So our first port of call was the small port town of Lyttleton, only a short drive from Christchurch. It was a lovely wee village to stroll around and has a number of very quirky and characterful bars and cafes. We only stayed for lunch before moving on towards Akaroa, which is right smack in the middle of the Banks Peninsula.
The scenic drive here was quite simply stunning, helped in no small measure by perfectly clear, sunny weather. According to the LP, the landscape here has been shaped by two gigantic volcanic explosions, which have generated numerous bays radiating out from the peninsula's centre, giving it a distinctive cogwheel shape. It was amazing to think that in less than an hours drive from the biggest city on the South Island we were travelling through such spectacular countryside.
It really was a cyclist's paradise around here, and there were plenty of them taking full advantage of the hills and the weather. Needless to say I felt quite envious being stuck in a boring old van, but I'd love to come back some day and experience this country properly from a saddle (we've met quite a few cyclists now who were doing just that - including two inspirational middle-aged ladies from Canada). But at last there were plenty of stopping points to get out of the van and soak up the views.
When we stopped later at a lovely winery in the area, as you do, I just had to buy this brilliant postcard for my Mum. It was a fold out one that became three times the size of a standard postcard, but the photo captured the scenery we'd just driven through perfectly.
Even though New Zealand is world famous for just this kind of scenery, and I've travelled enough to see plenty of stunning vistas, I was still blown away by the setting here. It's been a feeling repeated many times for me over the following two months travelling around the South Island, and certainly solidifies New Zealand's place as my second favorite destination in the world. Nepal definitely has it's work cut out for it when I return there later in the trip, if it's to retain it's vaulted number one position.
We only stayed one night in Akaroa town itself, in the Top 10 holiday park. The town has a lovely setting along the edge of a long harbour, and after a nice leisurely walk through the town's pretty streets and seafront in the morning, we were off again. We stopped off at the excellent Tree Crop Farm Park. The place is a bit mad really, with wild vegetation everywhere and yet more fantastic views and very individualistic accommodation options (like a tree house). It has a beautiful verdana to just relax after exploring all the windy pathways, and where you can sit back with an amazingly fresh and tasty berry juice straight from the garden, while you read all the quirky quotes writing all over the walls.
After a short stop at a boutique cheese maker, the fantastic scenery then pretty much followed us all the way to Methven, which was our next stopping point.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Christchurch
I'll back peddle a tad here to describe our time in Christchurch that didn't involve getting a van sorted out.
We arrived in the city center from the airport hassle-free as usual. It was Sarah's turn to sort out accommodation while I waited in the main square (Cathedral Square), and minded our backpacks. Well over an hour later she got back after going to 4 different hostels, all of which were completely full. All she could manage to find was an 8-bed dorm for the first night, and then a relatively expensive, but very comfortable, ensuite private room for the following 2 nights, all in the BASE backpackers right on the main square.
The city wasn't hosting any big event of anything, so this was my first indication that we had arrived in New Zealand during high season. In fact, over the better part of the following two months 'No Vacancy' signs were extremely common, and the fact that we had our own van must surely have saved us no end of trouble finding accommodation (certainly cheap accommodation anyway). I suppose it might be just a reflection of New Zealands overwhelming success in recent years in terms of tourism, helped in no small part by the Lord of the Rings of course.
So over those three days we strolled around the city, which I thought was lovely. The river through the city and botanic gardens is lovely (although we never found time to hire kayaks, which was a pity). The city has a nice cafe and bar mix, including a very cool, but overpriced, Belgian bar (as the Lonely Planet observantly points out, Belgian bars seem like they might be the world's next 'Irish Bar' phenomenon). We splurged as usual in the restaurants, and I was very impressed with Cook'n'Gas, very disappointed with Dux de Lux (which basically seemed like a self-service canteen!), very impressed again at Indochine (the best wonton I've ever had), and when not splurging we had no trouble finding great lunch deals in lovely Indian restaurants.
Although it was high season, and the weather was brilliant, the whole town still seemed rather quite, especially in the evenings (although it might just be a case of needing to know exactly where the 'in' places are, as opposed to my strolling around and expecting to just see them). But I still can't help compare the night life of cities I visit to Dublin - nowhere on this trip has come anywhere close to the general buzz and excitement that Dublin produces every night of the week (so far, Wellington has come the closest).
Anyway, sorting out a van turned out to be more fustrating than I'd expected, and after 3 days we still had nothing. So we tried to extend our stay in BASE, but they were completely full up now. We had to pop across to the tourist information office, and after about 45 minutes of the very helpful girl ringing about 30 places we finally got a place to stay, which was a good walk outside the city center (and the first night I had to share a dorm room while Sarah got a single room).
So after another two days of van hunting and strolling around museums and cafes we finally agreed to rent a van (as opposed to buying one). The guy we dealt with seemed very genuine, and wasn't pushy in any way, and because we were taking the van for so long we got a great price (although we hired the van during high season, we would have it right through into the low season). It was a great relief to see the van only had 71,000Km on the clock (some of the vans in the 'van market' had 300-400,000km), and they had also just put on four brand new tires, which was a comfort after our puncture episode in Namibia. So with everything signed up we drove away with our new van - which was to become our home for the next 3 months.
So the next morning we checked out of our B&B place, used the Internet for a few hours, got a very cheap, and very lovely, Hare Krishna lunch, went to the supermarket to stock up on supplies and hit the road to find out what New Zealand is really all about.
We arrived in the city center from the airport hassle-free as usual. It was Sarah's turn to sort out accommodation while I waited in the main square (Cathedral Square), and minded our backpacks. Well over an hour later she got back after going to 4 different hostels, all of which were completely full. All she could manage to find was an 8-bed dorm for the first night, and then a relatively expensive, but very comfortable, ensuite private room for the following 2 nights, all in the BASE backpackers right on the main square.
