DjMagra’s stuff ‘n’ stuff

Woo, almost quitting time! This is the first of three short weeks for me! Tomorrow is Anzac Day here in Oz, so, in order to commemorate the Anzac efforts in World War I, we get a day off. For me, that means that I have a nice long weekend to play with my new camera and lens, which I am exceptionally excited. As usual, we have an action packed weekend ahead, with lots of dinner, drinks, a trip down to the Gold Coast and other bits and pieces on. Expect lots of pics to appear on flickr over the weekend!

Ever wondered how to build a submarine fibre optic cable? PIPE Networks are a large carrier / IXP here in Oz, and are in the process of building a much needed submarine cable between Sydney and Guam. I’ve met with Bob, their Network Architect and he told me about some pretty crazy and cool stuff that they are doing, and it looks like the project is going to be a huge success for them.

They have decided, rather unusually for such a project, to be very open and transparent about how they are going about it, and you can find lots of details over on their website which includes a blog that you can subscribe to in order to stay up to date with the project!

And having a fantastic time! I’ve settled into work just nicely, and I’m really enjoying it! I’m covering a whole range of different things, and some of it is quite new to me, so, I’m learning loads too. Lots of pressure to get things done for a big deadline we have coming up, but, that’s all good!

Outside of work, still having a fantastic time too. Things are finally starting to settle down and we’re having a somewhat normal life. We’ve just bought ourselves a new MINI Cooper S, which is currently being built over in Oxford, England, and should be here by mid July, to say that Kas and I are excited about that is a massive understatement!

On top of that, I’ve just gone and splashed out on some new toys for myself, I’ve got a new Canon EOS 40D and Canon EF 24-105 IS L lens arriving here tomorrow, so looking forward to getting my hands on that. Yes, I’ve been out getting more pictures of late too, which can be found on flickr as per usual. Keep an eye out for pics from my new gear there too over the next few days!

Other than that, not a huge amount going on that I can bore you with here, if you want more info, just drop me a mail!

It’s back to work I go!! Wowsa, has it really been nearly 8 weeks since I arrived here in Australia?! That’s kinda insane, the time has just flown by so much. After a well earned holiday (who could ever say no to 8 weeks off work!) I feel refreshed, recharged and ready to hit the ground running with work.

I have been in the fortunate position of being able to take my time with job hunting, and seeking out something that seems really exciting and interesting and being exactly what I want to work at. To that end, tomorrow, I start out as IT Manager for AustCorp, an insurance company based here in Brisbane, with offices in Sydney and Melbourne as well. Currently they have about 100 staff and are going through a rapid phase of expansion through mergers and acquisitions, so the next few months look to be exceptionally exciting, with lots of deadlines and challenges to meet. I really like the whole company ethos and attitude to work, and I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about getting my teeth stuck into work! Will report back over the next few days as to how it’s all going.

Kassie asked me to shoot an advertising campaign that she needs for an assignment in college. The idea was to make Kraft cheese advertising seem elegant. This is the shot we have decided to run with.

Whoa! I can’t really believe this, but I’ve actually been in Brisbane for just gone a month now! Where that month has gone really is beyond me! It’s been absolutely hectic, and I’ve had such a good time! Quite enjoying my extended break away from computers and work as well, could get used to this! I’ve been all over the place, visiting new places, seeing new things, eating out lots, meeting lots of new people and I even managed to squeeze in my first proper portrait session as well, and I’m exceptionally pleased with what I managed to take!

I’ve managed to clear out most of the clutter in my inbox, so, if anyone out there fancies dropping me a mail to say hi, you should get a pretty quick response now I think! Hope everyone back home (and in London!) is enjoying all that lovely wind and rain that you’ve been having, it’s a beautiful bright 26 degrees here at the moment! I did say I wouldn’t rub that in too much though, right!? Who knows, the ten day forecast is for more of the same, but then it could all disappear, and we could have wind and rain and cold……

Wow, that’s been a hectic week and a half! I’ve finally arrived in Brisbane, and I am absolutely loving it! Life since I arrived has been far too hectic to even think about blogging, I’ve not even been in a position to check my emails much, will catch up with everyone soonish! The weather here has been beautiful, a good mix of blazing sunshine, and lots of much needed rain which has been very good. There is not a single thing about the place that I do not like, and I can’t believe I didn’t make this move years ago! Guess I’m just going to have to play lots of catch up now to make up for lost time!

