I hate goodbyes. Ta Australia.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

                I arrived in Sydney 13 hours later and felt like I was in NYC.  Everyone looked sharp and I could hear the familiar clicking and clacking sound of heels hitting concrete.  It was quite different from flip flops hitting sand.  I checked into my FANCY YHA hostel and walked around the oldest part of Sydney called The Rocks.  I walked across the Sydney Harbor Bridge where I got a great view of the city and the Opera House.  The CBD (Central Business District) was bustling and it only reminded me of how remote my other destinations were on this trip.  I was a million miles away from the sound of silence in Milford Sounds, NZ. 

                Before I left home, my former teacher and friend, Mike Bontempo and his wife, Karen, met me for brunch.  Karen gave me a lady bug pin for good luck (and it sure worked!).  Mr. Bontempo (it’s too weird to call him Mike) gave me a $50 bill and told me when I get some place really nice, order a drink on him, and say, “How the fck did I get here?!?”  That night I fulfilled his request at a restaurant called Peter Doyle overlooking Sydney Harbor during their annual light festival.  On my left side, I could watch the hourly fire show that was synchronized to music.  On my right side, I could see the altering lighting schemes performed on the exterior of the Sydney Opera House and its surroundings.  This was the perfect place to order a “Red Corvette” cocktail and reflect on my wonderful trip and beautiful life.  Thanks, Mr. Bontempo.

 

Sydney Opera House



 



Night out at Peter Doyle



Sydney Light Show

Sydney Light Show

Sydney Light Show

Sydney Light Show

Sydney Light Show

Sydney Light Show

Sydney Light Show

                 The next morning I took my time getting to Manly Beach where I picked up some souvenirs for my nieces and nephews.  I had a dream about them the night before and really missed them.  I ended up running into Marc (German) from the Dolphins Hostel in Noosa so I spent the afternoon with him on Manly Beach watching the surfers and taking my best shot at the amateur sport of tight-rope walking.  I headed to Newtown for dinner and was blown away by all the restaurant options.  I settled into Newtown Thai and had a delicious plate of Pad Thai.  I brought a newspaper with me since it’s boring to eat alone.  I noticed that the news articles were pretty upbeat for a city paper- no murders to discuss.  I also noticed that they referred to the US a lot!  Besides all of the Hollywood gossip, all of their articles quoted studies that had been performed in the US.  I took my time with the paper and left the restaurant without paying!  I had forgotten that the servers don’t bring the check to the customer in OZ.  The customer must come claim the check from the main booth.  The server had to run me down in the street- Whoops.  I almost chewed and screwed in Newtown.


                On the way back home, I was bored and ducked into the YHA (that I was no longer staying at) to watch the feature movie.  They had a brilliant movie theatre and no one seemed to notice that I didn’t belong when I was cozying up to an oversized beanbag chair.  I watched “Into the Wild” and felt a deeper connection to it this time around since I was on my own adventure.  One quote I enjoyed was when he said that tramping was too easy with all the money he got paid.  He had more fun when he was penniless.  I agreed with him.  It’s very easy to travel when you have the means and everything is planned out for you.  Everything is safe.  The most fun I’ve had on this trip is when I took a chance on something or someone and had no idea how it would play out.  There is a certain thrill about the unknown.  


Manly Beach



Tight-rope walking on Manly Beach



                I headed out to Bondi Beach the day for the eastern suburb coastal walk.  It was a very windy day and the air was chilly.  All of the beaches were beautiful even though it was too cold for me to even think about putting on my swimmers (bathing suit).  I met two Boston College girls on the path and had a nice chat with them.  The walk was much longer than I thought it would be.  There were several beaches between Bondi and Coogee and many of them had man-made salt water swimming pools.  They were so cool!  They were built right on the ocean and the waves would crash over the sides every now and then.


