Hiking in the last weekend in 2008

South Mountain Park
We attempted a family hike/ walk at South Mountain.  It almost didn't happen because we couldn't find the correct entrance where JJ and Huichi were waiting.  However, using our iphone location sensor and Google maps we were able to find the way.  Once we got there we started walking.  Huichi and I set a bit of a faster pace.  After a time we called the others and discovered they had turned off the trail.  We walked back but missed the turn off so we walked all the way back to the parking lot.  Once there we headed up the trail that we figured the others would be coming down.  We found them.  However, the littlest nephew had fallen down twice and had decided that his walk had come to an end.  PJ ended up carrying him the rest of the way  because he wouldn't ride JJ's shoulders.  The older nephew did fine. 



Peralta Trail
Huichi wanted to hike out to see Weaver's Needle.  She figured we could hike out and back before she and JJ were to leave on Sunday.  We had a good time hiking out.  The rocks rise in a striking steep manner around the trail.  The trail steadly goes up until you reach Fremont Saddle.  There was snow on the trail which is pretty funny.  Worse there was ice on the trail and both Huichi and I slipped more than once.  At the top the views were great.  We headed down carefully.  As we reached the bottom of the trail I got a call from Dad.  We were running late.  My brother was less than impressed when we arrived home ten minutes after he and Huichi were supposed to be heading back to Las Vegas.  Photos here

More photos in Facebook

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Getting Home for Christmas

Flight to Bangkok
Well I finally got on the plane to Bangkok and it took off around 2 hours late.  That was the upside.  The downside were two children who cried most of the time.  Also none of the toilets on my side of the plane worked.  It's no wonder I am feeling a bit stopped up now.

Bangkok
By the time I got here my connecting flight was long gone.  However, I have to say there were pretty organized.  They had a little sign with my name on it.  I was offered new flights and a room.  The room was in the Novetel and it was a beautiful hotel.  The bed was really soft.  I got to my room around 2am.  The bad news - more screaming children in the hotel.  I had to get up at 5:30.  Then I got a free breakfast and I had an awesome waffle that they made right in front of me.  When I got to the airport I checked in and they said I would have to get my boarding pass for Tokyo to LAX in Tokyo.  Well I had about an hour layover.  I said that I wanted my boarding pass before and that I was worried about a middle seat.  They said they couldn't do anything.  Finally, they said they would telex Tokyo about my seat and a veggie meal.  I asked for a copy of the telex.  In the mean time I went to an Internet centre to get my boarding pass for my flight from LAX to PHX (Southwest).  I was able to check in but couldn't print it.  I wasn't really sure what would happen from that.  The really good news is that I got a whole row (3 seats) on this flight.  The flight was only half full.

Tokyo
Again they met me at the gate with a sign with my name on it.  They escorted me to my departing gate and guess what?  They gave me a middle seat.  I complained.  They said that was all they could do.  I said that wasn't good enough.  I suggested maybe they should upgrade me.  They said sorry and asked if it was alright.  I said "No' that I had bought the ticket nine months ago and paid quite a bit of money.  That I had addressed this issue at Bangkiok and showed them the telex.  In the end I kept my cool and walked away.  Later they came over to me and gave me an aisle seat in premium economy.   Funny it appeared that a fight almost broke out.  I didn't understand what was going on because it was in Japanese.  The flight attendant looked like she was about to have a heart attack.  It was a pretty nice flight but I couldn't eat the dinner (no veggie meal).  I took one of Wendy's sleeping pills and got some more sleep.

LAX
I got through immigration so fast I couldn't believe it.  That was likely because I was going to wait anyway as my bags didn't arrive and I had to fill out alot of paperwork.  The folks were pretty nice.  They seemed to even have my name already so I feel that those bags should turn up pretty quickly.  I made my way over to Terminal 1, printed out my boarding pass (B11 - not good for me I like to be A1), went through security and called Dad.  That is when I got another piece of bad news.  My flight had a two hour delay.  I am currently trying to get on an earilier flight standby but i am not feeling optimistic as they are all oversold and they are offering people money to take later flights.

The very good news is that it seems pretty likely I will make it home sometime tonight (Dec 24)

Merry Christmas !!

