Day 1:
So, after leaving Sydney, we jumped on a plane North (3 hour flight) to the tropical paradise in North Queensland, the town of Cairns. A resort town, overflowing with white beaches and tropical rainforest. I suppose Hawaii is a very close reference to the look of North Queensland. Strangely though, despite the 75-degree winter, the tourists did not crowd the area and made it quite peaceful.
After checking in at the hotel early (around noon) we decided to walk the esplanade that stretched the entire length of Cairns' waterfront (maybe 4 miles). It was like out of a postcard. The sand was white, the ocean blue, and the harbor had all these beautiful green mountains protecting it on all sides. The harbor didn't support large cruise ships or commercial vessels (their not allowed in the area) so the sea was filled with sail boats and pleasure ships. We stopped at this small sidewalk caf called the Villa Romano where I found myself trying the strangest food. That night I ordered this "Game Dinner" that was Kangaroo, Emu and Crocodile.
My analysis:
Kangaroo: Tasted surprisingly like sirloin steak. Looked almost identical to steak tips. Seemed to be a bit like rabbit (ultra gamey) insanely tough to cut.
Emu: Also looked like steak but was crimson, like the color of blood. Tender, and could be pulled apart like Chicken. Tasted like game bird or dark meat turkey.
Crocodile: The most unique of the three, looked a lot like scallops, has the consistency of pork chops and tasted like a cross between chicken and scallops (fishy chicken). Also was very dry like white meat.
Then we did some shopping, at night the waterfront turns into a giant night market with all these ultra unique and interesting pieces of art, bottled wines, and jewelry, and you can haggle the prices and suchvery fun (a Mecca for shoppers everywhere). (Side Note: remember how I said the authentic Aborigine artwork would be an important part lateryahwell) It was in the night markets and some of the surrounding shops (that never seemed to close) that I was able to seriously sit down with some real Aborigine people and discuss how to weed through all the tourist garbage and find the items I was looking to purchase. If you look long enough at a large variety of shops, you can train your eye to pick out the fraud pieces and those shops that sell the mass-produced imitation stuff (they always advertise authenticwhich is twisted, the Aborigine people may own the factorybut the machines cut and paint the wood etc.).
That was also our first night of Opal shopping. Australia is the leading world supplier of Opal stones (95f the world's Opals); many of the mines are in Queensland. It was the perfect opportunity to put something unique in Alyssa's jewelry box at a decent price. Many of the Opals we found in Sydney were overpriced and doublets or triplets (you want the singlets it's how many breaks are between the color layers of the stone), here we were finding stones that were all singlets, looked great under a magnifying glass (yah, I'm anal when I buy jewelry) and were twice as big for a quarter the price, but day 1 is just for looking
Later that night we went into a pub advertising Cane Toad racing. So Alyssa being Alyssa needed to participate. So after listening to this below average band on stageshe went and registered us as the number 2 frog and named him "Chewbacca" for the evening, the toads were huge (like the size of Bull frogs).
Rules for Cane Toad Racing:
1. All the frogs (10) got put in an upside down bucket in the center of a ring (maybe 10ft) the ref, pulls the bucket straight up and all the toads go crazy for the edge of the ring hoping and jumping out of the ring and jumping on each other's heads etc.
2. First toad to the wall wins.
First race, Chewbacca doesn't move an INCH!!! He just sits there licking his eyeball. In between races, there was this goofy ceremony where they named Miss Cane Toad for the night, from a selection of drunken girls, and all the guys in the bar bought her drinks. Then the MC, after seeing the Red Sox logo on my hat, unloaded about Americans and our stupid governmentafter which he proceeded to continue making fun of every other nationality he could think of. After the second race, and another episode of Chewbacca sitting on his butt, scratching his side with his legwe called it a night.
Day 2:
After an early breakfast, we took a bus to the town of Freshwater, where we met our Tjapukai representatives who gave us our passes for our planned day (we arranged most of this from home weeks before). We took a steam-powered train up through the sugar cane fields of North Queensland's and into the Rainforest on our way to the Aboriginal town of Kuranda. The train was slow, but the view was worth the ride, waterfalls falling down into huge basins below the rainforest canopy, the train goes through 15 different tunnels along the way. All manner of tropical birds passing by over the train cars. The town of Kuranda overall was a disappointment, mostly shops and cafes, very touristy. However, I did find an awesome dealer who was selling some great aboriginal stuff, but in typical fashion, I decided.."I still might find something better, later". There was a butterfly sanctuary in Kuranda, I would have enjoyed seeing, but we booked our day too tight and didn't have the time to fit it in.
To get down from Kuranda up in the mountains we took a skyrail (for over an hour and a half), which made three stops along the way to adjust its direction over the forest canopy. WOW, the rainforest was huge, and being only inches above it, looking down through the tree canopy made you appreciate it's splendor. Getting off at the "Adjustment points" we tagged along on some tours going on in the rainforest.
Interesting facts from the tours I listened in on:
1. There are these beautiful giant leafed plants on the rainforest floor, and they look super soft, so dumb backpackers use them to wipe their asses with. Well, um, the reason they look so soft is because they're covered with millions of tiny glasslike barbs that inject toxins. Even more stupid people, try using water to make the pain stopyet it only spreads the toxin deeper (the toxin's effects last roughly 6 months). If you want to remove the effects before thatuse tape to pull out the barbs.
2. Most of the "bushtucker" is difficult to find, and many poisonous plants look like food, but are dangerous. There are small red berries in the forest, that when ingested, will turn you blind for a couple days.
3. In the rainforest there are parasitic plants that use the trees around them to sustain themselves. One of these plants (Basket Fern) looks like a giant wicker basket the size of a small car, and hangs 100's of ft up in the canopy, using the trees around it, to hold itself up in the canopy. When it's time to seed, the baskets plummet to the ground and crash into the earth exploding. The sound of one of these falling can create stampedes of animals in the forest. (The tour guide said they sound like bombs falling from the sky).
4. The most dangerous animal is not the Saltwater Croc, the Tasmanian Devil, or any of the 20 most dangerous snakes in the world (all live in Australia). It's the Cassowary bird (the tribal totem animal of the local Aborigines). The bird is a giant flightless bird like an Enu but has razor sharp claws like a Raptor, is silent when it most, and is incredibly unpredictable. The birds live in the rainforest I was in, and the major concern about the animal is that it's so unpredictable, with no tell-tale signs of it's intentions, it can suddenly slice your entire midsection open in less then a heartbeat.
