At Long Last...THE DOLPHINS

WE SWAM WITH THE DOLPHINS TODAY!!!

More specifically, the dusky dolphins that call the Kaikura Bay their home. It was absolutely fantastic! Words can’t really describe our experience – dropping yourself off the back of a boat in full wetsuit and snorkel gear, and immediately being surrounded by a pod of dolphins.

The Dolphin Encounter company that runs the tour did a great job of reminding us that these are wild dolphins – no trained Flippers here! – and that swimming with them is all about them, not us. If we boat around for a while and aren't able to find any dolphins to swim with, well, too bad. We go home and get an 80% discount, minus the cost of fuel. And if we DO find some, there's no guarantee they'll be into us, and that’s just the way it goes.

As we were on our boats heading out, Casey took this pic of the sky:


And of course, the obligatory "We're ready to dive!" shots:



NOTE: I'd just like to point out that in the grand scheme of things, wet suits are the great attractiveness equalizer. That's right.

Throw in a mask and snorkel, and I don't care if you're Hugh Jackman or Hugh Jass, you're going to look like a heinous, overgrown toad.

Either that or Tori Spelling. Whatev!


Moving right along. Luckily, the two earlier morning dives came across a whole slew of pods playing out in the ocean, which meant that our chances of finding them were good too. And sure, enough, we soon got the word from our captain that the duskies were out and about for us as well!

Ha...aren't they AWESOME?!





The one in #3 is clearly a show off.

So our guides instructed us on three things you can do to try to get the dolphins more interested in you:

1. Dive straight down, kicking your feet over your head like a handstand
2. Swim in circles with them (which, unless you're Aquaman, is exhausting)
3. Make funny sounds or sing through your snorkel

The making funny sounds trick gets you pretty darn self-conscious after about two seconds, so Casey and I actually sang songs. I don't recall everything Casey sang, but I do know we both decided to serenade the dolphins with Wilco, whom they loved. As if we needed any more proof of their remarkable intelligence.

And while I know this is far from a scientific study, I am happy to report as well that they were absolutely repelled by the Pussy Cat Dolls and Britney Spears.

After all, nothing says "Swim the hell away!" like a heinous, overgrown toad singing atrocious, mind-numbing pop.

Shuh...if only radio listeners were as discriminating.

Perhaps the coolest thing was getting to use the underwater housing I bought for my little Canon 800IS point and shoot camera. I took it down initially, but trying to take pictures of the dolphins underwater was definitely not easy. The water was not super clear, and they swam like a million miles an hour! And it's not like they warned you in advance they were coming, either. As soon as one would swim close enough, by the time I'd point and shoot, it'd pull a Kaiser Soze and be gone.

After the second dive, one of the guides on our boat advised to just hold the camera out and just shooting, rather than trying to follow a dolphin in-frame. Unfortunately, I had started to feel a little queasy, so I gave the camera to Casey, and she came back with these awesome shots:




Whew! After we got back to land, Casey and I were cold, exhausted and super hungry. All we’d had to eat was coffee and a muffin before swimming. We rested a while at the Dolphin Encounter HQ, and I had myself a nice hot chocolate. I thought the chocolate-dipped spoon was a nice touch!

We decided to go in search of food, but got a little distracted along the way by the ocean and all the amazing things to see. So we wandered along the beach shooting just about everything in sight, including:

The Kaikura coastline...




Some interesting shapes and textures on the beach...


These really neat white marbley rocks...



...and this seaside skate park...


So by this time, we are starving – it was time to eat...really. And, of course, being in Kaikura (in Maori “kai” means “food” and “Kura” means “crayfish), how could we NOT eat some crayfish? Although aren't they like super small? Not here, dude. It took us a bit of figuring out, but when Kiwis say "crayfish," they mean "lobsters." Casey and I found a nice restaurant, parked ourselves at a nice little table out front, and ordered up a ton of food, including the crayfish.

I'd made a habit of taking pics of the meals I ate, but we were so hungry we both spaced on the pumpkin soup. About three-quarters of the way through the crayfish, I remembered I hadn't taken a shot of it – aaah! So I went inside, where our waitress was hanging out with some other women from the kitchen. I started to explain my dilemma, and before I had finished, one of the cooks said, "Do you want me to plate one up for you so you can take pictures?" Sweet! It didn't have garnishes or anything, but this is what it looked like:


Mmm...that that thing was GOOD EATS.

After dinner, we stumbled back to the hostel completely and thoroughly exhausted, but not before taking a few more shots as the sun was setting:



Seriously, people...if any of you ever find yourselves in New Zealand, you HAVE to come to Kaikura and swim with the dolphins! I can't even begin to describe how incredible it is. They are the cutest things ever. And they hate crappy American pop. Magic!

Tomorrow we're off to Christchurch!

