This weekend I’m flying to Sydney. Oh yeah.

The group consists of C plus a couple of friends of mine, Ang and Stu, and our aim is to just chill…the….f……out. No stress here! Unfortunately there’s a couple of issues threatening to ruin the weekend though, not happy Jan!

We bought our tickets to the grand final as soon as they became available, months before we even had any idea who would be in the finals. When it came time for the finals, we were thrilled to see that Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm were still in the running. Ang, Stu and C are all big Broncos supporters, and while I don’t support a particular NRL team I am a die hard maroons supporter in the state of origin. With several key players in the Storm side, I was hopeful they would make the final.

With only two games remaining until the grand final, both of which would decide the finalists, Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm crashed out in controversial circumstances. We had at least a 50% chance of one of our teams making the final, and luck was against us. Instead we’re faced with Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (fair to say most hated side in the competition) vs New Zealand Warriors. Hopefully it will still be a great game, and I’m going to be a temporary kiwi for the weekend as I back the warriors (you’ll never find me supporting Manly).

The weather is the other concern. At the moment the temperature looks like it’s not going to top 19 degrees (brrr!! I’m from Queensland, anything under 20 is freezing to me!) and it’s forecasted to rain the entire weekend.Cold and wet makes Sydney a dreary place to be! I’ll be sure to do my best to avoid letting the rain dampen my spirits (geddit? dampen? ha!) and I’m still looking forward to a great weekend. It’s also going to be the first proper time I’ve been away with C, which I’m definitely looking forward to!

Only one more working day until the weekend rolls on. It can’t come soon enough.

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Napping is looking like a very appealing option though.

In typical Kelsbells form, coming home was a spectacular affair. Tina picked me up from the airport, and after dropping her off at work I came home. And sat in the driveway. And wondered where my house keys were.

Shit.

I pulled out all my clothing and searched my bag, then did it again. Then checked my handbag again to make sure. Then did it again. No keys. Blah. I messaged my housemate to check if she would be coming home for lunch today (she normally does, so the potential was there) then made my way into the backyard. The dogs went crazy when they saw me, and I was so relieved to see that Missy was looking well and good. I played with them for a bit, then went and brought my stuff in from the car around the back. I love that we have a pergola area with easily accessible powerpoints, so set myself up on the netbook there for a bit. Eventually my housemate came home and let me in – hooray!

So for now, I suppose it’s time to load up the photos, edit them and get them uploaded so you can see them! There’s a few night shots that I’m excited about, hopefully they came out as good as they look on the LCD on my camera. Fingers crossed!

Or maybe I’ll take that nap now instead.

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Though the details of the trip haven’t been finalised, I don’t think there will be time to drive along the Great Ocean Road. It is a beautiful, scenic drive which I would highly recommend to anyone ever planning on holidays in Victoria, whether you’re new to Australia or not. I have very fond memories of the Great Ocean Road, one of which I would love to share with you. However, to get your attention, let me just show you a photo that instead of representing a thousand words, it requires a thousand words to explain. But I’ll try to keep this brief.

That got your attention, didn't it!

On this particular trip there were two of my aunties, my cousin, my mum, my sister, her girlfriend and me. As you can imagine, we had a pretty big car. We had pulled over at the start of the Great Ocean Road to capture one of those mandatory photos of the sign over the road, and after the bazillionth shutter clicked closed, my aunty Madonna decided she’d had enough. So instead of smiling and posing, she opted to turn around and point her bum to the camera. Giggling, we all decided we would have to take a family photo like that.

What we didn’t realise was that a busload of Asian tourists had just turned up.

We all made our way back to the car as the bus began unloading, when suddenly, something occurred to me. The majority of the asian males getting off the bus were pointing at us and laughing.

“Oh geez, they’ve seen us pointing our bums at the camera” I groaned.

Then to my astonishment, I was approached by several of the males, who asked if they could take their photo with me. Apparently pointing your bum at the camera in Australia was the reason enough for temporary celebrity status. I agreed, but on the provision that they would also point their posterior at the camera. Two of them stood with me, while the cameras snapped away. All three of us were laughing hysterically.

At the same time, my sister Amy stood behind them all and snapped the photo you see above. There’s another person to my left, he’s just hidden by the photographer on the left. What you can’t see is that there was about 10 – 20 people taking photos of the three of us. Unbelieveable.

I finally noticed that the family had piled into the car and were waiting for me so we could continue on our road trip. I bid the tourists farewell, jumped in the car, and screaming with tears of laughter, my family and I continued on our way. It was an epic moment, and one that I know was once in a lifetime.

