5/18/10 (legian)

Legian – Tanah Lot – Luhur Uluwatu – Jimbaran

Our driver, Dewa Nyoman Parwita, picked us promptly at 9am at our hotel. We told him that we wanted to see some rice fields, a temple called Uluwatu and have dinner on the beach at Jimbaran. Oh, and we also needed to run some errands. He suggested a few things for us to do in the morning and we were off. During our drive we learned a lot from Dewa about the Balinese culture. For example, they don’t have family names but name their children according to the number they were born. Traditionally most people have four children so they have a name for one through four and if there are five kids then the fifth child’s name goes back to number one with a prefix. Dewa was the third child so his name is Nyoman. 

We first headed to Kuta to buy our bus tickets for our journey to Ubud. It was from a company called Perama, which is the biggest and one of the more reliable bus companies. As we headed to the Perama office we realized how little we had seen of Kuta or Legian. It was very commercialized with lots of shops, bars, and restaurants. It was a lot more crowded than the area of Legian where we were staying at. We were eager to get out of the city. Dewa suggested we visit Pura Tanah Lot, which is a temple on an island all by itself just off the coast. On the way to Tanah Lot we passed through some rice paddies so we had to stop to snap some photos. Some farmers were just in the process of planting new seeds. We learned that a harvest takes about four months, which means in a year there may be only two harvests. It is very strenuous work since the farmers are bending down all day in the rice paddies. When we arrived at the temple, Dewa showed us the walkway to the temple and he waited by the car while we toured the temple. During low tide you can walk to the island but only certain people can enter the temple. We went in the mid morning when it was high tide so we could only admire temple from a distance. We met a French photographer named Christophe who was in Bali to photograph a wedding and in a few days to Malaysia for another wedding. Jon and him chatted for a bit about their cameras and Christophe was interested in the slider that Jon was using. 

After the temple we were ready for lunch so Dewa drove us back down south to Seminyak where he recommended a restaurant for us to try. What was unique about having a driver is that he drives you to each location and directs you into the place and then waits by the car. They even have little resting huts for the drivers to nap while the tourists do their thing. The restaurant was very nice and the food was good too. It was a little more upscale than the places we had eaten at.

Then it was time to run some important errands. We had run out of shampoo and we hadn’t found a drugstore or supermarket nearby our hotel so Dewa drove us to a Target like store. We felt a little weird having him drive us to buy shampoo but it was important since we had been washing our hair with soap the last few days. Jon asked Dewa about getting a SIM card for our internet modem so Dewa took us to a phone store. We met a Balinese man who was a real character and we could tell he had seen a lot of Western movies. He talked to us about Al Capone and Tom Hanks and all sorts of movie stars. 

Now that we were all done with our errands we headed down to Uluwatu. On our way down we drove along the coast and through Padang Padang, which is a big surfing community. It looked really nice and had some nice waves so we might consider coming back to this area before we leave Bali.

When we arrived at the temple, Dewa warned us of the monkeys. The monkeys are very cheeky and will snatch anything they see. As we walked the footpath to get to the temple there were several monkeys around. Some were hanging out by themselves, others were cleaning themselves or others. We saw several chewing on hair ties, sunglasses, and water bottles. They are definitely very clever and some even posed for Jon while he shot some video of them. On another occasion we saw a monkey snatch a camera cord out of someone’s bag. There was an elderly lady trying to coax that monkey with some bananas. We are not sure if that guy ever got his cord back since the monkey ran away.

The temple is located on a cliff top overlooking the Indian Ocean. The sun was just setting so we had a beautiful view. Each night the temple hosts a dance called Kecak Ramayana and Fire Dance. There was about fifty men chanting while men and women in elaborate costume and headgear performed a story about man trying to rescue his wife who has been captured by another man. We couldn’t understand the chanting or singing but still able to get the jest of the story. It was a beautiful performance.

By the time we left the performance it was late so we headed to Jimbaran for dinner. Our friend, Kylie, had told us about this area which is known for their seafood and beachside dinners. There are fisherman out in the ocean everyday and bring in fresh catch. When we arrived at the restaurant we picked out the seafood we wanted and how we wanted it prepared. We ordered a grilled red snapper and some prawns. We sat right on the beach and there was about twenty other restaurants lined up right next to each other. Our waiter was very charismatic and told us all sorts of stories, of which we only believed about ten percent but at least he was entertaining. 

