Tuesday, December 28, 2010

25/12/10 - 28/12/10 New Caledonia Christmas, Generalised Shenanigans


Oook, so apparently I've spent too much time holidaying and not enough time blogging. Time to remedy this!

25/12/10

Christmas Day in New Caledonia was spent as any good Christmas should be spent: with great company, great food and all activities at a relaxed pace. We had delicious turkey, prawns and pork for lunch, and then lobster for dinner.

The lobster was very very tasty, but to be honest it tasted like a chunky chunk of meat, but made of prawns. Definitely not a bad thing, but I think my palate didn't appreciate the price tag.

26/12/10

Boxing day was another sightseeing day. We began by going out in Annette and Claude's boat to visit Ilot Maitre, one of the smaller islands off the coast of Noumea. The boat ride was very fun, with the speedboat bouncing up and down on the clear blue water.

When we moored just off the island, it was swimming time. The water was pleasantly cool - a relief from the constant New Caledonian heat.

I borrowed one of the snorkels from the boat and did some snorkeling over one of the coral reefs nearby. The view was fantastic, with thousands of fish and corals to be seen.

Unfortunately, it was soon time to go back to the mainland, as we had other exciting sightseeing things to do.

Later that day, we went for a drive to a river that snakes its way through a massive mountain range that divides New Caledonia into east and west.

The drive to the river was breathtaking. At every turn it seemed like one gigantic mountain gave way to another. The whole thing reminded me of the film "Jurassic Park", except without the killer dinosaurs, of course...

We were intending to go for a swim at one of the river's popular swimming spots, but due to the heat and the popularity of the boxing day holiday, it appeared that all of the really good spots were taken. Eventually the road turned from bitumen to gravel to red dust, and we found ourselves a spot.

Unfortunately, the spot which we had found was fairly shallow, and the river bottom was covered in very slippery rocks. Nevertheless, I still tried and swam, but it was more just lying still and letting the water wash over me. Still, the water was lovely and cool, and the setting was rather peaceful, so it was definitely worth the trip.

The rest of the day was spent lounging by the pool. All in all, a great boxing day - certainly better than a shift at The Big K.

27/12/10

On Monday we explored downtown Noumea. We had a look around their many shops, and also in one of their supermarkets.

The supermarket was an interesting experience. Some items were very expensive compared to Australia, such as junk food, but other items, such as cheese and alcohol were significantly cheaper.

The former can be explained by the fact that, well, the French love their freaking cheese, so much so that nearly a quarter of the shop was devoted to it. The latter can be explained by the fact that New Caledonia doesn't have all of the taxes that we do on alcohol.

Hot. Monday was hot. Boiling hot. Nearly 40 degrees hot. Walking around in the midday sun was not healthy, so we tried to go to the aquarium to cool off in their air conditioning.

Unfortunately, it was closed on Monday's. So, a short phonecall later, and we were picked up by Annette, and taken shopping with them at a much larger shopping center. This one was fairly similar to the last, except that it sold electronics and clothes as well. The electronics were super expensive - a single blu ray movie was well over $60 AUD.

After another browse around their extensive cheese section, we headed back to Annette's house.

That evening, we had a French dish called "raclette" for dinner. Essentially, it was various deli items such as salami, prosciutto, olives, onions, gherkins and what have you, smothered in melted cheese. As if this wasn't fun enough, the cooking procedure was very hands on, as you had a grill which you melted the cheese under, and grilled any other parts to your meal on the top. A very social and very tasty meal.

28/12/10

On tuesday we finally got to visit the aquarium. And it was definitely worth the wait. The aquarium took you through all of the various depths of water throughout New Caledonia's ecosystem, from mountain streams, all the way through to deep oceans.

My favourite area was the petting pool, which had a real baby sea turtle which you could touch, and other types of star fish and sea cucumbers. There was one fish in particular that looked like its whole body was its head, and then a tiny tail at the end. We nicknamed it "headfish", and he jetted around the tank with great speed, refusing to stay still long enough for an in-focus photograph.

Also impressive was the massive tanks filled with shallow sea life, such as leopard sharks and gropers.

After leaving the aquarium, we chilled at Annette's house for a short while, before heading to a local waterslide park. It was essentially a tiny wet n' wild, with two rather fun waterslides. One which was a solo slide, and the other that was a two-person toboggan ride through a pitch-black tube that twisted and turned. Great fun.