The city wasn't hosting any big event of anything, so this was my first indication that we had arrived in New Zealand during high season. In fact, over the better part of the following two months 'No Vacancy' signs were extremely common, and the fact that we had our own van must surely have saved us no end of trouble finding accommodation (certainly cheap accommodation anyway). I suppose it might be just a reflection of New Zealands overwhelming success in recent years in terms of tourism, helped in no small part by the Lord of the Rings of course.
So over those three days we strolled around the city, which I thought was lovely. The river through the city and botanic gardens is lovely (although we never found time to hire kayaks, which was a pity). The city has a nice cafe and bar mix, including a very cool, but overpriced, Belgian bar (as the Lonely Planet observantly points out, Belgian bars seem like they might be the world's next 'Irish Bar' phenomenon). We splurged as usual in the restaurants, and I was very impressed with Cook'n'Gas, very disappointed with Dux de Lux (which basically seemed like a self-service canteen!), very impressed again at Indochine (the best wonton I've ever had), and when not splurging we had no trouble finding great lunch deals in lovely Indian restaurants.
Although it was high season, and the weather was brilliant, the whole town still seemed rather quite, especially in the evenings (although it might just be a case of needing to know exactly where the 'in' places are, as opposed to my strolling around and expecting to just see them). But I still can't help compare the night life of cities I visit to Dublin - nowhere on this trip has come anywhere close to the general buzz and excitement that Dublin produces every night of the week (so far, Wellington has come the closest).
Anyway, sorting out a van turned out to be more fustrating than I'd expected, and after 3 days we still had nothing. So we tried to extend our stay in BASE, but they were completely full up now. We had to pop across to the tourist information office, and after about 45 minutes of the very helpful girl ringing about 30 places we finally got a place to stay, which was a good walk outside the city center (and the first night I had to share a dorm room while Sarah got a single room).
So after another two days of van hunting and strolling around museums and cafes we finally agreed to rent a van (as opposed to buying one). The guy we dealt with seemed very genuine, and wasn't pushy in any way, and because we were taking the van for so long we got a great price (although we hired the van during high season, we would have it right through into the low season). It was a great relief to see the van only had 71,000Km on the clock (some of the vans in the 'van market' had 300-400,000km), and they had also just put on four brand new tires, which was a comfort after our puncture episode in Namibia. So with everything signed up we drove away with our new van - which was to become our home for the next 3 months.
So the next morning we checked out of our B&B place, used the Internet for a few hours, got a very cheap, and very lovely, Hare Krishna lunch, went to the supermarket to stock up on supplies and hit the road to find out what New Zealand is really all about.
Getting us some new wheels
So I guess you could say a big part of this trip for me is all about living my dreams. But of course it shouldn't take a huge year-plus long trip around the world to do that - we should all be living our dreams all the time, just ticking off the smaller of those dreams as we go along. What this trip has allowed me to do though, is given me an opportunity to amalgamate a number of those dreams and live them all in relatively quick succession.
There have been quite a few ticked off for me so far already (like going on a safari, seeing a chameleon, touching the terminal face of a glacier, watching a clump of an iceberg break off and crash into the water), but one of the longest held wee dreams I've had is travelling around in a motor home. I've had this idea since I was a teenager I think, and watching some American drama series about a doctor who actually lived in a motor home in the car park of the hospital (Trapper John MD, I think it was - actually, after a quick Google it seems a lot of people thought along exactly the same lines as I did).
Obviously the romantic appeal lies in the idea of having total freedom to go where you want, when you want without ever having to worry about finding accommodation, or even worrying about finding somewhere to eat. And it just happens to turn out that New Zealand is the single best place in the world to do just that. So once we arrived in Christchurch I started looking into the best way to get us some wheels that would give us maximum flexibility without completely breaking the bank.
It was all a bit daunting for me I have to say, as I've only ever driven motorbikes, so I know pretty much nothing about cars, let alone camper vans (and even though Sarah has been driving cars for 17 years or so, well, let's not go there...). All the backpacker places and the internet cafes have notice boards packed with notices, many of them from people selling cars and vans - since buying a car or van is a very popular way for travellers to get around New Zealand cheaply. But I have no background from which to evaluate all the various permutations thrown up by cost, mileage, age, make, model, condition, etc., etc., so what might initially look like a good deal one day would seem crazy expensive a couple of days later when a few new 'van for sale' notices would appear.
This buying and selling thing is so popular in New Zealand that they have this market-like place where people pay simply to park up their car/van and then sit around waiting for buyers to walk in and look around. The eager sellers (who are often just days away from having to fly back to Europe or the States or wherever), sheepishly approach you and try to pitch their vehicle to you. It was all terribly sad really, and I felt sorry for most of them. I had been in a similar situation on my last big trip when I bought a motorbike in Miami and then had terrible trouble trying to get a decent price for it when I needed to sell it in New York - naturally I got completely ripped off in the end.
Anyway, to cut a long and very stressful story short, after 5 days checking notice boards, walking around the van 'market', and checking out many of the huge number of rental options I finally arrived at a decision (although I very nearly bought a clamped out banger for $4200, but something felt wrong about the English dude selling it - it was much bigger than most vans we'd seen, but much more knackered looking, and older with more miles, etc, etc.).
But finally I decided to rent from a place Sarah had found on the internet by accident on the fourth day. The same place also had a much older van for sale (it was one of their old rentals that they were retiring), but in the end I just opted for the safety of their rental option, and thereby avoided the whole selling-it-on process, as well as not having t worry about it breaking down, or getting stolen or damaged.
