Monday, December 31, 2012

g'day, 2013!

if i had to look back and pick the most interesting year i've lived it would have to be 2012.  you might be thinking 'duh' but i think i try to keep things exciting on a regular basis.  last year just had more excitement far, far from home.

i explored seven new countries, met lots of new friends, learned a new language, hiked climbed scuba'd some crazy places, ate really weird things, and generally made some great memories.  i also paddled molokai in my one man before i left.   

not to say that the year was all fantastic, there were some times of pretty intense loneliness, and i turned 40, but i think it balances pretty far to the good.

i'm not sure how to top last year but i have to try.  maybe this will be the year i figure out what i want to do when i grow up (i say that every year but who knows, it can happen).  

keep moving forward and expect great things.  

love to everyone, i miss you.  have a great new year.


sydney


Sunday, December 30, 2012

mmm...

i ate kangaroo for dinner.  with mashed potatoes.

it was really really good.

yet somehow it makes me feel so sad, like i ate a koala bear.



Saturday, December 29, 2012

on to sydney


i've arrived in sydney and this place is nuts, i can't wait to explore.

but basically i'm stuck in an apartment with a fantastic view, i have no keys so i can't leave and no one can remember the code to the wifi so i can't communicate.  i'm rapunzel, at the moment, without much hair.  at least i have a snickers bar.

how did this happen…

brisbane turned out to be a little more boring than i expected.  its nice and i like it, but all of the activities that i thought would be fun to do i found bigger and better and crazier versions in sydney so why bother?  i spent my last day exploring the surrounding suburbs which were quite pleasant.  i went to a power yoga class that kicked my ass.  i was the first to arrive so i sat on my mat and watched all the other women file in, about 20 in all and a couple men.  these women were all super fit and thin and were doing headstands to warm up.  i was just hoping i could still touch my toes.  in central america i was a yoga rockstar, i look great working out with overweight vacationers trying it for the first time.

i spent the afternoon (yesterday) researching places to find sea dragons and while they are plentiful, there are no hotels, hostels, anywhere to stay available.  my sea dragon dream is pretty much over, and i will never again go somewhere during peak season without making all of my arrangements months in advance.  

what better way to spend time after the death of a dream than to hit the pubs.  i scoped out some local places and tried the local beers.  interestingly enough, i have the opposite problem here than i did in central america.  i couldn't get the boys to leave me alone there and here i can't get anyone to talk to me.  i tried some small talk here and there and nothing.  at one point i was the only woman in a bar and i still couldn't get anyone to talk to me.  bizarre.

so i walked home and watched 'hot tub time machine', which i highly recommend to everyone except my mother.

i was glad to leave brisbane this morning, not only was the promise of bigger and better in sydney too much but i wasn't happy with my living situation.  i got a room through airb&b and it advertised a room in a nice house in a quiet suburb.  and that's exactly what it was.  but they neglected to mention that the entire house is rooms for rent and only one bathroom to share.  every other room had couples so there were quite a few people.  and i barely fit in my bed, they must have bought it in guatemala.  the other people were nice, there were 2 older couples, the aussie guy was great and full of information, the other 3 people weren't overly friendly.  there was a gay couple that was super fun but they left about 3 hours after i arrived.  and a young american couple who either sat in their room or sat watching tv and had no interest in interacting with anyone.  

the flight to sydney was great, i love flying on virgin australia.  i shamelessly stole the window seat and the boy that sat next to me, a carbon copy of ronald weasley, british and all, was too polite to ask for it.  turns out that he lived in sydney for a year and was happy to tell me everywhere i should go.  including how to get to my apartment by train (my host sent me an email with directions using trains, trams, a bus, then walking).  the train ride was quite nice, mostly underground until we got out to where the opera house is, from there i walked across a bridge, up a huge steep road, then got lost, because the buildings were so tall that my gps wouldn't work.  i asked every person i saw where cross street was located but no one knew.  finally a korean couple with a super high tech map program found it and i was only a street away.  i had been on the phone with the other woman who lives in this apartment and she didn't know any of the streets that i was walking past so all of the money i saved by walking a bit further instead of tram and bus was given to at&t.  probably would've been cheaper to take the hour taxi ride direct from the airport than to talk on my phone.  whatever.

