Blogs on M&M

The Mighty Canning Stock Route

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 11:30:10 +0000

Four years ago on our first Simpson Crossing the topic of the Canning Stock Route (CSR) first came up in conversations with Ed, Bill, Megan and Julie. Back then it wasn't really something we had every considered doing or felt the need to do, since it was meant to be nothing but 2000km of the worst corrugations in all of Australia.

Fast forward to May 2024 and to an email from Ed suggesting August 2025 as travel date for the CSR, since Angus and Teja would then be on the road for their honeymoon and could join us.

Back to Lembeh

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 18:44:50 +0000

2025 was the year of Martina's 50 birthday and also our 25th wedding anniversary. We had wanted to do something special but couldn't decide on what. Going to Japan was a strong contender, but so was a relaxing beach holiday.

In the end we did neither and decided to go back to Lembeh for diving - or rather back to the Lembeh Resort for diving.

We only went for 7 days plus two travel days but still managed to have a relaxing holiday.

Diving in North Sulawesi

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 18:10:26 +0000

For years we talked about going to Lembeh muck diving. The first time it became slightly more concrete, we ended up going back to Raja Ampat with Thierry. The second time we started planning, Covid came along and delayed our plans. So this time nothing was going to derail our plans.

Initially we had only wanted to go to the Lembeh Straight, stay in a cheaper resort for a week and then splurge for a few days at Lembeh Resort. But Markus found the Murex Resorts which partner with Lembeh Resort for a combined "Passport to paradise" experience and we decided to basically follow that.
So we booked three days at Murex Manadao, three days at Murex Bangka and then 5 days at Lembeh Resort.

Simpson Desert via Madigan Line

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 19:52:00 +0000

We made good on our promise to return to the Simpson Desert with Ed and Karen whom we met on the trip last year. We had started planning late last year but realised three weeks before leaving that due to the unexpected amounts of rain we had to redo some of our plans. There were another few hickups like Markus injuring his back a week before leaving and two of the other couples that meant to join us pulling out on the last day.

Crossing the Simpson Desert

Tue, 13 Jul 2021 19:51:06 +0000

The last year saw us make very little use of our car and we started thinking about selling her. On top of that she had turned 11 and various bits and pieces had started to break down and needed repairs. Given that Martina couldn't bear to sell her, we decided to instead make more use of her. This was aided by the fact that we were very limited in where we could travel to and there were still a lot of empty patches on our Australia map.

Garden transformations

Sun, 21 Oct 2018 19:06:14 +0000

When we moved into the house, the garden was partially new (fence, astroturf, elevated back) and partially still overgrown wilderness (bottlebrush, palm and bougainvillea competing with weeds).

For about a year we didn't change much and grew tomatoes and herbs in pots spread out everywhere. But eventually we came up with a plan to transform the wilderness into a veggie patch.

That involved getting rid of the two bougainvillea, the ponytail palm and the bottlebrush tree. The first two we dug up and gave away via freecycle.org. But to remove the two trees, we required council approval. Since this seemed initially like a difficult and uncertain process, nothing happened for quite some time.

Raja Ampat 2018

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 19:56:28 +0000

Because Thierry turned 40 this year and changed his mind about going to Lembeh and because a lot of other things happened, we ended up booking another 11 day liveaboard trip on the MSY Seahorse where we stayed also with Thierry in 2014.

To our big surprise Daniel - who had been the second dive director the first time round - was still there, which contributed to this trip being a lot better than we expected.

Vienna and Paris

Sat, 08 Jul 2017 19:49:18 +0000

Markus had for the longest time wanted to go to Paris. But whenever we fly back to Austria for a visit, there is never enough time to go anywhere else. So this year, since it was shortly after our 20th anniversary, we booked the trip with three days in Paris at the end.

We ended up renting electric bikes in Paris to get around more easily and where therefore able to do a fair bit of sightseeing whilst also being able to visit the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay and go up onto the Eiffel Tower at sunset.

Tubbataha Reef and Palawan

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 19:42:35 +0000

After talking about it for years, we finally went to Tubbataha and Palawan. It did not turn out to be the amazing trip we had hoped for, since we had bad luck with the weather conditions for the first part of the trip. But it was nonetheless enjoyable for the most part. And we met Erik again whom we first met in Thailand on a liveaboard and hadn't had any contact since. What are the odds!

