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Chris’ last full day in Manly, spent a few hours at the Bavarian Bier Cafe, a German bier haus. Had some nice German beer and a few schnapps. |
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Lindsey made a nice last brekky for Chris on his last day. She made sure to get rid of all the sausage that was in the freezer. |
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We celebrated Jack’s birthday by going to dinner at the Nepalese Kitchen in Surrey Hills. Jack and Tim are above on the left. |
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Above you can see Tim sporting his new cowboy boots (a parting gift from Tom and Lynne, who are now living in the UK). He’s a whole new man when the boots are on! |
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Back to their place for Chris to show us what he has on the guitar. And it looks like Jack decided to take his shirt off. |
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Chris started playing Wonderwall – even though the guitar needed some tuning – and everyone sang along. It was a fun night! |
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Chris and I rented a couple of surf boards in Noosa. First time either of us has ever tried surfing and it was a lot harder than we thought it would be. |
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Catching a wave wasn’t that easy and the crowds didn’t help. |
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We could have used some pointers. We took lessons once we got back to Sydney and learned that we were doing everything wrong. |
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Paddling out to catch a wave. |
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Starting the descent to Brisbane, about an hour and a half flight north from Sydney in Queensland. From there, we were driving 2 hours north to a beach town called Noosa. |
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We hiked through Noosa National Park and saw some giant lizzards and a koala bear. We ended up at a remote beach only to realise it was a nudest beach! We did not join them…I got a bit of a sand burn when one of the waves got the best of me. |
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On the second day we took a day tour to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. The island is made up entirely of sand so we needed a 4 wheel drive to take us around. |
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The highlight for me was Lake Mckenzie, a fresh water lake in the middle of the island. Since the island was all sand the sand acted like a natural filtration system for the rain water. Water takes 80 years to make its way through the sand and into the lakes and rivers. This results in some of the cleanest, purest water you can find naturally. Pretty amazing to swim in. |
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The first ever TimTam Slam, stacking three TimTams together and eating them all at once. To prepare for Chris’ visit we made sure to have a good selection of TimTams. |
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We went to trivia night twice during Chris’ visit at a pub near my office. We finished dead last both times, blaming the Australian-biased questions. |
| Tom and Lynne purchased a lovely gift for Rob and me prior to moving back to the UK; a sea plane voucher over Sydney. I was selfish enough to take the voucher and use it myself. |
| Kathy bought a pretty awesome Living Social deal. The deal included a flight from the states to Sydney, a flight from Sydney to Cairns, from Cairns to Melbourne, and a flight back home to the states. It also included accommodation for 3-4 nights in each city AND a hot brekky each day! So, I decided to join her during her long weekend in Cairns, a city directly north of Sydney (~3 hour plane ride). |
| Kathy made on a few friends during her scuba diving tour and we ended up spending the entire weekend with them! |
| We managed to find a bar with a dance floor and I managed to show off my new dance move.. |
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The next day – after only getting approx 4 hours of sleep the night before – we decided to ride scooters. Turns out they’re a lot harder than they look. The guy who was explaining how to properly ride the scooter got a bit nervous after we almost ran into a parked car in the parking lot.. Whoops! |
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We had such a blast – swam in some rivers, rode on the highway, stopped to look at a map, made a few wrong turns, almost hit a parked car, met some friends from Brissy who showed us up by driving legit dirt bikes, stopped to look at a map, passed some cars on the left, got honked at, got confused by their maps, sang some songs, hiked around a bit, and still made it back safely with less bruises than indoor soccer!! |
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Kathy arrived on the same day that my parents left, so she got to spend the morning hiking around Balmoral Beach with the entire Ralph Family (minus Jer)! |
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The jet lag didn’t last long for her due to our wild Manly excursion. We took the ferry over to Manly and introduced Kathy to all of our Aussie friends, which went over well considering we had a previous, positive encounter with another Kathy in Hunter Valley. |
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United airlines managed to screw up again, but this time with luggage!! Upon arriving in Sydney, Kathy received the unfortunate news that her bag was missing and the airline didn’t find it for another FOUR DAYS. Regardless, we still managed to have a great time – sweats ‘n all ;)! |
My dad’s photography was much better than my little point-‘n-shoot camera. While they were in Sydney, he spent many mornings near the Harbour Bridge taking pictures of the city during sun rise.
Check out his website when you have a few minutes. His pictures are spectacular! http://www.perryralph.com/Portfolio/Travel/Aus-NZ/7546716_qk6Kj8#!i=1730939836&k=z7dHk2v
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| Above is our mini – manual rental car we drove for 4 days with 4 people and 4 bags. It was the very last car available at the airport. |
We spent the first half of the day walking around the Melbourne Botanic Gardens.