not a great start with my second airb&b accommodation.  when i finally find the apartment building i'm let in by a woman who doesn't live there.  i was told by the owner that i would share the apartment with the other renter who would most likely be out of town the whole time i'm there.  instead, she had friends come to town for new years and they're all staying here too.  these friends include a very loud 3 year old who was running in and out of all the rooms, yelling, throwing things, and the father chasing him screaming his name over and over and 'stop it' and 'put that back', etc.  since the friends are in town they have my keys and i have no keys.  so now i'm sitting here by myself (the family went to the pool with my keys) unable to leave.  this is strike 2 for airb&b.  

before the family left i asked for the code to the wifi and they didn't have it.  the other roommate didn't remember it and she's trying to get in touch with the owner in new york to see if she remembers it.  that was 2 hours ago.  

eventually this will all get worked out and i'll be released from my prison and can get on with life.  snickers bar and kindle for a while, though.

update, 2 more hours have passed and no wifi.  i'm dead tired and trying to nap but there's a screaming 3 year old right outside my door (he's camped there and keeps having tantrums).  seriously thinking of walking to the park across the street and lying on a bench.

last update.  another hour.  i've been in my room because i know when i open my door they are going to ask me how my nap was and i can't think of anything to say that won't ruin their day.  i'm going to steal their keys and make a break for it.

update to the last update.  8 hours in sydney and no wifi.  but i finally met the other woman who lives here and she fed me beer and is super nice.  and she's unemployed for 2 weeks so i have an instant drinking buddy.  happy again.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

brisbane

today i was a total touron.  it was great.

i walked to the nearest pier and jumped on the city cat, the water transportation that connects brisbane to all of the suburbs.  great big blue catamarans that stop on both sides of the brisbane river.  the more i see of this city the more i think its the australian equivalent of portland.  its beautiful, has every mode of public transportation possible, most of it environmentally friendly, bikes for rent everywhere, bike and walking paths that link all of the suburbs, and super clean.  buses, rails, trains, and what makes it so much better is that everyone uses them.  there is hardly any traffic anywhere.

i rode the cat for about 20 minutes to south bank and walked the botanical gardens.  beautiful stuff, not alot different from kauai.  across the river is downtown brisbane, i think there are 12 bridges downtown, all of them pedestrian friendly.  there's one that you can climb but i think i might save that adventure for the sydney harbor bridge next week.

the queens outdoor mall was incredible.  several blocks in the middle of downtown, several stories tall, nothing but shops and restaurants.  street musicians, people watching and no cars allowed.  i have no need to shop but it was a great place to sit and watch.  apparently there's a fashion trend here for women that includes wearing shorts that go way up high but leave your ass cheeks hanging out a bit.  it also seems that this trend is only for women that you'd have no interest in looking at their ass cheeks.

for the most part, though, people are pretty metro, and every kind of city style represented.  fairly easy to tell who's a tourist and who's not.

i found a bus called 'city sights' and hopped on.  there are 19 stops that cover all of brisbane and surrounding areas and a tour guide.  i'm not a huge fan of bus tours but it was a great way to see everything in a couple hours and find places i might want to go back to.  the coolest stop was the mount coot-tha lookout.  coot-tha means 'the place of wild honey' in aboriginal and its 287 meters above sea level, the highest point in queensland.  there's a restaurant, a cafe, and a lookout platform.  i stopped there and ate ice cream.

brisbane is possibly the cleanest place i've ever been.  i'm not sure i saw a piece of trash anywhere.  the oldest buildings aren't very old (mid 1800s i think) so it might be the prettiest modern city i've ever seen.  alot of the older buildings have 'convict built' signs, and all the streets in one direction have girls names, perpendicular are boys names.

