Reporting live from NZ, OZ, HK!
 

March 27,

The day is finally here. Around noon today a car service will pick me up, and take me from our little paradise on Siesta Key, Florida to Tampa International. It will be a very long day(s) of air travel, but thankfully most of it will be first class. Here is the itn:

American Airlines - TPA-MIA (confirmed first)
American Airlines - MIA-LAX (still in coach, hopefully upgrade will clear before flight)
Qantas - LAX-SYD (first class)
Qantas - SYD-AKL (business class)

Arriving in Auckland on Tuesday.

The final destination before the fun begins is Christchurch, but I will get a nights rest at a motel in Auckland before I fly Qantas the next day to CHC.

13 days in New Zealand, 11 days in Australia and finally 5 days in Hong Kong before I head home on the 27th of April.

I will try to do a short report every few days about the places, experiences, and anything else that may interest some of you. I'm planning on seeing Christchurch, Queenstown, Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne and many other places. Glacier walk, bungy jumping, cave tours, Tranz Alpine train, etc.etc.

I will also post pictures, just not sure where at this time.

Anyway, wishing everybody a great Easter Sunday!

Talk to you in few days!!!

Thanks, AAFF - looking forward to your despatches from the front. Happy Easter to you too.

Hi, AAFF,

Welcome to New Zealand.

Hope you have had a restful flight and a good night's sleep, leaving you all set for a wonderful trip. Have a great time. Look forward to seeing your reports and impressions of NZ.
Dot

March 29/29, 2005

The flights on AA were very uneventful and my MIA-LAX upgrade did clear at the last moment at the gate.

A quick report on the QF flight. Just woke up from a wonderful 7 hour sleep and found out we’re somewhere over the Pacific, crossing the dateline. We’re still about 5 hours away from Sydney, but this 14 hour plus flight is very much bearable in First class on Qantas. After boarding we were served Dom Perignon 1996 Champagne. The FAs distributed luxury PJs and toiletry bags. The duvets with pillow were already at the seats. Shortly after takeoff dinner orders were taken. I had a wonderful Sweet Potato, Chilli and Lime Soup, followed by a petite fillet with potato puree and Coriander rice. Both dishes were exceptional. Never had a steak at 35,000 feet like this one. Very tender, juicy and cooked just right. There is an all night snack attack table set up in the galley with fruits, cookies, pastries, etc. The FAs will also be very happy to serve you anything from the menu again if you so choose. The suites are nice, but I have to say they are not as comfortable as the AA Atlantic suites or CX F suites. Nice entertainment center but again I do prefer the CX AVOD system. What’s nice is that each seat has actual US power plugs, so no adapters needed for the laptop or whatever else you need to power up. I’ve read some reports that the QF long distance crews are not the best, but on our flight they are just wonderful, attentive, friendly and the female FA’s very beautiful. Got to love the Aussie accents too.

One of the FAs offered a free bottle of wine or champagne to me just before landing. Believe it or not I chose a nice bottle of Chardonnay over a Dom Perignon Champagne. I‘m just not a champagne lover. I thought it was a very nice touch and it made me feel very special. Thanks Carol!

Had a long layover at the SYD airport, but fortunately I was able to use the Qantas lounges. Took a nice long, hot shower. I also walked around the airside area of the International terminal and I have a little warning for any future connecting flyers. The food choices are very limited once you are past security. Only 2-3 places in the entire terminal and they did not look very appetizing. On the other hand the terminal has a nice selection of gift and duty free shops., so if nothing else, you could occupy yourself with window shopping. I did not see any particular good deals.

Finally it was time to board my Qantas flight to Auckland. This was a 2 class flight on a 767. I did fly in business in seat 2A. Never saw a layout like this one in business class on a 767. It was 1-2-2, so all the A seats had a window and aisle access. Very nice. As you could imagine I was tired at this time. I really had no appetite so after a quick drink and a delicious ice cream I went to sleep. The business section did have a choice of dinners from a menu but I really did not pay attention. After 2.5 hours of flight time I was awaken by the captain’s announcement to the FAs to get the cabin ready for landing. It was totally dark outside so I did not have a chance to see anything. Few minutes later I was one of the first in the immigration hall and faced a very stern, serious and very inquisitive immigration official. He took my passport but did not opened it. Instead he was asking why, where, when, what, etc…. Why did I choose NZ to visit? I thought that was a strange question. Anyway, after about the 10th question he finally peeked inside my passport and saw the many, many stamps I have from all over the world and it seemed to calm him down. I will never know but was he thinking I wanted to stay in the country???? Within a minute I had a stamp and finally a little smile from him, welcoming me to NZ. No problems at all with customs although I did declare my Reeses cups as I was told the NZ customs is very strict about ANY food items coming into the country. The official asked me what it was I was declaring and after I told him it was chocolate candies he gave me a green mark on the form and directed me to the x-ray machines. EVERY piece of luggage has to go through these machines. No problems there. In the arrivals area I bought a SIM card for my phone. I had reservations at an airport area motel for one night, the BK’s Pioneer Motor Lodge. As I’m flying this morning to Christchurch all I needed was a place to crash. This place is perfect. They do run a free shuttle. I called them from my mobile and within minutes I was on my way. The place is your basic motel type but very clean and spacious rooms. All the rooms have some kind of kitchen area. My studio only has a sink, fridge and a microwave. The bigger rooms have full kitchens. I really did not care as I wasn’t about to cook anything anyway. Slept like a baby. It’s early morning now and I’m just about ready to take a shower and head out to the airport again. I will recommend this motel if all you need is an overnight stay near the Auckland airport. www.bkspioneer.com. My rate was $100NZ.