The skyrail ultimately takes you to the Tjapukai Aboriginal Park (a cultural park owned by native Aborigines, where they personally share their history and culture (it was NOT cheap to get in)). I expected the park to be a functioning village (sort of like Plymouth in MA); instead it was a lot like semi-private (small group) sit down discussions in an environment that looked sort of like a village. It gave me an incredibly understanding of their culture, past and present. They demonstrated traditional dancing techniques and the proper usage of the more common Aboriginal musical instruments. Alyssa and I were taught how to properly throw a boomerang for the best effect, and how to properly throw a spear without killing your instructor (Alyssa sucks at both). We were told the original stories of the "Dreamtime" and the "Making', they explained their philosophies on totem spirits and the proper naming of babies when their born. They taught us to find proper "bushtucker" and the use of some simple herbal medicines. They showed me how to properly play the Didgeridoo (that's important later), they can't show women really. Women are not suppose to use a Didgeridoo, the legends say that women who do, can become pregnant with evil spirits
Most difficult of all for me, was their sad stories about the recent past (last 100 years) and their oppression; how settlers enslaved them, hunted them like animals, the government paid people to destroy their culture and their villages. Only now after so much extinction are they beginning to become a nation again (they didn't have equal rights until the 70's). Of course, this rebirth looks a lot like the Native Americans and their casinos, and one Aborigine boy gloated to me about his new BMW. After the cultural park we grabbed a bus back to Cairns.
That night we bought the Opal ring in a small store in Cairns. The owner of the store ended up to be this awesome old Scottish husband and wife. They owned their own mine and we bought the ring off them personally (they had been living in this paradise, mining these stones for 36 years), I was very impressed by the service (but then againwhen you spend a decent amount of moneyyah you know the saying). We also went back to the night markets, to these two girls that sold living oysters out of a bathtub. You pick the oyster, they cut it open live in front of you, pull the random pearl out and make a necklace out of it right in front of you (we ended up with 2 peach, 1 white and 1 champagne colored). We bought these as gifts for Em, Sam and Misa back home. I took a lot of pictures to show everyone later how the small little booth was run and how they had almost ritualized the process. The coolest part was that after they made the necklaces, they gift wrapped them back into the polished shells of the oysters.
That was also the night I got the Didgeridoo, buying off a small booth in the night market that had proper documentation as the authenticity of his Aboriginal products. I had looked at HUNDREDS of "didge's" at that point, and I found the perfect one (the sound plays in key "C" sharp for anyone that cares).
Story behind the paintings on my Didgeridoo:
(Remember how I said I fell in love with the Echidnas at the zoo, well the "didge" is painted in the story of "The Echidna and the Goanna")
As the story goes, the Echidna and the Goanna were best friends during the dreamtime. While the echidna hunted for their food and fed the pair, the Goanna would guard and protect his friend the echidna from danger. One night by the fire, the echidna fell asleep, and while he slept, the goanna ate all the food. When the echidna awoke to find the food gone and the goanna's belly bulging he became furious. Grabbing a flaming red stick from the fire, the echidna began to beat the goanna, chasing him all over the outback beating and smacking him with the flaming stick. Ever since that day, the sons and daughters of the goanna remember that day with the bright red lines that criss-cross their scaled backsides
So after purchasing the "Didge" we paid the $100 bucks to ship the massive instrument home to RI, and continued the shopping spree. Next we found a vendor selling unique and original wine he was producing himself. The perfect gift for Joe and Stacey's wedding. I think we bought them "Dragon Fruit", Chocolate, and the other was "Lime Tequila" wine, and then we found these cool wine holders with Aboriginal paintings on them. We gave them the wine when we got home, because they have a wine cellar and we don't (sort of an early present I guess).
Day 3:
Today started early, as we needed to get aboard the ship and out to sea. We decided today we'd visit the Great Barrier Reef and do some snorkeling (I'm a certified diver, I have my license and have trained specialties in advanced open water and dry suit certification. However, Alyssa doesn't, and I could tell the idea of jumping into a reef of sharks and 100ft deep water was difficult for her, so I decided to snorkel with her and play bodyguard. Besides, it made the whole day lessserious and more carefree).
The ride on the bus was about an hour and a half, and follow a highway RIGHT on the coast. For the whole ride, the white beach never ceased along the roadside for a second, it was like a hundred miles of perfect beach, and I saw maybe 2 people on that entire stretch of sand. The ship we boarded was in Port Douglas (that's where all the ships ARE allowed). The ship wasn't too big, and the guests probably numbered around 30. When we sat down inside the ship, a family from Boston sat down with us, but before the ship even left anchor, the mother got sick and the family bailed on the trip then a strange couple named Anna and Gavin sat with us. They were in their 40's I'd say, but weren't married, in fact, it seemed this cruise was a romantic getaway for some exotic affair for the two. She was Swedish and had a thick accent; he was an Aussie from Melbourne. I was never really sure if they were just friendsor romantically involved, they sent weird vibes. We also met another young couple, schoolteachers from New Jersey on their honeymoon.
It took about two hours of fast traveling northeast to reach the reef. We did a total of three dives in three different locations. Again by just snorkeling I was able to just hang over the reef for literally hours, and seeing as the reef actually protruded out of the water in placesthere wasn't much need to dive anyhow. The boat typically anchored right off the reef, so the drop off the back of the boat, combined with the extensive wildlife in the water, even made me nervous jumping off. The first dive, required a little acclimation for Alyssa to build some coordination in her breathing, and some confidence in the water, but the wildlife was amazing and there was a huge amount of large and dynamic corals. On the second dive (at another location), it rained for a few minutes, but the sight of the rain hitting the water's surface was rather amazing to see, and it did little to mute the extensive colors of the reef right below the surface. I played with a small group of clownfish obsessed with their individual bubble anemones. You could also hear the Crasse fish biting the coral and making a snapping sound when you approached. At the third dive (yet another location), the reef was almost circular (known as "The Castle") and we swam around its length, bumping into two curious but friendly sharks on one side. I saw a lot of larger schools of fish on this dive (in particular a school of probably a million Blue Damsels ((numbering in the thousands at times, like clouds of rainbow colored flower pedals)). Alyssa had a lot of difficulty with the current here (she's not a strong swimmer), so I found myself jumping ahead and turning around a few times.
After returning to port, we jumped on the bus back to Cairns (again down that incredible highway) and ended the night at the only Italian restaurant we found in Australia.
Interesting points about the nature of the reef, that I learned for the first time:
1. The reef sometimes actually bunches into these massive jagged shapes that completely stick straight out of the water.
2. The dive tours (instead of damaging the reef) actually place their moorings around the reefs, each dive tour in the area, having their own mooring.
3. The territorial nature of the animals is incredibly apparent on the reef, and the dive instructors can actually find the same exact animals in the same locations each and every day. Some instructors going as far as training some of the wild animals to take food from their hands, encouraging the animals to not fear and actually approach humans in the water.
Day 4:
The last day. This was our "down day", sleeping in for a change, or trying to, we found ourselves out the door by 8am. Finished up most of the shopping, sat at the man-made lagoon for a bit watching the waves pound the beach. I decided to attempt a quick trip into the mountains to that artifact vendor in Kuranda. I paid a man $2 to drive me there (over an hour drive). The store vendor was so impressed that with my persistence that I ended up working him down 50n his goods. I ended up buying my second, third, and fourth boomerangs off him (two were gifts), a set of clap sticks, and 2 bullroarers (1 was a gift), all authentic. Another $2 dollar ride back to town and the shopping was officially done. On the ride I met two cool Aussies, both guys were from Sydney, one was an investment banker, and the other was a lawyer, they were both insanely interested in hearing about America. Talking to all these people on the trip was some of the best fun I had out there, the Australian people are so warm and friendly, and it seems that by the end of each conversation, you feel like you've known them your whole life.
