Greetings from Alice Springs, known best as the gateway to the Outback. But more about that later!
Still loving reading all of the comments! Thanks for reading along all! AJ and I were up bright and early on Saturday waiting to catch our bus down to Port Jervis, which is where you catch the ferry over to Kangaroo Island. It was about a two hour drive (including additional stops to pick up passengers), so we slept most of the way. And once on the ferry, we nabbed great seats at the front of the vessel so that we could enjoy the view of the 45-minute crossing to the island. It was a beautiful day on the water and it was smooth sailing the entire way. When we pulled into port in Penneshaw, we jumped off and located the Adventure Tours bus and our tour guide Glenn.
Within a few minutes, the other seven folks joining us on the trip joined us, and we were on our way for two days on KI. And before I go into detail about our time on the island, let me give you some info on Glenn.
Glenn is a former sheep farmer and lifetime resident of Kangaroo Island, as is his father and grandfather. He and his wife live on the island, but his three grown children all live on mainland Australia now. After spending most of his life farming sheep, once all of his children decided that none of them wanted to continue the tradition of farming, he decided to sell the farm and get into tourism. Now he does tours on the island for a myriad of tour groups.
So, we had a number of stops along the island. On the first day, we were scheduled to check out a few of the beaches, walk along Seal Bay, sandboard at Little Sahara and stop by a koala farm before heading to our accommodations. We had lunch at Antechetum Beach along a river. It was beautiful and very secluded. There was no one around! And on our way to Seal Bay, we got to see more of the beautiful coastline. Everywhere we looked, there was something incredible to look at. At Seal Bay, we were able to walk down to the beach where the sea lions live. Though we had to keep a safe distance from them (approximately 10 meters), we were very close. Because the breeding season had just finished, there were lots of new cubs walking about with their mothers. They were so cute!
At Little Sahara, Glenn pulled out the snowboards and up we walked the large sand hill to the top. There, we waxed the boards, sat down and slid our way to the bottom. I definitely was a bit nervous to try at first (not because of anything other than making a fool of myself), but after some coaxing (harassing) from AJ, down I went. Unfortunately, I didn't make it down too far before rolling over in the sand. And even more unfortunate, AJ got it all on video. Lovely! So, I hung my head and walked back up the hill. On my next trip down, I was determined to go farther, so I held on tight and tried desperately to keep the board going straight. Though I did make it farther, this time when I flipped over, my left arm bent in an unnatural way and I worried for a minute that I might have injured it badly. That's when I decided to retire for the day. However, I'm now convinced that I would have succeeded if I had just kept trying. A good lesson for the future!
Our last stop was at a farm that happens to have many trees that koalas love, so we headed to the farm to check them out. Though we got some great shots of kangaroos playing at dusk, it was too dark by that time to see any koalas in the trees. So we headed off to the accommodations with the promise of returning to the farm the next day.
Our accommodations were nice little dorm rooms surrounding the kitchen area. Each room, full of bunk beds, also had it's own toilet and shower. The catch...they were outside. It was pretty cold by this time, so there was no way I was undressing in the cold to step foot in the shower...peeing outside was tough enough! We had a great barbecue dinner, followed by some time by the fire. Afterwards, Glenn took us on a walk around the farmland. The sky was so bright with stars that we were able to see the entire Milky Way Galaxy and the Southern Cross! Both were magnificent sights! And when we turned the flashlights on, we realized that we were within ten feet of a bunch of kangaroos. We were surrounded by them. And since AJ has formed this idea that kangaroos are untrustworthy animals that are out to get him, he was a bit freaked out by their presence.
Before heading to bed, AJ and I had some good laughs about our day and some of the funny interactions with some of our co-travelers. First, there is Trine, a very aggressive woman from Denmark. Every time someone said something, she responded with how they were wrong or how she's done it better. There was Marie and Peter, a young couple from Germany. Marie has been traveling through Australia for eight months while applying to University, and Peter has just joined her for two weeks to visit. Adi, a young guy from Israel, just finished his six-year commitment to the Israeli army and is traveling before trying to find work. After Australia, he's headed to the US for two months and very excited about it! Kwon, a young Korean woman, is here for two weeks by herself, and feeling extremely lonely and homesick. Then, there were two other Korean women, both living in Australia for a while, but didn't speak very good English, and therefore kept to themselves mainly. At one point, AJ said, "we're like an advertisement for The Real World.
The next day, we headed out early to enter into Flinders National Park and check out some of the sights, including the Remarkable Rocks. This set of granite rocks are truly beautiful and provide endless photo opportunities. After some more time around the national park, we headed back to the koalas, where we got some incredible shots of the furry little guys. Damn, they're cute!
We spent the rest of the day checking out other corners of the island and seeing all of its stunning beauty. By the end, we were incredibly tired and ready to jump on the ferry and bus back to Adelaide.
After a small little glitch with our hostel, we got settled back in to Backpack Oz for the night before getting up to pack and jump in a taxi to the airport. Our flight to Alice Springs was very smooth and when we landed, we realized how in the middle of nowhere we are. Once we got to our next hostel, Alice Lodge Backpackers, we took the five minute walk to "downtown." I use that word loosely since there's basically one block of shops and restaurants. Fortunately, we're only here for the night because we leave at 6 am for our tour to the Red Centre. Three days in the Outbook, sleeping on swags and hopefully not freezing!
So, now I'm off to repack our bags so that we can leave the majority of our stuff here while we're on the tour. And when we're back, we're headed off to Cairns! So much fun left to have!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Cities they sing songs about
To answer Anthony's question...
In addition to your own suggestion about New York and Carmen's answers of Oklahoma and Chicago, they also sing songs about Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen and Matt Nathanson), Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen), San Francisco, Los Angeles and Omaha (Counting Crows)! If we had more internet time, I'd go on! =)
In addition to your own suggestion about New York and Carmen's answers of Oklahoma and Chicago, they also sing songs about Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen and Matt Nathanson), Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen), San Francisco, Los Angeles and Omaha (Counting Crows)! If we had more internet time, I'd go on! =)
Tap Water
Something I adore about Australia...when you go to a restaurant, they bring you empty glasses and a bottle of tap water for you to enjoy! The bottles are typically empty wine bottles or similar, and it is such a great way of providing water at restaurants. Such personality! I love it. Can we bring this tradition to the states?
Is Oz on Target?
As you may know or not, Briana and I have gone to Target while we have been in Australia. Okay...we've gone twice. But Target is internationally amazing...it's not debatable. Don't even try. Well, there are a few things to know about Targets in Australia.
First from my knowledge, in American it's Target while in Australia it's Target. (the period is part of it's name). Can someone please go out and check the nearest Target and find out if this is true for The States? And everyone in LA, I know for a fact there are three Targets in like a ten minute radius...so I should hear back quickly. I don't care about the time change...you can just check!
Second, the clothes selection in Australian Target.s are completely different. I won't lie...I really enjoy some of Targets clothes in the US. In Australia, a lot of it is just awkward especially in context. For instance, how many Aussies want to buy a t-shirt that references Michigan State...that's weird, right? Next, there is a lot of "dress up" (I know I have the vocab of a twelve-year old boy) clothes (shirts & ties and shit).
Best of all though...Target.s in Australia have the most amazing selection of mens underwear!!! I may get everyone I know a pair of men's medium underwear...and if they don't like it or it doesn't fit them...I'll keep it! :)
So rather than going to Target. and buying clothes that will keep me warm while Briana and I are camping on Kangaroo Island, I bought a fun pair of the "Most Comfy Undies".
And this morning as I thought about that longsleeve under shirt or those really great comfy sweat pants that that would have been nice to wear at night that I put down in the store; thinking should I have bought them...all was made right when I shut the shower stall and saw all the affirmation I needed - a little sticker that said "most comfy undies". So I may freeze in the Outback, but I know I'll do it comfortably and in style! Holla!
Chk Chk Boom!
Drinking from the toilet with Lady Gaga
We've made it to Adelaide! Those cranky two americans that you all love and adore who were drinking nothing but Melbourne Bitter (which is a real beer in the region) realized that if you are into the cafe culture and you spend some quality time in the city; it could probably grow on you. I also just don't think it really is a city for me. You know Columbus is a great city and a part of me will find it special; however, it's not a city for me (and not a city they sing songs about...especially not like LA: Don't forget what you've learned all you give is returned/And if life seems absurd what you need is some laughter/And a season to sleep and a place to get clean/Maybe Los Angeles, somewhere no one is expecting ~ Bright Eyes).
We got to Adelaide and there is something i noticed that hasn't really clicked until I got to Adelaide. I haven't really been able to give a commentary on the bathrooms (ahem...I mean Toilets) in Australia. All as you noticed they call them toilets, which i feel is a bit crude; however, as we've learned Australians have no problem saying it as it is...and sounding so genuine and nice when they do it. Makes you just want to smile and say thank and then wonder if you were just insulted. But if you want to see crudeness in the sense of the toilets then you should see the picture of how they distinguish between the men's and women's rooms at the hostel in Melbourne. Or just ask about what Briana and I observed in our respective toilets at the hostels (things that I'm not sure should be mentioned on a blog...don't want it to get shut down...)