In few hours the true vacation will finally start once I arrive in Christchurch. Next report will be mostly about places not about travel.

Got to run!

Thanks for the first installment-- I'm looking forward to the following reports!

AA - Waiting with bated breath for your next installment. I'm headed to NZ in two weeks - until then, I'll have to settle for living vicariously through you - more, more!

Sorry, I was cut off from the communication world.

Christchurch - I booked a stay at Apartment 37 B&B, located in the Old Government Building, located right smack in the middle of all the action. The hosts, Lynne and David are just faboulous. Ok, I admit, Lynne was the one that took care of all my needs, but I finally did get to meet David on the second evening. ([email protected]). If you don't mind a B&B type situation, this place is IT! Location, location, location!!! About 1/2 of the apartments are rented out by the Heritage Hotel next door. You will get the apartment all to yourself, but the price will reflect that as well.

The city - Beautiful, VERY British city, but also very limited as to sightseeing. My advice, and it's ONLY my advice - no more than 2 nights in Christchurch. Some very nice and somewhat old architechure, outstanding city parks and the Gondola! After that it's time to move on. There was a Jazz Festival going on during my stay and Lynne helped me to get a ticket to see Mary Coughlin do a tribute to Billy Holiday. A highlight of my stay in Christchurch.

Tranz-Alpine Train - A beautiful journey through the middle of South Island. The train is little worn and old, but still comfortable and the views are out of this world. The train has an open car for photo freaks but be warned, get a spot early as many people get there as soon as the train leaves and don't go back to their seats till the journey is almost over. Great photo opportunities. I did not have a problem booking the trip night before and from what I saw, the train was about 90% full.

When I booked the train journey somehow I was also booked for the InterCity bus ride from Greymouth to Franz Josef. It was not a problem till later (I will explain). The InterCity busses are NOT what we in the US think of, basically Greyhound. They are very comfortable, full of foreign travelers and they do stop very often at "touristy spots". The busses stop at many "lookout" spots as well as little towns and the driver does do a commentary as s/he drives. What looks like a 4 hour journey on paper, is actually a 2+ hour journey plus the stops. Many photo ops and dining/drinking possibilities. The ONLY problem I had was the choice of seats. As stated above, the busses are used by many foreign travelers and especially backpackers. They are mostly kids, having a great time but some forget the power of shower/bath. If you do decide to take the Intercity busses to get around, get a seat up front as soon as you board. Nothing to do with security, but a lot to do with your nose.:-)

Franz-Josef Glacier - A quiet little village with every excursion based around the glaciers. I made a BIG mistake. I booked a full day glacier walk. To make the long story longer, I realized around noon that day that I've made a huge mistake. The walk is all that and more, but you better be in prime shape to do a full day. When I finally "crawled" back to the bus around 4pm I was in a state of "death". Seriously, unless you are very young or in prime physical condition, DO NOT do the "full day" glacier walk. The 1/2 day walk will give you the same photo ops but your body will also be very grateful for your wise decision. 3 days later I'm still feeling muscles that I forgot existed. I did it, but I'm warning everybody that reads this report - either you are in peak physical condition and if not, book the 1/2 day walk. I stayed at BellaVista Motel at a rate of $115NZ per night. Very basic, yet very clean and great location. Think of Motel6, but few notches above. The entire village has many lodgings available and most were available for walk-ins.

Here is where the bus booking came back to bite me. Franz-Josef is a little village, so there are no car rental places. As soon as I arrived, I realized that I had no choice but to book another bus to Queenstown. No biggie, but on paper it looked like an 8 hour trip. It wasn't as bad as it looked. We stopped often, either for photo ops or food/bathroom breaks. I did realize at some point that I could actually relax and take in the sights as opposed to worry and drive by myself. 99% of the road was a 2 lane mountinous road with MANY one-lane bridges.

Queenstown - A little shocker. Allow me to say this - Disney has NOTHING on the Queenstown marketing people. The beauty of the town's location does take away some of the initial shock, but if I had to compare this place to something in the US, I will say it's a cross between Vail, Colorado and Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. The scenery is unmatched anywhere in the world, but unfortunately the commercialism is alo there. I'm not here to defend Disney/Universal, but at least they package all the attractions into one nice price(or not). Queenstown (wild) attractions, (bungy, skydiving, fly-by-wire, 4X4 trips, Milford Sound, Trilogy, etc....etc...) are NOT cheap. The town is divided into 2 sections, shops/restaurants or excurision selling. The prices for EACH excursion range from $50-500US. If you show up with a family (let's say 2 adults and 2 kids), your CC better be free to rock!!! The town itself is going through some major construction boom. Many new hotels are being build, roads are being fixed, etc...etc... At the present time - not a pretty picture and VERY expensive.

First 2 nights I stayed at the Brown's Boutique Hotel. Very nice and romantic, yet not the best location and also very little in the way of communications. I would highly recommend it to couples that want to have quiet times together, but not to anybody that wants to be in the middle of things or wants to stay in touch with the world. Ask for room #10 if you decide to stay here. Today I moved to Glebe's Apartments and it's a different world. It's little closer to the main action area, but more importantly it has high speed internet and laundry facilities in the apartments. I have a 1 bedroom apartment with a full kitchen and it's only $20NZ more per night.

Brown's Hotel - $200NZ
Glebe's Apartments - $220NZ

I did the fly/cruise/fly excursion to Milford Sound today. You will not save any money by booking it early or by booking it in town. Same price either way. BUT IT'S WORTH IT!!!!! Words can not do it justice. I will post pictures sometime soon.

