Melbourne's Sporting Highlights

Well my last few hours in Melbourne, in Australia for that matter, are drawing to a close.
With my last full day in town I decided to hit the streets and see what I could find, I know the hotel was within walking distance to two hallowed grounds for sports in Australia and I was able to not only find them, but do tours at each. Rod Lavor Arena plays hosts to the Australian Open tennis tournament every year and the Melbourne Cricket Ground is one of the oldest sporting venues in all of Australia and both were fun to see up close in person.
The tour of Rod Lavor ended up being a private one as I was the only one who signed up for the 2:30 tour, so that was kind of cool. The picture above is of me in the post-match press conference room holding court with the imaginary throngs of media I had to deal with, the tour guide got a good laugh over my antics as she took the photo.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground tour was interesting all together, I still don't really grasp the whole idea of the sport, I mean how can you call it a sport when they have a "tea break" and a "lunch break" and some of the "tests" can last as long as 5 days, are you kidding me? But still I can appreciate history and people who rise to the top of their game. The ground was actually used as a military base during WWII as a staging area for U.S. soldiers, who about them apples?
You can see all the photos of the sporting tours, click on the headline above:
After the tours I took to the streets of the city where I came across the "Shrine of Rememberance" which is kind of a WWII memorial but encompasses a lot of the country's military history.
My journey, at least in terms of photos, wrapped up with a visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral. There is a lot of Irish influence down here, and there is a funny story about that, ask me next time you see me, and the cathedral is a perfect example of that. The native "blue stone" used to build it really gives the church a characteristic you won't find at any other St.Patrick's.
To see photos of the surroundings of the city, including the cathederal, check on the blog entry below for the link.
Well it is Thursday night in Melbourne, I am all packed and ready to go, I am going to hit the poker table in hopes of doing two things :a) winning some money and maybe even playing against riegning World Series of Poker champion as the Crown is his "home" casino and he reportedly got into town yesterday and b) staying up as late as possible to try and sleep for most of the plane ride to help me suffer as little jet-lag as possible upon my return. But, as they say, the best laid plans. . .
Cheers and see you all soon.

Melbourne's St. Patrick's Cathedral

Click on the headline above to see a small photo album of photos from St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne.

Melbourne City Photos

Click on the headline above to see more misc photos from Melbourne's cityscape.

Down Time in Melbourne

Well the conference is over now, and I think was a success but no need to bore you with those details.
Had some down time today so I took a tour of the Great Ocean Road, which runs along the cost near Melbourne.
Among the highlights of the tour was seeing the 12 Apostles Rock formation (photo above) and Shipwreck Bay, a imposing rock formation that gets its name because so many ships met their demise in the 1800s after getting caught in storms or fog oonly to ram right into the rocks and drop to the bottom of the ocean.
Had Billy Tea and vegimite today too.
The photo you see here on the post is a self-shot LOL):
The trip is almost over as I have only one real day left (it is already Wed. night here) so I have Thursday which is going to be a work day in the hotel as I have loads of issues to tend to and calls to sit on, but I hope to get out in the afternoon and see some of the city sites as well as take in some poker here at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.
Cheers

New Perspective on Bridge Climb

I had time to upload some new pics that I took on my last day in Sydney, they give you a little more perspective of what it is like to do the Bridge Climb, as I took them from an observatory tower on the bridge on Sunday. Those can be found by clicking on the headline above.

The Great Ocean Road

Not sure if it is the simplicity of the road names themselves or just the fact that the splendor you get to see when youd drive down them, but one of my two favorite places in the world now is the Great Ocean Road outside of Melbourne, joined with of course the Great Sky Road in the west of Ireland. The views on both were breathtaking, click on the headline above to see some shots from the great ocean road in Melbourne.

Skyline Pics Uploaded

If you want to see some shots of the Melbourne skyline (at least as it looks from my hotel room), go ahead and click on the headline above.

A Sydney Safari

So who knew only an hour or two bus ride away from the bustling city and the beauty of the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House, there was so diverse wildlife and remote attractions to see.

My Saturday in Sydney was spent on a rather unique "safari tour" that was offered through a company I found at the hotel. The first thing that made the trip unique was the ride, a photo of which you can find above and right. It was a cross between a Hummer and a shuttle bus, and it was pretty cool. What made it even better was I got to ride shot gun for the day, a "bonus" to being the only "single" traveler in the group and the last one picked up from his hotel.