We got done with dinner around nine o’clock so we were ready to call it a night. We could only imagine how tired Dewa was but he was as friendly as ever. He even shared with us how his family had been affected by the black magic, which may seem hoaxy to some but to the Balinese people it is taken very seriously.

He drove us safely back to our hotel and we parted ways. What I appreciated about Dewa was his friendliness, English speaking skills, sense of humor, clean a/c car, careful driving, and desire to share with us as much of his culture as possible. We had a great day exploring a small part of Bali.

We certainly recommend him to anyone visiting Bali. www.baliexploretours.com

5/16/10 – 5/17/10 (legian)

Legian

There are three towns, Kuta-Legian-Seminyak, along the beach of southern Bali that is pretty touristy. We weren’t quite sure where to stay in Bali and picked Legian since it is supposed to be not as crowded as Kuta but not as expensive at Seminyak, which is where all the boutique shops were located. We figured it was a good base for us until we figured out where to go next. 

It was very quiet at the hotel so much so that we weren’t sure if there was anyone else staying there. It provided pretty basic accommodations with no frills but it had a/c and hot water. There was also fresh fruit and toast provided every morning. After breakfast we decided to walk along the beach to check out the area. There were many restaurants and hotels that lined the streets along with people asking you if you needed a driver. The waves looked pretty good and there were a lot of surfers out. We asked a few hotels to see if they had any openings and realized that our hotel was a pretty good value for what we were getting. There were very nice hotels which cost around $80/night, which is pretty affordable and if traveling for a short period of time. We decided to stay at our hotel since it offered us the basic necessities of what we were looking for. After staying there a bit longer we got more comfortable with our surroundings.

It was very muggy and just after a few minutes of walking we were sweating as if we had just run a marathon. We were looking for a bookstore to get a guidebook and after walking an hour we relented to a taxi. It felt so good to be in an air-conditioned car. The taxi driver took us to the Seminyak market where there were cafes and a bookstore. We book our guidebook only to realize later that it was a 2008 version. Oh well. It probably has all the same information and we use the guidebook more as a reference of where things are rather than as a source of information. 

After lunch we went on a search for a SIM card for our cell phone. It was a bit difficult trying to figure out how the system worked. We shopped around a bit and met a nice lady in a fabric store who found us anther lady who sold SIM cards. She seemed nice and her explanation of how to use the phone was completely different from what a guy in another shop told us. Even though she sold SIM cards out of a fanny pack we trusted her. Our two main goals for the day were accomplished.

Jon was going to go surfing the next day but the waves weren’t as good. We decided to stay low key and figure out what we wanted to see while we were in the Legian area. Several people had told us hiring a driver is the best route since they will be able to show you around and also maneuver through the traffic. We found a driver on trip advisor who had a well maintained website and a friendly photo of himself. He offered us a reasonable deal compared to others and spoke pretty good English on the phone. It is hard to choose unless you have a personal recommendation so really you just have to trust that it will work out. We also decided that we wanted to get out of the city and see the rest of Bali. We heard great things about Ubud from many people. We found a homestay, rated #1 Ubud homestay on trip advisor, for $30/night and decided to book it for three nights.

For dinner that night we went to a warung, which is a small street side restaurant or foodstall. It was packed with locals and tourists. There were small lizards crawling on the wall but no one seemed to mind. They gave you a card with a price on it for each item you ordered so some tables with lots of people had a stack of cards. We got spring rolls as appetizer and Jon had nasi goreng (fried rice) while I had rice with lots of different vegetables that you can choose from a buffet like table. It was probably one of the best meals we had so far on our Balinese trip and all for less than $10! That’s what I’m talking about.

