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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.