Australian Opportunity

Somehow the gods smiled upon me last week, because I got sent to Australia (!!) for a conference by Desire2Learn for 12 days.  Coles notes:  conference was a hit, everything is expensive, Australians in general don’t go to Tasmania but think it’s beautiful and charming (which it is!), Brisbane is like Miami on a river, and in broad strokes Australians are … intense. As a people.  Needless to say, awesome experience.

The Conference

Desire2Learn hosted a successful Asia-Pac Teaching and Learning Conference in Melbourne. The conference itself was a hit (Jill said enrolment was about 50% higher than expected), and the Marriott was a great venue. The majority of attendees were either D2L clients, prospects, or participants in our ecosystem.  D2L sent about a dozen people from North America, but primarily it was great meeting the Australia-based team (growing to 30 by year’s end?!).

Four D2L'ers at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne

The Conference Crew

From what I saw the quality of the presentations and conversation was very high – clients were excited about the platform and what they’re doing with it, so the energy in the crowd was natural. I didn’t experience a Mini-Fusion - the focus was on new opportunities and potential projects, more so than the established usage patterns that dominate my attention at Fusion.

Tasmania the Beautiful

We spent a few days in Tasmania on the request of the good people at UTAS, and that was my trip highlight.  Tasmania is nature at its finest, especially that bit around Port Arthur.  We saw the tessalated rocks, giant arches, and that silent coastline that reminds you there’s nothing between you and Antarctica.

Dariusz at the Tessalated Rocks in Pirate Bay

Tessalated Rocks, Tasmania

Hobart was a surprising city.  It was very hip and modern, much like the rest of the Aussie cities I visited, but with a distinct East Coast feel.  Take Halifax, inject a museum of modern art,  ”buy local” dining, and you get Hobart.  We ended up spending most of the second day there at a wildlife sanctuary feeding kangaroos and watching Tasmanian Devils be crazy.

The City Life

I split my urban time in Australia between Melbourne and Brisbane.  Both cities were modern (80′s pants), trendy (hair in top bun), expensive ($4.50 “coffee”) .. whatever you want to call it, definitely inspiring places to be.  The cities were more approachable than Toronto or New York.   Good food, good art, and well dressed working people seem normal there, not confined to King West or wherever is cool in Manhattan now.

Architecture isn’t something that really draws my attention but holy shit, Melbourne just smashes you over the head with it.  The mix between modern and Victorian is in your face and hard to miss.  Especially on the RMIT campus, which is worth spending an afternoon just walking around in.

RMIT Building 8

RMIT Building 8

Brisbane was different.  The city is about an hour from the gorgeous Sunshine Coast, with a dominant river snaking through it.  The city scape is impressive.   It sprawls in ever direction from this river, albeit urban planning is a mess.  Main roads just … end, after winding and turning between these really distinct neighbourhoods.   The CBD is littered with trendy rooftop patio restaurants and beautiful people from a distinctly private school crowd.  The Valley, about a 10 minute walk away, comes to life with night clubs, dive bars, drug addicts, hip hop joints … and had me in a death grip of partying from 1-4am.

Brisbane Skyline from the River

Brisbane Skyline from the River

Intense is Normal

And it was in Brisbane I really picked up on the intensity that Australians put out there.  Backpacking through Europe you hear the warnings of staying away from the Aussies unless you want to end up in a drunken yelling match with some guy who doesn’t see a sucker-punch as anything worth ruining a friendship over.

Kangaroo Staring at Me

How Ya Goin’

But that’s the social character:  boisterous and in each others face, especially if you’re mates.  The side product is lots of swearing, machismo, and a “be mean to keep ‘em keen” attitude after midnight. I didn’t appreciate how much shit-talk Aussies hurl at each other.  Michael, one of my gracious hosts, explained that being too nice to your buds is generally loser-talk, and it’s your job to reign in your best mate from getting an ego.

Though the expectation then is that people get egos because they are generally awesome, in shape, go-getters who are doing something with themselves. And that’s the impression I left Australia with.

Canadians could learn a thing or two from the Aussies – do a better job of making things happen, and embracing this world as your oyster.  Their opportunism is contagious.

 

Vimeo and Puerto Rico

I know I’m probably pretty late to this bandwagon, but I never realised just how much amazing content there is on Vimeo.  YouTube may be the king of video quantity, but sometimes (often? all the time?) I want to see original videos on interesting topics, in HD.