Kaikura & The Dusky Lodge

The drive to Kaikura was mellow but gorgeous! Sadly, Casey and I were sort of bustin' a move trying to get to our hostel before the front desk closed, so we didn't stop to take many pictures along the way. On the outskirts of Kaikura, however, as we looked to our right and saw snow-capped mountains, and then to our left and saw the ocean, we were like, "Whoa, we totally have to pull over!"

I'm just sad to say my pics don't even begin to do the place justice.



We got to our hostel, the Dusky Lodge, around 8:00PM. That's our sweet Corolla rental on the left there.

Anywho, they have a Thai restaurant right by the hostel pool and hot tub -- just a dude, Montree, and his wife cooking yummy food on the spot! We gave him our orders, then walked to buy a couple of beers. By the time we came back, our food was ready. It was starting to get chilly out, so the piping hot food tasted extra great!

If you open the Dusky Lodge link, and click the "Thai Restaurant," you can see the menu. In case you're wondering, the red soup I started with is the #4, Tom Yum Gai, and for my main dish I chose the #8, stir fried chicken with chilli and vegetables.

And lest we forget, I washed it all down with a fabulous 4% Harrington's Kiwi Draught, brewed locally at our next stop after the dolphins, Christchurch.

Heaven!

Marlborough Wine Tasting

Casey and I woke up this morning around ten-ish. In case you're wondering (and I know you are!) this was the view from our hostel:


We packed our stuff up and drove back into "downtown" Picton to grab some coffee and food, but not before chatting with a guy who told us the weather was supposed to be fantastic for the forseeable future. Hmm...was he a meteorologist? Or did he just sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night?

Whatever...we gots sun! Yes!

Once downtown, Casey tracked down a co-worker of hers whom she had randomly run into yesterday in Wellington, and who was in Picton today too. It was funny because Case had NO idea her friend was in New Zealand, and to run into her here was so ridiculously small world.

Sadly, I've already forgotten her co-worker's name. Weak, I know. But that's the 'ol short-term memory for you. Ha! Ever since that time with the...hmm...yeah, never mind.

Our next stop was the Marlborough Wine Trail, which is near the small towns of Blenheim and Renwick. It’s sort of like the Napa or Sonoma of New Zealand, with more than 50 wineries scattered around a 20-mile area or so.

We'd called Gwen to let her know we were on our way, and she met us at our first stop, the Saint Clair winery. There was a big group of tourists in the tasting room already, so we squeezed our way through and tried a few of their whites. Casey was actually taking some notes and writing down the names of wines she liked -- hardcore! I probably should've done some of that too, if only to relay to you, gentle reader, exactly WHAT we were sampling, but I spaced. So you're just going to have to trust me when I refer to the light and fragrant bouquet and subtle hints of grapefruit and mandarin orange.

Yeah, right. After the first glass or two I think my dumb "Asian glow" kicked in, and I was flushing like a toilet. Now that's hot AND sexy.

Our next stop was Huia, a smaller place that I liked a lot. Check out their cool fish sculpture! I have to say, though, that despite sampling a merlot here and there, I limited myself for the most part to the white wines that make the region so popular: pinot gris, riesling, sauvignon blanc and (say it with me!) gewürztraminer.

Casey, on the other hand, sucked down everything that wasn’t bolted to the ground. But we love her, so we won’t heckle. Much.

It was an absolutely beautiful day, so we decided to ditch our sweet Toyota Corolla rental at Huia, and just walk to some more places, so we cut through the Huia vineyards to get to Rapuara Road.




It turns out Gwen had actually worked in a vineyard, so she told me about her experience tending to the grapes, including things like having to raise the wires along the vines -- not once, not twice, but three times as the season goes along. Very interesting stuff!

Too bad I have the brownest thumb ever. Seriously...if I ever worked in a vineyard, the grapes would wither and die like K-Fed's career and about as fast.

We decided to wander along Rapuara in search of a place called Mudhouse. Why? Because it's called Mudhouse, silly. We spent a good twenty minutes or so wandering up and down the street looking for it, but it wasn't where it was supposed to be on the map.

By that time it was past noon, and we were all getting hungry. So we headed to the Domaine Georges Michel winery, sampled a few selections, then went to their little restaurant for brunch. The food was fantastic...and seeing as we're in frickin' NEW ZEALAND for pete's sake, we took our own damn time hanging out and chatting for a while. It was nice to relax a bit before heading back out for more tasting!



As we walked down Rapuara, we came across this nice little cherry stand! It turns out they were just in season. It also turns out that Mudhouse had moved, which is why we couldn't find it. Or so the woman running the stand said. Bastards! Oh well.

We bought a nice big bag of cherries, which we snacked on as we walked down to the Bladen Vineyard. Yup, you guessed it! More wine. More light and fragrant bouquets and subtle hints of grapefruit and mandarin orange. More Asian glow. More shame.

By the time we were done tasting there, it was around 4:00PM and Case and I needed to start the drive down to Kaikura. So we got back in the Corolla and decided to make one last stop at the Seresin Estate, an organic winery.

