After Sydney then Queensland

Posted on October 1, 2019 by SusanG

More of the Australian adventures. Sydney was just the first 2 days.

From Sydney I caught a plane and headed up to Cairns airport in Queensland. You’ll notice, I have a few flights internal to Australia. That’s because Australia is as big as the continental United States. I would not have been able to see everything I did if I didn’t fly between places.

Cairns wasn’t my final destination in Queensland. I was headed up to Port Douglas. So after the flight I had another hour or so car ride to my hotel. Not a wasted ride though. The route we took is one of the top 10 most scenic drives in Australia.

My hotel was just a block or so from the beach and once I got settled I went and had a look. I even ate dinner at a surf club and had a lovely view of the ocean between the foliage. Not a bad start to my stay there. Port Douglas was my base for seeing the Great Barrier Reef and the tropical rain forest. Both busy days.

First up was the reef. What I didn’t know or realize is that the reef is made up of a bunch of smaller reefs. The one we went to is called Agincourt II. One thing you should know, is though I wanted to see it, I no longer snorkel. It will be very extreme circumstances that get me to do that again. Still I was going all that way and the reef is endangered so I wanted to see it. Fortunately, the tour I took had a platform with an underwater viewing area as well as a semi-submersible that took a bit of a tour of the reef away from the platform. That’s how I got my reef pictures.

We got really lucky on the reef. The trip out was smooth. The water was calm, clear, and glassy. And it was that way most of the time we were out there. The waves started picking up about a half hour before we were ready to leave so it was quite a pleasant visit. The ride back got really rough. Really rough. Several people got ill. Fortunately, I did not. I was able to use something I learned from a cruise I took many years ago. As long as I didn’t try to focus on anything, I was fine. That said, it was really rough and had it lasted too much longer even that might not have helped.

The next day was the rain forest. This consisted of a sky-rail ride up to a town called Kuranda and then a bus trip from there to a place called Rainforestation. I enjoyed the visit in the town but felt like it was too short. I would have liked a little more time to wander around. Still I managed to spend enough time there to spend some money. I got a belt, because I had neglected to pack one, some jewelry, and a box didgeridoo. Then off I went to see the rain forest and the mini zoo there. I was the only one scheduled for the zoo tour at that particular time, or at least the only one who showed up, so I got a personal tour. That was great. I saw a variety of creatures, including a crocodile, koala, and kangaroo.

I kept thinking that I’d get a little laundry in before it got really necessary but at the end of both of those days I was too beat to actually do it. I was already falling asleep by 8:00 pm both nights. A good thing because my pickup for the airport the day after the rain forest was for stupid early in the morning, and it was another hour drive back to Cairns to catch the plane to the next location.

There’s more to come. Enjoy the pictures of Queensland

  • Beach in Port Douglas Queensland
  • Coral on the Great Barrier Reef
  • A fish and some coral
  • More fish and coral
  • Coral
  • On my way to the rain forest
  • View from the sky rail on the way to the rain forest
  • Our Duck Boat puttered through that little lake
  • Fun lizard hanging out
  • Sleepy Kangaroo
  • Crocodile nap
  • A Koala and her little one
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Back From Down Under

Posted on September 24, 2019 by SusanG

I’ve returned from the trip to Australia. At least physically. I think my brain, or at least my sleep schedule might be stuck somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. The jet lag going over was pretty much a non-issue. Coming home has been another story.

Before I left, whenever I told someone where I was going they always responded with ‘take lots of pictures’. I did comply. I think. When I downloaded the pictures of the camera there were 993 and less that 10% of those were blurry or bad so I do have a lot of pictures. Some were things just I found interesting and then others were definitely of the sites.

I had hoped, and intended, to do more posting while I was in Australia. What I didn’t count on was just how tired I would be at the end of the day. So that didn’t happen. But because of all those pictures, I’ve got plenty to jog my memory and tell you about. I’m planning on breaking things up into the areas I visited so as to not cause ‘vacation photo fatigue’. I hope it works.

With that I’ll start with Sydney since that is where I started my trip.

