Scribble World Travel Blog

7 Great Reasons to Travel

Here are 7 Great Reasons to Travel (in case someone you know needs a little convincing)

1) The thrill of the unknown-seeing a mountain for the first time, or seeing how the other half lives

2) The inner discoveries-that you do not have to feel lonely just because you are by yourself.

3) To rejoice in the little things-the spiders on the wall, the smell of ocean air, the absence of city lights.

4) To learn how to be less judging-the homeless man does not lead an easy life

5) To have A Strong mind and the strength to keep it open

6) To learn from others

7) To make a part of yourself available for posterity

Where in the World Have I Been?

I thought it would be fun to create a map of the States in America I have visited, so I did.

visited 29 states (58%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or try another Douwe Osinga project

I also created a map of the countries I have visited…

visited 4 states (1.77%)
Create your own visited map of The World or try another Douwe Osinga project

10 Ways to Get a Shower On The Road

Hello travelers, people living out of a vehicle and other awesome folks, here are 10 Ways to Get a good Shower On The Road.

1. At a campground. Campground showers vary from one place to the next. Some are hot, some solar powered so they’re only hot at certain times, and some are unheated altogether. Some have consistent water pressure while others will only get a weak stream when someone hops in the shower next to you. Some are private with your own changing room and a real door while others are separated from the others by a curtain or in rare instances, nothing at all. Some are well kept and impeccably clean while others you get to share with a few hopefully harmless spiders, mosquitos and other mystery guests.
2. At a community pool. You may have to pay a few bucks to use the pool, but the showers are free. And hey, why not go swimming while you’re at it? They usually only accept cash and are often only open certain hours and days.
3. Get a 5 gallon solar shower. This is cheap, usually less than $20 for a simple one, and can be useful when you’re in the middle of nowhere. If you leave it in the sun for a couple hours you’ll have a nice warm shower. If there isn’t enough sun to make it hot, you can add a cup of boiled water and that will at least make it warm. If privacy is an issue, for a little more (around $70) you can get the Texsport Deluxe Camp Shower/Shelter Combo. It works well for car camping.
4. The Solo 465 Stainless Steel Sprayer can be used as a medium pressure camp shower. Several people have commented that they place it on a stove top burner and heat it up, then pressurize it and it’s shower time. My Dad tried this by pouring hot water into a 2 gallon plastic sprayer tank that he had and it made a great shower. It uses about 40 ounces per minute so that is a 6 minute shower using only two gallons. Also,if you lather up with Dawn Direct Foam soap instead of bar soap, when it’s empty, you could refill it with your own scented soap and distilled water. The foaming soap lather would not be affected by local hard water supplies. And it also works great for dishes! 
5. Get a day pass to a local fitness club. They’re usually just $5 or $10 for unlimited hot showers, plus you can get a good workout while you’re at it.
6. Stop at a road house or large gas station such as Flying J, TA or Pilot, and other road trip stops with amenities for travelers and truckers alike. These tend to be some of the nicest showers you can get on the road as you get your own private bathroom and lots of available hot water, plus your own sink and toilet. They usually provide towels and bar soap though you’re welcome to bring your own supplies. Usually costing between $5 and $10, if you’re with your significant other, they’re usually happy to let you pay the one fee and share the room. If you’re a little hard up for cash, you can also try asking a trucker if he or she by chance has an extra shower coupon. Truckers oftentimes receive a coupon for a free shower when they fill up on gas and oftentimes have an extra they just might part with if you ask nice enough.
7. Visit a friend, relative or make a new acquaintance and ask to use their shower…sure, you might get a funny look, but what are friends for?
8. Try the “It Makes Sense Shower head.” You still need a water supply, but this will help you conserve water. You can get a hot shower using very little water which is helpful when you’re on the road. It has a chain to pull to adjust the flow of the water from a full spray to a trickle while you lather. It’s an interesting variation of a navy shower.
9. The Zodi Hot Tap Single Burner Travel Shower runs off propane and 4 D batteries, so you can get a hot shower any time of day at the push of a button. It holds 4 gallons of water which is good for a 10 minute shower. Costs about $130
10. Some hotels with swimming pools will let non-guests use it for a small fee, and have public showers in that viscinity as well.

Want one more? The Carwash! Please laugh responsibly:  Shower on the Road

Club Congress New Year’s Eve photos

We celebrated the coming of 2009 and had a wonderful New Year’s Eve at Club Congress in downtown Tucson, AZ to partake in six hours of non-stop Circus Congress amusements. The night went surprisingly fast as we were entertained by magicians, bands and a couple acrobats.  The carnival-like atmosphere was fun and even included some fresh made cotton candy to help wash the drinks down

Club Congress was packed and sold out. It was interesting to see how people dressed-some were in jeans and t-shirts while others went all out and dawned the sparkly dresses and tiara style new year’s head gear and other interesting costume twists. 

One area that could have used a little more attention was the bathroom situation. No big surprise here, but the line to the Ladies Room was out the door-and two women almost got in a fight when one budged.  Both sides were very indignant to say the least.

The Men’s Room, on the other hand…this is where life can be so unfair sometimes….4 minutes before midnight, Chris says he has to go to the bathroom….and no he can’t wait 5 more minutes but, “don’t worry, I’ll be quick.”  It was like a magic act-somehow he managed to maneuver his way in through the crowd of people pushing their way out, use the bathroom, and again squeeze through about a bazillion people to get back to me at exactly midnight for that New Year’s kiss.  It was impressive.

Now. when I have to go, it’s at least a 20 minute affair and arriving at the destination is no picnic either- one of the stalls is overflowing, and by the end of the night the others have run out of toilet paper-and no one seems too concerned about restocking them– So, here’s a New Year’s Eve tip to the ladies:

Bring a little emergency T.P ”just in case,” and look forward to making some new friends in line—it’ll be a loooong wait Happy New Year everyone!

