News cameramen go on strike - slides at 11.

After breakfast I took a few minutes to call Kristen (I brought a flash drive with Skype as well as a headset w/microphone) to catch up with the trip so far and to sheepishly ask to borrow her camera lens. My lens stopped zooming in Sydney and I know of nearly any trip, I most needed an operable camera. She also uses a Canon and had the very same lens as I did, so she wrapped it up and sent it express to Australia to a hotel which I knew we'd be staying in a few days. It definitely is not cheap, but if I had to purchase a new lens from a store I would have had to spend a whole lot more.

We hoped on board the bus that would be transporting us for the next week and headed off to an area called Surfer's Paradise. It was a bit too rough to try to surf, but I did rent a body board to play in the waves for a little while. The hashers would generally meander around to the different areas from the beach to the shopping and bar areas around the hotel. In the afternoon we met up to take the bus one mile to the start of the evening hash hosted by two of the local Brisbane hashes. One thing the group learned quickly is that when Dr. PP says the bus leaves at a particular time, she means it! Python and Fluffer had to look up the hash start location on the Gold Coast Hash website and then catch a taxi to the run start (a park with another large collection of bats) when they missed the cut off time! We had a good trail with several walker/runner splits that took us along some of the interesting spots in the area and stuff I was already thinking of checking out. We went through several pedestrian bridges, parks and along the beach. There was even a shot stop a a surf kayaking club house along the beach. we hang out, I get to know more and more of the group including Dr. PP, Higgins, Rumple Foreskin, Mr. X, Python, Fluffer, Rose Eh, Tinkerbell, Hummingbird, Oily Hole, and Sex Toy. I definitely do not think I'd forget Higgins after he broke out the garlic vodka. that has to be about the most vile stuff I can even comprehend and cannot imagine getting drunk on that, especially even having a big hangover in the morning and feeling it slosh around at any point. After the run there was a nice spread of sandwiches and other foodstuffs.

At the circle, locals Ass Up and Jerry (?) [my notes are a bit scribbled and hard to read several months later as I compose this blog are accused of suspiciously coming out the bush while someone named Cosmo is always being accused of something. Never mind they they are not even on this trip and someone else (usually Mr. X) has to be a stand-in, but I'm sure this hasher must be deserving. Rubber Choak was called out for locking herself of of her room in little save for her undies while Oily Hole almost got flattened by a car and got a down-down to help remember to look the other way (plus for being a big target for bat guano). Ice Box of Brisbane organized a lot of the hash bus tour activities. Brisbane must have a thing for them since it seemed like a rubber chicken convention. Also, Sex Toy got outed for introducing herself by her hash name to a stranger a t a bar at LAX. Random notes of which I cannot remember the meaning: Mr X slept on room key, Mammaries finds a long single hair somewhere.

The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.

Mams wanted to go see birds and was told that Centennial Park was the best place, so we headed off to see what was available. though there were not quite as many birds as was hoped, it was a very beautiful area and we did see quite a few black swans around. We didn't have long to hang around as we had to get to the airport for our flight. For whatever reason, apparently our flight times were different and I was to arrive a couple of hours early in Brisbane. The flight crew on my plane reminded me a bit of southwest in that they try to have some fun. the announcer started by "Today we have on board the lovely Jane, the lovely Sue, and the lovely Sarah. My name is Michelle and I am also lovely." The flight wasn't bad at all and once I got to Brisbane, I was easily able to figure out the train system to get into town. after a bit of waiting the hostel transport picked me up. Most of the hashers weren't in yet, so I took the opportunity to get a bit of rest as I was still trying to rest my internal clock and recuperate from all the running around. The rest of the evening was spent meeting the other members of the bus tour until I couldn't stay up any longer and thus went back to bed for the rest of the evening. Being so tired, I really wasn't able to remember most of the names but figured I'd get to know everyone soon enough.

What do Smurfs do at a football game? The Blue Wave!

