I'm going to Tokyo, folks. I got the official offer letter last Wednesday and it seems to be a done deal. I've been gathering all kinds of documents (college transcript, copy of passport, copy of resume, passport photos, etc.) in the last couple of days. From here, I'll send those documents back and then it'll take about 5 weeks in Japan to get the visa approved. I then need to go to the Japanese embassy here and get the actual visa. I'm thinking that I should be working by July. Sweet as.
It's a very strange time in my life...I'm completely treading water at the moment. I've got a ton of time on my hands which is nice but let me tell you, it's not all it's cracked up to be! Sure, I get to work out whenever I want, play golf whenever I want, read, watch movies, cook, bake (pecan pie bars, brownies and toasted coconut and chocolate cheesecake all in one day!), blah, blah, blah, but I need a life. I need my own space. I need a job. I need to be around friends. I need to get on a bloody airplane. If I may reference that same Counting Crows song as below (Raining in Baltimore) one more time...I need a plane ride. I need to be in an airport...as a passenger not just as the pickup girl. I need to be wandering around duty-free applying nice creams under my eyes in preparation for the long, dry flight. I need to be wondering what the in-flight movies are going to be. I need to be saying yes, I packed my bag myself and no, it hasn't been out of my sight. I just got my passport renewed. And it's empty. I need a plane ride.
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Tuesday, May 3rd - Update
Right. So, I went to New York on Friday for a few more chats about this whole thing. The first was to see about the financial side. It was good. I don't think I'll be starving. The second was to meet with the global head of the group for a final ok. It too was good. Although I knew him from all the way back in my training days, we didn't know each other very well. Turns out he's a big trekker. We had lots of talk about.
From here, I'll need the offer letter. It is supposed to be on its way from Tokyo. Once I get that and sign it, I'll need to start the visa process. Apparently, it takes about two months for a visa to go through and I can't start working anywhere (New York even) until that happens. Because I'll be an employee of MSJL (Morgan Stanley Japan Limited), I need to have the visa before I can be on payroll there so I can't work until I'm on payroll. Obviously. I think that's going to be ok though. Two months is going to fly by and I've got to get my life as well as all my stuff in order and start saying goodbye to my friends and family again. And May and June are pretty good months to be in this part of the world.
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Monday, April 25th - I think I'm excited...
Don't want to speak too soon but I may just be excited about Tokyo and to think it was a call with a user that may have done it. I just got off the phone with Kaifu san. He was completely lovely. Let's hope he liked me. He was formal in that Japanese, non-English speaking way but seemed to warm up quickly. He asked good questions of me, I asked good questions of him. I scored major points at the end by passing along regards from my friend Diana who worked with him out in Tokyo when she was there. Thanks, Diana!
I was definitely not feeling the whole Japan thing today. After doing all kinds of research this weekend, I started to panic and wonder if Tokyo is going to be for me or if I'm going to be miserable. I remembered the other day how much I hated my second year in Manhattan. How I went to Theresa's (my cousin) wedding and didn't want to go back to the city. I hated it. I started thinking what if that happens with Tokyo? What if I go home for a visit and have to be put screaming and crying back on the plane? What if I dread going back to Tokyo?
I guess the bottom line is that I won't know until I try. This call instilled some excitement in me about the job. Now I just have to get excited about the life. I did get a little this morning after talking to Nicki again. (Nicki is the woman I'll be working for...she's British and in Tokyo for a year.) She told me about her weekend; friends over for drinks and then out to a bar Friday night, brunch Saturday morning, drinks and karaoke (oh, yes, it's a given) Saturday night and then frisbee and rollerblading in the park on Sunday. That could have been my weekend in New York! Not bad. Then, she mentioned how it was Golden Week coming up and everyone was off to the Philippines for diving but since she didn't dive she was popping down to Hong Kong and then to some island near Singapore for a few days of sunning on the beach. Hello???? What am I worried about? Life is going to be great in the Land of the Rising Sun! And yes, the rising sun so my concern that Tokyo is all dark and depressing like Lost in Translation doesn't hold too much water.
I'm having a chat tomorrow morning with a guy from Morgan who lived in Tokyo for several years and is now in London. I'm hoping to get the lowdown from him on how much it's actually going to cost me to live there and if I'm going to be eating ramen every night. Oh, wait...that's what they do eat...well, whatever the ramen equivalent is over there. And believe it or not, he's a fellow Blue Hen. He went to the University of Delaware for those of you not up on your college mascots.
I am still a bit worried about going back to Morgan. Is it going to suck up another 6 years of my life? Am I going to get stuck back in that life? I made the break, you know? I escaped and now I'm going right back for more. I need money (I want money) and I want to live overseas. Uncle Morgan can provide both of those things for me. If I may be Carrie Bradshaw for a moment...in order to get what you want, in order to make yourself happy, do you really have to sacrifice? Does it really mean you need to sell your soul to the man? [Don't answer that...just jump to thoughts of shopping at Saks in Manolos or lunching at Asia de Cuba.]
Going to eat my dinner of cottage cheese and melon...I'm trying to lose 50 pounds before moving to Tokyo so I can fit in better. More to come...
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Friday, April 22nd - Parker san
I think it's going to be Tokyo. Yes, not what I was expecting or hoping for and does require a very drastic change of gears but in the end, I think it'll be great. The call was pretty good yesterday. I got alot of information about the job and the users and the logistics of moving over. I learned about 10 minutes into the conversation that the preference on the Morgan Stanley side was Tokyo. And in typical Morgan fashion, I was asked with great interest what my preference was only to have them listen attentively and then say "Ok, great. Well, our preference is Tokyo and here's why so it's going to be Tokyo." [Note to self: You are signing yourself up for at least another 2 years of this so get used to it, sister.]
Here's what I'm worried about; the fact that apartments in Tokyo are roughly the size of shoeboxes, that it's the most expensive city in the world, and that English is spoken far less there and I, believe it or not, do not speak Japanese. The fact that I'm 5'10" and "big boned" and have curly, blonde hair is also not helping me out much. I think it's going to be interesting to say the least. Plus side is that I'll get to climb Mt. Fuji. That should be cool.
They are making me have a call with one of the senior clients in Tokyo, Kaifu san, and while they've assured me he's lovely and that he'll love me, it's still nerve-wracking because it's kind of like the last line. If Kaifu san doesn't like me, I'm nixed. Fingers crossed all goes well. In the meantime, they are putting together some numbers for me to have a look at aka you are going to be making one billion yen but still won't have enough money for a round at the neighborhood karaoke bar. Again, fingers crossed. Assuming all goes well, I think they want me to work in New York for a couple of weeks and then, if I'm lucky, a couple of weeks in London before heading over. Hum, maybe that's not so good...don't really want to see what I wanted in the first place and decided against!
I'm literally going to be on the other side of the world in a very strange place so please feel free to start planning holidays to Japan. And hey, it's cheaper to fly to Tokyo than Hong Kong. I just checked Expedia; nonstop flight to Tokyo (14 hours...not bad!) is $653. It's a bloody bargain.
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Tuesday, April 19th - Far East Update
Everyone has been so sweet, e-mailing me to find out what is going on since this last big entry. So, I'll tell you...nothing, as of yet. :) I spent most of last week doing research on the two cities (important things like how long is the flight to Bangkok, what are the best restaurants, how far are the best dive sites). I had a very insightful conversation with my friend Victor from Morgan Stanley who worked in Hong Kong for several years. He clued me one very interesting piece of information concerning the tax liability in Hong Kong. It's 15%. Yeah, not bad. Tokyo is much higher and London is much, much higher. He also made one comment that put a big smile on my face...and I quote, "I spent alot of money and I saved alot of money". Sounds like a perfect place for me! But in all reality, I think I've been enjoying life to the extreme this past year so I'm ready to do more on the saving bit. Besides, I have new priorities when it comes to spending money and Coach bags and $200 dinners don't really make the list.
I will be talking to the head of the group in Hong Kong on Thursday (at 11:00 for those you are extremely interested in details!) and should know alot more after that. I'm hoping to have a decision made by the end of the week but it might be more like the beginning of next. Stay tuned for the official announcement. :)
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Tuesday, April 12th - Hong Kong?! Tokyo?!
I'm a bit in shock right now. I might have the opportunity to move, not to London, but to either Hong Kong or Tokyo! Can you believe it? I can't. Turns out that the Controllers role in London has been nixed at this point. Typical Morgan, no headcount, can't fill the position. BUT, they're wondering if I would be willing to take the same exact role in Asia. I think I would have a choice of the two cities. And if I get offered the other job in London (won't know about that until probably next week), I would have to choose between the three cities. Unbelievable.
Right now, I'm kind of leaning towards doing it...going for Asia. The only drawback is that it will put me back right smack in the part of the world that I just came from. I really wanted to live in a different part of the world for a bit. But I think that relocating back west from Asia is quite easy. I don't think I'll have a problem getting to London from Asia in a few years time if it suits. I've got tons of thinking to do. If anyone has any insight in this, please send it along!
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Monday, April 11th - Pennsylvania: Life update
Lately, this blog seems to be turned into my online therapist. I seem to turn to it when I'm down. And damnit, I'm down again but am hoping that by the end of this entry, will have turned it around.
I spent this past weekend up in New York and it really was a great time. The purpose of the jaunt up was Jill and Maire's Packing up the Trailer and Moving Out Party. They are moving out of old 3143 Broadway and it's the end of an era. Although I can't say that I think anyone's all that sad about it! As you all know, I moved out almost 2 years ago (my God, it really is going on 2 years...crazy). I had my moving out party and bid a happy adieu to all the not-so-lovely people associated with the building namely the slumlord, I mean, landlord, Sandy Wax. What a gross individual. Jill is doing the same now. I don't envy her that task. The guys who moved into my apartment are still there so we will have some tie to the building although it won't quite be the same. Goodbye, 3143 Broadway. May you stand tall and overlook the noisy subway for many years to come. :)
One of the benefits of going up for the weekend was that I was able to have an interview at Morgan Stanley in person. I've had two interviews now with two different groups both in London. Things are still looking promising. The first one I had over the phone last Thursday. I had to plan it correctly to maximize quiet. The last thing I wanted was to have the dog barking, the cat meowing, the doorbell ringing and these two English blokes thinking I was a kook. I'm happy to report all went well and they seemed keen. They asked me when I would be available to which I replied, "Well, as soon as possible." Their response? "Gee, you must really hate it where you are." I didn't think it was appropriate to correct them with the truth ("Um, well, you see...I'm flat broke") so I just went along with it. I had another interview on Friday with two people in NY and one in London. Fingers crossed, it also went pretty well. It's also a Controllers group which is where I spent almost all of my years at Morgan. Part of me is interested in a change but part of me just wants things to be as easy as possible with having to get back into the swing of working and a new city and all. Plus, I don't want to have to be working weekends to learn a new part of the business. I want to be in Spain or Poland or Ireland testing the Guinness. Positive mental telepathy to the powers to be at Morgan regarding my hiring would be greatly appreciated.
A whole bunch of thanks to all my fantastic friends who have kept me on the straight and narrow these last few days. Anyone who can't be bothered to be upfront and honest is just not worth it. That thin Nepal air definitely messed with my judgment! Not to worry, I learned alot from it...if nothing more than how to play dominos. ;-)
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Wednesday, March 30th - Pennsylvania: 6 weeks home...
Well, I've been home for about a month and a half now. It's had its share of good and bad. My life is very messy right now and I hate it. I traveled all over the world (well, sort of), climbed mountains, swam seas, and survived tsunamis and being home has been the hardest part. I never expected it to happen that way. I expected it to be a bit strange being home. I expected some culture shock, some adjustment time, some uncertainly about what would be next. And yeah, I got all that along with a side of heartbreak, worry, and general craziness. I feel more unsure of everything than I ever have. I know it's just a few dark days and I'll get through it but I would rather be trekking or frankly, anywhere but here right now. And of course, that has nothing to do with my friends and family who are here and who love me so much and are trying to do right by me. I guess I need to do right by myself first.
