1/27/2011 Thursday. We had a rather severe storm that came through yesterday (lasted until early today) and I was wondering if we could make the trip. There was about a foot of snow on the driveway so I dug out a small path to the street – didn’t take long, but I still worked up a sweat. All flights were canceled last night and this morning. Ellie came by at 1 pm to pick us up, the streets were quite well ploughed and there wasn’t a lot of traffic.
The airport wasn’t chaotic (e.g., no one was sitting on the floor) but the lines were very long. Because our itinerary is international, we couldn’t check in on line or at a kiosk. There were only a couple of agents and every passenger seemed to need help (understandable). After a few minutes we decided to elicit the help of a Sky Cap even though we didn’t have any luggage to check in. The guy found an agent on break and she managed to check us in. The tip ($40) should be generous enough.
Security line was short (everyone was at check in). Our flight was quite full but we left EWR only a little late and got in LAX on time. We had dinner at Jody Maroni (sausage subs) and then went to the United lounge. Turns out there was another UA flight that left at 9 pm; we couldn’t get on it. The agent explained to us we couldn’t hop on international flights just like that; and the other flight was also quite full in any case.
UA839 is quite full. My center row is full Anne started with only one neighbor (two empty seats) but someone decided to take one of the center seats (probably a Premier member.) Then someone else just decided to take the other empty seat. He eventually left, though. We are about 10 hours into the flight as I type this, only nodded off every now and then – listening to Mozart is not helping a lot. I hope I can get a couple of hours after I wrap up this report.
One other note. CO website flight status has a “where is aircraft coming from” feature. I kept checking it and was worrying about aircraft availability for our flight. For instance, at one point our aircraft EWR-LAX was to go Newark to Ireland to Newark before heading out to LAX. Its departure for Ireland kept getting delayed at Newark. At some point they scheduled another plane that was already at Newark. Later, however, our plane was to come from Orlando and it was delayed somewhat. That was the plane we actually took, and things turned out okay. Ellie remarked that kind of monitoring causes unnecessary agitation, and that Kuau does the same thing.
1/29/2011 Saturday. Plane landed about one hour early and the immigration and customs process took less than 15 minutes. Called Ruth while we were having coffee. Also activated phone card: process is on the complicated side. Went to Chinatown for lunch, then to Market City so Anne could pick up some decorations for Rose Mountain and Ruth could do some grocery shopping. Followed by visit to East Garden to pick up a couple of travel brochures. Slept for a couple of hours in the afternoon – didn’t get much sleep on the plane. Chinatown again for dinner, with Susanna, Chris and their two kids.
1/30/2011 Sunday. Went to church in the morning. Stopped by Maroubra main street to buy fish & chips and pizzas (Dominos) to bring back to Jennings Street for lunch. Wilson and Susanna and their families joined. I also bought several pies from House of Pie. Ruth drove us to the airport to catch the Virgin Blue 4:10 pm flight to Gold Coast. Short flight was packed. Rented a small Toyota at the airport. Drive to Surfers Paradise took about 30 minutes. Room at Mantra Legends is reasonably nice with partial view of the ocean and its wave upon wave of surfs hitting the shore. Walked around a bit and went to dinner at this Tandoori Indian Restaurant around the corner from the hotel. Food was okay but not worth the wait of 40 or so minutes.
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| Skyline of Gold Coast (viewed from Marina district.) |
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| Expensive Condos seen from our hotel room. It was right after a drizzle and we could see this rainbow in the distance. |
1/31/2011 Monday. Woke up quite early at about 6 am, tried but couldn’t go back to sleep. We first drove to the Sea World and Marina area to take a look. Quite a few marinas, reasonable amount of activity for Monday. Drove to the Tamborine National Park area and saw Gallery Walk, Glow Worm Cave and Skywalk. Gallery Walk is a collection of artist shops, restaurants and other shops concentrated along Long Street. Didn’t visit any, quite quiet when we visited (but more tourists when we drove through again in the afternoon.) Most tourists are Asian. We then drove to Glow Worm Caves and took a short guided tour. This is a man-made cave with (supposedly) real glow worms. Reasonably interesting and informative. Skywalk – an elevated walkway over a valley populated by rain forest vegetation – was next. We learned a few interesting things. This tree called Strangler Fig would grow around and eventually smother a gum tree. We saw quite a few examples of the end result – nothing in progress, though. The Flood Gum eventually evolved so it would shed its bark – and the fig – every year. Quite sinister, and quite interesting. There are many lizards along the way, and butterflies. We heard loud noises attributed to the cicada but didn’t see any. Also had a quick lunch of pie and coffee at the Skywalk Café. We then went to Curtis Falls which was a short walk from the parking lot. However, the visit was just so-so. We still had a lot of time so we drove to The Natural Bridge. It isn’t nearly as spectacular as I expected. Anne pointed out the glow worm strands hanging from the ceiling – we did learn something from the earlier tour. Dinner was KFC take-out, I was quite tired from all the driving.
