TravelStream™ news feed for member digitaldoc on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/digitaldoc en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:57:49 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/california2007/1193110980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/california2007/1193110980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/california2007/1193110980/tpod.html Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:57:49 -0400 California Love...

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Mission Viejo, California, United States

So theres been a bunch of fires out in Southern California, including areas of LA, San Diego, and about 4 miles away from where I live and work in Mission Viejo / Laguna Hills.

There's ash all over the place, and it's definitely hard to breathe. A couple of people at work had to go home because the smoke was getting to them so bad. Most of the day at work everyone's eyes were watering and red, everyone was coughing, and it smelled like we had a bbq going on. The bbq smell is pleasant at first, but gets old fast :-)

At work, most of the day was spent talking about the fires. And keeping updated on the area. Several stores around us closed, including one store that was 2 miles away from our work. I wouldn't be suprised if we don't have work tomorrow due to all of the smoke. Also, some stores are closing because they are losing power as a result of the fire downing power lines. It's pretty crazy.

Apparently this area (Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo) is now "safe" and is part of the region that is 30% contained. But that could change with the winds. The firewall for this area is the 241 Highway, which is about 4 miles away, so hopefully the fire doesnt jump the highway.

The fire has already consumed over 16,000 acres, and 2000 structures, and it's still no where near being contained. According to the OC Register website, the National Guard has been called in to help fight the fire (bringing about 1500 National Guard folks in to help).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/photo_gallery/1179590820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/photo_gallery/1179590820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/photo_gallery/1179590820/tpod.html Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:12:46 -0400 Gallery of misc photos.

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Dana Point, California, United States

...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162345920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162345920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162345920/tpod.html Tue, 31 Oct 2006 21:02:50 -0500 Digital Doc in a world down under.

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Darwin, Australia

(Coming soon)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1148081700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1148081700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1148081700/tpod.html Tue, 31 Oct 2006 20:57:31 -0500 Digital Doc in a world down under.

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Darwin, Australia

My trip to Darwin started again in Wollongong. This time I got to sleep in, as I didn't have to catch the train until 3pm! (7:40pm flight) I got on the flight ok, and we were mostly on time, other flights had been delayed due to thunderstorm activity. I sat next to a guy from New Zealand, who was on his way to Darwin for work. He was an absolute riot; we went back and forth the whole flight, cracking friendly jokes about one another's country, age, etc. It definitely made the 4.5 hour flight much more enjoyable. We arrived at about 12:30am, and ended up at the motel around 1:30am (the shuttle was a bit slow).

(To be continued...)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337820/tpod.html Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:34:31 -0500 Digital Doc in a world down under.

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Coober Pedy, Australia

The second day I had a specific mission: Spend money. I got heaps of opal goodies, such that my gift shopping for at least the next year is complete. I got some really good deals too; prices were up to 75% OFF Sydney prices, but on average about 50% off. Not to mention the favorable "U.S. Discount" due to the fluctuations in exchange rate (it was about 0.75->1 AUD).

Later I went to the Breakaways tour through the motel, which took us all over Coober Pedy, and out into the outback. I'll let the pictures do most of my explaining, but as a bit of a preface, the breakaways is an area that use to be an inland sea, if it were still there we went right to the water's edge (now a cliff) that looked out on the sea (now a gigantic plain as far as you can see.

At this point we headed into the moon plain, where there was randomly a stretch of about 2km with nothing but volcanic rock scattered about, though there are no volcanoes. This is due (scientists think) to shifting earth millions of years ago.

At this point I went back to town, got another pizza, and went to bed early. The next morning I caught the 5:30am bus to Alice Springs. Once I got back to Alice, I had the afternoon free, but there wasn't much left to do. I walked into town, checked out the mall, and did some window-shopping. This is probably the only place that I'd have an aboriginal person approach me to buy a boomerang, in the streets of the mall. Keep in mind that when I say 'mall' I really mean strip mall. The US equivalent of a 'mall' is called a shopping centre in Australia. Then I caught my flight from Alice Springs back to Sydney the next day. Look forward to my next adventure, in Darwin! (Northern Territory).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1147646100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1147646100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1147646100/tpod.html Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:31:36 -0500 Digital Doc in a world down under.