Salt water swimming pools near Bondi Beach



I shopped a bit before heading to the Beach Road Hotel for some live music. Unfortunately the music didn’t start for 3 hours so I took an inconspicuous nap on their couches while watching the Red Sox/Yankees game.  I couldn’t wait around for the local band to play though.  I was so tired that I don’t even think I would have waited for Aerosmith.  I got back to the hostel and organized my trip to the Blue Mountains for my final day in Australia.  I was low on traveling energy and almost bailed on it.  I’m so glad I didn’t.


Bondi Beach



                Since I lost my cell phone when I arrived in Sydney, I was also missing an alarm clock.  The friendly staff at the Easy Go Backpackers on George Street reassured me that they would wake me at 5:45am so I could catch my train.  They didn’t.  I woke up at 7 and got into Kaloomba around 10:30am.  The Blue Mountains were gorgeous!  I hiked the Prince Henry track to Echo Point and descended down the 900 steps of the Grand Staircase.  I had Pinocchio legs when I finished.  I walked the Federal Pass to Kuber’s steps and made my way back up to the Cliff walk before returning to Echo Point.  I don’t want to climb another set of stairs for a week.  Only elevators for me, thank-you-very-much.

Blue Mountains

   

Blue Mountains- The Three Sisters



Blue Mountains



                I took advantage of the many bakeries in the town of Kaloomba before ducking into the Common Ground café.  It was 5 degrees Celsius plus terrible wind chill so I needed a hot chocolate.  It was a really neat café!  It had a warm fire, beautiful wood finish throughout, and very cozy booths that put the finishing touches on this relaxing refuge.  It turns out it was owned by the communal group called The Twelve Tribes.  After speaking with a couple of the workers, I learned that everyone in the restaurant was a volunteer.  No one got paid.  They belonged to a messianic community, and by community they did not mean a town or locality.  Nor did they mean a loose association of individuals living near one another.  And they surely did not mean a religious organization centered around meeting in a building, otherwise called a Church.  Community, as they used the term, meant those who love one another so greatly that they are of one heart and mind, holding all things as common property, living together, taking their meals together, devoted to one another because they’re devoted to the One who saved them from death and misery.

                If you’ve been reading my blogs, this should sound familiar.  I stayed with this kind of group in the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand.  The Freedom Farmers had used a book of values but this group did not.  I came back later that evening to hear more from a woman within the group and she spoke exactly like Carly from the Farm. These people can talk for hours.  They use their hands to speak almost more than Italians and go around in love and happiness circles.  They believe so deeply in the cause that the words just spill out of them effortlessly.  They are very detached from the world.  This woman had no idea what Wall Street was.  She didn’t seem informed about anything more than her community’s path.  These people were very interesting to me and shouldn’t be feared.  They have nothing but good intentions and the world may be better if there were more of them out there. No, I am not a communist.

                I froze all night and woke up every hour in fear that the alarm wouldn’t go off.  I got on the train back to Sydney and was feeling very excited about going home.  It was going to be a long haul- 15 hour plane ride on one of the new double decker jumbo jets!  I was looking forward to spending my 5 hour lay-over in Dallas with a client/friend from Ameritrade, Bryan Bradford.  And from there, about 4 hours to Boston.  I was so excited to see my parents!  This is the longest I have gone without them.  I have to admit it’s been pretty easy with email and skype though.  What a different world.  I can’t imagine if we were only relying on postcards. 

                It’s been an amazing journey.  I am so glad that I had the opportunity (and guts) to take this trip.  No regrets.  Interestingly enough, I just learned that I didn’t have healthcare over the past three months.  I thought that I was fully insured by UBS but I had missed some paperwork and wasn’t covered.  Haha.  I took some pretty good chances on my life over the past couple months- hiking alone, jumping out of airplanes, swimming with sharks, peeing with Dingoes,  patting Mama Kangaroos,  and a bit of hitchhiking.  I’m going to buy a lottery ticket when I step foot on American soil. 

                                                                                                                   

Thanks for following along!  The road abroad has been  life-changing.  Now it's time to celebrate with family and friends at my brother's wedding in Lake Placid!!  Congratulations to Glenn and Shanna!




