Telling Your Life Story in about 5 Minutes

I can't bring myself to write about our last couple of days yet, so I'll continue capturing some other stories from the journey.

Before we ever left home, people would ask us things like, "what are you most looking forward to?" I really couldn't answer that -- there was too much goodness. One afternoon though, it came to me. I was really looking forward to all the people we would connect with -- getting to hear their stories, and, telling them ours.

We've gotten pretty good at this in the last couple of years -- and even more so in the last couple of months. To make sure you understand why this matters so much to us, let's go back a bit.

5 years ago, Jason and I were both going through divorces. In fact, its that very thing that connected us. We'd known each other for many (many) years -- having met in college back in 1994. we processed the loss and the grief in a very similar way. Namely, we went through a very dark, scary, ugly time where we didn't want to talk about it at all. With anyone, really. I don't want to oversimplify coming out of that period but for both of us we just eventually walked out of the storm and seemingly suddenly, we could see the sun again.

Connecting with each other was so fun. And, as I catch myself often saying now, nothing feels as good as feeling good again. You just experience joy and happiness so much more strongly when you've felt despair. We were happy -- and we were happy to tell our story.

And then something interesting happened. Jason quit his job, ending a 15 year career in finance. This could be its own blog post but the reason I bring it up today is to highlight what then happened to his "story". He didn't want to tell it. So much so that he would get annoyed when asked. This made us notice something. When you meet someone for the first time, if they ask you two questions the second question (after asking your name) is always, "what do you do?" It never occurred to either of us that this question could be hard or unwanted. (side bar -- and don't even get me started on the fact that when people met the 2 of us, they'd ask him what he did and not ask me. What is this, 1950?)

While he wasn't working, he didn't want to be defined by that. This is Jason, the guy who doesn't have a job or know what he wants to do. He was so much more than that. Don't boil him down to a single sentence that does not reflect either his character or his ambition.

It gave us pause. What should the second question be? If you truly want to understand who someone is, in a sentence, what is the question that solicits that response? And it is worth thinking about, because 99% of the time, do you really care if someone is a marketing analyst at X company? Not in the least. Wouldn't you rather know what their character is? What makes them happy? What they feel their life's work is or will be?

It took awhile to get through that time, but before long, Jason found himself back on the pathway that all the sudden was so obvious we couldn't believe we didn't see it before. Isn't life funny that way? And, even better -- after months of anguish and people avoiding -- there was again a story he wanted to tell. Interesting how life repeats itself. We often say it as though God lets us go through the lesson until we get it.

Of course, I'm biased-- but I love Jason's story. Beyond that, I love that he loves to tell it -- because I saw the painful journey to get there. But it isn't unique -- if you've spent time asking people about their story, you know that there is no story better to listen to than one in which the person loves their current life/work/family/situation. It warms your heart and lets you see hope come alive while they are telling it. You'll think about it for days to come. Sometimes -- sometimes it even changes your own trajectory.

And so, here we are trapped on a boat for 31 days with 3000 crew and guests. Untold number of times to tell our story. How do you tell it in about 5 minutes? That's really all the time you'll hold someone's attention in a first conversation.

Unless you're an urban farmer with zero farming experience who walked away from a 15 year finance career to work for a small, local non-profit because you love people and you trust God's plan better than any plan you could make for yourself.

You tell that story and people will listen for a long time.

It's a great story with so many fun details. We've talked for hours with people because there is something about it that jars them from a long slumber. I think at our core, all people want to be connected to doing a greater good. People are drawn to serve. We spent 1.5 hours on a fishing boat in Lake Michigan talking with the deck hand about farming and serving the community. We spent an entire lunch in the dining room somewhere in the South Pacific talking to a stock broker from South Africa about feeding the poor quality, healthful food. We sat for part of an evening in an art gallery talking about how incredible it is to walk towards something you are called to do even when it is scary and hard and people think you are weird and making a dumb choice. We've talked with a massage therapist numerous times now who always, always wants to know what's growing in the farm and always ends by asking to come help. He just wants to learn.

And sometimes, we get to talk about deeper things. The career change is interesting. The farming is interesting. Serving the "least of these" is interesting. But to us, why we do it is the best story of all.

Jason always finds himself right in the middle of God conversations and he couldn't be more miserable when it happens. Mostly, because he thinks he's terrible at it. I always tell him that he's really the best I've ever heard because he just answers whatever is asked as truthfully as he can. And, it helps that he is unfailingly kind. Never trying to force a point or even "win" an argument. Merely sharing what his life is and has been and why.

Our lives are living testimonies to a God who has always been on our side and wanted the best for us. It's never guaranteed an easy life and, for sure, we haven't had easy lives. As we get older, it's easier to look back and be able to connect the dots and see where God intervened because he loves us well.

And while we have lots and lots of good stories, there's none better than that one.

Brisbane, So Worth The Heart Ache

Ok, ok. I'll get to our last week:) So, now I've mentioned before that Brisbane was the portion of the trip to repeatedly threw a wrench into my planning attempts. It's probably a good time to point out that Australia is big. Oh, hey now. Don't roll your eyes at me. If you've never planned a trip there that involved numerous states and cities, my hunch is you are just as ignorant about the actual size of the place as I was.

There are 6 official states in Australia and by cruising up to Brisbane, we were now heading into the 4th one on our visit. (New South Wales: Sydney, Victoria: Melbourne, Tasmania: Hobart, South Australia: Adelaide and now Queensland: Brisbane and Hamilton Island) What a joy to get to see so much (and yet soooo little) of this place.

Right, so, Brisbane. Alright, we flew back to Brisbane and this time we knew how to walk out to the 3rd ring of airport pickups to wait for Karen, who was coming to fetch us. BTW, the Brisbane airport is really nice. But yet another interesting thing in air travel -- so, when you walk into the airport, you don't know where your airline counter is to check in without looking at large screens. I can't say for sure that they move around, but they could. In other words, most airports have fixed locations with permanent signage, etc. when you go to check in with American Airlines, for example. You know where it is and you go right to it. Nope. Here, you walk into this enormous check in gallery with rows and rows of unbranded kiosks and check in desks and you have no idea where you should go. We finally realized on the signs overhead it would tell you which row to go to. We didn't realize immediately that it also would tell you when check-in was "open". We had to wait an hour before a single human arrived on our flight out of Brisbane...but I'm ahead of myself!