Tigers in Thailand

I’m busy dreaming of future travels. There’s this place called Tiger Temple in Thailand where the tigers are so tame, people can actually walk around amongst them without getting attacked or eaten. I’ve seen amazing pictures taken from Tiger Temple that show just how up close the people can get to them-like this one with the tiger’s head laying in a girl’s lap. I was amazed how inexpensive doing a Tiger tour is-around 3800 baht which is around $111 U.S. dollars. It’s a beautiful country and that would make an amazing trip. I suppose flying to Thailand would be the biggest expense, but who knows, maybe there’ll be some great last minute travel deals to Thailand one of these days Just have to remember not to pack skirts, at least not for that day-no red colors are allowed around the tigers and no skirts-I guess deep down they’re still playful kitties when properly enticed. Monks have raised these tigers who were orphaned due to poachers killing the mom, and these orphaned tigers, as amazingly tolerant and friendly as they are, some of the monks believe the tigers are actually former Buddhist deciples reincarnated!

RV Pros and Cons

If you’re thinking about buying a new or used Rv, here are some RV pros and cons to consider based on our experience with a Maui Rv rental in Australia.

Space:

After traveling around the U.S. in a Honda Odyssey where space was at a premium for long term travel, space in our Maui RV rental was a definite pro.  I loved the fact that there were cupboards and under seat storage compartments for storage.  The closet was small but still a nice feature and then there were separate drawers and cabinets for kitchen-wares.  A shoe rack above the door and hooks to hang coats also made life a little more organized.

We took advantage of additional storage by keeping some things in the bathroom when driving.  During the day, we could use the bed above the cab as storage for our suitcases. At night, we’d move the stuff down to the cab.  This would have made it a little difficult to leave in a hurry though.  Also, if you have to do it everyday it could get a bit tiresome, depending on how heavy your “must have” stuff is how much time you have to complete the maintenance task.

A kitty litter box would have fit nicely on the bottom step by the door for those traveling with a pet…

A RV space con is that after we started using the kitchen sink to do our dishes, we discovered the gray water was overflowing into the bathroom, which also doubles as a shower.  We couldn’t be certain anything we stored in there wouldn’t get wet.

The Shower…

The Cons: Aside from the gray water gurgling up into the shower after washing dishes we also noticed a bad smell.  At first we thought it was from the black water, but we hadn’t yet used the toilet and we didn’t notice the smell until we started doing our dishes.  It became something we had to tolerate and we would open the roof vents when parked.

Balancing Act

We had a few scares when we started driving away suddenly realizing nobody had shut the roof vents-so that was always fun- trying to close the vents while driving-swerving all over the place.  The RV felt precariously tippy at times-and it occurred to us that perhaps our things were out of balance-we probably shouldn’t have had so much heavy stuff in the upper storage levels and cabinets.

Water Limitations..

Considering the water limitations, it was impractical to take a real shower, so that surprised me that the shower- something we thought would make the RV experience a step up from our van travels- was a pretty much useless feature.  There may, however, be tubes you can buy to give you extra water, but you would probably need to have a place to empty your gray water-and a nice environmentally friendly shampoo and soap so you could let it out on the side of the road as necessary.

Rv Toilet

The toilet we avoided as much as possible, but in a pinch, on those dark and scary nights, it was a bonus not to have to go outside. The strong smells didn’t make this an attractive long term solution though-even with the blue liquid chemical additives the RV dealership provided us. There’s surely a better way?

Gas

Gas, obviously was more expensive than our van.  It would cost around U.S. $130 to fill the gas tank in Australia with prices in the $1.45 Australian dollars/liter range.

Structural Integrity

As far as structural stability, I wouldn’t recommend taking an Rv some of the places we went.  In Karijini National Park, the closet door jiggled right off the hinges while we were driving over a particularly rough patch of dirt road.  We had a pocket handyman to re-attach it, but that was a rougher ride than that RV was probably built for. Luckily our dishes didn’t break. Driving to the Wilderness Camp at Cape Leveque called Kooljaman also would have been a bad road to take the Rv down-luckily we had a 4×4 for that, but even so, structural integrity seemed questionable at times.

The Awning

We never did get around to using the awning…it may have been nice, but we didn’t stay any one place long enough to make learning how to put it up, and take it down again, worthwhile.

Fuses/Power

We had a couple fuses blow on us.  Chris would probably be the one to talk more about this issue.  He found it odd that he was able to make a set up for our van to run a laptop and GPS program while driving with sufficient power, while in the Rv, it was easily overloaded because the fuse between the battery and the cigarette lighter power outlet didn’t allow as much power as we were trying to draw from it.  The AC outlets were only powered when plugged in at a campsite.  Chris bought an inverter in Australia for around $60 to plug into the cigarette lighter. The inverter made it possible to power one computer at a time.  In our van we had a thick cable going from the main battery to the auxiliary battery and a 1,000 watt inverter hooked up to the auxiliary battery allowing for more power.

Temperature Control

Another pitfall of the RV was that some days we would get really hot sitting in the back. Having the windows open seemed to make things worse, not better..so we had to wait and give the A.C. from the cab a chance to reach us in the rear, which could take a while.  I recommend water and an ice cold ginger beer in such situations.

Radio

The radio rarely had a good signal. Satellite radio is the way to go. We used Sirius radio while traveling in the U.S. which worked very well.

Fridge

One concern with the fridge in our Maui RV-it seemed to work well for most items, but the small freezer was not quite cold enough for our ice cream snacks-which became quite melty and we were “forced” to eat them right away.

Ants

As soon as our first day on the road, we discovered ants had already nested in our RV rental.  We did our best to keep the kitchen crumb free, but still, they were present and it was not particularly fun sharing our home on the road with ants but we could not seem to find where they were hiding in the RV. To avoid this problem, you’ll want to keep food in sealed containers or zip lock bags and clean up spills and crumbs immediately. Ants are drawn to these things-even in an RV.

