Sydney

It has been a couple of days and as you can imagine I have not been wasting time.

Peter dropped me at the station on Monday morning, and I wil confess that the extra for First Class was worth it for the extra space and relative peace and quiet. The ride was through farmland and very small towns but got increasingly industrial and urban below Newcastle where...guess what, they mine coal!.

I was able to navigate my way to Eva's the hostel I am staying at. Nice room and a good crowd who are predominantly German but with a girl from Durham (UK) and some Scandinavians.

Tuesday was a day of steady rain, but a cheap umbrella cured the problem and I took a long walk through the city and the parks out to Mrs Macquaries Chair, where there is a great view of the harbour, Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

The area must be predominantly sandstone and there were some beautiful rocks in the park that were shaped by the wind and the rain into unusual shapes that very much complemented the overall layout.

I then walked all the way up to the base of the bridge and the famed Australian Hotel where miraculously they had cold beer about 4 in the afternoon. Right on time! The hotel is on "The Rocks" where the original settlement was. 

Steve and April (friends from Cary formerly Jacksonville Fl) had told me about it and had also given me several other tips on places to go and things to see.

All the ferries that serve the surrounding communities and suburbs come in to Circular Wharf and then connect with buses or the train/subway system. Sydney Harbour is on of the biggest in the world and presents it's own set of challenges when it comes to getting around. Having said that people live in Manly to the north and instead of an insane and frustrating commute to work they can jump on a ferry, have a coffee and get off a few minutes from work after a more relaxing 30 min ferry ride. Joanne the girl from Durham had loaned me her rail/bus pass for the day so I used it to get home.

I had also stopped at the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb facility and discovered that they wanted $200 to complete the climb. I am sure the view is incredible, but frankly the price and the climb were too steep for my taste.

I did discover that a day pass that covers all the ferries, buses and trains was only $18 and as I have oft said I am a ferry geek!

Wednesday I purchased same and ran and caught the bus that goes to Watson Bay which is on the south side of the narrow entrance to Sydney Harbour.

A 30 minute bus ride put me at the ferry terminal that goes back to Circular Quay. There is also a beautiful walk where you can see the ocean side of the coast and the wild seas that occur at the harbour entrance. 

I got to experience some of that later in the day on the Manly ferry ride.

I mentioned the sandstone and it was again in evidence at the harbour mouth, indeed that is probably what caused the natural harbour in the first place. Beautiful, if stark shaped rocks were what must have "welcomed" the first settlers as they took the wild ride through the gap and down the harbour to Sydney.

 

The Manly ferries are the largest and are pointed at both ends, so there is no need for them to turn around at each end of the journey. The engineers will at this point be asking how the propulsion system works and I think they must be directional thrusters as that is what it looks like they use to maneuver.

There were lots of sailboats of various sizes out enjoying the breeze and the significant swell.

Fun in a sailboat in the wind at the harbor entrance.

I had dinner with a good friend of Dave Hedley's and we discussed the employment situation in Australia and the insane price of houses in Sydney and I would have seen some of the most expensive properties in Watson Bay and Rose Bay just a little closer to town. I noticed on the return ferry journey from Manly that they also have the capability to build something ugly and inappropriate anywhere in the world (my opinion) Please see the example below!!

Rob also said that Australian banking regulation had prevented the sort of financial crisis the US and others experienced, and that unemployment is very low here (He is a recruiter)

 

 

 Thursday (today) I am off to Bondi beach and a walk down to Coogee Beach. The sun is shining so it should be a good day.We have been warned that all of the shops will be shut tomorrow, and there is a rooftop BBQ planned for tomorrow evening, so I will have to go shop today!

 

A much nicer part of Australia. Coffs Harbour NSW.

Well, I got here and miraculously my wireless started working again with no changes by me, so maybe the urban theory had some basis,

I arrived in Coffs about midday on the train and immediately recognized Peter. We went off for some lunch and the opportunity to catch up.
Coffs Harbour is about halfway between Brisbane and Sydney and is a pretty good size town with lots of amenities and lots on great views, as there are hills not too far inland and the coastline varies from beach to rocky outcrops. Lots of nice houses and condos, and Peter and Denise have one that is on the top floor. They have loads of space and a great Pacific ocean view.

