After five days in Orange, I headed on the train back to Sydney on Wednesday afternoon to pick up my passport and theoretically my new computer that was supposed to be shipped to my childhood friend, Becky's, house. Becky and her husband, Anton, had offered to let me stay at their place for a few nights and also to sign for the delivery. Since I had missed my bus, it was already dark by the time I arrived in the western suburb of Macquarie Fields where Becky lives so she graciously agreed to pick me up at the station. I had a late dinner and we caught up a bit before heading off to bed. Of course my computer had not yet arrived as it was supposed to on Monday since Apple claimed they weren't able to get ahold of me to "confirm" my order even though I had been responding to all their e-mails. Apparently ordering and paying for something on-line is not good enough. No, they actually need to hear my voice over the phone so they know I'm a real, live human person. Or something like that.
The following day, I got the good news that my passport was ready and after spending the morning trying to sort out my computer issues (Apple finally processed my order and promised the delivery would arrive on Friday) I headed into Sydney. I was still nervous about my visa because the website just said the "application" was ready for collection as opposed to the actual approved visa. I can change the dates of my flights (for a fee), but not the routing so I didn't know what I was going to do if I wasn't allowed into India. I headed to the consulate first and nearly cried with relief when I was handed my dual-entry visa allowing me to leave for Nepal and then come back into India.
After picking up my passport I tried to contact the director who I had worked with on the Hong Kong shoot who lives in Sydney and Cam from Bangkok to see if they wanted to meet up. I left a message for Paul saying I would call back and told Cam I would try to stop by the bar where he had started working near Darling Harbor. It was rainy and grey out so instead of heading right to the bar I decided to go the Opera House and get a tour of the inside. I caught the last tour of the day and was able to see Concert Hall, Opera Theatre and small Drama Theatre below the Concert Hall. They were doing sound checks and starting a rehearsal for a Tim Finn concert that night so it was kind of cool to actually hear some music being played in the hall even if it was just disjointed drum and guitar riffs.
After the tour wrapped up I saw that Paul had e-mailed me to say he had been around during the day, but couldn't meet up at night since he had to leave early in the morning for a shoot. I felt bad for not calling him back sooner, but I guess that's the price you pay for not having a cell phone. I then headed toward Darling Harbor and tried to find the bar where Cam was working, but wasn't able to track him down. Then my phone battery died so I couldn't even get into my e-mail to find his number again to call. Since it was getting late I decided to head back to Macquarie Fields and call it a day.
On Friday, Becky and I waited around all morning for the computer to arrive while Anton worked on building a new retaining wall for their poll outside. By midday, the shipment tracking didn't even show that the package was on a truck so I knew there was no way it was getting there by the end of the day. I called Apple and told them to cancel the order realizing I would have to buy the computer in Melbourne. The woman on the phone said we should just refuse delivery when the package arrived and Apple would refund the money once it was returned. With no need to wait around any longer Becky and I left to go to the Mount Annan Botanic Garden, which is the largest botanical garden in Australia. It obviously features native plants, but is a bit more wild than the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney. We first walked along a woodland trail where we saw a pretty big monitor lizard and then went into the Big Idea Garden, which is supposed to educate people about sustainable landscaping. Our final stop was the Water Garden where a wedding (or at least wedding photos) were in full swing. We saw a lot of eucalyptus trees and cool-looking banksia plants.
After leaving the gardens, we went back to the house so that I could pack for my overnight bus to Melbourne. I decided to book a bus because it was less than half as much as a last minute flight. I knew it wouldn't be the most comfortable night sleep, but that I could make do. Before going to the bus station, we stopped off at a hotel bar to meet one of Becky's co-workers for a drink. We ended up rushing to make the bus, but luckily arrived with minutes to spare. Once I boarded, the bus driver proved to be quite chatty, which got me quite worried about getting a decent night sleep. He then put on a movie, which further added to my concern. Once the movie ended, I had started to drift off to sleep until around 11:00pm, we stopped at a rest stop and the driver went on for about five minutes before letting everyone off the bus. I was now really worried that he was going to make a big "to do" every time he stopped the bus. Luckily, he quieted down and I was pretty much able to sleep until we started approaching Melbourne early in the morning. I still crashed for a few hours once I got to my friend Lisa's house where I was staying until my flight to India.