A Simple Table…

I’ll end on a pro-it was great to have a table in the Rv as it makes such a convenient place for the laptop and other items.  Space was a constant struggle traveling in the van and having a table to work at would have made been a big pro.

Happy Road Trip Travels!

Returning to the USA From Australia

Just some facts-It’s 11:44 P.M. Australia time. I’m tired, it’s almost impossible to get comphy and sleep-but right when it seemed my fatigue would win out, on came the cabin lights.

Our altitude is 10,668 m

Time since departure: 9 hours 45 minutes

Time to destination (L.A): 3 hours 4 minutes

Air Temperature: -45 celcius

Ground Speed: 582 mph or 937 km/m

Local Time is 6:46 A.M.-Estimated arrival time: 9:49 A.M.

We’re somewhere between Honolulu and Mexico CIty.  Big help, I know…And we have traveled 5,865 miles since our departure-that’s 9,441 km.. current altitude is 35,000 feet.

The cabin is beginning to smell like coffee. Outside it is still almost completely dark, but there are no signs of stars and the darkness is faintly subsiding. We are all awake, but not in the least bit chatty. 

The Quantas Entertainment System has been a huge disappointment on this flight. The interactive menu is down-so we only have bizarre and limited “TV” to choose from-and so I’ve caught the ending to like 4 different movies.  It seems they were already in progress before departure, a bit annoying-but I tried to be philosophical about it-studying the endings-the formulas being used-noting the suspense and anticipation that lead to a satisfying conclusion-and also the huge role music plays-particularly in building suspense.

We’ve now landed in LAX and have made it safely through customs.  Getting on our Southwest flight was not quite so easy, as Chris’s bag was 16 pounds over the 50 pound checked baggage weight limit.  He put on his heavy hiking shoes, tossed out some shampoo and mouthwash, we squished a few things into my bag, which was underweight, but just about bursting at the seams, and squeezed other stuff into our carry ons.  We managed though.

The next short flight was smooth and hassle free. We landed a little after 3 in the afternoon, took a city bus as far as it could take us in the direction of home, then walked a mile or two, hauling all our big heavy luggage, then waited at another bus stop for 20 minutes or so to take us the last few miles. True, we could have taken a cab, but after our spendy vacation we were eager to find ways to save money-and the bus was only a dollar and I’m sure a little sunshine and exercise wasn’t too terrible for us either after sitting on planes for 14 hours. 

We walked through the door a little after 6 P.M. and were instantly greeted by 2 great big fuzzy purrballs, both meowing and meowing trying to tell us all about their adventures while we were away and full of questions as they sniffed at our luggage and shoes wondering where in the world we’d been. 

And now I can collapse.

Jenolan Caves and a Platypus

Chris and I sleepily forced ourselves awake this morning for our agreed upon 7:30 A.M. nature walk to scout out any platypus in the area. We spotted 2 in a little stream.  Mom took an amazing video of one leisurely scratching himself.  The platypus was unaware of her presence–they are very shy and spook easily, disappearing into their hideouts.  She’s been emphasizing what a rare and special experience this was for us to get such a good look at two platypus in their natural environment-we lucked out. Another time, she and Bruce got up at 4 A.M. hoping to see a platypus and only Mom saw it, but the water wasn’t crystal clear as it was here at the Jenolan Caves, so it was nothing to write home about that time.

We went for a self guided tour of the Nettle Cave which was fairly self explanatory with numbered posts and an audio narration of the cave’s history and properties.  Then we lined up inside the cave tunnel, the same one we drove through yesterday, to await our guided tour of the Lucas Cave. While climbing up the many stairs, it was disheartening to see kids, from a distance throwing rocks where we had seen the platypus, despite the sign two feet away from them stating not to.  It’s sad that a couple people’s thoughtless and mean spirited actions can taint an otherwise fabulous experience.

The Lucas Cave was named after a guy that used to break off the crystals in the cave and decorate his home with them.  He later redeemed himself after a house fire destroyed his entire home including all his crystals-he realized the need to protect the cave’s natural resources or there wouldn’t be any left. John Lucas was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Hartley who pressed the Minister of Lands to turn the Jenolan Caves into a reserve.  Come October, the Jenolan Caves and surrounding areas will have been a protected reserve for the last 143 years. 

The Lucas Cave is one of only several caves we could have toured, but we were intrigued by it as it has the highest chambers-the “Cathedral” Chamber measures 54 metres high.  We listened to an impressive automated musical acoustics demonstration within the Cathedral Chamber of the Lucas Cave.  Real concerts are periodically performed in this great hall.  The length of the Lucas is 860 metres and there are a whopping 910 steps. It is also famous for it’s “Broken Column,” Jenolan’s most frequently photographed formation.  Our guide pointed out another broken column, historic graffiti, and an old wishing well that is now green from the copper coins that used to be thrown in it, among other things. 

A guided tour is a good way to get the cave experience.  There were a few moments of mild panic as all the lights went out while our group was climbing the stairs up and down a narrow corridor and we found ourselves in total darkness.  It must have been a trip to explore the caves with only torches back in the day.  There were strategically placed lightbulbs all along our tour, but it was our guide who held the power of the remote to turn them on and off at will and occasionally by accident. It was fun.

It’s a cloudy rainy day and we’re now back on the road on our way back to Sydney.  We’re taking a different way back-a scenic southern route past fields full of sheep and also fields full of wild kangaroos-20 or more/field, but I lost count.  I guess they’re pretty common here-like deer in the US.  Deer are not indigenous to Australia and we have not seen any.  We did, however, see a couple rabbits and one fox, which also are not indigenous.

