• 1/7/2008 - Sorry, I have been slacking
We have been so busy I havent had a chance to BLOG. I caught you guys up to arriving in Melbourne for now. I have more great stories and pictures to post when I have the time. I promise that I will get to it.
Just wanted to give PROPS to Jaime for hooking us up with her cousin in Adelaide, we had a great time hanging out with her! Thanks.
Annette, have a safe trip back to Jerusalem! Talk to you soon.
Right now I am on Kangaroo Island. F'in unbelievable place.
Hope you all had a great new years!
• 1/7/2008 - An oasis of civilization
The Lindrum Hotel, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
The last leg of the trip was the fastest. No scenic side trips. I got into a convoy of speeding cars once we switched from Princes Highway (A1) to the Speedway (M1). The speedway had a 110km/hr limit. The highest I had seen in Australia, thats 68.3508 miles/hr. The convoy was conveniently exceeding the speed limit at 122 km/hr ( 75.8072 miles/hr) which got us to Melbourne quite fast. OK OK, who is waiting for the other shoe to drop? Anyone? McFly? Well the other shoe did drop, apparently the M1 is a toll road that only takes electronic payment which we didn't have and didn't know about. Knock, Knock, why didn't our travel instructions include this? Shadows of Metung? Luckily I was able to cut across 3 lanes of traffic with a small safety margin and get off the M1 at the last exit. My sister Jackie ably navigated for us and we made it into Melbourne's Central Business District where we were staying at the best boutique hotel in Australia, The Lindrum. http://www.hotellindrum.com.au/ rocks. Great location, Great rooms, Great architecture and FANTASTIC staff. I believe my point has been made.
• 1/7/2008 - The Great Escape
The Anchorage, Metung Victoria, Australia
We made our escape and powered on. We learned a few things on this leg of the trip:
Australians will tow almost anything behind their cars
Australians like to camp out at camp grounds regardless of location
There are roadsigns every few kilometers stating that micro-sleep kills and that you should pull over now and take a rest (even if there is no where to pullover)
As you can imagine after our Tilba experience there was a red flag on the playing field. We decided to write it off as an aberration and lucky for us thats all it was. Metung is a tiny lake side town along the western shores of a chain of lakes that are between 3 rivers and the ocean. Geographically speaking the unique area was formed by sand building up and creating these lakes where there was previously only ocean. We entered the area in a town called . . . . wait for it . . . . Lakes Entrance. I am not pulling your leg. This seems to be an Aussie thing, naming a place for what it is. Go figure. The Anchorage in Metung was everything we expected in a B&B. Our hostess Trish was fantastic. I will always remember Trish because she said that the state of Victoria was the NANNY state. I will always remember her husband because he owns a mint condition 1957 Triumph. All is now well in the world for our intrepid travelers. The bad dream of Tilba is pushed into the dark recesses of our minds to be saved for BLOGing. Metung is just the perfect lakeside town especially if you like to be out on the water.
• 1/7/2008 - We're on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin' that ride to
nowhere
We'll take that ride
Can you name the band?
Sydney to Tilba. Sydney was great but it was time to hit the road and explore. Rustled up a Thrifty rental car, a Mitsubishi 380. What a great car. I mention it now because I have already posted about the piece of crap they gave us later that broke down. We had 365kms to our first stop in Tilba and had no problems getting out of town and moving along the coast. Things were going quite well so we decided to go scenic in a few places. Here is the thing: They have a number of main roads and some are more direct than others. We took Princes Highway (A1) and what was cool about it was that there were little scenic loops off of A1 that you could opt to take which eventually linked back up. How great is that!?! A number of these were incredible, including one along a craggy coastline. Sit back and close your eyes for a moment. Imagine high cliffs dropping dramatically to the ocean directly below, no beach, just pounding surf. Have you got that yet? Anyway, now imagine that some genius has built a raised highway mounted to the cliff edge. Honestly, I didn't get to see as much of it as I would have liked since I was driving but my sister was quite impressed based on the number of OOOOO's and AH's I heard. Eventually, we stopped so I could get a glimpse and she was spot on. Much cheers and congratulations go out to the designers and builders of this bit of roadway!!! Things were going great so we decided to stop and a little town called Kiama.Sadly, conditions weren't appropriate for the blow hole that is its major draw. You can see it here http://goaustralia.about.com/library/weekly/blpicsc8.htm Still it was good to stop and look around, nice little resort town. Onward . . . Suddenly, we hit traffic. Bumper to bumper traffic. Seriously, no BS it was miserable. We should have hit Tilba at around 2:30pm but only arrived just after 6pm. Bummer. Tilba, Tilba, who hid the Tilba? Why Tilba? What was the draw at Tilba? Tilba is literally a 1 horse town. A heritage town and that means it hasn't changed in over 100 years (and actually can't be changed). We stayed at B&B called The Bryne which was behind town and up a twisting drive. All good so far. Tilba had some issues like no where to eat and no open stores. We had to rough it. Whatever, can't always be perfect we are out in the country anyway. Around 10:30pm a rather large man entered the common room carrying a beer. In a slurred voice he asked if there were any rooms available or could he sleep with one of us. This set off my spidey-sense. As it turned out this was the owner having a bit of fun with us. But wait there is more, if you act right now you get a set of Ginsu(tm) Steak Knives. The rooms themselves were miserable, dusty and dirty. One room even had piles of dirt pushed under furniture. This was a bit too much for us. How could anyone possibly send someone here. I mean we paid a professional. I started to worry a bit but more on that later. Needless to say we got out of there as soon as possible. First thing that happens once we get back on the highway . . . pulled over by the police. DAM I was minding my own business and wasn't even speeding. Shaazaam breatherlizer test at 9:30am go figya!