Dedication to Kenneth Walker Sanders (October 8, 1920 - October 10, 2000)

LISMORE, AUSTRALIA

Throughout my trip, everyone has asked me which hot spots I plan on visiting and I have said Melbourne, Cairns, Airlie Beach, Fraser Island, Noosa, Byron, Lismore and Sydney.  And I always get the same response: “Lismore??  Why do you want to go to Lismore?”  Here’s the answer.

After my grandfather passed away in 2000, my Uncle Tom sought information and artifacts from my grandfather’s PT boat during World War II.  He ended up tracking down a man who actually spent time on that boat with my grandfather and began email correspondences.  In 2002, at the ripe age of 77, John Vaughn wrote the following note to my Uncle:

“....I heard a PT boat squadron in New Guinia needed a torpedo man and most of the 'troop' type ships were going back to the states from that area....sooooooo I just thought....I'll volunteer for PT's....Bad info....reported to Squadron 21 and go aboard PT 323....we were operating out of Finchhaven (?) New Guinia...go aboard and the first person to walk up to me and introduce himself...Hi I'm Kenny Sanders....well needless to say your dad was just that kind of fellow that became 'your best friend'....and now of course PT Squadron 21 wasn't naturally going back to the states....They were getting a R & R in Brisbane..."You got be kidding"..I just left there....sooooo Kenny and I fly to Brisbane on a DC3...since I knew the city from when we had a R &R aboard the 'Gato'...we would go to the town of Collangatto (?) about 75-100 miles south of Brisbane...right on the beach....weeelll after a few days...your dad and I hear about a town that NO US servicemen can visit...called Lismore....We had to take a bus, then a cab to get to the rown...there are NO American servicemen in town...look out...It was just by chance...your dad was an unbelievable gambler...at cards and dice (He said once to me...Never get in a game against me)...Five other sailors found this town...now there's seven of us...Your dad just by chance got into a card game with the owner of this hotel-pub we were staying at...It took approx 18 hours and with the backing of the other sailors...we owned all the beer, liquor, food, cigs and 'our' rooms!!!!!  (a couple years after the war was over, Readers Digest had a long story about 7 sailors that owned a hotel in Australia!!!!!)....well, we gave it back to the 'owner' just before we left Lismore...we gave a party for the town...had a parade....horses, buggy and all the trimmings..Left town with a 'cloud' of glory...back to New Guinia. “

And that’s why I went to Lismore.  I was able to correspond with John before I left for my trip but he couldn’t offer any other information.  I had no pub name, no owner name, no Reader’s Digest article to reference.  When I asked my great Uncle Willard if he thought this story was true, he said that my grandfather never really talked about the war.  None of them did.  So he hadn’t mentioned anything about it but it definitely sounded like something my grandfather would do!

I got a ride to Lismore from Kevin (the Canadian I was staying with), found the oldest bar in town, and enjoyed a nice pint in my grandfather’s honor.  He was a very special man that I still have so much love and respect for.  He is responsible for so much good in my life (and so many others’ lives).  I’m so grateful that I was able to incorporate him into this trip and it’s amazing to think that I was walking the same roads, sailing the same seas and maybe even drinking the same beer that he drank….so far from home.  I also bought a pack of orange gum in Lismore since it was my grandfather’s favorite.  As a child, he would have us sit on his knee and would say ‘Tweet!  Tweet! Tweet!  Where does the birdie lite?’  And, like all grandfathers that possess magical powers, he could make the orange piece of Trident gum appear out of thin air. 

Thank you to Kevin for the ride.  Thank you to John Vaughn for allowing the fantastic story to live on.  Thank you to Grandpa for being an everlasting inspiration.



My grandfather aboard PT 323 (pictured on right)



Lismore 2011



So it turns out Canadians aren't so bad...

