One for the Record Books

All last week in Melbourne, the forecasts for today were ominous, with talk of a return of last week's heatwave conditions as well as some of the most extreme fire weather in memory. The forecasts proved quite accurate, with temperatures in Melbourne topping out this afternoon at over 46C (117F), the highest temperature ever recorded within the city. Meanwhile, high winds played havoc with bushfires - fires that were relatively small and isolated 24 hours ago erupted into massive fires that burned out-of-control (go here for some photos). By early afternoon, the view from our balcony was totally obscured by smoke from the Bunyip Ridge fire to the east of Melbourne. At present, the death toll stands at 14, with some victims being caught by fast moving fires that provided little warning. But that number is projected to rise. While temperatures have dropped back down to normal levels, the changing wind direction threatens to simply push fire fronts off into new areas.

Update: 8/2/2009: 24 hours later and temperatures have returned to normal levels in Victoria, but the bushfires continue to rage. As of 7:45 Sunday evening, the death toll stood at 66 and climbing, making this one of the worst fires (if not the worst) in Victoria's history. Over 700 houses have been destroyed, and in some instances, entire townships have been erased including the town of Marysville, where I once spent a couple of pleasant nights attending a conference.

Cheap Flights

Thanks to the free market, it's now cheaper to get to Australia (from the U.S. at least). The only two airlines flying the LA/Sydney route (Qantas and United) now have some company in the form of Delta and Virgin Australia. Rumour has it that the competition has significantly shaved airfares. So now even more Yankees can have their own little Australian adventure.

It's a Dry Heat

Melbourne is regarded (particularly by those in Sydney and Queensland) as one of Australia's most chilly cities. However, summers in Melbourne can be accompanied by rather extreme heat. This past week was a case-in-point, with three consecutive days where temperatures exceeded 43C (109F). The consequences for Melbourne were readily apparent - a rash of heat-related deaths; a complete collapse of the train system; and widespread problems with the electricity grid that were exacerbated by the eruption of a number of bushfires.

Update 2/2/2009: The heatwave has claimed another victim. Melbourne's brand new observation wheel has been shut down indefinitely due to structural failure during the heat wave.

Inauguration Day

The U.S. Presidential Inaugural occurs every four years, but January 20, 2009 was inarguably a bit different then prior events. Fortunately for me, I was once again back in the U.S. in January, which enabled me to sneak in a trip to the nation's capital for Inauguration Day. I flew into DC from Phoenix where I'd attended the annual AMS meeting and landed at Washington National where outdoor temperatures were a chilly 12F (-11C).

Scott and Katie were kind enough to put me up for a few days, and one of the first tasks was to ensure we had sufficient cold-weather gear to survive several hours of exposure on the Mall. A visit to REI provided the first tangible evidence that a large number of people were planning on attending the Inauguration, as REI was packed full of people and hats, gloves, and long-underwear were all in short supply. On Sunday the 18th, we headed down to the mall to check out the Lincoln Memorial Inauguration Concert. However, we arrived a bit late to get into the secure area and thus had to be satisfied with a distant view of a jumbotron from outside the perimeter. The day also revealed that while Metro services might be adequate for getting into DC, the system was totally overwhelmed after events finished, forcing us to walk back across the Potomac into Virginia.

On the big day, we awoke at 5:00am, were out the door at 6:00am and managed to be on the Mall by about 7:30am. This left us with just just four hours to wait in freezing conditions until the beginning of the ceremony. We managed, however, to cope with the cold, and though we were probably a good mile away from the Capitol building we can still claim to be among the 1.5 million who were "there". After the swearing-in, however, we had another adventure trying to escape from DC, ultimately making our way again to the 14th street bridge and using our feet to get back home. We spent the rest of the day resting, getting warm and watching the Inaugural parade on TV.

And to top off the whole trip, I managed to hitch a ride back to Australia aboard one of Qantas' new A380s. Yes - it's a very large plane.

Christmas 2008

Another Christmas, another adventure on the Australian coast. Christmas 2005 was spent in Adelaide. Christmas 2006 was spent in Tasmania. Christmas 2007 was spent in Merimbula. Christmas 2008 represented a return to coastal NSW, with visits to both Mallacoota and Bateman's Bay, followed by a quick over land dash to Canberra.
We headed out from Melbourne to Mallacoota on the 22nd of December, setting up camp in the Foreshore Holiday Park. My memories of Mallacoota revolve around large numbers of mosquitoes and an encounter with the legendary (and quite tasty) jellycake. However, we did manage a couple of treks into Croajingolong National Park, and I managed to narrowly avoid stepping upon a Brown Snake, the species of snake responsible for the most deaths in Australia. I'm beginning to believe that thoughts such as, "hey, I wonder where this path leads. . ." should not be acted upon.

