The longest Monday ever!

You think most Mondays are long? I got up at 3:30 am Monday morning. That was 36 hours ago, and it's STILL Monday! Ha! The good news is that I'm HOME! Thanks for the lift from the airport sis! Turned out to be a bad day to travel to the US, lots of extra security due to the xmas day failed bombing event. But a Frontier breakfast burrito later (with extra green chile thanks!) and I am just about right. Well that and maybe a good 20 hours of sleep! The other good thing I noticed was no culture shock. Usually when I return home from international travel, it after I've been visiting "the other half" and it takes me a week or two to get over the shock and disgust of returning to our hedonistic life style. This trip though, I never left the warm blanket to consumerism and decadence, so reintegration has been painless. The worst problem I've had on return is figuring which way the damn cars are coming when I cross the street! (they are opposite in AU and NZ, and I was just about getting used to it being backwards!)

Bayard has created a very nice photo album with commentary of the trip:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=182468&id=717345427&l=9452b3c7b2


Happy new year to all and see you next adventure!

Homeward bound

The sailing gods were not smiling on us this trip, and so the couple of days we had slotted for sailing were rained (and chilled) out. Bummer. Sailing is a mighty good time, and it's not often I get the chance to do it, so I had really been looking forward to it. Instead, we ended up playing a rather lively gameof canasta, and taking a very nice, if not damp, hike to a light house.
Tomorrow, thanks to the magic of airplanes, I will cross the pacific, the dateline and the equator all in a relatively short 29 hours! Even though this has historically taken months, historically they weren't confined to a plane seat size for midgets for 29 hours straight! The funny part is that thanks to being on the other side of the international date line, the clock will say that my arrival back home will only be 5 hours after I start!

Overall it's been a fantastic trip, with so many great people and places! I think I will have to go home and look at my pictures just to remember all the good times! Before I left, a friend who had spend some time down under described NZ and AU as being great 'practice countries' for traveling. To anyone within earshot of this blog would find the food, culture, transport systems and life in general here to be very familiar. So to anyone who has desire to travel to this part of the world, I say go without fear. The locals are very friendly, and most importantly, all the signs are in English! But there are few differences, some of which are pretty novel to a non-native.

Just to name a few: they put beetroot (aka sliced beets) on their hamburgers; they CHARGE extra for ketchup (or any other codiment for that matter); the DON'T use vinigar on their fish & chips; all their outlets have switches on them (see pic), although no one seems to know why; they say LOTS of different words like bowsers, mazzies, kazzies and all kinds of others, and ROUNDABOUTS! I have to give more detail about roundabouts (aka traffic circles) as they are a fantastic idea. I know they have made a push to start using them in the states, but to such a minor extent that you could manage to never see one. Here, they are EVERYWHERE. Imagine if they replaced 90% of the stoplights and every stop sign in the US with a roundabout. This is the setup here in UA. You would also replace all the time you spend sitting at stoplights with MOVING! Roundabouts work wonderfully! The only time you ever sit waiting in your car here is when you're at a light, the rest of the time you pause when you enter the roundabout, and off you go! Never any waiting! Genius!

Many many thanks to Ron, Angela and her family for their hospitality and gracious kindness to myself and Bayard! Also many thanks to everyone who helped us along the way, and to all of you out there in blog land for traveling along with us! Hope everyone is well and I will hopefully see some of you soon!

Canberra and xmas

Ron and Angela very kindly agreed to a road trip to the Australian capitol, Canberra (pronounced without the 'e' for some reason). I highly recommend you give a read of AU history on wikipedia, as they can do a much better job then I can, but I will tell you a couple interesting tidbits. Australia is officially known as the Commonwealth of Australia, which gives you a hint of it's governmental system. AU is part of the Commonwealth, and hence means the Queen of England is still an important and official part of their government. A very odd, and dare I say, noble idea to most Americans. The set up of Canberra is similar to Washington DC in that it's a planned, separate, and very small district unto itself known as the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Oh, and the architect who designed the parliament buildings didn't like buildings built on top of hills, so they removed the hill, built the buildings, and then brought the hill back! Seriously. The main building is under ground the hill, with grass stretching over the whole thing in the shape of a large hill. Evidently rolling down the hill is no longer permitted. Another interesting factoid is AU's age. Several times over the years I have found myself talking to international folks (especially Europeans) who will offhandedly scoff at how young the US is compared to their own country, and how we really are far to new to have any real traditions, wisdom or understanding history. I usually think of these people as pompous jerks. Well, when I learned that AU didn't become a country of it's own until 1901, suddenly I was thinking, "1901? That's nothing! They can't possibly have their own traditions or culture!" Ah, how quickly we can all become jerks.