Once I woke up in the afternoon, I went down to an Apple reseller and was pleasantly surprised to find out there was a sale going on so the Macbook I wanted was almost $100 off. I still ended up paying a little bit more than I would have if I had gotten the education discount I had been able to get on-line, but it was better than nothing. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the State Library of Victoria where I walked through an exhibition on post-war photography in Melbourne.
Bright and early on Sunday morning, I joined Lisa and her friend on a surfing trip down in Torquay one-and-a-half hours south of Melbourne. Lisa loaned me a surfboard and a spare wetsuit, but I was still freezing cold once we got into the water just after 7:00am. I learned very quickly that I am apparently no good at surfing. The first beach we went too was a bit too calm and overcrowded so we left there and drove five minutes down the road. This second beach had a bit more wave action, which might not have been the best thing for me. I was able to paddle out, but was having trouble even timing it right to catch a wave. Then at one point, as a bunch of waves broke around me, I kept getting knocked around and started swallowing a lot of water. I was actually a bit scared and paddled back to the beach for a bit to take a bit of a breather. I did eventually go back in, but never managed to stand on the board. The closest I got was one time on my knees before I lost my balance and fell off. In spite of my failure, I think I would like to try surfing again, though I definitely need some lessons.
We finished by around 9:00am because Lisa's friend had to get back to Melbourne, but in the late morning I met up with a friend I had met through Ross's roommate when I first arrived in Australia. Toby and I drove about an hour down the beginning of the Great Ocean Road from Torquay. Our first stop was a golf course that is always filled with kangaroos. Of course, my camera battery was dead so I had to use my cell phone with its crappy zoom app. The picture I got is the worst ever, but at least it proves I saw kangaroos in Australia!
After going down along the coastline, we headed back into town through the surrounding rainforest. Toby had run a race that morning and I had also been up really early so we crashed back at his place for a few hours in the afternoon. Then in the evening, Toby had a free ticket to a benefit for the Sea Shepherd organization, which fights against Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. I decided to go along and buy my own ticket. It was a fun night with some live music and a number of Australian celebrities who I had never heard of. The event was held at a venue owned by a former Australian Football League player who was the MC, the Australian comedian, Dave Hughes did a stand-up set that was pretty funny and Sea Shepherd founder, Paul Watson, gave a good speech about the organization's mission. After the fundraiser ended I stayed in Torquay for the night and then took the train back to Melbourne on Monday morning.
Before leaving Australia I tried to take care of all of the little things that I knew would be harder to do once I left the "Western" world again. As a result, I spent Monday afternoon getting my hair cut and having couchsurfing host/computer guru, Ross, copy over my old hard drive onto the new computer so I would still have all my old data. On Tuesday morning, Lisa's housemate was kind enough to drop me off at the airport on the way to visit his mom, but I STILL almost missed my flight. I made the mistake of standing in the regular check-in line instead of the web check-in line (even though I had checked in on-line) because it looked much shorter. However, it also moved much slower. In the end I was one of the last people to check in for the flight. Then the line for immigration was miles long. It turns out I wasn't the only one who had issues, though, because they ended up holding the flight for some passengers who were also delayed getting to the gate. I've got to say--this flying internationally every few weeks is not getting any easier.
The following day, I got the good news that my passport was ready and after spending the morning trying to sort out my computer issues (Apple finally processed my order and promised the delivery would arrive on Friday) I headed into Sydney. I was still nervous about my visa because the website just said the "application" was ready for collection as opposed to the actual approved visa. I can change the dates of my flights (for a fee), but not the routing so I didn't know what I was going to do if I wasn't allowed into India. I headed to the consulate first and nearly cried with relief when I was handed my dual-entry visa allowing me to leave for Nepal and then come back into India.
After picking up my passport I tried to contact the director who I had worked with on the Hong Kong shoot who lives in Sydney and Cam from Bangkok to see if they wanted to meet up. I left a message for Paul saying I would call back and told Cam I would try to stop by the bar where he had started working near Darling Harbor. It was rainy and grey out so instead of heading right to the bar I decided to go the Opera House and get a tour of the inside. I caught the last tour of the day and was able to see Concert Hall, Opera Theatre and small Drama Theatre below the Concert Hall. They were doing sound checks and starting a rehearsal for a Tim Finn concert that night so it was kind of cool to actually hear some music being played in the hall even if it was just disjointed drum and guitar riffs.After the tour wrapped up I saw that Paul had e-mailed me to say he had been around during the day, but couldn't meet up at night since he had to leave early in the morning for a shoot. I felt bad for not calling him back sooner, but I guess that's the price you pay for not having a cell phone. I then headed toward Darling Harbor and tried to find the bar where Cam was working, but wasn't able to track him down. Then my phone battery died so I couldn't even get into my e-mail to find his number again to call. Since it was getting late I decided to head back to Macquarie Fields and call it a day.
