Mastania 2013

Having caught a bad case of the travel bug on our US trip, staying at home for the holidays has become unthinkable and so we made a last minute decision to travel over the seas to Tasmania for a few days.

I last traveled on the Bass Strait ferry back in the 80s but Geoff and Taine had never taken the voyage so we decided it would be fun but reasonably affordable adventure to tick off our travel bucket list. The beauty of the ferry of course, is that you can take your own car so you don't have the hassles of deciding what can and cannot fit in your baggage allowance! It also allowed us to throw our bikes on the back of the car in the hope that we might get some exercise as well.

The queue for the ferry is quite similar to a Disney attraction queue. When you arrive at Station Pier it looks like you are about to drive straight on the boat ( like the ads on TV) but in fact the first check point is just the beginning of a a winding route to the three lines of waiting cars at the garage bay. Although check in begins 2 hours before sailing, they don't actually start loading till about 45 minutes before, so there's a fair bit of sitting in your car waiting.

Deckside on the Spirit

The cabins on board are functional but tiny. Thankfully we only took a little bag with our toothbrushes and clean undies from the car because there is no room for storage in the cabins. Food choices on board are pretty limited and expensive. You can dine very expensively at the a la carte restaurant or fill a plate for $30 at the buffet. Cheapskates that we are, we made do with a couple of bags of chips and a bottle of wine from the bar!

We were blessed with beautiful, calm weather for our crossing. The sunset over the Westgate was pretty and the hum of the engines made for a fairly good sleep. Our trip coincided with the end of Daylight Saving but we forgot to change Taine's watch so he woke us in a panic at 5am, worried that we'd missed the 6am wake up call! Needless to say we were well and truly awake and ready to leave when our 6.30 disembarkation call came.

Luke warm coffee at Maccas put us in the mood for real food so we stopped at the supermarket in Devenport to stock up on food for our 5 day road trip (another bonus of having the car with you!). Having toured down the Tamar Valley and Hobart & surrounds a few years ago, we decided to devote this trip to the West Coast and set off in that direction. Our first stop was in Sheffield, a quaint little artsy crafty town about 30 minutes away. At 9am it was virtually deserted so we had a wander down the street, checking out the many murals for which the town is noted and the shops, most notably the marble shop and the lolly shop. Having made a few purchases (honey infused with Jim Beam - a dream come true), we meandered a few more kms to Tasmazia, a tourist attraction in Lower Crackpot. Tasmazia is someone's labour of love. Acres of hedged maze are dotted with quirky fairytale features and jokes handwritten on wooden boards and a whole miniature town has been painstakingly created within the maze. Taine enjoyed it but I'm afraid the grown ups found it a bit twee. A sign out the front says a South African tourist firm has listed Tasmazia in it's top 10 attractions. If this is true then I think their travel bucket has been quite limited!

Next stop was Cradle Mountain where we checked in for the night at the Discovery Holiday Park. Accommodation at Cradle Mountain is ridiculously expensive so we were happy to have a 2 room tourist cabin for $150. As a bonus, the park is just across the road from the Info centre and shuttle bus so we were easily able to get across and grab a shuttle down to Dove Lake. The views to Cradle Mountain were pretty spectacular and we did a couple of little walks around the lake before heading back to the cabin where we cooked up a yummy dinner from our supermarket supplies.

Dove Lake, Cradle Mountain

Next morning we were up bright & early to visit Devil's @ Cradle, a tasmanian devil sanctuary. The first guided tour was at 10.30 and I was glad we had timed our visit right because the ranger talk was very interesting but without it I would have felt pretty ripped off. Devils and quolls prefer the dusk and aren't very active during the day time so there's not a great deal to see. I was happy enough that our entrance fee was going toward the conservation effort though.

From Cradle Mountain we traveled down the island to Strahan, stopping off at the Rosebery Bakery for the most delicious bacon and tomato sausage roll and chocolate eclair I have ever tasted.

