Try this for a laugh

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/DRXX0005?from=36hr_topnav_business

I just got an email telling me that after a long wait (seriously--over 6 months), our timeshare exchange has gone through!! Next September we will be spending a week at the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas on Maui. Woohoo! It is a very fancy resort that is totally no comparison to our very nice but teeny resorts in Puerto Vallarta. We would never be able to afford to stay here

Our website: http://www.playadelsolpv.com/ Their website: http://www.westinkaanapali.com/

Fancy, no????


We were SOOO thinking that our timeshare purchase was a waste of money and perhaps a very bad financial decision. Time will tell, but at least we have one great vacation coming up!!

We are trying to get together with Justin and Kim in February/March to go to Mexico for our timeshare, so that is two fairly free vacations next year! I love having them all planned out ahead of time so I can look forward to them and think abou thow much fun I am going to have. We have two buy-one, get-one for $50 tickets through Alaskan airlines, and since they now fly directly to Maui and Honolulu, we have two more fancy vacations on cheapo prices. I swear, getting those Alaskan airlines visa cards were our absolute best ideas. We always use the free ticket, and we are using the miles for our trip to DR and I used them on a last second flight to Redmond earlier this year. Easy to book, so convenient, and we just use the cards on things we are already going to buy--groceries, etc just so we get the miles as a bonus.

Anyway. Travel!!!!

Things you did not know about Jobie

Jobie and his partner at work, Matt Adams (tee hee, I know), won the Red Bull soapbox derby here in Seattle a couple weeks ago. They fabricated the car and had some other buddies who provided the driving skillz. Pretty cool!

Fire up your snapfish!! I am going to bring my laptop to work with me tomorrow so I can upload my gazzillion Australia pictures for the viewing public. I only have the first week-worth edited, but that is about 600 pictures to peruse so I am sure it will keep y'all busy. I will make one folder for the "all star" pictures if you just want to see the ones that are actually in focus and everyone has their eyes open....

I will use snapfish.com, unless anyone knows of a better site....I am not purchasing from here so I don't really care about the prices so much (I use costco.com), but a site with a good uploading system and a good viewing system would be nice. So....lemme know if you know of one???

On returning home

Where did I leave off??? Okay, we snorkelled, we SCUBAd, we went to the Aboriginal show.......

Thursday, we headed back to Sydney. Our flight was delayed around an hour because the reverse thrusters were not working on our plane. Kinda important. We ended up getting to Sydney around 4pm and checked into our hotel around 4:45. Mom and I were upgraded to a Queen balcony suite because they were all out of cheap crappy economy rooms. We had a nice view over the water, but did not stop to enjoy it...

We all headed out (me as trail guide), and walked across the harbour bridge to the Rocks area. Did some souvenir shopping (well, Mom and Lynne did), then caught a ferry to Darling Harbour. We walked around there, did some serious shopping (more Mom and Lynne.....)then headed to a fancy Italian restaurant overlooking the harbor.

Actually, I did a teeny bit of shopping--I bought a didgeridoo to add to my travel collection. Ethan and I are decorating our living room with things from our travels together--we have a fancy hand carved cane from Jamaica with our wedding date and names engraved on it, sand from Lake Tahoe, a set of glasses with a hand painted juice jug from Puerto Vallarta, etc, etc, etc. We always try to bring something back with us, even if it is just a cool shot glass (which I also bought in Sydney). So. I got a cool didgeridoo with an aboriginal design on it and handpainted birds. Pretty, and I like the colors.

Back to that Italian restaurant. Very fancy with wonderful food. We shared a bottle of wine and enjoyed our last evening together. Afterwards, we walked across the pedestrian bridge crossing the harbor and caught a ferry over to Luna Park, which is just next to the north side of the Harbour Bridge. From there, we walked back to our hotel.

The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast at our bed-and-breakfast, then caught our shuttle to the airport. Mom and Lynne did MORE shopping, then separated for our flights home.

Vacation is fun, but coming home sucks.

I had the worlds most irritating woman sit next to me on the plane home. She didn't speak English, so she kept trying to give me her customs declaration form to fill out, saying 'no english, no english'. Since I don't know if she has had contact with farm animals or her home address or how much cash she is carrying, I declined. Then she was leaning over me to open and close the window shade. I am in the window seat. That is MY window! Then she was sleeping on me and crowding me and being very irritating.

Anyway.

