Author: Lauren

Liebster Award!

I feel a bit like this is one of those chain-letter type things you used to get in e-mails (remember those?) or see on Facebook, and since it’s been a while since I’ve done one and it’s a good opportunity for you to get to know me better, why not go for it?

I’m not sure I’d ever even heard of the Liebster Award before, but I’m glad to know about it!  Katrina from The Thrifty Gypsy’s Travels introduced me to the award in this post.  (The rules regarding the award are here.)

Liebster Award info

1. How did you catch the travel bug? I think it’s in my blood.  My uncle has been to every continent except Antarctica and really the only big place left besides that on his bucket list is Italy–he’s never been!  My grandma also had a life-long dream of seeing Norway because she envisioned it as a real-life fairy tale land; she and my grandpa went with my uncle and aunt several years ago.  My first big trip was just after I turned 1 when my family went to Hawaii.
2.  If you attended Hogwarts, in which House would the Sorting Hat place you?  Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. I’m very loyal but also kind of a know-it-all…
3.  What’s your go-to ice breaker story about yourself? I don’t have a go-to, but it would surely be self-deprecating because that’s just how I roll.
4.  I hand you a free airline ticket voucher but you have to leave within a few hours (I know, I’m so generous).  Where do you go? Maybe London or Paris? I don’t know, sounds romantic though!
5.  What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you while traveling? Fortunately, I don’t have any scary, terrible travel-related stories, but in November 2013, I was living in Sydney, and my uncle had an aortic aneurysm and had to have emergency surgery. I was terrified that I would never see him again. Fortunately, he’s okay, having survived yet another near-death experience!
6.  Mountains or Beach? I love being near big bodies of water, so probably beach. But I enjoy being at the mountains too, for short periods of time. I enjoy being near civilization and most mountain destinations are decidedly not.
7.  Are there any countries that you would not visit?  If so, why? Hmm let me think…probably most of the Middle East. Just too much general trouble over there.   Plus I think many people there wouldn’t exactly be welcoming to Americans…
8.  What’s the best travel advice you’ve ever been given?  Just go!
9.  You stumble across a time machine.  You can go to any point of time, location, change social status, etc.  What time frame do you choose and who would you be?  (Doesn’t have to be anyone famous, e.g. “a Saxon armorer during the 1050s” is an acceptable answer.)  Oh, so I get to play Doctor Who, huh?  Maybe I’d go to my future and see what’s going on there?  ’80s London/Manchester for the music scene?  Follow David Bowie around in the ’70s?  Go see ancient Egypt, China, Japan, hang out with America’s Founding Fathers…so many possibilities…
10.  Other than traveling, what’s another passion/hobby of yours?  I really love listening to music—I’m a bit of a nerd.  I buy a lot of stuff on iTunes and AmazonMP3.  I have also loved singing pretty much all my life.
11.  If I came to visit you in your current city, where would you take me?  (Shamelessly stolen from Mariah) I would take you to all the places I’ve been wanting to try in Richmond but haven’t been to yet!  There are four taco places, two pho places, and two Chinese places, in addition to all the foodie destinations like Lunch and The Pig and Pearl, so you better be hungry! Also, we’d go to Maymont and Hollywood Cemetery, and Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden just because it’s been years since I’ve been there.  And we’d get classy super-swank Sunday brunch at The Jefferson or Can Can Brasserie in Carytown.  And if we’re not too bushed, I wouldn’t mind catching a concert at the new Broadberry across from the Science Museum.

11 Random Facts

  1. I foresee myself living on the West Coast, or at least in the Western part of the US. Like Utah or maybe Colorado, even though I thought Denver was weird.
  2. The only places I’ve been to on the West Coast are San Francisco and Los Angeles (where I spent a whopping 24 hours).
  3. My entire family lives in the metro Richmond area.
  4. I’m an only child, and actually the only grandchild on both sides of my family…no pressure.
  5. I’ve only been to five countries. I have my work cut out for me…
  6. I’ve watched NFL football my entire life (Go Packers!) but still don’t entirely understand it…I’m a little ashamed to admit that.
  7. Going to Italy in 2005 made me want to learn Italian. I have taken one class and have some language apps, but needless to say, I’m not proficient.
  8. I only recently started reading comic books. They’re good for people with short attention spans. 😛
  9. I love learning new things but wish that didn’t require so much time!
  10. Also I’m terrible at self-motivation. Hence #9.
  11. Running a blog can be overwhelming.  I’m currently taking a social media certification course not just for my blog, but also for hopeful future employment purposes, and there’s just so much to keep up with.  And I’m not even travelling right now!

