Cheap Flights To Australia

Anyone fancy coming to visit me at the start of next year? I have just discovered a great deal with Austrian Airlines. Flights from London to Sydney for $1099 + taxes. That's about ₤600 including taxes. Bargain! Of course then you'd have to pay for your flight from Sydney (check out Virgin Blue and JetStar for cheap flights) but it wouldn't cost too much. You have to be quick though - the offer ends on October 31st. Go on! Be spontaneous.

See http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bin/210/flights?maindetails=3073 for more details.

By the way, Easter is a beautiful time to visit.

Use a Site Reader to read my blog

If you like catching up with my blog but hate the fact that my posts are so random (the clue is in the name) then you could try using a site reader.

For those of you who don't know what a site reader is:
What is a site reader? I hear you ask, or at least I imagine I do. A site reader (or news feeder, news reader, rss aggregator) is a one-stop shop for updates to all of the websites you read regularly. So, for example, instead of getting on the web and firstly checking out the BBC news site, followed by some entertainment news on MSN, followed by more specific industry websites (for me it would be something like silicon.com), you log onto one website, or open an application on your computer, and all the recent updates to all the sites you are interested in are there in one place. It's also useful for keeping an eye on things such as cheap flights as who really wants to go to an online travel agent every day?

I prefer an online site reader because I can use it anywhere but an offline one which you download and install onto your PC will allow you to log on to the internet, download your feeds, then read them offline. It's personal preference really and I've added a few links to readers at the end of this post.

Most websites these days have a link to some kind of feed, either RSS or Atom. RSS stands for Rich Site Summary and provides a summary of the site updates in a format readable by the readers. Atom is a newer technology and readers are being updated to read this too.

So, to read this site in a news reader the first thing you need to do is choose a reader. I use Newsgator but Google have just released one that is still in its infancy and will probably improve over time.

Once you've chosen your reader you need to figure out how to add feeds. With Newsgator it's pretty simple. You click on the Add Feeds link and then you can either browse or search feeds or, you can click on URL & Import to either add a specific URL or import an OPML file. (OPML means Outline Processor Markup Language and it allows you to add lists of feeds to your reader, and import/export lists between readers. You don't really need to know about all that right now so I'll shut up and stop confusing you.) In this case you're going to add the URL specified in the next paragraph. When you click on Newsgator online all my recent posts should be listed under the My Feeds section. You can add as many feeds as you like and organise them into folders but I'll let you figure that bit out for yourself.

For those of you who already use a site reader and just want to know what my feed URL is:
The feed URL is http://feeds.feedburner.com/RandomThoughtsOfAGeordieDown-under.
This link is also in the left-hand panel of this blog under Site Feed.

Further information
For more information on site readers and RSS see:
http://www.codeproject.com/soap/rssandblogs.asp
http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/aboutrss
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/43990.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_aggregator

For a comprehensive list of site readers see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_news_aggregators
If this page is a bit overwhelming for you then just scroll down to Free Online News Aggregators.

The last film I saw at the cinema: The Proposition

Firstly, apologies to the British crew if I lapse into the Americanism "movies". That is the correct terminology down under and it makes much more sense than "pictures" if you ask me, given that they are actually moving.

The Proposition is a British made film set in Australia and written by Nick Cave. Which is pretty much the only reason we ended up seeing it. Basically a mate of mine thinks Nick Cave is pretty cool and digs his music and mentioned that he was going to see this movie on Tight-Arse Tuesday (i.e. cheap night) and did we want to go? So, obviously we asked what it was about. "It's a western" was about all we got, meaning The Wild West of America. Which goes to show how much he knew about it. He also told us that Nick Cave had directed the film but in fact that accolade goes to a fellow by the name of John Hillcoat. I went because another thing my friend knew about the film (and was right about) was that Guy Pearce was in it and I'm a bit of a fan.

It's actually set in the Australian outback of Queensland back in the early days of settlement. The basic gist is that it's a pretty lawless environment and a new police captain from England is determined so sort all this out. The film concentrates on his attempts to curtail the horrific activities of the Burns brothers by arresting a couple of them and threatening to hang the young, simple one, if the elder of the two doesn't murder the oldest most evil brother. It's basically an incredibly violent and blood-thirsty film from beginning to end.

The cinematography is beautiful, powerful and purely Australian. The music is pretty cool. The whole thing is very dramatic. I was pleased to see that Ray Winstone and Emily Watson were both in it, Watson putting on a good show as always even if her character is somewhat simpering, but then weren't all women in those days? Unfortunately it doesn't really do justice to Guy Pearce's great talents as an actor. His character is the moody silent type and probably could have been played by anyone who can vaguely attempt an Irish accent.

The highlight (and almost worth watching the film for in itself, if you can cope with the gore) is the performance by John Hurt who plays a drunken English treasure hunter. Downright hilarious and most excellent. A week later I still think back to some of his lines, partly because he is outraged by Darwin's suggestion that white man and aboriginal man are related and are both descended from apes and I'm currently reading a book by Darwin called "The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Animals" (very interesting). Sadly, Hurt is only in two scenes.

I think a lot of the film was lost on me. I did find myself a little confused every now and again. But it did transport me back to that time, highlighting the racism of the white man and the battles between the English and the aboriginals, how tough life must have been for people in the barren outback, how they thought nothing of watching a man being publicly and violently flogged almost to death and how goddamn hot they must have been in those ridiculous Victorian costumes.

