Australia Report - NSW Part 1

I know, I know, I should focus on finding myself a job but after searching the job sites all week long I was pretty frustrated. Not much of interest out there. So I figured I should take a break and rather do some fun stuff to cheer me up. So here comes the first out of probably many posts about our Australia. I kept a journal throughout the whole trip to help me remember things; next to the 10,000+ pictures.

For more pictures please check here: http://picasaweb.google.com/krade1709/AustraliaNewSouthWales319Oct2009

The 15hr flight was pretty uneventful and actually less bad than I expected. The Air Canada plane (Boeing 777-200) offered plenty of legroom for an airplane and a good selection of movies on the personal entertainment centre. Needless to say all I did was eat and watch movies, very little sleep. We left Vancouver just before midnight on Sept 30th and got to Sydney pretty much on time at 8:15am on Oct 2nd - loosing a whole day in the process.

Day 1 (Oct 2, 2009) -The weather was overcast but fairly warm. Alex, our friend from Revelstoke was so nice to pick us up from the airport. He had already arranged for accommodations in Penrith arriving a couple days ahead of us. All we had to do was pick up a couple kayaks on the way (Super Lancers from Steward O'Regan, the local rep for think boats in Sydney). The drive out to Penrith took us nearly an hour - bit of traffic and 50km to go. The cabin Alex had arrange for us was at a trailer park (Nepean Holiday Park) which was backing onto the Nepean River across from the starting point for the marathon races. Pretty cool. Unfortunately, launching from the trailer park was not quite straight forward. We had to hike a couple hundred meters through bush and than walk out through the shallows. Alternatively one could drive to the other side of the river in a couple minutes and launch from there. Having only 1 car between the three of us, two boats and Alex also doing some training for his swimming competition, we more often then not launched from the trailer park (walking past all the signs telling us "NOT to enter the water - dangerous current could kill" - well there weren't any currents). And of course we did go for a quick paddle that evening - as if we hadn't done enough sitting. I didn't feel too comfortable although being in a more stable K1 than I trained in all summer long and the water being flat calm. Maybe I was more tired than I thought. It was almost dark - it got dark pretty early ( ~6pm) - by the time we finished and a huge flog of fruit bats (Flying Foxes) circled above our heads. Pretty cool!!!
The cabin itself was quite cozy. One room with a double bed and three more bunks in another section. Plenty of room for the 3 of us (or 4 after Alex's wife Lea arrived a few days later). The only unfortunate thing was that we had to change cabins 4 times since there wasn't one available for the full 2.5 weeks we were staying in Penrith. But that worked out okay too.
We finished off Day 1 with a home-cooked meal at the cabin and a couple of beers in a nearby Pub (walking distance) before hitting the bunks at 10pm that night.

Day 2 started with the crows waking us up at 7am after a good night sleep. Those birds make the funniest noises - very different from the crows here: "OhOhooooooooh" or something like that. Weather wise it was still overcast but considerably cooler compared to the day before. We first went for a paddle on the Nepean River. The original 1 hr long paddle turned into 2 hrs since we ended up paddling into the Blue Mountains National Park and the scenery was stunning. Unfortunately it also started to rain a bit with a slight headwind going upriver and the clouds dropped even lower on us. Still we enjoyed the 18km loop.

After lunch we took the train into Sydney. The train station was also within easy walking distance of the trailer park. I loved traveling by train. So easy, great connections within downtown Sydney and it took about the same time as by car without having to worry about parking, traffic etc. Our WMG registration actually included all public transit. Once we arrived in Sydney it had started to rain in earnest and it was windy and cold. We walked around the must-see areas such as the opera house and into "The Rocks" but it wasn't really fun sight-seeing. Jeff and I were getting quite wet and cold. So we walked a only a bit further through Hide Park before jumping onto the train again to go back "home" where Alex was already busily preparing dinner. We retired to bed at 9pm tired form paddling/walking around in the cold (maybe a high of 15C - this was NOT what I expected of a spring in Sydney).

Day 3 started as Day two had ended, overcast, cool and rainy. And we realized that the crows started making that noise from 5am on. The rain lessened a bit by the time we had breakfast - we always took our time with breakfast. Alex said this was his day off from training and Jeff and I didn't object to that idea. So we did another sight-seeing day and drove into the Blue Mountains National Park. We stopped in Wentworth Falls since the warden at the tourist info told us that with all this rain the waterfalls would be great to see. The clouds were hanging deep into the gorge and there wasn't much of a view from the top of the escarpment. So we decided to hike down to the falls to have a look. And down we went along the steep cliffs in mostly thick clouds. But it was worth it and the view of the falls was great (although not good for pictures due to the mist and clouds). We continued on that trail towards the "Valley of Waters" rather than returning the same way and the 30min hike turned into 3hrs walking along the cliff half way up between the valley floor and the top. Despite the misty weather it was a great walk through beautiful scenery. We encountered lorikeets/parrots in the trees and cockatoos high up in the cliffs. I took a gazillion pictures of clouds and mist and water. We did check out the "Three Sisters", the main tourist attraction in the park, but couldn't see a thing due to the thick clouds. The guys were anxious to get back to the cabin to watch the final of the Aussie national football league between the Melbourne Eels and a local team, the Parramatta Storm. We picked up some chips and beer for the game. Gosh is beer ever expensive here. Beer in Canada is expensive I think but Australia nearly doubles that. Parramatta, being the underdog lost in what I thought was a pretty one-sided game but I don't know any of their rules.