The view overlooking the vineyards was really beautiful, as you can see:



Seeing as how I was driving the two hours down to Kaikura, I didn't sample anything, but you know Casey did!

We asked the woman working there whether the fact they were organic was a big selling point, and she said no. They don't even bother to market their wine as such. Still, it's kind of nice to know you're drinking wine that's been grown that way.

We headed back to the Saint Claire to drop Gwen off at her car. She and I talked about the possibility of me heading back up before leaving New Zealand, which would be terrific. Even if I'm unable to, it's been really great meeting and hanging out with her -- she's really cool!

Then Casey and I turned south and headed down Highway 1 to Kaikura.

Countdown to dolphins: T minus 20 hours and counting!

At Last...Picton & The South Island!

In case you're wondering, I didn't sleep late today, thank you very much. Nope, I got up, packed, and took a cab to the Interislander Ferry, which was taking me to Picton and the south island today.



While I was waiting at the terminal, I bought a long black - as has become my custom here - and ended up sitting at the counter next to a woman from North Carolina.

We struck up a conversation, and it turns out her name is Kelly Haas, and she works as the the tour manager for a well-known yoga instructor named John Friend. He developed a style of yoga called Anusara. They just finished up a big tour of Japan and Taiwan, and now Kelly’s getting some well-deserved vacation time on the south island as well.

It was nice to meet a fellow American, so we sat together on the ferry and had a nice conversation about yoga. Neither one of us had much positive to say about Bikram Choudhury, who started Bikram yoga, as he’s apparently an amazing ass. Seriously. Click that link and read about him in Mother Jones. I'll even give you a minute to do so.


There. See? Told you. Big...'ol...ass.

Anyway, I asked Kelly for her advice on the different kinds of yoga because I've wanted to start doing it for a while now. I did take an intro class once at the Yoga Tree on Stanyan Street in SF, and it was great, but never followed up on it. Yoga's such a time commitment! He claims as his dry twig of a body continues to get more inflexible by the second. It's a lousy excuse, I know, so I think one of my New Year's Resolutions is going to be to get off my butt and "git 'er done."

Did I just quote Larry the Cable Guy? Please shoot me now.

Just to head off any misunderstanding, the Interislander ferry is no a little dinghy - it's huge. It even has a large theater room, where they showed a movie, though I didn't watch. And the ride was smooth sailing. I did a little wandering around and picture taking. Here are a couple shots:




I took that last one as the ferry was pulling into Picton at 2:00PM. All told, the ride took about three hours.

Kelly and I disembarked, and she went to pick up her rental car at a local New Zealand company called Ace Rent-A-Car. I checked my email on a computer at the terminal, and found out that Casey was getting in on the 9:45PM ferry. That gave me a little over seven hours to kill in Picton.

But geez, what to do? These pictures are from "downtown" Picton. As you can see, it's not exactly a bustling metropolis of wackiness and fun. If New York is "The City That Never Sleeps," I think Picton must be "The Town That Loves To Catnap."


I stopped in at Hertz to pick up my rental car, and when I walked out Kelly was talking next to her car with Gwen, the woman who was working at Ace. The three of us chatted for a little bit before Kelly took off on her way to Nelson.

I asked Gwen if she had any suggestions of what I could do while waiting for Casey to get in. Shocker...there wasn't much. So on a whim, I asked her if she had any desire to help me pass the time by grabbing a drink or dinner with a complete stranger, and she said, "Sure!" We decided to meet downtown after she got off work, and I went to get settled in at the hostel.

At 6:30PM, I headed back into Picton to meet up with Gwen, who's super cool. Her last name is Wregar, and if that sounds German, it is - she's originally from around Heidelberg, I believe. Her older sister had moved to New Zealand a few years ago, and feeling a strong desire to get out of Germany, Gwen decided to follow. She's worked in vineyards, done some WOOFing (Worked On an Organic Farm), and now was doing the Ace thing.

I mentioned Casey and my plans to go wine tasting in the Marlborough region tomorrow on our way down to Kaikura to swim with the dolphins. It turned out Gwen had the next two days off, and was excited to go wine tasting as well. So I told her we'd call her in the morning when we got up.

At 9:30PM, we could see Casey's ferry coming in, so I headed back to the ferry building. When I got to the terminal, Casey was standing outside on the curb, and we gave each other a big hug! It was SO GREAT to see her - the last time we hung out was in Perth at Worlds, and that already seemed like years ago. We had a ton of stuff to catch up on, and we ended up talking excitedly and gossiping until way late in our room like we were at some grade school slumber party or something.

WE'RE SWIMMING WITH THE DOLPHINS IN TWO DAYS!!

The Streets Of Te Whanganui-A-Tara

Yes, today I slept late again. Is that so wrong?

Kate and Ray went to work, so I dealt with a few trip planning things before heading out to wander around the city a bit more.

