Old Musings - June 2003

Finally, a quiet day to recuperate :)

I'm not going to do a whole lot of writing for this update. Here's a list of places I've visited in the last week or so (of course, with the appropriate links to the photos):

• Niagara Falls
• Fredericton (New Brunswick)
• Saint John
• St Stephens, Calais (US), St Andrews
• Bay of Fundy, Fundy National park

I'm alive - but barely. The 30-odd hours of travelling last Friday (the 13th!) with but a couple of hours of shut-eye have left me a veritable wreck. Now I am in a strange country, jet-lagged and in some serious need for some sleep.

But who has time for sleep? I've got just 2 days to get out and explore Toronto before my travel blitz continues!

I'm making the most of it. Yesterday I got up nice and early and headed by foot into downtown TO.

(Click here to see all my Toronto pics)

You can tell the States have a pretty big impact on life in Canada (even more so than New Zealand / Australia) by all the common American landmarks that you see dotted around the place when you just go for a walk.

There are also plenty of tall buildings, sky-scrapers - and of course the world's tallest building - the CN Sky tower. Now, although the weather wasn't the greatest, I couldn't help but take a peek. There I managed to see most of Toronto, including the Sky dome - the first stadium in the world with a retractable roof.

After testing my faith at the Sky tower, I headed back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before heading back into town for a Blue Jays game. The Blue Jays were playing their second game of the series against the Chicago Cubs, but unfortunately were unable to build on their first win and ended up being defeated 2-4. An interesting (but more importantly, very Canadian) way to spend three hours, none-the-less. 

To complete the day, I revisited the Matrix Reloaded - but this time on a better system. Whilst browsing the web, I found a system that would display this sequel in a fitting manner. 12000 Watts of audio power, a projector so bright you can read a newspaper by it's light 10 kms into space, and a screen up to 8 stories tall.

Yup, that's right - the Matrix Reloaded is now also an Imax experience. Absolutely awesome.

And there don't appear to be any Imax theatres in NZ or Australia screening this at the moment :P

Right. Its a long weekend. I've done all my chores. The laundry has been ironed, the carpets vacuumed and the dishes done. There just isn't any thing else to procrastinate with. Time to update the web site I guess. To make sure that this gets done, I've even purchased a really, really bad DVD and stuck it in the player. So I doubt that this will be very distracting (It even lists a 4:3 aspect ration as a 'feature', *groan*).

So, what exactly have I been up to in the last 5 months? Well, to be honest - not much. So little in fact, that I felt guilty just doing nothing. So, when Easter came around I decide to cash in my time-in-lieu owing and went for a bit of a drive.

Day 1: Wollongong - Albury (570km)

 The idea was to go down to Melbourne for the weekend. Get out, get some fresh air, and see the countryside. So I took the main highway South.

To be honest, I don't remember much about this leg. I've been in this area (Canberra way) before. Of course, you always have to stop and take a picture of the giant Merino sheep in Goulburn, make fun of people that live in Yass and make a detour to go see Wagga Wagga. Personally, I think that this is the noise made by Fozzie Bear - but others dispute this and say that he says 'Wakka, Wakka' instead. Of course if they are right, then I made a 50k detour for a place that isn't really as funny as I had hoped - so I live in constant denial. (No, not a river in Egypt!).

My final destination was Albury - or more often known as Albury-Wodonga. It is a 'twin town', right on the border between New South Wales (the Albury side) and Victoria (the Wodonga side). And of course, right in the middle we have the state line.

Day 2: Albury - Melbourne (320km)

Day 2 was a nice short day. About 10 minutes into the trip I crossed the state line (and slowed down accordingly - no 110kph zones in this state, thank you very much). I cruised past the place where good old Ned Kelly last played Cops 'n Robbers and then into Melbourne, where I got to stay at a five star hotel for bupkes (good old frequent flyer points :).

Day 3: Melbourne (335km)

On the third day, I decided to get out and see part of suburban Melbourne. Something you don't normally get to see unless you have transportation.

So I popped in the car to go and see the Phillip Island penguins. (The worlds smallest I believe). Every night after sunset there is a bit of a ritual that goes on, as the colony of penguins return to shore after a good days hunting. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed (for obvious reasons) so no photos of cute little fluffy things I'm afraid.

On the way down to the penguin colony, I also stopped off at a wildlife sanctuary to check out some native wildlife (other than all the kangaroos 'sleeping' beside, or sometimes on, the road). That was pretty cool. I got to see your usual fare - kangaroos, koalas, wombats etc, as well as the worlds biggest worms (Weighing in at a whopping 2+ meters and about as thick as your thumb!). 

Day 4: Melbourne - Mt Gambier (548km)

Ah, yes. Day 4. The turning point. It was this day that I had to make the decision to either turn back (having had a pleasant long weekend), or continue on in my quest to see Australia. In the end I figured that I would probably never be down this way again - especially with a car - so I had better make the most of it. Just as well, because my main reason for coming down this was was to see the Great Ocean Road - one of Australia's finest scenic tours.

And of course who could go down the Great Ocean Road and not take a gander at the 12 apostles. Some lovely bits of rock that haven't fallen into the sea yet.

This day also turned out to be a first for me for a number of reasons. It was the first time that I had been to South Australia, the first time I have driven to a different time zone, and the first time for being in a time zone that is a non-integral number of hours offset from GMT. (+9h 30m).

Day 5: Mt Gambier - Adelaide (463km)

Righto, off to the state capital of South Australia - Adelaide. Not really much to report.

A bit of driving, a bit of taking in the scenery. Nothing too noteworthy.

Day 6: Adelaide - Broken Hill (538km)

Adelaide is about as far away from Wollongong as I would get. I was pondering a drive up North to Ayer's Rock (Uluru), but driving an extra couple of thousand kilometres to see a rock just seemed a little over the top. (As opposed to driving a couple of thousand kilometres to drive on a road). So I started heading back, but this time taking an inland route.

Before long I found myself leaving South Australia behind me and re-entering a familiar state. (Note how dry things are in the photos - we're still in a drought at the moment). Anywho, after playing dodge-ems with countless 'sleeping' kangaroos and and some stray farm animals, I finally arrived at Broken Hill. Remember the TV show 'Flying Docters'? Well, this is the real deal. I popped in and had a peek at their headquarters.

When I got to the hotel, I was a bit surprised by how many clocks appear to be faulty. They all seemed to be showing the wrong time. It took a while for it to dawn on me that Broken Hill, although part of New South Wales, actually operates in the South Australian time zone. How bizarre!

Day 7: Broken Hill - Wollongong (1216km)

At this stage I was yearning for my own bed. I was going to spend a night in Dubbo, Bathurst or Orange*, but decided to push on and head for home.

* Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you glad to see me?

:)

Of course, this lead to another first for me - the first time I have seen a trip odometer wrap back to 000.0 twice in a day.

Approximately 15 hours after leaving Broken Hill I was very glad to be home and conclude my little driving excursion.

 

Trip Summary

Total Distance driven	3990 kilometres
Total Petrol used	255 litres
Average Distance Travelled	570 km/day
Average Petrol Efficiency	15.64 km per litre (6.4 litres per 100 kms)

Cheapest petrol: 87.9c per litre (Melbourne, Vic)

Most expensive petrol: 114.9c per litre (Wilcannia, NSW)