I landed and all was well. I flew from Sydney with Pat, mom's friend's husband. He is an executive VP of a company in Portland and has boardroom passes for United Airlines. Mom and Lynne were on Qantas, so Pat and I ditched them in the Sydney airport for the comforts of the boardroom. Very nice. Sandwich fixings, juices, fruits, snacks, a full self-serve bar and laptop area. I did some photo editing on my laptop while waiting and passed the time nicely.

Once home, I got my bags and Ethan drove me home. I was feeling fine, so we went out for dinner and drinks at McCoy's, our favorite hangout.

I cannot sleep. I am now on "normal" time, but I lie in bed and do not sleep. It sucks. I am buying Benadryl tonight......

I took over 1200 pictures on this trip. I am in the very slow process of editing them all. All. ALL. I will start putting some up for view once I get them prettied up. Stay tuned...

updating my header

Mom is goofy

Sun rising over the Pacific and the Great Barrier reef. I have a whole slew of these that I am going to make into a .gif because when am I ever going back to do it again??

More pics and videos. Nothing edited because I am on vacation.

underwater pictures and videos

Yes, of course I have underwater pics. I bought a housing for my small camera. Too bad the batteries died and I had to rely on Mom's camera which was not meant for it. Hence the porthole pictures. I can't find my cord for the pics I took on MY camera, so those are yet to be published...

Cairns Day 2---Tuesday

We were picked up at 8am by Deep Sea Divers Den, who took us to their headquarters then out to their boat. We spent an hour or so travelling out to the reef, then had a chance to snorkel twice. Well, *I* snorkelled twice. Mom decided to try SCUBA diving. She did an intro lesson with her friend, Lynne and LOVED it. Seriously. There were tears. Apparently this was a longtime dream of hers that she never thought she would get to do. Anyway. Have you ever been snorkelling?? Yes, yes, I know you think you have. But you haven't. Seriously. I thought I had snorkelled in Jamaica and in Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas, but I so had not. There is nothing like the Great Barrier Reef. NOthing. THe colors, the variety of sealife, the sheer SIZE of the teeny part of the reef we saw. Absolutely amazing.

Surprise!!! Cairns Day 1 (Monday)

We arrived in Cairns right on time. It was not too hot, just very humid. We jumped into a Scooby Doo sort of van and drove over to the Traveller's Oasis, a sort of hippie, flowery, cutesy drawings and signs everywhere backpackers hostel. I like it. I will stay here next time I come. You have to share a bathroom, but the ambiance is cool.

After checking in, we headed up to the rainforest. We did the SkyRail to Kurunda, a cable car that is suspended over the tops of the trees and goes 7.5 kilometers into the rainforest. Very cool. There are stops along the way to sightsee and learn about the rainforest. Lots of waterfalls. A friend with us saw a kangaroo at the very beginning of the trip, but the rest of us missed it.

On the way back from Kurunda, we took the scenic train that was built back in the 1800s. A slow meandering trip back to Cairns.

That evening, we went to a BBQ put on by our hostel. For $10 we got kangaroo, crocadile, emu and sausage, along with a didgeridoo demonstration and hilarious contest. Money well spent! I tried everything except the fish (come on--you KNOW me!!). Kangaroo tastes JUST like beef, Crocodile is just like chicken--maybe a bit dry. ANd the emu was a little undercooked so I just had a taste--beefy to me!

All in all, a wonderful day.

Okay. Paddling is done. Mom finished up with the Senior women in the 500m today. THey mixed up the two american teams (one from Portland mostly, one from Pennsylvania), and tried to get some new sparks in the lineup. They did improve their times and it was a nice experience for the two different teams to actually paddle together.

After the races, the coaches brought out some champagne for all and they celebrated and relaxed. We headed back to the hotel where mom and I packed our luggage, then out to dinner at the steakhouse next door.

We leave at 5:15 tomorrow morning for the airport. We are flying to Cairns at 7am, then hopefully catching a rainforest tour.
Tuesday will be spent on a snorkelling trip--we get picked up at 8am and will spend the night out on the reef. Wednesday afternoon, we head back to Cairns and relax for the evening, then fly back to Sydney Thursday morning. The rest of Thursday will be spent wandering Sydney, and we fly home Friday.

I will not have internet access (I am pretty sure) in Cairns, so this will be my last update until probably Thursday in Sydney. I will endeavor to take a million pictures of all things tropical in Cairns and on the reef and share them once I have a connection.

Until then.......

Final race with the Senior Women

Interesting fashions by the Aussies

Well, blogger is not allowing me to upload pictures at the moment. I click on the browse button to tell it what picture I want uploaded, and that window just closes out. Tried it several times.

