Blue Mountains

(10.21.08 Sydney Airport 10:18am)
Next morning (10.17.08) I again attempted an early wake up to go to the 7am mtg but it didn’t happen. I finally got up around 930am, took a shower and headed to the train station. I was meeting a Danielle in the Blue Mountains with a couple CS’er she was hosting around noon and it was two hour train ride to get there. I arrived shortly before her and they met me at a restaurant for a late breakfast. Afterwards we drove to take in the sites. Our first stop was a look out over the mountains including “three sisters”. Then took a quick hike out to three sisters. There was a bridge that allowed you to get to the first of the three pillars and a fence with a sign stating that there was no longer any climbing at the site. It also said if you cross the fence and were caught there was a 300$ fine on the spot. I couldn’t refuse the photo opt and quickly climbed over after teaching Marcus how to use the camera. Chris, Marcus and I all took turns taking pictures in spite of the sighs from the other tourist as we climbed over. Then I decided to take it to another level and actually free climb a steep over hang section of the face. To be fare (that’s a new saying I’ve picked up on my travels), there was a ledge just below me. However, we shot the photos at an angle that made it look pretty sweet! I did slip a few times and almost missed the ledge on my fall, had I missed it was a several hundred foot fall with nothing to stop me but rocks. We next went to another tourist trap where we paid 20$ to ride on the worlds steepest roller coast and back up on a Cable car. It was at this stage of my trip that I figured out that the US dollar is actually stronger than the Oz Dollar. Our .60 $ equals 1$ here!!! I thought it was the other way around and was a lil sour about how much everything cost. The cable car and “rollercoaster” were quiet uneventful but since I only paid 12$ us I didn’t mind. We drove back to the city and I got dropped off at Kylie’s house in the city, a girl I had met while waiting tables in Maui 3 ½ year earlier. For some reason I kept her business card all that time and when I saw her I realized why!!! She was pretty hott! We went to the Noodle Markets, one of the venues for “Good Food Month” in the city, where we met some of her friends and a guy she was seeing. It was kinda an awkward situation since she told me they had a fight 5 days prior and hadn’t spoken since. She made up a story that we had a mutual friend in Maui. After eating, the girls wanted to go dancing so they all started throwing out names of clubs. I was wearing blue jeans, t-shirt, hoodie and slippahs. It was decided that we would go to Hugo’s but first I had to go with Andy back to his house and change. He gave me a nice pair of leather shoes and button up collard shirt. Apparently Hugo’s is a high end swanky club in the city and if you’re not a smoking hott girl or know someone, you don’t get in. Andy, Sean (her BF) and I had to stand back while she talked to the door people. She got us in and we didn’t have to pay cover. As the night went on Kylie kept introducing me to her girlfriends trying to hook me up, but I really didn’t have any interest except going to bed, alone. As we talked I found out Kylie is kinda a big deal, in her own head, and to most people in the city. She’s somewhat of a high profile figure and has dated some major players in the City. The club we were at was really pretentious and not my scene AT ALL. But every once in a while it’s nice to see that side of society. Kylie and I discussed both of our prior relationships and her current one to Sean, which she didn’t seem to happy in. As the night wore on I made it clear that I was ready to go, and I would have already except the fact that I left my bag at Kylie’s house. I was supposed to be waking up and going to Cronolla the following morning at 8am. Around 12:45 am Sean and Kylie began to bicker and it made for an awkward situation since it was just her, Sean, her friend grace and I left it the group. We gave them some space but at the same time I wanted to let her know I had to go. I walked back over and let her know I wanted to leave and she agreed but wanted to finish her drink. I minute later she started walking towards the door with Sean close behind. He shoved her forward and I jumped up to follow them. Giving him the benefit of doubt that he might have slipped and caught himself with her rather than actually shoving her I just followed and didn’t say anything. Right then he grabbed her by the back of her neck and started pushing her forward thru the crowd. I ran to catch up and grabbed his arm, spinning him around “bro, you need to chill the F*ck out” I said. I turned back to me took a step then turned around and headed out of the club. Mean while Kylie had retreated back inside. I sent Grace to make sure she was ok. The three of us walked back to Kylie’s and grabbed my bag, called cab and left. When I got to the parking lot I saw my cab and started towards it. As I approached I there was someone in the backseat, it was Sean! I dipped out of sight and called Kylie letting her know he was down here and asked if she wanted me to come back up. She assured me she was ok, as her father is the Captain of the Queensland Police Department and Grace was upstairs with her. I stayed out of site long enough for him to walk by to avoid a confrontation. Did I mention Sean is an ex US Marine? I took the cab to Felicity’s house in