Pre-Renovation Renovations

Sun, 02 Apr 2017 17:22:12 +0000

Only small improvements instead of big reno. Though we haven’t done much of that either.

We won!

Mon, 10 Oct 2016 22:06:30 +0000

We still cannot fully grasp that we won so many Ikea dollars!

The Fireplace Mantel Rejuvenation Story - 2016

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 21:58:12 +0000

There are three fireplaces in our house and one must have been closed off. One of these was painted white, one of them looked refurbished and the third of the fireplace mantel in the living room really looked a bit worse for wear. So we decided to change that and while we were at it, we also reduced its size a bit and mounted it a bit better.

Digging in the Dirt

Wed, 14 Sep 2016 20:00:07 +0000

With the house came a tiny garden and a tinier front patch. The front patch looked a bit sad and devoid of any Frangipani tree (There seems to be an unwritten rule that every house on the street needs to have one).

Going against our inborn desire to follow the rules, we decided instead to go for drought resistance and a few specs of colour.

So equipped with a tiny trowel and 150kg of soil Martina went to work on a fine Saturday morning.

Closing the Loop

Sun, 14 Aug 2016 18:02:57 +0000

In the past ten years of us living here we have been slowly filling up our map of Australia. But there was always this top left corner that was too far away and too remote to do in a single short holiday.
For a while now we have been planning on maybe doing it in two separate loop drives. But then we ended up doing the upper part of NT last year when Markus' brother was here.
And really - why do we own a big 4WD, if we don't use it for trips like this?

Our new home

Wed, 23 Mar 2016 21:01:18 +0000

After about 5 months of looking and a few failed attempts, we are now the proud and very happy owners of this cute little terrace in Redfern.

In a way it must have been meant to be, since it all happened within 5 days of us seeing the house and the owners putting their signature on the sales contract.

The timing otherwise was not the best, since the weekend before settlement we were driving our car to Adelaide and left on the first part of our long trip the day after settlement.
We also didn't have a car to actually move house.

Myall Lakes weekend

Wed, 09 Mar 2016 07:37:57 +0000

Another great weekend in the Myall Lakes National Park with our new roof top tent.

Well done Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority?

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 19:30:43 +0000

Bored ranger or some private anti-bicycle activist attached a no-random-parking-in-the-rocks note on our bikes.

Irobot Scooba arrived

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 19:21:58 +0000

I had to get a scrubbing robot because the GP said I should also mob our floors to help against dust might allergies. Obviously I had no other choice.

No longer cold

Tue, 01 Sep 2015 18:56:04 +0000

The official end to our 2015 heating season was on the 30th of August. While we all thought that the worst was over, the weather god had other plans and showered us with 10 days of bloody miserable and stormy weather resulting in our internal apartment temperature to plummet below the 17 degree mark.

Reluctant to get the heaters back out, we pushed through with extra layers of sweaters, leggins and blankets.

Mould Invasion

Sun, 14 Jun 2015 15:08:01 +0000

After two weeks of severe storms and rainfalls our apartment started to get taken over by mould which no amount of airing could reduce. So we resorted to buying a dehumidifier.

Cold start to winter

Sat, 30 May 2015 18:33:34 +0000

Last year we had a really warm autumn allowing us to delay heating till well into June.

This year a long stretch of stormy cold and wet weather in April has forced us to turn on the heaters a month sooner than in the previous years.

So for the record: We started heating on the 30th April 2015.

MnM Photo Gallery – 2015 April

Mon, 06 Apr 2015 21:55:36 +0000

Galleries are now secured with a better authentication and the files can only be accessed from the CDN with a signed cookie.

Authentication to Galleries

Mon, 23 Mar 2015 07:56:04 +0000

Quick update about our new authentication via Google/Facebook or One-Time_Password links.

MnM Photo Gallery - 2015 February

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 16:12:52 +0000

How we store all images on S3 and serve through a CDN but still restrict access.

MnM Photo Gallery - 2015 January

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 14:55:51 +0000

Ruby rewrite improves auto gallery generation.

