Full Swing of Things

Greetings, this time from the largest island on Earth. After landing in Sydney I had a quick flight over to Melbourne. The trip from LAX to Sydney had been shorter than normal due to "thin air". It was only 13.5 hours instead of 14. The memories of Melbourne started to come back to me as soon as the cab ride into the city. I started to recognize several of the landmarks and the buildings around downtown, although there seemed to be more buildings and a lot going on.

Work got started off good last week, getting up to speed on all the working going on down here. The team seems in good spirits despite the rigor of the project. I met up with a few guys from the project team to watch some football over a slingbox connection. People from the states are definitely football deprived here.

The beers are as good as I remember. My favorite, James Boggs - http://www.boags.com.au/, was a good treat during the week.

Friday night I went to a happy hour with the team and then tried my hand at poker at the Crown casino. Here is a shot of the Yarra River, just on the south side of the city. The Crown is one of the buildings in the background. I had a good night, although I ended up losing money.

At the happy hour I had a beer with a colleague from Bejing, China, Lanxiang "Larry" Ye (pronounced 'yeah'). He invited me to play golf on Saturday, which I gladly accepted as Larry had an extra set of clubs I borrowed. Larry and his friend Enze Zuo were great hosts. They were also pretty good golfers (101 and 100 respectfully) having started golfing for the first time within the past year. Here is a shot of Larry and I overlooking the course(http://www.standrewsbeach.com/p/golf/gunnamatta.htm).

Before golfing Saturday I inspected a potential apartment over in the city center. It was nice. I am going out with an agent on Monday to inspect 3-4 others and will be selecting one for longer term housing. I am excited to get this behind me.

I got to keep track of most of the college football games via the slingbox, ESPN, and ESPN 360. I even was able to watch the Auburn/Ole Miss game. People in Alabama and Mississippi couldn't even do that!

I'll get more pics and less words in the next few posts to increase interest levels!

Cheers,

Matt

p.s. I am finding that people here are almost nicer than I remember. I remember them being nice, but it seems almost like a euphoric state of being at times. I tend to be somewhat shy by nature, and am working on being more relaxed which is helping me feel more comfortable in my new environment. Ultimately, I think shyness begets awkwardness and more tension. No worries!!!