5/15/10 (cairns)

Cairns – Darwin – Bali (Legian)

Today was our fly day. We were going from Cairns to Darwin and then heading to Bali. It was more expensive to fly from Cairns to Bali with most flights going back to Brisbane first. We booked two separate flights. Our flight to Darwin was quick and we gave ourselves plenty of time to get our luggage before going to check into our Bali flight. It was a five hour wait before we could board for our Bali flight. The airport miraculously had free internet so we were set. I even got to talk to a good friend via facebook. When it was almost time for us to board we were told they were having engine issues and there would be a small delay. The delay ended up lasting an extra two hours so we spent a good deal of time getting to know the Darwin airport. We finally boarded the flight and it was smooth sail to Bali.

When we arrived in Bali it was about 10pm and everyone was just happy to get out of the airport.  As we were walking to get our bags there were about 15 porters pulling everyone’s bags out of the conveyor belt. They had all the bags nicely lined up for people to come pick them up. As we went to grab our bags two porters approached us to help with our bags. We nicely declined but they were very insistent and almost took our bags away from us. We were in a bit of a daze as to what was going on or what to do. We were just surprised by their persistence. We passed through customs without anyone asking to check our bags or ask for our outbound ticket. We were warned by the airlines and travel centers that we needed to have an outbound ticket or we may be prevented from entering Bali. We reluctantly bought our ticket to Kuala Lumpur and were disappointed to find out we really didn’t need to.

As we walked outside the humidity hit us like a brick. Even though it was late in the evening it was still very humid. We hadn’t arranged for someone to come pick us up and it took some figuring out on how to get to the hotel. We were a bit on guard after our experience with the airport porters. We finally figured out how to hire a taxi to take us to the hotel. During our drive we caught our first glimpse of Bali. There were motorcycles zooming in and out between cars. I admitted to Jon later that I was trying to remember key landmarks that we passed in case something happened to us or we were taken to a different hotel. What can I say? I was a bit paranoid and it was very late at night. Jon was a bit worried that we hadn’t heard back from the hotel confirming our reservation but I figured they were just a bit slow in getting back to us. On the other hand we did just email the hotel the day before. When we arrived at the hotel they told us they were all booked for the night but recommended we go to their sister hotel just a few minutes away. We checked into the hotel and crashed for the night. We were just happy they had air conditioning for $30/night.

5/13/10 (gbr) - special segment

Cairns - Hastings Reef – Saxon Reef – Cairns

We figured the Great Barrier Reef deserved its own special daily detail segment since it is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. We checked in at 7:30am at the Reef Terminal ready to meet Nemo. We boarded the Osprey V with about 40 other people though the ship can hold up to 100 people so there was plenty of room for everyone. There was muffins and hot tea/coffee waiting for us, as the crew got ready to leave the port. We left the dock promptly at 8:30am heading for the Hastings Reef, which was about an hour and a half away from Cairns. It was a bit cloudy and very muggy outside. Shortly after we left Jon started to feel a bit seasick even though both of us had taken the ginger pills. It was a bit rocky out on the sea. 

When we arrived at Hastings, we put on our wet suit and snorkel gear. I was a bit hesitant being out in the big ocean so for an extra safety measure I also put on a life jacket. With the wet suit we felt pretty warm in the ocean, which was about 25 degrees Celsius. I joined a guided snorkel tour, which looped around the reef, while Jon ventured on his own. I can’t tell you how amazing it was to see all the sea creatures and corals. There were fish everywhere and schools of fish would swim right in front of me. After the guided tour, Jon and I joined up to explore the reef on our own. We took the camera under with us and tried to capture what we saw. We were able to identify a lot of the fish we learned yesterday at the Reef Teach. We saw lots of butterfly fish, rabbit fish and angelfish and some were so small that you sometimes didn’t realize you were intruding on a school of fish. There were also lots of sea cucumbers on the ocean floor. The corals had amazing colors and shapes though we were warned not to touch them since they are living creatures. After snorkeling for about an hour and a half we stopped for some lunch. By this time Jon still wasn’t feeling any better so we hopped some food and calm waters would help. After lunch Jon rested while I went out on the front deck to soak in some sun.

