Washington cont'd

Haven't got much time so I'll make this an ultra quick post and try and summarise what I've seen...

Spy Museum
Was excellent! ;-) Go do it!!! Coolest bit was learning about all sorts of different spies... Including Turing who worked on breaking the Enigma machine and was a complete 'nutter (used to wear a gas mask to prevent hay fever)!

Monuments
Yesterday walked all round the various monuments here including:

• Washington Monument (the phallic symbol)
  
• Lincoln Memorial
  
• US Capitol (kind of boring actually)
  

And after nearly 10k's of walking that's enough for my poor feet (and my ankle is still recovering damn it!!)

Anyways, all is good, hope you're all well and I'll try and expand on this soon!

B

PS: Saw 'Super Size Me' fantastic, go see it!! Though I did feel like a cheeseburger after it! ;-)

Washington, DC

Well this one's going to be a short post as we've really only been here a day (and I didn't think I had much time after my post about N'Awlins, and I just got a warning too!)

Well, we caught up with Graeme, Trevor & Old Matt for a few brewski's.. At (and this'll come as no surprise to those who know Old) an Irish pub, followed by some really bad American food at Hooters (a not so fine establishment), actually I think the talent was better at the Hooters in New Orleans (where Annemarie wanted to by a t-shirt for her brother).

Smithsonian
The following day, we decided to start wandering around the various monuments and got to see:

• Union Station (damn spectacular)
  
• Federal Courthouse
  
• Capitol (but haven't gone on a tour inside)
  
• Smithsonian Air & Space museum (damn good!! Will try and get back there)
  

After that, my poor footsie's required a mite bit of a rest :-)

Today
We're off to see the International Spy Museum (cool!) and then to grab some Haitian food :-)

Gotta go now! Bye!
B

Continuation of N'Awlins

Well, where did I leave off?
I've told you a bit about the cemeteries, but not about the swamp tour or the ride on the steam boat..


Steam Boat ride
It was boring, don't go.
Actually it wasn't all that bad, the boat was nice, just that the only things we really got to see was the harbour, most of which seemed run-down... Apararently if you join up this harbour with the harbour up river (and maybe the next one after that), it becomes the largest sea port in the world... (I mean, seriously, how desperate is that?!)


The Swamp tour
This one is good if you get the chance go on it!
Let's see some interesting highlights:

• Something like an acre of soil is lost every 60 days because of erosion.
  
• To combat erosion if you want to develop land in that region the government will nominate 2 blocks (of the same size land) for you to fix up and protect from erosion (and you don't have a choice where they'll be).
  
• It's legal to catch 'gators of over 4 feet, though the goverment issues only a set number of tags to appropriate people (and that's all you're allowed to catch)
  
• Australian salt water crocs are the largest and most vicious varieties, with the attacks on tourists being part of Australia's immigration policy (from Annemarie)
  
• Our tour guide was a bit of a nutter, he actually goes swimming with the 'gators (as long as they're smaller than him).
  

Anyways, we got to hold a baby 'gator (which was tiny) and lots of cool photo's of smallish one's (up to 5 foot) eating marshmallows (yes, that's how the guide was attracting them). All in all a pretty cool time.


Bourbon Street
Well it was our 2nd last night in New Orleans and the fligh was going to be at 6am, so what was needed?
That's right a visit to the famous, Bourbon Street.. Suffice it to say a ball was had by all and the hangover was worth it (though Annemarie may disagree with that one!) ;-)

Let's see, I started with a handgrenade (New Orleans strongest drink), then it was an unsteady walk to a restaurant for some lovely Jambalaya (nice spicy dish), followed by a Hurricane (2nd strongest drink!), another handgrenade, then too many shots!! :-) Met a whole bunch of interesting people (only half of which I remember), including a yank who said (as a compliment), that they think of Australians as "American's with European accents."


Next is Washington
Good to hear from a few people out there, hope everyone is having a grand time (wherever you are), and let me know how you're going! :-)

B

New Orleans (N'Awlins)

Yes that is how it is referred to in some areas of this city (don't forget to pronounce it with a drawl!) ;-)

Well, I've just spent the last quater of an hour trying to upload my piccies to the blog, but quite smartly these people have locked off the pc so I can't load any new programs.. Good thinking, but dang annoying when I need another prog to upload.. (dang it!)

I have however now been able to transfer my pics to the iPod.. Yay! May have to wait a while until I'm able to upload the actual piccies, oh well you won't be able to see the lovely photo's of me in a tank top wandering around New Orleans (or even holding a baby 'gator!) :-P I don't think too many of you mind that too much..


Well anyways what have I been up to I hear you ask?


Leaving LA
Now this is where I have some pics that would of said a thousand words and since my time is limited, you'll just have to settle for a few dozen, we headed off from LA at some insane hour of the morning to catch a flight with Frontier Airlines, actually a reasonable airline, kind of like Virgin Blue except with some free stuff on the plane (I just stuck to water though).. We had a nice short stay in Denver where I got to pose under a 'Tornado Shelter' sign, then it was another 2 and a bit hour flight to New Orleans...