Mom and Bruce, who live in Alaska, have been listening to an Australian news radio show. There is quite a bit of interest in Alaska, since Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, was announced the Republican nominee for Vice President. Mom has not met Sarah Palin personally, though she did see her in an airport restroom once. Anyway, they were both amused to hear what the listeners who called in had to say about Alaska.  One caller made it sound like Alaskans all ate grizzly bears..or that there are hardly any grocery stores…or the woman all dress up in costumes at the saloons.  She said it sounds like the callers had only been to the tourist traps.

Then, on the radio, they began discussing lawyers and whether or not we should feel a little bit sorry for them since they make $$$ but don’t have time to enjoy it.  Another caller said a former employer had once said to a group of aspiring bankers, “you have to think of life as a stovetop with only 4 burners-one for family, one for friends, another for work, and one for health.  You can’t have it all.  If you want to be good at something, you’ll have to turn off one-And if you want to be great at something, you’ll have to turn off two…”

Katoomba Falls, Blue Mountains Australia

We went on a walkabout today at Katoomba Falls in the Blue Mountains West of Sydney, Australia.  The walk was scenic, we had a good view of the “Three Sisters” peaks and Katoomba Falls.  We all bought the $28 triple pass to Scenic World and road the scenic skyway with a glass floor you can also walk on.  It took us right past Katoomba Falls for a unique view.  Then we held on tight to our cameras and took a ride on the railway-which was like a straight drop down!  Intense but short lived. 

We walked along following the boardwalk, noticing the old mining relics, and yes, it really is real coal, not props-as Chris discovered accidentally when he touched one.  Walking along the scenic walkway was refreshing, surrounded by tall shady trees and interesting birds. We road the scenic cableway back up the mountain, then hiked down to the base of Katoomba Falls to see it from another angle.

I sat on a bench for a little daydream, overlooking Katoomba Falls, as the others ventured on down the trail.  I just wanted to savor the experience.  Sometimes there is too much rush-too much “we came, we saw, next!” mentality, and I really like to spend time in a place to make it feel real.  So sitting on a bench overlooking the falls, I had a very vivid future vision of there being an outdoor cafe there someday at the bottom of the falls-called “Forest Falls Cafe”-serving only food that was native to the area-including roots, seeds, nuts and things like that. And if you asked for a water refill, your waiter or waitress would prance over to the edge of the waterfall, entertaining you by hopping over stones to hold your cup under the waterfall in just the right place,-unless they didn’t like you and then they’d just scoop some sludge off the bottom…

It was good water. On our scenic walk, a sign even indicated we were at a good place to refill our water bottles. Like nature’s own drinking fountain-cool and refreshing. 

We’re at a gas station now-the price is $1.45 for a liter of the cheapest kind. 

We continue our road trip driving west.  It’s been quite the woodsy, hilly, curvy road drive with lots of wild kangaroos along the side of the road to look out for.

We have made it to Jenolan caves and are spending the night at the Jenolan Caves House. We passed through an interesting cave to get here.  We’ll tour it tomorrow while it’s light. We’re also planning to get up early to see if we can spot a platypus out in nature. 

I can’t grasp time.  It boggles me somehow. My mind keeps its own timeline-quite different than the calendar year. Earlier, I was realizing Chris and I have not worked in a whole year!  But a year of not working does not feel the way I imagined it would prior.  It sounded like a lot of time, but doesn’t feel that way now.  Thank goodness for travel journals! That and our pictures which serve as physical reminders of where the past year has led us. I love feeling as though I have all the time in the world to do all the things I’d like to-and I’m really going to miss that feeling.  Tomorrow will be our last full day in Australia. 

On the bright side, at least part of me is ready to go home-hoping Ox and Paws (our cats) and our living quarters will all be okay.  It’ll be nice to have a kitchen again and be able to make exactly what I want.  It has been great fun eating out all the time and trying new things, don’t get me wrong-but at the same time, I’m not used to every single meal being an eating out big to do complete with high end prices.  Laugh if you must, but tonight all I really wanted was a great big bowl of steamed vegetables. Instead, I got the $26  steak with all of one roasted garlic mushroom and some potato gratin.  The mushroom was good-but only one??  And the potato gratin was really sweet-like candy-call me picky, but sometimes you just want your vegetables to taste like vegetables! I did enjoy my lemongrass tea, however, which was the saving grace for the whole meal, adding balance and perspective.  I hope to find more when I get back to the states.

Mom read her 20 page bio for us tonight after treating us all to dinner.  I feel like I have a little better understanding of who she is as a person and what matters to her.  I can also see the paradigms that can make seeing eye to eye challenging at times.  Paradigm- a set of assumptions, values, and concepts that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community or generation that share them. 

For her, having a career has been such a huge part of her identity.  I’m just the opposite-working to live and to learn, I don’t define myself through my job, though I can’t help it if other people do.  To me, a job is more of a means to an end-freedom.  So if I can work until I’ve saved up enough money to take a year off-why not?  Sure, I could put it in the bank and save that money for retirement or an emergency-but most likely I’d just wind up spending it on stuff and the rising cost of existence-never getting around to doing what truely makes life matter to me. But this has certainly caused the occasional rift between us.  As a Mother-of course she wants security for her children and everyone she cares about….but, how exactly do you appeal to the senses of your grown up child who values freedom over security?  Scare tactics and guilt trips do not seem to be working, for I’m as stubborn (I prefer “determined”) as I ever was-sorry, Mom. I know your heart is in the right place.

It was interesting to hear her talk about her childhood days, so she does remember fondly those days of swimming on rafts, building forts, playing and exploring-a time when her responsibilities were fewer and her self perception was based on different criteria.

The Carrington Hotel

Wow! We’re spending the night at another fancy and unusual hotel called the Carrington.  It’s on Katoomba Street in katoomba NSW Australia 2780.  To me, it feels like staying in an elegant old castle.  The Carrington opened in 1882, then known as The Great Western-and was a popular destination for those who wanted to visit the Blue Mountains in style (those with money).  After more than a century in operation, The Carrington was closed in 1985 and remained closed until 1991 when it was sold and renovated for the next 8 years-finally reopening to the public in 1998. 

