Looks like the bitter racial riots at Cronulla have spilled over to Maroubra beach. When I was there two days ago it was the most idyllic beach you ever saw, families, kids, beach soccer, everyone having a great time. Certainly no sign of anything like this then.
I’m back! I managed to experience a nice chunk of Sydney, given the little time I had. I did a little Christmas shopping out at Bondi Junction. A strange place in the middle of dull suburbia, nowhere near the beach or the city, nothing there but a whopping great Westfield mall. Back in the city and on my way to the harbourside I got held up outside the Hotel Intercontinential by the Turkish Prime Minister’s motorcade returning from some official function. The next day we managed to pick up some tan on Maroubra beach, before this shark scare sent everyone scampering out of the water. The rest of the time we spent cruising around with the top down in Dan’s Peugeot 307 CC. Damn, that was fun!
Flea and I are off to the eastern states tonight - she to tour the Apple Isle with her family and I to the cosmopolitian delights of Sydney. I’m looking forward to catching up with some old friends there. See you when I get back!
It always amazes me while I’m driving to work to see the sheer number of kerbside bins that are carefully placed under low-lying branches.
Hello people, your bins get hoisted four or five metres in the air! Don’t you even think about how your bin gets emptied? You put it out at night, and it’s magically lighter the next day. So what if the bin gets trashed? It belongs to the council. So what if the tree gets damaged? It’s only a tree. So what if the garbage truck drivers have to waste time moving the bin? So what? So what?
I’m not sure which is worse, that people either don’t THINK, or they just don’t CARE.
Thinking of registering your own domain name in Australia?
NetRegistry can give you your own :
.org.au domain = $13.75 for 2 years
.id.au domain = $29.95 for 2 years
.net.au domain = $44.95 for 2 years
Whatever you do, DO NOT, repeat DO NOT use Melbourne IT. Since they lost their domain monopoly in Australia some years ago they’ve completely lost the plot. At Melbourne IT now the above choices would set you back $88, $99 and $140 respectively!
I’m glad I moved all my domains to NetRegistry some time ago.
My day in the life of Urban Dead.
I lowered the battered duffel bag outside and climbed after it. Someone closed the window behind me, and I felt the scrape of furniture being placed against it. Crouched in the shadow of the Cheeke Building in the gathering darkness I stared intently at each black object on the street. Fourteen rotting bodies. None moved. But the noise of my exit would… there! A foot twitched. I raced around the corner, and almost collided with a hulking shape.
Instinct took over, and the shotgun fired, blasting the monster to the ground. My senses whirled. There were two of them! The shotgun roared again. A third body lay on the ground. A human! Still alive.. barely. I emptied the contents of my bag beside him, and snatched up another shotgun. I pumped another shell into each of the twitching zombies, and then knelt beside the human survivor. It took me five first aid kits to patch him up. Worth it though… he was a ranked survivor. I counted ten or twelve badges and insignia on his army jacket, many like the thirteen I bore. I saw a tattered name tag. Ring…something. He’d clearly been through just as much of this hell as I, but he’d done it the hard way, guarding the streets while I learnt my healing skills hiding in the hospitals. Street commandos like him had saved me those times I’d been caught out, helpless, zombies gnawing at my flesh.
But now, I had guns. Now I could use them, and now it was my turn to save. His wounds stemmed, I turned to the lurching zombies who were almost upon us, and unloaded my third shotgun on them. As they staggered upright once more, I switched to pistols firing clip after clip after clip, ten, fifteen, twenty shots, the echoes ringing around the alley. They swayed on their feet, rotting flesh hanging, shredded muscles barely able to function. Taking my time now, I lined up, and put a single bullet through each of their heads.
All those shots. Those zombies in the street would be moving now. It was time to go. I grabbed my duffel, stuffing weapons and kits inside, scanned the streets, and ran. I needed a new hideout, and I needed to find it now.
We took our parents to dinner at Montpellier Grill, Brighton last night. This group of 3 or 4 restaurants has recently sprung up across the western suburbs of Adelaide, and they seem to be so new there aren’t any reviews or even mention of them to be found anywhere on the web! However they were one of the few places available during the busy December month, so with some trepidation I made a booking for their Jetty Road restaurant.
Despite being located near a busy beach esplanade on a Saturday night, there was a reasonable level of privacy at the rearmost table and while there was some background noise we didn’t feel intruded on by other diners. The ambience and decor was tastefully understated. In a nice touch the lighting dimmed almost imperceptibly as the night wore on, creating a more intimate mood.
The six of us decided to start off with oysters all round. Unfortunately their sole appearance in the entree menu was a rather unappetising “steamed oysters with ginger shallots”. A quick word to the helpful waiter and we discovered they could actually offer oysters in three other guises. We boldly ordered a dozen of each… oysters naturale, oysters Kilpatrick, and another type whose name escapes me, but was essentially raw oysters with Midori-imbued crushed ice on top.
As usual, the Kilpatrick bacon while delicious tended to overwhelmed the seafood texture. The oysters naturale were sublime, though perhaps a little more juice could have been retained in the shell. The Midori ice oysters turned out to be the least popular, as the crushed ice gave an slightly unusual sensation, which reminded me a little of consuming half-thawed oysters. Nevertheless, we finished our entree in good spirits, ready for the main course.
I had the 500g king rib special with honey glaze, an unusual cut being the rib-eye with a hefty chunk of bone attached. I do hope this was not included in the weight! Nevertheless there was just enough meat for my appetite, perfectly medium rare and nicely marbled as you’d expect. Their 300g scotch fillet was also deemed good though it had been ordered as medium so it was hard to compare. Dad proclaimed the Moreton Bay Bugs with chilli sauce exceptionally good, and the three women all opted for the fish of the day… the most delicious Atlantic Salmon done to perfection.
Their wine list is unashamedly non-pariochial and loaded with plenty of little known offerings from New Zealand and Western Australia, but our choices didn’t disappoint.
Montpellier Grill proclaim themselves a “Seafood and Grill” restaurant, and while I can’t speak for the rest of their menu, they presented very well in these two key areas.They certainly exceeded our tentative expectations, with a great meal and ambience for less than $50 a head.