• 1/2/2008 - Attacked by Stephen King
I will get around to doing a Melbourne (which rocks) update but first . . .
Rented a car to drive the scenic coastal road. When I got to Bell's Beach (you all remember that movie you loved to hate, Point Break) the car started to act funny. Thought it was just an abberation so we continued on. Big mistake! had a few more instances of the car accelerating under breaking. This car will now be forever referred to as Christine in honor of the timeless Stephen King novel of the same name. All jokes aside, quite nerve wracking. Here we are along this beautiful coast hours from anything but bloated resort towns. I say bloated because the 800 person town had 10K people in it for summer vacation. No rental car placer in sight and an inability to duplicate the strange vehicular manifestations (nicely multi-sylabic huh?!?!?). Decision time. Four hours into a 3 day drive to Adelaide,I did what any bad soldier would do and retreated. We ended up swapping cars at this wierd ghost airport called Avalon before heading another 50km to Melbourne. Got our same rooms back at the Lindrum and will be flying to Adelaide this afternoon.
As the Elmer likes to say . . . thats all folx
• 12/31/2007 - Taronga Zoo
A mere 10 minute ferry ride from Circular Quay in the heart of Sydney is the zoo http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/. I give you this short excerpt:
Thefirst public zoo in NSW officially opened in Sydney in 1884 on a siteknown as Billy Goat Swamp in Moore Park, operated by the ZoologicalSociety of NSW which was founded in March 1879. |
Aftera visit to Germany in 1908 the elected Secretary of the zoo, AlbertSherbourne Le Souef, returned with a vision for a new Sydney zoo, basedon the bar-less exhibits of Hamburg Zoo. The site at Moore Park hadbecome too small and was not suited to the vision. A new site for thezoo was sought. On April 24th, 1912 the NSW Governmentgranted 43 acres of land north of the harbour which were part of AshtonPark. Another 9 acres were granted in April 1916.
In1913, Management of the zoo passed to a Trust named the New ZoologicalGardens Trust which became the Taronga Zoological Park Trust.
Thefirst exhibits to be built were the seal ponds, elephant temple, monkeypits, top entrance, aviaries, paths and roadways and the refreshmentrooms. In all, 228 mammals, 552 birds and 64 reptiles were moved fromMoore Park to Taronga. Many, including the elephants, crossed theharbour on board a flat top barge.
Taronga Zoo was officially opened on October 7th, 1916. |
This zoo has lots of animals. In fact, it feels like the zoo has too many respective of the area in which the animals are confined. According to my research, if you find animals pacing or having self-destructive behavior they are in way too small a cage. This is what it felt like. That being said, we had a great tie at the zoo primarily because we had a private tour led by a park ranger. Not only did the ranger provide a wide range of information but having her along allowed us to delve deeper into the zoo history and its issues. Certainly, the highlight of the zoo was being allowed into a display area for birds and possum to feed them. I have lots of pictures but none of this since it was night in the habitat. At one point, I had a possum on my shoulder eating a peanut and a bird on my finger eating worms out of the palm of my hand. Not bad for a city boy!!!
Here I have some decent photo's. This covers about 10pct of the zoo so you dont really get a feel for how big it is.
• 12/30/2007 - WTF!
HAPPY NEW YEARS
From Melbourne, thats 16 hours ahead of EST so consider this a preview.
