I'm trying to remember all that's been going on since the last time I posted something.  I know that I've been to some vineyards down the east side of the bay, been for a nice long drive through the Dandedong Mountains, celebrated Australia Day, finished up our baseball season and had our awards night, and went back to Flemington Race Course for the Australian Cup races last weekend.  What I really enjoy about Melbourne is there always seems to be something going on.  For example, the F1 Grand Prix is going on this weekend, basically right in my backyard.  My apartment overlooks Albert Park and that's where the track is.  I've been woken up the last three mornings by the sounds of F1 cars practicing.  Apparently some don't like the new engines that they are using for the cars http://espn.go.com/racing/f1/story/_/id/10606064/formula-one-v6-turbo-hybrid-sound-gets-thumbs-down however, since it's right outside, I'm not terribly upset that they are a little quieter than in the past.

The F1 race is really just one of the many random and cool things I see from my balcony.  Every now and then I'll wake up see some random sights, hot air balloons, sky divers, etc.  Below are some pictures I've taken from my apartment.  The flyover was probably the coolest thing I've seen, although the picture doesn't do it near justice.  I'll try to figure out how to upload a video, even though that won't do it justice either.

                                          Sunset

                                          Melbourne Sunset

                                          Couple balloons at sunrise

                                          Skydivers and a random bird

                                          More skydivers

                                          Sunrise over St Kilda

                                          Just rising over the Dandedongs

                                          Very peaceful in the morning

                                         More balloons at sunrise

                                          F1 Big Screen

                                          Flyover

 

I apologize for being slack. It's been too long since I posted.  The day after my last post, Dec 30th, I went on a charter fishing trip out of Sorrento.  I was hoping we'd go out of the bay into Bass Strait but unfortunately the winds weren't helping us and we had to stay in the bay.  That was the ONLY thing wrong with the weather that day.  It was an absolutely beautiful day and a lot of fun being on the water.  We caught a good many fish and I had enough for about two meals.  The first fish I caught could be the ugliest fish I've ever seen (this picture really doesn't it do it justice). 

As I was bringing the fish out of the water, the first mate started yelling "dont' bring it into the boat, don't bring it into the boat"  I didn't but had to ask what was wrong and found out that those spikes on the back of the fish are poisonous, and not just "you'll be sick for a little while" poisonous but "it makes grown men cry and beg for mercy" poisonous.  This ever proves the theory that pretty much everything down here could kill you.  However, apparently this fish does have good fillets, so when I caught a bigger one later on in the day, we did bring it on board, killed it, and immediately cut off the poisonous spikes.  This wasn't the only fish I caught that was poisonous, I also caught what they call a puffer fish.  I learned that this fish is a delicacy in Japan where people apprentice for 5 years learning how to fillet this fish so not to kill the person eating it.  Sounds dodgy to me though.

The next day, I had probably the most fun day yet in Australia.  I went on a seal and dolphin swim.  Again I lucked out and the weather was beautiful.  We snorkeled at a place called Pope's Eye.  Then went to the seal colony to swim with those guys.  Then we went looking for dolphins.  We were lucky enough to find some and got a chance to swim with them. I can't add the videos here but hopefully I'll get them posted on the website.

After the dolphin swim since it was New Year's Eve I poured myself a bourbon and watched the fireworks over Melbourne from balcony.

On January 4th, I had people over to watch the Orange Bowl.  We had three Clemson grads cheering on our Tigers.  I'm not sure my neighbors understood or appreciated the loud cheers that were coming from my apartment but it was a good fun day.

On January 6th I had to head back to work and I had a pretty low key couple of weeks until last Saturday.  Last Saturday I got to go the Australian Open.  It was a great venue and a lot of fun.  The main match that I got to see was Andy Murray against Lopez which Murray won in straight sets.  This past Tuesday I went to my first cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The MCG I believe is the largest sports venue in Australia with a capacity of just over 100,000.  A very cool place and I am sure I'll be there often, whether it is watching cricket again or cheering on my adopted Australian Rules Football team, the Richmond Tigers.

I have to sign off for now, I have to get to a baseball game.

Love and Miss you all!!

Hope so see you soon!

Sunday December 29th

It's been a great week off of work, here are the highlights.