We also spent the afternoon viewing some truly uniquely Australian items at the National Museum of Australia, like the Wobble Board, an unusual 'musical' device, and the Buffalo Catching car, a truly amazing real life mad max type of machine! They had a video of the buffalo car in action, and it straddled the fence somewhere between genius and insane.
The other interesting part of the trip was were we stayed, the (not so) exclusive Formula 1 Hotel. Our room, mind you it was meant for 3 people, and yet was no more then 15 ft long and 8 feet wide. A queen size bed sat dead in the middle, consuming the majority of the room, and what was above it? Well a bunk bed of course! It was cozy to say the least.  I've stay in a lot of crazy places, but I've never seen such a room in my life. Oh, and just in case you're wondering, hearing your father and his lady friend smooch good night while you are mere feet above is not awkward in the least.

We are now back at Ron's in Gosford, preparing an xmas lunch for Angela and her kids and grandchild (Jason, Yvette, and Zali, respectively). I've only got a few days remaining, which with any luck will be filled with sailing and perhaps a few more helpings of fish and chips with pudding for dessert! On an unrelated note, I am very perplexed  I've gained 10 pounds this trip!

Happy holidays to all!

Family xmas lunch

Bayard has departed, but considering the snow storm back in DC, there is some question of how long it will take him to actually get back home! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you buddy!
Yesterday afternoon Angelia held their family's annual christmas lunch. The top item on the menu? Prawns! Turns out that traditional xmas fare like turkey and hams require the use of the oven, which is far too hot for this time of year, and so more practical items have replaced them. Plus they are delicious! The menu was rounded out with lots of other yummy items including various salads, grilled chicken (on the barby!), etc, with a lovely pavlova for dessert.  A good time was had by all, and it was very nice getting to know Angelia's family.
The plan for the next couple days is a trip to Canberra, Australia's capital.

Coin quiz answer! Yes, the big coin it a 50 cent piece, and it is HUGE, nearly twice as big as a quarter and two times as thick. The small coin is a 2 dollar piece and is roughly the size of a dime, although close to 3 times as thick. The interesting thing about AU money is they have NO pennies, and no paper bills less then 5$. While the no pennies means everything cost some increment of 5 cents (and they round up or down if it doesn't hit right), the lack of dollar bills means you end up with a pocket full of coins. And the size of the 50 cent pieces means you end up with a heavy pocket full of coins! I am slowly getting used to the idea that, unlike in the states, the coins here are actually worth something!

Bon voyage Bayard!

Hi all,

It's dawn as I write this and the kookaburras and magpies are calling
like crazy.  Another cool Australia morning promises to turn into a
warm and sunny day even as feet of snow are dumped on Washington, DC.
Katherine just IMed me to say they have a foot so far, another on the
way.  I hope they can clear it away before my arrival!

After a lazy rainy day on Friday, we rescheduled our sailing trip out
in Ron's boat, for yesterday, Saturday.  The weather was perfect -
sunny, warm and breezy.  The sailing was exciting and much different
from the bigger boats we were on recently - in order to tack (change
direction) we needed to periodically duck under the boom of a sail
that was swinging towards us with great force, scramble up on the edge
of the small boat (butt hanging over the side - very important) and
lean back as far as we could to counterbalance the craft and keep it
from tipping all the way over and upside down (which we did
successfully ALMOST all the time.)  Although a newbie, I loved the
sailing and didn't mind getting wet.  After the sailing outing, we ate
delicious burgers (with the works - here they put on a slice of beet,
pineapple, a fried egg and etc) and closed out the night with a trip
to the carnival now on in Gosford.  It was colorful, friendly and a
lot like the ones back home.