Our first night back in Brizzy, as they say, we hung out at the apartment with Karen and Steve. Karen made a great dinner and we just talked and laughed and enjoyed their company. Karen is a fantastic hostess and really wanted to make sure we had a great time there -- and we did. She'd been busy trying to plan things for us to do the next couple of days based on our interests. Unfortunately, Steve had to work so he missed out on much of our fun.

The following day, we were determined that I get to hold a koala. See how great Australia is that this sentence can even be typed? Bam! Karen knew of a local koala sanctuary where you could get a chance to hold a koala for a small fee. We set off driving and found our way there before too long -- Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

This was truly a great spot. It wasn't very big but they had all kinds of animals there. I really think it would be a perfect spot if you had littles. Some zoos and things are so big the kids wear out long before you've even gotten to see anything. Anyway, since Karen had been there before, she knew a great tip which was to buy your ticket to hold a koala immediately and then either get in line right at 10 when they first begin OR wait about an hour for the initial crowd to break up and then walk right up.

When it was almost my turn, I felt nervous. Likely because along our travels, several people had said things like, "Yeah, koalas look sweet and cuddly, but man can they be vicious." And here I was about to snuggle up to one. Is this a good idea? Was I going to end up on some lame TV show about vacations gone wrong, with only half my face? Well, if you know me, you know that there was no way I wasn't going to hold that koala, face or no face.

Now, here's the thing. You have to assume this slightly awkward position where you lace your fingers together to form a little shelf that the koala sits on. The koala wrangler (handler? whisperer?) places a koala on your self and then gently wraps their arms up on your shoulders or arms. After watching, I could tell that if they tried to put a koala arm up and the koala didn't want to, they would pick the koala back up and walk away for a moment. This must be the universal koala sign for, "I'm going to eat this person's face off if you don't get me out of here."

Anyway, I have a koala on my shelf and it is arm time. I'm trying to look calm. Boom! Both koala arms are up and there I am, snuggling a koala. Oh man. This is so awesome. Except, dang, koalas are HEAVY! This sucker was stout! How do you get so rotund laying around eating leaves all day? Also, whew! Stinky! Such a curious smell -- I kept thinking it was like a weird combination of body odor and pine-sol. We were able to take a few photos -- and the staff was awesome. They took pictures with our phones, too. Not the most flattering photos I've ever taken, but I have physical proof of my stellar koala snuggling skills.

After that joyous event, we continued looking around the sanctuary. We saw dingos and cassowaries, which I hadn't yet seen. I got to pet and feed more roos, which is such a joy. oh! We saw platypus swimming -- so cool. AND, the biggest wombat ever. Ok, maybe not ever, but the only other one I'd ever seen was the little orphaned baby wombat that was being bottle fed in Bonorong when we were in Tazzy (as they say).

Before long, it was suddenly really crowded. Cruise ship passengers! Those jerks! ;) We decided it was a good time to bail out, so off we went back towards Brizzy.

Karen has got this city figured out. She seems to know all the different places, streets, public trans options, etc. She wanted to show us another area downtown where we could do some shopping or go back to eat later in the week after she and Steve left for the States. We dropped the car off at Steve's office, stopping in to say hello, and then walked back over towards the area where we'd had the lovely Turkish meal days before. We found a little Greek place and grabbed some lunch -- so good. Afterward, we walked across one of the bridges over to the Queen Street Mall -- which is a massive, multi street, outdoor mall of sorts with everything you can imagine. We were hunting souvenirs and there were plenty:)

Now, our first night in town, when we went to the Turkish place, Steve picked up the tab. That sneaky guy! We were wanting and intending to buy THEIR dinner for being world's best hosts. So, we asked them to pick a night and one of their favorite places and we'd go out again and pay for their dinners this time! This was the night! We took an uber over to this insanely cool little Thai place that you access through a weird back alley that doesn't look like much ( you know I was loving that) and suddenly, you're in an amazing restaurant! Even better, it was called LongTime. :) Everything was awesome here -- the food was crazy good. The service was impeccable. We learned the guy that always stands at the door owns the place. So love that. We even loved the water glasses and tried to get them to sell us a couple. They were these unique, squat, silver looking vessels that we learned they buy from Bangkok for something like 80 cents each. Intriguing.

We decided to walk home -- only about a 15 minute walk, mostly downhill. We stopped off at a local bar to shoot some pool first. Longest game of pool any of us had ever played. Which, of course, means we absolutely suck at pool. Jason used to be pretty good because he had a table and played often. But those days were not these days and for awhile I thought we might never finish. The good news is, when you are with fun people, who cares? At some point, the entire bar erupted in screaming and scared the pee out of me. Only then did I notice they were all watching the Australia- Honduras soccer match. Duh. I decided I would cheer for Honduras because I do have loyalties there. Bad call cause they got absolutely romped.

Oh man, as we walked home, we saw a couple of the spiders I've had my eye on. As one might imagine if one was imagining Australian spiders, OH MY GOD these things are enormous. As a comfort to my stark terror, Steve pointed out that those spiders were, in fact, small.  God save the queen.

The next day was our last day with Karen and Steve because they were flying back to the States the day before us. This is how awesome Karen is -- she didn't care that she was flying for 20 hours the next day, she wanted us to have a great day so she drove us 2 hours to Lambington national park to hike!

It was a beautiful drive through the country. Australia is absolutely gorgeous. We had about 45 minutes or so of mountain driving to get up to the trail head. They were doing some road work so that slowed us a down a little bit, but there wasn't much traffic so we moved through it well. Karen thought there were 2 hikes we should do -- one short and one longer one to a waterfall. We decided to do the shorter one, eat our picnic lunch, and then do the longer one. Off we went!