after the city tour i walked back down to south bank and rode the ginormous ferris wheel by the river.  i'm not entirely sure it was worth the money but it was pretty cool.  each of the cars was enclosed with air conditioning and a taped guide pointing out the sites and the view was spectacular.  i think i did all of the major touristy crap in one day.

i have one more day here and i think that's enough.  i have almost a week in sydney coming up (yay for new years fireworks!) and then off to find sea dragons and the barrier reef.  but if i wanted to live in a city this might be the one i picked.

brisbane from mt coot-tha

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

australia begins

i'm not sure how i thought that drinking tequila instead of packing was such a good idea.  i snoozed my alarm 3 times before i realized that i had a plane to catch.  luckily packing is as easy as stuffing everything i own into my giant backpack and done.

as i sat waiting on oahu for my connecting flight to brisbane i realized all of the things that i spent the past 3 weeks not doing.  i have no real plan for any of the places i am going.  find a place to sleep in a place that seems cool is about what i accomplished.  my travel guide never showed up but did i ever look through the online versions?  not so much.

i never sewed the button back on the one pair of pants that i have.

i found an entire pocket in my backpack of stuff i smuggled back from cuba.  so now i have to worry about that when i fly home again?

pretty minor, yes, but annoying.

the flight was pretty nice.  the plane was maybe half full so everyone had at least a couple seats to sleep in.  food and drinks were nonstop, and the only disappointment were the movies.  taxi and the watch.  forget to download more movies on my computer, too.

australia has the most involved quarantine of anywhere i've been so far.  after we landed we had to sit in our seats while people sprayed the overhead luggage compartments and disinfected the plane itself (or that's what it sounded like outside).  then the longest immigration line i've been in since its a holiday and there were only 3 people working.  the guy stamped my passport right across france, belize and honduras.  like i don't have 10 blank pages, thanks.

i'm staying at an apartment outside the city and its almost like i'm in portland.  cute tree lined streets with sidewalks and cars parked on the side of the road.  flowers blooming and cute corner stores.  i almost got mashed walking to the store, jet lag and driving on the wrong side of the road don't mix.

one thing i was curious about was whether a toilet will actually flush opposite of home.  first thing i did was try.  maybe its modern plumbing but the water just all went straight down, faintly disappointing.  perhaps its an urban myth.

i still can't get my head around what day it is, i left christmas morning and now its the evening of the day after.  maybe it'll make more sense tomorrow after i get some sleep.




Monday, December 24, 2012

twas the nite before christmas

and all through the house
preggers kari was stirring
and in my car there's a mouse

but really i drank too much and haven't packed and my alarm is set to go off at 3:30am.  there is a mouse in the car, though.

after a week in cleveland and 3 weeks on kauai i'm back on the road tomorrow and i was pretty anxious but tequila makes things ok.  there were so many things to do and people to see but i ended up having leftovers for dinner with mark and watching old movies.  it ended up being a great christmas eve.

happy christmas to everyone and i'll resume regular blog posts in the next few days!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

ready to roll...

i found a one way ticket to brisbane, australia for $346!  the only catch is that i have to fly on christmas day.  all day.  12 hours maybe?  my ass is gonna hurt.

and brisbane is 20 hours ahead of kauai, i'm not sure i'll be able to wrap my head around that.  as it is, going through central america my phone and computer couldn't get a grip on where i was and i have alarms and reminders going off at all hours of the day and night.  it seems that when my phone finally figures out what time it really is it leaves all of my 'to do' list on whatever time zone it was planned in and there's no way to change everything with one click.  australia is really gonna fuck things up.

i don't have a plan yet for where i'm going in australia but i have a couple weeks to work on that.  then cambodia and thailand, vietnam, new zealand, philippines, and as much of south pacific as i can until i'm out of money.  figure about 4 months?

and in 5 months i'll need to get a job.  but i don't want to think about depressing things yet.