Really worth watching:

http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html

Tony Abbott - another major fail

I can't believe this man could be our next Prime Minister

http://youtu.be/zXhbg80E2JE

Fantastic debate

http://fora.tv/2007/10/11/Christopher_Hitchens_Debates_Alister_McGrath#fullprogram

E-Fail

Today I read a great article about the role of email in possible career obliteration: 
http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/efail-20120420-1xat0.html

The background is quite a mild piece about female representation in Queensland parliament:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/women-struggle-for-a-political-voice/story-fn6ck620-1226327122971

Which elicited this vitriolic email from a fat, white and woolly mammoth:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/lnp-media-staffer-max-tomlinson-quits-over-sexist-political-rant-directed-at-columnist-carole-ford/story-e6freon6-1226331445831

I wonder what was going through his head when he pressed the *send* button? What would possess someone to write and SEND an email which could so obviously be used against him? “Well this should convince the old PHD-earning feminazi journalist of the error of her ways, and she will be so ashamed at her wasted life she will write me a thank you note and crawl back into the kitchen”

Clearly many people agree with him, if I judge by the number of supportive comments left by the readers. This is a classic example: “What Max said is accurate. That he has been forced to resign is an indictment on so called political correctness”. But I fancy not many of them would send an email expressing these views unless it was to preach to the choir.

This is what dinner at old Max's house probably looks like:
http://youtu.be/MMb8Csll9Ws

And this must be the lovely woman he is married to:
http://youtu.be/39qdhbkTko4

This article made me laugh it was such an accurate depiction of Egyptian tourism:

http://www.theage.com.au/travel/blogs/the-backpacker/where-the-tourists-are-fair-game-20120403-1w9pa.html

Organ Pipes National Park

Tiny national park off the Calder Freeway, it was only 20 min drive away from us. Has some interesting rock formations, and it was nice to feel like we were out of the city, even for a little bit. Had it all to ourselves for the 45 min it took us to walk around the entire thing :)

Garden (sort of)

Now I know why my basil grew so bendy to the right....

Vessarion

Thought this might be interesting for my Russian friends:

http://www.theage.com.au/tv/show/jesus-of-siberia/jesus-of-siberia-vissarion-20120202-1qus7.html

I've actually read about this guy while in Siberia but it's a huge effort to get to his place and we couldn't be bothered.

I think the impact of the story as narrated by a cocky America college student is somewhat diminished for me but the scenery alone makes me nostalgic.

Wind blowing sand across the beach - look closely, it looks like some kind of special effects:

Australia Day Long Weekend

Well it wasn't really a long weekend - but by taking Friday off we created an extra long 4 day weekend! We went to Croajingolong National Park, on the border of Victoria and NSW - a drive you can't really do over a weekend. It's been a while since our last camping trip, for various reasons (life being busy etc etc) we haven't really done much since our big trip. This reminded me how much fun it is, and how many beautiful places there are to see in Australia.

Point Hicks
Point Hicks is where, on 19 April 1770, the continent of Australia was first sighted by the men on Captain Cook's Endeavour voyage. Cook records that it was Lieutenant Zachary Hickes who first saw land, and Cook named the point after him.





Mueller Inlet camping
This was our first campsite - the water was very shallow & very warm! Only downside was the mozzies who also liked it very much.



Dunes walk


Skerries
Rock islands home to Australian and New Zealand Fur Seal colonies.




Dead seal - kinda morbid but it was my only chance to see one up close



Live seal



Marlo, a little township between Lakes Entrance and Mallacoota




He was huge!

Good to know I've been wasting my life so far....

Not that religion ever hinders anyone's progress:

http://williamsonletters.blogspot.com/2009/02/girls-at-university.html

Christmas & New Year's

EY makes us take two weeks’ of leave over the Christmas period. Right up until the break I was resenting the fact that I have to take leave, but now I realise how much I needed it. I was very run down and I didn’t even realise it. Working full time and studying is turning out to be harder than I thought.

The first week was spent catching up with friends who come back from overseas to get a brief glimmer of Australian summer. It reminded me how awesome it would be if everyone simply came back to Australia and we could hang out all the time – you know who you are :)

The second week I spent in a diving trip from Melbourne to Sydney with my family. I’ve never seen that side of the coast before, whereas I’ve been to the Great Ocean Road a dozen times. If fact, I’ve never been beyond Lakes Entrance. There a lot of nice beaches along the way, but I can’t say there was anything I have a burning desire to go back to except Jervis Bay National Park:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jervis_Bay. We only spent an afternoon there, but I would love to go back next year.

Some photos from the trip:

Lakes Entrance



Bateman's Bay



Tathra



Mogo Zoo





Jervis Bay National Park, Greenpatch Beach





Blue Mountains



(We were supposed to see the Three Sisters from here)