november 25, 2009
Ok, so i am currently under the influence of the of a thing that the english language currently defines as "alcohol", in other words I am drunker than a Sailor on Sunday, which is making this blog a little harder to write than usual, anyway lets get started.
So I am curently in Melbourne again, we spent the day ine Bellarat, which is a cool city of 60,000 that was originally a gold mining town that has evolved to survive without it's boloved mine. It was abandoned 50 years ago, but it did operate from 1850-1951, wich has allowded several old style brick buildings to rise and stay risen while the mine has fallen away to be buried by time. The difference between this city and other mining towns, is that the mine operated for long enough to allow enough idustry to spring up around the town, that so when the mine shut down, the city didn't just die, the mine brought the city massive amount of money, but it didn't die when the mine shut down, it just kept ticking. There is a massive amount of old 19th century buildings including the old train station still linking it to Melbourne today. The town was just cool, 19th century downtown with the promanode full of trees, grass, and monuments to Victoria, King George, and Robby Burns. Very interesting, but the radio drue my attention as well today. One of the most interesting points of traveling to other countries is turning on the radio and seing what the news of the day is, and boy was I on the floor laughing today. While driving back from the Granthian mountains, the radio on scan, spurted out something truely Australin, killer kangaroos. On the front page of the Melbourne newspaper was about a Kangaroo who was running from a dog, it "Bounced" into a pond, and the dog chassed it, and as the dog swam towards the roo, the kangaroo grabbed him with it's front legs, and drowned it with it's front arms. Aparently, this happens more regularley than I thought, even the radio anouncer didn't beleive it, until about 12 people called in to correct her. As for the Granthians, they are a mountain range I cannot yet explain, they have trees evrywhere, it rarely snows up here, they are not nearly as baren or wild as the rocky mountains, but they are still worth checking out. They are different, but a nice change from the bright, hot beaches of the coast, as well as the pounding surf causing me to loose my balance on that wonderful surf board of mine, but enough shots at the cold Canadian climate, it would be rater rude of me to give shots at those who just got snown upon, but anyways. Anyway funny thing is that chris and I discussed the movie "Cruel Intentions" earlier today, and now I am watching it with 2 German girls in my common area, bring on irony, or maybe I am just drunk. Tomorow we will board a big boat to Tasmania, and hit the Melbourne market, big day, must first find bed, and room, and room key, and maybe shoes to walk to room in....Baby steps Pluim, baby steps. But I due wish that the walls would stop spinning. Anyway, goodnight, must make way to room, when I remeber which room numberr it is. This seemed so much easier when I wasn't drunk.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Well we didn't expect that
Dear blog
It has been 5 days since my last update.......whoops..5 days, really? Well, lets get cracking.
Well we drove into Melbourne with little to no trouble, avoiding the toll roads (will cost you 13 Aussie dollars if you don't) and made it all the way into the ferry depot where we parked and inquired about getting over to Tasmania. That is where the bombshell broke, the ferry was booked solid for about a full week. I just about collapsed when I heard that, but we booked our tickets for the 26, and decided how we were going to kill 7 days. After some discussion we decided to head out of Melbourne and hit the great ocean road, which is when the worst part of our trip started, we had to get out of Melbourne on a different route than when we came in, still avoiding the toll roads, and as we discovered with no good maps of the city. Well with Christian navigating and I driving we attempted this task. If you could have plotted our route out of the city, I am sure you would have believed it to be an excellent impression of a screwed up artist, or maybe it looked like a crushed snail shell, or maybe it is best compared to what you would get if you asked a drunk Irishman to spell his name in Cantonese. Anyway, our eventual course came out so, starting from the ferry depot we went East, then South, then East, then South, followed by a very quick U turn (as I discovered we were heading up an off ramp onto a freeway, heading into one way traffic) North, East, North, West, South, west, North....and somehow we emerged on the North end of Melbourne at the beginning of rush hour, needless to say we were happy to put the city behind us for the next couple of days. Anyway, it wasn't Chris's fault, we had very poor maps to work with, I did miss one sign, and 2 roads we were going to take out of the city turned out to be toll roads, which forced us to make hasty alterations that were incredibly hard to plan for. Anyway driving in Melbourne, as an Australian experience, 0.5/10. Anyway, enough ranting let me hit some highlights. I bought a surf board, used, and it is incredibly fun, the day I bought it I went out and was surfing beside a surf class, and by the end of the day I was better than anyone in that class. The funnist part for me was when me, and 3 other people went to surf a wave, but only me and the instructor caught it. I was able to ride it all the way in, which is an amazing experience, and incredibly fun. I then went surfing in a bit more turmoil water a couple of days later on Johnston beach (on the great ocean road), which had some 5-6 foot waves on it. It was way harder, as you had to paddle 10 minutes to get out to where they were capping, and even then it was a crap shoot. I was able to ride a couple in, but I got cold, the wind picked up and my camera man got chased back to the car due to a rather large amount of flys. After getting pounded by the waves 4 times in a row I called it a day. Today we hit a much tamer beach near Portsmouth, where I went surfing for about an hour, and then lent my board and wet suit to my camera man. He loved it, and I liked watching him get pounded for a change, as it had taken me 2 days to get the sand out of my hair from Johnstons beach, anyway, he wasn't that bad, but he started to understand what I was talking about when it comes to judging waves. Surfing, 10/10 as an Aussie experience, I think Chris even likes it better than his guitar, though he won't admit it, there is nothing like catching a wave and riding it, as he said. I should probably mention the great ocean road. It is a very neat drive, especially when you stop to see the coalla bears, the 12 apostals, and the bay of islands, but honestly I enjoyed the inland scenery just as much. We drove through different types of farmland that reminded me of home all the way up to the Grampian mountains, all the farms in the area remind me of home, I even saw a canola crop. I like this area a lot, much better than the city's at least.. Great ocean road cool scenery, but only 6/10. Oh ya, should mention this also, we came across a cheese factory and milk plant in Warnenbool (apply named Cheese World). There we tested 12 types of cheeses from herb and garlic, to a Chili flavoured, bought milkshake after do to very powerful, and spicy after taste, they make a very wonderful milkshake as well. Anyway, that is all for now, surf safe.