I also did the Gondola and took some great shots of Queenstown and the surrounding areas. $18NZ just to take a ride up there but IMHO, worth it.

Tomorrow I will do a winery tour and visit Arrowtown. I finally rented a car for couple of days here in Queenstown. Got a great deal from Rent-A-Wreck in town.

Weather - It has been just beautiful. The only rain I saw was the morning of my Glacier walk in Franz-Josef, but it cleared up in the afternoon and all day yesterday in Queenstown. Today was just perfection. About 70 and sunny all day. In Christchurch it was somewhere between 60-70 Deg. and mostly sunny. It does cool down after sundown to anywhere between 40-50 Deg.

More to come.........

AAFF - Thanks for the detailed reports! I'm printing these out for future use.

What a great trip report! Ah the memories!!
I'm glad you are having such a great time.
May I butt in and add something for the benifit of others?
My friend chose to do the full day Glacier tour and I'm sooo glad that I didn't!
But here is what I did and I highly recommend it for anyone not doing the walk.
I booked with White Heron Sanctuary tours and it was excellent. The tour was great. As well as seeing the breeding white herons, we went on a jet boat ride and also walked through lowland rainforests.

I look forward to your next 'chapter'.

Enjoying your report - glad to hear you're having good weather. Hope it holds for us as we leave next week. Yippee!

New Zealand - part 2

I'm very greatful to the weather gods. It has been just spectular.

NO RAIN since my last report, all sunny, all day, and very warm.

I never made it Arrowtown, but there was a good reason for it. No need to go into it right here but Queenstown had better offerings. :-)

Did couple of wineries. I probably blew my entire vacation budget doing it. 3 dozen cases are on the way to US. Not sure what the US side will do, but shipping it back home the cost went up to an average of $10NZ per bottle from this side. Still worth it to me. I shipped each case to a different person. Not sure if this will help. Will report later.

Flew on Qantas from Queenstown to Rotorua. One class plane, just like the one that I took from Auckland to Christchurch. AGAIN, my OneWorld status was recognized and I was assigned row 1, but window this time. The middle seat was blocked, so despite the fact that it was coach it felt different. Unfortunately the power went off at the ZQN airport about 40 minutes before my flight. The air traffic control tower had power so no problem there, but everything else had to be done manually. We were delayed for about an hour.

Rotorua - Not my cup of tea. I was planning on doing 2 nights, but changed my mind an cancelled my second night at the Millennium Rotorua. I'm just not much of a SPA person and after seeing a Maori show, the town did not have much to offer. OK, I found later that I was wrong, but it was too late to change it back. At first I didn't see anything worthwhile, but during my second walk through the business district I found some wonderful restaurants, bars, and also saw a poster to a Reggae show at one of the biggest local live music establishments. I was able to get friendly with the locals at one of the coolest bars that I've seen lately. They were also planning on seeing the show, so with their help I was able to secure a ticket. To my surprise all the musicians were local Maoris. The performance was exceptional. I was able to talk the manager into allowing me to take photos. ALL photos/video was strictly prohibited during the show, so I felt like a "superstar" photographer with my new Canon SLR Digital with 3 different lenses. :-) He wanted me to get a photo release from the band after the show but unfortunately I did get a little drunk, received a call from US on my mobile and as I went outside I forgot all about it and just left. Oh well.

I was thinking about renting a car to do the drive from Rotorua to Auckland, but I did find a bus deal that suited my needs perfectly. It was a luxury bus that picked me up at the Millennium Hotel, and in the price included a tour of the Waitomo Caves and finally dropping me off at the Hyatt Auckland. The price was $119NZ. I booked it. The car would have been around $50NZ, the cave tour about $30NZ. It was worth it to me to be able to sit and relax and take some photos, read a book, do some computer work and not worry about Auckland traffic. Plus getting a ride from/to hotels probably would add another $20NZ.

Waitomo Caves - OK. I give it about 6 out of 10. My opinion ONLY. I've visited some other caves and IMHO, the operators of this one are making a FORTUNE! . The Glowworms are somewhat different, but after 5 minutes, well..........

Anyway, it was ok.

I'm making this report from the Hyatt Auckland. I will be here for the next 4 nights. Somehow I got lucky and was upgraded to the Regency Club level. Free brakfast,free cocktails in the evening at the club, and all that for $150NZ a night. Nice view of the harbour. Have not ventured out in Auckland just yet so I will do a report in few days about this city.

And did I say the westher has been perfect?

Fodor's - what's up? I did the editing part, fixed all the mistakes, yet the original report got posted????

Just curious - which wines did you like the best? I've never shipped any home but I sure drink alot of the stuff while I'm there. I'm partial to the Sauvignon Blancs from Marlborough myself.

Everytime I stay in, I keep on waking up at the weird hour of 1-2am (about 9am at home). I try to watch some TV and hopefully fall asleep again. I'm succesful about 1/2 of the time. Now it's 4am and I'm fully awake.

Anyway, about wines - I'm a Chardonnay lover myself, but I did get a case of some other whites and few reds. The main reason I decided to do the shipping part was that I know for a fact that I can't get any of the Chardonnays at home. I have a friend that owns a liquor store on Siesta Key and he has a wonderful selection of wines, so I called him and asked to talk to his suppliers. He confirmed that most of the wines I listed were not available in US, or at least not in our part of the country.

I hope this will not cost me dearly, although the shipper was convinced that it will not.

