Reminder of a Good Day

Cycling in Sonoma

2009-11-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right, this isn't a post about Australia. It is the first such post on this blog to be about something that doesn't take place in the magical land Down Under. While Susan has been having a marvelous adventure in the Land of Dundee, where women glow and men plunder, I have been a man at work.

But this isn't about that, either, because in between the days of toil, I managed to spend this past weekend riding bicycles and wine tasting in Sonoma.

While I've driven through Sonoma a couple of times, I'd never gotten around to enjoying the sights and the sounds. I am pleased to have good friends who, through pity or kindness – I'm not sure which, invited me along on their weekend jaunt.

We stayed at the home of parents of a friend not far from downtown Sonoma. The weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend. Weather is one of the great strengths of California and the bright sun, blue sky, and crisp air did not disappoint.

We rented bikes at Sonoma Valley Cyclery. My friends, being generally comfortable with road bikes, rented the same and I got what they did. Except I'd never ridden one and, after a few minutes of practice, was very uncomfortable. My arms and elbows felt tense, the breaks and gear shift were in the wrong place, and my posture was killing my back.

I suspect these bikes are very size sensitive, and maybe mine just wasn't a good fit. So I decided to exchange it for a cruiser model instead. I'm just not much of a cyclist (I generally prefer walking) and so the cruiser was a much better fit. Everything seemed like it was in the right place, though later it was clear that the tires weren't as full as they ought to be and the whole thing seemed a bit sluggish.

After getting up and running, we stopped first at Ravenswood Winery. We settled in for a round of tasting, two of us sharing a glass for $15 of half a dozen or so wines. They were good, particularly the Zinfandel. They even took us back to the barrels and fermentation tanks. We were offered wine right out of the barrel that still had seven months to age. It was good! And a little sweet and fruity.

Also? No one stomps on grapes anymore because good grapes are expensive and it introduces too many bad microbes. Apparently they realized it was a health hazard sometime in the 13th century. :-)

After that we headed for Gundlach Bundschu Winery. Following the map that had been given to us by the Cyclery, we headed down a rough and thin paved road through a slightly hilly landscape of tall trees and vineyards. It was a beautiful ride.

Except that we ended up at a big chain-link gate. A flash went off and a security camera up in the tree took our photo. Uh oh. We peered over the wire fence and saw that Gunny Bunny was right there. The place we needed to be was on the other side of a fence, but we couldn't figure out how to get there. The map had squiggles right where we were that looked like the gate we saw, but gave no clue as to how to traverse it.

So we did the rational, mature thing – doubled-back – and tried to find where we had made a wrong turn.

No. No, actually, we didn't do that.

No, instead we carefully handed our bikes up and over the fence and hopped on over ourselves. When I was a kid out in the woods and the fields, I thought nothing at all of climbing right over any fence that was in my way. And I got yelled at once or twice, but it was never a big deal. But it feels quite a bit more risky when you are in your thirties. Immediately your mind worries about all kinds of things – will we damage the bikes? (We didn't.) Will we damage ourselves? (I got a scratch, but no more.) Will we be caught? (I suppose there is a puzzling security camera photo out there somewhere, but I hope they have better things to do than worry about errant cycling tourists.)

But, of course, it was fine. No harm done to anyone or anything and we ended up right where we wanted to be. We later discovered that there was, in fact, a bike and pedestrian entrance to the winery that we'd simply missed. It had a sign and everything.

That night we watched a campy, yet actually disturbing horror movie called Teeth, about a young woman with teeth in a rather unusual place. But what was most strange to me was when a scene came up about half-way through that took place among tall cypress trees, a waterfall, and a cave. It was Krause Springs, my favorite childhood campground. Weird.

While in Sonoma, we dined at two places: The Girl & the Fig and Harvest Moon Cafe. Both places had great service and an interesting menu. The cheese plate at the first was quite good, with selections of chevre and Humboldt Fog. I followed that with wild boar shoulder. It was good, but not the sweet and salty pork experience I was hoping for.

All in all, a fantastic weekend in wine country. I'll definitely be going back and I am thankful for the generosity of my friends.

Melbourne Zoo

2009-11-13T04:11:00.000-08:00

Thursday, October 29, Mom and I booked a last minute trip to Melbourne--I'm so glad we went though I was grumpy while booking it. Sorry, Mom! I'm not always great about trip planning.

The only flight we could catch left early in the morning so we walked up to Kings Cross at 6a. It felt safe with a few people getting an early start on their work day and new arrivals from Dublin on holiday, sleepily walking up the street to their hotels. We took a budget airline, Virgin Blue, so ti was only carry-ons for us, a backpack for me and a little rolling case for Mom. It was great to the laptop behind for a few days.

Arriving in Melbourne we discovered that the good weather foolowed us--in fact it must have been at least 30C! Mom rented a manual car because that was all that was available and she knows how drive them. I don't. It was...exciting sometimes. Mom hadn't driven a manual in a while. Over the four days we had the occasional stalling, rolling backwards just a tiny bit on hills, and forgetting an intersection was a roundabout. But! We had no accidents or near accidentss, and Mom only turned into the wrong lane once the entire time. She did a great job! All of this is to say we didn't spend any time in the city because managing city driving on top of a manual and driving on the other side of the road would have been too much.

We used our early arrival as an opportunity to visit the Melbourne Zoo before heading to Ballarat. If you're gluten free, your best options are either to bring your own lunch or eat at the sit down cafe. None of the other food places inside the zoo cater much to gluten free diets. The sit down cafe has a few items that are clearly marke don the menu. I was starving so we ate lunch before noon, and the cafe was still serving breakfast. I had a tasty omelette.

It was just us and about 50 million school groups at the zoo that day. It was big enough that we weren't tripping over the groups all day but small enough that we could explore a lot of it without my foot hurting. Most of the animal homes are fairly large and well-landscaped to imitate their natural habitats. The Australian animal area is neat since the kangaroos can roam freely in the area. Since we visited them after noon, they were all laying down, napping in the shade--I can't blame them. It was so hot that if I was wearing a fur coat, I'd be doing the same thing. The wombats were sleeping (they're nocturnal), but the exhibit has a dark room with a view of their sleeping holes. So cute! My favorite Australian animals at the zoo were the echidnas. They look like cross between a hedgehog and an anteater. It was all I could do to resist picking it up for a cuddle. We did see a koala, or rather, a koala butt. It was not interested in people at that hour.

All the school kids were staring raptly at the elephants in the Asian area, but Mom and I were equally enchanted by the tiny ducklings that called the elephant's pond home. There were little fuzzy puffs of black and red. It was baby season at the zoo. In the monkey are we saw a baby monkey that had only been born the month before. The parents are all black with white fur around their eyes, but the baby is all white for the first couple months. We saw orangutans and gorillas. They were mostly busy eating and grooming each other.

Two of our favorite exhibits were the large butterfly and bird enclosures. The butterflies were everywhere. You needed to be careful when exiting that one didn't hitch a ride on you. They were mostly variations of black and orange butterflies, though we caught a glimpse of a large one with an iridescent blue body.

The bird enclosure was so large that it included three habitats : tropical, woodlands, and a more arid section. Most people tromped straight through barely stopping to look, but Mom and I easily spent more than an hour watching, sort of playing a variation of "Where's Waldo", trying to spot all the birds on the signs. I think we found them all except the large emu-like bird that Jon and I saw at the Alice Springs Desert Park. Some favorites include the pink crested cockatoo, red and green parrots, blue egrets, and some duck-billed bird that's rare.

By then we were wilting from the heat pretty badly, so we headed to Ballarat. There were lots of rolling green hills, pastures, and freshly shorn sheep--quintessential pastoral with an Australian touch: gum trees and koalo and kangaroo crossing signs. Somehow koala crossing signs are infinitely cuter than deer crossing signs in the States.

We had a terrible time finding our hotel; there are multiple Comfort Inns in Ballarat. Ours turned out to be near Sovereign Hill, not the downtown. After the trauma of navigating many roundabouts, hills, and stop-and-go traffic, neither of us had any urge to get back in the car to find dinner. Mom took a walk around in the late afternoon and discovered an Italian - Indian - Thai restaurant (Restaurante Da Uday). Crazy. The Indian curries were all gluten free. Needless to say we ate there every day, unfashionably early around 6p. Not the very best Indian food I've ever had but tasty, not too expensive, and near the hotel. Plus, Mom had never had Indian food in a restaurant before--she's eaten quite a bit because of my school friend Swati's family but that's all homecooked (and better, of course).

An exciting start to our Melbourne trip.

Sydney Aquarium and a Lazy Day

2009-11-11T03:44:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, October 27, was another rainy day, so we decided to embrace it and go to the aquarium. Most of the little tanks are nice but forgettable--there were two we liked. We spent a long time looking at a tiny tank of prawn-like creatures with huge front claws and a much smaller body. The largest one kept trying to climb up the large sticks but it failed again and again. We must have watched it try seven or eight times. I think it had just grown too large to climb up them. We were also entertained by a tank of leafy-looking sea horses. They look like kelp--there are some at the California Academy of Sciences.

We almost skipped the large tanks because I was thoroughly exasperated by the marketing at the aquarium. Practically every 10 feet there was another poster encouraging you to buy a ticket to Wilderness World or Sydney Tower or buy some candy or take a photo. I hate that crap. And frankly, outside the large tanks and the Great Barrier Reef exhibits, it really doesn't compare to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The large tanks were neat. Both had glass tubes that run along the sides so you could see some of the fish above your head. The first tank featured two dugong. They are a lot like manatees. They mostly waited for trays of romaine leaves (called 'cos' here) that were dropped to the bottom of the tank. The dugongs grazed on the leaves like cows, hence the nick name "sea cows". Despite their large size, they seem rather cuddly and gentle.