As soon as we landed in Adelaide I decided to use the toilet. Like many things in the Australia...there were numerous signs explaining something about where I was heading (Australia loves its signs). Well this sign in particular informed me of some very important information: "This Toilet uses recycled water for flushing- Please refrain from drinking." I would agree that after flying for a couple of hours in a plane with same air circulating around - drying out your throat - that one could be a bit parched. But is it wrong of me not to think, "I can't wait to throw my face into a toilet and lap up some water like a misbehaving dog."? I'm not sure if this was just a precaution, but it made me wonder if it wasn't a reactionary means like the warning on McDonalds coffee cups.
Another interesting fact is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to flush a urinal in Southern Australia. After using some urinals (and lets eliminate the numerous ones that are just the trough style), I would spend about 10-15 seconds wondering how does this flush. I'm losing minutes of my life because Southern Australia is in a drought and doesn't allow urinals to have water. It's madness!
So yeah, that's what it's like to enter the great city of Adelaide. Also, as a bonus I met a couple of chaps (yeah, I busted out a aussie term..and what?!) from Massachusetts. They were crew for the Lady Gaga and Pussycat Dolls concert. When Briana and I were leaving the airport, we happened to get in the middle of all the crew for the concert....in the words of Marci, we were "surrounded by fame".
Chk Chk Boom
Adelaide ... A Whole New World
We have made our way to Adelaide and been here over a day already, and boy do we have a lot to share!
Firstly, I've been doing some thinking about Melbourne. On our last morning there, we headed down to Degraves Street (another Bitty suggestion...and yes, Yas, I do think she must be related to Betty White. That is clearly why we adored her!) We had a great brekky at a lovely little cafe. It was definitely delightful. I think our time in Melbourne was just too short. Had we had more time to explore the city and its surroundings, I think our outlook on Melbourne would've been much different. So, for all of you loyal readers out there, don't give up hope that Victoria's fine city just yet. We haven't!
But immediately upon landing in Adelaide, we felt a different vibe. As we were waiting for the shuttle to pick us up, we found ourselves in the middle of quite a colorful group of people. As we were looking around trying to find our way out of the crowd, a guy asked us if we were part of the Lady Gaga/Pussy Cat Dolls crew. I believe you know that answer to that question, but we were amused none the less to find ourselves mixed up with the crew for the two groups. AJ even had a run in with one of them, but I'm sure he'll update you on that interaction.
As we rode the shuttle into town, we noticed was a personality this city has. It is surrounded by rolling hills and green land (We later found out from our tour guide that the city was built under the assumption that it was under imminent attack from the French, so there's a canon shot and a half distance around the city.) And once we got into the city proper (which is only one square mile big), it was loaded with charm! We equated it to being like Northampton in Western Mass, but bigger. We checked into our next hostel, Backpack Oz, and Sam, one of the owners, gave us a rundown of the city. He also suggested us getting an extra layer before heading to Kangaroo Island so that we stay warm, so we decided that our first stop in town was going to be Rundle Street, Adelaide's largest outdoor mall.
On Rundle Street, we browsed through a number of the outdoor shops and then went into Target. That's right friends, Australia has Target! It's a wee bit different than our Target at home, but it's Target none the less. Though we weren't able to find a fleece option, we still enjoyed our trip to one of our favorite stores. Then we headed back down the street to the Columbia Outdoor Shop, where they had heavy fleeces for good prices. I also got to talk with an adorable guy (who we now call my Adelaide boyfriend). He was friendly and cute, with a hint of freckles on his face. If my father hadn't forbade me to move to Australia, I would've married him on the spot! Alas, our time together ended, and AJ and I headed back onto Rundle Street to find a place to eat. This is where we met AJ's boyfriend, the host/bus boy, who was extremely awkward and dodgy, but couldn't stop talking to AJ every time I left his side. Hilarious! Then we headed back to the hostel for a good night's rest before our first guided tour.
Today, we left the hostel around 7:30 to grab a bite to eat before being picked up by Billy, our tour guide from Groovy Grape Getaways, taking us on a day trip to Barossa Valley, Australia's most famous wine region. We were joind by 15 other travellers from all over the globe (New Zealand, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, England). On our way to Barossa, we stopped at the most amazing place ever...THE WORLD'S LARGEST ROCKING HORSE! That's right folks, AJ and I climbed our way to the top of this amazing sight and got a certificate afterwards verifying our achievement. Incredible. Then it was off to our first of four vineyards. I couldn't help thinking of all my SAS friends and our fantastic wine tasting trip in South Africa. It brought many smiles to my face.
Before lunch, we visited Jacob's Creek, Vine Crest and Richmond Grove. We tasted about eight wines at each place, and learned about the process. No matter how many tastings I go to, I seem to learn a little more each time (or I commit a little more to memory each time). Between two of the vineyards, we had our first kangaroo sighting. They were grazing on the side of the road, and my heart raced at the sight of them. And by lunch, we and our new friends were having a great time. While we were doing the third tasting, Billy grilled us up a lovely barbecue lunch of sausage, burgers, kebabs and KANGAROO! That's right...within hours of seeing our first kangaroos in the wild, we ate our first kangaroo. It was actually quite good. A bit more tender than beef, and not at all gamey. I highly recommend it! AJ and I bought a bottle of wine to share at lunch, so by the time the barbecue was done, we were quite full. But we had one more vineyard to go (Stepplefields) before heading back to town.
At the last vineyard, we talked a lot with the other American on the tour. She is spending a year in Australia working (doing BUNAC, Elyse!) before heading back to the states to look for a real job. After ten minutes of conversation, she had AJ planning his move to Australia. I'm going to do my best to bring him home with me, but even if I do, I think he'll become an ex-patriate within the year. And though I'd miss him desperately, I'd be happy to come visit him often!
Our tour ended with a trip to the Whispering Wall, a dam that is built in such a way that if you stand on one side and someone stands on the other, you can hear each other clear as day without speaking any lounder than a whisper. Billy even played for us his didgeridoo from the other side of the dam!
We were sad to say goodbye to our new friends when Billy dropped us back of at Backpackers Oz. We popped in to use the loo before heading back out to stop at the grocery store to get snacks for our upcoming trip to Kangaroo Island and grab dinner in Chinatown. We found an amazing restaurant, E Shan, where we had delicious Chinese food! Amazing!
Tomorrow, we leave bright and early for our overnight trip to Kangaroo Island. We are extremely excited and are heading up to our room now to pack for the adventure. We probably won't get internet time again for a few days (once we're in Alice Springs), so when next we "talk" we'll have lots of new stories from the road. Until then, keep up the commentary because we love reading it!
Cheers, all!
Firstly, I've been doing some thinking about Melbourne. On our last morning there, we headed down to Degraves Street (another Bitty suggestion...and yes, Yas, I do think she must be related to Betty White. That is clearly why we adored her!) We had a great brekky at a lovely little cafe. It was definitely delightful. I think our time in Melbourne was just too short. Had we had more time to explore the city and its surroundings, I think our outlook on Melbourne would've been much different. So, for all of you loyal readers out there, don't give up hope that Victoria's fine city just yet. We haven't!
But immediately upon landing in Adelaide, we felt a different vibe. As we were waiting for the shuttle to pick us up, we found ourselves in the middle of quite a colorful group of people. As we were looking around trying to find our way out of the crowd, a guy asked us if we were part of the Lady Gaga/Pussy Cat Dolls crew. I believe you know that answer to that question, but we were amused none the less to find ourselves mixed up with the crew for the two groups. AJ even had a run in with one of them, but I'm sure he'll update you on that interaction.
As we rode the shuttle into town, we noticed was a personality this city has. It is surrounded by rolling hills and green land (We later found out from our tour guide that the city was built under the assumption that it was under imminent attack from the French, so there's a canon shot and a half distance around the city.) And once we got into the city proper (which is only one square mile big), it was loaded with charm! We equated it to being like Northampton in Western Mass, but bigger. We checked into our next hostel, Backpack Oz, and Sam, one of the owners, gave us a rundown of the city. He also suggested us getting an extra layer before heading to Kangaroo Island so that we stay warm, so we decided that our first stop in town was going to be Rundle Street, Adelaide's largest outdoor mall.
On Rundle Street, we browsed through a number of the outdoor shops and then went into Target. That's right friends, Australia has Target! It's a wee bit different than our Target at home, but it's Target none the less. Though we weren't able to find a fleece option, we still enjoyed our trip to one of our favorite stores. Then we headed back down the street to the Columbia Outdoor Shop, where they had heavy fleeces for good prices. I also got to talk with an adorable guy (who we now call my Adelaide boyfriend). He was friendly and cute, with a hint of freckles on his face. If my father hadn't forbade me to move to Australia, I would've married him on the spot! Alas, our time together ended, and AJ and I headed back onto Rundle Street to find a place to eat. This is where we met AJ's boyfriend, the host/bus boy, who was extremely awkward and dodgy, but couldn't stop talking to AJ every time I left his side. Hilarious! Then we headed back to the hostel for a good night's rest before our first guided tour.
Today, we left the hostel around 7:30 to grab a bite to eat before being picked up by Billy, our tour guide from Groovy Grape Getaways, taking us on a day trip to Barossa Valley, Australia's most famous wine region. We were joind by 15 other travellers from all over the globe (New Zealand, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, England). On our way to Barossa, we stopped at the most amazing place ever...THE WORLD'S LARGEST ROCKING HORSE! That's right folks, AJ and I climbed our way to the top of this amazing sight and got a certificate afterwards verifying our achievement. Incredible. Then it was off to our first of four vineyards. I couldn't help thinking of all my SAS friends and our fantastic wine tasting trip in South Africa. It brought many smiles to my face.
