Coming Home 12-15-2008

12-15-2008

The end of the holiday: Yes in two hours or less we will be boarding our A380 bound for LA.
It has been a good vacation - a lot of concentrated effort went into the planning and execution. We had a 95%+ success rate on everything. The flights were on time the rental cars were there, when we had a potential down day we converted it into something worthwhile. There were a couple of accommodations that were marginal but really only in Melbourne. The people we dealt with were all very nice. This is a nice part of the world. I never got the feeling that some one wanted me to take down my pants for a good shagging.
Our last couple of nights were spent in a low budget motel next to the Melbourne airport. The accommodations sucked so we rented a car and had a great day in downtown Melbourne. That is a great city, promenades, river walks, first class art museums!!, terrific public art and wonderful street performers. I even got into the act as one of the helpers for a comedian juggler who was really funny and cheeky as they say here. He had a very mixed crowd with a lot of young kids and he had several references to his balls and all of the kids laughed. The kids knew what the jokes were about, I guess that is what happens when you grow up in a pretty rough and tumble culture. It was kind of nice.

The best deal on the trip was the car rentals and the price of gas. It probably cost us about $8 US for every 100 miles we drove and our car hire expense for the 35 days was probably around $750. Rooms averaged $75 a night which is around $2800. Food and drink was probably around $1600, Gas around $150 and tours etc $500 Air fare around $2200. Ok so what does that up to = $7500 US for the total cost of 5 weeks traveling with a car, with nice accommodations, traveling to 2 countries (almost 3 considering Tasmania) and taking the occasional tours. Not cheap but a great value.
This time we took advantage of the lessons learned in previous trips we stayed at several locations for 2-3 days and 4 days in one case. It made the trip much more enjoyable. We also brought a cooler with us which was the right size - it was great we used it for food when we got somewhere and for packing stuff when we flew. I highly recommend that. Kathy used a clip on reading light regularly; I used a flashlight for the occasional midnight pee. Having a car when you are in an undesirable place is key - just get in the thing and drive to the nearest vineyard.
Kathy thinks that the trip went on about a week too long. I know what she is talking about - how many vineyards and harbor cruises can you go on until it becomes meaningless. That said I enjoyed the last couple of days exploring Melbourne and we would have had a very negative impression if we had just returned and gotten on the plane home.
The architecture in this place is first rate and superior to most things being built in the US. Over here Frank Gherry would be considered a marginal architect in my opinion because he is all about the form and puts little effort into the space.

I am looking forward to getting back at it even though it will be frustrating and slow at times. I need to get back to some training routine just for my health.

Tasmainia 12-12-2008

12-12-2008

Sitting in a coffee shop in Hobart having my drink of choice a cappuccino Spent the last couple of days in Tasmania, did a lot of driving probably 250 miles. This place is not what you would expect. It is generally dry - and there are many huge sand beaches, the sun is warm and the water is cold. We spent one day at the beach walking. We stayed at a hostel in the beach town. The building was very attractive and new. Kathy enjoyed talking to the German guests. The next morning we dove back to Hobart via Port Arthur the most notable of the Australian prison system. The British were actually doing state of the art experiments here - including the first sensory deprivation cell. The complex stretched out across a small bay and included a couple of small adjacent islands used for a boy’s prison and a cemetery. The sentence from England was pretty much the same 7 years of "transportation" then if you ever got out you had to earn money for the trip home - not any made it back.

Well only 3 more days. My experience after this trip is that you go through periods where you wish you were back home -they come and go. When you stop to appreciate the fact that you are living in what sometimes feels like someone else’s life. This can't be me I should be home working. Another tip is doing this while you can manage for yourself especially driving if that is necessary. This kind of travel is tiring - changing modes - lifting luggage - constantly changing accommodations - customs at the airport - numerous car rentals. I am really glad that we made this opportunity happen. You can sit on the sidelines and wonder or you can get busy and head in a direction not knowing all of the details - but isn't that life.

