Aussie Icon - Coopers

Okay, okay..... more of a South Australia Icon - as Cooper's beers are widely available on tap in South Australia, and in some bars in the rest of Australia as specialty beers. It is widely available bottled around Australia and occasionally at specialist importers in other countries.

Coopers is known to make a variety of beers most famous of which is its Sparkling Ale. It is also well established as a producer of home brew supplies and as such is one of the worlds largest producers of home brew ingredients.

While, the Sparkling Ale is good.... I do prefer the Pale Ale (pictured above taken on the Beach just 15mins from our house)

Coopers' bottled beers are characterised by their secondary fermentation technique - some yeast remains in the bottle after bottling - thus the bottled beer contains some sediment. There are two schools of thought with regards to the sediment - some drinkers like to mix the sediment throughout the beer by tipping or rolling the beer before drinking, while others prefer to decant the beer into a glass leaving (most of) the sediment at the base of the bottle. I'm of the first wave of thought - adds just that little extra flavour.

But no matter how I drink it - and it doesn't matter if it is Pale Ale or Sparking Ale - Coopers and I are now good friends!

Spring Valley

It was another warm and sunny weekend. So we jumped in the blue stallion, and headed north this time. Our destination - Spring Valley. A protected wildlife reserve just west of the Clare Valley (yet another wine growing region of SA).

Sadly, the wild life was limited to birds and flowers - but it was very pretty. It is early spring here in the Southern Hemisphere, so the fields were covered in wild flowers.




And there we lovely views of the valley below - the following photo was taken after a 20min walk along the top ridge to a rather seasonal waterflow - and spring ins't one of the seasons.



But, you can see for miles and miles from the picnic grounds


And the local birdlife does come to visit. This guy finally landed somewhere near enough to take a photo, just as we were about to leave. I had been stalking a magpie before this - but the bird was just to darn smart!


This weekend might just be staying home and cleaning the yard. We've got out first landlord inspection coming, and it is as good of an excuse as I can think of to clean the outside!

D&L

Aussie Icon - Iced Coffee Milk

Well, following my putting a photo of Donald Bradman on my last blog, it gave me an idea.
There are many Australian things that are true aussie icons . Okay, they might now be owned by some mega-corp based in the USA - but the association of these products are truely australian, unlike say Fosters beer!

So, my first in what may or may not become a regular blog feature.. I give you Dairy Farmers Union Iced Coffee!


Started in 1977, Farmers Union is a coffee flavour milk drink. In 2003 Australians consumed in excess of 22,000,000 litres of Farmer's Union Iced coffee, making it Australia's best selling flavoured milk drink. The drink's popularity has led to some McDonald's, KFC and Hungry Jack's (aka Burger King) restaurants selling it as a part of their menus across the country.

Farmers Union Iced Coffee outsells Coca-Cola in South Australia, making it the only place in the world where a milk drink outsells a cola product, and one of the few places that Coca-Cola is not the most popular bottled beverage.

And best off all, it tastes GREAT! I'm nearly addicted to the stuff....


D

50!

FIFTY POSTS! So, in tribute, here an old photograph of the greatest australian sportsman of all time Donald Bradman (for Canadians, think the Gordie Howe of Cricket!) For more info on this aussie lengends, check out wikipedia HERE



Now, back to the blog -Woot! 50 freaking POSTs! I can't believe I'm still blogging and 50 post strong. Not sure if anybody reads this thing, but its good fun - I'd highly recommend it. In fact I recommend it so much, I'll be starting a Second blog next week, just for my Photos. It won't be updated as much, but will be full of my favourite photos.

So what else to add to my 50th post...

Lets see my 3rd week of work completed. Was really busy today - a good sign! I'm learning alot very quickly, and despite being lacking in some of the technical skills, my experience seems to get me through most problems.

Also, the weather has turned.. not sure how long it is supposed to last.. probably until April 09! But it was sunny and 29c today! Not bad for early spring. And to be honest, it didn't seem too bad. Everything is Air-conditioned, unlike back in the UK, so you never really feel too hot. No doubt I'll be blogging in a few weeks time about too hot it is!

Best to keep this short!

Next update REALLY soon...

D & L

Mt Lofty - Not the loftiest moutain I've ever seen!

The above photos is from our day trip to Mount Lofty and Mount George in the Adelaide hills from this past weekend.

