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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Continued...

Hello again!


Cass, Andy Daltons significant other, had picked us up at the airport and brought us back to their home, where Kristi promptly made use of the sleeping facilities and took a short nap. Not too long after that, Andy came back from work and started cooking on the grill.


That first night at Andy’s had us stuffed to our gills with BBQ’ed meats. I love eating meat. What I love even more the eating meat, is eating LOTS of meat.




The next day, being Friday and the beginning of the weekend, we were loaded up in Cass’s station wagon, headed for the boat ramp to haul out to Rottnest Island for a weekend of boating, boozing, and scuba diving for crayfish amongst other shenanigans.



With everything on the jetty and unloaded from the car, we’re nearly ready to go!



Sooner than later, we are on the boat, and Andy is demanding a beer be opened. We are on a boat. It is 10am. But we ARE on a boat.



The river that leads out to the ocean has a max speed of 8knots. Cass and Kristi enjoyed it on the front of the boat.



I didn’t remember to bring a hat with me to Australia. For one reason or another, it never made it in my bag. Captain Andy let me borrow one.



Pretty soon we were clear of the 8knot speed limit and in the open ocean, hauling ass for Rottnest.



Captain Andy at his finest.



First thing on the list of activities is Scuba Diving. Last time I went Scuba diving was in Honduras in June of 2010. So it’s been a while!



Mean while, while Andy and I are underwater searching for Crayfish, Kristi and Cass were hanging out on the boat. I imagine that this is what they looked like.



When we came up, we had caught one Crayfish, though we should have caught more.  I was a half assed hunting partner on that first dive.

A short while later, we had the boat ted up to shore buoys and were marveling at Pelicans. Neither Kristi nor I knew first had how ENORMOUS these pelicans are in real life. They were BIG.



HUGE!



Seriously, they are big. And, remember, my Madre likes to look at birds, and this bird is kick ass.



After a while, Andy decided to teach Kristi how to rip a crayfish in half.



She gave it a shot, as you can tell in the video I posted a few days back, but she wasn’t able to manage it. So Andy stepped in, tore/twisted it in half, and tossed the head into the water. Soon thereafter, the Sting Rays started showing up.



At Rottnest, there are enough Sting Rays around to justify the removal of their barbs, as they become a danger to the beach goers. So while Kristi was inches from this Sting Ray, it posed no danger.



She even fed it a baby octopus that a neighbor boat offered her to feed them.



She petted this one and wrote, “HI” on its back. Hahaha!



Kristi was having a pretty damn good time. It was fun.



She was even happier when Andy chopped up Garlic, tossed it in the butter and started cooking the crayfish.



YUM! Beer and Crayfish!



Throughout the rest of the night, all 4 of us were drinking beer like we had nothing better to do. In truth, we didn’t really have anything better to do. Captain Andy spent part of that time challenging the boat next door in an Australian song play off. We think we won. They think they won. It was good fun either way.



This was our neighbor’s boat.



These are our neighbors.



That night, the BIG sting rays showed up. This one was about 7 feet across. The other one we saw was well over 9 feet. It was massive.



This guy was scared out of his mind, but he “petted” the sting ray anyhow.



Kristi got in on the action too.



The next morning, after a night of dancing at the bar just on shore, we were still debating with our neighbors over who won the Aussie Song play off from the night before.



I forgot to mention that Saturday morning was the beginning of Australia Day, and boat mooring spots are at a premium. As we left our shore mooring spot that morning, there was a boat waiting to take our place immediately.



On the way back to the mainland, Andy and I first went for another dive, and again came back with only one crayfish. Of course, the goal is more than one, but it doesn’t always work out.

That night, Andy had a couple of friends over, and while Andy was grilling up a storm, Mr. Charlie Hamersley showed up! Here is Charlie, Kristi and the Grill Master Andrew Dalton!



Since the Australia day BBQ, life has been straight forward. I’m working now, and therefore I’ll be saving up some money as well. I’m having a kick ass time so far!

--Alex

Monday, January 28, 2013

Last day in Sydney, first few in Perth



The day before Kristi and I left for Perth, we decided that we should at least do some sort of touristy activity before we flew across the continent. So, on Wednesday the 23rd, we took a walk down the hill to Rose Bay Wharf in order to catch the ferry to Circular Quay (pronounced Key), the downtown city center ferry dock.



We missed our intended 11:13 ferry because we didn’t really know for certain where we were going, but after we asked for directions we found ourselves sitting at the ferry wharf waiting for the 11:43 ferry.



About 100 meters away was a float plane docking area, taking tourists for city view tours over the city center.



On the way to the city center, we stopped off at a few different ferry docks before we found ourselves passing the Sydney Opera House. This is a picture through a salt sprayed ferry window.



And of course, the Sydney Harbor Bridge.



After we made our way through the hustle and bustle of Circular Quay, we decided to check out the botanical gardens. However, we never made it, because we got distracted by a tree.



Climbing trees is pretty fun.



Kristi is awesome.



What’s up? Alright, so climbing trees was a hobby of mine a while back. So what….



Sometime in the middle of 2012 or so, my Mom decidedly became interested in Birding. So she carries around a pair of binoculars when she’s on road trips with my Dad, and when they go places. So when I see awesome looking birds, I have to take pictures.



Before long, we decided that we’d walk back to the Circular Quay to check about ferries back to Rose Bay.



This big ass sailboat reminded me of the Stahlratte, the sail boat that carried me and my bike from Panama to Colombia.



I look pretty crappy in this one. Thought I’d share it with you. Ha! 4 months ago I applied for a position as a Sydney Harbor Bridge guide. It wasn’t until after I applied that I read the part, “Permanent Residents only, no tourists/backpackers.”



Another awesome looking bird.



Hahaha. Alright, so the birds aren’t extraordinary, but this guy was pretty interested. I’m pretty sure that he thinks he can talk to the birds. Hell, maybe he can…



In front of the local art museum there is a nice lawn that people use to lay down for a rest. In the distance you can see the cruise ship dock, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and the Sydney Opera House.



Before long, we had walked back to the Circular Quay, hopped back on the return ferry to Rose Bay and begun the trek over to the Bondi Beach area. On the way there, Kristi made sure to pose for this photo.



Meanwhile, I made sure to take a picture of this bike, a Honda VTR250. A Vtwin 250cc bike. Bitchin. We don’t have those in the States.



After a stop off at a café, Kristi and I made our way back to the Crawford residence. From their deck, you could see dozens of sailboats cruising around in Sydney Harbor.



Later that night, when Josh got off work, he took us to MAD Pizza, a franchised pizza restaurant that his friend owns.



We ordered mucho pizza, and stuffed face while we drank beers, and wine, and shots of Lemon something or other.



That was our last night in Sydney, and it carried us to a bar farther down the road before we ended up in a taxi on the way back to Josh’s place. Then, we were awake before 4:30am, catching a taxi at 5am, and catching a flight to Perth at 7am. Around 10am local time, but after a 5 hour flight. I found Kristi doing this…



We had made it to Andy Dalton and Cass Wilson’s home, in the Hamilton Hill suburb of Perth, Australia. You guys might remember Andy?




To Be Continued