100 Skills Every Man Should Know (1-20)

I subscribe to Popular Mechanics magazine. It is an ok mag, although the advertising gets a little old. I get tips on outdoor projects, car repair, and new technologies.

The past issue covered "100 Skills Every Man Should Know". As I read through, I realized that I am pretty well covered here. Very few had I never really thought about or had a chance to experience. I decided to cover these 100 skills in my blog and briefly talk about my experiences, as well as a few I think don't belong, and a few I believe were left out. I figure 20 is not too many to read at a time. Here we go!

#1 - Tape drywall
Oh goodness, I have done this too many times in my life. Although they do cover the very important fact to apply at least two coats (5 in. first, then 8-10 in. blade second), they mention the use of water in a form I don't quite use. The mag mentions dipping the blade in water. I prefer to add a little water to my trough in which I have placed some mud to work with and mix it in. When you are applying the 10 in. blade mud, it needs to be much wetter to allow for a nice smooth, thin coat. The angle of attack on the final count greatly affects the result as well. Keep your hand close to the wall and keep plenty of tension on the blade.

#2 - Grill with charcoal
Growing up, we only had a Weber until I was in high school, so charcoal was the only way. Although my dad didn't teach me the proper methods, I learned them in college. Our fraternity grilled often and I picked up the proper charcoal stacking techniques from buddies of mine. Direct vs. indirect heating I didn't really get until watching Alton Brown, but this is hard to do when the grill is full!

#3 - Split firewood
Again, I have been doing this since I was barely able to swing an axe (or maul, much better). The method discussed in the mag is the weak man's version where you only start above your head. I prefer the all-the-way-around method. While much harder, it produces great results. It also requires practice and a decent aim.

#4 - Set up a ladder, safely
While the mag did have a decent tip on proper angle detection (stand with you toes against the ladder base and grab the run at shoulder level), I still prefer the "test it out method" (unless doing a very high-up job). That is, get up a rung or two, and lean back on it. You can feel how much the ladder wants to tip back. Also not mentioned in the mag is checking the footing of the ladder. Ensure it is sunk in slightly by jumping on the bottom rung just a little. This keeps the ladder from sliding back on you.

#5 - Take the perfect portrait
In 4-H, I did a photography project for about 5 or 6 years. During this, setting up a photo is one of the things we learned. I didn't do much portraits, but the basics are simple. Don't take a picture with the camera looking right in to a bright light; rather ensure that your subject is properly lit. I have much more to learn here, though, and I will when my new D90 gets here in the next week or so.

#6 - Find potable water
While I have never *needed* to do this, I have gotten many tips from watching Survivor Man and Bear Grylls. The mag mentions a couple methods I have learned for both desserts and jungles. I also really like the dew ideas you can do with your clothes tied to your boots and collecting evaporated water from plants using some plastic and a container. I did learn as a kid, though, that the best idea is to take a lot of water with you, even if you don't think you need it! While hiking in Hawaii on the Na Pali coast, I was not comfortable with the amount of water we had brought in, so I turned us around about half way in. My only regret? Not having enough water on hand to begin with!

#7 - Build a fire in the wilderness
Growing up my extended family did a lot of camping. And, since my grandfather was a fireman, he made sure all the kids knew how to properly play with fire. While this didn't cover all the proper techniques to build when you don't have the proper supplies, it was still great fun and wonderful memories. 4-H didn't really cover these skills either, but being friends with Eagle Scouts in college helped out here. All the tips to find kindling, small sticks, and larger timber for a structure, make building a fire easy. The tip I have picked up from Survivor Man? Always have a flint striker in your pack!

#8 - Build a shelter
This is a skill I have also never needed, but have learned about in recent years from Discovery. Keep it small and simple, and get some water shedding on if time allows or you expect to get wet. If the weather is cold, maybe try some heat rocks!

#9 - Ditch your hard drive
Please, I think I can handle this. Low level formatting for general home use HDDs. A power drill for more important data. A much more difficult skill? Reviving a bad HDD. I have tried, and failed, although I came close.

#10 - Use a French knife
Most people watch Food Network and think they could never do the knife work seen on TV. This is untrue! It is just the speed that takes years to perfect! First off, you must have a high quality knife. Kacey prefers Global Knives. Second, know a couple techniques. Again, speed does not matter here.

#11 - Cast a line
Growing up, dad would occasionally take us fishing at Anderson Orchard. While my dad and brother seemed to somewhat enjoy it, I just couldn't stand it. I, for the most part, need to be doing something. Fishing was doing nothing. Usually after 15-20 minutes, I would be off picking berries instead of fishing. So, while I don't enjoy fishing, I can and have done it; and am probably not very good at it.

#12 - Wax a car
I have done this many times. Buy some good wax, park in the shade. Wash the car well. Wax in sections, buff off by hand.

#13 - Check trouble codes
I had to do this recently on my Acura CL. While it took a couple minutes to find that the plug was behind the ash tray, beyond that it is fairly simple. My latest code? Bad catalytic converter, but I knew that was the problem before I started.

#14 - Iron a shirt
Any single guy trying to impress a woman should know this. Pants are important too. I like the fact that the mag tells you to imagine that the ironing board is a work bench.

#15 - Paint a straight line
I don't really agree that this should be on the list. I have painted my fair share of rooms, and although using painter's tape isn't perfect, it gets the job done if used properly.

#16 - Tie a bowline
Ok Popular Mechanics, you finally got me. Many of my friends may be surprised to know that I do NOT know my knots! 4-H didn't really cover it, and on the farm we only used one knot, and I don't even know what it is called. I have always wanted to learn my knots, but have never found the motivation to learn them. Maybe teaching them to my son can be my motivation.

#17 - Use a stick welder
Wow, this makes me feel like less of a man. Popular Mechanics got me on two in a row! Again, many of my friends may be surprised to know that I have never run a welder. I know, its sad. But growing up, dad never let us do it! Ug. And now, I don't have one to play with. When I graduated from Rose, I almost took a course for welding because I wanted to build up that skill. I still do. Yes, I know some basics to welding and could probably do a hack job if needed, but I don't think that's good enough to put a check next to it.

#18 - Read an electric meter
I worked for South Central Indiana REMC the summer after my freshman year at Rose. While my job was not reading meters, I learned more about them. It really isn't that difficult, and in my opinion, doesn't belong on this list either.

#19 - Hang food in the wild
I have had to do this, as well as trash. Find a couple trees close to one another, use some rope, and honestly, you can probably figure out something without ever reading a magazine. More important than knowing HOW to hang food is knowing TO hang food.

#20 - Solder wire
Again, please. Been doing this since I was little, and got paid to do it at my work-study job in college. Having the proper tools can aid in this too. A solder sucker, and good hot gun, and a knife to clean the leads are very important.

There you go, the first 20. I hope to do 21-40 tomorrow. Reply with your thoughts, or your stats!

