chrishansenhome

So I flew from Wellington to Sydney after a delightful lunch and city tour from Jill G., a friend of Steven Levine's. I am indebted to her for the day and the lift to the airport.

As with New Zealand, there are strict quarantine laws about what you can and cannot bring into Australia. I had no problems, and took a cab to my hotel. Now if you're travelling on a budget, do NOT take cabs from airports. The cab was quite expensive and the driver had never actually driven to my hotel. Checked in OK, enquired about WiFi, and discovered that there was no signal in my room. I spent a restless day cut off from my online world while I tried to get connected.

Next day I ventured out to look for a SIM card. I had our iPhone3, now fairly obsolete but useful, as it was unlocked, as I thought. I went to a Telstra outlet in central Sydney, and bought a SIM with data. Problem was, I couldn't connect with it. Our former flatmate Win, who is a Sydneysider, brought his Android phone over that evening and I tethered to that for a while. Asked O2 what to do and the guru there told me that, sometimes, unlocked phones revert to locking when a new SIM is inserted. So, he unlocked the phone but I then had to get connected to iTunes to complete the unlocking and, of course, I had no way to do that. So I spent a second day unconnected. I was so miserable that Win gifted me with a three-day stay in a downtown hotel. I was grateful (my hotel was a bit ancient) but later on I regretted it, as I lost a lot of Thursday moving from one hotel to the other.

I did discover a museum, the Powerhouse Museum, that had good food and powerful WiFi, so I had lunch there twice. The first time, I went to Central Station and took the tram there. Then, I discovered that it was actually two blocks from my first hotel and I could have walked there. So I did that on Thursday between hotels and again took advantage of the WiFi and the excellent food. Highly recommended.

Next day I went to the Apple Store downtown and they happily connected me up and got the SIM working. I was very grateful.

Sydney's Central Station was within walking distance of my hotel (just). I must say, the signage there was quite deficient and confusing. And, it's huge. Almost all the transit in the city begins or ends there. The main train lines are somewhat like the RER in Paris; they are quite diffuse and go through the central city and then fan out to the suburbs. Some of them are quite old, especially the Circle Line (a very short version of London's). I saw something I've never seen, even in New York in the 1970's: graffiti on the floor. These elderly train cars are also not air-conditioned. It's quite hot in Sydney in summertime, and I was there at the end of summer--the autumnal equinox happened while I was there. There is one tram line that starts at Central Station and goes to, basically, Nowheresville. It does pass through the downtown market, and I enjoyed walking around that.

I did find the hop-on-hop-off bus at Central Station, and spent a day looking at all the sights. I had gone to Circular Quay (the main ferry terminal) earlier and gotten the obligatory pictures of the Coathanger (Sydney Harbour Bridge), including tiny stick figures climbing up it to the top. They said it was a climb not for the fainthearted thus I pled faintheartedness and didn't bother. The bus included the Opera House (amazingly utilitarian considering its outside configuration), and various other attractions. There is a Sky Tower, and I went up that (as there's a discount with the bus). Got the usual discounts. The people who built it must have been disappointed when a highrise office tower was built that cut off views of the Opera House from the tower. I bought my souvenirs there, including a kangaroo scrotum coin purse, as a prize for the Washington Post's Losers Invitational, which gives out wacky "prizes" for those who lose (ie, win) their competitions.

On Maundy Thursday I attended one of the highest of high churches in Sydney: Christ Church St. Lawrence, at Central Station. I have never seen a Mass as high as theirs, even as a Roman. The highlight was the procession to the Altar of Repose, where the priest carrying the Sacrament was preceded by two thurifers, perpendicular to him and facing each other along the aisle,"sweeping" the path in front of the priest with the thuribles full to bursting with incense. Afterwards I was treated to dinner by Andrew W., a parishioner who is a friend of a friend.

On Saturday Win and I took a coach to Canberra. The trip is miles and miles of miles and miles, with grassy meadows mostly looking like well-manicured golf courses. Canberra is flat and low-rise. There are few buildings taller than 5 or 6 stories. The old Parliament building is stately and Victorian. The new one is very trendily new. The House chamber (if you saw Julia Gillard's YouTube video lambasting the leader of the Opposition for sexism that's where it happened) is interesting as the leaders sit at a dispatch table, rather than sitting on a bench facing it. Win's friend drove us around,and I'm grateful as public transport seemed to be mostly absent. The coach back was again mostly miles and miles of miles and miles. I then packed for the flight to Melbourne.

I'm about to go out to meet my friend Ruth in the Melbourne suburbs, so I will leave Melbourne and Tasmania for next post.

Short addendum: My friend Ruth has just messaged me that her mother died overnight, so I won't be going out to see her. My condolences, Ruth.

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Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Melbourne

I have been most remiss in not posting for two weeks. It's been a busy two weeks in New Zealand and Australia. I shall try to post everything salient.

