Philadelphia

Today I have to fly to Philadelphia USA. That's half a world away. It is a long flight, and to give you an idea: You sit down, wait for 45 minutes to take off, get a beer, watch a movie, get lunch, watch another movie aaaaannnddd... still 10 hours to fly.
It's a 14hour flight to L.A. and then another 6 hours to Philadelphia. Bloody hell, oh, well I got very lucky as I had 3 seats to myself.
Interestingly I left on Sunday morning 11:00 and I arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday morning 07:00, Travelling back in time(!).
In Philadelphia I put on 2 kgs in one week eating waaay to much hamburgers, giant steaks and humongous portions of french fries.
After a week of work, (I got through my jet lag on Thursday) it's time to fly out again. Driving to Philadelphia airport we were lucky to dodge a couple of deers that were running on the motorway toward is, almost an accident! They call them suicide deers as it happens quite often that a car or truck kills them.
The way back is interesting as well, I left on Sunday morning and I arrived in Brissie on Tuesday morning. I still don't know how to put that lost Monday in my time sheet :o)

Byron bay

Anybody visiting us in October and we'll take you to Byron Bay. The lighthouse, as with most lighthouses in this world, was built after 2 boats sank of the coast. The lighthouse is on the most easterly point of Australia and the views are absolutely gorgeous.

We see dolphins surfing in the waves and jump around, whales close by and in the distance (we count about 35). A couple of sea kayakers are so close to the whales they try to touch them with their hands.

4 x 4 beached as...

Today I'm really happy; I get to drive a huge 4x4: it's a brand-spanking-new Toyota Land Cruiser and I'm going to drive it on the beach. My boss, his wife a couple of colleagues Emma and I are going for a beach run.
I hit the beach at 40 kph, confident my giant all terrain terror of the beach will plough through it. After all I have deflated the wheels and I've locked the wheels in 4x4 mode.
Vroooaaaarrrr! puttiputtiputti pet...
What's this? it doesn't go, I get bogged within 40 meters of hitting the beach. WTF?!A couple of regulars: guys that do the beach thing all the time, watch, grin, and start talking:
- Mate, you got yer gearbox set to 4x4?
- Yeah!
- Mate, you ain't got it set to 4x4.
- You're sure?
- Mate, your front wheels ain't turning, mate.
- Really?
- Fair dinkum mate.
Fuckerthefuck they're right, I feel bad and step on the gas so hard, I must have ejected sand into the stratosphere.

We drive for half an hour or so, and find the perfect spot on the beach. Champagne, beer, fishing rods and chips. Perfect let's fish. After a day where rain showers passed us left and right, the rain-gods figure they've been nice enough and open up the hose. It's raining cats and dogs and we choose not to fight the elements. Besides, it'll be high tide in an hour or so and you have to get off the beach.
We find a restaurant in Noosa and have a good meal.

Millmerran

About 4 hours west of Brissie lies Millmerran, a very small town. Nothing much happening here except brown snakes, zillions of rabbits and quadrizillions of kangaroos.
But then a few years back, it happened, coal was discovered and lots of it. The power plant I visited is built on its own lands and underneath lies enough coal to power the station for the next 160 years at full throttle.

They excavate about 3m of top soil and after that lies 6m of coal, and it's quite good quality as well. The 850 Mwatt plant runs 24/7 and during the night the entire complex is managed by 3 people.
I went there for a couple of days and felt super welcome. I was invited to a restaurant 3 times and had good fun.

We had to take a car for 45 minutes to get to the nearest restaurant. On the way the driver, a true Aussie, kills a couple of rabbits on purpose. Of course chocking to me, but here they try to kill them whenever they can, there are just too many of them.