We're in OZ!!!!

After about 3.5 years of planning and saving we have finally made it to Australia! I am so excited to write these words that I can barely stand it! Sydney is a beautiful city and in a different life I would totally live here. It's amazing to walk around in.

First Day

Our first couple of days were spend in an actual hotel room (not an ensuite, but those things don't matter too much.) The hotel was in the neighborhood of Kirribilli which basically gives you a great view of the Sydney CBD, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and of course the Opera House. We allowed ourselves the luxury of taking a cab from the airport with 4 giant bags and two backpacks - money well spent.

We were pretty hungry by the time we got to our hotel, so we dropped off our stuff in the room and started exploring the hood. We ended up walking to the Sunday market that we saw out of the cab and it was a total win. They had food from all over and a (no so great) jazz band playing in the background. The highlight of the food for me was a Russian blintz filled with farmer's cheese and sour cherries!!!! It was truly meant to be, because I even had my lactaid pills with me. That Russian comfort food was just what the doctor ordered and it made me think of my grandparents (they fed me and Mike binchiki when we stopped by their house on the way to the airport in the US.

We were both pretty zonked so the only other thing we managed to accomplish was to get a local SIM card, and set it up, an walk around the neighborhood for a little bit. It is so pleasant and beautiful. I can't imagine feeling sad in a place like this. I will also say, that we saw some Australian wildlife right off the bat, including bats that screech at night  and are the size of a baby!

Birthday celebration

Our next day we finally officially celebrated my birthday. The day started with a a pleasant lunch in Kirribilli followed by a walk over to "Luna Park". Apparently the one in Sydney is the original of the brand. I was curious about this because the word for amusement park in Russian is 'lunapark' and apparently the reason for this is that in the early 20th century this was a worldwide chain! Wikipedia specifically talks about the fact that 'lunapark' is the word for amusement parks in a lot of languages. The reason it's called 'Luna Park' in the first place is there is a ride called 'fly to the moon' there and the owner named the park to reference that ride. Another weird thing: there is a section of the park called 'Coney Island'. This is a straight up reference to the us where the owner first saw this type of an amusement park. The park is very kitchy and old school and makes me think of childhood. 

We spend the rest of the day seeing some of the closer sights. We walked the famous Harbor Bridge, strolled around the Circular Quay and inspected the Sydney opera house. Jessica told us the check out the roof, and we saw that it is made out of ceramic tile. We finished my wonderful day with a very fancy dinner at a seafood restaurant that was across the water from the Opera House. The dinner was absolutely delicious: we ordered a giant hot seafood platter for 2 (or 4 depending on your idea of portion size). There were scallops, prawn, lobster tail, muscles, fish, just everything under the sea. The dinner came with fries ,which I don't really understand since seafood and fries live in different worlds in my book, and salad. There was an insane amount of food, but we left no sea creature uneaten! Mike even had room for the salad, and the fries were left untouched. It was a lovely birthday dinner courtesy of my dear dear friends back in the states, and we were both glad for the long walk back so that we could metabolize some of that goodness.   

Moving Day

We wanted to extend our hotel stay another night, but they were fully booked, so we made reservations at the only campground in the city of Sydney, Cockatoo Island. In order to move we would have to take 2 ferries which was a lot of fun :). We left half of our things at the hotel and took a nice ride to the island, and during our stay, but I sure didn't feel like a winner when my prediction came true.

then back and forth again. I would love to live in Sydney and have to commute by ferry. There is no way you can be in a bad mood riding a ferry to work. Sydney gets 300 days of sunshine a year, so imagine blue skies, sunshine an maybe some salty spray as you ride to work in the morning and come back at night! It would be glorious. The ferries also provide 30 minutes of Internet, although no power outlets so you could catch up on FB during your time on the boat. I mostly preferred to ride up front and look out at Sydney. It's only when we really set up on the island that we realized how low on room we would be. Camping in NZ was different, because we could leave most of our stuff in the car, but we no longer had a car, so our two person tent ended up with 2 people, 4 giant bags and 2 little backpacks. It was so tight in there that neither of us could straighten our legs and we also had to synchronize our turns in the night. At the time, I didn't realize what a difference this would make, but then again, we also thought that this arrangement would only be a couple of days. Another not so convenient thing about living on the island: the ferry does not run all night, so you end up having a curfew. I bet Mike that we would miss the ferry at least once

