A Weekend in the Centre

The third stop of our journey around Oz was a far bigger jump than the previous, so there was no time to waste. We barely had time to squeeze in a swim in our magnificent hotel pool at the Sheraton Port Douglas, or to have a peek at beautiful Four Mile Beach (my former commute to work), before it was time to pack up and head to the centre of Australia.

We were happy to learn on 26 November that Qantas had NOT yet gone on strike again! We were a little wary of flying with them, as we were making the flights bookings just as the strikes were happening just a few months back. This time when we landed, our runway was surrounded by red dirt and scrub, and we disembarked making jokes about being celebrities or presidents and the like (there's something about descending a stairway onto tarmac that feels so old-fashioned and glamorous!). It was hotter than ever and not a chance of rain in the vivid blue sky.

We checked into our hotel, and headed off to The Rock, loading up on water and hoping to catch the cooler time of the day in the late afternoon (actually, I kind of forgot at Uluru, it's ALWAYS oven-roasting hot). We checked out the very excellent park cultural centre and managed to brave one or two short walks, dodging tour groups and flies along the way. We caught a pretty fantastic sunset over the big rock-- probably what most people expect when visiting Uluru, but having experienced torrential rain on my first sunset viewing a few years back, I was very happy!

The next day was a real test of our stamina as we watched the themometer in the car climb to 34 degrees, then 36, then finally 40! We wanted to see as much of Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) as possible, but every time we got out of the car again for another walk to a cave or a trail seemed harder in the blazing heat. I feel like we did see a good chunk of the national park -- caught a great sunset, checked out cave paintings and water holes, and even saw a few lizards just before they dashed back into the scrub. The desert was actually very green when we were there, and there were wildflowers everywhere -- not what my parents pictured at all. The scenery and the colours of the landscape were incredible and it was yet another place that I was thrilled to revisit -- with a much better camera this time -- and seeing Uluru from the plane this time was quite the sight!  Finally, we felt like we'd seen (and sweated) enough and took a break at the hotel pool at Sails in the Desert, which to our surprise was ICE COLD. The desert really is a strange place....

*In case you're wondering, this is not the hotel pool.

We're Baaaack

We're back in sweltering Brisbane after a delightful week and a bit in New Zealand. For one thing, it sure is strange to holiday in a cold country only to come back to a hot place... the complete opposite of what we'd usually do! But though the South Island was a little chilly, it was kind of nice to put on some layers, don toques and gloves, and - dare I say it?- stomp around in the snow! Well, the snow thrill wore off in about 20 seconds or so, but it sure did make for lovely photos.

Anyway! We had a fantastic time -- NZ far surpassed our expectations for being a great place to travel. We lucked out with pretty amazing weather (lots of sunshine and blue skies), had great travel companions, and a strong Aussie dollar on our side. The Kiwis we met were really nice, endearingly rugby-mad, but sadly few and far between. The South Island felt more than anything... kind of empty. On almost any road in the parts we travelled to, you could count the cars you passed on your fingers, and when we did meet people running hostels or shops or tour companies, more than half the time they were from another country. It was a little weird... it seems that most New Zealanders must either live on the North Island, or in Australia. Where we went, it also even felt devoid of wildlife, which could have been due to climate, time of day, introduced species wiping out the native fauna, or maybe something else (we kept seeing signs about poison being used in national parks to wipe out various pest species...).

So it was just us and the sheep for most of the trip. We drove our Toyota Camry up and down mountains, hiked a few great trails around Mount Cook, Lake Tasman, Mt Aspiring National Park, and up Franz Josef Glacier - an unbelievable day for more than a few reasons! We got into a few adventures, trying our luck at paragliding in Queenstown, and scoring a free helicopter ride off the glacier when the mountain next to us started collapsing into the valley below. We had some great local food - cheeses, wine, lamb, and ketchup out of a can (for dipping grilled cheese sandwiches, silly!). We got caught up in the Rugby World Cup frenzy, we saw some rare penguins, and took a boat cruise through the fjords of Milford Sound, our boat chaperoned by adorable seals who swam alongside us. And besides all of that, it was so nice to get out into the fresh air and reunite with old friends. We're definitely already dreaming of a return someday to check out the North Island, and perhaps to embark on one of NZ's many Great Walks, where we can get gloriously lost in a national park for a few days at a time!

But that's our trip in a nutshell.... more detail to come! And if you've got the urge to look at a million or so mountain photos, don't forget to check our Flickr page. xx A&D

What they don't know won't hurt them...

So in a slight change of plan... folks, we're heading to Burma!

