jesilin

beautiful island camping

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:18:22 GMT

I had the most fabulous weekend. I spent it with 7 other lovely folks on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park off of Ventura.

The boat ride over was an experience in itself. I knew there were dolphins in the channel and had seen them before on boat rides to Catalina and Santa Cruz Islands. But this time, we saw by far the biggest pod I'd ever seen. They literally stretched out hundreds of yards on either side of the boat and followed along side us for 10 or 15 minutes before getting tired of us and wondering off elsewhere.

We had a pretty quiet afternoon on the island after getting set up. Frannie made us awesome veggie chili for lunch. Calamities ensued (you'll have to talk to someone who went in person). And since it was Nick's birthday on Friday, I brought a variety of hostess snacks. We had candles for the cupcakes and there was out-of-tune singing.

On Saturday, the wind was blowing a bit too hard for us beginners to feel comfortable kayaking. So we went on a really nice hike instead. The views from the tops of the cliff were just beautiful. The coves below were all a great shade of green and the water was so clear, we could see straight to the bottom. That night we made s'mores over the stove (no campfires allowed).

On Sunday, the weather was much nicer. After packing up camp, we headed for the water. Nick and I took one of the double kayaks and went exploring. I hadn't been kayaking for a long time, so it took a bit to get used to the natural rocking that happens as you hit swells. But eventually, after watching a guided group do it, we headed through our first sea cave. It was so exciting, we did it three times right in a row :) Once our confidence was up, we did way more exploring along the coast. The best was a cave that went 200 ft back. And there were sea lions playing right outside and even inside the cave. They were so close we were concerned that they would knock our boat over :)

The boat ride home also had some excitement. One of the people on board spotted a whale spout. A naturalist actually saw its back and it was a blue whale. Holy crap!! So the boat tried to follow it for awhile. I was able to see it spout again, but I never saw its back. Quite possibly the closest I'll ever get to seeing one. Super cool.

the blue mountains

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:12:26 GMT

Sorry for the delay, but I'm getting back to this now.

So, the first thing I did when I arrived in Katoomba was book myself a bunch of tours. I don't hike alone in places I'm familiar with. So I had to get myself some tour guides. The price of traveling alone I guess.

So, first, the blue mountains aren't really mountains. I was informed fairly quickly that it's an eroded plateau. Although multiple tour guides told me that they were sick of hearing this from americans, the shape of it reminded me a bit of the grand canyon. Lots of tourists come in from Sydney for the DAY. They just head to the lookout with the view of a the rock formation called the three sisters and then head home.

I stayed at the clarendon guest house. Funkiest, awesome-est place ever. The bathroom was pink!!

That first night, I went on a night hike to see glow worms. I have no good way of describing them if you haven't seen them before. And of course, photography was not really an option. But it was incredibly cool. At one moment in the dark, light was provided by glowworms, fireflies, the moon, the stars, and lightning. Incredibly unique experience.

The next morning I went another tour. This one required less effort on my part. I took a ride in an SUV down into one of the canyons to an area where lots of kangaroos and wallabies hang out. I took absurd amounts of pictures. I got rid of all the duplicates. But I did get some cool shots.

I spent some time later that day at scenic world. Yes, it's really called that. Together with the lookout to three sisters, the tourist land of the area. The train down into the valley went at a 52 degree angle. Whimpy little walk around the bottom, and a gondola right back up. I escaped fairly quickly and spent the rest of the afternoon doing some small hikes to a couple different water falls.

The next day, I booked mysefl a full day hike. The guide was fantastic. We saw bunches of birds, great views all the way, and a slightly insane walk back up out of the canyon at the end.

The next day, I took a bus to the jenolan caves. The tour was very very cool. I wished I could have stayed longer. I spent longer on the bus than I did at the caves. Quite possibly the most amusing part of that day was that I saw someone in one of those "governator" shirts that the sell at the airports with arnold from T2 on them. I don't think I had ever seen someone actually wearing one.