It's actually a really nice van and it worked out really cheap (relative to all the other rental places). Compared to the big proper camper homes it's actually very small, although not nearly as small as the one I was thinking of renting in the first place (a Spaceship - http://www.spaceships.tv/). I paid just $3000 for up to 90 days (although our visas run out after only 85 days), with lots of extras thrown in (including zero excess insurance, which was an extra $280, chairs, table, linen, small eski etc.). That works out at an amazingly cheap 18Euro a day - mental!
It's been surprisingly comfortable to sleep in (in fact, far more comfortable than some of the backpacker beds that often slump in the middle), and we've cooked in it a few times without any trouble. But since the van has no toilet or shower we mostly stay at campsites or backpacker places to use their facilities. We still sleep in the van and generally only pay $10 a night each, whereas a bunk bed in a shared dorm would be $22 a night each. Not all the backpacker places let you use your van to sleep, but its brilliant when you find the ones that do - it means we have all the atmosphere of the backpackers (which always have funky, buzzy common rooms or TV rooms with lots of free videos), we can use their well-equipped kitchens, they've always had spotless toilets and showers, while we still get the privacy of our own very comfortable 'room' AND effectively getting a 50% price reduction - who could ask for a better way to travel?
We didn't realise all these benefits when we first set off from Christchurch, although they all became apparent pretty quickly. But by far the best thing, once we did set off, was knowing we had 3 months of basically total freedom in one of the most stunningly beautiful countries on the planet, and in my book, in terms of living one's dreams, it doesn't get much better than that...
There have been quite a few ticked off for me so far already (like going on a safari, seeing a chameleon, touching the terminal face of a glacier, watching a clump of an iceberg break off and crash into the water), but one of the longest held wee dreams I've had is travelling around in a motor home. I've had this idea since I was a teenager I think, and watching some American drama series about a doctor who actually lived in a motor home in the car park of the hospital (Trapper John MD, I think it was - actually, after a quick Google it seems a lot of people thought along exactly the same lines as I did).
Obviously the romantic appeal lies in the idea of having total freedom to go where you want, when you want without ever having to worry about finding accommodation, or even worrying about finding somewhere to eat. And it just happens to turn out that New Zealand is the single best place in the world to do just that. So once we arrived in Christchurch I started looking into the best way to get us some wheels that would give us maximum flexibility without completely breaking the bank.
It was all a bit daunting for me I have to say, as I've only ever driven motorbikes, so I know pretty much nothing about cars, let alone camper vans (and even though Sarah has been driving cars for 17 years or so, well, let's not go there...). All the backpacker places and the internet cafes have notice boards packed with notices, many of them from people selling cars and vans - since buying a car or van is a very popular way for travellers to get around New Zealand cheaply. But I have no background from which to evaluate all the various permutations thrown up by cost, mileage, age, make, model, condition, etc., etc., so what might initially look like a good deal one day would seem crazy expensive a couple of days later when a few new 'van for sale' notices would appear.
This buying and selling thing is so popular in New Zealand that they have this market-like place where people pay simply to park up their car/van and then sit around waiting for buyers to walk in and look around. The eager sellers (who are often just days away from having to fly back to Europe or the States or wherever), sheepishly approach you and try to pitch their vehicle to you. It was all terribly sad really, and I felt sorry for most of them. I had been in a similar situation on my last big trip when I bought a motorbike in Miami and then had terrible trouble trying to get a decent price for it when I needed to sell it in New York - naturally I got completely ripped off in the end.
Anyway, to cut a long and very stressful story short, after 5 days checking notice boards, walking around the van 'market', and checking out many of the huge number of rental options I finally arrived at a decision (although I very nearly bought a clamped out banger for $4200, but something felt wrong about the English dude selling it - it was much bigger than most vans we'd seen, but much more knackered looking, and older with more miles, etc, etc.).
But finally I decided to rent from a place Sarah had found on the internet by accident on the fourth day. The same place also had a much older van for sale (it was one of their old rentals that they were retiring), but in the end I just opted for the safety of their rental option, and thereby avoided the whole selling-it-on process, as well as not having t worry about it breaking down, or getting stolen or damaged.
It's actually a really nice van and it worked out really cheap (relative to all the other rental places). Compared to the big proper camper homes it's actually very small, although not nearly as small as the one I was thinking of renting in the first place (a Spaceship - http://www.spaceships.tv/). I paid just $3000 for up to 90 days (although our visas run out after only 85 days), with lots of extras thrown in (including zero excess insurance, which was an extra $280, chairs, table, linen, small eski etc.). That works out at an amazingly cheap 18Euro a day - mental!
It's been surprisingly comfortable to sleep in (in fact, far more comfortable than some of the backpacker beds that often slump in the middle), and we've cooked in it a few times without any trouble. But since the van has no toilet or shower we mostly stay at campsites or backpacker places to use their facilities. We still sleep in the van and generally only pay $10 a night each, whereas a bunk bed in a shared dorm would be $22 a night each. Not all the backpacker places let you use your van to sleep, but its brilliant when you find the ones that do - it means we have all the atmosphere of the backpackers (which always have funky, buzzy common rooms or TV rooms with lots of free videos), we can use their well-equipped kitchens, they've always had spotless toilets and showers, while we still get the privacy of our own very comfortable 'room' AND effectively getting a 50% price reduction - who could ask for a better way to travel?
We didn't realise all these benefits when we first set off from Christchurch, although they all became apparent pretty quickly. But by far the best thing, once we did set off, was knowing we had 3 months of basically total freedom in one of the most stunningly beautiful countries on the planet, and in my book, in terms of living one's dreams, it doesn't get much better than that...
