Kangaroos and Cockatoos

Deidre and Brendan hiking in the Dandenongs (I'm the one taking the photos)

Brendan feeding the cockatoos at the entrance to the Dandenong Ranges National Park

Kangaroos along the path in the Dandenongs! Yes, right along the path. How COOL was that!!!

Cool facts about Oztray-ah

Listen, I reckon there are heaps of cool facts about Australia (actually pronounced "Oztray-ah").

Pennies. They've done away with them here. Odd amounts of change simply get rounded up or down. There are $1 and $2 coins rather than paper bills.
Coins are 10 cents, 20 cents and 50 cents. the 50 cent pieces weigh a ton.

Mahz Bahz = (Mars Bars) Milky Way

Smart toilets. Two flush buttons on every toilet or every toilet wall. One for a small flush and the other for when you have heaps to flush, I reckon.

Sun smart schools. Kids are required to wear hats (the ones with the flaps in the back and on the sides) and sunscreen. Schools are actually certified for this.

Smart pillow cases. Instead of your pillow being visible at the end of your pillow case, the pillow case itself has an extra flap that folds back in over the end of what would be the exposed pillow. Listen, I reckon it looks heaps nicer than the American style pillow cases.

Airport Security. Flying within Oz I did not have to show ANY identification to get a boarding pass, go through security or board the plane. I could have been ANYONE. And, I was allowed to keep my shoes on and drink water as I walked through the xray machine. Honey, we're not in Kansas anymore.

Soy sauce fish. When you order sushi, you are given miniature plastic fish filled with soy sauce. Super cute, but how many of those are now buried in landfills?

Birds of Paradise. Exotic flowers grow everywhere.

Lord of the Fries. What can I say... OMG! Vegetarian fries that come with the topping of your choice: Belgian (euro-mayo), American (BBQ), Indian (mango chutney and sour cream), French Canadian Poutine (cheese melted by hot brown gravy), Aussie (rich tomato sauce and vinegar), and more...

Spring back Fall forward?? First sale, Lost iPhone

View of the Sydney Opera house along the harbor

Hola

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Sorry for the ridonculously long time since I've blogged! What happened? I co-authored some hot e-marketing communications and the leads came rollin' in. Tons o'work to do. Good news... I closed my first sale! Woo hoo! More to come. Heather congratulated me in email and copied everyone in our little company. So nice to be recognized! Here was her message:

Subject: sales legend announcement!

As expected, Deidre has hit the ground running and today closed her first Harvard ManageMentor deal with the Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service!
Congratulations Deidre!
I am very grateful for your efforts and proud of you Deidre... looking forward to a fruitful future!

Traveled to Canberra (pronounced "Canbra", Brisbane (pronounced "Brisbn") and Sydney to meet customers and prospects at a Case Study event we put on. Didn't really get to see much of any of the cities-- typical biz travel: airport, taxi, hotel, meeting room, taxi, airport. We did, however, have a beautiful walk along the harbor the night we arrived in Sydney. It is much warmer there than it is in Melbourne, so I was thrilled to be wearing a sleeveless dress and sandals (Sydney is about a 9 hour drive north of Melbourne along the coast, about the same distance as Washington DC to Boston). The view of the opera house and the bridge at night was spectacular. Heather took us to dinner at one of the best restaurants in Sydney called Cafe Sydney and we were seated on the rooftop overlooking the city. Amazing food and service
and view.

The restaurant is in a gorgeous old building called Customs House.

Here is a bit about Customs House:

Customs House is located on a significant site where the local Eora people are said to have watched the First Fleet land. The Aboriginal flag is now permanently flown from the building.

For 150 years it was the primary trade gateway for goods and services in to Sydney. The building and square in front of it provided a focus for major national celebrations. In the 19th and 20th centuries dual role of Customs was to raise revenue by taxing trade and to keep society physically and morally isolated from socially unacceptable goods, products, ideas and diseases.

The Australian Customs Service occupied Customs House until 1990. The City of Sydney was given the building to operate in 1994 by the Federal Government.

And now we are drinking and partying on the roof!