That night, we went to a local Pizza place for dinner. The pizza was very tasty, and it meant that I have now tried pizza in every country I have visited, with the possible exception of Singapore airport. But I will try and rectify that when I head to Japan in March.

Next up: More New Caledonia stuff and the journey home.

25/12/10 - 28/12/10 New Caledonia Christmas, Generalised Shenanigans

Ooook, so apparently I've spent too much time holidaying and not enough time blogging. Time to remedy this!

25/12/10

Christmas Day in New Caledonia was spent as any good Christmas should be spent: with great company, great food and all activities at a relaxed pace. We had delicious turkey, prawns and pork for lunch, and then lobster for dinner.

The lobster was very very tasty, but to be honest it tasted like a chunky chunk of meat, but made of prawns. Definitely not a bad thing, but I think my palate didn't appreciate the price tag.

26/12/10

Boxing day was another sightseeing day. We began by going out in Annette and Claude's boat to visit Ilot Maitre, one of the smaller islands off the coast of Noumea. The boat ride was very fun, with the speedboat bouncing up and down on the clear blue water.

When we moored just off the island, it was swimming time. The water was pleasantly cool - a relief from the constant New Caledonian heat.

I borrowed one of the snorkels from the boat and did some snorkeling over one of the coral reefs nearby. The view was fantastic, with thousands of fish and corals to be seen.

Unfortunately, it was soon time to go back to the mainland, as we had other exciting sightseeing things to do.

Later that day, we went for a drive to a river that snakes its way through a massive mountain range that divides New Caledonia into east and west.

The drive to the river was breathtaking. At every turn it seemed like one gigantic mountain gave way to another. The whole thing reminded me of the film "Jurassic Park", except without the killer dinosaurs, of course...

We were intending to go for a swim at one of the river's popular swimming spots, but due to the heat and the popularity of the boxing day holiday, it appeared that all of the really good spots were taken. Eventually the road turned from bitumen to gravel to red dust, and we found ourselves a spot.

Unfortunately, the spot which we had found was fairly shallow, and the river bottom was covered in very slippery rocks. Nevertheless, I still tried and swam, but it was more just lying still and letting the water wash over me. Still, the water was lovely and cool, and the setting was rather peaceful, so it was definitely worth the trip.

The rest of the day was spent lounging by the pool. All in all, a great boxing day - certainly better than a shift at The Big K.

27/12/10

On Monday we explored downtown Noumea. We had a look around their many shops, and also in one of their supermarkets.

The supermarket was an interesting experience. Some items were very expensive compared to Australia, such as junk food, but other items, such as cheese and alcohol were significantly cheaper.

The former can be explained by the fact that, well, the French love their freaking cheese, so much so that nearly a quarter of the shop was devoted to it. The latter can be explained by the fact that New Caledonia doesn't have all of the taxes that we do on alcohol.

Hot. Monday was hot. Boiling hot. Nearly 40 degrees hot. Walking around in the midday sun was not healthy, so we tried to go to the aquarium to cool off in their air conditioning.

Unfortunately, it was closed on Monday's. So, a short phonecall later, and we were picked up by Annette, and taken shopping with them at a much larger shopping center. This one was fairly similar to the last, except that it sold electronics and clothes as well. The electronics were super expensive - a single blu ray movie was well over $60 AUD.

After another browse around their extensive cheese section, we headed back to Annette's house.

That evening, we had a French dish called "raclette" for dinner. Essentially, it was various deli items such as salami, prosciutto, olives, onions, gherkins and what have you, smothered in melted cheese. As if this wasn't fun enough, the cooking procedure was very hands on, as you had a grill which you melted the cheese under, and grilled any other parts to your meal on the top. A very social and very tasty meal.

28/12/10

On tuesday we finally got to visit the aquarium. And it was definitely worth the wait. The aquarium took you through all of the various depths of water throughout New Caledonia's ecosystem, from mountain streams, all the way through to deep oceans.

My favourite area was the petting pool, which had a real baby sea turtle which you could touch, and other types of star fish and sea cucumbers. There was one fish in particular that looked like its whole body was its head, and then a tiny tail at the end. We nicknamed it "headfish", and he jetted around the tank with great speed, refusing to stay still long enough for an in-focus photograph.

Also impressive was the massive tanks filled with shallow sea life, such as leopard sharks and gropers.