My last full day was the scariest. I went abseiling (rappelling) and canyoning. While in the canyon, I saw my only snake for the whole trip. At the end of the canyon was a 30 meter waterfall to rappel down. I actually wasn't scared while I was doing it. About 5 seconds after I disconnected from the rope, then I totally freaked out :)

And that's all for that part of the trip. I was awesome and fantastic and any other word you can think of.

newcastle and the mysteries of hunter valley wine country

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 06:47:06 GMT

So, the first step of the non-sydney part of my journey was taking the train to Newcastle. It took awhile, but it was a beautiful ride. Lakes, beaches, etc. The town of Newcastle seemed a little confused. On one hand, it's an industrial town with a huge port and big container ships arriving with stuff from china and leaving with coal. But it was also a crazy laid back beach town (I saw people in bars and redcurrants without shoes) with super big waves. It also had a huge up and coming art scene. I did a lot of walking around the town and had a quiet night in my hostel (private room) before heading for wine country the next day.

I took a bus to the town of Cessnock in the Hunter Valley wine region. Here's the thing about the Hunter Valley. It's not like Napa :) They're just starting to figure out how to take advantage of the tourism. There are hotels. But none of them are anywhere near the wineries. And the town of Cessnock ... also nowhere near any wineries. Or much of anything going on after 7 pm for that matter.

So, when I got there, I took a cab to a central location and walked to 4 different wineries on my first afternoon. Had a lovely time on my own actually. That night, I ate in the hotel and saw the movie Australia. Cheezy. But moderately entertaining.

The next day was my actual wine tour. I went out with a tiny tour company. It was me, the guide, and one other woman. She was originally from Sydney, but now lived in SF and worked for Apple. We had a super great time. Since there were only two of us, we moved pretty quickly and went to **7** wineries. The last one had a sparkling red wine. I bought lots of wine that day. More than I really wanted to be carrying in my luggage :)

Wednesday was a long travel day. Bus from Cessnock to Newcaslte. Train to Sydney, then train to Katoomba. The best part of the trip, the Blue Mountains, were next :)

weekend in sydney

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:55:23 GMT

Sorry for the delay :)

First things first: Saturday I had to check out of the swanky work-funded hotel with the bridge view. Due to my immense amounts of crap, I took a cab to the wynyard hotel. Cutest. Place. Ever. The ground floor was a bar and restaurant. And by restaurant, I mean a tiny corner of the bar with a dorm sized fridge and a glorified hot plate. Most of the bar's clientele were business men. Closed on Sundays. And close early on Saturday. The first and second floors were rooms for the hotel. I had the itty bitty single room. Twin bed, with a window. Each floor had a shared bathroom. And my floor had the shared kitchen with free breakfast. And on the roof, there was free laundry :)

So, on Saturday, I had a planned meeting with some couch surfers in the botanical garden. It took some pretty serious wandering. But eventually, I found people. Had some good chillin hang out time in the park. That evening, I headed to the manly beach santa claus pub crawl. To get the full effect, see my flickr page or the album in facebook. There were 900 people there. They raised tens of thousands of dollars for charity. And at the very least, all 900 people had a santa hat. Many had full on santa costumes. Lots of the girls had slutty mrs claus costumes (remember that it's summer there). A met a super sweet couple named Matt and Carol. They totally adoped me and introduced me to their friends. That's all the folks in my pics. A fabulous time was had by all. Please note the picture of the candy cane that was converted into a giant beer straw/beer bong.

Sunday was a good touristy day. I booked a hop on hop off harbor cruise out of darling harbor. The first and most important stop was Taronga zoo. I saw my first leopard seal. Crazy big. And sorta scary actually. I also saw a full sized male red kangaroo. He was 6 feet tall. It sounds strange, but the kangaroos and wallabies reminded me of cats. The would circle before curling up in the shade. And when walking around tired, their eyes were half closed like cats.

Next I took the boat to Watson Bay. The plan was to get a quick drink at a bar right by the the ferry and then go for a walk to a place called the gap. It's a cliff view of the pacific. So, the bar was packed. No tables. So, I sat down at a table for six that had two girls at it. Half way through my drink, they asked me to join them. I was there for three hours. Didn't make it to the gap :) Super sweet gals.

Did some laundry that night to get ready to leave the city. Next morning, off for further adventures ...

crafty - ness

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:12:08 GMT

Inspired by sweetennui

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. A present!

- What I create will be just for you.
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- It will be done in my own time, although it will certainly be by the end of the year.
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It could be anything. It could be something knit or crocheted, a photograph, an illustrated poem, some other graphical thing, or some kind of home-cooked treat... Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange or silly.

