Whale watching off the coast of Eden Australia.

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We got up at the break of dawn in Australia to get ready for a whale watching tour. I had a bowl of Cheerios and just as we left our Eagle Heights apartment, I took a Dramamine so it would soak into my system before we got on the boat. Cat-Balou Cruise leaves Eden‘s port every morning and in season, they guarantee a whale sighting. Before we walked the gang plank, everyone was warned that there were pretty high seas out there which made spotting whales challenging. If anyone wanted to turn back, this was their chance.

Inside, I sketched what I thought was the steering controls.  No one ever touched the steering wheel however, so I assume the catamaran was actually being steered from upstairs. Terry immediately sat up front at the bow and I included her in the sketch. Once we left the harbor, the seas got worse and the boat pitched violently. My drawing hand started to go numb so I slapped it on my calf to try and wake it up. A crew member asked me to go back to the bar to sign some documents. I lost my balance multiple times as I walked the short distance to the stern of the boat. After signing, I couldn’t bring Myself to walk back to my seat. I clutched a metal pillar for support. I’ve heard, that if you start to feel sea sick, you shouldn’t stay inside. Instead you should get out and stare at the horizon. I stumbled out a door and stood at a railing. Then my knees gave out and I knelled at the railing as if in prayer. “Dear God, please let this pass.” I stayed like that for the longest time. A crew member approached and told me that sniffing eucalyptus oil would settle my stomach. She gave me a napkin soaked in oil and I held it up to my nose. I took a sniff. The sharp smell immediately caused me to wretch, sending Cheerios over the railing into the churning sea. eucalyptus wasn’t a cure, it was the cause. Terry had bragged about how good a patch was for avoiding sea sickness. Where was she? I could use that darn patch. I wasn’t able to walk up to the bow to find her. My knees no longer worked.

After wrenching I felt better for a while and I stood. I held ceiling beams and imagined myself surfing the high seas. There was no way I could get back inside to my sketch. Eventually my extremities went numb again. All the other passengers had crowded onto the bow of the boat since a whale had been spotted. I stood at the stern with my head out over the railing. I wretched but there was nothing inside me. Then, a few feet from me, a whales eye appeared and he stared at me. Time slowed down. I swear I saw concern in that eye. Every nerve of my body snapped to attention. All my misery passed. The eye submerged followed by the immense length of body, and then the tale fluke. Wow! For the rest of the trip I stood up watching the ocean for another appearance. We basically tracked that one whale the entire trip. Spotting whales in the distance was impossible in the high seas. A Japanese man was as bad off as I was. He kept his eyes closed the entire trip. Developing my sea legs became a game. I let go of the ceiling beams once in a while to see if I could surf the pitching deck without getting thrown overboard.

For much of the trip I was so miserable, I wished I were dead, and then there were moments where I never felt so alive. If I had an opportunity to do it again, I would jump at the chance. Next time there will be no Cheerios, and I’ll wear a patch behind my ear. Sea sickness is largely psychological it is a confusion in which fluids in the inner ear send different signals than what the eyes perceive. Since I’m such a visual person, I guess I’m more susceptible. Terry told me that sketching is what caused the sea sickness, but I refuse to believe that.

We spend our wedding anniversary in Eden Australia.

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Our wedding anniversary was on October 19th and we spent the day making domestic preparations. We found the town supermarket and got essentials like Cheerios and milk for breakfast. We picked up some pre baked barbeque as well for dinner that night. The Eagle Heights apartment  in Eden, Australia had a full kitchen along with a microwave, so we cooked our food in minutes. I sat on the couch and used my tablet to sketch Terry making plans for the next day. We planned to go out on a charter boat to finally see some whales up close.

We were both still jet lagged and the drive down from Sydney had taken all day, so we were exhausted. On social media, hundreds of people might wish you happy birthday, but wedding anniversary’s are quiet introspective mile stones. There was a TV and an assortment of movies but it was never turned on. The apartment had two bedrooms and we used them both. I fell asleep in seconds.

Eden is the place to go for whale watching.

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From Sydney Australia, Terry and I rented a car and drove south to Eden. It was a full days drive. Australia is deceptively large. We stayed at Eagle Heights (2 Yule Street, Eden NSW 2551, Australia) which is perched right on the edge of cliffs over looking the bay. From our little patio you could look out over the expanse of water. I love the twisted ways that trees grow when they are affected by salty winds. A gazebo offered a telescope in case whales were spotted. Terry becomes incredibly patient when wild life viewing. We never did spot whales from our cliff perch but we might have spotted blow spouts which are the fine mists created when whales exhale. The spouts were so far out that they might have just been sea mist.