I'm still hoping to move to London...make it my home for the next couple of years. It seems like I could get the best of everything there (except the ridiculously high cost of living); work and travel. My plan is to go back to Morgan Stanley which while I sometimes worry that it's a cop out, think is the best way to make it happen. It's a means to an end, if you know what I mean. Hopefully, I'll be able to live cheaply enough to enjoy London, have some fun, but do lots of traveling. See France, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, all the countries of Western Europe. See Eastern Europe, hopefully get to Africa, dive the Egyptian Sea and maybe even India. I feel like I belong out in the world for a few more years. Yeah, I got the travel bug and got it bad. I reckon that if London doesn't work out, I'll think about something with a tinge of "fuck it"...move to Thailand, become a dive instructor, live on the beach, be a bum. Or move to Nepal and see if maybe I could do something to help out the poor people of that country, maybe work with an organization like Porter's Progress (www.portersprogress.org).
I did spend a fabulous week and a half up in New York seeing friends and enjoying some of the best food in the world. Gray's Papaya, H&H Bagels, my favorite NY cheese...good times. I'm planning to go down to Washington D.C. for the weekend on Friday with my mom. I haven't been there in awhile so it'll be a nice change of scenery.
Oh, right...the whole reason I logged onto my blog in the first place. I'm kind of glad I got sidetracked by this though. It's therapeutic. While I was traveling, I kept a list of all the books I read. I thought I would post it just as boredom reading if need be for those at work but really for my own benefit. I reckon I'll like looking back in the years to come to see what I read that year. It also helps me remember my trip since I'll most likely remember oh, yeah, I read that book on the bus to Saigon and stuff like that...
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Thursday, February 10th - Stateside
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Thursday, January 27th - I need a cheese steak...
I was just writing an e-mail to my friend Evan who had asked me what I missed about home and after going through all the really important things (family, friends, blah, blah, blah), I realized I needed to come home because I need a cheese steak. And not the kind of cheese steak they have in New York which is known as the "Philly Cheese steak" (of course, it's a "Philly" cheese steak...where other kind are there?) but a real Pat's or Gino's or even a Rino's. [Foreign readers: I know this is whole Ginos/Rinos thing is doing nothing for your already poor opinion of Americans but we're talkin' Philly here. It's a strange but pretty cool place. And we're in the Super Bowl, baby so there.] I find myself singing that Counting Crows song Raining in Baltimore song in my head. You know the one where Adam Duritz is all whiney and needs a phone call and a raincoat? Yeah, well, I need a cheeeeesse steak. I need maybe a bagel too.
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Wednesday, January 26th - Happy Australia Day
Today is Australia Day here is Australia. Not anywhere else, mind you. A day of national pride and fireworks (the Aussies will find an excuse for fireworks even if it's Secretary's Day or something), meat pies and chips. And beer, of course. And no, not Foster's.
We spent most of the day in Darling Harbour (translation for any Aussies who may be reading this: Dahling Haba) but managed to get over to The Rocks right under the Harbour Bridge for some country music. Ended the day at Bondi Beach eating the most incredible pizza and gelato. I had a meat pie and chips for lunch.
It was a really nice day. Had the same elements of Fourth of July but yet somehow different. Maybe because there has been fewer Australia Days. Maybe because there was no bloody parade. Sorry, Mom. I know you love a parade but I loved the lack of one. :) Happy Australia Day. Aussie, aussie, aussie! Oi, oi, oi!
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Tuesday, January 11th - Less than a month...
I really can't believe I'll be coming home in less than a month. It's so hard to believe it's been a whole year. As I think most of you know, I'm back in Sydney. I'm loving being in a first world country again; wearing shoes that are not flip-flops, eating Tim-Tams, and drinking wine again. Life is good. ;-)
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Wednesday, December 22nd - Happy Holidays to All!
This is my official holiday greeting going out to everyone. In another 6 hours, I will be on a boat in the Andaman Sea heading for the Similian Islands for 5 days of diving. Hopefully, Santa will be able to find me out there.
I'm in Phuket at the moment which is pretty gross. Lots of fat German men walking around like kids in a candy store. I came over here from Ko Pha-Ngan to change my airline ticket back to Australia and since I'm here, I decided I might as well take advantage of the excellent diving on this side of Thailand. The Similians are supposed to be one of the top 10 dive sites in the world. Nice. I was a bit worried about being in over my head or even worse, holding back the 9 other divers on the trip who will most likely be far more advanced than I. The guys at the dive company that I chose to go with have assured me otherwise. If all goes according to planed, after this trip I should have an additional 18 dives under my belt and will hopefully feel like a seasoned pro...sort of. :)
I spent a most blissful 4 days on Ko Pha-Ngan with Uncle Paul and Jo several days back. My bungalow was literally right on the beach. Instead of showering in the morning, I would go for a swim. We hung about, threw lots of frisbee, read, and just chilled. So the way life should be in mid-December.
Right. Well, I hope everyone has the happiest of holidays. Hopefully, many Christmas cookies were consumed in my honor. I miss them the most of all the holiday festive-ness! Sticky rice with mango just isn't the same. I miss you all, can't wait to see you, blah, blah, blah. Merry, merry!!
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Tuesday, December 14th - 15 shopping days left...
Ha, ha, ha! I'm sure everyone is quite enjoying the hustle and bustle of the festive holiday season. No one more than me. ;-) I'm in southern Thailand at the moment where it's about 80 degrees and sunny and beautiful. I've just spent the last week and a half on Ko Lanta, about three days on Ko Phi Phi before that with my most excellent friend Vicky whom I met in Vietnam. I'm on my way over to the Gulf of Thailand side to Ko Pha-Ngan and Ko Tao to meet up with Uncle Paul and Jo again and hopefully go diving because I am now a certified scuba diver! So exciting.
I got back to Bangkok from Kathmandu with no drama on the 24th of November. Spent a couple of days in Bangkok sorting myself out and then headed down to Phi Phi to meet up with Vicky. We chillaxed on the beach, got Thai massages, and went to "The Beach" (yes, the same one that Leo hung on in the movie) to snorkel. When Vicky had to move on to Malaysia, I jumped a boat over to Ko Lanta. I spent the next four days with Alex and Asa, my new dive buddies, learning how to dive. We had a fantastic instructor...there are only 80 of him in the world, he's that qualified yet still slums it every now and then with the beginners. I had major problems with clearing my mask. It was some kind of mental hang-up. The exercise is you need to first let your mask fill up halfway with water and then blow out your nose to clear the mask. Easy peasy. I would lift the bottom of my mask, let water come in, and promptly, freak out because I would try to breathe out of my nose (fine) but then realize I couldn't breathe back in my nose (duh). I would completely forget that I have this regulator in my mouth delivering perfectly lovely breathable air! Good news, I finally figured it out and am not the mask clearing reject I once was.
We spent two days in the pool/classroom and two days on the boat actually diving. It was incredible. Our last training dive we saw so much...a sea turtle, an octopus, lionfish, scorpionfish, a sea snake, moray eels. It was so cool...just being down under the sea, hearing nothing but your own breathing is cool enough. The fish are just icing on the cake. :)
I've just spent three days at the most flash resort on Ko Lanta with a friend from NY. It was complete luxury and so heavenly. I'm back to 200Baht a night rooms again. I think I might be ready for backpacker life to be over. And in fact, in less than 2 months, it will be. Hum, not ready to go there yet...so I won't.
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Tuesday, November 23rd - Happy Thanksgiving!
I bet you all forgot about me. I'm been somewhat MIA, I apologize, and you're now going to get the low-down in about 20 words. Trekking 15 days in the Everest Region or Solokhumbu...absolutely amazing. Walking in the shadows of Mt. Everest and all those people who have climbed it (and those notably in 1996, who did not) was very special. We reached our high point, Gokyo Ri at 5357m, feeling free of any altitude sickness whatsoever and on top of the world. Worst part was me managing to lose 12,000 rupees or roughly $150 on the last day. In the end, all I could tell myself is that hopefully whoever picked it up is using it to feed their family given that it's almost half a years wages for some Nepali people if not more.
After trekking...bungy jumping (165m...the highest in the world! Note: I've been informed by my dear friend Jurgen that I am wrong on this. Apparently, the highest bungy is in South Africa at 216m. Thanks for bursting my bubble, Jurg! ;-)), sweet as rafting (Bhote Koshi river in northern Nepal about 30 kms from the Tibet border), domino championships (yes, I've learned the epitome of English pub games and I'm an addict), lots of delicious food and wine, and lastly, a couple day trip to Pokhara to see the second largest lake in Nepal. Did a little walking, biking, and boating on the lake...and more dominos. :)
It's my last night in Nepal and I'm terribly sad to be leaving for many reasons. The things I've done here have been like nothing I've done so far in my travels. I've been scared out of my mind (What possessed me to hurl myself off a bridge 165m from a raging river?), overcome by the beauty of nature, and just plain happy to be alive. And the fact that I got to do something extraordinary with my uncle and Jo made it that much better.
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Monday, October 25th - Nepal!
We're on our way to Kathmandu in about two hours. I arrived in Bangkok on Saturday after what became a 13 hour bus ride from Siem Riep. Met up with Uncle Paul and Jo and we've just been hanging out, catching up, throwing the "fris", getting ready for our big trek. I think this is going to be big. 17 days. I've stopped worrying about the Maoists. I'm now more concerned with getting my ass kicked by either the Himalayas or my 57 year old uncle! Shoulda been running or something in Vietnam instead of drinking all those cheap beers. :)
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Saturday, October 23rd - Back to Bangkok...
It's 6:45 in the morning here in Siem Riep. After getting up at 4:45 to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat yesterday, this seems like nothing! I'm catching a 10 hour bus to Bangkok in a half hour. Just spent the last couple of days seeing the wonderous Angkor Wat. It's absolutely amazing. Photos soon. :)
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Saturday, October 16th - Goodbye Vietnam
After 3 and 1/2 weeks, I'm leaving Vietnam tomorrow. I'm definitely sad to be going. I've had a fantastic time here in spite of the Vietnamese opinion that Western tourists are stupid and therefore should be lied to and ripped off as often as possible. I think that is my only negative comment about Vietnam. The people are somewhat hard, if you will. They are aggressive and sometimes only nice to you until you say no. Of course, that's a very broad generalization and not all the Vietnamese people are like that. We've met some very lovely people here.
We're heading to Cambodia tomorrow morning by bus to Phemoh Penh. We hear the culture shock is going to be far greater in Cambodia. It's always exciting to move on to a new place. Culture shock or not, I can't wait.
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Thursday, October 14th - Was it worth it?
We're kind of tourist-ed out. After running around town yesterday morning, we went to the War Remnants Museum. Powerful stuff. Pictures of 18 year old boys landing at Da Nang, soldiers injured and covered in mud taking cover in trenches, women trying to protect their children from bombs falling from the sky, the affects of Agent Orange, the massacre at My Lai, the bloodbath that was Khe Sanh...I just don't get it. And for what? 58,000 Americans died not to mention the staggering numbers of Vietnamese who were killed. When are we going to learn to stop sticking our noses in where they don't belong? I read comment after comment in the visitor's log book from people the world over asking the US "Was it worth it?". Doesn't seem like anyone learned from Vietnam because we're right back at it again.
Part of our running around yesterday morning was me going to the US Consulate to vote. Let's hope that my vote is not one of the ones that "gets lost" or goes uncounted.
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Tuesday, October 12th - I LOVE night buses!
We have arrived in Saigon this morning after our LAST overnight bus journey. The open tour bus ticket is one of the best deals in Vietnam. You buy a ticket for $20US that gets you from Hanoi to Saigon and allows you to stop at many towns along the way. $20! Plus, three of the legs are overnight so you save on accomodation. This, my friends, is truely budget traveling. We all know the Vietnamese are smaller that us big Westerners. The seats on the bus reflect this difference. Rough. And let's discuss the road rules of Vietnam. (1) All large vehicles shall drive in the CENTER of the road. Occasionally move into the left lane if (a) there are motorbike riders that will not move over to the side or (b) there is a blind curve coming up. This would be the time to pass another large vehicle. (2) The horn is to be used at all times. That pesky motorbike driver won't move over? Lay on the horn until he does. [I've been told that using the horn is just common road practice which is fine but not at 3:00 in the morning when a whole bus load of people are trying to sleep.] (3) If you suspect police ahead, turn your headlights OUT to try to fool them into thinking you are not there. Ok, so our bus drivers never did this because we were on the tourist bus but on the local deadtraps, I mean, buses it seems to be common practice. Lights, schmites. Besides, if there was a horrible accident, it wouldn't matter if the lights were on or not. The chance of an ambulance arriving on the scene within oh, I don't know, 4 hours, if at all is slim to none given the lack of an emergency response network in Vietnam outside of Hanoi and Saigon. And the language barrier? Forget about it. I can joke about this now. I'm done with bus journeys in Vietnam. Next? Cambodia!!!