P.S. Still can't upload pictures, will do so later.
It has been 5 days since my last update.......whoops..5 days, really? Well, lets get cracking.
Well we drove into Melbourne with little to no trouble, avoiding the toll roads (will cost you 13 Aussie dollars if you don't) and made it all the way into the ferry depot where we parked and inquired about getting over to Tasmania. That is where the bombshell broke, the ferry was booked solid for about a full week. I just about collapsed when I heard that, but we booked our tickets for the 26, and decided how we were going to kill 7 days. After some discussion we decided to head out of Melbourne and hit the great ocean road, which is when the worst part of our trip started, we had to get out of Melbourne on a different route than when we came in, still avoiding the toll roads, and as we discovered with no good maps of the city. Well with Christian navigating and I driving we attempted this task. If you could have plotted our route out of the city, I am sure you would have believed it to be an excellent impression of a screwed up artist, or maybe it looked like a crushed snail shell, or maybe it is best compared to what you would get if you asked a drunk Irishman to spell his name in Cantonese. Anyway, our eventual course came out so, starting from the ferry depot we went East, then South, then East, then South, followed by a very quick U turn (as I discovered we were heading up an off ramp onto a freeway, heading into one way traffic) North, East, North, West, South, west, North....and somehow we emerged on the North end of Melbourne at the beginning of rush hour, needless to say we were happy to put the city behind us for the next couple of days. Anyway, it wasn't Chris's fault, we had very poor maps to work with, I did miss one sign, and 2 roads we were going to take out of the city turned out to be toll roads, which forced us to make hasty alterations that were incredibly hard to plan for. Anyway driving in Melbourne, as an Australian experience, 0.5/10. Anyway, enough ranting let me hit some highlights. I bought a surf board, used, and it is incredibly fun, the day I bought it I went out and was surfing beside a surf class, and by the end of the day I was better than anyone in that class. The funnist part for me was when me, and 3 other people went to surf a wave, but only me and the instructor caught it. I was able to ride it all the way in, which is an amazing experience, and incredibly fun. I then went surfing in a bit more turmoil water a couple of days later on Johnston beach (on the great ocean road), which had some 5-6 foot waves on it. It was way harder, as you had to paddle 10 minutes to get out to where they were capping, and even then it was a crap shoot. I was able to ride a couple in, but I got cold, the wind picked up and my camera man got chased back to the car due to a rather large amount of flys. After getting pounded by the waves 4 times in a row I called it a day. Today we hit a much tamer beach near Portsmouth, where I went surfing for about an hour, and then lent my board and wet suit to my camera man. He loved it, and I liked watching him get pounded for a change, as it had taken me 2 days to get the sand out of my hair from Johnstons beach, anyway, he wasn't that bad, but he started to understand what I was talking about when it comes to judging waves. Surfing, 10/10 as an Aussie experience, I think Chris even likes it better than his guitar, though he won't admit it, there is nothing like catching a wave and riding it, as he said. I should probably mention the great ocean road. It is a very neat drive, especially when you stop to see the coalla bears, the 12 apostals, and the bay of islands, but honestly I enjoyed the inland scenery just as much. We drove through different types of farmland that reminded me of home all the way up to the Grampian mountains, all the farms in the area remind me of home, I even saw a canola crop. I like this area a lot, much better than the city's at least.. Great ocean road cool scenery, but only 6/10. Oh ya, should mention this also, we came across a cheese factory and milk plant in Warnenbool (apply named Cheese World). There we tested 12 types of cheeses from herb and garlic, to a Chili flavoured, bought milkshake after do to very powerful, and spicy after taste, they make a very wonderful milkshake as well. Anyway, that is all for now, surf safe.
P.S. Still can't upload pictures, will do so later.
Wave 1 Adam 0
November 18, 2009
We are currently at 90 mile beach, and if you are wondering what it so significant, you should know that this goes on for 90 miles. Very cool. We went for a swim yesterday, and the waves are really powerful here, I got taken out several times, but the funniest episode was by far my cavalry charge into the oncoming surf. Unfortunately for me, several things happened at once that I should have foreseen. First my timing may be considered poor, very poor, secondly I was going full tilt when I hit the wave, thirdly the wave I chose to attack grew from a meager 3 feet to full 7 feet upon my point of impact, fourthly, due to a strong rip tide I was on solid sand, with no water to cushion my fall, fifthly at the point of contact the wave capped and crashed down upon me with the force of a 6 ton baseball bat. When I stood up, all I could hear was Christian laughing, which was the most unfortunate part, as there was a witness to my stupidity, especially since I chastised him for not joining me in my cavalry charge. He later explained to me that my defeat went like so. Adam ran full speed at a 7 foot wave, the wave hit Adam, at point of contact Adam stopped dead for an instant, a very short instant, wave takes Adam out and throws him 25 feet back on to beach, and before he is able to let the dancing stars settle, another similar size wave crashes in and hits him, knocking him over a second time. In boxing terms, it was a one shot knock out for the other guy. Ocean 1, Adam 0.