Kathy has done well on the trip participating in many hikes, acting as navigator, and making arrangements for accommodation. She has to work to carry the extra weight. I have tried to be a good influence on her in terms of nutrition. She did better on this trip - although she still believes that you have to eat three meals per day, she doesn't fully understand the concept of daily calorie totals and she buys candy secretly eats it. Oh well baby steps as my son Chris says I think she improved.

I would have had less fun if I didn't go to the vineyards - another reason to watch my consumption. I read an article in Men’s Journal written by a guy who liked to drink but didn't want to become an alcoholic because he didn't want to have to give it all up - I fall into that category.

I just got a suggestion from the owner of the shop that I should head south about an hour to a river area and then work my way back on some back roads.

Later

Back in Christchurch 12-6-2008

12-06-2008

Back in Christchurch -Vineyards -Glass Studio- Picton - Lockmara Lodge - Tony - Blenhem: Rolled into Christchurch last night after a few more days at the north end of the Island.
Everyday when you get up on one of these trips and you are around people their first question is where are you headed. It may sound crazy but I never say where I just give them a direction - like yesterday I said "we are headed south but I don't know where we will end up. Generally I have an idea of where our max range is. Yesterday it would have been two hours east of Christchurch.
We took off from Moteuka a few days ago and headed toward Picton based on a suggestion by a young swiss couple in their 20s. They recommended this eco-art-lodge on some island in the Marbrough Sound that you had to get to by water taxi. So I used skype and called to make a tenetive reservation the morning we left because not only do you have to make sure they have room you also have to know if there is water taxi service at your arrival time. There was space and the water taxi was leaving at 3:15 if we could make it. I was about 300km and we had the day so if figured we could do it. We were up in the NZ wine country supposedly the sunshine belt so as we made our way we stopped at a well know vineyard Neubauer. Moving on toward Nelson our tour book mentioned a glass blowing studio we saw the sign an checked it out, first class work!! Back in the car and on to Picton. Picton is where the north island - south island ferries land. The place would be crazy in the US but here there was activity but not craziness. We figured out where the water taxi was and had a picnic lunch. When we got to the dock out transportation had just left but another boat owmer called the taxi a the guy turned around and picked us up. After about a 20 minute ride we arrived at the lodge. The taxi driver let two school kids off at a home on the way turns out he is the lodge owner and those were his kids. The place was only a few years old but it seemed older than that. About 20 units ours was 115NZ per night or about $70 US.

Shawn the owner supports the arts and has a studion and art director there to provide space for artists. They in turn provide art which is all over the place. The immedate grounds involve about 5 acres and have llamas, an aviary, reptile enclosures, sheep, chickens, glow worms, a hot tub and a true gormet restaurant with a great wine list.



Here is Kathy holding a palm fron

They provided free kayaks and snorkeling gear - I went for a great perosonal kayak one morning, I used the snorkel gear one afternoon (not much going on underwater) and Kathy and I hiked a bit of the Queen Charlotte Tract which this area is known for. That night we drank a bottle of wine and had salmon at the restaurant - it was great. Many travelers from the track and sea kayak outfitters spend a night or two during their journeys stay here. The next morning I got up and saw this guy paddeling his kayak in. He was a Brit who had recently moved his family to the area after essentially retiring at age 38 from building a high risk window cleaning business in London. What a character - he dropped out of school when he was 13 and had traveled spending about 5 years in Australia being among other things a toilet cleaner, camping guide and camel driver on a ranch-station near Ayers Rock. His body was all tatooed with sayings. On his chest was never give up and on his back was "time and tide wait for no one". He gave us a couple of recommendations on things to see - we listened to his great stories for a couple of hours before the water taxi took us back. He says the New Zealanders don't care for the "bloody pom's" I guess POM stands for "prisioners of her magesty"which is pretty much all Brits and it may also be Australians. After another 6 hour session of NZ championship driving I was cooked so we stopped in Christchurch - we will be heading for Akaroa on the coast later this morning. 3 more days and it is off to Melbourne for a 24 layover and then Tasmania for 4 days before heading back.