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Monday, October 11th - Nha Trang
Total relaxation here in Nha Trang...Mineral springs on Day 1, Island hopping boat trip on Day 2, and layabout on the beach for Day 3. Laying on the beach in October...I love it. We did just have a conversation last night about things we missed from home. Number 1 was jeans. Good autumn wardrobe staple just not in Southeast Asia. You wouldn't last 10 minutes in Levi's here. [Rest of the list: (2) the newspaper, (3) Sunday mornings, (4) cooking, (5) chocolate chip cookies (mine), (6) weather cool enough to need a jumper/sweater, (7) bagels (mine), (8) country music (oh, definitely mine),(9) and of course, all our friends and family!
We thought we'd been loving the French baguettes that are everywhere until we got to Nha Trang. They are hearty-ier, doughy-ier. The LP (Lonely Planet aka "the bible") likens the inside to a "New York City pretzel". I wouldn't go that far but yes, they are good. Story goes that the fisherman needed a more filling bread so the women of Nha Trang changed the typical baguette recipe.
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Thursday, October 7th - Hoi An - clothes, cold beer and free pool
Hoi An is a charming, little French seaside town where the tailors abound but the Internet sucks. In fact, the Internet seems to suck in most of Vietnam outside of the major cities. They would be Hanoi and Saigon. Needless to say, we are going crazy with lack of communication. We have been consoling ourselves at our favorite local bar, Treats. Yes, we have a favorite local bar. We're practically regulars. :) The local beer, Biere LaRue, is 6000 dong from 4pm until 10pm. How's that for a kick-ass happy hour? And the pool is free.
Clothes are the thing is Hoi An. The shop owners are extremely persistant (as are most Vietnamese but that's better left for another entry). You can't walk down the streets without hearing "You come look my shop?" about least 8,000 times. Ok, I exaggerate. 4,000 times. We picked a shop based on the fact that (a) they didn't hassle us, and (b) it was a cute little family run establishment. Pants, shirts, robes, skirts, dresses, anything you wanted in whatever fabric you wanted. It was a bit overwelming at first but once we got the hang of it...too much fun. I ended up with a short robe made out of Vietnamese silk (purple, of course) to wear later and a linen skirt to wear now. Total $18. Vicky put on her white linen button down shirt the next day and not 10 minutes later we were at the tailors so I could get the same shirt made! What you want, you shall have...or something like that.
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Thursday, September 30th - Halong Bay, outside Hanoi, Vietnam
Spending a couple of days in the Halong Bay area...really beautiful. It's a hard place to see on your own so I gave in and did the tour. I realized that everyone pretty much does a tour. It's just easier and cheap ($55US for 3 days, 2 nights, most meals included...yeah). It's been good fun though and we have a great group. Two very cool Americans from Texas who are pushing really hard for San Antonio as the place I end up when I return :), a couple Brits, a nice Dutch couple. We cruised around Halong Bay yesterday which has these amazing, huge karst formations in the water and spent the night on the boat. Today, we laid on the beach.
I'll head back to Hanoi tomorrow afternoon and head south to Hue on Saturday. Hope to take a trip to the old DMZ from Hue.
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Tuesday, September 21st - 6 days in Bangkok...
Bangkok is loud, incredibly hot, ridiculously humid, extremely poluted and it's sensational. My first taste of Asia and I'm hooked. Mostly on the food but I guess no one should be surprised by that. In the interest of brevity, a list...
- Again, it's hot...and humid like nothing I've ever experienced. I shower at least three times a day. Not for cleanliness, per se, but for natural air-con. I've also starting copying the Thais and use powder after each shower. Keeps you cool and dry.
- The food is deliciously hot. Eye watering, nose running hot sometimes. And the best food is on the street from either carts (fresh pineapple, watermelon, sour mango with sugar and red pepper) or from street stalls...the same carts only bigger with tables and chairs around. Lots of rice and noodles, pork, chicken, vegetables, and all the garlic and chilis you can stand. Beautiful. And at about 30baht a shot (less than $1 - 1USD = 41THB), you can't beat it. Thai people eat with spoons and use a fork to push the food on the spoon. They only use chopsticks for noodles. They've adopted western utensils but changed the way they use them.
- The coffee is delicious...strong, dark, flavorful. A welcome break from Australia's instant and milky cappuccinos.
- Shoes come off frequently as they do in most Asian cultures. Before going upstairs at the guesthouse, at temples, and never point the soles of your feet towards anyone...it's rude.
- Women and monks...like oil and water. It's customary for Thai men to become monks for at least a month at some point in their lives. Women are not supposed to touch or even sit next to monks on buses or trains. For some reason, I don't take offense to this. I haven't really researched the reason behind it but my assumption is that it's because of biological reasons and not that we are lesser beings or something. And it's religious.
- The buses are the best thing going. 4 baht and a real chance to see the city and all it's people. Great value.
- Bangkok is like Vegas. Too much of a good thing can possibly be bad.
- And finally, from the Downingtown Farmer's Market to Bangkok...yes, there's an Auntie Anne's pretzels here. Along with McDonald's, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, KFC, and Pizza Hut. Kind of scary.
This is really just a quick stream of consciousness so if it doesn't make sense or is random, sorry. I'm on to Vietnam tomorrow. More from Hanoi.
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Tuesday, September 14th - The Grand Finale
Tomorrow I will be off on the last adventure of my travels! I'm flying to Bangkok tomorrow night where I'll spend about a week organizing a flight and a visa and then I'll be on to Vietnam. Plan to spend a month there starting in Hanoi and travelling down through the country to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I'm thinking about trying to go to Cambodia and Laos also but will suss that out in Vietnam. Will be back in Thailand at the end of October to meet up with Uncle Paul and Jo to head to Nepal. We will spend about a month there to do some trekking in the Annapurna region. Head back to Thailand for December. I'll be returning to Sydney either in January or the end of December (for New Year's) and spending my final month in Australia soaking up the sun, saying good-bye, doing any last trips, and preparing to head home in mid-February. I should be back on the East Coast around the 15th of February...and will be up to NY very soon after that!
I hope everyone is well and happy back home. I miss you all! More to come from Southeast Asia...xoxoxo
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Tuesday, September 14th (going back to 8 August to 5 Septmeber) - The Palmer River Roadhouse
Ah, The Palmah...I learned early on that it's almost impossible to pronounce "Palmer River Roadhouse" with an American accent. Aussies have some kind of aversion to the letter 'r', they don't like it and don't use it. The obvious example is "beeah" as we all know from every Foster's commerical (which Australians do not drink, by the way). 'Showah' instead of 'shower', 'Cannes' instead of 'Cairns', 'Paka' instead of 'Parker', 'Palmah Rivah Roadhouse' instead of 'Palmer River Roadhouse'. I did try to pronounce those 'r's but in the end just ended up making a fool of myself so I stopped. :) When in Rome, you know?
I guess it's easiest to think of the Palmer as what we would call a rest stop....except that it's really nice. Not like the crappy, Roy Rogers ones we have on 95. It's about 200kms north of Cairns on the way to Cape York or "The Tip" as in the top part of Australia. Most of the roads north are dirt and corregated and 4WDs, essential. Very remote; mail came up twice a week, the papers, three times a week, we ran on a generator so all the power went off around 11 at night. Mobile signal was zilch. The nearest town was about a half hour away. We had a bar, served meals (fish and chips, steak/salad/chips, toasted sandwiches, breakfasts, meat pies, coffees, etc.), had fuel, camp sites and three permanent outdoor tents with beds in them. There were a handful of locals; people who either (a) work on the nearby stations (cattle ranches), (b) are guys who for whatever reason have checked out of society and live in the bush, or (c) people hoping to find gold and they usually also live out the in bush. Most of them were really interesting. Everyone else who came through were tourists, travellers either on their way to Cooktown or the Tip stopping for a meal, petrol, or a break.
Being that far out in the bush, people were usually quite shocked to find someone with such a strange accent. I would get kind of tired of telling people where I'm from...it would usually go something like:
Them: My, you have an interesting accent.
Me: Yes, I do.
OR
Them: Boy, you're definitely not from around here.
Me: No, I'm not.
OR
Them: Oh, let me guess...Canadian?
Me: No, I'm American.
Which is followed with Are you backpacking? How long you up here? Enjoying Australia? BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. I'm sorry to say the annoyance I'm pretty sure you can hear in my voice was definitely there. The first couple times it was fun but around the 8,000th time, I decided I need to just print up a flyer on my background and distribute it at the door. One day I had this guy who was practically insisting that I was Irish. Really, mate...I'm American. I swear. For some reason, my accent sounds Irish to many people. Go figure. The locals, on the other hand, had no problem remembering where I came from. I was nicknamed "The Yank Shiela". :)
There were four of us living at the roadhouse. Jim and Kevin were the owners. Jim and I got along great probably because of the whole American connection. Our sense of humor was the same and we would get each others American references and jokes. Kevin and Nadine, the Dutch girl I worked with, often though we were crackers. Nadine and I woke up at 7:00...every day. We had to clean the bathrooms which was pretty painless as they were usually clean, cut tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, etc. (kinda good as I got to practice my knife skills...Jane and GahYan will understand!), and stock the soda/drinks coolers. I was also given the job of stocking the beer every morning. We had this a neat cold room so that all the beer gets stocked from behind and you don't have to take out all the ones still in the case to rotate the stock. You had to work kind of quickly so that the temperature in the cold room didn't creep up too much. So, basically, it's -5 degrees, my fingers would get frozen, and I would have to work quickly. It wasen't a bad job though. I think I now know every Australian beer, it's alcohol content, and it's slogan! During the day, we waited on customers, helped with meals, cooked from time to time, made the beds in the permanent tents. There were definitely slow times when we would be desperate for a job or anything to clean. We would alternate having time off in the mornings and afternoons.
There wasen't a whole lot to do out in the middle of nowhere at nights so we played lots of pool. I'm at least now not the disgrace of a pool player that I was before I started at the Palmer but I still wouldn't be willing to take on my shark of a cousin-in-law. :) The table and balls are smaller in Australia so I'm hoping that that will work to my advantage when I get home. One of the guys who lived permantently in a caravan at the roadhouse, Cisco, was my pool mentor. He would tell me "You, my darling, need to get the shit out of your head." Sound advise I need to apply to my golf game as well! Drunker than a skunk but that man was gorgeous.
All in all, it was a fantastic experience and one that will be never forget. The money (such that it was...I think we averaged about $3.00/hour...Australian) was really just icing on the cake. Something that I've been learning alot on my travels is that things/people/places are often not what they seem. That I need to take a second look, not go on first impressions, not be so quick to judge. Kinda of like the way that sometimes the restaurants serving the best food are no better than a hole in the wall. I certainly got more of that at the Palmer. Oh, and I also learned how to make a beautiful cappuccino!
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Friday, August 6th - Sayonara, Cairns
Yes, that's right. I am finally getting out of dodge. It's been about a month and it's time to go before I have to check myself into Betty Ford. No, just kidding. :) Cairns is a ton of fun but all good things must come to an end and now's the time.
