I've recently returned from a work trip which included my first ever visits to the Philippines and India. The purpose of the trip was to carry out a PCI DSS audit for one of my clients. As is the way these days my client has outsourced their call centre to a company in Manila, and have also … read more

A couple of weeks ago I went on an Adventure Sailing Day courtesy of a gift experience that Rach bought me for my birthday. The Yacht I went on, which is called Solo, has quite a spectacular history. It has won the Sydney to Hobart race four times and circumnavigated the world 3 times. Also, it was … read more

We've recently returned from a memorable week on the Fraser Coast which included Whale Watching, a day on the world heritage listed Fraser Island and a trip to historic Maryborough. Whale Watching The highlight of the week was definitely our trip out into Hervey Bay itself to see the Humpback … read more

Continuing with the wedding planning, on the 13th April we went away for the weekend (well, just one night actually) as we had a decision to make. After setting the date we wanted to get the invites out in the post as soon as possible so we could give friends and family in the UK plenty of notice. … read more

Why is it that the word 'Wedding' automatically adds $$$ to the cost of things? This weekend we went up to Noosa for a wedding fayre. Yes, you would be right in thinking that attending a wedding fayre is is not in my top 5 things to do on a Sunday. However, sensing that I would immediately come up … read more

Me and Rachelle have been together over 9 years now and engaged for quite a few of those. We have a 7 year-old daughter, and most people just presume that we're already married. Rachelle often gets called Mrs Haines and never bothers to correct them. She's been nagging me for quite a while to agree … read more

This weekend gone we went up to Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast for a couple of nights. Our neighbours, George and Julie, had already booked an apartment and encouraged us to do the same. Unfortunately, when we went to book they only had 1 apartment left, on the Ground Floor. It didn't sound too … read more

This week I've been to Newcastle, and I didn't spot a single Geordie! Actually, Newcastle in New South Wales does have some similarities with its namesake in north east England, and in some parts does look a lot like other areas on the north east coast of England. It particularly reminded me of … read more

Xmas has been and gone for another year. I had a couple of weeks off work, along with Rach, so we were able to make the most of it and take her Mum and Dad for a spot of sightseeing. Rach’s Mum and Dad are leaving on Saturday and they seem to have had an enjoyable time, although Rachelle’s Mum has … read more

A couple of weeks ago we spent a night away in luxury at the 5 start Sheraton Mirage Resort and Spa Hotel on the Gold Coast, courtesy of a hotel voucher from Rach's boss in thanks for Rach selling one of the Marina berths. Rach has already blogged about this on her own blog so I won't repeat it … read more

Continuing our quest to discover Brisbane and the surrounding areas, on Sunday we spent the day at Bribie Island. Bribie Island is approx an hour's drive north of Brisbane and the only Island close to Brisbane that is connected by a bridge. We started out at Bongaree which is on the South East of … read more

Back in Sydney again. Just a flying visit this time (24 hours). At the airport I heard the announcement "Darren Gough please proceed immediately to Gate 39". Of course I had a look round to see if, unlikely as it would be, it was THE Darren Gough. The strange coincidence is that when I got to my … read more

This week I've made my first visit to our nation's capital - Canberra - for a 6-day course in Hacker Techniques, Exploits and Incident Handling. Canberra is a strange little city. It seems to me to be a cross-between Washington and Milton Keynes, in that it's clearly a Government town; the Federal … read more

My parents are on their way home and so ends a fabulous 4 weeks. The time flew by but they definitely made the most of their first visit to Australia. With the exception of Sydney most of their time was spent with us - I certainly haven't got much leave left to take from work for the rest of this … read more

Last Sunday we returned from a fantastic week's holiday in Palm Cove. Palm Cove is a small resort just north of Cairns in Far Northern Queensland, and an ideal base for exploring the World Heritage Sites of the Great Barrier Reef and Rainforests. [googlemaps … read more

Back in Sydney again. I decided to stay in a serviced apartment again this time (as I did the week before xmas), however it’s a pleasure to discover that these Meriton apartments are much nicer, more conveniently located, yet roughly the same price as the Medina Executive Apartments I stayed in last … read more

I'm currently in Sydney for a couple of days meeting with a client - my first business trip of what I'm told will be many for my new employer. I flew up yesterday afternoon with a colleague who I'm taking over from on this particular client project as he's leaving next week. We're staying in the … read more

Last Thursday, Rachelle picked me up straight from work and we drove 2 hours north to Noosa on the northern end of the Sunshine Coast. I had booked an apartment for us at the Noosa Tropicana. Noosa is beautiful, and includes beautiful white sand beaches; a large national park complete with … read more

Knowing that the traffic would be bad yesterday as it was a public holiday (just like in the UK on a Bank Holiday Monday), and taking advantage of the fact that we’re both unemployed bums at the moment, we had a lazy day on Monday and decided to go to the beach today instead. We drove down to the … read more

I haven't posted for a few days as it's been a bit hectic emigrating and all that. I'll try and catch up now starting with our stopover in LA. Also, I haven't had chance to upload the photo's yet so I'll update this post with our photo's in a few days... We started our first day in LA with an … read more