A wonderful hike in Anza Borrego State Park, gawking at all the flowers.

A wonderful (yet hot) day walking around the hanging valleys above Embd

A really great day walking from Zermatt to the Europabruecke

Wandering around the Mattertal

Mountain scooters!

Fantastic day walking off the beaten path

A lighter day, walking around the vineyards of Sierre.

A break from the weather and injury, bussing around to Zinal.

Toughest day yet ends painfully for me.

A fanstatic day in the high Alps under the glaciers

We skip the high pass and opt for a spa day.

A drizzly hike to Cabane Louvie, at first not fun then very enjoyable.

Definitely a rest day: a half day up to St Bernard Pass—more interesting than we expected!—then lazing around.

Another nearly-as-tough day up and down into Champex-Lac, then Orsières.

Today’s hike is over the border into Switzerland and the Col de Foclaz... 20.5km, with 1030m ascent and 830m decent.

A fairly hardcore and incredibly scenic 12km walk in the mountains just north of Chamonix, France.

Headed out to Mt San Jacinto for an alpine hike, hiking up to Tahquitz Lookout above Idyllwild on a pretty blue sky day!

A wonderful holiday hike in the mountains.

A weekend getaway to Coorg, west of Bangalore in the lush green Western Ghats

Second part of the day in Hampi

A fantastic day seeing the incredible rock city of Hampi in northwest Karnakata, India

Today was enjoyable and a bit random: Julian are I were invited to a wedding function! Of course, how could I say no?

After a long flights, some India. And Julian.

A few days of exploring Eastern Washington, hiking and peering at spring wildflowers

Around the loop on Stewart Island. Pleasant but muddy.

An OK time, let down a bit by the chilly freezing weather, the fog, with more than a few annoying characters too. My least favorite of the four tracks this trip.

Yes, I'd say it's the finest walk in the world. Or one of them.

A great three days of walking the Routeburn Track on the South Island of New Zealand

Another visit, with a mezcal tour, caves, and food of course

A short walk up Whale Peak

Running my first marathon in Portland

Last day. A pleasant start to a relaxed and hot day, finishing the GR20 in Conca.

A long and hot day; I cut it short when I see a spectacular mountain ridge.

A bright shiny day scares the grumpies away! Except for the tedious ridgeline, a good long day.

An early start, a soggy ending, a sad refuge

Back on the GR20 today--a half day from Vizzanova on the sourthern section of the GR20.

Four days of relaxation at a villa by the sea, and a couple of road trips to the rugged northwest coast of Corsica and a visit to Bonifacio.

I wanted a nice relaxing day, so I pushed it hard and combined two day's walking into one.

The tough day wasn't quite all that, and we enjoyed walking along the ridgeline in perfectly fine weather and the fantastic views.

Another fine day along the GR20 -- and the 'easest day' so far.

A much longer day than expected. More 'moderate" than "easy"

A wonderful and exhausting day up and over the high point of the GR20, through snow and scree, and a wonderful refuge at the end.

Sun came out! A great hike over to the Haut Asco ski area.

We climbed a mountain, scrambled along a crest, and then hated the downhill.

A hard half day walk to the Refuge

A very long transition day

A wonderfully sunny day for getting out and about, with a visit to Kew Gardens.

Off to London on the way to Corsica

I decide to start training for a marathon this summer.

A big charismatic megafauna day ends up meh, and onto Brunei.

A moderate hike in the morning. Afternoon flight to Sandakar.

A lazy day, yet full of things to do: a walk up a river to a waterfall, a walk along the treetops high above the ground. And butterflies.

A fun day of adventure: boat rides and cave tours and swimming in the clear water.

We're ready for adventure. Today is a visit to Deer Cave, which has the largest cave room in the world.

Finally, we arrive at Mulu National Park, and get on with the adventuring!

We head off past the typhoon to Kota Kinabalu, then onwards to wonderful Mulu National Park on the north of the island of Borneo.

A complicated series of moves from Los Angeles to Manila

Took a 4 mile walk through the undeveloped section of San Diego's Balboa Park, thinking I'd see maybe 20 native plants in flower. I saw 42 native species--and problably missed several too!

Today, our last real full day in Patagonia, is a biggie: we're doing a guided 4km hike on top of Perito Moreno Glacier. It was really unexpectedly excellent, and not just pretty good. The weather was clear and warm, the scenery great, and most of all walking on top of the glacier was unlike any place I'd been before.

A travel day from El Chaltén back to El Calafate. Walking in the morning, cake and coffee, bus ride, dinnner.

Another great hike today--this time it was from our B&B to Lago Torre, an easy 18km out-and-back to the lake at the foot of Torre Glacier, with the spire of Cerro Torre rising behind. The weather was sunny and warm, the wind subsided, and the trail was fast and flat--and uncrowded!

A wonderful day with a long hike to the Laguna de Los Tres, just below the spectacular Monte Fitz Roy.

A long long day of bussing from Chile to Argentina.

A zero Sunday in Puerto Natales

We're still undecided--do we go see the Torres del Paine or not?

Today we decide not to hike up the French Valley with the crowds, but just to have a leisurely day walking the 14km/9 miles to our cabin at Refugio Curenos.

Today was the start of some easy days--an 11km stroll down to Paine Grande was on the agenda, and the weather held. It was also the first section of the W circuit, which meant people people people, irritating and entertaining.

A fantastic and hard 13 mile day up and over Paso John Gardner to Refugio Grey

Today we lazily get up and get out and hike the eight miles through the cold snow pellets up to Camping Los Perros.

First day in Torres del Paine, a hot 19 mile walk from Torres Central to Refugio Dickson

Hello, Patagonia. We sleep in and bus-bus-shuttle to Torres del Paine. It's strongly different than the last time, so many more people, it's not any secret anymore.