Akwora East Coast

12-07-2008

Akawroa: It is a mixed day here on the east coast 2 hours from Christchurch, it is cold and windy with some clear sky at times. I am really missing clear weather!!! The bay here is very pretty but it is small surrounded by hills so a long distance run would be difficult, so maybe I will just walk laps. I miss my running and cycling routes. I guess that is why you go on these extended journeys - they help you appreciate your routines.
When I was getting up this morning I was dreading getting up to another cloudy day so I decided to take some action and go to the bakery, have a capuccino and read the guide on tasmainia. Guys it will be more of the same a cloudy cold maritime climate for another week so I better come up with a plan - maybe it will be hiking. Hiking believe it or not has been getting to my knees. We bought some trecking poles but by the time I get done with a 3 hour hike I am hurting. Oh well I will just have to get back to the flat land.
Today we will probably do a harbor cruise. They are nice but we have done so many this trip that they are loosing their specialness, yo don't want that to happen. I have been downing quite a bit of wine - it is easy in a land known for it. That hasn't been helping my athletic performace. Vacations are for letting go but I am letting my bad habits get in the way.

My daughter nikki knows about "Wicked" van rentals. They have crazy images and sayings painted on new vans. My favorite was "great legs - what time do they open up". In some ways I am ready to climb back into the saddle. One more week
later

Waiukoropupu Springs, Kaiteriteri Beach

12-3-2008
Motueka, Waiukoropupu Springs, Kaiteriteri Beach:

Yesterday we did a bunch of driving in the area. We drove over a pass into what was supposed to be a cool hippie town, but it wasn't that cool and the art wasn't very good. The landscape continues to be impressive. We stopped at some springs where the water was gushing in huge quantities. The water quality is reported to be the best on earth its only rival is a spring in the ant artic somewhere.
I wanted to get in the water on a beach the weather was perfect. After checking a wind swept beach full of wood and debris that was said to be good we headed back for another-Kaiteriteri. The water and condition were great. I put on my wet suit and went for a long swim along the outlet to the bay. I kept an eye on the mooring lines of the boats in the bay making sure that I wasn't swimming into a strong ebb tide. You can tell by watching how the boats swing off their mooring lines. I was able to watch the cormorants up close they regarded me as some sort of strange seal.
Afterward I got out and relaxed and laid in the sun for about an hour, it was perfect. I went glacier hiking on Sunday and sunbathing on the beach on Tuesday - California can't match this. If this place were in the US it would be mobbed. We missed out on wine tasting but it isn't as if I haven't been drinking my share of wine. Our room for the last few days has been great - modern new appliances, a plasma TV.... and it is only $71 per night. Today we head east I am not sure where we will wind up. There is an eco-lodge we have heard of maybe we will find our way there.

In Moteuka NZ

12-02-2008

Having a cappuccino in the bakery down the way from the motel: Had a travel day Monday (8 hours of championship driving NZ style) and a day of riding water taxis and tramping in the Able Tasman Reserve. Today we will probably hit the beach and some springs. It sure is nice knowing that my job is still putting money in the account because we are spending it.
Jobs - next year I will be faced with a choice of "retiring". I will probably have to continue. It is sort of funny that people who have jobs that have responsibility have more grounded opinions. It is one thing to say you are in favor of wind power for instance and another if you are actually basing your future on its success. I am engaged in this open space thing. I have to do things I don't always like to do (not immoral, just unpleasant and time wasting) but I believe I am making a difference. When you are retired all you can do is sit in the stands and have opinions. I would rather be a player. That is why my friend the chiefdude is still working; beside the fact he probably can use the money.
We stayed with some nice retired people. You could tell that money was an issue even though they said that their quality of life was much better since leaving work in their late 40's. They had built a small complex including a house that was very nice - and now they are renting them out to people like us. The guy said that he has to negotiate his purchases with his wife. Who wants that?
I still want to do some traveling. I don't want to have to worry about money. Like everyone else I lost about 25% of my equity in real-estate and savings in the last 4 months. I was relatively poor when I was a kid I don't want that again. My (perhaps unfounded) fear of being confined by lack of money is stronger than my fear of work.

