Are You Ready For Some Football?

This weekend the Manly Sea Eagles take on the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League Championship Game! This is the Australian version Superbowl back in the States. For the past several weeks teams from all over Australia have headlined the sports news as they played each other in the playoffs to get to the 'big game' on Sunday night.
Why a 3/4 naked man on the blog? He is none other than Michael Witt one of the star players for the Manly Sea Eagles. The blokes in the league being good old chaps put together a calendar -Naked Rugby League- to raise money for breast cancer awareness. October is the Australian National Breast Caner Awareness month.

The game will be played in Sydney on Sunday night very similar to how the NFL has the Superbowl on Sunday night. This sport has captured my attention.... no comments necessary! When I go out to a local pub and there is a game on and someone notices my American accent I know that a discussion about Rugby vs. American Gridiron is about to begin. The Aussies have the upper hand in not only numbers but the fact that they are mad about Rugby. The same way that most of the world is crazy about soccer the Aussies are crazy about rugby. Getting League vs Union mixed up is one of the worst things that an American could do. Union is currently being played on the world stage in France in the 2007 Rugby Union World Cup. League is another form of rugby that is played within the boundaries of Australia. The 'discussion' starts the same way every time: "You like rugby?" an Aussie will say (always with a pint of XXXX, VB, or Teweys in hand). I reply "Yea, I think its a great sport". In which they reply "Who do you think is tougher our rugby players or your American Gridiron players who wear helmets and pads and can only play either offense or defense and need to rest every other play?" Right away I am at a disadvantage and I used to defend American Gridiron to the bitter end until we would both agree to disagree. After one night talking to some blokes at the Casino and getting my good friend Jeff on the phone to help out in the discussion Jeff said it best. When asked by the Aussie, 9,000 miles away and 14 hours ahead on the clock, why the Americans had to wear pads Jeff, without missing a beat replied 'because they are pussies'. That is exactly what the Aussie and his buddies wanted to hear and it was as though Jeff had just told them they had free beer for life! I learned a valuable lesson from Jeff that night. When in Rome do as the Romans do. So even though Jeff and I don't believe that American Football players are pussies in any form it is the easiest way to end a discussion that I could never win down here anyway.

This Sunday I will be watching the Championship Game from a local pub and will soak in all of the Australian pride being displayed by the locals in both their national sport and their country in general!
*Follow up - ESPN Australia is showing the New England Patriots vs Bengals Monday night game live here on Tuesday 2 October at 10:00 AM!!!!! Now trying to decide if I tape it, which will require me buying a DVD recorder, or if I 'chuck a sickie' (Australian slang to call into work sick when you are perfectly healthy) to stay home to watch it......

Sick As A Horse?

When I first got down to Australia I was in fear of my health due to the flu outbreak that headlined the news day in and day out. Several adults and children had succumbed to the illness and the news was casting a pall over the country as though the plague was back and strong as ever...... that is until the Australian beloved horses began to come down with a version of the flu. The front pages and top stories no longer were talking about the human factor and was now all about how devastating the horse flu would be to the entire economy of Australia and perhaps the future of this country! Of course I am exaggerating but not too much. The top stories have followed the outbreak from Melbourne to Sydney and now as of yesterday Brisbane. I can fully appreciate that horse racing is a very big business in Australia but the level of news and drama that follows this story is almost funny. That is to anyone but an Aussie. When the news first broke out about the horse flu several weeks ago in Melbourne I asked my co-workers about it and got a first hand account on how important this industry is to Australia and the Australian psyche. As you walk around this country you can bet that on every other corner instead of a Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks you will find a TAB. Not exactly sure what TAB stands for but its the Australian off track betting locations. They are everywhere. In malls, on random corners, attached to pubs, attached to police stations.... now with horse racing on hold I guess the money that comes in from these TAB locations will be trickling in instead of flowing freely. Personally I think the main story should be the upcoming federal election in which a new prime minister most likely will be elected but hey, I am just a Yank!

Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay

Although I haven't traveled to many tropical destinations in my life, I couldn't have imagined that there are many places that are more amazing than Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast in Queensland. That was until we took a day trip South to Byron Bay in New South Wales. The picture to the left is an unedited photo of one of the beaches in Byron Bay. The water is as blue as any I have seen. The day itself couldn't have been better. We (Caryl, Loc-Uyen, and myself) decided that while we were already in Surfers Paradise for a long weekend we should take a ride one day to visit Byron Bay which is another 90 minutes South heading towards Sydney. Byron Bay is to Surfers Paradise what Provincetown is to Hyannis. Although both places are tourist destinations and beautiful in their own right, Byron Bay is relaxed, laid back and almost untouched. What other town do you know of that people tell you to 'follow your nose to find Byron Bay' referring to the overwhelming smell one would find of marijuana being smoked by the locals who live life by surfing, relaxing, and taking part in some of natures natural stimulants! Although there was no smell of pot in or around Byron Bay the overwhelming sense that we had ventured into a Greatful Dead community was all around us. In every shop you went you could buy something with a VW Bug or Van on it. Each shop was run by laid back shop owners who you felt you may be bothering by asking for their assistance. There was a sign on the walkway up to this lighthouse that said Byron Bay is one of the few places in the world where you can sit in a rain forest and look out over the Pacific Ocean (or any ocean) and listen to the breaths of humpback whales. We didn't go to the rain forest but we did see a humpback whale in the distance breaching from the lookout point at this lighthouse.