The door knob on the entrance of each room is so high up-as though designed for giants and giant egos of times gone by.  The ceilings are very high and the room itself feels spacious.  Some of the rooms have shared baths at the end of the hall.  Chris and I were exploring-there’s a hundred year old billiard table, old leather & wood chairs, interesting art depicting lots of nudity, fancy dining hall and banquet rooms, and an elevator more than a century old, built back in 1904 in the days of elevator attendants.  Still operational, the 2 doors to the elevator must muscle open yourself before hopping aboard and exiting-there’s a bit of trick to that when you’ve got an armful of luggage. 

We had dinner at the place next door, just a hop and skip away.  I tried a linguine dish with tuna and veggies-it’s amazing how much better tasting fresh tuna is than the stuff that comes in the can.

Chris and I are in our room for the night-watching the news.   New Orleans has been evacuated in preparation for “the storm of the  century,” that may be worse than Katrina.  In other international news, there was an earthquake in China, flooding in India-”the government is a complete failure,” one Indian man just said to a reporter on a rescue raft being swarmed by desperate people-almost sinking the raft. 

In Quantas Airline news (we were just on a Quanta’s flight) an oxygen explosion is “unlikely to reoccur” according to one guy, while another guy says, “when you start outsourcing your work you are compromising on quality.”  And a fire has destroyed the Gilbert hotel in Perth.  Enough news.

We turned on the TV briefly this morning in Sydney curious to see what kind of programming they have in Australia.  Mom was surprised to see South Park was on one of the 4 channels with good reception and wondered if very many Australians would even understand the jokes, which are geared toward a certain age demographic.  The Ellen show was on-a 6 year old girl piano prodigy was showing off her stuff and looked to be having a lot of fun, with her big toothy grin, making it look delightfully easy. 

That got me off on a philosophical tangent of my own as I began wondering about the girl-how at a young age there isn’t pressure-she was clearly having fun-but what about as she gets older?  Will she continue having fun with her gifts or will she feel like she must constantly strive to do ever more amazing feats?  A talented 6 year old pianist is a show stealer, everyone roots for her-but a talented 36 year old pianist may not be quite so impressive in the eyes of the public.  So the pressure goes up while the enjoyment factor possibly goes down. 

I suppose it would depend on a number of factors-such as how important public appreciation is versus how much one is able to just enjoy what they are doing.  Is there freedom to change paths if so inclined or do your options feel limited, practically set in stone? The answer to those questions could determine how she, and many others, come to view their lives.  Having hope is an important part of a happy life.  So to “arrive” too young can be a crushing experience if it takes away your hope instead of giving it to you. 

Another thought-we walked through an expensive mall near the Circular Quay earlier where my Mom pointed out these teenage Japanese boys all dressed in the same navy suits walking around the mall in groups.  She said they were the children of the rich-only rich kids would be hanging out at that mall. And it was true, we didn’t see any other kids there.   We passed by a few-they seemed quiet, well behaved, and…perhaps…entitled.  They did not make eye contact or seem interested in any of the other people at the mall-only each other. 

I looked at some ugly designer handbags and thought about the people who would buy them-curious about their mental state of mind-not in a judgemental way, but a curious one-imagining what it’s like to be one-to have a credit card at a young age, but feeling also this sense of deprivation-and that to spend money on some of these ridiculous items must represent a general loathing of the stuff called money-revered by others, but to them something that doesn’t have a real value attached to it-and so they can spend it on a purse that looks like cheap vinyl and feel no pain-no sense of loss-no “either/or,” tough choices to be made.  I think it’s about trying to fill a sense of deprivation with their sense of entitlement.  If it makes them feel special-they want it.  Wow, I guess I am ever so slightly judgemental on this one-it just seems like one would truely have to have a love/hate regard for money to prefer such a virtue-less bag over a pile of cash (or plastic).  I rest my case.

This room is so neat-an unusual experience with great big stained glass windows, window seat, queen bed and a twin bed, vanity shelf with historic looking jewelry box drawers on top, mirror, small decorative lamp with long beads hanging from the lampshade, tea warmer, hot chocolate, soft towels, a rack that heats up your bath towel. A nice complimentary breakfast is included with our stay as well.

Fort Denison Sydney Australia

We’re on our way out of the parking ramp-near the Rocks Quay (Circular Quay area) getting ready to leave Sydney and continue our road trip West. We’ve checked out of the Lord Nelson Hotel & Brewery. We tried to get it for a third night, realizing how much there’s still to do in Sydney, but they were booked, so we’re going to follow the original plan to leave town today, after squeezing in a few more Sydney “must do’s.”

We took pictures of the Sydney bridge and Opera House, then watched some Aboriginal street performers play didgeridoo music-it was a combination of Aboriginal vocals, nature sounds, and other trance-like rhythms. You can listen to a free sample of their interesting style of music online here.

Next, we booked a ferry with Captain Cook Cruises at Circular Quay, wharf 6, and road the ferry over to Fort Denison for a delicious lunch. Aside from a handful of employees we had the small island all to ourselves. We strolled around the grounds while waiting for our lunch to arrive. I thought the fish & chips were wonderfully flavorful with a melt in your mouth texture. The water was the pricey part which came to $8/bottle, and provided 4 people with about half a glass each-not quite enough to really quench your thirst. The waitress returned after a while and asked if we’d like another bottle of water and Bruce, who’d been off exploring and didn’t know the price, immediately said, “yes.” So our water tab came to $16. It is interesting how the price of things are so subjective. Back home, we can refill a gallon of water for 25 cents…but when I first moved to Arizona, the idea of paying for drinking water at all seemed hilarious-having grown up on good well water from the Midwest. But here, on Former penal colony, Fort Denison, paying $8 for a liter of water imported from Italy-well, you just kind of shrug your shoulders and say, “alright.” But it all tastes the same, it’s only our perception of the value that changes….the presentation and packaging. My 2 cents are up, moving on-

The museum explored the fort’s interesting history. I watched a short video about the prisoners who were kept there and fed only bread and butter-they were always hungry thus lending the island the nickname “Pinchgut.” Ships that couldn’t be accounted for were seized and the crew sent to the penal colony until proof was received of their allegiance. The fort was completed in 1857, spurred by fear of a Russian Naval attack during the Crimean War-locals didn’t want their first warning of an attack to be that of cannons being fired through their windows.

