Corporate Adventures

Showing up to work on Monday wasn't easy. Even though I was seeing people, places, sports, foods and animals I had never seen before, Australia reminded me quite a bit of home and of all those things that I miss living in Japan. The trip was great, thanks in a large part to Alex who did most, if not all, the planning for our adventures.

You may ask why the title says "corporate adventures" as opposed to regular ones. It started with a DVD called, "The Corporation." It argues, convincingly, that there is a disparity in the fact that US laws generally treat corporations like people and gives them many of the same rights, but that if we were to judge corporations as we judge people, then they would all be heartless psychopaths. I don't know what that suggests about how to solve the problems of the world, but it was interesting, and it did inspire our idea about making a real human corporation, me. For the duration of the trip, I was referred to as "The Corporation." Alex even bought some shares for ten Australian dollars.

Now, I've tried to recall everything we did and I put it down more for my own sake than anyone else's, but I figured some might be curious, so here you can read where I've been and what I've done, complete with Wikipedia and other links and as little commentary as I could manage. I'm also trying out a different way of uploading pics to the web, Flickr. Just click on the photo at the top of the post to see all the photos I've uploaded. Unfortunately I'm not in many pictures, but soon you may be able to see some of the shots Charlie and Alex took.

Note - this timeline may have some mistakes (names mispelled or events out of order). Hopefully it will get fixed up.

Day 1 - Early arrival in Melbourne. Saw Casanova on plane. 2/4 stars. Alex (fellow teacher, Melbourne native) and Charlie (another teacher, who had arrived in Australia days earlier) picked me up and we went to a big breakfast in the middle of town. Bacon and eggs. It was huge. Next, ice cream. Visit to the market. Stop at Alex's sister's apartment. Drive to Alex's parents' house. Short hike in national park behind house. Attempt to spot wild koalas. Failure. Roast lamb (thank you Barkers). Games. First attempt to watch "The Corporation." Failure (too sleepy). Soft bed (thanks again Barkers).

Day 2 - Cereal. Second attempt to watch "The COrporation." Success. Drive back to Melbourne. Expensive luxury movie experience. Big, soft seat. Three course meal. Spike Lee's Inside Man. 3.5/4 stars. Beertopia. Sampling countless Australian beers and meeting Alex's friends.

Day 3 - BBQ. Wildlife sanctuary. Koalas (not "Koala bears". Kangaroos. Wallabies. Wombats. Platypus. Monitor lizard eating a chick. Out to a pub at night. Leaving early with Charlie due to exhaustion and having had enough beer the night before.

Day 4 - Black Hawk Down on DVD. Australian Rules Football game. Night out. Latin music club.

Day 5 - Hiking in forest near Alex's old home. Stopping for tea. Acquirement of Larry the Land Cruiser from Alf. Stopping on the Neighbors street. Taking bad photos. Vietnamese food. Pub Trivia.

Day 6 - Road trip begins. Meat pie restaurant (I chose the Thai chicken pie). Surfing in Lorne. Failure to ride a wave correctly. Fish and chips. Parking near Otway Lighthouse. Attempt to follow a trail to find the lighthouse in the dark. Failure (wrong trail). Card games in Larry.

Day 7 - Visit Lighthouse (sort of a musuem). Talk to descendent of light house keepers. Mistaken for university student on a babe-hunt. More driving. Rain forest hike. Another rain forest hike. On walkways at the top of the canopy. More driving. Stop next to cricket field. Cooking lamb meat sandwiches in Larry. Cards.

Day 8 - "The day with no lunch". Bacon and eggs. Visit first winery. Drink wine. Drive to Grampians. Observe devasation and regrowth after a forest fire. Hiking / climbing around on precarious rock ledges. Wild wallaby sighted. Decision to return to Melbourne a day earlier than planned. Visit second winery. Disliked by pourer. Watched The Da Vinci Code. 2.5/4 stars. Unable to get into Alex's sister's apartment. Cards inside Larry, parked outside sister's apartment. Intention to eat kangaroo. Discovery that meat turned green. Last night inside Larry.

Day 9 - Relaxing at Alex's sister's apartment (key acquired from Mr. Barker). Steak dinner. Bar hopping. Barred from clubs due to shabby clothing. Feeding possums in the park at night. Discovery that Australian possums are far superior to the American varieties (they're actually cute).

Day 10 - Charlie goes home early. Melbourne Aquarium. "Wave Rider" ride at end of aquarium tour. Utter disappointment. Melbourne museum. Slowly learning more about Australia. Greek lamb meat sandwhich. Flight home. Watched Match Point. 4/4 stars.

Big thanks to Sarah (sp?) and Heath, Morag, and Mr. and Mrs. Barker for letting us stay at their places, and once again thanks to alex for inviting me and being an excellent guide.