If You Give A Cop A Doughnut Then He'll Want a Cup Of Tea...

So, I had heard a rumor that Krispy Kreme indeed had a store in Sydney, somewhere near the Wynyard train station. Since I was already out walking around while watching the parades, I thought I'd hunt for it.

Unfortunately, I was having no luck. However, since some of the streets were still roped off from the parade, I decided to test the theory of the "universal doughnut detector". Yep, I asked a couple of cops who were working the parade - and they gave me concise directions to the Krispy Kreme two blocks away.


As a token of my appreciation, I brought a couple of hot doughnuts back for them. Obligatory Note To Police Captain: Though they graciously agreed to pose with the doughnuts in the photo, they certainly did not improperly accept any sort of gratuity. Why, that would be a violation of protocol, and everyone who knows me knows that I would certainly never encourge anyone to violate protocol. Not me. Never. Unh unh. No way.

As an aside, the dougnuts are wicked expensive there. Though they taste the same as back home, expect to pay $2AUS per doughnut, or $12.90AUS for a dozen glazed. Yikes! I guess when you're that expensive, it justifies this pre-order form.

ANZAC Day

Every year, ANZAC Day is observed in Australia. What started as a commemoration of the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps after the arduous and costly Gallipoli campaign has now grown into a national commemoration of all those Australians who have died in military operations. Across the nation (and even in Gallipoli, Turkey), services are held at dawn at the time of the original landing. Later in the day, veterans, children of veterans, active duty personnel, and military and school bands join in marches through cities across the nation. (In Sydney alone this year there were approximately 20,000 marchers).


In the US, I don't think our Memorial Day and Veteran's Day commemorations come anywhere near the scale of ANZAC Day - and while July 4th does, I don't think it approaches the sincerity with which the Aussies observe ANZAC Day.


Much was made of the fact that this is the first ANZAC that no WWI veterans were alive to participate. However, tradition holds that relatives of veterans (of ANY war) may participate and wear their medals in their stead. Here, we see both WWII veterans and children of veterans marching:

More WWII marchers...

The reason nobody is watching the band is because an old WWII bomber is flying over the city.

And yes, the Navy marches too...

The Manly man of Manly...

I decided to take a ferry ride Sunday out to Manly, a suburb up near Syndey's Northern Beaches. It's an easy train trip to Circular Quay station, where you can catch the ferries.

On the way out, I got some nice views of the opera house.

Once in Manly, I stopped for fish and chips at the Blue Water Cafe, which had a nice view of the beach.

Now - for the ladies. I think that I shall never see, a lifeguard more Manly than he:

On the trip back, I could see a nice silhouette of the Sydney skyline:

Tom Cruise Won't Get Off The Telly

Crikey! Even out here, I face an incessant barrage of ScienTOMogy. Every newscast seems to feature Tom talking about the baby...are the Aussie newscasters really interested, or are they just doing it to rub it in Nicole Kidman's face?

There's no critical reporting of the Tom/Katie debacle, either...nothing like in the States, where David Spade was heard to say "...on May 3, Mission Impossible 3 will be released...and Katie Holmes WON'T be."

Eating Skippy (and I don't mean peanut butter)

I have a new food fantasy - which can never become reality, since Robert Mitchum is dead. I long to hear him do a voice-over for a new television ad where, with triumphant Aaron Copland music in the background, he says, "Kangaroo - it's what's for dinner." MMMMMMM...tasty!

Some folks from work took me out to James Squire Brewery...good for its beverages in its own right.
However, something on the menu caught my eye, and I felt compelled to try it.

I wasn't disappointed. 'Roo tastes like fine, tender, lean steak. Why the heck doesn't Outback Steakhouse serve THAT?

Different Sameness...

Even things American look somehow different here...

Office Space...

I must say, there are worse views to be had from an office window. Here's the view from the conference room...

Wombat Blues

I saw three dead wombats today. I've been in Australia barely 24 hours, and already, I'm faced with this unspeakable horror. I saw their bloated road-kill bodies while on the road from Sydney to Canberra. Despite assurances from the song, they were NOT leading "a life, that's like, free of strife", and each seemed to be "one hell of a DEAD marsupial".

I can only take solace in the fact that I didn't kill them myself. Otherwise, it easily could have happened yesterday when I let my sleep-deprived self jump into a car with the steering wheel on the right, and drove from the Sydney airport to my hotel in the city during rush hour traffic, never before having driven in a country where left-lane driving is the norm.

Of course, I wasn't as disturbed by my rental car experience on Wednesday as I was by my cabbie experience on Thursday. After the long ride to/from Canberra with my Aussie work mates, I took a cab back into the city. From my Pakistani cab driver, I learned: that Bill Clinton was the best American president ever, that John Kerry would have been even better, that George Bush orchestrated the Bali bombing to fool the Aussies into supporting America on Iraq (and will have Musharraf murdered if Pakistan doesn't continue to back America), and 9/11 was a conspiracy by the JOOOOOOOOZZZZ. He also said that all Muslims around the world (apparently including himself) would rise up and conduct "the final war" if America attacked Iran. I gave him an extra-large tip, hoping he would bomb MY hotel LAST.