Turnbull Family Pacific Tour 2015

The New Zealand All Blacks beat the Australia Wallabies in the Rugby World Cup finals on Saturday. The only reason I know this is because we were in Australia for the semi-finals and New Zealand for the finals. The kids really wanted to watch the finals at a sports bar or somewhere with a crowd, but we ended up waking up early Sunday morning at 5 AM to watch the game in our hotel room. Being in New Zealand, we cheered for the Kiwis. The rivalry between the Kiwis and Aussies was on full display during the lead up to the event. Listening to some Kiwis, they seem to see themselves as under-appreciated by their larger rivals the Aussies, who they consider brash. Which is funny since the two countries are such close partners in business and politics. Reminds me somewhat of the relationship between the U.S. and Canada. We drove south from Christchurch to a rural hobby farm near Oamaru . We enjoyed the drive through the countryside, which was very beautiful. The country has been turned into g...

We've had to park in some narrow driveways at our accommodations in Australia over the last week, and at one of these places I managed to scrape the front bumper on a fence. I thought we might be on the hook for the damages but luckily the attendant didn't notice or care when we dropped the car off in Sydney. What a relief. We spent Thursday night, our last night in Australia, at a swanky downtown hotel in Sydney. The kids were happy to visit the Apple Store one last time, and it was nice to stroll down to the harbour again to see the Opera House and bridge. Catheleen and I stopped in at a pub in The Rocks district next to the harbour, and I had a schooner of beer called 150 lashes, which was really good. The beer is named after a rogue and entrepreneur from the early days of Sydney named James Squire. He was sent to Sydney in the 1790's with the first fleet for stealing some chickens. After serving his seven years, he led a colourful life in Sydney with his mistress, wife...

Before leaving the coast, we visited Hyams Beach in Jervis Bay, which was purported to have the whitest sand in the world. The sand was fine like sugar and was very white. But what we liked the most was the feel of the sand itself, which squeaked and sang under our feet when we walked on it. I don't know why this was so. One theory is the fine sand grains are uniform in size and shape and somehow resonate when the particles rub against each other like crystals. The kids must have spent a good half hour jumping around in the sand before they tired of it. When John and I had our hair cut in Sydney last week I chatted with the barber. He was very interested to find out we were from Canada and lamented that he wished he had four seasons including winter, since it's too hot in Sydney sometimes. I was surprised and didn't know what to say. Maybe I should have told him to be careful what you wish for, or you might end up with five months of winter. I've had a few encounters...

On our first day in Australia I walked down the street from our apartment in Sydney and stopped in at a 7-eleven convenience store to grab a sandwich. The attendant was chatty and after discussing his trip to Vancouver Island, he talked up their coffee maker and suggested I try the coffee. I wasn't expecting much from a 7-eleven but thought what the heck. I was confused by the options though. Did I want a long white or a short black? I went for the long white - whatever that was. It was very good and tasted much like a latte. By contrast the next day we visited a Starbucks and I didn't find the coffee as good. Australians are not a pretentious bunch, but they could be about their coffee. It's excellent and they're willing to pay a few dollars more to have it made to order. No ready to pour drip coffee pots are to be found here. Starbucks tried opening up some stores in Australia but most of them closed down a few years later. It turns out Australia already had great co...

At times we practise the Aussie salute, waving our hands in front of our face at regular intervals to prevent bush flies from landing on our face, and entering our nose or mouth. After awhile I started to look around to confirm that everyone was doing it, including the locals - yes most people were saluting. The bush flies looked like house flies but are attracted to us to feed. I was surprised to find them in downtown Sydney - but there they were, especially in the parks. I understand the flies used to be an even worse nuisance, until the Australians introduced foreign dung beetles a few decades ago that significantly reduced the bush fly population. I would tell you why the beetles helped but it's gross, so look it up if you're interested. I don't think I would want to move to Australia just because of this. Sorry Australia, amazing place and all, but what's with the flies? After learning about the beetle, I started wondering what other foreign species have been intr...

On our last day in Sydney we visited the ANZAC War Memorial in Hyde Park. I'm glad we did. The building itself was beautiful. Built in the 1930's and constructed in an Art Deco style, it commemorates the Australian and New Zealand (ANZAC) joint forces that fought in the First World War, starting with the 1915 Gallipoli quagmire. The exterior stone statues and bronze reliefs were superb depictions of the Great War, and the interior was dominated on the lower level by a sculpture. It showed a dead warrior carried on a shield by his mother, sister and wife. It is based on the legend of Spartan warriors from Ancient Greece who were raised to come home from war either with their shield or on it. Clearly the experience for many families during the First World War was one of sacrifice and loss. I found it very moving. The memorial was re-dedicated in the 1980's to veterans of all wars, and inside we saw displays from the Boer War to Australia's latest involvement in Afghanista...