Sydney is quite metropolitan though they ‘only’ have 5 million people. I was staying right in the CBD or Central Business District and also right on the edge of Chinatown. I have always lived in the suburbs. I’ve visited a few big cities in my life and yet nothing really prepared me for Sydney CBD. Especially on a Friday evening near Chinatown. Holy cow. That place was over the top full tilt. So many people and so much going on. I was in awe. And suffering sinus/allergy issues so all my thinking capacity was involved in finding an allergy pill and then my hotel. Which means I didn’t get pictures of what the city was like. I’m not sure it would have done the experience justice though. But wow. While in Sydney I toured the Opera House, took a boat ride through the harbor so saw the Harbor Bridge. And I had a bus tour of the city and among other things I saw Bondi Beach. So that’s what I’ve got for pictures for this post. Enjoy.

  • Sydney Harbor Bridge
  • Sydney Opera House
  • Another shot of the Sydney Harbor Bridge
  • Sydney Opera House
  • The inside of the Sydney Opera House
  • From inside the Sydney Opera House
  • Sydney Opera House from the water side
  • Seagull over Bondi Beach
  • Someone catching a wave at Bondi Beach
  • Another view of Bondi Beach. Amazing waves.
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The Australian Adventure Begins

Posted on September 5, 2019 by SusanG

In some ways I started my Australian adventure by waiting for a hurricane. Hurricane Dorian made it’s appearance and initial wrath known a few days before I was due to leave. It was horrible to watch even from a distance. You would think that because it was not likely to impact my area and because I was going to be on the other side of the world by the time it got to my area, that I wouldn’t pay it much attention. If you’ve ever encountered a hurricane that changed direction at the last moment you’ll understand. Never turn a blind eye to a hurricane.

I did make it out of the Charlotte area before Dorian even made it up to Florida, which was good news. That bad news is the Bahamas got the devil beat out of them. At this point any complaint I might have about leaving two hours late is really minor. I did have a long enough layover scheduled into the plan so that it wasn’t an issue. I was able to make my flight in LA for Sydney without issue.

LA International ticketing.

It’s been a very long time since I have seen the full size of an airport of that magnitude. The amount of walking to get from one place to another and the shear size of the ticketing area for the international terminal were a surprise for me. As I passed the ticketing area I was on a second floor and the view out over it all reminded me of something out of a sci-fi movie that was showing a galactic space port or something. Or maybe even a similar scene in a ‘Men In Black’ movie.

Aside from a delay getting out of Charlotte, the travel to Sydney was uneventful. That’s good travel as far as I’m concerned. The flight from LA was via Qantas and even in economy I felt pampered. I think they fed us about every three hours. And as it was an over night flight it was nice and dark for sleeping. It was so dark that if felt a little like we were chasing the night. I got some sleep which was a good thing. By the time I got settled my east coast body clock thought it was 2:00am. I was fortunate in that the middle seat for my row was vacant. That gave me and the lady on the aisle a little more room. She was very nice and helpful when it came to understanding what to fill in on my entry for and to getting through the initial immigration kiosk. I was a bitl leary of the whole process and very glad it went as smooth as it did.

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House from the plane as I arrived.

My arrival in Sydney coincided with their peak time. Our rush hour. It was an interesting ride and my driver was really nice, helpful and informative. Turns out the hotel I’m staying at is in Chinatown. There is a fun novelty in that. As I my room wasn’t quite ready and not really wanting to waste my time in Sydney, I’m only here a couple of days, I headed out towards the Opera House. The desk clerk provided me with directions and a map of sorts and off I went. To be sure, on my way there, I was too overwhelmed, a bit out of place, and probably still tired, so taking in everything and not getting run over as I crossed streets were challenges.

First view of the Opera House from the ground.

The walk was farther than I expected but then I really didn’t have any way of guaging how far that was going to be and since I have little practice with metric, trying to understand how far it really was if someone had said it was X kilometers wasn’t going to help. I knew though, that I was going to be there in plenty time to meet my afternoon tour of the Sydney Opera House. I was in fact quite early so I walked around the entire area and took pictures and sent a couple of messages off to people in the states. I had a bite and a coffee and a harbourside cafe and saw wild Lorikeets hanging out in the umbrellas looking for hand outs. And I sat on the steps of the Opera House and watched groups of school children coming in for a tour or to participate in a program for the school children.

