Days 204-210 Brisbane and the Reef

After the excitement that was Day 203 and its 3 am wakeup call, I decided to take it nice and easy on Day 204. Besides that fact, it’s really warm over here (not complaining though!) so running out on errands is a bit nutty.

I started the day with a walk around 8 am in the morning. I headed down to the port area in Brisbane and it did not disappoint, but I was sweating so I headed back up to the inn to take a shower. See this is why I’d never get on Survivor – I really enjoy my creature comforts!

Following a short break as mentioned I headed back down the same path, as it was my intention to go enjoy the ferry ride, which lead me over to Southbank – very family friendly. And I found a free swimming pool as I had been told there was! Bonus.

After a nice short dip – not too long, as I’m travelling alone, it’s a bit nervewracking to leave my stuff all by itself – I checked out the market of local wares. Australia I’ve noticed is very low key this way, they really enjoy their markets and it’s great to see what local people have produced. I meant to pick up a framed matted photo, but alas I had no cash on me and they wouldn’t take credit. The shame of it all is that it wouldn’t have lasted in my pack as it is getting quite full at this point.

Further down the Southbank area was a theatre advertising its last days of Avenue Q. As I had seen it before I was cool with not going again, not a problem. Please be advised that Wicked is a different sort of beast and does not apply to this situation of repeat offendership.

Look, I made up a word! Screw you, Wikipedia!

I then crossed over a footbridge before encountering the falling domino window effect of one of the town’s squares, before heading back for dinner.

In the evening, armed with my ferry pass still good, I took a mini 20 minute cruise on the water. It was great but after all of that walking I was done!

Day 205 was going to be my last in Brisbane but I was still in the mode of taking it easy. With that being said, however, I still got in some activities.

The state government house of Queensland is in Brisbane so I decided to take a tour. One of the really neat things is that in the 1920’s, the House of Lords (like the Senate in Canada) decided they were ineffective and voted themselves out of a job! How about that! Government self disciplining. As a result they still have a house of representatives/commons which often sends things to committee.

Further to that there was a school group in the house of commons and they were debating whether or not to abolish homework!

Side note: When I was 16 and in Grade 10 I participated in an activity through the Rotary Club in my area and was chosen to go to a program called “Adventures in Citizenship”. This is where about 200 kids from across Canada came together to learn about their country. We actually got to sit in the House of Commons which is quite rare (I think I even have a picture in the speaker of the house’s chair, will have to dig it out and scan it). It’s a shame Canada doesn’t do this.

Back to the main game then and I picked up the Mumford and Sons CD. Which I would tell you is excellent but I’m having problems moving it from the CD to the memory stick so I can put it on Bort (my netbook, please call him as such) and then enjoy it through my mp3 player. I guess I will have to just wait.

Following an episode of Millionaire Hot Seat where they had a $250K winner (which I knew was going to happen, it was the tape date before mine and Chris’) it was off to pack and then to get ready for a loooooong train ride the next day.

Day 206 and it was time for the longest train ride I’ve ever taken. But the nice thing was that it was extremely scenic, and I was able to get a single seat. No couchette as they were all booked up due to the previous two trains being cancelled as a result of the cyclone.

The train was quite similar to the CountryLink Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane ride, save for the slightly more reclining seats and an extra food car. It was a bit of a go for the first several hours as a grandma, her daughter and three grandchildren of I reckon, ages 5, 2 and 18months (at best) moved in. And HURRAH they were going to Townsville as well.

It promised to be a loud train ride. These kids weren’t crying; they were whining the whole ride. It was a bit of a patience tester, frankly.

Thankfully salvation was in the form of a British couple my age named Pete and Vanessa. Got chatting to them just past Bundaberg and we ended up chatting through dinner, then through the evening and through many games of cards.

The night actually wasn’t too bad… although I’m reminded that I am a not huge fan of sleeping overnight in a chair. But to pass the time I just enjoyed some podcasting on the mp3 player and soon enough it was day 207.

9 am arrived and after spending four minutes shy of an entire day on the train I piled in with Vanessa and Pete to grab a taxi in to our accommodations. I was relieved not that my room was ready but rather I was permitted to use the shower while I waited. It was nice to destinkify – Susie, can you verify that in the OED?

The rest of the day was really much of just doing errands. Got my bus tickets bought. Had lunch. Skyped the parents. Checked my email to find out that someone wanted to use something online in a current affairs program for the Seven Network over here.

I enjoyed a nice dinner with Vanessa and Pete, some great pasta at a little Italian place between our accommodations. And then a night in.

Complete with a solid nine hours of rest that lead into day 208. I took the time to walk a bit around Townsville and enjoy the sights. The nicest place by far was The Strand, just a great boardwalk and some activities for the kids.