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Coober Pedy, Australia

My day in Coober Pedy started a bit late, since I slept until 9am! (Quite a change compared to recent days) It was great sleeping in an underground dugout, no ambient light to wake me up; I just woke up when I was fully rested. I started my day by going to the motel lobby to get directions to the sites I had already picked out. Namely the spaceship from Pitch Black that sat in the middle of town. I did that strait away, and though it was cool, I was a bit disappointed, because it was described as being so grandiose. I snapped some pictures and trekked on. I ended up at a self-guided tour of an opal mine (Old Timer's Mine). It was very cool, displaying underground mines, housing, and a museum of tools and 100-year-old merchandise. They also displayed $100,000+ opal deposits in the rock (as it would be naturally).

After that I was inspired and in close proximity to the public noodling site, to try my hand at finding opal. The good news: I found opal! The bad news, the small piece that I found was potch (no color, and no value). But at least I found something! I also pulled out some cool rocks (not opal) There were heaps of gypsum! As in big boulders of the stuff. Too bad it's worth less than actual gravel... But it looks cool.

After that, I went back into town, but instead of going immediately back to shower (mining = dirty) I stopped in an opal shop. After a few minutes inside I realized I had brought along a friend from the rock pile... A 3inch long cockroach with extra desert flare (antenna, legs, and other extras, basically cockroach 'bling'). Once that was taken care of, I commenced operation: Buy Opals for Mom. Note: Jewelry Shopping is hard. I did nothing but look the rest of the day, getting an idea of prices all over town, and styles/choices I had available.

Once all the shops had closed, I went to get some dinner at the highly recommended Italian restaurant. It was amazing. I have never had pizza like that. I ended up going back for every other meal in Coober Pedy to that same shop.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337640/tpod.html Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:19:42 -0500 Digital Doc in a world down under.

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Alice Springs, Australia

Uluru was definitely the highlight of the second day, so after reaching the climax, the rest of the day was basically a travel day with a few stops along the way. The next stop was Catta Juda (only for an hour) where we walked into a split in two 600m tall rocks and settled in a valley of sorts to admire the view. The distinct part of Catta Juda was the shear size of the rock walls going strait up. Quite a sight. It was as if we were at the bottom of King's Canyon looking up.

Then we moved on towards a rest area that overlooked one of the great salt lakes in the area, though being in the desert, it was more like a pile of salt (80% salt, 20% water). Also we had a view of Attalla (a rock similar to Uluru) but it wasn't as famous because it didn't have the same significance to the aboriginals. Also, it's privately owned and thus very expensive.

We then made our way to the Aboriginal Art Gallery, but were stopped short to admire the wildlife. First we saw a wedge-tailed eagle feeding on kangaroo road kill. This seemed to be the greatest thing ever, until we saw a second eagle, laying dead next to the roo. The reason this is so horrible, is that these eagles mate for life, so as Diesel put it, if you kill one, you kill two, because soon after the other eagle will go into shock from being alone, and starve itself to death. So we were literally watching the eagle's last meal. Diesel went out to check the kangaroo for joeys; there were none, since it was a male. He also ended up bringing back 9 feathers and one eagle's talon from the deceased eagle, one feather for each of us, and the talon for himself, similar to a rabbit's foot. We then moved on, and stopped about 2 KM down the road for a group of camels! (See pictures)

We then stopped at the Aboriginal Art Gallery (more of the same type of stuff, just cheaper). Soon after, we stopped at a random truck stop to see the internationally famous Dinky Dingo, the singing Dingo. He's even featured in Trivial Pursuit. Another random fact is that he's royalty (on the same standing as the queen of England) thus no petting of the royal dingo J.

By this time, we were pretty close to Alice Springs, and we arranged to have dinner and drinks at the hostel's pub. We ended up being such a close group after only two days, that everyone showed up, for a meal and night of partying, it was good times.