The first trail was awesome -- there were a couple of suspension bridges and some very tall and skinny rung ladders straight up a tree to a viewing platform way over head. I opted out of that;) Jason and Karen went up and checked out the views.

As we came back towards the parking lot area to grab our lunches, we saw 2 older gentlemen feeding wild birds. That is to say, they were covered with brilliantly colored birds who were desperately trying to eat the handfuls of seeds being offered. They called us over and tried to give me some seeds. Clearly, the look on my face made it obvious that this was NOT going to happen (my face knows I don't like birds) so they gave some to Jason. .001 seconds later, Jason was awash in birds. I was all laughing and taking photos right until one landed on my head. Then I began to panic. Can you slap a bird in the face in a national park in Australia? Asking for a friend. Just kidding. I didn't slap it. But I sure wanted it off my head.

We grabbed our sandwiches and found a nice picnic table to sit and enjoy our lunch. We were minding our own business when all the sudden a large turkey strolls over and gets all up in our business. What the heck? Why aren't Australian turkey afraid of people? I even told them I regularly eat their North American cousins but they didn't care in the least. I tried to ignore when one walked under the table, but I knew it was probably going to eat me, which is unsettling while trying to enjoy a ham sandwich. So, as we were distracted by this horrific development, all the sudden there was this massive white object in our faces with wild flapping and crazy movements and I hear Karen screaming, "OHHHHHH SHIIITTTTTTTT!" And then, it was gone. We all sat there stunned before dying laughing realizing that some wild bird just dive bombed our faces trying to eat our lunch right out of our mouth!

So now I'm just mad at everything with wings. I stand up (literally and figuratively) to the rude jerk turkey under the table and try a few things to get him to go away. For example, I leaned in and screamed NO into his face. This was ineffective. So, I stepped towards him and then stomped my feet like a big, whiny baby. I'm not ashamed. He took a few steps in the right direction and I felt cautiously pleased. I remained standing because I felt stark terror. But, whatever. And then, the bird attacked again. We were all screaming again and trying to slap and punch and get that bird away, all while holding our sandwiches with death grips. This is bad for sandwiches, by the way, but so are attack birds.

About this time, some rogue dirty turkey runs up and chases our 1st turkey right into the bushes near us. Who knows what that was about. Both turkeys mostly wander off after that, but the area near the bushes catches my eye because, well 2 turkeys in a bush is a lot of commotion. (I tried to come up with some 2 turkeys in the bush is better than ____ in the hand or sky or wherever the other thing is, but couldn't). I noticed a soda can top laying on the ground and bend down to pick it up, because, you know, I wouldn't want a bird to eat it and get hurt. This is true, albeit completely illogical. I get it. So there I am, bent over, hand out to pick up the top when I see a snake. The good times are rollin' now!

You might think I would do something ridiculous, based on my behavior the last 15 minutes, but instead I said, "Well, there's a snake." Jason and Karen got up to take a peek, from a distance, but it had moved back into a rocky area. Jason was able to take a couple of photos that we later used to identify it when we found a park ranger. First, the ranger assured us that in Lambington, they only have 8 of the 10 most deadly snakes in Australia. Isn't that nice? And then, he informed us that our snake was one of the 8 -- the death adder. Well. Awesome. I saw a death snake! BOOM! Am I an adventurer or what?

Having survived being assaulted by wild birds, turkeys and a death adder, we were ready for our long hike into the rain forest. Surely, nothing bad would happen then.

Truth is -- it was a stunningly gorgeous hike through tall, thick trees with lots of interesting nature sounds and no horrifying spiders or snakes were seen at any time. It was a long hike downhill the first hour and, as you could imagine, uphill the second hour. The middle was a beautiful waterfall. We could have gone a bit farther to a larger fall, but felt we needed to head back because we still had the 2 hour drive home.

It was a great day and I really enjoyed getting the extra time to talk with Karen. We're alike in many ways -- both see friends as family, have a desire to travel and live all over the world. I'm so thankful for the chance to get to know her better.

We stayed in that night as they needed to pack up. Even so, Karen made us dinner -- spicy jackfruit tacos, which were really yummy!

They left the next morning pretty early and we had the place to ourselves for 2 full days. More on that and our 2 days in Waikiki next:)

Random Memories, Take 2, Mostly: Boat Life

Ok, I came up with another list of short stories I need to capture before concluding with our final week in Australia! Hang in thereJ

So, our first morning waking up on Hamilton Island at the Great Barrier Reef, we went to talk to a dive master and this is how we learned about the real bad conditions under and on the water. I was quickly realizing I wasn’t going to get to see much under the sea/ I had a decision to make. How would I deal with this? Immediately, I knew I was totally ok. A bummer to be sure, but I’m still there standing in front of the great barrier reef! This is STILL amazing! We were walking on the beach just enjoying the interesting shells and rocks and I was just feeling so thankful and happy, and then I saw a heart shaped rock sitting all by itself, just waiting for me to see it. I accepted it as a gift:)  We did later go ahead and do some snorkeling, but the conditions were probably the worst I’ve ever been in. And, that’s ok. 

The cruise director was a young guy named Andy who was really cool. We watched him stay totally calm and positive while people complained about the most absurd things you can imagine. At our final sip and savor with only 1 or 2 nights left on the boat, we caught him during a relatively quite moment and he started telling us some even better stories. The absolute best had to be the guy who, 2 days into a 42 day journey, complained that he didn’t like his cabin layout and asked Andy to swap the bathroom and the bed so the arrangement would be more pleasing. I told him about the lady I stood in line behind who threw her head down on the excursion desk when she heard the ferry would cost $2 each way and wailed, “what am I, rich!?!?!?!”