Nominations

Sarah @ Plumb Worn Out (currently on honeymoon hiatus!)

Lori @ Going of Things

The Zen Kat

Adventurous Miriam

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to answer the following questions, and then pose 11 of your own.

11 Questions

  1. What’s your favorite smell?
  2. Describe a favorite travel scene—smell, sight, what you hear, if you ate anything. Where was it?
  3. Which “teen/children’s lit” scene are you most into: Harry Potter, Divergent, Hunger Games, John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, or (shudder) Twilight?
  4. What are you nerdy/geeky about? Comics? Music? TV shows? Science? Don’t be shy! 🙂
  5. Least favorite social media site? Why?
  6. Your future self travels back in time to give you a message. What does Future You say?
  7. What’s your favorite snack?
  8. Favorite exotic animal?
  9. Do you prefer a house with lots of decor, or do you like a more minimalist approach?
  10. What would your last meal consist of?
  11. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Flashback Friday: Memorial Day Weekends Past, or Tales of a Sometime Groupie

How has Memorial Day come and gone already?  I got my hair cut the other day and two people at the salon asked me what I did over the holiday.  I couldn’t remember!  Clearly it was enthralling.  But I’ve been thinking in the past day or two about some of the more memorable holiday weekends I’ve had over the years…

In 2009, I had just gotten into Flight of the Conchords and was absolutely nuts about the band and their tv show.  (How has this been five years ago already?!)  I joined a message board to geek out about it with fellow fans, and met two ladies from the boards who also lived in the DC area after the Conchords’ concert at DAR Constitution Hall that April.  Later, on the boards, these two ladies, Sara and Sheila, were discussing travelling to Vegas and LA to see them over Memorial Day weekend.  I had no plans and thought this sounded fantastic, so I asked if I could join.  I had never been to Vegas or LA either (or any parts of Nevada or California at all), so checking two more places off my list was a bonus.

I had arranged to leave work early that Friday so I could catch my flight, and my coworkers assumed I was just going to Richmond to hang out with family for the weekend.  Needless to say, they were quite surprised when I told them my plans.

I got to Vegas after dark that night and took a really expensive cab ride from the airport to Circus Circus to catch up with Sheila, and we walked around The Strip for hours, getting drinks at Trader Vic’s and eventually winding up at the Stratosphere around 2 a.m. before wandering back to Circus Circus, not too far away (and farther off The Strip than I’d realized).

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The next day, we met Sara at her hotel, the Venetian, which was niiiiice.  Oh so nice.  The concert that night was a lot of fun, and we met yet another fellow board member, but even better was being “those groupies” hanging out outside the hotel in the hopes that the band will come meet them.  I got to meet Jemaine, and my legs were like jelly because I had a crush on him…  Unfortunately, we left before Bret made an appearance.

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Me and Jemaine

The next day, I flew separately from Sara and Sheila and got the rental car at LAX.  I had a couple hours to kill before they would get there, so I drove around to get a feel for LA.  Somehow my GPS failed me and I ended up in the cute community of El Segundo, where I got lunch at a coffee shop.  I picked the girls up at the airport and we went to our hotel for a little bit before meeting other “Flighties” at the vegetarian restaurant Bulan Thai prior to the show, which was at the awesome Greek Theatre.  This show in particular was cool because during one song, the guys brought out the men who did the Spanish-language dubbing for their voices.  Bret greeted the crowd again that night, but only because Sheila had brought him a red toy piano to replace one he’d broken earlier on the tour.  I flew back to Northern Virginia the next day, sad that my whirlwind weekend as a “groupie” was over.

The next memorable Memorial Day was in 2012.  I was just leaving work, getting into my car as one of my best friends called me. “What are you doing tomorrow?” she asked.  I had no plans.  “Let’s go see Carbon Leaf at Massanutten.  They need volunteers to work their merch table.”

