part III: australia

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

my face got a little burned from the drive. also, that international date line screwed with my birth control pills… argh! stupid pills... stupid, stupid pills.

i’m sitting at the airport with our luggage. waiting for steve to come back after dropping off the rental car. there’s this busload of japanese stewardesses and pilots that just drove in. i wonder if their airline takes them on tours and stuff when they reach their destination.

kinda chilly out here today. i think auckland’s a little cooler than rotorua. i’m all confused about directions here. and i don't know if anything is north or south of here … i guess heading south is like heading north for us?

currently, we’re on our way to australia. there was a departure fee of $25 (NZD) we had to pay when we left NZ. i’ve never seen that before. steve said that every airport in asia has it… even the ones they just had layovers for. ouch. i don't remember that in korea. maybe there wasn't one in korea. or, my dad probably just took care of it.

my nose is killing me. blowing it way too often and the dry air in the plane isn’t really helping. it’s all raw and peeling. gross. fuck!

there’s a weight limit on qantas for carry-ons. they think mine weighs too much because it’s a kind of wide carry-on. really, only the bag is kinda heavy, the contents are actually very light. steve on the other hand, has this carry-on that’s got to weigh at least 30 lbs and they just wave him on through. it’s crazy…

what, they think that because i'm a chick i have a shitload of crap???? i mean, come on! it's just some shirts and pants... christ... i brought basically one shirt for each day, 2 pairs of jeans (and i'm wearing a pair), 2 pairs of shorts, socks, underwear... it's not that heavy!!!! leave me ALONE! christ!

we're on the plane now... and HMPH! i was reading an article about gamer chicks over steve’s shoulder and he just waved me away. RUDE!

watched anchorman: the legend of ron burgundy. it was funnier than i thought it would be. not a great comedy, but entertaining enough. steve liked it more than i did… which isn’t to say that i disliked it. it definitely had its funny moments, but i think that it was trying too hard at times.

ugh. weather’s looking awful. we haven’t even really started descending yet and it’s cloudy and foggyish.

our credit card started denying all our charges. i don’t know why. it’s not like we keep a balance on it or anything. and we have a high limit. i swear, every time we leave the country, that credit card company freaks out. even when steve bought my engagement ring, it did the same thing. and then conveniently, the customer service number on the back for international calls doesn’t work. the customer service is all fucked up because bank of america bought it. i know it! i hate those fuckers! the worst service EVER.

drove from sydney to salamander shores. i, of course, slept most of the way there. and steve, of course, did a great job of finding the place.


(view from our room)

it’s beautiful. we’re right on the beach and this peninsula is so narrow, that you can see the sunrise and the sunset, from practically the same view point.


(sunset)


(another sunset pic)

we walked to the internet café. it seemed so much closer when we drove it. it was a pretty far walk. i had to email my boss’ admin about work. god. what is wrong with me? i can’t relax on vacation! we got there 10 minutes before he closed up shop. thank god…. he let me on for a few minutes. i don’t know what i would’ve done if they were closed. unfortunately, i didn’t even have time to check my blog :( damn it!

right when we got back home, it started raining and it was really windy. so we ducked into the sports bar which is attached to our hotel. got 2 beers and a water, and she gave us 3 raffle tickets. turns out at 6:30, they do this giveaway thing. at 6:30, they ended up calling one of our numbers! i was shocked! we got a $25 voucher to use at the restaurant. the other giveaway was some seafood platter… yeah. i don’t know about that one. we had a really good dinner. i had fish and chips. mmmm... fried food.

we have a robin’s egg blue camry. steve let me drive it last night for a short distance, after we were done with the bar. (by the way, the bar was packed. not much to do in soldier’s point, apparently.) it’s fun driving on the other side of the road… but it’s really tough to estimate how much room is on the left side of the car, when you’re on the right side. you’d think you could just reverse driving in your head… but apparently not.


(i'm buzzed! and i'm driving! oh! it's the wrong side of the road! oh, wait! that's the right side of the road! i should drive when i'm buzzed all the time!)

we came back to the room and to my absolute horror, i saw a huge cockroach crawling around in my one open pocket in my suitcase. son of a bitch! i almost died. i should’ve expected it, though. there was a huge can of bug spray above the mini-bar. steve took the bug outside. god. i hate roaches. it was even bigger than the one i saw in LBC last week... (god, was it only last week? i'm so tired...) that fucker was at least 1.5" long... and possibly 3/4 to an inch fat. fat little fucker!!! oh, god... i'm cringing again...

i’m tired again. too sleepy to go on…


(this bird is like the crows that torment me at home... their caws aren't nearly as abrasive, but... they're pretty big and scary, too.)


