Dan In The Land Down Under !

St Patty's Day Down Unda....

All I can say is it was crazy.... We wore kilts, here are the pictures.

Brett and Dan ready for a night on the town.

Kate, Brett, Shannon and Gordon.

Sporran and FLASK belt buckle.

If your gonna get your Sporran licked it best be by a true Scotsman!

So that was last weekends adventure. Still working on the Masters thesis and Shannon is working. Thats all for now.

Finally an UPDATE !

Ok so here it is an update, yes I know I have been dragging my feet on this one. What can I say although you may think it is all kinds of exciting here...

It isn't, we have not done much therefore not taken many pictures and really there are only so many pictures one can take of the same piece of beach.

I have started school and have been wrapped up in that since getting the computer back and doing all the things I wanted to work on over the break.

Shannon is working (at a paint store of all places) and liking that, which I am happy about. I think she was getting a bit of cabin fever with nothing to do. We have gone to Brisbane a couple of times and are hoping to travel out to Alice Springs once I am done.

So sorry to disappoint, no exciting stories to tell or interesting things to bestow upon you. Although one tidbit of excitement was when Shannon and I heard and then went down to see, a police car sideswipe another car because they were trying to beat the light and didn't put on their lights on in time. Sorry no pictures, didn't want to get myself in that kind of trouble and walk up and start taking pics (while laughing, no one was hurt).

And now for a few pictures just to keep your interest....

The "Wild" Kangaroo's of Brisbane.

Love ya, miss ya SDM.

Our building from the Gold Coast Highway.

Needed a grocery getter, OSAP has been good this year. LOL

Since that was one for the boys, here is one for the girls...

Birds of Paradise, they grow right beside my bus stop.

Thanks Toshiba.... NOT!!!

So I just got my computer back on Friday the 16th of February after it crapping out before CHRISTMAS!!! So now that it is back I have a ton of pictures to download and some blogging to catch up on, I hope you guys are still checking and haven't gotten bored with the lack of updates. They will be here soon.

Roll of a LIFE TIME...

So yes I have come all the way to the other side of the world to PLAY THIS ROLL...
Whom shall I take my inspiration from??? Miracle on 34th Street... or... Billy Bob Thorton??? AHhahahahaaahahhahaha!!!!!!!!

Yeah that’s right, all the way to Australia a post grad and I'm playing Santa.

MERRY CHRISTMAS :)

Been awhile, not much excitment...

So what has happened since I last wrote???

I celebrated my 30th birthday. It was not a huge to do by any means, as I did not have the family and friends to celebrate with; I did however have my really good Aussie buddy (mate) Brett with me to open and drink a bottle of champagne on the beach at 12:01am on November 10th to start my 30th year off right. Standing in the warm ocean in a t-shirt and shorts was a first for my birthday as it usually involves either snow or cold rain or is just plain cold. With a few hours sleep a commenced the day with lunch at a nice restaurant in Broadbeach with some Aussie mates and just hung around for the afternoon. I had a great dinner and then headed to my favorite watering hole, the beach house; where the manager bought me a few pints and I played the pokies (slots) and won $40.00. The night was capped off the way it started, back on the beach with one last bottle of champagne. All in all I would say a great way to start decade number three.

I have been working approximately 60 – 70 hours a week since just after my birthday. It has been a combination of photography and security for what they call “Schoolies Week” (which lasts 3 weeks). For those of you that don’t speak Aussie, that is school leavers holiday weeks. (Most things here are shortened and “ie” added to the end… please note the following, a) chick parmy, b) uni, c) bikies, d) truckies, e) chewy, f) footy,
g) mackers, h) boardies, i) mozzies. The answers will be at the end of the post, see how many you get right. The list goes on and so will the quizzes so keep looking and see how you’d fair in a conversation in Australia.)

Back to the working, I have been going around during the day and evenings taking pictures of the little darlings (17-18 year olds getting hammered 24 – 7). My uniform is an orange golf shirt with schoolies.com written across the back which has been all my wardrobe has consisted of since the beginning of November. Save for the times I had been dressed all in black and posted in the lobby of a hotel/apartment complex making sure the children get home safe. I will tell you that it has been an interesting few weeks, the guys getting hammered, the girls are dressed up with boobs to spare. The guys chant “tits out for the boys”, the girls look disgusted and want nothing to do with the drunk charmers until they are just as drunk. And they all seem to get laid.

I never want to see another orange shirt or get jolted out of my bed with the yelps of the drunken aussie-minor again. However…. I own a few orange shirts and the endangered yet still abundant “schoolie” shows no signs of becoming a memory just yet.

I have had fun, as a member of the “media” my pass has gotten me a few free treats like Redbulls and pizza as well as getting me inside events such as the Redbull skate and bike ramp show on the beach, where I was positioned damn near on the ramp. I got some really great and cool shots for the website and my portfolio.

So my title was incorrect, there has been excitement. Until next time here are the answers…

a) Chicken Parmigiana
b) University
c) Bikers
d) Truck Drivers
e) Gum
f) Rugby
g) McDonalds
h) Swimming Shorts
i) Mosquito’s

How many did you get? There will be another Aussie to English quiz coming soon.

RedBull Photo’s……

Fast cars, end of semeter and summer time.

Hello, so I am now officially done my first semester here in Australia, and am now off for the summer. That’s right summer; I’m still trying to get use to saying summer in November. I am off for 4 whole months classes don’t start again until the end of February… I have no clue what I am going to do with all that time. I have a photography job lined up for the second week in November that will last until the 1st in December after that I am still looking for something part-time, probably retail. So what have I been up to??? Well besides final projects which included an 80% presentation that was a full film pitch and a 50% art installation, a few tests and papers it was Indy week Oct 19th to 22nd. I didn’t get tickets but did sneak in with a friend of mine from school on the Friday we spent 3 hours walking around and watching a few of the races, sport utes, which are basically pickup trucks, V8 super cars and porches. It was pretty damn fun, a couple beers and girl watching and breathing in exhaust. So that has been my past couple weeks the next will probably prove pretty boring but if anything comes up I will let you all know. Take care and Happy Halloween, which they don’t celebrate down here so next year HUGE PARTY!

V8 Super Cars

Porches

Ute's

Picked me up a ride for down here, nothing to flashy or crazy. Hahaha!

WHAT A DAY!!!

Well now, the day started like everyother friday this semester, up at 6 a small breakfast, shower and out the door for 7am to walk down and catch the bus to school for 8am class. But then! I get back my media law paper and I get an 83% but the excitment doesn't stop there; I get a call at 9am from Brett who says to me...
"what you doing today"
I reply,
"I'm just on break from class"
Brett says,
"Dude were going flying"
I reply,
"I'm on the bus"
We hung up and I returned to class where I informed my tutor that I could go flying and she said as long as I bring pictures next week, get going.
I arrived home at 10am and Brett was down stairs by 10:20 and we were off to a little airport outside Brisbane. An hour flight down the coast and back... well here are some pictures....