This visit was largely to allow me to prepare for my return to Australia later in the year. As such, it was mostly busy with the somewhat mundane aspects, such as creating a bank account and getting a mobile (aka cell) phone account. This would prove especially useful in Europe in July, where GSM is the main mobile phone system, as it is in Australia.
The other major objective was to create a small data centre so that later in the year (probably about August) I would be able to logically move bluegum.com to Sydney from Seattle. This meant installing and operating a DSL service in Australia, which is somewhat different to the system used by Verizon in the USA. Specifically, one cany a DSL modem from any of the major manufacturers and "just plug it into the DSL enabled line".
Life turned out a little more complex than that, but in the end it was operating to my satisfaction by the time I left.
I didn't take many photos, since much of what I had to do was not very photogenic. However, a number of family events left room for some photographs:
Overall, the trip was quite successful, and really eased my return in October.
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