We've learned something about the fauna in Australia over the last couple of days. The animals here, as most everyone knows, are very different from other places. We visited the zoo a couple of days ago, and saw a platypus, koalas, a Tasmanian devil, and an assortment of kangaroos. The platypus had to be one of the strangest creatures I've ever laid eyes upon. He was swimming in a tank, back and forth, wiggling his bill from side to side. He looked like a mix of parts from other animals with its duck-like bill, otter-like body, and webbed feet on the side of its body, and eyes like a lizard. He was every endearing in a way. The zoo breeds these creatures, but we didn't see any baby platypuses, which are called puddles. In the zoo we spotted some koalas, including a mother and baby. They were sleeping in the eucalyptus trees with their faces tucked into their arms. I understand they sleep 20 hours a day so it's not surprising that we caught them napping. We also were abl...

Yesterday we visited the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, which we really enjoyed. The building was originally built to help process convicts transported from England at that time. The museum displays and the audio guide were well done, and provided some excellent insight into the formation of Sydney from a penal colony into the vibrant city it is today. England had a surplus labour problem in the 1700's thanks largely to land reform that privatised common lands, and better farming techniques that improved productivity. The end result was a population boom and idle hands in the countryside. Subsistence farming was no longer a viable way to make a living, and many peasants poured into cities looking for work. This time was also the start of the industrial revolution, and factories were built in the cities. But this surplus labour drove down wages, and many still struggled to make a living in crowded cities. Theft was on the rise. The government reacted by getting tough on crime, and for...

Good thing we happened to arrive at the Bali airport last night about four hours before our flight departed for Sydney, since we were in for a surprise. When we tried to check in we hit a snag. It didn't occur to us that we would need visas in advance to enter the country, but it turns out all foreigners need them. It was a team effort though to solve the problem. John and Elizabeth helped search for a WIFI site and outlets to get our devices charged, and we scrambled over the next couple of hours to get our visas issued on-line. What a pain but we made our flight! We then took the red eye flight overnight to Sydney. John and Elizabeth were both looking forward to pulling an all-nighter to get in some quality movie watching time on the plane. Catheleen and I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep but the kids did manage to stay up for the most part. But everything has a cost, and they did end up crashing later in the day in Sydney. We're staying downtown near the Sydney harb...

Admittedly I'm not actually starving on this trip. In fact, I've probably gained a few pounds, unless my clothes have been shrinking every time they come back from the laundry. But it does feel like I'm often staving off hunger between each meal. Yes it's a personal problem but I feel like sharing. Catheleen mentioned yesterday that I am always talking about food. I think it's true. I usually start off by asking Catheleen whether she wants to go for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Then there's often the need to research restaurants in the area for good ratings, since apparently we can't keep going back to the same restaurant for all our meals. Next we decide when to go and whether everyone wants to go. Then there's the time needed for everyone to get ready. I'm not naming names, but let's just say some people take longer to get ready than others. Then we need to walk there, order, and wait for the meal to arrive. All the while I'm starving, o...

We're taking it pretty easy for our last few days in Bali, before we head off to Sydney Australia on Saturday evening. We thought about going to the beach today at the end of the strip but we heard there were a lot of hawkers there. So we're spending another day at the resort by the pool, near the ocean. I really like this spot near the pool, next to the seawall. It has some beach sand in a contained strip, with some beach chairs and umbrellas setup here. It's like we're at the beach, without being on the beach. Very nice. It seems to be low season here with few tourists. Sometimes we're the only patrons in the restaurant. Even so, there are many hawkers on the street as we walk to local restaurants and shops. As we stroll along, we are invariably asked every 50 or 100 feet whether we want to purchase sunglasses, whether we need transport, or if we want to go snorkeling. It looks to me like a great number of Balinese men around here are idle without much to do, at ...

We've been at our resort on the east coast of Bali for a few days now. You can't always be sure what to expect when you book a place though. We thought this place was more of a condo, since we rented I through the AirBnB web site directly from the owner, but it is more of a hotel resort. No matter, it turned out to be an excellent choice. Our rooms have great views of the ocean, and when the tide is high we can hear the surf pounding against the hotel's retaining wall, and see white water shooting up past the railing. The place is pretty quiet. There are not a lot of other people here, which is nice. The first night we were here we had dinner at the pool by the ocean and listened to a really good guitarist sing songs from the '80's and 90's mainly. I think they were targeting our demographic. Today we hired a driver to take us to some of the sites in the area. We first visited the Taman Soekasada Water Palace in Karangasem . The place was built in the 1920's...

