I went into the purchase of my first PAX system from Ikea completely oblivious. I was just so excited to be getting extra space for my clothes, I didn’t think of how much work it would be to put it together.
Call me weird, but I’ve always enjoyed donating blood. I could say that I do it because I want to help people, and that certainly has to be part of it, but I think perhaps it’s mostly to do with the fact that since I was a kid I’ve always watched my dad donate. I have good memories of going into South Melbourne with him and watching him undergo the process, waiting eagerly to share his milkshake and sugar lollies afterwards.
Or maybe I’ve always just been a sucker for free food.
I love my music. I have spent ridiculous amounts of time creating playlists and organising my music files to ensure everything is exactly perfect. But sometimes I crave more variety than is available in my personal library… and when that happens, I always turn to Radio Paradise.
I never understood why other people hated going to the dentist. I always shot through appointments in record time with little more than a poke and a scrape. I never understood until recently… when I received my first (surprise!) filling.
And it was a surprise, because I had no idea what was going on at the time.
The town I live in boasts around 25,000 people – that’s in the city proper – if you take in all the outlying areas there’s many more – in Europe one small city is never very far from the next.
Thomas and I have been house-hunting for over a year now, and so far, no such luck. I can count on one hand the number of houses I’ve actually considered as serious possibilities. So here’s what I’ve discovered about house-hunting in a small Austrian town.
To celebrate my 100th blog post (yay) I thought I’d attempt to answer a question I still get asked a lot: What are the real differences between Austria and Australia? And it’s a difficult one to answer, because it’s a kind of same/same but different thing – all the little factors weigh up to create a big difference.
There are the obvious ones – the language, the food, the location, the culture, the weather… I’m not going to focus on those… I’m going to let you in on some of the more subtle differences between Austria and Australia.
Fasching is big in Europe. You may have also heard of it as ‘Carnival’ and every place seems to have a slightly different name and slightly different traditions going on. Are we chasing away winter, or binging before Easter? I can’t really get a straight answer but what’s clear is that it starts on the 11th of November (at 11 minutes past 11) and continues until midnight on Shrove Tuesday (or pancake Tuesday if you’re like me).
Hanging in a small town of less than 26,000 people, 45 minutes away from a decent-sized city… boring, you might say. Who would come and stay here? Well, for those of you who don’t mind a bit of a rural retreat, I’ve put together a list of ten things you can do in Wolfsberg in summer, all of which could be done without access to a car (though a bike might come in handy for a couple of them. Seriously, this town is a gem! Continue reading
I know what you’re thinking. It’s happened before: you check into a ‘double room’ in a hotel only to find out that they’ve simply shoved two singles together, there’s an annoying gap in the middle and the beds gradually move apart throughout the night. But seriously, when it’s done properly, there are benefits you wouldn’t even think of.
When Thomas asked me if I’d like to take ballroom dancing classes with him I practically choked with happiness. Who would have thought, a guy who likes to dance? I’ve danced all my life, enthusiastically, albeit not necessarily well. Ballet, jazz and finally tap dancing where I found my greatest love.
an aussie in austria 