We Bought a Van

One of the main tasks that we had in Sydney is buying a car. Our requirements were pretty simple: Needs to seat 4 for when people visit, needs to be able to have a bed/mattress in the back, and our budget based on research was between 4-8 thousand dollars. The reason the range is so wide is that we were not sure if we would end up with a van or with a station wagon. We did research online and basically there are two ways to buy a car for backpackers in Sydney, you could either go to the private sale car market in King's Cross, or you buy from a van rental company. My research online brought a lot of horror stories from the car market. People were swindled in so many different ways, from the registration, through to horrible car trouble, and so the consensus online was - unless you know cars very very well, and do all of your research on NSW car laws, you are playing Russian roulette at the King's Cross car market. That left the option of buying from a van rental company.

We searched and searched, but only one company name kept coming up - Travellers Autobarn which I will refer to as TAB from now on. We decided that we have to see the cars before we decide on car vs van and so we went to TAB with the rule that we would not buy anything that day. We ended up dealing with a guy named Sean, who seemed very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. I really wanted a van more than a car, but all of the vans had the back seats removed, and in Australia you can't have a passenger who doesn't have their own seat belt. It would be illegal for us to drive with other people on the bed. We told Sean, that we had this issue, and he told us that they had a van that they just bought were the seats were not removed yet and if we would like to see it. We agreed that we would come back the next morning and check out the "apple van" named that because of the logo that was still not removed from it for "apple city printing"

When we got home we talked and decided that if the van can be modified in the way that we need we would buy it. We knew that we were not in the greatest bargaining position since we only had the one place to go to buy, but we were determined to try our best.

The next day was really really long. I think we spend 4 or 5 hours talking with Sean. We started off going to look at the van and talking to the mechanic who would also make the modifications on the inside. The dream was to have a foldable seat that the bed frame could go over. Unfortunately the van did not have foldable seats. As we were examining it, I saw that the seat back was a completely separate part from the bench so I asked the mechanic if we could unscrew the back for when we want the bed to be unfurled. We talked through the logistics for a while and then went back to the office to talk about a potential sale. At the end Mike and I are pretty happy with what we got. Our van will have an advantage of versatility over other vans on the market (4 seats capacity) and we hope we will be able to sell it for a good price. If not, TAB guaranteed to buy it back from us for 40% of the price, so the worst case scenario is still not too bad. We were extremely tired by the end of the day, and the worst part was that we have to wait for a week to get the van, they need time to service it and build it up to our specs. 

How we missed our ferry.

We had been on the island for almost a week and got the hang of the whole ferry thing. The last ferry is at 11:37, but we never shoot for the last one, always the second to last one, in case our commuting back to the wharf takes longer than expected. Unfortunately, part of being a traveller is that you don't know what day it is. Every day seems like a Saturday and usually there is no problem with that. Unfortunately, the day of the week really matters on Sunday, when the last ferry to our island leaves at 7pm.

After spending a lovely day out walking around Chinatown we came back to the wharf to catch the 9:37 ferry back to the island. We were early for god's sake! When we got in to the wharf and looked at the monitors to see how long we would have to wait, we did not see anything in regards to our ferry line. We came up to one of the workers, and he told us that since it's Sunday, there are no more ferries to our island and the only thing we can do is take a water taxi.

Upon further investigation we found out that the water taxi companies were now closed, but if they were open the ride would cost us 75 dollars. Since a room in our original hotel only cost $15 more, we opted to just stay in the city and enjoy. I was on the phone with the hotel when I saw a familiar face walking by and sure enough we ran into Steve Bayliss who was in Sydney for business! In a city of 4.5 million people we ran into the one person we know, who is also not from Sydney and is only there for a couple of days. We chatted for a while, and made tentative plans to meet up, but Mike and I had to run to the hotel before their receptionist left for the night (10pm) and we would be locked out. Sometimes the funniest things happen when you least expect them...