In other news we finished our mountain drive today, for a major road it looked a lot like a very narrow one lane dirt path, but it was fun all the same. Way up on this road we stumbled across this old school house built in 1860, the only remaining building from a historic town, that was mostly destroyed in a forest fire 5 years ago. We signed the registrar and I asked Chris who the last Canadian was, there were a lot of people in the book, Czech, German, Irish, and a recent Canadian, which sent Chris into fits of laughter, it was my sister's name in the log book. Irony, how you sting. We then spent the next 20 minutes while driving up the road trying to figure out how she would have gotten up here, considering you would have to be mental to take a bus up these roads, which is when we ran into the Oz Experience bus coming the other way, on a blind corner. This both answered our question, and sent the adrenalin pumping all at the same time. We then pulled out our video recorder to tape the extreme road, when we ran into a greyhound bus, just after we mentioned on film, that there is no way a full size bus could get up here, we decided not to make any more comments, as irony seemed to be hard at work. Anyway, off to Melbourne tomorrow, will hopefully catch the ferry to Taz in the next couple of days.
P.S. sorry, can't upload pictures or blog about Canberra, issue with computer, will try later.
We are currently at 90 mile beach, and if you are wondering what it so significant, you should know that this goes on for 90 miles. Very cool. We went for a swim yesterday, and the waves are really powerful here, I got taken out several times, but the funniest episode was by far my cavalry charge into the oncoming surf. Unfortunately for me, several things happened at once that I should have foreseen. First my timing may be considered poor, very poor, secondly I was going full tilt when I hit the wave, thirdly the wave I chose to attack grew from a meager 3 feet to full 7 feet upon my point of impact, fourthly, due to a strong rip tide I was on solid sand, with no water to cushion my fall, fifthly at the point of contact the wave capped and crashed down upon me with the force of a 6 ton baseball bat. When I stood up, all I could hear was Christian laughing, which was the most unfortunate part, as there was a witness to my stupidity, especially since I chastised him for not joining me in my cavalry charge. He later explained to me that my defeat went like so. Adam ran full speed at a 7 foot wave, the wave hit Adam, at point of contact Adam stopped dead for an instant, a very short instant, wave takes Adam out and throws him 25 feet back on to beach, and before he is able to let the dancing stars settle, another similar size wave crashes in and hits him, knocking him over a second time. In boxing terms, it was a one shot knock out for the other guy. Ocean 1, Adam 0.
In other news we finished our mountain drive today, for a major road it looked a lot like a very narrow one lane dirt path, but it was fun all the same. Way up on this road we stumbled across this old school house built in 1860, the only remaining building from a historic town, that was mostly destroyed in a forest fire 5 years ago. We signed the registrar and I asked Chris who the last Canadian was, there were a lot of people in the book, Czech, German, Irish, and a recent Canadian, which sent Chris into fits of laughter, it was my sister's name in the log book. Irony, how you sting. We then spent the next 20 minutes while driving up the road trying to figure out how she would have gotten up here, considering you would have to be mental to take a bus up these roads, which is when we ran into the Oz Experience bus coming the other way, on a blind corner. This both answered our question, and sent the adrenalin pumping all at the same time. We then pulled out our video recorder to tape the extreme road, when we ran into a greyhound bus, just after we mentioned on film, that there is no way a full size bus could get up here, we decided not to make any more comments, as irony seemed to be hard at work. Anyway, off to Melbourne tomorrow, will hopefully catch the ferry to Taz in the next couple of days.
P.S. sorry, can't upload pictures or blog about Canberra, issue with computer, will try later.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Short And Sweet
Am currently in the capital of Australia (Canberra) right now in the national library, with free Internet. We have spent the last couple of days camping and moving from place to place. We decided to abandon the coast for a short time due to a need to head inland. I am glad to say it was a good decision, especially since i couldn't find a cheap surf board. We came along this road that was half gravel half pavement, 
really fun drive through the middle of know where, literally. 
We did come across this really cool town that looked like it was pulled right out of the 1920's, the main street looked so cool. 
Anyway we have some cool pictures of the drive. Oh, camped cheap 2 night ago on Jarvus bay, within the bomb testing range, and no I am not joking. There is actually a camp ground withing the military training grounds, 
but they do give cheap camping, as long as you don't mind some navel exercises going on. Anyway, spending the day in Canberra, they have really cool museums, the ones that remind you that a country's history isn't just about the country, but rather about the people who make it their country. Hope everyone is well.
really fun drive through the middle of know where, literally. We did come across this really cool town that looked like it was pulled right out of the 1920's, the main street looked so cool. Anyway we have some cool pictures of the drive. Oh, camped cheap 2 night ago on Jarvus bay, within the bomb testing range, and no I am not joking. There is actually a camp ground withing the military training grounds, but they do give cheap camping, as long as you don't mind some navel exercises going on. Anyway, spending the day in Canberra, they have really cool museums, the ones that remind you that a country's history isn't just about the country, but rather about the people who make it their country. Hope everyone is well.P.S. did anyone at home hear about a lost hiker on green mountain last week, because I ran into one of their friends here, apparently this individual was not one with an over abundance of brain matter.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Out Of Sydney
Since you are probably really tired of hearing me blog, I will let Christian tell you about the beach, the sun and our last 2 days outside of Sydney (http://christian-travel.blogspot.com/). By the way Gary beach better than any part of Sydney we were in. 