Left Townsville for Ayr and an hour later I was met by Cassie of Yongala Dive and with her driving and Christine from near Munich as the other passenger, we headed off to Alva Beach, where the dive lodge was.

Instantly I fell in love with Alva Beach. So beautifully peaceful. And the dive lodge was great. A room of 6 bunks, a room of 4 bunks and a room with a queen bed. It turned out that Christine and I were the only ones to be in the six bunk room so it was nice to be able to be spread out. But what it really came down to was that it didn’t feel like a hostel at all. Classy as hell, and really well set up. A steal for $27 AUS a night.

Unfortunately when we arrived that evening we were instantly told that we wouldn’t be going out the next day due to high winds already predicted. Really, there’s nothing you can do about it, so I was happy that I had booked for two days.

We enjoyed the rest of the evening with Cassie and Louis from the UK who are the interns at the dive lodge to help us keep entertained and also Chris came around, who ironically I ran into at the internet café in Townsville. We broke open a box of goon and had a good evening, following a viewing of Hancock.

There really wasn’t a huge rush to do anything on the morning of Day 209 as a normal 6.30 wakeup for dive day breakfast wasn’t necessary. I wandered down to the beach mid-morning to go for a walk, very peaceful and actually Christine was there as well so we chatted together for about two hours whilst walking.

The thing that made it brilliant was the fact that this beach felt like the end of the world. Beautiful, serene, untouched, and barely anyone there.

Enjoyed a bit of lunch back at the lodge and following a small après-food nap, I heard “we’re going into town, do you want to come”? What a silly question. I grabbed my bathing costume (that’s for you, Yongala crew, if you’re reading this) and towel and hopped in the truck. Chris needed to do skill work with Louis so Cassie, Christine and I all came along.

Louis is working on his Divemaster course and was required to do a 400m continuous swim followed by 15 minutes of treading water, then a whole whack of skill sets. Understandably he was tired when it had all wrapped up! I was just pleased to be in the pool however I would have rather been at the bottom!
On the way home we did our usual bus pick up at 4.40 and bagged us an Irishman named Paul. We all headed back to home base and had a quieter night (although how we missed getting Chris’ attention for the chicken feed is beyond me)
PIC
But we did seem some frogs on the stairs!

It’s a regular Animal Planet.

Day 210 and we were a go. They’ve only gone out twice in the last fortnight but we are off to explore the SS Yongala, reportedly the best wreck dive in the country.

We are up at 6.30 am for brekky, and I’m downstairs to start getting my gear ready at around 7.15 am. For some odd reason I am the first one done… I suppose this is a rarity and Chris tells me to just take it easy until we get everyone ready for the briefing.

Which starts around 8.10 am, right on schedule. There is a lot to take in so I am pleased that we are doing it on dry land, as I am about to find out several times throughout the day. We are assigned into groups according to our experience in the van – I am startled to find out that I have a few hundred dives on, well, everybody. This is perfectly find however as I am used to this fact.

We start the trip out and this is the nice calm water that I see to start:

This is the last I’ll be seeing of the boat ride. Somehow I survive the ride out but just before I start kitting up for the first dive I decided (not on purpose, trust me) to feed the fish. If you don’t understand the term, just think about it, then look it up. This will become a reoccurring fact during the day’s proceedings.

After finishing that I was happy to get in the water. I had rented a 3 mil suit as my 7 mil would have roasted me on a shish kebab as the water was about 80F at depth. It was a great dive for the wildlife… such as the turtles and the rays and all the neat fish that I captured videos of which I’ll post up as soon as I can sort through my videos.

Following that first wonderful dive the fish feeding kept on coming. On the surface waiting to get back on the boat. During the surface interval. On the surface waiting to go down on the second dive. And then most disturbingly, 30 feet down on the dive. With once more at the surface after the second dive for good measure.

So sufficient to say that the day can be summed up like this: diving, great. Me and the 2 metre swells, not so much.

I was anxious to eat some lunch back at home base when we got there, and it was delightfully good steak (I’m sure I could have pretty much eaten ANYTHING at that point). Decided to go into town to pick up the next bus guest with Cassie, and here’s the conversation I have with the young female getting off the bus:

“Hey, you’ve got a MEC bag! Where in Canada are you from?”

“Toronto.”

“Cool! I live in Newmarket.”

“Really? I’m from Aurora.”

“Get out!”

And so we keep discussing and she even knew a student I used to teach. Kristen had just finished her degree at Western and was doing the traditional gap year.

That evening Cassie, Louis, Kristen and I took it easy, having some good laughs, including Kristen challenging Louie to a hand stand competition.

Even with my recent training at the circus, I decided to pass, and I think we were all shocked when Louis won!

Off to Cairns for my last stop until I head home!

Cheers,
Vick.

