Australia - The Home Update

To complete the saga, here's the rest of the story. I made it until about 8:30 last night and then fell asleep. I woke up a few times and then woke up at midnight when the luggage delivery guy called to tell me he was bringing my suitcase. Luckily, he offered to leave it on the porch if I would leave my receipt so I didn't have to sign for it. I'm not sure how late he came, but when I woke up again at 3:45, it was there.

I looked through it this morning and it had definitely been searched, but no idea what caught their attention. Everything was still there.

For being so tired with so little sleep, I thought I would sleep better, but I only slept a few hours at a time. Then I had trouble going back to sleep. Hopefully in a few days!

Australia Take 2 - Part 3

Friday, August 20, 2010

I left my apartment earlier than necessary to walk to the office. I thought it would take more time at the supermarket, but it didn’t and I was too early to get into the office. I sat on a bench outside waiting either for 8:30 or someone I knew who could let me in. If I was here any longer I would definitely need a swipe card, and a cell phone.

At 8:30, I made it upstairs and had an email from my client about doing lunch again. I waited for him downstairs but he never showed. I went back up and ate my lunch I brought (again not expecting it to work out with my client). Around 12:30 I called mom and dad but no one answered. I figured the number was showing up as unavailable so I left a long rambling message giving them time to pick up the phone but didn’t wait long enough. Mom texted me to say they were indeed home and I called back.

Just after lunch I emailed out the draft of the learning plan to the client, so I’ve accomplished what I came here to do.


Friday evening, I had hokkein noodles from Stir Crazy and ate at my apartment. I felt like I should go do something since I was in Sydney and all, but I wasn’t up for much. I settled for walking down by Luna Park to try some night shots of the bridge since I have a different camera and the tiny tripod this time. They didn’t turn out much better than any I took before. Either dark or blurry. I did take a video which looks very clear, so I need to figure out how to get the pictures to look like that.

I walked along down by Jeffreys St Wharf and then up through the park. It was really windy and pretty cool, even with my jacket and sweatshirt on. I did play a little with the self timer and took some cheesy pictures of myself, but the cold got to me and I went back upstairs.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Today is election day! The general consensus is it will be a hung Parliament when the counting is done. I’ve been studying up on Australian government so I can understand a little bit better.

I had lots of shopping to do but most places don’t open until 10:00. I waited until about 8:30, then walked across the bridge. I must blend in okay because the guard that stands in the middle of the bridge asked me if I knew where you could vote in Kirribilli. The weather was really great – bright and sunny and about 65 degrees in the sun.



When I got across to the Rocks, I stopped and got a donut at a café, then walked up to the Royal Botanic Gardens a bit. There tulips are starting to bloom, and there were quite a few flowers blooming. I was a little wigged out when I read there were eels in the pond. I went searching and found the heard of cockatoos I’ve met before. I walked along the water to Bennelong Point and around the Opera House. Once you come around that curve, the winds pick up massively and it was quite cold.

I did some souvenir shopping at the shops near the opera house, then headed to get a bus to Paddington Market. When I got there, I thought I knew right where the Wild Island coffee place was. Of course they weren’t there and I couldn’t find them anywhere, so I wasn’t able to get mom’s Blue Mountain coffee, or even anything similar.

I headed back to the Rocks Market to see if I could find some there but no luck. I did by myself a tiny kangaroo with a tinier joey and a Tasmanian devil. My next stop was Paddy’s Market via a bus up George Street, but I didn’t have much luck there, and the crowds were making me crazy. I walked down through Harbourside and ate lunch at McDonald’s there. I was browsing the stores when I realized that was one place I knew I could come back in the evening if I wanted to.

I decided the best transportation was the ferry back to Circular Quay. By this point I was carrying around a lot of stuff and since the ferry ride from Milson’s Point is only 5 minutes, I figured I’d hop off at Milson’s Point, drop off the stuff, then catch the next ferry in 30 minutes. I held up my end of the deal and was back down at the wharf in time, but of course the ferry was 45 minutes late. I never would have stopped there if I had known!

When I finally got back to Circular Quay, I bought myself a sweatshirt and made a last sweep through for souvenirs. Then I took the train to Coles to get something to make for dinner and headed back to watch election results. My feet were in some serious pain. I did wear my pedometer, but apparently it resets when it gets past 19,999 steps. I usually average about 2000 steps per mile, so that means I logged somewhere around 10 miles of walking!