Now, I must go, must buy a surf board, if only to counter Chris's guitar.
Now, I must go, must buy a surf board, if only to counter Chris's guitar.
J-Walkers
November 10, 2009
Well today I did as Sydneyers do, I J-walked. Literally, the one notable thing that Sydneyers are very good at is J-walking. They do it every time, right in front of cops sitting in police car, but they didn’t seem to mind, that or they were on their lunch break. Of course, the first time I tried to do it, I made the mistake of looking the wrong direction as I nearly walked in front of a bus. You kind of forget that these people drive on the wrong side of the road, thus you look the wrong way, and get up close and personal with several different kinds of vehicles. I am happy to report though, that both Christian and I have successfully concurred the art of Australian J-walking, and can now do it as well as any native Sydneyer, with the exception that we are wearing t-shirts.
Well, as I bet you will be finding out soon enough, I bought a car today, no not this one,
or this one, 
but this one 
and tomorrow we will be leaving Sydney, which will be nice. Sydney is a nice city, but we are ready to get out of here, it is just too busy, I want to discover the other side of Australia, that and we are going to be back here at the end of our trip, so I am ready to leave. I admit, that tomorrow will be a very weird and hectic drive and a story all on its own. We plan on heading to a city of 250,000 south of Sydney, I forget what it is called, but we need to pick up some more gear, in a city that is a little more car friendly. Well, we will update you when we get back to internet. Talk to you later, I have to finish packing and doing some other stuff. By the way you have no clue how weird it is to hear Christmas music in 32 degree weather? Don’t worry, I won’t brag.
Well today I did as Sydneyers do, I J-walked. Literally, the one notable thing that Sydneyers are very good at is J-walking. They do it every time, right in front of cops sitting in police car, but they didn’t seem to mind, that or they were on their lunch break. Of course, the first time I tried to do it, I made the mistake of looking the wrong direction as I nearly walked in front of a bus. You kind of forget that these people drive on the wrong side of the road, thus you look the wrong way, and get up close and personal with several different kinds of vehicles. I am happy to report though, that both Christian and I have successfully concurred the art of Australian J-walking, and can now do it as well as any native Sydneyer, with the exception that we are wearing t-shirts.
Well, as I bet you will be finding out soon enough, I bought a car today, no not this one,
or this one, but this one and tomorrow we will be leaving Sydney, which will be nice. Sydney is a nice city, but we are ready to get out of here, it is just too busy, I want to discover the other side of Australia, that and we are going to be back here at the end of our trip, so I am ready to leave. I admit, that tomorrow will be a very weird and hectic drive and a story all on its own. We plan on heading to a city of 250,000 south of Sydney, I forget what it is called, but we need to pick up some more gear, in a city that is a little more car friendly. Well, we will update you when we get back to internet. Talk to you later, I have to finish packing and doing some other stuff. By the way you have no clue how weird it is to hear Christmas music in 32 degree weather? Don’t worry, I won’t brag.
Boring Day
November 9, 2009
Well today we went looking at cars again. Started off by taking a bus to Malubrau junction costing 3.80 per person, per direction. It was nice though, the suburb was really cool, not as much traffic, or congestion as in the city center. Most of the houses were made of brick and more of the style you would find in LA. We still haven’t hit Bondi beach, and yes I know that is very embarrassing considering it was like 32 degrees today. Any way, we found a station wagon for 5500 including full maintenance, year warranty, and road side assistance. Only 169,000 km on it, so not bad. Well on the way back to the hostel we hit the notice boards and found a posting for a van with new engine and transmission, as well as a bunch of camping gear. We walked over to have a look, but discovered that it only had a 2nd hand gear box and engine. After a little discussion we decided it wasn’t worth the risk, we don’t know the millage on either of them, though Chris didn’t seem all too concerned about that. On the way back we stopped by Central YHA in Sydney for supper and saw on the notice board a brand new posting for a 1992 4WD with 200,000 km for only 4500. We will look at that tomorrow, and if we don’t like it, we will buy the station wagon tomorrow afternoon. We went to a bar called Scuba tonight, it was packed, so much that I have a strange feeling that we were majorly over fire code. We left after a drink each, to loud, and to chaotic. Well, this is it for today, still working on trying to fix my blog, will talk later.
