Sometimes as you journey through life, you find that occasionally the whole world seems to morph into a state of surrealism. Like you are in a movie or the character in a book. You wake up not really sure of what is real and what is fake, not sure of where you are or where you are going, not even sure what you did last night...... Or is that just what happens in Vegas?
They say time flies when you are having fun. I often find that time seems to go fast when you are procrastinating. Now I'm not sure whether I've just been having fun, or whether I have been procrastinating on writing this blog. Maybe both. It's been 4 weeks since my last post, yet it seems like yesterday I was in Colorado. Since then I've not only visited 4 states, but 3 different countries as well.
We finally managed to get T-Rex registered thanks to the reduced amount of bureaucracy in Boulder. A 20 minute visit to the Department of Motor Vehicle in Boulder and we had some official plates to put on the van. Not that the temporary tags had given us any bother since we were pulled over in Montreal in June, but at least it gave us an identity and piece of mind. Fresh with our new tags and a week to get Dale from Colorado to Los Angeles Airport, we made tracks to Las Vegas via the Grand Canyon.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the North Rim of the canyon much less populated than I'd expected after fighting for a car park with the thousands of others at Old Faithful in Yellowstone NP. In fact for the two days we spent at the Grand Canyon, we found ourselves alone for a good part of the time as we hiked a number of short day trails around the rim, in particular a rewarding 3 hour hike from sunrise to mid morning. We had talked about hiking down to the bottom of the Canyon, but with temperatures in excess of 40 degrees C we decided against it. Spectacular views of the canyon at sunset were rewarding and of course getting up for sunrise also worth it... even getting up the earliest I'd been up on the whole trip (that is except for the times I've been getting home at sunrise!).
Ah, Vegas, Las Vegas...... where dreams become a reality. Or more to the truth, where reality becomes a dream. Not sure what I expected here either. Probably to laugh at the development of a city in the middle of a desert, have a few free drinks and win or lose a bit of money in the process.
After a successful 1st night including all of the above and a 2nd night that consisted of much of the same our 3rd night in Vegas showed so much promise. Enter free drink and no food, a little too much confidence and a separation from reality. Point is, we left Vegas with our tails between our legs and a realisation that no one is safe from the city of sin. I mean, I left there with more than I went with, but looking back, I'm really not sure what we actually did. Sit in a hotel, sit in a restaurant, sit in a casino... Maybe that's all you're supposed to do? Especially when the mercury's at 42 degrees C.
So, with a nasty headache and lack of sleep, what better place to go than Death Valley? It had to be done. We had no thermometer but we estimated the temperature at Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the USA, was somewhere close to 48 degrees !! Not the place you want to breakdown or even stop for a picnic. A photo was good enough and we were on our way.
LA gave us one day to try to sell the van before Dale flew out. One day would have been enough had we had the title for the van in our hands. Of course even Colorado didn't have it all together to give us the title on the spot, you have to wait for it in the mail. Every dealer said, without title, no sale.
It's fair to say I was not a happy camper.... With Dale flying in less than a few hours, the options were not looking good. Leave the van as a gift with someone - who? Drive it back to Kentucky to a friend - 5 days straight! Drive it off a cliff and take the insurance - believe me it was an option!. In the end, we cut our losses, decided that the best was to drive back to Colorado to leave it with friends there and try to arrange a sale before I had to leave. After saying farewell and thanks for the good times I left Dale at the check in line at the airport, jealous that he would be seeing friends and family in a little under 24 hours, while I would be somewhere on the interstate in outback Utah!
It wasn't an exciting two days driving back to Boulder but I did meet some interesting people at the motel in small town Utah and saw a pretty fearsome rainstorm through the mountains in Colorado. Also managed to turn the odometer passed the 200000 mile marker on the van, at the same time pushing the total miles driven on the USA road trip passed 12000. I drove 40000 km around Australia in 03/04 and somehow that seemed shorter!
Safely back in Boulder, to some more warm hospitality from Christine and Greg, after discussions with more car dealers, the resulting decision was to leave the van in Boulder to be sold once the title arrived in the mail.
Somehow I managed to get a smile out of all the little challenges that have been thrown at me over the last 4 months.. sometimes I go looking for them, sometimes they just come unexpectedly. Back in Los Angeles for 1 more day before flying to Ireland, I considered all of my options. Unexcited by what Hollywood has to offer, and without transport (ironically) to get myself to somewhere like Beverley Hills (not that I wanted to anyway), It almost seemed appropriate to round off the tour of the States, the same place it started - Santa Monica Beach. I don't know, somehow amongst all the freaks and weirdos, all the traffic and pollution, all the try hards and hard tryers I thought it amusing to go back down to Santa Monica on the Big Blue Bus, and just walk and watch... people... I love watching people.... You see, you never really know what that person is doing there and I find that mysteriousness exciting... I often want to just ask some random person to tell me their story because I'm sure it's interesting....
Anyway, my point is, wandering around Santa Monica, I could be anybody and that makes you forget all your troubles for a while, just imagining what might be. I could have been a local for all they knew.... and as I stood at the sign "Muscle Beach " - the home of the fitness revolution of the twentieth century, I found that wanted smile, chuckled at the vanity and said thanks for the memories....
So now I'm in Bristol, England after a couple of weeks in Ireland to catch up with some friends. I've been to the Ireland equivalent of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, The Galway Races. I've seen beautiful countryside in Connemara and at the Cliffs of Moher. Fun times were had in Dublin with pints of Guinness at the Guinness Storehouse, a round of golf at a spectacular local course, the quarter final of the All Ireland Gaelic Football Competition between Dublin and Derry at Croke Park and wandering around Dublin Town enjoying the Craic!