The weather was nice, so we decided to head out to the hills for a BBQ/Picnic. While we couldn't find a BBQ pit (still need to get a decent parks of South Australia guidebook) we did find two nice parklands. The first was Mt.Lofty, the "loftiest" of the adelaide hills.. still not very lofty. But it did afford a nice view of Adelaide (no photos, as we only had the compact 35mm digital cam, and the photo didn't really turn out!).

We then continued further into the hills, where we found Mt George and the park there. It was quieter (the are regular tour day trips to Mt Lofty), so we unpacked our lunch and ate outdoors. Followed by a short walk around the small lake. It was a nice little place, and only 45min away from our house.

We are hoping to visit another parkland this Sunday, and I've got my digital SLR working again - and I plan to take the zoom lens, as the guide book suggests I might be able to see wild kangaroos and/or Emus! The majority of kangaroos I've seen so far have been in petting zoos, so to see a wild one will be quite a treat (and NO, I don't really count the one I saw on the side of the Freeway as I drove past at 110kmp/h!)

D&L

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to work I went

Week 1 done!

It has been a good week. I've met EVERYBODY in the company - including the CEO - I'd like to think that I'm special, but infact all new starters get a 30min meeting with the CEO and the company Exec's.

My training has begun, I can now write and execute simple SQL statements, and schedule overnight database runs. Not sure what next week will entail. I've been told I've got 6months training before I'm allowed to go near the production servers and support our clients.

The people are nice, my "team" has about 10 people, we are all in our 30's and come from quite similar work experiences - so It has been easy to get along and relate with everybody.

So, week one impression are quite good (I might regret this blog entry after a few months - but I'd prefer to have a glass half full prespective)

So, it is Saturday today, and nice and sunny - the weather has finally turned, we are expecting mid 20's and sunny for the next few weeks, then it should start hitting the 30's by November, with the possiblities of the high 30's or low 40's towards the end of Dec/ Early Jan.

Not much on today, but tomorrow, I'm hoping to be heading of the Adelaide Oval to watch the SANFL playoff finals first round (or something) - it will be my first Aussie Rules game - I've watched plenty on TV so I know what is going on - but it is always different to watch a sport live, heck even Baseball isn't that boring live!

I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow.

David

Spore-iffic

Well, this is not a blog about Australia - this is a boring blog about a computer game called Spore.

A little known game (ha!) Spore has arrived, and for the first time in many years, I even purchased a new game from retail shop - crazy idea I know. So far it is fun, but I've not even reached the space stage yet - which is where the real game begins. I've been too busy playing with the spore creature creator..

So I present my first creation - Strawburr!







Anyway, I must have too much time on my hands these days... good thing I start working on Monday!

DK

Royal Adelaide Show 2008

Today, we went to the Royal Adelaide Show - for those of you back in Duncan, think Cowichan Exhibition - as there were farm animals, horse shows, fun fair rides, arts & crafts, etc...

The main difference, would be the Australian invention "Show Bags" - think of party bags. You spend $5, $10, or whatever on a goody bag, and you get $10, $20, or $30 dollars worth of goodies. Anyway, Lyn has been going on about show bags since we got the local paper, and it listed all the show bags availible for sale.

I decided to take my non-zoom lens to the show, a decision I do regret, as there would have been so many great photos to be had, if I could have just gotten a proper zoom - but then again, I wasn't there as a hobby photographer, but as a bewildered canadian!

So, the photos...

First up, we have the 7th Heat, of the Mens underhand wood cutting (38cm Diameter I believe)



Next, we have some the old Farm equipment on Display



Now we have Lyn hamming it up in front of the prize winning daffodils



An action shot of the Toyota HiLux Heroes display



And now the Yamaha Freestyle Motocross Exhibition Team.



And the all important Show Bags!

Two blogs in One day!

Well, I've been offered my first job in Oz - so if you ever wondered what it was I really do for a living (other than playing computer games, watching Sopranos, and going to the Golf Course) - a brief description of the job follows


The position of System Support Analyst exists to provide 2nd and some 3rd level application support for the Core Banking System application Phoenix & associated interfaces.