Day 5:
The day from hell; our travel day started at 4am the next morning with a shuttle ride to the airport in Cairns and ended with the third plan flight of the day landing in Boston at 11pm the same day. Doesn't sound bad right, until you realize that I lived through 38 hours between 4am and 11pm (38 HOURS!!!) I could have died (I can't sleep on planes remember). Because the day kept "resetting" on me, I ate breakfast 3 times that day, the worst coming from a Chili's in L.A. (who at 10am when I arrived, was still serving BREAKFAST.ARGH!!!!!) The best part of this day was what happens to the sun when you catch up with tomorrow before the end of today. Somewhere over the Pacific, the hours jumped something like 10 hours ahead INSTANTLY, and the sun set in a matter of seconds as the next day showed up before the last day came close to ending, and within a couple hours rose again on the horizon as we caught back up with yesterday, it was bizarreit didn't seem to make any sense, but it seemed to interest everyone on the plane who was seeing it for the first time. (Did I mention that the Pacific ocean is HUGE!!!)
Final thoughts on Cairns:
-Much more laid back then Sydney
-Loved the night markets
-The food service was abysmal
-Hotel clerks are my heroes
-Super friendly people EVERYWHERE
Showing posts with label Travel Journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel Journal. Show all posts
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
An Aussie Sheila Named Sydney
Traveling, something I promised myself I'd do after school was over. To see the world and stand before all those wondrous things we read about in books and see on TV, and along the way meeting a million or so incredibly interesting people that I cross paths with in my journeys abroad.
When I speak to different people back home about traveling the world, I seem to find two sects of personal opinions on the subject: Those that dream of traveling, and if given the opportunity would gladly jump on a plane with me and run away to a far off place, and that other group of people that seem to come up with a hundred excuses why it's simply too much of a hassle to leave their quiet little corner of the world, and seem all too content to live out their lives held up under their rock.
So, this past August, I decided I'd make the longest of my trips...Australia, a most unique and incredible place on the opposite side of the planet.
Day 1+2:
Let's start with the obvious downside to traveling around the world...the flight. I'd really like to encourage you all and say it wasn't that bad...but, it's worse. Traveling from Boston to Sydney took 27 hours of continuous travel (the worst being the 18 hour flight from L.A. to Sydney), and the INSANE time change associated with that. When I arrived in Sydney it was 7:30pm on Sunday, yet my body was damn sure it was 5:30am (Saturday actually just about never existed for me that weekend (because of the drastic time zone change)). I can't sleep on planes...I have no idea why...so I read A LOT, and Quantas is awesome about movies and such, so I just about caught up with every movie I've never seen...EVER.
When we landed in Sydney and went through customs I got my first taste of Australian humor, as security went through my luggage in search of Ranch Dressing (I'm serious, they have major issues with ranch dressing), for whatever reason Americans smuggle ranch dressing into Australia..is simply beyond me (actually it's the chicken eggs in the dressing). The cab driver...like all cab drivers...was from a country foreign to the one he works in, mine was from Italy. Although I'll come to find out that Sydney is really one of the most culturally diverse places on Earth. Off to the hotel to force myself to sleep off the jet lag.
Day 3:
The next morning we ventured out into Downtown (my hotel was smack-dab in the center of the downtown area). For breakfast we found a cute little street side cafe (just like the other thousand or so in the area). I ordered a breakfast sandwich...but in Australia...they put BBQ sauce on their eggs...it was...interesting. (NOTE: food in Australia is expensive, although you NEVER tip, seriously. Also take care about what you order, sometimes the menus with contain items your familiar with, only when it comes to the table…your scratching your head. Meat pies are a favorite over there, but their meat pies…DISGUSTING). After breakfast we visited Sydney's Chinese Gardens in downtown, near the waterfront. It seems that the Australians have been making serious efforts to have stronger relations with their Asian neighbors, and the Chinatown in Sydney is an obvious example of the growing influence of Asian culture in Australia, especially Sydney. Afterwards, we walked the wharfs for a bit. Most of the Sydney area is waterfront. The city itself is actually divided up over the length of the bay, on both shores. A great deal of traveling through the region is done on ferry, hydrocraft, or water taxi. My second encounter with Australian humor was during a ferry ride, when someone pointed of that the tower that controls all the births in the harbor is known as "The Pill". Another example from that day was the Office of Records in Sydney, which handles the country's birth, marriage and death records...or as they call it "The Hatch, Match and Dispatch Office". (SIDE NOTE: the public transportation system is amazing, and CHEAP. For almost pennies you can traverse the area for days. They have a visitors pass called "The Sydney Pass" it's like $30 American, and can keep you moving around the city for days.)
After our "Walkabout' we jumped on and off the buses for a bit, did the basic tourist junk and got an overall feel for the city. Visited Bondi Beach that day, it was also my first glance into the giant tourist industry and how so many people try to sell knock off Aboriginal artifacts. However I did find one authentic Aboriginal owned store in Sydney, but he was very overpriced. I ended up purchasing one of my boomerangs there, as well as some incredible paintings of the "dreamtime" ...worth every penny (I never saw another artist like that for the rest of the trip-that's important).
Day4:
Today we decided to get outside the city a bit and see some of the sites beyond the city limits (The city of Sydney is technically like 50 miles wide). We visited the Featherdale Wildlife Refuge, got my chance to hang out LITERALLY with Kangaroos (very charismatic when you play with them...they seem to love little kids), Koalas (so timid, until you feed them...), Wombats (oblivious)..and just about every other Australian animal you can imagine. It's a cool place, with the exception of the more dangerous animals like Crocs and Cassowaries, you can interact with them, their not caged or anything, they just run free. Although I don't think the Kookaburra birds like people much.
Wentworth Falls was just a photo op, but being in the Blue Mountains brought up a great point. In Australia...the horizon is always a deep shade of blue, not the sky...the landscape. Next time you look into the sky, take note of how the sky slowly fades to white the closer it comes to the horizon line. In Australia...it's the opposite...the horizon turns MORE blue. Why, because of the Eucalyptus leaves. There is so much oil in the leaves, that when it evaporates...it turns the horizon blue. The down side to all this oil in the leaves…is forest fires. In Australia they have an incredible amount of forest fires, however, because it's such a natural occurrence, the plants and animals have built up defenses against the fire. Animals dig deep into the ground and wait out the flames, while trees and plants build up extra layers of bark that they can strip away after the fire is out.
While up in the Blue Mountains, we went on this God awful train ride down the steepest (52 degree) grade railroad IN THE WORLD...that was just crazy. We had tea (I had tea 8,000,000 times on this trip) up on a Cliffside and headed back towards Sydney. The bus's final stop (the tour was only 17 people) was the Olympic park…horrible. If you've even been to the one in Montreal, it's just as depressing and drab. It just seemed so lifeless, even the Aussies I was with, made fun. The biggest joke was the 18 million dollar Baseball stadium (they don't PLAY baseball in Australia, although just to build interest, their fielding a team in the upcoming World Baseball Classic). We jumped on a ferry at the Olympic village back to downtown (central Sydney dock is called "Circular Quay").