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1. Learn to Surf: I haven’t started this one yet however it’s all planned. My friend Paige and I will be participating in the 2009 Ripcurl’s Girls Learn to Surf Day, where females all over Australia are given the opportunity to attend a surf school for the day to receive free surfing lessons. One of Mat’s workmates is also a surfboard maker and his wife is an artist, so he offered to make us both totally customised boards at a very cheap price. Awesome!

2. Run 2.4km in under 15mins: In progress. I’m following the Couch to 5k running training program, designed for non-runners to gradually increase their amount of running until they can confidently run for 30mins at a time (roughly 5km). If I can do that then I should be able to achieve 2.4km in under 15mins by the end of the year.

3. Enter in the Sydney City to Surf: Completed. I’ve entered, and the race is only 2 weeks and 2 days away! I’m extremely excited; I’ve managed to convince a friend, Julie, to fly to Sydney with me and Jo will also be flying from Darwin to meet us there. Mat will be joining us for the weekend, but while we spend time slogging it out on the bitumen he will be playing the cards at Star City Casino. Hard life isn’t it?

4. Go on a holiday (must include flights): Completed. We flew to America for 2 weeks, and had one hell of a holiday. One of my fondest memories ever, and I’m honoured to have shared it with the ones I love.

5. See a live concert: Completed. This year I saw P!nk play in one of the biggest concerts of the year (I’ve lost track of how many concerts she’s doing in Australia now; at last count it was something like 8 in each state but I’m sure it’s increased). I also got to see loads of live acts at the many festivals I worked at with RaveSafe earlier in the year including Kaiser Chiefs, Nine Inch Nails, Snow Patrol…too many to name. I was so lucky to have that opportunity, and depending on whether I’m in the police service next year I’d love to do it again. I’ve also got tickets to see Green Day perform in Brisbane at the end of this year, and I’m stoked that Mat will be joining me for this one.

6. Go skydiving: Not yet completed. This will be another one for the end of the year. However one of our friends is a pilot who actually flies the plane the skydivers jump out of, so again I’ve been given the opportunity to complete this task at a reduced cost. I’m looking forward to it though, should be fun!

7. Go on a tour: Completed via the segway tour with my family in Sausolito in America (one of the highlights of the US trip for me). The video of the tour can be seen in the Day 4 video of our holiday.

8. Photograph a sunrise/sunset: Not yet completed. I haven’t really given this one much of a priority as yet, but ideally I’d like to get down to Mooloolaba beach and take some photos of the sunrise. It’s extremely early in the morning for me though, so it’s probably more realistic that I’ll be photographing a sunset. I have my ideas on what I want, just need to get out there and get the shot now!

9. Have a girls cocktail night: Technically completed, although I want to complete it again. Jo and I got together and had a cocktail night when we were watching a socceroos match, but I’d love to get together with the girls and make it a big one at a hotel one night. We’ll see what happens.

10. See a live sporting match: Done and dusted. I’ve been to a few QLD Roar games (back when they were “QLD” Roar) including seeing the women’s side win the grand final for the 2008/09 season. I also went to an NRL match in Brisbane with Paige. I’m looking forward to seeing some more A-League matches again once the season resumes.

That’s it! 6/10 isn’t bad given it’s only just over the halfway mark. I’ll have to make sure I keep the others in mind though so I’m writing about another successful year!

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It certainly lived up to expectation. I got a bacon and egg bagel (with extra grease apparently), while Mat attempted to order a bacon and egg mcmuffin. Turned out they didn’t actually have those, so she ordered Mat an “egg mcmuffín” (people actually eat that by itself??) with bacon as an extra. We also got a large OJ to share, which turned out to be one of the biggest drinks I’ve ever seen!! It would be about the equivalent of two large OJ’s in Australia, I couldn’t picture anyone drinking that much by themselves.

After breakfast we continued to walk along the wharf, having a look at the shops along the way. We made a mental note of a souvenir shop we saw with a promise to return to it later, as well as Pier 39 (where all the seals are). I was impressed to see a Hard Rock Cafe, while Fiona was impressed by all the herbs growing in the gardens along the road.

We reached the ticket booth for Alcatraz when we noticed everyone in the line was distressed a little. It turned out that all the lines for the EFTPOS machines were down, so it was either cash or book your tickets via the phone then quote the reference number to staff in the ticketing booth. Mum rang and booked our tickets while we all sorted out cash to repay her, then with the crisis averted we picked up our prepaid tickets and went to join the line for the boat.

