Yosemite

San Francisco was brilliant. 5 days / 4 nights was not nearly long enough. I got a really good feel for the city. It's pretty close to Sydney. Quite laid back, pretty to look at. Nice wide, open spaces. I realise that the holiday factor plays a bit part and you become much more gregarious when away from home (and I'm sure the enormous measure of Jack Daniels I knocked back helped) but I found the people I bumped into there so friendly. And the accent goes a long way to sparking people's interest in you. Didn't get to do Alcatraz in the end. Forgot the fact that we were in the middle of the Nor then Hemisphere summer and there would be tonnes of tourists there. So there was a week's wait to get a spot over to the island. Decided to hire bikes and cycle over the Golden Gate bridge instead and spent the afternoon in gorgeous Sauselito. Returned via a very pleasant ferry trip across the harbour. One final night out meeting up with Justin and a strange nightclub called Trannyshack (which is world famous but I had a stinking cold by now and couldn't take the cramped environment) and then we left for Yosemite.

Our convertible Ford Mustang turned out to be a Chrysler Cruiser. One of the most ugly cars on the planet. But the roof went down and that was the main thing we were after. Fraser took driving duties since I was drugged up to the eyeballs on decongestants.

Arrived at the Yosemite Bug hotel. A great lodge complex on the outskirts of the national park. Very rustic. Spent an amazing day driving around with the top off exploring the main sights of the park. Couldn't recommend this part of the world more. The scenery is spectacular. These pictures don't even come close to doing the views justice. Again, in hindsight, I would have planned this trip differently and given ourselves a few more days in San Fran and at least one more day in Yosemite.

San Francisco

I'm loving San Francisco. The locals are so friendly. I'm here at the start of a trip around California and Vegas with Fraser. Been in San Fran for 2 days so far and I'm thinking I could live here. Have done way too many bars and drank way too many JD and Cokes. (The measures here are so big). And I've chatted to lots of randoms. It's cool. So we haven't done any sightseeing yet. Spent yesterday afternoon at something called a beer bust. Hooked up with Justin and an old friend of Fraser's. Slept in this morning and about to go see some sights. Maybe Alcatraz.

Party

July has been pretty full on. Work has been really interesting but crazy busy. Had a lot to do before the holiday.
14th July was the date of the Egan Street party. Thrown in honour of Becky and Craig who are sadly leaving Australia to go on an exciting advenure travelling the world for a while and probably settling in London. Bec is the 3rd very close friend to go overseas and leave me in the last 18 months. Sydney can be such a transient place. It's a very special city to live in but this is one of the biggest drawbacks of living so remotely from the rest of the world.

The party was the best one yet. Hired decks, CD's and mixer. Hamo and Colin did an excellent job providing the music. Colin turned in a sterling effort and was still spinning the tunes at 7am. No complaints from the neighbours and everyone had a brilliant night. Won't be doing it again anytime soon but hopefully it provided some good memories for the world travellers.

Spanglish

Hola!

I'm posting this hoping it might shame me into getting my arse in gear. So the very small audience of people that read this might ask me now and again how I'm getting on and it will motivate me into doing something about it.

I have bought this teach yourself Spanish CD and I am currently playing it in my car some mornings on the way to work. I also have the book. You'd think it would be easy to find time to do both at the same time...book and CD that is.... but I haven't managed it yet. Maybe I need to sign up for a class or a private tutor.

I've always wanted to learn another language. Don't really get much opportunity to use my very limited Welsh and "O" level French was 15 years ago now. (Although I reckon I could still get by in Paris if absolutely desperate).

Always thought I could have a go at living in Spain and fancied visiting South America so the language of choice now I have hit my mid 30's is Espanol. Wish me luck.

Grazias

What happened to my family?

Blog has become thin on the ground again.
Nothing overly exciting has been going on.
Life is ticking along pretty nicely at the minute though.

Fly to California in a couple of weeks with Fraser. We booked the flights over a month ago but haven't made any inroads to booking accomodation and stuff yet.

Going to meet up with a friend in San Francisco who can hopefully show us the side of the city that the tourists don't get to see. Really looking forward to Yosemite and Las Vegas, always wanted to go there. Allan and Ian are flying over to do the San Fran marathon and we will all be hooking up in LV. Should be a laugh.

Work is going great. Been a bit of a roller coaster year and although I like the freedom of being a contractor life can be a little uncertain at times. I am currently working on a new project as business analyst which will take me up until December. It's all highly interesting stuff and is throwing me back into the world of production engineering which feels a bit more familiar to me. So no complaints on that side.

Planning a party at the house on the 14th. Have a couple of DJ's booked for the night and am going to have a sneaky spin myself if I still have enought spatial awareness at that point in the night.

Oh, just did 17 days on the wagon. Sorry to say that's probably the longest I've ever been since reaching legal drinking age. Felt good to have a few weekends with a completely clear head each morning. So caught up on a few movies and just had lots of dinners with mates and stuff.

Am also wondering if my family are reading this blog. If you are, you're crap. Dad is the least technologically minded out of everyone but still manages to call me every few months. What's the story?