Mams and I got up relatively early (5:30AM uggg)and caught the train towards the Blue Mountains National Park near the town of Katoomba. I kind of enjoy the train ride as a chance to see the city a bit and comfortable trip into the mountains as well as start my audio book 'The Count of Monte Christo'. We walked downhill from the train station through the town towards some of the hiking trails. We headed along the cliff side road to enjoy the views a bit and found the paths that lead us to the trails in the canyon. We headed down the Dardanelles Pass Walking trail that lead us down the 'Three Sisters' which is a well known rock formation. There were a lot of steps taking us all the way down, so the plan was to catch the giant Stairwell Trail on the bottom and head over to Katoomba scenic World, which is itself a popular tourist attraction. The walk along the rainforest floor was really nice and many of the views up the walls and across the valleys spectacular. I had intended on taking the steep, inclined railway back up to the Scenic World complex, however when we arrived it apparently was not operating. So after going around the walkways, we had to take the gondola (Scenic Skyway) back up the cliff. It was nice, but I really wanted a chance to experience the scenic railway that they had because of the different angle of ascent. The complex has at one time laid track for a roller coaster (much of which we could see when riding up), however it apparently was never used. Seeing it reminded me of pictures I have previously seen of abandoned amusement parks. The staff apparently are not used to people taking one-way trips up the valley floor (as most go down, walk around, and then ride back up) so they couldn't figure out how to sell a ticket, so eventually we were just allowed to pass through. We did, however, purchase a ticket for the Scenic Skyway which is a cable car that takes people across the valley over the beautiful Katoomba Falls. the unique aspect about this is that the floor turns from opaque to transparent during the trip so people can look down through the glass beneath their feet.

We walked back into town (uphill this time!) and grabbed a bit of food before doing some shopping. I tried my first ginger beer which tasted exactly like the ginger slices placed on sushi, only liquefied. When we go back to Sydney we walked around more of downtown, including many of the areas used for the Summer Olympics several years ago. We even ran into a couple of hashers when Mams recognized one of the Interhash shirts from China a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed walking around downtown and enjoying the food (several oyster stops), the beer (several bar/pub stops), and the sites. We stopped by one place called the 'Icecube' and since it was slow, the barkeep just started giving us a few of the light-up plastic ice cubes. Too cool. That place had the best oysters that we had yet experienced. We were a lot tired and decided to take a cab back to the hostel for the evening.

¿ɹǝpun uʍop puɐ1 ɐ ɯoɹɟ ǝɯoɔ noʎ op

After a quick plane change in Auckland, NZ, I landed in Sydney just after 8AM and was able to meet up with my travel buddy, Thanks for the Mammaries from Orlando fairly quickly. We'd been planning this trip for a while and I knew it was going to be a great time. We were picked up by the hostel van and driven to our place at the Original Backpacker's Hostel in Kings Cross. After quickly throwing our stuff into the room, we headed out to see the town. The first thing noticeable of course is the different traffic pattern. It must be a big issue for visiting citizens of the United States since many of the corners along major roads had painted signs to look right for oncoming traffic. Figuring I would be pretty embarrassed getting flattened by a car, I quickly got into the habit of checking the right direction before stepping out.

On the way to the waterfront near Woolloomooloo Bay after passing by Harry's Pie Shop, we strolled through the Royal Botanical Gardens and thoroughly enjoyed the area. One surprising thing was the massive number of bats hanging in the trees throughout the entire park. There were thousands of the around with several occasionally just flapping around to a new perch. Our biggest first stop was of course the famous Sydney Opera House. We walked outside for a while and then took one of the inside tours that have a long history of the site from the deign to construction. I got a bit more out of it than I had expected, however we were unfortunately not able to get into the main auditorium since there was a performance or rehearsal taking place.