I'm going to try to maintain a grip on reality from now until I arrive in Finland. My brain needs some work to do and I'm looking forward.....
Friday, August 17, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Bears, Bulls and Bison
You drive around a corner, looking to cross the bridge over the river when you see this............
A Bison and an Elk. About 1 hour after you've entered Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Cool eh? That's what I thought. And it only got better. 3 days in Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP and this is the list of wildlife that I spotted:
sometimes you have to be content with as much as you can see in a short period. Worth it though.... heaps of cool wildlife and fantastic scenery... guess that's why it's so popular and the reason it became the first national park so many years ago. Check out more pics from Yellowstone and Grand Teton here.
I think last time I was with you all, we were on the highway on our way to the Badlands NP. Badlands was interesting, a dramatic landscape carved by wind, rain and snow over time to create a series of sculptured walls overlooking prairie typed lands providing habitat for Bison, Deer, Prairie Dogs and hundreds of birds and other creatures.
Just to be at a place called the Badlands was probably the reason we went.
From Badlands we make a quick stop at Mt Rushmore - along with a million other tourists, mostly Americans paying homage to the heads of 4 presidents carved at of the granite rock face. I mean sure it's impressive, but why?? Why??
Seattle - sometimes it's nice to do something different than the usual tourist stuff in a city. We spent a few days with some new friends Micah and Jenny (wonderful hosts) walking around the local area, listening to live music and playing Frisbee Golf. Think there might be a challenger to lawn bowls for a sport that you can drink beers and wear whatever you like at the same time as competing with mates.. Micah in action.....
From Seattle to Vancouver for a few days. More time to just relax and enjoy the wonderful weather, walk in Stanley Park, chuckle at the locals at the beach, watch some cricket (really!) and drink some beers (what's new?).
I've driven the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia heaps of times and always with awe at it's spectacular scenery. What we experienced from Vancouver to Banff, has to be on par with that. Different type of scenery but spectacular none the less and oh so worth it to have taken the long road through BC, via Whistler and Kamloops. Rugged mountains, picturesque lakes, beautiful cascading rivers.. oh, and the Black Bear that we saw just off the side of the road, absolutley awesome. Of course, we shouldn't have got so excited if we had have known we were going to see 2 moose swimming in a lake at Sun Peaks followed by 5 black bears including a sow and two cubs (climbing trees!)..
They say a picture tells a thousands words... so to save me explaining the majesty of the Icefields Parkway I'll just give you a couple of pictures...
After the spectacular scenery of Jasper and Banff, it was on to Calgary for the Stampede... for craziness and hilarity.
Our amazing hosts, Gerry and Karen, were more excited than us to have some Australian travelers staying at their house... I think it was like they had kids again! We didn't complain... As Gerry would say, how often does it happen that you run into some people and invite them to stay at your house and they actually take up the offer..... We thought since they'd invited us (in Montreal of all places!) we better make the effort.... And we were highly rewarded for taking the detour to Calgary..
We watched rodeo, chuck wagons, ate corn dogs, drank beers, went to Cowboys (an institution of the stampede where girls serve drinks in Cowboy hats (and not much else), went to birthday parties, rode the train, had breakfast at the local golf course, made friends with the family and of course partied like Karen had urged us ("you boys should light a fire under this town!")... Needless to say, hilarity ensued.....
We would have loved to have stayed for longer, and Karen to have us for longer too, but we had to fly, time restrictions you know... So that's when we headed to Yellowstone for those awesome experiences of northern hemisphere wildlife......
So now in Boulder, Colorado and heading to Vegas once we get this stinkin' car registration sorted (to be told another time...)
A Bison and an Elk. About 1 hour after you've entered Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Cool eh? That's what I thought. And it only got better. 3 days in Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP and this is the list of wildlife that I spotted:
- Bison
- Black Bear
- Grizzly Bear
- Elk
- Moose
- Coyote
- Wolf
- Ground Squirrel
- Bald Eagle
- Pelican
- Trout
sometimes you have to be content with as much as you can see in a short period. Worth it though.... heaps of cool wildlife and fantastic scenery... guess that's why it's so popular and the reason it became the first national park so many years ago. Check out more pics from Yellowstone and Grand Teton here.
I think last time I was with you all, we were on the highway on our way to the Badlands NP. Badlands was interesting, a dramatic landscape carved by wind, rain and snow over time to create a series of sculptured walls overlooking prairie typed lands providing habitat for Bison, Deer, Prairie Dogs and hundreds of birds and other creatures.
Just to be at a place called the Badlands was probably the reason we went.
From Badlands we make a quick stop at Mt Rushmore - along with a million other tourists, mostly Americans paying homage to the heads of 4 presidents carved at of the granite rock face. I mean sure it's impressive, but why?? Why??
Seattle - sometimes it's nice to do something different than the usual tourist stuff in a city. We spent a few days with some new friends Micah and Jenny (wonderful hosts) walking around the local area, listening to live music and playing Frisbee Golf. Think there might be a challenger to lawn bowls for a sport that you can drink beers and wear whatever you like at the same time as competing with mates.. Micah in action.....
From Seattle to Vancouver for a few days. More time to just relax and enjoy the wonderful weather, walk in Stanley Park, chuckle at the locals at the beach, watch some cricket (really!) and drink some beers (what's new?).