Two Tips You Can (Maybe) Use

Tip #1 - Use Some Wasted Water

We have saved some old orange juice jugs and have placed two in each bath room and two in the kitchen. When we need hot water, we fill the jugs first. I empty them out every few days on the plants and trees in the yard which almost everyone has. I also put water on the garden and herbs occasionally. Additionally, we have a one liter bottle in the kitchen that I fill for water for the cats. If you have cats or dogs, this will easily work as well.

Tip #2 - Know Your Baby Monitor is Working

So this tip is not quite for everyone, but it is worth mentioning regardless. We realized we always wonder if the baby monitor is actually working. Yeah, it tells you by turning the light from green to red, but you always have to stare at it. What we started doing is placing a ticking clock next to the monitor. That way, we simply listen for the ticking. It has no effect on being able to listen for baby, but it easily lets you know it is still working.

More to come... I know I had three ideas, but I forgot one of them at publication :)

Beware of Yaari

Yarri is a social networking site targeted for Indian children, according to what I have read. I have already received invites to this site, but I think you should delete them as I have. It requires access to your free email account and sends everyone an invite. There is no opt out.

A few google searches reveals a lot of information. Just goes to show you before trying anything new on the net, review it first!

First Big Trip is Under Our Belt

We just returned last night from a week and a half trip. I was presenting at a conference in DC, so we drove out early to visit friends and family who have not yet met Nolan. We did 1675 miles, got around 30 mpg (maybe a little better), got lucky that gas went way down, and saw many people. We stopped in Pittsburgh, Bethlehem PA, Baltimore, Laurel MD, Bethesda MD, and of course we stayed for a week at the Gaylord National Resort.

Nolan was great! We have really lucked out and gotten ourselves a good traveler. More details to come later on the trip. And, I still intend to start my small series blogs soon on a topic I read about recently. For now, I have about 550 feeds to read since Thursday afternoon...

I Actually Have A Topic to Blog On, Just No Time, Yet

The next two weeks are going to be a whirlwind. But, once I am back, I will have much more time. This is a good thing, because I have a topic I will post on for a few entries. I am looking forward to writing on it, and hopefully people will enjoy it.

So, until then. . . stay cool, and don't automatically email inappropriate pictures from the web to your wife's extended family on accident, like me.

Which Is Which?

As previously mentioned, I loved watching the 2008 Olympics. I especially enjoy watching volleyball of all sorts. I was really wondering if Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser had the gold medal in them, but they always played through for exciting games.

As I watched, I realized Dalhausser reminded me of someone, and then it hit me

Dalhausser now:


Dalhausser in 20 years:

8 Weeks, and 9 lbs!

Weighed Nolan in this morning at the 8 week mark... 9 lbs! It is such a busy time for our little guy between the growth spurts and smiling at us all the time :)

I hope to be getting second month photos up soon.

Oh Yes, It Will Be Mine

Pushed the 'Order' button today. Rumor is that they start shipping tomorrow from a couple stores. We will see how long mine takes to ship (no estimated ship date yet).



Picture too small for your viewing? Its the Nikon D90!

Tomatoes: Before and After

Making Sauce!

Tomatoes Before


Tomatoes After

Our Visitor Returns

We have a Blue Heron that hangs out at our pond every couple weeks. It is here today and seeing a second one too, I wonder if it is mating time. The middle of summer doesn't really seem like the best time for an animal to mate, but who knows.

If Cameras Could Capture Smell

Made by Kacey. Tomatoes from our garden, zucchini and eggplant from my brother's garden, onion, and rosemary and thyme from our herb garden. Salt and oil as well. Broil.

2008 Olympics!

As most of you out there may be doing as well, we are fitting a lot of Olympics watching in to our schedule. It has been a little busy, but we have watched most of the sports with which we find interest. For Chris: all volleyball (mens, womens, indoor, sand), basketball, some swimming, softball, some track and field, and a few other things when we feel like it. Kacey watches swimming, diving, gymnastics, and probably a few other things I can not recall right now.

We have been enjoying everything in HD thanks to local HD broadcasting and Universal HD (broadcasting MSNBC feeds). We record nearly everything during the day and night, and each afternoon watch the sports we like, fast-forwarding through all which we are not too interested in.

I have also stopped checking the news on CNN.com. They have started putting spoilers on the front page banner and main headline story! I liked it better when they supplied a link to an "Olympic Update". CNN ruined mens 100m dash for me yesterday...

Smiles? Close Enough!

We have been getting some gas grins from Nolan the past couple weeks. I would say this afternoon was the first time he was looking at us and gave us some grins. In the next month, they should grow and increase, but it is just an indescribable feeling!

I am not much of a writer. I struggle with describing how our first month has been. Today, Nolan is four weeks old, and having something so precious has been the best thing imaginable. I want to spend time with him and watching him constantly. It's hard to stay at work, I feel like I am missing his life.

I love holding him, feeding him, changing him, walking him, rocking him to sleep, looking at him, talking to him, you name it.

More pics to come to the web site soon.
http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Nolan

Click & Clack - As the Wrench Turns

So, surfing around HD channels I found Click & Clack's As the Wrench Turns cartoon on PBS! Awesome! I grew up listening to Tom and Ray Magliozzi on Car Talk every Saturday morning. If you are a car guy, then you have heard of the Tappet Brothers.

Random Thoughts: Sweet Corn & Nikon D80

I grew up in south central Indiana, and grew up eating mostly Indiana-grown fruits and vegetables (most vegetables from our own garden, actually). One of the best vegetable options I love in the Indiana summer is Indiana sweet corn. Both this and last weekend I threw some corn on the grill (in husk, soaked in water) and enjoyed with both a little butter and fresh-ground pepper. Its healthy and delicious.

As a side note, we cooked all the ears last night, but didn't eat them all at the time. A quick way to reheat ears of corn is wrap the ear in a paper towel, and then wet the paper towel. Microwave 2-3 minutes on half power.

I am borrowing my co-worker's Nikon D80 with 50mm f/1.8 prime lens this weekend. I am having fun taking pictures of Nolan, Kacey, the cats, birds, and plan to play with different depth of field options in my learning. Any methods people have used to really learn their camera are appreciated (other than just plain shooting). I am taking two or three pictures of different objects with different lighting and aperture for comparison later.




I think this would be better with a slightly larger depth of field (i.e. Kacey was a little closer to focus).

Nikon DSLR - D90?

I have been looking at picking up a Nikon D80 for almost a year now, and just haven't moved on it. Not really sure why actually...

Now that I am about ready to move, finally, I am reading that the D90 is expected to be announced within a month or two. A friend of mine who is a true photography geek mentioned that more than likely this model would use similar hardware to the D300, possibly giving it a much improved ISO performance. This sounds like a feature I may like to have!

Plus, he may be nice enough to let me borrow his spare D200 for a month or so for me to start playing and get some photos of Nolan along the way. Considering I have waited this long to purchase a camera, it might just make sense to wait a couple more months.