The Denison Fort has the only Mortello Tower in Australia, and, not only that, it was the last Mortello tower built in the British Empire. A Mortello tower is a round fort up to 40 feet tall with thick sturdy walls resistant to cannon fire. At Fort Denison, the Mortello tower’s walls are between 3.3 and 6.7 meters thick at the base and 2.7 meters thick at the top. Some minor damage can still be seen on the tower today from some 5 inch shells that accidentally hit the fort when the USS Chicago fired upon 3 Japanese midget submarines that were attacking Sydney Harbor in May of 1942.

I just learned an interesting connection, compliments of Wikipedia, between Fort Denison and the Titanic. Charles Lightoller, the future second officer of the Titanic once played a practical joke on the fort. In 1900, Lightoller, then the 4th officer of the White Star Lines ship, and 4 midshipmen rowed to Fort Denison during the night, climbed the tower and raised a makeshift Boer flag and fired a cannon shot to fool locals into thinking they were under attack. This was during a time when the Boer war was raging in Africa and the citizens of Sydney were not amused. Lightoller accepted full responsibility for the prank and the White Star Line had to pay damages to the city. Twelve years later, in 1912, Charles Lightoller was to be the most senior officer to have survived the sinking of the Titanic. He became a key witness answering American and British inquiries about the disaster.

On the ferry ride back, it was kind of interesting to hear about the expensive houses in the area. I remember her, the ferry guide, pointing one out that had been rented for $33,000/week to a guy (the director, maybe?) of the movie “Australia.”

We’re leaving Sydney now, heading West.

Travel Journal Entry for Sydney Tower and Chinatown

After visiting the Sydney Wildlife World we decided to walk over and see why 800,000 people visit the Sydney Amp Tower every year. The tower has 1,504 steps up to the top, but we just took the high speed double decker elevator, which can carry up to 2,000 people/hour.  A trip up takes only 40 seconds, traveling at the swift pace of 7 metres/second. 

The 4,067 tonne Tower took 6 years to build, costing $36,000,000.  Sydney Tower will soon be celebrating her 27th birthday haviing officially opened on September 23rd back in 1981.  The Tower has had more than 16 million visitors since then. 

One thousand feet tall (305 metres high), the Sydney tower is the same height as the Eiffel Tower, making it the highest point above the city-twice the height of the Harbour Bridge. With windows all around, you can wander around at your own pace for a great panoramic view of the city. Thanks to the automatic window cleaner called “Charlie,” all 420 windows can be cleaned in two days time. 

The Sydney Tower also boasts the highest working mail box in the Southern Hemisphere! 

From the top of the tower we could see a fountain at a park that was used in the Matrix movie.  We walked over to it afterwards-one of those silly tourist things you can’t help but get excited about, but it was pretty cool.

Then Chris & I went off on our own for the evening to explore Chinatown.  We took the monorail, where we got a day pass.  Our Chinatown adventure began with tea at an authentic Chinese tea house.  I had a cup of tasty chrysanthemum tea and Chris had a cup of cool refreshing mulberry tea.  Then we decided to be brave and split the 24 herb wonder tea-boy was that potent, and I have no idea what was even in it, but anything that tastes that pungent has got to cure cancer and all other ailments-it’s practically an unwritten rule, so we drank the whole cup, then moved on to get some less healthy food.  I bought a bubble tea drink *yum yum* and then we were walking around a mall that looked like it was closed..and I was randomly peaking over at a massage shop, I’m just magically drawn to these places, and low and behold, the girl and guy who worked there saw me and waved me in-even though they had just put their coats on and very much looked like they were about 2 steps from heading out the door-in broken English, they excitely invited me to point out on a poster what service I wanted. I asked if they were closed, “yes”they replied with big smiles on their faces, every question I asked seem to be automatically answered “yes” with a smile.  Finally I just pointed at the refexology picture for 30 minutes and the rest is a pampered memory-my first reflexology session, but my feet kept thanking me, it felt wonderful.  Kind of funny how that worked out though, I got lucky because technically, according to the sign-they were closed, but must have been eager for business because they were willing to stay an extra half hour and actually seemed happy about it.  If anyone’s in the mood for a great foot massage after walking around Sydney all day, Massage World on George St. is the place!

We did a little more late night Chinatown exploring, then took the monorail to the harbor for some night pictures of the Sydney Harbor  Then we road the monorail in a complete loop for the ride and experience and walked the kilometer back to our room at the Lord Nelson Hotel and Brewery. 

It’s a pity there isn’t more time and energy in a day.  I’m beat, sore from all the walking and just plain tired having been up since 5 this morning.  I woke up early after some interesting dreams and noticed it was raining and had to look out the window and take in the experience.  I’m looking forward to some rest and enjoying a cup of chamomile tea.  I like this comforter-it’s a faux suede feel even though its made with 100% Egyptian cotton-I would have guessed a rayon & polyester blend. it’s very soft.  This room also has a nice window seat. Charming.  Midnight now, so goodnight!

Sydney Wildlife World

Sydney Wildlife World is conveniently located next to the Sydney Aquarium.  You can usually get a discount if you do both.  Wildlife World features the largest variety of animals and Australian plants under one roof! It covers 3 floors, 9 habitats and 65 exhibits ranging from bugs to cute cuddily looking koala bears. 

