Boarding the plane is Cairo, at 4 am Greenwich Mean Time made for a very long first day in London. Getting from the airport to the hostel was no big deal. In fact, it was great to find that the hostel is on top of a bar and that reception is at the end opposite of the beer taps! Within in an hour of being in London the disappointment of the past two days was completely gone.

Turns out, the first night in town ended up being a wash. After enjoying a couple of pints and a decent meal, I was out sleeping for almost 15 hours. The only real downside to this much sleep was waking up 1 or 2 hours before any of the cafes were serving breakfast, and I was starving! Imagine my surprise when Jay and I found ourselves in a middle eastern restaurant, serving an English breakfast, while playing Egyptian music. Go Figure.

U2

The main order of business for the day was to locate U2 tickets for the night’s concert. This proved to be a little bit more difficult than planned, because most of the craigslist postings were for the day before. After 4 or 5 Skype calls, we found a seller who would meet us outside the stadium. Grabbed some lunch, got some tickets, and then relaxed until show-time by watching a football (the soccer type) match at the bar.

The concert was amazing, as expected. It was also the source for another good line from the trip. After two opening bands Jay asked me if I knew who the third act would be. I replied “Yeah, I have heard they have a few hits.” He thought there were three openers, not two. The two that opened were “The Hours” and “Glasvegas”? I could be mistaken, but I believe I have seen The Hours perform at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. They are a band I want to check a little bit more into.

Once Bono and crew took to stage, the show was definitely on. Great mix of old songs and recent hits. Hanging out, solo, in the Hostel bar afterwards was fun until the taps were shutdown. I actually ran into a couple of people who saw the Friday night show, and they seemed to enjoy it as much as I did Saturday night’s.

5-pence Tour

Sunday morning was a little rough for me to get going, but I was okay after breakfast. Shortly after packing my bags and completing check-out, I got an IM from Brian letting me know he was at his flat. So we grabbed a only-found-in-London style cab, and headed towards our next accommodations.

At this point, I should mention that the room in London was the smallest yet most expensive of the trip so far. Jay and I actually couldn’t pack or unpack in the room at the same time. So when we arrived at Brian’s 1250 sq-ft (my approximation) flat, it took all I had to not hug him. In the morning Jay and I had talked about skipping Budapest because we were both getting pretty tired. Him being sick didn’t really help. However, after a day of living like civilized men again we were recharged enough to go on.

Brian and one of his friends from Austin, currently living in London, were kind enough to take us to a handful of major tourist-spots. These included Tower Bridge (which is mistakenly called London bridge by many), the actual yet boring London bridge, Buckingham Palace, and an shopping area called Camden. Buckingham Palace was pretty under whelming. Plus, there was no changing of the guard during our visit.

Camden Square was alive with punk culture. Tattoos, piercing, hairdos, and Goth dress were running rampant. The shops all appealed to some form of punk. The coolest shop was Cyberdog, which was basically a rave with clothes racks. My inner-nerd, the same one that draws me to light shows, couldn’t help but gaze at the UV-style lights they had on display. Since pulling out a camera results in being tackled by a spike-faced kid, I can’t show what the lights looked like.

A quick word about London Bridge. If Brian had not told me we were standing on London Bridge, I would have had no idea. There are no signs, no fanfare, nothing. Just a great view of Tower Bridge, which tricks people into thinking that’s the famous bridge. In any case, neither of them are in danger of falling down.

The night ended with Brian taking us to a local BBQ place. It had been a very long time since either Jay or I had decent beef. Along with the (relatively) over-the-top loft, this taste of home made for an excellent night’s sleep.

Westminster Abbey

Early the next morning, Brian got up and left for work. Jay and I headed for the nearby subway station, and hitched a ride over to Parliament and Big Ben. After checking our watches, we walked around the corner to Westminster Abbey.

Throughout New Zealand I would run into girls from England, most near London and asked them all what to do in London. Most said things like the London Eye or the British Museum. None of them mentioned Westminster. In fact, if my sister had not asked if I was going, I’m not sure we would have even known it was so close to Big Ben.

The Abbey is absolutely spectacular. Inside looks to be 3 or 4 times larger than the outside. Every inch is covered in memorials or displays. Famous poets, scientists, historic politicians, and clergy are either memorialized or even buried in the Abbey. Photographs were not allowed. I honestly think this might be more because of crowd control than tourism control. If I was snapping photos, my camera would have burned through both memory cards and batteries before I was half-way through.

Without question, any visit to London needs a visit to the Westminster Abbey. It is simply too beautiful to miss.

