Day 25: Wonderful Melbourne
Monday was a chill day: laundry, updating the blog and organizing the snaps. I decided to head out after dinner and catch a cab back to the Mexican restaurant for some marigs and some conversation with the waitress whom I had hit it off with. It was funny trying to explain to the cabie “Mexican.” Together we figured it out and I was able to chat with my new friend Sarah as she made me a rocks Margarita. She explained that only Americans drink them mixed so when the order came in she thought it might be me. She asked when I was leaving and maybe we could get together (NICE!) but alas she was working on all the nights I would be in town. Bummer. Anyway the food was positively AWEFUL but it was fun to have tacos Down Under. At least they were shredded beef!
I caught ‘Bourne Supremacy” later that night. Good stuff (although it was 15 bucks!!)
I got word that San Diego is on fire. I think my most of my friends and family will be ok (based upon where they live in the city) but it’s terrible to see the devastation of my home town on Australian TV.
Day 26: Getting Around Town
I was up early and walked over to the Victoria Market, the second biggest open air farmer’s market in OZ. I could have spent all day, the meats, cheeses, wine, the wine, the cheese, the wine. Great prices too, now I regret buying all those souvenirs in Adelaide. Oh well. Armed with bags of goodies I headed down the block back “home”, I stepped out towards the street I walked right into a bus stop full of tourists. I looked up and a big red bus was pulling up. The driver opened the door and I said “hey what’s this all about??” She said it was a free buss around the city and it made stops at all the nice spots and made an hour loop. COOL! So grocery bags in hand I hopped on. I couldn’t believe there was free transportation all over the city. I made the circuit twice and picked all my spots I wanted to revisit the next day. If I had not walked out right at that moment I would have missed most of the city (which was so far somewhat uninspiring.)
Day 27: Melbourne > or = Chicago + San Fran + Amsterdam
Melbourne is rapidly becoming one of my favorite cities on earth (at least amongst those I have visited.) If I were to be able to come back to Oz and live in a “big” city, this would be the one. It has the perfect mix of art, music, sports and architecture. They are completely sports crazy here even by Aussie standards. Horse racing rules here and the Melbourne Cup is an official legal holiday. Right now the Sydney International Arts and Music festival is going on and the city is in full bloom. I hit some of the tourist spots (WW 1 Memorial, Victoria Gardens and the city park) then made my way over to the oldest pub in Victoria (the state we are in) opened in 1861. The barmaids are cool as hell and I put back a couple of cold ones along with a basket of spiced wedges (thick cut fries.) One of them asked about the fires in San Diego and we talked about it for a while. It’s amazing how many Aussies have been to So Cal. She knew the city (SD) really well and was following the news pretty closely.
Once again I ask my self the age old question: Does beer taste better when served by beautiful, really nice woman? I am beginning to think so.
One thing that is odd (or at least compared to the USA) there is no tipping here. None. The wages are so high that no one works for tips. It’s not unusual to start a job at $18 to $20 an hour. I’m not sure what the minimum wage is but I’ve heard it’s something like $15 and hour. That would certainly explain why good cost so much. So it’s really strange to go to bars and restaurants and not leave a tip at all. I have been tipping my tour guides when they go all out but only a couple of times have I tipped a server. Not even taxi drivers expect tips.
That night I hop a bus to the entertainment complex and casino. The casino is really upscale and I don’t think they will let me with my jeans on so I head into restaurant and theater row. I find a cinema and catch “Resident Evil 3” in the nicest movie theater I have ever been too (and that is saying something!) One thing that was odd, they had reserved seating, like a concert. At the box office I was shown a screen and was asked to pick my seat. This turned out to be more of a pain then a good thing. All of the patrons were clumped in a group and a few times folks were in the wrong seat causing some confusion and heated conversations. This was a case of too much control, if it’s not broken don’t fix it. I guess if it’s sold out it would be ok but I say let me pick my seat when I get into the theater!
