Spectacular Spelunking

On 11 October we struck out west through the Blue Mountains to the Jenolan Caves. The Blue Mountains are part of the Great Dividing Range. The average elevation of Australia is only 330 meters (1082 feet), and the highest mountain on mainland Australia is Mount Kosciuszko in southern New South Wales, at 2,228 meters (7,310 feet). Kosciuszko is far south New South Wales, almost on the Victoria border.

On the way up, we stopped at Katoomba for lunch (meat and custard pies) and a bit of sightseeing. Here are a couple more links for Katoomba. We also grabbed some groceries for our stay at the caves.


Sulfur-crested cockatoos at Lilianfels Park in Katoomba, a hundred yards/meters from the overlook at Echo Park. Claude used to have a pet cockatoo.

The Three Sisters from the Katoomba overlook.

Shortly before Hartley the dense bush gave way to grasslands on the tumbling hills, which allowed much better views of the surrounding countryside. Immediately after Hartley, Jenolan Caves Road diverged from the Great Western Highway and headed south and west, mostly keeping to the tops of ridges rather than the bottoms of valleys as is the usual mode. This afforded many wide-open panoramas of this pastoral region, with occasional clumps of cattle, sheep and goats and widely scattered farmhouses. One detail contrasting with similar scenes in the USA was the omnipresent rainwater catchment tanks. That water is used for just about everything but drinking. Also distinct from the American landscape were the ubiquitous water and electric solar panels, which blanket the cities as well.

Nearer to Jenolan, the serpentine road became positively convoluted, and in many areas was only one lane wide as the track hugged the slopes of the ravines. The long open views once again gave way to severely limited glimpses of walls of leaves and rock. Mobile phone service vanished and didn't return for the duration of the stay. Another car appeared behind and followed us for some distance before zooming ahead as I stopped at a pullout to provide passage for a bus coming the other way. Claude had pointed it out to me out a few bends ahead. Sure enough, the backing lights of that impatient auto reappeared shortly, making both of us laugh. Just as I wondered how much further it would be, we rounded a bend and saw what at first I thought to be a tunnel. That turned out not to be the case.


The Grand Arch contains the entrances to several caves as well as the road to the visitor center, Caves House and lodging. Yes, that's a real truck down there, not a toy or model.
The Grand Arch isn't much longer than it is tall, but the path makes a double curve through it and you can't see all the way through. When you come out the other side, you are greeted with the picturesque Caves House, which contains a gift shop, restaurant, cafe and hotel.


Caves House
Caves House itself is quite expensive, but the Gatehouse adjacent is reasonable for "backpacker style" accommodations, with a shared bathroom and a kitchen and dining area.


Gatehouse is attached to the Caves House with a couple of smaller buildings between, but there is no connecting passage.

That afternoon we explored the immediate environs and took a little hike down the river walk trail past Blue Lake, its dam and on down beside the Jenolan River. Blue Lake is incredibly clear, but at the same time is a brilliant turquoise colour from minerals leeched from the stone in the cave system.

After a much cooler night than we had been experiencing, we awoke to a light rain mixed with snow. Throughout the morning it varied constantly all the way between rain and huge fluffy snowflakes, but there was no accumulation. However, a few vehicles came in covered with snow. Later that day we learned that the road in had been closed because of the snow, which explained why there were only a handful of other tourists present.

The tour of the Imperial Cave at ten forty-five consisted of the guide, Claude and myself and the departure point was inside the Grand Arch, on the far side from the Caves House. It was truly nice not having to compete to ask questions and to be able to see exactly the features we wanted to see in the amount of detail we wished, to go at our own pace and still have plenty of time. In fact, our personal guide gave us a bonus tour a little further past what would have been the end of the usual tour. Of course, the caves keep a more or less constant temperature throughout the year, so the weather outside was irrelevant.

We grabbed lunch at the cafe rather than cooking for ourselves as we did the rest of our stay, and then Claude took a nap (there were many, many stair steps on the tour) while I took another tour starting at 1:30 pm, this time to the Oriental Cave. This time a younger couple joined me and the tour guide for a whopping total of four persons on the tour. It was even more fantastic than the Imperial, with amazing features everywhere. Something that seemed quite common here at Jenolan but is apparently very rare in other caves were "speleothems" called "helictites" that appear to defy gravity.


Helictites. See that there are some traditional stalactites in the mix, illustrating the orientation of the photo.
Once again, our little group was treated to a "special", personalized tour, with a bit of a bonus at the end. As before, we came out retracing the steps we took into the earth. We had taken a shuttle van from the tour gathering point below the lodge and opposite the visitor center to a hefty steel door in base of the precipitous hillside around and above Caves House. We were chatting on the way and I wasn't paying any attention to where we were going, so it was a complete surprise to me when we emerged from the tour only twenty yards from the door to the Gatehouse where we were bunking. The guide told us that the "easy way back" was the road, and the "scenic route" was the footpath hugging the side of the hill. The three of them took the road, and I was twenty yards down the footpath before I realized where I was and quickly reversed to rejoin Claude.