British Museum

After a totally awesome Ham and Cheese crepe lunch, we headed into the famous British Museum. This museum houses historic pieces from all parts of the world. As I mentioned in my post about Egypt, some of the best stuff to see in Egypt is kept here.

Normally I like to breeze through a museum to get an idea of the history of the places I visit. They also tend to be climate controlled and make for a nice easy day. The sheer volume of this museum makes “easy day” pretty tough.

Please do take a look at the Picasa album I created for the British Museum.. This includes pictures from both Jay and I, and additional information when possible. Aside from seeing the real Rosetta Stone, my two other favorite exhibits were: Medals of Dishonour and Clocks. The Medals were medals created for historic failures (distributed at the time). While clocks were types of watches, clocks, and calendars from various time periods all over the world.

The un-Mexican Martini

After another day’s worth of kilometers on my shoes, we met Brian for a couple of after-work pints. Then went to a Mexican restaurant for margaritas. The ritas weren’t really very good, and so I am still pining for a good one. That, and a glass of Crown Royal.

London is definitely a location I will be visiting again. There is much more to see in Great Britain as a whole. Getting through most of England and Scotland could probably take another three to four weeks. For now, we are headed to Budapest for a couple of days before Ireland.

This is a somewhat difficult comment to write, but Egypt was a huge disappointment. Like most people, a life goal is to see the great grand Pyramids.   Egypt was overrun by multiple nations for hundreds of years.  Some of the best treasures were stolen, er borrowed.  The ancient civillization we learned about in school is entirely gone.

Cairo is one huge tourist trap. Everything and everyone is geared towards selling you a piece of Egypt, no matter how small. Even inside of the Pyramids, which are crumbling themselves, there are porters who talk for 15-20 seconds and then beg for tips.

The Pyramids of Giza offered the first Pyramid ever built, the Great Pyramid, and the Sphinx. Also, we had the opportunity to ride on a camel. Honestly, if I was to make a suggestion to others, take your picture on the camel and get off.   The ride isn’t worth it any price.  The guides make a game out of getting as much money from you, then asking “are you okay with this?”  They want you to admit, “Yes, I am okay with you ripping me off (jerk).”

Sadly, everything around the Pyramids make the entire experience unenjoyable. I was in Cairo for about 46 hours, which was 22 hours too long. Other parts of Egypt may be worthwhile. I have heard there is some good scuba diving in one part. If so, it is understandable to stop in Cairo and see the Pyramids, just do what you can to make it a day trip.

If you want to see the best parts of Egypt? Go to London.  The above picture was taken there.  All of the coolest exhibits are at the British Museum, which is Air-Conditioned .

Arriving at midnight in the Bangkok airport made it easy to get through Immigration, find a cab, and get to the hotel. After being in Bangkok, I have a feeling the Bali experience would have been different if we stayed in a large city like Jakarta. While Bangkok certainly has its 3rd-world moments, it really is a 2nd-world location.

The Mohawked Taxi driver dropped us off at what looked like an alley, but assured us the hotel was just down the road a little. It was a shady walk to say the least, but he was right. The hotel was at the end of the road. The budget hotel offered free breakfast, free internet, private rooms, private bathrooms, and A/C. The cost? Some where between $20 and 25 USD a night.

While in Bangkok we visited the Golden Palace, the city of Siam, caught a night of Kickboxing, took boats around the Floating Markets, saw a live cobra and snake show, and visited the famous Tiger Temple. We packed our two days with as much as possible.

Grand (Golden?) Palace

Full Picture Set Available on this Picasa Album .

Walking towards the Golden Palace we were told by several locals that the Palace was closed, but they were willing to take us to the Golden Buda monument. This is their “clever” tourist trap. Even though I knew they would pull this trick, I was really starting to think by the 3rd or 4th person that the temple might have actually be closed. Standing across from the entrance, shop owners tried to convince me it was closed, even though I could clearly see people streaming into it. Being an active place for prayer, it was necessary to borrow some pants to cover my legs entirely as I was wearing cargo shorts.

The Temple is absolutely breathtaking. Every building and statue is made out of Teak Wood covered in Gold. In the middle of the complex is the Emerald Buda. Pictures are not permitted inside of the prayer room, however the front window is wide open. This allowed us to snap a picture in front of the statue, while not being inside of the prayer room.