MnM Photo Gallery History

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 14:26:39 +0000

Serving photo galleries is one of the main reasons for having our own website. The way we process and create our photo galleries evolved the last fifteen or so years and we are still far from done.

Better Range

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 18:32:45 +0000

We nearly ran out of diesel on our last tour. We upgraded. We should be good for a whole day without bowsers now.

A wedding in Thailand

Sun, 08 Feb 2015 12:20:28 +0000

Last April we went to Thailand to attend the wedding of Jason and Shirley. As such things are not done on a wimp, we got the invitations about 10 months before the actual event which was to be held on the Anzac long weekend.
The initial thought of flying there just for the weekend was dropped quickly when we realised that Easter fell just on the weekend before. So with only three days annual leave we could take 10 days off.
The obvious answer to the question of what to do with those extra days in Thailand was of course scuba diving. And so after weeks of research we ended up booking two different liveaboards to both go up to the Similan Islands as well as east towards Phi Phi Islands and then up to Railay/Krabi for the wedding.

No Customer Satisfaction with Austrian Airlines

Thu, 11 Dec 2014 22:48:06 +0000

On our last Austria visit Austrian Airlines were snide when they made us re-pack first five then one kilogram of checked-in luggage even though our total luggage weight was well below our tickets’ allowance. When I asked them what they gain from that they decided not to respond.

Testing new ice cream scooper.

Tue, 30 Sep 2014 19:51:48 +0000

Ice cream scooper save spoons!

First Flat Tyre

Sun, 14 Sep 2014 15:30:22 +0000

Today is Sunday and the first nice and warm day in a very long time. Martina had to be in the office at 07:45 for the CarsGuide.com.au website relaunch. When she got ready to leave, she checked the train schedule and which had 18 minute intervals and she would therefore have been late. So she decided to ride the bike and went down to the garage. Shortly after she came back:

E-bikes

Wed, 10 Sep 2014 19:18:00 +0000

A couple of years ago I bought a used mountain bike to ride to work. The main goal was to reduce the 24 minute walk and save some time. But the ride to Kent St was too strenuous to do it in work cloths and I had to take a shower once I arrived. In the end it was less of a hassle to walk. So I stopped using the bike soon after.

Let the heating begin

Sat, 07 Jun 2014 17:56:43 +0000

On the 7th of June in the year 2014 just after sundown we plugged in all the heaters.

Diving at Sipadan

Sat, 17 May 2014 14:32:07 +0000

Our dive trip to Mabul and Sipadan now seems like a lifetime away. But we keep thinking that Sipadan was probably the best dive trip so far. The abundance and diversity of marine life we encountered there was simply stunning.

We got a dress!

Sun, 13 Apr 2014 12:10:13 +0000

So many miles walked, so many tears shed. But Martina finally bought a dress!

And we are live!

Sat, 05 Apr 2014 21:29:30 +0000

Roughly a week after we started talking about modernising our old website and moving it onto a potentially new platform as well as making it mobile friendly, we have finished the redesign and migration of the old blog as well as setting up two more sites for our own ramblings.

Choosing a new blog

Wed, 02 Apr 2014 00:08:56 +0000

We are looking at different CMS

Most prominently Drupal and WordPress.

We did also check Typ03 but we did not think it helps us in our career.

Traveling to Sipadan

Sat, 06 Jul 2013 11:40:41 +0000

This is our first travel review on our site in about 10 years of sporadic blogging. But visiting both the great Seaventures Dive Rig as well as the mediocre but overpriced Sipadan Water Village left both great as well as negative impressions which we felt we should share.

Foto Gallery Update

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:18:32 +0000

We have finally sat down and uploaded all the outstanding picture galleries from the last 1.5 years.

Winter 2013

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:17:34 +0000

Note to self: the heaters were turned on on May 20th this year.

Heating 2012 Pt2

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 11:29:48 +0000

The heaters were decommissioned this year on the 24th of Aug. The new floor insulation and windows unfortunately didn’t deliver the expected result of reducing our heating bill. At least not by much. Hmm.

Heating 2012

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 09:50:38 +0000

Note to selves: We started heating this year on the 14th of May.