Later

Franz Josef Glacier 11-30-2008

My keyboad on my PDA is giving me problems - about 5 of the keays aren't working so I am just going to post a few photos. We continue to have a great time a we are seeing some of the best scenery in the world. Most of it is between 2,000 and 6,000 feet so Kathy is not having any health issues to speak of. We drove to Milford Sound, on the way back hiked Key Summit (it was like being in the alps. Then we spent 10 hours driving north and wound up a the Fraz Josef Glacier which start just a few hundred feet above sea level here aon the coast. I went on a guide hike up into the glacier, crampons, ice axes, ropes the whole thing with about 13 others. Hiking a glacier is one of the things you should do if you are able before you die. Here are photos

11-26-08 Underwear, Doubtful Sound

11-26-08
Ta Anui, woolen tee's, cold, fjord land, Queenstown cluster: Yesterday we put in 4.5 hours of driving in. The drive wasn't that long 150 miles but it was pretty spectacular, big gorges, mountains rising fro lakes. We drove from Wanaka to Queenstown.
Q was a real cluster crowded congested confusing. Every place calling itself the extreme activity center, after 10 min I said we have to get ot of here. That said it must have been beautiful before all of this, the natural setting is dramatic.

Mike and Maggie

Our hosts Mike and Maggie told us that Doughtful Sound not the traditional Milford Sound was the trip to do, so we are going on that today $520NZ about $300uS not cheap. We have a boat ride across a lake transfer to a bus arrive at the sound and then a 3 hour cruise. The weather has been by Vegas standards terrible, rainy, windy and 50 degrees - welcome to summer on the south island. I want the cloud ceiling to rise so we get those postcard views but it will be what it will be.
underwear-tee shirts: since I was here last time I have wanted to get a couple of wool crew tee's. This time I scored. Everyone here raves about their woolen light weight shirts - you can apparently hike in the for 4 days before you start to smell. I couldn't find them on my last trip this time they were in large supply in the outdoor stores. I ran in one yesterday and it is true, not only that, I washed it in the sink last night and it is dry this morning-perfect. Icebreaker is the brand check it out on the Internet if your interested.

Wanaka Day 3

Wanaka day 3: Things are going fairly well. Kathy took a spill on the art bike ride hurt her hip area, and then last night she stumbled as she got out of bed and went down on it again.
The last couple of days we have been going on walks and hikes.

Yesterday was particularly interesting. We hiked to the base of the Rob Roy Glacier. On or way to the trailhead we were faced with about 10 stream crossings. We have a worn out passenger car and I did not want to cross them. At the first we stopped and we were prepared to park, then two young guys in a similar car drove up took a look and did it. I looked at Kathy and she said what the heck. We did it and while I was nervous at every other ford we made it. When we drove back in the rain we picked up a Swiss couple who had parked there and decided to walk instead of risking it.

It was about a 4.5 hour hike with a 20 minute stop at the top. Kathy did pretty well. To her credit she does not complain - she gets it done. I let her set the pace and followed. We went up a valley which contained a couple of ecosystems; I would say we climbed about 2500 feet. At certain points it was very jungle like. I was raining lightly when we returned to the car. I wanted to get out before the streams rose.

The best way to describe the pristine nature of the area – it is like we are traveling in an environment similar to what Lewis and Clark found with bed and breakfast.
Last night we had pizza at a very cool rock building with a fireplace.
We rented a video recommended by our hosts - Once we were Warriors. It was about a lower class Maori family - it was brutal. These guys are the ultimate mocho guys. Although I was tired I could not fall asleep until the end.