Days 200-203: Wickedly Good Times

Well I can’t believe it has been 200 days since I started this blog. I have been having a blast writing this, and I hope that you as the readers that you have been enjoying this. I know that there are a certain number of subscribers but also there are many of you reading this anonymously and I thank you for that, it really means a lot to me.

But that’s not to say that I’ve given up the ghost – there are still 165 days to go! So let’s get back into it.

Day 200 was St. Patrick’s Day. Now given my first name means “little king” in Irish I figured it would be time to paint the town red. No, I mean green. Wickedly green I figured.

At 10.30 am my own personal Irish lottery opened up. I made friends with Greg from Ohio, after he has seen my Baldwin-Wallace shirt – thanks Cabe, it’s paying dividends worldwide. Greg asks me to partner with him for the lottery, of course I say yes. I also get into a nice chat with Fiona who lives just outside of the city.

At 11.00 am it starts. Greg’s name is the second out of the bin. I’m in.

In fact I had no need to be worried – mine was drawn a few names later, along with a couple visiting from Dartmouth and Fiona herself.

We were about to be wickedly entertained. Greg decides to celebrate our win by buying us Starbucks. I settle on a shaken ice passion tea which was very enjoyable. I pop out after a half an hour to pick up a couple of things, and then back to the YHA to get changed. After an initial confusion where I was locked out of the room, I am able to successfully change into nice clothes and am back at the theatre at 12.30 pm for a 1 pm show of Wicked.

Of course Greg, Fiona and I have to get a picture to celebrate that we were about to be greenified; a visiting schoolteacher is happy to do this.

We head into the theatre and I have drawn the front row, right aisle. All $30 lottery tickets are front row, so really there’s no bad seat in the house, although I would say it was only two thirds full due to it being the Wednesday matinee. The kids are enjoying it which thrills me to no end.
The show starts up and first I am fascinated to see props like a map to Shiz University close up and am enthralled that I am THIS CLOSE to the monkeys during the opening. I notice during song three – The Wizard and I – that Elphaba’s voice is cracking. This can’t be good.

At intermission Fiona turns to me. “Did you see the switch?”. No, I didn’t, what switch?

Turns out that for the first time in months, they switched out the ladies playing Elphaba! And I missed it! It was very seamless, it happened right after song seven – Popular. I was very impressed that they did it so efficiently.

Act II went just as well and the show wrapped up before 4 pm. Fiona suggested that we go to the stage door and along with another Wicked fiend, we did and were rewarded!

First here’s Alissa who played Nessarose which frankly I think is a role that is quite enjoyable and I am personally saddened that the song “The Wicked Witch of the East” isn’t on the soundtrack.

Next to arrive was Lucy who played Glinda. This kind lady embodies the role!

Following her was Michael who played Fiyero.

Finally it was Zooey who stepped in for Pippa playing Elphaba. Sadly even with lightening the photo I can’t do much better so there you are I’ll have to leave it like that.

We parted after I sent a poster home for later for my door and promised to write. I had an early morning train ride to catch so I hit the hay pretty early on this night.

Day 201 and it was off on the train. The Sydney to Casino route

Robert Goulet: Are you from the casino?

Bart Simpson: I’m from A casino.

Robert Goulet: Good enough!”

(sorry, had to get that in there)

is a nice one, much like Melbourne-Sydney and the total run time is just under 12 hours. I had bought The Girl who played with Fire, the second in the Stieg Larsson trilogy which provided many an hour of entertainment on the train, along with just sitting back and enjoying the view.

But that is not all! The overnight train provided the full journey but the day train does not; another three hours on the bus provided the final leg which seemed to be harrowing as bus drivers on this continent are a wee bit too aggressive on the road for me.

In any case 15 hours after I started I arrived to a freshly made bed at my guest house. Which, when I awoke on day 202, was decidedly to my liking. This is good, of course.

I find that on this trip if I’ve got a few days in one place that I always enjoy getting my bearings first off. So on 202, a Friday, it was time to take it easy. Brisbane is very much on a grid system so it wasn’t too hard to go exploring.

First off I booked an activity for the next day which I was quite excited about. Next it was off to find a bus to the suburb of Wakerley. I have a friend of a friend who owns a dive shop and normally would have been off to dive with them, but however due to the impending arrival of Cyclone Ului about 1200 kilometres north, was fouling up plans. As a result no one was going out diving on the weekend but I thought I would drop in to say hello.

I found the shop, located in an industrial park, with no problem. My contact wasn’t actually in – he had flown off that morning to Gambia as he is working on a 3D movie that is being executively produced by James Cameron! I did have a nice chat with his coworker Brent about all things diving of course.