Full day in Auckland planned for today. Bungy jump of the Sky Tower, about 192 meters, equal to about 210 yards. The price is about a $1NZ per meter. It's expensive, but I have to try it. Walk and bus around the city during the day. Hopefully many good photo ops. A rugby match between a local and South African team is planned for tonight as well. A nice dinner after the game.

Will report later on what actually happened...........

Sorry, but I had such a fabulous time in Auckland that I just did not have time to sit down and do any reports.

Also, I lost a dear friend in Afghanistan, which was a BIG downer. The fact that I could not attend his funeral and pay my respects to this hero made it even more depressing.

Auckland - WHAT A FABULOUS DESTINATION!!

What did I do? - controlled bungy(kind of) jump from the Sky Tower. Expensive and I would NOT do it again, but for the few seconds it was exhilarating!

I did a sailing on 1 of the 2 NZ's America's Cup yachts. IMHO - worth every penny.

Took a ferry to Devonport and did a little tour, which included great photo ops of Auckland and the surrounding areas from the tops of ancient volcanos. Beautiful Victorian era houses and great antiquing. Had a wonderful lunch there as well and as this was on Saturday afternoon , got to do a lot of people watching. The locals were just having a GREAT time.

The Auckland Museum - Special as well as regular exhibitons. It's called the War Memorial Museum, so the third floor of this magnificant building in a beautiful park setting, is dedicated to the New Zealand's contribution to the British Empire's fights throughout the history. It's a very moving experience. The second floor is all about New Zealand's natural habitat and it's native species of animals and plants. During my visit, the ground floor was all about the Maori culture and history. Very rich and full of information exhibition. Recommended.

Casino

Many afternoon outdoor cafes for lunch and outstanding evening restaurants for dinners.

Did I say the weather was just brilliant!!!

Out of the 14 days in NZ the ONLY rain I had was the full day in Queenstown and the early morning drizzle in the Glaciers in Franz Josef. THAT's IT!

The rest of the time it was almost perfect. The temps ranging from low to mid-70's and gorgeous blue skies with occasional clouds. Thank you weather gods!

The best for last. On Sunday I went to Auckland Wine/Food Festival. Great wines, nice food and great people watching. I met the organizer of the festival's entertainment and also a performer herself, Jasmine, a beautiful lady and we kind of hit it of. Her website: www.entertainmentnz.co.nz.

We had a fabulously brilliant time. It all started with a Freddie Mercury look alike doing a show at the festival. For some reason Queen tribute shows are HUGE in NZ. I started popping pictures of this guy and she approached me, thinking I was some professional photographer. This camera think is GREAT! :-)

Final thoughts on New Zealand -

People - Extremely friendly, very proud of their little paradise and willing to share any and all information with you AT ANY TIME!. A tourist question may get you involved in their lives. In many instances I was pulled in to whatever was happening(family, group, individual) just because I asked an innocent tourist question. Also, very laid back, almost like Caribbean islands natives, but with this incredible urge to go for the andrenaline rush on occasion.

Country - Very beautiful, in some cases unique, and all available within a very short traveling distances. With few exceptions it's no different than Colorado, Alaska, Chicago, but it's a very small country.

I'm in Sydney right now. Started of with a bang and it seems to continue. Will report in few days. Just one word- BEAUTIFUL!

Great reading ! Sounds like you are having a fantastic holiday.

Hope the weather holds out for in you in Sydney!

Flew Business class from AKL to SYD on Quantas, and also had access to First Class Lounge at the AKL airport. The lounge was very quiet, had some limited food offerings, open bar and free internet stations. The business lounge seemed very busy and loud. Ahh, the power of status :-). The flight was also very nice. The purser walked around the J cabin and introduced himself to everybody. He knew everybody by their last names. It was impressive, especially with some names like mine. It was an all male crew in the front. Very nice and attentive on this short 3 hour flight. Breakfast choices were between full American or Continental breakfast. I finally watched "Meet the Fockers" and although I thought it was entertaining and had some great funny moments, IMHO it wasn't as great as some of my friends thought.

Anyway - landed in Sydney around 10:15am. No problems with immigration this time, a quick walk through, followed by also quick recovery of my luggage (priority tags that actually mean something with these airlines) and within minutes I was buying Australian SIM card. It took about 5 minutes to do the paper work and set up my phone. Walked over to the public transportation information booth. I decided on purchasing the 5 day Green zone pass. There was also a LOT more expensive (I believe it was around $130AU) pass that included some of the harbour ferry tours and some other tours and R/T on the Airport train, but the return would not work for me because I need the airport train in 10 days time and you had to use it within the 5 day pass time, so the $40AU pass plus one way airport train ticket for $8.80 that I purchased allows me to use the public ferries to get around the harbour, which basically do the same routes that all the tour ferries do, (but they just don't have the bar/restaurant services), all the trains and busses within the central red zone and outlying green zone including the Sydney Olympic Park. If you need to travel outside the zones all you need is a new ticket just for the actual route, starting at the outlying green zone border to your destination. Better value IMHO.

Took the train to Circular Quay station, located about 3 minute walk to Marriott Harbour Hotel and at around 11:15am I was in my room. This was booked through Priceline. I wanted to stay in Sydney for 5 nights so it was a no brainer. I got this wonderful hotel for $100US a night plus tax and fees of around $50US. LOCATION!!! is just great. During checkin I asked if it's possible to get a room with a harbour view and immidiately I was offered the following choices: For $30AUS more a night I could have a great corner room with a view of the Sydney bridge on a high floor, for $60 or $70AUS I could get pretty much the same, little higher floor but also included lounge access (breakfast and free drinks in the afternoon) and for $100AUS more a 2 room suite but no lounge access. I chose the $30AUS option. Very nice property, not in the class of Four Seasons or Conrads, but just a notch or 2 below. Worth the money, especially if you could score it through Priceline.

