February 19, 2008
It's On Like Donkey Kong
I now have a rather flash looking complete with holograms 12 month multiple entry Schengen Visa, which means I can work in Italy and live pretty much anywhere in Western Europe.
Great hall locations: Italy , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
February 12, 2008
These Shoes Were Made For Walking
I'm sending off my Italian Visa application in the morning. At this point I'm really hoping they issue one since I have had to buy tickets and insurance prior to applying, otherwise it's going to be a rather expensive exercise.
Travel dates are now leave New Zealand on Tue 15th April and arrive in Italy on the 16th. Start looking for a flat over the following week while staying at my friend Anna's place. On the 23rd I'm taking a quick trip via Roma to Istanbul, spending the night there and then traveling down to Gallipoli the following day. After the dawn memorial service and a little exploring heading back to Istanbul, another night there and the most of the following day. Heading back to Bologna late on the afternoon of the 26th.
After that continue to look for somewhere to live, if I haven't found somewhere already. Also on the list at some stage is a trip to Casablanca, since I now have enough Frequent Flyer Miles to go there and back for free! And visiting friends in London and Ireland. Though these trips will be a bit later on in the year.
UPDATE: Visa application has been sent, now we wait...
Great hall locations: Italy , Travel | Talked about by: 1 Fraggles
November 8, 2006
Sand And Horses
The trip back to New Zealand was nasty. Long, too long—47 hours in total—and due to the freezing weather I had come down with a cold, less than ideal for flying.
- 45min walk to train station
- Train: Bologna - Milano
- Subway: Milano Central - Milano Nord
- Train: Milano Nord - Milano Malpensa
- Plane: Milano Malpensa - Dubai
- 10 hour wait
- Plane: Dubai - Singapore
- 1 hour wait
- Plane: Sinapore - Brisbane
- 1.5 hour wait
- Plane: Brisbane - Auckland
- 2.5 hour shuttle bus to Hamilton (delayed)
As you can probably tell I'm not in a hurry to do this particular trip again any time soon... lol
Great hall locations: Arabia , Travel | Talked about by: 1 Fraggles
October 26, 2006
Sempre Lavoro
Yesterday I took the EuroStar from Napoli to Bologna to stay with Anna again until Saturday morning. Today and tomorrow I'm working, so there isn't going to be much of interest to report—well I'm going to buy a couple of new shirts after work but that's about it. On Saturday I head south again to Roma, as the Vatican museum is free this Sunday only—yes the queues are likely to be huge.
Great hall locations: Italy , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
October 25, 2006
Pompeii
Today we caught the train to Pompeii, the city that got buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted. What surprised me most was the size of the city, I spent 3.5 hrs exploring it and probably covered less than half of it. The frescos were pretty cool, as were the gardens that have been replanted. One of the buildings was an ancient brothel with frescos depicting a menu of various positions on offer!
Great hall locations: Italy , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
October 24, 2006
Napoli By The Sea
I'm sharing my room with a French guy from Luxembourg, today we explored the waterfront and a couple of forts and churches. I see why my friends said I had to visit here—it's really nice, the weather is good and the people very friendly. However the traffic is absolutely crazy, people doing U-turns right into on coming cars and parking in the middle of road! I also think it must be a legal requirement to honk your horn every 30 seconds to make sure it still works, and I haven't seen a single car here without dents, missing mirrors, bumpers, or all of the above!!
Great hall locations: Italy , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
October 23, 2006
The Wild South
Southern Italy is like another country. I arrived last night in Napoli at about 9pm in the dark, it was hot, humid and busy. I went to the McDonalds in the station to get a late dinner the only a couple of letters of their sign were working and everything inside that be stolen had been stolen, including the toilet seat but fortunately I didn't need to use that!
After getting off at the correct Metro station for hostel, I got hopelessly lost. Turns out the hostel is up a winding industrial driveway in the middle of a construction site, and very difficult to find in the daytime, let alone at 10pm at night in the dark. I ended up miles away from it, being spat at by passing youths on Vespas. Napoli was starting to sound like a very bad plan.
The area I'd wandered into was pretty rough, with rubbish piled piled a metre high on the sidewalk and I was starting wonder if I was going to end up in dumpster too. However, I saw a family walking by and asked the husband for directions, but got lost again. Then they drove by in their car and motioned for me to get in and kindly drove me to hostel—without them I'd never of found it!
Great hall locations: Italy , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
October 22, 2006
The East Coast
After Firenze I've spent two days over in Marche staying with Anna and her parents in a small town near the sea. Yesterday her father drove me over the mountains into Umbria to an even smaller town to catch the train to Roma and then on to Napoli. The mountains are really pretty in autumn but I'm looking forward to the better weather in the south as it's been raining and a bit cold here.
Great hall locations: Italy , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
October 21, 2006
Follow The Yellow Brick Road
Today is my last day in Firenze, tomorrow I head east to met up with Anna. Firenze is undoubtedly the most beautiful city I've ever been to and I can understand why so many great artists were inspired by it. However, it is incredibly easy to get lost here, the street markets being much like pinball machines, but this has lead to many unplanned discoveries, like the botanical gardens today!
My Hostel was about 5km away from the Train Station, so it took some effort to find. Below is a montage of the landmarks I use to get from Centro to the Hostel and back. The painted foot prints on the pavement are in fact to help school children find their way to school—green and red are two different schools. They also help lost tourists to find their way through the maze of streets too and I was very lost at the time!
Great hall locations: Italy , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
October 20, 2006
European Hostels
After staying in a number of hostels in Australia, with lots of hot foreign girls that all spoke English, hostels here came as quite a shock. For one they're not co-ed, so I'm stuck here with a elderly guy, a young Dutch guy, both of which don't speak English or Italian, and an old Australian guy that sleeps naked. Yes, i don't think it could worse! lol. Hopefully the next one is better!
Great hall locations: Italy , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
October 19, 2006
The Bicycle Mafia
Many people over here ride bicycles, not the modern looking ones we get in New Zealand, but bikes that look at least 40 years old. However, there is the problem of the Bicycle Mafia, who will steel your bike, stip it down, and then try to sell it back to you, lol. This may explain why all the bikes on the street have at least 2 locks, if not more, with chains that are up to an inch thick!
Great hall locations: Italy , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
October 16, 2006
The Italian Job
After 3 planes, 4 trains and 51 hours travelling I finally arrived in the City of Bologna in Northern Italy. This has been the longest trip I've ever done and navigating Milano after being awake for 45 hours straight proved to be an almost insurmountable challenge. Everything was in Italian, no-one spoke English and I was fast approaching the point of complete physical exhaustion.
Everything here is old, the airport felt like I was walking in the 1970's, there's no modern malls, big supermarkets, or chain stores. Grocery Shopping is done at several small vendors, the butchery, the baker, and yes, there is probably a candle stick maker around here somewhere too! There is also small fruit and vegetable stores that look like they haven't changed for 100's of years. Today I'm working in Anna's office at the University of Bologna, which is 918 years old...
