Thursday 31st May - Orlando airport is huge - I think it took us 15 minutes just to taxi to our terminal. I picked up my luggage (yay!) and my Kia Rio rental car (as I sort of expected- but it was still disappointing, the taxes, fees, insurances etc more than doubled the price I'd booked it for but I did resist the special deal to upgrade to a convertible, particularly with lots of rain around and a hurricane just having passed). I was assisted with setting up my toll tag by an attendant... I think I was meant to tip him... and then, having been up since about 5am I headed out into steamy Florida for my second ever experience of driving on the right.
I headed straight to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for an afternoon of seeing the various exhibits; it was fun but there was a slight sense of "here's some cool stuff that we used to do" and "here's some life-sized mockups". I did the Shuttle Launch Experience ride which was quite good fun. I also noticed that the accents on some of the staff were so broad as to almost be caricatures.
I drove on to Cocoa Beach, where I Dream Of Jeannie was set. I had picked my hotel just because of a special deal with the airline, and it turns out that it's a little bit of a redneck holiday area, but the hotel was virtually beachfront and nice enough. After settling in a storm hit, and it showed no signs of passing; I dashed the few metres to my car, drove across the street to Denny's, and dashed inside - and was more-or-less drenched.
Friday - I started with my first ever swim in the very calm, warm & slightly muddy Atlantic Ocean under leaden skies. Then off to Disney World EPCOT - when in Rome & all that. I didn't have any small currency for the parking (about $15 or something I think) and the attendant didn't have change so she waved me though. The rain started with a vengeance and didn't let up until late in the afternoon, luckily I had a poncho so only my feet and shins got soaked while dashing between attractions. It was an interesting day, some of the attractions seemed a bit dated - but I enjoyed being flipped around at the end of a robot arm, and was delighted to hear the unmistakable sound of taiko from across the lake - I dashed to the Japanese pavilion and caught the end of the small performance. Good fun but in hindsight I probably would've preferred another day at Kennedy.
On the way home I started heading in the right general direction but couldn't find the right expressway and inadvertently went through Kissimmee (I recall a long, long neon canyon - so many malls and fast food restaurants!), Deer Park and Melbourne.
Saturday - as the sun beat down I headed back to the Astronaut Hall Of Fame for my Astronaut Training. There were about 18 of us enrolled, with a couple of family groups. We did various activities including some simulated shuttle landings, and my experience with the Google Earth flight simulator along with the fact that there was an odd number in our training rotation so I got to have a simulator terminal to myself and could practice everything twice as much, meant that I got the best scores for my landings and thus earned the role as Commander on our simulated mission, STS-309. We had a script to guide us, while the instructors threw a few unexpected scenarios at us. My Mission Specialists lacked a certain dexterity with their Robot Arm controls, and couldn't figure out the gas valves when we were all in danger of asphyxiating, and my Pilot didn't get the landing gear down until we were about 10cm above the runway and about to stall but we made it back in one piece. Our training concluded with a Q&A session with Shuttle astronaut Bob Springer and presentation of our graduation certificates. My ribs were still quite sore but they didn't hinder me in any of the activities.
I just had time to get back to the main visitor complex to take the KSC Tour which was amazing - the segmented Saturn V was absolutely huge and seemed so large to be incapable of movement yet the engines left you under no illusions about the incredible power they could unleash. From the lookout we could see the launch pads where humankind has launched itself into space. It was amazing - I'd be very keen to return one day and do some of the other tours, beside which I didn't get a chance to have a go on the centrifuge and it'd be great to see Atlantis when it's installed - and to see a launch would be brilliant.
I headed back to Cocoa Beach and stopped by the pier, a minor local attraction. I went for a drive to find some dinner and was very amused by the archetypal trailer trash couple in front of me in the queue at the gas station.
Sunday - I dropped off the car and checked in, using the Delta Airlines app on my phone as an electronic boarding pass - I was surprised how much better an experience it was to have one less thing to juggle through the checkpoints. Impressions: I'd been a little bit nervous about driving on the wrong side, and a couple of times a sanity double-check of every direction saved me from being somewhere I shouldn't, but there weren't any great problems. I heard Gotye on the car radio a couple of times - "Somebody That I Used To Know" was on top of the charts.
Wednesday 23rd - I had views of Des Moines and Chicago on our flight to Washington Dulles, where thunderstorms hit while I was in transit. My plan to arrive in time for Joannie to pick me up after work started to unravel as the tarmac filled with planes that had landed but were waiting for gates to become available, while no planes were taking off. Our Bombardier jet set off over an hour late, and on landing a bunch of flustered passengers sprinted in vain for their connection to Paris. Meantime, I waited in vain for my luggage. Baggage Services had a small but quite angry mob to deal with in multiple languages; I was busy trying to remember the colour of my case, getting into the wrong 'missing bag' immigration queue and messaging Joannie who was parked outside. I must remember to ask for the free toiletries showbag next time.
It was brilliant to see Joannie again! Hard to believe it'd been 10 years. We dropped past her downtown apartment and then went out for a late dinner, of smoked meat(!), at Schwartz's. As we finished I had my first view of what would be a theme for my stay - there were nightly protest marches that had been taking place for several weeks and gaining momentum. It'd been dubbed 'Casserole Protest' as the marchers were making themselves heard by bashing pots & pans. There were lots of students and even families, and they would criss-cross the city each evening, noisy but mostly well behaved.
Thursday - I had a good sleep-in, and was happy to get the message that my luggage had arrived & would be delivered that afternoon. I had a quick look around the neighbourhood & successfully managed to buy some lunch - I think I managed some hesitant French. I got a message from Joannie that there was a courier downstairs with my bag - I was expecting a FedEx van or similar but couldn't see anything... just a guy speaking French into his mobile. After a couple of minutes I asked him if he was the courier, and he said that he didn't speak much English - but yes. Instead of a van he just had a small sedan with bags through the back seat. It was great to clean up! Finally I felt presentable enough to go out sightseeing, and I headed down to the Old Port and before I knew it I found myself onLe Bateau Mouche cruise out around the old port and a short distance up & down the St Lawrence River - amazing to see such huge ships so far inland! It's a very broad river but didn't seem too deep - it had patches of rapids and lots of locks. It was a great way to view the city and enjoy the unexpectedly summery temperatures - most of the week it was around 30deg during the day and t-shirt weather in the evenings. Joannie had given me an Opus card and in the evening we went to Mont Royal for a drink and dinner with a few of her friends which was great fun!