The next morning, I went on my hot air balloon ride! I was up bright and early at 4:45am so we could be in the air by sunrise. We ended up driving to 3 different locations until we flew, since the balloonists needed to check the wind conditions such that we would fly in the direction we wanted. We took off just in time to catch sunrise in the outback. It was even more amazing from the air. I could see everything for at least 50 KM in every direction. The pictures turned out amazing, but nothing compared to the real sight. We then came down a bit over an hour later, right on top of the planned landing site, greeted by champagne and quesh (vegetarian even!). We enjoyed conversation about how the pilots flew the balloon with such precision, the training needed, etc. At that point I got a ride back to the hostel just in time to catch my 10am bus to Coober Pedy (my next entry) arriving at 6pm that night. It made for a great start to the day!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337520/tpod.html Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:14:29 -0500 Digital Doc in a world down under.

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Uluru, Australia

The next morning we woke up bright and early (about 5am), well before sunrise. We then stumbled into the table with swag and sleeping bags in hand. We then had our required cup of coffee to get started, and were soon in the van to Uluru. Diesel was telling us that on our tour we were supposed to choose as a group to do either sunrise + ½ base walk, or no sunrise + full base walk. Diesel thought that was crap, so he let us do all of the above, it just meant we were up earlier, and had to walk faster. It was surely worth it!

When we first arrived at sunrise, the first thing we saw... TOURISTS! They were all over the place, swarming a 0.5k plot of road. Diesel kept driving past the crowd, and dropped us off for THE best spot. It was the very spot used on one of my travel guides (as the cover) because it was right next to a kangaroo crossing sign. It was amazing to see the gigantic rock change colors in front of us. Just looking back at pictures 5 minutes prior were completely different!

We then went back to the van, and did a full loop around Uluru, having Diesel point out the highlights. Then he dropped us off and said, "Start walking"! The first thing I noticed about Uluru up close, is how much wear it has taken from the elements. Almost every natural erosion pattern was visible on one side.

As I continued along, I found a smaller rock to the left. (Uluru on my right) At the top, I saw an aboriginal sitting at a campfire, observing Uluru at sunrise. I almost gave him a wave, but thought it might be a bit 'touristy' in such a sacred place. All over this area, there are signs asking that photos not be taken of certain sights. It was very tempting, since they were some of the most amazing places, but I give heaps of respect to these people. The short explanation of why aboriginals allow photos to be taken, and people to climb Uluru is simple. When white man came along, they immediately kicked the aboriginals off their land, not allowing them back until the 70's!!! Until then, Australian government definition put aboriginals in the Flora and Fauna act. Basically classifying them as animals. When they did get their land back, they didn't want to make the same mistake we did, and forbid others from the rock. I find it amazing that after having white man be so horrible to them, they still respected them enough to allow them these privileges. The aboriginals even constructed the chain that runs from the base to the peak for people's safety when hiking up the rock. They could remove that chain and close the rock to climbers tomorrow. But they don't because they want people to understand and respect their culture by not taking photos of certain areas, or climbing the rock.

As I was passing the rock on the left w/ the aboriginal at the top, the sun hit the rock at another angle. It turns out that the man and the campfire were 'only' outlines of rocks. This helped me to understand why that area was so sacred.

Since the rest of what I'll say will not do this place justice, I'll let you look through the pictures. Also, a tid bit of information about Uluru; it's the biggest single rock on the planet. It is one solid piece, and though it has some cracks, it remains unbroken and solid. 9km circumference, 350m tall.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1147386600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1147386600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1147386600/tpod.html Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:10:50 -0500 Digital Doc in a world down under.

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Uluru, Australia

One of the first things Diesel told us, was about the first leg of the walk. It was commonly referred to as "Heart-attack Hill", because it was a walk for about 1km @ about 45 degrees to the top of the mountain, which was about 600m tall. At first I was skeptical as to my ability to do the climb, but I was told it was either climb the mountain, or do the base walk, and miss out on everything good. Then and there, I decided there was no option but to climb that mountain, even if I had to crawl on my hands and knees. I did it, and even though I struggled (it must have been the hardest climb ever) I got to the top, and kept up with everyone else. Later Diesel told me that he thought I was going to do the base walk for sure, and was extremely impressed with my determination.
Once we were at the top, it was mostly smooth sailing, as we climbed through crevices, and admired awesome views. We also got to see many aboriginal artifacts, including a couple of spear sharpening places warn out of the rocks. Also, we got to see fossils on the surface of the rocks, some of jellyfish, shellfish, and others. Since we saw so much, I'll let the pictures do my speaking, because this was by far the highlight of the tour.