So far I been been getting of over the jet-lag and the dodgy aeroplane food—for the first two days I had a very upset stomach and was feeling rather ill. The food here is quite different to what I thought Italian food was. They put Olive Oil on everything and I mean everything, peas, beans, carrots, broccoli, potatoes, pasta, they're all coated with oil. Bread they eat plain with nothing on it, and at the home where I'm staying they keep the dough pre-prepared in the fridge and bake it fresh each day.
I also found out why Anna and her flatmates don't have a car, apart from the fact there are no and I mean no car parks, petrol is over $3 per litre—and we thought $1.70/litre was bad!!
Below is a photo taken from my bedroom window at about 7am yesterday. Each morning the bells of the Duomo (The cathedral in Centro [the city centre]) ring to call people to mass just after dawn. On Sunday there are several masses in the morning, so they go to town on the bells—there's no such thing as a Sunday morning sleep-in here!! Tomorrow I'm heading to Firenze and Sienna in Toscana, I'll post again in a few days.
Great hall locations: Italy , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
October 13, 2006
Please Open The Hatracks With Care
Good Morning, the local time is 6am, Friday 13th of October, Welcome to Arabia! Possibly not the best day to be flying over Iraqi airspace, but we'll find out! lol.
The Middle East is one of the most amazing places I've every been. The land of the horse lords, desert oasis's and ancient cites. The buildings here are unlike anything I've ever seen. I had the fortune of sitting beside a local on the plane, who explained the interesting places to see, the names of mountains and what it is like to do business/live in this part of world—apparently it's not a good place to have a credit card, as the interest rate is 43%!! This is definitely one place I intend to return to the explore, as my time here on this trip is very brief.
If you're wondering about the title, when the Arabic was translated to English on the plane, the Arabic word for "Over head locker" became "Hatrack" in English—however I seemed to have left my bowler hat at home!!
Great hall locations: Arabia , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
October 11, 2006
Tiki Tiki Bang Bang
The time to depart is near, the bags are packed, plane is ready, but where is destination on the ticket? I'll give you a clue, the airport code has an X.
I've been using Opera Mini for a little while now, it's a browser that let's even old phones like my Nokia access the Internet, including this blog while on the go. In fact i'm writing this with it right now!
I've added some code to this site that adds the graphic below to every entry posted from my phone ;-)
ÀÀGreat hall locations: Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
September 29, 2006
I Dream Of Genie
While browsing the net today I found this site, Seat Guru, which I must say is damn cool! It lets you lookup the seating plans for every aircraft of a particular Airline and gives you detailed information about each seat by mousing over it. The seat information includes seat pitch/width, entertainment options, which seats have restricted leg room or restricted recline, and the proximately to noisy babies and smelly toilets. With the aid of this information I have now booked the best seats in house, rock on!!
Great hall locations: Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
September 18, 2006
First Steps
Well in the first steps of my move, also known as Operation Goat, (why on earth is it called operation goat?! well, originally i was planning on moving to a place where there was lots pastures, shepherds, and um, goats. However, I've since decided that was a very silly idea, and I'm not going anywhere near there... so anyway), and put everything I've had in storage up for auction on TradeMe. Now, if you live outside of New Zealand, you'll probably never have heard of TradeMe (think eBay, but with nicer graphics), but it's big here, in fact it accounts for 60% of the entire country of New Zealand's Internet traffic and is banned/blocked in many workplaces.
My friend Stoo happens to work for TradeMe and on his advice I've put everything up on $1 reserve (€0.50). The logic behind this is people are more likely to bid on $1 reserve auctions, and once you've bid on something there's more commitment to try to win the auction. This hopefully will mean, if there's two or more bidders the price will escalate quite quickly. Of course, this is just the theory and I'm waiting with bated breath to see the final result.
The reason for the clean out, apart from my eventual move, is my mum is moving house at the end of the year and she is cleaning out the cupboards/spare room/basement beforehand. All of us have to go through our junk and either throw it out or move it before then. Granted that most the stuff I'm selling I've haven't looked at in years, so it's not really of great concern what the auctions close for—though more money is always better, lol.
Physiologically though, the sorting through everything—old school/university stuff and other clutter that seems to accumulate over the years—and throwing the bulk of it out, was kind of like putting the past behind me and moving on so to speak. I'm looking forward to a fresh start and the new challenges of the coming year, and this was a good step in that direction.
Great hall locations: Travel | Talked about by: 3 Fraggles
August 29, 2006
Wanderlust
Winter is finally drawing to a close, the weather is warmer and the sun is out more often. It's a nice change after the reading about all the summer adventures of the northern hemisphere dwellers, who seem to forget we're stuck down here in the cold. Yet ironically in just over a month's time I'm heading over to Europe for autumn.
I have recently added a travel map to the site, detailing all the countries and places I've visited. In listing all the countries and territories it's really made me realise how few places I've actually been to. Especially in the Pacific where I live, I've only managed to visit 4 out of the 40. Hopefully I can check off a few more of these off by years end.
Travel Map & Visited Countries List
Great hall locations: Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 15, 2006
Sydney
The weather in Sydney on the way back was wet, cold and windy. Not helped by the fact I was in damp clothes, and while I had showered in Cairns, I still stunk.
The plan was to go shopping while I was there and see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House—from the photos you can no doubt see how wet it was, lol!
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Great hall locations: Australia , Travel | Talked about by: 1 Fraggles
July 14, 2006
Escape From The Rain
On the way back from Cape Tribulation we stopped at the Daintree river to do a river boat tour. It was good see crocodiles in the wild after the piss poor wildlife park on the way up and we saw a lot of snakes sunning themselves in the trees. Another cool thing was seeing Bananas trees and the tea growing in the fields. I didn't realise bananas grew in bunches of about 18 on the tree!, as you always see them broken up in the supermarket.
Friday night I catch up with Sarah and we have dinner at a very nice Indian restaurant and look around the gallery of a local photographer in Cairns. I have only got back in time—late afternoon and my airport pick up, which I had to sort when I got back, leaves at 3am.
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Great hall locations: Australia , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 13, 2006
Mount Sorrow's Revenge
Thursday morning, time to go—however it was still raining heavily and things weren't looking good. At midday our bus arrived on time, which was promising yet apparently it stalled in the middle of one of the rivers on the way up, which shattered our optimism some what! We departed on time and did get through the first river ok, but by the time we reached the second river the water level was too high. We couldn't go back either since the first river had risen also. Luckily, in between the two rivers was PK's so we went there to wait and see.
The plan was to leave at 2pm, but at 2pm the rivers were still too high. So then it was 3pm, but at 3pm it was still no go. Then it was 5pm, then it was the whole idea was abandoned for the night. The rivers were now at 1.1 meters and full of crocodiles as well I might add, so getting stuck in the middle of them wasn't the best plan, lol!
So we were stuck there the night, the problem being we weren't the only ones and there wasn't enough beds to go around. Prudently our guide realised this early on and booked out beds for everyone on our bus, himself included. God knows where the other people slept, two to a single bed or on the floor?!