At about 12:30pm we headed toward Saxon Reef. There is a resident fish named Wally, which is known as the dog of the ocean since he’s quite playful. You can even go up and pet him. As we arrived at Saxon Reef the crew were feeding the fish and swarms of them came right up to the boat. By this time Jon was feeling a bit better so we headed out to ocean. This time we saw even more fish. Some were completely black with a yellow or orange spot near the tail. Others were shades of blue, green and bright turquoise. We learned not to get too close to fish with bright colors and patterns since the colors and patterns are meant as a warning to others. Jon saw a Maori wrasse, which he followed with his video camera. The wrasse has a pattern on its body similar to what a Maori has painted on his face. Jon also saw some damselfish (aka Nemo) and tried to swim down to get a better glimpse of them but had difficulty doing so with his buoyant wetsuit. One of the coolest fish I saw was barracuda though I didn’t realize what it was until I asked Jon. Several times I tried to follow schools of fish to see where they were going but it proved to be quite difficult since they swim back and forth very quickly. 

After snorkeling for a few more hours we were ready to take a break. We jumped on the semi-submersible boat, which had an underwater viewing station. The boat toured around the reef and Elvis, our entertainment guide, explained a little more about the structure of the reef and corals. We also caught another glimpse of damselfish. An interesting fact we learned at the Reef Teach about damselfish is that they are all born male. When the mom dies the biggest damselfish in the family changes into a female and mates with another male in the family. It does make you wonder what would have really happened in the movie Nemo. Technically, when Nemo’s mom died in the beginning of the movie the dad would’ve turned into a female and mated with Nemo. Yikes!! I guess Disney would have had a hard time spinning that story. Anyway, back to the reef adventure. 

We then got on a small boat headed for a helicopter-landing pad for our ride home. There was one other person joining us for the ride home and we later found out she was from San Diego. She had gotten really seasick and last minute decided to take the helicopter home while her husband stayed on the boat. The helicopter was a four-seater so Jon got to sit up front with the pilot. We had on lifejackets in case of any accidents and headsets so we can talk to each other. We flew over the reef, a sand island and Green Island. Being so high up gave us a different perspective of the reef and showed us just how massive it was. The helicopter ride took about twenty minutes and we landed safely at the Cairns airport. The helicopter company gave us a ride back to our motel.

When we got back to the motel we were exhausted. Jon mustered up some energy to do some more video work while I took a long needed nap.

It was an amazing adventure and one that we will remember forever. The experience gave us a greater appreciation of Mother Earth and reminds us that we are only a small spectacle in this beautiful world. 

5/11/10 - 5/14/10 (cairns)

Cairns

We arrived in Cairns without much trouble except the airport security wouldn’t let Jon take some of his camera gear as part of his carry-on luggage. We had been very lucky that no one had given Jon a hard time about his camera bag. We didn’t want to mail the items to Cairns in case it didn’t get to us in time or pay the extra fee for checking in another luggage. Luckily Virgin Blue gave us an extra bag and checked it for free. Lucky for us!

Over the last four days we have been staying at a hostel/motel called Bellview right in the center of the city. There are a ton of motels, restaurants, and tourist information centers to accommodate the millions of tourists each year. The city doesn’t seem to sleep with night markets, clubs and McDonalds opening till 3am on weekdays. Cairns reminds us of the Fisherman’s Warf in San Francisco with all the shops selling packaged tours, even the camera shops. The streets are pretty clean since they want to make sure no rubbish goes into the ocean to damage the reef. 

Our main reason for coming to Cairns was, of course, to visit the Great Barrier Reef, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Can you name the other ones? Also, Jon wanted to do a helicopter ride to get an aerial video and Cairns was his last chance before we left Australia. We spent the entire day on Wednesday looking into our options. There are about a million places where you can book a tour and it can get quite confusing which one to pick. They are all slightly different yet relatively the same type of snorkeling tour. We found out that we could do a cruise/snorkel tour along with a helicopter ride back to the port. We decided to visit one of the companies that offer a cruise/flight tour to talk to them directly about what Jon wanted rather than through a booking agency. It’s a pretty slow tourist month for Cairns so the company offered us a deal. Even with the deal it is one of the most expensive things we have done so far but we figured it was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. We booked the trip for Thursday and were excited to finally see the infamous Great Barrier Reef.