SURFER'S PARADISE and BYRON BAY, AUSTRALIA

Surfer's Paradise

An afternoon bus brought Lena and me through Brisbane and then to Surfer’s Paradise.  I had heard that this town was total cheeseball and it was.  In attempts to imitate Miami, the town had a flashy nightlife and high rises built on the shoreline.  I think it more resembled the Jersey Shore.  Lena and I took a walk down the beach and I realized where the Gold Coast gets its name.  The water resembled champagne as it swept across the shoreline and left a gold sparkle as it receded back to the ocean.  All beaches are made up of the same things so it shouldn’t have been so shocking…but somehow it was different here.  It was stunning.  Later we went to Burleigh Heads via bus and walked the nature path that overlooked the surfers.  I only had one day to explore Surfer’s Paradise and I was satisfied overall.

              I decided to part ways with Lena and head for Byron Bay.  I had heard amazing things about this beachtown and was ready to explore it.  I hired (rented) a bike from my hostel and pedaled up to the gorgeous lighthouse on the hill.  There were spectacular lookouts over the town and ocean so I decided to hike them all.  I spotted some dolphins in the water, which was really cool.  It’s so much better when you can naturally spot wildlife and not go on a tour where the areas are baited and you're expecting to see them.

I went to the Beachie Hotel to watch the hockey game the next morning and was severely outnumbered.  The Canadians were everywhere!  The place erupted when the Cannucks scored with 18 seconds left.  I wanted to crawl under the table.  After the game ended, I started chatting with some of them and made friends!  Paige (Vancouver), Mike (Vancouver), Kevin (Toronto and a Bruins fan), Alex (Montreal) and Blair (Vancouver) were all living in Byron Bay and had jobs in cafes and kitchens.  Paige was incredibly nice and invited me to their place that night for some drinks.     

We went to the Beachie hotel and then to some other surfer bar called Woody's that only played reggae.  It's so awful to watch white people dance to reggae.  We went back to the apartment for some late night homemade sushi and a jam session featuring Alex and Kevin.  I went back to my hostel and realized I should take them up on their offer to stay with them for the rest of my time in Byron.

So I moved my stuff into their sunroom the next morning and Paige and I hit the beach for some surfing!  Paige gave me a great surf lesson in the morning and then we headed to Blair and his wife Mari’s place for some afternoon sunbathing.  Life in Byron is so much fun when you have friends.

 When the sun went down and all the boys got back from surfing, the temperature really cooled off.  Their English roommate Clint was in rotation for making dinner for the group that night and I was so excited to be a part of the fun.  I think they inadvertently competed with each other on recipes and dishes since they were all chefs.  Really good chefs too!  I learned so much about cooking in just a few days with them. 

I must go out of my way to tell you that all of them were funny.  And it felt SO good to be around funny people again!  My friend Petey Sansone may be the funniest person I have ever met but Paige’s boyfriend, Mike, was the funniest person I met in Australia.  I can only imagine how excited he’ll be that I made this declaration on my blog.  Now the whole world knows that there is at least one Canadian that is funny. 

These Canadians were solely responsible for my good time in Byron!  I had started to feel homesick and wasn’t enjoying myself for a couple days…and then they came along and completely revived me.  We played a couple great rounds of King’s Cup, Asshole (so different with bogus Canadian rules) and Smoke or Fire.  Other highlights of the trip include the Byron markets where I ate a kangaroo burger!  Yup, me.  A whole kangaroo burger.  It was gamey but I still ate the whole thing.  Oh and another highlight would be latenight mudcake from Woolworth’s!  Canadians are full of good $5 ideas!    :)

Lighthouse on Byron Beach



Decorative trash bins in Byron Bay



King's Cup with Paige, Mike and Kevin

Impersonating Mari's night where she was 'SOOO SICK!!!'

Alex, Mike, Paige, and Kevin

Decorating Cliff with cards when he fell asleep

Sunset in Byron

Surfers in Byron

Byron Bay

Crikey! Surfing Safari in Noosa

NOOSA, AUSTRALIA 
 

Beautiful skies in Noosa!