Going home is bittersweet as after any great trip.  I'm looking
forward to seeing everyone but I've had such an amazing experience
here.  Thank you so much to Pete and Ron for inviting me to be a part
of it, and thanks again to Angela for her hospitality, and thanks Ron
for all the help you gave us - I am truly grateful.  A trip never to
be forgotten!


Bayard

So that's why they call it a rain forest!

So we managed find our way up the coast from Airlie Beach up to Cairns (pronounced cans, don't ask me why the i and r are silent!). Cairns is on the north coast and is situated just south of the Daintree National Park, which is a giant rain forest. Having only a day, and limited means of travel options, we signed up for a guided tour of the Daintree river area. This area is well known for its wildlife including crocodiles, koala, kangaroos, wallabies, and cassowaries which are BIG and ancient flightless birds that have a reputation for being man killers! The guided tour included stops at a wildlife park, a boat trip down the Daintree river for croc viewing, and lots of little stops at scenic views and points of notes. At one point or another of the tour we managed to see most every animal, which was pretty darned exciting. A highlight was a hunt for 'bush tucker'. Tucker is slang for food, similar to our notion of grub, and bush means food from the bush, aka forest. Our specific prey for the the day was Green Ants, which like most things in AU are named by people with a keen sense of the obvious! (see pic)
The idea with the ants was not to eat them as much as lick their hind section. Sounds odd, no? Well the oddest part was that when you did lick them they tasted just like tangy lime candy! I'm not kidding! It rained on and off all day, which actually was quite nice as it kept it cooler, and well, it made the rain forest feel more like its name. The north part of AU has a monsoon season, which is just beginning. Hot, sticky and wet seem to be the most used words to describe this annual event.

Last night we caught a flight back to Sydney and the comfort of Ron's place. Proper showers and laundry for all! Bayard will be leaving us in a couple days, but we hope to get a little sailing on Ron's boat in before then!

Lass the boat, and Reef the Great

Our journey to the sea started on a boat named the Solway Lass, a schooner built in 1902 with and amazing history (click link to read). This ship was not designed to carry people, and even after a redesign in the 1990s, its 102’ was jam packed with 32 passengers and 6 crew. It is what they call a Tall Ship, and sailing on her was quite an experience. The plan of the trip was to take us around to some of the endless beautiful beaches for snorkeling and sun bathing. These things were good fun, but just being on the ship was a great experience. Some of the features of the boat were; no privacy, little to no personal space, shared, tiny bathrooms and showers, and the funk of being constantly damp. In fact the key words about the boat were shared and tiny! The down side to this was of course that things were a bit cramped as well as a bit stinky at times! The up side was that every meal, snorkeling, trip to the bathroom or simply sitting in the shade meant you met someone new. It quickly coalesced into a feeling of family of sorts. This was quite nice and meant lots of opportunity to get to know our fellow travelers, all of whom had interesting stories of their own to tell. It was a far cry from what most of us think about when we think about taking a cruise, and that was what made it so much fun. Also, I would be remise if I didn’t mention the food. It was not only homemade, delicious and plentiful, but the cook made special veggie meals for me!

Our cabin was shared by the 3 of us and 3 of our closest friends, who we just met. It was in the very bow of the boat, no windows, no ventilation, and after a few days it was more then a bit musty! The boat also included a rope swing, which we all thoroughly enjoyed (see picture of Bayard in mid flight from yesterday). The Solway’s course took us in and around the Witsundays islands. The islands were named by Capt. Cook as he believed it was Whitsunday when he discovered them, although the joke was on him as he had crossed the date line and it was really Whitmonday. After 3 days on the Solway, we had reservations to jump over to the Andacona III, a sleek and modern sailboat. While still a bit tight at 101 feet, unlike the Solway, it had been designed for passengers, and in comparison it was like a luxury hotel. Stairs down to the water, bathrooms in each room, big air conditioned cabin with TV, very nice. The down side was that for some reason the family spirit never took root. We had a new group of about the same size, but I doubt if we talked to more then a quarter of them. It wasn’t unfriendly, just somehow never got much past hello.

