Friday, February 15, 2008

Off to New Zealand

Billy and I leave for Christchurch tonight, so we will not be blogging for 2 weeks (unless we get internet access, I suppose!)... We'll be traveling with Bob and Carolyn. Here's a quick look at our itinerary:

Day 1 - Christchurch
Day 2 - TranzAlpine train from Christchurch (east coast) to Greymouth (west coast), and drive south to the glaciers
Day 3 - Hike the Franz Josef Glacier
Day 4 - Drive from the glacier to Queenstown, with stop in Wanaka
Day 5 - Queenstown... bungee jumping?!
Day 6 - Queenstown... lugeing?! And Drive to Te Anau
Day 7 - Start a 2 day kayak trip in Doubtful Sound (guided tour)
Day 9 - Take a Boat tour of the Milford Sound
Day 10 - Start a 4 day hike - the Kepler Track
Day 14 - Leave Te Anau and drive to the Catlins, possible trip to Stewart Island
Day 15 - Drive from Catlins to Dunedin
Day 16 - We fly back to Melbourne from Dunedin

So lots of fun -- and a fully packed itinerary. It's amazing how many things we still have to skip on a 2 week trip of the south island. We're missing the north island entirely! But that just gives us a reason to return...

Monday, February 11, 2008

The reason for my immaturity

I received this in an email from Billy, and thought it was special enough to post.

"Hi darling, So I had my work health assessment today. All they did was take a prick of blood and weigh me on a scale with some sensors on it.I was pretty healthy overall, except that I had high blood pressure (even higher than what I used to be). So I may want to start watching that again.

Also, they measured my metabolic rate and I burn over 2000 calories a day doing nothing, which is quite high. They said that I corresponded to a metabolic age of 20, so I think that explains why I am so immature... Bill"

Geelong Sailing Regatta

This entry is proudly brought to you by Billy... good on ya mate for making a blog!
Before the Start of the Passage Race to Geelong

So a couple weekends ago was the massive Skandia Geelong Regatta. With over 350 boats, it is the largest keelboat regatta in the Southern Hemisphere! It was by far the biggest race I had ever been in. I was racing on a Radford Sprint 35, a light sled and only five of them have been built. I have been racing on the boat all year out of the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, based in St. Kilda. There was five days of intense racing in the regatta, and half the challenge was not getting fried!

Thursday and Friday we raced two races each day, sausage courses around the pins. We were competing against some stiff competition, with most boats having sailmakers and professional sailor onboard. We raced quite well, except that we had very poor starts and would get gassed by the bigger boats the whole first leg. But we managed to come in the middle of the pack.

Saturday was the passage race from Melbourne to Geelong, and was by far our best race. It was a kite run the whole way (meaning that it was downwind and we could use that big colourful sail). It was an amazing start, with 350+ boats all starting in the same place with their kites up. The wind was quite light, and we did a great job of finding the wind. We had an amazing race, and we beat boats to Geelong that were much bigger than us (there were some 70+ foot boats racing). We came in second in our division, but the highlight was that we beat our friendly rival who sails the same boat as we do. He beats us every race, as he is a former Olympian and World Champion, but we beat him soundly in this race. He still ended up winning the regatta, though…
When we arrived (we had been on the water and under the sun for over eight hours), we immediately all jumped into the water to cool off. It was really cool going around and checking out all the fast (and expensive) racing boats. I stayed over in Geelong on Saturday and Sunday nights, there was quite the party as you can imagine. We had a fun crew, and there was plenty of live music as well.

Sunday was a windy day, with two races down at Geelong. We had our best crew on board, so we were more competitive in these two races. It was blowing really hard, which is not the best conditions for our boat, but we did pretty well. We had more aggressive starts as well, especially in the second race. These are big, expensive boats, and it can be quite hairy at the starting line as everyone is jostling for position. We had two fantastic starts, but unfortunately both were recalled as there were a number of boats over early. Those two starts were really exciting, as there were some very close calls with boats almost running into each other.

