Greetings from Sunny Australia! Since these pictures came to me in early November, I'd normally title this section "Fall 2001", except it ain't fall there - welcome to Spring! I don't know about you, but that still kinda throws me off a bit. Regardless, the beans seem to be okay with it - heck, they don't even suffer jet lag. Lucky souls.

Okay, on with the show. First up, the beans stop by Colonial Stadium, the home ground for the Essendon, Saint Kilda, and Western Bulldogs football teams. Rugby and cricket teams also call the Colonial home, and big-name concerts (like everyone's favorite Barbra Streisand and Ricky Martin!) have played here. So the beans are in good company.

Keeping up with our sports theme, the beans overlook the city and the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where cricket matches have been played since 1838. You'll also find soccer, Australian Rules Football, lacrosse, bowling, and some more major concerts. In preparation for the 1998 Olympic games in Sydney, Olympic Football was played at the MCG as part of the preliminary rounds of the tournament.

The beans are "good sports", and like all forms of athletic competition, but they've seen Australian Rules Football on TV, and quite frankly, they're afraid they'd get their can kicked, so instead they'll simply observe the goings on from the bleachers with a nice refreshing beverage, if it were all the same...

Next up, the beans stop by the West Gate Bridge. Curving to span the Yarra near the mouth of the river, the bridge is the second longest in Australia, and is twice the length of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The West Gate Bridge opened to traffic in 1978, and sees 140,000 cars whiz by everyday. The beans enjoyed the view, and were glad that didn't have to try to cross it during rush hour.

Isn't this a great view??? You've got to admit it, Melbourne has one beautiful city skyline... The beans were very impressed. I'll see you in line at the Quantas ticket counter...