The good news was that this boat took us out to the Great Barrier Reef. We had seen some nice stuff on the first boat, colorful coral, lots of fish, good stuff really. But all of it at been off the beach of little islands, which limited it’s size, and technically was not part of the barrier reef. Unlike the Rio Grande, the Great Barrier Reef earns its name! It is stunning to the point of being indescribable. The reef lies a good 30km (20 miles) off the shore, and so there is nothing visibly obvious that tells you that you’ve arrived, but you start noticing that there are waves breaking in the middle of the ocean ahead of you. Then you see these very light colored patches in the water. Upon looking a bit closer you notice that some of these light patches stretch as far as you can see, which is quite a ways.

These patches are giant coral reefs. The ocean floor is a good 20 to 30 meters deep, but the reefs create giant islands that reach within a couple feet of the surface. We anchored for the night near Bait Reef, and in the morning it was time to hit the water. Wet suits are required as it’s deadly jellyfish season here. They took us out in tenders (small outboard motor boats) and dropped us off at the far end of the reef edge so that the current would carry us back to the boat. You commando style roll backwards off the side of the tender, hit the water, put your snorkel into place and dip your head into the water to see what lays below. ‘Holy crap’ is your first though. We’ve all seen pictures of the reef, and they are amazing, but like most pictures they don’t do justice to the true beauty and awe of a place. Fish everywhere. GIANT fish. Fish of more colors and types then you could imagine. A sea turtle swims by and everyone gets excited. Literally mountains of coral.

You feel afraid of heights if you drift off the main coral as the sea floor is 25 feet below and the water is so clear. Giant sea slugs on the ocean floor. BIGGER fist. Coral in every color of the rainbow, and every shape and pattern imaginable. Baby jellyfish in giant clouds. And still more and different fish. Fish eating coral, fish cleaning other fish, fish eating other fish. Truly amazing. We spent the entire day in the water!

After the initial wow factor wears off a bit, you do start to realize that something is wrong though. As amazing as everything is, you start realizing that it’s not as amazing as it once was. There are large patches of white (dead) coral, patches of coral covered with weird gunk looking stuff. When you really look for it, you realize the most colorful spots are at best 75% alive, while the average is closer to 50%, and some spots are nothing but white. I think I’m glad I’ve come when I have, as much longer it’s hard to say how much will be left.

Today we spent the day on an 11 hr bus trip from Airlie Beach traveling north to Cairns. We hope to see some crocodiles and rain forest in the Cairns area, and then we have a plane flight scheduled back to Sydney in 2 days.

7 days at sea!

It's been an interesting 7 days- I'd never really spend much time on a boat beyond a day trip here and there- never slept on a boat- and the past 7 days has been all spent in the ocean- the sensation of the room rocking is still continuing! So many stories; the rescue of the snorkelers, feeding the fish with squished flies on the million may fly island, the 1 minutes showers, Jade - the finest cook to ever sail the seven seas, the underwater observatory in need of serious repair (pete's personal favorite part of the trip!), the endless stream of traveling Eurpoeans, and many more, but I shall cut to the best stories, the reef and the boat! But those will come tomorrow as tonight it's sleepy time. But here's a few pictures to wet your appetite:

Boarding the Solway Lass

Ahoy maties!  Pete and I wanted to let you know we will be incommunicado for a week or so since we are about to board the tallship Solway Lass for a three-day adventure, then we will set sail on the Anaconda III.


Sending love and good wishes from the Great Barrier Reef!

Bayard

Cheers Mate!