Siam City

Grabbing a taxi to Siam to do some shopping was a little more difficult than expected. The hotel employee told us that it should cost around $100 baht for a taxi. The first taxi driver Jay asked said $10 baht. This is the other common tourist scam. Offer really low taxi rates to get you in the cab and then they take you to an area where you are forced to buy junk. Obviously we found another cab. Jay negoiated $100baht ($3 US) and we were off. Within a mile or two of the city, the driver informed us that he couldn’t go on any further. I had noticed the A/C had been turned off. Glancing at his instrument panel showed that his car was overheating. Surprisingly, he did not charge us for the partial, yet near complete, journey. We walked the rest of the way. Most of the shopping area was similar to the streets of Bali. In the center of Siam is a 6 floor shopping mall, all packed with vendors selling junk, er stuff. It actually appeared locals might shop here as well, but none of the items really appealed to me.

Thai Kick Boxing

Full Picture Set Available Here .

One of the must-do activities for Thailand is to see a kick-boxing match. We were less than 2 miles from a ring and so we headed that way for the night. Ringside seats were $2000 baht, while 2nd class were around $1500 baht ($15 US). I actually preferred the 2nd class seat because it was up slightly higher than the ring and had an unobstructed view. 3rd class was behind a cage and clearly where the regulars sat. Beer purchase was interesting, since you can take beer into the venue, as long as it is in a plastic cup. So we bought beers from a vendor on the street for 40 baht ($1.5 US) and walked in with them. Inside beers were twice as expensive at 80 baht! Can you imagine paying $3 for a beer at a sporting event?! What a rip-off!

The kick boxing was amazing. The gambling going on was even more so. Each pair of boxers would go for 5 rounds. After the 2nd or 3rd round the entire crowd would go crazy shouting orders at each other. It wasn’t entirely clear to me who the bookies where or how they kept track of the bets. During the fights it was very clear who the favored opponents were. Boos and cheers surrounded points as they were earned. The interesting thing about this process is that when Jay and I first sat down, we picked some random seats that looked good to us. Shortly after the first match started, an employee came and asked us to move to a section marked “Foreigners.” Interestingly, these were probably the best seats in the house. At the time, we didn’t understand why we moved. As the fighters got better and the betting more fierce, it was obvious we were originally sitting in the wrong place.

The scoring was difficult to keep track of, since it wasn’t posted anywhere. However, it was fun to watch the guys fight and then bow in honor at the end.

Floating River

Full Picture Sets Available Here .

Early in the morning we got on a tour bus and headed for the city of Kanchanaburi. This city is home the floating markets, Tiger Temple, and a bridge over a river built by prisoners in World War II. The floating markets had the same junk, er stuff, as other shops throughout Indonesia and Thailand. The difference is that we were on river being driven around by boat. The process seems a little rigged in that, it was difficult to do any kind of shopping with 6 other people on the boats. However, it was cool to see knick-knacks, fried noodles, fresh fruits, and even coffee being sold from the boats.

Cobra Show

Full Picture Sets Available Here .

Before leaving the floating markets, I was given the option to see a “cobra show.” The show included the chance to see snakes, alligators, and crocodiles in cages. Every hour or so, a show was put on in a ring. The show included cobras, pythons, and a couple of other snakes. I’m not sure how you talk someone into doing this job. Except for the cobra all of the snakes are non-poisonous.

The guy showing the cobra was literally pissing it off for 5 or 6 minutes, avoiding being bit. After playing with the snake, a demonstration of the venom was shown. Also, for the first time in my life, I got the chance to actually touch a cobra. Just a quick grab, but I felt one.

Tiger Temple

Full Picture Sets Available Here .

The name Tiger Temple is a little misleading, since there isn’t a temple in the traditional sense. Instead, this is a sanctuary run by Buddhist monks who care for wild animals, among them, Tigers. The Jurassic Park style cages, and refined picture taking process contradicts the notions of being a wildlife preserve. This area is clearly a zoo with a special title. Nonetheless, it was absolutely amazing to pet tiger cubs and sit next to fully grown tigers.

Lastly, we stopped at a World War II memorial. After that, we were on the way back to the hotel to grab a red-eye flight to Cairo!

Tokyo is so huge, it is almost unfathomable how it could be called a city. Alone, Tokyo’s economy is larger than all of Canada. There are over 20 different districts, each with their own charms. Planning a quick stop in Tokyo is difficult on the first visit. There is simply too much to see or do. This was a place where filling in time around one or two goals was easy to do, and probably more productive than extensive planning.

The massive subway system seems daunting at first, but is one of the few places English is in abundance. Getting from station to station is similar to any other large city, with one catch. There are 3 or 4 different companies operating the subway lines and it is not clear, to foreigners, who operates what. Several times I bought a ticket only to find mid-transit I had to buy another one. Fortunately, the subway employees are accustomed to helping foreigners through this process.

