{mosimage}So before this trip to the US can materialize, we have to go to Melbourne and get Caleb’s Consular Report of Birth and his passport. Thus, here are our tentative plans for a trip there in the October school holidays.

Saturday 27th September: Leave home, drive to Horsham, Victoria, and stay the night.

Sunday 28th September: Horsham to Ballarat. See the Grampians.

Monday 29th September: Ballarat to Melbourne. Stay in Melbourne till Friday 3rd October. During this time, Darrin wants to go driving on some freeways, and I want to visit USA Foods and get some Dr Pepper, and of course we have to do Caleb’s paperwork as well.

Friday 3rd October: Leave Melbourne and drive to Geelong along the Great Ocean Road.

Saturday 4th October: Geelong to Warrnambool.

Sunday 5th October: Warrnambool to Mount Gambier, where we’ll finally get to check the Mount Gambier Fasta Pasta off our list (and we will have been to nearly all the South Australian ones).

Monday 6th October (Labour Day): Mount Gambier to home.
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{mosimage}So I had a look at some ticket prices and car hire prices, and guess what? It’s *just* cheaper to fly from Adelaide to Los Angeles and hire a car than to add the Los Angeles to Minneapolis leg. That’s not counting the petrol/gas, meals, and hotel/motel stays. Some or most of those expenses would be covered by our normal weekly spending anyway. And Darrin likes driving, and really loves the idea of a roadtrip. And I don’t mind it either, especially if I get to see some national landmarks like the Grand Canyon, Old Faithful, Mount Saint Helens, the Alamo, Mount Rushmore & the Black Hills, and Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalbuquerque, where the sun is always shining and the air smells like warm root beer, and the towels are oh so fluffy!

Darrin looked at sites tonight about hiring a Winnebago or similar vehicle, and it’s about half of what the airfares would be. Yeouch.

So now I’m looking for experiences of people who’ve done massive cross-country roadtrips and stayed in hotels. Do you book the hotels in advance, or just trust that somebody’ll have a room available wherever you decide to crash for the night? And what restaurant chains feed kids under x years for free? I remember hearing Shoney’s did this at one time. Any others?

Oh yes. And the newfangled cars with the built-in child safety seats – how old or heavy does a kid have to be to sit in one?

That’s it for now. I’m sure I’ll have more questions later. Bedtime.

Hey, cool, I don’t have to post later today. But I probably will. What else am I going to do when it’s 42 degrees outside?
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{mosimage}Christmas 2009.

By that time, we will have paid off our personal loan (actually around the start of February 2009 assuming we don’t make any extra payments), so we’ll have an extra $250 a fortnight. Also by this time Caleb will be nearly three years old, and hopefully using the toilet. By this time I also may be pregnant again, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

The options are as follows: fly into LA, stay a night there to get our bearings, and hire a car to sightsee along the way to Wisconsin (and visit a few people along the way, only I don’t remember if anyone other than Renee & Darin or Rachel & Josh are really “on the way”); fly directly into Minneapolis and still hire a car so we can drive around a little while we’re there (say, to visit Northie in southern Minnesota, Scott, Pam, and others in the Twin Cities area, Alex in Manitoba, Opie in Illinois with a stop off in Madison to see Beth & Josh & Ava, and who knows where else, depending how far we’re prepared to drive); do a round-the-world trip and stop off in London to visit Dave & Lynelle (who are leaving Adelaide tomorrow to go to the UK for several years). Depends what’s cheapest.

So Pam, if you’re reading this, keep New Year’s Eve that year free.
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{mosimage}Saturday morning the alarm was set for 6 am. Blech. But I think I was actually awake before that, so no matter. Neither of us bothered showering, because a) we knew we’d be sweating in the afternoon anyway, and b) the night before we noticed there was a block in our drains after the washer flooded the bathroom & kitchen. Lovely.

