Travel Blog

Related to my Australia trip... I narrowly avoided 3 natural disasters there too...

On Tuesday, when I was on the way to see the Penguins, a minor 3.0 earthquake hit less than 50 miles away from me (didn' feel it).

On Wednesday, when I was going to travel to Sydney, that morning had the sand storm (which I missed, but was greatly delayed because of).

On Saturday, early in the morning, there was another, minor sand storm in Sydney. I slept through it and it was all cleared up by the time I left the hotel... but the flight was still delayed an hour.

Apparently last night around 6:18 my local time, there was an Earthquake off of Sumatra, Indonesia. Apparently, it was felt here in Singapore, but I didn't notice anything, I was already home from work, and I believe slightly passed out at that moment. Please pray for those effected, or if you can, send them aide.

Coverage of it can be found here:

http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC091001-0000084/Panic-across-Spore
http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC090930-0000233/Buildings-destroyed-as-7,9-magnitude-quake-hits-Indonesia--officials

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1008404/1/.html

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_436631.html
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_436614.html
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_436589.html

Saturday, 26 September was my travel day back to Singapore.

I started the day off with a walk through the Botanic Gardens, luggage in tow (I seem to do that often). The gardens are beautiful. I got a few good shots of the Opera house and Harbor Bridge from the gardens. I also got some bird shots for mom, and there was a colony of bats in a few trees which were noisy and again, I got shots of them.

I then walked my way down to the St. James Station, past the New South Wales Public Library (beautiful building and I have pictures in my album just for you Libwitch). The St. James park was lovely, but I had to go underground and catch a train back to the airport.

I got through the airport no problems this time... no explosives screening or extra checks. The flight to Melbourne was delayed about an hour due to the dust storms again early that morning. No big deal though, I get to the Melbourne airport and rush my way through to the international terminal, security checks, and immigration. I had about 30 min to spare.

The flight back to Singapore was uneventful. I got to Singapore and went through immigration with no problems... they are easy to get through here. I then go to baggage claim... and well.. I see a sign saying Lewis and a number. I check, and yup, it's me and my bag. Turns out my bag didn't make it to the plane due to the delayed flight. Oops. So, I have to go fill out paperwork, and they ask what I have in the bag, so I have to delcare the wine, and pay S$6 for the 500 mL extra I have. Oh well. If my bag wasn't delayed, I probably could just have walked through customs without declaring it and have been fine. Such is life.

Needless to say, my bag of dirty laundry and wine arrived at my door the following night.

Ok, I now have all the pictures uploading to Picasa... over 700 of them over the week. I had loads of fun there, drank plenty of wonderful beer and wines (bought 2 a charred oak shiraz and a chocolate port, but more on luggage issues later), ate excellent food (including some traditional British foods like meat pies, and some unique Australian food like Kangaroo [their national symbol is soooo yummy]), and met many many wonderful people. The people of Australia, at least to me, seem to be some of the overall kindest and easy going people in the world.... and that's just the east coast of Australia. Apparently the west coast is much more easy going and kind and find the east coast to be less so, kind of like in the US how the south seems so friendly (to non-gay white men) and yet NYC is impersonal.

But anyways, the pictures can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ny096405/ and will probably be uploading for another little bit (probably 6 PM Singapore time, 6 AM EST on Sunday 27-Sept at the latest). I will write more extensively later.

Friday, 25 September I went on the Hunter Valley Winery tour. My hotel wasn't on the pickup route, so I had to walk to a nearby hotel. Well, I waited 20 min and no bus, so I hailed a taxi and went to the drop off point where the tours started. I check in and find out that the bus was running late because the driver had a flat. He got to my pickup point about 5 min after I left. Oh well.

I went on the tour, and the first stop was this quaint little town called Wollobi. I mean it was a little town... 1 street corner, not even a light. We stopped here for morning tea/coffee and stretch our legs as it was 2 hours at that point on the coach. After this little break we then went off to the wineries.