WA 2012

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:53:56 +0000

The highlights were the Karijini National Park, the Millstream Chichester National Park, Cape Range National Park (Exmouth) , Francois Peron National Park and lots of other stuff (Coral Bay, Kalbarri NP, Pinnacles, beaches, lookouts).

The old image gallery versions (works in IE and all other browsers): Sydney to Exmouth Exmouth to Perth

The new version works under Firefox and Chrome: Sydney to Exmouth Exmouth to Perth

OpenSuSE 12.1 Beta 1

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 08:23:22 +0000

Update from OpenSuSE 12.1 RC1 to Beta 1 half-way OK. Staying clear of Kmail2 for now.

The Stockton Beach Experience

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 10:09:52 +0000

Stockton Beach is a 32km strip of beach and sand dunes stretching out just behind Newcastle nearly all the way up to Nelson Bay. And it is open to 4WDs as well as camping and fishing.

Note to self: digikam 1.8 with mysql instead of sqlite

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:32:16 +0000

Work around changes to the Digikam DB schema sql to allow update from sqlite to mysql

We turned off the heaters!

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:55:08 +0000

After months of living in a heated cave, we still live in the cave, but without the heaters being on.

Birthday Girl

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:58:35 +0000

We don’t know when Elsie came off the production line, but it was exactly one year ago that we took her home. Since then we did 25 weekend trips with her which averages to roughly every other weekend.

Lake Eyre

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:47:43 +0000

For the last three years the fact that Lake Eyre had water was luring us there. This time we actually made it there.

Here is the interactive map with the pictures. And here is the normal gallery .

Picture galleries

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 11:48:13 +0000

Thanks to Markus we now have a sophisticated and quick way of turning images into picture galleries after they have been reviewed, tagged and given a caption.

Heating status: on

Thu, 12 May 2011 11:08:19 +0000

Since temperatures outside as well as inside dropped to record low levels this morning (13.9 degrees INSIDE the apartment), the heating is now officially on.

SYD-BNE-SYD

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:43:59 +0000

We decided to use up all our frequent flyer miles, all our credit card award points as well as a little bit of our savings to do a different kind of trip.

Beginner 4wd course

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 06:27:26 +0000

Kicking Elsie around the mud and gravel. We learned how to do it. (Well, a bit)

Bigots!

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 09:25:55 +0000

After ~7 years of not even owning one we now own one that is 3 times bigger than a normal one.

Guerrilla Woodworks

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:57:12 +0000

Sawing and drilling spots around Sydney. The extends we had to go to in this DIY unfriendly country to create our interior car design.

The Kitchen Story

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:51:12 +0000

The kitchen is done since March 2010 and now the pictures of the renovation are online as well.

End of the heating period

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 01:24:07 +0000

We finally stopped having the heaters turned on.

GBR or as Markus likes to call it the Red Barrier Reef

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:23:08 +0000

We were back. For the last three years Martina thought that I was wrong. She always thinks that I am wrong about something, and since I actually am wrong about some things, she thinks that she is right about most things.

Central NT

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 04:46:18 +0000

We spent 11 awesome days in May with Barbara and Matthias driving around in central Northern Territory starting and ending in Alice Springs.

Back in Brissy

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:15:24 +0000

Brisbane rocks. And I rock in Brisbane.

Farewell drinks, Nissan Patrol

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 03:08:39 +0000

The real purpose of farewell drinks and our first experience with a Nissan Patrol.

Holiday, new job, heating

Sat, 29 May 2010 05:58:08 +0000

Martina and I both started new jobs on Monday after a 10 day trip into a very wet and green central Australia. And for the record we started heating on Sunday the 23rd of May.

The Kitchen is finished!

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 12:10:53 +0000

We did it! We finished the kitchen. New cabinets, new sink, new splashback, new paint.

Underwater Camera Update

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:21:26 +0000

We bought another underwater camera last week. Because the old one – though small and handy – was really crap. And since we are planing to do some diving in the Cook Islands we need one that makes better pictures.

Resetting Kitchenware

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:27:40 +0000

I tried to cook eggs. Plain old cooked eggs. I turned on the cook top, set the heat on one of the plates to 9 and and went out. A minute later I went back and the cook top was turned off. OK. Must have forgotten to turn it on. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Get your shit together, weather!