Before lunch, we visited Jacob's Creek, Vine Crest and Richmond Grove. We tasted about eight wines at each place, and learned about the process. No matter how many tastings I go to, I seem to learn a little more each time (or I commit a little more to memory each time). Between two of the vineyards, we had our first kangaroo sighting. They were grazing on the side of the road, and my heart raced at the sight of them. And by lunch, we and our new friends were having a great time. While we were doing the third tasting, Billy grilled us up a lovely barbecue lunch of sausage, burgers, kebabs and KANGAROO! That's right...within hours of seeing our first kangaroos in the wild, we ate our first kangaroo. It was actually quite good. A bit more tender than beef, and not at all gamey. I highly recommend it! AJ and I bought a bottle of wine to share at lunch, so by the time the barbecue was done, we were quite full. But we had one more vineyard to go (Stepplefields) before heading back to town.
At the last vineyard, we talked a lot with the other American on the tour. She is spending a year in Australia working (doing BUNAC, Elyse!) before heading back to the states to look for a real job. After ten minutes of conversation, she had AJ planning his move to Australia. I'm going to do my best to bring him home with me, but even if I do, I think he'll become an ex-patriate within the year. And though I'd miss him desperately, I'd be happy to come visit him often!
Our tour ended with a trip to the Whispering Wall, a dam that is built in such a way that if you stand on one side and someone stands on the other, you can hear each other clear as day without speaking any lounder than a whisper. Billy even played for us his didgeridoo from the other side of the dam!
We were sad to say goodbye to our new friends when Billy dropped us back of at Backpackers Oz. We popped in to use the loo before heading back out to stop at the grocery store to get snacks for our upcoming trip to Kangaroo Island and grab dinner in Chinatown. We found an amazing restaurant, E Shan, where we had delicious Chinese food! Amazing!
Tomorrow, we leave bright and early for our overnight trip to Kangaroo Island. We are extremely excited and are heading up to our room now to pack for the adventure. We probably won't get internet time again for a few days (once we're in Alice Springs), so when next we "talk" we'll have lots of new stories from the road. Until then, keep up the commentary because we love reading it!
Cheers, all!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
"It's not a place they sing songs about."
Melbourne....oh Melbourne...
This morning, before leaving the hostel, AJ had a great perspective. He said, "I think Melbourne is the type of city you need to experience, not just see." Unlike other cities that you can walk around and see what it has to offer, he figured we really needed to get out there and explore Melbourne. So with a new outlook, we headed out the door and ready to get a feel for this place.
Our first stop was the info book in the hostel (which was closed the night before). Here were met Josh, who was very willing to give advice on things to check out and places to go. So, immediately feeling like maybe the woman from the night before was an exception, we felt good about our start. We headed straight to find a cafe in the Block Arcade, per the suggestion of the lovely Stephanie Bond, and we enjoyed a delicious meal. With our bellies full, we ventured down to Federation Square to check out the major visitor's information plaza. We grabbed a ticket and waited to be called, and once we were, we fell in love.
Here, at counter 10, we met Betty (though her name was likely Betty, the way she pronounced it made it sound like "Bitty"). And Bitty won our hearts. She was ready to give us every suggestion under the sun about how to spend our time here in Melbourne. She slowly walked back and forth from us to the map selection and back to provide us with a resource for every corner of town. At one point, while trying to figure out which way was up on a map, she said, "Oh Bitty. You've got yourself right turned around, now haven't you?" Even though we had no questions left, we couldn't help but keep chatting because we loved Bitty so much. Even when she told us that we should try a restaurant that was owned by a woman who was half Aboriginal because "she's not so bad for a half and half," we still couldn't help but like her (despite her being a slight bit racist). And when she told us to avoid the Greek District because "it's not a place they sing songs about," I thought maybe of staying the whole day at the counter chatting it up with Bitty. But eventually, we knew it was time to wander out and take her up on her suggestions about Melbourne, so we bid Bitty adieu and meandered out into the Square.
Once outside, we had renewed faith that maybe we'd like Melbourne afterall. Unfortunately, we spoke too soon. We decided to jump on the city circle tram and take a tour of the main part of the city. We knew we could jump on and off as many times as we liked, so we thought that might be a good way to get an overview of the city. Unfortunately, once on the tram, we had a run in with another character, who was much less likable than Bitty. To save you the boring details of this guy, I'll give you some highlights. He started by telling us that some woman kept staring at him as if he was masturbating in public. We smiled politely and turned to look out the window, hoping he'd get the hint. Unfortunately, he didn't. He continued to regale us with his opinions about life and Melbourne. He asked us why the hell we would come to Australia if we were from LA (we tried to explain that since we live in LA, we were hoping to experience something different for our vacation.) And the highlight was when he was getting off the tram, he looked at me and said, "Watch that smile. They know when you're making fun of them. I don't know how they know, but they know." I have no idea who "they" are or what the hell he was talking about, but I did know that I was glad he was out of our lives.
It didn't take long on the tram to realize that there wasn't much for us to see. As it started to rain, we decided to take the tram back to Federation Square and grab some lunch (per Bitty's suggestions). And after lunch, we found ourselves so cranky that we decided to go take a nap at the hostel. Our plan was to head down to St. Kilda for dinner, so we figured a little energy would inspire us for our evening.
Once the nap was over, we dragged ourselves back to the tram station and jumped on the #16 to St. Kilda. And as we rode and rode and rode, we began to realize that we weren't entirely sure where to get off. We thought it would be quite obvious, but unfortunately, we thought wrong. By the time we figured out where we were, we had passed the St. Kilda stops by about four or five. So we jumped on the #16 going in the opposite direction and finally found our way to Acland Street.
Acland St., home of dozens of bakeries full of yumminess, turned out to be a good way to end our evening. We found ourselves another little chocolateria, where we enjoyed more chocolate than ever imagined. And once our mugs were empty, we jumped back on the tram and made our way back to the hostel so that we could curl up in bed and escape from the cold rain.
All in all, Melbourne was not a highlight (and certainly not a place they sing songs about!) I realized that it's a lot like Philadelphia. It's probably a great city to live (tons of food and shopping), but not too much in the city to enjoy. And if you don't have time to get out out of the city proper and see the penguin march or the Great Ocean Road, I would say there might not be a lot of reason to come into the city to begin with.
So, tomorrow morning, we're off to Adelaide. On Friday, we are doing a tour of Barossa Valley (the wine country) and then on Saturday, we leave for an overnight trip to Kangaroo Island. We're excited about both adventures, and hope they will us some better stories than Melbourne.
This morning, before leaving the hostel, AJ had a great perspective. He said, "I think Melbourne is the type of city you need to experience, not just see." Unlike other cities that you can walk around and see what it has to offer, he figured we really needed to get out there and explore Melbourne. So with a new outlook, we headed out the door and ready to get a feel for this place.
Our first stop was the info book in the hostel (which was closed the night before). Here were met Josh, who was very willing to give advice on things to check out and places to go. So, immediately feeling like maybe the woman from the night before was an exception, we felt good about our start. We headed straight to find a cafe in the Block Arcade, per the suggestion of the lovely Stephanie Bond, and we enjoyed a delicious meal. With our bellies full, we ventured down to Federation Square to check out the major visitor's information plaza. We grabbed a ticket and waited to be called, and once we were, we fell in love.
Here, at counter 10, we met Betty (though her name was likely Betty, the way she pronounced it made it sound like "Bitty"). And Bitty won our hearts. She was ready to give us every suggestion under the sun about how to spend our time here in Melbourne. She slowly walked back and forth from us to the map selection and back to provide us with a resource for every corner of town. At one point, while trying to figure out which way was up on a map, she said, "Oh Bitty. You've got yourself right turned around, now haven't you?" Even though we had no questions left, we couldn't help but keep chatting because we loved Bitty so much. Even when she told us that we should try a restaurant that was owned by a woman who was half Aboriginal because "she's not so bad for a half and half," we still couldn't help but like her (despite her being a slight bit racist). And when she told us to avoid the Greek District because "it's not a place they sing songs about," I thought maybe of staying the whole day at the counter chatting it up with Bitty. But eventually, we knew it was time to wander out and take her up on her suggestions about Melbourne, so we bid Bitty adieu and meandered out into the Square.
Once outside, we had renewed faith that maybe we'd like Melbourne afterall. Unfortunately, we spoke too soon. We decided to jump on the city circle tram and take a tour of the main part of the city. We knew we could jump on and off as many times as we liked, so we thought that might be a good way to get an overview of the city. Unfortunately, once on the tram, we had a run in with another character, who was much less likable than Bitty. To save you the boring details of this guy, I'll give you some highlights. He started by telling us that some woman kept staring at him as if he was masturbating in public. We smiled politely and turned to look out the window, hoping he'd get the hint. Unfortunately, he didn't. He continued to regale us with his opinions about life and Melbourne. He asked us why the hell we would come to Australia if we were from LA (we tried to explain that since we live in LA, we were hoping to experience something different for our vacation.) And the highlight was when he was getting off the tram, he looked at me and said, "Watch that smile. They know when you're making fun of them. I don't know how they know, but they know." I have no idea who "they" are or what the hell he was talking about, but I did know that I was glad he was out of our lives.
