Indoor volleyball is on again...

... and we started with 2 wins into the new season! I'm playing with the men's Honours Team of the Melbourne University Renegades in the top volleyball league of the state Victoria. After the ups and downs last year I hope stay in the best team for this year and contribute to a good season. The start was promising, let's hope we/I can keep up the good shape.

FYI: the results are online on http://www.volleyballvictoria.com.au/vvl2008/results/

Camping during Easter

Bushwalking around Lake Eildon,
originally uploaded by bernd ploderer.

Finally I uploaded a few pictures from the camping trip over Easter to my flickr account. Shawn, Emy, Tom, Juri ... took me to Lake Eildon, which is a few hours north of Melbourne. We did the obligatory bush walks (even one at night, though the bloody possums were hiding away ;-) We then spent 2 days at the Nagambie River, where we went canoing and kayaking to wineries. In summary 4 days with great people, wonderful weather, and surrounded by nature :)

Guest in Melbourne

St. Kilda Pier,
originally uploaded by bernd ploderer.

It's been a while since the last blog entry. I moved to a new place and had a lot of work to do for my studies, so not much to post in here.

This week, Frank, a friend from Salzburg, has been visiting me in Melbourne. It's always strange to see a friend from Austria here in down under, but at the same time it's great I can show him my new home and chat about old times. He went to volleyball training with me and yesterday I showed him a few places in the city. I put some snapshots on flickr and hope I can attract a few more of you to come and visit me.

Some impressions...

budapest,
originally uploaded by bernd ploderer.

from my holidays at home in Austria and in Hungary are on Flickr. It was cold, but it was great to come home after 10 months and to spend time with family and friends, and it felt like as if I had just left a week ago.

my new home

my new home,
originally uploaded by bernd ploderer.

I moved to a new place in Brunswick East this weekend. It's is a little bit further away from uni and the city, but more affordable and definitely more sociable: Now I share a house with 2 volleyballers, Eric & Jared. The first evening (and also Australia Day) was celebrated with a BBQ! I like it here, and we've got space for visitors to stay if you come to down under :)

subpersonic xmas tour 2007 / 2008

fake plastic tree,
originally uploaded by bernd ploderer.

This is announcement of the official tour locations for the subpersonic Xmas tour through Austria & Hungary from 22 Dec 2007 to 14 Jan 2008: Auersbach, Feldbach, Budapest, Salzburg & Graz.

Hope to see you all soon & have a Merry Xmas!

Surf fever

Surfing at Torquay with Romain et al.,
originally uploaded by bernd ploderer.

Looking forward to going home for Xmas, but before that I had to try surfing. Last Saturday a group of French, Germans, Austrians and locals went to Torquay and tried to learn surfing. Very challenging, but we had a great teacher. So I had a few stands already after a few hours (but still terrible technique and posture)
On Sunday we got up at 6am (can you believe that, me getting up at that time? voluntarily! ;-) The waves were small and clear, perfect for me to get a bit better.
Had a great weekend and still thinking of the waves. Definitely to be continued...