See, they're just like us

A big concern down here is the Americanization of Australia. And its true to a certain extent. America does influence the culture down here. However, one fast food company has made a stand...



Alright, so its not that big of a stand. Hungry Jacks is still Burger King, with Whoppers and everything. Why not just Burger King? As always, Wikipedia knows all.

Delicious.

Alan

Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash

So, I figure'd I would actually show you guys a picture of the Australian money. After all, it is awesome. Basically, if you think its weird that the US's new twenties have a colour other than green on them...get ready for a good 'ol fashioned mind blowing.

Like, woah, man.

Not pictures are the 50 (which is yellow) and the 100 (which is green). They are not pictured because, as a uni student, I am not allowed to possess such currency notes, as it may entitle me to meals other than two minute noodles.

One thing you will notice about all the bills is (outside of the colour) the clear spot in each of them. In every bill, there is a bit of plastic inserted into paper. I'm guessing this is an anti-counterfiet measure. Its also made out of polymer, which I found out at the always academic Wikipedia.

Personally, I've taken a liking to the 10 dollar note, as I must agree with the man's fashion regarding hats.

I could totally be on the ten dollar bill.

The other thing you might notice is the bills get smaller as the value decreases. I'm fairly certain the Euro does the same thing to help the vision impaired. Thats pretty cool.

Along the side of the bills, I displayed the coinage used by the Aussies, and this coinage has been a source of frustration for me. At the top are the two dollar coin and the one dollar coin. Guess which one is smaller?

If you said the 1-dollar coin, congratulations: you have more sense of logic than the Australian mint. Instead, the two dollar coin is relatively small, and is therefore a good candidate for getting lost. The added benefit is my habit of finding coins during my room cleaning has become slightly more lucrative.

The most unusual coin is the fifty cent piece. Its by far the largest coin, and does not have round edges. Instead it has flat edges. This makes it easy to find, and easy to handle.

Currency isn't the most exciting topic I've discussed here, and I really don't have much more to add. Though, the value of the Australian Dollar is gaining, which while I'm usually totally opposed to this, now that I'm a little under four weeks from coming home, I'm openly cheering on the Aussie dollar to reach unparalleled heights...sometime around June 23rdish.

Because, just like Pink Floyd, I think I need a Lear Jet.

Alan

The retroactive Cairns Post

About a week after the fact...I'll throw you guys a bone and put up some pics from Cairns.



This is the Lagoon, which is a saltwater public swimming pool right next to the ocean. Its free to use. The only thing I paid for was a locker to store my camera and the such while I flaunted my new bod around the pool (see the GBR photos post...stop laughing.) On a side note...those electronic lockers are sweet.



Back in the day (1956ish) the Olympic torch came to Cairns on its way to Melbourne for the Olympic Games. Here's the commemorative statue.



Along the Cairns beach there is a danger of crocodiles. I did the only thing a brave tourist can do in these situations: take a picture of the warning sign. I was actually kind of disappointed that I didn't see a crocodile because I wanted to take a pic, but looking back on it, thats kind of like being sad that the IRS didn't call you in for an audit because you wanted to have a chat with someone.




The fabulous Cairns beach! The tide was possibly just way, way, way out. But, I figure these mudflats are slightly more permanent then that.



Captain Cook orders you to stop for a meal.



Reflection Flame and Garden. This was a nice memorial to the various branches of the Australian military as well as police, fire, and ambluance workers.




Because its been to long on this blog without a Styx reference..."Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me."



And we'll close out with some Aboriginal art that was on the side of a shop along the beachfront. Aboriginal art is pretty cool, and looking at a few galleries was a fun experience whilst in Cairns.

Enjoy the pics,

Alan

Why you should visit Cairns.

Cairns doesn't have a great beach, and there isn't a lot to actually do IN Cairns.

But, it does have some spectacular sunsets.



And...



More Cairns pics...and possibly another round of GBR pics later this week.