(big ass pelican)

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

i wish i could type this… it would be so much faster and neater. i know there’s so much that i’m forgetting to write about…i feel so confused and i don't know why. i should feel relaxed, no?

steve woke up early to take sunrise pics. i went back to sleep.

my carnet de voyage isn’t very interesting. i wish my brain were more organized. maybe i could write a decent one, then. it’s just all so frustrating. i wish it was like craig thompson's...


(really good graphic novelist... check out blankets, if you ever get a chance, to)

my allergies aren’t quite so bad here as they were in NZ… but they’re still here. australians seem to have a stronger accent than people in NZ. having a pretty hard time understanding what anyone’s saying.

i’m still tired. must be the jet lag… so, what’s on the itinerary for today… breakfast, wine tasting, fauna world, then on to peppers. i wonder what else?

we went to our breakfast buffet. they have this spaghetti out… and it tastes just like spaghetti-o’s but not in "o" shapes. at 9AM, this lady went out to feed the birds. they’re gorgeous birds… but LOUD. it was crazy… chaotic, even. they were everywhere. i was still in the restaurant and i could see steve outside. and this bird landed on his head… so i started laughing out loud… and everyone starts looking at me like i’m crazy. i’m not crazy, goddamnit! doesn't everyone hear these voices in their heads?


(there seemed to be hundreds of these birds flying around, attacking each other for food, squawking about...)

we went directly to fauna world. i think that was the highlight of steve’s trip, thus far. i’m not exactly an animal person, so about a half hour into it, i was ready to leave. but we had to stay until at least 11 because that’s when they do the animal feedings. when we first walked in, there was this big ol’ peacock just hanging out outside… at first, i thought it was a statue because it was so still… and then it moved… and steve’s taking pics of it and then it starts yelling or squawking or whatever it is that peacocks do. i was petrified.


(what a fucking show off)

we bought these little paper bags of food... little pellets. we walked into the area where the animals are and they all came in and molested us. we must’ve been the first people with food that day… these goats were coming after me. especially this big black one. okay, it wasn’t that big, just bigger than the others and it was PUSHY. fuck! i hated him... he started getting up on his back legs and he'd have his front hooves all over me... and i was wearing a white fucking tank top. i'm a fucking genius. stupid ass little goat... oh, goats sound like they're just yelling at you. MEH! MEH! and their freaky eyes!!! oh, god! the eyes! spawn of satan!


(evil little fucker! he was all headbutting the other baby goats who were trying to get food... GOD! i'm going to have nightmares about him)

well, the little ones were okay, though. i liked the really little ones. and then there was this joey with his foot hurt :( he was so cute!!!! i got to pet him…maybe he was a wallaby. whatever.


(i'm so cute and little!!!!!! oh, god! the evil goat's in this picture, too!!!)

they had all sorts of animals there – wombats, koalas, kangaroos, wallabys, water buffaloes, camels, tons of different types of birds, bunnies!, guinea pigs, goats, pigs… good god! there were a ton of animals, which in turn, attracted flies. gross. you know, no one ever told us that australia had a fly problem… steve fed some joeys. they were mauling him for pellets. it was really cute.


(i'm a wombat! got anything good up in here to eat???)


("look at me, woman! look at me!" -- dude, that peahen is NOT giving a shit about him!!!)


(i have never seen a bird like this before... is it an albino peacock???)


(steve's super popular with the aussie ladies)


(my little pony)


(the cutest little baby koala ever!!!)

drove down to hunter valley for wine tasting. we only hit 2 wineries. i was too tired to go on. the first had this sparkling shiraz. it was CRAZY! and it was tasty, too. we had to get a bottle. they said that all over australia, they’ll make pretty much any wine sparkling. and it’s served cold. it was great. the second sucked. i’m not even going to say their name. no free advertising for them.


(this is hungerford hill... very cool, unique building... i guess it used to be a church? i don't know if that exact building was a church or a church was just in that location. at any rate, it's not really sacrilege because wine is the blood of jesus, right?)

they have these snacks called cheezels. they're like cheetos, but in an “o” shape. why are the american ones called cheetos when they’re not in an “o” shape? and why aren’t the cheezels called cheetos? i don’t get it.


(mmm... cheezels)

i slept for the next 2 hours, while steve drove us to the blue mountains. we stayed at peppers resort. i fell in love with it there. modern furnishings, pretty hip. i thought i wouldn’t care about our accommodations, but i do! i love it! i can’t wait to check out the hot tub tomorrow. :P


(please don't ever make me leave here!!!!)

went for indian food in a neighboring town. the samosas weren’t that good. they were really bland… but they had a pretty good yogurt sauce that saved the samosas from being bad… the main courses were good, though. their korma sauce was excellent. the naan was super thick, but tasty.

tomorrow, we’re back in sydney. bondi beach :) and we’re going on a date to the opera house :) good night. *yawn*