The newly refurbished Customs House is a 21st Century multi--functional building where you can come to hang out, use the library (reading room overlooking the Circular Quay) or enjoy a meal at one of the restaurants. It is a re-adapted heritage building with a contemporary interior. As you enter the building, the atrium features a glass-covered walkway over a spectacular full-scale model of the Sydney CBD (you look down and the floor is suddenly glass, under which you view the city model), a relaxing, stylish lounge area with an extensive collection of international newspapers and magazines, Internet access and an ever-changing TV/multimedia wall screening eye-catching multimedia content.

There is a very cool helix staircase and mod furniture for hangin' out.

I had my iPhone on the flight back to Melbourne, in Flight-mode as required. When I got in to the cab to go home, I went to check my messages and the phone was nowhere to be found. Ouch! A cool $1,000 gone. Good thing we have lots of hot sales leads. Anyway, I tell the tragic story (ha!) of the lost iPhone because it had all of my trip pics and more stored in it and they hadn't been backed up yet. So, you are seeing some stock web photos. Luckily, Brendan is a gadget whore and gave me his "old" phone--a Nokia E71 (awesome phone!). So all is well in the world again.

Back in Melbourne, we enjoyed dinner with some of Brendan's Kiwi friends.

Who were nice enough to share their Cadbury "chocolate fish" with us. a delicacy from NZ. Chocolate covered marshmallow. Notice the candy wrapper... "Kiwi as". People from New Zealand say "Sweet as" when something is really cool or good, so "Kiwi as" is a play on that expression.

Did I mention that the summer is WAY over? The temperatures have gone down to 40F some nights, days are still in the 60's. They don't call it "fall" here; they call it autumn. Many of the trees here are Gum trees which don't change color at all, so compared to New England, it is pretty lame in terms of colorful leaf peeping opps.

I brought the Frangipani tree inside since she and I have the same tropical temperament.

Daylight savings in April meant turning the clocks back. Bizarre. Just like when I was looking at apartments and the ads were all bragging about the "north facing" windows. I truly am "down under". The funny thing is that people here are just like me; they think 50F is super cold and they put on hats and scarves. Just like in Wistah Mass it gets dark really early.

I'll try to get back on the regular blog sched.

Eastah. Wagga Wagga and 14 cups of carrots.

Low tide sand Easter weekend at Rosebud Beach in Mornington Peninsula

Eastah (not Easter) here in Melbne (not Melbourne) is a big deal. As in all offices are closed Friday and Monday. Woo-hoo! Four-day weekend. Brendan and I used the day off on Friday to go out to Woori Yallock. I know... what the hell is that?! That is how all of the names are around here--aborignal (Nunawading, Birrarung Marr, Wendouree, Nana Goon, Wagga Wagga) . Anyway, the Vipassana meditation center (oops! "centre") is located in Woori Yallock, about an hour drive East of Melbn, and we volunteered there for the day. That means that Brendan worked outside all day installing hydronic heating in a new building they are putting up. I, on the other hand, spent the day in the kitchen cooking for 70 people! Guess how many cups of flour it takes to make a carrot cake for 70 people? 14 and 14 cups of shredded carrots, 6 cups of raisins, 12 cups of chopped apples, 5 cups of oil, coconut...you get the idea. The bowl I had to use was as wide as a cafe table for two. My little spoon was no match when it came to mixing the batter, so I asked one of the other volunteers to wash her hands and we both dug in to the giant stainless steel bowl and started playing. The cake came out great! I had soaked the raisins so they wouldn't steal all the moisture from the cake. Rave reviews. Yea!

Sunset on the Mornington Peninsula, Rosebud Beach.

On Sunday of the holiday weekend, we drove down to the Mornington Peninsula (pronounced PeninSHUla here--don't ask). We stopped to enjoy Rosebud Beach. We had an awesome lunch at the Blue Mini Cafe, named such because the owner parks her Blue Mini in front of the cafe. Random. The lunch was of course pumpkin-related as everything here is. Super delicious! Moroccon spiced pumpkin soup with a thick hunk of freshly baked farm bread, lentil and potato croquettes with a beautiful salad of rocket, tomato, onion and lebanese cucumber. Food heaven. By the way, the temp was 70F and sunny. How happy was I?!

Dinner Party, Ukulele and More Gifts

Not one, but THREE super nice, single guys at my dinner party... anyone up for a visit to Melbourne??

The dinner party was a hit! Ten guests (all friends from my meditation group) arrived at 7pm and didn't leave until after midnight.

It was a potluck, Indian, vegetarian dinner where people cooked the recipes that I distributed (courtesy of my friend Shruti). Everything was yum (as they say here). One of the guests was from the south of India and he brought dough to make poori. So, at one point there were five people in the kitchen, rolling dough on the heavily floured counter then dropping the little thin pancakes in to hot oil.

One of the guys brought his American girlfriend, Mel, whom I hadn't met previously (she is not in the meditation group) so now I have a new friend in the neighborhood. Yea! I had asked if she could bring a beverage to the party and she brought lemonade. Yes! Remember that here if you ask for lemonade you get a Sprite? Well, Mel brought real lemonade and called it... lemonade! I was chuffed (translation: pleased/psyched).

Brendan recently taught himself to play the ukulele and has taken to serenading me. Yes, really. The other day he sang "Brown Eyed Girl" to me. I am sooo liking this relationship thing.

Oh, and he went away for a business trip and surprised me with a gift when he returned! A beautiful pair of tea cups from an awesome store--wrapped gorgeously (which we know that I LOVE)!

And yes, another sunny and 70F day here in Melbourne. How grateful am I??!!

Business News and Surprise Gift

Princes Park, 10 minute walk from my apartment. Yes, those are palm trees! And hotties jogging!

News on the work front...

I co-wrote a marketing piece that is delivering qualified leads! I've made follow-up calls and have a half-dozen demos scheduled for this week. I'll be doing the demos via phone, so let's pray that my landline actually gets installed on Monday (it was scheduled to be completed last Monday and didn't happen-- no explanation from the phone company). These will be my first demos and I'm nervous and excited. Still selling software, as I have done in the past, but am now selling in a new industry to a different target audience: Learning and Development Managers in HR or Organizational Development Departments. The software itself is online learning produced by Harvard Business Publishing (a Division of Harvard Business School) to help organizations develop their Managers and Leaders. The software is the best in the industry and the Harvard brand helps make it easier to get in front of people initially. We'll see how I go (as they say here).
On the social front, I'm planning an Indian, Vegetarian, Pot Luck dinner at my apartment this Friday night for the people with whom I meditate each week. Will be nice to actually talk to them socially for a change! Each person will be preparing a recipe provided by my lovely friend and cooking teacher in Boston, Shruti. Thank you, Shruti!

And I received a gift this week...

Brendan surprised me with a gorgeous Frangipani tree for my deck!

Here is what it will look like when it flowers.

I love it! Hawaiian Lei flowers come from this tree and they smell sweet and delicious.

Melbourne City Baths. 81F and sunny again today...

Yup, another gorgeous Melbourne day! Very grateful.

Last week I started a regular exercise routine. Yea! Tuesdays and Saturdays I go to an Iyengar yoga class about a 15 minute walk from my house. Frank, the teacher is quite good and quite serious. The other day he told me that I needed to lift my pubis, then he proceeded to grab it and lift it for me. Oh my. What made it less shocking was that I was doing the pose with a partner (a girl named Amy) and she was holding my leg at the same time. Sounds like the game of Twister and yes, it felt like it too.
Friday and Monday I swim at Melbourne City Baths. I know, "city baths" sounds a bit questionable to the American ear--public baths?? eeew! Actually, the "City Baths" are simply government-funded sports facilities. And actually, the Melbourne City Bath is gorgeous outside and inside (just renovated).
Although I wasn't that confident about getting back in the water again after being a slug for so long, at least I would be familiar with one thing...the metric measurement of the pool length since that is what I knew in the States. Not so fast. This building is so old that it is measured using the Imperial system, Feet! Go figure. Anyway, one of the life guards told me it is a 30 metre pool. No wonder my old routine had me huffing and puffing, I was swimming an 5 extra metres each way!
Here is a pic of the building.

Check out this interesting history...

The Melbourne City Baths was first opened in 1860 and has continued to provide health and fitness services to the community for more than 140 years, an achievement that distinguishes the baths from any other health and fitness facility in Victoria.

In Melbourne’s founding years, a bathroom in the home was a luxury only the wealthy could afford. For most, a weekly wash or dip in Port Phillip Bay or the Yarra River sufficed.

