Many apologies for the long break in the blog. The last week has been very busy and, well, it's kind of nice to escape from the internet for a while. So, to catch up, the most recent first.
The VTEC conference ended yesterday, and now it's just a few more days of playing tourist before I head back around the world. Having now 'survived' my first major conference, I'm hopefully a bit more knowledgeable about the state of research in the field and a bit wiser about the ever present 'politics' of research.
As I suspected, a number of posters took the slow route from the UK to Australia, but I think all were up by the end of the three days. My designated poster time was at the very end of the day on Tuesday, just before the gala dinner, so not surprisinglyI didn't have much in the way of visitors. But plenty of my handouts disappeared, so it appears people were interested. It was very interesting to finally match faces with all the names from papers and books, though much of the conference was of a very microbiological bent and thus not directly related to my work. Probably the most rewarding part of the conference was getting to reconnect and meet with people from the various Scottish institutions. Relaxed conversations over late night glasses of wine are often the best as far as getting honest assessments of facets of research, academic life and the VTEC world.
The gala dinner was one of the highlights. Held in the ballroom of the recently restored Regent Theatre, we had a fine dinner amongst Halloween-themed decorations. The energetic band, which played covers from the 60s to the 90s, managed to get just about everyone on the dance floor, regardless of age, nationality or dancing ability. We continued out for further drinks at a nearby bar, so there were plenty of bleary faces come Wednesday morning. On both Sunday and Wednesday night, I headed out to dinner & drinks with an assorted crowd of folks from various Scottish institutions. It was a bit sad to say goodbye to everyone after our excellent seafood meal last night, but I may well see a few faces at the Derby on Saturday, and will undoubtedly see them again in Scotland.
The Sunday before the meeting was quiet - mostly catching up on work before the opening reception, but on Saturday, Joanna and Bill Breen very kindly took me on a mini driving tour of the nearer section of the coastal road. We stopped briefly to see their son's artwork in the Geelong Art Gallery. Unfortunately the gallery was closed, but the painting was next to the window so visible by peeking in! After a cup of coffee/hot chocolate along the shores of the Port Phillip (?) Bay, we continued down the coast. Though we passed through the occasional shower, it was generally partly cloudy, windy and cool. There seemed to be some sort of surfing event at Bells Beach, more people were huddled up in the parking lot than actually out on surfboards. The Torquay area is supposed to be one of the best for surfing, but it's appeal is probably much higher on days with more sun and higher surf.
The road curves around coast, looking down onto spectacular surf and the occasional sparkling beach. Our far point was Lorne, where we had a delicious lunch overlooking the beach. The meal included what was probably the best fish & chips I've ever had - the fish was done in beer batter with cumin and chickpeas. All washed down with a nice Aussie beer. Normally, I'm not a beer person, but could hardly spend three weeks Down Under without sampling the local fare.
The day prior - Friday - I spent the day doing a bunch of touristy things I'd yet to have checked off my list of 'need-to-dos'. That included the Australian Racing Museum, the Ian Potter wing of the National Gallery, an attempt at finding the National Museum of Sport, the Docklands and the Victoria Market.
Of course, I had a good time checking out the history of horse racing in Australia, but found the National Gallery equally as intriguing. The Ian Potter 'wing' holds the Austrlian collection and has a great selection of both traditional and contemporary Aboriginal works plus a large selection of Australian painters. You could see where the Australian painters had gotten their inspirations, but it was a bit amazing at how much travelling they'd done. Until fairly recently, getting to Australia was a bit of a marathon (still is...), so for these 19th and early 20thC painters to be travelling back and forth from Europe was quite amazing.
I was completely unsuccessful at finding the Australian Museum of Sport, though I did get a nice close up view of the Cricket Stadium, where it is supposed to be located. The Docklands were underwhelming - very windy and still very much under construction. It has potential, but they need to get a lot more stores and attractions out there is more atmosphere and more things to do. Many of the booths at the Victoria Markets were closing by 4pm, but it was still a spectactular sight. The market, which is open 5 days a week, is a huge market - both inside and in massive open sided halls - which sells everything from fresh meat to fresh veggies to clothes. In the early morning it mainly serves the local restauranteurs and local merchants, but with so many different sellers, you can get a great deal on just about anything for your fridge or cupboard. There's even a whole organic section. I bought some nuts and sweets, then picked up flowers at the old Post Office Building.