Sydney - Beautiful and fascinating city. The Rocks area is more European looking than most European cities. :-D

I will write more detail reports on what I did in Sydney so far some time tonight but it's time for shower and breakfast and today I will hit Manly Beach area and also do the Opera House close up. That's what's planned anyway.

See Ya later!

G'Day AA!

Great trip report.....sounds like you're having a wonderful time.

I feel postively vindicated to know I'm not the only one in the world who was less than thrilled with the Cave experience! :)

We look forward to your Sydney experiences!

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie Specialist

Sydney - Love the city!

Where I blew my money?

Bridge Climb - worth it but I had one problem. They will not allow you to take a camera with you. They do say it's for safety reasons. I think it's so they could sell you their own pictures. Great views.

Featherdale Wildlife Park - Great for families with little children. For me it was a waste of time. It's basically a miniture zoo. I thought it was more of a free range zoo. IT WASN'T! Lot's of Japanese tours and families. Crowded, smelly, and frankly not interesting.

Blue Mountains - Ok, but? I don't know, I was not that impressed. I did get some nice shots.

I saved a bit of money by doing the 2 above excursions on my own. Took trains to both on the same day. Had a great lunch at a wonderful restaurant. I probably saved 1/2 of the cost of an organized tour that does the exact same thing. I also had the opportunity to leave the widlife park early when I realized it wasn't for me.

I used the public ferries instead of the "tour" ferries. The difference? The public ferries run regular routes and don't have any food/drink services. They are a lot cheaper and you get to see exactly the same things that you would from the tour ferries.

Went to see a GREAT rugby match between the Roosters and the Bulldogs. Both Sydney teams but it was the Bulldogs home game at the beautiful Sydney Olympic Stadium (Now called the Telstra Stadium). Great time and also learned all about the game. The Bulldogs were on fire in first half. Scored 3 times to take a 16-0 lead. It looked hopeless for the Roosters, but the second half belonged to them. They scored 29 unanswered points and took home a well deserved win. This was the National Rugby League game. There are different leagues and different rules, so not all rugby (footie) matches are the same. Highly recommended.

Visited the Olympic park earlier that day.

Lost few pennies at the Star City Casino. :-( Beautiful facility.

Visited the Australian Museum


Now, here's the stuff that didn't cost at all or very little and I had just as much or in some cases more fun -

Walked around the Rocks - more European than most cities in Europe :-)

Walked around King's Cross - interesting

Went to Manly Beach - very nice and fun

Walked around Darling Harbour - fun

Visited tens of great, average and not so good gallaries. I do plan to go back to 2 of them when I have another full day in Sydney and make a decision on what I will take home. One is a photo artist with great Australia landscapes and the other had a wonderful oil painting of Sydney. Still thinking about it!

Took many shots of the Sydney Bridge, the Opera House, the city's very modern skyline, people, etc.

Stood around and watched a Warner Bros. filming of "Superman Returns". Wasn't much action so I left after about 45 minutes or so. The local businesses very mad as the filming blocked of many areas of the main CBD on Saturday afternoon, but on the other hand, I saw hundreds of people working for the production and I'm sure majority were local, so I guess the saying "you can't make everybody happy" was really true here.


Food and entertainment -

Had wonderful dinners with couple of new friends :-D at:

Aqua - Outstanding food, but also very important to mention - WHAT A VIEW FROM THE OUTDOOR BALCONY - THE CITY SKYLINE, THE BRIDGE AND THE OPERA HOUSE all lit up with the evening lights! Had great fun with a new friend, delicious steak and the view was breathtaking.

Iceberg - Located right over Bondi Beach. Again, had great food with another new friend and the view and the sounds of the surf while sitting on the balcony over the beach was just a great finishing touch.

Highly recommend both restaurants.

Many outdoor cafes lunches. You can't mess this one up. Hundreds to pick from.

Visited The Establishment Bar (that's where I met both ladies on different nights). Beautiful bar with tons of room, relaxed music and mostly a very chic, downtown crowd.

The Basement - Right next to the Marriott hotel. Went on a night that had a Led Zeppelin tribute band. Very crowded and lot's of fun.

One or 2 other short stops but I don't remember the names.

Sydney has a very vibrant, diverse nightlife, so there is something for everybody.

By pure luck (being at the right place at the right time), I received an invitation to a private gallery opening night for one of Australia's best artists. I don't have the info with me here in Melbourne (left 1 suitcase back in Sydney), but he is very famous for his sports art. He is the official artist for Beijing Olympics. The opening night was for his Ferrari Racing team art work. The artist as well as couple of the Ferrari Racing team drivers were at the gallery. To be honest, the sports art is not my cup of tea, BUT he also had a beautiful collection of nudes, and if they were not expensive I would have brought one home. His most expensive work was "Cityscapes", which included the last five cities where the summer olympics were held. These were HUGE (probably around 10' x 10'), very colorful, rich and depicted every city's main landmarks. They were priced (are you ready?) at $500,000AUS each. It was a very fun start to an evening. That's one event I couldn't plan, I was just lucky. It does have something to do with the willingness to knock on some back doors, talk to strangers about their work, don't do organized tours, etc.