Our clothes are in jail!

One of the days on the island we wanted to do laundry and apparently there are free facilities on the island that are available for the use of the guests, but the office has to unlock the area. I didn't realize this, so they unlocked it before I had detergent and you couldn't buy any on the island. Mike and I made a plan that we would take the ferry to the mainland, buy detergent and then he would stay in the library and do research and I would head back to do laundry. By the time we actually went on the ferry, I had already ran and was more than ready for a shower, but it was also time to recolor my hair, and you are supposed to do it when it's dry, so I was purposefully holding off. 

We bought the detergent and I also stopped by for some hair color and went back to the island. My plan was to put a load in, and do some ab exercises, and then put in the second load and go color my hair while one load washes and the other dries. Everything went fine for the first load, but then when I wanted to put it in the dryer I realized that none of the dryers were working. That meant that I hung our first load on the fence and only then put the second (of three) load in. That done, I went to color my hair in the camp shower. This was my second attempt, because for some reason the permanent color that I bought earlier that week just washed right off. The whole process along with my well deserved shower took about an hour and it was wonderful. I knew I still had a load of washing to do, but that would be fine. 

The first thing I did was take the previous load off the fence to make some room and free up some clothespins. I went back to the laundry facility and found that the door was locked! Our laundry had been jailed by the island. I tried to go  to the office to get the laundry room unlocked, but since it was a couple of minutes after 5:30, no one was there. Our laundry would have to remain in jail for the night :(. we did manage to successfully finish the laundry the next morning, but I will never get used to everyone being done with work so early here. 

When birds attack (and bats fly)

There are two huge fruit trees on the island that are full of bats at night. The bats are very vocal and I started out being kind of scared of them. I have already mentioned that they are much bigger than bats I have seen before, and they are very very loud which does not add to my comfort level. I had always just assumed that they live on the island so I was completely blown away when I just happened to be on the island around dusk and saw the migration of the bats to the tree. I was watching the last patch of sunset disappear when I saw a bat flying from the mainland to the tree, then they started coming in twos and threes, it was a very steady stream, and must have lasted for 10 minutes from the time I started watching. It was so beautiful and peaceful that I immediately lost my fear. I had just wished that Mike was there to see it, because he really loves to watch that kind of stuff, and is always stopping me to point out beautiful things. 

The bats are mostly a nuisance, since they are very loud at night, and they also eat fruit and spit the seeds down. There are some streets in Sydney that I don't want to walk after dark, for fear of being spit on. Since the trees were by the bathroom, I would take the long way around to avoid getting spit on by the loudmouths. I am telling you this, so you appreciate how beautiful it was to see them come to the tree. I forgave them for their uncultured ways immediately. I wanted to film them for Mike, but it was already too dark, but then again, that was part of the magic. 

On our last night we were on the island again as the sun started to set. I had told Mike about the bats and asked him to wait till dusk to go shower so that I could show him how beautiful their flight in was. He agreed, and as there was an absolutely beautiful sunset, decided to kill some time by taking pictures. He decided that the best view is closer to the rocks and walked over, but two tiny birds started screaming at him. As he continued walking they started flying very close to him trying to scare him off. They were really attacking him! He continued to stand there and try to take pictures of them as they flew at his head and tried leading him away. We think he unknowingly came close to their nest and they started freaking out. 

Eventually he came back to the tent, but even when he went by the water on our side of the slipway the birds

came after him. They had established a perimeter and he was clearly in breach. They did finally leave him to take pictures on our side, but would periodically do an attack flight (like a warning shot) that evening and the next morning. He had clearly made their shit list. 

I had almost given up on the bats when they started flying in. I was really happy that I got to show Mike how it was. we stood together facing the remains of the day watching the black silhouettes flying in. It was the perfect goodbye to our island. 

