Zack's Trials in Traralgon

Traralgon Post Office

Zack works. A lot. Especially in the past month, he's pretty much worked nonstop...including very late nights and weekends. Some of you probably wonder what he does. Well, he works for a company called Accenture, but his current project is with ASIC (Australian Securities & Investments Commission). He is the Test Manager, and a large part of his project went "live" last night. You can watch a video about it or read a news article. It's a pretty big deal, because for every business in Australia, there is now one website for registering names (different states used to have their own systems).

Sunset at Caulfield Station-waiting for the train to go join Zack in Traralgon.

Anyway, the ASIC office is located in Traralgon, which is a random little city in Eastern Victoria. It's a two hour train ride to get there, and lately Zack's been spending most of the week there. Sometimes, like over Cinco de Mayo weekend, and this past Thursday night, I hop on the train and go join him for a night or two. Though he spends a majority of his time working, we at least get to have dinner together, and at some point in the evening he comes home and goes to bed!


To be honest, there is not much to do in Traralgon. When I'm there, I go for a run, check out the shops, hang out in a cafe, etc. The only "sight" to see is the Post Office (pictured above). It was built in 1886, and it's a historical landmark. Otherwise, there's a mall, one main street with some shops and restaurants, a few hotels, and the train station. Not very exciting. But hey, if it means I actually get to see my husband, I'll make the trip to Traralgon every now and then!

Wetland area in Traralgon where I went for a run the other week.

Cinco de Mayo Mango Margarita

Happy Cinco de Mayo! No, Australians do not celebrate this holiday, but we did, perhaps a little bit too much (note the size of the margarita above!). Zack had to work, so I joined him in Traralgon for the weekend, and we ate at the only Mexican restaurant in town last night. Then we hit up the Star Bar, which is where Zack's work colleagues do karaoke on Wednesday nights when they're in town. A late-night cheese pizza hit the spot before we crashed in bed. We headed back to Melbourne on the train this morning, and Zack went straight to work again-no bueno! 

P.S. Last chance to enter the contest!

Camping and a Corella

On Sunday night, we did something rather random. We stopped by Woolie's to pick up some snacks (cheese and crackers, strawberries, chocolate, etc.) and wine, and then we walked across the street to set up our tent on the beach. We crawled inside, ate our little dinner, and played Farkle by candlelight while the rain started and the wind blew. It was totally spontaneous and fun, and that's what made it cool. You're not allowed to actually camp overnight on the beach, but nobody seems to stop you from setting up a tent for a couple of hours.

Check out this bird that landed next to our balcony today. I looked it up; it's a Western Long-billed Corella. As long as it doesn't swoop me, I like it!

There's not much else going on around here. We've had several gray and rainy days, and Zack is currently in Traralgon (a city a few hours away by train) for work. His big bike race is this weekend, so he's been busy training. Other than that, we've just been looking forward to my family's visit in November. Oh yeah, on Saturday night we finally made it out to The Espy, which is the famous Esplanade Hotel, for some live music. Okay, that's all for now.