From Mallacoota, the drive to Bateman's Bay was only a couple of hours over familiar ground, although we did stumble upon this grizzly car accident south of Eden. In Bateman's Bay, we camped outside of town (the town being the least attractive aspect of the region) in the community of South Duras at the South Duras Caravan Park. The caravan park was chock full of stereotypical Australian wildlife including kangaroos, possums, and goannas, all of which spent the nighttime hours attempting to steal half of our stuff and shitting on the other half. Nevertheless, South Duras Beach was a lovely playground. We also explored Pebbly Beach in North Duras as well as Mt. Duras (where we got tangled up with a leech or two). We spent one magical evening on Duras Lake, paddling with Bay & Beyond Sea Kayak Tours, and our final night on New Year's Eve was celebrated with a minor feast, but we didn't quite stay awake long enough to ring in the New Year. From Bateman's Bay, we drove inland to Canberra where we spent a couple of days soaking up a little Aussie history, before attending the wedding of Nick and Dominique. We spent a morning in the National Museum of Australia (which I think we agreed had one of the most kick-ass gift shops of any museum we'd ever been in), followed the next day by a visit to Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial. That left us a bit fatigued for the night's wedding festivities at the Canberra Yacht Club, but we managed to rally.

Southern Star

After a couple of years of delays, Melbourne's own Southern Star Observation Wheel opened yesterday to mixed reviews.

Community Service

After allowing the mail to pile up for the past three weeks, I finally opened up the post box this evening to retrieve the bills, junk mail, and other assorted items. The most interesting discovery was a flyer from a concerned citizen calling the attention of the community to an alleged illegal brothel in our midst - in fact, just a 100 metres down the road from us. Apparently, someone at 392 Church Street offers "Oriental Relax - Massage". Not sure what that is exactly, but there appear to be at least a few folks in the community that disapprove of such relaxation. I walk past said house at least twice a day and have never noticed a thing, nor has anyone ever offered me relaxation. But one can rest assured that I'll be more attentive in the future. . .

Seattle & The Everglades

I was away for a while, back to the good ol' USA for a quick publicity tour. I started off dropping in on Seattle, visiting some folks at the University of Washington and basking in the cold, dreary, rainy weather for which the region is famous. I did manage to find some time to check out the Underground Tour, which provided a bit of history about the development of Seattle while demonstrating that with the right angle, one can turn a hole in the ground into a tourist attraction.

PB160011
Originally uploaded by BLP

I subsequently left Seattle for the more sunny Florida landscape, dropping in for a night at home in Atlanta before arriving in Miami to meet up with my Aussie companions who accompanied me on the rest of my tour. After a night in Miami, we headed through the Everglades, stopping at Wooten's Airboats to do a bit of airboating with Captain Scott.

We moved on with new found knowledge about the wildlife of the 'glades (including the proliferation of Burmese pythons and a recipe for venison burgers that was mouthwatering), spending a night in Naples before arriving in St. Petersburg to attend the Coastal Cities Summit. I, however, had to depart from the conference a bit early in order to make the long journey back to Melbourne and then on to Mildura to attend the 10th annual Mildura Gasshuku.

Closed for Business

In a bizarre blow to Australian tourism, the Simpson Desert has been closed for the summer, due to forecasts of extreme temperatures in excess of 50C. Apparently, the government has decided that conditions are just too dangerous and doesn't want to be in the position of having to fetch more than the usual allotment of corpses from the desert sands.

However, given that high temperatures are nothing new to the Australian landscape, others have proposed alternative explanations for the closure. Adelaide's newspaper, The Advertiser, for example, stoked the rumour mill which is abuzz with whispers about aliens being discovered in the park.

Crocs Back in the Spotlight

Australia's grumpiest animal icon is back in the media...

First, stories are pouring in from Magnetic Island off the coast of Townsville in Queensland, where a 2.5 metre croc has taken up residence and in so doing has single-handedly destroyed the island's economy. As stated by one dive operator: "Sharks we can handle, but you just don't know what one of these things might do." Well, I guess that settles the question of which species is more feared.

Meanwhile, Time magazine has this story about the more humane treatment that crocs receive these days from humans. After the recent disappearance of a fisherman in Queensland, wildlife officials rounded up the usual croc suspects. But instead of dispatching the animals, they were given x-rays and endoscopies to check for any remnant human remains. The gentle treatment is apparently due to the perception by some officials that crocs over 13 feet are "icons".

