Back Blog
(by: Hunter)
I have sent a number of emails to people since arriving down here. Now, without permission, I am going to raid those previous emails for my first blog entry. Hopefully this will suffice to cover the first week we were here, and bring this blog into the present.
I didn’t tell you about our 3 days in LA with Steve & Kate…we had a blast. We arrived in the morning, and Steve picked us up at the airport. Candace was coming down with a cold, and was exhausted after our last few weeks, so she stayed at his house to nap and relax. I went with Steve to Malibu to do some “location scouting” for the photo shoot they had planned for Thursday. They needed a place with wide open sky and sea and grass, so fancy houses on the hills of Malibu fit the bill – where else can one get an unobstructed view of nothing but sky and water in LA? So we toured a bunch of multi-million dollar houses. Then, we decided which one we liked best and rented it (well, Kate’s client #### rented it). The view was awesome. Afterward, we went to lunch at a place right on the ocean and billed it to #### since we had conducted “business” all day. Drove home down Sunset Boulevard. That night we went out to a fantastic sushi restaurant - some of the best tuna sashimi ever experienced.
The next day was mostly work for me getting Oskar on the flight to Sydney – it involved paperwork, money, driving crazy LA freeways, meeting with the USDA, etc. Finally got him squared away. One highlight was I took him on a hike before we left to wear him out for the flight. Steve clued me in to a place called Runyon Canyon, which climbs a canyon and hills right behind Hollywood. Saw the big sign, drove down Hollywood Blvd, saw the stars in the sidewalk, etc.
The last day was the day of Kate’s photo shoot. We slept in and drove out to Malibu to meet up with Steve and Kate (they were letting us use one of their cars) who had gotten up before the sun and we already working. We drove down a great canyon to get there and saw a coyote! Then we hung out all day in the back yard of a gorgeous Malibu mansion, watching Kate photograph cavorting models, and eating catered food. As we left the fancy house, we passed the actress Tea Leone walking up the road. (So yes, apparently some people DO walk in LA! Even stars.) I have to say we had quite the LA visit. It doesn’t get much better I bet – too bad life isn’t really like that much for most of us. Thanks so much Steve and Kate for the wonderful time and hospitality. You guys rock.
I made the journey out to see Oskar today for the first time since we arrived. It has been 3 days since he has seen me because I was not allowed to see him over the weekend, or for the first 24 hours after arrival. Poor guy was very sad, and went crazy when I got there. It must have been so scary for him to go for days without knowing what was going on. He wasn’t eating, but I fed him his food and he ate it all. He seemed better by the time I left, but of course he wanted to go too.
Now it is a couple days later and I have gone to see Oskar more. He is doing much better now that he knows I’m nearby and haven’t forgotten him. He seems much better than the first visit. The trip to see him takes the better part of the day on the train. Seriously…A couple hours on the train, then a 3 km walk, then backwards all over again. It takes the better part of the day. A real bummer – I hope to get a car soon so I can go more often, and without spending most of the day on the visit.
Did some cooking out on the roof deck this evening. Threw some items on the barbie, we did. Such a nice view from up there. Nothing like watching the sun set behind the skyline as the bats rise.
So far no dingos have stolen anything. I'd like to keep it that way, but you never can tell with those varmints. I plan to get a dingo coil to burn, or a net, or spray or something.
One of the highlights of our week was getting our very own Yoda Phone. Funnily enough, the company has miss-spelled all of their literature so that it reads Vodaphone, but we know better. Hmmm...buying a phone you are...yeeeesss? Cells are handled completely differently down here, and it is - believe it or not - even more confusing than the plans offered by US phone companies. It took us days and a calculator to decide which plan to use, and we are out of minutes already. I'd give you the number but we can't afford to answer your call. Only good news is that we can go broke using this phone anywhere in the world - EXCEPT the good ole USA. My US phone is now a nice plastic paperweight. Leave it to America to refuse to use what the rest of the world uses.