Freshly oriented, we took the scenic footpath back down the slope to the visitor center, where we obtained the electronic devices for our final cave tour, the self-guided Nettle Cave route. I had to make a quick trip back to the visitor center for a replacement after a false start caused by a malfunctioning volume control in one of the audio wands. In retrospect, it would have been better to start out with that one, because as you might expect, the unsupervised tour was drab and featureless compared with the others. It did however include some awesome views from great heights. Claude wasn't a fan of all the steps, though.

Because I took so many photos and the tours were so extensive, I'm not going to attempt to give even a pictorial overview here. Suffice to say, it was by far the most spectacular caves I've ever seen. For a complete photo album, go to my Picasa album. Note that there is a map that shows the locations of many of the photos. The locations are fairly accurate, with most being close to the viewpoint and a few being more like the location of what's in the image. This one album is using 60% of my Picasa space, so it may not be there permanently.


Here's one teaser photo to whet your appetite and yet not reveal too much. (Go to Picasa for the whole album.)

That evening we shared the kitchen/lounge with a middle-aged couple and their teenage son from California who were exploring Australia in many modes, from auto to ambulation, hotel to sleeping bag. We had a good chat about their and our experiences so far, and some of our plans for the near future. The son had seen a platypus in Blue Lake. This was the one room that had an effective working heater (and an analog TV with reception on a whopping 4 channels), which made it desirable for spending down time. The rooms had portable oil radiator-style heaters, and ours' overheat circuit kept shutting down on all but the lowest of the three heat settings, leaving the room a bit too cool for comfortable lounging, but fine for sleeping.

The elevation in the vicinity of the Jenolan Caves is about 840 meters (2,750 feet), although the highest point on the road to the caves is 1,290 meters (4,230 feet).

The temperature was 3 degrees Celsius (37 Fahrenheit) when we left Jenolan the following morning. Rather than head back the way we came, we continued on to Oberon. Because of our conversation with the family the previous evening, we deviated from the original plan and made our way down to the Kanangra Walls. On the way we observed the remnants of the accumulated snow from the day before, which while not impressive from a Colorado point of view was totally unexpected for this area. According to the locals, it had been 17 years since the last snow in that area at that time of year. We also enjoyed the incongruity of a number of kangaroos foraging in the snow.



The road into the park is unsealed (AKA "dirt" for Yanks), and dead-ends at a small parking area. There were understandably few tourists present, but a group of rescue personnel had apparently been practicing and were preparing to leave when we arrived. After a short and disappointing exploratory jaunt down the rather flat and bush-lined trail, I returned to Claude and the car, but fortunately one of the guys packing up spoke to me and told me not to leave without going all the way out to the overlook. It turned out not to be all that much farther than I had gone, but much farther than the 100 meters the sign indicated. The overlooks at the Walls emerge abruptly from the flat bushland and consist of yet more spectacular panoramas of steep and distant densely vegetated ridges and river valleys. The "walls" are vertical and nearly unbroken sandstone cliffs in the relative foreground. And the lookouts don't have railings or any other man-made modifications...


Yes, that really is the edge of a cliff on the other side of me, and I wasn't about to get any closer!



After that invigorating hike, it was back to the car to continue our adventure. Lunch was meat pies at picturesque little Oberon, with this colorful art deco building

and the ornate Ramsgate Guesthouse & Tea Rooms

just a half-block apart. Then on through the rolling hills and grassland to Bathurst. Just a week before, a major auto race had taken place at Bathurst's famous Mount Panorama Speedway. As a road race, the Bathurst 1000 is much more exciting and interesting to me than NASCAR going round and round a boring oval. Claude had told me about this track before, and the fact that you can actually go and drive around the track. It turns out that it is actually a street, with residences, farms and businesses lining the sides, so they really have no option but to keep it open to the public any time a race is not underway, but with an absurdly low speed limit of 60 kph (37.3 mph). I am told that the police infamously love to lie in wait for those inclined to try it at more than a snail's pace, but we didn't see any while we were there. While it is famous for the "V8 Supercars" competition, it was actually a motorcycle track much earlier.

We circled the track three times, once with me driving and twice with Claude behind the wheel, one circuit being recorded by me on HD video - or so I thought. I was much chagrined when we got home to find that I had not had the camera running. I was concentrating so hard on the framing that I didn't notice the indicator was not blinking the correct color! I guess I'll just have to make another trip up there. The other two circuits we stopped several times to watch and photograph other vehicles, and once even stopped at a farmhouse and bought some honey, strawberry jam and marmalade, of which we have not yet partaken. The grey-haired lady who waited on us responded to my obvious interest in a beautiful flowering tree with its name: pawlownia.