If I do borrow his D200, I will probably go ahead and buy a prime 50mm f/1.8 Nikon lens that I was considering picking up first (I think I will hold off on the Nikon 18-200 VR for a little while). For about $100, it sounds like a good place to start.

Bodies the Exhibition - Controversy?

While we were in San Antonio in May, we visited "Bodies... the Exhibition" at the Witte Museum. It was actually very interesting and not "gross" at all. At $20 to visit, anyone iffy about viewing probably would not shell out the cash anyway.

This exhibit is now visiting Indianapolis. The IndyStar is reporting controversy and concerns over the exhibit. First of all, anything the Star doesn't like is suspect for actually being interesting. This is regarding the fact that the origin of every body is not exactly known. If you are interested more, read into their own disclaimers. This is in comparision to Body Worlds, in which are bodies are donated to this program.

I highly recommend a visit to this exhibit if you are close to the area. I believe it was well worth the $20 I had to pay and it is definitely a one-of-a-kind view into how our own body works.

Daddy

Just wanted to post that being a dad is wonderful! Yes, its tiring. Yes, its worrying. But when he looks at you, you just melt every single time. And since I think mom has most of the hard work, I just try to make her day a little easier.

Nolan is two weeks old today, and the time is already flying by. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of that two weeks at home, but this week I began working again.

I hope to get to post some pictures this weekend. They will be on http://www.chrisandkacey.com/

ShamWhatever

If the ShamWow "sells itself" (according to their own TV commercial), then why do we need to see so many ShamWow commercials on TV with that guy that wears the gay headset?

Craftsman Club

All real men out there should have a brand of tools they prefer; the name of the brand doesn't matter as your reason for picking that brand probably is based on what your dad had.

Me, I'm a Craftsman man. And yup, I have been all my life since I started using my dad's tools and then eventually purchasing my own. Are they the absolute best? Who knows, but they are my tools. They are easy to find parts for (I can order the armature for my grandpa's old drill that died) and I do love their return policy :)

As an avid Craftsman tool and appliance man, I absolutely love the Craftsman Club (it's free). I only really learned of it a couple years ago but am glad I did, and now I pass the information on to you. Each month or two, I receive a small catalog of the current sales and specials for Craftsman Club members. The first pages usually covers what each member can purchase that month for usually about 1/2 off. I generally almost always find something there I need.

This month, I think its time for a new multimeter. Mine is about 10 years old and off brand. I would kind of like two (well three, I still have my old analog meter) and can't seem to talk myself in to the price of a personal Fluke. This month Craftsman has a multimeter and EMF detector 40% off.

Our Son, Nolan Phillips

Born Friday, July 11, 2008 at 12:29am. He is 5lb 15.8oz and 20 in long.

The happy family,
Chris, Kacey & Nolan

RSS Feeds and Sharing

I have been using Google Reader for about 6 months now, but not to it's fullest extent. Until recently (about two weeks ago), I still visited many web sites each night to read the day's news. Now, I have set up numerous feeds and am simply reading in Google Reader. I know, this is not new technology. But, as I am catching up in this space, I really love it. I save a lot of time each night, can share items I feel others may also enjoy, and have opened myself up to more sites as it is much quicker to "skim" the web.

Any of my acquaintances out there care to share their personal feed with me? I am still on the hunt for interesting news sites.

Any tips and tricks?

Math Fail - Indystar

How do you know it tops $100 million if it is yet to be calculated?

Looking for Indy Bloggers

I have been searching for some Indy blogs out there. Content regarding what's going on around the city with development, sports, activities, general news, cuisine, you name it. Any readers out there have any suggestions???

Home Depot kicks off nationwide CFL recycling program

This is great. A lot of people unfortunately will only recycle if it is easy or free; they won't take the time or effort to do their part. I think this was a needed step with the increase in CFLs entering our homes, so "tip of my hat" to Home Depot here.

http://www.wastenews.com/email.html?id=1214319605

Random Thoughts, Because It's Been Awhile

Music

The new 10 Years album, Division, came out a few weeks back. I had been looking forward to their second major album. So far, I don't think I have been as moved as the first, but I haven't listened to it that many times. It is good, don't get me wrong. I look forward to listening to this album much more (hopefully by myself in the car, one of my favorite places to listen to CDs, due to the volume and Fosgate).

Sevendust also recently came out with a new album. You have to give these guys credit; they have been producing interesting music and touring since 1997. Their new album, Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow, includes a couple excellent guest vocals - Chris Daughtry and one of my favorites Myles Kennedy from Alter Bridge. If you are a Sevendust fan, this album will not disappoint. I am still listening to this album (only been a few times so far) and so far I can say that they have continued to pour themselves out in to their music.

Gardening

I have not blogged on this before. This is the second year I have put out tomatoes and peppers. Last year I only had an 8x8 raised bed plot with 8 inches of garden compost from Greendell Farms. They did ok, but the location I picked just didn't get quite enough sun. This year, I doubled the size to 16x8 and moved it out an additional 4 feet from the trees. This year I have 7 small habanero plants, and I am not quite sure if they will make it. I had to perform root surgery to separate them when planting. They are living just fine, but not really growing. I also have 3 sweet banana peppers and 3 jalapeno plants. We have 6 bell pepper plants this year; I think a mix of green and red. I also have 4 serrano plants, one of our favorite peppers for cooking. We started with 10 commercial tomato plants (5 mountain spring and 5 mountain pride), 3 Romas, and 2 cherry plants. After the June 2008 Indiana floods, I think I have lost 2 of the commercial tomatoes, and a few more may not produce much in the way of fruit this year. The peppers seemed to make it through, but time will tell. I also lost some of my compost, but almost worse is the fact that some of it was replaced with lake sediment. Within a week, we should start getting some peppers and within a few weeks, the romas should start coming in.

Baby

I have not really blogged on this much either, but I am getting very excited! Kacey worked her last day of work Friday the 20th and now will have 4 months off. The nursery has been painted and is mostly ready. Kacey will probably go empty out the baby registries next week while she is off. The crib is here, but the other furniture will be here in a few weeks. Once we have all of it together, I will post a nursery picture. We do not plan on telling people the baby's name until it is born, but I can tell you that we have not yet picked one out. This is probably the last big thing we need to figure out soon. So far the baby is doing great and mom is too, but very tired making our child!

That's enough for now. Hopefully I can get back in to this, we have been relatively busy getting ready for our new addition.

This Life

Sevendust - This Life

Listen to a clip

I heard your heartbeat
and my body grew so still
I looked into your mothers eyes
and I knew you were alive
I long to meet you
and show you all I know
Hand in hand with this new love
this life means so much more

I know now what I hear
it's a new love that I feel
It's you that blessed us with this life
that we've waited for so long

Your life has changed me
I'm not the man I was before
You’re in my head my heart my soul
you’re always on my mind
My time to know you
is quickly drawing near
But not as fast as my love grows
you've made me feel alive

I know now what I hear
it's a new love that I feel
It's you that blessed us with this life
that we've waited for so long
(repeat)

Nice to see you
welcome to this place that we call home
Life looks brighter
now you’re here

I know now what I hear
it's a new love that I feel
It's you that blessed us with this life
that we've waited for so long
(repeat)

We're so happy now
We're so happy now
You’re here

Australia and New Zealand Trip Summary

I am just writing a few more thoughts about our trip. Maybe they will be helpful to other travelers and maybe it will help me remember some day how great of a trip we had.

