I’ll be joining up with Peter and Russ to fly into Melbourne this Tuesday afternoon (5th of October) for a spontaneously rescheduled Web Standards Group meeting that night. Dave Shea and his wife April are traveling to Melbourne, so they’ll also be there for the meeting. If you’re in the area, please come out and join us, whether you’re a member of WSG or not. Details on time and location will be posted to this page on the WSG’s site when they become available.
I know Cameron and Dez are planning on showing up. And I’m hoping I get to meet even more Aussies, and spend time talking with more of you who I didn’t get to chat with much at the conference.
And if you’re a local Melbournite, (or Melbie, or whatever you crazy Strines call yourselves) since I’ll end up staying in Melbourne for a few extra days, you can help me (and probably Dave and April) figure out how to best spend our time in your great city. Hope to see you there.
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The most polite expression we Sydneysiders have for Melburnians is Mexicans :)
Ooh, sounds like fun - going to try and be there.
Good thing you wrote “whether you’re a member or not”, or I’d be pining and all disgruntled at missing something like this. (Am backpacking my way around the world, which doesn’t leave much time for mailinglists and the like, no matter how much I care about the subject.)
Hmm… I’m not a member of WSG but I’m interested in dropping in. Makes me wish I had blogcards to hand out to everyone.
Hey there,
Make sure when you’re in Melbourne you go and checkout the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) at Federation Square. (Just jump on any train and go to Flinders Street and then walk out and cross to the road to the strange looking buildlings). ACMI is down stairs inside the main building and is full of multimedia presentations and art installations - very very cool.
I think you’ll find Melbourne much more welcoming also… but let’s not go down that road shall we…
For a moment there, I thought you were claiming that you know Cameron Diaz!
Richard,
Strangely enough, Cameron Adams and Cameron Diaz are remarkably similar looking. So, Doug could easily have been mistaken.
Melbourne has a completely different vibe to Sydney, much more European in nature. While Sydney has the harbour and the dazzle, we like to think that we have a bit more style and sophistication, and better food and coffee !!!!!! Enjoy our fine city, there’s lots to see and do.
Last night was terrific. Was great to meet you Doug, thanks for the chat and hope you enjoy your remaining days in Melbourne!
I posted a few pictures of the night in case you are interested. We didn’t really get to talk but it was cool to meet everyone there and enjoy a few drinks.
Doug, I just realized I never got back to giving advice on where to go in New Zealand yesterday, so forthwith:
A week is too short for any sort of meaningful loop. If you had two weeks, I’d recommend to move to the west coast from Queenstown on and then get back to Christchurch over Arthur’s Pass, but if you try that in a week, you spend all the time traveling and don’t get to experience anything, so don’t. Instead, travel to Queenstown and then head straight back after a week. Seriously. On the way, stop at:
* Lake Tekapo. Ok, so you probably won’t heed the “three days” out of the week thing (though I _am_ serious about that), but stay there for at least one day. You’ll arrive there from Christchurch somewhere around 13:00 (assuming you’ll be taking intercity/newman’s buses), so after checking in wherever you’ll be staying (though old and lived in, I can recommend the YHA; it’s sitting just 50 meters from the lake, and the lounge has a view to kill for), go and hike up to Mount John for 360 degree views of eternity - the southern alps just a hand’s width out of reach. It’s about an hour’s walk up, and two hours down (or the other way ‘round) - the start of the track is obvious - just walk left around the lake and you can’t miss it. Plenty of places for dinner in Lake Tekapo. I can recommend the pizzeria (carbonara pizza is the best ever). If you bring your laptop, tekapo helicopters has good internet access (in a town of 300 people!) Taking a flight with them over the alps (including a glacier landing) might be very worthwhile if you have money to burn.
* Mt. Cook village. Only an hour and a bit away from Lake Tekapo, but the landscape is completely different. Do the Hooker Valley walk to suddenly see Mt. Cook towering over you as you turn a corner midway through. No internet access here, unsurprisingly. If it’s raining or overly cloudy (especially low hanging clouds), skip it and try again on the return, as it’ll be dismal. (You need to be able to at least see the mountains towering all around you for the place to make sense.)
* Queenstown. Don’t go beyond there. You can do a daytrip to Milford Sound from Queenstown, and although that will be a very long day, traveling on to Te Anau (the other place form where daytrips to Milford Sound set out) is not worth it. Nothing to do in Te Anau, and Lake Te Anau is as boring as Lake Tekapo is gorgeous. The rest of the time, have fun snowboarding. :) (One of the good things about Queenstown is that all the shops stay open to late at night, so you can really make the days count.)
* Christchurch itself is also worth wandering around through for a day. The Botanic Gardens are excellent. I doubt you can fit it in, and chances are you can do the same in California somewhere, but there are daytrips to Kaikoura for whalewatching that might also be worthwhile to do from here. Just be absolutely certain that the weather will be good enough for the boats to set out.
Anyhoo, it was good meeting you - have fun during the rest of your stay!
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