The wines this day were fantastic. There were a couple unique things to try. Sparkling Shiraz was one of them. I have had sparkling red wines before. If you ever come across Hazlett's Lame Duck (a finger lakes wine from NY) that is red and wonderful. Never had I had a serious red grape variety as a sparkling wine though. It was amazing. If you can ever find a sparkling Shiraz, buy it, chill it, and drink it. Even better yet, all the wineries do Method Champonois, the natural secondary fermentation in bottle technique to carbonate their wines... much preferred over forced carbonation.

I also had to buy a couple bottles (as only 1L is allowed tax free in Singapore). So, I found a Shiraz that was aged in charred oak... and that was excellent. The other I bought was a chocolate port which is to die for... this of course made me have to pay taxes when I got back to Singapore though as I now had 1.5L of wine.

When I got back to the city, I got dropped off at Circular Quay (pronounced Kay). I walked back up through the Rocks and found Dawes Point where I took pictures of the Opera House at night. I found it Ironic that the spot I chose was also named Tara. I then walked around looking for a place to eat. I finally settled on a resurant on the harbor itself and had myself some Kangaroo for dinner. Roo is a lovely, red meat that tasted a lot like cow. It was a tougher cut of meat, but overall, delicious. I then took some pictures of the harbour front area, and the Harbour bridge. I walked down to the Opera house and got some more photos up close. Did you know that the roof was tiled?

I then went back to my hotel.

Thursday, I headed up to Newcastle to meet with an Ken, an ADF member up there.

The train ride up to Newcastle was pleasant and beautiful. The Hawksbury River area is just georgous. The train itself, as most trains in the Sydney City Rail system, was a double decker train. I took to the top floor as it was going to be a beautiful ride, and I'm glad I did.

I get to Newcastle, and I'm shown around the small city (smaller than Albany population wise). It was just a lovely, sunny day. We walked along the harbor front, down a pier along the beach, and up to the point where the water comes in. Poor Ken has a phobia of deep waters, so we didn't go any further out on the jetty.

This is where I had my first meat pie, a yummy British meal. Why don't we have them in the US? We then went up to the bush where he grew up, and sat and talked for a long time overlooking the ocean, the bush, and the sewer treatment plant that is why that section of bush is still around. We then caught some dinner and a coffee before I took the train home. Didn't get back till 11ish, and just went to the hotel and crashed.

Wednesday, 23 September was my travel day from Melbourne to Sydney. My flight was at 1, but I got an e-mail telling me that Sydney was experiencing some sand storms and all flights were cancelled. I decided it would be best to get to the airport really early in case I needed to drive, bus, or train it.

So, I started my day off with a walk through the Botanical Gardesn. Beautiful place. Lovely, open lawsn, beautiful pond, many different kinds of plants and wildlife. Also some interesting architecture. Once I walked through them (as they were on my way to the train/bus station) I then crossed the Yarra river and into the CBD. It didn't take long for me to walk up the couple blocks to Colins street and over to Southern Cross Station.

On Conlin's street is where I got that picture of the "hook turn". In Australia, they drive on the left side of the road. In Melbourne, there are trams (trolleys for those that don't understand the term) and they run down the center of the main roads. Well, if you're making a right turn, you'ld likely block the tram tracks. So to turn right on these roads, you move as far left in the intersection and sit and wait. When the light turns red, then you turn. And people think NJ's jug handles are screwed up!

So, I got to the airport and in the end, my flight was delayed a couple hours. I rushed to my hotel and got there about 5 when I should have been there around 3. I quickly dropped my bags off and walked very briskly over to the meeting point for the pub tour at 6... I got there a couple min early. The pub tour was great. Wonderful beers, great guide, and some interesting history was shared. I highly reccomend it. The tour is through one of the oldest sections of town, the Rocks, which is wholy city owned, and low income housing. Plenty of historical houses (as if 200 years is truly enough time to create a historical house) and pubs galore.