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| Life Cycle of a Glow Worm display at Skywalk. |
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| Entrance to the Glow Worm Cave. |
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| We saw a few of these pheasants. |
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| Entrance to Skywalk. |
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| Parasitic Plants are found on many trees. |
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| Skywalk view. |
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| Strangler Fig. Can't tell if it has a victim inside or not. |
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| Twisted vine. |
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| Canopy view from Skywalk. |
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| No Strangler Fig around this Flood Gum. |
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| One of many "insects" (in this case a spider) along the Skywalk. |
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| Many of these Australian Brush-turkeys hanging around. Grotesque, yet somewhat beautiful. |
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| Curtis Falls. Not a lot of water flowing today. I have seen photos that show a more impressive water flow. |
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| Natural Bridge. |
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| Look carefully, you can see the strands sent down by glow worms to ensnare their prey. |
2/1/2011 Tuesday. We followed the route of a tour bus for the day. First to Tweed Heads, then along the Pacific Coast and drove by many different towns, including a huge development called Salt – perhaps a real estate bubble in the making. We reached Brunswick Heads early in the afternoon. It was then to Cape Byron Lighthouse, the most easterly point of Australia. All the beaches begin to look alike after a while. We wanted to visit the Crystal Castle (a Buddhist retreat) but it was closing time by the time we got there. Got back to the hotel at about 6 pm. Lunch was at a Thai place in Coolangatta. Many of the towns we drove by were quite a bit bigger than we expected. There seem to be more Australians than one would think … Dinner was takeout from Chinese Restaurant next to the hotel.
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| Tweed Valley. We got a bit lost. Luckily there were so few roads that we eventually found our bearings. |
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| One of the many beaches we drove by. After seeing a few they begin to look alike. |
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| Cape Byron Lighthouse. |
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| Proof that we are at the Eastermost Point of Australia. |
2/2/2011 Wednesday. Morning jog. Broadwater Cruise for about 2 hours. Saw lots of expensive houses, somewhat like Fort Lauderdale but smaller and, yes, quite a bit less expensive (most house here are for less than $10M!). Lunch at restaurant next to Marina Cove. I had the Fish & Chips, and Anne had the Tandoori Chicken in Turkish Bread. Stopped by the Q1 building (which claims to be the tallest residential building in the southern hemisphere) and walked around the observation deck on the 77th floor. Got to the airport at about 3 pm, found out our plane has changed its schedule and will leave 30 minutes later than expected. Surprised at how non-chalant people are about these things. By the way, there is a threat of a Cat 5 Cyclone (Yuzi) hitting northern Queensland at 10 pm tonight. Things will be bad, so the forecasters say.
2/3/2011 Thursday. Slept in while Ruth and Stephen went to pick up Tim and Alyson. Lunch at Fish Market, crowds were not nearly as huge as they were used to be; economy and the strong Australian dollar making things relatively expensive. Checked into Meriton Pitt in the afternoon: a 3-bedroom apartment on the 49th floor with reasonable views. Air conditioning system a bit weak though. Dinner in the apartment with take-out food and a couple of dishes cooked by Ruth.
2/4/2011 Friday. Bought Transport Day Passes and used it to first go to Manly Beach. Lunch at Bluewater Café along the beachfront. I had the “Tempura battered lightly fried monkfish with handcut potatoes” which was basically wording to justify the charge of AUD24 for fish and chips. Took ferry back to Circular Quay and then onto the one for Darling Harbour. Got off but decided not to go to any of the attractions. Missed the return ferry by a couple of minutes, so had to wait a while for the next one. Tim and Alyson decided to head back to the hotel to sleep, but Anne and I wanted to go to Bondi Beach so we took the bus (#333) to get there. Anne lost her pass so we bought a ticket for her. It was after six when we got back to the apartment. Lamb chops and spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner.