Despite my studying the two-party preferred voting, I still had trouble understanding what I was hearing in the results. I did recognize Maxine McKew’s name, after she defeated John Howard (then prime minister) in 2007 to take his seat. She lost her seat this time around.

After dinner, I made my best attempt to get everything packed. I bought a few bulky things so even though I had eaten most of my food, I was leaving with way more volume than I came with. Due to trackwork on the airport line, buses were replacing trains to the airport, so I opted for a taxi. I booked my taxi online for the morning and went to bed with the news still predicting a hung Parliament.

Sunday, August 22, 2010
I woke up to the same news as the night before – no winner declared yet. I had booked my taxi to come at 7:30, thinking that would give me plenty of time. The taxi driver was even a bit early and after being carefully not to lock myself out of my apartment or the lobby, since I had to leave the keys behind, we were off for the airport.

We made good time until just before we reached the airport turnoff, where traffic ground to a halt. It ended up taking 20 minutes from that point, so the whole journey was nearly an hour, instead of about 20-25 minutes. It also cost me $80, which the taxi driver said was the highest fare he’d ever had to the airport. Lucky me. He was a little chatty, which was okay, but a lot of what he said I wasn’t sure how to respond to. He started talking about the war, and then drew a comparison between George W. and Hitler. Nice.

When I finally got to the airport, there were only two counters open for all the passengers checking in for the flight. It took forever to get up to the line. I never know what causes people to take so long at the counter, because I was there about two minutes. After waiting through Customs and security, I barely had time to get to the gate. I had hoped to do a little shopping as I still had about $30 AUD I didn’t want to take back, but I didn’t have enough time.

I did get my water bottles filled up this time. They actually recognize that people need to do this and the drinking fountains have special faucets (for lack of a better word) to fill the bottles. This time the plane was completely full, but I did have an aisle seat.

The flight going over is definitely easier, because it night and your body wants to sleep. This time it was 10:30 in the morning, and I wasn’t tired at all. I didn’t sleep the entire way, and pretty much ran out of movies and TV to watch by the time we landed in LA at 6:30 a.m.

My bag was meant to be checked all the way through, but you have to claim your bags to go through Customs. As I was waiting at the baggage carousel, I heard my name paged over the intercom. The lady who made the page was about ten feet from me so I went over to her. She said that my bag was not on the flight but was coming on a flight arriving at 9:30 a.m., after my flight to Denver. She said they had pulled it out for security reasons and it delayed it, but that it was cleared and on the next flight. I went ahead through Customs and out to the terminal.

I definitely picked the wrong security line because, from the time I had all my stuff in the bins waiting on the rollers until it actually went through was at least 15 minutes. They kept running the same bag through several times, and then they would just stare at the x-ray screen. Open the bag people! By this point I was getting really irritable and I was hot and hungry but managed to get through without angering any TSA personnel.

I grabbed a Cinnabon for breakfast (?) and then exchanged my remaining Australian dollars. I had given all the smaller coins to the UNICEF donation on the airplane, but I still had a few dollar coins. They wouldn’t exchange them so I made it home with three one dollar coins for next time. Better than the $47 I’ve had for the past three years.

I boarded my flight to Denver at 9:00. This flight was also full, and I think I might have slept for about 30 minutes or so. In Denver, I had about an hour between flights, and then took the polar bear plane (also packed) home to KC where dad was waiting.

When I went to the Frontier baggage office to explain, the lady kept telling me she had conflicting information on which flight my bag was on, that it was possibly on my flight. I didn’t see how that was possible since it hadn’t even landed in LA by the time I took off. Finally, after watching all the bags coming off the carousel, she took pity on me and went ahead and took the information to have the bag delivered. When she asked me when I last saw the bag and I said at the Sydney ticket counter, she asked why I hadn’t taken it through Customs, that they didn’t like it when you aren’t there to take the bags through yourself. Umm, yeah, then put it on the plane with me. I don’t like it when the bag isn’t there either! Of course I did almost wish this had happened on the way out so I didn’t have to haul it around Sydney all morning. That worked out well for us in Paris!

