Its so hot today!

I havent experience a day like today since leaving the northern rivers, its 40 degrees (celsius) with a dry wind blowing in from the north west. Just weird after experiencing nothing but humid days in Brisbane. Makes sitting down at the computer to work unpleasant, but thats okay because im going out soon anyway, OR at least I did go out, im back now and re-writing the last half of this sentence, time, what a funny thing.

Anyway, so first is first, my app is coming along well, ive paid for my iOS Developer Membership, just waiting for my certificate now which I hear can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 weeks, ive been waiting for a couple of days now so who knows when it will arrive in my inbox. That hasn't slowed me down tho, not by a long shot. You can see in the next few images the progress from a sketch to final interactive piece, the blue squares in the centre obviously hovering over interactive elements. The text will be interactive too, but thats still a little ways off as im not sure as to what will be the most practical way of doing it.







I really want to focus more on character interaction then making little games that take a moment or two to finish and leave children with no desire to go back and play them again. Maybe im approaching it all wrong but I just feel like kids are smarter then that and really, would find interacting with the characters and environments more engaging then dragging a couple of objects around or some other super simple puzzle.

Aside from that, not much has been happening the last few days, put in for a few jobs, waiting for word tomorrow wether or not we got we got the home we applied for, all that fun stuff.

Heres a bunch of photos of Melbourne ive taken over the last few days, no real reason, just addicted to taking photos I suppose.















Love the contrast of lush trees and buildings in the CBD.





I found these clouds interesting while we were house hunting yesterday.



I found this sign in a park in Altona Meadows, i think it means that Dogs stand still while people walk in the park, i dunno, that dog sure as hell isn't going anywhere and that man is going to trip over him if he doesn't watch out.



I also found this in a JB, what the hell am i looking at? Who is this guy? What do you do in this game? Why was there 7 preowned copies? I guess they were all traded in xmas presents. How would you feel if you unwrapped a gift only to see that guy laughing at you?



I haven't been into this place yet but if the sign is anything to go off its probably the coolest place ever.



Also worth noting are these sushi rolls, they were amazing, from a place called Shuji Sushi in Hawthorn, my girlfriend had a bento box that was equally amazing, if your ever in the area be sure to check it out.

Sat on a wall

Looks like today is going to be a big day, heading out to meet up with fellow animator Neil Sanders before heading into the CBD to look for some art supplies, but your not here to read about what im about to do, your here to read about what I have done, on this occasion at least.

I mentioned in my previous post that i was working on something for iOS, and this is true, I have been. I dont want to go into to many details but im more then happy to post up some screens. Its being built in Flash CS5 since obviously thats as far as my coding knowledge goes, how it will run, well, i guess we will see when i start testing it. In the mean time heres the title screen, you can see the thought process behind it, or at least I think you can?







What a cheerful fellow. Hopefully I will have the first fully interactive page finished tomorrow, how exciting.

In other goings on, me and my partner have been house hunting, in fact thats what we spent most of yesterday doing. Before we got started we popped into a small cafe in Yarraville for breakfast.



I had this gorgeous home made Steak Bacon and Cheese pie, the pastry was amazing.



And I quickly followed it with what I think could have been the best Fruit Flan I have ever eaten, the pastry was perfect and the glaze was just, so good. Id recommend the place but I have forgotten what it was called...



Yarraville also has some funky seats around, no real reason, just to look neat I suppose.

The first home we checked out was in Footscray.







It was quite small for a 2 bedroom apartment, especially for the asking price.



Had a good view off the balcony tho. It was on the 4th floor, carrying furniture and groceries up there, no thanks.



It was also right next to an ambulance centre, so im sure you would hear sirens all night.

The next place we visited was in West Footscray, me and my partner both absolutely loved it and amazingly only one other person showed up to check the place out. It had polished timber floors and more space then I would know what to do with, I couldn't take any photos inside because the tenants were still moving out, but the outside was just as nice.







Just so lush and green.



Neat old garage out the back too.

Also worth noting is this place down the road.



Now im not entirely sure what the story is but these bricks protrude out more then other bricks, and they are also colored differently, is this supposed to show burglars how to get to the rooms upstairs?

We had a look at another place after this one but heaps of people showed up so I didn't take any photos, it was brand new but didn't have any real character.

We are going to spend pretty much all of tomorrow looking at new homes too, heres hope we find something soon.

On a side note, im currently redesigning my blog, it was looking a little boring. So expect some visual changes over the next few days.

The last legs of the journey...

I have been here in Melbourne for a number of days now, since Sunday actually, and I havent even updated this blog, shame on me! To be fair things have been rather hectic since arriving, but its Australia day so im going to take it a little easier and get this done. So I suppose the best thing to do while I drink this horrible Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks and listen to The Flaming Lips would be continue from where I finished on my last update, so I will.

Thursday Morning, was a chilly morning, chillier then me and my partner had experienced in a long while anyways.



Didn't seem to disturb my sisters puppy all that much, dawwww!



Warmed up a bit once the sun came out, and as such we headed off out of Tamworth.



But not before visiting the giant golden guitar, because you know, every tourist has to do that. Anyways, after checking out the guitar we left proper.











Amazing countryside between Tamworth and Cessnock. Lots of vineyards and a pretty decent road. Shame it goes through so many little towns, slowed down the trip quite a bit.



This was just sitting in a car park at Cessnock outside of where we decided to have lunch, I mean, isn't that where you would keep it?



The toilet handles in Cessnock also have a sense of humour...

After stopping in Cessnock we pretty much powered right on through to Sydney, well, a suburb called Coogee. Pretty wicked place, right on the beach, well beaches, its got all your bases covered. Sandy beach? Got that. How about a rocky beach? Got that too.





Heres the view from one of the fancier parts of the area, thats Wedding Cake Island in the distance, I guess its called that because Weddings are cool, so are cakes, and rocks are kind of cool?... I guess...





This house was built literally on the side of the cliff, it was also huge, id almost call it a castle. Worth approximately a bajillion dollars.







More views from around the area.



Also here is a funny/cool looking building.





And heres some benches, because i need a rest after all that typing...

Okay, im good to go again.





This is Coogee beach itself, always heaps of people, but i guess thats understandable.







Also worth noting is my uncle and aunts yard, so full of life. I love gardens like this, my imagination runs wild.

Me and my partner then went for a drive out to her god parents home in Blacktown, on the west side of Sydney.



A different landscape all together.





They had a lovely garden as well, just teaming with life, and spiders, oh god there were a tonne of spiders!

After our visit to my partners god parents it was time to drive to Canberra, a place that i had never been but had heard many stories about. The landscape outside of canberra was just amazing.















Got some nice storm action too, that was cool.

Canberra itself was an unusual place full of plants and sculptures.







I think this guy must have escaped from a Kirby game, cutest eagle ever.













Honestly I think Canberra is the cleanest place I have ever been too and i would love to go back again some day.

While we were there we also went to the war memorial.



Wicked old BMW



Classic war time racism, great illustration tho.

After leaving Canberra we also stopped at a place called Holbrook, mainly because there was a giant submarine sticking out of the ground.



Keep in mind this is the middle of nowhere.

After that I ran out of space on my camera sadly, but thats enough of that anyways. Trip is over and now im in Melbourne. So what am I doing now? Looking for work for one, and working on my first iPhone app for another, but more on that next time!