I have uploaded even more pictures from Melbourne. I might have to to buy more storage space! ($5 for 20 gigs for a year)

I still plan on putting up a post with a best of pictures and little things I learned.

Melbourne Day 7 - http://picasaweb.google.com/114393432259735851019/MelbourneDay7?authkey=Gv1sRgCNXs55qmsdz1AQ#

Melbourne Day 9 - http://picasaweb.google.com/114393432259735851019/MelbourneDay9?authkey=Gv1sRgCI2S5fzflPLDugE#

Melbourne Day 10 - http://picasaweb.google.com/114393432259735851019/MelbourneDay10?authkey=Gv1sRgCNKpkbfGxtHXXQ#

Melbourne day 12 - http://picasaweb.google.com/114393432259735851019/MelbourneDay12?authkey=Gv1sRgCLCvyKi6jMfIkQE#

Melbourne Day 13 - http://picasaweb.google.com/114393432259735851019/MelbourneDay13?authkey=Gv1sRgCPGf6t_t0tmz4QE#

Photos Galore, Sydney

Here are the links you need to see all my pictures and videos from Sydney.

Day 1 - http://picasaweb.google.com/114393432259735851019/SydneyDay1?authkey=Gv1sRgCKSQo93a3p9y#

Day 2 - http://picasaweb.google.com/114393432259735851019/SydneyDay2?authkey=Gv1sRgCNrGj9v_1onOBw#

Day 3 - http://picasaweb.google.com/114393432259735851019/SydneyDay3?authkey=Gv1sRgCIbH2Jnov5G7Bg#

Day 4 - http://picasaweb.google.com/114393432259735851019/SydneyDay4?authkey=Gv1sRgCIONrffNmfmPjQE#

Day 5 - http://picasaweb.google.com/114393432259735851019/SydneyDay5?authkey=Gv1sRgCIGZwYS87_TbpAE#

Day 6 - http://picasaweb.google.com/114393432259735851019/SydneyDay6?authkey=Gv1sRgCNqjjqm_xNuUNg#

Small Update

I finally made it back to Rochester after one of my worst days in an airport ever.  Delta Connections is terrible.  I plan in the next few days to get all my pictures, even the ones I should have deleted, up on flicker.  I will post links here when I get them up.  I will also do a few best of posts and things.

Day 21; On the plane

We had to get up quite early to get to the airport for our 10:30am flight.  I put a call into my mom back in the states to try and burn up my prepaid phone credit.  I also made two attempts to get upgrades on the Sydney to LAX leg of our journey.  This of course did not happen.  I even tried using the “you put us on American which is so much worse than Qantas bit.”

Our first flight was uneventful.  In Sydney you have to show your ticket, go to a waiting room, catch a bus, just to get to the international terminal.  We had 30 min from getting off our first plane till boarding started on the next flight.  The buses come every few minutes and the first bus filled up with out us.  10 minutes till boarding.  We got to the international terminal and had to go through both customs and immigration.  The customs officer did not care that we should be boarding while we were in line.  At this point I was hoping the plane would leave without us.  I figured we would have some nice leverage for an upgrade on the next flight.  We made it to the terminal proper.  They have a huge sprawling duty free shop that we had to run through.  I had been debating buying two liters of Johhny Walker Black Label.  Why would I buy that?  It came with a free wheelie carry on bag, it looked pretty nice.  I did not get a chance to look at it closely.  I also could not find a home for the two bottles of alcohol I did not want.

We finally made it to the plane.  There were three loading doors.  Why do you ask?  AIRBUS A380!!!!!!   First was on the first level with a dedicated loading door.  Business and premium economy was on the second level, with the cockpit.  We loaded to the first floor, in economy.

I never want to fly another airplane ever.  The seats are carbon fiber backed along with the tray tables, save weight, save fuel.  The tv screens are touch screen and there is more entertainment available.  After reviewing the information on First, Business, and Premium economy, I checked out what I had access to.  After finding out about a usb port for charging in the arm rest, an ethernet port, and a power plug I started writing Day 19, 20 and 21.  I also made a trip to the self service bar for a coupled of apples.  I love Qantas, too bad leg 3 is on American Airlines Boeing 767.  I also managed to watch Alice in Wonderland, A Beautiful Mind great movie after taking game theory to know his contributions to the world), all the Simpsons episodes available, including one of my favorites of all time, That 90s Show.

I later read in popular mechanics that Qantas, it has 6 of the 27 in the air, ripped out the stock 1st class setup and put in a cheaper one.  Keeping in mind that the first seats fold flat and have a table where you and a guest can enjoy your meals.  I would like to fly on the Boeing dreamliner should it ever actually fly.

By the time we got off the plane in LAX I had logged all of 20 minuets of sleep. Ina had closer to 90 minuets .  We had a little more time to go through the airport this time.  We had the world’s stupidest flight attendant.  Early in the flight the attendants had come through to distribute immigration and customs cards.  When we said we were American the flight attendant said we were set and didn’t need any forms.  When we got in the immigration line Ina and I started to question what was going on.  We asked the woman in front of us and she said the attendants were stupid and we needed the form.  Even better while filling out the form my pen exploded and even after washing off my hand I still had a suspicious amount of black ink.  While this delayed us a little we still had to wait for our bags on the carousel to go through customs.  First and business had their own carousel.  We made our way next door to the terminal we would be departing from.

We had to go through security again, no shoes this time.  In Australia I forgot to take off my watch and realizing right before I stepped through they told me don’t worry about it.  Boy do I love outside of US security.  I must also mention that on international flights groups of people are not allowed to gather and talk to each other on flights especially near bathrooms.  Odd when you realize you can chat with any seat on the plane with the text messaging service.

