Another update

I'm in Brisbane right now. That wasn't part of the original plan for this trip, but as they say "No plan survives first contact."

This isn't a bad place, but it's not quite as nice as Ballarat or Melbourne. This has more of a big city feel (less green space) than the other places I have been. It's quite pretty crossing the river at night, but it has almost a Star-Wars feel to it because you're surrounded by such massive amounts of construction (in numbers and size)

More posts this afternoon if I have more time to get to the computer.

No worries, mate!

It was not originally a scheduled part of this trip, but by the time most of you read this I will be on a plane going to Queensland (as opposed to Victoria where I am now) It's always a risk when traveling on business that you will discover you need to do but didn't plan on. That's what's happened here.

Of course there's another sort of risk that comes mostly from other people, it's the "while you're in the neighborhood" effect, or in this case the "while you're in that hemisphere" effect. There's talk of a meeting in Tokyo. If that's combined with the delays I'm expecting in the Singapore segment of the trip, it could be a while before I come back. No worries though! I figure all I have waiting for me in Chicago right now is an empty apartment, and I can't say that I'm too eager to leave. I have yet to meet an ugly woman in Ballarat, so I'd have to be nuts to really want to leave.

Before the trip to Queensland though, maybe I should say another word or three about my time in Ballarat. It's a pleasant place with plenty to do (when you have the time) To get an idea, go to www.ballarat.com and look at all of the attractions, and activities. I've barely scratched the surface of that list and already I'm sold on this town.

Of course one of the big attractions for me was the history of the town. This was originally a boom town of the gold mining era (mid 1800s) and was the center of a significant, albeit brief, revolt against British authority.

To keep this bit of history alive, they've created a living history village (which is quite large) with all sorts of shops, machinery, artifacts from the gold rush era.




This was only one of roughly three main thoroughfares through the living history village. Every building had something and someone on the inside. There were even functional steam engines running shops full of machines using old belt and lineshaft power supplies.



Really quite incredible if you ask me.

Quote of the unspecified temporal interval

I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity.

- Cicero

Experiencing the wild life

I cannot escape the fact that this is definitely a business related trip. There's been a considerable amount of work (much of it stressful) and I've had to do hours upon hours of troubleshooting for a very finicky piece of machinery. Still I've been enjoying myself; and not just because I've done some of my best troubleshooting to date.

I got a chance to visit a wildlife park (really almost a petting zoo) and while this may seem like an activity for little kids, it was actually a nice chance to become acquainted with Australian wildlife without threat to one's well being.

Ballarat's wildlife park is fairly large with a nice assortment of animals. They have several Koalas which you can pet and cuddle under supervision (they're usually very calm but can hurt you if they're feeling threatened.) They're incredibly soft, giving them the look and feel of some kind of stuffed toy.
Cute eh?

From cute to almost repulsive...The tazmanian devil (largest surviving marsupial) looks to me like some kind of 'possum on steroids. I tried to get a good picture of it, but it wouldn't hold still. It just kept running around looking for food, gobbling, and then retreating to the darkness of it's den. No table manners and certainly not soft and cuddly.



Moving right along, I got a glimpse of some of the longest living creatures on the planet. No petting here, but somehow I'm not too disappointed.


And what else would you see in Australia, but Kangaroos!! They were quite friendly (they should be, they've been fattened up on food from all of the tourists) and they essentially roamed the grounds getting petted and fed by one person after another.



They mostly acted rather lazy, but the ones who were hungry would walk right up to anyone and let you pet them and feed them (mostly grains) without any hesitation.

Pretty fun, and there's more to come!

Australia part 1

Greetings folks! I mentioned earlier some troubles getting to Australia. Really, all of the problems stemmed from delays getting out of O’Hare (American Airlines, if you must know) Thanks to that delay I couldn’t make my connection to Melbourne at LA. Fortunately, Qantas has some really helpful people who got me onto the proper continent and then flew me over to Melbourne. Of course the sudden change made it impossible for my luggage to follow. But, true to their word, my luggage arrived just one day later and was delivered to my hotel room with no hassles.

Now for the things I hadn’t mentioned earlier. My host, (very nice fellow) took us around Melbourne for a bit before heading on to Ballarat. It was cloudy out, but the tour of the city was still quite pleasant. There’s a large park region in the middle of the city that’s kept to give people some “green space” amid the urban landscape. Of course the city skyline is actually quite pretty by itself.



Before we left, we took a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. I felt like a bit of a rube as I know practically nothing about playing cricket, but it was fascinating just seeing MCG.



I didn’t get to see it in all of it’s green glory (they were laying a rubber track for games later on) but they will actually be laying grass all the way to the edge of the stadium (even over the track) for certain events.


Then it was off to the hotel for a shower and some dinner.



Boy was I glad to see that bed!
More photos and stories when I get the chance. (and I’ve got some good ones too)

Update

I am in Australia now, Ballarat to be more specific.

The trip has gone well except for a delayed flight, a missed connection, an extra connection, and a lost bag (with my clothes). Actually the hotel is quite nice and our host has been very gracious. I've got some photos, but it's almost bedtime here and I MUST get my body adjusted to this time zone.

Lest we forget...

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

A Warning

I know I won't be around to watch the place, but I ought to post a warning anyway.


Oh, someone will be checking on the place while I'm gone, and she claims to be a good shot. Somehow that makes me feel better.

Security check

Unless I'm forgetting something, I think I've locked everything up pretty well.



Almost ready to go!

Excuse me?