I knew them in Zambia when we both worked there in the mid 70s. Peter did several other overseas contracts in Liberia and Oman before returning to Australia. He works for  Bobcat distributor, and the company has about 20 full time employees and they are also Kubota and Yanmar dealers.

Denise went back to university when they came back to Australia and is a psychologist here with her own thriving practice. The kids are spread out. Alysia is currently in Guam but returning to Brisbane to complete her PhD in Marine Biology, Tim and his wife both live in the Brisbane area with their brand new son (born in mid March) and Steven lives in Sydney and is in Advertising and Promotion.

We have had a relaxed weekend and Peter is an excellent cook. We took a local drive on Saturday and ate in a small place nearby that has something of a Carrboro feeling with small restaurants and a small artsy cinema. Excellent food.

I am off for a walk on the beach as Denise is catching up on paperwork and billing, and Peter is out shopping for lunch!!
I am away on the train to Sydney in the morning. It is a long (9 hour) ride so I have awarded myself an upgrade to First Class for the ride. I have a few days booked in Sydney but nothing beyond that other than the flight home on the 7th from Melbourne. More in a couple of days I think

Back to urbanity. Brisbane

It would be rude and unfair to say that I do not like Brisbane, but the differences between South Island and here are huge, particularly after the amount of exposure to rural and unspoiled countryside that I have had over the last few weeks.

First sight of land in Australia. Ninety Mile Beach in Victoria

There are multi lane highways traffic jams, noise and general urbanity. So many coffee shops you would not believe and people rushing around in business attire looking hugely serious.

I rode on the “City Cat” which is a catamaran ferry that runs up and down the Brisbane River, along with numerous water taxis. It was a good way to see the city and cheap enough at $6. 

My wireless access is not connecting so I am building up a collection of posts in MS Word to download when I get the connection restored. Not sure what the issue is but maybe my notebook does not like the city life either! 

Passengers waiting to board the City Cat.

Check out the lady in the colorful dress. From Somalia I think or maybe Mali

Some interesting contrasts.

I am on the Cross Country train that runs between Brisbane and Sydney daily. I am on my way to Coffs Harbour, which will take about 5 ½ hours. We left at 6.30 am so an early start but another sunny day after an overnight storm..

I am going to see Peter and Denise Marshell, who I have not seen for 30 years! Somehow we have stayed in contact with occasional emails and I reconnected with them through a website for ex Zambian expats. I know they have a daughter and 2 grown boys and they have just become grandparents in the last couple of weeks and that is about all. I anticipate a fun weekend with a few beers, and some reminiscing.

The service challenge. Trying to decide which works best overall.

In general I have enjoyed the more laid back service in NZ, but it misses service (and revenue)  opportunities (like a second glass of wine or beer) and is a little lacking. I think one return trip to the table to check that everything is reasonable from all viewpoints

I also dislike the hurried, "feed them, and move them" on service that is so typical in the US. It is thinly disguised service and in reality about dollars per table.

I went out Monday for a simple pizza and a beer, and somehow my food order got screwed up, as they were very busy and in the end I was invited by some other folks to share theirs. The wait staff did not appear overly concerned and I eventually cancelled the food order and left. I sent a comment to the restaurant's website "contact us" address when I got back to my room, and had a response and apology the next morning before 9 am.

All is resolved and apologies accepted and I credit the owner with a fast and detailed response to a customer complaint.

He offered to shout me a couple of beers when I return

It overall raises the question of what is good service and how do we define it.

I do not like the hurried US approach where they are checking on you every 5 minutes and waiting to whip the plate away, but equally do not like having my food delivered with no follow up. There is certainly no pressure to vacate the table (which I like) but as I said earlier,maybe I would like a second glass of wine or beer and do not feel that I should have to go search that out.

This is not intended as a bitch session just a few observations.

Like everything in life there is a reasonable balance to be made.

What a contrast!: Wednesday

When I awoke on Wednesday morning it was with significant sadness and weather to match. I could hear the wind and rain outside.

Today is my last day (on this trip anyway) in New Zealand and my plan is to fly from Picton to Wellington on SoundsAir, a local carrier and then on to Brisbane on Qantas. That part involves a connection in Melbourne, not the most direct route but what is available. Originally I had planned to return on the ferry as it is a wonderful ride through the sound and over to Wellington.

I discovered on my first Picton stay that SoundsAir fly Cessna Caravans out of the very small Picton airport to Wellington for NZ$79, so I decided to do that in the hope I could conn a ride in the front right seat and get a good view from a pilots perspective.