4600 Pictures - This is how many we took with two cameras in three weeks. Many were redundant, some didn't come out (but you have to try), and some were continuous mode shots (so they add up quick). I categorized almost every night on the laptop, broken down by day in separate folders, and I created a notepad for each day with a rough outline of what the pictures were from (this helps significantly). Also, it is important to keep the two cameras time synced with local time; this makes sorting after the fact much easier.

Flights - Traveling from the US to Australia and New Zealand actually is not that difficult. Going there we basically had two dinners, and then a nighttime for sleep. We arrived in Sydney in the morning and the day was actually useful and productive. Coming home, we flew from Auckland (around lunch) eight hours to Hawaii (around dinner time). We ate dinner, and flew 7 .5 hours to Denver (sleeping). We arrived in Denver in the morning of the day we had just lived. So by time we reached Indy, it was the afternoon and we were close to a regular schedule. Planning flights for this trip is not too hard, and it is worth your time spent.

Transportation - We rented a car for one day in Melbourne so that we could travel the Great Ocean Road, and one day in Cairns to see the rainforest. Other than that, the public transportation is great (of course Ayers Rock doesn't count, you have to rent a car there) and if you stay in the right part of town, you can walk almost everywhere. In New Zealand, buses and trains are much harder to come by. You will need a vehicle of your own (or camper!) and most car rental places have a transfer option to get between the islands (it is frequently done).

Cities Visited and Durations - We arrived in Melbourne on a Monday morning and left Thursday morning. I recommend less time in Melbourne. If planned appropriately, two full days and a half day would be more than adequate. I would skip this zoo especially if you are traveling to Sydney which has a much nicer zoo.

From here we flew to Ayers Rock on Thursday. We arrived around lunch which gave us a half day. We stayed until Saturday afternoon. This is too much time for Ayers Rock. Had we planned on arriving in the afternoon, a full day to visit the area is more than enough. Keep in mind this will be a very full day if you want to catch the sunrise and the sunset. If you can only pick one, pick the sunset.

From here we flew to Cairns. We arrived late at night, so we had two full days and then left after lunch the third day. I recommend a partial day and a full day, then leave in the morning. This would be time to use the full day to go snorkeling, and the partial day (upon arrival) to take the car to the rainforest.

Next we flew to Sydney. We arrived late at night and then had two full days, leaving early in the morning on the third day. Getting in earlier would have allowed for at least one more fun activity in the city, which we had a couple we would have liked to attempt. One other comment on Cairns, renting a taxi to get to town from the airport is cheaper for two than using their bus option, and its much faster.

We started in the south island of New Zealand from there. With the additional days we would have saved from the above changes, we would have an extra day on the south island and an extra day on the north island, and possibly even one more day to split between the two, depending on your preference. We could really have used another day on the north island to visit Rotorua and the geological sights of the area. On the south island, another day would have allowed us to visit Fiordland National Park.

Sights - List of things we saw that I really liked
Melbourne-Great Ocean Road, Royal Botanical Gardens, Queen Victoria Market
Ayers Rock-Uluru, interesting planned town concept
Cairns-Snorkeling!
Sydney-Taronga Zoo, walking around the Opera House
South Island, New Zealand-Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, Pancake Rocks and Blowholes, Christchurch square
North Island, New Zealand-Glowworms, Tongariro National Park, and of course learning we were pregnant is Taupo was pretty cool and unforgettable

A list of things I really would have liked to see
Melbourne-Penguins. This is a very touristy stop off of Philip Island so we avoided it, but we probably should have tried to fight the crowds with a tour to see this sight.
Ayers Rock-Star gazing. We had arranged this, but it was too cloudy so we didn't get to go to the observatory.
Cairns-We were good here
Sydney-Going up the Sydney Tower and viewing the OzTrek Ride.
South Island, New Zealand-Fiordland National Park
North Island, New Zealand-Rotorua and north of Auckland
Tazmania!-I really wanted to work in a day trip here, but just could not make the days and flights work out. Maybe another time... :)

Food - Food in general in Australia is nothing fancy. Although we tried to eat at non-touristy, local restaurants, we had only a few good meals. Never bad that I can recall, but don't expect great things. It was an opportunity to try some new foods (kangaroo, crocodile, emu).

Laptop - Taking the laptop was a good move. It helped out with extra movies on the trans-Pacific flights, and allowed for picture backups and sorting each night. My mind was at rest knowing I had backups each day of what we had experienced. Also, most laptop's power supplies operate on dual voltage and frequency, which means you only need a simple adapter, not a converter (BTW, I try to only buy devices that are 110-220VAC 50-60Hz, it makes traveling a breeze). The weight was not really noticeable. Additionally, we could search for available free wifi every once in a while.

Google Maps! - I pre-printed Google Maps of the hotel area in each city at different zoom levels (to see big and small views). This was somewhat helpful and didn't take much effort. I have been doing this for a few trips now (Italy was helpful). Along the way Google Maps were helpful in finding business info along the way.

Prepping for New Zealand - Not too hard, and you will probably come across this in your own preparation, but have your e-reservations printed out and with you. You will need proof of exit when trying to enter. Also, if you visit Australia first, be careful what you purchase and try to take to New Zealand. They really limit what you can take in, but all the information you should need is available online.

New Zealand, Playing It By Ear - We decided to plan our last night only in New Zealand (in Auckland, before flying out). Every night, we would figure out where to go and what to do the next day, and search online where we would be able to stay. Sometimes, we would just get to a town and hope to find something between a few favorites based on guide book reviews. This possibly worked because we were not there during peak tourist times (winter or summer). Also, we had a rough idea of travel from Christchurch to Auckland so we knew we would make it in time to catch our flights home, but we didn't even figure that out until we spent a few nights in Australia looking it over.

So Basically...
It was a great trip! It was great visiting a place on the other side of the world, experiencing new cultures, seeing historic sites, not working for three weeks (which really allows you to get lost in visiting another country), eating new food, it was all wonderful. If any reader ever has questions about our trip, feel free to hit me up in the comments.

North Island, New Zealand

Wednesday November 28th, 2007 (Picton to Wellington to Ohakune)

We started off the day on an Interisland Boat Ride from Picton to Wellington. We didn’t do much on the boat; I watched a movie and took a few pictures, and Kacey slept (she had been really tired lately). Once we got in, we got the rental and got going on the road. We hadn’t made much of a decision of where we were going, just roughly toward the central part of the island, probably around Tongariro National Park. Once we reached Bulls, this is where the highway split and we needed to make a decision. As Kacey was just sleeping the whole way, I woke her up once in town. We were hoping to get information packets on the parks, but could not find anything. So with the information we had, we decided to head toward Ohakune and the National Park. We got to Ohakune after much driving and started looking for a place with internet as we wanted to plan the next couple days. We found the Hobbit Motorlodge after driving for a few minutes and they had a vacancy sign with a wireless internet sign. We stopped in, got a room, and asked about dinner. We ended up going to town, filling with fuel, buying a couple groceries, eating at the Mountain Rock Café, and going to bed (after some internet time of course). Dinner was pretty good and since it was not ski season, it was mostly locals just hanging out.