Weather - the only "possibility" of rain was on the evening of the rugby match, Friday. It looked bad, but nothing happened. Rest of the time, beautiful, warm, sunny, little clouds.
Once again the weather gods came through for me.

Thanks Sydney for a very fun time! I will return.

The only bad thing that happened was on Saturday night. There was a drive by shooting right on the outskirts of the Rocks area. 2 guys were gunned down by 4 guys shooting from 2 vehicles. I was about 3-4 blocks away at the time. The police suspect heavy gang involvment (obviously) and fear there will be reprisals. It's NOT common here in Sydney, so I don't think it's something that anybody should fear.


I took the train from Sydney to Melbourne. It is an 11 hour journey and it's not very scenic. I was hoping to see Kangaroos hopping out on the plains, but was not succesful.

I did it for a reason. I needed a day "off" after the last 3 weeks and I thought that this would be a perfect way to "force" myself not to do anything and get some work done. In that I was succesful.

The train was comfortable and had some ok food offerings. I would not recommend this route if you're looking for scenery. THERE IS NONE. Mostly plains with sheep/cattle farms, some hills and few mountains in the background.

I will fly back to Sydney early Friday morning. My flight to Hong Kong does not leave till 10pm that evening and one of the new friends agreeded to spend the day with me.

It's Monday morning here in Melbourne, my first full day. Time to shower, breakfast and start my touring again.

Will report on this city soon.

Hi AA,

Well, it seems you've had some exciting times..not all of them good either! Yikes, drive by shootings? I thought we'd cornered the market on that in California! :)

re: the Bridge Climb and cameras; well yes, you are right, of course they want to sell you THEIR photos; but it really is a safety issue as well -- imagine if someone dropped their camera from the height of the bridge onto someone's windshield driving below....

and just out of curiosity...who does "Superman Returns STAR anyway?"

Regards,

Melodie

Melodie,

I just stopped by the room and saw your post. When I read about the business owner's complaints in the local paper next morning, it included a name and a picture of the main character. I've never heard of him, and according to the newspaper article, he's fairly unkown at this point of his career.

Here is more info I found on www.imdb.com:

<b>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348150/</b>

AA

Sounds like you are a real charmer ! lol

Those drive by shootings are not common but not unheard of either. The location though is a bit unusual.

You missed today in Sydney...tropical almost too hot. !! It would be over 90 in your language.

I was hoping to get away from the HOT weather. Oh well, I guess I can't complain! :-)

Guess what? Another city, another movie production. Walked right into filming of &quot;Ghost Writer&quot;, a new Nicolas Cage flick.

They took over the Yarra River, right next to Southbank Promenade today. How weird is it to see American (no city specification) Sheriff Police cars, sheriff uniforms, SWAT teams, helicopter, etc. during a vacation in Melbourne. BIG production! Hundreds of people working, lights everywhere (my camera did not need a flash and it was dark everywhere else). It was fun, sitting at a nice outdoor bar, sipping a Chardonnay, snapping pictures and seeing a SWAT team walk right by. Also took some nice shots (I hope) of couple of the scenes, bunch of cops, led by Cage's character (I think, I really don't know the story) getting off their motorcycles, cars and followed by SWAT teams across the pedestrian bridge. Also some blow up scenes and a low flying helicopter.

Unbelievable!

Time for dinner. See Ya!

glad you are having a great time!

Don't have time to do a report this morning, but I just want to report the headline in ALL Australian papers this morning.

9 Australian citizens, ages 18-29, were arrested by the Indonesian police yesterday or day before for smuggling drugs. They all face death penalty and most will probably get it. I just saw the early morning &quot;Today&quot; kind of a show on TV and they interviewed the father of the only female involved, age 27, and it was sad. He agreed that the kid deserves severe punishment for what she's done, but has problems, as many here do, that the Australian Federal Police tipped the Indonesians and not waited for these kids to show up at the Sydney airport to arrest them. I believe that 4 or 5 of them were actually already sitting on the plane ready for take off to Sydney when they were arrested. Instead of facing many years in jail, the Australian kids will now most likely face a firing squad in couple of years if not sooner.

Any thoughts?

Also, a warning to anybody that EVEN thinks about it. Visiting Asia?, DON't even think about it. It's that simple. Is your life worth the $ you make? It was reported that few of these kids were doing this for $10,000AUS. Now they could die.

oh my God.

I watch Sunrise, turn channel..happier place!

It is a little hard to find sympathy for these people as we have had well covered emotional case of Schapelle Corby so ignorance of the law there cannot be claimed. Even though the death penalty is an extreme punishment they knew what that penalty was.

I hope that the federal governemnt tries to get them out of death penalty but they may even prefer it to a life sentance in an Indonesian prison. I guess another option is that they serve their time in Australia.

However I do not agree that the Australian police should have waited until they arriived in Australia then made their move. Police are about stopping crime, not making judgement calls about the consequences. Once they make judgment calls, especially when working with police from other nations it then can become political.

What you may not know AA is that for the last 3 months or so there has been a case in Indonesia of an Australian girl who is facing trial for drug trafficing into Bali. It has been in every paper and on every TV station in Australia almost every day. What I am saying here is that it is well known that trafficing in drugs into and out of Asia is inviting a death penalty. It is well known, we have had people from Australia put to death in Asia and still they try it. Sure its a harsh penalty, sure they could have waited until these kids ( and adults) got to Australia with the drugs - but perhaps there is something that we do not know about this situation and cannot make a judgement without that information. However the bottom line is this: if those kids or adults or anyone for that matter traffic in drugs and get caught then that takes away the chance that those drugs will be on the streets in Australia, my children and other people's children will not become an adict with everything that goes with it. If you have ever treated someone with a heroin addiction or had a member of your family with an addiction then I bet you would not have any sympathy for those who make money from the importation of it and the sale of it. Too many younger lives have been ruined by people who wish to make a quick profit from the suffering of others and that AA is nothing short of murder itself! Those 9 Australians probably did not take time to care how many lives their actions would have ruined, how many deaths would occur from their selfish profiteering. Sorry but I have no sympathy for them because everywhere you go as you enter Asia and as you leave Australia for Asia the warnings are there. Its like saying &quot; well he did commit murder but he is only 18&quot;.

