I had a fantastic Friday last week, catching up with my friend Julie at NGV International.



After a short pause to stick my finger in the water wall (very important), and gawk at the Great Hall's beautiful stained glass ceiling, we headed to the NGV cafe for a cuppa and a chat. We went to the fancy one upstairs, which is a bit quieter than the ground level cafe, so we had a lovely long chat :) The drinks (tea and hot chocolate) were lovely, and generous.



We visited the NGV to see the Exquisite T...
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Well, we are on the move once more! This is a short post for a lot of news, but time is limited so here goes ...

Just after Easter, I submitted my resignation at the university I've worked at for the last 3 years. It was both a hard and easy decision. Hard because I loved my job and the team I worked with. Easy because I miss my family, and as time went on I struggled more and more with the Darwin climate.


So we're returning to Melbourne (again). My last day at work was a couple of weeks ago, a...
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Last weekend (the Easter long weekend) marked the end of the busiest time of year for a liaison librarian in an academic library. The beginning of first semester is incredibly busy, with heaps of classes to plan, prepare and deliver - as well as an orientation program to run, lecturers to assist with unit readings, and of course lots and lots of students needing help.

So it was lovely to have a few days off to relax and enjoy myself, for what felt like the first time in months!

On Saturday afte...
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The 1st of July is Territory Day - the only day of the year when any man and his dog can buy fireworks and set them off to their hearts' content. Which is why it's also known here as cracker night.

There's a big official fireworks display from Mindil beach, but the main event is really happening all over Darwin (and the rest of the Northern Territory too). Pay packets are blown on pyrotechnics, and the sky is filled with bright lights and the smell of gunpowder.

We went along to Fannie Bay, whe...
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They take the title of "UFO capital of Australia" pretty seriously in Wycliffe Well, Northern Territory. In doing so, they've certainly set themselves apart from all of the other small localities that are dotted along the Stuart Highway, which tend to blend together in the memories of that long, long road trip.



It's a great place to stop and stretch your legs, grab some lunch and a beer, and buy some gorgeously tacky UFO souvenirs! The walls of the cafe are lined with newspaper reports of UFO ...
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There's something magical about watching the sun set over the water at Mindil Beach here in Darwin. The crowds on market nights make it a wonderful shared experience as we grab something yummy from the food and drink stalls and make our way to the beach to see what kind of show the sky will give us. Of course it's different every time, depending on the shapes of the clouds or the amount of smoke in the atmosphere (there are always fires burning somewhere nearby during the dry season).





But do y...
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Darwin has many beautiful beaches, though they are somewhat let down by the fact that you can't swim at any of them because of the ever-present dangers of crocodiles, sharks and stingers ...

But much of Darwin's coastline is also made up of mangroves and mudflats. Today we went for a walk along the Mangrove Boardwalk in East Point Reserve.

The mangroves have a strange beauty all of their own, and their complex root systems are fascinating. These photos were taken at low tide. The same scene wou...
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This is just a "what I did today" post - they tend to be more prevalent during the #blogjune challenge ;)

In the morning we visited the Alawa shops to see the new location of Dragonfly Fabrics. They're Darwin's only specialist quilting shop, and have the most amazing selection of fabrics, especially Japanese designs. They also have lots of other embroidery and sewing goodies. And you can't go to Alawa without stopping in at Dimitrios Speciality Cakes for the most beautiful cakes and Greek past...
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Manton Dam is located about 70km south of Darwin. It was constructed during World War II, as were many of Darwin's major infrastructure projects, and was Darwin's first reliable water supply. Now it's used as an emergency water source only - the rest of the time it's a popular recreation spot for boating and fishing, and a valuable conservation area.



The short walk to the dam wall is very pretty, and at its end you are rewarded with a lovely view of crashing water over the curved wall. You can...
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In a burst of sanity a few weeks ago, I convinced myself to stop working and get out of the house for a day! Warrandyte is one of our favourite nearby locations for a day trip, so Tim and I took ourselves there for a break from our too-busy lives.