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:50:46 +0000

I am sitting in front of my PC which is the warmest place in the apartment. I am wearing two layers of T-shirts, a vest and a thick sweater. And I am still freezing.

A morning at the zoo with Milly

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:31:18 +0000

Even after all our blunders with scraped knees and terrifying birthday presents Milly, Olivia and Jason took us along for a visit to Taronga Zoo. Here are some of the highlights.

The End Is Near!

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:55:04 +0000

Being woken by the building’s fire alarm at 6 o’clock in the morning to a bright red sky and people talking about the end of the world and armageddon on the radio is something that drives some of us to panic and others to take a shower.

Moosophobia

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:01:54 +0000

Moosophobia: The irrational fear of moose. A case study on a two year old.

How a seemingly cute giraffe can trigger a very unexpected reaction in our neighbours little girl.

Martina's new Job

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:36:57 +0000

Things are happening. They always do. Markus would like it all to stop. But as always no one is asking him. And so it happened that Martina quit her job at TA – well Attain IT – and started life as contractor for the NSW Department of Education and Training.

The Heat Is Off

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:47:00 +0000

Sometime arround beginning of September, we turned of the heaters which basically have been running all winter.There were a acouple of cold days during Sepember but as far as we remember we only turned on the heaters a single time in the first week or so.

Sunset sky over Sydney

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:11:37 +0000

What an incredible sunset we had tonight. Check out the pictures on smh.com.au .

Not angry

Fri, 08 May 2009 01:02:27 +0000

In the last 1-2 months I felt especially angry. Humanity always is driving me crazy. Always has, always will and this sometimes peaks. I thought about posting all of my whining to this page.

But in the last 1 week or so, I feel almost happy.

It is so confusing.

What an ad?

Wed, 06 May 2009 14:51:46 +0000

An eyebrow raising ad.

The heat is on

Sat, 02 May 2009 03:10:47 +0000

We turned on the heaters on the 2nd of May 2009 after it had only 17 degrees in our apartment.

Cairns to Alice Springs

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:25:35 +0000

Rather spontaneously we had decided 3 weeks before Easter to try and cover another bit of our Australia map. So we took 3 days off and combined them with the long Easter weekend and drove all the way from Cairns to Alice Springs. This time it only took about 2 weeks to get the picture galleries online AND a travel log written.

10 days in Vienna

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:40:32 +0000

We spent 10 action packed days back home in Vienna where we actually managed to meet up with nearly everybody though the schedule was tight and we did not spend nearly enough time with each of our friends and family.

Check out the picture from the trip we have put online.

Don't mess with strata

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:21:42 +0000

When we were back in Austria on one of the nights we ended up having a discussion with friends about the effectiveness of prison sentences compared to the old practice of pillorying. We decided that the latter would be a much better punishment.

Happy 1234567890!

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:31:30 +0000

Bigger than the year 2000 but equally short lived was the moment where all Unix clocks around the world counted the 1234567890th second elapsed since midnight January 1st 1970, the “digital equivalent of the birth of Christ” (as the Times Online called it).

First pics from our new place online

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:47:02 +0000

We have finally put up a couple of pictures from our new place showing the various states it went through in the last 4 weeks.

Visiting our Hometown from 24.2. to 6.3.

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:29:07 +0000

More than 3 years after our last trip home we have finally booked tickets to go back for another visit. Again in winter instead of in summer.

Merry Xmas, Happy New Year and Happy Birthday!

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:35:42 +0000

Since we are always either too late or too early, lets just get the whole thing over, done and dusted. Happy celebrating, whatever the occasion!

Home Owners

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:31:06 +0000

Since today ~2:30pm we are now really the proud owners of our own little place with keys and everything. Let the moving begin!

Beach, Summer and Something

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:44:38 +0000

It has been ages since we’ve been lying on the beach, but today on the 6th of this summer, we did. Last years summer was slow and this year, thought either the weater or our schedule prevented us from going up til today.

Plan B

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:22:10 +0000

Plan B turned out to be quite successful, since we are now the proud owners of one fifth of 104/71 Victoria St in Potts Point. The rest belongs to the bank and probably will do so for quite some time to come.