Pictures from Wednesday can be found here.

Thursday November 29th, 2007 (Ohakune to Hamilton)

We got up and headed toward Tongariro National Park and stopped in the Whakapapa Village for some information. We got information for a couple hikes, but as Kacey was not feeling to well, we went to Tawhai Falls and got going. We had a lot of nice views of the volcanoes as we drove, so we stopped for pictures along the way. As we approached Turangi, we stopped for some views of Lake Taupo (map). We stopped in Turangi for some lunch at the Mustard Seed Café. The sandwiches would have been better toasted, but we moved around Lake Taupo toward Taupo. In Taupo we stopped at the doctor to make sure Kacey was ok. Turns out she wasn't tired from hiking and traveling for three weeks, she was pregnant! So as you can imagine, this is a most unique way and place to find out you are expecting, so we will probably never forget this day as long as we live. We then headed to Huka Falls. These were a little cheesy as it is a man-made falls and river that empties from Lake Taupo and it is used to generate electricity. We then headed across the road to Crater of the Moon Park. This was interesting as Kacey had not seen geothermal activity before. There was not much activity or water pools, but there was one bubbling mud pool. We got on the road for the two hour drive to Hamilton. When we arrived, we drove to the place we were hoping might be available, the Barclay. It was, and it was a pretty big and nice room. After some dinner at Pasta Mia, which was pretty good, we got to bed.

Pictures from Thursday can be found here.

Friday November 30th, 2007 (Hamilton to Waitmo to Auckland)

Today we got going pretty early and headed down SH3 toward Waitomo for our 10am tour of the Glowworm Caves. I had been looking forward to seeing the Glowworms. This was a pretty cool boat ride through the cave with a nice tour. At 11am, we then had a tour of Aranui Cave which is a dry cave, so no glowing worms. We stopped in Otorohanga for some lunch at the Copper Tree Café. We each got a small pizza that was not too bad. We then started the three hour journey to Auckland. Once we got near the city, traffic got very bad. Driving downtown was a nightmare as the streets are not straight, and many one ways and no turns made it take a while to figure out how to get to the hotel. At the City Life Auckland, we got put up on the 15th floor with some nice views. We walked through a few stores, ate dinner at the Middle East Café, and got some gelato down at the Harbour. We headed to the room to get ready for the long plane ride back home tomorrow.

Pictures from Friday can be found here.

Saturday December 1st, 2007 (Auckland to Honolulu to Denver to Indianapolis)

Tired, because we lived Saturday December 1st twice.

That's A Heavy Load!

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080418/NEWS/304180003

South Island, New Zealand

Saturday November 24th, 2007 (Christchurch to Arthur’s Pass)

We arrived in Christchurch (CHC) around 2pm. We decided to change our reservations and not stay here; we instead looked around downtown for about an hour, and then headed to Arthur’s Pass to stay for the night (originally, we had pre-booked our first and last night in New Zealand only). The drive was nice; there were many nice scenic views and they were covered with interesting rock formations. This was also Kacey’s first time driving on the left, which went pretty well as I had been telling her points here and there throughout the trip thus far. We arrived at the Arthur’s Pass Alpine Motel around 7pm and got checked in to our little cottage. We drove in to "town" for dinner at the Wobbly Kea. It was pretty good, actually, and priced pretty well too, considering there is nothing in any directions for miles (or kilometers). The town consists of a DOC (Department of Conservation), a train station, a small general store, a couple places to eat, and a couple small motels. We got back to our cottage and surfed the web a bit to figure out where to stay the next night.

Pictures from Saturday can be found here.

Sunday November 25th, 2007 (Arthur’s Pass to Fox Glacier to Hari Hari)

Today we got up and hiked a trail in Arthur’s Pass National Park. We hiked to the Devil’s Punch Bowl. It was fairly steep, but a well maintained and mostly graveled trail. We headed back to the car and got on the road toward the west coast. Again, the drive was pretty fun as these mountain pass roads are twisty and steep with great views. Even though the weather was light rain and overcast we still stopped for pictures along the way. We also got to experience the Kea bird for the first time. We stopped by the side of the road and we noticed a few of these birds that look like a distant cousin of a parakeet. After we got out to take in the view, the birds started jumping on top of the car like they wanted in. Then we a bird on a nearby rock eating a gasket, which seemed very strange. Then, we read the sign at the overlook which informed us that these birds have taken to eating rubber! This means that the birds were not trying to get into our car, they were eating the rubber from it! Once we reached the coast, we started the drive south along Highway 6. We stopped in Hokitika (map) for some quick lunch, petrol, cash (as there were possibly no ATMs south of town), and a view of the sea. It was a gray sand beach and the crashing of the waves put a mist in the air. We made it to Hari Hari and stopped to see if we could check in early at the Hari Hari Motor Inn and leave our suitcases. Sure enough we could and we did. Kacey also ran in the wool store in town and bought some beautifully dyed combed wool for her grandma to spin. We then headed toward Franz Josef Glacier for our first glacier experience.

We arrived in town and stopped for a few maps. These told us which hike to hit to really see the glacier. We took the Franz Josef Valley Walk which takes you as close as they will currently let you get unguided. With the overcast skies, you could not see all the way up the mountain, which made the glacier look like it was infinite. The walk was through the river beds that fill up during the summer when lots of ice starts melting. There was plenty of little water falls throughout the valley and the walls were very high up. After this walk, we headed south to Fox Glacier. We first went to the lookout for the glacier which was a walk through the rainforest for a not-so-big view of the glacier. We then drove over to the carpark for the hike up to Fox. It was trying to rain just a little so we were attempting to keep the cameras covered up. This walk also had plenty of signage to keep people away from the glacier but as we were very close to the glacier and the melting water river was far away, many people were going up to it anyway. We followed suit as we really wanted to touch it. We took some nice pictures and got going as the rain started to come down a little heavier. We looked funny with our little purple umbrella, but our heads and cameras were dry. We ate dinner in Fox Glacier at Café Neve which for the area was probably ok. We then drove back north to Franz Josef to try to find some dessert. There were more options, but the dessert was disappointing for the cost. We started the trek back to our hotel to get some rest.

Pictures from Sunday can be found here.