To capture our experience we searched around for an underwater video camera that we could rent. We found out there was a waterproof camera case that would fit my camera. We were a little uneasy taking my camera underwater but figured we would use the case again along our travel. The camera shop assured us that the case is safe to use and advised us to try it out in a swimming pool beforehand. We tested it when we got home by putting some tissue in the case and Jon took dunked it into the pool. It seemed to work perfectly fine but the real test would come when we took it out to the ocean. 

I also read about a multimedia presentation on the Great Barrier Reef called Reef Teach. It came highly recommended since the tour only does a brief overview about the reef. We figured it would be a good idea to learn more before our snorkeling trip. The presentation lasted for about two hours and the presenter talked about the most common fishes and corals we would see on the reef. It was really informative and told us what to look for once we were out on the water. We also purchased some ginger pills, which are supposed to help with seasickness. I was a little afraid of going back out into the ocean since I had gotten really seasick on our return trip from swimming with the dolphins. 

We have had a great time in Australia and we couldn’t have asked for a better way to end our Aussie adventure than with a cruise/helicopter ride of the Great Barrier Reef. We are making our way into southeast Asia with Bali as our first destination. 

5/8/10 - 5/10/10 (brisbane)

Brisbane – Montville – Brisbane

Over the last three days we have primarily been exploring Brisbane and its surrounding area. We were fortunate to stay with Kylie and have her show us around the city. On Saturday we took a road trip to Montville, a town about two hours north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast. Montville has a hint of an English village with its main street lined with pottery and candle shops. While the boys settled in for a time-lapse video of the valley, the girls strolled the main street window shopping. We drove to a few lookout points viewing the valley scenery. We did a quick drive through another town called Maleny, which was very similar in style to Montville. When we got back into the city we stopped by Kangaroo Point to catch the sunset. It had a beautiful view of the Brisbane skyline and river. There were lots of people having a picnic or bbq, walking their dog, or enjoying the night view. It was a little too late for Jon to capture the sunset on video so we decided we would come back the next day. 

After we made our way home it was time to say farewell to our dear friends, Jean and Jono. They were heading to Ipswich to see Jean’s family for Mother’s Day. I was really sad to see them go. Even though I hadn’t seen Jean for five years since I said good-bye to her at the train stop in Japan we picked up where we left off. I’m glad to have made a lifelong friend. Jono said they will come visit us in the states and we look forward to that day when we can meet again. As some of you know we are always on the lookout for couple friends.

The next day was Mother’s Day in Australia. To celebrate the day we had a lazy morning and didn’t get out of the house till after lunch. I was also experiencing horrible sinus congestion so I took a morning nap. I figure naps doesn’t have to be just in the afternoon. Jean introduced me to eucalyptus oil, which is supposed to help with congestion and colds. They sell eucalyptus tissue, which Jon says I’m addicted to since I sniff the tissue before I use it. There may have been a few occasions where if Jon needs a tissue I’ll smell the tissue to get the eucalyptus scent before he gets to use it. Does that constitute as addiction? I was trying to optimize the use of a tissue.

Before heading to Kangaroo Point Kylie took us to the Powerhouse, which used to be a power station that has been converted into an art gallery and small music venue. There is also an outside patio seating area facing the river where people can order food and drinks. It was a warm day so we ordered a few drinks and relaxed on the patio. It was a really cool building with a lot of character. We then headed to Kangaroo Point for a bbq and another sunset. Jake, Jono’s brother, drove into Brisbane for the weekend since he had a work conference near the city and joined us briefly for dinner. When we got home we decided to challenge Kylie to a game of scrabble. Jon and I hadn’t played scrabble since that fateful night in Bulls, New Zealand. Kylie was the big winner of the night though we are claiming we didn’t want to be out on the streets and let her win both games.

Monday was Mother’s Day back in the states and we called both of our mothers to wish them a Happy Mother’s Day. It was also our last full day in Brisbane. Jake met us in the morning and we took a ride on the City Cat, which is a ferry that goes up and down the Brisbane river. It was a much cooler day than before (aka a sign we should leave soon). Kylie had gotten us day passes so we could jump on and off the ferry wherever we liked. We checked out an exhibit at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) that she had been talking about. The artist was an Aussie by the name of Ron Mueck and he does sculptures that are so life like that it’s a bit scary and awe inspiring. Most of the exhibit was of people and to create the hair he inserts each strand of hair into the sculpture as if it was growing it out of the skin. It was one of the coolest exhibits I have ever seen. 