And, of course, this time I met with "more typical" Wellington weather – drizzly and overcast.


Here's the view from Kate and Ray's place when I stepped out this morning. Er...late morning:

I took the cable car back downtown, and was greeted at the station by today's sweet new Dominion Post headline:

I don't even know what that means, but it gives me another reason not to like cops.

While on the cable car, I had a nice chat with the operator. It's a pretty chill (some might say boring) gig, going up and down the hill all day. As you can imagine, it's not overly strenuous. But he loves it. He used to be a painter, but got tired of dealing with his jerky boss and coming home smelling like paint and turpentine. Now he's happy meeting lots of different people from all over the world.

And now you know more information about the Wellington cable car operator than you ever dreamed of. Nice work! Aren't you happy to be reading this?

Real quick for the unitiated, a little background on Wellington: It was named in honor of Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, whose title comes from the town of Wellington in the English county of Somerset.

In Māori, Wellington goes by a few names, the most accepted being Te Whanganui-a-Tara, which refers to Wellington Harbour and means "the great harbour of Tara." Of course, there's also the more traditional Te Upoko-o-te-Ika-a-Māui, meaning "The Head of the Fish of Māui."

Mmm...head of the fish of Māui....

Wellington is also the center of the country's film industry. Peter Jackson, who directed "The Lord of the Rings" is from here, lives here, and bases his production company, Wingnut Films, here too.

But I digress. I decided to go back to Fidel’s and have some more of those amazing hash browns. I even asked the cook for the recipe, which he gladly recited to one of the waitresses to copy down for me. I'm psyched to try to make them back home!

I also called my sister Erika, and mentioned to her how much colder in New Zealand it was than in Oz, to which she replied, "Well, think about it, Hen...there isn't another land mass between there and Antarctica." Oh yeah. Duh. Clearly my geography skills are a bit lacking (read: suck).

After I ate, I went to the post office to mail a bunch of stuff back home that I really didn't want to lug around. Boy, I packed way too much crap. I bought some film for my Xpan II panoramic camera, and then wandered into a music store.

I had asked Kate what the music scene was like here, and she said that the sound that Wellington (and New Zealand to a degree) is known for is this dub style. The guy at the store let me listen to a few selections, and I really liked what I heard. Perhaps the biggest bands are Fat Freddys Drop and the Black Seeds. You should totally check them out.

Oh, and word on the street is that Fat Freddys Drop is absolutely amazing live - if they ever come over this way, I'm IN.



Ah, Starbucks. I include this pic because Kate mentioned yesterday that for whatever reason, Starbucks is having a lot of trouble attracting business in New Zealand, and is usually pretty empty.

I'm no expert, but could it be that compared to the world class coffee here, their stupid ventis taste like ass? Seriously. That's like passing up all the fresh, affordable fish and chips places you see everywhere and heading straight to Long John Silvers for a bucket of "buttered lobster bites."

Who does that? Sick people! Crazy people!



On the way back to Kate and Ray's, I stopped in what I think Kate (who is quickly proving to be a veritable fountain of miscellaneous information) called the oldest building in downtown Wellington. Which would be appropriate given it's name.

In any case, it was built in 1901, and now it's full of quaint little shops, and tucked away in the corner is a little coffee stand called Mojo's. I had a remarkably delicious soy latte there...take that Starbucks!

As I was headed back up to Kelburn on the cable car, I decided I like Wellington. I could totally live here. It reminds me of a slightly smaller Portland - and I like Portland, even though it does rain a ton there.

Plus, it's quaint enough to have little signs on the mailboxes like this one. What are the chances that would work in the States?






I met Ray back at his place, and (speaking of) we went in search of some good fish and chips. Sadly, his favorite place was closed so we went to another place in another 'hood.


The guy working there seemed genuinely surprised when I told him I was super excited for his food. We took our grub back and dove in. Apparently I set a new house record by eating three pieces of fish and a buttload of chips. The scary thing is Ray (and anyone else who's seen me eat) knows for me that's nothing.

Ray and I stayed up late – much later than we should have – talking and really catching up. I'm psyched I was able to hang out with him and Kate. They're great hosts and even better friends, and I realized how much I miss having Ray around in San Francisco. Thanks you two!

Tomorrow I'm taking the ferry to Picton and the south island! I'm meeting up there with my teammate Lauren Casey and we're going to hang for a bit. And by "hang for a bit" I mean SWIM WITH THE DOLPHINS!!

Watch out Kiwis, here we come...

Thanksgiving Dinner Number Two

We just got back from our belated Thanksgiving dinner at Dave and Kate's place...the food was delicious! It was great to have turkey and stuffing, especially since the closest thing the Red Ochre Grill in Cairns had was emu. I'm sure it was "succulent" and "roast," but yucko.

It was very nice meeting Jane, Beth and Mark, friends of Kate and Ray's who also play ultimate in New Zealand.