Stopped for petrol/gas, drove through McDonald’s for breakfast, drove on north of the city through all the towns along the gulf. Got to Port Augusta around 11 am and had lunch at Hungry Jack’s (Australian Burger King).

Drove on through Quorn and Hawker, on toward Wilpena, got to the end of the asphalt and onto dirt road into the event. We found the start and got registered, got our maps, started our courses. (Side note: I never used to have to *think* about where north is. I just *knew*. Now that I’m in the southern hemisphere, I’m always thinking south is north, and vice versa, so I really have to pay attention to where the sun is so I know where I am.) I figured out where I was going, found the first three markers with little trouble, and then I went the wrong way down a hill and had no clue where I was. So I went back to number 3 and tried again, and got lost again, and went back again, and found marker 9. Sure, it looks similar to a 4, but it ain’t a 4. But now at least I knew where I was, and there was a creek I could follow right up to number 4. And funnily enough, I ended up somewhere I’d been before, and didn’t realise I was close. Dang. So found number 4, and found the rest with little or no trouble. I was out on that course for two and a half hours when it should’ve taken an hour and a half. But I got back before they had to look for me, so that was a good thing.

So we’d made reservations for a room in Hawker, about 40 minutes from where we’d been. Got our room, sat around for a while, had showers, went to the restaurant and had schnitzels (which weren’t that great, but they filled us up). Back to the room, sleep.

Sunday morning. Woke up before the alarm. Had breakfast delivered. Ate breakfast (bacon & eggs & toast…mmmm). Got going early because it’s funny how fast you can get ready in the morning when you don’t have cats or computers to distract you. Got to the start again, which was a bit closer than Saturday’s, and the road to the start went up a steep hill, and back down just as steep on the other side. And we were actually early, so we just sat in the car and tried to stay warm till our start times (Darrin 10:14, me 10:30). Our friends Colin & Aaron showed up, and they had start times right after each of us (10:16 and 10:32). So at about 10 we went down to the starting area, waited for our names to be called, and lined up behind everyone else who was going. Got maps, started, yada yada yada. This one was much easier than Saturday’s, partly because the person who set it up was a little more forgiving than the previous one, and partly because I’d done the previous day and I was getting used to the terrain. And I had very little trouble with the Sunday course, except for marker 6 where I got off the track too soon, but I found where I was pretty quickly and finished in a reasonable time. Had some hot dogs & drinks, hung around till they were ready to pack up in case they needed help, but they had enough people so we left. And went up to Pugilist Hill lookout. Which is a big hill right next to the event. Very steep road up there, but we had a good view. Nearly 360 degrees of mountains. I took some pictures, they’ll be in the gallery in the next few days.

Back to the hotel. Hung around there for a bit, had showers, changed clothes, went back toward Wilpena and the Woolshed Restaurant, which had been booked out for the orienteers for a buffet. And we stuffed ourselves. We ate till it hurt. Hung around chatting with Colin & Aaron till 9 or so, then drove back to the hotel and watched a bit of Die Hard 2 on TV before we went to sleep.

Monday morning. Had bacon & eggs for breakfast again. Checked out of the hotel. Drove to the last event, which was right next to the one we’d been to on Saturday. Got our start times, maps, and off we went. And I was doing great till marker 9 (out of 14), where I went down the wrong side of a hill (went south instead of east) and ended up almost at the bottom of the map. And I looked around for that stinking number 10 for at least an hour, then I finally decided I’d had enough, and it was getting close to the course closing, so I had to go back anyway. Got to a wide creek and realised I’d been at the OTHER wide creek further south. Found my way back to the finish where Darrin was waiting for me. Got back just over a minute past the closing time with sore feet, sore knee, and kicking myself for messing it up.

Drove back through Hawker, where we’d intended to get petrol again, but being the last day of a long weekend, everyone and his dog was there waiting already, so we drove on, since we were doing pretty good already anyway. Stopped at a bakery in Orroroo (I hope I spelled that right, can’t be bothered checking the map) for lunch. Drove on to Riverton where Darrin’s mum has moved to, and had tea with them. Drove back from there at about 10, got home around 11:15, got unpacked a bit, crashed in bed.