I've driven the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia heaps of times and always with awe at it's spectacular scenery. What we experienced from Vancouver to Banff, has to be on par with that. Different type of scenery but spectacular none the less and oh so worth it to have taken the long road through BC, via Whistler and Kamloops. Rugged mountains, picturesque lakes, beautiful cascading rivers.. oh, and the Black Bear that we saw just off the side of the road, absolutley awesome. Of course, we shouldn't have got so excited if we had have known we were going to see 2 moose swimming in a lake at Sun Peaks followed by 5 black bears including a sow and two cubs (climbing trees!)..
They say a picture tells a thousands words... so to save me explaining the majesty of the Icefields Parkway I'll just give you a couple of pictures...
After the spectacular scenery of Jasper and Banff, it was on to Calgary for the Stampede... for craziness and hilarity.
Our amazing hosts, Gerry and Karen, were more excited than us to have some Australian travelers staying at their house... I think it was like they had kids again! We didn't complain... As Gerry would say, how often does it happen that you run into some people and invite them to stay at your house and they actually take up the offer..... We thought since they'd invited us (in Montreal of all places!) we better make the effort.... And we were highly rewarded for taking the detour to Calgary..
We watched rodeo, chuck wagons, ate corn dogs, drank beers, went to Cowboys (an institution of the stampede where girls serve drinks in Cowboy hats (and not much else), went to birthday parties, rode the train, had breakfast at the local golf course, made friends with the family and of course partied like Karen had urged us ("you boys should light a fire under this town!")... Needless to say, hilarity ensued.....
We would have loved to have stayed for longer, and Karen to have us for longer too, but we had to fly, time restrictions you know... So that's when we headed to Yellowstone for those awesome experiences of northern hemisphere wildlife......
So now in Boulder, Colorado and heading to Vegas once we get this stinkin' car registration sorted (to be told another time...)
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Oh Canada... to the Badlands of the USA
Dale and I are giving the Wolfmother symbol, White Unicorn is on the CD player........
The land is flat, real flat, like the land between Mt Isa and Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory, Australia, but the land here is green, real green..... We're about 10 miles from Fargo, North Dakota.... We're on our way back through the United States after the weekend spent in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where we stayed with my buddy and his folks... Good times all weekend, with Shrimps on the Barby for the Australians, Ice Skating Lessons with Woody (my friend) at the local Hockey Rink, and golf at the Meadows, a links course that chewed up my game and spat it back in my face... I told my hosts I'd hopefully only need one ball...... I needed about half a dozen!
We'd arrived in Winnipeg after a 22 hour drive from Lexington, Kentucky. We'd done the long haul, eager to head west after a few days of lost time, waiting in Atlanta (again) for the registration plates and papers for the van. Of course, America being the land of the free and the home of beauacracy we endured two painful afternoons of waiting in the Department of Motor Vehicles at the Tax Commissioners offices on the phone with forgetful car dealers and public servants with no concept of two Australians buying a car to travel throughout the USA.....
In the end we must have looked so disparaged that the kind lady at the DMV gave us another temporary license plate to last us another month... We figure when the papers finally arrive we'll just register the van in any town USA.... We don't care where it is, so long as having a real plate means the cops don't keep pulling us over like they did in Montreal about 2 weeks ago... I'm not sure what the French Canadian police officer was more surprised by... our dodgy registration plate and story about buying a car for traveling or the blank look on Dale's face when he greeted him in French....
Now there's some Jurassic 5 testing the acoustics in the van and Dale's trying to remember the last time he saw a hill in this state that wasn't man-made... We're also commenting on how far we've come in a few weeks....
The weekend we spent in Boston was fun, couchsurfing with Titto and partying with him and his mates in the funky area of Somerville... Ooh, except for the loser bouncer at the Irish bar who wouldn't let us in without our Passports! Who takes their Passport out at night time?? Maybe my Dolphin Trainer ID didn't impress him as much as it does the ladies.....
After spending a lot of time in Eastern USA including the big cities like New York it was refreshing to drive in New England, from Boston to New Hampshire and Vermont...
Luke Dale and I stayed in Gorham for a night before what was meant to be a short hike in the Mt Washington area near the Appalachian Mountain Club in NH... 
Of course, Murphy's law usually prevails when you least expect it and a short detour turned into an extra 7 kms in the pouring rain along the main highway... no -one stopped to give us a ride though.... probably just wondered WHAT THE HELL three guys were doing walking along the interstate in the middle of the afternoon in the cold driving rain!!... Hot cups of tea back at the AMC and a change of clothes sharpened our mood and we trucked on to Burlington, Vermont.... my favourite place so far... Not sure if it was because of the exceptional hospitality shown by our couchsurfing host Brandon, the relaxed vibe of the town during Jazz Festival, the Burton Snowboard Factory, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream or the fact that I got such great pleasure in telling all and sundry at places like the Vermont Pub and Brewery and the Vermont Teddy Bear Company that I was raised in Vermont, Australia... I could definitely live in Burlington, Vermont USA and if I did, I'd get a bumper sticker like the one I saw that said "I'm from Vermont, I do what I want!"
My first taste of French Canada was Montreal and the weekend of the F1 grand prix.... just another weekend of rev heads and bling bling as far as we could tell from the people walking around the Grand Prix events area, however our couchsurfing host Denis, showed us some great places in Montreal’s bohemian area of cafes, bars and street markets... more my thing when I'm traveling... to immerse yourself in the local culture is, I think, much more rewarding than hanging out with other tourists.... especially if you try to speak the language as well, then you feel like your really somewhere else... unfortunately my French only extends to Desole ju na paul pa Francais, which (if I've spelled it correctly) means "sorry, I don't speak French".... Of course the helpful bar tender taught us how to say things like, "I see the Universe in your eyes" but I thought that might have been going a little far... particularly if I mispronounced it and said something like "I see the world in your thighs!"