It didn't take long on the tram to realize that there wasn't much for us to see. As it started to rain, we decided to take the tram back to Federation Square and grab some lunch (per Bitty's suggestions). And after lunch, we found ourselves so cranky that we decided to go take a nap at the hostel. Our plan was to head down to St. Kilda for dinner, so we figured a little energy would inspire us for our evening.
Once the nap was over, we dragged ourselves back to the tram station and jumped on the #16 to St. Kilda. And as we rode and rode and rode, we began to realize that we weren't entirely sure where to get off. We thought it would be quite obvious, but unfortunately, we thought wrong. By the time we figured out where we were, we had passed the St. Kilda stops by about four or five. So we jumped on the #16 going in the opposite direction and finally found our way to Acland Street.
Acland St., home of dozens of bakeries full of yumminess, turned out to be a good way to end our evening. We found ourselves another little chocolateria, where we enjoyed more chocolate than ever imagined. And once our mugs were empty, we jumped back on the tram and made our way back to the hostel so that we could curl up in bed and escape from the cold rain.
All in all, Melbourne was not a highlight (and certainly not a place they sing songs about!) I realized that it's a lot like Philadelphia. It's probably a great city to live (tons of food and shopping), but not too much in the city to enjoy. And if you don't have time to get out out of the city proper and see the penguin march or the Great Ocean Road, I would say there might not be a lot of reason to come into the city to begin with.
So, tomorrow morning, we're off to Adelaide. On Friday, we are doing a tour of Barossa Valley (the wine country) and then on Saturday, we leave for an overnight trip to Kangaroo Island. We're excited about both adventures, and hope they will us some better stories than Melbourne.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Melboring
"Our very first gig in Melbourne was a confrontation."
~Santiago Durango
I wouldn't say that Melbourne has been the most horrible experience of my life, but it's definitely not as great as Sydney! Oh Sydney...
Maybe I was just so hopeful, on the plane ride to Melbourne we watched a half hour video about how great Melbourne is and everything it has to offer. And then on the bus ride from the airport to the bus station, we got to watch another video about how great Melbourne is. Now, we all know the classic marketing scheme of if something isn't great keep pushing it and hopefully people will get all caught up... well it worked! I was quite excited to come to Melbourne; I was even excited that they were playing Wicked (and I've seen Wicked already...) We get here and I was enamoured by their public transportation - all the trams and such (I love a city with awesome public transportation - even if I do live in LA). Well, as quick as the cable cars passed, so went the love for Melbourne. It is mostly the result of two really stupid people. First is the woman who works at the hostel. When asked about where would be a good place to eat, we would have had better luck just asking the people checking in after us. The way this woman answered the question was as if she has never left the hostel. I would have hoped that she would have had more of a resource. We ended up going to a restaurant in China Town, which was sorta cute for basically being an alley way of Chinese (but mostly just asain influence restaurants). We had Thai food at a restaurant with horrible service.
Luckily on a search for something sweet to finish the night, we ended up at a Spanish cafe that sold coffee and churros. It was delicious! It also was a good representation of Melbourne's cafe life style. Hopefully, more fun to follow tomorrow! ;)
chk chk boom!
The Amazing Race to Nowhere Special
When last we blogged, AJ and I were off to grab our bags out of storage at our hostel in Sydney and make our way to the airport to hop a flight to Melbourne. Well, if only things could always be that simple!
When the shuttle driver asked us which terminal we were going, we quickly responded, "Domestic." Seemed easy enough considering we know that Sydney and Melbourne are in the same country, hence requiring a domestic flight, right? Well, as we dragged our bags up to the JetStar desk and asked to check in for the 3:15 flight to Melbourne, the woman said, "Oh, that's at the International terminal." Well, the look on our faces must have said it all because she quickly contnued with an explanation that all flights into the Melbourne - Tullamarine airport go out of the International terminal and therefore we needed to take a TAXI (yea, I said it) over to the other terminal...and quickly...if we were going to make the flight. I immediately was perturbed that we had just paid $14 each to take a shuttle from the city to the airport to now have to pay another $14 (yup...$14...to take a taxi from one terminal to another. Seriously?!) to get to the right gate. And what made it even worse, we jumped into our cab, and the driver's face immediately told us that he was perturbed that he just waited in the queue to drive around in a circle.
So, in our best "Amazing Race" ways, we asked the driver to make it fast! The driver kept lecturing us about why we didn't take the shuttle to the international terminal, and I had to try my best not to bitch him out in true Cara and Jamie fashion (if you watched the latest season of "The Amazing Race," you know what I mean). Once at the proper terminal, we made a dash for the check-in counter and a second dash through security and the never-ending duty free shops to our gate. We were both starving at this point (stupid us thought we'd have time to grab a bit at the airport), but unfortunately there was nothing to really eat by our gate. So we took a deep breath, bought a diet coke and got ready to board our flight thinking we had survived another bump in the trip. Little did we know, it was just beginning!
The JetStar flight was a surprising delight. There was lots of leg room and the plane was fairly empty. With only an hour travel time, we cozied up in our seats and enjoyed sitting after a few days of walking. And as the plane began its descent into Melbourne, we looked out of the window with excited anticipation to see nothing but fields. I looked at AJ and he said, "Are we in Ohio?" And as the flight attendants announced that the flight was headed to Bali after its stop in Melbourne, we thought for a minute about staying aboard and kicking our feet back in Bali for the rest of our trip. In a moment of rational thinking, AJ reminded me that we didn't have Visas for Bali, so we decided to disembark the plane as planned. But as the plane taxied to the gate, and we saw that half of the airport seemed to be under construction, we wondered where exactly we were landing.
When we entered the Melbourne International Airport, we were surprised to find it fairly empty. Both of us being from the East Coast and currently living in Los Angeles, we're not used to being places that aren't surrounded by people. But we trudged toward baggage claim and patiently awaited our luggage. We both jokingly looked around for a quarantine beagle, wondering if the open bag of Tim Tams would land us back on the government's bad side, but no dog was to be seen. With bags in hand, we boarded the red SkyBus to the city and waited to see what our second location of the trip had in store.
As we drove into the city, we immediately noticed that Melbourne didn't have the charm of Sydney. And as we took our first steps out of Southern Cross Station, and headed down Spencer Street in search of our hostel, we had a feeling this "pit stop" would be different than the last. After approximately twenty minutes of lugging our bags through the city streets to our next hostel (as professional walkers now, we felt like we didn't need the public transportation to get us there), we arrived at 228 Flinders Lane to The Greenhouse Backpackers (per Carmen's recommendation). We took the lift to the sixth floor reception area and were quickly checked into our room (although, somehow we had two reservations, but fortunately the guy was nice enough to cancel one of them). We wheeled our bags back into the lift and to the fourth floor in search of our room.
Once inside, we both flopped on our beds and broke out the travel books in search of some ideas for dinner. During that time, the germophobe in me couldn't help but go check out the bathrooms (none of our hostels, except for Sydney, are ensuite). I am happy to report, they passed with flying colors! Yay! After what turned out to be an hour, we finally decided to give up on the books and head back to the reception area and get a face-to-face recommendation. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a terrible idea.
The woman behind the reception desk proved to be anything other than receptive to our request for a place to dine. We kindly asked for a suggestion of a place that wasn't too far of a hike and too expensive. Her first response was, "Well, you could go next door to the food court and eat Chinese food, but it's not that great. It's also got a lot of MSG." Mmmmm.... Does this woman know how to sell a product, or what?! Those of you who know me know I'm not one to give up that easily, so I decided to prod a little further for suggestions. I asked if she could recommend something that might be a little more tasty. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I guess you could grab a slice of pizza of Degraves St." I asked where and she repeated herself in a tone stating that she obviously thought I should know where Degraves St was. Considering this was the same woman who was sitting at the reception desk when we checked in earlier, I definitely wanted to ask her if she forgot that I was a visitor here and didn't know these place. I decided to hold my tongue though, and tried once more to get information. She suggested we walk to Chinatown, and excited by the option, we foolishly asked if she had a specific place in Chinatown we preferred. Her response? "I don't really ever go there. I don't have time, ya know?" No. I don't know. I don't know at all why you are here torturing my soul when all I want is a good place to grab some grub.
Showing my true Jersey charm, I thanked her for her help, turned on my heel and cursed her name all the way down the five flights of stairs. I was definitely a bit pissed, but fortunately AJ and I found some good laughs in the situation as we made our way down to Chinatown. Once there we wandered the streets until we found a delicious-looking Thai restaurant. (Yea, I said Thai. Leave it to us to walk all the way to Chinatown and then not eat Chinese food.) Inside, we thought we were finally safe from the craziness of Melbourne, and again, we were fooled.
After waiting almost 15 minutes for one of the waitresses to acknowledge us and take our order, we waited patiently while those around us who ordered after us got their meals. And when ours finally arrived and we were enjoying the meals, one of the waitresses came up and asked if we had ordered the jasmine rice. We both said no, and she walked away, seemingly satisfied with our response. However, a few minutes later, she came back to our table, jasmine rice in hand, and asked again if we had ordered the dish. Again, we said no, to which she responded, "But it's on the list." In my crankiness, I looked up at her. Fortunately, AJ answered first with a simple, "Well, we didn't order it," because I was about to say, "Well, take it off of the list."