Until then, Happy Memorial Day.

Alan

More pics from the GBR.

Alright, I've been lazy this week, so here's some more pics from the GBR.




Fish and coral...whee!



Literally, name the colour, and it was down there.



Nemo's way-to-the left brother.



I found the different colours above the waves to be really interesting. The clarity of the water was amazing as well.




Not all the fish were brightly coloured. Some prefer to hide in the shadows.




But, some fish more then made up for it.



Turtle!




Our valiant hero.

I'll probably do a second posting of this, because I have heaps more photos. Plus, the walking around Cairns pictures will be up soon as well.

Alan

Great Barrier Reef

So, usually I would go with Cairns Day 1. Guess what, forget day 1. Day 1, while enjoyable, is nothing comapared to Cairns Day 2, which was a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. I even rented an underwater camera to take photos of the event.

I had to be down at the wharf by 7:45 this morning. Trust me, I have never been more eager to jump out of bed at 6:30. Got down there with pleanty of time to spare, so I took in the early morning on the Pacific Ocean. In a word...it was nice. Calm breeze, some birds, yeah, it was nice.

Get on board the boat, fill out some forms that basically boil down to "Don't drown, and if you do we don't owe you money." Then, a few more talks from the crew about what we're doing on the day and then its off to the reef!

Now, if you look at a map, the GBR as I'm going to call it from now on, is right next to Australia. You wouldn't reckon it would take you that long to get out there, but it does. Two hours by boat. Most of that two hours was me thinking that maybe I should go get some of those ginger tablets. I soldiered on though, and once I went up to the sun deck, and looked at the horizon, the need for the tablets went away.

(I'm trusting all you extremely intelligent people in Internet land to figure out what ginger tablets are for)

After getting my fins on and mask situated, it was time to do some snorkeling. Of course, having never snorkled before, using the snorkel takes a little getting used to. You breathe out of your nose for so many years and then you can't. So, my first few minutes in the water were spent reminding myself to breather through the mouth, take deep breaths, and enjoy myself.


Once I did, I was able to see things like this...


Underwater photography is hard, and so some pictures of fish are kind of blurry. It does not take away from the awesomeness.

Here's a better looking fish.



You can watch shows about the GBR or see pictures, but one you're there, its just amazing.

And, I'd write more. But the day absolutely wiped me out. That and the potential already-gave-me-cancer sunburn I'm sporting on my back, I'm tired. I'll post more pics, probably when I get back to Canberra. Until then, here's a pitcure of a turtle. Everyone loves Turtles.



Till then,

Alan

Melbourne retroactive post: Day 3

A look down the Beach Trail.

Here we go...

Day three was spent walking the beaches around Melbourne. As I've written before, I don't come from a land of sandy beaches, so this was fun. But before we get there...



This was taken along the Australian Heritage Bridge (actually on Day 2, I just forgot to put it up). Its a depiction of an Aboriginal. Across the bridge there are similar structures representing the various people who have come to Australia. Its pretty cool to see.



Keeping with the aboriginal theme is this eagle. In Aboriginal mythology, the Eagle was very important. Its patriarchal (while the matriarch is the black swan) So, a gigantic one watches over the Docklands.



It wasn't all beaches...I also walked through an environment reclamation project, which offered up that cool view of a bridge. But, you want to see sand so, here you go.



Here's Port Phillip Bay...behold its awesomeness. As I've written before, I love the ocean because of its size. Its just awe inspiring that no matter how tall we build a skyscraper, no matter how huge we build a stadium, the Earth comes up with something to tower over it. Here's two pics that (somewhat artistically, but not really) sum that up.



Note the people in the foreground and the ginormous body of water in front of them.


Fun with piers!

Anyway, enough of me trying to be artistic. The Beach Trail is fun to walk along. Beautiful people, waves crashing (a very soothing sound) and it was a sunny day. And lest you forget you're by the ocean (how could you...its right there.) there were lighthouses.




