Monday
Bloggers’ Dinner at Bhoj Indian Restaurant.
Meet 5:30pm at VALA Rego desk, Melbourne Convention Centre. Bhoj is at 54 Promenade, New Quay, Docklands.
Tuesday
VALA begins.
1-2pm Primo demo. Bridge Room 1, Crowne Plaza, 1-5 Spencer Street
7pm OCLC Dinner
Level 89, Eureka Tower
7 Riverside Quay
Southbank
Wednesday
12 - 2 ExLibris Strategic Directors’ Meeting
Bridge Room 1, Crowne Plaza, 1-5 Spencer Street
1:25 - 1:40 Blog @ Your Library (Showcase)
Exhibition Hall, Melbourne Convention Centre
(Support my colleague Sarah Edmunds; I was to have presented this with her but I will be at the ExLibris meeting)
2:35 - 3:05 Libraries interact: collaboration and community in the Australian library blogosphere with Kathryn.
5:30 - 6:30 ExLibris drinks.
Corporate Lounge. Crowne Plaza, 1-5 Spencer Street
Thursday
Last day of conference.
And this is not including all the exploring and adventures with M!
We’ll be in Melbourne on Sunday, and this week has been incredibly hectic, with birthdays, cake making, Chinese New Year card writing, and all sorts of last minute tasks to do before the trip.
I almost wish we were going to Sydney instead, because I know what I like to do in Sydney (and there’s a Kinokuniya there!) - but I have no idea what’s where in Melbourne. This will be my third and longest visit to Melbourne, so hopefully I will do enough exploring to change this.
I’m wondering what the food will be like. Hopefully it won’t be too difficult to find vegetarian fare.
I think the other reason I’m a bit anxious is the fact that Paco will be staying at his breeder’s while we are away. Hopefully he enjoys having other chis around for company, and doesn’t miss us too much!
Yesterday was the day of The Race That Stops A Nation. For my non-Australian readers, it was the Melbourne Cup, an annual horse race that falls every year on the second Tuesday of November, is a public holiday in Melbourne, and is generally A Very Big Deal all across the country. I don’t really know why it’s such a big deal, but it is.
For us in Western Australia, the race itself actually runs a little after midday (3pm Over East), perfect timing for lunch - so at work we always organise a lunch to celebrate the event. Lunch always seems to be roast chicken and assorted nibbles - the nibbles vary (I had olives, coleslaw, pasta salad, sushi, crackers and cheese) but the chicken seems to be a staple. We all crowd into our staff room on top of the library and sit around watching the race on a big screen. Yesterday’s race was a bit of a nailbiter and it was good to hear the gasps and cheers as people watched the finish.
We also run ’sweeps’ at our work (I think most workplaces do - the local rag even had a special pullout designed for use as a poster in the office, complete with horse names and riders’ colours and space to write down the names of the people who won first, second, and third prize). It’s the only time of the year that I gamble. How it works, is, for a dollar or two, you stick your hand in an envelope and pull out a horse’s name. If it wins you win some of the money in the envelope. The horse I drew was Mahtoum - was it still running when Delta Blues finished? (Congrats to Dee!)
Picture from The Australian.