We had a lot of leftovers from last night’s bbq so we packed a cooler bag to have another bbq for lunch. I have to say that Aussies do like their bbq’s. We stopped at New Farm park right next to the Powerhouse for lunch. Jake hadn’t been to the Powerhouse and since we liked it so much we decided to go back. But unfortunately they were closed for staff training. Instead, we got back on the City Cat and headed to Regatta Hotel for some drinks. Then we met up with Kylie’s friend, Heather, for some Mexican food and margaritas. We had done a fair bit of walking that day even with the City Cat so we called it an early night and rested for our trip to Cairns the following day.

Thanks, Kylie and Jake, for showing us around Brisbane and why you guys love Queensland. We love it too!

5/7/10 (toowoomba)

Toowoomba – Gold Coast – Brisbane

It was time to say good-bye to Toowoomba. We were sad to leave Ally since we had such a good time playing with her. Luckily we were able to spend some more time with Jean and Jono since they took the day off and we were all heading to Brisbane for the weekend. We decided to visit the Currumbin Sanctuary in the Gold Coast since Jean told us that we would likely see red kangaroos and be able to hold koalas, which were on our list of Aussie things to do. Jean got a special deal on the tickets, which included a picture with a baby crocodile. Just as we arrived the photo opportunity was taking place so we decided to get it out of the way. We lined up for our pictures and as we got closer I got very nervous. They had taped the crocodile’s mouth so that it wouldn’t bite anyone. Jean, Jono, and Jon went ahead of me and by the time it was my turn there was a line of about eight kids behind me. My heart was pounding and I felt like I was going to pee in my pants. As soon as I walked up I knew there was no way I could hold the crocodile. The closest I got to the croc was sitting next to it while the handler held it. Everyone was trying to convince me to hold the tail and as I was moving my hand towards the tail the croc jump and I said forget it. The kids behind me had their arms crossed and didn’t look thrilled to be waiting so long for their turn. I was afraid if I held the croc and got scared that I would drop it and thought the kids or the handler wouldn’t appreciate that. Jean, Jono, and Jon got a good laugh at my hysteria and the video clip has been played many times for people’s amusement. Jon said the croc felt soft and cold. What a way to start my day.

Next we went to have our pictures taken with a koala named Babosa. We weren’t able to hold koalas at the Australian Reptile Park so we didn’t have our pictures taken. At the sanctuary Jono held Babosa while I petted her. She was quite soft and fluffy.

We walked around the sanctuary and saw some crazy looking animals, ones that none of us hadn’t ever heard of. There were tree kangaroos that were a bit smaller than grey kangaroos and had a brownish golden coat. They lived in the trees and one of them had a joey (aka baby) sticking out of its pouch. We saw a red kangaroo but it wasn’t as red as I thought it would be though it was still pretty big. There were a lot of interesting looking snakes, including the third most venomous snake but we can’t remember the name of it. We had a great time at the sanctuary. As we were walking out one of the croc handlers we saw earlier in the day “took the piss out of me” by letting me know there was another opportunity to take a picture with the croc. I graciously declined.

We then headed to Burleigh Heads for some lunch along the waterfront. It was a beautiful day and the waves were pretty high. After lunch we headed to a vista point to check out the surfers. People say the Gold Coast mirrors Miami and there is some resemblance with its residential apartments hugging the coast and surf community.

In the late afternoon we made our way to Brisbane where we were staying with Jean’s friend, Kylie. We had met Kylie last weekend at Jean and Jono’s and she had invited all of us up to Brisbane to spend the weekend with her. Jean and Kylie have been the best of friends since they were in junior high. They both grew up in a town called Ipswich, about 30km from Brisbane.

After we arrived at Kylie’s we decided to check out a vintage fashion show that was taking place at the local racetrack. There were all sorts of vendors selling stuff and one of even selling doc marten shoes. Have those shoes been around long enough to be considered vintage?