Friday Morning, buses with snorkels and 4x4's to tow us though the rivers arrive. By this stage everyone had given up on washing since our clothes where all wet and I didn't didn't even want to touch my towel as it was kinda brownish by now [originally it was blue]. We smelt like rising damp according to the Irish girls (group #2) and feral according to the English girls. We were hopeful of getting away, as the rain eased over night. But at 7am the rain started and the rivers were rising again and everyone was in a panic to get on the their buses and the hell out of there before it's too late! When we finally got across the rivers and onto the main [sealed] road, everyone breathed a sigh of relief—We have escaped from Cape Tribulation!
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Great hall locations: Australia , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 12, 2006
The Beach House
Well my plan was 4 relaxing days in the sun at the Beach House, which as the name suggests surrounded by rain forest and right on the beach. There was slight spanner to my plan tho, in that the weather decided to give us the real rain forest experience, and apart from Tuesday morning when it was over cast, it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained—getting heavier with each passing day!
However, being a very positive person, I made the best of it and met some really cool people along the way. When I first arrived on Monday, these American girls gave me all these vouchers for free cooked breakfasts which helped with the food costs. I was staying in the Dorms and in each room you share with up to 4 other people. Since most people came here on one night overnight trips there was new people to talk to each day.
I meet several groups of Irish and Scottish girls, a couple of guys from Germany, a few Brits and of course a handful of Aussies. There were also these French guys that had one of the big silver Turkish water pipes with the hose—like the one the cat had in Alice in Wonderland! Ironically I didn't meet a single New Zealander during my entire time in Australia!
On the Tuesday night, this British couple with a car drove us down to PK's for the "Full Moon" party to check out the night life there—since that was the cheaper hostel and apparently party central. To be honest it was pretty disappointing, however the beer was cheap (VB isn't too bad) and we found out that drivers licenses and visa cards have all these graphics on them that only show up under UV [black] light!—the DJ booth was made from the front of an old car with black lights for headlights.
The British couple escaped Cape Tribulation and Mount Sorrow early the next morning, which was lucky as the rivers were rising. On the Wednesday I did one of the walks up to Emmagen Creek swimming hole (about an 1 hour walk each way) with this Italian girl, Sarah, who was staying in our dorm. It rained the entire way but the swimming as good and it was nice to get out of the Beach House for a while. However the big mistake was now my warmest clothes were wet, which meant due to the weather, I had no dry clothes and wet shoes for the next three days—not exactly fun!
Sarah's bus fortunately got through the river fords ok on the later that afternoon [Wednesday], I was scheduled to leave midday Thursday. By this time the novelty of the rain had well and truly worn off!
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Great hall locations: Australia , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 10, 2006
Cape Tribulation & The Rain Forest
For my second week in Australia, I was going up to Cape Tribulation in Daintree National Park, which a couple of hours north of Cairns.
Now this time of year is meant to be the dry season, the drought season in fact. However it rained over night and was still a little wet when we left at Dawn on the Monday—Not that encouraging...
The trip up included a wildlife park and forest board walk tour. The Wildlife Park was to be honest crap. The animals looked mangy and were in really small enclosures. We saw a crocodile, two kangaroos and a couple of snakes and that was pretty much it. In the first picture you can see the circular ferns that are unique to the area. The leaves of which feel like plastic and, as I was to find out later, if you stand under them they make very good umbrella's even in the heaviest of rain!
The rain forest board walk, on the other hand as pretty good. The Daintree Rainforest is the oldest forest on the planet and produces about 10% of the world's oxygen. You can actually smell the Oxygen, it's quite different to other forests I've been in.
I think the best part was seeing some of oldest trees on the planet. The tree shown here only grows 1 inch every 100 years, this one is just a young sapling—it's only about 20,000 years old! The leaves of this tree are identical to those found in the stomachs of fossilized dinosaurs!
Great hall locations: Australia , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 9, 2006
Green Island
On Sunday I wanted to go on a day trip to the Low Isles, another Quicksilver tour, as the Low Isles is where the sea turtles live and you can see them there every day. Unfortunately, they only go when the wind is below 15 knots and it was about 30-35 again today. So I thought I go somewhere and sit on the beach instead, as the weather was really good—hot and sunny, notwithstanding the wind.
The tour booking lady kept saying Green Island was the place to go, however my sister had previously said to avoid it, as it is full of Japanese tourists and very commercial. Nevertheless, it was the only place within my budget, so I decided to give it a go.
After roller-coaster boat ride we arrived at the island and I immediately understood what she meant; The Green Island is the complete opposite of Fitzroy Island. Island is a kind of oval shape on about a 10 o'clock angle. You arrive at the bottom of this and the first thing you see is this big concrete retaining wall to stop erosion. The island has been tourist destination since the 1940's, so after 60 years of development it's not exactly "untouched" anymore. It has a hotel, two cell sites, a helicopter pad, a beach with life guards and a mini zoo! :-S
I figured my best plan was to get to point diagonally opposite where we got off the boat, i.e. as far as possible from the 400 other tourists as possible. After consulting the map and a 10min walk most run along the board walk path, I arrived at the beach. The wind was coming from the north east, so it was blowing a gail on the upper side of the island. However, walking around to the left I was able to find a small clove of beach that was a little sheltered by the forest.
Due to the winds almost nobody bothered to walk around the island, so I was almost completely undisturbed for the entire day. It was like being on a deserted topical island in the middle of the ocean. From where I was sitting I could see a 180° horizon of nothing but ocean! I spend about 5 hours almost asleep there lying in the sun listening to 1950's Hawaiian Lounge music on my iPod—It was very relaxing and peaceful and the only good sunny day of my entire trip!
Great hall locations: Australia , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 8, 2006
Fitzroy Island
A day trip to Fitzroy Island is probably one of best value for money things you can do in Cairns. The ferry transfer is only $42 return and the island itself is stunning, covered with lust topical rainforest and almost completely unspoiled by tourism. I did a couple of the walks but mainly just sat on the Nudey Beach (where everyone was ironically clothed, lol) and listened to some tunes. The island and the beach is gorgeous, it in fact looks just like the cover of the Lonely Planet for the Seychelles, my photos don't do it justice!
The island is full of wildlife too. I saw a giant fruit bat in canopy about 5m above me, during one of my walks, that had a wing span of about 1.2 meters! I was watching it for a little while until it noticed me and flew out over the ocean and back into the forest around the corner. They fed on the fruit of the fig trees that are common in this part of Queensland. Over here they call them Flying Foxes and the one I saw was a Black Flying Fox. It was pretty impressive, as it was the first time I've seen a bat in person!
Great hall locations: Australia , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 7, 2006
Finding Nemo
Today I headed out to the Reef with Quicksilver, on their Silver Sonic high speed catamaran to do some snorkelling. Apparently most of the good fish and coral are in the first 2 metres, so not doing the diving wasn't the end of the world. They have those foam noodle things as well, so you can focus on the fish rather than staying a float, lol.
The boat departs from Port Douglas about an hour north of Cairns, so I had to be up at the ungodly hour of 5:30am to catch the connecting bus! However the sun rise over the ocean was well worth it, as you can see from the photo!
The ride out to the outer reef (Agincourt Ribbon Reef) was rough as guts, due to 30 knot winds, and almost everyone was sea sick on the 1.5hour trip, myself included. We visited 3 sites, the first of which was the best, because at the later two the sea was quite rough and their weren't as many fish. Some people diving saw turtles and reef sharks at these, however by this stage I was having hard enough time not getting blown into the coral by the wind (you aren't allowed to touch it)—I've also got a sneaking suspicion the turtles might of been gone deeper to avoid all those pesky snorkellers!
