Gutters & Tug-O-War

I've always loved watching seamless gutters being made. It's so cool.

Stella loved watching them being installed.

After going to the Apple Store to pick up my MacBook Pro from service, I stopped at Chipotle for a quick bite.

Stella & Hank's playdate started with a tug-o-war ...

but then they decided it was easier if they both held the rope & ran together. They are such sweet BFFs!

Holiday Party & House Stuff

Today we had the TOUR staff holiday party at the clubhouse. It was nice, as always, BUT ... these are NOT chocolate!!!

This afternoon I had my house exterior debugged & pressure cleaned. All the big trees were trimmed as well. It looks GREAT!

Stella enjoyed snacking on the tree trimmings. Giant "sticks" were everywhere!

After that was a trip to Pet Supermarket to buy some food & bark at the ferrets. This nice rusty well cover was nearby.

Brighton Beach Boxes

Stan & I had lunch at the Italian restaurant at the Crown. This is the ceiling over the outdoor dining area.

Everywhere you go, there's always gelato & it's usually photogenic..

While I was waiting for some info from the concierge I saw a potential photo.

Grafitti

The Melbourne skyline with the Brighton Beach Boxes.

My self-portrait

This pup wanted to play fetch.

Stan's self-portrait

Unfortunately we only had about 90 minutes of awesome light. I could've shot there for hours!

 

Stan braved a beach bathroom.

12 More Hours of Player Portraits

The view from my room.

More bathroom details.

A glass on a coaster by my bathroom sink.

NBC had a studio set up in a room at Crown Towers to shoot player interviews.

I shot each player/captain with & without the cup. I heard SI ran all 26 headshots in their coverage. Phil is the only golfer who has played in every Presidents Cup.

Geoff grew a mustache for Movember.

Since we couldn't leave the NBC studio all day, we ordered room service. Each of us had a $35 mediocre club sandwich.

Arrival in Melbourne

We left Jacksonville on Thursday afternoon & finally arrived in Melbourne Saturday morning.

Here's the view from Qantas' tail-mounted Skycam on our A380, an insanely gigantic plane that makes a 747 look like a commuter jet.

Hmmm ... Hungry Jack's logo looks suspiciously like Burger King!

We checked into the Crown Promenade, part of Crown's 3 hotel complex with 40 restaurants & apparently the largest casino in the world.

First things first ... a nice shower after a long journey. I was very distracted & had to dry off & shoot some iPhone pix. This might be my favorite photo from Australia.

Everywhere I looked, I saw a potential photo.

Afterward, Chris, Stan & I walked around near our hotel. These street performers were bouncing all over the place.

These giant stainless steel sculptures were on a footbridge across the Yarra River.

Next up was a surprise party for Patty C.

The view from Villa 3818 at the Crown Towers ... a 7000 sq ft palace in the sky.

The Commissioner thanks Patty for her 31 years of service.

The hors d'oeuvres were yummy. Thai marinated beef with noodle salad ...

Tiger prawn with avocado salsa

Tomato, basil & garlic bruschetta

There were some beautiful photographs on the walls. I love this one of Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

The pièce de résistance ... the remote controlled toilet with auto opening lid, heated seat & a slew of other amenities (see remote detail photo). It was insane! See video below.

The toilet's wireless remote!

The "must-see" toilet video!