MY BLOG SITE HACKED

Sorry all, but someone has hacked my site and added a link to bikenow.com.au to a lot of pictures that I had posted. I have removed them so you won't have an issue going to their site. Its terrible that a commercial company takes something that others are enjoying and tries to make a buck on it at your expense. If you have the time and are so inclined, please send them an email to tell them how dreadful that was! Sorry!

Adventure Wrap-up plus “The Trip Good, The Bad and the Ugly”

I know that it has been several days since my last post, but with going straight back to work after our long day of flying, and the 16 hour time difference to adjust back to, I am just now getting my ‘sea legs” back. Anyway, the day after our Featherdale trip, we woke up early and ate a big breakfast before heading to the train station to get to the airport. We found out the day before that the line that would take us to the downtown connector (Wynward Station) would be closed for repairs and would be replace with a bus service. So we headed over to the station around 7:30 AM. We left extremely early as our flight was not until 11:40, but we were not sure what we were going to encounter in getting there. After a couple of minor miscues, we were safely on our way to the station to take the train to the International Airport. Upon arriving at the our final stop we discovered that our weekly train passes didn’t work there and we were told that to exit at the airport stations, we had to pay an additional $11 each (kids were free). OK, still much less than the $90 we paid to get from the airport to our hotel! We spent the next several hours working our way through customs and security, but with about 1.5 hours to spare we were waiting at our gate to board the plane. We ran into Jay & Blake (Neal & Sandy’s sons) and finally boarded our plane for the 13 hr. flight to L.A. We tried to sleep, but it never came (except for Erin!), so I spent the time watching 4 movies and listening to music. Upon arriving at LAX, we spent the next 2.5 hours getting back through customs and security. Good thing for us we had a 6 hour layover before catching our final flight to Atlanta. The boys were not so lucky! Their planned 3 hour layover combined with the 2+ hours slugging their way through the lines, meant they missed their connecting flight. As the next flight (our flight) was full, they would have to wait 9 hours until the next available flight! So we bade them goodbye and boarded our plane for the last leg of the trip. We arrived in Atlanta to 40 degree temperature, which having been in 90+ temperatures for the last several weeks, felt pretty good. We finally arrived home around 9:30 PM, ending our 26 hour journey. What a trip, more than I had hoped for, and another “trip of a lifetime”!

The Good

• The Scenery was spectacular!
•  Great Barrier Reef - picture do not do it justice, just WOW!
•   Great Ocean Road – best road I have ever driven a motorcycle on
•   Bridge Climb – A wonderful way to see Sydney from above and currently the only bridge in the world that you’re allowed to climb to the top of

• Getting a chance to ride motorcycles on another continent with my family and one of my best friends
•  The people we extremely helpful and very welcoming. They were very inquisitive about our American culture and quick to tell us theirs.
•  Getting the chance to share Christmas with friends in a foreign country
•  Erin did wonderful for a 9 year old considering all of the walking, trains, buses, and constantly busy schedule. She is now a seasoned world traveler!

• Although it took a lot of effort as this was logistically the most complex trip we have taken, every detail of our plan worked!

The Bad

•  Costs of goods & Services most times were usually twice what they were in the U.S ($7 Big Mac sandwich only!).
•  Train repair work  on our final day in Sydney – threw us a late curve ball, but our transportation coordinator (Jenn) did a superb job of adapting and overcoming!
•  Australia Airport Security – seemed really lax by U.S. standards (not asking for ID a lot of times, no need to take off shoes, belts, or things out of your pockets. However, we traveled safe, so I guess it was OK.

The Ugly 

•  LAX – Extremely inefficient and poorly managed. What should have taken ½ hour if properly organized, turned into 2 ½ hours because of terrible process design. You know that drove Jenn Crazy. For those of you in Atlanta, you should be aware that you have one of the best organized and efficient airports in the world.
• Customs in Sydney – It took us 2+ hours to jump through all the hoops in order to get out of the International Airport. Again poorly organized, but not as bad as LAX!