We caught a little bit of the Australia vs New Zealand rugby league game on TV while having dinner at a restaurant. It was a pretty big game and though the Kiwis haven’t won against the Aussies in the last seven years in this annual game it still makes for an exciting rivalry.

Killer Croc from Annie Lin on Vimeo.

4/30 - 5/6/10 (toowoomba)

Toowoomba

We will admit we have been a little slow on the blog this past week. We have had as Annie calls it, a vacation from our vacation. Annie and I have been staying in Toowoomba, a suburb about an hour out of Brisbane. We stayed with Annie’s former roommate from Japan, Jean and her husband, Jono. They have been very gracious hosts and introduced us to some of their wonderful family and friends. They also have a cute little Maltese dog that we have taken a liking to named Ally.

This past week I have been working on finishing up a video for BasicTrainingSF. I have also been hard at work on the New Zealand recap, it has proved to be one of the largest projects I have worked on in a long time. We have also caught up on some Australian movies, such the Castle and Chopper. Chopper stars Eric Bana in a breakout roll as one of Australia’s most notorious criminals. Pretty intense but fun to learn more about Australian prison lore. We have also caught up on many TV shows thanks to Jono’s brother Jake. Jake has a large collection on a hard drive and it allowed Annie to do an all day Grey’s Anatomy marathon to catch up on the season. 

Rugby is a huge part of Australian culture and Jono’s friend Nathan was a great tutor on getting me up to speed on all the different leagues and rules. Nathan tells me that the real rugby players are all from rugby league and the rugby union is full of a bunch of wankers. We have picked up all kinds of wonderful new Australian phrases.

Jono introduced us to his mother and father and we all spent some time watching rugby at their house. Jono’s father is a big fan of Blue Tongue beer and was quite interested in hearing about our brewery tour. 

Annie and I went on our first Aussie bush walk with Jean’s good friend, Kylie, while exploring some country property. We got a chance to see some of Australia’s finest, massive spiders and a large goanna as it scurried away. They sure like them big over here. Traveling isn’t encouraging physical fitness because both Annie and I were pretty worn out after the walk. 

We got to spend a day in Stansthorpe, a wine region about an hour from Toowoomba to taste a wide variety of shiraz, port, and a little moonshine (chocolaty with a hint of maple syrup). Speaking of alcohol, we were also introduced to Bundeburg rum. Bundy’s supposedly banned in several Australian pubs because it tends to encourage a little too much fighting among the locals. It brought back some memories of cloudy college days with Captain Morgan’s. We also spent a few evenings at the local pubs for some large steak dinners. Annie managed to get us a few free drinks because one of the pub owners took a liking to her.  

This past week has been a wonderful opportunity for us to learn more about Australian culture and it was just what Annie and I have been looking for from our travels. It has been great to stay with Jean and Jono and we can’t thank them enough for their generous hospitality in Toowoomba and introducing us to all of their friends and family. Personally, this has been one of the best weeks of my unmapped travels.

4/29/10 (ballarat)

Ballarat – Melbourne – Brisbane – Toowoomba

We got up early in the morning to check out Ballart before we had to head back to Melbourne to catch our flight to Brisbane. We grabbed breakfast in a café in the center of town. When we walked in the waitress asked if we wanted some brekky and Jon almost said “no, we want some breakfast” but changed his mind. We have noticed that Aussies like to shorten their words so they call breakfast brekky.

After breakfast we drove a short distance along the Avenue of Honour, which is lined with over 4000 elm trees and each one has a placard for each soldier who fought in World War I. We stopped in a second hand bookshop so I could trade in my book for a new one. I picked up an Australian book that someone in the shop said was a good read. Then Jon read about Sovereign Hill, which is an attraction that has recreated the 1850’s goldmine era of Ballart. They have rebuilt many of the same buildings that existed back then with people in costume occupying the shops. Just as we arrived a swarm of tour buses and school groups arrived. We would have liked to gone in but we were short on time.

