Front page of the paper today (a serious one too, The Australian, no comics) has the story of how FIFA, the world governing body for soccer has decided (22-1) to go back on the promise of giving the Oceania region an automatic qualifying spot in the 2006 World Cup.
Since Australia is the dominant team, a guaranteed spot for Oceania would have meant qualification was a done deal. This back room shenanigans by FIFA is a real kick in the teeth for Soccer Australia. It's rough on the players considering their recent performances.
Having said all that, I think FIFA was stupid to promise that spot in the first place. Oceania is not a strong enough group to justify an automatic spot. You've got Australia, then a whole lotta daylight to New Zealand, and then a whole lot more to the rest, mostly Pacific Island nations who can't afford their own team jerseys. You can see why Australia is pissed and FIFA behaved badly, but let's be realistic, shall we?
I agreed with the editorial comment in the paper today that Australia needs to look forward and join the Asia qualifying group. They've been given more slots thanks to Japan and Korea's emergence and a decent Australian side should be able to compete.
Time to stop whinging and get on with the job, I reckon.
From living in the States for a few years, I've come to expect people in the public eye to be PC. People tend to watch what they say, lest they find themselves in hot water.
I had to laugh at the difference in Australia, where the pollies (politicians) just don't give a stuff. Here's a quote from the West Australian parliament:
"I called the minister a stupid woman. I withdraw unreservedly. However, the member should also have demanded the Minister withdraw the comments that the Leader of the Opposition is both a dill and mung bean."
Hilarious.
Saturday night I went out on the town with my sister and her husband, who had just returned from India on a work assignment.
After a quick stop for a cheeky one at their local pub, JB O'Reilly's Tavern (another Irish pub), which is almost as close to their house as the County Cork pub is to the BootsnAll office in Portland, we caught a cab to Northbridge. We could as easily have caught the local train, but the weather was nasty out and we wanted to be efficient.
As mentioned earlier, Northbridge is a different place at night. There were a lot more people on the street and they were dressed to impress. Feeling a little like a backpacker, as I wasn't wearing black from head to toe, we stopped first for a pint in The 'Deen, the Aberdeen Hotel. This pub is a massive place directly across the street from a hostel. Once inside it has six different 'zones' you can choose from. Zone 1 is a general bar area, Zone 2 is a nightclub with dance music and a huge, WWII fighter plane hanging from the ceiling, Zone 3 is a live music area outside in a beer garden of sorts, Zone 4 had some funky-shaped pool tables, Zone 5 was another bar that will often have DJ's, and Zone 6 was a chill out area that was a lot quieter and opened up onto the balcony on the second story.
After a quick pint there, we trundled down to another pub/club called Rise. This place was just starting to pick up around 9pm. They had dancers wearing very little (though the fluoro bootie leggings were an interesting touch) on table around the outside of the large dancefloor. One guy was giving it his best all on his lonesome in the middle of the dancefloor. Eventually, people took pity on him and the floor was pretty crowded by the time we left.
We paused in an Italian restaurant called Pizzelle to recharge the batteries and eat some tasty tucker that worked out to $20 a person, including a bottle of wine. Very reasonable.
Returning to the 'Deen, we watched some live music, watched some people strut their stuff on the dancefloor, and watched some guy get dragged away by his mates because he wanted to beat someone else's head in.
One of the things that I like about Perth is the different neighbourhoods. You can drive (or take the excellent public transport) to many different suburbs and wander their High Streets and find plenty of cafes, pubs, art galleries, clothes and music shops, and restaurants.
Tonight, my sister and I went to a local pub called Fibber McGee's in the suburb of Leederville. For an Irish pub in a sea of Irish pubs, they do a good job on the Guinness and other Irish beers, and the food is excellent and reasonably priced. We met up with some friends of my sister's and our table numbered about 9 or ten.
One of the interesting characters I met was John Long. He is the author of several books and has plenty more in the pipeline. His most recent book is on Antarctica, called Mountains of Madness: A Scientist's Odyssey in Antarctica. He traveled there as part of his job as a paleontologist at the Western Australian Museum and he traveled to parts of the continent that had never before been walked upon by Man. Pretty cool stuff.
Most of the folks there were also members of a karate club, so I felt secure in the event a donnybrook broke out.
This afternoon I met up with Anita, who had visited us in Eugene, OR back in March. We met in downtown Perth and chatted over coffee in a Dôme cafe.
After that we braved the inclement weather to take a walking tour of Northbridge, Perth's backpacker district. Barrie had mentioned this area to me as a great place to hang out, with an excellent choice of restaurants, bars, cyber cafes and the nearby cultural centre and art gallery. He was right on the money and I saw plenty of backpackers (and their adjoining pubs) and I can imagine this place being abuzz in summer.
My sister had also metioned that this place was completely different at nighttime and had somewhat of a reputation as a rough area. In fact, the local government has just brought in a curfew for young kids, so that anyone under the age of 16 has to be off the streets of Northbridge after 10pm. Be interested to see how that goes down with the city's youth. I did see a few adult stores and strip clubs to go with the bars, cafes and nightclubs, so I'm sure Northbridge at night attracts all sorts.
It was great to catch up with Anita and I wish her luck when she returns to Princeton later this year to continue her post-grad studies.