Last Day Down Under

Started the day filling one of the promises to the ladies we met at the fireworks in Sydney. We had promised Cass that we would try TimTams and Vegemite. We sampled TimTams during our “Coffee Cruise” yesterday. They are basically a chocolate covered cookie, what is not to like. Vegemite on the other hand, we tested this morning at breakfast. We followed all the Aussie guidance, use it sparingly on a piece of hot toast for your first try at this distinctively Australian spread. With words of “Men at Work” singing in our head, I took a small bite of the toast. Wow, it was a bitter, paste that looked a little like apple butter. But appearance is where it ends! We were told by some locals today that it is made from the spent yeast from brewing beer.  I passed the toast to Jenn, and she had a similar reaction. I am not saying it was the worst thing I ever tasted………………………… no, that is exactly what I am saying. Anyway, our plan for today was to tone down our hectic schedule on our last day, and visit a place that a co-worker of Jenn had recommended above their local zoo, Featherdale Animal Preserve.

 Sure the Sydney Zoo has all of the animals that most zoos have, lion, tigers, and bears (oh my!), but Featherdale is home to most of the animals indigenous to Australia, and most are just wandering around among you in the preserve. We saw wombats, koalas, many types of kangaroos, echidnas, emus, crocodiles, tazmanian devils, and way too many native birds to list here.

 In addition, Erin got to feed kangaroos, emus, and pet a koala. 

It was a great place and we stayed until the early afternoon before Jenn (using her expert public transportation skills) got us back to our hotel using the public bus system, she has become quite the world navigator. Let’s hope it holds out as we will use the public transportation one more time in the morning as we start working our way back home. Hopefully, the next time you here from me I will be posting from the LA airport as we wait for our final flight back to Atlanta. G’day Ya’ll! 

Finally we Climb!

The alarm went off at 2:15 AM, so we could ready ourselves for the scheduled 2:45 cab ride. I hustled across the street to the 24 hr. McDonalds to get us an “EARLY” breakfast but they were still serving dinner sandwiches, but as we didn’t eat dinner last night, it didn’t seem wrong! Jenn helped get Erin moving at the same time and we met at the cab. Had another lovely conversation with the driver on our way to the Sidney Bridge, and we rolled up at about 3:15 which left plenty of time to wolf down our food and meet out tour guide at the appointed 3:40 time.

We were given a short safety briefing, breathalyzer, walked through metal detectors, and were fitted with our safety gear.  It was suggested that we take everything off except our underwear under the safety suits due to the heat, and it was a great suggestion! 

We started the climb at about 4 AM and it took about an hour to work our way to the top as the sun was coming up.

 A little cloudy but still magnificent! Pictures were taken by the staff as climbers are not even allowed to take watches, more less cameras.

 Absolutely breathtaking views, 400 feet above Sydney Harbor on the longest suspension bridge in the world! 

 We slowly walked our way back to the base camp and changed into our clothes to ready ourselves for the 3 hour wait to board the “Coffee Cruise”. Settled into a street café, drank coffee and ate another bowl of Muesli, wonderful stuff!

 Finally our boarding time arrived and as Jenn had gotten some insider Intel (from a guy dressed like Captain Cook!), she and Erin rushed aboard and hustled up the stairs to the covered starboard side (right side to you landlubbers) right on the rail with a café table, great work Jenn!

We then spent the next 2 hours cruising around 20+ of the bays and harbors around Sydney, sipping coffee and eating a local favorite TimTams (a chocolate covered cookie).