The day we were there also happened to be the day that a club of kit car owners were having a "fun run" to and around the track. They were all the same kit, but were from different years and versions, and the nature of kit cars is such that no two were alike. The Eureka is the same as the Nova in the U.K. and the Sterling in the U.S.A., so the shape was very familiar to me. There were more than a dozen cruising the track, with a photographer documenting their rides, and they eventually queued up near the starting line. Some of these examples were modified more than others, and there were lots of different engines, from the original VW Beetle engine to V6s and Mazda rotary engines.

It was literally all downhill after Bathurst. We completed the loop back to Lithgow, where we spent some time fruitlessly searching for the train depot, then pointed our wheels back to Hartley and retraced our track from there home. It was an amazing three days, and the memories will linger forever.

More On The Great Lakes Region

On 2 October, we struck out on our furthest venture afield yet. We rejoined the Pacific Highway and turned north, bypassing Macquarie and Newcastle and veering back to the coast just after The Great Aussie Bush Camp. We didn't notice Monkey Jacket as we passed. "What's a monkey jacket?" you may ask. Well, LMGTFY (Let Me Google That For You) - click the links in the previous sentence. We nearly missed Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest when we blinked, but soon entered Myall Lakes National Park.

I have to note that unless you are in a particularly hilly area or right next to the water, your view in this part of the country doesn't change much. The road curves constantly, and the vegetation, including wattle (acacia), is thick enough and the gum trees (eucalyptus) tall enough that your line of sight is extremely limited. Also, don't let the maps fool you: what looks like a nearly straight line on a map almost always turns out to be anything but.

Such is the case here. We wended our way along Mungo Brush Road, we passed a few trailheads and parking areas. We finally curled back northwest, away from the ocean, and stopped briefly at Boomer Campground and trailhead. There was a beautiful example of a "black boy", also known as a "grass tree".


Xanthorrhoea australis. There is clearly a campaign to stamp out the use of its common name, "black boy".

Continuing on around the north end of Bombah Broadwater, the southernmost of the lakes in the park, the road suddenly ended in water.


At the Bombah Point Ferry crossing. That's the (overexposed) ferry on the far side, with an SUV aboard waiting for departure.

The ferry runs every half hour, and is the only way to continue further into the park from this end. While we were watching, another vehicle joined the first on the ferry and it made its way across the gap. We decided not to take the ferry, as it was already about time to be turning back and we wanted to investigate a little more thoroughly back along the route we followed to get here.


Looking south across Bombah Broadwater from the east ferry landing.


Looking west across Two Mile Lake from the east ferry landing

The current as of this post google satellite map of the location shows the ferry at the same spot as in my photo above.

It's beyond me why they are still running a ferry over such a short distance in this day and age rather than just building a bridge, but maybe it's the historical significance that keeps it in business.

The one stop we made on our way back out of the park was at the beach at Dees Corner, which was deserted.


Dees Corner Beach. Well, this isn't really the beach. We didn't actually make it all the way out to the water's edge, so I took this photo from the dunes. There's also a 4x4 trailhead here.

It was past lunch time when we left the park and got back to Hawks Nest, so we grabbed some sloppy juicy burgers at the local joint. They were good... but not as good as those at Cooranbong Take Away.

We made a couple of detours on the way back hoping to find a particular bay, but eventually gave up and headed home. As an example of my earlier comments, our trip fully encircled Grahamstown Lake, but we never actually saw it even though the road ran quite near the southern end. In typically Aussie fashion, there seems not to be any place named "Grahamstown" nearby...

This day we travelled about 210 miles in a touch under six and a half hours. Considering we really only touched the bottom end of the Great Lakes Region and ended up where we started, I felt we made good progress.

Around the Lake

On 29th September we set off for a circumnavigation of Lake Macquarie. On the way north, we made a little detour to Catherine Hill Bay. I got more experience driving Aussie-style, doing most of the driving while Claude navigated.

Catherine Hill was originally named Cowper in 1873, and was later renamed for a schooner that ran aground in 1867. It was a coal mining community, and many of the miners' cottages have been preserved and are still occupied. The surrounding area has been preserved from development, and the local landmark Catho Pub still exists, although it has been updated a bit and the back patio area has been totally remodeled within the time of Claude's memory.


Catherine Hill Bay, looking north


Catherine Hill Bay, looking south. That pier is the old coal loading wharf.



Catho Pub, "downtown" Catherine Hill

Leaving the sleepy village behind, we turned north again to Swansea and crossed the short, narrow channel that joins Lake Macquarie to the ocean. Lake Macquarie is between two and four times the size of Sydney Harbour, depending on who you believe, and is the largest coastal salt water lake in Australia. It has fingers and inlets extending every direction, and reminds me of the fresh water reservoirs of eastern Oklahoma in many ways. The winding road snaked between small communities and panoramas and glimpses of the lake, eventually leading us to a short diversion with another luscious, sloppy burger at Cooranbong Takeaway. We arrived at home having travelled about 60 miles (100 kilometers) in just under three and a half hours. That's what happens when you stop to smell the roses.