We made our way to Melbourne airport and got there in plenty of time. Our flight was relatively short, only 2 hours, and not very crowded. Jon and I watched two episodes of Fringe. We had a very short window to catch our train and then Greyhound once we landed so everything had to be on time. We had been very lucky so far with all our travels and hadn’t run into any glitches until now. There was a holdup with the luggage, which meant we would miss our train and if we missed our train we would also miss the Greyhound bus that would take us to Toowoomba, where my friend Jean lived. Our reservation was for the last bus to Toowoomba, which is about 1-2 hours from Brisbane depending on traffic. If we didn’t catch the bus then we would need to stay a night in a hotel in Brisbane.  I started to panic and lose my cool with the airline personnel. We waited 45 minutes for our bags! Once we got them we ran to the train but it had already left and the next one was going to be too late to catch the bus. We then rushed to grab a taxi and explained to the driver we had to get to the Roma Street station at 6:30pm and it was already 6pm. Luckily the driver was very considerate and drove as fast as he could during rush hour traffic. We arrive at the station at 6:30pm and luckily we had enough cash to pay him. We ran up two flights of stairs to the Greyhound counter and asked if we were too late. Again we were in luck, they were just about to leave and wondering where we were. Breathless we hopped on the bus and were on our way to Toowoomba. It was a close call. The ride went fairly quickly since there was a movie playing, Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Jean and her husband, Jono, picked us up at the bus station and we headed back to their house. It was great to see Jean who I hadn’t seen for five years and meet Jono. They have a beautiful house and a cute little dog named Ally.

There was a bit of stress and excitement in our day but it all ended on a good note.

4/28/10 (port fairy)

Port Fairy – Grampians – Ballarat

We started the morning with a continental breakfast downstairs in the hotel’s restaurant. I had been telling Jon about vegemite made from yeast, which the Aussies spread on their toast much like peanut butter. The first time I had vegemite was when I lived in Japan and my Aussie roommate, Jean, had me try some. You are supposed to spread butter and then a thin layer of vegemite on the toast. Jon tried some but I don’t think he’ll be having any more of it. It is definitely an acquired taste.

Today we headed to the Grampians, which is a mountain range that is part of the Great Divide. There are supposed to be great hikes and lookout points. It was sprinkling and a bit foggy but we hoped it would clear away in a few hours since it never seems to rain long here. However, when we got to the Grampians it was still raining and getting pretty cold. We stopped at the Brambuk the National Park and Cultural Center and behind it was the Aboriginal Cultural Center. It was interesting to learn more about the Aboriginal culture but sad to hear how they have been marginalized. As we walked out of the center we spotted a big grey kangaroo. Jon crept up on it to take a picture but the kangaroo hopped away right it front of me. It was very quick on its feet. We were excited to see a kangaroo in the wild and little did we know that we would spot more of them down the road. We saw some behind a motel so we drove into the motel and walked out to the field to where the kangaroos were hanging out. But we were quickly called back to our car by the owner of the motel telling us we were on private property. We spotted some more kangaroos and this time they were just alongside a street. There was a mother kangaroo with her kiddies. The mother was quite big and was probably around Jon’s height. It had massive biceps and its chest was huge! If the mother jumped toward us we would have been in trouble. We were very excited to see so many out and about. They hopped in and out of people’s yards. Can you imagine seeing a kangaroo outside your back door?! It reminded us of the deer that would visit Jon’s mom’s house on Lake Huron in Michigan.

We drove to a lookout point but it was really foggy and we couldn’t see anything. We were a bit disappointed since it was our last full day in Victoria before flying to Brisbane and we weren’t going to be able to see the Grampians. We decided we might as well head to Ballart where we were staying the night.

Once we got to Ballart I had found a motel that offered internet and a free light breakfast as well. I was really hopeful that it was like the one we had stayed at in Port Fairy. When we arrived we were informed that we had to pay $5 for the internet which wasn’t a big deal at all but when the manager handed me four slices of bread in a sandwich bag and a jug of milk I gave Jon a look a “uh-oh!” I guess we should have clarified with the manager what he meant when he said light breakfast. It actually worked out fine and the room was very spacious.

Even though we didn’t get to see the Grampians in its full glory we got to hang out with some wild kangaroos, which was pretty cool.