The movie was not half bad although there is not 5 minutes of originality in it. It ripped off so many movies scene for scene it was almost comical. I made a mental note to put an editorial up on the IMDB site for the movie and see if we can name all of the movies that were copied. (Day of The Dead, Damnation Alley, The Birds, From Beyond, Dawn of The Dead etc I could go on.)
So, 3 nights in town and 3 movies seen. Good stuff, now I’m caught up and it’s certainly better (cheaper and safer) than night clubs.
Day 28: More Meli
More shuttle bus ridding and walking around town. I popped into a small showcase theater for a artist Q & A and performance that was part of the Arts Festival. The artists were a duo from San Francisco that had a cabaret/nightclub act that was very similar to the one my uncle Hal used to do back in the day. (These two were slightly less talented than Hal and David but who isn’t!!) It was pretty funny and the crowd young and old, gay and straight ate it up. They got a standing ovation and answered a few questions from the audience (the mike didn’t make to me in the back of the room.) L I really wanted to ask them if they had heard of Hal and David (or maybe even influenced by??) but did not have the chance. Oh well.
Back to the hotel for packing and unpacking. My bags are beyond full and beyond heavy. Tomorrow I catch a 3 bus tour to Sydney. We are going to the highest mountain in Oz and there will be….drum roll please…. SNOW! So now I have to get my rain/mountain gear ready for the climb up to the top.
Day 29: On the Road Again
It’s 5:30 AM and I have to hike 8 blocks with all my gear to meet the tour bus that does not offer pick up at my particular hotel. After 3 blocks I say to heck with it and hail a taxi. The driver is a bit miffed that he stopped for such a small fare. Bummer dude.
The tour bus picks me up and we head to other locations to pick up the other customers. It’s a big bus by adventure standards 22 folks. Once again the whole world is represented with England and Scotland leading the way this time. Once again it’s mostly girls something like 14 to 8. The guide seems ok, I grab the shotgun seat as it has the most legroom. We drive 3 hours to a National Park and hike to a grassy meadow. In the meadow is something like 200 kangaroos spread out amongst the grass clumps. We split up and I am able to walk right into the middle of them. Very cool. I never get sick of seeing kangaroos and these are big Eastern Grays. I found a Mom and Joey and got some good pics of both. Back to the bus and down to the seashore where we had picnic lunch on the beach. We then hike the Southern most point on mainland Oz. Pretty cool.
Another 3 hours on the road and we end up at 90 Mile Beach, the longest in Oz. We stop for beer and wine to take to dinner (BYO is very common here) I split a case with a couple of Danish dudes who were very cool. We check in to the hostel and my room has been upgraded to my own dedicated room with a kitchen, living room and queen bed. The party will be at my place tonight!
Dinner was good and I sat with the UK girls. I invited everyone back to my place for after dinner drinks and a few of us (1 Brit, 1 German, 2 Danish) ended up staying up late telling stories. Good times!
Day 30: SNOW!
Up too early and down to the common room for what passes as brekky on tour (toast and cereal) then we load up for a 3 hour drive up to Snowy River and the highest point on mainland Australia: Mt Kozyoscko.
The Snowy River is amazing. There was a famous poem written about it that was made into a movie called “The Man from Snowy River” and it is an important place in the national psyche here. We pass through a small ski resort town that reminded me of Crested Butte, Co. and then we head up the mountains. One thing I didn’t know was that the closer you are to the Antarctic the lower the snow levels tend to be. There is near year round snow at least in patches at only about 7000 feet here. Strange.
We park at the trail head and it’s raining, cold mountain rain. We have a 7 mile hike RT to the summit and would prefer not to do it in the rain. On top of that we have two alpine river crossings that must be made barefoot. Since the river is melted snow that was going to be one hell of a cold river walk. The rain stops and we head out. The first river is about 2 clicks down the trail. Some folks are pretty bummed and the prospect of walking through knee deep snow melt and begin to squawk. I for one am stoked. I pull my boots off and tie them together around my neck. I roll my jeans up and am ready to go. 4 or 5 of us beat me to the water and were making their way across before I could get to the waters edge. By now 3 of the Brits have decided not to make the crossing and ask for the car keys. They are going to hike back up and wait for the group.