Thursday, I started out at the fabulous Melbourne Museum. Despite the usual horde of schoolchildren, I throuroughly enjoyed the exhibits on bugs, the human body, evolution and of course, Phar Lap! The museum was built, or at least redone, very recently, so the exhibits are all very interactive, as well as being well thought out and thought provoking. Despite all the new fangled stuff, the Phar Lap section is clearly the crown jewel. Besides silks, pictures and other mementoes, the museum also is the home of Phar Laps mounted body. His heart and skeleton reside elswehere, but all 17.1 hands of the mighty horse preside majestically over his curtained section. Truly an impressive horse.
The museum also has a huge atrium housing an Australian forest exhibition. The knowledable docents point out the birds and answer questions on the flora & fauna.
Before the museum, I toured the old Melbourne Gaol. Only one wing remains - a long, arched, slightly claustrophic three tiered hall of cells. They've cleverly turned the main cells into series of exhibition halls, giving on a feeling of the cramped quarters and the history of the men and women who spent time there. Many of the cells were devoted to individual stories, each accompanied by a death mask made after the prisoner's execution. To see the faces of the executed peering out of the ghostly white masks really made the history come alive. One of the death masks was that of the famous Ned Kelly.
My third and final Museum stop of the day was the old Treasury. One of the most attractive and oldest buildings in town, it's now a musuem which covers the history of Melbourne and the gold 'industry". I enjoyed the upstairs exhibits, though most of the information on gold was conveyed via a series of videos. It was a nice idea, but it would have been helpful to have at least some information available to read, both for those who don't want to have to wait through the entire loop of each video and/or prefer to read rather than watch.
So that's been my most recent week in Oz. Now it's off to do some shopping.
The VTEC conference ended yesterday, and now it's just a few more days of playing tourist before I head back around the world. Having now 'survived' my first major conference, I'm hopefully a bit more knowledgeable about the state of research in the field and a bit wiser about the ever present 'politics' of research.
As I suspected, a number of posters took the slow route from the UK to Australia, but I think all were up by the end of the three days. My designated poster time was at the very end of the day on Tuesday, just before the gala dinner, so not surprisinglyI didn't have much in the way of visitors. But plenty of my handouts disappeared, so it appears people were interested. It was very interesting to finally match faces with all the names from papers and books, though much of the conference was of a very microbiological bent and thus not directly related to my work. Probably the most rewarding part of the conference was getting to reconnect and meet with people from the various Scottish institutions. Relaxed conversations over late night glasses of wine are often the best as far as getting honest assessments of facets of research, academic life and the VTEC world.
The gala dinner was one of the highlights. Held in the ballroom of the recently restored Regent Theatre, we had a fine dinner amongst Halloween-themed decorations. The energetic band, which played covers from the 60s to the 90s, managed to get just about everyone on the dance floor, regardless of age, nationality or dancing ability. We continued out for further drinks at a nearby bar, so there were plenty of bleary faces come Wednesday morning. On both Sunday and Wednesday night, I headed out to dinner & drinks with an assorted crowd of folks from various Scottish institutions. It was a bit sad to say goodbye to everyone after our excellent seafood meal last night, but I may well see a few faces at the Derby on Saturday, and will undoubtedly see them again in Scotland.
The Sunday before the meeting was quiet - mostly catching up on work before the opening reception, but on Saturday, Joanna and Bill Breen very kindly took me on a mini driving tour of the nearer section of the coastal road. We stopped briefly to see their son's artwork in the Geelong Art Gallery. Unfortunately the gallery was closed, but the painting was next to the window so visible by peeking in! After a cup of coffee/hot chocolate along the shores of the Port Phillip (?) Bay, we continued down the coast. Though we passed through the occasional shower, it was generally partly cloudy, windy and cool. There seemed to be some sort of surfing event at Bells Beach, more people were huddled up in the parking lot than actually out on surfboards. The Torquay area is supposed to be one of the best for surfing, but it's appeal is probably much higher on days with more sun and higher surf.