Moving Day - Part 2

It was a very hard day an we were completely exhausted by the end of it. The morning was spent packing all of our things and it took much longer than anticipated. Also we had to do it with no shade because apparently, Cockatoo Island does not believe in camping in the shade. I got a pretty nice tan as a result of the day. This time around we needed to take a ferry, 2 trains, and a 10 minute walk to get to TAB. Basically a one way trip was 1.5 hours, so getting all of our bags moved took 4.5 hours and we were both sweaty, smelly and exhausted by the end of that. The first trip I was carrying the cheap backpack with very poor weight distribution that was packed with mostly alcohol and papers, and had my camel back strapped to the front with the ipad, toiletries and kindle. I was not happy by the time we reached our destination. Not only was I tired, but I was also very hungry, and didn't think that food would be available anytime soon.

The second trip was much better for me, because we had some time to kill before the ferry and actually ate. On top o that, my second trip I only had to carry my hiking backpack (much better weight distribution) and some groceries. We were back at TAB at around 5:30 and finally the van was in our grasp. I was still a huge pain in the ass to our car dealer and made him explain all aspects of the warranty and logistics of everything. He even started to get offended and to tell me that he is not trying to cheat me, but I told him, that it's not about him - I just want to know what is and isn't covered, and do not want to be surprised unnecessarily. After a little over an hour of going over the paperwork and my incessant questions we had the van and the keys and were out of there! We parked our new home at a free parking spot our dealer Sean told us about, and celebrated with some Malaysian food (our last dinner out in a while I think).

Mike found it a little difficult to drive the van in the city - not only do you have to drive on the left and drive

manual, but the gearshift is also on the left. It was a tense ride to the campground, but we finally made it there around 11pm. Unfortunately the campground is gated and the sign on the door told us that they don't let anyone in after 10.... Here is where our luck became unbelievable: Mike went to look around and while I was siting in the car I saw a security guard! He told us that not only could he let us in, but also there was just one more unpowered site available and we could have it!! We happily filled out the paperwork and drove to our space only to find it occupied by another vehicle! After some back and forth with the guard and the people we ended up moving to a powered site free of charge and were finally done fr the night. We slept on a dry glorious mattress and the next morning I woke up and was not irritated for the first time in a week!

Our First Full Day in a Van

It felt like waking up in a palace, which made me think of that rabbi joke where the husband comes to the rabbi and he is unhappy because his house is so crowded and everyone is so irritable. I was so incredibly happy!! We needed to go to the city to grab some stuff at the mechanic's and have him fill up the wiper fluid for the back door and change a light bulb inside the cab and then our priorities were lunch and shopping. 

It was such a pleasure to buy household things for the van! It was the same feeling I had when decorating my first apartment! we had space so I could finally have some cutting boards, an even a salad bowl! No more trying to make salads in washed yogurt tubs!! we bought new sheets and pillows and at my very fervent request, glow in the dark stars and planets so that we could stick them on our ceiling at night. Mike asked me why I didn't put glow in the dark stars on our bedroom ceiling, and the only answer I could come up with was - no one cares if there are stars in the van and I am going for a certain look with the house. I don't know why I feel so limited in how we decorate the house, but I would never put glow in the dark stars on the bedroom ceiling. It would make me happy - but I would be embarrassed. Does that mean that when I decorate the house I do it for other people? I wonder what that says about me. Am I trying to have 'good taste' at the expense of having fun? This has been a fight with Mike inn the past. He always wants to put 'fun' things in, but they don't match the decor or the color scheme, or what ever else and we argue.

