Happy New Year!

Here are a few pictures from New Year's Eve in Sydney. As you can see, we had a decent view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, which is the focal point of the fireworks extravaganza at midnight. I wanted post a short video of the midnight countdown and the beginning of the fireworks, but the computer I'm on right now isn't allowing me to upload videos. Oh well, I'm guessing the footage you might have seen on CNN is better than what I captured.

Here's a picture I'm posting purely for Pallavi's benefit.......it makes her really happy when her brother and I hug. As you can see, it makes Parth really happy too.
Joining us in Sydney for New Year's Eve was Paris Hilton, who apparently received $100,000 to attend a party. Pallavi and I didn't receive quite as much. Here is a picture of her after she got into her car outside her hotel (photo courtesy of Parth Sharma Photography, New York, NY). The big question on everybody's mind -- why was Paris HILTON staying at the Sydney SHERATON??

Bright Lights, Big Sydney

Greetings from our final stop in Australia. We arrived in Sydney a few days ago and were joined here by Pallavi's parents and brother, Parth, yesterday. Here are some of the pictoral highlights thus far -- a bunch of pictures of us with the main tourist attractions, Pallavi settling in as we were about to watch an outdoor movie at night in a bat-infested park, and Pallavi's father getting interviewed by the local ABC station for a story about folks visiting Sydney for New Year's......from New Jersey, USA to New South Wales, Australia, the man's a celebrity! In addition to what's pictured below, the highlights have been Pallavi and I trying to keep up with the speed-walking antics of her mom & dad, a cruise around Sydney Harbor, and Parth just being Parth. Good times.

The MelBOURNE Supremacy

The highlight of our one day in Melbourne was attending the 1st day of the Boxing Day (Dec 26) cricket test match between Australia and South Africa. For those of you who don't know anything about cricket, the Boxing Day match is an annual tradition in Melbourne....kinda like the Thanksgiving Day NFL games in Detroit and Dallas....only a much older tradition. And the Melbourne Cricket Grounds is considered to be one of the cathedrals of the sport.....like Fenway/Wrigley/Old Yankee Stadium for baseball or Madison Square Garden/Old Boston Garden for basketball. About 70,000 fans attended the first day of this 5-day match. I'm not gonna go into great detail about the sport of cricket.....if you'd like a full tutorial, feel free to contact my father. He'd be happy to talk to you about cricket for days. Anyway, it was a terrific day -- great atmosphere, great venue, and some great performances. I realize this won't mean much to most of you, but we were there to see Ricky Ponting score his 37th career test century, second only to India's Sachin Tendulkar, who has 41. Just trust me when I say that it was pretty cool. To paraphrase Pallavi - ''I think I like cricket a lot more than baseball.....it's much more elegant.'' Here are a few pictures from the day at Melbourne Cricket Grounds.

The Long And Winding (Great Ocean) Road

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on the southern coast of Australia, along the Great Ocean Road. It's like Australia's answer to the Pacific Coast Highway.....or is it the other way around?? Chicken or the egg. Either way, we agreed that it was the most scenic drive that we have ever taken. We stayed in Apollo Bay and spent the two days driving the coast, checking out the small beach towns, and visiting the main tourist attraction - The Twelve Apostles -- kinda like Stonehenge in the ocean. We were also amused by some of the road signs, including 'Kangaroo Crossing' and 'Beware of Koala Bears'. Here are a few shots taken along this magnificent stretch of pavement.

The Barrier Reef.......It's Grrrrrreat!*

Happy holidays from Down Under!

So the latest feat of nature to completely blow us away was the Great Barrier Reef, off the Northeast coast of Australia. After a 1.5 hour catamaran ride out into the ocean, we spent the next couple hours getting up close and personal with this underwater world by snorkeling and by going around on a submarine. This was definitely a 'Nature, who knew!' moment for Pallavi. Here are a few amphibious pictures of us, as well as of the reef.

*Note: Despite this comment, I remain 100% loyal to General Mills, Inc. (stock symbol: GIS)