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| Coming into Circular Quay on a Ferry. A familiar sight. |
2/5/2011 Saturday. Tim’s friends were staying at their friend’s house in Kangaroo Valley (exact village is Barrengarry), 150 or so km away. We woke up early to check out a rental car (about a 10 minute walk from our hotel). The drive was quite uneventful (Tim did the driving). Roads here generally are quite okay. What a house. It’s on 200 acres (or 150, but who is counting). The main house has huge “functional areas” such as kitchen, sitting room, library, and various gathering rooms, and two wings (owners and guests) with approximately 9 en-suite bedrooms, with most overlooking the Kangaroo Valley which touts itself as the most beautiful valley in Australia. (We passed by Australia’s Best Pies on the way there, so hyperbole is evidently quite common.) Everyone decided to go visit a Wildlife Park (which we gave up because we drove past it for a while before realizing it) and a beach (Hyams Beach in Port Jervis) which is only ordinary as far as Australian beaches go. I drove back to the city and we met up with Ruth and Stephen and had dinner in Maroubra.
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| Living area overlooking Kangaroo Valley. |
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| Kitchen and dining area. |
2/6/2011 Sunday. Tim and I again woke up early so we could return the car. I was a bit apprehensive since I parked it on the street overnight. I did notice a long key mark on the side although I’m not sure it happened under my watch. In any case the Hertz person decided to let it go. Anne and I took the bus to Matraville to attend church and returned to the City right afterwards. Lunch at Taste of Shanghai in World Square. Slept in the afternoon. Dinner at No. 8 (Market City) to celebrate Stephen’s upcoming 80
th birthday. Today is Chinese New Year Parade Day so many of the streets were blocked off. We did see some parade going on when we left the restaurant at 9:15 pm or so, and saw reflections of fireworks from our apartment.
2/7/2011 Monday. Anne and I took the train to Bondi Junction. The shopping mall is large and modern, but the surrounding area is not that great. Lunch at the Food Court in Westfield Mall: Indian and Turkish dishes. Took train to Penshurst to meet up with others to visit mother at Fairlea. Dinner with Stephen’s friend William. Rather fancy dishes such as egg white and lobster meat, abalone in soup, and custards in the shape of pumpkins.
2/8/2011 Tuesday. Woke up a bit late (9 am). Stopped by Hertz office but they didn’t have my Garmin GPS, too bad. Walked over to The Art Gallery to look at the First Emperor of China exhibit. It was basically the same as the British Museum one we saw a few year back, with only 8 or so terra cotta warriors. Somehow I managed to learn something I didn’t know (or have forgotten) and I thus find the exhibit well-curated. They could use a bit more Chinese in their descriptions though. Lunch at Food Court in Market City: Anne and I shared a couple of dishes. Picked up some brochures at the Darling Harbour Visitor Bureau in preparation for our drive up to Port Stephens later this week. Light dinner brought in by Tim in the apartment. Jogged a couple of miles afterwards.
2/9/2011 Wednesday. Went with Anne to Bondi Junction so she could go to Curves. Headed back to CBD and had lunch with Ling – she came back to Australia to have her teeth fixed by Alfred. Anne and I then went to Bondi Beach and walked for a short bit. It was a nice day but we unfortunately didn’t have much time. Dinner at Tetsuya’s with Tim’s friends (that would be their whole extended family). 11 adults and 2 children (the children had rice and noodles). The tasting menu is certainly quite expensive at $210 per person, additional $95 for wine pairings, and yet additional for raw oysters. Tetsuya’s is considered one of Australia’s best restaurants which has lost some of its luster. I just found it so-so, and become more appreciate of my sentiment “a disappointing expensive meal is worse than a disappointing expensive concert,” which I coined last year after eating at Quay. And the dinner lasted 5 hours. Amazingly the two kids (about 5) were very well-behaved. We sat next to the elder Mr. Chan and her daughter and had rather interesting conversations. Even then we had slightly awkward moments of silence.