By the time dad and I got home without the luggage, it was about 5:00 p.m., or 8:00 a.m. Monday morning in Sydney, so I had officially been travelling for over 24 hours and awake for longer. It is 6:30 p.m. as I write this and I’m not sure whether to go to sleep or not now that I’ve been up so long. The luggage is supposed to be delivered tonight, and I’ll have to take the call and then sign for the bag.

Australia Take 2 - Part 2

This post has all the boring week days combined.

Monday, August 16, 2010

On Monday, I awoke before the sun, around 3:00 I think, but managed to drift close to sleep until 6ish, when the sun started coming up. Since I had forgotten my badge, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get into the office until 8:30. I waited until 8:15 or so and took the train to North Sydney. Once I finally found the building, I think it would be nearly as quick to walk up from Milson’s Point.

I ran into Michelle in the lobby and she got me to where I was supposed to be going. The girl I was supposed to do the workshop with was out sick so I was pretty much alone in the office. It was very quiet there. The view is pretty good, and you can see part of the bridge. I’ll have to get a tour of the office when I go back on Thursday.

I spent the morning working and getting prepped for the workshop and getting everything printed out. In the afternoon, our project manager and I took a taxi to Macquarie Hospital for a pre-workshop meeting with the client’s learning coordinator and project director.

Afterwards, our project manager and I walked down to get a taxi and the taxi stopped and let him out on the way back to Milsons Point. I had leftover lasagna for dinner and managed to stay awake until 8:00. My only entertainment was a quick train ride to Woolworths to get some lunch fixins.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I thought I had cancelled all the meetings on my calendar, but apparently not. I was awakened at 11:45 p.m and 2:45 a.m by my calendar reminders. It’s just a short vibrate, but enough to wake me up I guess. I had to sleep with the bat phone right next to me because there is no clock and I was using it for an alarm clock. Luckily I went straight back to sleep until 5:30 or so.

It was pretty breezy in the morning, only 46 degrees. I was glad for my jacket but wished I had thought to bring gloves. I had to catch a train at 7:15 a.m. to Hornsby, where someone picked me up at the train station. The room we were meeting in at Hornsby Hospital was part of the old emergency department so was a unique space. Also a bit chilly so we had a few space heaters.

Since my co-facilitator was still sick, I was on my own for the workshop. It was a large group but I think it went okay. The workshops make for long days and I was relieved when it was over and I was back at the train station again. The train from Hornsby is about 40 minutes into the city.

When I got back to Milsons Point, it was already dark. I went to the Mad Italian Café and got a pizza for dinner and pretty much ate the whole thing. Very yummy. After dinner I set out to Darling Harbour, walking across the bridge. I was hoping to take the ferry but the Milsons Point wharf is closed right now and I wasn’t sure the schedule was the same from Jefferys Street Wharf.

I didn’t have too much luck shopping, and I headed back to Town Hall to catch the train. I stopped at Woolies to buy some Tim Tams to take back to the office and then headed home. This time I didn’t go to bed until nearly 9:30.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

I slept straight through the night with no phantom calendar reminders to wake me up, and I didn’t wake up until 5:20, then managed to sleep until 6:00. It was a little bit cloudy this
morning so the sun wasn’t quite so blazing in the windows.

I caught the same train to Hornsby and between Hornsby and the next to last stop, the train stopped and sat on the tracks for about 15 minutes. They made an announcement but of course you couldn’t hear or understand what they said. I tried to text my ride to let her know, but I wasn’t sure whether I needed the area code or not. I must have because she said she didn’t get it.

Eventually the train got going again and pulled into the station. I certainly could have walked faster! Luckily she didn’t give up on me and was waiting in the car park and we went to Hornsby Hospital.

I think the rest of the workshop was pretty uneventful. I did manage to get them out early, around 3:00, which was nice. I took the train home and was back by 4:15. I went back to the train station and caught the train to Circular Quay, then walked along George Street to Town Hall. I stopped and bought licorice along the way, and then had an orange Fanta and salt and vinegar chicken tenders from Woolies for dinner. I was back at my apartment by 6:00 and spent the next two hours working to catch up on email from the past two days.

The national election here is on Saturday, and pretty much everybody says they are tired of hearing about it. I remember the election from last time, and that I thought it strange it was on a Saturday. But I suppose it makes sense – much easier for everyone to make it to vote, especially since voting is compulsory.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

This morning I opted to walk up to the office in North Sydney rather than take the train. Of course it was freakishly warm this morning and I was carrying the leftover workshop materials and was quite hot by the time I arrived. I had to wait to go in until 8:30 as that is when reception is open and someone could let me in.