We had great close up looks at wallabies, frogs, birds and more.  The butterfly room was particularly neat-we could sit and admire the butterflies flying around our heads and we even saw a couple land on people. There were children running around playing and no one guarding the place-they must have to restock the butterflies with so many people frequently coming and going but it sure was neat! I’ve never seen so many butterflies in one place before-and so many kinds too.

We also saw our first Wombat!  A wombat is an Australian marsupial-short legged, muscular, tiny little tails..they’re really adorable.  They are nocturnal so it is difficult to see them in the wild-though they will come out on overcast days now and then. 

Our road trip has turned into more of a walking trip in the city of Sydney.  It’s neat how there are so many interesting attractions all within walking distance of each other.

Sydney Aquarium

The Sydney Aquarium has over 12,000 Australian marine animals and has the world’s largest Great Barrier Reef display.  We were very impresed to see the platypus up close and personal.  Even so, the little bugger moves fast and it’s hard to get a good picture of him. They are very shy and particularly difficult to see in the wild.  We’ve enjoyed walking through the aquarium tunnels with sharks and sting rays swimming above our heads and many other fish to the side and even beneath us!

There was a little look and touch area to feel some of the little spongier critters.  We saw seals swimming and playing, a salt water crocodile, sea horses, a fish that looks like a rock, squid, penquins, and many more strange and interesting species.  Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I’ll just have to show you what I’m talking about! 

The Sydney Aquarium is open everyday from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M. and is located on Aquarium Pier on Darling Harbour.

Lord Nelson Hotel and Brewery

Looking for an unusual and novel place to stay in Sydney? The Lord Nelson Hotel and Brewery is simply awesome! Nice deep bathtub, yummy smelling bath products in cute containers, comphy bed, fancy metal hot water maker that’s even faster than the other kinds I’ve used on this trip, Earl Grey tea samples, and interesting art and antiques all over the small privately owned hotel.  People seem to like the beer too…

For breakfast, we went down to the Lord Nelson’s in house restaurant and had the continental which consisted of a small plate of fruit cut into fancy designs, toast, small amount of butter (about enough for half a piece of toast), little jam, and a tea or coffee drink of your choice.  We each had a latte and then a cereal selection and juice.  They charge $11 for it if you’re not a guest, and comp if you are. 

We have a busy day ahead of us with lots of walking.  We’ll be visiting the Aquarium first.

Quantas Flight 580 Perth to Sydney

We sit in the middle row of a giant 747 Quantas Jet waiting to depart Perth and fly to Sydney.  We’ll be arriving approximately 6:30 this evening where we already have reservations at the Lord Nelson Hotel and Brewery for two nights.  They’re performing a maintenance procedure on the plane before we can take off.  The pilot says he’ll try to make up some time on the way.  We’re running a little behind.  My stomach is already starting to growl, but satisfaction will be a while.  Getting here took a little longer than the guy at the Comfort Inn thought. He said it wasn’t a busy airport and if we got there an hour early that should be plenty—but that may have been to suit his schedule more than ours since he was the one driving the airport/hotel shuttle service. The lines were longer than we would’ve expected from a “not busy” airport and they started boarding our plane as soon as we made it to the gate. 

We’ve made it off the ground and are steadily climbing.  This is a bumpier ride than usual.

Kings Park in Perth, WA

After dropping our stuff off at the Comfort Inn hotel in Perth that’s near the airport, we got to thinking, hmm..it’s still fairly early-what can we do in Perth that doesn’t cost a lot of money without a vehicle?  Chris remembered the Elevated Walkway he had read about in a guide book on the road trip from Broome to Perth.  We couldn’t establish an internet connection to get any information on the Elevated Walkway and only knew that it was at King’s Park.  We found the nearest bus stop which was right out front and asked a local if he knew which bus went downtown. He was very helpful and instantly had answers for us which was pretty cool.

We waited just a couple minutes at the bus stop and took the Transperth bus #36 to the downtown Perth bus terminal.  There we found a free bus, #37 to take us to Kings Park on Fraser Avenue.  We arrived a little after 5 in the afternoon and walked around for more than 3 hours. 

We found plenty to enjoy at King’s Park-floral, beautiful gardens, Swan River views, interesting birds and more. It was reminiscent of our interstate travels-seeing so many of the wild flowers and plants all in one place. It’s a cool free thing to do in Perth.  Now that I know what’s there I wouldn’t miss it-thank goodness we took a chance!

The streets are lined with tall trees planted 70 years ago by the families of Western Australia’s fallen Service men and woman of WWI an WWII, and each is dedicated with a plaque-over 1,100 plaques in all. 

A 750 year old boab tree was replanted here at Kings Park, originally from the Kimberly.  The 750 year old boab tree is expected to live another 300 years. 

The Eternal Flame in the Court of Contemplation, Kings Park

We saw a flame in the Court of Contemplation that has been continuously burning since lit by Queen Elizabeth II in the year 2000 known as the Kings Park War Memorial, The Eternal Flame. The 4 flames represent the Navy, Army, Air Force and Women’s Services. I liked the quote on the side of the fountain, also known as the Pool of Reflection-”Let silent contemplation be your offering.”  Every April 25, many Australians gather here for a touching memorial during Anzac Day.  Anzac stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was the day of their first major military action in 1915- during World       War I. 

Kings Park, formerly Perth Park, was renamed in 1901, after a visit to Perth by the son of King Edward VII of England.  Kings Park has since been visited by other royalty as well and is visited by millions of people each year making it the most popular visitor destination in all of Western Australia.  Popular among local Australians, tourists and interstate travelers. The park sits on more than 1,000 acres and is filled with more than 300 native plant species covering 2/3rd of the park. 