Long travel days from San Diego to Punta Arenas to start a couple of weeks of travel around the end of the world.

Hiked around chilly Chiricahua National Monument in southern Arizona. A good day.

All the gear I ended up with on the PCT.

3 days on Oahu

A moderately tough scramble to a tall waterfall on the Na Pali coast of Kauai

A great hike on a clear day through the Alakai Swamp on Kauai island

A nice hike on a warm day.

Call this the awkward 'everything else' post: gear that I didn't need during the day when I was hiking, and too bulky for a stuff sack.

The long detailed list of everything I packed for camp--and the most overlooked camping item

Backpack, tent, sleeping bag, pad. The Big Four gear I took on the PCT. Plus a bonus.

A comprehensive table of my PCT hiking

A pleasant day for a ten mile hike up Monument Peak in the Laguna Mountains

Touring around Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Yet another transit day, this time to Almaty, Kazakhstan.

A transit through Abu Dhabi.

We're off; via San Francisco and Abu Dhabi to Almaty, a unlikely tripling of cities.

My gear for filtering and storing water.

My last day on the PCT, from Hopkins Lake into Manning Park, BC.

A great day of hiking through wonderful country, yet my thoughts are drifting towards home

Good day of hiking through great country, near Harts Pass

The unexpectedly hot smoky scenic country north of Rainy Pass.

Hot yet moderate day walking out of Stehekin to Rainy Pass

Today, like yesterday, is one of those travel days--the final part of the bus/bus/bus/shuttle/ferry segment.

A travel day from Seattle to Chelan via Wenatchee

The first gear post: clothing

Blog posting will be sporadic. (Uh, belay that.)

A hot hiking day into Stevens Pass.

Another great, warm day in the Alpine Lakes wilderness.

Having a great time. Scenic and just relaxed.

A stunningly scenic day, rejoining the PCT east of Seattle after breakfast with Eric, and walking along ridge lines in the warm sun. Plus huckleberries.

Hiked up Mt Ellinor in the Olympic Mountains and saw goats!

Crossing from California into Oregon on another uneventful and pleasant hiking day along the ridges south of Ashland.

A fast day to an omelette, then resting through the heat, until a 6 mile evening hike

A fantastically scenic day hiking through the Marble Mountains

Bright sunshiny happy hiking day! Lots of wildlife and flowers.

Short walk into town, seeing Junior off

A fast and quick day up and down ridgelines.

A pleasant day walking along the ridges

Another good day, an easy 22 miles

I get back on the trail, finding Junior, and we have a great day through wonderful scenery.

More on leaving the PCT, and getting back on it... and change a few things.

Relieved, and home.

Sick and tired.

A very long hike on a very long and waterless day

A superfast and hot day along downhill trail

A great lunch today at Drakesbad, best so far on the PCT, and easy and interesting hiking

Stay in motel until checkout. Walk 9 miles and call it a day.

Quick and dirty hike into Chester

Decent day of hiking for a burger and a beer near Bucks Lake, California

Yummy breakfast. Long hiking. Swimming in the river

Easy hiking along the ridgelines north of Sierra City

A day of resupply, bookended by hiking

So. Many. Wildflowers. A wonderful day walking along the ridgelines north of Donner Pass towards Sierra City. One of my favorite days so far on the trail.

Another fine day of hiking along the Tahoe high country, past Truckee and to the north of Interstate 80

A long yet moderate day cruising through the mountains west of Lake Tahoe

Half day in Tahoe, then back on the trail!

A fantastic bubbly double trail magic day walking along the scenic ridges south of Lake Tahoe

A wonderfully warm day through unexpected rugged and scenic volcanic terrain with heaps of spring wildflowers.

Making good time through varied volcanic and granitic terrain

A nero day--drying out in south Tahoe, then back on the trail for a wonderful evening hike five miles north of Sonora Pass.

Scooting through the cool rain up and over big misty mountains to Sonora Pass

Woo hoo. I've been feeling the trail rhythm today.

An unexpectedly strenuous day through the northern backcountry of Yosemite National Park.

A soggy start to a good day

i start late, and rush a bit too much, and hike a lot.

I linger perhaps a bit too long in Mammoth, then start walking towards Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park.

A moderate day of hiking, without much snow at all

A fantastic day over Muir Pass to Piaute Creek

Hiked over Mather Pass to the base of Muir Pass

Hiked with two others up and over easy Pinchot Pass through austere high mostly treeless country to the base of Mather Pass

I descend down kinda scary Glen Pass, then cruise along to Woods Creek for the night, camping with two other PCTers

I felt euphoric all day... until the end.

I'm sticking with the original plan, and walking to Canada from Independence and Kearsarge Pass.

I wrestle with where to start the PCT again.

The toughest day on the trail: up and down endless steps

To Hongu, then onwards to Koguchi with 8km of road walking (ugh) and 8km of trail walking (yay)

A long walk to the shrines

Hiking in the mist, then an pleasant afternoon. An enjoyable day.

A walk around Kyoto in the morning, then we start our hike on the Komodo Kodo trail.

Packing for two and a half trips at once: the Sierra, the rest of the PCT, and the Kumano Kodo

My workflow for uploading and editing photos while hiking

Once again, section D frustrates me with fickle weather. I'm heading back home.

A short day to traverse the south ridge above Wrightwood, then into town for the afternoon and night.

A hard days walk uphill from I-15 and the Cajon Pass.

A return to the PCT for a few days, to pick up Section D

Backing away from the trail for a few weeks.

Up and over Forester Pass, at 13,200' the highest elevation on the PCT

An excellent hiking day, with an exhausting finish over slushy snow

Arriving in the High Sierra on a warm spring day.

Cottonwood Pass panorama

Warm and sunny, pleasant day.