The catch? You have to re-post this meme and make and send out surprises of your own.

"work" days in Sydney

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 03:42:45 GMT

Work. Blah, blah. The hotel they put me up in is pretty sweet though. Close to work, closer to the train station, and a fabulous view.

By the way, the first two sets of pics are up on flickr. Auckland plus the first few days of Sydney.

My first night, I ate at an over-priced place near the opera house. Wondered the rocks area and found a Belgian chocolate cafe. Had a fascinating chat with a Japanese woman who was using me for her English class :)

Second day, we finished work for real. So, I wandered over to the opera house and got myself a standing room ticket for the ballet Manon. Only $25!! Did one of those lame tourist buses for the afternoon. Wanted something where I could sit all day in prep for standing for the ballet. But, I got a good view of most of the city. I went to the funniest place for dinner. It was like a swanky IHOP. But with a much larger focus on ice cream :) The ballet was awesome. My standing buddy was a guy from London. After the intermission, the usher found us seats towards the front of the balcony. Really glad I didn't pay the normal price for them :)

Friday I didn't actually have any work to do. Yay!! But the weather was awful. It did hold long enough for me to wander around the Royal Botanical Garden for awhile. I found the bats!!! Holy crap, they are enourmous! Their bodies are huge and brown and fuzzy. I totally stared at them for half hour. Coolest thing ever. Wandered about some churches and museums. The weather seemed to be holding, so I decided to go to Bondi Beach, which had been my original plan for the day. The rain got worse and worse :) The wind was so strong that it was coming down horizontally and my umbrella wasn't all that useful. Still had a good time though. And the Bondi Beach people are like me!! Flip flops in the rain!! My people!! That evening, I found Lord Nelsons Brewery and Pub. Excellent local beer.

some general travel notes ...

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 01:59:49 GMT

* It's lovely being somewhere where tipping is not required or expected. Of course it simplifies the bill. But I totally loved giving tips to people that aren't expecting it.

* Why do we only drink champagne at weddings and on new years? Bubbly wine is fun. We should drink it more often. They drink it all the time in France. And fairly frequently in Australia and New Zealand. What's up with us?

* On a similar note, why do we only eat pumpkin once a year and in pie? I saw pumpkin on Italian food menus on pizza, lasagna, and pasta. It was even in a vegi and tofu curry that I had. Totally awesome.

* In Australia, they had a different type of liquor license for BYO. Oodles of places had it. They couldn't actually sell alcohol, but you could bring your own and they would serve it. Most places had either no corkage fee or just a couple dollars. Totally brilliant.

travel and time in Auckland

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:01:40 GMT

The flight to Auckland was surprisingly easy. I ate, slept, then ate again. Really. Of the 12 hour flight, I was awake for no more than 5 of it. Got lucky.
Auckland is a lovely city. I really only had one full day there. I spent a good portion of it on Rangitoto Island. The whole island is a park. There's a volcano in the middle of it. It was a pretty good walk up to the top and around the crater. But fantastic views of the city from the top. Totally worth it.
I also discovered multiple lovely yarn shops. New Zealand wool is crazy soft. And you can also get wool that's a bit different. The mix possum fur in with the wool. Apparently the fiber is hollow and therefore very warn. A bit odd, but I couldn't resist. Combine the lack of shipping it across oceans and the very favorable exchange rate and the prices were fantastic. I actually wish I had bought more of it.
I also discovered the Occidental Belgian Beer Cafe. Fabulous selection. They had Brugge tripel, which I hadn't had since I was in Belgium. And waffles :)
Work, blah blah blah ...
On my last night, I spent some time at the Shakespeare brewery and pub. It was just around the corner from my hotel and offered a tasting platter of their eight beers, so I just had to.
Then off to Sydney. More to come.

