This is not the greatest show ever in America. In fact, it’s awful. Just saying.
It was our first full day in Australia, and the guys here had decided to go to an AFL game. It is getting into the finals, and so the game we watched didn’t really mean anything other than determining home field advantage. Both St Kilda and Carlton are in the final 8, so it was a great game to watch.
We were right near one of the goal posts and 27 rows back. It was a pretty awesome experience. The pace of the game was just incredible. These guys are running around a field much larger than an American football field, and they go non-stop. There are no timeouts, out of bounds, play clock, etc. They are just full out sprinting and smashing into themselves for 25 minute quarters.
I have no idea if it is as exciting while watching it on TV, but being there and experiencing it first hand for the first time was incredible.
Oh, and it was held at the MCG. The stadium holds over 100k people, and is one of the 10 largest in the world. Other cool things about the MCG is that there is a waiting list to get seats. From what I hear, when a child is born they are put on the waiting list, and then they usually get seats in their 30s or 40s. Just incredible.
Oh, and the whole thing is located a 20 minute walk from downtown (from where Yow-Yow and I are staying), and it is right across the street from where the Australian Open is played.
Here are some of the pictures from us leaving Chicago to head to the airport, along with a few shots from Kauai. Not a whole lot of pictures from Kauai this time. I figured that everyone had enough from the last slew I put up from our wedding.
As seen on the home page, we have made it to Melbourne successfully and we are in our temporary apartment. I don’t think Yow-Yow is quite adjusted to the time change yet, as she was up till 4AM last night reading, and is still sleeping as I read this.
So far so good!
Oh, and there is a new wordpress plugin for SlideShowPro Director. It is exactly what I have been looking for. What does this mean for viewers at home? Well, potentially a site redesign. The current theme I’m using isn’t the greatest for Director compatibility (files get saved multiple times, if you change anything to a file in Director it doesn’t get updated on the site, etc.). Who knows when I’ll have time, but it is definitely on the list of things to do now!
An example of what the new plugin does is below. I’m definitely going to be changing a few posts to make it work a lot better!
Well, we have finally made it. After a lot of talk, and quite a bit of quick action, Yow-Yow and I have arrived in Melbourne. It took a lot of travelling to get here (including a 6 night stop at the St. Regis Kauai), but so far, we are enjoying it a lot!
Today’s shot is from our balcony in our temporary living arrangements in Southbank. From our living room, we look out over the river and into the CBD. Behind the tall buildings on the right is where the Australia Open is played too. I didn’t realize it was so close to downtown. You can see the full-sized image if you want, but be careful, it is large (2MB!).
Tonight we are heading to an AFL game, as it is the finals and one of the guys here wants to see it before potentially having to leave. I’m sure we’ll have some fun pictures of that. Plus, being that this is a new place for me, I’m sure I’ll keep posting about our adventures!
Stay tuned for more Melbourne posts!