Hi again, everyone! Well, I suspect that by the time you read this, the Patriots will have either miraculously won the Super Bowl, or will have been beaten soundly. It is on at 10:00am tomorrow (Monday) morning here and is actually on regular TV (so yes, I will see it), but I think I'm going to find a pub to watch it in anyway. =)

I know I've been in touch with many of you over the past week, but here's the latest travel update. Pretty much more of the same...

Let's see, last time I wrote, I was in Melbourne. My last day there, I went on a wine tour of the Yarra Valley. It takes a while to get to so we only had time for three vineyards. With me were a guy and a girl both 20 years old (who wouldn't even be able to do this in America!) and two women in their 70s. They got drunk and were hilarious. We stopped in at the Domaine Chandon vineyard, which is the Aussie branch of the Moet & Chandon empire (of Dom Perignon fame). A good time.

Then I took the bus to Sydney. It took over 14 hours and I think I will probably never do that again!

Last Saturday was Australia Day. I think I have told most of you about this. I bought a cheap (US$4) Australia t-shirt and walked around one of the parks (it was hot and sunny) and got absorbed in the whole atmosphere. They had a show of vintage cars and lots of kiddie stuff. I went to a pub called The Australian Hotel up in The Rocks. I basically went there because (a) I knew they had a TV and (b) there were seats at the bar. After talking to some locals for a bit, I realized that this is the trendy bar in the trendy neighborhood, and "the place to be" on Australia Day.

I watched the women's final of the Australian Open and then the big Australia-NZ cricket match. Along the way I met lots of nice Australian girls (this is sort of an inside joke) and a couple named Matt and Carolyn. They are in their 30s and Matt is a tour guide, so we spent a while looking through my tour book and he told me what was good and what was crap. I spent about 9 hours in that pub and stumbled out at 10:00, but unfortunately missed the fireworks over Sydney Harbour. Oh well.

Sunday I met Matt and Carolyn for brunch at the Seafood Market. This is a place where you can buy your fresh fish or sit outside and eat cooked fish and drink wine (which is what we did). It was a beautiful day and really nice to be out by the water. There is a bridge nearby that looks exactly like the new bridge they are building in Boston, and I got some good photos of it.

Monday was a day off from work for everyone, so I went to visit my friend Alex up in North Sydney (on the other side of the Harbour Bridge). I knew him from ATG in London and he has lived here for about a year now. It was hot and sunny and he and his family (wife, 2 kids) and I hung out by the pool and had a cookout and talked about old times. It was really nice. Unfortunately for their 7-yr-old daughter, the Aussie school year runs Jan to Dec and she had to start school the next day. Ha ha!

Tuesday I met up with a Spanish girl (who lives in London) who I had met while hiking in the mountains two weeks ago. It was her last day in Sydney so we went on the Opera House tour. There are three tours but the one we did only brings you into the seating areas of the five theaters that are there. Some of the other tours go "behind the scenes" but none were offered that day. I learned a lot though (sadly, no photos were allowed). We spent the rest of the day hanging out in various pubs and wine bars, and she was very sad to have to go back to rainy London.

Wednesday my friend Patrice arrived in Sydney. She and I are both ATG old timers who are happily unemployed, and I hadn't talked to her for quite a while until I ran into her at an Xmas party and she said she was thinking of visiting Australia this year. She was pretty jetlagged so we didn't want to do too much, but that didn't stop us from spending the whole afternoon drinking. We went to The Australian Hotel and had kangaroo pizza. Yum.

Thursday we planned on going to the zoo but just as we were about to get on the ferry (to take us across the harbour), it started to rain. So we had lunch and then took a bus tour of the city. Perhaps not surprisingly, I had seen most of the city already! We went to the aquarium and hung out at a wine bar waiting for the rain to stop. After about 5 hours, it was still raining, but we made a run for it anyway.

Friday was equally crappy and we spent much of the day looking for cheap tickets to New Zealand. Unfortunately, at this time of year, they simply don't exist. That night we met up with Matt and Carolyn (from Australia Day) at a very posh wine bar. We spent a lot of time and a lot of money there. But the wine was great. At one point, Matt said two things to me that I *think* were compliments:
1. "Of all the Americans we've met, you drink the most."
2. "You drink like an Australian." I am pretty sure that he meant those as good things. At least, that's the way I took it! After the wine bar we went to a really nice restaurant and watched the end of the cricket (this is getting out of hand) before calling it a night.

Yesterday the rain broke and we finally made it to the zoo. It was great and I took about two rolls of photos. In the evening we took the ferry to the town of Manly, which is a beach town and is apparently a very trendy place to go clubbing on Saturday nights. Unfortunately we were dressed like tourists and wiped out from walking around the zoo, so we just had dinner and ice cream and came back.

So no new death-defying adventures and no dancing on tables, but I am very happy that I am not really travelling "alone" anymore. I think we are planning on staying in Sydney until Thursday, but I'm not sure where we'll go next (lots to choose from). Then we are off to New Zealand from the 13th to the 28th (we are taking a two-week guided tour of the South Island), and I will probably return to America on March 2 or so.

I hope all is well and I look forward to seeing everyone in about a month! Take care! Go Patriots!

Chris