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Last Days in Oz

Sunday Dec 21st
I took the bus from Geraldton to Perth.  In order to take a later bus I went on the inland route bus which takes longer - seven hours to be specific.  I will never understand why on a half full bus they insist on putting people next to each other and leaving entire rows empty.  I was lucky enough to sit next to a guy who smoke a cigarette right before getting on the bus.  He was also on the large side making the situation uncomfortable.  After about a half hour I moved to a row with no one in it and stayed there the rest of the trip.  The bus did get in 15 minutes early which was GREAT!

Monday Dec 22nd
Got up at 6am for a 7am pickup to go to Rottnest.  I almost didn't get to go because I hadn't taken my credit card but they ended up letting me go anyway.  Rottnest is so lovely.  I rode a rental bike around the island.  I stopped and snorkeled at Parker Point.   There I ran into two difficulties - bad rental mask and my camera stopped working.  I think I am camera cursed.  I still had a great day riding around the island but was sad not to get more than a few photos.  In a Yellowstone like fashion I saw a few other riders pulled over and I went over to check it out.  There were several quokkas (small marsupials) including a mother with her young.  She was kind of hugging him.  I finished my ride around the island stopping at Little Parakeet Bay.  I realy think Parker Point and Little Salmon and Big Salmon are the most lovely spots on the island.  I took the boat and bus back and returned at 7pm.  (The transit time on this trip was longer because I left from the Perth Jetty - I recommend the Fremantle one but I didn't want to haul all my stuff down there).  Oh I forgot to say I took Kwells (sea sick medication) and it was well worth it because others did get sick on the way over and the way back.

Tuesday Dec 23
I got up and reorganised my gear.  I am taking much more carryon in case my luggage doesn't make it to LAX when I do.  I am still missing my favorite REI shirt.  I think it is gone for good.  However, it is always good to have an excuse to go to REI.  If I am lucky there will be a sale on or something soon.  I also walked to the post office to mail a couple of postcards and did a walk down the Swan River.  I saw heaps of birds - herons, egrets, pelicans, ibis, and some that I didn't know what they were.  Not much more time here in Perth and then I will begin my epic 23 hour + layover plane journey back to family and friends.

At the Airport
I took the 2pm shuttle to the airport thus arriving very early.  There were still a few people waiting in line in front of me.  We noticed that the counter personnel seemed to be experiencing issues.  The line behind us grew longer and longer all the way down the terminal to the arrivals area.  We waited and waited.  After about an hour and a half they seemed to get the system kind of working (but slowly).  So I got checked in around 2.5 hours after I arrived.  I was probably the 10th person in economy to get checked in.  There is no word when we will board.  Although the departure sign said Go to Gate and then Boarding.  Now they are saying that Boarding will be manual and slow.  What a surprise. 


Photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/kris.olson.au/LastDaysInOz#

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Dolphin Video

Dolphin Video from kris on Vimeo.

Note: If the video doesn't come up, try clicking on the link to it.

There are more videos. Check out the links to the right.

Wendy's Last Days in Geraldton

I returned to a busy work week. Wendy amused herself with a day trip to Kalbarri and a return trip to Shark Bay (Denham and Monkey Mia). She had a great time but ran out of petrol (gas) on the way home (25km from Geraldton). She was assisted by two nice guys who I think work for the Dept of Conservation.

Yesterday we took a drive out to the Geraldton Spy Base.  It is nicely sign posted and even has a lookout.  I guess that it isn't a secret spy base.   We were treated to a kangaroo sighting and some great wildflowers.  

Afterwards we took a scenic drive to Ellendale Pool.  I had never been on the road before but thought it looked interesting.  That is was.  It changed from a nice paved road to a gravel road to a very muddy dirt road.  The upside (besides the general pretty scenery) was that we saw several ring- necked parrots and a huge flock of ibis.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get any photos as they were pretty skittish.  

Ellendale Pools was a pretty place but quite noisy with a huge flock of white cockatoos.  It was also extremely muddy.  There were a few people camping there and we couldn't figure out why.  An added bonus to the place was that there were huge signs warning about Ameobic Meningitis.  

We moved on to Greenough River to do a walk along the river.  It was very pretty and we saw another echidna.  They are cute little things.  It walked under a bush before we could get a photo.  

Today we were planning to go back and do another section of the walk but it is pissing down rain.  Too bad for Wendy's last day but we hear that it is sooo hot in Park City so a cool but rainy day is not too bad.  We will probably head out to an olive plantation later.  I don't think the rain will matter to much for that.