Friday - I walked to the main tourism office in Dorchester Square and made it just in time to catch the city tour bus. I always find that these are a great way to get your bearings in a new city, but almost always have very annoying fellow passengers and guides. Our guide this time was very good but the trip was slightly marred when one passenger insisted on saving the last spare seat for her partner downstairs just in case he wanted to come up, despite another group needing one last seat - it got a little heated and a bit racist. The tour was reasonable (though I think Melbourne's free bus and tram tours compare very favourably compared to Montreal's $51 plus tips) and took us to most of the main sights around the city and the mountain. It also managed to get stuck for about 10 minutes by a goods train in the docks - the driver eventually U-turned and bypassed the blockage. At lunch and a big weird guy sat down opposite me and started to quiz me about my meal but eventually he wandered off. I went back to the tourist office & started to map out the rest of my week, and then took a train to theOlympic Park. There were great views from stadium tower lookout and I took the Stadium Tour which was very good. The tour took us through the pool complex and I'm pretty sure that many of the Canadian Aquatic Olympic team's athletes were in final preparations for London 2012. (I was also impressed that they gave me a refund when the vending machine took my money.) While I'd been staying Joannie had shown considerable interest in my ukulele and on impulse I thought it'd be nice to buy her a basic Mahalo as a thank-you present - she immediately took to it & asked me to start teaching her how to play it - fantastic! She mentioned she'd had a dream where I'd given her a uke - weird! That night Joannie took me out to enjoy another Montreal delicacy - Poutine (describing it as fries with cheese, toppings and gravy is a start, but doesn't do it justice) atLa Banquise. When we were heading back to the station, a summer storm hit - a sudden torrential downpour - we tried to shelter in doorways but still got drenched during the initial 10-minute burst; every time there was a brief respite we dashed to the next visible awning or alcove (the protesters continued on through the deluge). I was soaked through by the time we got back to the station after half an hour or so.
Saturday - Joannie had booked us in for a morning at Arbraska zipline park with a social group; it was great to get out into the countryside & try our skills; we spent a sunny morning meeting the others and testing our nerve in the treetops, while the guides (dressed as fairies) buzzed around. We nursed some tired muscles over a picnic, losing and finding members of the group before turning for home (with an extra passenger). We stopped for a second lunch of fast food and then dropped by Joannie's parents' place. I had spoken to her mum on the phone when Joannie was staying in Melbourne & it was fantastic to meet her and her father, and to get to see their home - I was familiar with the address thanks to a few postcards & letters that Joannie & I had exchanged. Back to Joannie's - and disaster! - my key to Joannie's apartment was missing. It later transpired that I'd left it at Arbraska, on reflection I'd put it with my bag during the picnic, but myself and another member of the group had picked up each other bags before realising and swapping - but the key had fallen on the ground. And then got run over by a mower, so the swipe card was destroyed. I paid for Joannie to get a replacement but there would be a few weeks' time before it arrived. (Hopefully everything's restored now!) If it was any consolation, while searching for the key in Joannie's car, I found the Blackberry phone she'd lost months earlier :-P The loss of the key wasn't a great hassle but I always hate inconveniencing a host. (I happened to turn on the radio at one point and immediately heard the story of a houseguest inadvertently burning down a family house though, so a lost key perhaps is not so bad in comparison.) Later that evening we wandered through the nightclub district, most amused by the fashions, and through the Quartier des Spectacles district which had lots of public art set up, in particular some musical swings ("21 Balançoires").
Sunday - We fuelled up at Canadian coffee chain institution, Tim Hortons, before heading to Les Cultures Gourmandes (multicultural festival) outside the Pointe-à-Callière museum, this year featuring Japan. This brought back lots of great memories of my previous two overseas trips. We looked over all the stalls such as martial arts and calligraphy, and enjoyed some takoyaki before watching the amazing Arashi Daiko. Having been learning taiko myself for just over a year it was great to see a performance by another group, and they were very energetic with lots of intricate choreography and drum setups requiring plenty of nifty footwork to get from one drum to the next; also they seemed to be having a fantastic time. One of the guys used a baseball-bat-sized drumstick very dextrously with lots of big wind-ups. I had a chat to them afterwards and told them about Wadaiko Rindo, they were very interested and we had a great chat. Next, some more drumming - we went to visit the Tam Tams, a weekly drum circle at the foot of Mount Royal - It was good but I prefer taiko though! There were crowds of people (predominately hippies, at least for the day) enjoying the lawns and various activities such as recreating medieval battles using homemade cardboard & foam weaponry, and slackrope walking. Joannie & I walked on through the park up to the lookout at the Chalet, then past Beaver Lake and took a very squashy bus ride back down the mountain. We had a snack at Le Cagibi (ie, KGB) but Joannie was keen for me to try a bagel which took a little bit of hunting down. Later we stopped by an Australian pie shop, strangely enough. It was great to see all the Montreal streetscapes and visualise Joannie's stories about having to negotiate the exposed staircases in wintery conditions.
Monday - I took a day tour to Quebec City. It was an early start, the driver was annoying (too much false charm, laughing at his own jokes at the same place in both languages, rapidfire switching of languages as if to subtitle himself, and way too many rhetorical questions) and the weather had suddenly become quite cool. We stopped for a quick orientation at the Lower Town restored historic (tourist) district and shivered through the guides' presentation. Two South Korean girls were not prepared for the cold and just as I was about to offer my extra jacket to the one that didn't have one, they slipped away from the group returning a couple of minutes later with a new souvenir windcheater. Our bus then took us to the Plains of Abraham park to take in some of the history, and views of the river which amazingly is tidal this far upstream, before we returned for lunch. The Koreans, Minam and Jimin, were kind enough to invite me to join them; they were on a rest day from their work as cabin crew for Qatar Air (I had met two of their colleagues on the Bateau Mouche) and we spent the afternoon travelling around together. After lunch our tour continued with a cruise on the Louis Jolliet to see the Montmorency Falls and then we explored the archaeology of the Saint-Louis Forts and Châteaux underneath the plaza of Le Château Frontenac (partly to get out of the wind). The hot coffee at the hotel's Starbucks went down very well and gave Minam the chance to flirt with the barista. Despite the mild annoyances, it was a fantastic day, all the better for great company & hopefully I'll get to meet my Korean friends again one day!
Tuesday - After breakfast at the local coffee shop I took the fabulous English tour of La Basilique Notre-Dame; there were about 30 people in our group (along with our very charming guide) & I felt a bit sorry for the Francophone tourguide who only had a single person on her tour. Downstairs I went to the À la Vie, à la Mort - Life Before Death, possibly a mistake as after a while it started to creep me out just a bit... I needed to have a good wander in the sunshine afterwards to clear my head. I then headed back to the Pointe-à-Callière- the Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History, to see their touring Samurai exhibition which was pretty cool (particularly the swords), and their clever multimedia 3D-projection history of Montreal and the subterranean foundations. I wanted to buy some shoes and Joannie had told me to head to St Catherine Street but I headed to the wrong section and I think I ended up in a section that was packing up after a pride festival the previous weekend. I caught the train back to the area around UQAM and did some window shopping until another big storm hit which was a great opportunity to explore the extensive network subterranean shopping malls which took me all the way back to Joannie's. That evening we dined at Mon Shing, then tried to see a movie but it was sold out, so we went for a drink at Winnie's. On the way back we cut through the Complexe Desjardins and watched as some technicians trialled the programming of intricate movements of giant drop shapes suspended from the ceiling.