After an amazing view of the city from the water with a guide pointing out historical points along the way, we docked and hustled back by train to our hotel for a well-deserved nap. We awoke about 4 PM, but as it was way too early for local restaurants to open, we found some awesome Aussie Burgers on the room service menu and settled in for the evening. An interesting sandwich to say the least.  It had  Wagyu Beef Burger (WTF), bacon, grilled cheese, tomato, pickled cucumber, red onion, fried egg, various green, pineapple, beet root, mayonnaise and barbeque sauce. It sounds like an odd combination, but the tastes mixed together was amazing. Of course it may have been that we were famished. So we are now sitting in our room enjoying the AC on this very hot day and scheduling our final trip in Sydney tomorrow, our visit to Featherdale. A native animal petting zoo of sorts. Good night from Down Under Ya’ll. Got to start getting my Jawja back on. 

Bounding Round Sydney

We got up a little later on New Year’s Day and using the weeklong unlimited transportation (rail, bus, ferry) passes we bought, we decided to head back into town to have a proper look around. Our friends from the night of the fireworks (Cass & Nat) and my sister Gail, had suggested we check out Darling Harbor and arrange a Captain Cook Coffee Cruise. We also wanted to find our way to the bridge climb office before we had to find it at 3 AM the next morning. We could see from the rail map we that we could take the yellow line straight down to the Town Hall station and take a short walk over to the Harbor.

 It was a wonderful warm day (about 85 F), so we walked around the harbor enjoying the atmosphere,

fountains, gardens, playgrounds,

 and throngs of visitors. It also appears that this submarine was fighting off a Jules Verne scale octopuss! 

We stopped into the Sydney Hard Rock Cafe and after the obligatory trip to their store stopped and had some drinks (yummy frozen adult beverages for Jenn & me, and lemonade for Erin), whilst being serenaded by Erin on the drum kit that was setup in the corner,

We eventually found our way to the Cpt. Cook Cruise office and booked our “Coffee Cruise” leaving Circular Quay a few hours after our scheduled finish “Bridge Climb”. We what a beautiful and bustling place, stores, water taxes, street performers, the Opera House, and people were everywhere.  

 We stopped and listened to a didgeridoo player for a while and he was amazing. 

We found our way over to the bridge climb office, did our pre-check and strolled around the harbor before boarding the train and working though the 3 transfers to get back to our hotel for an early bedtime in preparation for our 2 AM wake-up. You see we need to be over at the “climb” center by 3:30 AM for our Sunrise walk to the top of Sidney Harbor Bridge. After checking Jenn’s  Sydney  Transportation App on her phone, we noticed the first morning train wasn’t until 5:10 AM, way too late. So we asked the hotel front desk to schedule us a very early cab so we could be there by our scheduled time. We got to our room and quickly climbed into bed to get ready for our big day tomorrow.

New Year's Eve in Sydney

We arrived in Sydney and took a cab over to our hotel in North Ryde, a northern suburb. It is amazing how much things cost here, the fare was $91! We checked into the hotel and asked the concierge about where we can go see the fireworks tomorrow.  He suggested that we go to the train station about 1 block away and take the train downtown, and then follow the crowd. I had done some research before I left home and knew that there was a park not too far away that had a perfect view of the harbor bridge and the opera house called Blue Point Reserve and it turns out it is only about a kilometer walk from a train station. So we had a late breakfast, walked up to the train station, and bought a 1 week rail/bus/ferry pass for each of us, knowing we were going to travel about the city for the next few days and it would be much cheaper than our original “Cab Plan”.  So we bought seom snacks for the day. Check out the pineapple flavored M&M's. The snacks are very different here in the land down under!

The train system here is awesome, quick, efficient, informative, and very clean. The gates at the park (free), didn’t open until 12 PM, so we boarded the train at 11AM, and walked the short distance down to the park. Guess what, they didn’t open the park at 12, they started searching bags at 12 to prevent folks from carrying in alcohol, so there were already thousands of folks there.   

We wandered around a bit before Jenn found a shady spot (summertime here) for us to spend the day waiting for the show.  See my feet below, we were right in the middle of the Sydney Bridge!

We settled in and began our wait. We soon began a conversation with 2 lovely ladies Cass & Nat (1 from Sydney, 1 from Perth), and spent the rest of the day in awesome conversation with them. 

