Brazil for the third time - Curitiba and Cambourio

So after being at Florianopolis, Buzios and Rio de Janeiro on previous visits to Brazil it was now time for a shorter trip from Curitiba where we work when being in Brazil.

A former colleague and I went to Cambourio for the weekend and managed to spend the days in the shadow drinking some cold beers, swimming and just enjoying the Brazilian beach, waves and views.. I've had worse days this year I must say

Brisbane & Wellington & Sydney September 2006

You gotta love the iPod

Roller blading with Graeme at Manly beach

Sun setting over Harbour Bridge

Manly beach

The opera house

My place

In the botanic garden

Rugby in Wellington

Wellington

Yeah!

B-e-a-utiful

More than words

I'm speechless

Some hairy cattle close to the house of Bruce´s

Ancient church in the NZ countryside

Stop whining

Wide open space of wine on the tundra where the grapes grow bitten by the wind

Dizzy picture.. but some of the wine has to be shown

The second vineyard, also in Martinborough, called Burnt Spur

Bruce and Paula who accmpanied me to the vineyards. Here at lunch. Thanks for being so extremely hospitable

Some colourful flowers at the first vineyard we visited in Martinborough, NZ

Meander roads in hilly surroundigs of broken ground and loads of forrest

The only pic from Brisbane that was sharp enough. I have to get to know my camera again, or buy a new and better one

Finally I got the opportunity to go to Australia. Even better, not only Aussie but also New Zealand. Even though I went there for work I got some moments that were not work related and it was as awesome as expected. First week I was in Brisbane. After arriving late Saturday local time I was looking forward to going to the Gold Coast/Surfers Paradise on Sunday.. However the wheather in Brisbane was a lot worse than normally. It was grey, rainy and about 15 degrees, so no Gold Coast. Instead Kristin and Patrick took me on a car ride through Brisbane. Brisbane feels pretty much like Gothenburg with the big river and so forth. Especially on a rainy day. We had lunch at one place (a 'hotel' which is pretty much not a hotel in the sense we usually refer to but it was a nice beer and burger place), a glass of wine at another place and a coffee at a third place. Kristin and Patrick took good care of me all week long and for that I am grateful. I had met Kristin before so I knew that she's a really nice person but I also quickly found out her boyfriend is a very nice fella' as well.

Most of the time in Brisbane was work related. But I did get the opportunity to meet upp with Graeme (former work colleague and friend of mine) and Ally (Graeme's wife) for a dinner as well. It was great to see Graeme again. There are so many memories of things we've experienced together to discuss and also lots of different people that we both know that is good to update each others about. Not to forget all the travelling G & A have been doing lately that is so interesting to hear about. I so wanna go to the Galapagos islands! Check out their adventures in their blog!

After five days of work I took off to Wellington to spend the weekend there. NZ was as amazing as I was hoping for. The weekend was an experience beyond others and I was really good taken care of by Bruce and his wife Paula. In addition to visiting to Vineyards (in the Martinborough area) I also spent the weekend on the countryside, drove a four-wheeler and went back to Wellington on Sunday afternoon to get a cultural experience by visiting a live game of rugby together with David.

Last but not least I travelled to Sydney for a few days off (3,5 days). Sydney was great! First of all I was touristing a lot but I also got to spend some time at the Manly beach. Among other things I went roller blading in the beach area with Graeme. I was also invited to dinner at Graeme's and Ally's. We had a really good time, and again thanks G & A!

World Cup Football Berlin June -06

Grattis Östermalm! Dressman öppnar butik hos er i dagarna

Grattis Västerås! Nu kommer Dressman även till er

We are sooo happy after winning the game

Happy people never fantasize

Just before entering the arena.. Swedes everywhere.. Eins, zwei, drei, krossa Paraguay!

Supporting our players with this flag (in the colours of Swedish liberalism instead of yellow/blue)

Lanke

Posing in front of funny advertising (me, Ola, Hubbe)

Amazing but true, I got the opportunity to watch Sweden vs Paraguay live in Berlin with Fred and Ola. I was on my way back to Sweden from Dubai when we got the awesome news that we got tickets. So I changed my flight from Frankfurt to Gothenburg to Berlin instead. We had some of the best days ever in Berlin and on the way home also in Binz, Germany.

The maffia boys

breakfast the morning after...

bouillabaisse is great

cheers

gött som go körv

our opponents

Dejvan is looking really professional in the Frolunda jersey

second place is the first looser

A winter day in February 7 gentlemen got together starting the day off playing ice-hockey. After that we had an excellent three-course dinner containing; prawn toasts for appetizers, bouillabaisse (made of the best primary produces from the ocean that were available; catfish, cod, salmon, angler fish, halibut, sea mussels, crayfish, prawns to mention some) finishing with cremé brulée. Do I need to mention that the meals were accompanied by nice drinks? Chech Republic beers for the starter, nice white wine to the bouillabaisse and coffee avec (Italian grappa) to the dessert. The evening was finalised with lots of more liquor and poker until we dropped one by one.