My blog is a record of my adventures and travels since January 2010. I have been lucky enough to travel around the world and see friends I have not seen in 30 years!
I am trying to make this more than a travelogue and add commentary and Op-ed pieces. I hope you enjoy and feel motivated to go out and experience the wonders of the world
Well, I have been home for about 3 weeks and enjoyed an unexpected visit from my brother Steve and Alison as they were Volcano refugees for 10 days or so.
I am off to the UK tonight on the infamous AA174 to Heathrow, and then on to my long time friend Barbara's. They have an annual family outing on a narrow boat on one of the canals. Barbara got the idea from a great day we spent way back when I was in the UK and we all did the same thing and had a wonderful time. It looks like it might be rainy this time around but that is the UK.
June and Alistair leave next week and we will all be in Zambia for Rian's wedding May 15th and a few days in the bush in Kafue National Park. I have not been back to Zambia since 1993 so will be interested in all the changes, particularly those bought about by an open currency. I will discuss that more in a later post.
Rhino decided he would come too perhaps to reconnect with his relatives, although they may not recognize him since he lost his horn and ears on the RTW trip. They will love him no less I suspect.
I upped the ante and bought a new roller duffel (Tuesday Morning $40) and will see how it performs in the durability class and ease of use. It lacks the multiple pockets of the original blue one I hauled around the world but has a separate base area that is good for wedding clothes and stuff I will not need very much. Customer feedback will be posted occasionally.
It was great to see everyone and have a couple of Highland Gaelic as well as do badly on Trivia night.
I have been back a little over two weeks now and time has flown. An unexpected visit from my brother and Alison, who were volcano refugees has added to the fun and getting caught up with everyone.
While I was swanning around the globe I was sending postcards back to an kindergarten class where a friend is a teacher's assitant. The kids have been tracking Andy on a globe and hopefully getting a broader view of the world.
I would gather about 10 postcards at a time and write either a comment or a question for them. They got to choose their favorites and they went on the board.
Last week I was invited to meet the class and spend some time answering questions and generally getting to know them.
It was great fun and I really think they learned a lot and benefited from the experience. I know I did.
I had my picture taken with the class, and plan to go back to see them after the next portion of the trip.
They were normal kids who cannot sit still and ask random questions, but they were full of life and enthusiasm, and just very spontanious. I had a lovely morning with them.
Thanks Ann Marie and Ms Garrison for allowing me to do this.
It is a long way from Melbourne to RDU and you can figure about 30 hours door to door.
MEL-LAX is about 14 hours non stop and I purposly chose the new A380 Airbus for my journey.
OK so I am flying coach but I have to say that Airbus got this design right. I was impressed.
There is loads of headroom and large luggage bins, quite comfortable seats (last place goes to Cathay Pacific on their A340 from Mumbai to Hong Kong) and an excellent in flight entertainment setup. I had a couple of interesting folks sitting in my row. Both are Aussie history teachers and we had a few laughs and some good conversation. I estimate that there were about 60 movies to choose from as well as the TV and radio stuff. I am very impressed with the airplane and the journey so far. Qantas has 6 of the A380s in service and 14 more on order!!
They do the Sydney LAX every day and the MEL-LAX 3 times a week as well as one of the London services.
I hope Boeing has their act together with the latest version of the 747 and the new 787, although it's NPI program may have been managed by Caterpillar.
It all went to hell in a handbasket in LAX. What a hell hole, and what a horrible way for someone to first experience the USA. I am ashamed. It is dirty, has not seen a coat of paint in 20 years and is incredibly inefficient. I thought I had arrived at an airport in the developing world but most of theirs are better. Enough said.
I then connected with American to Raleigh via Chicago. I was treated to a center seat on both flights where they did not serve food and both flights were full. Reverse culture shock would be the appropriate term.
I got home around 11pm after weather related delays in Chicago and my cat Mabs looked at me and basically said "Who the Heck are you and what are you doing in my house!"
She has warmed a little to me now so we will see.
I am home for about 3 weeks before heading out to Zambia at the end of the month.
I will resume around that time.
Thanks to the Chadwick and Hoops team for caring for my place so well, and thanks to all the blog readers and followers.
My travel companion Rhino made it home with me but a little the worse for wear. Some poachers cut off his horn at one point and his ears became victims too, but he is a high milage trooper and we have been through a lot together.
Writing the blog has been a growth experience in it's own right and it has taught me a lot about how to write and communicate as well as figure out how to show sheep shearing and tuna slicing videos. Comments and helpful suggestions gratefully received.
On Monday I visited The Immigration Museum and the Old Melbourne Jail. It is a good reminder of the hardships that many endured, and gives a clue as to the motivation most must have had to immigrate. The same is true for the USA and Canada, except the distances are so much greater. In the 1800s the passage took up to 5 months, and there was a replica of the inside of the ships. No internet air conditioning or TV here!!. Not a whole lot of room in steerage either.
There were also segments on immigrants from other places and the “whites only” policy that was officially withdrawn many years ago, but it was replaced with a language test administered in various European languages and discriminatory in it’s intent also. More recent immigration was recognized with segments on the Kurds, The Croatians and Rwandans.
Melbourne particularly has a large Asian population, and the realities are and have been for a while that Asia will be their biggest trading opportunity. The huge assets in minerals and agricultural products will continue to benefit both Australia and New Zealand, and it is already apparent that the global recession (GFC or Global Financial Crisis as it is called here) has had minimal effect. I spoke with a friend of David Hedley’s in Sydney who is a recruiter and he has more jobs to fill than qualified people to fill them.