Also of interest, Kings Park is larger than Central Park in New York.  You’ll get some good exercise exploring its unique beauty.

The elevated walkway Chris had read about in the guidebook was already closed by the time we got there.  It closes at 5 PM. We walked beneath it instead and still had an interesting view.  It was sort of a neat walkway going through the trees, but wasn’t using the trees for support, as I had imagined-a cool bridge-but not like a tree fort.

We took the long way back by walking to the bus terminal instead of waiting for the bus.  We’ve got legs, let’s use them   This also gave us a chance to go for a nice night walk and see more of the city, plus it gave Chris a chance to show off his good sense of direction! We found the bus terminal and caught the return bus to The Comfort Inn.  The bus was only $2.30/person-pretty good deal for a half hour drive across town. Much cheaper than a taxi alternative, I’m sure.  The bus driver was friendly, but he was a little thrown by my accent at first and thought I was Irish! That’s a first!

We couldn’t get the heater to work at our hotel room, so it has been a chilly night, but we’ve been piling on the blankets instead.  We’re no doubt spoiled from living in Arizona for so long.  Tomorrow, we’ll be flying to Sydney.  Can’t wait to see what’s there too!  This whole trip has been awesome, it’s hard to believe we’re really here-doing all this stuff.  Each day is full of surprises.

Exploring downtown Fremantle

We spent the night at the ritsy Hotel Esplanade in Fremantle, WA.  Last night, Chris and I went out to a nice Indian restaurant for a late dinner.  I tried something called a Mango Lassi with mango, yogurt, milk and a splash of rose water.  It was delicious. 

After dinner, we walked to the Anchor Sail Brewery, where Chris tried a couple beers. He liked the house IPA and the Pilsner. I had water with lemon.  It was an interesting atmosphere. We sat up on the open air balcony on fancy cushions.  There weren’t any waitstaff coming around pestering us-if you wanted to order a drink, you just went up to the bar yourself.  Kind of a low-key place to just hang out and do your own thing.  A free salsa lesson had just ended, so there were people practicing their footwork in a few of the rooms.

This morning, Chris & I started our day having breakfast at Hungry Jacks, a master franchise of Burger King with over 300 restaurants in Australia.  Then we had the rest of the morning to explore, so we meandered through the park and down to the beach, then walked downtown to explore the shops.  I tried on a couple designer pants, just for fun.  Then I ordered an orange, carrot and ginger juice and it was my turn to follow Chris around for an hour. It started to rain, so we went in a large market building with all kinds of fresh produce, art and other things for sale.  We listened to a guy playing a metallic guitar with a slider on his thumb and using a kick thing to hit his guitar case and make a drum beat-he was good and it was an unusual sound. 
We went into a new age shop and I bought a candle that smells like a chocolate tootsie roll pop.  I wanted to buy a book but didn’t want to add anymore weight to my luggage and thought I’d try to find it online, only now, of course, I can’t remember the name.

My Mom had a semi humorous experience at the post office.  She was mailing a box and the lady asked if she wanted stamps, Mom said, “that’s ok” thinking she was asking if she needed to buy stamps-so the lady set about individually sticking dozens upon dozens of stamps all over the box to make up the correct postage, then re-added them all up with the calculator afterwards to make sure it was just the right amount.  Mom was getting ready to pay and commented how in the United States they can just print out a stamp with the exact amount-instead of having to cover the whole box with stamps—”Oh, I can do that,” the lady said.  Mom just stared at her stunned…we’d all been out in the RV waiting for her and time was of the essence to get the RV returned on time.  We think that when the lady asked if she wanted stamps and Mom said “that’s alright”-she took that as affirmative-as in “yes, alright, I’ll have stamps all over my package.”  The accent and way questions are phrased can be challenging to understand the true meaning sometimes.

We’re in a rush to get to our hotel now, which is near the airport, so we can drop off all our stuff and return the RV on time.

Namburg National Park

Namburg National Park-our adventure began as a 3.5 km hike until we decided to stray from the path and then it became something much longer, but we still had fun. It was cool to see all the pinnacles.  Some pink birds made their home in one of the pinnacle rocks and crawled down a hole to get to it’s nest while the other stood watch at the top and occasionally flew around a large circular perimeter to squawk a lot.  We also saw a wild emu at the park running around the pinnacles.

We’re stopped along the roadside now to empty the gray water from our RV, which is what the dealer said to do.  The tank fills up so fast, I’m starting to see some of the many disadvantages to having an RV-constantly needing to empty gray water and refill the fresh water, among other things. The shower is basically useless for anything longer than a sponge bath.  But before I start getting nostalgic and missing our van-there is a lot more room…

We’re heading to Fremantle tonight, south of Perth.  The road seems rougher and bumpier on this stretch.  I’m ready to just be in one place for a while.  We stopped at Regans Ford Windmill Roadhouse for a little break and got a very close up look at their emus.  That was a treat-it’s been hard to get a good look at the couple wild emus we’ve seen because they’re usually far away on on the run-at least that was the case when one ran across the road in front of us and again at Namburg National Park with all the pinnacles.

Sandra’s Bio Reading at Snag Island Leeman Caravan Park

We spent the night at a caravan park somewhere between Geraldton and Perth, I can’t remember what it was called, but it was near the ocean and there was a cage with colorful birds inside near the entrance. Chris thinks it was the Snag Island Leeman Caravan Park in Leeman, Western Australia.

We walked to the beach to watch another beautiful sunset, then leisurely strolled back watching for the cone shaped shells Bruce had pointed out.  They were everywhere-and seemed to be feeding off the plants and grass.  It’s bizarre how we hadn’t even noticed them on our walk down to the shore, yet after they were pointed out to us, they were plain as day-you couldn’t miss ‘em.

That night, after dinner, it was my turn to read my bio to the group. Kind of a nerve racking experience, but I stumbled my way through it.  I’ll include a copy below.  Maybe.