Glebe as she was hosting me that night and the next. Arriving at 2am I called to get inside. She wasn’t able to sleep. She and one of her roommates had a falling out about me staying there and it had got pretty lively she said. The following morning the girls were gonna have a house meeting to discuss the situation and Felicity was gonna tell the woman that she needed to move out. Next morning (10.18.08) we woke up around 8am. Felicity asked me to sit in on the house mtg so things wouldn’t blow up. I felt really awkward sitting there, as I was the reason for the fight. About 5 minutes into the talk Line, another of the roommates stopped the discussion and suggested that maybe I should be there and asked me to leave. I was very relived and retreated to Felicity’s room to use the internet. After the talk we had breakfast and finally got on the road about 10:30 to Cranolla. I told the girls I would teach them how to surf along with the CS’ers I had met the day before in the Blue Mountains with Danielle: Chris, Marcus and Cooper. When we got to the beach I didn’t see much surf and was a lil nervous since the girls changed their beach plans from the northern beaches to Cranolla specifically because I needed to go there so I could paddle at 3pm. Down the beach about a mile a saw a lil white water coming in so we walked down to take a look. Surf enough there was a small shore break coming in and even a small class of students learning to surf. I asked the instructor if they rented boards and took his board to catch few waves while we waited for Danielle guys to show up. I didn’t have a wetsuit and it FREEZING in the ocean. Once the rest of the crew showed up they rented boards and got an extra wetsuit for me. I gave me second international surf lesson on the beach of Cranolla to five students: one from Oz, one from Denmark, one from Canada, and two from Estonia. I started with a land lesson and then got them in the water. The waves were slopping shore break and it the cold didn’t make it anymore enjoyable for me. I helped them all get a good start and even got a few of them up, but I soon ran out of patience and warmth so I got out of the water. Eventually they did all catch a wave and were all super stoked! I stayed on shore and barked instructions to them. I got a call from James saying that outrigger practice had been called off. Felicity, Line and I decided to head out around 4pm because we were going to a Japanese drumming show that night. We stopped to grab my clothes from the night before form Andy’s house and popped in a Lebanese restaurant for a quick dinner togo. I dripped juice from my falafel all over my red Hawaii hoodie as I ate in the car  When we got to Felicity’s house I washed the hoodie but the oil/grease didn’t come out. We showed up at the Riverview Auditorium right as the show was starting so we let Felicity out so and went to park the car. When we walked in I was surprised by the $40 price tag of the tickets, but since the Australian dollar is weak (.60 to our dollar) it really only cost me $24. We walked in during the ending of the first piece and I was really stoked that I decided to go. It wasn’t anything like what I had assumed it would be. I pictured a small gathering of 50 people or so in an artsy lil club or something, with a few people playing drums. Instead it was a full on production of full body drumming! (see www.youtube.com/timlara ) After the show we headed back to the house downloaded and swapped pics from the day and passed out.

Wonderful world of Oz

(Wednesday October 15th 11:45pm Crown Gardens Apt #307 Sydney, Oz)
Next morning (10.14.08) I woke up at 6am and grabbed a quick shower. Bethany who had been up all night working on graphic design, made me breakfast and called a cab to take me to the airport. I had a quick 1 ½ flight to Bangkok. On the plane I ran into four people I’d seen earlier in my travels: a couple that were on the bus from to Dalat, and two different guys that came thru the Good Bar on different tours. I caught a cab with one of the guys to Khoa San Rd. where I bought a few more t-shirts and check my emails. Mimi was supposed to send me details on how to get to her house. I had left a large bag of stuff there so I wouldn’t have to carry so much while I was traveling. I checked for the email but it wasn’t there, luckily I still had her address but it was quite far and a cab would have been expensive so I tried to find the canal taxi we had taken last time I was in the city. I didn’t have much luck so I began asking how much for a motorbike or tuk tuk. They wanted 200-300 baht. I found out I could catch a bus to the subway and make it that way. After getting on two separate wrong buses I decided I would just pay for a tuk tuk. When I got to her apartment I was disappointed to find that her keys were not in the basket at the front desk as she said it would be. I went up and knocked on the door hoping her sister was home but she wasn’t. I called her and she apologized and told me her sister would be home from work shortly and let me in. When Niki arrived she let me in and left her keys so I could come and go. I wanted to mail some a package home to lighten my load but Niki told me the post office was already closed. I sat at the house killing time until my 8:30 mtg. After the mtg I caught a cab to the airport for my midnight flight. THAI AIRLINES is the most AMAZING airline company ever! I was excited to find that I would get not one, but two full meals on my 9 hour