We spent the night and most of the day at a place called Hamilton Island. If you look at the pictures on the web site, it really looks that way! It's pretty much like paradise, Disney style. It's a tropical island where everything is perfect; clean, beautiful, planned, and expensive! It's also a bit surreal, as everything is a bit too perfect to the point where it even feels like everyone here is way better looking then normal! I'm not sure how they let us in! It's very different then the places I would normally stay, but an interesting experience all the same. Later today we board the Solway Lass for a 3 day snorkeling tour of the inner barrier reef, which should be fantastic! The weather here is exquisite, "fine and 32" is what the weatherman is calling today (~90°F). It should be a fantastic time up here!

Sydney!

Howdy all!

Bayard here -  Pete invited me to do a guest appearance on his blog, and I’m honored to oblige.  I want to send a shout out to all the people of New Zealand and Australia we have encountered so far, who have been friendly and kind without exception – most especially Pete’s father Ron, and Ron’s partner Angela – they have been most wonderfully generous in their hospitality.

We arrived in Sydney a couple of days ago and (thanks to our hosts) have already seen weeks’ worth of amazing sights and experiences.  Ron came and got us at the airport and gave us an introduction to the Aussie rail system, then we met Angela near her work and we went to lunch.  We also went for a memorable shopping trip where we ran into a helpful fellow who commented on the bread I was considering buying – “Contains Lutien,” he said, “Good for Men’s sexual health.”  You see how helpful people are here? 

The next day, Ron took us on a comprehensive tour of beach beauty spots north of Sydney, including a refreshing swim at an orange-sand beach.  We got some more fish and chips (we’d eaten this twice in NZ) at a shop near a beach.   Through it all, of course, I took hundreds of pictures, the best ones will go on Facebook when I get home.

Yesterday was a tour of the city of Sydney, with full use of a “Daytripper” all day public transport pass (we took ferries, trains, and buses all day for a reasonable one time price.)  We saw Aboriginie street performers, the vast botanical gardens, walked around the striking and famous Sydney Opera House (an architectural feat so ambitious, it took 15 years to build instead of the initially planned 3) not to mention the well known King’s Cross district, which was colorful to say the least.  My absolute favorite part was seeing a never-ending swarm of flying foxes – giant fruit bats with a wingspan of up to 6 feet! 

Today Ron and Angela took us on a nice walk in a National Park and we went to a little beach/camping spot to relax, have tea and then lunch, and then on to another breathtaking beauty spot.  We encountered a small kangaroo on the trail, and one goanna (monitor lizard) in the first spot, and an even bigger one (about 5 feet with his tail) at the second scenic spot! 

Tomorrow is the great northern adventure - we head up north for 12 days in Queensland, with a fair bit of that spent on the great barrier reef - we can’t wait!  Thinking of you all – take care and see you in a couple of weeks!

Bayard

Glow Maggots, and rainy days

The glow worm caves won the poll, so we went! (never mind that we were planning to go anyway!) So it turns out that they aren’t really worms at all, but are the larval state of a fly that lives in the caves, which means they are technically maggots, but like the tour guide said, “Glow Maggots” doesn’t have the same ring to it! They glow in order to attract other bugs that have wandered into the cave, and who become the glow worm’s dinners. We also learned the hard way about why New Zealand is a considered a rain forest, it rains a LOT! We attempted to make the great walk near Tapou, which is suppose to be a magnificent hike with lakes of emerald, surreal landscapes of steaming volcanic ground and wonderful vistas. The closest we got to seeing the beauty was closing our eyes and imagining the scene from the top of the mountain as a fellow hiker who had spent the night at the top described the scene from the previous day. Why couldn’t we see it ourselves? Because it was pouring rain and the mountain top was in the middle of the cloud! It has rained pretty much non-stop ever since, and this was 3 days ago. The upside is that due to the rain we have given rides to several interesting groups of travelers, as well as run into many less people most places we’ve gone. Travelling is always a great means for meeting people of very different walks of life from all over the world. There is that automatic bond you both have simply because you’re in the same foreign place far from home. When you’re on the road travelers and locals alike are always very interesting in sharing their stories and talking about their home countries, which is one of my favorite parts of travel.

Tomorrow morning we are off to Sydney and meeting up with my pop, Ron. Hope everyone is well!