We made a stop by the stadium where the Australian Open was played a few weeks before. (We had the opportunity to go with Tom & Lynne, but turned it down @ the last second. But we’re hoping to make it next year!)
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| Hanging with Rod Laver |
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After spending the day in Melbourne, we drove for a few hours in our compact, mini 2-door car to Phillip Island. Phillip Island is a small Island directly south of Melbourne. The island is home to the smallest penguins in the world and we had the opportunity to see them!! Check out this 1 minute video of the penguins and Phillip Island: |
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| The Great Ocean Road has a lot of similarities to Highway 1 in California. There are steep cliffs covered with rainforest terrain that drop directly into the ocean. The road is windy and the 2 lane highway is tight, but the ocean views are spectacular! |
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| My dad tried to teach me how to take a good photograph, given the difficulty with the gray skyline and the white light house.First photography lesson of the trip: white on white background will not make a good photo (as shown with the light house picture on the left).Second lesson: don’t put people directly in the middle of the photograph (as shown below). |
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Lindsey had to show per parents her best dance move (something she has perfected over the past few months). Luckily, Perry got it in action. |
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We stopped at a town called Lorne, which was a bigger town than where we stayed in Apollo Bay. |
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Lots of wild koala bears at Otway National Park
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| 12 Apostles is the highlight of the Great Ocean Road. 12 rock formations rising from the water. Only 6 or 7 left as the Pacific has taken down a few of them. |
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| The professional at work |
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My parents flights were cancelled twice on their way out to Sydney! The first night, United claimed that the aircraft had some sort of malfunction and provided hotel arrangements for the evening along with a $30 voucher for breakfast (Hmmm.. $30 breakfast for two??). Then on Superbowl Sunday, they got on the plane and sat there for 3 hours before customer service came aboard to say there was another malfunction with the aircraft. United required everyone on board to re-book their seats on the flight leaving the next day! After more than 4 days of traveling, they finally arrived in Sydney, 48 hours after they were supposed to. Luckily, United offered to move their flights home back 24 hours without charging. So, we spent the last 24 hours eating sushi and spending the morning at Balmoral Beach! |
Alex Krisman, Tuesday January 31, 2012 – 15:27 EDT
Sydney sweltered through its warmest night since last summer, when the record breaking minimum of 27.i6 degrees occurred. At midnight it was still 28 degrees and the official minimum was a steamy 25.3 at sunrise, 6 above average.
The heat was accompanied by high humidity, staying above 70% all night long. This produced very uncomfortable sleeping conditions, and may explain any worse-than-usual midweek fatigue.
It was a similar story in nearby Newcastle where it remained near 26 degrees overnight. In fact, it was cooler during Monday afternoon than it was after sunset. This was due to the winds shifting from easterly to northerly, drawing in warmer air. At Williamtown the minimum was 24 degrees, 6 above average and the warmest January night in 21 years.
The hot and humid night can be blamed on the approach of a low pressure trough, which drew in warm, moist air from the north during Monday. This created high humidity and cloud cover overnight, the perfect recipe for uncomfortably warm summer nights.
Luckily, relief is here in form of a southerly wind change. Temperatures are already dropping back in Sydney following this change and the cooling trend will be reinforced by a second stronger change this evening. Sydneysiders can expect a far more pleasant overnight low of 19 degrees, which is on right on average for this time of year.
http://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/sydneys-warmest-night-since-last-summer/20290
MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic’s remarkable 2011 season included a 43-match winning streak, three Grand Slam tournament victories, 10 titles overall and a 70-6 record. But the most mind-boggling number of all was this: The Serb went 6-0 against Rafael Nadal, all in finals and twice in majors.
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| Heated debate arguing between Federer and Nadal. |
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| Pretty sure Tom & Carney planned to wear the same outfit… |
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| A fun group of mates |
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| Tim dropped his sausage and, somehow, it landed just like this on his beer. At the time we thought it was a miracle. |
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| Day Two – Drinks at Slip Inn |
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| Tom got pretty fired up cheering for Murray. Murray lost in 5 sets to Djokovic. |
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| Jager BOMBS! While watching the semi-finals of the Australian Open |
NSW/ACT – 21:52 EDT – Severe Thunderstorm Warning for NSW. Severe storms may produce hail greater than 2cm, winds stronger than 90 km/hr & flash flooding.
| My team was invited to attend a cricket game for a work function. India vs Australia, Day 2.
The game started at 8 AM and lasted until 5 PM – which included a break for morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea. |
| Even after spending a day with the locals, I still haven’t learned most of the rules to the sport. But, I did witness history as the Aussie captain achieved the highest single-day score in its 100-year history. Michael Clarke scored 329 points for the day!! |
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| Tom’s up first |
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| WHOA, ROB… Hand Check… |
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| Camera view from the wing of the glider. It took a picture every 15 seconds over the course of the 30 minute flight. |
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| Getting ready for landing… |
Rob and I took a walk down towards Cremorne Point – about a 20 minute walk from our flat – around 9 AM on New Year’s Eve Day and people were camping out the night before to make sure they had the best view of the Harbour Bridge. It was nuts!!