In the spirit of change (I'm a Taurus and we bulls really don't like change but I'm getting really good at it so why stop now...), I'm not going down to Sydney as per Wednesday, August 4th but heading north. I was on my way book my flight to Sydney when I thought I'd just pop into my old hostel to say hi. As we are chatting about the horse farm thing not coming through (it didn't), a fax comes in for help needed at a roadhouse 200 kms northwest of Cairns. Bar work, waiting tables, housekeeping, etc...and a proper Aussie roadhouse out in the middle of no-where. I call, get the job (it pays, cash!), and am heading out there on Sunday for about a month. Jim, the manager, who I talked to on the phone, is an Aussie but lived in Wisconsin for awhile and has dual citizenship. Appartently, they're all red, white, and blue up there with the flag flying and everything. I think he's keen to have real American around!
Still planning to leave for Thailand on the 15th of September and am in the process of booking my ticket. SO EXCITED. :)
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Wednesday, August 4th - "The best laid plans of travelling girls often go astray..."
Astray might be an understatement. It's a whole new ballgame and I'm not even stretching yet. I was just visiting espn.com to see what's up at home. Yankees in first place, Phillies 5.5 games behind Atlanta, Mets even further behind...I won't bother next time. Someone just e-mail me if something changes. :)
Right. So, the plan is back to Thailand and hopefully Nepal and maybe adding Vietnam. I know, it's a long way from home for Turkey Day. When I came back from Bali, I was a little burnt out from travelling. Bali was a bit difficult and I was afraid that Thailand was going to be like Bali so I got cold feet and started planning to come home. After talking to almost everyone I met about Southeast Asia and doing a pretty good job of recharging my travel batteries (I guess by staying in one place for a couple of weeks, working some, laying by the pool ALOT), I'm ready to go and psyched about it. REALLY psyched about it. :)
I'm planning to return to Sydney in the next couple of weeks (earlier if I don't get the horse farm job), get sorted, and then leave for Thailand around the 15th of September, if not sooner. Spend a month in Thailand and maybe go to Vietnam here, then meet up with Uncle Paul and Jo in late October to go to Nepal. November in Nepal, back to Thailand for December, back to Australia for January and then finally home in mid-February completing one kick-ass year of travelling. Now I haven't purchased any tickets yet so it's not definite yet but it's 99%. Details to follow. :)
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Wednesday, July 21st - From traveller to Cinderella
Although there are no wicked stepsisters...it's all my own doing. I've decided to stay in Cairns for a bit and try out this working thing. Sydney was a beautiful 3 degrees the other day. That's 37 Fahrenheit and way too cold for me. [It's silly to be chilly. I'm going to go where I can be warm.] Right now, I'm doing housekeeping in a backpackers in exchange for accomodation. Call me crazy but I really like it! It's only two-three hours a day, the hostel is really nice, the people are cool, we take turns doing pick-ups from the airport, it's warm, it's sunny, and I have goals! Tasks to accomplish! I almost feel a little productive! It actually works out great. I've got a nice little group of friends here in Cairns who are also working for a bit, I've got free accomodation, I know the town, and I can settle down for a little while. I'm hoping to get this other job out on a horse ranch in the outback but won't know about that for another week. If I don't get that, I'll stay in Cairns and hopefully convince this really great restaurant in town that they should hire me. :)
My plan is to stay up here in sunny Queensland until early September and then head back down to Sydney. Spend a week or so at family's in Richmond, hop down to Melbourne for a week to say good-bye to relatives down there, back to Sydney for official good-byes, and then I'll be heading for the homeland in early October. Chill with my people on the West Coast for a bit and then return to the East Coast in time for Turkey Day.
After the holidays, I'm planning to work for awhile, maybe go to pastry school, and then head to Europe. But that's too far away to even get into so I'll leave it alone for now. :)
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Friday, July 16th - Almost a month...
Wow, didn't realize it's been so long since I've checked in. I'll try for the short version. ;-)
I'm back from Bali. In fact, I'm back from Cape Tribulation as well. I'm in Cairns at the moment...again. I'm left and come back to Cairns twice now. I know most of the people who work at the hostel and I've been staying at and have a bunch of friends which is nice but I'm afraid if I don't get out of here soon, the welcome is going to resemble "Noooorm!". Bali was incredible. Beautiful, relaxing, and so cheap. Oh, and the food...to die for. I took a Baliense cooking course while I was there which was probably the highlight of the trip for me. I had no idea there were so many kinds of ginger and so many uses for coconut milk. Not that I'm complaining or anything! We made a killer gado gado, which is a very traditional Baliense vegetable salad with a beautiful fresh peanut sauce.
I spent alot of time on the beach in Bali. As much as it pains me to admit, I didn't meet a ton of other people there. I'm pretty sure I didn't smell but you never know. ;-) No, Bali is certainly not the backpackers circuit and most of the Westerners were either honeymooning couples or Aussie families on holiday. There were very few other solo travellers. I did meet some cool girls from Victoria on my second to last night (figures) and was never so happy to go out to eat with other people. I read enough books to fill a small library, probably have a few new wrinkles thanks to all the beach time, and had lots of contemplate my life time. Not a bad thing...
Cape Tribulation is going to be the furthest north I get in Australia this time around. It's about two hours north of Cairns right in the middle of the Daintree Rainforest. And I can officially say that I've seen a saltwater crocodile. Several in fact. The problem is that I'm not convinced that the ones I saw were real. I know it sounds bizarre and maybe I'm being pessimistic but it was just too good to be true. We went on a boat ride through a salt water mangrove and we saw about 5 crocs. They didn't move (at all) and the guide seemed to know exactly where they were going to be. And he kept referring to them as "his" as in "I got another one up here on your right." He never discussed how they can kill people, how dangerous they were, why? Because they were fake! That's what I think. In fact, someone else also had the same concern. The guide's response to his query was a not to happy, "You wanna find out, mate?" Nah, I'll pass, thanks, mate.
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Thursday, June 17th - No sleep 'til Bali
That's right, my friends, Bali. It was a long, stressful decision to make (mostly because leaving the country is going to cost me alot more than I realized) but I'm quite satisfied I've made the right one and am now so excited I can hardly wait! Leaving tonight and flying to Guam, spending the day there and then on to Denpasar arriving Friday night. I have to admit I'm almost as excited about Guam as I am Bali. I'm only spending a day there and it's appartently quite expensive but for some reason, I picture it as this little bit of home right smack in the middle of Indonesia. US currency and all. :) We'll see.
Spending two weeks in Bali and then back to Cairns to meet up with friends for trip down the East Coast. I'm leaving Bali on the 4th of July so make sure someone at home eats a hot dog and waves a sparkler for me!
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Thursday, June 10th - Cairns
I've finally made it to summer. It's hot, it's sunny, and it's fantastic. I've spent what seems like all my money on sunscreen but it's worth it. For once in my life, I think I may be tanner than my usual brown skinned brother!
On a much sadder note, Jill has gone back to real world San Francisco and sent me back to backpacker life. Man, it was great...although my bank account is probably thinking something quite different. A spending freeze is in effect for the next couple of days. :) It really seems like she just arrived...the 11 days just flew by. We still can't believe how much we did and how much fun we had. We spent the first three days in Sydney. Did the Harbour BridgeClimb (yes, we climbed to the top of the old 'coat-hanger'...a little scary but great fun), shopped around with Joyce, did the 6km walk to Manley, and had some great food.
Caught a flight to the Gold Coast to check out Surfers Paradise, the ulitmate beach town. It's basically just Miami in Australia so we bailed. Jumped on a plane up to the Whitsundays for some sailing and to have a look at the Great Barrier Reef.
We decided to do a 3 day sail of the Whitsunday Islands on the Anaconda III. We are still unsure where the boat got it's name although we like to think the Sir Mix-A-Lot song has something to do with it! The Anaconda was 102' and slept 30. There were only 15 of us on our trip which was great as there was plently of room to move about, etc. We had a great group; couple of Canadians, very cool German couple, several Brits (there's no escaping them!), a South African, the poor Italian guy who not only spoke very little English but was sick the entire time, and another American girl (almost as cool as us ;-)). I was completely sick the first morning. Green, I tell you. I felt even worse thinking that I was going to be miserable for three days. Thankfully, that morning we went for a little bushwalk on one of the islands and as soon as I hit land, I was fine and felt peachy the rest of the trip.
The snorkeling was just incredible especially on the second day when we got out to the actual Great Barrier Reef. I would be swimming around amazed at how cool the coral was only to have a school of fish swim by...oh, yeah, there's fish too! Our first mate, Simon and the dive master, James loved to entertain themselves by feeding the fish. How entertaining can feeding the fish be, you ask? Well, the object is to aim for our snorkels and then laugh hysterically when we get bum-rushed by about 8,000 fish. The louder you screach, the more bread you get thrown at you. Twisted individuals. :) We did get to see a ton of fish though, with and without bread. A school of giant travallin hung out with us the second day...and they're pretty big. It was a little scary swimming with them. Also saw parrotfish, surgeon fish, giant wrasse, some kind of reef cod, and a whole lot of other species that I can't identify or at least remember to look up. Oh, but we did find Nemo...really! I only saw the small one but appartently, there was a larger one hanging out in the coral. Guess I need to see the movie now. :)
We spent out first night back on land at the Daydream Island Resort and Spa. (Budget? What budget?) We had great food and even greater massages here even though the weather was shite. Believe it or not, the highlight was the best mini-golf course I've ever played. Around Australia in 19 Holes...so cool. Each hole had a different theme. The Sydney hole had a replica of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and even played the Australian national anthem. There was a Uluru hole, a GBR hole, a Parliment hole, a Bondi Beach hole, a Whitsunday hole. So much fun! Oh, but I lost. :)
Hired a car the next day and drove up the coast to Cairns. Great road trip complete with lots of treats and tunes. Stopped in Mission Beach for the night. Ended up at a great local bar/restaurant on the beach which had a fun band and lots of locals to chat with...good fun.
We made it to Cairns, checked into a hotel, and learned that Ronald Reagan had died. That was pretty sad. It didn't really help with my homesickness. I was kind of missing home right before Jill arrived. I thought her visit would be just what I needed and while I was so glad to see her and have a friend from home here, I think it made me miss my life back in the US even more. So, she's gone, I'm on my own, and have to go back to the backpackers life style. Ok, really, that's what's bumming me out the most. Just kidding. :) I did get a round of golf in the day she left since I still had our car for another day. Beautiful...the weather, the course. My score, unfortuntely, was about the same as the price of the round. And no, I didn't shoot a 72. Dosen't matter...it was great fun and I was so happy to be out playing again. I'm sure this missing home is just a little bump in the road and a normal feature of traveling. No worries.
Will be spending this week figuring my life out. Well, not my REAL life...that's taking alot longer than a week but my immediate life. I need to leave Australia before 6 July when my visa expires. (I just need to leave...I can come back for up to another 3 months.) I'll most likely go to either Bali or Fiji. Going to New Zealand would be the cheapest but not by much and I've already been there, and it's too bloody cold there now. Now that I'm here, I'm not going back!
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Tuesday, June 1st - The Whitsundays
Jill est arrive and it's all fun in the sun. We just arrived in Arlie Beach this afternoon and booked ourselves right on a 3 day/3 night sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. Sweet as. Working on our tans, snorkling the Great Barrier Reef, and drinking fruity tropical drinks are top priority for the next couple of days. We'll let you know how we go...:)
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Tuesday, May 25th - The Rain Goddess
Back in Richmond and it's raining. I returned to Richmond from Alice Springs...where it was raining. The middle of the bloody desert and it's raining. Everyone here is convinced I brought the rain with me from Alice (Sydney's in a pretty good drought). If it rains tomorrow, I think they might start praying and chanting to me.
The Outback Adventure was an incredible success and great fun. And I survived 30 along the way. :) The highlight would definitely be Uluru. I'm not sure I'll be able to do it justice. It's a huge rock in the middle of the desert, right? What's so exciting about that? But it's a huge rock in the middle of the desert that is just so powerful and magical. I thought it had a strength and force about it that you could almost feel. I don't mean to get all crystal, Yanni, new-agey on everyone but it was pretty spiritual. We did the base walk around the walk but decided not to climb it. The rock was given back to the Aborginal people about 10 years ago and they felt strongly that people should not climb it. It's quite a controversial subject. Many people climbed it even against the Aborginals wishes. It seemed that everyone we spoke to who climbed it were Australians and it seemed to us to be almost a spite thing. (Just our observation...) There is definitely alot of racial tension between the white Australians and the Aborginals. More than I've ever seen in my life. Jurgen just spent 6 months in South Africa and felt it was almost as bad.
