There is a fact of life here in Australia that flies are just part of the landscape. They are they national bird (just kidding), the motion of waving flies away from your face is called the national wave.
Spring time is the worst season for them (it is spring right now). When we went out to the bush Saturday to walk around the properties they flies where all over us. Even at lunch in Toodyay they were terrible. I guess when you live here long enough you don't notice.
I'm sure you have seen photos of an Australian in the Outback wearing a hat with corks hanging from strings around the brim. The reason for that is very practical. It frees up one hand from constantly having to brush flies away from your face. The motion of moving your head is enough to wave the corks which will chase the flies off for a second.
Trish told me that you aren't a true Australian until you've eaten a couple flies with your lunch.
At least near the beach it is not as bad because the offshore breeze blows them inland.
Monday, October 29, 2001
Mr. Lentz's Birthday Present:
Martin did not take warmly to the purchase of the 50 acres as Trish had hoped. She told me that she is going to have to convince him now by taking him up there on Sunday.
Toodyay
Trish wants to buy a small farm out in the country to retire to when Martin retires in a couple of years. She saw an ad for some property in Saturday's paper and decided to drive out there with a friend of hers to look at it. She asked if I wanted to go along to see the the Australian bush.
So we drove east up into the mountains out of Perth into the rolling hills and valleys of the Darling Range. It is very beautiful up there. It reminds me of central coast near Paso Robles/Lake Nacimento area, except with more trees.
We found the property advertised. It was awful. Too close to the road, railroad tracks, and with a poor water drainage. We stayed 10 minutes and left. We continued east into the small town of Toodyay in the Avon River Valley. Toodyay was hosting the Western Australia Jazz Festival this weekend. Downtown, all one block of it, was packed with people enjoying Australia Jazz, bluegrass, and even the Australian versions of country and blues.
We had lunch at the Coca-Cola museum. It wasn't really a museum. It was more somebody's house that was obsessed with Coca-Cola and collected everything Coke ad, can, bottle, key chain, pin, poster, cooler, and more that has every been made. The "museum" served Australian hamburgers out on the patio. I ordered a Pepsi with mine. I didn't get one.
Next door was a real estate office. Trish looked at some of the ads they had in their window. The manager came out and started talking to her. She told him about the land she had driven up to look for and then described what she was looking for. The agent said he had just the place.
So we piled into his 4wd and took off east deeper into the bush. After about 20 minutes of small farms he pulled into a dirt road and into a large meadow. What he had was a 50 acre lot that we was selling. The lot was surrounded by national park on two sides. The park was in it's natural state with a deep forest of gum and and other types of trees. It had a dam and a small lake on one side to capture water from a small creek that ran down the middle. The land was in a small valley with mountain views to the north and east. Trish and her friend walked around it for a while, asked a few questions, and then decided to buy it.
So we drove back to the office and she cut a check for $120,000 for the 50 acres. Her husband Martin didn't even know that she was looking at a farm today. He left in the morning to go golfing with a friend.
Tomorrow is his birthday. Won't he be surprised. She said escrow should close by December and she wants to take the family camping on the new land for New Years Eve. She said I am welcome to come along to experience camping in the Australian bush.
So we drove east up into the mountains out of Perth into the rolling hills and valleys of the Darling Range. It is very beautiful up there. It reminds me of central coast near Paso Robles/Lake Nacimento area, except with more trees.
We found the property advertised. It was awful. Too close to the road, railroad tracks, and with a poor water drainage. We stayed 10 minutes and left. We continued east into the small town of Toodyay in the Avon River Valley. Toodyay was hosting the Western Australia Jazz Festival this weekend. Downtown, all one block of it, was packed with people enjoying Australia Jazz, bluegrass, and even the Australian versions of country and blues.
We had lunch at the Coca-Cola museum. It wasn't really a museum. It was more somebody's house that was obsessed with Coca-Cola and collected everything Coke ad, can, bottle, key chain, pin, poster, cooler, and more that has every been made. The "museum" served Australian hamburgers out on the patio. I ordered a Pepsi with mine. I didn't get one.
Next door was a real estate office. Trish looked at some of the ads they had in their window. The manager came out and started talking to her. She told him about the land she had driven up to look for and then described what she was looking for. The agent said he had just the place.
