Have You Seen Us Lately? Dot Org » Australia

Sydney Satisfaction

Jason — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:16:22 +0000

One of the must-do activities that everyone suggests while in Sydney, is the Bondi to Bronte walk. Bondi & Bronte are two beaches along the east coast of Sydney. The weather forecast predicted rain, but there’s a reason they are called “predictions” cuz they are never right! So we forged on down the coastline…

…starting at Bondi…

…where your life is hand delivered in a yellow truck. “Please sign here for your package.”

If you’ve ever walked down West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, CA, this walk is somewhat similar. But with very dissimilar erosion.

I could be mistaken, but I believe this is sandstone or something similar.

Around one of the turns I looked back over my shoulder, and saw this sight…

…now while it’s a nice looking coastline, there was something else going on here that felt much more special. It was a scene very similar to the very scene that inspired this entire trip for me back in April of 2007. I was driving with the sun roof open down the west coast of America on Highway 1. Headed from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. Cliff side homes on the left, and the giant Pacific Ocean as far as the eye could see on the right. “This world is huge! And I need to see the rest of it.” I thought to myself.

Seeing this view here in Australia, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean gave me a real feeling of satisfaction. Setting out to do something huge, and accomplishing it. This one scene brought everything around full circle. Pure happiness!

Ya know what else makes me happy?

Words with 8 vowels in them, and all of them Oh’s.

Like this area of Sydney called Wooloomooloo!

That’s an Oh overdose folks!

After walking the Wooloomooloo wharf, we went to watch where woodchucks chuck. At the botanical gardens. Does it get any more picturesque than this?

This is THE spot to watch the fireworks show from next New Years Eve.

2009 is gonna be a good year!

Upon Closer Inspection

Jason — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 06:57:50 +0000

Upon closer inspection, I can assure you that it’s true. Human beings DO rule!

Today we walked across the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and climbed to the top of one of the pilons (don’t worry, it’s legal).

For a birds eye view of the bridge…

…the Opera House…

…and downtown Sydney…

The bridge is yet another testament to human innovation.

Some remarkable feats of engineering for the time.

Over Under

Jason — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:25:49 +0000

Hung Over Down Under. Hey that would make a good movie title for Crocodile Dundee 7! Maybe not. I dunno, I can’t think straight. I need to get a little fresh air to clear the mind.

I walked back down to the bridge that I was standing under last night, to see how it looked in the sun light. Still impressive!

And across the way, is the one, the only, Sydney Opera House!

That’s one sexy building! And speaking of sexy…

… who wants some ice cream??

Seriously though, the Opera House is amazing in photos, and even more amazing up close in person.

The structural engineering is just baffling!

I can only imagine how many sheets of blueprint paper they must have gone through in designing this one.

And they didn’t even have modern computers to help them out back then.

They did it the old fashioned way. Human beings rule!!

Once In A Lifetime

Jason — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:59:39 +0000

You only get one shot at bringing in the new year. And we only know how to do that one way. And that way is Ballin’ Outta Control!

We racked up enough nights in hotel bookings through hotels.com on this trip, that we had credit for some free nights. We decided to put those credits to good use for New Years Eve and booked ourselves a few nights on the 29th floor of the Amora Hotel in Sydney.

The room had an amazing view of the harbor, and amazing amenities…

Like a pillow menu! I honestly though it was just a silly name for a room service menu, you know like ordering from your pillow. Nope. It was actually a menu of pillows. Take your pic and sleep on a Luxury Goose Feather Pillow (rated S for Soft) or perhaps you would count sheep better from a Polyester Boomerang Style Pillow (F: Firm). I’ll stick with my Duck Double Down Surround Pillow (M: Medium).

With our pillow selection completed, all that was left to do was shower up and get ready for a night out on the town…

…with a bottle of the finest cheapest bubbly of course!

Sydney is known world wide for it’s amazing NYE fireworks show. This year was no exception! It’s hard to capture it on film but here are a few flicks-o-fire from near the Sydney Harbor Bridge…

Also, check out this panorama for a slightly better second-hand experience. Yes, we’re in that crowd somewhere. Twenty bucks to the first person that can find us (I couldn’t).

The show totally lived up to expectations, and I plan to be back again (viewing from a better vantage point) to experience it again.

And now ladies and gents… I present to you the best photo of 2008…

…wait for it…

…here it comes…

Cheers!

Happy New Years ya’ll! Here’s to a healthy, happy and prosperous 2009!