Note - dated 23/7/04
I read Bill Bryson's Australian travelog, In a Sunburnt Country, well before I left. I loved it. I read it again about a month ago now that I had been to most of the places he mentions. I again loved it but this time I found that Bill, being far more eloquent than I, has penned exactly what I was trying to above regarding Ayers Rock. Allow me to share it with you...
""It's weird, isn't it?" he said.
"What is?"
"I don't know. Just seeing it. I mean, it just feels weird."
I nodded. It does feel weird. Quite apart from that initial shock of indefinable recognition, there is also the fact that Uluru is, no matter how you approach it, totally arresting. You cannot stop looking at it. As you draw closer, it becomes even more interesting. It is more pitted that you imagined, less regular in shape. There are more curves and divots and wavelike ribs, more irregularities of every type, than are evident from even a couple of hundred yards away. You realize that you could spend quite a lot of time - possibly a worryingly large amount of time; possibly a sell-your-house-and-move-here-to-live-in-a-tent amount of time - just looking at the rock, gazing at it from many angles, never tiring of it. You can see yourself in a silvery ponytail, barefoot and in something jangly and loose-fitting, hanging out with much younger visitors and telling them: 'And the amazing thing is that every day it's different, you know what I'm saying? It's never the same rock twice. That's right, my friend - you put your finger on it there. It's awesome. It's an awesome thing. Say, do you by any chance have any dope or some spare change?'"
Boy, I do love that rock.
We hit the Barossa Valley on the way out of Adelaide. It's really a beautiful part of the state. Went to the big boys; Jacob's Creek, Peter Lehmann, Penfolds just because we felt we had to. Did really like a wine called GSM from Peter Lehmann...a medium red blend of grenache, shiraz, and mourvedre. It was especially nice at our campsite in stainless steel camping mugs! ;-) (Sorry, Carol Clough and any other wine aficionados that may read this, sometimes you gotta improvise!) Richmond Grove, Langmeil, and Stanley Brothers were a few of the boutique winerys we got to. Stanley Brothers made this amazing tawny port called Choc-a-Bloc. A chocolate port that was the most sinfully delicious dessert in a glass.
From the Barossa, we headed up to the Flinders Ranges. Did some real camping up there, camp fire and all. I tried to introduce s'mores to the boys but this crazy country not only doesn't have graham crackers but their marshmellows are half the size as ours. And the chocolate bars are just not thin enough. We ended up toasting the marshmellows and eating them with chocolate bits. Yum. Did a great one day hike to the top of St. Mary's peak on the day before my birthday. Beautiful day and great way to lead up to middle agedness!
Coober Pedy, South Australia...I swear this place is right around the block from the Twilight Zone. It's the opal mining capital of Australia and appartently, 80% of the world's opals come from it. It's f***** weird, that's all I can say! And it's where I spent the night of my 30th birthday. Most of the people in the town live underground due to the harshness of the heat in the summer. It rained while we were there but not to worry, we camped underground! Yes, I swear. I think Dan put it the best when he said it was kind of like camping in a car park. It certainly wasen't cold. We went for a opal mining tour and then a most delicious pizza and beer dinner. Aussie pizza complete with an egg in the middle...de-lish. The boys got me a cake and everyone sang to me. It was a lovely, Twilight Zone birthday. :)
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Thursday, May 13th - Adelaide
Two days in a row...not bad, ay? Once again, I'm in a city and sitting in front of the computer! Only for an hour though and it's free internet which must be taken advantage of. Adelaide is actually a really pretty city, the City of Churches. No shortage of places to worship if I was so inclinded. (Shame I'm not.) I was just over at the South Australian Museum which was pretty good. Some cool stuff on Aborginal and Pacific Island people.
We've managed to score the bro deal on a hire car for our Outback Adventure. The car companies are so not thrilled with people leaving their cars in the middle of the desert that they charge an $800 drop charge on a one-way hire. Obviously, that was a little out of the question...but we managed to find a company that needed a few relocations and they are almost paying us to drive the car to Alice. Sweet as. We're leaving Friday AM (the 14th). Spending a day in the Barossa Valley wine region (home of Penfolds, Jacob's Creek, etc.), a couple days in the Flinders Ranges, a night in Coober Pedy (most of the town is literally underground due to the heat), then a couple days in Ayers Rock and a couple days in Kings Canyon before ending up in Alice Springs. I'm quite psyched.
I feel the need to wax somewhat poetic on the passing of my 29th year. Yes, for those of you who don't know, I will be 30 (gasp) on Monday. I debated not celebrating it as I can't decide how I feel about it. I think I'm not all that excited about it because I'm not going to be at home celebrating with my friends and family. I haven't been telling everyone "10 more days until my birthday...9 more days until my birthday...8 more days until my birthday". (I'm sure my poor ex-co-workers are happy for this!) I won't be getting flowers from my mom, or going out to dinner, or having drinks to mark the beginning of another year. I could almost just not celebrate it. I don't know if this means I'm grown up or just in denial but regardless, when I think about it, being where I am and doing what I'm doing, I guess 30's starting off pretty damn good.
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Wednesday, May 12th - Melbourne
In Melbourne killing time before getting on a plane for Adelaide. Just got back from 2 days in Lorne on the Great Ocean Road. Beautiful but not nearly enough time. Will go back. Meeting up with Jurgen and Dan in Adelaide...we're hiring a car and going for a 9 day trip to Alice Springs. Hopefully, it will be very hot! I'm dying for some warm weather.
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Tuesday, May 4th - St. Paul's, a Daewoo, and Jurgen
Launceston, Tasmania...last day in Tassie. Flying back to Melbourne tomorrow. I've spent the last week traveling around the East Coast of Tasmania with Jurgen, an English guy with a German name. Jurgen and I met at the end of the Overland Track. We had similiar travel plans so decided to hire a car and do them together. Jurgen's on a much tighter budget (one that I should probably be on but have yet to come to grips with that) and so in order to balance out the car costs, we agreed to camp for the week. I mean, we just finished the Overland Track, sleeping in a tent with running water and hot showers in the amenitites block right next door was far from hard! We had such a great time. And saved a bundle.
From Hobart, we went south to Port Arthur (Tasmania's first penal colony and the site of a horrific shooting back in 1996...does anyone remember hearing about it? I didn't. A man opened fire at the tourist cafe on the grounds of the site. Killed 35 people including several kids.), headed up to Maria Island (pronounced Muh-RYE-uh as in Carey) for two nights, Wineglass Bay for two nights, and ended up in Launceston.
Maria Island was excellent. It's about 10kms off the east coast and no vehicles are allowed. It too was a penal settlement in the mid 1800's. We hiked about halfway down the island the first afternoon reaching the camping area after dark. That seemed to be a theme with Jurgen and I...we became experts at pitching St. Paul's (Jurgen's tent is dubbed St. Paul's given it's cavernous nature) in the dark. I really think that there was three of us humans on the entire island that night, us and an Italian guy camping several meters away. The animals were another story! The cheeky little possums were practically circling in an attempt to get some of our dinner and had absolutely no fear. They would come around behind the tent where we couldn't see them and start poking around in the food bags that were sitting literally right at our feet. We could hear them scratching around the tent once we retired (with our food inside the tent) and had something take a short cut OVER the tent. We're thinking either a water rat or a ringtail possum which are supposed to be quite small. It was a regular three-ringed circus!
Uncle Howie - I've see HEAPS of animals in the past week. Forester kangaroos, Bennett's wallabies, wombats, possums (brush-tailed and ringtail) , Cape Barren geese, all kinds of birds. No snakes though. I've been told they are most likely heading into hibernation. Will keep you posted with more reports. :)
We ended our Tasmanian adventure in Launceston. Saw a perfectly awful movie (Gothika...don't waste your money), met up with Dan to have a little Overland Track reunion with Nat, and spent lots of time at an Internet Cafe. I've come to see cities as just that...movies, drinks, and cheap Internet. As a traveler, I think cities can be a drain. They're expensive and filled with people going about their busy lives. Much like mine was when I lived in a city. I do miss my life in the city; my friends, my apartment, the restaurants, the bars (especially Kirin and Agnes), the Park, my nail place and from time to time, the city itself. Especially when I start talking to people about it. Jurgen is going to be in NY in the fall and I beg of someone to please do me a favor. He's never had a bagel...ever. (I know, I know.) Take the boy for a proper H&H bagel...salmon, cream cheese, onion, tomatoes, capers. One of my favorite pieces of NY from him to me via Australia.
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Saturday, April 24th - Hobart via the Overland Track
[Note to reader: Prepare yourself. The below content contains excessive gushing.]
Oh my God. It just keeps getting better and better. The Overland Track was complete magic. 7 days, 6 nights, 82 km, lots of mud, the tallest mountain in Tasmania, and the most incredible night skies...magical.
The adventure started last Saturday in the most amazing sunlight. The sunlight wasen't amazing per se but the fact that it was sunny was amazing...and it lastest for the next 6 days. I walked the track with a lovely English bloke, Dan. I had every intention of doing it alone and just meeting people along the way but in the process of hiring the extra equipment I would need (tent for drastic changes in weather, cooking stove, sleeping mat), was matched up with Dan by Richard, the hire guy. Dan wasen't too keen on doing the track alone and I'm thinking that I shouldn't have been either. It made perfect sense for us to pair up as we could share equipment and two's just safer than one. We were completely compatable as far as fitness and speed and disposition went but given that Dan's 10 years younger than me, I had to go it alone on the obligatory John Denver hiking songs. I know, they weren't the Rocky Mountains or in Colorado but they still make you high!
We took 7 days and averaged about 5 hours of walking each day. When it comes to length of time for doing the track, you are really only limited by the amount of food and gas (for the cooker) you have. We had orignally planned for 6 days but realized we had enough food for 7 so decided to walk out around Lake St. Clair instead of taking the ferry across as alot of people do. So glad we did. Our sixth night was at the Echo Point Hut right on the lake. The hut sleeps eight and is quite old but charming doesn't really do it justice. We had afternoon coffee on the dock practically in the lake and it was perfect.
On the fourth day, we climbed Mt. Ossa, or at 1600m, the tallest mountain in Tasmania, much to the chagrin of my knees. But thanks to lots of ibuprophen and a little "life doesn't stop" pep talk, they got on board. It was a 3 hour return hike and was made even easier by the fact that we could leave our packs at the bottom. Of course, it kind of clouded up when we got about 10 minutes from the top but the views were still quite spectacular. There's nothing like being above the clouds.
We met heaps of great people over the 7 days; a group of 5 Tassie sexagenarians who were a hoot (Inga - the German Australian, Sue - she's really 55 and a teacher, James - a lovely, friendy man ever, Richard - the joke teller, and Norm - the resident doctor), 4 guys from Queensland; two brothers, their hard-cord ex-miliary cousin dubbed "the Commando", and Jeff, the son of one of the brothers who was probably my age and at times quite embarassed by the antics of his father and uncle, and Nat, Neen, and Ann, their mom. It was quite the family oriented trip. We spent most of the time with them as Nat (short for Natalie) and Neen (short for Janine) were my age and very cool. This trip was different from the Routeburn Track that I did in New Zealand in that there were almost no tourists. I think Dan and I were the only non-Aussies. That was pretty cool.
The hiking was the easy part of this whole experience. The not showering for 7 days was the hard part. Can you imagine? No, probably not. Those smart enough (not me) brought soap and so we did kinda wash in streams which was very Pocahontas but also f***** freezing. We would sit around at night after everyone else went to sleep (which was 6:30, no kidding) and talk about showers, beer, and meals not eaten with a spoon. We dreamt of the last day and arriving at the visitor's centre, aka "holy mecca of beer and wine and hot chips". So, it's 3:00pm on Saturday and I've been back in civilization for about 24 hours now. I've showered twice, had 4 cappucinos, and am planning a big-ass steak for dinner (See? Knife AND fork.)