So we piled into his 4wd and took off east deeper into the bush. After about 20 minutes of small farms he pulled into a dirt road and into a large meadow. What he had was a 50 acre lot that we was selling. The lot was surrounded by national park on two sides. The park was in it's natural state with a deep forest of gum and and other types of trees. It had a dam and a small lake on one side to capture water from a small creek that ran down the middle. The land was in a small valley with mountain views to the north and east. Trish and her friend walked around it for a while, asked a few questions, and then decided to buy it.
So we drove back to the office and she cut a check for $120,000 for the 50 acres. Her husband Martin didn't even know that she was looking at a farm today. He left in the morning to go golfing with a friend.
Tomorrow is his birthday. Won't he be surprised. She said escrow should close by December and she wants to take the family camping on the new land for New Years Eve. She said I am welcome to come along to experience camping in the Australian bush.
Friday, October 26, 2001
Northbridge and Perth Nightlife
For a small town at the ass end of the world there sure is a lot going on around here. A lot more than in Santa Barbara. This week I missed my train to the northern suburbs and had to wait 45 minutes to catch the next one. Across from the train station in downtown is a neighborhood called Northbridge where all the cool restaurants and pubs are. I took a stroll through Northbridge. There are so many interesting places to eat. Every ethnic food on earth is there, and they all looked very good. There are lots of micro-brew pubs and some dance clubs in the mix. It looks like a great place to come on a Friday after work. I will be back here for sure.
Life At Holland House
I am really being to like where I live now that I am getting to know it better. I really lucked out finding this place. First, the rent includes everything. All meals, laundry, etc. Trish runs her house in a very efficient manner. Between her teenage sons, their friends, her friends, their extended family, there is always someone here joining for dinner.
Living here is easy. Trish does all my laundry, ironing, and cleans the apartment. Plus she is a very good cook. She makes dinner ever night and if I get in too late there is a plate waiting in the fridge to be nuked. She even makes the bed when I am at work, just like a hotel.
They have a really cool cat named Eric (after Eric Clapton) who thinks he is a dog. He follows you around with a plastic flower stem in his mouth wanting to play fetch. When you throw the flower he will retrieve it and bring back to you to throw again.
From here it is about a 5 minute bike ride to the beach. Between us and the beach is a golf course and a nature reserve. I tested the mountain bike in the reserve on Sunday by trying it out on the muddy trails. It handled great. At the beach is a reef off shore the breaks some of the waves coming in. Closer to shore is a smaller reef that creates a nature ocean swimming pool that the sharks can't get into.
Living here is easy. Trish does all my laundry, ironing, and cleans the apartment. Plus she is a very good cook. She makes dinner ever night and if I get in too late there is a plate waiting in the fridge to be nuked. She even makes the bed when I am at work, just like a hotel.
They have a really cool cat named Eric (after Eric Clapton) who thinks he is a dog. He follows you around with a plastic flower stem in his mouth wanting to play fetch. When you throw the flower he will retrieve it and bring back to you to throw again.
From here it is about a 5 minute bike ride to the beach. Between us and the beach is a golf course and a nature reserve. I tested the mountain bike in the reserve on Sunday by trying it out on the muddy trails. It handled great. At the beach is a reef off shore the breaks some of the waves coming in. Closer to shore is a smaller reef that creates a nature ocean swimming pool that the sharks can't get into.
The Ass End of The World
A friend of Trish's describes Perth as the "Ass End of The World". Most of the locals I've met like it that way. It is strangely detached from the rest of what is going on. The war in Afghanistan, the anthrax scares, and the rest are not mentioned much and seem so far away.
Very few Australians that I have met have ever been to the US. It cost a lot of money for an Aussie to get state side, plus the visas are hard to get, even for an Aussie. Even the employees at IBM have only been there once, for a day or two. They know very little about it except what they get from the television programs they watch. And we all know how realistic those are.
They few that have been there usually had bad experiences. Martin, the owner the house were I am staying was in LA back in 1975 for 1 day when flying through to Europe. He decided to run up from LAX to see the Sunset Strip before catching his next flight. He tried to catch a bus from the airport. The bus driver went postal on him and started screaming at him because he did not have exact change for the bus fare and left him stranded on a corner in West LA. Most of the stories I hear are of a similar nature.