I had been craving a sandwich for about 12 hours and so Ina and I went into the airport Chili’s.  As our departure time neared Ina and I finally looked at our tickets,  24H and 29G.  We had both only seen 2_G and 2_H and assumed we were together.  At the gate attendant, who tried to shuffle seats as people boarded, suggestion we were going to try to swap seats.  We had two aisle seats too.  Ina quickly swapped one row back so a couple could sit next to each other.  I joined the window seat, 767’s go 2-3-2, and to our joy no body came for the seat.  Unlike the Qantas flights there were no individual entertainment centers, but it did not really matter.  Ina and I both got about 2 hours of sleep.  I finished my book, The Death of Marco Pantani, and moved onto a magazine.  I would suggest the book to anyone at all interested by the title.

We had boarded the flight late and so the only room for my carry on was about 10 rows behind us.  This meant that before we could get off the plane we had to allow everybody off.  We took another detour to the bathrooms and I even changed my shirt before we went to the baggage claim, we still had to wait about 20 minuets for all our bags to come around.  This was what I was used to, not getting in about an hour early which we also did.

The day was not over yet, much to Ina and My dismay.  We made it home safe and Ina’s mom heated up two plates of dumplings for me.  We, Ina and I, both figured since we had each only about 3 hours of sleep in the last 27 we should fall right asleep.  Wrong!  Ina fell asleep around 5am and I got two hours between 2 and 4am.  It is our opinion that arriving in the morning is the way to go, maybe next time.  It was also fun to land in LA at the same time as we took off from Melbourne.  We only lost about 8 hours on the flight back.  We spent the next day sleeping from about 10am until 7pm.  Intense jetlag is a small price to pay for 3 weeks of fun in the land of Oz.

Day 20 Melbourne; The last day

We awoke to gloomy dreary rain.  I went for a run in the cold rain which was a light drizzle by the time I went.  As usual I went by some car dealerships, Proche makes a 4 door?  There was also a little blue Ferrari hiding in a corner.

My big goal for the day was to eat Kangaroo.  I searched all over the web and settled on a little restaurant at federation square, Tjanabi.  We got to drive to the train station to avoid the rain.  Ina went for the soup of the day as I ventured for the tapas.  The menu did not say what four items I would get, but the waiter assured me I would get croc and kangaroo.

When my dish arrived I had a some salt and peppered emu steaks, Kangaroo Chorizo (spicy sausage), crocodile (not fried), and a rabbit/pork dish.  Emu is delicious like a very good steak.  The rabbit/pork loaf type thing was pretty good, but I would not go out of my way to eat it again, the through of bunnies.  I have had alligator several times before, always fried.  It was nice to try a different preparation, but I will probably stick with my deep fried alligator.  Lastly the Kangaroo.  It was in sausage form with a curry on top.  I could tell I was eating something wild, it was a little gamey, but pretty good.

By now you might have an opinion of my eating these animals.  Well eating Emu and Kangaroo instead of beef helps the environment.  Emu live in forest type areas, with other animals and trees to put O2 into the air.  Kangaroos live in the outback, and pretty much anywhere, so you don’t have to clear land like you do for cows.  Also neither farts/burps as much as cows, a measurable cause of green house gas emission.  Crocodile probably falls under this too.

When we got home it was time to pack, but not before Ina picked up a pair of ugg boots for the cold Michigan winters.  I also got a pair for my sister.  They are not too much cheaper in AUS, but there are a ton of brands made in Australia, not china.  There are a fair amount, two, of factory outlets around Bentleigh.

Ina and I also stopped by the Dutch bakery where Ina’s aunt Yevon works.  For our last meal we had all the family around the table for dinner.

Day 19 Melbourne; Another Zoo

Australia certainly has a plethora of zoos and wild life sanctuaries.  If you search for Melbourne Zoo you get directed to the website for all the zoos of Victoria.  There happen to be three, the Melbourne zoo (in the city), a free range safari style African drive through zoo, and

The Healesville Animal Sanctuary happens to be an hour outside of the city in the Yarra Valley, wine country.  Ina and I drove up to the sanctuary.  It was a little cold as Ina and I spent the day talking about how cold we were especially our feet.  The zoo happened to have quite a few demonstrations/talks.  The first that we could catch was the kangaroo feeding.  Ina and I lined up along the ropes of the free range kangaroo habitat.  It had not only grey kangaroos but also red ones.

A zoo staff member introduced us to the kangaroos, only the grey ones, and started handing out corn kernels and carrots.  Ina and I patiently weighted for our turn.  When a kangaroo eats from your hand they get every little piece with their tongue.  We also got to pet them, not on the head as it might trigger a boxing match.  They are soooooooo soft.

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Next we moved on to a bird of prey show.  It was pretty neat, but my camera is not the best at video.  They brought out an owl which flew inches above our heads.  We also got to see the biggest bird of prey in Australia, the name escapes me.  At the end of the bird show a native (well half aboriginal half Scottish) did a digerado and boomerang demo.  I bought my only souvenir from him, a boomerang that actually works, well I need to try it out actually.

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We passed a few pelicans as they were being fed on the way to the Tasmanian Devils.  Before we got to the main exhibit we passed a lone devil doing laps around its cage.  I couldn’t get a picture as it moved too fast, oh I wish I had a DSLR.

In the devil exhibit a zoo staff member told us what she was going to put some treats in the exhibit and then come back and talk to us.  We were fortunate enough to see a first, the staff member put a Emu egg in the exhibit.  We got to see the devil, that does not live on the same island as emus, run around with the egg and eventually open it up.