Jason is much more of a TV person than I am. In fact, had he not been with me, I likely never would have turned it on a single time. He’s the kind of person who turns it on the moment we return to the cabin, even if not really intending to watch anything. Because of this, we had 31 days to hear south pacific commercials. Day 1, we saw this soccer commercial about the Road to the Russian Cup. This is not terrible because the stupid commercial had the catchiest song ever. From there on, we must have heard it 5+ times a day and we always had to stop and head bob to it. On our last day, I recorded a video of it so we can hear it again later;)

There was a piano bar on the boat that I wanted to go to every day but often couldn’t stay awake long enough. We eventually made it 3-4 times. One such time, it was a shout out a request session. The pianist had provided a long list of songs he knew. A couple sitting in front of us did 2 things quite quickly: dominate the song requesting and really annoy us. After the lady requested about 5 in a row, she then requested Lady in Red. Sigh. Now, listen. I love 80s slow songs as much as the next person and I even love this song, but one guaranteed way to kill the crowd in a piano bar is sing back to back to back slow songs.  Anyway, somehow after this song, a conversation breaks out across the bar. A random lady yells out, “Who sings that song?” The song requester hoarder yells back, “Chris DeBurg!” Question asker, “Oh, Who’s that?” Hoarder Face Rude Lips, “Chris deBurg? OMG!!! I love Chris DeBurg! I’m like totally his biggest fan!” About this time, I lean over to Jason and whisper, “This can’t be happening because there are no Chris DeBurg fans and he only ever had one song” About that time, Question lady pipes up again (sigh) and yells, “Oh yeah? What else has he done?” Chris DeBurg’s biggest fan, “OMG! Well, um, gosh (grabs head with both hands while pondering deeply) OMG, well, wow, I can’t think of anything else”  Me: smiles knowingly Jason: orders a double Crown, no ice. 

There was always live music at night across the boat. I wish I was more of a night person because I absolutely LOVE listening to live music and rarely are bands sitting around at 3PM playing. Anyway, there was a duo called Adagio who played several shows a night in the lounge next to the art gallery. The duo was one pianist and one violinist. They were quiet good. That said, we started a game where every  time we’d walk by, we would count the number of people who were asleep “watching” the show. I can fall asleep with the best of them and that music could certainly help me, but I really didn’t get why this happened night after night. If you are going to nod off in the middle of a performance, get up and go to your cabin! So rude!!  

We started a nightly tradition of writing praise cards to the staff. We went to a coffee chat with the staff one morning, and I asked the hotel director how the staff and crew got rewarded for great service. We loved her answers and after that we endeavored to turn in a card every day with praise for at least one crew member. We didn’t always get this done, but we tried! And let me tell you – boy did they appreciate it. Turns out, when we turned in our cards, they were called into their boss’s office, shown our praise notes and given their appropriate rewards/ Consequently, they were so happy when they saw us again! Pulling us aside to say thanks and let us know how much it meant. I loved seeing this go full circle so quickly and love a management philosophy of rewarding and acknowledging your teams for a job well done.

So, I’ve mentioned that we attended ALL the art sessions, lectures, auctions, games, etc. I still can’t believe that really happened. Anyway, at the auctions, there were always several ways to win things in addition to being able to bid on art, of course. We got really good at winning. There was a “loud” prize – Shocker, but we won that sucker a few times;)  The prize was a bottle of (great) French champagne/ Jason has the quickest arm I’ve ever seen and always managed to fling his bid card in the air before absolutely everyone else for another contest/ This lead to us winning 4 or 5 pieces of art. As a stark comparison, when I was holding the bid card, I would hear the cue given and sit there like a lump. Jason would look at me and say, “really?” and only then would I realize I didn’t put my bid card up. We all have our strengths. 

I love learning about various places and things from fellow travelers. One night at a wine dinner, Karen was telling us about her trip to Cuba. Oh man, was that ever fascinating. I can’t remember how she met a local Cuban, but she did. When she was ready to go down and visit, he asked if she would bring some things. I remember that she brought coffee and cash – there was something else but I can’t recall what now. So, she goes out on this tour with a local who eventually tells her the truth about what it is like to live there. He tells her of having a separate monetary system for locals which prohibits them from even shopping in certain places. Visitors would use a different currency and shop in different stores so they wouldn’t even see the conditions or rations that were forced onto the locals. They aren’t allowed to buy even their delicious coffee! Instead, they have a ration of something else that was described as a watered down, weak chicory. They were so excited with the things Karen brought them. Also interesting that the government had no worries about her bringing all the stuff in. 

Random Observations on Aussies and their Way of Life

Ok, I remembered a few stories to catch up on before wrapping up the week in Brisbane:

 One morning at breakfast in Hamilton Island, we saw a cockatoo land on some dude’s table and steal a large ham and cheese croissant right off his plate and then fly away/ And then a great chase began with all the other birds chasing the croissant wielding cockatoo here and there/ Man, he had a death grip on that thing/ I’m not sure if he ever got to eat it or had to just keep flying/

 We have really enjoyed watching the spirit of play in Australia/ This comes out in a lot of ways, but in particular, the incredible playgrounds and parks and fun things for kids/ They are really outstanding! I’ve never seen anything like it in the states/ Also, serious kudos to Aussie dads – they seem to be very hands on and playful with the kids/ We saw a dad and son hopping like a kangaroo in the  yogurt aisle at the grocery store/ Another playing tag in an open area in an airport/ AND, don’t get me started on the dads in the pools with the kids! Holy cow! Almost exclusively it was the dads in the water playing and having fun with the kids/

 In general, the kids seem very well behaved and totally chill/ I have to think the time to play and run helps extensively with this/ Also, the adults are attentive and interacting with them/ We didn’t see a single melt down, temper tantrum, etc/ Now, do I think this doesn’t happen? Of course not! But it is sure worth pointing out that after so much time in public down under we didn’t see it even a single time/

 Australians and New Zealanders are so interested in Americans (and possibly other tourists, I don’t know)/ They would stop what they were doing to talk to us at length about where we were from, what we were doing, how we were liking it/ If we happened to mention liking a town they were from, they were genuinely proud and said that made them happy to hear/ I’m not kidding – this happened everywhere/ Even the postal worker stopped the line to chat with us/ The bottle shop worker wanted to know if we liked Trump Airline stewards wanted to know what we thought about their wine country/ It made us feel famous!

