There seems to be a shortage of intertubes on this side of the world...and people don't seem to be flaunting their wifi like at home. Oh well.
Flight sucked, as expected, though the 6hr Boston to LA leg was worse than the 14hr LA-Sydney leg believe it or not. We were sitting in front of two small girls that seemed to be possessed by Satan himself. LA to Sydney sucked too but the service on Quantas was excellent and we pretty much watched movies the whole way. 5 in fact for me.
Eventually we got to Melbourne and were picked up by the woman Faith lived with when she was here before, Storm. We went back to her house and after chatting for a few hours I crashed about 6:00pm and slept until the next morning. Faith lasted longer and after a good night's sleep we both seem to have acclimatized.
Spent Monday (we're 15 hours ahead, think of that) wandering Melbourne. Tuesday was Melbourne Cup day, a state holiday and the equivalent of the Kentucky Derby. Wednesday we headed down to Phillip Island (home of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix - Miles knows) where Storm's friend has a 'holiday house'. Today we went to a place called The Nobbies, where fur seals nest and the view is straight to Antarctica. Last night the stars were phenomenal, Milky Way and all, and so we saw the Southern Cross for the first time (cue music). I'm not sure if it was the profusion of stars, but it was underwhelming, and in fact looks almost exactly like Cygnus the Swan. Anyone know if they are the same? Orion was here as well, though in the northern part of the sky.
Tomorrow we're headed back to Melbourne and then north to either Sydney or the reef, depending on plane options.
Hope everyone is well....talk to you later. Pictures later too. My current connection doesn't seem to like them.
6 comments:
Glad to hear from you, even though only intermittent. There's probably some sense in not be so unwired, as I type at 6 am, having already made sure my corner of the world made it through the night unscathed.
As for the Southern Cross. It's not the same as Cygnus. But there's only so much that you can do with four stars that form, well, a cross. If you think about it, the northern constellations grew out of a rich oral tradition passed down by bleary-eyed goatherds, who eventually got bored with geometric shapes -- "ah, the golden trapezoid, and look, a rhombus." Eventually, sleep-deprived and smashed on ouzo, they looked up at a cross and saw, a swan.
The southern constellations (at least the European versions) were named by sailors, soldiers, and other not so contemplative types. So in the south, you get asterisms named, The Dot, The Line, Bob, and, of course, The Crapper.
I'm guessing the aborigines, pygmies, and subsaharan africans had much more interesting names that we beat out of them.
In any event, keep your eyes skinned. We want reports. We're expecting big things from there.
Brilliant! Hope that you have a the time of your lives. OOOOOOOHHtttinnnnnnnnnny!
Cue Green Day...
If it was underwhelming, perhaps you at least understood, at last, why you came that way.
Sounds like the view of the heavens, overall, was far from underwhelming. Glad to read the updates.
good to hear from you - how wild is this - talking to an Australian - if that is where you are that is what you are
if you are driving and a water buffalo gets in the way - extend you thumb and pinky in opposite directions and shake slightly, the animal should peacefully go to sleep
later mate
Great to hear from you guys! Like my girl Andrea True says "More, More, More (how do you like it)".
RE "miles knows":
Ducati rider and super fast Aussie Casey Stoner rode to vctory on home turf at this years Phillip Island MotoGP event. At that point in the series, Casey had already won the championship and this win was the icing on the cake for Ducati as it also secured the manufacturer's cup. This is stupendous news for Ducati as it's only thier forth year campaigning, they are one of the smallest manufacturers in the cup and in two months they are debuting their new $75,000 street legal GP race bike. Definitely a World Series caliber home run for Ducati.
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