Saturday Dec 21st - Visited the Old Melbourne Jail.  They say you can do the tour in an hour but if you read everything you could easily spend two or three hours there.  Ned Kelly was imprisoned there before his hanging

Sunday Dec 22nd - We had a baseball game (didn't go well) but then had our club Christmas Party then I went out with some guys from the baseball team

Monday Dec 23rd - I did have to go into work for a couple hours but then I enjoyed some Christmas Carols in the city at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl

Tuesday Dec 24th - I had my first kite surfing lesson on St. Kilda Beach.  Definitely harder than it looks but still a lot of fun.  I got a chance to swing by the casino while I was in the city.

Christmas - The owners of the pub in Williamstown had a Christmas Breakfast after that I went over to some friends' place for Christmas Dinner.  It was a Clemson bar, but that didn't last long as one of the regulars daughters goes to Louisville, so she sent a flag over.

Boxing Day - Relaxed most of the day, hung around St. Kilda, had lunch at the the beach.  It was a typical Melbourne day, rainy in the morning, beautiful about an hour later turning very very windy in the evening.

Friday Dec 27th - Had the 2nd of three kite boarding lessons in the afternoon.  Starting to get the hang of it, next lesson I actually get to get on the board.  In the evening I went to a really good Asian restaurant in the city celebrating a birthday for a fellow Clemson Alumn.

Saturday Dec 28th -  Yesterday I went down the Great Ocean Road to Torquay for surf lessons.  It was a beautiful day in the morning but unfortunately the waves weren't very big so it was a little difficult to get going but still a lot of fun. In the afternoon the wind really picked up and knocked the waves down even more so it was even more difficult to find a good wave.  Even with the conditions it was still a great day and very enjoyable, definitely something I will do again very soon.  There are plenty of pictures on the website.

December 21st, 2013

Hello Everyone!

It’s been very busy the last 6 weeks or so!  I’ll start with all the fun stuff.  During the month of November I became quite a regular at the Morningstar Hotel and met just a ton of great people most of them were at horse races the day I went.  The bartender got me tickets to the Saturday at the Australian Masters at Royal Melbourne.  It was a great day, I mostly followed Matt Kuchar around as he was the only American in the field.  Of course I wearing my Clemson hat and a Clemson shirt, Kuchar gave me quite a look on the second tee, it was kind of, “What the hell is a Clemson fan doing in Melbourne” look.  Kuchar had a pretty good day, but bogeyed the last hole.  He actually hit the guy standing beside me on 18th and couldn’t quite save his par as he had to punch out of trouble on the par 4 18^th.  Adam Scott, who has been playing some really good golf as of late, ended up winning on Sunday, even though Kuchar did make a late charge.

The next weekend I spent a lot of time at the baseball club.  All the senior players have to umpire two junior games during the season, so I did one of mine on a Friday night.  Saturday, we had a work day, putting together hitting screens, painting the clubhouse, fence, picnic tables, and benches.  Of course there was a BBQ after.  If there is any sort of event down here where more than 5 people are getting together, chances are they'll be a BBQ after.

The last week in November I was finishing up details for my apartment and getting ready to move in, all while trying to ensure I was able to watch the Clemson vs South Carolina game.  I couldn’t get the game on TV down here, but could watch it on Slingbox, and the owners at the Morningstar were nice enough to hook up the HDMI cable so I could watch it on a decent screen.  The Morningstar Hotel has now become the first (that I know of) unofficial Clemson Pub in Australia.  As a thank you for their wonderful hospitality I got the owner and manager a Clemson sweatshirt, some coffee mugs and more sweatshirts for some of the regulars, Clemson coozies (stubby holders as they are called down here) for the bar, and of course a Clemson flag that was hung proudly behind the bar.  The Bamboo Flag Pole has yet to arrive.

The last three weeks, as you can imagine, have been busy getting settled in and everything set up in my apartment.  I got my air shipment two weeks ago so I have been busy unpacking and trying to find a spot for everything that I brought down.  It appears that I have a lot of sports gear and Clemson stuff.  Last weekend I also went to the Belgium Beer Garden on Friday and to Chill On (an ice bar in the city)...it was pretty cool (pun intended)

http://www.chillon.com.au/

Yesterday (the 20th), was my last day of work for the year and we all got off after a nice lunch that was catered in.  I spent the rest of the day relaxing until I went to my first Melbourne Aces baseball game.  It was a pretty good game and they ended up winning 6-2 and had a nice fireworks display after.