For the trip I hired a professional underwater diving camera (7.1 mega pixel/underwater flash/rated to 40 meters) from a place called "Wet Resolution" back in Cairns. I'd found them by accident the day before (their shop is just down from the bus terminus for Palm Cove) and decided it was a good idea since a crappy disposable was $25 for grainy film, 27 shots and no flash and this camera for $60/day for up to 500 photos including putting them on CD-ROM. As you can see from the photos it was money well spent!
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Great hall locations: Australia , Travel | Talked about by: 1 Fraggles
July 6, 2006
Downunder Dive & Palm Cove
Well for the first week in Cairns, as per my itinerary, I was meant to be doing a 4 day dive course. This started out well, I passed all the medical tests and theory stuff in the morning. However, one thing I wasn't expecting was a swimming test—250meters without stopping and then threading water for 10 minutes straight after. Now, swimming isn't exactly my thing and the last time I did any actual swimming was when I was like 10 years old!
We had to swim 10 lengths of the pool. I managed to blag my way through this part, as there were people worse than me that keep the instructor's attention occupied. Everyone else was finished and waiting when I was heading back from my 6th length, but the instructors just figured it was my 10th and I didn't correct them ;) However, after that I was completely shattered and started to do my best drowning impersonation about half way through the treading water test, lol!
To cut a long story short, the diving course was off the cards and I was down $122—the doctor's time and theory books [which you write in] aren't refundable. From this point on the itinerary went completely out the window... and on my todo list for when I get home is to enrol in swimming lessons!
Cairns itself is surrounded by mangroves and mud. There is a swimming pool thing at the Esplanade but it's pretty rice. So if you want to go an actual beach, you need to dive or catch the bus up to one the northern beaches. On my sister's advice, and having a sister that is a tour guide comes in quite handy, I headed up to Palm Cove.
The beach at Palm Cove is really nice. It was a bit windy the day I was there, but the weather was good—clear skies and warm. One thing I have noticed over here is while in New Zealand you can pay by EFTPOS or Visa everywhere, even at small dairies in the middle of nowhere, that's not the case here. The place I went for lunch didn't take cards at all!
Great hall locations: Australia , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 4, 2006
Arrival in Cairns
Well, the trip here was certainly interesting. I had an hour in Sydney Airport between arriving from Auckland and departing for Cairns which should of been fine. Of course that was until the Pilot came on the intercon after landing and said someone else had taken our [plane] park and we'd have to find another parking space!
So my hour turned into 25min and by the time I'd got off the first flight, the final boarding call for the connecting one had already gone. I had to literally run flat out from one aircraft to the other, skipping all the queues along the way and going through Diplomatic Passport Holders Only booth!
Fortunately I only travel with carry-on luggage [a small backpack], as I was the only person from Auckland to arrive in Cairns on time! Cairns is an interesting place, probably one of the most touristy places I've been, though parts of Hawaii are similar in that respect.
I'm staying with my sister's old flatmate, who has kindly put me up in her flat while I'm in Australia—I've even got my own room!
Great hall locations: Australia , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 2, 2006
Australia Itinerary
4th July: Leave Auckland, Arrive Cairns
5th July - 8th July: Diving on Great Barrier Reef
Downunder Dive
10th July - 13th July: Daintree Rainforest and Beach, includes Wildlife Sanctuary (Kangaroos etc), Crocodile River Tour & Rainforest Board Walk Tour
Cape Trib Connections
14th July: Kuranda Historic Railway through Rainforest and Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park
Kuranda Dreamtime Experience
15th July: Syndey: Habour Bridge, Opera House and shopping. Arrive back in Auckland 9:20pm
Great hall locations: Travel | Talked about by: 1 Fraggles
July 1, 2006
Thunderbirds Are Go
I'm finally pretty much clear of my cold, and only in the nick of time! I leave in 2 days time—bring on the rainforest and pristine beaches, lol.
Great hall locations: Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 14, 2005
You Know It's Hot When, Part 2
Actually it turns out, after the checking the weather on the Internet for July 13th... it was 40°C (104°F) with 54% humidity here yesterday!! I'm sure it was well over 50+°C in the apartment!! No wonder I thought I was gonna die, lol, they're having one of the hottest summer's on record over here and August is usually the worst month, thank goodness I'm not staying around for that! ;)
Great hall locations: Travel , United States | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 13, 2005
US Cell Number Disconnected
Just a quick note to let everyone know my US Phone number has been disconnected. Over here when your prepay balance hits less than $0.50 they disconnect your phone number, so you can't send or receive txt's and calls; the only thing that work's is 911 (I think).
Great hall locations: Travel , United States | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 12, 2005
You Know It's Hot When
You turn on the cold tap full bore, let it run for a couple of minutes, then put your hands under the water and promptly have to remove them, cos' the water's so freakin' hot it's burning your fingers!! Living in an oven would be cooler—honest to god, this is insane!!
Great hall locations: Travel , United States | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
July 10, 2005
Postcard #2
Really busy here at the moment, bit of a mission to fit in all the things I still want to see in LA around work, but I'm managing. In this post I've got the previously mentioned Long Beach Aquarium update, pictures from South Central, and stuff on today's trip to the Getty Center. But first, check out the L.A. Cityscape Panoramic Montage I made from photos taken at the Getty Center, by clicking the image to the right—it's bitchin'. I've marked in all the relevant locations mentioned in previous posts; btw, the actual Getty Center gardens are off to the right of the picture :)
So on Tuesday I was meant to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific, however due to me being extremely hungover that got deferred to Wednesday. It's a bit of a hike down to Long Beach, as you can see in the panorama above, it's freakin' miles away. This time I took a few pictures of the trip including the Los Angeles Industrial Area (south of Pico/Grand), South Central, Compton and Anaheim. Anaheim is where Disneyland is, however arriving at Disneyland via the freeway you don't actually see the real Anaheim—I have to wonder how many people that actually live in Anaheim can afford to go to Disneyland?
The Aquarium itself is pretty cool, not quite as big as I expected but still pretty sizeable. They had a number of interesting exhibits, including a 2 foot wide spider crap, which I'm sure my little sister would love (normal size craps freak her out ;), a Giant Octopus (the kind that eats sharks) and cool glow in the dark fish, like the ones off Finding Nemo. In addition, there was the area where you can play (pat/stoke as they swim past) with the sharks and stingrays. Personally I think the tank the sharks were in was way too small and kinda cruel, however I guess it was to stop them moving around lots and biting off some child's hand. The sharks felt like sandpaper and the stingrays were a bit strange kinda slimy almost. The stingrays were really cool though, they'd swim up to the surface and let you touch them and flap their wings.