Prior to heading down to Byron Bay we spent a day and a half at 'Dorchester on the Beach' which is a 19 story apartment building directly on the ocean. After driving for 1.5 hours and then getting lost for 20 minutes within a half mile of our destination we were blown away by the condo we had lucked out in renting. The condo was one of those places where you could only smile from ear to ear upon entering. It was at least 2000 sq feet, had all white marble tile floors, sliding glass doors from wall to wall, 3 big bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a balcony that overlooked another turquoise blue ocean that went on for what seemed miles! When looking at my pictures I realized that I was so impressed with the view from our condo I never took any pictures of it! I did take plenty of pictures from our balcony.

Surfers Paradise and the Gold Coast in general is similar to Miami Beach. There are dozens and dozens of high rise apartment buildings as far as the eye can see. One of the buildings is billed as the tallest all residential building in the world! The nightlife is second to none and every day and night of the year is a celebration in beach living! We ate at some good restaurants and enjoyed the nightlife also. At one of the restaurants we ate at the waiter recognized our accent only to find out that his wife, who was also working there, is from Dorchester originally! They had been married recently and were traveling the world working until they saved up enough money to take 3 months off to travel the country they were in. Nice way to live!

On my last day at Surfers Paradise I got up at 5:00 am to board a BK Fishing charter at 6:00. Although I gave it my best shot the only thing I caught was a red snapper that came in about 2 inches short of a legal keeper. It was a great half day of fishing even with out much action. The other people in the boat had better luck but overall it was quite. One thing that I was excited about that Australian locals are used to was a bottle nose dolphin that hung out about 10 -20 feet from the boat all morning waiting for us to throw over our half eaten bait fish. I was afraid the dolphin would go after the fish with the hooks in it but I was assured by the Captain that dolphins are much too smart to go after a fish with four hooks and a weight tied to it! And he was right. The dolphin at one point met up with another dolphin and they put on an acrobatic aeriel show for us for a few seconds. Of course it was just short enough of a show for me not to be able to capture it on film! In the slide show you can see the fin of the dolphin though....

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

Two of the first people I met upon joining the CitiStreet Australia team were a set of twin brothers named Peter and David Bissell. These two guys were the first ones to get up out of their seat, extend their hand, give me a pat on the back and say 'welcome mate'.... I kept thinking to myself what nice guys they are. I soon realized that these two brothers were special but they also looked as though something could be wrong too. I had no idea what it could be or put my finger on it but something was different. Boy was I right. After talking to Peter, or maybe it was David, I still can't tell them apart, I learned that both of them have had Cystic Fibrosis since birth and several years ago both of them underwent a double lung transplant. I was blown away by this news but at the same time had such an admiration at how they handled life. I also realized at this time that for them working at CitiStreet was purely to pay the bills. Their true passion over the last 7 years has been to spread joy and laughter as Peebo and Dagwood....clowns! Now I know that some people have a fear of clowns or just generally don't care for them but these two are different. They are two of the funniest guys I have met either as clowns or not. The way they feed off of each others humor and their timing can only be attributed to them being identical twins. It's as though each of them know what the other is going to say before they say it. They are like George Burns and Gracie but with better timing. When talking to Peter about his transplant it was then that he said he and his brother love being clowns because they feel that 'laughter is the best medicine' and I couldn't have agreed more.....

Several weeks ago a project manager was leaving CitiStreet so we had a nice morning tea for her with a mini show by whoelse...... Peebo and Dagwood! Being a new guy in the office I was a prime target for both their jokes and a magic trick they do. Hope you enjoy the pics!

The Hub Apartment.... my home away from home

I moved into my one bedroom apartment in Brisbane several weeks ago. It was one of ony two apartments that I looked at before making my decision. I knew that although I could get a bigger place I couldn't get a place that is in the middle of everything and a view of the river and the Story Bridge. The apartment building is across the street from the Brisbane Marriott, a five minute walk to two train stations, and a 5 minute walk to two major shopping, restaurant, and nightlift districts. Here is a slide show of what it looks like:



Let me know if you are having trouble with the slideshow feature and I will upload the pics the previous way I was!

Time To Get Up To Date

After dealing with Telstra and Bigpond since I moved into my new apartment in the middle of August I finally got my DSL installed today! Going forward I will be updating my blog on a regular basis to keep everyone up to speed on my goings on in Brisbane!

Recently I went with my two co-workers to the Australian Zoo. This is the zoo that Steve Irwin (aka... the crocodile hunter) was affiliated with. The zoo is about 1 hr north of Brisbane. It was a great day overall.... check out the slide show!



After the zoo the tour brought us to a farm stand that had some of the best fruit and vegetables I have had in a long time. Macadamia nuts are native down here and taste amazing compared to what I am used to in the States. I haven't tried any native fruit or veggies yet... I have stuck to the traditional ones you can in Boston.

Oh yea, the non native eating is only applicable to fruits and vegetables. I did cook up some kangaroo meat last week. It was delicious! I marinated it over night and grilled it out on my balcony. It tasted like a very lean fillet of beef. I had to keep reminding myself not to think about it being a kangaroo, the same marsupial that I was hanging out with at the zoo one week earlier.