I love visiting Warrandyte for its beautiful location alongside the Yarra River, as well as its wonderful collection of shops and cafes. On this particular day, we stuck to the riverside shops - but there are many more more places to visit and explor...
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Wow. What a crazy couple of months it's been.

Sometime it's seemed like a string of disasters ... but there have been highs as well as lows. I haven't blogged (and probably won't blog) in detail about some of the things that stressed me out at the time - partly because I'm a bit of a slack blogger (did you notice?), but mostly because I prefer not to vent on my blog. So I've waited until I've got a bit of distance on recent events, and can now provide you with a brief summary of the ups and do...

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We flew down to Melbourne at Easter to buy a new (second-hand) car to drive back to Darwin. On the way, we collected our boat from the friend who was kindly looking after it for us. After doing a bit of maintenance work on the boat after it being in storage, we recently took it out on its maiden voyage in Darwin :) We set out on a lovely Sunday afternoon from the Dinah Beach boat ramp in Stuart Park. The weather was just beautiful, and the water was calm. It was so great to get the boat on t...
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This evening we went along to India at Mindil - a cultural festival featuring food, music and dancing that was held at Mindil Beach.

To be honest, I was underwhelmed. We bought palak paneer from one of the food stalls, and found it to be distinctly less than hot - so much so that we worried about the food safety aspect. It was a bit of a measly serve too. We made up for it with a yummy fruit shake, but in that case were let down by poor customer service.

The crowds were huge, with lots of jostl...
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I promised that I'd do another blog post featuring Darwin sunsets, so here it is :) Last Sunday, we decided to get some hot chips and help ourselves to a sunset view at Nightcliff jetty. It turns out we weren't the only ones who had the same idea - it was absolutely packed! But there was enough coastline and enough sunset for everyone, so we eventually found somewhere to park the car and pulled out the picnic blanket to enjoy the view. I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking (larger ...
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Today we went along to the Greek Glenti festival, held each year in the parklands alongside the Esplanade in Darwin. It was a much bigger event than I had imagined. There were lots of very busy food stalls selling souvlaki, yiros, octopus, oysters, spanakopita, moussaka, honey puffs, baklava, and a whole lot of other sweets that I don't know the names of. Music was playing in the central stage area, and kids in traditional costumes were dancing. And somewhat to my surprise, there were carniva...
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You can't spend all of your time studying - sometimes you need to get out and remind yourself that there's life away from the computer. On Saturday I pined for the beautiful day outside while I was stuck in the study, but when evening approached it was time to take a break and get some fresh air. Tim and I decided to get some dinner at Cullen Bay, but first we stopped off at the boat ramp near the Darwin Ski Club in Fannie Bay. Checking out boat ramps is a regular activity for us, especially...
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Hello, did you miss me? ;)

I've been in Darwin for 7 weeks now, but the time has absolutely flown! I'll try to make this a quick catch-up, with more blog posts to come ...

We lived out of hotel rooms for the first 3 weeks, before finding and moving into a house here in Darwin. By Darwin standards, we were lucky to find a place so quickly! Of course, we're paying through the nose, but that's a given here. The house is close-ish to my work, it's got air-conditioning in every room, a plunge pool a...
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When I first set up this blog, it was partly with the intention of using it to keep my family and friends up-to-date with my life when I moved interstate. Well, now it's finally time to start doing just that!

I arrived in Darwin last night. The weather is perfect. The serviced apartment that I'm staying at is great, and is centrally located in the CBD. Everything feels both familiar and unfamiliar. Love it!

Tim and I have had a crazy few weeks getting ready for this move. Unfortunately, Tim won...

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Whee! We're off to Darwin!

We've been looking forward to this day for some time :) We had to postpone our plans a couple of times due to finances and family circumstances, but now the time is right and everything is falling into place!

I've landed a liaison librarian position at the university in Darwin - starting in about 2 weeks(!). I'm looking forward to it so much! :) And I'm getting some good vibes about my new employer too, everyone's been really helpful and friendly so far.

I've been out ...
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Just a few days ago I was talking about plans on this blog. Well, Tim and I were pretty set on our latest plan, and excitedly looking forward to putting it into action.