Ok here is where it gets embarrassing. I hope you appreciate this candor.
I made a mental note of the path I was going to take to cross over and headed to the waters edge. I took one step off the ledge and hit a patch of flattened moss/grass. I was looking at the water and didn’t take notice of how slick the edge was.
Yep you guessed it.
I slipped and fell ass first into the raging snow melt river. The first thing to hit was my tail bone. My entire midsection was soaked to the bone. Somehow my feet stayed dry (odd) but from my ankles to my waist I was soaked. It pretty much sucked. One, it was mega embarrassing, and two, I was chilled and cold within 5 mins and there was no way I was going to make a 7 mile hike in the snow. I was pretty much the only one who got wet. So with my tail stuck firmly between my now freezing legs I joined the group of girls who didn’t want to make the river crossing and headed back to the bus for a change of clothes and I guess a nap L One good thing was it was the hottest of the girls that I was now stuck with. Hmmmmm
Back up to the bus, I got into my bag and got some new clothes and my computer. The moment I sat down to write this update, the sky opened up. It poured rain, then it started snowing!! (slush) At that point I was feeling way less bummed about missing the hike. I went out into the rain and stuck some beers in the snow for my Danish buddies for when they got back.
Sure enough the group only made it a couple of miles before they turned back and headed back down to the bus. I didn’t miss a thing. Still, it was pretty freaking embarrassing.
On the way down the mountain we found it had snowed like 3 inches while we were up top. We stopped for pictures in the falling snow. It was quite surreal. How many days ago was it when I was in 108 deg temps??
We make our way back to the ski town and into out hotel. There was a pub attached and many locals were gathering for a big Friday night. Our group partied and played pool into the wee hours. My game remains the same: I made some hard shots but missed too many easy ones. There was a video jukebox and I threw some coins in it. The Smiths, Iron Maiden and Young MC were in order. I’m pretty sick of beer at this point so Jim Beam was the drink of choice this night, not great if one is trying to save money…
Day 31: Canberra or Can-Bra
Naturally the washer and dryer were broken at the hotel so I cold not take care of my wet clothes. I hung my jeans upside own under the heater vent and rigged the legs so the air would blow down them. I cranked the heater up and went to sleep. It was hot in the room and of course I had weird dreams because of it. When I awoke, my jeans were bone dry! This was cool, as I was worried about dragging soaked clothes around the rest of the day.
Today were are driving to the ACT – Australian Capitol District to visit the Capitol and tour the Parliament building. Some time ago Melbourne and Sydney were involved in a power struggle with both claiming rights to be the new Nation’s Capitol, it was decided that neither should have all the power so the compromise was to put it in its own territory right between the two cities. Canberra’s main claim to fame is that is the world’s first completely planned Capitol City. Every block, road and avenue is part of a master plan. The city is near perfect in its layout and design and it’s a shame most Aussies and indeed most tourists skip the Capitol.
Not me. I had read about it and wanted to see it for myself. The House of Parliament alone cost $ 1 Billion dollars to build. It was pretty incredible and we were able to view both the House and The Senate Chambers as well as a few of the museums in town.
That day I actually had a Burger King Whopper for the first time since High School.
Day 32: Sin in Sydney
I have one night back in Sydney before I ship out to the East Coast for my “beach” leg of the trip. As part of our tour package from Mel to Syd via Canberra we had free dinner and an hour of free drink at one of the hottest clubs in Sydney (an there are a lot of hot clubs in the town!!) We agreed to all meet and take the company up on this most generous offer. As mentioned before eating and drinking in Sydney is really expensive so this was quite a good deal for us. Plus there were Halloween parties all over town that night (maybe I’ll get to carve a pumpkin after all!) NO such luck on the Pumpkin but there were a few people dressed up and the bar was decorated. A little taste of home! I found our group and we waited our turn for dinner and drinks, the Danish guys and I make a pact to do as much damage as possible.
I’ll spare you the details but suffice to say that was the wildest night I have ever spent in a city not named Amsterdam. I’m told it was quite fun. J