Other than that, it’s mostly been work and baseball on Sundays.  I’m looking forward to a little time off so I can explore and do a few more “Aussie” things.  I am looking forward to going surfing, kite surfing, wind surfing, and hopefully spend a little time outside of the city.

There a bunch of new pictures up on the website, my favorites are the ones from my apartment.

 I wish all of you a very Blessed and Merry Christmas and a wonderful and Happy New Year.

 Love and Miss you all,

Will

November 5th, 2013

Hello Everyone!

I can't believe I've already been down here over a month.  The time has absolutely flown by too fast.  I've been very busy with work during the week and playing a lot of baseball on the weekends.  We finally got our first win of the season on Sunday.

On most Saturdays I've just gotten in the car and drove to be able to see something new.  I've been to Ballarat and to Mount Dandendong, although haven't taken a whole lot of pictures.

I had most of yesterday and today off as today is a public holiday in Victoria for the Melbourne Cup, the biggest horse race of the year.  This is a huge week for horse racing in Australia, Saturday was Derby Day, today is the Melbourne Cup, Thursday is Ladies Day, and next Saturday is family day. 

I actually got the chance to go to Flemington on Saturday for Derby Day.  It was an absolute great day spent with some great people.

Everything else is going great down here, still haven't found a permanent place to live, but I am getting there.  Hope all is well with you.  Love and Miss you all!

October 6th

My first full week in Australia is drawing to a close.   I am still trying to get “settled” in but have a feeling that won’t happen until I am in my more permanent housing and have more of my things here.  Works is going well so far, lot of projects to managed and of course a lot of new products to learn, but all is good there.  It was really odd not having something to do on Monday night.  I can’t remember the last Monday I didn’t go to “bar night”, have a baseball game, or was out of town.  I did go to a local pub after work but was definitely missing my Monday Night Crew. 

Tuesday and Thursday I had baseball training.   I also can’t remember the last time I went to a real organized baseball practice as a player.  It has been at least ten years, either in college playing in an adult league or maybe even my senior year of high school.  The baseball leagues (and all the sports) are different down here as it seems every town has a club with multiple teams.  I am playing for the Newport Rams Seniors teams.  They are a division 1 club in the Victoria Baseball League and have 4 senior teams based on ability.  I am one of the “old” guys as most of the players are in their teens and early 20’s, but they have me on their 2nds team for the first game on Sunday…I assume cause they needed a catcher.  They also have a bunch of U14 and U12 junior teams and one women’s team.

On Wednesday, the other Clemson alum in Melbourne and her husband had me over for dinner after work.  She cooked a great meal of fennel and lemon risotto with whole wheat bread crumbs and toasted pumpkin seeds.  It was great to chat with someone about Tiger Town, the Esso club, and running down the Hill while in Australia.  We are planning a “big” watch party for the Clemson vs. FSU game, as that game should be on sometime mid-morning Australia time.

Yesterday, I drove along the east side of the bay to a place called Mornington it is a cool little town right along the bay.  The drive was awesome with lots of scenic places along the way.  I didn't take many pictures but will probably visit there again when I have more time as it's only about an hour and a half away.

September 29th, 2013

Hey everyone!  I had a really good first weekend in Australia.  Friday night I went to dinner then to a local pub for a couple drinks.  Saturday I played my first round of golf.  It was very, very windy but I got to learn how fast Melbourne weather can change.  It would go from sunny, to raining sideways, to sunny again in a matter of minutes.  This happened about 3 or 4 times during my round of golf.  Saturday afternoon, I went to another local pub to watch the Grand Final of the Australian Rules Football League (their Super Bowl).  Today so far, I got up early to watch the Clemson game and just finished watching the UGA vs LSU game.  Not sure what the rest of the day holds after I go to church, but I'll probably stay close to my apartment and run some errands.  Tomorrow unfortunately I have to start work!  Love and Miss you all!  Talk to you soon.