Wanaka New Zealand 11-22-08

The ride to Wanaka, staying at a stone guest house: We took Nikki's advice and headed west to a place called Wanaka about 50 kilometers north of Queenstown. Nikki recommended it over the more popular destination. The guide books call it the new version of old Queenstown - smaller and less congested with access to all that the other has to offer.
It was like driving in southern Colorado - the roads were flat and there was farming. This is totally different from the north island, which is more fern jungle and lush.
The ride over took about 6.5 hours - not short. When we arrived as is our custom we went to the "I" center to find accommodation.
Kathy asked for the usual motel but at this point I had it with motels so I said we were looking for more intimate accommodations’ where we could meet our hosts. The lady went to the wall with all of the brochures and came back with several. We chose one a two unit set up for 4 nights. Turns out it was a great choice. We are staying in a stone guest house on the edge of Lake Wanaka with a New Zealand couple about our age that built the place and like to drink red wine and tell stories. This is the kind of thing you look and hope for on the road - people who are local who can guide you during your visit.


The weather continues to be a bit blustery - cloudy and cool. We will see what the day brings, maybe some bike riding or a hike.



Later

New Zealand 11-21-08

Christchurch lives up to its reputation: I did an 11k run from the motel downtown and around the 2 large parks that form the western side of the area. The school kids are always learning cool outdor skills and involved in sports. Here is a practice rope swing to a ledge.

A cricket practice


The weather was cool and overcast. I wound up as I do when things are working right at major features, the museum of natural history -sounds like a sleeper right. They had some great scenes of Maoris killing the giant moa birds now extinct. There was a teacher who was explaining the early years of Maori and Europeans. The early settlers brought with them their animals including their bird’s cats and rabbits which fared well but did a lot of damage.
Later in the day we went back to the arts center - got so e free bikes and road the park, went to the botanical garden, road the river, back to the museum, dropped off the bikes, to the bar across the street and then back to the museum for some free wine and a band concert. All of the attractions with the exception of the bar were free. This city appreciates its inhabitants!!!



As usual we saw any kids with instructors learning how to ford rivers on a zip line, swing on ropes to cross obstacles and playing sports such as cricket, very cool. All of them had their school sport coats and ties on, shorts and long socks.

New Zealand 11-20-08

New Zealand Days 1-2: Landed shortly after ,midnight a couple of days ago. The flight over was 3 hours, it went well, good movie. The room we got was pretty dingy, but when we woke up the daylight revealed that it was clean - that is a huge issue for Kathy. When we rolled out I asked if we could stay another night - they were completely booked with a waiting list - so it was back to finding accomodation. I walked down the street to the bank to get some NZ cash and found a great place for $130 NZ at .59 exchange rate it is about $70 US.
One of the things that I haven't mentioned yet is the fact that residential architecture in both Australia and New Zealand is far superior to the US. I don't know how they teach this in their architecture schools but they know what they are doing. They are especially good at dealing with the details and demensions of the craft. They custom design a lot more of the work - they don't go to the catalogue - pick standard parts(railings ie) out and then try to piece them together. By having an in depth appreciation and knowledge of materials they design things that are not over structured (things are sized to carry the load not twice as big as they should be just because that is what is available off the shelf). I am jellous. Here when you hire an architect to work on the design of your small building you really get something.

Yesterday we picked up the hired vehicle at juicy rentals, a place Nikki recommended. This place features older cars at cheap prices. We will be paying around $400 US for 3 weeks. We got a 96 toyota something or other. It has a cassette player. We had to bring the original rental back because the brakes were squeeking. Oh well it is cheap and in some ways a car is a car.

We started touring the city a bit it is very beautiful - green many parks and open spaces. The kids in schools all have uniforms and in Christchurch they include a sport coat for both girls and guys with shorts for guys and a skirt for the girls.