His name is Lucifer!

We walked around the rest of the zoo, nothing to important.  I apparently piss Emus off, as they grunt at me but not Ina when we approach them.  Lastly we went to see the Dingoes, well we saw the koalas last, but really they are a bit dissapointi8ng once you see one walk.

Dingoes are pretty cute, especially this species, there are three.  They used to be domestic dogs that got away from south east Asian seafarers.  At the end of the talk the handler, who had been petting the dingoes the whole time, got them to pose for us.  How cute is this?

We drove back home, I really do like that V6. As usual we had our evening meal with the family.  As a super fantastic bonus Ina’s uncle had purchased a dozen Oysters.  We ate them the only way I know, raw.  There is a lemon tree right outside of the kitchen so we had great fresh lemon.  Ina and I were a little wii’d out and retired to her room for other computer games.

Day 18 Melbourne

Today was a nice lazy start.  Ina and I both got up rather late.  While she was in the bathroom I decided to heat up both focacia sandwiches that Ina’s aunt had left us.  Ina thanked me but told me she wanted cereal instead.  What was I left to do but eat both.  The big event for the day were to be lobster at lunch and a bike ride later.  I was told that lunch would be at 1:30pm.  This gave me plenty of time to digest.

Come 11:30 we were all hurried out of the house, lunch had been moved up.  Unfortunately the time between breakfast and lunch was not long enough for me to fully enjoy lunch.  The meal started with a Rock Lobster two Mud Crabs, found in the  Bass Straight (between the mainland and Tasmania), and Peking Duck.  After having my fill of lobster I moved onto the plate of crab that had been placed in front of me.  By the time I had moved to the Peking Duck my breakfast had caught up with me.  This was also about the time I was informed there were four more dishes coming.  I wasn’t able to get through much of them, but we had the leftovers for dinner.

From the restaurant Ina and I went straight to the train station where upon asking for a zone one daily pass we were given Sunday Super-Saver tickets, $3.10 for all zones (normally $6.70 for just zone 1).  We were pretty happy as it meant we could stay on the train for one station longer on our return trip.  We made our way by tram from the train station to the bike shop.  bikeNOW is possibly the best bike shop I have ever been, this of course is just based on the eye candy.  If you do not want a brief description of the eye candy please scroll past the picture.

Basically the shop carried Shimano and Campagnolo.  And not the old stuff (7800, 6600, 10-speed), but 7900, the new 105, 11-speed.  Basically I was drooling.  I especially liked a Giant hanging in descript amongst other bikes.  I could not find the battery pack, but upon seeing the front mech I knew the shop was nice, a full Di2 bike!!!.  What other brands could I drool over, Bianchi and Colnago.  Both brands were mostly built up properly with Campy 11-speed.

Ina and I were in such heaven to hire a bike.  We had looked online and the location and price were right, $35 AUD for 2 hours.  We got to the shop about 2 hours before closing.  After getting the bike fit and our helmets we asked if we could ride on the sidewalk, yes you can.  We rode up the sidewalk about a block before walking the bike across the street to the large park on the bank of the Yarra river containing the botanical gardens.

I had never ridden a tandem before, let alone piloted it, Ina stoked for me.  It is interesting.  To start the bike Ina got on the pedals and I sort of kicked like a scooter a few times before pedaling.  Once we got the thing moving it worked quite nicely.  Ina even got somewhat comfortable riding it.  Unfortunately her handlebar happened to connect to my seat post and it gradually dropped a couple inches as we rode and from time to time would twist on me.

We were not allowed to ride through most of the park and soon found our way to the path along the Yarra.  There were a ton of bikes out, a lot of very nice mountain bikes too (the closest decent MTB riding is a few hours away).  We rode up one bank and down the other without too many issues.  Towards the end of our ride we found ourselves right near all the sports areas, including the Australian open stadium and former olympic facilities.  Also the new rugby/soccer stadium I spoke of in an earlier post.  We also got nice views of the city.

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We returned the bike and stopped into an IGA (they have them in the US right?).  Ina found Flake, the crumbliest chocolate bar ever and her favorite, for $.99 and bought 3, I went for the green bag of Doritos, the original.  They turned out to be plain.  We hopped on the train and got to our extra stop saving about 5 minuets of walking.

After the dinner of leftovers Ina and I retired to her room where she continued with her obsession of Supernatural and I started playing Farm Frenzy 3.  That was all we did that night, no Wii.

Day 16 and 17 Melbounre

On day 16 Ina and I got up rather late.  We had initially planned on going to The Galos in the morning and being home when the boys got out of school.  We woke up to a drizzle.  Neither of us really felt like walking the 15 min to he train station.  Instead we went with Ina’s aunt Michelle to the Jumbo Ugg factory store and factory outlet store.  I was in search of a cheap pair of UGGs for my sister.  I did not find a cheap pair.  Jumbo Ugg is a brand that is hand made in Australia, the factory store is about 10 minuets away and the outlet is just up the street.  We all went home empty handed.

Back at home Ina continued to progress from season 2 to season 3 of Supernatural.  I managed to unlock all the min golf courses in a wii game.  Soon enough Raymond was home, early because it was the last day of the term, and he joined me in playing wii.  I had been pushed into making a meal for the family and decided to do it Friday night.  I wanted to do something simple that I assumed kids would like.  Baked macaroni and cheese it is.

