Okay so the blog updating took a swift stop – in fact I’m typing this weeks after I was actually in Australia. For some time there I wasn’t inspired to finish the blog and I’m uncertain as to why this is. Regardless – here we go. I am typing this on the plane from Dubai to London and I don’t have access to my previous entries so there could be some duplicate info here.
Once the week started in Sydney my fun stopped for the most part – it was time to get down to work. There was a ton of interest from Australia and tons to do. I had a busy schedule and was going to hop from sales meeting to sales meeting. I tried to look up as much as I could beforehand so I’d know where to go and the such – it helped that Google Maps was working wonderfully on the phone. I had soon mastered the subway system, which of all the systems I’ve been on there are only 2 that are worse I think – Paris and Kuala Lumpur. The train system as a whole was decent but the cost killed it for me. It was insanely expensive considering the distance traveled and the accommodations. There also isn’t a stored value card which is crap.
The week started off to a slow start – I met this guy from a large consulting firm and he wanted to bring us in as a potential solution to a problem one of his clients had. It was a great reminder of why I left IBM – he just wanted to bill bill bill. Don’t get me wrong – we want to turn a profit as well but it’s nice to be able to not have it 100% on the mind all the time right now.
After the first meeting, things started to pick up. In fact, every single meeting after that one was great. I met with a flurry of partners and potential clients and everyone was excited. There was a real market here and our competitors weren’t impressing anyone. I hopped all over Sydney – to the very far north in Thornleigh down to just a bit south in Mascot. I took a few hours each night to go out exploring and to find a pub that seemed interesting. Before and after the pub though it was all work. I honestly didn’t mind all the work because it was exciting to see so many different partners/clients legitimately excited about what we do. We weren’t talking to the smaller clients that we were a year and half ago when I joined onboard – these were the big guys. They needed us and we had just the right solution – minus a bug or two of course heh. I was getting used to this pre-technical sales type role and it was fun to see people excited.
After a few days of that I headed to Melbourne Wednesday night. I was on a Virgin Blue flight flight – HOLY CRAP A DOMESTIC FLIGHT. It was the first domestic I’d done this trip and it was quite nice to be off the plane after a short two hours. Melbourne was a whole new world. It was absolutely nothing like Sydney. Sydney was fast paced and high energy while Melbourne was relaxed and full of art and dive bars. Right next to the hotel was a great place that I came to really like. I had arrived about 10pm or so and was starving – the hotel receptionist recommended a place just up the street called the Bertha Brown. I went in and loved it immediately. A quiet bar with a good menu – although rather pricey. I ordered the burger and it was a messy and delicious. I got to talked to the bartender who was a guy from British Columbia. He introduced me to some local beer and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a sight for sore eyes – bourbon. I had been looking for some bourbon since I started my travels weeks before and hadn’t seen anything more than Jim Beam – which let’s be honest – it’s bourbon but only when you are desperate. Beam isn’t what I spotted – it was that familiar red waxed bottle. I saw Maker’s Mark and new that I was in the right spot. I told myself however that I wouldn’t partake until the next night because it was late and I had a very early start – a good reason to come back.
Come back I did – after my day of meeting I headed out first to a beer garden that was recommended to me by one of the chefs at Bertha Brown – Cookie. Melbourne is famous for its alley bars – you know those dangerous alleys that you would never go down alone in a million years – those alleys in Melbourne host some of the most amazing spots known to Australia – perhaps the world. This is a bit of an aside because in fact Cookie isn’t one of these places but in searching for it I wound up at a place that was. Eventually though I made it to Cookie and ordered a beer from the menu of what had to be well over 200 draft/bottle selections. We’re not talking your everyday selections either – these were some very rare finds. I settled on an IPA and holy crap it was $15 USD. I couldn’t care less at this point and also ordered a ‘shrimp cocktail.’ I put quotes around that because what showed up confused the ever living crap out of me. It was a large martini glass of fried shrimp. When I say fried shrimp – I mean head / legs / shell / everything. It was like they just took them out of the water and threw them in the deep fryer. I started to kind of pick at it and pull off the heads until a waitress comes over to me and says by the way you can eat the whole thing. I look at her and say thank you and that I had no idea what I was doing. She apologized and said someone should have told me. I started to eat them whole – it was a delicious. After Cookie I headed back to Bertha Brown – I was told the previous night that there would be some great music.
