Moving to Cali

I'm on the next phase of my project in Santa Ana and have been flying back and forth from ATL to SNA twice a week.  The company is trying to cut costs so they asked me if I could find an apartment near work.  Taking the flights down to once a month and getting a long term rental car would really help on the budget.  I asked around on the best places to live and it looks like Newport Beach is the best.

I searched around on Craigslist and found a few cool places on Balboa Island.  They're not near the beach like I was in Sydney.  They're ON the beach.  I sent a bunch of emails and ended up interviewing with three different places.  I narrowed it down to two places with people that seemed cool.  I ended up choosing a place with two girls around my age, with a place that was walking distance to the bars, and most importantly - a 30 second walk on the beach.  I bought a bed and the rest of the room was furnished.  I'm all set up within earshot of the waves crashing and the best part is it's less then 20 minutes from my front doorstep to sitting at my desk.  I technically still live in Atlanta, but this is home for at least the next 6 months.


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Best of the Great Barrier Reef

As a part of my Best of Australia recommendations, these are my opinions on the Great Barrier Reef. When you go to Australia, you have to go to the reef. That's all there is to it. I took 7 days for my drive up the coast, but you can do quicker if you fly. There is a lot to see between Sydney and the Whitsundays if you decide to drive. Byron Bay is a cool surf town and the scenery is much different than Sydney or Melbourne. I didn't spend any time in Brisbane, but I'm sure there are things to see.

You'll have to balance between time and budget on how you want to get there. You can find one way flights to Hamilton Island from $100 up depending on the season. You'll want to book a sailing trip from Airlie Beach. I took a boat called Summertime and spent 3 days there. It was the best vacation of my life.  There are all kinds of different boat trip packages, styles and formats.  Do a little research on Google and find one that works for you.  If you're into diving or want to be, get your license before you go.  But even if you can't do that, a lot of the boats will let you do introductory dives without one.

If you love the reef as much as me and have even more time to see it, I would also suggest adding Cairns to your itinerary. It's further out of the way from the bigger cities and is only mildly different in sightseeing options, but any excuse to go diving and sailing is worth it for me. #1 is the Whitsundays, #2 is Cairns as far as priorities. If you can do either, you'll have an amazing time.

Best of Melbourne

12 Apostles during my helicopter tour

As a part of my Best of Australia recommendations, I'll take you through my recommended things to do, places to see and restaurants to visit in Melbourne, Australia's second biggest city and cultural hub. If you're touring the whole country, 3 days is a good amount of time to spend in the city.

One full day should be spent traveling The Great Ocean Road out to the 12 Apostles and back as I did during my trip last year. You'll need to rent a car and leave early in the morning. You're likely to see wild koalas and some of the most breathtaking land formations along the coastline that you will ever see in your life. After the Great Barrier Reef, this is the next best natural attraction that I saw in Australia. If you have enough time you can turn this into a 1.5 day trip instead of driving there and back in one day. You're going to do at least 4 hours of driving each way, maybe more if you want to extend it.

For your other two days you can walk through the city and make sure to save some energy for the awesome nightlife. There are a lot of good musicians and acts trying to make it in Melbourne - get a local publication or ask around to see a good show.

I got some further advice from Nat, an Aussie friend is an expert on Melbourne:

They should check out an AFL game in Melbourne for sure. It's the home of the AFL... The fans are so much more out there than Sydney. The MCG or Eithad stadium would be the best place to see a decent game.

Take a trip down to Phillip Island to see the fairy penguins parade across the beach at dusk. It's an afternoon/ early evening event about 90 odd min out of the city... You can either drive there or get a tour group to take you...

If you come in spring (Oct-Nov) they should go to the races.... If they are here on Melbourne Cup day they should go for sure, it's always the first Tues in November and they will have to buy tickets online before the day.

Walk the city to see Flinders St Station, Fed Sqaure, Bourke St. mall, Sandridge Bridge, and the Yarra River. Always lots of graffiti, street art and crazy people to look at!

If they are girls and like shopping send them to Chapel St... always a good place for lunch, ppl watching and shopping.

If they want to see a more funky grungy side of the city send them to Brunswick for dinner (thai or vegi) and lots of little old Aussie pubs. There is a lot if live music in Brunswick also.

Lastly, the Melbourne Crown Casino at Southbank and Eureka Skydeck viewing platform of the city.

Best of Sydney

As a part of my Best of Australia recommendations, I'll take you through my recommended things to do, places to see and restaurants to visit in Sydney, Australia's biggest city.