Yesterday I decided to head back down to Westwood to that clothing store I'd checked out the day before. There were a couple of items I wanted to try on, however at the time I was all sandy and sweaty from the beach. After that I was going to visit the Getty Center on the way home. However, they didn't have the jacket I wanted in my size, so she asked if I'd like her to call their Hollywood store to put one on hold. The store was just up from the Hollywood & Highland Subway Station, opposite the Chinese Theatre (where all the movie premieres are), so I said "sweet, all good". I'd just take the bus up to road to Wilshire & Western, catch the train to Hollywood & Highland and back—an hour round trip tops and still heaps of time to see the Getty, all good ;)
Well it didn't exactly work out like that now, did it?! I got the 720 bus to Wilshire & Western no problem, got on the train, the automatic doors closed, and.... nothing, the train didn't go anywhere, then the air-con shuts down & the lights dim, and then more nothing... and I'm going "ok, this is starting to freak me out a bit"... Thirty minutes later... a guy comes on the PA and says there's been an suspicious package found at Vermont & Sunset and an unidentified person found in the tunnels, all the Vermont stations have been shut-down and if you're heading north to catch the Metro Bus to Hollywood & Western and catch the Subway from there.
At this I thought, ok take the bus, take the train, still get back in time, no problem. Twenty minutes later the bus turns up, and upon seeing the number of people at Hollywood & Western waiting to catch it the other way, I completely ditch the idea of heading back. So I get on the train at Hollywood & Western, the doors close and... nothing, again?! Arrgghh... trapped in a subway train again, this can't be happening?!. Fortunately, a couple minutes later the driver comes on a says sorry for the delay, the power was out and we head off north (albeit very slowly), and finally get to Hollywood & Highland some 2.5 hours after I started out!! The ironic thing was the distance from where I started to where I finished was only 12km—it would of been just as fast if I had walked!!
Today I visited the Getty Center, straight there, straight back, no side trips, lol! ;) It's been a couple of years since I last visited the Getty, and this time I had the pleasure of being there in summer when all the gardens were in bloom—it was a little bit like stepping into the 1800's with all the ladies walking around the gardens with Parasols!
There where a number of new exhibits, or possibility ones a missed last time around, in addition to the Permanent Collection of paintings, sculpture and photography. The two highlights of the visit where: Shrine and Shroud, and The Making of Furniture.
Shrine and Shroud is a collection of detailed Medieval (and earlier Illuminated Manuscripts (in a room so dark, I'm impressed my flash-less photographs came out). The highlight of the exhibit was in addition to these, they also had a page from a 1000 B.C. Egyptian Book and a 400 B.C. edition of the Koran—it's not often you get to stuff that rare or that old for that matter!
The Making of Furniture, which was considerably more interesting that it's name would suggest, showed the reconstruction of the creation a 18th-century French writing table. The exhibit shows the actual 18th century table and three copies made in Paris by contemporary craftsmen, using tools and techniques similar to those employed in the workshop of Jean-FranÇois Oeben, where the original table was made. The constructions show the work of cabinetmaker, bronze founder and the finisher as the table progress through the construction, shaping and decoration stages.
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July 8, 2005
Psychopathic Bus Driver
Fun things to do? Hop on the bus with a psychopathic bus driver! however there isn't a sign that says the particular bus is carrying one, you only find out after you get on!!
So I was in Westwood, which if you don't know is the student village/township of UCLA (a bit like Parnell—lots of café's, the UCLA art museum and cool clothing stores), heading back from the beach. I get on the bus to valley, and it's packed, standing room only. Now the trip to the valley can vary between 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on traffic, which to way too long to be standing. The next bus was only 25 minutes away and there was a clothing store I'd seen in Westwood that looked kinda cool, so I thought I'd check that out and then it'll be time for the next bus, all good.
However, after 15 minutes in the store I exit onto Westwood Blvd to see a red 761 whizz past, to which my prompt reply was "shit!", and starting running like a maniac up the road so fast you'd expect to hear Harrison Ford say "Prepare to make the jump to Hyperspace!". Fortunately there where a couple of people waiting at the stop that held up the bus just long enough for me to get there. Little did I know, but this was in fact a Psycho Bus.
It became quickly apparent when he starting beeping his horn and yelling at almost every other driver. I had my noise isolating headphones on, so no problem. At one point he got so close to the car in front, I thought he was going to push him outa the way with the bus! However, then he turns off the route, completely missing two stops and we go off in a totally different direction. I thought this was kinda odd, but my iPod was on Shuffle and had dialled up some pretty mellow tunes, so whatever, all good again. After we went though the tunnel in hills and he starting driving rather quick around windy roads I started to worry a little, like "where the fuck are we?!" I hope this guy hasn't gone crazy and is going to drive us over a cliff or something—hey this is America, that kinda shit happens here!
However, eventually we ended up on Sepulveda, and then my stop on Van Nuys, thanks goodness. Funny thing was, as I was walking home from the bus stop, I saw the other 761 that left 30min earlier go past. So crazy or not, the guy certainly got me home faster, lol.
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July 7, 2005
Look Both Ways
Been flat out with work today, however the guy in the apartment down stairs smokes and the smoke often comes in the window here. This afternoon it was starting to make me feel sick, so I went out for a walk. On the way back, I was waiting to cross street to the apartment and was thinking "damn the traffic here is nuts, I'm so going to get my sorry arse run-over". Half way across the street I look down and what do I see?
Got another trip update post coming, however I haven't got time to write it and Photoshop photos now. So that'll be online over the weekend, after I've got my work stuff done.
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July 5, 2005
Left [ear] Behind
Well my day started off total shit today. I was rather hungover from the 4th of July last night, which was good, btw—was at Mike's girlfriend's brother's place; drinking, darts, talkin' cars and lots of illegal fireworks! :) So I was a total write-off to do any work today, so thought stuff-it I'll go lie to the beach and feel sick, rather than feel sick at the apartment.
So I got down on the sand, went to take out my ear canal phones and the left one came out sans-the freakin' rubber sleeve, which was still inside the far end of my ear canal! ug. So I try to get it out with my finger and manage to push it even further into my ear and hard up against my ear-drum, which promptly started to ache. Plus I was completely deaf in this ear at this point, surprising how much of a difference loosing one ear makes, my hearing was severely fucked up.
I've met a number of deaf people in my travels here, and am going to add learning sign language to my to-do list after this, so next time they try and ask me a question I can give them a useful answer—being deaf would be totally arse. So back to the story, I had to go half way back to Westwood to find a pharmacy to buy long needle nose tweezers to extract this rubber plug thing from my ear! So I was 2.5hr late getting to the beach proper, and still hungover when I got there!
I should of stayed at home, really.
Great hall locations: Music , Travel , United States | Talked about by: 1 Fraggles
July 2, 2005
Hey, Margarita
It's a long weekend here, and what long weekend would be complete without drinking. I found this all natural lime Margarita pre-mix at the supermarket today. Now before you say "Whoa Nelly, isn't lime like your Kryptonite?!", yes it's true I'm very allergic to lime, however the bottle clearly states "Contains 0% Fruit Juice"—gotta love those all natural ingredients, lol.
Though, it appears I'm also allergic to whatever chemical shit they put in there to make it taste like lime. Nevertheless, I have found the solution, the obvious solution some might say. Simply dilute your mixer with more alcohol, lol! The drink is now 10 times better, or is that 10 times stronger?! I dunno, but it's all good anyhow, lol :)
If you've been following this blog for a while, you my recall an earlier post about looking out at the apartments across the courtyard while sitting at the dining room table. In the ground floor apartment there was this girl, not unattractive I might add, that was always on her computer...
