that really did not do anything for me - I was wondering if I could avoid 'downloading' the entire block chain and merely download a file that already has the blockchain in it?
Theoretically, you can download a 'bootstrap' file which will get you started, but generally this is frowned upon because you are trusting a single authority on the integrity of that file, whereas the network is, by design, trusted to itself.
It's something I'd quite like to do for StarCoin, but the method for doing it seems a little vague.
What I can say, is that only this week I have done a complete blockchain sync for StarCoin over a 20Mbit connection in about a day .. obviously not watching it download, that gets tiresome very quickly - but it does sync up correctly. You will see the message 'Checkpoint is old' - this is ok, but there are steps in process to rectify this, and get a new wallet published. As always, patience is key

I also tried solo mining against the above wallet successfully, and have mined a small quantity of coins this way. Setup is a bit complicated, but there are guides online if you search. Alternatively there is a good stable pool running at starcoin.mining.sexy which you can use.