Usually on this trip I try to skimp on tons of food – please however don’t take this as the fact that I don’t eat, it’s just that I’m not really having the most extravagant foods. Mind you on this day I was hungrier and thirstier than usual so I stopped off to get a Boost Juice which the combination of orange, mango and raspberry provided. Brisbane is experiencing a bit of a heat wave these days… so it’s good to keep refreshed of course.

I went to bed around 9 pm after watching a bit of Drop Dead Fred with some Brits and I will happily go rent it when I got home. Very enjoyable in a Beetlejuice kind of way.

So why did I get to bed so early? It was that day 203, today, provided the earliest start. I suggest you watch this youtube clip to find out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3i14sxFC5Q

Yep, that was the reason for the early start. I could have climbed the Story Bridge at any time, but I thought this would provide for an awesome view. And it didn’t disappoint.

There were 11 of us that started the climb although two decided to withdraw after the initial set of stair climbing. I understand completely; like diving, climbing attached to a cord (perfectly safe, mind you) is not something you do if you’re not comfortable. The nine of us, with our guide Michael, continued to the first photo point, 80 metres above sea level.

It was really interesting to hear about the history of the bridge – it’s the same guy that was in charge of the Sydney Harbour Bridge that did this one – except that this time he exerted more control as Sydney was used mainly with non-Australian materials.

The thrill of seeing the sun rise (even though it was partly cloudy) was quite amazing. It made me wonder why I didn’t get up at this hour all the time.

This third picture really gives you a good perspective on how high up I was. Brisbane is shorter than Sydney but taller than the Auckland bridge – these being the only three bridges you can climb in this fashion worldwide. The way down was actually a bit more intimidating as those steep stairs seem harder on the way down!

We actually finished at around 6 am and once we got out of our harnesses, radios, stunningly wonderful outfits (that’s sarcasm, folks) it was time to depart. I paid for my photos and got back to the guest house at around 7.30 am and went back to bed!

Later, around lunch, I headed down to Chinatown to find a bank. It was fun to wander around and see the markets, although I decided not to buy any of the wares.

Which brings me up to date, as it’s around 4 pm in the afternoon and I’ve pretty much been chilling, and wondering what tomorrow will bring…
Cheers,
Vick.

Days 198-199: Sydney

And so I have seen the sights, starting on Day 198, in Sydney.

The lady at the hostel help desk told me that it was a mere walk down to the harbour, so I took her up on it. It was about a half hour, but definitely worth it.
First stop was the harbour bridge. It is monstrous, no doubt about it. I would have loved to have done the bridge climb, but at a price that was nearing $200 CDN I decided that unless someone who is reading this blog is going to wire me the money

*crickets chirp*

(that’s what I thought) I would have to take a pass. Instead after some searching I came upon the Pylon Lookout (Lonely Planet was exactly right in where it was in their map, however perhaps they should have mentioned that it wasn’t accessible from the ground level…) It was a great lookout, worth the climb.



And here are some of the ants, er, I mean bridge climbers:

Grey’s not my colour, anyway.

Second stop after a wonderful bowl of soup for lunch and a nice chat with some folks from Florida, was the Sydney Opera House. Again, just a wonderful marvel of engineering.

It was at this point that I came to the conclusion that I was not going to be able to get near the amount of things I wanted to do in two days, so I rearranged to stay another night. Why rush it – that’s pretty much my motto these days.

In the evening they had a “fair dinkum” bbq on the top level next to the pool (yes, my hostel has a pool, and frankly save for the three other guys in bunk beds in my room, it plays like a hotel) where I for the first time tried kangaroo meat. It’s like steak, if you’re wondering, as far as tenderness goes. Not like celery, Leguisa, if you’re reading.

Now I have to be honest in that I was planning to be sneaky this evening. Some of the posters had not only advertised the bbq but a free intro to scuba diving. It has been a personal goal of mine to sometime on holiday to go try diving, screw it up in the pool, then become a wizard in the open water. Sadly this was not to be the case this evening as it never materialized. Next time!

In any case I popped down to the cinema (yes, my hostel has a cinema) to watch the Australian film Muriel’s Wedding. It was extremely enjoyable and once I got my head around the fact that Toni Collette looks radically different in this movie then she does in say Little Miss Sunshine or United States of Tara I really enjoyed it. Sure, there were some plot holes but it was just plain good fun.

Day 199 and it was time to do some more exploring. I had intended to go to the Olympic Sites on this day but when I got to the train station I was given the impression that it was a 45 minute wait until the next train and I said sod it, I’m going to Manly.

Manly, a half hour ferry ride across the harbour, was really quite nice. They have a gorgeous scenic walkway which I took advantage of not only to walk upon but to enjoy my lunch. Dear work, can we please install this view for lunchtime? Thanks, Vick.

