Evolution of the Aussie Male

Mark Latham has done us Aussie guys no favours in the UK with his recent book release.

I found the below cartoon when reading through the Daily Mail yesterday, it was pretty amusing. Make sure you fill out the survey.

Below is a survey to find out the truth!

Aussie Males

The typical Aussie Male is?

A metrosexual who cares more about his facial care products then the price of a beer at the local A tanned surfer with bleached hair A Steve Erwin look alike A fat slob with a beergut, one hand holding a beer the other a ciggy A drunk in a Wallabies jersey Nice, caring, hardworking and helpful A racist thug Smart professional None of the above

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Below is also a collection of news articles related to the story.

• Metrosexual tension down under Guardian Unlimited, UK
• YOU'VE gotta love Mark Latham Glasgow Daily Record, UK
• Last larrikin laments death of the real blokes Times Online, UK
• Strewth mate, the blokes have all gone metrosexual Scotsman, United Kingdom

Any comments?

Acton / Ealing

I decided to post some photos of the local Acton and Ealing area so you get an idea of what its like around here.

It started getting cold for the first time last night, I hope I am prepared for the bitter English winter! I might book some flights to southern Spain and Portugul now actually. I also just found out that the terror warning has gone down from Critical to Severe, how reassuring!

Acton Town tube station which I use every morning, you get a free paper on the way in called the Metro so its not that bad. The only problem is you rarely get a seat in rush hour.	Our local Royal Mail postbox
The Redback Tavern, one of the best Aussie bars in London(Apparently). They play some good live music and best of all its just down the road.	The Red Lion and Pineapple, great for a decent priced meal and Beer.
Acton Town, the best and cleanest Station in London ;-)	A local squirrel from Gunnersbury Park, there are hundreds of them in there.
The large mansion in Gunnersbury Park, just across the road from our place.

Oxford

Apparently Oxford is known as the "city of dreaming spires" due to the harmonious architecture of the university buildings. The River Thames also runs through Oxford and you can hire punts to take out for a scenic look around the city. I noticed the beer was a lot cheaper then London, one pub had pints for 1.60 pounds and Carlsberg bottles for 1 pound. They also had a meal deal for 4 pounds which was a massive burger, chips and a pint of your choosing.

One of the funniest things we saw was a drunken drag queen and his boyfriend doing donuts on the river in their hired motor boat. They ran into a couple having a romantic cruise on a punt but luckily didn't knock them into the water. They also ran into the pier and attempted to tie up their boat, except it was the wrong one!

Adam, Michelle and me walked around most of the city and saw the famous universities and some sites where they filmed Harry Potter. Overall it was a great day trip from London that I would highly recommend.

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Mansions house party

Here are a few photos of whats been happening at the Mansions over the last few weeks.

London at night

We went for a walk Friday night around Tower Bridge and Westminster to take photos of London at night, unfortunately most didn't turn out too well. I am in need of a camera that can take a decent night shot without being blurry, anyway here are a few that are half decent.

Parents arrive!

Ann and Keith arrived in London from Amsterdam on the Eurostar on Saturday morning. They were living it up in Paddington, with a room almost twice the size of our living room. After getting some nice pressies and general catching up we went to a English pub (surprisingly we didn't treat them to an Aussie pie and a snakebike at the nearest walkabout) called the Mitre, where we had some great food and a few wines and shared some travel stories. Leaving them at around 10ish we planned to meet up the next day.

We met them again on the Sunday and said our goodbyes, they are off to Ireland for a week then back home.

Night at the Shaftesbury Walkabout

On Friday night I met up with a few of the boys who had just come back from a Contiki tour through Europe. Shooter, Adam and Michelle, Marion, Sally and Wilson also made an appearance.We kept up the solid drinking form and had a massive night on the snakebites (Beer and Cider).

We stayed there until near closing time so it was the first time I missed the last tube which stops running at 12am. It wont be happening again soon thats for sure. After spending an hour or so trying to find a bus I decided to go back to Adams place which was a lot closer (near Canary Wharf). I met Adams flatmate when I woke up on the couch at 7am, after a brief introduction I thought I had better get home. I found an overland train with a connection to the tube system, got on that but didnt validate my Osytercard (swipe ticket). Unfortunality for me there was a ticket inspector on board, after a long spiel about how I couldnt find a validation machine and how it was my first time on a DLR I managed to get away with a caution which he added to my oystercard history. The pommy sitting next to me wasnt so lucky!

The party continued when I got home (9am), the NRL finals were on as well as the Wallabies VS South Africa. Both of my teams played horrible games and lost. After the games Melissa and me went into Piccadilly to catch up with my parents who had just got in from Amsterdam, they were only staying a couple of days then heading to Ireland. We went to the local pub and had a few drinks and a nice meal. After that headed out to the Kings Arms for a flatmates going away but thats another story.

2006 Oyster and Seafood Fair

A seafood festival just happened to be right under my building near London Bridge last Friday. Apparently its all about locally-sourced, seasonal produce and the start of the British oyster season. I sampled some seafood paella and went for a stroll around the area taking some photos of the local scenery including the famous Tower Bridge and the battle cruiser HMAS Belfast which is moored outside my window.

It was a great way to start the weekend.