There were also large turtles, friendly sharks, and little fish swimming around. I'm guessing all these animals must be vegetarian since no one was chomping on anyone else. The turtles were super cute, diving down and then wedging themselves against a rock to take a cat nap. I approve of naps. I was also a fan of the animals that would rest on the top of the tubes, being all smooshed against the glass. The second tank had more sharks and big fish and giant sting rays.

The Great Barrier Reef area was fun! At the entrance was a medium-sized tank full of small, colorful tropical fish that schooled together going back and forth along the length of the tank...except one little clown fish that hung out by himself. Very Nemo-ish. I have to admit that Mom and I sat on the floor and watched the tank only to discover that there was a huge tank just a little further on. We took over the beach and sat there for a long time. We saw tons of fish, large small, some schools, angel-fish like ones, one that was large but blended into the surrounding coral. It was awesome. I think Mom must have taken a picture of every fish in the tank by the time we left. We had intended to go to the Great Barrier Reef but started planning so late that tickets were prohibitively expensive, and we pretended like this was our trip instead. Hee.

In the end I would recommend the aquarium but just for the large tanks and the Great Barrier Reef area.

And then It was time to go home for the day and have dinner.

Digression #1: You might be thinking, "Even if they spent four or so hours at the aquarium there's still a lot of day left. What on earth were they doing??". Well, for starters, a gimpy foot means taking lots of public transportation which means everything takes longer. Luckily like me, my mom is a fan of buses and trains. We also took frequent breaks like an extended lunch or coffee in the afternoon, with lots of chatting, of course.

At dinner time even though my mom normally likes control in the kitchen, she graciously allowed me to cook every night. She would sit down and work crossword puzzles or email Dad while I made dinner. We had more long, long chats over dinner and a glass of wine. Mom would wash the dishes (heaven!), and the we'd settle in for an evening of TV, mostly trashy reality TV like Australian Apprentice, Celebrity Masterchef, Ladette to Lady, and a few of my mom's favorite shows like The Mentalist and The Ghost Whisperer. And before you criticize that that's a lot of TV, it made for nice down time. I loved getting to cook for Mom!

Wednesday, October 28. At my request Wednesday was a day in. 3 weeks of constant sightseeing was getting to me. We spent the day reading, eating, and generally lolling about. We did check out the Borders bookstore at Bondi Junction and were it not for the high price tags, I would have come with many cookbooks. The mall was new and really nice. I'm sure I'll be back on a rainy day. Check out the Target above the Chanel store. I doubt you'd see that in the States. They had tons of cookbooks I'd never seen of chefs and restaurants local to Australia. I had a flat white at La Buvette later in the afternoon in Potts Point. Perfect coffee on a nice, warm, sunny day. In fact the weather was so nice I had to go get Mom and show her the park in Potts Point. We sat on a bench and baked and saw lorikeets and other birds. A lovely lazy day.

Open Day at Kuttabal Navy and Rocks at the Australian Museum

2009-11-06T05:01:00.000-08:00

Sunday, October 25, brought the end of our sunny weather. It was overcast all morning. We decided to have slow day after our two action-packed beach days. We happened to be staying in Potts Point for the one day of the year that the Navy opens Kuttabul Base to visitors, so I thought it would be fun to see some of the ships. The Navy base covers the entire tip of the penninsula that Potts Point sits on.

They had three ships open for visiting. It was neat for me because these were the first ships still in service that I've ever been on. I kept being surprised that it was the Australian Navy. I don't know why I was--I guess I was having a blonde moment. Also? The Navy personnel were so young! They barely looked old enough to drive.

Just as we entered the gates it started sprinkling a little bit. We thought that was ok. We had brought our umbrellas after all. By the time we reached the first ship, a carrier ship of some sort, it was pouring rain. And continue to pour during our entire visit. Mom saw water coming up out of the gutters on our walk home, and our shoes were completely soaked.

I may have had one other blonde moment that day. There were several demonstrations of helicopters and rescuing someone from the sea via a boat. Mom and I happened to see a helicopter overhead, just at noon when one of the demonstrations was planned. We were very excited and watched the helicopter intently--the only working military helicopters I'd ever seen had been on the TV show Airwolf. But nothing happened. We watched and watched and it just hovered overhead. One of the servicemen came over and told us we were watching a news helicopter and the real action was over in the water where they were demonstrating a water rescue. Doh.

We also walked through one of the long-range escort ships. It is capable of air defense, warfare, surveillance, and reconnaissance. It was weird to be walking right by missile launchers. There were a lot of servicewomen presenting on the ship, though I can't imagine that women actually make up 50% of the service. My favorite presentation was the young man wearing shades who is security on the ship who was demonstrating how various guns work. (Don't worry the guns lacks ammunition and were chained to a table). He was quick to point out how one gun was exactly like one of the ones used in the Terminator movies--needless to say he was very popular with the boy visitors.

It was raining so much that we gave up on the third ship and just headed home. We used our soaked clothes and shoes as an excuse to stay inside all day and read. :)

Monday, October 26, was still rainy but not the torrential downpour of Sunday. We decided to visit the Australian Museum, specifically the Egyptian exhibit and the rocks. It was one of the best Egyptian exhibits I've been to--not because it featured a famous pharaoh's tomb or lots of gold treasure (it didn't), but because it had lots of context for each piece it displayed. Too many museums just stop at the date, name, and material for describing a piece. This one had much more. For instance on one tombstone they explained each scene, even listing off the food stuffs that were depicted (duck, bread, etc.)

Since my mom loves rocks, and I'm dating someone who's also fascinated by them [And who might that be? Also? No pictures of the rocks. Sad. - Jon], we went to see the rocks and minerals permanent exhibit at the museum. They really have a huge collection. It covers nearly an entire floor. Mom told me the names of lots of the rocks, but I was all, "ooh! This one is sparkly!" and, "Look how green that one is!" Even though I don't know so much about minerals or rocks anymore, I loved looking at all the crystals and the vivid colors. There was rhodochrosite, a red rock that my parents also find in Colorado sometimes, malachite, a really, really green rock, amethyst, lots and lots of quartz, and, of course, tons of other minerals, too. The displays at the beginning did a good job of explaining how different rocks are formed, but we went through the exhibit backwards to avoid people so I didn't see them until the end. I did learn that rubies and sapphires come from the same mineral, corundum. Someone had donated a very extensive collection of minerals to the museum and those were all display, too. Thanks to my mom there were regular visits to rock shops and Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art over the years, so I've seen a lot of rocks. The ones at the Australian museum are quite impressive.

We swung by the birds exhibit, but then we were museumed-out, and headed home. It is worth mentioning that the cafeteria had gluten-free muffins, and they both looked and tasted good. I had an almond-raspberry one. It was pretty fluffy, very tasty, and not gritty at all. I might go back just to buy another one.

Manly beach

2009-11-05T03:36:00.000-08:00

Sigh. I'm so far behind posting!

We woke up on Saturday, October 24, and unexpectedly still had sunny weather. We quickly made plans to go visit Manly Beach, though we delayed it briefly to stop at the Potts Point Farmers Market. There were only two or three vendors selling fresh produce, but I didn't mind since Fratelli Fresh has such good produce on a daily basis. The rest of the vendors were selling value-added products like bread, jams, hot foods, soaps--one in particular was entirely gluten free food! I kept looking at their blackboard just to double-check what I was seeing was real. We bought some meat pies, a roll, and a couple cupcakes to try. The roll was a disappointment, very eggy. I plan to turn it into bread pudding or french toast where the egginess will work well. The cupcakes were rich but tasty. My favorite was the chocolate hazelnut. It managed to be fluffy and no gritty or sticky aftertaste. Mom wants to save the meat pies for me, so you'll get a review of those in another week. I'm excited to try meat pies. One of my previous co-workers (Mike) is from Australia and talked longingly of those and Timtams when we used to work together. Jon is decidely not a fan, but a pie crust + meat sounds pretty good to me. I'll need to be sure to swim that day! [Despite what Susan says here, I actually like the pies. The good ones. But they vary in quality. I recommend Boomerangs in… Austin, Texas. :D - Jon]

Many of the trees in the park at Potts Point had knit coverings--perhaps the same people who covered the pole downtown.

It takes about 30 minutes by ferry to get to Manly from Circular Key, and it gives you a nice tour of the outer part of Sydney's harbours. We passed a bunch of sailboats sailing but clustered together. My theory is that they were racing, otherwise I can't imagine why the boats would want to be so close together. There was an excellent view of the CBD skyline as well. The boat sways a lot towards the end since you cross the mouth of the harbour that heads out to the ocean. It was rather exciting.

We walked from the ferry dock to the beach through the little downtown. There's a Coles that seem to span several blocks--it must be huge inside. Coles, unlike Kohls in the US, is a popular supermarket chain. I'm guessing that it is considered slightly downscale compared to Woolworths because there's a Coles at Kings Cross but a Woolworths in Potts Point. That said, I've found a lot of gluten free food at Coles, sometimes a better selection that Woolworths. The Coles at Bondi Junction in the shopping mall next to the train station has a really large selection of gluten free foods. It's easy to get there from Potts Point; you just get on the train and go two stops, walk out the train station, and you're practically there.

Even though it was sunny at the beach the wind kept things chilly, and Mom and I left our fleeces on. We sat on a bench next to the beach and again enjoyed the people watching. There was a class of people learning how to surf, and some teenage guys clumped together, just hanging out. They started out very far to my right, just standing around. Many of them had their arms crossed the whole time; they must have been cold in just their swim trunks but didn't want to be lame and put on more clothes to stay warm. Periodically a girl would join the group and then eventually wander off to the right. Not surprisingly the clump of guys slowly migrated to the right, following the cute girls. Occasionally a boy and a girl would break off and have one of those conservations where one person leans, then the other, then a little arm touching, and then the girl flounces off. Hours of entertainment.

Eventually, though, we got up and walked up the beach because we wanted to visit the lookout at the end of it. We saw something a little bizarre: kids paddling out in the ocean on surfboards, and then just paddling right back to the shore, kicking their legs in the air. We have no idea why they were doing that.