I also decided on the spur of the moment to go jump in the water. I didn’t actually have my bathing suit with me but the nice thing about board shorts is that they really dry quite quickly.
Following a stop to pick up a couple of souvenirs and to pick up a smoothie, I headed back to home base. I decided to go for a dip up in the pool area which was quite refreshing (since I’m positive that I burnt my neck).

It was here that the winning started. I’m not going to discuss it, but I participated in a dare that won me not one but two free breakfasts. It’s amazing what people will do for free, I figure. After the swim I popped down to the TV lounge and watched a bit of Millionaire Hot Seat as the eps I saw taped last week were already airing (thanks to Chris P for the heads up).

Just before 6 pm I entered the Wicked lottery. This is the draw that takes place two hours before each Sydney performance to see who gets the front row tickets. My number wasn’t up this time but fingers crossed for the next time!

And that didn’t turn out to be such a bad thing. I headed back to the hostel to participate in a Wii Tennis tourney. With free goon! (Read: boxed wine). I actually got creamed in the first round by the eventual winner but frankly it was really a good laugh as I started to do commentary in many different languages. It turned out however I was a winner in the end as due to my enthusiasm I won a free Hostelling International membership, good anywhere on the planet until March 2011! Guess I’m going to have to do some more travelling…

Cheers,
Vick.

Days 194-197

First, some catching up on videos:

Penguin life:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIdWOT3zlpk

Aquarium modelling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOFsRZvqRx0

Skytower craziness:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbEVPBVTVf4

Skydeck elevator:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBU2Ok0CE8w

It was on Day 194 that I woke up and decided to just take it easy. I started the day by taking care of some business, then finalizing a game show application for a show that I probably can’t get on, but having watched it for over 15 years and this being the first year that they have opened it up to civilians in quite a long time, I’d be silly not too.

I also enjoyed my quest to get a phone card at Telstra, followed by lunch of meat pie.

I wandered over to Federation Square to check my email and saw a charity fundraiser going on. Sure, why not, I’m not going the whole hog, but I will do a bit…

It was call Shave for the Brave (or something similar) and I decided not to go the whole hog and got my hair coloured. Stripes!

In retrospect I should have got the whole moptop clipped off if only it was a cheaper haircut than normal! In any case I had a nice chat with one of the organizers and was happy that I could help.
I headed back to the guest house and had a quick supper before heading out to my evening’s activities. It was a good thing that I took the tram for a bit as it ended up being a long walk even still!

I arrived at Circus Oz just ahead of the start time of 6.30 pm. Years ago when I started looking into universities to study at in Melbourne I stumbled across this organization. Now although I didn’t end up studying over here (don’t really want to talk about it!) I still wanted to come to a class and they did allow me to drop in to “tumbing/acro class”.

Here’s the thing. I consider my flexible to an extent. I have some circus skills – juggling, unicycing, clowning. However it turned out this was more like Cirque du Soleil – very much based on the physicality of the body. Which is where it started to turn funny, as in “what have I got myself into?” funny.

We did about a half hour of warm up – a variant on ulty which my team got killed at, followed by a ton of stretching and bending my body into ways that I can’t even dream of.

Then we got into the real thing. I wish I had pictures to show you of my progression during the class. I’d like to preface by saying everyone else was on night four. That being said, I did complete my first ever series of handstands with the help of an assistant and one of the teachers. It definitely does make the blood rush to your head.

Next they started doing tumbling. Again, a disclaimer: I haven’t done a correct front roll/somersault since I was about five. But with a mat that looked like a wedge of cheese, I got going pretty well.

Furthermore, I was able to do some motions that will one day lead me to doing a cartwheel.
All in all I didn’t think it was that bad for the first night at it. I did get a picture of my instructors, Dottie and her husband (I think) whom I will call Mr. Nonchalant as I never got his name and he seemed to do everything with the greatest of ease.

And prove that I didn’t make this up:

Part of the hilarity of the evening was that as I was sweating profusely (there’s really no denying that, frankly) the hair dye from earlier in the day was bleeding out. So it ended up all over me and a good chunk on Dottie as well. I got back about an hour later to the guest house, took a shower, and then headed to bed.

On Day 195, my penultimate day in Melbourne I finally got over to the Melbourne Cricket Ground stadium. Which is used for cricket, Aussie Rules Football and European football among other events.

It was an interesting tour but when it wrapped up, we were invited to stay for the match that was in play, part of the Sheffield Shield tournament that was going on between Tasmania and Victoria. Now I’m not going pretend that I know anything about cricket – because I don’t. However I was amazed at the crowd in the stadium…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SILUGvRsquc

… and the fact that they still actually ran the game! Thankfully a nice English couple I met on tour was nice enough to explain the nuances to me. Before I knew it there were some wickets and overs and bowls and innings and a couple of players scored four runs by getting it by the boundary but didn’t score six as they didn’t hit it out of the stadium.