After leaving the aquarium, we chilled at Annette's house for a short while, before heading to a local waterslide park. It was essentially a tiny wet n' wild, with two rather fun waterslides. One which was a solo slide, and the other that was a two-person toboggan ride through a pitch-black tube that twisted and turned. Great fun.

That night, we went to a local Pizza place for dinner. The pizza was very tasty, and it meant that I have now tried pizza in every country I have visited, with the possible exception of Singapore airport. But I will try and rectify that when I head to Japan in March.

Next up: More New Caledonia stuff and the journey home.

Friday, December 24, 2010

23/12/10 - 24/12/10 A Christmas Eve in Noumea

This Christmas, I was presented with the opportunity to spend the week over Christmas with Emma's family in New Caledonia. Essentially, that meant a holiday with great company on a french tropical island with free accommodation. I have a hard life, don't I?

So my trip began with me finishing my shift at the Big K, and taking the airtrain straight to the airport.

I arrived before Emma and her family, and decided to check-in on my own. Upon check-in, I discovered that unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to sit next to Emma on my flight, due to us being booked on separate tickets and it being a full load. Thankfully, it was going to be quite a short flight, so it didn't concern me too much.

Emma and her family had some luggage issues, and as such after arriving at the airport,
Gerry, Emma's Dad, had to turn around, go all the way back to Kenmore, and get back to the airport before check-in closed. Needless to say, it was a tense wait for us. Thankfully he did make it back in time.

After passing through immigration, and having a browse around the duty free shops, I did my usual plane spotting gig. I killed a good 15 minutes walking from one end of the international terminal to the other. It turned out that as I was walking around, I saw our plane land, barely 20 minutes before we were due to depart.

Naturally, 20 minutes isn't nearly long enough for a plane to be unloaded, cleaned, refuelled, reloaded, re-catered and boarded, so our flight was delayed by a good 30 minutes.

Air Calin Flight SB151 Brisbane - Noumea
Aircraft: Airbus A330-200 F-OJSE
Class: Economy
Seat: 31A, then 31F, then 30F
Pushback: 2119
Arrival: 0018

The flights. It's all about the flights for me. This flight was no different. I fiddled with the in flight entertainment, chatted to the person next to me, and tried out the recline on my seat. All were quite good, but I noticed fairly quickly into the flight that there were other sets of seats free. I asked one of the flight attendants if I could grab my girlfriend and sit in one of the other seats. The attendant said this was fine, so I jumped up and tried out some of the other seats. Eventually I settled on an empty exit row seat, and got Emma to come down and sit next to me. Legroom is awesome.

A little while later, I looked out the window, and the runway was only about 10 meters below us. Apparently we were landing.

The rest of the night was a very quick journey from the airport to Noumea, and a very good night's sleep.

Actually, that last bit is a lie. Probably the dodgiest night's sleep I've had in a while. As I found out pretty early on after arriving in New Caledonia, it is damn hot. And apparently we've come in their hottest December on record.

Christmas eve was a very enjoyable day. Compared to my last few Christmas eve's, this 24th of December has been wonderful. The past few years were made up of panicked customers trying to finish off their last bits of shopping and me being yelled at by said customers for being out of stock of a highly popular Christmas present which has been on sale for several weeks *before* Christmas.

This Christmas eve was spent lounging by the pool, eating delicious french food and drinking delicious European soft drinks and alcohol. Guess which type of Christmas Eve I prefer?? Hint: it's the one with croissants.

In the afternoon, we went to a local patisserie and bought more bread for the evening meal. The smell of freshly baked bread makes your mouth water. Additionally, I got to see my third ever sunset over the water! We drove past one of Noumea's main beaches just on sunset, and we saw the orange sun dip beneath the waves, while eating a chocolate eclair. It was awesome. Easily the most beautiful, as it lacked Phuket's thousands of other tourists, and San Franisco's perma-fog.

For dinner, we had barbecued prawns. Now, being the true blue "shrimp on the barbie" Aussie that I am, one would think that this would be a common occurance for me, but actually this was my first ever barbecued seafood. I'll probably go home and eat some snails to balance the Aussie:French ratio.

Next up: Christmas! Other Shenanigans!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

21/08/10 - 24/08/10 Los Angeles, The Return Home, and the Beginning of a New Adventure!

Woah, so I kinda forgot to write up this last bit of the blog for a solid FOUR MONTHS. My bad. Excuse me if my memory is slightly sketchy on the details.