So it appears what seems perfectly normal and rational to us in the States is overwhelming and confusing to others, even those who speak English.
I do get some very odd reactions when they find out that I'm from the States. They seem to think that I'm glad to be out of there with all that is going on. I try to explain that I'm glad to be here because I want to see Australia, not because I'm running away from the US. Jeeze. I feel like a draft dodger in Canada or something. I think the media here is giving the Aussies the impression that everyone in the US is dropping dead from Anthrax of being killed by terrorist. Most mention that they are afraid to travel to the US or Europe right now and are thankful that they are down here where no one cares about them
Very few Australians that I have met have ever been to the US. It cost a lot of money for an Aussie to get state side, plus the visas are hard to get, even for an Aussie. Even the employees at IBM have only been there once, for a day or two. They know very little about it except what they get from the television programs they watch. And we all know how realistic those are.
They few that have been there usually had bad experiences. Martin, the owner the house were I am staying was in LA back in 1975 for 1 day when flying through to Europe. He decided to run up from LAX to see the Sunset Strip before catching his next flight. He tried to catch a bus from the airport. The bus driver went postal on him and started screaming at him because he did not have exact change for the bus fare and left him stranded on a corner in West LA. Most of the stories I hear are of a similar nature.
So it appears what seems perfectly normal and rational to us in the States is overwhelming and confusing to others, even those who speak English.
I do get some very odd reactions when they find out that I'm from the States. They seem to think that I'm glad to be out of there with all that is going on. I try to explain that I'm glad to be here because I want to see Australia, not because I'm running away from the US. Jeeze. I feel like a draft dodger in Canada or something. I think the media here is giving the Aussies the impression that everyone in the US is dropping dead from Anthrax of being killed by terrorist. Most mention that they are afraid to travel to the US or Europe right now and are thankful that they are down here where no one cares about them
Oz TV
There is a television in the living room in my apartment so I've had a chance to sample some of the Australian television. It is pretty awful, I think. About half is American shows from syndication, and rest is Australian programming. However, they don't censor anything on the films they show. It is pretty weird hearing 4 letter words from the TV at 7 in the evening.
Water Problems
Western Australia and Perth are in a serious drought. The lakes up in the hills are only at about 35 percent capacity and the winter rainy season is now over. They don't expect any rain again until next winter in May.
They do something here that is very clever that Santa Barbara might consider. They have dual mode toilets. Instead of one button to flush, there are two. One, for #1, only does a small quick flush. The other does the normal full tank flush. That is such a simple idea but it works very well.
They do something here that is very clever that Santa Barbara might consider. They have dual mode toilets. Instead of one button to flush, there are two. One, for #1, only does a small quick flush. The other does the normal full tank flush. That is such a simple idea but it works very well.
No Halloween
Halloween is next week and I have yet to see anything about it here. I asked Trish about this. She said that some kids have figured out from watching American television that they can trick-or-treat for candy on that night, but that they don't bother to wear costumes. I felt that would have been a holiday that Aussies would have taken to like fish to water and adopted.
Elections
The Australians are electing their Prime Minister, sort of like their president. The choice seems to be between the incumbent "Liberals" which seem more like Republicans in the US, and the "Labour Party" which seems more like... Santa Claus. On TV and in the papers the Labour keeps promising lots of spending on medical care, beds for old people, etc. When asked how he intends to pay for such he says they will just raise taxes.
Speaking of government, there is very little "local" government. There is no Perth police department. There is only once police department, the Western Australia Police, who do everything. The schools, roads, and almost everything else is run from Canberry, the capital, on the east coast.
Speaking of government, there is very little "local" government. There is no Perth police department. There is only once police department, the Western Australia Police, who do everything. The schools, roads, and almost everything else is run from Canberry, the capital, on the east coast.
The Yank Gathering
Cool. I went down the the US Consulates office today and registered. They put me in touch with a local club called the American Women's Auxiliary. I have no idea what that means, but they are putting together a Thanksgiving dinner for all the Americans in the Perth area. The woman in charge was very nice. The dinner is about $30 at the Perth Yacht Club. She promised that it would be very authentic and she personally has given the chef at the yacht club recipes to follow.
