The Sanity Clause

I’ve been pretty slack again at posting but this time it’s mainly been to actually being busy. Well mostly anyway. Nearly a month ago now I went to Melbourne to visit my cousins. I only had a long weekend there but it was fantastic to see them all, especially Emily and Hannah, my cousin’s two daughters. On the friday, I went to the Pixar animation exhibition at Federation square and also did a bit of shopping.

Saturday, we all went down the Ocean Road to Lorne where we had a bit of a picnic. and then took a ferry across the bay. I then sat up chatting to my cousin, Sue, until nearly 2am. Sue, the girls and I went to the Boathouse at Fairfield park for a coffee and a bit of a walk and then I had a lovely home cooked sunday roast. It was then back to Wellington in the evening. I’m already looking forward to getting back to see them all for a longer visit though.

Well I had a fantastic time in San Francisco and can’t wait to go back again and see more of the city. I had nearly three days there but the first two were spent mostly at the @Media conference. Not that this was any great hardship! I stayed in the gorgeous Westin Hotel, where my room contained such a great bed I was tempted never to leave it.

However, I did manage to drag myself away from it. On the first evening after the conference, I went to the evening party but didn’t stay for long. Instead I went to a great thai restaurant and had a meal with Adrienne who I had met at the conferene. It was then back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

On the second evening, the after conference meet-up was at a bar called John Collins and then dinner at Roy’s, an hawaiian fusion restaurant, with Adrienne and someone else from the conference, Chris. I had a fantastic steak and a lovely glass of New Zealand wine.

On my last day, I bumped into Nancy from the conference as I was checking out. She kindly invited me to come along as a friend of hers was going to take her and Chris on a tour of the city. After we had got some coffee, Ken took us up some Telegraph Hill where we got a great view of the city. We then went to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39. This is all very touristy but as I was a tourist a must do. Nancy had some seafood from one of the stalls and then we went to get sourdough bread. We also saw all the sealions, gathered on the pontoons and making a huge racket. It was then off to the beach, where it was really cold but great to see that side of the pacific ocean!

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