Now, Amanda and I have a history with Carbon Leaf.  We went to the same college, albeit at different times (their 10-year graduation anniversary was our freshman year) and we first met them when they played on campus during our first-ever Homecoming weekend. Eleven years on (!), the guys know me by sight and her by name (although unfortunately, it has been a couple of years since I’ve seen them).  We’ve seen them numerous times in different venues in three states and DC, sometimes separately but usually together.  We once saved Barry, the lead singer, from falling down some stairs at Richmond’s lovely National.*

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Me and Barry, October 2003.

Our boys were playing a festival at Massanutten, a resort about 2.5 hours’ drive from the DC area.  We wandered around a bit before sitting through probably a couple hours of other bands (country…ew), finally taking our place at the merch table as Carbon Leaf took to the stage.  There was a pretty steady stream of people come by during the show, and then afterwards, it was much, much busier. Even though it was pretty toasty and humid that day, and we had a long drive home, we had a great time.  Making such a spontaneous plan is rare for me, which I think made it all the more memorable.

These stories make me think it’s time for some more spontaneous trips so I can have more stories…I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.

*This story is only slightly exaggerated.

 

Instagrammers You Need to Follow, and a quick thanks

Some of my favorite Instagram feeds are travellers and adventurers, several of whom happen to be Australian.  And the Aussie pics do give me some pangs of longing to be back there…

  • Kathryn Leahy:  Her photos of Tasmania remind me of how much I loved it there.
  • Matthew Vandeputte:  He takes stunning photos of Sydney.
  • Aquabumps:  Gorgeous shots of Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
  • Craig Armstrong:  His cat goes rock climbing with him in Utah.  How cool is that?
  • Trev Lee:  His photos are generally adventure-themed and lovely.

Also, you can follow me here.

I also wanted to say thank you to all my new followers!  Hi y’all!

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and took a moment to remember why we observe it.

Focus Point

For the time being, I am still unemployed.  Many of the jobs I have looked at are social media jobs, and while I’ve been active in social media for years now, there is still so much that I don’t know.

A couple of weeks ago I discovered that the University of Richmond offered an online Social Media Certification course.  It started yesterday and I’m making my way through the first of nine sections.  It’s a lot of information.  Naturally, there are other courses about social media and travel blogging, and I’m tempted to take those as well–but one thing at a time!  I still need to carve out time to, you know, look for gainful employment (and use that gym membership I signed up for last week).

Now that I’m taking this class and have figured out that social media would be a good fit for me, I feel as though I’ve opened an enormous can of worms.  I’m seeing articles about social media everywhere!  A fellow travel blogger, Young Adventuress, just posted about how she has managed to make travel blogging her full-time job and her rules for being great at it.  Apparently, there’s even an association for professional travel bloggers (sadly, I don’t have near enough traffic to qualify for membership…yet).

Maybe this class will spark me to do more writing here as I explore social media analytics and whatnot.  Maybe I’ll refine my blog network (which, if you’ve forgotten, includes Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Flickr, as well as my former blog at Blogger, A 3×5 Life).  We’ll see.  In the meantime, if you know anyone who needs writing or editing work done, send them my way, would you?

Ciao for now!

Theatre District

Haven’t been to Chicago yet, but it’s on my list! The photo is courtesy of my friend Angela, who is one of the ladies behind Capital Fit Geek (http://capfitgeek.wordpress.com/). Check out their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/capfitgeek.

Where to next?

So what have I been up to in the two months I’ve been back?  Well, I’ve been to the DC area a couple times to visit friends, done some touristy stuff around Richmond, spent a lot of time entertaining my parents’ cats, and have (unsuccessfully…) applied for a few jobs.

I’d told myself I would give Richmond another chance after having been so unimpressed with it pretty much my entire life.  People seem to love it here.  One of my best friends says she loves it and believes she’ll live here at some point before she retires; tons of people have those RVA stickers on their cars; even Frommer’s named Richmond one of its top 20 destinations this year in the entire world.  I told my parents that and their response was the same as mine:  “Why?”