We talked about all kinds of things, each giving their insights into their respective countries. We laughed a lot and talked a lot about food differences. We had to explain the nuisances of Pecan Pie, while Cass tried to explain Vegemite. Nat said that during her visit to the states she fell in love with “Denny’s” and Cass said she really wanted to eat at an IHOP someday.  In a display of international detant, I promised Cass we would eat some Vegemite and Tim-Tams (chocolate covered cookie)  before we left. Really intense conversation “international” discussions, and I am sure the world is a better place as a result of this chance encounter. What a great way to spend the day, great company, great weather, and a tremendous view.

 Nighttime finally came, and by the time the show began it was standing room only, 10’s of thousands of people. 

We had strategically positioned ourselves along a short stone wall during the day so the height impaired among us (me, Erin, Cass, Nat) would have a great view once thing started.

 As the crowd started to build during the day, I remained vigilant to “defend the wall”, as everyone began to see the advantage of our position. After many failed assaults on our position, we could finally climb up on the wall as the show began, and what a show. The local paper said that they spent $7.6 million on the show including 11,000 mortars and 25,000 rockets, colors and combinations I have never seen before. JUST WOW.  We could only get video of the fireworks, so check out Jenn's picture section for that. Again the view, the company, the weather, the show couldn’t have been better.  Jenn and I look at each other during the evening and although we didn’t speak, I know she was thinking the same as me, “ What a perfect night, and how lucky we feel to be here”. 

We watched the shows, but had to wake Erin up for our last one, then we bade farewell to our new Aussie friends and headed for the train. Thank god for my days of playing football. In working our way back to the station, with Erin’s hand firmly in my grasp, I lowered my shoulder and just pushed my way through the crowd, clearing a path for Erin to follow, knowing Jenn would follow close behind. We finally got back to the train and were soon back at the hotel. A great day and we feel blessed to have experienced it.

Farewell Melbourne......Hello Sydney

I got up at my normal 6:00 AM local and finished reading a motorcycle book that Sandy had procured from the local library, Is that Thing Diesel?.

A book that a local wrote about riding an 8 HP Bio-Diesel motorcycle all the way around Australia. Pretty interesting and the author was pretty entertaining. I find myself up before anyone else and I usually have about an 1 ½ hours before others start to stir, which provided me some quiet time each day. Others began to arise as I finished the book, Sandy prepared another wonderful meal, and we headed out to the Queen Victoria Market here in Melbourne.

It was established around 1850 and has been in continuous operation daily since then. Pretty cool place, where you can get anything from fresh slaughtered pig to fine pottery.  Not sure what a  Bay Bug is!

There are still old metal rails crisscrossing the ceiling where they would kill the animals in one section, hook them up, and then push them to each section to prepare the animal until arriving at the final “butcher” station. See them up to the left?

 Reminded me a lot of the old Lexington Market in downtown Baltimore, but probably 5 times bigger.

We shopped around found some shirts and knickknacks and had a grand time just soaking up our final day here in Melbourne.

We purchased a boomerang and a small didgeridoo and we were told they had to be checked at the airport…………..REALLY! I want to see the bushman that can use that ancient weapon in the confines of a narrow airplane cabin. There local “hero” Crocodile Dundee surly couldn’t, so what is a weak old yank going to be able to do with it! So we picked out a few things and hustled back to Neal’s to watch Oklahoma University (Sandy grew up in Ok) get a proper “thumping” from Clemson. I have to assume it was a thumping, as when we left for the airport for our flight to Sydney, it was 27-0! We said our goodbyes to our wonderful friends and hosts for the last week and Neal drove us to the airport. It touched me as I was thanking him profusely, he thanked me for bringing a piece of home to him for the holidays. He and Sandy are wonderful people and friends that we cherish deeply, and I can’t wait until they come back to Atlanta in May for good. Good day Melbourne, you will always hold a place in my heart, but it is now on to our final adventure here in Australia………. Beware Sydney the Yanks are Coming!!!!!