Australia, Feb 4 - Feb 14, 2008.

2/4-2/7. Travel to Australia. After over 40 hours since I left the house on Monday 4 pm, we are now finally about 5 hours from touching down at Sydney. This is now Thursday 2:30 am Sydney time, Wednesday 10:30 am New Jersey. Touchdown scheduled for 7 am. We knew UA95 had equipment problems and the original Newark to San Francisco flight was going to be arriving late for us to make the connection. So I left home a bit late. As I was driving to pick up Anne from work, I called United. The agent was kind enough to rebook us on Continental, leaving Newark at 6 pm (same schedule as the UA flight) and showing on-time departure. So we put the car at the EWR daily lot (costing $10 more per day), got to the Terminal A to get the CO tickets, and then to Terminal C to check in. Good thing Anne has a gold card so the process at CO was quite straightforward. CO348 left the gate on time and was moving along the queue when the pilot came on and said we had to return to the gate. The pilot then said someone was sick and needed to get off the plane. Two Port Authority police officers came on and talked to a woman. They left, and a red jacketed guy came in and the woman finally left with him. They then changed the seat cushion. We actually didn't see any commotion during the taxi, and since this all happened a few rows behind us, we are not sure exactly what was going on. The upshot is we ended up getting in SFO at about 10:45 pm and missed the SFO-SYD flight. And instead of 2 Economy Plus aisle seats we got stuck in two middle seats. I did have some interesting conversation with my neighbors, someone who works with an Israeli company, and someone who used to live in South Amboy. After we deplaned, we were met by an agent who took us to the UA terminal. The first UA agent we talked to handed us a couple of coupons and told us they rebooked us on Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong. A rather ridiculous proposition, but evidently is done. She said she wasn't sure what all the booking code meant, so while Anne waited for the agent who knew, I called UA on the phone and found out (i) that was a UA request on CX which CX couldn't accommodate anyway; and (ii) all flights were sold out through Feb 15. The “knowledgeable” agent confirmed all this, and put us on the waitlist for Tuesday night's flight. Getting vouchers for hotel and meals was straightforward. We took the hotel bus (after a rather long wait) and checked into Embassy Suites Burlingame. Tuesday was mostly phone calls and waiting around. Johnny came to the hotel and we had lunch together, which was nice. We got to the airport at around 4 pm, the agent we talked to, Ivan, was most helpful. He put us on the standby list, and said it looked like the flight from JFK wouldn't make it on time, and some seats would thus be freed up. (I guess with an overbooking situation, one's well being may indeed hinge one someone else's misfortune.) The waiting area was chaotic. The CSRs were calling people who had not shown them proper documentation, tagging baby strollers, trying to assign seats to those with confirmations but no seat assignments. Meanwhile I kept calling UA on the phone to check on Flight 17's progress (the one from JFK). Our names were finally called, the seats were 8H and 25B – in the business class section! After some musical chair playing, Anne and I are sitting next to each other. We were quite exhausted and slept for quite a few hours. Anne could always do that without much problem most of the time. In any case, I would still have liked to get there on time, but this is at least some consolation.

2/7 (Thursday). Plane got in on time. Line at passport control was surprising short. Luggage, as suspected, didn't make it. We decided not to wait until the very last piece came out, and it got delivered to my sister's place the following afternoon, instead of before noon as they promised. The shoebox I used to store the two bottles of wine broke, and one bottle hit the tile floor but luckily didn't break. Saw opera Carmen in the evening with Tim, Alyson, Steve and Ruth. Quite enjoyable, even if this must be the 4^th time I saw it. Had quick dinner at Pancakes on the Rocks Restaurant at Harbourside, Darling Harbour. Hotel is Meriton World Tower. Nice 1-bedroom apartment with nice views, costing about $200 per night, prepaid through Wotif.com.

2/8 (Friday). Chartered a small fishing boat (20' Arvor, 85 hp) for the day. Tim, Alyson, Anne and I went, although Anne didn't fish. Anchored at several bays and tried our luck. Altogether caught about 18 fish (I caught 2), many rather small, but all nice looking, except for the flathead which managed to hurt both Tim and me. For lunch tied up at Fish Market and met up with Ruth and Steve for lunch. Many Chinese tour groups making the place even more congested than usual. Ate at Doyle's, food was better than expected, but service was very slow. Afternoon's fishing marred by fouling the propeller on buoy lines in Watson's Bay. Help from boat rental company came rather quickly, the guy dived in and untangled the line. Charged AU$ 100, not cheap, but not unreasonable either.

Fishing off the Arvor 20.