I went to the store, where they do not carry Kangaroo meat (still need to eat some!!!!).  I ended up getting some pork, string beans, and green bell pepper.  Back at the house there were no bread crumbs, so crackers and rice bubbles (Kellogs calls Rice Crispys bubbles but still have snap, crackle and pop.  Must be like Burger King being Hungry Jack down here) had to suffice.  There were also no measuring cups, frying pans, or wisks at my disposal.  I managed with a few spoons, a wok, a cleaver, and large pot.  I prepped everything and had some time to kill so I did another Chinese lesson with Rosetta Stone, still can’t remember hardly anything.  Ina has been doing pretty well with Spanish.

Now came the critics, namely Raymond and Kevin.  Raymond went through his first helping rather quickly and got a second.  Kevin was not so quick and started to announce his dissatisfaction with the meal.  Raymond soon followed; did Raymond really like it but follow his brother?  The boys do eat the same thing day in and day out so I should not feel bad, according to Ina and her aunt.  I don’t think it was my best work, but I tried and now the reviews can be passed to Ina’s mother, the real reason I was talked into cooking.

After dinner there was some more Wii playing, later into the night than usual.  The boys are out for the next two weeks.

The morning of the 17th was bright and sunny.  I had not done much in the way of exercise for a while so I went for a run.  Thirty minuets, pretty good for me.  I took a new route and ended up running by a street full of motorcycles and scooters for sale.  There were a few Ducaties mixed in that caught my eye.  Up the street a little ways was a car dealership, Alfa Romeo, Citron, and Fiat.  I am not 100% on Citron’s birthplace, but let me tell you there is a premium for Italian cars, even low end ones.  The Fiats were not too bad, but I saw the Alfa Romeo equivalent of my Civic Hatchback, $30,000+.  Personally if I were going to pay for the headaches of an Italian car, Fix It Again Tony, I might have to add a zero to the price.

It was actually warm enough where I had to take off my long sleeve shirt so I was just in my short sleeve shirt and shorts.  I would not go walking around in this because it is still a bit chilly.

Ina’s aunt, Evon or something like that, made everybody lunch.  It was quite a carnivorous affair.  I got to have chicken, duck (a favorite of mine), and pork (with plenty of tasty fat) with rice and some green veggies.  To make sure it all went through smoothly Ina’s uncle, David (we both have Uncle Davids who were educated in Georgia), made us grapefruit smoothie type drinks.  There has been an abundance of smoothies in this house.  After every big meat meal we get a multiple juice concoction to aid in digestion.

For the rest of the afternoon Ina and I were on our computers or playing wii with the boys.  Ina has continued to progress through Spanish, where I have found issues starting the program on my computer, but you get what you pay for.  I also tried to help Ina decide on a new phone, so I read reviews of the iPhone 4, HTC Evo and Droid X.  My decision HTC Evo, too bad it is not on verizon or AT&T, Ina’s two options.  Kevin realized late in the day that he had wanted to go to the store to get two Wii motion Pluses, so four people could play wii sports resort.  Ina and I walked around the mall a little bit, but were unable to find her chocolate, or me a Frisbee for the boys.

Back at home we were drafted into a four man canoe competition.  I was apparently the weakest link as Raymond continued to point out my mistakes.  I pointed out that I had been canoeing since I was a few weeks old, he was clever enough to realize he was playing a video game, darn!

For dinner we had the boys favorite, Lasagna.  Why didn’t I make it, well we had had lasagna twice in the last week and I figure mac and cheese was close.  O well.

Australian Politics 101

Please note this is a bit of a satirical piece.  If you happen to understand what happened today please let me know, because frankly I am still a bit confused.

So today Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd as PM of Australia.  Ina and I were nto aware of an election, but found out during our wine tour, much to the delight of the Australians on the tour.
A quick google search (the australian google) brings a constant strem of updated websites.  Check out the PM page before it gets updated, http://www.pm.gov.au/
Here is my understanding of Australian politics.  Unfortunatly sarcasim does not come across in text very well.
Two and a half years ago Australia had some elections they elected the labor party, or at least a majority of the seats, to the cabinet.  From the ruling party of the cabinet they pick a PM.  If they feel the PM has done something wrong somebosy can be like "Yo I challenge you to a dual (replace dual with the PM seat)"  If they get enough votes then they take over the PM.  Rudd stepped down after Gillard got 70 of 112 votes.  So if I were in the cabinet I could challenge Gillard (Welsh born btw) for the PM.  Gillard is planning on holding elections after she throws a dart at a calender in her new office.  Yup she gets to pick when to hold elections for the cabinet.  So basicly every 4 years is just a guidline for electing people down here.  With this power all politcal people either have to be constantly campaigning or go to the roulette wheel to decide when to start.  The idea is that you call an audible ot start the campaign when the people you like are ready to go.
Make sense yet?  I didn't think so.  I got most of this information from Ina's aunt, who I believe knows what she is talking about.
During the tour we asked some people why the PM was so terrible.  They just said the country was not doing as well as it could have been, but could not elaborate.  We asked Ina's aunt why Rudd was so bad.  Here is her response:

He promised to do a bunch of things in his campaign and then didn’t.  He tried to (and maybe did) pass some legislation to tax mining companies (and other natural resource obtaining companies) where 40% of profits would go to the people, like a tax credit or something.

I got a little lost here, I doubt many Australians work for mining companies, much less own them, so why would they not support this.

Ina’s aunt, Michele, went on to tell us Rudd also got these rebates for people who owned homes built before like 2005 so that they could put insulation in and save the country energy.

What a fantastic idea have the government pay for you to have cheaper heating bills (no sarcasm here).

The only real problem was that soooo many people took advantage of this that contractors were overbooked and had to hire inexperienced labor.  Some contractors forgot to put in shields between the insulation and electrical wires, like light outlets.  A few fires started and the public got pissed at Rudd for not putting safety measures in or something.