Sights

• Opera House – you can walk around it (free) or take a tour (~$80)
• Harbour Bridge – I don’t recommend the bridge climb ($175+). You can climb the pylon for $10, that is a must do.
• Customs House – in Circular Quay… just walk in the lobby to see a small scale model of the city under the glass floor. Only takes 5 minutes and is pretty cool. It gives you a good perspective of the city
• Bondi to Coogee coastal walk – 6 km paved path. My favorite thing to do in the city
• Ferry from Circular Quay to Manly Beach - $12 round trip, awesome views of harbor and back of Opera House
• Botanical Garden – free. Find the trees where all of the bats sleep.
• Hyde Park – free. Middle of the city. Have a picnic or walk around late at night. Check for food, art and music festivals that sometimes come here.
• World of Wildlife or Taronga Zoo – both are cool… WoW has only Aussie animals and is more accessible. You can touch some of the animals. Taronga is massive and you get there on a quick ferry ride. It takes hours to see everything and includes animals from all over. Best zoo I’ve ever been to.
• Bondi Beach – relax in the sun and take some surfing lessons (~$75+) if you have time

Other options if you have time

• Featherdale Wildlife Preserve
• Blue Mountains tour
• Sydney Tower
• Manly to Spit coastal walk
• Chinatown
• Restaurants
• Din Tai Fung (dumplings)
• Madang (Korean)
• Mamak (Malay)
• Pancakes on the Rocks
• Longrain (Thai)

Nightlife

• Opera Bar – awesome location just next to the Opera House. Full view of the bridge as well.
• Sky Bar (top of the casino) – great view of the Sydney skyline at night
• Ivy – upper crust club where everyone dresses to the nines, there are lines to get in, cover charges and high priced drinks. Very popular but if that’s not your scene, stay away
• Surry Hills – my neighborhood to go out. There are lots of bars within walking distance: Clock Hotel, Flinders Street Bar, White Horse, Beresford, Crown
• King’s Cross – crazy nightlife area. Just look for the massive Time Square-esque Coca-Cola sign. If it’s 10 pm or 5 am, there’s always something going on here. Think Bourbon Street meets the big city. I always had a good time going there. Best bars: Goldfish, Sugar Mill, World Bar, Hugo’s, Piano Room
• Coogee Bay Hotel – this place gets a lot of bad press because it used to be a pretty rough place. It was my local pub and it is really big. There is a beer garden, dance club, and sports bar all located within the bar. It’s a great place to relax and get some pub food during the day as well.

Accommodation

• I only stayed at the Circular Quay Marriott, so I can’t offer any other specific recommendations. Staying in the CBD (central business district) is going to be more expensive, but you won’t have to take as many taxis or buses to see the sights. There are a couple of hotels that overlook Hyde Park that looked good, but again, you’re going to pay more for those.
• Staying near the coast is nice as well, but accommodation can be hit or miss. Some places are geared toward backpackers and won’t be as nice. They also can be too close to pubs which can cause noise at night. There are some really nice places with access to and views of the water. If you want, just check with me before you book and I can give you a more specific opinion.

Best of Australia

Over my time in Sydney I have had multiple friends send me questions on the best things to do in Australia. I didn’t get to see the entire country, but did get to sight-see along most of the east coast. I played tour guide when both friends and family come to visit me during my time in Sydney in addition to my own explorations.

One of the frequent questions I received was about trip duration. On a two week vacation, do you have time to visit both New Zealand and Australia, or Fiji and Australia? My answer is absolutely not. I did not get a chance to go to NZ, but from friends that have been there I know that you need at least a week, if not more, in NZ. So assuming you’re going to focus the entire trip in Oz, here is what I would recommend.

First of all, there’s no way to see the entire country in two weeks. Let me put it in perspective. There are far fewer tourist centers in Australia compared to the US, but imagine trying to see NYC, DC, Miami, New Orleans, LA, San Francisco and Chicago in two weeks. Yes, you could probably do it, but you’re not going to get the full experience.

The three must-sees in Australia are Melbourne, Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef. They’re all on the east coast, so let’s narrow your trip down to that section. You’ll probably fly into Sydney, so we’ll start there.

If you’re not used to international travel, especially flights over 10 hours, you’re going to be majorly jet lagged when you land. You’ll fly out of LAX in the evening and land at SYD in the morning, totally missing one day. Keep that in mind as you plan your flights. I found that the best way to beat jet lag is to sleep as much as possible on the plane (with the help of Ambien if available) and do a lot of walking/sightseeing on the first day. If you sleep during the day after you land, you’re only prolonging your pain. Fight through it and you’ll be better for it.