Our last pictures (I think) are here.

Shark Bay

I forgot to say in my last post that it started pouring when we arrived in Shark Bay. Not the best welcome we have received. We looked around for a place to stay and found that generally only the most expensive places had availability. Finally we found a "cabin" at a caravan park. They were funny. When we asked if we could see it they said "no" they didn't have time for that. When we decided to stay one nigh to see if we like it, they said "no, two night bookings only". After a big sign they decided to show Wendy the cabin and we decided to stay.

After a leisurely morning waking up at 7:30 am (that was late compared to a wake up of 6am most mornings) we ate breakfast, organized our tours (water and land) and headed down to the Telecenter to use the Internet. I posted a blog post and Wendy Skyped a few people.

After that it was off to Monkey Mia. Right as we got there a few dolphins came right up to the beach. It was pretty great. I don't think either of us got any good photos of that. We ate lunch and then headed out on a three hour catamaran wildlife sighting tour. Wendy and I volunteered to work the "grinder" to put up the sails.

Unfortunately, it was really blowing and it was quite hard to spot wildlife. We did see a few loggerhead turtles and a couple of dolphins. Because it was so windy the boat was really moving. Both Wendy and I got absolutely soaked. Apparently we were in the absolute worst seats. I wish they had told us that before we were soaked.

After we got off the boat we had a bowl of fries and I had a beer and Wendy had a hot chocolate. We visited the boat place and got a pass for a repeat trip on the boat. Then we did a nature walk. Wendy spotted an echidna. No photos unfortunately.  

We returned home for a awesome dinner prepared by me of stir fry carrots, zucchini and chili tofu. I also cooked a butternut squash. 






The next day was another very early morning. We left at 7am and Wendy saw a lively kangaroo hopping across the road. We got to Monkey Mia for the dolphin feeding at 7:30 am. There were lots of people but it was still pretty easy to see the dolphins. We watched two dolphin feedings and I got some great photos and video. There were also some HUGE pelicans. When posing with one I must have gotten a little close because it came at me with its scary big beak. I was lucky I didn't lose an eye. I don't know what it is about these birds. They just don't like me.

After the dolphin feeding we headed into the Francis Peron National Park on a 4WD tour. The great things was that Wendy and I were the only ones on the tour. Our guide was Russell and he was a prankster. The tour started out very slowly with some historical stuff at the Peron homestead but as we got into the national park it became very, very beautiful with white sand beaches against red rock and the blue water of Shark Bay.

The highlight of the trip for me was seeing a dugong and its calf. We had binoculars and were able to get a great view of them from the beach. Unfortunately, we didn't get any photos. There was no way they would come out as anything other than a black smudge using my camera. Wendy tried to get some with her film camera but it will be awhile before we see those. At the same spot we also saw a Goulds monitor lizard.

The other highlight of the day for me was on the way out of the park. Russell pulled over and said he had something to show us. He then grabbed and showed us a snake. Wendy wanted to see it and went out to touch/ hold it and begged me to take a picture. When taking a picture, I noticed it looked a little strange. It was a rubber snake. I don't know how he made it look so real or how Wendy thought is was real as she was holding it. It was soooo funny. You have to look at Wendy's expression.

All Shark Bay pictures are here

Note:  This is a slightly different location than all of the other photos

Exmouth to Shark Bay

I bullied Wendy into leaving really early but that was a good thing because we made seven stops on the way to Shark Bay and didn't arrive until after five. We stopped in Carnarvon for fuel and groceries. Then we stopped in two places for wildflower pictures. Then at the Overlander Roadhouse to pee. Then we stopped at Hamlin Pool to see the Stromatolites (spelling). This was pretty over rated. We tried to help a guy push start his BMW motorcycle there. Unfortunately, we weren't much help. I think he was a bit crazy driving down the isolated WA coast on a dead battery. We checked out the quarry used to create bricks out of cockle shells cemented together over time by rainwater. That was kind of cool. The next stop was Shell Beach. As it sounds like it is a beach made up of shells.  

Today we are going on a cruise in search of marine life. Tomorrow we are going to the dolphin feeding and then on to the Francis Peron National Park. We are extending our "tour" one day and heading back to Geraldton on Sunday.

I have added several new photos to the web album.

Hopefully we will have some great ones to post in a few days.