Traveling down the bay gave me a chance to see the suburban areas a little more and it seemed life as usual just outside the downtown area. We arrived just after dark and stopped by a pub for dinner in "The Rocks" part of town (the original settlement in Australia…now home to about 100 pubs). On the subject of drinking and pubs, the workday in Australia ends at 5pm, NOONE works late, even the retail stores close. EVERYONE in town, no matter their social class, their job, their ethnicity gets together in the pubs and drinks the night away...EVERYDAY. It's amazing, the whole city, every night, would just turn into a massive pub crawl (oh and only tourists drink Fosters).
That night we made our way, walking back through the city and found myself walking right into a chase scene being filmed for Superman the movie. I guess many of the movie studios now do a great deal of their production in Australia due to tax breaks and incentives. It was rather interesting to see how they had modified the area of town into "Metropolis" architecture and were going as far as washing the street with fire hoses with one crew of workers, while another group walked 20 yards behind them with flamethrowers drying the water. The car involved in the chase scene was actually three cars. They had a perfect version, one partially damaged, and one that was a wreck. The cameras, actors and crew grabbed my attention for at least an hour.
Interesting people from the tour:
Steve- the tour guide, he was actually a transplanted Kiwi.
Sharlene – nice sweet mom-type traveling alone.
Dave & Sarah – A couple living in Bangkok, but his computer job was uprooting them to Munich soon.
Ellen and Gert – Our new found friends from Holland on a 4-month vacation after college to Australia and Canada.
"Taiwanese Mafia" – the named coined by our tour guide. A group of Japanese girls all majoring in English. They were basically a group of giggling girls with cameras who spoke horrible English.
Jason – Some weird fellow from San Francisco who was traveling alone. Didn't say a whole lot.
Sarah & Lucy – made the tour. Two girls from the London area (Brighton in particular). They were on a 6-week vacation from beauty school. They "tried ' to teach me cockney slang. (ex. Scuba down the ole' kermit to fetch some tucker for me wok smuggler. = Let's go get something to eat.) They'd be proud.
Day 5:
Woke up and went back to Rosa's (the sidewalk café) at this point we were on a first name basis with the wait staff and had my own table. The waitress went over our "To Do' list and made changes and recommendations. We started with the Sydney Aquarium. I saw a Platypus (their much smaller then I thought they'd be, maybe 10 inches long). Next example of Aussie humor. The Salties (crocodiles) was sunken into the ground, you could jump in if you wanted, but the sign said "If the fall doesn't kill you, the Crocs will!!!" Did some walking through Hyde's Park and found ourselves at the Sydney Opera House. So seeing as it was our anniversary, we bought tickets for that evening (chi-ching), but I figured "Well, it is the Sydney Opera House, it will be worth the money." We finished up the daylight hours with some tourist stuff.
Off to the Symphony. Despite how well known the exterior of the Opera House is, the interior is unimpressive, and is mostly pop-culture 1970's architecture, all wood paneling and dull orange hues. The Symphony we attended, required all my energy to keep me awake, and some poking from Alyssa (who also dozed off). I tried desperately to envision storyline for the music, but most of the time it backfired into unconsciousness. After a quick cab ride home, I was left with an excellent memory that many people would find interesting, if only I left out the details.
Day 6:
My last day in Sydney before I jumped on a plane north to tropical Cairns (we'll go there in another blog entry). Breakfast at Rosa's (of course). We visited the Powerhouse Museum, it's an applied Sciences museum, where they change all the exhibits every year, sort of interesting in it's own way. A walk through Paddy's Market, it was a glorified flea market. Then we took a ferry over to Toranga Zoo (yah more animals). Fell in love with Echidnas, coolest animal, incredible personable and charismatic. After leaving the zoo, I thought we 'd do some shopping, but I found out quickly that most of the shopping in downtown is VERY upscale and not really my thing. Also, anything imported from the Western Hemisphere (i.e. USA) is incredibly mocked up in price.
Final thoughts on the city:
Very expensive (like most cities)
No tipping = poor service by American standards
Best zoo ever (it's all about the animals in Australia)
Incredibly clean city
Driving on the opposite side of the road is going to get someone killed
Winter averages in the 60's temperature wise.
Don't buy those Opera tickets.
I'd live there. The city is incredibly diverse, and seemed very stress free for the inhabitants. Everyone was very helpful and rather cheerful. The transportation is unmatched (they even have a monorail). There were always big crowds and a lot of action all day and all night. I loved the hybrid of Asian culture meets traditional British society, it was intriguing. The cities architecture was something you could stare at all day, a mix of Victorian and Elizabethan buildings surrounding huge modern skyscrapers. I loved it.
When I speak to different people back home about traveling the world, I seem to find two sects of personal opinions on the subject: Those that dream of traveling, and if given the opportunity would gladly jump on a plane with me and run away to a far off place, and that other group of people that seem to come up with a hundred excuses why it's simply too much of a hassle to leave their quiet little corner of the world, and seem all too content to live out their lives held up under their rock.
So, this past August, I decided I'd make the longest of my trips...Australia, a most unique and incredible place on the opposite side of the planet.
Day 1+2:
Let's start with the obvious downside to traveling around the world...the flight. I'd really like to encourage you all and say it wasn't that bad...but, it's worse. Traveling from Boston to Sydney took 27 hours of continuous travel (the worst being the 18 hour flight from L.A. to Sydney), and the INSANE time change associated with that. When I arrived in Sydney it was 7:30pm on Sunday, yet my body was damn sure it was 5:30am (Saturday actually just about never existed for me that weekend (because of the drastic time zone change)). I can't sleep on planes...I have no idea why...so I read A LOT, and Quantas is awesome about movies and such, so I just about caught up with every movie I've never seen...EVER.
When we landed in Sydney and went through customs I got my first taste of Australian humor, as security went through my luggage in search of Ranch Dressing (I'm serious, they have major issues with ranch dressing), for whatever reason Americans smuggle ranch dressing into Australia..is simply beyond me (actually it's the chicken eggs in the dressing). The cab driver...like all cab drivers...was from a country foreign to the one he works in, mine was from Italy. Although I'll come to find out that Sydney is really one of the most culturally diverse places on Earth. Off to the hotel to force myself to sleep off the jet lag.
Day 3:
The next morning we ventured out into Downtown (my hotel was smack-dab in the center of the downtown area). For breakfast we found a cute little street side cafe (just like the other thousand or so in the area). I ordered a breakfast sandwich...but in Australia...they put BBQ sauce on their eggs...it was...interesting. (NOTE: food in Australia is expensive, although you NEVER tip, seriously. Also take care about what you order, sometimes the menus with contain items your familiar with, only when it comes to the table…your scratching your head. Meat pies are a favorite over there, but their meat pies…DISGUSTING). After breakfast we visited Sydney's Chinese Gardens in downtown, near the waterfront. It seems that the Australians have been making serious efforts to have stronger relations with their Asian neighbors, and the Chinatown in Sydney is an obvious example of the growing influence of Asian culture in Australia, especially Sydney. Afterwards, we walked the wharfs for a bit. Most of the Sydney area is waterfront. The city itself is actually divided up over the length of the bay, on both shores. A great deal of traveling through the region is done on ferry, hydrocraft, or water taxi. My second encounter with Australian humor was during a ferry ride, when someone pointed of that the tower that controls all the births in the harbor is known as "The Pill". Another example from that day was the Office of Records in Sydney, which handles the country's birth, marriage and death records...or as they call it "The Hatch, Match and Dispatch Office". (SIDE NOTE: the public transportation system is amazing, and CHEAP. For almost pennies you can traverse the area for days. They have a visitors pass called "The Sydney Pass" it's like $30 American, and can keep you moving around the city for days.)