But really, the creature comforts are easy things to get over. The brillant star filled night skies, the wallabies hanging out by our huts, the mountains and waterfalls and rivers and lakes, the silence and absolute darkness, the simplicity of sitting around a candle talking and laughing, the mist in the early morning, the peacefulness...these are all things I'd gladly give up a shower for.
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Friday, April 16th - Tassie
Tasmania...it's alot like New Zealand. Chilly and rainy. I'm in Devonport right now having arrived via the Spirit of Tasmania ferry this morning around 7:00am. I did the overnight crossing and will definitely be flying back to the mainland when the time comes. The cruise over was not as romantic as I thought it would be. At least it puts me in the right part of the state for my next little adventure. Or big adventure as I'm thinking the case may be. The main reason for my trip to Tassie is to do the Overland Track. It's a 5-6 day, 80km hike through the Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park and supposedly Australia's most famous bushwalk. Bearing in mind that my knee is still quite cranky from NZ, I'm spending the day rallying for the occasion. That which does not kill us only makes us stronger, right? ;-)
I had wanted to get this bloody site updated with New Zealand before leaving for Melbourne/Tassie but as you'll see by scrolling down, didn't happen. Easter did. My holiday was unusually hectic with non-stop eating; lunches, dinners, afternoon teas...you name it, I ate it. Relatives and chatting galore. It was lovely although very tiring. I did manage to get to the Sydney Royal Easter Show (aka "The Show") this past Saturday the 10th. It's a massive, very well-done State Fair. Farm animals for the kids, pig racing, agricultural displays, cooking demonstrations, rides, variety of food items on sticks, etc. It's held at Homebush which was the site of the 2000 Olympics. That was cool for me to see where all the events were held. Sydney-siders are extremely proud of the 2000 Olympics and it's nice that they can show off the site a little.
It saddens me to report that the United States of America is way behind in producing quality wood-choppers. We came in dead last in the International Wood-Chopping competition at the Show. Thankfully, I was wearing nothing bearing the stars and stripes! Our guys tried hard but the Aussies and Kiwis wiped the floor with us. The Aussies reigned supreme to chants of the Australian sporting battle cry "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!" I've heard the Aussie ex-pats in New York do a good job with this at the Open in Flushing when Lleyton Hewitt represents for his country. Not that I've ever been...six years in NY and not a single day at the US Open, shame.
I'll work on filling in the holes below from time to time. I've put some pictures up but haven't labeled all of them or deleted the bad/boring ones. Oh well, it's better than nothing, no? :)
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Tuesday, April 6th - Home again, home again...kinda
I'm back in Richmond now and suffering sorely from post-vacation depression. I know, it sounds funny considering I'm still on vacation but all the symptoms are there and I don't even have my own bed, apartment, bath products to ease the pain as if I were truly returning home from vacation. I realized that in traveling and staying in hostels, and even being away from home, the one thing I miss the most is a plethura of bath products from which to choose. I long for the day I can happily look around my shower and say, "You know? I think I'm in a Cool Citrus Basil scrub kinda mood. I'll top it off with a Fresh Raspberry shower gel and a good peppermint foot pumice!"
So, yeah...I had a good time in New Zealand. In fact, I had a bloody brilliant time in New Zealand. I was trying to tell Molly, who was so sweetly waiting for me at the train station so I didn't have to walk the 6 minutes home, the highlight of my time over there and did the "It was my favorite...oh, no, this was my favorite...oh wait, no, THIS was my favorite" deal. New Zealand was beautiful and peaceful yet fun and exciting. I ate well, I drank really well, I played hard, and learned alot from all the people I met along the way. I learned that when you travel alone, you are rarely alone. I learned that people love to talk and starting a conversation with a stranger is the easiest thing in the world. I learned that I need to live the life I want to and not the life that I think I'm supposed to.
I don't even know how to go back and put in all the stuff that I missed so I'll just try to do it here, outline style, working backward. Let's give it a go...
Tuesday, April 6th
Left Wellington at the ungodly hour of 5:45 to catch my flight up to Auckland for a 9:00 flight back to Sydney. The freaking shuttle guy was 15 minutes late and I had my first bout of type-A, East Coast panic so far since I left. It was amazing...I could feel it welling up inside me and it felt so strange having not experienced the this-guy-is-going-to-make-me-miss-my-flight-which-is-going-to-make-me-miss-my-other-flight-which-is-going-to-cause-me-ALOT-of-hassle-and-will-probably-be-the-end-of-the-world in well over a month! I made my flights though so lesson learned is, East Coast panic needs to stay on the East Coast. And, there was more than usual turbulance on the Auckland to Sydney flight and I did pray a few times...to let me live and to let the two screaming children behind me shut the f*** up. Needless to say, I was happy to be off that plane.
Monday, April 5th
Had a day in Wellington to kill so after figuring out what I was going to do, headed over to a nearby hostel where I told a French girl I met on the Routeburn that I would try to find her. Turns out she had left that morning (e-mail being a day behind and all) but in all weird concoindences, I run into the last reamining of the Colorado boys and we hung out together. Botanic gardens, University of Wellington, Indian food, Te Papa museum, waterfront sitting, souveniur shopping, Irish pub for dinner and some great live music. Nice low key way to wind up my time in NZ. He had another week before heading back to the States.
Sunday, April 4th
Traveled from Nelson to Wellington...2 hour bus to 3 hour ferry. Nothing all that exciting and I also actually wrote for this day below.
Saturday, April 3rd
Chill out day in Nelson...see some below.
Friday, April 2nd
Tramping in Abel Tasman...see below.
Thursday, April 1st
Kayaking in Abel Tasman...see below.
Wednesday, March 31st (going back to Sunday, March 28th)
Traveled from Christchurch to Nelson with the boys. So, who are these guys? Yeah, I'm sure everyone's wondering probably all for different reasons! Francoise (the French girl as per above...I'll get to her more later) and I ended up chatting with these guys in a bar in Franz Josef (Sunday, March 28th). The timing was quite good because I was just starting to get little pangs of missing home (Sweet Home Alabama on the radio...me miss home). Lo and behold, someone above hears my cry and provides me with three nice midwestern boys from Colorado for a good dose of home. Lovely. They are fun and outdoorsey and are alot like hanging out with my brother and cousins (and uncles when they are at their mature best). ;-) Turns out that the three of them and myself are on the same train to Christchurch the next day (Monday, March 29th) and then that we are all staying at the same place. They have the chi-chi private room, I have a dorm bunk.
One of the guys ends up meeting another American girl from Austin on the train so the five of us band of merrymakers make our way to dinner. Someone gets the bright idea that we need to karoke after dinner which of course, never gets a no from me. Good fun. The next night (Tuesday, March 30th) sans American girl from Austin we play some pool, get dinner (our waiter is an American guy from California...don't think we could meet a local if we tried), and then spend the rest of the night back at the bar playing video games. Some kind of golf game (I lose), a race car game (I lose again), and some kind of shoot the bad drug dealer kind of game (I do alright but still lose). We decide that I should not take the bus up to Nelson but go in on their rental car with them. I'm all for that. We stop at a few vineyards and an olive farm on the way up and I don't have to do any of the driving. Sweet as.
Sunday, March 28th
Did a heli-hike on Fox Glacier. There's not going to be much on this perticiular event because frankly, I didn't love it...and I spent $235 to do it. $235NZ so it was $150US but still too much. We took a helicopter up to the glacier (not the top but down one of the sides) and walk around on the ice for a few hours with a guide. We did see some pretty cool blue ice caves but I don't know, I just couldn't get all that excited.
Saturday, March 27th
Traveled from Queenstown to Fox Glacier about 8 hours on a bus. I know, it sounds tortureous but these are not Greyhound buses. They are actually very pleasant. They are big and clean and pretty spacious. The driver is usually some jovioul and very knowledgable Kiwi who tells everyone about the towns and scenery as we pass by. Now, if you're looking to read or even sleep, you'd be better off on that Greyhound bus even with the creepy guy learing at you and the old lady snoring. The commentary is pretty much constant. Oh, and the other thing is that the bus seems to stop an excessive number of times. Our 8 hour trip easily could have taken less than 6 if we didn't have the 4 15-minute "comfort" breaks and the 2 40-minute "refreshment" breaks. But anymore on that and I would be dangerously close to type-A, East Coast manic-ness so I'll just mention how lovely is was to be comfortable and refreshed for our extremely enjoyable 8 hour journey.
Wednesday, March 24th to Friday, March 26th - The Routeburn Track
I don't really even know how to describe this...it was my favorite, most special experience in New Zealand. The Kiwis love this tramping. They love the whole outdoor wilderness experience and how can you blame them with the incredible beauty that is their country. There are several popular tramping tracks in the southwestern part of the South Island. The Milford Track is probably the most popular. It's a 5 day, 4 night, 53km tramp that ends in the beautiful Milford Sound on the west coast. I had originally wanted to do the Milford but was a little intimidated by it's length and as it turned out wasen't able to get on it when I wanted to. Each track has several huts for sleeping each night and because space is limited and the tracks popular, you must book a bed for each night. The Routeburn, it seems, is the less popular gem that every tourist hopes to find. Because everyone is trying to so hard get on the Milford, they seem to overlook the Routeburn when in reality I've heard it might be even better. Less crowded, nicer huts, more peace, stunning scenery. I was far from disappointed.
I think it's safe to say now...I was so unbelieveably lucky with the weather in New Zealand. The first day of the Routeburn was gorgeous, sunny, warm, perfect. You take a bus to the start of the track. Got the bus around 8:00 and was on the track by 9:30. I met a very cool couple, Peter and Janet from Minnesota, on the bus and we ended up walking most of the first day together. They are 50, I believe, and have retired (he was an environmental lawyer, she was a psychologist). They are traveling the world and going home for holidays and the summers. I liked them instantly. They were fun and interesting and down to earth.
We arrived at the first hut on the early side (around 1:00) and almost instantly lost our sun. It was unbelieveable how cold it got. The elevation and the lack of sun just zapped every bit of warmth. We literally had to go out tramping just to stay warm. In the evening, people got the coal-burning stove going and that at least heated the common room. The bunk room, on the other hand, was FREEZING. It was at this point that I was unsure how I felt about this whole wilderness thing. I had about 4 layers on (all the clothes I had!) and was tied up tight in my sleeping bag and my teeth were still chattering. Oh God, it was bad. Even though I had stopped drinking any and all liquids around 3:00, I still woke up in the middle of the night. The darkness and the silence was enough to freak me out. I actually felt claustrophobic. You would have though at least someone would have been snoring but no, not tonight. I had to acutally turn my flashlight on just to reassure myself I was alive. Went to the bathroom and managed to sleep most of the rest of the night.
The second day started out with gorgeous sun and by mid-afternoon had turned cloudy but still no rain. We did a great side trek up to the top of Conical Hill, about 30 minutes up a pretty steep hill to some amazing 360 degree views. There was a hut at the bottom of the hill where we left our packs so it was a pretty easy hike up. I think we did about 6 hours the second day.
The third day it rained. Not that we cared...I acutally liked walking in the rain and since it was the last day and hot showers were in our near future, it could have poured. Waterfalls popped out of every hillside. It was a very weird feeling to see cars again when we reached the end and the car park. High-fives all around and we were on the bus back to Queenstown. It was even stranger to be back amoungst civilization when we returned to town. I felt like I had been away for years. I probably need to get away like that more often! Magical experience.
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Sunday, April 4th - Wellington
Just wanted to put up a quick note so that no one thinks that I've gone missing or anything. I'm in Wellington (it's raining) for a day before my flight back to Australia on Tuesday. I spent the last couple of days in Nelson doing the Abel Tasman National Park. Met up with Dave again for a kayak/tramp. We did a "sweet as" guided kayak on Thursday with our somewhat hopped up guide, Jeremy (our guess is speed...no one can talk that fast and that much naturally), and a honeymooning couple from Northern Virginia. Kiwis say "sweet as" in reponse to or to describe most everything that is positive.
You: "How was the weather today today?"
Me: "Oh, sweet as, man."