Apart from Mum and Madonna, we all became distracted looking around the Alcatraz gift shop. I was disappointed they didn’t have any “inmate” shirts, I had been planning on getting one for a friend at work. When I walked outside I saw Mum and Madonna were at the very front of the queue, so I ducked the ropes to join them (effectively pushing in). Mat was reluctant, but eventually did the same, as did Aunty Sue and Fiona. Amy and Pauline weren’t as rude as us though, and they went and joined the back of the line like good people. Unfortunately, this meant they missed out on the requisite souvenir photo taken by the company as you boarded the boat (available for purchase later). Mat and I ended up buying a copy – it was quite a nice group photo (except for two important people missing – sometimes it pays to be rude).

We boarded the ferry and immediately headed up top. After a short ferry ride across the bay (the island is a lot closer than I had expected), we disembarked and tried to decide what to do. The options were to either  listen to the guide tell a little bit of background of the island, or just go straight up the hill to the jail. We opted for the latter option, trusting Amy and Pauline (who had been there before) to show us the way. It meant we would beat the crowd for the audio tour.

Once inside, we were handed the equipment for our audio tour – headphones and the controls. The audio was timed perfectly to give you enough time to dawdle down the corridors looking around before giving you the next direction on where to go. They had audio from both previous guards and prisoners telling stories and sharing the feeling of the jail while it was in operation.  The best part of the tour was if you found you were struggling to keep up as well as take photos, you could always press pause on the controls. Much better than racing to keep up with a physical tour guide. I found I only got confused once or twice, and that was purely because I wasn’t listening – my fault. The funniest thing was while you were in a room with twenty to thirty people, you could press pause and find the room in complete silence – everyone was too busy listening to their headsets to talk!

The audio tour also taught me a lot about Alcatraz, things you wouldn’t ever hear of. Everyone knows the story about “the” escape attempt – the one with the fake heads, climbing through the walls and disappearing on a raft never to be seen again. But there are a lot of other interesting stories to be told, like another failed escape attempt that resulted in riots with grenades being dropped and bullet holes. The marks are still there in the building today. The audio also had stories from guards and inmates, so you really got a feel for what the place would have been like during its period of operation. Overall, I was really satisfied with the audio tour – job well done.

With regards to “the” escape attempt, it was so surreal seeing the papier máche dummy heads in real life. I’m a fan of the movie “Escape from Alcatraz”, so when I saw the false heads it almost felt like I was still watching the movie. I had to stare at the holes in the wall, before it clicked that this was where it actually happened. They also had a clear section where you could see through into the wall to see where they would have climbed amongst the pipes to get out. It must have been a damn tight squeeze for them though; the holes in the grates where they climbed out of their cells were tiny!! For the record, I’m a believer that they made it, although the wikipedia article states the official stance is they drowned.

After the tour had finished we made our way back down to the ferry and rode back across the bay to the mainland. We sat downstairs this time, and during the trip I amused myself by videotaping a woman who was falling asleep across from me. The deeper she snoozed the more she leant sideways, and at one point I was sure she was going to slide into the lap of the woman sitting next to her. Alas she awoke at the last second and sat back up. I quickly pointed the video tape in the other direction so she didn’t see me recording her and had a giggle to myself, while Mat scolded me.

Once back on the mainland, we walked back along Fisherman’s Wharf, taking a look at the shops we hadn’t seen the first time. We passed some hip hop dancers and musicians who tried to sell us one of their albums by shoving the CD in our faces. It didn’t really help their case as it tended to annoy me more than anything. One guy made me crack up laughing though when he pointed a CD in Mat’s face and asked “you like hip hop white boy?’” Mat’s face was priceless! Quite the shocked look on his face, and he told me later that he just couldn’t think of an appropriate response other than to laugh a little and shake his head.

We also stopped to have some lunch at In-N-Out burger, which I’d heard a lot about. Without going into too much unnecessary detail, the portion sizes were again big (we knew to only get a medium sized meal this time), and the burgers and ingredients were freshly made. The burgers were a lot better tasting than anything available in Australia in the equivalent takeaway category i.e. McDonalds, Hungry Jacks.

After walking along the street a bit more, we set off towards Ghirardelli Square, where I got my first taste of a peanut butter and chocolate square from Ghirardelli’s. Trust me, it sounds disgusting but it’s a match made in heaven – SO good. Based on Amy’s claim of being the location for the best hot chocolates in the world we also ordered two of those. They were pretty damn good! Had I lived in San Francisco though, I don’t know if I could have them all that often, as I’m sure they would be pretty high up in the calorie count. Plus, you’d have to keep them as a treat to ensure you didn’t become spoiled and lose the novelty of it.