There were lots of people snorkeling at one part of the beach, and when we walked out to some of the rocks on the edge of the beach we saw why. There were little crabs everywhere! Well, so long as we sat still we saw the crabs. There must have been even more marine life under the water. We sat for a long time at the rocks, pointing out crabs to each other. I'm sad we never saw any larger than 4 or so inches. We also passed some crazy large lizards on walk over to the rocks.

If you ignored the beach full of surfers and people in swim suits, you could almost imagine we were along the California coastline near Monterey.

Watson Bay and the Signal Hill Reserve

2009-10-28T03:26:00.000-07:00

Last Friday morning, Mom arrived! I had told her where the apartment was, but not how to reach me in the building. Apparently she started pressing the buzzer buttons in order until someone answered. Oops. Hopefully my neighbors don't hate me. She also told me that the train she took to Potts Point was very crowded, so she had to stand near the doors with her suitcase. There was waist-high metal pole that you could grab onto except a young man was sitting on it. My mom, who has never known to be shy, turned to him and said, "Excuse me, but could you stand up? Otherwise I'm going to have to grab your butt to stay upright." Hee hee.

My mom is a great traveler--more spontaneous than me. Since the weather was so nice, she thought we should take a ferry somewhere. We decided to take the Watson Bay ferry since neither of us had been on it. We weren't sure where we'd get off, but we took some lunch with us and headed out. Our ferry turned out to be a limited stop one, so our own only options were Garden Island, a little park at the tip of Potts Point only accessible by ferry, or Watson Bay. It's a fun ferry to take because you pass by the Botanic Gardens and Potts Point. We saw lots of boats and naval ships--last Sunday was the Navy Open Day. I took a picture of dredging accidentally--not very pretty and Mom was like, "Why are you taking a picture of that?!?"

Watson Bay was smaller than I imagined. Basically a small, sandy beach, a little park, and some boats. But it was a lovely little place to stop and eat lunch. I had a ham and cheese sandwich on my Old Time bakery organic gluten free flat bread with a thin layer of hummus to soften the bread a little. It's so good. I predict it will be my lunch most days. I tried it with peanut butter and jelly as well but didn't like it nearly as much. Two more product recommendations: I love the Orgran rice and corn pasta and Orgran buckwheat pancake mix. The pasta isn't gritty at all and tastes very "normal" to me. Even my mom liked it. The pancake mix only requires water and the pancakes are thick but light and fluffy and taste good, too. It helps that the mix is nearly 50% buckwheat flour. These are the first puffy pancakes I've had since going gluten free. I think I'll be bringing a couple boxes home with me.

Mom saw the buses leaving at the top of the park was, "Oh, let's take a bus somewhere since the weather is nice. It looks like they go back to the city!". She had no idea where exactly they went but was completely game to get on one. Only my mom. I saw that one of the buses was the same one I had taken to get to Bondi Beach and it said it stopped at Bondi Junction, so I agreed to hop on a bus.

We soon passed an intriguing coastal walk, so we hopped off the bus at the Signal Hill Reserve and went for a 1km walk. (Don't worry. We're not really crazy. I only go places where I'm fairly sure I know where I am, and we now have a good map of city and my cell phone has gps service in it if needed.) It was completely lovely. Except for the flies. The flies were about as bad as in the Outback. I have no idea why there were so many flies. Fortunately there was often a breeze which helped shoo them away a fair amount.

We saw a prickly pear cactus. That clearly doesn't belong there. There are no native cacti in Australia. We stopped to look out at the sandstone cliffs and the nearby lighthouse and had kookaburras come visit us! It even did its laughing call. While I was taking a break at one point, Jon called me and looked up our location on Google Earth. That was sort of neat.

We got back on the bus and stopped by Bondi Beach for a while. We sat on a bench on the paved walk just above the beach which made for excellent people watching. One of our favorite sights was this little girl who could barely walk, insisting on pushing along her own toy stroller. Hee.

And in case you've forgotten what I look like:

Royal Botanic Gardens

2009-10-26T05:40:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the lack of posts for past few days. I knew that rainy weather was coming, so I wanted to use every last moment of sun, and my mom arrived three days ago.

Last Thursday before she arrived I finally managed to go swimming. I tried out the Andrew Charlton Pool which is next to the Royal Botanic Garden and right on the water! I loved my swim excepting two things: the water was a little cold and it was *so* salty--seriously it was like drinking a salt lick when I would accidentally swallow a little. It was salty enough that I'm going to try out the indoor Cook+Philip pool next instead. It's still lovely, though, getting out of the pool and looking out over the water.

Since I was already there, I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the afternoon. I walked up to "Mrs. Macquerie's Chair" which has some amazing views of the Opera House. I want to go back early some sunny morning for better photos.

It wouldn't be a walk without seeing birds. I saw cockatoos (huge birds) and ibis

rainbow lorikeets eating pollen

and, well, they aren't birds, but they do hang out in trees--hang upside down, that is. Fruit bats. Really, really large furry brown and black bats that are taking over the trees in the center of the gardens. Apparently they are good because they pollenate the flowers but they are killing the trees they roost in. They were really, really noisy and constantly adjusting their wings, and some even flew about a little. It was creepy and very unexpected.

There were strangely bulbous trees.

And pretty greens and views.

Gardens of begonias and roses and even a castle.

On the way home I saw both a random act of knitting

and bronze pig, a gift from Florence, Italy.

Really, another pretty day in Sydney!

Summer days (Ferries and Bondi Beach)

2009-10-22T04:49:00.000-07:00

(I fixed the previous post to include a picture of the frosted glass walls)

Oh, there's so much I want to share about, but I can only write so much each evening! To start with: cooking. Now that I'm staying in an apartment, I'm making dishes I can't easily eat out like:
Pasta fritata with taleggio cheese, spinach, and sun-dried tomato stuffed olives.

Breakfast polenta with almonds and cranberries and creamy yogurt.

Hummus, avocado, cucumber, carrot, and watercress wrap.

In the next couple weeks I hope to make some of the recipes from the latest Donna Hay magazine--I think she's the Martha Stewart of Australia, perhaps minus the criminal record. The photos in the magazine makes me very, very hungry.

My first few days in Sydney had really great hot, summer weather. Tuesday I went shopping for some shorts to survive the weather and ended up at Darling Harbour. I sunned myself on the docks for a while and then took the ferry back to Circular Quay, the same ferry Jon and I took the first day of our trip. If I hadn't been tired I would have stuck around to see the sunset across the Opera House.

After such a hard day, I rewarded myself with a sit on the green in the Botanic Gardens. There were lots and lots of school kids around, on field trip, I think.

Thursday it hit the 90s, so I did what Australian do--I went to the beach, Bondi Beach.

It was a truly spectacular wide, white crescent of sand and blue, blue ocean. It was as I imagined: lots of skinny, tanned girls in skimpy bikinis and ripped guys surfing. The girls did sometimes wear coverups--usually tiny dresses, inexplicable tucked a little into the waistband of their bikini bottom on one side, because, you know, the dresses were so long. Super short shorts completely unzipped with the two sides folded open were another popular option. I can only wonder: why even bother?

One group of guys ran by me with one complaining to other, "Why did you bring your girlfriend on a guys beach day??" and later I passed another couple guys, one patiently explaining to the other, "Girls don't like it when you tell them what to do." Hee.

I saw several classes of people learning to surf; now I want to try it (I won't, though, since it wouldn't be good for my foot). I eventually chucked my stuff in a locker and walked on the beach and even tried getting in the water, but it was too cold for me! I consoled myself with some cappuccino ice cream (think coffee ice cream with chocolate bits).

I stopped at the Health Emporium in Bondi. It's a small store but they had lots of gluten free foods. There were 7 or so gluten free mueslis to choose from, lots of grains, and even some gluten free flatbreads. In their fresh prepared foods counter at the front, I saw gluten free steak pies, muffins, and cupcakes. I was intrigued by the pie but resisted since I wasn't hungry and unless the muffins and cupcakes were just made, they probably look better than they taste. Still, if I go to Bondi Beach again, I'll definitely be stopping there. The 380 and 381 buses go right by it on the way to the beach.

And then it was time to head home and cook some more. Looking at the weather forecast that evening, that might have been the last hot weather for the next several weeks. Sad.

Potts Point and my apartment

2009-10-21T04:07:00.000-07:00

So...our last day together in Sydney, well, really evening. Because of the time change and waiting for keys it was nearly 6p by the time we got into the apartment I'm renting in Potts Point. It's so cute--modern but not unfriendly. Here's a photo tour of the interior. Sorry the photos are imperfect--the apartment doesn't get a lot of direct light because of the big tree outside it, but I don't mind.

It has a small but comfy living room that opens into the main living space--the kitchen and work desk.

The kitchen has a cool red, glass chandelier, a dishwasher, gas and electric burners, oven, and microwave. The collection of dishes and cookware is rather eclectic like most rentals I've stayed in.

Looking back into the living room with its TV and dvd player (and there's a place up the street I can rent movies for $2/night if I'm ever bored).

(OMG. I just saw a commercial for Reese Witherspoon fragrance by Avon. So wrong.)
Down the hallway towards the doorway.

The bathroom and bedroom are on the left and their walls are made out of frosted glass/steel.
The bedroom with its brick and glass walls.

And the bathroom, complete with full size washer and drier and a shower with a bright red tile wall.

I love it! Potts Point is a bougie neighborhood, perfect for me. There are lots of grocery stores, delis, and restaurants just down the street. There's a park if I want to be near trees but not walk far. Potts Point is just north of Kings Cross rail station which means it's well connected with public transportation, though Kings Cross is a bit of an armpit. It's like a cleaner version of the Mission crossed with the Tenderloin. No real Mexican food, though. My first food back in the States will definitely be Mexican!