Strahan is like the land that time forgot, a beautiful coastal village at the mouth of the Gordon River. Again we stayed at the caravan park , choosing economy over the pricey harbourside accommodation. We were really pleased with our choice because Strahan has a great shared pathway that runs all the way from the park, around the waterfront to the other side of the harbor. Just perfect for us to ride our bikes in the unusually calm and cloudless weather. After our ride we rewarded ourselves with some ice cream from the lolly shop and watched the cray boats unload their catch on the wharf. Unfortunately, despite the hundreds of kilos of beautiful fresh crayfish caught in the harbor, it's impossible to buy fresh cray fish in Strahan. This seems quite bizarre to me!

Strahan harbour

We had set aside a whole day for the Gordon River cruise and we weren't disappointed. We bought discounted tickets on the Spirit and based on TA reviews just took the cheapest option of downstairs seats. I'm so glad we did because once on board you are allowed to roam free on the boat so I couldn't see any benefit in paying for the gold class, top deck seats. The cruise took us out through 'Hell's Gates', the narrow entrance to the harbour and because it was such a calm day we were able to travel quite some distance out into the sea. We did the whole 'King of the World' thing at the front of the boat and even though it was so calm the sea breeze was enough to blow all the cob webs away. From there it was off to Sarah Island, the site of Tassie's first penal colony. This is a fascinating place, full of history and great stories about the inhabitants. Very little remains of the penal colony itself and on such a beautiful day it seemed more like an island paradise than a gaol so it was lucky there were tour guides available to tell us what really went on.

Sarah Island

Back on the boat a sumptuous buffet lunch was served as we glided down the pristine Gordon River. There was an abundance of food, including locally produced salmon and camembert. Yum! A short walk through the rain forest and a very informative talk about Huon Pine helped to put us in a very relaxed mood for the return voyage.

We were back on dry land at 3 o'clock in time for another ride/walk to a Hogarth Falls near the People's Park before going to 'The Ship that Never Was', an hilarious, interactive performance near the info centre.

Taine getting into the act at 'The Ship that Never was.

We were on the road fairly early the next morning to negotiate the long and winding road to Stanley. Foolishly, we took Google Maps first suggestion for our route back up the island. It took us on a much windier, slower road than we'd come down and worse still, it by passed Rosebery so I missed a repeat purchase of their yummy food! In fact, we drove over 130kms without spotting another living soul, finally arriving in beautiful Stanley mid afternoon. Thankfully there was still enough daylight for us to take the chairlift up the Nut and do the 2km walk around the summit. This provides magnificent views of the ocean and the town. My terror of going down the chair lift won out over walking down the path but my calves were screaming by the time we reached the bottom! For dinner we chose the local hotel bistro. The food was ok but not startling and a little over priced for pub fare. We stayed at the holiday park, perfectly situated at the base of the town in walking distance to everything.

View from the Nut

On our last morning in the Apple Isle we rode our bikes down to the Stanley Wharf. It was like a picture postcard. We visited the Seaquarium, which was vaguely interesting and then hooked the bikes back on the car to head back to Devonport for our 7pm sailing. On our way out we drove up the hill to a honey farm honesty box where I picked up a huge tub of Manuka honey for $20. We drove back along the coast that is dotted with beautiful little bays and tiny fishing villages. Unfortunately, one of them was so beautiful we felt compelled to stop and wander over the rock pools. I say unfortunately because I lost my footing and landed heavily in the rocks, smashing my elbow and submerging my beloved Canon dslr in the process. It was a painful end to an otherwise relaxing and stress free holiday.

Stanley Wharf

I should have kept my distance from these rocks!

With any further physical activity ruled out we stopped at The Makers in Burnie to check out the crafty stuff and eat lunch. I was pretty underwhelmed by the crafts on offer although the paper making was fascinating. We bought a huge bag full of Tasmanian cheeses to take home and then wandered around the shops in Devonport until it was time to re board the Spirit.

Once again we had mill pond conditions for our voyage and arrived back well rested, just in time for a spectacular 6am sunrise in Melbourne.

From sea to shining sea

From sea to shining sea went we....

In 54, days, hardly stopping for breath, we traveled 30,000 miles (see, I'm measuring like an American now!)

Texas- Arkansas- Mississippi- Tennessee- Louisiana- Florida- Maryland- Virginia- Massachusetts- Connecticut- New York- Arizona- Nevada- California.

