Hello Brisbane !

Quite unexpectedly I was offered the chance to go to Brisbane for 2 days for work.

The taxi drive to the airport at 7 AM was among the worst I've had, I think the driver was on his first day on the job - he needed a GPS to drive to the airport, almost ran me over when I came out for Payam, wasn't able to give me a receipt at the airport ... pfeeeew, tough life.

Anyways, it was worth it - not that we got to see much of Brisbane by day - it gets dark at 7 PM, but what we've seen looks great.

Here you can see my colleagues, Andrew (left)& Payam (right) when we were waiting for our dinner on a nice place, in Kangaroo Point by the river Brisbane.

And my own Kangaroo

Here's my first picture with a Kangaroo.

And altough you can't see it very well, in my hand there my boomerang which I had to use to make him stop for a while ;) 

Finally, some Kangaroos

Healesville Animal Sanctuary is a great park, 41 miles outside Melbourne, where we headed on Sunday hoping to finally get to see those elusive Kangaroos.

We arrived around lunch time, on a very hot day, and altough we got to see them, unfortunately they were too sleepy to see us. As you can see, both the Kangaroos and the Koalas were taking their time in the shade, instead of coming and greeting us.



Luckily, the dingos and the Tasmanian devils were still up & about giving us something to photograph ;)

If you want to see these great pictures of Kangaroos, Emus, Koalas, Ibises, Tasmanian Devils, Dingos, Pelicans, Raptors, Platipuses, Snakes, go over here.

Great day experience over there, definitely worth crossing the globe over :-)

Commonwealth Games Closing - Fireworks

Sunday was the closing of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

It was a really great evening, here you can see the fireworks as they could be seen from my balcony, you'll notice how they're launched from on top of the skyscrapers - it's the first time I see something like that. Of course, you can see more of my pictures here.

But if you really want to see some nice pictures, then go and have a look at the Herald Sun picture gallery here - the festivities were awesome !!!
 

Light Show on the River Yarra

Saturday night we had the pleasant surprise of bumping into a few hundred thousand people waiting patiently on the banks of the river Yarra. We tried to ignore them at first, but after a while we went up and asked 'What are you waiting for here?'

And so we found out that there would be a light show on the river, and we stayed on to see it. As you can see, we weren't disappointed, those fish could really mesmerise us with their talents :)
 

Joyeux Anniversaire Eva !!!

Happy Birthday !!!














The Kangaroo is on his way with the gifts ;) 

Happy New Iranian Year !!

Yesterday I heard that it was the beginning of the Iranian New Year ! So happy new year to all of you !

Where the bloody hell are you?

Australia Tourism Office has just launched a new advertising campaing to encourage tourists to come over. The slogan is 'Where the bloody hell are you?' and it is supposed to be aired all over the world. You can see it here.

Now quite unexpectedly, Britain has banned the ads since they say that the word 'Bloody' is offensive. This has sparked quite an controversy here, therefore the young ladies in the picture being 'Bloody Proud to be Australian'.

After the Australian Tourism Minister flew all the way to London, it looks like the ads will be shown over there, but this morning Canada has raised some complaints saying that the word 'Hell' is not acceptable language in front of children ;)

Looks like the Aussies have a long way to go - looking forward to the comments from the US networks :-)

Fans @ Swimming Finals

Like I was saying, the action on Monday night was not restricted to the pool. The fans made sure that it will be a night to remember ;)

One of the main attraction points for me was the Scottish bag-piper who sang while the Scot champions were being paraded in front of the audience.

But don't let that fool ya - the Aussies were dominating the soundwaves with their chants of 'Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie - Oi Oi Oi'

Of course, if you want more photos, just go here.


 

Swimming finals @ Commonwealth Games

I had the chance of finding a ticket for the swimming finals on Monday night. Altough a pricey experience (150 AUD) I think it was totally worth it.

Australia has dominated the events, especially the women's team that managed to win the 3 medals in 2 of the events, as well as set a new world record and several new games records.

Scotland came across as the surprise, they managed to win 2 gold medals, Canada & England also got their share of glory.

All in all, a great evening, super atmosphere, if you want to see more pictures just click here. 

Let the festivities begin !

And so, the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne have started last night with a lavish opening ceremony, as you can see from the pictures below.
Everything from Flying trams & Koala bears down to enormous fish has been brought in to ensure this will stay a once in a lifetime experience.
On my end, I joined the celebration by feasting on a free range Kangaroo medalions with button mushrooms and delicious shiraz glazing :). I can honestly say that it was delicious, the meat is very tender and you can feel the game flavour.
Before you start throwing things at me, let me just say that I prefered to try it now, before I actually met any live Kangaroos, because I don't know if I would have been able to eat them afterwards.

If you want to see more pictures, go to the Herald Sun Photo Gallery

And now -> To Work !

These are the nice offices we have in Melbourne - the tower is called Melbourne Central, a nice 5 minutes walk from my hotel. I'm on the 17th floor, with a nice view of the city :) What more can one want? 

First Dinner on the SouthBank

by the Yarra river. Since the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth games start on Wednesday we got to see the rehersal of the ceremony. As you can see, pretty nice. 

Finally, some food :)

Nothing like a Japanese Stone Grill lunch to ease away the jet lag. The stone is heated for a long time and then is brought to the table, and you can cook the meat together with the veggies on it, then dip them in the 5 sauces provided. Definitely yummie ! 

Mumba Parade

My hotel, conveniently located in the Chinatown gave me a view to the Chinese Dragon prepared for the Mumba parade, a tradition for the Labour Day festivities here in Melbourne. 

Crossing the equator

at 1 AM on Monday. The event definitely called for a champagne but unfortunately had to settle for white wine instead - deh economy class ... 

The French Connection in Singapore

Definitely interesting advertising being done here

Brasilian Waxing storms Singapore

Lots and lots of advertising for hair removing solutions :) 

Singapore on Sunday

Seems like Australia is in fashion these days, and lots of publicity goes around it.