We went to the Backpacker Car Market and spoke with a number of desperate people with funny accents who had funky modified cars to sell. The Market is on an underground level of a parking garage under the city, and people literally spend weeks sitting in the dim dank garage underbelly waiting for someone like us to come along and buy their kangaroo-dented Ford Falcon station wagon. We passed on everything we saw down there, but it was kinda fun to act interested, then walk away and listen to them slash the price with each step. The market actually requires proof of inspections and registrations to sell there, so it is actually a better bet than an ad in the paper - plus the desperation bit helps too. Soon we too will have a 1978 Holden Commodore complete with 2 extra Jerry cans, a tarp, mossie net, folding camp chairs, Aerosmith cd's, used bedding, a complete set of road maps in Dutch, and more, more, more!
The weather has been awesome - that is until 2 days ago when the sky was ripped asunder and Niagara Falls was temporarily transported to somewhere over our heads, and angled to fall at 45 degrees. Good news is that given the rainfall averages, I'd say it's all clear weather until June after that one. Today was beautiful again. Yesterday Candace and I went on a very nice stroll and passed an alcove where a half dozen destroyed umbrellas lay in shambles. We were on our way back from a showing of an apartment that was advertised in the paper. Described as a "NY style loft apartment", it turned out to be a "room" (of sorts) available in a large warren where 18 other people lived. It was Nasty, but not in the good sense of the word. I think most college fraternities would find this place beneath their cleanliness standards. On the other end of the spectrum we might have a short-term place worked out in a very very nice part of town, if all goes well.
Now that we have a yoda phone number, we are starting to carpet-bomb the city with resumes ("CVs"), so hopefully someone will be fool enough to want us metric-illiterate Yanks. Then we will have to actually stop enjoying ourselves quite so much and go back to work.
Well it took us a week and a major holiday before we finally made it to the beach to surf (only about 15 mins away). Easter is a big deal down here, and since everything is closed, we have no choice but to stop working on everything, and just play. We went to Manly beach – yes, they let me on manly beach, thank you very much – and had a nice day in the sun and in the waves. More of the same planned for tomorrow. That is the part of town where we hope to live – I can’t wait to start getting a surf in daily before or after work! Hope this crazy plan all works out. Caught some nice waves, and saw Candace get some nice ones too.
Here's a pic of Candace the intrepid subway rider:
I have sent a number of emails to people since arriving down here. Now, without permission, I am going to raid those previous emails for my first blog entry. Hopefully this will suffice to cover the first week we were here, and bring this blog into the present.
I didn’t tell you about our 3 days in LA with Steve & Kate…we had a blast. We arrived in the morning, and Steve picked us up at the airport. Candace was coming down with a cold, and was exhausted after our last few weeks, so she stayed at his house to nap and relax. I went with Steve to Malibu to do some “location scouting” for the photo shoot they had planned for Thursday. They needed a place with wide open sky and sea and grass, so fancy houses on the hills of Malibu fit the bill – where else can one get an unobstructed view of nothing but sky and water in LA? So we toured a bunch of multi-million dollar houses. Then, we decided which one we liked best and rented it (well, Kate’s client #### rented it). The view was awesome. Afterward, we went to lunch at a place right on the ocean and billed it to #### since we had conducted “business” all day. Drove home down Sunset Boulevard. That night we went out to a fantastic sushi restaurant - some of the best tuna sashimi ever experienced.
The next day was mostly work for me getting Oskar on the flight to Sydney – it involved paperwork, money, driving crazy LA freeways, meeting with the USDA, etc. Finally got him squared away. One highlight was I took him on a hike before we left to wear him out for the flight. Steve clued me in to a place called Runyon Canyon, which climbs a canyon and hills right behind Hollywood. Saw the big sign, drove down Hollywood Blvd, saw the stars in the sidewalk, etc.
The last day was the day of Kate’s photo shoot. We slept in and drove out to Malibu to meet up with Steve and Kate (they were letting us use one of their cars) who had gotten up before the sun and we already working. We drove down a great canyon to get there and saw a coyote! Then we hung out all day in the back yard of a gorgeous Malibu mansion, watching Kate photograph cavorting models, and eating catered food. As we left the fancy house, we passed the actress Tea Leone walking up the road. (So yes, apparently some people DO walk in LA! Even stars.) I have to say we had quite the LA visit. It doesn’t get much better I bet – too bad life isn’t really like that much for most of us. Thanks so much Steve and Kate for the wonderful time and hospitality. You guys rock.