Brisbane
This was my first time in Brisbane and I really liked it. Enda and Tracy had given us some top tips of places to see and things to do, and even though we only had a few days there I seemed to keep pretty busy. As usual this involved walking around the city a lot, but it's a very easy city to get around.
Brisbane is famous for it's temperate climate, and I certainly felt it when strolling around the lovely botanic gardens where we had a great free guided tour with two old biddies (yet again just happening to time our arrival with the start of the tour). I also loved the Roma Street parkland, with it's tropical gardens and profusion of massive spiders (one of the other things Brisbane is famous for is, of course, it's creepy crawlies).
I also got to explore the town hall with it's tower on one of my city strolls, and we both toured the various museums and galleries. I loved the man-made beach along by the river too, although both times there I forgot my swimming togs, so could only paddle about the place really, but it's really well done and a great spot I reckon.
So although it was a pity not to get to explore around Brisbane, especially the famous Gold Coast, we only had a few days in the area, and I enjoyed pottering about the city. Surfer Paradise etc. will have to wait for my next visit I reckon.
Next stop was Christchurch, on the South Island of New Zealand. Coming back to New Zealand to try and see it properly had always been a major motivation for this whole trip for me (along with India), so I suppose I'd been looking forward to hitting New Zealand since before I left. At the same time I didn't want to have too high an expectation (since that wouldn't be very Buddhist of me would it, living in the future instead of the present moment, and all that), but something told me I wouldn't be disappointed - and it turns out I was right.
Brisbane is famous for it's temperate climate, and I certainly felt it when strolling around the lovely botanic gardens where we had a great free guided tour with two old biddies (yet again just happening to time our arrival with the start of the tour). I also loved the Roma Street parkland, with it's tropical gardens and profusion of massive spiders (one of the other things Brisbane is famous for is, of course, it's creepy crawlies).
I also got to explore the town hall with it's tower on one of my city strolls, and we both toured the various museums and galleries. I loved the man-made beach along by the river too, although both times there I forgot my swimming togs, so could only paddle about the place really, but it's really well done and a great spot I reckon.
So although it was a pity not to get to explore around Brisbane, especially the famous Gold Coast, we only had a few days in the area, and I enjoyed pottering about the city. Surfer Paradise etc. will have to wait for my next visit I reckon.
Next stop was Christchurch, on the South Island of New Zealand. Coming back to New Zealand to try and see it properly had always been a major motivation for this whole trip for me (along with India), so I suppose I'd been looking forward to hitting New Zealand since before I left. At the same time I didn't want to have too high an expectation (since that wouldn't be very Buddhist of me would it, living in the future instead of the present moment, and all that), but something told me I wouldn't be disappointed - and it turns out I was right.
Sydney
As has now become something of a tradition, Deccie picked us up at the airport. This was my third time in Sydney, and each time he's been waiting at the baggage carousel, this time with his kids, Cathal and Lily . It was straight back to the house (on my first visit to Sydney it was just a plot of bare land), to meet Catherine and play with the kids until dinner time (Cathal with his cool geometric lego sculptures and Lily in her 'Go Faster, Go Faster!' fire truck).
The next couple of days myself and Sarah explored the city, and I even cooked for Dec and Catherine (which was pretty brave of them). Then Dec very kindly lent us his car for a few days and we drove up to the Blue Mountains. I'd been there before of course, but this time having a car meant we could explore many new places, and I decided to stay outside Katoomba for a change, staying in cozy Blackheath instead. In fact, I reckon the views and walks around Wentworth Falls are far better than the more famous, tour-bus-crowded attraction of the Three Sisters, and the small village itself was a great spot for lunch.
So it was here in the Blue Mountains that, as promised to Sally, I engaged in some great Aussie adventuring, and we went abseiling and canyoning for a full day in Empress Canyon. This was Sarah's first time canyoning, and although not as long or as tough as the Claustral Canyon I did last time in Oz with Hanno, it was still an amazingly scenic day with a very impressive abseil down a powerful waterfall, and with a cool 'leap of faith' to finish off.
That night we went out with the gang of people we met canyoning, going for a drink and then dinner in Katoomba. I was actually quite struck by how a number of these mid-twenty year olds seemed to have very good ideas of what they wanted to do with their lives, and understood the things in their lives that they were passionate about (most 30-40 year olds I meet still can't answer the basic question of 'What are you really passionate about?' - jeez, get a life!). So I found it quite encouraging to meet intelligent, thoughtful young people, but maybe it was just a reflection of the kind of people that go canyoning, i.e. those that embrace life, as opposed to them being just 'young people' in general.
The next day we planned on heading back to Sydney but in the morning I rented a mountain bike and headed off to do the Narrowneck Trail. This is by far the best known bike trail in the area (although I couldn't find it the last time I was here with Hanno), and it was a truly brilliant ride. I had a time limit of 4 hours (half-day bike rental), which I initially thought would be plenty of time, so I took a couple of detours before starting the trail proper (like visiting the gondola they've built in recent times). But it turned out to be quite a testing ride, with some serious off-road climbs. The name of the trail comes from the very narrow ridge that runs out to a towering peninsula, and the view from the end of that peninsula was surely the best of any view I've seen in the Blue Mountains - truly panoramic. It was quite a rush though to get the bike back in time, and I'd foolishly forgotten to take enough food for the trip, so I got a good dose of the 'bonk' (a cycling term for hitting bad fatigue due to lack of food), as I got back to the town.