Dallas

From the subway to the sky, we traveled by plane, car, bus, train, trolley, ferry, airboat, bicycle and foot.
From Venice Beach in Florida, across the country to Venice Beach in California
From the Southernmost point of the USA at 0 ft above sea level to the Grand Canyon at 7000ft
From the density of Manhattan to the emptiness of the Mojave Desert
From the mania of the Interstate to the tranquility of the Natchez Trace Parkway

Along Beale St, Bourbon St , Duval St, Times Square, Hollywood Boulevard and Rodeo Drive.

We're fatter but fitter than we've ever been. Geoff ran through the streets of Austin, down the Riverwalk of New Orleans, along the Southerly border of Key West, through Disneyworld in Orlando, around the National Mall in Washington and Central Park in New York (and he hiked the Grand Canyon with Sophie!).
We walked the length of the Brooklyn Bridge and the breadth of Disneyworld, Disneyland and Manhattan.

Washington war memorial

We ate alligator and pulled pork, po'boys, sloppy joes, grits, collard greens, plantain, fried green beans, queso, key lime pie, lots and lots of chicken fried chicken and bagels.

We drank a fair bit of iced tea, root beer, Budweiser and very cheap bourbon.

It was hot enough for me to swim (88 F in Key West) and cold enough to get Geoff out of his shorts and into his thermals (24 F at the Canyon).

We were hustled ($10 for a shoe shine in NOLA) and conned ($60 for tea leaves), road raged and abused by a taxi driver (he so didn't deserve a tip) but mostly we were welcomed and were happily surprised by the warmth and friendliness of the American people.

We paid $450 for a hotel room one night in NYC and $45 including breakfast (and taxes) in Melbourne FL. It was cheaper to eat out there than it is to cook at home here. So we did.
The shopping was crazy, Nike shoes for less than $50.

By the time we left we'd sorted the difference between nickels and dimes and almost collected an entire set of quarters from each of the states.

We ice skated in DC, shot guns in Key Largo, rode bikes in the National Mall.
Twice we were enveloped in human traffic jams.
We drove at 80mph (130k) on the i35 and were passed by trucks as if we were standing still.

Subway blur

We 'went early, stayed late & wore orange' with $90 000 passionate Longhorns fans in Austin and watched a game of NBA in NOLA.
We saw more Starbucks in the USA than there are houses in Mortlake.
We encountered countless homeless people and we stood outside the gates of the White House. We ogled the grand antebellum homes in Louisiana and wondered at the endless brownstone apartment buildings in NYC.

Visiting the Obamas

We had a $100 lunch at the Oriental in NY (thanks kids) and $2.50 lunch boxes from Walmart in lots of places.
We shopped at the Quincy Market in Boston, the Farmer's Market in LA, Macys, Bloomingdales, Saks, Walgreens and Whole Foods.
We held wild alligators and were bitten by fish!
We fell in love with squirrels.
We stopped noticing the sirens.

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving and our coldest Christmas. We learned to say 'Y'all', and 'Baahston'. I loved the different American accents but I also came to appreciate our own. The Aussie accent sounds so sweet when you're away from home.

We took 2000 photos - on our iPhones!

Every day was a new adventure and every day we had to pinch ourselves to remind us that we were still in the real world.

Living out of suitcases in such close confines for so long, we all got along remarkably well. It was family memory making at its best.

New Year's Eve at the Grand Canyon

My top 10 trip highlights, in no particular order;

• The Washington Mall- history in a nutshell
• Kennedy Space Centre
• Visiting the graves of the Kennedys, Elvis, Paul Revere
• The World Trade Centre site
• Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge
• Fireworks at Disneyworld
• The red rocks of Sedona- I'm still not sure I believe they were real.
• Key Largo- Islamadora
• The New York subway- constant entertainment and transportation at a reasonable price
• The Everglades- wild alligators!
• The Longhorns football game ( I know that's 11 but all that passionate patriotism can't be ignored)
• The Natchez Trace Parkway ( yeah, yeah, that's 12)
• Phoenix and the desert (I could go on and on)
• .........and the sunset over Santa Monica on our last night reduced me to tears

America is a beautiful place and it's people are friendly and inviting. The flip side is that the country is self combusting (and as a consequence ripping up our ozone layer at an alarming rate) with gross consumerism and use of fossil fuels. The things that people can use to kill themselves and other people  (cigarettes, alcohol, fast food, guns, cars, tanning salons!) are ridiculously cheap and accessible. Those things are so much more expensive in Australia that we tend to think twice about using them. On the other hand, life saving medical care and decent housing in the US is expensive and the economy is in trouble. I was a tourist in the US, not a judge but it  did seem obvious to us that taxing the bad stuff might help people access the good stuff. Just an observation.