The Big Easy
Yes that is the nickname of this city, amongst a few others... (Since so many here want to be world's most/best/first etc.. I think they're going for the City with the most Nicknames) Anyways, aside from nearly dying of the heat on those first couple of days, we went on a Cemetery and Voodoo Tour, actually pretty interesting all sorts of things came out like:

• Because of the high water table they need to bury people above ground here.
  
• Originally they tried to bury the bodies in the levy banks (cause of them being above water), but when the river flooded (as it does every year), well I'll leave the rest of it up to your imagination....
  
• In the battle of New Orleans, the British reported 2,000 casualties, while the Americans reported somewhere between 6 & 13 (2 different guides).
  

Anyways I've got to sign off now (just been told), so I'll try and fill in some more about New Orleans and the Swamps in a day or 2 (maybe when I get to Washington). Including how according to Annemarie we're using those croc attacks as immigration control ;-)

Take care everyone!

B

Late post LA & New Orleans

Well, it's been a few days and I'm now over the Jet Lag (I think)... I'm in New Orleans at this pretty funky little cyber cafe, where all you have to do is buy something and you can get 30 minutes free net time... sweet!.


The flight
Ok, what's happended so far I hear you ask?
After being dropped off at the airport by my friends and family (I'll try and get some pics up in a bit), I border the plane, and got stuck at the tail end.. row 59 of 62 rows... But I had a nice window seat to look out and see the bank of clouds as they passed by.
United Airlines, sucks in terms of the movies by the way! So pretty much the whole flight (after a few complimentary rum & diet pepsi's (I actually asked for bourbon & coke, guess the hostess didn't understand my accent shrug), I sat back and listened to the iPod and read the book Sue kindly lent to me.. 'Holding the Zero - Gerald Seymour' not bad actually, kind of like that movie about the two snipers fighting it out in Stalingrad.. Someone please post the title, I can't remember it!


LA
After landing in LA, I turned on my phone and found the funky (well I think it is!) aspect of it asking if I'd like the date/time to be updated... As well as a short message from Andrew Browning Maestro! who was not able to pick me up from the airport because of a meeting with a certain french director... The same director who did The Fifth Element one of my all time favourite movies, as well as The Professional another fantastic movie!
Turns out his daugher Emily Browning has caught the attention of this director who wants to fund a movie with her starring in it...

Anyways, enough of the movie gossip, LA was as I remembered it, nice weather and some funky people... Some a bit scary... lol! Especially one of my bunk mates (from Belgium) nicknamed 'Smiling assassin' or 'Robo cop' by Annemarie, due to his tendency to grin whenever he was winning at pool or cards, as well as him being in the international police and arresting some guy who tried to pick-pocket him.. He actually carries his handcuffs with him everywhere!!! (cool guy though)

Was only in LA for 2 days though (including the day I arrived), so didn't really get up to much, other than attempting to get over Jet Lag)


The rest
Anyways, I'm going to have to sign off in a second, so I'll have to fill in about New Orleans a bit later, hopefully I'll be able to post some of the piccies up that I've taken so far. Hope everyone is well, and I'll try and post up every few days what I've been up to, so check back regularly.

B

Ballarat

Went up to Ballarat today to catch up with my brother (though not by blood) Mark, and got to meet a good friend of his, Tanya.


Me, Mark & Tanya (in Ballarat)

While up there, we went out playing pool, and after a few drinks we started quoting Red Dwarf, Black Adder, Douglas Adams and lots of other great UK comedy.. :-) With for me the quote of the night going to Rob for:

"It's funny... because I'm drunk!"

@ Squires loft

Looking tipsy (but I think it's just the flash), we have Old, Tags & Rob.

Loud being a nong

Loud being a nong

Loud & Diana

My 2 good friends Loud ('cause he is!) and Diana. Squires loft 

Balty Bridge

Just thought this was a not too bad pic of a little landmark here in Melbourne 

Original Redgum Crew

Way back, when Redgum first started I went and (some would say stupidly) got married, here's a photo of us at the start of Redgum life.

It is (from left) Robin Vessey, Matt Richardson, Matt White & Me. Ah, hearing of them cringe for posting this picture makes my own embarrassment worth the while... ;-)


The Crew back in 1998

Test Photo

Here's me just playing around, seeing if I can figure out how to post an image up to photo blogger just an old one taken when I first got my Scooby Doo...



My mate rob, with my scooby doo in the background 

Playing around

Well, I've been officially unemployed for just on 2 weeks now.. and I'm loving it!!!

And as I'm about to be heading off on my own personal adventure I thought I'd try setting up a blog to post my pictures and what I've been up to.. :-)

So here it is, haven't got much time to set anything up at the moment as about to go have some delicious Squire's Loft steak!! Mmmm... great restaurant if you're ever in Melbourne (Australia that is). Also looking forward to comparing it to the Texas steaks..

B