Looking south-east towards Wollongong and the Pacific Ocean from Sublime Lookout Point. Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Archive for January, 2007
I spent Australia Day in Sydney with a large number of the Canadian Contingent who are in Wollongong for Teachers College. We caught the almost 2h train to Sydney bright and early (8:30am) so that we could enjoy all that Sydney had to offer.
Syndey was exactly as I expected it to be, and that is to say it was great. The sky was blue, the weather was warm, the streets were clean, the harbour busy and the water filled with boats. We purchased daytripper passes for the public transit that gave us free roam of the harbour ferries and inner city trains. They say the cheapest way to see Sydney is by riding the ferry, and that is what we did. We started our day in Darling Harbour to take in some of the scheduled events (buskers) then caught a ferry around the point to Central Quay. It is from this location that you are directly under the Harbour Bridge (lovingly nicknamed The Coat Hanger) and next to the Sydney Opera House. The Opera House is not as large as I expected, and up close it is not as white. But from a distance, in the glowing sun, it still impresses. Continue reading ‘Australia Day’
Google and Microsoft both have plans to fly air planes over Australia on Australia Day (this Friday January 26th) to take high resolution photos. If I see any planes flying over I’ll have to make a note of my location and throw up a sign or giant arrow. With the news of this being broadcast I am curious to see how many people take advantage of this for marketing or just pranking purposes. Visit this Google Page to see where the plane will be. [via engadget]
Less then 24 hours after departing Pearson International Airport in Toronto we touched down in Sydney Australia. On a calendar the trip took the better part of two days thanks to our friend the International Date Line, which is of no consequence to my body that knew only one thing — it’s a long trip. 13.5h on a plane is actually quite manageable when you fly with the wonderful people of Qantas airlines. The service was excellent, the meal choices fantastic and the chairs comfortable. Sadly, like many others on this flight, my in-seat entertainment system refused to play any of the many movie and TV show choices and I was left to find a away to fill 13h of my life. Luckily after some snooping through the entertainment systems menus I discovered they had a collection of audiobooks that did play for me after a few attempts with the play button. This was essentially a more ideal solution than watching a film as I was able to queue up a book and close my eyes — ready to slip in and out of sleep at my leisure. I think the art of the audio book or radio show is lost in this day and age — it harkens back to a time when one was required to use their imagination to create vivid scenes of entertainment and intrigue.
But I digress. Continue reading ‘In a Land Down Under’
I will soon be traveling some 15,000km across one Continent and a very large Pacific Ocean.
As some people are aware I will be attending Teachers College in Australia. I will call the city Wollongong, and the University of Wollongong my home for the next 9 months. This adventure has been a long time in the making and it still doesn’t feel like the moment has arrived — but alas I depart for the airport within the hour. It may be that I refuse to acknowledge I will be living aboard an airplane for the next 27 hours. My flight path for this evening will be Toronto to LA then LA to Sydney. I get to ride in my first Boeing 747 on the flight to Sydney.
Some fast Australia facts: I will be 16h ahead of Toronto (EST), and in all sense of the word living in the future. When it is 6pm Friday in Toronto it will be 10am Saturday in Wollongong. Wollongong is on the east coast of Australia, located 80km south of Sydney. Google maps provides high resolution photos and maps of Wollongong at Google Maps. Click here to see the city from above.
This web site will continue to be the source for travel updates, photos and overall commentary. It feels good to be embarking on this journey, and I intend to enjoy every minute of it — from teaching science in the classroom to experiencing all the Country has to offer. If i can learn more then I can teach it will have been time well spent.
It’s time to head Down Under.
Geni is a flash-based genealogy web application designed to make it easy to start a family tree and watch it grow. A slew of interesting web 2.0 features makes this an interesting concept as the growth and construction of the tree is done by group effort. When you add someone to the tree you can also add their email, thus giving them access to the tree so they can add the branches they are familiar with. [via lifehacker]
East Timor police have arrested three people on suspicion of the murder and burning of three women accused of being witches, officials say. (source)
Can’t people just let witches be? Besides, everyone knows the best way to deduce if an individual is a witch, is to see if they weight the same as a duck. If they do then they must be made of wood — wood burns, thus they are a witch. Thank you Monty Python for your history and life lessons. Learn how to identify a witch with this short video from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
I’m not one for mash-ups anymore, but when this track come on my portable music player I couldn’t not stop my toes a tapping. I seemed to have acquired it from a Sufjan Stevens Rarities album. Enjoy this mash-up of ‘They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhhh!’ by Sufjan Stevens and ‘Jesus Walks’ by Kanye West.
Australia moved to lunch on day three of the fifth and final Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground this afternoon on 7 for 325, an overall lead of 34 runs. (source)
I think I’m going to enjoy Australia and cricket. Any sport that stops for lunch is okay with me.
Buy some weather insurance and cash in on those rainy days. Weatherbill has set up an impressive sounding website service to sell weather insurance. An interesting business model insures they never lose money — and if you can perfect your raindance, you won’t either. (via Techcrunch)
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