Luckily, we purchased tickets about a month in advance to a house on government property. It was only $20 per person with some of the best views in the city – AND we were able to bring all the food and booze we could carry (compared to $300 per person just to watch the fire works at the Opera Bar, food and drink not included).
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| Our UK friends, Tom and Lynne |
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2012 was a big year for news events around the world. Pretty sweet video. |
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| A Boxing Day (public holiday in OZ the day after Christmas) tradition is to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart sail boat race. Tons of people get to a spot where they can see the harbor and watch the start. We walked to Middle Head and met Megan and Innes to check it out. |
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| And they’re off!! |
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| Christmas morning, football on in the background! |
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| Lindsey’s complicated gift, had to open about ten different things to find the actual present. |
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| Still searching for the gift… |
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| Getting frustrated… |
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| Almost there… And… it’s a voucher to go hang-gliding! |
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| Christmas barbie at Neilson Park, a park on the harbor right near the beach. |
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| We had a ham, a turkey, and lots of other stuff. Perfect weather, low 80s. |
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| Went for a swim |
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| More twister |
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| Later on we had cheese and ‘Port’ (a British tradition) at a friends house. Weird to spend Christmas away from home, in hot weather, on the beach, but we still had a very fun day. |
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| Megan and Innes prepared an amazing Christmas Eve dinner. |
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| We did a White Elephant gift exchange |
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| Tim showing off his gift |
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| Here is my gift, a Santa suit |
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| About to pop our “crackers” Aussie Christmas tradition. You pull both sides, it pops, And inside you get a paper hat, a joke, and a little toy. |
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| Santa showed up |
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| Everyone got a turn for a photo with Santa |
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| Santa heading home, couldnt find his sleigh… |
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| …So he had to hail a cab |
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| This is St Mary’s Cathedral, near Hyde Park. Every year they do this Christmas light show. |
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| We rented an awesome 6 bedroom house in Hunter Valley – about 2 hours northwest of Sydney. Hunter Valley is known for their wine. Pokolbin is the centre of the Hunter Valley Wine Country and is primarily located within the Cessnock and Singleton LGAs. Much of the rolling countryside around Pokolbin is under vine with the traditional varieties Shiraz and Semillon as well as extensive plantings of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and small quantities of Pinot Noir. The Pokolbin area has a large number of vineyards, restaurants, shops, golf courses and country guesthouses. Other parts of the valley including the Wollombi Valley and Broke Fordwich Wine Region are also well known for wine. |
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| Here is the gang, Jack, Amy, Megan, Innes, Tom, Tim, Lynne, me and Linds |
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| Played some Kings Cup |
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| I broke one of the rules so I had to play with my chin on the table |
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| A shuttle picked us up the next morning at 9:00 am And took us to tastings at four vineyards |
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| Here is the first one |
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| Stopped at a brewery for lunch, Tom did his Stevie Wonder impression |
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| Lindsey and Lynne |
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| A little Twister back at the house |
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| On the barbie |
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| Teaching the guys in Sydney how to play the “touch the other guy with your finger” game (that sounds weird) |
A few months ago, I (VP of Sales – Barb Swanson) asked a dedicated team of Intercall employees to volunteer their time towards Project Spielberg. Project Spielberg is an effort on behalf of APAC to explain to EMEA and North America sales how best to do business with us in an entertaining, proactive manner. Today, after a major investment of personal time by the PS Team, we present to you:
InterCall APAC: We Do Crazy Better
Production Manager – Brett Johnson
Screenwriters – Justin Krueger, James Burgess and Alexia MacPherson
Director – Chris Franke
Talent & Location Manager – Alexia MacPherson
Editors – Sean Maritz and Joe Cocca
Promotions Manager – Jess Stephens
Key Grip – Paul Bell
Executive Producer – Barb Swanson
Starring:
Jack Duffy
Rob Camp
Tim Devereux
Brett Johnson
Amy Bodley
Angus Pollitt
Jessica Jiang
Shelly Cai
Zoe Hu
Tomonori Ogushi
Akira Kakihana
Fagun Parkar
Pritesh Mistry
Sinwee Choo
Sherman Li
Jean Pau
Mary Lu
Please take a moment (22 min 27 sec to be exact) to view an advance screening of the rough but “InterCall APAC – We Do Crazy Better”. Once final edits have been made, the promotions team will work with EMEA and US sales to launch as appropriate.
Rob and Linds 