Our hotel was in the Asakusa district, which is known as “Old Tokyo” and is home to Sensoji. This is Tokyo’s largest Buddhist temple. It is behind the Kaminarimon gate, which many people were eager to take their picture under. Kannondo hall offered a place for the steady stream of worshippers, and one of the few places that gave access to cameras inside of the temples. Around the temples were pots with burning incense. My understanding is that the buddhist believe the smoke helps to cleans their souls and cure illnesses.

The National Geographic podcast I listened to about Tokyo, suggested visiting the private garden of Denpoin Temple. The host said you simply knock on the door, and they let you in. The guard station with a guard, gun, and sign said otherwise. It was clear no entry was permitted.

For four days Asakusa district was our home base. One night while trying to find a restaurant, we had a typical conversation with a local. Jay asked a waitress of an English-style pub if she knew where it was. Her response is almost comical, but very much an example of how the Japanese tend to handle English: “Yes I know where it is, but I do not speak English well. I will ask my friend to draw you a map to the restaurant.” Without question, Japan has been the most inviting place for visitors.

If I was to plan a visit to Tokyo again, I would attempt to find something in the Ginza district since it seemed a little more central. However, I am sure the cost would have been slightly higher.

The first night we found the Tsukiji district, but not the fish market. The plan was to locate the fish market, so the early morning journey would be a little bit easier. instead, we found some sort of celebration. I’ll call it a festival because it had dancing, food, and a beer tent. Everyone attending seemed to know the proper dances, and the dances seemed to change with the drummer’s song.

The next morning we returned to the Tsukiji district, arriving around 5:45am. In search of the famous fish market, I noticed a group of tourist hovering around a map and then all heading in one direction. Turned out, they knew where they were headed. In just minutes I was surrounded by trucks, propane-powered carts, styrofoam boxes, ice, fish, blood, and the most organized chaos I have ever seen. Amazingly the only warning was a sign that said “Caution, Floor may be slippery.” This isn’t some tourist attraction open on the weekends, it is a fully functioning fish market that properly serves most of Japan. Not surprisingly, visitors were welcome in almost every part of the facility. It should be noted that we were welcome to walk around, but it was obvious when I was in the way of a local.

After touring around and taking pictures with what would become breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next couple of days we headed to Daiwa Su. Daiwa is Tokyo’s oldest Sushi counter. There are two counters, each able to search 8-10 customers at a time. Menu choices are simple for English speaking people: small set, big set, yes/no for sea urchin? This counter is certainly famous for its age. However, the 1 hour queue was not worthy of the fish. A couple days later we returned to Tsukiji and visited a Sushi counter a block away from the market. The fish tasted fresher, was less expensive, and there was no rush to get out.

Our next visit was to the Ryogoku district to attempt to find a sumo match. We found the main sumo stadium, Kokugikan without much trouble. However, no matches were scheduled until the following weekend. A (positive) misunderstanding by the front gate’s guard allowed us access to the stadium to view some training matches. I can only imagine the energy level and the excitement during an actual match.

Ryogoku is also known for unique museums. Looking at the tourist mapped showed a few: wood carving and fireworks. Unfortunately by the time we found the fireworks museum, it had closed for the day. So Jay suggested we head back to one of the Fugu restaurants we passed earlier in the day for an early, and possibly deadly dinner.

The restaurant we picked had a unique feature: extremely fresh Fugu. How fresh? it was swimming around in an aquarium at the front entrance. Fugu is known as blowfish in the rest of the world. It is famous for being extremely poisonous. So poisonous that chefs in Japan must be licensed to serve it. At some point I should probably say the name of the restaurant we picked, so that others can find it. The problem is, the staff only spoke a few words of English and nothing in the restaurant was in English. In fact, I’m anxious to find the charge on my bank statement, so that I can learn just where I had dinner that night!

The dinner we picked was a 6 course meal. It began with shavings of the Fugu’s skin in an excellent tasting garnish. The skin itself had no real flavor. Next was the best Sashimi I have ever had in my life. The fish did not have a strong taste, but it did have a unique flavor. Its texture was remarkable, almost like that of a fatty tuna (without the fat). The sauce provided had a citrus base, which was incredible. One of the courses was fried pieces of Fugu. Not to be clichéd, but entirely honest, it tasted like fried chicken. (The best fried chicken of my life.)