On Friday, Becky and I waited around all morning for the computer to arrive while Anton worked on building a new retaining wall for their poll outside. By midday, the shipment tracking didn't even show that the package was on a truck so I knew there was no way it was getting there by the end of the day. I called Apple and told them to cancel the order realizing I would have to buy the computer in Melbourne. The woman on the phone said we should just refuse delivery when the package arrived and Apple would refund the money once it was returned. With no need to wait around any longer Becky and I left to go to the Mount Annan Botanic Garden, which is the largest botanical garden in Australia. It obviously features native plants, but is a bit more wild than the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney. We first walked along a woodland trail where we saw a pretty big monitor lizard and then went into the Big Idea Garden, which is supposed to educate people about sustainable landscaping. Our final stop was the Water Garden where a wedding (or at least wedding photos) were in full swing. We saw a lot of eucalyptus trees and cool-looking banksia plants.
Once I woke up in the afternoon, I went down to an Apple reseller and was pleasantly surprised to find out there was a sale going on so the Macbook I wanted was almost $100 off. I still ended up paying a little bit more than I would have if I had gotten the education discount I had been able to get on-line, but it was better than nothing. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the State Library of Victoria where I walked through an exhibition on post-war photography in Melbourne.Bright and early on Sunday morning, I joined Lisa and her friend on a surfing trip down in Torquay one-and-a-half hours south of Melbourne. Lisa loaned me a surfboard and a spare wetsuit, but I was still freezing cold once we got into the water just after 7:00am. I learned very quickly that I am apparently no good at surfing. The first beach we went too was a bit too calm and overcrowded so we left there and drove five minutes down the road. This second beach had a bit more wave action, which might not have been the best thing for me. I was able to paddle out, but was having trouble even timing it right to catch a wave. Then at one point, as a bunch of waves broke around me, I kept getting knocked around and started swallowing a lot of water. I was actually a bit scared and paddled back to the beach for a bit to take a bit of a breather. I did eventually go back in, but never managed to stand on the board. The closest I got was one time on my knees before I lost my balance and fell off. In spite of my failure, I think I would like to try surfing again, though I definitely need some lessons.
We finished by around 9:00am because Lisa's friend had to get back to Melbourne, but in the late morning I met up with a friend I had met through Ross's roommate when I first arrived in Australia. Toby and I drove about an hour down the beginning of the Great Ocean Road from Torquay. Our first stop was a golf course that is always filled with kangaroos. Of course, my camera battery was dead so I had to use my cell phone with its crappy zoom app. The picture I got is the worst ever, but at least it proves I saw kangaroos in Australia!
After going down along the coastline, we headed back into town through the surrounding rainforest. Toby had run a race that morning and I had also been up really early so we crashed back at his place for a few hours in the afternoon. Then in the evening, Toby had a free ticket to a benefit for the Sea Shepherd organization, which fights against Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. I decided to go along and buy my own ticket. It was a fun night with some live music and a number of Australian celebrities who I had never heard of. The event was held at a venue owned by a former Australian Football League player who was the MC, the Australian comedian, Dave Hughes did a stand-up set that was pretty funny and Sea Shepherd founder, Paul Watson, gave a good speech about the organization's mission. After the fundraiser ended I stayed in Torquay for the night and then took the train back to Melbourne on Monday morning.
Before leaving Australia I tried to take care of all of the little things that I knew would be harder to do once I left the "Western" world again. As a result, I spent Monday afternoon getting my hair cut and having couchsurfing host/computer guru, Ross, copy over my old hard drive onto the new computer so I would still have all my old data. On Tuesday morning, Lisa's housemate was kind enough to drop me off at the airport on the way to visit his mom, but I STILL almost missed my flight. I made the mistake of standing in the regular check-in line instead of the web check-in line (even though I had checked in on-line) because it looked much shorter. However, it also moved much slower. In the end I was one of the last people to check in for the flight. Then the line for immigration was miles long. It turns out I wasn't the only one who had issues, though, because they ended up holding the flight for some passengers who were also delayed getting to the gate. I've got to say--this flying internationally every few weeks is not getting any easier.
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