Maybe I am going to feel eternally let down by my hometown because I’m from here and thus it will always feel pedestrian to me.  Still, it’s been good to catch up with friends here and visit some old haunts (Casa Grande’s grande chicken quesadillas are exactly as awesome as I remembered them being) and try to find some new ones while I’m here (the salted caramel chocolate cake at Shyndigz is completely amazing).  However, I am disappointed by the lack of decent gyms and yoga studios near me–I’m not driving 20 minutes each way to go work out!  (The Gold’s Gym near me is nice enough but is big, overwhelming, and full of gym rats, and thus I’ll probably join the community center near me instead.)  And with all the things Short Pump has to offer (Richmond’s only REI, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, and some of the best upper middle-scale shopping in town, if you care about those kinds of things), the sprawl out there is so bad, Arcade Fire would write a song about it.  What is now the monstrosity of West Broad Village (village, my ass) was farmland less than 10 years ago.  It’s a massive shame, really.

Sure, there are things I like about Richmond.  I have friends and family here.  I love Maymont, although I haven’t been there in years. Hollywood Cemetery was pretty cool too.  But one thing is still glaringly obvious to me:  I will move out of Richmond, again.  It’s just a matter of when and to where.

That said, I visited the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) in February before its Hollywood wardrobe exhibit closed.  I got to see one of Christopher Reeve’s Superman costumes and one of Christian Bale’s Batman outfits, as well as Indiana Jones’ getup and one of Beyonce’s dresses from Dreamgirls–pretty cool!  I loved that exhibit (I wish I could have taken pictures!) and took the opportunity to explore most of the rest of the museum while there.  I really enjoyed the South Asian art exhibit on the top floor, with a lot of it drawing from mythological influences.  My feet were pretty tired by the time I finally got up there though, so I should definitely go back and see it again–after all, it’s free to get in (unless you’re seeing a special exhibit such as the movie costumes).  It should be noted that the VMFA also has the distinctions of having been one of just seven museums in the world to get a big travelling Picasso exhibit in 2011, as well as having the largest public collection of Faberge items outside of Russia.

I have discovered some other interesting things about Richmond, some of which I didn’t know.  For example, it has street art and dragon boat festivals.  This past weekend’s Monument Ave 10K had over 36,000 participants from 44 states and even other countries and has become one of the biggest races of its kind in the nation.  My friend who ran it says she loved the camaraderie and wants to make it an annual event for herself.

Hopefully, I’ll put my foot down and finally begin sifting through the 2500+ photos I took in Australia and post them to my Flickr.  Who knows, I may also do some travelling just because I have nothing much else going on right now aside from the job search (which I admittedly could be working much harder at).  We’ll just have to see.

Until next time.

Epilogue

I spent my last two weeks in Sydney taking acting classes at the prestigious NIDA (during January they have short summer sessions), which was a blast, and tying up some loose ends before I left, including seeing things I hadn’t gotten to yet, like the Pylon Lookout.  Of course, the last real bout of nice weather we had was during my week at NIDA, so the only real time we had outside was during lunch. I was glad I wandered over to the Australian National Maritime Museum to see their really cool exhibit about Vikings–since the weather wasn’t great, I figured I might as well see a museum.  For my birthday, I went to Quattro Formaggi to get tiramisu and a glass of wine and later that night went out for Indian food and gelato with my French roommate Lulu.  My last full day in Sydney was Australia Day, so I wandered down to The Rocks for some of the festivities.

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I’ve been back in the States for a week now.  It took me a few days to get back on a somewhat normal sleep schedule, although even in the past day or two I’ve still found myself desperately tired around 3 p.m.  I spent the weekend catching up with friends in Northern Virginia, and this week I’ve been getting more into “real adult life,” i.e. making necessary phone calls and writing e-mails, although my suitcases are still mostly full because I have no idea where some of those things will go once they’re unpacked.  Now that I’m back in Richmond camping out at my parents’ house, I plan to get a little more acquainted with the city and try not to take it for granted as much.  For example, a friend’s pictures of the graffiti murals along the River Walk have me really curious to see them–I had no idea they were there.  I’ll be sure to report back here or on Instagram or Facebook on what I find!

There are a number of things I wish I’d done in Australia this time, but I felt like the time was right to come back to America, not to mention how much easier it is to be here in the same time zone with family and friends.  But you can bet I’m still looking at travels in the near future.