Well I'm about 90% sure she was looking at porn tonight, either that or she likes to sit naked in front of her computer with one hand between her legs while working on her thesis? or maybe it's really hot in their apartment, which is highly possible since it's like 4 million degrees here, lol. Needless to say, I quickly finished my dinner and let her do her thing in privacy.
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July 1, 2005
Postcard
Well it's been a while since I've updated this, and I've been up to all kinds of stuff in the interim. There's a whole stack of photos for this post, so be sure to check out the photos link at the bottom of this entry.
Last week I headed downtown and checked out L.A.'s historic buildings and some of the other sights. At the end of the Red Subway Line is Union Station, built in 1939 it is an art-deco style complex considered by many to be the last vestige of rail's golden-era in the United States. It really is just like walking through a time-portal back to the 1930's and you semi-expect to see steam trains to come chugging into the station, just like the ones in the Harry Potter movies.
Also in the same area I checked out the Los Angeles City Hall, which is said to have starred in more movies and television series than most Hollywood actors, including Superman and Hill Street Blues. Just down the road is the Los Angeles Times building, the Los Angeles Supreme Court and Walt Disney Concert Hall. I was intending to visit MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) however it was closed till after 4th of July weekend, so that'll be coming in another instalment. I also visited Chinatown; one stop south of Union Station on the Yellow line. It was quite disappointing really, nothing like the one in San Francisco, the best part of was the entrance.
Later in the week I did the obligatory walk of the Hollywood walk of fame—there was a lot of names on there I didn't recognise, lol! And also checked out Capital Records, which is just off Hollywood Boulevard. As they say, "Being there is everything", thanks Air New Zealand, lol, except I didn't fly ya cos' you were too expensive, ha!
I've met some of the most interesting and diverse people on the trains here in L.A. On the way back from downtown the other day I was on packed subway train, all the seats were taken and there were lots of people standing holding the roof rails... all the seats except one. In seat beside the available one was sitting a rather menacing looking African-American man wearing sunglasses and a bandanna, who appeared to be sleeping or dosing at the very least. No-one else on the train it appeared was willing to risk sitting there, myself included, until I thought "Screw this, I've got 40 minutes on this train!". So I pointed at the seat, looked straight at the guy and said "Cool?". He looked up, and was all "oh, yeah yeah sweat bro" and he turned out to be really nice guy called Anthony that works at Universal Studios and was on the way home to see Game 7 of the NBA finals. Fortunately, while I don't follow the NBA, I'd seen enough PTI thanks to my flatmate that was able to recall enough team and player names to hold an intelligent conversation!! :)
This week apart from fitting in work and some client meetings, I headed down to Long Beach for a look around and a bit of a skate. The skating there is excellent, as you can see from the photos—smooth, long and lots of chicks in bikini's, lol. The Aquarium of the Pacific, which hosts the Shark Petting Zoo, is there also. I'm heading back down to Long Beach on Tuesday to see how many fingers I can lose, lol. I wanted to play with the sharks last year, but ran out of time.
During the train trip back, the LA Sheriffs arrived on the train. Unlike the buses where you have to either pay or show your pass to get on, the trains have no such checks and you're free to get on and off as you please. However, you're meant to have valid ticket for passage, and this what they were here to check—no ticket is a $250 instant fine and one guy actually got arrested.
Sitting just in front off me was a well-dressed doting Africa-American couple, they're looked like very nice people and very happy together. However, when the Sheriffs got to us, half the people around me didn't have the usual credit-card sized Metro pass, but full sized sheets of paper—which I thought was odd? It turns out these were their prison release papers, which gives you get one day's free passage on the Metro!
Just before the Sheriffs got to me I'd taken off my headphones, so I could now hear the conversations going on around me... of particular interest was the one of the doting couple. He too had been just released from prison, and was telling his girlfriend of how they were kicking and stabbing this guy and they didn't realise the nearby ATM was videoing the whole thing! OMG I thought, was my initial impression wrong, then later on she was telling him how she was pregnant and the baby was his—Crazy shit I tell ya!
I should point out that this train does go though Compton and the heart of South-Central. I've even had McDonald's in Compton—think the movie Training Day with Denzel Washington, and you'd been on the right track. Ok, to be honest, it's not that bad there and I've met some really nice people from that area, but shit does go down there. Mind you shit goes down everywhere in this city, there was a shooting (in the middle of day) just down the road from where I'm staying in the Valley and this is reasonably nice area. My bus when past shortly after it happened. Hey, they don't call L.A. "the home of the body-bag" for no reason!
On a side note, I'd like to say the Santa Monica Pier officially has the "Worst toilet in Scotland". The thick yellow scum around the urinals and the smell makes me want to vomit everytime I go in there. However, it's the only toilet in the area you don't have to pay to use, so I tuck my shoe laces into my shoes and grin and bear it, yuk!
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June 22, 2005
This Country Is Weird
At the local supermarket... 1 litre bottle of Smirnoff $12, 1 litre bottle of Bacardi $16... and the cheapest rubbish hair gel/wax? 22 bucks!! Hmmm, maybe I should just give the Bacardi to everyone I meet, then it won't matter what my hair looks like... lol.
Turns out all alcohol is duty free here. America—an alcoholic-with-bad-hair's wet dream.
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June 21, 2005
Strange Karma
I was down in Santa Monica again today, Venice beach actually, after the bus trip from hell I might add. I had managed to get on a nondescript 761 line bus that happened to go out-of-service half way though the freakin' route, stranding me on Ventura for like 40 minutes... anyway, enough of me bitching bout buses.
This time I'd taken my board to skate the Boardwalk between Santa Monica Pier and Marina Del Ray. So I was skating along when this incredibly hot chick skateboarded past the other way, so the obligatory 180° head turn soon followed...
It was at this point that my board hit the only unskateable gap in the pavement, and I went flying like some Monty Pythonesque Hand of God had come down from the heavens and Bitch-Slapped me off my board, landing me some 4 metres away—hard, it completely knocked the wind out of me. The strange thing was, it was the *only* unskateable gap in the pavement (I checked on the skate back) and not only that, two-thirds of this 2 inch gap was in-fact filled with asphalt. It appears I rode into the unfilled third of the only gap in the entire 10km Boardwalk whilst checking-out this girl... Strange karma or what?! Spooky... needless to say, I might just watch where I'm going from now on, lol.
Great hall locations: Travel , United States | Talked about by: 1 Fraggles
June 20, 2005
Crazy Thermostat
We've had earthquakes here all last week, 3 or 4 of them in fact. The biggest one was the one centred just out of Downtown LA on Thursday (5.2) which shook the apartment up pretty well. Apparently they're fairly normal for around here, but still slightly disconcerting nonetheless...
On Thursday afternoon I headed down to the UCLA Hammer Museum, which has free admission on Thursdays ;) They have an interesting selection of oil paintings, engravings and drawings. It was the first time I'd examined pointillist paintings close up—It was quite interesting to how movement and detail where represented by different stroke lengths. However, the highlight of the trip were a series of 1850's French newspaper cartoons, by Honoré Daumier, which were both interesting and a fun way to test my French by reading the captions underneath.