Above all it was great to see my Kiwi friend Frazier, whom I hadn't seen for a few years now. I first met him one winter many years back when he and a mate of his were travelling around the world and stopped in San Francisco. My memory's hazy now, but I think they emailed a community ultimate frisbee list trying to figure out where they could play some pickup. I responded, met them, and just sort of stayed in touch with Frazier -- he's just a great guy.

My friend Alex Beer, who's also a Kiwi, knew him before she moved to SF and refers to him as "Frazier with the legs." To this day I have no idea what that means. Clearly you can see from the photo (he's the third one down) that he does indeed have legs. I asked him about it and he has no idea what she's talking about. Alex, if you're reading this, please to explain.

In any case, Frazier's moved around quite a bit since we first met and I haven't seen him since, so it was was an extra special treat to be able to hang out and catch up with him. Hooray!

Sunday In Wellington

Oh, it felt SO good to sleep in today!

I got up at around 11:30-ish and headed to brunch with Kate and Ray. We walked from their house in the suburb of Kelburn to the Wellington Cable Car. First off, the view overlooking the city was pretty nice.


Now about the Wellington Cable Car. It's not exactly like the ones in San Francisco, which actually go on the streets like a bus. Instead, it just goes up and down a hill, taking people from Kelburn and the Botannical Gardens to downtown.

At the cable car station, we were greeted with the typical, screaming headline from the Dominion Post:


Lovely. I wonder what the headline will be tomorrow? "Boy Trapped In Refrigerator...Eats Own Foot!"

Anyway, the weather was nice today - partly sunny and blue skies. Still a little chilly, but not bad at all. Ray said I was pretty lucky. He claimed that it had rained just about every single day sinced they moved there over a year ago. Kate called shite on that, but agreed it did tend to rain a bit.

We headed down to Cuba Street, a hip stretch of neighborhood downtown with lots of cafes, restaurants, clothing stores, and clubs. I mentioned to Ray that it was like a cooler Haight Street, and he agreed. Now that I think of it, Wellington itself reminds me of a smaller Portland -- and I like Portland a lot. Except for the rain.

Yeah, I don't see any dude tagging 192 Cuba Street anytime soon.

We ended up at this cozy place called Fidel's. That's right...Fidel's on Cuba Street! The food was really yummy, especially my "brekkie," due largely to the homemade hash browns! Mmm...hash browns.

Kate mentioned that Ray had been all over looking for a place that served the real deal, not the processed patty you see a lot.

So we hung out for a while, read the paper and chilled out. Ray made sure I got a picture with one of the waitresses there, and the coffee was so good I had to acknowledge Che.




After brunch, Kate went to see this weeping male actors photography exhibit. Actually, it's called "Crying Men," and it's by a British photographer named Sam Taylor-Wood. It apparently consists of shots of leading male actors like Willem Dafoe, Laurence Fishburne, and others crying. That's right...crying. Kate asked Ray and I if we wanted to go with her and...um...yeah...well...no thanks.

So Ray gave me a little tour of Wellington, starting at Civic Plaza, which some acknowledge as the heart of Wellington. There you'll find this famous (I think) huge steel sphere floating above the open plaza. It's called "Ferns," and it's designed by a New Zealand artist named Neil Dawson. Here are a couple shots of it and the Plaza:







Eventually Ray and I ended up at a bayside brewery/restaurant, where we were joined by Kate and enjoyed some cold beers. Then we wandered around and took in more Wellington sights:



We were going to our friends Dave Campbell and Kate Gibson's place (both of whom used to live in SF too) for a late Thanksgiving dinner, and were in charge of mashed potatoes and stuffing. So we headed off to do some shopping.

While in the supermarket, a tasty treat caught my eye:

Seriously, who eats this stuff? Is this not absolutely digusting? It occurs to me I want the words "succulent" and "roast" linked to my snack chips about as much as I want "dry" and "icehaüs" linked to my beer.

And nice brand name too: "Uppercuts." To my colon!

So gross.

Oy, I'm An Idiot!

I was super psyched last night to have one last day in Sydney to explore some more and deal with other things. My plan for Saturday was to sleep in, check out King’s Cross and Bondi Beach, maybe get a massage, do some laundry, work on the blog – you know, mellow stuff.

So I got up today at 9:30AM and went downstairs to the café. I ordered me up a “big brekkie,” a strong long black, grabbed the newspaper, and relaxed. I lost myself in stories about the shakeup in the Labour Party and how the Aussie cricket team was kicking some British arse in the Ashes.

At around 11:00, I went to the front desk and inquired about an airport shuttle. My flight to Wellington was fairly early, and being an international flight, I needed to get there two hours early. The attendant said I could catch the 6:15AM shuttle, which would get me to the airport with time to spare. Magic!

My ride on Sunday taken care of, I settled in to check my email on the hotel internet computer. I fed my $2.00 Aussie coin into the slot and away I went.

A few minutes later, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was the front desk attendant.