It's true that being overseas increases your appreciation of what we have here. I loved the USA and I can't wait to go back for another visit but I was very glad to get back to human sized portions, fresh salad, coloured money, $1 coins, speed limits, bike helmets and vegemite!

Thanks to everyone who followed our trip and commented here or on Facebook or Fodors. It was great to have your company and your feedback :-)

We're leaving on a jet plane

So...one minute we were landing in Dallas, next minute (and nearly 2 months later), here we are at LAX, waiting for the big A380 that will take us home and the second last post on this blog.

We made one last dash to Hollywood Boulevard this morning to find some luggage straps to hold my cheap duffle bag together and then we took off to the rich and famous area of Beverly Hills. We had a map of stars' homes but I couldn't make head or tail of it so we just drove aimlessly up and down streets ogling the lovely homes. Some of them are quite retro 50s and 60s bungalows but beautifully maintained. We didn't see any movie stars but we saw a lot of gardeners!

For lunch we went to Rodeo Drive. We were really just intending to window shop but starvation set in so we decided to throw caution to the wind and seat ourselves in a lovely restaurant at the top of a little avenue near Rodeo & Wilshire. To our great delight, not only was it amongst the best food we've eaten but the service was fantastic and the price no dearer than some of the less swanky places we've eaten.

With a whole day to fill we decided to meander towards LAX and stopped at Santa Monica Beach to watch the watch the sunset. What a serendipitous decision. It was a beautifully calm evening, a busker was playing some of my favourite Cat Stevens songs and the sky was clear and cloudless. It was the perfect place to watch the sun set on this wonderful adventure of ours.

Tonight we'll fly off into the future of home that has no Jan 9th but there's absolutely no doubt we'll be back here one day. Thanks for an awesome time America :-)

Walking in the hood

You've got to love those graphic tourist maps that aren't really based on any particular scale to speak of. This morning we decided to have a look at the Farmer's Market in West Hollywood. On the map in our 'local attractions' booklet, it looked like it was just around the corner. 5 kms later and sweating like crazy in the mad, Californian, winter sun we arrived at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax. The market is a bit like a small version of the Queen Vic, lots of fresh food stalls and speciality shops. We had really bad Cajun food for lunch and then took a ride on a cute little trolley to the Grove, a lovely shopping/ dining area at the other end of the block. The thought of walking all the way back to the hotel was too much for us so we text Sophie for some bus info and grabbed the 217 back to Hollywood Boulevard.

One of the amazing discoveries we've made here is that you can take your washing to a 'wash & fold' laundromat and for 89c a pound they'll wash it and fold it and pack it into a neat plastic package, all ready to pop into the suitcase. We picked up our washing and spent an hour recovering by the pool at the hotel.

Tonight we went back to the Boulevard to Madame Tussaud's. This is a little bit of fun and we spent a happy hour photographing ourselves with the waxen stars.

Just chewing the fat with Jack!

We almost saw a real movie star because the sidewalk was blocked off for the premiere of The Gangster Squad at the Chinese Theatre. We actually had no idea why all the people were standing there photographing absolutely nothing across the street but we worked it out when they all started squealing and chanting , 'Ryan, Ryan'. We got a fleeting glance of people in suits and evening dresses and lots of limos and security people.

That's Ryan Gosling in the suit!

We grabbed a few last souvenirs at the shop which, remarkably, had another, 30 minute, $5 sale today! We also bought a 'homes of the stars' map so we can do our own tour tomorrow before we go to the airport and then we went back to our room to start the laborious process of packing and weighing all our luggage. It's so hard to believe we have to go home tomorrow. I have no idea where that time has gone!