The rest of the week and weekend was pretty uneventful, mainly work... I when down to Santa Monica beach on Saturday—it was last day of my weekly bus pass, so I wanted to get value for money. Other than that I've managed to come down with a bit of a cold, (my nose has been running marathons), so have been walled up in the apartment resting and trying to better, which hasn't been helped by the fact it's been stinking freakin' hot the last few days.
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June 12, 2005
Earthquakes & Disneyland
After being awoken by a 5.6 magnitude earthquake on this morning, we headed off to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure for the day...
It was my first time to the California Adventure park, though I've been to the normal Disneyland one many times. The california one certainly has a different feel to it, personally I probably wouldn't buy a ticket for just it on its own, however it's definitely worth visiting.
The best part was the California Screamer Roll-a-coaster, fast and smooth-as due to it being electromagnetic, I was right at the front too! The Hollywood Hotel of Terror was really really cool, kind of a 1930's themed hotel twilight-zone ride. I also saw/when on Soarin' Over California, Muppet*Vision 3D, Orange Stinger and Redwood Creek Adventure Area among others...
In the actual Disneyland, I when on the a few of the smaller rides (Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Storybook Land Canal Boats, The Tree-House, etc) as I've been there quite a few times and been on most of the major rides a lot in the last few years. Of the major ones I did Indiana Jones (and managed to get some inside photos this time around too!), the Matterhorn (this one is compulsory ;), The Haunted Mansion (which has been recently refitted with new technology and is heaps better now), Star Tours, Pirates of the Caribbean and the new Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride. This is an interactive ride where you actually shoot stuff, get points and compete against your friends for the highest score. It rocks though I got my arse kicked by Mike & Wendy, however they have both been on this ride several times before... ;)
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June 11, 2005
Saturday, Seaside & Shopping
I spent saturday afternoon down at Santa Monica Pier (& Beach), and did a bit of shopping (and generally looking around) at the 3rd Street Promenade.
The pier is fairly similar the ones found in Britain, with a faris wheel, small roll-a-coaster and the usual food and entertainment stalls. A word of warning, the coffee at the place on the pier was absolute shit—lukewarm, over-extracted and cost me $4.33, avoid at all costs!! The beach was good and reasonably clean, not quite so crowded as it is down the coast at Venice, etc. The water looked a bit dodgy though, so I didn't go in there. Btw, I have the ugliest beach towel in the history of the world, well it was the best of a bad selection at the only place near where I'm staying that had beach towels... It's yellow, orange and purple striped, and I'm sure you can see the thing from space cos' it's so freakin' bright! lol
The Promenade was cool too, it's very pretty this time of year with all the trees in bloom. Got a new pair of jeans and some shirts from French Connection. These jeans are the coolest jeans in the history of the world, if I do say so myself, lol. I haven't owned jeans for about 3 years now, cos' I couldn't find any I liked (or ones I liked that I could afford), but these rock... they sit super low on the hips and are wide-legged and flared—the style is called slouch. Also on the Promenade is the first Starbucks Hear Music store, these stores have little consoles where of you can listen to music and build custom cd's (complete with printed artwork) from their huge selection of tunes while you have your coffee. I'm planning on going back for further investigation to see what tracks I can dig up— some nu-jazz would go down well :)
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June 7, 2005
Arrgh
I'm still coming to grips with the shit that's gone down in the last week, however to cut a long story short, I'm staying at Mike's place again and have my feet on the ground once more. I now have a supermarket club card (and am saving a bomb on my groceries), have figured out the LA metro system (buses & trains) and am now trekking all-around the greater LA area.
In other previous news I met comedian Christopher Titus, from the Titus Show and Rides on the Discovery Channel, found out that Pink's house is just around the corner from here, and that they were filming a movie right outside the apartment the other day and I didn't realise! (at least until I saw 14 truck trailers parked up a long the street, lol!)
I'm heading down to Venice Beach this weekend, and am thinking about going to Disneyland sometime next week—depending on what my work schedule is like. Was down near Compton / South Central today, don't think it's nearly as dangerous as people make out, though I prob wouldn't want to be there after dark. Everyone I met was quite pleasant, in fact I've met nothing but a string of really nice people all over LA today (did about 6hrs travelling today). All in all I'm quite happy in the city of angels—it's starting to feel like home.
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May 27, 2005
Starbucks Short Skate Film
As promised earlier in the week, here is my short skate film of the trip from where I'm staying to the local Starbucks. The trip is 2km each way, however since I was recording with a still camera with a Memory Stick that could only hold 2 minutes of video before having to download to the computer (and there was 17 minutes of raw footage) I think I skated a lot more than 4km today!
The movie is in Windows Media Format, so you'll need a recent version of Windows Media Player to view it. I'm pretty sure the version that comes with Windows XP should be sweet. Right-Click on the link below and click "Save As...", enjoy!
Street Skating Film - Southern California (Windows Media / 30MB)
Great hall locations: Travel , United States | Talked about by: 3 Fraggles
May 26, 2005
Oh Yeah!
Damn, am I feeling good today or what!! I seem to have the perfect mix of Endorphins and Caffeine in my bloodstream right at this very moment!
The weather's good, work's going good, I'm rocking-out to Def Leppard on my iPod, hehe, and dancing around in Mike's home-office, LOL, good god I'm such a freak, ehehehe...
For the last two days I've been skating the 2km to the local Starbucks for my daily Grande Caffè Latte, otherwise known as an oversized flat white. Surprising what a difference good coffee makes... I'm typing like a mad man at the moment :) And managed to spell "endorphins" right first time, lol, dyslexic, I think not! a-ha!
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May 25, 2005
Two Coronas Sitting In A Tree...
What do you get when two Corona's get together? Little baby girl Corona's, or "Coronita's" to be exact, cute huh! lol :) I've photographed them here beside a standard Red Bull can so you can see how small they are.
— US 7fl oz. is 207ml in metric.
The literal translation of "Coronita" from the Español is "Little Corona". The suffix "-ita" is the feminine diminutive (the masculine is "-ito") and is used to express smallness or affection/endearment. They also have big (945ml / Swappa Crate size) Corona's over here, but there doesn't appear to be an opposite to "ita/ito" so they are just called "Corona" like standard 330ml bottles.
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May 24, 2005
Another Californism
Saw this in the entrance to the apartment complex while heading out to the supermarket today. I was like, "oh crap they've got Asbestos in here or something?!" That in addition to the front door access balconies (we're on the 3rd floor) that look like they'd fall off in a strong wind—there's a hole in ours that I always step over, scary shit I tell ya!
Nope, it appears in California smoking is classed in the same category as Asbestos, and they put warning signs where ever people might be smoking to warn you of the health risk (and probably cover their asses from being sued)! Puu, stinky smokers! lol
In other news I've perfected the art of skateboarding while carrying grocery bags over the slalom course, otherwise known as the pavement around here! There's quite a few trees on the street (if you can call three lanes each way a street?!) we're on, and the concrete slabs that make up the pavement are tilted on all kinds of funny angles and some have been pushed up to a foot in the air! Makes going shopping an interesting experience, I can tell you! lol
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May 22, 2005
I Think I'll Swim
My iPod is a dog that drools all over the carpet...