As we walked home and both commented on how much we were missing Sydney already, AJ also stated that he was in the mood for some dessert and coffee. This seems like a simple enough request being in a big city, but alas, again we were wrong. Besides the neon signs of American chains (McDonald's, Krispy Kreme, KFC, Subway), there were no cafes to be found. UNTIL...we rounded the corner from our hostel and found the famed Degraves St. from the reception woman's earlier suggestions. There on this little alley of a street were a number of cafes, all seeming to have a dessert or two on the menu. Unfortunately, not a one was still open. I turned to AJ and asked, "You think our friend at reception could've suggested one of these places when we were looking for spots to eat?" Apparently she's too busy to check these out too. After a few more walks around the blocks, we found a little churro shop (like the Spanish pastry, not the amusement park novelty!) and both enoyed some churros con chocolate before heading back to the hostel.
So far, Melbourne has left a lot to be desired. However, we know that in the light of day, there's probably a lot of good to be seen. We only have one full day here, so we are going to make the most of it, if nothing else, to spite the woman at reception! And hopefully we'll find some good memories to take with us to our next stop.
When the shuttle driver asked us which terminal we were going, we quickly responded, "Domestic." Seemed easy enough considering we know that Sydney and Melbourne are in the same country, hence requiring a domestic flight, right? Well, as we dragged our bags up to the JetStar desk and asked to check in for the 3:15 flight to Melbourne, the woman said, "Oh, that's at the International terminal." Well, the look on our faces must have said it all because she quickly contnued with an explanation that all flights into the Melbourne - Tullamarine airport go out of the International terminal and therefore we needed to take a TAXI (yea, I said it) over to the other terminal...and quickly...if we were going to make the flight. I immediately was perturbed that we had just paid $14 each to take a shuttle from the city to the airport to now have to pay another $14 (yup...$14...to take a taxi from one terminal to another. Seriously?!) to get to the right gate. And what made it even worse, we jumped into our cab, and the driver's face immediately told us that he was perturbed that he just waited in the queue to drive around in a circle.
So, in our best "Amazing Race" ways, we asked the driver to make it fast! The driver kept lecturing us about why we didn't take the shuttle to the international terminal, and I had to try my best not to bitch him out in true Cara and Jamie fashion (if you watched the latest season of "The Amazing Race," you know what I mean). Once at the proper terminal, we made a dash for the check-in counter and a second dash through security and the never-ending duty free shops to our gate. We were both starving at this point (stupid us thought we'd have time to grab a bit at the airport), but unfortunately there was nothing to really eat by our gate. So we took a deep breath, bought a diet coke and got ready to board our flight thinking we had survived another bump in the trip. Little did we know, it was just beginning!
The JetStar flight was a surprising delight. There was lots of leg room and the plane was fairly empty. With only an hour travel time, we cozied up in our seats and enjoyed sitting after a few days of walking. And as the plane began its descent into Melbourne, we looked out of the window with excited anticipation to see nothing but fields. I looked at AJ and he said, "Are we in Ohio?" And as the flight attendants announced that the flight was headed to Bali after its stop in Melbourne, we thought for a minute about staying aboard and kicking our feet back in Bali for the rest of our trip. In a moment of rational thinking, AJ reminded me that we didn't have Visas for Bali, so we decided to disembark the plane as planned. But as the plane taxied to the gate, and we saw that half of the airport seemed to be under construction, we wondered where exactly we were landing.
When we entered the Melbourne International Airport, we were surprised to find it fairly empty. Both of us being from the East Coast and currently living in Los Angeles, we're not used to being places that aren't surrounded by people. But we trudged toward baggage claim and patiently awaited our luggage. We both jokingly looked around for a quarantine beagle, wondering if the open bag of Tim Tams would land us back on the government's bad side, but no dog was to be seen. With bags in hand, we boarded the red SkyBus to the city and waited to see what our second location of the trip had in store.
As we drove into the city, we immediately noticed that Melbourne didn't have the charm of Sydney. And as we took our first steps out of Southern Cross Station, and headed down Spencer Street in search of our hostel, we had a feeling this "pit stop" would be different than the last. After approximately twenty minutes of lugging our bags through the city streets to our next hostel (as professional walkers now, we felt like we didn't need the public transportation to get us there), we arrived at 228 Flinders Lane to The Greenhouse Backpackers (per Carmen's recommendation). We took the lift to the sixth floor reception area and were quickly checked into our room (although, somehow we had two reservations, but fortunately the guy was nice enough to cancel one of them). We wheeled our bags back into the lift and to the fourth floor in search of our room.
Once inside, we both flopped on our beds and broke out the travel books in search of some ideas for dinner. During that time, the germophobe in me couldn't help but go check out the bathrooms (none of our hostels, except for Sydney, are ensuite). I am happy to report, they passed with flying colors! Yay! After what turned out to be an hour, we finally decided to give up on the books and head back to the reception area and get a face-to-face recommendation. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a terrible idea.
The woman behind the reception desk proved to be anything other than receptive to our request for a place to dine. We kindly asked for a suggestion of a place that wasn't too far of a hike and too expensive. Her first response was, "Well, you could go next door to the food court and eat Chinese food, but it's not that great. It's also got a lot of MSG." Mmmmm.... Does this woman know how to sell a product, or what?! Those of you who know me know I'm not one to give up that easily, so I decided to prod a little further for suggestions. I asked if she could recommend something that might be a little more tasty. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I guess you could grab a slice of pizza of Degraves St." I asked where and she repeated herself in a tone stating that she obviously thought I should know where Degraves St was. Considering this was the same woman who was sitting at the reception desk when we checked in earlier, I definitely wanted to ask her if she forgot that I was a visitor here and didn't know these place. I decided to hold my tongue though, and tried once more to get information. She suggested we walk to Chinatown, and excited by the option, we foolishly asked if she had a specific place in Chinatown we preferred. Her response? "I don't really ever go there. I don't have time, ya know?" No. I don't know. I don't know at all why you are here torturing my soul when all I want is a good place to grab some grub.
Showing my true Jersey charm, I thanked her for her help, turned on my heel and cursed her name all the way down the five flights of stairs. I was definitely a bit pissed, but fortunately AJ and I found some good laughs in the situation as we made our way down to Chinatown. Once there we wandered the streets until we found a delicious-looking Thai restaurant. (Yea, I said Thai. Leave it to us to walk all the way to Chinatown and then not eat Chinese food.) Inside, we thought we were finally safe from the craziness of Melbourne, and again, we were fooled.
After waiting almost 15 minutes for one of the waitresses to acknowledge us and take our order, we waited patiently while those around us who ordered after us got their meals. And when ours finally arrived and we were enjoying the meals, one of the waitresses came up and asked if we had ordered the jasmine rice. We both said no, and she walked away, seemingly satisfied with our response. However, a few minutes later, she came back to our table, jasmine rice in hand, and asked again if we had ordered the dish. Again, we said no, to which she responded, "But it's on the list." In my crankiness, I looked up at her. Fortunately, AJ answered first with a simple, "Well, we didn't order it," because I was about to say, "Well, take it off of the list."
As we walked home and both commented on how much we were missing Sydney already, AJ also stated that he was in the mood for some dessert and coffee. This seems like a simple enough request being in a big city, but alas, again we were wrong. Besides the neon signs of American chains (McDonald's, Krispy Kreme, KFC, Subway), there were no cafes to be found. UNTIL...we rounded the corner from our hostel and found the famed Degraves St. from the reception woman's earlier suggestions. There on this little alley of a street were a number of cafes, all seeming to have a dessert or two on the menu. Unfortunately, not a one was still open. I turned to AJ and asked, "You think our friend at reception could've suggested one of these places when we were looking for spots to eat?" Apparently she's too busy to check these out too. After a few more walks around the blocks, we found a little churro shop (like the Spanish pastry, not the amusement park novelty!) and both enoyed some churros con chocolate before heading back to the hostel.
So far, Melbourne has left a lot to be desired. However, we know that in the light of day, there's probably a lot of good to be seen. We only have one full day here, so we are going to make the most of it, if nothing else, to spite the woman at reception! And hopefully we'll find some good memories to take with us to our next stop.
Monday, May 25, 2009
A pic!
I'm not sure how, but I got a pic uploaded. Here is an attempt at a self portrait with the Opera House and Bridge in the background!
Over Sexed Over Paid Over Here
The title of the blog is in reference to Darlinghurst St; it's currently where Briana and I are right now. It's a part of the red light district in Sydney. For those of you who are very inquistive like myself you maybe wondering. "why is it called a 'red light district'?" Don't worry contrary to popular belief...there is technology in the land down under. So let's see what Wikipedia has to say:
A red-light district is a neighborhood or a part of a neighborhood where businesses connected to the sex industry (sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters etc) exist. In some red light districts prostitution may legally take place; other red light districts are known for their illegal prostitution scene. The term "red-light district" was first recorded in the United States in 1894, in an article in The Sentinel, a newspaper in Milwaukee. Other mentions from the 1890s are numerous, and located all over the United States.
The origin of the "red light" term is considered to be the red lanterns carried by railway workers (which were left outside brothels when the workers entered, so that they could be quickly located for any needed train movement) or the red paper lanterns (which were thought to be sensual) that were hung outside brothels in ancient China to identify them as such. The color red has been associated with prostitution for millennia; in the Biblical story of Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho, aided the spies of Joshua and identified her house with a scarlet rope, which saved her household from the massacre that a successfully besieged city usually suffered. During World War I, there were many brothels in Belgium and France; blue lights were used to indicate brothels for officers, red lights for other ranks.