Maybe it was a strange choice to make, seeing as we still have all of those glorious Thai beaches and Indonesian islands ahead of us, but somewhere along the way we started feeling real curiosity about the little-traveled neighbour of Thailand. The more we read-- about the military junta; about the brand-new capital city, Naypyidaw, so new it's not even on our maps; and the fact that there's not a single ATM in the country due to international banking sanctions-- well, we've only become more intrigued. OK, we've also read and heard that the locals are sweet as can be and that the scenery around the country is astounding, and there's definitely a long and interesting history to uncover. Politically, it's just awful: ruled by a military junta since 1962, it's been in the news plenty these days after that crazy American swam across a lake in Rangoon to the house of (wrongfully imprisoned) opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi-- hope you've been following, as we sure have been.

The visa application process was an ordeal in itself! First off, you need an advance tourist visa to get into the country-- and there's only an embassy in Bangkok, so on Monday morning we found ourselves lined up by the creepy grey steel door for the visa department, around the side of the embassy. There were actually a bunch of us stuck out there for hours, because although we showed up well within the opening hours (9am-12pm and 1pm-3pm), there was a "problem", as an embassy staffer called it-- a protest of about 60 people out front of the embassy, chanting and singing "Dust in the Wind"-- yup, we had arrived on the first day of Aung San Suu Kyi's trial, and here in Bangkok, people were using their freedom of speech to (very rightly) speak out on the retardedness of this lady facing prison after some dude swam to her house! Nonetheless, we wanted our visas, so we avoided the cameras and the protest itself (though now we're kicking ourselves for not snapping a few).

Luckily, by the afternoon, after a teeming rainstorm and some time-killing in a bookshop, the embassy had reopened its creepy side door and we were permitted to come inside the very dingy visa waiting room to fill out a lot of irrelevant information on forms. We had to answer questions like "hair colour" (always a toughie!), eye colour, complexion (how un-PC!), and then a whole page of our employment history: note, definitely the place where you don't write "journalist". So Dayle listed a bunch of prior office jobs and hoped like hell they wouldn't Google one of her stories online, and Adrian put "programmer".... and got questioned by the official. "Who do you work for? Government?" he asked suspiciously. "No, no, for a bank. Private company!" says Adrian. "Well why didn't you apply for the visa from Canada?" asks the official-- a dumb question actually because the 28-day visa started ticking away from the day we FILED the paperwork, not even from its approval two days later. And then we spent the next few days, waiting and hoping we didn't waste our 800 baht, only to get turned away by the evil junta!

But nope, I guess they aren't the sleuths we thought they were, and very happily left the embassy with shiny stickers in our passports. Since you can't travel far across the border by land (those main roads are closed), we had to get flights into Rangoon-- we fly in this Saturday and fly back to Bangkok on June 12-- hopefully we'll be able to post from the road, though we hear internet's hard to come by and very much censored. It'll be our first trip to a country that seems so challenging, but hopefully that will mean it's extra rewarding. Tomorrow we'll exchange our money for a stack of "crispy" US$ bills, as there are no cash machines in Burma, and you cannot buy local currency (the kyat) without US$ bills, and bills with folds, rips, or marks on them will not be accepted. It's a puzzle, that's for sure. It'll be a challenge to avoid supporting the government but we'll strive to support local businesses only, and we hope our meagre tourist funds can help out the locals a bit in a country that probably really needs it.

We've started popping malaria pills, and treated ourselves to a night at the cinema and a burgers-and-pasta dinner at an American-themed restaurant (we're sure we'll be having none of that in Burma!) and we're getting pretty excited-- but we'll definitely appreciate a week on a Thai beach after this adventure!
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In the meantime, if you're up for some reading on Burma, here's a few links:

-- On Burma in general (including why some call it Burma and some Myanmar)
-- On Naypyidaw, the new capital (check out the stuff about numerology!)
-- Aung San Suu Kyi's web page
-- A biography of Aung San Suu Kyi (from the Nobel Prize website)
-- Today's news from the Aung San Suu Kyi trial
-- BBC's Inside Insein Prison (where the trial is being held-- you know John Stewart's having a field day with a name like that!)

Up and running; T-Minus 3 days and counting

Whew, all this setting up for blogging has taken my mind off the big trip. And here it is in all it's majesty!

Well what Dayle and I are trying to do here is to keep in touch with our friends and family back home, but as well , giving all those travellers out there the 'heads up!' on preparing for any trip.

First Advice: Plan well in advance, read up on the destination, and DON'T do any of that pre-planned crap. You know, the tours that all you have to do is show up and they take you everywhere!

Our trips have never been like that, our style is shoot-'n-scoot. Get off the plane and carve your own travel. You'll be happy you did.
Speaking of, we leave for our flight out of Toronto in about 3 days! It's getting exciting, and there's been some happy tears along the way. But we'll be back soon, (roughly 2 years from now *knock wood) you guys!

Love you, and travel safe!
- Adrian & Dayle Questionmark