After our "Walkabout' we jumped on and off the buses for a bit, did the basic tourist junk and got an overall feel for the city. Visited Bondi Beach that day, it was also my first glance into the giant tourist industry and how so many people try to sell knock off Aboriginal artifacts. However I did find one authentic Aboriginal owned store in Sydney, but he was very overpriced. I ended up purchasing one of my boomerangs there, as well as some incredible paintings of the "dreamtime" ...worth every penny (I never saw another artist like that for the rest of the trip-that's important).
Day4:
Today we decided to get outside the city a bit and see some of the sites beyond the city limits (The city of Sydney is technically like 50 miles wide). We visited the Featherdale Wildlife Refuge, got my chance to hang out LITERALLY with Kangaroos (very charismatic when you play with them...they seem to love little kids), Koalas (so timid, until you feed them...), Wombats (oblivious)..and just about every other Australian animal you can imagine. It's a cool place, with the exception of the more dangerous animals like Crocs and Cassowaries, you can interact with them, their not caged or anything, they just run free. Although I don't think the Kookaburra birds like people much.
Wentworth Falls was just a photo op, but being in the Blue Mountains brought up a great point. In Australia...the horizon is always a deep shade of blue, not the sky...the landscape. Next time you look into the sky, take note of how the sky slowly fades to white the closer it comes to the horizon line. In Australia...it's the opposite...the horizon turns MORE blue. Why, because of the Eucalyptus leaves. There is so much oil in the leaves, that when it evaporates...it turns the horizon blue. The down side to all this oil in the leaves…is forest fires. In Australia they have an incredible amount of forest fires, however, because it's such a natural occurrence, the plants and animals have built up defenses against the fire. Animals dig deep into the ground and wait out the flames, while trees and plants build up extra layers of bark that they can strip away after the fire is out.
While up in the Blue Mountains, we went on this God awful train ride down the steepest (52 degree) grade railroad IN THE WORLD...that was just crazy. We had tea (I had tea 8,000,000 times on this trip) up on a Cliffside and headed back towards Sydney. The bus's final stop (the tour was only 17 people) was the Olympic park…horrible. If you've even been to the one in Montreal, it's just as depressing and drab. It just seemed so lifeless, even the Aussies I was with, made fun. The biggest joke was the 18 million dollar Baseball stadium (they don't PLAY baseball in Australia, although just to build interest, their fielding a team in the upcoming World Baseball Classic). We jumped on a ferry at the Olympic village back to downtown (central Sydney dock is called "Circular Quay").
Traveling down the bay gave me a chance to see the suburban areas a little more and it seemed life as usual just outside the downtown area. We arrived just after dark and stopped by a pub for dinner in "The Rocks" part of town (the original settlement in Australia…now home to about 100 pubs). On the subject of drinking and pubs, the workday in Australia ends at 5pm, NOONE works late, even the retail stores close. EVERYONE in town, no matter their social class, their job, their ethnicity gets together in the pubs and drinks the night away...EVERYDAY. It's amazing, the whole city, every night, would just turn into a massive pub crawl (oh and only tourists drink Fosters).
That night we made our way, walking back through the city and found myself walking right into a chase scene being filmed for Superman the movie. I guess many of the movie studios now do a great deal of their production in Australia due to tax breaks and incentives. It was rather interesting to see how they had modified the area of town into "Metropolis" architecture and were going as far as washing the street with fire hoses with one crew of workers, while another group walked 20 yards behind them with flamethrowers drying the water. The car involved in the chase scene was actually three cars. They had a perfect version, one partially damaged, and one that was a wreck. The cameras, actors and crew grabbed my attention for at least an hour.
Interesting people from the tour:
Steve- the tour guide, he was actually a transplanted Kiwi.
Sharlene – nice sweet mom-type traveling alone.
Dave & Sarah – A couple living in Bangkok, but his computer job was uprooting them to Munich soon.
Ellen and Gert – Our new found friends from Holland on a 4-month vacation after college to Australia and Canada.
"Taiwanese Mafia" – the named coined by our tour guide. A group of Japanese girls all majoring in English. They were basically a group of giggling girls with cameras who spoke horrible English.
Jason – Some weird fellow from San Francisco who was traveling alone. Didn't say a whole lot.
Sarah & Lucy – made the tour. Two girls from the London area (Brighton in particular). They were on a 6-week vacation from beauty school. They "tried ' to teach me cockney slang. (ex. Scuba down the ole' kermit to fetch some tucker for me wok smuggler. = Let's go get something to eat.) They'd be proud.
Day 5:
Woke up and went back to Rosa's (the sidewalk café) at this point we were on a first name basis with the wait staff and had my own table. The waitress went over our "To Do' list and made changes and recommendations. We started with the Sydney Aquarium. I saw a Platypus (their much smaller then I thought they'd be, maybe 10 inches long). Next example of Aussie humor. The Salties (crocodiles) was sunken into the ground, you could jump in if you wanted, but the sign said "If the fall doesn't kill you, the Crocs will!!!" Did some walking through Hyde's Park and found ourselves at the Sydney Opera House. So seeing as it was our anniversary, we bought tickets for that evening (chi-ching), but I figured "Well, it is the Sydney Opera House, it will be worth the money." We finished up the daylight hours with some tourist stuff.
Off to the Symphony. Despite how well known the exterior of the Opera House is, the interior is unimpressive, and is mostly pop-culture 1970's architecture, all wood paneling and dull orange hues. The Symphony we attended, required all my energy to keep me awake, and some poking from Alyssa (who also dozed off). I tried desperately to envision storyline for the music, but most of the time it backfired into unconsciousness. After a quick cab ride home, I was left with an excellent memory that many people would find interesting, if only I left out the details.
Day 6:
My last day in Sydney before I jumped on a plane north to tropical Cairns (we'll go there in another blog entry). Breakfast at Rosa's (of course). We visited the Powerhouse Museum, it's an applied Sciences museum, where they change all the exhibits every year, sort of interesting in it's own way. A walk through Paddy's Market, it was a glorified flea market. Then we took a ferry over to Toranga Zoo (yah more animals). Fell in love with Echidnas, coolest animal, incredible personable and charismatic. After leaving the zoo, I thought we 'd do some shopping, but I found out quickly that most of the shopping in downtown is VERY upscale and not really my thing. Also, anything imported from the Western Hemisphere (i.e. USA) is incredibly mocked up in price.
Final thoughts on the city:
Very expensive (like most cities)
No tipping = poor service by American standards
Best zoo ever (it's all about the animals in Australia)
Incredibly clean city
Driving on the opposite side of the road is going to get someone killed
Winter averages in the 60's temperature wise.
