The Land Down Under

Hey Everyone,

I have heard from at least a dozen of you that travelling to the land of AUZ/NZ is on your wish list/bucket list/must do in this life-time, etc.,etc.,etc. Well, in the spirit of generosity, I've decided to "live out loud" with this adventure and take you along via travel blog. Know that I am doing this simply to share the adventure with you through my eyes. I am in no way an expert on this, simply a fellow traveller hoping to encourage you to tick off your list an adventure to the other side of the world. So pack your imagination bags and come along. I have no idea where we'll end up, but at least we can go there together :) Enjoy!

February 5,2009

Well, we have finally touched down in the land of OZ – 25 years, 28 hrs and one tenacious sniffer dog later. The flights were surprisingly pleasant and, though the final 15 hr leg from LA to Sydney was originally feared as potentially “death” for me, it turned out to be surprisingly pleasant – having slept for a majority of it and also being fed some surprisingly tasty food for “free” by an airline – which I haven’t encountered since, well I can’t remember when!

First impressions of Australia – flying over it – beautiful lush greens on the coast with miles of deserted, white sand beaches. Stepping off the plane – hit by a wall of tropical heat (31 degrees Celsius- didn’t help that I was still wearing fleece!), palm trees and tropical vegetation abound. The people –very friendly, gregarious, teasing, helpful, beautiful (seriously – tanned and buff!) and generally quite pleasant. First order of business was to clear “quarantine” (AUS version of customs) – John had an apple at the bottom of his backpack that a deceptively cute beagle/sniffer dog would not give up on. Well, you thought he had found a bomb! John had to sheepishly stand there while the inspector unloaded the full contents of his backpack in the middle of the airport floor and then proceeded to profusely praise and reward the little beagle as if it had found the buried treasure of gold (well, it was a golden apple, so maybe warranted). Anyway, that special find delayed our entry into this land by about an hour or so as we had to now go through various special lines/x-rays, questioning, etc. Fortunately, we didn’t have to pay the 250.00 fine that is usually slapped onto guilty fruit smuggling bandits. Suffice it to say, Aussies are very protective of their island – and rightly so – I guess. I actually support due diligence – just not when it involves me – directly or indirectly - or after I expressly warned John to remove any food from his carryon before we hit quarantine :)

After a rather warm ride to our hotel, we were told there had been a flood in our reserved room and arrangements had been made for a hotel room a block up the street - which ended up being an upgrade – so no complaints! Quick change of clothes and we hit the streets of Sydney with the full enthusiasm, wonder and delight of explorers encountering a new land. After sitting for far too long on airplanes we opted to walk to the botanical gardens and head to the harbour front, where the famous Sydney Opera House is located. It was a great choice:) The golden sun was brilliantly shining in a cloudless blue sky- kissing our lily white Canadian skin with warmth and, in my case, significant shades of red:), a gentle breeze was blowing up from the water to cool our rapidly rising body temperatures, tropical smells from the beautiful public botanical gardens wafted through our noses, sights of couples cuddling under huge Banyan trees, readers curled up on wooden benches engrossed in their latest great novel, and glistening bodies jogging, walking and talking along the breathtaking views of the harbour front assisted greatly in resurrecting the long forgotten, cob-webbed memories of all that is spectacular about summer days. I love walking barefoot through soft green grass (especially in February!) until I suddenly remembered that 12 of the worlds deadliest critters call Australia their home. Note to self: Stay on the well worn beaten path. No telling where those spiders, ants, snakes, etc. are lurking - I've heard they are especially fond of naive north american tourists!

We leisurely took our time heading towards the opera house. The wait and the walk were worth it. The Opera House is indeed one of the most unique buildings I have encountered to date – such imagination in the creation of it all. The entire outside (the white part of it) is actually just whitish, 6”X6” ceramic tiles! Seriously! And you thought your bathroom reno was a headache to complete! The idea behind it is low-maintenance – all they need to do is wait for a heavy rain and the entire outside of the building is squeaky clean. Brilliant! One surprise was the amount of steps leading up to the entrance of the Opera House – very reminiscent of the St. Joseph’s oratory in Montreal (for those of you who have been there) – or about 100 steps or so for those of you who haven’t been there. It seems like it is built on a hill – and you need to climb it to get inside! The other thing that was a surprise was the cost for all of the tours inside the building – we are talking just a “walk around tour” – ridiculous! So, we decided that we would simply step inside the building to use the facilities and take some pictures of the really cool washrooms – just to say we were there:) (we travel on the cheap remember?) Actually, there was nothing playing that day and we could peek in the windows from the outside to get a good view of what the inside was like – so why drop some coin to see the same thing available to you with a little creative effort. We were happy with that:)

After a brief respite, we headed back towards our hotel room to re-group a bit. Along the way, we popped into a magnificent, gigantic Catholic Cathedral, St. Mary’s, just to sit for a moment and take in awe and splendour of the glorious craftsmanship. It was all very reminiscent of the European beauties – big, ornate, humbling, sacred feeling. It never ceases to amaze me to think of the perseverance, creativity and ingenuity of humanity to build such incredible master pieces without the aid of modern day machinery. Hmmm.... kinda makes you wonder what our legacy will be from 2009. Regardless, it was a gloriously reverent pause to cap off a phenomenal afternoon.

Once we arrived back at the hotel – we crashed – literally. The intent was to rest a bit and head out for some night life – but we never woke up until 3:00 am – Oh well, these Canadian bodies will get with the swing of things soon enough!

Three things I have learned on day one:

1. All you need to do is stop – open up a map – stand there – and you will be surrounded by Aussies offering their assistance to guide you in the right direction. (5 times in the span of a couple of hours). As a woman, I found that quite comforting. From the male perspective, however, John was quite insulted:) You know how it is with guys asking directions!

2. The reason for John’s internal compass not working as efficiently as normal – we are in the southern hemisphere – shadows are cast on the opposite side of the trees, thereby throwing off his orientation of north and messing with his sense of direction. He tried to explain it to me – I just smiled and followed his lead. I’ll never get directional stuff – that’s why I married John :)

3. Human’s have a universal call to beauty – that’s why you’ll find them hanging out by the water, drinking in the lush flora, seeking out the peaceful spaces. It doesn’t matter what culture you are from –there is a deep satisfaction to experiencing natural beauty.

K - that's it for today ...more to follow!