Of Barking Sands, Bush Fires and Twilight Kangaroos

While in Hawaii in 2007 we went to Barking Sands Beach on Kauai, and although I managed to get hopelessly stuck in the rental car, I couldn't get the sand there to "bark". I guess the conditions weren't right. I have no idea how it works, but the sand at Birdie Beach consistently makes a sound that could reasonably be called barking. I decided to record the sound for posterity. Unfortunately, it was always windy at the beach, so there is some wind buffeting noise, but the "barking" is unmistakeable. I couldn't figure out how to make this blog play the audio file, but you can download it by clicking this link.

The sand on the path to Birdie Beach.
We spent a little time nearly every afternoon at the beach, so the tan begun as I splashed and jumped around in the pool in Oklahoma has evened out a bit. I mentioned before that we were making daily trips to Cooranbong to check on some friends' property and take care of their pets. On 4 October, there was a bush fire about halfway between that forced the closing of a railway line as well as some business closures. They mostly got it knocked down, and we were able to get to the farm after supper. However, the next day the wind was ferocious and at the beach we saw this:


The Wyee bush fire from Birdie Beach.
At first it seemed very near, and I thought it was in the Munmorah State Conservation Area of which Birdie Beach is a part. I fact, I thought it was just on the other side of the dune ridge you see in the photo. We were almost ready to go anyway, but we decided it wouldn't be a good idea to hang around. As we wound our way back to the house, it quickly became obvious that the source was much farther away than it had appeared. In fact, it was the same fire that had flared up the day before, and was on the other side of the lake from the house (and the beach). As we crossed a finger of Lake Macquarie on the way to Cooranbong, we were met with this view looking west across Mannering Bay:

Pretty. Also disturbing.
We were forced to retrace our tracks just around the bend from where this photo was taken. The alternative route would have meant going miles out of the way in the opposite direction, so we went to supper at nearby Doylo RSL club in hopes that the situation would change by the time we finished. Afterward, the road we needed had reopened - and the one we normally followed had been closed off - so we were able to make it in, and our usual route was clear by the time we headed home.

Another evening at the Cooranbong farm Claude took me for a short spin intentionally at dusk. His experience rewarded us with this:



I'm sure that at some point I'll have much better video and photos of these critters, but ya know, it was my first time... :-)

Northerly Orientation

The day after arriving at Lake Munmorah, we took a little orientation tour of the immediate surroundings. By now I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll never know what direction I'm going. Aussies don't believe in laying out streets and roads in a grid, certainly not oriented with the cardinal directions. If you find yourself on an inexplicably linear section of road, rest assured that will be quickly un-rectified, and it's highly unlikely that you are headed due anything.

While my travels so far have been limited, I am becoming aware of an architectural anomaly. Sydney is known for its tile roofs, but aside from the roofs there is a considerable variety of styles when it comes to every other architectural feature. However, the small shops I mentioned in my description of Kogarah seem to be the rule everywhere. These little downtown areas are ubiquitous and omnipresent, in each town and community, and they each are only a few blocks long and all look the same. They are mainly glass for the front walls, and the signs are all of a uniform height, a couple of feet high and spanning the entire width of the building. Each shop's sign is a different, usually bright, color color than its immediate neighbors, but usually covered with text and lacking other graphics. There may be racks and stands of goods spilling out onto the sidewalks. Taken all together nothing really stands out from its neighbor, and it's not all that attractive.

Downtown anywhere, New South Wales. This happens to be Kogarah.

If you're not a local, you're certainly not going to be able to distinguish one town from another by a quick look at its downtown area, nor will you be able to easily discern which storefront contains the thing you're looking for.

Toukley (too'-klee), about six miles south of the town of Lake Munmorah, is no exception. We stopped to stock up on groceries, grab fresh meat pies for lunch and cream rolls for dessert. Meat pies and sausage rolls are Australian staples, found anywhere you would find hamburgers or hot dogs in the States. They are savory and delicious and always piping hot, but as you might expect can vary a lot. They usually cost less than half what an Aussie hamburger does.

After dropping the groceries by the house, we took a peek at nearby Birdie Beach. The road is circuitous, and studying a map can't prepare you for the constantly turning track, which has no landmarks to help keep your directions straight, especially near midday. I fear I will never quite be in sync with the actual directions on that beach.

Birdie Beach looking north-northeast.

Birdie Beach looking south. That's Bird Island out in the ocean on the left.

Another view looking toward the northern end of Birdie Beach from the Tea Trea Picnic Area, showing the profuse vegetation covering the whole area other than the beach itself.

I have no idea what this flower is, but it's beautiful and prolific in the area.

Next on the agenda was a quick trip to an ATM at Budgewoi (Bud'-gee-woy), about two thirds of the way to Toukley, followed by lunch back at the house. After lunch we went back out to the beach and "sunbaked" for a couple of hours. It's still early in the season, but the beach was far from crowded, and the amazingly clear water and clean sand coupled with the cool breeze made basking in the afternoon sun an idyllic experience.