Don't buy those Opera tickets.
I'd live there. The city is incredibly diverse, and seemed very stress free for the inhabitants. Everyone was very helpful and rather cheerful. The transportation is unmatched (they even have a monorail). There were always big crowds and a lot of action all day and all night. I loved the hybrid of Asian culture meets traditional British society, it was intriguing. The cities architecture was something you could stare at all day, a mix of Victorian and Elizabethan buildings surrounding huge modern skyscrapers. I loved it.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
It was like being on Mars
The most quiet place on Earth, Prince Edward Island, a vacation from the world. I was looking for a somewhere to gather my thoughts, reflect on the past that I was avoiding, and build the foundation to a new future, and tranquil PEI was that place. Although the island has all the amenities of modern culture, the environment and the people who dwell there year round seem to take a page from a much simpler past, time really does stand still there. I decided that on this adventure, their would be no package deals, no pre-arranged anything, just two people, a map and a rental car.
DAY 1:
After a short flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the constant screenings and customs oriented questioning brought on by September 11th, we boarded a tiny prop plane that and flew the 3 hours to the remote island north of Nova Scotia, just southwest of Newfoundland. We arrived at the only airport on the island in Charlottetown, the capital "city" (it's really just a big town, smaller then Cranston). I can't say I really enjoy traveling in prop driven aircraft, and the landing. yah.
After we checked in at our "Strange" hotel, (She picked it out because it had a water slide that entered and exited throughout the walls of the hotel) we went out for, of all things Mexican, at this place in "downtown" called Pat and Willy's Cantina (this will be the only restaurant on the island that doesn't feed me shellfish). After driving around the town a bit (on a stomach full of Margaritas) and getting our bearings we called it a night.
DAY 2:
Today was the day to explore the Charlottetown area. We had breakfast at this small caf on Victoria Row, then jumped on this tour that was conducted from the only genuine London double-decker bus in North America, always wanted to ride one of those. Then we visited the Confederation Mall (a upscale mall full of little boutiques). I found this awesome, privately owned bookshop with this stereotypical librarian looking woman working behind the counter. I ended up buying a first edition, first run "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (The original British version wasn't called Sorcerer's Stone), and that book was my most prized artifact from the entire trip. After the mall, we visited this cult phenomenon of an ice cream shop called "C.O.W.S." and indulge in all manner of horrible things. After our sugar shock we walked over to the Charlottetown Museum. The artwork was ultra contemporary for a town that seemed stuck in a time warp. I suppose many of the artists there are sort of entrenched in postmodernism as they attempt to get beyond the world their finding themselves living in (we'll get there later). The most exciting spectacle in the museum was probably Alyssa and I dancing in front of a Degas painting. After the museum we visited Peake's Wharf (the Plymouth Rock of Canada) where I had my first taste of PEI Potatoes in the form of French Fries, and met this funky Ultra patriotic Scottish guy.
Ok I'll explain now, Prince Edward Island has A LOT of iron oxide in the soil, therefore the entire island is Fire-Engine RED, the ground is justbright REDeverywhere. It's like being on Mars. The iron oxide does crazy things to the vegetation on the island. The perfect example being the potatoes, they come in all different colors, the most popular being purple. The island's potatoes are considered gourmet by world standards and are highly sort after by culinary masters around the world, because there are subtle changes in the flavors of the different colors. It made for a very interesting selection of potato dishes that I'd experience while on the island.
We ate dinner on the wharf that night, watching the sunset from the upper deck of the restaurant. I found my completely indulging in the food in PEI, as I bought myself lobsters for dinner. Also the other PEI staple food became apparent, musselstons and tons of mussels. Everywhere you ate, everything you ordered ALWAYS came with buckets (literally) of mussels, and some restaurants would put mussels on the tables the way "normal" restaurants might put a small basket of bread out. I ended up eating more mussels during my stay in PEI then the entire sum of my previous 24 years on this Earth (I also had to eat her's, she's vegetarian), I haven't eaten them since.
That night driving back to the hotel, She decided we needed to make good on a promise to her family, so we stopped at the Island's only Wal-Mart and purchased 28 BOXES of Kinder Eggs for her family (they have an obsession, and you can't buy them in the United States). That evening was also the night we partook of the bizarre waterslides that criss-crossed through the hotel, inside and outside.
Day 3:
Today we got in the car and drove out to the furthest point west on the entire island, following the "Blue Heron" and "Lady Slipper" trails on the maps. The drive was endless with its agriculture farms and miles of unsettled land, untouched except for the pavement of the road we drove on. The island beyond the confines of Charlottetown was so quiet, and desolate. I drove for hours down roads that gave us a view of nothing more then hay and potato fields as far as the eye could see in every direction.
The farthest point west was a lighthouse that doubled as a restaurant and an inn, so we decided to eat there for lunch. Yes, I had more mussels, but the bread was even better, it was fresh baked on site. We walked the beach for a bit, collecting red sand (yes, even the beaches are bright red), there was no one on the beach except for us, this island can almost be TOO quiet at times.
I then drove to the new hotel, the Roud Boudnell River Resort out the eastern edge of the island. When we arrived, we notice these goofy little "gnome" cottages in the area, and made fun, only to find out we were booked for oneso we upgraded, considerably. The new room was incredible, and had a balcony that overlooked the river. The entire resort was much more upscale then I was expecting and I felt a bit out of place at times. For dinner we visited the resorts "second" nicest restaurant, but there was NOTHING on the menu for her to eat, and the majority of dishes on the menu exceeded $50 a plate. So we ate at the clubhouse for the golf course instead, which was probably more fancy then most upscale restaurants I've been to in the past. Spent the night after dinner between the Jacuzzi and the indoor pool, met two cool women from Pennsylvania and Ohio we spent a hour or so just chilling and talking about the world.
DAY 4:
Today we did some activities around the resort area, slept in late, went back to the clubhouse for breakfast (the cost of playing a single round of golf at the resort was $190 USD). We drove down to a sleepy little fishing village called Montague, for a seal-watching cruise. We thought there would be something to see and visit in the town of Montague as we waited for the boat, but the town is TINY with no attractions beyond an antique shop. So I sat for a while on the docks watching the fishing boats come in and out of the harbor, pondering a billion questions to which there were no answers. The cruise was pleasant and although the seals were shy for the most part, it gave me the chance to travel the waterways for a while, see how they cultivated mussels in offshore nurseries made up of large ropes that hung down into the water, saw huge flocks of sea birds fly over the inlets, and basically witnessed the world go by one fishing boat at a time.
When we returned to the resort we played boules with a family (cross between bowling and bocce), while we waited for our stable time to arrive. That afternoon we went horseback riding, probably the most fun activity we did the entire trip. I had the pleasure of riding a Clydesdale named Buster; she rode a much smaller horse named Scout. It was my first time horseback riding, but it will not be the last. We rode a trail, through an incredible forest full of giant trees and deep cutting rivers, that lead us out to a large stretch of beach. I think the horse was afraid of the water, but seemed compelled to pick up the pace along the sandy beach, whether I wanted him to or not. We were escorted along the trail by a rather interesting guide who grew up on the island and claimed that he would never leave. He gave us a crash course on the lifestyle of the people who lived on the island, explaining how most people tend to not maintain careers, and instead switch jobs with the seasons. In the winter, the ocean around the island actually freezes, and life in PEI grinds to a halt as the winter consumes the entire island. There is little travel, supplies are stockpiled and people tend to ride out the winter in the company of their friends and family. Our trail guide was planning on being a carpenter for the winter, fixing up some houses in the region while he waited out the bitter winter.