flight to Sydney. They also give you free liquor, coffee and other drinks the entire flight, even in economy! To make it even better I had the middle three seats to myself! I arrived to Sydney airport a little after 1pm the following day (10.15.08). On my immigration form I checked the box “yes” for having been convicted of crimes in the past. The immigration officers took me to their office for further questioning. I had to fill out a form detailing the nature of my convictions, the sentence and whether I had completed my sentence. If you have been sentence to more than 1 year in jail they refuse you entry to the country because you need to have a special clearance that must be obtained before you arrive. I luckily was able to squeak thru immigrations an hour and half later. I was able to get them to look up my record on the Clerk of the Courts website for Escambia county and see that I was only sentenced to 11 months 15 days. However the 5 year suspended prison sentence raised a lot of concern. The officer let me know that she should legally turn me around but she was gonna over look the suspended sentence and let me through. However next time I needed to get cleared in advance. I followed the directions to Emily’s house; my couch surfing host. We went to an internet café where I had a “long black” for 5$. Apparently they don’t brew coffee in Oz, its all espresso shots. So a “long black” is the closest thing to a real cup of coffee I could get. I used the internet to search for canoe clubs I could paddle with and found several in Sydney. I made plans to paddle the following night at 7pm. We returned to her house and dropped our computers and she took me to the harbor so I could see the Opera house and city! Sydney is such an amazing city, it’s beautiful! Her parents are both in the medical field and own the apartment she lives in, which is in an upscale suburb of Sydney called Woolloomooloo. There is a sick balcony view of the city and harbor and Russell Crow lives down the street. I can stay here tonight and tomorrow night but I have to leave Friday morning because her parents are coming to stay for the weekend. So I’m gonna go meet some other Couch Surfers at the Blue Mountains on Friday. Tomorrow morning Emily is gonna show me around the city and I’ve got to get to bed. A hui hou!!!
(10.21.08 Sydney Airport)
Well the next morning (10.16.08) I meant to wake up and attend a 7am mtg however when the alarm sounded I just turned it off and rolled back over. I before I fell asleep I looked out the window and saw that the sun was coming up over the harbor and casting amazing light on the skyscrapers in the city. I had a hazy thought to get up and take pictures but it faded just as quickly as I did back to sleep. I ended up waking up at 10ish and walked into the city to attend a noon mtg. It was so great to be at a “real” mtg. While in Asia I had only attended 4 mtgs and there was almost a month break in between the last two. The room was full, about 30 people and message really recharged my batteries. I was asked to lunch after and I joined a few guys downstairs at a deli. After lunch I went to use the internet and sort out my future couch surfs in Byron Bay, Gold Coast. I got sucked in and almost two hours passed before I got away. I was also dealing with the rental car accident I got in my last day on Oahu before my trip. I had to email documents to Thrifty and Visa so they could sort it all out. I called Emily who was in the city a few blocks away at a book store and she came over and met me. She suggested that since I didn’t have much time, that maybe we should ride the monorail to get a quick tour of the city. It was a nice thought but the views weren’t so great and it was kinda a short ride. We went back to her house and I got ready to go paddle. I had found a club in the city; Pacific Dragons that invited me to come train with them at 7pm. I caught a several trains and ended up in the suburb of Glebe and walked to the Harbor. The sun had already set and it was pretty cold out which made me a lil apprehensive about the paddle. When I got there I met Todd, the coach I had talked to, and he gave me one of his blades to use. The canoes were equipped with lifejackets, flashlights and flashing lights on poles connected the iako’s. It was kinda different, since the canoes we paddle in on Maui are always completely bare except the crew and paddles. Apparently the canoes are considered the same as any other boat/vessel and have to abide by the same rules while on the water. I suppose the lights were a good idea since it was night time and there were larger ferry’s zipping around. We had a two hour paddle and went out around Cockatoo island and there was a beautiful view of the city at night. After practice I walked to Felicity’s house, a Couch surfer who lived in Glebe, for dinner. He got her lefts and rights mixed up in directions she gave me so a mile and half walk turned into a 5 mile walk. I finally made it to her house right as dinner was coming out of the oven. It looked great! Two large pieces of meat slow cooked in the oven on a bed of sweet potatoes, carrots, potatoes and peppers. I was starving and dug in. It wasn’t til I was more than half way done that she told me it was KANGOROO!!!!! I couldn’t believe it! Here it was, my second day in Oz and I had just got done paddling in the harbor and was now eating Kangaroo! I ended up hanging out til around midnight and then caught a cab back to the city to go to bed.