While I have yet to publish a post on what happened on my side trip to Melbourne (work related), yesterday and today were the last days I had in Sydney and they were entertaining in the least.
Yesterday, I discovered the joy of flying JetStar out of Melbourne - well, actually Avalon - a full 54 km away from Melbourne. Consider I had to get up at 6:15am to get to the bus at 7:10am which got me to Avalon at 8:15am for a 9:10am flight (which got delayed for another 20 minutes!). Suffice it to say, my day was a lot slower than I expected. I spent the remainder of the day using the Sydney Monorail (yes, just like Walt Disney World) which showed me Darling Harbor, Paddy's Market (not worth it - we have better flea markets in the States), Cockle Bay and just a relaxing last night in Sydney.
Today, I had to pack and get ready to catch the flight tonight - and after we checked out, we headed to the Taronga Zoo. Not sure if you have ever been to Sydney, but this is a better destination than I thought it would be. The exhibits are terrific, the animals diverse and dynamic (believe it or not, a lot of them were awake!) and the special tour ($100 per person) which gives you a chance to go behind the scenes - well worth the experience. Next time, I will do the Zoo with days before I fly out - I could have spent another six hours there.
I have loads of photos of the exhibits - and will happily add them to my Flickr feed soon. Now getting ready for the flight to Honolulu and then flying to Chicago and then back to Philadelphia. All holidays must come to an end, right?
Saturday, May 10
Tuesday, May 6
Days X to Y: Christchurch, New Zealand
So, after the Sydney portion of the trip, my friend and I decided to take a detour to New Zealand to the South Island (less urban than the North Island, incredibly beautiful). Our flight from Sydney to Christchurch was a simple affair - a 2.5 hour flight that removed an additional 2 hours from our watches (turns out that they are two time zones away from Australia).
Landing in the airport brought me back to my childhood when I used to visit the Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood airport when I was a kid. The airport is small and quaint, with the rental cars sitting in the airport lot right outside the arrival baggage gates. Literally three minutes later, you find yourself in a residential neighborhood, and then five minutes after that - you are in the center of Christchurch.
Our stay was at the Crown Plaza, a four-star (which might be less or more) but it was enough of a point to start from. Big warning on the hotel - they have very "relaxed" service offerings, just be prepared for not the high-end style you'd expect at a US four-star. The highlight IMHO was the Japanese restaurant in the hotel (Yagawama) where they did their own version of Benihana - complete with the flying food (as they make the fried rice, they shuck the egg into a barrier of rice which is only inches away from your plate and face).
The majority of our trip was exploring various aspects of Christchurch and the South Island - we hit the wineries (my favorite was Winmara Point with great food and incredible primo Reisling) and the Spa at Hamner Springs (ehhh...reminded me of being on a cruise ship with the spa treatments) and the Hamner Springs themselves (I enjoyed the White Sulfur Springs Spa in Napa which was smaller, but similar).
For the most part, I caught up with an old post-graduate friend of mine (post graduate means grad school for those of us in the States), Professor Geoff Chase. Geoff is a full professor at the University of Canterbury and back when he and I were grad students at Stanford, we used to hang about and get into all sorts of mischief including swimming from Alcatraz on a cold Fall day.
Geoff (with his lovely wife MJ and two beautiful kids) have made an incredible life in NZ, and with his cadre of graduate students, have pushed the envelop on what is termed "model-based therapy" in healthcare. The concept is the use of dynamic models and concepts from system identification to determine the human responses to various variables and building an effective model whilst tuning the parameters that represent the process. For example, he is now able to effective measure the insulin response of a Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic (as well as normal people) with close to 95% accuracy using a relatively simple dynamic model to help in the management of glucose and insulin levels. His students have taken his work into areas of neo-natal care and other areas that show incredible promise.
Funny thing - Geoff has taken the concepts of control theory and applied them in ways that most medical science would not think of - relying on a simplification theory that actually works. More to come as I learn more from him about it.
Today - we ended up discovering that Jetstar requires you to be checked in 60 minutes before departure (whoops!) and then, when you check in, the airport taxes that you normally pay via your ticket - you have to pay directly at the airport at a separate window (nice thinking Quantas!).
We are off to Sydney in 90 minutes and will have photos of the trip up at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdickert soon enough.
Landing in the airport brought me back to my childhood when I used to visit the Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood airport when I was a kid. The airport is small and quaint, with the rental cars sitting in the airport lot right outside the arrival baggage gates. Literally three minutes later, you find yourself in a residential neighborhood, and then five minutes after that - you are in the center of Christchurch.
Our stay was at the Crown Plaza, a four-star (which might be less or more) but it was enough of a point to start from. Big warning on the hotel - they have very "relaxed" service offerings, just be prepared for not the high-end style you'd expect at a US four-star. The highlight IMHO was the Japanese restaurant in the hotel (Yagawama) where they did their own version of Benihana - complete with the flying food (as they make the fried rice, they shuck the egg into a barrier of rice which is only inches away from your plate and face).