By the 1850s the Yarra had become quite polluted and an epidemic of typhoid fever hit the city causing many deaths. However, people continued to swim and drink the water.

One of the Melbourne City Councillors, Sizar Elliott, initiated moves to build public baths and urinals in the city. A triangular piece of land on the corner of Swanston and Franklin streets was chosen and the City Baths was opened on 9 January 1860. People flocked to the baths and it was reported that 79,096 men and 2,950 women enjoyed the facilities in the first year.

For financial reasons the council decided to lease the baths but lack of maintenance resulted in such deterioration of the building that it was closed down in 1899.

In 1901 the corporation of the City of Melbourne advertised a national competition for the design of new public baths on the same site as the previous baths. The winning entry was from a well-known architect J J Clark, who also designed Melbourne’s Treasury Building.

The Lord Mayor, Councillor Sir Malcolm D McEacharn, officially opened the new Melbourne City Baths on 23 March 1904 in the presence of the Premier, the right honourable Thomas Bent, and other guests.

The design reflected all the social conventions of the turn of the century. There was segregation of the sexes for all facilities, right down to separate street entrances. Class distinctions were also apparent with second class baths in the basement and first class baths on the main floor.

Facilities consisted of two swimming pools, 16 slipper baths and six spray baths each for the men and women.

There were also Turkish and vapour baths, a Jewish ceremonial bath (Mikvah bath) and a laundry.

Mixed bathing was introduced into the City Baths in 1947 and the popularity of the swimming pool began to increase.

The success of the Australian swimmers in the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956 further contributed to the popularity of the swimming pools, after which attendance rocketed to over 300,000 per year. In fact the baths had been considered as a possible venue for the Olympic swimming events but were disregarded due to the state of the facilities.

Melbourne City Baths is now a leading health, fitness and wellness centre with innovative programs and modern equipment, as well as being a significant historical icon that is visited by thousands of national and international tourists.

The uniqueness of the building and the significance it holds for so many Victorians has also prompted theatre groups, television programs and fashion magazines to use the baths as the setting for their productions, films and photographic shoots.

Awesome Labour Day Weekend! Great Ocean Road

Last Friday Brendan and I took off for our four-day weekend drive along the Great Ocean Road-- west along the coast from Melbourne. The forecast called for heavy rain the entire time, but we decided to go anyway since the weather here is so changeable. As it turns out, we did have some sun in between overcast days and light rain. But back in Melbourne, they had a massive rainstorm with buckets of hail. Check out these gorgeous pics! We stopped and hiked along the way, rainforest and waterfalls. Spent two nights in Apollo Bay at Beacon Point Villas, set on 13 acres of Eucalptus trees in the mountains above the Great Ocean Road. From the deck (surrounded by amazing smelling trees), the view was of the ocean. We could hear the waves crashing. At night the sound was crickets and in the morning, the crazy Australian bird calls.

In the town of Lorne (which Brendan pronounces as "lawn") we had a yummy lunch of ginormous lentil burgers with to-die-for chips (french fries) and then we window-shopped. Ketchup here is called "tomahto sauce" and it comes in a container similar to the ones found in the US, but instead of peeling off the top (which I tried to do, to Brendan's amusement), you simply fold the container in half and a small hole in the top opens. Aim and squirt and you're good to go.
I found the signs to be very humorous. "Two-fa's" are two for ones and, like the UK, people in Australia also seem to be "afraid" (the sign on the register proves my point). So, for example, if you call to speak with someone and a receptionist answers, she may be "afraid that so-an-so is not available to take the call.

For me, one of the coolest parts of the trip was seeing cockatoos in the trees. I kept asking Brendan what kind of bird makes such a horrible screeching sound and he told me cockatoos. So after a fabulous yoga class on the deck overlooking the water, when I heard the horrific screeching, I looked up and saw this little fellow perched in the tree! So cool! Later, when we were in town, there were eight of them perched on the roof of one of the buildings.
Brendan was an awesome driver along the super windy roads and a really chill partner for the journey. Everything was relaxed and enjoyable, go with the flow. Fabulous! I couldn't help making fun of his New Zealand accent over the weekend. He said things like "we have to chick-in now" , "we have another fufteen munits", "i think we turn lift here" and "do you want to sit on the dick?"
Stay tuned for more pics!

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