The next two courses were by far the coolest. In the middle of the table was an induction burner. The waiter placed a straw basket on top of it, which contained a piece of wax paper and a metal plate. For the next 60 minutes, this “pot” would be used for boiling! Much like a fondu restaurant, we boiled pieces of Fugu. The boiled Fugu, much like the sashimi, had an extremely unique flavor to it. Again, not at all strong but no where near as mild as Mahi-Mahi. Vegetable soup was next after the Fugu was done. Cabbage, mushrooms, and stuff I don’t recognize boiled in the broth soaking up the excellent flavors. The cabbage tasted best, by far. Once we were done with this soup, the waiter returned to prepare a rice porage. Such a simple recipe: steamed rice, chives, salt, soy sauce, and an egg. It was hard not to eat the entire pot, but I was so full at this point that when the ice cream came, I was relieved. I thought we had one more Fugu course coming, and I had no idea how to eat it!

People have asked me about the poison and tingeling and such. From what I have been able to understand, that is a tourist attraction. Being that we were in a restaurant which does not cater to tourist, I didn’t get that locals eat it that way. After having the dinner prepared for me, I can see why it is so popular. It is simply an excellent fish.

Moving towards our goal of 10 Breweries, Jay and I visited a Beer Museum in the Yebisu Garden Place inside of the Ebisu district. This historic brewery use to brew Sapporo Beers. Most of the machines had descriptive signs, but they were all in Japanese. At the end were vending machines to purchase beer samples. This was the first time I tried Yebisu, which is the upscale brand of Sapporo.

After adding another brewery to the list visited, we headed back to Asakusa station to get our backpacks and then began the journey to the airport. Tokyo, and all of Japan, are places I can easily visit again and not see the same thing twice.

When I returned to the airport, I heard “Boss! hey Boss! Checking bags boss?!” as I walked from security to the check-in counter. The guy was selling a service to wrap my backpack in plastic. Checked-in and heading for the gate I was met with another check-point. It was necessary to pay $15 to exit the country. Nothing, and I mean nothing, in Bali is free. After paying the airport tax, I went through passport control and into the gate area.

The first shop there sold Bintang towels, t-shirts, and etc. Just like the shops on the street, there were no prices. When I asked the price of the towel, I was told it was 9000Rp ($9) but got the distinct impression I could have haggled for lower. Other shops sold sunglasses, illegal DVD copies, hand-carved knick-knacks, and just about everything I saw on the streets throughout Bali. Most had at least one person outside asking, “Have a look boss?” There were several massage places, complete with women standing in front asking “Massage?” And lastly, a nearly fatal mistake would be making eye contact with a person holding a restaurant menu. They would stand in my way, trying to convince me I was hungry.

About an hour before our flight, Jay and I started walking around again trying to keep awake. We passed a nicely dressed man in front of an escalator who said, “Airport Lounge?” Instinctively, I said, “No!” Then asked, how much it cost and what was included. His answer is the beauty of Indonesia. For 10,000Rp ($10) the Lounge was quiet, included free food, free drinks (including alcohol), a shower, and Internet access.

For all of Bali’s faults, it has two exceptionally redeeming values: it is cheap and it is beautiful. These come at a cost, but it isn’t monetary. If you don’t have time to spend at a place like Kuta Beach, then get a connecting flight through Despensar Airport. The hour or two you spend there will give you a full sense of Bali, without getting sand in your shoes.

A stroll down Legian Street in Kuta will leave you exhausted, but if you like to haggle and buy cheap stuff – this is the place for you.  The street is like a circus. Every few steps you will be asked if you want “transport”, “massage”, or to “have a look” in a shop.

We are not sure how anyone makes money selling this stuff, except selling to tourists on their first day in Bali. Price negotiating generally starts around $250k Rupiah ($~25 USD) and ends well below $50k (~$5 USD).  Vendors are constantly nagging every pedestrian to have a look at their shops, and will negotiate for an hour if you let them. We generally closed deals by walking out of the shop with the vendor yelling that we win.

Want to go to the beach? You can get outfitted here for a few bucks and throw away all your stuff after. It’s actually cheaper to buy clothing than it is to have it washed!

Here are a few things we bought or spent time negotiating…

Any movie on DVD $0.70
Bintang sticker for beer fridge back home $1
Bintang beer $1.20 ($1.50 delivered to you on the beach with coozie)
Nice “A copy” sunglasses $2
Sarong $2
Cheap Bintang baseball cap $2
Any Wii video game $2
“Jay Irick, Shiner Ranch, TX” brass nameplate on Mama’s Bar $2
Nice dinner (chicken satay w rice) $2.70
Bintang t-shirt (or any other brand you can imagine) $3
Bintang towel $3
1 hour massage $3
Ladies dress $4
Mens Bintang (or other) swimsuit $4
Flip flops (size 13… ;o) $4
Sports watch $4
Beautifully carved wooden art pieces $5
24 hour scooter rental $5

… and finally … Starbucks Latte (retail) $5.50

The flight from New Zealand to Sydney was pretty short, but the overall day was long. We started first thing in the morning with a flight from Christchurch to Auckland, then the international flight to Sydney. By the time I made it to the room in the hostel, it was around 8pm.

