Back from New Zealand.

Coastal view

Leaving Auckland, again

It's hot here... maybe 26C/78F, not the 18C/66F we had every day on the North Island. It's humid. We saw a bit of Australia 500km out, blowing across the Tasman, dust from the drought flying away.

And Sydney is... annoying, without having to be. Quarantine inspector power tripping. No toilet paper in our upper-range hotel.

And weird taxi drivers.

Taxi driver from Sydney Airport asks us "how do we want to get to our hotel at Liverpool and George?" Mind you, this is one block from what I consider …

Depart Sydney 6:00pm, Thu 24/10/2002
Arrive Auckland 11:55pm, Thu 24/10/2002

Depart Auckland 6:00pm, Wed 30/10/2002
Arrive Sydney 8:00pm, Wed 30/10/2002

Staying at the Grand Chancellor Auckland Airport Thursday night
Staying at the Crowne Plaza, Auckland CBD, Friday and Saturday night
Doing a road trip and hoping for a nice place on Sunday
Monday, Tuesday: probably Taupo one of the nights, then who knows? Must do The Bach (http://www.thebach.co.nz/) there.

Comments

jcoldrey

October 22 2002, 16:10:24

Hey, have a great trip to New …

Nothing like the travel industry and government bureaucracy to make your head spin.

The short of it: since we ~~decided not~~ can't to go to Bali because of the bombings, we'll be overstaying our visas for our departure date of November 7th by five days if we don't do anything.

So now we have three choices:

1. Catch a Thursday afternoon flight to New Zealand and hang out there for five days before returning. Cost is $100 each for taxes, plus 30,000 frequent flier miles each.

2. Go to the Australian Department of Immigration, explain the situation, and apply …

My we have vacation fatigue, though today lessened it a bit.

Today's events: visited Clonakilla winery. Visited Dan Murphy's which has really good wine prices. Walked around the Australian National Botanic Gardens for an hour or so. Checked in to the hotel, cracked open the bottle of malbec I bought at Dan Murphy's. Ooooh, bad stuff. Convinced Chris that we need better wine, and to drive to the Vintage Cellars in Manuka to get some to go with our room service pizza and Scooby Doo, showing at 7:39pm

So we picked the wine. I can't even remember what it …

We've got on a flight--and will be coming home on November 1st from Sydney.

We might push that back to the 15th, but hey... to be honest, with all of today's happenings (Bali stuff and car break-in) I'm thinking we'd rather be home sooner than later.

No Bali for us. We're not going on Wednesday. I guess it should've been obvious.

So now we're extricating ourselves from flights--the flight from Melbourne to Perth and back, and the connecting Perth-Bali flights.

I guess we'll just finish up here in Melbourne tomorrow, and head north to Canberra, then Brisbane, then Sydney, and fly home in two, three weeks time.

Maybe. It's all still very unclear.

Comments

beardoc

October 13 2002, 21:19:56

I'm glad. Even if you were to go now, it's too soon - all you'd get is memories of the blast.

Better to stay here.

koalabr …

This time, it's on crowded Saturday night, at a night club in Bali -- a block away from the hotel we plan to stay at starting Wednesday night.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/13/1034222664046.html

For context, Bali is to Australia what Cancun is to Americans (or Ibiza is to the Brits)--a place to go for a very good, though inexpensive, partying vacation. Of the dead, I'd suspect at least 2/3rds are tourists, and at least half are Australian.

Some people in Bali that Sky News is interviewing are saying that it's an LP gas …

Today was just kind of blah. It's one of those days that should be one of those Great Days--it's a warm, sunny spring day, not a cloud in the sky, the ceanothus bushes are flowering ultraviolet blue (just like they do on my home street). The sheep and cattle are munching on the green green grass on the side of the highway as drive past, and I've got a touch of hayfever; definitely springtime.

We stopped in Hamilton, Victoria. There's a nice 120 year old botanic garden in the middle of the city; we see the big bunya pines and …

Adelaide is one mighty strange town, one that's hard to describe. It has broad streets lined with buildings from decades ago, shaded by hundred year old trees that appear to be imported from small squares and parks in London. There's no sense of urgency on the streets, no feeling that this is where Big Things Happen. Adelaide does not feel remotely like any other Australian city, or any North American city for that matter. More than anything, it feels like a mid-sized English city. Or, more to the point, it feels like The Museum of International Style Skyscrapers.

But Adelaide …

One thing I won't miss about Australia is the whinging the the Government isn't giving them enough. It's a true national sport... quite a bit different than the whining I'm used to in the US. Unlike Americans, who love to whine about government incompetence (or conspiracies... hush!), Australians feel Government needs to get more directly involved. The 'little Aussie battler' has mythical standing, as does the concept of 'a fair go'... and when you conflate the two, you get Aussies whining for more and more government involvement to level the playing field.

We keep on seeing obnoxious examples of this …

On the long drive across the Nullarbor, I often wondered why many Americans have only heard of one city in Australia: Sydney.

And that got me thinking: how big are Australian cities in comparison to American cities?

So, here in ranked order, is the combined list of US and Australian cities with their populations. US data is from 1998, and Australian is from 1996, but the list still gives a good indication of relative size.

Mind that the US data is defined on city limits, so some 'small' American cities that are really tiny in real estate don't show up …

To the riesling of the Clare

Around the Arid Lands Botanic Garden

To Port Augusta

Long drive on the Nullarbor to Eucla

Long driving day to Kalgoorlie WA

Perth Fair Day

I've made contact with the Hunter Valley Genealogy group (surpisingly at http://www.huntervalleygenealogy.com), looking for some old ancestors of mine in the Hunter Valley, three hours drive north of Sydney. I hope to visit there in early November.

My ancestors in the Hunter Valley are the Bassetts; in particular, Samuel and Mary Bassett. I know quite a bit about them, but not where they’re buried or where Mary came from.

Samuel and Mary Bassett were married in 1845 in West Maitland, and settled at Patrick’s Plains. After marriage, Mary had several children (apparently nine!), though I …

Perth Royal Show!!!

Mini golf! Wineries!!

Is it us, or does Western Australia smell bad? We can't tell. And it's been following us for three weeks.

It was raining the day we arrived in Geraldton, our first stop in 'temperate' Western Australia, and we had our car serviced a couple of days later. It was a big service.

And as we drove away the next morning, we smelled it. It smelled like a butane gas cartridge to me, or natural gas. Chris said it wasn't quite it, that it was more like durian. Whatever it was, it smelled bad, and it was only noticeable in the …

Kings Park Wildflower Festival

Decide to come in from the bush and enjoy Perth a bit

The best ocean drive, and most remote place we've visited in Australia

In Esperance