And then sunshine and warmth. A decision reversed.

Cold and snowy and overcast--a dreary march north into the unknown conditions of the High Sierra, and a decision is made.

FIndings, discoveries, and just plain old lessons in the first 702 miles of the PCT.

A big day of doing not much, plus some hikers!

A half-day walk to the Kennedy Meadows Store--the end of Southern California, and the start of the High Sierra.

Today is avoidance day--avoid the gnats and lightning and rain

A mighty fine day--sunny, warm but not too hot, lots of wildflowers, feeling fit.

A zero day in Lake Isabella

A pleasant mostly shady walk, with a motel at the end of the day

A grind of a day through the sand and shadeless desert

Section F is not to be feared. A pleasant day walking in the forest.

In contrast to yesterday, a pleasant ramble along a ridgeline

Challenging? Character building? Chilly? I think I'll just describe today as memorable.

Resting and planning and meeting up with the parents.

A varied day of desert and mountains and wind

A 'minimal' day turns into a very full day... and night

A quick 15 miles across yet more chaparral, with chairs and beer.

Back on the trail. A slow start through dry country, ending on a green mountain.

I'm itching to get back on the trail. I don't belong here at home.

I scoot back down the mountain, and shelter in San Diego at home

Trying to figure out what to do. Snow is expected on Tue and Wed for the mountains west beyond Wrightwood.

Back in the groove. Great day walking through unexpectedly green landscape, with a nice motel room at the end.

Almost all my days so far on the PCT have been great. This was not one of those days.

A quick cool sunny stroll downhill to Deep Creek Bridge, with no real agenda other than walking.

A kind of lazy day--resupply in the morning, walking in the afternoon to a great campsite.

Hopped for several miles across Mission Creek, then sharply uphill into the forest.

Hopped for several miles across Mission Creek, then sharply uphill into the forest.

Visited the beautiful Whitewater Preserve, then decide to really escape the heat and run for the hills.

I take a rest day in Palm Springs.

Down down down, dropping 6000 feet off Fuller Ridge into the heat of the desert. Spectacular views, and a bit arduous.

Really great day hiking. Until the snow traverses.

Short day, with afternoon idling in Idyllwild. Burger. Pizza.

Sluggish to start, then a day in the scrub. Not a particularly thrilling day

My favorite day of hiking so far, following a creek up a wooded canyon, then a high traverse across remote mountains, ending up at Trail Angel Mike's.

Some notes on this blog

A wonderfully scenic and easy downhill day, leaving the desert for the pretty oak grasslands around Warner Springs. And blisters :-(

A wonderful day. A visit from Chris and a friends family. A hearty meal in Julian. A great walk through a cactus garden. Plus a boa and a rattlesnake.

A long day of hiking down into the desert

A good walk today, putting the scenic in PCT. And my gear get shaken down by Pillsbury.

A pretty walk at first, than a climb up towards Mt Laguna.

Started the PCT today. A pleasant but long walk from the southern terminus at the Mexican border, north 20 miles to Lake Morena County Park (bonus: milkshake, hot showers)

I finish packing and wrap things up at home.

I spend a few hours mucking around and loading GPS waypoints onto my Garmin

The eating plan is coming together

A random smattering of preparation to-do-list

A quick look forward.

23000 calories in a can

It's two weeks before I start walking. What's my day-by-day to-do list look like?

Today I spent the morning making my final pack list--discarding the unnecessary items, eliminating all the alternatives, weighing the primary selections on the kitchen scale, then stuffing the Chosen Items in their colored stuff sacks or Ziploc bags.

Blogging on the PCT: what's the appropriate level?

I go 20th century and buy a phone card

A final rough plan for resupply

I changed out my tent today... for one that's heavier.

It's an incredibly poor snow year. I'm moving the start of my PCT walk up 13 days to March 17th.

Backpack, sleeping bag, tent: the old gear I used to use, and the new gear coming along with me this year

Curious about what agencies and jurisdictions the PCT passes through as it heads north from the Mexican border

We headed up to the west side of Joshua Tree yesterday--there's a nice 6 1/2 mile loop hike just out of the west entrance, winding through those odd rockpiles Joshua tree is known for, walking through some sandy washes, and shaking down some new gear for my PCT walk next month.

Went running for the first time in a week. Went well. No plantar fasciosis, yay!

Roughing out the days on the PCT from the Sierras to Canada

A tasty recipe from Momofuku Milk Bar

A brief review of what gear worked when camping in the snow, what didn't, and what just wasn't necessary.

Applied for my PCT permit today... and a twinge of plantar fasciitis.

How to get on and off the trail in the southern Sierra

Playing in the snow with an ice ax

A bit of snowshoeing and snow hiking in the mountains on a bright blue day.

Hitting the trail for two days of snow camping in the Sierra

Heading off to Tahoe to go camp in the snow... and learn a few things.

Meeting up with another thru-hiker for the first time

A run through of my gadgetry

My current biggest worries about hiking the PCT

There's a long ways to walk in the Sierras without resupply.

A brief overview of my PCT hiking plans.

Getting excited--and nervous--about a class next week to teach me how to camp and hike in the snow and cold.

A decent day hiking around San Miguel Mountain

Friends are very curious about my plan to hike the PCT. Here are three questions from David in London.

What happens when you don't specify a date in a post or filename??

Short version for index and feeds

Using the path to set metadata, rather than including it in a post's metadata header.

First Post to blog

Specifying metadata in an article (post) always takes precedence over filename or filepath.

How little metadata can an article get away with?

"Like a big country town". Yikes! I've been in Brisbane 22 hours, and it's the town motto, on everyone's lips.

Why not "Home of the Bee Gees" instead?