 Coffee/ I know/ I’ve talked a lot about the coffee, but there is so much more wrapped up in this/ First, it really is true that every cup of coffee is hand made at the time you order it/ Imagine if every place was starbucks, but the coffee actually was delicious (not sorry, hate that bitter, burnt coffee)/ Know why else this matters? Because people wait patiently for their coffee, sometimes for quite a long time/ And they don’t mumble under their breath or zone out into their phones/ Know what they do? Talk to other people waiting/ Pet the cute dogs who came along for a walk (dogs are often allowed in shops and restaurants) They just relax and patiently wait for really good coffee/ We sat at breakfast the other morning and it was very busy and backed up/ I saw people stand and wait at least 20 minutes/ They seemed totally unfazed/ This relaxed vibe is AWESOME!

 People seem to like their jobs/ And, honestly, I’m not so sure if that’s the best way to phrase it/the truth, as much as it is that the quality of life and the spirit of wellness is so strong that everything is in balance/ We met a barista who loved her job and was so proud of it that she was beaming telling us about it/ How great is that? The tour guides we met were happy and loved their jobs/

 Part of the relaxed vibe in public places is that people work for living wages and not tips/ This eliminated the urgency to get people in and out quickly/ Sure, you could see this could backfire – and yet, it doesn’t seem to/ The waitstaff don’t mind if you linger for an hour after the meal and just drink water They remain kind and attentive/ It’s nice/ When you are ready to go, you just go up to the counter and pay and leave/

 People really do say mate, good on you, jolly good, cheers – didn’t hear anyone say g’day mate, though

 The most common greeting is “How are you going?” This messes with my brain, which tries to parse it into either, “How’s it going?” or “How are you doing?” How are you going seems so technical to me/ Like should I answer with my mode of transportation? I’m going by bus, thank you! Mostly, I just lock up and say nothing because I can’t come up with something/ I think I finally started saying “good” which I think works no matter what/

 There aren’t many Aussie specific meals/ Now, at breakfast, a typical Aussie meal would be scrambled eggs, mushrooms, and a grilled tomato/ They are also known for meat pies, which I think would be more of a lunch or dinner option/ Jason had a breakfast one in Brisbane and we shared a lunch one on our kayaking adventure/ They are like mini, personalized pot pies you can eat with your hands/

 Not a lot of sarcasm around here/ In fact, not sure I heard a single Aussie or Kiwi be sarcastic much at all/ This isn’t to say they don’t have good senses of humor – because they sure do!

More soon! Just wanted to capture these things in one spot because they don’t really fit in my linear blog/

Is this Heaven? Great Barrier Reef!

So, a domestic flight within Australia is such a lovely walk in the park as far as air travel goes! They wouldn’t have even asked for id I don’t think but we had to check a bag and didn’t have a boarding pass yet so we had to give it then/

We went to the Adelaide airport Quantas lounge and it was awesome – such a huge space! And almost no one in it/ But you know there were baristas waiting to make amazing coffee/ I love these people/ We charged everything up while sipping delicious free wine and relaxing in the comfy chairs in the quiet space – airport lounges are really worth the money, in my opinion/ We’ve been able to get in all these because we’re flying first class (for free, remember, on points) and business or first class tickets get you an entry to the lounge or club pre-flight/ Back home, we get access to American Airlines clubs because of my airline status/ Super great perk if you travel a lot, which is a synonym for sitting around an airport a lot/ And btw—Sydney put the fear in my heart so I didn’t wear my dang flip flops lest I be denied entry;)

And then, we were off to Brisbane, the city that continuously attempted to derail our trip during the arduous planning stage/ Jason has friends from the Fidelity days who have been living in Brisbane for the last year—they are lovely people (though, I’d only meet them as a couple 1 time at their legendary Christmas party, and Karen one quick happy hour while she was stateside) – they offered us their place to stay while we were in town/ So incredibly nice! Of course, to know Jason is to love him, so I wasn’t surprised they love him

But, back to the derailment attempt – knowing we wanted to come to Brisbane based on Karen’s description and offer—we kept trying to work the rest of the trip around it/ And, it never worked/ It was always the spot where the whole thing, well, derailed / I’m not kidding when I say we spent almost 9 months planning this trip/ Somewhere in there, Jason said, “Maybe we should ask a travel agent/” HA! I scoffed/ Please/ And then Brisbane and the international date line tried to kill me/ But,  if you know me you know I am persistent to an annoying degree and by golly, I WAS going to find a way to make it work and make it work for free/ BOOM!

All that to say, Brisbane had some hype to live up to:)

When we landed, we were to meet Karen in baggage claim—we hoped that worked because we couldn’t call or text/ Get this – our bag was the first one off! Off to a great start!

And, there was Karen walking up! We were really early so Steve had dropped her off and was taking a lap/ We headed home to their awesome apartment overlooking the Brisbane River/ It was really close to downtown and the airport/ I believe when we walked in the door and I saw the floor to ceiling windows and sliding glass doors  and the river beyond them I said something lovely and eloquent like, “Shut your mouth!”

Karen had made us a “booking” for a Turkish restaurant that night—to get there, we took a ferry down the river, which was an easy walk to the dock from the apartment (you KNOW I was loving that)/ The ferry cost something like 3 or 4 australian for 2 hours of cruising and on and offing/ We hopped off down in South Bank, which looked to be the heart of downtown/ This is the stop Steve uses for work/ Riding the ferry to work! What a dream!