Wednesday - I reprised my visit to my favourite new coffee shop, and then took the train to Montmorency, something that I'd done every day for years back in Melbourne. There wasn't much to see there - a nice big new cavernous underground railway terminus with a bus depot above; what looks to be an industrial estate yet to be constructed; and a new university campus that was almost deserted - but I successfully ordered brunch in French and dashed off some postcards. I finally took the suggestion of the ever-present billboards (which had been designed by Joannie's ex), to attend theStar Wars Identitiesexhibition atMontreal Science Centre. I hadn't been too enthused about it before but it was actually pretty cool to see a lot of the costumes, props and models from the movies. The narrative behind the exhibition was a bit contrived, but not too bad. I had a quick look at the rest of the museum, which was probably enough.
It was a fantastic afternoon so I had a last walk around the docks & neighbouring parks, past Cirque du Soleil's bigtop headquarters. Then, I went to theMusée d'art contemporain de Montréal's "Zoo" exhibition - modern art inspired by animals. I'd seen the signs all week and thanks to their choice of font had read it as "200". I also spent half an hour circumnavigating the building thanks to a sign that said "this door is broken, use the next one", so I looked for another entrance, but it just meant to use the directly adjacent door. I don't think I 'get' modern art, I much preferred the old film of a frequently combusting Rube Goldberg machine, and also the exhibit of kids' work. I then just had a wander around the Place des Artes - there was a music TV interview of a rap star being conducted on a terrace with a few dozen screaming kids as backdrop. I still couldn't find any shoes I liked but I was befriended by an endearing bilingual senior citizen who told me a little about the good old days. I met up with Joannie and we headed off to Parc la Fontaine to meet up with the Ukulélé Club de Montréal. My uke radar started to kick in and when I saw a group of people on the lawn I knew it was them before I could clearly see or hear them. We spent a sunny evening rehearsing their favourite songs such as "Le Lion Est Mort Ce Soir" in front of bemused passers-by - lots of double-takes, they had some fantastic players and heaps of beginners. It was predominantly conducted in French which I was managing sufficiently well by this stage. As it got dark we moved to a picnic shelter and had an open mic session (without a mic) and I redeemed my efforts from earlier in the trip by playing Reboot faultlessly. It was fantastic to meet everyone & compare notes and swap some merchandise.
Thursday - I was thrilled that not only did Joannie wake up to see me off, but accompanied me to the bus stop for the 5:40amBus 747. Farewell Joannie & I hope it's not as long before we meet again! Before I knew it I was descending over Florida, there seem to be heaps of airports everywhere I looked, fingers crossed that the pilot could find the right one!
Impressions of Montreal: I was surprised to see IGA Supermarkets - turns out IGA started in North America. Someone should buy everyone in Montreal a compass - streets designated eg 'North' are closer to 'West'. It was great to see, hear and speak some French, I was able to remember or figure out quite a lot (eg echafaud for scaffold).
Saturday 12th May - United managed to lose my luggage twice during my trip, both times in somewhat understandable circumstances, but one cool thing that they do sometimes is put the Air Traffic Control communications through one of the audio channels which is great to listen in to. In Sydney an American guy spied my uke and we proceeded to have a short jam in the departure lounge. My first impressions of San Francisco from the approach were the banks of fog extending out to sea and swamplands around the edge of the bay, and of course the very hilly terrain. I arrived at SFO, eventually figured out the BART vending machine for a train into town, I walked the last few short blocks to my hotel which was a bit shabby (and there was a neighbouring exhaust vent roaring day & night), and I never quite figured out the taps and remote control, but I was out and about virtually the entire time so it sufficed.
First stop, via lunch, was to buy a 110V USB phone charger which turned out to be very handy - WiFi is becoming common enough that I could touch base with the outside world without too much inconvenience during the entire trip; and the pictures that my phone takes are comparable to those of my still camera. I spent the afternoon walking around trying to convince my body clock that it was not the middle of the night; I strolled down Market Street with diversions to watch - from a distance - the filming of a stunt car, which had several city blocks barricaded off. I continued along the Embarcadero, and then jumped on a double decker bus tour of Golden Gate Bridge, which was spookily draped with fog, and some of the other sights nearby. Much of the bridge approach resembled a wrecking yard with extensive piles of smashed up concrete and mangled girders - perhaps another bridge was being recycled? After the tour, the late-afternoon fog encroached over the Fisherman's Wharf area and set everyone shivering, my solution to keep warm - a clam chowder dinner - was moderately successful. A cable car ride back to the hotel and at 7pm I crashed out for a long, long sleep.
Sunday - I'd hoped to tour Alcatraz, but with a couple of cruise ships in town it was already sold out for the day, so I booked it for the following afternoon. My bus tour ticket was still valid so I used it to explore other parts of the city - lots of the distinctive architecture and prominent fire escapes as a reminder of the city's historic disasters. Later on in the afternoon I checked out the How Weird Street Faire - there was lots of doof music, elaborate costumes, interesting aromas - it struck me as being a very San Francisco sort of event. Dinner over WiFi and another well-earned sleep.
Monday - I checked in early for the NetSuite World 2012 conference, which was starting that evening. I took a ferry to Larkspur in Marin County to attend a lunch at "Jason's" for the local branch of a club that I'm in, it's always great to get off the tourist trail & meet some locals. There were lots of great views of the bay and bridges - and marshes and prisons, during the 35-minute trip; on the way back there were some Giants fans getting into town early for the evening's ballgame. I had a mad dash to Pier 33 to catch my Alcatraz ferry and had a fantastic late afternoon exploring the island. It's a spectacular location and the presentation of its history was top-notch. I'd been told by Uni to look out for a friend of hers, Jamie - but I'd completely forgotten up until when I had to hand my audio tour back - I checked out the attendant's name tag and it was her! I complemented her on how clever it was that everyone's audio tours tracked out different routes through the prison so that people wouldn't congregate and the tour didn't become a procession, but she said that everyone's tour was in fact the same, people were just getting lost. I took a tram back to catch the opening night of SuiteWorld, and then a Muni bus toMadrone Art Bar for Motown Monday, where I caught up with Uni and Jamie and met some of their other buddies - it was a huge day & night, and heaps of fun! Uni has a new CD out and it's terrific.
Tuesday - I had a full day at the conference, meeting all the vendors, & lots of other delegates, attending the keynotes & meetings - another packed day. The presentations were great although NetSuite's business intelligence did not seem to extend to geography; their world map had the New Zealand flag posted in Tasmania. The Asia Pacific manger took his regional attendees out to a swish dinner which was terrific, it was great to swap ideas & experiences with other delegates and vendors.