Our last day on the island, which we spent having a much better time than expected at the Amadée lighthouse snorkeling.
I had booked a tour to the Amadée lighthouse earlier in the week from the tour operator in the hotel... Chris and I had a little argument; he said I paid twice as much as I should have since we had vouchers for A$60 each and I had paid 10200XPF. Hm. Grrrr... maybe those were the 'Japanese prices' that Andre warned us about. Chris then thought some more, and it looks like I only paid US$10 more ...

A wonderful day, full of interesting scenery. We got up real early, had a quick breakfast, and were on the road out of town by 6:30 just as the sun was coming up. It was cloudy but not drizzly like the day before, and traffic was light; it took us 30 minutes to get into the maquis (as the scrub is called here).

We kept going past the entrance to the Parc Provincal de la Rivière Bleue, then saw a sign to "Bois du Sud, 2.1km"... so we said it can't be that bad if it's ...

Day of wandering about central Nouméa... with actual decisiveness towards the end! We rent a 4WD!

10:00am

One of the frustrating things I'm finding here in New Caledonia is that there are interesting things to see here on this island, but finding out where they are and how to get to them is very difficult. I've been trying to find more information about the strange plant life and landscapes here--but to no avail. The ranger at the Parc Provincal de la Rivière Bleue didn't have information, the botanic gardens didn't either (we were told to ...

In New Caledonia. A very strange island. Half French, as in France French, with butter from Normandy shipped halfway around the world and Bordeaux wine. Nevermind that Australia and New Zealand are less than a three hour flight away... and the closest big city is Brisbane.

Getting irritated that I can't find any local information about interesting plants. It's not on most tourist's agendas... we're not the right kind of tourist, though. With prices so high here (an hour of Internet access at a cafe is US$10, a rental car is US$70 a day ...

Today we took our little Renault Twingo all around the island, seeing what strange attractions are in the west and northeast of New Caledonia. While we found some interesting things, such as strange black cliffs near Hienghène, cute roadside fruit stands, and an old World War II US air base, we found most of the scenery simply pleasant rather than wonderful--and not as weird and fascinating as the landscapes east and south of Nouméa.

Starting early, we gobbled down a quick breakfast and headed north along the western side of the island. The landscape was primarily flat to rolling, with ...

OK. A day around town. And with a rental car too!

I just couldn't wake up today. Took three big cups of good French coffee.
Picked up the rental car at the hotel here--they dropped it off. Then after breakfast headed out to the Tjibaou Cultural Center. Caught the 10:30 English language tour. We were the only two on the tour, and our tour guide was excellent. She led us first along the cultural center's extensive native plant section, which is divided into five areas along a single path.
We then wandered around inside looking at the ...

After a lazy morning, we met Andre for lunch and spent the afternoon snorkeling with the fishes and relaxing.

We woke up at 8. Breakfast downstairs in the hotel was pleasant, it was a buffet and more European than Australian: there were cheeses and meats, along with the standard cereal and fruit fare. The sun was bright, the sky was cloudless, the temperature was in the mid-20's. It looked like a very good day.
Afterwards, we looked at renting a car. Budget wanted 30000XPF (at a 131XPF to US$1 rate, this was US$230.) For a two day ...

A long day--flying to New Caledonia from Sydney, then getting to the hotel took up most of the day.

Early wakeup--6am. Got dressed, put the stuff in bags in the car (parked in an underground car park at the Stamford Plaza Airport), then a quick breakfast. Looking out the window, we could see the airport covered in fog, but we didn't worry.
Hopped on the 8am shuttle to the international terminal--which took forever as we also stopped by the Ibis and the Holiday Inn. Arrived at the airport at 8:45 and checked in for our 10:25 flight ...

Nowhere have I seen such oppressive, in-your-face, roadside driver propaganda as I have here in Australia. Not in Scandinavia, not in the rest of Europe, not in Canada, not in the United States--and not even in Singapore, the nanny state par excellence.

You have to wonder about the effectiveness of a public education campaign where a typical driver can receive one 'impression' every two to three minutes. Most drivers would get desensitized, I would think.

So, for all of you that have been questioning 'can it really be that bad?', I took pictures of every roadside warning sign I saw ...

http://www.marmot.net/2002au/2002-04/2002-0422_Canberra/

Posted several pictures from our wanderings around Canberra today and yesterday--in particular, Parliament House, the National Museum of Australia, and the Australian War Memorial.

Comments

dancubca

April 23 2002, 08:45:39

Hey Daniel,

I absolutely love the posts (and pics) from your trip! Thanks for doing it :)

Of course, I'm really looking forward to your post about Perth as I'm considering a move there someday.

danlmarmot

April 23 2002, 15:37:25

Running away from something? Perth is absolutely the furthest city you can go to from the Bay Area ...

1. Rent a car
2. Buy a map, not that it'll help that much.
3. Parliament House 4. National Museum of Australia 5. Australia War Memorial

Spend a wonderfully pleasant day in Canberra. Mailed off a box of books back home; for the record, it's A$60 to mail a 16kg box of printed material to the US.

Then a bit of more shopping at the clearance racks at Katmandhu, a block away from the apartment. I needed a few more hiking shirts, as my old North Face 100% nylon shirt has got a bit too stinky. Walked by a park with some 'garden sculptures' of huge casuarina seedpods--must get a picture of myself sitting on them tomorrow morning.

Then we drove over to the ...

One heard three times today: "Australia is a young nation, so... [insert some whinging here]."

Puleeze. California's a young place, settled from the 1820's, but I don't hear that in California. Nor do I hear Singaporeans (founded 1965) or even New Zealanders (independence 1949) use this useless phrase.