Monday November 26th, 2007 (Hari Hari to Nelson via 6)

We woke up and got on the road toward Greymouth. This is where we would stop for lunch and gas. We ate at Café 124, which was not too bad, just small portions. We searched for free wireless internet, but no luck. We then headed to Paparoa National Park. Along the way, we thought we spotted a whale off of the coast, but upon review of the pictures on the computer, it looks like it was probably a rock formation. We stopped at the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. This was pretty neat and we took lots of pictures of water splashing and a few videos to hear the blowholes. We then drove straight through to Nelson and found a place to stay downtown. We ate at Stefano’s, an Italian place, which was not too bad, spent a couple minutes on the internet looking at places in Picton, then went back for some rest.

Pictures from Monday can be found here.

Tuesday November 27th, 2007 (Nelson to Motueka to Picton)

We woke up and got going to the northwest toward Motueka and Abel Tasman National Park. We drove over the mountain to arrive inside Abel Tasman NP and stopped to hike for a bit. We then realized that the main entrance and Visitor’s Center was north near Takaka and would have taken another hour and a half to reach it. We decided to just walk out to one lookout and then head out. It was a little disappointing to not get to hike more, but the views of the water were pretty nice. Abel Tasman is mostly known for ocean kayaking and boating, so there probably was not much more hiking had we headed north. We stopped in Mapua for some lunch at Café One (or something like that). Their salads were pretty good. We got on the road for the long haul towards Picton. Highway 6 between Picton and Havelock had some pretty nice views, along with several logging trucks. It is very noticeable as you view the mountain sides that logging is very heavy here. Many of the hills were bare and areas not bare were lined with “rows” of trees from replanting. We had noticed on the maps a side road from Havelock to Picton, but had not found much information on it. We saw what we thought to be that road, but without much information and wanting to stop in Blenheim for wine/olive oil/chocolate, we stayed on 6.

We arrived outside of Blenheim and started looking for signs. We searched for the information center in town, but could not find it. As it was getting late, we knew shops would start closing soon, so we hurried on in hopes to see some north of town. We found Annie’s Wine Room and Café and stopped in. We got there about 10 minutes before closing. We tasted a few local wines and one olive oil. I did not really care for their particular Rieslings, but Kacey found one red she liked. So, we picked up a bottle of red and a bottle of Omaka Springs Olive Oil and headed out. The woman there told us how to reach one other winery so we headed that way. We arrived there about 10 minutes before closing but unfortunately they had very little wine to try. There was only one that Kacey wanted to try, but she didn’t care for it and we moved on. On our way to the car, we saw down the road a chocolate shop, so we rushed over. To our luck, it was the one store we had read about to stop in; Makana Confections. We got there about 30 minutes before closing and had a look around. We bought some chocolate for us, parents, family, and a few friends and got moving once north once again on Highway 1 toward Picton. We arrived in town and it was somewhat smaller than we had imagined. We first stopped at our first choice of hotels, the Jasmine Court. They had a vacancy sign out front, so we knew we had a place to stay for the night. This place was pretty nice and we quickly did a load of laundry and headed to the Yacht Club for dinner. Do not eat at this place, it was quite disappointing. There was really no one else there and we waited 30 minutes for a poorly prepared dinner, part of which involved a microwave that we could see from where we were sitting. We headed back to the hotel, did a little web browsing and trip planning and went to bed.

Pictures from Tuesday can be found here.

Sydney, Australia

Wednesday November 21st, 2007

We had a 4pm flight to SYD, which was late and with storms, we did not get off the plane until about 9pm. The Airport Link train was a fast route to Wynyard station, but cost about $13 each. We checked in at the Grace Hotel Sydney, and went to bed.

Thursday November 22nd, 2007

Today we headed to the harbor. We gazed at the Opera House and Harbour Bridge for a few minutes, and then bought tickets to take the ferry to the Taronga Zoo. We spent about four hours at the zoo, got some pictures with some Koalas, and headed back to the harbor. We did something called an Animal Encounter. We spent 10-15 minutes with Koalas in their environment where we got up close with them and took pictures up close with them (Australian law prohibits visitors from touching the Koalas). The Taronga Zoo is much better than the Melbourne Zoo and we really enjoyed our time here. We then walked around the outside of the Opera House for a while. Up close, it seems smaller than what you see in pictures and TV. We headed back to the hotel to figure out dinner and ended up going down the street to La Bora Italian restaurant. The food was decent, but nothing special. We looked for desserts but could not find anything near by.

Pictures from Thursday can be found here.

Friday November 23rd, 2007

We got up, got some food at the Espresso Bar next door to the hotel (good), and took the train to the Blue Mountains. We got to the train stations right around 10, and we had just missed the train to Katoomba that leaves every one hour. So we found some take away sandwiches for the train and boarded the Blue Mountains Line train around 11. The two hour train ride was nice as we needed a little time to sit, listen to music, and play some sudoku. We read that the few shuttle services/tour trolleys leave every hour and are lined up with the train arrivals, so we picked the cheaper one (Blue Mountains Trolley Tours) and quickly got our tickets once we arrived. We really only needed the shuttle to get us down to the Gordon Falls so we could start a hike along the rim. Due to the late start, we decided to not try to get all the way to Three Sisters, so we hopped on the bus for the last kilometer or so. We made it from Gordon Falls, through Leura Cascades, to Honeymoon Lookout. It was a nice hike and fairly rugged. The views were wonderful and made for a quite relaxing time. Kacey grabbed a cupcake to eat and we caught the 5:24pm train for Sydney Central. We switched trains at Central to get us up to Wynyard to stop off at the hotel before dinner. We walked a few blocks south to Captain Torres for some pretty good Spanish food. That night we stayed up late packing as we had to leave the hotel around 6am for the train station.

Pictures from Friday can be found here.

Cairns, Australia

Sunday November 18th, 2007

We arrived in CNS, got a taxi (about the same cost as the bus), checked in at the Rydges, and went to P.J. O’Brien's Irish Pub for dinner. It wasn't anything special, but at least it was a little lively.

Monday November 19th, 2007

Today was our boat trip for snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. We went with the Silver Swift company and they were very good. It was about $140 each, but we went out on a high speed boat and had time to hit three different dive sites. There were tons of fish! We first hit Milln Reef where we stopped at Whale and Fishtown. Whale is a spot that got that name because the reef comes up to the surface and causes a vortex, which looks like a whale spouting water. Fishtown got its name in an obvious fashion; it has lots of fish. Last we went to Flynn Reef for a stop at Tennis Courts. I am not quite sure how this got its name. Each spot we were given around an hour to dive, which is quite a long time. The last spot had very strong currents which made it extremely tiring, especially at the end of the day. We were quite tired by the end of it all. They served some muffins, coffee, and tea for breakfast during the one hour ride out. Although highly encouraged to take the free motion sickness medicine, nearly every one got sick off the back of the boat (and some didn’t make it to the back in time). Kacey was close, but just sat and relaxed to get through it. Coming back was the exact same thing; you really think people would have learned their lesson! It was a great day though. We didn’t get to see any sharks, which I really wanted to, but we did see some giant clams.

Pictures from Monday can be found here.