I walked into some great music – it was an interesting band with this guy that from time to time would get up and tap dance. Tap dancing has always kind of amused me and tonight was no different. I had a few beers and enjoyed the show – it was a peaceful night and eventually made it back to my hotel – the Pensionne. My time in Melbourne was just about done – on Friday I was heading back to Sydney.
I flew back to Sydney after another full day of work and wound up at this small Irish pub. After a bit I was chatting with a guy that I noticed kept leaving a tip with each beer order – clearly American – they don’t really tip in Australia and definitely not a full dollar after each beer. He was from Denver but working in northern Japan at the time. He was living in a small town of 2,000 and only 13 people there spoke English. As such, he was trying to move back home and was scheduled to do so in February. While he was on this side of the world he decided to head down to Sydney to check it out. We ended up chatting until the bar closed – about 3am – it was nice to talk to an American.
The next day I didn’t do too much – toured around Sydney and ended up at a comedy club that night. It was an interesting experience. First of all I showed up early I guess – I was the only one there for about 15 minutes. It was slightly awkward – I’m okay with going places by myself but most of the time I’m not the only one there. I ordered a pizza and a Carlton draught – a beer I’ve come to enjoy. The comedy club wasn’t nearly packed by the time the show started – there were maybe 30 people in the place and it sat at least 150 I’d guess. It was the typical format I was used to – an MC that was marginally funny and filled the gaps between the real comedians. The thing that started to bother me through the show was just how many American jokes they kept making. Over and over the jokes kept coming and after a point I got a bit upset even. I laughed for a while but after a bit even the Obama jokes started to anger me a bit. Everyone loves to make fun of the US I guess. Overall it was a good show and afterwards I headed to a nearby pub and had a few drinks before heading to bed.
The next day my CEO was flying into town and I was heading to Manly beach to meet him. I woke up a bit early and made my way over to the beach. I rode the ferry over there and it was a short ride but again way too expensive – public transportation is ridiculously expensive in Australia. I arrived and met our head of marketing and CEO. Also at the same hotel were a few of the boss man’s old coworkers. We did a few introductions and then headed out to pick up a few items. I needed a bathing suit and some sandals (I hadn’t packed for the beach by any means). Right after picking up the new gear we talked to one of the boss man’s old coworkers and he wanted to go on a little jog. We were instantly signed up for it, however this wasn’t a little jog – he picked out the route and it looked pretty long. When I asked how long it was I was told it’d be about a 10k – what the crap. We trekked out along the path and it was actually pretty amazing. It was along the bay and quite spectacular – minus the whole running part. Just when I thought the run was going to be okay we started the climb. When I say it was a climb it literally was like climbing a ladder up a mountain – that’s how steep it was. It was miserable to say the least. Eventually though we made it to the top and the view was pretty amazing.
After the run we showered and the such and then headed out for then night. We wound up at this wharf and it was packed solid – we had a few drinks before our table was ready at the restaurant that we had reservations. A few bottles of wine were ordered and the fun kept going. The conversation was great – the oysters were absolutely delicious. All in all it was a great night so far. It was starting to get a bit late and we began to head back to the hotel. Along the way we passed by a bar and half of the crew of 8 went back to the room and the other half headed to the bar. We didn’t stay too long but had a few rounds and then eventually made ourselves back to the hotel. This was my last night in Australia.
The next day I had a short meeting with another potential client and then headed to the airport – next stop Tokyo.
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