Well thank you Wikipedia! So as you assuming this isn't the most glorious part of Sydney, but it does provide a nice internet cafe (that include flashing blue stringed lights and the smell of BO as added ambience). There is a lot of great people watching that is able to go on when walking down the street. Unfortunately inside here, there is mostly just a bunch of people looking at facebook, which isn't much different than what I was doing just a moment ago.
Briana and I are going to venture off to get a snack and then we're off to Melbourne! :) And hopefully, I can find a belt! We spent a couple of hours in the retail district of Sydney looking for a belt for me (and taking in all the wonders of Sydney :p) but alas I didn't get one.
Alright and giant message just told me that I have three minutes left. So i guess it's a sign that i must go.
Chk Chk Boom!
A red-light district is a neighborhood or a part of a neighborhood where businesses connected to the sex industry (sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters etc) exist. In some red light districts prostitution may legally take place; other red light districts are known for their illegal prostitution scene. The term "red-light district" was first recorded in the United States in 1894, in an article in The Sentinel, a newspaper in Milwaukee. Other mentions from the 1890s are numerous, and located all over the United States.
The origin of the "red light" term is considered to be the red lanterns carried by railway workers (which were left outside brothels when the workers entered, so that they could be quickly located for any needed train movement) or the red paper lanterns (which were thought to be sensual) that were hung outside brothels in ancient China to identify them as such. The color red has been associated with prostitution for millennia; in the Biblical story of Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho, aided the spies of Joshua and identified her house with a scarlet rope, which saved her household from the massacre that a successfully besieged city usually suffered. During World War I, there were many brothels in Belgium and France; blue lights were used to indicate brothels for officers, red lights for other ranks.
Well thank you Wikipedia! So as you assuming this isn't the most glorious part of Sydney, but it does provide a nice internet cafe (that include flashing blue stringed lights and the smell of BO as added ambience). There is a lot of great people watching that is able to go on when walking down the street. Unfortunately inside here, there is mostly just a bunch of people looking at facebook, which isn't much different than what I was doing just a moment ago.
Briana and I are going to venture off to get a snack and then we're off to Melbourne! :) And hopefully, I can find a belt! We spent a couple of hours in the retail district of Sydney looking for a belt for me (and taking in all the wonders of Sydney :p) but alas I didn't get one.
Alright and giant message just told me that I have three minutes left. So i guess it's a sign that i must go.
Chk Chk Boom!
Walkabout
So, I was hoping to post some pictures, but the computers in this internet cafe are quite slow. Better luck next cafe!
And before I begin to update you on our adventures, let me just say that there is NO way that bringing the chicken sandwiches along was my idea. Ask AJ who's carrying his precious iPhone right now, and you'll know he's been too lazy to carry anything! ;-)
On day two in Sydney, our walking adventure continued. We again started our day at Roys Famous because we're nothing if not loyal brunchers! After another delicious meal, we jumped on the train to Bondi Beach. Bondi is a cute little beach town, with a small beach lined with cafes and stores. I'm a sucker for beach towns, so this was right up my alley. We walked around the bend to the northern most point of the beach, walking along the rocks and watching the waves splash up as we went. We were again lucky to find amazing weather, which was perfect for what we had planned for the day.
We decided to do the Coastal Walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach, which is a 6.4 km trail up and down the cliffs of these beach towns. This was quite an a task considering the previous day we had spent on foot throughout all of Sydney, but we figured we were up for it. So we began our walk, and walk we did.
One of the unique things we found about these little beaches along the coast is that most have man-made pools that become filled with ocean water. There were folks doing laps or wading in the pools, and it was such an interesting concept. As we were walking, we also were keenly aware of a squaking animal in the trees. After our bat experience the day before, we stopped to check out from where the sounds were coming and found very colorful birds (parakeets, maybe?) flying about above. It was funny to see an animal that we typically only see in a cage flying free in the trees. AJ tried to get a picture, but the birds kept running away from him (Can you blame them?)
At approximately 3/4 of the way through the walk, we found ourselves wandering through a cemetery in Waverly before hitting the final stretch to Coogee. And once we got to Coogee, we were so proud of ourselves for finishing the walk that we hugged in excitement before finding a place to eat.
After our meal, some gelato and a coffee, we jumped on the bus back to the city. We rested up at the hostel before heading out to dinner. On the suggestion of Mandy (our friend at the front desk of the hostel), we headed into Darling Harbour and found a noodle bar for dinner. On the way back, we again found ourselves walking under a cloud of bats, but this time felt a bit more comfortable in their presence.
Today, we are headed to Melbourne. We spent the morning at Roys one last time before heading down to Pitt St. to check out the retail district in search of a belt for AJ. On the way there, we strolled through Hyde Park, and saw a rainbow while taking pictures at the fountain. We also saw a huge chess board where some gentlemen were engaged in a game. On this, our third day of massive walking, our feet are beginning to adjust, which is good since we're headed to a new city to explore.
And before I begin to update you on our adventures, let me just say that there is NO way that bringing the chicken sandwiches along was my idea. Ask AJ who's carrying his precious iPhone right now, and you'll know he's been too lazy to carry anything! ;-)
On day two in Sydney, our walking adventure continued. We again started our day at Roys Famous because we're nothing if not loyal brunchers! After another delicious meal, we jumped on the train to Bondi Beach. Bondi is a cute little beach town, with a small beach lined with cafes and stores. I'm a sucker for beach towns, so this was right up my alley. We walked around the bend to the northern most point of the beach, walking along the rocks and watching the waves splash up as we went. We were again lucky to find amazing weather, which was perfect for what we had planned for the day.
We decided to do the Coastal Walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach, which is a 6.4 km trail up and down the cliffs of these beach towns. This was quite an a task considering the previous day we had spent on foot throughout all of Sydney, but we figured we were up for it. So we began our walk, and walk we did.
One of the unique things we found about these little beaches along the coast is that most have man-made pools that become filled with ocean water. There were folks doing laps or wading in the pools, and it was such an interesting concept. As we were walking, we also were keenly aware of a squaking animal in the trees. After our bat experience the day before, we stopped to check out from where the sounds were coming and found very colorful birds (parakeets, maybe?) flying about above. It was funny to see an animal that we typically only see in a cage flying free in the trees. AJ tried to get a picture, but the birds kept running away from him (Can you blame them?)
At approximately 3/4 of the way through the walk, we found ourselves wandering through a cemetery in Waverly before hitting the final stretch to Coogee. And once we got to Coogee, we were so proud of ourselves for finishing the walk that we hugged in excitement before finding a place to eat.
After our meal, some gelato and a coffee, we jumped on the bus back to the city. We rested up at the hostel before heading out to dinner. On the suggestion of Mandy (our friend at the front desk of the hostel), we headed into Darling Harbour and found a noodle bar for dinner. On the way back, we again found ourselves walking under a cloud of bats, but this time felt a bit more comfortable in their presence.
Today, we are headed to Melbourne. We spent the morning at Roys one last time before heading down to Pitt St. to check out the retail district in search of a belt for AJ. On the way there, we strolled through Hyde Park, and saw a rainbow while taking pictures at the fountain. We also saw a huge chess board where some gentlemen were engaged in a game. On this, our third day of massive walking, our feet are beginning to adjust, which is good since we're headed to a new city to explore.
Chk Chk Boom
Greetings all from the future! If you are reading this, I am glad that you have survived the...oh wait, I've said too much.
I believe that many of you who have been reading this blog are familiar with Briana's...lets just call them "recounts" of our journeys. I don't want to out right call them lies...maybe just twists on reality. For instance, I have not read her entries, but I know of a few examples. First, if I wanted to keep the grilled chicken sandwiches on wheat bread after we got on the plane. Why weren't they in my bag? Why did Briana have them, and as a result get us stopped for Quarantine. Most likely what happened was Briana saw a cute puppy and after a 14 hour plane ride wanted to play with it, which resulted in what was short of an international crime. Example 2 - she could have stopped us from walking through the Royal Botanical Gardens at night, so it wasn't my fault we went through it ... it was actually a great experience.
So where to begin? I'm not sure if you really want me to go back and retell my experiences, so you can compare them with Briana's, so I'll just give you my basic commentary on Australia. The part you don't read in the books!
Overall, people in Australia may be the poster children for bipolar disorder. We've encountered many a nice person who wouldn't mind giving us advice on where to go or even take our picture. Nevertheless, there have been times where they just all of a sudden whip out some crazy. The first shining example is when Briana and I were near "The House" (that's what us who are in the know call the Opera House), and some nice woman came over and saw us struggle to do a party pic. She asked if we wanted help. We said sure and she was nice enough to take a picture. Well, then...the inner psycho came out. She said that now we could take her picture, and not just of her but of her baby that was in a stroller a couple of meters away (yeah, I said it meters, not feet...I think the metric system is cool also it makes things seem a lot longer away, esp when comparing km to miles). And then she was asking questions about us and why we were here. But when we asked her....we got the sense that she was here because the baby she left in the distance is probably stolen and she came to Australia to start a new life because no one really remembers to look at Australia for basically anything (it's true...you should see the news they have).
The only other major example of crazy in the land down under is that when ordering coffee here, you would think that one would be greeted with clarifying questions with an air of good customer service. However, in Australia ordering coffee is equivalent to starting a gang fight where in the morning I thought the waitress from Famous Roys was going to punch me...I felt threatened.