We'll miss you Kiwis (the people, the birds, the fruit)

I'm a little sad that this is my last NZ post. I waited a little before writing it because we have been having internet dificulties for a while, so I apologize if this is disjointed, but here goes:

Wellington

We decided that we needed a break from all of the camping and got a room share in Wellington for about the same price. Once we got to the house and checked out the room I realized that I have been changed a little by the trip. Our room had two twin beds pushed together, but it was not te cleanest. We also had the use of a gross refrigirator and microwave.  I loved sleeping in a bed, but overall I prefer to sleep in a tent, but cook and shower in facilities that are cleaned daily. I never thought that I would feel that way, but bed does not trump cleanliness. (and its not as if the place was filthy, imagine college living 'clean'). As a separate bonus Mike was able to renegotiate our rate for an additional night, and we suspect that the owner stole one of our spoons as payback! I'm not even joking about this, the spoon was on the counter and 2 hours later it wasn't. 

Wellington gave me a proper dose of the city, which I needed badly! It has a completely SF vibe to it. Even the look of the city is very SF. Houses are built in an older style, and painted different colors, they have a trolley, and there is a more bohemian vibe to everything. Mike and I just happened to arrive during the "New Zealand" festival and walk into a performance art section that was on the water and housed in shipping containers (Kiwis love to use shipping containers for things). The coolest thing in the art shipping containers was a 2 story installation. The second story houses a bathtub on display. People strip down to their underwear and sit in the warm water. The tub is overfilled so that it would leak through the foorboards down to the first story level. There are clear ponchos available and you cn put them on and stand in th "rain" created by the tub. 

There were other installations there, some were light and some were sound. There was an exhibit where people would be measured for "joy". It all gave off a BM vibe and apparently one of the light installations was from kiwi burn (but it was not as cool as some of the other ones). There was also a stage made out of a shipping container and there was live music by local bands and singers there. Walking around that area really grounded me a little. It was such a cool scene. I was told and one of the pubs there there was also an exhibit which was part flash mob, part silent disco. Random people are given headphones and have to follow instructions that no one else can hear. It seemed that the people with the headphones were instructed to move in the same way, so they became a silent instant flash mob, but Mike and I didn't see it.

One of the other days that we were in the city we had a nice brunch and then did what they call the hidden art tour. Basically you download a google map of locations and go into public buildings to see anything from bronze sculptures, to grafitti, to an underground ship that became moored and incorporated into the city as the warf was extended out. (+olga shafran very similar to the streeterville story). My favorite thing that we saw was had to be the exhibit of doctor tools from the early 1900s. They were on display at a bar called GP (general practiioner). I talked to the bartender, and he basically gave me the story of the building from a time it was a dctors office to when it was a "cathouse" to it's current state. I will admit that I thought that a cathouse was like a kennel for cats, which really embarassed the bartender, and which Mike found to be absolutely hilarious.

My last story about Wellington is about the homeless. There are a lot of them in the city. It's just one more way that it reminds me of SF. Most of the homelss are pretty crazy, but the ones that aren't are very nice and helpful. Our first night strolling the streets we saw a homeless man talking to a foreign backpacker girl, and I suspected that he was bothering her. It turned out that he was giving her a tour of the city and even showing her the art displays I mentioned earlier. Another time, Mike and I were looking at a wall of graffiti and a couple of homeless guys suggested that we go around to the other side to see more. I mentally placed the odds at 50/50 that their friends will be there to mug and beat us, but nope, just the awesome graffiti that was promised to us. I guess I'm a little jaded....

We had a final night of camping in NZ on our way up to Auckland at a campground that had a contraption named "The Flying Fox" which was basically a zipline for kids. I love all of the BM reminders  that we keep running into. In a way, it makes me feel more connected with all of my friends. 

Auckland

On our way to Auckland we had a very important stop, a repeat of our first hike three months before. The first time around I wanted to throw myself off the path and die multiple times. I needed to take brakes pretty often, and both Mike and I realized that we were in need of some training. The hike took us 3 hours and I was pretty exhausted when it was done. This time around we finished it in 2 hours! Not only that, but I have done much harder hikes recently. What a birthday present to realize how much more fit I am! As an added bonus, the hike let me break in my new hiking boots (a b-day present from Mike) and they were perfect! As we were driving back to the city, we saw waves of sheep running on sides of hills chased by sheepdogs. I know it's stupid, but I thought it was the coolest thing. We just fullled over to the side of the road and watched the dogs work. 