As I continued down the beach, I stumbled across something I had never seen before. Kiteboarding. I explained what it was already, so here's the photographic evidence.


Don't sop believin...hold on to that parachute, kiteboarder dude!!!

In terms of insane things I'd like to try once in my life, I think kiteboarding may have made the list. It looks like a good time, when you get the hang of it.

Moving along the ocean front I found this statue of Captain Cook.



Cook is kind of a big deal down here, as he discovered the place. I think that warrants a statue. Not far from Cook, was an Australian War Memorial, also very worthy.





Keeping with the war theme, not for from the Aussie war memorial, there was a St. Kilda War Memorial which I found to be inspiring.



St. Kilda was quite nice. I bought a painting at a street market down here and mingled for a bit. I also stumbled upon Luna Park, which was terrifying.


That clown will eat you...and your soul.

After looking at Luna Park, I began the long walk home. Not sure how far it was, but I walked for seven hours that day. But, as a result, on my way back to the hostel, I got this cool (albeit blurry) pic of Melbourne at night!



Hope you enjoyed the pics...not sure what the next post will be of. Possibly the long awaited Vegemite post?

Stay tuned,

Alan

Aussie Rules football and MCG

The Melbourne Cricket Ground. Behold its awesomeness!

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "I demand Melbourne retroactive post day 2!"

This is basically it. I went to an Aussie Rules match for Day 2. So, we're all happy.

Australian Rules Football is an outstanding combination of being one of the strangest sporting events I've been to and one of the most exciting. Here's what you need to know rules wise in order to follow an AFL match.

1. The field is an oval. Not a rectangle. Hooray for cricket influences.

2. No offsides. Whee! Players can go wherever they want.

3. You can run the ball, but must bounce it on the ground every 10 meters. Or you can sort of punch it to one of your teammates. Even better, kick it to them. If they catch it cleanly, its called a mark, and they can get a free kick.

4. Don't get tackled. If you get tackled, the umpire does a bounce.

5. Kick goals, not behinds.


Here we see a picture of an AFL goal. The two tall posts in the middle are what players are aiming for. Kick it in between those and you score six points ( a goal). If you kick it between one of the large posts and one of the outer small ones...its a behind. You missed, you suck, but you earned a point.

Kicking behinds are referred to as misses. So, please, kick goals.

Now that you're caught up on the rules of the AFL, its time to discuss the MCG.

My cricket knowlege is...how do we put this...not great. My AFL knowlege, probably less. But still, when I came upon the Melbourne Cricket Ground, you can feel the history of the building. Its just one of those places that just has that majestic feel to it. I've only experienced this at one other stadium, that being Notre Dame Stadium. You may not be totally aware of the history of the place, but you know that , sporting wise anyway, its an important history.

Then you see the statues.



Sir Donald Bradman...knighted for his cricketeting abilities.

All around MCG are statues of cricketers, footballers, and a sprinter. All depicting the greatness of Australian athletes. One of my favourites was the statue of an original Austrain Rules game.



Note the headgear and clothing. Slightly different from what the boys wear today.

MCG was also the main stadium for Melbourne's 1954 Olympics. Lest you forget, here's a giant plaque commemorating the event.



It has all the gold medal winners from that Olympiad. Something I probably would have paid more attention to had it not been for the fans.

AFL fans are crazy passionate. The paint faces, wear costumes, are loud, and make walking around the outside of the ground a fun experience. I didn't take pics of the fans (don't ask why...I just didn't think to) but here's something interesting. At least to me.

In the AFL, there are 9 clubs based out of Melbourne. They are the St. Kilda Saints, Western Bulldogs, Collingwood Magpies, Hawthorn Hawks, Richmond Tigers, North Melbourne Kangaroos, Melbourne Demons, Carlton Blues, and the ESSENDON BOMBERS.

