the car mats had definitely not been vacuumed. Thankfully however, there were no extra scratches (well, none that I could see) and there was no horrible lingering smell from any fumigation they may have pumped through the car, so I guess I should count my blessings.

My first week

Now I realise that personal blogs are generally supposed to be short, witty, inspirational or comical prose that will grab the reader's attention to encourage them to come back and read it again at a later date. Unlike political or journalistic blogs which are generally factual with a writer's personal bias. However, given that I have just recently relocated to Perth and everybody is asking me how I am settling in, I figure that the easiest way to update everybody with the same information is to post it here for everyone to read. So, here goes :)

As most of you are aware, I have accepted a role in Perth as an IT Project Manager for CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation) within the GIS (Global Infrastructure Services) department. Now rather than rattling off some meaningless statistics on how large the multinational organisation is, if you are not IT inclined or into cycling, they are the primary sponsor for the Tour de France each year. Capiche? :)

I started on Monday 12/3 and flew over the evening before. They have placed me on the Justice account (Dept of the Attorney General and the Dept of Corrective Services) together with 2 other Senior PMs to help out with the huge work load that they currently have. Looks like they are throwing me in the deep end to see if I sink or swim. I have already been assigned my first project to upgrade all the existing Oracle & SQL databases for this account, although scope is yet to be defined. I will be meeting with the client for the first time this Tuesday.

I am currently staying at my father's friend's place in Dalkeith, my rental apartment in Nedlands should be ready for settlement by the end of March. For some odd reason, my car which I shipped over from Adelaide had to be quarantined so I should hopefully be picking it up later this week from Kewdale (think Elizabeth!).

For those unfamiliar with Perth, CSC is based in Subiaco, which is just west of Perth itself.

Nedlands is just south of Subiaco, and so approximately 10-12 minutes from town. Parking at CSC is ridiculous (70 car bays for 400 onsite employees!?!) so I catch a bus to the Claremont train station, and then train it in to Subiaco. It's not a long trip, and costs me $1.79 each way. Perth have just introduced this 'Smart Rider' electronic card system which allows you to charge up a card with credit, to be debited the exact amount depending on your distance of travel. Much like what they have had over in HK & S'pore for some years now.

Attended Kingsway Methodist Church this morning through a friend of a friend (thanks Elaine!), and will be visiting their young adult group this coming Thursday. So far so good :)

succumbed . . .

Have finally succumbed to creating my own blog since moving over to Perth. Figured it would be the best way to keep everyone up to date with the settling in process and other useless trivia. Will add pretty photos and other window dressing once I work all of this out.