So Long Sydney!

So in a few hours from now (Friday, May 8, 2:40pm) I will boarding my flight in Sydney (along with Chris and Grundy) and heading back to the states. 

First stop San Fran, where Chris has already been Googling the local cuisine in the terminals for a very, very American influenced lunch. Then we will head to Denver for roughly another two hours - which I am sure by the time we land I will be a bit hungry again.  No matter what terminal our plane is in, I will scurry over to terminal B and get myself an Auntie Anne's Pretzel AND the LARGEST Dr. Pepper they are legally allowed to serve...pretty sure the FAA has restrictions on the size of the beverages they can serve up these days. 

And finally around 5pm we will board our flight and head to the DMI. Where we will land with heaps of luggage around 9:30 Friday evening.

That being said please feel free to place your wagers on just how much our luggage will weigh for the return trip. I just checked back, and our combined weight for our checked bags on the way to Sydney was 280.5 lbs.  So please, place your bets and I will get the answer to you as soon as I have recovered from my jet lag.

Oh, and I know on the flight to Sydney the math was a real pain on trying to figure out what exactly happened to Thursday (it flat out disappeared on the way to Sydney). But get this...on the way home, Friday is nearly a 40 hour long day. Lovely.

The Great Barrier Reef

Over the long Easter weekend we decided to squeeze in one more trip and we headed north to Cairns, Queensland. And for the record Cairns, is pronounced Cans. As much as we wanted to make the trip to New Zealand while here in the land downunda it just wasn't financially in the cards. And once we had ruled that out as a possible destination the GRB (Great Barrier Reef) moved quickly to the top of the list of places I felt we needed to see before we headed back to the states.

A friend here in Sydney also suggested that while in Cairns, we take a day trip to Cape Tribulation. A spot about 3 hours north of Cairns, one of the two places on the globe where the rain forest meets the ocean. The other being in Brazil. So I figured that this has to be something worth checking out. 

On the way to Cape Trib we stopped at Crocodile farm, a part of the Daintree river where there is estimated to be about 400 Crocs. But after a brief 30 minutes on the water, we were unsuccessful in seeing a single, solitary croc. A bit bummed we got back on the coach and continued our trek north. About another hour along the way we stopped for a "raintree" walk. It to say the least, it under-delivered.

Once we finally arrived in Cape Trib the views really were quite amazing, breath taking even. With the Daintree Rain Forest to our west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. The town itself is even more remote than it had been described to us...leaving us little to do with out having a 4-wheel drive, and bottomless bank accounts. And unfortunately for us, it was just the end of "stinger" season meaning the jellyfish, sting rays and other fatal, yet beautiful stinging sea creatures had yet to migrate, meaning getting in the water was off limits. We had also been told that it was the end of rainy season, and it was for the most part - but just not our part. It rained the entire 24 hours we were there, we played more checkers and Connect Four than either of us care to admit. I am sure you are all wondering, so I will just go ahead and spare the suspense - Chris dominated in checkers, and I think I took the crown in the connect four.

Once back in Cairns we anxiously awaited our day out on the ocean - our day trip cruise really was the highlight of the trip. We were able to be out on the open water, we stopped at two different reef locations, had great food on the boat and enjoyed the sunshine in the afternoon. There was plenty of wind so the crew put up the sails and we sailed all the way back to Cairns. 

At Michaelmas Cay - 2 hours off the coast of Cairns, Queensland

A gigantic purple clam at the GBR

More at Michaelmas Cay,  a sand bottom reef.

Paradise Reef - on the Passions of Paradise day cruise

So little time, so much to do!

Michael Phelps...heading to the bike leg.

Chris and I were both set to participate in the BRW Corporate Triathlon held in the Sydney Harbour and Botanical Gardens on April 5. And about one week shy of the event I decided my freestyle stroke was not cutting it. Not only did I not feel comfortable with my own skill...but after Chris watched me attempt to swim laps in the pool...it was clear he too was questioning my ability. 

I swear at an earlier point in my life I was a good swimmer, back stroke mostly, and although that stroke is 'legal' for the triathlon...I still wasn't feeling 100% on that either.  And although I had kept up with my training I sadly pulled myself out of the competition. But I wasn't the only player to fold - there were initially about 12-15 of Chris's work mates registered to participate..and all but one, our pal Joel (from the US of A) had removed themselves from the triathlon, so I wasn't the only "loser".

Chris on the other hand was ready to take on his first triathlon. This event was technically what those in the world of running call a mini or a sprint triathlon. A 400m swim, an 8k bike followed by a 5k run. There were nearly 5,000 people participating, and about 30 heats, starting 5 minutes after another...there were swarms of people down on the waters edge cheering on all of the athletes.  In the very first heat was an Olympian Triathlete who finished the entire event in 27 minutes. And for Chris's first stab he finished in 36:11, not too shabby if you ask me.

