I’d swear it was even hotter when the wind was blowing.

Twyla and I often talk about the livability of Melbourne primarily in the context of our ongoing debate about if, when, and where we will we move next. In the car a few days ago we did some quick calculations about our driving habits compared to what we were used to in Texas. We leased a new car about eleven months ago and it just recently cracked 4,000 kilometers. In Texas we drove an average of 12,000 miles per year in each of our two cars. Collectively that’s almost 40,000 kilometers a year. I think that’s one of the reasons why we like this city so much.

Here are some pictures from Lolo’s visit last month. As you can see Peter was very happy have her here. And you can see more of Lolo’s picture’s here, here, here, and here.

Much more to come.

Also, I’m testing out a new video hosting site since Google Video seems to have been abandoned by Google in favor of YouTube. Viddler’s website is fairly easy to use and their terms of service are agreeable. If you can’t see this let me know… I’m still trying to work out the kinks.

Lot’s of new pictures to share. First, a bunch from our Thanksgiving holiday with Twyla’s family. Biggie (aka Juanita), Taleebah, Kayla, Akil, and Dr. Rodriguez visited for a few weeks. Before you view the pics, though, you should know that Akil took most of these. He’s an incredible photographer as evidenced by these pics as well as the portfolio on his website. You’ll find a bunch of the same pics on his blog. Thanks, Akil.

(Note: If you click on any of the slide shows while they’re playing it should take you to the full-sized gallery.)

Nicci came to visit in early December. I had to work more than I expected while she was here but Peter had a blast with her around. The pictures of the beach, the cliffs, and the koalas are from our weekend trip to Apollo Bay via the Great Ocean Road. Good food, windy roads, beautiful weather and views… but we’ll never forget the flies! Read Nicci’s post about the trip, especially Chapter 5!

I was a little skeptical about catching a glimpse of wild koalas on the way home but Nicci had a plan. Heading back home on the Great Ocean Road, we had to double back to find an unmarked turn-off onto a dirt road heading into the forest. She spotted the first Koala not 200 yards later. Peter slept through it but the rest of us had fun spotting them loafing in the trees for the next twenty minutes. When we stopped to get a few pictures, the red parrots made themselves at home on the car.

[Update 13-Jan-2008: Wow! Just found Nicci's pictures from the trip. Her new camera is incredible!]

And finally a couple of shots from the rest of December including Christmas.

Happy New Year!

Forecast for tomorrow here in sunny Melbourne: 41C. Since I still can’t convert in my head, Google tells me “41 degrees Celsius = 105.8 degrees Fahrenheit.” Crap!

Update 31-Dec-2007: Well it only hit 40.9C (105.6F). Even after living most of my life in Texas, I don’t think I have ever experienced a day so hot! It was like sticking your head in an oven or, when the wind blew, a convection oven.

Australians and New Zealanders offer two additions to this list, though they could just as easily be considered replacements for the Americano: (1) the short black and (2) the long black.

[via elrubendelmar.org]

The preferred version here in Australia is definitely the plain-ol’ latte… the skinny and soy varieties seem to be popular.

As it turns out, all of the new pictures I used for this site’s header image were taken by Twyla. Such an ar-teest!

The alpaca^[1] is the funniest looking creature I think I have ever seen! Something about that face and all that fur is hilarious. We found these guys at the Royal Melbourne Show a few weekends ago.^[2] The Show is like a state fair back home: livestock shows, carnival games, rides, and junk food. Yes, they had corn dogs but no funnel cake.

Notes:
1. Pete uses the more familiar term “paca”.
2. Good thing, too, as apparently “there are no wild alpacas” to chance upon.

Sutherland Street is a small alley across from the office which we often use to get to the Hardware Lane cafes for lunch. A few weeks ago there was a new addition to this street that got an almost universal reaction of surprise and bewilderment from everyone that happened by. There were bodies hanging from nets attached to the side of a brick wall. Turns out it’s a new art installation called the Urban Apartment by Samuel Indratma.

There is a short description at the bottom of this page but I couldn’t find much on Samuel Indratma himself.

Last weekend we made return visits to a pair of dinner spots: Kamel and Shakahari.

On Friday, without a reservation, we were initially turned away from a packed Kamel but one of the wait staff was nice enough to chase us down the sidewalk when a table opened up. Their dining room is a tight but comfortable collection of maybe ten tables and a bar and the food is served in portions to share, almost tapas style. We started with our two favorite dishes from our last visit. The marinated mushrooms with feta are incredible but I thought the pan-fried muscles, clams, and prawns were a bit bland this time. We also tried an Indian spiced, fried cauliflower, green beans, and tabbouleh. Altogether a nice meal but it wasn’t quite as good as I remembered.

Shakahari, on the other hand, was better this time around. My faith in humanity was restored when I spotted jalepenos in the sweet and spicy Tokyo rice balls; I wasn’t sure they existed on this continent. The baked polenta I ordered was great especially with the medley of root vegetables and mashed peas. I vaguely recall that Pete had quinoa with mushrooms and bok choy but I must have been too enamored with my own meal because I can’t recall what Twyla ordered.

As we left Shakahari we stumbled on Brunetti and spent a good twenty minutes staring wide-eyed at the elaborate desserts and confections. We tend to stay away from sweets but Brunetti overwhelmed the senses and we sampled a flour-less chocolate cake, a cheesecake, and some from fruit for Pete.