Last week in gorgeous Tasmania…

I only realized yesterday I never filled you all in on my trip to Tassie last week with Katie that I met in the Hunter Valley.  I took an early early morning flight (I left the house at 4:15 a.m.) for my direct flight to the charming small city of Hobart (direct flights are the way to go, unless you want to spend 6 hours in transit when the flight from Sydney to Hobart is 2).  I got to town really early and couldn’t check in to the YHA there, so I had a few hours to walk around.  I had heard about Lark Distillery, and as I am keen on a good bourbon or whisk(e)y now and again, I was eager to visit–lo and behold, it was a whole two blocks from the hostel!  Their website said they only did tours around 2 or 2:30, but I dropped in and asked and they put me in a tour happening at 12:30 that day.  I had a quick lunch before returning for the “tour,” which was a little informal for my taste.  Not only does the distillery do whiskeys, but they do gin and vodka as well.  The whiskeys were not at all what I was used to, but I enjoyed them all the same and bought some as a souvenir.  Later that evening, Katie and I met up for dinner in Salamanca Place, a strip full of bars and restaurants just near the Brooke St wharf.

The next day, Katie and I got breakfast and decided to visit the world-renowned MONA, or Museum of Old and New Art.  I had heard that the ferry ride alone was amazing, and it was pretty great.  It’s oddly swanky for a ferry, which makes it all the more fun, and the scenery is gorgeous as well.  It’s…an interesting place.  I’ve never been much for contemporary “art,” and this was no exception.  I actually found the place to be just plain freaky and weird on the inside.  Lunch time came around and we made our way to the wine bar and sat outside, as it was a phenomenal day.  On one side, the building was bordered by vines, on another, an open field with a giant stage featuring a live jazz band (on a Wednesday afternoon, even!) and dozens upon dozens of cushions welcoming people to grab a drink and get comfy.  I was bushed by the time Katie and I got back to the YHA, and I still needed to move from there to The Pickled Frog, a place with a ton of character (as well as cheap coffee and beer–essentials for hostellers!).

Thursday morning Katie and I had breakfast at Doctor Coffee again before she flew back to Melbourne.  I had booked a cruise to Peppermint Bay, which included a multi-course lunch once we got there.  It was a fabulous day to be on the water.  The boat was nice, lunch was delicious, and I chatted with some friendly folks as we ate.

I had booked two tours that would keep me occupied for the whole of Friday, and I had saved the best for that morning.  The Pickled Frog provided a free shuttle up Mount Wellington on Wednesdays, but as Katie and I had gone to MONA, I had missed out, so I opted to book a bus tour up the mountain and around town instead.  Mount Wellington is situated adjacent to Hobart, so climbing up the mountain, you get brilliant views of the city.  Being on the mountain was absolutely breathtaking.  There were almost no clouds, just a slight haze over the surrounding area.  In the afternoon, another tour took me to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary for me to see the local fauna, including Tasmanian devils (what’s a trip to Tassie without seeing them, right?).

Saturday morning I was up early enough to get breakfast and wander around the market at Salamanca Place.  The markets didn’t actually open until 9, by which time I’d already be back at the airport, but I did manage to procure a local dark chocolate-macadamia nut bar for myself and a pretty nice Tasmanian devil stuffed animal for a friend.

I was really glad Katie had invited me to Tasmania, as otherwise I might not have gone.  To be honest, I’m a bit burned out on hostelling and living out of a suitcase, and so I’m heading back to the States at the end of the month.  But Tasmania was a fantastic place to take one last trip before going home.  Thanks Katie!

Until next time!

Holiday adventures

For Christmas, I had no plans (being away from family and friends is hard, y’all), so when I read that the Sydney BridgeClimb operated on Christmas day, I knew I had to sign up.  I’d been to Sydney twice before and hadn’t done it and had been kicking myself ever since that first trip in 2001.  I was hoping the weather would be good, and while that didn’t quite pan out the way I’d hoped it would, the experience was still awesome.