Catching Up!

We had been home from Coolangatta for five whole days before our gang came to Sydney for Spring Break. Our posse for the week; Steph Desouza and her boyfriend Justin and Chris's little brother Stephen came with his pal Becca. (How two 20 year olds afforded the flight to Australia is beyond me...I am pretty sure at that age I consistently had about $.50 in my checking account) We were so excited to have them come stay with us,  and knowing that we would only have them in Sydney for 8 short days we had a jam-packed schedule....and a cozy apartment...but we made it work, who said you couldn't comfortably sleep six in a one bedroom? 

I will spare you the play by play, but I will quickly share with you everything we managed to cram into their holiday. Stephen and Becca arrived first, bright n early on Saturday morning and were immediately raring and ready to hit the beach. So we headed to Manly to give them their first go round with surfing...Stephen did a bit better than Miss Becca who left the beach that day with a a nice bruise on her thigh that had a strange resemblance to Australia - not a bad souvenir for your first full day in Sydney. 

And a quick 24 hours later Steph and Justin had landed and the whole crew was finally here!

We did the Bondi to Bronte walk on Sunday afternoon. Let's see...we did the Hunter Valley Wine tour, celebrated St. Paddy's by going out for Mexican and margaritas, and of course had several green beers throughout the day. We made several more trips over to Manly and Stephen worked on perfecting his surfing skills. They did the IMAX, visited the Blue Mountains, saw Chinatown, the shops on Oxford, Paddington, Darlinghurst, Darling Harbour, checked out the Rocks, and walked up and down  George St. multiple times. We did the Harbour Bridge Climb and one afternoon we let ourselves into the Sydney Opera house and shortly after were escorted out of the building by a mall cop type security guard named Sam... He looked more like a Ned to me. But either way our short stay at the Opera House was over.

I am sure I am forgetting things...they saw the QVB (Queen Victoria Building - huge shopping center), the Pitt St. Mall, Botanical Gardens, we went out in the Quay...took them to my favorite watering (and wedges) hole - the Custom's House. Had a night out at the German pub (think Hessen Haus) Lowenbrau, had an evening out at the Belgium Beer Cafe. We took them to our favorite restaurant in Kings Cross - Caffe Roma, where we had far too much wine but kicked off a fun night of bar hopping through Kings Cross and the CBD. We spent the last full day together at Manly, soaking up as much sun as possible. That night Chris and I headed to the Kings of Leon show at Olympic Park and met up everyone for one last send off drink after the show. (Guys please help me out if I have forgotten something). 

The whole crew at Caffe Roma.

Needless to say I was ready for a nap. 

Power Surge.

So I was going to let this whole thing slide - but now that it has happened twice in the same week I think I need to share it with the group.

On Monday afternoon at about 4:45 our apartment lost power, I thought maybe it was just our unit and we had blown a fuse. So I stuck my head into our hallway and sure enough it was our entire floor and most likely our building as a whole. Chris and I made the trip down our 11 flights of stairs to our lobby, where we found many of our fellow residents opting to wait for the power to come on rather than take the stairs. We wandered over to our gym, hoping we could kill some time there - only to find that they had lost power too. Come to find out the entire CBD had lost power. It wasn't until much later that evening we found out what had happened. 

http://www.smh.com.au/national/plumber-fights-for-life-after-bondi-junction-explosion-20090331-9h9k.html

This gas explosion caused a major blackout during peak rush hour traffic and was out for nearly 4 hours with out any real explanation from the Sydney Authorities.

I understand that outages are bound to happen from time to time especially when there is an accident involved, but as far as I know the Energy Australia company is still not sure as to what caused the surge.

I was pretty sure that would be the end of the energy issues - at least the end of it for one week, but I guessed wrong. This morning (Saturday) at about 10:25am while in the shower we lost power AGAIN! And let me tell you it is no fun being caught in the dark while all soaped up - and of  course I immediately got soap in my eye making matters even more comical.  I thought once again it was just our building but no sir - it was the entire CBD again.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/power-company-sorry-for-second-blackout-20090404-9s9k.html

And if I thought being caught in the shower was bad luck...Chris had headed into work for a few hours to get some work done and he too had lost power - all the way up on the 43rd floor of the AMP Building. Our friend Kari had also gone in to get some work finished up, and her husband Joel and son Ethan had gone into the office to hang out while she worked away. So the four of them waited for about 40 minutes before deciding that they would go ahead and start to make their way down the 45 flights. They made it out safe and sound, but not more than 10 minutes after they were down the power came back on. 