It sounds like it is going to be a very nice affair. Trish told me that it gets a lot of coverage in the local society page.
It sounds like it is going to be a very nice affair. Trish told me that it gets a lot of coverage in the local society page.
Sunset Tour
Thanks the my unfamiliarity with the local bus system I was treated to a wonderful ocean sunset tour on Thursday after work. I got on the wrong bus at the train station and instead of being taken towards the Holland House neighborhood the bus drove me up the coast towards a Hillary's Harbor. I was the only passenger so the bus driver gave me a personal history of the area as we drove past all the nice houses. I was late for dinner, but it was worth it.
Tuesday, October 23, 2001
All The Milk You Can Drink
An odd thing at the IBM Perth office. The office coffee room has a large fridge that is stocked every day with milk. All the milk you can drink. Oh boy! Just I need in the afternoon, a nice glass of milk to push me completely over the edge.
Damn Cold!
Saturday afternoon a late winter storm blew in off the Indian Ocean from the Antarctic. It started raining and blowing and getting cold. I ended up wearing the sweater I brought with me. I just hung out at the house Sunday working on the laptop. It was still raining Monday when I headed into work for my first day at work.
IBM
Friday I took the train from Karrinyup to downtown to meet with my new boss at IBM and the placement agency. Downtown was very nice. I had lunch with my boss Clive and his boss. The gave me a tour of the office. IBM has their own modern office building on the west side of downtown. My cubicle has a nice view of the freeway and hills beyond.
When we left the building to walk downtown for lunch Clive and his boss made a point of taking off their badges and hiding them in their pockets. They said that since they work for an American company that makes them targets for terrorist.
In Perth? I decided that I am going to wear my badge when I go to lunch, and I plan to put a small American flag on it too just to make sure anyone stupid enough to hurt me because of my nationality knows I was not hiding from them. IBM doesn't know this yet because I don't get my badge until they finish making it in a week or so.
When we left the building to walk downtown for lunch Clive and his boss made a point of taking off their badges and hiding them in their pockets. They said that since they work for an American company that makes them targets for terrorist.
In Perth? I decided that I am going to wear my badge when I go to lunch, and I plan to put a small American flag on it too just to make sure anyone stupid enough to hurt me because of my nationality knows I was not hiding from them. IBM doesn't know this yet because I don't get my badge until they finish making it in a week or so.
Finally The Beach!:
Saturday I took the train downtown and picked up my new bike. It rides like a dream, much better than my ancient first-generation model I had in Santa Barbara. To break it in I decided to take ride up the coast from downtown to Karrinyup.
The west coastline is beautiful. It is open to the public most of the way. The highway and bike paths run along the beach and any house and buildings are for the most part inland from the highway. This gives you an un-interrupted view of the ocean and beach all along the road north. Anyways, it was a nice way to break in the bike.
The guys at the bike shop are very nice. They love mountain biking and gave me lots of maps and local mountain bike trails up in the mountains and hills. They invited me to join them on some weekend rides out to east.
The west coastline is beautiful. It is open to the public most of the way. The highway and bike paths run along the beach and any house and buildings are for the most part inland from the highway. This gives you an un-interrupted view of the ocean and beach all along the road north. Anyways, it was a nice way to break in the bike.
The guys at the bike shop are very nice. They love mountain biking and gave me lots of maps and local mountain bike trails up in the mountains and hills. They invited me to join them on some weekend rides out to east.
Thursday, October 18, 2001
Into The City
This afternoon Trish and I drove into downtown Perth to visit a bike store that sells Cannondales. I need a bike to get around, so I want to get on ordered as soon as possible. We walked around the skyscrapers until we found the bike shop.
I put a deposit down on a bike. The Cannondales where seriously overpriced in Australia, so I found another bike I really liked. I can't wait until I pick it up.
The city is about the size of downtown San Diego. It takes about 20 minutes to walk from one end of the central business district to the other. There are lots of restaurants and cafes.
Perth is larger than it first seemed. It is very spread out. There are no billboards.
I put a deposit down on a bike. The Cannondales where seriously overpriced in Australia, so I found another bike I really liked. I can't wait until I pick it up.