It's quite funny because it sounds a whole lot like "sweet ass". :)
We kayaked for the day and spent the night on a house boat anchored in one of the bays. A bit tight but still good. Tramped sans Jeremy for about 6 hours the next day in more beautiful weather.
Abel Tasman is on the north side of the South Island. It's a park that runs along the coastline and is one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand. The water is crystal clear and a gorgeous shade of blue green. Not light blue like the Carribean but a deeper blue. There are lots of little coves and bays to check out in the kayaks and one that is only accessible from the sea. You can supposedly see seals further up but we only wanted to kayak one day. We weren't sure how taxing it was going to be physically. Turns out it wasen't at all but we did have a perfect calm day. The tramp was also not very difficult and was cool because the track dips up and down into the bush and then onto the different beaches. There was a beautiful little side tramp to Cleopatra's Pool and waterfall. We decide to climb over all the huge boulders crossing the stream to get the perfect photo. I climb/hop across managing to stay dry, Dave takes the photo, I go back managing again to stay dry but unfortunely, not bloodless. Yeah, I get across the tough part only to take the next step, not thinking that it could be slippery because I am so busy congratulating myself on the "sweet as" job I did of getting across, and fall down on my shin. Blood, black and blue, no skirts for me for awhile. I haven't seen the photos yet so I'm hoping it was worth it!
I spent a good deal of time in Nelson learning a bit about rugby as well. Dave and I ended up at a bar for dinner when we came back from Abel Tasman that was packed with people watching an inter-NZ Super 12 rugby match. The Super 12 consists of teams from New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. I can't remember how many each country has...they may each have 4. The match was again two of the NZ teams. The next night I went back to the same bar to chat with some of the locals as I was officially without friends that night. :) I lucked into the local New Zealand team playing Australia. Quite exciting. New Zealand won and the locals were so overjoyed the two of them I was chatting with bought me beers and even a rose. I was a lucky girl...and a girl who couldn't get out of there fast enough! They were nice enough blokes but small town is small town wherever you are and these boys were definitely locals.
I had a great time in Christchurch right before Nelson. Ended up meeting and hanging out with three guys from Colorado for most of last week who were just a ton of fun. We spent a couple days in Christchurch eating and drinking, singing karaoke, playing pool and throwing money into all kinds of video games. Good fun. Stories and photos to come.
I'm planning to sit in front of the computer for a couple of days when I get back to Sydney to update all my NZ fun but at least there's a little more for now. Has baseball season started yet? Is it true that A-rod is really a Yankee?
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Sunday, March 14th - The Lost World
Good, you noticed that the days are out of order. Done intentionally. I've decided that this day needs it's own entry. It need to be seen and heard and not buried underneath two previous days worth of ramblings. Get ready for (dum-dum, dum-dum)...THE LOST WORLD...(da-dum!) Here's where it starts to get good.
We had several options for seeing glowworms caves in Waitomo. (Waitomo is about 2 hours south of Auckland.) What are glowworms? I thought you'd ask. A glowworm is the larva stage of a two-winged insect that emits light to attract food (aka other flying insects). They need humidity, hanging spaces, adequate insects, and darkness to allow it to show a light. All found in a cave. We could take a boat ride on the river through the dave, we could do toobing down the river, we could hike through a dry cave to see the worms. Do we do any of these? No. Being bad-asses that we are (natch), Jane, her brother Dave who is traveling with us at the time, and I decide that we need to do the Ultimate Lost World 7-hour Epic. It has a rambo rating of 8/10. Nice.
We start out doning wet suits, lighted helmets, and fashionable white wader boots. We hike through the woods accompanied by our fearless leaders, Liam and Eddie, a bit to a good sized hole in the ground...our entry into the lost world. In order to get attached to the abseiling ropes, we have to stand on this grate platform, turn around, and sit on this metal bar suspended over a 330 foot drop. I start to get nervous. I'm convinced that I'll never keep my feet on the platform and get my butt to reach out to this bar...my legs just can't be that long. Eddie assures me that he is several inches shorter than me and has never missed. He encourges me to practice turning around and sitting down. He's probably thinking about what he's going to do with the other three people if this American girl chickens out and has to be taken back. It's all good though. There was no chicking out here. We got hooked up and abseiled (rappelled) down 100m to the bottom. Awesome. It was all green and misty and earthy.
After a quick lunch, we headed off upstream into the cave, walking, swimming, and climbling along. So much fun. We turned our lights out and were swimming upstream using the rocks to pull us up the river in the complete darkness with a "sky" of glowworms above us. Further along, Jane and I are at the front with the ambiguously gay German duo (more on that later) when Eddie tells us to "just head through that tunnel and wait for us on the other side". "That tunnel" was no bigger than an air vent! I won't classify myself as claustrophobic but that was something else. Jane's in front of me as we are shimming along on our stomachs. My heart started pounding and I think I was officially very scared! I was more afraid of panicking and wanting to get out only to realize there was someone behind me and that I couldn't. The fact that I couldn't see how much further we had to go didn't help. It was a really scary feeling. I just started talking to myself and focusing literally on the dirt right in front of my face. If I looked around or thought about where I was, it was not good. Fortunely, it wasen't that long, we made it out and got to jump off the ledge we were standing on into the pool below. Well worth the few minutes of panic!
When we left the cave, we had a nice hike back to the bus. Well, it would have been a nice hike save the thick, black, wetsuits we were wearing! We hiked over hill and through dale looking like something out of a strange movie. I was worried about how we looked to the sheep whose field we were walking through until I learned just how really dumb sheep are. This one little guy had apparently lost his friends and was convinced they were on the other side of the barbed wire fence which he reapeatedly ran into time and time agin. That guy's got bigger problems that a few people in wetsuits walking through his field! By the way, did I mention that New Zealand has more sheep than you can possibly imagine? It's crazy. I think the ratio of sheep to people is 6 to 1.
And for a special treat or in case you are tired of my writing, here's someone else's you can read. :) Dave, Jane's lovely brother, has been keeping a blog of his travels. Dave is finishing up a medical residency and has been working in Palmerston North down here in NZ for the past couple of months. The three of us spent the first weekend together; doing Rotoura, Waitomo, and Tongariro Crossing together (I haven't gotten to Tongariro on my site yet). Dave's perspective of our adventures are quite amusing so I thought you'd like to have a look. His site is also a lot more high-tech than mine! Start on Tuesday, March 16th ...www.xanga.com/soonil
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Thursday, March 18th - NZ (pronounced "enzed")
Man, oh, man, is this a beautiful place. It's spectacular. Jane and I are in Kaikoura right now. (See February 11th entry if you forget who Jane is.) It's on the east coast of the south island about 2 hours from Picton (where the ferry from Wellington arrives). Lovely little town. The main attraction is marine life sightseeing. We are currently killing time at the library reading e-mails while waiting to see if Jane gets into a swimming with the dolphins tour. If she does, we'll be staying the night here. I'm planning to do some tramping (NZ for "hiking") and beach sitting tomorrow if we stay. Can you guess who's on the budget and who's not? :) If not, we'll be heading to Christchurch.
We've been having the most wonderful time. Arrived on Friday the 12th, picked up the rental car, stayed on the correct side of the street, had drinks and dinner in Auckland, and drove to Waitomo about 2 hours south of Auckland. Stayed in a nice little B&B only to get up in the morning and find out that caving tour we wanted to do was booked for the day. Did some quick re-scheduling and headed to Rotoura (aka "Sulfur City") for the day on Saturday. Um, yeah...think the scent of rotten eggs wafting through your nostrils every second of the day. That, my friends, was Rotoura. It's claim to fame is their hot springs. We took a nice little tramp around the Blue Lake and then went to the springs. Turned out they were alot like a warm swimming pool but still, it was nice.
Rotorua is one of the main spots for Maori culture. That night we got some last minute spots in the Maori hangi. The hangi is their traditional festive dinner. All food is cooked in the ground under hot rocks. We saw the traditional warrior ceremony with one of the men in our group going head to head with the warrior and accepting his token of peace. There was a concert of Maori music and dance. It's very Polynesian in feel. I've never been to Hawaii but Jane said it's alot like a luau. It was kind of touristy and commerical but still interesting. The bus ride home was highly entertaining; an international song fest with one brave American doing a rousing rendition of "Yankee Doodle Dandy". While I was hunched down in my seat trying to hide from the roaming eye of Ahora, our bus driver and the woman responsible for dragging a representative from each country to the front of the bus to sing, I racked my brain for the perfect song from the US. The Aussies have the Waltzing Matilda and the Brits have a beavy of rowdy pub songs. We have nothing! Springsteen's Born in the USA? Nah, not quite right. If anyone's got any suggestions, please feel free to let me know. I wouldn't want to let down my fellow countrymen on the next tourist bus. :)
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Monday, March 8th - Long time, no write...
I've done so much in the last couple of weeks. This'll probably be quite the long entry. :) And I'm going to get pictures up today too, I promise.
About a week and a half ago (Thursday the 26th), Joyce and I went for a lovely little overnight to Dubbo. Dubbo is about 4 hours from Richmond or "just up the road" as the Aussies say! We left around 10:00 in the morning, going up through the Blue Mountains for our first stop and some lunch in Lithgow. Lithgow is a working town, coal mining, I think. It's pretty high up in the mountains, very green, lots of trees. Stopped at the next town, Bathurst, which was about an hour from Lithgow. Checked out a sheep and cattle drome and got my first look at a real kangaroo! Cute little things but so lazy! They just laid there and did a whole lot of nothing. Wouldn't even hop around for me. Still, it was a kangaroo. We also did a lap around the Mount Panorama mountain race track. That was pretty cool...certainly not a big oval like Dover Downs. We had an ice cream and sat in the park. Most towns have a central park and a main shopping street. Phil tells me that was borrowed from the traditional English town design. It's very quaint.
We skipped through the next two towns (Orange and something else I can't remember). We had moved into cattle country...it was pretty flat and brown. There were sheep and cattle everywhere. Dubbo is the major transit hub for the Brisbane to Melbourne route. The most direct highway between those two cities runs right through Dubbo. The town is quite big and filled with hotels. The main attraction in the area and the reason for our visit was the Western Plains Zoo.
We got up early on Friday to hit the zoo when the animals are supposedly at their livelist. The Western Plains Zoo has the largest population of African animals in Australia. We saw giraffes, hippos, rhinos, cheatahs, a beautiful Sumatrian tiger, lions, koalas, more kangaroos, emus, monkeys, even some North American bison. It was a really nice zoo. You could walk, drive, or bike through it. We did a walk/drive combo.
Oh, forgot the night before...after dinner, we went to the Dubbo Observatory. We kind of stumbled upon on it and I was really glad we did. After watching a couple of introductory movies and learning a little about space, the solar system, the sun, stars etc., we went outside to have a look. The sky was spectacular...so clear and bright. And to think it was a night sky that I had never seen before. We got to see the moon, Jupiter, and Saturn through the telescope as well as Alpha Centauri which we never see in the Northern Hemisphere. Really cool. On the drive back to our hotel, I looked out the window and saw several kangaroos on the side of the road. I was so excited and before I could get out "Kangaroo! Kangaroo!", several more jumped across the road in front of us (we were going slow)! Just like deer at home...it was all very exciting. :)
We drove back home to Richmond on Friday after the zoo. As much as I enjoyed the observatory and the zoo, I really liked driving through the country. There's so much to look at and even when there isn't, the sky and clouds themselves are enough to keep one interested for hours. It's just so expansive and clear and fresh.