The day started with a visit to a wildlife park just outside the city of Sydney. This place had loads and loads of animals, everything from koala bears, kangaroos, wambats, tasmanian devils, from crocs, exotic birds and loads of other stuff. The only bad thing about the stop was we only had an hour, I could have easily spent most of the morning there.

The day progressed to a visit to a cannon cut thru-pass where we needed the 4x4 feature on our vehicle. Not only did we do some "off roading" our guide Sam (who was fantastic), let us walk around in the national forest for a while and showed us some cool stuff that was indigenous to Australia. At the end of our walk he even busted out a didgeridoo (sp) and played it for us, and even let us try it, no one could do it right. There was a group of Asian traders in our group and they laughed at each other while they tried to do it, that was funny to see.

After the stop in the cannon we got back on the "bus" and had lunch at a wonderful botanical garden spot that overlooked the Blue Mountain pass. The mountains get their name because of the eucalyptus (sp) trees that grow in the valleys. As the gas evaporates into the atmosphere it brings a blue hugh to it.

From lunch it was off to Australia's "Grand Cannon" which was neat to see, but not anything like what we have in the U.S. This Grand Cannon is more green and flush with color, still very cool.

From there it was off to see the most famous rock formation in the area, the "Three Sisters" formation. The tales are interesting on this one, but it was well worth the stop and walk through another park.

The day ended with afternoon tea at the Olympic Village which was the site of the 2000 games. It was getting dark so I was really only able to get one good picture, but was neat to walk around where the games took place.

So having said that it was a rather busy day, and you can decide what photos you want to spend time looking at. To make it easy, I have listed the "albums" below in the next few blog entries.

Animal Kingdom Visit

To see all the animals I got to see up close and personal (one bird bit my finger while I was trying to take its picture the little bastards), click on the headline above.

Three Sisters Rock Formation Photos

To view photos of the "Three Sisters" rock formation, the Blue Mountains, and my visit to the "Scenic World" park, click on the headline above.

Sydney Harbor Bridge Pics

To see pics of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, click on the headline above.

Botanical Gardens -- Lunch Spot Photos

To view photos of the lunch spot and botanical gardens, click on the headline above.

Safari Guide and Ride Photos

To view a small number of photos of the safari guide and ride, click on the headline above.

Cut-Thru Pass Photos

To view photos of the cut-thru pass were we did a short hike, click on the headline above.

First Batch of Australia Pics Posted

Didn't have a lot of time to work on these, just uploaded them for folks to see, there are some that need work I know, but there are others that are some pretty good pics (if I don't say so myself). The bridge pics will give you an idea of how much climbing I did (the pics of the flags are zoomed in from the harbor and you can also see them from a distance, but the point of it is that one of the "official" pics were taken with me standing right under that flag, pretty cock I must say.

To see pics of the famous Sydney Opera House, click on the headline above:

I am trying to arrange a tour tomorrow that will take me to the Blue Mountains where not only would I get to see some pretty cool rock formations, but also kangaroos, and other wildlife, hopefully with lots of pics to share too, stay tuned for more updates.

1,400 Stairs, but You Can't Beat the View

Well after some slight deliberation, and spending most of my morning sorting out e-mail issues with the hotel and the server room in Costa Rica, I was able to see some of the sites of Sydney Australia today. I am "Down Under" to speak at a conference which begins next week in Melbourne so I am in Sydney getting adjusting to the time difference and seeing as much of the sites as I can in the two days of "personal" time I have before I get hunkered down next week in Melbourne.

The only deliberation that was going on with me was whether or not to do the walk today or on Saturday when I knew I had more time. I went down to the harbor around lunchtime (after getting e-mail issues taken care long enough to get three days worth of e-mail openeded before it crashed again), and the weather was so wonderful that I decided today was the day to do the climb.

For those fo you who don't know you can pay($165 Aussie dollars) to climb a tone of stairs (1,340 they tell me), to go to the top of the famouse Syndey Harbor bridge. The draw back is they make you wear these silly ass outfits and won't let you bring your own camera and stuff, which I can understand, so I only have a few "official" pictures from the event, but I can tell you that the view from the top of the bridge was most spectatular and well worth the money.

To view some more of the "official" photos taken during the bridge climb, click on the headline above.

I ended up getting a lot in today as on my way back to the hotel I swung by the famous Syndey Opera House and was able to get in on the last tour of the day. I will have more photos to share tomrw.