We left Perth feeling absolutely knackered. Packing the house into a 3 x 3m storage unit was more difficult than what we imagined!! Steve (Tan's Dad) summed it up very well on the Monday night. "You both look to excited. I thought you would be excited about the trip" In fact we were tired.
12th June 2007
This morning we woke up ready for the trip to Victoria. First stop was our house to pick up Mitchell and Sophie. I opened the front door cautiously as the cats hate been locked inside. That's funny.... they weren't keen to get out. Walking through the house to the laundry and Sophie looked up completely nonplussed about the night in the empty house. I wander where Mitchie is? Shite.. The little bugger had opened the locked (apparently) cat door and was no where to be seen. He escaped! I got a leg up onto the roof, moved a few tiles and started calling him in the roof cavity. No luck!!! We packed up Sophie and went to the airport (one cat down) unhappy. We actually think evil Sophie unlocked the cat flap so she could spend some one on one time with us in Victoria. It worked as she was quite happy with the attention.
Air Express were quite good. We bought one cat cage ($65) in addition to the double one Soph was travelling in and found it is going to cost $160 to send him unaccompanied (if he comes home). Looking tired and stressed we boarded the plane to Melbourne.
After some fast calling and organisation we had a plan in place with Lyn (Tan's mum) and Steve and Jayne next door!
Success!!! We received a MMS picture (pity Tan's phone is really really old (like really old)). A text back and Steve, Jayne and Em had Mitchie in the bag. Hooray. A few 10pm calls and Mitchie was on his way to the airport. We didn't pay the $1,000,000 ransom but he still made it.
13th June 2007
Dan awoke to a call at 7:20am. Mitchie is in Tarneit. Dan's brother Andy picked up the solo traveller and Mitch made Andy's his home for the day. That night Andy brought him down and he was an absolute pog. I don't think he enjoyed the red-eye from Perth and the fact the Sophie had pole position on the bed.
16th June 2007
We planned on a quiet night with Dan's family at Tim and Karen's though it wasn't the case. Point in the case, exhibit one below. Seven bottles of wine between three girls!
Sunday 17th June 2007
We left not so sunny Melbourne for San Francisco on Sunday 17th of July via Sydney after spending five days in Melbourne with family and friends. We slummed it in the first class lounge where we sipped on Moet to celebrate the start of the trip. A lengthy process in Sydney where we were forced to go through quarantine again and our bags were x-rayed, Tan got frisked and checked for explosives, our bags got manually rechecked and then Tan was asked to remove her shoes for manual checking. We would not have wanted to have a tight changeover of planes or we never would have made it!!
Why call it Groundhog Day? We started exploring the USA ten minutes before we boarded the plane in Melbourne. A benefit of crossing the international date line I suppose.
USAHostels on Post St is smack bang in the middle of the city and a great spot to stay. A quick wake up shower and change and we were off to explore the city. First stop was Union Square. The main shopping precinct of town surrounded by tonnes of shops (Dan was excited by Victoria's Secret and the models in the window!). Macy's, Bloomingdales and Saks amongst others were there but we didn't stop to look.
We saw our first of the iconic San Francisco cable cars at the turnaround point at the end of the line. After wandering around Union Square, taking the odd tourist shot, we were ready to tackle the infamous hills.
China Town greeted us with dragons and an impressive arch. The sites, sounds and smells of China Town were fantastic.
This area is the queen of tackiness. Gigantuan porcelain tigers, 7 foot high engraved elephant trunks and the obligatory wavy paw cat statue. We found the fortune cookie shop in a small alley and watched the old chinese lady hand fold them. They are actually a small waffle that is plastic when hot but cool quickly. the machine was automatic with squirting mixture into the waffle pan and cooking them away.
There was lots of Chinese laundry in this alley hanging out to dry. A little back up along the alley was the Tin Yow temple, up four stories with the ceiling covered in red paper lanterns. The Chinese are so colourful with the way they decorate. At this stage we were getting a touch peckish so we had typically American cuisine - dim sum. No not dim sims but dim sum at side street Chinese restaurant. Steamed Shanghai dumplings, stuffed bell peppers and cashew chicken hit the spot. Dan had his first American beer - Budwieser (not as good as the Czech stuff).
After dinner we walked along further north, near the pyramid shaped Trans America building, the tallest in "the city". At this stage Tan was walking like she was drunk from tiredness. As we were about to turn back, I noticed some markets. Like Freo, but in the middle of the closed off streets. No purchases but there was some impressive photography, especially of the bridge. We walked downhill from the markets, past Victorian style houses and to Washington Square. North Beach (I don't see no beach) has a festival in the square on a yearly basis and it was great to relax in a party situation on the grass listening to the U2 cover band. It was such an eclectic bunch of people - hippies, hispanics, Italian (this part is called Little Italy), big Americans, small Americans, Chinese, lesos/gays, hippies, grey nomads and two very tired Aussies. It was a great way to recouperate with people watching and great music.
After a great time listening to the bands in the park we went to Lombard Street - famously known as the crookedest street in the world. We walked to the top for some great views of the city and watched the cars trying to negotiate the streets. We then headed back to dinner and bed - very jetlagged!!!
Monday July 18th - San Francisco
San Francisco, famously known for its hills, and yep we walked the steepest of them such as Nob Hill (Above). San Francisco has 42 hills. A great way to get some exercise in!! Some of the footpaths have stairs inbuilt as the roads are that steep but once at the top you are guaranteed a fabulous view of the bay (or the next hill!!).
We then wandered down to the famous Fishermans Wharf viewing Alcatraz across the island. We decided to hire bikes and ride around the bay and across the Golden Gate Bridge.
We rode through Chrissy Park alongside the bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance obscured by a thick blanket of fog.
After riding along the bridge, we powered down the hill to the small town of Sausilito on the Bay where we stopped for lunch and a look around. American lunches are very hearty (read: friggin massive) so we were very full afterwards. At the end of the day caught the ferry back with some hosties from Virgin (England) who thought it was fine to cycle in pearls and high heels. We passed Alcatraz in cold cold winds to where we started and dropped off our bikes. The day was sunny although the wind was biting cold and we found that by the end of the day we were both terribly sunburnt.
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