The main shopping center at Kings Cross has a small health foods store, Health Nuts, that carriest many gluten-free products. Woolies and Coles also carry some. There's a butcher on the street and Fratelli Fresh for great produce without going to a farmer's market. Potts Point even has a small farmers market every other Saturday. Needless to say my one book purchase here has been The Foodies Guide to Sydney The next five weeks for me are all about food, photography, (swimming), and hanging out.

Oh, so, yes. Jon's last evening with me in Sydney. After walking down the street and seeing all the charming delis, we decided to just stay in. We bought cheese, olives, and salami from one place, a bottle of wine and the most amazing bar of Choxi chocolate at another, and some chickpea and green bean salads at a third. I can see how if I didn't want to cook at all, I'd never have to here. The food, wine, and company were a wonderful end to our vacation together.

Monday morning came all too soon. I walked Jon to Kings Cross, reluctantly left him there, and started my five weeks in Sydney. I'll have more company soon enough--my mom is coming at the end of the week.

How are you going?

2009-10-20T21:07:00.001-07:00

First, a bit of housekeeping… I have begun to post my Australia photos from our trip together. I'm going to post a few each day. The first batch is from our first day in Sydney.

So, I'm back at work now while Susan is just beginning her new adventure of living in and exploring Sydney for five weeks. I was able to see the place she's staying in on our last night together. I must confess to being quite jealous, not only of her additional adventure, but also of her apartment. It is simply fantastic. The apartment and the neighborhood fit Susan perfectly, and I know she's going to have a great time. I'll let Susan cover that more, but she did make me promise that we'd go back and stay a month there together someday.

It is hard to believe that two weeks came and went, and yet when I read back over our blog posts I can see that we did so much in that time. Highlights for me include the desert (of course), the amazing food we had in Margaret River, caving, biking and swimming at Rottnest Island, and my one night in Susan's Sydney apartment.

Upon returning to work, someone asked me what Australia was like. I said it was as if they took the good parts of California, turned it into a continent, and slapped a tropical rainforest on the top end. And I don't mean to say Australia isn't unique – it is truly a great country – but I felt that was the best way I could describe it. Australia is a young country, just as California is a young state. And there is a certain vibrancy there that you can feel. The people Susan and I met on our journey were all friendly and I suspect it has something to do with living in such a great place.

I have now been to each of Australia's states and each major city except for Darwin. I know I'll be back, and not just because I promised Susan. I've always been fascinated with the place – so far away, but so familiar, a great wide-open land with sunny days and happy people. So with that in mind, I thought I'd take some notes for future Jon to review prior to his next trip Down Under, or for anyone contemplating a similar journey.

Bring the bug net to the desert. Seriously. The flies don't bite, but they will do everything they can to drink from your eyeballs and nostrils. We passed many a miserable tourist doing a crazy dance while we calmly strolled through the desert's many sites and wonders. Visibility is slightly impeded, but less so than if your eyes were filled with buzzing bugs. You may even find it useful outside of the desert, though you might get funny looks.

Taking your time is a good way to see wildlife. Susan's foot is in recovery, and while she can't hike too far, she can walk at a gentle pace. We saw sooo many birds. And lizards, and a kangaroo, and a big fish, and humpback whales, and neat insects. Much of this I owe to our quiet strolls along the trails. Also, a good way to get the solitude necessary to appreciate the wildlife is by getting up early, particularly in the desert.

Don't forget to bring the charger for your camera battery. But if you do forget, most towns have a camera shop where you can purchase a universal charger that fits most batteries.

When hiking through the desert, make sure to bring something sweet along that doesn't melt. Susan was wise to do this and brought along these little milk chews – a tasty treat when you aren't close to food.

Speaking of desert food… lower your expectations. It's a shame that, unlike America, there are no Mexican restaurants in Australia's deserts. The ubiquitous gluten-free cuisine that is available in Australia is Thai.

If you are driving, get a good map. I think a good printed map is much better than any GPS if you have a great navigator (like Susan) with you. Renting from Hertz in Perth? Ask for a detailed book map. They lend them out and they are immensely helpful.

"How are you going?" is a greeting like "how are you doing?" The expected response is "fine" or "good." They aren't asking about your mode of locomotion.

Bring a good hat. And proper clothing. Spring means different things in different places and Australia is big.

The airports handle security a little differently than in the US. You will have to remove your laptop, but not your shoes (sanity). You won't be bothered about liquids much. You don't have to have a boarding pass to go through security, so people will greet each other at the gate. You will have to show your boarding pass when you enter the gate ramp (like the US) and when you actually step onto the plane (not like the US).

Eat early and often. Being even slightly hungry can result in a feedback loop of grumpiness.

A scotch fillet is just a rib eye.

Don't ever get guacamole in Australia.

This was one of the very best vacations I've been on. We saw all kinds of amazing places and had a lot of fun. Susan and I make excellent travel companions and I look forward to more adventures together, which I'm sure we'll document here. And writing this blog has been fun and helpful for both of us. It's been a great way for us to remember our trip and I hope it is helpful to others. I recommend keeping a trip journal, even if you don't publish it.

Fremantle aka Ghost Town

2009-10-19T05:06:00.000-07:00

The end of our trip was a bit mixed--though it all ended well.

Saturday was our last full day in Perth. We went to Fremantle, a port town about 10km from Perth. It reminds me of Monterey, CA, only smaller. Supposedly this is where a large fraction of Pert goes on the weekend. Our experience? Not so much. I can safely say we walked much of it, and it felt like a ghost town. We saw a few other people shopping and going to the Maritime museum, but that was it. In retrospect we wondered if everyone was out sailing or on the beaches. It was nearly 100F, probably one of the first really hot days of the year. We wished we had gone to a beach.

It has a waterfront with refurbished warehouses, some of which are markets--described in our guidebook as similar to Fisherman's Wharf but much less touristy. They were certainly less tourists but the markets themselves were not worth visiting. They were just full of the regular tourist crap.

All that said there were a couple reasons we still enjoyed the visit: Lots of the buildings downtown were restored from the 1900s and were quite attractive. Fremantle is still a working port, and we saw two ships full of containers and a third that was probably carrying all the cars we saw lined up along the river the day before. We got to watch the third one head out to sea and the tugboat coming back--so fun! Fascination with big ships isn't just for little boys.

Our favorite moment was the tour of the Oberon class submarine at the Maritime museum primarily because of our amazing tour guide. He had served on another Oberon class submarine for quite a few years during the cold war and had endless amounts of details and stories to share. He shared a lot about how you had to escape from the submarines if they sunk--the Oberon class spent almost all its time submerged, how changes in the design allowed them to reduce the number of crew needed versus earlier submarines which made for more comfortable living, the importance of filling the larder in use order (or it's beets every night for multiple days), and even a story of how some surveillance they did during the Cold War in Russian waters resulted in prosecution of spies involved in stealing British technologies . This is the third or fourth submarine I've toured but far the best because of our guide. Jon loved it, too.

As a bonus there was a small exhibit of various working steam engines next door--Dad! I thought of you. We even took a few pictures of them.

After that we gave up on Fremantle drove to the suitably bourgie Subiaco neighborhood in Perth. We freely admit we like some bourgeois in our life on a regular basis. Sadly we missed the lunch hour, so our options were a bit limited. We eventually found a place and had some sauteed fish over "pumpkin mash". I think 'pumpkin' is the generic term used here for winter squash, and Australia seems to be fond of pumpkins and sweet potatoes. That works for me.

And that was pretty much it for Perth. We still want to come back some day and visit the botanic garden part of Kings Park; Jon consoled me that I'll be living a short distance from the botanic gardens in Sydney for the next 5 weeks. Whee!

Sunday morning came early and then all of the sudden it was 6pm and we were waiting to pick up keys for the apartment I've rented in the Potts Point neighborhood of Sydney. More about that awesomeness and our last evening tomorrow!

Rottnest Island: Bikes, beaches, and bathing suits

2009-10-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

Friday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn--or at least it felt like that at 7am. We needed to pack our stuff for Rottnest Island, grab some breakfast, and actually sign up for the bikes and boat ride. Rottnest Island is a few kilometers away from Perth. It's a mostly unpopulated island with no cars, only a few tour buses. The island is about 10km long, and 3km wide, and there are roads that run around the edge of it, perfect for biking if you can handle mostly gentle hills. You can spend the day there (from about 10:30a to 4:00p) or stay overnight. While the island is popular for biking, many people also go snorkeling, diving, and swimming.

We took the "Rottnest Express" boat from downtown Perth. I think the rest of the boats all leave from Fremantle. From the city it takes nearly 2 hours, hardly express, but it's a nice cruise down the Swan River and worth doing and the lazy option if you're staying in the city center. Swan River is shallow, so there's no shipping boats. Instead the river is lined with fancy, expensive housing. If you want to take photos, I recommend the return trip--the light is nicer and everyone is exhausted from the day, so they aren't crowding the small outdoor area on the rear of the boat. There's even a great view of the city center right before the final docking.

It was a clear, beautiful, sunny day. We planned to bike from one of the island and back, and stocked up on water and food in the main settlement before heading out. (By the way, don't rent bikes through the boat company. The bikes aren't great, no water bottle holders, and the ship people aren't organized in getting them out. Just plan to rent from the company on the island. Their bikes looked much better.) It turned out to be a lot hotter than we were expecting--nearly 90F, so we went for a much shorter bike ride with frequent breaks. I was the slowpoke. Seven months without running and I've turned into a bowl of mush. I made it up all the hills except the very last one. Jon faired much better, often stopping and waiting for me to catch up.

Rottnest Island was just gorgeous. Blue skies, even bluer and clearer water, cool breezes blowing in from the ocean, green, scraggly bushes and blooming flowers, and sandy white beaches. If you didn't get in the water, you could almost imagine you were on some tropical island. Since there's no easy way to get to the island, it wasn't busy. We'd pass a few bicyclists every 10 minutes or so.