The city is about the size of downtown San Diego. It takes about 20 minutes to walk from one end of the central business district to the other. There are lots of restaurants and cafes.
Perth is larger than it first seemed. It is very spread out. There are no billboards.
Roos in the graveyard
Trish took me along this morning to the grocery store. One the way she asked if I wanted to see some wild kangaroos. "Absolutely!" I answered. She drove over to a new cemetery north of here. The place is full of sleeping kangaroos. They hang out there because they were there there before they turned the wild area into a cemetery a few years ago. It was kind of weird. We found a group of them hanging out under a tree. There was a large male and several young female roos taking a siesta. One of the females had a baby joey in her pouch who would stick his head out and munch on grass below mom.
The male was very wary of us. Trish said that is was mating season and the male roos get very protective and aggressive around the females. He would not relax and kept flashing his huge sharp claw on his feet. Male roos will attack with their feet and can slice you open.
These actually aren't kangaroos. They are wallabies, smaller than kangaroos. The wallabies in Western Australia stand only about 5 feet tall. The big Red Kangaroos are native to the other side of the Australia on Queensland and stand almost 6 to 7 feet tall when standing.
Roos tend to only move around at dawn and dusk. Those are the most dangerous times to drive in the country in Australia. The roos start hopping around looking for food and water and they hop right out into the highway. Hitting one is like hitting a deer. It will seriously screw up your car and possibly kill you.
Next we are going to look for wild Emus.
The male was very wary of us. Trish said that is was mating season and the male roos get very protective and aggressive around the females. He would not relax and kept flashing his huge sharp claw on his feet. Male roos will attack with their feet and can slice you open.
These actually aren't kangaroos. They are wallabies, smaller than kangaroos. The wallabies in Western Australia stand only about 5 feet tall. The big Red Kangaroos are native to the other side of the Australia on Queensland and stand almost 6 to 7 feet tall when standing.
Roos tend to only move around at dawn and dusk. Those are the most dangerous times to drive in the country in Australia. The roos start hopping around looking for food and water and they hop right out into the highway. Hitting one is like hitting a deer. It will seriously screw up your car and possibly kill you.
Next we are going to look for wild Emus.
Where's my underwear?
I discovered a small woman's camisole in my luggage when I unpacked it this morning. It has me very puzzled. I found it inside the small gym bag that I had placed inside the large duffle bag. Why this makes it very odd is the only time I did not have the gym bag in my possession was the flight from Sydney to Perth. I had stuffed the gym bag into the duffle before I checked my bags at Sydney Domestic for the flight to Perth. This means that someone went through my stuff after I went through customs and put it in there.
Nothing else in the luggage seemed to be disturbed or missing. I wonder if some poor woman somewhere in Australia has a pair of my underwear in her luggage?
Nothing else in the luggage seemed to be disturbed or missing. I wonder if some poor woman somewhere in Australia has a pair of my underwear in her luggage?
The Natives
Had my first encounter with native Australian wildlife. I opened the closet door and there on the wall was a huge hair spider quivering away and licking it's chops with his arms. It was about 4 inches across, dark gray, with long hairs on its arms. It has eyes that are looking straight at me. I fetched Trish who came in and said that is a wolf spider. She seemed surprised to see it there. She said that normally these spiders hang out on walls. She got a glass jar, trapped it, and took it outside and released it the garden.
She told me not to worry. This spider is not lethal. It's bite will be very painful and require treatment in a hospital, but it should not kill me. Comforting.
She told me not to worry. This spider is not lethal. It's bite will be very painful and require treatment in a hospital, but it should not kill me. Comforting.
Wednesday, October 17, 2001
Holland House
The "Holland" house where I am staying is in a northern suburb near the beach. The house is large, about 6 bedrooms, a pool, and a separate two room/1 bath guest quarter when I am staying. It has a very nice bathroom, bedroom, enormous closet, and a separate living room with a television and fridge. It is on the opposite side of the house from the rest of the family and there are small courtyards all over the property.
The house is owned by Trish and Martin Lentz. The rent the extra wing of their house to lodgers for extra income. It is called Holland House because Trish is from Holland. They have two sons who also live here.
There is a golf course across the street, and a few blocks away is the beach and the Indian Ocean. From the roof you can see the water.