Wednesday - jetlag had finally caught up but I battled masterfully - and somewhat successfully - through the morning sessions of the conference, including having to find somewhere to 'hide' my suitcase (stashing it under a table); the conference people had said it was too big to cloak, and the hotel wouldn't take it because I had been staying elsewhere. My plan for the day had been to leave in the late afternoon for Monterey but I became increasingly amazed by the lack of public transport from San Francisco. I expected regular buses and/or railway services to be running up and down the coast, but the best I could find was a Monterey Airport Bus which was very expensive, and impossible to book unless I had a flight number and local mobile phone. I had been offered a couple of lifts leaving at lunchtime and in the end I accepted one from Denise and her carload from Eugene, Oregon, who I managed to catch just in time - they were able to swing past & pick me up. (It was a shame to miss some of the NetSuite sessions but I'll be catching up online.)
It was a great trip - we swapped uke stories and compared notes as we went through a bunch of localities that I was intimately familiar with as the bases for many of the world's great technology companies. We visited some of Denise's friends for a cuppa & it was nice to see a Californian house from the inside for the first time. The traffic was a challenge at times, and the navigation wasn't always as simple as the maps and directions suggested, but we arrived at the Asilomar Conference Grounds for the West Coast Ukulele Retreat. The resort consisted of a collection of very grand, and old, lodges (I was in "Scripps") with communal meeting & dining rooms. There were several other organisations holding conferences concurrently with us - there always seems to be a correlation between ukulele gatherings and mental health events and this was again the case, with a Mental Health Conference being our dinner neighbours. It was fantastic to see up with Jim again after having met him on his visits to Melbourne, and to start to get to know the other attendees over the opening night dinner and instructor showcase.
Thursday/Friday/Saturday - we had daytime workshops & 'slam jam' practice in our assigned groups, generous cooked meals & gourmet tea breaks (which included choc-coated strawberries the size of small apples) prepared by the predominantly Mexican staff, and some spare time for socialising and exploring. I took a range of workshops, with an eye out for any instructors that we could invite to future Melbourne Ukulele Festivals. These workshops covered a variety of music styles & techniques, predominantly Swing for ukulele, the stylings of Roy Smeck, tropical rhythms, finger picking, soloing and some other party tricks. I think there were about 60 or 70 ukers, mainly from California and surrounds. The age group was a bit more mature than other uke gatherings I've been to - I was younger than most - I suspect that although it was great value, it was priced a little bit out of the range of many younger enthusiasts. There were some terrific characters. I've noticed that there's often parallel personalities in all the different uke groups and as I met people I was having fun mentally mapping them against MUKkers; "so this person is playing the role of so-and-so". During most breaks I headed down to the beach just across the road, as did many of the other attendees. It was mostly bright & sunny but didn't quite fit my previous impressions of California: everyone was well rugged up and the water was bracingly cold. I waded in a couple of times but after a minute or so it actually started to hurt from the low temperature. I had wanted to go for a dip but the cold was too intimidating, though I did see a couple have a quick swim. On Thursday evening we had a campfire sing-song (I tried to lead "Long Way" but to my surprise no-one knew it), on Friday there was a massed singalong (I redeemed myself by teaching "Jolene") and I enjoyed a late-night jam with some of the fabulous players in the Scripps lounge later. On Saturday there was an open mic where I played my Brass Traps song, "Reboot" and stuffed it up quite badly - however this meant that I got one of the best responses for the night, I'd have much preferred to have nailed it though! I also got to play with a couple of the small group performances.
Also on Friday evening I also made good use of Asilomar's WiFi to listen in to the Hawks beat the Dockers using the AFL Android app - it was fantastic that the technology all worked a treat and my muffled cheers attracted some bemused looks from other guests in the stately common room.
Sunday - the curtain came down on the retreat, I'll look forward to keeping in touch & hope that you all make it down to Melbourne, meantime - happy uking!
Denise was kind enough to offer me a lift back to San Francisco (after teaching me the "G IYQ" song) and we took a couple of side tracks - firstly we detoured south just slightly to take the 17 Mile Drive around the Monterey Peninsula - a very fancy and expensive-looking neighbourhood which includes Pebble Beach and other golf resorts, lots of very exclusive suburbs, and great nature views - full of sea lions, otters, forests and the Pacific Ocean. We then turned back towards San Francisco. Late in the afternoon after our break in Salinas, I fashioned a pinhole projector (with 2 bits of paper - one with a millimetre-sized hole in it) and observed the moon's silhouette start to move across the sun for the 2012 Annular Eclipse, and with about 15 minutes to go before the maximum, and after singing "Black Hole" to the carload, we pulled over onto a side road for the experience - at first I felt that I might be imposing on my fellow travellers by asking if we could stop for a moment to get a good view, but I think they were more excited than I was! Around 90% of the sun was covered; a couple of hundred km further north observers saw the moon passing right across the sun but not blocking it out - leaving the edge of the sun visible as a ring. (It was cool to hear that friends in Osaka and Tokyo also had the perfect view of the eclipse as it had passed right over them a few hours earlier.) We had the about the same amount of sun visible but the moon was just slightly to one side, leaving the sun as a thin "crescent-moon" shape, but curled around more at the ends. The maximum eclipse was around 5:30pm and light in the sky became a little eerie, our eyes adjusted so that it didn't really look darker, but there somehow seemed to be greater contrast... the colours seemed a bit different. We tried a few different ways of viewing the eclipse; the most reliable was the pinhole projector although the sun's image was only a few mm across. We also tried to put polarised sunglasses at right-angles but it was too glary, and we found that the internal reflections in prescription glasses also gave a clear image if you shielded your eyes from the sun itself.
The moon continued on its way and so did we. As we entered San Francisco some fog blew across giving us a direct view of the sun looking like a cookie with a bite out of it. The guys dropped me back at my hotel - thanks for a stellar day!
