mont st michel, france

wow, what a place.  history oozes from this magnificant catherdral.  the tour is well worth doing and the island is well worth seeing.  at high tide, the only road that connects the mainland to the island is submerged.  when you park your car there, the attendants will tell you what time you have to leave so that your car doesn't get taken out with the tide.  many a car and bus have been taken away by unsuspecting tourists.  right on the top of the spire you'll see a statue of st michael.  again.. wow.

paris, france

grand ol' paris. around the back of the louve (if you call the pyramid side the front) lies the Palais du Lourve.  it's a majestic building that we walked passed on the first full day of being in paris.  we both didn't end up in the Lourve but were happy enough to walk through the front gardens up av. des champs elysees and sat our bums down at beautiful joel robuchon for lunch

westin hotel melbourne

the circle of life.  teen love at the front, budding romance in the middle and divorce and loneliness on either side of the couple at the back.

Melbourne Airport to Canberra

Qantas has been in the news a lot lately.  Yes, they have had issues with their Trent 900 engines on their A380s.  Yes they have had lots of press on failed engines on some 747s, bird strikes, faulty warning lights and so on.  The press has been pretty unfair though.  For starters, the Trent 900s are made by a UK Rolls Royce.  Airlines frequently have engine failures and bird strikes.  There are some very valid reasons to dislike Qantas.  For example, introducing a 2-3-2 seating on their new trans-continental 737s in J between Perth and the East Coast :).  Failures by others (Rolls, nature...) sensationalised by news hungry press is, however, not a reason to avoid Qantas.

happy australia day

i have issues with people calling australia day "invasion day".  yes, the european settlers did take over aboriginal land, but looking back at the past is ignoring what can happen in the future. aboriginals are also australians