I’ve broken each area down by how many days I would spend there. Click each link for more detailed information. Note that I only accounted for 12 days – if you’re truly doing a 2 week vacation you will need some buffer time to book flights or spend extra time seeing things you like. Click on each for details.

• Sydney – 5 days
• Melbourne – 3 days
• Great Barrier Reef – 4+ days

From Paradise to THIS?

After my last week of surfing and record heat, I came back to Atlanta to snow.  SNOW.  I have a tan, my best attempt at a beard and haven't had a haircut since June. It makes me a little hard to recognize and I'm definitely not the same person. A few days before I left I got together with some friends in Surry Hills and had a little going away party. It's such a bittersweet feeling to leave a place I have grown to love. I am going to have a tough time living anywhere that isn't near waves and sand. I joined a daily email list called Aquabumps that I read every day. The guy that runs the site gives a daily surf report for Bondi and has some amazing photography skills. He shoots a lot of sunsets and wave shots, which I have been a fan of long before I went to Australia (if you've seen the painting above my bed, you'll understand).

I am truly going to miss everyone and everything in my second home. I've made lifelong friends - some that will always live in Australia, some that are from the US, and some that are from random corners of the world.  I'll be back someday, hopefully soon.

On the upside... I'm home for a week and get to see my friends and then I'm off to the OC to continue working on this project that has taken me all over!

I Brought Some Music Back

I've been collecting a bunch of music over the past few months to put together another music post. Some of this stuff I heard in Australia, like Angus and Julia Stone (whose song below was voted #1 on the world's largest music poll Triple J's Hottest 100 in 2010). Others I found through friends or randomly searching related videos on YouTube.

Matthew Mayfield - Maybe Next Christmas


Weepies - World Spins Madly On


Angus & Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane


Cocoon - Comets


Two Door Cinema Club - What You Know


Tim & Jean - Come Around


Noah and the Whale - 'L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.'


Motorcade - Holy Moly


The Script - Nothing


Michelle Featherstone - I'm There Too

Last Week in Oz

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working a lot, so not much has been going on. We had a birthday/goodbye dinner for Carolien at Opera Bar that also served as my brother’s farewell. It had been the most continuous time we spent together in the past 10 years… it wasn’t always smooth but we both had a great time.

As soon as I got back to work I had to hit the ground running as we went live with SAP at the client site. Nothing too exciting happened and I stayed really busy. After 3 weeks of long hours and weekend work, we finished the project and everything is running smoothly. We scheduled my return to the US a week after go-live just in case there were any problems. Since there weren’t, I really had nothing left to do except a few clean up items every day. That being the case, I skipped out of work early every afternoon and hit the surf.

Krista and I said our goodbyes early... she had planned a two week trip to western Australia and left a week before me. We made tentative plans to have a surf vacation somewhere in the world... Hawaii, Bali, California... it was all very vague and pie in the sky.  One of our last days together was Australia's version of Independence Day - Australia Day.  We found a party on the rocks next to Tamarama that was amazing.  Every outcrop and spot of sand had people dancing, laughing and drinking.  Someone brought a generator and set up a DJ booth.  It was one of the coolest parties I've ever been to.

I rented a car during the week so that I didn’t waste too much time on buses getting from work to home and home to the beach. I had lived the past 10 months without a car and I forgot how nice it was to be able to get places quickly. It was a week of record heat in Sydney, with 6 days in a row over 95 degrees. One day it got up to 105 but I didn’t really notice when I was in the water. If you tried to walk across the sand your feet burned.

I went down to Maroubra one afternoon and saw a pretty scary incident. I was surfing in the chest deep whitewash (I’m still not up to the green waves yet) and I saw a few people crowded around someone laying down at the edge of the rip. I got out of the water because they were talking with animated motions and pointing out to the water.

I got out and started scanning the waves and a woman with a surfboard came up to me. “Do you see anyone out there? I pulled that guy in (pointing to the one laying down) and I swear I saw another one.”

Over the next few minutes the lifeguards towed two jet skis across the sand and put them in the water. I went back out and continued surfing for a little while, still keeping my eye on the action 50 yards away. A few life rafts came and then two helicopters joined the search. The lifeguards eventually waved all of the surfers in so they could search the entire beach. As I left a news crew showed up but they never found the guy’s body.

I advise everyone that goes to beaches in Australia or anywhere else with big waves to understand rip currents and how they work and how to swim out of them.