Toronto came and went in a flash, more of a stop over to catch up with a friend, take the obligatory photo of the CN tower and then on to Niagara Falls.....
We enjoyed a couple relaxing nights at a winery in the Niagara region of Ontario staying with the winemaker Phillip Dowell from "Angel's Gate" - winery of the 2006 Canada's Best White Wine..
Luke and I participated as guests in a wedding at Niagara Falls.. Well not really, just that the couple next to us on the Maid of the Mist tour at the falls, got married while the boat was making it's half hour journey to the base of the falls and back...
Glad to have been a part of such an occasion... as for the falls, impressive but touristy - I look forward to seeing Angel Falls someday as a comparison...
State College, Pennsylvania, we dropped Luke to hang with some homies, or rather to hang with some from home..... Shame to only spend one night there and listen to all the fun things that were planned... but we had to push on to Kentucky before the rego ran out........
So after the hassles in Georgia, we got the hell out of the south and headed West, the real road trippin’ USA…. 6 states in one drive… arrived in Winnipeg, Canada at 5am! Crazy… but fun, and plenty of time to get sick of all the CDs we’ve burned for the road….
Wolfmother is long gone now, and it’s official… There are no hills in North Dakota…..
Monday, June 4, 2007
Derbys, Empires, Bourbons and Miles, lots of miles.
The bitumen stinks.... Roadworks on the side of the highway, interstate 78 east, about 10 miles from Lebanon.... New Jersey, USA..
I sit in the back seat of Tomato Rex Sex Machine, the red GMC Safari Van bought in Atlanta about 2 weeks ago, and named by some random girl in a club in Atlanta. We call it T-Rex for short. It runs well, has done for the last two weeks. Air con, cruise control, power everything, style, class, and set to be a legendary vehicle for this road trip through the US and Canada.
Dale's driving at the moment, Luke's asleep in the front passenger seat, on the right hand side of the vehicle, Matt's back in Australia now after leaving New York the other dayI'm in the back for the first time to catch up on some photo uploads and write this blog.
It's Friday today, tonight we'll be in Boston, Massachusetts after spending the last two nights in Zionsville, small town Pennsylvania, with my friend Josh and his family. Today's a relaxing day of driving compared to our crazy week in New York City. Oh sure, we did the usual tourist attractions - Empire State Building, Central Park, Downtown Manhattan, Ground Zero, Staten Island Ferry, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Subway, but it's always the random nights that make the headlines. Like the night we went to the comedy club for a show and the 2 drink minimum turned into a maximum and one of us got robbed by two hookers after mistakenly getting into the same taxi as a quick way to get to the next bar. Riding the subway at 4 in the morning is always fun, unless you go the wrong way, or express through your stop and you end up in Harlem at 7 am.
Washington DC was a little quiter, heavy on the legs after 12 hour days walking around all the Smithsonium museums and laughing at the irony of the Whitehouse Security in the land of Liberty.
Big cities are great for seeing the sights in a relatively small area, but it's the small towns that often make your travels memorable, like the historical town of Colonial Williamsburg, in Virginia, near Yorktown and the scene of the last battle for independence in 1781. A change of route took us there and to the Bed and Breakfast where we enjoyed some fine colonial hospitality in the quaint setting near the College of William and Mary (a prestigious law school among others).
The strawberries were tasty that night..... the ones we'd picked for $1 per pound outside of Carrboro, North Carolina, two weekends ago. We'd spent the weekend exploring the University town with it's Co-op supermarket, Sunday morning jazz and coffees in the park. It was great to chat to the locals about the culture and atmosphere of such a nice little place away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities. Of course it helps to know someone in a place you're traveling through and Mary, Jack, Mandy and Miriam were excellent hosts, particularly with recommendations from the 100 or so beers from the menu at the Milltown Bar or what to eat for a hungover breakfast afterwards at the friendly Elmo Diner.
Hospitality from friends is great to have when you'r on the road. A place to sleep or wash some clothes is always appreciated but it's the gathering that I like, the chance to do some grocery shopping and cook your own meal for once in a while. I think the Red Thai Chicken Curry was a hit, or was it the Australian wine or the cheese..?
Speaking of hospitality, I guess you have to be careful not to overstay your welcome and whilst I don't think that has happened so far, we certainly left imprints on the loungeroom floor at Holly St Atlanta where we parked ourselves while we searched for T-Rex. Of course we were told that it was no problem, but it may have been because at least while we were on the floor, there was less chance of Brittain receiving a knock at the door at 4 am from 3 Aussies fresh from the Caribbean having driven 14 hours straight in a rental car from Miami airport!
And of course, we cannot forget the exceptional hospitality shown by Nelda and Skinner, Brittain's parents, in Georgetown, Kentucky where we spent a week after the Kentucky Derby on the 5th May. Dale met the Governor of Kentucky, right before we hoed in to a breakfast of bacon, eggs, cheese grits, biscuits and gravy - obviously the health food section of the annual breakfast feeding a few thousand people at the Capitol in Frankfurt. Of course Dale informed the Governor that he would like to vote for him but that he was probably ineligible!
Luke and I nearly cleaned up on a horse at 50 to 1 but were, as always, pipped at the post. Dale's horse came first in the Derby, although I don't think I saw any of the winnings by way of bourbon after the race! We did all have mint julips though, and won't ever again!