Yup it is the PM’s job to make sure all contractors work up to code (sarcasm).

Lastly Rudd was elected (still not sure if he was elected to PM or if he won the cage match) on a platform (of the labor party) to get more people jobs.  Apparently Australia has a very low unemployment rate thanks to some things Rudd did.  He was scared that the recession would cripple Australia and so he made efforts to establish jobs and stave off the recession, which for the most part he did.  So right now instead of Australia being very cheap for Ina and I, it has an exchange rate close to $1 for $1.

Also the war in Afghanistan is not popular here, and some soldiers were injured in the last few days.  This might have a little to do with where everybody stands.

In the afternoon paper there was some random people on the street comments about the change.  To sum it up:

“Girl Power, Yeah”

“Anybody would be better than Rudd”

“WTF is she going to do, seriously we have no clue where she stands on anything”

And that is Australian politics in a nut shell.  Anybody want to take bets on a full election the second week in August?

Day 15 Melbourne; Yarra Valley

Today Ina and I went on a wine tour with The Australian Wine Tour Co.  Despite the fact that I got up at 7am I was the reason we left the house a little late.  We managed to find the bus at the prearranged stop ten minuets late.  The bus then drove about 50min northeast of the city to the Yarra Valley.  I do not think I had tasted any Yarra wines in Introduction to Wines, but I had heard about the Valley.

The First stop was at Yering Farm.  It is primarily an orchard but they have some grapes.  Like most of Australia they have animals on their lower level wines.  Our guide/driver gave us some instructions on how to taste, which thanks to Cornell I did not need.  The wines were ok, a bit overpriced, even with the exchange rate in my opinion.

I used Ina’s white sweater through out the day to look at the color of the wines.  The bus was full, 22 people on board, two from Singapore and two from Sydney everyone else was from Melbourne (one actually from Geelong).

Our next stop would be lunch at Rochford Wines.  Before we sat down for our meal we got to taste five wines, four we could choose from for our glass with lunch and a fortified wine, in the tawny port style.  I of course loved the port style wine.  For lunch I had a lamb and pasta dish that was quite good with my Merlot (I know nobody drink merlot you have to go Pino, thank you sideways).  After lunch we had some time to kill.  There was a fudge tasting area where Ina tasted every single variety.  We also climbed up a spiral staircase to a lookout desk on top of the facility.  After that we tasted a few more wines including our first and only* Riesling of the day.  The facility also has concerts on the grounds.  To fight phylloxera you are not allowed to walk amongst the wines.

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As we drove between wineries the land was a combination of orchard, vines, sheep and cows.  Sometimes the sheep hangout amongst the vines.  I must also say that according to our guide some of the taste and smell of the wine comes from what is grown around it.  I had a nice little chuckle to myself about that comment.

Our next winery was Yering Station.  When we pulled into the parking lot my eye caught a shiny red car, the third Ferrari of the trip, also the number of Ferraris I have told Ina I want to own.  The Ferrari was not the lone Italian Stallion, a even nicer yellow Lamborghini was starring me down.  There is a very nice hotel in a historic house on the property.

Onto the wines.  We had limited time so our guided tasting was only of three wines that we picked.  Someone shouted out sauvignon blanc before I could say Riesling.  Someone else asked for a port, so we got another delicious fortified wine in the tawny port style.  After one person asked for a type of red they did not have I asked for the regions signature (not Pinot Noir, another signature) shiraz, that is syrah for the rest of the world.  With the Syrah the cellar staff member an a member of our group had a spitting contest into the spittoon.  He later told us the 2003 Shiraz we were tasting was $75 a bottle, I must admit I would be more likely to drop that money on this wine than on a Margaux or other Bordeaux wine, (I don’t know why but I dislike the most expensive wine region in the world).  We were free to taste more on our own after words.  I should mention unlike at most places I have been to in the finger lakes all the pouring is by eye, not the measuring devices.  The staff member at the first place even laughed at the suggestion of using one claiming it would take too long.

On our own Ina and I tasted a few more wines before we both took a sip of our new favorite dessert wine.  A late harvest Riesling.  There is no regular Riesling from Yering Station, but man was this stuff good.  It also only comes in 1/2 bottles.  Ina bought one ot share with her family this weekend.

Sadly we were too soon off to our last stop, Domaine Chandon.  While they do make some still wines Domaine Chandon, heavily marketed in all the wine tour brochures, is owned by Moët et Chandon.  And what does Moët et Chandon make? Dom Pérignon!  We were given a quick tour of the facilities.  Another group was in the barrel room so we were not able to see that, but we did get to see the Riddling Hall.  And even more impressive we got to see riddlers riddling the racks.  They do it by hand.  The second fermentation is done in the final bottle.

Once through the tour we made our way to the cafe.  We were given a full glass of one of three styles of sparkling wine.  I went for the Vintage Brut while Ina went for something a bit sweeter.  Our other option was a sparkling shiraz, which we ended up tasting afterwards.  They were all quite good, I would hardly expect a bad bottle from Moet.  I also tasted a $45 Limited release shiraz which might have been the best of the day.  It was also the last of the day so who really knows.  Ina and I went outside to get a few more pictures before heading back into the city.

