ANZAC Day, Saving the Children and Byron Bay

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Well the highlights of the last couple of weeks would definitely be my climb up Mt Beerwah on ANZAC Day, participating in a "Save the Children" fundraiser adventure race, and my trip to Byron Bay this last weekend.

I got up at the ripe old time of 3:30 on ANZAC day (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) to attend the 4:28 memorial service to commemmorate the soldiers who were killed in Gillipolie, Turkey in the first world war. It was very strong coffee, followed by a short nap. After my snooze, Jenny picked me up to go to her Dad's house for breakfast. Normally breakfast at a friend's parents would not be a noteworthy event, however, I realized it was the first family setting I have been in since leaving Italy! So it meant heaps to me, and I really enjoyed parental cooking, even if they weren't my own! Jenny said she's going to look into renting out her parents to backpackers to make some extra cash!! After breaky, we headed up Mt Beerwah of the Glasshouse Mountains with Katherine. It was literally a mountain climb without the ropes. The views were breath-taking and so worth the effort.

Save the children involved four of us from work, sporting the McVeigh company wear and participating in a scavenger hunt that forced us to bake, kayak, dance, build the TajMahal out of playdough and many other unrelated and strange events. It was so much fun, and there was a great BBQ and open bar to follow.

This last weekend (Labour day weekend here), I went with John down to Byron Bay. Imagine Tofino and Long beach meet Australia and this is what you will get. A beautiful little artsy town with so much culture, backpackers and surfers everywhere. You would be hard pressed to find anyone stressed out in this neck of the woods. I don't know if its the nature or the "culture", or maybe a bit of both that make it this way. Hard to believe I managed to find a thief in this place to walk off with some of my stuff, the only downer of the weekend. On the drive through, a hilarious little festival called "Mardigrass" was going on in the town of Nimbin. You can imagine the folks that turned up for this. We even managed to catch the "Comby Convoy" ready to parade through the streets. I didn't get to try surfing this trip because the surf wasn't big enough. But I'll definitely make it back before long to give it a shot.

Australian Receptionist Fashion Tip of the Week: Maybe not a fashion tip, but something learned the hard way... No matter how much you think you can do it, do not answer the phone with a mouthfull of food, the results are very embarrassing!

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Photos

Mt Beerwah
Here I am at the top of the tallest of the Glass House Mountains, about an hour north of Brisbane.

Team McVeigh
Thought I'd attach the nice team photo than one of the less attractive ones of us in action. From left to right: Andrew, Katherine, Me, Jenny

The "Comby" Convoy
I've never heard the term before, but VW vans are better known as Combies here. This was from the parade at Mardigrass.

The Sun Setting over Byron Bay
A little piece of heaven. An absolutely amazing place that everyone should be so lucky to see.