• 12/29/2007 - The Harbor
I am sure many have written about Sydney harbor. Its HUGE. Its CLEAN. Its got great FERRY service. Its HUGE. It has great neighborhoods. UM YEAH and nice scenery too!
One of the things we did was climb the harbor bridge climb and here are some pix:
Other mandatory pix include the Opera House:
Here is a neat picture of me sitting in an eroded rock formation
• 12/26/2007 - Some random video from Sydney environs
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• 12/26/2007 - Sydney, Australia
Rendezvous Stafford Hotel, The Rocks, New South Wales, Australia
WOW big city, almost forgot whats that like. I said almost dammit STFU. Sydney is clean, quiet and beautiful. It might have the most amazing harbor on the planet. Imagine a city oriented around this huge harbor; bridges, ferries and an enormous amount of waterfront property. For those who have been following my New Zealand trip, my sister has joined me for 3 weeks as we explore the south east corner of the country. Our first day was overcast with intermittent showers but that doesn't stop the intrepid sightseer. We took a guided took up through the Blue Mountains with a stop along the way at a unique zoo. I will post some pictures separately. The Blue Mountains are a HUGE nature preserve that also serves as the catch basin for Sydney's water system. I just goes on forever an ever, just amazing all this nature just an hour west of the big city. We are in this rather mediocre boutique hotel. I would have thought that mediocre and boutique were mutually exclusive but I was wrong. What this hotel does have is the classic and overused LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. A great jump off position for so many things. Some of the highlights was the harbor bridge climb, a evening cruise of the harbor, a ferry to the famous Manly beach and of all things a trip to the zoo.
The Bridge Climb: Its not what you expect, nope, not that either. Upon arrival, you dress in a ghostbuster jumpsuit and climbing harness. You need to have everything tied down to protect all those cars and pedestrians who will be below you as you climb. The harness has this neat ratcheting binder that clicks onto a guide wire for the whole climb. Up through the inside infrastructure and up some ladders you then arrive on the curving upper structure from which all of Sydney is laid out as far as the eye can see. Simply breath taking. While this does have some touristy connotations it was just amazing. The people on the climb with us were also pretty cool which just made it better. They run climbs every 10 minutes including sunrise, sunset and night climbs.
The Cruise: This so exceeded expectations. Our host Shaune was from all places upstate NY, ROFL. 14 years in Australia qualifies him as an expert though. We tooled around the harbor going into all the little basins and bays. But lets be honest, sitting on the front of a power boat with a beer on a beautiful harbor is hard to beat. Add great companions and you have a recipe for success. Something so simple became just perfect.
Manly : Take the 30 minute ferry to Manly, a suburb. WOW. All you people sitting in the frigid east coast of the USA would probably have a heart attack if I honestly told you how nice this place really is. Imagine having this commute, I don't think you are actually up for it. What did I do in Manly? I can't tell all but we did spend a few hours testing beer quality in this bizarre Bavarian style beer garden. Looking out over a section of the harbor drinking beer with the lush hillsides in the background, it could have been Jamaica.
Taronga Zoo : Just a 10 minute ferry ride is the zoo. We took a guided tour of the zoo which turned out quite well. The highlight for me was when we went inside one of the exhibits and were allowed to feed the denizens. With a possum on my shoulder and a bird on one of my fingers, I held live worms in my other hand while the birds picked at them. Not bad for a city boy.
Tomorrow we are out of Sydney and hitting the road. We will be taking a few stops along the way before reaching Melbourne. Not sure when I will have time to do another update so stay tuned.
• 12/24/2007 - Sometimes it sucks to be 10,000 miles from homes
If you were lucky, you had that friend who had the cool dad. Thats not to say your dad wasn't cool, just your friend's dad was different. I was lucky enough to have the friend with the cool dad. You know the one who you went to ball games with. The guy you could talk about things with and get such a different perspective. If you were REALLY lucky, he was also the guy you drank with.
Here I am sitting in Australia thinking about this man who passed so suddenly. Ran into him inadvertently just before I left for New Zealand. Its funny, that moment is crystal clear, like a different part of me has been functioning since I left NYC. I have so many wonderful memories of spending times in this man's house, with my friend and his family. I spent so much time there growing up I used to threaten my own parents with adoption proceedings. Those days are long gone but remain with you as part of the tapestry of life. I didn't think that there was anything that could make me want to be back in NYC, I was wrong. I don't need to be there to comfort my friends. There are plenty of people up to that task. I just feel that I should be there to celebrate this mans life, to add just a little bit more to the stories that everyone will be sharing in remembrance.