I don't remember the names of each bay we visited, but we followed the road in a clockwise direction. Our first stop was near a wide, white beach, with five or so small yachts anchored. A group of four people were snorkeling, the young man broke off and snorkeled into the dark area, nearer the shore. We were up on the cliff, but we heard loud cries of, 'Get out of there! There are stingrays!" from an older, female voice. Perhaps his mom? He was just like, "Don't worry. It's fine!". Nothing bad happened, but I was entertained. According to Jon stingrays aren't generally very dangerous, so I'm not sure what the concern was.

We biked a few more kilometers and I was drenched in sweat and wanted to take a break. Fortunately we came across a pretty bay full of limestone and kelp. The water was so clear that even though we were 100 feet or so above it on a cliff, you could see straight into the water. I saw a huge fish and a school of smaller fish hanging out in some of the deeper water pools right below it. It was neat! I felt like we were visiting an aquarium. The cliff had a strong, cool breeze that felt great and kept the flies away.

We biked further and came across some surfers. We watched them for a little while, but only one of them ever caught a wave. I judged them as 'lame', but Jon suggested perhaps I was being a bit harsh. :) After that we turned inland to cross to the other side of the island so that we'd end biking most of the large part of the island but skip the west end. It was slow, hot going, though we came across two small bits of entertainment. First were the tandem bikers. We passed one couple who asked us if we'd seen another couple on a tandem bike (we hadn't). We went a bit further and saw another tandem bike, going in the opposite direction of the first one. They asked us if we had seen a similar bike. We had! So they turned around. We grabbed some shade under one of the few trees. About 10 minutes later, both tandem bikes appeared, happily reunited.

Apparently the island has lots of quokkas, a brown, furry marsupial about the size of a cat that looks like tiny rat kangaroo. In fact just as we were departing the trees, a woman came by on a bike, reporting a friendly quokka a little ways back, but I was too hot and lazy to go back. Now that I've seen pictures of how cute they are, I am sad at my laziness! We did come across a little family of ducks, though. They were the cutest things ever. There were four baby ducklings napping near their parents. Occasionally one would stagger to its feet, move a few inches forward and collapse again or stretch out a foot or neck and then fall asleep as if it all took too much effort. I wanted to take one home with me, but Jon said no. Party pooper. (Just kidding)

When we arrived at the other side of the island, we realized we miscalculated and had ended up right next to the main settlement instead of much further west. We started back out but very early on we passed by an immaculate white beach. At that point I could no longer resist pretty water on such a hot, hot day. First we took off our shoes and socks and just waded in the water. The water was cold, really cold but so refreshing. Then, well, I'll be honest. I realized there were no bathroom nearby to change into my swimsuit, but I did have a sarong, so I may have changed into my swimsuit on the beach under a piece of cloth. And so might have Jon. The water felt amazing. The swimming area was shallow, so you could walk out about 25 feet and still be standing. Jon managed to swim, but I was content to stand. I did duck all the way in at one point, but it felt like my arms were going to freeze off. Still, though, standing there was one of the more idyllic moments of the trip. We were all ready to add a week of beach vacation to our trip...and then we remembered that Jon had to go back to work. Boo. In the end we were thrilled with our miscalculation.

We took the boat back to Perth, much more tired and relaxed than when we started. A perfect day at the end of a great trip.

Hello Summer in Perth!

2009-10-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning we left The Noble Grape, our B&B, and headed up to Perth. It was my last day of homemade chocolate muffins and fresh fruit and excellent coffee for breakfast, but I think I'll survive. I'm always torn about staying at bed and breakfast places--often the lodging is nicer and more interesting than an equivalent cost hotel, the hosts have lots of local information, and then there's the usually very tasty breakfast. But. The owners usually are very friendly, chatty people and I end up feeling like I am a bad guest because I'm not necessarily in the mood to chat with strangers over breakfast.

Google directions sent us on the 'back country roads' route as far as we can tell. Speaking of directions, apparently Australians like to navigate by highway names (eg. Busselton Highway) instead of the numbers, so that's what the Google directions print even though most signs display the numbers, not the names. Jon says that since I work on Maps now, I should improve directions . :)

Anyways, driving down country roads on a sunny day was lovely. Many were tree-lined with impossibly green pastures full of sheep and cows. There were fields covered in small yellow and white flowers. Occasionally tall, brown stems with orange blooms stood guard along the road, along with grape vines just starting to put out tiny, pale green leaves.

We were pleasantly stunned when we arrived in Perth--it must have been about 80F and sunny. It was our first big city in two weeks. We're staying near the city center (CBD), so the roads were a maze of one-way streets, and to be honest, Google directions failed us a bit. It put us close to our hotel but not exactly on the right street. We found our way eventually with no car accidents or arguments. We were happy.

I suspect Perth is most like San Diego. Perth is a big but not huge city. It's not humid and gets about 300 days of sunshine every year. They have a 'free transit zone' in the city center where you can ride the buses and special CAT buses (that stupidly only run until 6:20p) for free. They have a big partially outdoor mall and pedestrian zone there as well. You can visit the tourist sites but also get good coffee and avoid driving. There's a really large public park, Kings Park, at the edge of the FTZ. I approve. German iced coffee is popular here, too--the kind with ice cream and whipped cream. If you ask they'll make it American style. I've more or less given up caffeine, but I can't resist the coffee here. The flat whites and iced coffee are smooth and rich, and every coffee shop has simple syrup to sweeten cold drinks; you just need to ask for it.

We spent the afternoon at Kings Park. Unfortunately the bus that is supposed to take you to the center of the park was detoured at the edge of the park. It made for more walking than we planned, so we didn't make it to the botanic garden part, but the rest of the park was pretty enough that I didn't mind. We saw a tree trunk covered in large thorns (so unfriendly!), a vast lawn of perfectly short, green, soft grass that at first I thought it was a better version of astroturf, a long stand of white gum trees, the last remaining blooming flowers including one called 'kangaroo's paw', and lots and lots of birds and war memorials. We saw parrots--the kind with the green backs and red, blue, and yellow fronts. They were just hanging out, calling to each other. I was busy trying to find them in the palm trees when Jon told me to turn around. There were two sitting on a branch about 10 feet away from us. Wow. We saw lots of other birds, too, including this large black, crow-like ones that were repeatedly dive-bombed by little brown and white birds. The park is on the edge of the water and has an excellent view of the downtown. Sitting on a bench looking out at the water in the late afternoon is a fine, fine way to spend a late spring afternoon.

We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner, Viet Royal, that was fairly near to our hotel. It was a typical Thai food experience: tasty food, large portions, low key restaurant. We successfully asked about their peanut sauce (no wheat or soy sauce), so we had spring rolls with a sweet chili sauce and then pork and vegetables in peanut sauce with rice. Yum. I never get tired of eating Thai food.

We went to sleep early because Friday we caught a ferry to Rottnest Island--more on that later. It's Saturday morning now, and Fremantle is calling us!

The coldest Fall I ever spent was a Spring in Margaret River

2009-10-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

It has been cold, cloudy, and a little bit rainy. For some reason, when packing, I always imagine I'll be fine with a light long sleeve pullover, even if I'm heading out onto the tundra. Luckily, Susan has more sense and a) packed a great deal of warm clothing and b) kindly insisted that we acquire the same for me. One waterproof fleece jacket later and we were ready for whatever southwest Australia would throw at us.

That turned out to be a glorious forest of karri and marri trees, both eucalyptus varieties. The former are the third tallest trees in the world and the latter have the largest nuts of any eucalypt. We walked a short way along the Margaret River on the Ten Mile Brook trail just north of town. Donna, of The Noble Grape, said that people came to the region expecting the Mississippi (does everyone sing-song spell that word in their head while typing?), but the Margaret River was nothing to write home about. With the cacophony of birds above and the explosion of wildflowers below, we found it peaceful and enchanting, despite the sad weather.

Next we drove a short ways to the Indian Ocean. Visiting this region in the early Spring, during the week, is a recipe for isolation. Everywhere we went, the amount of fellow tourists was slim to none. But there were a few children running along the beach and swimming near the shore. That water was cold, but the kids didn't seem to mind. This is the second time I've been to the Indian Ocean, but my first on this side of the pond. Were we to continue heading west, the next stop would be South Africa. We explored the tide pools and did a little beach combing, then headed off to lunch.

Susan had done a little bit of research and discovered that the best food in the region can usually be found at the wineries. This was a welcome discovery after the rather disappointing selection in Margaret River proper. The region is wonderful but the town is 'meh.' So, following a recommendation we'd read, we lunched at Knee Deep.

Knee Deep's cellar door is modern, with a metal exterior and a large enclosed deck area with good views of the surrounding vineyard. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable, not only about their particular wines but about the entire region. The tasting menu was presented on a laminated placard which gave a recommended order and short descriptions of each wine. Susan and I are novices at wine tasting, but the staff made us feel comfortable and we enjoyed trying all of the varieties, of which there were several. I particularly enjoyed the 2007 Chardonnay, and I don't usually go for white wine.

After the tasting, we settled down for lunch. For Susan and I, food can be an adventure in and of itself, much like a hike to a scenic destination or visit to a museum. The food at Knee Deep was fantastic. We started with a plate of local bay scallops, perfectly seared and served with a brush of aioli and a hot cup of artichoke velouté (sort of a creamy soup). Susan's main was a cauliflower risotto with taleggio cheese topped with a poached egg and I had a ribeye, medium rare, with a mushroom tartine. Susan's risotto was the best I'd ever tasted and my steak was divine. "Two thumbs up," said Susan.

Our bougy demands having been met, we longed for a return to nature and decided to escape wine country via a two lane road west to Blackwood River National Park. We drove through a forest of gray-green eucalyptus – unlike any forest either of us had ever seen. Occasionally, there were small signs warning us that poisoned meat had been placed as a trap for feral cats in the area, which are an ecological nuisance. Eventually we arrived at Sue's Bridge, a little picnic and camping area. It was very quiet and picturesque next to the river.