Monday/Tuesday - I embarked on the Extranomical 2-day tour of Yosemite National Park. Our driver tried to make a bit of a performance of his tourguiding which was somewhat dreadful. However he navigated us safely through Oakland and Dublin, past the rolling treeless golden hills covered in canals & windmills, breakfast at Oakdale & then up New Priest Grade Road, to our first main stop at Tuolumne Grove to see the Giant Sequoia trees - the world's heaviest living things (or something). The short hike was a good test for my ribs - I had injured my chest in a fall just before leaving (a subsequent scan when I was back home confirmed that there was no bone damage, I'd just torn something) which was a little bit uncomfortable to sleep on, and I was quite sore if I tried to breathe deeply but worst of all was sneezing which felt like a punch to the ribcage which would leave me seriously winded, so I took great precautions against the start of any sniffle! I made it through the walk OK but a bit gently. The trees were monstrous but it was hard to take it all in, it was a bit difficult to get a good view. We progressed on to Yosemite Valley and I was immediately blown away by how spectacular it was. Wherever you were and wherever you looked, it was breathtaking (notwithstanding my ribs)! And I continued to be impressed by how well the Americans maintain their National Parks - lots of facilities, harmoniously blended with the surroundings. After the early start and annoying bus ride, I topped up the energy levels with lunch, and then caught the shuttle bus (much more user-friendly and efficient) to Curry Village where I'd booked a cabin tent - effectively a small hut with canvas sides & roof, complete with double bed, electric light & power points. Then, under glorious skies and with a pocket full of almonds (courtesy my roommate at Asilomar) that I needed to eat so as to not attract bears with any leftovers, I set off for Mirror Lake. This was a nice easy walk that would cover a fair bit of flat ground, so not too taxing on the sore lungs. Some Germans asked for directions but wouldn't believe me when I told them where they actually were. I'd hoped to walk a loop but a rock fall had closed one section of the track - in a way, a good reminder to be aware of any potential instabilities in the precipices soaring overhead. I was zonked when I got back to camp. Unfortunately I couldn't suppress a very painful sneeze; I slept OK but spent most of the next morning feeling like I was going to keel over - until the pain suddenly lifted (mostly) at around lunchtime. I struggled through the buffet breakfast, amazed at the amount of food everyone was consuming; then I took the shuttle back to Yosemite Lodge and found some great flat-level walks - in the crowds around the base of Yosemite Falls, and then along the northern edge of the Valley past the Ahwahnee and then back to the lodge. The views in every direction were stunning; there were friendly critters all around, plenty of people in the main locations but heaps of space and solitude. The tour bus turned up for the return journey; this driver was much more engaging, thankfully. We picked out some barely visible climbers on the immense face of El Capitan and were told how they take perhaps 5 days to scale the entire height, setting up hammocks mid-cliff and hauling their provisions up behind them. Then we set off on the long, tired drive back to San Francisco, stopping for some spectacular sunset photos on Treasure Island. It was an amazing experience to visit Yosemite and I highly recommend that everyone should go!
Wednesday - I was up at 5, having rightly ignored everyone's advice to book an airport shuttle, the BART was fine by me. Except for having to dodge a panhandler that was insisting on trying to help, despite my polite but firm refusals. It felt like the city was deserted at that early hour until I hit the airport which already had big crowds. Next stop - Montreal!
Impressions of San Francisco
A couple of times there were major motorcycle ride-bys - one time with cruisers, and another they seemed to be mainly Vespas
I quite liked the pedestrian crossing countdown that tells you how many seconds you have to reach the other side - a good hurry-up! I saw these throughout my North American trip.
Not so pleasant was the intrusive pan-handling, and the guy taking a dump in a doorway :-P
It was cool to see a Westfield shopping centre in prime position in Market Street
Next time: - Powell/Mason cable car & Lombard Street, as well as the Cable Car Barn & Powerhouse, Yosemite: some of the more 'vertical' walks, rafting.
After such a great time in Japan last year, I was very keen to go back, thanks Eli for pointing out the Jetstar specials! I was looking forward to catching up with Chi again, to contribute some tourist dollars to the post-earthquake/tsunami economy, and to learn more about Japan.
Saturday 4th - I parked my car around 5:15am, and flew out at 6:20. I had reserved seats for each of the 4 legs but ended up with none of the ones I booked... but booking the airport lounge at Gold Coast was a good investment. After arriving (and successfully deciphering my first complete word in Hiragana "ください = Kudasai = please" - yay!) I took the express train to Shin-Osaka and my hotel. I needed to stretch my legs so I walked back to the centre of town - a good hike on a pleasant evening. I passed some guys practicing baseball but without the ball - just swinging their bats; and kids letting off fireworks on the banks of the Yodo river. There was a cheerful Saturday night crowd in the Umeda area; I bought a snack-size sushi pack - breakfast in Melbourne, dinner in Osaka! After some effort I found an ATM that accepted my card, and toasted my arrival at The Frame House ukulele bar in Kitahama, where Mitsuko(?) remembered me from my last visit, and their bar girl had spent a couple of years in Brisbane.
Sunday - I caught the 8am Shinkansen to Tokyo. They announced that you could use WiFi on the train, but I couldn't get it to work on my phone, and the conductor didn't speak English. I noticed the girl next to me had been reading a book in English so I asked her - and between her & the conductor they let me know that WiFi was only for existing subscribers... but thereafter we had a great chat! Her name is Beni & she was travelling with her sister Hana for a holiday at Tokyo Disneyland. When I said I was from Melbourne she immediately asked about the penguins there, so my experience as a volunteer penguin guide & researcher came in very handy! The sisters work at a cake shop in Osaka & I made a plan to try to visit it.
After the trip of about 2½ hours, I got off the train at Shinagawa in the south of Tokyo, to meet Mike, an old uni buddy of mine. He was about to head off to San Francisco but had an early lunch and a terrific catch-up, and he kindly leant me his PASMO card which made my travel in Tokyo very convenient. After lunch I went to Harajuku - an market sort of area with lots of counter-culture on show, & nearby Yoyogi Park. The park was full of people, seemingly all sorts of community groups. There were some picnicing, studying, or rehearsing lines possibly, running through dance routines, playing games and exercising their dogs. I pulled my uke out, and sure enough within a few more paces I found a beginners ukulele class happening so I joined in! I was a bit surprised that they used the English for chord names. I taught them Country Road (a big hit in Japan) and the Sukiyaki song. Continuing on, I stumbled upon Odajima and "Ukulele Afternoon" rehearsing on the opposite side of the park. I joined in a little bit but they had some fairly sophisticated arrangements. I noticed they do a lot more 'picking' than I'm used to in MUK - maybe because they like Western songs but don't know quite how to properly pronounce the words, so they play the melody as an instrumental? After a few songs I continued on - I heard some drumming but it turned out to be African, not Taiko... in fact the only Taiko I found on my trip was an arcade game.
Exploring further, I found myself amongst hundreds of excited teenage girls heading into & out of the Yoyogi stadium - they were all cheerleaders, presumably there was a big competition on (all their uniforms had the team names etc in English). There was a big eco expo next door, just finishing up for the day, and Cirque de Soleil had set up further along. I walked up past Meiji Jingu - it was closing for the day so I didn't get to check it out, but the gardens were a terrific island of calm in the middle of a major city. Nearing Shinjuku the scale of all the buildings increased - it's one of several CBD areas of Tokyo, and a major hub for railways, crowds, shopping, business and entertainment. I had a good look around, I think I found the seedier side of town, but then found a very nice cafe for dinner.
I'd decided to try a capsule hotel. There wasn't much information in English so it was a bit hard to be sure of what was the right thing to do, but basically you get changed in a big locker room and then go to another room containing the capsules. They had a modest bathroom nearby but the main bathroom for washing was upstairs, and full of naked guys parading around... a little bit too communal. I felt very conspicuous, I'm sure it would've been fine but I made it a very quick wash! The capsule was not so much like an MRI machine, or coffin, and more like being on a top bunk, or even a bit like being in a 2-person tent. It had a bamboo blind at the corridor/'foot' end, and I had a very good sleep!