A toast to the end of the trip with $1 merlots from CVS.

Hollywood

The freeway was a nightmare this morning. Even on Sunday there were cars everywhere and when we hit a traffic jam we took an exit and 'winged' our way through the back streets towards Hollywood. As in all the big cities we've visited, the contrast between poor and rich neighbourhoods was stark. We drove through ghettos where the thought of the car breaking down was terrifying but as we got closer to the beach the tone changed completely.

We stopped at Venice Beach for lunch. We toyed with the idea of hiring some bikes to ride along the board walk but it was so windy we could hardly stand up let alone ride so we just walked out to the end of the pier and imagined how spectacular the beach must be in Summer.

From Venice we drove up through Santa Monica to the Hollywood Hills for a glimpse of the famous sign. It was pretty exciting to see this icon and we also had fun guessing who might live in some of the expensive homes set into the hills.

We'd really hoped to finish our holiday at a La Quinta because the chain has been an economical home to us for much of the trip. Unfortunately there isn't one in Hollywood so we settled for a Days Inn just off the strip.

There's a lot of Beale / Bourbon/ Duval St about Hollywood Boulevard! Similar homeless people with cardboard signs and costumed, would be movie stars offering photos with themselves for $1. It's not nearly as glamorous as I expected. We walked over several stars before we realised we were walking on THE walk of stars. It was fun seeking out our favourites and Taine was very excited to find Michael Jackson's star. We had dinner at a diner where Taine had his first root beer float (like a spider at home) and then wandered back to our hotel for an early night.

Speed Racers

One of the number one 'to dos' on our trip planning list was the Radiator Spring's Racers ride at Cars Land. 'Cars' was the first movie Taine ever watched and he has been pretty besotted with all things Lightning McQueen ever since.

Of course Cars Land is at Disney's California Adventure Land as opposed to the original Disneyland and since we couldn't come all this way and not see the place our own dreams were made of as kids, we got up early to make an assault on both parks with a one day Park Hopper pass ($125 each, thanks very much!).

We walked to Disney because it's only 1km away from the hotel. When we got there at 8am there were already queues. Soarin' California was the first ride inside the gate so we did that while we could. At 8.20am we arrived at the queue for the Fast Pass to Cars. The Fast Pass is a system where you swipe your entrance ticket and are given a time to return to the ride later in the day, thereby bypassing the poor suckers who are in the stand by queue. The queue to get to the Fast pass for Cars was longer than the queue for some of the rides! We were told the line was 30 minutes long and all the passes may have run out before we got to the head of the line. At 8.20 in the morning! Not to be deterred we waited patiently in the line which actually moved quite quickly and scored ourselves a Fast pass for 8.20 - 9 pm, just 12 hours later! It was like scoring a gold wrapper because there were lots of people behind us who missed out.

Luckily the weather was glorious so we weren't too hot or too cold while we trudged around California Adventure trying to sneak into as many rides as possible. On a day as busy as yesterday that meant mostly tame kiddy rides but that suited Taine and I anyway. After lunch at Downtown Disney we went to Disneyland and fought our way through the increasing crowds there to visit all the Lands we'd seen on Sunday night TV in our youth.

We watched the Christmas Parade, not quite as exciting as the one at Disneyworld, partly because Christmas is over and partly because by then I was exhausted and cold and then ducked out to Downtown Disney again for some dinnertime pizza. There we met yet another Aussie family doing a similar trip to ours.

Finally it was time to go back and claim our Fast Pass to Cars Racer. I admit to feeling a little guilty as we passed the people in the stand by queue (now at 150 minutes wait time!) The ride was excellent, just like being in the movie as we passed through Radiator Springs and met all the characters. I think it was made all the more special because of our recent journey through the red rocks of Sedona and down Route 66. The racing part was just fast and furious enough to satisfy Geoff the adrenaline junkie and not bad enough to make me throw up, although as the photo attests, I had my eyes closed most of the time! We stopped on the way out to watch the 'Colours' fire and water display and in time to see Disney's fireworks as we went past their gate. By the time we started the long walk home we'd done 14 hours straight at Disney!