After the hot chocolates we joined a long queue to catch a cable car back to the hotel. Amy and Pauline opted to catch a bus instead, as they weren’t really in the mood to stand around waiting. There was a homeless man hanging around who seemed to have his begging down to a fine art. He had a line that he kept repeating every few minutes, but unfortunately for him it didn’t really have much of an effect as we didn’t see him collect any money from anybody. It kind of went along these lines:

If anyone could please spare a couple of dollars I would really like to just go and buy a burger, fries and drink.

As the time passed he appeared to become more and more desperate. By the end of it, he was only asking for enough money for the burger. There was also a busker nearby entertaining the crowd, who seemed to have a bit more luck with the money. He had a ukulele, and was playing random songs while wearing one of those colourful hats with the fan on top. Someone must have said there were Australians in the crowd, as he began singing “Waltzin’ Matilda” and “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport”. Had I not known the lyrics to “Waltzin’ Matilda” I would never have guessed that’s what he was singing based on the tune he played. Extremely unrecognisable. My aunty rewarded him with 89c though, so he was happy. Finally our cable car arrived, and we went back to the hotel.

After a short break back at the hotel we rejoined in the lobby and made our way to Haight Street. For those not familiar with this street, it played a major role in the 1960′s hippy movement. There is still a lot of them around today in one form or another. Walking down the street, we saw people like stoners smoking some joints, to some hardcore punks. Unfortunately for us, the stoner’s smoke infiltrated our clothing, so we all smelled like we’d been having a few joints ourselves.

There was also quite a lot of interesting buildings to look at in Haight Street. One place in particular had a massive pair of legs sticking out from a window on the first storey! We visited Amoeba Records (famous for its size – it stocks over 100,000 cds, tapes and records), and Amy also informed us that it was on Haight Street that Charles Manson found some his followers. A lot of history for just one street!

After we’d wandered up and down the street we located a cafe for dinner. At first glance the place didn’t look very appealing (I admit, I judged a book by its cover) but actually had quite a tasty meal! Unfortunately I can’t recall exactly what I had, but I just remember enjoying it. I had a juice of some kind, and either a burger or a lasagne. The cafe also had free wifi (like most places in America) so there was the usual yuppie crowd with the laptops lining the counters. Unfortunately it didn’t appear the wifi was working, as none of them seemed to be able to connect (we had problems with our iphones as well).

After dinner, everyone headed back to the hotel except for Amy, Pauline, Mat and I. Amy had heard about a cocktail bar (called Bourbon and Branch) in San Francisco that was only a short walk from the hotel, and quite exclusive. We all decided we would go for a walk and try and find the place, have a quick drink, then return to the hotel and go to bed. Thus 15mins later we were standing on the street corner where we had heard the bar was meant to be located, but couldn’t see anything of the sort. In fact, we were standing in an area that looked incredibly dangerous, with lots of scary looking people walking around. It was confirmed when a guy looked at us (we must have stood out) and said ïf you guys aren’t sure where you’re going I would recommend not going any further – it’s really dangerous”. That was enough to put Pauline, Mat and I on edge, and we yelled at Amy that we should leave.

At that exact moment, a door opened and Amy saw the cocktail bar. She called us over, then knocked on the door. She explained we didn’t have the password (see the website) but Amy worked her magic and two minutes later we were in. Initially I was a bit overwhelmed by the menu, I can’t say that I’m experienced with cocktails, but decided to take a chance on a vodka mix. Let me just say, it was absolutely amazing. One of the best cocktails I’ve ever had. It left a powdery feeling in my mouth, which sounds worse than what it was. It was such a great sensation. One drink was also enough to make me feel on the verge of being drunk! I think Amy and Mat both had rum cocktails of some kind, and Pauline might have gone scotch? I tried each of their drinks and hated them all, cementing the fact I’m not a rum drinker (unless it’s bacardi – I enjoy that on the odd occasion).

After we had our drinks we paid for them and tipped the waitress, then started walking home. I was feel extremely tired by this point, but thankfully the walk home felt a lot quicker than when we were trying to find the bar. It was strange to see how only a few blocks separated the nice part of town with the dingy part. It was like two separate worlds! We arrived at the hotel, bid Amy and Pauline goodnight, and made our way back to bed. It was only day 3, but I was exhausted already!

For Amy’s version of events you can see her blog post here.

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To visit California and Nevada over a 2 week timeframe

The dates:

May 10th through to May 24th

The participants:

• Kelly – me
• Mat – my boyfriend
• Amy – my sister
• Lynne – my mother
• Pauline – Amy’s partner
• Sue – my aunty
• Fiona – my cousin
• Madonna – my aunty

Amy, Pauline, Lynne, Sue and Fiona had already been travelling the east coast of America, and we were due to meet up with them in San Francisco. Madonna arrived a day earlier than us, and joined us for the entire 2 weeks.

