DISQUS

That's another place in Australia I want to visit when/if I return. I feel like it's worth the trip to the west coast just for that.

Is that the "official" venue photography unit? How bad would it be if the person taking the picture messed up and missed it?

1. Is the beer good though? I don't drink, so it doesn't matter to me, and now that I think about it, cheap beer never stopped most travelers anyway.
2. What phone did you get?
3. I'm guessing you're still able to get by just fine with English?

I did one of the Uluru-in-a-day tours, which was great: no time wasted, get up in the morning, they bus you down there with a couple of sights along the way, give you enough time to walk around, and bring you back at night, which takes longer, because they have to drive slower to avoid animals attracted to the heat stored in the pavement.
If you need more time, you can take the 3-day camping trips, or just get the transport and put yourself up in Yulara, a town built to service tourism and has four or so accommodations broken into price ranges.

Do some noodling. Coober Pedy is one of the places I wished I had time to visit on my last trip.

I would prefer a Cowon A3 PMP, which has more storage space, more codec support, and USB host capability, meaning you can move photos directly from your digital camera to the A3 and not have to bring a computer at all (unless you want to upload to the internet or do editing before uploading). The two things keeping me away from iPods are the price and the non-removable battery.

You could consider strapping the video camera and tripod into the passenger seat (with seat belt) and shooting a minute or so of the scenery of your drive. Might be interesting, or incredibly boring.

You may not need to fill up to the top every time you stop, but fill enough to guarantee you'll make it to the next station.

I like these clips of nature, like Sunrise Earth. Put it on a loop for ambient noise. I suppose the hardest part is making sure the shot isn't ruined by other people or modern life (planes, cars, mobiles, etc.)

Does Cairns have an actual beach yet? Or is it still the man-made (but still very cool) Esplanade?

I like these short clips, it's like Sunrise Earth. Just set up the tripod and capture a bit of nature, then loop it for continuous ambient noise. I suppose the toughest part would be making sure you don't get interrupted by other people or modern life.

I don't like Lonely Planet that much anyway. I've read a few dozen, and most of them seem oriented towards traveling the cheapest way possible, from the cheapest lodgings to food to activities. Though I have flipped through travel guides in a library before traveling for some ideas, I wouldn't buy one (I guess I am cheap after all).

But you'll keep the "Where on Google Earth" game going?

I still want to do it, but I'm sure the cost keeps going up, it was around US$100 three years ago, the website says around $150 now. I wonder if they still do marriage proposals at the top.

If you want Gary, you should consider taking photos of you touching famous landmarks (a flickr group I created) and submitting them, could be a fun collection.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/touchingfamousland...

It sounds like you're in Kings Cross, but then, that area doesn't give the best image of the city. The outer suburbs are more relaxed. I hope you'll grow to like the city as much as I do. Though, Melbourne has at least one advantage over Sydney - no funnel web spiders.

NRL season just started up (most loved sport in NSW), and AFL season starts this week, so you should get to one of those if you can. I need to get back to Australia soon.

Melbourne's right-turning cars pull over to the left into their own turn lane, practically stopping along the curb, because they have to wait for traffic to clear. The reason they can't pull into a right hand lane is because that lane must remain clear for trains. I found after a few days, that the left hand side becomes "normal" for driving (and walking traffic). I thought I remembered that China drives on the left hand side as well, but I was there 20 years ago, so maybe they changed (or I was just wrong, I know former British colony Hong Kong was left hand side).

You'd think the size of Australia would be familiar to Americans, as it is about the same size as the continental US.

Did you bring along one of those underwater housings for your digicam? Somewhat related question, how about a second picture of all your current gear one year later?

I would imagine you hit some nice restaurants during your time in Melbourne. Great Ocean Road is cool, though you should probably stop a lot if you're the one driving. Nothing sucks more than the scenic drive that you can't fully appreciate as you try to stay inside the lines.

it's somewhat difficult to gain 50% market share 1 day after release

You should be able to find cricket matches, perhaps not the national team though. Also, it's not footy season (same time of year I visited), and soccer season is about to end.

I've been trying to get the term "lunaversary" to catch on and replace "month anniversary".

I've found most locals are willing to joke with you about Americans, and since I'm Californian, that gave them more material. I was in Australia twice, December 2000 and January 2005. The first time, they poked fun that we couldn't choose a president or supply enough electricity to CA. The second time, we ended up with the same president and elected the Terminator the governor. A Polynesian in Tahiti walked up to our group table and, once he found out we didn't understand French, started reciting movie lines.