If that weren't enough, after returning to the lake house and rinsing off the sand, we started a wood fire in the barbecue grill and created a feast of sausages, lamb chops, onions, hand-crinkle-cut potatoes, and tomatoes.

Chef Claude roasting dinner on the wood fire.

The results of our labours. Too much food! That didn't keep me from cleaning my plate, though... What an excellent end to a wonderful day.

Roadside Attractions

I wish I had taken a photo of this car a couple of days earlier.
When we arrived up the coast, this car wasn't there. A day or so later, it appeared about halfway between Cooranbong and Lake Munmorah. It was apparently abandoned, was shiny red and didn't have a scratch or dent on it. A day, two at most, later it had been completely stripped. The day after that, it looked like this.

I am given to understand that this is common, done by the the owner or by arrangement with local hoodlums for the insurance money. You can see the police have been here, with the tape clearly visible in the photo. looking at the surrounding trees, it's lucky a major bush fire didn't result. It has been very dry, and in fact a bush fire did break out only a mile or so away a few days later.

Up the Coast

Day 8: Wednesday, 26 September
After the introduction to Kogarah, downtown Sydney and the Eastern Suburbs, we struck out up the coast to the holiday house on Lake Munmorah. Soon after we left the city, Claude pulled over and let me drive the rest of the way up. I've been mentally trying to prepare myself for months, but there's not really much you can do without being in the driver's seat, so it still felt very strange at first. I am relieved to tell you that the worst mistake I made was turning on the windshield wipers when I was trying for the turn signals.

So far it doesn't appear that Australia has an equivalent to the Interstate Highway System of the USA. There are limited-access divided highways with a maximum speed of 110 kph (68 mph), but they are dotted with 90-degree side streets and alternate between interstate-style and surface streets depending on whether they are in rural or urban areas. There certainly is no such thing as a multi-lane highway that whisks you from one side of the city - or the state - to the other. All the lines in the roadway are white (except where the *curb* lines are yellow - that's not well thought out), so it's not abundantly obvious which lanes are going which direction. Roundabouts are everywhere, and if there is more than one lane going your direction you had better be alert to make sure your lane doesn't become a turn-only lane or the curb lane becomes a parking area. The lack of anything resembling a through-lane results in lots of traffic jostling. Fortunately, most drivers seem to be aware that a modicum of aggressiveness can actually be a good thing, whereas competitiveness is a very bad thing.

The drive north was marvelous, with a mantle of profuse vegetation clothing the steep, rocky hills. Occasional water crossings and views interspersed with spectacular rock cuts that in Colorado would have merely been tunnels made it difficult to keep my attention on the traffic where it belonged, and made the somewhat lower speed than I'm used to seem more sensible.

We didn't go directly to the lake house. Claude has some friends at Cooranbong about 15 miles away to the northwest who were leaving for a week to go on a dirt bike racing holiday. The couple have two young boys, the older of which does well racing motocross. Claude volunteered to take care of their pets while they were away. They don't currently have livestock, but it is a large property with citrus trees, wisteria, a large Japanese pond complete with island, a practice motocross track and a picturesque rustic cabin near the back of the property. Here's a view of the front of the main house.

The wife has started a new cafe in town, which seems to be going gangbusters, so we said hi to the proprietor. After making a sashay down to the Sanitarium factory (not what you think - they make breakfast cereal; link to their site), we went back to Cooranbong Takeaway and feasted on huge, messy and tasty Aussie-style hamburgers. Aussie burgers include beetroot (canned or pickled beet slices) and a fried egg (Victorian burgers add a pineapple ring, no thanks!), and mine also had bacon. Yum!

Cooranbong is a Seventh Day Adventist community, and the cereal factory is apparently on the campus of their school and college. We dropped by and picked up some "Weet Bix" and "Light 'n' cereals, which I love. I got the varieties with oats. Unlike any of the cold cereals I've tried before, these really soak up the milk. You can start out with the cereal swimming in lots of milk, and before you're half done the has all been absorbed by the cereal and you're scooping up soggy but extremely tasty spoonfuls.

Having fortified ourselves and acquiring the week's breakfast, we headed down to our destination on the shores of Lake Munmorah. The house was originally only one level, up on stilts. Since the purchase the lower level has been enclosed and finished, and a room on both levels on the lake end added on. The interior has been upgraded and remodeled. There is a veranda on the upper level stretching the whole length of the side with a view of the lake. All in all, it is a picturesque and relaxing setting. I'll close this post with some pics that will hopefully convey some of the serenity of the property.

The front of the holiday house.

The back of the holiday house from the adjacent reserve.

Sunset across the lake, taken from the veranda. Those smoke stacks are the Lake Munmorah Power Station. There are two other power stations in the area.

First Week in Oz

It's been a whirlwind and I've had little time to write. Even since we've come "up the coast" to Lake Munmorah and are relaxing at the beach a little most days, it's not possible to write there. This first post is just a sketch of my first week. The style and format of future posts will certainly be different, and hopefully better. Nothing earthshaking happened, but it was a good orientation to my immediate surroundings and to greater Sydney. So far I've been mostly impressed with the quality of the food. Food prices are high, though, and forget about getting a cold bottled drink of any kind when you're out and about, because a small bottle or can will cost you 2 or 3 bucks.