Well today we went looking at cars again. Started off by taking a bus to Malubrau junction costing 3.80 per person, per direction. It was nice though, the suburb was really cool, not as much traffic, or congestion as in the city center. Most of the houses were made of brick and more of the style you would find in LA. We still haven’t hit Bondi beach, and yes I know that is very embarrassing considering it was like 32 degrees today. Any way, we found a station wagon for 5500 including full maintenance, year warranty, and road side assistance. Only 169,000 km on it, so not bad. Well on the way back to the hostel we hit the notice boards and found a posting for a van with new engine and transmission, as well as a bunch of camping gear. We walked over to have a look, but discovered that it only had a 2nd hand gear box and engine. After a little discussion we decided it wasn’t worth the risk, we don’t know the millage on either of them, though Chris didn’t seem all too concerned about that. On the way back we stopped by Central YHA in Sydney for supper and saw on the notice board a brand new posting for a 1992 4WD with 200,000 km for only 4500. We will look at that tomorrow, and if we don’t like it, we will buy the station wagon tomorrow afternoon. We went to a bar called Scuba tonight, it was packed, so much that I have a strange feeling that we were majorly over fire code. We left after a drink each, to loud, and to chaotic. Well, this is it for today, still working on trying to fix my blog, will talk later.
HMAS Rammer
Well today Chris and I mostly took an easy day. We walked around darling harbor a bit more, and went and visited the maritime museum for free, well the exhibits were free, the
submarine, the warship and a replica of captain Cook’s “Endeavour” were not, much to our disappointment,
so we didn’t get to stand on them, but we did get some nice pictures from the dock and bridge. 
I learned a lot today about Australia’s history, I was reminded that cook explored and mapped the East coast of Australia, but that was the ship’s secret mission. It’s true mission was on behalf of the London observatory, there was a celestial event going on in that, in which Venus passes between us and the sun, and they needed like 17 observatories around the world in order to determine how far the earth is from the sun. So they petitioned King George for a ship so that they could send someone down here and set up a temporary observatory to measure the event. Mapping Australia was a free bonus, oh, and the Endeavour ran aground on a reef while mapping and Cook ordered 6 cannons and come ballast bars to be thrown overboard in hopes of loosening the ship, which indeed did work. Archeologists actually recovered all the cannons and ballast bars, and they are on display in several museums around Australia and also one in London.
I also learned a lot about Australia’s involvement in the fight for the Pacific. After Japan entered the war and took Hong Kong, Australia was kind of on its own for a while. The British sent over force Z (Churchill sent over a couple of big battle ships including 2 battle cruisers, one of whom was the flagship “The Prince Of Whales”) to intimidate the Japanese into backing off (The Japanese instead decided to bomb them with airplanes and successfully sunk both battle cruisers in a matter of minutes, forcing Force Z to flee, tails between their legs) instead the British pulled out of the pacific leaving Australia on it’s own, at least until the Americans could re-group. The Japanese actually sunk a couple of ships in Sydney harbor with their mini subs, including one RAN (Royal Australian Navy) ship. I also learned that in quite a few of the naval battles that occurred in the Pacific was a combination of both American and Australian ships fighting side by side. In fact the Americans named one of their new ships after one of the Australian vessels that were lost while fighting side by side.
Oh and the second version of the battleship HMAS Sydney was sunk by a German battle ship, can’t remember which one right now. Now we get to the aircraft Carrier HMAS Melbourne or as I like to call her “The Rammer”. While on maneuvers in the 60’s I think she accidentally ran over HMAS Voyager, cutting it in 2 and killing 93 men. Three inquiries later, they never did find the answer, but a couple of years later it ran over another ship, this time an American battleship killing 73 men. I don’t know about you, but I would be asking to revoke the captain’s driver’s license.
By the way Chris finally received his luggage today, and everything was there, though apparently it went through Hawaii, I think I was right, it must have been drunk and boarded the wrong plane. Well, I am off for the evening, and I am hoping to get my computer problems figured out soon.
submarine, the warship and a replica of captain Cook’s “Endeavour” were not, much to our disappointment, so we didn’t get to stand on them, but we did get some nice pictures from the dock and bridge. I learned a lot today about Australia’s history, I was reminded that cook explored and mapped the East coast of Australia, but that was the ship’s secret mission. It’s true mission was on behalf of the London observatory, there was a celestial event going on in that, in which Venus passes between us and the sun, and they needed like 17 observatories around the world in order to determine how far the earth is from the sun. So they petitioned King George for a ship so that they could send someone down here and set up a temporary observatory to measure the event. Mapping Australia was a free bonus, oh, and the Endeavour ran aground on a reef while mapping and Cook ordered 6 cannons and come ballast bars to be thrown overboard in hopes of loosening the ship, which indeed did work. Archeologists actually recovered all the cannons and ballast bars, and they are on display in several museums around Australia and also one in London.
I also learned a lot about Australia’s involvement in the fight for the Pacific. After Japan entered the war and took Hong Kong, Australia was kind of on its own for a while. The British sent over force Z (Churchill sent over a couple of big battle ships including 2 battle cruisers, one of whom was the flagship “The Prince Of Whales”) to intimidate the Japanese into backing off (The Japanese instead decided to bomb them with airplanes and successfully sunk both battle cruisers in a matter of minutes, forcing Force Z to flee, tails between their legs) instead the British pulled out of the pacific leaving Australia on it’s own, at least until the Americans could re-group. The Japanese actually sunk a couple of ships in Sydney harbor with their mini subs, including one RAN (Royal Australian Navy) ship. I also learned that in quite a few of the naval battles that occurred in the Pacific was a combination of both American and Australian ships fighting side by side. In fact the Americans named one of their new ships after one of the Australian vessels that were lost while fighting side by side.