<b>lizF</b>,

Please read my post again.......

1. I do know every detail of Schapelle Corby's case. In my line of work I need to be a news junkie and I also get reports from the &quot;official&quot; sources on a daily basis. I DO believe she's guilty as charged. The notion that &quot;she didn't know&quot; is the ONLY legal defense she has left. It has not worked for too may defendants and I don't think it will for her, still I hope that her life will be spared.

2. These kids/young adults are also guilty as charged. 4 or 5 of them had the heroin strapped to their bodies. They can't even use the &quot;I don't know how it got there&quot; defense. I don't have any sympathy for any of them.

3. We Americans are also well aware of what happens when one tries to make a quick buck travelling through many Asian countries. There were some stupid, young Americans executed as well. There was also a IMHO, a funny story about the young son of a American diplomat that decided to spray paint cars with his buddies in Singapore. They got caught and he received 100 lashes and was sent packing. I could almost guarantee he will NEVER do that again.

4. It's ludicrous of our governments to pressure the drug manufacturing countries to write tough laws and fight the drug barons on one side, but get soft and passionate when one of our own citizens gets caught.

So far I believe we agree,


BUT......

1. I also think it's ludicrous that our governments sanction the sale of alcohol under the disguise that it's totally controlled and sold only to responsibe adults, yrt many lives and families are ruined because of it.

2. Drugs, just like alcohol will ruin the lives of a certain percentage of population. End of story Regardless if it's legal or not somebody will be there to provide it to the folks that want it. This is my belief and you don't have to agree - Our governments have to realize that simple fact and deal with it just like they do with alcohol. Lives will be ruined, but is it any different now?

3. CEOs of ruined corporations that destroyed hundreds, thousands of lives, either individual or families, either stock owners or employees, because of their greed get 5-10 years, if that, and are free to pursue the same options in most cases after their release. Yet these kids will face a firing squad because they could have &quot;possibly&quot; ruined&quot; some lives, lives that in most cases were ruined already.

I don't feel any sympathy for these kids. As you so clearly stated, &quot;if you gona do the crime, be prepared to do the time&quot;, Death penalty? I don't think so!!! That's the last I'm going to say on this subject.

Next time it will be a trip report from Melbourne. It won't be that exciting as I pretty much gave up sightseeing. Seen enough waterfronts, mountains, buildings, did enough tours, walks, etc. etc. and now I'm in the relaxation mode. Couple of more days here, a day in Sydney and few days in Hong Kong :-D. HK is all about food/shopping.

AA,

very powerful post. I have to say I especially strongly agree with your point three. now if the death penalty were to apply in THOSE cases, da ya think it would change that. ha

I have to admit, I remember seeing a movie quite some time ago about an American who got caught trying to drug smuggle from Turkey. It's famous but the name escapes me. Midnight something?

at any rate, I know they were going for maximum sympathy with him but I just remembering being angry and thinking dumbass dumbass dumbass how could you throw it all away? and certainly didn't feel sympathetic, rather just manipulated.

point three - CEOs, not point three - spraypainting.

Midnight Express

for a powerful recent movie on the subject see
Maria Full of Grace.

That's the plan for tonight

<i>Maria Full of Grace</i> at the Lumiere Cinemas on Lonsdale St., either the 6p or 8:15 p showing. Anybody in town and wants to see a movie? :-D

Read so many great reviews in the Sydney/Melbourne papers. Being a movie freak I have no choice..... but to see it.

I am concerned about long term implications.

Australia and Indonesia have close ties right now but inherent differences highlighted via the justice system could ruin all that.

If Australians are executed for drug trafficking and the Bali bombers successfully appeal against their sentance then relations could hit an all time low.

I hope both governments are intelligent in their reactions.

Also Indonesia may need to change to fit into the world view. But such change needs to be desired from within. For outsiders to insist on legal reform is seen as interference and will increase anti-Australian sentiment there.

I wish Australians could respect the law of other nations when travelling. We sure do expect visitors/immigrants/asylum seekers that arrive here to adhere to ours.

In this case their only hope maybe that they were smuggling drugs OUT rather than into Indonesia.

You know you could have picked the second biggest story of the day! You know the celebrity dancing competition between the dancing king (Tom Williams ooo la la) and the Dancing Queen (Ian Roberts, you go girlfriend) That was good fun. Ian did great but still looked like his was ready to pack a scrum at times with his bulkly arms at the ready!

