Category Archives: Travel

So near and yet so far …. Second Valley

We are privileged to have a beach house at idilyc Second Valley just 90kms from the centre of Adelaide. Its a stunning location with a gorgeous beach.

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From our beach house balcony you can see the city. Infact when they used to play night games of AFL at AAMI Stadium you could see the lights, yet try and get anything to it from Adelaide and you would think you were in some remote location on the other side of the world.

You can see the city from here!

You can see the city from here!

Recently we tried to have a bench top delivered and the quote was roughly double the cost of having the same item delivered to Bejing!

There is a point to this…

On Friday I headed out to watch the 3rd stage of the Tour Down Under. Continue reading

A quick getaway – Melbourne

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As my final holidays before I retire from my firm came to an end we decided on a few days in Melbourne.

Melbourne often claims to be the sporting capital of the world, however it can rightly claim to have the best shopping and quite possibly the best eating in Australia. Melbourne is an hour on the plane from Adelaide and nearly as long by cab to the city.

We arrived on Friday and decided to go out for dinner instead of going to see the Socceroos trounce Kuwait in the opening round of the Asian Cup. A good choice given the weather. We went to Movida an awesome tapas bar located in Hosier Lane which is also famous for its graffiti walls. Movida has great atmosphere, always noisy and very tasty food. It’s been there a long while and never disappoints.

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A dash back to the hotel in the rain and a good night sleep ahead of a visit by my favourite person to Cos. After a successful visit, Continue reading

2014 – That’s a wrap and now for 2015

Well that’s 2014 over and 2015 has begun.

2014 has been about transition, getting over relevance deficit syndrome as I handed over my clients and relationships,embracing study, discovering country music(sorry to my wife, family and friends and my dear blogging friend, David Perry), comfortably meeting my cycling target of over 5000kms for the year and preparing for new experiences as I move from the comfort of working in professional services to something else.

It feels quite surreal. Normally, I find the period after Christmas quite a let down as it signifies the last few days before it all starts again, but this time it is quite different. That shouldn’t be surprising as in 2015 my focus will be completely different. I’m not thinking about finishing off client compliance work, billing targets, collecting cash or winning new work. That’s all for my successor who is now well ensconced.

2015 is about winding out of my firm and embarking on a new adventure. Completing Honours, focussing on building my academic credentials, and maybe some advisory boards. Also it is about planning an extended stay in Italy in 2015, something which has been on my wish list for the last few years.

It seems quite surreal, but as I sit at my desk writing this post, for the first time since 1978 I don’t have my year planned at all. Sure there are a list of “to dos”, not the least of which is a 20,000 word thesis but I don’t have a back log of work and a diary full of appointments that usually fill me with dread in the first week of January each year. What I do have is lots of “white space” and a question about how it will be filled?

So its on with 2015…

Adelaide Oval

I regularly post about Adelaide, as I am proud South Australia, so please indulge me with a few photos of our fantastic new Adelaide Oval.

If the ground draws me to watch the Crows arch rival Port Adelaide it must be special!

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Wikipedia provides a useful history of this famous oval

Link to Adelaide Oval website