“Are you Henrik?” she asked. I said I was. She held up an invoice and pointed to the date. “I think,” she noted politely, “you were supposed to check out this morning.”

Do you know that feeling when you realize you’ve done something horribly wrong even as you’re doing it? Like taking a big swig of milk and noticing as it’s coating your tongue like a sour, curdy blanket that the expiration date was six months ago? Then all the blood drains out of your head and ends up somewhere in your feet, followed quickly by every major organ in your body?

I must've turned ashen, because she asked me if I was okay.

“Um...what’s the date today?” I croaked.

“I believe it’s the second."

I asked her if she could hang on a minute while I checked something. Then I ran faster than I ever have on the ultimate field ("Run, Forest, run!") up to my room and grabbed my itinerary. And there it was. Sure enough, my flight wasn’t tomorrow, but TODAY. At nine. In the morning. Three hours ago.

Can't breathe...everything spinning...blacking out...

The first thing I did when I woke up from my faint was call Qantas. I threw myself upon the mercy of the rep, who was super nice - more points for Qantas. She dug around and announced she could get me on a 6:45PM flight today...for a small fee.

“And good thing you caught it now,” she continued happily. “If you’d waited much longer, they would’ve cancelled the remaining flights on your schedule since they're all connected.”

Gulp. Note to self: buy the desk attendant a case of beer. Make that two cases.

With the flight taken care of, the next step was to call Ray and tell him NOT to go to the airport until 11:30PM. When I rang his cell, Kate answered and said Ray had already left for the airport, and no, he didn’t have a cell – this was the home phone. Ever the opportunist, Kate took the time to lambast Ray for not having a cell phone.

“How can we let him know I won’t be there?” I asked.

“Well that’s just his fault for not having a cell, now isn’t it?” she said. “Maybe this will teach him that he should get one.”

Yeah! Take that, Ray!

Anyway, I packed up all my stuff and headed EARLY to the airport. When I got into Wellington, Ray, trooper that he is, was there waiting. And might I add, it was COLD. Not Northern Hemisphere cold, but certainly not high 80’s-low 90’s Oz weather. I guess Wellington gets shit from all over about its weather.

We got back to his place, and the three of us hung out and talked for a bit. After Kate crashed, Ray and I stayed up till close to 2:00AM catching up on all sorts of gossip and other stuff. Finally we called it a night. Man, I'm glad to be here.

Did I mention I'm an idiot?

Friday: Bridge Climb

WOOHOO! I did it!! And it was AWESOME!!

I don't mean to brag, but by doing so I joined the company of such illustrious celebrities like the Olsen twins, Jack & Kelly Osbourne, Mandy Moore, and the housemates from Big Brother 2: Australia.

Wow...if only Screech from "Saved By The Bell" had done it, we'd be talking some SERIOUS star power! But I think he's too busy doing porn. Three guesses what his movie was called.

Anyway, a few Harbour Bridge facts for y'all:

1. The total length of the bridge is 3770 feet including the approach spans
2. The width of the deck is 161 feet
3. The pylons alone are 292 feet above mean sea level
4. There are approximately 6,000,000 rivets holding the bridge together
5. The steelwork comprising the bridge weighs about 52,800 tons
6. The arch by itself weighs approximately 39,000 tons

For anyone who is deathly afraid of heights - and I'm pretty sure I am - I can definitely say that doing the Bridge Climb was really no sweat. There's a brief moment while you're walking the catwalk early on that's a little nerve-wracking if you look down, but to be honest with you, not even THAT was so bad. I really think it has everything to do with the fact that you are cabled in. Ha...that's what they call "peace of mind." And in the end, all you're really doing is climbing a few ladders and walking up some stairs.

The view from the top is astounding. Again, you're standing 439 some odd feet above sea level. It was a very nice day, but they sky was a bit obscured by some clouds and a LOT of smoke from some fires that had been raging around that part of Australia for a while (remember the drought I wrote about earlier?)

On the way up, at around 6:00PM, we still had a fair amount of sunlight, and the Opera House was our backdrop:


Then we walked a little farther up to the top:


And then on the way down, the sun had set, so the city of Sydney lit up behind us:


In case you're wondering why the pics have the Bridge Climb logo on them, we weren't allowed to bring ANYTHING on the climb - in other words, no cameras. Totally understandable. First off, if we drop anything, then it's gone forever. On top of that, imagine the result if something fell on a car driving on the bridge. Not pretty. So the guides brought their own digital cameras, and set them up on stands that were already on the bridge.

Oh...and about our lovely, plain, gray jumpsuits. In an effort NOT to distract traffic with many different colors of clothing and such, we have to wear the jumpsuits to blend in with the colors of the bridge. Also understandable. I'm just glad I look stunning in baggy jumpsuits. Yeah right. Still, I felt like I'd just walked off the set of "The Running Man."