After a little exploring and taking in the sights and sounds, we were about to head back to the car when a juvenile kookaburra landed right next to us! Kookaburras are stocky, fluffy white and tan birds of the kingfisher family. You know that sound that you hear in the background of nearly every movie that takes place in a jungle? That crazy cackling laugh? That's a kookaburra. After we took a bunch of pictures, we then saw the adult right behind us. We snapped a bunch more pictures. We've been very impressed with the close encounters with wildlife we've had on the trip.

That evening, we purchased some local sausage, cheese, fruit, and wine from the market and had a nice little dinner in our room. We both agreed that, though the desert was fantastic, we were really enjoying this part of Australia as well. [Susan: Skip the Chocolate Factory--actually I think any food business with the word 'Factory' in the name should be skipped, but I'm biased. The chocolate is good enough but the store is big and cavernous and their praline chocolate just taste like good milk chocolate, no praline taste at all. We bought the local chicken chorizo (helpfully labelled gluten-free) at the IGA in Margaret River. 10 AUD buys you one link and it's so good. They carry great olives and some local cheeses. It's a good place to stock up on picnic food, and if you're too lazy to do much wine tasting (me!), there's an attached liquor store that carries a bunch of local wines.]

Today we headed out to Calgardup Cave. The whole coast along here is filled with limestone caves and there are several you can visit. Calgardup is a self-guided cave where they hand you a flashlight (aka torch) and helmet and send you on your way. Being from Texas, I've seen a lot of caves. This one was neat – there was a boardwalk throughout and there were lots of cool formations: flowstones, stalactites, soda straws, and cave bacon. Susan really liked the cave bacon. After the cave, we did a short wildflower hike where we counted 15 different kinds in bloom.

We had lunch at another winery, this time Cullen. I wasn't as impressed with the tasting menu at Cullen as I had been at Knee Deep. They didn't have as many varieties and the wines I did taste weren't really my style. But oh my god was the menu fantastic. Susan and I wanted to order everything. But reason prevailed and we started with a garden salad, gluten-free bread, and a trio of dips: sun-dried tomato cashew, herbed ricotta, and hummus. Susan thinks the bread was paratha – unhealthy but oh-so tasty. The salad greens were from their garden and were "biodynamic." Apparently, biodynamic is the astrology of agriculture. I wasn't impressed with the explanation, but it still tasted good. Susan had a main of paneer, channa dal, dosa, and an avocado and lentil salad. I had seared Whiting (a flaky fish) over quinoa with a lemon beurre blanc. So good.

[Susan: Both Cullen and Knee Deep catered really well to gluten-free people. Their menus were clearly marked as to what was gluten-free, and, not surprisingly, since both feature local, organic produce, nearly everything was gluten-free or could be made that way. Both had gluten-free bread options. And nearly every dessert at Cullen was gluten-free, including the almond-chocolate torte we shared. They are only open for lunch and are a bit pricey, but well worth the cost, and frankly, not much more expensive than the strictly so-so meals we've had elsewhere. I was in heaven.]

After lunch, we drove up the cape to the lighthouse and took a trail around. If you do much hiking or driving around the Margaret River region of Western Australia, one thing you'll notice quickly is that so many trees are scorched. They are all apparently the survivors of one or more forest fires. We took a walk around the lighthouse and discovered that it is a sandy wasteland of charred branches because a wildfire had burned away all of the scrubby coastal vegetation. It was eery, but we soon came to appreciate the lack of leaves because it allowed us to fully see the ocean. We enjoyed a good fifteen minutes of serendipitous whale watching as we glimpsed over a dozen humpback whales surfacing among the waves. Even the sun came out to play for a little while.

Now we are winding down with a good glass of local red wine and a little bit of the cheese and sausage from last night. Tomorrow we head back up to Perth for the last few days of our vacation together. It has gone by so fast, but it has been such a great trip and we're looking forward to some city exploring after a week and a half of desert and wine country.

Goodbye to the Red Centre

2009-10-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

We're south of Perth now near Margaret River, snug in bed with a heating blanket. It's only about 50F outside--rather shocking after the nearly 100F+ weather yesterday in the desert.

Yesterday (Sunday), was our last day in the desert. We drove to the tropics! Well, the Tropic of Capricorn. Being in the tropics isn't as exciting as you might imagine. It was just a random place on a very wide dirt road, but getting there was plenty exciting for me. It was my first time (as an adult) driving on unsealed roads. Jon says I did a good job, but I went rather slow at times, and since the sand was often the texture of a washboard, it made for a very bumpy ride. Fortunately the road was wide enough for a 4 lane road and we never saw another car. As a side note, I highly recommend desert driving if it's your first time driving on the other side of the road. There's almost no traffic which is very relaxing. So back to the tropics. I suppose the desert we saw along our way was no different than the other desert we saw during the trip, but it felt different. We felt very remote even though we only went 40km or so. We saw no signs of people except for some old tires along the road... and the road, of course.

We stopped by the Red Gorge on the way back, but even though it was only about 10:30a, it was already blistering hot. We stuck around just long enough to notice how the spinifex had burned (had been burned?) in one area versus another. The burned area looked very empty except for "black shadows" which were really just the scorch marks left by the spinifex.

We spent the afternoon doing laundry, and by we, I really mean Jon. He's so nice! Once the sun started to go down we emerged from our air conditioned room and walked over to the Glen Helen Gorge. It has a large waterhole with really cold water. Despite that Jon got in and swam to the far edge. I selflessly abstained so I could take pictures documenting his great achievement. While I suppose we would have been well entertained just watching the sun set against the rocky red cliff, listening to the duck-like birds call to each other, a tour group provided us some more. As I mentioned the water was really cold. The only person I saw dive right in was some white haired older man who must have spent his free time swimming the English Channel. There were about 6 or so people in the group, and within 10 minutes pretty much everyone had plunged in and appeared to be pleasantly numb. This left one svelte young woman and a guy about the same age. Much like the little boy back at Wattarka, everyone cajoled them to just jump in, but they wouldn't. (Let me mention again, the water was cold. Really cold.) Finally the young man offered to give the girl a ride on his back. She climbed on, and he immediately submerged them both. She was not a happy camper. I can only say: better than reality TV. hee.

We ate dinner at the resort, and it was good again, though, as usual, expensive for what you get. We had scalding hot tomato soup--actually quite tasty and refreshing even though it was still hot enough for just t-shirt and shorts outside. We shared a kangaroo fillet, perfectly cooked. I think I like kangaroo because I like venison and flank steak, meatier, chewier cuts. The Outback seems a bit obsessed with celery. We've had it as a cooked vegetable with the kangaroo, sliced in salads, and sauteed as seasonal vegetables. I hope it's just that celery is cheap with a long shelf life.

We snuck in one more night sky viewing, complete with some bat action. I don't think we'll ever get tired of looking up at the Milky Way, Scorpio, and Jupiter. As a slight digression: about a year and a half ago I went to Antarctica. This desert and Antarctica aren't so different; as a start Antarctica is basically a really cold desert. It gets almost no rainfall. Still, what I keep realizing is what large, wild, inhospitable places they are, and how they remind you that people are really just a small piece of nature. It's sort of a nice feeling, very peaceful.

Monday we woke up with the sun and were on the road by 7a, drinking my latest favorite morning beverage: iced coffee. We've had iced coffee twice here and neither time has it been like in the states. The first time at a cafe, it was the German version: cold coffee with ice cream and whipped cream. The second was as a milk container where it's basically flavored like chocolate milk, only with coffee and sugar instead. Yum. I know milk is good for you and when it has a good helping of sugar and coffee, I'm happy to drink it.

We drove back to the airport and were very sad to leave. We passed the thin spines of jagged rocks that looked like dragons and what I insist look like soft, velvet puffs (spinifex) but makes Jon launch into a discourse of how that scientifically cannot be possible since the puffs are too rigid, unlike grass, which suggests that the puffs are made of spikes and would be uncomfortable. Flocks and flocks of birds keep flying up out of the grass into the road as we drive by, and we narrowly miss killing them. I really don't understand why they fly into the road instead of away from it. Lyle Lovett is the perfect empty, desert road music. The gas attendants are super friendly as always, wanting to know where we're from, how long we've been here, and where we're going. We're glad it was cooler most of the week, and excited to come back someday and hike and do all the things we didn't get to.

I don't know how much we've talked about it, but we could sit for hours looking out at the desert and listening to the birds. For me the scenery and the feeling is a bit indescribable. Since the living conditions are so harsh, you get to appreciate each shrub, tree, plant, and bird. It's just beautiful. This is how we've spent a lot of our time here.

By the way, if, say, you have the urge to kiss your boyfriend in a dry, arid place like a desert, be sure to ground yourself first. Otherwise you might just end up with a huge electric shock across your nose, leaving you with the strong smell of ozone and really sore nose. Just fyi.

Perth is shocking in several ways: multiple lanes of traffic with many cars, much, much cooler, and humid. We have another Australian-made car but a smaller one this time. The climate here and in Margaret River feels a lot more like the Bay Area and the wine country. The Margaret River is much smaller than Napa or Sonoma, most of the restaurants are closed on a Monday evening. We ate at a hotel in town for dinner. The spinach salad was great but the pork belly was overcooked and the white beans undercooked. We were happy to have non-kangaroo, barramundi, chicken options, though. The pizzas at the hotel looked fantastic, made in a wood-fired oven. If only they had been gluten free. Speaking of gluten free, though, we're staying at the Noble Grape in Cowaramup. It's a B&B which means the rest of the guests are generally 50 and older. The upside is that our hosts, Donna and Steve?, are very familiar with gluten-free. Even though we hadn't told them I was, they had gluten-free bread, muesli, and even made me fresh chocolate muffins for breakfast. Jon was enamored of the homemade peach muffins.

We're hoping to (finally) have a really good meal and see some wildflowers tomorrow.