All in all, Australia has been really great. As Carmen informed us they have amazing street signs here! And at all the cross walks they say "Look Right" just as a friendly reminder to travelers where as in the US they would rather put "You Had It Coming" on the fender of every car. As Briana has mentioned we have seen a lot of great sites and as Briana will mention yesterday we went on the Coast Trail that goes from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach which is written in all the books (which should be written as a dead man march filled with an obscene amount of stairs...which is probably also why it cuts through a cemetary just in case you really do think it's the end of you).
Well Briana is sitting next to me and talking about what our plan for the day should be...and then she'll blog. Peace!
I believe that many of you who have been reading this blog are familiar with Briana's...lets just call them "recounts" of our journeys. I don't want to out right call them lies...maybe just twists on reality. For instance, I have not read her entries, but I know of a few examples. First, if I wanted to keep the grilled chicken sandwiches on wheat bread after we got on the plane. Why weren't they in my bag? Why did Briana have them, and as a result get us stopped for Quarantine. Most likely what happened was Briana saw a cute puppy and after a 14 hour plane ride wanted to play with it, which resulted in what was short of an international crime. Example 2 - she could have stopped us from walking through the Royal Botanical Gardens at night, so it wasn't my fault we went through it ... it was actually a great experience.
So where to begin? I'm not sure if you really want me to go back and retell my experiences, so you can compare them with Briana's, so I'll just give you my basic commentary on Australia. The part you don't read in the books!
Overall, people in Australia may be the poster children for bipolar disorder. We've encountered many a nice person who wouldn't mind giving us advice on where to go or even take our picture. Nevertheless, there have been times where they just all of a sudden whip out some crazy. The first shining example is when Briana and I were near "The House" (that's what us who are in the know call the Opera House), and some nice woman came over and saw us struggle to do a party pic. She asked if we wanted help. We said sure and she was nice enough to take a picture. Well, then...the inner psycho came out. She said that now we could take her picture, and not just of her but of her baby that was in a stroller a couple of meters away (yeah, I said it meters, not feet...I think the metric system is cool also it makes things seem a lot longer away, esp when comparing km to miles). And then she was asking questions about us and why we were here. But when we asked her....we got the sense that she was here because the baby she left in the distance is probably stolen and she came to Australia to start a new life because no one really remembers to look at Australia for basically anything (it's true...you should see the news they have).
The only other major example of crazy in the land down under is that when ordering coffee here, you would think that one would be greeted with clarifying questions with an air of good customer service. However, in Australia ordering coffee is equivalent to starting a gang fight where in the morning I thought the waitress from Famous Roys was going to punch me...I felt threatened.
All in all, Australia has been really great. As Carmen informed us they have amazing street signs here! And at all the cross walks they say "Look Right" just as a friendly reminder to travelers where as in the US they would rather put "You Had It Coming" on the fender of every car. As Briana has mentioned we have seen a lot of great sites and as Briana will mention yesterday we went on the Coast Trail that goes from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach which is written in all the books (which should be written as a dead man march filled with an obscene amount of stairs...which is probably also why it cuts through a cemetary just in case you really do think it's the end of you).
Well Briana is sitting next to me and talking about what our plan for the day should be...and then she'll blog. Peace!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Sleepy, indeed
...yup...that blog ended just as my night did: Mid-thought. Try as I might, I couldn't stay awake past 8:30 pm. So I stopped fighting, and went to sleep. At 3:38 am, I was wide awake, but fortunately, I quickly fell back asleep until 7:30 this morning. As we sleepily awoke, we both shared our funny stories of the night (me and my dream that AJ set us an alarm clock of TV theme songs, and AJ being woken by a street cleaner that he thought was "the big one" following us to Sydney!)
So we are officially in day two of our trip (kind of...we left on Friday, Saturday disappeared, now it's Monday). We are off to do more Sydney exploring today.
I think I'm one step closer to getting AJ to share some of his thoughts on the blog as well, so with any luck, it won't just be my accounts you'll have to read. But let's be honest, I'm much more enjoyable than he is!!! ;-)
So we are officially in day two of our trip (kind of...we left on Friday, Saturday disappeared, now it's Monday). We are off to do more Sydney exploring today.
I think I'm one step closer to getting AJ to share some of his thoughts on the blog as well, so with any luck, it won't just be my accounts you'll have to read. But let's be honest, I'm much more enjoyable than he is!!! ;-)
Quarantined to Bats
We have officially arrived safe and sound to Australia! And already, we've had quite the adventure.
The 14-hour flight turned out to be less painful than expected. We got settled into our seats (48 j/k ... no seriously, J & K!) and soon after were served a surprisingly delicious meal (kinda like my favorite tv dinner as a child...salisbury steak...with a brownie!) I think we both slept the majority of the flight, because before we knew it, there were less than two hours before we were due to land in Sydney. AJ and I are both huge fans of maps, so the fact that they would regularly have the map of our progress on the tv screens was a plus. I took lots of pictures (which sadly I can't share from this computer, but I promise to post as soon as possible). AJ, of course, made fun of me, but I know he secretly loves the map pictures!
Once we landed, we jumped off of the plane and headed toward baggage claim, ready to officially begin our vacation. And, we definitely start with a bang! While waiting for our bags to come down the carousal, we met one of Australia's favorite animals...the security beagle who sniffs out your bags to make sure you aren't bringing any illegal items into the country. Confidently, I placed my carry-ons on the ground so that the adorable little beagle could sniff them out and clear me to enter the country. As the beagle came by, he sniffed and sniffed...and sniffed and sniffed and sniffed. I started to worry slightly, not knowing what he could be smelling, but then he finally moved on. As I turned my attention back to the carousal, the beagle came back for more sniffs, closely followed by a woman asking me if I had any food in my bag. I said, "Yes! I have an unopened bag of pretzels. And I claimed it!" quickly showing her my arrival/customs card. I opened my bag to show her my pretzels, thinking it was weird the beagle was so concerned about them, when she quickly produced two chicken sandwiches. Suddenly, a foggy memory of the middle of the plane ride came flooding back. AJ and I woke up to find the flight attendants passing out sandwiches as a mid-flight snack. Though neither of us were hungry, we took them for later. And when we were getting ready to land, I was about to throw them out, when AJ said we should take them just in case. This is what was going through my head as the woman began making notes on our arrival cards, which she stamped "QUARANTINED." So, after grabbing our bags, we shamefully made our way to the "Quanrantined" line and began laughing at ourselves. Fortunately, we made it through the line without further mishap, and we're free to roam about the country!
Once in arrivals, we followed my mother's directive and went straight to Vodafone to get ourselves a phone to use. Our new friend, Rischi, was extremely helpful in picking out our Australian plan, so we decided to honor him by naming our new phone after him. We called said mother to let her know we were okay and then called our hostel so that the shuttle could come get us. We made our way over to the "Meeting Point," which is actually a large blue wall with orange lettering that says "The Meeting Point." Clever for tourists, but unfortunate that the lettering is in Comic Sans (We took a picture in honor of JMac and Marci!) And when the shuttle arrived, we officially set foot on Australian soil for the first time.
We arrived to the Original Backpackers in King's Cross by 9:30 a.m., and already it felt like the day was half over. When I sat down on my bed, I was instantly convinced that I needed a nap, but fortunately AJ is enough of a nag to not let that happen. So we got dressed and headed to the front desk so that Mandy could direct us on a walking adventure of the city. And walking we did...
First stop, 'Roy's Famous.' Despite AJ being annoyed at the name ("Roy's famous what???"), we thoroughly enjoyed the food. And AJ had his first ever real coffee (you know, the kind you don't see in America. Very, very dark in color with film on top) so we were positive he'd now be awake for days. And once our bellies were fed, we began an eight hour walk of Sydney.
Down the stairs, across a quay and up a second set of stairs to the Royal Botanical Gardens. These gardens are beautiful! And the weather was amazing! 70 degrees farenheit without a drip of humidity in the air. We were thoroughly enjoying our trek until we started hearing a bizarre sound. I looked up into the trees, and at first I thought I was seeing thousands of cocoons. But quickly we realized we were looking at bats. And real bats. Furry heads, dracula-like wings. Moving and talking like they were just waiting until nightfall to attack. We were mesmerized, so we began taking tons of pictures, and reminded ourselves to take a different path home at the end of the day.
As we made our way toward the end of the gardens to Mrs. Macquarie's Point, we began to see the top of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. And the first corner that we turned, when we spotted the House in it's full glory for the first time, I slapped AJ across the arm and said, "Holy shit, we're in Australia!" And that was when the endless pictures and endless steps ensued. We took pictures of the Opera House and the Bridge from every angle (Mrs. Macquarie's Point, the Royal Gardens, on the steps of the Opera House, from the Circular Quay and from the Bridge itself.) Through we decided not to do the climb to the top of the bridge, we definitely took full advantage of walking to the other side of the Bridge and back. The views of Sydney were amazing!
In addition to our hundreds of pictures of the Australian icons, we also had a great time wandering through a market in The Rocks. We sampled Australian salsa, watched a local do glass blowing (and took a picture for you, Yas!), coveted some artwork that we wanted to buy but didn't want to carry around Australian with us. It was a fantastic day, and by 5 pm, our feet were throbbing, and we knew it was time to find food and begin to head back to the hostel. We decided to start walking toward King's Cross and keep our eyes peeled for places to eat on the way. And before we knew it, we were back at the Gardens and remembering our own advice to ourselves from earlier.
