Mechanical Empathy

Brisbane

It is nice to be in a proper city again, where you can actually take mass transit from the airport to the city center. Unfortunately, the weather followed is from Adelaide, I can hardly believe this is the dry season! We tried to check into the TinBilly hostel, but our beds were not ready yet, so we left our bags and headed for the Koala sanctuary.

Farewell Adelaide

Our flight was a painfully early 6:25, and since Qantas does not allow online check-in, you must arrive 45 minutes prior to departure. After rousing at 4:45 am, we caught a highly entertaining cab ride to the airport. Our cabbie, a dry and sarcastic native Australian, shared his thoughts in a number of areas.

Wines: "Everyone here has become a wine connoisseur, they can all taste those 14 bouquets. . . but not a bad drop [of wine] around these parts, I guess"

Custard Tarts: he recounts his convenience store purchase of a custard tart with yogurt-like consistency. "I ask the attendant, 'Do you have a spoon?' He says, 'No, take a fork.' I ask, 'When was the last time you ate a tart?' He says, 'Take a knife.' . . . I suppose he was just tring to be helpful."

New Adelaide Airport: A modern airport is being built with new arrivals and departure areas and actual jetways. "They're building this ramp [to the drop-off area], I don't see why the cars can't just drive in at ground level. They say every modern airport has a ramp, so now we're spending $218 million on a ramp. They also had these glass jetways shipped from Madrid for $1 million each, apparently no one in Australia can figure out how to build a glass-enclosed ramp."

While our cabbie brightened the mood of the early morning, we made our flight to Brisbane in plenty of time. The crew on Qantas are either very well trained, or not very tech savvy. When they seee me using my BlackBerry in flight, they ask me, "How can you tell that it is in flight mode?" Either they really don't know or are just politely getting me to show that the radio transceiver is powered off. I could care less, as long as they don't arbitrarily tell me to turn it off (Northwest, are you listening?)

National Wine Center

Our final day in adelaide we slept in a bit. The weather is dreary - cool and rainy. I am not feeling all that well. I have some sort of mild upper respitory infection that is causing a sore throat. I am pumping fluids and I bought a bunch of oranges from a fruit vendor to boost my immune system.

We finally found motivation around 11 after booking our Whitsunday Islands travel and set off for the National Wine Center. Lonely Planet mentions the center is controversial in design and location (built on parklands). The architecture could easily be called many things - eye sore or monstrosity come to mind, although some might find it "unique". I thought the entrance evoked a wine cask, Ryan thought it had more of a slave trading ship hull feel. The design is moden, mixing wood and galvanized steel with varying degrees of effectiveness. The building features huge ramps, which make it very accessible, but also serve to force every visitor to take in a good long view of the building. For example, entering the second level exhibit entrance requires traversing the 100 meter length of the lobby twice in a slow ramp ascent. Perhaps the use of ramps minimizes falling for those who indulge too much at the tasting bar.

The exhibits were well done. Informative, expensive and in the great modern tradition, corporately sponsored. Unfortunately, being winter, none of the member vineyards were in attendance and the wine tasting bar was closed. The liquor store in the lobby was, of course, all too happy to sell you wine by the glass, bottle, or case. A sign cheerfully informed us that international shipping was easily arranged by the case. The price of entry for the US? A mere $247. We took a brief stroll outside where they had a miniature vineyard. That was nice, but would have been nicer still if there had been leaves and/or grapes present.

Food in Adelaide

Well, since not much else interesting is happening, I will tell you about the food we have had here in Adelaide. Our first lunch was found in the food court of the local mall (downtown, not strip). There is an interesting fast food chain in Australia called Nando's offering "Afro-Portuguese Fusion" with grilled chicken with a variety of spicy sauces serving as an accompaniment. Ryan snagged a Nando sandwich, wilst I opted for a Yiro (the australian spelling successfully prevents the terrible misspronunciation that often accompanies the American "Gyros" spelling).

That night after the resounding disappointment of the SA Museum, we headed for a wonderful Indian restaurant voted one of the best in Australia. It satisfied its reputation and delivered an excellent chicken tindaloo, which was delightfully spicy (I was warned by the waiter before ordering), for those familiar with the sweat-o-meter scale, I rate it at 3 out of a possible 4 napkins.

We have also developed a bad habit of exploring the Australian junk food offerings. Feasting over the past few days on Tim Tams, Peppermint Crisp, PollyWaffle, Cherry Ripe, and Violet Crumble. Some have been tastier than others, but all appear uniquely Australian (some are also British).

Lunch our second day was at T-Chow, a chinese restaurant in Adelaide's small chinatown. This was a distinct disappointment. Not until after ordering did we realize that a $6 AU lunch equates to about $4.15 US, which is really cheap. (ASIDE: For those that care about the math, all prices in Australia include a 10% GST, so $6 before tax is $5.40 AU = $4.15 US) Let's just say the chicken was sub-par.

Our dinner pick, Hog's Breath Cafe, had a distinctly Famous Dave's BBQ interior decoration style. The food was decent, but the service was mediocre (they forgot our appetizer), perhaps a reflection on the fact that tipping is optional in Australia. We were surprised by the presence of no fewer than 3 Minnesota license plates hung inside.