I knew when I saw the weather that plans would likely change as they fly in and out of Picton using visual flight rules, and there was little visibility. I also knew that they use the Blenheim airport about 20km away when the weather gets crappy. They have a shuttle that takes you from Picton out to the airport. (The same lady that checks you in also checks passengers in for the train service to Christchurch. Different desks but the same building. True multi-tasking)

Anyway the shuttle arrives and hauls us off to Blenheim and it is tipping down with rain for the whole drive and also when we arrive.

We load up and wait (yes I did manage to talk my way into the front right seat). There are two aircraft who are circling above and waiting for the weather to improve before landing and our pilot says he is going to wait it out for a while. In reality it was about 20 minutes and we taxied out and were on our way.

SoundsAir leaving Picton the day before my flight

I have not flown in a Caravan before but it is a big single turbine engine aircraft used around the world in rugged conditions. It has fixed undercarriage and seats about 10 plus baggage in a belly pod. It has a fantastic reputation for reliability in adverse conditions.

It was a little bumpy but looking down at the whitecaps on the water in the Cook Straights I was glad I was in an airplane and not on the ferry. We followed a STAR (Standard Instrument Arrival) in to Wellington at 5000 feet. 

As we descended it got bumpier but was never bad. The pilot made a great landing and looked like he battled more with the airplane while taxing to the ramp. 

I asked him about the winds on landing and he told me they were 38 knots but almost on the nose. I looked at the GPS as we landed and it showed a groundspeed of 45 knots and you would probably make an approach at about 80 or 85 knots so the numbers make sense. For the non-aviation folks anything above 15 knots is potentially challenging for private pilots and 30 knots is significant for airliners.

Wellington is known to be challenging because of it’s location and the winds. I saw it for myself. A well spent NZ$79 for me anyway. Wellington is on the list of the “Ten most challenging airports in the world” I have flown in and out of two so far (Barra Scotland was the other) and am planning to add a few more including Lukla in Nepal, and Courcheval in France (hopefully in May this year).in the foreseeable future.

Another thing to note was that there was no security screening for the SoundsAir flight, but you go in to the main terminal on the ground side when you arrive in Wellington for the “proper airplane”

I am on the Melbourne to Brisbane flight as I write this. I am sad I did not get to see the scenery from the air crossing the straights, but the experience was real Wellington flying and that is worth the time and effort. The pilot told me they had seen dolphins from the airplane the previous day.

Nelson, Picton, and a nice end to the day

It is still about 200 km to Picton, my destination and where I stepped ashore on South Island nearly 3 weeks ago. It is a beautiful day with blue sky and sunshine again so, after a wander around the beautiful town I head out of town and travel through some more passes and valleys, and arrive in Havelock which is a small place at the head of one of the many sounds in the region. 

 Downtown Nelson complete with log truck on the way to the port

There are two routes to Picton from there; both are about the same distance. I, of course chose the “road less traveled” which was windy, and hilly, but spectacular with tremendous views of the Queen Charlotte Sound. I recently discovered the “wide” setting and I now look with more satisfaction at the photos I am taking. They still do not really do justice to the azure blue of the sea and the magnificence of the views, but it is better.

The Queen Charlotte Sound and the Wood export facility in Picton

When I arrived at my digs the lady in charge said that the local yacht club have races on Tuesday evenings and if anyone at the place is interested in sailing and crewing they would be welcome. It was a beautiful day and a great opportunity, so off I went. There were probably 7 of us who showed up and several of the others had done this before. I was teamed up with a German guy Michel and introduced to our skipper, Clive who was one of the standard versions of a yachtsman. Not the peaked cap and blue blazer type, but the somewhat crusty and bearded sailor, maybe a little closer to Popeye. 

He was from the UK and spent the winters in NZ and the summers in the UK. Smart guy. He had retired from Pirelli Cables who supply mains electrical cables and installations around the world. He has traveled extensively and was basically the guy who tested the installations and verified that all of it works to spec. He had spent a lot of time in Bagdhad during the Iran/Iraq war and had some interesting stories. Turns out he lives in Leicester (where I was born) and lived less than 5km from where my Mom lived and less than 10km from the Desford facility.