Mike asked me to call him so I got on a call with him. He wanted to ask if I would be willing to stay two more weeks because my colleague was likely too sick to go to Queensland. She hadn’t turned up in the office yet, although I was expecting her. When I said I couldn’t do two weeks, he asked if I could do one. I turned him down on that, too, because it’s just too much to keep up with all the health conference work, plus arrangements I’ve made at home and all.

My colleague did turn up in the office around 11:00. She had gone to the doctor and thought she would be in much sooner. One of my clients had asked on Wednesday if I wanted to grab lunch, but without a phone it was hard to get in touch with him. He did finally text one of my co-workers to say he couldn’t make it and we rescheduled for tomorrow. Planning for just this scenario, I had brought my lunch!

The afternoon was uneventful. I did a call with a client in Queensland about a project they have coming up. I won’t be doing the work but needed to do the kickoff call.

After work I headed into the city and met Alison for dinner. We ate at a pizza place in the Rocks that I had been to before. It was great to catch up with her. Afterwards I walked home across the bridge. For all the walking I did into the city, I hardly ever walked the other, towards Milsons Point. Thursday night was the first night I slept on a normal schedule.

Australia Take 2 - Part 1

My blog is turning into a bit of a travelogue since that seems to be all I've posted lately. I'm going to break the Australia trip up into a few different posts since it is a bit long. I added a few pictures, although i didn't take very many. I pretty much took everything last time!

Friday, August 13, 2010
Mom dropped me off at the airport about 12:30, and the temperature was around 100 degrees. The good news was the agent was able to check my bag all the way to Sydney. Last time I had to pick it up and recheck in LA. Both my flight from Kansas City and my flight from Denver to LA where uneventful. It was 75 degrees in Denver, and 65 degrees in LA. Both planes were packed but not too long. On the first leg, we had Jack the rabbit on our tale, and the pilot said it was one of the most popular planes. I didn’t see the animal on the second plane. As I was sitting on the plane waiting to take off in KC, I realized one thing I forgot – my badge. They had tried to set it up so my security card would work in the office here, but now we’ll never know. I’ll have to wait until 8:30 when reception opens to get in on Monday. Hopefully that’s the most critical thing I forgot because I can live without it.

I had more time in Denver than expected but found an outlet and was able to use my computer. I wanted to save my battery not knowing what the next 24 hours would hold.

In LA, I got checked in for my Sydney flight around 6:30 and then had about 3 hours to kill. I ate dinner at McDonald’s as the choices were limited. I’m glad I ate before going in the terminal past security because there is nothing back there. I bought my two liter bottles of water and hung out waiting to board.

The plane was a new Airbus 380, although I didn’t notice anything dramatically different from the747. I think the TV screen was a little bigger and was a touch screen. I watched almost all of Shrek 4 before we ever took off. About an hour in I realized we hadn’t even moved from the gate. Eventually we got underway. I had an aisle seat with no one in the middle, which was fabulous. The window guy only got up one time that I’m aware of, and it was after I was already up.

Sunday, August 15, 2010
I slept restlessly for about 6 hours and then watched Leap Year, Date Night, and Hot Tub Time Machine, none of which go on my favorites list. I woke up once when it got a little bumpy and heard the captain tell all passengers and crew to take their seats immediately. It must have smoothed out pretty quicly. The sun was coming up just as we were landing in Sydney, although it was on the other side of the plane. They do have skycams, like a webcam, on the tail of the plane so you can see the plane landing.

Customs was no problem, and I had to wait in the quarantine line because of my food but she waved me on through without checking anything. It was only about 7:30 a.m. when I got out into the terminal. I went outside for a minute and it was about 55 degrees at that point. Sitting there near the Arrivals gate I was reminded of all the time I spent greeting others’ flights when they came to visit.

Very strange being back here. I can’t quite describe the feeling. It’s weird to me that a place so far away is so familiar to me, definitely the city I know the best besides Kansas City. Everywhere I look are memories, and I think what I’m feeling is still just proud of myself that I came here in the first place. That I made a life here from nothing. I don’t think I really thought when I left that I’d have the chance to come back.