Comments

mathan

April 22 2002, 06:01:22

Canada uses it all the time. :)

trckrfckr

April 22 2002, 07:37:02

I would say more that some Canadians use it all the time.

armaroundyou

April 22 2002, 23:39:13

I just thinnk that Californians consider about two centuries ...

Well, yesterday (Sunday) we had one thing to do: go to the Buchan Caves in eastern Victoria. It's one of the few nature thingies you can do regardless of the weather--and good for that, as it has just been pissing down rain on Saturday since we left the Prom. Fields were all flooded, rivers were surging, and potholes were sprouting.

Buchan Caves were fairly interesting; we did the Royal Cave tour. With six inches of rain in the past few days, they were wet as well--the water had percolated the 30m or so into the cave system, with dripping ...

Yes, that's what I think I did to my modem when I plugged it into the lovely phone line at the St George Motor Inn in north Melbourne last week.

But all is better now; an quasi-cheapo PCMCIA modem now does the work. Still, I still think the old modem could be OK, and perhaps it's the phone system here in the past three hotels. They all emit an odd warbling tone for the dial tone--and then just go silent while you dial. Even now, I can't dial my very national ISP, Telstra BigPond, on this particular ...

Wonderful day hiking around at the Prom (Wilson's Promotory NP).

We rented a cabin in the park for tomorrow night, at the very southern tip of the park--and the Australian mainland! Should be fun, though it is a 19km hike in.

Yet another Strange Wildlife Sighting today: while waiting in the parking lot, Chris got a jump from a rosella that landed on the radio aerial! The rosella--a kind of parrot--then hopped onto the rear view mirror on my door. I snapped a few pics, then it flew off. It wasn't more than two feet away.

That's ...

How many oceans are there? Really?

The US says four: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic
Australia says four: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern

And where are the Seven Seas?

Comments

koalabr

April 13 2002, 05:01:00

North and South Atlantic, North and South Pacific, the Indian, Arctic and Great Southern oceans.

More pictures from our trip: http://www.marmot.net/2002au/gal/2002-0409/

This is from Tuesday, when we took a day trip down the Great Ocean Road southwest of Melbourne.

Comments

anonymous

April 17 2002, 06:53:47

Great pictures! Especially the one of Bear and Marmot!! You both look great! JMP

I am amused. The Muzak that plays in the Melbourne train/subway stations anything, it seems from the Priscilla soundtrack--with a smattering of 70's of other disco hits.

"Let us Groove" (?) by Kool and the Gang(?) was this evening's selection at Melbourne Central, along with "Finally" by CeCe-whoever that was. Wednesday at the Parliament station was "I Love the Nightlife".

Act-SHOWN!

Comments

nfotxn

April 13 2002, 08:53:16

That's so much better than the smooth jazz and pan-flute instrumentals you get in most places around here!

danlmarmot

April 13 2002, 10:16:15

Hee! We have ...

http://www.jerkcity.com/jerkcity1289.html

Comments

haenck

April 12 2002, 09:31:23

I don't say this lightly... but...

Would you marry me?

danlmarmot

April 12 2002, 17:05:52

Sure. What number wife do you want to be?

haenck

April 12 2002, 17:33:52

Oh, I've been crushed by life, you can give me a high number...

ranger1

April 14 2002, 00:17:34

Take a number, bub!

More pictures from Thursday. http://www.marmot.net/2002au/gal/2002-0412/index.htm

I tease a swan and stand in front of a huge grass tree. We eat the yummy smoked trout salad. We do errands in northern suburbs, and admire the public art on the private CityLink freeway.

Comments

mathan

April 11 2002, 22:27:39

The Aussies already own 50% of the 407 here in Toronto and they're bloody ripping us off!!

The 407 is quite easily the most expensive toll road in North America.

orgelcub

April 11 2002, 23:00:35

That's very curious, because ...

OK. I've decided to post more pictures. I'm getting rather slow... making sure each picture is perfect.

So I'm now aiming for speed: grab a few interesting pictures, do batch editing on all of them so they look sorta decent, then doing a thumbnail sheet of them all with minimal captioning.

Yesterday's pics are at http://www.marmot.net/2002au/gal/2002-0411/ . We went to the Melbourne Garden and Flower Show and the Melbourne Museum, and there are a couple of pictures of what streets look like here. Enjoy!

"Not enough boy flowers at the Melbourne Flower Show for you, Dan?"

You decide--here's one of the floral exhibits:
http://www.marmot.net/2002au/images/2002-04/2002-0411/img_7887.jpg

[for the techincally literate, this 82kb file was almost impossible to encode without lots of JPEG artifacts!]

Comments

orgelcub

April 11 2002, 01:23:24

Ow. Do you have to do that?

Dons sunglasses for the second time today

Question: If you're going to San Francisco, what kind of flowers should you be sure to wear in your hair? - "I'm having a bad Banksia day"???

hehehehe

:P

A great day in Melbourne--first to the Garden and Flower Show, then to the new Melbourne Museum behind it, then to Prahan Market for foodie stuff.

It was a nice warm day--maybe 25c; we took the train to the flower show, which is a big big major deal. It's $17 to get in, and thousands of people were going. Browsing the retail stands you can certainly tell this is a nominally British country: it's all about daffs and tulips and various bulbs and English cottage garden plants. The Queen would be proud! Does Melbourne have the same climate ...

I've finally made web pages for a project on our trip. The idea is to make a visual log of where we've been, so every time the odometer rolls over another 1000km I've taken a picture. Plus it helps me remember all the places we've been.

The log can be seen at http://www.marmot.net/2002au/log/odometer/ Enjoy!

... Chicago, with a little bit of London, and some parts of Toronto, and a twist here and there of Brooklyn, and a small slice of Sacramento, and a dash of Spokane.

Screw it. Melbourne is like Melbourne.