The Red Centre

2009-10-11T02:01:00.000-07:00

Our last night at Kings Canyon was where I think we'd finally achieved the vacation nirvana we'd been seeking. That moment when all your cares in the world – work, bills, rent, todos, etc. – melt away and you can just thoroughly soak up the moment. First, a glass of wine. While we sipped a fine Western Australia red, we enjoyed the pre-show entertainment provided by colorful desert parrots and magpies. After that came the main event. We walked out along a boardwalk over the red sand dunes and found the best spot from which to view the sunset. It was a fantastic show. The Sun gave a radiant performance, as usual, and the clouds stole the show. Dinner, stargazing, then blissful sleep.

The next day we drove five hours across the Australian Outback to Alice Springs. The stark desert land is beautiful to behold, with the highway cutting a straight seam from one horizon to the other. We arrived in Alice Springs around lunch time and sought out a cafe in the Todd Mall, an open pedestrian area in the town center. Alice Springs is a fairly large town, with streetlights and roundabouts. I can't say the food is very impressive. Most cafes are of the sports bar variety, with a couple in the deli/coffee shop style. The latter seem to have more variety, but that isn't saying much. The Woolworth's in Alice Springs is a well-stocked grocery store and even had a large selection of gluten-free products for Susan. [Susan: Yay, chocolate chip shortbread cookies! They also had a variety of pastas, cereals, granola bars, and presumably even bread somewhere though we didn't look for it. We've been using rice and corn thins covered with peanut butter as a substitute. :)]

We drove another hour and a half out of town and ended up at our accommodation for the next three days, the Glen Helen Resort in West MacDonnell National Park. The drive is through a gorgeous desert countryside of spinifex grass (imagine grass made out of cactus needles) and acacia and gum trees. This park reminds me most of Big Bend National Park in Texas, one of my favorite places in the world.

Glen Helen Resort is nestled against the red cliffs of Glen Helen Gorge. It has a bit of a summer camp atmosphere. The old rooms, with cinderblock walls and lace curtains, are quaint and charming. The staff is friendly. Wifi is hit and miss – you have to walk outside towards a work shed where the router is mounted on a roof somewhere. The password will cost you $10 for the day. They have a bar and a restaurant, both are pretty good, and live music some nights.

Today we woke up with the sun, as we've been doing each day, to get an early start on the desert heat. Our goal was to visit lots of sites on the east side of the park, between our resort and Alice Springs. A few sites in the park are at the end of dirt (aka unsealed) roads. Some require 4WD. I wanted to make sure we could get to these, so I made sure to rent a 4WD vehicle. But when we picked it up yesterday, they told us we could only travel on the dirt roads, but not the 4WD roads because we had an "intermediate" 4WD vehicle (a Nissan X-Trail). Here's how it works: regular rental cars aren't allowed on dirt roads. Intermediate 4WD trucks are allowed on dirt roads, but not on 4WD roads. Full-size 4WD trucks are allowed on all roads.

We visited several gorges and chasms along the rocky range of the West MacDonnell. About a billion years ago, this area was home to a mountainous region as tall as the Himalayas. After hundreds of millions of years, incredible forces stretched, compressed, and twisted this land. Now much of the geologic record has been turned on its side and eroded, so that simply walking South to North lets you move through time. I was amazed to be standing on rocks that were 850 million years old. In Alice Springs there is gneiss rock that is nearly 2 billion years old. Incredible.

Late in the day, we stopped by the Alice Springs Desert Park. It was really good. Susan and I rated it 4/5 stars. They have all of these desert plants and birds in a variety of desert settings, complete with a self-guided audio tour (they also provide guided tours). They explained about the various desert climates, plants, and natural history of the region. Susan and I were amazed at the great biodiversity. Did you know Australian deserts contain more types of lizards than any other? Or that Australian deserts generally get more rainfall, but that it is very unpredictable? This was definitely our kind of place and we wish we'd given it more than a couple of hours.

[Susan: Cool things I learned at the park: The red dust is basically just rust. The iron in the rock that became the dust has oxidized. Spinifex grass is basically like nature's firestarter. They are filled with resin, so they quickly burn. The Aborigines would burn the spinifex at certain times of the year (probably when there was about to be a lot of water). Lots of green plants would grown up where the spinifex had been, providing food and bringing wildlife (more food) into the area.

Also, if you love birds, you must come to the desert. They are so numerous and easy to spot due to the sparse vegetation, and as a bonus there are lots of colorful ones. Although we saw a lot of varieties at the park, we've seen almost as many at the natural sights we've visited. Of course I always forget to carry the binoculars. My favorite spot was at the Ellery Creek Big Hole--very creatively named. One branch on a tree had 20 or so tiny birds that flocked together with rainbow bee-eaters swooping about, and some duck-like bird swimming in the pond. Awesome.]

After a long twilight drive back to the resort (which I don't recommend because you risk smacking a kangaroo), we're now relaxing with some more Australian red wine and some gluten-free chocolate chip cookies we picked up at the store. We tried the grill-your-own experience here at the resort, but were disappointed. Gas grills here are thick metal plates that take forever to heat up and can only cook by conduction, so the vegetable skewers they provided failed to launch. But the fish was good.

Tomorrow we set out for the west side of the park and we plan to drive an old dirt road up to the Tropic of Capricorn. I've never driven to the tropics before, so this should be fun.

Birds and Lizards and Kangaroos, oh my!

2009-10-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting on the tile deck behind our room, enjoying the late afternoon sun but keeping an eye out for any falling lizards (more on that later). My only visitors have been birds. I love how you can be completely lazy and still experience the wildlife. We're in Wattarka National Park now. It's a bit hotter here, so we're getting up at the crack of dawn (6:15a), wandering around all morning, taking a siesta most of the afternoon, and reappearing in the late afternoon when the light is pretty and it's started cool off. By now, the feeling of being on vacation is strong.

Our last evening at Ayers Rock Resort, we went to dinner at the Angruli Grill. Jon had good meal: sweet potato-coconut soup and lemon chicken scaloppine with pesto potatoes and veggies. I made the mistake of ordering what they are well known for: grilled steak. It was overcooked and tasteless. Fortunately, Jon had so much food, we just shared his main. We're both looking forward to better meals in Western Australia.

Afterwards we went on the Night Sky tour. My favorite parts were when Ian, our astronomer, pointed out the Southern Cross (barely visible), Alpha and Beta Centauri (really bright stars in the sky), Scorpio, and how people find the South pole in the Southern Sky--they have 4 different ways of finding it. Scorpio reminds me of Orion in the Northern sky because it's such a bright, distinctive constellation that once someone points it out, you'll always be able to find it. Because we're in the middle of a vast nothing, the sky is very dark and the Milky Way is really bright. In the South you can always see the Magellanic clouds; they look like two tiny clouds in the sky.

The resort has a big telescope, so we got to look at a globular star cluster which looks like a dense area of stars, Jupiter and 4 of its moons, and a couple other things that weren't nearly as exciting. Since Jon is a great amateur astronomer, we looked at the stars at Wattarka as well, and he pointed out several more areas dense with stars. How fun! I'd recommend the Night Sky tour at Ayers, especially in 10 days when Ian retires. Ian clearly knows stars very well but over the last 15 years of doing this, he's become a little obsessed with explaining in great detail and length why astrology is bad and wrong and we shouldn't believe in it. And then for fun he threw in a long story about the birth of Jesus because some astronomers consider Jupiter the Star of Bethlehem.

The next morning we got up very early and arrived at the sunrise viewing spot for Uluru just after sunrise. It was perfect, really, because we had the whole place to ourselves. Mornings are beautiful in the desert. The light is soft, it's still cool, the flies have yet to wake up, and the birds and other wildlife are still moving around. Jon has wanted to visit Uluru since he was about 8 years old, but I have always thought, "It's just a big red rock." Now that I've seen it, though, I must admit, I am impressed.

It took us about 3 hours to drive to Wattarka National Park. It's a smaller, low-key park. There's no entrance fee. There are exactly two places for dinner and the only grocery store is a large convenience store at the gas station. (If you are gluten-free, definitely stock up on food in Alice Springs or Yulara). We may be in the desert with limited cellphone coverage, but we're hardly roughing it. We have our iPods and a card adapter, so we listen to music and NPR on our drives.

Since we arrived during the heat of the day, we decided to go swimming. Oh my. They do not heat their pools here. It's about 90F, but I'm such a baby about cold water. Jon jumped in, but I inched in, and I do mean inched. This greatly entertained Jon and the boy already in the pool. The boy was 9 or so years old and took on as his personal mission to get me to come all the way into the pool. For the next 15 or 20 minutes he kept cheering me on, telling me to just jump in, telling me that I should want an A for 'Actually Tried' instead of an F for "Failure to get in". He and his family are visiting from New Zealand. He would swim around but then come back every few minutes to see if I had made any progress. (I think he was just bored, but Jon considered him my 'young admirer').

Our room has a lovely little tile deck, just a foot or two off the ground, opening right into the… bush? outback? I'm not sure what it's called here. After our swim we sat outside, reading and organizing photos, until suddenly we saw two large, green blobs drop from the roof onto our deck about 10 feet from where we were sitting. They were two large lizards! I am not ashamed to admit that I immediately leapt on top of the plastic foot stool. The lizards were fighting over something and ran right under our chairs. A moment later, one was clinging to the metal frame of our sliding doors and the other slunk away. It was easy to see why they were fighting: the lizard on the door had a distended neck and a tail sticking out of its mouth. I was both horrified and fascinated to have nature do its nature thing right in front on me. Jon was more organized and ran to get the cameras to take pictures. :)

The rest of the evening was less exciting. We saw the sunset with Kings Canyon in the distance. The stone here is all sandstone that is very red and breaks easily, so there are lots of layers of stone exposed everywhere, and apparently weird domes that formed on top of the canyon. To see the domes requires a hike I can't do right now. Dinner was one of the better meals we've had here: a rocket, cucumber, sun-dried tomato salad, crispy french fries with aioli, and a kangaroo steak, still very pink inside. We were thrilled that they let us share the main since both resorts tend to serve too much food.