And that concludes the third Arnold movie reference in my blog so far - yes, my hat trick or trifecta, if you will. He's en fuego!

I got out of Bridge Climb at around 9:30PM, and I was starving. As I walked back to Chinatown to grab some food, I stopped at Sydney's City Hall which was completely lit up with colorful lights and a message of "Peace And Goodwill." It was really pretty.

Then, without warning, the lights went dark, and when they came back on, it was lit up with different colors and a new holiday message!

I'm not sure how they do it, but every two minutes or so, the design and colors change. I took a video of it, but again, I still haven't managed to figure out the best way to post it yet. I know, I know. But until then, here's a picture sequence to give you a sense of what I'm talking about. Click on it to blow it up:


How cool would it be if we could do that in San Francisco?

Oh yeah, the answer to my earlier question would be: "Shaved By The Bell." Eewwwwww.

Friday: More Sydney & Manly

After the Opera House Tour, I decided to wander around a little more. I felt like an explorer stumbling across new, wondrous things, never knowing what the next bend in the road would bring.

Would it be a tree oozing gold near Chinatown?


Or perhaps an Italian shop with sausages and ham hanging in the window?


A Christmas tree on a sunny, 85 degree (that would be fahrenheit) Australian day?


I liked the colors on this old hotel in The Rocks...


...and the festive, busy decorative atmosphere of this little "mall."


Stained glass in the bridge pylon:


Or a band with an interesting name busking by Circular Quay?


Pretty soon I found myself in Hyde Park, which was really beautiful. The walkway had a lovely archway of trees on either side, making the light just shimmer.













I sat for a while on one of the benches, soaking it all in, then followed the walkway to the Archibald Memorial Fountain. Apparently it was put up in remembrance of how Australia and France fought together during World War I. That’s a bronze sculpture of the Greek god Apollo, and he’s surrounded by other random mythological figures – I think maybe Diana, Ulysses, and some dude with a sheep. Hmm...I wish I’d paid more attention in class.

After that, I headed back to Circular Quay to catch a ferry over to Manly, a small ‘burb just northeast of Sydney. I didn’t have a ton of time before I had to head back to Bridge Climb, so I did a short little hike along the shoreline:





As I was walking back to the ferry, I passed this man, who was quite a character. Sitting outside Liquor Land bouncing his little puppet on his knee to old-timey organ grinder music – what's his story? I dropped him some change and rushed off to catch the ferry back to Sydney.

Next stop: Bridge Climb! I just hope I don’t wet my pants.

Friday: Opera House Tour

Today I got up at 5:30AM this morning in order to make the early Backstage Tour at the Sydney Opera House. I had talked to Kerry Soo yesterday, and she really recommended it. I walked a bit of the way before catching a bus to The Rocks. The streets were practically deserted at that hour.

The Opera House was really pretty in the dawn light. On top of that, it was nice being there so early when no one else was out there – just a couple of performers and employees. Our tour guide was very nice, and since she had been at the Opera House for nine years, had lots of stories to tell.

Our first stop was backstage of the Opera Theater. It was a huge space that could hold the sets and everything else associated with four shows.

We paid a visit to the orchestra pit, which is big enough to hold 70 musicians. I had flashbacks of when I was a goofball playing second violin in the Youth Orchestra in Nashville. Good times. As a bonus, we got our pictures taken standing on the conductor’s podium and waving her baton. Witness the silliness.


Afterwards we went up onto the stage. Looking out into the empty seats and imagining what it’d be like to perform for a full house was mind-boggling. The Opera Theater is a huge proscenium arch theater with a maximum seating capacity of just over 1,500.


You can see some ballet bars set up on the stage – I believe the Australian Ballet was performing there that evening. They share the stage regularly with Opera Australia and the Sydney Dance Company, as well as other operas and large dance companies that come to town.

After that, we headed to the Concert Hall, which is the largest venue at the Opera House. I mean, if the Opera Theater is big, the Concert Hall is ginormous – it seats just over 2600, I believe – and beautiful. It’s the home of the Sydney Symphony as well as other local orchestras and choirs.

We made brief stops into some of the other, smaller venues, specifically the Drama Theater – a mid-sized theater that seats around 500, and where they do a lot of Shakespeare; the Playhouse – an even smaller theater that they use for single set plays and small musicals; and the Studio – the hippest, most contemporary theater that has movable seating to accommodate the performance. It was pretty cool. I’m sorry I don’t have pictures of all those theaters, but they were pretty strict about picture taking on the tour – they only wanted us shooting in specific places.

After a nice breakfast that was part of the tour, we were done. It was only about ten, and I had nothing to do until 6:00PM, when I was going to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

That’s right! Yesterday I sucked it up and decided to do the Bridge Climb. Despite my ridiculous fear of heights, I am going to climb to the top of the bridge. That’s 440 feet high, or 134 meters if you’re all on the metric tip as they are over here.