Yes AA we do agree, sorry if I sounded as if I didn't or perhaps I had just read one of those &quot;bleeding heart&quot; writers about &quot; he didn't mean to do it - he didn't know it was a crime &quot;. I have to agree with Tassietwister too that Australian's cannot sit on a moral fence and expect people who come here to behave when our own don't when visiting other countries. We should respect the laws of different countries and not &quot;carry on&quot; when one of ours breaks them.
Just one point though that I do not sit well with is that in Indonesia's case we have the Corby girl and now these 9 Aussies who were (allegedly) smuggling - put that up against the situation where the leader of their religious sect which blew up 200+ people in the Bali incident will be out of his 5 star jail in 13 months. This is where I get a tad angry and this is where there has to be some consistancy.
I was on the first Qantas flight heading to Asia which left Australia after the Bali bombing and most of the Nation's reporters were on the flight. It was the next night that I was in the Qantas lounge in Singapore when a lot of the people who had been in Bali in and around the blast site were watching the re-runs on CNN. I have never seen so many people so shaken in my life, many men were crying and shaking, totally shell-shocked and I guess that will remain with them forever. The two situations which we have now most certainly do not match the evil of the bali bombing and I hope that there is some sort of balance when it comes to the sentences of the Aussies because if the bombers can get off with what has been dished out so far then in comparison we should send these smugglers to Club Med for a free holiday.

Just thought I would add to this.

I agree with LiF that the sentencing of a mass muderer (13 cushy months) vs potential death for smuggling 2 kilos of weed (the Schappelle Corby case not the idiots with the heroin) does seem to be a bit disparate and is quite frankly offensive, especially as I work with a guy who lost one of his best mates in the bombing. However the sentence for drug smuggling is hardly unknown.

To this day I remind people of a flight I had into KL when about 15 minutes before landing a pleasant voice came over the tannoy and politely reminded me and my fellow travellers that the trafficing of narcotics into Malaysia carries the death penalty. Done with such a pleasant tone as well.

Coupled with that was the 5 metre by 3 metre sign we saw on landing repeating the advice we had received on the plane. My understanding is that these warnings and variations upon them are the same allover Asia. We saw similar ones in Thailand a few years back as well.

Claiming ignorance when you have two kilos of smack tied to your leg is a bit weak to say the least.

As far as a death sentence is concerned. If those drugs had arrived how many &quot;death sentences&quot; would have been imported with them?

This does not mean I am a bleeding heart and liberal when it comes to drug users. I am not, however I do not believe that once a smackhead always a smackhead. I do know of one guy who was a user once but has since has turned around his life, is now married holds a steady job and is helping raise two good kids. How many of these stories would have been wiped out if that shipment had arrived and had done its worst?

Whilst I am not a fan of the death sentence anywhere (too many dodgy historical decisions pushing people toward the electric chair, needle, gallows etc) if a country operates it then it is there to be used. Though one only has to look at other practitioners of the death sentence to see it is hardly a deterent.

Just my two cents

Anyway AA we have successfully hijacked your thread.

Glad to hear you have had an enjoyable trip so far, glad to hear in the main that you enjoyed my homecountry too.

Cheers

Steve

Hi AA,

thanks for the link on the Superman movie -- I have no clue who's playing the Man of Steel, but I was scanning the list and recognized Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint, Parker Posey, Kate Bosworth and then I spied Kevin Spacey as Lex Luther! Woo hoo! That's enough to make me want to see it right there!

Now please advise us if you're in any of the background shots and what you're wearing so we can look for you! :)

Melodie

AAFrequent Flyer:
You wrote this a few days ago;
1. I do know every detail of Schapelle Corby's case. In my line of work I need to be a news junkie and I also get reports from the &quot;official&quot; sources on a daily basis. I DO believe she's guilty as charged. The notion that &quot;she didn't know&quot; is the ONLY legal defense she has left. It has not worked for too may defendants and I don't think it will for her, still I hope that her life will be spared&quot;

How do you know - have you been at the trial - are you in possession of information that the rest of Australia and the world does not have? What country do you come from when the notion of &quot;innocent until proved guilty&quot; does not seem to be a part of your psyche? Or the idea that you have to have the case against you &quot;proved beyond reasonable doubt&quot;.
I am asking this as I have just read this morning's SMH and I don't think I have every seen such an injustice in all my life. There is no proof that she put the dope in the bag, the Balinese did not check for fingerprints, they did not follow normal forensic procedure - well acceptable procedure anyway but worst of all they show double standards, I am referring to the trial of the Bali bombers and their leader.
I hope that Australians and New Zealanders will stay away from that country in droves and perhaps the next time there is a need for aid in that country our wallets will stay firmly shut and the Government's money - taxpayers money - will be used elsewhere. I will of course change my mind should the judges in the trial show some sort of legal knowledge and give the defendant the benefit of the doubt because I can see no &quot;evidence&quot; to show that she did what she is accused of.

<b>lizF</b>

I know the details of the case from the same sources as you do - news coverage, articles, and I also get a more non-biased detailed news reports dealing with security issues. International drug smuggling is part of national security issues, so I did get &quot;some&quot; inside on this case, but not with ANY proof that she's guilty or innoncent.

When I said that I do believe she's guilty, I'm making that call after following the story. As you know the case is finished, so I like many others have the right to state an opinion, don't I? I'm basing my guilty verdict, and it's ONLY mine, on the fact that carrying over 4 lbs. of pot in your bag would not only make the bag heavier, but pot has a very distinct smell to it. No matter how the smell is covered up, it still usually comes through just a bit, and if it doesn't than the smell of whatever product was used must be noticeable.

I just don't buy her defense. My opinion only. You or others don't have to agree.

Should she die for it? NO, and maybe she should be set free because the Indonesian Police did bungle the case, but I don't think she's innocent, and unfortunately she's not tried in Australia or US (that's where I'm from), where legality issues may spring somebody free, regardless if the person is guilty. When one travels outside their own jurisdiction, one always has to realize that the exposure to different methods of police work and judical system is always a possibility.