And there were a few bourbons drunk later that Derby night with some Kentucky guys and girls. They drink it like water up there. We resisted the urge to show them how much Fosters we all drink and joined them in sampling the local cuisine and beverages. Of course we spent a good part of the next day in bed.
So Boston awaits and Vermont State after that, then into Canada for a break from conversions of gallons, miles and pounds.
I sit in the back seat of Tomato Rex Sex Machine, the red GMC Safari Van bought in Atlanta about 2 weeks ago, and named by some random girl in a club in Atlanta. We call it T-Rex for short. It runs well, has done for the last two weeks. Air con, cruise control, power everything, style, class, and set to be a legendary vehicle for this road trip through the US and Canada.
Dale's driving at the moment, Luke's asleep in the front passenger seat, on the right hand side of the vehicle, Matt's back in Australia now after leaving New York the other dayI'm in the back for the first time to catch up on some photo uploads and write this blog.
It's Friday today, tonight we'll be in Boston, Massachusetts after spending the last two nights in Zionsville, small town Pennsylvania, with my friend Josh and his family. Today's a relaxing day of driving compared to our crazy week in New York City. Oh sure, we did the usual tourist attractions - Empire State Building, Central Park, Downtown Manhattan, Ground Zero, Staten Island Ferry, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Subway, but it's always the random nights that make the headlines. Like the night we went to the comedy club for a show and the 2 drink minimum turned into a maximum and one of us got robbed by two hookers after mistakenly getting into the same taxi as a quick way to get to the next bar. Riding the subway at 4 in the morning is always fun, unless you go the wrong way, or express through your stop and you end up in Harlem at 7 am.
Washington DC was a little quiter, heavy on the legs after 12 hour days walking around all the Smithsonium museums and laughing at the irony of the Whitehouse Security in the land of Liberty.Big cities are great for seeing the sights in a relatively small area, but it's the small towns that often make your travels memorable, like the historical town of Colonial Williamsburg, in Virginia, near Yorktown and the scene of the last battle for independence in 1781. A change of route took us there and to the Bed and Breakfast where we enjoyed some fine colonial hospitality in the quaint setting near the College of William and Mary (a prestigious law school among others).
The strawberries were tasty that night..... the ones we'd picked for $1 per pound outside of Carrboro, North Carolina, two weekends ago. We'd spent the weekend exploring the University town with it's Co-op supermarket, Sunday morning jazz and coffees in the park. It was great to chat to the locals about the culture and atmosphere of such a nice little place away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities. Of course it helps to know someone in a place you're traveling through and Mary, Jack, Mandy and Miriam were excellent hosts, particularly with recommendations from the 100 or so beers from the menu at the Milltown Bar or what to eat for a hungover breakfast afterwards at the friendly Elmo Diner.
Hospitality from friends is great to have when you'r on the road. A place to sleep or wash some clothes is always appreciated but it's the gathering that I like, the chance to do some grocery shopping and cook your own meal for once in a while. I think the Red Thai Chicken Curry was a hit, or was it the Australian wine or the cheese..?Speaking of hospitality, I guess you have to be careful not to overstay your welcome and whilst I don't think that has happened so far, we certainly left imprints on the loungeroom floor at Holly St Atlanta where we parked ourselves while we searched for T-Rex. Of course we were told that it was no problem, but it may have been because at least while we were on the floor, there was less chance of Brittain receiving a knock at the door at 4 am from 3 Aussies fresh from the Caribbean having driven 14 hours straight in a rental car from Miami airport!
And of course, we cannot forget the exceptional hospitality shown by Nelda and Skinner, Brittain's parents, in Georgetown, Kentucky where we spent a week after the Kentucky Derby on the 5th May. Dale met the Governor of Kentucky, right before we hoed in to a breakfast of bacon, eggs, cheese grits, biscuits and gravy - obviously the health food section of the annual breakfast feeding a few thousand people at the Capitol in Frankfurt. Of course Dale informed the Governor that he would like to vote for him but that he was probably ineligible!
Luke and I nearly cleaned up on a horse at 50 to 1 but were, as always, pipped at the post. Dale's horse came first in the Derby, although I don't think I saw any of the winnings by way of bourbon after the race! We did all have mint julips though, and won't ever again!
And there were a few bourbons drunk later that Derby night with some Kentucky guys and girls. They drink it like water up there. We resisted the urge to show them how much Fosters we all drink and joined them in sampling the local cuisine and beverages. Of course we spent a good part of the next day in bed.So Boston awaits and Vermont State after that, then into Canada for a break from conversions of gallons, miles and pounds.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Caribbean Cricket Cruisin'
Yeah, I know, I know... you all think I suck for not keeping my much promised blog up to date... believe me I wanted to but I didn't realise how tired sailing in the Caribbean would make you....
SO I think I was somewhere at the Grenada Yacht Club when I last wrote you all. Grenada was fun. 6 matches in the Super Eight stage of the World Cup Cricket. Unfortunately the cricket was somewhat one sided. I guess that's what happens when the power houses of Pakistan and India get knocked out early on.. then you're left with Ireland competing against Sri Lanka in a match where the players are having bets with each other on who can smash Murali over his head for four (I spoke to one of the Irish players at a bar one night).