We wandered around alongside the waterfront – it was awesome! There were large pools and “beaches” where you could come swim and hangout (FREE) the best most awesome looking playgrounds ever, people all over hanging out, being outside, families and friends/ Lovely/ On Friday and Saturdays, there is a community market on the street behind all the restaurants – we walked around that admiring all the stuff/ Dinner at the Turkish place was SO delicious – it’s been awhile since I’d been to a Turkish place/ There used to be this little place in Redwood City where I’d been with Sara back in my Belmont days in the Bay Area/ Now, Karen has recently become a vegan but Jason, Steve and I were ready to eat lamb, chicken and beef and ultimately we got one of everything and shared – so so good!

It starting raining a bit at dinner – we were sitting outside but didn’t have to move back or anything/ It was nice/ afterward, we decided to take an uber back rather than the bus or a ferry because of the rain / So, a word on public transportation—everyone uses it/ It isn’t sketchy or scary or gross/ You also know I LOVE this/ Oh I how wish we had public transportation like this back home/ Steve takes the bus or the ferry to work almost every day and Karen almost never drives period/ Around their particular neighborhood of Brisbane, New Farm, you can walk everywhere/

We finished night one hanging at the apartment, sitting on the balcony, and talking/ Loved every minute of it/ Steve and I are the early to bed, early to risers so we left Karen and Jason up talking (which became a trend!)

The next morning, we walked to get a coffee at Steve’s favorite place. It’s maybe a 5 minute walk and a great way to get the day going. The coffee shop was right at a bus stop – Jason commented on how brilliant that was/ I said, we need to open a coffee stop back home called the Bus Stop/ We had some breakfast back at the apartment. One thing about changing hemispheres is that we can have summer fresh fruits and veggies all year! Karen made me some AWESOME avocado toast with fresh tomato/ So good.

We didn’t have much time that day because we were flying up the Great Barrier Reef! OMG! Think you’ve seen me be excited before? Holy SMOKES! THE GREAT BARRIER REEF.

Karen and Steve took us to the airport and we (you know this is coming) chilled out in the lounge/ Finally, it was time! So, another interesting note here on Australian flight boarding practices—you just never know what is going to happen, but what will happen will not resemble what you “know” from back home/ In one airport, they wouldn’t put the gate number on the screens until it was time to board – this is so brilliant! You don’t get the backlog of people standing around blocking everything!! When you do get to the gate, it’s time to get on the plane/ Pretty clever/ The signs even say “relax” so you can stay wherever you are, enjoying life, until the moment it is time to do something else/ So Australian.

Boarding the plane was very Roatanian/ We walked out onto the Tarmac and up the stairs/ Yay! That’s a signal to me that awesome things are coming/The plane was small and not even half full, so we spread out/ Interestingly, it was a Quantas flight but all different – there was no first class or biz class—there was free lunch for all but no alcohol/ We thought that was odd for going to a tropical vacation spot so we asked and they said we serve free alcohol but after 3/ We later found out they don’t have any flights after 3;)

So, here comes the moment I was waiting for—flying over the reef! WHOA! I was totally in heaven/ The colors of blues and greens! Hundreds (it seemed) little island sprinkled all over/ If only random sea creatures had started jumping out of the water to some rock opera – just kidding, it was perfect and incredible and lovely and I couldn’t wait to get on the ground! The landing was a bit bumpy because it was very windy but whatever – GREAT BARRIER REEF!

Now, the great barrier reef is HUGE – like geographically enormous  -- pick a spot to visit? How? Geez! Thankfully, Karen to the rescue! She told us about the Whitsunday Islands and highly recommended them/ Good enough for me! We found Hamilton Island, which you can fly directly (non-stop) to and stay on/ Perfect! Now, we were both so busy prior to sabbatical that we in no way did any research or planning beyond making flight reservations and hotel accommodations/ Seriously/ Duh/ Had we done so, we would have realized that the entire island was like one solid resort – you can go and do anything anywhere and put it on the room – you can rent a golf cart at the airport and drive it to lunch, your hotel, the bar, whatever/

But, there we were with zero information We got a free bus to the hotel because it was somehow a part of the deal—rock on! The hotel was awesome – we had a lovely room overlooking the reef with a huge balcony and lots of warnings against leaving the doors open because the cockatoos would blast in and ruin your life/ Damn! Wild cockatoos!  I hate birds but I like tropical birds, I think/ Maybe because they aren’t really around much?

Now listen – I’m a diver and a life long ocean lover/ And I’m in the great barrier reef/ And suddenly, I honestly feel like I don’t care what happens/ I’m happy no matter what/ It’s a good thing that I think this, as things turn out, because the great barrier reef decided to “spur” in the 3 days we were there, which is an organic process where the coral fissures itself (is that a phrase?) in order to “spur” regrowth/ Wow! That’s incredible! This also means that the whole sea ends up looking like someone with fins has kicked up all the sand/ In other words – lights out/ In addition, the wind kicked up so much that they cancelled all the tours to Whitehaven Beach (the infamous white sand beach you’ve seen and didn’t know what it was) and all the on top of water tours (fishing, sailing, etc) And, I was ok/ I still felt so lucky, so blessed, so amazed to be there/ I felt no loss/

So, we did different things – we sat at the pool (we NEVER do this), we played mini golf, we walked the beach, we walked to the marina, we ate pizza, we played foosball/ What an incredible spot! A dream come true with kids – they could safely run the island having fun and playing and meet back up with you later and you would have no worries/ So much fun/ Everyone was so chill and happy and calm/ A place of dreams/

We did go snorkeling and saw a few things but really couldn’t see much/ And, I didn’t care at all/ I know of all the coral and fish and creatures and I love them all/ I swam with them whether I could see them or not/ Totally content and happy/

In retrospect, I would have rented a golf cart! What an amazing spot! Please go here if you can/ At the end of the time, we walked to the airport/ Did you catch that? We WALKED TO THE AIRPORT!

Is this heaven?