SA to WA trip galleries online

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:39:01 +0000

It’s done. I have finally managed to put pictures from the trip online. The travel log will still have to wait a while. But I’ll get there eventually.

Surviving our first auction

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:41:07 +0000

After the shock of being kicked out of our rented apartment we decided to finally make the leap and buy our own place. Which meant preparing for and attending our first auction.

Being kicked out - or not?

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:52:27 +0000

Only 5 days after the most glorious vacation ever we found a letter in the mail telling us that we have to move out of our apartment till 28th of December. No reason given.

Adelaide to Perth

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:41:34 +0000

We covered another part of Australia’s cost. Another 3000km closer to finishing the long drive around the country.

Anna Helbok (12.01.1916 - 02.09.2008)

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:59:41 +0000

Today my grandmother died.

Planning a Trip

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:27:18 +0000

Yes! We are really going to drive from Adelaide to Perth in October. Martina can finally put another route on their map.

WY(C)D - Invasion of the Pilgrims

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:38:04 +0000

World Youth Day annoys the hell out of everyone without being fined for it.

A house in the middle of nowhere

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:31:18 +0000

The city dwellers dream of living in the countryside far away from noise, pollution and loud neighbours.

5 year RRV

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:38:34 +0000

Getting our visa extension was so much easier than we thought. Now we are good for another 5 years.

Just for the record

Thu, 29 May 2008 10:46:08 +0000

I nearly managed to drag the date where we move the heaters out of their dark hiding places out to the beginning of June. But just 3 days short I had to concede defeat.

Mir is soooo kalt

Sun, 04 May 2008 04:34:12 +0000

Man, we have to get the heaters out soon.

Eat Thai

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:00:00 +0000

Score: 8/10 or better

South West Rocks

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:41:00 +0000

We had an awesome weekend up at South West Rocks diving Fishrock cave.

The day I nearly got Leo Barry's autograph

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:00:28 +0000

Today is the day I nearly got Leo Barry’s autograph.

No Gear!

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:54:42 +0000

Why we do not want to buy diving gear and why we ended up with all the gear anyway. Why do we go diving anyway.

The Queens Dance

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:08:02 +0000

For one day the Queen Victoria on her maiden voyage and the Queen Elizabeth 2 on her last voyage met in Sydney’s harbour.

Tropfest 2008

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:08:55 +0000

Tropfest is a short film festival held in Sydney, Australia each year. Sydney hosts the live event where the 16 finalists are broadcasted on a big screen in The Domain.

This year we actually managed to go there too.

Unknown at Darling Harbour

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Score: 1 / 10 (if the price was around 12$ probably a 3/10)

Happy New Year!

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:59:59 +0000

Happy New Year und einen Guten Rutsch!

Merry Christmas!

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:26:35 +0000

We wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy feasting!

Fiji pictures

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 11:50:53 +0000

After a month has passed we finally put the Fiji holiday pictures online. This is a short story about the trip and additional explanation to the pictures.

Sealife Reefmaster Mini Underwater Camera

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 11:00:13 +0000

About 2 months ago we bought a new underwater camera. The Sealife Reefmaster Mini is very nice for beginners like us. It has hardly any settings and you can blame all the bad pictures on the lack of adjustments.

Donna Quixotina and the aircons

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 09:27:21 +0000

About a week after our trip to Fiji my company sent me off to work for Tourism Australia for about 3 months. So on November 22nd I started my project there. And so my neurotic fight against office airconditioning continues …

Australia ratifies Kyoto Protocol

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:54:03 +0000

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in his first act after being sworn in this morning.

John Howard goes down

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 11:33:49 +0000

John Howard voted out of parlament after 11 years, Iraq and not signing Kyoto.

Fiji!

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:18:02 +0000

Another 25 minutes and we are off to the Fijis for 9 days.

Diving at the Great Barrier Reef

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 11:12:06 +0000

Wir waren mit einigen anderen APEC Flüchtlingen auf einem 3-Tages Live-Aboard Dive Boat Trip am Great Barrier Reef auf der Höhe von Cairns. Tauchen in einem riesigen Aquarium!

Krank

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:56:06 +0000

Markus war im Krankenstand. Das erste Mal !?

Juhu, Urlaub!