Let me summarise the cricket: West Indies cricket is in disarray.... the fielding is woeful, batsmen have no committment, the bowlers lack the intensity of the likes of Marshall, Garner, Holding, Bishop, and the fans in Grenada think Brian Lara is selfish. Apparently the future of West Indies Cricket is in the hands of Devon Smith. New Zealand showed promise but showed again that they stumble at the semi final stage. South Africa, chokers again, 5 for 27 in a semi final is pityful. England, no need for explanation. Bangladesh, getting better but not there yet. Ireland, should never have made it through but provided some entertainment and their players are good value at the bar. Sri Lanka, promising but totally outclassed in the end. Australia, never looked like losing a match. Absolute professionals. To quote a guy at the Australia v Sri Lanka match, "Ricky Ponting, he knows everything about everything and everything he does is right".
Non-cricket days were spent wandering around St Georges, recovering from previous night's happy hour, visiting rum distilleries, jumping off 10 metre high waterfalls, playing beach cricket with the locals whilst being filmed by the BBC and attending local "jump up" - the Caribbean word for massive party with live bands and strong rum.
So after 12 days of partying with the locals and watching some ordinary cricket, we headed towards St Lucia for the semi final. 3 days of exceptional sailing - we averaged up to 7 knots - including sightings of turtles, flying fish and dolphins (I tried to train them but without luck) and we were cruising alongside some of the most spectacular scenery of the Caribbean. Grand Piton and Petit Piton, on the south coast of St Lucia, Wallilabou Bay on the coast of St Vincent, film location of the Pirates of the Caribbean and of course the islands of the northern Grenadines.
The yacht club at Rodney Bay Marina was alive with crowds of Aussies, South Africans and Kiwis. NAturally the kiwis were soon drowning their sorrows after bowing out to the Lankans, and the Saffas eventually conceded that their team is junk in the business end of tournaments! The semi came and went with as much gusto as our 5 horse power dinghy. We partied again, got soaked after trying to pick up the crew from the beach, in the dinghy, with waves crashing in..... Dale fell in the water after trying to relieve himself over the edge of the dock..
We watched the final at a bar on St Vincent after a long sail from St Lucia. Concentrating on steering the boat in the storm (35 knot winds!) for 2 hours was like driving a car for about 10 hours straight.. still, we managed to get the boat back safely to St Vincent and our deposit back apart from a lost padlock and a broken plate.
So 4 weeks in the Caribbean on a cruising cat..... what was the highlight?? probably the fact that 12 months ago none of us knew anything about sailing, least of all me.... and we managed to navigate our way around with little or no issues.... and you doubted me..... oh yeah of little faith!......
We spent our last night on the concrete floor of Barbados airport, before we went our separate ways from Miami airport....
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
In the Caribbean! St Vincent to Grenada
Some people say that the longer you wait for something the better it is.... I hope that your wait for this blog is worth it..... It was certainly worth it when I landed in the Caribbean..
15 months of planning, of organising boats, visas, passports, insurances, accommodation, I was almost so exhausted that I didn't even want to go!
Barbados.... just the sound of the name made me excited, and when I finally stepped on the plane in Miami, I was so excited I could hardly sit still... Of course it was not without it's dilemmas. Almost all of us boys were put through the explosives testing machine. I guess we must have looked criminal, though I suspect it was the lack of sleep! I have heard someone say that if you look like your passport photo then you probably are not fit to travel!
Arrived in Barbados to a relaxed atmosphere compared with the nervousness of US customs, entering the West Indies was a refreshing change, with lots of locals wearing ICC Cricket World Cup Uniforms. Our connection was meant to be a couple of hours, just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat and browse the airport shops before flying to St Vincent. Here in the Caribbean, similarly I guess to Pacific Island nations, you soon realise that deadlines are not that important and our 5:50pm flight turned into a 9:30 flight. Luckily the friendly girls from Liat Air gave us some food vouchers for our trouble which eased the hunger and stopped Karweng from any more racing around the airport terminal in a borrowed wheel chair!
A good nights sleep in a comfy bed in St Vincent and we rendezvoused at the Barefoot Yacht Charters in Blue Lagoon to finalise our boat payment and sign some documentation.
A chart briefing for some insight into the best anchorages and eating places around the Windward Islands, some shopping for provisions at one of Kingstown's supermarkets and a quick lunch at a roadside bar and we were set for our maiden voyage as charter boat customers...
Luckily we had a skipper on the first leg from St Vincent to Bequia who ran us through the operation of the boat and gave us some more pointers on points of sail as we would make our way down towards Grenada over the 7 days.
We learned our first valuable lesson in Bequia, the morning after the skipper left our boat. Someone had left the fridge on overnight, as well as fans and lights operating and we couldn't start the engines to raise anchor and move on. After calling Barefoot to explain our situation, they sent a local mechanic from Admiralty Bay, Bequia who informed us that he'd have to take our batteries and charge them overnight because they were so dead...
A day of exploring Bequia and getting the dinghy underway was not a bad plan B, and a relaxing day was topped off by a game of dominoes with the locals. Of course it took Liam and I a few rounds to get into the local rules but it wasn't long before Liam was slamming down dominoes like the best of them!
From Bequia to Mustique with charged batteries and a better understanding of charging routines, and daily checklists and our first day of sailing by ourselves. They really did give up the yacht far too easily!!
A few boys feeling seasick on our first solo voyage as we navigated our way through the passage to Mustique. Macaroni Beach was the highlight here along with the Wednesday night "jump up" at Basil's Bar.
Having run out of water, we made our way to Canouan to wait for the "Iceman" who would apparently cometh and deliver us our water, diesel and ice. Again, Caribbean time dictates how long you wait, and we had to anchor overnight after waiting until almost sunset for our supplies. Not a lot to do when it's Easter Friday on Canouan!