We sailed in the race, and there were two divisions of boat racing (not sure how it works). We were a division 2 boat and Clive showed his patience (mostly) with his inexperienced crew, and we felt like we had a pretty good showing. Clive mentioned that our placement would be based on tactics rather than from having a well-oiled expert crew. We were the third or forth boat across the finish, and it turned out that we had won the division race. This was announced at the awards ceremony after several beers. Clive won a bottle of rum and we at least sampled it before going our separate ways. 

One interesting and apparently unususal thing was that the ferry that was going out to Wellington took a different and longer route to stay out of the way of the race. Clive mentioned that there were race penalties for slowing or getting in the ferry’s way (he is WAY bigger) but this ferry Captain went above and beyond to make sure that we were all having fun and were not interrupted. That to me is the quintessential Kiwi way and what I enjoyed most about my stay. People are considerate, friendly and helpful, not just to tourists but to each other as well. Huge kudos to them as a nation and their lifestyle choices. We could learn a thing or two.

What an unexpected afternoon of fun, and what generosity on the Club’s behalf to welcome visitors to meet people and join the fun. A great finish to a great day.

Punakaki and the Pancake Rocks

The weather was not a lot better on Sunday morning, and I continued north with a brief stop in Franz Josef for gas and some food. The lady who ran the place that I stayed at in Fox suggested that I go to Punakaki about 80 km north of Greymouth, and it made for a short day of driving but it all worked well. When I called for a reservation I was warned to bring anything I planned to cook, as there is no shop in the settlement and no ATM machine. There was a decent tavern. It was raining but showerier when I arrived and the “Beach Hostel” was about 30 meters from the Tasman Sea and the balcony afforded great views of the considerable surf. 

Punakaki is famous (well that might be a superlative) or well known in NZ for the “Pancake Rocks and blowholes. 

They were located about a 15 minute walk from the hostel. There is a very steep hillside right behind the settlement and the flat part is only about 500 meters wide. There is a lot of dense vegetation and up near the Pancake Rocks is real rainforest. 

Different layers of rock type that are eroding at different rates and that are what causes the shapes form the formations. It was a very interesting place to visit and the Department of Conservation who run it have done a great job of making it accessible but sufficiently protected. 

I may have mentioned this before but there is virtually no litter in New Zealand and people are likely to pick it up if they see it! Great.

It was blowing a gale when I left Punakaki on Monday morning headed to Westport. There is a turn off that leads to a seal colony so I went to take a look. It was (and probably still is) still blowing a gale but I decided to go see the seals anyway. I put on my trusty rainproof jacket and headed out. 5 minutes later I realized the strategic mistake as the water dripped off it on to my shorts and socks and shoes. Too late to turn back so I went to see the seals who seemed mostly unaffected by the weather! There was also a sign with distances to various places in the world.

It is an interesting adventure to change clothes in a parking lot in the pouring rain in what amounted to a Toyota Corrola!

Westport is a fair size town and like most of the west coast is quite remote. I made a quick visit to the airport to see what sort of facility they had, as there are only dirt strips south of there all the way to Queenstown about 400 km or more away.

It turns out Westport has two scheduled flights a day to Wellington in a 10 seater. Not luxurious but decent service.

A road continues north from there but it is one way in and one way out. The main road takes off to the east at that point and up through the Buller Gorge towards Nelson and Christchurch. It was a spectacular drive in the rain and would warrant a return trip on a nice day.

I arrived in Nelson, my destination around 5pm. What is this? Traffic!! I almost turned around again but pressed on.

It was tough to get a room in Nelson and I can understand why. It is the second biggest town on South Island and in the heart of wine country. It is a very pretty neat and clean little town with a thriving town center (they are known as CBDs in NZ anyway: Central Business District)

I found my B&B after a while, and it was just about a 5 minute walk from the CBD but nice and quiet. The facility was way better than anywhere I have stayed (that I paid for anyway) and had what amounted to a small apartment all to myself. True luxury! I was also able to do some much-needed laundry including the soaking wet shorts from the seal adventure. The owner Nick had, as it turns out grown up in Zambia or Northern Rhodesia as it was at that time. Their family farmed in the Mkushi Block, which I know will not mean much to most people. 

The place was immaculate and it would be a great base for a longer stay in Nelson.

It was late when I was done with everything so I decided on a beer and pizza in a small place close by. It was the only place where I had unresponsive service and I will write a separate post about the experience as it raised some fundamental questions about expectations and how they differ around the world.