Tuesday November 20th, 2007

Today we rented a car and went north to the rainforest. We first stopped in Barron Gorge National Park at Lake Placid. We watched the ducks and ate a little food. We then drove up to the Hydro Station. There were some nice views of the Gorge along the way. After this we headed to Kuranda. This was a mountainside road that was very curvy with a steep elevation change. We stopped at a lookout about half way up for some views of the ocean and towns below. Once in Kuranda, it was obvious this was a little tourist stop. We stopped only for some information and moved on to the Barron Falls Lookout. Barron Falls feeds in to an enormous gorge. There was a nice hike through the rainforest to get down to the lookout. Next we drove over to Wrights Lookout.

From here we decided to drive inland (west) to Mareeba and drive south down highway 1 to Atherton, and then head back east to Gordonvale. We stopped in Atherton and looked for some information and Kacey ate some Greek food. Next we headed to the Curtain Fig Tree. This was a pretty large display of a Curtain Fig Tree. We also snapped many pictures of an Australian Brush Turkey, but only a couple came out any good. Our next stop was at Lake Eacham which is park of Crater Lakes National Park. Here we saw a few more Brush Turkeys and got a look at some turtles in the lake. We then stopped at Lake Barrine, just down the road, and got a view of several pelicans feeding. As it started to rain (as it was on and off all day), we ran to the car and headed over the Great Divide toward Gordonvale. Near Gordonvale, we snapped a few pictures of the natural Pyramid, a hill naturally shaped like a pyramid. There was not that much to see of it, so we headed north back to Cairns. We stopped at Adelfia for some good Greek food and called it a night (after buying a half liter of gelato for dessert).

Pictures from Tuesday can be found here.

Wednesday November 21st, 2007

We bummed around this morning. Ate lunch at La Pizza (nothing special here) and walked the boardwalk.

Pictures from Wednesday can be found here.

Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia

Friday November 16th, 2007

We arrived in AYQ near Ayers Rock (aka Uluru) and headed for Yulara (aka the Ayers Rock Resort). It was kind of surreal seeing the large monolith sticking up out of the ground while flying in. We checked in at the Lost Camel Resort and went to the grocer to purchase food for lunch and some random snacks. The rooms are interesting here. No TVs, just a radio and fridge. The hotels are very well made so they keep the heat out fairly well. Drove to Uluru, stopped at Cultural Center and spent a little time reading there. Went for two hikes (driving counter-clockwise around Uluru); the Kuniya Walk and the Mala Walk. Came back to the hotel for a quick break. Drove back to Uluru for the sunset view. Ate dinner at the Pioneer BBQ and Bar, which is a cook your own food place with live entertainment (locals playing covers).

Pictures from Friday can be found here.

Saturday November 17th, 2007

Today we slept in, relaxed some, got a coffee (cheaper than Starbucks, in the middle of the desert), and went to grocer for juice and muffins. Finished grocer food for lunch. We drove to Kata Tjuta (aka the Olgas), talked to Ranger Sam about park rangers here in the desert (~43 rangers). We ate dinner at the Pioneer Kitchen. Not too bad; pizza and vege wrap. We tried to do a Night Sky Show at the Observatory, but it was too cloudy.

There is not much to Kata Tjuta National Park. There are only a couple trails at Uluru and a couple viewing points along the way. The climb is usually closed unless you are here in their winter. The Olgas only have a couple trails as well and only a couple viewing areas as well. The Valley of the Winds trail is also usually closed.

Pictures from Saturday can be found here.

Sunday November 18th, 2007

We got up at 5am for the sunrise at Uluru. There were not really any good viewing places as it is a roadside stop and not elevated above the trees. Drove by to see if the climb was open and it was already closed due to winds. We bummed around by the pool until check-out. We ate at the Gecko's Café nearby and were disappointed. They gave our pizza to someone else, but we were the ones that noticed the mistake. When we brought it up, they did not apologize or anything and said that they were now putting another pizza on. Not until after I started to pay did I mention that this was disappointing and as soon as I mentioned a review of the place, she said sorry and no payment was necessary. The damage had been done and I threw a $20 at her and said it is too late.

Yulara is a resort that was planned and built in the mid 80’s. They did a fairly good job of hiding the resort in the hills and with trees. Crowd controls are pretty good too. This may be due to expenses here and several bus options for people to come in from Alice Springs. The bad part of the buses is when two or three show up to do a hike. They are loud and make shots difficult. The town is a little expensive, but deals can be found – like eating food from the grocer for breakfast and lunch. Dinner can be done for $30-60. The food actually is not too bad considering you are in the middle of the desert; we didn’t really have anything bad. I think the Aussies know how to plan and get food (and other things) to these remote towns fairly well. I thought a lot about how the village works (I can’t help it). I believe they satellite in TV, internet, phones, and a few radio stations. They then re-broadcast the radio here with transmitters as there are a few stations (some just may be accessible from Alice Springs. I doubt that any fiber has been run here. They make their own electricity and water. Internet is expensive too. There are wireless options around, but they were not available from our room. The rate was $25 for 24 hours (cumulative over two days) which is not too bad for out here. I am guessing it would not be that quick, though, as the internet terminals are not that fast either (about half your time at them is spent waiting for the pages to load). And, since the terminals are some proprietary crap software, we could not log into our bank to move funds.

Pictures from Sunday can be found here.

Melbourne, Australia

Monday November 12, 2007

After about 24 hours flying and waiting in airports (ORD, LAX, and SYD), we arrived in MEL. Customs and baggage took almost an hour due to a random search or visa hiccup (not sure which). We got through, tried to exchange $$US for $$AUD, but they wanted to charge about 8%. So we instead pulled some cash off the ATM (about 1-1.5% for us). We picked up some brochures for the city, bought two bus tickets, and headed for Melbourne CBD (central business district). We snapped a few pictures on the way in on the bus; typical looking city on the ride in. A fair amount of tall buildings were on the horizon. We arrived at the bus station where we received a free transfer to our hotel. We were dropped off at the front door of the Adelphi and in we went. We checked in, got to our room, and proceeded to immediately shower. We felt and probably looked nasty. After a quick rinse, we sat around for a few minutes, checking out the Australian TV shows while we rested for a bit. Around 2:30, we proceeded to talk a walk down the Yarra River. There were many little restaurants and some upscale shopping. We walked to nearly the end of Southbank and stopped for a sandwich and a pastry. This was our first realization that prices are high for goods and food in Melbourne. Part of this is the fact that there is no tipping at any time. Also, all taxes are included in your price. Once you understand that, it becomes a little easier to shell out the money. We proceeded to start walking back to the hotel. Along the way we stopped at a grocery and picked up some water, two peaches, and a mango. We also stopped for 15 minutes at the internet café to email the family and a couple friends.