With a few days of anchoring/mooring experience we cruised into Union Island to clear customs from St Vincent and the Grenadines, before making our way to the Tobago Cays, the jewel of the Grenadines. A spectacular place to wake up, with uninhabited, pristine sandy beaches, coral reefs and the Atlantic Ocean to the East we snorkeled around for a couple of hours before setting sail again for Carriacou. Monkey was exceptional with his navigation into and out of the the narrow passage to the anchorage, it definitely made my job a lot easier guiding the $400,000 catamaran over the bottom and keeping that damage deposit in tact!
One night in Carriacou for some paperwork for entry to the nation of Grenada, I walked around Hillsborough for an hour or so to take in the atmosphere of a "christening party".
We set sail early in the morning for our long journey to the port of St George's in Grenada where we would dock for our stay during the cricket. A pretty easy sailing day although the winds were in the wrong direction for a quick sail south, and we had to take a wide berth around "Kick'em Jenny", the underwater active volcano to the north of Grenada. Andy was at the helm for a few hours and it was a nice rest for me to be able to lie down on the deck and relax. The responsibility for the boat is everyone's obviously but a bit of added pressure for me, if only applied by myself!
So we arrived in St George's, a few of us having a go at contacting the yacht club to announce our arrival on radio, and we were guided through the harbour to the yacht club marina. Let me just say, reverse parking a Datsun 200 B wagon is a lot easier than a 42 ft catamaran with 7 blokes and a dock master yelling instructions at you! Still I managed to get her into the dock stern-to (that's backwards for those lacking nautical terminology) without a scratch, the only issue being when I had to slam it into reverse coming into the lagoon when I got confused over which side of the marker to go to avoid the coral!! Easy boys..... everything's under control!! Phew...
The yacht club is nice, with showers and a restaurant and bar, our boat parked with easy access on and off. It is nice to be able to step on and off at your leisure without having to organise the dinghy to be started..... Have to keep pinching myself... I can't believe we made it here on time and in one piece, all 8 of us for the World Cup Cricket!!
15 months of planning, of organising boats, visas, passports, insurances, accommodation, I was almost so exhausted that I didn't even want to go!
Barbados.... just the sound of the name made me excited, and when I finally stepped on the plane in Miami, I was so excited I could hardly sit still... Of course it was not without it's dilemmas. Almost all of us boys were put through the explosives testing machine. I guess we must have looked criminal, though I suspect it was the lack of sleep! I have heard someone say that if you look like your passport photo then you probably are not fit to travel!
Arrived in Barbados to a relaxed atmosphere compared with the nervousness of US customs, entering the West Indies was a refreshing change, with lots of locals wearing ICC Cricket World Cup Uniforms. Our connection was meant to be a couple of hours, just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat and browse the airport shops before flying to St Vincent. Here in the Caribbean, similarly I guess to Pacific Island nations, you soon realise that deadlines are not that important and our 5:50pm flight turned into a 9:30 flight. Luckily the friendly girls from Liat Air gave us some food vouchers for our trouble which eased the hunger and stopped Karweng from any more racing around the airport terminal in a borrowed wheel chair!
A good nights sleep in a comfy bed in St Vincent and we rendezvoused at the Barefoot Yacht Charters in Blue Lagoon to finalise our boat payment and sign some documentation.
A chart briefing for some insight into the best anchorages and eating places around the Windward Islands, some shopping for provisions at one of Kingstown's supermarkets and a quick lunch at a roadside bar and we were set for our maiden voyage as charter boat customers...
Luckily we had a skipper on the first leg from St Vincent to Bequia who ran us through the operation of the boat and gave us some more pointers on points of sail as we would make our way down towards Grenada over the 7 days.
We learned our first valuable lesson in Bequia, the morning after the skipper left our boat. Someone had left the fridge on overnight, as well as fans and lights operating and we couldn't start the engines to raise anchor and move on. After calling Barefoot to explain our situation, they sent a local mechanic from Admiralty Bay, Bequia who informed us that he'd have to take our batteries and charge them overnight because they were so dead...
A day of exploring Bequia and getting the dinghy underway was not a bad plan B, and a relaxing day was topped off by a game of dominoes with the locals. Of course it took Liam and I a few rounds to get into the local rules but it wasn't long before Liam was slamming down dominoes like the best of them!
From Bequia to Mustique with charged batteries and a better understanding of charging routines, and daily checklists and our first day of sailing by ourselves. They really did give up the yacht far too easily!!
A few boys feeling seasick on our first solo voyage as we navigated our way through the passage to Mustique. Macaroni Beach was the highlight here along with the Wednesday night "jump up" at Basil's Bar.
Having run out of water, we made our way to Canouan to wait for the "Iceman" who would apparently cometh and deliver us our water, diesel and ice. Again, Caribbean time dictates how long you wait, and we had to anchor overnight after waiting until almost sunset for our supplies. Not a lot to do when it's Easter Friday on Canouan!
With a few days of anchoring/mooring experience we cruised into Union Island to clear customs from St Vincent and the Grenadines, before making our way to the Tobago Cays, the jewel of the Grenadines. A spectacular place to wake up, with uninhabited, pristine sandy beaches, coral reefs and the Atlantic Ocean to the East we snorkeled around for a couple of hours before setting sail again for Carriacou. Monkey was exceptional with his navigation into and out of the the narrow passage to the anchorage, it definitely made my job a lot easier guiding the $400,000 catamaran over the bottom and keeping that damage deposit in tact!