Today we got up early again and went on the Kathleen Springs hike. It's an easy, short hike but very worth taking. We must have been the first people there for the day. Very early on we saw a small, brown kangaroo! It was just munching on some grass, not very interested in us. We were able to get within about 10 feet of it before it hopped away. It was so cool! The rest of the path meandered through trees and bushes until we reached a waterhole at the end. This area has good water from the spring that supports a lot of trees and other vegetation, so there were birds everywhere . You didn't need binoculars to see them. You just needed to sit still. We must have heard ten or so different bird calls. My favorite birds are the rainbow bee-eaters. They have very pointed wings and are yellow, blue, and some other color. They are really pretty when they fly. Again we were so lucky that we got to have the waterhole all to ourselves for 15 or so minutes. It was just amazing.

We went on to Kings Canyon. It's also a mecca for the local birds. Right at the entrance to the trail are a bunch of little birds with tall crests, hopping along the ground, pecking at something. They don't seem to mind people much. Jon hiked to the top of the canyon but I stayed behind and sat in the shade, enjoying the eucalyptus and acacia trees. He came back and we walked along the riverbed and admired the rocks and birds. Like Kathleen Springs, this area has a lot of green plant life since it has a reasonable water source. I never imagined that the desert would be such a great place for bird watching.

General travel notes:
We talked with our Night Sky bus driver and he said that busyness at Ayers Rock doesn't depend on the day of the week since it's all tourists and that now is the tail end of the high season. Things have been slower this year because of the state of the world economy. Since the desert is large, and we have our own car, we've felt we had a lot of space.

Dreamtime

2009-10-06T01:01:00.000-07:00

Susan and I are sitting on a carved wooden bench, overlooking the only natural cache of water for miles and miles around. Tucked into a corner of Uluru (aka Ayers Rock), the watering hole has been the gathering place for wildlife and Aborigines for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. Shaded by strange trees and the towering mass of red stone, we sit in a silence broken only by the song of beautiful birds, and the wind. This is the desert at its best, a dazzling land of contrasts.
…

We arrived yesterday on a Qantas flight from Sydney. If you want a good view of the Rock on the way in, I recommend you sit on the left side of the plane. The jet flies past Uluru and then does a turn over the desert so steep and low, it appears you could reach out and drag your fingers through the red sand.

We caught a bus into the "town" of Yulara, picked up our rental car from Jared at Hertz (nice guy), and made the short drive over to the Outback Pioneer Hotel and Lodge. I say "town" because the whole thing is privately run as the Ayers Rock Resort. This was Susan's first time driving a right-hand drive car on the left side of the road. It takes a little getting used to – always turning on the windshield wipers when you meant to signal, remembering to head all the way over on a right turn. Susan's mantras are "near left" and "far right".

We'd arrived around lunch time and each had a burger (Susan's sans bun) at the Gecko Cafe. I can't recommend the burgers. [Susan: nor can I!] Then we headed out to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. We got about as far as the park boundary before I started whining about it being hot. The air conditioning was broken. Well, sort of, it was broken on my side of the car. What an odd failure mode. Cold air on Susan's side and hot air on mine. We drove it back to Hertz and asked for a different car. This time, Jared gave us an Australian-made car (who new?) – an Epica – and we were set. It even had an awesome switch-blade key, which amused Susan. "How long have you been here?" Susan asked Jared. "Twenty two months and 5 days," he said, without skipping a beat. The desert can be harsh.

The desert of the Australian Outback is everything we hoped and expected. It is an amazing alien landscape with weird trees. The weather has been fantastic, with a nice breeze and highs in the mid eighties. Susan loves how the trees grow tall and spaced apart, and the silhouette they create against the deep blue sky. Plus, there is a lot of green that contrasts beautifully with the red sand. We took in this beauty as we explored around Kata Tjuta (aka The Olgas), a series of large stone outcroppings to the west of Uluru. Withe the exception of the flies, for which I highly recommend having a bug net that goes over your head, the park is a magical place. Susan and I watched the light of the sunset play across the red rocks and headed back to the Outback Lodge for dinner.

When we returned and stepped out of the car, I looked up at the stars and saw, to my surprise, the International Space Station cruising overhead. I was big and bright. This is the third time that I've just looked up and watched the ISS go over. I think they are stalking me.

The Outback Lodge is a nice place for budget accommodations. Our room is nothing fancy, but it is clean and has a mini-fridge. We have to content with a community shower and restrooms, but that is a minor inconvenience. We had dinner at the Outback BBQ. You ask for meat and then cook it yourself on the grill. They have beef and chicken, as well as local fare like emu, kangaroo, and crocodile. Susan and I wanted emu sausage, so I asked if it was gluten-free. The guy had no idea, so we opted for the fish. On the whole, the meal was so-so. The salad bar and corn-on-the-cob was rather sad. And it was about $30 AUD per person. Cheaper gluten-free food can be had at the supermarket across the resort.

After a good night's rest we headed back into the park to tour Uluru. The rock is quite a sight. We also stopped by the Cultural Center. Susan and I both felt that the presentation at the center was a little, well, odd. The park is on Aboriginal land and is run by the tribe. They allow you to climb Uluru, but really would rather you didn't. Really. The impression we got from much of the text in the center (and it is almost all text) is that they would rather visitors not be here at all, but that maybe they couldn't do much about it and had decided to be nice. Also? The first quote I read when walking in basically chided tourists for taking pictures and not seeing Uluru for what it really was. It bothered me that my way of understanding and appreciating the world was put down in a place that asked me to learn and understand about the ways of others. [Susan: and it would have been nice if they had a natural history center as well.]

Even so, I understand why this place is sacred and special. The rugged beauty of this fantastic desert landscape is well worth the visit. Tomorrow, we drive north to Kings Canyon to see where Priscilla: Queen of the Desert was filmed.

Sydney!

2009-10-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

It turns out that Australia is pretty far away. Thankfully, the long flight was made bearable by the fantastic movie selection and complimentary wines offered by Air New Zealand. Following our hop over the Tasman Sea from Auckland, we finally arrived in Sydney and caught a train into the city center. Our 21 hour planes, trains, and automobiles journey Down Under was done.

Of course, we'd lost several hours and traveled into the future. Despite our exhaustion (why is sitting for hours so tiring?), we rallied to battle our impending jetlag and ventured out to Circular Quay. The weather wast cloudy, windy, and cold, but it was good to go out. Jon neglected to bring anything warm to wear and did his best impression of a manly man bravely defying the elements. Hungry, we looked at a few restaurants and settled quickly on the Eastbank Cafe. They offered gluten-free pizza and pasta! Yay! We shared a good pizza with prosciutto and rocket and drank some Shiraz Cabernet wine, while watching rain move in across the Harbour Bridge and over the water.

It was a nice start to the trip. The food was good – a little spendy, but worth it to eat something bready. The crust reminded me of a thin, soft, focaccia. I've been surprised at how much gluten-free food I've seen so far. At the airport in Auckland, while Jon was buying his favorite soda – which tastes like lemon-scented Dawn dish soap to me, I found a coffee shop selling a gluten-free orange cake. When we passed through quarantine in Australia, they let me keep on my homemade granola bars.

[Jon: The soda is Lemon & Paeroa, named after the flavor and the own where it is made. "World Famous in New Zealand!"]

We spent the rest of the afternoon freezing and wandering around the area, checking out the Opera House and eventually taking a ferry over to Darling Harbour. So far I'm loving the mix of open water, skyscrapers, houses, docks, and paths in Sydney. I'm super excited to go back and take a tour of the Opera House, see the scary face at Luna Park up close, go to the Aquarium and Maritime Museum, and of course, explore the Royal Botanical Garden. After Jon heads back to the states (sadness), one of my goals is to take all the ferries.

While we were at Darling Harbour, we found a military ship named 'Vampire'. I'd love to know the story behind that name.
We also ran into a local Latin festival and saw some tango dancers.

Now we're on the plane to Uluru (aka Ayers Rock) and warmer weather. Apparently Furbies are popular in Australia: this was on the safety card on our Qantas flight:

I'm slightly less happy with Qantas at the moment because they don't have anything I can eat. Oh well. Fortunately I brought some food.

In case you're planning a trip to Australia: We liked our hotel: Travelodge. It's not super expensive and the bed is comfortable. The room came with a tiny mini-kitchen (microwave, fridge, sink, dishes), and it's near the Museum train stop. If you're looking to buy a SIM card while you're there, the International terminal sells Vodafone cards as you're leaving. They seem like a great choice if you'll mostly be in Sydney and other large cities. It's less expensive than most of the other options. Since we're going out to the desert, we got a Telstra card. Telstra has great coverage but is more expensive. They sell them in the Domestic terminal (at least Terminal 3) after you go through security.

I can already see the sunny red desert of the Australian outback through the window.

Count Down Under

2009-10-01T22:13:00.001-07:00

In 24 hours, Susan and I will be on an Air New Zealand flight to Auckland, then on to Sydney, Australia. From there we'll head to Uluru, aka Ayers Rock to begin our driving adventure across the Australian Outback. After a week in the Outback, we head to Perth to explore Western Australia for another week.

I'm happy to be flying Air New Zealand. They are really friendly, have good food, comfortable planes, and they were one of the first airlines to feature custom programming for each seat in Economy Class. I actually held a permanent residency permit for New Zealand once, but opted to work at Google instead of moving. In retrospect, a fine choice.

I've been to Australia a couple of times, and I've spent several weeks in Sydney. But I've never been where Susan and I are going. Susan has never been to Australia, and after our two weeks, she'll being staying on there for another five. I am quite jealous.

Below are some of the places Susan marked to visit while she's staying in Sydney.

View Favorite place in Sydney (staying in Potts Point) in a larger map