There is talk here of bad times but you don't see the signs like the US. It is more fear that reality for these folks.

Last night we filled up the spa tub and had the best bath I have had in years. We have a spa tub at home but our water heater was not sized to meet the tub requirements so we never use it- see what I mean about architects.

Tomorrow we will be taking off somewhere, we don't have a plan yet. The sea coast is to the east - wine country to the north - and the fojords and outdoor stuff to the west and south. Right now I am thinking west and south. I think I will try to locate a bicycle shop and see if there are any events going on that I could jump into.

Later,

Australia 11-17-2008

Here we are on Phillip Island south of Melbourne. We drove in from Apollo Bay yesterday. Beautiful drive along the Great Ocean Road. This road is lined with great surfing locations - better than California for sure and they aren't crowded. We stopped in a town named Loren when we saw about 70 people on the beach. It turns out they were there for an adventure race practice. They were going to start the practice with a 1200 yard swim -I almost jumped in for the swim but we had a ways to go to get to the island. We took a ferry from Queenscliff to Serento avoiding Melbourne streets.

As is our custom we always stop at the "I" Information building, to line up accomodation and in this case we made arrangements to see the penguin march. This takes place along a beach on the south part of the island at about7:30 pm.

We wound up renting a cabin in what the call a camper van park. The cabin is a nice little prebuilt mini building, new a very comfortable.
By this time it was 4:00 I was tired of driving and ready to get in the cold water and see if I could still swim. I put my wet suit on and went for a 50 minute swim, keeping an eye out for shark fins. I know there aren't any but when you are by yourself in strange cold waters you always have a uneasy feeling. The swim felt great.
This morning the news reported on a huge storm north at Brisbane and Sydney 180,000 homes without power.
The economic downturn is on all the news station, but from what I can tell it really has not hit here. The big concern is that if China slows down then it will effect the country. So US purchases of Chineese goods is how our economy will effect Australia.

The weather has been cool sweater and jacket weather with periods of sun.

Phillip Island

11-17-2008

Here we are on Phillip Island south of Melbourne. We drove in from Apollo Bay yesterday, beautiful drive along the Great Ocean Road. This road is lined with great surfing locations - better than California for sure and they aren't crowded. We stopped in a town named Loren when we saw about 70 people on the beach. It turns out they were there for an adventure race practice. They were going to start the practice with a 1200 yard swim -I almost jumped in for the swim but we had a ways to go to get to the island. We took a ferry from Queenscliff to Serento avoiding Melbourne streets.

As is our custom we always stop at the "I" Information building, to line up accommodation and in this case we made arrangements to see the penguin march. This takes place along a beach on the south part of the island at about7:30 pm.

We wound up renting a cabin in what the call a camper van park. The cabin is a nice little pre-built mini building, new a very comfortable.



By this time it was 4:00 I was tired of driving and ready to get in the cold water and see if I could still swim. I put my wet suit on and went for a 50 minute swim, keeping an eye out for shark fins. I know there aren't any but when you are by yourself in strange cold waters you always have an uneasy feeling. The swim felt great.

This morning the news reported on a huge storm north at Brisbane and Sydney 180,000 homes without power.

The economic downturn is on all the news station, but from what I can tell it really has not hit here. The big concern is that if China slows down then it will affect the country. So US purchases of Chinese goods or lack thereof is how our economy will affect Australia.

The weather has been cool sweater and jacket weather with periods of sun. Tonight it is the Penguin Parade and we will light 59 candles for yours truly. Another year spent disregarding what is considered the right things to do in life.

Apollo Bay

11-15-2008

Apollo Bay for the 3rd day: It is cloudy again this morning. Sometimes it feels like the rain just follows us in Australia. We grilled some chicken that we bought at the butcher shop yesterday on the community barbeque. It was good and we knew what we were eating for a change. Kathy likes to eat out all the time no matter how bad the food is or how unhealthy it is, I am hoping I can get through to her about that on this trip - one can always hope.