Those happen to be rose plants in the second picture.  Why might you ask?  Well it is because the French did it.  I actually learned something on this tour not covered in Intro to Wines.  The roses serve four purposes:

• They look nice
• They identify the grapes
• Yellow = Chardonnay
• White = White grapes
• Pink = Pinot Noir
• Red = Red Grapes
• They will be affected by anything harmful to the vines first, phylloxera anyone
• Pollinating insects go for them first so cross pollination is minimized

That pretty much ended our day.  We were both pretty happy and were glad we had gone on the tour.  It is a pretty good deal if you add up everything you pay for, sparkling wines were $9.50 a glass and $2 per tasting.  I hesitate to say it, but we might have passed the high points of the trip in the last few days.  We will definitely see what Melbourne has in store for us yet.  I have also been promised that this weekend we will be going out to dinner (or lunch) and lobster will be involved.  I am also going to try Kangaroo at some point.  Tomorrow night it is my turn to cook something for the family, baked macaroni and cheese?

As a side note we learned on the tour that Australia has its first female prime minister.  Also people are sad the Socceroos are out, but they finished with a win.  Lastly a 10 hour match at Wimbledon, really, that is crazy.

Day 14 Melbourne; The Great Ocean Road

Today was pretty much all about me having fun behind the wheel.  Today we went on The Great Ocean Road. It takes about four hours to get from one end to the area known as the 12 apostles.  This was originally my goal until I realized just how far it was.  My equipment for the day was a 2005 (I think) Toyota Camry Sportivo.  This was one of the few times I have been behind a V6.  I think the front two seats hold your shoulders and legs in place pretty well.

The drive to the ocean road was pretty uneventful.  It was mostly divided highway, but bicycles were allowed to ride in the breakdown lane.  I also saw a billboard for the 2010 UCI World Cycling Championships.  Upon getting home I found out that I had driven most of the road course.  It is from Melbourne to Geelong.  The route was pancake flat, and the ending circuit for the race has the only real climb.  From what I could see around Geelong the hill can’t be that intense.

We eventually made it to Torquay, the start of the road.  It is also the birthplace of two of the following, Quicksilver, Billabong, or Rip Curl.  The information center gave us the times to each location.  I decided we would go to Apollo Bay and decide to press on or not from there.  Aside from a ton of beaches there was not much to see along the road.

Driving was pretty fun, I managed not to make Ina nauseous.  The speed limit is something like 80-100kph, but every turn has a suggested speed ranging from 30kph to 60kph.  I thought I was going pretty fast the entire time but I pulled off three times to allow cars to pass me.  I wish I had a lower slung car that I had experience with, but it was the most fun I have ever had driving.  I couldn’t actually take in much scenery as the turns kept coming along.

One stop we made at the suggestion of the information person was a golf course with Kangaroos hanging out on it.

We also made a stop at a pretty spectacular look out.

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We continued to drive until we finally made it to Apollo Bay.  I did not have 6 more hours of driving in me, 2 to the apostles and four home from there, so I decided to head home, but not before a stroll along the beach.  Ina realized she could not write Chinese in the sand, and tried to get my feet wet by pushing me towards the ocean.

To get back at a reasonable hour we headed inland to a road that paralleled the Ocean Road.  I kept thinking for the first few miles how awesome it would be to have my bike.  The road had tons of twists and turns and steadily climbed away from the ocean.  Check it out (max of 15% gradient, look at the turns, 1800 feet in 6 miles anyone?) http://www.mapmyride.com/route/detail/18806448/ .  As an added bonus you hit rain forest about a quarter of the way up.  Some of the turns are blind and with the water kept me following the suggested speeds, and again I pulled over to let a car by.  At the top of the climb there was a big national park, perfect for Mountain Biking, http://www.rideforrest.com.au/ .  If only I had my bikes and time.

Ina and I were greeted to a beautiful sunset once we reached the farmland on the flat area.

We made it home safely as I think I have figured out the drive on the left side thing.

Day 13 Melbourne; Phillip Island

Today Ina and I were both eager to get on the road to Phillip Island.  We left Melbourne around 9:45 for the drive.  We had been told by Ina’s aunt that there were pelicans at the base of the bridge to the island.  After a little over an hour (I think) we had arrived at the bridge.  We decided to go have a look for the pelicans.  We had already seen two in Sydney, but they pelicans outdid themselves.

Next we headed onto the island following the GPS to the information center.  On the way we were going to pass by a race track used for GP Motorcycle Racing and some other races.  I decided to go and have a look since we were passing by.  The visitors center had almost nothing in it.  You could ride in a car for a hot lap for $295 or take a go-kart around the track.  On the way back out to the main road we saw some birds on the side of the road.  We later learned that they were Galahs.

There were also a number of sheep farms and cattle farms on the way to the island and on the island itself.  We made it to the Penguin viewing area and bought our 3-park pass.  Upon entering the parking lot we saw a sign saying there was wildlife in the road.  This turned out to be a family of geese, including babies.  Ina ran from the car to go see them.

  We upgraded to the Penguin Plus pass, which would put us onto a smaller viewing platform that night that 60% of the Penguins would walk by.  We headed out to go see the Koalas.  On the way there we noticed a few road signs warning us to look out for Kangaroos and koalas at dusk.  This got us excited, and Ina to threaten to never speak to me again should I hit any animals.

At the Koala park the staff told us that there were quite a few sightings.  We headed off to the paths eager to see a Koala.  Koalas sleep 20 hours a day so once the rangers spot them they put up a sign making it easier for you to find them.  There were two boardwalks that were elevated where a large number of Koalas could be seen.

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We were super lucky to see this:

I really could use a Flip cam, or other HD video device.  We also saw a Black (swamp) Wallaby, but I’ll save the wallaby picture until later.

We were both getting hungry and headed to one of the few towns on the island.  We ate at a Burger's Edge where I had the Okker, I do love a fried egg on a burger.  Unlike 5 Guys the buns here could actually hold all the toppings (a big gripe of mine).  Ina stopped for some ice cream as I darted into a bike shop.  Next we headed to the Churchill Island heritage farm.  It is a pretty small farm/ living historic farm.  We did get to see a live sheep shearing demonstration and a dog demonstration.  Ina also made friends with a horse.  There was also an adorable 1 month old cow.