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 05:43:07 GMT

I've been terrible.
But, reading cheryl and jessica's posts about their trip, I've decided to do a series of posts detailing my recent trip. I haven't actually been home since being in New Zealand and Australia. But I'm currently at my parents' place in northern california. I'll see if I can get the first real one posted in the next day or so. I'm terrible at this. So I'm posting this so that those of you that read it will bug me if I don't do it :)
I'm being glared at to give my contribution to the family xmas/new years letter, so I have to do that. But soon, I swear ;)
More to come ...

silly cars

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:00:52 GMT

Cars. They really are silly.
So, I started my research for a new car about three or four weeks ago. This was after Ben's car (which he was going to give me a fabulous deal on) got stolen, stripped, and totaled. What I really would love is a prius. But, I don't really want to spend $30k on a new one. And with a used one, I was worried that the battery would die on me in a couple years and I'd have a big cost on my hands to replace it. The other thing I was a fan of was the small 4 door hatchback. vw golf, toyota matrix, nissan versa, honda fit. But those were a bit much too. I'm not really a car person, so spending a lot on one doesn't make a lot of sense So, my original theory was that I would buy a 3 ish year old civic. But I made an interesting finding. Hondas hold their value RIDICULOUSLY well. Ben got 7k for his '99 when it was totalled. The three year old certified ones I was looking at ran 11k - 15k. that's crazy. Then I realized that the nissan started at just under 12k. So, I figured I'd look into new ones.
I liked the nissan, great leg room, but crappy cargo space. The honda is super cute, but, despite the name, I don't fit in it. I decided against the vw based mainly on the fact that vw has not as good of a reliability reputation. The toyota was fabulous. Great leg and cargo room. A bit more than the nissan and honda, but then, it's quite a bit bigger.
I was ready to go. But waiting until March. Then I'd have my tax refund and a nice down payment. Then, Justine (my wonderful '95 neon) changed my plans a bit. I drove her to lunch a couple weeks ago. When we came back to her, there was a big old river of green fluid coming out from under her. She had lost the ability to hold coolant. I filled her with as much water as I could and lucas and I sped up the hill to work, overheating all the way. She's still there. I'll probably donate her. She's worth more in parts than as a whole car. But I have to get a new copy of my pink slip. I can't find it.
So, now in a bit more of a rush (but not too much, eric paid back a favor and loaned me his civic), I contacted an online broker to find me my exact car. The found it in LA. Red, with just the features I wanted. And under invoice price. So, Joe took me up to LA last weekend and I got it.
It's a wonderful little car. It makes me quite happy that she runs :)

movies ...

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:14:34 GMT

So, it's been a movie kind of week.
Friday, I went to see Children of Men. It was awesome. I highly recommend it.
Then, on Saturday, I went to see The Departed. It's certainly on the violent side. But I liked it more than I thought I would. Jack Nicholson is a rockin head of the irish mafia. And on multiple occasions, he wears violet. That's just hot.
On Tuesday, I saw Volver. See Fun time jessica's review. Very very good.
And last night was girls night. We went to see the Holiday. Cameron Diaz is annoying. But, Jude Law saved that half of the story. Kate Winslet and Jack Black kicked all kinds of ass. Oh, and I want to go to England again.

back to the grind

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 03:20:06 GMT

All the holiday cooking went quite well. I failed in getting photographs of them. But, life goes on I suppose. Tons of cookies were had. Lots of good food. And a lovely christmas with both family and friends.
I then gave myself some down time in the couple weeks after the family left. Work has been slow. No school work to do. It's been lovely.
However, today marked the beginning of the new quarter. My class starts up again tomorrow. I've been trying to get at least a little organized. There's oodles of studying to do coming up. So, I got all the relaxing I could done before the madness sets in.
Oh, and for anyone who reads cheryl's blog, you'll know that my future "new" car was stolen and stripped. I'm quite sad about it. Now I actually have to re-think what sort of car I'm going to get myself, as Justine is certainly on her way out.

blllaaaaah

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 19:56:22 GMT

Hello all
So, I've had this account for quite some time, mainly for the purpose of reading other people's entries. But, I figured perhaps I'll actually put something up myself.
So, I'm busy. That pretty much sums things up.
I am, however, taking some time to cook in the next couple of days, which is exciting. I'm making cookies this evening for tomorrow's work party. And, even more exciting, I'll be making aebleskivers for friends on Saturday after our walk. My camera situation is in flux, but perhaps I'll manage to take some pics of my kitchen handiwork and post them. Stay tuned.
Oh, and in case anyone actually reads this, go check out my friend craig's blog at http://craigorianchant.blogspot.com
have a lovely day.