Yesterday we went snorkelling on a glass bottom boat. The wooden boat was pretty basic with a couple of glass boxes covered in algae which prohibited much of the view. And I wasn't impressed when we were more or less crammed in with 50 other people, but all was forgiven after we arrived at our first snorkelling site. We were diving in the middle of the ocean between two Gili islands, drifting with the current. We followed our guide, who was an expert at spotting turtles on the sea bottom that I couldn't spot. He would then dive down 20 or 30 feet to nudge the turtle, who would slowly swim away. What a thrill to swim with the turtles. Sometimes they would swim to the surface to catch a breath, and one time John was able to touch one and then swim along with it. We went to two locations before lunch and two places in the afternoon. At two locations we searched and found turtles, who rested deep down on the seabed. The other two times we saw some spectacular coral and fish. The co...

The seafood is very good here in Gili Air. Yesterday we had excellent fish tacos, and the night before Catheleen had Mahi Mahi in a garlic sauce which she said was good. Today before the sun had set we went out to get some gelato ice cream. Along the way we saw today's catch on display for dinner at one of the restaurants. The seafood included multi-coloured parrot fish and bright red grouper fish. We've done some snorkelling off the beach over the last couple of days and I'm pretty sure we saw similar fish while they were alive. Catheleen said she wasn't interested in eating the fish after seeing them swim among the coral, but don't think I mind. This afternoon we witnessed how some of the fish are caught as we sat on the beach enjoying lunch. About six men, each with 25 foot poles, waded out about 100 meters through the shoals up to their waists and cast their lines into the deeper blue water. This is the same place we were snorkelling earlier and the fishermen we...

Tuesday evening John and I went for dinner by ourselves and listened to some Singaporeans perform a Karaoke version of "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond. The whole place was getting into the groove with its catchy (or kitschy) "Sweet Caroline, Ba, Ba, Ba...". All the while we watched the Just for Laughs show from Montreal where pranks are pulled on Montrealers, without any speaking or commentary. I wonder whether this show is popular elsewhere. It seemed to be popular here - everyone was watching it, including the local staff. I always get a kick out of the Americana and sometimes Canadiana on display when I'm abroad. Yesterday in a convenience store I heard a couple of Balinese girls who were minding the till sing along to an Avril Lavigne tune. They hardly spoke English, but that didn't matter - they liked the song. Wednesday morning we took a fast boat to our next stop, Gili Islands. I was a little concerned when the staff offered anti-nausea medication ...

While we're having a good relaxing time on the whole, there are regular annoyances. The beach is the great selling feature of Legian. Otherwise the area is a bit too touristy for us with little to offer in the way of local culture. The hawkers are everywhere we go and a constant irritant. I suppose they get enough business to make their sales approach worthwhile. Sitting on the beach, I am asked to purchase either a watch, sunglasses, hat, ice cream or massage on a rotating basis. I'm pretty sure the same guy who had asked me to purchase a hat an hour ago asked me again. Another guy asked John if he wanted a henna tattoo with a typical sales approach- "Boy! Tattoo?" John laughed afterwards and thought it was odd that the seller thought he would have the money or decision making power for that. The ATMs have been another pain here in Indonesia. It took awhile to catch on, but I learned that the ATMs from the big three banks do not work for me. In fact, one of these ban...

We've been staying in Legian, Bali the last few days. The weather is perfect with sunny days and consistent highs of 28 with lows of 24 Celsius. The kids had two days of surfing lessons, two hours each day. They acquired a lot of rashes and scrapes from their lessons though, so they took a break today to rest and heal up. John's fingertips were scraped up somehow, and when he did his math homework on his iPad later in the day he complained that some blood was streaking his screen - yuck. They might try skipping the lessons tomorrow and we'll just rent the boards. I might try a boogie board - that's more my speed I think. We have been strolling along the beach near sundown the last couple of days. The first time we walked along the long beach we went south and walked through a couple of small streams which were emptying into the sea. After the second stream we noticed a sewage smell. We cleaned our feet after that and started walking the other way. There is definitely ro...

Yesterday was our last day on the island of Java. We had a late flight, so we were able to visit Prambanan, a 9th century Hindu temple compound, on the way to the airport. It contained about six stone temples, all tall pointed towers that we could walk around and into. There were statues in the temples dedicated one way or another to Hinduism's expression of God as the creator Brahma, the preserver Vishnu, or the destroyer Shiva. I understand this temple was built shortly after the Borobudur temple was built, partly as a response to the Borobudur structure. Funny to think that groups were competing in the 9th century on the island of Java to see who could build the most impressive architecture. But I suppose this has been going on in many places for a long time and is still going on today. There were few tourists at the site so we were able to walk around freely and visit each of the temples in turn. The reliefs on the temples were my favourite part since they were artistic...