Baby Hammerheads

Melbourne Aquarium is currently home to baby Hammerhead sharks. Sounds adorable right, so of course we had to go and see them.

The Aquarium doesn't change much, so it was a quick tour around until we hit the new exhibition. The baby Hammerheads were in a little netted off section of the big shark tank. (So they are hard to photograph) The scareist looking shark they have in the tank is called Mitchell. He is a Grey Nurse and is around 3m long. But it is those eyes of empy death that make him look scary. They have a "show/talk" called Sharks after Dark, where they turn off all the lights in the walkway and round room of the shark tank and an aquarium worker gives a talk about the sharks and various other fishspotlighting them with a torch. It was informative and fun even if it was directed at little people.

GB and I love doing these kinds of things. And after our "holiday of Awesome" we agreed that we should try and have more days were we behave like tourists in our own town.

Holgate Brewhouse

What happens when you get 5 couples together and head off to a brewery for the night. You would

expect the rest of the post to be full of debauchery and lewd photos to prove it. Alas, no.

GB and I had talked about going to this particular Brewery for the night for at least a year. You can imagine the anticipation when we finally got around to organising it. This perhaps contributed to the feeling of being slightly let down.

The Brewhouse was a big old pub. The sight of it on the corner of the main street of Woodend was filled with promise. The atmosphere was kind of like a pub but I am not sure if they were trying to be something else. It just didn't have a great feel to it.
But this is how I would sum it up: The beer was good. The food sucked. The rooms were great.







But once you take away all of that, it was a good night spent in good company.

It is done.

Today has been the worst day in my own head in a very long time. It has been exactly 4 days of feeling great. Now I am back to being very unhappy. With everything.

They say that when you are in an heightened emotional state, it is not the time for making big decisions. That it is emotionally immature to do that.

But I say poo to that. I am going to make a couple. Actually I have already had these decisions going on in my head for a very long time. I think I am now just brave enough to say it.

I am going back to Spain. But I am going to learn Spanish properly before I do. And that is all I am going to concentrate on this year.

I really thought I would have had a dog to look after, a house to save for and an engagement party to plan. But it appears those things are not happening. So I am making a promise to myself right here and now that this year is for me and me alone.

I will strive in my health goals, money and education. I will not let anyone distract me with bullshit and empty time wasting.

I am 35 yrs old. I don't want to wait for anything anymore. I have waited long enough. Now I am just going to make things happen for me. No more procrastinating, living in my comfort zone.

Yes. This type of resolve makes me feel better. I feel like I can breathe again. I actually feel excited.

Thoughts

I just read one of my friend's blog and her last post struck a chord with me.  The questioning of oneself.  As much as it can make people who are self assessing a little more neurotic, I think it really is a necessary part of growing and changing.

There is no moment in life where changes are not on the way or just passed and being aware of where you are emotionally/mentally during these times help strengthen us. Not every one likes to look at themselves in this way - to think about such things. I just function that way.  

Makes it impossible to use the excuse "I don't know why I did that" for any of my behaviour.

There are things about myself that I don't particularly like at the moment (and have been there for a very very long time) but I am working on them.  I am trying to become a better person. My version of what I think would make me a better person, not someone else's vision.  That is all one can do.

Some of the best people I know are too hard on themselves.  And I find it hard to reach out and let them know that I think they are the bees knees. 

The Holiday of Awesome

We have been back in Country for 2 months. Heh, I like the way that makes me sound like I am a constant traveller, a nomad. It is not true. It had been over 12 years since my last real overseas holiday and I had never done one like this before.

Destination: Paris > Avignon > Toulouse > Andorra > Madrid > Granda >Valencia >Barcelona

There are many positives about holidays, not having to trudge to work everyday is right up there for me. Then the obvious ones come to mind. Experiencing a different culture, even the ones that are only slightly different to ours. Seeing the most amazing buidings from a history that seems beyond us as a such new Country. The animals and plants that are unique to their environments. The food!

I found that GB and I's approach to the holiday was pretty similar, perhaps why we had such a great time in each others company, we wanted to see the architecture and the great tourist must-sees, we wanted to taste all the food. From the corner store Croque Monsieur to a fine meal . Then there was all the beer, oh so cheap, and I gave the sentence "un vasso de vino de la casa, por favor" a good go aswell.

And it was the best time that I have ever had.