Simple, right?

Lunch was a great sandwich at the player’s café at the Rod Laver Arena for which I would visit the next day. It was getting late in the afternoon so I had to hop back to the guest house, freshen up, and then meet Liz and Hannah, friends of mine from Queenstown that live in the city. We had a quick party on Brunswick street with visits to Grilled:

And followed up by Trampoline:

I very much enjoyed the quick visit and wish that it could have been longer! However I had to get back to the Flinders Street station clocks for seven to meet up with Katja.
Katja was a student at work when I was a faculty assistant, way back in 02/03. She now works in the fashion industry in Melbourne as I was thrilled that we were able to meet up as it is coming up to Fashion Week in the city. She tells me that her job is slightly like what you see on Ugly Betty but not entirely.

We had a great time catching up with everything and anything and I am thrilled that things are going well for her! It was also funny trying to remember specific events from our year together at PC – things like that infamous rafting trip at the start of the year.

Again after a busy day I headed back to the guest house to get some sleep, which is what usually someone does, I suppose!

Day 196 and it was time to do the final sweep through Melbourne. Chris phoned me up in the morning and we set a time to meet for lunch. In the interim I hopped back over to Rod Laver arena, where the Australian Open tennis tournament is held each year to get a guided tour.
I do play tennis now and then but also one of my roommates is a massive tennis fan so I figured I should check it out! I was not disappointed!

We first started in the mens’ locker room and got to see where they prepare before a game. This is a picture of Roger Federer’s locker:

Number one as you can see – everyone is allowed to pick a locker based on their seeding in the world rankings at the time of the tourney. We were told Rafael Nadal picks one very far away from Federer and if you don’t rank in the top 87, you only get a half locker!!

Next it was into the actual centre court itself which as you can see isn’t there, as they’re in concert season. Tom Jones had been there two nights before and other artists such as Kelly Clarkson are on their way there.

We also got to tour hall of champions, see the trophies, visit a superbox (which at a cost of $180K a year I think I will have to pass on) and go into the media interview room. Guess who was first up to be interviewed?

I actually had someone from the crowd ask me a question about my shoes which I was quite quick witted in answering. Drama teacher in me I guess. All in all a great tour!

I met up with Chris for lunch and following our meal of baguettes and ice chocolate we toured around a bit, especially in Federation Square where they were launching a festival for the new students… something that I should have been part of if universities had given me the time of day…

In any case shortly before 4.30 pm Chris and I parted ways as he was rehearsing for a concert that evening. I was hoping to go see it but by the time I got back to St. Kilda I had taken a bit of a scenic route and I was quite bushed.

Day 197 and it was on the train.

No, seriously, that’s about my day! 12 hour train ride from Melbourne to Sydney, which was quite nice, very peaceful train ride. Plus the food prices were reasonable and the scenery was great. I even had Devonshire Tea in the morning – your choice of hot beverage plus warm scones and jam! Yummers.

And please, how can you not enjoy a train that stops at Wagga Wagga:

Now safely ensconced in Sydney it’s off to see the sites!

Cheers,

Vick.

Days 189-193: Goodbye NZ, Hello Oz!

One of the last “adventure” type things that I wanted to do in New Zealand was to go canyoning. So, after foraging for food on K Road, it was time to head off in the mystery machine (in all seriousness, that’s what it felt like). We arrived in what looked like someone’s driveway (which in fact it was) and got kitted up with “rash guards”, wet suits, wet suit boots and ever stylish crocs.

“Ryan! You look like a strong guy!” And with that I was voluntold to carry a bag of harnesses and ropes. Now. This would have not been a problem except for the fact, oh, I don’t know, that we had to do a massive uphill hike for about twenty minutes.

However after all that I did make it to the end and was happy to put on the wetsuit for the adventure to come.

I felt lucky as this half day trip was the less strenuous of the two options that the company provides; as a result there was a LOT more jumping. Basically canyoning is like parkour; you just keep going. Whether this requires jumping or sliding or abseiling isn’t really up to you but rather the lay of the land!

So the best part probably was jumping…

Plus we got to slide – backwards down a small rock face!

And finally there was the abseiling… we got to do this a couple of times – it was a bit challenging I found (especially on the behind!) but still good fun.

We also got our pictures taken under a waterfall – in my case they let the water go all at the same time!

The lady in the picture with me is Gerri from Holland. As two of the more, ahem, “senior” members of the group that day – most of the canyoners being from Loyola Marymount University – we chummed together for most of the day. Gerri’s flight left later that day so after we both cleaned up we went out to a takeaway/sitdown little restaurant near her hostel where I experienced roast duck for the first time! I have to say that I enjoyed it although it was a bit difficult to navigate due to fact that there were lots of little bones in the duck AND I was using chopsticks. I wish I had taken a picture or a video – it was quite hilarious as I was extremely tired. Gerri and I then parted ways and exchanged emails. I got back to the hostel and I was DONE.