South Australia Museum and Security

I have a pet peeve that relates to arbitrary rules particularly under the guise of security. Upon arrival at the South Australia Museum we were informed that we would need to check our bags for the security of the museum and its guests. Considering my bag contains close to $3000 in electronics and camera equipment of all sorts, I don't part with it easily. The rule is apparently based upon the size of the bag and there is not a specific set of dimensions or volume forming the threshold. My bag was apparently too large. This was apparently a completely arbitrary decision considering the women I later saw walking through the exhibits with considerably larger handbags than my camera bag.

I inquired as to whether I was required to check my coat as well. I was told no. I then proceeded to open my bag at the counter and empty the entire contents into my coat pockets (my bag was apparently the security problem, not the contents) and the security guard happily checked my now empty bag. Not having seen the exhibits yet, it occurred to me that perhaps there were small items which could be stolen in a bag. This premise was proved false since everything was quite safely ensconced in glass.We also enjoyed a very safe visit free of attack from errant handbags!

The museum itself was a mixture of the interesting and a bit absurd. Ryan was initially drawn to the museum by the advertisement of some of the oldest fossils to ever have been discovered, this exhibit was on the top floor and as we later discovered, closed for renovation. The newest section of the museum has what appears to be a very balanced and deep look into the wide variety of aboriginal peoples that have inhabited the Australian continent for several thousand years. The cultures are fascinating, but their oppression was quite horrific, which provides a sultry undertone to the exhibit.

The remainder of the museum was  bizarre, with clearly aging exhibits (think varnished sculpted leg display cases, pastel paint, typewriter labels, etc). There were also several occurrences of the "random exotic artifact" phenomenon e.g. turning the corner in the deep sea squid exhibit and finding a lone Egyptian sarcophagus or discovering a NASA spacesuit in the middle of the minerals exhibit. These artifacts are apparently placed in these locations because they are interesting, but more importantly they fit. . . physically? This phenomenon seems more common in small, loosely focused museums.

There was also a large room with my favorite type of old-timey fauna exhibit: large diorama with painted background and gathering of a wide variety of preserved animals grouped by continent. Typically the animals are positioned within inches of one another, generally arranged by size. It looks like one of those inter-species gatherings that only really occur in children's fantasy novels. All I can say is that it was safe and free.

Adelaide Accomodations

Adelaide has been  interesting. The high point is the YHA Central hostel. The place is immaculate, although our room came pre-installed with a stinky roommate, but sometimes that cannot be helped. The internet access is quite good and they have newer computers than I do, so I certainly cannot complain. Whomever maintains them knows what they are doing, they even have a VNC client installed!

Adelaide, itself is another matter. I think this southern city would be better visited in the summer. It has been cool and rainy during our entire stay, which has dampened the outdoor activities somewhat. We are planning to visit the South Australian Museum and do some shopping our first day followed by the National Wine Center on our final day.

Arrival in Adelaide

Adelaide, at first glance, is a whole different Australia. Deplaning involves actually walking on the tarmac and the terminal building has but two baggage conveyors. We hopped a cab to the hostel in town (60 cents more than the bus) and Adelaide has a much more stereotypical Australian feel, as opposed to the unforgivingly modern urban feel of Sydney and Melbourne. The downtown area has but a few buildings over 10 stories and the cars have that "outback patina" in many cases. We may have trouble filling two full days here.

Off to Adelaide

We leave Melbourne behind this morning on our way to Adelaide. Ryan is feeling much more amenable now that he has been dosed with caffeine. I am looking forward to a tasty breakfast on board the flight. Adelaide is prime Australian wine country, so let me know if you have requests. Although, it sounds as though US customs will barely let you through duty free with enough alcohol to ease the pain of jet-lag.

R & R, or not

Today was supposed to be a day of rest and relaxation, although it turned into more of the same, but without planning. I got up at 6:30 to move the rental car, which was parked in a lane of soon to be rush-hour traffic. The drive to Thrifty was mostly uneventful, except for getting lost and arriving before they opened. I took advantage of the time and grabbed a quick brekke of grilled toast with egg and bacon (bacon in Australia is of the Canadian variety, not American strip style).

After the hike back to the hostel I grabbed a nap then Ryan and I set out for some Yum Cha at the Red Dragon. The food was excellent (no repeats of Vegas, Dad) and the wait staff was attentive in the way I have only seen at excellent Dim Sum restaurants. I was asked by one of the waitresses if I was a mixie, yea!

We had an extended discussion over lunch about the plans for the rest of the trip. With plans made, we headed for an internet cafe to make our bookings. We are still unsure how we will visit the Great Barrier Reef. The options include: flying, driving, and bussing from Brisbane. I took some extra time to put links in some of the older posts here. I am sorry there are no more photos yet. I haven't been hauling my Share Steno around, and few of these places allow you to connect USB drives or view large photos, of which there are now several thousand, with anything resembling speed.

Nautigals . . . a tasty treat

Thee was a great little diner in Apollo Bay called Nautigals. Although we arrived between meals, the owner offered us some wedges or sandwiches. I ordered the wedges and unexpectedly discovered a new taste sensation - deep fried potato wedges topped with sour cream and sweet red chili sauce.

I was "over the moon", as Australians would say. Ryan, being lactose intolerant, not a fan of soured cream, and no lover of chili sauce, was, understandably, less excited. After devouring as many wedges as I could, I was ready to tackle the twisty road back to Melbourne. DISCLAIMER:This should in no way imply directly or indirectly that Ryan did or did not volunteer, want, or demand to drive the car in any direction on the left or the right.