I think a lot of people would enjoy the film but it would probably be just a little too violent for most. So there's my tuppence-worth. I never did claim to be a film critic but I hope you found this interesting anyway. For a more educated viewpoint see these ABC and MSN reviews.

Book of the Month: The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay

I have decided that Wednesday (which is also pay day and hence already a good day, except for every other Wednesday which isn't pay day and thus a slightly disappointing day) should be Something of the Month Day and to start with I've chosen Books.

I am currently reading The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, a very popular Aussie novelist. A few people had recommended The Power of One to me over the last couple of years and then last week I was dropping some books off in the library when I stopped at some comfy chairs to put on some insect repellant before heading for the bus. Nearby was a shelf titled Recommended and on that shelf, lo and behold, sat the Power of One beckoning to me. Now, this was quite a find as the University library, much to my disappointment, does not have much of a literature section. I grabbed the book and almost missed the bus trying to get the librarian to find the books I'd just returned and check them back in so that I could check this one out.

It has had me in its grips ever since. It's about a young boy growing up in South Africa who, after a period of intense bullying at boarding school rather fortuitously meets an inspiring young boxer who insists the boy will one day be Welterweight Champion of the World. The story (which I am now about halfway through) follows the boy's efforts to recover from his traumatic boarding school days by educating his mind and spirit and learning to box. The descriptions of South Africa made me curious as to Courtenay's background and, having found no useful biography in the book, other than a few sentences on where he lives (a farm in New South Wales) and which books he has written (many), I checked out his website. It seems that this book is semi-autobiographical which only makes it all the more amazing. His ability to write about disturbing and taboo subjects, such as abuse, eating disorders, racism and alcoholism with a cheeky sense of child-like humour is both endearing and entertaining.

My only complaint is that so far twice in the book characters have said something along the lines of "should of" which is a real grammatical pet-hate of mine (I believe it should be "should have"). I've noticed this to be quite a common verbal mistake amongst Australians and so I'm unsure as to whether the mistake in the book is deliberate, or whether it is part of the Australian version of English. I should just remember that I'm in a different country and just because they speak the mother-tongue, it does not mean that all the same grammatical rules apply. Whaddaya reckon, Sheila?

For those of you who don't read books, I hear there is also a rather good film out by the same name. There is even a children's version. Courtenay is an extremely popular best-selling author over here and fortunately has written almost 20 books. He has spent over forty years in Australia and has written a number of books set over here, so I'm looking forward to checking out some of them next. Perhaps one of them will make another Book of the Month blog some day.

Hopefully the first of many

I've decided to create a blog! Well, I guess that much is obvious. The bigger question is why. Why? Well, because I'm miles away from everyone (apart from the people that live over here, obviously) and I'm finding it very hard to keep in touch with you all. And because when I left I said I'd only be gone a year or two, which is kind of true since I did come back for five weeks, and because the website I lovingly updated as regularly as I could be bothered has disappeared from the face of the earth and I can't bear to start another one. A blog seemed much easier.

So this is the first entry. And it's mainly just a ramble for my own use whilst I feel my way around and come up with a look and feel. I'm going to try not to ramble on too much and make it boring. I'll try and update it once every few days and pick a topic of the day.

Today's topic, or rather news, is that I posted my application for permanent residency on Saturday. It was a big deal for Toby and I as I have worked towards this for about a year now. Firstly I spent a number of weeks researching all the different types of permanent visas and analysing which ones I was eligible for. I then spent aaaaaaaaaaages reading all the blurb on each one, working out how much it would cost and finally choosing one to apply for.

I chose to apply for the Employer Nomination Scheme, which means the University nominates me as someone they want to employ on a permanent basis. It's a great option for me as once I have my residency I have no ties to the uni but they have to offer me full-time employment for a minimum of three years. Unlike the spouse visa, I become a permanent resident immediately, rather than after two years, and unlike the Skilled Migration Visa, things seem to get sorted out a bit more quickly and you don't have to have a skills assessment.

At least you didn't until April this year, just after the uni had their nomination approved. So I spent about three months preparing to have my skills assessed by the Australian Computer Society, sending my Dad into the loft to grab various certificates and documents to post and thenphotocopying them and plonking them on a colleague's desk for him to put his Justice of the Peace stamp on. When I returned from the UK they sent me a letter basically saying it's cool, I can obviously do a bit of IT. Then I ran around Nambour (which was an experience in itself) having medicals, x-rays and blood tests. So far no one has contacted me to tell me I have a horrible blood disease or TB so that's looking good too. Great! I am a disease-free IT person!

During all this, particularly the skills assessment where I had to transport myself back in time to 1997 and re-immerse myself in all the stuff I was doing after I graduated, and then travel forward in time to now, documenting everything I'd ever done work-wise along the way, Toby was an absolute rock. I retired from the majority of my household duties, most particularly as cook, choosing to spend the little spare time I had making jewellery for Clare's bridesmaids. He made sure that I was properly fed and watered and he even cleaned parts of the house on occasion.

And now it's all over, and all I have to do is sit and wait for the decision, I hardly know what to do with myself. So I applied for a couple of jobs at the uni and now I'm crapping myself about being interviewed by people I already know. Too weird.