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:00:23 +0000

Die APEC findet heuer in Sydney statt und fÃ¼hrt damit zu einem regelrechten Lock-down der Innenstadt.

All evil starts with air conditioning

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 12:13:36 +0000

Hail climate change and turn on some more aircons so it is resonably warm in Austria in about 2.5 years when we go back there.

Raclette Australia

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 02:14:59 +0000

Nach mehr als 2,5 Jahren Abstinenz haben wir festgestellt, da? wir einfach nicht ohne Raclette leben können. Und so begann eine wilde Odyssee auf der Suche nach einem Raclettegrill.

Working together

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 02:49:03 +0000

Wir arbeiten jetzt seit zwei Wochen zusammen bei Attain IT an mehr oder weniger demselben Projekt und sitzen einander praktisch schräg gegenüber. So far, so good.

Wochungssuche

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 06:43:28 +0000

Nachdem wir ja jetzt beide jeden Tag nach Mosman in die Arbeit pilgern und Martina und schon lange von einer Wohnung mit Balkon und Aussicht träumt, haben wir uns auf Wohnungssuche begeben.

Karaoke

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 14:28:16 +0000

Wie wir mit Anna und Tommi auf den Philippinen festgestellt haben, ist Karaoke in manchen asiatischen Ländern sehr beliebt. Und nachdem wir jetzt jede Gelegenheit nützen, um Martina’s Exkollegen zu sehen, haben wir auch für einen Karaoke Abend zugesagt.

Zahnarzt

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 09:30:02 +0000

Erste Berührungen mit der hiesigen Dental Care.

Goodbye Optus

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:22:51 +0000

Und mit einem Team Lunch und vielen Drinks nach der Arbeit geht mein 15 Monat Stint mit Optus mit einem lachenden und einem weinenden Auge zu Ende.

Resignation (in englischer und deutscher Bedeutung)

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:36:51 +0000

Martina resigniert und kündigt ihre Anstellung bei Optus.

Wir heizen!

Sun, 27 May 2007 13:45:45 +0000

Schimmel oder Heizkosten?

Der Winter ist (fast) da

Sat, 26 May 2007 11:21:14 +0000

Wann heizen wir endlich?

Buzz Word Bob

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:23:46 +0000

Have a Bob. Soll man eigentlich Aggression vermeiden oder in harmloserer Bahnen umlenken?

Da wurde uns wieder schlecht

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 06:04:36 +0000

Es gibt ja viele Dinge hier in Australien, von denen einem schlecht werden kann. Man denke nur an Sydneys Public Transportation oder an John Howard.

Ein ebenso sicheres Mittel ist die SeaLife V.

Job aus / Job an

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:43:22 +0000

Schnell mal Job gewechselt von Excido zu AttainIt

Swans keep missing the point

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 12:16:03 +0000

Seit gestern ist es endlich wieder soweit: Die AFL Season hat begonnen!

Zum Auftakt hat sich die AFL heuer selbst übertroffen und die Finalisten des letzten Jahres in der ersten Runde gegeneinander antreten lassen.

Sydney Swans vs. West Coast Eagles

Auch Brücken haben Geburtstag

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 10:24:54 +0000

Wenn in einer Stadt, in der so gerne gefeiert wird wie in Sydney, eines der Wahrzeichen 75 Jahre alt wird, ist das natürlich Anlaß für 12 Stunden Festprogramm inklusive eigener Homepage.

Endlich wieder bezahlter Krankenstand

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:14:46 +0000

Genau ein Jahr nachdem ich bei Optus zu arbeiten begonnen habe, bin ich nun in den Angestellten-Status befördert worden. Manche sehen darin zwar mehr eine Deförderung. Aber ich persönlich schätze es, bezahlten Krankenstand zu haben.

Management Talent

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:57:35 +0000

Excido Chef beschwert sich Ã¼ber 3,5 Stunden die ich bei einem Interview war, bei 100 Stunden plus.

Mardi Gras full on

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 14:22:51 +0000

Heuer haben wir so richtig unsere Mardigras Freitickets ausgenützt.

Job gekündigt

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:08:07 +0000

Endlich bei Excido gekündigt.