After I had my pint and a half from the tour, another half pint at an unscheduled pub stop I had to pay for, and 2 pints more at the last stop, I stumbled my way back to the hotel.

Tuesday, 22-09-09 was my day for the city tour followed by the penguins. I really wanted to do the other wine tour, but alas, that doesn't start till November.

The day started off with driving around Melbourne on a bus looking at the various sites. It was a nice tour, but I really would liked to have gotten out and walked around some of the places more. This just means I have to go back, right? We did stop at 2 places, the Fitzroy Gardens which were a lovely garden, and the Shrine of Rememberance. The Shrine was designed after some ancient Greek temple, and houses the memorial for those that served in WW-I. This was later expanded to WW-II with the eternal flame outside, and now a listing of all the conflicts that they have been involved in with a wall/fountain. I was happy to see they included Iraq and Afganistan.

The shrine was extremely powerful and a wonderful place to remember "Rememberance Day" (US Veterans Day). They do a service where a light is shined through a hole in the ceiling that crosses the word love on a plaque in the floor at 11 AM on 11-11. Sadly, this was designed pre-daylight savings, so the natural sunlight they relied upon now has to be reflected slightly by a mirror to align properly. They re-enact the service every 30 min though... so there is also a light up there.

The second half of the day was the Penguin Parade. This involved a 2 hour drive down the coast, with beautiful scenery. We first stopped at Churchill Island with is an old homestead that is now a tourist center. They had penned up wallobies which you could get close to. Also many farm animals and tools... nice place.

Next was onto the koala conservation center. Here you could walk on a boardwalk up at leaf level and see some koalas, or walk on the ground and try to spot some up in the trees. Cute little things to say the least. If only we were there a bit later when they are more active.

Then we went off to the end of the island and saw the "nobbies" which is a rock formation. Off in the distance was Seal Island where all the fur seals relax. We stopped at a lookout a bit down the road from there and looked over the Pacific... beautiful views.

Finally, we went to Summerlands Beach and the Penguin Parade. Basically, the "little penguins" which are about 1 foot tall, come in from the ocean at night, cross this beach, and go up to their nests in the hills... every night. About 7ish they started coming in. Very cute to see them waddle up the beach. They are noisy birds though, and stunk (that's how close we could get). Sadly pictures are not allowed at all. It was fun though.

Well, today was drunken fun of sorts. Started the day feeding some wild cockatoos, then went on "puffing Billy" a steam engine/train ride. Then off to the Yarra Valley to visit 3 wineries that produce some wonderful wines... if only I could afford to buy many bottles, ship them to the US and/or Singapore, or bring more than 1 liter back to Singapore with me (damn laws!)

On the way back, also saw some wild Kangaroos off in the distance... they are the deer of Australia apparently.

Tomorrow it's the penguins.

And, on a completely random note, someone I was infatuated with back in May all of a sudden popped back into my head, in a good way... Makes me wonder what is in store for me with him when I get home.

This may be of little interest to non-ADF members, but I'm posting it anyways.

Sunday, 20-09-09 I had the oppertunity to visit the protogrove here in Melbourne and take part in their ritual. The ritual was pleasant, effective, and quick... proof once again that rituals don't need to be a 6 hour ordeal. I then gave my workshop on ADF 101 which is a bit of history, a bit of where we are now, and a bit on our theology. I think I was able to get everything across that I wanted to, and definately answered some questions people had.

We then went as a group to a coffee house and had some food and drink and chatted for a couple hours. I have to say, a great bunch of people. I apparently gave them the confidence they needed that they were doing it not only right but well, and they are now going to do all they can to become a provisionally chartered grove by the end of the year.

Weather wise, it was a gorgeous day. When I arrived the day before, it was raining and chilly. Sunday was sunny and downright hot in the sun.

In the end, it was a wonderful day, and I am happy to have met all the people I did. I expect that I'll be keeping in contact with them more in the future, and will likely be helping provide some hospitality when two of them come to the US for Wellspring 2010.