                      When we arrived to Dolphins Backpackers hostel in the posh town of Noosa, I could just feel a good vibe emanating from the hot pink building that covered the property.  There were backpackers lounging in hammocks and bowl chairs watching others play ping pong on the main patio.  It was located just a few minutes from Sunshine beach so we caught some rays there on the first afternoon.  I met a few German guys who had been surfing and they gave me some tips that I would use the following day.    There were heaps of Germans throughout the entire trip and they insisted on speaking German once they found out Lena was also from there.  Lena wanted to speak English as much as possible so she chose to tell everyone at our hostel that she was from Poland.  We both spent the four days in Noosa trying to keep track of all of her lies.  I supported her with the lie because I would have done the same if I were in her German shoes.

The next day, we took our time when hiking the beautiful coastal walk from Sunshine beach to Main beach.  We took plenty of landscape pictures along the way but put the camera away while we walked along a nudist beach.  Don’t get excited- it was full of old men.  We stopped off at a semi-private beach for a nice swim and then napped a bit on our towels.  We were a little early for sunset on Main beach so we meandered along the shops on Hasting Street.  Of course we got distracted and missed sunset.  Oh well.  When you’re on vacation, there’s always tomorrow.

The next morning, the ocean was calling my name.  I grabbed a surfboard from the hostel and made my way to Main beach for my big surfing debut.  We got a few tips from the guy who rented us our wetsuits and off we went.  Everyone told me that surfing was really hard and they were all correct.  But the hard part isn’t just getting up.  The hard part is being tolerant of heavy waves beating the crap out of you!  I was able to catch the baby waves at Main beach and ride the board in.  But when I turned around to make my way back out, I got slammed over and over.  I was so afraid the board was going to smack me in the face.  Our second jaunt at surfing went much better and I got close to standing up.  I felt pretty waterlogged though and was very bruised up from the board.  I started thinking of how those bruises would look in the bridesmaid dress that I would be wearing in 3 weeks- not very lady-like.

                While Lena snoozed away the next morning, I got some alone time on Main Beach and gave another try at surfing.  I got some good pointers from a German girl and I learned more about reading the waves and positioning myself correctly.  I was able to get up a few times by the end of the day and had a lot of fun.  I was getting tougher in the water too so the waves didn’t knock me around too badly.  I was satisfied if my surfing career began and ended in Noosa. J



Coastal walk in Noosa



 

Surfer babes




Which way to the beach?



 

Dolphins Backpackers Hostel



 

 

Who wouldn't enjoy this place?



 



After feeding the elephant



              We got an early start on the bus headed to the Australia Zoo.  They were playing Steve Irwin’s documentary and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  We arrived at the zoo in time for the morning elephant feed.  So cool!  The three sister elephants lined up and could be fed old fruit and vegetable scraps from visitors.  We watched the crocodile show, which was really impressive.  They had the croc going in and out of the water and jumping high into the air for food.  They also had birds that flew in and out of the 5000 seat stadium and it was a very entertaining show overall.  We were able to walk amongst the fun kangaroos and pat the lazy koalas throughout the entire park.  There was also an informative elephant show that took place while the elephants got their daily bath.  We saw plenty of tigers, tasmanian devils, wombats, camels, snakes, crocodiles, sea otters, and dingos.  It was the most interactive zoo I had ever been to and I had an incredible time.  The animals (and staff) seemed to be very happy!  I think Steve Irwin would have been very pleased with the legacy he left behind.




Crikey!  Croc show




Steve Irwin himself



C'mon, Kanga.  Say cheese!!!



Feeding the kangaroo



This one has a surprise in her pouch!

Elephants showing off



Tiger naparoo.



A koala...AWAKE!

Koala petting

Elephant with her mean and nasty trainer.  I was hoping she be swallowed whole.





FRIEND OR FOE FRIDAY!!!

Ok, it's not Friday but just deal with it.  I am happy to report that I was having too much fun this week to post something.   It wasn't until my cousin Mike Phelan and friend Dan Paglia wrote in to tell me they were highly anticipating it that I decided to post!  So here is another Friend or Foe Challenge.