It is safe to say we did NOT have the last laugh....and I missed Saturday morning cartoons because of it. 

Sigh.

Coolie Continued......

Now one of the main issues with waiting to blog about Coolangatta three weeks after the fact is that days 3 and 4 are a bit blurred in my memory.

Both Saturday and Sunday were equally sunny, packed with surfing sun and sand in places I never thought possible. I am positive I flew home from Coolangatta with nearly all of the sand at Duranbah beach. 

Day 3: 

The day began with breakfast at Raw Bar Cafe, where we had bummed into Kelly Slater the day before and I must admit, I was hoping for a repeat appearance but no such luck this time around. Quikie action started at D-bah that morning, and then around lunch time moved to Snapper Rocks where apparently the waves had really picked up. We packed up shop at D-bah and quickly made our way around the corner to Snapper where we got a great spot on the beach. The afternoon kicked off around 1pm and we learned right away that it did not matter that we had beat the bulk of the crowd to Snapper. Because year, after year, after year the fans stand along the shore, practically in the water - cheering on the surfers...making it nearly impossible to lounge on the beach while watching your favorites. (That's right - I am a lazy surf fan, and I would like to lay out and cheer and holler from the comfort of my beach towel). We tried to find a better spot, but it wasn't much luck. We called it day a few more heats and went and got ourselves some lunch, at our new favorite hot spot, Azteca which proved to be a much needed morale boost after being a bit frustrated with the crowds at the beach. 

If you were keeping track it was our second stop for Mexican food in three days - we're loyal customers.

Saturday evening we hung out on the beach, and if my memory serves me correctly, we went and saw a movie at their local theater - which for those of you have had the pleasure of going to a movie at the Spirit Lake theater or the Milford Cinema (near the metropolis of Okoboji, IA) it was quite similar in size and smell. I believe we saw The International with Clive Owen - Chris thought we were seeing Clive Owen's other blockbuster...Duplicity, boy was he surprised when he learned that Julia Roberts was not the leading lady. It was an "Okay" flick, but nothing too spectacular.

Day 4:

So as I have mentioned we did all we could to stay out of our cramped little hostel - so bright 'n early on Sunday morning we headed out for breakfast. On our way to Snapper Rocks we found a great little place called, Bellekai and we immediately wished we had discovered this gem earlier in the trip. They  had a brekky special of banana bread and coffee...and I'll tell you I don't usually get all worked up about banana bread, but this was not your typical nana bread; it was served on a huge plate, two gigantic warm slices of bread sprinkled with powdered sugar and generous side of warm butter...needless to say I was in brekky heaven.

The day of competition started off with the female finals which was an absolute blast to see in person. Stephanie Gilmore, the hometown favorite ended up winning the final match - and it was oh so cool to see her take first place in front of so many of her friends and family, and at a beach where she grew up surfing. After a little bit of downtime the guys hit the water to compete for a place in the semi-finals. We watched all day long,  heat after heat, amazing ride after amazing ride - and just before they called the competition for the day they let one final heat charge the waves at Snapper Rocks. It just so happened to be Kelly Slater v. Julian Wilson (a teenager from Coolum, Queensland). 

The entire crowd was up on their feet for the entire heat between the legend and the up and coming star Wilson -- and much to everyone's surprise Wilson took the heat, and moved into the semi-finals, smashing Slaters chance to move any further in the Quikie Pro....the beach went wild; cheering for both Wilson and Slater, some in shock over Slater's relatively early round loss to the youngster. 

I of course blamed myself for his loss...What if he had been so creeped out by our meeting a couple days before he found it impossible to compete? Maybe he would have been able to dominate had so many fans like myself just left him alone.

....... Don't worry I didn't lose any sleep over this.

But I'll tell you what will make you lose sleep...staying four nights at the Sands (Non-stop Live Music Hall) Hostel. And some of the beach-wear I saw the Brazilians wearing...that could also cause one to lose sleep -- I have never seen such interesting/non-existent bikinis in my life. Oh and speedos are EVERYWHERE! They aren't just for the Olympians any more...

All things considered even with the loud hostel, it was really one great vacation. Filled with sun, surfing, heaps of sand and tons of eating out. Just how I like it.

Snapper Rocks

 A few shots from the weekend in Coolangatta, Queensland.

Kelly Slater on the beach at Snapper Rocks...just before I made a complete fool of  myself.

Duranbah...more affectionately known as D-bah.

The Quiksilver Main Stage at Snapper

On the boardwalk between Coolangatta main beach and Snapper.