Day 1: Wednesday, 19 September
We arrived at the airport about 8am and were picked up by our friend Bill. We took our baggage home, then Claude went to a doctor appointment. We took an orientation walk just a few blocks to Kogarah city center where there are a variety of shops, a big hospital, Claude's Travel agent and computer guy, the community train station (takes you to downtown Sydney and connects with trains to everywhere else), chemists (Americans call them pharmacies or drug stores), and a news agent (magazine & newspaper shop). It's a wonderful small town atmosphere in the middle of a big city (4.5 million), and everything you could think of or need is right within a few blocks walking distance. We stayed up until normal bed time to try to get our internal clocks reset and get over the jet lag as quickly as possible.

Most people don't know that the macadamia nut is not native to Hawaii but is actually a Queensland nut originating from Australia. They were imported to Hawaii in 1882, where they were made famous. Australia has appropriately taken the lead as the world's largest producer of the nuts, though. Claude has this beautiful Queensland nut/macadamia tree in his back yard. Please excuse this crappy snapshot. It really doesn't do this gorgeous tree justice.

There are nine species of macadamia, but only two are edible - the others are poisonous. The Wikipedia page is very interesting reading to me.

Day 2: Thursday, 20 September
The day after arrival was mostly spent taking it easy and recuperating from jet lag, not that I really noticed much other than being a little more tired than normal. I walked to downtown Kogarah by myself and did a little shopping to replace some sundries that were in my checked bag the airlines mislaid. One of the things I bought was a 10-pack of these:
I'm a real fan! My first taste of Bundaberg Ginger Beer was on the QANTAS flight over. In comparison, American ginger ale tastes like sweet dirty water. This stuff really tastes like ginger, and isn't so sickly sweet.
I quickly decided that even being a pedestrian can be hazardous when you're used to expecting cars coming the opposite direction in the various lanes. Thinking the lane you're crossing is empty because you are looking the wrong way can be scary!

Day 3: Friday, 21 September
We went to Bill's and played with his Jack Russell Terrier Tessa, tossing her brand new and newly favorite toy beyond the swimming pool to give her exercise, and sometimes having to fish the toy out when it doesn't quite make it or the oddly-shaped squeaky toy makes a weird bounce backward. The early spring weather has been in the 60's and sunny up until now, but it became overcast and misty this day. Regardless, we drove down to Cronulla, saw all the beaches in that section of coast and the landing place of Captain Cook. Our tour wrapped around to the south side of Botany Bay. For lunch we went to one of Claude's clubs and had a cheap but tasty Chinese meal. Back home, I finally received the final bit of paperwork necessary to have my motorcycle shipped to Australia. For dinner we met Bill and a couple of friends at the Alexandria Bowling Club and had another cheap meal but won nothing in the meat raffle. :-(

Day 4: Saturday, 22 September
Went to the Tempe Tip (a particular Salvation Army store) and picked up a new smaller computer desk. We took apart the huge old desk and removed it. The new desk is on rollers and is much more satisfactory. Then we dropped some by Bill's (but he wasn't there so we just said hi to Tessa and didn't stick around). We went to a local candy outlet and got some cheap "lollies" that were nothing like what I've seen in the USA. I laughed when we had "traditional" Turkish pizza, but was impressed with the flavor, as it lacked tomato sauce and was influenced by lamb, which I've decided I really love.

Day 5: Sunday, 23 September
This was my introduction to downtown Sydney and public transportation. We walked a few blocks to Kogarah town center where we took the train to downtown Sydney and walked past the Cenotaph to Circular Quay (pronounced "key"), between the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. Here's the view from near the ferry.

From there we took the longest ferry ride east of the bridge past the harbor mouth to Manly, checked out the very busy beach and had a quick lunch of "kebabs" (which are pronounced key-babs, not key-bobs as Americans would, and are actually what is called a "gyro" in america, not the skewered cubes of meat Yanks would expect). After arriving back at Circular Quay, we strolled past the Conservatorium of Music, and through the free Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. We checked out the Mitchell Library and ambled through Hyde Park adjacent to St. Mary's Cathedral and elaborate fountains. We investigated the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) building with its elaborate tiling, stained glass windows and amazing clocks, finally taking the train back to Kogarah. After dinner we cruised by car back through downtown to Mrs MacQuarie's point (it was well after dark and I didn't see the chair, but I did see this:
The Harbor Bridge and Opera House from Mrs Macquarie's Point on the east.
We then crossed the Harbor Bridge to views of the bridge
and opera house and skyline
from the north, then headed back through Potts Point to Kings Cross and home again.

