test

Curling instead of skiing

Thursday nights I curl in the afternoon league. We played
pretty well and ended up winning in an extra end. The excitement of
the game however was Tony having the opportunity to score 8 in one
end. He ended up missing by about an inch on his throw. Fun times.
Back to skiing tomorrow.

Dinner when I cook ;)

Squeaky Beach

There is a beach in Wilsons Promontory that is called “Squeaky Beach”.  When you walk on the dry sand it makes a squeaking sound.  Its pretty strange.  It helps if you kind of shuffle your feet a bit in your walk.  Here is a video of what it sounds like…

[QUICKTIME http://bbryson.com/bill/files/2009/06/squeaky.mov 640 500]

Portland to Adelaide

Portland is a nice little town perched in a very protected bay.  We found a campsite got checked in and then headed back out on the road to a nearby lighthouse.

There was a little cafe at the light house we planned on having a cup of tea at, but we ended up having lunch instead.  After eating we found a hiking trail to “the enchanted forest”.  This trail headed right off the road towards the ocean which wasn’t too far away.

The trail dropped of quickly and we soon found ourselves at the “enchanted forest”  This was part of “The Great Southwest Walk” which is a 250 K hiking trail along the coast.  Looks like it be a lot of fun to do if you had the time.  Out trek took us down even closer to the ocean to a place called “Flat Rock”  I was expecting this to be on the hillside, but it was actually in the water.  Very cool area.

After our hike we went back to the campsite and did a little walking around town.  Erin is continuing her quest for a sweatshirt.  Still no luck.

While walking through town we found a sign to a fur seal viewing area.  So we hopped back in the car and drove about 15k around another bay to another small community.  From there we hopped on a trail along the coast line leading out to the seal viewing area.

It was a beautiful hike.  Along the trail we encountered a “herd” ? of kangaroos.

They checked us out and headed off to the side of the trail a ways.  One of them hopped over a nearby fence with ease.  Its amazing how high they can jump.

[QUICKTIME http://bbryson.com/bill/files/2009/06/kangas.mov 640 500]

We continued down the trail until we reached the viewing area about 50 meters above the rocks below.  There were a few lazy seals laying down there.  Not as close as I’ve been in the bering strait but still pretty cool.

The sun was beginning to fade as we headed back to our car.  When we got there we continued a few Kilometers down the road to a “blowhole” and “petrified forest”  I put both in quotes because I don’t think either were really what they claimed.  There was a sign stating that the petrified forest was not really an old forest, but rock formations instead.

The blowhole just appeared to be waves crashing on the rocks.  You can be the judge.  Here is a little video of the spot.

[QUICKTIME http://bbryson.com/bill/files/2009/06/blowhole.mov 640 500]

After our night in Portland we started the long drive to Adelaide.  A couple hours into the journey we stopped at Mt. Gambier and checked out a cave system.  It was pretty cool.  I guess there is some pretty decent cave diving in there as well if your certified to dive in level 3 caves.

After our little pit stop we drove the rest of the way to Adelaide.  The day of driving took us about 6 hours.  We plan on go to a footy game today and then check out some wineries tomorrow.  Its been a great trip so far.

[QUICKTIME http://bbryson.com/bill/files/2009/06/washed-away.mov 640 500]

12 Apostles and a Rain Forest Walk

Yesterday we got up and continued our way down the great ocean road.  As we left Apollo Bay the road took us further inland with only occasional glimpses of the ocean.  We did stopped along the way and took a quick rain forest walk which was very cool.  The trees were ginormous and everything was very green.

After our little hike we headed on down the road.  We came across a sign at a cross road telling us of a winery only 27 K away.  So we took the side road hoping to do a little wine tasting.  Well after a little drive through farm country we found the winery to be closed.  Since this is their fall many wineries seem to be closed.  We really aren’t in wine country yet, so we still hope to get the chance for some tasting later in our trip.

We headed back to the Great Ocean Road and ended up at the 12 apostles.  These are some amazing rock formations out in the ocean.  Lare towers of limestone that haven’t eroded away yet.

A little ways down the road from here we came across “London Bridge” which definitely has fallen down.  Rumor has it there used to be a viewing station out on it.  A group of tourists had just walked out there when the land bridge collapsed behind them.  They needed to be rescued off by helicopter.  Needless to say there is no longer a look out station on there.

After our coast line viewing we hopped back on the Great Ocean Road and ended up here in Warnambool which is also on the coast.  We walked down by the water at sunset.  It is really amazing to see how clear the water is.

We are now heading back on the road.  I think we’ll be heading to Portland from here.  Here’s hoping we can find a decent internet connection when we arrive there.  😉

Great Ocean Road

We are finally on the great ocean road.  We had the epic journy of long flights and a few layovers.  We managed to sleep enough on the planes to provide enough energy to pick up our camper and drive for a little over an hour to Geelong where we stayed our first night.  We decided to take an hour long nap at 3:30, but didn’t wake up until 9:30 that night.  By then it was dark and we just ended up sleeping till the next day.  Probably what needed to be done after so many hours of traveling.

We are now on the great ocean road and are enjoying the ocean out our window much of the time.

We seem to be traveling about 30 – 50 kilometers a day on average.  Our goal today I think is about 25 or so.

We are having a great time.  The internet is pretty spendy, so we haven’t been able to post as much as we’d like.  I hope to have more posts for you soon.

Ice Out

[QUICKTIME http://bbryson.com/bill/files/2009/05/ice_out_short.mp4 320 260]

A moment of weakness

With the intense pressure building up on Erin’s shoulders over the purchase of a Dell Mini 9 she encountered a brief moment of weakness one evening sitting next to me on the couch.  I was in the middle of doing my nightly task of going through the steps of building an order for a Dell Mini 9 when Erin sat down next to me and saw what I was doing.  You see she had witnessed this event on many occasions.  She broke down and said just buy it.  Now if any of you are in a similar situation here are the following steps you must take to ensure the purchase of the item.

1. Say nothing (ie. don’t ask “Are you sure?”)
2. Cautiously move to retrieve your credit card.
   1. Better yet have it memorized
   2. Don’t do this in a hasty manner, act calm and collected.
3. Complete the purchase as quickly as possible.
4. Don’t even talk about the purchase for at least a day or two unless they bring it up.
   1. If they do bring it up, be very careful to read the situation and respond accordingly.

The coolest thing though was before I hit the submit button Erin said “Now hold on… Do you plan on buying a new Macbook Pro in the next year?”

Totally awesome that buying a new real laptop was even something to consider.

So I do now have a Dell Mini 9 sort of on the way.  Unlike purchasing a computer from Apple where you receive the machine the next week, Dell likes to have you wait about a month before they ship it to you.  So hopefully I’ll get mine around the 23rd of April.

Thanks Josh for the support for being there for me through this “tough time”  😉

Permits are in!!

Just got the confirmation emails tonight about the BWCAW lottery. It turns out we struck gold this year getting all 4 of our entry permits. Our first bwcacast trip will be at the end of May right when school gets out. The second trip will be a few days after we get back from Australia. The second one is the really big trip. It is known as the “Voyagers Highway”. A rough check using google earth it looks like the trip will be about 180 miles. I sure hope we are up for such an adventure. 🙂 It will take a lot of planning. Jim and I are going to have to take out the maps and really do our homework.

Once we sit down and iron out some more details I’ll be sure to share them with you. Now its time for bed.