I also went up to the top of one of the bridge pylons (which is no where NEAR the top of the bridge, I might add) for a look around. My hands got all sweaty and I had that familiar scared, anxious feeling whenever I’m too close to the edge of anything way high up. So naturally I spent the rest of the day thinking, “What the HELL have I gotten myself into?”

But hey, it’s going to be fun, right?

Bubblicious

I do have to mention Mr. Incredibubble.

So I was strolling through Circular Quay (pronouced: "key") where I had the obligitory "me with the Opera House in the background" picture taken.

It was a nice day, so I hung out at a cafe and did some people watching. The Quay is awesome for that.

I resumed my wandering, and happened upon a strange gentleman dressed up in superhero tights, complete with cape. I guess he hasn't seen "The Incredibles," or else he'd know all about the dangers of having a cape.

But I digress. So this was Mr. Incredibubble, and he was basically entertaining people by making these huge bubbles. And he was pretty damn good, I must admit.

I dropped a little change in his box, and he offered to make me a big bubble around me so I could take a picture from inside it. Sweet! After a couple aborted attempts (it was a little windy), we finally got it:


Just as I was leaving, this young boy in a wheelchair approached, being pushed by his dad. Mr. Incredibubble called out that he'd send a bubble over to the boy, and sure enough, he did. The kid was so psyched, clapping and laughing.

Dude knows his bubbles!


And yeah, he may be a tad - how to say? - unorthodox, but when you bring that kind of joy and happiness into another person's life, who really cares if you wear your underwear on the outside of your tights?

The Streets Of Sydney

Sleeping in is the best! I got up at around ten, had breakfast in the café downstairs, then set out to discover Sydney.

Being such a big, busy city, there's a ton of activity and lots of distracting colors. So I decided to channel my friends Mo Delaney and Chris McTiernan, who really know their photography - and in particular how to use black and white. Shooting in mono really strips images down to light, shape and form, and is a totally different way to look at the world around you.

Some of these I'm happy with, others could use more editing and/or cropping, still others probably don't work at all. Still, it was fun looking at Sydney that way!

I was kind of hoping to do one big montagey-thing, but that proved to be too time consuming. So here they are seperately. I think if you click on an image it'll get big. Enjoy...

Youth Radio Worlds Post

Hey! My former co-worker Nishat emailed me and told me Youth Radio put up a little blurb about our team winning the silver at Worlds on their website! Sophia Chakos-Leiby did the honors. What up, Soph!

Anyway, they're using that silly picture of some of us at our last dinner together at the Brass Monkey, borrowed from my blog. I wrote my team about it, and Heather wrote back that she's psyched to be famous now.

Thanks to everyone at Youth Radio!

At Last...Sydney!!!

Hooray! I made it! And driving today was a breeze. Unlike the early part of the drive, the highway was an actual four-lane (two lanes going either direction), so it wasn’t a problem passing slow trucks and drivers. I did breeze right by Newcastle (aka “Cleveland”), and the Gold Coast, specifically Surfer’s Paradise and the 13,000 schoolies there.

Surfer’s Paradise looked really cheesy, kind of like a cross between Orlando and Las Vegas – in other words, Hell. Supposedly one of its biggest draws is that there are lots of theme parks there, including a Sea World.


Well sure! I'd travel halfway across the globe just to go to Sea World...

...on the Planet Sucko!

Anyway, up until this point I was used to driving around on either the freeway or little resorty towns which have that one main street and that’s about it. Simple. Of course, Sydney is just a little different. I thought I had a carefully planned route, but the maps I had let me down. Just before heading into the heart of the city, I suddenly had to decide if I wanted to that the bridge to the west side of the city or the tunnel to the east. AAH! Bridge? Tunnel? Where were these things on my map!

Luckily, I ended choosing east via the tunnel, which was exactly where I needed to go. I found the Hertz, dropped my car off, and took a cab to my hotel right in the middle of Chinatown, just next to the Hay Market. My room was small, but all I needed. After I dropped my bags off, I went back out to wander around a little bit.





Pretty soon it was getting to be dinnertime, and I was hungry. It had been so long since I’d had Chinese food and I was craving it in a bad way. It is the food of my peoples after all.

So I looked around Chinatown and settled upon a nice looking place called Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Kitchen. I ordered a big bowl of soup noodles, some little dumplings called shao lum bao, and a plate of stir-fried greens.

The waitress looked at me with big eyes and said in Mandarin, “Are you sure? That’s a lot of food!” Clearly my reputation for eating tons hasn’t made it to Sydney. I assured her I could down it all. Even though she smiled and nodded, she looked at me like I was nuts.

Oh my goodness. When my food came it was soooo yummy! It was definitely comforting, like settling into a big comfy chair. Everything was great. The funny thing was I could hear the waitresses whispering in Chinese, “Whoa! He’s almost finished!” or “I’ve never seen anyone eat so much!”

Spread the word, ladies. There’s a new sheriff in town…and he’s hungry.