The road curves around coast, looking down onto spectacular surf and the occasional sparkling beach. Our far point was Lorne, where we had a delicious lunch overlooking the beach. The meal included what was probably the best fish & chips I've ever had - the fish was done in beer batter with cumin and chickpeas. All washed down with a nice Aussie beer. Normally, I'm not a beer person, but could hardly spend three weeks Down Under without sampling the local fare.
The day prior - Friday - I spent the day doing a bunch of touristy things I'd yet to have checked off my list of 'need-to-dos'. That included the Australian Racing Museum, the Ian Potter wing of the National Gallery, an attempt at finding the National Museum of Sport, the Docklands and the Victoria Market.
Of course, I had a good time checking out the history of horse racing in Australia, but found the National Gallery equally as intriguing. The Ian Potter 'wing' holds the Austrlian collection and has a great selection of both traditional and contemporary Aboriginal works plus a large selection of Australian painters. You could see where the Australian painters had gotten their inspirations, but it was a bit amazing at how much travelling they'd done. Until fairly recently, getting to Australia was a bit of a marathon (still is...), so for these 19th and early 20thC painters to be travelling back and forth from Europe was quite amazing.
I was completely unsuccessful at finding the Australian Museum of Sport, though I did get a nice close up view of the Cricket Stadium, where it is supposed to be located. The Docklands were underwhelming - very windy and still very much under construction. It has potential, but they need to get a lot more stores and attractions out there is more atmosphere and more things to do. Many of the booths at the Victoria Markets were closing by 4pm, but it was still a spectactular sight. The market, which is open 5 days a week, is a huge market - both inside and in massive open sided halls - which sells everything from fresh meat to fresh veggies to clothes. In the early morning it mainly serves the local restauranteurs and local merchants, but with so many different sellers, you can get a great deal on just about anything for your fridge or cupboard. There's even a whole organic section. I bought some nuts and sweets, then picked up flowers at the old Post Office Building.
Thursday, I started out at the fabulous Melbourne Museum. Despite the usual horde of schoolchildren, I throuroughly enjoyed the exhibits on bugs, the human body, evolution and of course, Phar Lap! The museum was built, or at least redone, very recently, so the exhibits are all very interactive, as well as being well thought out and thought provoking. Despite all the new fangled stuff, the Phar Lap section is clearly the crown jewel. Besides silks, pictures and other mementoes, the museum also is the home of Phar Laps mounted body. His heart and skeleton reside elswehere, but all 17.1 hands of the mighty horse preside majestically over his curtained section. Truly an impressive horse.
The museum also has a huge atrium housing an Australian forest exhibition. The knowledable docents point out the birds and answer questions on the flora & fauna.
Before the museum, I toured the old Melbourne Gaol. Only one wing remains - a long, arched, slightly claustrophic three tiered hall of cells. They've cleverly turned the main cells into series of exhibition halls, giving on a feeling of the cramped quarters and the history of the men and women who spent time there. Many of the cells were devoted to individual stories, each accompanied by a death mask made after the prisoner's execution. To see the faces of the executed peering out of the ghostly white masks really made the history come alive. One of the death masks was that of the famous Ned Kelly.
My third and final Museum stop of the day was the old Treasury. One of the most attractive and oldest buildings in town, it's now a musuem which covers the history of Melbourne and the gold 'industry". I enjoyed the upstairs exhibits, though most of the information on gold was conveyed via a series of videos. It was a nice idea, but it would have been helpful to have at least some information available to read, both for those who don't want to have to wait through the entire loop of each video and/or prefer to read rather than watch.
So that's been my most recent week in Oz. Now it's off to do some shopping.
posted by Scottish Missy at 2:42 PM
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