The kind of dog that afterwards gives you this sheepish sorry adorable look that you can't help but forgive it, even though you know you'll be on your hands and knees scrubbing the floor again the very next day.
I've been feeling' pretty run down recently, that tried hazy worn-out feeling. I don't know if it's the heat, the smog, or a combination of both. My friend I'm staying with is out a lot, and his ex-girlfriend took the cable-decoder, so it's been pretty quiet around the apartment. It's surprising when you're in a city surrounded by 10 million other people just how easy it is to feel alone.
So I thought listening to a couple of my favourite tracks on my iPod would cheer me up. However my iPod (in it's infinite wisdom) delivered an entirely different song to the one I requested with a sheepish "I know this isn't what you asked for, but will this do?" look on its face... (If the iPod can't find song you asked for it will skip to the next track, even though the previous song was the one you actually did want to hear)
I've been looking out the window for a while now, watching the lives playing out the in windows across the courtyard as i dry the dishes, my iPod supplying the soundtrack...
The couple making-out in the upstairs apartment silhouetted against the curtains, the girl in the apartment below that spends all night every night on her computer when all other lights have gone out, and the guy that stands in a doorway and smokes a never-ending sea of cigarettes, while idly throwing the occasional remark into the conversation going on inside, all the while the city's ever-present low dull drone of air-conditioners and traffic in the distance continues.
I'm going down to Santa Monica to see a client tomorrow. Getting out of the valley will be nice, it's cooler down by the coast—I think I might even go for a swim :)
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May 20, 2005
Breathing Fire Out My Nose
Hollyeee, was that some good wasabi or what?! The kind of the burns all the way from the back of your mouth right through to the tips of your nostrils! As you might of guessed, I had some seriously good sushi for lunch today—Wasabi, Shrimp and Avocado [with extra wasabi] Sushi in fact, good shit!
I decided that I'm just going to be broke forever and went grocery shopping again today. In addition to my fire-breathing Sushi, I got Cantaloupe (which is rock melon's alter ego ;), Carrot & Bran Muffins (super yum, I'm seriously working hard to resist the temptation to the devour the whole box in one sitting, i.e. like right now, LOL), Weetabix and Bananas. Bananas are my new favourite food, as they seem to be the only thing that doesn't cost a fortune around here!
It's still incredibly hot there... I turned on the cold tap today and the water was warm [and i ran it for a while], the other tap was also warm[er]! Ugg. I think they should dispense with the "H" and "C" designations and go with "W" and "EWTO", for "Warm" and "Even Warmer Than The One", lol
Closing Words... crossing the road here scares the be'jesus out of me!!
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May 19, 2005
Arrival in Southern California
Well I'm back in Southern Cali again, and hot damn, it's well... it's really really hot actually! It seems a lot warmer than last year—and you have to worry when the temperature gauge in your friend's kitchen says 30°C when it's only 8:30 in the morning! lol.
The picture to the left is of downtown Los Angeles on approach to LAX, from the window of the Air Tahiti Nui A340. I have however photoshopped out most of the haze/smog to make it look a bit nicer ;)
Still getting over a slight case of jet-lag at the moment, and the cold I seem to have caught en-route thanks most probably to the recycled cabin air. Planes up until the early 70's actually brought in fresh air from outside the aircraft, which is better for you than mountain air and 100% sterile. However, to cut fuel usage and costs during the 70's oil crisis aircraft started to be designed that recycled the cabin air. The Boeing 727 incidentally was the last plane made that used 100% fresh outside air.
Intermission in Tahiti was good, (no Tangy Fruits though I'm afraid), what little of the place I saw was very nice—definitely want to go back there for a proper stay at some stage. The airport terminal is kinda funky looking, think a cross between island huts & gardens and the Hamilton airport from the early 80's, and you'll get the general idea. One thing I did notice though was Tahitian French is a lot slower than that used on the mainland. I could easily follow the conversations I heard, although I didn't understand all the words—really need to do some French vocabulary building before I head back that way!
Currently I'm staying over at my friend Mike's apartment up in Sherman Oaks which is north of Beverly Hills and in the San Fernando valley. It's the same suburb where the singer Pink lives, if you wanted some useless trivia, lol :) I also happened to see a squirrel running along power lines outside the window today, but he (or she) had scampered away by the time I got back with my camera! So I didn't bother posting my squirrel-less photo of the alley way behind Mike's house!
The place is fairly nice considering how expensive it is to live here, though the lack of air-con is a bit of killer. Food here is really expensive too, I don't remember it being this bad last year, although I was eating at friends' places a lot—it's about 3-4 times the cost of what the same item would be in a Pak'n'Save back home! Now where did I leave my "Will Work For Food" placard, hehehe, lol :)
The meat here there also carries the reassuring message: "May contain bacteria that can cause illness", good to know, not! ...needless to say, I'm cooking the meat I bought extra-well-done, lol!
I'd forgotten that the everything in American is big, and back to front—switches here are down for off, and up for on. The stove and fridge in the kitchen are huge, a good metre and bit wide. Amazingly though, Mike's fridge is remarkably empty. It did however contain a large punnet of mushrooms, LOL. In the week before I arrived, not knowing I was bringing my own, Mike also bought the small 50g jar of Marmite pictured beside mine; it cost him USD$8.00! (about $11.50 kiwi) ouch!!
Got quite a bit of work stacking up at the moment, so it'll be back into that tomorrow. Till next time, later and have a good one :)
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Great hall locations: Travel , United States | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
April 3, 2005
Departure Lounge
Well not even close... Every year before I head back to the northern hemisphere from our little corner of the south pacific, I start having these dreams about missing my flight. The usual scenario is it's 30 minutes, an hour, whatever to departure and I haven't packed and am nowhere near the airport...
In last night's instalment I end up at the Hawaiian Airlines terminal, but I'm not even going to Hawaii. Some how I'd mixed up Hawaiian with Air Tahiti, and what use would all this French I've been learning be there, they don't even speak French in Hawaii?! After finally arriving at the Air Tahiti terminal, I end up pleading with the attendant to be able to take the next flight, however it's a no go...
I wonder if any of this has anything to do with me watching "Air Crash Investigation" on tv before going to bed, hmmm... maybe. Normally when I fly wear my merino wool sweater and long pants. I think I'll invest in some wool pants too after watching last night's episode.
When planes crash they invariability catch fire, since the wings which contain the fuel tanks are almost always damaged. In this episode everyone survived the initial impact, but 80% of them got moderate to serve burns from the resulting fire.
Wool has a natural resistance to burning, a low burning rate and can self-extinguish. Wool has been used in fire fighter uniforms for years; the London Fire Brigade only replaced wool in their uniforms with more modern fabrics as recently as 1989, which gives you some indication of its effectiveness as a fire-retardant.
Surprisingly, the idea of a plane crash doesn't really scare me—since air travel is one of safest forms of transport. However, if I am involved in a crash, I want to be covered head to toe in wool, lol.
Great hall locations: New Zealand , Tahiti , Travel | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
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