Oh and the second version of the battleship HMAS Sydney was sunk by a German battle ship, can’t remember which one right now. Now we get to the aircraft Carrier HMAS Melbourne or as I like to call her “The Rammer”. While on maneuvers in the 60’s I think she accidentally ran over HMAS Voyager, cutting it in 2 and killing 93 men. Three inquiries later, they never did find the answer, but a couple of years later it ran over another ship, this time an American battleship killing 73 men. I don’t know about you, but I would be asking to revoke the captain’s driver’s license.
By the way Chris finally received his luggage today, and everything was there, though apparently it went through Hawaii, I think I was right, it must have been drunk and boarded the wrong plane. Well, I am off for the evening, and I am hoping to get my computer problems figured out soon.
November 7
Chris’s luggage did not show up as he was told today, so tomorrow I will be lending him some shorts and a clean t-shirt. We tried the private listing today with no success, at least in the 4WD market, know body answered when I called, or returned any of my phone calls. We may be buying a station wagon instead as we seem unable to track down a 4WD that we are interested in. We still haven’t completely given up, but it is a much more pain in the ass than what I was expecting. Maybe a station wagon would be better anyway; it will definitely be cheaper on gas.
Well we did a bit more exploring today we walked across the harbor bridge
(that is a lot bigger than what I originally thought, and taller to) and then walked around darling harbor later in the evening. The bridge was impressive, but nothing I wasn’t expecting, of course if I could have climbed the upper arch (you can do so with only a modest charge of 175 bucks. In return they give you a harness, a tether line, and probably a bottle of vodka to slow your quivering knees as you walk/climb/crawl your way to the peak) it would have been very impressive, if I wasn’t shaking like a bowl of jelly in an earthquake that is. That arch actually gets really high up there. Darling harbor
was cool, lots of bars and other entertainment including this guy. 
I saw his show when I was at the fringe in Edmonton, which makes me one of the few people who have seen his show on 2 different continents. This makes me feel special, and reminds me that it is a very small world after all. Well goodnight, lots of walking to do yet.
Well we did a bit more exploring today we walked across the harbor bridge
(that is a lot bigger than what I originally thought, and taller to) and then walked around darling harbor later in the evening. The bridge was impressive, but nothing I wasn’t expecting, of course if I could have climbed the upper arch (you can do so with only a modest charge of 175 bucks. In return they give you a harness, a tether line, and probably a bottle of vodka to slow your quivering knees as you walk/climb/crawl your way to the peak) it would have been very impressive, if I wasn’t shaking like a bowl of jelly in an earthquake that is. That arch actually gets really high up there. Darling harbor was cool, lots of bars and other entertainment including this guy. I saw his show when I was at the fringe in Edmonton, which makes me one of the few people who have seen his show on 2 different continents. This makes me feel special, and reminds me that it is a very small world after all. Well goodnight, lots of walking to do yet.
November 6
November 6, 2009
Well Chris arrived today, clothless, with the exception of those he has been wearing on his back for the last 2 days. By this I mean that he arrived, but his bags decided to go sightseeing in LA and missed the flight that their master was on. They probably were probably staking out Jennifer Lopez’s house and lost track of time. Trust Chris’s luggage to get distracted and forget where they are supposed to be, that or they went to the bar and got drunk. Which raises another question, does his luggage go through security? They are supposed to be delivering it right to our hostel, so who sends it through customs? It is an interesting question, maybe there is a way to smuggle stuff into a country, have your bags arrive 2 days after you.
In other news Chris and I went car shopping today, which is a tale all on its own. The sales person who we were handed was very.......full of spunk. First we jumped in a VW van so that she could run us over to the parking garage where they store all of their vehicles. 2 blocks later we were out of gas and Chris and I are pushing this thing off a very busy road. So somebody comes and picks us up to get as back to the shop. Here we jump into the car owned by the spunky energetic car sales lady which turns out to be one of those cars which are half truck, half car.
A truly Australian creation, and now I have ridden in one (Adam places a check mark on his Australian List), and what a ride it was. You have never lived an Australian experience until you have ridden with a spunky energetic South African (She has lived in Sydney since she was 4, 36 years now) in a truly Australian car, discussing why she should paint it a metallic green (as I recall, I used to have one of those weird cars as a toy, it was strangely metallic green as well, as I told her this she mentioned that the mechanics had never seen one in a metallic green and wanted to buy me a drink when I got back just to boast to them that there was indeed a green metallic car truck. If you think this conversation was erratic, you should have seen her driving. It was energetic, and I will leave it at that. Though I have to admit, most amusement rides don’t get my heart rate as high as that car ride did.). In the end we didn’t buy a car from them, but at least we have something to compare things to. And as an experience it was a once in a lifetime event, because there is no way in hell that I am getting in that car with her again. Tomorrow, I think we will check out the private listings.
Well Chris arrived today, clothless, with the exception of those he has been wearing on his back for the last 2 days. By this I mean that he arrived, but his bags decided to go sightseeing in LA and missed the flight that their master was on. They probably were probably staking out Jennifer Lopez’s house and lost track of time. Trust Chris’s luggage to get distracted and forget where they are supposed to be, that or they went to the bar and got drunk. Which raises another question, does his luggage go through security? They are supposed to be delivering it right to our hostel, so who sends it through customs? It is an interesting question, maybe there is a way to smuggle stuff into a country, have your bags arrive 2 days after you.