The artist community on Vimeo is really strong, as are the corporate entities (such as The White House) that publish on that site.  About an hour into exploring, I’ve watched a half-dozen mini-documentaries and some really great visual stories.  The one below is my favourite today.

Look around from kokooma on Vimeo.

Uploading Puerto Rico

As far as uploading, I’ve read that the video quality/colour/sound  is much better for free Vimeo accounts than YouTube, even in 480p. Judge for yourself, I put up a hastily edited video from my Puerto Rico trip on YouTube, as well as Vimeo.  Take a look, we had a pretty sweet vacation.

Planning a trip to Costa Alegre, Mexico

o my buddy Andy and I have decided to do a little Mexican vacation, but opted to avoid the typical all-inclusive resort. We’re flying in and out of Manzanillo (airport code ZLO), and doing a seven-day backpacking/beaching adventure around that area.  The beachy coast is referred to as the Costa Alegre, “Coast of Happiness.”  Sweet!

The two provinces we’ll be visiting are Colima and Jalisco, both of which are on the Pacific Coast. The big cities around are Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara, Colima, and Manzanillo, all within a 5 hour bus ride of each other.

Rather than bussing it, we’re going to rent a car.  If we were travelling for longer, we wouldn’t have bothered with the car, but it’s just so inexpensive.  We’re renting from Thrifty at the Manzanillo airport. For a 7 day rental of a compact car, with a manual transmission, unlimited kilometers, it costs $CDN 105 with all taxes (advertised price was $US 67) and fees.  Insurance is seperate, and closer to another $100, but you buy it at the time of the rental.

Itinerary

We set our itinerary based on the stuff we read online, as well as the the PDF copy of the Lonely Planet guide for that area.  It looks something like this:

Day 1 and 2 – Manzanillo.  Sounds like a great little city, busiest port in Mexico; lots of surf, sand, and nightlife, as well as plenty of hotel options.  Good place to get our bearings.

Day 3 – Colima.  We were curious what the non-beach part of Mexico looks like, and apparently the volcano near Colima is really something to see.    Planned on doing a Sunday walk, eat at a nice restaurant, and maybe get some nature in.  There is a large biosphere reserve in the area.

Day 4 – Cuyutlan/El Paraiso.  A couple of beach town about 50 km south-east of Manzanillo, with black sand beaches. Not well travelled by fellow North Americans.  Inexpensive and family oriented, might be a great place to experience some authentic Mexican family culture.

Day 5-7 – Melaque/Barra de Navidad – Decidedly the most touristy destination on our trip; beach after beach after beach, street-food, and lots of fellow Canadians.

Hotels or Hostels?

We decided to try to book the following hotels, given a budget of about $US 20 / per person / per night, which is just slightly above what local hostels charge.  To be honest, we were not excited about the hostelling prospects in the area: there aren’t many, and the reviews online have been bleak.

We made a list of small hotels that we would try to book, based on online reviews and mentions in the Lonely Planet guide. So hoping to make reservations (there were no online reservation options), I decided to give a few of them a call.  Unfortunately, nobody on the other end spoke English, so the process went poorly.

Me: “Hola, speak English?”
Them: “No English.”
Me: “Ahh, ok.  Reservation, por dos hombres, dos noches?”
Them: “Lo siento, no English ..” <saddened tone>
Me: “OK, buenos noches.”

We asked a Mexican friend to call and get prices for a room with two beds, for two people. All phone numbers start with +52.

Manzanillo
1. Hotel Colonial – (314) 332-1080 – 600 pesos.
2. San Jose – (314) 332 5105 – 400 pesos.

Colima
1. Hospedajes Del Rey Hotel – (312)  313-3683 – 450 pesos, no A/C.
2. Dinastia – (312)  330-4002 -498 with A/C, 264 no A/C.

Cuyutlan
1. Posada del Sol – (313) 326 4029 – ??
2. Hotel Morelos – (313) 326 4013 – 390 pesos per person, includes 3 meals / day.

Melaque/Barra de Navidad
1. Bahia -  (315) 355 6894 – 500 pesos.
2. Las Brisas – (315) 355 5108 – 450 pesos.
3. Trivento – (315) 355-7068 (in Barra de Navidad) – ??

It feels much more real now than a few days ago, and I’m starting to get excited and nervous.

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