This involves a range of tasks and responsibilities that can include;

- Develop understanding of customer’s business in specific areas and use of the system
- Provide guidance to customers on “how to” and “why” type queries.
- Fault investigation and resolution including the raising of defects and the creation of and
running of scripts (i.e. Sybase stored procedures, SQL update statements) for data changes
- User Acceptance Co-ordination including database preparation and assisting customer with
set up switching on new functionality
- New customer/ product establishment e.g. setting up fees, credit card product, term deposit
- Involvement with new developments to ensure the solution is technically sound and Phoenix
Support team has appropriate knowledge, procedures and documentation in place to support
- Assisting the Test Team with testing, particularly for technical changes
- Performing a business analysis role for some new developments
- Some report writing in Crystal
- Assist in software build upgrades and package creation
- Perform after hours on call duties on a roster basis

The System Support Analyst liaises with customers (Internal and External) at all levels, and needs to demonstrate effective team work and communication, developing customer confidence in the Phoenix Support Team and the Phoenix and ancillary products.



No comfirmed start date yet, but should be just a week or two away.

Dave

Its a Bird! Its a Plane! No its a Mitusbishi Colt!

Okay - first not the sexiest car, nor the sleekest car ever built. But it does have some charms, and it is by far the newest car we've ever owned. It is a 2005/6 Colt, with a grand total of 5872 km's on the odometer (as it had been in storage while the orignal owners were overseas).

So, I give to you, in all its glory.. the "Blueberry Stallion"

Driving the Adelaide Hills

Well, we have given in the to the inevitable and rented ourselves a car this week, so we can go the the car dealers and buy a car! Seems silly, but it was the only way.

So, with all the used car places being closed on Sunday, we went to the hills! The first stop was Carrick Hill - we didn't have any cash, so we just wander the gardens. We then drove to Belair National Park, and did one of the bush walks.

This first set of photos were taken in the grounds of Carrick Hill - a couple of shots of old farm equipment, and some birds - always with the birds!











We didn't take many photos in the national park - just some more birds... and I've decided that I am saving the rest of my bird photos for a bird photo blog entry!

A rolling stone gathers no moss...

Or Something!

Good news all around. I've got 3 job interviews arranged for the rest of the week. 2 of them I am really keen on, and the other - I'm not too sure about - the salary is low, but the amount of holiday time is outstanding!

All our worldly goods have arrived from London (via Sydney), and we've spent the past 5 hours unpacking all the boxes - it is nice to have all our stuff again... I'm currently taking advantage of our new wide screen TV to watch all those DVD's I've had for years, but have only been able to watch on a childs size TV in London!

We are off to look at 3 cars tomorrow after my job Interview, a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer, and ex Demo 2008 Suzuki Swift, and a 2006 Nissan Tiida! Should be good fun.

That is all for now,
Dave & Lyn

Around our Flat - West Lakes

Time time time... I have plenty of time these days. So I play computer games, watch DVDs, watch the Olympics (come on CANADA!), go for walks, play Par 3 golf, and take photos.

The set below, are some basic shots of the West Lakes, a suburb just 10min walk to the south of our place. We walked for 3 hours, and didn't see 1/2 of it. There was just so much water and parkland to explore!

The Posh Houses - private beach, boat ramp etc..


One of the public swimming beaches (there were about 12 all up)


A tree - it still has leaves even in Winter



A Footbrigde connecting different arms of the lake


And ducks fights over the bread we fed them!


So far, we are really liking Adelaide and where we live - of course, that might change once it hits 40c and we have to deal with public transport to get to work

Dave & Lyn

Click Click.. we are online!

Yes Folks! I've returned to the land of the Online! It took a while, but I finally convince 3G to give me a USB modem!

Now I can look for jobs from the safety of my office... no more having to slum it with the rif-raff at the public library..

I guess the only thing I'll need to get used to is the 6GB monthly data limit... as all broadband here in Oz is metered... So it might not be much World of Warcraft for me... still... time will tell!

David

A week of Firsts

Well, nearly fully settled in the flat - so it was time to break in the new BBQ - however this being winter - it was rather dark and cold. But no matter, I managed my first BBQ on our new BBQ! And to record this occasion, we even took some photos!








The other first this week

My first indoor Australian SPIDER! It wasn't that big - and didn't look to scary, but I still wanted to squish it. Lyn, decided to try and save it, and attempted to collect mr Spider under a glass - which was a great plan, until the point Lyn realized the spider wasn't under the glass, and threw the glass, the magazine and the spider 5 feet down the hallway! Needless to say, I got to squish the poor spider after that.

Afraid no pictures of this event were taken.. maybe next time!