In other news Chris and I went car shopping today, which is a tale all on its own. The sales person who we were handed was very.......full of spunk. First we jumped in a VW van so that she could run us over to the parking garage where they store all of their vehicles. 2 blocks later we were out of gas and Chris and I are pushing this thing off a very busy road. So somebody comes and picks us up to get as back to the shop. Here we jump into the car owned by the spunky energetic car sales lady which turns out to be one of those cars which are half truck, half car.
A truly Australian creation, and now I have ridden in one (Adam places a check mark on his Australian List), and what a ride it was. You have never lived an Australian experience until you have ridden with a spunky energetic South African (She has lived in Sydney since she was 4, 36 years now) in a truly Australian car, discussing why she should paint it a metallic green (as I recall, I used to have one of those weird cars as a toy, it was strangely metallic green as well, as I told her this she mentioned that the mechanics had never seen one in a metallic green and wanted to buy me a drink when I got back just to boast to them that there was indeed a green metallic car truck. If you think this conversation was erratic, you should have seen her driving. It was energetic, and I will leave it at that. Though I have to admit, most amusement rides don’t get my heart rate as high as that car ride did.). In the end we didn’t buy a car from them, but at least we have something to compare things to. And as an experience it was a once in a lifetime event, because there is no way in hell that I am getting in that car with her again. Tomorrow, I think we will check out the private listings.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
I hate computers.
I hate computers I have a couple of blogs to add, but these stupid electronic things are fighting me all the way..............Ahhhhhh. I will get it anyway, just know this the next blog is a well described carnival ride.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Give me information oh hatter man
Just bought a cell phone today, so now people can call me down here, in the case of an emergency that is. I haven’t set it up yet, I needed to charge the battery first, and I ain’t sure how long that is going to take. I saw my sister yesterday; she looked good, tired but good. Oh, and my hostel got a little more crowded than it was last night, because like A whole bus load of young people showed up this morning, tonight should be an interesting night. Yesterday’s delirium about this city has retreated with today’s incursion into the city, and with the help of a good night’s sleep. Today I spent mostly walking through different retail outlets in searching for a prepaid phone, and a grocery store. It turns out that the section of the city I explored was the worst for comparing new and old, old architecture and cold concrete, go figure I hit the most confusing part of the city on a day I should have spent in the hot tub. The coolest part of today was by far the market, with fruit, clothes, jewelry, and everything else you would want, except information. I was disappointed though with respect to the hat store I found. It had lots of different outback hats, all of them really cool, but I was disappointed that I couldn’t get any information about any of them out of this guy. I wanted to learn why there were so many different models of the outback hat, if they were specific to any region, were different hats worn by specific professions, that is what I wanted to learn, hell, I would have bought a couple of hats if I could have found out their history. I would have thought that with that many tourists going through the guy would have learned the history of each hat, that way when a tourist tosses one on he could give a short history of it improving the cool factor, it would have worked on me. I haven’t found my book store yet; I need to find some Australian literature that was recommended in my travel guide. I will also begin looking for a car today and tomorrow. I might not be able to pick one up on the weekend, so I need to really look tomorrow. I would like to leave Sydney by Monday, not that there is nothing left to see, but I will be back here at the end of our trip in order to sell the car, so I need to save some stuff for when I come back. Well have to run; I need to do some online research.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
The Dingo Has Landed
Ok, am now at Hostel in Sydney, and my dorm is an old railway car.
I like, Australian customs, just annoying, but anyway after a brutal 16 hour flight, I am now on a whole new continent. Though after catching a train to central station at a rather steep fare of 17 bucks, I am now relaxing and trying to contact my sister. Sydney isn’t that hot right now, but it is really muggy. I tried to post much more, but due to limited internet access quit, sorry about short e-mails right now. I think I will go for a walk.
My original goal today was to cross the Sydney harbour bridge, but I got distracted, by everything else. I am really fighting this city right now mentally and physically. It is really muggy and humid outside and when I went walking down the street I felt sick from all of the exhaust fumes, tunnelling down between the buildings, thank god it was only 19 degrees outside. With respect to the mental struggle going on, that revolves around being tired from a long days travel, and not getting enough sleep (only slept about 4 hours in the last 48), serious change in climate, whenever I cross the street I keep looking the wrong way for the vehicles, and my orientation being completely screwed up. I couldn’t find north with a map, a compass, and a dog pointing me in the right direction. Lastly I can’t nail down an opinion on this place, the architecture seems chaotic at best, and their language seems like something out of a....... well, you know. The only place I found comfortable was the botanical gardens,
which are huge, I liked them better than the opera houses, and they are the main reason I didn’t reach the bridge.
I would like to go back there again if I got time, probably when Chris arrives, but he will be pretty tired to. Another thing that is bugging me is I can’t make up my mind as to weather or not I like this city, at least with respect to its architecture. It is so weird how one new building can tower above the all the old stone and brick,
but the next area a single lone brick structure stands sandwiched between buildings of glass and metal.
There doesn’t seem to be any connection between the old and new architecture, only the simple fact they exist, it seems to me like they are fighting old and new, but they will not blend them together, instead allowing them to fight and argue, but never work together. Boy do I pity Chris, that plane is going to be packed, at least one out of every 3 seats was empty on my plane allowing us to spread out and relax. I don’t think his will have extra room, and he has an 8 hour layover in LA. Depending on how I feel tomorrow I might buy a cell phone, and start looking into buying a car.