Anyway, coming back from the Blue Mountains, and after stopping at a couple more lookout points, we heading to Frank and Anita's place. We actually passed Frankie strolling home from work, so we picked him up and arrived back at the house nice and early. We had a fantastic night with Frank and Anita, chatting and catching up, playing on the trampoline with the three kids, and we got treated to yet another great home-cooked dinner. We stayed overnight and had breakfast with Anita and the kids before leaving Deccie's car at the train station, heading into the city for the day and then meeting Deccie after work.
We were supposed to baby-sit for Dec and Catherine, but they just ended up getting a take-away. The next day myself and Sarah headed back into the city to indulge in some high-brow Aussie culture, in the form of a full-blown production of Carmen in the Sydney Opera House (again, courtesy of Sally's generosity!).
This was my very first opera, so not a bad place to begin. The production was spectacular with a huge cast, and even a live horse on stage. But of course the Aussie's don't go in for any kind of silly dressing up, so the whole occasion was very down-to-earth and accessible - apart from the admission price though I suppose!
That evening I brought Dec, Catherine and Frankie (Anita couldn't organise a baby-sitter in time), out for dinner in the city to say 'Thanks!', and we got some great photos of all of us with the harbour bridge providing it's customary backdrop.
And then, all too soon as always, it was time to bounce on up to Brisbane.
The next couple of days myself and Sarah explored the city, and I even cooked for Dec and Catherine (which was pretty brave of them). Then Dec very kindly lent us his car for a few days and we drove up to the Blue Mountains. I'd been there before of course, but this time having a car meant we could explore many new places, and I decided to stay outside Katoomba for a change, staying in cozy Blackheath instead. In fact, I reckon the views and walks around Wentworth Falls are far better than the more famous, tour-bus-crowded attraction of the Three Sisters, and the small village itself was a great spot for lunch.
So it was here in the Blue Mountains that, as promised to Sally, I engaged in some great Aussie adventuring, and we went abseiling and canyoning for a full day in Empress Canyon. This was Sarah's first time canyoning, and although not as long or as tough as the Claustral Canyon I did last time in Oz with Hanno, it was still an amazingly scenic day with a very impressive abseil down a powerful waterfall, and with a cool 'leap of faith' to finish off.
That night we went out with the gang of people we met canyoning, going for a drink and then dinner in Katoomba. I was actually quite struck by how a number of these mid-twenty year olds seemed to have very good ideas of what they wanted to do with their lives, and understood the things in their lives that they were passionate about (most 30-40 year olds I meet still can't answer the basic question of 'What are you really passionate about?' - jeez, get a life!). So I found it quite encouraging to meet intelligent, thoughtful young people, but maybe it was just a reflection of the kind of people that go canyoning, i.e. those that embrace life, as opposed to them being just 'young people' in general.
The next day we planned on heading back to Sydney but in the morning I rented a mountain bike and headed off to do the Narrowneck Trail. This is by far the best known bike trail in the area (although I couldn't find it the last time I was here with Hanno), and it was a truly brilliant ride. I had a time limit of 4 hours (half-day bike rental), which I initially thought would be plenty of time, so I took a couple of detours before starting the trail proper (like visiting the gondola they've built in recent times). But it turned out to be quite a testing ride, with some serious off-road climbs. The name of the trail comes from the very narrow ridge that runs out to a towering peninsula, and the view from the end of that peninsula was surely the best of any view I've seen in the Blue Mountains - truly panoramic. It was quite a rush though to get the bike back in time, and I'd foolishly forgotten to take enough food for the trip, so I got a good dose of the 'bonk' (a cycling term for hitting bad fatigue due to lack of food), as I got back to the town.
Anyway, coming back from the Blue Mountains, and after stopping at a couple more lookout points, we heading to Frank and Anita's place. We actually passed Frankie strolling home from work, so we picked him up and arrived back at the house nice and early. We had a fantastic night with Frank and Anita, chatting and catching up, playing on the trampoline with the three kids, and we got treated to yet another great home-cooked dinner. We stayed overnight and had breakfast with Anita and the kids before leaving Deccie's car at the train station, heading into the city for the day and then meeting Deccie after work.
We were supposed to baby-sit for Dec and Catherine, but they just ended up getting a take-away. The next day myself and Sarah headed back into the city to indulge in some high-brow Aussie culture, in the form of a full-blown production of Carmen in the Sydney Opera House (again, courtesy of Sally's generosity!).
This was my very first opera, so not a bad place to begin. The production was spectacular with a huge cast, and even a live horse on stage. But of course the Aussie's don't go in for any kind of silly dressing up, so the whole occasion was very down-to-earth and accessible - apart from the admission price though I suppose!
That evening I brought Dec, Catherine and Frankie (Anita couldn't organise a baby-sitter in time), out for dinner in the city to say 'Thanks!', and we got some great photos of all of us with the harbour bridge providing it's customary backdrop.
And then, all too soon as always, it was time to bounce on up to Brisbane.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Melbourne Part Two
So back in Melbourne we made our way to Mikey and Steph's place, who had very kindly agreed to let us crash there again. Basically the plan was to quickly see if there was anything I could do to help Steph's sister Sally with the sofware she'd tried to have developed to use in her dog daycare centre (basically a place for people who live in the city to drop their dogs in to be minded while they're at work, basically a dog-creche. Needless to say, many of her clients are gay!). If I couldn't get access to the system's source code, or if the software was missing too much functionality, then there would be nothing I could do, and we'd just catch the next bus up to Sydney to continue the travels.
So I pretty much went straight into DogZone itself to have a look at the software. It was hard not to just play with all the cute dogs, but after a couple of hours trying to decipher the various bits and pieces and versions of the software, downloading Java and development
kits (the machine was quite old and painfully slow!), and being distracted by barking dogs, I managed to get the software built from source and running against a database (that had absolutely minimal security, so simply opening the database and looking at the user table gave full, plain-text passwords - that in itself should have been an important clue for what was to come!).