After showering out the smell of the horses, we went to dinner at a restaurant called "Windows on the Water" (I wonder what their attraction is), then spent the remainder of the evening at the outdoor pool at the resort watching the stars slowly come out of hiding in the sky.
Day 5:
We are off to Cavendish today, the entertainment capital of the tourism community on the island. We found ourselves stopping at one of the world's Ripley's Believe It or Not museums (I don't remember how many are in the world). They actually had a portion of the Berlin Wall. My single observation from the exhibits was: "Too many people in the world, have too much time, and too many popsicle sticks".
Then we went to this replica town for "Ann of Green Gables" (seemed a lot like Sturbridge Village), I've never read the books, but it was explained to me that the storyline actually took place on PEI. It was a child's paradise, at least if he/she was interested in the books, I myself found the most interesting attraction being the chocolate shop, watching them make all the candy.
After leaving that throwback town, we went to this funky little amusement park full of rides completely reminiscent of Rocky Point. The park even had THE EXACT same rollercoaster as the Cyclone, even CALLED the Cyclone, that ride brought back some crazy memories of my childhood. On the way to the park we passed a Black light Mini Golf, interestingbut very cheesy, I still don't understand how she finished 5 under par - cheater.
That night our dinner plans included a Murder Mystery Dinner, the dinner was really fun and we sat with a couple from Ottawa on their honeymoon, and another couple from England who were currently living in Toronto. The food was good; the murder mystery was that much better (And yes, they served mussels). The entire room contained clues, and the suspects interacted with the crowd, very amusing.
Day 6:
Our last day before heading home, I got to make ALL the plans. We traveled back to Charlottetown and went to this 50's diner called Checkers for breakfast. All the tables in the restaurant were giant Checkers boards with giant pieces, so waiting for our food was actually an enjoyable game of losing horribly to her in Checkers. We caught up on a few interesting stores and shops we missed the first time in town, then sat for a bit in the town green listening to a brass band play. After another trip to "C.O.W.S." we checked into the hotel, grab our beach towels and took off to the beach. We found a small-secluded beach that sat below a waterfall that ran off the cliffs above the red sandy beach. The waterfall was fed from a natural spring underground, so the water was freezing, but it didn't stop us from having water fight. That night for dinner we went to this place "Piazza Joe's", they serve all these different kinds of breads, you choose from a variety of spreads, and you cook your selections over these indoor fire pits around the restaurant, very original.
In the end, I found Prince Edward Island to be the quietest place on Earth, a complete escape from the pressures of reality. I found each minute spent there gave me unlimited opportunity to unwind and ground myself after a long time of self-doubt and personal confusion in my life. For years I was consumed by all these questions about the difficulties of life and the path to my future, and while on the island, I realized that life really isn't as difficult as it seems. I discovered focus and understanding under those stars, along those lonely roads, and on those bright red beaches, and all the cares in the world were forgotten, at least for a while.
3X5
I'm writing you to catch you up on places I've been
You held this letter probably got excited,
but there's nothing else inside it
didn't have a camera by my side this time
hopping I would see the world with both my eyes
maybe I will tell you all about it
when I'm in the mood
to lose my way with words
Today skies are painted colors of a cowboy's cliche'
And strange how clouds that look like mountains
in the sky are next to mountains anyway
Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it
when I'm in the mood
to lose my way but let me say
You should have seen
that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
just no more 3x5's
Guess you had to be there
Guess you had to be with me
Today I finally overcame
tryin' to fit the world inside a picture frame
Maybe I will tell you all about it
when I'm in the mood
to lose my way but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise
with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
just no more 3x5's
By John Mayer
DAY 1:
After a short flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the constant screenings and customs oriented questioning brought on by September 11th, we boarded a tiny prop plane that and flew the 3 hours to the remote island north of Nova Scotia, just southwest of Newfoundland. We arrived at the only airport on the island in Charlottetown, the capital "city" (it's really just a big town, smaller then Cranston). I can't say I really enjoy traveling in prop driven aircraft, and the landing. yah.
After we checked in at our "Strange" hotel, (She picked it out because it had a water slide that entered and exited throughout the walls of the hotel) we went out for, of all things Mexican, at this place in "downtown" called Pat and Willy's Cantina (this will be the only restaurant on the island that doesn't feed me shellfish). After driving around the town a bit (on a stomach full of Margaritas) and getting our bearings we called it a night.
DAY 2:
Today was the day to explore the Charlottetown area. We had breakfast at this small caf on Victoria Row, then jumped on this tour that was conducted from the only genuine London double-decker bus in North America, always wanted to ride one of those. Then we visited the Confederation Mall (a upscale mall full of little boutiques). I found this awesome, privately owned bookshop with this stereotypical librarian looking woman working behind the counter. I ended up buying a first edition, first run "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (The original British version wasn't called Sorcerer's Stone), and that book was my most prized artifact from the entire trip. After the mall, we visited this cult phenomenon of an ice cream shop called "C.O.W.S." and indulge in all manner of horrible things. After our sugar shock we walked over to the Charlottetown Museum. The artwork was ultra contemporary for a town that seemed stuck in a time warp. I suppose many of the artists there are sort of entrenched in postmodernism as they attempt to get beyond the world their finding themselves living in (we'll get there later). The most exciting spectacle in the museum was probably Alyssa and I dancing in front of a Degas painting. After the museum we visited Peake's Wharf (the Plymouth Rock of Canada) where I had my first taste of PEI Potatoes in the form of French Fries, and met this funky Ultra patriotic Scottish guy.
Ok I'll explain now, Prince Edward Island has A LOT of iron oxide in the soil, therefore the entire island is Fire-Engine RED, the ground is justbright REDeverywhere. It's like being on Mars. The iron oxide does crazy things to the vegetation on the island. The perfect example being the potatoes, they come in all different colors, the most popular being purple. The island's potatoes are considered gourmet by world standards and are highly sort after by culinary masters around the world, because there are subtle changes in the flavors of the different colors. It made for a very interesting selection of potato dishes that I'd experience while on the island.
We ate dinner on the wharf that night, watching the sunset from the upper deck of the restaurant. I found my completely indulging in the food in PEI, as I bought myself lobsters for dinner. Also the other PEI staple food became apparent, musselstons and tons of mussels. Everywhere you ate, everything you ordered ALWAYS came with buckets (literally) of mussels, and some restaurants would put mussels on the tables the way "normal" restaurants might put a small basket of bread out. I ended up eating more mussels during my stay in PEI then the entire sum of my previous 24 years on this Earth (I also had to eat her's, she's vegetarian), I haven't eaten them since.