Saturday, Phil and I went to the Hunter Valley. The Hunter Valley is one the wine areas in Australia. It's about two hours north of Sydney. We had a great day of wine tasting. My favorite was a sauvignon blanc/semillion named Cricket Pitch from a winery called Brokenwood. Had to allow myself to purchase at least one bottle! Again, the country itself was beautiful. There is a pretty popular golf course in the valley where many Sydney celebs hit the links and plenty of good restaurants. Might not be a bad place to get stuck if I run out of money! Golf course, restaurant, or winery...I would be more than happy to work at any of them. :)
I spent the whole of last week at Joyce's unit in Sydney and I had the absolute best week. I bought a weekly TravelPass for travel on all buses, ferries, and most trains when I got to Sydney on Monday afternoon. It was the best thing I've done since I got here! I had so much freedom. I could go anywhere, do anything...it was great. Monday night, I took the ferry out to Manly. Manly is one of the northern beaches. It's known for it's good surf. I had a nice dinner at a restaurant on the beach, got an ice cream and checked out the town. It's pretty self-explanitory...it's a beach town. :)
Wednesday was the highlight of my week. I did a 6km walk between The Spit Bridge and Manly along the north short of the harbour. It was spectacular. The walk started out almost rainforest like and very up and down. The first time a lizard scurried away, I jumped two feet. I realized that I was absolutely the only person around save the lizard, spiders, and snakes. Being the paranoid American, I immediately thought of strange men lurking in the bush until I realized that I probably had to be more concerned about snakes than creapy men! I ran into a woman at one point and we got to talking. Her: "Well, if you make enough noise, the snakes should be scared off." I probably looked like a real winner marching through the bush stomping my feet!
About an hour into the walk, I was hiking up this hill through the forest and all of a sudden came to the top and popped out at this clearing overlooking a beautiful little beach. It was so gorgeous. And again, I was the only person for miles. That happened consistantly for the next hour...beach after beach. I didn't have my swimming costume (aka swimsuit) and really wished I had. The trail changed about halfway through and got kind of desert like. I saw some Aborginal carvings and the views were incredible. The trail ended at Manly wharf where I had lunch and dragged my aching body back home.
Joyce came to the unit that night and we had a nice dinner at a popular pub in Neutral Bay called The Oaks. It has a cool beer garden in the back. The tables and the immense barbecue where you cook your own steak all surround a huge tree strung with lights. It's very masculine...beer and steaks. I liked it. ;-)
Thursday, I went beach hopping around Sydney. Went first to a little beach called Camp Cove on the south shore near the South Head of the harbour. When I went up the hill to catch the bus to my next destination, Shark Beach, I came upon The Gap aka The Most Popular Suicide Spot in Sydney. Yeah, I can why. It's very high, lots of rocks, and the view is awesome. I guess if you are ending it all why not have a nice view on the way down. Shark Beach was lovely...and not a shark in sight. I had a nice swim...the water was so clean and clear and kinda cold! The sun is amazingly strong or I guess the ozone is amazingly lacking. I wore a sunscreen with SPF 30 all day and reapplied frequently and still got alot of color. They've had many sun protection campaigns here over the past 10 years with good reason. The little kids are the cutest. Every time you see a group of school children, they all have their little sunhats on...every one of them. Too cute.
I got my golf fix on Friday. I had read in the paper that the Women's Australian Open was being played at a country club in Concord, a Sydney suburb. I got out the trusty street map, plotted my course, and had a great day watching golf. There were only two Americans in the field, Hillary Lunke who won the U.S. Women's Open last summer, and someone else I haden't heard of. I followed Hillary as she was playing with Sophie Gustufson, supposedly the longest hitter on the women's tour. And damn, can she crush that ball. The weather was spectacular and it was a great day.
Saturday night, Phil and I went to Sydney's version of the Halloween Parade in the Village...the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. It rained...alot. The parade was pretty political in nature. The best was probably a person with a John Howard (Australia's prime minister) head on walking hand in hand with a George Bush. John had a sign around his neck that said "Marry Me". The Australians are not very keen on Dubya and are even less keen on Howard for backing him.
So, that's a not so quick update on what I've been doing! I'm spending this week hanging out in Richmond and Sydney. I've been siting at this computer all day now (it's 3:00 and I started at 9:00)...yes, I feel like I'm back at work! Gotta go take a walk or something. Leaving for New Zealand on Friday morning...wo-hoo!
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Wednesday, February 25rd - First time for everything...
I drove today. Exciting, no? :) First time for driving on the left-hand side of the road (I'm being very careful not to say on the "wrong" side of the road!). I think I did pretty good...didn't end up in the other lane at all. It felt like I was 16 all over again.
Spent yesterday checking out Neutral Bay where Joyce's unit is. It's on the north shore almost directly across the harbour from the Opera House. Really pretty, kind of reminds me of Southern California or Florida. Very residental...lots of DINKs (double income, no kids). The unit itself is so charming. Big windows all with views of the harbour (Neutral Bay is on hill which makes for fantastic views and hopefully killer gluts after the walk back from the ferry!) and tons of light (the Australians would say "heaps" of light). It's very peaceful.
It's been raining for the past 3 days now. Rain was really not part of my plan but I've decided to let it go. They really need it here. ;-) Going for a little overnight to western New South Wales and the mountains tomorrow. Hopefully, some sun will be on the menu!
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Monday, February 23rd - Hello Mates!
So I'm here! I arrived safe and sound. Not much time for communication so far...sorry. Thanks for all the e-mails. It was nice to hear from everyone.
Day 7...so much to tell. I arrived on the 17th around 8:30 in the morning. Lovely flight. Didn't want to get off the plane! (I flew business for those of you who might be thinking I enjoyed a 20+ hour flight in cattle class!) Caught up on my movies (School of Rock, Lost in Translation, Intolerable Cruelty), sat next to a nice bloke (an Australian living in LA). We chatted and he gave me lots of advice. Arrived in Sydney only to learn that my luggage haden't. It did come the next day so not a big deal. Phil was there to meet me at the airport. We had the best day giving me a first look of Sydney. What a beautiful city...it literally sparkles. Clean, sunny, friendly. Went right to the CBD (Central Business District) to see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Had a walk around and then went to Bondi Beach for lunch. A city with a gorgeous beach about 10 minutes from downtown...my kind of place. After Bondi, we headed out to Richmond which is about an hour northwest of Sydney. It's a very quaint town...small and kind of old-fashioned. Molly and Jim (Phil's parents) made me feel so welcome and insisted that I just become one of the family.
Wednesday I laid around and waited for my bags. I got hit kinda hard with jet lag...couldn't keep my eyes open during the day.
Thursday Joyce took me to lunch. Who's Joyce you ask? Right, time for the genelogy lesson for those who are interested which I'm assuming is just my family! Petra and Leo Stathai were brother and sister back in Macedonia. Petra had six children (not in the correct order); Sohpie, Olga, Mitra, Helen, MIchael, and Evan. Evan is my grandfather, my mom's dad. Leo also had six children (again, not in correct order); Jim, Peter, Helen, Cathy, Arthur, and Mara. Arthur is Joyce's dad. Mara is Molly's mom. Molly is Phil's mom. Mom, Molly, and Joyce are second cousins. Phil and I are third cousins.
[For the Parker's...
Paul and Charles Parker were brothers. Paul had Paul, Dale, Ruth, and Jane. Dale had Corinne and Branden. Charles had Dolly, Gary, and Chuckie. Dolly had Andrew and Jamie. Dale and Dolly = first cousins. Corinne and Andrew = second cousins. My kids and Andrew's kids = third cousins. Right?]
Back to Thursday, Joyce took me to lunch at a restaurant in Richmond on Thursday. She owns the building and knows everyone there. Well, Joyce really knows everyone in Richmond! Helen and Eric (Helen is Joyce's aunt) came from Mona Vale (a northern beach surburb of Sydney) to meet us. Being an American in addition to family makes me somewhat of an attraction! Helen and Eric are lovely.
And THEN, Thursday night Phil took me to a movie. Not just any movie, now...oh, no! We went to an outdoor movie, in the Royal Botanic Gardens, right on the water, in the harbour next to the Opera House, OVERLOOKING the Opera House and Harbour Bridge...and guess what the movie was? LOTR: The Return of the King! Can you believe it? That's probably not all that exciting to anyone but Dad, Paige, Lane, and Jim who know that I made sure to watch the first and second ones before leaving but run out of time to see the last one. Paige and I were going to go but it just wasen't in the cards and now I know why! Oh, it was so great. Beautiful night, Opera House literally behind the screen, Frodo getting that damn ring back into the mountain! Too good.
Friday was fish and chips lunch with Molly and Jim in Windsor (next town over). Saturday went to a fashion parade at the big department store in Sydney with Joyce and Molly and Sunday, Phil and I did the Bondi to Bronte walk and had meat pies for dinner at Darling Harbour. Today, I went to the Sydney Aquarium to see some sharks at a reasonable distance :) and had a walk through Chinatown. I'm staying at Joyce's unit (apartment) in Sydney right now. It's on the north shore in Neutral Bay and has the most amazing views of the harbour.
I'm having the best time and just loving Australia. It's kind of like a British America. They drive on the other side of the road and spell "harbor" "harbour" yet all the TV is American, for example. I spent my first night watching Viva La Bam...yeah, I know. I did have my first...and last...taste of Vegemite. It's truly the most disguisting thing I've ever tasted. All the other food has been delicious. It's summer so there are delicious fruits and vegetables everywhere. The meat is cheap and very flavorful. Haven't had kangaroo or emu yet...I'll let you know. The newspaper is nothing like ours. The front page yesterday had a picture of Russell Crowe and information about the newest lottery. Kind of fluffy. And this place is ******* dangerous! Yesterday, an Austrian tourist who was just trying to fight off jet lag by taking a walk died when the boulder he was standing on gave way and crushed him. Yes! My first day here Phil gave me the "don't turn anything over because you don't know what could be under it (i.e. red back spiders)/check your shoes from time to time/good chance there are snakes in tall grass/"yeah, probably" there are sharks in the water" talk. The place warrents a talk, for God's sake. No worries though...it seems Austrians are the ones who are in trouble!
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Sunday, February 15th - Leaving Day!
After a frantic race to the finish line pack job (and I thought I was organized), I think I'm ready. I'm certainly finished crying...enough is enough already. :) Had a farewell dinner last night at Outback Steakhouse (get it?), a farewell dinner the night before at Dome after a lovely day at the spa. Mom treated the two of us to some Valentine's/Better get it while you can pampering...I'm all polished up and massaged down and ready to go. There are some pics up from the last week's festivities.
Off to the airport...Good-bye, USA. See ya on the flip side!
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Wednesday, February 11th - 3 days and counting...
As I believe most everyone reading this knows, I will be departing for a seven month trip down under this Sunday. Right now, I have plans to see as much of Oz as I can and all of New Zealand. It's also looking pretty good for Thailand and Nepal. The possibility does exists for China & Japan. I'll be flying into Sydney where Phillip (my cousin 8,000 times removed on my mom's side of the family!) will be picking me up at the airport. I'll be spending the first few days at their house in Richmond (a suburb of Sydney) resting up from the 20+ hour flight and getting my bearings. Phil and I have talked about some kind of trip when I first get there and before he goes back to university in March. Details to be announced once we decide. Other than exploring the Sydney area, laying on the beach, and hopefully playing some golf, plans are few until I head over to New Zealand on March 12th. I'll be meeting up with my dear friend from Morgan Stanley and fellow foodie, Jane, in Auckland for a two week driving tour of both the North and South Islands. We want to get in lots of trekking, some vineyard tours, a cave exploration or two, and maybe an encounter with Frodo and Samwise. :) (Although I, personally, am hoping for Aragorn!) I plan to stay in New Zealand for another two weeks or so traveling about when Jane has to head back to New York. I should return to Oz in mid-April. My skeleon plan from there is to hang in Australia for the rest of April and May (celebrating a milestone birthday in the middle of the month...I expect plenty of e-mail!) getting up to Queensland, the Great Barrier Reef (hopefully with JP), Cairns, and maybe Darwin and then heading to China and Japan in June and July but it's all very up in the air right now. You'll have to stay tuned. :)
I'm somewhat manic at the moment with my last minute preparations...making sure everything is in order here and for my trip. Even more stressful is being sad about not seeing my family and friends in the US for upwards of 7 months. Doesn't take much for the tears to start! Going to be packing tomorrow...well, more like laying out what I "think" I need and then putting half of it back in the closet!
One quick note of sappiness...as much as I will desperately miss my family and friends while I'm gone, I am so excited and feel very fortunate to be embarking on such an adventure. I'm looking forward to learning more about who I am as much as I am the world we live in. I feel even more fortunate that I have so many people in my life who care about me and with whom I can share my travels.
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