So armed with all that, and a cursory look at the source code itself, I thought I'd have little problem fixing whatever problems Sally was having with the system. Another important piece of information in making that decision was that although the software had initially been developed by college students, Sally had subsequently paid a professional programmer a lot of money to polish it up and make it robust enough to use safely in the daily running of her business. Therefore I thought any problems should be minor and therefore easily and quickly fixed.
How wrong I was!
It turned out to be literally the worst code I have ever come across - and that's really saying something. It was a gradual realisation, dawning slowly as I started looking into the more complex problems Sally reported, and getting more familiar with the code. A lot of the code had a distinct 'studenty' feel to it, which wasn't surprising, but it was hard to detect any evidence of the professional programmer who was supposed to have fixed things up. Eventually I did come across distinctly different code, but it turned out this guy was every bit as clueless as the students! I truly believe this guy totally ripped Sally off, and that she'd have every right to go to the consumer protection agency or whatever and claim all her money back - if the guy had been in the same room as me as I was going through his code I swear I would have punched him.
Anyway, after about a week of fixing bugs and writing large swathes of functionality that had never even existed, the system was largely fixed up and Sally began testing it (I originally thought 2 or 3 days would be enough time - d'oh!). Around this time we moved across to Enda's gaff again, and ended up staying here for another week, kindly minding the house while Tracy was in Brisbane with Flyn and Enda travelled to Las Vegas for a business trip (nice work if you can get it).
But before Enda flew off he brought me down to his local boozer to meet the 'lads' on Saturday. To be honest I got a bit of a fright when I arrived to meet them all - they were all well-hard East -End Londoners with tattoos aplenty and really heavy, thick accents. Enda has collected this motley crew over the years, but they rarely meet up anymore due to wives and kiddies and the like (same the world over it seems). Myself and Enda were the only two paddies, but we still managed to win 2 of the 3 games of killer pool (but then sure, you'll never beat the Irish). They were alright lads really, just a bit rough and ready I suppose, but they were all really friendly, so it turned out to be a great day (we started at 2pm).
So the time spent relaxing in Enda's house just flew by again, and we were still meeting up for dinners with Mikey, Steph, Sally and Baz (and one very entertaining night of charades around the camp fire in Sally and Baz's backyard).
When I finally cycled back to DogZone to install the newly fixed up software Sally slipped me a thank-you card as I was leaving. When I opened it later I found she'd broken our original agreement - we had all agreed that I'd look at the software for nothing (although I'd relented on letting Sally pay for us to get up to Sydney). I had wanted to help out as both Sally and Baz had been really brilliant to myself and Sarah for weeks over Christmas. But here she was giving me a very generous few bob on top of all that, and to be honest I was a little embarrassed - and that bloody software had better hold up now!
But at Sally's request I vowed to use the money to really enjoy some great Aussie culture and adventure, and I reckon I certainly lived up to that promise when we arrived a couple of days later in Sydney.
So I pretty much went straight into DogZone itself to have a look at the software. It was hard not to just play with all the cute dogs, but after a couple of hours trying to decipher the various bits and pieces and versions of the software, downloading Java and development
kits (the machine was quite old and painfully slow!), and being distracted by barking dogs, I managed to get the software built from source and running against a database (that had absolutely minimal security, so simply opening the database and looking at the user table gave full, plain-text passwords - that in itself should have been an important clue for what was to come!).
So armed with all that, and a cursory look at the source code itself, I thought I'd have little problem fixing whatever problems Sally was having with the system. Another important piece of information in making that decision was that although the software had initially been developed by college students, Sally had subsequently paid a professional programmer a lot of money to polish it up and make it robust enough to use safely in the daily running of her business. Therefore I thought any problems should be minor and therefore easily and quickly fixed.
How wrong I was!
It turned out to be literally the worst code I have ever come across - and that's really saying something. It was a gradual realisation, dawning slowly as I started looking into the more complex problems Sally reported, and getting more familiar with the code. A lot of the code had a distinct 'studenty' feel to it, which wasn't surprising, but it was hard to detect any evidence of the professional programmer who was supposed to have fixed things up. Eventually I did come across distinctly different code, but it turned out this guy was every bit as clueless as the students! I truly believe this guy totally ripped Sally off, and that she'd have every right to go to the consumer protection agency or whatever and claim all her money back - if the guy had been in the same room as me as I was going through his code I swear I would have punched him.
Anyway, after about a week of fixing bugs and writing large swathes of functionality that had never even existed, the system was largely fixed up and Sally began testing it (I originally thought 2 or 3 days would be enough time - d'oh!). Around this time we moved across to Enda's gaff again, and ended up staying here for another week, kindly minding the house while Tracy was in Brisbane with Flyn and Enda travelled to Las Vegas for a business trip (nice work if you can get it).
But before Enda flew off he brought me down to his local boozer to meet the 'lads' on Saturday. To be honest I got a bit of a fright when I arrived to meet them all - they were all well-hard East -End Londoners with tattoos aplenty and really heavy, thick accents. Enda has collected this motley crew over the years, but they rarely meet up anymore due to wives and kiddies and the like (same the world over it seems). Myself and Enda were the only two paddies, but we still managed to win 2 of the 3 games of killer pool (but then sure, you'll never beat the Irish). They were alright lads really, just a bit rough and ready I suppose, but they were all really friendly, so it turned out to be a great day (we started at 2pm).
So the time spent relaxing in Enda's house just flew by again, and we were still meeting up for dinners with Mikey, Steph, Sally and Baz (and one very entertaining night of charades around the camp fire in Sally and Baz's backyard).