The only activity we planned ahead of time was the Bridge Climb. Blue Mountains, Rugby (NRL), Bondi Beach, and the submarine were all figured out first thing Friday morning.

Bridge Climb

The Sydney Bridge was built in the 1920s during the Great Depression. Before its completion, cars were ferried between the north and main part of Sydney. There are over 6 million rivets holding the structure together, each put into place by hand. In the couple of years it took to build the bridge, 16 people died. This is despite an average of 1400 men working on the bridge each day. Of those 16 deaths, only 3 fell into the harbor. The others were involved in accidents at the nearby production facility.

Eventually, steps were installed below the highway lanes and up the arches of the bridge. These allow for people to walk all the way to the top, across, and back down. Going up one side you pass between two levels of pedestrian traffic and on the other side you pass down through two lanes of train traffic.

Cameras were not allowed on the walk, in fear of being dropped. So the only picture I have is the group photo from the top. It pretty much captures the sites in Sydney metro: the bridge, the opera house, and the skyline.

The options for climbing are: day, twilight, and night. The day climb is already pretty expensive but the twilight and night are even worse. My plan was to book the very last day climb in hopes of catching the sunset. It worked out. As we descended the west side of the bridge, the sun followed us down past the horizon.

After our climbing “adventure,” we walked through the restaurants on the Sydney Harbor. At each one we checked the menu for a very specific item. Of the restaurants we looked at, only one offered our dinner of choice: Kangaroo. The taste reminded me of buffalo, tenderness of a rib eye, and it was lean like a sirloin. All-in-all, I was looking forward to another kangaroo steak meal.

Blue Mountains

New Zealand is famous for sheep and Australia is famous for Kangaroos. Now that I got to taste one, I was ready to pet one. Park of our tour through the Blue Mountains area was a stop at a national park. Here, we got to see kangaroos in the wild. When we first arrived at the park, we started trekking out to find the national animal of Australia.

There was a young male laying in the ground, with an older one nearby. I was amazed at how close they let me approach without running away. After seeing the guys hang out in the grass and hop around a bit, I headed back to a large open area. There was a mother and a joey playing. After a while, I think Mom got tired of all the attention and decided to hop away.

(YouTube Video Coming Soon.)

Josh was the guy working the travel desk when we booked our days in Sydney. I had read about the area called Blue Mountains and he suggested a day trip with took us around the Jamison Valley.

The tour included a number of lookouts, lunch, and a visit to Scenic World. One of the guides at Scenic World was quick to point out that this area is older than the Grand Canyon. I am not entirely sure how one piece of Earth can be older than the other, but it appears to be the case.

Honestly, by this point I was pretty tired of the views. While spectacular, it did get boring seeing it from 100 different angles.

Rugby!

On the way back from Blue Mountains, a couple of the girls in the group practically begged for a stop at the Sydney Olympic Stadium. By about 6pm, I was ready to go home and sleep. As we approached the center, we realized a National Rugby League (NRL) match was in progress between the local Bulldogs and the Parramatta Eels.

When we asked the tour bus driver if there was a train station nearby, he lit-up super bright. It was obvious ditching the ride back to Sydney Central for a Rugby game was a great idea. So great, I think he wanted to join us! By the time we got to our seats, it was halftime and the home team was losing, badly.

Unfortunately, the Bulldogs ended up losing. But we got to see quite a bit of action in the game, even more than watching the All Blacks vs Australia a couple of weeks ago (on TV).

More Pictures from the Game…

Submarine

On display in Sydney’s Darling Harbor was the retired submarine HMAS Onslow along side the gunship HMAS Vampire. The last time the Vampire saw action, it was used as a training ship. Both vessels were very cool to see up close, but the submarine was my favorite. The Vampire tour benefited from a guide that previously served on a Daring-class ship.

The whole experience makes me want to take a trip over to Norfolk and check out some of the US Navy’s ships. These were built in the 50s and are incredibly obsolete.

Here is a link to the Gallery with the Sub and Gunboat pictures.

Bondi Beach

No stop in Sydney would be complete without seeing Bondi Beach. And since we planned on doing something near the water, it was raining cats and dogs. Even in the rain and cold, people were surfing. It almost made me want to rent a wetsuit (and a board).