Day 4 was spent in Penrith with paddling/training (10x 3' on 3'), shopping and walking around a bit. It is always interesting to see what type of groceries one can find in a different country. Bell peppers are not called bell peppers but Capsicum. Grapes cost $8 per pound while mangoes are cheap. But you can get pretty much everything you can get at home - even the typical tasteless white bread. I noticed that they had some of the stores that I typically only see in Germany such as "Spar" and "Aldi". The weather in the morning was dry and a bit warmer again but black clouds were drifting in from the Blue Mountains by lunchtime which caused the temperature to drop again although they never brought much rain - only spectacular thunder and lightning. Cold air form Tasmania was supposed to drop in over for the next few days.

Day 5 started off sunny. That also meant that the lorikeets in the trees start making noise BEFORE the crows wake up at 5am. As usual we started the day after breakfast with a training paddle ( 3x 6 x 45'' on 15" on 4'). Due to the sunny and quite warm conditions quite a few more boats were out on the River. Many of them masters paddlers getting ready for the games next week as well. Unfortunately the sun also brought out a lot of motor boats and it was quite choppy on the river - which was till then nice and flat and calm and empty, in short perfect for me. I felt terrible in all the traffic and wash. Luckily the river will be closed to motor boats for the marathon racing but there could be up to 100 kayaks/canoes on the river during the race. After lunch we went to the Featherdale Wildlife Park near Blacktown to acquaint ourselves with the Australian wildlife. So far we had seen/heard a lot of the birds, such as fruit bats, crows, myna, rainbow lorikeets, sulphur-crested cockatoos and galahs as well as a few small lizards around the cabin and river. The park was partially a petting zoo with kangaroos, wallabies (medium size kangaroos) and emus running around freely. The roos are nice to have around and be able to pet but the emu was a bit scary - no petting there. And of course they had other of the usual suspects in cages such as koalas, wombats, kookaburras, echidnas, dingos, iguanas and salties. A great experience on a sunny & warm day with few other people around due to it being a weekday.

Day 6 - I didn't hear the crows this morning. I am sure they still were making noise but I must have slept right through. We woke up to a mix of sun and clouds with a light breeze in the morning. After our morning practice session (2 x 10x 30" on 1' on 6') we headed towards Sydney to get us a GPS for our trip as well as to register for the games to be able to use public transit for free. We walked around a not so scenic looking suburb of Sydney called Strathfield to get the GPS and then continued on by bus to the Olympic Stadium in the next town over, Homebush. The line up for registration was pretty long already and it would not open for another 30min. But we waited and made it through in about 1hr. This was the first day of registration - later in the week it took up to 5hrs to get your pass. We certainly were the lucky ones. By the time we got out of the "Dome" - registration centre - the weather had changed for the worse with a cold wind blowing. We were pretty cold in our thin long sleeve shirts and shorts and waiting for the trains was a bit of a pain - we had to change trains 3 times to get from the Plympic Park to Penrith. I bought a hot tea at one of the stations to warm me up a bit. They asked if I wanted sugar. Since I always have my tea black unless I add some lemon juice I declined the offer for sugar. But when I got the tea they actually had put milk in it. Bloody British!! It did help to warm me up though despite the milk. By the time we got back to Penrith it started to rain a bit as well.

Day 7 started out sunny again but with a very cold and strong wind blowing right out of Tasmania. Today we were going to Wollongong (80km south of Sydney) to meet with our Aussie friends from the Illawarra Canoe Club whom we met at the WMG in Edmonton in 2005. Darren was coming into town to get registered as well as to check out the marathon race course. So he offered to pick us up saving us a couple hours train ride. He also brought up a K2 for us to try - a nice, super light Nelo K2 (for the none paddlers, Nelo boat are the top of the line and MOST unstable. The K2 we trained in at home is a tug boat compared to the Nelo speedboat). With Darren was Neville from Nelson who was staying with his son in Bulli just north of Wollongong until the start of the games. Alex stayed in Penrith since his wife was coming in the next morning. The 4 of us went over to the launch site at the Nepean Rowing Club. The wind was still blowing strong and there was quite a bit of chop on the river. I wasn't at all convinced we should even attempt to paddle the Nelo K2 under these conditions but since Darren brought the K2 all the way up Jeff felt we should give it a try. Oh and it was a BAD idea. I was in panic mode the whole 10min we were on the water which makes the boat even more unstable. Darren and Neville took off in their boats while we just managed to turn around again and made it to shore without swimming. It was horrible. Luckily a friend of Darren's showed up with another more stable K2 and he let us go for a quick spin. THAT felt so much better. The Nelo is definitely not the boat for us and luckily the Illawarra Canoe Club also owns some VanDusen K2 which are supposedly much more stable than the Nelo. Darren told us we could try it the next day.