So my last morning in New York began quite subdued. We got up, took our bags downstairs, and Peta and I parted ways. I jumped in the supershuttle, while she took a traditional New York Taxi to the train station. Before my shuttle headed to the airport, we had to pick up several other passengers, so I got one final tour around Manhattan, and then I was off on my way to JFK airport.

Of course I arrived at the airport about two hours before my flight left, so I killed time spotting aircraft, and eating a very tasteless and partially frozen sandwich from some newsagent. It could've been worse.

Then, it was boarding time, and for the first flight of my life, I was actually sitting *in front* of the wing! For some reason, I always seem to be seated in the very back quarter of an aircraft. The advantage to sitting in front of the wing is that the flight is generally smoother, and quieter too. Was the difference noticeable? Slightly. I'd say it is worthwhile if you get the chance to, but expect for a fair bit of your window view to be taken up by a stonking great big engine.

Delta Airlines Flight DL2863 New York (JFK) - Los Angeles
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200 N706TW
Class: Economy
Seat: 23F
Pushback: 1200
Arrival: 1443

The flight was fairly uneventful, I managed to score the only empty seat next to me on the plane, and I actually managed to get some decent sleep. I also watched "Ratatouille" on my iPhone. God bless Pixar. It was also a fairly clear day of flying, so I got to see some of the various landscapes below me. I saw the farmlands of Kansas, and even the Grand Canyon! All in all, a decent tour of continental USA... although it makes me wish I could've done it from the ground level...

After arriving back at LAX, I caught the shuttle to the Hilton LAX, where I'd spend my last night before heading back home to Australia. As soon as I checked in at the hotel, I had some dinner, as while it was only really 5pm in Los Angeles, I was still on Eastern time, so it was more like 8pm - dinner time.

After a delicious buffet dinner, I headed up to my room, and skyped with Emma for several hours. It was easily the best phonecall of the trip.

My room had a direct view of one of LAX's runways, and it was interesting that there was always at least 8 aircraft lined up for arrival. Clearly the air traffic control have this whole "landing planes" business down to an art form.

The next day, I went to Santa Monica, to kill time between checkout and my flight home. I was recommended this by one of the hotel staff, and I found Santa Monica to be very enjoyable. I had a look along the famous Santa Monica pier, which appeared in the film "Iron Man", among others. I also ate Churros. Churros are awesome.

I also saw a woman load her pet dashund into a cannon. Hillarious photos were taken and enjoyed by all, except for the dog.

After killing some more time looking around Santa Monica's outdoor mall, I caught the bus back to my hotel, and the airport shuttle to LAX.

And with that, my USA adventure was over. After passing through security, I was airside, and technically no longer in the United States of America. But does my travel blog end here? Hell no! I'm a plane geek!

Qantas flight QF12 Los Angeles - Sydney
Aircraft: Airbus A380-800 VH-OQE "Lawrence Hargrave"
Class: Economy
Seat: 80K
Pushback: 2228
Arrival: 0621

This was by far the best flight of my life. Excellent quality food, excellent seat, excellent entertainment. Pro tip: if you ever get to fly on the Qantas A380 (and even with its recent safety issues, I still highly recommend it), try and get either seat 80A or 80K. They are window seats, one row behind the Exit row. The beauty of the seat is that there is no seat in front of you, so you have unlimited legroom, a window to look out of, and nobody to have to push past if you need to get up to go to the bathroom. In other words: awesomesauce.

Unfortunately, this awesomesauce seat was slightly less awesomesauce for me, because I discovered that the recline was broken on it for this flight. They offered to switch me to another seat, but obviously the legroom trumped the recline.

Seeing as this flight took off late at night, I actually managed to get quite a decent rest. Although I did watch a few movies when I was awake("Alice in Wonderland", "Forrest Gump" and "New York, I Love You").

After a tasty breakfast, we were descending into Sydney.

The rest of my trip was essentially getting waived through customs, patting a very friendly sniffer dog, and another flight to Brisbane, but I won't bore you with those details.

The one thing that I will say though, is that there is no better feeling in the world than meeting your loved ones at the airport after a long trip abroad. It felt great to be home.

--

23/12/2010

PRESENT DAY:

So in roughly 20 hours, I will be off on my next jet-setting adventure. This time, I'm off to New Caledonia with Emma and her family for a tropical Christmas Vacation. I can't wait. It should be awesome! Now if only I could learn to speak French in less than 20 hours... Surely there's an iPhone app for that...

Up Next: New Caledonia!