Home of the Reds! Adelaide, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley

OK, so – this is a good time to bring up flying in NZ or AUS, since we flew from Auckland to Adelaide, clearing customs in Sydney/ We’ve obviously gotten quite used to air travel in the US and all its many idiosyncrasies/ Suddenly, it’s a whole new world/

In Auckland, we walk straight through security with a basic x-ray machine/ Didn’t have to take anything off/ Only thing they wanted pulled out of carry on bags were laptops/ Super easy and fast/ In Sydney, we had to clear customs and immigration, change terminals to domestic and go through security again/ We completed the customs paperwork, which they didn’t even look at and walked right through/ They had automated passport machines which took our picture and matched it to our passports/ We didn’t have to talk to a single person/ This is only a bummer because we still, after 46 days of traveling in numerous countries, haven’t gotten a single passport stamp/ I mean seriously/
While I greatly appreciate the easy breezy security process – including, gasp! Walking through with a bottle of water or bottles of wine, one HUGE thing stood out – we had no idea what to do or where to go and no one was standing  around screaming at us/ If you haven’t traveled internationally and reentered the US lately, let me tell you, there is a lot of constant yelling/ Do this/ Don’t do that/ Go here/ Stop that/ OVER HERE! It makes me want to gouge my own eyes out/ I really hate it/ HOWEVER, standing in a long hallway in Sydney trying to figure out what to do or where to go, I thought, well – at least in all that yelling, you know what to do! ;) We got over to this waiting area where we thought we needed to catch a bus to the domestic terminal/ There was no one there and there were no signs/ We sat there for about 10 minutes and then started to get nervous/ As it turns out, we were in the right spot somehow but man that confirmation would have been some good peace of mind since we really needed to make that connection! 

In Australia, we also didn’t have to take anything off and it was just x-ray machines but this time we had to remove aerosols/ Fascinating/ We had one sunscreen spray so that was easy enough/ Walked on through with my water bottle like a boss! You can also hand carry up to 3 bottles of wine per person as part of your carry on allowance/ Dude/ As I stood there delighted with the easy security Jason pointed out, "well sure, no one wants to kill these guys" Wow -- that drove it home/

So, the other interesting thing about Sydney – we are traveling first class so we can go to the Quantas first class lounge (or the biz class lounge)/ We only had about 20 minutes but it was right near our gate, so we thought we’d run in and check it out and grab a glass of water/ We came to the biz lounge first and they directed us to the first class lounge/ Ok, fine/ We get there and hand them our tickets to confirm we can enter and the desk clerk says to me, “I’m sorry but we have quite a strict no thong policy; do you have other shoes available?” Me: dead silence and then, “Um, what?” Turns out, there is a dress code that pretty much just is you can’t wear flip flops/ Poop/ We went back to biz lounge and they wouldn’t let me in either/ Poop/ Finally, Jason went in and had a glass of water while I just stood there/ Seems so lame – most people travel as comfortably as they can these days – which doesn’t normally include carrying extra shoes so they can drink water/ That said, whatever, it was already time for our flight over to Adelaide! 

Quantas is a great airline-- we are really enjoying them/ You always get food – even in coach/ We got wonderful meals in first class and good wine/ I had some sort of grilled fish and one of the attendants made me some thyme vinaigrette for it!  The staff are super friendly and attentive/ Great to fly with/

Ok, we land in Adelaide which is a 2 ½ hour time change/ We think it is midnight because we’ve been in NZ for 2 weeks but it is only 9:30-10PM in Adelaide and the city was hopping! We grabbed a cab, which was very easy and they took credit cards/ Our driver was awesome and pointed out all kinds of things as we went—it was like a mini tour! The city was very well lit, lots of people were out walking around/ Very vibrant and safe/ I love it!

We were staying at the Playford right in the middle of the action and it was a lovely hotel! If you read many blog entries ago, you’ll recall we got to stay here for free by exchanging a time share week of Jason’s parents/ Well, ok, I think that cost about $79/ We had a gigantic suite with a kitchen, a large lounge, a full terrace with floor to ceiling doors and windows, a separate bedroom and a very large bathroom complete with a 2 person jetted tub/ The lap of luxury and it seemed incredibly HUGE compared to our small boat cabin that had been home for 31 nights/ 

 
We ordered up a bottle of wine for a nightcap while we got settled in/ One thing we learned quickly is that in Australia, room service is AMAZING/ First, there are absolutely no additional fees for it/ Back home, I can order a club sandwich and one glass of wine and it ends up being $45 or more with the room service fee, delivery fee, service charge and gratuity/ This is just the price of the food (which is exactly the same as if you were in the restaurant) and there is no tipping/ BOOM! We ended up having a later room service dinner almost every night in Adelaide because we were so worn out from long days of adventure we just didn’t want to go back out!

Speaking of no tipping – this is legit! No tipping! I mean, you can tip if you want and certainly if you get extraordinary service, but it isn’t common nor expected/ And why? Because servers make living wages here! The food costs more but you make $28+ per hour as a server/

One new thing about Adelaide that several people told us about – aborigines! Everyone told us we would likely encounter them, that they might approach us but mostly they keep to themselves/ We couldn’t figure this out at first but finally caught up/ First, there really are very few black people here/ Very few/ The aborigines are, of course, black skinned, but they live on the streets or in the parks or somewhere that we would classify as ‘homeless’/ Harmless, but curious/ Apparently, the government is having to do some sort of retribution pay or some such thing to return what was taken from them/ I’m curious to learn more when I have time to read up on it/

I will say this – Australians are such beautiful, respectful people/ When we did see an aborigine approach someone, they were treated very kindly and almost always given food or drink/ A woman came up to an area where we were sitting having breakfast one morning and the café owner came out and said to her, “hello darling, can I ask that you kindly move along so as not to disturb the patrons finishing their breakfast here?” She apologized and he touched her arm gently and told her it was alright/ She moved on/ The table of people she had approached didn’t push her away/ Rather, they stopped talking, all looked at her and listened to her/ Simple-human-kindness/ I was so sad that I was so shocked by it that I teared up/