When I finally cycled back to DogZone to install the newly fixed up software Sally slipped me a thank-you card as I was leaving. When I opened it later I found she'd broken our original agreement - we had all agreed that I'd look at the software for nothing (although I'd relented on letting Sally pay for us to get up to Sydney). I had wanted to help out as both Sally and Baz had been really brilliant to myself and Sarah for weeks over Christmas. But here she was giving me a very generous few bob on top of all that, and to be honest I was a little embarrassed - and that bloody software had better hold up now!
But at Sally's request I vowed to use the money to really enjoy some great Aussie culture and adventure, and I reckon I certainly lived up to that promise when we arrived a couple of days later in Sydney.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Tasmania
So cheap one-way flights from Melbourne had us arriving in Hobart, with lovely views of the island and the city as the plane approached. We got accommodation nice and central in the Central City Backpackers and spent the first night just strolling about. Behind the well-known Salamanca Place was a lovely wee village area with period houses in quaint squares and dinky little shops and restaurants - the whole area had a lovely feel to it (although we ate that night in the Ball and Chain, a deservedly famous steakhouse).
Next day we checked out the various car rental places and got lunch at the kinda-famous Mures Seafood restaurant in the harbour (which was very nice, but not amazing). Spent the whole afternoon checking out the state museum, which had fascinating information about Tasmania's notorious persecution of the aboriginals. After getting kicked out of the museum at closing time it was a quick pint in the Old Sydney Hotel bar (actually an Irish bar, but a really nice one - not obviously Irish at all (a bit like the Drunken Poet in Melbourne)).
The next morning we picked up the rental car (our fourth rental of the trip), and headed out towards Port Arthur. Stopping off at a few of the mad coastal formations (such as the Tessellated Pavement, the Devils Kitchen, the Tasman Arch and another blowhole), we arrived at Port Arthur in the late afternoon to discover that it isn't really a town at all, it's just a very large historic site (I never bought a guidebook for Australia, as I never envisioned staying so long). So after a bit of a panicky search for cheap accommodation we got a room in the lovely Fish Lips, run by a lovely Finnish couple (he was the most Finnish-looking dude I've ever seen, straight out of a viking movie or something). Apparently this place used to be a Sea-World-type place with exclusive cabins and seal shows and the like, but now that's all closed down and they just offer accommodation - but the view of the sea and the forests while we had dinner was pure five-star luxury. (For some photos of many of the places we saw in Tasmania from a cool American couple cycling around the world for the past 6 years see here.)
That night we did the Ghost Tour in Port Arthur itself. This was kinda interesting (and Sarah got a couple of good 'frights', i.e. when the guide deliberately kicks a door at the climax of a scary tale told in a pitch black basement). The guide was an out-an-out ghost believer, so it was interesting to hear her personal experiences, and it was good to see many of the historic buildings in Port Arthur (it was a notorious colonial prison back in the 1850's), although I thought the most interesting part of the whole tour was when one of the people on the tour asked about the famous massacre from 1996 (afterwards I read that the Lonely Planet specifically asks tourists not to ask the guides about the incident, probably as it doesn't really make for good P.R.).
36 people were killed and more injured when a local guy went right off the deep end (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/bryant/index_1.html). Our guide knew him well, having grown up with him in the town, and 8 personal friends of hers were among the dead - so that personal story was genuinely intriguing.
Next morning we stopped at the local Tasmanian Devil Park to see Tassie's most famous resident critter. This was a great place (and we came back the next morning for breakfast), and we were lucky enough to catch the bird show that had just started. The falcon display was incredible, and the ethos of the place as a rescue center for animals was reflected in the fact that all their rehabilitated birds are actually free to leave the center whenever they want (which they often do, but mostly they return within a few days). They had lots of other animals there too, lots of kangaroos and wallabies, wombats, possums, etc.
But certainly the highlight was the Tasmanian Devils themselves. Again we had timed our arrival nicely for their daily feeding time, and it was amazing to watch the cute and cuddly little critters become extremely fierce and aggressive towards each other as they fought over their food. Apparently these guys have the strongest bite of any animal after the great white shark or something (nice short little video here).
Next was a quick stop at the Eagleneck museum which explained the interesting dog-line used as what must be a unique prison escapee barrier. Then it was off to the Freycinet National Park for a spot of hiking. The highlight here is the famous Wineglass Bay, which has a fantastic lookout as you approach. We arrived quite early and so continued on for a full 5 hour hike, heading across the isthmus for a lovely refreshing swim at Hazards Beach.
After a brief stopover in small Bicheno, and an interesting evening of redneck-spotting in the local bar it was on to Launceston. Here we stayed in a central caravan park (Treasure Island), in quite a cozy caravan. It was a drizzly weekend, and so the Boag's brewery was closed and the town's top restaurants (such as the impressive looking Me Wah Chinese restaurant), were fully booked out. So we had to settle for a nice Indian the first night, but did manage to have lunch at Stillwater River Cafe the next day (check out their ever-so-slightly poncy website here!).
From Launceston we headed to Tasmania's best National Park, Cradle Mountain. We only spent one full day there, but still managed to get some major hiking in, and it was definitely amongst the best hiking I've ever done. The weather was great, Cradle mountain itself was mighty impressive, with a smattering of lakes scattered about the place for good measure and gorgeous native forests to round it all off.
From Cradle Mountain we headed over to the East coast and the tiny, but picturesque town of Strahan (watching the seaplane take off). Then it was back to Hobart for a couple more days of fine dining (The Henry Jones Art Hotel, Da Angelo Ristorante), before moving on.