Bucking the trend

So despite the advice of every single person we have spoken to (as well at the guide book), we decided that we would head to the east coast of NZ. The consensus seemed to be that the east coast was not very nice, dirty, poor, not part of most tours, and potentially even a little unsavory. We decided it sounded like the perfect place! Heading east we passed through places like Tauranga, Whakatane, and Opotiki (please don’t ask me to pronounce!). The Maori are the native people here, and their presence is reflected in the majority of the town names, although we saw nothing but European looking folks in most of these places. The majority of NZ that we have seen of NZ, until we hit the east coast, has been 100% set up for tourists. Imagine a beach town in summer anywhere in the USA, that is what the majority of towns we’ve seen look like. Little shops, hotels, cafes, art dealers, and real estate agents, but very little beyond the tourist offerings. I think that is the other reason we wanted to head east, to simply get out of the range of the tourist. I know, I know, we’re white American tourists, but I’m surrounded by Americans normally, I want a change when I go on vacation! Anyway, our gamble paid off wonderfully as we ended camping on a beach that was free, deserted, and simply stunning. It was one for the nicest places I’ve ever stayed. And there is nothing like the sound of crashing waves to ensure a great nights sleep. We also got a small taste of Maori life today. From our very limited time spend in a few non-tourist towns where we were the only European looking people, I would guess that the Maori have not shared in the wealth that the rest of NZ has enjoyed.

The down side with our visit to the east coast is that it’s a bit of a hike from the other place we want to go- the glow worms! So this afternoon we did a bit of driving and have ended up at Lake Taupo, which is in central part of the north island. We are definitely back in the land of the tourist, but it’s amazing scenery, so it might be worth it. Tomorrow will be a hike around a volcano, and then the next it will be the worms!

The connection is very slow today, so no pictures until next time!

Magic, and left is right?

Airplanes are magic. We are so accustom to flying that I think we often forget how truly amazing it is to be transported from once place on earth to a completely different place in a matter of hours. Even though I understand all the mechanics and physics of air travel, it still never fails to amaze me when I step off a plane to a completely different world. I was thinking on the flight last night how if you took someone from a hundred or more years ago, put them in a seat in a long metal tube for a few hours (assuming the windows were covered!) and they then stepped off in another part of the world, they would think you were a witch! It is an experience that is completely unimaginable at any other time in history other then the most recent few years. Anyway, the magic did its trick, and after an amazingly painless flight, we magically found ourselves in the Auckland airport! We have rented a minivan that will serve as transportation as well as sleeping accommodations. Of course the hardest part is the fact that they drive on the wrong side of the road here, although they seem convinced that it’s the correct side! We traveled west out of Auckland to a jetty of land called the Coromandel Peninsula. About 2 hours outside of Auckland, an amazing thing happed, the world became more gorgeous then usual! Driving along the lush green mountains where they slide gracefully it to the ocean, the water a stunning shade of turquoise, islands in the distance. Absolutely beautiful! We are camped tonight at a place just north of Coromandel Town, right next to the beach, and the weather has been sunny and wonderful all day. We just got some travel advice from a French couple camped next door, but we’re still unsure where we are headed tomorrow and the remainder of the trip.

The beginning and reunion in LA

Well the journey has started! It was a relatively short hop over to LAX where I am now waiting for a much longer Qantas flight to Auckland. 13 hours! Good thing it leaves at midnight so hopefully exhaustion will kick in and I'll be able to snooze a good bit of the flight away!

The other big event today is meeting up with my old friend Bayard. Bayard and I met in 7th grade, which would mean we've been friends for 28 years! Not only is Bayard one hell of a good bloke, but he's the best traveling companion anyone could ask for. Easygoing, rarely stinky and always up for an adventure. Not to mention funny. He's had many a clever quote, but two of him most memorable are 'I feel like I'm made of mucus"  once when he was feeling under the weather, and "Why didn't you tell me how much fun drinking and smoking can be!" when he got his first taste of said indulgences at the age of 24.

Tomorrow Auckland (although by the calendar it's two days from now!), and that's when the big adventure will start! Stay tuned for lots of pictures and hopefully some good adventures!