2/9 (Saturday). Taxi to airport took 15 minutes and meter read $20.55, faster and cheaper than we expected. Virgin Blue is quite efficient. Plane ticket to Hobart not cheap at about US$330 per ticket (including all taxes) but airline still nickeled and dimed its passengers with $3 sodas charged to credit cards. Checked out a Hyundai Elantra from Hertz Rental and got on the River's Run Trail. Stopped at New Norfolk for lunch, these small Australian towns are indeed very small. Bought some nectarines and apples at country store, very small fruits but tasted quite good. Salmon Ponds Trout Museum has a collection of ponds with different trouts, water a bit dark to see the fish clearly. Exceptions are the white (albino) trouts. Wildlife Park has collection of Tasmanian devils, koalas, eastern quolls, wombats, and the obligatory wallabies and kangaroos. Didn't see the 85%-sighting probability platypus. Stopped at most of the scenic sights in Mt. Field National Park, driving on gravelly and winding road; got as far as Lake Dobson. Tall Trees Walk and Russell Falls are quite interesting. Didn't know eucalyptus trees could grow that tall (about 70 meters). Hotel: Somerset Hobart right on a pier overlooking a marina. Didn't have enough parking spaces, and we found out the next day they didn't clean their rooms on Sundays either. Dinner at local restaurants, very nice fish and chips. Trevalla is a nice-eating fish.

In front of Lake Dobson, Tasmania.

View from our Room in Somerset Hotel, Hobart.

2/10 (Sunday). Drive to Port Arthur is about 100 km each way. Surprised at the number of people there. Quite well preserved penal colony. Cruised by Isle of the Dead and Puer point. Memorial to 35 killed by gunman about 10 years ago – don't recall seeing that in the news. For the afternoon, took an eco-friendly cruise. The cruise is interesting, but calling it eco-friendly may be a stretch. A 50+ foot long RIB with about 30 tourists. Tour guide/driver drove the boat fast, threading many gaps in 6-foot swells. Windy and cold. Interesting and informative though. Interesting geology. Bait fish chased by pink mackerels (if I remember correctly), fur seals, different birds. Interesting locations include totem pole, candlestick, devil's kitchen, blow hole, and the Tasmanian Bridge. Cost $100 per person, but they must have burned a few hundred dollars' worth of gas. Drove back to Eaglehawk Neck to get the Fish and Chips, which was highly recommended by a tourist from the area. Trevalla fish tasted very good.

Port Arthur, Tasmania.

Boarding the RIB for the Eco-Cruise.

Rugged Southeast Tasmania Coastline.

Are we going into this cave?

2/11 (Monday). Drove up to Mt. Wellington at 1200 or so meters. Great view of Hobart and surrounding areas. Drove along the Huon trail. Bought a bag of apples at a road side “honesty” stand for $2. Small but very tasty. Passed by the Wooden Boat Center and the Apple Museum, didn't go in. Then drove by the Tall Trees Heritage Center, and then part way towards the Tall Trees Walk, didn't have time to go on, so turned around after stopping at a couple of intermediate locations. It takes about 25 years for the trees to reach the harvest stage, and we saw a grove of trees at about 10 years. Flight back to Sydney was uneventful. Altogether we put about 500 km on the rental car. Stayed at Meriton Pitt, not as nice as the World Tower, and not much cheaper.

Looking at Hobart from Mt. Wellington.

2/12 (Tuesday). We bareboat-chartered a Hunter 36 sailboat for the day (9:30 am – 5:30 pm). Forecast was a bit windy at 15 knots. Morning was calmer, so we hoisted the sails at Farm Cove. I took a few lessons before, Tim and Alfred used to sail the harbor many years ago, so we managed to sail the boat to Manly without too much trouble. Took more than 2 hours though. Motored back to Fish Market and had lunch with Ruth and Steven. Good thing many kind strangers came to help us pull the boat in. Fished at the Taronga Park Zoo for a while. Rain came and got us all wet. All in all a pleasant day, except got a bit of sunburn on my head. Dinner at Regal Restaurant on Sussex Street.

It's hard work, trimming the sails.

The four sailors. Used garbage can as camera stand.

2/13 (Wednesday). Not much happening. Lunch at Zilver Restaurant before Tim and Alyson returned to Hong Kong. Dinner at Korean Restaurant (Seoul-Ria).

2/14 (Thursday). Didn't realize we needed to check out by 10 am (a bit early for me). In any case, Anne got in touch with Uncle Richard and Auntie Fannie, so we met up with them for coffee in Chatswood. It's then shower at Ruth's and to the airport. Our plane (we're about 30 minutes into the flight as I type this) is late, so we probably won't be able to catch the last day flight (non-stop) to Newark. Our flight to Newark was for 10:30 pm, so we checked into the Red Roof Inn and got a few hours sleep.