So much so that I next awoke on Day 190 and took it easy to start. I went for a walk in search of a supermarket – Auckland, you’ve got a nice place, but it wouldn’t kill you to put a small countdown or new world within a 30 minute walk of the CBD…

After coming up empty handed I made do with what I had kicking around and then went and found the shark bus.

The shark bus was to take me to Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World. This was an aquarium to be like no other – so told the promotional dvd on the bus on the way over to the other side of the harbour. After the brainwashing was done we happily got off the great white and filed on in.
I had chatted with a couple from the San Francisco area – Peter and Catherine – who then adopted me into their group, which was quite nice.

You get to go through a couple of secondary exhibits to start with (including the “stick your hand in the bucket of water that is the temperature that the penguins experience … experience”) before getting the crux of it all. We started by watching a stingray feeding before going in a sea cat. This is a transport where we could get up and close to the penguins.

It takes about 8 minutes and frankly the safety explanation was bafflingly difficult for what was basically just a nice jaunt through the Antarctic. It was then on to see the aquarium and its domed tunnel.

This is what I had came for… and I wasn’t disappointed. They actually did a really good job of it.

It was amazing what we found…

VIDEO... to come...

Now, if only I had had a cuddly toy, Bruce Forsyth would have came out and slapped me. (Look it up!)

Following the once again coincidental ending up in the souvenir shop at the end we decided to take Jaws back to the city and go find some food. Gerri had told me about an international food court and once I sat down with my pad thai I was not disappointed. It was great chatting with Peter and Catherine and swapping travel stories. It turns out that they both work at Stanford which I thought was pretty neat.

As they had just flown in that day, they were looking forward to getting to their hotel when they were able to, so we said our goodbyes just after two pm. I decided to take the time to wander the downtown core and pick up some groceries (where I could find them) and some souvenirs as well. Would have loved to have gotten something from the Rugby 2011 World Cup store but man, even with the exchange, the prices were really high!

After getting back to my room I took it easy for the rest of the night and just vegged with the telly. Sadly it was mostly non-kiwi stuff apart from their version of The Singing Bee but there you are.

Day 191 and after a short visit to the post office to mail off about 2 kilos worth of books and souvenirs, I went to Newmarket.

Huh?

What?

Well it turns out that there is a Newmarket in New Zealand. It’s one of the suburbs of Auckland, so I decided to have some fun and spend the morning there. Basically as I found out it’s mostly the shopping mecca – not really Rodeo Drive by any means – but still upscale stuff. The one shop I actually went into and found interesting was the Croc shop!

Seriously. If it was my last day I would have bought some but those things take up major real estate in the luggage. So it was a no then.

The one thing I wanted to do in Newmarket quite badly was to get a picture of me next to a “Welcome to Newmarket” sign at the edge of the burb. However that was not possible as they don’t seem to consider themselves a separate entity, but I did find the train station:

Where I did actually find that magical phrase!

It took some adjusting with the glare but I think I did well all in all.

Popped back then to the hotel for a bit of a nap and paid my room cost and booked my airport shuttle for the next day. Turns out the woman working the desk is from the Sturgeon Falls area!

Go figure.

I thought it would be nice to go have another little walk so I went down to the Sky Tower.

This is one of the tallest buildings in the Southern Hemisphere, and you certainly can’t do THIS at the CN Tower back home:

(video to come)

I got chatting to a trio of Brits while we were watching this happen; we discussed how much it would take each of us to go on this thrill ride. Apparently I was the low bidder – I was happily willing to do it if someone paid for me right then and there (no takers, sadly). High bid? $100,000!

That evening I once again took it easy, packed everything in anticipation of an early departure, and make a box breakfast.

I awoke early – 5.30 am – on the 192nd day of my quest.

There was only one problem with that.

I was supposed to get my shuttle at 5 am.

(expletive deleted)

I had overslept.

Ran downstairs. Called shuttle. Was told to be ready in five minutes. Got really upset. Shuttle arrives. “What do you mean you’re not taking me?”. Panic. Night watchman/manager comes out – and James saved my sanity by calling me a taxi followed by Air New Zealand to check that I would still be fine flight wise. Taxi arrives. Peter the driver is good conversation. Pay a $51.40 stupidity fee. Check in at airport 55 minutes before flight is due to depart. Have to pay $70 overweight fee. Check my dive gear in at the “fragile” area. Clear security. Get to gate. Board plane 30 minutes later, relieved.

A few interesting things about the flight: the guy next to me wasn’t allowed on the same flight two days before as his passport was only slightly wet and he had to get a new one, and the pilot to Modern Family was wonderful.