So whoever you are reading this, whenever and wherever you might be, do me a favor and raise a glass to Simi, he deserves it . . trust me on this. A nice single malt, neat!
• 12/22/2007 - Now in Sydney
Welcome to Australia, Have a nice day. Met my sister in the airport (her plane ran a bit late) and we went into the city. While our hotel has a fantasic location, it doesnt have much else going for it. So far we have only scratched the surface. Stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel!
• 12/22/2007 - More Arthur's Pix
This is a bad picture but look how blue the water is !
Skittles ne1?
Recognized as one of the top 10 places in the world to do bouldering. Yeah yeah, I never heard of bouldering either )
and thats a wrap.
• 12/21/2007 - Arthurs Imagery
Day 1: The lodge and its inhabitants
Day 2: The climb up Bealey Spur in the rain
Bealey Hut was built in 1925 and is sustained by the Conservation Department as historical
The hike down was less overcast so you get a better idea of how high up I went
• 12/20/2007 - Arthur's Pass
Wilderness Lodge. Arthur's Pass New Zealand
When you stub your toe, you usually say OW. Make it a palindrome and you get WOW!
What an amazing place. Its too bad I only had 1.5 days here. I could have been 3 days but no, I had to take the dam TranzAlpine Railroad. The train was a big let down. I could have ket the car and . . . well doesnt matter. Awesome place, you need to come here. The lodge and farm are just perfect. I managed a solo hike to Beasley's Spur. It startedin the rain and as I ascended I even ended up in the low clouds with almost no visibility. I continued on with the promise of the legendary hut at the end of the path where I could change clothes and eat lunch. Up I went, over wet roots and loose rocks. Through tall grasses soaked with water. I myself was completely soaked. When I finally arrived in the hut, I was able to squeeze about a quart of water out of my clothes. Good thing I had a change of clothing, unfortunately, only 1 pair of shoes. Still all in all, amazing. The next day, i had some extra time before the 4pm train (read "groan") and the lodge was kind enough to host a shorter day excusion for myself and a wonderful Swedish family who were traveling on to the Fox Glacier. We went to the place where Disney filmed scenes from some movire called Narnia, the kids went bezerk it was pretty cool. We then went to an area wrold famous for bouldering. LOL, I didnt even know that there was such a sub-genre of climbing but I learned. Seems the swedes are actually avid climbers. the middle son is ranked 1st in Stockholm and 5th in the country within his age group. He was fearless and impressive. I myself only took the obviously reasonable climbs. I did have my revenge!! After climbing we went kayakiing and I was able to run circles around the Swedes WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. hehe.
Took the "groan" back to Christchurch and have a 7am flight to Sydney.
• 12/20/2007 - I couldnt help myself so I made this
Welcome to my most recent attempt at humor. I bring you SURVIVORMAN!!!!!!!!
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• 12/17/2007 - Its the last dance, last chance for romance
Alex, i will take disco songs for 1000 please!
The glacier was definately a high light of the NZ portion of the trip. From Franz Joseph I headed north to Greymouth and Punakaika. I stayed in an underwhelming seaside resort in Punakaika and headed back to Greymouth to turn in my rental car and catch a train across the mountains. Of course, it rained and rained and rained. I almost feel that I have been dragging the rain with me since I left Queenstown. The screnic train ride I was all psyched for was washed out, err rained out since we couldnt see anything. I am now in Arthur's Pass at the Wilderness Lodge and let me tell you this is one of those places you must visit if you are in the neighborhood. This morning I hiked up and up and up. They told me if I kept going I would hit a rest hut. So I kept going and going, you know the whole energizer bunny thing. Finally, I arrive. It was good to get out of the rain. Yep yep, of course its raining the whole tiime. Luckily while I dried off and changed clothes the rain decided to stop making my hike back much more pleasant. It was 6km in to a height of god only knows and 9km back since I had to hoof it back all the way to the lodge. It was great. But today is my last free day in NZ. Tomorrow back on the train and them Im stuck in Christchurch until friday. How I hate that city.
• 12/15/2007 - Ice Imagery
Da Plane Boss, Da Plane!
Self Portrait
Walkabout
Im soooooo BLU U U U UE
Landscapes err Icescape
Anyone for a swim?
Hole in the wall
About Me
Recent Posts
- Sorry, I have been slacking
- An oasis of civilization
- The Great Escape
- We're on a road to nowhere
- Attacked by Stephen King