P.S. Bring on Obama!

Seafood Sandwich

Jason — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:19:35 +0000

As per request by our devoted fan(s), we rented an underwater camera for today’s dives. Today we would be setting two records:

First time attempting underwater photography
First time attempting three dives in one day

The camera checks out OK at 1 meter below the surface…

…let’s go find some fishies!

There’s some really funky coral down here…

The spaghetti coral sure looks tasty…

…perhaps it goes well with sea cucumber…

…and some sea-garlic bread…

For the pescaterians, they also serve some sea meat!

What better way to work up an appetite for some seafood than playing sea-football with sea cucumbers

OK, now this is just getting ridiculous.

Let’s surface…

…and get some real food.

Like crocodile…

…emu (pictured on the left), and kangaroo (in the middle)…

…followed by an, um, er, a, and I quote from the menu “A Chocolate Slut”

Seriously, what’s wrong with these Ausies!? The only country that eats their national animal and national bird! That would be like In-And-Out serving up Bald Eagle Burgers & Grizzly Shakes!

One neat factoid about these animals however is that the reason those two animals were selected to represent AU was because these two animals can’t move backwards, implying Australians are always moving forward. Touche.

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Sleep. Or, Why Count Sheep When You Can Count Sharks?

Jason — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:50:13 +0000

Hooah! Who needs sleep when you have pure adrenaline coursing through your veins? This morning, or was it last night? I can’t remember which… we boarded a red-eye flight out of Perth for the 5 hour flight to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef! Hooah! We arrived at the hotel somewhere roughly around 7am, or was it 6am? I can’t remember which. After a brief 20 minute power nap, we were right back up and on our way to the harbor to catch a sailboat out to Green Island for some scuba diving.

The diving was beautiful as to be expected. The coral species were noticeably different from that of Thailand. We saw a LOT of black tip reef sharks ominously circling our boat. Interesting fact: sharks LOVE roast beef sandwiches with mustard!

In between dives we jumped in a water taxi to check out the island while we let the nitrogen in our system dissipate.

We walked down the beaches…

…and thru the rain forest, searching for our way back to the boat.

We took a wrong turn (on purpose)…

…and grabbed a few brews for a photo-op.

Then it was right back into the water for some snorkeling with sharks and jelly fish. Hooah!

Must.

Stay.

Awake.

Must.

Breathe.

Underwater.

Merry Xmas

Jason — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 14:29:50 +0000

Sorry folks, not a lot of pictures of this event. For the most part is was pretty uneventful. Everything closes down here for Xmas (and for Boxing Day on the 26th) so yesterday we stocked up on some food and had a little BBQ, and hung out at the beach. Pretty relaxing.

Pictures Of Paradise Speak Louder Than Words

Jason — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:26:40 +0000

Rottness Island off the coast of Perth is simply gorgeous. White sand beaches. Crystal blue water. Quokkas, Pelicans & Peacocks. What more can you say? Not much. So I’ll just let the photos do the talking.

Funky Foliage For Frisbee Fun

Jason — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:43:40 +0000

After a failed attempt to get up early enough to visit Rottnest Island, we ended up walking to Kings Park instead. The aptly named park covers over 1000 acres of land and is only a couple kilometers from downtown Perth and the Swan River.

There are hundreds of species of plants throughout the park ground from Australia as well as many Mediterranean countries.

From the eyeballus treeus…

…to the koosh ball bush…

…a swizzle thizzle thistle…

…or the bloated boab trees.

They even had plain old fashioned grass! Can you believe it!?

But not just any grass. It was some of the most perfect blades I have ever set foot on.

Perfect for a game of frisbee.

Perthect Weather!

Jason — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:08:20 +0000

It’s good to be out of Singapore, and finally on to what I’m sure will be a much more exciting country. Australia! Oi! Oi! Oi!

There’s our trusty steed that took us to the land down under…

…under the freezing skys high above.

To the land where kangaroos roam the plains (er, sidewalks).

It’s amazing how similar the west coast of Australia is to the west coast of the United States. The weather…

…the foliage…

…the skylines.

It all feels so much like home. The only difference is the latitude & longitude.

Perhaps it also feels so much like home because of the strong connection between Western Australia and Holland. This memorial commemorates the voyage of a Willem de Vlaminghand who mapped the western coast of AU in 1697. It’s a unique dual-time piece that simultaneously tells the time in Perth and Amsterdam.