Eureka!

Tuesday afternoon I flew to Sydney to attend the 20th annual Australian Museum Eureka Prizes for science. Our project with the Sydney Coastal Councils Group on climate change adaptation was a finalist in the category of Innovative Solutions to Climate Change. While victory wasn't anticipated, it was a good opportunity to clip on the old bow tie, and sample some (or quite a lot actually) Australian wines. As it happened, the fates smiled upon us, and we walked away with the prize, which included $10,000 which we now have to figure out how to reinvest. We had the honour of shaking hands with the premier of NSW, but in all honesty, I would have preferred to have met Cate Blanchett, who presented the People's Choice Award. Oh well, there's always next year. . .

Additional photos here

The Windy City

For the second time in two weeks, high winds have struck Victoria resulting in damage comparable to what one would expect from a category 1 cyclone (see this story on the first event). Living upon one of the highest points in Melbourne, such events are particularly exciting for us. It's a bit unnerving watching one's windows bulge inward, but no harm done. However, our BBQ cover did go on a short trip down the street over night, but we managed to locate it and bring it back home this morning.

Babymoon

Sorrento is rapidly becoming our home away from home, given we've made four trips there over the years (including this one, this one which I never wrote anything about and, more recently, that one). This past weekend, we were back on the Morn Penn to enjoy our last days of peace and quiet before it all comes crashing down in a heap of child-rearing.

To summarise the highlights. . .

We stayed at Hotel Sorrento (which does a good brekkie), and meals were had at La Porchetta (which was empty on a winter Thursday night), the Sorrento Seaford Tavern (quiet but not dead on a Friday night) and Coast (which was packed on Saturday night, and deservedly). For entertainment, Uta did some spa stuff, we caught Public Enemies on opening night (three other people were in the theatre), and we undertook some walks toward Portsea (peeking through fences at the houses of the ueber rich) and around Cape Schank (where we were too cheap to pay $10 to tour the lighthouse). We also spent a bit of time deliberating over the name of kid #1, which now appears almost (but perhaps not quite) locked in.

Photos here