Dragonboat Racing

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 09:16:12 +0000

Traditionellerweise fand auch heuer wieder ein Dragonboat Race in Darling Harbour anläßlich des Chinese New Year statt. Da ein paar unserer Bekannten dies mehr oder minder ernsthaft als Hobby betreiben, sind wir also hin, um uns das einmal live anzusehen.

Good Vibrations Festival

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 05:07:19 +0000

Da wir ja gelegentlich immer noch dem Wahn unterliegen, jung zu sein, haben wir uns an diesem sonnigen und heiÃŸen Samstag mit ein paar tausend anderen mehr als weniger jungen in den Centennial Park begeben.

Advanced Openwater

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:03:34 +0000

Anstatt erst mal ein paar Tauchgänge zwecks Erfahrung sammeln zu machen, haben wir beschlossen, gleich den Fortgeschrittenen Tauchkurs zu machen.

New Years Eve 2006

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 14:59:59 +0000

Immer auf der Suche nach dem besten Platz, um das Feuerwerk zu sehen, haben wir uns dieses Jahr mit Churn und Eva und ein paar ihrer Dragon Boat Kollegen auf Cremorne Point getroffen.

Zum Glück waren sie dort schon ab ca. zwei Uhr nachmittag dort. Denn als wir gegen fünf dort ankamen, waren bereits jedes Flecken grün mit ein bißchen Sicht auf den Hafen und die Brücke belegt.

Dieses Jahr hatten wir zwar das Stativ mit. Aber das hat leider nicht gegen den Ast geholfen, der zu unserer großen Überraschung zu Hause auf fast jedem Foto aufgetaucht ist. Meistens dort, wo die Feuerwerkskörper explodiert sind.

Weihnachten im Sommer

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 09:01:51 +0000

Sonne, Strand und Barbecue: Martinas erste Weihnachten im Hochsommer.

Openwater Tauchkurs

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 11:51:23 +0000

Eigentlich hat uns Tauchen ja schon immer interessiert. Aber es in Österreich zu lernen, war nie so richtig verlockend. Aber hier im Warmen haben wir uns endlich dazu aufgerafft, ins kalte Wasser zu springen.

Matts Birthday Picnic

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 11:56:43 +0000

Unser erstes gro?es Picknick in der Domain fand anläßlich Matts Geburtstag statt.

Anja bei den Aussies

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 07:08:54 +0000

Anja hatte endlich ihren wohlverdienten Urlaub und war vom 14.10. bis 11.11.2006 in Australien. Von den vier Wochen hatte ich drei ebenfalls Urlaub. Und wir zogen zu viert durchs Northern Territory und Queensland.

Birthday Barbie in Manly

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 11:23:28 +0000

Hier werden Geburtstage nicht etwa mit einem Grillfest auf der Donauinsel gefeiert, sondern standesgemÃ¤ÃŸ mit einem Barbecue auf Shelley Beach (Manly).

Canberra - Gateway to Everywhere Else!

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 13:02:22 +0000

Zwei Tage mit Freunden in Canberra hat uns die Hauptstadt Australiens auch nicht wirklich näher her gebracht.

Canberra ist und bleibt Canboring.

One point makes all the difference

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 14:13:03 +0000

Wie auch schon im letzten Jahr war das AFL Grand Final: Sydney Swans vs. West Coast Eagles. And this year the winner was not Sydney.

Cheer, Cheer the Red and the White!

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 10:41:10 +0000

Nachdem meine Obsession mit Australian Rules Football und den Sydney Swans im Besonderen auch in dieser Saison wieder voll aufgeblÃ¼ht ist, habe ich Markus zum Letzrundenspiel ins SCG geschleppt, wo die Swans gegen die Carlton Blues angetreten sind.

Liebe/Lieber Du!

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 08:37:28 +0000

Nach langer Zeit gibts mal wieder ein paar neue Bilder in der Galerie. Ein kleines Update gibt es auch.

Liebe/Lieber Du!

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 12:29:17 +0000

Die wilden letzten Jahre, die Einschränkungen unseres damaligen mnm.at Hosters und der schreckliche Zeitaufwand haben uns immer wieder davon abgehalten, unsere Homepage aktuell zu halten.

Eigentlich hat sich zur Zeit und wird sich auch in Zukunft nichts daran ändern.