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We headed to Pyramid rock next.  It used to be home to Little Penguins, but not anymore.  It was quite windy and so I could not set up my camera for a shot of Ina and I so two single shots have to suffice.

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We hoped back in the car and hurried towards where the Australian fur seals hang out.  The island they live on is 1.5km off the coast.  We paid to use an almost useless telescope, but you could pay $5 to control a camera closer to the island and take 3 pictures.  We did not stay too long because it was almost time for the penguin parade.

The seal rocks are the thin ones in the distance on the left.  Before we got too far down the road I had to slow down for a Wallaby.  Ina got this perfect shot mid jump.

We were not allowed to take pictures of the penguins, and we could not actually see them come out of the water.  They just sort of appeared from behind some brush.  I think we must have seen about 600 go right by us.  They are called Little Penguins, and are the smallest species.  They are about 1kg and less than a foot tall.

The penguins burrow in the hills by the shore.  After we had seen enough penguins (can you really see enough?) we walked along side a group as they went home.  Fortunately there are a few burrows in the visitors center so we got to see a few.  The pictures do not look so good though.  We were also informed that the penguins are stupid and horny.  They actually get confused by the season change and start to mate in the late fall early winter, thinking it is spring.  We did hear some mating.  Even rarer they lay eggs but then abandon them when they realize what season it is.  On the way out there was a pretty unique warning sign, which Ina made me follow.

If you find yourself in Melbourne it is worth the drive to see the Little Penguins and the Koalas.  Ina and I would both give the experience four furry paws and two flippers up.  If you want a tour guide we will guide you for free.  Also upgrade to the penguin plus, it is well worth it.

Day 12 Melbourne; The day Ina’s laziness saved my life.

The plan for the day was to go to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, the MCG, then to lunch and the bank, a trip to St. Kilda if time permitted, then I would be cooking dinner.

This plan fell apart rather quickly.  Ina is not the biggest sports fan and so she had little interest in the MCG.  To get her to go I made a deal that I would pick up chocolate for her and let her eat it in bed.  This involved a 0.6km or so walk to a grocery store.

I picked up the chocolate for her, a couple of bars for myself a Blood Orange soda, which was quite tasty, and a bag of chips.  What flavor chips you ask, well i am partial to sour cream and onion that come in a green bag.  I grabbed a green bag here and ended up with “Chicken” flavor.  They were actually quite good.  With Ina now appeased we got on the train and headed towards the city.  We had to walk a ways from the station to get to the MCG.

Once inside I decided we should do the guided facility tour and the museum.  The tour was only supposed to be 1:15, ours was more like 1:45.  On the tour we got to go down onto the field, natural grass helped along by mobile grow lamps.

The seats of the stadium vary in color, with all green seats being reserved at all games for the Melbourne Cricket Club, that owns the stadium.  The total capacity is 100,000 people and both AFL and Cricket are played.  The MCC has 100,000 members, 20,000 women (court mandated but they say they allowed them in as soon as the court required it).  The club has about 4 stories of facility behind the stands for the members including the world’s second largest sporting library.

While I still have no idea how cricket is scored I did learn that the teams enter the stadium together with the referees.  They also sit next to each other in the stands.  In the AFL everyone is separated.

At the beginning of the tour the tour guide, 70-80 y/o member of the MCC, asked if any of us had been locked out or held up this morning.  He then told us a gunman had been running around and fired shots near the stadium.  We fortunately came in after this, but the police had not caught the gunman, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/21/2933088.htm?section=justin .

There was a patio type thing the overlooked the city as well as the other big sports complexes.  The Australian Open stadium, with retractable roof, and multi purpose stadium , also used during the open.  The blue practice courts, the blue competition courts are obscured.  The former swimming stadium for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and the brand new, 4 or 6 weeks old, soccer/rugby stadium designed by the Australian that designed the bird’s nest in Beijing.  There were also great views of the skyline.

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The museum portion was pretty interesting there were several bicycles in the collection including a tandem track bike, which I must say had two chains on the same side of the bike, unlike Cornell’s.  There was a big section on the Olympics, Cricket and the AFL.  There was also a fun interactive zone where you could try netball, track cycling, soccer, cricket, AFL and rugby.  Netball is basketball played by women without a backboard, no dribbling and no running with the ball.  Ina and I were pretty tired and had low blood sugar at this point.  It was about 3pm and we decided to head home.  When we got to the train station the train came late after a 15 min wait.  At our transition station our first train was delayed 20 min then cancelled before the next train arrived, 30 min after we did.  This is all mass transit at school kids and regular rush hour.  The train was totally packed by the time it finally left.

We got home too late for me to get anything from the super market and so I did not have to cook.  We had fried fish and I was almost forced, by Ina, to eat three different big desserts.  Ina’s uncle brought out a bottle of Port.  My small glass helped the three desserts down.  As usual Ina and I played wii with the boys before bed.  We both went to bed excited for our trip to Phillip Island the next morning.

Day 11 Melbourne

My day started off with some pretty great news.  My 60 something application to a Boeing position made it to the first round past the computer screening.  I had to fill out a few pages to I guess start a background check.  I am still awaiting word from DLB, but Australia is keeping my mind pretty occupied.

I went for a run this morning and passed by three parks, two of them had clay tennis courts.  One also had a AFL field and the Bentleigh Lawn Bowling Club, I assume this is bocce.  There was some fog and it was a little cool to start, but all in all the back roads are pretty empty and it was a nice bit of exercise.