At the baggage claim I met Amelia and Craig who were on their way to their wedding. It turns out Craig and his parents are from the Peterborough area and we got chatting… turns out that I’ll be in the same part of the world near their special day so I now owe them drinks shortly after the wedding. And frankly if you can pronounce Mooloolaba the correct way I’ll buy you one as well.

The great thing about starting in Melbourne is that I was going to meet up with my friend Chris. We have been emailing each other for about 10 years, and have talked on Skype previously but this would be the first time we’d be meeting in the flesh. Chris was nice enough to have taken a couple days off of work so that he could be my personal tour guide. Chris like me is a well-versed traveler and a game show aficionado so I was quite confident that we’d get along just peachy.

Chris was kind in meeting me at the airport and had already worked out the easiest way to my accommodations which was great as when we got off the tram it just started pouring buckets, so much that I had to change clothes when I got in! We then headed out to the Puffin’ Billy steam train in his neck of the woods.

This was really cool – it was very much an ‘old time’ railroad where you could stick your head out the window and just watch the world go by. The company is driven by volunteers – about 500 of them contribute their time, and I could tell by talking to some of them that they are very passionate about it. The ride takes about an hour each way and at the end you can get out and walk around a nice little lake path – but no swimming or diving off of the bridge, that’s a steep $220 fine – for each offence.

Just before we headed back we got some neat pictures in the engine room!

And to boot – the lady running the snack stand was nice enough to give us a couple of pies as she was going to throw them out anyway!

Remember kids, always blow on the pie. Safer communities together.

After a short dinner of pizza and a certain French beverage, followed by some ice cream at Maccars, I stayed at the restaurant and enjoyed the free wi-fi connection while Chris hopped the train home. I didn’t stay too long as there was much work to be done during the next day!

Chris met me at my hostel at around 9 am on day 193. We had a nice walk around the St Kilda area, finding the entrance to Luna Park

And some nice cake shops, which I vow to try before leaving. We grabbed a light lunch en route afterwards, and then were at the Channel Nine studios in Richmond around 12 noon to see Who Wants to be a Millionaire Hot Seat!

I was really excited to see this version and it did not disappoint. The shows are going to air in a couple of weeks’ time and although I won’t spoil we saw some great episodes. The show is a bit of a twist on Millionaire – six players, if you get a question right you progress up the chain, get it wrong and you’re eliminated and the top prize is reduced one level. At the fifteenth question, whomever is in the chair is guaranteed $1000 and plays for whatever question value is left.

Now for the actual taping I was my usual energetic self. Michael, the warm up guy who might I say was EXCELLENT found out quickly that I was a Canadian and became a frequent bantering target. During the first episode we were in the first row, and during the second we were actually behind Eddie McGuire, the host, so we actually had to stare in front of us the whole time! But that was not a problem.

Following the second episode I along with Laura from Holland was invited to be a captain for a musical quiz. We were playing for our section of the audience. It was Australian Name That Tune so obviously we could ask for help from our supporters. I got really into it (surprised?) and was quite aggressively buzzing in (by slapping Michael’s hand). I actually got more than Laura but through a convoluted system of scoring (he made it up) we lost but that was okay, because it was good fun anyway.

After show three it was food break! Sausage rolls and water – having been given a copious amount of candies already. I was actually too wired to eat!

It was also time to make my move for something that I hoped would happen. I approached Michael and he said yes, and with the help of Kerri, one of the audience wranglers, it got done.

Following show four, I got this:

Yep, that’s me with Eddie the host! I was also happy to give Eddie some Tim Horton’s coffee and real maple syrup. He had recently been in Vancouver covering the games for Channel Nine and had been to Timmie’s and said his sons would enjoy the maple syrup. So it was sweet for both of us. HA!




We wrapped show five around 5.30 pm and then they had the raffle draws. Guess who won the first one? Chris did! He was instantly 50$ richer, and I was very pleased!



On the way out I was able to grab a picture with Michael (with the ominous hot seat logo in the back).

He and everyone on staff were just wonderful, very relaxed, very fun. A great day at the studio!

Chris and I wandered over to Southbank to grab some dinner before heading up the 88 Skydeck. This apparently is the tallest residential building in the Southern Hemisphere and it was great! The elevator just flies up to the top! Had to clear my ears!

We had a nice walk around the top and then went outside on the terrace. Boy, was it windy! We decided to pass on “The Edge” – where you get to actually go in a box that is perplex and there’s really nothing beneath your feet!

To conclude the night we sat down at Federation Square and had a nice chat – plus free internet! I tell you, I’m liking Melbourne. It has been a great couple of days hanging out with my good friend Chris and now I will be exploring the city on my own for a couple of days. Bring it on!

Cheers,
Vick