The majority of our trip was exploring various aspects of Christchurch and the South Island - we hit the wineries (my favorite was Winmara Point with great food and incredible primo Reisling) and the Spa at Hamner Springs (ehhh...reminded me of being on a cruise ship with the spa treatments) and the Hamner Springs themselves (I enjoyed the White Sulfur Springs Spa in Napa which was smaller, but similar).
For the most part, I caught up with an old post-graduate friend of mine (post graduate means grad school for those of us in the States), Professor Geoff Chase. Geoff is a full professor at the University of Canterbury and back when he and I were grad students at Stanford, we used to hang about and get into all sorts of mischief including swimming from Alcatraz on a cold Fall day.
Geoff (with his lovely wife MJ and two beautiful kids) have made an incredible life in NZ, and with his cadre of graduate students, have pushed the envelop on what is termed "model-based therapy" in healthcare. The concept is the use of dynamic models and concepts from system identification to determine the human responses to various variables and building an effective model whilst tuning the parameters that represent the process. For example, he is now able to effective measure the insulin response of a Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic (as well as normal people) with close to 95% accuracy using a relatively simple dynamic model to help in the management of glucose and insulin levels. His students have taken his work into areas of neo-natal care and other areas that show incredible promise.
Funny thing - Geoff has taken the concepts of control theory and applied them in ways that most medical science would not think of - relying on a simplification theory that actually works. More to come as I learn more from him about it.
Today - we ended up discovering that Jetstar requires you to be checked in 60 minutes before departure (whoops!) and then, when you check in, the airport taxes that you normally pay via your ticket - you have to pay directly at the airport at a separate window (nice thinking Quantas!).
We are off to Sydney in 90 minutes and will have photos of the trip up at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdickert soon enough.
Thursday, May 1
Movie Review: IRON MAN
Well, after a day on the water with about 30 sailboats cruising around the Sydney Harbor (day started out gorgeous and ended with dark clouds and amazing seafood, my friend and I decided to take in the opening day of Iron Man in Sydney Theaters.
Aside from my review, I must say that Sydney does movies right. While the cost is incredibly high ($16 AUS) for regular tickets, they do offer a Gold Pass option for $24 AUS which provides you with bar and table service for you and your guest - but you must pre-order everything and pay for the higher priced goodies. But, it is an experience to enjoy. I mean, how much does it cost for dinner and a movie these days? Why not combine them both?
As for the Iron Man movie - definitely up there. As Wired rightly reviewed it, it was an astonishing display of good casting, great effects, terrific storyline (even though I knew most of it when I was growing up reading the Iron Man comic books). But the twist on the technical issues (I forgot, is an Arc Generator something from the books?), the characters and the effects were astonishing. And, as everyone says, Robert Downey Jr. was a perfect casting here (and I was quite concerned when I saw the preview poster over a year ago). Gweneth Paltrow plays Piper incredibly well (where my brother was quite worried) and I fell in love with the "dance scene" as it will become known.
The appearance of S.H.I.E.L.D. was as amusing as it was perfect - and I kept waiting for Nick Fury to show up at some time. But take the movie for all it's cotton-candy goodness. It is a treat that will start the summer heat. Enjoy.
P.S. Iron Man Easter Egg - stick around for the end of the credits - Marvel always has something for those who appreciate the makers of the craft.
Aside from my review, I must say that Sydney does movies right. While the cost is incredibly high ($16 AUS) for regular tickets, they do offer a Gold Pass option for $24 AUS which provides you with bar and table service for you and your guest - but you must pre-order everything and pay for the higher priced goodies. But, it is an experience to enjoy. I mean, how much does it cost for dinner and a movie these days? Why not combine them both?As for the Iron Man movie - definitely up there. As Wired rightly reviewed it, it was an astonishing display of good casting, great effects, terrific storyline (even though I knew most of it when I was growing up reading the Iron Man comic books). But the twist on the technical issues (I forgot, is an Arc Generator something from the books?), the characters and the effects were astonishing. And, as everyone says, Robert Downey Jr. was a perfect casting here (and I was quite concerned when I saw the preview poster over a year ago). Gweneth Paltrow plays Piper incredibly well (where my brother was quite worried) and I fell in love with the "dance scene" as it will become known.
The appearance of S.H.I.E.L.D. was as amusing as it was perfect - and I kept waiting for Nick Fury to show up at some time. But take the movie for all it's cotton-candy goodness. It is a treat that will start the summer heat. Enjoy.
P.S. Iron Man Easter Egg - stick around for the end of the credits - Marvel always has something for those who appreciate the makers of the craft.
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