Monday - The funny things you notice: crows in Japan sound like WC Fields, whereas those in Australia sound like Bob Hawke. Anyway, adjacent to Shinjuku Station, Red Bull had set up an F1 car which apparently had driven through Tokyo the day before. I grabbed some breakfast, including a banana - I've been deprived in Australia! - and caught the train to Tokyo Station expecting it to be abuzz with activity, but it was pretty quiet. There were small crowds around the station, but outside there were just skyscrapers and the occasional jogger. I presume everyone was at work - but it just wasn't the Tokyo I expected. I walked down to Hibuya Park, and then up through Ginza. It was good to get my bearings but there wasn't a lot to see. I took a train to Hamamatsucho, wandered down to the river for a quick look at the Rainbow bridge, then back past Zojoji Temple to Tokyo Tower which turned out to be a fairly dated and tacky landmark, although the video screens pointing out the city's sights and history were OK. The food court, however...!
Next, to Ueno - firstly to check out a tourism office... sorry to say but all the tourist info places I found were very ordinary. They did help me find an internet cafe though - and disaster! - my tour the next day had been cancelled. I'd worry about that later. It was a nice cheery afternoon around Ueno and I had fun wandering around the park; there were groups of female student tour guides... perhaps?... overall it seemed to be a bit of an academically-inclined area with lots of museums around. I then set off towards Akihabara - the electronics and gadget district (with added anime girls), yet again misjudging the distance. There were lots of electronics shops- not a lot that you wouldn't find in a big shopping centre at home, though I might not've found the more distinctive outlets. Then back to the hotel for a short break - I was staying at the Shinagawa Prince which would've been great for my tour pick-up the next morning, and which is almost a self-contained resort. I then headed out Koenji to go to Odajima's "Hikoroku" ukulele bar. It was great to get out into a normal suburb away from the tourist attractions, and given that I was the sole patron, we had a great chat, a uke & shamisen jam, we swapped CDs and he even cooked me up some dinner.
Tuesday - I tried the space shuttle controls of the toilet in the hotel; these are commonly found throughout Japan. It was ... unusual.
Downstairs, I jumped online and within a couple of minutes had booked the first hotel I found in Hakone-Yumoto. Accommodation sorted, I jumped on the Shinkansen to Odawara, where I looked lost enough for a girl from the tourism office to approach me with information about the '2 Day Freepass' which for about $50 gave me all transport and a brochure with a self-guided tour itinerary around the Hakone area. Perfect! I took the local train to Hakone-Yumoto, was delayed by a tourism survey for a few minutes on arrival, and found the hotel after a few minutes despite taking the wrong road. The reception area was very stately and distinguished, unfortunately the room didn't quite match the atmosphere but it was OK.
I followed the recommended course for the afternoon - bus, walk through the Ancient Cedar Avenue, Hakone Checkpoint, cruise on a tall ship on Lake Ashi (at first I thought it was "Lake Asahi" and would be made of beer), ropeway to Owakudani to see the volcanic steam vents, then ropeway and cablecar to Gora railway station, and mountain railway back. I caught a brief, faint glimpse of Mt Fuji from Hakone Machi-ko. The transport was fun in itself, the scenery was fantastic under gloomy skies, and everyone was very friendly - though for a touristy area it seemed quiet. More so in the evening where I went walking through town and past a bunch of resorts in search of something nice for dinner... I had a long, frustrating and fruitless trek past a bunch of sleepy-looking resorts. One had a bit of activity - coaches of important-looking salarymen were negotiating the narrow mountain roads. Back in town, I found a fancyish cafe and with the place to myself I had a good chat with the proprietor and his family.
Wednesday - I took the mountain railway back up to Gora to find an ATM and then one station back down to check out the Hakone Open-Air Museum sculpture park where I had a very enjoyable morning (in light drizzle), enjoying the art and resting my feet in the hot spring/foot bath. Back up at Gora I had a horrible railway hotdog for lunch, and caught the bus which, after doing a 180 on a turntable, took me to the Yunessun hot spring & water park resort. I walked in through front reception, and went up the next two floors before I saw a single person. But then I found the spa section and there were enough people to make it worthwhile... it still seemed quiet though. The indoor section had a several huge spas, and a sound & light show every hour. Outdoors I tried a series of small hot pools, with various novelty "flavours", eg coffee, sake, red wine, green tea, charcoal (again, no beer); all very enjoyable. I didn't try the 'naked' section - I'm too worried about committing a faux pas. Like the capsule hotel they had a "no tattoo" policy which I was delighted about, I'm not very keen on tattoos!
Before leaving Hakone I went back up to Owakudani to see Mt Fuji again, but it was too cloudy. I took the train to Shinjuku - I had a carriage with a window facing backwards from the train and it was cool to express through the cities, on one of the plaza of parallel tracks, leaving behind each station's barn-shaped roof and pool of light.
Finding the next hotel was an interesting challenge - it was just north of Shinjuku, in Okubo, which I think is a bit of a Korean district - I'm sure that the hotel was a street to the west of where it's website directions indicate! But once there I found a very comfortable cheap guest house that might've once been all a private residence, and now has a couple of rooms for travellers. The sign-in book suggested that I was the first guest for two weeks, however when I checked out I think another couple of people had arrived. The proprietors were very friendly and we managed a few conversations despite having none of each others' languages.
Thursday - My friend Yoshie from Taiko classes in Melbourne was back home in Japan and working at Foot Therapy next to the Subnade mall, which was a slight challenge to find. She had invited me to try a foot massage, which was great! Afterwards I had a look around Shinjuku, including a couple of the observation decks (Sumitomo Building, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building). These were free but I managed to pay 600 yen (around $7) for a glass of coke. I then took Yoshie's advice and went to Asakusa, a historic district. Although I'd seen enough temples, the Sensoji was great in that it had a real festival atmosphere to it with cheerful crowds, street vendors & stalls and so forth. The district was overshadowed by the spectacular new Sky Tree observation tower which is nearing completion. I explored the local shops & neighborhood, and then headed to the "Music Instrument District" near Ochanomizu. I had a blast window-shopping the heaps of instrument shops, some specialising in certain instruments - one seemed to be solely guitar effects - and lots of general ones. There was no shortage of ukuleles, some of the guitar shops had maybe a third of the shop dedicated to them.
As evening settled in I went to Shibuya and discovered the Tokyo I'd been expecting all along - the massive crowds flooding the streets when the traffic lights changed. There was a good fun crowd around the whole district.