At the foot of the hill there was a place where we ordered fish and chips for our first dinner. It was the best fish and chips I had ever tasted. Exhausted we immediately drifted off to sleep. I believe this sketch was done the next day, very early in the morning as the sun rose. Just beyond that fence is a steep drop to the bay. Waves crashed the rocks that had spilled into the water. We had come to Eden to see whales and come hell or high water we would find them. The town has a siren that fires off any time whales are spotted in the bay. It was a rare instance where we hoped to hear a siren blaze. From October 31 to November 2 this quaint fishing village is home to the annual Eden Whale Festival. The festival is celebrating its 19th year in 2015 and will combine art, street
theatre, film, music, exploration, seafood and local produce along with
good old fashioned festival fun. Terry and I missed the festival by a week, but it sounds like a good reason to go back. Our time was divided between bird watching, whale watching and the occasional sketch.

The Marble Bar in Sydney is a popular retreat for locals.

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In Sydney Australia Terry found the opulent Marble Bar (488 George Street Sydney NSW 2000) where we relaxed over several drinks between our tourist rushes. The bar was first built in 1883 in the former Adams Hotel on Pitts Street. The entire venue was painstakingly dismantled and moved to it’s present location at the Hilton Sydney. The original George Adams Bar was built for the then astronomical price of 32,000 pounds. The money was secured through the Tattersall Sweeps, one of a series of horse races held in New South Whales at the end of the 1800s. The decoration of the bar followed the traditions of the Italian Renaissance with Corinthian columns capped by solid brass capitols. 100 tons of marble were used from the best Belgium and African mines. Decorative stained glass panels can be found everywhere giving the room a warm magical glow.

A few people were curious as my sketch progressed. Locals are proud of this historic bar. A women stopped to tell us the bars entire history. I ordered a tasty Charlie Chaplin simply because I like the silent era comedian. The Charlie Chaplin Cocktail was one of the premier drinks of the Waldorf-Astoria prior to 1920. It has an equal mix of lime, apricot brandy and sloe gin and is documented in A.S. Crockett‘s The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book and it’s a nice, gentle mix, which is sweet and tasty.

A huge party of well dressed patrons soon filled the bar. They might have been from a wedding or business group, I couldn’t decide.  The dress code of the bar is “smart casual” and Terry and I might not have met the code since our dress code wan “casual tourist.” We and I returned upstairs to the busy modern streets of Sydney stepping from the romance of this historic time capsule.

Getting a Sim Card in Sydney was a nightmare.

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Terry wanted to keep her phone connected to the internet while we traveled in Australia. This would allow us to use the GPS on her iPhone to keep from getting lost. To avoid roaming charges she had to purchase a Sim Card in Sydney so that her phone could be hooked up to the local network. The Optus store was maybe a quarter mile walk from our hotel in downtown Sydney. The store is under staffed and while she was getting her phone set up, several people walked in and then left in a huff because they weren’t getting helped. Perhaps an hour later, we left and she was hooked up.

The next day, we decided to return to replace the Sim in my phone. We figured it helps to be able to text or call each other especially since I’m often doing a sketch.  On this day Brad decided he needed to see my passport. No one had asked Terry for her passport. It seems like the sales clerks invent loop holes on the fly. Apparently Terry shouldn’t have been sold her Sim without a passport. I wasn’t about to walk back to the hotel just to satisfy this sales clerk. I suspect he gets pleasure from infuriating costumers. He’s been at this dead end job for years and his only power comes from infuriating people who need help. As it turned out Terry still had a plethora of question and she kept Brad occupied long enough to do this quick sketch. When people specifically go out of their way to waist my time, I can get my anger and frustrations to channel their way into a sketch.  I took all of Brad’s business cards and distributed them at tourist destinations all over Sydney with “Don’t use Optus” scribbled on the back. It was my one public service while I was there. My advice, if you travel to Australia, don’t use Optus. Terry told me that the phone bill was astronomical as well, so the fight to get a Sim didn’t result in savings. I kept my phone on airplane mode for the month and just checked a few e-mails using hotel internet connections at night. Being free of the hive can be a blessing. Perhaps Brad did me a favor.

