Australia! Sept/Oct 2010.

Here's my entry for now, amazing how long it takes to compile this blog stuff! Undone!

The rig parked at Hans and Maria's

...After months of trying to decide where to go for a three week vacation this year we finally landed on the idea that visiting Australia would be best. We had been considering an extended road trip up the coast in The VW Van but figured it may be tricky being that it was going into fall and the weather could be cold and wet, and in a van like ours the luxury of heating and insulation does not exist. Then we were thinking somewhere in the Caribbean, even Puerto Rico, but not to be an alarmist, after reading about crime in Puerto Rico the thoughts of that location faded, and besides places in the Caribbean could be pretty wet too. A trip to Spain was in the works as well, to say hi to Martyn's friends in Madrid and to see the north coast, but for some reason Australia seemed to draw us in.

Martyn had been to Australia twice before for only brief visits each time, but was struck with great impressions and insisted that I would love it. He has talked about wanting to relocate to Australia one of these days and while I am willing to move there sight-unseen, it would probably be a good idea to check the place out first. So a reconnaissance trip to Australia is was. Airline tickets were purchased shortly thereafter.

Friday, Sept 17th 11:55 PM Depart LAX
My brother Andrew graciously drove us to the airport, surfboards and all. Our 13 hour journey in the air above the Pacific on Virgin Australia went well, not even a bump of turbulence... or at least noticeable enough to wake us up from.

Sunday, Sept 18 7:00 AM Arrive Brisbane
What happened to Saturday? Anyway, grabbed (our way over-packed) luggage and headed, via taxi, to Apollo Camper's rental facility, where we were to pick up our 6 berth manual transmission RV, complete with driver on the right. I was off the hook for driving this rig as I don't drive stick and sure has heck ain't gonna start to learn down under where driving is all backwards. Again, camper rental went well and by 9AM we were southbound to Byron Bay to see Hans, Maria, and their daughter Nina - old and dear friend's of Martyn form the Barcelona days.

11:00 AM-ish Byron Bay
"Oh look, there's their house, lets pull up under their car-port." 'Crash! Bang!' Ooops, forgot about our hight clearance. Hmmm... The roof of the car-port has minimal damage, and the roof of the camper we hope won't cost us more than our $250 supposedly refundable deposit. But as the Aussie's say, no worries.

Rain. Like, really raining. And cold. What? Where's my bikini? Sunblock? Sunhat? Frilly sundress? Huh? I guess that's why Byron is so beautiful and green, it gets its dose of rainfallunlike the desert of Los Angeles. So I suppose the rain was a little welcomed change. A novelty :)

This was my first non-Skype meeting with Hans and Maria, and such wonderful people they are. Hans, Maria, and Nina were great hosts, and I can see why Martyn has keep in touch with them over theyears. We hadn't decided whether or not to drive down to Sydney and back yet at this point, we hadn't actually made any concrete plans other than seeing Hans and Maria, and Byron Bay. So after a couple nights in Bryon they advised us of a few things to do and see which all were signs pointing to a drive to Sydney after all.

Tuesday-ish, morning

Started our drive south to Sydney. After a full day of driving we stopped at Emerald beach. The sun was out, the campground was great (the nicest one we stayed at actually, but they were all pretty impressive), and we saw our first Kangaroo. This Roo, about 5 ft tall

was chillin on the campgroud licking its paws while a 5 year old girl stood about 6 feet away, staring. We walked up to get a closer look and the little girl warned us to keep our distance, she seemed to know what she was talking about and we weren't aboutto argue. She stared, we stared, the kangaroo licked

its claws, then it hopped away. And that was about it. Nevertheless any Kangaroo sighting is a good one.

We spent the rest of the evening playing Banana-grams (kinda like scrabble, but no points, and the letters come in a banana shaped bag, hence the name) and drinking wine. Crashed out early with more driving in mind for the AM.

Come morning we decided we had a little time to hike along the trail

the goes over the hills above the beautiful beach. The trail winds around the hill side in what turned out to be The Land of The Kangaroos. We were seriously in their territory now. Massive amounts of huge Kangaroos were just lounging around taking in the sun. Definitely photographic moments to be had. We snapped some shots, and were on our way.

Wednesday

Drive, drive, drive, stop for meat pie, drive some more. It's all a blur of Eucalyptus. I can't even remember where we went that night, but eventually we wound up in Port Macquarie, coulda been that night, or the next. Either way it took a lot of driving to get there. And well worth it. The campground was clean, and the beach beautiful, all par for course for Oz it seems. Port Macquarie is a medium sized city with a great walking/bike path the goes all alongthe ocean and around the city and into "the bush" (aka trees and stuff). Thankfully the campgroud is right on this path and our RV was about ten feet away. The ocean side of the path is bordered with large rocks all individually painted and adorned by visitors and locals which added lots of color to this already super duper cute spot. Out in the ocean where tons of kayakers, paddlers, and surfers, and along the path some thru out their fishing line but most biked walked and jogged - all day, and into the evening. Seems like people in Port Macquarie are proud of their out-doorsy options and aren't afraid to use them.

One night here. In the morning a long walk for me along the path as Martyn goes for a run and then we are on our way again.

Thursday

Hmmm, again my memory may not be right but I'm pretty sure we made it to Newcastle this day, and by lunch even. We drove around the city in our sore-thumb of a vehicle, getting our bearings, and enjoying the Victorian style architecture. Newcastle was smaller than we expected but not altogether small, it even had a bit of a gritty feel to it, like as though the city was mean to have more people looking after it but instead everyone was somewhere else, possibly surfing. I liked it. It was refreshing to have to wonder if the car was going to be safe, felt like home ;). Except not.

Once finding a parking spot big enough to park The Rig, we walked around town, then walked up a long long spiral staircase that took you to the top of a lookout tower that gave you a real good view of the harbor. Martyn's knees were weak due to the fact that he's a scardy cat when it come to heights, so snapped a couple quick pictures and down we went. Then lunch on the boardwalk. Very pleasant.

We had originally thought to stay the night in Newcastle but we were no longer so inspired, besides were could feel that were were pretty close to Sydney. Back on the road.

Drive, drive, drive. There was apparently a Holiday Park (aka cam

pground, or RV park) called Lane Cove that was just on the outskirtsof Sydney. I called the Park up for directions and they assured me that it was easy to find and that as long as we made it by 7PM they could get us a spot for that night and a few nights to follow. Well I for one have never driven in Sydney and neither had Martyn, never mind it being after dark, during rush hour, and in a six berth motorhome nonetheless. This park was *not* easy to find,but we powered thru and by some grace of god made it just at 7:05PM, all in one piece. Funny though, the guy at the check in desk stayed a minute longer because he said people usually get lost the first time. Well thanks, dude.

Lane Cove was just fine. About as good as your gonna get for an RV

park in the city. It wasn't until morning that was noticed that Lane Cove backed up onto a beautiful and lush public park filled with exotic yet native birds. We didn't get to see this park much, but indeed it was there.

Sleep. Much needed. The Rig was pretty comfy actually, we slept in the overhead bunk and it was super cozy. We slept like the dead that night, and planned on getting up early to see the Sydney sights.

And no need to set an alarm mind you, and I hope you didn't want to sleep past sunrise 'cuz these birds are loud. Kookaburra. Those dark cute looking things sure know how to make an entrance. So I guess awake it is. Martyn goes for a run, I take my sweet time getting ready for the day and off we were off to see the city. A ten minute walk then a 25min train ride, and we were in center of Sydney.

Damn Kookaburra ;)

Friday

We had gotten off the train at the stop just before the Harbour Bridge so that we could walk over it and see Sydney Harbour from that vantage point. I had no idea w

hat to expect. What a wonderful view. The most amazing crystal blue water sits surrounded by apartment laced cliffs, all which draws your eye to the Opera House.

The sun is out, and it is hot. As we walk across the bridge we begin to sweat, happy to continue to have some sun.

I can't say enough about those first few hours spent in Sydney. Words just don't describe. It felt old, but new, classy yet classic. The wind, the sun, the birds, the people, the buildings, the streets, so lovely. The Opera House. The closer you get to the Opera House the more impressive it is.

Wine and cheese in the Hunter Valley

A little gift from Emerald Beach campgrond

Boomerang Beach

Hence the sand...

A coldie in Brisbane during the last leg of the trip

Amazing Noosa

Fill your empty bottles anyone? Genius. 

View from lunch at Manly Beach, Sydney

Hiking in Noosa  

The Hunter Valley

First surf at Byron

.... Ugh, this post is driving me nuts, just when I just managed to get some pics posted, I seemed to have lost half the text. So I say 'F' it! I'm done with this one. Moving. On. Enjoy the pics, they speak a thousand words anyhow, right? 

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

I love this pic, especially being that I took it with my phone...

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, Tuesday, Nov 8th. M ran the NYC marathon this past Sunday, ran it in 3hrs 25 minutes amongst the 45,000 other people participating he came in approximately 3,000th!

Jalama "Don't Call Me Geelama" Beach

This place rules. At the end of a 14 mile twisty country road, off of a remote Santa Barbara stretch of Highway 1, close to the town of Lompoc, CA, a 3 hr drive outside of Los Angeles, is Jamama Beach ('Halama' en Espanol) and its campsite. The campsite itself is basic with small slips either on the sand or just away from it. The beach just out front of the campground is memorably windy and chilly, with velvety soft sand laid out to frame small rustic stones that lay beneath. Small sand dunes with picnic tables, and a cafe that serves really (really) good burgers is about as built-up as this place gets.   

As far as it seems, there are no other roads other than the one that leads you to the Jalama Campground that could take you to this vast and virtually untouched piece of California coastline. It would take a walk at low tide to be able to experience the simple beauty of the spiraling colors in the rock formations or the tall cliffs high above, you can't just drive to a place like this. We walked 2 hours north along the sand the first day of our visit, and 2 hours south the second day only to find more and more bewildering beauty and less and less people.

We now undertand why Jalama Beach goers covet this area (or at least so says Yelp and Tripadvisor). And depending on which review you read online the regulars here are either rude or awesome. Maybe we got lucky because people seemed pretty friendly and laid back to us. One of the the guys who works at the little convenience store cracked some (pretty bad) jokes about the burgers being cooked there for 32 years and that they "must be well done now" (hardy, har, har). He also informed us about it being "Beer Heaven" at Jalama, and true it is. In fact, it wasn't a rare sight to see people walking around with their beers in hand or to hear the crack of a can in the wee early hours of say, 10AM. So we fit right in. 

Here's a pic of our awesome van with the beautiful rolling hills behind us (note no telephone wires or roads). This was our second trip in it... fun times...

If This Van's A-Rockin...

Don't come a knocking. Here is our 1985 V-Dub Vanagon Westfalia FULL camper than plans on taking us here and there and (hopefully) everywhere. So if you see this van parked in front of your house or in your driveway, we say, "Thanks!" because we will be looking for safe places to crash in it. See you at the beach, in the mountains, or on your block real soon! More to come!

Hangovers Part Two

We must be gluttons for punishment because despite efforts to stay home and relax we have managed to create more hangovers in the last couple weeks than we have in a while.

Most recently I joined Martyn for a trip up to Mammoth Mountain so he could get some snowboarding in and I could get a change of scenery. After a few runs on the mountain Martyn accompanied me in enjoying the sunny weather with margaritas at Gomez's, a dip in the local hot springs, and ending in overly posh snacks at Mammoth's Hive. Eventually we retired to our hotel with blurry memories of the day.

The next morning, feeling like death warmed over, while trying to ignore the self loathing pain in my skull, looking at the clock it was already 1PM and the weather outside was starting to turn. So after a quick soak in the brain-boiling hot tub at the hotel, we ended up at The Cellar Bar attached to the Alpenhof Lodge where we were staying. Awesome little dive bar that has a huge selection beer, but no liquor, which in our case was probably a good thing.

It was a quiet Tuesday night, 70 mph gusts of winds screamed outside and snow was beginning to pile up. It was a good night to pretend to be interested in the sports on the bar's TVs while we sipped our beer. However, due to improper nutrition and our hangover from the night before, we were craving some serious food, so naturally I drooled over a commercial for Wienerschitsel's corndogs. As I professed my love for corndogs of any shape or size, Martyn informs me that he has never experienced the pleasure of the American classic. He was surely missing out in a huge way. But unfortunately there isn't a Weinerschitsel in Mammoth so I was going to have to treat him to his first corndog at a later date. So instead we decided to pay our bill and seek out some other kind of food. But just then, as our tab was being printed, I noticed that all the way down at the end of the bar there was a guy dipping a huge, monstrous corddog into tiny little trays of mustard and ketchup. What are the chances!? This bar has no liquor but it has corndogs! Genius. Food of the gods...

The perfect ending to the weekend. Here is a pic of me feeding Martyn his first corn dog. Now he can say he has experienced the joys that only corndogs can bring.

Anywhere Planet Earth Universe 2010

I feel like I could be anywhere when I'm in this beautiful park that I'm so fortunate to have a short walk out my front door. Engulfed in one of the wealthies neighborhoods in America, Franklin Canyon Park is my new favorite find. A happy morning it is to spend it walking thru its trails on this Earth Day, and happy I am to have it in my backyard, no wealth needed.

Mobile Blogging!?

I'm a little baffled by this said "simple process," so this is another attempt to post a blog via my cell phone using MMS. So for testing purposes here is a pic of M from Halloween that is bound to make you smile.