The last race on Monday was a passage race back to Melbourne from Geelong. This was a smaller race as it didn’t count towards the aggregate score, with just our club racing. The wind was really light in the morning, so it was very slow going in the beginning. We had to beat out of the channel to start, and amazingly several boats felt they could sail outside the channel. Of course, the water was only a few feet deep outside of it, so they promptly ran aground. We managed to get out all right, and then the wind picked up and we had a great race back.
Overall, we came in seventh place in our division, which we were very happy with given the level of competition. Five days of racing all day was tiring, and I think I may finally be a little burnt out on sailing. But I am really glad I took part, it was cool to be part of such a big event! Below are some pictures from the race, and the official website of the regatta is at:

Our skipper and boat owner - Ken

Our Zinc man - Luci.

The passage race to Geelong, there are a lot of boats behind us!

Monday, February 4, 2008

New Contact Details

We can now be contacted at:

Kersti Miller & William Peter, SCR
Ormond College
49 College Crescent
Parkville, VIC 3052
Australia

Telephone +61-3-9344-1219
That is our direct line and we finally DO HAVE voicemail. Hooray.

Our mobile numbers remain the same...
*** UPDATE*** We don't think you dial the zero before the 4... so try it this way
billy +61-438-558-592
kersti +61-438-558-593

Bob & Carolyn's Visit!

Billy's aunt and uncle, Bob & Carolyn, are touring Australia so we were able to spend time with them in Melbourne before they started their road trip to Brisbane. Qantas unfortunately lost 3 of their 4 bags... 2 of the 3 were found within 48 hours, but the third bag did not arrive until after they had left for Brisbane (returned 74 hours after they landed). They had already delayed their drive for 2 days, and couldn't afford to waste more time so they had to head off to Brisbane without that bag.... why couldn't Qantas get their act together faster?!

But anyway, they went on a bike ride around the city and then the four of us met for a picnic lunch along the Yarra river... there they go!


Our picnic spot was just beyond those wooden docks.


After the bike ride they drove off to Phillip Island to watch the Penguin Parade! They watched about 2000+ (can't recall the number Bob relayed to me) waddle up the beach and then find their way to their huts. The following morning they went to the Koala Conservatory and then ventured back to Melbourne. We went to dinner at the Veggie Bar and then had drinks at Polly's. A wonderful time we had!

We will meet back up with them on Feb 13 when they arrive back from Adelaide. We then follow them to Christchurch on the 15th and begin our 2 week tour of the South Island of New Zealand. Should be terrific!

Ormond, our new home


We have now settled into our new apartment at Ormond College. We've downsized a bit, but with some careful organization, this should prove to be more than satisfactory. We attended our first "senior common room" function last night... a nice bbq out on the lawn. Last night we enjoyed this sunset as it set over the main campus building...

The kitchen has yet to be open full time, so we have only been down to the dining hall on two occasions for breakfast. So far it has been most delightful, but we'll see how long we last! You grab your food in the kitchen and then sit down at the large wooden tables with heavy beautiful chairs... and you enjoy the cathedral ceilings, dark stone fireplaces and gorgeous stained glass. No complaints from me!!!!! Certainly beats eating breakfast by myself at the old apartment! Today I will go down for lunch... so we shall see how that goes.

Guess what? There are at least 3 Redwood trees growing in the gardens here?!?! I must say, I believe these are the first redwoods I have seen in Australia. They are not very tall... not sure if that is more related to their age or with poor growing conditions. I will have to talk to the grounds people to find out more... A few years ago the Ormond alumni got together to donate rainwater tanks to the college, and that is the sole reason their beautiful gardens are still alive. With the water restrictions, you are no longer allowed to water your garden with the mains water. (Side note... Why we require drinking water to water our gardens, I do not know... but the Aussies call recycled water "poo water"... so you can imagine its popularity.)

One downside exists, for which an immediate solution is required. Mossies (aussie term for mosquito) fly in at night and torment us while we try to sleep. Melbournians like to pretend that they do not have insects so they do not install screens on any windows or doors. But I assure you, there are insects. At our previous apartment, we didn't have many bugs because we were surrounded by concrete and I suppose there just wasn't much life! But here, we are surrounded by gardens... so, alas, we have moths, flies, and mossies.
The front entrance to the College...
Our view of the other side from our apartment...
View from our apartment looking at Melbourne Uni's cricket field and campus...
Carolyn and Bob with Billy...