That night driving back to the hotel, She decided we needed to make good on a promise to her family, so we stopped at the Island's only Wal-Mart and purchased 28 BOXES of Kinder Eggs for her family (they have an obsession, and you can't buy them in the United States). That evening was also the night we partook of the bizarre waterslides that criss-crossed through the hotel, inside and outside.
Day 3:
Today we got in the car and drove out to the furthest point west on the entire island, following the "Blue Heron" and "Lady Slipper" trails on the maps. The drive was endless with its agriculture farms and miles of unsettled land, untouched except for the pavement of the road we drove on. The island beyond the confines of Charlottetown was so quiet, and desolate. I drove for hours down roads that gave us a view of nothing more then hay and potato fields as far as the eye could see in every direction.
The farthest point west was a lighthouse that doubled as a restaurant and an inn, so we decided to eat there for lunch. Yes, I had more mussels, but the bread was even better, it was fresh baked on site. We walked the beach for a bit, collecting red sand (yes, even the beaches are bright red), there was no one on the beach except for us, this island can almost be TOO quiet at times.
I then drove to the new hotel, the Roud Boudnell River Resort out the eastern edge of the island. When we arrived, we notice these goofy little "gnome" cottages in the area, and made fun, only to find out we were booked for oneso we upgraded, considerably. The new room was incredible, and had a balcony that overlooked the river. The entire resort was much more upscale then I was expecting and I felt a bit out of place at times. For dinner we visited the resorts "second" nicest restaurant, but there was NOTHING on the menu for her to eat, and the majority of dishes on the menu exceeded $50 a plate. So we ate at the clubhouse for the golf course instead, which was probably more fancy then most upscale restaurants I've been to in the past. Spent the night after dinner between the Jacuzzi and the indoor pool, met two cool women from Pennsylvania and Ohio we spent a hour or so just chilling and talking about the world.
DAY 4:
Today we did some activities around the resort area, slept in late, went back to the clubhouse for breakfast (the cost of playing a single round of golf at the resort was $190 USD). We drove down to a sleepy little fishing village called Montague, for a seal-watching cruise. We thought there would be something to see and visit in the town of Montague as we waited for the boat, but the town is TINY with no attractions beyond an antique shop. So I sat for a while on the docks watching the fishing boats come in and out of the harbor, pondering a billion questions to which there were no answers. The cruise was pleasant and although the seals were shy for the most part, it gave me the chance to travel the waterways for a while, see how they cultivated mussels in offshore nurseries made up of large ropes that hung down into the water, saw huge flocks of sea birds fly over the inlets, and basically witnessed the world go by one fishing boat at a time.
When we returned to the resort we played boules with a family (cross between bowling and bocce), while we waited for our stable time to arrive. That afternoon we went horseback riding, probably the most fun activity we did the entire trip. I had the pleasure of riding a Clydesdale named Buster; she rode a much smaller horse named Scout. It was my first time horseback riding, but it will not be the last. We rode a trail, through an incredible forest full of giant trees and deep cutting rivers, that lead us out to a large stretch of beach. I think the horse was afraid of the water, but seemed compelled to pick up the pace along the sandy beach, whether I wanted him to or not. We were escorted along the trail by a rather interesting guide who grew up on the island and claimed that he would never leave. He gave us a crash course on the lifestyle of the people who lived on the island, explaining how most people tend to not maintain careers, and instead switch jobs with the seasons. In the winter, the ocean around the island actually freezes, and life in PEI grinds to a halt as the winter consumes the entire island. There is little travel, supplies are stockpiled and people tend to ride out the winter in the company of their friends and family. Our trail guide was planning on being a carpenter for the winter, fixing up some houses in the region while he waited out the bitter winter.
After showering out the smell of the horses, we went to dinner at a restaurant called "Windows on the Water" (I wonder what their attraction is), then spent the remainder of the evening at the outdoor pool at the resort watching the stars slowly come out of hiding in the sky.
Day 5:
We are off to Cavendish today, the entertainment capital of the tourism community on the island. We found ourselves stopping at one of the world's Ripley's Believe It or Not museums (I don't remember how many are in the world). They actually had a portion of the Berlin Wall. My single observation from the exhibits was: "Too many people in the world, have too much time, and too many popsicle sticks".
Then we went to this replica town for "Ann of Green Gables" (seemed a lot like Sturbridge Village), I've never read the books, but it was explained to me that the storyline actually took place on PEI. It was a child's paradise, at least if he/she was interested in the books, I myself found the most interesting attraction being the chocolate shop, watching them make all the candy.
After leaving that throwback town, we went to this funky little amusement park full of rides completely reminiscent of Rocky Point. The park even had THE EXACT same rollercoaster as the Cyclone, even CALLED the Cyclone, that ride brought back some crazy memories of my childhood. On the way to the park we passed a Black light Mini Golf, interestingbut very cheesy, I still don't understand how she finished 5 under par - cheater.
That night our dinner plans included a Murder Mystery Dinner, the dinner was really fun and we sat with a couple from Ottawa on their honeymoon, and another couple from England who were currently living in Toronto. The food was good; the murder mystery was that much better (And yes, they served mussels). The entire room contained clues, and the suspects interacted with the crowd, very amusing.
Day 6:
Our last day before heading home, I got to make ALL the plans. We traveled back to Charlottetown and went to this 50's diner called Checkers for breakfast. All the tables in the restaurant were giant Checkers boards with giant pieces, so waiting for our food was actually an enjoyable game of losing horribly to her in Checkers. We caught up on a few interesting stores and shops we missed the first time in town, then sat for a bit in the town green listening to a brass band play. After another trip to "C.O.W.S." we checked into the hotel, grab our beach towels and took off to the beach. We found a small-secluded beach that sat below a waterfall that ran off the cliffs above the red sandy beach. The waterfall was fed from a natural spring underground, so the water was freezing, but it didn't stop us from having water fight. That night for dinner we went to this place "Piazza Joe's", they serve all these different kinds of breads, you choose from a variety of spreads, and you cook your selections over these indoor fire pits around the restaurant, very original.
In the end, I found Prince Edward Island to be the quietest place on Earth, a complete escape from the pressures of reality. I found each minute spent there gave me unlimited opportunity to unwind and ground myself after a long time of self-doubt and personal confusion in my life. For years I was consumed by all these questions about the difficulties of life and the path to my future, and while on the island, I realized that life really isn't as difficult as it seems. I discovered focus and understanding under those stars, along those lonely roads, and on those bright red beaches, and all the cares in the world were forgotten, at least for a while.
3X5
I'm writing you to catch you up on places I've been
You held this letter probably got excited,
but there's nothing else inside it
didn't have a camera by my side this time
hopping I would see the world with both my eyes
maybe I will tell you all about it
when I'm in the mood
to lose my way with words
Today skies are painted colors of a cowboy's cliche'
And strange how clouds that look like mountains
in the sky are next to mountains anyway
Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it
when I'm in the mood
to lose my way but let me say
You should have seen
that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
just no more 3x5's
Guess you had to be there
Guess you had to be with me
Today I finally overcame
tryin' to fit the world inside a picture frame
Maybe I will tell you all about it
when I'm in the mood
to lose my way but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise
with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
just no more 3x5's
By John Mayer
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