We’ll definitely be going back when they do a 3-day event again, so I can beat the map rather than the other way around. And Darrin loves the area because it’s HARD, and none of the maps around Adelaide compare to that.
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We have our car again. It was the regulator. And it was only $130 instead of the up to $300 we were expecting it would be if it had been the alternator. But the alternator is fine, and so is the battery, and we have a working car again. And the guy said to bring it back tomorrow again and he’ll check that the voltage is all okay.

So on tomorrow’s agenda is that, and driving back to Cockburn to get the trailer. And who knows what else.

{mosimage}So we were driving to Broken Hill on Saturday. And the car was running beautifully. And there was virtually no traffic on the road. And we had plenty of water to drink, cookies to eat, music to listen to. And then the CD player just…stopped. One minute there was music, next minute there was silence, and the face of the stereo was totally blank.

So we fiddled with it a bit. Took the face off, whacked it, put it back on, and it worked again. And then it shut off again.

And then Darrin noticed that every time the music stopped, the speedometer started dropping too, and the fuel gauge started dropping, and so even though there was another car right in front of us going at about 100 kph, and we were pretty much matching their speed, our speedometer only said 80. And then the car starts shifting up & down between gears every 5-10 seconds.

So the next town is Cockburn (pronounced Co-burn). So we decided it would probably be a really good idea to stop and check out what was going on. Pulled off the main road and lost power completely. No lights, no power steering, nothing. We got out, Darrin checked things like the battery, cables, etc., but neither of us is really fluent in car mechanics so we’re pretty much stuck. The nearest payphone is on the other end of the town, and even though it’s not a big town, it’s still a decent walk.

But of course the payphone isn’t actually working when we get to it, so we go across the road to a petrol station/roadhouse, where they’re JUST closing up, and the lady there lets Darrin use her phone to ring for help. So Barb & John (his mum & step-dad) drive out to give us a hand. We walk back to the car (after searching fruitlessly for a toilet) and…yep. The car started on the first try. And I actually ran up and KICKED it for being so snotty to us.

Anyway. We got back on the road, but we only got about 8-9 kilometres (about 5 miles) out of Cockburn before the car died again. Sat and waited for Barb & John to get there. Once they did, John had a look at things, and we tried a few things, and then he said “I think this is an RAA job.” So we called the RAA (Royal Automobile Association of South Australia, same kind of organization as the AAA in the US) and they got the RAA guy in Broken Hill to come out with his truck and carry it to the service station just down the street from Barb & John. And we rode back with them. And of course since it’s a long weekend, and Easter Monday is an official public holiday here, they won’t look at it till Tuesday (tomorrow).

And we were pulling a trailer as well, but it would’ve cost us $2.20/kilometre to tow THAT (at 40 kilometres from Broken Hill…ouch), so John found a friend in Cockburn to look after it for us till we can get it back again.

We waited till 4:50 pm for the truck to get there. We had actually been running early until we had the car problem. It was looking like we’d get into Broken Hill about 3:30. Ha.

Yeah, so that’s our weekend. How’s yours been?
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Monday 5th July

I don’t think we even slept late the day we left. Can’t remember. All I know for sure is that it was HOURS till we needed to leave, and we were all packed already…so boredom ensued.

We left the house around 2:30 pm to catch a 6:00 ferry. Stopped along the way a few times to take pictures of road signs (Darrin’s new hobby) and a massive wind farm at Cape Jervis, where the ferry departs from. We actually arrived in Cape Jervis at about 4:30. We didn’t need to be at the boat till 5:30. So boredom ensued AGAIN. But we stopped at a little general store and got some snacks & drinks.