It is too bad, because I don't really have much to say today, and pictures are just so interesting.

Lots of paddling today. Mom raced the 200m for both the Senior women and the Grand Masters mixed. Neither medaled today, but they had a lot of fun and looked good out there. Tomorrow is the final day of competition, and she is racing with the Senior women in the 500m races. Afterwards, we may head into Sydney for some entertainment--plans are still up in the air at the moment.

The most difficult thing so far in Australia?? Remembering what side of the sidewalk to walk on! This is a drive-on-the-left-side-of-the-street country. Which means they also WALK on the left side. I keep running people over. Especially when I am leading Mom--we make a sort of two woman wrecking crew. And then, once I DO remember to walk on the correct side, some Canadian comes along and messes me up by walking towards me on my left side so I am forced right. Seriously--it is a problem.

The cars look so funny with steering wheels on the right side. I keep seeing little kids in the front left seats and it is a little freaky as we drive down the freeway.

Still no kangaroo spottings. I suppose we will have to wait to see them in the animal park at Darling Harbour next to the Aquarium.

Sorry about the subpar update. More exciting things to come, I am sure, so keep looking back for updates.

Mom asked for a THIRD kiss from the official (usually you get one per cheek)!

Needless to say, they were excited about their medal. The way they were screaming and hollering, you would think they won gold! This was the first ever medal in a world championship for the Grandmasters team, and they were enjoying every minute of it. After a break for some rest and food, they held the medal ceremony in front of the grandstand.

Mom was so proud! The only "disabled"/blind athlete present--there was a group of school kids from a special needs school--most in wheelchairs for a variety of reasons, others with mental disabilities. I sat opposite the grandstands to photograph one race and these kids were racing around in their wheelchairs pretending to be paddlers. What a good example mom is setting!!

Sydney, Day 6

Another long day of paddling. We got a late start--didn't need to be on the bus until 11am, so mom and I headed out for some breakfast and errand running.

Once we were at the regatta center, it was on. Today mom was racing with the Grandmaster mixed team in the 500m. They race all teams three times, then take their top two times and add them together. The team with the lowest times after that win the medals.

USA finished third in the first race (Australia 4th), fourth in the second race (Australia third), and needed to be within .3 of Australia to win a bronze medal after the third race. They paddled hard, and when all was said and done, they posted their best time of the day and narrowly held of the Aussies for that bronze medal.

For Ethan

I saw this today and I totally thought of you!!! I made mom stop and look at it. I have some other lock/funny doorknob pictures, but this is my most favorite, because somewhere out there, you are probably working on a BiLock right now!

Sydney, Day 5

Today was all about dragonboat racing. We got up at the crack of dawn and headed to the race site, the place where the 2000 Olympic water sports were held. Mom raced with the Senior women and the Grand Masters mixed in the 1000m and 2000m. In the 1000m, the Senior women placed 6th overall, and in the GM mixed in the 2000m, they were fourth overall, just 3 seconds out of the medal race. A good day. Especially when you think about the fact that they never practice for anything longer than a 500m race--their speciality. Tomorrow starts the 500m and 200m racing, and should be a medal contending day! These events final on Sunday, so keep your fingers crossed!!


We both were tired and worn out at the end of the day. It rained off and on and was sorta cold and windy. Seattle weather, really. We got back to our room around 630pm and ordered room service and putzed the evening away.

Plan for tomorrow--more of the same. But, we get to sleep in, since the bus doesn't leave until 11am (left at 7am this morning). Our continuing goal is to spot a kangaroo along the highway. So many people have told us they hang out there, but so far no luck.

Bonus Skyrail video

Just cause it's sorta cool

Sydney, Day 4

This evening, we went to the opening ceremony for the championship. THere are 18 countries competing. Apparently there are 60 countries worldwide with dragonboat federations, and once there are 73 they can petition to be included in the Olympics as a sport. Pretty cool! They are already going to be included in the 2010 Asian games, which is a sorta regional Olympics for that part of the world.

We left early, since Mom fell asleep during the festivities. We stopped of at 7-11 on our way home to get some bottled water for tomorrow, then up to bed. The bus leaves tomorrow at 0645, so we have a long day ahead of us.




Wish mom luck!!

I got up early and headed out for the train station. After purchasing my Chai, I got an explorer ticket that included an all day pass on the hop on, hop off bus in Katoomba.