We hiked a short trail loop in the Otway National Forest yesterday. The route was short but spectacular and the quality of the trail was first class. Metal gratings you walked on suspended above the surface insured that the ground was protected from disturbance. Tall ferns flanked much of the route along with huge eucalyptus trees.


When we came back we grilled the chicken and had a drink about 3:30 then it was nap time. I woke up a couple of hours later groggy I guess I had more wine than I thought. Kathy was still sleeping so I put on my jacket and walked a block to the commercial strip on the coastal highway. The restaurants were doing a pretty good business. I figure most of the people were locals in from farms and weekly jobs for a nice dinner. They were drinking wine rather than beer which seemed surprising for this part of the world. All of the shops and many of the smaller restaurants were closed, this is not Vegas or even a normal city in the US.

11-13-2008

Escape from the city, lord of the flies, Kathy takes a deep breath, US rules, Apollo Bay, Slovaki in Aus, Best Western, run, bowling green.

Kathy seemed to be a little indecisive this morning to I took charge and said we would go to the great ocean road on the coast and I set the GPS for the YHA Hostel in Apollo Bay. The locals said that it was a one and a half hour trip but it wound up being about 3 at our pace. Today the GPS worked fairly well as we made our way through the streets of Melbourne on our way out.


Assaut Vehicle
We headed towards Touque on the coast which is where you pick up the coastal route. As we left that town there was a sign that read Bells Beach. If any of you remember the movie Point Break that is where Johnny confronted the leader of the surfer bank robbers for the last time. It is legendary due to the size of the swell that comes in from the Antartic. As most of the top surfing places in the world this one did not look that remarkable on this day. It is an small bay about a half mile long.

Kathy and I hiked down from the bluff above on a well constructed wooden stair, the flies were all over us - this was our first encounter with that pest. It was about 150 to the water. As we climbed out Kathy was doing fairly well. After a few minutes in the car she began sweating and coughing. We had to stop the car so that she could get out and get some nasal drops. To be honest I was worried that she was going to have a heart attack or some other life threatening event. I thought what am I going to do if she drops to the ground and stops breathing. I guess I would do CPR until she either started breathing again or died. That is not the kind of situation I want to be in. In any case she recovered and we were back on the road.

In the next settlement I saw a sign on a family restaurant that said Solovaki so we stopped for what I hoped was some healthy Greek food. We ordered and I ask what other greek food they had - the lady said what greek food. That was not a good sign - she didn't know Slovaki from fish and chips. We got the food and started to eat but Kathy slowed as some of the meat dropped out. You couldn't tell what specific animal it came from even though we ordered the chicken. I am still feeling a bit ill after about 15 hours. Finally we arrived in Apollo Bay. An attractive small town on the coast. We decided on staying at a Best Western because the room has a small kitchen where hopefully we will be able to cook some healthier food.


I didn't feel like it but I forced myself to go for an hour run. As usual at the end of the run I felt much better. The flies left me alone for most of the run.

We are on the second story of the motel which over looks the bowling club. After showering I filled a wine glass and went over to spectate. Men and women of all ages were together on teams Grandma together with Mom. It is not as physically demanding as our bowling it is about judgement and skill so age is not the huge advantage. Their kind of bowling is more like Bochi.
A final note.

I have been watching a lot of the news and I had a great conversation with a local businessman on the flight over. The US at this point in time is driving the worlds economy. Even though our economy is in recession and our dollar is not supposedly worth anything we are the only real game in town. The Australian dollar was trading close to even with the US a few months ago now it is worth .67 because apparently it is the currency of choice in the world. World business wants to trade and the bottom line is that the dollar is what they want to use. The EURO I guess is in there somewhere but the dollar is still on top. So for people who are thinking about moving their investments focus out of the US because of our percived internal decline I would say think again, I don't think it is time yet unless you are very savvy.