And then ... I saw a job advertisement in my inbox. All of a sudden, we're looking at a completely different possible future - also an exciting one.

So instead of all the things that I expected to be doing tonight, we ended up hashing out the pros and cons of our two options, which included doing sums to figure out what we could...
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I'm in the mood for sharing some photos :)

I've just uploaded to Flickr a collection of photos taken on a trip to Strahan, on Tasmania's west coast, in August 2006.

We flew from Melbourne to Burnie to meet up with a friend who was working there at the time, then drove down to the pretty township of Strahan. We went for a walk along the beach, explored the town and had dinner at the pub. I loved our accommodation at Risby Cove - complimentary port! The next day we went on an amazing Gordon River...
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I've been thinking a bit about the ups and downs of planning for the future. I'm talking about personal plans, the 5-year and 10-year kind.

The problem with making these sorts of plans is that you never know what's around the corner. Career, family circumstances, relationships, health, study, etc. - all of these things can jump up and throw your plans into disorder.

BUT - that's no reason not to plan. We all need something to look forward to, and aim towards. In my own past experience, writing ...
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Well here we are in 2010 :)

It's going to be a very busy year for me and Tim, at least for the first few months. We're doing repairs and renovations around the house, doing a major cull of our possessions, moving interstate, looking for work - and who knows what will come after that!

Since Christmas we've had three large trees removed, a new toilet installed and other plumbing work done, new roof insulation put in, and we've thrown out or recycled several large bins full of 'stuff'. We've also ...
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We bought a new camping mattress today, one of those foam mattresses that fold up rather than roll up. Our old camping mattress finally died after many years of loyal service - it previously belonged to my parents, and to my grandparents before that! Tim and I have tried roll-up foam mats, inflatable mattresses, and those expensive self-inflating camping mattresses, but nothing was as comfortable as that old fold-up foam mattress. I hope we get a few good years out of this new one!

Although Ti...
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Canberra is a city that seems to arouse strong emotions in people. Whilst a small proportion of the population may simply think it's 'okay' or 'nice', the vast majority appear to either love it or hate it. I certainly know plenty of people in both camps!

Me? I am firmly in the 'love it' category!

I lived in Canberra from 1999 to 2002. I moved there from Melbourne to take up a position with a large government department as part of their graduate program. I stayed for four years, working in a var...
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A few years ago, while holidaying in Darwin, I got chatting with another hotel guest in the pool (as you do). She told me about the book she was reading, Lance Armstrong's auto-biography It's Not About the Bike, and recommended that I read it. That afternoon, I saw Dodgeball at the cinema, in which Lance has a cameo role. It was a sign, I thought, and when I saw his book for sale after my return to Melbourne, I bought a copy.

I'm not usually interested in athletes' biographies, but Lance has a...

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Sunday was museum day, and we started out at the Maritime Museum. I have a thing for swashbuckling tales of adventure, so was interested to find out more about Hobart's rich maritime history. More models of ships than I personally needed to see, but great stories made it a worthwhile visit.

Mum and I then went on to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, which provided an interesting combination of fact and fantasy. I loved the Antarctic exhibition, which included a 3D theatrette for viewing so...

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A couple of weeks ago, my mum and I took a trip together to Hobart, Tasmania. I figured I'd better write a blog entry about it now, while I have access to a working computer :). I've also uploaded some pics to my Flickr account.

We had a slow start, with fog in Melbourne delaying take-off for almost 3 hours. But happily that did not foreshadow any further problems! We stayed at Hadleys Hotel in Hobart's CBD. This historic hotel was built in 1834 by convict labor, and we found it to be well lo...

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No, I haven't forgotten my blog, although it's been quite a while since I updated. My tale of woe follows...

First there was my shoulder injury. Although it's feeling heaps better now, it still tends to feel sore at the end of a long day on the computer. So my optimism about it being a short-term injury was slightly misplaced. I would now say that it appears to be a result of over-use, possibly/probably mouse-related. So I will have to be careful in future to ease off when I need a rest, and ...

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