2/10/2011 Thursday. Checked out of Meriton this morning. The location is nice, and the apartment is generally quite pleasant (at their price it better be). However, there are some aspects (such as sewer gas smell in the laundry room) that are unexcusable. Went to Ruth’s house so Anne could do her class conference call. We had pies that Tim and Alyson bought. After dropping Tim and Alyson off at the airport, we started our journey to Nelson Bay/Soldiers Point. The trip took about 3 hours; we stopped along the way for a quick bite at McDonald’s. It was early enough that Anne and I drove to the Stockton Sand Dunes and lingered there for a bit. Dinner was takeout Chinese supplemented by home-cooked rice, Chinese sausages and salted eggs. The unit we rented isn’t nearly as nice as we thought it would be. It is right next to the bay but the view is blocked by many tall trees. There are 32 steps from the living area to our bedroom.
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| Stockton Sand Dunes. |
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| Oyster Farm. These structures are under water when the tide comes in. |
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| Oysters being processed for shipment. We enjoyed what we bought. |
2/11/2011 Friday. Dolphin watch cruise at 10:30 am. Boat carried about 80 or so tourists, many were Korean. We did spot quite a few, but the enthusiasm of the crowd wasn’t all that high. A boom net was then lowered so people could dip in the water, and there was a tube people could slide in: that was a hit. Still a pleasant 90 minute ride. We wanted to eat at Hog’s Breath, but it was closed for lunch for kitchen renovations, so we had pizza instead, they were quite good. Anne and I then went on a series of excursions: walk from Nelson Bay to Dutchman’s Bay where I stayed last August; drove to the tip of Soldier Point and saw several large pelicans lazing away the summer day; stopped by the Nelson Head Lighthouse (and not understanding why it is called a lighthouse); climbed up Tomaree Head, not high at 161 meters, but nonetheless quite a walk including 300+ steps; and walked on Fingal Bay till we reached the spit, the waves from Port Stephens and Tasman Sea were crashing into one another. We stopped by Jumbo Palace to pick up some food and went back to the house to have dinner with Stephen and Ruth; together with the oysters we bought earlier at Holbert Oyster Farm, it was quite a meal.
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| Ruth and Stephen on the cruise boat. |
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| The passengers are having more fun with the water slide and net than seeing the dolphins. |
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| A Kookaburra. |
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| This area is teeming with spiders, you have to watch where you are going to not run into their webs. |
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| We were surprised to see so many sailboats out at the same time. |
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| These are huge pelicans. Their toy-like eyes look artificial. |
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| Nelson Head Lighthouse. Not sure why they call it a lighthouse. |
Waves from Port Stephens and the Tasman Sea crashing into one another from opposite directions. Creates a strange effect.
2/12/2011 Saturday. Checked out of the unit at 9:45 am. Overall I was quite disappointed at the place: it was dated; inside could be cleaner; master bathroom missing important features like toilet paper holder and soap holder; inadequate air conditioning; no use of garage (although we were given a garage door opener); view of bay restricted by grove of trees. I would give it 2 stars (out of 5). Drove around a bit before having lunch (mostly fish and chips) at Aussie Bob’s at Shoal Bay. Per Ruth, Chris (Ngo) loved this place; I found the food just so-so. We then visited Gan-Gan lookout before driving back to Sydney, stopping at McDonald’s for a short break. After staying at Susanna’s place for a short while, it was dinner where Ling, Alfred, and Toby joined us.
2/13/2011 Sunday. Took bus and train to Chatswood and had lunch with Uncle Richard and Auntie Fannie at the Toraya Japanese Restaurant in the Mandarin Center. They looked fine, all things considered. We actually found out when they were born: the secret is safe with us. The public transportation fare structure is such that it costs more than $16 for the roundtrip, and $20 will give you unlimited ride on the system for a day. Dinner at an Indonesian Restaurant (Ratu Sari) in Kingsford where Chris, Susanna, and Alfred joined us.
2/14/2011 Monday. It’s been a long trip, and we are ready to go home. Packed up, and then went to lunch in Chinatown. Ruth and Stephen dropped us off. I am in UA840 as I type this, a bit crowded (Anne and I are sitting in seats FG, with seat E empty). We brought two pies along, and are glad we did (they have been consumed already, we are about 10 hours into the 13 hour flight.) Trip LAX to EWR was on time. Ellie picked us up – she was a bit late since she thought we would go through customs at EWR.