We sat around in the car in the ferry lineup till the ferry arrived, then watched it dock. Considering all the boats I’d been on previously were a) canoes, b) a riverboat on the Mississippi 14 years ago, and c) a smallish ferry across the Murray river on my first visit to Adelaide, this boat was HUGE. Of course Darrin told me the Spirit of Tasmania (the ferry that sails from the mainland to Launceston) is four times the size, but it was big to me.

So then they started unloading, and there were lots of cars, and a trailer full of sheep to become people’s dinners eventually. Passengers boarded on foot, while the drivers drove onto the boat and parked the cars. I went up the stairs to the top level. Darrin was just coming up on the other side, so we met up and went downstairs to the main lounge area, sat right in the front at the window, where we could see nothing much because it was getting dark by this time. And just before six, there were these loud metallic motor sounds coming from underneath us, and we were preparing to get underway.

I’d been told that this part of the water, the Backstairs Passage, was one of the roughest in the world. And I thought, pfft, I’ll be okay, boats are boring, at least if the boat goes down I know how to swim (unlike if a plane goes down, I don’t know how to fly). But it wasn’t boring at all. I wish it HAD been boring. Luckily it’s only a 45 minute trip. About halfway through, we decided to go outside to the back of the boat for some fresh air. And that was much better. Standing up does quite a bit of good for the equilibrium. And watching the water seemed to help a lot too. We could see the lights from Penneshaw if we stuck our heads around the side of the boat, otherwise we were just looking back at Cape Jervis, if there were any lights there at all (it’s a pretty small town).

And so we docked. And the drivers went down to the parking deck to get the cars. And the passengers walked out to the pickup area. And I waited there for Darrin to drive off and pick me up. We drove through most of the main streets of Penneshaw to get to the cottage we were staying in (which isn’t a stretch; Penneshaw has only a handful of main streets anyway). We drove past a pizza shop, and past the penguin nesting area, and saw a penguin on the side of the road as we drove past. We found the cottage with little trouble (although there was some initial confusion as to which one we were supposed to be in – the owners have two, we were told the one, and ended up using the other). And as we started to unpack, I decided it was high time to check out the toilet/bathroom, and I shut the door behind me, and I realized…there was no toilet paper. Not one square to be found in the entire cottage. And I, of course, think there should still be SOMETHING open (since there always is in my experience, even if it’s just a gas station). But apparently there isn’t, because Penneshaw is only 300 people, and country towns generally close everything at 5. Okay, so we go to the pizza place to get some food, and ask if there’s anything open where we can buy toilet paper. The girl at the counter says no, but she’ll talk to her manager. A few minutes later she comes out with a paper bag containing a roll of toilet paper, which she sells us for $1.50 (or was it $2? Whatever). And we go back to the cottage, and eat, and test the toilet paper, and set up our laptops (we’re geeks, okay?), and set up the DVD player, and watched Pirates of the Caribbean, and went to bed.

Tuesday 6th July

Even though we were on holiday, we couldn’t manage to sleep past 9 am any morning. How very annoying.