You can imagine our joy when we were mistakenly woken at 5.30am this morning by a wake up call intended for another room! Just one of the issues we've had with this hotel. Once we were properly awake we hopped in the car for a day trip to San Diego. Thankfully we'd had some training on the Racers ride because the traffic in Southern California is insane. It even puts Texas to shame. We drove through San Diego to the Las Americas outlets right on the Mexican border. We thought about crossing, just to say we'd been in another country but thought better of it because of the re entrance queues. It was an odd feeling to think of an artificial line being a barrier between people. Borders have made sense previously to us because we are girt by sea but watching the birds fly backward and forward over the border control buildings made our human differentiation seem pretty stupid.

We bought a few more pairs of ridiculously cheap Nikes at the outlets, visited an outdoor Mexican  bazaar and then drove back to Mission Beach in San Diego for a beautiful sunset. San Diego will definitely be on the list of 'places to stay longer' next time we come.

Then we rejoined the speedway for another white knuckle journey back to LA, counting our blessings when we arrived back in one piece.

Viva Las Vegas

Las Vegas is a world of it's own. The casino complexes are so big that you can easily get lost in them. There are no clocks and the lighting is set to twilight all the time. In the shopping strip within Caesar's Palace, the roof is painted to look like the sky and the floor is imitation roadway. After a while you start to believe you are in a real street, until you decide to leave and then you can't figure out how on earth to get out of make believe world into the real world.

Looking up in the shops at Caesar's

Each of the complexes is a replication of somewhere else, like Caesar's interpretation of Ancient Rome and New York, New York's faux Manhattan skyline. We made the mistake of buying day tickets on the monorail thinking that would be an easy way to see 'The Strip'. Unfortunately the monorail stations are set right at the back of the different complexes and to get to and fro the stations to the street you have to walk all the way through the casinos. This means maneuvering through the myriad of slot machines and gaming tables, then the hotel shops, up the stairs to the station and back down again at the next stop.

Remarkably,while children aren't actually allowed to play the slots, they can walk right up to and around them. The casinos have pushers and prams in the walkways right alongside the high rollers. Smoking at the tables is permitted and all the rooms are filled with the smell of whatever it is they use to try and disguise the smoke smell.

My big payout

Anyway, we had fro yo for breakfast (as you do in Vegas ;) and then set off to walk/monorail 'the strip'. We wandered through endless shopping malls and checked out all the fake stuff. The highlight of the day was the water show at the Bellagio. I put a few bucks through a slot machine just because I could, we bought some naff souvenirs because it seemed like we should and we ate something greasy on the way back to our lovely suite at the MGM where I tried to make peace with my aching feet in a lengthy spa bath.

I found the whole 'fake facade' of Vegas a bit offensive. Nothing is real there and the gross consumerism just made me feel a bit icky. I'm glad we saw the city but I'm pleased we were only there for 48 hours.

Today we drove to Anaheim. It's a long, boring drive through the Mojave Desert. Breakfast was at a stray casino not far out of Vegas at an all you could eat buffet for $6.99. It looked like one of those places where scary movies start. Crazy. No lunch required. There were people eating breakfast in their pyjamas and then moving straight to the tables.

The traffic coming into LA was the worst we've seen and after one car literally shaved our front bumper and then nearly tipped themselves over cutting lanes, we were white knuckled by the time we arrived at the Anabella, a hotel across from Disneyworld. The room was cheap enough but by the time we were slugged $14 a night for parking and $10 for wifi I was starting to wish I'd forked out for the friendliness of a Disney resort. This was exacerbated at dinner when I was told it was not possible for the chef to prepare a meal without garlic in it. Excuse me? I'm thinking we'll eat off premises for the rest of our stay!

We met a family from South Australia in the laundry. They're doing pretty much the same trip as us but in reverse order and this is their first stop. Jealousy overwhelmed me. It's 41C at home and windy. I'm not ready to go back to that yet :-(

To satisfy Taine's obsession with 'Cars', Geoff's desire to see the 'real' Disneyworld and my insistence that there's lots of other things to see in L.A, tomorrow we're going to try and do both Disney parks in one day. Wish us luck!