The train took about 1.5 hours to get to Katoomba. I brought along a book (which I finished) to pass the time.



For some reason, I am compelled to wave when videoing myself. Seems like the right thing to do at the time, but a bit dorky on playback.....


Katoomba was a teeny tourist trap sort of town. Located right next to the Grand Canyon, it is dominated by hotels and tour shops.
I jumped onto the double decker Explorer bus, and headed out. I got off on stop 10, which gave me access to a bunch of trails for some hiking (or bushwalking, as they call it). All in all, I walked up and down at least 5 miles. A billion stairs and walkway areas and some muddy areas to boot. I have to say, this was a very well maintained trail system. Nice wide trails, steps hewn into rocks or built in out of wood or metal to make steep areas traversable. Very nice.



I saw numerus waterfalls, viewpoints, trees and some wildlife. A couple exotic looking birds, then the skyrail roaming overhead. Lots of mud and foliage and a minimum of bugs. Did not see a single spider other than a teeny red and black daddy long legs. For some reason, daddy long legs bugs do not freak me out the way all other bugs do. Anyway.....

After finding my way to the bottom of the canyon, I was pooped. I took the Scenic Railway back up to the top. This is the steepest railroad on earth--over %54 slope at it's peak!! Here is a long and boring video of my ride...



At the top, I purchased tickets for the Scenic Skyrail and flew 244 meters over the canyon floor. After my return ride, I had a quick lunch in the cafe, then realized that I was running really late so I caught the Explorer bus to the train station and headed for Parramatta (home).

After the Japanese garden, I headed over through Darling harbour. I browsed the tourist shops and ended up at a restaurant with seating right on the harbour edge. I had a wonderful meal. It was pumpkin soup and chicken saay. I had a beer. I LIKED THE BEER!!! It had absolutely no aftertaste, no bitter finish to it. I will attempt to procure one to sneak home for Ethan to share with me. I don't remember the name, but since I am saving all my receipts I know the name is on there.

After lunch, I did some more browsing and window shopping and walking around and eventually went to a ferry wharf where I caught the ferry to Circular Quay, where I spent most of Sunday. The ferry went under the Harbour Bridge, and I could see people doing the BridgeClimb (for $180 a head!!) From there, I caught the rush hour train back to Parramatta.

Mom and I went out with a few paddling buddies to an Italian restaurant for dinner, but I was still so full from lunch I just got an appetizer.

Tomorrow's plan?? Get up early and catch a train to Katoomba and the Blue mountains for some hiking and picture taking. We have the opening ceremonies for the paddlers in the evening, then competition starte Thursday.

Pictures taken today:152 (mostly at the Japanese Garden)
Lesson learned: Puma is the biggest sporting company ever. Seriously. EVERYONE is wearing puma shoes, shirts, bags, etc, etc, etc. Not a hint of nike or adidas. All Puma.

Sydney, Day 3 summary

Darling harbour is cool. I stopped first at the Japanese Friendship garden, which is supposed to be one of only a very few Japanese gardens not actually located in Japan. $6 to get in, but well worth it. There are paths all around, with signs telling you the meaning of the placement of trees and plants and stones around you. Buildings and pagodas are positioned just so. Very calm, relaxing place. I saw a bird (I think it is a Cassawary),and go all excited, taking all sorts of pictures. It was not until later that I realized that these birds are sorta the Australian version of the pigeon. Everywhere and annoying. Oh, well. He really fit in nicely in the Japanese garden.

I also saw a monitor lizard. Extra cool!! Not everywhere, not planned. They do stock the water with huge gold and white koi, but the lizard was there on his own.

So this morning....what did we do.

Mom and I wandered outside aroud 0730 looking for a place to eat breakfast. Mom had very specific requirements, but after, searching high and low we found no cafes that had oatmeal.

We ended up in a small cafe where mom got a bowl of fruit with yogurt over it and a cherry danish and I had a ham and cheese croisant with a cup of chai. Really nice stuff. We headed over to the mall afterwards, because Mom needed a beach towel that said Australia on it, a boat hat with a string tie, soy milk, fruit and water. We found all of that, and after mom tried on a million things in the Billabong store we left. The grocery store was actually located on the fifth floor of the mall. How weird is that??

Once the shopping was compete, I set mom up with the laptop so she could check her email, then headed out. I caught a train headed for Sydney and got off at Central station, the closest station to Darling Harbour.

Just for Ethan

Look who came to Australia with me!!! Red guy and Green guy!!!!

Did yours make weird beeping noises???