18. Eurovision 2009 - Moscow

So it was my first year actually watching Eurovision on TV and not on the internet or YouTube. For those of you who don't know, Eurovision is a song contest that most of the countries in Europe compete in. I am not too sure what they get, asides from probably a record deal in their home country, but it's a pretty big deal nonetheless. It's also quite the spectacle!



They show it on TV here in 3 pieces. The first 2 semi-finals, where they select 10 from each semi-final to move to the final. This is where you see random shit (like the giant Babushka above) in the performances and hear some pretty terrible songs. You also get an idea of who will end up as a front runner. For me personally, I loved Iceland and really enjoyed Portugal as well. The ones I hate: Hungary and Greece. The local television channel that was airing Eurovision kept rattling on about the Australian connection with the Greek song, which I might add was a horrific attempt to sound like a Kylie Minogue song.



The girl above, from Albania, was a bit of an underdog. She is like 16 but really really good. She had quite a catchy song but unfortunately only made it to 17th place in the Grand Final. The front runner, Norway, really ran ahead. It was quite a ridiculous lead he had. You could tell the Australian commentators were getting bored of the whole thing by about hour 2. They kept trying to crack jokes and quickly started making jibes at different people. It was entertaining anyways. Iceland, one of my personal favourites (whose song sounded a lot like something Roxette would have released) came in second place! She was looking stunning in blue (as pictured below). And the UK managed their best showing in quite a few years by placing 5th. They did require the help of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren to write their entry though.



Overall it was an entertaining show to follow this year!

17. Hobart

So sorry for my lack of posts! I have been keeping my head down working hard and it's paying off. My performance level is quite good, so that's good to hear.

I finally decided to visit somewhere outside of Sydney last weekend and chose Hobart. Who wouldn't want to go to Tasmania! It was quite an cool time to go, but still had good weather. The flight was interesting. It was 2 hours direct from Sydney and it was a plane with 2 rows of 3 seats. I told Mark (whom came with me) that whenever I sit on a plane where there are 3 seats, I either get a screaming child, or an obese man who takes up half my seat. What was my lucky fate for this flight? I'll let you guess. Bad body odour, the smell of cheese and half my seat gone later, we arrived in Hobart!

Mark ran into family there (since he's from there) and we ended up meeting up with them again later on. Our first day we went to Port Arthur, Australia's oldest prison settlement. It was beautiful, but also quite interesting to see. A lot of the buildings are in ruins due to bushfires in the areas in the late 1800's, but the area is beautifully manicured and restored now. My favourite parts were seeing the church as well as the actual penitentiary.



The next day we went to the Salamanca markets and they were very interesting. It's much like any market, but very interesting items can be found. It started to rain for the day, so we ended up looking at local art in the galleries around the markets, then had a lovely dinner. Food in Tasmania is much the same everywhere, but you do have to look hard to find some great spots. One of which was a restaurant called "Smolt"...very yummy!

The last day in Hobart, we faffed about and went to Richmond (where you can find the oldest bridge in Australia), a winery on the way (where we tried virtually every wine, and bought a few bottles as well hehe) and then went to this national park where you can find Wine Glass Bay. It was a spectacular drive and eventually a beautiful bay, though admittedly, we left it a little late in the day. We nearly freaked out on the way back as we were driving country roads in the dark and there is a lot of wildlife on the roads. I should say that I freaked I guess because Mark saw a wallaby on the side of the road and I saw it just as it was by the car and I freaked out lol.

Anyways, we made it back okay and for anyone who comes to Australia, you really need to visit Tassie!