Anything else:

I decided I would video tape this holiday, as video is so much more fun. It’s easier to see the emotions we expierienced, you can relive the funny moments, and it’s more interesting to share with others! Of course, you can’t quite tell the whole story by video, thus each day of our holiday will be explained in a blog post with a video highlights reel afterwards. Enjoy!

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I’m feeling the stress too. I’m constantly thinking of things that I need to do, if I have everything covered etc. I’ve done the essentials – I have a passport, I registered for a Visa waiver for the US, flights/accommodation booked, and travel insurance booked. It’s the smaller things – what do I need to pack? Am I allowed such and such in my carry on bag? What have I got to do at home before I go? Is my dog Turbo going to be taken care of? But to be honest, I think I’m just making a fuss because I’m just so damn excited. If I’m not thinking of what I need to pack, then I’m googling where I want to go and what I want to do when I’m over there.

The lead up to the holiday has been interesting. I’ve been fighting a cold for the past fortnight, and sucking down the lemsips and tablets to make sure it doesn’t hit me. It’s worked too, but coincidentally a flu pandemic has just hit the planet. The swine flu. I’m pretty sure I don’t need to post a link because everyone has heard it/read it/become so sick of it they don’t want to hear any more. I tossed up with getting a flu shot but in the end decided against it – I never have flu shots and every year I’m fine. The flu shot also doesn’t deal with swine flu, so really it would almost be pointless. I’ve also had a cold sore which has thankfully now gone away. I think there was something else too, but come today, my health is pretty good so I’m happy!

Courtesy of twitter I was directed to a packing application that would allow me to create a list on my phone (or edit any of the template lists already created) and tick the items off as I packed them. When I get home I’ll be sure to post a full review of the app and whether it helped me. Hopefully I won’t forget anything, but if I do, I’m sure I’ll be able to find somewhere to buy it. Speaking of purchases, I sure have bought a lot of stuff in the lead up to this holiday:

• The big one – a brand spanking new video camera
• Camera accessories – camera bag, additional battery, new tripod with horizontal panning (worked out to be over $300 worth of accessories)
• New luggage – Mat and I only had a single old bag we’d been using for small trips, and it was pretty much dead. Definitely not something we could travel overseas with.
• Noise cancelling headphones – I’m expecting these to be my saviour when I’m on the plane

Of course there’s lots of small items not worth mentioning (small toiletries etc). When I look back at the list I’d made last year for the holiday, I’ve actually done pretty well! I’ve purchased 2/3 (camera & luggage). I didn’t buy a mini laptop (although Mat did once give me permission to buy one), but I’ll have my iphone to use, and will borrow my sisters laptop to transfer videos from my video camera onto my external hard drive.

All I’ve really got left to do before we go is pack my bag, hand my itinerary to a friend, and go! This week will be difficult to get through, I’m just itching to get to the USA. So I beg of you, is it time to go YET?

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1 – There is no way in hell our current luggage will suit both Mat and I for a month overseas. It manages to last a 2 days, a week at most if we pack extremely light. So we’ll need to buy some new bags, one for both of us as we expect to pick up a lot of stuff when we’re over there.

2 – I want to document this trip as much as I can. Yes I have a camera, but that won’t be enough. A camera doesn’t record the ridiculous things we say and do which we reflect on for years to come (I quote – “smell that bush”, or Aunty Sue dropping her ice cream, or our giggles when we found “big cock” written on the sand, or Madonna stomping on ET’s head while he was breakdancing). Hence, I’ve decided to purchase a video camera. I want to capture the fun times on film, and the mundane things, and produce a movie which we can watch together as a family. Yes, that means we’ll be having movie nights in 20 years. But no doubt this will come in handy even after the trip, as Mat will want ego videos of his 4wd’ing adventures.

3 – Partly in conjunction with the last point, as well as a desire to be able to communicate with people back at home, I want to buy a smalll compact laptop. It will serve two purposes – the tool used to transfer photos & videos from my video and digital cameras to a store device, and the wireless feature allowing me to email my friends from free internet hotspots (like starbucks).

I have been told I’m planning far too in advance, but how am I going to budget for these additional purchases if I don’t start thinking about it now? I need to research, keep my eyes open, get bargains when I can. Any suggestions anyone has (if you’re still reading this) would be fantastic, otherwise I will probably just keep you posted on any reviews and purchases I make. Cheerio!

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