Bloc Party & Death Cab for Cutie

Bloc Party is poised to release there third album, with the first single sounding, well, a lot like Bloc Party (not that that's a bad thing).

Meanwhile, I picked up a copy of Death Cab for Cutie's latest album a couple of weeks back, and have enjoyed it immensely - chock full of hits as they say.

Trick-or-Treat

I know what you're thinking - all those tacky costumes - must be Halloween. But no, it's just spring carnival - the annual celebration where horse racing and "fashion" mix, with sometimes disastrous results.

The Tourism Wars

There is nothing Australia's media likes more than fueling social debate over issues about which Australian society could really care less. So it is with Tourism Australia's latest campaign. In 2006, the powers that be rolled out the marketing gem below, which caught bloody hell from all sorts of folks, because it featured profanity (never mind that the word "bloody" is only considered profanity in a few very tiny markets - in the US, it's simply a word to describe how you'd like your steak prepared) and a young woman in a bikini, in addition to a mosaic of a broad range of Australian icons and attractions. Now anyone who has ever actually been to Australia knows that the word "bloody" is so pedestrian and ubiquitous that to call it profanity is a bit of a stretch. Similarly, bikinis are also ubiquitous and, in fact, one of the primary reasons why people flock to Australia from the northern hemisphere is so that they can wear a bikini while baking themselves silly on the nation's beaches. So, while perhaps being every so slightly cheeky, the campaign in question was a fairly accurate representation of the nation's mood and amenities.

Fast forward a couple of years, and witness below Australia's attempts to take their marketing campaign up-market. They've brought in Baz Luhrmann to lend a hand, which cleverly leverages his soon-to-be-released epic film, Australia. The message - all you workaholics suffering through the financial crisis can find respite in the heart of Australia. So are Australians happy? According to the media, the answer is "no". The complaints are that the ad is too "white collar" (why isn't anyone using words like "bloody", the way normal Australians communicate) and doesn't feature Australia's beaches (where are all those girls in bikinis).

So at this point, I'm fairly convinced that there isn't a tourism campaign that exists that the media won't find a way of criticising. But to be fair, it's hard to come up with material to fill newspapers day-in and day-out in a country where not too much happens and most folks are pretty pleased with their lives.

Meat Wagon

Apparently, there is a mobile meat pie business in Sydney that's been in continual operation for 70 years. And yes indeed, it has its own website: Harry's Cafe de Wheels.

Dream Festival

We strolled through the first annual Dream Festival this afternoon - caught some odd looking inflatable art and ate some snacks.

Photos here

Glimpses of the Past

The New South Wales State Library has digitised a number of photographs in its collection and posted them online for public viewing via Flickr.

Another reason why Melbourne is better than Sydney. . .

A national survey of Australian attitudes toward diversity has identified New South Wales as the most "racist" of the nation's states and territories. Forty-six per cent of survey respondents stated some ethnic groups "should not be in the country." But only about 10 percent of Australians went as far as to say that different ethnic groups shouldn't inter-marry or that certain ethnic groups are inferior. So I guess that means half of Australians are racist, but only 10% are REALLY racist. Well, that's a relief. . .

Australia Does Epcot

Apparently, visitor's to Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival can now get a taste of Melbourne's famous laneways and cuisine. Tourism Victoria managed to land Melbourne a spot at the famous food gig (not that anyone in America actually knows where Melbourne is). For some, it may provide some incentive to make the great trip down under. But for most, I reckon Epcot is as close as they'll get to the sunburned country.

All Victoria Grand Final

Another year, another footy Grand Final. I've decided that there is no greater spectacle in Victoria than the Grand Final. Melbourne Cup is a close second, but horse racing just doesn't have the mass appeal to all ages as footy. As great as the World Series, the Superbowl and March Madness might be, I'm not even sure they can compare. After all, any town that can support nine professional teams in the same freakin' sport is going to be tough to beat when it comes to fanaticism.

In any case, this year's Grand Final came down to a clash between the defending champs, Geelong, and Hawthorn in front of a crowd of 100,012. We had to pull for Hawthorn, because you've got to go for the underdog and because we've been to Geelong (aesthetically, it leaves something to be desired, and we can't pronounce the city correctly anyway). A Grand Final is not something to be watched alone, so we experienced the festivities at Ernie and Lisa's new penthouse flat. And fortunately, but surprisingly, the Hawks broke loose after half time and cruised to victory. This was followed by lots of fist pumping and ass slapping by the victors.

The Grates - Burn Bridges

The Grates have a new album out and you know what that means - a whole suite of catchy new tunes and a few very odd videos. . .