New Zealand Workcapade 2010

Workcapade -noun: like an escapade, extra work days on a weekend.

Last weekend I went to Wellington, New Zealand, to attend CITCON A/NZ 2010. Write ups about the event have been posted on ShineTech blog:

• CITCON Australia/New Zealand 2010 – Day 1
• CITCON Australia/New Zealand 2010 – Day 2 (Part 1)
• CITCON Australia/New Zealand 2010 – Day 2 (Part 2)

In summary, the current hotness in CI world is continuous deployment, citing the experiences from IMVU and Flickr.

I didn’t get much chance to check out Wellington, it was raining for the whole three days I was there. My immediate impression of Wellington was that the CBD resembled Melbourne, while the areas up the hills reminded me of Hobart. It’s also strange how Lambton Quay was empty at 10pm on a weekend, even many of the cafes weren’t open at 11am on a Sunday. No people, no traffic, no worries, no problem.

I didn’t see any sheep in New Zealand.

Canberra Getaway 2009

Some pictures from my weekend getaway to Canberra late last year.

First stop was Australian National University. Latte Girl went to ANU for her bachelor degree, so Canberra was her hood. We also walked to the Parliament House, Lake Burley Griffin, and Canberra CBD (if it can be called a CBD at all considering how small it was). Some nice breakfasts in the mornings, one from CREAM, another from Gus’s. Great dinner at Rasa Sayang restaurant, followed by lunch at a friend’s place.

Noosa Getaway 2010

I decided that my new year resolution is to blog more often. Epic fail.

Two weeks ago I went to Noosa, a quiet little coastal area in Queensland. The people there were much friendlier than those in other Australian cities I’ve visited before. I reckon it was mostly because majority of the population there were of the older age group, and yes, I’m implying that younger crowd tend to perform anti-social behaviour involving alcohol.

The food was great. We had a fabulous dinner at Maisie’s, you can’t go wrong with seafood, steak, and wine. Nice breakfast at Elegant Eggplant, nice coffee at Organika. We had another nice breakfast at Wolf’s place, a little German-Australian cafe on Weyba Rd. I talked to the owner about the upcoming World Cup, where both German and Australia will face each other in a group match, he was being diplomatic and said he’s not going to take sides and will be happy whichever team wins.

Also on Weyba Rd, there’s a very intriguing little book shop called Embiggen Books with the tagline ‘Where science meets art.’ Classy!

We also did a 5-hour walk at Noosa National Park. After lunch at Noosa Civic, we started the walk from the southern, more forest-like, part of the park, and it turned out to be a good decision because we then finished off along the northern cliffs where the sunset was in full view from Hells Gate, Granite Bay, Dolphin Point, all the way to Boiling Pot.

If you’re looking for a quiet weekend break, then Noosa is definitely the place to go. Highly recommended!