Slow Cooker

I really love the slow cooker. You just cut all the ingredients into medium size pieces and throw them it into the pot, add spices and liquid and turn it on and then forget about it for 6-8hrs. Not that I do not have enough time to cook while I am at home but you never know what comes up. The below example shows it clearly:

On Wednesday morning I prepared a North African Beef Stew with yams and dried plumbs and lots of cumin and garlic as spices. After I started the slow cooker I felt a bad headache coming on and I actually got sick enough that I spend all afternoon in bed - good thing I used the slow cooker. When Jeff came home from work the stew was almost done. Only thing left for him was to prepare the Couscous. I told him to follow the instructions on the package. Unfortunately he used my approach to following instructions and only read half of them. So instead of adding 2/3 cups of couscous to 1 cup of water he added the full package. He thought it didn't look quite right and almost resorted to making some rice instead. Luckily he first tried to just add more water and in the end the couscous turned out fine - just a "but" more than we needed that night. And the moral of the story - I am a bad influence and Jeff is only responsible to cook rice (using the rice cooker) from now on.

Holidays in Germany

We are back from our 10 days in snowed-in Oldenburg. White Christmas in Oldenburg only happens once in a decade if not less often. I actually can't remember ever having a white Christmas while still living at home (that's for 18 years). But this year was one of those rare ones. We landed in Amsterdam at 7:45am in the morning of Dec 25th after leaving Vancouver at 8:30am on Dec 24th on Alaskan/NWA (connecting through Seattle). It was still pitch dark and it was snowing when we landed. Only a light cover but definitely collecting on the ground. My dad and brother who picked us up from the airport said it didn't start snowing until just before Amsterdam. On the drive home it was snowing the whole way. It all melted away on Boxing Day only to return with a vengeance on Dec 31st. Luckily the landscape is completely flat so no hills to worry about while driving.

My mom spoiled us with her German style cooking and we had more meat in those 10 days than we usually eat in 2 months. But it is soooo tasty. And the German bread - yummy. To date I still can't fully get used to the soft bread you get in most countries such as Canada and Australia. And off course we brought back tons of chocolate - it better will last past January this time. I gained about 6lb - yuck - only exercising once.

All in all we had a great time. Friends from University visited us in Oldenburg and I met with a couple old school friends - one of them I hadn't seen in over 20 years. Partying with friends of course meant a lot of drinking and I have to admit that I lost my ability to drink a lot of beer - Jeff though managed to keep up with the visitors like a pro.

One of the highlight was a visit to a shipyard in Papenburg that builds those big cruise liners (traveling to Alaska size). Unbelievable what they put onto those ships - ice rink, golf course, spas or water slides reaching 30min beyond the side of the ship. All that pomp and glory - like watching Titanic all over again. Unfortunately the tour is in German only and I can't recommend it to any of my English speaking friends.

I was also surprise about the increase in wind energy farms all over the place. On Christmas Day 82% of all the energy used in and around Oldenburg came from wind energy. Pretty amazing even though it was a low usage day. On a heavy usage day (workday) the percentage went down to 42% - still not bad. Oldenburg won an award as best city in Germany in technological advancements and research in 2009.

The last day we left early to spend some time in Amsterdam. We had just enough time to do one of the "Krachten" tours on a small tour boat. At least it was out of the cold and the tour was given in 3 languages (Dutch, English, Spanish).

I wanted to get to the airport early due to the potential delay in security after the bombing attempt on a NWA flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, even though we were flying back on KLM. But my worry was unfounded. We didn't have to go through security until we actually got the the gate - that limits the number of people to have to go through at once. It still took a while but I didn't think it was any more intense than normal. But then the waiting started. First the plane wasn't ready on time to be boarded. Apparently the cleaning personnel was delayed. When we finally made it onto the plane we were told that they loaded a wrong piece of luggage onto the plane that had to be removed. So we left the gate and parked somewhere on the tarmac to unload the luggage - 20mins. After that was done the pilot tried to start the engine again and some relay blew. So we had to go back to the gate and wait for an engineer to come on board and check the electronics - 20min. It took a hole lot more time than 20min for the engineer to solve the problem. By now we were sitting in the plane for 2hrs. But eventually it got fixed and we all thought this is it. But oh no - not even close. Apparently Holland's airport regulations say that a dutch crew can't work overtime without having an area to rest in. Since we were 2hrs late on a 10 hr flight we had to find room on the plane to allow the crew to stretch out their legs. The plane of course was fully booked - and lots of families with small kids. So regulations said that 6 passengers were selected by the ground crew to leave the plane and that they would TRY to find them accommodation for the night. You can image what kind of responds the ground crew got. We weren't one of the selected passengers but those people did not leave without a fight. A couple passengers actually volunteered to stay behind instead but airport security didn't want to hear about that. So it took another hour to sort things out. At the end the volunteers were allowed to leave the plane but they had to leave their luggage behind on the plane. I have never experienced anything like that - the one time a plane was delayed like this they switched out the crew instead of kicking paying passengers of the plane (that was in Vancouver on an American airline though).