We got up & had some hot chocolate that I’d brought along. Sat at our computers for a while, then went out to find some real food and some petrol. The petrol station didn’t have anything grocery-ish, so we went around the corner to the IGA, which did. It’s an island, and I knew the prices would be a bit more than on the mainland, but still…it costs a LOT of money for three lamb chops. Also got some eggs, bacon, veggies, and some cashews. Went back to the cottage, made bacon & eggs for breakfast, then looked at the tourist guide book & the map to see what we wanted to do for the day. We decided we’d drive to American River & Kingscote (the other 2 major towns on the island). Got some pictures along the way. Climbed up to the top of Prospect Hill about 20 minutes from American River. The stairway is something like 500-600 steps, and the lookout is one of the highest points on the island. And the view is great, but my leg muscles hurt for the rest of the week. After this we drove into American River, got some drinks & food, and drove around the town. In one under-development part of town, we saw a group of wallabies (like kangaroos, only smaller) just sitting there on the side of the road. Pictures again. Then we hit the highway again to take us to Kingscote, but took a sidetrip on the way to A Maze ‘n’ Fun, where they have a hedge maze (they claim it’s Australia’s biggest), 9 hole miniature golf, a train that goes around the grounds, fishing, a gift shop, basically a lot of things little kids would like. We just did the golf & the maze, then went on to Kingscote. (Note: the 2 roads we took to and from the park were dirt roads. Most of the backroads on KI are dirt.) So we got to Kingscote and drove around for a bit, then down the road to Emu Bay, and back to Kingscote to see if we could find one of the Internet places that were in the tourist book. We found the library, which was free, but probably booked solid. And then we found the kiosk in the front of the Ozone Hotel, but it charged an arm & a leg. And the third place we never did find, because nothing of the layout of the town suggested “mall” to us (this is “mall” in the Australian sense of the word, like the Washington Mall, rather than Mall of America-type mall). So we headed back to Penneshaw, back to our cottage, and thought about tea. And promptly got back in the car to go to the petrol station, which had roasted chickens. Brought the chicken home, ate it, and watched CSI on TV. Went to bed.

Wednesday 7th July 2004

Today we just stayed in Penneshaw. Had sausages for breakfast, then in the afternoon decided to walk up to the post office/bank/Internet cafe and use a computer for a bit. Afterward we wandered down to the penguin area, where we walked through the paths & looked at the nests. I managed to just see a baby penguin in its nest, tried to get a picture, and you can JUST tell there’s something in there. There were lots of paths in this area, so we took most of them. Stopped at lookouts to, um, look out. And take pictures. At one of these lookouts Darrin mentioned we hadn’t seen any dolphins yet. Half a second later, he says “There’s one now!” I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. Kept seeing this fin come up above the water. Also saw seals/sea lions swimming around, and a double rainbow out to the east (a minute later we were getting wet). Wandered around some more, walked back to the cottage. Had those three lamb chops for tea, and watched Spaceballs & George of the Jungle. Went to bed.

Thursday 8th July 2004

We woke up to roaring waves & winds. And it was cold. Very cold. We stayed inside all day, reading & playing Warcraft. Even though we had the heater on max most of the day, it was still cold. Around teatime we were (obviously) getting hungry, so we got into the car & drove around to all FIVE of the restaurantish places in Penneshaw. Two were closed. One we’d already been to (the pizza place). One looked a bit too classy (and weird food) for us to enjoy. The last was the local pub. The pub won. We had pretty good rump steaks and veggies, and the price was good. Darrin even got a free second glass of Coke because he’d pointed out to the till guy he’d given us too much change. And so we went home feeling full, and watched the entire Back to the Future set before going to bed around 1 am. (Or was that Friday night? Can’t remember, doesn’t really matter I guess.)

Friday 9th July

We got up & had some breakfast, then decided to hit the road again to see the more unsettled parts of the island. Our first stop was Seal Bay, where we took a tour of sorts down to the beach where the sea lions live. Again, lots of pictures. And another rainbow. And the tour guide was pretty friendly and took pictures for people who wanted pictures of them and the sea lions (not that we were allowed to get close, but you can see them in the background of the one he took of us). We grabbed a couple bottles of water on our way out and headed toward the Kelly Hill caves, where we checked the times for the tours. One had just started, and the next wasn’t for another hour or two, and we didn’t feel like sitting around with nothing to do till then, so we wrote down the tour times and got back in the car, in case we still had time when we finished at Flinders Chase National Park. (We didn’t make any of the cave tours; something to do next time.) So our next stop was the visitor centre at Flinders Chase, where we paid our fee and had some lunch. We got a picture of my sandwich too. And then we got in the car and drove (yes, drove through a national park, on a PAVED road) out to the southwest coast, where we saw even more things that warranted pictures: a lighthouse, a couple hundred New Zealand fur seals, Admirals Arch, and the Remarkable Rocks, which are really big rocks that have been worn down over time by wind, rain, the sea, and whatever other weather has been there. And they look funny. They’ve got shapes ‘carved’ into the rock. Just go look at the pictures, they’re too hard to describe.