Sydney Harbour Bridge. No. I did not climb it.

The tour of the Opera House was great. There are 6 or 7 theatres and we saw 3 of them. We got to see the main concert hall which I was really pleased with. The history of it being built and the controversy around it was interesting. The tour I was on was a small one, there were 3 of us not including the guide. And it turns out for some reason they are having quite a slow season. Something the guide said is very unusual. It was nie for us because with it being small it made it easy to ask questions and to get around. I came to Sydney specifically because I wanted to see the Opera House. A friend I texted with said something to the effect of ‘How could you go to Australia and not see the Opera House?’ To which I replied that ‘I couldn’t’.

And a Chocolate Cafe just for my sister.

While I was walking around near the harbour and the Opera House I found a cafe for my sister. She’s a fan of chocolate so to come across a Chocolate Cafe was fun.

Next up is a harbour tour boat ride today. It’s about half the day and I’ll be walking to it. It doesn’t look to be as far a walk as yesterday so that’s a good thing. Then tomorrow I get on a plane and head up to Cairns for a couple of full days.

Here’s some pictures of the adventure so far.

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A Little Play Time

Posted on August 28, 2019 by SusanG

I got some play time this week. It was great. And it gave me a chance to test a theory as well as fix something that was bothering me a little. I haven’t had that in quite a while. So I’m going to start there.

I haven’t been playing my Telecaster much because at some point I realized my back wasn’t happy about it. I’m not sure if it’s the weight or the way the body is made, or if my back is just being fussy. Which is always a possibility. Instead, I’ve started playing my Stratocaster more. It doesn’t upset my back. Maybe it’s a little lighter, and maybe the contouring in the body helps. I’m small, it’s possible it has a bigger impact than I realized. The thing is, I prefer the sound of my Telecaster. For a couple of reasons. To me the Telecaster has an innately punchier and more aggressive sound. It’s got a little bit of a boost now that I’ve changed the strings on it from the factory installed strings to DR Pure Blues strings and I’ve gone up a gauge to 10’s instead of 9’s. The native sound of the Telecaster combined with those strings makes for a sound I can really get into. So it’s frustrating that I can’t play it for long.

The Stratocaster, as I’ve been playing it, still had the factory installed strings on it and they were 9’s. It said so in the manual. And to me it sounded a bit thin and tinny. It plays nice, and it’s comfortable it just didn’t get quite enough punch for me. I’d been thinking that I would change out the strings when I get back from my trip since they are probably due and I want to see how the DR Pure Blues will sound.

The Stratocaster.

After I spent a little time playing the Telecaster, until my back started to complain, I played the Stratocaster for a while. There was a Jam this weekend and I still felt a little like playing, especially now that I could relax and not worry about if I lost track of time. So I played for a while. And then I decided I really wanted to hear the DR Pure Blues on the Strat. I just had to see if the heavier gauge strings and the different type of string would make a difference. Oh boy! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Yep. That does it. That’s got so much more depth and beef to it. I played a little after I got the new strings on the Strat and then stopped so I could do a few other things. Like write this. I’m excited to get to playing and to practicing again.

I’m not abandoning the Telecaster or anything like that. I’m still going to play it, just not quite as often for now.

There was a Blues Jam this weekend. I went. I played. I had a good time. I did not take video. Which means I was really pleased with some of my leads (solos). They came out really well. And my co-worker/friend/fellow jammer had praise for them the next day when I was talking to him about the night. Now I wish I’d taken video. Oh well.

Some very fine musicians that DO NOT engage in crazy antics.

One of the things I got to watch at this jam was someone who, is a fine guitarist. Quite good actually. You might never realize it because of the antics he engages in. I’m certain, when he’s playing with his own band it’s all part of the show. And that’s fine. But one of the things I like about the Blues Jam is getting to watch the other guitarist play and hear how they phrase things and how they get to certain sounds or feelings. There are even a few that when I am getting video, I make a point of recording their set just to have it to review sometime later. When someone is jumping all over the place and running around, it’s hard to follow what they are doing. Not only does it spoil the set for me, I also think that it disrespects the other musicians that are on stage.