And on that note, Sydney is like Sydney--it's not 'the San Francisco of the South Pacific' like so many Americans like to think. Sydney would have to be a lot filthier and get a lot more homeless to look like San Francisco--you just don't hear the San Francisco greeting 'Spare change?' in Sydney!

Comments

henare

April 7 2002, 23:33:56 ...

In case anyone asks...
I walked down Chapel Street in Melbourne tonight...
And passed no more than six Mexican restaurants...

Most of them had potatoes on the menu, if that's a hint. One had noodles.

Comments

anonymous

April 7 2002, 22:38:38

And the quest continues around the world! I saw an advert yesterday for 'Mexican Food Made to Perfection' at the Arizona bar and restaurant in Camden Town. It features 'special family roast' on Saturday and Sunday. Sure sounds Mexican! Loved talking to you yesterday! Party ON!

OK... I'm on the fastest net connection I've ever had in Australia.

Give you one guess where I've found it. Hint: It's not an Internet cafe.

Comments

nfotxn

April 7 2002, 14:31:04

Kiosk? Library? GPRS?

danlmarmot

April 7 2002, 16:19:56

Sex club.

Back from Tasmania. The ferry departed at about 4.30pm on Saturday. We once again took advantage of the 'Teen Lounge/Galactica' video game and pinball machines, noticing that (a) Teenagers of Today have no concept how to play pinball and (b) pinball machines on ships don't have their tilt sensors activated at all!

So we had dinner at 6.30, read a bit, and went to bed... for the ferry was scheduled to dock in Melbourne about 5:00am. yawn You couldn't sleep much past 3am anyway, since they kept on announcing 'Breakfast is now served in ...

Grrr. My ISP, Telstra BigPond, has a very interesting ISP dialin number. There's only one number for all of Australia, and it's charged at the price of a local call (80 cents typically). Makes it handy.

Telstra, being the national telco company and holding a pretty good monopoly on local phone service, pulled this off by creating their very own special area code: 01.

Irritatingly enough, though, some PBX's can't handle this funky new-and-Telstra BigPond ISP number at all. Like the PBX that's in this rather dingy apartment we've rented for the week in ...

Report on Mexican food: bad.

For the record, Chinese food is often not Chinese food here (or anywhee else for that matter). We had the most curious food in Burnie (Tasmania). Chicken satay. (yes, in a Chinese restaurant). It was breaded and deep fried chicken in a sweet peanut sauce. Beef with plum sauce... and mango. The list goes on...

Comments

haenck

April 4 2002, 14:03:07

Well, now you know.

My problem is an inability to have any sense AT ALL as to whether a restaurant will be good or sucky. I have learned to ignore the little ...

Why not Mexican food for dinner?

Comments

henare

April 4 2002, 00:03:44

these folks learned how to cook from the british. do you really want a boiled burrito?!? :)

nfotxn

April 4 2002, 00:09:02

You're there to experience the country, right? I say go for it! Take a dive. It may suck but you'll have stories!

haenck

April 4 2002, 06:17:07

If I can go to a Thai place in Lima, Ohio, as I did yesterday...

You can try Mexican in Tasmania.

[Oh, and the Thai place in Lima, was actually pretty good ...

Nice warm Indian summer day in Launceston. We like this city a lot. Wandered around the Queen Victoria Museum; it was rather interesting. Saw a couple of more stuffed thalycines!

Comments

jongrizzman

April 4 2002, 15:49:44

cuddlesmooch

just cuz :)

danlmarmot

April 4 2002, 23:52:41

La la la!

Wet and cool. Chris and I took a cruise up the Gordon River into the rainforest. It was misty and mountainous; reminded me of pictures of China's Three Gorges. Cruise was OK, but at 5 1/2 hours it was about 1 1/2 hours too long.

The best part of the cruise was right at the beginning: when we went out of Macquarie Harbour into the ocean through the 60m gap called Devil's Gate. The tide was going out, and we glided out. into the Southern Ocean. Out in the Southern Ocean a couple of miles, a ...

Breakfast at the Oatlands Lodge was quick, we then headed out on the road across the Central Highlands, following a route described in the big "Explore Australia by Four Wheel Drive", a big bible of a book we picked up somewhere in Sydney.

Interlaken was our first stop; it looked like a town between two lakes and I had vague visions of a Swiss like village. Sorry, no. It was in high grazing country, with sparse eucalypts and fields, the village was no more than a few sheds and some battered weatherboard houses. What's more is that one of ...

Bright sunny day in Hobart. Went to the Saturday Salmanaca Market... a big open air market mercifully not hempen-clad and patchouli-soused. Old book sellers, farmers with end-of-summer produce, woodworkers, a ginger beer homebrewer (yum), small garden stuff, etc.

You can click here and see a generic postcard picture... and play 'where's Chris' in the crowd.

I bought seeds, which are just about the only thing I can bring back to the US, plant wise. Here's what I bought: Christmas Bells (Blandfordia punicea), Kangaroo Paw (red and green, Anigozanthos manglesii), leatherwood (Eucryphia lucida), black coral pea (Kennedia nigricans), Celery ...

Going to New Caledonia for a week in late April.

Gotta leave the country (for visa reasons) every six months... this was the cheapest option, as all the good deals to Bali were all taken up since it's school holidays in New South Wales... and with our road trips to Cape York and the Kimberly, it'd be rough to do it in May or June.

We want to see Bali anyway; figure we'll do that in October from Perth. For some curious reason, it's cheaper to fly to Bali from Perth than it is from Sydney ...

A collection of stuff I've found interesting.

- People here tend not to clean their tables--even at places like McDonald's, only a few people will actually throw away their trash. Most folks just leave it on the table behind them.
- Recycling bins are few and far between--almost everything ends up in one bin.
- Restaurant service can be interesting--often you'll have one person take the order, some one else serve your food, and some one else ask you if you'd like another drink with your meal. Sometimes you pay the server, but most of the time you just ...