Friday - Keen to explorer another section of Tokyo outside the Yamanote circle line, I took the Yurikamome ("Seagull"... or Eureka Moment"?) to Odaiba, an artificial island in the bay. I'd hoped to see the Science and Innovation Museum but it was closed due to the earthquake & wouldn't open until the next day. Instead I went to the slightly daggy Museum of Maritime Science, which had no English explanations, and was, like the rest of Odaiba, a bit of a wasteland. I walked around the waterfront, and it was hard to understand how the region could be so dead in the middle of such a populous city. At one point the train stopped at a station in the middle of a paddock with no buildings or roads, and more stations just a couple of hundred metres away.
I took the Shinkansen back to Osaka and then off to Tondabayashi to visit my friend Chi - it was wonderful to see her again and catch up on lots of news!
Saturday - We had a fantastic & relaxing day. We went to Kaiyukan Aquarium (they have penguins!) including the "Cawaii [cute] Collection". Chi loves seafood and told me about all of the fish that were on display, that she had eaten recently. Otherwise, we just helped each other learn some more of our respective languages & cultures, and I was able to answer some music/ukulele questions for her. I usually find that the best part of any trip is to experience some of the everyday life of the locals, rather than just going to the tourist attractions, and it was certainly true in this case. Furthermore, I'm sure Chi has been practicing her English; it has been a barrier in the past for us to get to know each other and it was great to learn more about her, her work and so forth.
Sunday - We went for a bushwalk at Mount Kongo, a short drive from Chi's place. We'd left it a bit late to walk all the way up, so took the ropeway instead - this turned out to be a good choice as there was a bit of rain around. Up on the mountain, we had a look at a small astronomical observatory, and continued up to the picnic/cafe area which had a big series of scoreboards for regular climbers to register their numbers of ascents. Unfortunately heavy clouds obscured the views, but they partially lifted for a few minutes just when we reached the lookout tower.
And then, alas, it was already time for a farewell dinner- Chi was back into work the next day, and I had a couple more days' sightseeing.
Monday - I went to visit Beni and her family at Patisserie de Lolo, and ended up staying for over an hour I think! It was great to meet everyone and to try some of their delicious & healthy(!) cakes. I said a careful "Ohayo gozaimasu" when introduced to Beni's father, Show, and he answered with "Good morning, are you on Twitter?" He was very interested in Melbourne and in my ukulele. The whole store had a bit of Disney feel to it after Beni & Hana's holiday the previous week. Be sure to drop in if you're in the Takaminosato area (just across from the station, 8 stations from Tennoji on the Kintetsu line).
I went back to Tennoji for a look around, but not much was open - the zoo and even the park were closed for the day. I had a look at the Tsutenkaku Tower but wasn't very impressed by it and given that I was now in the "pre-departure cash budgeting" phase I gave it a miss. Similarly my phone battery level was dwindling so I kept turning it off, but it kept turning itself back on, I think due to the humidity playing with the circuitry; with limited recharging opportunities and still a couple of rendezvous in the works, this became quite stressful! I took a train to Kyoto, and while waiting for the city bus, I was greeted by three high-school girls who asked for my autograph. I had a great afternoon seeing Ginkaku-ji, and after getting lost looking for it last year, I found and followed the Philosopher's Path (Tetsugaku no michi), past various other temples and along the small river with the occasional carp swimming past. I went back to Gion, past sights familiar from last year; at one point I was delighted to hear someone practicing ukulele, and I waved my uke at the high-school girl when she looked out her window. I found a great shopping arcade and a nice cafe for dinner & people-watching; then walked back to Kyoto station for the trip back to Shin Osaka.
Tuesday - My last day :-( I'd received some messages about an ash cloud affecting flights in Australia, so I asked the hotel if I could stick around to use the internet in their dining room a bit longer, and as a result I got to listen in to the staff's almost military-style daily huddle, where 3 of them reported on the days' news, and then all of them recited the company's mantra in unison.
I had been very impressed by the amount of primary school children through to quite elderly cyclists in Japan; bikes were very popular for local transport with everyone. However as I approached Shin Osaka station for the final time, heaps of bikes that were apparently illegally parked, were being loaded on trucks for removal - I'm sure there would be some angst later in the day when people returned to find that their bike had been impounded! In the station, I asked the tourist office about their city tour, but it seemed a lot more complicated than just seeing the sights on my own; and they didn't take credit cards and it would've been a hassle to get more cash out.
I went to the touristy/restaurant Dotonbori district, which Chi had taken me to last year. I saw a turtle swimming in Dotonbori gawa, and enjoyed some takoyaki for lunch. I found a very cool market arcade slightly away from the tourist section, and it was great to see where locals do their shopping. I went to have a look at the temple district but all the temples were closed, but it was nice to walk past. Next I went to see the Science Museum & planetarium - it was very quiet, there was very little info in English, and the exhibits were pretty standard; but all up it was an OK way to spend the afternoon. I walked over to the newly redeveloped Osaka station via the network of underground shopping malls. I'd left plenty of time to get to Kansai airport, but the trains took much longer, and weren't as frequent as I expected, leaving me a touch stressed in addition to being rather sad that my trip was almost over. I had a great view of the train drivers' cabin though, and was amazed how the stops were accurate to within a couple of seconds of the driver's schedule.
I was delighted that Chi came to the airport to see me off - it was a wonderful farewell, I certainly hope that our paths cross again sometime soon. Thanks Chi!
Wednesday - Arriving at Gold Coast, I managed to avoid being filmed by the Border Patrol TV show. The ash clouds were not affecting my flights, the only incident was that I was seated in 1A and was close to the action during boarding, when a ground technician went to step backwards out of the cabin and someone had moved the stairs slightly and left a gap, which left him dangling in the air for a moment - he managed to grab the door and the cabin staff helped pull him back inside, before he went down the stairs & gave a very stern lecture to the stair attendant.
And then - back home! Thanks Japan! I was 2kg lighter, I think due to the food there being very healthy, and not what my system is used to; plus I'd done lots of walking. But I'd had a fantastic time learning more about the country and meeting friends old and new.
FAQ
- I've had lots of questions about the effects of the earthquake, tsunami and radiation - I didn't feel any tremors, and the disasters had occurred a few hundred kilometres from the places I went. However the tourist crowds were small and some attractions were closed. There were lots of reports about the clean-up and recovery on the news, and a few locals were interested in talking about what the effects had been.
- historically Japan has been very expensive, but with the recent progress of the respective economies, there are some great bargains. I scored some bargains with all the most I paid for a night at a hotel being around $90/night, and in some cases I paid close to half of that. - it's very easy to travel around, despite not knowing Japanese. One gotcha is the mix of different railway companies, the smartcard tickets generally work across the different companies in a city, but the paper tickets don't always... but it's not a big problem, you just buy the ticket for the next part of the journey. I'd learnt some Hiragana, most signs were in Kanji, Hiragana and English; and the train lines in Tokyo were designated with a colour, a Roman letter and station numbers, it was very easy to figure everything out.