Day 6: Monday, 24 September
By this time we were getting back into our morning routine of cribbage and cuppa (cup of hot tea). After working on various issues and overcoming obstacles and red tape, I finally was able to mailed the last piece of paperwork necessary to get my motorcycle shipped to Oz. We then picked up where we left off with our tour of Sydney beaches with all the beaches of Botany Bay south to north, wrapping around to Coogee. This is Maroubra Beach (just south of Coogee) from Jack Vanny Memorial Park:

And this is Mahon Pool and the surrounding rocks in Jack Vanny Park:
We had dinner at The Cauliflower, where I experienced my new favorite Aussie beer, Carlton Black.

Day 7: Tuesday, 25 September
Between preparations for a trip up north, we found time to venture down to the Royal National Park and the Woranora River. Steep, rugged hills with vegetation clinging everywhere.

Cockatoos and other birds in the park.
Claude, who once had a cockatoo as a pet, tries to sneak up to one:
- But this is as close as he got...

Preliminary conclusions:
Sydney is a beautiful city. It is pedestrian friendly and there is lots to do and see, and the sheer number and quality of the beaches is mind-boggling. The ocean is clear, and although it's currently too cool for me to be comfortable swimming, lots of other people are doing it and summer is on its way. People are friendly, and drivers are generally much more courteous than I'm used to. The cost of living is pretty high, with restaurant fare and both soft and alcoholic drinks being almost twice what you would pay in the USA, although if you're a smart shopper you'll find that cooking meals yourself isn't much if any more than in the USA. Other things vary a lot, sometimes equivalent items varying from cheaper than you could find in the USA to two or three times as much, so it really pays to shop around. Vehicles are one thing that you really get screwed with, though, because over here the best you're going to do is about 60 percent more than you could get the exact same thing in the USA.

One thing I really like about Australia in general so far is that even though there are some big box chains, most communities support their own compact shopping areas with pretty much everything you could need in daily living. Lots of the shops are specialized, for example butcher shops and fruit and veggie markets that have all but disappeared in the USA.

With one notable exception, I've been very impressed with the food here. The portions tend to be more than sufficient, but not as huge as in the USA, and the quality and flavor are impressive.

As a car guy, one thing that interests me is that the variety of vehicles here is amazing. They go from lots of tiny car models smaller than all but a couple of models available in the USA to the same full-size pickups and SUVs available in the USA to box trucks bigger than pickups but smaller than the box trucks I'm used to, all the way up to semis bigger than anything in the USA. And the variety of shapes and marques is amazing. They have many of the marques I'm used to in the USA, plus Chinese Chery and Great Wall, and even some Indian models I saw earlier today but can't recall. They also have what they call "utes", which can simply be a flat-bed compact pickup, usually with an all-aluminum box with low sides that can fold down on the sides as well as the back, but the category includes vehicles comparable to the Ford Ranchero and Chevy El Camino that were discontinued decades ago in the States, that are also available in aluminum flatbed versions. This ute category is extremely popular.

I realize this is a very long post and don't plan to do future posts in this style; they will simply be on specific events or trips rather than a day-by-day log. For now, I'll paraphrase Charles Osgood: "See you on the Intertubes". (Don't worry if you don't get it, it's a geek thing.)

Travel Woes

On Twitter I promised to talk about the trip over. Everything went smoothly driving the moving truck from Denver to Kansas to Oklahoma, the flight from Oklahoma back to Denver and then the train to Sacramento. The rental car from Sacramento back to Carson City, up to Virginia City and Reno, down through Yosemite to Fresno, over to the coast and the Hearst Castle and up to San Francisco went smoothly as well. In fact, everything was great right up to the point the United flight was supposed to leave. Then it all went very south, but not in a good way as in progress to "Oz".

Let me preface this with letting you know that all my life I've wanted to fly aboard two planes: a 747 Jumbo Jet and a Concorde. I took a 777 to London in 2002, so that one is already crossed off my list, besides which it's a relatively new model and therefore not such a big deal. The Concorde has long been out of service (for bogus reasons that I won't go into here), so that will never happen. This trip to Australia was my first chance to fly on the airliner that to this day is still the most recognizable and iconic of them all.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:57 pm on Sunday, 16 September and arrive at Sydney 6:25am on Tuesday, 18 September. (The flight is about 13.5 hours and Sydney is 14 hours ahead of San Francisco at that time of year, so you lose a day. Coming back, you get to live the same day twice, or at least part of it!) We arrived four hours early to make certain we had time to deal with anything that might come up. Well, international flights have their own terminal and associated ticketing and security areas, so we had to walk about three times as far, lugging huge unwieldy bags, I with an extra one because I packed not for a few days or even a few weeks, but for a year. We had a couple of bags that were 1 & 2 pounds over weight, so they made us take some stuff out of those two cases and put it into a nylon back that I fortunately had packed. I already had to pay $70 for my extra checked bag, but fortunately no one questioned me about my newly surplus carry-on bag. We finally boarded the plane, but nobody seemed to be in much of a hurry, and there was not a single peep out of the crew. Two and a half hours later, they finally told us there was something wrong with the airplane (but wouldn't specify what), and told us to deplane and that there was another one at the adjacent gate that we would take instead. After about a half hour back at the gate, they had the first class and business passengers board the second plane. Then came another wait of a half hour or so, after which they told us there was a problem with the second plane as well and that they had 15 or 20 minutes to rectify it. Of course that didn't happen, so they finally gave up and had us go back to ticketing where they would try to get us all on new flights.