We walking a bit towards Circular Quay and made the first of many oyster stops of this leg of the trip. I think at the end we hit ever little cafe and stand that had seafood that we saw. Throughout the morning, we could see groups of a dozen people or so doing the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. While it seems like fun, the ripoff cost ($189AUD) and restrictions (personal cameras are not allowed, however they will of course sell you photos taken with their cameras) dissuaded us from participating. Instead, we walked the pedestrian sidewalk of the bridge to one of the main pylons where for a cost of $10AUD we could climb to the top as well as see some of the ironwork construction and interpretive displays. The top of the pylon ended up only being a hundred feet or so shorter then the top of the bridge span, so we still had sweeping views of the harbor and cityscape below. Unfortunately, which very much sucks, the camera lens for my Rebel XT stopped zooming. For this to happen at the start of the trip sucks beyond belief. I am seriously not in the mood to deal with this right now.

After our own climb, Mams and I did our own crawl to some of the more famous pubs in the area including the Harbour View Hotel, Palisade Hotel, Lord Nelson brewery, and Hero of Waterloo. The beef pie at the Lord Nelson pub was excellent and really hit the spot since the oysters we ate after doing the opera house were already burned off in the climbs and long walks. Throughout the trip we both enjoyed talking to the other patrons, bartenders, and even passers-by at time. One of the barkeeps ask if we had lost a bet when I said I was heading to New Zealand next. We snaked out way back to the hotel after checking out the Sydney Observatory, a section of town called 'The Rocks' and other random sites such that we arrived back just after dark. It was an exhausting day and the shower and bed were very, very welcome.

Just another wrinkle in the fabric of time and space.

Due to the International Dateline, March 9, 2008 does not exist for me. I left LAX at 8pm March 8th and landed in Sydney at 8:05 AM on March 10th. I hope nothing interesting happened in the world today since I would have missed it completely.

The plane ride was about what would expect for 12 hours. fortunately Air New Zealand is a great service and soon after take-off we were having our first full meal. Each seat had a entertainment system that had games, dozens of music channels, and a couple of dozen movies. I was able to get some sleep, but throughout the flight I watched 'Into the Wild' and 'Lions and Lambs'. When I tried to sleep, I found it hard to support my head. as may be typical of me, I did not figure out that the headrest was moldable until about two minutes before we landed. I was also able to get through a large stack of magazines that I brought from home that had been piling up for a while, so I was surprisingly able to productively use the time during the day that did not exist.

Californication

After sleeping in for a little bit and doing a final repack, I headed into downtown LA to visit another site that had interested me for a while, the La Brea Tar Pits. this is a collection of tar pits that have been seeping from the ground and is so sticky that many pre-historic animals (such as saber cats) were trapped and preserved from the asphalt-like material. I walked around the museum for a while to check out some of the recovered artifacts and interpretive displays. After walking around for a while I headed to Hollywood to briefly hit the Walk of Fame and grab a bite to eat. It was interesting to people watch for a bit including some guy dressed as a ninja/samurai concoction dragging a skateboard on a rope. I returned my rental car and went through security to prepare for my big adventure!

Leaving in a jet plane.

As per my habit, I really didn't start packing for the 6.5 week trip until just about the evening before I left. The front room was in complete disarray as I tried to categorize everything I needed while then continuously taking out extra stuff to get as light as possible. After Kristen dropped me off, I hit a fairly long security line, but was able to get through after about 30 minutes with time to spare. I was so tired that I was asleep even before the plane's safety briefing and didn't wake up until nearly over Texas.

After landing, I picked up my one-day rental car and did a little driving around. I passed by the Santa Monica Pier and drove the Pacific Coast Highway around Malibu. While RV's can definitely be a comfortable way to travel, I'm not so convinced that they are appropriate for some of the more hilly entrances to some locations when driving around California. I picked up a NPS stamp for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area at the main office before they closed for the day and headed a bit further north. along the way I pulled over to change the tire for some lady who didn't seem to know the difference between a jack handle and lug wrench.

The coastal road was quite beautiful and I was able to get out in several places and get some decent pictures. I even came across a photo shoot along the roadway with a model stretching out over some old-time car on the side of the road. After getting a quick bite to eat and a beer, I headed into LA to meet up with my friend Lisa (Sponge) since she was graciously allowing me to crash at her place for the evening. I was too tired to really go out, so was just stayed in and chatted a while before I finally crashed.