So while it is all familiar, I still have the urge to go and see all the places again. Even when I bought a Diet Coke at the airport and it cost $4.80, it felt familiar. I had about 3 hours to kill until I could drop my suitcase off and I was limited on what I could do while lugging around 50 pounds. The best thing I could think of was to take the train to Circular Quay and find a bench there where I could park until 11:00. I bought a train ticket (a weekly one so I’m free to go anywhere I want for seven days). As I was walking from the train station looking for a bench, I noticed the Manly ferry was leaving in about 3 minutes. Since I’ve already bought my weekly train pass, it is good on ferries and I spontaneously hopped on. I figured that way I could see some things, mostly sitting down, and not have to worry so much about my luggage. And there is a bathroom and free wifi on this ferry! I sent mom and dad and email from the ferry.


I turned around at Manly and came right back on the ferry. From there I found a bench in Circular Quay where I could sit with my luggage and watch the seagulls. It was in the sun so it was warmer. It was right by where mom, dad, and I ate muffins and had all those seagulls around on the morning we went out to Watson’s Bay. It was bright and sunny and didn’t look a bit like rain.

At 10:45, I took the train to Wynyard and then got the train to Milson’s Point to drop my bags off at 11:00 at the Milson Apartments. The office is usually closed on Sunday but the manager had emailed to say she would be in to meet the cleaners and could watch my bags. When I got there, she gave me the good news that my apartment was ready and took me on up. It is on the eleventh floor but on the opposite side of the building from last time, the side facing the bridge (which I can’t see) and the old office. I do have a nice view of Kirribilli. It is a little smaller than last time but still better than a regular hotel room. The fridge is a mini fridge in a cabinet near the kitchenette, while in the kitchenette is a washer/dryer in one. The dishwasher is in a drawer, and it has a combination microwave and oven.

It’s still a great deal and they even offer broadband internet now. She said it was in such demand, they had to figure out a way to do it. When she let me into my apartment, there was extremely loud music coming from next door. She said those people were supposed to be moving out today after getting a one-week extension, so we’ll see if it gets quieter.

I took a shower and headed back out. As I walked outside, it started raining so I went back up to get my umbrella. Then I did my favorite walk ever, across the bridge into the city, my old commute. I went to the Rocks market, which was crowded, and then just as it started to pour, I got in line at Pancakes on the Rocks. I even heard thunder, which I hardly ever heard here. I had to wait about 20 minutes to get in, but it was yummy. I splurged and got an orange Fanta ice cream soda. I drank more orange Fanta when I lived here than the rest of my life total.

I took just long enough to eat that the rain had stopped when I left. I bought a tiny Harbour bridge in the market and then walked from there to go by my apartment. A lady asked me where the Australian Hotel was and I told her, although my street names were a little rusty, and she says “You’re American!” I guess she was surprised. I couldn’t go in my lobby without a key card, but I went into the entryway where the mailboxes are. Pretty weird! There is now a Nando’s chicken restaurant directly across the street, which would have been nice.

I walked down to Darling Harbour and across the Pyrmont bridge. I went through Harbourside and waved hello to the other Pancakes on the Rocks. By the way, there is still a sign up at the original Pancakes on the Rocks saying the Darling Harbour location is now open. True, but it opened while I lived here so that is old news.


I walked through Darling Harbour down where we had seen the didgeridoo show. I was a little confused until I realized they had closed that entire side behind Tumbalong Park. There used to be an arcade, McDonald’s, and some shops. And the pond with the paddleboats. All of that is walled off for redevelopment.

I walked quickly through Paddy’s Market but it was super crowded as always. From there I walked up George Street and then bought some groceries at Woolworths. It was only 3:30 but my feet had had enough for awhile so I took the train from Town Hall back to Milsons Point.

The ferry terminal at Milsons Point is closed for renovations, so I can’t take the ferry from here to Darling Harbour like I had planned. It is now 4:30 and I am sitting in my apartment listening to the loud music from next door. I did managed to get the internet to work. The great thing is I can use it anywhere in the city, not just at home, although not sure how much need I’ll having being here just a week.

I cooked my lasagna and garlic bread and started watching Up. By 6:00 it was completely dark. At 7:00, I decided I couldn’t stay awake a minute longer and went to bed.