One night in Carriacou for some paperwork for entry to the nation of Grenada, I walked around Hillsborough for an hour or so to take in the atmosphere of a "christening party".
We set sail early in the morning for our long journey to the port of St George's in Grenada where we would dock for our stay during the cricket. A pretty easy sailing day although the winds were in the wrong direction for a quick sail south, and we had to take a wide berth around "Kick'em Jenny", the underwater active volcano to the north of Grenada. Andy was at the helm for a few hours and it was a nice rest for me to be able to lie down on the deck and relax. The responsibility for the boat is everyone's obviously but a bit of added pressure for me, if only applied by myself!
So we arrived in St George's, a few of us having a go at contacting the yacht club to announce our arrival on radio, and we were guided through the harbour to the yacht club marina. Let me just say, reverse parking a Datsun 200 B wagon is a lot easier than a 42 ft catamaran with 7 blokes and a dock master yelling instructions at you! Still I managed to get her into the dock stern-to (that's backwards for those lacking nautical terminology) without a scratch, the only issue being when I had to slam it into reverse coming into the lagoon when I got confused over which side of the marker to go to avoid the coral!! Easy boys..... everything's under control!! Phew...
The yacht club is nice, with showers and a restaurant and bar, our boat parked with easy access on and off. It is nice to be able to step on and off at your leisure without having to organise the dinghy to be started..... Have to keep pinching myself... I can't believe we made it here on time and in one piece, all 8 of us for the World Cup Cricket!!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Trains, Delays and Hockey Games
Gee Auckland was fun, I mean not fun like you're an adult at a kids carnival dominating on the jumping castle sort of fun, but the fun you have when the landing gear won't go down so you have to fly around for a while and then turn back to the airport to wait while another airplane is made ready.
5 hours after our original Auckland to LA flight was scheduled we finally got on another plane and headed towards LAX. Starving and grumpy, we managed to fght our way through lack of sleep and pretty ordinary airline food to find a shuttle bus to take us to our accomodation in LA. About 2 miles (notice I'm into their way of measuring now) from the airport in an area of town devoid of anything apart from fast food joints and a 24 hour sex shop with LIVE nudes. We ate right next to the Live nudes at Carl's Jr. Given the size of the medium meals, I'd hate to see an upsize from Carl's Sr!
After the delays on the flight, our 2 days in LA turned into 1 but we managed to make the most of it with a few rides on the BIG BLUE BUS and some time spent at Venice Beach, Santa Monica and UCLA. I may from time to time pass judgement on some of the things I see here in the USA but I'll give them one thing, when someone says catch the big blue bus.... that's exactly what it is......
A few shots hussling some black guys at the recreation area basketball courts (where they filmed parts of White Men Can't Jump), some enchalada's from the local mexican cafe, a stroll along the santa monica pier and boulevarde and a bus ride to UCLA where we saw some stunt man attempt a bungy jump into a pool full of green slime for Nickolodean kids TV show and our self made tour of LA was over.
Delta Airlines flight from LAX to miami was hassle free in comparison, the only issue was that it left at 10 pm LA time and Arrived at 3:30 am LA time. Some people think sleep is overrated... I tend to disagree. 20 hours total in 5 days is not a lot.
Arrived in Miami tired of course, but at 6 am local time at Fort Lauderdale Airport you look at getting down to Miami - South Beach so you can get some sleep. Train cancellations won't help. Monkey came up with a genious plan though to fill in time and deal with hunger...
We ate as much as we possibly could at the Marriott Hotel breakfast buffet. $8 was well worth it and our energy levels picked up accordingly. After tri rail train (a bit like v-line), metro train, metro loop and a couple of buses, we made it to Jazz Hostel on South Beach. Hostel like.. mostly friendly staff, crappy rooms, but a bed's a bed and to have one to yourself will be a luxury for the next 4 weeks on the boat.
Dale had tickets to the Ice Hockey at Bank Atlantic Centre in Florida somewhere....... We found out the stadium is about 35 miles outside of Miami and really hard to get to.... even harder to get back. Bus train, train, train cancellation, train, taxi, $50 US later, we were sitting 5 feet from the glass, almost centre ice right next to one of the players' bench. What an atmosphere! It's like the NBL used to be back in the 80's with music and cheering and really expensive food and drinks... The gyros and pint of Budweiser was all part of being there we thought so we joined the crowd at chow time, made friends with the locals and got into the spirit of the game. Being so close to the perspex screen meant I could see the player's faces squashed against it when they copped a 'body check' and hear the slap of sticks... it was really exciting. I reckon the Hockey fans would enjoy AFL, especially the hits.
For the record, Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitols 3-2 in overtime, there we heaps of body checks into the screens, plenty of penalties handed out by the referees, and the Panther's cheerleaders rivalled the Swanettes from the 80's.
The taxi picked us up from a Burger King in the middle of nowhere after our attempts to get a lift back with someone to Miami failed, dismally, and we were forced to pay $90 US for the priveledge. Great experience though, and I'd already forgotten the cost.
So 3 of the other boys are here now in Miami, there's 6 together now (Dave, Dale, Matt, Andy, Brad, Karweng) with Brian and Liam to arrive at Miami airport tomorrow morning when we fly to Barbados and on towards St Vincent, the location of our charter base at Blue Lagoon, St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Miami is like a mix between the Gold Coast and Chapel Street, with pimped up Hummer's dropping off glamour people to clubs along the boulevardes while we laugh into our glasses of Stella and marvel at how we got this far and the fact that in a couple of days we will be on a catamaran and really starting to enjoy the whole thing...
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