I caught up on the World Cup scores, I must admit I have not seen a single game, they are played at 9:20pm, 12:00am and 2:00am here.  The bars even have special hours, 11am-7am.  They have been covering the gulf oil spill down here too, and they were critical of the CEO attending the yacht race.  Personally I think that Obama and the general public do not understand A) BP wants to collect as much oil (money) as possible and is doing everything they can to do it B) the CEO probably does not have the engineering skill set to solve the problem.

Today was going to be a light day staying around the house.  The entire family, Ina’s two Aunts, her Uncle and the six cousins, went to lunch at an Italian restaurant.  When we walked in there was a princess party, snow white showed up a little while later.  The food was interesting.  We ordered a few large dishes to share.  The Lasagna was a pile of broad flat noodles with sauce on top, not the construction I am used to.  We ordered two pizzas a meat lovers and a supreme.  Both of them had little pieces of ham in place of tomato sauce.  Apparently there are a grand total of four tomato plants on the entire continent of Australia, seriously ketchup is a heavily guarded commodity.

After lunch they made me drive again, I am still working on passing my road test.  It is a little strange driving on a road that shares a few lanes with trams.  Not only that it was wet, one wheel was on asphalt the other on cement with metal train rails on it.  Also all of the lines on the road are white, separating traffic in the same direction and opposite direction, I love the US, staying between the mustard and the mayo.

After lunch I decided to learn Chinese, no seriously I did.  I got onto Rosetta Stone and went through the first lesson, I failed at retaining a lot of it.  Also Ina watched me and was much more critical of my pronunciation, the four tones and odd sounds are a bit of a challenge for me.  All that Chinese learning made me tired so I slept for two hours.

That night the boys had been promised bowling.  Ina, Kevin, Raymond, Ina’s Aunt Michele and I all piled into the car to the bowling alley, they did not make me drive.  We ended up playing 6 games, it took about 4:30.  We also had the gutter guards up for the boys, and during our 5th game they turned on the black lights and we got to play glow bowling, something I had wanted to do for a while.  Glow bowling makes it a lot harder to see the lane markings and through off my game.

By the time we got home everyone was pretty exhausted.  Ina and I read for a little bit, I am 2/3 the way through “The Death of Marco Pantani.”  I am actually enjoying reading it, go figure books about cycling interest me.

I did not get any pictures today, but tomorrow we are going to the Sports Museum and I have to make the main dish for dinner.

Day 10 Melbourne

Before I get to day 10 how about a little fun at my expense.  This video was on the fenced in deck at Skydeck.  I really was not acting.

Today the plan was to take Ina’s two male cousins to The Melbourne Aquarium, http://www.melbourneaquarium.com.au/ .  The four of us got on the train and headed into the city.  The aquarium is located equidistant between two stations.  One station is on the same road, but we got to the other first.  I decided to lead us without consulting the map because I thought I had remembered the way from the previous day.  This was not the case and we walked an extra three or four blocks.

The first thing you see at the Aquarium is the Antarctica exhibit.  What does this mean?

Penguins!!!!  Kevin is on the right and Raymond on the left.

There was even a nice snow covered slope for the penguins to go down, none of them slid down but it did remind me a lot of Cornell.  Who has not done this down Libe Slope in February.

There were more exhibits of various fish, including a section called ‘River to Reef'.’  The Australian name for sections of rivers cut off from the river is a Billibong.  I remember learning about these types of lakes in New York in Earth Science, but that was nine years ago.

One of the coolest fish, the Lion Fish, is also very poisonous.

It also moved a bit too fast for pictures.  There was a touch table with more shark eggs but they were not in as nice a condition as in Sydney.  My favorite shark and shark eggs are from the Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour’s other name) shark. Information and picture of shark and the Port Jackson Shark Eggs.

There was also a large shark tank with huge rays and several types of sharks.

At the end of the shark tanks was a large viewing window and we happened to catch a talk about the contents of the habitat.  There are only about 10 shark related deaths a year, and only three ray related deaths in the history of Australia.  The tank held a giant 250kg ray that from time to time eats the fish in the tank.  On even rarer occasions the ray suctions itself to the viewing window with a fish underneath it.  It then wriggles until the fish gets to it mouth were super lucky spectators see a large cloud of blood and guts.  We also learned that if you buy really really cheap fish and chips sometimes it is actually ray, and if you buy ‘flake’ fish and chips, still pretty cheap, it is most often shark.

When we got back home it was time for one of my new favorite things, afternoon tea.  It is not just tea but a decent sized snack.  Today we had noodles with some veggies.  There was also a jar of fried gluten to put in.  Fried gluten is delicious I feel bad for all those people allergic to it, aside from the added stress of finding gluten free foods, gluten is pretty darn tasty.

Next was time for me to take my driving test.  Ina, her two aunts and her uncle all piled into a car to go to her Aunt’s house.  Once there they put me behind the wheel of an 2003 (maybe newer) Camry.  I drove back home with Ina and her Uncle in the back seat.  Ina’s constant reminders to stay left helped me a lot.  I assumed switching sides would be easy, but it is a little challenging.  The turn signals and wipers are switched and you have to relearn to identify the far side of the car.  I will make a few more trips around town before Ina and make our excursions, including one to see Tiny Penguins in the wild.

One excursion I will not be driving on is our wine tour of the Yarra Valley.  For a little less than our Opera House tickets we get picked up in Melbourne and driven to 4 wineries, fed lunch with a glass of wine and have a maximum group size of 10.  Thank you Cornell for teaching me to appreciate wines.