Now, good news. I have one set of videos edited and will start getting those posted in the next day or so. I still have the other set to edit yet. But it looks like I will be able to get everything up before the big trip. Which is just about a week away. Oh dang! Is it time to panic yet?

Blues Jammers!

As with any long vacation there is plenty to do leading up to it. I have a few things at the day job that I have to get done before I go. And of course there are all the final details to get sorted. I’ve got people lined up to keep an eye on things and to water Groot. I’ve got my ride all sorted. And I’ve figured out what I’m packing. Next up is making the list of information for people while I’m gone. You know, contact information and notes on things to worry about, or not. That sort of list. It’s all coming together though. And ultimately, whether it’s all done or not, I still get on a plane the day after Labor Day to take off on the biggest travel adventure I’ve ever embarked on. It’s a little mind blowing.

I took a few pictures from this most recent jam so I’ll post a couple of those for you to enjoy. I’m not in them though.

I will be trying to post a time or two, or more, while I’m traveling. It probably won’t be on any regular schedule though so check back periodically. There might even be some cool pictures.

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That Test Passed

Posted on August 25, 2019 by SusanG

The test for work was this week. I spent the bulk of the weekend and early part of the week studying. I’m really glad I did and yet, when I sat down in front of the screen and looked at the first question, then the second one, and the third one, my hopes of doing well totally sank. I felt like a deer in the headlights. Fortunately, I still passed.

Blues jammin’

This is the second of the Microsoft tests I have taken, and each one I go through, and study for I learn something different about the process. For this test which was querying databases, I read the book twice, I went through a study course but it was for the 2012 exam and I took the 2016 test which was different, only half the subject matter. I also used the same company for the practice tests that I used last year. I downloaded the database and query scripts from the book and set them up on a test server to be able to see what they would do. I even read some of the supplemental material recommended in the book. I put a significant amount of effort into studying for the test. And with all that, as I was sitting there trying to plow through the questions that were taking me longer to figure out than I had anticipated, I started feeling a little like it might be hopeless but at least I had an idea of what I would need to know. It took me the entire allotted time. It said I didn’t finish some of the questions which I can’t figure out but it doesn’t matter now. I hit the finish button, saw that score and the word “Passed” and nearly cried in relief. It was a challenging test.

Finishing that test closes out a year with a few ups and a lot of downs. Since this time last year I’ve had four deaths to deal with, a friend having to move away, a broken foot, a pulled joint in my back, a new relationship and the end of that relationship, a black belt test, and the work test. It’s been a couple of days and I think the impact of all of that is finally starting to hit. As I was thinking about that the other day it occurred to me that I planned my big trip for just the right time. All of that is behind me and a fresh new year is in front of me. I’m starting it off with a big adventure and some great memories. I hope that means this next year will be full of more ups than downs.

Blues jammers

I still have a bunch of things to get in order before I leave and I have just about a week to do that in. I’m going to get to one more Blues Jam before I go. I even got a little practice time in, and I hope to get a little more before the jam. I have finally watched the video of most of the sets I played at the last jam and it’s better than I remembered in some cases and as bad as I thought in others. I’m still planning on getting all of that edited and posted before I go. And hopefully I’ll be able to get the video from this next jam posted as well.

I’m taking a tablet with the hopes of getting an article or two posted while I’m away. I’ve been told by more than a dozen people to take pictures. So I should have some to share, and maybe even while I’m there. I had someone tell me last night to be sure to do some shopping while I’m there so that in five years when someone says ‘Oh what a lovely….’ I can say ‘Thank you, I got that on my trip to Australia’. And I think he’s right. So I will be sure to do that. I have no idea what that ‘lovely’ will be at this point but I’ll be keeping my eye out for just the right thing.

My messy desk which won’t get tackled this vacation.

I don’t really have any pictures to share this week so I’ll post a few more from the last jam.

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