Fancy Melbourne dinner with Shan and Mum#2

Shannon, Ann, Laurie, Racquel and I all went out for a fancy dinner at an Italian place to celebrate my new job. We ate like kings and had some fab desserts as you can see below. A great night was had by all.

For those that do not know I have a new job as Business Analyst with Emirates Leisure Retail which is in the hospitality business and I think it is going to be a great company to work for.

Hidden bars of Melbourne

Shan, Anna, Jane, Rackers and I went on a hidden bars of Melbourne tour and it was fab. Anna had been drinking all afternoon so she did well to last the distance. A great time was had by all.
Pubs visited were:
1. Canary Club
2. 1806
3. Campari House
4. Penny Blue
5. Palms at the Carlton

Visit to Sydney

A few weekends ago I headed up to Sydney to visit my brother Simon. We had a great time and headed up to the Central Coast, to Terrigal and Avoca beaches, in a friends V6 Holden Ute. We were like proper Ockers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocker) and it was great!

Melbourne

I have been in Melbourne for a few weeks now and have managed to land a job starting next week.
I have had a few nights out on the town which have been great fun.
Here is a pic of Melbourne at night:














Here is Shan and Mr Darcy of whom I have been staying with.

AFRICA

Before heading home to NZ I spent 18 days in Africa (Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda) with Absolute Africa and had a fantastic time.
I trekked to see a small family of gorillas in Rwanda. Known as the Umubano group they are one of the smaller with only 9 members including 1 silverback called Charles. We got really close and had an amazing experience. See these links:
http://rwandaeco-tours.com/umubano-group.html
http://www.lonelyplanetimages.com/images/257021

For a good selection of photos click here:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/dionnejane/Africa?feat=directlink

The pick of the crop:

Car accident

So I made it home to NZ and surprised my parents. Mel, Finn and Karla picked me up from the airport and drove me south of Christchurch to where my parents live in Rakaia. Mum was very shocked and surprised.

I had been home nearly 2 weeks when Mum and I were involved in a car accident. A guy did not see us and pulled out in front of us. We were doing 100kms and we only had time to say to each other "OMG we are going to crash!" before we hit a white ute in the side. On inflation airbags pump out white powder which we confused for smoke so we tried to jump out of the car straight away. It was very scary and the impact has bruised us badly.
I was driving and have seat belt burns, a burn from the chemicals used in the airbags on my hand and bruised knees. Mum lost a tooth and cut her lip. We were lucky no one rear ended us as we may not have been so lucky. The other guy was fine as we hit is front wheel rather than crushing in his driver door. He was lucky.

We were all very lucky.
Wear your seat belts and drive carefully out there.


















See more photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=129030&id=561306197&l=507e211647

Beached whale in Brighton, NZ

While in Christchurch there was a beached cuvier's beaked whale new Brighton where Mel lives. The poor thing unfortunately died as the tide was heading out. She was injured in some way as she was bleeding internally. Very sad.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2985812/Beached-whale-dies-at-Christchurchs-Southshore/