After hearing from Barrie in Bali that Western Australia had several microbreweries, naturally I was quite keen to check them out and see how they compared to Oregon's finest.
Tonight, my sister took me down to Fremantle for a Perth Festival function, and afterwards we went looking for a beer. We stopped in at Little Creatures and I was immediately impressed by this place. They have three beers to choose from and I was given a taster of each so I could make my choice. The Pale Ale was quite flowery and sweet and good for about a pint before I'd get sick of it. I chose the Amber Ale as it was probably closest to what I was used to drinking in Oregon. Very tasty it was too.
But it was the venue itself that was impressive. Very industrial looking with a lot of chrome, steel, and chain link fencing. Kind of like those nightclubs you see in the movies with girls dancing in cages and everyone wears black. Except the music wasn't too loud, the lighting was bright and there was artwork behind the fences instead of the girls. The staff were very friendly and they have a restaurant and outdoor area that opens right onto the water. I'm sure it goes off in summer.
Next stop on the agenda was the Sail and Anchor. These guys seems to have the microbrewery scene figured out. Make some good beer, give it kooky names (Brass Monkey Stout, Ironbrew Strong Ale, Dogbolter Special Dark Lager) to attract attention and design some hip labels to go with it. This attracted plenty of younger folks out to the pub on a cold and wet Wednesday night. I tasted the Brass Monkey Stout and will certainly try a full pint sometime soon. I settled on the Ironbrew and it lives up to it's name. 7% alcohol and a strong taste - too many of those and you'll have a jackhammer in your head the next day.
Overall, my early foray into WA's microbrewery scene was very encouraging. Hopefully I'll be able to get these beers, or something similar, in BrisVegas.
The venue for the Perth Festival function I attended this evening was the Western Australian Maritime Museum. This is quite an amazing building that ironically looks like a capsized boat. Made me laugh when my sister told me, and it really does when I saw it from the inside.
For a state with so much coastline, and Perth being a city that revolves around the Swan River, there's plenty of history to fill this museum and I was especially stoked to see Australia II. Anyone who does not know the story of this boat and it's famous 'winged keel' can click here.
I arrived back in Australia late last night, not quite "home" as I'm in Perth for a week or so. Got a short tour of the city from my sister on the way home from the airport, but I'm sure I'll see more when I go downtown to meet her for lunch today.
From what I've gethered so far, Perth is quite small (only takes about 15 minutes to get out of the city), there's negligible peak hour traffic, and according to a previous Premier of Western Australia, an incredible attraction called the Swan Bell Tower. He apparently likened it to the Eiffel Tower and the Sydney Opera House in terms of its significance.
It did look very nice and it's pretty cool that the bells are the bells of the St Martin-in-the-Fields church in London, but why try to compare? It's just different.
You're not Australian until:
1) You've mimicked Alf Stewart from Home & Away's broad, Australian accent, eg. "push off, ya flamin' drongo!"
2) You've had an argument with your mate over whether Ford or Holden makes the better car.
3) You've done the "hot sand" dance at the beach while running from the ocean back to your towel.
4) You know who Ray Martin is.
5) You start using words like 'bloody' and 'grouse' [if you're from Melbourne that is!] and call people 'champ'.
6) You stop greeting people with 'hello' and go straight to the "how ya doin'?"
7) You've seriously considered running down the shop in a pair of Ugg Boots.
8) You own a pair of ugg boots.
9) You've been to a day-nighter cricket match and screamed out incomprehensibly until your throat went raw.
10) You kind of know the first verse to the national anthem, but buggered if you know what 'girt' means. Defo!!!!!!!
11) You have a story that somehow revolves around excess consumption of alcohol and a mate named 'Dave'.
12) You've risked attending an outdoor music festival on the hottest day of the year.
13) You've tried to hang off a clothesline [the Hills Hoist being an Australian invention an' all!] while pretending you can fly.
14) You've had a visit to the emergency room after hanging off the clothesline pretending you can fly.
15) You own a pair of thongs for everyday use, and another pair of 'dress thongs' for special occasions.
16) You don't know what's in a meat pie, and you don't care.
17) You pronounce Australia as "Straya".
18) You call soccer "soccer", not "football".
19) You've squeezed Vegemite through Vita Wheats to make little Vegemite worms.
20) You suck your coffee through a Tim Tam.
21) You realise that lifeguards are the only people who can get away with wearing Speedos.
22) You pledge allegiance to Vegemite over Promite.
23) You understand the value of public holidays.
24) Your weekends are spent barracking for your favourite sports team.
25) You have a toilet dolly.
26) You've played beach cricket with a tennis ball and a bat fashioned out of a fence post.
27) You firmly believe that in the end, everything will be ok, and have told a mate in tough times that "She'll be right, mate."
28) You use the phrase, "no worries" at least once a day.
29) You've been on a beach holiday and have probably stayed in a caravan.
30) You constantly shorten words to "brekkie", "arvo" and "barbie".
31) You've adopted a local bar as your own.
32) You know the oath of mateship can never be limited by geographical distance.
(Submitted by Le Ginch)
And Jesus Said to His People: 'You Boofheads'
(Thx to Ant, for the link)