Australia Day One

Well it is Thursday Morning day after the first day of the trip. That first day was a real challenge for me and especially for Kathy.

As many of you know Kathy lost her passport and only discovered the fact Friday. She flew into Los Angeles to the west coast passport office at 7am to sit outside the office. She made it through and filled out new paper work. She was told to come back and pick it up about 3:00 - it worked and she went to the airport to wait for me.
I worked the Siverman Ironman event as an official in the morning and a aid station worker in the afternoon. It was fun but exhausting and I left my crew around 8:00 pm so the I could get some sleep before the 3:30 wake up to take Kathy to the airport. When I got home she said her friend who was going to take me to the airport had decided that it would be inconvenient and Kathy had arranged for a limo $80 one way which being cheap made me mad but there was no time - it had to be a go.

We met up at the LA international terminal, boarded the new A380 for the long flight. It is a rather short plane - fat with two levels - we were on the lower level. Staff was great, seats were comfortable with just adequate leg room. There were delays due to passenger issues on both ends of the journey but we finally arrived in Melbourne at 11:00am. We were mentally exhausted. Customs- baggage- and car hire drained our waning capacities.
I rented a GPS. We were told that if we used the toll roads into the city there were no pay booths but they would take a photo of our car so we would have to call the toll company and pay over the phone or get a ticket. OK that sounds like something I don't want to deal with. So with our GPS we head towards a city with an old world street pattern with little of any signage. Immediately the GPS started giving us bad information - oh my god. Now what we were cruising down congested urban streets driving on the wrong side of the road trying to maintain some sort of mental composure. It is difficult when you first start out to judge the distance on the passenger’s side so as I careened along a curve in the street I slammed the wheel into the curb on the passenger’s side. As I found out when we arrived at the hostel the rim was somewhat bent and the hub cover from the Camry was gone. Oh-Shit now what I refused the insurance at the rental place. We checked into the hostel. The room was a double and I thought it was clean. After going on the airport to hostel adventure ride Kathy was mental cooked and so was I. She fell on the bed sobbing and saying that she was not going to travel like this. I was in about the same mental condition and was the one who stepped up to make the initial arrangements. I know from experience that the first couple of days are the worst. Her comments put me over the edge - I tried not to show it. Someone has to keep a few rods in the reactor - I didn't want another Chernobyl where everyone was running for the exits.

She took a nap and I went out to take a walk and settle myself down. I my walk I went by a Toyota Dealership - they had the wheel cover for about $25 dollars - I walked home popped it on it worked. First problem solved - things are looking up. I got some money and continued walking - I bought Kathy’s favorite rum and diet coke for a cocktail - had a beer checked out a dance studio -went back. She was still tired after a couple hours of rest and still angry at our situation which at this point I felt had improved dramatically.

I offered her a cocktail and we went out to get something to eat. Found a nice place nearby and had a pizza. Across the street was a comedy club I suggest we check it out - we did and decided to see the show.

By this time I was operating on fumes but Kathy and I both needed a laugh and we wanted to see what comics were like in Aus. The show was pretty good same topics as back home. They were disappointed with the election of Obama - a guy who can actually think and speak will be much more difficult subject material.

We today we will probably head toward the southern coast and see where we end up. I can hardly wait to begin the second day of Aussie Urban Assault driving - but I am sure it will be better once we get out of town.

Hello Everyone this is your boy getting ready for another adventure down under. The plan is to take 5 weeks check out Melbourne, the south island of New Zealand and spend a couple of days chasing Tasmainan Devils.

I was in Australia a couple of years ago and I didn't like it very much. Earlier this year while spending time on the computer early in the morning an offer popped up for round trip flights from LA for $500. Being the cheap Swede that I am I hit the purchase button and here we are.

I am getting the Blog in shape now so that I know what I am doing when I hit the road.