But into the Gardens we went. And sure enough, with the sky almost to black and the foreboding sounds approaching, we knew we were about to come face to face with our new friends, the bats! The sky was covered in swarming bats! They were flying about and squeaking loudly. Though I logically knew we were safe, I couldn't help but grab AJ's arm as we quickly walked through the area. Our hearts were racing, and we couldn't help but laugh that we were exactly where we told ourselves we shouldn't be earlier in the night. And once we made it to Wooloomooloo Gate and thought we were safe, we realized that the bats continued to swarm (though in much smaller numbers). It was an incredible sight!
Back to King's Cross, we got to experience first-hand why they call it the red light district. Shady people and shady businesses were everywhere. We finally decided to grab a burger and beer at the King's Cross Balcony Cafe, where we sat face-to-face with the giant Coca-Cola sign. And when our meal was done, we hobbled down the street back to the hostel, and tried desperately to stay awake as long as possible (it was only 7 pm!)
We both took showers, extending our awake time...
The 14-hour flight turned out to be less painful than expected. We got settled into our seats (48 j/k ... no seriously, J & K!) and soon after were served a surprisingly delicious meal (kinda like my favorite tv dinner as a child...salisbury steak...with a brownie!) I think we both slept the majority of the flight, because before we knew it, there were less than two hours before we were due to land in Sydney. AJ and I are both huge fans of maps, so the fact that they would regularly have the map of our progress on the tv screens was a plus. I took lots of pictures (which sadly I can't share from this computer, but I promise to post as soon as possible). AJ, of course, made fun of me, but I know he secretly loves the map pictures!
Once we landed, we jumped off of the plane and headed toward baggage claim, ready to officially begin our vacation. And, we definitely start with a bang! While waiting for our bags to come down the carousal, we met one of Australia's favorite animals...the security beagle who sniffs out your bags to make sure you aren't bringing any illegal items into the country. Confidently, I placed my carry-ons on the ground so that the adorable little beagle could sniff them out and clear me to enter the country. As the beagle came by, he sniffed and sniffed...and sniffed and sniffed and sniffed. I started to worry slightly, not knowing what he could be smelling, but then he finally moved on. As I turned my attention back to the carousal, the beagle came back for more sniffs, closely followed by a woman asking me if I had any food in my bag. I said, "Yes! I have an unopened bag of pretzels. And I claimed it!" quickly showing her my arrival/customs card. I opened my bag to show her my pretzels, thinking it was weird the beagle was so concerned about them, when she quickly produced two chicken sandwiches. Suddenly, a foggy memory of the middle of the plane ride came flooding back. AJ and I woke up to find the flight attendants passing out sandwiches as a mid-flight snack. Though neither of us were hungry, we took them for later. And when we were getting ready to land, I was about to throw them out, when AJ said we should take them just in case. This is what was going through my head as the woman began making notes on our arrival cards, which she stamped "QUARANTINED." So, after grabbing our bags, we shamefully made our way to the "Quanrantined" line and began laughing at ourselves. Fortunately, we made it through the line without further mishap, and we're free to roam about the country!
Once in arrivals, we followed my mother's directive and went straight to Vodafone to get ourselves a phone to use. Our new friend, Rischi, was extremely helpful in picking out our Australian plan, so we decided to honor him by naming our new phone after him. We called said mother to let her know we were okay and then called our hostel so that the shuttle could come get us. We made our way over to the "Meeting Point," which is actually a large blue wall with orange lettering that says "The Meeting Point." Clever for tourists, but unfortunate that the lettering is in Comic Sans (We took a picture in honor of JMac and Marci!) And when the shuttle arrived, we officially set foot on Australian soil for the first time.
We arrived to the Original Backpackers in King's Cross by 9:30 a.m., and already it felt like the day was half over. When I sat down on my bed, I was instantly convinced that I needed a nap, but fortunately AJ is enough of a nag to not let that happen. So we got dressed and headed to the front desk so that Mandy could direct us on a walking adventure of the city. And walking we did...
First stop, 'Roy's Famous.' Despite AJ being annoyed at the name ("Roy's famous what???"), we thoroughly enjoyed the food. And AJ had his first ever real coffee (you know, the kind you don't see in America. Very, very dark in color with film on top) so we were positive he'd now be awake for days. And once our bellies were fed, we began an eight hour walk of Sydney.
Down the stairs, across a quay and up a second set of stairs to the Royal Botanical Gardens. These gardens are beautiful! And the weather was amazing! 70 degrees farenheit without a drip of humidity in the air. We were thoroughly enjoying our trek until we started hearing a bizarre sound. I looked up into the trees, and at first I thought I was seeing thousands of cocoons. But quickly we realized we were looking at bats. And real bats. Furry heads, dracula-like wings. Moving and talking like they were just waiting until nightfall to attack. We were mesmerized, so we began taking tons of pictures, and reminded ourselves to take a different path home at the end of the day.
As we made our way toward the end of the gardens to Mrs. Macquarie's Point, we began to see the top of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. And the first corner that we turned, when we spotted the House in it's full glory for the first time, I slapped AJ across the arm and said, "Holy shit, we're in Australia!" And that was when the endless pictures and endless steps ensued. We took pictures of the Opera House and the Bridge from every angle (Mrs. Macquarie's Point, the Royal Gardens, on the steps of the Opera House, from the Circular Quay and from the Bridge itself.) Through we decided not to do the climb to the top of the bridge, we definitely took full advantage of walking to the other side of the Bridge and back. The views of Sydney were amazing!
In addition to our hundreds of pictures of the Australian icons, we also had a great time wandering through a market in The Rocks. We sampled Australian salsa, watched a local do glass blowing (and took a picture for you, Yas!), coveted some artwork that we wanted to buy but didn't want to carry around Australian with us. It was a fantastic day, and by 5 pm, our feet were throbbing, and we knew it was time to find food and begin to head back to the hostel. We decided to start walking toward King's Cross and keep our eyes peeled for places to eat on the way. And before we knew it, we were back at the Gardens and remembering our own advice to ourselves from earlier.
But into the Gardens we went. And sure enough, with the sky almost to black and the foreboding sounds approaching, we knew we were about to come face to face with our new friends, the bats! The sky was covered in swarming bats! They were flying about and squeaking loudly. Though I logically knew we were safe, I couldn't help but grab AJ's arm as we quickly walked through the area. Our hearts were racing, and we couldn't help but laugh that we were exactly where we told ourselves we shouldn't be earlier in the night. And once we made it to Wooloomooloo Gate and thought we were safe, we realized that the bats continued to swarm (though in much smaller numbers). It was an incredible sight!
Back to King's Cross, we got to experience first-hand why they call it the red light district. Shady people and shady businesses were everywhere. We finally decided to grab a burger and beer at the King's Cross Balcony Cafe, where we sat face-to-face with the giant Coca-Cola sign. And when our meal was done, we hobbled down the street back to the hostel, and tried desperately to stay awake as long as possible (it was only 7 pm!)
We both took showers, extending our awake time...
Friday, May 22, 2009
The Beginning
Our plane leaves in approximately four hours. AJ is just starting to pack now. I'm dreading doing dishes, but know it's imperative before I leave. Clearly, we're off to a good start! Australia, here we come!
The Plan
Friday, May 22 ... Los Angeles to Sydney
Saturday, May 23 ... Somehow disappears...weird!
Sunday, May 24 ... Sydney
Monday, May 25 ... Sydney
Tuesday, May 26 ... Sydney to Melbourne
Wednesday, May 27 ... Melbourne
Thursday, May 28 ... Melbourne to Adelaide
Friday, May 29 ... Barossa Valley
Saturday, May 30 ... Kangaroo Island
Sunday, May 31 ... Kangaroo Island
Monday, June 1 ... Adelaide to Alice Springs
Tuesday, June 2 ... Red Center
Wednesday, June 3 ... Red Center
Thursday, June 4 ... Red Center
Friday, June 5 ... Alice Springs to Cairns
Saturday, June 6 ... Cairns
Sunday, June 7 ... Cairns
Monday, June 8 ... Cairns
Tuesday, June 9 ... Cairns to Sydney
Wednesday, June 10 ... Sydney
Thursday, June 11 ... Blue Mountains
Friday, June 12 ... Sydney to Los Angeles
Saturday, May 23 ... Somehow disappears...weird!
Sunday, May 24 ... Sydney
Monday, May 25 ... Sydney
Tuesday, May 26 ... Sydney to Melbourne
Wednesday, May 27 ... Melbourne
Thursday, May 28 ... Melbourne to Adelaide
Friday, May 29 ... Barossa Valley
Saturday, May 30 ... Kangaroo Island
Sunday, May 31 ... Kangaroo Island
Monday, June 1 ... Adelaide to Alice Springs
Tuesday, June 2 ... Red Center
Wednesday, June 3 ... Red Center
Thursday, June 4 ... Red Center
Friday, June 5 ... Alice Springs to Cairns
Saturday, June 6 ... Cairns
Sunday, June 7 ... Cairns
Monday, June 8 ... Cairns
Tuesday, June 9 ... Cairns to Sydney
Wednesday, June 10 ... Sydney
Thursday, June 11 ... Blue Mountains
Friday, June 12 ... Sydney to Los Angeles
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