Even though we were near the front of the rush to the ticket counter, by the time we got there we somehow ended up at the back as they went from three open counters to about a dozen. After some time had passed, they went around handing out little slips of paper with a toll-free number to call and get re-ticketed without having to wait for the line. Claude, my travel partner, called the number, but although they were happy to take care of my ticket they wouldn't to anything reasonable for him because he had used frequent flyer miles to purchase his ticket. We gave up and stayed in line.

I guess at this point I should mention that we had not purchased our tickets together and our seats were not together, so there was nothing linking us in their system. A couple of hours later I got an email from United detailing a new reservation for me, on Air New Zealand from San Francisco to Auckland, then Auckland to Sydney starting at 9:45pm on Tuesday and arriving at Sydney at 8:30am on Thursday. That would have been okay if Claude could have taken the same flights, but since they were saying that he wouldn't be able to get a flight for four days, that would leave me stranded alone in Sydney for two days. A half hour later, about five am, we finally made it to the counter.

The lady behind the counter was friendly and helpful, and overcame numerous obstacles to get us on the same flights together. The result was a voucher for a shared hotel room at the Hilton Garden near the airport, two $10 food vouchers apiece for airport vendors, and tickets on a United flight 6:30 pm from San Francisco to Los Angeles and 11:50 pm flight on QANTAS from L.A. to Sydney arriving about 7:40 am.

That was all fine, but what happened next was infuriating beyond belief.

We arrived at the Hilton, which cost United $260 and we were assured included breakfast, just before 6 o'clock am. We checked in, only to be told that check-out was at noon, and they were "doing us a favor" by letting us check out at 1 pm. Meaning they got full price for rooms that had sat empty that night, and still could get another full price on the same rooms the next night! And while United was getting ripped off left and right by the hotels, hapless customers were being kicked out into the cold (literally - San Francisco had been blustery and cool enough to require jackets the whole time we were there). They would not budge on the matter. After giving up on getting a reasonable amount of sleep and being informed that breakfast was at six (it was only five minutes til), we lugged our bags upstairs (ourselves, since there was no bellhop on duty) and I showered to relax and give them a little time to get set up.

When we arrived back down at the lobby about a quarter past, they were just beginning to set up the breakfast bar, and we were informed that it was $15 extra for the hot breakfast. By this time we were so tired and so resigned to the situation - and determined not to give them one more penny - that we just had a couple of unappetizing cold rolls and a little fruit and went up to bed.

Once again, when we checked our luggage for the flight to L.A. we were hassled and had to redistribute our luggage. We then used a couple of vouchers for a late lunch, and it was smooth sailing from there on out.

The flight on QANTAS (it's spelled that way because it's an acronym - Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services) was a stark contrast to any flight I've ever had on United or any other American airline. Each seat had its own individual video monitor, and the service was much better. The food was actually hot and tasty, and I even had a (very small) glass of wine with my ample dinner. Snacks were available on demand, and breakfast was also ample, hot and tasty. As is usual for me on an airplane, I got little sleep, but watched three movies, which were on demand, not on a set schedule. The attendants were efficient and friendly. That said, my United "Economy Plus" upgrade was converted into QANTAS' "Premium Economy" fare, so I had a whole lot more room, a larger retractable monitor, a 110v power outlet to charge my devices and presumably better service. (In case you're wondering, here and here are a little more info. It remains to be seen if I will pay for QANTAS' upgrade in the future, but I certainly enjoyed it this time, and will not be flying United in the foreseeable future. I've been seeing some nightmare accounts of United experiences from celebrities lately and didn't want to believe it was a trend, but now I do.

This post has been more of a complaint and cautionary tale than anything else and doesn't directly relate to my experiences in Australia, so I'm going to quietly publish it and make my first Oz update notification for the next one.

Change Is In The Air

I'm just about to embark on the greatest adventure of my life, and I intend to use this blog to document it. For the last two years I've been planning to go to Australia. I'll be there for a year, and what will happen after that is anyone's guess. My plane takes off from San Francisco's SFO at 10:47pm Pacific USA time. The flight is ~14 hours.

This is why I haven't posted lately, and haven't been very good about keeping in touch with my friends and family. Not that I've ever been great at that, but the stress and sheer amount of work of whittling down a 4-bedroom, 2-car garage house with a big yard and shed to fit into a 10x10 foot storage unit along with grieving the passing of my lifemate and dealing with many other life changes has made it nearly impossible.

I still have a lot to learn regarding blogging, but hopefully as I go along I'll learn all the things necessary to achieve my goals. Check this space for updates in the coming days and weeks, and I hope you'll find it interesting.

Wish me luck!