I made the journey out to see Oskar today for the first time since we arrived. It has been 3 days since he has seen me because I was not allowed to see him over the weekend, or for the first 24 hours after arrival. Poor guy was very sad, and went crazy when I got there. It must have been so scary for him to go for days without knowing what was going on. He wasn’t eating, but I fed him his food and he ate it all. He seemed better by the time I left, but of course he wanted to go too.
Now it is a couple days later and I have gone to see Oskar more. He is doing much better now that he knows I’m nearby and haven’t forgotten him. He seems much better than the first visit. The trip to see him takes the better part of the day on the train. Seriously…A couple hours on the train, then a 3 km walk, then backwards all over again. It takes the better part of the day. A real bummer – I hope to get a car soon so I can go more often, and without spending most of the day on the visit.
Did some cooking out on the roof deck this evening. Threw some items on the barbie, we did. Such a nice view from up there. Nothing like watching the sun set behind the skyline as the bats rise.
So far no dingos have stolen anything. I'd like to keep it that way, but you never can tell with those varmints. I plan to get a dingo coil to burn, or a net, or spray or something.
One of the highlights of our week was getting our very own Yoda Phone. Funnily enough, the company has miss-spelled all of their literature so that it reads Vodaphone, but we know better. Hmmm...buying a phone you are...yeeeesss? Cells are handled completely differently down here, and it is - believe it or not - even more confusing than the plans offered by US phone companies. It took us days and a calculator to decide which plan to use, and we are out of minutes already. I'd give you the number but we can't afford to answer your call. Only good news is that we can go broke using this phone anywhere in the world - EXCEPT the good ole USA. My US phone is now a nice plastic paperweight. Leave it to America to refuse to use what the rest of the world uses.
We went to the Backpacker Car Market and spoke with a number of desperate people with funny accents who had funky modified cars to sell. The Market is on an underground level of a parking garage under the city, and people literally spend weeks sitting in the dim dank garage underbelly waiting for someone like us to come along and buy their kangaroo-dented Ford Falcon station wagon. We passed on everything we saw down there, but it was kinda fun to act interested, then walk away and listen to them slash the price with each step. The market actually requires proof of inspections and registrations to sell there, so it is actually a better bet than an ad in the paper - plus the desperation bit helps too. Soon we too will have a 1978 Holden Commodore complete with 2 extra Jerry cans, a tarp, mossie net, folding camp chairs, Aerosmith cd's, used bedding, a complete set of road maps in Dutch, and more, more, more!
The weather has been awesome - that is until 2 days ago when the sky was ripped asunder and Niagara Falls was temporarily transported to somewhere over our heads, and angled to fall at 45 degrees. Good news is that given the rainfall averages, I'd say it's all clear weather until June after that one. Today was beautiful again. Yesterday Candace and I went on a very nice stroll and passed an alcove where a half dozen destroyed umbrellas lay in shambles. We were on our way back from a showing of an apartment that was advertised in the paper. Described as a "NY style loft apartment", it turned out to be a "room" (of sorts) available in a large warren where 18 other people lived. It was Nasty, but not in the good sense of the word. I think most college fraternities would find this place beneath their cleanliness standards. On the other end of the spectrum we might have a short-term place worked out in a very very nice part of town, if all goes well.
Now that we have a yoda phone number, we are starting to carpet-bomb the city with resumes ("CVs"), so hopefully someone will be fool enough to want us metric-illiterate Yanks. Then we will have to actually stop enjoying ourselves quite so much and go back to work.
Well it took us a week and a major holiday before we finally made it to the beach to surf (only about 15 mins away). Easter is a big deal down here, and since everything is closed, we have no choice but to stop working on everything, and just play. We went to Manly beach – yes, they let me on manly beach, thank you very much – and had a nice day in the sun and in the waves. More of the same planned for tomorrow. That is the part of town where we hope to live – I can’t wait to start getting a surf in daily before or after work! Hope this crazy plan all works out. Caught some nice waves, and saw Candace get some nice ones too.
Here's a pic of Candace the intrepid subway rider:
posted by Hunter Williams at 4:59 PM
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