Fighting over a scrap of roadkill!

Comments

haenck

March 21 2002, 14:46:36

We take you now, LIVE!, to the arrival of the new muscle bear in town at the Eagle...

genxcub

March 21 2002, 14:57:37

(click) "Here we are at the San Francisco Gift Center as the doors open for the International Bear Rendezvous buffet" (click)

One surprising thing about Tasmania is the amount of roadkill. Traveling at a nominal 80kph/50mph, you pass one dead mammal about every 20 to 30 seconds on any of the highways here--anything from the size of a cat (possums, quolls, pademelons) up to dog sized (wombats) and big dog sized (wallabies). What makes it all the more interesting is that Tasmanian devils come out at night to scavenge the road kill. They're carnivore scavengers, and often four or six of them fight over the carcass at once, though you never see it since it's usually really late ...

This is Bob on the Mole.

Seumas (and I) do find him fun to watch. I'm making sure we're near a TV that can receive Channel 7 on Wednesday nights!

BTW, I think the Mole is Crystal-Rose.

I’m not sure I like it here. Sure, there’s the landscape, and the wonderful animals and plants, but the overall culture is very odd. There are three attributes that just don’t feel right to me. This has been kicking around for a few weeks in my head; here they are.

Tentativeness: Aussies are always comparing themselves to others; you get the feeling that most of the country would live somewhere else, like Tuscany or California or London. They don’t have any connection to the physical country; most of those whom I’ve met can’t figure ...

1. Use a Californian accent. Valley or Los Angeles suburb accent is OK.
2. End your sentences like you would a question. "I took the ferry to Tasmania? And then went on some caving, with a good tour guide--she was all right? We saw some really great caves, and neat stuff? It was really great?!?" Many people from California already speak this way to begin with, and if you don't you can easily adapt.

And you're there. Really. Scary.

No wonder that Russel thinks that Rachel Griffiths in Six Feet Under sounds Australian. She speaks with a California ...

In Launceston, Tasmania. Finding that Tasmania is not just home to a Warner Brothers cartoon character.

Drove from Sydney to Melbourne with an overnight stop in Wangaratta, Victoria. It's about a nine hour drive straight through. Wangaratta was a nice, neat, country town, in a wine and ranching region near Milawa. There were very good restaurants there, but we ate at the doner kebab place.

Melbourne, on Friday, was a quick blow through--though we stopped at 'the biggest Kmart in the Southern Hemisphere' in Campbellfield on the north side of Melbourne. It was... well, big. Note to North Americans ...

When I told my Mom I was coming to Australia, she said 'oh, you have to look up when and where your great-great-grandfather was born--it was Melbourne, but I don't know exactly where or on what date' She's a genealogy nut. So after five hours or so in the New South Wales state library, I found out he was born in Singleton in December 1848 to one Samuel Bassett and Mary Malloy, married three years earlier in west Maitland. Not anywhere near Melbourne, which wasn't really a viable settlement in the 1840's anyway!

Hm... so I ...

There are three R's you never want to bring up in conversation with Australians. Consider these lose-lose topics if you're not Australian!

- Republicanism: Should the Queen of England continue to be the head of state of Australia?
- Refugees: Should Australia admit refugees? (generally couched in the guise of 'what should the immigration policy in this country be?)
- Reparations: How should Australia deal with Aborigines?

Comments

ranger1

March 3 2002, 19:39:09

Not as bad but still sketchy:

"Retarded Aussie Stereotypes": Foster's Beer commercials and Paul Hogan. Some Australians have a good sense of humor about them ...

Well, good thing we're going to Tasmania when we are--a small population of red foxes has recently been found on the island.

So much for the last best refuge for native Australian mammals... if the foxes get loose, there won't be many left to see.

Comments

clintswan

March 3 2002, 00:03:54

I want to know you too much now!

Yet another cloudy overcast day. In the twelve days we've spent in Sydney so far this month, we've had a day and a half of sun. This is not my idea of summer.

Went to the Bear Essentials Evening Lapse. Strangely enough... I got bored, and told Chris--"this is a great setting; there's free drinks and finger foods... but... I'm bored. This is the third night with this same group of people."

Maybe I should've drunk more (I had a single beer when I arrived). Maybe I should've just made more effort. Blech ...

Went shopping today. After a quick check of mail, the first stop was the Virgin store, for Chris' mobile phone.

Second was Gowing's. Oh, my, this is the store for guys. It's guy stuff, just stuffed with stuff. If guys could do department stores, this would be it. Clothing, and adventure books, and gadgets, and camping gear, and etc etc etc. It's like Men's Health magazine come to life (without the Chivas ads). "All the gear you need to raft down the Amazon in drip-dry style, and still enjoy a cuppa tea in the morn and ...

Just updated the website with pictures from last week's trip to the Australian Alps. Enjoy!http://www.marmot.net/2002au/

Comments

mathan

February 25 2002, 09:05:33

gets all dreamy Neville.... Chris.... Dan.... UNGH!

mamoosh

February 25 2002, 10:49:04

Any plans to try Alpine Celery here at home? Also, were those bees or flies pollinating the blue, star-shaped flowers? I'm sure Neville knew.

Hey, while I'm at it, what sort of tree is hiding behind the orange tree in the backyard? It's the one with the clumps of delicate blue flowers. I've ...

I wish Sydney weather would make up its mind about what season it is! Yesterday at 10am it was cloudy and drizzly, yet still 20C/68F. It cleared up in the afternoon for the pool party, though :-). Alan and Bill threw a great party, I enjoyed myself quite a bit just hanging out and chatting.