We finished the hike in about 2.5 hours, covering 6+ KM total. We then piled back into the van, and made our way to the campsite, which took most of the day. We did stop @ sunset to admire Uluru, and Cadda Juda from about 50KM away. They are massive! This acted as a preview of coming attractions as the next day, we would explore them both. We then arrived at our campsite to settle in for the night. I was nominated to the firewood collection committee with Vincent, so we went to collect our firewood, as the others prepared our meal. We then started the campfire and ate our dinner. I ended up being the only vegetarian (no real surprise) so I got to explain my reasoning, which was generally appreciated. We then sat around the fire talking; Diesel pulled out a didge (I earlier noticed it on the dashboard) and gave us a demonstration. Later Sarah was adventurous enough to give it a go too, and she did really well. Then we busted out the marshmallows that Laura and Helen were kind enough to bring, so we roasted those. I found myself being the person explaining how to road the perfect marshmallow, since no one else seemed to have much mallow experience. It didn't really matter though, because the general consensus was that the marshmallows tasted like soap. They were raspberry flavored, and about 3 weeks expired, which may have led to this problem, but we ate them all the same.

Then it was time for bed, so we all rolled out the swags and sleeping bags (many of us took two sleeping bags as it was a very cold night). Again we set a record for Diesel's tour groups, being the only group that had EVERYONE sleep outside (tents were available). The view of the sky was amazing, even more visibility than what I've seen in the U.P. of Michigan. I also saw five shooting stars! I then dozed off to sleep while staring at a plane/satellite/UFO brightly moving about the sky.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/digitaldoc/australia-2006/1162337100/tpod.html Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:03:06 -0500 Digital Doc in a world down under.

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Alice Springs, Australia

My Uluru tour was amazing and would be nearly impossible to describe in one sentence, or even in this journal. As they say, it's something you must see to appreciate.

It started at Alice Springs around 5am, well before sunrise. I got registered, and piled into a 22-person van. Then I met my tour guide, Diesel. He got his nickname from being an auto mechanic, more specifically an auto mechanic whose hands were allergic to diesel fuel. To the point that he now washes the steering wheel, because other drivers refuel (our van, funny enough was a diesel) the van, and then get diesel on their hands, and then on the steering wheel.

I then got to see the dark outlines of eight other passengers. Later we found out that our group was the smallest Diesel had ever had, previously he had 12, but 9 was a big difference. Needless to say we had plenty of legroom, allowing us to each have two seats to ourselves.

We traveled for about two hours, most everyone but me slept, I was way to excited to sleep. I also got to watch the sunrise from the van, exposing a well-coloured outback. When we made our first stop, I decided to take Diesel up on his offer to let someone sit in the co-pilot's seat upfront. I'm glad I did. I got to talk with Diesel all the way to King's Canyon (2.5 hours after our first stop). I got to ask a bunch of questions about the passing scenery, and I ended up knowing a lot more about the semi-arid desert than anyone else. We also got to discussing our tastes in music, since Diesel was using a 40gb MP3 player to DJ for our trip. It turns out we have similar tastes in music. Apparently I'm the only person on any of his tours to even recognize Sublime, let alone be a fan. It was great, because the rest of the way there I was naming off artists/titles, further surprising Diesel. Later in the trip, he asked me to 'DJ' off my MP3 player, so he could hear some of my music that he had been hearing about.

The next stop we made was for lunch, just before King's Canyon. This was the first time everyone was awake, so we introduced ourselves. The others on the trip were:

Laura and Helen from the U.K. traveling together. Sarah, from the U.K. Sophia, from France. Caroline, from Estonia. Vincent and Desiree from the Netherlands. And finally... Stefen from Germany.

After lunch we went a few more minutes in the van until we arrived at King's Canyon.
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