The match I attended was Carlton vs. Essendon in what the AFL termed the Rivalry Round. So, a good crowd was expected with both sides having pleanty of supporters. And what better way to support your club then to become a member?

Choose wisely.

Divided only by a path, are booths set up to become a member to Carlton or Essendon. A member, from what I gather, is kind of like getting season tickets in some ways, but in others its supporting the club. When I purchased my ticket for the match at Collingwood headquarters (considering that rivalry, it got a strange look, but thats where the Ticketech office was) I took a look at the Members options, but was still a bit confused by it. At any rate, becoming a member supports the club financially, and you get a hat out of the deal. I chose to pass.

As you can tell from what I linked, I'm an Essendon Supporter. This is due mostly to one of the main guys at the International Office being a Bombers fan, and so I followed suit. Doing research on Wikipedia I found that they're one of the most successful clubs in the AFL, having captured 16 Premierships (tied for most with Carlton). As a result, other fans refer to them as the 'Evil Empire' (well, I read that in the game day program, anyways) a term reserved for a baseball team I don't care for all that much. In addition, they're affiliated with Manchester United. So, how can I remain an Essendon supporter? Doesn't this have bandwagoner and evil written all over it?

Possibly, but considering they finished 15th last season, bandwagon is low. Plus, Steve Irwin was a fan. Got to do it for Steve. Also, everything I read about coach Kevin Sheedy has been awesome.

Sheedy is outspoken and quite the character. My favourite tidbit about him is he'll refer to "Martians" costing his side the game. The Martians are the officials, and he avoids fines. Brilliant.

Anyway...back to the game. Pie and chips in hand, I enter the MCG, and marvel at how big it is inside.



Not sure if that does it justice. It seats 100,000 people. There were about 65,000 in attendence for the game.

The atmosphere at the game is great. The crowd is into it the entire time and overall, there's kind of a college atmosphere to the game. Remember in high school when the football team ran through a paper banner on homecoming? That happens at AFL games!




OK, the players more or less run out from underneath it, but its still cool.

After the teams run out...its time for the bounce.



To start the game, the umpire bounces the ball off the ground, and then it kind of works like a tip off in basketball. By the way, the ball is that red thing thats level with the second tier in the stands. They get good height off of this thing.



An AFL goal judge signifies a goal by Essendon. This was a common site in the first quarter. Which resulted in seeing this...alot.



Club supporters use these gigantic poppoms to celebrate goals. The size of these things is scary. Now that you're frightened, here's possibly the funniest part of an AFL match.



When the ball goes out of bounds, the umpire faces the crowd and then flings the ball over his head. The two clubs then battle for possession. To see this is simply amazing. Of course, can you think of a better way to determine possession? Its more fair then a rugby union line out, and where's the fun of just giving it to one team. More power to you, Aussie Rules.

At this point, I'm greatly enjoying the match. I somehow got front row seats for thirty bucks (did I mention that? That was sweet, though next time I want to be higher up so that I can figure out whats going on) my team was up by 48 points, and I was going to finally see a club I chose to support win the first time I saw them play in person.

Wrong.

Carlton staged the largest comeback in their history and Essendon lost. Though considering the final score was 125-122, I can't say that I wasn't entertained. That was possibly the most fun I've had at a sporting event, and if its not at the top, its up there. Throw in the fact that the crowd was literally a fifty-fifty split between Carlton and Essendon fans, and the crowd was into it the whole game, and loud the entire fourth quarter (quarters are a half hour long, by the way.) it was an outstanding experience.

Anyway, as you can imagine, Carlton supporters were quite happy. I'll be a good sport and put up the pic, because its kind of cool.



The flags are really cool, and I wish we had this in America. At NRL and AFL matches, fans bring club flags to the game. Trust me, when a sea of flags comes up after a try or goal, its really cool, and I'd have to imagine a tad intimidating.

Day three pics coming later...possibly tonight after touch footy. Sorry for the abrupt end to the post, but it was long enough.

See the Bombers fly up,

Alan