This morning, though, it was cloudy and grey. After a bit of dithering, we finally decided to get Mardi Gras tickets today, so we called the Mardi Gras folks, then hopped a train to their headquarters in Erskineville where a very woofy redbear named Ross ...

Odd sayings and pronunciation

"She didn't twig it was for her" means "She didn't think it was for her"
"Get yer gear on" means "get your shirt/other clothing on"
Unprecedented is "un-pree-sa-dented"
"Chook" means "chicken", and is used often
Filet (as in chook filet) is pronunced "fill-it"
"Truck" means "truck"... it's not a lorry
"Spanner" means "wrench"
"Smash experts" means "auto-repair shop"

I think I'll collect more over the next week.

Comments

notofthisworld

February 24 2002, 17:44:20

Twig is more like "realise", as in, "She didn't realise it was for her."

But ...

Russel sez: "Sydney leather is all about swapping potato recipies and who's really good in the ballet this year"

Comments

henare

February 24 2002, 18:22:02

this sounds exactly like a conversation i had in the thunderthighs club (or whatever it was called) in boston in the late 1980's ...

mathan

February 24 2002, 19:09:45

Scratch a leatherman, find a sequin. In Toronto it's all about exchanging cake recipes. :)

nfotxn

February 24 2002, 20:35:13

You can only be "hyper-masculine" so many hours of the day..

The apartment we're renting for two weeks in Sydney is smack in the middle of restaurant central. For some curious reason, the block the hotel is on is full of Spanish restaurants. Tapas galore! And it's not just a few--it's every restaurant!

Around the corner on George Street is fast food central. McDonald's . KFC. Burger King. I'm amused that across the street from Burger King is a Hungry Jack's--which is Burger King with a different name. It looks like they're renaming the Hungry Jack's in Australia as they update the logo.

I ...

Stayed in ~~Epcot South~~ Canberra today. I liked it--a weird mix of Soviet and DisneyWorld.

Off to the Bear's Night in a few minutes! What am I doing online?

Comments

mathan

February 22 2002, 07:09:30

Well if that is 9:30pm Friday, Bears night really doesn't get started until 10:30pm from what I hear. ;)


My mate, Grace, from work should have arrived in Sydney. She's going to be there for Mardi Gras. I told her to make a fool of herself when the bears go by, cheering, etc. ;)

ranger1

February 22 2002, 10:25 ...

Yes, I've stood on the highest point in Australia, at 2228m tall. Whooo hoo!

Now only six continents to go, ha ha ha.

Feel good and achy. It was a 12km walk to the top; we took the ski lift chairs, then hiked up from there. Lots and lots of wildflowers, and copper skinks, and biting flies. Yuck!

Now enjoying a Toohey's Dark and watching Neville try to catch moths on the balcony; with the curtains closed for the sunlight it looks like some silly Japanese shadow puppetry.

Comments

koalabr

February 19 2002, 04:32:40

Its a ...

In Thredbo, Australia. Cool, cloudy. Nice change from the hot and humid Sydney!

Going to go hiking tomorrow--maybe to the top of Australia's highest mountain tomorrow!

Comments

fyve

February 18 2002, 17:53:47

hey you! i tried emailing you twice danm (at) marmot.net and it didn't work. dangit, i'm missing something. email me when you read this ;D

Just had an odd thought: how would I describe Sydney to someone who's never been? Here are some bullet points, somewhere there should be some cohesive threads. Or maybe not.

First, Sydney looks like a North American city.

Topographically, it's most reminiscent of Seattle, or perhaps Vancouver. Not San Francisco; while Sydney sits on a harbor like SF it doesn't have the huge inclines that San Francisco has--it has more moderate hills, and none of them are very large like Twin Peaks, or offer the sweeping views you often get in San Francisco. The many inlets of ...

We had a wonderful time today outside of Sydney in the Blue Mountains west of the city. We signed up for a day long 4WD tour--so that we could tag along and get familiar with our car. It was great fun!

Pictures here!

Waiting for 4WD day!

Off down the track

more ...

I'm really surprised at how cheap things are here. Everyone back in North America is interested in 'how expensive is it over there?'

Here's a sampling of a few rates... all in US dollars.
- Car rental for a day, Toyota Camry: $35 (incl tax and gas)
- Haircut and beard trim: $7
- Our one bedroom suite apartment in central Sydney: $75 per night
- Valet parking, with in-and-out privledges, per day: $8.50
- 750ml bottle of beer (24oz): $1.75
- Motel room, outside of Sydney: $20 - $30 US
- Big Mac: $1.50, though you can easily find coupons for 2 ...

In order of ownership, and date purchased.
High school: 1972 Plymouth Scamp (1980) Too powerful for a 16 year old. college car 1: 1980 Chevy Citation (1984). Too dangerous for a Domino's delivery boy (me)... I crashed it.
college car 2: 1979 Subaru station wagon (1985). Biggest defect: wouldn't die
first real car: 1987 Acura Integra (1987) Not suited to off-road travel as I found
next car: 1988 Nissan Pathfinder (1990). Not suited for San Francisco.
next car: None for six months.
next car: 1990 Nissan Pathfinder (1992). Biggest defect: wouldn't die.
next car: 2000 Nissan Xterra ...

Landed at 8. Got to hotel at 10. Hotel room is tatty. Hm. Chris thinks about sleeping, but decides against.

Out the door by 10:30am.

By 2pm, we have a mailbox, a bank account, a mobile phone, health insurance, motorist club membership, and some sushi for lunch (A$6.40 for six rolls and six sashimi.)

By 8pm, we have Internet dialup access... and one pack of Special Limited Edition Arnott's Tim Tam Hazelnut Praline. :-)

Red Carpet ...

Sept 11, 2001. Is this a movie? Did it really happen?

A Big One