I took the tourist bus in Auckland the next day, and bought a two-day ticket for NZ$65. Well worth it. On the first day I went to the Anglican cathedral (picture to follow),which would have been nicer to visit if there weren't a recording being made in it, which meant we couldn't go in. Pictures will follow when I get to Singapore or London. Then to Auckland Zoo, where the kiwi birds were quite elusive. The usual gaggle of non-New Zealand fauna were on display. I also visited Old St Mary's (next to Holy Trinity Cathedral), the Michael Joseph Savage memorial, (more pics to come), the twee shopping district, where I had a hot cross bun, and then back to Queen Street and my hotel.

I shall digress here by saying that I had little or no remembrance of my Auckland hotel room until I began this blog entry. This was quite strange. But I will now be taking pictures of every hotel room I stay in so that I have something to anchor my remembrances to.

On my last full day in Auckland I took the bus again and went to the Auckland Museum. It is both a museum and a site of remembrance of their war dead. Even more than in the UK or the US, New Zealand and Australia remember their soldiers who died in the several wars from the Boer War onwards. There are many war memorials, and in front of the museum in Auckland is a Cenotaph nearly identical to the one in Whitehall in London. Inside the museum there are lots of Maori artefacts, including one of their ceremonial houses, which I couldn't enter as I would have had to take off my shoes and I am not comfortable doing that these days.

Another aside: the woman who is shrieking in the next room is having a better time tonight than I will have.

After a Waldorf salad in the café (I am very proud that I've figured out how to produce an "é" on this Bluetooth keyboard) I got back on the bus, returned to my hotel, and packed to take the train to Wellington. After a hitch in getting a cab, I was off to the train station, where I got on the NZ Explorer train, which would take me to Wellington in 6 hours or so. It was beautifully appointed inside, but the best was yet to come. After an hour moving through the southern suburbs of Auckland (which they tell me is one of the biggest cities in the world, landwise) we moved to different terrains. If there is one thing that New Zealand has, it's scenery. Too bad they can't export scenery: they would make a mint. The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the corkscrew way the train (electrified by overhead catenary all the way) got up one particular mountain. You could look down and see the track where you had just been. The old volcanic mountains dominated the trip, with few rivers but lots and lots of sheep and cows in fields.

And so to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. The Travelodge is built on the side of a hill, and you enter from your taxi on level 7. The room was smallish but well-furnished with a shower not a bath, which my aged feet and tricky balance appreciated. The next day I looked around for the tourist center, where I bought a ticket for the hop-on-hop-off bus. This was not a bus, it was a van. And, you had to tell the driver when you hopped off when and where you would hop back on again. Very annoying.

Our first stop was Mt. Victoria. Our dear old Queen left her name all over the Empire. There's something named after her everywhere, it seems. Great pics of the city from there, so I took them. Next stop was the Cable Car (with museum attached), where I bought some overpriced postcards and stamps. Walked down a very steep hill through the Botanical Garden to rejoin the bus an hour later. Did I mention that for the end of summer it was boiling hot? Over 30º C all the time.

Another old church, Old St Paul's, near Parliament, was quite interesting inside. It was made entirely of wood, no stone at all (earthquakes tend to topple stone buildings whereas wooden ones tend to last). The docent was very nice and told me all about the Marine flag hanging from the roofbeams. Parliament looks like a completion of London City Hall (the Testicle) so it's called the Beehive. On that day a Maori treaty was being signed in the debating chamber. I saw the group of Maori outside laughing and rejoicing, and thought someone had gotten married in there. I saw the news reports that night on TV and realised what I'd seen was a historic occasion.

The next day I braved the public transport system (I got conflicting instructions from a bus driver and the concierge and both were wrong) and took a bus to Wellington Zoo. I was trying to get a picture of a kiwi for HWMBO and their publicity had promised a kiwi encounter.So I turned up at the appointed hour and the docent first showed off a tuatara while her assistant brought out the kiwi. She put the kiwi down on the floor of the exhibit and I thought that it was remarkably docile. When the docent finally turned her attention to the kiwi, it transpired that it was actually a Norwegian Blue Kiwi. In other words, it was stuffed roadkill that had lost one leg in the fatal accident. I was crushed,but managed one picture before leaving. We heard one kiwi call out from the next room, though. Advice to all who go to Wellington Zoo: avoid both the kiwi and the café, as both promise more than they deliver.

Next day I flew to Sydney. However, I'm too tired to post about that yet. Next post. Off to Hobart tomorrow for the Museum of Old and New Art. May post more tomorrow evening. Sorry this is boring and long. I am posting it as much for myself as for you, so I can remember and have something to hang my pictures on, as it were.

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Current Mood: Tired
Current Location: Australia, Victoria,Melbourne, Melbourne

It's been a while, but I need to keep a record of my visit to the Antipodes. This is my longest trip ever (7 weeks away from home and HWMBO) and it may be my last longhaul trip (although I hope not).

I arrived in Singapore on March 9, having spent 13 hours on a BA plane in Premium Economy. It wasn't cramped, but the holstered remote control was loose. so I couldn't watch the screen as every time I shifted it turned the set off. The food was meh. Keep these facts in your mind for the moment.