It was completely overcast and a little rainy that day, but I quickly came to realize this was far preferable to a hot summer day.  Before putting on our jumpsuits, one of the employees advised that since it was so humid outside, if we were wearing full-length pants or jeans, we should take them off before putting on the jumpsuits.  Was not expecting that, but it makes sense.  We spent maybe half an hour gearing up with belts (which feature a slider to connect you to a super-strength cable on the bridge), radios, and rain jackets.

When we finally emerged from the catwalks under the bridge (they can be a bit of a tight squeeze!), I definitely had a moment where I thought, “Holy s$#@, I’m climbing on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.”  Sure, tons of other people have done it too, but it’s still really cool to see the city from that point of view.  You see the traffic below you on the bridge, ships passing by–we even saw a giant cargo ship about to pass under the bridge.  It’s too bad you can’t take pictures of your own; you aren’t allowed to bring anything with you. You can’t even wear a watch.  What you wear has to be strapped to the jumpsuit or belt.

The following Friday, I left for the Hunter Valley.  If you’re like me and don’t want to drive yourself around, well, tough luck.  It took me about 7.5 hours, partially because public transportation (which you can take to get from Sydney to a LOT of places far and wide) was operating on a weekend schedule due to the holidays, so my waits between buses and trains were extended.  The YHA hostel I stayed at was decent, as far as hostels go.  They actually do their own wine tour, so naturally I signed up even though I already was waking up early for a hot air balloon ride and wanted to go to the Hunter Valley Gardens afterward to see their Christmas display.  My long journey (and assumption that the valley had some kind of public transport…) had thrown off my plans for the weekend–I had thought I would check out the Gardens Friday night, wine tour Saturday, hot air balloon ride early Sunday morning before I left.  Silly me, making plans.  Fortunately, Potters Brewery is just a few minutes’ walk from the hostel, so I relaxed with some beer and pizza and resigned myself to the long Saturday ahead.

I woke up at 4:15 the next morning (good thing I heard my second alarm!) and shoved some leftover pizza in my face before meeting the shuttle to the Peterson Champagne House (for $15 extra, they picked me up at the hostel).  We split into two groups and from there made our way to the departure point.  Now, as I’ve gotten older, somehow I’ve developed a little more of an aversion to being in the air–I think the idea of turbulence and such things bugs me more.  But after a few minutes in the air, that fear vanished and I was able to enjoy the beautiful surroundings as the sun came up.  After maybe an hour, we were back on the ground.  We helped our awesome operator Yosh to pack up the balloon and then we were off to enjoy our very filling champagne breakfast.

That filling breakfast was necessary, as later in the morning, I was going on the YHA’s wine tour.  I really enjoyed the sparkling moscato at Bimbadgen, the first winery we went to–it was like drinking peaches.  So delicious.  Pretty much everything else that day was more or less white noise, the same types of wines over and over.

I was able to get the tour driver to drop me off at the Hunter Valley Gardens.  The Christmas display didn’t open for a while, so I had a little time to kill.  I had a nice dinner at a restaurant in the shopping village before I moseyed over to the Gardens a little after they reopened at 6:30.  I had intended to wander around the gardens a bit to see them in the daylight, but there were hordes of people waiting for the Christmas display to open, so I decided I would stick close to the gate leading to the holiday lights so I could be ahead of the crowds.  I ended up making friends with a British woman living in northern Idaho, and we hung out for the rest of the evening, checking out the gardens and taking a long ride on the Ferris wheel–she was even nice enough to drive me back to my hostel.

I had made friends with one of my hostel roommates, and as we waited for the shuttle back to town so we could get the train back to Sydney, we chatted with another girl, Katie, who was also travelling through Sydney.  Katie was staying in the Blue Mountains but hoped to see the fireworks in Sydney on New Year’s Eve, figuring she would take the train back to Katoomba after the fireworks.  It occurred to me during our train ride back to Sydney that I could pay forward the generosity that people had shown me on this trip by offering to have Katie stay over at my place–the homeowners had already given their blessing to do so and they weren’t going to be here, so why not?

So Tuesday Katie joined me in Balmain, where we walked around and scoped out how many people were going to be watching the fireworks from the parks by the Balmain East Wharf.  We worried that there would be a lot of them, and there weren’t as many as we’d expected, but enough that we came back to the house, got our stuff, got some snacks at the grocery store, and came back to the park, where we camped for 8 hours.  We talked to one of our neighbors, who offered us wine since we had nothing to drink but water (even though all the viewing spots were supposed to be alcohol-free, police didn’t seem too concerned with the large amounts of alcohol being openly consumed).

