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!
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.
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!
I have no idea what Boxing Day is. Most people I’ve asked here in Australia have no idea either! But since I didn’t get anyone a gift for Xmas this year, I figured I’d give you this gift for Boxing Day since this really has nothing to do with our trip. We’re not even close to Bangladesh (anymore) — but this video just had to be shared! Watch in amazement!
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.