FRIEND OR FOE:

1)

2)

3)

 4)

5)

6)

7) 

8)

9)

1) FRIENDS!  These were my 4wd mates on Fraser Island!  Our tour guide, Craig, drove us around in the most comfortable safari car and blasted some great music.  Tyser (pictured left, from Zimbabwe) and Al (pictured second from left, from England) were so awesome!  My reoccuring German friend, Lena, is on the right.  We were belting out a variety of tunes- from hard core rock/metal to Disney classics.  It all began when I played the song “Craig” by Stephen Lynch.  Our VERY fun tour guide fully embraced his role as “Fcking Craig Christ”.  Listen to the song and it will make sense. Craig loved his job and was remarkable at it.  He made Fraser Island a highlight of my trip.

2) Anjin- FOE!  Sucks.  Just sucks.  He was a biologist from Switzerland and was dubbed ‘Peter Pan’ within about 10 minutes of knowing him on our trip on Fraser Island.  He volunteered more information on a species than anyone was interested in and rarely shut up.  He was also, surprisingly, very grope-y with the young girls on the trip and I caught him taking candid pictures of them from behind.  Yuckitty Yuck on this guy.

3) FRIEND!  Don’t let that story about the dingo eating a baby make you think these guys are killers.  I would trust a dingo before a human.  These cute little doggies roamed all around our campsite on Fraser Island.  They were incredibly smart and very determined to eat our food and drink our beer.  After so much warning the first night, we were terrified that we would encounter them while we relieved ourselves in the bush.  We thought the flashlight showed eyes in the distance and were so quick to do our business and run back to camp!  In the morning, we found the real culprit- a plain old bucket.

4) FRIENDS!  These guys were at the Dolphins Backpackers hostel in Noosa.  German Stefan (pictured on left) enjoyed the town so much that he decided to stay for a couple months and work at the hostel.  He was more mature than his 21 years would suggest and gave me some great surfing tips.  I taught him how to pronounce the letter ‘R’ since the poor guy had only learned British English in school!  Bas (pictured on right) was staying in our hostel suite but was originally from Holland.  He always had a lot to say but luckily it was all good things.  Both guys made the hostel a cooler place.

5)  FRIEND!  This cool cat hails from Wales.  We met Josh and his Canadian friend, Leighton, in our hostel in Noosa.  We all shared a cab into town where we pursued rave music for Leighton to dance to.  Who knew Canadian men had dance fever?  There was too much Techno pumping through the two clubs in this town.  To me, one techno song is considered too much.  Josh was a really cool guy though and a devout Manchester United fan.  He stayed up until 7:30am to watch his team lose 2-1 to Barcelona. 

6) FRIEND!  CRIKEY!  I can’t think of a more passionate and loving person than Steve Irwin, the infamous Crocodile Hunter.  He succeeded his parents in maintaining (and heavily expanding) the Australia Zoo just north of Brisbane.  The zoo was awesome- so expansive and interactive.  The animals appeared almost as happy as the staff that worked there.  Steve’s devotion to wildlife was truly remarkable.  He singlehandedly saved thousands of animal species while making the world aware of the conservation necessary to save millions more.  He led an AMAZING life and I think he would be very proud of how his zoo is thriving.

7) FRIEND!  Simon says, “Scratch your side.” I think this kangaroo and I could have gone head to head in a game of Simon Says.  This little bugger was one of many roaming at the Australia Zoo.  They were such sweet animals- I just laid down beside them.  I even took the ‘two drunk girls in a bar with one extended arm” kinda picture!  The cutest kangaroos had to be the ones hiding in their mama’s pouch.  You wouldn’t believe how big the little roos were!  It was common to see a pouch with an arm, leg, claw or tail just hanging out of it.

8) FRIEND! This is one of three elephant sisters at the Australia Zoo!  She is 53 years old and still knows how to have a good time.  I gave her some scraps of cantelope and melon for breakfast, which she graciously took and repaid me in elephant slobber.  Mmmm.  I also watched her receive her daily bath from her zoo keepers- quite the pampering.  Do you know how hard it is to clean between elephant toe nails??

9) FOE!  This crocodile was seen performing at the Australia Zoo.  Even though he was Steve Irwin's most beloved creatures, I am not a fan of these slippery reptiles.  Too many teeth.