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.