I gave Trish the booze I brought from Santa Barbara. She seemed delighted, especially at the scotch. I met the dog and the cat and got a tour of the property.
After a while her two sons came home. One is 19, the other 21. They are tall lanky boys who seem very nice. Martin came home around 6 pm and then I joined the family for dinner. Trish cooked up Salisbury steaks for dinner. The boys have a permanent dinner guest, a friend of theirs who is 19 and comes from a screwed up family who can't ever seem to manage to put a dinner together. Trish told me that about 5 years ago he was tired of being hungry all the time and discovered that he could join the Lentz's for dinner. He has been there every evening since then.
Martin, Trish, and I settled in the living room for a drink after dinner. Martin gave me a lesson the poisonous critters. I don't remember much because the local Perth ale has a LOT of alcohol in it and I was very tired. Something about all snakes are poisonous, and how deadly some off the spiders that I will encounter are. Plus scorpions. I passed out around 8, I think.
The house is owned by Trish and Martin Lentz. The rent the extra wing of their house to lodgers for extra income. It is called Holland House because Trish is from Holland. They have two sons who also live here.
There is a golf course across the street, and a few blocks away is the beach and the Indian Ocean. From the roof you can see the water.
I gave Trish the booze I brought from Santa Barbara. She seemed delighted, especially at the scotch. I met the dog and the cat and got a tour of the property.
After a while her two sons came home. One is 19, the other 21. They are tall lanky boys who seem very nice. Martin came home around 6 pm and then I joined the family for dinner. Trish cooked up Salisbury steaks for dinner. The boys have a permanent dinner guest, a friend of theirs who is 19 and comes from a screwed up family who can't ever seem to manage to put a dinner together. Trish told me that about 5 years ago he was tired of being hungry all the time and discovered that he could join the Lentz's for dinner. He has been there every evening since then.
Martin, Trish, and I settled in the living room for a drink after dinner. Martin gave me a lesson the poisonous critters. I don't remember much because the local Perth ale has a LOT of alcohol in it and I was very tired. Something about all snakes are poisonous, and how deadly some off the spiders that I will encounter are. Plus scorpions. I passed out around 8, I think.
First Impressions
Perth is smaller than I though it would be. Trish met me at the luggage area and drove me through downtown to their house. We passed the IBM building right beside the freeway. This place reminds of Atlanta with the mismatch of buildings. There were plenty of familiar American logos. Dominos Pizza, Burger King, Lone Star Steak House, Subway, etc. Could be Anywhere, USA.
Oz from 35,000 Feet:
I caught the train back to the airport and caught my flight to Perth. The plane was packed full. I took my window seat and discovered that I was in the only row on a 767 that does not have a window. Great. I wanted to see Australia as we flew across. Now I could see was a wall. I asked the flight attendant to see if should get me a seat with a view. The passenger in the row behind me heard me a switched rows. Very nice!
There was a of clouds, but I could see the ground for most of the flight. As we flew west the city and bays of Sydney gave way to what seemed like endless suburbs. After a while the terrain changed into low green rolling mountains with numerous large rivers and forests which thinned out into miles and miles of farmland. After a couple of hours we crossed the coast near Adeley into the Great Australia Bight, the enormous bay of the south coast of Australia that faces the Antarctic. Of the west coast the land was very dry, like the high Mohave deserts, with wheat fields to the south. Then a small range of green mountains and the city of Perth came into view.
Not once in the flight did a see any town larger than a few buildings. I saw perhaps only 3 roads. This middle of Oz is very, very empty.
There was a of clouds, but I could see the ground for most of the flight. As we flew west the city and bays of Sydney gave way to what seemed like endless suburbs. After a while the terrain changed into low green rolling mountains with numerous large rivers and forests which thinned out into miles and miles of farmland. After a couple of hours we crossed the coast near Adeley into the Great Australia Bight, the enormous bay of the south coast of Australia that faces the Antarctic. Of the west coast the land was very dry, like the high Mohave deserts, with wheat fields to the south. Then a small range of green mountains and the city of Perth came into view.
Not once in the flight did a see any town larger than a few buildings. I saw perhaps only 3 roads. This middle of Oz is very, very empty.