Our first full day in Adelaide was so, so, so fun/ Remember Mark and Elizabeth from the boat? Well, this is their home and they told us to call them in the morning of day 1 and we would make plans to meet for lunch/ Jason called Mark around 8 and much to our joy, they’d planned out a whole day! They picked us up at the hotel around 10 and we went wine tasting, to a 3 course lunch at a gorgeous winery, to their house up in the hills with ocean and city views/ They even gave us 2 bottles of wine from their personal cellar! Incredible hosts/ We had so much fun exploring their city with them/ What a blessing/ We went to the Adelaide Hills area because they knew we would be exploring McLaren Vale and Barossa with tours the next 2 days/ Such a nice day and we were just overwhelmed with their generosity – even paying for our lunches/

Our days in McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley were also so much fun! Both areas are really beautiful, quiet, clean/ I’d booked our tours through a company called Cellar Door Tours (they call winery tasting rooms cellar doors here)/ The first day we lucked out and were the only 2 on the tour! So, we had Steve, the company owner, to ourselves/ He completely customized the day based on us and it was a blast/ The wines were delicious and we had a great meal at an Italian place for lunch/ We got to see a lot of animals, too – donkeys, camels, alpacas, sheep, cows, roos! It was awesome/ Steve was an awesome guide – he knew everyone everywhere we went and took us to some of his favorite places, too/

One such place was called Graham Stevens/ Graham is a 78 year old wine maker and winery owner and he is a HOOT! We had the place to ourselves and he was serving us and telling stories/ So much fun/ His personal philosophy is to make good wine that people can afford to drink/ He even had a $10 bottle/ And I’ll tell you, everything we tried was delicious/ He’s a living legend in the area and it was a delight to hang out with him for about an hour/ He makes a sparkling merlot that was just unreal/ He said, “You know what I do with this? I open one Sunday morning and make a good breakfast with eggs benedict/ And then I drink all the wine and say ‘stuff the rest of the week’”

We were talking to Steve about trying to figure out if there is a service in the area that would compile wine we liked from various wineries and ship it to us all together/ He said no, not really, but that he would do it for us because he has an international freight account/ BAM! This turned out to really be awesome over the course of 2 days because we could buy a bottle wherever we liked, add it to our collection in the van, and then just leave it for them to handle/ Awesome, awesome service/

Now, maybe you are wondering about the prices of doing this/ The wine itself is fairly priced, we think/ Everything from Graham’s $10 bottle up towards $60 or so was what we were trying/ Remember this is Australian $-- so cheaper in US/ $7 for a great bottle of red is a steal, right? But the shipping/ The truth is, it is expensive/ We asked every place we went if they distribute in the US and they all said no/ They are very small and don’t want or need to do that/ So, if we want to enjoy it again or share it with friends and family, we have to ship it/ We decided it was worth it to send 1-2 cases home/ We’re waiting for the final shipping charges but I think it’ll end up being something like $200 a case – that’s Australian/

Our second day out with Cellar Door Tours, we had a small group of 6/ 2 from Switzerland, 2 from Tasmania and, of course, us 2 from Texas/ What a group! We enjoyed each other’s company and had a good day together/ I especially enjoyed our lunch which gave us a chance to talk more/ Imagine a table of people from these various places in the world and working in these roles: a doctor, a government IT worker, a farmer, a training manager, a barista, a oil and gas pipeline worker/ All agreeing on things like how to care for the poor, how to find work life balance, how to treat people/ I LOVE conversations like that/ We are all the same at our core/ 

The Barossa didn’t disappoint/ This area produces the big reds that Australia is known for/ We were in Shiraz and Grenache heaven/ Pretty much without exception, we liked everything we tasted/ The highlight of the day was Ballycroft, a tiny little winery operating in a building next to the owner’s house/ When we got there, Bob (tour guide of the day) went to the house to get Joe (the owner) to come give us a tasting/ Joe was hilarious/ Short, spunky, vivacious man who was nothing if not passionate about creating wine he loved to drink/ And oh-by-the-way, so does everyone else it reminded us of Vokel, a Sonoma county fave/ We did our tasting in a little room in what looked like a basic barn or shop/ It was awesome/ Joe had a Tesla charging station right there in the dirt driveway that we asked about/ he said Elon Musk was in the area the week before and he installed it the night before he was supposed to stop by and then he didn’t show up/ But, he can still brag that he has the only Tesla charging station in the Barossa;) 

Our last stop of the day brought us a sparkling cabernet, which our entire group went absolutely crazy for/ I’ve just never had anything like it/ We ordered an entire case of it/ BAM!

Speaking of buying wine, I forgot to mention that in Australia, they have a tax on wine (and maybe all alcohol, not sure) that they call the “wet tax”/ It marks up the cost 30%/ Now, when you are shipping it internationally, they don’t charge you the tax/ Boom – 30% discount! Add that to the strength of the american dollar here now and you have got yourself one heck of a deal! We were able to get this deal at every single place we asked except one who refused because they weren’t direct shipping it (since Steve was going to ship it)/ We said ok, no worries, and just didn’t buy from them/ They are the only place we didn’t buy from/ When it is ALL good and every other place gives you 30% off, why would we?

One final note on the cellar door tour company – Steve couldn’t be our guide on the second day because he had been nominated for a very prestigious travel award and had to attend the black tie ceremony that night/ We found out they won! They only wine tour company to win an award throughout South Australia! That’s fun and certainly well deserved/ We also heard that our hotel won an award/ Man, we must be doing it right!

But, our time in Adelaide quickly came to an end/ We certainly feel we saw everything – the whole city down to the coast and all around the country/ We ended up walking the part we hadn’t seen yet on Saturday morning and came across an awesome market that reminded me so much of Seattle’s Pike Place market/ Shortly after, we packed up and headed to the airport for our flight to Brisbane/ We were able to enter the Quantas lounge (I wore my tennis shoes, just in case, but there wasn’t a flip flop policy)/ The lounge was HUGE and had free serve yourself everything and baristas for more of the incredibly delicious coffee!

Brisbane would be yet another very different portion of the trip – we’ll be staying with Karen and Steve, friends who used to live near us back home but who have been living here for the last year/ Can’t wait to see what comes next!