Not quite sure how I got from a visit to the Immigration Museum to discussing the recession but here we are.
The Old Melbourne Jail was where Ned Kelly (along with about 135 others over time) was hanged. He was a combination of a criminal/robber, and also had political aspirations to create an independent state. All of this in the 1830s prior to the creation of Australia as a nation in 1901.
There are lots of songs about him and his gang in traditional music.
The jail visit is self-guided, but there are a couple of other “experiences” that are more guided. One is a reenactment of the Ned Kelly trial that I did not attend, and the other is the “Police Watch House” experience. Basically they show you what it is like to be arrested. Parents are warned that it can be a scary experience for smaller kids, and it proved to be so, but I think it was a sobering experience for the teenagers, and indeed for several of the adults. The sergeant that gave the tour was a fierce lady who was not too particular about her language, but was we eventually found out an actress and I would say very good at her work! It was an interesting 45 minutes. There was one girl who was about 16 who I was convinced was about to burst in to tears and run out. The “sergeant” co-opted the teens as deputies so their experience was a little calmer than the adults.
I had Tuesday (my last day before the big trip home) pegged as a quiet day just getting ready to travel, but by 10.30 I was ready to do something.
I have been staying with friends from Caterpillar who are based here in Melbourne since Sunday, and they live in a suburb about 10km east of the CBD.
I did not actually set out to walk in to town, but that is what I ended up doing. There is a walking and bike trail that follows a creek that then joins the Yarra River, which flows through Melbourne. It was a pleasant walk and took a couple of hours, and then took the tram back. I probably did not pick the most direct one but it really did not matter as I ended up only about a 10 min walk north of the house.
Fish tacos at home tonight and Bill will be able to drop me at the airport as the Cat office is only about 10 minutes from there. This will likely get posted once I get home as I am unlikely to have good internet access and the connectivity problems with my wireless continue.
I decided to fly from Sydney to Melbourne, as my time is now getting short.
I arrived at the gate and the aircraft was just taxiing in to the gate. There was a group of people watching and one of them told me quite excitedly that it was her son who was flying the plane and it was his first day of “initial operating experience”. The new pilot is teamed with a training captain for about a month.
Anyway there was his Mom and Dad and his 96-year-old Nanna and they were all so proud to see this and wanted to share.
Not the best photo, but this is Alex's family out to see him at work.
The son Alex actually flew the sector from Sydney to Melbourne and did a great job.
I navigated my way to St Kilda an area southeast of the CBD (remember Central Business District) that looked promising for places to stay and eat.
It is about 200 meters from the beach and is a thriving if somewhat bohemian place. My style. I took a walk and came across the “St Kilda Community Gardens and Art Center”.
One of the gardeners and his daughter picking olives
What a wonderful and funky place. It is space that is owned by the town but managed by individuals and they grow organic vegetables and fruit and also create art and structures made from inexpensive material that would go to waste otherwise.
Again the public transport system is well integrated and is a mix of trains, trams and busses and for $6.80 you can ride most of the system. The fare is more to go to Zone 2, which are the outer suburbs.
Two of the guests (Jo from Durham UK and Camile from France)at Eva’s have decided to have a BBQ to celebrate Good Friday, and they anticipated about 10-12 people signing up. In the end there were closer to 35. It was $8 AUS each and you bought your own drink.
During the day almost everyone pitched in to prepare the food. We had chicken kebabs, Kangaroo Kebabs and various salads and pastas as well as some beautifully presented snacks. There are quite a few people from Germany and Holland, one American girl who has just been on Antarctica for 4 months, and a couple that had arrived from Frankfurt that morning.
I also talked with a girl from Auckland NZ who works for a hotel chain and is setting up offices in Sydney. Lots of the people had been to NZ and universally enjoyed the experience as I did. David was an English guy in his late 40s who had given up work for a while (worked in fashion I think) and had been traveling for a couple of months.
I was impressed as he had all of his possessions in a backpack and said it was 9kg total. Lessons to be learned there for sure.
Thursday was a fantastic day for the weather. I decided that I would take the walk along the coast from the famous Bondi Beach south to Koogee.
It is purported to be 6km, but it certainly felt like more than that!
I again experienced the weathering on the rocks and some very beautiful scenery both from a geological and a human form point of view!
I got to Bondi around 11.30 and decided on a light lunch. It was a sandwich of smoked salmon, avocado, and thin sliced red onions. It was very good and not too heavy. In Bondi there is a place called The Iceberg and it has an outdoor swimming pool that is right by the ocean and is replenished by the waves splashing in to the pool.
The walk follows the cliffs and beach and at some points there is a sort of cantilevered walkway that works it’s way around a large cemetery.
There are some narrow bays with quite small beaches but what looked like good surf as long as you were skilled enough to stay off the rocks. There were plenty of people out their testing their skills.
If you go to Sydney this is certainly something I would recommend. If I were doing it again I would go from Koogee to Bondi, and then take the bus on the Watson Bay to see “The Gap” or the entrance to Sydney Harbour that I saw on Wednesday. The bus fare is only $2 AUS or I am sure you can buy something in between that and the $18 Day pass that works for everything. It is a fun and easy way to get around, and there are no hassles parking etc.
A small rock cairn or statue close to the cemetery. Quite spontaneous!
The furthest point you can see is North Bondi where my walk started.
I have been gone for about 85 days now and have actually only driven for 4 of them as I came back from Queenstown. I really do not miss it!