There was a short fireworks show at 9 for families with young children who couldn’t make it to midnight.  That was just a teaser for the real show at midnight, which was 12 minutes long and so incredibly worth the 8-hour wait.  Every time we thought the show was coming to an end, the fireworks just kept rolling on.

So that’s the roundup of what I’ve been up to.  Katie invited me to hang out with her in Tasmania for a few days, so I’m leaving Tuesday and have been planning that trip all this morning.  Happy new year everyone, and I hope it includes lots of adventures for you!

Tuesday I got back from two days in Uluru (Ayers Rock).  In my two previous trips to Australia, I hadn’t managed to get there, so third time’s a charm, right?  It is lovely in an oddly endearing way with its scrub and desolation, beautiful in a unique and very different way to a place like Sydney, whose beauty is based on its architecture, harbor and shoreline (and maybe the people).  It’s also hot, as you would expect a desert to be in summer.  But really the star of the trip–or stars, rather–were Kata-Tjuta, or the Olgas, a rock formation whose Aboriginal name means “many heads” due to its multiple domed rocks. 

I got to Ayers Rock on Sunday afternoon and spent most of that time determining what tours to take and what to try and see.  I knew that I hadn’t given myself enough time to explore the area much, but I also didn’t relish the thought of being in a hostel in the middle of a desert for too long (don’t get me started on the hostel).  There isn’t much else to see in the immediate area of Ayers Rock; the nearest city, Alice Springs, is around four hours away.  Another national park, Kings Canyon, is three hours away.  So really, Uluru-Kata-Tjuta National Park is very isolated.  There’s nothing else out that way, so you’re going there just to see a bunch of giant rocks.  I booked a couple of tours, including an astronomy tour to take place that evening–if you’re going to be out in the middle of the desert, you may as well try to see some stars, right?  Not far from my hostel dorm, there was a lookout over Uluru and I went to check it out around sunset.  I had heard that Uluru changed colors in the light, which makes sense.  But throughout sunset, I thought it looked largely the same and I was left less than impressed.  However, the sun was setting right by Kata-Tjuta, and it was glorious.  Possibly the best sunset I’ve ever seen.  The cloud cover made for a great sunset, but the astronomy tour was cancelled that evening and I was rescheduled for the next night.

My tour Monday afternoon wound its way through the national park, spending time in the Olgas and admiring Ayers Rock from afar.  The temperature outside was roughly 100F on the ground, but during our short hike in Kata-Tjuta between Mt. Olga and another rock whose name I can’t remember, our guide advised us that it would be even hotter since the rocks would radiate the heat and the sun would be bearing down on us.  (Why do they do such tours in the middle of the afternoon, anyway?)  The hike itself was decent, aside from the insects (it’s not Australia’s spiders you need to be concerned about—it’s the number of flies), but the journey was a bit more interesting than the destination.  A lot of the area is closed due to Aboriginal cultural significance, and some areas are off-limits when it’s really hot, as was the case with the Valley of the Winds (which a fellow tourist said was far better than the hike we’d done).  After our hike, we drove around to a lookout to see Uluru at sunset while drinking wine.  I was a bit too busy with the latter and making friends with a fellow solo American female traveller to take any pictures, but I can tell you that the sunset there wasn’t that spectacular.  At sunset, it really is Kata-Tjuta that you should see.

Needless to say, I was sweaty and disgusting from all the hiking that afternoon, so my new friend let me take a shower in her hotel room.  She even gave me a bag full of fruit, some milk and a bunch of tea bags before sending me on my way to the astronomy tour.  I felt this tour was more informative and interesting than the one I took at the Sydney Observatory several weeks ago, and much smaller as well.  We didn’t see nearly as many stars as I’d hoped, as the nearly-full moon was so bright it was casting shadows.

Tuesday was uneventful since my flight was in the middle of the day, but as always, I was glad to come back to Sydney.

I look forward to my next trip to the Hunter Valley (read:  wine country) the weekend after Christmas.  Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!