Hope everyone back home is enjoying the relatively decent weather…not that I’d like to rub it in, but, it’s currently 9am, 29 degrees and sunny here in Brisbane, so, if you think you got it good, you don’t!! Hehe, couldn’t resist!

Grrr! That’s about all I can say to Singapore Air’s 20kg baggage restriction. The amount of fantastic books, clothes, and bits and bobs that I have spent a lifetime collecting have been sold, given away or thrown out over the past few weeks. It’s somewhat soul destroying having to give away books that haven’t been read, or clothes that haven’t been worn, simply because it’s far too expensive to ship them around the other side of the world. This really is a fresh new start, with nothing but a few t-shirts, a suit and some shorts to get me started!

I think a 20kg limit is absolutely measly, especially as most decent quality suitcases are going to be around 5kg themselves, so, in theory you have 15kg to play with. Going over this really isn’t advisable either, as when Kas was flying back, we nearly fell over when they told us that their excess baggage charge was £45 per kilo!!

I always thought that moving countries would be a breeze, and especially moving from your second on to third, as you should have far less ‘baggage’ (literal and otherwise) in doing so. I can tell you know, even if you have a rather simple, carefree life, moving countries is far more difficult than you imagine! I would suggest to everyone planning on doing it that they start planning well in advance, making a list and starting to de-clutter long before they need to. I’m glad that I did, as it’s left me with less than a week to go feeling pretty happy that I’m on top of everything. I’ve monitored my mail coming into the apartment for the last 6 weeks or so, and ensured that I canceled or re-directed anything important that was coming through. I’ve been onto the bank / tv licence / phone / broadband / council etc settling up all my bills (given how slow some of these companies move, starting well in advance is vital if you want to get things done).

I had a heap of things that I shipped over from Ireland that are just not feasible to move to Australia, and whilst ebay has been a great help in offloading some stuff, it was nowhere near as good as I had been expecting, leaving me having to find other ways of selling / offloading things. I hate throwing out stuff that people could get good use out of, so, rather than doing that I’ve been working quite hard to find homes for things.

Despite my plans to literally bring my camera bag and some clean clothes for a few days, packing up a suitcase that already weighs 5kg and keeping it under the 20kg limit is a little more difficult than I had thought. I’ve already emptied and re-packed twice, and I think I’m still overweight. Alan’s going to bring a scales down this weekend to verify that.

And as for breaking a lease on an apartment, all I can say on this is, at any costs, stay well away from dealing with Foxtons if you are moving to London at any stage. I have every intention of opening up and explaining the full horrors of my experiences with Foxtons since I came here, but, I think I will leave that until I have moved along and don’t need to have any further dealings with them.

Aside from neglecting my blog as per usual!

I have had a hectic few weeks and months, deciding on, planning, and arranging a move out of cold, wet, grey London, to sunny Australia! In a weeks time from now, there will be no more London, no more tubes, no more crowds and no more getting wet all the time walking to and from work (even if it does rain here far far less than back in Ireland!). Kassie decided, for various reasons, to move back home to Brisbane a few months back, and I have finally seen sense and decided to do the same.

To say that I am excited about a move like this is a massive understatement. I’m sorry to say goodbye to an absolutely amazing company to work for, but as I’ve said to everyone since making my decision, sometimes certain things in life come along to take you off in a very different, and exciting direction, and those opportunities are too good to turn down!!

I am looking forward to taking a few weeks out without working, hooking up with Kassie and her family, Conor and Claire who have beaten me down to Brisbane, and all the other people I’ve got to know over the past year and a half down there. I can’t wait to explore the city and countryside with my camera on my back and take in something completely new to me. I can’t wait to feel heat on my bones all year round for a change!

I’m not sure how much the blog will be resuscitated over the coming weeks and months, I will try! Every time I go to make a concerted effort to update it, I just seem to loose interest again. I guess I do kind of have a good excuse now, to keep everyone back home updated on how I’m getting on. If you would like to see updates here, and they’re not forthcoming, please feel free to poke me until I get around to it. If you do want to see what I’m getting up to however, I can guarantee that my flickr stream will have pretty regular updates!