When we finally got into town we saw Steve and Olichka's new home. It is absolutely beautiful, and well worth the 5 month search. They have a view of a sunset over Auckland and the ocean from their bedroom window, which is amazing. It didn't really hit me that we were leaving until I got to the city. On one hand, I was really excited to finally go to Australia and get to the place we have been working towards for so long, but I was very sad to leave New Zealand. NZ is a very beautiful country, and I am going to miss it. We have had so many adventures there and made so many wonderful memories, that it will always have a special place in my heart.

I also wanted to say a few words about Olichka and Steve. They were unbelievable hosts! They put so much thought into hosting us and made our lives so much easier that I can't even begin to describe. They drove us to and from the airport at ridiculous times, they bought us phone cards before our arrival, they lent us guidebooks and set us up with places to live. They spent their hard earned vacation time hanging out with us, and Olichka let us borrow her car for 3 whole months, among other very very kind thoughtful and generouos acts. I only hope that one day we will be able to recipricate the huge favor. Part of why NZ will always be special to me, is because they live there. 

We spent our last couple of days catching up with friends and making OZ plan during the day and hanging with Steve and Olichka at night. Olichka surprised us with a "pump" class one of the days, so that we could really feel the burn. I was really scared to go, but found that it was a lot of fun altough I was sore for 4 days afterward. Neither Mike or I slept our last night on NZ soil, but the night couldn't last forever, and so the first leg of our journey was completed.

Final Personal Thoughts

I learned a lot in the last three months, and I'm still processing some of it. Recently I have been struggling a little because in my regular life I'm a leader at work, so I have been comfortable not always being on at home. I was used to knowing what the right thing in any situation is, and not needing anyone in order to act. At this point in the trip, with us spending so much time in nature, and with me not working, I feel a little out of balance. I am often wrong, or don't know how to proceed with something. I have learned that I am an experienced tourist, but not always a knowledgeable traveller. I have learned that there are times when I won't know what to do, and I am trying to be OK in that role. I find that I am trying to compete with Mike physically (in our exersice regimen) which is stupid, but I have no one else to compete with, and apparently I need that. I feel that the experince has been humbling, but I don't think its a bad thing for me to be taken down a notch or two by life. I will try to remember this feeling when I am again in the role of a teacher or a mentor. I will try to be more compasionate and patient. I don't promise miracles, but maybe I can keep some of this inside and change my perspective a little.

I also learned that travelling as a couple can be lonely. Mke and I don't really talk to many people. We don't really fit in with the backpackers, or the families. Since we are camping, we don't stay in hostels and meet new people. Sometimes we are too much for each other, but when we have separate days we spend them alone. I think he is more OK with it than I am. I need alone time, but I also need people besides Mike in my life. I think that this is a good thing, but it makes travel harder for me. It makes me miss all of my friends and family more than I tought I did.

I have become less "girly". I dont wear dresses or skirts unless I'm in a city now. I have only worn makeup twice since we have started our travels. I don't blowdry my hair. Some people would find that to be a release, but more and more I miss these routines. It is one of the reasons that I feel a little out of balance in my own skin. It's a weird feeling, I can no longer predict how I will feel about something. It's a little unnerving. 

I have embraced activity and the outdoors. I jog and I hike and I walk. I have not really watched TV for months. I tried one day in Auckland, and just could not stomach it. I spend most of my time outdoors. I  also don't have a space that is entirely my own. I am without a cave or retreat. I can't run away to recharge anymore. Life is completely different for me now. In some ways its liberating, and in some binding. Since Mike and I travel together, no decision is enirely our own. We have to plan routes, shop for food, even make bathroom stops together. No research that I have done has prepared me for this. On one hand its a deeper form of  intimacy, but on the other it can be frusterating. 

I will finish by saying that none of this is bad. I am not making judgements for the most part. I am just trying to document how I feel. I like the challange of the unfamiiar road. I think all of these thoughts are very good for me. I hope that as a result, I will become a deeper, more interesting, and a more compassionate person (even a little bit)