After another quick rest in the hotel room watching some Netball, we headed down to meet Justin in the lobby. Once he arrived, we headed down for a walk west along the Yarra through the Alexandra Gardens. It was good to catch up and hear about his stay here, as he was leaving the next day for home. We proceeded back toward the Southbank and discussed the Eureka Skydeck. It is the tallest residential structure in the southern hemisphere. We decided to pay and head up to the observation deck. It was a pretty good view; the afternoon sun was throwing some serious glare our way, but we made due. The observation deck has a glass shelf that you can pay to ride on; it proceeds to extend out 10 feet over nothingness with a glass bottom. I recorded a video of it coming out, we will see if it came out.

After coming down, we started looking for a place to eat. Most of the places on the river are unnecessarily marked up, so we headed toward the center of town. Justin let us know that (similar to Europe) the best places are in the alleys. There was one stretch of street where all the restaurants were competing for business pretty loudly. After listening to the spiels and trying to get a little extra, we picked Vons. Both Justin and I got the Kangaroo and it was very good! Kacey got the Gorgonzola Gnocchi, but it tasted more like Romano. Our waiter didn’t speak English very well (sounded French) and was obviously not an experienced waiter. We asked a few times for drinks, but no tipping, so no worries. As it was getting late, Justin headed back and we quickly fell asleep.

Pictures from Monday can be found here.

Tuesday November 13, 2007

Today we slept in until about 8 or 9. We decided to walk to the Queen Victoria Market to see what all it had; we read that you can find anything and everything. Well, they were almost correct-there were no cars for sale. On our way, we stopped by the alley way off of Flinders Lane one block west of Swanson Street. This alley way had numerous little coffee shops and we ended up eating breakfast here every morning. Once at the Market, we started walking through the clothes and souvenirs area first and it was mostly stuff we didn’t really need. We walked for about an hour before we got to the food. It was wonderful; just to put in perspective each row was about 150 yards long, and there were about 8 rows before we got to the food and then there were about 4 rows of food. There were lots of local Australian fruits and vegetables, so we picked up some snacks. I ate a $1 mango, and Kacey got some strawberries and cherries. We also got some nanshi (sp?), which look like white apples and taste like them too. Then we crossed the street to another row of food, and some indoor shops with cheeses, meats, olives, wines, and pastries. We ended up buying some bread, white cheese, salami, and olives along with the fruit. We also bought a fig stuffed with mascarpone. Ah, so good.

We came back to the hotel room to eat and after a little rest we walked to the Royal Botanical Gardens south of the city. The guides said it would be about 1 mile, but it was probably 3 or 4 to get there. Once there, we let the cameras start snapping. We walked most of the gardens over a 2.5 hour period. There were plants and trees from all over the world here. We almost trammed back, but were not sure how the short ride ticket worked, or how much it was. By the way, the tram system here can get you where you need to go, but it is a little expensive (unless you have a day pass and use it all day). Also, you have to kind of know how it works; it is not a simple ticket purchase and ride till your stop like subways are. There are different ticket options and different zones and you can buy certain tickets at certain places.

For dinner we headed to Grossi Florentino. They have 3 eating areas; an upstairs fancy place, and two downstairs places. We ate at the one that is a small café/pasta bar that was supposed to be one of the better places. Well, the menu was limited and although Kacey’s pumpkin tortellini was good, my lasagna was so-so. Not much flavor or cheese. We then looked for a place to eat dessert, but as it was just past 9pm, everywhere closed up quickly.

Pictures from Tuesday can be found here.

Wednesday November 14, 2007

Today we got up early to rent a car and head for the Great Ocean Road. The process was fairly painless as driving out of the city during the day is not too hard. We reached Geelong within an hour and kept on moving to Torquay. Just after Torquay is where the road started to get fun. This road reminded me just a little of the Road to Hana. A few straight a ways and a lot of hairpin turns thrown in there to make it load of fun to drive. On our way to the Split Point Lighthouse, we stopped at quick overlook. This was our first taste of the rest of the day. Once we reached the Split Point, we stopped to take a look, and ended up walking down to the beach. I was tempting the tide and walked out on some rocks just in time for a tidal wave to come in (about 6-9 inches out of nowhere). After attempting to dry my socks out, we hiked back to the car and I put my sandals on in hopes my shoes and socks would dry out.

We stopped in Lorne to pick up some information packets on Otway National Park. We read about a few water falls in the area, so we drove back to one, the Erskine Falls and hiked down for a view. While heading back down to the Ocean Road, we also stopped at Teddy’s Lookout for a nice view of the valley and ocean. Our next stop was Apollo Bay for a quick bite and a view of the ocean. We ate at the Apollo Bay hotel; the fish and chips were not spectacular, but we ate it up and moved on to Maits Rest. This was a nice loop walk through a Rain Forest. We were going to stop and hike to the Hopetoun Falls, but the road was closed.

As the forest turned to rolling pastures, we stopped at Castle Cove look out for a quick view of the ocean and some cliffs. Coming up next was the Melba Gully State Park. This was another nice Rain Forest hike that we had all to ourselves. This hike included what is believed to be the oldest tree in Australia (an Otway Messmate). Amongst this beast are the Mrytle Beech trees. These trees, which provide the canopy for the rain forests here, grow fast and tall. These trees are having difficulty with disease in the area, so much work is being done to protect them, and in effect protect the rain forests.

Next on our route was to be the 12 Apostles in the Port Cambell National Park. Unfortunately, we missed the turn as the carpark was on the inside of the Ocean Road (everything else was on the ocean side). So, next we turned in for a stop at Loch Ard Gorge (this is when we realized we had passed the 12 Apostles). After some gawking at the cliffs here, we headed back a few kilometers to the 12 Apostles. A short walk out to the cliffs, we were again amazed at the formations in the rock off the coast. The pictures probably won’t do justice to the size and height of these formations. Next on our trip we stopped at a scenic view of a natural arch made in the rock. (We forgot to take a picture of the name of the place (PB140093 – 97)). Just down the road from here was London Bridge (which some people now call London Arch). We had heard about this stop along the Ocean Road. This is another rock formation that used to form a double arch (hence the London Bridge name), but in 1990, the arch connecting the rock to land fell into the ocean. Two hikers were stranded on the formation and were rescued by helicopter. After a quick 2.5 hour drive on a long, fairly flat, lonely road, we were back in Melbourne. This is where the fun started. We were very hungry and just wanted to eat. Since we had a car, we headed to Carlton which is known for its Italian restaurants. Parking was sparse and navigating these streets at night was no picnic. We headed to one that was supposed to be open until 10, but it was not. We went to the first place that looked ok and open; the Key on the Wall Ristorante can be skipped if you are in the area. We headed back to Brunetti for coffee and dessert. After finding a place to stash the car overnight, we finally got to bed around midnight.

Pictures from Wednesday can be found here.

Thursday November 15, 2007

We bought a day pass for the MetLink system. We went to the Melbourne Zoo. Then we headed down to St. Kilda Beach. Ate some gelato and walked around a bit. We saw the Luna Park, but it was closed. Trammed to the store Books for Cooks. We got the idea for Tapas there and ate dinner at Movida. We bought the chef's new cookbook and had him sign it too!

Pictures from Thursday can be found here.