The whole area looked pretty cool. I might come back at some point during the summer months to check it out it again.

Bus ride back to the city to get our bags, train ride to the airport, and we were on our way to Indonesia.

Pictures:   Jay’s Bali Picasa Gallery.

After a small hold up at the airport because my passport was full and
didn’t have room for the Balinese visa, we spend our first day hanging
out on Kuta beach enjoying Bintang beers, which were sold on the beach
for $15000rp, which is ~$1.50us.  The warm weather and surfing crowd
was a really nice change from the colder climates of New Zealand and
Australia.  We wrapped things up with dinner from a local marketplace,
which like most of our meals here so far was very delicious and just
under $5 in price…

Day 2 (7/28) started early when our dive guide Made (ma-day) picked us
up at our hotel for the drive up to Tulamben for our diving (me) and
snorkeling (James) adventure.  The first dive site was the USS Liberty
shipwreck.  The dive site tends to be crowded, so Ma-de had a special
dive hood that made him easy to identify (see pics).  Other highlights
were a few blue spotted stingrays, very large grouper fish, barracuda,
many schooling fish, a seahorse, and really big clam…

The beach off our hotel and walking path was not a sandy beach.  There
were many large black rocks.  I remember thinking it was a difficult
walk to the dive site, but we didn’t carry our gear.  The hotel staff
explained that their “porters” would carry the gear for us.  When we
showed up, our dive gear was there, so I didn’t think much about it…
until later in the day when I saw a porter.

Porters are women in Bali who carry things on their head.  In this
case, it was walking on the slippery black rocks carrying dive gear on
their head!  BUT WAIT, there’s more…  Our porter carried two sets of
dive gear on her head!  Two tanks, two BC’s, and regs – all balanced
on her head.  I don’t think I would even attempt the task and these
ladies do it all day long.  My dive guide explained that it was good
training for a local dance they do…  A picture of our porter with
the gear on her head is in the Picasa album…

The second dive was a reef in Tulamben.  The highlight was definitely
the blue ribbon eel (see pics), but there were some other sightings,
including a colorful mantis shrimp.

The next day (7/29) started with a nice breakfast overlooking the
ocean.  We were picked up by a new driver and dive guide who took us
to Jemeluk Reef Bay.  The drive was very scenic I thought, but James
had another plan (see pics).  Jemeluk Bay was also quite beautiful and
the diving there was done out of a very small boat.  The boat looked
to be carved from a single piece of wood, held upright by two large
pieces of bamboo – one on either side.  The engine looked like it came
from a weed-eater and they just put a prop on the end…

The diving was good.  We saw many large carpet anenomies, with pecula
clown fish (see Nemo cartoon) hiding inside.  There was also a group
of five blue spotted rays, lionfish, large clams, colorful sea stars,
etc.  After diving and a grilled barracuda lunch, we got back on the
road to our final diving destination of xxx.

The diving in xxx was action-packed.  We took a larger boat this time,
which comfortably fit all the divers, snorkelers, and driver.  Near
the end of the first dive, Tunas (second dive guide) pointed out a
large hovering mass above one of the coral heads.  It was not like
anything I had seen before.  I think the name for the fish is a cattle
fish.  The front looks like an elephant with six tusks, and the back
looks like something on a squid.  There were five or six of the large
fish floating in the area, and they didn’t run away from the picture
taking.

As you got close to them, they changed their color like an octopus.
VERY cool!  The first dive also included many of same things the that
we had been seeing on dives from the previous day clown fish, lion
fish, rays, etc and a very large spotted eel.  On the second dive, we
ran into a large turtle and white tipped shark in addition to the
other sea life…

We arrived on Wednesday night, but booked bungy for Thursday afternoon and Skiing all day Friday. The hostel we were staying at was booked for the weekend, like almost everything else in town, so we didn’t get a private room. Sleeping in a dorm with 5 other people was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Of course, after skiing for an entire day I was sleeping like a rock in no time.

Bungy Jumping

Queenstown is home of the World’s First Bungy Site, operated by the international company, A.J. Hackett. In addition to the Kawarau Bridge, there are two other sites in Queenstown with the highest being about 150meters high, each over a canyon. My first preference was that site, but only 1 spot was available and I finally got Jay to agree to jump. Since we couldn’t do a canyon jump, we decided the bridge would make for better pictures AND it was the first site ever! The company operating the 43meter high bridge, has never had a major injury. That is pretty impressive considering each day they do between 80 and 100 jumps in the winter, and over 150 jumps in the summer!