It turned out that all flights up to Sydney for the following week were all mad expensive due to it being Australia day (which I'd never heard of!), and in the end it actually worked out much cheaper to fly back to Melbourne with Tiger Airways, who thankfully had just opened a new route (which the travel agent never told me about - I just stumbled across it on the Internet). But going back via Melbourne also meant I'd get a chance to have a look at the software system for Sally. It also turned out that Enda was going to be away on business while Tracy was visiting her family in Brisbane, so we'd be able to crash in Enda's place again. So although it meant spending even longer again in Oz (the original one-year time limit on this trip now beginning to look seriously restrictive!), that's what we decided to do, and we heading back to Melbourne.
Next day we checked out the various car rental places and got lunch at the kinda-famous Mures Seafood restaurant in the harbour (which was very nice, but not amazing). Spent the whole afternoon checking out the state museum, which had fascinating information about Tasmania's notorious persecution of the aboriginals. After getting kicked out of the museum at closing time it was a quick pint in the Old Sydney Hotel bar (actually an Irish bar, but a really nice one - not obviously Irish at all (a bit like the Drunken Poet in Melbourne)).
The next morning we picked up the rental car (our fourth rental of the trip), and headed out towards Port Arthur. Stopping off at a few of the mad coastal formations (such as the Tessellated Pavement, the Devils Kitchen, the Tasman Arch and another blowhole), we arrived at Port Arthur in the late afternoon to discover that it isn't really a town at all, it's just a very large historic site (I never bought a guidebook for Australia, as I never envisioned staying so long). So after a bit of a panicky search for cheap accommodation we got a room in the lovely Fish Lips, run by a lovely Finnish couple (he was the most Finnish-looking dude I've ever seen, straight out of a viking movie or something). Apparently this place used to be a Sea-World-type place with exclusive cabins and seal shows and the like, but now that's all closed down and they just offer accommodation - but the view of the sea and the forests while we had dinner was pure five-star luxury. (For some photos of many of the places we saw in Tasmania from a cool American couple cycling around the world for the past 6 years see here.)
That night we did the Ghost Tour in Port Arthur itself. This was kinda interesting (and Sarah got a couple of good 'frights', i.e. when the guide deliberately kicks a door at the climax of a scary tale told in a pitch black basement). The guide was an out-an-out ghost believer, so it was interesting to hear her personal experiences, and it was good to see many of the historic buildings in Port Arthur (it was a notorious colonial prison back in the 1850's), although I thought the most interesting part of the whole tour was when one of the people on the tour asked about the famous massacre from 1996 (afterwards I read that the Lonely Planet specifically asks tourists not to ask the guides about the incident, probably as it doesn't really make for good P.R.).
36 people were killed and more injured when a local guy went right off the deep end (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/bryant/index_1.html). Our guide knew him well, having grown up with him in the town, and 8 personal friends of hers were among the dead - so that personal story was genuinely intriguing.
Next morning we stopped at the local Tasmanian Devil Park to see Tassie's most famous resident critter. This was a great place (and we came back the next morning for breakfast), and we were lucky enough to catch the bird show that had just started. The falcon display was incredible, and the ethos of the place as a rescue center for animals was reflected in the fact that all their rehabilitated birds are actually free to leave the center whenever they want (which they often do, but mostly they return within a few days). They had lots of other animals there too, lots of kangaroos and wallabies, wombats, possums, etc.
But certainly the highlight was the Tasmanian Devils themselves. Again we had timed our arrival nicely for their daily feeding time, and it was amazing to watch the cute and cuddly little critters become extremely fierce and aggressive towards each other as they fought over their food. Apparently these guys have the strongest bite of any animal after the great white shark or something (nice short little video here).
Next was a quick stop at the Eagleneck museum which explained the interesting dog-line used as what must be a unique prison escapee barrier. Then it was off to the Freycinet National Park for a spot of hiking. The highlight here is the famous Wineglass Bay, which has a fantastic lookout as you approach. We arrived quite early and so continued on for a full 5 hour hike, heading across the isthmus for a lovely refreshing swim at Hazards Beach.
After a brief stopover in small Bicheno, and an interesting evening of redneck-spotting in the local bar it was on to Launceston. Here we stayed in a central caravan park (Treasure Island), in quite a cozy caravan. It was a drizzly weekend, and so the Boag's brewery was closed and the town's top restaurants (such as the impressive looking Me Wah Chinese restaurant), were fully booked out. So we had to settle for a nice Indian the first night, but did manage to have lunch at Stillwater River Cafe the next day (check out their ever-so-slightly poncy website here!).
From Launceston we headed to Tasmania's best National Park, Cradle Mountain. We only spent one full day there, but still managed to get some major hiking in, and it was definitely amongst the best hiking I've ever done. The weather was great, Cradle mountain itself was mighty impressive, with a smattering of lakes scattered about the place for good measure and gorgeous native forests to round it all off.
From Cradle Mountain we headed over to the East coast and the tiny, but picturesque town of Strahan (watching the seaplane take off). Then it was back to Hobart for a couple more days of fine dining (The Henry Jones Art Hotel, Da Angelo Ristorante), before moving on.
It turned out that all flights up to Sydney for the following week were all mad expensive due to it being Australia day (which I'd never heard of!), and in the end it actually worked out much cheaper to fly back to Melbourne with Tiger Airways, who thankfully had just opened a new route (which the travel agent never told me about - I just stumbled across it on the Internet). But going back via Melbourne also meant I'd get a chance to have a look at the software system for Sally. It also turned out that Enda was going to be away on business while Tracy was visiting her family in Brisbane, so we'd be able to crash in Enda's place again. So although it meant spending even longer again in Oz (the original one-year time limit on this trip now beginning to look seriously restrictive!), that's what we decided to do, and we heading back to Melbourne.
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