As Far As You Know

After some automotive bushwacking through the Glass House Mountains and some beautiful scenery around Maleny, I arrived at the Sunshine Coast in southeast Queensland. I am staying in Mudjimba, just north of Maroochydore and Mooloolaba, just east of Bli Bli, and just south of Eumundi and Noosa. (Aboriginal names are pretty common here, as you can see, much as Native American place names are all over New England.)

The entire area is focused on beach culture. Surfers, swimmers, and sunbathers dot the Pacific coast, especially this time of year, as Australian schools are closed for summer vacation and many families are traveling on holiday.

When I got up this morning and checked my e-mail, there was a message from the iTunes Music Store alerting me that the latest episode of The Office was available for download. Staying in touch with favorite shows back home like this is a relatively recent treat; certainly I couldn't do it during my last sabbatical trip in 1998.

Earlier in the week, I downloaded from iTMS an episode from the Discovery Atlas series on the Discovery Channel, one called "Australia Revealed." The overview of the country is nearly two hours long--but still only $1.99!--beautifully photographed in high definition, and narrated by Russell Crowe. I was turned on to the series by another Discovery Atlas episode ("China Revealed") on DVD that I was given for Christmas by a cousin; I watched this documentary on my portable Panasonic player on one of my flights. It's a great series. You can see it in all its splendor on the Discovery HD network, if you get it. Or you can order the DVDs for about $20 or download episodes from iTunes Music Store for $2. Here's the link to "Australia Revealed":

The Australian newspapers reported with glee that the local currency had tied its record strength relative to the American dollar. It's bad enough I get whacked on the exchange rate every time I go to western Europe, but now it's happening here, too!

The David Bowie classic: Life On Mars? 'Nuff said.

I'll be driving back to Brisbane shortly to catch the train to Sydney, which will arrive early Monday morning. Let's hope I don't share the compartment with the same guy I did on the way up!

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl