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March 1, 2007 -5:15 PM Bo and I arrived safely in Vancouver and are presently waiting at the gate to board our next flight to Honolulu. Although we're barely a flying hour away from Calgary, it already feels like a whole different part of the world. At the airport in Calgary, snow was falling lightly as we entered the airport. Planes being de-iced could be seen through the terminal windows and three or four large snow plows were clearing snow from the runways. As we ascended out of Calgary, we saw rows upon rows of white dotted houses. Everything was white and the sky was overcast. The sun is always shining above the clouds. When we landed in Vancouver, you could see green, and there was no trace of snow. Our stop in Vancouver was short. As we had to go through customs there, the time passed quickly. Jacquie came to the airport, but as we were on a connecting flight we never got a chance to see each other. Still, it's nice to be able to call from a cell phone and not be billed long distance. Since we weren't sure about the meal on the plane, when it would be served, how big it would be and whether or not it was in fact included, we ate a quick bite of Burger King in the terminal. Interestingly enough, on the receipt it claimed to be a US Burger King! (Yet they still took debit.) Not long thereafter, we had boarded our next flight where I now sit and type. This is a much larger, much more featureful plane. Besides holding several hundred people, every seat has it's own personal entertainment center. An 8" x 4" screen sits in the back of the seat in front of you and offers each passenger a variety of music, TV shows, movies, CD's, (full albums) news broadcasts, and fully customized combinations of the programs. I watched an episode of CSI, CSI Miami, and then Casino Royale. For the moment, Bo has passed out beside me and I'm listening to the lull of the aircraft passing through the dark interrupted intermittantly by the sound of the lady to my left snoring. Earlier I traded her my jar of olives for her ice cream. There is not much to see out the window except the moonlit wing of the aircraft. Lights in the cabin are low and save for the flicker of hundreds of screens, there is little activity. I might try sleeping in a bit. Perhaps a bit late, but the realization that I'm actually doing this is starting to sink in. It's funny how life can take you in so many different directions. Ask me a year ago where I'd picture myself at this time from then, and Australia would have probably not even made my list of possibilities. Sometimes you have not to ask yourself the question of why but instead a more appropriate why not? March 4, 2007 - 10:20 AM   Australia: Day One Our adventure begins. We arrived at the Sydney International Airport ahead of schedule and our only hitch going through customs was a pair of diving boots Bo brought which had some soil on them. However, instead of confiscating and destroying them as we thought might happen, the lady simply washed them for us and brought them back in a plastic bag. From there, picking up the car was a breeze, and we got a free upgrade to a larger vehicle, a 2005 Nissan Maxima. Once we found our car in the Hertz parking lot outside, we transferred all our baggage and a quick game of Paper, Rock, Scissors determined that I would be the first to attempt driving a backwards car on the wrong side of the road in a busy city on the opposite side of the world. No big deal. Actually, I was surprised at how awkward it felt at first, but the sensation seemed to pass quickly and soon we were navigating the streets of Sydney in an attempt to find a place to do some sight-seeing and hiking.  Our first stop along the highway was at a coast-side pullout where we parked the car, changed into our shorts and promptly jumped into the ocean. Our travels brought us first to a trail called the Winnifred Trail in Royal National Park where we parked our car on the side of the road and hiked in to a trail that lead us to the Winnifred Falls. Here are some other highlights of our day:
Australia: Day 3 Presently driving along Highway One, we are travelling north to New Castle in search of Internet and Sandals. Yesterday our day began with some driving through small towns. *FIXME - Name Small Towns Visited* Our day's driving destination was reached as we parked the car by the side of the road at a trail head and began tromping through the bush to a secluded beach-side campground called New Era. The trek took us through four or five drastically different types of vegitation as we wound our way under branches and over strange rocks. The hike would have been fairly easy but the 35 degree weather, scorching sun and 100% humitidy took their toll on us. Over the course of the hike I drank 5 litres of water and Brekky Juice, a popular mixture of orange, apple, pineapple and passionfruit juices. The first time we came to a beach all I could muster the will to do was climb up onto a cool, shaded rock and take a nap out of the mid-day heat. Bo went and swam in the ocean for a bit and there were handfuls of surfers catching waves under the bright sun. At home I normally depend on my cell phone to give me the time of day, but here it does not work so I am without a watch. Time seems to pass much slower here. I don't know if it's because the days are actually longer or if not having a watch makes you less conscious of time. Either way, it's nice. It's relaxing. Once we pressed on from the beach, we ventured up over another hill and passed through Burning Palms. You wouldn't think a land so green could be at risk of a fire, but parts of where we ventured were absolutely crispy. One match would have ignited a blaze that could have taken the whole area down. Several hills later, we arrived at New Era and sat down for a rest. Upon removing my shoes and shorts, I discovered that I'd been attacked by what had to be a kind of leach or blood sucker. I actually found him in my sock and he was FULL! We brought him over to our tent once Bo set it up and set him on the ground. Being a slimy little critter, the sand immediately clung to him. Interestingly enough, as we watched him squirm around in the sand, he caught the attention of some tiny ants who were passing by. Bo and I went down and swam in the ocean for a while, till the salt water became unbearable on my cuts and wounds. When I arrived back at the tent, the ants had now devoted entire legions of themselves to the retrieval of this feast. Now much deflated, the leach looked a mere half it's size. The hole he bore in my leg bled quite a long time but never caused any pain. With our camp set up we began to explore the area. Having the ocean in front of us, there was a reef that had a natural 'hot tub' bored out of it to the right. The water never got hot like ours, but then again - the water here is never really cold either. All sorts of tiny fish, crabs, and clams could be seen through the still waters held by the reef. The sand on the beach was warm and inviting. Footprints of many sizes and shapes traced trails across it's golden surface, and every now and then you could see a hole in the beach. Some were as small as a pencil, others could have been made by a billy bat. What I discovered by patiently watching one such hole was that they were actually made by crabs, burrowing sideways into the beach. The crab would scuttle sideways into the hole, grab some sand with his claws, scuttle back out of the hole, and toss the sand out of the hole - repeating the process. It was fascinating to watch, and so of course, I took some pictures. As the sun went down, we retired to the tent to relax for the night and the pending hike back. Our first night in the Australian coastline was an adventure in and of itself. With daily lows above 20 degrees, we packed little in the way of warmth, concentrating our space and energy more towards liquids and some food for the journey. At first, this promised to be a good thing, but as the night drew on and it started to rain, the temperature did make things a tad chilly. Having put sweat pants and a t-shirt on I soon fell asleep, only to be awoken sometime later in the night by the screaching of what Bo and I agreed sounded like monkeys right outside our tent! We never did see them however, and they could have been any loud screaching animal... But it gave us both quite a start, which was further influenced by rapid successions of lightning and incredible explosions of thunder all around us, brightly illuminating our tiny red tent.               March 5, 2007 - 8:04 PM  Bo and I are on the road again, travelling north on the Pacific Highway, or Highway #1. This morning after returning to our car from the trek to New Era, we drove back into Sydney and popped into a public shower on the side of the highway overlooking a coastal beach. There have been quite a few things about Australia that remind me of Grenada. For one, many of the sinks and showers in 
some of the 'poorer' areas have only one tap: Water. It's not heated, but
you really couldn't say it's cold either. Our cold shower this morning
was perhaps the most invigorating and refreshing shower I've had in years.
With the rain this morning and last night, every branch and bush was dripping
wet, and between the 100% humitidty - so thick you could see it as mist at
times - and our sweat, we were literally drenched from head to toe by the time
we got off the trail. After checking our socks and shoes, we found several more
leaches had attached themselves to our legs during the trek, and I've still
got a pretty good bloodspurt coming out my left ankle. Here are some more
pictures from our camping excursion at New Era:              After our shower, Bo navigated me through downtown Sydney, and let me tell you - driving is still fairly stressful at times on the wrong side of the road! Navigating roundabouts and strange traffic signals doesn't help either, and there are a few road signs and symbols that I still do not have any idea what they mean. For one, a zig-zagged line down the middle of a lane? What is that supposed to tell you? And those double-lane and sometimes triple lane traffic circles are not fun! But we made it through. I did go through the wrong lane of a toll road, the lane you go through if you have prepaid... So there'll probably be a ticket waiting for us when we go to drop the car off. Some of their roads are so poorly marked though, and it's so difficult to turn around that navigating can be very difficult. Many of the towns or cities are shown as such on maps, but in reality there is no distinction between them while you're driving. So you'll be looking for a particular town and end up driving through it and three more before you realize you've gone too far and then you're not even sure you missed it since you didn't see any signs... It's been quite frustrating at times. So far, navigation has been the hardest part of the trip, but now that we've got Sydney our of the way and pretty much just have to follow this highway through the rest of our trip we should be allright. This afternoon we stumbled upon an interesting discovery. We haven't seen a single Wal-Mart since our arrival although McDonalds and the usual American fast-food chains like KFC, Burger King, and Pizza Hut pop up quite frequently. While we were looking for a store to buy Bo some new sandals, we found a big box store called Big W that bears a striking semblence to any Wal-Mart you've ever been into. The colors, the greeters at the door, the slogan posted on the front of the building, We Sell For Less - all pointed to an associate of the world's largest retailer. We've been watching the prices on various common items, from fruit and milk to pop and bread. Pop is unbelievably expensive - in one store, a 12 pack of Pepsi went for $10.99! Prices were better at the Big W, a 36 pack was only $18.00, but fruit is a lot cheaper. I think it was Blair who asked me to see if peanut butter was available. It is, in all the usual varieties. One thing they DO have that's different is all the types of honey. As far as I knew, honey was honey. But they've got about 4 or 5 different flavours of the stuff! And, I found a pre-mixed Ribena drink, labeled as such. It's very much the same flavour of the Ribena we buy in Calgary, but mixed with water instead of ginger ale. The juices generally taste better too, no doubt because they're fresher and much closer to their source. March 6, 2007 - 7:17 AM Sea World opens at 10:00 so we've got a few hours to kill. We drove through the night to Brisbane from Sydney, close to 800 km in total. Strangely enough, the road signs we encountered along the way each gave different and conflicting reports of the remaining distance to the city. For example, at 8:16 PM a sign along the Pacific Coast Highway claimed 637 kilometers to Brisbane. Then, at 8:25 PM another sign claimed 648 kilometers. We seemed to be travelling away from the city! But, at 8:32 PM we encountered a sign that again claimed 637 kilometers, and so this continued for most of the way. Some things are more than strange down here. One thing that is different is that the warmer climate is found in the northern part of the continent, opposite to our chunk of land wherein it is the south that has the desired weather. However, after listening to various radio stations that were within range along our journey, we found that there wasn't a lot of songs played which were unfamiliar to us - although there did seem to be a trend towards older songs. Many of the hits from the late 90's seemed to be played quite regurlarly, with the occasional current hit here and there. The seem to love the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which is a good thing in my book because it makes for some great driving music. Also reminds me of Pine Lake. Really, I'd have to say that Australia reminds me of a variety of places - like it's a bit of everything the world over. Certainly some parts of it have brought back vivid memories of the Carribean island of Grenada, while other areas bear striking similarities to Kananaskis. Some of the cities share commonalities with places in California and Florida (at least, the areas I've seen) and yet some things are completely unique to this land. Signs on the highway, much like our deer crossing signs, warn of Koala Bears and Kangaroos in the area. Cockatiels fly free throughout some of the cities, perching on park benches and squalking from treetops. I'm sitting in the parking lot of a nearby strip mall as we wait for Sea World to open, and there's a strange bird, perhaps a scavenger of sorts not unlike the seagulls at Peter's Drive-In, who's about the size of a football, though white in color and with a black, curved beak that's at least 8 inches long. Some red feathers can be seen under his wings whenever he prepares to fly. He's hopping from scrap to scrap, pecking and poking with his pecular beak. Palm leaves are gently swaying in the warm morning breeze. The forecast for today called for some light showers, leading into some possible thunder showers this afternoon. The day's headlines from yesterday included a political scandal involving a frontrunner of one of the political parties having his association with a disgraced former prime minister being called into question, a local automobile plant axed some 600 workers in an effort to increase efficiency and reduce costs, the fallout of that storm we endured from the comfort and coze of our tent wreaked havoc across Sydney and it's outlying towns, downing tree branches and two people were struck by lightning, including a postal worker. Over seas, the Australian foreign embassy in some country whose name continues to elude me is being evacuated amidst ongoing violence directed at Australian officials living and working there. It seems terrorism affects us all, even the Aussies. So far, we've managed to escape any serious sun burns although Bo's neck is noticibly red and the top of my head feels like it probably sweated off enough sun screen to allow a bit of a burn to set in. Otherwise, we're none the worse for wear and in fact, I'm finding that the few minor injuries I've sustained, particularly on that hike, have healed very well and very quickly. The air here is very nice to breathe, it feels thick and full, and is very invigorating. Even the usual aches and pains I get at home seem to be gone, despite having slept in the car two nights and on the ground one. So far, so good... Some of the previous entries were a bit more scattered, particularly with the picture placement, and for that - I applogize. We were a bit rushed to get an Internet signal, borrowed from an unprotected wireless router, and technical difficulties have abounded here as many things that are supposed to and usually do work - haven't. None the less, we've got many pictures and I'm striving now that the travel time between destinations increases that I'll be able to post more organized and pictureful updates on our trip along the Gold Coast! March 7, 2007 - 6:59 AM This morning we are winding our way down an incredily twisty road set along the side of a large hill, possibly a mountain. We found an inexpensive campground on the Internet and it looked, from the maps we could rummage, pretty straightforward to get to. However, actually getting on the road proved otherwise. The winding road, darkness of night, low-lying mist and lack of signage all frustrated the process immensely. We turned around a number of times in attempts to regain our bearings before at long last arriving atop the mountain, only to be dumped buckets on in a nightitime rain storm. The facilities looked quite promising, but there was no self-registration and the sign that mentioned payment for camping said that doing so had to be made between 8:00 and 5:30. With the ground soaked, no way to register, and no inclination to attempt locating another campground, we parked in the parking lot and went to sleep. I'm not sure if it's just our Americanized way of doing things, but I've noticed a number of things about the way the Aussies do things that just doesn't seem to make sense. All of the smaller towns, and even the larger cities seem to be comprised of various different, smaller towns - which is fine, except that NOTHING is labelled! You'll see a town or city on a map, but while driving you might pass through two or three towns before you realize that you've passed the one you wanted, and even then aren't even sure where you went wrong. A couple of signs would go a long way. Maybe it's not that simple with the towns' boundaries, but we've spent hours - literally hours - driving up and down roads because a place or a turnoff is shown on a map but is not marked once you get there. It's been very confusing. On the brighter side however, we are both becoming quite proficient at navagating the streets, intersections and roundabouts.           March 7, 2007 - 7:50 PM I could get used to this. Today we had rain throughout the day as Bo and I toured Warner Brother's Movie World. While probably driving away many of the locals, the inclement weather was still around 30 degrees warmer than our current daily average at home, providing a very pleasant atmosphere for us to take in the shows and rides. I'm sure Bo was sick by the end of the day of me drawing comparisons between Movie World and Disney World - but the two do share many similarities. Both sponsored by large, American movie producing giants, their parks showcase a variety of characters, rides, exhibits, and of course - stores. In my opinion, Disney wins every contest in every category - but Movie World was still a lot of fun and very interesting. We toured their Matrix exhibit, which showcases actual props and costumes from the movie. We rode the Superman Escape, a crazy rollercoaster featuring the cars of a subway system which are rescued from an earthquake by Superman flying them around at ridiculous speeds. Batman had two rides and a number of exhibits devoted to him, a Drop of Fear style ride and an open boxcar thril ride. The kids section featured all of the Looney Tunes characters, from Bugs Bunny to Yosemete Sam, The Road Runner and Wyle E. Coyote, Sylvester and Tweety - all the old favorites. There was a live action stunt show, themed after Police Academy, a hilarious "4D" show centered around the universe of Shrek, an open-floored fast-paced rollercoaster placed in the set of the Lethal Weapon series, a spooky Space Mountain style boxcar thrill ride based on the adventures of Scooby Doo, and of course various parades, picture sessions with the characters, countless gift shops, and various unique exhibits, works of art and architecture, theme music playing throughout the park, and helpful, friendly park staff. We concluded our day of Movie World on one last blast of the Batman ride, then left the park and searched for a pay phone. The gas station / 7-Eleven did not have one but instead directed us to a bar across the street called The Ox. I don't know if it was the noise of the bar or the low volume of the phone but it was very difficult to hear anything. Even so, we talked to Maddy which was refreshing and she had many stories to tell. After the call we decided that since we were in a bar, we might as well have a drink, so ordered a pair of mugs and pulled up at one of the tables. There seemed to be a lot of Irish themes in their bar, a little green leprechan on the wall being the most prominent. An entire side room was devoted to race betting. Screens set up in two rows on one wall depicted various odds and race results while other screens showed live action. A sign in the bathroom promoted a gambling helpline. The waitress commented when we gave her a tip that such things were unusual in this part of the world but was grateful for the offer. To her, it seemed, she was just doing her job and being paid 'extra' for it was not necessary. Having finished our beers, we returned to the campsite where we'd booked a site earlier. Although the tenting grounds themselves were modest, basically a section of grass on which to set one's tent, the grounds themselves offer quite a few sweet holiday amenities. There's a fenced in outdoor swimming and wading pool with crystal blue water. The pool deck is lined with mature palm trees casting a cooling shade around the perimeter. Reclining deck chairs provided comfortable accomodation this evening as Bo and I set under a large umbrella and read our books. It felt like a holiday. Once it was too dark to continue reading I gathered a towel and toiletries and walked down the paved road to the shower house. The building was constructed of brick and tile, and inside the bathroom was spacey. Once inside the door you could see the toilets on the left, the showers on the right, and the sinks in the middle. This facility, like many I've seen in Australia, had a single stainless steel trough for a urinal. Australians seem to be much less concerned with privacy than many North Americans. In one of the bathrooms at Movie World Bo and I stepped in to put on our rain gear when we struck up a conversation with a local who carried on his the entire portion of the conversation looking at us - while using the urinal! To us a little odd, this behaviour seems to be more normal than not down here. Encounters such as these really make me muse about the fact that as a society, we (North Americans) have made secret the most simple and common function of mankind; Going to the bathroom. Anyway, I stepped into the shower stall and disrobed. This shower actually had two taps. It almost looked like the hot water had been added in after the place was built. You could see two corroded copper pipes winding their way down the wall into the back of the shower. The pipes were bent into shape, not made with fittings and solder. The water was hot though, and I enjoyed the first hot shower I've had since coming to Australia. I kept the water on low as everywhere you go there are signs and notices about pending drought. It was incredibly refreshing to get cleaned up. I shaved as well, cleaning off almost a weeks' worth of beard and scruff. Now I'm copying all the pictures off the camera cards, writing the text you are reading, and getting ready to go to bed. Bo has wandered off somewhere up the road to who knows where, and I hope he can find his way back tonight without getting into any trouble. Anyway, my eyelids are getting heavy and I've been eyeing that tent, and within which my bed which has been seducing me with an ever-sweetning lure of slumber. Goodnight from the land down under! March 7, 2007 - 9:40 AM I really have no idea what day it is anymore. The clock on my laptop is still set to home time, which reads March 7 at 4:34 PM. The clock in our car reads 10:41 AM but we've learned that it is actually an hour fast, putting the time at 9:41, but I think we are also a day ahead making this March 8, not the 7th. In any event, we are going to Wet & Wild Water World today, a water park that looks from the highway to be an incredible place to cool down on this sunny, so far 27 degree day. When it's already twenty seven degrees at quarter to ten in the morning, you KNOW it's going to be a hot day! We're also going to book our surfing lessons for tomorrow. There's a town a few kilometers away called Surfer's Paradise. Sounds like as good a place as any to learn the sport, or at least to get introduced to it. This morning we popped into a Hungry Jack's restaurant, which internally looks identical to what we would call a Burger King. The girl at the counter was sweet and friendly, and when I told her we were from Canada she leaned in and recommended I try an experimental sandwich they'd been playing with in the kitchen - a kind of chicken burger but with bacon and cheese. She assured me it was wonderful and I wasn't about to say no to a cute Aussie smile like hers, so I ordered one up. Bo decided he'd try the Aussie Burger, and we took our trays out to the patio and ate them in the humid, shaded, cool of morning. The chicken burger was very delicious, tasty and nourishing. I picked up a local paper and browsed it's contents, gleaming the scope of news here that makes the headlines. Several Indonesian planes have crashed recently giving rise to concerns over the airline safety of that country. A local police search of a storage company uncovered nearly half a million dollars worth of property, likely stolen from strings of break and enters. Surfing contests over the past week toted much coverage in the sport sections, as did some policital figures who have come under fire lately preceeding an upcoming election. One of the cartoons depicted two passengers about to board an airplane commenting on requiring medals of bravery just for getting on board, as well as several other unfamiliar three-frame strips. There was a strip depicting the life of Spiderman, drawn in all it's old-time cartoon glory, and The Lochorns had a single frame cartoon wherein Leory was going about proud as a peacock and Loretta commented to a friend that he had just completed a New Year's Resolution from 1993. Several other cultural observations I've made over the past couple of days... Australians, with their much more laid back approach to life, aren't nearly as picky about requiring a shirt or shoes for service in local merchants. A sign in a bar bathroom indicated that if you were out with your mates and had been selected as the designated driver, you could sign up (with the bar) and recieve a bracelet to entitle you to free soft drinks all night. Not a bad idea, and considering that soda seems to be more expensive than beer down here, a noble gesture on the part of the proprietor. A mug of tap beer at Dirty Harry's tavern INSIDE Movie World was less than four dollars! Normally, you'd pay a premium for ale in such a place. Well, we're on our way to go swimming for the day. Some things just don't get old, like Bo turning on the windshield wipers every time he means to activate the turn signal. In these down under cars, the turn signals, headlights and highbeam controls are on the right side of the steering column; while the windshield wiper, interval, and sprayer controls are on the left of the steering column. Instinctively, (and in all fairness, we both do it) we slap down or nudge up the control on the left to indicate our turning intention, only to have our dry windshield cleaned instead. March 9, 2007 - 1:38 PM  What a fun day this has been, and it's barely half over! This morning we drove to Noosa, a little ocean-side community popular with both tourists and local surf junkies alike. Burried in trees and vegitation, the town's main street, Hasting's Street was lined with shops and boutiques offering all kinds of wares from sunglasses and sandals to shirts and designer clothing. We arrived early, before many of the stores had opened and began walking around the main street. As luck would have it, we stumbled across a little booth that not only had informational pamphlets on the place we wanted to do our Learn To Surf course, but also offered sign ups right there. Unfortunately, it too, was not open yet. With few other choices, and the need for change, we popped into a Subway that was plunked in the middle of an outdoor strip mall. As we sat down and prepared to eat our brekky, I noticed a lady inside the info booth so I sauntered over, sandwich in hand to inquire about the surf lessons. As it turned out, the first class of the day began in 15 minutes and would pick us up from the very spot were were standing in about the same amount of time. I quickly ran back to the car to grab my other camera and got back with just seconds to spare. We hopped in a van which drove us around the corner and let us out in a parking lot beside a big truck whose side was plastered with the phrase, "Learn to Surf - Stand up in your 1st lesson!" A small troup of other tourists and would-be surfers stood about the parking lot also, and soon we were all checked in and ready to go. Us newbies had to wear bright red shirts, making us easy to spot in case anyone got sucked out to sea or was drowning.  Since there were enough of us to form two groups, we split up into two pairs of eight and went with our instructors, surfboard under arm, to the beach. With the noses of our boards touching a circle drawn in the sand, we sat in circles around our instructor who began the morning with some basic water safety instructions. Bo and I were in different groups, but my instructor was from France and spoke with an interesting combination of French and Aussie accents. After a few basic instructions on the sand, we were off to the water to practice what we'd learned.  Over the next two hours, Bo and I were able to paddle our boards out from under the incoming wave, get up to our feet and ride the wave in to shore. Towards the end of the class our instructors gave us further tips on how to steer the board once we were up on it, and a bit of practice at this ended our lessons. As we were driving along the highway, we passed a billboard sign that made me burst out laughing. The billboard was advertising for a real estate web site, and in bold, dark green letters it read "It's so easy, anyone could find a home. Then below, George Bush sat in a suit with a laptop sitting on his legs and his signature grin across his face. Apparently there are no holds barred down here when it comes to advertising! Pretty funny March 11, 2007 - 7:13 AM  On the road again... We're pressing on north along the Bruce Highway again, leaving behind a beautiful campground, a beautiful town and some beautiful memories. Yesterday was our Yellow Boat tour, done by www.oceanrafting.com - an excellent tourist adventure experience. Some local blokes take a group of touries out to see parts of The Great Barrier Reef in a large yellow dingy. Once at the spots, tourists are handed snorkles, masks, and fins and hop out into the water where they can begin exploring the intricate and interesting formations of the reef, including a large number and variety of fish. After exploring two such spots along the reef, we were brought to one of the white sand beaches made of silica sand; so fine and white that it reflects almost all of the sun's light and therefore heat, making it cool to step on despite being baked under a scorching sun all day.      At the end of our day in the fourth most photographed beach in the world we returned to the same campground we stayed at the night before. This place was a bargain, let me tell you, and earned our repeat business. The pool was very large clear. Roughly the shape of a three-pointed star, the pool had at one end three colorful water umbrella's. Near the middle there was a set of stairs leading up to a platform overgrown with lush green tropical vegetation. Two light blue waterslides slid down from the platform back to the water. At the end of one of the pool's legs there was two benches with air bubblers implanted in them.   Aside from the pool there were many other activity centers around the park. A basketball court, tennis and badminton courts were off to one side. Then inside another fenced in area there was a sandy beach pit with a gigantic (and I mean huge!) 'bubble'. It looked like the top of one of those inflatable tents you see at indoor soccer or golf facilities, except you could jump on it. There was also a mini golf course. The first night we were there, they had a movie playing after dark in one field, 'Garfield'. Overall, it was a fun campground.   Another amenity that was provided which seems to be fairly common was a kitchen with a free propane BBQ. Many of the public areas we've stopped at have covered meeting areas with free propane barbies. This campground was no exception. They also had clean washrooms and shower facilities, and fully serviced lots were available for those in larger caravans. To tent there was a mere $20 / night!   We are now heading to to Townsville and hope to see some Koala's and Croc's at one of their attractions called Billabong, as advertised along the Bruce Highway leading to the city. 4:11 PM  Well, I have to admit that up until yesterday, I was really beginning to doubt I'd get to see a live kangaroo, let alone a koala bear. We had come across quite a few kangaroo carcasses along the highway but certainly nothing of interest. And since Koala's are nocturnal, our chances of seeing one of them was significantly diminished. However, we spotted an Australian wildlife sanctuary called the Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary and ended up spending a good part of this afternoon seeing, petting, feeding, and holding all sorts of native animals, not the least of which being both Kangaroo's AND Koala's!   The sanctuary was set up with a circular path providing the main circuit of displays and attractions, with cages, nets, and enclosures housing many creatures. We got to see several crocadiles get fed, Bo and I both held various large snakes, and we were both photographed holding a Koala Bear named Humphrey. They are cute little creatures, quite soft and furry with a mix of grey fur covering their bodies. On each paw there were black claws to help them climb the trees. One of the rangers told us a lot more about Koala's, but to be perfectly honest, between taking photographs and being mesmerized by her beauty, I don't recall most of what Sammy said.  Cute
park rangers are very distracting! Probably the most exciting part of the day was seeing the crocodiles eat. The rangers handling the crocs were very informative and knowledgeable about their ways and habits - and got the crocodile to do many things to show us some of their features and characteristics. After watching the crocodiles hunt for their food by lurking in murky waters close to shore waiting for some big lumbering oaf to come to the water's edge and disturb it, some of the things Bo and I did earlier on this trip could well have gotten us killed! In fact, just a day earlier we found a drainage ditch by the side of the highway we suspected of housing a croc, and there we were, standing by the waters' edge with a stick splashing away. Or that other time we were wading through hip-deep mud water, there could have been ANYTHING in that water! Yet somehow, we survived unscathed.  We also learned today that there are over 170 kinds of snakes living in Australia, and that of those, about 130 are venomous. Pretty good odds are that if you do happen upon a snake, it's venomous. Interestingly enough, 9 of the 10 most deady snakes live in Australia, and we got to see the top three today. One last snake statistic, one of those top ten snakes has enough venom in a single bite to kill 150,000 mice! A lot of dangerous things live in Australia!  March 16, 2007 - 10:00 PM I hate to do this but I haven't been keeping up with the writeups over the last couple of days, so in the interim I'm just going to dump a whole bunch of pictures for you to see, and hopefully describe them in detail later and fill out the stories that encompas them another time.                     The end is near. Bunkered into a quiet corner of Sydney International Airport, I've now got six hours to kill before going through customs and preparing to board an international flight that will retrace the steps of our airborne journey to the land down under: First flying from Sydney to Honolulu, from Hawiiai to Vancouver, and finally from Vancouver to Calgary. My sunburn is starting to speckle in places and peel in others. I just took a shower in the airport facility. Bo's having a shower now, and it's my turn to watch our luggage. Through advances in switching power supplies, all of our electronic devices have functioned flawlessly through a plug converter that adapts our three prong plug to the standard 'Australian' recepticle which has three horizontal slits, like two eyes and a nose, although the two eyes are slanted outwards away from each other giving them a strange resemblance to the Scream mask introduced by the horror film of the same name which came out several years ago and the subsequent marketing of toy masks, based on the movie, sold mainly at Haloween. Even though the power system operates at a different voltage and frequency than what these systems are used to being fed at home, the switching power supplies are able to adapt the incoming power to the necessary voltage for the device it's powering, and everything works. This afternoon we woke up at our hostel about 8:30. For once I actually woke up before Bo, probably because the morning sun found the crack between the blind and the window sill and used that opening to peer in and cast it's warm glow upon my sleeping, tanned face. More persistant than morning pee, yet much easier to remedy without getting out of bed, I pulled the covers over my face and ascended from the realms of sleep at a medium pace. It occured to me that I'd had quite a number of dreams last night, and this morning many of them were still vivid in memory. Nothing startling or falling under the category of a nightmare, various scenes and scenarios played themselves out against the insides of my eyelids involving several characters from the story of my life, both past and present. A song once claimed that a dream is just a wish that the heart makes. If that's true, the heart wishes for some bizzare things. I listened to Bo's alarm go off without hearing him stir, and decided to use the morning's quiet to do a bit of reading, one last relaxed moment before a full day of bustle. Half an hour later, Bo stirred and we went up onto the roof of the hostle where the pool is. Water in Australia is never cold, but as Uncle Kai put it, some water can be refreshing. This water was refreshing, but it was the perfect remedy to wash away the remaining sand in the eyes from the night before. A square pool, lined with white tiles sat inside a glass-lined room, framed with large metal beams. A flat spout in the only wall corralling the pool allowed filtered water to circulate back into the meter-deep water. The floor deck all around the pool was cedar boards. There were two doors leading out to a roof-top belcany that gave a moderate view of downtown Sydney. Two other residents were sitting in the morning sun on deck chairs, smoking and staring at the sky. Another bloke was arranging ropes to facilitate window cleaning that was apparently to take place later that morning. It was peaceful. After a dip in the pool we went back to our room and changed out of our wet trunks. Everything was soon packed into our luggage as we prepared to leave the hostel and spend one last day in Sydney. The larger luggage we left in lockers at the hostel and we set out along George Street to see some sights, whatever would be within walking distance. It turns out, there's a lot you can see on foot in Sydney from the downtown core. We walked to the Sydney Aquarium and finally got to see the last thing on our list: A Platypus. They're actually a lot smaller than you would expect. The two that we saw were both no bigger than a small house cat, but cute enough you could pick one up and be quite oblivious to the poisinous barb on it's hind feet. Apparently, since it is a mammal which breaths air to live, it's water activities are fairly limited within the time for which it can hold it's breath, and while underwater, it's eyes, ears, and nose are all closed; It navigates and hunts underwater entirely by feel. Or so the plaques on the wall led us to believe. I did find one inconsistency between two such informational tokens: One claimed it used poision, the other claimed it was venimous. As far as I know, it cannot be both. The aquarium is quite a marvel of engineering itself, with parts of it's tour taking the visitor through a glass-lined tunnel under the sea lion's water playground. Visitors can literally walk over, around, and under this display, giving perhaps the most complete view of the Sea Lion's life without actually getting in the water. It's a surreal experience too, watching the water from above and seeing the gliding lions drift and dance in the water effortlessly - and also see humans walking underneath the water too! One phrase that's been uttered quite frequently on this trip has been, "You don't see that every day...", which is quite often sarcastically followed by "...unless you live/work here." Another display at the aquarium contains a segment of coral reef, demonstrating the variety of life that could be found on the Great Barrier Reef and giving interperative information about each type of fish, coral, algae, and sponge. Having snorkeled and dove at the actual Great Barrier Reef, we were able to attest to the accuracy of this particular display, confirming that the kinds of fish on display could in fact be found, along with even more varieties, on the reef. After the aquarium, we set off to see one of the most famous symbols of Sydney, the Sydney Opera House. Just several blocks farther than the aquarium, we found the famous site much larger than life and walked around it's base, taking many pictures of it's architecture and features. It's actually a number of separate buildings, with a decent space between - but most of the images of the structure are from one side so as to capture the famous bridge in the background. From this angle, the building appears as one. The outer structure is also different than I had expected. It appears to be made of tiles, something you cannot see from the pictures. Being the blue collar types that we are, we concluded our tour without actually going to a show. I don't believe there was anything playing at the time anyway. After the opera house, we strolled leisurely along a coastal garden whose path found us at one of the old parlimentary buildings. Resembling more of a castle than a house of governance, I was amazed at it's architecture. Each corner was decorated by a hand-carved figure. Intricate and exact patterns were etched into the sandstone walls, depicting crests and symbols whose meanings have probably long been lost. Archer towers reached into the sky from every corner and vantage point, leading the wandering mind to scenes of imaginary foes trying to storm the castle, probably on horses, in a different age. We weren't able to see the inside of the castle today, but one could make out rich tapestries on the walls lit by elaborate chandaleirs through the tall and slender panes of glass in various windows throughout the castle. A number of chatty tourists were seated on stone chairs amongst stone tables on a large porch overlooking the courtyard. The grass was short and trim, except where it lay beneath the noonday shadow cast by several large trees. Grass under the trees was allowed to grow an inch longer because of it's decreased exposure to the sun. Colorful flowers sprang up from tightly reigned garden beds seated next to parts of the sandstone walkway that lead out from the porch. In the middle of the garden path sat a round three-tier'd fountain, and a half dozen ducks paddled about playfully in it's main basin. The stonework of the fountain had seen many seasons. Most of it had turned green and brown with age and algae, yet it seemed to be missing no parts or pieces. Beyond the garden, past the spearhead fence and widely spaced trees one could see the ocean. The garden turned out to be the last site of Sydney would see on this trip. From there, we returned to the urban segment of downtown Sydney, a walk that seemed to transport us not only from one place to another but one time to another. Soon the streets were again lined with people, all walking one way or another. I'd say that three quarters of the people we saw in the downtown core were Orientals. Something I did not expect in the heart of an Australian icon like Sydney. We passed a lot of self-professing homeless people, nearly one on every block of the downtown area. Each sat on the ground in modest clothing behind a cardboard sign depicting their prediciment. Some of them were long and elaborate, telling of a pending legal battle with the government over money due him, cruel evicting landlords and theives robbing him of his collections. Others simply said "Hungry, please help." I have to admit I find it increasingly difficult to have any sympathy for people such as these, in a city bustling with activity and income, where signs on doors requesting help are as common as ones informing the shop is "OPEN." Many of the beggars we saw today did not look at all unable to work; In fact - one was sitting behind his little sign drinking a coffee and reading a paper! Had he been sitting at a table instead of on the ground, one could have easily mistaken him for a typical bloke who was just about to start his day. Instead, he sat on the ground, waiting for coins to jingle as he prepares to tackle another day living off the misguided generosity of passing tourists. Oh, and I'm pretty sure there are no job postings in the first quarter of the daily news - the section he was reading from. Homeless people aside, I found a magazine shack that sold stamps and was finally able to mail off the postcards I'd prepared for several friends back home. As it turned out, I had one extra card (or one too few friends) so I mailed it to Bo and I, from ourselves, with a couple of inside jokes we'll be sure not to forget now as they will arrive in the mail shortly. I suppose in a way it'll be like getting a letter from our past selves. Too bad we couldn't send mail the other direction, and give our past selves valuable information from the future! If only I knew then what I knew now... Having completed that last task, we headed back towards the hostel to collect our luggage. Now last night, my access card for the hostel stopped working. It had worked earlier in the day, but last night when we got in, it would not open any of the doors. Bo's card worked fine, but mine would do nothing. I had to borrow his to get into the bathroom and back into our room, #706, as everything is protected by access cards. This afternoon, when I went to unlock the locker containing my large luggage bag, the card reader informed me of a Ticket Malfunction and would not release the contents. This was now the second magnetic card that had failed to work for me in 24 hours. Curious now and thinking there may be a connection, I looked into the small change pouch where I'd been keeping these cards - and found a refrigerator magnet I'd purchased earlier! The dang ol' thing was erasing all my cards! At least it was far enough away from my wallet to have affected any of my important cards! I removed it from my hip pack and placed it in my big suitcase where it could cause no more trouble. Rolling suitcases trailing behind us, Bo and I hopped on the subway, emerged at the International airport's terminal and rode three escalators to the departure level where we've found a nice, cozy, quiet corner to spend one last night in Sydney. About a dozen other travelers are also sharing the chairs in this corner for the night with us, as our flight in the morning leaves at 6 or 7 and we need at least an hour according to announcements repeated every 15 minutes over the airport's intercom system. It's a tough call, whether to sleep for a few hours or stay awake the whole time, gambling on being able to sleep on the plane instead. Bo bought me a can of Pepsi, which has both refreshed and revitalized me but is probably not going to be enough to keep me from sleeping after a full day of walking. The spot between my legs is badly chaffed and I've got a blister on my right foot beneath the ball's callous the size of a nickle which combined, make the thought of walking anywhere undesirable. At this point, the trip has been a tremendous success, I've got many stories and even more pictures to bring back and show, and right now I just want to get home. March 22, 2007 - 10:34 PM  Ok, ok, I'm sorry. It HAS been a long time since I've updated the site. I tell you, travelling through 17 time zones really takes it out of you. Even though I went to work and had a 14 hour day my first full day back, I've been having an affair with my bed.  When we arrived at Calgary International Airport, we were greeted by green clad Lynne and Maddy holding a sign at the bottom of the elevator. It was priceless. My mom and brother had already met us at the gates and when we rode the elevator down to the main level we could hear other travellers awwwwwing at the two greeters below looking for a Bo and a John. We found the baggage carousel that advertised the luggage from from our flight, but after all other packages and bags had been spewed out onto the belt and picked up by their owners, there was no sign of any of our checked luggage. Several other passengers were standing near us who also appeared to be looking for what was not coming out of the now-closed baggage gate. Long story short, Bo's bags showed up on Monday (our flight got in on Saturday) - his cell phone was broken and the $25 CD I bought containing all the pictures from our surfing adventure was split in two. Everything was soaked top to bottom. My bag showed up a day after Bo's, in much the same condition. Luckily nothing was broken in my case, but it too was soaked, as though it sat outside in the rain in Vancouver the three days it was missing. At least it made it back. Interestingly enough, every time I mentioned to a customer or a friend that my luggage never showed up, their first interjection was always the same: Did you fly Air Canada? Little did I know beforehand, but this particular airline is notorious for losing luggage, and returning it in an ill state. Pam and Barry lost their luggage on the way to Jaimee's wedding in Nanaimo several years ago and had to go several days with only the clothes they were wearing on the flight. Lynne's luggage never did show up in the Phillipines when her and Peggy went to visit Clayton and Emily a few months ago, (Lynne - Please correct me if that's wrong or if Peggy's luggage was also MIA.) The stories go on and on and these are just the people around me. Even total strangers are under the impression that if you fly Air Canada, they will likely lose at least some, if not all of your checked baggage at some point during the flight. Not the best word of mouth testimony I'd want floating around about my company, but every indication suggests that they simply do not care. Propped up by goverment subsidies to keep them afloat, they have nothing to lose - except your luggage! Anyway, I did get all my stuff and was happy about that -- better late than never. Much of the past couple of days has been spent relaxing and recovering. I thought I could easily tough out the jet lag, and even the first day back at work I thought I was doing alright, but since then I've found several occasions where I've simply crashed hard onto my bed, passing out for hours at a time only to wake up for a few hours, then to fall asleep all night again. It's kind of nice. I watched the power supply in one of my computers pop this morning. That was awesome. I was listening to music on it and for some reason I happened to glace at the PC itself, only to hear the pop and a sort of dying sound as the screens went black and the spinning fans and hard drive motors wound down to a halt. A faint trail of smoke wafted out of the back of the power supply. I think it's fan bearings had started to wobble, slowing the fan down to a few hundred RPM - not enough to cool it and the unit simply overheated. Oh well. Could have been worse - plus I actually got to watch it go. Something I've never witnessed before.  Lynne - I WILL get that picture of all us to you shortly. It's still on my camera card and because I've been doing over 1200 software upgrades to my main computer, I haven't had a chance to copy it off yet. But it will be up here soon and I'll even have a convenient link to the full sized image so you can download it, save it, print it, do whatever you want to with it. Sorry it's taken so long. I even had a minor flood in my laundry room the other day. The hot water tap had a cracked seal, probably from being shut off during our trip and then reopened, and a few nights ago it burst spraying water all over the washing machine and the floor. Fortunately I made sure the floor drain was clear before we left on our trip so most of the water simply drained away, but I got a day off work because of it and had to replace the tap. March 23, 2007 - 11:08 AM  All Together Emily and Clayton arrived home on Tuesday night, undoubtedly quite a cold shock for Emily whose grown up in the Phillipines! We had a celebratory hot tubbing, backyard fire, and all the usual get together goodies. Maddy was very eager to show Emily every little detail, she even came downstairs, rummaged through one of my 'to be sorted' boxes and started pulling out random items asking if she could show them to Emily. It was really cute. Welcome to Canada, Emily! (And welcome home, Clayton!) Now Lynne, if you click on that picture you will get a new window with the original, full sized version that you can save and keep. You can't say you never get any of my pictures. :P hehe More running around today for me. I've got to help Barb's mom get set up with Phone, Cable and Internet services from Shaw, and I'm going to pick up my birdies. You know, that was one thing I did not see in Australia - Budgies! I saw lots of Cockatiels flying and squalking about in the wild, but no Budgies. Tomorrow we're celebrating Maddy's 5th birthday so I've got to make preparations for that too. I'll never get time to do everything I need to. It's crazy. But if I'm lucky, I might just get the bike out this afternoon!!! Woo hoo!!! March 24, 2007 - 4:49 PM  Although her birthday was several weeks ago while Bo and I were in Australia, we officially celebrated it today. The house was packed full of guests, both friends and family filled the living room till there was standing room only. Little Maddy is now a big five years old!         March 27, 2007 - 7:02 AM It just figures, doesn't it. Yesterday I was outside for a good portion of the day. I could feel the sun's warmth beating on my face and arms, and it felt good. The air still held onto pockets of chill from remaining caps of ice hidden in sun-starved corners but the sensation was undeniable: Spring is coming! When I got home from work I took out the rake and began some early spring cleanup in the back yard. Dead leaves, the remainder of last year's apple tree crop, bits of garbage, it all got raked into piles and the drier stuff burnt. As I cleared out the flower beds, little shoots were already poking their pink heads out of the newly thawed soil and blades of grass had crept up next the house and were already 6, sometimes 8 inches tall! I love this time of year because of the hope that it presents. You know what is coming but it's not quite here yet. And then I saw it. Today's forecast: Snow. Lots of snow. Last night the forecast included 10-15 cm of snow, but this morning it's been scaled back to 10 cm at most but there is even a severe weather alert on The Weather Network web site for heavy snow. I guess the knowledge that the mean temperature is rising gives hope despite the wet forecast, and what I saw yesterday is encouraging as well, what with the new life in the garden and all. Even going to work these last couple of days isn't quite so bad knowing there's hope on the horizon. I won't always be working these insane hours on a dead-end shift. As much as it might shock my mother, for once in my life I am really looking forward to change. March 29, 2007 - 11:36 PM I quit my job at Shaw today and I'm going to Vegas for a week or two. BACK to Journal Index |