Met sister tonight and had cheap pizza, her hostel has more young people in it, but mine has more class though, railway cars seem to add a character that is rarely fund in a hostel.
Usually I would go for a walk in the evenings, but I am to tired tonight, that and my feet hurt. New orthotics, and I didn’t give them enough time to wear in yet, but I am pretty sure they will eventually. I haven’t done this much walking on concrete since Europe last year. I so need to find free WiFi tomorrow, this is too expensive. Also will be buying some groceries, will be cheaper especially for snacks.
I like, Australian customs, just annoying, but anyway after a brutal 16 hour flight, I am now on a whole new continent. Though after catching a train to central station at a rather steep fare of 17 bucks, I am now relaxing and trying to contact my sister. Sydney isn’t that hot right now, but it is really muggy. I tried to post much more, but due to limited internet access quit, sorry about short e-mails right now. I think I will go for a walk.My original goal today was to cross the Sydney harbour bridge, but I got distracted, by everything else. I am really fighting this city right now mentally and physically. It is really muggy and humid outside and when I went walking down the street I felt sick from all of the exhaust fumes, tunnelling down between the buildings, thank god it was only 19 degrees outside. With respect to the mental struggle going on, that revolves around being tired from a long days travel, and not getting enough sleep (only slept about 4 hours in the last 48), serious change in climate, whenever I cross the street I keep looking the wrong way for the vehicles, and my orientation being completely screwed up. I couldn’t find north with a map, a compass, and a dog pointing me in the right direction. Lastly I can’t nail down an opinion on this place, the architecture seems chaotic at best, and their language seems like something out of a....... well, you know. The only place I found comfortable was the botanical gardens,
which are huge, I liked them better than the opera houses, and they are the main reason I didn’t reach the bridge.
I would like to go back there again if I got time, probably when Chris arrives, but he will be pretty tired to. Another thing that is bugging me is I can’t make up my mind as to weather or not I like this city, at least with respect to its architecture. It is so weird how one new building can tower above the all the old stone and brick,
but the next area a single lone brick structure stands sandwiched between buildings of glass and metal.
There doesn’t seem to be any connection between the old and new architecture, only the simple fact they exist, it seems to me like they are fighting old and new, but they will not blend them together, instead allowing them to fight and argue, but never work together. Boy do I pity Chris, that plane is going to be packed, at least one out of every 3 seats was empty on my plane allowing us to spread out and relax. I don’t think his will have extra room, and he has an 8 hour layover in LA. Depending on how I feel tomorrow I might buy a cell phone, and start looking into buying a car.
Met sister tonight and had cheap pizza, her hostel has more young people in it, but mine has more class though, railway cars seem to add a character that is rarely fund in a hostel.
Usually I would go for a walk in the evenings, but I am to tired tonight, that and my feet hurt. New orthotics, and I didn’t give them enough time to wear in yet, but I am pretty sure they will eventually. I haven’t done this much walking on concrete since Europe last year. I so need to find free WiFi tomorrow, this is too expensive. Also will be buying some groceries, will be cheaper especially for snacks.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Long Flight
Location, somewhere over the pacific ocean, about 100km north of the equator, 8 hours into a 16 hour flight. Had free wifi in Vancouver so I posted my Edmonton blog from there, but ran out of time before i could post anything about Vancouver airport as I got into a conversation with a guy who was flying to Sydney with me. Vancouver airport is kind of cool, though at 11:30 at night not much was happening, still like it better than Edmonton’s . Anyway the plane left Canadian soil at exactly midnight, and 15 minutes later the flight attendent asked if there were any doctors on board, nice hu, guy behind us was white as death, but he got better after they administered him some oxogen. Anyway going through Vancouver has one major advantage right now, the olympics, which means the airport is in tip top shape, and all planes flying there are pretty much brand new, with lotys of leg room, wouldn’t want to make a bad impression now would they. I was incredibly impressed with air Canada’s preformance, a 9.5 in my book, good food, decent leg room, and free snacks. There were some major thunderclouds we passed earlier, we were at 39,000 feet, and they were at eye level. The sun will be rising over th horizon soon, I am hoping to get some good pictures of it. Sun rose just as we crossed the Equator, cool timimg hu? 
Will post more when I hit Sydney.
Will post more when I hit Sydney.Monday, November 2, 2009
Operation Dingo
Phase one of operation Dingo is now completed have cleared security at the Edmonton airport, and safely escaping the grasps of my mother, don't worry mom, I am glad you hugged me. Wifi access unsuccessful there, not worth 10 bucks. Was unable to contact travel companion code named Charlie, about inability to obtain flag, Will contact in Vancouver. I have need to report of near epic disaster codenamed EpicFail that occurred today at 12:00 hours. Was adding finishing touches to packing when I noted my little black book, also known as a passport had gone on vacation without me. After an hour of searching a horrifying thought struck me, I found it under a thin layer of plastic in the garbage can. It should be noted when you are cleaning up your room, you should pile your passport far away from where you are piling the garbage. Near epic fail averted. New Note, must thank travel agent, gave me a seat right beside emergency exit, major leg room.
New Location just took off, can see the lights wonderfully from edmonton, stars are beautiful as well. Now practicing foot arch supports as recommended by Jocelyn (hi). I wish I could see the mountains though, but it is to dark.
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