While getting strapped in, I told myself I would not hesitate. It wasn’t until I got on the ledge that being scared set in. The girl that went before me made the process look pretty easy. Get strapped in, walked to the ledge, and jump. After you are done, you get lowered into a raft which takes you to shore. The straps were not quite what I expected. I thought my feet would go into a special harness. Instead, I wore a waist harness, while the bungy rope was literally wrapped around my ankles. Wrapped very tightly.

Holding to what I said I would do, I jumped immediately after the 3-2-1 count down. The moment my feet left the ledge I asked myself, “what the hell am I doing?!” The freefall only lasted for about 2 seconds, which was just enough time to realize what was happening. After that, I just swung around until being lowered onto the raft. The video and pictures make it look like I almost touched the water. If I had to guess, I was probably at least 10 feet from the water. On such a cold day, I did not want to get wet!

Minus 5

Bungy jumping definitely got my heart going, so I was ready to calm it down some. So we headed to a bar called Minus 5. There are several in New Zealand. The entire bar is inside of a cold room, kept slightly below zero (celcuis). The walls, chairs, bar, and even the glasses are all made out of ice. Being this cold, you are only permitted to stay in the room for 30 minutes. There is a reservation process to schedule your time. The ticket price includes one or two vodka based cocktails. Minus 5 claims they only serve vodka since it is the only liquor that doesn’t freeze at these temperatures, but I suspect Absolute arranged an exclusive deal.

In any event, it was pretty cool. One of those places that you go once, but not really much of a reason to visit a second time.

Skiing

The first winter I lived in Colorado, my “roommate” injured her ankle. The doctor she visited suggested no ski or snow boarding for the season, so neither of us went. During the 2nd winter, I was so focused on moving back to Austin and traveling so much, I was never in town for a ski weekend. After growing up in the snow and living less than an hour away from some of the best resorts in the world, I still never learned to ski.

Which actually works out, because I learned to Ski or Coronet Peak in New Zealand, from Mathiu. Mathiu was an Italian ski instructor that would come to NZ for their winter and say in Italy for his. The group I was in was an interesting bunch. A couple of Australians, fellow New Zealanders, and all thought skiing was the scariest thing ever.

It took me most of the morning to get comfortable. The pace we were moving at was too slow for me. In the afternoon, we got to do runs on our own. By the time the day was over, I had finally go the hang of it. Go figure.

Last Night There

With a couple of action packed day, we spent the time in dorm rooms and headed to Franz Josef in the morning.

Before leaving Auckland, we made use of Base ACB’s Travel Desk to book some South Island time. Kez helped make most of the arrangements. After about an hour with her, we decided that since we were flying into Christchurch(CSC), we would stay there a night before making the 5-6 hour drive down to Queenstown. We intended to visit Christchurch, Queenstown, Dunedin (pronounced do-nee-din) and then drive back up to CSC. (This changed after visiting Queentown.)

Christchurch

Once Kez was done booking our next couple of days, I asked her what we should do while in Christchurch. Her response was to roll her eyes, then said to grab some dinner and get an early start to Queenstown. When I arrived, I completely understood. While a perfectly fine town, there really isn’t much to do especially compared to other New Zealand cities. So we took her advice and made the trip down to Queenstown first thing in the morning.

Well, this was after the rental car agent explained how to use snow chains.

6 Hour Drive

Like the rest of New Zealand, there are no freeways between the major cities. So you must drive rural highways which take you through towns. Much of the South Island is covered by the alps, which makes for twisty roads. The new rental car was an automatic, which made for a much easier drive.

When I first landed in Christchurch, I could already tell the temperature was much lower. In fact, it was near 35(F) degrees. After about an hour of driving we got our first look at some snow, which we would see pretty much all the way into Queenstown.

These photos are just some of the spectacular views we came across. If you look at the Picasa Album, you’ll be able to see on a map (or in Google Earth) where these were taken.

The Sheep

Just outside of Queenstown, we drove by a sheep farm which was right on the road. As I mentioned before, I really wanted to get a picture of a me next to a sheep. Actually, Jay and I were both hoping to get stuck on a road, while waiting for a herd to cross. In any case, we saw this farm and thought it was our chance to get a sheep picture. As soon as I approached the fence, the sheep started to run away! Even standing perfectly still for a few minutes did not get them to come closer. Though, I did notice that they were (apparently) fascinated by me. Isn’t this a creepy looking picture?

Although we didn’t have radio for most of the drive, it went by pretty quickly. We rolled into Queenstown right around 6pm, which looked like rush hour. It was obvious driving through the City Centre that this town was where I parked my car.