Hiking about the Sydney Opera House.

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Our hotel was in a section of Sydney Australia called “The Rocks” which is right at the foot of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Some of the city’s oldest buildings are in this area. Walking through the residential area it was clear that residents who have lived there for generations are having to fight to keep their homes. Posters in windows showcased family histories of people who might be displaced by developers. It would be a shame if this historic area was replaced by glass and steel boxes. It is good to hold on to some of the city’s gritty past.

We could see the Sydney Opera House from the roof of our hotel so that became our destination our first day. Terry explored inside while I did my sketch. As I worked, I was surprised to hear someone shout out “Thor!” Orlando residents Maria Bolton and her husband walked up to say hello. Maria is an accomplished caricature artist and I’ve met her a few times at animal rights demonstrations. She is known as “Hurricane Maria” because she is so active. What are the chances of bumping into friends from Orlando on the opposite side of the world. I put the odds at about 1 in 7 billion. We took some selfies and the told me about the kangaroos and koalas they had seen south of Sydney.

When Terry got back, the sketch was finished, and we went for a walk in the Royal Botanic Gardens. We wandered the gardens in the hopes of seeing cockatoos in their native habitat. We had to leave our pet cockatoo with a friend and it would be hard being away for a whole month. We finally spotted several cockatoos in the trees. When they flew off, Terry followed. I relaxed in the shade and gave the sketchbook a rest.

Trying to escape from the Sydney Holiday Inn.

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We left for Australia on October 14th and arrived on the morning of October 16th. With all the time zone changes and the date line, we managed to loose a whole day while in the air. Since I couldn’t sleep a wink, it felt like I had been awake for two whole days. We arrived in Sydney exhausted and spent. There was a long line, or as Aussies refer to it, a quay for the taxis. Since the country is on the opposite side of the world, everyone drove on the wrong side of the road. I flushed a toilet in the airport as well to see if the water drained down in the opposite direction. It did. I verified this by texting a friend and asking which way the draining tornado twisted in Orlando.

Most of the foliage is similar to tropical plants in Orlando. It was Fall in Orlando but Spring in Australia. Flowers bloomed everywhere but there were plenty of billboards to break up the beauty. Sydney has plenty of old historical buildings. I loved the old, well established neighborhoods we passed as we drove into the city proper. Downtown Sydney is modern, with new skyscrapers rising up everywhere. The newer buildings seem to defy gravity being slender slivers of glass and metal.

The Sydney Holiday Inn (55 George Street Sydney, 
2000
Australia) is located right near the famous Sydney bridge and from the roof of the hotel it is possible to see the opera house. Terry and I just needed to rest and unfortunately the hotel didn’t have a room ready for us. The lobby had lime green 6O’s styled couches. I tried to nap on the couch but the urge to sketch took over. Terry got annoyed and started looking for other hotels downtown that might have a vacancy. She worked her iPhone diligently calling one hotel after another. The clerk behind the desk noticed her making the calls and soon enough we were given room keys. When we got in the room, I dropped my suitcase, pulled back the sheets and fell asleep in seconds. The sights would just have to wait.

Leaving on a jet plane.

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On October 14th, Terry and I left for a month long trip to Australia. Terry was an exchange student for her senior year in high school and her Lauriston Australia class mates were holding their snurfurtieth reunion. I went along for the ride. Australia is about as far away from Florida as you can get. Getting there is an all day affair involving a stop over in Los Angeles California. My one view of LA on this trip was the Scoreboard bar in the airport. Sports events played on the ten or so TV screens above the bar as tired travelers drank in an attempt to relax.

I wish I could sleep in flight. I tried every possible way to rest my head against the bulk head or on a pile of clothes. My neck hurts, just thinking about that flight. I keep thinking that a large beach ball would be the perfect way to wedge myself into a rest full position.  Terry seemed to slumber through most of the flight thanks to the pills she popped right before take off. I spent most of my idle time watching movies on the seat back screen in front of me. It was a 24 hour entertainment marathon. There even was a camera mounted on the tail of the plane, so you could watch the flight as if it was a video game. That camera view is nerve wracking however if you watch as the plane lands. I’ve used quite a few flight simulators and I began to question the pilots flight pattern on the approach into LA. He weaved left and then right. I was so thankful that he did finally manage to find the runway.