I was met by my friends Choo Beng and BK, at whose place I stayed for that week while I was getting over jetlag. He even sacrificed his own bedroom for me, and slept in his TV room, which was formerly his spare bedroom. I hope to be back in April.

During that week I went out to dinner with many people. A gang dinner with the aforementioned two plus Leslie and Louie and Edwin. Dinner with Sashawoody and Sgboy01 from Twitter, Kevin my good friend for many years, Alex Au and Roy Tan, the last two gay activists in Singapore for many years. I will be seeing others when I get back on April 13.

So on Saturday Leslie and I went to Sei Ling's place to have lunch with her and her husband and adorable family. Her husband then drove me to the airport, where I was to take Qantas to Brisbane on my way to Auckland.

Now those of you who have flown Qantas in the past may be aware of this, but their Premium Economy beats BA's all to hell. The cabin attendant came by with dinner, placed a white linen napkin over the tray table, and asked, "Mr Hansen, what would you like, beef or fish?" My only response was to say, "How did you know my name?" He just smiled. The food was good, and I had no one sitting next to me, which was good.

When we got to Brisbane my first sight of Australia was limited to a very dry airport. I had to clear security again, and then waited for a regular economy flight to Auckland. Again, no one sat next to me and the flight went relatively quickly.

Getting into New Zealand is relatively difficult compared to other places I've been. They are very cautious about bringing food into the country as it could spread diseases that the local flora and fauna have never seen. After queueing for Immigration, I got my bags and then joined another long-ass queue for Customs control. They then directed me to the X-ray machines. I was already frazzled but tried not to show it. Some Aussie cricketers tried to muscle in ahead of me but I wouldn't allow it.

Then to the taxi rank, where I caught a cab into Auckland. Now, here's tip No. 1: unless you are quite tired or quite wealthy, do not take a cab into the city from Auckland Airport. It takes around 45 minutes and costs NZ$90. I only had NZ$100 on me so I gave him a NZ$5 tip and had $5 left (assume all amounts subsequent to this are NZ$).

The hotel is a 3-star but somewhat run-down at the heels. The staff are Eastern Europeans for the most part and are very nice. I got to my room and had a mini-meltdown. I lay down on the bed and passed out for a few hours, then tried to find my blood glucose meter. Tore my bags apart then found it under one of them. I thought I had left it in Singapore.

Once I awoke, I decided to go looking for a cash machine, and walked down the hill and found one. More on the hills later. The ATM spat out my card saying "Invalid card". I was horrified and terrified at the same time. Didn't know what else to do so went back to the hotel, collected my thoughts, and went downstairs for dinner. Having a foreign ATM eat your card 12,000 miles from home must be the worst nightmare of every tourist.

I didn't sleep very well. The plumbing makes a very loud whistling sound in my room when flushed from above. It sounds different at different times, perhaps depending on from which floor the flush originates. This continued at intervals all night. I don't expect that this will be fixable except by moving rooms, so I will just endure it. Later note: it's the aircon. Turning that off fixed the sounds.

This morning I had breakfast downstairs, again putting it on my tab, and asked the front desk person about ATMs. He wasn't very enlightening (for whatever reason) so I walked down the hill again and found another ATM further down which happily gave me $300. I was now a happier bunny.

I decided to walk to the Sky Tower, which is the tallest freestanding tower in the Southern Hemisphere. Went to the top, looked around and took some happy snaps, then bought two discounted T-shirts and some postcards and stamps. Will get to filling them out shortly. Bringing pages of preprinted labels was inspired.

Subway is ubiquitous in the downtown area, so I bought one just to see how it compared to a London one. It's about the same except you get a choice of cheeses and they don't offer sweetcorn as a topping option. Brought it back to the hotel and could only eat half, surprisingly. So the other half will be dinner.

After resting my feet I decided to go out and get some Diet Coke and munchies for this evening. I walked left rather than right. Auckland is built on hills, and they are steep. STEEP! I managed to walk up the hill, went to a grocery (called, confusingly, a "dairy" here) and bought the soda, some crisps, and some Oreos. Walked back down the hill and availed myself of the occasional park bench placed by the sidewalk for the travel-weary. I would note for posterity that those guys and gals who were wearing shorts or berms had the most well-developed calves I've ever seen. Must be from walking up and down those hills. Seriously, this place has hills steeper than San Francisco.

I took pics but they're on my phone and I can't connect to the Internets on it for various reasons I won't bore you with but have to do with the room charges for WiFi. So I may wait a while (perhaps until I get back to Sg) and post them in one fell swoop.

Tomorrow I shall get a 2-day ticket for the tourist bus and use it to get around the various sights. Must be fully packed Wednesday night as I shall be taking the train to Wellington Thursday morning and hope to take lots of pics from that, as it's said to be very scenic. I fly to Sydney on Palm Sunday and then to Melbourne on Easter Day.

Dinner time!

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