- Since returning home, I've discovered heaps of restaurants in Melbourne named after places I've been, eg "Yoyogi", "Shinjuku", "Shibuya" etc...
- I've decided that the cities themselves aren't very endearing, they reminded me at times of just being giant factories, additionally, tourist attractions and information are a bit under-par. However the people are fantastic and I was very well looked after. And everywhere I went, all the staff were immaculately attired, friendly, thorough and clinically efficient.
The Commonwealth Bank had sold me the idea of using a Travel Money card, which I managed to slightly overdraw by about $16, but its minimum deposit is $200... so it looks like I'll be keeping it in overdraft until I need it again. I'm still to be convinced about whether there's much of a benefit to it.
Big thanks to Eli, Michelle, Chi, Mike, Yoshie, Beni & the Takemoto family at Patisserie de Lolo, Odajima, Stephanie, and everyone else that helped along the way!
Next time: Chi suggested I should try a proper onsen, but I'm not sure I'm game! Also - a taiko show, maybe some more sake. Other seasons.
Just a quick visit - a nice getaway from all the normal hectivity.
Friday 21st
My second time on the Spirit of Tasmania, & first time in a cabin. It was running a bit late and I was asleep not long after passing Ricketts Point. It'd be nice if you could watch directly ahead, you can sort of see a bit if you lean out the sides & there was a great view of the landing-lights-like beacon stretching many kilometres into the bay, all flashing in sync.
Off the ferry at Devonport, it was great to hear an interview on ABC Local Radio Tasmania about a new uke group starting in St Helens. While driving along the main street - Formby Road!
I drove to Port Sorell for a stretch of the legs around the conservation area and the first of many rivulets that Tasmania seems to specialise in. I'm not too familiar with them elsewhere. Then a meandering trip around the top right corner; an indirect route to morning tea in Exeter, then a stickybeak at Beaconsfield, a short hike around the impressive Batman Bridge across the Tamar River, then on the way through George Town I discovered that a folk festival was on and a couple of my buddies were playing later that day. It would have been great to see them but it would have put a dent in the schedule & I seem them around in Melbourne quite a bit, so I continued touring with a walk around Low Head, then Mount George, then lunch at Bridport. I drove out past the Barnbougle Dunes clubhouse just for a look then headed inland, refuelling at Scottsdale. It was good to be on the sort of drive where if you see the sign for a lookout or nature trail, you can just go & check them out.
I had miswritten the phone number for the St Marys (or was it St Helens? No I'm sure it was St Marys) ukulele group & thought that it'd make sense to drop in a few Melbourne Ukulele Festival flyers for them so after descending through the forests to coastal St Helens & stopping to grab a few nibbles, I made my way back up into the hills in the hope of finding a notice somewhere (in a shop window?) with a contact number for Barbara, the organiser. This plan worked perfectly up to the point of my phone call going through to an answering machine. I completed the last leg of a long day and found the Bicheno Wintersun Gardens motel - very pleasant. Some delicious chowder from the restaurant up the road hit the spot then back to my room to do some work on my ukulele art competition entry & watch the tennis.
Off to Freycinet National Park - via a supermarket for brekkie. I hadn't had much of an idea of what I'd find there - shops, accommodation, and information about the park, but everything was really well set up. I'd struggled to find sub-gourmet-level accommodation on the web but there seemed to be a fair bit of it. The park office was well set-up to cater for crowds of tourists. My 24-hours pass suggested an obvious combination of walks - Cape Tourville (where Shelly called me to report an ill penguin at St Kilda - I touched base with the appropriate people & the situation was sorted out, unfortunately the penguin was later euthanised), Sleepy Bay (Southern End), and then the Wineglass Bay/Isthmus Track/Hazards Beach Track circuit. It was a perfect day for walking, mild and overcast - personally I found it a tad cold for swimming though some other tourists had a dip. I was a bit surprised by the number of very unfit people tackling the Wineglass Bay track, which is reasonably challenging. The rest of my loop was a longer track but fairly flat. Great scenery under the spectacular Hazards, lots of wallabies & an echidna, and friendly fellow walkers were highlights. I saw 4 dead penguins on a small section of Wineglass Bay beach, with a chunk taken out of the torso of a couple of them. I made good time - probably 25% faster than the advertised times.
I'd received a message from Barbara so drove from Freycinet back up to St Marys & had a good chat and dropped in the flyers. Back down to Bicheno for fish & chips, then I went on the penguin tour. I've already got lots of penguin friends but I was interested to see how the tour operated in comparison to the St Kilda experience. Finally back to the room for the cricket & tennis & a deep sleep.
On the way out of Bicheno I had a look at the very impressive blowhole - an excellent show despite being mild seas. I still had a few hours left on my 24-hour park pass so I went to have a look around The Friendly Beaches - a gorgeous morning, I was still too much of a wuss to go for a swim. Wading in up to my shins had me wincing.
I turned towards Hobart with stops at Swansea and Triabunna. I drove around Bellerive and had a coffee at Long Beach and did some songwriting, having hitherto foregone my plan of unwinding and instead tried to cram as much as I could into each day. I checked into the hostel, collecting a parking ticket in the process, and went off to the HUG meeting. They were a great group & I hope to see some of them at MUF. It was also nice to have Deidree & Peter drop by for a chat and to exchange CDs with Deidree.
Back to mad running around. Inspired by Gary's trip, I made an early start to get to the southernmost road in the country. Breakfast in Huonville and a break at Dover, past heavy dark rivers, then finally to Cockle Creek. Including breaks it'd taken a little over 2 hours to cover the approx 120km. Next stop - Antarctica? It was a terrific mild morning, you could see that it would be very inviting to French expeditioners. I took the short walk to the whale sculpture. Heading back I explored interesting diversions - Hastings Caves Thermal Springs pool - disappointingly cool but at least now I've been for a swim in Tassie. Not enough time for a cave tour though. I was starting to worry about cutting my schedule a bit fine but I took the gamble and figured I'd just have enough time for a lightning visit to Tahune Airwalk though I nearly bailed out a couple of times on the journey into the forest. It would have been great to explore a bit more of the forest - as it was it was an expensive single walk particularly as I completed the circuit partly in a light jog.
Well and truly time to head back to the ferry, I turned on Deidree's CD and made my way back up through the middle of Tasmania - a refuelling stop at Oatlands but thanks to Winnebagos doing 80km/h in 110 zones, and roadworks blocking the overtaking lanes, I was starting to stress out about the impending deadline, undoing all the relaxing I'd been doing... but though I cut it a bit fine, all was well & I even had time to grab a slice of pizza before boarding.
Worn out - early night, work up the next morning just off St Kilda pier, Happy Birthday To Me!
Next time: the Ida Bay Railway, Hastings Caves, the other Tahune Airwalk walks, MONA, Bay Of Fires, West Coast.