And then we got in the car and drove out of the park. And saw a mama kangaroo with her baby feeding on the side of the park road. I rolled down my window to get a picture of them, and the mama turned and looked at me as if she was posing for the shot (she was really hoping I’d feed her something). And not 100 metres down the road was another kangaroo, right in the middle of the road. And as Darrin rolled his window down, this male roo started sniffing like he was expecting food too.

And then we actually left the park, and went back toward Kingscote a different way than we’d come. And Darrin was talking about how the particular order of the shrubs & trees along the side of the road was something kangaroos would like, and that I should help him watch out for them bounding across the road. And just then we were rounding a corner in the road, and right there in front of us were three kangaroos hopping across the road. They made it to the other side of the road, and we kept going. On to Parndana, another small town of about 300, where we got petrol enough to get us back to Penneshaw (and partway back home the next day). And then on toward Kingscote, where we drove around looking for a place to eat. Nothing looked very interesting, so we went to the Ozone Hotel again, this time for food instead of internet. The food was good (although the sauce on my schnitzel was a little too tomato-ey for my taste). And back to the cottage at Penneshaw for our last night on the island.

Saturday 10th July

So we got up at some point in the morning and started packing. We’d left our suitcases in the second bedroom because the main bedroom was way too small for them and us to fit (i.e. about two feet from the bed to the wall, in any of the three directions). And we cleaned up the place, and put our trash in the bin outside, and sat around reading till it was time to load up the car. And so we loaded up the car. And drove out to the dock. And waited for them to let us on the boat. And got on the boat, and prepared for a rough ride (the weather wasn’t as bad as Thursday, but not as good as Monday). We were sitting at one of the tables in the lounge, next to a window, playing cards, when we started to move. Up and down. Rock right, rock left. And over and over again. And my stomach was feeling funny every time I took my eyes off the water. (The captain, after we left the dock, said over the loudspeaker that we’d be taking a slightly different route to give us a “smoother ride” on account of the weather. This was met with laughter by just about everyone.) Didn’t make for good game playing (I lost, but that’s not entirely the fault of the boat). Once we finished the game I decided to go outside, even as cold & windy as it was. Figured the fresh air would be good. So we both started walking toward the back of the boat, and it was rocking so much I must’ve looked like a drunken sailor reaching for the wall and/or the seats every time I lost my balance. You’d think they’d have handrails along the wall for just this purpose. Anyway. I was hesitant to go up on the top level, after Darrin kept saying that the bottom level was the least rocky, but we went up anyway. And it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It WAS cold, and it WAS windy, but I didn’t really notice the cold (the wind I couldn’t help noticing because it kept blowing my hair all over – including the braid that I’d just thrown back behind my head, which the wind was strong enough to blow BACK in front of my shoulder). And so Cape Jervis got closer, and the captain told the drivers to go to their cars. And the engines shut off, and we just drited the last bit, and I thought it was funny when I saw a speed limit sign on the jetty that said “4 knots.”

And so the boat part of the trip was over, and I went out to wait for Darrin at the passenger pickup area. And we were one of the last cars off the boat, so we got stuck behind about fifteen cars, all going back to Adelaide on the same road. At 20 kph UNDER the speed limit. But we made it home, and Biscuit was happy to see us. And we’ll hopefully be going back there again someday, and I definitely recommend that anyone visiting Australia take a few days to explore Kangaroo Island, because it’s pretty cool.
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You’ll find them here.
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We’re having a very relaxing time here at the moment, doing absolutely nothing and admiring the view out the window at Penneshaw. Yesterday we went for a drive to American River and Kingscote.

Mel and I arrived safe and sound in New Zealand last night. We’re taking it pretty easy, hired a car and are having a look around Auckland. Very relaxing time.