Sydney harbor
We arrived in Sydney around 8 o'clock in the morning. I was on the wrong side of the plane to get a good view of anything but ocean, but what I glimpsed as the plane made its final turn was beautiful. I breezed through immigration and customs without any delays or questions.
I had 2 to 3 hours to kill before the plane to Perth left, so I decided to see Sydney, or least a little of it. The Sydney airport, like other good airports such as Boston and London's Heathrow, has a subway stop right at the terminal. I cashed a traveler's check and bought a pass for the 15 minute train ride into downtown Sydney and Circle Quay where the Sydney Oprah House is. Fifteen minutes later I was downtown walking around the Oprah House and looking up at the Sydney Bridge.
The bridge features hikes up the top where they claim the view is spectacular. However, it costs $150 AU ($75 US) to do this 15 minutes. What a rip! I can spend a day in Disneyland for less. Plus, they make you take a breathalyzer before going because they don't want drunks up there. Needless to say, I didn't bother.
I hiked around downtown looking for a place to get a good breakfast. Downtown is surprisingly small and vacant. There was no traffic, very few cars or trucks on the road, and almost no pedestrians. This is 10 am in the middle of the week.
I found a small cafe to eat in. I ordered a breakfast sandwich. The waitress was very nice. She asked what sauce I wanted on my breakfast sandwich.
"Sauce?", I asked.
"Yea. Tomato sauce, or something" she answered.
Tomato sauce is catsup. They put it on everything here. I certainly didn't want it on my egg and bacon sandwich. I asked her to instead put some mayonnaise on it. The poor girl turned a sickly shade a green and shuttered at the thought of this. "Are you sure?" she asked.
It took some convincing, but she finally agreed. She must think that Yanks are weird. She watched me out of the corner of her eye as I ate it. Perhaps she thought I was going to drop dead right there at her table.
I had 2 to 3 hours to kill before the plane to Perth left, so I decided to see Sydney, or least a little of it. The Sydney airport, like other good airports such as Boston and London's Heathrow, has a subway stop right at the terminal. I cashed a traveler's check and bought a pass for the 15 minute train ride into downtown Sydney and Circle Quay where the Sydney Oprah House is. Fifteen minutes later I was downtown walking around the Oprah House and looking up at the Sydney Bridge.
The bridge features hikes up the top where they claim the view is spectacular. However, it costs $150 AU ($75 US) to do this 15 minutes. What a rip! I can spend a day in Disneyland for less. Plus, they make you take a breathalyzer before going because they don't want drunks up there. Needless to say, I didn't bother.
I hiked around downtown looking for a place to get a good breakfast. Downtown is surprisingly small and vacant. There was no traffic, very few cars or trucks on the road, and almost no pedestrians. This is 10 am in the middle of the week.
I found a small cafe to eat in. I ordered a breakfast sandwich. The waitress was very nice. She asked what sauce I wanted on my breakfast sandwich.
"Sauce?", I asked.
"Yea. Tomato sauce, or something" she answered.
Tomato sauce is catsup. They put it on everything here. I certainly didn't want it on my egg and bacon sandwich. I asked her to instead put some mayonnaise on it. The poor girl turned a sickly shade a green and shuttered at the thought of this. "Are you sure?" she asked.
It took some convincing, but she finally agreed. She must think that Yanks are weird. She watched me out of the corner of her eye as I ate it. Perhaps she thought I was going to drop dead right there at her table.
Dawn in Fiji
Dawn broke as we flew over Fiji and 35000 feet. Fiji is beautiful, even at our altitude. The island was dark and lush, surrounded by a large lagoon framed by a coral reef about 10 miles off shore. I don't know if there are active volcanoes on Fiji, but I saw two clusters of glowing orange light that looked like lava flows. A fellow passenger and I debated if it was lava or the lights of a small town. The color was too orange and thick to be man-made lights. I need to look that up, someday.
Oz Bound
On Monday two days ago I flew out of Los Angeles on a Quantas flight to Sydney with a connection on to Perth. The flight is 14 hours on leg one, and 5.5 on the second, almost 20 hours of flying, loosing a day, crossing the equator and the international date line all on the same 24 hours. It sounds more exhausting than it really is.
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