Olympics Australian Style

I am only just a moderate viewer of the 2008 Olympics (mostly thanks to Jess), but I can say that I greatly miss the overall coverage of NBC.

Tonight we wanted to watch basketball (USA vs AUS), but instead Channel 7's coverage aired the entire women's softball semi-final (JPN vs AUS), which is still on and going to the 12th inning. And if that wasn't enough, the commentary is terrible. I heard at least three explanations of the graphic showing balls, strikes, and outs. So frustrating! Where is Bob Costas when I need him?

No offense to the Australian women's softball team, but there are a bunch of other sports going on that I would like to at least know what is happening.

The online live game tracker is showing the basketball game at 28-24, US leading....wish it were on...

Update: I also meant to mention that SBS (the other network airing any olympics at all) is currently showing men's volleyball (CHN vs BRA)....thrilling.

Coastal Walk

It was a beautiful day today, so Jess and I took a break from watching the poor Australian coverage of the Olympics and decided to go on the Coastal Walk. We took a bus to Bronte Beach and walked to Coogee beach, about 3.5km (~2 miles) which took us about an hour and a half. The sea was angry today ("like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli..."), which provided for some great ocean 'thunder' along the walk.

Map of our walk

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Along the way we saw the Bronte Swimming Pool, Waverley Cemetery (amazing views), Clovelly Bowling Club, and the Giles Baths. At Coogee we decided to have a bite to eat at 'Thai Me Up', based purely on the Pun name. Probably needless to say, the food wasn't that great, but we did enjoy the rest that Coogee had to offer.

The Rocks & Gold Class

We ventured into 'The Rocks' today before going to see The Dark Knight. The Rocks is the oldest part of Syndey (possibly Australia?) and has some great cafes and pubs. On Saturday's there is an outdoor market and live music in the area. We didn't have an agenda, other than to putz around, but we did manage to find some neat walks off the beaten path.

After The Rocks, we made our way into the CBD (about 20min walk) to watch the new batman series. Watching movies here is a little bit different than in the US - 1. Normal ticket prices are about $17 and 2. All seats are assigned. For this particular movie, we decided to step it up a notch and watch it in the more exclusive and stylish 'Gold Class'. While the Gold Class is even more expensive ($38 per ticket - Yikes!), it does has smaller theaters (40 people), comfy seats (see pics below), private restrooms, and waiter service - with restaurant style food & drinks.

We got to the theater about an hour early in order to enjoy the Gold Class lounge [a separate lounge so you don't have to hang out with the rif-raff - :) ]. After a pre-movie drink, we ordered some snacks to be delivered during the movie and headed into the theater. We were then spoiled forever. The chairs are huge, have footrests and can recline to a near horizontal position - oh yeah and have a table between them for food and drinks!

I thought the movie was good, but maybe not worth all of the hype...although Heath Ledger did do an amazing job as the joker. My biggest complaint about the movie - Batman's voice, horrible.

The Gold Class is a world all of its own, but with those ticket prices I don't think this will be a common site for us (as much as we may want it to be). That being said, we have talked about going to see Wall-E in Gold Class when it gets released here in late September (yes that's right 3 months after being released in the states).

Rockpoolin'

This week, my uncle Ned and aunt Jeanne were in town to visit their daughter (my cousin), Kathryn, who had been in Sydney for six weeks for an internship. On Saturday, we decided to try Australia's second best restaurant, Rockpool. It's second only behind Tetsuya's and still rated as one of the world's 50 best restaurants.

We had lofty expectations for a "world class" restaurant and it didn't disappoint. Expecting good food, ridiculous prices, and a stuffy crowd, we were pleasantly surprised by the whole package. The food was outstanding, the prices reasonable ($100 a head), and it was great service and a relatively laid back crowd.

Mostly a fish/seafood restaurant, all fish is brought in by local resources and fished using sustainable means. Although I couldn't try it, Ned was able to order Abalone, which is no longer legal to serve in the US as it was over fished in 70s/80s.

I was also impressed that head chef and restaurant owner, Neil Perry, was in the kitchen cooking while we were there.

I definitely recommend Rockpool for those looking for an awesome meal and a fun night out in The Rocks.

Thanks also to Ned and Jeanne for coming down for a visit - we had a great time catching up!